Seven Wonders Overtime part3

Our SOS Brigade Chief had yet to appear. It was a stroke of good luck that she didn't meet the eccentric Miss Mystery Society.

"I should think so too. Thanks to that, we managed to gain some time."

Seeing Koizumi's triumphant expression, I asked.

"What time?"

"Some time to think about the Seven Wonders of this high school, of course. Before Suzumiysan's seven strange phenomena can drive North High into a state of disorder, we have to work out plans to mitigate them."

I suppose we can't leave them be.

"If it's something like cherry blossoms going into full bloom in autumn, we can explain it away as the result of the Earth's unstable climate. However, if the pigeons at the shrine were to turn into supposedly-extinct passenger pigeons and get discovered, biologists would faint."

So it's the same situation as when we were shooting the movie, huh.

And thus, us four members hurriedly held an emergency meeting.

I wonder how many times we've held SOS Brigade meetings without Haruhi. Although I suppose this is the first time we're doing it in the club room.

While Asahinsan refilled everyone's tea, we had Nagato join us at the long table from her fixed position at the corner of the room. She reached for a children's horror story from Miss Mystery Society's pile of materials and started reading it silently.

At any rate, I wonder why there are so many paranormal stories and folklore in Miss Mystery Society's collection. Has the Mystery Society been infiltrated by a Horror spy?

"Horror and Mystery are like two sides of a coin, after all."

While inspecting the books brought over by the sudden guest, Koizumi explained.

"If a ghost does turn out to be a ghost, then that story would be treated as horror, but if it turns out to be just withered flowers or a weeping willow and only looked like a ghost by some sort of optical illusion, the story would just be mere gossip. The process of applying real world common sense to these horror-esque phenomena and explaining it within the bounds of reason is a structure unique to orthodox mysteries. Dickson Carr1, for instance, gained recognition through expert use of that style."

You should have brought out this topic when that person was here. You would have probably left a deep impression.

"I felt that it would turn out to be a lengthy mystery discussion, so I restrained myself."

My head would probably start hurting if you talked to me in that tone for a long time.

"Here."

Asahinsan went around distributing tea to the three of us from a tray, then returned to her seat. Koizumi expressed his thanks and continued with his explanation.

"I said this last year while we were shooting the movie, but in short, we have to prepare some reasoning such that the principles our world was built on will not be altered."

Could you tell us again what that means specifically?

"There is a perfectly fitting example in the material that your classmate brought, so let us take a look."

Koizumi retrieved a book from the pile. It was a hard cover edition of Kokon Chomonjū.

"This is a collection of stories compiled during the Kamakura period2. The author, Tachibana no Narisue, recorded numerous incidents that he heard and witnessed. It is valuable literature for learning the manners and customs, as well as the background of that era."

Well, classical literature isn't my strong suit.

"There is one well-known episode out of the incidents chronicled in Kokon Chomonjū. In fact, it's a horror-esque mystery. According to that story, a bizarre murder transpired, and it was apparently committed by a demon."

"It should be around here," Koizumi muttered as he flipped through the pages to search for the correct passage, and eventually his hard work paid off.

"This is it. The title is '8th month, 3rd year