Volume 3 - The Boredom of Suzumiya Haruhi Page 3

  Nagato the center fielder was flawless when catching the ball, but she only reacted to those that flew within her defensive perimeters, and her reactions were just dead slow. If a line drive flew past her, our opponent would have scored a run already.

  ……Might as well hurry up and lose so we can go home already! That wouldn’t be too bad.

  “C’mon! Bring it on!”

  Only Haruhi walked enthusiastically towards the pitcher’s mound. The gloves, shin guards and chest protector for our catcher Koizumi were of course all borrowed.

  Our opponent’s first batter bowed to the organizers, then headed to the batter’s box.

  Haruhi slung her arm and made her first pitch.

  Haruhi slung her arm and made her first pitch.

  Strike.

  It was a very good strike, be it the angle, speed or control of the ball. The ball landed right in the center of the strike zone. The strike had so much power that the batter didn’t even have a chance to swing his bat.

  Of course, the SOS Brigade members, including myself, weren’t surprised by this. If this girl were suddenly called up to the Japanese National Soccer Team, I think we won’t be too shocked about it. There was nothing which was impossible for Haruhi.

  It wasn’t that simple for the opponent’s first batter, though. He couldn’t swing his bat for two consecutive strikes, and only managed to react for the third pitch, but he still struck out. It seems like one of those change up balls that curves slightly when entering the strike zone, it was as unpredictable as Haruhi’s personality.

  The second batter listened to the suggestions of the first batter, who never managed a hit, and tried to bunt. Yet he hit the ball outside the foul line twice and missed the third pitch, so he was struck out as well.

  Seeing how the situation was beginning to change, even I was feeling uneasy. Both teams weren’t going to drag on like this till the last inning, were they? As expected from their clean-up man, the third batter made a direct hit on Haruhi’s powerful fastball. If you keep pitching fastballs, it’s only a matter of time before it gets hit.

  The ball flew way past the head of Nagato, who remain rooted there, and disappeared into the distance. With the look of Medea who had just been betrayed by Jason, Haruhi looked intently at the third batter who had just hit a home run.

  Anyway, we were now one run behind as a result.

  The fourth batter managed to hit a double; while the fifth batter took advantage of an error from Kunikida, and our opponents ended up taking the first and third; the sixth batter scored a second run by hitting the ball out into the right field; the seventh batter hit the ball towards third base, the ball was picked up and quickly thrown home by Tsuruya-san, tagging the runner out. This ended the first inning.

  At the end of the first inning, the score was 2-0. I never thought we would have fought this valiantly, though it’ll give me more of a headache. Just hurry up and let them score ten runs so we can go home already!

  At the start of the second inning, our fifth to seventh batters - my sister, Koizumi and Kunikida - were all struck out consecutively, we have already entered the second half of the inning before we could even draw our breath.

  Our opponent seems to have identified the outfield as our main weakness, and it became obvious that they were targeting the ball towards that area. Every time Taniguchi and I would run frantically towards the outfield, trying to catch the ball, but our success rate was about 10%, and we were simply exhausted. Oh well, in order to relieve Asahina-san of her pain, running this much was a small price to pay. Since Asahina-san still looked so cute even when being scared senseless.

  And so our opponent scored five runs in this inning. The score was now 7-0. Just three more runs and it’ll be over. We should be able to wrap things up by the next inning, I guess.

  First half of the third inning. Our turn for offense.

  Tsuruya-san, who tied her long hair behind her head, kept hitting the ball foul. She seems like a very energetic person, but in the end she hit a ball that ended up landing in the catcher’s glove. She tapped her helmet with the bat and said,

  “Sure is hard! Just hitting the ball alone was already tough.”

  Haruhi frowned and seemed to be in deep thought. Whatever she’s thinking, it wasn’t going to be good.

  “Hmm, looks like we’ll have to use that……”

  Haruhi murmured and slowly walked to the umpire and said, “Time out!”

  She then grabbed Asahina-san, who was sitting obediently with a loudspeaker in her hand, by the neck,

  “Kyaa!”

  Haruhi dragged the slim figure in the track suit and disappeared behind the bench area. She and Asahina-san were each carrying a large sports bag, I would soon find out what those bags contained.

  “W,wait…… Suzumiya-san! Nooo……”

  Besides from Asahina-san’s cute screams, the wind blew across the rough voice of Haruhi yelling away,

  “Hurry up and take it off! Now put this on!”

  Here we go again.

  And so, when Asahina-san reappeared, she was dressed in the most appropriate attire for this situation. She wore a sleeveless shirt with bright blue and white colors, coupled with a mini-skirt, she even had two yellow pompoms.

  Such an impeccable cheerleader. Where did she get this costume from? What a mystery.

  “She looks gorgeous…”

  Kunikida said enjoyably.

  “Mikuru, can I take some pictures of you like that?”

  Tsuruya-san giggled and took out her digital camera phone.

  By the way, Haruhi was also dressed as a cheerleader. Wouldn’t it be fine if only she were to wear that…… I didn’t think like that then. To be honest, Asahina-san just looked too cute in that cheerleader costume, though she’d look cute in anything.

  “I wonder if you’ll look better with a ponytail?”

  Haruhi caressed Asahina-san’s hair and attempted to tie her hair behind the back of her head. When she noticed that I was watching, she scowled her mouth like a duck’s beak and gave up tying the hair.

  “Then, let’s get to work!”

  “Eh? W,w,what do we do?”

  “We do this!”

  Haruhi went behind Asahina-san and lifted her weak, pale arms, then began to swing then up and down. Such unbelievable choreography. Haruhi yelled loudly by Asahina-san’s ear, “Scream! Scream loudly!”

  “Wah…… Everyone, please do you best and score a run! Everyone…… Do your best!”

  Asahina-san was forced to yell in such a pretentious way. At least Taniguchi was fired up by this, as he swung the bat with vigor, preparing to get on base. However, I have a feeling no matter how hard he tries, he’s never going to hit the opponent’s pitches.

  As expected, Taniguchi returned dejected to the bench in no time.

  “Man, this is hard.”

  And so, the batters position was rotated and Haruhi once again went to the batting zone.

  In that cheerleader costume of hers.

  It was quite a feast for the eyes when Haruhi and Asahina-san once dressed up as bunny girls, and right now their costumes were just as distracting.

  Our opponents already didn’t know where to look. Asahina-san was perfect in every way; while besides her personality, Haruhi was equally flawless - in both her looks and her figure.

  Haruhi took full advantage of the opponent pitcher’s error and made a hit, striking the ball towards the center field past the second base. During the confusion of the opponent’s trying to scramble the ball back infield, she had already taken third base. The third baseman’s eyes were looking in a suspicious angle when Haruhi slid towards the third base.

  The next batter was a pretty cheerleader girl whose charms far surpass Haruhi’s. Asahina-san held the bat with trepidation. Under the watchful glare of many guys (myself included), her face blushed furiously red in embarrassment. Such a great scene.

  The pitcher was so distracted he could only throw a weak pitch, but Asahina
-san still didn’t swing her bat. The opponent even deliberately threw an easy-to-hit curveball.

  “Yah!”

  Her eyes were shut when she swung her bat, so a ball that could have been easily hit wasn’t even scratched at all.

  And so, Asahina-san was once again one pitch away from being struck out. At this moment, Haruhi began swinging her arms while standing on the third base. What was she doing?

  “She seems to be making a signal.”

  Koizumi came and explained.

  “Did we even have signals to begin with?”

  “No. But from this situation, I can more or less imagine Suzumiya-san would resort to using signals. She’s probably trying to call for a squeeze.”

  “Signing for a squeeze with two outs? Even a lame duck coach can do better than that.”

  “I deduce that she probably believes the chances of Asahina-san scoring a run is near zero, so she decided to employ a squeeze play, which would result in the infielders making an error; or perhaps if Asahina-san does manage to hit the ball, she might be able to do something as well?”

  “The thing is that our opponent has figured that out already.”

  The infielders have all gone into defensive positions and were prepared. What signals was Haruhi making? It just looked like she was signaling to hit the ball.

  In the end, the squeeze play failed miserably. Asahina-san didn’t even know what squeeze play was, so she could only tilt her head and wonder what Haruhi’s signals meant. She was eventually struck out.

  Asahina-san lowered her head and returned to the bench, with the look of a puppy who had just enraged her master. Haruhi called her over,

  “Mikuru-chan, come over here, and close your jaws tightly.”

  “Wah~~……”

  Haruhi pinched hardly the sides of Asahina-san’s trembling cheeks with both her hands,

  “This is your punishment! Let everyone see that cute face of yours.”

  “Ah…… Ah……”

  “Are you an idiot?”

  I knocked on Haruhi’s head with my loudspeaker.

  “It’s your fault for making such funny signals. Why don’t you go steal home plate yourself, you moron?”

  Suddenly…

  Koizumi took out a cell phone... Asahina-san looked shocked and pressed her left ear with her hand... Nagato turned and looked vertically upwards into the sky.

  Beep beep beep! Koizumi took out a cell phone from his track suit pocket, and frowned after looking at the LCD screen.

  Asahina-san looked shocked and pressed her left ear with her hand while looking off into the distance.

  Nagato turned and looked vertically upwards into the sky.

  When everyone else went to their defensive positions, Koizumi called me back.

  “Something’s come up.”

  I didn’t want to know, but I’ll hear what you have to say.

  “A Sealed Dimension has appeared. Probably the largest we’ve ever seen, and it’s expanding at a very rapid rate.”

  Sealed Dimension.

  A gray world which I was too familiar with. How could I forget? Thanks to being trapped in that gloomy dimension, I now have to carry a mental scar for the rest of my life.

  Koizumi continued to smile,

  “That’s how it is. Sealed Dimensions are created as a result of the pressure being subconsciously emitted by Suzumiya-san. Right now Suzumiya-san is very frustrated, which explains the appearance of one right now. Unless her mood improves, this Sealed Dimension is going to keep expanding, and the ‘Avatars’ which you’re so familiar with will wreak havoc on everything.”

  “……You’re saying Haruhi’s getting moody because the team’s losing? She can get so frustrated as to create such a retarded dimension?”

  “Seems to be the case.”

  “She’s so full of it!”

  Koizumi made no comment but simply smiled at me. I sighed and said,

  “This is so annoying.”

  Koizumi looked at me and said,

  “What’s the point in saying this now? You sound as though it has nothing to do with you. This is a serious incident, and you have a lot to do with it. Weren’t our positions decided through lottery?”

  “It was decided through lottery, so what?”

  “And you were chosen as the clean-up.”

  “I don’t feel glad at all with that.”

  “Suzumiya-san wouldn’t care less about whether you felt glad or pressurized by it. The thing is that you were chosen as the clean-up.”

  “Can you please explain in a language I can understand?”

  “Simple. Because this is what Suzumiya-san wishes, that’s why you were chosen as the fourth batter. This is not coincidental. She wishes for you to perform the role of the clean-up, but right now she is very disappointed that you have failed to live up to her expectations.”

  “Well, sorry about that.”

  “Hmm, I’m troubled by it as well. At this rate, Suzumiya-san’s mood would continue to deteriorate, and the Sealed Dimension would continue to expand.”

  “……Then what should I do?”

  “Do well in the game. If possible, make a long hit; or better still, a home run, especially those that fly very far off. How about scoring a very long home run, and even smashing the score board at the far side of the field?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I only score home runs in video games. How am I supposed to make such powerful swings?”

  “We all sincerely hope that you can do it.”

  No matter how much you hope, I’m neither a god nor an elf, how was I going to find a solution?

  “Then try your best to prevent the opponent from ending the game within this inning. If the game ends here, then it’ll be the end for the world as well. No matter what, we must limit their score in this half to within two runs.”

  Koizumi said in a very serious manner which didn’t fit in with this atmosphere.

  The second half of the third inning began. Haruhi walked towards the pitcher’s mound in her cheerleader costume. Asahina-san also wore her cheerleader costume and went to the right field.

  Haruhi revealed her arms and legs without hesitation, and ignored any runners on base while still throwing her pitches from the set.

  The first batter struck the ball and it flew right in front of Nagato’s face. She made the out, but she didn’t even look at the fly ball hit by the second batter. When the ball rolled from the left field into the center field, he had already run to third base. Haruhi’s pitches were still full of power, but as she kept throwing fastballs, they were bound to get hit. As expected from the defending champions, they then scored two runs by making two hits and taking advantage of an error from Kunikida. The situation was now becoming critical. There were already runners standing on first and second base. Just one more run and this game would have to end forcefully, and no one will know what will happen to this world.

  Whack! The white ball flew high and drifted towards the right field. Asahina-san stood at where the ball would land, and curled herself in fear. There was no time to think, I ran with my life for the umpteenth time towards the right wing. I’ve gotta get that ball!

  I leapt and caught the ball. The ball barely went in through the tip of the glove.

  “Argh!”

  I then quickly threw the ball with all my force to Taniguchi, who was standing by at second base. The two runners thought this was going to be a long distance hit and were already going. Taniguchi quickly stepped on second. Double play!

  Phew, we somehow managed to survive this. How exhausting.

  “Nice play!”

  I embraced the praising look of Asahina-san, while Taniguchi, Kunikida, my sister and Tsuruya-san all mobbed my head with their gloves. I gave them a V-sign while looking at Haruhi’s reaction, and saw her carrying a troubled expression as she looked at the score board (which was basically a movable white board).

  I sat on the bench and covered my face with a towel. Koizumi now walked towards me
,

  “Continuing where we left off,”

  I really didn’t want to hear this.

  “There is a solution to this. When you and Suzumiya-san went to that world, how did you manage to return?”

  Like I said, stop making me think of that again.

  “If you use that method you used back then, we might be able to improve the situation.”

  “I refuse.”

  Heh heh heh Koizumi giggled. Now that laughing noise of his sure pissed me off.

  “I knew you would say that. Then how about this? It’ll be fine as long as we win this game. I’ve already thought of a good idea, it should be able to work, since she shares a common interest with us.”

  Koizumi grinned softly and headed towards Nagato, who was standing in the white on-deck circle staring blankly into the distance. He then mumbled something to the side of Nagato’s ear, whose short hair seemed to wave slightly. Suddenly, Nagato turned her head and looked at me with her emotionless eyes.

  Does that mean she agreed to it? She nodded her head like a puppet whose strings had just snapped, and walked in strides towards the Batter’s box.

  I turned my gaze leftwards and saw Asahina-san staring at Nagato,

  “Nagato-san…… She’s finally……”

  She said with a pale expression, which made me concerned,

  “What’s she doing?”

  “Nagato-san seems to be chanting incantations.”

  “Incantations? What the hell’s that?”

  “Um…… That’s classified information.”

  I’m sorry. Asahina-san gestured as she lowered her head. That’s fine, it can’t be helped if it’s classified information. Sigh, looks like that surreal stuff was about to happen again.

  I had a firsthand experience with Nagato’s incantations.

  It was a very hot May evening, if Nagato hadn’t barged into the classroom that day, I would now be taking a long nap in my grave. At that time Nagato was also chanting something very quickly, and defeated the person who was trying to kill me. Ah yes, Nagato was still wearing glasses back then.