Episode 12 (Ep12)

2006/6/22

It is the day of the cultural festival. Kyon is wandering through the various displays around the school; Haruhi is handing out flyers advertising ‘The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina’ in a bunny costume; Nagato is meant to be telling fortunes but is giving accurate predictions of the future; and Kiozumi is acting in a play.

Kyon visits them all and decides to go see Mikuru at her fried soba café. He meets up with his friends Taniguchi and Kunikida and they all head to the café together. They meet Tsuruya at the reception, who informs them that they are serving badly made soba and tap water. Half an hour later, they manage to get a seat. Mikuru serves them and in 5 minutes, they finish and are ushered out.

Kyon wanders around with nothing do and winds up in the performance hall. He falls asleep as the many bands play, until he sees something shocking. Haruhi and Nagato walk onto the stage, along with two other girls. Kyon does not think that Haruhi has any singing ability (and neither did I), but the performance is actually good. Nagato, the lead guitarist, had learned how to play (and be good) the electric guitar in a second after she read the sheets of music. Haruhi, the singer and rhythm guitarist, looks unsure of herself for the first time as she performs. The first song she sings is sung way too low for Haruhi’s voice, though the second one is more believable. She is ecstatic after performing, happy about something other than finding something mysterious.

The next day, Haruhi seems less energetic than usual. She tells Kyon how she winded up performing. When she was heading back to the classroom yesterday, she saw a North High Festival executive committee member arguing with the band going on stage. The lead singer was hospitalised due to tonsillitis a few days ago, and the guitarist had injured her wrist so she couldn’t play. Haruhi offered to step in with Nagato and the band had accepted the offer. Haruhi actually doesn’t sound hyper as she explains this to Kyon, which is a nice change.

The real members come asking to see Haruhi. She’s not used to this kind of attention and drags Kyon with him. The band members express their gratitude and invite them to the next performance.

After lunch, Kyon wanders outside and sees Haruhi lying on the ground staring at the skies. She is still thinking about the performance, unable to calm down, as she is not used to being appreciated by people.

Suddenly, Haruhi’s signature grin returns and she asks Kyon if he can play an instrument. He says no but she doesn’t listen and begins planning out the year, deciding to make a band of her own and performing at the next cultural festival. Looks like she’s back to normal…