The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa Read Free Book Online

Then he apologized.
    “I’m terribly sorry. We happen to be a slightly unreasonable group.”
    As I wondered if he was including me in that unreasonable group, I released a deep sigh.
    Game over.
    The members of the Kamigahara Pirates were weeping. I didn’t really get it, though. Were they going to be punished by alumni later? Or were they just frustrated by the fact that they lost to ateam of high school amateurs that had more females than males and included a girl in grade school. Probably both.
    On the other hand, Haruhi, who obviously didn’t care about the grief the losers were feeling, was in high spirits. She had a smile on her face much like the one she had back on that day when she came up with the idea of creating the SOS Brigade.
    “Let’s win this tournament and enter the national tournament this summer! Dominating the entire country isn’t just a dream!”
    She was shouting stuff like that in a serious tone. Taniguchi was the only one who looked interested, though. I merely wished that she would give it a break already, and I’m pretty sure the High School Baseball Federation felt the same way.
    “Excellent work.”
    Koizumi had come over next to me while I wasn’t paying attention.
    “By the way, what do we do now? Shall we continue into the second round?”
    I shook my head.
    “So basically, Haruhi will be in a bad mood if we lose, right? Which would mean we have to keep winning. That would require more of Nagato’s bogus magic. No matter how you look at it, it’s pretty obvious that there’s going to be trouble if we keep ignoring the laws of physics. Let’s forfeit.”
    “That sounds best. The truth is that I need to go help my colleagues soon. To eliminate closed space. It appears that they need more people to deal with the Celestials.”
    “Say hello to your people for me. To those blue guys too.”
    “I shall do that. In any case, this incident has taught us that it is a bad idea to allow Suzumiya to be bored. We should take that into consideration during future endeavors.”
    After telling me to take care of the rest, Koizumi headed offtoward the administrative tent to inform them that we wouldn’t be advancing to the second round.
    He left me with the harder job. Guess I don’t really have a choice.
    I walked over to where Haruhi was forcing Asahina to dance the can-can with her and poked her in the back.
    “What? You want to dance with us?”
    “We need to talk.”
    I took Haruhi outside the field. She became unexpectedly quiet.
    “Look over there.”
    I motioned toward the bench where the Kamigahara Pirates were sobbing.
    “Don’t you feel bad for them?”
    “Why?”
    “They’ve probably undergone intensive training for this day. The opportunity to become the champion for four years running was on the line so they were probably under a lot of pressure.”
    “So?”
    “They probably have a few benchwarmers who didn’t even get a chance to play, that are holding back their tears. Yeah, like that guy with the crew cut behind the net. You really have to feel bad for him, right? He’s never going to get a chance to play.”
    “What’s your point?”
    “Let’s forfeit.”
    I just said it flat out.
    “You’ve had your fun, right? I’ve had enough to share with anyone who asks. I’d rather just go grab lunch and talk about stupid stuff. To be honest, my arms and legs are completely worn out.”
    That was the truth. After all that running between the infield and outfield, I was physically exhausted. Mentally too.
    Haruhi then made her favorite face, the one that resembled a sulking pelican, as she glared up at me. I was starting to get worried when she finally spoke up.
    “You’re okay with that?”
    “I sure am. Asahina, Koizumi, and even Nagato probably feel the same way. My sister’s been over there practicing her swinging for a while now, but if you give her some candy, she’ll drop the bat.”
    “Hmm.”
    Haruhi alternated looks between me and the field as she