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

thought it over. Or maybe she was just pretending to think it over. She grinned.
    “I guess that’s fine then. I’m pretty hungry anyway. Let’s go have lunch. I was thinking, baseball sure is a simple sport. I didn’t expect to win so easily.”
    Really.
    I kept my mouth shut and shrugged.
    When I told the captain of the opposing team that we were letting them advance to the second round in our place, he began thanking me profusely while weeping. That just made me feel even guiltier. After all, we basically stole that win by using some ridiculous methods of cheating.
    I had immediately turned to leave when the captain told me to hold on and whispered in my ear.
    “By the way, how much do you want for the bat you guys were using?”
    And so, at the moment, our group, excluding Koizumi, was occupying the corner of a family restaurant and chowing down.
    My sister had grown attached to Haruhi and Asahina and sat between two of them, stabbing at her hamburger steak with aknife in a dangerous fashion. Taniguchi was holding a serious discussion with Kunikida about how he was going to join the baseball team. Yeah, he can do whatever he wants. Tsuruya’s attention was now focused on Nagato. “So you’re Yuki Nagato? I’ve heard a lot about you from Mikuru.” Her random chatter was ignored by her reticent underclassman, who silently munched away at her BLT sandwich.



Everybody had ordered way more than necessary, but that was expected. Since I was paying for everybody.
    Haruhi had announced that little tidbit as though it were some kind of brilliant idea. I have no idea how Haruhi came up with it. Nobody has ever been able to trace her pattern of thought, so I wasn’t exactly surprised. I didn’t bother protesting because it would have been too much of a pain. In fact, I was in a pretty good mood.
    Because I’d managed to get my hands on some unexpected extra cash.
    Here’s to the success of the Kamigahara Pirates.
    The following happened a few days later.
    After school one day, we were in our room in the clubhouse, living another normal day as usual.
    I was playing Othello with Koizumi as I drank tea made by Asahina in her maid outfit. Nagato sat next to us reading a philosophy book she’d borrowed from the library that looked like a thick dictionary. By the way, Asahina was dressed according to my request today. It’s definitely better to be served by a maid than by a nurse. And Asahina stood carrying a tray as she intently watched our match.
    This was the usual scene in this room as of late.
    And this peaceful time, as tranquil as the grand Yellow River, was always ruined by Haruhi Suzumiya.
    “Sorry I’m late!”
    Haruhi apologized for no reason as she jumped in like a cold winter draft.
    Her entire face was lit up by a smile, which gave me the creeps. Whenever she smiles like that, something’s bound to happen that will leave me exhausted. We live in a funny world.
    As expected, Haruhi had something stupid to say.
    “Which one do you want?”
    I placed a black piece on the board and flipped over two of Koizumi’s white pieces.
    “Which what?”
    “This.”
    Haruhi held out two sheets of paper. I reluctantly took them.
    More flyers again. I looked them over. One was for a soccer tournament. The other was for a football tournament. I’m seriously going to curse whoever it is that prints these things out.
    “I was actually planning on doing one of these two instead of baseball. But the baseball tournament just happened to be earlier. So, Kyon, which one do you want?”
    I succumbed to my feelings of gloom and looked around the club room. Koizumi smiled wryly as he flicked at his pieces. Asahina was shaking her head with tears in her eyes. Nagato remained buried in her books with her fingers being the only part of her body showing any sign of movement.
    “So how many people do you need for soccer and football? Will the roster from last time suffice?”
    As I watched the glowing smile on Haruhi’s face, I