03 The Boredom Of Suzumiya Haruhi

The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi 第三巻: 涼宮ハルヒの退屈 Volume 3

Tanagawa Naga

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Contents Contents ....................................................................................................................... iii Prologue ........................................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 1 The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi........................................................... 6 Chapter 2 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody........................................................................... 56 Chapter 3 Mystérique Sign...................................................................................... 103 Chapter 4 Lone Island Syndrome ........................................................................... 148 Author’s Notes .......................................................................................................... 236 Translators Notes ...................................................................................................... 240

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Prologue

As much as I'd like to say the club was founded on the melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi, my own melancholy would be a much more appropriate description. The SOS Brigade was established in early spring, while the whole self-made movie incident happened in the autumn. The project caused me to sigh endlessly, but hardly fazed Haruhi. Half a year had gone by between the two events. Of course, in that time, which included the summer, Haruhi could not and did not let time pass by pointlessly. It was no surprise that there had been so many illogical and absurd incidents. I don't even know if some of them were real incidents or just accidents. Let's just say that we were pulled into everything against our desires. No matter what you say, seasons come and seasons go. As the average temperature rises, inconceivable ideas arise endlessly from Haruhi's mind, similar to how different kinds of insects appear out of nowhere. It would be all right if she kept those ideas inside her head, but no, those ideas always result in a variety of creepy situations that the whole group is forced to deal with properly. What is going on? I don't know what Itsuki, Yuki, or Mikuru are thinking, but here is what my selfdiagnosis tells me, at least. My mind and body are healthy, but every time something happens, I feel as if I am some sort of small round animal that can't move easily because I ate too much. The same ending always happens, and that is myself rolling on and on down the hill.

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Perhaps I have already started rolling. Haruhi has a very bothersome habit: whenever her mind is not filled with happy thoughts, she starts thinking up ideas that make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. Anyway, she just cannot endure sitting still and doing nothing. She is just that kind of person. Whenever she has nothing to do, she will go and find something to do. This will usually be something absurd. From my personal experiences, whenever Haruhi says something, the rest of us will not be able to enjoy our peaceful days. Perhaps those good old days will never come back. What a troublesome person. It doesn't matter if the result is good or bad, as long as her life is not boring. That's Suzumiya Haruhi for you. Because this is a rare chance, let me share with you how our SOS brigade fought back “boredom” during the half a year when our melancholy became frustration. As to why I said this is a rare chance, I actually don't know. I just think that it wouldn't do me harm if I shared the stories. And, anyway, I really hope that at least one person will “share” my indescribable feelings. Yes... Let's start with that silly baseball game.

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Chapter 1 The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi

One day in the headquarters of the "Suzumiya Haruhi Brigade to Bring More Excitement to the World," or SOS Brigade for short (in reality the Literature Club room), Haruhi announced with the same enthusiasm as a baseball team captain who drew first seed at Koushien: "We are entering the baseball tournament!" It was after school one day in June, and it had been two weeks since the "nightmare" event. Since then, I had been unable to concentrate on my studies. My test results were a real life nightmare, on this early summer day. Haruhi didn’t seem like she had been paying attention in class, yet her results made it into the top 10. If there exists a God in this world, I believe that he is a mischievous and biased person. Oh well, this didn't matter anymore. I am more concerned with the content of Haruhi’s announcement. What was she talking about? I looked around at the three other people in the room. The first that caught my eye was Asahina-san, her face as innocent as that of a middle school student. If she had white fluffy wings, she would look like a cute little

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angel on her way back to heaven. Her face and small body suits her. I know fully well that she can be very glamorous. For reasons unknown to me, Asahina-san was the only person in the room not wearing her high school uniform. Instead, she was wearing a pink nurse uniform. With her cute lips half opened, she looked intently at Haruhi. She is not a nursing student nor a costume-wearing weirdo, but is just merely following the instructions of Haruhi. Haruhi must have bought this costume from some odd website again. She's been bringing weird clothes and making Asahina-san wear them. I believe many people would be asking the same question, "What's the point in wearing these clothes?" To which she replied, "Why do we need an explanation for that?" Haruhi instructed Asahina-san, "You must wear this costume whenever you're in this room, always!" Asahina-san would resist with "But, but..." In the end, she would still obediently follow Haruhi’s commands with tears in her eyes. She looked so adorable in that way that sometimes I felt compelled to embrace her from behind. Yet so far I have not been able to do that, this I can assure you. By the way, just for your information, two weeks ago, her standard attire was a maid costume, but right now it’s hanging on the clothes rack. Actually the maid costume suits Mikuru better and I preferred it more, so I do hope she would revert to that costume soon. I believe Asahina-san would comply with the audience's request, though she would be troubled and embarassed by it. Yup, that would be good. After hearing Haruhi’s speech on the baseball tournament, Asahina-san the nurse made her comment, "Umm......"

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She made a sound as sweet as a canary then stopped. It was natural for her to have such a reaction. I turned my gaze to the other girl in the room. Her height is similar to Asahina-san's, but her presence, compared to Asahina-san, was like that of a thin cabbage to a sunflower. Nagato Yuki, as always, was indifferent to her surroundings as her gaze was fixed on her open hardbound book. About every ten seconds, she would flip the pages with her finger, it was then that people could realize that this girl was still living. I was sure a parrot would have a bigger vocabulary than she would, and even a hibernating groundhog would be more active than she is. As her presence doesn’t really make a difference, there was no need to describe her in detail. If I have to make a brief description, then she's a first year student, like Haruhi and me, and she is the sole member of the Literature Club - the original occupant of this room. In other words, our club - the SOS Brigade has borrowed the use of this room from the Literature Club. To be more precise, we have taken over this room like parasites. Of course the school has not approved of this, since our application to form a club has been ignored by the student council. "......" I turned my gaze away from Nagato's expressionless face, and saw sitting by the side the handsome grinning face of Koizumi Itsuki. He looked at me with an amused look. This guy's opinions were of lesser importance than Nagato's. This mysterious transfer student - according to Haruhi anyway - brushed aside his bangs and slowly broke into a smile, much to my chagrin. As our eyes met, I had a strong urge to punch him as he shrugged his shoulders meaninglessly. He was seriously asking for a beating.

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"What did you say we are entering?" As no one said anything, I, as always, replied on behalf of the group. Why does everyone treat me as a communication relay to Haruhi? Nothing is as bothersome as this duty. "This." Haruhi gave me a flyer cheerfully. I took a glance at Asahina-san, who had bad memories with flyers, and saw her backing away trembling, and read out the words on the piece of paper. "The Ninth City Amateur Baseball Tournament." It was probably a tournament to decide which baseball team was the best in the city. It was organized by the city council, and seemed to have some history, being held every year. "Hmm......" I raised my head. Haruhi’s one hundred percent smile almost glowed straight into my eyes, I backed away for half a step involuntarily. "So, who’s entering this field baseball tournament?" I knew the answer already, yet I still decided to ask. "Us, obviously!" Haruhi said firmly. "When you say us, does that include me, Asahina-san, Nagato, and Koizumi?" "Who else can it be?" "Couldn't you have asked for our consent first?" "We'll need to find four more people." As usual, she only hears the things she wants to hear. I suddenly thought of something, "Do you know the rules for baseball?"

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"More or less. It just involves pitching, catching, base running, sliding and blocking. I joined the Baseball Team for a bit, so I know the basics," "A bit, just how long did you join them for?" "Just under an hour. It was dead boring so I left." If baseball was so boring, then why join a baseball tournament? And why do we have to participate as well? Faced with my natural question, Haruhi made the following reply, "This is a chance to leave our mark on the world! If we win this tournament, we could become famous overnight, it's a great opportunity!" First, I don't want the name of this brigade being spread even further. Secondly, so what if the SOS Brigade becomes famous overnight? What do you mean by a great opportunity? I didn’t know what to say, and Asahina-san looked stunned as well. Koizumi mumbled, "So that's how it is," without looking concerned. As for Nagato, was she troubled by it? She probably didn't even hear what was being said, as she remained as still as a pottery, her face remained blank as ever. "Isn’t it a nice idea, Mikuru-chan?" Faced with Haruhi’s sudden question, Mikuru seemed withdrawn, "Eh? But... But......" "Well?" Like a crocodile ambushing a little deer drinking water at the lake, Haruhi moved behind Asahina-san, who was about to stand up, and grabbed the tiny nurse - or hospital attendent to be precise - from behind. "Kyaa! Wh... What are you doing?!"

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"Listen, in this brigade, the orders of the commander are absolute. Insubordination is a serious offense! We'll handle all opinions during the meeting!" Meeting? Does she mean those meetings which she holds whenever she felt like stuffing weird ideas down our throats? Haruhi grappled Asahina-san's neck with her snake-like arms as Asahina-san struggled, "Doesn't baseball sound like fun? Just so you know, our target is to win this! Not a single defeat will be accepted! Because I hate losing!" "Wah......" Asahina-san rolled her eyes and blushed furiously as she trembled. While Haruhi held Asahina-san tight like a professional wrestler and nibbled at her ears while staring at me fiercely, seemingly unhappy with me looking enviously at Asahina-san. "Any problems?" It wouldn't matter even if we had any. No matter what we say, you never intended to listen to them anyway. "I don't see why not." Hey! Don’t just agree blindly! How about raising your objection every once in a while? "Then I'll go get the baseball equipment from the Baseball Team!" Haruhi bolted out of the classroom like a small tornado. Asahina-san, finally free from Haruhi's grasp, slumped onto her chair exhausted. Koizumi expressed his thoughts, "We should be lucky that she's not starting a war to capture aliens or planning a trip in search for Unidentified Mysterious Animals. Baseball has nothing to do with the terrifying paranormal phenomenoma which we fear most, right?"

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"Makes sense." I've decided to agree with his reasoning for now. No matter how insane Haruhi is, she has not asked to go search for aliens, time travelers and espers. If that's the case, instead of wandering around the city searching for supernatural occurrences which was near impossible (this happened to be the main activity of the SOS Brigade), we might as well play a game of baseball. Besides, even Asahina-san was nodding her head in agreement. However, our speculations were wide off the mark. Not only did they miss their target, the arrows fired by Haruhi had shot through the wall and had flown off somewhere. I only learned of this soon after. At any rate, I thought to myself, even if it's not baseball, anything that could attract attention would do for her. The SOS Brigade which Haruhi had carried the banner for not only has a despicable name, it's not even a club, not to mention it's not recognized by the school, it was only created because she felt like it. The official name, "The Suzumiya Haruhi Brigade to Bring More Excitement to the World," is not only long and condescending, it just sounds abstractly absurd. After my suggestion to shorten the name got cruelly rejected, I had not been able to find a chance to change its name. I once asked Haruhi what kind of activity this club is involved in, Haruhi replied with the face of a soldier who had just cut off the head of the enemy general, "To find aliens, time travelers, and espers, and play with them!" This was the famous quote of the eccentric Suzumiya Haruhi, well-known around school since the beginning, and has been associated with queerness ever since she said that.

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This was just like crows searching for glowing objects; cats leaping at any small rolling objects; and rushing for the insecticide when one sees a cockroach in the kitchen. Once she sees something that interests her, be it dodgeball, netball or cricket, she'll probably yell loudly, "I want to do that!" Maybe I should be grateful we aren't playing rugby, since we would need to find more people to make up the numbers for rugby. To put it simply, Haruhi was just feeling bored. I had no idea what deal Haruhi had gone through, but she returned like a cyclone carrying a whole box of baseball equipment. Inside the small cardboard box which looked as though it contained an abandoned puppy were nine worn-out baseball gloves and a baseball bat with plenty of dents on it, as well as a few dirty hard baseballs. "Wait," I said, looking once again at the flyer description, "This is a soft-baseball tournament. What're you bringing hard-baseballs for?" "What's the difference? They're still balls, and they still fly when you hit them with a bat. Don't worry about that." I remember playing baseball back in elementary school, but I haven't touched this game ever since then. However, I at least knew the major difference between a hardbaseball and a soft-baseball - it hurts when you get whacked by a hard-baseball. "Then wouldn't it be fine as long as we don't hit anyone?" Haruhi rejected my objection with a look that said, I don't see what all the fuss is about. I decided not to argue with her, "Then when's the match gonna be held?"

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"This Sunday." "That's the day after tomorrow!! Isn't that way too soon!?" "But I've already registered. Oh, don't worry, I've decided the team will be called the SOS Brigade. That I'm pretty sure of," I felt exasperated, "......So where are you going to find the other team members?" "We'll just randomly grab anyone walking around." Are you serious? With the exception of one person, anyone targeted by Haruhi is usually not a normal person. That rare exception would be me. And I had no intention on getting acquainted with even more mysterious people, "All right then, you stay put. I'll take care of choosing the team. First......" I thought of the guys in Class 1-5. The only ones who would come at once without hesitation...... That'll be Taniguchi and Kunikida I guess. Hearing my suggestion, Haruhi replied, "Those would do," She treats her classmates as mere objects. "It's better than none." The other guys would probably flee at the mention of Suzumiya Haruhi's name. Now, where to find the other two players? "Excuse me," Asahina-san politely raised her arm and said, "If it's possible for my friend......" "Then that'll do."

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Haruhi responded immediately. Looks like anyone was fine. Maybe for you it didn't matter who it was, but I was concerned. Asahina-san's friend? When and where did she befriend someone? Asahina-san probably noticed my concerned look and said to me, "It's fine. This person...... Is a friend I've met in class," She tried to allay my fears. At this moment, Koizumi spoke as well, "In that case, maybe I should bring a friend as well? In fact, I know someone who's interested in our club......" I shut him up before he could finish. There's no need to bring your buddies over, they're going to be freaks anyway. "I'll think of someone." If there was no selection criteria, then there're other friends I know of. Haruhi nodded her head pleasingly, "Then let us begin our training!" Oh boy, it was only natural for the topic to come to this. "We start now," Now!? Where? "In the track field." Bring it on! The sound of the Baseball Team yelling their slogans can be heard outside the window. Speaking of which - I know it's awkward to suddenly change the subject - but I have to let you know, besides myself, the other four people gathered here in this room, for certain reasons, are not normal people. Only Haruhi wasn't aware of this. The other three have all willingly revealed their identities to me, and hope that I would understand. If my common sense was like the Earth, then the three of them

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would be as incomprehensible as objects revolving beyond the orbit of Pluto. However, since the end of last month, I have gone through some experiences that led me to believe that they might be telling the truth. I didn't want to know the truth, but ever since I was forced into Haruhi's club, I don't think this small wish of mine has ever been granted. To put it simply, the reason Asahina-san, Nagato, and Koizumi would appear in this school was all because of Haruhi. They all seem to hold a particular interest in Haruhi. To me, she was just a very giddy high school girl. But I was the only one who thought that way, and lately, I'm having doubts myself about this belief as well. I can guarantee that it wasn't me that was going crazy. It was the whole world that was going crazy. Thanks to the experiences mentioned above, I was now standing in the dusty track field with the other out-of-this-world members of the brigade. Being forced off the field by us, the Baseball Team looked stunned at us. I mean, how else would they react? A mysterious club suddenly appears, with a sailor uniform schoolgirl, who seems to be their leader, waving a baseball bat and yelling insanely. While they were still busy being awestruck, the track field, which was reserved for the Baseball Team, was taken over before they even knew it. They were even made to pick up and throw the baseballs. How can they not be bewildered? Not to mention our group was dressed in normal school uniforms, plus one nurse amongst us. "Let's start with a thousand bats!" Just as Haruhi had forecasted, standing in a row on the pitcher's mound, we were now covered in a rain of baseballs.

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"Kyaa!" Asahina-san knelt down and covered her head with her glove, I risked my life to catch the balls, making sure they don't hit her. Speaking of which, each of Haruhi's strikes had a killing instinct in them. No matter what she does, she always goes all out. Koizumi carried his usual grin and easily dodged the balls. "Hmm, I haven't played like this for a long time. Makes me feel nostalgic about it." Koizumi casually stepped away from Haruhi's wild strikes while revealing his snow white teeth to me. If you have so much energy, why don't you come help protect Asahina-san!? I turned to Nagato and saw her standing very still while facing Haruhi. She just stood there, completely ignoring the balls flying towards her direction. Not even when the ball flew past her ear by a few centimeters did she move a bit. Occasionally she would slowly move her gloved left hand, like a remote-controlled robot, and catch the balls that would directly hit her, then slowly put her hand down again. You ought to move around more. Or perhaps I should compliment you on your good eyes? Maybe I shouldn't be paying attention to other people, as a bouncing hard ball skipped past my glove and under my legs, and went straight for Asahina-san's knees. How careless of me. "Ouch!" Asahina-san the nurse yelled, "It hurts......" She started to sob, I can't take this any longer, "I'm counting on you guys!"

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After telling Koizumi and Nagato that, I shielded Asahina-san and brought her out of the white line. "Hey! Where're you going? Kyon! Mikuru-chan! Come back here!" "She needs medical treatment!" I lifted my hand and ignored Haruhi's protests, then carried Asahina-san's arm as I led her to the clinic. I'm sure her nurse uniform would fit in better in the clinic than inside the dusty club room or the rough track field. I can't be wrong about this. Asahina-san covered her eyes with her hands to rub off her tears as she walked shoulder to shoulder with me on the corridor, it was only then that she realized she was leaning against me, "Kyaa!" She made a sound so cute that I would have loved to record it, and leaped away while looking up at me with her slightly reddened cheeks, "Kyon-kun, you can't. If you get too close to me...... It'll happen again......" What'll happen again? I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Asahina-san, you can go back now. I'll tell Haruhi that the injury on your leg would take two days to heal." "But......" "Don't worry. Haruhi's the one who's wrong, there's no need for Asahina-san to feel guilty about it." I shook my hand and said that. Asahina-san lowered her head slightly and glanced at me, her teary-eyed look simply increased her charm further. "Thank you."

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As Asahina-san gave me a smile so adorable my legs nearly wobbled, she turned around at me as though feeling sorry, then finally walked off. Couldn't Haruhi learn from her for once? I have a feeling she wouldn't look bad at all like that. When I returned to the field, the batting training was still in progress. What surprised me was that the members of the Baseball Team were now in defense, while Koizumi and Nagato stood outside the field. When Koizumi saw me, he smiled happily, "Oh, you've returned?" "What's she up to now?" "Just as you see. It seems she wasn't satisfied with our performance, and she's been like that since then." She was simply incredible. Every ball she hit flew to the direction that she had intended. The three of us had nothing to do apart from observing Haruhi's astounding strikes. This mentally insane girl finally put down her bat and rubbed off her sweat while looking very satisfied. Koizumi said cheerfully, "She's really amazing. She actually managed a thousand hits." "What's really amazing is that you actually bothered to count." "......" Nagato turned away silently, I decided to follow her as well. "Hey," I made a suggestion to the little schoolgirl in her sailor uniform, "Could you make it rain on the day of the match? A big one that would force the match to be cancelled." "It's not impossible,"

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Nagato walked while answering plainly, "But it is not recommended." "Why's that?" "Partial data alteration of the environment would result in side-effects in the planet's ecosystem." "Side-effects? For how long?" "A few centuries to ten thousand years." Now that's a long time. "Then it's better not to do it." "Indeed." Nagato nodded her head forward for five centimeters, then continued to walk forward without stopping. I turned around and saw Haruhi standing on the pitcher's mound preparing to pitch. Two days later. Sunday. 8.00 A.M. sharp. We were gathered at the Municipal Sports Ground. There were two baseball fields adjacent to the athletic track field. The tournament would take two weeks to complete. The tournament uses five-inning games. The semi-finalists were to be decided by tonight, with the semi-finals and final being played next Sunday. Only our team was dressed in our school's track suit, while the other teams were dressed in their standard baseball uniforms. This is a bit off topic, but I'd still like to mention this, this was the first time I've seen Nagato wear something else besides her school uniform.

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I later learned that this grass baseball tournament had quite some history (this was the ninth installment), it looked like a prestigious tournament. If that was the case, how I wished the organizers would reject Haruhi's application when she handed it in. I might as well mention this, after giving Taniguchi and Kunikida a call, the two of them agreed to come right away. Taniguchi's targets were Asahina-san and Nagato, while Kunikida said, "This sounds like fun" and decided to come as well. I'm glad that they're both so simple-minded. The person Asahina-san brought to help was a second year female upperclassman called Tsuruya. Her hair was as long as that of Haruhi's before she cut it short. She was an energetic girl, as when she saw me she said, "So you're Kyon-kun? Mikuru always talked about you. Hmm~......" For some reason, Asahina-san felt very nervous with this comment. Just what did she say about me? At this moment, the fourth player I brought was now facing off with Haruhi. "Kyon, come over here." Haruhi dragged me towards the side of the organizer's tent with her incredible strength, "Just what were you thinking? Look at that thing, you're actually going to let her play baseball?" What do you mean 'that thing?' Isn't that a bit too rude? She may be 'a thing,' but she's still my sister. "She even introduced herself, saying she's now in fifth grade and is ten years old. She's too adorable to be your sister. No, that's not the point, it would have been fine if she were playing in the junior baseball league, but this is a baseball tournament for all ages!"

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I didn't just bring my sister without thinking, this was all part of my meticulous plan. I thought - why on Earth do I want to get up on Sunday morning just to do some exercise? I never intended this. It was inevitable that things have developed to its current state. If that's the case, it was only natural for me to at least want this tournament, which I have no interest in, to be over as quickly as possible. It would be excellent if we lose in no time and everyone can go home. Even without my sister, with such a rag-tag group, we'll definitely lose the first game, since the leader of this team is none other than Suzumiya Haruhi. If we accidentally win, it would create a chain of bothersome events. This was why I had to inject something that would ensure the team would lose. If I brought an amateur elementary schoolgirl in, we would surely lose. Like hell we would win! Of course I couldn't let Haruhi know what I was thinking, I wasn't that insane after all. "Hmph, forget it," Haruhi snorted and turned around, "We'll let them win one inning. It won't be fun if we win too much." Looks like she's hellbent on winning, just how does she intend to win? "We still haven't decided on the fielding positions and batting order yet, what do you have in mind?" "I've already thought of that." Haruhi's face shone with satisfaction, as she took out a piece of paper from her track suit pocket. Leaving till today to decide on the positions, I have no idea what criteria she uses to decide who plays where. "I've decided to use this, I'm sure no one would disagree?"

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There were two pieces of papers. Each piece was drawn with eight lines. It resembled those ladder-tracing lottery games, was I seeing things? "What are you talking about? Of course it's a lottery. It's divided into lottery for batting and fielding positions. I'll be the pitcher and first batter, by the way." "So you've decided on this method instead?" "What's with that look of yours? You got a problem with that? This is the most democratic way. Ancient Greek leaders were chosen by ladder-tracing as well, you know!" Stop comparing the political system of Ancient Greece with the selection method of a modern Japanese baseball team. Besides, you only decided this on your whim, just how democratic is that? ......Forget it. This way, we could lose quickly. According to the tournament rules, the game would end if the score difference between the teams was more than ten runs. I think I should prepare to go home now, since our first opponent was a top team with the best defense in the tournament for the past three years. The Kamigahara Pirates. This was the baseball team of some university nearby. In a way, they had a tough playing style. They were all very serious, and came with the intent of winning. We could catch a glimpse of their prowess just by watching their pre-match warm up. Their screams were so full of power, even their pitching was breathtaking. This was a proper team. From a bystander's point of view, they were a formidable opponent. I thought to myself - have we come to the wrong place? At that moment, I really wanted to take a look around to make sure whether this was the venue for the baseball tournament - the Municipal Sports Ground.

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While I don't feel that losing is a bad thing, I started to have an urge to escape from this impending tragedy. Our team was so crappy that I felt like apologizing to our opponents. Just when I was about to formulate an escape plan, Haruhi made everyone stand in one row, "I'm going to give out my strategy, everyone follow my instructions." She sounded so much like a coach, "Listen carefully, our priority is to reach base. Once we reach base, we'll be able to steal a base before the pitcher throws all three pitches. Swing at the ball if it's a strike, but ignore it if it's a ball. Simple, isn't it? Just follow my plan and we'll be able to get at least three runs per inning," That was our game plan according to that brain of Haruhi's, but just what was her confidence based on? It was based on nothing, of course. She is the physical mainifestation of baseless confidence. But wouldn't this sort of person usually be called an "idiot?" Besides, this girl is not just a normal idiot, she is an idiot at the top of the idiot food chain, the Queen Idiot of the Idiot World. Let me announce the batting and fielding position of the "SOS Brigade" baseball team, decided by the God of Lottery: First batter, pitcher: Suzumiya Haruhi. Second batter, right fielder: Asahina Mikuru. Third batter, center fielder: Nagato Yuki. Fourth batter, second baseman: Me. Fifth batter, left fielder: My sister. Sixth batter, catcher: Koizumi Itsuki. Seventh batter, first baseman: Kunikida. Eighth batter, third baseman: Tsuruya-san. Ninth batter, shortstop: Taniguchi. That was the line-up of our team. There were no substitutes or managers, and no cheerleaders even.

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After both teams paid their respects to each other, Haruhi went straight for the strike zone. Completely forgetting the existence of helmets, we had to borrow some second-hand white helmets from the organizing committee. If there were anything that truly belonged to us, then it would have to be the nine yellow loudspeakers Haruhi brought for us. Haruhi pushed the tip of her helmet upwards and picked up the aluminum bat she snatched from the Baseball Team, then revealed a fearless smile. When the umpire yelled, "Play ball!" The opponent pitcher stretched his arm back and prepared to throw the first pitch. Whack! A loud clear metallic sound was made, and the white ball flew far off. It went over the head of the center fielder and bounced off the wall. By the time the ball was thrown infield, Haruhi had already run to the second base. I wasn't particularly surprised, as this was a piece of cake for Haruhi. Asahina-san and Koizumi felt the same as well. As for Nagato, I guess her emotions does not include being surprised. However, the other members of the team besides us four were all stunned, and looked awestruck at Haruhi, who lifted both her arms and gave a V-sign. Our opponents were even more dumbfounded. "Their pitcher's nothing! Just do what I did and you'll be fine!" Haruhi yelled confidently. Unfortunately, what she did had the opposite effect. Since this would lead our opponents to cancel the thought of showing mercy on our girls. Our second batter Asahina-san wore her wide helmet and walked hesitantly towards the batter's box. "M, may the best wi...... Kyaa!"

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Before she could finish, a high angled straight ball came shooting over. How dare these bastards do that!? If you strike Asahina-san out in three strikes, you'll have to face serious consequences, a brawl was inevitable at best! Asahina-san had become as stiff as a Buddha statute, and only looked as the remaining two pitches flew past her. When the umpire announced that she was struck out, she breathed a sigh of relief and returned to the bench. "Hey! Why aren't you swinging the bat!?" Haruhi's complaints are nothing, what's important was that Asahina-san was safe. Nagato the third batter walked silently to the strike zone, dragging the tip of aluminum bat on the ground. "......" She ignored all the balls being pitched and was struck out very quickly. She then silently returned to the bench, took off her helmet and handed the bat to the next batter - me. "......" She quietly sat on the bench and reverted to being a decorative doll. Haruhi's yells were becoming annoying. Geez, it's your fault for expecting so much from Asahina-san and Nagato. "Kyon! You've gotta hit this! You're the fourth batter! The cleanup hitter!" I really do wish you wouldn't put so much hope on a fourth batter who was just picked by lottery. I learned from Nagato and stood in the batter's box silently. I didn't swing at the first pitch. It was a strike. Now that was scary. That ball was fast. It basically sliced through the air and made a swishing noise. I had no idea what its speed was, but I guess it's faster than one could blink. In fact, the moment I felt the

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pitcher had thrown the ball out, the ball had already landed in the catcher's glove. Did Haruhi actually hit this sort of pitch? The second pitch. Whoa! The ball curved. Is this what they call a curveball? If I ignored it, it would be a ball, but I still swung at it. And so it ended with three consecutive strike outs, and both sides had to switch positions. "You idiot!" When our opponents went to their dugout to take a break, Haruhi yelled furiously at the left field and threw her glove to the ground. This was too embarassing. To be precise, our defense had more holes than you would find in a tropical savannah ant hill. The outfield defense was especially ridiculous. It was perfectly normal for our right fielder Asahina-san and my sister the left fielder to not catch any balls at all, this I could tell from their pre-match warm ups. So when the ball flew to the right field, it had to be retrieved by me the second baseman; when it flew to the left field, Taniguchi the short stop would have to run for his life to retrieve the ball. Whenever Asahina-san sees the ball flying towards her, she would kneel down and cover her head with her glove, so don't expect her to do any defending. As for my sister, she would chase the ball happily, but the ball would always land three feet away from where she was standing, so she wasn't of much help either. Nagato the center fielder was flawless when catching the ball, but she only reacted to those that flew within her defensive perimeters, and her reactions were just dead slow. If a line drive flew past her, our opponent would have scored a run already. ......Might as well hurry up and lose so we can go home already! That wouldn't be too bad.

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"C'mon! Bring it on!" Only Haruhi walked enthusiastically towards the pitcher's mound. The gloves, shin guards and chest protector for our catcher Koizumi were of course all borrowed. Our opponent's first batter bowed to the organizers, then headed to the batter's box. Haruhi slung her arm and made her first pitch. Strike. It was a very good strike, be it the angle, speed or control of the ball. The ball landed right in the center of the strike zone. The strike had so much power that the batter didn't even have a chance to swing his bat. Of course, the SOS Brigade members, including myself, weren't surprised by this. If this girl were suddenly called up to the Japanese National Soccer Team, I think we won't be too shocked about it. There was nothing which was impossible for Haruhi. It wasn't that simple for the opponent's first batter, though. He couldn't swing his bat for two consecutive strikes, and only managed to react for the third pitch, but he still struck out. It seems like one of those changeup balls that curves slightly when entering the strike zone, it was as unpredictable as Haruhi's personality. The second batter listened to the suggestions of the first batter, who never managed a hit, and tried to bunt. Yet he hit the ball outside the foul line twice and missed the third pitch, so he was struck out as well. Seeing how the situation was beginning to change, even I was feeling uneasy. Both teams weren't going to drag on like this till the last inning, were they? As expected from their clean-up man, the third batter made a direct hit on Haruhi's powerful fastball. If you keep pitching fastballs, it's only a matter of time before it gets hit.

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The ball flew way past the head of Nagato, who remain rooted there, and disappeared into the distance. With the look of Medea who had just been betrayed by Jason, Haruhi looked intently at the third batter who had just hit a home run. Anyway, we were now one run behind as a result. The fourth batter managed to hit a double; while the fifth batter took advantage of an error from Kunikida, and our opponents ended up taking the first and third; the sixth batter scored a second run by hitting the ball out into the right field; the seventh batter hit the ball towards third base, the ball was picked up and quickly thrown home by Tsuruya-san, tagging the runner out. This ended the first inning. At the end of the first inning, the score was 2-0. I never thought we would have fought this valiantly, though it'll give me more of a headache. Just hurry up and let them score ten runs so we can go home already! At the start of the second inning, our fifth to seventh batters - my sister, Koizumi and Kunikida - were all struck out consecutively, we have already entered the second half of the inning before we could even draw our breath. Our opponent seems to have identified the outfield as our main weakness, and it became obvious that they were targeting the ball towards that area. Every time Taniguchi and I would run frantically towards the outfield, trying to catch the ball, but our success rate was about 10%, and we were simply exhausted. Oh well, in order to relieve Asahina-san of her pain, running this much was a small price to pay. Since Asahina-san still looked so cute even when being scared senseless. And so our opponent scored five runs in this inning. The score was now 7-0. Just three more runs and it'll be over. We should be able to wrap things up by the next inning, I guess. First half of the third inning. Our turn for offense.

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Tsuruya-san, who tied her long hair behind her head, kept hitting the ball foul. She seems like a very energetic person, but in the end she hit a ball that ended up landing in the catcher's glove. She tapped her helmet with the bat and said, "Sure is hard! Just hitting the ball alone was already tough." Haruhi frowned and seemed to be in deep thought. Whatever she's thinking, it wasn't going to be good. "Hmm, looks like we'll have to use that......" Haruhi murmured and slowly walked to the umpire and said, "Time out!" She then grabbed Asahina-san, who was sitting obediently with a loudspeaker in her hand, by the neck, "Kyaa!" Haruhi dragged the slim figure in the track suit and disappeared behind the bench area. She and Asahina-san were each carrying a large sports bag, I would soon find out what those bags contained. "W,wait...... Suzumiya-san! Nooo......" Besides from Asahina-san's cute screams, the wind blew across the rough voice of Haruhi yelling away, "Hurry up and take it off! Now put this on!" Here we go again. And so, when Asahina-san reappeared, she was dressed in the most appropriate attire for this situation. She wore a sleeveless shirt with bright blue and white colours, coupled with a mini-skirt, she even had two yellow pompoms. Such an impeccable cheerleader. Where did she get this costume from? What a mystery.

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"She looks gorgeous..." Kunikida said enjoyably. "Mikuru, can I take some pictures of you like that?" Tsuruya-san giggled and took out her digital camera phone. By the way, Haruhi was also dressed as a cheerleader. Wouldn't it be fine if only she were to wear that...... I didn't think like that then. To be honest, Asahina-san just looked too cute in that cheerleader costume, though she'd look cute in anything. "I wonder if you'll look better with a ponytail?" Haruhi caressed Asahina-san's hair and attempted to tie her hair behind the back of her head. When she noticed that I was watching, she scowled her mouth like a duck's beak and gave up tying the hair. "Then, let's get to work!" "Eh? W,w,what do we do?" "We do this!" Haruhi went behind Asahina-san and lifted her weak, pale arms, then began to swing then up and down. Such unbelievable choreography. Haruhi yelled loudly by Asahina-san's ear, "Scream! Scream loudly!" "Wah...... Everyone, please do you best and score a run! Everyone...... Do your best!" Asahina-san was forced to yell in such a pretentious way. At least Taniguchi was fired up by this, as he swung the bat with vigor, preparing to get on base. However, I have a feeling no matter how hard he tries, he's never going to hit the opponent's pitches. As expected, Taniguchi returned dejected to the bench in no time. "Man, this is hard."

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And so, the batters position was rotated and Haruhi once again went to the batting zone. In that cheerleader costume of hers. It was quite a feast for the eyes when Haruhi and Asahina-san once dressed up as bunny girls, and right now their costumes was just as distracting. Our opponents already didn't know where to look. Asahina-san was perfect in every way; while besides her personality, Haruhi was equally flawless - in both her looks and her figure. Haruhi took full advantage of the opponent pitcher's error and made a hit, striking the ball towards the center field past the second base. During the confusion of the opponent's trying to scramble the ball back infield, she had already taken third base. The third baseman's eyes were looking in a suspicious angle when Haruhi slid towards the third base. The next batter was a pretty cheerleader girl whose charms far surpass Haruhi's. Asahina-san held the bat with trepidation. Under the watchful glare of many guys (myself included), her face blushed furiously red in embarassment. Such a great scene. The pitcher was so distracted he could only throw a weak pitch, but Asahina-san still didn't swing her bat. The opponent even deliberately threw an easy-to-hit curveball. "Yah!" Her eyes were shut when she swung her bat, so a ball that could have been easily hit wasn't even scratched at all.

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And so, Asahina-san was once again one pitch away from being struck out. At this moment, Haruhi began swinging her arms while standing on the third base. What was she doing? "She seems to be making a signal." Koizumi came and explained. "Did we even have signals to begin with?" "No. But from this situation, I can more or less imagine Suzumiya-san would resort to using signals. She's probably trying to call for a squeeze." "Signing for a squeeze with two outs? Even a lame duck coach can do better than that." "I deduce that she probably believes the chances of Asahina-san scoring a run is near zero, so she decided to employ a squeeze play, which would result in the infielders making an error; or perhaps if Asahina-san does manage to hit the ball, she might be able to do something as well?" "The thing is that our opponent has figured that out already." The infielders have all gone into defensive positions and were prepared. What signals was Haruhi making? It just looked like she was signalling to hit the ball. In the end, the squeeze play failed miserably. Asahina-san did't even know what squeeze play was, so she could only tilt her head and wonder what Haruhi's signals meant. She was eventually struck out. Asahina-san lowered her head and returned to the bench, with the look of a puppy who had just enraged her master. Haruhi called her over, "Mikuru-chan, come over here, and close your jaws tightly." "Wah~~......"

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Haruhi pinched hardly the sides of Asahina-san's trembling cheeks with both her hands, "This is your punishment! Let everyone see that cute face of yours." "Ah...... Ah......" "Are you an idiot?" I knocked on Haruhi's head with my loudspeaker, "It's your fault for making such funny signals. Why don't you go steal home plate yourself, you moron?" Suddenly, Beep beep beep! Koizumi took out a cell phone from his track suit pocket, and frowned after looking at the LCD screen. Asahina-san looked shocked and pressed her left ear with her hand while looking off into the distance. Nagato turned and looked vertically upwards into the sky. When everyone else went to their defensive positions, Koizumi called me back, "Something's come up." I didn't want to know, but I'll hear what you have to say. "A Sealed Dimension has appeared. Probably the largest we've ever seen, and it's expanding at a very rapid rate." Sealed Dimension. A grey world which I was too familiar with. How could I forget? Thanks to being trapped in that gloomy dimension, I now have to carry a mental scar for the rest of my life. Koizumi continued to smile,

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"That's how it is. Sealed Dimensions are created as a result of the pressure being subconsciously emitted by Suzumiya-san. Right now Suzumiya-san is very frustrated, which explains the appearance of one right now. Unless her mood improves, this Sealed Dimension is going to keep expanding, and the 'Avatars' which you're so familiar with will wreak havoc on everything." "......You're saying Haruhi's getting moody because the team's losing? She can get so frustrated as to create such a retarded dimension?" "Seems to be the case." "She's so full of it!" Koizumi made no comment but simply smiled at me. I sighed and said, "This is so annoying." Koizumi looked at me and said, "What's the point in saying this now? You sound as though it has nothing to do with you. This is a serious incident, and you have a lot to do with it. Weren't our positions decided through lottery?" "It was decided through lottery, so what?" "And you were chosen as the clean-up." "I don't feel glad at all with that." "Suzumiya-san wouldn't care less about whether you felt glad or pressurized by it. The thing is that you were chosen as the clean-up." "Can you please explain in a language I can understand?" "Simple. Because this is what Suzumiya-san wishes, that's why you were chosen as the fourth batter. This is not coincidental. She wishes for you to perform the role of the clean-up, but right now she is very disappointed that you have failed to live up to her expectations."

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"Well, sorry about that." "Hmm, I'm troubled by it as well. At this rate, Suzumiya-san's mood would continue to deteriorate, and the Sealed Dimension would continue to expand," "......Then what should I do?" "Do well in the game. If possible, score a long run; or better still, a home run, especially those that fly very far off. How about scoring a very long run, and even smashing the score board at the far side of the field?" "Don't be ridiculous. I only score home runs in video games. How am I supposed to make such powerful swings?" "We all sincerely hope that you can do it." No matter how much you hope, I'm neither a god nor an elf, how was I going to find a solution? "Then try your best to prevent the opponent from ending the game within this inning. (In this tournament, when the score difference is ten runs, the game would end.) If the game ends here, then it'll be the end for the world as well. No matter what, we must limit their score in this half to within two runs." Koizumi said in a very serious manner which didn't fit in with this atmosphere. The second half of the third inning began. Haruhi walked towards the pitcher's mound in her cheerleader costume. Asahina-san also wore her cheerleader costume and went to the right field. Haruhi revealed her arms and legs without hesitation, and ignored any runners on base while still throwing her pitches from the set. The first batter struck the ball and it flew right in front of Nagato's face. She made the out, but she didn't even look at the fly ball hit by the second batter. When the ball rolled from the left field into the center field, he had already run to third base.

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Haruhi's pitches were still full of power, but as she kept throwing fastballs, they were bound to get hit. As expected from the defending champions, they then scored two runs by making two hits and taking advantage of an error from Kunikida. The situation was now becoming critical. There were already runners standing on first and second base. Just one more run and this game would have to end forcefully, and no one will know what will happen to this world. Whack! The white ball flew high and drifted towards the right field. Asahina-san stood at where the ball would land, and curled herself in fear. There was no time to think, I ran with my life for the umpteenth time towards the right wing. I've gotta get that ball! I leapt and caught the ball. The ball barely went in through the tip of the glove. "Argh!" I then quickly threw the ball with all my force to Taniguchi, who was standing by at second base. The two runners thought this was going to be a long distance hit and were already going. Taniguchi quickly stepped on second. Double play! Phew, we somehow managed to survive this. How exhausting. "Nice play!" I embraced the praising look of Asahina-san, while Taniguchi, Kunikida, my sister and Tsuruya-san all mobbed my head with their gloves. I gave them a V-sign while looking at Haruhi's reaction, and saw her carrying a troubled expression as she looked at the score board (which was basically a movable white board). I sat on the bench and covered my face with a towel. Koizumi now walked towards me, "Continuing where we left off," I really didn't want to hear this.

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"There is a solution to this. When you and Suzumiya-san went to that world, how did you manage to return?" Like I said, stop making me think of that again. "If you use that method you used back then, we might be able to improve the situation." "I refuse." Heh heh heh Koizumi giggled. Now that laughing noise of his sure pissed me off. "I knew you would say that. Then how about this? It'll be fine as long as we win this game. I've already thought of a good idea, it should be able to work, since she shares a common interest with us." Koizumi grinned softly and headed towards Nagato, who was standing in the white on-deck circle staring blankly into the distance. He then mumbled something to the side of Nagato's ear, whose short hair seemed to wave slightly. Suddenly, Nagato turned her head and looked at me with her emotionless eyes. Does that mean she agreed to it? She nodded her head like a puppet whose strings had just snapped, and walked in strides towards the strike zone. I turned my gaze leftwards and saw Asahina-san staring at Nagato, "Nagato-san...... She's finally......" She said with a pale expression, which made me concerned, "What's she doing?" "Nagato-san seems to be chanting incantations." "Incantations? What the hell's that?" "Um...... That's classified information."

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I'm sorry. Asahina-san gestured as she lowered her head. That's fine, it can't be helped if it's classified information. Sigh, looks like that surreal stuff was about to happen again. I had a firsthand experience with Nagato's incantations. It was a very hot May evening, if Nagato hadn't barged into the classroom that day, I would now be taking a long nap in my grave. At that time Nagato was also chanting something very quickly, and defeated the person who was trying to kill me. Ah yes, Nagato was still wearing glasses back then. What was she trying to do this time? Then I understood at once. The bat swung, it was a home run. Nagato seemed to have just casually swung the bat, and struck the center of the pitcher's fastball. The ball flew high up above the field, and finally disappeared at the back of the wall. I turned my gaze towards my teammates. Koizumi grinned elegantly and nodded to me; Asahina-san looked a bit stiff, but wasn't surprised; while my sister and Tsuruya-san simply exclaimed, "Wow......" The others simply dropped their jaws and went into shock. Of course, it was the same for our opponents. Haruhi leapt joyously towards the home plate and tapped on the helmet of Nagato, who had just circled all the bases with a blank expression. "That was amazing! Where'd you get so much power from?" Haruhi pulled and twisted Nagato's tiny arms excitedly. Nagato still remained expressionless and allowed Haruhi to have her way. A while later, Nagato walked towards the bench and handed the bat to me,

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"This," She pointed to the old baseball bat and said, "Alteration in boost attribute data." "What's that mean?" I asked. Nagato looked at me for some time and said, "Homing mode." She only said those words and walked back to the bench and sat at the corner, picking up a very thick book lying by the side and began to read it. The score was now 9-1. It was the first half of the fourth inning. Looks like this'll be the last inning. The opposing pitcher still hasn't recovered from the previous shock, but still managed to throw a good fastball towards me. Now I finally understood the meaning of Nagato's words. "Whoa!" The bat moved on its own, my arms and shoulders were simply dragged along by it. Whack! I originally thought I merely scratched the ball, but I never would have imagined that the ball would have rode the wind and flew far up, it flew over the wall and lawn, and landed on the baseball field next door. It was a home run. I widened my jaw. Homing mode was really incredible...... I threw away the bat, which was now installed with a automatic homing device and acceleration booster, and began to run. As I passed second base I turned to look at the bench. Haruhi's hands were raised up and when our eyes met, she quickly turned away. You ought to celebrate wildly like Tsuruya-san and my sister! I saw Taniguchi and Kunikida looking shocked once

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again, while Asahina-san and Koizumi remained speechless, and our opponents simply exchanged glances with each other. I felt really sorry for them, but the shock suffered by our opponents refused to wear out. Next, my sister walked shakily towards the strike zone. As the helmet was too big for her, nearly half of her face was covered up, so I can't really blame her for not being able to maintain her balance. This trump card I specifically kept just for losing now swung her bat hitting the pitcher's ball, and whacked the ball over the fence. In other words, she too has hit a home run. No matter how crazy things get, there was a limit to ridiculousness. For an 11year-old fifth grade schoolgirl to whack a ball, which was thrown by a college student at the speed of 130 km/h (according to my instincts), over the fence - in reality it was just plain impossible. "That's amazing!" Haruhi never doubted this twisted reality one little bit. She took my sister's hand and danced wildly with her and smiled merrily, "That's an incredible talent! You have a bright future ahead! You'll be in the Baseball League in no time!" My sister let Haruhi swing her around madly while screaming joyously. How should I say this? ......Hmm, the score was now 9-3. I was now sitting on the bench and wrapping my head with my hands. Our home run onslaught continued. The score was now 9-7. Seven continuous home runs in one inning, I guess we've set a new tournament record. After hitting a blast, Taniguchi ran back to the bench saying,

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"I've decided to join the Baseball Team. I never knew I had it in me, I feel that entering Koushien is no longer a dream. I even felt that it was the bat itself that hit the ball!" Next to him, Kunikida also naively said, "Yeah, that's true!" They sure looked excited, while Tsuruya-san slapped the shoulder of Asahina-san, who suddenly felt nervous for no reason, while laughing loudly. I'm glad the three of them are so simple minded. "Now's the time to really show them our colors!" Haruhi lifted the bat and said. Shouldn't this be the pitcher's line? I was beginning to grow tired of the whacking noises, as the balls kept flying towards the scoreboard and bouncing off of it. It was now 9-8. Until now, the opponent has switched three pitchers. I'm sure they didn't want my sympathy, but I still decided to pity them. Poor guys. The batting order rotated once again, and Asahina-san, Nagato and I all made consecutive home runs. Finally the score was reversed 9-11 in our favour. Eleven consecutive home runs...... I began to think that this needs to be stopped quickly, since I've discovered that our opponents weren't looking at us, instead their gazes were concentrated on this baseball bat. Could they have mistaken this for some magic bat? Though it was natural for them to think that way. Before handing the bat to my sister the next batter, I brought Nagato, who was reading her book at the corner of the bench, out for a talk. "This is enough." I said. It was rare to see Nagato's expressionless eyes blinking many times, she normally blinks every ten seconds or so.

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"I see." She replied, then placed her tiny fingers over the tip of the bat I was holding and quickly chanted something. I couldn't hear what was being said, but even if I did, I wouldn't be able to understand anyway. After quickly withdrawing her fingers from the bat, Nagato said nothing and quietly returned to her position on the bench and opened her book again. Argh! When my sister, Koizumi and Kunikida went up to strike again, it was as though their previous home runs never happened, as they all missed the ball and were all struck out consecutively. In fact, this was all due to cheating through advanced technology. I forgot to mention, there's a time limit of ninety minutes for the games in this tournament, this rule was inevitable if the organizers wanted to complete all the matches within the day. And so, there would be no next inning for this game. We'll win this game if it ends at the second half of the fourth inning. Must we really win this? "We have to," Koizumi said, "My colleagues have called, they say thanks to our efforts, the Sealed Dimension seems to have ceased expanding. Though it may have stopped growing, the 'Avatars' are still there, so we still need to think of an idea to clean up this mess. But it's definitely good news that the Sealed Dimension has stopped expanding," However, if our opponents managed to turn things around, we would all meet our Waterloo. I was not prepared to use my imagination to guess what mood Haruhi will be in then. "That's why I have a suggestion,"

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Koizumi revealed his white teeth, they were so bright I would recommend him to do a toothbrush commercial, and whispered his suggestion into my ear, "Are you serious?" "I'm very serious. If we are to keep the loss in runs at a minimum, this is the only way. I have to exclaim this once again - Argh! We requested the umpire to allow us to make changes to our fielding lineup. Nagato would replace Koizumi as the catcher, Koizumi would move to the center field, while I swapped positions with Haruhi and was now standing on the pitcher's mound. When Koizumi asked Haruhi to relinquish her pitcher's position, she pouted for a while until she realized that I would be replacing her, to which she gave me a complicated look and said, "......Well, all right then. But if your pitches get hit, you'll have to treat everyone for lunch!" She said while withdrawing to her position on second base. Nagato simply stood there looking dazed, so Koizumi and I had to help her put on her chest protector and shin guards. Was it really appropriate for someone without any emotional upheaval to play the catcher? Nagato walked in strides towards the back of the home plate and knelt down. And so, the match resumed. As we were running out of time, I didn't even have time to warm up my pitching skills. Looks like I'll have to face my first time ever as a pitcher head on with such short notice. Might as well pitch and see what happens. Swoosh!

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The ball which I spent all my strength pitching landed into Nagato's glove without any force. Bad ball. "Be serious!" The one yelling wildly was Haruhi. I'm always dead serious. This time I decided to try a curveball. Second pitch. I really wish my opponents could be fooled by me once in a while, but to no avail. The bat swerved hardly towards my powerless ball. It's over. My pitch was just not good enough...... "Strike one!" The umpire announced loudly. The batter completely missed the ball. A strike was inevitable, yet the batter looked at Nagato's glove in disbelief. I understood how he felt. His reaction was expected, as my weak pitch suddenly lowered its flight path by about thirty centimeters just before it was hit by the bat, no one was going to believe that just hearing it. "......" Nagato remained squatted and only moved her fingers slightly to send the ball back to me. I received the wobbling ball, then went into my pitching stance again. No matter how many times I pitched, I could only manage a semi-straight ball. The third pitch was wide off the mark - it was supposed to be like that, but after flying for a few yards the ball corrected its route and bent sharply, totally ignoring the laws of inertia, gravity and aerodynamics. It even accelerated as it charged into the catcher's glove. Smack! Nagato's frail body shook a little bit. The batter now widened his eyes, even the umpire was speechless for a moment. After a while, he announced not quite so confidently,

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"Strike two!" This was getting out of hand, hurry up and finish this! I was already beginning to slack off as I pitched wildly without even aiming or putting any strength into the pitch. Yet, if the batter didn't swing his bat, my pitches would always end up as a strike; if he attempted to swing the bat, he would end up missing the ball without even brushing its surface. The secret lies with Nagato making her incantations every time I pitched. As this secret was so big, not even I knew how it works exactly. Perhaps she did the same thing to the bat as when she saved my life and made the classroom reappear, altering its data. Thanks to this, I now felt like pitching towards an electric fan. Today's MVP has got to be Nagato Yuki. Very soon our opponent suffered two strike outs, and their third batter was now one strike away from being struck out as well. Was it okay for me to play such a decisive character so easily? I'm so sorry, Kamigahara Pirates. I neither exerted a lot of force, nor did I made any special considerations as I threw my final pitch towards the pale-faced batter. The ball changed course and flew towards the strike zone. The batter swung his bat with all his might. The ball changed direction again and became a rising fastball. The bat swerved one round again, leaving a residual image in the air. Three strike outs. Phew, it's finally over...... Or not. "!" The ball kept bouncing towards the nettting behind the catcher. Maybe the pitch was too smooth and went slightly out of control after bending. It tapped off Nagato's

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glove, and the magic ball (according to me anyway) bounced up like a foulball behind home plate and rolled towards an impossible angle. A wild pitch. The batter took this golden opportunity and sprinted quickly. Yet Nagato still held her glove and remain fixed on her position squatting aimlessly. "Nagato! Go pick up the ball!" Nagato looked expressionlessly at me giving a command, and she slowly stood up and walked towards the rolling ball. The batter has stepped on first base and was about to get into second base. "Hurry!" Haruhi stood at second base waving her glove frantically. Nagato finally caught up with the ball and picked up the soft baseball as though she were examining a turtle egg, and turned to look at me. "Second base!" I pointed to the direction behind me, where Haruhi was yelling. Nagato nodded "slightly" at me in centimeters...... Swoosh! A white beam flashed past my head, taking a few strands of my hair. I then saw the glove fly off from Haruhi's hand. The ball remained squeezed inside the glove as it flew towards the center field, I then realized Nagato merely moved her wrist a little when she threw that. After seeing the glove vanish suddenly from her hand, Haruhi widened her eyes. As for the batter, perhaps the sight was just too horrifying for him, he was lying on all fours before he reached second base.

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Koizumi the center fielder picked up the glove and took out the ball, then walked over carrying that universal smile of his. He then touched the ball on the batter, while apologizing at the same time, "I'm really sorry. We just happen to be quite a disorganized group," Don't include me in that illogical group as well. I thought as I sighed deeply. The game was over. The players of the Kamigahara Pirates all broke into tears. I wasn't sure what was going on, maybe they were worried about being berated by their team's graduated seniors? Or perhaps they were just gutted at losing to what was mostly a female ragtag high school squad that even has an elementary schoolgirl in it? Or maybe it's even both? On the other hand, without even standing in the shoes of the vanquished, Haruhi looked absolutely delighted. She carried a bright smile like the one she had when deciding to create the SOS Brigade and said, "We'll go on all the way, and then march into the Summer Koushien! Being the national champion is no longer a dream!" She shouted seriously. Only Taniguchi cheered with her. I wasn't about to break any more sweat, and I'm sure the High School Baseball Federation must be feeling the same. "Great work," Koizumi suddenly appeared by my side, "Speaking of which, what should we do next? Continue with the second game?" I shook my head and said, "To sum it up, if we lose again, Haruhi's gonna be unhappy, right? That also means we'll have to keep on winning, which means we would require help from

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Nagato's magic. It's going to become bothersome if we keep ignoring the laws of physics. Let's forfeit!" "I thought so as well. In fact, I think I'd better go help my colleagues. In order to eliminate the Sealed Dimension, they're still short of people required to beat up the 'Avatars.'" "Say hi to those blue guys for me." "I will. By the way, I've learned from this matter that we must not let Suzumiyasan get bored again. We should seriously consider this fact." "Well, I'm counting on you." Koizumi said, then went to the organizers to request a forfeit. He keeps stuffing me with these troublesome tasks with such a straight face, I really can't stand him anymore. I went to tap Haruhi on the back as she was forcefully making Asahina-san dance crazily with her, "What? You want to dance as well?" "I have something to tell you." I brought Haruhi to the outside of the field, I never thought she would obediently follow though. "Look at them," I pointed to the Kamigahara Pirates players, who were all sitting dejectedly on the bench, "Don't you think they deserve some pity?" "What for?"

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"I believe that they have gone through lots of blood and sweat just to train hard for this day. They have been winners for four consecutive years, I'm sure they're feeling a lot of pressure within them." "So?" "They've probably got bench warmers crying as well. Look at that guy with the marine crew-cut standing behind the side netting, that's the disappointment I'm talking about. Don't you find that sad? He'll probably never get a chance to come on the field again." "And so?" "So let's forfeit!" I said as a matter-of-factly. "You've probably played enough as well right? I don't feel like playing anymore honestly. I'd rather we all have lunch and chat together. Frankly speaking, my limbs are shaking from exhaustion now." It was true. Because I was running between infield and outfield all the time, I was exhausted physically and mentally as well. From being pleased with herself, Haruhi now pouted like Donald Duck and stared quietly at me with her eyes. Just as I was about to lose my breath...... "You're okay with that?" Yup. Asahina-san and Koizumi, maybe even Nagato were feeling the same way as well. My sister has been practicing with her bat swings ever since the beginning, but if you give her a piece of candy, she'll immediately throw away the bat. "Hmph," Haruhi looked at me, then looked at the baseball field. After thinking for a while, or maybe she was pretending to think for a while, she smiled pleasantly at me,

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"All right then, I'm getting hungry anyway, let's have lunch! I never thought baseball would be such a simple sport, we won too easily!" Is that so? I didn't argue with her, and merely shrugged my shoulders. When I proposed to withdraw in favor of them progressing to the next round, the opposing team's captain wept while thanking us gratefully. I felt so guilty seeing him like that, since we had used some very absurd cheating in order to steal this victory. As I was about to leave quickly, the captain called me back, and whispered quietly into my ear, "Say, how much are you willing to sell that bat of yours for?" And so, besides Koizumi, we were now occupying the corner of a restaurant as we munched away at our food. My sister has already got herself entangled with Haruhi and Asahina-san, as she sat between the two of them while eating her hamburger by picking it up with her knife haphazardously; while Taniguchi and Kunikida were seriously discussing about joining the Baseball Team. Sigh, I'd best leave them alone. Meanwhile, Tsuruya-san has now turned her attention towards Nagato, "So you're Nagato Yuki-chi? Mikuru tells me a lot about you." Yet her silent lower classman paid no heed to Tsuruya-san and concentrated on munching her club sandwich. As though she was about to make an important speech, Haruhi announced to everyone that I would be paying. I have never quite understood why Haruhi would make such wild ideas. Since I never really managed to grasp how her mind works, so I wasn't exactly surprised at what's happening everyday. I couldn't even be bothered to protest, as it was too troublesome. That's not all, I even felt relaxed as though a storm has finally subsided.

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All this was due a substantial amount of extra money appearing mysteriously in my pocket. I sincerely pray for the best for the Kamigahara Pirates. A few days later. After school, we gathered as usual in a room inside the clubs complex, and returned to our previous lifestyle, as though the baseball tournament a few days ago never happened. I sipped the brown rice tea Asahina-san, now dressed in her maid costume, brewed for me, while playing Othello with Koizumi. Nagato sat beside us reading her philosophy book she borrowed from the library, which was as thick as a dictionary. By the way, Asahina-san wore today's costume as per our request. After all, doesn't it just feel better to be served by a maid than by a nurse? Asahina-san held the tray tightly and watched pleasantly at our battle on the board. This tranquility was no different from before. And the one destroying this peacefulness, drowning it in the wild torrents of time would always be Suzumiya Haruhi. "Sorry, I'm late!" Haruhi apologized insincerely while creeping in like a winter drift. The sparkling grin that she wears on her face just gives me the creeps. For some reason, every time she smiles like that, I would sense a scheme from her that would make me even more exhausted physically and mentally. What an incredible world. Just as I expected, Haruhi asked ambiguously, "Which is better?" I placed down my black Othello piece on the board, and after flipping over two of Koizumi's white pieces, I said,

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"What do you mean which?" "These." I reluctantly received two pieces of paper Haruhi handed me. Not flyers again. I took a quick glance at both sheets. One was a notice for a grass-field soccer tournament, while the other was one for a grass-field American football tournament. I secretly cursed the person who took the time to print these flyers from the bottom of my heart. "Actually, I never wanted to join the baseball tournament, but had wanted to choose from these two instead, but the baseball one was held earlier. So Kyon, which do you think is better?" With a gloomy heart, I slowly moved my gaze across the club room. Koizumi made a small grimace and toyed with the Othello piece in his finger; Asahina-san shook her head constantly, her face nearly in tears, while Nagato simply continued to read her book, occasionally flipping the pages with her fingers. "Oh yeah, how many people do we need for a soccer or American football team? Would the people from the baseball tournament be enough?" I looked at Haruhi's beaming smile and wondered, "Which game requires fewer players?"

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Chapter 2 Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody

The month of May was already hot enough, but July was just unbearable. The humidity was even worse, raising my unhappiness index to record high levels. There was no chance a cheap high school building like ours would be installed with such high class devices like air conditioning. The sizzling 1-5 classroom was like the waiting room for the bus to hell. I firmly believed the architect had no concept of what comfortable living environment meant. To make things worse, this week was the first week of the July term-end exams, the joyfulness of my heart had gone on to linger around Brazil, not wanting to come back yet. My mid-term exam results were already disastrous, so I can't imagine my termend exam would ever have a satisfying result. This was most likely due to me spending too much time with the SOS Brigade, and not being able to concentrate on my studies as a result. I didn't want to have anything to do with that, but ever since spring this year, whenever Haruhi makes a suggestion, I would mysteriously follow

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her around. This has become part of my daily life, and I'm beginning to hate myself for getting used to this life. It was after school when the sun shone in from the west into the classroom. The girl sitting behind me poked my back with her mechanical pencil. "Do you know what day is today?" Suzumiya Haruhi asked me with the delightful look of a kid on Christmas Eve. Whenever she reveals such a detailed expression, it was the sign that she was probably up to something mischeivous. I pretended to think for about three seconds, and then said, "Your birthday?" "No!" "Asahina-san's birthday." "No~~pe!" "Koizumi's or Nagato's birthday." "How should I know when their birthdays are!?" "By the way, my birthday's on......" "Who cares about that? You really don't know what an important day this is?" No matter how important you say it is, it's still a very hot, normal day for me. "Tell me, what's the date today?" "July 7th......I don't really want to think about it, but you're not thinking of the Tanabata festival, are you?" "Of course I am! It's the Tanabata festival! You ought to remember if you even call yourself a Japanese." This festival actually originated from China. And according to the Chinese calendar, Tanabata should be next month.

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Haruhi held the mechanical pencil and waved it in front of my face, "Asia ranges from the Red Sea all the way to here." What kind of geographical concept is that? "Don't they group all those places together for the World Cup Qualifiers? It's just like July and August, they're both summer months." Oh, really? "Whatever. Anyway we've got to hold a Tanabata activity as well. I insist that this festival be treated seriously." I felt there were other things that deserved to be treated seriously more than this. But do you really have to tell me this? I don't really want to know what you're planning to do. "It'll be more fun if we hold it together. I hereby announce, we shall organize something big for Tanabata every year from this year onwards." "Don't decide this on your own." Though I had said that, seeing that Haruhi was looking extraordinarily excited, I knew it was a stupid thing to try and refute her. "Wait for me in the club room! Don't go home on your own!" She even said. I didn't need her to tell me, I was planning to go to the club room anyway. Because there exists a person that I must at least look at once. Just that person alone. The other members were already gathered in the club room, which was located on the second floor of the arts clubhouse. Instead of calling it the club room the SOS Brigade rented from the Literature Club, it would be a better description to call it the de-facto headquarters that the brigade has forcibly occupied. "Oh, hello."

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The one who smiled and greeted me cheerfully was Asahina-san. She is the source of my heart's comfort, without her, the SOS Brigade would be as meaningless as curry rice without any curry cubes added. Since July, Asahina-san had changed to a summer maid costume. It was Haruhi that brought her the costume, I have absolutely no idea where she got all these colourful costumes from, while Asahina-san would always thank her intently, "Ah......t...thank you very much." Today she was still the SOS Brigade's reserve maid, diligently brewing wheat tea for me. I sipped my tea and studied the room surroundings. "Hey, how're things going?" Koizumi looked up and greeted me. He was sitting in front of a chess board, which was laid on the table, and was holding a chess book on one hand while moving the chess pieces with the other. "Things have never been normal for me ever since I entered high school." Koizumi said he was tired of Othello, so decided to bring a chess board last week. But since I nor anyone else knew how to play chess, he had to play all on his own. He sure looks relaxed even though the exams are coming up. "Well, I'm not exactly that relaxed. I'm just making use of the time when I'm not studying to exercise my brain. For every problem solved, the blood circulation in the brain would flow faster. How about a game?" No thanks, I don't feel like exercising my already exhausted brain right now. If I think of any more weird stuff, then all those English words that I've spent a hard time memorizing will be ejected from my brain.

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"That's a pity. Maybe I should bring a Monopoly or Battleship board next time? Ah yes, how about something which all of us can play in? What do you have in mind?" Whatever, or maybe not. This isn't the Board Game Study Group, this is the SOS Brigade. By the way, I'm still mystified as to what activities the SOS Brigade are involved in. I wasn't sure what this mysterious club should be doing. Neither did I want to know, since not knowing anything enhances my chances of survival. So I was not motivated to do anything, that is my perfect logic. Koizumi shrugged his shoulders and went back to study his chess book. He picked up the black knight and moved it across the board. Sitting besides Koizumi, with less emotions than a robot was Nagato Yuki, who was busy reading her book. This silent and cold alien has shifted her interests from translated novels to original foreign-language novels. Right now she was reading a book, whose cover was scribbled in a language I could not recognize, like one of those old, thick magical spell books. I guessed it must be written in ancient Etruscan or some other strange language. I'm sure Nagato would have no problem reading those Linear A stone tablets. I pulled out a foldable chair and sat on it. Asahina-san quickly delivered a cup in front of me. Who would drink hot tea in such a hot day...... I have no intention of making a complaint which would incur the wrath of the heavens, and sipped my wheat tea with a sense of gratefulness. Hmm, it's boiling hot. Standing in the corner of the room was an electric fan which Haruhi nicked from somewhere. Yet its cooling effects were like pouring hot water over a pile of sizzling hot rocks at best. If you can nick, why can't you nick one of those vertical air coolers from the staff room instead?

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I turned my gaze away from the English textbook, whose pages flickered along the wind, arched my back on the foldable chair and stretched myself. Knowing very well that I'm not going to study when I go home, I had wanted to see if it would be better for me to study in the club room after school, but I realized that as long as I wasn't interested in something, then there's no way I could ever get it done, no matter where I was. It won't be good physically or mentally to force myself to do something I don't want to do. In other words, it is healthier if you don't force yourself. That's it, I'm not studying. I spun my automatic pen and closed my book, and decided to have a look at my mental stabilizer. The stabilizer which could sooth my cynical heart was now dressed in a maid costume and sitting opposite of me, working out her math problems. Looking intently at the questions, then scribbling away on the notebook; looking nonchalant while thinking, then suddenly writing like mad as though inspired by something - repeatedly performing these actions was none other than Asahina-san. I felt so much more relaxed just by looking. I suddenly felt a great sense of pity, as if throwing all my money, apart from my allowance, into a charity box in the street wasn't that much of a problem. Asahina-san didn't notice I was looking at her, and concentrated on studying her math. Her every action was enough to make me smile, in fact, I was already smiling. I felt like looking at a baby seal. Our eyes met. "Ah, w, what is it? D, did I do something strange?" Asahina-san frantically tidied herself all over, this made my heart melt even more. Just as I was about to sing my angelic praises...... "Ya-ho!" The door was violently opened, in rushed the rough girl walking in strides.

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"Sorry, I was late." There's no need to apologize, since no one was waiting for you. Haruhi appeared with a scene, carrying a piece of bamboo shoot on her shoulder. It was a long piece of live bamboo stick, with green bamboo leaves growing on it. What are you bringing this thing here for? To make a bamboo piggy-bank? Haruhi puffed her chest and replied, "Why, it's for hanging wishes, of course." Why? What for? "Nothing really, since I haven't hung these wishing bamboo sticks for a long time, so we might as well have one now, it's Tanabata today, after all!" ......As usual, this had no meaning whatsoever. "Where'd you get this?" "The bamboo forest at the back of the school." If I remember correctly, that's private territory, you bamboo thief. "Does it really matter? The bamboo roots are grown underground, they wouldn't be affected even if the top half of the shoot was cut off! It'll be an offence if I stole the whole shoot though. I got bitten by a few mosquitoes though, man it's so itchy. Mikuru-chan, can you put some anti-itching cream on my back?" "Yes, right away!" Asahina-san walked in small steps carrying a first aid kit, she looked just like a nurse trainee. She took out the ointment, then placed her hand into the collar of the sailor uniform and onto Haruhi's back. Haruhi bent forward and said, "A bit to the right......too right. Yes, right there." Haruhi now looked like a kitty cat whose chin was being cuddled and blinked her eyes relaxingly. She placed the bamboo shoot by the window side, and calmly stood

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on the commander's desk, then took out a few pieces of tanzaku from nowhere and smiled very happily, "Then, let's write down our wishes!" Nagato slowly lifted her head, Koizumi smiled squeamishly, and Asahina-san widened her eyes. What was she up to this time? Haruhi leaped from the desk, her skirt fluttered along the wind as she said, "But there are conditions." "What conditions?" "Kyon, do you know who it is that grants people wishes on Tanabata?" "Isn't it Orihime and Hikoboshi?" "Correct. That's ten points. Then, do you know which stars Orihime and Hikoboshi are referring to?" "Nope." "Is it the Alpha Lyrae and Alpha Aquilae?" Koizumi answered quickly. "That's right! 85 points! That's the two stars! In other words, you must point the bamboo shoot carrying the tanzakus towards these two stars. Understood?" What are you trying to say? And just which category did the remaining 15 points belong to? Heh heh. Haruhi suddenly gave a sly expression for no reason. "Let me explain. There's no way we could travel faster than the speed of light, according to the Special Theory of Relativity." Is there a meaning in telling me this all of a sudden? Haruhi took out a note cue from her skirt pocket and said loudly while reading along it,

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"Just to let you know. The distance between the Earth and the Alpha Lyrae and Alpha Aquila are twenty-five and sixteen lightyears respectively. This means it would take twenty-five years and sixteen years to send a message from Earth to those stars. These are the facts - you get it?" Then what? Speaking of which, you actually bothered to research such information? "So this would equal the time required for a god to receive our wishes, right? We would have to wait for that long in order to get our wishes granted. So write down what you would wish for in twenty-five or sixteen years' time! Writing wishes like 'I wish to have a hunk of a boyfriend by next Christmas!' is not going to work, because the wish won't be granted on time!" Haruhi waved her arms greatly and continued to explain. "Hang on, if it takes twenty-odd years for the wish to reach there, wouldn't it take just as long for it to come back? Doesn't that mean we have to wait fifty years and thirty-two years respectively for our wishes to come true instead?" "Well, they're gods. Of course they're going to come up with something in order to help us. There's always a 50% off auction sale once every year!" Whenever it suited her, she would disregard the Laws of Relativity completely and throw them out of the window. "Now, does everyone understand what I'm saying? There are two types of tanzakus, one for the Alpha Lyrae, and the other for Alpha Aquilae. So please write down what you would wish for in twenty-five years and sixteen years' time." That's utterly ridiculous. Trying to pray for two wishes to be granted at the same time is just too shameless. Besides, there's no way we would know what we'll be doing in twenty-five years or sixteen years' time. How should we know what wishes

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we'll have by then now? The best one could do is wish that their retirement scheme or investment funds don't go wrong and are working properly by then, I guess. If Orihime and Hikoboshi were to hear such wishes, I'm sure they'll suffer headaches. They can only meet each other once every year, and yet they're being asked to grant such silly wishes. Why don't you ask your own politicians to help instead? If I were them, I would definately say that. However, as always, this girl was thinking up all sorts of nonsensensical stuff. I can't help but wonder if there's a white hole inside her head, since her common sense seems to come from a different universe altogether. "Well, that's not entirely true." Koizumi actually sounded like he was defending Haruhi. But he said it very softly which only I could hear. "It's true that Suzumiya-san's speech and behaviour are unique, but judging from the present situation, it's clear that she knows what common sense is." Koizumi revealed his usual cheerful smile to me and continued, "If her thought patterns were abnormal, then this world wouldn't be so stable. If that were the case, this world would have already become a strange one dictated by very peculiar rules." "How do you know that?" I asked. "Suzumiya-san wishes that the whole world would change a bit, and she herself possesses the power to reconstruct the world from scratch. You should know very well." Of course I knew. Though I had doubts. "Yet so far the world has not gone completely irrational, this is because she values common sense more than her own wishes."

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"This may sound childish, but," Koizumi lifted his head and said, "Let's take an example, she wishes for Santa Claus to exist. From common knowledge, Santa Claus doesn't exist. Because considering Japan alone, it's just not possible for someone to enter a locked house in the middle of the night, leave a present then leave without ever being detected. How does Santa Claus know what every child wants for Christmas? And there's no way he could leave a present in the house of every child around the world in the space of one night. It's physically impossible." For someone to actually consider these things seriously, they must truly be mental. "Exactly, so that is why Santa Claus could not exist." The reason I rebutted him was because he was standing on Haruhi's side, and that really pisses me off. So I raised my question, "If you're right, doesn't that mean it's impossible for aliens, time travellers and espers to exist? Then how come you're here?" "Which is why I could imagine, Suzumiya-san feels very uncomfortable with the common sense that exists within her. Her common sense has once and again rejected her wish - that is to have a world where supernatural occurrences are the norm." Does that mean her wild thoughts have a slight edge over her common sense? "Perhaps she was unable to suppress those thoughts, which was why I, Asahinasan and Nagato-san were summoned to her side, and why I was granted supernatural powers. Though I'm not sure what you would think of it." It's best to remain unsure. At least I'm not like you, I'm fully aware that I'm a normal human being. But I have no way of knowing if that's a blessing or a curse.

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"Hey you! No talking in private! I'm discussing something serious here!" Not pleased that we were whispering among ourselves, Haruhi's eyes become triangular shaped as she glared and shouted at us. So we had to obediently receive the tanzakus and pencils from Haruhi and returned to our seats. Haruhi hummed and begun writing; Nagato sat still and stared at the tanzaku; while Asahina-san had the troubled expression of encountering something harder than a difficult math problem. Koizumi said in a relaxed manner, "Hmm, now that's a bother", while tilting his head in deep thought. Do you three really need to think so seriously for such a matter? Wouldn't it be easier to just take it easy and write whatever you like? ......And don't tell me that the wishes you wrote are going to become true! I spun the pencil around my fingers and looked aside. The bamboo shoot that Haruhi "stolen" was lying out of the opened window, its leaves look messed up as a result. The occasional breeze made a ruffling noise among the leaves, making one feel cool and relaxed at once. "Is everyone done?" Haruhi's voice brought my soul back to reality. On the table in front of her were two notes that read:

"Let the world revolve around me as its centre!"

"I wish the earth would rotate backwards."

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It was full of what a spoilt mishievous kid would write. It would have been fine if it were meant as a joke, yet Haruhi looked so dead serious when she hanged her tanzakus on the bamboo leaf

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It was full of what a spoilt mishievous kid would write. It would have been fine if it were meant as a joke, yet Haruhi looked so dead serious when she hanged her tanzakus on the bamboo leaf. Asahina-san wrote in her cute and tidy handwriting:

"I wish my sewing would improve"

"I wish my cooking would improve"

The wishes Asahina-san made were just too adorable. She clasped her palms and prayed at the tanzakus that she hung on the bamboo leaf. I think she must have got something wrong. There was nothing interesting on Nagato's tanzakus, writing in a very regular font, she wrote abstract monotonous words such as "harmonize" and "reorganize". Koizumi was no different from Nagato, writing in a scribbled handwriting, he wrote simple phrases like "world peace" and "fraternal family". What about me? Mine was simple as well. Since it's twenty-five and sixteen years in the future, I would be an old geezer by then, so I guess the future me would wish for the following:

"I want money"

"I want a detached house with a garden where I can give a dog a bath"

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"Such boring wishes!" Haruhi declared her thoughts looking astonished after seeing my notes. She was the least qualified to feel surprise by my wishes. In the long term, my wishes are far healthier than one that asking the earth to rotate backwards! "Forget it! Everyone, make sure you remember the wishes that you've written down! The first key period would be sixteen years from now. Let's have a race to see whose wish the Alpha Aquilae would grant first!" "Ah......sure, of course." I looked as Asahina-san nodded her head with a serious expression as I sat on the foldable chair. When I looked carefully, Nagato had returned to her world of books already. Haruhi stuck the long bamboo shoot out of the window and then put it in a firm position. She then pulled a chair besides the window and sat on it. She placed her elbow on the window frame and looked up at the sky. The side of her face looked a little bit melancholic, as though not knowing what to do next. She is the sort of person whose mood swings very rapidly, and she was yelling so excitedly a while ago. I opened my text book, and began my attempt to tackle the exams once more. As I tried to memorize the different types of adjectives, "......Sixteen years huh? That's a long time." I heard Haruhi mutter under her breath behind me. Nagato was silently reading her foreign language novel, Koizumi began to play chess on his own, while I was busy trying to memorize my English translations. All this time, Haruhi was sitting by the window and looking up at the sky. She was actually quite a beautiful view to behold if she keeps on sitting there and not move. At

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first I thought that she has decided to take a leaf from Nagato, but somehow the sight of Haruhi sitting there behaving herself just made me even more uneasy. I suspect she was probably sitting there thinking of new things that would give us a major headache. Meanwhile, for some reason, Haruhi looked particularly depressed today. Sometimes she would look into the sky and breathed a deep sigh. This made me shudder even more. This silence was probably the calm before the storm, it's just too terrifying. The Emperor Sutoku was like that for the first two to three days after being exiled to Sanuki. Ruffle I heard the sound of paper ruffling and lifted my head. Sitting opposite of me and working hard on her math problems a while ago, Asahina-san placed a finger on her lips and closed her right eye, she then gave me an extra tanzaku which she took in advance a while ago. Peeping at Haruhi, Asahina-san then retracted her hand and lowered her head with the face of a little girl who had just successfully pulled a prank. My urge to become an accomplice in crime has now fully awakened, I quickly pulled over the tanzaku Asahina-san gave me and read it carefully. "Please stay in the club room after today's activity has ended. - Mikuru-chan" The above message was written on the note in a small and round handwriting. Of course I would comply. "That's it for today." Haruhi said and quickly picked her bag and left the room. She was behaving rather unusual for today. She was like a diesel engine truck that has suddenly become as tame as a solar powered car. Things sure are going fine for me today, I thought. "Then I shall excuse myself as well."

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Koizumi tidied up his chess board and stood up. After exchanging glances with me and Asahina-san, he too left the Literature Club room. Nagato shut her thick book with a loud thud. Oh, so you're leaving as well? Thanks for understanding......Just as I was feeling grateful for her, Nagato walked towards me as silently as a cat. "Take this." She took out a piece of paper. It was another tanzaku. I can't help you send this to space even if you give it to me! I thought to myself as I looked at the tanzaku. Strange geometric shapes were drawn on it. What on earth is this? Some sort of Sumerian language? I'm afraid not even the Enigma machine would be able to decipher the meaning of this message. I frowned and studied to these patterns, which were neither drawings nor words, with triangular, circular and wave-like shapes all over. By now Nagato had turned around to pack her bag, and had left the room already. Forget it. I placed the piece of tanzaku into my jacket pocket, then turned to face Asahina-san. "I, I'm sorry, but I hope you could come with me to a place." This invitation didn't come from anyone else, but from Asahina-san herself. I'll be condemned by the heavens if I turn her down. I'll even jump down a molten iron pit as long as she commands me to. "Sure, where're we going?" "That......um......it's three years ago." I asked for a location, and she answered with a time instead. But...... Not three years ago again? I thought to myself, yet I was suddenly interested. After all, Asahina-san claims to be a time-traveller from an unknown future, though I

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keep forgetting about that since she's just so cute. But three years ago? We're going to three years ago? Does that mean we have to travel through time? "Y......yes." "Sure, I'm more than happy to go, but why me? What're we going to do there?" "That......you'll know when you get there......I think." Huh? Maybe it was the confused look on my face, Asahina-san frantically shook her hands and pleaded me with tears in her eyes, "I beg you! Please don't ask anything and just agree for now! Or I'll be in......um......it will become a problem." "Well......alright, let's go." "Really? Thank you!" Asahina-san was glad and grabbed my hands joyously. Ah, Asahina-san's happiness is my happiness, hahaha!!! Now that I think about it, when Asahina-san declared that she was from the future, there was no one else to verify her claim. It wasn't until when I encountered another grown-up version of Asahina-san that I truly believed her story, yet I still can't deny having suspicions about some sort of conspiracy behind this. Then wouldn't this be a great chance to really proof that "Asahina-san comes from the future"? "So, where's the time machine?" I had thought we only needed to crawl into a drawer, but Asahina-san said there was no such device. Then how were we going to commence time travel? Asahina-san squirmed and clutched her apron, then said, "From here."

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Huh? Here? I turned and looked nonchalantly around the club room, which was empty besides the two of us. "Yes, please sit down. And could you please close your eyes? Yes, relax your shoulders as well." I did as she told me to. I hope I don't get struck on the back of my head suddenly. "Kyon-kun......" Asahina-san suppressed voice came in from behind my ear. Such a soft breath. "I'm sorry." I had a bad feeling about this. As I was about to open my eyes, suddenly everything went dark around me. I was knocked unconscious as I felt a strong nauseating feeling as though losing my balance. Before the darkness came, I thought to myself, I shouldn't have agreed to this if I had known. When I regained my senses, my vision was inverted by 90 degrees. Everything that was supposed to be standing was now lying flat, when I saw the street lamps sticking out from my left side to my right, I realized I was lying down. It was then I felt a warm feeling by the left side of my head. "Oh, you've awaken?" An angelic voice said. I was fully awake now. What was that squirming under my left ear? "Um......if you don't lift your head......then I would be......" Asahina-san sounds troubled. I pulled myself upright and confirmed where I was. A bench in the park at night. What's going on here? I was sleeping on Asahina-san's knees, and because I was sleeping, I have absolutely no memory of it. This is such a pity. "My legs are getting numb already, it's becoming tiring."

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Asahina-san smiled embarassingly and lowered her head. I don't know where she went to get changed, but her maid costume has now been replaced by her North High sailor uniform. There was more than enough time from dusk to late night for her to get changed, yet I had to fall asleep of all times. But, why was I sleeping? "That's because I can't let you know the methods of travelling through time, since that's classified information......are you angry?" No, I'm not angry at all. If it were Haruhi, I'd have already beaten the crap out of her; but since this is Asahina-san, then I wouldn't mind at all. Speaking of which, I was still closing my eyes and sitting on the chair in the club room a while ago, why was I suddenly in the park in the middle of the night now? And I feel like I've been to this park before. I remember Nagato also asked to meet me in this park the other day, is this some holy ground for queer people? I scratched my head, there was something I needed to ask, "What time plane is this?" Sitting besides me, Asahina-san replied, "From our time of origin, it is now July 7th three years ago. It's about nine at night, I guess?" "Is that so? "Yes." She looked serious. I never thought we would come here so easily. Of course, I wasn't naive enough to believe everything she tells me, I would have to confirm first. I'll try calling the time and weather hotline.

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As I was about to tell Asahina-san what I planned to do, my left shoulder suddenly felt heavy. Huh? Asahina-san was now lying her head on my shoulder. An exhausted Asahina-san now leaned over me, what's the meaning behind this? "Asahina-san." No response. "Um......" "(Snore)......" Snoring? I leaned my head forward then turned 85 degrees to the left, and saw Asahina-san closed her eyes, her lips half-opened as she made a quiet snore. What's going on here? Ruffle...... The bushes behind suddenly ruffled. I felt my heart leaping out of my mouth, what was that? "Is she asleep?" Coming out of the bushes was none other than......another Asahina-san. "Good evening, Kyon-kun." It was the deluxe version of Asahina-san. A pretty young lady, though much older than the Asahina-san sleeping on my shoulder, this Asahina-san has grown fully in every part. While still looking cute, her charm has increased tenfold. I've met her before once, and like last time, she was wearing a white blouse and blue tight miniskirt. This Asahina-san now walked to our front. "Hee hee, from this view," The adult Asahina-san pinched on the sleeping Asahina-san's cheeks and said, "She looks just like a child."

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Looking nostalgic, Asahina-san (big) caressed the sailor uniform of Asahina-san (small), "So is this how I look in that age?" Feeling the soft breaths of Asahina-san (small) on my arm, I couldn't move and sat still, looking in awe at Asahina-san (big). "It was her mission to bring you here, yet from here onwards, it would be my mission to guide you." Looking like an idiot, I asked Asahina-san, who gave a mature aura even when smiling, "Um......just what is......" "I can't explain in detail, since it's classified. All I can do now is to guide you." I turned to look at the Asahina-san sleeping on my shoulder. "It was I who made her sleep, since I can't be seen by her." "Why's that?" "Because when I was her, I didn't see myself." That reason sounded clear yet confusing at the same time. The charming Asahinasan closed one eye and said, "Go south following the rail track over there, you'll come to a public junior high school. Could you please go help the person standing outside the school fence? Can you go right now? And I hope you don't mind carrying this me along as well, I shouldn't be too heavy." She sounded like one of those villagers in those role-playing games. I wonder what treasure I would obtain as a reward? "Reward? Well......"

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The adult Asahina-san elegantly placed her hands under her chin and thought deeply, then she gave a mature smile, "I have nothing to offer you, but you could kiss me while I'm sleeping softly. And make sure it's only when I'm sleeping." Such an attractive deal! That's exactly what I've been wishing for. The sight of Asahina-san sleeping soundly was so cute I was tempted to do it, but...... "That's a bit......" Whether it was my mood or the situation then, I just don't feel like it would be appropriate for me. Frankly, I was disgusted at myself for being so rational then. "Time is running short, I must go now." Is this the hint you're giving me this time? "Oh, yes, please don't let her know that I was here. Let's hook our fingers and make a promise." I subconsciously lifted my little finger and hooked it with Asahina-san's (big) little finger. Can I hook it for a minute longer? "Goodbye then, Kyon-kun." Asahina-san (big) said cheerfully and walked off into the darkness, she was out of sight in no time. She sure left slickly this time. "Now then......" I muttered to myself. I wonder when I'll meet this adult Asahinasan again? I had a feeling she hasn't changed much since giving me that strange hint the last time we met. Maybe this Asahina-san who appeared came from an earlier time plane than the one I met before. I don't get it. There's no way I could. Judging from the mood just now, it was possible I would meet many more Asahina-sans from different time periods.

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Asahina-san, who I carried on my back, wasn't light, but she wasn't exactly heavy either. It was natural that my pace has slowed down. Her angelic face breathed her soft breaths into my ear that it was almost criminal. My neck felt itchy by her breathing. I avoided the glances of the pedestrians (though there was hardly anyone else on the street), and quickly headed towards the direction the adult Asahina-san pointed for me. I think I walked for another ten minutes, the pedestrians on the road became less and less as I walked along. After turning around a corner, we finally arrived at our destination. East Junior High. I've heard of this place. This was Taniguchi and Haruhi's junior high. Speaking of which, a familiar person was now standing in front of the school fence. I instantly recognized the small figure that was about to climb up the metal fence. "Hey!" After yelling, I felt surprised. How did I know who this person was? This was too incredible. I looked at that person's back, the height was much shorter, while the dark straight hair was neither long nor short. Of course, there was only one person who I knew would sneak out at night and scale the school fence. "What?" It was now that I truly began to feel that I was now face to face with a past reality three years ago. No kidding, it seems like I've really travelled three years back in time.

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Leaning by the fence, the face that turned and looked at me was indeed younger than the commander of the SOS Brigade that I know.

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Leaning by the fence, the face that turned and looked at me was indeed younger than the commander of the SOS Brigade that I know. Yet there was no mistake with those pair of glittering eyes, those were Haruhi's eyes. Even if she dressed casually in a T-shirt and pair of shorts, she still looked the same to me. Three years ago, Haruhi was in her first year of junior high. Could she be the person Asahina-san wanted me to help? "Who are you? A sex criminal? Or a kidnapper? At any case, you look suspicious." The blurry street lamps had showered the street in a dim white light. I could not clearly make out Haruhi's expression, yet Haruhi, the first year junior high student, was now looking at me with eyes that has seen something suspicious. Who looked more suspicious? A girl trying to scale the school fence in the middle of the night? Or me who was loitering around carrying a sleeping girl? I really don't feel like giving this question any thought. "You're the one looking suspicious instead. What're you doing here then?" "What else would I be here for? To illegally enter the premises, of course." Don't openly declare your criminal intentions like that, there's a limit to being shameless! "You came just in time. I don't know you, but if you're free, then help me out a bit! Or I'll call the cops." I should be the one calling the cops, but I've already promised the other Asahinasan. On the other hand, why do I always find the existence known as Suzumiya Haruhi clinging on to me? Even here in this time period? Haruhi leaped to the inside of the fence and opened the lock which was place on the fence with a key. Where'd you get those keys from?

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"I stole them when no one was looking. It was too easy." She was truly a pickpocket. Haruhi slowly slide open the metal fence and waved at me. I walked towards the little girl, who was one head shorter than her future self three years later, holding Asahina-san up properly. Next to the entrance of East Junior High was the track field. The school complex was opposite us. Haruhi started to walk diagonally across the dark track field. It's good that it was so dark, she wasn't able to see clearly my face or Asahinasan's. In three years time, Haruhi would never have thought that she has met me and Asahina-san while she was in her first year of junior high. So it was good this way, or it'll become troublesome. Haruhi went straight to the corner of the track field and led me to the back of the sports equipment storage. Inside was a rusty wagon, and a chalk-drawing machine hanging behind its wheels, as well as a few bags of chalk powder. "I had these hidden beforehand in the storage house during the evening, pretty clever huh?" Haruhi beamed, she then carried the bag of chalk powder, which was nearly as heavy as her, onto the wagon and pushed the handle. The way she slowly pushes the wagon made me realize how young she really was. I guess junior high students are still more or less kids in their first year. I carefully placed the sleeping Asahina-san down and let her lean against the wall of the storage house, please sit here like a good girl for now. "Let me do it! Give me that thing, you go carry the chalk-drawing machine." Should I really be helping her? All this time I have been driven around like a slave by Haruhi, she was like a robot that went astray and won't stop until she has destroyed

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everything. She was still the same from the past all the way to the present. It seems a person's inherent nature won't change so easily in the space of three years. "Follow my instructions and draw the lines. That's right, you there. Because I need to watch over you from somewhere afar and see if you've made any mistakes. Ah! You've drawn it wrongly there! What're you doing!?" To be able to order around a high school student she never met before without even flustering, there's no doubt this is indeed Haruhi. If I had met this sort junior high schoolgirl for the first time, I probably would have thought she's mentally insane. If I knew her before meeting Nagato, Asahina-san and Koizumi, that is. Following Haruhi's instructions, I drew white lines along the left and right side of the track. For nearly thirty minutes, not a single night-shift teacher appeared, and neither did a police car came to investigate after receiving complaints from neighbours. Could the strange symbolic patterns that Taniguchi said suddenly appeared on the track field be drawn by none other than myself? I silently looked at the pattern that I worked so hard to draw out. Haruhi now came to my side and snatched the drawing machine from me. She then began to draw a few more lines and said, "Hey, do you believe there are aliens?" Now that was sudden. "I guess there are." The image of Nagato's face flashed in my head. "Then what about time travellers?" "Hmm, it's not suprising if they exist."

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Right now, I'm a time traveller myself. "Then what about espers?" "They're everywhere, I guess?" I suddenly thought of numerous red spots flying around. "And sliders?" "I haven't met them yet." "Hmph." Haruhi threw aside the chalk-drawing machine and rubbed the chalk off her face with her shoulders. "Hmm, this should do." I began to feel uneasy, was it because I said something I shouldn't be saying? Haruhi looked up at me and said, "Is that a North High uniform?" "Yeah." "What's your name?" "John Smith." "......Are you an idiot?" "Can't I use an alias for once?" "And who's that girl?" "That's my sister. She's suffering from a sleeping disorder called narcolepsy. She's been like that for some time now, suddenly falling asleep anywhere and anytime, which is why I need to carry her around." "Hmph." Haruhi bit her lower lip and turned aside, revealing an expression of disbelief. I decided to change to subject.

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"By the way, what is this for?" "Can't you tell? It's a message." "For whom? Don't tell me it's for Hikoboshi and Orihime?" Haruhi looked surprised and asked me back, "How did you know?" "......Well, it is Tanabata today. I happen to know someone who does something like this as well." "Really? I'd sure like to meet that person. Is there really such a person in North High?" "Yup." From now till then, the only person who would do such things is you. "Hmm, North High huh......" Haruhi muttered to herself as in deep thought. She was silent for some time like a salted vegetable, she then suddenly turned around the next moment. "I'm going home now. I've achieved what I came here for. See ya." She walked off in great strides. Not even a word of thanks? How rude, yet that sure is how Haruhi would behave. Besides, she never gave her name all this time. I had a feeling it's probably good that she never did. We can't just stay here forever, so I decided to wake up Asahina-san. Of course, not before I returned the wagon and chalk-powder which Haruhi abandoned back into the storage house. Sleeping like a kitty cat, Asahina-san looked so cute I was tempted to do something naughty to her, but in the end I resisted this urge and slowly shook her shoulders. "Um......huh. Eh?......"

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Opening her eyes, Asahina-san began to look around non-stop. "EH!?" She shouted and stood up at once. "W,w,w......where is this place? Why? What time is it now?" How should I answer her? Just as I was about to look for an answer, Asahina-san suddenly yelled, "AH!!!" Even in the dark, I could tell that her white face was now paler than usual. Asahina-san searched herself with both her hands, "The TPDD......it's gone. I can't find it~~." Asahina-san was on the verge of tears, then after a while she really started to cry. She looked just like a kid that got lost as she rubbed her hands on her eyes and wept. But, now is not the time to adore her cuteness. "What's a TPDD?" "Sob~~......That's classified information, I'm not supposed to say......it's something like a time machine. I used that to get us to this time plane......but I can't find it. Without that, we can't return to the time where we came from......" "Then how did it go missing?" "I don't know......I'm not supposed to lose it......but it's really gone." I thought of the other Asahina-san, who has touched her a while ago. "Wouldn't someone come and help......" "It's impossible. Sob~~." Asahina-san explained to me as she sniffed, that every event in a time plane has been decided, so if there exists a TPDD, then it should be with her. And right now she no longer has it with her, then that means it's already inevitable that she would lose it,

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so it has been decided that she "no longer carries it"......something like that. What's that supposed to mean? "In other words, what's going to happen to us now?" "Sob, sob. It means, if things remain this way, we'll be stuck on the time plane three years ago and won't be able to return to our original time." Now that's serious! I thought to myself, yet somehow I don't feel alarmed. The adult Asahina-san never told me anything about this. I'm guessing she should be the one who took the TPDD away and created such a situation. I deduced that Asahinasan (big) came here to the past just for that purpose alone. For the Asahina-san who came from a further than this Asahina-san, this was inevitable. I moved my eyes away from Asahina-san, who was sobbing sadly, and towards the track field. The mysterious pattern that Haruhi thought up of and drawn by me looked very scrambled up. The teachers and students of East Junior High are probably going to be given a shock when they see this next morning. I just hope that these scribbles are not some curses aimed at aliens......Just as I was wondering away, then it finally hit me. It was dark everywhere, the school was only dimly lit by the blurry street lamps outside. As the white lines that I drew were so big, if I didn't stand back some distance, I wouldn't be able to see it all. Which was why it took me so long to discover it. I reached for my pocket and took out the tanzaku Nagato gave me. On it was drawn some mysterious geometric shapes. "There may be a way out of this." I said, Asahina-san looked at me blinking her eyes while I continued to study the tanzaku.

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The symbolic patterns drawn on it was exactly the same as Haruhi's message for the stars, the graffiti that I and Haruhi drew on the school field not long ago. We hastily left East Junior High and came to a high-class apartment complex near the station. "Isn't this......Nagato-san's home?" "Yeah. I didn't ask her specifically when she came to Earth, but I'm sure she was here three years ago......I guess." I stood at the main entrance of the apartment complex and pushed the button for Room 708. A beep sound was heard through the intercom, I could feel the warmth of Asahina-san's nervous hands through my sleeves. I spoke into the speaker, "Is this the residence of Nagato Yuki?" "......" The intercom replied as such. "Um, I don't know how to say this......" "......" "I'm a friend of Suzumiya Haruhi......does that make any sense to you?" A frozen-like breath can be heard through the intercom. A brief pause, and then...... "Come in." Beep The main gate opened. I led Asahina-san, who was looking terrified, into the elevator. We arrived at the seventh floor and came in front of Room 708, which I have visited once before. I pushed softly on the door, which then opened slowly. There stood Nagato Yuki inside the door. Everything felt surreal to me. Was it really true that I and Asahina-san had travelled back in time? Nagato looked exactly the same as I saw her before, which led me to doubt whether we even travelled through time. The way she wore her North high sailor

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uniform, looked at me with her emotionless eyes, and her seeming lack of body warmth and sense of existence was no different to the Nagato that I knew. Yet, the only difference was that Nagato had recently stopped wearing glasses, while the Nagato here wore one just as I had first met her. This Nagato wore on her face a pair of glasses which I had no idea when the present Nagato stopped wearing. "Hey!" I raised my arm and gave her a friendly smile. Nagato was as devoid of emotion as always. Asahina-san hid behind my back and trembled incessantly. "Could we come in?" "......" Nagato silently turned inside towards her apartment. I took that she has given me and Asahina-san permission to enter. We took off our shoes and headed to the living room. It was the same as it was three years later, the place was still empty as usual. Nagato stood still and waited for us to come in. Left with no choice, I decided to continue standing and explain everything to her. Where should I begin? From the first day of school when I first met Haruhi? That's one hell of a long story. Skipping through the details, I gave her a brief summary of what has happened. Her emotionless eyes continued to stare at me through her glasses. I think I spent about five minutes explaining, though personally I believed the summary for this Haruhi story was nonsensical to say the least. "......And so, the you from three years later gave me this." Nagato gazed at the tanzaku that I took out, her fingers hovering over the strange symbols as though reading a barcode. "Understood."

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Nagato simply nodded her head. Is that so? Wait, I've suddenly thought of something that's really bothering me. I placed my hand on my temple and said, "It's true that I've known Nagato for some time, but for you it was three years ago. That is, for you right now, this is the first time we have met, right?" Even I didn't understand what I was talking about. Yet Nagato's glasses flashed as she calmly replied as though nothing had happened, "Yes." "Then......" "Obtaining permission for memory sharing with alternate temporal disparity. Downloading reversible moving time plane data." What the hell's that? "The 'me' that exists in the time plane three years from now, and the 'me' that exists in this time period are one and the same person." Then what? Isn't that supposed to be the case? But it can't be possible for Nagato three years ago to share the same memory as Nagato three years later. "It is possible." How'd you do it? "Synchronization." Um, I still don't get it. Nagato stopped replying and slowly took off her glasses. Her emotionless eyes blinked at me. That was indeed the face of the bookish girl that I recognize. It was the Nagato Yuki that I knew. "Why are you in the North High uniform? Have you already started school?" "No, right now I'm on stand-by mode."

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"Stand-by......you intend to stand-by for three years?" "Yes." "That's really......" Patient of you. Don't you find it boring? Nagato shook her head and said, "This is a mission." Her clear eyes looked straight at me, "There is more than one way to move through time." Nagato said with her blank expression, "TPDD is only a tool for controlling spacetime, it contains uncertainties and inaccuracies. Many theories exist for movement through the spacetime continuum." Asahina-san once again grabbed my hand tightly, "Um.....what does that mean?" "Using TPDD to transfer organic lifeforms through time is allowed, but it will generate noise. For us, that is not an ideal tool." When you say "us" do you mean the Integrated Data Sentient Entity? "Can Nagato-san perform leap through time planes in its complete form?" "Form is not necessary. It is enough for time travel as long as it contains the same data." Shuttling back and forth between past, present and future huh? If Asahina-san can do it, then it wouldn't be hard at all for Nagato. Since Nagato possesses adequate powers to do so. I started to wonder, when compared with Nagato and Koizumi, wouldn't that make Asahina-san an outsider? "Then it's fine."

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"I hope it's just me thinking too much......but you aren't asking us to sleep here, are you?"..."Yes."

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I interrupted Asahina-san and Nagato's conversation, now is not to time to discuss the theories and workings on time travel. The question now is what we should do so that I and Asahina-san can return to the future three years later. Yet, Nagato simply nodded her head again and said, "It can be done." She then stood up and opened the paper door to the room which was connected with the living room. "Here." It was a Japanese style bedroom laid with tatami, there was nothing else besides tatami. It looked really lonely, as expected from Nagato's place. This I could understand, but why has she brought us here to this guest room? Is the time machine hidden inside this room? Just as I was about to ask all sorts of questions, Nagato took out a futon from the cupboard and started laying it flat. She even brought two blankets out. "I hope it's just me thinking too much......but you aren't asking us to sleep here, are you?" Nagato carried the blanket and looked at me. The figures of me and Asahina-san were clearly reflected in her crystal clear pupils. "Yes." "Here? With Asahina-san? The two of us?" "Yes." I stole a glance at my side and saw Asahina-san looking embarassed, her face blushing red furiously. That reaction was expected, I guess. But Nagato doesn't seemed concerned at all, "Now sleep."

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\Don't be so direct! "It's only sleeping." Sigh......that's what I intend to do anyway. I exchanged glances with Asahina-san. She blushed while I shrugged my shoulders. It was us who came to Nagato for help, if she wants us to sleep, then let's sleep! If we wake up and find ourselves back to where we came from, then it's quite a simple solution. Nagato switched off the lamp switch with her hand and began to mutter something. As I wondered, She can't be saying good night to us, could she? The lamp then flickered and went off. Might as well sleep! I laid down and pulled the blanket over. The next moment, the lights went on again. The fluorescent tube slowly flickered as the light became stabalized. Huh? What's this strange feeling? Outside the window was the same night sky as before. I sat upright, Asahina-san also sat up, clutching her blanket. Her innocent, child-like face looked troubled, and she looked at me with a questioning glance, but of course I didn't know how to answer her questions. Nagato stood there like before as she turned on the lamp switch. I have a feeling that this wasn't Nagato's usual face, it's as though there's some emotion inside this one. I looked closely at that pale white face, it's as though she wanted to express something but was not able to due to some conflict within her heart. If I hadn't observed her face for quite some time, I would hardly have noticed it. Though I can't guarantee that it could just be my imagination. The sound of breathing in could be heard by my side, I turned and saw Asahinasan meddling around with the liquid display watch on her right wrist. "Eh? It can't be? ......Eh? Is this true?"

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I took a glance at her watch, could that thing be the so-called TPDD? "No, this is just an automatic digital watch." You mean those watches which automatically synchronizes with the standard time? Asahina-san smiled happilly at me and said, "We've returned. Our time of origin was July 7th......just after nine thirty at night. This is such a relief......Phew!" She breathed a sigh of relief from the bottom of her heart. Standing by the door was the Nagato we knew. If I have to distinguish through whether she wears her glasses or not, then this Nagato Yuki was the one that has softened up a bit. Seeing her three years later, I finally understood. The Nagato before me has indeed changed a bit ever since I first saw her in the Literature Club room when Haruhi brought me there. The change was so small that she probably doesn't realize it herself. "But, how did you do it?" Nagato explained to Asahina-san without any emotion, "Selective freezing of liquefied connected data within spacetime, preserving it until the known destination the within spacetime continuum, and finally unfreezing the data." She said some very abstract terms, then paused and added, "And that is now." Asahina-san attempt to stand up, then her knees softened and she knelt down again, "Could it be......impossible......Nagato-san, you......" Nagato remained silent. "What's wrong?" I asked.

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"Nagato-san......has stopped time itself. She probably had the time in this space along with us frozen for three years, until today when she finally unfroze the time......right?" "Yes." Nagato replied and nodded her head. "This is unbelievable, to be able to stop time......wah~." Asahina-san knelt exhaustedly and sighed. I thought to myself, seems like we've safely returned to three years in the future. I was sure of it just by looking at Asahina-san's reaction, she was that sort who wears her thoughts on her face. No matter, I'll believe the reason for how we returned from three years ago and how time had been frozen for now. Right now I can tolerate almost anything, no matter what it is, I can basically accept it without any problems. It's all good......but, This wasn't the first time I've visited Nagato's home. More than a month ago, she had invited me once, but that time I only saw the living room and had not entered this guest room, which I wasn't even aware had existed. So......um, in other words, what's going on here? I looked at Nagato, and Nagato looked at me. ......In other words, when I visited for the first time and heard her story concerning data explosions, there was another "me" sleeping in the room besides us. What's going on? That was going on according to logical deduction. "Yes." Nagato said. I suddenly felt dizzy. "......Hey, does that mean back then you already knew what would happen? Including me and today's events?" "Yes."

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From my perspective, the first time I met Nagato was during the start of the school term when Haruhi thought of setting up the SOS Brigade. Yet Nagato had already met me in Tanabata three years ago. For me, that only happened not long ago, but she told me that was already three years ago. I think I'm going crazy already. Both me and Asahina-san looked stunned and astonished at this turn of events. I always knew Nagato was capable, but I never thought she could even freeze time. In that case, doesn't that make her the amazing Wonder Woman? "Not entirely true." She flatly refuted my praises. "This was a special exception. An emergency. Unless it is very important, this method is rarely used." And we were considered "very important". "Thank you, Nagato." I decided to thank her first, though thanking her was the best I could do. "It doesn't matter." Nagato nodded her seemingly cold face, then handed me the tanzaku with geometric symbols drawn on it. I received it and noticed the paper quality had worn out a lot, as though it had been left for three years. "Oh yeah, the symbols on this tanzaku, can you tell me what it's saying?" I casually asked. I didn't think anyone could read some nonsensical symbols drawn by Haruhi, so I simply thought it would just be a joke. "I am here," Nagato replied. I was exasperated. "That is what's written on it." I'm getting more and more confused now.

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"Could these Nazca-like drawings or symbols be some sort of alien language?" Nagato didn't answer that question. Asahina-san and I left Nagato's home and walked under the moonlit sky. "Asahina-san, was there any meaning for you to bring me to the past?" Asahina-san tried her hardest to think, then lifted her head and said in a very soft voice, "I'm sorry. I......well......um......I'm not sure......I'm like......the end interface......no, the bottom......no, I'm just like a trainee......" "Yet you're by Haruhi's side." "That's because, I never thought I would be caught by Suzumiya-san to join the club." She pouted and said. Asahina-san, you look cute in that expression as well. "I merely followed the orders......of my superiors, or higher up. So not even I know what meaning there is for the things that I do." Looking at a blushing Asahina-san, I thought to myself, could that superior be none other than the adult Asahina-san? It was a baseless speculation, since the only time travellers I knew were her and the normal Asahina-san, so I can't be blamed for thinking like that. "I see." I tilted my head and muttered. Yet, I still didn't understand. If that adult Asahina-san came to drop me a hint, then she would know what would happen to us. And it seems she never told this Asahina-san anything as well. Just what was going on? "Hmm......"

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It's no use getting a headache over this. If Asahina-san doesn't understand it, then there's no way I could understand. Nagato said that there's more than one way to travel through time. Future time travellers have their own set of rules I guess? I hope someone will explain these to me, when everything is settled. I parted ways with Asahina-san at the station. Her small figure once again gave thanks to me, then left as though it was a great pity. After she was out of sight, I headed home as well, and it was now that I realized that I left my bag in the club room. The next day, which was July 8th; for my consciousness, it was indeed the next day, but for my body, it felt like three years and one day had passed since I last went to school. I went to school empty handed and headed straight for the club room, then went to the classroom after getting my bag. Asahina-san came earlier than me it seems, as her bag was nowhere to be seen. Arriving in the classroom, I saw Haruhi sitting there, looking intently out of the window, as if fully expecting the arrival of aliens. "What's wrong? You look depressed since yesterday. Had you been picking and eating toxic mushrooms?" I said and sat down. Haruhi gave a deliberate sigh and said, "Nothing really. Just feeling melancholic thinking about something in the past. Some memories I had during Tanabata." I shuddered at once. What memories were those......I didn't ask her. "I see." Haruhi turned her head and observed the changes in the clouds. I shrugged my shoulders. I have no intentions on lighting the fuse for this bomb. Anyone with common sense would do the same.

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After school, the Literature Club room once again became the underground headquarters of the SOS Brigade. Haruhi only said, "Throw the bamboo shoot away, it's useless now." Then left at once. The "commander" armband looked rather lonely after being left behind on the table. Sigh, tomorrow she'll return to being the eccentric girl, asking us to do impossibly unreasonable things. She's that sort of person. Asahina-san wasn't here as well. Only Nagato Yuki was in the room, alongside with me playing chess with Koizumi. Unable to resist his "evangelistic" passion for chess, I agreed to let him teach me how to play chess. I had thought Koizumi switched to playing chess because he was crap at Othello, but it seems I was wrong. He was just as crap at chess. I took out one of Koizumi's pawns with my knight while glancing at Nagato, who was looking intently at the chess board with her blank face. "Say, Nagato, I don't get it at all. Is Asahina-san really from the future?" Nagato slowly tilted her head. "Yes." "But I just feel a sense of paradox between heading to the past and returning to the future." That was expected. If there were no continuity between the past and the future - if we went back three years ago, went to sleep over there and reawake in the present, then the "present" that we're in now should be a different world from the "yesterday" that we departed from. Yet from the outcome, I had given Haruhi an idea she shouldn't have, and that idea had brought Haruhi to North High, enhancing her interest in all non-human life......there exists this possibility.

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If I didn't travel back to three years ago, maybe everything would never have happened. Judging from the tone of adult Asahina-san, she seems to know more than us. In other words, continuity does exist between the past and the future. This contradicts with what Asahina-san had told me earlier. I can still figure this out at least, no matter how dumb I am. "As there is no conclusion to the paradox theory, there is no way to prove that there is no paradox." Nagato said calmly, giving a strange expression that reads That should explain everything. That explanation may indeed be enough for you, but I completely do not understand at all. Nagato lifted her smooth white neck and looked at me, "Soon you will understand." She then went back to her usual seat and returned to her world of books. Koizumi now spoke, "That's the case. Right now my king is being checked by your rook. This is sure a problem for me, where should I escape to?" Koizumi said while picking up his black king, then casually placed the king into his jacket pocket. He then showed his palm like a magician revealing his tricks, "Well, is there a paradox with me doing this?" I toyed around the white rook with my fingers and though, I'm not going to play some stupid Zen philosophy games with you, and I don't plan to satisfy myself with abstract topics. So I refuse to answer your question. In any case - there's no doubt that Haruhi is a paradoxical existence, the same can be said for this world. "Besides, a king means nothing to us, instead, it is the queen that plays a more important role."

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I placed the white rook on the box where the black king was standing. Queen to Knight 8. "......I don't know what's going to happen next, but I just hope it's not something that'll give me a major headache." Nagato remained silent, while Koizumi smiled and said, "I think it's best for things to remain peaceful, or you would prefer to have something happen?" I snorted and drew a circle by my name on the score chart.

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Chapter 3 Mystérique Sign

Unsurprisingly, Haruhi had recovered from her melancholic state during the endof-term exams, and was once again acting however she pleased. As for me, it seemed like the blue color forced out by that reaction had been passed into my hands like a baton, and I was at the peak of misery. Every exam paper that was distributed made me feel worse and worse. My melancholy was probably shared as much by Taniguchi. In the midterm exams, we were like comrades who would fly right on the edge of the low altitude line together, even when the red mark of failure had us firmly caught in its radar. A person is an animal that wants someone who is at least as stupid as itself around. You can feel relatively at ease if they're around. On the other hand, this is absolutely not the case when you see somebody else relaxing. Taking her test in the seat behind me was Haruhi, who somehow always had time to spare. Around thirty minutes before the allotted time was over, you could usually hear her sleeping on her desk. How annoying.

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Kyon: "I can't. I don't get it at all. Today's Modern Japanese exam was easier to understand than this."

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All club activities are suspended during exams, but since the SOS Brigade is open all-year-round for some reason, reopening for business on a day like this is normal, even though no one had asked us to, same as yesterday and the day before that. School enforced policies do not apply to SOS Brigade activities, apparently. This is only natural, since this whole thing has been a mistake from the very beginning. And since this enigma of a brigade wasn't even a club or anything, it didn't matter. That is Haruhi's policy. Like the other day. Although I had just managed to raise my will to study to the limit, at just the right moment, Haruhi dragged me by my sleeve and brought me with her to the clubroom. "Look at this for a sec." Haruhi said, pointing to the display of the computer that she had plundered from another club some time ago. There was no avoiding it, so I looked. The graphics-editing software was showing an incomprehensible scrawl. It looked like a drunken tapeworm rolling around in its drink in the middle of a circle; I had no idea what kind of drawing it was supposed to be. I didn't know what else to think, other than, it was something drawn by a kindergartener. "What is it?" I said frankly. Immediately, Haruhi responded with her mouth looking like a duck's, "Can't you tell?" "I can't. I don't get it at all. Today's Modern Japanese exam was easier to understand than this."

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"What are you talking about? That test was so simple even your little sister could've gotten a perfect score." Her words were really starting to annoy me, "This is my SOS Brigade emblem!" She answered, her face glowing with pride, like she had just accomplished some wonderful thing. "Emblem?" I said. "Yes. Emblem." said Haruhi. "This? Nobody but a permanent candidate for chief clerk, who pulls all-nighters through holidays for two straight months, and retraces his footsteps while taking the hair of the dog, can see that." "Look at it closely. See, it says 'SOS Brigade' in the middle, right?" Now that you mention it, it's not that I don't feel like it seems like it looks like it, but I would hesitate to say it out loud that it's not that I can't see it. Well then, how many negatives did I string together? I don't feel like doing it myself, so if somebody's free, tally it up for me. "You're the one with the most free time! And you're not going to be doing any cramming, anyway." I was actually brimming with eagerness until just a moment ago. But, now that I think about it, you're absolutely correct. "I'm thinking about putting this on the SOS Brigade's top page." Speaking of which, we do have such a thing. But it's a miserable site that doesn't have anything other than a top page.

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"We're not getting any more visitors. How disgraceful! And we haven't received any mysterious e-mail at all. It's because you got in my way! I thought we could've used Mikuru-chan's erotic pictures to pull in customers." Asahina-san's passionate maid pictures are all mine, and I don't intend to share them with anyone. This is certainly one of those things in this world that cannot be bought with mere money. "You may have made this site, but it's reeeaaaally boring, don't you agree? There's totally nothing there to liven it up with. So I thought, 'How about putting up something like an SOS Brigade symbol?'" Just hurry up and remove it from the net. I feel bad for those people who visit this stupid homepage by mistake. Since there were no contents, there's nothing to update. All it has is an image saying "Welcome to the SOS Brigade Website!", an e-mail address, and an access counter. That counter hasn't even reached three digits, and ninety percent of those hits seemed to be Haruhi's. While I watched as the handmade website appeared in the browser window that Haruhi had launched, I asked, "Why don't you write a journal? Isn't it the chief's job to put up a task log? Even the captain of a spaceship handles the ship's log." "No way, what a pain!" It'd be a pain for me, too. To describe a day here, the only things you could write about would be stuff like what kind of book Nagato was reading, how Koizumi won at Gomoku Narabe, how Asahina-san was cute today as well, and how Haruhi was sitting quietly with her mouth closed. Having written such unexciting things, I couldn't think that reading them would be any more fun. Therefore, I won't do something that would be far from entertaining anyone.

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"Okay, Kyon. Make this symbol show at the top of the site." "Do it yourself." "I don't know how!" "So look it up. You'll never learn if you keep depending on others." "I'm the chief! The chief's job is to direct. Besides, if I do everything then you guys won't have any work to do, will you? You should use your head a little, too. You won't become a better person if you only do as you're told." Are you telling me to do it, or not to do it? Which is it? Speak proper Japanese. "Just do it, already! You can't trick me with that sort of wordplay. You should be thankful that you have as much free time as the Greeks did Before Common Era. Come on, hurry up!" The longer I had to listen to Haruhi's voice, which was like a crow singing noisily at the break of dawn, the more my ears would hurt, so I reluctantly opened the HTML editor, took Master Artist Haruhi's illustration, which seemed like it had been drawn by a child who had some time to waste, reduced it to an appropriate size, pasted it into the file, and uploaded it without changing anything else. I clicked reload on the browser to verify the change. It seemed like the unnecessary SOS Brigade emblem had left its footprint on the internet world properly. I took a quick look at the access counter, and as expected, the number was still at two digits. It'd be fine if no one but Haruhi would ever see the site. I don't want it to be known that the one who had made such an awful website was me. By the end of the day, as the first term somehow comes to a close, so do the days that have drawn out my melancholy, coming to a momentary rest that will begin from tomorrow. That rest's name is said to be the exam break. This preparatory period will

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last until summer vacation, and is the time when the teachers will probably mark my test papers wrong. Damn, how annoying. Feeling both depressed and annoyed, my feet took me to the Literature-ClubRoom-Turned-SOS-Brigade-Hideout. At least I could stare at Asahina-san to achieve some peace of mind. Nagato silently reading a book, Koizumi smiling while solving a Shogi problem by himself, Asahina-san waiting on us in her maid costume, Haruhi saying, chattering, screaming, or shouting something incomprehensible, and me having to listen to those tedious words; this composition has been the pattern these days. Nothing has been happening recently as well, but I have felt like this since the beginning. With a sinking feeling, I knocked on the door. Hoping to hear a "Yes~?" in Asahina's lilting voice, what came out from the room instead was, "Come in!" It was Haruhi's careless voice, and when I entered, Haruhi was the only one I saw. With her elbows on the chief's desk, she was doing something on the PC that she had forcefully acquired from the Computer Studies group. "Oh, it's just you?" "Yuki's here, too, you know." Certainly, Nagato was in the corner of the table with an open book, seeming like she had become a figurine as she usually did. She's like an attachment for this room, so there's no need to include her in the count. She hasn't committed to entering the SOS Brigade, and is officially a member of the Literature Club. But I guess I should still correct myself.

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"Oh, it's just you and Nagato?" "That's true, do you have any complaints about it? If you do, I'd like to hear them, I'm the chief here, after all." If I were to list my complaints about you, it would completely fill up both sides of an A4 note. "I'm the one who should be disappointed. Because you knocked like that, I thought a client must have certainly come. Don't confuse me by acting like one, okay?" I'm taking care so that I don't accidentally witness Asahina-san changing her clothes live. That charmingly careless person can't quite remember to lock the door. And what was that about clients? Tell me what kind of customer would visit this room. After that, Haruhi looked at me with disdain on her face. "You don't remember?" A thought startled me. She couldn't be talking about what happened three years ago after Tanabata, could she? "You're the one who did it! And without getting my permission." Whatever could that be...? "You put up that poster on the clubroom building's bulletin board." Oh, that. I let out a sigh of relief. To get the student council to somehow approve the SOS brigade, I made up some fictitious activity plans. After concluding that a mystery-hunting brigade wouldn't even make it to discussions, we could appeal to the student council to let the SOS Brigade continue by acting as a consultation office for miscellaneous problems. If I

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had said such a stupid thing to the executive board, we would have been shut down in an instant. However, I had already gone so far as making a poster by hand. I don't really remember what I wrote, but I think it had something like, "We accept all consultations." Since I'd gone to the trouble, I stuck it on a bulletin board I had happened to see. Even if someone did see it, in any case, I presumed that there would be no one deranged enough to come to the SOS Brigade for advice about their problems. This seems to be the correct answer, as we presently have no clients, which suits me just fine. Still, as Haruhi had remembered such a thing, was she waiting for clients to actually come? It was time to go home for the day, but perhaps it was better to get myself unstuck from here. If a student with a truly strange problem came, things would get complicated. I was deciding in a corner of my mind, and while Haruhi was moving the mouse round and round, she said, "Anyway, look at this. Something's strange. I wonder if the PC's broken." I looked through the side of Haruhi's hair. What the display was unwillingly projecting was our SOS Brigade homepage. However, it was subtly different from what I had made. The emblem that had been clumsily scribbled by Haruhi's hand was distorted as if it had been concentrated, and the counter and title logo had just been blown off. I tried reloading, but it didn't change. It was like abnormal data completely covered by mosaic.

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"It's not the PC. It looks like the file on the server is corrupt." I don't understand the internet very well, but I know that much. By chance, I had thought of keeping a local copy of the site to view in the browser, so we could still make it display properly. "Since when has it been like this?" "Who knows? I've only been checking the mail these past few days, so I haven't seen the site. It was like this when I looked at it today. Where should I file a complaint?" There's no need to file a complaint. The fix is simple. I snatched the mouse away from Haruhi, and then sent the stored top page files to the server, overwriting the data with the same name. I tried redisplaying. "Hmm?" The site remained crashed. I repeated it many times, but the result was the same. It seemed like I had somehow contracted a can't-control-the-computer disorder. "Isn't this strange? Maybe it's that thing, those rumors I hear about hackers or crackers that people talk about?" "Can't be." I denied. It's hard to think that there are people with so much free time that they would go cracking a site that wasn't linked to from anywhere and that nobody looks at. It's probably some kind of error. "How irritating! Maybe someone's committing cyber-terrorism on the SOS Brigade! Who could it be? If I find that person, I'll sentence him to thirty days of community service without having a trial!" Taking my eyes off of the steaming Haruhi, I turned to look at Nagato who seemed to be wearing opacity optical camouflage. Couldn't this person have done it somehow? I thought. Although I could internally form an image of Nagato arbitrarily

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having detailed knowledge of computers, I have never seen her doing anything with the PC. To be more precise, I should say that there's hardly any scene other than her reading a book. There was the sound of knocking. "Come in!" The door opened during Haruhi's reply; it was Koizumi. With his usual, excessively fresh smile, "My, how unusual. Asahina-san hasn't arrived yet?" "The second years have more exams, don't they?" It was the last day of the term for us first years, and only had three periods. It should've been okay if we had quickly gone home, so why were we all gathering in such a place? Did I have so few friends? And Haruhi, why didn't you do a counter tsukkomi on Koizumi for knocking? Koizumi left his bag lying on the table, brought out a Diamond Game board from the cupboard, and turned to me with inviting eyes. I shook my head; Koizumi shrugged and started a single player diamond. I really couldn't wait for Asahina-san's tea. Knock knock. It was the sound of knocking again. This time, I was sitting in front of the chief's desk grappling with the FTP software. Behind me was Haruhi, throwing misguided and out-of-nowhere requests this way and that, and making me answer those unreasonable demands. So that knock was the ringing sound of salvation for me. "Come in!"

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Haruhi again said in a big voice, and the door opened. Judging from the sequence of things, it was probably Asahina-san who had come. "Ah, sorry I'm late!" Giving a humble apology as she came into sight, a wingless angel, it couldn't have been anyone but Asahina-san. "I had tests until fourth period......" As she was saying the excuse that didn't need to be said, she lingered near the door, seeming hesitant. She wouldn't move to enter for some reason, and timidly continued, "Well, that is... you see." All our eyes were focused on Asahina-san. When she noticed that Nagato was looking at her, Asahina-san drew back flinchingly, and then, seeming resigned, began to speak. "Uh, um... I brought a client." That client was named Kimidori Emiri-san, a second year student who gave an impression of being timid and neat. Presently, with her eyes fixed on the surface of the tea that Asahina-san had poured, she was sitting without raising her face. Beside her was Asahina-san, who was seated on an adjacent chair like an escort. She hadn't changed into her maid costume like I was anticipating. It was a bit disappointing. "So, as for you." Haruhi said, making a face like an interviewer's and twirling a ball pen. Occupying the space in front of the two second-year students, she continued in an arrogant tone, "What you're saying is that you want our SOS Brigade to look for your missing boyfriend?"

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Holding the pen with the top of her lips, Haruhi crossed her arms.

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Holding the pen with the top of her lips, Haruhi crossed her arms. Although she was acting as if she were thinking about something, I knew better. She was just holding back and could burst into laughter at any moment. How could this be, even though I was optimistic that no one would come, our first counselee had arrived. It would be typical of Haruhi to probably want to jump for joy in this situation. "Yes." Kimidori-san said, talking toward her teacup. Nagato, Koizumi, and I were watching the situation from the sidelines. Before the pair of second year students, Haruhi went, "Hmm." She hummed artificially and gave me a look. I was becoming thoroughly resentful of myself. I never should have made such a poster! What could I have written, accepting consultations for the problems you couldn't tell other people... Was that it? All the same, it never occurred to me that there was a student who would take it seriously; wasn't I thinking normally? Whether or not she took it seriously, Kimidori-san saw the poster about the SOS Brigade's activity objectives, and seems to have mistaken it to mean that we were a counseling office for general problems or a service business that does odd jobs. Certainly, that would be the case if you had interpreted it literally. Ah I finally remembered; the contents of my fabricated activities were "students' school life problems discussions, consulting duties, and progressive participation in community service activities." Presently, not one of those could be related to the SOS Brigade. Aside from disturbing a grass-lot baseball tournament, we haven't done a thing.

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However, having seen the poster I had written by chance, Kimidori-san had discovered our existence, called out to Asahina-san, who was in the same year, after worrying over it, and came here together with her; this seems about right. So, what could be troubling you? "He hasn't come to school for many days now." Kimidori-san wouldn't meet anyone's eyes, and looked intently at the teacup's rim as she spoke. "Although he's rarely absent, he didn't even come in on a test day, which was strange." "Have you tried calling him?" Asked Haruhi. Her mouth stopped looking like it was going to burst out laughing, and she started biting on the bottom of her ball pen. "Yes. He doesn't answer his mobile or house phone. I tried going to his home, but it was locked. Nobody came to get the door." "Hu-hu-humm." A person who delights in other people's misfortune is a real good-for-nothing, but Haruhi was emitting such a cheerful aura that she seemed she might break out into a song at any moment. In short, this person wasn't even a bum. End of discussion. "And your boyfriend's family?" Kimidori-san was talking to her tea. It seems it wasn't in this person's nature to be able to talk to others while meeting their eyes. "I heard from before that his parents had gone to another country. I don't know their contact address." "Ehhh? Could that country be Canada?" Haruhi asked. "No. If I remember correctly, I think it was Honduras." "Ho-ho~. Honduras, huh. I see."

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What is it you're seeing? I doubt you even know where that country is. Um... was it somewhere below Mexico? "There's no sign that he's even in his room. Even when I visited him late in the evening, it was completely dark. I'm worried." Kimidori-san said indifferently, like she was reading from a script, and covered her face with her hands. As Haruhi wound her lips, she said, "Mm. I can't say that I don't understand how you're feeling." Liar. You couldn't possibly understand the feelings of a girl in love. "In any case, it's amazing how you've come to the facilities of our SOS Brigade. First, tell me your motive." "Yes. He often mentioned it. So I had remembered." "Eh? Who's your boyfriend?" At Haruhi's question, Kimidori-san murmured the young male student's name. I feel like I've heard it somewhere before, but I also feel that it isn't an acquaintance of mine. Haruhi also drew her eyebrows together, "Who's that?" In a voice like a gentle breeze, Kimidori-san answered, "He said that he was neighbors with the SOS Brigade..." "A neighbor?" Haruhi looked up at the ceiling. Kimidori-san turned to Asahina-san and I, who had tilted our heads to the side, and then to Koizumi and Nagato, but her eyes didn't meet anyone's, and she returned to staring at her teacup. And then, "He's serving as the Computer Club's president." Was what she said.

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I had completely forgotten. It was that pitiful president? I had taken pictures of his sexual harassment of Asahina-san (against his will), and Haruhi, using that as a pretext, acquired their latest model computer (by force), and he was even bullied into doing the wiring in tears; it was the Computer Research Club's pitiable upperclassman. No, there's no need to pity him, is there? If he has a girlfriend with such a good atmosphere, it's more than even. Come to think of it, I wonder where I put that disposable camera. "Okay, I got it!" said Haruhi, accepting the task easily. "We'll take care of it. Kimidori-san, you're in luck! As client number one, you get your case solved for free as a bonus." If you're going to be taking their money, it won't be a school service activity. However, is this really some kind of a case? This president something-or-other isn't just simply becoming hikikomori, is he? I don't know how he could be complaining, having a sweetheart like Kimidori-san, but I think it'd be better to just leave him alone to recover by himself. Of course I didn't say that; Kimidori-san left her boyfriend's address on a piece of paper, and exited the clubroom in a pace like that of an apparition that had materialized. After waiting for Asahina-san to return from seeing her off to the corridor, I opened my mouth. "Hey, is it really okay to accept that so easily? What do you plan to do if we can't find the solution?" But Haruhi just twirled her ball pen in a good mood. "We can. That president is surely just hiding away with two-months-late May Sickness. We'll just march over to the president, hit him two or three times, and drag

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him outside. Totally simple!" She seems to be seriously thinking that. Well, I was thinking the same thing, though. I asked Asahina-san, who was re-pouring us some fresh tea. "Are you and Kimidori-san close?" "No, I haven't talked to her once. She was in the class next door, so I only saw her when we had joint lessons." It would've been better if she had told the teachers or the police rather than consult with us. No, could she already have talked to them before? And because she had been ignored, she called out to Asahina-san? It's probably something like that, I think. There wasn't any sense of urgency as we idly sipped our tea. Haruhi was unreasonably elated, and seemed to be thinking about accepting grander and grander commissions, and then resolving them. Although it was lamentable how little was remaining of the first semester, these were the circumstances that were likely to force a second round of the flyer distribution project. Just forget it. Nagato closed her book with a thump, and, as Haruhi would say it, we proceeded with the investigation. The club president's solo dwelling was a studio apartment. Because of the location, I thought that college students were probably the main residents here, in this three-story building that looked neither good nor bad, in a color that just looked well enough that you couldn't say if it was new or old. Its appearance was exceptionally normal. Ordinary. Holding the note where the address was written in her hand, Haruhi dashed high up the stairs. The other three and I followed the back of her summer sailor uniform in silence.

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"Here, right?" In front of the steel door, Haruhi confirmed the name on the nameplate. The name that Kimidori-san had said was her boyfriend's was inside the plastic case. "I wonder if we can open it somehow." After trying to turn the knob a few times to check the lock, Haruhi pushed the button on the intercom. It should be the other way around! "How about we come up from the veranda at the back? If we smash the glass, then we can get in, right?" I can only wish she was joking. This room is on the third floor, and we aren't a group of aimless juvenile delinquents. I have no desire for a criminal record just yet. "I guess so. Let's go to the building manager and borrow the key. If we say that we're friends who came because we were worried, he'll lend it to us." Pretending to be someone's friend is your specialty. But this club president, even though he's living by himself, he never gave his girlfriend a duplicate key. That's like harvesting just the stem of the eggplant and then throwing the fruit away. Ka-chick. I turned around at the cold sound, and there was Nagato gripping the knob in silence. "............" Nagato was looking at me intently with eyes like liquid helium. Slowly, Nagato tugged at the door, and the entrance to the room was agape. The air inside was stale, but for some reason there was a chill accompanying it, lurking at our feet – or so I felt. "Oh." Haruhi's eyes were round, and her lips a semi-circle,

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"It was open? I didn't notice. Well, that's okay. Come on, let's go on in. I'm sure he's hiding under his bed, so everyone, just drag him out and we'll capture him. At the worst, if he resists violently, you may end his life. We'll soak his head in beeswax and deliver that to the client." Apparently, she doesn't feel an atom of guilt for plundering his computer. Unlike Salome, she couldn't even be bothered to get a container for the head. In high spirits, she pushed all of us into the room, and then saw that the single room was uninhabited. Not a single cockroach. Haruhi looked inside the bathroom and under the bed. There wasn't even a human shape anywhere. This had one-fourth the space of Nagato's room, and just her guest room at that, but compared to that dreary nothingness, the level of life was four times greater. A bookshelf, a closet, a desk that looked like a low dining table, and a computer rack had been left in precise order. We confirmed through the open window that only a washing machine was hiding in the veranda. "How strange." While hopping on top of the bed, Haruhi tilted her head in disbelief. "Even though I thought he'd be curled up into a ball in some corner of the room hugging his knees. Could he have gone to the convenience store? Kyon, do you know some other place where a hikikomori would go to?" So it's been decided that the Computer Club president is a hikikomori then? Could he be traveling around Central and South America on a tour? Or was he seriously hiding his whereabouts? We should have asked the homeroom teacher of the club president's class for the story before coming here. I was looking at the computer-related books lined up in the bookshelf, when someone suddenly pulled on the back of my shirt. "............"

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Nagato was looking up at me without any expression, and then shook her chin sideways. "We should leave." Looking small, Nagato whispered to me. It was the first time I've heard Nagato's voice today. Haruhi and Asahina-san didn't notice, but Koizumi brought his face close to my ear. "I feel the same way." Don't talk so seriously, it's creeping me out. But Koizumi, with a forced smile and eyes that you couldn't laugh at, continued. "I feel a strange discomfort in this room. It's close to a sensation that I am familiar with. It's only similar, and it feels fundamentally different, but..." Haruhi had taken the liberty of opening the refrigerator, "Warabi-mochi, found it! The expiration date was yesterday. It'd be a waste, so let's eat!" she said, while tearing up the bag. As Asahina-san was flustering about, Haruhi made her taste the proffered convenience store pastry to see if it was edible. I also spoke in a low voice, naturally. "Similar to what?" "Closed space. This room has a similar smell as that place. No, smell is just a metaphorical expression. Feeling is also good, such that it is a feeling that exceeds the five senses." "You're an esper?!" was a reminiscent tsukkomi that I had to restrain myself not to break into. Actually, this person was seriously an esper. Nagato murmured in a voice that hardly shook the air. "A dimensional fault is in existence. Phase transformation is being executed." I can understand that.

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That's just what I wanted to say, though. If Nagato were to unexpectedly look sad or something, I'd probably be scared stiff right where I stand, so it would be in my good fortune not to say it. Ah well. At any rate, it would be better to withdraw quickly. After signaling to Koizumi and Nagato, I turned my face to the translucent-mochi-devouring Haruhi. When everyone had left the condominium, Haruhi declared that we were dismissed for the day for hunger reasons, and left for home by herself. The case that had been brought in by Kimidori-san was being put on hold for the moment; "It'll work itself out, eventually!" she irresponsibly said, and stopped thinking accordingly, and the day's matters all went up in the air. Looks like she's already lost interest. Haruhi wasn't the only one who didn't have lunch yet, but I pretended to go home once everyone parted, and after waiting restlessly for ten minutes, returned a second time to the front of the club president's condominium. The other three brigade members were already waiting together. The walking dictionary space alien and the argumentative esper bastard had knowing looks, but Asahina-san asked, "Um... What's the matter? You said we should reassemble without Suzumiya-san noticing..." She was looking up to me with a confused expression. When my eyes wandered over to Nagato and Koizumi, my anxiety strengthened. The one who was waiting for me the most was Asahina-san, that's how I'll think about it. "Those two seem to be concerned about the room we were just in." I answered. "Isn't that right?" The smiling person and the expressionless person nod at the same time.

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"I believe we'll understand if we go back there. Right, Nagato-san?" Without saying anything, Nagato aimlessly started walking. We followed suit. Moving past the stairs without even the sound of footsteps, Nagato quietly opened the door to the club president's home, silently took off her shoes, and advanced to the center of the room. The studio that was by no means spacious was already full with just four people standing in a line. "Within this room," Nagato began to talk. "A localized, non-corrosive amalgamation of asynchronous space is independently occurring in restricted condition mode." ............. We waited for a while, but it seems that was the only explanation. Even if you're speaking with phrases that make it seem like you just pulled words out of a dictionary and lined them up after they caught your eye, I, having no dictionary, am helpless. "What I'm feeling is close to a closed space. The source origin of that is Suzumiya-san, but this somehow has a different scent." Koizumi said what seems to be a follow-through for Nagato. You make a fine combination. Hanging out would be good for you. You should teach Nagato some hobbies other than reading. "I will make considerations regarding that matter afterwards. However, there's something we should be doing right now. Nagato-san, did this abnormal space cause the president's disappearance?" "Yes."

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Nagato raised one hand, in a gesture that seemed to be gently stroking the space right before her. An unpleasant premonition ran up my spine and stimulated my brain. Maybe I should have said, "Hold it!" But before I could even utter those two words, Nagato had whispered something in a voice that was like a tape running on twenty-speed fast forward, and, in one moment, a change took place as the scene before my eyes flickered. "Hahi-!?" Asahina-san leapt and grabbed my left arm with both hands, holding on to me tightly. But I didn't have the time to savor that long-awaited sensation, as I was desperately trying to verify my location, myself. Let's see, I was in the club president's cramped studio. Definitely not at an eerie place like this. I was not in a wide, flat space, with an ocher haze hanging in the air such that I couldn't see the horizon. Who could have taken me to a place like this? "Intrusion codes analyzed. This place is overlapping normal space. A phase has simply slipped off." Nagato explained. Well, isn't this person the only one who seems like she can do this sort of thing? Koizumi, the only one who can go head-on with Nagato in a discussion, said, "It doesn't seem to be Suzumiya-san's closed space." "It is deceivingly similar. However, a portion of this data space is integrating with junk information originating from Suzumiya Haruhi." "Up to what extent?" "A negligible level. She was merely the trigger." "I see. So that's how it is."

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Asahina-san and I are getting along fine with being left out of the conversation. It doesn't bother me at all. I really should be grateful. As it is, though, I'd be even more grateful if we could return to the original world. Asahina-san was clinging to me nervously as she looked around at our surroundings. It seems like this space was an unforeseen thing for her. I was the same; my eyes were flying in all directions, observing. Though I could breathe, will it be safe to inhale this stuff that seemed like a yellow-brown mist? The temperature of the floor that had felt pleasantly cool through my socks went right through to the soles of my feet. Whether it was the floor or the ground, the ocher plane continued everywhere. To think that such storage space would accompany a room that was no more than six tatami mats large. So this was a cross-dimensional space? Well, I had thought that such an atmosphere would arrive soon. I was calm, if I can say so myself. "Is the Computer Club president here?" "It would seem so. This differing space appeared in his own room and trapped him somehow." "Where is he? I don't see him." Koizumi simply turned his face towards Nagato with a smile. Like it was a signal, Nagato again raised one of her hands. "Hold it!" This time I was able to make it. In all seriousness, I asked Nagato, who had frozen up, "Could you tell me what you're doing? I at least want some time to prepare myself mentally." "Nothing."

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Nagato answered like chattering glasswork; with fingers curled, she tilted her hand upwards by about seventy-five degrees, and extended her index finger again. She then said a single word, "It's coming." I turned my gaze to where Nagato's fingertip was pointing. "Uhn." I groaned unconsciously. The ocher haze was slowly coiling into a swirl. It was a whirlpool as the particles that made up the fog gathered into one place, grain by grain. I had a feeling like I was a pathogen that had just invaded a body. Somehow, an image sprung from somewhere of how this ocher swirl was taking it upon itself to carry out its duty like a white blood cell. My spirit's only solace was that Asahina-san's hand was warm. "I sense definite hostility." The freely talking Koizumi's voice, however, didn't make me any more strained, and I had no reaction as Nagato stood like an android that was in the middle of breaking down, her hand still stretched out. Nevertheless, I could not relax. These people might have the means to defend themselves, but I didn't. It looks like Asahinasan also didn't, as she was hiding behind me. This was just the right time to want to bring out a futuristic item, though. Don't you have a ray gun or something? "Carrying weapons is prohibited. It's dangerous." Asahina-san answered with a quivering voice. I can understand that. Even if [this] Asahina-san had a weapon, not only will she not be any help, she's likely to just go and forget it on the train. You would expect that she would improve a little as an adult, but when I think about it, [that] Asahina-san was also very much a careless person; she might just be a scatterbrain by nature.

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Are you familiar with the insect known as the kamadouma? If you aren't, I'd like to show you the spectacle before my eyes.

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As I was thinking about that, a figure in the haze was gradually displaying the features of solid matter. There's probably some reason for this as well. I didn't want to know, but for some reason I understood what kind of shape the ocher mass was taking. "...Hieee!" Asahina-san was the only one being frightened. It's certainly not something that makes you feel like you were looking at a pretty sight, and it's something you rarely see in town. Even I, who had last seen it how-many-years ago, under the floorboards of my grandmother's house in the countryside, was silent for a while. Are you familiar with the insect known as the kamadouma? If you aren't, I'd like to show you the spectacle before my eyes. You'll get to know it well, down to the details. Because, this kamadouma had a length of about three meters. "What is this thing?" I asked. "It's a kamadouma, isn't it?" answered Koizumi. "I know that. At kindergarten age, I was a famous insect expert. Though I haven't seen the real thing, I knew how to differentiate between an uma-oi and a kutsuwamushi. That's okay, but what is this?" Nagato's answer seeped out like a trickle. "The creator of this space." "This thing?" "Yes." "Is this also Haruhi's doing?" "The origin is different. But what started it was her."

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As I was going to ask what it was again, I noticed that Nagato was still naively following my command. "...You can move now." "I see." Slipping her hand down, Nagato looked intently at the materializing giant kamadouma. The dark brown benjo ko-orogi was settling down on a spot several meters away from us. "Well. While imperfect, it seems like I can use my power here." What Koizumi was holding in one hand was a red globe of light as big as a handball. Since the last time I saw it somewhere before, I had thought that I'd never see that ruby a second time. It seems like it had come out from his palm. "My strength is at ten percent of what it would be in closed space, here. Moreover, it seems like I'm not able to transform myself." For some reason, Koizumi turned to Nagato with the refreshing smile that I'd gotten tired of seeing and asked, "Was it determined that this much would suffice?" "............" Nagato had no reaction. I went back to asking her. "Anyway, Nagato. What is that bug's true identity? And where is the president?" "That is a sub-species of data life-form. It is using the brain tissue of a young male student to heighten the probability of its existence." Koizumi put his finger on the middle of his forehead. He looked like he was considering something, and then appeared to be somewhat concentrating on those thoughts. Raising his face, Koizumi asked, "By any chance, is the president inside this giant kamadouma?"

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"Correct." "This kamadouma...... I see, this is the president's image of an object of fear, isn't it? If we defeat it, this differing space will collapse. Am I wrong?" "You are not mistaken." "It helps that it was an easily-understood metaphor. In that case, this'll be simple." But it wouldn't be simple if it wasn't easy to understand. Then let's just say that Asahina-san and I can understand it. "It doesn't seem to be the time for that, does it?" Without raising his last word, he put the red globe somewhere with a suave smile, and then Asahina-san was hanging on to my waist, somehow. The way things are going, "somehow" is always how it's going to be. "Hyoeee~" Asahina-san wasn't just trembling, she was taking away my range of mobility. Under these circumstances, I won't be able to escape, will I? "That won't be necessary, I hope. I'll finish it in a moment. I have such confidence, for some reason. It should be easier than hunting ." The kamadouma that had just finished materializing is not just going to be flying away any time soon, I suppose. How many meters can it jump, I wonder. I feel like estimating..... but let's not. I abruptly said. "Get on with it." "Roger that." Koizumi tossed the ruby upwards and struck it like he was serving a volleyball. The red handball flew accurately, crashing right into the front of the monster kamadouma, and made a sound like an exploding paper balloon. It was a stupid

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attack, but the opponent was stupid as well. Even though I had prepared for some kind of counterattack, the kamadouma did not escape, jump, or roar a mysterious sound, rather it just stayed there peacefully. "Is it over?" At Koizumi's question, Nagato gave her assent. It really did finish quickly. The giant kamadouma diffused to its original misty form, and then continued thinning steadily. The ocher haze that shimmered in all directions was disappearing as well. And so was the freezing sensation under my feet. As for our supposed compensation, a man in a familiar uniform had appeared. Falling on his back and facing upwards was the Computer Club's president. In front of the PC rack, his eyes were closed, looking like he had slipped off his chair. He seemed to be alive. Koizumi leaned over him from the side and put his hand on his neck, and gave me a nod. Nagato was standing before the bookshelves, gazing at Asahina-san, who was beside the bed looking dazed, and at me. We were in a room of a studio condominium. I wondered where that vast space could've gone. At any rate, it was all good. Whether it was gray or ocher, I've had enough of being trapped in wide spaces. "Approximately two-hundred-and-eighty million years ago." So began Nagato's explanation, a cosmic mystery of electro-magnetic waves, and if I were to break it up and boil it down, it would be as follows. It was the Permian or the Triassic period when [that thing] descended to Earth, and at the time there was nothing in the world for it to possess. Losing its basis for

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existence, it settled into hibernation for its self-preservation. Until an information accumulation body with which it can exist on earth appears. "It did not have the means to exist on the earth. Freezing all action, it settled into slumber." Before long, humans were born unto the world, and humans gave birth to computer networks. Though imperfect, utilizing that childish (according to Nagato) digital information network as a seedbed was feasible. But it was insufficient, and the thing remained at a half-awakened state. However, an incident occurred which prompted its awakening. Instead of an alarm clock, floating in the net was a single detonator. It carried information that could not be measured by normal numerical values. Data that does not exist in this planet. An alien world's information data. For the thing, that was the physical medium it had been anxiously waiting for....... Nagato ended her talk without flourish. Nagato, who was doing something with the president's home computer, displayed the SOS Brigade online site, and projected the damaged SOS Brigade emblem on the monitor as she was speaking. "The invocation sign drawn by Suzumiya Haruhi is the catalyst. It became the door." "...It was this SOS Brigade emblem, from before, this thing, this summoning magic circle or something?" "Yes." Nagato said with a nod of her head. "Converting this SOS Brigade crest into Earth standard, it holds approximately four-hundred-thirty-six terabytes of information." It can't be. That image data wasn't even ten kilobytes. But Nagato calmly said, "It does not correspond to any unit on Earth."

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"Amazing odds, aren't they? Because, even though it was a symbol that she had just happened to draw, it was a perfect fit. She truly is Suzumiya-san. Astronomical figures are as nothing." Looks like Koizumi is seriously impressed. However, I was seriously afraid. What was I afraid of? Most of the things Haruhi does come from mere ideas. Forming the SOS Brigade and assembling the members were like that. Asahina-san, who was perfectly suited to being a mascot character, Koizumi, who had transferred schools, and Nagato, who was there from the beginning. And as it turns out, Asahina-san was a time-traveler, Koizumi an esper, and Nagato a pseudo-alien. She's already accomplished too much. Actually, Koizumi would say it wasn't by chance, spouting some nonsense like it was because Haruhi had desired it. Even though I'm starting to believe just a little, I still won't go for it. Because I, myself, am a simple, ordinary person. That alone should be enough counter-proof. By Koizumi's theory, it would be strange if there were no electro-magnetic wave profile hidden in me. Though there was supposed to be... If there was another side to Haruhi's actions that I had thought meaningless, what then? She, herself, does not know the consequence. Like her own original letters, which she had casually pictured in her head, becoming some kind of message for aliens somewhere. Like a cat hitting a keyboard and producing meaningful sentences. What kinds of odds were there on such things? That troublesome girl named Suzumiya Haruhi, who easily breaks through the walls of probability and statistics, and unconsciously arrives at the correct solutions; I'd be better off if she had made me join the SOS Brigade because she considered me some kind of an errand boy. Yep, that's the thing. That's totally better than thinking that I, myself, have such an idiotic and enigmatic alter-ego. So, do I? Perhaps my

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background is that there is some kind of unpredictable and unusual ability within me that I do not know about. Is that why I was chosen? A secret me that I do not know about, frankly, does not exist. What scares me is the next point. Who am I? I shrugged, in an imitation of Koizumi. Ah well, as he says it. I, myself, am the one who understands my own part the most. The long and short of it is, I am the SOS Brigade's only conscience. There is no mistaking that one. My nature differs from that of the other three brigade members. I am in the SOS Brigade for the sake of persuading Haruhi to live a normal high school life. Aside from stopping her unlawful club activities, it is my duty to make her freely disband the brigade. If you think about it deeply, that is the fast-track to arriving at a peaceful world. No, it is the only straight track. Rather than changing how Haruhi thinks of the world, changing Haruhi's inner world would be simpler and would bother nobody else. Then again, if I hadn't given her that strange inspiration, there might not have been an SOS Brigade. So let's see, umm, it's a case-by-case thing. Show it somehow, huh. But I don't know what day that will be, and why I'd have to do such a thing. Let's put that aside for now. "So in the end, what was that kamadouma, really?" If I didn't ask this right now, the story will never end. In a tone that seemed to be saying that she was really exhaling carbon dioxide, Nagato answered, "Information life-form." "A relative of your patron?"

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"It branched off in the distant past. Though their origin is identical, these evolved differently, and went extinct." Or so they thought, but here was a survivor. It didn't have to hibernate on Earth, of all places. I wish it could've gone to bed somewhere around Neptune. It could’ve frozen itself so it could’ve fallen asleep. To think that the development of the internet would become a pseudo-demon's breeding grounds. I suddenly thought of something. Going near the bed, I asked the petite upper classman, "Asahina-san, up to what extent have the computers of the future progressed?" "Eh..." Asahina-san opened her lips and froze. At any rate, it was probably prohibited, so I wasn't expecting anything, but someone else answered. "Such primitive information networks will no longer be in use." Nagato said, not sensing the atmosphere. Pointing at the PC, she said, "For organic life-forms at the level of earthlings, inventing a system that does not depend on storage media is simple." Nagato's gaze moved horizontally. When it got to her, Asahina-san paled. Is that so? "That is... Umm..." Faltering, Asahina-san looked down. "I can't say..." In a whimpering voice, she said, "I can't affirm or deny it; I was not given the authority. I'm sorry."

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No, that's okay. No need to apologize, seriously. I don't particularly feel that I want to know―――Hey, Koizumi, why are you making such a disappointed face, is there something you don't like? To save Asahina-san, I decided to change the subject. Hmm, what could there be, ah yes. "Something's strange." After waiting until I had gathered everyone's attention on myself, I continued, "I was present when Haruhi was drawing that stupid portrait, but nothing was awakened. Why didn't that thing appear around the time Haruhi finished the picture?" The one who answered was Koizumi. "As for this room, it's because it had already been transformed into differing space for some time. Varying types of elements and force fields are battling and negating each other, and in contrast, it becomes just about normal. I guess you could say it's at the saturation point. Since various things have already met the fusion capacity, there is no room for further integration." What a theory. So what you're saying is that, the Literature Club room has become some kind of terrible den of evil? I hadn't noticed at all. "That's because ordinary people do not have such unnecessary sensors attached. That may be, but as it is, I think it's harmless. Probably." Ah well. However, though it's good if prevailing temperatures would just cool down, I wouldn't want to be acting strangely or looking for a rope to hang myself with before I knew it. "No need to worry, everything will be all right. Because Nagato-san, Asahina-san, and I are dutifully working hard so that would not happen." Are you sure this isn't happening because the three are you are working hard?

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Smiling, Koizumi said, "Ah well," then inclined his head as he turned up both his palms. I turned my eyes back to the computer screen. As I looked at the broken down symbol of the SOS Brigade, I felt uneasy for some reason. Manipulating the mouse to move the cursor, I scrolled to the bottom of the page. "Geh?!" The access counter was displayed. It had somehow returned to normal, and was banging out the number of visitors. The last time I had seen it, the number wasn't three figures. Now, our SOS Brigade Site's counter had... Ones-tens-hundredsthousands...... Turned to almost three thousand. How could this be? Where did it get such exposure? "It placed hyperlinks on various locations." Nagato quietly said. "This information life-form did that in order to multiply. Exceedingly primitive. Its method was to copy its self-information into the brains of people who saw the sign, and create restricted space. It required as many humans as possible." "So then, the people who had seen it... The almost three thousand of them, will end up the same as the president?" "Negative. The data of the summoning crest had been damaged. The number of people who had viewed the correct information source is not many." Though I had been thinking that the server was likely out-of-order, that might have actually helped. "How many people? Those idiots that clicked such a dubious link and looked fully at that marking." "Eight people. Five of whom are North High students."

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So in that case, eight more people are trapped in ocher space? In spaces governed, not just by kamadouma, but all sorts of metaphors? To help them――― well, we'll probably need to go. Koizumi asked Nagato for the addresses of those people (I wasn't surprised that Nagato knew those things somehow), and it seems like Asahinasan is also intending to follow the pair. If that's the case, then I guess it wouldn't do for me to not go as well. Though Haruhi did the worst of it, the one who had discharged this magic-circle-like thing on the net was me, so I'd better clean up my own mess. And also for the sake of clearing up this guilty feeling. Setting aside the victims from North High, it seems like we'll have to catch a ride at the Shinkansen somehow for the three other people that had to be rescued. So. It's the beginning of the exam break. The remaining act became nothing but waiting for summer vacation in the clubroom. As for Haruhi, when I had informed her that the club president had come to school, "Hmm. Really." Was all she said before flying out of the room, and is probably eating her heart out at the cafeteria right about now. Koizumi and Asahina-san have yet to come. By the way, in the case of the Haruhi-devised SOS Brigade symbol, I had fixed it by pasting on Nagato's retake. I was able to skillfully upload it this time, well, why was that, I wonder? It should be okay for people who see this to stick their eyes onto it from now on. It almost doesn't differ from Haruhi's clumsy illustration, but if you compare them carefully, you'll see that "ZOZ Brigade" is displayed. Having that as

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the only difference, it was at the brink of whether strange things would or would not appear. An epigram for the moment: I want to impulsively click the link to an unknown address, but how? Thinking about such things, I gazed absent-mindedly at Nagato, who had been reading a technical book lined with numbers at the table's edge. Watching Nagato's face, I happened to think of something. Though I didn't know when this person noticed Haruhi's summoning image, could she be the one who destroyed the data? One more thing; there was Kimidori Emiri-san, the one who brought this case to us. Just a while ago, when I went to inquire at the Computer Club's room, I heard that the club president had no girlfriend. He said so himself, seeming healthy, though he was troubled about having no memory of the past several days. Not at all having the appearance of having lied, he was decidedly agape when I had mentioned Kimidorisan's name. The president was not some versatile entertainer who could give such a real performance. I was suspicious. Was Kimidori-san's coming to the SOS Brigade really, truly, for a request? If you think about it, the timing was too good. Haruhi did her prank drawing, and I pasted it onto the site. Then some people who had seen it were taken to some information lifeform in some different dimension. After inquiring about the story from the visiting Kimidori-san, we turned towards the club president's home. And then, somehow did some exterminating.

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A breeze blew in through the window, tossing Nagato's hair and the pages of her book.

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It was a picture-perfect scenario. The one in the heart of all this was always Nagato. Though that all-purpose alien terminal having done something to Kimidorisan, which resulted in her having brought her case to us, would have been an elaborate method, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. Perhaps she had thought about staging a pretend-client to relieve Haruhi's boredom even just a little. If it was an incident of this level, Nagato could have finished it off by herself without having to involve any of us. Hasn't it been always like that? Without saying anything to anyone and keeping silently behind the curtains, could she have been preventing these strange things before they happened? A breeze blew in through the window, tossing Nagato's hair and the pages of her book. Her white finger pressed softly down on the margin, her white face lowered; unmoving except for her eyes, which chased the book's letters. Or... Could it have been Nagato's wish to involve us? Living in a dreary room for years, an alien-made organic android. Only seemingly emotionless, could it be that she also has them? Those feelings of loneliness one has when secluded.

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Chapter 4 Lone Island Syndrome

The scene before me is so shocking that I have totally forgotten the pain in my shoulders. Right now I'm lying on the floor, unable to even get up, as I'm too stunned by what I see. The reason I can't move is because something as heavy as an anchor is on my back, and I can't remove it, but that doesn't matter to me right now. Koizumi, who was above me as we burst the door open and is now lying on top of me, is probably just as stunned as I am. Get off me! I didn't even have the wits to tell him that. You can imagine how astonished I was. How can this be possible? I can't believe this is actually happening. This is no laughing matter. What should we do? A bright light flashed outside the window. A few seconds later, the sound of thunder roared through my stomach. A true thunderstorm. It's been covering this island since yesterday. "......How can this be?"

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I heard a groan. That would be Arakawa-san, who burst open the door alongside me and Koizumi, and fell to the ground together with us. Koizumi finally got off my back. I rolled over and sat upright. I look once again at the unbelievable scene before me. On the carpet near the door lies a man who has fallen backwards just like I did. He is none other than the middle-aged owner of this mansion, who did not come down to the dining hall this morning. We recognized him by the suit he was wearing, it was the same suit he wore yesterday after bidding us good night. The only person to wear a suit unnecessarily in this midsummer island would be him. He is the employer of Arakawa-san, and the owner of this island and mansion: Tamaru Keiichi-san. Keiichi-san lay on the ground with a shocked expression, not moving a muscle. It is absolutely normal for him not to move, because it seems like he's already dead. How did I know this? Well, the answer was obvious. The object on his chest looked very familiar. It was the handle of the fruit knife that was inside the fruit basket from the dining hall during dinner last night. I can bet with you, that attached to that handle is a sharp metal blade, or it would have been impossible for it to stand upright on a person's chest. In other words, the knife is thrust into Keiichi-san's chest. I don't suppose anyone can live if they've had a knife stabbed straight into their heart? And right now that's the status of Keiichi-san. "KYAA......"

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From the broken door behind me came a small terrified scream. I turned and saw Asahina covering her mouth with her hands. Nagato stood behind Asahina, who was slowly retreating behind and clutching Nagato's shoulders. Nagato looked at me with her ever calm expression, and then lowered her head as though in deep thought. Of course, wherever we go, she would be there. "Kyon, that person......could he be......" Haruhi seemed to be shocked as well, sticking her head from Asahina's side to see what was going on, and staring at Keiichi-san at eternal rest, with her dark cat-like eyes. "Dead?" It's quite rare for her to speak so softly, and with a small tingle of anxiety. I turned and was about to say something, only to see Koizumi, his usual cheery smile replaced with a confused look. Mori-san the maid also stood in the corridor. Only one person, who was in the mansion all day yesterday, was now missing. A room that needs the door burst open in order to enter, a dead owner, and a missing person. What does this all mean? "I say, Kyon......" Haruhi spoke again, her face showing an unfamiliar look of discomfort. I even had the illusion that she was about to lean into my chest. Another lightning flash, illuminating the whole room. The thunderstorm that raged from yesterday was beginning to calm down. The fierce waves smacked down upon the island shores, creating a terrifying sound effect along with the thunder. The owner of a lone island, lying dead inside a sealed room with a knife stabbed through his chest, in the middle of a thunderstorm. This is the scene I was seeing. I can't help but think.

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Hey, Haruhi. Did you create all this? I recalled the journey leading the SOS Brigade to this scene. Back to a few days before summer vacation began...... ......... ...... ... It was midsummer, in the middle of July. The sun was so hot that I wished it would take a vacation for once. As usual, I was hanging out in our underground headquarters, formerly the Literature Club room, enjoying Asahina's tea. Though I had recovered from the results of the mid-term tests, once I started thinking about the impending revision classes, I could no longer relax. At that moment, the only choice I had was to escape from it all. In the blink of an eye, I thought up various ways to convince myself that the reality I'm in is all a lie. As I pondered which one to use...... "Excuse me......are you alright?" I awoke from the dream of myself being an alien paratrooper, parachuting from the back of the moon and storming the parliament building. "You look so gloomy today......is my tea not good enough?" "Not at all." I answered. Your tea is still as sweet as honey from the sky, even though it's brewed using discount tea leaves. "That's wonderful."

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Asahina, dressed in a summer maid costume, breathed a sigh of relief. She gave a gentle smile, so I answered her with a smile of my own. Your happiness is my happiness. Not even a sage traveling through the most remote mountains could find an Elixir as effective as Asahina's smile. My mind is now clearer than the surface of Lake Mashu in Hokkaido. I can even hear angels blowing their trumpets...... I felt like spreading my passion to everyone, as St. Francis of Assisi passionately did when preaching to his sister birds, but in the end I gave up. Not because I couldn't be bothered with the use of elegant phrases, but rather at this moment an annoying person came barging in with his melodious tones... "Hey, everyone! How were your mid-term tests?" Koizumi placed the Monopoly board he brought on the table while asking me this irrelevant question. Thanks to him, I've now returned to the dark side of the moon, hiding in the satellite orbit thinking how to make all these thoughts stop. Why can't you just play your Monopoly quietly? You ought to learn from Nagato, sitting peacefully in the corner reading her book. Opening a hardback book as thick as an encyclopedia, Nagato sat on the foldable chair, in her summer sailor uniform. She had her eyes fixed on the book with that glass statue-like face of hers. From a certain perspective, she is a digitized existence, yet she seems to love absorbing physical data. I wonder if there's some specific reason for that? "......" Now I think about it, how can everyone in our club have so much free time on their hands? School finished early today, classes having already ended in the morning. Yet why is everyone still gathered here? Myself included, but I have a justifiable reason to be

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here! If I didn't drink Asahina's tea at least once every day, I'd basically become a zombie. Thanks to that, I usually have to suffer withdrawal symptoms during the weekends. Just joking. You think I'm serious? It's just that I've learned something since I came to high school - some people tend to take jokes very seriously. I say this from my experiences of the past few months, so I can't be wrong. One needs to draw a fine line between joking and being serious, or something terrible might happen. Just like my situation right now. I opened my bag and took out the ham sandwich I got from the Welfare Society as my snack. As we count down to the beginning of summer vacation, there has to be a reason for us to gather here......or not. I say that because the SOS Brigade was created without any reason at all, in fact, it was created precisely for its lack of reason. It would be even more troublesome if it did have a reason. Instead of doing something really stupid, it's better that it remains in its present meaningless state, because that way I don't have to think much. "I think I'll have a snack as well." Asahina, so meticulous that she made her own tea, took out a cute looking lunchbox and sat down opposite me. "Don't mind me, I've already eaten in the canteen." Koizumi declined. No one asked you. While Nagato's hunger is more about reading books than about eating. Asahina picked up the rice, which had a smiley face drawn with cream, with her chopsticks and said, "Where's Suzumiya-san? She hasn't arrived yet."

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Don't ask me. She's probably somewhere hunting for grasshoppers. It's summer after all. Koizumi answered for me, "I saw her in the school canteen. Her appetite sure is amazing. If all the food she consumed was converted into nutrition, I wonder how many ergs that'd be?" I'm not going to calculate such things. If she intends to lock herself up in the canteen, then she can stay till evening. "Don't think so. She said she has something important to announce today." I just don't understand, how can you remain so cheerful? Whatever it is that she announces can't be anything beneficial to society, can it? Is your memory storage lower than a five inch floppy disk's? "Besides, how do you know about that anyway?" Koizumi said casually, "Hmm, I wonder how? I could tell you, but Suzumiya-san would prefer to tell you herself. It would be a great problem if I spoiled her mood by telling you before she does. I'd best stay silent for now." "I'm not interested anyway." "Is that so?" "Yup, because from your tone, it seems that idiot is up to something stupid again. I don't know how many more minutes my peace of mind will last, but I'm sure it's going to get less peaceful soon......" As I was about to continue, I was interrupted by a slamming sound from the violent opening of the door. "Great! Everyone's here!" Haruhi's eyes shone as bright as a spectrometer.

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"As today we're having an important meeting, I intend to have anyone arriving after me be treated as target practice for can throwing from now on as punishment. But it seems you've all begun to nurture that team spirit already. This is excellent!" Needless to say, I never knew there was an important meeting for today. "You sure have a lot of free time." I was trying to humble her. "You listen. The secret to eating in the school canteen is to go just before they close. By then the old ladies will scoop more for you. But the timing is very important, it'd be useless if you went when they were completely sold out. So today's a lucky day!" "Really?" For someone like me who rarely goes to the canteen for lunch, this new piece of information wasn't of that much use, no matter how generously it had been given. Haruhi sat down on the commander's seat. "Anyway, let's leave that aside." "It was you who started that topic." Haruhi ignored me and called out to Asahina, who was eating carefully with her chopsticks. "Mikuru-chan, what do you think of when you mention summer?" "Huh?" Asahina covered her mouth, munching and swallowing the food that she had cooked. "Summer......um......the O-Bon Festival?" Haruhi blinked her eyes nonstop at such a nostalgically traditional answer.

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"'O-Bon Festival'? What on earth's that? Have you got it wrong? I'm not asking you that, what I'm saying is, when it comes to summer, what's the first thing that comes to mind?" What the hell are you talking about? Haruhi said matter-of-factly, "Summer vacation! Does that need thinking?" This way of thinking is a bit too straightforward. "Then what comes with summer vacation?" Haruhi asked her second question, and then looked at her watch while mimicking the sound of the clock ticking, "Tick tock, tick tock." Perhaps feeling pressurized by her, Asahina began to think frantically. "Um, that is, ah......the sea!" "That's right! Close enough. And what comes with the sea?" What the hell's this? A guessing game? Asahina tilted her head, "Sea, sea......ah, pickled fish?" "Wrong! Summer would be over by the time you guessed right. What I'm saying is, we need to go on a field trip for the summer holiday!" I stared and got more and more pissed at Koizumi's smiling face. Was this the important announcement you were talking about? "Field trip?" I asked slowly, Haruhi nodded energetically, "Yes, a field trip."

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Maybe it's normal for school clubs to organize field trips or whatever, but is it really okay for us to have one as well? She can't be having us go deep into the mountains to search for Unidentified Mysterious Animals (UMAs) that will never be found, can she? I looked at Asahina, Koizumi and Nagato in turn, and observed a stunned face, a smiling face, and a blank face from them respectively. I then said, "A field trip, huh......field trip for what?" "For the SOS Brigade." "I meant, what will we be doing?" "Having a field trip." What? Going on a field trip solely for the purpose of experiencing a field trip. Isn't that the same as saying "my headache hurts", "the tragic play is tragic", or "frying a fried fish"? "What does it matter? In other words, the means and ends of this activity are the same. Besides, of course a headache hurts, who's heard of anyone enjoying a headache?" I don't know whether there's something wrong with Haruhi's grammar, or if she's speaking in a different dialect. But the real problem lies with the field trip itself. "Where do you intend to go?" "I'm going to a lone island, and it has to be a lone island in the middle of the ocean." I don't remember ever reading "Two Years' Vacation” as a summer vacation report. Just what on earth did she read to come up with such an idea? "I've thought of a few locations."

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Haruhi's excitement showed on her face. "I was troubled by whether to go to the mountains or the sea. At first I thought it'd be more convenient to go to the mountains, but the only time to get ourselves isolated in a hillside mansion is during a blizzard in winter. Besides, that's way too hard." Maybe you can try going to Greenland......no, the question is why must we do such a thing? "You want to go to a hillside mansion just so you can get stuck there?" "Well yeah! Or it wouldn't be fun. But let's forget about the mountains! We'll save that for the winter field trip. This summer we're going to the sea, no, a lone island!" Don't be so obsessed with lone islands. I thought, but I could find no reason for opposition. It'd be useless for me to oppose her anyway, and for this time of year, the sea sounds more charming; besides, there should be seaside spas in these lone islands far away from the mainland, right? "Of course there are! Right, Koizumi?" "Hmm, I should hope so. Though it's a natural seaside spa without any lifeguards or food stalls." I quickly looked at Koizumi, with my eyes full of suspicion. Why are you helping her recite all this? "That's because......" Koizumi's explanation got interrupted by Haruhi. "Because the location for the field trip this time is being provided by none other than Koizumi!" Haruhi stuck her hands inside the desk drawer, and took out a colored armband. She then used a felt-tip pen and wrote "Vice Commander" on it.

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"As a result of this achievement, Koizumi-kun, you should feel honored. I hereby promote you to SOS Brigade Vice Commander!" "I am grateful for this honor." Koizumi gracefully accepted the armband. He glanced at me and gave me a wink. Let me set this straight, I am not the slightest bit jealous at all. Who'd want such a weird present? "That's it. This is a four day three night luxury tour! Let's get ourselves mentally prepared!" Haruhi gave a look saying "That's all folks!" Thinking we're all happy with this decision, which was of course, never the case. "Just a moment." I stepped forward and spoke on behalf of Asahina and Nagato. "Where is this island? Provide? What the hell's this? Why is Koizumi providing all this for us?" Koizumi, defined by Haruhi as a mysterious transfer student, is of course an unnatural person, and this 'Consortium' that he belongs to is even more suspicious. Could they be taking us to some secret research lab of theirs, trying to perform live autopsies on Haruhi and Nagato? "I have a very rich distant relative." Koizumi gave a harmless smile. "He's so rich that he can buy himself an uninhabited island and build a mansion on it. The fact is, he's already built the mansion. It just went through the opening ceremony a few days ago, but as no one was willing to travel that far to such a place, he's decided to invite some friends and relatives over. And this is where I came in."

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Is the island that bizarre? I started to recall the story of "Robinson Crusoe" I read a long time ago. "No, it was supposed to have been an uninhabited island. Summer vacation is approaching, and if the SOS Brigade is going on a trip, it would be more fun if we go there together. The owner of the mansion seems to welcome us coming as well." "And that's how it is!" Said Haruhi. She gave out a smile that would get us in trouble. "A lone island! And a huge mansion! This is a rare situation! I can't wait to go there. This is the perfect stage for the SOS Brigade!" "Why?" I asked, "What does a lone island and mansion have to do with your favorite mysterious events?" Alas, Haruhi is already lost in her own world. "A lone island in the middle of the sea! And a mansion! Koizumi, your relative is really understanding! Hmm, I think I'll get along well with him." The only people who can get along well with Haruhi are mostly weirdos. The mansion owner must be a very weird person. I couldn't tell if Nagato had heard what Haruhi had announced; it was easy with Asahina, who had stopped eating, with an astonished look on her face. "Don't worry, Mikuru-chan. You can have all the pickled fish you want there! Am I right?" "I'll try and arrange it." Said Koizumi. "That's how it is." Haruhi took another colored armband from the drawer of the commander's desk. I have no idea how many she's made.

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"Towards the lone island! A lot of interesting things await us there. As for our mission there, I've already decided!" She said while writing on the armband with the felt-tip pen. The letters looked scribbled, but it seemed to say "Master Detective". "I'd like to hear what you're plotting." "Nothing really." Don't try to deny it without even flinching! Haruhi left after being satisfied with her announcement, Asahina and Nagato also left the club room and headed home. Only Koizumi and I remained behind. Koizumi flicked his hair parting and said, "It's true. Even if I didn't suggest it, Suzumiya-san was bound to find somewhere to go anyway, am I right? Since summer vacation is quite long. Would you rather go searching for Tsuchinoko in the mountains instead of walking along the seaside?" "A Tsuchinoko... ? ...Forget it, don't actually go and explain what it is. I know that much, at least." "Three days ago, I happened to find Suzumiya-san in the bookstore in front of the station. I saw her staring hard at a map of Japan while looking through some sort of mysterious magazine that deals with Unidentified Mysterious Animals." A field trip in search of UMAs, huh? This doesn't sound like a big deal, but the scary thing is that Haruhi would actually expect to find something mysterious. "It seems Suzumiya-san intended to return home with something. I had a feeling she would start with Mt. Hiba first. That being the case, it would be better for us to have a sunbath by the seaside. Besides, I already had somewhere in mind."

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How coincidental for you to have somewhere in mind. On the other hand, however, between watching the girls in swimsuits by the seaside; and climbing the hills in the bright sunlight, the difference is like heaven and hell. "The key is that this is a privately owned uninhabited island, a so-called 'closed circle'." This I had to ask about. Asking about what you do not understand is the best policy. "What's a 'closed circle'?" Koizumi's smile was not that annoying. If it was, then the problem lay with the other person's eyes. Even I knew that. "Perhaps there's a similarity......" Koizumi smiled and paused for a while, "I guess it would be more appropriate to call it a 'Sealed Reality'?" I didn't know how funny my expression was, but Koizumi was giggling. "I was kidding. A 'Closed circle' is a mystery term. It means a situation in which all direct contact with the outside world has been lost." Explain so that everyone can understand! "This is a setting most commonly seen in classic detective novels. For example, if we were to go skiing before the harsh winter......" Oh yeah, didn't Haruhi say she wanted to go to the snowy mountains? "Going to the snowy mountains for a field trip is not too bad, but what if then, the largest blizzard ever on record were to arrive?" If we were to go there, one would check the weather report first. "That's the problem. We're surrounded by the blizzard and thick layers of snow and there's no way off the mountain, and there's no way for people to come up as well."

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Then think of something! "There's no other way out. That's why it's called a 'closed circle'. Under these circumstances, something usually happens. I guess, the most common event is that someone gets murdered. So the stage is set. There is no way out for the suspect and the other people, and no new characters can enter from the outside, let alone the police. It wouldn't be fun if we had to resort to scientific forensics to rat out the suspect." As usual, what is this guy trying to say? "Ah, sorry about that. In other words, Suzumiya-san's theme for this trip is to be involved in such a mysterious event." That's why she chose a lone island? "Yes, a lone island. I was thinking, she'd probably conjure a condition in which the island is somehow sealed off, and during this time when no one can escape, someone would get murdered. A hilltop mansion in the middle of a blizzard or a lone island in the middle of a tropical storm are the perfect ingredients for a 'closed circle', where there is no way for the authorities to get involved. The ultimate stage for a crime mystery." "You seem to be enjoying this." Haruhi doesn't just lose control during the summer, but you don't have to go encourage her further. And I'm not saying this out of jealousy of not getting the vicecommander armband. "Because I like such a stage as well." I didn't want to argue with him, but I had to say this, I don't like it at all. Koizumi ignored my preference, and continued as though reading a thesis,

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"Think about those 'Master Detectives'. Normally, those with normal lives rarely get involved in inexplicable murder cases." "Makes sense." "Yet why is it that these novel detectives happen to get involved in these puzzling cases one after another? Do you know the reason?" "Because if they didn't, there would be no story to write." "Exactly, your answer is absolutely correct. These things only happen in the fictional world of novels. Yet to say such realistic things would just take the fun out of it, since Suzumiya-san intends to be in the world of fiction." Thinking hard, that was the reason why she founded the SOS Brigade. "In order to encounter such surreal and mysterious events, one needs to go to a suitable location. Because that is how the detectives in these novels end up in these events. So, one must become a major player on the stage itself. If one desires to have these events come to their doorstep, they must either have a relative who's a brilliant detective, or they must be a police officer themselves, or wait till they publish a series of novels themselves." That makes sense. I know Nagato loves science fiction novels, but I never knew she liked mystery novels as well. As for Haruhi, I guess she probably loves both. "For an outsider to play the role of a detective, one needs to be dragged unexpectedly into these circumstances, and to solve them in the swiftest manner possible." "They can't just have things incidentally happening to them all of a sudden." Koizumi nodded,

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"Yes, reality seldom develops like in novels. The chances of an intriguing sealed room murder in the school are very low. So, Suzumiya-san must be thinking of going to a place with more favorable circumstances." The idiom "turning something on its head" came to mind suddenly. "And that location is the stage for this field trip - the lone island. For some reason, most people would find this the most suitable stage for a murder mystery." What do you mean by "most people"? Your "most" is probably a minority. "Thus, strange events often happen where master detectives appear. This is not coincidental, but rather, these detectives possess the super natural power to summon events to themselves. It is not the events that draw the detectives, but rather it is the presence of these detectives that creates such events." I looked at Koizumi with a look as though I had just stepped on a sea slug. "Are you fully conscious?" "I'm always suitably conscious. I didn't come up with the connections between detectives and closed circles, I'm just trying to convey Suzumiya-san's way of thinking. To put it simply, the whole reason for this trip is because she wants to become a detective." What does she need to do to become a master detective? It might be possible if she were to script and direct the whole thing, playing both the suspect and the detective at the same time. "At least this is better than having to go to the mountains to search for Tsuchinoko or Bigfoot. I only told Suzumiya-san that I know someone who's built a mansion on an island and is inviting guests. Of course, I don't expect anyone to get murdered." Koizumi's relaxed smile and even the shrugging of his shoulders has got me worked up.

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"I'm just trying to provide Suzumiya-san with a little entertainment. Otherwise, who knows what other ideas she might conjure out of her boredom? If that's the case, it would be easier for us to handle things by providing a stage beforehand." "Us?" "This has nothing to do with the 'Organization'. Though I did make a report just to be safe. I may be an esper, but I'm still a high school student. Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with a field trip. It's quite normal for high school students. Isn't going on a trip with your close friends something worth looking forward to?" It would be fine if Haruhi was looking forward to having a normal trip. I wouldn't object if she'd chosen a normal hot spring or a beach near the mainland, but why pick a lone island? This is Haruhi we're talking about, she'd probably bring in two typhoons along the way. ......Forget it, no matter how far-fetched she is, she's not the sort of person who would wish for anyone to get killed, or there would be bodies piling up everywhere in North High already. There seemed to be other important things to consider, so I went into deep thought. Four days and three nights by the seaside in summer. A white beach, and probably some relaxing sunshine. I think I can endure such a summer, bring it on, Mr Sunshine! Ah yes, I'd better prepare myself for the mesmerizing sight of Asahina in her swimsuit. The mansion owner was extremely generous in providing free lodging and food for us. We only needed to pay for the return trip from the island itself. And so we met by the ferry pier at the harbor, awaiting our ferry's arrival.

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Haruhi couldn't wait to get going already. We just had the end-of-term assembly yesterday, in other words, today is the first day of summer vacation. It seems that Koizumi's relatives didn't really mind when we chose to go, but to set off right on the first day of vacation is proof of Haruhi's anxiousness. Any hope of enjoying my summer vacation peacefully without ever having to see Haruhi's face has now been shattered. This is all because of the presence of Haruhi, and it is also the meaning of her existence. "It's been a long time since I rode a ferry." Haruhi slid her shades down and gazed at the grey sea in the distance by the pier. Her dark silky hair flew in the sea breeze as she stood by the edge of the boarding dock. "Such a huge ship! It's so incredible, for such a large ship to float on water." Asahina, carrying two suitcases with her hands, looked up in awe at the ferry. She wore a white one-piece summer dress and a straw hat on her head. This made her look very cute. Having the laces of a hat tied under her chin suits her. Her eyes glimmered like a child's, looking at the old ferry as though it were some ancient wooden boat dug up by archaeologists. Perhaps ships don't float on water in her age. "......" Nagato's face remained blank as usual, staring at the corporate logo printed on the hull of the ferry. For once, Nagato was not wearing her uniform, but a checkered sleeveless shirt. Carrying a yellowish-green umbrella, she gave the impression of a weak girl who just came out of the hospital. I wish I had an instant camera with me. If I took a picture of this, I could probably sell it for a high price to Taniguchi. "The weather's excellent. This is great, you could say it's the perfect weather for sailing, though we'll be in second class today." Koizumi said.

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"That suits us just fine." It's not like the cabins are that big anyway. Even though this is going to be a long cruise, we're still ten years too early to have a private cabin to ourselves. This is, after all, a high school field trip. Technically, this trip isn't a study trip or anything of the sort. A trip just for the sake of having one can't really be counted as meaningful. Usually there'd be a consulting teacher accompanying a club's field trip activities. There is none for the SOS Brigade. This is because we're still not recognized by the school as a formal club. It would be surprising if a teacher had come along. In North High, you can't even form an association if you don't have a consulting teacher. In my speculation, even if a teacher did agree to be consultant to the SOS Brigade, Haruhi would probably find that unnecessary. Because if she did, she would have abducted one already, just as she abducted us. As I stretched my muscles, Asahina walked slowly to my side. Her round eyes became even rounder. "How does that huge ship float?" How does it float? Besides its buoyancy, I don't think there's any other way. Don't they teach physics in Asahina's age? "Really? Buoyancy...you're right. I see. So this is what they mean by 'one is usually unaware of their surroundings'..." What are you talking about? Asahina nodded her head with a serious look on her face. Let me try asking. Just one question wouldn't hurt. "Ahem......Asahina-san, do ships in the future float using state-of-the-art technology?"

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"Um......you think I can tell you?" Having heard her put it that way, I shook my head. I didn't think so. I tried asking another question, "There's got to be a sea?" Asahina held the tip of her hat and tilted her head, "Um, yeah, there's a sea." "That's great to hear." I don't know whether she comes from the near future or distant future, but it certainly is pleasing to hear that the earth didn't turn into a desert in the future, that is, if the sea is cleaner than it is now. I had wanted to get more useful information from this time traveler. "Kyon! Mikuru-chan! What're you doing? It's time!" Haruhi shouted loudly, telling us it was time to board. Speaking of which, I was late for the meeting today. As I was about to leave in the morning, I found my bag to be heavier than usual, so I unzipped it and had a look. Instead of my clothes and bathroom kit, my sister was inside. The night before, she kept shouting, "I wanna go too!", after I let it slip that I was going on a trip with Haruhi and the rest. I spent two whole hours trying to cheer her up, but I never thought she would sneak into my bag. I yanked my sister out of the bag and interrogated her on where she hid my stuff. It took some time trying to do a good cop, bad cop routine on her as she chose to remain silent. "If you don't tell me, then I'm not gonna buy any presents for you! I'll use all that money to buy lunchboxes for the SOS Brigade!"

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The SOS Brigade gathered in the corner of the second class cabin, chatting while eating the lunchboxes I bought. Actually, Haruhi and Koizumi were the only ones talking the whole time. "How much longer till we get there?" "Judging from the speed of this ferry, I'd say about six hours. According to the plans, they'll be waiting for us at the harbor. Then we'll ride on their speedboat for about half an hour before arriving at the lone island with the mansion on top of it. I've never been there before, so I'm not sure what it's like there." "I bet it must be a weird mansion. Do you know the name of the architect?" Haruhi asked. "I didn't ask that much, I do remember him saying he hired an architect to build it." "I can't wait." "It'd be great if it could match your expectations, but I'm not too sure myself as I've never seen it before. But for someone to build a private mansion on an uninhabited island, the mansion must be unique in some way. That would be perfect." Said Koizumi, but I certainly wasn't hoping for that. If the blueprint design was as Haruhi had imagined it, then the architect who drew it must have been awake for three whole nights, suffering from alcohol poisoning, and nodding occasionally while drawing drowsily. I don't want to stay in such a house, a normal inn will do for me. Just a traditional Japanese breakfast for me, thank you very much. If the mansion had a name, Haruhi would probably become a serial killer just to trigger some events. "An island! And a mansion! There's nothing better than this for an SOS Brigade trip. At this rate, we're headed for a perfect summer vacation." As Haruhi got more animated, the rest of the brigade could only watch in silence.

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Besides rocking along the waves on the ship's deck, there was nothing else to do, so we followed Koizumi's suggestion and played Go Fish. Koizumi, who lost from start to finish, had to buy drinks for the five of us. I collected my drink and drank silently. I just couldn't help but have a bad feeling about this lone island awaiting us. Asahina seemed to feel the same as well. Haruhi said after finishing her juice in two gulps, "Mikuru-chan, you look terrible, are you seasick?" "No......that......ah, maybe." Asahina replied, Haruhi then said, "That won't do, you'd better get some fresh air. It's great enjoying the sea breeze out on the deck. C'mon, let's go!" She then grabbed Asahina's hand and smiled, "Don't worry, I won't push you into the sea. Hmm......though that's not a bad idea. The sudden disappearance of a female passenger." "Eh!?" Haruhi slapped Asahina's stiffened shoulders. "Just kidding! That wouldn't be fun at all. It'd be exciting if the ship were to hit an iceberg or get attacked by a giant squid. I'm not the sort that likes to get everyone in trouble just so I can have fun!" I think I'd better check where the lifeboats are located. Of course, I don't suppose an iceberg would come that near to the seas of Japan in the middle of summer, but it's possible that unknown marine creatures might attack suddenly. I glared at Koizumi: If a monster attacks, we're counting on you! I don't know how he read my thoughts, but he replied with a smile, while Nagato just stared at the wall.

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Haruhi continued endlessly, "The best events are of course left for the island! Koizumi, will I be disappointed?" "There's no exact definition of what constitutes an event." Koizumi said smoothly, "I, too, am hoping for an enjoyable trip." Koizumi revealed an enigmatic smile. Though this was his usual expression, I stared hard at the esper, trying to figure out what was behind that smiling mask. I soon gave up. This guy's smile is like Nagato's blank expression - impossible to read anything from. Really, he ought to show more emotion as well. Of course, not as blatantly obvious as Haruhi. Haruhi hummed a song she made up herself while dragging Asahina away from the cabin. Asahina turned around repeatedly, hoping that I would come along; perhaps I was thinking too much then, but I didn't want to ruin Haruhi's mood, so I let them go. No matter how insane Haruhi is, just before Asahina fell into the sea, she would save her. I prayed and stared at the ceiling, then used my bag as a pillow and lay down. It's going to be an early morning tomorrow, so I'd better get some sleep. I dreamed about myself doing something strange, but just as I was about to wonder what it was, I was woken up by the commanding airwaves of Haruhi, "Stop sleeping, you idiot! Get up already! Are you really in the mood for this trip at all? If you're already sleeping on the trip, then what can we expect from you?" It seems while I was asleep, the ferry had almost arrived at the interchange island. I felt as if I had just suffered an irretrievable loss.

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"The first step is the most important! You lack the heart to enjoy things. Look at everyone else. Their expectations for this trip show in the glittering in their eyes!" I followed the direction of Haruhi's finger towards the three servants preparing to carry their luggage off the ferry. The smiling youth said, "Give him a break, Suzumiya-san, he's trying to save up energy for the trip. Who knows, he's probably going to spend all night thinking of how to entertain us next!" I listened to Koizumi's irrelevant explanation, while observing Nagato's puppet like face and Asahina's puppy dog eyes, trying to find the so called glitter within their eyes. "We're there already?" I mumbled. On a long boat trip, with the SOS Brigade members around. No, let's leave the others aside. I had given in to my desire and taken a long nap. As a result I missed my chance to spend time with Asahina inside the elegant looking cabin. Damn, this is so frustrating. How could I let my summer vacation be over like that? So far, my only memories of this vacation have been playing Go Fish. Shouldn't I have been doing something more interesting on the ferry? Like sharing each other's thoughts on board the deck while the sea wind blew softly? I really felt like kicking my past self in the chest for being so sleepy. I clutched my half-drowsy head as I condemned myself endlessly. Click! A bright light made me go dizzy. I turned my gaze towards the direction of the sound, only to see Asahina holding a camera, with an adorable smile on her angelic face, "Hee hee! I've taken a picture of you waking up."

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She had the face of a pre-school kid who just pulled off a prank. "I've also taken photos of you sleeping. You must have slept soundly." Suddenly, I felt revived. Why was Asahina secretly taking pictures of me? Could it be that she wanted my photos that badly? Does she intend to place my photo in a cute frame and put it by her pillow, so she can say 'good night' to me every night? Yes, that's not a bad thought at all. Seriously, if you had wanted my photo, I would have gladly posed for you! Even if I had to give you my photo album which I misplaced somewhere, I wouldn't have minded at all. However, as I was making such a suggestion, Asahina handed the instant camera to Haruhi. "Kyon, what are you grinning at? You look like a moron. Best wipe that off your face." Haruhi started looking as if she wanted to sell some exclusive pictures to a newspaper. She then stuffed the camera into her bag. "I've had Mikuru-chan be the stand-in photographer for the SOS Brigade. These photos are not for play! What I want is a previous record of the SOS Brigade's activities for our descendants to revisit. This silly girl just felt like taking useless pictures, so she has to listen to my directions from now on." Then, what informational value is there in taking pictures of me sleeping and waking up? "Since you have no sense of urgency, I'm going to spread pictures of you sleeping like a moron all over as a cautionary tale! Listen! It's immoral and against the brigade rules for the subordinates to sleep soundly when the commander isn't sleeping!"

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Haruhi stared at me with a face I wasn't sure was laughing or scowling. I knew it was useless asking her when she came up with such rules, it's not going to be written anyway. I might as well play along. "Alright. What you mean is that if we don't want to have our faces drawn on, we aren't allowed to sleep before you, right? In that case, if I sleep after you, does that mean I can draw a mustache on your face?" "What are you saying? Do you actually intend to do such childish acts? Let me put this straight, I can be very alert. I can retaliate even when asleep. Besides, you'll be risking the death penalty if you try to do anything foolish to the commander." Hey, Haruhi, the number of advanced countries still carrying out capital punishment is actually in the minority. What do you think of that? "Why should I comment on other countries' penalty systems? What matters is not some foreign country, but the island we're going to!" I prayed that nothing would happen, while pulling my bag over. The ship shook roughly. Maybe it's about to dock already. The other passengers were already headed to the exit in groups of twos and threes. "A mysterious island, huh......?" What kind of island awaits us? Just don't let it be some island that suddenly appeared on the sea, or one that drifted away suddenly. "Don't worry." Koizumi nodded as though he'd just read my mind, "There's nothing special about the island, just that it's far from land. There're no monsters or mad scientists, that I can guarantee." This guy's guarantees mean nothing to me. I silently looked at Nagato's pale face questioningly.

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"......" Nagato also silently replied to me. If there were monsters appearing, she would probably help us beat them off. I'm counting on you, alien. The ship shook abruptly again. "Kyaa!" Without even flinching, Nagato caught Asahina, who had lost her balance and nearly fallen over. There awaiting our arrival was a butler and a maid. "Hi, Arakawa-san, it's been a while." Koizumi said loudly, raising his arm to greet them. "You too, Mori-san. Thanks for going to the trouble to pick us up." Koizumi then turned and looked at us with, our jaws wide open, then shrugged his arms ridiculously like a stage actor trying to impress his audience, his grin four times wider than usual. "Allow me to introduce them. Arakawa-san and Mori-san are the butler and maid of the new mansion, and will be in charge of taking care of us. Ah yes, you must've already guessed that by their attire." It was easy to guess. I looked at the two figures who stood still after having bowed to us. I guess in this situation, the right word would be "captivating." "It must have been a long trip for everyone. I am Arakawa the butler." The old gentleman with white hair, mustache, and eyebrows, dressed in a tuxedo greeted us and bowed again. "I'm the maid, Mori Sonou. It's a pleasure to meet you." The lady standing beside him also bowed at the same angle, and then both raised their heads at the same time. One wonders if they've drilled this countless times.

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Arakawa-san looked elderly, but it was difficult to tell his exact age; while Morisan looked very young. She looked about our age, or was she just putting on make-up to make herself look younger? Or maybe she was born with such a youthful look? "Butler and maid?" Haruhi mumbled frantically; my reaction was the same as hers. I never knew these professions existed in Japan. I always thought they only had a conceptual existence, having already been fossilized. I see. It seems the two people standing gracefully behind Koizumi are genuinely butler and maid. They look so much like it, at least after hearing their selfintroductions, one would think, Ah......I see. They're the real thing. Especially the maid, Mori-san, if I remember correctly. No matter how you look, she's still a maid. Because she's dressed in proper maid attire. This comes from my many months of experience observing Asahina dressed in her maid costume, every day in the club room, so I can guarantee this. And Arakawa-san and Mori-san don't look like they're dressed like that just to please Haruhi, but are really dressed for their profession. "Wah......" Asahina gave a gasp and simply stared at them with awe - more specifically, she was staring at Mori-san. She was half awestruck and 30% troubled. What about the remaining 20%? I believe she was a bit envious. After being forced by Haruhi to wear that costume every day, she must have subconsciously begun to enjoy being a maid. Nagato didn't give any expression at this moment, and her face remained the same. Yet her black obsidian eyes remained transfixed on those two professionals. "Now then......" Arakawa invited us with his opera tenor-like voice,

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"The boat is prepared to take us to our master's island. The trip shall take about half an hour. As it's a lone island, I do apologize for any inconvenience caused." Mori-san bowed as well. I felt itchy all over for some reason. I really wanted to tell them that we weren't really that important to deserve having them serve us so gracefully. Could Koizumi be the son of some billionaire? I had thought this guy was just an esper who could only use his powers irregularly. I wonder if he has people calling him "Young Master" every time he comes home? "I don't really mind!" Haruhi said in a cheerful voice, blowing off all my questions. As I looked carefully, Haruhi had the smile of someone who has just conned some ignorant sponsor to fund her movie. Hmm...... "That's more like a lone island! We wouldn't mind if it took a few hours, let alone half an hour! A lone island in the middle of the ocean is just where I wanted to go. Kyon, Mikuru-chan, you two should be happy. There's a mansion on the island, and a weird butler and maid as well! You probably wouldn't find a second island like this in the whole of Japan!" There won't be a second island. "Wah! T...this is great......I...I can't wait!" Leaving Asahina, who was being forced by Haruhi to pretend to be excited, aside, for Haruhi to actually call someone "weird" in front of their faces is just plain rude. Yet those two just smiled. Maybe they were weird in some way. Man, what's weird is this whole trip. And when it comes to weirdness, the SOS Brigade is leagues ahead of everyone, so I'm not qualified to criticize other people. Though I can't just let Haruhi get away with everything like that.

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I looked at Koizumi, who was chatting away with Arakawa-san the butler, while Mori-san subtly had her hands clasped to her knees, staring casually towards the sea ahead. The sea looked calm, and the skies were clear. Don't think a typhoon will be coming soon. Will we ever return to the Japanese mainland in one piece? Nagato's calm poker face just seems so reliable all the time. I felt so useless. Arakawa-san and Mori-san led us to a small dock not far from the harbor. I had originally imagined seeing a small boat, but there ahead of us was parked a private speedboat, moving gently and idyllically on the waves. The speedboat looked so posh that I dared not ask how much it cost. I suddenly had the urge to go fishing on board that boat. Thanks to my daydreaming, not counting Haruhi, who had leaped on at once; when I saw Koizumi escorting both Asahina, who was astounded by the sight of the speedboat; and Nagato, who just stared blankly at it, on board the boat; I felt a deep sense of regret that my time had passed, never to return. That was supposed to be my job! We were led into the cabin, and before we could even admire how a boat can have a western style kitchen, the speedboat had begun its departure from the port. It seems that butlers these days all have speedboat licenses, as Arakawa-san was the one driving it. Mori-san sat opposite me with a gentle smile on her face, as though she were a decoration in the boat. The maid costume looked trendy and dangerous at the same time. I felt that her maid attire was thinner than the costume that Haruhi made Asahina wear in the club room every day, but as I'm not too familiar with the maid profession, I wasn't too sure about that.

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I wasn't the only one looking uneasy. Asahina was the same as well. She had been staring at the maid's costume for some time now, looking very nervous. Does she intend to study how a maid really behaves so she can learn some new tricks to do back in the club room? She's the sort of person who is serious about the most unexpected things. Nagato sat facing the front, not moving at all. Koizumi had a casual expression, and remained as smiling as ever. "This is a good boat, perhaps fishing wouldn't be a bad idea?" Who is he suggesting that to anyway? As for Haruhi...... "Hey, do you know what that building is called?" "I'm not sure I understand what you mean." "Is it called something like the House of the Dead or the sort?" (Translator note to editors - I have no idea what the names Haruhi has listed are or how to best translate them to English, save that they come from various Japanese mystery novels. I'd leave it to the editors with the original Japanese text to deal with it.) "Nothing of the sort." "Have there been any frightening stories like the mansion having a lot of hidden traps, or the architect being murdered, or a room where none may leave alive?" "I haven't heard of any." "Then, are there stories of the owner wearing a mask, or having three weird sisters living within his mind, and then vanishing without a trace?" "No." The butler added, "Not yet, anyway." "Then, does that mean it's possible these things might happen some day?" "Perhaps."

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Is this butler trying to please her? As the boat sped off, Haruhi had crawled onto the deck and had the above conversation with Arakawa-san. From the contents of the dialogue I could hear over the sounds of the engine and waves, Haruhi seemed to be over expectant about the island's mansion. Speaking of which, why does she want so many strange specifications like an island far away from land? Isn't it enough to just swim, walk around, getting to know each other better, and then returning happily? I was hoping for that. Perhaps it's too late already. I never thought there would be a butler and a maid. This is more unexpected than being attacked by a shark in a public swimming pool. So I probably won't be surprised if the owner of the mansion wore a mask or had other weird looking guests. What other surprises does Koizumi have in store for us? "Ah! I see it! Is that the villa?" "It's the mansion." Haruhi's scream boomed like thunder and pierced through my heart. The mansion looked quite ordinary from the outside. The sun slowly tilted towards the west, but it was still some time before dusk. The mansion basked in the light of the setting sun. It seemed to shine with splendor, as I'd always believed I'd never set foot in a mansion. The building on top of the steep hill looked just like something a rich person would build as a summer getaway. There was nothing suspicious about its architecture. It didn't look like any medieval European castle, it didn't have red thorny roses surrounding its outer walls, and there were no strange looking towers attached to it - and of course, no ghosts.

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As expected, Haruhi made a face as though realizing she'd just swallowed an onion thinking it was roast beef, looking blankly at that mansion (Haruhi called it a villa). "This isn't what I imagined. The looks are an important factor, did the architect even refer to previous experience when building this?" I stood beside Haruhi on the deck, looking at the view of the island. I was forcefully dragged out there by her, by the way. "Kyon, what do you think? It's a lone island, yet the building looks so ordinary. Don't you think it's a pity?" I was actually thinking, they didn't need to build a mansion so far away. It'd take more than an hour by private speedboat to get to the nearest convenience store and return. What would you eat if you were to get hungry in the middle of the night? There don't seem to be any vending machines for drinks either. "I'm talking about the atmosphere! I always thought it'd be one of those eerie villas, but from the looks of it, this is just a vacation mansion! Our objective isn't to come to some rich friend's place to have fun." I brushed away Haruhi's hair, which was being blown by the wind and was stinging my face. "That's what they call a field trip. What were you expecting? Going out on an adventure? Or did you want to simulate being stranded on a deserted island?" "Hmm, that's not a bad idea. I'll include exploring the island as part of the itinerary. Who knows, we may be the first to discover a new species." Oh no, I've just increased the glitter in Haruhi's eyes. Oh, island, I beg you, please don't come up with anything funny. As I was praying to the green island......

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"The islands around here were apparently formed by ancient volcanic activity." Koizumi said as he walked out slowly. "Besides new species, we might even pick up some ancient artifacts. There were artifacts left behind by the ancient Japanese on other islands. It's quite dramatic, isn't it?" I don't see any connection between the works of the ancients and this new mansion, but I'm not that interested in searching for Tsuchinoko or digging for treasures. Why don't we split up? Haruhi and Koizumi can go explore the island, while I'll stay behind with Asahina and Nagato and have a stroll by the beach. Now that's a nice idea. "Huh? There's someone over there!" Haruhi pointed to a newly built pier. It seemed to be built specifically for this speedboat, since there were no other boats parked. A person stood at the edge of the pier waving at us. Seems like it's a man. Haruhi instinctively waved back. "Koizumi, is he the owner of the villa? He looks quite young." Koizumi waved and said, "No, he's another guest who was invited besides us. I believe he's the owner's brother. I've only seen him once before." "Koizumi," I interrupted, "You should've told us this earlier! I didn't hear anything before about any other visitors besides us." "I only just found out now as well." Koizumi shrugged it off calmly. "There's no need to worry! He's a nice person. And of course, the owner Tamaru Keiichi-san is also a nice person."

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This Tamaru Keiichi-san is quite an imaginative person. He built a mansion in such a remote area just so he could live in it during the summer. He's a distant relative of Koizumi's, something like his mother's cousin on her father's side or something like that. I'm not too sure of the details, but I hear he's been quite successful in the field of biotechnology, and is now reaping the rewards of his success. His wealth must be so enormous that he doesn't know how to spend it all, otherwise he wouldn't have built such a mansion. The speedboat gradually slowed down as it approached the pier, until we could see the person's face. He was dressed in youthful attire, probably in his twenties. He's probably Tamaru Keiichi's brother. The butler is Arakawa-san, the maid is Mori Sonou-san. That leaves the owner of the mansion, Tamaru Keiichi-san. Is that the entire cast for this trip? We spent a few hours being rocked on the boat, so thanks to that, by the time we got onto land, we still felt as though the ground was moving. The young man had a pleasant smile, and ran towards the speedboat to greet us. "Ah, Itsuki, it's been a while." "You too, Yutaka-san. Thanks for coming over." Koizumi replied, then he began to introduce us one by one. "These are the friends that have been taking good care of me in school." I don't remember ever taking good care of you, but Koizumi pointed at us, lined up in a row. "The cheery girl here is Suzumiya Haruhi-san. She's an incredible friend. She's pretty easy going and very energetic. I ought to learn some of her assertiveness."

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What kind of introduction is this? A cold sweat dropped from my back. And Haruhi, you too. Why are you wearing that fake courteous looking mask? Have your brain cells been damaged from being rocked too much on the boat? "I'm Suzumiya. Koizumi here is an irreplaceable member of my brig......I mean association. He was the one who invited us to this island. He's a very reliable vicecommand......I mean deputy-chairman. Hee hee." Koizumi ignored the cold steam being emitted by me and went on to introduce the other members, such as: "This is Asahina Mikuru-san. As you may see, she's the cute and beautiful idol of our school. Her smile is enough to bring peace to our world." Or: "This is Nagato Yuki-san. Her grades are so good she's seen as an encyclopedia never seen before in this world. She doesn't talk much, but that's where her charm point is." He went on and on with his exaggerated introductions of all the members, as though he'd read them from some blind date agency client file. Of course I was included in his cheesy introduction, but I'd prefer to gloss over it here. With a smile befitting of Koizumi's relative, Yutaka-san said, "Welcome everyone, I'm Tamaru Yutaka, right now I'm just an employee helping out at my brother's company. Itsuki always talks to me a lot about you. I was very worried for him when he suddenly had to transfer schools. It's great that he's made so many great friends." "Well, then." Arakawa-san's cheerful voice boomed from behind.

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Turning around, I saw the butler and Mori Sonou-san carrying our luggage and getting off the boat. "The sun's a bit bright here. May I suggest we move to the mansion?" Yutaka-san nodded and said, "You're right, brother's waiting for everyone. Let's bring the luggage in as well, I'll help." "We're fine. Could Yutaka-san go help Arakawa-san and Mori-san instead? They bought a lot of groceries from the main island." Koizumi smiled and said. Yutaka-san also replied with a smile. "I'll be looking forward to the meal!" After the niceties, we followed Koizumi's lead and headed for the mansion at the top of the cliff. Thinking back, things were already beginning to get strange then. Of course, this is all spoken in hindsight. At the end of the staircase, as steep as Mt. Fuji, lies the mansion. This probably sounded bad to Haruhi, for the mansion ahead looked absolutely normal, not the sort of villa or Japanese-style inn she had expected. The three-story building gave the impression of flatness. Perhaps because it looked a bit wide? I even wanted to count how many rooms there were. I guess this mansion could hold up to two football teams with room to spare. The mansion seems to have been built after leveling out the dense woods on the hill, but how did they ship all those building materials? A lot of logistics were probably needed. I'm really perplexed at how the rich operate. "This way please."

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Koizumi led us to outside the entrance hall like a butler. We stood in a row. The moment had come for us to meet the owner face to face. Save Haruhi, who stepped forward like a horse not following its herd, rearing its head out suddenly. I understood how eager she was for this moment, she even stuck her tongue out on her lips and placed it back in many times. Asahina cutely combed her hair, trying to give a good first impression. While Nagato stood as still, as usual, like one of those lucky cats by store entrances. Koizumi turned and looked at us, a small smile growing on his face, as he very naturally pushed the button on the intercom near the door. Someone replied, and Koizumi went through a lot of niceties again. Ten seconds later, the door opened slowly. Needless to say, the person welcoming us wasn't wearing an iron mask, nor some funny hat with shades, neither did he suddenly attack us, or say some very puzzling remarks. Just a normal middle-aged man. "Welcome!" I don't know if Tamaru Keiichi-san became wealthy suddenly or gradually, but right now this middle-aged man was dressed in just a golf shirt and working trousers, stretching out one of his hands, beckoning us to come in. "Itsuki, and everyone else, I've been waiting for you for a long time now. Frankly, this place is really boring, you'll get frustrated after staying for three days. The only other person to accept my invitation besides Itsuki was Yutaka. Oh my!" Keiichi-san's vision moved to my face, then towards Asahina, Haruhi and Nagato. "Itsuki, you have such cute friends! I heard from Itsuki, but you are prettier than I thought. You've certainly injected some life into this lonely little island. You're most welcome."

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Haruhi smiled heartily, Asahina bowed her head politely, while Nagato remained motionless. Three people with three different reactions, yet they all had the eyes of someone seeing a music teacher appear during history class, looking at Keiichi-san, who was welcoming us from the bottom of his heart. After a while, Haruhi stepped forward and said, "We're very grateful you could invite us here. It's an honor to be able to stay in such a luxurious mansion. On behalf on everyone, I'd like to express my gratitude." She spoke in a higher pitch than usual, as though reciting a speech. Does she intend to put on that appearance for the whole trip? I suggest before she sheds her sheepskin and reveals her wolf fangs, she ought to take off that invisible mask on her face. Perhaps Tamaru Keiichi-san was thinking something like that as well? "So you're Suzumiya-san? Hmm, you're different from what I heard. Itsuki told me you're a more......um......how should I say this, Itsuki?" The ball got bounced into Koizumi's court. Without flinching, he said with ease, "A frank person? I do remember saying that." "That's it! He said you were quite a frank girl." "Ah, really?" Haruhi promptly took off her mask, and put on a smile that she rarely showed outside the club room. "Nice to meet you, mansion owner! Allow me to ask frankly, have any strange events happened in this mansion before? Or maybe some frightening rumors from the locals about this island being haunted? These sort of things interest me the most."

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Don't go around declaring your interests to someone you just met for the first time. To be precise, don't say stupid stuff about what happened in the past to the owner. What would we do if we were driven away? However, Tamaru Keiichi-san was simply such a nice person, that he only smiled and said, "I've got similar interests to yours, though I've not heard of anything bad lately. Besides, this island used to be uninhabited." He kindly pointed his hand towards the back, "Well, don't just stand there, come in! This is a western style mansion, so you don't need to take off your shoes. I think I'll show you to your rooms. I wanted Arakawa-san to show you around, but it seems he's attending to the luggage, so I guess I'll be your guide for now." Keiichi said and led us into the mansion. I wish I could provide everyone with a blueprint of the mansion to show where the rooms are located, but I've known I had no talent for drawing ever since I was in first grade, so I won't bother. To put it simply, our quarters are all on the second floor, Tamaru Keiichi-san's bedroom and the guest room for Yutaka-san are on the third. Maybe this represents their family ties. The butler Arakawa-san and the maid Morisan each have a room on the first floor...... That's about how it is. "Does this mansion have a name?" Haruhi asked, Keiichi-san smiled squeamishly and answered, "Right now we haven't come up with one, if you have any suggestions for the name, I'm all ears."

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"Ah yes, why not call it the House of Fear or the House of Horrors? What do you think? And we could name every room as well, like the Bloodsucking Room, or the Cursed Room?" "Hmm, that's a great idea! I'll come up with some room names the next time I invite someone." I have no intentions of sleeping in a room with a name that gives me nightmares. We crossed the hall and climbed the high-class wooden stairway up to the second floor. The interior was designed like an inn, with a row of doors lined up next to each other. "The rooms are all about the same size, they're divided into single and double bedrooms. Pick any you like." What should I do? I wouldn't mind sharing with anybody, but there's five of us. If we had to share, there'd be an odd one out, and no matter how hard I tried, I could only think of Nagato being the one left out. If I loudly announced my roommate priority, I'm sure Nagato wouldn't mind, but I'd probably be killed by Haruhi's instant backfist. "Hmm, I think one person per room isn't too bad." Koizumi concluded. "Since we're only in our rooms while sleeping anyway. We can just walk between the rooms as we please. I'd like to ask, can the doors be locked?" "They sure can." Tamaru Keiichi-san smiled and nodded. "The keys are placed on the cabinet by the bed. The doors won't lock automatically, so you don't have to worry about being locked outside your rooms by accident. But take good care of the keys and don't lose them."

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I won't be needing a key. Even before sleeping, I might just leave the door ajar. Maybe Asahina will come sneaking in for some reason after everyone's fallen asleep. Besides, I didn't bring any valuables worth stealing, I don't think anyone would dare steal when the suspect list is so narrow. Even if there was, the goddamn thief would definitely be Haruhi. "Then I'll go see how Arakawa-san is doing. You can take your time walking around. Please don't forget where the emergency exits are located. I'll see you later." Keiichi-san then went down the stairs. This is how Haruhi described her impression of Keiichi san, "It's because there's nothing strange that makes him even more suspicious." "Then if he did look suspicious, how would you explain that?" "Just from how he looked, he'd have to be a strange person!" According to this girl's subjective logic, there is nothing in this world that is not strange. Her standards would shock even the ISO. Maybe you could work for JARO. I bet you could work hard feeling fulfilled every day there. After leaving our luggage in our rooms, we met in the double bedroom Haruhi had chosen as her room. It's so like Haruhi to occupy a double bedroom all by herself. The words courteous and elegant do not exist in her vocabulary. The three girls sat on the bed, I sat on the make-up table, while Koizumi leaned against the wall and crossed his arms looking relaxed. "I know!" Haruhi shouted suddenly, and as usual, I instinctively asked, "Know what?" "The suspect."

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Haruhi said promptly. Her face now had the aura of a Great Detective, for some reason. I hesitantly spoke for the other three, "What suspect? There isn't even a case yet, we only just arrived!" "From my instincts, the suspect is the owner of this place. I think his first target will be Mikuru-chan." "Eh!?" Asahina seemed to be really scared. She trembled like a rabbit at the sound of an eagle's wings flapping, clutching onto Nagato's skirt. Nagato said nothing. "......" Only fixing her gaze towards some spot in mid-air. "I'm asking you, what suspect?" I asked again, "Or more like, what kind of criminal are you trying to mold Tamaru Keiichi-san into?" "How should I know? From his eyes, he seems to have something planned. My instincts are usually correct. By then, we'll be involved in some shocking event." It would be fine if it was just a normal surprise party, but Haruhi was expecting something way beyond that, not some messy party where she would only play a bit role. Think about it. The image of Keiichi-san removing his nice guy appearance, his eyes flashing with insanity, and carrying a sharp butcher knife trying to cut all the guests' stomachs open. Just because he accidentally stumbled upon some ancient grave deep within the island forest, and got possessed by a murderous ghost. "Can something that dumb really happen?" I waved my hand horizontally in mid air, making a "don't get yourself into trouble" gesture.

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No matter how hard you think about it, it's impossible that someone Koizumi knows would turn into something like that. That "Organization" group is not completely stupid, they probably did a lot of background checks beforehand. Koizumi had his usual harmless smile, and Arakawa-san the butler, Mori-san the maid, as well as Tamaru Yutaka-san all looked very far from the image of a scary person. By the way, Haruhi is hoping for a mystery, not some interference from the magnetic field, right? If things were to happen, it would just be one to two murders at most, right? Besides, I don't think things would happen just because she wished so. The weather's great outside, and the sea's calm. This island is no closed circle. Moreover, no matter how insane Haruhi is, she wouldn't actually wish for someone to die. If Haruhi were like that, I would have been killed by her impatience already, considering I've tagged along with her all this time. Haruhi didn't seem to sense my worries, and said innocently, "Let's go swimming first! What else is there to do besides swimming when we're by the sea? Everyone, swim to your heart's content! We'll have a race and see who gets swept away by the waves first!" That's not a bad idea, provided the coast guard is available and on standby. But we've only just arrived, do we have to go so soon? Don't you even want to take a break after all the exhaustion from that long boat trip? Speaking of which, even if Haruhi has never felt tired before, she should still be considerate of other people instead of trying to do things by her own standards! "What on earth are you mumbling about? The sun won't stop rising and setting even if you offered sacrifices to Apollo's temple! It would be a waste of time if we don't go before the sun sets."

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Haruhi stretched both her arms and wrapped them round Asahina and Nagato's necks. "KYAA~!" Asahina closed her eyes and screamed. "......" While Nagato didn't even have a reaction. "Swimsuits! Swimsuits! Everyone get dressed in your swimsuits and meet in the hall! Hee hee, I've helped choose these two cuties' swimsuits! You must be looking forward to them, right Kyon?" Haruhi revealed an expression of "I know what you've been thinking already" and smiled evilly, revealing her white teeth. "You're damn right." I was reinvigorated and stood upright. This was indeed part of my reason for coming here. I will not allow any objections. "Koizumi, is the private beach here completely booked for us?" "Yes it is. People usually go to the beach to collect shells anyway. Few people ever come here anyway, but the waves can be rapid here, so try not to swim too far. If you were serious about wanting to have a race......" "Don't be ridiculous. I was only joking! Mikuru-chan's bound to get swept away by a black tide to get fed to the fish. Everyone listen up, don't get too carried away and swim too far! Remain in my field of vision." Is it appropriate for Haruhi to be in charge of everyone's safety? I guess I'll have to help. At least I need to be careful not to let Asahina out of my sight for more than two seconds. "Hey, Kyon!" Haruhi's finger pointed towards the tip of my nose.

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"I don't like that stupid smile on your face, so cut it out! You're better off frowning. And I'm not handing you the camera either!" Remaining passionate from beginning to end, the Haruhi Orient Express sped on, ignoring any obstacles, smiling and giving out orders, "Then, let's go!" So, as such, we came to the beach. The sun was already setting, but the rays and heat were pretty much up to summer standards. The waves washed upon the sand, the clouds floated above in the sky like marshmallows. Our hair was blown by the sea breeze, carrying the scent of the waves. While it's called a private beach, there really wasn't any need to set up any special booking, as no one ever comes to this uninhabited island anyway. I guess the only people who would come here to enjoy a beach spa are probably some foreign tourists conned by those rubbish travel magazines. Besides the five of us, there was no doubt that the beach was pretty much empty. There weren't even any seabirds. So, besides me and Koizumi, the only other living beings able to enjoy the sight of Haruhi and the girls in their swimsuits were the barnacles attached on the shore rocks. I laid the straw mat under the umbrella, and squinted my eyes, enjoying Asahina's every move, looking shyly, while Haruhi came from behind and grabbed her. "Mikuru-chan, the best way to enjoy the seaside is to swim! C'mon, let's go! It's bad for your health not to enjoy the sunshine!" "Ah, I'm not really fond of standing under the sunshine." Haruhi ignored the cowering protests of Asahina, and pushed the small and pale skinned senpai into the water.

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Asahina was actually surprised at something so trivially obvious, flapping her arms on the water surface.

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"Wah! Salty!" Asahina was actually surprised at something so trivially obvious, flapping her arms on the water surface. At this moment, Nagato...... "......" ......sat on her beach chair in her swimsuit and quietly read her thick novel. "Different people sure have different ways to have fun." Koizumi, who was playing beach ball, opened his mouth to show me his smile. "One should spend their free time doing what they like most, otherwise it wouldn't be called free time. Don't you intend to enjoy this carefree trip for the next four days and three nights?" Isn't Haruhi the only one doing as she pleases? I never once thought Asahina, being forced to play along by Haruhi, would understand the true meaning of being relaxed. "Hey, Kyon! Koizumi-kun! You guys come over as well!" Haruhi yelled at us like a siren warning. I warily got up. To be honest, I didn't mind that much. Not counting Haruhi, just being able to stand next to Asahina is exactly what I've wished for. Taking the blown beach ball from Koizumi's hand, I began walking on the sizzling beach. Once we sensed our muscles starting to fatigue, we returned to the mansion, took a bath and had a rest in our rooms. The sky is now littered with stars. Mori-san then led us to the dining room. During dinner time: The dinner for that night was quite flamboyant. I don't think they were meaning to grant Asahina's wish, but there was pickled fish on every one of our plates. Being

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used to poverty, I had to sit upright in respect after seeing all this. I get to eat all of this for free? Is that really okay? "Be my guests." Keiichi-san smiled and showed his generosity. "Think of it as a reward for having come this far, because it's just too boring for me alone here. Actually I'm quite picky in choosing my guests, but of course since you're Itsuki's friends, you're most welcome." For some reason, Keiichi-san was now dressed very formally compared to when we last saw him. He wore a black tuxedo with a bowtie on his neck. The dishes were a mix of Japanese and western cuisine. There was lamb, French roast fish, and some steamed stuff, all sorts of things. The only one using a fork and knife was Keiichi-san, since we had asked for chopsticks at the beginning. "This is great! Who made these?" Haruhi asked while revealing her amazing appetite worthy of nomination for a speed eating contest. "The butler Arakawa is also the chef here, his cooking's not bad, huh?" "I must thank him, please call him out later." Haruhi said as though she were a gourmand who had just tasted a high class dinner. I looked at Asahina, who widened her eyes further every time she took a bite; then at Nagato, who doesn't seem to eat much, yet she never stopped picking up food with her chopsticks; and at Koizumi, who chatted happily with Yutaka-san. "Would you like something to drink?" Mori-san asked, dressed in her maid costume and playing the role of waitress the whole time. She carried a small, long wine bottle and smiled. Probably wine, I guess.

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While it's questionable to offer alcohol to minors, I still decided to ask for one glass. I've never tasted wine before, but one ought to be more daring. And after seeing Morisan's charming smile, I found it hard to refuse. "Ah, what's Kyon drinking? I want one too." Due to Haruhi's request, glasses filled with wine had now been passed into everyone's hands. I felt this was the beginning of the nightmare. That day, I discovered Asahina is completely wine intolerant, while Nagato is a formidable bottomless pit, as for Haruhi, she's just a hopeless drunkard. Due to the circumstances, I drank quite a lot and so my memory was quite blurred, but I do remember Haruhi grabbing onto the wine bottle and drinking nonstop while knocking on Keiichi-san's head. "Ah......You're so great! To thank you for inviting us, I'll offer you Mikuru-chan! Train her well so she can become a better maid! Because this girl is completely hopeless!" I remotely remember her yelling with a heightened pitch. The real maid Mori-san placed the wine bottle back on the table like a bowling pin, and quietly sliced the apples and pears from the fruits basket, handing them out as dessert. While the only make-believe maid in the club room, Asahina was already lying on the table with her face all red. Nagato finished the glass of wine Mori-san poured for her. I don't know how the alcohol in her body gets dissipated. Her face remained the same while she emptied glass after glass like a whale drinking seawater. Yutaka-san asked curiously, "Is she really okay?"

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He looked really worried, I still remembered that scene. That night, it seems that Koizumi carried an unconscious me back to my room. That's what Koizumi told me afterwards. He said I reeked of booze just as much as Haruhi, but since I don't remember anything, I pretended not to hear that, and refused to remember that such a thing happened. I'll treat it as one of Koizumi's jokes. Because something happened on the second day that pushed our hangovers to the back of our minds. A storm brewed suddenly on the morning of the second day. The rain water splattered diagonally on the window surface, the strong wind had an ominous sound. The forest around the mansion rustled as though demons were living in it. "Such bad luck, of all the times to have a typhoon." Haruhi said dejectedly while looking outside the window. We were gathered in Haruhi's room, discussing how we should spend the day today. This was after we had our breakfast. Keiichi-san was absent from the table. Arakawa-san said Keiichi-san always felt terrible in the morning after waking up, so for him to wake up before noon was very rare. Haruhi turned towards us, "This has now really become a lone island. This is the situation of a lifetime, maybe something will happen!" Asahina gasped and moved her eyes around, while Koizumi and Nagato's facial expressions remained business-like as usual. The waves were still and calm yesterday. Now they've reached tsunami alert status, impossible for any ship to sail in. If this goes on until the day after tomorrow,

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we'll really be stranded on a lone island against our wishes, just as Haruhi had wished for. A closed circle, right? Koizumi gave a smile, trying to calm everyone down, "This typhoon seems to be moving quite fast, I think it'll get better the day after tomorrow. As they say, things come and go quickly." According to the weather report, this would be correct. But there were no reports of a typhoon coming in yesterday's report! Just whose mind conjured this storm!? "It's coincidental." Koizumi said with ease. "This is a normal natural phenomenon, it comes with the summer weather package, I guess? There's always one big typhoon every year." "We were supposed to explore around the island, but it seems we have to cancel that." Haruhi said bitterly, "Ah well, let's find some games that we can play indoors!" Haruhi seemed to have completely forgotten the original purpose of this field trip, as the emphasis now moved into having fun. Now this was something worth cheering for, because I didn't want to walk to the other end of the island to find some unidentified creature's carcass being washed ashore and stuck between the boulders. Koizumi made his suggestion, "I seem to remember there's a game room here, I'll go ask Keiichi-san to open it for us. Which do you like? Mah-jong or pool? If we asked, we could even get a snooker table set up." Haruhi agreed, "Then let's have a table tennis match! We'll decide the winner of the first SOS Brigade Table Tennis Tournament in a round-robin format! Sorry for those who want to play pool, I'll treat them to drinks on the boat trip back. Don't hold back now!"

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The game room was located in the basement. In the wide hall was placed a Mahjong table and a pool table. They even had a roulette and Baccarat table. Do Koizumi's relatives secretly run a casino here? "What do you think?" Koizumi replied with a foolish smile, pulling out the folded snooker table from the side. By the way, after an intense battle with me, Haruhi won the table tennis tournament. She then held the Mah-jong contest, but besides Koizumi, no one in the SOS Brigade knew how to play Mah-jong, so we had to learn as we played along. During the game, the Tamaru brothers also joined in, making it a lively Mah-jong contest. Haruhi distorted the rules and created yaku to suit herself, racking up win after win with puzzling combinations like "Nishoku Zetsu Ichimon," "Chantamodoki," "Iishanten Paralysis" and so on. Well, it made me laugh, so I let it pass. And we weren't playing for money, anyway. "Ron! That's about ten thousand points!" "Suzumiya-san, that's yakuman." I secretly sighed, perhaps it was better to look on the bright side and enjoy the fun the trip brought. As things stand, it seems unlikely a huge sea creature will appear, or natives coming out from the forest. After all, this is a lone island far way from the mainland. There won't be strange things coming in from outside so easily. I decided to think like that and relax myself. Tamaru Keiichi-san and Yutaka-san, Arakawa-san, Mori-san are all acquainted with Koizumi, they all look normal. We're still short of characters necessary to trigger a strange event. I hope everything goes well. I prayed in my heart. Yet the gods just never seem to answer my prayers. It happened on the morning of the third day.

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We spent the whole second day playing and eating, and as the weather worsened by nightfall, the same dining hall scene repeated itself again. On the third day, I struggled to wake up with a splitting headache from the hangover, if Koizumi hadn't carried us back to our rooms, I guess I would still be sleeping in the dining hall with Haruhi and Asahina. I opened the curtains on the morning of the third day. The storm continued. "I wonder if we can return tomorrow?" I washed off the dizzyness from my face with some cold water, trying hard to walk in a straight line. I walked down the stairs with caution, not wanting to trip and tumble over. There gathered in the dining hall were Haruhi and Asahina with the same miserable face as mine, and Koizumi and Nagato with their usual expressions. The Tamaru brothers haven't come down yet, maybe they've reached their limits after drinking for two consecutive nights? I remembered Haruhi pouring wine over their glasses. Haruhi was already reckless when sober, with alcohol she became worse, and just thinking of her antics last night simply worsened my headache. I decided never to force myself to drink endlessly. "I don't want to drink wine anymore." Haruhi frowned and said as if she had learnt her lesson. "I don't know why, but all my memories after dinner seem to have disappeared. Isn't that a pity? I felt as we've wasted a lot of time. Argh, I don't want to get drunk again. Tonight is 'alcohol free night'." Normally, high school students are not supposed to get drunk. Perhaps I ought to compliment Haruhi for actually saying something responsible for once? Yet,

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Asahina's dreamy expression when she was drunk looked just so seductive, I must admit I wouldn't mind drinking so much. "Then it's decided!" Koizumi nodded and agreed right away, he then said to Mori-san who just came in pushing a cart with our breakfast on it, "We won't be needing any wine for tonight. Please just prepare some juice instead." "Understood." Mori-san bowed politely and started handing out the bacon and eggs plates on to the table. Yutaka-san had still not appeared after we had finished our breakfast. As Keiichisan normally feels ill during morning, his absence was expected, but not Yutaka-san's. At this moment...... "Excuse me." Arakawa-san and Mori-san appeared before us. I noticed a troubled expression within his usually calm butler face. I have a bad feeling about this. "What happened?" Koizumi asked, "Is there a problem?" "Yes." Arakawa-san said, "I believe it is sort of a problem. I had asked Mori-san to go check Yutaka-sama's room." Mori-san nodded her head, Arakawa-san continued, "As the door wasn't locked, I opened it to find Yutaka-sama's not inside." With a voice as clear as a bell, Mori-san said glancing at the table cloth, "The room was empty, and the bed doesn't seem to be slept on at all." "I tried to contact the master's room using an internal phone line, but there was no response."

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Haruhi released the glass of orange juice she was holding after hearing Arakawasan said that. "What does that mean? Yutaka-san is missing while Keiichi-san doesn't answer the phone?" "To put it bluntly, that's how it is." Arakawa-san replied. "Couldn't you enter Keiichi-san's room? Do you have a backup key?" "I have the backup keys to all the rooms save the master's bedroom. As his room has a lot of work-related documents, only he has access to the backup keys, just to be safe." The bad feeling has begun to hover as a dark cloud, shrouding two-thirds of my heart. The mansion owner who hasn't woken up, and his brother who was missing. Arakawa-san bowed slightly. "I would like to visit the master's bedroom in a moment. If you do not mind, would you please accompany me? I hope I'm wrong, but I have a bad feeling about this." Haruhi quickly gestured something to me with her eyes. What's she trying to say? "Maybe we should come along." Koizumi stood up without hesitation. "Maybe he's so ill he couldn't get up. We may have to break the door down." Haruhi swiftly jumped up from her chair, "Kyon, let's go! I'm getting all uneasy. Yuki and Mikuru-chan, you two come along as well!" In this moment, Haruhi revealed a hitherto unseen serious expression on her face. Allow me to briefly go through what happened afterwards.

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Keiichi-san's room was located on the third floor, there was no response no matter how many times we knocked. Koizumi tried turning the doorknob, but the door still won't open. The wooden door now stood like a wall, blocking our access. Before going there, we also went to Tamaru Yutaka-san's room. As Mori-san had described, the bedsheets were tidy, as though no one has slept on it. Just where did he go? Could both brothers be hiding in Keiichi-san's room? "The room is locked from the inside, that means there's someone inside." Koizumi held his chin and gave a look of thinking deeply. He said in an unprecedented intense tone, "Looks like we no longer have a choice. We'll have to break down the door. Things are getting serious that lives may be at stake here." So we lined up together and rammed ourselves towards the door like a bunch of rugby players. The line-up included me, Koizumi and Arakawa-san. I trust Nagato would be able to push the door down easily with just her finger, but she decided her magic wouldn't be appropriate here with everyone looking. Under the watchful eyes of the three SOS Brigade girls and Mori-san, the three of us bravely rammed the door many times, just as the bones in my shoulders were beginning to yell out in pain...... The door finally burst open like a spring. Losing our balance, I, Koizumi and Arakawa-san all fell in towards the room with our momentum. And then...... Yes, we have now returned to the scene at the beginning. It took a long time to catch up. Now, back to the present. ......... ...... ...

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After a lengthy flashback, I slowly moved my eyes away from Keiichi-san, whose chest has been stabbed with a knife, towards the door which has been burst open. This is a newly built mansion, even the doors looked shiny......I shouldn't be thinking of totally irrelevant stuff now. Arakawa-san bent his body and knelt down by his master's side, touching his neck with the tip of his finger, then slowly lifted his head to face us. "He has passed away." Perhaps it's due to his profession, he sounded very sullen. "Ah...ah......" Asahina knelt on the ground looking worn out, this is understandable, because right now I felt like doing that as well. I even found Nagato's wooden expression to be a salvation. "Things have become serious." Koizumi went towards Keiichi-san and knelt by him opposite Arakawa-san, carefully handling Keiichi-san's suit and examining his shirt. The white shirt has now been dyed with some dark-reddish liquid, forming an irregular pattern. "Huh?" He made an exclamation. I looked at his hand and saw a notebook placed inside the chest pocket of Keiichi-san's shirt. The blade seemed to pierce through the notebook and into the heart. The suspect must have possessed some formidable strength in order to do that. I don't think it would be the girls here, though for Haruhi, it just might be possible with her incredible stamina. Koizumi's voice carried a tint of sadness, "Right now our priority is to preserve the crime scene. Let us leave this place."

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"Mikuru-chan, are you alright?" It's not surprising for Haruhi to be so worried, since Asahina was close to fainting. She knelt wearily on the floor besides Nagato's thin legs and closing her eyes tightly. "Yuki, let's carry Mikuru-chan to my room! You grab her other arm." Haruhi actually said something with common sense, maybe this means she is disturbed inside. With her arms grabbed by Nagato and Haruhi, Asahina was slowly dragged and carried away off the corridor. After making sure they had left, I observed the surroundings. Arakawa-san put his hands together and paid his respects to his master now lying on the floor, while Mori-san lowered her head with a sad face. Up till now Yutaka-san still remained missing while the storm outside continued. "Now..." Koizumi said to me, "It seems we need to think about what has transpired." "What do you mean?" I asked. Koizumi's normal smile suddenly returned to his mouth. "Haven't you realized? This is now a genuine closed circuit." I already knew that long before. "This looks like a murder." Well it doesn't look like suicide. "Besides, this room is totally sealed off." I turned and noticed all the windows were locked from the inside. "How does the suspect commit his act and leave safely in a room that can't be accessed at all?" Why don't you ask the suspect himself!? "You're right," Koizumi agreed with me, "We'd better ask Yutaka-san about this."

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Koizumi asked Arakawa-san to call the police, then turned and said to me, "Please wait at Suzumiya-san's room first, I'll be coming over as well later." That seemed like a good idea, since there wasn't much I could do. I knocked on the door. "Who is it?" "It's me." The door opened slightly, Haruhi peeked from inside. She then let me in with a perplexed look on her face. "Where's Koizumi-kun?" "He'll be here soon." Asahina was left to sleep on one of the double beds. Her sleeping face was enough to compel any passing-by prince to come and kiss her. But from her painful expression, she should be in a state of coma, it's such a pity. Beside her sat Nagato as though watching over a coffin. Keep up the good work! Don't ever leave Asahina's side. "Hey, what do you think?" Haruhi seemed to be asking me. "Think of what?" "I mean Keiichi-san's death. This is a murder incident, right?" Objectively speaking, the answer's pretty obvious, isn't it? I tried to deduce. We burst open the locked door to find the owner of the mansion lying on the floor, with a knife stabbed on his chest. A murder happening inside a sealed room in an island trapped in the middle of a storm. This is just too elaborate. "It seems like that's the case." Time stopped for a few seconds, Haruhi then sighed deeply and sort of replied,

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"Hmm......" Haruhi placed her hand on her temple and sat on her bed. "How can this be? I never expected things to develop this way." She quietly murmured. I should be asking you that. Weren't you the one who was anticipating that something would happen? "But, I never thought it'll become true!" Haruhi scowled, then changed her expression. She seemed to be troubled by what expression she should put on. I was kind of relieved that she didn't seem happy about this, because I have no intention of playing the role of the second victim. I looked at Asahina, who was sleeping with an angel face. "She should be fine, I guess. She just fainted. Such a direct reaction, I'm envious of her. This is so like how Mikuru-chan would react. It's better than going hysterical." Haruhi said thoughtlessly. A sealed room murder incident on a lone island within a storm. What are the chances of that occurring in a trip? Then again, we are the SOS Brigade, not some Occult Study Group, or Mystery Novels Association. Searching for mysterious events is exactly the reason Haruhi founded the SOS Brigade, so in truth, encountering this kind of incident perhaps embodies the founding principles of the SOS Brigade. Of course, it's a whole different story when we're actually experiencing it. Has this happened since Haruhi had been expecting it? "Man, this is so frustrating......" Haruhi leaped off her bed and paced around the room. For me, she looked like a kid who wanted to pull a small prank on April Fool's Day, but found out the prank went too far and was feeling troubled. She seemed to be taken completely by surprise, and this troubled me as well.

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What should we do? If possible, I'd like to lie down and sleep beside Asahina, but it's useless trying to escape reality now. There's got to be a way to deal with this. What does Koizumi intend to do? "Hmm, after all, we can't just stay here doing nothing." After all? Haruhi said that as a matter-of-factly and stood before my face. She looked at me seriously with her challenging eyes. "I need to confirm something. Kyon, come with me." I really don't want to just leave Asahina alone here. "Yuki's here as well, so don't worry! Yuki, have the door locked, and don't let anybody in, you understand?" Nagato carried her calm demeanor and looked at me and Haruhi. "Understood." She replied without even changing the tone of her voice. Instantaneously, the pair of light filtering eyes made contact with my eyes. At this moment, Nagato nodded slightly in a way only I could notice, that's what I think anyway. I don't think anything dangerous would happen to me and Haruhi, right? If something funny were to happen, it's unlikely for Nagato not to intervene. I convinced myself, remembering what happened at the studio apartment of the Computer Study Group's president. "Let's go, Kyon." Haruhi grabbed my wrist and stepped out towards the corridor. "Just where're we going?"

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"To Keiichi-san's room, of course! I didn't observe it closely just now, so I need to check again." At the image of Keiichi-san lying on the floor with a knife stabbed on his chest, and the blood soaked on his white shirt, I hesitated. That was not a view worth appreciating. Haruhi walked and said, "Then, we need to find out where Yutaka-san is. He may be still in the building, besides......" For something this serious, if Yutaka-san had nothing to do with this, then it doesn't make sense for him to disappear. There could only be two possibilities from his absence. I was dragged by Haruhi, who climbed the stairs and said, "Either Yutaka-san is the killer and has escaped the scene; or Yutaka-san is also a victim......right?" "Yeah, but if Yutaka-san isn't the killer, then it'll become troublesome." "No matter who did it, it's all annoying for me......" Haruhi looked at me diagonally, "Kyon, in this mansion, besides the Tamaru brothers, there's only Arakawa-san and Mori-san left, and the five of us. Could the suspect be one of them? I don't want to suspect my own brigade, and I don't want to hand them over to the police." She sounded very calm saying that. I see, so you were worried about one of us being a murderer, huh? I never contemplated such a possibility. Asahina was out of the question, while Nagato would have done it in a more efficient manner; as for Koizumi......that's right, Koizumi was

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the one closest to Tamaru-san. He said Tamaru-san was his distant relative, compared to total strangers like us, he certainly seemed much closer than us...... "No." I knocked my head softly. Koizumi's no idiot. He wouldn't deliberately do such a thing under these circumstances. I do not believe that he would kill someone just to satisfy the conditions for a closed circuit. He's not that stupid. We don't need anyone else to have such a thinking pattern. We already have Haruhi. Outside of Keiichi-san's room on the third floor stood Arakawa-san with his legs apart. "I've called the police, and they've instructed me not to let anyone in." He lowered his head. The door remained as it was when we burst it open, I could barely see Keiichi-san's finger just behind Arakawa-san's shoulder. "When are the police coming?" Haruhi asked questioningly, Arakawa-san replied politely, "Once this storm subsides. According to the weather report, the weather would improve by tomorrow afternoon, so I guess they'll arrive by then." "Hmm." Haruhi occasionally glanced into the room. "I have something to ask you." "What is it?" "Did Keiichi-san and Yutaka-san get along well with each other?" Arakawa-san's usual butler expression changed slightly.

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"To be honest, I'm not sure myself. Because I've only started working here a week ago." "A week!?" Both Haruhi and I exclaimed. Arakawa-san nodded without wincing. "Yes, I am indeed a butler, but I've been hired as a stand-in contractual butler. My contract stipulates that I would serve this mansion for two weeks during summer." "So does that mean you only work in this mansion and have not been by Keiichisan's side before?" "Yes." So Arakawa-san is a stand-in butler hired by Keiichi-san. If that's the case, maybe...... Haruhi asked the same question I was about to ask, "Is Mori-san also the same? Is she also a stand-in maid?" "You're absolutely correct. She has also been hired for these two weeks." Such a lavish way for Keiichi-san to hire a butler and maid just for two weeks during the summer. I felt he may be a bit casual with how he spends his money, but to hire a butler and maid like that...... As I nearly revealed my thoughts, I immediately held them back again. I cautiously examined Arakawa-san's face. He looked like an old gentleman wearing a clean armour. He does seem like that sort of person, but...... I didn't say anything, and had that little thought buried deep within my heart. I'll ask him later when I see him. "I see, so there are permanent and contractual servants, I've really learnt something new today."

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How is that knowledge new? Haruhi nodded as though fully understanding something. "Since we can't enter the room, there's nothing we can do here. Kyon, let's go to the next place." She pulled my arm and strided forward. "Now where're we going?" "Outside, to see if the boat's gone." I really didn't want to wander purposelessly with Haruhi under this stormy day. "I only believe what I see with my eyes. Information that gets passed around usually gets mixed up with unnecessary noise. Listen, Kyon, the most important information are first-hand ones. Second-hand information from the eyes or hands of other people are not to be believed. Well, from a certain point, she was right. But does that mean besides those that enter our field of vision, we can't believe anything else? As I pondered about the effectiveness of the information medium, Haruhi had brought me to the first floor, where Mori-san was standing by the base of the stairs. "Are you two going outside?" Mori-san asked me and Haruhi, Haruhi replied, "Yeah, I want to see if the boat's still here." "I don't think it's here anymore." "Why's that?" Mori-san replied with a smile, "I saw Yutaka-sama last night, he seemed to be in a hurry as he left the entrance hall." I exchanged glances with Haruhi.

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Though her hair and T-shirt have been soaked so wet that they stuck to her body, Haruhi still bravely walked forward in the rain. I had no choice but to follow her, as she was still tightly grabbing my wrist.

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"You mean Yutaka-san had stolen the boat and left the island?" Mori-san smiled softly and slowly moved her lips, "I only passed by Yutaka-sama in the corridor, I didn't actually see him go out. But that was the last I saw of Yutaka-sama." "What time was it?" Haruhi asked. "I guess around one in the morning." That was when we were getting drunk and slept very soundly. Does that mean Keiichi-san fell on the floor during this time as well? Once the door was opened, the raindrops fell onto our bodies. We spent quite some time just trying to open the door, which had become very heavy due to the strong winds. In a few seconds, Haruhi and I were soaked wet from head to toe. If I had known, I would've prepared a swimsuit. The dark grey clouds extended towards the horizon, this reminded me of the Sealed Dimension we were trapped in before. I don't think I'll ever like seeing such a monotonous world. "Let's go!" Though her hair and T-shirt had been soaked so wet that they stuck to her body, Haruhi still bravely walked forward in the rain. I had no choice but to follow her, as she was still tightly grabbing my wrist. The wind was so strong that if we had wings, we would be blown off easily. Braving the heavy rain, we finally managed to come to a spot where we can see the pier. If we were not careful, we could fall off the cliff. No matter how brave I got, I started to feel that things were getting bad. I think I would turn in my grave if it was only me that fell off, so I grabbed Haruhi's hand in return. I felt my chances of survival would be higher if I fell with her.

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We finally came to the top of the stairway. "You see it, Kyon?" Haruhi's voice scattered across the wind, I faced her and nodded, "Yeah." The pier was nearly covered in water, the only activity by the seaside were the large waves splashing upon them on the shores. "There's no boat. If it wasn't carried off by the waves, then it was driven off." That was our only means of leaving this island. Looking far, we could see no sign of that luxurious speedboat within the vast sea. And so, we've been isolated on this lone island. We returned to the mansion at a turtle's pace, by the time we made it inside, we were both soaked wet. "Please use these." Expecting our return, Mori-san had been waiting for us and handed us towels she had prepared. She asked caringly, "What did you find?" "It seems you are right." Haruhi wiped her hair with the towel, looking dissatisfied. "The boat's gone, but we don't know when." I don't know if she was born like that, but Mori-san's face continued to smile softly like the light of a firefly. Though Tamaru Keiichi-san's murder had shaken her a bit, yet her calm demeanor reflects her professionalism. Perhaps this reaction was quite normal for a for-hire maid. I apologized with Haruhi for wetting the entrance corridor, then decided to return to our rooms to get changed.

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"Come to my room later." Haruhi said as she walked up the stairs. "At this moment, it's better to stick together. I just can't relax if I can't see everyone safe. If something were to happen......" Haruhi stopped midway. I could understand what she was trying to say, so I didn't make any witty comments this time. We arrived on the second floor and found Koizumi standing at the corridor. "Welcome back." Koizumi carried his usual smile and gestured to us with his eyes. He was standing just outside Haruhi's room. "What are you doing?" Haruhi asked, and Koizumi's smile became that of an embarassed one, he shrugged his shoulder and said, "I had wanted to come to Suzumiya-san's room to discuss what we should do next, but Nagato-san wouldn't let me in." "Why?" "Well......" Haruhi knocked on the door. "Yuki, it's me, open the door!" After a brief pause, Nagato's voice came from behind the door. "I was instructed not to open the door for anyone." Asahina still seems to be sleeping. Haruhi played with the towel on her head with her fingers. "It's alright now, Yuki. So open the door." "That would be a violation of my order not to open the door for anyone."

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Haruhi looked at me with a startled look, then turned back to face the door. "Yuki, what I meant by anyone is people besides us! Myself, Kyon and Koizumikun are different. We're all companions in the SOS Brigade, right?" "No one said anything about that. What I heard was not to let anyone in, that is my interpretation." Nagato's calm voice sounded like a female priest spreading the messages of the gods. "Hey, Nagato!" I decided to cut in, "Haruhi has cancelled that order. If you don't believe it, I'll recite that order for her. So open the door! Please." Nagato seemed to consider that for a few seconds behind the door. The sound of the door unlocking can be heard and the door slowly opened. "......" Nagato's eyes swept through our heads, and silently backed up inside. "Really! Yuki, you ought to be more flexible! You've got to understand the meaning properly!" Haruhi asked Koizumi to wait a bit while she changed and entered the room. I wanted to change into something dry as well, so I made my exit. "See you later then, Koizumi." I walked and thought about something. Was that all just a prank by Nagato? Yet it's a very hard to understand prank that could cause misunderstandings.

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Nagato, please. Nobody's going to think of it as a joke if you always carry that face with you. You should at least make a smile when you're pulling a prank. Or you could just smile meaninglessly like Koizumi,you'd look better like that. Though now's not the right time to pull any pranks. I removed my wet clothes and changed into a new set of clothes along with my underwear, then returned to the corridor. Koizumi is no longer there. I knocked on Haruhi's door. "It's me." Koizumi opened the door for me. As I stepped inside and closed the door, "I heard the boat's missing." Koizumi said leaning by the wall. Haruhi squatted on the bed. Even Haruhi, who was normally brash, didn't feel this was worth being glad over. She lifted her head looking troubled, "It's gone, right, Kyon?" "Yeah." I said. Koizumi said, "Someone must have driven it off. No, it's already meaningless to say 'someone.' There's no doubt the one who ran way is Yutaka-san." "How do you know that?" I asked. "Because there's no one else." Koizumi answered coldly. "Besides us, there was no one else who was invited to this island. The only invited guest that has disappeared from the mansion is Yutaka-san. No matter how you put it, he has to be the suspect who has escaped by boat." Koizumi continued with his smooth speech,

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"In other words, he is the killer. He must've escaped during the night." This matches with Yutaka-san's unslept bedsheets, and Mori-san's testimony. Haruhi told Koizumi about our previous conversation with Mori-san. "As expected from Suzumiya-san, so you've heard about it." I purposelessly made a "Hmph~." sound at Koizumi's blatant bootlicking. "Yutaka-san seemed to have left in a hurry as if he was afraid of something, this matches with the testimony by the last witness to have seen him. I've also confirmed this with Arakawa-san." But isn't it suicide to drive a speedboat at night into the middle of a storm? "Then it must be very bad for him not to leave the island, like trying to leave the scene of crime." "Can Yutaka-san drive the speedboat?" "We haven't been able to confirm that, but we should be able to deduce that from the results. Since the boat's now missing." "Wait!" Haruhi raised her hand and won her right to speak. "What about Keiichi-san's door? Who locked it? Did Yutaka-san do that as well? "Doesn't seem like it." Koizumi gently made a denial gesture. "According to Arakawa-san, both the master key and the backup key for that room are kept by Keiichi-san. After some searching, we found both keys inside the room." "Maybe someone made another duplicate key." I raised the question that came out of my mind, Koizumi shook his head.

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"This is the first time Yutaka-san has come to this mansion, I don't think he would enough time to prepare a duplicate." Koizumi waved his hands in a surrendering gesture. The room fell silent, the unharmonious sound of the heavy wind and rain shook the air, becoming an insignificant distant memory. Haruhi and I were both speechless and remained quiet. Koizumi broke off this depressing silence, "But that would be strange if Yutaka-san were to commit this crime last night." "What do you mean?" Haruhi asked. "When I touched Keiichi-san, he was still warm, as if he was still alive a while ago." Koizumi gave a smile, then turned and faced the silent fairy sitting patiently like a maid by Asahina's side. "Nagato-san, what was Keiichi-san's body temperature when we found him lying on the ground?" "36.3 degrees celcius." Wait a moment, Nagato, how do you even know Keiichi-san's body temperature without even touching him? And the way she answered the question so swiftly was as though she was expecting it...... I didn't express my doubts loudly. The only person with doubts would be Haruhi, but she seemed to be thinking of other stuff, as her head didn't turn towards this way. "Isn't that near the normal body temperature? When was the crime committed?" "When a person stops all living activity, the body temperature would drop by one degree celcius per hour. From this we can esimate the time of death for Keiichi-san to be within one hour before he was found."

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"Wait, Koizumi." Time for me to cut in. "Didn't Yutaka-san escape during the night?" "Yes, that's right." "But you said the time of death was within one hour?" "That's correct." I pressed hard on my temple. "So does this mean Yutaka-san left the mansion at night and hid somewhere, then returned in the morning to kill Keiichi-san, and then escaped by boat?" "No, that's not the case." Koizumi casually rejected my theory. "Assuming a small margin of error for the time of death, it should be around one hour before we discovered him. But we were already gathered in the dining hall then. Not only did we see Yutaka-san, we didn't even hear any strange noise. Even in this storm, it would be too unnatural not to hear anything." "Just what's going on here?" Haruhi said frustratingly. She crossed her arms and glared at me and Koizumi. It's useless glaring at me! If you have any questions, ask the smiling hunk over there! Koizumi spoke softly again as though it were a normal conversation, "This isn't some mystery, just a tragedy." I sure didn't see anything tragic from the looks of your eyes. "I believe it is a fact that Yutaka-san has killed Keiichi-san, or there would be no reason for him to escape." Well, yeah?

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"I don't know what argument they had or what the motive is, the thing is Yutakasan has attacked Keiichi-san with a knife. He must've hidden the knife behind his back, then suddenly revealed it and stabbed with all his force. Keiichi-san must've been almost defenceless as he was taken by surprise." It's as though you've witnessed the whole thing. "But the edge of the blade probably hasn't reached the heart. It probably didn't even scratched his skin. The knife merely penetrated the notebook on Keiichi-san's chest pocket." "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Haruhi frowned and asked, "Then why did Keiichi-san die? Did someone else kill him?" "No one killed him. There is no murderer in this case, Keiichi-san's death was a pure accident." "Then what about Yutaka-san? Why did he run?" "Because he thought he had killed someone." Koizumi replied casually and lifted his forefinger. Which super sleuth does he intend to turn into? "Let me tell you what I think what has happened. Last night, Yutaka-san went to Keiichi-san with the intent of killing him. He stabbed Keiichi-san with his knife, but the knife was stuck in the notebook, so no fatal wound was made." I really had no idea what he was trying to say, I decided to just let him continue. "But the trouble begins here. Keiichi-san truly believed he has been stabbed. Though the knife only penetrated the notebook, he could still feel the impact of the knife thrusting in. He must've been shocked after seeing the edge of the knife standing on his chest."

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I think I'm beginning to get where Koizumi was going. Hey, could it be...... "Being fooled by this illusion, Keiichi-san fainted. In this situation, a person would either fall sideways or backwards." Koizumi continued, "Seeing all this, Yutaka-san also believed he has killed him. The rest is simple, he can only escape. This murder probably isn't premediated, but rather a killing motive that is borne of passion. That's why he has to escape by speedboat in the middle of a heavy storm." "Huh? But if that's the case......" Koizumi interrupted Haruhi before she could continue, "Please let me continue. The key is the actions Keiichi-san took after he fainted. He stayed unconscious till dawn, all the way till we came to knock on his door when we were wondering why he hasn't got up." He was still alive then? "Keiichi-san was startled by the knock and got up and walked near the door. But as he would usually feel ill after waking up, he must've felt drowsy then. As he walked towards the door under this state, he suddenly remembered." "Remembered what?" Haruhi asked. Koizumi replied to her with a smile, "He remembered that he was killed by his brother. In a flash, the image of Yutakasan wielding a knife reappeared in his mind, and Keiichi-san frantically locked the door." I couldn't stand this any longer, so I cut in, "Are you saying that's the whole truth behind this sealed room?"

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"Unfortunately, that's what I believe. Keiichi-san had lost all sense of time after fainting, he probably thought Yutaka-san had returned to finish him off. I think it was only a few seconds from him locking the door to us holding the door knob." "If the killer had wanted to return to give him the finishing blow, why would he knock on the door intentionally?" "Keiichi-san's mind was very blurry then, so this was the swift conclusion he made with his half-conscious mind." "After locking the door, Keiichi-san tried to back off from the door, thinking what a dire situation he was in. That was when the tragedy happened." Koizumi shook his head, as if telling a sad story. "Keiichi-san tripped and tumbled over like this." Koizumi bent his body and made a pose of tumbling forwards. "As a result, the knife which had only penetrated into the notebook in his chest pocket now thrusted into his chest with the force of the floor, leaving only the hilt outside. The knife had gone straight into Keiichi-san's heart, therefore killing him......" Koizumi looked at me and Haruhi, whose jaws were opened like idiots, and said firmly, "That is the truth." What did you say? Keiichi-san died in such a ridiculous way? Is it really that simple? It was already strange enough for the knife to land right on top of the notebook, and it's also puzzling for Yutaka-san to not know he actually didn't kill anyone. I tried to organize my thoughts, preparing to argue. "AH!"

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Haruhi suddenly shouted, that gave me a fright. Why'd you shout all of a sudden like that? "But, Koizumi-kun......" Haruhi said half way then stiffened up. Her face seems shocked, what was it that made her shout so loud? Was it something Koizumi said that she couldn't accept? Haruhi looked at me. Once our eyes met, she looked away and was about to look at Koizumi, but then changed her mind and decided to look at the ceiling for some reason. "Um......nothing. That's got to be the case. Hmm, how should I put it?" She murmured incomprehensively, then fell silent. Asahina remained sleeping, while Nagato looked at Koizumi with a blank stare. The meeting was adjourned for now. We decided to return to our rooms. According to Koizumi, once the storm's subsided, the police would come over at once. So we began to pack up and prepared to leave before the police arrived. After spending some time in the room, I carried a lot of questions and went inside one of the rooms. "Yes?" Koizumi lifted his head as he was folding his clothes and smiled at me. "We need to talk." There was only one reason I visited Koizumi. "I cannot understand." That was natural, as some of Koizumi's deductions were full of holes that couldn't explain itself. "Based on your deductions, the body should be lying face down, but Keiichi-san was found lying face up. How do you explain that?"

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Koizumi stood up and faced me smiling. This smiling idiot answered as a matter-of-factly, "That's simple, that's because the deduction I told everyone wasn't the truth." I wasn't surprised by that. "I guess you're right. The only one who would believe your deduction would be the unconscious Asahina. If I had asked Nagato, she would probably tell me the whole truth, but that's cheating and I don't like doing things that way. So why don't you tell me your real thoughts on this?" The smile which has distorted Koizumi's face now made a low and irritating laughter. "Then let me tell you! The truth that I told everyone was correct up to the middle, only the last part was wrong." I kept quiet. "It was correct up to when Keiichi-san walked towards the door with the knife on his chest. He then instinctively locked the door. I then made up the rest." Koizumi gestured me to sit down, I ignored that request. "Looks like you've noticed, I must've underestimated you." "Cut the crap and continue." Koizumi shrugged his shoulders, "We rammed the door with our bodies and burst it open. To be precise, that would have been me, you and Arakawa-san. Then when the door burst opened, we fell hard inwards." I remained silent and urged him to go on. "You must've realized what that would result in. Keiichi-san, who was standing in front of the door, was hit face on by the door, and the knife as well."

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I tried to visualize such a scene. "From this collision, the knife then killed Keiichi-san." Koizumi sat on the bed again and looked at me as though challenging me. "In other words, the killers would be......" Koizumi smiled and said as though talking to himself, "Me, you and Arakawa-san." I looked down at Koizumi. If there was a mirror, I bet I could see myself with cold eyes. Koizumi ignored my reaction and went on, "Just as you have discovered, Suzumiya-san came to the same conclusions, that's why she didn't say what she wanted to say. She didn't want to report us, or maybe she wanted to protect her companions." Koizumi said without doubt. I still couldn't accept this. My cerebral neocortex hasn't aged to such an extent to be fooled by this second fake deduction. "Hmph." I mumbled and stared at Koizumi. "I'm sorry, but I don't believe you." "What do you mean?" "I think, after coming up with a flawed deduction, you've created a second truth to try and deceive everyone, but I won't be fooled by such rhetoric." Don't I look cool right now? Then allow me to continue. "Think about where the whole problem is! Let's start with the murder itself. How can such a case happen under such perfect conditions?" This time it was Koizumi's turn to remain silent, urging me to go on. "The typhoon may be random or created by Haruhi, but that's not important. The key is that what's happened has created a body."

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I paused and licked my lips. "You may think that this is exactly what Haruhi wished for. But no matter how much bullshit that girl comes up with, Haruhi wouldn't really wish for anyone to die. You can tell just by looking at her. This means the one who created this incident isn't Haruhi. Besides, our arrival at the scene of crime wasn't coincidental either." "Huh?" Koizumi said, "And why is that?" "The one who started this incident......or to be exact, this summer field trip for the SOS Brigade, is none other than you, am I right?" As if being caught red handed, Koizumi's smiling face stiffened for a few seconds, but...... Koizumi began to giggle. "I surrender. How did you find out?" Koizumi looked at me, his eyes were the same as I saw them when in the Literary Club room. My cerebral grey matter isn't just there for looks, you know. I felt relaxed for a bit then said, "At that time, you asked Nagato for the body temperature." "And what's wrong with that?" "You deduced the time of death based on that." "Yes, I did." "Nagato is a very useful person. As you well know, she can tell us almost anything. Instead of asking her for the body temperature, you should've asked Nagato for the approximate time of death. No, I think she would even tell us the exact time rounding off to the nearest second." "That makes sense."

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"If you had asked for the time of death, Nagato would simply reply that the person isn't dead. Moreover, never once did you call Keiichi-san in that state as a 'body'." "That was a fair way to do then." "And I may not look like it, but I do pay attention at things that matter, especially the interior of Keiichi-san's room door. From your deduction, the door should have landed on the hilt of the knife with a great impact, great enough to thrust the knife into a person's body. If that were true, there should be at least a dent on the door. Yet the door surface looked brand new." "Such amazing skills of observation." "One more thing, there's something strange with Arakawa-san and Mori-san. They both claim to only work here for less than a week. They were hired a week ago and came to this island, is that right?" "Yes, is something wrong with that?" "Of course there is, because your attitude was too suspicious. On the day when we first arrived, do you remember what you said to Arakawa-san and Mori-san who were waiting for us as we got off the ferry?" "What did I say?" "You said 'It's been a while.' Don't you find that strange? How can it be possible for you to say this to them? You've also said this is the first time you've been to this island, so it should be the first time you have met them. So how can you go and chat with them as though you've known them for some time?" Koizumi only giggled. This meant he had no intention of arguing with me. I understood everything as I began to feel exhausted. Koizumi then opened his mouth,

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"Yes, this was all previously arranged. A ridiculously short play. I just didn't expect you to find out." "Don't underestimate me." "I do apologize. Though I admit I'm surprised. I had wanted to find a time to eventually confess, I never thought the truth would be revealed so soon." "Does that mean Tamaru-san, Mori-san and the rest are all your accomplices? Your comrades in that 'Consortium' of yours?" "That's correct. For a bunch of amateurs, don't you think their acting's superb?" The knife on the chest actually had a retractable blade; the blood is actually some red dye; Keiichi-san was of course faking his death; while Yutaka-san was merely hiding on the other side of the island with the speedboat. Koizumi cheerily revealed the truth. "Why did you do all this for?" "To cure Suzumiya-san's boredom, as well as reducing the burden on our shoulders." "What do you mean?" "Maybe I should tell you. To put it simply, to prevent Suzumiya-san from coming up with any funny ideas, we had prepared some entertainment for her. Right now isn't Suzumiya-san thinking about this the whole time?" Haruhi seemed to believe that we were the killers, was it necessary to go this far? Afterwards, Haruhi was unusually gentle. I really felt uncomfortable with that. "Then we ought to move our plans forward." Koizumi said, "According to our original plans, as we returned by ferry to Honshu island, Tamaru Keiichi-san, Yutakasan, Mori-san and Arakawa-san would be greeting us cheerfully at the harbour there.

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Of course, they would conceal everything about the 'Consortium'. As of right now, they're still my distant relatives." What a surprise party. I sighed deeply. This sort of prank only works on Haruhi. If Haruhi got pissed as a result, then you're responsible for dousing the flames, because I'll be running for my life. Koizumi winked and smiled, "Oh dear. I think I'd better apologize to her. I'll go and confess to her right away with Tamaru-san and the rest. It must be tiring for him to play a dead body for so long." I silently looked out of the window. What would Haruhi do? Would she be furious at being deceived? Or would she appreciate the joke and laugh out loud? No matter what the result, her inconsistent mental state sure is easy to predict today. Koizumi smiled squeamishly, "We even prepared people playing detectives and forensic experts, but it seems our hard work will go to waste. I never thought it would end in such a whimper. Our plan was to include a thorough search of the mansion and crime scene, such a pity." That would be because you didn't plan far enough. I looked at the gloomy sky and thought, how fine will the weather become in the next few hours? In the end, Koizumi didn't lose his vice-commander badge. After the typhoon left, on the ferry trip home under the clear blue skies, Haruhi was in a good mood all the way until we parted at the station. It's good that Haruhi has a simple mind of treating a joke as such.

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Of course, Koizumi had to end up buying boxed lunches and juice cans for everyone. For things to end so smoothly, I felt he had gotten off lightly. Nagato probably knew the truth from the beginning, and maintained her reactionless attitude. While Asahina yelled, "How can you do this?" after waking up and protested cutely. But when Koizumi, the Tamaru brothers and the two servants both lowered their heads and apologized, she quickly apologized back, "Ah, i...it's alright, don't let it bother you." By the way, after taking a photo on the deck on the ferry trip back to Honshu island, Haruhi made her booking, "We're counting on you for the winter field trip, Koizumi-kun. Next time come up with a more shocking script! We're going to the mountain villa next time, and it has to be in a blizzard. If you don't come up with a haunted mansion that suits my expectations, I'll really be mad. Hmm, I'm so looking forward to it!" "Erm......what should I do?" Like a rookie Nazi officer being told by the Führer to lead just a single Panzer division to capture the Allied commander on the western front at the end of the Second World War, Koizumi smiled awkwardly and turned to beg me for help. I looked at Koizumi, who was like a defender trying to stop what seemed like a great goal near the end of a soccer match when the scores are even after overtime, and said without hesitation, "Well, I'm also looking forward to it, Koizumi." I look forward that it will be a game that I could at least solve and not end up in a mess. At the same time, this is also the best way to stop Haruhi from getting too bored and coming up with any funny ideas.

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Author’s Notes

I'm not too sure about the details, but it seems to be standard practice to write some sort of notes at the end of each book, everyone's so used to this practice that they've taken it for granted already. (Translator note: Tanigawa used some sort of Japanese idiom here, but I'm not sure what it means, I'm guessing something to do with taking something for granted.) The editor even told me, "Write as many pages as you like," But this time, I've decided to let this opportunity pass this time, and instead write some comments regarding the short stories compiled in this volume just to make up the pages. I'll be making some brief thoughts about these stories, so I won't be stuffing you with the usual rubbish of "One year has already passed so quickly, let alone two months," so here we go.

The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi This story carries the same title as the book itself. This is the first story where the reader gets reacquainted with the SOS Brigade. I think this story was published on the

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Sneaker magazine two months before "The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi" got published. At first I was quite worried, since it didn't make sense to release a sequel before the main story even got published. Yet it seems I was the only person who was worried, as no one else seems to have any problems with it, I was relieved as well. As this story was thought up and written very quickly in a short time, I was concerned on how well it would do. In the end no one said anything bad or good about it, at least I never heard anyone's comments, so I told myself that this isn't too bad either. By the way, as far as I can remember in my life, I've participated in not more than ten baseball tournaments. As a second baseman who couldn't catch any flying balls, there was nothing I did to make myself reknown. I also recently discovered that I have never scored a run before, though it's too late for me to be thinking of this, I'm still stunned whenever I think about it.

Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody At first I wanted to call this story "The Apprehension of Asahina Mikuru," but then I thought people wouldn't be able to recognize this as part of a series, hence the name change. At that time I never intended a short story I had just published would have a sequel, I still remember how surprised I was when I saw the magazine print the words, "To be continued" at the end of the story. That feeling is still fresh in my mind. As there was a time traveller, it didn't make sense not to have a story about time travelling, so I came up with this story. Yet deep inside I hope that this would become the prelude of what's to come later on.

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Mysterique Sign Due to chance, this story took the least time from the moment I thought of it to its completion. Just as I was wondering what the characters should be doing, I realized I had already finished the story. Ever since publishing this story, I had wanted to change the series title to "Fight on, Nagato-san," but this way the story would end up in a dead-end, so I abandoned that idea in the end. However, of all the characters, she has the most potential for development, even I am expecting a lot from her. Nagatosan, please fight on. By the way, what should I do with the glasses? Would she look better with them after all? I had originally intend to give more scenes to the Computer Group president, but right now my thoughts are too disorganized, who knows how he'll develop.

Lone Island Syndrome As a matter of fact, I started writing this before "Mysterique Sign," and had intended for this to be published first, but then I realized this story was getting longer as I kept writing. Due to my nature of wanting to take full responsibility for my works, this story has exceeded the pages originally intended for a short story. And as a result, this story has become the longest story in this book, a "bonus" that is neither too long nor too short. I still have a lot to learn from this lesson. I'm always thinking of ways to try and improve the way I work, but that's easier said than done. When I look back at my life, there were only a handful of times where I actually fulfilled what I told myself to do. For this reason alone, my brain has already regressed to that of an amoeba.

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Is there anyone out there willing to provide a luxury living quarters in a lone island for me to stay for one week? If you need a witness, I think I'm more than capable of doing the job. Of course, it's possible I would spend the whole day sleeping instead. And so, I'm very lucky to have published my third book. This is all thanks to everyone. I'd really like to list out everyone's names, job titles and even nicknames. This includes all my readers, though I don't think I could ever find out their names, all I can do is give you my most sincere thanks. Let us meet again in another place.

Tanigawa Nagaru

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Translators Notes

Koushien Koushien is the short name for two high profile High School baseball tournaments that take place in Japan durring the spring and summer of each year. The tournaments are played in Hanshin Koushin Stadium in the Koushin district of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. Anyone who knows something about Japanese culture will know what Koshien is to the baseball zealots of Japan (and that's quite a lot of zealots mind you!). However, to prevent others from getting confused (who may not be as familiar with Japanese culture as some of us are), a translation note should be added to inform them that it is both a stadium and the nickname for the national baseball tournament for schools in Japan. For more information, see Wikipedia entries for Koshien Stadium and High School Baseball in Japan. return

Medea This article is about the figure in Greek mythology. For other meanings, see Medea (disambiguation). In Greek mythology, Medea (Greek: Μήδεια, "virility") was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis (now a territory of modern Georgia), niece of Circe, and later wife to Jason.

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The myths involving Jason also invoke Medea. These have been interpreted by specialists, principally in the past, as part of a class of myths that tell how the Hellenes of the distant heroic age, before the Trojan War, faced the challenges of the pre-Greek "Pelasgian" cultures of mainland Greece, and the Aegean and Anatolia. Jason, Perseus, Theseus, and above all Heracles, are all "liminal" figures, poised on the threshold between the old world of shamans, chthonic earth deities, archaic matriarchies, and the Great Goddess and the new Bronze Age Greek ways. Medea figures in the myth of Jason and the Argonauts, a myth we know best from a late literary version worked up by Apollonius of Rhodes in the 3rd century BCE and called the Argonautica. But for all its self-consciousness and researched archaic vocabulary, the late epic was based on very old, scattered materials. Medea is most often described as a priestess of Hecate. She is related on her father's side to Helios the sun God, and to Circe, the witch who Odysseus famously encounters.

Medea by Evelyn De Morgan

Medea's role began after Jason arrived from Iolcus in Colchis to claim the Golden Fleece as his own. In a familiar mythic motif, Aeëtes promised to give it to him only if he could perform certain tasks. First, Jason had to plough a field with fire-breathing oxen that he had to yoke himself. Then, Jason had to sow the teeth of a dragon in the ploughed field (compare the myth of Cadmus). The teeth sprouted into an army of warriors. Jason was forewarned by Medea, however, and knew to throw a rock into the crowd. Unable to decipher where the rock had come from, the soldiers attacked and defeated each other. Finally, Aeëtes made Jason fight and kill the sleepless

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dragon that guarded the fleece. Medea put the beast to sleep with her narcotic herbs. Jason then took the fleece and sailed away with Medea, who had fallen in love with him. (Some accounts say that Medea only helped Jason in the first place because Hera had convinced Aphrodite or Eros to cause Medea to fall in love with him.) Medea distracted her father as they fled by killing her brother, Apsyrtus. She is said to have dismembered his body and tossed the limbs into the sea, knowing her father would stop to retrieve them for proper burial. In the flight, Atalanta was seriously wounded, but Medea healed her. According to some versions, Medea and Jason stopped on her aunt Circe's island so that they could be cleansed after the murder of her brother, relieving her of the blame for the deed.

Medea and Jason

Jason and Medea by John William Waterhouse (1907).

On the way back to Thessaly, Medea prophesied that Euphemus, the Argo's helmsman, would one day rule over all Libya. This came true through Battus, a descendant of Euphemus. The Argo then came to the island of Crete, guarded by the bronze man, Talos (Talus). Talos had one vein which went from his neck to his ankle, bound shut by only one bronze nail. According to Apollodorus, Talos was slain either when Medea drove him mad with drugs, deceived him that she would make him immortal by removing the nail, or was killed by Poeas's arrow (Apollodorus 1.140). In the Argonautica, Medea hypnotizes him from the Argo, driving him mad so that he dislodges the nail and dies

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(Argonautica 4.1638). In any case, when the nail is removed, Talos's ichor flows out, exsanguinating and killing him. After his death, the Argo lands.

Jason et Médée by ().

While Jason searched for the Golden Fleece, Hera, who was still angry at Pelias, conspired to make him fall in love with Medea, who she hoped would kill Pelias. When Jason and Medea returned to Iolcus, Pelias still refused to give up his throne. Medea conspired to have Pelias' own daughters kill him. She told them she could turn an old ram into a young ram by cutting up the old ram and boiling it (alternatively, she did this with Aeson, Jason's father). During the demonstration, a live, young ram jumped out of the pot. Excited, the girls cut their father into pieces and threw them into a pot, killing him. Having killed Pelias, Jason and Medea fled to Corinth. In Corinth, according to ancient historian Didimos, the Corinthian King Creon convinced Jason to desert Medea for Glauce, Creon's daughter. Medea poisoned Creon and fled to Athens, but, unable to take her children with her, she left them to Jason's care; Creon's family killed the children out of revenge.

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Alternatively, Jason married Glauce, daughter of Creon. Medea got even by giving Glauce a cursed dress that stuck to her body and burned her to death as soon as she put it on, a transformation of the mythic element in the story of Heracles and Nessus.

Medea by Eugène Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (1862).

The tragic situation of Medea, abandoned in Corinth by Jason, was the subject matter transformed by Euripides in his tragedy Medea, first performed in 431 BCE. In this telling, Medea kills her own children before her flight to Athens. Euripides was revolutionary in his retelling of Medea's myth because he was the first one to show that she hadn't killed her children because she was crazy or a barbarian, but because she was extremely distressed and furious at Jason for leaving her to marry a princess. Fueled by a need for revenge, she sends Glauce a poisoned dress and crown that burn her to death. Creon tries to save her by tearing the dress away, but fails, burning alongside his daughter in the process. Medea then kills her two sons, knowing it is the best way to hurt Jason. Some contemporary critics of Euripides accused him of accepting a gift of five Attic talents, a huge sum, by wealthy Corinthians who wanted no part of the blame for the children's death. Fleeing from Jason, Medea made her way to Athens and married Aegeus. They had one son, Medus. Her domestic bliss was once again shattered by the arrival of Aegeus' long-lost son, Theseus. Determined to preserve her own son's inheritance, Medea convinced her husband that Theseus was a threat and that he should be disposed of. As Medea handed Theseus a cup of poison, Aegeus recognized the young man's sword as his own, which he had left for his newborn son years earlier to be given to him when he came of age. Knocking the cup from Medea's hand, Aegeus embraced his son.

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She, then, returned to Colchis, and finding that Aeëtes had been deposed by his brother, she killed her uncle, and restored the kingdom to her father. Some say Medea married Achilles in the underworld. In another version of the legend, Zeus tried to court her but failed; for being the only mortal to ever successfully resist him, she was granted immortality by Zeus' wife, Hera. return

Japan High School Baseball Federation The Japan High School Baseball Federation (財団法人日本高等学校野球連盟 zaidan hōjin nihon kōtō gakkō yakyū renmei) is the governing body of in , and is composed of the High School Baseball Federations of each of the 47 prefectures. Together with the All Japan University Baseball Federation (財団法人全日本大学野球連盟 zaidan hōjin zen-nihon daigaku yakyū renmei), it makes up the Japan Student Baseball Association (日本学生野球協会 nihon gakusei yakyū kyōkai). The name is often abbreviated to "Nihon Kōyaren" (日本高野連) or just "Kōyaren" (高野連).

Brief history The Kōyaren evolved from the All-Japan Secondary School Baseball Federation (全日本中等学校野球連盟 zen-nihon chutōgakkō yakyu renmei), which was formed in 1946 to oversee the National Secondary School Baseball Championship organized by Osaka before the war. Due to the outcome of , in 1947 the school system was overhauled, and "secondary schools" became "high schools". Thus the federation was renamed to the All-Japan High School Baseball Federation. In 1963, the federation became a private foundation separating from the Ministry of Education, so the "zaidan hōjin" designation was added to the front of the name and the "All-" prefix was removed.

Timeline •

1915.08 National Secondary School Baseball Championship first held (organized by the Osaka Asahi Shimbun)

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• • • • • • • •

1924.04 National Secondary School Baseball Invitational Tournament first held (organized by the Osaka ) 1924.08 Koshien Stadium completed and becomes host to both tournaments 1946.02 All-Japan Secondary School Baseball Federation founded 1946.12 Japan Students Baseball Association becomes the parent organization 1947.04 In accordance with the school system reform the name changes to the All-Japan High School Baseball Federation 1956.08 National High School Soft-baseball Tournament first held 1963.02 Accompanying the privatization, the name becomes the Japan High School Baseball Federation 1978.08 National High School Soft-baseball Tournament renamed to the Japan High School Soft-baseball Championship

Tournaments organized • • •

(全国高等学校野球選手権大会 zen-nihon kōtō gakkō yakyū senshu-ken taikai) (選抜高等学校野球大会 senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai) National High School Soft-baseball Championship (全国高等学校軟式野球選手権大会 zen-nihon kōtō gakkō nanshiki yakyū senshu-ken taikai) return

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Genmai Tea Explained and Reviewed What is Genmai Tea well best way to explain is to take a look at the picture to the right. What you see there are the three Chinese characters that, in Japanese, read as "genmai cha," i.e. "genmai tea." Koreans pronounce these same characters as "hyunmi cha" and the Chinese pronounce them as "hsüanmi cha." In any case, the first character, "gen," has such meanings as "dark" and "obscure," while the second character "mai" stands for uncooked rice (other words are used to signify cooked rice). Therefore, when taken together, "genmai" stands for rice that is unhulled and/or unpolished; in other words, "genmai" basically stands for brown rice. (As pointed out above, the third character "cha" means "tea.") However, before you get images in your head of brown rice being boiled into a mush and then being strained to make "brown rice tea," let me point out that genmai tea is actually a mixture, usually in equal parts, of green tea and roasted brown rice. To some it may seem like an odd combination at first, but trust me, the result is wonderful. Green tea, which is already an amazing drink to begin with, is very much enhanced by the inclusion of the roasted brown rice. The roasted grain essences in the rice get steeped out to add an extremely mellow, almost nutty aspect that compliments the crisp, leafy qualities of green tea (and let me add here that white rice would never be able to impart such flavor, even if it was roasted), and the flavors "round out" the green tea, completing the overall taste in a really satisfying way. It's for these reasons that I love genmai tea as much as green tea alone.

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Brands I Recommend:

Maeda-En The best brand yet that I've tried is Maeda-En. This company's green tea is top quality, with an extremely fresh/deep, leafy flavor, and that makes all the difference. Combined with the aroma of toasted/roasted brown rice, it's absolutely awesome. The package this tea comes in has instructions on preparation, so if you don't have an intuitive sense about when your tea is fully brewed, just follow the instructions to the letter. To quote Maeda-En, getting the temperature of the water just right will properly bring out the taste/aroma/color of the tea. (Price: $4.19 for 5.3 ounces/150 grams. This is rather steep, but you have to realize that the tea I got was of Maeda-En's "Gold Quality" grade. This grade of tea, which is available in limited quantities every year, comes from the year's first picking of the first tea leaves to bud and grow. The leaves harvested from subsequent pickings, while still quite good, are not as flavorful because they don't have the same concentration of nutrients and phytochemicals that one finds in the leaves from the first picking. The leaves in the first picking have the privilege of drawing the highest amount of nutrients from the soil, while leaves from later pickings get less and less. Consequently, you have a higher price for the Gold Quality, but it's worth it, cause it tastes damn amazing. :p Don't get me wrong - Maeda-En's regular genmai tea is still awesome, but everyone buys the Gold Quality whenever it's available, cause it's in a class of its own.)

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Shirakiku It was my mother who got me hooked on genmai tea some years back (and later, teas in general), and Shirakiku was the brand she was drinking at the time. Shirakiku has good genmai tea. One unique thing about Shirakiku (a company that also packages and sells other Japanese food products like inarizushi wrappers and sunomono) is that their genmai tea comes in a box with two airtight pouches. One pouch has the green tea, while the other has the roasted rice. This is probably done to keep the flavors separated till the tea is purchased, but I personally doubt that this makes any difference in the final end product, since you want the flavors to join when the tea is brewed. Still, it's fun to open the box and mix the contents of the two pouches together. *g* At any rate, Shirakiku's genmai, while nice, is not as good as Maeda-En's regular genmai, let alone Maeda-En's Gold Quality genmai. Even my mother agreed when we compared the brands recently. XD I personally liked Maeda-En better because even in their regular quality genmai their tea leaves were more flavorful than Shirakiku's tea leaves; interestingly enough, my mother preferred Maeda-En's genmai because the essences of the roasted rice came through better. Proof that two separate pouches don't really help anything, I guess. :p (Price: $5.69 for 10 ounces/284 grams. Keep in mind that although this is much cheaper than Maeda-En's Gold Quality, it's not that much cheaper than the regular quality, and even Maeda-En's regular quality tastes better than Shirakiku - at least, in my opinion! Also, as far as I know, Shirakiku doesn't sell any sort of "first harvest grade tea" the way Maeda-En does.) Try Maeda-En, of course! :p Shirakiku isn't bad - in fact, it's good. It's just that Maeda-En is better. *L* return

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Unhappiness Index Unhappiness index = 0.81T (Temperature) + 0.01U (Humidity) + 46.3 return

Tanabata Tanabata (七夕, meaning "Seven Evenings") is a , derived from traditions and the star festival, . The festival is usually held on , and celebrates the meeting of () and (). The , a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separates these lovers, and they are allowed to meet only once a year. This special day is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the .

People dressed in at Tanabata

History The festival originated from The Festival to Plead for Skills (乞巧節; qǐ qiǎo jié), an alternative name for , which was celebrated in the from the . The festival spread to the general public by the early Edo period, became mixed with various traditions, and developed into the modern Tanabata festival. In the , girls wished for better sewing and craftsmanship, and boys wished for better handwriting by writing wishes on strips of paper. At this time, the custom was to use dew left on leaves to create the ink used to write wishes.

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Customs In present-day Japan, people generally celebrate this day by writing wishes, sometimes in the form of poetry, on tanzaku (短冊, small pieces of paper) and hanging them on , sometimes with other decorations. The bamboo and decorations are often set afloat on a river or burned after the festival, around midnight or on the next day. This resembles the custom of floating paper ships and candles on rivers during Obon. Many areas in Japan have their own Tanabata customs, which are mostly related to local Obon traditions. There is also a traditional song that goes with Tanabata that is taught to almost every Japanese child: Sasa no ha sara-sara Nokiba ni yureru Ohoshi-sama kira-kira Kin Gin sunago Translation: The bamboo leaves, rustle, rustle, shaking away in the eaves. The stars go twinkle, twinkle; Gold and silver grains of sand.

Date The original Tanabata date was based on the Japanese , which is about a month behind the calendar. As a result, some festivals are held on July 7, some are held on a few days around August 7, while the others are still held on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the traditional Japanese lunisolar calendar, which is usually in the 's August. The Gregorian dates of "the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the Japanese lunisolar calendar" for upcoming years are: • 2006-07-31 • 2007-08-19 • 2008-08-07 • 2009-08-26 • 2010-08-16 • 2011-08-06 • 2012-08-24

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• • •

2013-08-13 2014-08-02 2015-08-20

Tanabata festivals Large-scale Tanabata festivals are held in many places in Japan, mainly along shopping malls and streets, which are decorated with large, colorful streamers. The most famous Tanabata festival is held in from August 5 to 8. In the area, the biggest Tanabata festival is held in for a few days around July 7. A Tanabata festival is also held in , around the first weekend of July. Although Tanabata festivals vary from region to region, most festivals involve Tanabata decoration competitions. Other events may include parades and Miss Tanabata contests. Like other Japanese festivals, many outdoor stalls sell food, provide carnival games, etc., and add to the festive atmosphere.

The Sendai Tanabata Festival

The Sendai Tanabata Festival

The Sendai Tanabata festival began shortly after the city was founded in the early Edo Period. The Tanabata festival gradually developed and became larger over the years. Although the festival's popularity started to dwindle after the Meiji Restoration, and almost disappeared during the economic depression that occurred after World War I, volunteers in Sendai revived the festival in 1928 and established the tradition of holding the festival from August 6 to 8. During World War II it was impossible to hold the festival, and almost no decorations were seen in the city from 1943 to 1945, but after the war, the first major Tanabata festival in Sendai was held in 1946, and featured 52 decorations. In 1947, the Showa Emperor Hirohito visited Sendai and was greeted by 5,000 Tanabata decorations. The

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festival subsequently developed into one of the three major summer festivals in the Tohoku region and became a major tourist attraction. The festival now includes a fireworks show that is held on August 5. At the Sendai Tanabata festival, people traditionally use seven different kinds of decorations, which each represent different meanings. The seven decorations and their symbolic meanings are:

Paper strips (短冊; Tanzaku) : Wishes for good handwriting and studies

Paper Kimono (紙衣; Kamigoromo) : Wishes for good sewing. Wards off accidents and bad health.

Paper Crane (折り鶴; Orizuru) : Family safety, health, and long life

Net (投網; Toami) : Good fishing and harvests

Trash Bag (くずかご; Kuzukago) : Cleanliness and unwastefulness

Streamers (吹き流し; Fukinagashi) : The strings that Orihime uses to weave

Purse (巾着; Kinchaku) : Good business

The ornamental ball (くす玉; Kusudama) often decorated above streamers in presentday Tanabata decorations was originally conceived in 1946 by the owner of a shop in downtown Sendai. The ball was originally modelled after the Dahlia flower. In recent years, box-shaped ornaments have become popular alternatives to the ornamental ball.

Tanabata streamers with box-shaped ornaments

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See also •

Qi Xi

External links •

Kids Web Japan return

Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization is the name given today to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy whom ancient Romans called Etrusci or Tusci, ancient Greeks called Tyrrhenoi or Tyrrsenoi and who called themselves Rasenna, syncopated to Rasna or Raśna. As distinguished by its own language, the civilization endured from an unknown prehistoric time prior to the foundation of Rome until its complete assimilation to Italic Rome in the Roman Republic; numerous vestiges of Etruscan culture do survive the Roman conquest. At its maximum extent during the foundation period of Rome and the Roman kingdom, it flourished in three confederacies: of Etruria, of the Po valley and Latium and of Campania. Rome was sited in Etruscan territory. There is considerable evidence that early Rome was dominated by Etruscans until the Romans sacked Veii in 396 BC. Culture that is identifiably and certainly Etruscan developed in Italy after about 800 BC approximately over the range of the preceding Iron Age Villanovan culture. The latter gave way in the 7th century to an increasingly orientalizing culture that was influenced by Greek traders and Greek neighbors in Magna Graecia, the Hellenic civilization of southern Italy. Of the various theories about the ethnic origins of the people who were culturally Villanovan, the non-committal expression "ProtoEtruscan" is preferred: if the Etruscans were not already on the Villanovan range, they would have had to enter Italy in numbers from the sea, have fought a major war to displace the indigenes, and to have developed into three confederacies of 36 cities, all within 100 years and without leaving any legends or other evidence.

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Map showing the extent of the Etruscan civilization and the twelve Etruscan League cities.

Etruscan musician, Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia

Language Main article: Etruscan language. The Etruscans are generally believed to have spoken a non-Indo-European language. After generations of speculation, secure knowledge of the Etruscan language only began with the discovery of the bilingual Phoenician-Etruscan Pyrgi Tablets found at the port of Caere in 1964, and this knowledge is still incomplete.

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An Etruscan warrior head figure used as a cippus (grave marker) in the necropolis Crocifisso del Tufo outside Orvieto

Origins Herodotus (1.94) records the legend that they came from Lydia: The customs of the Lydians are like those of the Greeks, except that they make prostitutes of their female children. They were the first men whom we know who coined and used gold and silver currency; and they were the first to sell by retail. And, according to what they themselves say, the games now in use among them and the Greeks were invented by the Lydians: these, they say, were invented among them at the time when they colonized Tyrrhenia. This is their story: [...] their king divided the people into two groups, and made them draw lots, so that the one group should remain and the other leave the country; he himself was to be the head of those who drew the lot to remain there, and his son, whose name was Tyrrhenus, of those who departed. [...] they came to the Ombrici, where they founded cities and have lived ever since. They no longer called themselves Lydians, but Tyrrhenians, after the name of the king's son who had led them there. Contrarily, Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c. 100 BCE) pronounced the Etruscans indigenous to Italy, calling themselves Rasenna and being part of an ancient nation "which does not resemble any other people in their language or in their way of life, or customs." Some researchers have proposed that the non-Greek inscriptions found on the island of Lemnos, appearing to be related to the Etruscan language and dated to the sixth century BCE, support Herodotus' hypothesis. However, recent research, referencing burial rituals, shows that there was no break in practices from the earlier settlements of the Villanovan culture to the Etruscans, indicating that they were likely indigenous, at least as far as the Romans were concerned. The Romans termed indigeni all peoples they knew to be more ancient than they.

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The term "Etruscans" should not imply that the culture was confined to Italy. There were too many to all have come from Lemnos, and there is no evidence of them in Lydia. They were, however, a seafaring people. Thousands of Etruscan inscriptions from all over the Mediterranean, especially the eastern Mediterranean, testify their presence. The end of their power dates from the time that the Romans began systematically to take over their seaports.

A possible Etruscan sea people An Egyptian inscription at Deir al-Madinah records a victory of Ramesses III over Sea Peoples, including some named Tursha (spelled [twrš3] in Egyptian script). These are probably the same as the earlier Teresh (found written as [trš.w]) of the Merneptah Stele, commemorating Merneptah’s victory in a Libyan campaign at about 1220 BC. This may be too early for the Trojan War. Some have connected the name to the Hittite city Taruisas, Troy. The seafaring Etruscans may simply have sought brides from among their client or host populations, accounting for the mitochondrial DNA. At the other end of the spectrum of possibilities, perhaps some Trojans emigrated to Etruria, accounting for the different names. We have no evidence as to what language they spoke. They could have assimilated to Etruscan culture, just as the Etruscans assimilated to the Romans. The latter assimilation was thorough. The population of modern Tuscany is the closest of the moderns to the Etruscans, but that is not very close. The moderns do not evidence the higher degree of kinship to Anatolia or north Africa, and they are more related to the Basques than the ancients.

Archaeological possibilities A final thread illuminated by the genetic evidence is the possible central European origin of the Villanovan. It appears to be an offshoot of the Urnfield. Some have hypothesized that the Villanovan represents immigrant Celts or Old Europeans (lumped under the Greek term “Pelasgian.”). Perhaps the Etruscans entered Italy over the Alps. Genetically, the ancient Etruscans have no closer affinities to the modern people of east Europe than do modern Italics. Moreover, the Urnfield never included only the Celts, and the Villanovan did not include only the Etruscans. It spread to Italics as well. More than likely, the Villanovan only represents a central European cultural influence and not a transfer of population. If the Etruscans moved to Italy from Europe, they are most likely to have done so much earlier, and there is some evidence of that. The Rinaldone culture of central Italy and its twin, the Remedello culture of the Po Valley, appear to represent imports from the Fyn and Horgen cultures of the Swiss lakes region, who were being pushed

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ultimately by Indo-European pressure originating in the north Pontic area. The two pockets are remarkably coincidental, but the dates of those cultures are in the 35003000 BC window. Over the span of a few thousand years, it is impossible to say what the language might have been.

Genetics In an effort to resolve the contradictions, a team of geneticists from different universities in Italy and Spain undertook the first genetic studies of the ancient Etruscans, based on mitochondrial DNA from 80 bone samples taken from tombs dating from the 7th century to the 3rd century BC in Etruria. The results are enlightening but also contradictory. This initial genetic study of the Etruscans finds that they were more related to each other than to the population of modern Italy; i.e., they qualify as a partially distinct genetic pool, or "people." Moreover, this pool contained between about 150,000 to 200,000 women. Dividing these numbers by the 36 cities in the three Etruscan leagues obtains an average of between 4167 and 6944 women per community. Selecting an arbitrary family size of four gives a most approximate Etruscan population of 600,000 to 800,000 persons in about 36 communities of an average between 16,668 and 27,776 persons each. These populations are sufficiently dense and sufficiently urban to have accomplished everything the Etruscans were supposed to have accomplished. While this study gives an insight into the genetic composition of the Etruscans, and excludes a mass migration from Anatolia, it cannot resolve the linguistic controversy: An invasion of an elite imposing itself over authochthonous subjects often leads to linguistic changes without leaving genetic traces. It's also shown that there is a link between Etruscans and populations of Anatolia.[1]

History The mining and commerce of metal, specially copper and iron, led to an enrichment of the Etruscans and to the expansion of their influence in the Italian peninsula and the western Mediterranean sea. Here their interests collided with those of the Greeks, specially in the 6th century when Greeks from Phocea founded colonies along the coast of France, Catalonia and Corsica. This lead the Etruscan to ally themselves with the Carthaginians, whose interests also collided with the Greeks. Around 540 BC, the Battle of Alalia led to a new distribution of power in the western Mediterranean sea. Though the battle had no clear winner, Carthage managed to expand its sphere of influence in expense of both the Etruscan and the Greeks, and Etruria saw itself relegated to the northern Tyrrhenian Sea. Since the first half of the 5th century, the new international politic situation meant the beginning of the Etruscan decadence. In 480, Etruria's ally Carthage was defeated by

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a coalition of Magna Graecia cities led by Syracuse. A few years later, in 474, Syracuse's tyrant Hiero defeated the Etruscan at the Battle of Cumae. Etruria's influence over the cities in the Latium and Campania weakened, and it was taken over by Romans and Samnites. In the 4th century, Etruria saw a gaul invasion put to an end its influence over the Po valley and the Adriatic coast. Meanwhile, Rome had started annexing Etruscan cities. At the beginning of the 1st century, Rome annexed all the Etruscan territory.

Etruscan society Kinship The cemeteries of the Etruscans give us considerable information about their society. They were a monogamous society that emphasized pairing. The word for married couple was tusurthir. The lids of large numbers of sarcophagi are adorned with sculpted couples, smiling, in the prime of life (even if the remains were of persons advanced in age), reclining next to each other or with arms around each other. The bond was obviously a close one by social preference. The names of persons are generally binomial: Vethur Hathisna, Avile Repesuna, Fasti Aneina. The second name is typically a patronymic, but it is often made into a gentilical name with a -na suffix, normally used for adjectives. Presumably, clans are a later development of a richer landed society. Dedications to Selvans (Sylvanus), the god of boundaries, are common. The Etruscans at their height used lautun, syncopated to lautn, to mean gens. Kinship is defined with relation to the ego, or "I". I then may state whatever "I" am or you are to me. Females could state that they were the daughter of a father, sec or sech, and the wife of a husband, puia. Conversely, a man was never described as a husband of a woman. Etruscan society therefore was patrilineal and probably patriarchal. Kinship among the Etruscans was vertical, or generational. They kept track of six generations. In addition to the mi (“I”) an individual recognized a clan (“son”) or a sec (“daughter”), a neftś (“grandson”), and a prumaths (“great-grandson”). Every self had an apa and ati (“father” and “mother”) and relatives older than they. A division of relatives as maternal or paternal seems to have existed: the apa nachna and the ati nachna, the grandfather’s and grandmother’s relatives. On the level of the self, the lack of any words for aunt, uncle or cousins is notable. Very likely, apa was a generational word: it meant father or any of father’s male relatives. Similarly, ati would have meant any female relative of mother’s age or generation. Ruva

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(“brother”) is recognized, but no sister. It's possible, though hard to determine, that ruva had a broader meaning of "any related male of the self’s generation". This horizontal telescoping of relatives applies indirectly to the self as well. The telals are the grand offspring, either male or female, of the grandmother, and the papals of the grandfather. It's difficult to determine whether neftś means "grandson" or "nephew" although there could be cross-cultural contamination here with Latin nepōs (< IE *nepōts) which derives from a kinship system of the Omaha type. In the Omaha type, the same word is used for both nephew and grandson but this kinship type does not typically exhibit terminology used for "kin of a particular generation" as suspected in Etruscan kinship terms. The Etruscans were careful also to distinguish status within the family. There was a step-daughter and step-son, sech farthana and clan thuncultha (although this may in fact mean "first son" based on the root thun- "one"), as well as a step-mother, ativu (literally "little mother"), an adopted son, clanti, and the universal mother-in-law, netei. Other terms were not as high or democratic in status. The system was like that of the Roman. The etera were slaves, or more precisely, foreign slaves. When they had been freed they were lautni (male) or lautnitha (female), freed men or women, who were closely connected to the family and were clients of it in return for service and respect. Of the several formal kinship classifications, the Etruscan is most like the Hawaiian, which distinguishes sex and generation, but otherwise lumps persons in those classes together. The lack of a sister does not fit; however, the Etruscan dictionary is still in progress. Perhaps one will turn up. Government The historical Etruscans had achieved a state system of society, with remnants of the chiefdom and tribal forms. In this they were ahead of the surrounding Italics, who still had chiefs and tribes. Rome was in a sense the first Italic state, but it began as an Etruscan one. The Etruscan state government was essentially a theocracy. The government was viewed as being a central authority, over all tribal and clan organizations. It retained the power of life and death; in fact, the gorgon, an ancient symbol of that power, appears as a motif in Etruscan decoration. The adherents to this state power were united by a common religion. The political unit of Etruscan society was the city-state, which was probably the referent of methlum, “district”. Etruscan texts name quite a number of magistrates, without much of a hint as to their function: the camthi, the parnich, the purth, the

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tamera, the macstrev, and so on. The people were the mech. The chief ruler of a methlum was perhaps a zilach. All the city-states of the Etruscans were gathered into confederacies, or “leagues”. The sources tell us there were three. A league for unknown reasons, likely religious, had to include 12 city-states. The word for league was also mech. Once a year the states met at a fanu, or sacred place (Latin fanum) to discuss military and political affairs, and also to choose a lucumo, “ruler”, who held the office for one year. What he did is described by the infinitive, lucair, “to rule.” The Etrurian confederacy met at the fanum Voltumnae, the "shrine of Voltumna". Their league was called the “duodecim populi Etruriae” or the “twelve peoples of Eturia”. The relationship between Rome and the Etruscans was not one of an outsider conquering a foreign people. The Etruscans considered Rome as one of their cities, perhaps originally in the Latian/Campanian league. It is entirely possible that the Tarquins appealed to Lars Porsena of Clusium, even though he was pro-republican, because he was lucumo of the Etrurian mech for that year. He would have been obliged to help the Tarquins whether he liked it or not. The kings of Rome at some point may also have been lucumo. The gens name, Lucius, is probably derived from lucair. The Romans attacked and annexed individual cities between 510 and 29 BC. This apparent disunity of the Etruscans was probably regarded as internal dissent by the Etruscans themselves. For example, after the sack of Rome by the Gauls, the Romans debated whether to move the city en masse to Veii, which they could not even have considered if Veii was thought to be a foreign people. Eventually Rome created treaties individually with the Etruscan states, rather than the whole. But by that time the league had fallen into disuse, due to the permanent hegemony of Rome and increasing assimilation of Etruscan civilization to it, which was a natural outcome, as Roman civilization was to a large degree Etruscan.

Rare Etruscan fanu.

Religion The Etruscan system of belief was an immanent polytheism; that is, all visible phenomena were considered to be a manifestation of divine power and that power was subdivided into deities that acted continually on the world of man and could be dissuaded or persuaded in favor of human affairs. Three layers are evident in the

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extensive Etruscan art motifs. One appears to be divinities of an indigenous nature: Catha and Usil, the sun, Tivr, the moon, Selvan, a civil god, Turan, the goddess of love, Laran, the god of war, Leinth, the goddess of death, Maris, Thalna, Turms and the ever-popular Fufluns, whose name is related in some unknown way to the city of Populonia and the populus Romanus. Perhaps he was the god of the people. Ruling over this panoply of lesser deities were higher ones that seem to reflect the Indo-European system: Tin or Tinia, the sky, Uni his wife (Juno), and Cel, the earth goddess. In addition the Greek gods were taken into the Etruscan system: Aritimi (Artemis), Menrva (Minerva), Pacha (Bacchus). The Greek heroes taken from Homer also appear extensively in art motifs. The Etruscans believed in intimate contact with divinity. They did nothing without proper consultation with the gods and signs from them. These practices, which we would view as superstition, were taken over in total by the Romans. A god was called an ais (later eis) which in the plural is aisar. Where they were was a fanu or luth, a sacred place, such as a favi, a grave or temple. There one would need to make a fler (plural flerchva) "offering". Around the mun or muni, the tombs, were the man or mani (Latin Manes), the souls of the ancestors. A deceased person travels to the underworld called Aita "Hades" and thus may be referred to as a hinthial (literally "(one who is) underneath"). A special magistrate, the cechase, looked after the cecha, or rath, sacred things. Every man, however, had his religious responsibilities, which were expressed in an alumnathe or slecaches, a sacred society. No public event was conducted without the netsvis, the haruspex, or his female equivalent, the nethsra. They read the bumps on the liver of a properly sacrificed sheep. We have a model of a liver made of bronze, whose religious significance is still a matter of heated debate, marked into sections which perhaps are meant to explain what the bump in that region should mean. Divination through haruspicy is a tradition originating from the Fertile Crescent. Like the Egyptians, the Etruscans believed in eternal life, but prosperity there was linked to funereal prosperity here. The tombs in many cases were better than many houses, with spacious chambers, wall frescoes and grave furniture. Most Etruscan tombs have been plundered. In the tomb, especially on the sarcophagus, was a representation of the dead person in his or her prime, probably as they wanted to be in the hereafter. Some of the statuary is the finest and most realistic of any. We have no problem visualizing the appearance of the Etruscans. They wanted us to see them smiling and intimate with their kith and kin around them, as we do.

Etruscan heritage at Rome Those who subscribe to an Italic foundation of Rome, followed by an Etruscan invasion, typically speak of an Etruscan “influence” on Roman culture; that is, cultural objects that were adopted at Rome from neighboring Etruria. The prevalent

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view today is that Rome was founded by Etruscans and merged with Italics later. In that case Etruscan cultural objects are not influences but are a heritage. The main criterion for deciding whether an object originated at Rome and travelled by influence to the Etruscans, or descended to the Romans from the Etruscans, is date. Many if not most of the Etruscan cities were older than Rome. If we find that a given feature was there first, it cannot have originated at Rome. A second criterion is the opinion of the ancient sources. They tell us outright that certain institutions and customs came from the Etruscans.

The Question of the founding population Due to the fact that Rome was destroyed by the Gauls, losing most of its inscriptional evidence about its early history (according to Livy), most of that history is legendary. Archaeology confirms a widespread level of destruction by fire dated to that time. Legend; namely, the story of the rape of the Sabine women, says outright that the Italic Sabines were brought into the state. Later history relates that the Etruscans lived in the Tuscus vicus, the “Etruscan quarter”, and that there was an Etruscan line of kings (albeit ones descended from Demaratus the Corinthian) as opposed to the non-Etruscan line. These views must come from the later reduction of Etrurian cities and absorption of the Etruscan populations into the Roman state. If we begin recounting all the institutions and persons said to be Etruscan, and comparing cultural objects to ones we know to have been of Etruscan origin, an originally Etruscan Rome appears unmistakably before our view. Rome was founded by Etruscans, all the kings were Etruscans, and the earliest government was Etruscan.

Foundation of Rome Rome was founded in Etruscan territory. Despite the words of the sources, which indicated Campania and Latium also had been Etruscan, scholars took the view that Rome was on the edge of Etruscan territory. When Etruscan settlements turned up south of the border, it was presumed that the Etruscans spread there after the foundation of Rome. As it stands now, the settlements are known to have preceded Rome. The Greeks also landed on Etruscan soil, at a round conventional date of about 1000 BC. Etruscan settlements were inevitably built on a hill, the steeper the better, and surrounded by thick walls. When Romulus and Remus founded Rome, they did so on the Palatine Hill according to Etruscan ritual; that is, they began with a pomoerium or sacred ditch. Then they proceeded to the walls. Romulus was required to kill Remus when the latter jumped over the wall, breaking its magic spell (see also under Pons Sublicius).

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Etruscan walled town (Bagnoregio)

The name of Rome is believed by some to be Etruscan, occurring in a standard form stating “place from which”: Velzna-χ, “from Velzna”, Sveama-χ, “from Sveama”, Ruma-χ, “from Ruma”. We do not know what it means however. If Tiberius is from θefarie, then Ruma would have been placed on the Thefar river.

Populus Romanus Lore descending from the first constitution gives little indication of being anything but Etruscan. The people were divided into magic numbers: three tribes, 12 curiae per tribe. The word century also appears, ostensibly meaning “100” in the Etruscan language. Throughout the long history of Rome, a social century of any sort has never been 100. It is now known that many words of Etruscan origin have been given IndoEuropean pseudo-etymologies. This topic seems to generate a great deal of debate. The names of the tribes: Ramnes, Luceres, Tities, are Etruscan, as well as the word curiae. The king is most likely to have been a lucumo; certainly, the trappings of monarchy are all Etruscan: the golden crown, sceptre, the toga palmata (a special robe), the sella curulis (throne), and above all the symbol of state power: the fasces. The latter was a bundle of whipping rods surrounding a double-bladed axe. No confederate or associative form of government could have had the power to whip and execute, administered by the lictors. Chance has thrown an example of the fasces into our possession. Remains of bronze rods and the axe come from a tomb in Etruscan Vetulonia. Now that its appearance is known, the depiction of one was identified on the grave stele of Avele Feluske, who is shown as a warrior wielding the fasces. The most telling Etruscan feature is the very name of the people, populus, which appears as an Etruscan deity, Fufluns. It was divided into gentes, which is an IndoEuropean word, but that must have been substituted for the Etruscan word at the same time the Indo-European senatus arrived, at the start of the republic, when the Etruscans had become a minority in their own city and lived in the Etruscan quarter.

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Etruscan architecture

Arched gate, Etruscan lion, Pisa.

Near the Etruscan center of Viterbo, an Etruscan citadel now called Acquarossa was destroyed ca 500 BC and never rebuilt [2], thus preserving relatively undisturbed Etruscan structures, which have been excavated under the auspices of the Swedish Institute. The walls of the houses were of various construction, some built of dressed blocks of volcanic tuff, some of sun-dried bricks framed within wooden poles and beams that formed a kind of half-timbered construction, and some of wattle and daub construction, in which hurdles of brushwood or reed were covered with clay. House plans range to two or three rooms in a row, with an entrance was normally on the long side; the hearth was set either near the center of the room or into the back wall. The rock-cut chamber tombs executed in the same time-frame display close analogies with these house types. Decorative architectural features of terracotta, which have usually been associated with temple constructions, were found at Acquarossa in domestic settings: acroteria, painted roof tiles, and antefixes. Etruscan architectural features are too extensive at Rome to be considered a mere influence. The oldest wall at Rome, dating to the early monarchy, is built in the style called opus quadratum after the roughly 4-sided blocks. The style was in use at Suti, Falerii, Ardea, and Tarquinia. In addition to their walls, the Etruscans insisted on sewage and drainage systems, which are extensive in all Etruscan cities. The cloaca maxima, “great sewer”, at Rome is Etruscan. The initial Roman roads, dikes, diversion channels and drainage ditches were Etruscan. More importantly, the Etruscans brought the arch to Rome, both barreled arches and corbelled arches, which you can see in gates, bridges, depictions of temple fronts, and vaulted passages. Homes also were built in Etruscan style: a quadrangle of rooms around an open courtyard. The roof was of a type called cavoedium tuscanicum: two parallel beams crossing in one direction on which rafters were hung at right angles.

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Additional information Much more can be and has been said on the topic; for example, on , banqueting, and entertainment, such as theatre, music and dancing, and above all Roman writing, which began in Italy among the Etruscans. The brief presentation in this article suffices to show that the Etruscans contributed more than an influence on the formation of Rome and Roman society.

Some Etruscan cities The cities that composed the Etruscan Dodecapoli or league of "twelve cities" has no completely authoritative roster. Those Etruscan cities most often included (with their more familiar Latin and Italian equivalents) are: • Arretium (modern Arezzo) • Caisra, Cisra (Caere or modern Cerveteri) • Clevsin, (Clusium or modern Chiusi) • Curtun (modern Cortona) • Perusna (Perugia) • Pupluna, Fufluna (Populonia) • Veia (Veii or modern Veio) • Tarch(u)na (Tarquinii or modern Tarquinia-Corneto) • Vetluna, Vetluna (Vetulonia) • Felathri (Volaterrae or modern Volterra) • Velzna (Volsinii, presumed modern Orvieto) • Velch, Velc(a)l (Vulci or modern Volci). Other Etruscan cities, not members of the Dodecapoli: • Vi(p)sul (Faesulae or modern Fiesole) • Adria • Spina • Felsina (Bononia modern Bologna) • Rusellae, near modern Roselle Terme • Alalia in Corsica (Roman and modern Aleria) • Capeva (Capua) • Manthva (Mantua) • Inarime(?) (Pitecusa(Greek Pithekoussai) or modern Ischia) For a map, see: "The Etruscan League of twelve cities"

Some Etruscan rulers • • • •

Osiniu (at Clusium) probably early 1100s Mezentius fl. c. 1100 ? Lausus (at Caere) Tyrsenos

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• • • • • • • •

Velsu fl. 8th century Larthia (at Caere) Arimnestos (at Arimnus) Lars Porsena (at Clusium) fl. late 6th century Thefarie Velianas (at Caere) late 500s–early 400s Aruns (at Clusium) fl. c. 500 Volumnius (at Veii) mid 400s–437 Lars Tolumnius (at Veii) late 400s–428 return

Linear A Linear A is an undeciphered script used in ancient Crete. Its decipherment is one of the "holy grails" of ancient scripts. A related script, Linear B, was deciphered in the 1950s by Michael Ventris as representing an ancient form of Greek.

Linear A etched on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini.

Linear A etched on a vase, also found in Akrotiri.

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Though the two scripts share many of the same symbols, using the syllables associated with Linear B in Linear A writings produces words that are unrelated to any known language. This language has been dubbed Minoan or Eteocretan, and corresponds to a period in Cretan history prior to a series of invasions by Mycenean Greeks around 1400 BC. As the Minoan language is lost to the modern day, it is hard to be certain whether or not a given decipherment is the correct decipherment, or merely gibberish being generated by an incorrect mapping of symbols to sounds. However, the simplest approach to decipherment may to be to simply presume that the values of Linear A match more or less the values given to the fully translated Linear B script, used for Mycenean Greek. A site maintained by John Younger has a comprehensive list of known texts written in Linear A at [1]. Some religious formulae have been identified, some even bearing resemblance grammatically to the Etruscan language. Since it remains undeciphered yet, it is difficult to ascertain specific features of this language. A connection has been noted between the sequence (Y)A-SA-SA-RA-ME, found in an oft-repeated formula inscribed on libation tables and a West Semitic fertility goddess known as Ashtoreth Yam (or "Lady of the Sea"). A possible marker for the genitive (or possessive) case may exist: -NA or -NE. In 2001, the journal Ugarit-Forschungen, Band 32 [2] [3] published the article "The First Inscription in Punic—Vowel Differences in Linear A and B" by Jan Best, claiming to demonstrate how and why Linear A notates an archaic form of Phoenician. This was a continuation of attempts by Cyrus Gordon in finding connections between Minoan and West Semitic languages. His methodology drew widespread criticism. While some words may indeed be of Semitic origin (such as KU-RO, suspected to mean "total", cf. Sem *[kll] "whole, all"), there is as of yet no real success made in connecting Minoan with Semitic languages. The only word deciphered so far, with certainty, the summarizing term KU-RO, can illustrate the depths of problems arising with the decipherment attempts. This word, though undoubtedly meaning "whole", could be of both Indo-European (*kwol), or Semitic (*kll) origin. And the word churu in Etruscan has the same meaning. Around the same time, M. Tsikritsis, a Greek computer scientist and a text analysis specialist used a statistical and machine comparison of Linear A and Linear B symbols to conclude that Linear A was an early aeolic dialect of Greek, and essentially a form of Linear B with a variety of archaisms. Critics of this theory state that Linear A shows no detectable signs of the prototypical features recognizable from the Indo-European language group to which Greek belongs, let alone features resembling Greek itself.

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Usually, it is a more or less accepted viewpoint to group the 'Minoan' language of the linear A inscriptions together with Eteocretan (its likely descendant), and Eteocypriot, into the group of Aegean languages, but without any precise knowledge about the underlying languages, their relationships, or grammatical structure.

'Religious' texts A stone ladle from Troullos (given the Linear B values) reads: a-ta-i-dju-wa-ja o-su-ga-re ya-sa-sa-ra-me u-na-ka-na-si i-pina-ma si-ru-te

a-ta-i-dju-wa-ja (or a-ta-i-θu-wa-ja?) is possibly the name of a goddess (mayba related to the Etruscan sun goddess Catha) This 'word' also appears in another form, as a-ta-i-dju-wa-e. This could be a compound as -i-dju- also appears ing another 'word' ta-na-i-dju-u-ti-nu. • o-su-ga-re Probably a personal or place name • ja-sa-sa-ra-me as said above could be the name of the goddess Ashtoreth Yam. Another possibility for comparison from Hittite is hassussara (queen), with an added suffix -me, which would quite likely mean 'my' if it is indeed a Hittite word; this means that the word ya-sa-sa-ra-me might mean 'my queen'. It is not impossible, though it is a stretch, to suppose that this somehow morphed into the Greek goddess Hera. Another, though more tentative explanation would be, to compare it to the Hittite ashar (woman). Some have even suggested a comparison with Etruscan ais, meaning 'god'. Alternatively(and extremely tentatively) it could be related to the Etruscan verb alsase "dedicated". Ja-sa-sa-ra- appears with a number of suffixes. These are -me, ma-na and -a-na-ne. Tentativly these may be suffix pronouns at the end of a verb. •

*ja-sa-sa-ra-me = "I have dedicated" (Etruscan *mi alsase) *ja-sa-sa-ra-ma-na= "We have dedicated" (Etruscan mi + -ne plural (like the Japanese watashi/watashi-tachi} *ja-sa-ra-a-na-ne= "They have dedicated" (Etruscan 3rd person an + ne plural) • u-na-ka-na-si is sometimes read together, and might be a compound, since

examples exist with u-na-re-ka-na-ti (plural?), and u-na-ru-ka-[damaged]-jasi. It might be comparable, as some suggest, with the Etruscan unchva cenase(bearing libations). If it is like the Etruscan it would support the theory that the -re suffix is the plural as with the Etruscan un libation (singular) unar libations (plural)

'Accounting' texts qe-? [worker ideogram]. ?-ru-ja 3 me-ri-ja 4 ?-na-ko da-re te-ro2 1 The first word is most likely to be a name of a person or place. The second sign seems to depict a man with his hands bound behind his back. Then follow two words, one reading ?-ru-ja with the numeral 3, the other reading me-li-ja and the numeral 4. The -ja ending also occurs in Linear B, meaning "women of", so me-li-ja 4 may mean

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"4 women of Meli". Meli once the i from the declension has been removed, if similar to Linear B, would read melu or melo, which may be the name of the Aegean island of Melos where Linear A tablets have been unearthed. The 'Haghia Triada tablet 13' may read: ka-u-de-ta [wine ideogram]. te. re-za 5½ te-ro2 56 te-ki 27½ ku-do-ni 18 da-si-dja 19 ?-su-?-si 5 ku-ro 130½ • ka-u-de-ta like above is probably a name. This is followed by an ideogram almost identical to one in Linear B meaning 'wine'. • te and may be related to the Hittite ta meaning 'take' or da 'give' meaning that the sentence would read wine taken from or wine distributed to, it may also be related to the Greek te 'take'. These words are followed by a list of seven names each followed by a numeral. One name ku-do-ni, as mentioned below, may be the name of the Minoan town of Kydonia. The following word (likely another place-name) can be (highly tentatively) transliterated as da-si-dja(or maybe da-si-θa?) ?= Lasithia? Another name, te-ki may, though less likely than the above, be the name of the settement of Tegea on Crete. The last word is ku-ro which, as again mentioned below, probably means 'total' or whole.

A short glossary of terms deciphered with more or less certainty • • • • • • • • • • • •

KU-RO : whole, total. KI-RO : missing, debt. PO-TO-KU-RO : grand total. SE-TO-I-JA : place name, likely Archanes, as Owens has suggested. Occurs in Linear B as well. PA-I-TO : place name, Phaistos. The same name is common on Linear B documents. KU-DO-NI : if the reading is correct, a place name, Kydonia, the same as modern Chania KU-NI-SU : appears to be a place name, perhaps Knossos, though it differs from Linear B KO-NO-SO. TU-RU-SA : likely a place name, Tylissos. RU+JA (the two signs joined together into one): pomegranate, same as Classic Greek rhoia. MA+RU (joined together): wool, same as later Greek mallos. (Both loanwords in Greek from Cretan source?) SA-SA-ME : sesame; the same commodity occurs in Linear B. A-MA-JA and A-MA : divine name, Amaja, the Minoan goddess of healing (known from the London Medical Papyrus). Supposedly connected to the Greek Maia, mother of Hermes.

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• •

PA-DE : divine name of an unknown god, appearing on Linear B tablets as well. RA2-TI : theoretized to represent Razija, the Minoan Great Goddess, whose connection to the Classical Greek Rhea, mother of gods, is obvious.

Sites yielding Linear A inscriptions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Apoudoulou Arkalochori Arkhanes Armenoi Gournia Hagia Triada has yielded the largest corpus of Linear A inscriptions Haghios Stephanos Kardamoutsa Kato Syme (also Kato Symi) Kea Khania Knossos Kophinas Larani Mallia (also Malia) Miletos (also Miletus) Melos Mochlos (also Mokhlos) Mount Juktas (also Iouktas) Mycenae Nerokourou Palaikastro Petras Petsophas Phaistos Platanos Poros Herakleiou Prassa Pseira Psychro (also Psykhro) Pyrgos Pyrgos Tylissos Samothrace Skhinia Sitia

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• • • • • • • •

Skoteino Cave Tel Haror Thera Tiryns Traostalos Trullos (also Troullos) Vrysinas Zakros return

Vega (Alpha Lyrae) This article is about Vega, the star. For other uses: see

Vega

Vega as seen by the Spitzer space telescope

Observation data Epoch J2000.0

Constellation

Lyra

Right ascension

18h 36m 56.3s

Declination

+38° 47' 01"

Apparent magnitude (V)

0.03

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Characteristics Spectral type

A0V

B-V color index

0.00

U-B color index

−0.01

Variable type

Delta Scuti Astrometry

Radial velocity (Rv)

−13.5 km/s

Proper motion (μ)

RA: 201.02 mas/yr Dec.: 287.46 mas/yr

Parallax (π)

129.01 ± 0.52 mas

Distance

25.27 ly (7.751 pc)

Absolute magnitude (MV)

0.58 Details

Mass

2.6 M☉

Radius

2.73 R☉

Luminosity

51 L☉

Temperature

9,300 K

Metallicity

63%

Rotation

12.5 h

Age

3.5 × 108 years Other designations

Alpha Lyrae, α Lyrae, 3 Lyr, GJ 721, HR 7001, BD +38°3238, HD 91262, GCTP 4293.00, LTT 15486, SAO 67174, HIP 91262

Vega (α Lyr / α Lyrae / Alpha Lyrae) is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, and the fifth brightest star in the sky. It is the second brightest star in the Northern night sky, after Arcturus, and can often be seen near the zenith in the mid-northern latitudes during the Northern Hemisphere summer. It is a "nearby star" at only 25.3 light years from Earth, and together with Arcturus and Sirius, one of the brightest stars in the Sun's neighbourhood.

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Vega is a vertex of the Summer Triangle, which consists of Vega (in Lyra), Deneb (in Cygnus) and Altair (in Aquila). If one is to consider this asterism a right triangle, then Vega would correspond to its right angle. This triangle is very recognisable in the northern skies for there are few bright stars in its vicinity. Its spectral class is A0V (Sirius, an A1V, is slightly less powerful) and it is firmly in the main sequence, fusing hydrogen to helium in its core. Since more powerful stars use their fusion fuel more quickly than smaller ones, Vega's life time is only one billion years, a tenth of our Sun's. Vega's current age is about 0.5 billion years. Vega is twice as massive[1] as our Sun and burns at fifty times the power. In about AD 14,000, Vega will become the North Star, owing to the precession of the equinoxes. See Polaris for more information. Professional astronomers have used Vega for the calibration of absolute photometric brightness scales. When the magnitude scale was fixed, Vega happened to be close to zero magnitude. Therefore the visual magnitude of Vega was decided to be, by definition, zero at all wavelengths for many years (this is no longer the case, as the apparent magnitude zero point is now most commonly defined in terms of a particular numerically specified flux). It also has a relatively flat electromagnetic spectrum in the visual region (wavelength range 350-850 nanometers, most of which can be seen with the human eye), so the flux densities are roughly equal, 2000-4000 Jy. The flux density of Vega drops rapidly in the infrared, and is near 100 Jy at 5 micrometres. The name Vega comes from the Arabic word waqi meaning "falling", via the phrase ‫ ﻧﺴ ﺮ اﻟﻮاﻗ ﻊ‬an-nasr al-wāqi‘, translated "the swooping vulture". As part of the constellation Lyra it represents a jewel set in the body of the harp.

Rapid rotation From the Earth, Vega is seen from within 5 degrees of the polar (rotation) axis, but if it was viewed along the plane of the equator, Vega would look about 20% fatter at the equator than at the poles. This is because the star rotates at 93% of the speed that would cause it to start breaking up from centrifugal effects (with a rotation period of about 12.5 hours). Because Vega's polar regions are closer to the core, they are hotter: polar temperature is 10,000 K (17,500 °F), while equatoral temperature is 7,600 K (13,200 °F).[2] Astronomers are recalculating what the temperature would be for potential planets. A planet in a polar orbit around Vega would have a higher surface temperature than one in an equatorial orbit.

Possible planetary system Vega has a disk of dust and gas around it, discovered by the IRAS satellite in the mid 1980s. This was initially thought to be a protoplanetary disk, but is now considered a

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"debris disk" due to the star's relatively young age of about 200 million years. In 1998 teams at the Joint Astronomy Centre and UCLA detected irregularities in it that suggest the presence of a planet.[3] A 2003 paper hypothesizes these lumps could be caused by a Neptune-sized planet having migrated from 40 to 65 AU over 56 million years[4], an orbit large enough to allow the formation of smaller rocky planets closer to Vega.[5] These findings have yet to be fully confirmed, but since Vega is much more powerful than our Sun, scientists believe there is no life possible on any such suggested planets.

Cultural significance The star has been the subject of many 'firsts' in Astronomy; in 1850 it became the first star to be photographed, and in 1872 the first to have its spectrum photographed. It was also debatably the first star to have its parallax measured, in the pioneering experiments of Friedrich Struve in 1837. Finally, it became the first star to have a car named after it, when Chevrolet launched the 'Vega' in 1971. In Chinese mythology, there is a love story of Qi Xi 七夕 in which Niu Lang 牛郎 (Altair) and his two children (β and γ Aquilae) are separated forever from their mother Zhi Nü 織女 (Vega) who is on the far side of the river, the Milky Way 銀河. The Japanese Tanabata festival is also based on this legend. In Hindu astronomy, Vega is called Abhijit. Medieval astrologers counted Vega as one of the Behenian stars and related it to chrysolite and winter savory. Cornelius Agrippa listed its kabbalistic sign under Vultur cadens, a literal Latin translation of the Arabic name. See also: Vega in fiction

Alternative and former names • • • • • • • • •

"The Falling Eagle" "The Harp Star" Wega (a closer transliteration of the Arabic) Akkadian: Tir-anna, "Life of Heaven" Babylonian: Dilgan, "the Messenger of Light" Chinese: Zhi Nü, "the Weaver" Greek: Allore Sanskrit: Abhijit, "Victorious" Latin: Fidis, "Lyre"; Vultur cadens, "Falling vulture"

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Altair (Alpha Aquilae) This article is about a star in the Aquila constellation. For other uses, see Altair (disambiguation).

Altair

Altair.

Observation data Epoch J2000

Constellation

Aquila

Right ascension

19h 50m 47.0s

Declination

+08° 52' 06"

Apparent magnitude (V)

0.77 Characteristics

Spectral type

A7 IV-V

B-V color index

0.22

U-B color index

0.08

Variable type

None Astrometry

Radial velocity (Rv)

−26.1 km/s

Proper motion (μ)

RA: 536.82 mas/yr Dec.: 385.54 mas/yr

Parallax (π)

194.97 ± 0.86 mas

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Distance

16.73 ± 0.07 ly (5.13 ± 0.02 pc)

Absolute magnitude (MV)

2.22 Details

Mass

1.7 M☉

Radius

1.7 R☉

Luminosity

10.7 L☉

Temperature

8,000 K

Metallicity

200% Sun

Rotation

6.5–10.4 hours

Age

<109 years Other designations

α Aquila, 53 Aquila, HD 187642, HR 7557, BD+08°4236, GCTP 4665.00, GJ 768, LHS 3490, and HIP 97649.

Altair (α Aql / α Aquilae / Alpha Aquilae / Atair ) is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the nighttime sky, at visual magnitude 0.77. Altair is a vertex of the Summer Triangle. It is an "A" type or white star located 17 light years away from Earth (about 99 trillion miles), one of the closest stars visible to the naked eye. The name "Altair" is Arabic for "the flyer", from the phrase ‫ ﻧﺴ ﺮ اﻟﻄ ﺎﺋﺮ‬an-nasr aţţā?ir "the flying eagle". The spelling "Atair" is also used frequently. Altair is most notable for its extremely rapid rotation; by measuring the width of its spectral lines, it was determined that its equator does a complete rotation in about 6½ hours (various other sources give 9 hours, or 10.4 hours). In comparison, our star, the Sun, requires a little more than 25 days for a complete rotation. As a result of its rapid rotation, Altair is oblate: its equatorial diameter is at least 14 percent greater than its polar diameter. Altair, along with Beta Aquilae and Gamma Aquilae, form the well-known line of stars sometimes referred to as the shaft of Aquila.

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References to the star In Chinese mythology, there is a love story of Qi Xi in which Niu Lang (Altair) and his two children (Aquila -β and -γ) are separated forever from their mother Zhi Nü (Vega) who is on the far side of the river, the Milky Way. The Japanese Tanabata festival is also based on this legend. In astrology, the star Altair was ill-omened, portending danger from reptiles. In computing, an important early microcomputer, the Altair 8800, was named after the star because the daughter of the man responsible for coming up with a suitable name, when asked what she thought the computer should be called, was watching an episode of Star Trek where the Starship Enterprise had the star Altair as its destination. So Altair it was. In science fiction, Altair is: • The planet Altair IV, the main setting of the book and film Forbidden Planet • The homeworld of Harlan, an artificial lifeform in Stargate SG-1 • In Star Trek, Altair IV, the location of a prestigious hospital in the ST:DS9 episode ' Prophet Motive ', and a planet recovering from war with neighbouring Altair VI, in the ST:TOS episode ' Amok Time '. • In Star Trek Enterprise, the planet Vulcan is approximately 17 light years from Earth. It has been speculated that "Vulcan" orbits Altair. • Altair VI, a new haven for humanity, in the novel by Ben Bova ' Winds of Altair '. • The homeworld of the Ancients, an extinct civilization annihilated by the Shivans eight thousand years ago, in the space-combat simulation game, FreeSpace 2. • The homeworld of the Alkari, one of the alien races in the Master of Orion computer game series. • Altair V, the planet of origin for Rafael Argus in the ' 70s Buck Rogers episode "Plot to Kill A City" • In The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the common currency is the Altairian Dollar. • In the novel Sunstorm, a gas giant fifteen times the mass of Jupiter was launched by the Firstborn alien race from the Altair star system on a collision course with Earth's Sun in order to trigger a devastating solar flare that would completely sterilize the Earth. In space travel, Altair is: • The NASA Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) designed to travel to the Moon and International Space Station. Altair is also the name of a Soviet-made analog synthesizer. [1]

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Location The star's location in the constellation of Aquila is shown in the following map:

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Emperor Sutoku Emperor Sutoku (崇徳天皇 Sutoku Tennō) (7 July 1119 – 14 September 1164) was the 75th imperial ruler of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He ruled from 1123 to 5 January 1142. His personal name was Akihito (顕仁). (Note that the kanji in his name are different from those of the personal name of the present emperor of Japan.)

Genealogy Sutoku was the eldest son of Emperor Toba. Some old books say he was actually the son of Toba's grandfather, Emperor Shirakawa.

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Life in 1151,He ordered Waka imperial anthology Shikashu. In 1156, after failing to put down the Hōgen Rebellion, he was exiled to Sanuki Province (modern-day Kagawa prefecture on the island of Shikoku).

Eras of his reign • • • • • • •

Hōan (1120–1124) (1124–1126) (1126–1131) Tenshō (1131–1132) Chōshō (1132–1135) (1135–1141) Eiji (1141–1142) return

Sanuki Province

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Sanuki (讃岐国; -no kuni) was an old province of Japan on the island of Shikoku, with the same boundaries as modern Kagawa Prefecture. It faced the Inland Sea and bordered on Awa and Iyo provinces. Across Naruto strait it bordered Awaji province too. Administratively it was included as a part of Nankaido. It was settled in the 7th century and originally consisted of the northeastern part of Shikoku and Awaku Islands on the Inland Sea. Sanuki's ancient capital is believed to have been near modern Sakaide, but has not been discovered. Takamatsu developed as the main seat of the province in the middle ages. In the Sengoku period Sanuki was ruled by the Miyoshi clan. The Miyoshi were invaded by Chosokabe clan in Tosa province and lost Sanuki province. Finally Chosokabe lost a battle against Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Sanuki was given to his men. In the Edo Period Sanuki was divided into five; three han in Takamatsu, Marugame, Tadotsu, the Shogun's direct holding and a part of Tsuyama han whose mainland was on Honshu. Naoshima Islands and Shodoshima was separated from Bizen province and merged into Sanuki province. return

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Sumer Sumer (or Shumer, Egyptian Sangar, Bib. Shinar, native ki-en-gir, (from Ki = Earth, En = (title) usually translated as Lord, Gir = (cultured) usually translated as Civilised, thus "the land of the civilised lords") was an ancient civilization located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (modern day southeastern Iraq) from the time of the earliest records in the mid 4th millennium BC until the rise of Babylonia in the late 3rd millennium BC. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language. Sumer is considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization".

Ancient Mesopotamia

Mythology

Euphrates – Tigris

Enûma Elish

Assyriology

Gilgamesh – Marduk

Cities / Empires Sumer: Uruk – Ur – Eridu Kish – Lagash – Nippur Akkadian Empire: Akkad Babylon – Isin – Susa Assyria: Assur – Nineveh Dur-Sharrukin – Nimrud Babylonia – Chaldea Elam – Amorites Hurrians – Mitanni Kassites – Urartu Chronology Kings of Sumer Kings of Assyria Kings of Babylon Language Cuneiform script Sumerian – Akkadian Elamite – Hurrian

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Background The term "Sumerian" is an exonym, first applied by the Akkadians. The Sumerians called themselves "the black-headed people" (sag-gi-ga) and their land "land of the civilized lords" (ki-en-gir). The Akkadian word Shumer possibly represents this name in dialect. The Sumerians were a non-Semitic people and were at one time believed to have been invaders, as a number of linguists believed they could detect a substrate language beneath Sumerian. However, the archaeological record shows clear uninterrupted cultural continuity from the time of the Early Ubaid period (5200-4500 BC C-14, 6090-5429 calBC) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by silt deposited by the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.

The challenge for any population attempting to dwell in Iraq's arid southern floodplain, where rainfall is currently less than 5 inches a year, was to cultivate the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for year-round farming. The Sumerian language has many terms for canals, dikes, and reservoirs, and this indicates that Sumerian speakers were possibly farmers who moved down from the north after perfecting irrigation agriculture there. The Ubaid pottery of southern Mesopotamia has been connected via Choga Mami Transitional ware to the pottery of the Samarra period culture (c. 57004900 BC C-14, 6640-5816 BC calBC) in the north, who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture along the middle Tigris River and its

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tributaries. The connection is most clearly seen at Tell Awayli (Oueilli, Oueili) near Larsa, excavated by the French in the 1980s, where 8 levels yielded pre-Ubaid pottery resembling Samarran ware. Sumerian speakers spread down into southern Mesopotamia perhaps because they had developed a social organization and a technology that enabled them, through their control of the water, to survive and prosper in a difficult environment then occupied by the fisher-hunter-gatherer population using a pre-pottery Arabian bifacial toolkit in the marshlands near the Persian Gulf and proto-Akkadian nomadic pastoralists. A distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf region in the Ubaid period, when the ancient Sumerian religious center of Eridu was gradually surpassed in size by the nearby city of Uruk. The archaeological transition from the Ubaid period to the Uruk period is marked by a gradual shift from painted pottery domestically produced on a slow wheel, to a great variety of unpainted pottery mass-produced by specialists on fast wheels. The date of this transition, from Ubaid 4 to Early Uruk, is in dispute, but calibrated radiocarbon dates from Tell Awayli would place it as early as 4500 BC. By the time of the Uruk period (4500-3100 BC calibrated), the volume of trade goods transported along the canals and rivers of southern Mesopotamia facilitated the rise of many large temple-centered cities where centralized administrations employed specialized workers. It is fairly certain that it was during the Uruk period that Sumerian cities began to make use of slave labor (Subartu) captured from the hill country, and there is ample evidence for captured slaves as workers in the earliest texts. Artifacts, and even colonies of this Uruk civilization have been found over a wide area - from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and as far east as Central Iran. The Uruk period civilization, exported by Sumerian traders and colonists (like that found at Tell Brak), had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. The cities of Sumer did not maintain remote, long-distance colonies purely by military force; the domestic horse did not appear in Sumer until the Ur III period - one thousand years after the Uruk period ended. The end of the Uruk period coincided with the Priora oscillation, a dry period from c. 3200-2900 BC that marked the end of a long wetter, warmer climate period from about 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, called the Holocene climatic optimum. When the historical record opened, the Sumerians seemed to be limited to southern Mesopotamia — although very early rulers such as Lugal-Anne-Mundu are indeed recorded as expanding to neighboring areas as far as the Mediterranean, Taurus and Zagros, and not long after legendary figures like Enmerkar and Gilgamesh, who are associated in mythology with the historical transfer of culture from Eridu to Uruk, were supposed to have reigned.

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Main article: History of Sumer In the earliest known period Sumer was divided into about a dozen independent citystates, whose limits were defined by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city and ruled over by a priest (ensi) or king (lugal), who was intimately tied to the city's religious rites. The principal Sumerian sites (from North to South) were the cities of 1. Sippar (Abu Habba) -- 33o 03' N 44o 18' E 2. Kish (Tell Uheimir & Ingharra) -- 32o 33' N 44o 39' E 3. Kutha (Tell Ibrahim) -- 32o 44' N 44o 40' E 4. Borsippa (Birs Nimrud) -- 32o 23' N 44o 25' E 5. Nippur (Nuffar) -- 32o 10' N 45o 11' E 6. Dilbat (Tell ed-Duleim) -- 32o 09' N 44o 30' E 7. Marad ((Wanna es-) Sadun) -- 32o 04' N 44o 47' E 8. Shuruppak (Fara) -- 31o 45' N 35o 03' E 9. Kisurra (Abu Hatab) -- 31o 50' N 45o 26' E 10. Isin (Ishan al-Bahriyat) -- 31o 56' N 45o 17' E 11. Adab (Tell Bismaya) -- 31o 57' N 45o 58' 12. Zabala (Tell Ibzeikh) -- 31o 44' N 45o 52' E 13. Umma (Tell Jokha) -- 31o 38' N 45o 52' E 14. Girsu (Tello) -- 31o 37' N 46o 09' E 15. Lagash (Al-Hiba) -- 31o 26' N 46o 32' E 16. Bad-Tibira (Al Medina) -- 31o 46' N 46o 00' E 17. Uruk (Warka) -- 31o 18' N 45o 40' E 18. Larsa (Tell as-Senkereh) -- 31o 14' N 45o 51' E 19. Kisiga (Tell el-Lahm) -- 30o 50' N 46o 20' E 20. Ur (al Muqayyar) -- 30o 56' N 46o 08' E 21. Eridu (Abu Shahrain) -- 30o 52' N 46o 03' E As these cities developed, they sought to assert primacy over the others, falling into a millennium of almost incessant warfare over boundary stones, water rights, trade routes, and tribute from nomadic tribes. Sumerians are the first to have employed a professional caste of soldiers, drawn from a corvee of the working male population. The ancient Sumerian king list recounts the early dynasties. Like many other archaic lists of rulers, it may include legendary names. It describes a series of 7 pre-diluvian kings, before getting to Ubar Tutu, king of Sharrupak, who according to later stories was the person on whom the tale of Noah was originally based.

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The kinglist continues "After the flood had swept over, and the kingship had descended from heaven, the kingship was in Kish." The first king on the list whose name is known from any other source is Etana, 13th king of the first Dynasty of Kish. The first king authenticated through archaeological evidence is that of Enmebaragesi of Kish, the 22nd and penultimate king of that Dynasty, whose name is also mentioned in the Gilgamesh epics, and who may have been king at the time hegemony passed from Kish to Uruk once again. This has to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself really was a historical king of Uruk. The dynasty of Lagash is well known through important monuments, and one of the first empires in recorded history was that of Eannatum of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Larsa, and reduced to tribute the city-state of Umma, arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf. He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy - his stele of the vultures has been found, showing violent treatment of enemies. Lugal-Zage-Si, the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty, took Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He is the last ethnically Sumerian king before the arrival of the Semitic named king, Sargon of Akkad.[1]

Downfall After Sargon, the Semitic Akkadian language came to the fore in inscriptions, although Sumerian did not disappear completely. The Sumerian language still appears on dedicatory statues and official seals of Sargon and his heirs. Thorkild Jacobsen has argued that there is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and postSargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict[2]. However, it is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were conquered by Sargon. Following the downfall of the Akkadian Empire at the hands of Gutians, another native Sumerian ruler, Gudea of Lagash, rose to local prominence, promoting artistic development and continuing the practices of the Sargonid kings' claims to divinity. Later, the 3rd dynasty of Ur under Ur Nammu and Shulgi, whose power extended as far as northern Mesopotamia, was the last great "Sumerian renaissance", but already the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the influx of waves of Martu (Amorites) who were later to found the Babylonian Empire. Sumerian, however, remained a sacerdotal language taught in schools, in the same way that Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was utilised.

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Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. The evaporation of irrigated waters left dissolved salts in the soil, making them difficult for agriculture. There was a major depopulation of southern Mesopotamia, affecting many of the smaller sites, from about 2000 BC, leading to the collapse of Sumerian culture.

Agriculture and hunting The Sumerians adopted the agricultural mode of life which had been introduced into Lower Mesopotamia and practised the same irrigation techniques as those used in Egypt[3]. Adams says that irrigation development was associated with urbanization [4], and that 89% of the population lived in the cities [1]. They grew barley, chickpeas, lentils, wheat, dates, onions, garlic, lettuce, leeks and mustard. They also raised cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. They used oxen as their primary beasts of burden and donkeys or onagers as their primary transport animal. Sumerians caught many fish and hunted fowl and gazelle. Sumerian agriculture depended heavily on irrigation. The irrigation was accomplished by the use of shadufs, canals, channels, dykes, weirs, and reservoirs. The frequent violent floods of the Tigris, and less so, of the Euphrates, meant that canals required frequent repair and continual removal of silt, and survey markers and boundary stones continually replaced. The government required individuals to work on the canals in a corvee, although the rich were able to exempt themselves. After the flood season and after the Spring Equinox and the Akitu or New Year Festival, using the canals, farmers would flood their fields and then drain the water. Next they let oxen stomp the ground and kill weeds. They then dragged the fields with pickaxes. After drying, they plowed, harrowed, raked the ground three times, and pulverized it with a mattock, before planting seed. Unfortnately the high evaporation rate resulted in gradual salinity of the fields. By the Ur III period, farmers had converted from wheat to the more salt tolerant barley as their principle crop. Sumerians harvested during the dry fall season in three-person teams consisting of a reaper, a binder, and a sheaf arranger. The farmers would use threshing wagons to separate the cereal heads from the stalks and then use threshing sleds to disengage the grain. They then winnowed the grain/chaff mixture.

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Architecture Main article: Sumerian architecture The Tigris-Euphrates plain lacked minerals and trees. Sumerian structures were made of plano-convex mudbrick, not fixed with mortar or with cement. Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, and so they were periodically destroyed, leveled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, so that they came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resultant hills are known as tells, and are found throughout the ancient Near East. The most impressive and famous of Sumerian buildings are the ziggurats, large terraced platforms which supported temples. Some scholars have theorized that these structures might have been the basis of the Tower of Babel described in Genesis. Sumerian cylinder seals also depict houses built from reeds not unlike those built by the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq until as recently as A.D. 400. Sumerian temples and palaces made use of more advanced materials and techniques, such as buttresses, recesses, half columns, and clay nails.

Culture Sumerian culture may be traced to two main centers, Eridu in the south and Nippur in the north. Eridu and Nippur may be regarded as contrasting poles of Sumerian religion. The deity Enlil, around whose sanctuary Nippur had grown up, was considered lord of the ghost-land, and his gifts to mankind were said to be the spells and incantations that the spirits of good or evil were compelled to obey. The world he governed was a mountain (E-kur from E=house and Kur=Mountain); the creatures that he had made lived underground. Eridu, on the other hand, was the home of the culture god Enki (absorbed into Babylonian mythology as the god Ea), the god of beneficence, ruler of the freshwater depths beneath the earth (the Abzu from Ab=water and Zu=far), a healer and friend to humanity who was thought to have given us the arts and sciences, the industries and manners of civilization; the first law-book was considered his creation. Eridu had once been a seaport, and it was doubtless its foreign trade and intercourse with other lands that influenced the development of its culture. Its cosmology was the result of its geographical position: the earth, it was believed, had grown out of the waters of the deep, like the ever widening coast at the mouth of the Euphrates. Long before history is recorded, however, the cultures of Eridu and Nippur had coalesced. While Babylon seems to have been a colony of Eridu, Eridu's immediate neighbor, Ur, may have been a colony of Nippur, since its moon god was said to be the son of Enlil of

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Nippur. However, in the admixture of the two cultures, the influence of Eridu was predominant. Historian Alan Marcus has been quoted as saying that "Sumerians held a rather dour perspective on life." One Sumerian wrote: "Tears, lament, anguish, and depression are within me. Suffering overwhelms me. Evil fate holds me and carries off my life. Malignant sickness bathes me." Another wrote, "Why am I counted among the ignorant? Food is all about, yet my food is hunger. On the day shares were allotted, my allotted share was suffering." Though women were protected by late Sumerian law and were able to achieve a higher status in Sumer than in other contemporary civilizations, the culture was maledominated.

Sumerian Music Main article: Sumerian music There is much evidence that the Sumerians loved music. It seemed to be an important part of religious and civic life in Sumer. Lyres were popular in Sumeria. Before playing a stringed instrument, the musicians would wash their hands to purify them. Many of the songs were for the Goddess Innana. Dancing girls used clappers to provide rhythm eventually drums and wind instruments began to evolve. Music and dancing were a part of daily celebration and temple rites-music was played for marriages and births in the royal families. Music was also used to back up the recitation of poetry, as in Greece. Music in Sumeria was a utilitarian art. It was played at occasions but probably not played simply for enjoyment-as in a concert in our society. Musicians were trained in schools and formed an important professional class in Mesopotamia.

Economy and trade Discoveries of obsidian from far-away locations in Anatolia and lapis lazuli from northeastern Afghanistan, beads from Dilmun (modern Bahrain), and several seals inscribed with the Indus Valley script suggest a remarkably wide-ranging network of ancient trade centered around the Persian Gulf.

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The Epic of Gilgamesh refers to trade with far lands for goods such as wood that were scarce in Mesopotamia. In particular, cedar from Lebanon was prized. The Sumerians used slaves, although they were not a major part of the economy. Slave women worked as weavers, pressers, millers, and porters. Sumerian potters decorated pots with cedar oil paints. The potters used a bow drill to produce the fire needed for baking the pottery. Sumerian masons and jewelers knew and made use of alabaster (calcite), ivory, gold, silver, carnelian and lapis lazuli.

Military

Early chariots on the , ca. 2600 BC.

Sumerian armies consisted mostly of infantry. Light infantrymen carried battle-axes, daggers, and spears. The regular infantry also used copper helmets, felt cloaks, and leather kilts. Sumerians used slings and simple bows. The Sumerian military used carts harnessed to onagers. These early chariots functioned less effectively in combat than did later designs, and some have suggested that these chariots served primarily as transports, though the crew carried battle-axes and lances. The Sumerian chariot comprised a four or two-wheeled device manned by a crew of two and harnessed to four onagers. The cart was composed of a woven basket and the wheels had a solid three-piece design. Sumerian cities were surrounded by defensive walls. The Sumerians engaged in siege warfare between their cities, but the mudbrick walls failed to deter some foes.

Religion Main article: Sumerian mythology Like other cities of Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, Sumer was a polytheistic, or henotheistic, society. There was no organized set of gods, with each city-state having its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings; but the Sumerians were probably the first to write down their beliefs. Sumerian beliefs were also the inspiration for much of later Mesopotamian mythology, religion, and astrology. The Sumerians worshipped An as the primary god, equivalent to "heaven"-- indeed, the word "an" in Sumerian means "sky", and his consort Ki, meaning "earth".

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Collectively the Gods were known as Anunaki ("heaven and earth", reminiscent of the opening verse of Genesis - "In the beginning God created the heavens and earth"). An's closest cohorts were Enki in the south at the Abzu temple in Eridu, Enlil in the north at the Ekur temple of Nippur and Inana, the deification of Venus, the morning (eastern) and evening (western) star, at the Eanna temple (shared with An) at Uruk. The sun was Utu, was worshipped at Sippar, the moon was Nanna, worshipped at Ur and Nammu or Namma was one of the names of the Mother Goddess, probably considered to be the original matrix; there were hundreds of minor deities. The Sumerian gods (Sumerian dingir, plural dingir-dingir or dingir-a-ne-ne) thus had associations with different cities, and their religious importance often waxed and waned with the political power of the associated cities. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. The gods often expressed their anger and frustration through earthquakes and storms: the gist of Sumerian religion was that humanity was at the mercy of the gods. Sumerians believed that the universe consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a tin dome. The Sumerian afterlife involved a descent into a gloomy netherworld to spend eternity in a wretched existence as a Gidim (ghost). Sumerian temples consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification (the Abzu). The temple itself had a central nave with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the podium and a mudbrick table for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and storehouses were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces: the ziggurats.

Technology Examples of Sumerian technology include: the wheel, cuneiform, arithmetic, lunisolar calendar, bronze, copper, gold, silver, leather, saws, chisels, hammers, braces, bits, nails, pins, rings, hoes, axes, knives, lancepoints, arrowheads, swords, glue, daggers, waterskins, bags, harnesses, boats, armor, quivers, scabbards, boots, sandal (footwear), harpoons, and beer brewing. The Sumerians had three main types of boats: • • •

skin boats comprising reeds and animal skins clinker-built sailboats stitched together with twine, featuring bitumen waterproofing wooden-oared ships, sometimes pulled upstream by people and animals walking along the nearby banks

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Language and writing It has been suggested that Mesopotamia schools be merged into this article or section.

Main article: Sumerian language The most important archaeological discoveries in Sumer are a large number of tablets written in Sumerian. Sumerian pre-cuneiform script has been discovered on tablets dating to around 3500 BC. The Sumerian language is generally regarded as a language isolate in linguistics because it belongs to no known language family; Akkadian belongs to the AfroAsiatic languages. There have been many failed attempts to connect Sumerian to other language groups. It is an agglutinative language; in other words, morphemes ("units of meaning") are added together to create words. Sumerians invented picture-hieroglyphs that developed into later cuneiform, and theirs is the oldest known written human language. An extremely large body of hundreds of thousands of texts in the Sumerian language has survived, the great majority of these on clay tablets. Known Sumerian texts include personal and business letters and transactions, receipts, lexical lists, laws, hymns and prayers, magical incantations, and scientific texts including mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Monumental inscriptions and texts on different objects like statues or bricks are also very common. Many texts survive in multiple copies because they were repeatedly transcribed by scribes-in-training. Sumerian continued to be the language of religion and law in Mesopotamia long after Semitic speakers had become the ruling race. Understanding Sumerian texts today can be problematic even for experts. Most difficult are the earliest texts, which in many cases don't give the full grammatical structure of the language.

Legacy Most authorities credit the Sumerians with the invention of the wheel, initially in the form of the potter's wheel. The new concept quickly led to wheeled vehicles and mill wheels. The Sumerians' cuneiform writing system is the oldest we have evidence of (with the possible exception of the highly controversial Old European Script), predating Egyptian hieroglyphics by at least seventy-five years. The Sumerians were among the first formal astronomers, correctly formulating a heliocentric view of the solar system, to which they assigned 5 planets (all that can be seen with the naked eye).

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They invented and developed arithmetic using several different number systems including a Mixed radix system with an alternating base 10 and base 6. This sexagesimal system became the standard number system in Sumer and Babylonia. Using this sexagesimal system they invented the clock with its 60 seconds, 60 minutes, and 12 hours, and the 12 month calendar which is still in use. They may have invented military formations and introduced the basic divisions between infantry, cavalry and archers. They developed the first known codified legal and administrative systems, complete with courts, jails, and government records. The first true city states arose in Sumer, roughly contemporaneously with similar entities in what is now Syria and Israel. Several centuries after their invention of cuneiform, the practice of writing expanded beyond debt/payment certificates and inventory lists and was applied for the first time about 2600 BC to written messages and mail delivery, history, legend, mathematics, astronomical records and other pursuits generally corresponding to the fields occupying teachers and students ever since. Accordingly, the first formal schools were established, usually under the auspices of a city-state's primary temple. Finally, the Sumerians ushered in the age of intensive agriculture and irrigation. Emmer wheat, barley, sheep (starting as mouflon) and cattle (starting as aurochs) were foremost among the species cultivated and raised for the first time on a grand scale. These inventions and innovations easily place the Sumerians among the most creative cultures in human pre-history and history.

New Sumer Because ancient Sumer was located in southern Iraq, a new movement was started in 2005 by many secular Shiites (led by a Baqr Yassin) to make the southern three provinces of Basra, Amara, and Nasariyah into an autonomous zone called "Sumer," similar to the arrangement the Kurds have with Kurdistan now. Yassin is calling for local control of resources—including the vast oil reserves there—and some kind of control of military units in the region.

See also • • • • • •

Sumerian language Epic of Gilgamesh History of Sumer Sumerian king list Sumerian architecture History of writing numbers return

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Enigma machine In the history of cryptography, the Enigma was a portable cipher machine used to encrypt and decrypt secret messages. More precisely, Enigma was a family of related electro-mechanical rotor machines — comprising a variety of different models. The Enigma was used commercially from the early 1920s on, and was also adopted by the military and governmental services of a number of nations — most famously by Nazi Germany before and during World War II. The German military model, the Wehrmacht Enigma, is the version most commonly discussed. The machine has gained notoriety because Allied cryptologists were able to decrypt a large number of messages that had been enciphered on the machine. The intelligence gained through this source — codenamed ULTRA — was a significant aid to the Allied war effort. The exact influence of ULTRA is debated, but a typical assessment is that the end of the European war was hastened by two years because of the decryption of German ciphers. Although the Enigma cipher has cryptographic weaknesses, it was, in practice, only their combination with other significant factors which allowed codebreakers to read messages: mistakes by operators, procedural flaws, and the occasional captured machine or codebook. This article discusses the Enigma machine itself: its components and its procedures. For the history and techniques of how Enigma was broken, see Cryptanalysis of the Enigma. For a discussion of how Enigma-derived intelligence was put to use, see ULTRA.

A three-rotor German military Enigma machine showing, from bottom to top, the plugboard, the keyboard, the lamps and the finger-wheels of the rotors emerging from the inner lid (version with labels).

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Description

Enigma wiring diagram showing the current flow when pressing the 'A' key is encoded to the 'D' lamp, also D yields A, but A never A

The scrambling action of the Enigma rotors shown for two consecutive letters — current is passed into set of rotors, around the reflector, and back out through the rotors again. Note: The greyed-out lines represent other possible circuits within each rotor, which are hard-wired to contacts on each rotor. Letter A encrypts differently with consecutive key presses, first to G, and then to C. This is because the right hand rotor has stepped, sending the signal on a completely different route.

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Like other rotor machines, the Enigma machine is a combination of mechanical and electrical systems. The mechanical mechanism consists of a keyboard; a set of rotating disks called rotors arranged adjacently along a spindle; and a stepping mechanism to turn one or more of the rotors with each key press. The exact mechanism varies, but the most common form is for the right-hand rotor to step once with every key stroke, and occasionally the motion of neighbouring rotors is triggered. The continual movement of the rotors results in a different cryptographic transformation after each key press. The mechanical parts act in such a way as to form a varying electrical circuit — the actual encipherment of a letter is performed electrically. When a key is pressed, the circuit is completed; current flows through the various components and ultimately lights one of many lamps, indicating the output letter. For example, when encrypting a message starting ANX..., the operator would first press the A key, and the Z lamp might light; Z would be the first letter of the ciphertext. The operator would then proceed to encipher N in the same fashion, and so on. To explain the Enigma, we use the wiring diagram on the left. To simplify the example, only four components of each are shown. In reality, there are 26 lamps, keys, plugs and wirings inside the rotors. The current flows from the battery (1) through the depressed bi-directional letter-switch (2) to the plugboard (3). The plugboard allows rewiring the connections between keyboard (2) and fixed entry wheel (4). Next, the current proceeds through the - unused, so closed - plug (3) via the entry wheel (4) through the wirings of the three (Wehrmacht Enigma) or four (Kriegsmarine M4) rotors (5) and enters the reflector (6). The reflector returns the current, via a different path, back through the rotors (5) and entry wheel (4), and proceeds through plug 'S' connected with a cable (8) to plug 'D', and another bidirectional switch (9) to light-up the lamp. So the continual changing of electrical paths through the unit because of the rotation of the rotors (which cause the pin contacts to change with each letter typed) implements the polyalphabetic encryption which provided Enigma's high security (for the time).

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Rotors For details on the rotor wiring, ring settings and effect on the encryption, see Enigma rotor details.

The right side of a rotor, showing the pin The left side of an Enigma rotor, showing the flat electrical contacts. A single turnover electrical contacts. The Roman numeral V notch is visible on the left edge of the rotor. identifies the wiring of the rotor.

The rotors (alternatively wheels or drums — Walzen in German) form the heart of an Enigma machine. Approximately 10 cm in diameter, each rotor is a disk made of hard rubber or bakelite with a series of brass spring-loaded pins on one face arranged in a circle; on the other side are a corresponding number of circular electrical contacts. The pins and contacts represent the alphabet — typically the 26 letters A–Z (this will be assumed for the rest of the description). When placed side-by-side, the pins of one rotor rest against the contacts of the neighbouring rotor, forming an electrical connection. Inside the body of the rotor, a set of 26 wires connects each pin on one side to a contact on the other in a complex pattern. The wiring differs for every rotor.

. Three Enigma rotors and the shaft on which they are placed when in use.

By itself, a rotor performs only a very simple type of encryption — a simple substitution cipher. For example, the pin corresponding to the letter E might be wired to the contact for letter T on the opposite face. The complexity comes from the use of several rotors in series — usually three or four — and the regular movement of the rotors; this provides a much stronger type of encryption.

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When placed in the machine, a rotor can be set to one of 26 positions. It can be turned by hand using a grooved finger-wheel which protrudes from the internal cover when closed, as shown in Figure 2. So that the operator knows the position, each rotor has an alphabet tyre (or letter ring) attached around the outside of the disk, with 26 letters or numbers; one of these can be seen through a window, indicating the position of the rotor to the operator. In early Enigma models, the alphabet ring is fixed; a complication introduced in later versions is the facility to adjust the alphabet ring relative to the core wiring. The position of the ring is known as the Ringstellung ("ring settings"). The rotors each contain a notch (sometimes multiple notches), used to control the stepping of the rotors. In the military versions, the notches are located on the alphabet ring. Exploded view of an Enigma rotor

Three rotors in sequence

1. notched ring 2. marking dot for "A" contact 3. alphabet ring 4. plate contacts 5. wire connections 6. pin contacts 7. spring-loaded ring adjusting lever 8. hub 9. finger wheel 10. ratchet wheel

The Army and Air Force Enigmas came equipped with several rotors; when first issued there were a total of three. On 15 December 1938, this changed to five, from which three were chosen for insertion in the machine. These were marked with Roman numerals to distinguish them: I, II, III, IV and V, all with single notches located at different points on the alphabet ring. This must have been intended as a security measure, but ultimately allowed the Polish Clock Method and British Banburismus attacks. The Naval version of the Wehrmacht Enigma had always been issued with more rotors than the other services: at first, six, then seven and finally eight. The additional rotors were named VI, VII and VIII, all with different wiring, and had two notches cut into them at 'N' and 'A' , resulting in a more frequent turnover.

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The four-rotor Naval Enigma (M4) accommodated an extra rotor in the same space as the three-rotor version. This was accomplished by replacing the original reflector with a thinner reflector and adding a special fourth rotor. The fourth rotor can be one of two types: Beta or Gamma. This 4th rotor never steps, but can be manually placed in any of the 26 positions.

Stepping motion

Stepping motion of the Enigma. All three ratchet pawls (green) push in unison. In the first rotor (1), the ratchet (red) is always engaged, and steps with each keypress. Here, the second rotor (2) is engaged because the notch in the first rotor is aligned with the pawl; it will step with the next keypress. The third rotor (3) is not engaged, because the notch in the second rotor is not aligned; the pawl will simply slide over the curved ring.

The most common arrangement utilises a ratchet and pawl mechanism. Each rotor is affixed with a ratchet with 26 teeth; a group of pawls engage the teeth of the ratchet. The pawls are pushed forward in unison with each keypress on the machine. If a pawl engages the teeth of a ratchet, that rotor advances by one step. In the Wehrmacht Enigma, each rotor is affixed with an adjustable notched ring. The five basic rotors (I-V) have one notch each, while the additional naval rotors VI, VII and VIII have two notches. At a certain point, a rotor's notch will align with the pawl, allowing it to engage the ratchet of the next rotor with the subsequent key press. When a pawl is not aligned with the notch, it will simply slide over the surface of the ring without engaging the ratchet. In a single-notch rotor system, the second rotor is advanced one position every 26 advances of the first rotor. Similarly, the third rotor is advanced one position for every 26 advances of the second rotor. The second rotor also advances at the same time as the third rotor, meaning the second rotor can step twice on subsequent key presses — "double stepping" — resulting in a reduced period[1]. This double stepping causes the rotors to deviate from a normal odometer. A double step occurs as follows: the first rotor steps, and takes the second rotor one step further. If the second rotor has moved by this step into its own notch-position, the third pawl can drop down. On the next step this pawl pushes the ratchet of the third

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rotor and advances it, but will also push into the second rotor's notch, advancing the second rotor a second time in a row. With three wheels and only single notches in the first and second wheels, the machine has a period of 26 × 25 × 26 = 16,900 (NOT 26 X 26 X 26 because of the double stepping of the second rotor. see bottom of page in the references section, for a link to a PDF file on this 'double stepping'). Historically, messages were limited to a couple of hundred letters, and so there was no risk of repeating any position within a single message. To make the use of the naval fourth rotors "Beta" and "Gamma" possible, introduced in 1942, the reflector was changed to a thin model and the special thin fourth rotor was placed against it. No changes were made to the mechanism. Since there are only three pawls, the fourth rotor never steps, but can be manually set into one of its 26 positions. When pressing a key, the rotors step before the electrical circuit is connected.

The Enigma rotor assembly. The three movable rotors are sandwiched between two fixed wheels: the entry wheel on the right and the reflector (here marked "B") on the left.

Entry wheel The entry wheel (Eintrittswalze in German), or entry stator, connects the plugboard, if present, or otherwise the keyboard and lampboard to the rotor assembly. While the exact wiring used is of comparatively little importance to the security, it proved an obstacle in the progress of Polish cryptanalyst Marian Rejewski during his deduction of the rotor wirings. The commercial Enigma connects the keys in the order of their sequence on the keyboard: Q A, W B, E C and so on. However, the military Enigma connects them in straight alphabetical order: A A, B B, C C etc. It took an inspired piece of guesswork for Rejewski to realise the modification, and he was then able to solve the equations.

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Reflector With the exception of the early models A and B, the last rotor is followed by a reflector (German: Umkehrwalze), a patented feature distinctive of the Enigma family amongst the various rotor machines designed in the period. The reflector connects outputs of the last rotor up in pairs, redirecting current back through the rotors by a different route. The reflector ensures that Enigma is self-reciprocal: conveniently, encryption is the same as decryption. However, the reflector also gives Enigma the property that no letter can encrypt to itself. This was a severe conceptual flaw and a cryptological mistake subsequently exploited by codebreakers. In the commercial Enigma model C, the reflector can be inserted in one of two different positions. In Model D the reflector can be set in 26 possible positions, although it does not move during encipherment. In the Abwehr Enigma, the reflector is stepped during encryption in a similar way to the other wheels. In the German Army and Air Force Enigma, the reflector is fixed and does not rotate, and appeared in four versions. The original version was marked A, and was replaced by Umkehrwalze B on 1 November 1937. A third version, Umkehrwalze C was used briefly in 1940, possibly in error, and was solved by Hut 6[2]. The fourth version, first observed on 2 January 1944 is a rewireable reflector, called Umkehrwalze D, allowing the Enigma operator to alter the connections as part of the key settings.

Plugboard

The plugboard (Steckerbrett) is positioned at the front of the machine, below the keys. When in use, there can be up to 13 connections. In the above photograph, two pairs of letters are swapped (S-O and J-A).

The plugboard (Steckerbrett in German) is a variable wiring that could be reconfigured by the operator (visible on the front panel of Figure 1; some of the patch cords can be seen in the lid). It was introduced on German Army versions in 1930 and was soon adopted by the Navy as well. The plugboard contributes a great deal to the

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The plugboard (Steckerbrett in German) is a variable wiring that could be reconfigured by the operator (visible on the front panel of Figure 1; some of the patch cords can be seen in the lid). It was introduced on German Army versions in 1930 and was soon adopted by the Navy as well. The plugboard contributes a great deal to the strength of the machine's encryption, more than an extra rotor would. Enigma without a plugboard — "unsteckered" Enigma — can be solved relatively straightforwardly using hand methods; these techniques are generally defeated by the addition of a plugboard, and codebreakers resorted to special machines to solve it. A cable placed onto the plugboard connects letters up in pairs, for example, E and Q might be a steckered pair. The effect is to swap those letters before and after the main rotor scrambling unit. For example, when an operator presses E, the signal is diverted to Q before entering the rotors. Several such steckered pairs, up to 13, might be used at one time. Current flows from the keyboard through the plugboard, and proceeds to the entryrotor or Eintrittswalze. Each letter on the plugboard has two jacks. Inserting a plug will disconnect the upper jack (from the keyboard) and the lower jack (to the entryrotor) of that letter. The plug at the other end of the crosswired cable is inserted into another letter's jacks, switching the connections of the two letters.

The "Schreibmax" was a printing unit which could be attached to the Enigma, removing the need to laboriously read and write down the letters off the light panel.

Accessories A handy feature that was used on the M4 Enigma was the "Schreibmax", a little printer which could print the 26 letters on a small paper ribbon. This excluded the need for a second operator, reading the lamps and writing the letters down. The Schreibmax was placed on top of the Enigma machine and was connected to the lamp panel; to install the printer, the lamp cover and all lightbulbs had to be removed. Besides its handiness, it improved operational security: the signal officer no longer

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had to see the plaintext, as the printer might have been installed in the captain's cabin of a submarine, so that the signals officer did the typing and key handling but never gained knowledge of secret received plaintext information. Another accessory was the remote lamp panel. If the machine was equipped with an extra panel, the wooden case of the Enigma was wider and could store the extra panel. There was a lamp panel version that could be connected afterwards, but that required, just as with the Schreibmax, the lamp panel and lightbulbs to be removed. The remote panel made it possible for a person to read the decrypted text, without giving the operator access to it. In 1944, the Luftwaffe introduced an extra plugboard switch, called the Uhr (clock). There was a little box, containing a switch with 40 positions. It replaced the default plugs. After connecting the plugs, as determined in the daily key sheet, the operator could turn the switch in one of the 40 positions, each position resulting in a different combination of plug wiring. Most of these plug connection are, unlike the default plugs, not pair-wise.

The Enigma Uhr attachment

Mathematical description The Enigma transformation for each letter can be specified mathematically as a product of permutations. Assuming a three-rotor German Army/Air Force Enigma, let P denote the plugboard transformation, U denote the reflector, and L,M,R denote the

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actions of the left, middle and right rotors respectively. Then the encryption E can be expressed as E = PRMLUL − 1M − 1R − 1P − 1 After each key press the rotors turn, changing the transformation. For example, if the right hand rotor R is rotated i positions, the transformation becomes ρiRρ − i, where ρ is the cyclic permutation mapping A to B, B to C, and so forth. Similarly, the middle and left-hand rotors can be represented as j and k rotations of M and L. The encryption function can then be described as: E = P(ρiRρ − i)(ρjMρ − j)(ρkLρ − k)U(ρkL − 1ρ − k)(ρjM − 1ρ − j)(ρiR − 1ρ − i)P − 1

Procedures for using the Enigma

In use, the Enigma required a list of daily key settings as well as a number of auxiliary documents. The procedures for German Naval Enigma were more elaborate, and secure, than the procedures used in other services. The Navy codebooks were also printed in red, watersoluble ink on pink paper so that they could easily be destroyed if they were at risk of being seized by the enemy. The above codebook was taken from captured U-boat U-505.

In German military usage, communications were divided up into a number of different networks, all using different settings for their Enigma machines. These communication nets were termed keys at Bletchley Park, and were assigned codenames, such as Red, Chaffinch and Shark. Each unit operating on a network was assigned a settings list specifying the Enigma for a period of time. For a message to be correctly encrypted and decrypted, both sender and receiver have to set up their Enigma in the same way; the rotor selection and order, the starting position and the plugboard connections need to be identical; these settings have to be agreed on beforehand, and were distributed in codebooks.

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An Enigma machine's initial state, the cryptographic key, has several aspects: • • • •

Wheel order (Walzenlage) — the choice of rotors and the order in which they are used. Initial position of the rotors: — chosen by the operator, different for each message. Ring settings (Ringstellung) — the position of the alphabet ring relative to the rotor wiring. Plug settings (Steckerverbindungen) — the connections of the plugs in the plugboard.

Enigma was designed to be secure even if the rotor wiring was known to an eavesdropper, although in practice the wiring was kept secret. With secret wiring, the total number of possible configurations has been calculated to be around 10114 (approximately 380 bits); with known wiring and other operational constraints, this is reduced to around 1023 (76 bits)[3]. Users of Enigma were assured of its security by the large number of possibilities; it was not feasible for an adversary to even begin to try every possible configuration in a brute force attack.

Indicators Most of the key were kept constant for a set time period, typically a day. However, a different initial rotor position was chosen for each message, because if a number of messages are sent encrypted with identical or near-identical settings, a cryptanalyst has several messages "in depth", and might be able to attack the messages using frequency analysis. To counter this, a different starting position for the rotors was chosen for each message; a similar concept to an initialisation vector in modern cryptography. The starting position was transmitted along with the ciphertext. The exact method used is termed the "indicator procedure" — weak indicator procedures allowed the initial breaks into Enigma.

Figure 2. With the inner lid placed down, the Enigma is ready for use. The finger wheels of the rotors protrude through the lid, allowing the operator to manually set the rotors, and the

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current position — here RDKP — is visible to the operator through a set of windows.

One of the earliest indicator procedures was exploited to make the initial breaks into the Enigma by Polish cryptanalysts. The procedure was for the operator to set up his machine in accordance with his settings list, which included a global initial position for the rotors (Grundstellung — "ground setting"), AOH, say. The operator would turn his rotors until AOH was visible through the rotor windows. At this point, the operator would choose his own, arbitrary starting position for that particular message. An operator might select EIN, and this became the message settings for that encryption session. The operator would then type EIN into the machine, twice, to allow for detecting transmission errors. The results would be an encrypted indicator — the EIN typed twice might turn into XHTLOA, which would be transmitted along with the message. Finally, the operator would then spin the rotors to his message settings, EIN in this example, and the text of the actual message was typed in. At the receiving end the operation was reversed. The operator set the machine to the initial settings and typed in the first six letters of the message (XHTLOA). In this example, EINEIN would be produced. By moving his rotors to EIN, the receiving operator would then type in the rest of the ciphertext, deciphering the message. The weakness came from two factors: the use of a global ground setting — this was later changed so that the operator selected his initial position to encrypt the indicator, and sent the initial position in the clear. The second problem was the repetition of the indicator, which was actually a security flaw. The message key was encoded twice, resulting in a relation between first and fourth, second and fifth, and third and sixth character. This security problem enabled the Polish Cipher Bureau to break the prewar Enigma messages. However, from 1940 on, the Germans changed the procedures to increase the security. During the Second World War, German operators used the codebooks only to set up the rotors and ringsettings. For each message, he selected a random startposition, let's say WZA, and random message key, let's say SXT. He moved the rotors in the WZA startposition, and encoded the messagekey SXT. Let us presume that the result was UHL. He sets up the message key SXT as startposition, and encodes the message. Next, he transmits the startposition WZA, the encoded message key UHL together with the message. The receiver sets up the startposition according the first trigram, WZA and decodes the second trigram, UHL, to obtain the SXT message key. Next, he uses this SXT message key as startposition to decode the message. This way, each ground setting was different and the new procedure avoided the security flaw of double encoded message keys.

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This procedure was used by Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe only. The Kriegsmarine procedures on sending messages with the Enigma were far more complex and elaborate. Prior to encryption with the Enigma, the message was encoded with the Kurzsignalheft code book. The Kurzsignalheft contained tables that converted sentences into four-letter groups. All kinds of expressions in many different topics were listed. Logistic matters such as refueling and rendez-vous with supply ships, positions and grid lists, names of harbors, countries, weapons, weather conditions, enemy positions and ships, date and time tables. All possible situations and topics were listed. Another codebook contained the Kenngruppen and Spruchschlüssel, resp key identification and message key. More details on Kurzsignale on German U-Boats

Abbreviations and guidelines The Army Enigma machine only used the 26 alphabet characters. Signs were replaced by rare character combinations. A space was omitted or replaced by an X. The X was generally used as point or full stop. Some signs were different in other parts of the armed forces. The Wehrmacht replaced a comma by ZZ and the question sign by FRAGE or FRAQ. The Kriegsmarine however, replaced the comma by Y and the question sign by UD. The combination CH, as in Acht (eight) or Richtung (direction) were replaced by Q (AQT, RIQTUNG). Two, three or four zeros were replaced by CENTA MILLE and MYRIA. Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe transmitted the messages in groups of five characters. The Kriegsmarine, using the four rotor Enigma, applied four letter groups. Frequently used names or words were to be varied as much as possible. Words like Minensuchboot (minesweeper) could be written as MINENSUCHBOOT, MINBOOT, MMMBOOT or MMM354. To make cryptanalysis harder, more than 250 characters in one message were forbidden. Longer messages were divided in several parts, each using its own message key. For more details see Tony Sale's translations of "General Procedure"[4] and "Officer and Staff procedure"[5].

History and development of the machine Far from being a single design, there are numerous models and variants of the Enigma family. The earliest Enigma machines were commercial models dating from the early 1920s. Starting in the mid-1920s, the various branches of the German military began to use Enigma, making a number of changes in order to increase its security. In addition, a number of other nations either adopted or adapted the Enigma design for their own cipher machines.

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A selection of seven Enigma machines and paraphernalia exhibited at the USA's National Cryptologic Museum. From left to right, the models are: 1) Commercial Enigma; 2) Enigma T; 3) Enigma G; 4) Unidentified; 5) Luftwaffe (Air Force) Enigma; 6) Heer (Army) Enigma; 7) Kriegsmarine (Naval) Enigma — M4.

Commercial Enigma

The Enigma logo

Scherbius' Enigma patent — U.S. Patent 1,657,411, granted in 1928

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On February 23, 1918, German engineer Arthur Scherbius applied for a patent for a cipher machine using rotors, and, with E. Richard Ritter, founded the firm of Scherbius & Ritter. They approached the German Navy and Foreign Office with their design, but neither was interested. They then assigned the patent rights to Gewerkschaft Securitas, who founded the Chiffriermaschinen Aktien-Gesellschaft (Cipher Machines Stock Corporation) on 9 July 1923; Scherbius and Ritter were on the board of directors. Chiffriermaschinen AG began advertising a rotor machine — Enigma model A — which was exhibited at the Congress of the International Postal Union in 1923 and 1924. The machine was heavy and bulky, incorporating a typewriter. It measured 65×45×35 cm and weighed about 50 kg. A model B was introduced, and was of a similar construction[6]. While bearing the Enigma name, both models A and B were quite unlike later versions: they differed in physical size and shape, but also cryptographically, in that they lacked the reflector. The reflector — an idea suggested by Scherbius' colleague Willi Korn — was first introduced in the Enigma C (1926) model. The reflector is a key feature of the Enigma machines. Model C was smaller and more portable than its predecessors. It lacked a typewriter, relying instead on the operator reading the lamps; hence the alternative name of "glowlamp Enigma" to distinguish from models A and B. The Enigma C quickly became extinct, giving way to the Enigma D (1927). This version was widely used, with copies going to Sweden, the Netherlands, England, Japan, Italy, Spain, U.S. and Poland.

A rare 8-rotor printing Enigma.

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Military Enigma The German Navy were the first branch of the German military to adopt Enigma. This version, named Funkschlüssel C (Radio cipher C), had been put into production by 1925 and was introduced into service in 1926[7]. The keyboard and lampboard contained 29 letters — A-Z, Ä, Ö and Ü — which were arranged alphabetically, as opposed to the QWERTZU ordering[8]. The rotors had 28 contacts, with the letter X wired to bypass the rotors unencrypted[9]. Three rotors were chosen from a set of five[10] and the reflector could be inserted in one of four different positions, denoted α, β, γ and δ[11]. The machine was revised slightly in July 1933[12]. By 15 July 1928[13], the German Army (Reichswehr) had introduced their own version of the Enigma — the Enigma G, revised to the Enigma I by June 1930[14]. Enigma I is also known as the Wehrmacht, or Services Enigma, and was used extensively by the German military services and other government organisations, both prior to and during World War II. The major difference between Enigma I and commercial Enigma models was the addition of a plugboard to swap pairs of letters, greatly increasing the cryptographic strength of the machine. Other differences included the use of a fixed reflector, and the relocation of the stepping notches from the rotor body to the movable letter rings[14]. The Navy eventually agreed and in 1934[15] brought into service the Navy version of the Army Enigma, designated Funkschlüssel M or M3. While the Army used only three rotors at that time, for greater security the Navy specified a choice of three from a possible five[16]. In December 1938, the Army issued two extra rotors so that the three rotors were chosen from a set of five[14]. In 1938, the Navy added two more rotors, and then another in 1939 to allow a choice of three rotors from a set of eight[16]. In August 1935, the Air Force also introduced the Wehrmacht Enigma for their communications[14]. A four rotor Enigma was introduced by the Navy for U-boat traffic on 1 February 1942, called M4 (the network was known as Triton, or Shark to the Allies). The extra rotor was fitted in the same space by splitting the reflector into a combination of a thin reflector and a thin fourth rotor. There was also a large, eight-rotor printing model, the Enigma II. During 1933, Polish codebreakers detected that it was in use for high-level military communications, but that it was soon withdrawn from use after it was found to be unreliable and jam frequently[17]. The Abwehr used the Enigma G (the Abwehr Enigma). This Enigma variant was a four-wheel unsteckered machine with multiple notches on the rotors. This model was equipped with a counter which incremented upon each key press, and so is also known as the counter machine or the Zahlwerk Enigma.

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The four-wheel Swiss Enigma K, made in Germany, used re-wired rotors.

Other countries also used Enigma machines. The Italian Navy adopted the commercial Enigma as "Navy Cipher D"; the Spanish also used commercial Enigma during their Civil War. British codebreakers succeeded in breaking these machines, which lacked a plugboard. The Swiss used a version of Enigma called model K or Swiss K for military and diplomatic use, which was very similar to the commercial Enigma D. The machine was broken by a number of parties, including Poland, France, Britain and the United States (the latter codenamed it INDIGO). An Enigma T model (codenamed Tirpitz) was manufactured for use by the Japanese. It has been estimated that 100,000 Enigma machines were constructed[18]. After the end of the Second World War, the Allies sold captured Enigma machines, still widely considered secure, to a number of developing countries[18].

Enigma derivatives The Enigma was influential in the field of cipher machine design, and a number of other rotor machines are derived from it. The British Typex was originally designed from the Enigma patents — Typex even includes features from the patent descriptions that were omitted from the actual Enigma machine. Due to the need for secrecy about its cipher systems, no royalties were paid for the use of the patents by the British government. A Japanese Enigma clone was codenamed GREEN by American cryptographers. Little-used, it contained four rotors mounted vertically. In the US, cryptologist William Friedman designed the M-325, a machine similar to Enigma in logical operation, although not in construction. A unique rotor machine was constructed in 2002 by Netherlands-based Tatjana van Vark[19]. This unusual device is inspired by Enigma, but makes use of 40-point rotors, allowing letters, numbers and some punctuation; each rotor contains 509 parts[20].

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The Japanese developed an Enigma clone, Tatjana van Vark's Enigma-inspired rotor codenamed GREEN by American machine, constructed in 2002. The rotors of cryptographers, although it was little used. this machine contain 40 contacts, compared to the original Enigma's 26.

Surviving Enigmas The effort to break the Enigma was not disclosed until the 1970s. Since then, interest in the Enigma machine has grown considerably and a number of Enigmas are on public display in museums in the US and Europe. The Deutsches Museum in Munich has both the three and four-wheel German military variants, as well as several older civilian versions. There are also examples in the NSA's National Cryptologic Museum at Fort Meade and at the Computer History Museum in the United States, at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom, the Australian War Memorial at Canberra in Australia, as well as a number of other locations in Germany, the US, the UK, and a few other countries in Europe. A number are also in private hands[21]. Occasionally, Enigma machines are sold at auction; prices of US$20,000 are not unusual[22]. Replicas of the machine are available in various forms, including an exact reconstructed copy of the Naval M4 model, an Enigma implemented in electronics (Enigma-E), various computer software simulators and paper-and-scissors analogues. A rare Abwehr Enigma machine, designated G312, was stolen from the Bletchley Park museum on 1 April 2000. In September, a man identifying himself as "The Master" sent a note demanding £25,000 and threatened to destroy the machine if the ransom was not paid. In early October 2000, Bletchley Park officials announced that they would pay the ransom but the deadline set passed with no word from the thief. Shortly after the ransom deadline passed the machine was sent anonymously to BBC journalist Jeremy Paxman, but three rotors were missing. In November 2000, an antiques dealer named Dennis Yates was arrested after telephoning The Sunday Times to arrange the return of the missing parts. The Enigma machine was returned to Bletchley Park after the incident. In October 2001, Yates was sentenced to ten months in prison after admitting handling the stolen machine and blackmailing Bletchley Park Trust director Christine Large, although he maintained that he was acting as an

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intermediary for a third party. Yates was released from prison after serving three months.

Fiction Robert Harris' 1996 novel Enigma is set against the backdrop of World War II Bletchley Park and cryptologists working to read Enigma. The book was made into the 2001 film, Enigma, starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott; the film has been criticized for many historical inaccuracies. An earlier film dealing (somewhat superficially) with the Polish aspects of the subject was the 1979 Sekret Enigmy (The Enigma Secret)[23]. Neal Stephenson's novel Cryptonomicon also features World War II military cryptography, including the Enigma and Bletchley Park, and also takes considerable historical liberties. An interactive fiction game Jigsaw by Graham Nelson contains a puzzle in which the player must decrypt a message with a simplified version of the Enigma. The puzzle is generally accepted as the most annoying in the game, which is perhaps some measure of how hard it was to decrypt messages produced by the original machine(s). Jonathan Mostow's 2000 film U-571 describes a fictional voyage of American submariners who have hijacked a German submarine to obtain an Enigma machine. The machine used in the film was an authentic Enigma obtained from a collector. The real-life capture of an enigma machine happened a long time before the Americans joined the war. Friedrich Kittler's 1986 (trans. 1999) Gramophone, Film, Typewriter examines the use of the Enigma and similar devices in relation to the Symbolic order of Jacques Lacan. Wolfgang Petersen's 1981 film Das Boot includes an Enigma machine. That machine appears to be a four rotor Kriegsmarine variant. It appears in many scenes which probably capture the flavor of day to day Enigma use aboard a World War II U-Boat.

See also World War II Era Encryption Devices: • Sigaba (United States) • Typex (Britain) • Lorenz SZ 40/42 (Germany) (Allied code-name: 'Tunny') • Siemens and Halske T52 (Germany) (Allied code-name: 'Sturgeon'). • Geheimschreiber return

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Doraemon Doraemon (ドラえもん?) created by Hiroshi Fujimoto, pen name Fujiko F. Fujio, is a Japanese franchise about a robotic cat, Doraemon, who travels back in time from the 22nd century to aid a schoolboy, Nobita Nobi. The stories first appeared in January 1970. They were simultaneously published in six different magazines. In total, 1,344 of the original stories were created. They are published by Shogakukan under the Ladybug (てんとう虫 Tentōmushi?) comics brand, extending to forty-five volumes. They are collected in the Takaoka Central Library, Toyama, Japan, where Fujimoto was born. Doraemon was awarded the grand prize of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize (手塚治虫文化賞) of 1997.

Doraemon

ドラえもん (Doraemon)

Genre

Comedy, Kodomo TV anime

Directed by Studio

Network

Tsutomu Shibayama Asatsu DK TV Asahi TVB RCTI ChampTV, AnioneTV Ntv7, RTM 1 GMA 7

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Original run No. of episodes •

Canal Panda Channel 8 TV3, Canal Panda CTS 2 April 1979 – Over 2000 Related works

List of Doraemon media

Setting

The first appearance of Doraemon, via the time machine.

Doraemon was originally sent back in time by Nobita's great-great grandson, Sewashi, to help improve Nobita's circumstances so that his descendants may enjoy a better future. In the original timeline, Nobita's failures in school and subsequently, his career, has left his family line beset with financial problems. The stories are formulaic, usually focused on the everyday struggles of fourth grader Nobita Nobi, the main character of the story. Doraemon possesses a four-dimensional pocket from which he can produce all manner of futuristic tools, gadgets and playthings from a future department store. In the typical chapter, Nobita comes home crying about some problem he faced in school or his local neighborhood. After Nobita's pleading, or perhaps goading, Doraemon produces some device to help Nobita fix his problems, gain revenge, or show off to his friends. However, Nobita usually goes too far--despite Doraemon's best intentions--and gets into deeper trouble than before. Sometimes Nobita's friends (usually Suneo or Jaian) steal the gadgets and end up misusing them. However, at the end of the day, there's usually retribution to the characters who end up misusing them, and a moral lesson is taught. What makes Doraemon so lovable is that he is not perfect, despite being a supposedly "omnipotent" robot from the 22nd century. Doraemon has his own weaknesses, such

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as his insatiable love for dorayaki, a Japanese treat filled with sweet bean paste (this fact is often exploited by Nobita and his family/friends to persuade Doraemon to do something that he is reluctant to do), his fear of rats (because a robotic rat bit off his ears), or his tendency to panic during emergencies (characterized by him frantically trying to pull out a very much needed tool, only to produce a HUGE assortment of unrelated household items). He also has a wide variety of expressions, from the classic, wide-mouthed grin to extreme anger. This serves to make him all the more realistic, and approachable to audiences of all ages.

History The original Doraemon manga appeared simultaneously in January 1970 in six different children's monthly magazines, divided by the year of study, called Yoiko (good children), Yōchien (nursery school), and Shōgaku ichinensei (first grade of elementary school), Shōgaku ninensei (second grade), Shōgaku sannensei (third grade), and Shōgaku yonensei (fourth grade). Later the series started also on Shōgaku gonensei (fifth grade) and Shōgaku rokunensei (sixth grade). Each story in each of the magazines was different, thus the author was originally creating more than six stories a month. In 1979, CoroCoro Comic was launched as a magazine of Doraemon. Original manga based on the Doraemon movies were also released in the CoroCoro magazine. The stories which were preserved in the Tentōmusi comics are the ones from these magazines. Since the debut in 1970, the Doraemon stories have been selectively collected into forty-five books published from 1974 to 1996, which had a circulation of over 80 million in 1992. In addition, Doraemon has appeared in a variety of manga series of Shogakukan. In 2005, Shogakukan published a series of five more manga volumes not reprinted in these forty-five books under the title Doraemon+(Doraemon Plus). Fujiko's friends say that every main character represents elementary-school-student archetypes he noticed in his own school days.

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Doraemon in color, manga version

Characters Nobita Nobi (野比のび太 Nobi Nobita?) Nobita is the main character of the series. He is a fourth grader in Tokyo and an only child. He wears glasses, a red or yellow polo shirt with a white collar, and blue shorts. Nobita's character flaws are endless. He is lazy, uncoordinated, dimwitted, frail, plain-looking, unlucky, and bad at sports. Nobita's normal day consists of: arriving late to class, scoring 0% on his exam, getting yelled at by his teacher, being bulled by classmates Jaian and Suneo, falling into curbside rain gutters, being chased by dogs, and getting yelled at by his mom for refusing to do his homework. Nobita is without a doubt the biggest "loser" main character in anime history. However, his flaws and struggles are what drive the storyline. That being said, Nobita does possess some unique talents. For instance, he is unrivalled in marksmanship and weaving string figures. Although Nobita is frequently portrayed as being cowardly, he has a strong sense of justice--as revealed in the full-length stories--and will sometimes risk his life to help save entire civilizations (using Doraemon's gadgets, of course). Doraemon (ドラえもん?) Doraemon is the assistant and helper of Nobita sent back in time by Sewashi. Doraemon originally had ears but they were bitten off by a robot mouse back in the 22nd century. As a result, he has an excessive fear of mice, despite being a robotic cat. He is predominantly blue colored, the exceptions being his white face, hands, feet, and stomach, as well as red nose and tail (he also usually wears a red collar dangling a gold bell--hence the name DingDong often used in Chinese versions).

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In "The Doraemons" story arc, it is revealed that Doraemon's old paint color was yellow! After getting his ears gnawed off by the robot mouse, he slipped into depression on top of a tower. He drank a potion with a label having letters that resembled sadness. As he cried for a long time, his yellow color washed off and his voice changed due to the potion. He was later greeted by his sister, Dorami. Doraemon's favourite food is dorayaki, a gong-shaped sweet. Many think that this is the origin of his name. However, it was revealed in one of the manga that his name originates from a Japanese word for "stray cat", dora neko, and the emon ending which is part of traditional Japanese names, as seen in, for example, Ishikawa Goemon. Of the Doraemon characters, Doraemon is the only one to have changed since the beginning of the comic strip. He originally was stooped, had a body much larger than his head, and had a blue tail and flesh-coloured hands and feet. His body shape changed to having a head larger than the body, white hands and feet, a red tail and smaller body. The above picture of his first appearance shows the original Doraemon. He weighs 129.3 kg and his height is 129.3 cm. He was manufactured (hence, his "birthday") on Sept. 3, 2112 at Matsushiba Robot Factory (Matsushiba robotto kojo) Shizuka Minamoto (源静香 Minamoto Shizuka?) Shizuka, usually called Shizu-chan or Shizukachan is a smart and kind young girl who is the object of Nobita's affections and his future bride. She has a habit of frequently bathing, leading to numerous accidental bath scenes (in one story, Nobita discovers that she takes baths every morning, noon, afternoon and evening). She is also known for attending piano classes, which is sometimes an excuse for declining to play with Nobita. However, she has never played the piano throughout the series (save for in the manga, in which she is occasionally forced to take lessons she resents and tries to get out of). Her true passions are sweet potatoes and violin, in which her playing is as bad as Jaian's singing. Takeshi Goda (剛田武 Gôda Takeshi?) Takeshi, usually known by the nickname Jaian (ジャイアン?) (which could be interpreted as "Giant") is big, strong, and quick-tempered. He is known for his confidence in his terrible singing and cookery. He frequently takes other children's toys and books without permission under the pretext of "borrowing" it, and regularly subjects the neighbourhood children to horrendous singing recitals (sometimes with his homemade dinner combo). Many of the stories revolve around Nobita and his friends' efforts to avoid Jaian's concerts. Although he bullies the other children (mostly Nobita), he is terrified of his mother. He founded his own baseball team named after himself. Strangely enough, Nobita is often blamed for the loss against its rival, the "Tyranos", yet Jaian and Suneo often force Nobita to play because they do not have enough players.

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Although he often bullies other children, he also has a strong sense of justice, and will not hesistate to help Nobita and his friends when they are in real trouble (usually this occurs in the movie series). He has a younger sister, whom he adores (See below). Suneo Honekawa (骨川スネ夫 Honekawa Suneo?) Suneo is the braggart who parades his material wealth in front of Nobita. He is often seen with Jaian, and bullies Nobita together with him. Several plotlines start with Suneo showing off some new video game, toy, or electronic item his family bought, or him needing Doraemon's help to do something. He is a talented artist and designer. He also has a younger brother, Sunetsugu (スネツグ), who was adopted into his uncle's family in New York. In some plot of the story, it is often seen that Suneo is a narcissist and loves to stare at himself in the mirror for long time, imagining things, and telling himself that he is the most good-looking guy in the world. He is still a bedwetter at this age and needs to wear diapers when he sleeps. He considers this as his secret weakness and according to his mother, it is his only weakness.

Minor characters •

Jaiko (ジャイ子, Jaiko) is Jaian's younger sister who would have been Nobita's wife in the future had Doraemon not intervened. She appears from the first episode of the story, actually preceding Jaian. Her name Jaiko is usually considered as a nickname but Fujiko hasn't given her a real name. Some believe that Jaiko is her strange but real name while her brother Jaian named after her, abbreviating Jaiko's older brother (ジャイ子の兄ちゃん, Jaiko no anchan). One of supporting facts to this myth is that in the bilingual English/Japanese edition of the Doraemon manga, Jaian's nickname is rendered "Gian," although Jaiko's nickname is unchanged. This results that her full name is Jaiko Goda (剛田ジャイ子, Gôda Jaiko), although is denied by Shogakukan officials. Jaiko has another name Christine Goda (クリスチーネ剛田, Kurisuchîne Gôda) as an amateur manga artist, and sometimes send her story to publishing companies for prizes.

•

Hidetoshi Dekisugi (出木杉英才, Dekisugi Hidetoshi) is Nobita's classmate and rival for Shizuka's affections. He always gets 100% on school tests. His name literally means "brilliant over-achiever", and his last name is a pun on dekisugiru, which literally means "over achieving".

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•

Dorami-chan (ドラミちゃん?) is the younger sister of Doraemon. She lives in the 22nd-century Tokyo with Sewashi, Nobita's great-great-grandson. She is yellow and wears a big red bow in the back of the head. She likes melonpans and she is afraid of cockroaches. She seems to be superior to Doraemon. She sometimes visits Nobita with a time machine. See Doramichan (left side), Sewashi (right side).

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Tameru Kaneo tends to accompany Suneo and Jaian. He has a friend (whose name is not mentioned) whom he always makes appearances with. "Kane o tameru" means "to save money" in Japanese.

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There is also one character whose name isn't mentioned in the story, but makes regular appearances as a friend of Kaneo.

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Mini-Doras are actually another of Doraemon's gadgets. They are mini versions of Doraemon, with different color varieties. They can think and feel for themselves, and can communicate with Doraemon in Mini-Dora language. They're really useful as mini helpers for all kinds of jobs (since they have the same properties as Doraemon).

Nobita's family •

Tamako Nobi (野比玉子 Nobi Tamako?) Nobita's mother. Endlessly either angry with Nobita for failing tests, or sending Nobita on errands.

•

Nobisuke Nobi (野比のび助 Nobi Nobisuke?) Nobita's father. Laid back salaryman. Tends to be nice to Nobita. Cannot drive or quit smoking, and has a poor memory.

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Sewashi (セワシ?) Nobita's great-great-grandson. He feels sorry about the family's failure in life, and sent his robot pet Doraemon back to the past to look after Nobita.

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Nobisuke (ノビスケ?) Nobita's son, named after Nobita's father. He is a much better athlete than Nobita and is sly, he did not hesitate to beat young Nobita when young Nobita tried to stop Nobisuke from running away from home.

The Doraemons The Doraemons (ザ☆ドラえもんズ Za Doraemonzu?) is a kind of an old boys' association of the Robot School (ロボット学校 Robotto Gakkō?) which Doraemon attended. Each and every member enjoys dorayaki, but usually add their own preferred seasoning. All of the Doraemons have rock-hard heads they can use as a weapons, or to break out of prison (among other things), but this is even more enhanced in Doraemon, since he has no other special weapons, and has no ears or hat to get in the way when using this mode of attack. The members are:

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•

Doraemon (ドラえもん) Enjoys his dorayaki plain.

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Dora-the-Kid (ドラ・ザ・キッド Dora za Kiddo?) – He is good at quick shooting, but he has a fear of heights (acrophobia). He works for a sheriff's deputy in the 19th-century USA. Dora-the-Kid's weapon of choice is the Air Gun, which appears to be the front muzzle of a giant revolver that is equipped onto Dora-the-Kid's arm (He has no fingers to fire a regular pistol). The Air Gun shoots out a big blast of air that can knock down anyone that gets hit. His variation of Doraemon's four-dimensional Pocket is the four-dimensional hat (四次元ハット yonjigen hatto?) that Dora-the-Kid wears on his head. His girlfriend happens to be Dorami-chan, Doraemon's younger sister. Enjoys his dorayaki with ketchup and mustard on it.

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Wang Dora (王ドラ Wan Dora?) – He is the smartest among the Doraemons and is a master of kung fu. He studies medicine in the Qing Dynasty, China while he works for an assistant of a doctor of Chinese medicine. He has a girlfriend, Mimiko (ミミコ?), who is a nurse. In one of The Doraemons' manga shots introducing Wang Dora, he attempted to do Chun-Li's (from Street Fighter) Spinning Bird Kick (a move where the user would spin upsidedown with his legs open to kick away his opponent in a fight), only to find it ineffective because Wang Dora's legs are too short. Wang Dora's variation of the four-dimensional pocket are his four-dimensional sleeves (四次元そでから yonjigen sodekara?) on his shirt. He is shy toward girls. Enjoys his dorayaki with soy sauce.

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Dora-med III (ドラメッドⅢ世 Dora-meddo III Sansei?) – He wears Arabian clothes and forecasts from the tarot. He lives in the Middle East, because he is hydrophobic. Needless to say, he can't swim. He is also quite proficient in magic and the black arts. His dream is to open a "Water Land" theme park for children who live in desert regions. When he gets angry, he grows several times his size (proportional to how angry he is,) becoming a giant. Dora-Med III's variation of the four-dimensional pocket is his fourdimensional magic lamp (四次元ランプ yonjigen ranpu?). Enjoys dry dorayaki—again, due to his hydrophobia.

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Dora-nichov (ドラニコフ Dora-nikofu?) – He is taciturn (and can only communicate with growls, etc) and is extremely sensitive to the cold. He transforms himself into a wolf if he looks at something round; in this form he can attack enemies by biting or simply wreaking havoc, etc. In the short "The Doraemons" anime that introduced Dora-nichov he tried to cover his eyes with his hands to avoid looking at anything round, only to transform, because his hands are also round! He is able to blow fire out of his mouth by taking something hot like Tabasco. He lives in Russia. Dora-nichov uses the fourdimensional scarf (四次元マフラー yonjigen mafurā?) covering his face as an

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alternative to the four dimensional pocket. He usually doesn't eat dorayaki in front of others, because the round snack would let him transform, wreaking havoc, so it is unknown what his favorite kind of seasoning is. •

El Matadora (エル・マタドーラ Eru Matadōra?) – He is very strong. He likes napping (siesta). He lives in the 17th-century Spain. He disguises himself by working for a dishwasher in a butcher's in the day, but his real job is to save the poor. He can transform into another form—Keikai-Dora. KeikaiDora, an alter-ego that is a parody of Zorro. (Though this form isn't much different from his original appearance, except with his Magic Cloak pulled over the top of his head). Like Zorro, El Matadora in this form either leaves a "D" mark on his opponents' clothes during a sword fight or cuts off bad guys' pants. His dream is to be a matador. El Matadora is the only other Doraemon (other than Doraemon himself) to use the four-dimensional pocket. He likes dorayaki with spaghetti sauce. His Magic Cloak which can blow enemies away or deflect bullets, etc.

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Dora-riño (ドラリーニョ Dora Rīnyo?) – He is very quick, but forgetful. He lives in Brazil. He spends days in playing Association Football with a Brazilian boy, Nobiño (ノビーニョ Nobīnyo?), and the Mini-Doras (ミニドラ軍団 Mini-Dora Gundan?, lit. Mini-Dora Army). The Mini-Doras each have a miniature version of Doraemon's four-dimensional pocket that Dora-riño could take gadgets from, though the gadgets are equally as small as the Mini-Doras. He can attack enemies by kicking soccer balls at them. He enjoys dorayaki with tabasco.

Source: Doraemon Characters (Japanese) They are tightly united by a card called Shin'yū Tereka (親友テレカ? lit. close friend telephone card). They can call each other with the card everywhere and every time. The Doraemons are collected into: • Tanaka (1995 – 2001), 6 vols. • Miyazaki & Mitani (1997 – 2001), special ed., 12 vols. • Mitani (1999 – 2002), the Robot Training School days ed., 3 vols. all published by Shogakukan.

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Allies Of The Doraemons •

The Mysterious Thief Dorapan - He is a mysterious thief from France, clearly modelled after Arsene Lupin. He has a wand with a jewel on it used to change the material of one object into another (eg. paper --> water, rock --> china, etc.). He fears the dark and dogs. He likes eating dorayaki with cheese. Though often misunderstood for a "villain", he always steals for a reason, espsecially to help the poor. He was originally an enemy of The Doraemons, but that was because an evil scientist ordered him to be one. The Mysterious Thief Dorapan later banded with The Doraemons to defeat the evil scientist.

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Jaidora - He is a fantastic cook. Strangely for his hobby, he wears glasses and can't see without them. His emotions change quite rarely, and he runs in circles frantically when in panic.

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Dora Leonardo Da Vinci - He can make anything he draws into a real object, which comes in handy. He was sent by the principal of Robot School to protect The Doraemons.

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Dora Crybaby - He likes dressing up as a girl, much to the disgust of others. He can also summon roses to attack enemies, and scream loud enough to defeat enemies. (Hence his name). He was originally an enemy of The Doraemons, along with Dora Eater and Dradra Dora, but later banded up woth The Doraemons to defeat an enemy.

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Dora Eater - He eats anything, including enemies. He's so fat that most attacks simply bounce off him. He was originally an enemy of The Doraemons, along with Dora Crybaby and Dradra Dora, but later banded up with them to defeat an enemy.

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Dradra Dora - He can control toy soldiers, tanks and fighting jets to attack enemies. He can also create a big fuss so that whirlwinds form. He was originally an enemy of The Doraemons, along with Dora Crybaby and Dora Eater, but later banded with them to defeat an enemy.

Dōgu Doraemon can take out various devices (Dōgu; literally, devices or tools; 道具; see also chindōgu) from his four-dimensional pocket. Some of them are based on real-life Japanese household goods with a fanciful twists, others are tools that most of us would dream to have. Most often, these tools allow the characters to do what would otherwise be impossible in real life (like affecting the outcome of battles on TV, or walk on clouds). Whilst some of them might be possible to make in real life, many of these tools will only exist in our wildest imaginations. Below is a short list of the dōgu that is used by Doraemon and his friends at some point or other. The list is by no means exhaustive, as the author has featured

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thousands of them during the entire series - estimated at around 4500. The most complete list of Dōgu can be found here. DORAEMONs ITEM (Japanese Site)

Recurring Items

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Time machine: Doraemon's time machine is inside Nobita's desk. It looks like a simple platform with a console and lamp overhanging the console. This is a classic icon associated with the Doraemon series. Usually piloted by Doraemon himself. Dorami has her own Time Machine, which is plum shaped, suggesting that there are a variety of models available in the future. An alternative to it is the Time Belt.

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Take Copter: One of the main modes of transportation for the various characters is the take-koputā (literally, bamboo-copter; タケコプター) which combines the words take (bamboo in Japanese) and koputa – last half of the word helicopter (which is also used in Japanese). The device is a tiny cap with a propeller which you can put on any part of your body to gain the ability to fly. It is usually put on the head like a propeller beanie, but in the first few Doraemon episodes, it is placed on the waist.

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Moshi mo box (もしもボックス): is a pun based upon the phrase "moshi moshi", the greeting used on the telephone, and moshimo, meaning 'what if?' The device is a phone booth into which the characters dial and propose a "what if" scenario which magically alters the world. Nobita has at various times wished for a world where money was not necessary (and storekeepers forced cash onto his hands upon attempting to purchase toys, and laws were enforced to ban the burying of money; in short, you purchase an item by receiving cash and robbed by being forced to take cash), a world without mirrors (where nobody had ever seen a reflective surface) and for a world where lazy people who napped would be hailed as celebrities.

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Dokodemo door: One of Doraemon's most famous devices is the dokodemo door (literally "anywhere door") a door which allows people to travel anywhere by simply going through the door. In an earlier chapter the door is able to travel to the end(or say, the border) of the universe, but in later

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chapters it is said to only be able to travel for a maximum distance of 100000 light years, which is still not technically wrong because people can use it multiple times to get to futher places. •

Small Beam: A flashlight-sized lamp that will shrink any object (including people) to minuscule sizes. The opposite tool is, of course, the large beam, which enlarges whatever it shines on. Technically, it must be assumed that the beams posses some sort of artificial intelligence, as of they only enlarge/shrink the main object shined on, and not the ground, grass, or passing bugs, etc.

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Pass Loop: A loop which creates a passage through a wall when placed upon a wall or floor.

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Air Cannon: A gun barrel that could be fitted on one's arm and fires a powerful burst of air that knocks out the victim when the user says "bang".

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Translation Konjac (ほんやくコンニャク): A little piece of Konjac jelly that enables a person to understand and speak any known language in the universe. The effect begins after the person ingests the jelly but the duration of the effect is unknown. While the ones Doraemon uses are usually unflavored, in the story のび太の日本誕生, he used one labeled, Translation Konjac-Miso flavor, proving that various flavors exist. The flavored jellies are apparently more expensive.

One Shot Items (A Non-Exhaustive List) •

Memory Bread: A bread you imprint pages or write answers on. After one eats the bread, one will remember the content on the bread. Nobita ended up eating so much bread he threw it up and had to start again.

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Restoring Beam: A lamp which is able to restore any broken item to its original state.

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Animal Biscuits: Animal shaped biscuits that will transform a person into whatever animal the biscuit looks like for a short period of time.

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Allmighty Pass: A pass that grants the holder access to anywhere and anything without cost or identification. Nobita once used this to ride taxis without fare, go into pubs, and visit a famous star's home.

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Deep Sea Cream: Allows the user to go underwater for extended periods of time.

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Fluffy Medicine: Lightens the weight of the character taking this medicine, allowing him to float into the clouds. Taking too much at once can be disasterous.

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Instant Christmas Tree: A Christmas tree that grows instantly when you plant it. Similar tools include the instant vine, which grows into the sky in moments after planting.

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Cloud hardening gas: A gas which hardens clouds upon application, allowing characters to walk on them. Doraemon and his friends once used this gas to create a cloud city.

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Bamboo Horse: A horse/bamboo hybrid creature that is highly volatile in temperament. It needs to be fed carrots to pacify it. Doraemon gave it to Nobita so he could win a stilts walking contest.

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Mini airplane: A mini air plane in which you jump into it and fly around like a fly. It also has the ability to fire and when the plane is destroyed, the pilot will be ejected from it in a parachute.

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Lightning Cloud: A small portable lightning cloud that floats and has a trigger to immediately release lightning and loud thunder. Doraemon gave it to Nobita to help him get used to thunder.

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Sticker of truth: A rubber sticker of small size that could be stuck on anyone to make them tell the truth. Nobita once used it on Suneo because Suneo was flattering random people.

TV series After a brief and unpopular attempt at animation (in 1973 by Nippon Television) Doraemon remained fairly exclusive in the domain of printed pages until 1979 when the TV Asahi (テレビ朝日) produced a series of Doraemon anime (1979 - ). This series became incredibly popular and Doraemon fever swept across Japan. Celebrating Doraemon's anniversary, a new version of Doraemon has been telecast on TV Asahi with the new seiyu and staff since 15th April, 2005.

Films Main article: List of Doraemon films In 1980, the first of a series of annual feature length animated films was made. The films have taken a slightly more adventure oriented tone taking the familiar characters of Doraemon and placing them in a variety of exotic and perilous settings. Nobita and his friends have visited the age of the dinosaurs, the far reaches of the galaxy, the heart of darkest Africa (where they encountered a race of sentient bipedal dogs), the deepest depths of the ocean, and a world of magic. Some of the films are based on legends (e.g. Atlantis) and literature works (Journey to the West and Arabian Nights). Some films also have serious themes, especially on environmental topics and the use of technology.

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Voice actors From 1979 to spring 2005, the main voices in Doraemon were provided by the following actors: Doraemon Nobuyo Oyama (大山のぶ代?) Nobita

Noriko Ohara (小原乃梨子?)

Shizuka

Michiko Nomura (野村道子?)

Jaian

Kazuya Tatekabe (たてかべ和也?)

Suneo

Kaneta Kimotsuki (肝付兼太?)

However, they gave up their parts to other people in the spring of 2005 due in part to the 25th anniversary of the Doraemon TV-series and their age. [1] [2] On 13th March, 2005, TV Asahi [3] announced the new voice actors for the 5 main characters. Doraemon Wasabi Mizuta (水田わさび?) Nobita

Megumi Ohara (大原めぐみ?)

Shizuka

Yumi Kakazu (かかずゆみ?)

Jaian

Subaru Kimura (木村昴?)

Suneo

Tomokazu Seki (関智一?)

Doraemon in the World Main articles: List of non-Japanese Doraemon versions and List of Doraemon comics in English Nowadays, Doraemon is widely popular beyond Japan where Doraemon was born. The publishing dates below are slightly misleading, particularly in the Southeast Asian market. Doraemon has been published widely and without license in many countries until its actual publishing rights were obtained due to stricter regulations. The TV series has been introduced in India on the Hungama children's channel.

Series finale rumours There are three current and often quoted urban legends that started spreading in late 1980s of an ending to the Doraemon series. • The first and the more optimistic ending was made public by Nobuo Sato several years ago. Doraemon's battery power ran out, and Nobita was given a choice between replacing the battery inside a frozen Doraemon, which would

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cause it to reset and lose all memory, or await a competent robotics technician who would be able to resurrect the cat-robot one day. Nobita swore that every day to work hard in school, graduate with honours, and become that robotics technician. He successfully resurrected Doraemon in the future as a robotics professor, became successful as an AI developer, and thus lived happily ever after, thus relieving his progeny of the financial burdens that caused Doraemon to be sent to his space-time in the first place. A doujin manga for this ending exists. •

The second, more pessimistic ending suggests that Nobita Nobi is suffering from autism and that all the characters (including Doraemon) are simply fictional characters in his imagination. The idea that Nobita was a sick and dying little boy who imagined the entire series on his sickbed to help him ease his pain and depression no doubt angered quite a bit of fans. Many Japanese fans staged a protest outside the Head Quarter of the publisher of the series after learning about this suggestion. The publisher had to issue a public statement that this is not true. (This ending actually correlates to the ending for the series St. Elsewhere, which ended in 1988.)

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The third ending suggests that Nobita fell and hit his head on a rock. He fell into deep coma, and eventually into a semi-vegetative state. To raise money for an operation to save Nobita, Doraemon sold all his tools and devices in his four-dimensional pocket. However, the operation failed. Doraemon sold all his tools except for one used for the last resort. He used it to enable Nobita to go wherever he wanted, whichever time era he wished to go. In the end, the very place Nobita wanted to go is heaven...

However, the plausibility of the issues was discussed here and it concludes that there is no ending to Doraemon. [4] Nevertheless, there are actually three official endings to Doraemon that were made. Doraemon was discontinued in two media because readers were advancing in grades and an ending was believed to be needed. These two are not reprinted. [5] • In the March 1971 issue of the magazine Shogaku 4-nensei : Due to the fact that visitors from the future were causing too much trouble, the government in the 22nd Century passed a bill to ban time-travelling altogether, meaning Doraemon would have to return to his time era. He leaves Nobita. •

In the March 1972 issue of the magazine Shogaku 4-nensei: Doraemon, for some reason, had to go back to the future but fakes a mechanical problem so that Nobita would let him go. Nobita believes him and promises to wait until Doraemon gets well. Realizing that Nobita can handle his departure, Doraemon tells the truth and Nobita accepts. Doraemon returns to the future.

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The third ending was actually meant to be the official ending due to low TV ratings and the Fujiko Fujio duo was busy with other works. But Doraemon did not leave their minds and restarted from next month's issue. In 1981, this episode was made into anime (called "Doraemon Comes Back"), and in 1998, this was released as an anime movie. • In the March 1973 issue of the magazine Shogaku 4-nensei, Nobita again returns home after losing a fight against Jaian. Doraemon then explains that he has to return. Nobita tries to have Doraemon stay but after talking it over with his parents, he accepts Doraemon's departure. They take a last walk in the park. After they split up, Nobita encounters Jaian and gets into a fight again. After a long duel with Nobita trying to win at all costs so that Doraemon can leave without worries, Jaian lets Nobita win for not giving up. Doraemon finds Nobita passed out and takes him home. Sitting beside sleeping Nobita and after a moment of thought, Doraemon returns to the future. (It is also found at the last chapter of the manga Book 6) •

The animated version is completely similar but lenghtened. Nobita finds a box the shape of Doraemon in his drawer. The next day, which happens to be April Fool's day, Nobita is jeered at by Suneo and Jaian, the latter tricking him about Doraemon's return. He happily runs home and asked his mother whether Doraemon came back and finds out the truth. Nobita couldn't stand it and opens the box. Inside of it was a bottle of liquid. He hears Doraemon's voice explaining that the potion is called Uso 800 (Lies 800) it is used to make all untruths the drinker says true. Nobita uses it to play a few tricks on Jaian and Suneo, like first taking cover then say that the weather sure is good, which becomes a lie and it started to rain heavily before he said it is raining heavily and the rain stopped. Jian and Suneo was scared away after a few tricks and when Nobita mentioned what is happening. Nobita was very happy at first but quickly loses interest in the absence of Doraemon. As he walks home, due to his earlier questioning if Doraemon returned or not, his mother asked him if he could find Doraemon, he unwittingly said, in great disappointment, the truth about Doraemon never coming back, just like what Doraemon told Nobita before his departure. Since the potion was still in effect, when he arrives his room he finds Doraemon there, and they have a happy reunion, but due to the effects of the potion, all his greets and joyful words have to be spoken in the opposite way like I am so unhappy that we can never be together again.

•

The extra portion of the above ending from the animated version is included in Book 7 of the manga series.

When the Fujiko Fujio duo broke up in the 1987, the very idea of an official ending to the series was never discussed. Since Fujiko F. died in 1996 before any decisions were reached, any "endings" of Doraemon are fan fiction. However, it is apparent

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from many episodes and movies where Nobita travels to the future that in the end he does marry Shizuka, leads a happy life and separates with Doraemon, although Nobita and his friends fondly remember him. [6]

Doraemon educational comics Doraemon, Nobita, and the other characters also appear in various educational comics.

Dorabase Dorabase is a baseball comic based on the Doraemon characters. This comic follows the story of other robotic cats that form a baseball club. Though it shows Doraemon in the beginning, it doesn't focus on Doraemon itself (because Doraemon must go back to the past to help Nobita). The group is led by Kuroemon, a cat that looks like Doraemon, only it has ears and black fur (Doraemon doesn't have fur). It features a lot of imaginary ability, and in the baseball game, is allowed to use up to 3 gadgets.

Analysis/significance •

In 2005, the Japan Society of New York selected Doraemon as a culturally significant work of Japanese otaku pop-culture in its exhibit Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture, curated by renowned artist Takashi Murakami. In Murakami's analysis, he states that Doraemon's formulaic plotlines typified the "wish fulfilment" mentality of 1970s Japan, where the electronics revolution glamorized the idea that one could solve their problems with machines and gadgets rather than hard work or individual intelligence.

Other appearances Doraemon is a popular character in Japan and appears in many places. For example, Doraemon is used as a promotional character by Art Hikkoshi Center" (アート引越センター Āto hikkoshi sentā?), a removals company, and by Cocos, a popular restaurant chain. He also appears in appeals for charity, the Doraemon fund. Doraemon toys and novelty items are also often found in Japan, with literally thousands of items on sale. return

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Narcolepsy Narcolepsy is a neurological condition most characterized by Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS), episodes of sleep and disorder of REM or rapid eye movement sleep. It is a kind of dyssomnia.

Symptoms of narcolepsy The main characteristic of narcolepsy is overwhelming excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), even after adequate nighttime sleep. A person with narcolepsy is likely to become drowsy or to fall asleep, often at inappropriate times and places. Daytime naps may occur with or without warning and may be irresistible. These naps can occur several times a day. They are typically refreshing, but only for up to a couple hours. Drowsiness may persist for prolonged periods of time. In addition, night-time sleep may be fragmented with frequent wakenings. Four other classic symptoms of narcolepsy, which may not occur in all patients, are: • Cataplexy: sudden episodes of loss of muscle function, ranging from slight weakness (such as limpness at the neck or knees, sagging facial muscles, or inability to speak clearly) to complete body collapse. Episodes may be triggered by sudden emotional reactions such as laughter, anger, surprise, or fear, and may last from a few seconds to several minutes. The person remains conscious throughout the episode. •

Sleep paralysis: temporary inability to talk or move when waking up. It may last a few seconds to minutes. Often frightening but not dangerous.

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Hypnagogic hallucinations: vivid, often frightening, dream-like experiences that occur while dozing, falling asleep and/or while awakening.

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Automatic behavior: Automatic behavior occurs when a person continues to function (talking, putting things away, etc.) during sleep episodes, but awakens with no memory of performing such activities. It is estimated that up to 40 percent of people with narcolepsy experience automatic behavior during sleep episodes.

Daytime sleepiness, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations also occur in people who do not have narcolepsy, more frequently in people who are suffering from extreme lack of sleep. Cataplexy is generally considered to be unique to narcolepsy. In most cases, the first symptom of narcolepsy to appear is excessive and overwhelming daytime sleepiness. The other symptoms may begin alone or in combination months or years after the onset of the daytime naps. There are wide variations in the development, severity, and order of appearance of cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations in individuals. Only about 20 to 25 percent of people with narcolepsy experience all four symptoms. The excessive daytime

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sleepiness generally persists throughout life, but sleep paralysis and hypnagogic hallucinations may not. The symptoms of narcolepsy, especially the excessive daytime sleepiness and cataplexy, often become severe enough to cause serious problems in a person's social, personal, and professional lives and severely limit activities.

What happens in narcolepsy Normally, when an individual is awake, brain waves show a regular rhythm. When a person first falls asleep, the brain waves become slower and less regular. This sleep state is called non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. After about an hour and a half of NREM sleep, the brain waves begin to show a more active pattern again. This sleep state, called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, is when most remembered dreaming occurs. In narcolepsy, the order and length of NREM and REM sleep periods are disturbed, with REM sleep occurring at sleep onset instead of after a period of NREM sleep. Thus, narcolepsy is a disorder in which REM sleep appears at an abnormal time. Also, some of the aspects of REM sleep that normally occur only during sleep -- lack of muscular control, sleep paralysis, and vivid dreams -- occur at other times in people with narcolepsy. For example, the lack of muscular control can occur during wakefulness in a cataplexy episode. Sleep paralysis and vivid dreams can occur while falling asleep or waking up. Simply put, the brain does not pass through the normal stages of dozing and deep sleep but goes directly into (and out of) rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. This has several consequences: • • • •

Nighttime sleep does not include much deep sleep, so the brain tries to "catch up" during the day, hence EDS People with narcolepsy fall quickly into what appears to be very deep sleep They wake up suddenly and can be disoriented when they do They have very vivid dreams, which they often remember

People with narcolepsy may dream even when they only fall asleep for a few seconds.

Causes of narcolepsy While the cause of narcolepsy has not yet been determined, scientists have discovered conditions that may increase an individual's risk of having the disorder. Specifically, there appears to be a strong link between narcoleptic individuals and certain genetic conditions. One factor that may predispose an individual to narcolepsy involves an area of Chromosome 6 known as the HLA complex. There appears to be a correlation

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between narcoleptic individuals and certain variations in HLA genes, although it is not required for the condition to occur. Certain variations in the HLA complex are thought to increase the risk of an autoimmune response to protein producing neurons in the brain. The protein produced, called hypocretin or orexin, is responsible for controlling appetite and sleep patterns. Individuals with narcolepsy often have reduced numbers of these protein producing neurons in their brains. The neural control of normal sleep states and the relationship to narcolepsy are only partially understood. In humans, narcoleptic sleep is characterized by a tendency to go abruptly from a waking state to REM sleep with little or no intervening non-REM sleep. The changes in the motor and proprioceptive systems during REM sleep have been studied in both human and animal models. During normal REM sleep, spinal and brainstem alpha motor neuron hypopolarization produces almost complete atonia of skeletal muscles via an inhibitory descending reticulospinal pathway. Acetylcholine may be one of the neurotransmitters involved in this pathway. In narcolepsy, the reflex inhibition of the motor system seen in cataplexy is believed identical to that seen in normal REM sleep.[citation needed] In 2004 researchers in Australia induced narcolepsy-like symptoms in mice by injecting them with antibodies from narcoleptic humans, the research has been published in the Lancet providing strong evidence suggesting that Narcolepsy might be an autoimmune disease. Narcolepsy is strongly associated with HLA DQB1*0602 genotype. This may represent linkage disequilibrium. Despite the experimental evidence in human narcolepsy that there may be an inherited basis for at least some forms of narcolepsy, the mode of inheritance remains unknown.

Prevalence of narcolepsy It is estimated that there are as many as 3 million people worldwide affected by narcolepsy. In the United States it is estimated that narcolepsy afflicts as many as 200,000 Americans, but fewer than 50,000 are diagnosed. It is as widespread as Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis and more prevalent than cystic fibrosis, but it is less well known. Narcolepsy is often mistaken for depression, epilepsy, or the side effects of medications. Narcolepsy can occur in both men and women at any age, although its symptoms are usually first noticed in teenagers or young adults. There is strong evidence that

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narcolepsy may run in families; 8 to 12 percent of people with narcolepsy have a close relative with the disease. Narcolepsy has its typical onset in adolescence and young adulthood. There is an average 15-year delay between onset and correct diagnosis, that may contribute substantially to the disabling features of the disorder. Cognitive, educational, occupational, and psychosocial problems associated with the excessive daytime sleepiness of narcolepsy have been documented. For these to occur in the crucial teen years when education, development of self-image, and development of occupational choice are taking place is especially damaging. While cognitive impairment does occur; it may only be a reflection of the excessive daytime somnolence. The prevalence of narcolepsy in the United States has been estimated to be as high as one per 1,000. It is a reason for patient visits to sleep disorder centers, and with its onset in adolescence, it is also a major cause of learning difficulty and absenteeism from school. Normal teenagers often already experience excessive daytime sleepiness because of a maturational increase in physiological sleep tendency accentuated by multiple educational and social pressures; this may be disabling with the addition of narcolepsy symptoms in susceptible teenagers. In clinical practice, the differentiation between narcolepsy and other conditions characterized by excessive somnolence may be difficult. Treatment options are currently limited. There is a paucity in the literature of controlled double-blind studies of possible effective drugs or other forms of therapy. Mechanisms of action of some of the few available therapeutic agents have been explored but detailed studies of mechanisms of action are needed before new classes of therapeutic agents can be developed. Narcolepsy is much more common among men than among women. It is an underdiagnosed condition in the general population. This is partly because its severity varies from obvious down to barely noticeable. Some narcoleptics do not suffer from loss of muscle control. Others may only feel sleepy in the evenings.

Diagnosis Diagnosis is relatively easy when all the symptoms of narcolepsy are present. But if the sleep attacks are isolated and cataplexy is mild or absent, diagnosis is more difficult. Two tests that are commonly used in diagnosing narcolepsy are the polysomnogram and the multiple sleep latency test. These tests are usually performed by a sleep specialist. The polysomnogram involves continuous recording of sleep brain waves and a number of nerve and muscle functions during nighttime sleep. When tested, people with narcolepsy fall asleep rapidly, enter REM sleep early, and may awaken often during the night. The polysomnogram also helps to detect other possible sleep disorders that could cause daytime sleepiness.

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For the multiple sleep latency test, a person is given a chance to sleep every 2 hours during normal wake times. Observations are made of the time taken to reach various stages of sleep. This test measures the degree of daytime sleepiness and also detects how soon REM sleep begins. Again, people with narcolepsy fall asleep rapidly and enter REM sleep early.

Treatment Several treatments are available for narcolepsy. These treat the symptoms, not the underlying cause. The drowsiness is normally treated using stimulants such as methylphenidate (Ritalin®), amphetamines (Adderall®), dextroamphetamine (Dexedrine®), methamphetamine (Desoxyn®), modafinil (Provigil®), etc. Other medications used are codeine (see references to clinical studies) and selegiline. In many cases, planned regular short naps can reduce the need for pharmacological treatment of the EDS to a low or non-existent level. The cataplexy is treated using clomipramine, imipramine, or protriptyline but this need only be done in severe cases. A new medication is gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) (Xyrem®), recently approved in the USA by the Food and Drug Administration. It is thought to be effective because it increases the quality of nocturnal sleep. Treatment is individualized depending on the severity of the symptoms, and it may take weeks or months for an optimal regimen to be worked out. Complete control of sleepiness and cataplexy is rarely possible. Treatment is primarily by medications, but lifestyle changes are also important. The main treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness in narcolepsy is with a group of drugs called central nervous system stimulants. For cataplexy and other REM-sleep symptoms, antidepressant medications and other drugs that suppress REM sleep are prescribed. Caffeine and over-the-counter drugs have not been shown to be effective and are not recommended. In addition to drug therapy, an important part of treatment is scheduling short naps (10 to 15 minutes) two to three times per day to help control excessive daytime sleepiness and help the person stay as alert as possible. Daytime naps are not a replacement for nighttime sleep. Ongoing communication among the physician, the person with narcolepsy, and family members about the response to treatment is necessary to achieve and maintain the best control.

Research Studies supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are trying to increase understanding of what causes narcolepsy and improve physicians' ability to detect and treat the disease. Scientists are studying narcolepsy patients and families, looking for clues to the causes, course, and effective treatment of this sleep disorder.

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Recent discovery of families of dogs that are naturally afflicted with narcolepsy has been of great help in these studies. Some of the specific questions being addressed in NIH-supported studies are the nature of genetic and environmental factors that might combine to cause narcolepsy and the immunological, biochemical, physiological, and neuromuscular disturbances associated with narcolepsy. Scientists are also working to better understand sleep mechanisms and the physical and psychological effects of sleep deprivation and to develop better ways of measuring sleepiness and cataplexy. Examples of areas of potential research include studies on the pathophysiology of narcolepsy; abnormalities of circadian rhythms, particularly anatomical and biochemical substrates; the molecular genetics of narcolepsy; and the development of new therapies. New, more sensitive, and specific objective diagnostic procedures need to be developed and validated. While studies in the naturally occurring narcoleptic dog model suggest an autosomal recessive mode of transmission in that model, genetic analysis of cohorts of narcoleptic patients and identification of informative families are needed to define the mode of inheritance and to facilitate the search for gene markers.

Coping with narcolepsy Learning as much about narcolepsy as possible and finding a support system can help patients and families deal with the practical and emotional effects of the disease, possible occupational limitations, and situations that might cause injury. A variety of educational and other materials are available from sleep medicine or narcolepsy organizations. Support groups exist to help persons with narcolepsy and their families. Individuals with narcolepsy, their families, friends, and potential employers should know that: • • • •

•

Narcolepsy is a life-long condition that requires continuous medication. Although there is no cure for narcolepsy at present, several medications can help reduce its symptoms. People with narcolepsy can lead productive lives if they are provided with proper medical care. If possible, individuals with narcolepsy should avoid jobs that require driving long distances or handling hazardous equipment or that require alertness for lengthy periods. Parents, teachers, spouses, and employers should be aware of the symptoms of narcolepsy. This will help them avoid the mistake of confusing the person's

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•

behavior with laziness, hostility, rejection, or lack of interest and motivation. It will also help them provide essential support and cooperation. Employers can promote better working opportunities for individuals with narcolepsy by permitting special work schedules and nap breaks.

Doctors generally agree that lifestyle changes can be very helpful to those suffering with narcolepsy. Suggested self-care tips, from the National Sleep Foundation, University at Buffalo, and Mayo Clinic, include: • • • •

• • • • • •

Take several short daily naps (10-15 minutes) to combat excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks. Develop a routine sleep schedule – try to go to sleep and awaken at the same time every day. Alert your employers, coworkers and friends in the hope that others will accommodate your condition and help when needed. Do not drive or operate dangerous equipment if you are sleepy. Take a nap before driving if possible. Consider taking a break for a nap during a long driving trip. Join a support group. Break up larger tasks into small pieces and focusing on one small thing at a time. Stand whenever possible. Take several short walks during the day. Avoid caffeine and nicotine. Carry a tape recorder, if possible, to record important conversations and meetings.

See also • • • • •

Cataplexy Dyssomnia Orexin Microsleep List of people with narcolepsy return

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Hair of the dog This article is about the phrase. For other uses, see Hair of the dog (disambiguation).

"Hair of the Dog" is predominately used to refer to imbibing an alcoholic beverage to cure a hangover, although it has seen limited use with respect to other drugs. The intent in so imbibing is to lessen or postpone the effects of the hangover, or the withdrawal from that drug. It is a shortened form of the phrase "The hair of the dog that bit you".

Origin and derivation The origin of the phrase is unclear, but instances of the phrase have appeared in English literature since the time of Shakespeare. E. Cobham Brewer writes in the Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898): "In Scotland it is a popular belief that a few hairs of the dog that bit you applied to the wound will prevent evil consequences. Applied to drinks, it means, if overnight you have indulged too freely, take a glass of the same wine next morning to soothe the nerves. 'If this dog do you bite, soon as out of your bed, take a hair of the tail in the morning.'" He also cites two apocryphal poems containing the phrase, one of which is attributed to Aristophanes. It is not known whether the idea of like curing like, or the practice (which may have other psychological causes) came first. Certainly it is possible that the phase was used to justify an existing practice. It is also possible that the modern use of the phrase arose as a metaphor for that idea and did not have a former basis in practice. The phrase is also used in a more general context to mean "a little dose of something which caused your problems in the first place," can be used to cure the problem. The phrase may have some roots in the Latin phrase "Similia similibus curantur".

Biological effects A hangover is due partly to poisoning by alcohol (production of toxins) and other components of the drink, and partly to the body's reaction to withdrawal from alcohol. Medically, consuming alcohol may help with mitigating the headache of a hangover by depressing the central nervous system, and may ameliorate some of the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, for example, delirium tremens[1]; but it is not medically recommended for hangovers, nor for the long term treatment of problems related to alcohol consumption. Some researchers have suggested that ethanol may help dilute other alcohols that cause many of the hangover symptoms, but no controlled studies were carried out. Generally speaking, physicians do not recommend 'hair of the dog' treatments for hangovers. [2] Drinking more alcohol can make the symptoms seem to lessen at first, but will only aggravate the symptoms once the liver breaks the alcohol down, because the body will have additional toxins to deal with.

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Related concepts There are parallels with this concept in Homeopathic medicine. However ‘hair of the dog’ treatment is distinct in that with homeopathic cures only a small amount of the active ingredient is used, and often the ingredient is different than the causative agent although it produces similar symptoms. One non-homeopathic medically effective symptomatic relief treatment that utilizes a similar concept is the treatment for postherpetic pain (neuralgia) of shingles by applying chili powder spray to the affected area. [3] Vaccination can be seen as a similar idea in that it uses deactivated or less-dangerous but similar infectious agents to provide an immunity to a disease without having to expose the patient to the dangerous infectious agent itself. But vaccination is distinct from 'hair of the dog' treatments in that vaccines are applied beforehand to allow the body to develop defenses (antibodies), rather than after-the-fact.

Treatment notice Medical professionals should be consulted about the proper treatment for hangovers, alcohol withdrawal, and withdrawal from other drugs.

Notes 1. ^ "Delirium tremens:Medication" from eMedicineEthanol is effective in blunting withdrawal symptoms, but it is no longer indicated because of associated electrolyte abnormalities, potential worsening of gastritis, hepatitis, and pancreatitis. Ethanol use may promote continued ethanol usage. 2. ^ “Medline:Hangover treatment” National Institute of Health. 3. ^ “Shingles: Hope Through Research”, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Health. return

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Gomoku Gomoku, go-moku, or gobang (Japanese: 五目並べ, Gomoku Narabe, "five points") is an abstract strategy board game. It is traditionally played with go pieces (black and white stones) on a go board (19x19 intersections); however, because once placed pieces are not moved or removed from the board, gomoku may also be played as a Paper and pencil game. Black plays first, and players alternate in placing a stone of their color on an empty intersection. The winner is the first player to get an unbroken row of five stones horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Gomoku is known in Korean by its cognate omok (오목) and in Chinese as "五子棋" (Pinyin: wǔzǐqí).

Example game This game on the 15×15 board is adapted from the paper "Go-Moku and ThreatSpace Search".

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The opening moves show clearly black's advantage. An open row of three (one that is not blocked by an opponent's stone at either end) has to be blocked immediately, or countered with a threat elsewhere on the board. If not blocked or countered, the open row of three will be extended to an open row of four, which threatens to win in two ways. White has to block open rows of three at moves 10, 14, 16 and 20, but black only has to do so at move 9. Move 20 is a blunder for white (it should have been played next to black 19). Black can now force a win against any defence by white, starting with move 21.

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There are two forcing sequences for black, depending on whether white 22 is played next to black 15 or black 21. The diagram on the right shows the first sequence. All the moves for white are forced (except for 38, but by then it is too late). Such long forcing sequences are typical in gomoku, and expert players can read out forcing sequences of 20 to 40 moves rapidly and accurately.

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The diagram on the right shows the second forcing sequence. This diagram shows why white 20 was a blunder; if it had been next to black 19 (at the position of move 32 in this diagram) then black 31 would not be a threat and so the forcing sequence would fail.

Variations Black was long known to have a big advantage, even before L. Victor Allis proved that black could force a win (see below). So a number of variations are played with extra rules that aimed to reduce black's advantage.

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•

Free-style gomoku is the basic game as described above.

•

Standard gomoku requires a row of exactly five stones for a win: rows of six or more, called overlines, do not count.

•

The rule of three and three bans a move that simultaneously forms two open rows of three stones (rows not blocked by an opponent's stone at either end).

•

Gomoku+ the winner must have an unbroken row of five stones and this row must not be blocked at either end. This rule makes Gomoku more flexible and provides more power for White to defend.

•

The rule of four and four bans a move that simultaneously forms two rows of four stones (open or not).

•

The Little Golem game server has a "forbidden zone" where black cannot play his second move.

These restrictions are often applied only to black. • Renju is played on a 15×15 board, with the rules of three and three, four and four, and overlines applied to black only. There are special rules for the opening. •

Ninuki-renju or Wu is a variant which adds capturing to the game; it was published in the USA in a slightly simplified form under the name Pente.

•

m,n,k-games are a generalization of gomoku to a board with m×n intersections, and k in a row needed to win.

•

Connect(m,n,k,p,q) games are another generalization of gomoku to a board with m×n intersections, k in a row needed to win, p stones for each player to place, and q stones for the first player to place for the first move only. Among these games, Connect(m,n,6,2,1) is the most interesting one, and is called Connect6.

Analysis Computer search by L. Victor Allis has shown that on a 15x15 board, black wins with perfect play. This applies regardless of whether overlines are considered as wins, but it assumes that the rule of three and three is not used. It seems very likely that black wins on larger boards too. Generalized gomoku is PSPACE-complete. The following recursive algorithm Pseudocode shows how one may develop a winning strategy for the problem gomoku (in PSPACE – proof not given) – for player X. Stop when step 1 hits a row of five X’s.

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1: Assign X to a position, if X has won (there are five X's in a row) then we have a winning strategy and exit. If the board is full and no player has won, exit - there is no winning strategy. a: Assign O to a position – if the board is full or there are five Os in a row X was obviously a bad position, go back to 1 and choose another position, otherwise run the program on the new positions – via recursion, if that fails choose another position X in step 1. 2: If no assignment in step 1 allows for a ‘winning strategy’ then there isn’t one – ie X will eventually lose.

See also • • • •

Solved board games Go Connect6, can be called a revised version of Gomoku, with no "no 3-3's" rule, etc Pente

External links •

Renju International Federation website

Internet Servers • •

Pocket-Monkey (tm) - Turn-based Gomoku, Backgammon, and other board games. Kurnik Online Games - A hassle-free, community-supported site of classic board and card games to play against live opponents. return

Common Era This article is about "Before Common Era" (BCE) and "Common Era" (CE). For other uses of these acronyms, see BCE (disambiguation) or CE

The Common Era (CE), sometimes known as the Current Era or less often referred to as the Christian Era, is the period of measured time beginning with the year 1 (the traditional birthdate of Jesus) to the present. The notations CE and BCE (Before the Common Era or Before the Christian Era) are alternative notations for AD (anno

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Domini, Latin for "in the year of the Lord") and BC (Before Christ), respectively. They may also be written C.E. and B.C.E. The term common era is preferred by some as a religiously-neutral alternative. Others criticize it as an unnecessary euphemism or an attempt at political correctness, pointing out that the pivotal year 1 still centers on the supposed date of Jesus' birth. The phrase 'Common Era' has its equivalents in other languages: For example, since the People's Republic of China succeeded the Republic of China in 1949, most Chinese have used the literal translation of Common Era, gōngyuán 公元, for date notation. Some Chinese use zhŭhoù 主後 (lit. After the Lord). Additionally, the term "CE" is preferred by academics in some fields (e.g. by the American Anthropological Association[1]).

Chronology and notation Main article: Anno Domini The calendar practice prompting the coining of the term common era is the system of numbering years from the supposed year of birth of Jesus. This system was devised by the monk Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525, who named it anno Domini. Two centuries later, the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede used a Latin term (ante incarnationis dominicae) that is roughly equivalent to the English term before Christ to identify years before the first year of this era. The term "common era" is an alternative way of referring to this era. Using this nomenclature, human beings first walked on the Moon in the year 1969 of the common era, and the French Revolution is considered to have occurred in year 1789 of the common era. When used as a replacement for BC/AD notation, the common era is abbreviated as CE and its years are numerically equivalent to AD years. Similarly, the time before the common era is written as BCE and is equivalent to BC. Both Common Era abbreviations are written following the year, thus Aristotle was born in 384 BCE (or 384 BC), and Genghis Khan died in 1227 CE (or AD 1227). As with anno Domini, the year zero is not used, except for astronomical uses. So 1 CE is immediately preceded by 1 BCE. On (rare) occasions, one may find the abbreviation "e.v." or "EV" instead of "CE";[citation needed] this stands for "Era Vulgaris", the Latin translation of "Common Era".

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Origins According to Peter Daniels (a Cornell University and University of Chicago trained linguist): CE and BCE came into use in the last few decades, perhaps originally in Ancient Near Eastern studies, where (a) there are many Jewish scholars and (b) dating according to a Christian era is irrelevant. It is indeed a question of sensitivity.

However, the term "common era" has earlier antecedents. A 1716 book by English Bishop John Prideaux says, "The vulgar era, by which we now compute the years from his incarnation." In 1835, in his book Living Oracles, Alexander Campbell, wrote "The vulgar Era, or Anno Domini; the fourth year of Jesus Christ, the first of which was but eight days." In its article on Chronology, the 1908 Catholic Encyclopedia uses the sentence: "Foremost among these (dating eras) is that which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and known as the Christian, Vulgar or Common Era, in the twentieth century of which we are now living." "Vulgar" comes from the Latin word vulgāris (from vulgus, the common people), meant "of or belonging to the common people, everyday," and acknowledges that the date was commonly used, even by people who did not believe that Jesus was divine. By the late 1800s, however, vulgar had come to mean "crudely indecent" and the Latin word was replaced by its English equivalent, "common". The first known Jewish use of this practice is from an inscription on a gravestone in a Jewish cemetery in Plymouth, England: Here is buried his honour Judah ben his honour Joseph, a prince and honoured amongst philanthropists, who executed good deeds, died in his house in the City of Bath, Tuesday, and was buried here on Sunday, 19 Sivan in the year 5585. In memory of Lyon Joseph Esq (merchant of Falmouth, Cornwall). who died at Bath June AM 5585/VE 1825. Beloved and respected. This inscription uses the Hebrew calendar (5585), but ends by providing the common year (1825); presumably the "VE" means "Vulgar Era", and presumably VE was used instead of AD in order to avoid the Christian implications.

Usage Many Jewish writers, Islamic scholars, and others prefer the notation's neutrality, while some Christians have used the term CE to mean "Christian Era." Jehovah's Witnesses exclusively use CE and BCE in their publications, generally explaining in footnotes that the terms stand for "Common Era" and "Before the Common Era". [2] Some non-religious academics in the fields of history, theology, archaeology, sociology and anthropology have also in recent decades begun using this system.

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More visible uses of common era notation have recently surfaced at major museums in the English-speaking world: The Smithsonian Institution prefers Common Era usage, though individual museums are not required to use it.[3] Furthermore, several style guides now prefer or mandate its usage.[4][5][6][7][8] Even some style guides for Christian churches mandate its use: For example, that of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.[9] In the United States, the usage of the BCE/CE notation in textbooks is growing. It is used by the College Board in its history tests[10], as well as by some National Geographic Society publications[11], and the United States Naval Observatory.[12] The U.S.-based History Channel uses BCE/CE notation in articles on non-Christian religious topics such as Jerusalem and Judaism[13][14] and the unusual combination of BC and CE in other cases.[15]

Support and opposition to the use of CE/BCE over AD/BC A range of arguments exist both for and against the use of CE and BCE over AD and BC.

Support Supporters of common era notation promote it as a religiously-neutral notation suited for cross-cultural use. Arguments given for standardizing common era notation include: • The calendar used by the West has become a global standard—one built into every computer's hardware. It should be religiously and culturally neutral out of consideration for those cultures compelled to use it out of necessity.[16] •

It has been largely used by academic and scientific communities[16] and is not a completely unfamiliar dating system.

•

It is simple to change BC/AD to BCE/CE notation, since the years are numbered exactly the same in both (e.g., 33 BC becomes 33 BCE.) Documents with years that do not have AD designation do not need to be changed at all (e.g., 1066 remains 1066 in AD and in CE systems).[16]

•

The label Anno Domini is almost certainly inaccurate—the birth of Jesus of Nazareth probably occurred no later than 4 BC, the year of Herod the Great's death.[16]

•

Common Era notation works well syntactically with centuries, whereas Anno Domini, because it is about years instead of eras, does not ("In the 18th Century, Common Era" versus "In the year of the Lord, 18th Century" versus "In the 19th century in the year of the Lord").

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Opposition Efforts to replace AD/BC notation with CE/BCE notation have given rise to opposition. Arguments against the common era designation include: • BC and AD have been used for such a length of time as to have become somewhat removed from their religious connotations.[16] •

The newer BCE/CE system has not been used widely enough to have become commonly understood.[16]

•

Some argue against the BCE/CE system because it retains year 1 as its epoch and so preserves a Christocentric worldview. These people hold that a more massive change in the calendar is needed, one that would change every date.[16]

•

BCE/CE fails to fix one of the primary problems with the Christian calendar, the lack of a year "0". 1 BC should become the year 0, 2 BC should become 1 BC, et cetera. [16]

•

As there is no equally forceful trend to remove other terms with origins in non-Christian religions (such as days of the week named after Norse gods), some argue that movement to replace BC and AD is specifically antiChristian. Conversely, Roman and Norse religious references are perhaps of less concern because they are dead religions and so do not elevate one population over another.[16]

Other calendar eras Main article: Calendar era Several major calendar systems exist in addition to the Western calendar: • The Hindu calendar constitutes four eras and the epoch of the present (fourth) era, the Kali Yuga, is January 23 3102 BCE on the proleptic (i.e., back-dated) Gregorian calendar, making the current year (2006) 5108. •

The Hebrew calendar dates from the Creation (according to which the year beginning in the northern autumn of 2000 was 5761 AM);

•

Most Chinese do not assign numbers to the years of the Chinese calendar, but the few that do (expatriate Chinese and Westerners) date from the Yellow Emperor (three different systems are in use, which caused the Chinese years 4637, 4697, or 4698 to begin in early 2000).

•

The Taiwanese calendar dates from the founding of the Republic of China in 1911.

•

The Buddhist calendar dates from the birth of the Buddha (making 2000, 2543 under this calendar, but only in Thailand);

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•

The Indian national calendar (also the Saka calendar) is the official civil calendar in use in India. Years are counted in the Saka Era, which starts its year 0 in 78. 2006 is therefore 1928 in India.

•

The Islamic calendar dates from the Hijra in 622 using a lunar year of about 354 days (so the Western year 2000 contains parts of 1420 AH and 1421 AH);

•

The Bahá'í calendar dates from the year of the declaration of the Báb. Years are counted in the Bahá'í Era (BE), which starts its year 1 from March 21, 1844.

•

The Japanese calendar dates from the succession of the current Emperor of Japan. The current emperor took the throne in 1989, which became Heisei 1, but which was until then Shōwa 63.

•

The Jalaali calendar, a form of the Zoroastrian calendar, is used in Iran. This uses the Zoroastrian months, with the starting year taken from the Hijra in 622—thus the year 1385 begins in March 2006. The spring equinox marks the beginning of the year for this calendar.

•

The French Revolutionary Calendar was used in Revolutionary France from October 24, 1793 (on the Gregorian calendar) to January 1, 1806. Years were counted using the Republican era from September 22, 1792 starting with year I.

•

The Neo-Pagan Calendars include that used by many pagan religions today, often called the Wheel of the Year.[citation needed]

•

The Roman Calendar, which is virtually extinct, dated years from the mythological founding of Rome, 21 April 753 BC. The first year was thus 1 AUC (ab urbe condita or anno urbis conditae; "from the city being founded", or "in the year of the foundation of the city"). Reckoning days by this calendar is complex and no longer in use, but the calendar continues on today as 2759 AUC in 2006.

•

The Discordian calendar follows the CE numbering plus 1166. Presumable because of the Curse of Greyface that occurred in 1166 BCE. As a reference, 2006 is 3172 YOLD (Year of Our Lady of Discord) in the Discordian calendar.

See also •

Calendar reform return

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Tsume-Shogi Tsume are to Shogi what mating problems are to European chess - there are a few differences but it would not be stretching a point too far to describe tsume as 'shogi mating problems'. My favourite selection of tsume shogi problems is on the Shogi Nexus Page. Tsume are an important part of Shogi, particularly if you can't find opponents very often - they allow you to 'practice' on your own. The rules for tsume are really quite simple - here they are: 1. The attacking side is always black, the defending side white 2. Black has only the pieces shown on the board, plus those in hand. White is deemed to have all other pieces (except the black king) available for dropping. 3. As Black is attacking, the black king is not shown on the board. 4. Black has first move, and all moves must be check. White may defend by moving the king, taking the checking piece, or interposing a piece, either by a normal move or a drop. 5. The 'best' move must always be made by each side. What this means is that black must always make the move which will lead to the shortest exchange, of moves before mating and white must make that move which delays the mate for as long as possible. 6. In the final position, when White is checkmated, Black should no longer have any pieces in hand. 7. Moves are numbered in the Japanese fashion, ie: black's first move is 1, white's first move is 2, etc. Move numbers are often not shown. 8. Tsume are usually displayed as taking place at the 'upper right hand corner' of the board. Ascii Board representations are painful, so I won't bother with them here, but will present a problem in a standard notation which is described in more detail below. Black: +B3d, P2e In hand: R White: K1c, B2b, G1e, L1a That is, Black has a promoted bishop on 3d a pawn on 2e and a rook in hand. White has the king at 1c, a bishop at 2b, a gold at 1e and a lance at 1a (and in hand all pieces not shown except for the black king). Here is the solution: R*1b Lx1b +B2d Set the problem up on your board and play through the solution. This should give you a little feel for what tsume are all about. Remember, every move by black must be a check.

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Now, here are a few more notes on tsume. They repeat (far more eloquently) much of what I have said above and were contributed by Reijer Grimbergen (who also contributed about 300 tsume to the SHOGI-L mailing list). Tsume Shogi Description by Reijer Grimbergen Solving tsume shogi is a special skill that is neglected by a lot of Shogi players. This is unfortunate, since tsume shogi sharpens your endgame and because Shogi has drops, the endgame and especially mating the enemy king can turn a game completely around. Countless are the games I won starting from a bad position and I think I have my tsume shogi to thank for that. But even more important, solving tsume shogi is lots of fun. I love puzzles and that is exactly what tsume shogi is about. Some of my fellow players call me crazy but one of my greatest joys in Shogi is solving a very hard tsume problem after hours of puzzling, frustrated to the bone, but refusing to give up and look at the solution. Of course you don't have to get so obsessive about it, but tsume shogi is an essential part of studying the game. The rules of tsume shogi: Tsume shogi problems are given by means of a diagram, showing the position from which you have to mate the king by consecutive checks. You are always black and only the enemy (white) king is shown (since you are about to mate your opponent without giving him a chance to mate, your own king is not important - although there are some special kinds of tsume problems that have both kings on the board-) alongside the defending pieces and the pieces you can use to mate (both on the board and in hand). All pieces not shown are considered to be in your opponent's hand and can be dropped in defence. Often the number of moves is given in Japanese count (black's first move counted as 1, white's answer as 2, black's second move as 3, white's answer as 4 and so on) but this is not necessary. It is important to note that a useless defensive move (like dropping a piece between king and checking piece that can be taken without changing the mate) is not counted as a move. This is neither a design nor a qualification fault but a basic rule of tsume shogi (but be careful, in some of the more tricky problems dropping a piece can change the mate according to the piece dropped). How to solve tsume shogi problems: The basic idea is to solve tsume shogi problems without moving the pieces, just like in a game situation. Some players prefer to put the position on a board but I trained myself to solve the problem directly from the book or magazine so that tsume shogi is useful way of killing time in train, car or plane. Roughly said, problems with more moves are more difficult than problems with fewer moves. Although this is not always true , it is easy to find books working according this principal starting with simple problems and moving up to more difficult ones. As you solve them your

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Tsume Shogi skill progresses as you move through the book. I started tsume shogi with a book by Kato, containing 180 tsume problems (unfortunately this book is now out of print). At the start I had a very difficult time, but going through the book I was amazed at the beautiful themes used in tsume and I began to like it more and more. Shortly after finishing this book I became sho-dan, winning more than one game in a close endgame fight. Reijer Grimbergen Here are a few more notes on tsume which I received from Hans Geuns. Additional Notes on Tsume Shogi by Hans Geuns In each position Black (the attacker) should have only one correct move. If Black does not play this one move, White (the defender) should be able to defend successfully and reach a position where Black is no longer able to force mate. If Black has more than one way to force mate, the problem is not really a tsume (you might call it a deficient tsume problem). The Japanese term for this kind of deficient problem (fukanzensakuhin) is yozume (which means, simply, ''extra mating sequence''). This rule implies that all the variations in the solution of a tsume result from White trying yet another unsuccesful defence. (These variations are called henka, while a variation starting with a Black move is called henkoo/chakushu-henkoo.) So, in a (good) tsume problem any henka will result in mate, unless Black plays a henkoo. In the final position - when White is checkmated - Black should no longer have any pieces in hand. This rule implies that if you think you have solved a tsume and end up in a position where Black still has one or more pieces in hand, you have made some error. (Or that the problem itself is deficient...!). But if the problem is from a Japanese source found in the Shogi Sekai for instance - the chance that the problem is incorrect is very slight indeed and you can bet your Shogi life that you have overlooked some heinously clever defence move... If the problem itself is incorrect, it is called a teamari, which means something like ''still having some moves''). However, there is one little - rather technical - exception to this rule: If there two ways to force mate (two henka, not henkoo !), one leading to a position without Black pieces in hand and another variation that is 2 moves (Japanese count) longer in which Black still has a piece in hand, the problem is nevertheless considered to be a kanzensakuhin (a correct tsume composition). Some of the older tsume problems are problems of this kind. If a problem belongs to this class, it is thought of as a little bit flawed, however. Any tsume shogi author will try to avoid this flaw.

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I found these rules in a very good introduction to Tsume Shogi: Tsume Shogi o tanoshimu hon (''Enjoying Tsume Shogi''), by Murayama Takaharu, (Kin-ensha, Tokyo 1988) (ISBN 4-321-55221-4). Mr. Murayama Takaharu (1923) is the writer of several books and articles about Tsume Shogi and has composed about 150 tsume problems. As far as I know judging by this book and by some references in Shogi - Shibu-shikanshi (the Shogi Quarterly published by the Renmei) - he may safely be seen as an authority on Tsume Shogi. Additional information from yours truly... I have received a letter from Mr Onogi of NSR which leaves the copyright situation with respect to the problems I used to display here (i.e., those contributed by Reijer Grimbergen) unclear - so I have removed access to the tsume. Anyone requiring further information should contact me by email. Here is another resource which contain tsume-shogi problems: Ricoh Tsume Shogi Page. return

Manzai (tsukkomi) Manzai (漫才) is a style of stand-up comedy in Japan, which usually involves two performers—a straight man (tsukkomi) and a funny man (boke)—trading jokes at great speed. Most of the jokes revolve around mutual misunderstandings, double-talk, puns and other verbal gags. In recent times, manzai has often been associated with the Osaka region, and manzai comedians often speak in the Kansai dialect during their acts. Yoshimoto Kogyo, a large entertainment conglomerate based in Osaka, first coined the term manzai in 1933, as well as introducing the form of comedy to Tokyoites.

History Originally based around a festival to welcome the New Year, manzai traces its origins back to the Heian period. The two manzai performers came with messages from the gods and this was worked into a standup routine, with one performer showing some sort of opposition to the word of the other. This pattern still exists in the roles of the boke and the tsukkomi. Continuing into the Edo period, the style focused increasingly on the humor aspects

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of stand-up, and various regions of Japan developed their own unique styles of manzai, such as Owari manzai (尾張万歳), Mikawa manzai (三河万歳), and Yamato manzai (大和万歳). With the arrival of the Meiji Period, Osaka manzai (大阪万才) began changes that would see it surpass in popularity the styles of the former period, although at the time rakugo was still considered the more popular form of entertainment. The spread of manzai was largely put to a halt after the conclusion of World War II. With the end of the Taisho Era, Yoshimoto Kōgyō—which itself was founded at the beginning of the era, in 1912—introduced a new style of manzai lacking much of the celebration that had accompanied it in the past. This new style proved successful and spread all over Japan, including Tokyo. Riding on the waves of new communication technology, manzai quickly spread through the mediums of stage, radio, and eventually, TV.

Etymology The kanji for manzai have been written in various ways throughout the ages. Originally written as 萬歳 (meaning something like "long life"), using a rather archaic form of the character 万 (to which it was soon changed), the arrival of Osaka manzai brought another character change, this time changing the latter character to a simpler 才, which carries the basic meaning of "talent". In 1933, Yoshimoto Kōgyō—promoting its own new style of manzai—felt it right to bring on yet another character change. Thus manzai took on the form that has remained to this day, 漫才, which has the slightly more interesting meaning along the lines of "involuntary talent".

Boke and tsukkomi Similar in execution to the concepts of "funny man" and "straight man" in double act comedy (e.g. Abbott and Costello), these roles are a very imporant characteristic of manzai. Boke (ボケ) comes from the verb bokeru (惚ける or 呆ける) which carries the meaning of "senility" or "air headed-ness" and is reflected in the boke's tendency for misinterpretation and forgetfulness. The word tsukkomi (突っ込み) refers to the role the second comedian plays in "butting in" and correcting the boke's errors. It is common for tsukkomi to berate boke and hit them on the head with a swift smack. The tradition of tsukkomi and boke is often used in other Japanese comedy, although it may not be as obviously portrayed as it usually is in manzai.

External links •

A study in the cultural effects of manzai return

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Diamond Game Diamond Game seems to be what the Japanese call Chinese Checkers. However, I couldn't find anything about how a single-player game would go. I guess it would be something like Peg Solitaire [3]. The box in the anime seems to based on the product by Hanayama Toys (Magnetic King Diamond). Hanayama Toys Chinese Checkers Wiki return

Hikikomori Hikikomori (ひきこもり or 引き篭り lit. "pulling away, being confined," i.e., "acute social withdrawal") is a term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive and young adults who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of and confinement due to various personal and social factors in their lives. The term "hikikomori" refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general as well as to individuals belonging to this societal group.

Definition The Japanese Ministry of Health defines hikikomori as individuals who refuse to leave their parents' house, and isolate themselves away from society and family in a single room for a period exceeding six months. While the distinctiveness of the phenomenon is varying depending on the individual, some of such youths remain in isolation for a span of years, or in rare cases, decades. Many hikikomori may start out as school refusals, or tōkōkyohi (登校拒否) in Japanese.

Situation Japan According to estimates by psychologist Tamaki Saito, who first coined the phrase, there may be one million hikikomori in Japan, twenty percent of all male adolescents in Japan, or one percent of the total Japanese population. Surveys done by the Japanese Ministry of Health as well as research done by health care experts suggest a more conservative estimate of 50,000 hikikomori in Japan today. As reclusive youth by their very nature are difficult to poll, the true number of hikikomori most likely

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falls somewhere between the two extremes. Though acute social withdrawal in Japan appears to affect both genders equally, due to differing societal expectations for maturing boys and girls, the most widely reported cases of hikikomori are from Japanese families with male children who seek outside intervention when their son, usually the eldest, refuses to leave the family home.

Worldwide While total social withdrawal seems to be mainly a Japanese phenomenon, there are reports of similar phenomena developing in South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Still, with the appearance of NEET in the United Kingdom and Twixters in the United States in recent years, there are indications that hikikomori may be part of a larger global phenomena in affluent and highly developed Post-Industrial countries, although specific causes may differ from the Japanese phenomenon.

Causes General Causes Sometimes referred to as a kind of social problem in Japanese discourse, the hikikomori phenomenon has a number of possible contributing factors. Young adults may feel overwhelmed by modern Japanese society, or be unable to fulfill their expected social roles as they have not yet formulated a sense of personal tatemae (the public facade) and hon'ne (the "true self") – both of which are needed to cope with the daily paradoxes of adulthood. The dominant nexus of the hikikomori issue centers on the transformation from young life to the responsibilities and expectations of adult life — indications are that advanced capitalist societies such as modern Japan are unable to provide sufficient meaningful transformation rituals for promoting certain susceptible types of youth into mature roles within society. As with many advanced capitalist meritocracies, there exists a great deal of pressure on adolescents in Japan to be successful and perpetuate the existing social status-quo. A traditionally strong emphasis on complex social conduct, rigid hierarchies and the resulting, potentially intimidating multitude of social expectations, responsibilities and duties in Japanese society contribute to this pressure on young adults. Historically, Confucian teachings deemphasizing the individual and favoring a conformist stance to ensure social harmony in a rigidly hierarchized society have shaped much of the Sinosphere, possibly explaining the emergence of the hikkimori phenomenon in other East-Asian countries. In general, the prevalence of hikikomori tendencies in Japan may be encouraged and

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facilitated by three primary factors: 1. Middle class affluence in a post-industrial society such as Japan allows parents to support and feed an adult child indefinitely in the home. Lower income families do not have hikikomori children because a socially withdrawing youth is forced to work outside the home if he cannot finish school, and for this reason isolation in the room stops at an early stage. 2. The inability of Japanese parents to recognize and act upon the youth's slide into isolation, soft parenting, or even a codependent collusion between mother and son known as amae in Japanese. When a youth withdraws from life, parents can act or respond in such a way that causes the child to become even more seclusionary. 3. A decade of flat economic indicators and a shaky job market in Japan makes the pre-existing system requiring years of competitive schooling for elite jobs a pointless effort. While Japanese fathers of the current generation of youth still enjoy lifetime employment at multinational corporations, incoming employees in Japan enjoy no such job guarantees in today's job market (See Freeters and NEET for more on this). Young Japanese people are savvy enough to see that the system in place for their grandfathers and fathers no longer works, and for some the lack of a clear life goal makes them susceptible to social withdrawal as a hikikomori. Lastly, it should be noted that the hikikomori phenomenon is similar to the symptoms exhibited by people with Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome in western cultures. Significantly, Japan has the highest incidence of Pervasive Developmental Disorders, that include Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome, in the developed world. In Japan, PPD’s are some 2.95 times more common then in western countries; 2.1% v’s ca. 0.7 %. Some 3.3% of Japanese males have a PDD compared with only ca. 1% in Europe and the US. This has led some western commentators to suggest that people with hikikomori are affected by PDD’s or disorders that affect social competence, but that their disorders e.g. Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, Avoidant Personality Disorder, are altered from their typical western presentation by the social and cultural pressures unique to Japan.

The Education System The Japanese education system, like those found in China, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea, and similar to the school systems in India, is demanding upon the youth. A multitude of expectations, high emphasis on competition, and the rote memorization of facts and figures for the purpose of passing entrance exams into the next tier of education in what could be termed a rigid pass-or-fail ideology, induce a high level of stress. Echoing the traditional Confucian values of society, the educational system is still viewed as playing an important part in society's overall productivity and success. In this social frame, students often face significant pressure

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from parents and the society in general to conform to its dictates and doctrines. These doctrines, while part of modern Japanese society, are increasingly being rejected by Japanese youth in varying ways such as hikikomori, freeter, NEET, and parasite singles. Beginning in the 1960s, the pressure on Japanese youth to succeed began successively earlier in their lives, sometimes starting before pre-school, where even toddlers had to compete through an entrance exam for the privilege of attending one of the best pre-schools. This was said to prepare children for the entrance exam of the best kindergarten, which in turn prepared the child for the entrance exam of the best primary school, junior high school, high school, and eventually for their university entrance exam. Many adolescents took 1 year off after high school to study exclusively for the university entrance exam. The higher the prestige of the university, the more difficult the exam, the most prestigious university with the most difficult exam being the University of Tokyo. Since 1996, the Japanese Ministry of Education has taken steps to address this 'pressure-cooker' educational environment and instill greater creative thought in Japanese youth by significantly relaxing the school schedule from six day weeks to five day weeks and dropping two subjects from the daily schedule, with new academic curricula more comparable to Western educational models. However this may be too little too late, as highly competitive Japanese parents are sending their children to private cram schools to 'make up' for the newly lax curricula in the Japanese public schools. After graduating from high school or university, Japanese adolescents also have to face a very difficult job market in Japan, often finding only part time employment and ending up as freeters with little income, unable to start a family. Another source of pressure is from their co-students, who may harass and bully some students for a variety of reasons, including physical appearance (especially if they are overweight or have severe acne problems), educational or athletic performance, wealth, ethnicity, or even having lived overseas even for a short time. Some have been punished for bullying or truancy, bringing shame to their families.

Symptoms While many people feel the pressure of the outside world, and may feel uncomfortable in public (or "social anxiety"), a hikikomori reacts by complete social withdrawal to avoid all outside pressure. In some cases, they may lock themselves into their bedroom or another room of their parent's house for prolonged periods of time, sometimes measured in years. They usually have few, or no friends. A hikikomori's days are characterized by long spells of sleeping, while their nighttime hours are often spent watching TV, extensively playing computer games, surfing the internet, reading, or other non-social activities.

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This refusal to participate in society and fulfill their expected roles makes hikikomori an extreme subset of a much larger group of the younger Japanese generation that includes parasite singles and freeters. All three groups seem to be rejecting the current social norms society has placed upon them in their own unique ways, with lifestyles considered deviant by society at large. The withdrawal from society usually starts gradually. Affected individuals may appear unhappy, lose their friends, become insecure, shy, and talk less. Those in their teen ages may be bullied at school, which, atop the already high pressures of school and family, may be the final trigger for the withdrawal. Hikikomori often set their own sleep schedule, waking around noon and going to bed in early morning. While they are awake, they may engage in a variety of activities shared with other people of their age, including listening to music, surfing the internet or actively posting in internet forums like 2channel, which has become famous for its hikikomori population. While hikikomori favor indoor activities, most of them do venture outdoors on occasion, though they may prefer to do that at night.

Effects On the individual The lack of social contact and prolonged solitude has a profound effect on the mentality of the hikikomori, who gradually lose their social skills and the social references and mores necessary to interact with the outside world. They may immerse themselves into the fantasy worlds of manga, television or computer games, which in turn become their only frame of reference. Due to a lack of interpersonal stimulus the hikikomori may developmentally stagnate into routine behaviors as time passes, sleeping all day and staying up all night only to sneak out into the kitchen for food when the family is asleep. In extreme cases, the hikikomori eventually abandons all diversions of books and TV and simply stares into space for hours at a time. Should a hikikomori decide to give up his seclusion, whether on his own or through the aid of a care worker, they may face the problem of lacking social skills and years of education that their peers already possess through normal daily interaction with society. Also making reentry into society difficult is the recent social stigma that has come to be attached to the condition due to mass media attention since 1998. As a result, some former hikikomori might be afraid that others will discover their past, adding to their feeling of insecurity around people, especially strangers, in how they should act. Also detrimental is the fact they lack a work history, making anything beyond menial jobs difficult to acquire. On the family Having a hikikomori in the family is often considered embarrassing, so usually it is

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acknowledged as an internal private matter of the family, and many parents wait for a long time before seeking help by a third party within the hikikomori support industry. Also, in Japan the education of the children is traditionally done by the mother, and the father may leave the problem of a hikikomori to the mother, who feels very protective of her child. Initially, most parents simply wait and hope that the child will eventually overcome his problems and return to society by his own will. They see it as a phase the child has to overcome. Also, many parents are uncertain about what to do with a hikikomori, and wait simply due to lack of other options. An aggressive approach by the parents forcing the child back into society is usually not taken or only after a considerable waiting period. In some cases, school homeroom teachers and social workers make inquiries, but usually do not get involved with the situation. In recent years, due to widespread media attention, having a family member who is a hikikomori has come to have a social stigma attached to the condition akin to mental illness. Due to this stigma and the resultant shame, many families strive to keep their child's hikikomori condition a secret from those in the community, thus further delaying parents from seeking outside intervention for their child. Controversy Part of the reason that hikikomori gained worldwide attention was the fact that the media attributed a number of high profile crimes to hikikomori. In 2000, a 17 year old labeled as a hikikomori by the press hijacked a bus and killed one passenger. In fact, it was discovered later that the hijacker was originally a hikikomori but his parents didn’t know how to deal with him, so they admitted him to a mental hospital for two months of observation. Allegedly, the boy felt betrayed by his parents as a result of his hospital admission, and some argue that the violence during the bus hijacking was directed at his mother by proxy. In the coming days, the media reported other extremely violent cases as perpetrated by hikikomori, such as one man who kidnapped nine year old Sano Fusako and held her captive for nine years and two months, The Girl A case, or Tsutomu Miyazaki who in 1989 killed 4 girls to reenact scenes of his pornographic hentai manga. As a result of the media spotlight, a great social stigma of hikikomori being violent and mentally ill came to be attached to the condition that exists to this day. In 2004, 29-year old Japanese-Dutch film school student Danyael Sugawara[1] made a film based on hikikomori called “Tamago". IMDB page of "Tamago" The hikikomori's fear of the social pressure and the inability to effect change in their situation may turn into frustration or even anger— some hikikomori have even physically attacked their parents, though most of the time anger manifests in other ways such as nightly harassment by banging on walls while the rest of the family sleeps.

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This hostility often arises when parents continue to exert pressure on the hikikomori to come out of their rooms after many months of isolation, despite the fact a status quo has been allowed to develop between the parents, usually the mother, and the hikikomori. This status quo, called the Strange Peace, occurs because parents passively allow their child to stay withdrawn and has many reasons but mostly centers on an amae relationship between mother and son, the fear and social stigma of the local community knowing the family has a hikikomori, and the simple notion that it is better to have the child in the house even in isolation than as a runaway. It was initially argued in the mass media when hikikomori came into public spotlight that the loss of a social frame of reference might also lead hikikomori to commit violent or criminal behaviors. However, it has been argued by hikikomori experts that ‘true hikikomori’ are too socially withdrawn and timid to venture outside of their rooms, let alone venture outside the home and attack someone. If hikikomori physically attack anyone, it is usually confined to family members. Western youths who feel similar social pressures or bullying from peers and adults may become depressed, withdraw similar to hikikomori, or even lash out with hate and aggression. In some instances of the latter, their actions may escalate to the extreme, such as in the arson committed by June and Jennifer Gibbons, the deadly violence of Columbine High School massacre and Red Lake High School massacre in the United States, or the Erfurt massacre in Erfurt, Germany.

Reaction Treatment There are different opinions about the treatment of a hikikomori, and the opinions often split into a Japanese and a western point of view. Japanese experts usually suggest waiting until the hikikomori reemerges, whereas western doctors suggest dragging the hikikomori back into society, by force if necessary. While there are a growing number of doctors and clinics specialized in helping hikikomori, many hikikomori and their parents still feel a lack of support for their problems on an institutional level and feel that society at large has been slow to react to the hikikomori crisis. In the last several years, a hikikomori support industry has sprung up in Japan, each with its own style or philosophy in treating hikikomori cases. Despite this diversity, there seem to be two general camps for treatment: 1. The psychological approach suggests psychological help is needed for these isolated young people, as many parents are overwhelmed with the problems of a hikikomori child whom they don’t understand. The standard psychological approach to hikikomori behavior in a youth is to treat the condition as a behavioral or mental disorder and so admit the child to a hospital ward in order to administer counseling, observation, and drug therapy using standard institutional procedures.

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2. The socialization approach to hikikomori treatment views the problem as one of socialization rather than mental illness. Instead of clinical treatment in a hospital, the hikikomori is removed from the original environment of the home into a shared living environment and encouraged to reintegrate into social groups through daily activities with other hikikomori who are already in various states of recovery; this approach shows the person that they are not alone in their condition and appears to be successful for most cases.

Acceptance In contrast to the approach of treatment, some may argue that the Hikikomori status is a personal personality style or choice of living to be accepted, or resolved, within the respective families, as long as this choice is not leading to criminal or violent behaviour affecting others. As there is a certain tendency in societies, especially traditionally conformist ones like the Japanese society, to label individuals or minority groups deviating from the perceived norm, be it physical, social, psychological or sexual, "pathologically ill" and calling for their cure, i.e. realignment with the mainstream, there must be a careful examination regarding the actual wishes of the individual in comparison to the alleged harm to society (also see Asperger Syndrome and Schizoid Personality Disorder regarding the treatment vs. acceptance issue). In some cases a Hikikomori partially or completely recovers in time when given a free house or apartment of his own.

References in pop culture •

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The manga Welcome to the NHK! created by Tatsuhiko Takimoto and illustrated by Kenji Oiwa, currently serialized in the magazine Monthly Shōnen Ace. The 2004 film Hikikomori: Tokyo Plastic by director Adario Strange. 2005 film The Quiet One by Danyael Sugawara The manga Rozen Maiden created by popular manga authors PEACH-PIT features a hikikomori as a main character. In the anime series Simoun, the extremely popular Neviril goes through a hikikomori phase after the death of her partner in combat. In the anime series Marmalade Boy, main male character Matsuura Yuu also goes through a hikikomori phase at age 12, when he learns that the man whom he calls "father" may not be his real father.

See also Related Japanese topics •

Amae

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Education in Japan

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Freeters

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NEET

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Nevada-tan

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Otaku

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Parasite singles

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Taijin kyofusho

Medical diagnoses for hikikomori behaviors •

Agoraphobia

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Asperger's syndrome

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Attention-Deficit-Disorder (ADD)

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Autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)

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Avoidant personality disorder

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Delayed sleep phase syndrome

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Depression

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Dysthymia

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Isolation

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Schizoid personality disorder

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Selective mutism

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Shyness

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Social anxiety disorder

See also •

Kairo (a.k.a. Pulse) - 2001 film by Kiyoshi Kurosawa which comments about this behavior in Japan

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School refusal

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Secondary school

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Twixter return

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May Sickness 五月病 (GOGATSUBYO, May Sickness, May Disease, May Blues) is a "sickness" that a number Japanese experience every year. April is the beginning of the new school and fiscal years. People are even busier than normal doing taxes, getting kids ready for school (ceremonies, exams, placements and whatnot) and then there's spring, the cherry blossoms, then the week of national holidays; busy again. Come May, they start to slow down back to a normal routine and all of a sudden they feel very unmotivated, lost, hopeless etc. All the goals and dreams they thought of in April are squashed and they get depressed. Spring is ending, and people see that the trees are turning green and summer is already on its way. Some blog... doesn't exist anymore, I think return

Salome For other uses of Salome and Salomé, see Salome (disambiguation)

Coin of Salome (daughter of Herodias), queen of Chalcis and Armenia Minor.

Salome or Salomé, the Daughter of Herodias (c AD 14 - between 62 and 71), like Dismas, or the various names of the Three Magi, is a name given to a character in the New Testament, one whose name is not given there itself. She is, however, an entirely historical person, whose name is preserved in non-biblical literature. In scholarly works, she tends to be referred to as the Daughter of Herodias.

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Flavius Josephus The name "Salome" is preserved in Josephus' Jewish Antiquities (Book XVIII, Chapter 5, 4): Herodias, [...], was married to Herod, the son of Herod the Great, who was born of Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest, who had a daughter, Salome; after whose birth Herodias took upon her to confound the laws of our country, and divorced herself from her husband while he was alive, and was married to Herod, her husband's brother by the father's side, he was tetrarch of Galilee; but her daughter Salome was married to Philip, the son of Herod, and tetrarch of Trachonitis; and as he died childless, Aristobulus, the son of Herod, the brother of Agrippa, married her; they had three sons, Herod, Agrippa, and Aristobulus;[1]

Biblical character

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist by Titian, painted circa 1515 (Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome)

Salome was the step-daughter of Herod Antipas, and danced before Herod and her mother Herodias at the occasion of Herod's birthday, and by doing so caused the death of John the Baptist. The New Testament suggests that Salome caused John to be executed because of his complaints that Herod's marriage to Herodias was adulterous; and that Herodias put her up to the demand that John be executed, something the king was initially reluctant to do. According to Mark 6:21-29: And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee; And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and

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them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath's sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her. And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb. (KJV) This Salome is not the same Salome who is said to be a witness to the Crucifixion of Jesus in Mark 15:40. (see Salome (disciple)).

Salome in the arts Painting This Biblical story has long been a favourite of painters, since it offers a chance to depict oriental splendour, semi-nude women, and exotic scenery under the auspices of being a Biblical subject. Painters who have done notable representations of Salome include Titian and Gustave Moreau.

"The Peacock Skirt", illustration by Aubrey Beardsley for Oscar Wilde's play Salome

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Oscar Wilde's play Main article: Salome (play) This story was made the subject of a play by Oscar Wilde that premiered in Paris in 1896, under the French name Salomé. In Wilde's play, Salome takes a perverse fancy for John the Baptist, and causes him to be executed when John spurns her affections. In the finale, Salome takes up John's severed head and kisses it. Because British law forbade the depiction of Biblical characters on stage, Wilde wrote the play originally in French, and then produced an English translation (titled Salome). Wilde's French was far from perfect: the play was proofread and corrected by Marcel Schwob. In the English version Alfred Bruce Douglas (Bosie) is indicated as translator.

Opera Strauss Main article: Salome (opera) The Wilde play (in German translation) was turned into an opera by Richard Strauss, part of the standard operatic repertoire, and is now better known than the Wilde play itself. The opera Salome, which premiered in Dresden in 1905, is famous for the Dance of the seven veils. Massenet Main article: Hérodiade The 1881 opera Hérodiade by Jules Massenet tells a slightly different story of the relationship between Salome, John the Baptist and Herod. The rather sub-standard libretto by Paul Milliet, Gremont and Zamadini based upon the novella Herodias by Gustave Flaubert (published in Three Tales, 1877) gives full responsibility for John's death to Salome's mother Herodias and the priests who fear his religious power. Salome herself is shown as a loving disciple of John who commits suicide when he is executed.

Films Wilde's Salome has at least twice been made into a film: a 1923 silent film starring Alla Nazimova in the title role (see Salomé (1923 film)) and a 1988 Ken Russell playwithin-a-film treatment, Salome's Last Dance, which also includes Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie) as characters. IMDB lists at least 25 Salome/Salomé films, and numerous resettings of the Salome story to modern times. Among the former are

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• • •

a 1918 Salomé movie, starring Theda Bara, for which Flavius Josephus was credited for the story; a 1953 film starring Rita Hayworth; a 2002 film by Carlos Saura using flamenco dance.

See also • •

Dance of the seven veils List of names for the Biblical nameless return

Warabi-Mochi Warabi-Mochi(ワラビ餅)is not true mochi, but a jelly-like confection made from bracken starch and covered or dipped in kinako (sweet toasted soybean flour). It is popular in the summertime, and often sold from trucks, not unlike ice cream trucks in Western countries. Mochi Wiki Kyoto Cooking Circle return

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Tatami Tatami (畳 tatami, Tatami) (originally meaning "folded and piled") are a traditional flooring. Made of woven , and traditionally packed with straw (though nowadays sometimes with ), tatami are made in individual mats of uniform size and shape, bordered by brocade or plain green cloth. Tatami were originally a luxury item for the wealthy at a time when most people had floors made of dirt.

Six-mat room with tatami flooring and shoji.

There are various rules concerning the number and layout of tatami mats; an inauspicious layout is said to bring bad fortune. In homes, the mats must not be laid in a grid pattern, and in any layout there is never a point where the corners of three or four mats intersect.

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Layout and size

Typical layout of a 4 1/2 mat room

In Japan, the size of a room is typically measured by the number of tatami mats (-畳 jō). The traditional dimensions of the mats were fixed at 90 cm by 180 cm (1.62 square meters) by 5 cm (35.5 in by 71 in by 2 in). Half mats, 90 cm by 90 cm (35.5 in by 35.5 in) are also made. Shops were traditionally designed to be 5½ mats (8.91m²), and tea rooms and tea houses are frequently 4½ mats (7.29m²). Because the size is fixed, rooms in traditional Japanese construction measure in multiples of 90 cm. Mats from Kyoto and other parts of western Japan are slightly smaller than those from Tokyo and eastern Japan at 85 cm by 170 cm (1.53m²; 33.5 in by 70.5 in).

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Typical layout of a 4 1/2-mat tea room.

Use Tatami mats are associated with Japanese religious rites and the tea ceremony. Most modern Japanese homes still have at least one tatami room, the washitsu. Tatami are also used when training Japanese martial arts, such as judo, for protective purposes. Tatami "omote", or the outside rush mat layer, wrapped over the rice straw core of the mat, is used in the practice of tameshigiri in Japanese swordsmanship. The tatami omote mats are rolled into cylinders, soaked in water for several days, and then cut in order to test either a newly made sword's sharpness or a swordsman's cutting ability.

See also •

1 E0 m² return

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Insects of Japan (kamadouma)

kamadouma (カマドウマ, Rhaphidophoriade) [4] Wikipedia:Rhaphidophoriade uma-oi (ウマオイ) - katydid [5] kutsuwamushi (クツワムシ) - giant katydid[6] benjo ko-orogi (便所コオロギ) - "rest-room cricket"; another name for the kamadouma more info to follow ^-^; (maybe) return

Shinkansen The Shinkansen (Japanese: 新幹線) is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by Japan Railways. Since the initial Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened in 1964, the network has expanded to link most major cities on the islands of Honshu and Kyushu with running speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph), in an earthquake and typhoon prone environment. Test run speeds have been 443km/h (275 mph) for conventional rail, and up to 580 km/h (360 mph) for maglev trainsets. Shinkansen literally means "New Trunk Line" and hence strictly speaking refers only to the tracks, while the trains themselves are officially referred to as "Super Express" (超特急 chō-tokkyū); however, this distinction is rarely made even in Japan. In contrast to older lines, Shinkansen are standard gauge, and use tunnels and viaducts to go through and over obstacles, rather than around them.

300 (Left) and 700 Series Shinkansen at Tokyo Station

Shinkansen 500 Series at Kyoto Station, March 2005

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History

Shinkansen track is standard gauge, extremely level, and has rails that are continuously welded together to reduce vibration.

Japan was the first country to build dedicated railway lines for high speed travel. Due to the largely mountainous nature of the country, the pre-existing network consisted of 3 ft 6 in gauge (1,067 mm) narrow gauge lines, which generally took indirect routes and could not be adapted to higher speeds. In consequence, Japan had a greater need for new high speed lines than countries where the existing standard gauge or broad gauge rail system had more upgrade potential.

Early proposals The popular English name bullet train is a Western translation of the Japanese term dangan ressha (弾丸列車), a nickname given to the project while it was initially being discussed in the 1930s. The name stuck due to the Shinkansen locomotive's close resemblance to a round-shaped bullet and its high speed. The "Shinkansen" name was first formally used in 1940 for a proposed standard gauge passenger/freight line between Tokyo and Shimonoseki, using steam and electric locomotives with a top speed of 200 km/h (twice the speed of the fastest Japanese train at the time). Over the next three years, the Ministry of Railways drew up more ambitious plans to extend the line to Beijing (through a tunnel to Korea) and even Singapore, and build connections to the Trans-Siberian Railway and other trunk lines in Asia. These plans were formally abandoned in 1943, as Japan's position in World War II began to visibly erode. However, some construction did commence on the line; several tunnels on the present-day Shinkansen date to the war-era project.

Construction

Shinkansen 0 Series at Fukuyama Station, April 2002

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Following Japan's defeat in 1945, high-speed rail was forgotten for several years. However, by the mid-1950's, the Tokaido Main Line was operating at full passenger capacity, and the Ministry of Railways decided to revisit the Shinkansen project. Government approval came in 1958, and construction of the first segment of the Tōkaidō Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka started in 1959. Much of the construction was financed by a US$80 million loan from the World Bank. A testing facility for rolling stock, now part of the line, opened in Odawara in 1962. The Tokaido Shinkansen opened on October 1, 1964, just in time for the Tokyo Olympics. It was an immediate success, reaching the 100 million passenger mark in less than three years on July 13, 1967 and one billion passengers in 1976. Sixteen-car trains were introduced for Expo '70 in Osaka. The first Shinkansen trains ran at speeds of up to 200 km/h (125 mph), later increased to 220 km/h (135 mph); some of these trains, with their classic bullet-nosed appearance, are still in use. A driving car from one of the original trains is now in the British National Railway Museum in York.

Network expansion This early success prompted an extension of the first line westward to Hiroshima and Fukuoka (the Sanyo Shinkansen), which was completed in 1975. Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka was an ardent supporter of the Shinkansen, and his government proposed an extensive network of lines paralleling most existing trunk lines in Japan. Two new lines, the Tohoku Shinkansen and Joetsu Shinkansen, were built following this plan. However, many other planned lines were either delayed or scrapped entirely as the national railway went further into debt, largely due to the high costs of building the Shinkansen network. By the early 1980's, Japan National Railways was practically insolvent, leading to its privatization in 1987. Despite this situation, development of the Shinkansen continued. Many further models of train followed the first type, generally each with its own distinctive appearance. Shinkansen trains now run regularly at speeds of up to 300 km/h (186 mph), putting them among the fastest trains running in the world, along with the French TGV, Italian TAV, Spanish AVE, German ICE, and South Korean KTX trains. Since 1970, development has also been underway for the Chūō Shinkansen, a maglev train planned to eventually run from Tokyo to Osaka. On December 2, 2003, the 3 car maglev trainset reached a world speed record of 581 km/h (361 mph). In 2003, JR Central reported that the Shinkansen's average arrival time was within 0.1 minutes or 6 seconds of the scheduled time. This includes all natural and human accidents and errors and is calculated from all of about 160,000 trips Shinkansen

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made. The previous record was from 1997 and was 0.3 minutes or 18 seconds. Japan celebrated 40 years of high speed rail in 2004, with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen line alone having carried 4.16 billion passengers. According to Japanrail.com, the total network has carried over 6 billion passengers.

Safety record There have been no passenger fatalities associated with operation of the Shinkansen. There have been many injuries and one fatality due to doors closing on passengers or their belongings, but attendants are on hand at each platform to ensure that these are resolved before operation begins. There have been suicides by passengers jumping both from and in front of moving trains. This has resulted in some stations installing barriers preventing passengers from accessing the tracks, although an incident on January 9, 1999 at Sakudaira Station on the Nagano Shinkansen showed that even these would not stop determined suicides: a man climbed over a safety barrier to be hit by a non-stop service. The first derailment of a Shinkansen train in passenger service occurred during the Chūetsu Earthquake on October 23, 2004. Eight of ten cars of the Toki No. 325 train on the Jōetsu Shinkansen derailed near Nagaoka Station in Nagaoka, Niigata. However, there were no injuries or deaths among the 154 passengers.[1] In the event of an earthquake, an earthquake detection system can bring the train to a stop very quickly; the next generation FASTECH 360 trains will have ear-like air resistance braking flaps to assist in an emergency stop at high speeds.

Future Due to noise pollution concerns, increasing speed is becoming more difficult. Current research is primarily aimed at reducing operational noise, particularly the "tunnel boom" phenomenon caused when trains enter tunnels at high speed. Despite this, there are two planned speed increases, one to 350 km/h (217 mph) for new trains on the Sanyō line, and one to 360 km/h (223 mph) using the FASTECH 360 trains currently in testing on the Tōhoku Shinkansen. The Kyushu Shinkansen from Kagoshima to Yatsushiro opened in March 2004. Three more extensions are planned for opening by 2010: Hakata-Yatsushiro, HachinoheAomori, and by 2014: Nagano-Kanazawa. There are also long-term plans to extend the network, Hokkaidō Shinkansen from Aomori to Sapporo (through the Seikan Tunnel), Kyushu Shinkansen to Nagasaki, and as well as complete a link from Kanazawa back to Osaka, although none of these are likely to be completed by 2020. The Narita Shinkansen project to connect Tokyo to Narita International Airport, initiated in the 1970s but halted in 1983 after landowner protests, has been officially cancelled and removed from the Basic Plan governing Shinkansen construction. Parts

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of its planned right-of-way will be utilized by the Narita Rapid Railway link when it opens in 2010. Although the NRR will use standard gauge track, it will not be built to Shinkansen specifications and it would not be feasible to convert it into a full Shinkansen line.

List of Shinkansen lines

Operating lines

Map of Shinkansen network.

Lines in green: Operated by JR East Lines in yellow: Operated by JR Tokai Lines in blue: Operated by JR West Lines in red: Operated by JR Kyushu Lines in gray: Planned The main Shinkansen lines are: • Tōkaidō Shinkansen (Tokyo – Shin-Osaka) •

Sanyō Shinkansen (Shin-Osaka – Hakata)

•

Tōhoku Shinkansen (Tokyo – Hachinohe)

•

Jōetsu Shinkansen (Ōmiya – Niigata)

•

Hokuriku Shinkansen or Nagano Shinkansen (Takasaki – Nagano)

•

Kyushu Shinkansen (Shin-Yatsushiro – Kagoshima-Chūō)

Two further lines, known as Mini-Shinkansen (ミニ新幹線), have also been constructed by upgrading existing sections of line: • Yamagata Shinkansen (Fukushima – Shinjō) •

Akita Shinkansen (Morioka – Akita)

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There are two standard gauge not technically classified as Shinkansen lines but with Shinkansen services: • Hakata Minami Line (Hakata – Hakata-Minami) •

Gala-Yuzawa Line – technically a branch of the Jōetsu Line – (EchigoYuzawa – Gala-Yuzawa)

Future lines Many Shinkansen lines were proposed during the boom of the early 1970s but have yet to be constructed. These are called Seibi Shinkansen (整備新幹線) or "planned Shinkansen." One of these lines, the Narita Shinkansen to Narita Airport, has been officially cancelled, but a few remain under development. • Tōhoku Shinkansen extension from Hachinohe Station to Shin-Aomori is under construction and will open by 2010. •

Hokuriku Shinkansen extension to Kanazawa is under construction and will open by 2014. The complete extension of the line to Osaka is under development, and only Fukui Station is under construction.

•

Kyushu Shinkansen extension to Hakata is under construction and will open by 2010.

•

The second Kyushu Shinkansen route from Shin-Tosu to Nagasaki section is under development.

•

The Hokkaidō Shinkansen from Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate is under construction and will open by 2015. A further extension of the line from ShinHakodate to Sapporo is under development.

Shinkansen technology outside Japan Railways using Shinkansen technology are not limited to those in Japan. Taiwan High Speed Rail operates 700T Series sets built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. China has ordered 60 eight-car 200 km/h EMUs based on the E2-1000 Series design built by a consortium formed of Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and Hitachi, for deliveries starting in March 2006. For the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, Hitachi-built EMUs based on Shinkansen technology will be exported for use on high-speed commuter services in Britain.

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Mount Fuji with Shinkansen and Sakura trees in the foreground

List of Shinkansen train models Trains can be up to sixteen cars long. With each car measuring 25 m (82 ft) in length, the longest trains are 400 m (1/4 mile) from front to back. Stations are similarly long to accommodate these trains. • Passenger Trains o

0 Series

o

100 Series

o

200 Series

o

300 Series

o

400 Series (Mini-Shinkansen)

o

500 Series

o

700 Series

o

700T Series (Taiwan Shinkansen)

o

N700 Series (on Test)

o

800 Series

o

E1 Series (Max)

o

E2 Series

o

E3 Series (Mini-Shinkansen)

o

E4 Series (Max)

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•

•

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Experimental Trains o

1000 Type

o

951 Type

o

961 Type

o

962 Type

o

500-900 Series (WIN 350)

o

952/953 Type (STAR 21)

o

955 Type (300X)

o

E954 Type (FASTECH 360 S)

o

E955 Type (FASTECH 360 Z)(Mini-Shinkansen)

Maintenance Trains o

911 Type Diesel Locomotive

o

912 Type Diesel Locomotive

o

DD18 Type Diesel Locomotive

o

DD19 Type Diesel Locomotive

o

944 Type (Rescue Train)

o

921 Type 0 Numbers (Track Checking Car)

o

922 Type (Doctor Yellow Set T1, T2, T3)

o

923 Type (Doctor Yellow Set T4, T5)

o

925 Type (Doctor Yellow Set S1, S2)

o

E926 Type (East i)(Mini-Shinkansen)

List of types of Shinkansen services Originally intended to carry passenger and freight trains by day and night, the Shinkansen lines carry only passenger trains. The system shuts down between midnight and 06:00 every day to allow maintenance to take place. The few overnight trains that still run in Japan run on the old narrow gauge network which the Shinkansen parallels. • Tokaido Shinkansen and Sanyo Shinkansen Nozomi Hikari Hikari Rail Star (in Sanyo area only) Kodama •

Tohoku Shinkansen, Yamagata Shinkansen and Akita Shinkansen

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Hayate Yamabiko, Max Yamabiko Nasuno, Max Nasuno Aoba (discontinued) Komachi (Akita Shinkansen) Tsubasa (Yamagata Shinkansen) •

Joetsu Shinkansen Toki, Max Toki Tanigawa, Max Tanigawa Asahi (discontinued), Max Asahi (discontinued)

•

Hokuriku Shinkansen (Nagano Shinkansen) Asama, Max Asama

•

Kyushu Shinkansen Tsubame

Further reading Hood, Christopher P. (2006). Shinkansen – From Bullet Train to Symbol of Modern Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 0415320526.

See also •

Taiwan High Speed Rail return

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Lake Mashu

Lake Mashu

Lake Mashu (摩周湖 Mashū-ko?) is a lake formed in the caldera of a dormant volcano. It is located in Akan National Park on the island of Hokkaido, Japan. Mashu is famous for the clarity of its water, and the fog that envelops its surface. Mashu is located at 43.58N, 144.53E. Its elevation is 1,152 feet (351 m). return

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Francis of Assisi "Saint Francis of Assisi", "St. Francis of Assisi" and "St Francis of Assisi" all redirect here. For the opera by Olivier Messiaen see Saint-François d'Assise. Saint Francis of Assisi (1182 – 4 October 1226) founded the Franciscan Order or "Friars Minor". He is the patron saint of animals, merchants, Italy, Catholic action, and the environment.

Saint Francis of Assisi

Boyhood and early manhood He was born in 1181 or 1182 as Francesco di Bernardone, Franciscus meaning in Italian "Little Frenchman". His mother would have preferred "Giovanni", but his father Pietro, a cloth merchant, named him Francesco in honor to France, because the commerce with that country was the origin of the family's wealth. Of his mother, Pica, little is known. Francis was one of several children.

Confessor Born

1182, Assisi, Italy

Died

4 October 1226, Porziuncola, Assisi, Italy

Venerated Roman Catholicism in

Rebellious toward his father's Canonized 16 July 1228, place business and pursuit of wealth, Francis spent most of his youth lost Major Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi in books (ironically, his father's shrine wealth did afford his son an 4 October Feast excellent education, and he became Dove, Stigmata, poor franciscan fluent in reading several languages Attributes vestments, cross including Latin). He was also known for drinking and enjoying the animals, merchants, Italy, company of his many friends, who Meycauayan, Philippines Patronage were usually the sons of nobles. His Catholic Action, the displays of disillusionment toward environment, Cub Scouts the world that surrounded him became evident fairly early, one of which is shown in the story of the beggar. In this account, he found himself out having fun with his friends one day when a beggar came along and asked for alms. While his friends ignored the beggar's cries, Francis

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gave the man everything he had in his pockets. His friends quickly chided and mocked him for his stupidity, and when he got home, his father scolded him in a rage. In 1201 he joined a military expedition against Perugia, was taken prisoner at Collestrana, and spent a year as a captive. It is probable that his conversion to more serious thoughts was a gradual process relating to this experience. After his return to Assisi in 1203, Francis recommenced his carefree life. But in 1204 a serious illness started a spiritual crisis. In 1205 Francis left for Puglia to enlist in the army of Gualtiero di Brienne. But on his way, in Spoleto, a strange vision made him return to Assisi, deepening his spiritual crisis. It is said that when he began to avoid the sports and the feasts of his former companions, and they asked him laughingly if he was thinking of marrying, he answered "Yes, a fairer bride than any of you have ever seen" - meaning his "lady poverty", as he afterward used to say. He spent much time in lonely places, asking God for enlightenment. By degrees he took to nursing lepers, the most repulsive victims in the lazar houses near Assisi. After a pilgrimage to Rome, where he begged at the church doors for the poor, he had a mystical experience in the Church of San Damiano just outside of Assisi, in which the Icon of Christ Crucified came alive and said to him 3 times, "Francis, Francis, go and repair My house which, as you can see, is falling into ruins." He thought this to mean the very ruined church in which he was presently praying, and so sold his horse together with some cloth from his father's store, to assist the priest there for this purpose.

Renunciation of Wordly Goods, attributed to Giotto di Bondone

Pietro, highly indignant, attempted to bring him to his senses, first with threats and then with corporal chastisement. After a final interview in the presence of the bishop, Francis renounced his father and his patrimony, laying aside even the garments he

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had received from him. For the next few months he lived as a beggar in the region of Assisi. Returning to the town where he spent two years this time, he restored several ruined churches, among them the Porziuncola, little chapel of St Mary of the Angels, just outside the town, which later became his favorite abode.

The Founding of the Order of Friars Minor

St. Francis of Assisi in Sacro Speco, Subiaco, Italy

At the end of this period (according to Jordanus, on February 24, 1209), a sermon which he heard on the Gospel of Matthew 10:9, where Christ tells his followers that they should go forth and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is upon them, and that they should take no money with them, that they should take no walking stick for the road, and that they should wear no shoes -- made such an impression on him that he decided to devote himself wholly to a life of apostolic poverty. Clad in a rough garment, barefoot, and, after the Evangelical precept, without staff or scrip, he began to preach repentance. He was soon joined by his first follower, a prominent fellow townsman, the jurist Bernardo di Quintavalle, who contributed all that he had to the work. Many other companions joined Francis, and reached the number of eleven within a year. In his humility Francis chose never to be ordained a priest, and the community lived as "fratres minores", in Latin, "lesser brothers". The Franciscans are sometimes called Friars Minor, a term derived from "fratres", in Latin, "brothers".

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The brothers lived a simple life in the deserted lazar house of Rivo Torto near Assisi; but they spent much of their time wandering through the mountainous districts of Umbria, always cheerful and full of songs, yet making a deep impression on their hearers by their earnest exhortations. In 1209 Francis led his first 11 followers to Rome and asked the Pope's permission to found a new religious order and succeeded in gaining the approval of Pope Innocent III. At first his attempt to speak with the Pope was refused; but the following night, Innocent III saw in a dream the church was crumbling apart and a poor man appearing to hold it up. The next morning, recalling the poor man he had refused the day before, he recognized him as the man he saw in his dream, and decided to change his verdict the following day.

Later life From then on his new order grew quickly with new vocations. When hearing Francis preaching in the church of San Rufino in Assisi in 1209, Clare of Assisi became deeply touched by his message and she realized her calling. Her brother Rufino also joined the new order.

the Porziuncola

On Palm Sunday, 28 March 1211 Francis received Clare at the Porziuncola and hereby established the Order of Poor Dames, later called Poor Clares. In the same year, Francis left for Jerusalem, but he was shipwrecked by a storm on the Dalmatian coast, forcing him to return to Italy. On the 8 May 1213 he received the mountain of Verna as a gift from the count Orlando di Chiusi. This mountain would become one of his favourite retreats for

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prayer. In the same year, Francis sailed for Morocco, but this time an illness forced him to break off his journey in Spain. Back in Assisi, several noblemen (among them Tommaso da Celano, who would later write the biography of St. Francis) and some well-educated men joined his order. In 1215 Francis went again to Rome for the Fourth Lateran Council. During this time, he probably met Dominic de Guzman. In 1216 Francis received from the new pope Honorius III the confirmation of the indulgence of the Porziuncola, now better known as the Pardon of Assisi : a complete remission of their sins for all those who prayed in the Porziuncola. In 1217 the growing congregation of friars was divided in provinces and groups were sent to France, Germany, Hungary, Spain and to the East.

St. Francis before the Sultan - the trial by fire (fresco attributed to Giotto)

In 1219 Francis left, together with a few companions, for Egypt. Received by the sultan Melek-el-Kamel, Francis challenged the Muslim scholars to a test of true religion by fire. But they retreated. When Francis proposed to enter the fire first and, if he left the fire unharmed, the sultan would have to recognize Christ as the true God, the sultan allowed him to preach to his subjects. On 5 November 1219 Francis helped the crusaders to capture Damietta. At Saint Jean d'Acre, the capital of what remained of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, he rejoined the brothers Elia and Pietro Cattini. Francis then most probably visited the holy places in Palestine in 1220. When receiving a report of the martyrdom of five brothers in Morocco, he returned to Italy via Venice. Cardinal Ugolino di Conti was then nominated by the pope as the protector of the order.

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When problems arose in the order, a detailed rule became necessary. On 29 September 1220 Francis handed over the governance of the order to brother Pietro Cattini at the Porziuncola. Soon afterwards however, brother Cattini died on 10 March 1221. He was buried in the Porziuncola. But when he started in his death to work numerous miracles, people started to flock to the Porziuncola, disturbing the daily life of the Franciscans. Francis then begged him to stop the miracles and obey in death as he had obeyed him during his life. From that moment the miracles ceased. Brother Pietro was succeeded by brother Elia as vicar of Francis. During 1221 and 1222 Francis crossed Italy, first as far south as Catania in Sicily and afterwards as far north as Bologna. On 29 November 1223 the final rule of the order (in 12 chapeters) was approved by pope Honorius III.

St. Francis receives the Stigmata (fresco attributed to Giotto)

While he was praying on the mountain of Verna, together with his close friend Thomas, Francis received the Stigmata on 17 September 1223. Suddenly he saw a vision of an angel on a cross. This angel bore holes into St. Francis's feet, hands, and chest. This is the first account of Stigmata in history. However, no one knew about this occurrence until after his death, when Thomas told a crowd of Franciscans that he had witnessed this account. Suffering from these Stigmata and from an eye disease, he had been receiving care in several cities (Siena, Cortona, Nocera) to no avail. In the end he was brought back to the Porziuncola. He was brought to the transito, the hut for infirm friars, next to the Porziuncola. Here, in the place where it all began, feeling the end approaching, he spent the last days of his life dictating his spiritual testament. He died on the evening of 3 October 1226.

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On 16 July 1228 he was pronounced a saint by the next pope Gregory IX, the former cardinal Ugolino di Conti, friend and protector of St. Francis. The next day, the pope laid the foundation stone for the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.

St. Francis, Nature, and the Environment Many of the stories that surround the life of St Francis deal with his love for animals. Perhaps the most famous incident that illustrates the Saint’s humility towards nature is recounted in the Vigina (The Little Flowers), a collection of legends and folk-lore that sprang up after the saint’s death. It is said that one day while Francis was traveling with some companions they happened upon a place in the road where birds filled the trees on either side. Francis told his companions to “wait for me while I go a preach to my sisters the birds.” The birds surrounded him, drawn by the power of his voice, and not one of them flew away. Francis spoke to them:

A garden statue of Francis of Assisi with birds

“My sister birds, you owe much to God, and you must always and in everyplace give praise to Him; for He has given you freedom to wing through the sky and He has clothed you…you neither sow nor reap, and God feeds you and gives you rivers and fountains for your thirst, and mountains and valleys for shelter, and tall trees for your nests. And although you neither know how to spin or weave, God dresses you and your children, for the Creator loves you greatly and He blesses you abundantly. Therefore…always seek to praise God.” Another legend from the Fioretti tells us that in the city of Gubbio, where Francis lived for some time, there was a wolf “terrifying and ferocious, who devoured men as well as animals.” Francis had compassion upon the townsfolk, and went up into the hills to find the wolf. Soon fear of the animal had caused all his companions to flee, but the saint pressed on and when he found the wolf he made the sign of the cross and commanded the wolf to come to him and hurt no one. Miraculously the wolf closed

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his jaws and lay down at the feet of St. Francis. “Brother Wolf, you do much harm in these parts and you have done great evil…” said Francis. “All these people accuse you and curse you…But brother wolf, I would like to make peace between you and the people.” Then Francis led the wolf into the town, and surrounded by startled citizens he made a pact between them and the wolf. Because the wolf had “done evil out of hunger” the townsfolk were to feed the wolf regularly, and in return, the wolf would no longer prey upon them or their flocks. In this manner Gubbio was freed from the menace of the predator. Francis, ever the lover of animals, even makes a pact on behalf of the town dogs, that they will not bother the wolf again. These legends exemplify the Franciscan mode of charity and poverty as well as the saint's love of the natural world. Part of his appreciation of the environment is expressed in his Canticle of the Sun, a poem written in Umbrian Italian in perhaps 1224 which expresses a love and appreciation of Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Mother Earth, Brother Fire, etc. and all of God's creations personified in their fundamental forms. However, the academic establishment agrees that St. Francis actually had a rather conventional attitude towards his worldly environment. He did believe that the external world was inherently good as a sign and revelation of God's providence and goodness, its purpose being to inspire our respect and love, but this was not an unusual philosophy in the thirteenth century. His belief in the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God is remarkable.

Main sources for the life of St. Francis •

Friar Elias, Epistola Encyclica de Transitu Sancti Francisci, 1226.

•

Pope Gregory IX, Bulla "Mira circa nos" for the canonisation of St. Francis, 19 July 1228.

•

Friar Tommaso da Celano: Vita Prima Sancti Francisci, 1228; Vita Secunda Sancti Francisci, 1246–1247; Tractatus de Miraculis Sancti Francisci, 1252– 1253.

•

Friar Julian of Speyer, Vita Sancti Francisci, 1232–1239.

•

St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, Legenda Maior Sancti Francisci, 1260–1263.

•

Ugolino da Montegiorgio, Actus Beati Francisci et sociorum eius, 1327–1342.

•

Fioretti di San Francesco, the "Little Flowers of St. Francis", end of the 14th century: an anonymous Italian version of the Actus; the most popular of the sources, but very late and therefore not the best authority by any means.

For an exhaustive list of sources, see [1].

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Main writings by St. Francis Canticum Fratris Solis, the Canticle to Brother Sun. Prayer before the Crucifix, 1205 (extant in the original Umbrian dialect as well as in a contemporary Latin translation). • Regula non bullata, the Earlier Rule, 1221. • Regula bullata, the Later Rule, 1223. • Testament, 1226. • Admonitions. For a complete list, see [2]. • •

See also Saints Portal • • • • • • • • • • • •

Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972) by Franco Zeffirelli Prayer of Saint Francis, Prayer once attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, although in fact it first appeared several centuries after his death. Clare of Assisi Saint Juniper, one of Francis' original followers. Saint David University of Saint Francis (Illinois), a school founded in the tradition of St. Francis of Assisi. List of people on stamps of Ireland Saint Margaret of Cortona The Flowers of St. Francis (1950), a film by Roberto Rossellini Flowers for St Francis (2005), a book by Raj Arumugam (see www.ttsworld.com.au) Lynn Townsend White, Jr. Reluctant Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi a book by Donald Spoto (2002) return

Cicadas and Summer in Japan The sound of cicadas seems to be symbolic of summertime in Japan. Perhaps someone else can fill in why Haruhi would be likely to be hunting for them. --The naming game 11:33, 10 May 2006 (PDT)

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It's a summer pastime of kids and childish adults in Japan. You catch cicadas with big nets (like Western kids catching butterflies) and put them in little cages. Depending on the time of year, there are many different active types of cicada, each with a characteristic song. Some species are specifically associated with the end of summer and the resumption of school with the second semester -- species such as the つくつく法師 (tsukutsuku-boushi semi), which sings from late summer until well into autumn. --Freak Of Nature 14:41, 10 May 2006 (PDT) Nevertheless, almost all cicadas in all anime series sound exactly the same. Nowadays, the childish adults would probably just stay home and play bishoujo games. --Eleutheria 22:40, 10 May 2006 (PDT) So those are cicadas, I don't know what's gotten into heads of those official Taiwanese translators, but the Chinese term I read clearly said "locusts". I had no idea why Haruhi would "hunt for locusts", but I just translated what I saw, so thanks for rectifying that out. --Kinny Riddle 20:39, 11 May 2006 (HKT) I seriously don't get how they can make that mistake. I lived in Hong Kong and Singapore for years, and in both places, the Chinese locals had the same custom of catching cicadas or crickets or whatever and putting them in little cages. You could buy cicadas/crickets in cages, at some of the markets in Kowloon. So, I can't understand how a Taiwanese translator can possibly miss that reference. Not only is the practice part of Chinese behaviour (in some locations, at least) -- it is also an integral element of Japanese culture, and therefore something that a translator shouldn't miss. --Freak Of Nature 08:02, 11 May 2006 (PDT) return

Erg For other uses see Erg (disambiguation) An erg is the unit of energy and mechanical work in the centimetre-gram-second (CGS) system of units, symbol "erg". Its name is derived from the Greek word meaning "work".

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The erg is a small unit, equal to a force of one dyne exerted for a distance of one centimeter. In the CGS base units, it is equal to one gram-square centimeter per second squared (g·cm2/s2). It is thus equal to 1 × 10-7 joules or 0.1 microjoule (µJ) in SI units. It is approximately the amount of energy that a mosquito uses to take flight. 1 erg = 10-7 joule 1 joule = 107 ergs From Greek ergon work [OED]

External links •

Online unit conversion return

Bon Festival

Illuminated by the Albuquerque Bridge, Japanese volunteers place candle lit lanterns into the Sasebo River during the Obon festival.

Kyoto's Gozan no Okuribi bonfire lit during the Obon festival.

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An Obon offering.

O-bon (お盆?) or only Bon (盆?) is a Japanese Buddhist holiday to honor the departed spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist festival has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people from the big cities return to their home towns and visit and clean their ancestors' graves. Traditionally including a dance festival, it has existed in Japan for more than 500 years. It is held from July 13 (August 13 according to the lunar calendar still observed in many regions) to the 15th ("Welcoming Obon" and "Farewell Obon" respectively) in the eastern part of Japan (Kanto), and in August in the western part. In recent years, however, most parts of Tokyo, and by extension, the media, hold Obon in August to coincide with the summer holiday period. Obon shares some similarities with the predominantly Mexican observance of el Día de los Muertos. Obon is a shortened form of the legendary Urabonne/Urabanna (Ja. 于蘭盆会 or 盂蘭盆会, urabon'e). It is Sanskrit for "hanging upside down in hell and suffering" (Sanskrit:Ullambana). The Japanese believe they should ameliorate the suffering of the "Urabanna". Bon Odori originates from the story of Mokuren, a disciple of Shakyamuni, who saw a vision of his deceased mother in the Realm of Hungry Ghosts where she was indulging in her own selfishness. Greatly disturbed, he went to the Buddha and asked how he could release his mother from this realm. Buddha answered, "On the 15th of July, provide a big feast for the past seven generations of dead." The disciple did this and, thus, saw his mother's release. He also began to see the true nature of her past unselfishness and the many sacrifices that she had made for him. The disciple, happy because of his mother's release and grateful for his mother's kindness, danced with joy. From this dance of joy comes Bon Odori or "Bon Dance", a time in which ancestors and their sacrifices are remembered and appreciated. See also: Ullambana Sutra. Toro Nagashi is the floating of paper lanterns on the last evening of Obon, to guide the spirits. in their journey.

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Bon Odori

Bon Odori Singer (2004 August at Imazu primary school in Osaka)

Bon Odori Dancers (2004 August at Imazu primary school in Osaka)

Bon Odori (盆踊り, meaning simply Bon dance) is an event held during Obon. It is celebrated as a reminder of the gratefulness one should feel toward one's ancestors. The O-Bon festival is observed all over Japan as well as parts of China, Malaysia, and American cities with a large enough Japanese population (see Japantown). Originally a Nenbutsu folk dance to express the effusive welcome toward the spirits of the dead, the style of celebration varies in some aspects from region to region. Prefectures often have their own ways of dancing the Bon Odori and their own music to go with it. A Bon Odori in Okayama prefecture will be completely different from one in Kanagawa prefecture. People line up around a high wooden building made especially for the festival called a 'yagura'. There are many kinds of music that go with the dance. The music varies from classical music to Japanese traditional music such as the Makkou Onndo to matsuri-themed pop music such as the Pokemon Ondo. The tradition is said to have started in the later years of the Muromachi period as a public entertainment. In the course of time, the original religious meaning has faded, and the dance has become associated with summer. To celebrate O-Bon in Okinawa, the eisa drum dance is performed instead.

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Celebrations outside Japan China The Chinese version of O-Bon, the Ghost Festival (盂蘭節), is held in the seventh month of the Chinese calendar instead of July. Malaysia A Bon Odori Festival is also celebrated every year at The Esplanade, Penang and at the Matsushita Corp Stadium, Shah Alam. This celebration, which is a major attraction for the state of Selangor, is the brain child of the Japanese Expatriate & Immigrant's Society in Malaysia. In comparison to the celebrations in Japan, the festival is celebrated on a much smaller scale in Penang and Selangor (Malaysia). Here, it is less associated with Buddhism and more with Japanese culture. Held mainly to expose locals to a part of Japanese culture, the festival provides the experience of a variety of japanese food & drinks, art and dance. North America Bon Odori is observed at Japanese Buddhist temples throughout North America (United States and Canada). In cities like Los Angeles and Honolulu, a Bon Odori festival occurs most weekends from July through August. For many temples, the Bon Odori Festival is a major fundraising activity for the temple and brings together temple members to prepare and staff booths for food, games, and merchandise. Some temples separate out the Bon Odori dancing from the more commercial food booth aspect so that their members can all participate in dancing. Special Obon services held at local cemetaries often occur in the weeks proceeding or following the Bon Odori. Because the original members of these temples came from various regions of Japan, Bon Odori Festivals often feature dances from all over Japan.

External links •

Bon Dance: Description of various Bon Dance styles and resources.

•

Runker Room : Japan : Obon no koto

•

Photo Gallery of Bon Odori held in Penang, Malaysia

See also •

Japanese calendar

•

Japanese culture

•

Awa Dance Festival

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Two Years' Vacation Two Years' Vacation (Deux ans de vacances) is an adventure novel by Jules Verne, published in 1888. The story tells of the fortunes of a group of schoolboys marooned on a deserted island in the South Pacific, and of their struggles to overcome adversity.

Publication In common with most of Verne's works, it was serialised (in twenty-four parts between January and December 1888) in the "Extraordinary Journeys" section of the French-language journal Magasin d’Éducation et de Récréation by the Paris-based publisher Hetzel. It was also published in book form in two volumes in June and early November of that year. An illustrated double volume with a colour map and a preface by Verne was released in late November. In his preface to the book, Verne explains that his dual goal was to create a Robinson Crusoe-like environment for children; and to show the world what the intelligence and bravery of a child was capable of when put to the test.

English translations An English translation of the book was serialised in 36 installments in the Boy's Own Paper between 1888 and 1889. In 1889 a two-volume English-language book titled A Two Year's Vacation was published Munro in the United States. Later the same year, a single-volume abridged edition in the United Kingdom was released by Sampson Low under the title of Adrift in the Pacific. An American reprint in 1964 published the book in two volumes: Adrift in the Pacific and Second Year Ashore. In 1967 a new translation by Olga Marx with illustrations by Victor Ambrus titled A Long Vacation was published by Oxford University Press in the United Kingdom and Holt, Rinehart & Winston in the United States.

The plot Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. The story starts with a group of schoolboys aged between eight and thirteen on board a schooner moored at Auckland, New Zealand, and preparing to set off on a six-week vacation. With the exception of the oldest boy Gordon, an American, and Briant and Jacques, two French brothers, all the boys are British. While the schooner's crew are ashore, the moorings are cast off under unknown circumstances and the ship drifts to sea, where it is caught by a storm. Twenty-two days later, the boys find themselves cast upon the shore of an uncharted island. They

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are to remain there for the next two years until the landing of a passing ship that has been taken over by pirates. With the aid of the two surviving members of the original crew of the pirates' ship, the boys are able to defeat the pirates and make their escape. The struggles for survival and dominance amongst the boys were to be echoed in William Golding's Lord of the Flies, written some 66 years later.

References •

Dehr V, Margot J-M, & H'E Zvi. The Complete Jules Verne Bibliography. Retrieved on 2006-03-18. return

Tsuchinoko The tsuchinoko (ツチノコ) is a mythical creature (or UMA) from Japan resembling a snake. The creature is also known as "bachi-hebi" in Northern Japan. References to the tsuchinoko legend can apparently be found in the Kojiki.

Characteristics • • • • • •

The tsuchinoko's body is wider around the middle than regular snakes. The tsuchinoko carries venom similar to that of a viper. Tsuchinoko are able to jump distances of one meter (3.3 feet). Some tsuchinoko have been known to speak human language, but they often lie. The tsuchinoko enjoy alcohol. The tsuchinoko are reptiles of the snake family, have scales, and are typically about 60cm (2 feet) long (according to the Japanese comic "Doraemon", issue 9).

Although there have been many reported sightings, no one has actually found or studied a tsuchinoko. A tsuchinoko was apparently once captured, but the captor released the animal before informing the media because snakes are believed to bring bad luck. Several years later the story was picked up by the media and broadcast on TV.

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Some video games of Japanese origin feature the tsuchinoko, often as a secret item or enemy. Notable examples include Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow, We Love Katamari, Me and My Katamari, Siren, Radiata Stories, and Pokémon (the character Dunsparce).

Disclaimer As with all mythical creatures, it is possible that a regular animal may be mistaken for a new species. Some believe that the tsuchinoko may simply be a normal snake with a swollen belly due to the recent swallowing of a large meal.

External links •

A model of the tsuchinoko by Hajime Emoto (English introduction) return

Izanami (Mt. Hiba) In Japanese mythology, Izanami (Katakana: イザナミ; Kanji: 伊弉冉尊 or 伊邪那美命, meaning "She who invites") is a goddess of both creation and death, as well as the former wife of the god Izanagi. She is also referred to as Izana-mi, Izanami-no-Mikoto or Izanami-no-kami.

Goddess of Creation The first gods summoned two divine beings into existence, the male Izanagi and the female Izanami, and charged them with creating the first land. To help them do this, Izanagi and Izanami were given a spear decorated with jewels, named Amenonuhoko (heavenly spear). The two deities then went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Amenoukihashi (floating bridge of heaven), and churned the sea below with the spear. When drops of salty water fell from the spear, they formed into the island Onogoro (self-forming). They descended from the bridge of heaven and made their home on the island. Eventually they wished to be mated, so they built a pillar called Amenomihashira and around it they built a palace called Yahirodono (the room of eight footsteps?). Izanagi and Izanami circled the pillar in opposite directions, and when they met on the other side, Izanami spoke first in greeting. Izanagi didn't think that this was the proper thing to do, but they mated anyhow. They had two children, Hiruko (watery child) and Awashima (island of bubbles) but they were badly-made and are not considered deities.

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They put the children into a boat and set them out to sea, then petitioned the other gods for an answer as to what they did wrong. They were told that the male deity should have spoken first in greeting during the marriage ceremony. So Izanagi and Izanami went around the pillar again, and this time, Izanagi spoke first when they met, and their marriage was then successful. From their union were born the ohoyashima, or the eight great islands of the Japanese chain: • Awazi •

Iyo (later Shikoku)

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Ogi

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Tsukusi (later Kyushu)

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Iki

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Tsusima

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Sado

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Yamato (later Honshu) Note that Hokkaido, Chishima, and Okinawa were not part of Japan in ancient times.

They bore six more islands and many deities. Izanami died giving birth to the child Kagutsuchi (incarnation of fire) or Ho-Masubi (causer of fire). She was then buried on Mt. Hiba, at the border of the old provinces of Izumo and Hoki, near modern-day Yasugi of Shimane Prefecture. So angry was Izanagi at the death of his wife that he killed the newborn child, thereby creating dozens of deities.

Goddess of Death Izanagi lamented the death of Izanami and undertook a journey to Yomi ("the shadowy land of the dead"). Quickly, he searched for Izanami and found her. At first, Izanagi could not see her at all for the shadows hid her appearance well. Nevertheless, he asked her to return with him. Izanami spat out at him, informing Izanagi that he was too late. She had already eaten the food of the underworld and was now one with the land of the dead. She could no longer return to the living. Izanagi was shocked at this news but he refused to give in to her wishes of being left to the dark embrace of Yomi. While Izanami was sleeping, he took the comb that bound his long hair and set it alight as a torch. Under the sudden burst of light, he saw the horrid form of the once beautiful and graceful Izanami. She was now a rotting form of flesh with maggots and foul creatures running over her ravaged body. Crying out loud, Izanagi could no longer control his fear and started to run, intending

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to return to the living and abandon his death-ridden wife. Izanami woke up shrieking and indignant and chased after him. Wild shikome (foul women) also hunted for the frightened Izanagi, instructed by Izanami to bring him back. Izanagi burst out of the entrance and quickly pushed a boulder in the mouth of the cavern that was the entrance of Yomi. Izanami screamed from behind this impenetrable barricade and told Izanagi that if he left her she would destroy 1,000 residents of the living every day. He furiously replied he would give life to 1,500. The story has both strong parallels, and significant differences, with the Greek Myths of Orpheus and Eurydice as well as to the myth of Persephone and Demeter, the Maya Myth of Itzamna and Ix Chel, the Akkadian/Sumerian myth of Inanna's Descent to the Underworld. The Shikome, for instance, are parallel to the Maenads who tore Orpheus to pieces. Japanese Mythology Stories and Myths: Kojiki | Kwaidan | Nihon Shoki | Otogizoshi | Yotsuya Kaidan Divinities: List of divinities in Japanese mythology | Kami & Megami | Seven Lucky Gods Legendary Figures: Abe no Seimei | Hidari Jingoro | Kintaro Momotaro | Nezumi Kozo | Tamamo no Mae | Tomoe Gozen | Urashima Tarō Mythical and Sacred Locations: Horai | Mt. Hiei | Mt. Fuji Rashōmon | Ryugu-jo | Suzakumon | Takamagahara | Yomi Religions | Sacred Objects | Creatures and Spirits

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Maneki Neko (Lucky Cats) "Maneki Neko" is also a Hugo award-winning short story by science fiction writer Bruce Sterling.

The Maneki Neko is often used as a piggy bank.

The Maneki Neko (招き猫, literally "Beckoning Cat"; also known as Lucky Cat or Fortune Cat) is a common Japanese sculpture, often made of porcelain or ceramic, which is believed to give good luck to the owner. The sculpture depicts a cat beckoning with an upright paw, and is usually displayed in stores, restaurants, pachinko parlors, and other businesses. A raised right paw supposedly attracts money, while a raised left paw attracts customers. A classic example of kitsch, Maneki Neko come in different colors, styles, and degrees of ornateness. In addition to sculptures, Maneki Neko can be found as keychains, piggy banks, air fresheners, and other miscellaneous ornaments.[1] The cat breed represented in the sculpture is generally a Japanese Bobtail.

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Common features

Another Maneki Neko

The gesture To Americans and Europeans it may seem as if the Maneki Neko is waving rather than beckoning. This is because Westerners use a different gesture to beckon someone than the Japanese. The Maneki Neko's upraised paw is actually in imitation of the Japanese beckoning gesture. The Japanese beckon by holding up the hand, palm out, and repeatedly folding the fingers down and back up, thus the cat's appearance. Some Maneki Neko made specifically for Western markets will have the cat's paw facing backwards, in a beckoning gesture more familiar to Westerners.[2] Maneki Neko can be found with either the right or left paw raised (and sometimes both). The significance of the right and left raised paw differs with time and place. The most common belief is that the left paw raised brings in customers, while a right paw brings wealth and good luck. But some believe the opposite. Still others say that a left paw raised is best for drinking establishments, the right paw for other stores. (Those who hold their liquor well are called hidari-kiki in Japan, "left-handed".)[3] It is commonly believed the higher the raised paw, the greater the luck. Consequently, over the years Maneki Neko's paw has tended to appear ever higher. Some use the paw height as a crude method of gauging the relative age of a figure. Another common belief is that the higher the paw, the greater the distance good fortune will come from. Some Maneki Neko feature battery- or solar-powered moving arms endlessly engaged in the beckoning gesture.

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Color Maneki Neko come in all sorts of colors. While originally the colors may have been simply decorative, different colors are now associated with different attributes. (Again, the meanings of the colors, like everything else about the Maneki Neko, are incredibly varied): • Tricolor (Calico/Tortie and White): The background is white with random black and orange patches. This coloring is considered especially lucky and is the most popular color for maneki neko. This belief may be related to the rarity of this coloring in the Japanese bobtail cats, after which the Maneki Neko is modeled. Also note that in Japan the colour is called Mi-ke, meaning three-fur. •

White: White cats indicate purity and are the second most popular type.

•

Black: Black Maneki Neko are believed to keep away evil. These are especially popular with women as they are supposed to be particularly effective at keeping away stalkers. Like red, they can be associated with good health, but very occasionally.

•

Red: Red is also a protective color, and is believed to keep away evil spirits and illness.

•

Gold: Associated with wealth.

•

Pink: While not a traditional color this color is popular now and is associated with love.[4]

Collar, bib and bell Maneki Neko usually have some sort of decoration around their neck. This can be a neckerchief or a scarf but the most common attire is a collar, bell and decorative bib. These items are most likely in imitation of what was common attire for cats in wealthy households during the Edo period. Red collars made from a red flower, the hichirimen, were popular and small bells were attached for decoration and to keep track of the cat's whereabouts. The bib might also be related to the bibs often decorating statues of the divinity Jizo Bodhisattva. Protective statues of Jizo can be found guarding the entrances to Japanese shrines and graveyards. Jizo is the protector of sick and dying children and grateful parents of children recovered from illness will place a bib around Jizo as a gift of thankfulness.

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The coin

A Maneki Neko in Tokyo, Japan beckons customers to buy lottery tickets.

Maneki Neko are sometimes depicted holding a coin; usually a gold coin called a koban, used during the Edo period in Japan. A koban was worth one ryō, another early Japanese monetary unit. The koban most Maneki Neko hold though is indicated to be worth ten million ryō. (A ryō can be imagined as worth a thousand dollars, although the value of the coin, like the value of the dollar, varied considerably.) The coin obviously ties into the cat's role in bringing good fortune and wealth. It is not surprising then that one can often find Maneki Neko used as banks, a practice which goes back at least to the 1890s, much like the Western piggy bank. Sometimes, pennies and other small coin denominations are left on the Maneki Neko as offerings. This is a practice somewhat related to that of leaving coins in a fountain or wishing well.

Material Maneki Neko are typically made of porcelain or ceramic. However, cheaper Maneki Neko can be made ofother materials ranging from plastic to wood to papier-mâché to clay, while expensive maneki neko may be made of jade or gold. The moving Maneki Neko are usually made of plastic.

Origins History While it is believed that Maneki Neko first appeared during the later part of the Edo period (1603-1867) in Japan the earliest documentary evidence comes from the 1870s, during Japan's Meiji Era. It is mentioned in a newspaper article in 1876 and there is evidence kimono-clad Maneki Neko were distributed at a shrine in Osaka during this time. An ad from 1902 advertising Maneki Neko indicates that by the turn

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of the century they were popular.[5] Beyond that, the exact origins of Maneki Neko are uncertain. A frequent attribution to several Japanese emperors, as well as to Oda Nobunaga and samurai Ii Naotaka, is that one day the luminary passed by a cat, which seemed to wave to him. Taking the cat's motion as a sign, the unknown nobleman paused and went to it. Diverted from his journey, he realized that he had avoided a trap that had been laid for him just ahead. Since that time, cats have been considered wise and lucky spirits. Many Japanese shrines and homes include the figurine of a cat with one paw upraised as if waving-hence the origin of Maneki Neko, often referred to as Kami Neko in reference to the cat's kami or spirit. One theory ties Maneki Neko's origin, or at least its growth in popularity, to the rise of the new Meiji government. In its attempts to westernize Japanese society the Meiji government banned overtly sexual talismans then popular, often displayed prominently in brothels. With these popular items gone, Maneki Neko soon appeared in their place as a substitute charm, their beckoning gesture perhaps in imitation of a beckoning woman. Others have noted the similarities between the Maneki Neko's gesture and that of a cat washing its face. There is a Japanese belief that a cat washing its face means a visitor will soon arrive. This belief may in turn may be related to an even older Chinese proverb that states that if a cat washes its face, it will rain. Thus it is possible a belief arose that a figure of a cat washing its face would bring in customers. It is unknown how the Maneki Neko became popular in the United States, but they were known in the U.S. at least in 1963, when Patricia Dale-Green wrote of them in The Cult of the Cat. The Maneki Neko is most prevalent in modern day Chinatown, New York City. Sole vendors and street shops display and sell countless varieties of the cat, which are purchased mainly by tourists. They are often bought for their comedic value or for a conversation piece at home.

Legends and stories Maneki Neko is the subject of a number of legends. Here are three of the most popular, explaining the cat's origins: The Temple Cat: This story goes that a wealthy feudal lord was taking shelter under a tree near Gotoku-ji temple (in Western Tokyo) during a thunderstorm. The lord saw the temple priest's cat beckoning to him and followed; a moment later the tree was struck by lightning. The wealthy man became friends with the poor priest and the

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temple became prosperous. When the cat died, supposedly the first Maneki Neko was made in his honor.[6] (also see http://www.geoffbolton.net/manneko.html ) The Courtesan: A courtesan named Usugumo, living in Yoshiwara, in eastern Tokyo, kept a cat, much beloved by her. One night, the cat began tugging at her kimono. No matter what she did, the cat persisted. The owner of the brothel saw this, and believing the cat bewitched, cut its head off. The cat's head then flew to the ceiling where it killed a snake, ready at any moment to strike. Usugumo was devastated by the death of her companion. To cheer her up one of her customers made her a wooden likeness of her cat as a gift. This cat image then become popular as the Maneki Neko. The Old Woman: An old woman living in Imado (eastern Tokyo) was forced to sell her cat due to extreme poverty. Soon afterwards the cat appeared to her in a dream. The cat told her to make its image in clay. She did as instructed, and soon afterward sold the statue. She then made more, and people bought them as well. They were so popular she soon became prosperous and wealthy.[7]

Influence Such is the influence of the Maneki Neko as a cultural icon that many other characters and cultural imagery are derived from it. • The name of Hello Kitty, a popular Japanese merchandising character, may arise from a flawed translation from the Japanese 招き猫. •

Meowth, a Pokémon, is always seeking money for its owners and most likely was derived from the Maneki Neko.

•

The Thai prosperity goddess Nang Kwak has adapted the beckoning gesture of the Maneki Neko.[8]

•

An NGO group working in Ukraine ran a poster campaign with the photograph of Maneki Neko to promote a fair election process.

•

In Samurai Pizza Cats, the cat heroes keep their giant robot hidden inside a gigantic Maneki Neko which resembles a statue of a sitting Buddha, called "The Supreme Cat-Atonic"

•

SF author Bruce Sterling wrote a story, "Maneki Neko," in which the cat-paw gesture is the sign of a secret AI-based barter network.

•

In the Protector of the Small quartet by Tamora Pierce, the protagonist Kel has a collection of lucky waving cats.

See also •

Three-legged money frog

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External links •

Maneki Neko Club website

•

Sushi Cat Maneki Neko page

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Lucky Cats

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Maneki Neko - the lucky beckoning cat

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LEGO Maneki Neko

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mechanical papercraft Maneki Neko

•

Unofficial Mascot of the SQL Server Reporting Services Team

•

"Beckoning Cat and Nang Kwak" by catherine yronwode at luckymojo.com return

International Organization for Standardization "ISO" redirects here. For other uses, see ISO (disambiguation).

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from national standards bodies. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization produces world-wide industrial and commercial standards, the so-called ISO standards. While the ISO defines itself as a non-governmental organization (NGO), its ability to set standards which often become law through treaties or national standards makes it

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more powerful than most NGOs, and in practice it acts as a consortium with strong links to governments. Participants include several major corporations and at least one standards body from each member country. ISO cooperates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), which is responsible for standardization of electrical equipment.

The name The organization is usually referred to simply as "ISO" (IPA pronunciation: [ aɪsəʊ] or [aɪ ɛs əʊ]). It is a common misconception that ISO stands for "International Standards Organization", or something similar. ISO is not an acronym; it comes from the Greek word ίσος (isos), meaning "equal". The reason it is in all caps in writing is that it appears that way in the Organization's logo (above). In English, the organization’s long-form name is "International Organization for Standardization", while in French it is called "Organisation internationale de normalisation." These initials would result in different acronyms in ISO’s two official languages, English (IOS) and French (OIN), thus the founders of the organization chose "ISO" as the universal short form of its name.[1]

Standards and technical reports ISO standards are numbered, and have a format that contains "ISO[/IEC] [IS] nnnnn[:yyyy]: Title" where "nnnnn" is the standard number, "yyyy" is the year published, and "Title" describes the subject. IEC will only be included if the standard results from work of JTC1. The date and IS will always be left off an incomplete or unpublished standard, and may (under certain circumstances) be left off the title of the published work. Aside from standards, ISO also creates Technical Reports for documents that cannot or should not become International Standards such as references, explanations, etc. The naming conventions for these are the same as for standards with the exception of having TR prepended in the place of IS in the standard's name. Examples: • ISO/IEC TR 17799:2000 Code of Practice for Information Security Management •

ISO TR 15443-1/3 Information Technology - Security Techniques - A Framework for IT Security Assurance parts 1-3

Finally, ISO will on rare occasions issue a Technical Corrigendum. These are amendments to existing standards because of minor technical flaws, improvements to usability or to extend applicability in a limited way. Generally, these are issued with the expectation that the affected standard will be updated or withdrawn at its next scheduled review.

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ISO documents ISO documents are copyrighted and ISO charges for copies of most. ISO does not, however, charge for most draft copies of documents in electronic format. Although useful, care must be taken using these drafts as there is the possibility of substantial change before it becomes finalized as a standard. Some ISO standards are made freely available. For examples, see Freely Available Standards and Free Standards2

Members ISO has three membership categories. There are member bodies that are national bodies that are considered to be the most representative standards body in each country. These are the only members of ISO that have voting rights. For countries that don't have standards organizations on their own there is a membership category called correspondent members. These are informed about the work going on in ISO but are not allowed to take part in the actual standardization work. Finally there are subscriber members for countries with small economies. These have reduced membership fees but can follow the development of new standards.

Problems during the 1990s During the 1990s, ISO gained a reputation for being slow, bureaucratic, congested, and insensitive to feedback from both vendors and their customers. One problematic project was the enormous Open Systems Interconnect project, which attempted the development of one single computer networking standard, but was finally shut down in 1996 after becoming mired in interoperability problems and bickering between vendors. Attention then turned to the volunteer-based, open-process and non-profit Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), which develops the standards necessary for the Internet to function. When IETF turned out to be too slow, vendors began funding more focused, agile consortia like the W3C, another open, non-profit organisation headed by the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee. Since then, ISO has undertaken modest reforms to decrease the time required to promulgate new standards. ISO International Standards are not in any way binding on either governments or industry merely by virtue of being International Standards. This is to allow for situations where certain types of standards may conflict with social, cultural or legislative expectations and requirements. This also reflects the fact that national and international experts responsible for creating these standards do not always agree and not all proposals become standards by unanimous vote. The individual nations and their standards bodies remain the final arbiters.

Products named after ISO The fact that many of the ISO-created standards are ubiquitous has led, on occasion, to common usage of "ISO" to describe the actual product that conforms to a standard.

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Some examples of this are: • CD images end in the file extension "ISO" to signify that they are using the ISO 9660 standard filesystem as opposed to another file system - hence CD images are commonly referred to as "ISOs". Virtually all computers with CDROM drives can read CDs that use this standard. DVD-ROMs also use ISO 9660 filesystems. •

Photographic film sensitivity to light, its speed, is measured and determined by ISO standard, hence the film speed is often referred to as its "ISO number". There are equivalent standards giving us its ASA and DIN.

ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1 To deal with the consequences of substantial overlap in areas of standardization and work related to information technology, ISO and IEC formed a Joint Technical Committee known as the ISO/IEC JTC1. It was the first such committee, and to date remains the only one. Its official mandate is: Develop, maintain, promote and facilitate IT standards required by global markets meeting business and user requirements concerning: • design and development of IT systems and tools, •

performance and quality of IT products and systems

•

security of IT systems and information

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portability of application programs

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interoperability of IT products and systems

•

unified tools and environments

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harmonized IT vocabulary

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user friendly and ergonomically designed user interfaces

There are currently 18 sub-committees: • SC 02 - Coded Character Sets •

SC 06 - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems

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SC 07 - Software and System Engineering

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SC 17 - Cards and Personal Identification

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SC 22 - Programming Languages, their Environments and Systems Software Interfaces

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•

SC 23 - Removable Digital Storage Media Utilizing Optical and/or Magnetic Recording * Technology for Digital

•

SC 24 - Computer Graphics and Image Processing

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SC 25 - Interconnection of Information Technology Equipment

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SC 27 - IT Security Techniques

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SC 28 - Office Equipment

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SC 29 - Coding of Audio, Picture, and Multimedia and Hypermedia Information

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SC 31 - Automatic Identification and Data Capture Techniques

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SC 32 - Data Management and Interchange

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SC 34 - Document Description and Processing Languages

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SC 35 - User Interfaces

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SC 36 - Information Technology for Learning, Education, and Training

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SC 37 - Biometrics

Membership in ISO/IEC 17799 JTC is restricted in much the same way as membership in either of the two parent organizations. A member can be either participating (p) or observing (O) and the difference is mainly the ability to vote on proposed standards and other product. There is no requirement for any member body to maintain either (or any) status on all of the sub-committees. Although rare, subcommittees can be created to deal with new situations (SC 37 was approved only in the last year) or disbanded if the area of work is no longer relevant.

See also •

List of ISO standards

•

Category:ISO standards

•

Standardization

•

International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC)

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ISO A4

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International Classification for Standards

References •

"ISO’s Name" on ISO’s Web site, retrieved 2006-06-07 UTC

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External links •

ISO's official website (free access to the catalogue of standards only, not to the contents)

•

Publicly Available Standards (free access to a small subset of the standards)

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The ISO Standards Glossary

•

ISO/IEC JTC1 return

Jaro íÜÉÉÉÉëÃThe Japan Advertising Review Organization, Inc. (JARO) is a selfregulatory body of advertising. As its primary role, the Organization handles complaints and inquiries from consumers, competitors and other sectors. The JARO was formed in 1974 when Japan was in the midst of a dramatic hike in production and consumption, a wide proliferation of marketing/advertising techniques and a huge wave of consumerism. In the marketplace, there had been a series of scandals relating to the deceptive labeling of food contents and a recurring competition of offering premiums of allegedly excessive value targeted to consumers. Since no consumer complaint-handling mechanism had yet been established in the private sector, complaints flooded government agencies or consumer groups. The complaints brought to the former emerged later in the form of laws and regulations and those brought to the latter ended up as hostile actions and slogans against businesses and their advertising. With the wind blowing wild against the advertising industry, a succession of consumer-oriented regulations became effective. Among others, the following rules were vital to the industry: • Act Against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations; and • Consumer Protection Fundamental Act. In addition, an impressive recommendation to the ad industry was issued by the Advisory Council of Industrial Structures, a government-commissioned panel made

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up by experts, which had prepared a series of advice addressed to the government and the various industries. Their recommendation suggested that the industry should look into the codes of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) or the Chamber of Commerce in the United States to enhance disciplinary business activities. In recognition of the need to develop and maintain its self-regulatory system, the ad industry organized a fact-finding mission and dispatched it to the BBB. After duly considering the report compiled thereafter by members of the mission, the Japan Advertising Federation (JAF) established an acting committee to discuss how to build and operate a voluntary regulatory system. The activities of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the United Kingdom and the Bureau de Verification de la Publicite (BVP) in France were also researched. After many years of discussions by industry's representatives, particularly about finance, management and public relations, as well as about a name, JARO at last launched in 1974 under the auspices of the whole ad industry, including: Japan Advertisers Association (JAA); Japan Newspaper Association (JNA); National Association of Commercial Broadcasters in Japan (NAB); Magazine Advertising Association (MAA); Japan Advertising Agencies Association (JAAA); and Japan Advertising Federation (JAF). The first General Assembly of JARO was held on August 28 that year with more than 300 attendees representing the initial 110 member companies and 150 organizations which supported the formation of JARO directly or indirectly. Through next year, the membership grew in number to 327 companies, during the first decade to 706, and as of the end of the fiscal year 2001 to 955. return

Battleship Board Translator note: I'm sure Koizumi meant Battleship, for I can't think of anything else. return

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Baccarat This article is about the card game. For the town, see Baccarat, Meurthe-etMoselle. For the crystal company, see Baccarat (company) Baccarat is a gambling card game. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of Charles VIII of France (ruled 1483-1498), and it is similar to Faro and to Basset. There are three accepted variants of the game: baccarat chemin de fer (railway), baccarat banque (or a deux tableaux), and punto banco (or North American baccarat). Baccarat (pronounced bakəraː) is a simple game with only three possible results 'Player', 'Banker' and 'Tie'. The term 'Player' does not refer to the customer and the term 'Banker' does not refer to the house. They are just options on which the customer can bet. Baccarat is an unusual game in that any score of 10 is worth 0 (or 'Baccarat'). The highest score that can be achieved is 9. Two picture cards would have a score of 0. A 9 and a 6 would not equal 15 but 5. (Minus the first digit) An ace counts as 1 and the rest of the cards retain their face value.

Punto Banco (North American Baccarat) In the United States, Australia and Canada, a variation of baccarat is played in which the casino banks the game at all times. Players may bet on either the player or the banker, which are merely designations for the two hands dealt in each game. The cards are dealt, one to the 'Player' first then to the 'Banker', 'Player' then 'Banker' again. Each has two cards. This is the initial deal. Both cards in each hand are added together and the croupier calls the total. (e.g. five to the 'Player', three to the 'Banker') From this position the 'Tableau' or table of play is used to determine if further cards need to be drawn. A maximum of three cards per hand may be drawn to achieve a winning hand. Therefore the object of the game is to bet on the hand with the highest total. The Tableau is as follows: Pictures and 10s count as 0. If the initial deal has a hand totalling 8 or 9 no further cards are drawn. • If the 'Player' has an initial total of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, the 'Player' draws another card. •

If the 'Player' has an initial total of 6 or 7, the 'Player' stands and draws no further card.

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If the 'Player' has an initial total of 8 or 9, this is a natural and neither the 'Player' nor the 'Banker' draw further cards.

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•

If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 0, 1 or 2, the 'Banker' draws another card.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 3, the 'Banker' draws another card when the 'Player's' third card is anything but an 8.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 4, the 'Banker' draws another card when the 'Player's' third card is a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 5, the 'Banker' draws another card when the 'Player's' third card is a 4, 5, 6, or 7.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 6, the 'Banker' draws another card when the 'Player's' third card is a 6 or 7.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 7, the 'Banker' stands and draws no further cards.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 8 or 9, this is a natural and neither the 'Player' nor the 'Banker' draw further cards.

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If the 'Banker' has an initial total of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 and the 'Player' has an initial total of 6 or 7 and stands, the 'Banker' draws another card.

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The 'Banker' must stand on 6 when the 'Player' has a 6 or 7 on the initial deal.

The croupier will deal the cards according to the tableau and the croupier will announce the winning hand - either 'Player' or 'Banker'. Losing bets will be collected and the winning bets will be paid according to the rules of the house. Usually even money or 1-1 will be paid to the player and 95% to the 'Banker', 5% commission to the house. (Commission Baccarat) Some casinos pay even money or 1-1 to both 'Player' and 'Banker' except when the 'Banker' wins with a total of 6. Then the 'Banker' will be paid 50% or half the original bet. Should both the 'Banker's' hand and the 'Player's' hand have the same value at the end of the deal the croupier shall announce "Egalite - tie bets win." All tie bets will be paid at the odds of 8-1 and the croupier shall not touch the bets on either 'Player' or 'Banker'. The traditional form of punto banco baccarat is played at an oval table, similar to the chemin de fer version. The table is staffed by a croupier, who directs the play of the game, and two dealers who collect and pay bets as well as tallying commissions due. Six or eight decks of cards are used, normally shuffled only by the croupier and dealers. Like chemin de fer, the shoe is passed around from player to player, who acts as the dealer of the cards and as "banker," but he or she does not actually bank the game. Indeed, the "banker" may bet on the player hand if he or she wishes, or may pass the shoe along to another player — the role of the "banker" is merely ceremonial. The person who bet the highest amount on the player hand is given the

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player-hand cards, though he or she simply turns the cards over, annoucing their total. The croupier instructs the "banker" on if or when to deal third cards, and then announces the winning hand. In casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, this version of baccarat is usually played in special rooms separated from the main gaming floor, ostensibly to provide an extra measure of privacy and security because of the high stakes often involved. The game is frequented by the highest of high rollers, who may wager tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single hand. Australian tycoon Kerry Packer was particularly fond of the game, having won and lost large sums over the years. Minimum bets are relatively high, often starting at 25 USD and going as high as 500 USD. Posted maximum bets are often arranged to suit a player, but maximums of 10,000 USD per hand are common Despite its simplicity (or perhaps because of it), the punto banco version of baccarat offers some of the lowest house advantage available in a casino. The player bet has a house advantage of 1.24%, and the banker bet (despite the 5% commission) has an advantage of 1.06%. The tie bet has a much higher house advantage of 14.44%, based on six decks in play. [1] Because of its attraction for wealthy players, a casino may win or lose millions of dollars a night on the game, and the house's fortunes may even affect the bottom line of a corporation's quarterly profit and loss — notations of the effects of major baccarat wins and losses are frequent in the quarterly reports of publicly-traded gaming companies. Mini-baccarat is essentially the same game, but played at a smaller table very similar to a blackjack table. A single dealer handles the entire game, including dealing the cards. The pace is usually much faster than the "big baccarat" version. Betting minimums and maximums are usually lower. In casinos outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City, this is frequently the only version of baccarat that is offered.

Baccarat Chemin de Fer Six full packs of cards of the same pattern are used, shuffled together. The players seat themselves round the table. In the centre is a basket for the reception of the used cards. If there is any question as to the relative positions of the players, it is decided by lot. The person who draws the first place seats himself next on the right hand of the croupier, and the rest follow in succession.

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The croupier shuffles the cards, and then passes them on, each player having the right to shuffle in turn. When they have made the circuit of the table, the croupier again shuffles, and, having done so, offers the cards to the player on his left, who cuts. The croupier places the cards before him, and, taking a manageable quantity from the top, hands it to the player on his right, who for the time being is dealer, or "banker." The other players are punters. The dealer places before him the amount he is disposed to risk, and the players "make their stakes." Any punter, beginning with the player on the immediate right of the dealer, is entitled to say "Banco", meaning to "go bank," to play against the whole of the banker's stake. If no one does so, each player places his stake before him. If the total so staked by the seated players is not equal to the amount for the time being in the bank, other persons standing round may stake in addition. If it is more than equal to the amount in the bank, the punters nearest in order to the banker have the preference up to such amount, the banker having the right to decline any stake in excess of that limit. The banker proceeds to deal four cards face downwards: the first, for the punters, to the right; the second to himself; the third for the punters, the fourth to himself. The player who has the highest stake represents the punters. If two punters are equal in this respect, the player first in rotation has the preference. Each then looks at his cards. If he finds that they make either nine, the highest point at Baccarat, or eight, the next highest, he turns them up, announcing the number aloud, and the hand is at an end. If the banker's point is the better, the stakes of the punter become the property of the bank. If the punters' point is the better, the banker (or the croupier for him) pays each punter the amount of his stake. The stakes are made afresh, and the game proceeds. If the banker has been the winner, he deals again. If otherwise, the cards are passed to the player next in order, who thereupon becomes banker in his turn. If neither party turns up his cards, this is an admission that neither has eight or nine. In this case the banker is bound to offer a third card. If the point of the punter is baccarat (i.e. cards together amounting to ten or twenty, = 0), one, two, three, or four, he accepts as a matter of course, replying, "Yes," or "Card." A third card is then given to him, face upwards. If his point if already six or seven, he will, equally as a matter of course, REFUSE the offered card. To accept a card with six or seven, or refuse with baccarat, one, two, three, or four (known in either case as a "false draw"), is a breach of the established procedure of the game, and brings down upon the head of the offender the wrath of his fellow-punters; indeed, in some circles he is made liable for any loss they may incur thereby, and in others is punishable by a fine. At the point of five, and no other, is it optional to the punter whether to take a card or not; nobody has the right to advise him, or to remark upon his decision.

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The banker has now to decide whether he himself will draw a card, being guided in his decision partly by the cards he already holds, partly by the card (if any) drawn by the punter, and partly by what he may know or guess of the latter's mode of play. If he has hesitated over his decision, the banker may be pretty certain (unless such hesitation was an intentional blind) that his original point was five, and as the third card (if any) is exposed, his present point becomes equally a matter of certainty. The banker, having drawn or not drawn, as he may elect, exposes his cards, and receives or pays as the case may be. Ties neither win nor lose, but the stakes remain for the next hand. The banker is not permitted to withdraw any part of his winnings, which go to increase the amount in the bank. Should he at any given moment, desire to retire, he says, "I pass the deal." In such case each of the other players, in rotation, has the option of taking it, but he must start the bank with the same amount at which it stood when the last banker retired. Should no one present care to risk that high a figure, the deal passes to the player next on the right hand of the retiring banker, who is in such case at liberty to start the bank with such amount as he thinks fit, the late banker now being regarded as last in order of rotation, though the respective priorities are not otherwise affected. A player who has "gone bank," and lost, is entitled to do so again on the next hand, notwithstanding that the deal may have "passed" to another player. When the first supply of cards is exhausted, the croupier takes a fresh handful from the heap before him, has them cut by the player on his left, and hands them to the banker. To constitute a valid deal, there must be not less than seven cards left in the dealer's hand. Should the cards in hand fall below this number, they are thrown into the wastebasket, and the banker takes a fresh supply as above mentioned.

Baccarat Banque In Baccarat Chemin de Fer, it will have been noticed that a given bank only continues so long as the banker wins. So soon as he loses, it passes to another player. In Baccarat Banque the position of banker is much more permanent. Three packs of cards are shuffled together. (The number is not absolute, sometimes four packs, sometimes two only, being used; but three is the more usual number.) The banker (unless he retires either of his own free will or by reason of the exhaustion of his finances) holds office until all these cards have been dealt. The bank is at the outset put up to auction, i.e. belongs to the player who will undertake to risk the largest amount. In some circles, the person who has first set down his name on the list of players has the right to hold the first bank, risking such amount as he may think proper.

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The right to begin having been ascertained, the banker takes his place midway down one of the sides of an oval table, the croupier facing him, with the waste-basket between. On either side the banker are the punters (ten such constituting a full table). Any other persons desiring to take part remain standing, and can only play in the event of the amount in the bank for the time being not being covered by the seated players. The croupier, having shuffled the cards, hands them for the same purpose to the players to the right and left of him, the banker being entitled to shuffle them last, and to select the person by whom they shall be cut. Each punter having made his stake, the banker deals three cards, the first to the player on his right, the second to the player on his left, and the third to himself; then three more in like manner. The five punters on the right (and any bystanders staking with them) win or lose by the cards dealt to that side; the five others by the cards dealt to the left side. The rules as to turning up with eight or nine, offering and accepting cards, and so on, are the same as at Baccarat Chemin de Fer. Each punter continues to hold the cards for his side so long as he wins. If he loses, the next hand is dealt to the player next following him in rotation. Any player may "go bank," the first claim to do so belonging to the punter immediately on the right of the banker; the next to the player on his left, and so on alternatively in regular order. If two players on opposite sides desire to "go bank," they go half shares. A player going bank may either do so on a single hand, in the ordinary course, or a cheval, i.e. on two hands separately, one-half of the stake being played upon each hand. A player going bank and losing may, again go bank; and if he again loses, may go bank a third time, but not further. A player undertaking to hold the bank must play out one hand, but may retire at anytime afterwards. On retiring, he is bound to state the amount with which he retires. It is then open to any other player (in order of rotation) to continue the bank, starting with the same amount, and dealing from the remainder of the pack, used by his predecessor. The outgoing banker takes the place previously occupied by his successor. The breaking of the bank does not deprive the banker of the right to continue, provided that he has funds with which to replenish it, up to the agreed minimum. Should the stakes of the punters exceed the amount for, the time being in the bank, the banker is not responsible for the amount of such excess. In the event of his losing, the croupier pays the punters in order of rotation, so far as the funds in the bank will extend; beyond this, they have no claim. The banker, may, however, in such a case, instead of resting on his right, declare the stakes accepted, forthwith putting up the

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needful funds to meet them. In such event the bank thenceforth becomes unlimited, and the banker must hold all stakes (to whatever amount) offered on any subsequent hand, or give up the bank. The laws of baccarat are complicated and no one code is accepted as authoritative, the different clubs making their own rules.

Trivia •

Chemin de Fer is the game of choice by Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond 007. He can be seen playing the game in numerous films and novels, including, most notably, the novel Casino Royale where Bond is tasked with bankrupting a SMERSH agent by defeating him at a table of Baccarat Banque.

External links •

Baccarat Glossary of Terms return

Baka-Tsuki:Copyrights

TLG Translation Common Agreement v.0.3 By entering this wiki you agree to the following conditions. If you do not agree with this agreement, portion and/or full, please leave this wiki now. a) 'Work' is defined as any material from the product/service their respective copyright holders hold including, but not limited to, scripts(translated and original), dialogues, illustrations, screenshots, animation, clips, sound, etc. When the word 'translated' is used before (a), (a) becomes "translated and/or raw script". b1) 'You', 'your' are defined as a copyright holder of the works as defined in (a) . b2) 'You', 'your' are defined as the submitter of the translated works as defined in (a) . b3) 'You', 'your' are defined as the viewer of the works as defined in (a) . b4) 'we' is defined as the owner of this wiki AND the translators of the works as defind in (a) . c) 'I', 'me', 'my' are defined as the owner of this wiki. d) 'licenced' is defined as global and/or English publishcation rights. Section A.1 All works(a), original and/or translated, belong to their respective copyright holders in their respective countries. This wiki is done with the intention to A) Improve my(c) English writing skills. B) To provide a storage space for fans of the translated works(a) so that the fans can promote these works(a) C) To attract more readers to make English licencing(d) possible. If you(b1) feel your(b1) rights are being violated due to the usage of this wiki up to, but not limited by the presentation/broadcast/showing/distribution of works(a) in their

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