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

but I’ll keep my mouth shut.
    “As the director representing the SOS Brigade, I decided to provide quality entertainment. Just you watch. Every single member of the audience will be on their feet in a standing ovation!”
    Upon closer look, I noticed that Haruhi’s armband had changed from
Chief
to
Director
at some point. She sure was prepared.
    As I watched the female director getting excited by herself, the female lead getting depressed, and the male lead standing back smiling enigmatically like a bystander, I was wondering what exactly was going on. Then the door opened without a sound.
    “…”
    I thought something big had come to make an appearance. Scared for a moment there that they’d come to retrieve me from my rather short life. It almost made me wonder if I hadn’t accidentally stepped into the music room from the movie where Salieri goes to Mozart to commission a requiem.
    “…”
    As she delivered her signature ellipsis, Yuki Nagato entered the room with a paler face than usual. Only her face was visible. Everything else was covered in black.
    I wasn’t the only one at a loss for words. Haruhi and Asahina were the same. Koizumi’s smile had a hint of surprise tacked on like a tax. Nagato was garbed in clothing strange enough to startle Asahina.
    Her body was wrapped in a mantle as dark as a blackout. Her head was covered by a wide-brimmed pointy hat of the same color. She looked like a vampire hunter. Or maybe the Grim Reaper.
    As we watched, Nagato silently headed to her designated seat in the corner, withdrew her bag and a hardcover book from under her mantle, and set them on the table.
    And—completely ignoring our shock—she began reading her book.
    Apparently, it was the costume for her class’s fortune-telling convention.
    That’s what I gathered from Nagato’s short responses to Haruhi, who was the first one to recover and issue a rapid string of questions. Nagato’s class must have had an extremely resourceful and talented stylist to make Nagato wear such a jolly costume.
    In any case, if she walked here from her classroom in this monk-like getup, did it mean this was supposed to be Nagato’s way of competing with Asahina? She made guessing what Haruhi was thinking look easy.
    An unpleasant silence hung over the room. Only Haruhi looked like she was really happy.
    “Yuki, now you understand! Yes, that’s it!”
    Nagato slowly turned to look at Haruhi before returning to her book.
    “That costume is perfect for the role I had in mind! Let the people who put you in that know later. I want to wire them a message to show my appreciation.”
    Don’t. If someone were to receive a message of congratulations from Haruhi, that person would probably suspect some kind of catch and end up being scared of his own shadow. You need to take an objective look at how other people view you.
    Haruhi looked to be in high spirits as she hummed the Turkish March while opening her bag and withdrawing a stack of photocopy sheets. She quickly passed them out, looking like Kintaro after wrestling down a black bear.
    Not having much choice, I turned my eyes to the sheet of paper.
    The following passage was scribbled across the page:
    “C OMBAT W AITRESS :
    T HE A DVENTURES OF M IKURU A SAHINA ” (T ENTATIVE )
    D RAMATIS P ERSONAE
    M IKURU A SAHINA : C OMBAT W AITRESS FROM THE FUTURE
    I TSUKI K OIZUMI : B OY ESPER
    Y UKI N AGATO : E VIL ALIEN
    E XTRAS : P ASSERSBY
    … Yeah, that’s just. Yeah.
    Has her level of intuition transcended mere disbelief? Or did she hit the mark without even trying? I’m starting to wonder if she’s just feigning ignorance. What’s with her sharp senses that only work at odd intervals?
    As I stood stunned, I was brought back to the real world by the sound of chuckling next to me. The only person with that kind of laugh would be Koizumi.
    “Well, this is quite…”
    I envy how you seem to be enjoying yourself.
    “What should I say? Just as one would expect? Indeed, the casting