The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya Read Online Free Page A

a statue as she watched the second pitch fly by. Once the umpire announced that the batter was out, she returned to the bench, noticeably relieved.
    “Hey! Why aren’t you swinging the bat?!”
    Haruhi appears to be saying something, but we can just ignore her. All that matters is that Asahina is safe.
    “…”
    Our third batter was Nagato. She wordlessly walked to the batter’s box, dragging the tip of the metal bat along the ground.
    “…”
    She let every pitch go by and was immediately struck out. She then silently returned and turned to the next batter, me.
    “…”
    She handed me the helmet and bat before mutely sitting down on the bench and going back to being a prop.
    Haruhi’s angry yelling was getting annoying. Well, it was her fault for expecting anything from Asahina and Nagato.
    “Kyon! You’d better get a hit! You’re batting cleanup!”
    What can you possibly expect from a cleanup chosen through lottery?
    I followed Nagato’s lead and stood in the batter’s box, without saying a word.
    The first pitch I let go was a strike. I was surprised. It was pretty fast. You could even hear the swooshing sound of the ball slicing through the air. I had no idea how fast it was, but I could barely see it. In fact, I saw the pitcher throw the ball, and the next thing I knew, it was in the catcher’s mitt. Haruhi doubled off a pitch like this?
    The second pitch. I tried swinging. The metal bat sliced through empty air. Swing and a miss. Didn’t even touch the ball. I doubt it’s going to happen.
    The third pitch. Whoa, the ball curved. Was that what they call a curveball? If I hadn’t swung, it would have missed the outside corner and been a ball, but I swung and it was all over. Three consecutive strikeouts. Three outs. Change sides.
    “Moron!”
    The opposing team returned to their bench as Haruhi yelled and waved her hands from the middle-left side of the infield.
    Feeling pretty ashamed.
    Our defense, quite frankly, had more holes than an anthill in a savanna.
    The outfield was especially horrendous. First of all, Asahina wasin right field and my sister was in left and neither of them was going to be catching any fly balls. We found that out during pregame warm-ups. So when the ball flew toward right field, it was me, the second baseman, and when the ball flew toward left, it was Taniguchi, the shortstop, who had to run at full speed to where the ball was falling. Whenever Asahina saw the ball flying toward her, she would crouch down and cover her head with her glove, so we couldn’t expect anything from her. My sister, on the other hand, would cheerfully run after the ball before watching it drop three meters away from where she was, so that was another lost cause.
    Nagato, in center, fielded the ball perfectly, but she only reacted to balls within her range. And her movement was sluggish, so if a line drive got past her, the batter was guaranteed a double.
    … Just lose quick and go home. That works.
    “Let’s shut them out! Yeah!”
    Haruhi was getting pumped up by herself. It goes without saying that the chest protector, shin guards, and catcher’s mitt for the person on the receiving end of her pitches, Koizumi, were all borrowed.
    The opposing leadoff batter bowed to the umpire before heading to the batter’s box.
    Haruhi threw her first pitch with an overhand motion.
    Strike.
    An impressive fastball with great spin, speed, and control. The pitch was right down the middle, but the force behind the ball was so intense that the bat didn’t even twitch.
    Naturally, I, along with the other SOS Brigade members, was not surprised. If she were suddenly named to the national soccer team, we probably still wouldn’t be surprised. Anything is possible with Haruhi.
    But the same couldn’t be said for the opposing leadoff batter. He stood in a daze as the second pitch flew by. He finally swung on the third pitch, but unfortunately, he struck out. Her pitchapparently had a tendency to change slightly