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After being admitted without a hitch, Miyokichi and I went to our seats in the middle of the single-hall theater; it was hardly what you would call spacious. Regarding how small the attendance was, the number of people entering was so sparse that it was virtually empty.

As for the kind of movie, it was one of those gory horrors. To be honest, it wasn't a genre that I liked very much, but just for that day, I couldn't help but listen to her wishes. At any rate, her tastes didn't seem to fit her quiet looks. Did she really want to see it that much?

During the show, she turned into an eager movie fan as she showed an appreciation for the screen, but here and there, during the scary scenes that were characteristic of horror films, she meekly gave a little start, turned her face away, and grabbed my arm once, which calmed me down for some reason.

But other than that, her eyes were glued to the images, and she looked so serious that if they were to see her with that much concentration, even the film makers would be satisfied.

At first glance, if I were to reveal my impressions of the film point-blank, it would go something like "This is a B-movie, isn't it?" which is something I couldn't just say. Though I don't think I lost anything by watching it, I didn't gain anything, either. I couldn't even recall learning anything from advanced reviews at all; they must not have done much work on their advertising.

Why could she have picked this movie?

I asked her,

"An actor that I like appears in it."

She replied with a bit of embarrassment.

The ending credits hadn't finished scrolling when the curtains closed, and we exited the theater.

It was past noon by then. Are we also going for lunch somewhere? Just when I was thinking if it was time to go home, she said in a voice that sounded nothing but humble,

"There's a shop that I want to go see, but is that okay with you?"

When I looked at her, she was circling the corner of the open page on her guide book with a red pen. The store was in an area that we could walk to from here.

After I considered it a bit,

"It's decided, then."

I answered, and started walking according to the simple map printed on the magazine page. As silent as ever, she walked diagonally behind me. We must have talked about a few things, but I don't really remember.

After walking for a while, we arrived at a cozy-looking tea shop. Seeing the stylish facade and interior, it seemed like it would take an extraordinary amount of courage for a guy to enter by himself; he'd feel like a fish out of water. I had unconsciously frozen at the front of the store, but when I came to look up at Miyokichi's worried face, it felt natural as I pushed on the manually-opening wooden doors.

As I had expected, most of the customers occupying the store were girls. It was spectacular. For some reason, I felt relief at how many mixed couples there were.

The waitress who had lead us to our seats, looked at Miyokichi and me with a smile, brought glasses of water with a smile, and finally asked for our order with a smile.

After scanning the menu for thirty seconds, I ordered a Neapolitan and an iced coffee, while she got the deluxe cake set. It seems like she had decided on what to order from the beginning, From among the ten types of cake the waitress had brought as samples, she pointed at the Mont Blanc without hesitation.

"You're okay with just the cake set?"

I expectedly asked.

"Won't you still be hungry with just that?"

"No, I'll be okay."

She straightened her back, put her hands on her knees, and said with a tense face.

"I don't eat much."

Was her unexpected response. Maybe because I had been looking at her steadily, she lowered her face. Panicking, I rushed to explain myself, and felt that way until I had succeeded in getting her to smile again. Thinking about it now, I said such embarrassing things that it had made me sweat. It would be useless to write something like, uh, she was totally cute just as she was. But, Miyokichi was indeed a beautiful girl. I would think that about half of the boys in her class must be enamored with her.

Once they had arrived, she took about thirty minutes to nibble on her Mont Blanc and sip her Darjeeling Tea. As for me, I finished my meal quickly; it took just enough time for the ice in my iced coffee to melt.

I had quite some time in my hands, but I still couldn't understand her, and as I threw some random subjects at her, she would just nod or shake her head....... Well, considering it now, I don't think I paid that much attention to it. I was just a bundle of sensitivity back then. And probably all nervous.

I was going to pay for the tea shop bill. But she wouldn't listen, insisting to the end that she would pay for her own share.

"Because I'm the one who wanted to go out today."

She said as her point.

Having finished settling our accounts, we started walking around in the bright sunlight. After the horror movie, and that gorgeous little tea shop, where did she want to go next? Or was it time for her to go home?

"............"

As we strolled, she went silent for a long while. And some time later,

"There is this one last place......"

The place she revealed in a small voice, was my home.

After all of that, I took her back to my home, and with my little sister, who seemed like she had been waiting for us to arrive, the three of us played games together.

"Phew."

Having written that much, I stopped my fingers.

The only other people in the room were Koizumi and Nagato. Haruhi was running around as usual, while Asahina-san went out to the Art Club for a final check on her drawings.

As I scrolled to the beginning of the article I had written, Koizumi's face came into my field of vision from the side.

"Have you written to the end? Or is there more?"

"No idea......"

I answered, but despite what I said, it felt like that was enough. If you think about it, what was the point of writing that stuff so diligently? For the Literature Club's sake, and, by extension, for Nagato's sake―――you could be enthusiastic about that, but it was all just a way for the SOS Brigade to continue keeping this clubroom as its headquarters, and just one part of the plan to alleviate Haruhi's boredom. With Koizumi pulling the strings behind the curtains, the president, who held abuse of authority deep within his gut, was Koizumi's pseudo-puppet. So to speak, this case was just one big roundabout put-up job.

At the same time, I had a feeling that Koizumi was hoping to avoid the second stage turning into all-out war against the Student Council. But mostly, it was Nagato who was at the forefront. I think I would want her to enjoy a peaceful student life as much as she could. I'd like to believe that I'm not the only one whose heart is set at peace when gazing at Nagato quietly reading a book in a corner of that clubroom.

"Well, that's fine, isn't it?"

Setting my jaw, I showed it to Koizumi.

"Before I show it to Haruhi, I want to hear your opinion. So read it."

"Then I shall read it, gladly."

As I looked at the thoroughly-absorbed Koizumi's face, I manipulated my touch pad.

The notebook computers that had been provided to Brigade Members were connected through a LAN, with the desktop computer on the Brigade Chief's desk acting as the server. With a little fiddling around, I was able to initiate the printer that had been placed in a corner of the clubroom, and it began spitting out the printed-on sheets.

xxx