The Boredom of Haruhi Suzumiya Read Online Free PDF Page A

sight. She looks cute no matter what she’s wearing.
    “It might go better with a ponytail.”
    Haruhi had gathered Asahina’s hair together as she brushed it from behind, when she noticed my gaze and puckered her lips like a duckbill. Ponytail canceled.
    “Come on. Start cheering.”
    “What… H-How do I do that…?”
    “Like this.”
    Haruhi circled behind Asahina, grabbed her slender pale arms, and began waving them up and down. Like some kind of funny dance. Haruhi was loudly hissing, “Say it! Just say it!” or something in her ear.
    “Eek! Everybody! Please hit the ball! Please do your best!”
    Asahina screamed at the top of her lungs in a falsetto. At the very least, Taniguchi appeared to be psyched up as he recklessly swung the bat in the batter’s circle. Of course, I doubt that will be enough to get a hit off the opposing pitcher.
    As expected, Taniguchi returned to the bench dejected.
    “Yeah, there’s no way I can hit that.”
    That brought us back to the top of the order, and Haruhi once again stood in the batter’s box.
    Still wearing that cheerleader outfit.
    Previously, Haruhi and Asahina had dressed up as bunny girls, which had been a spectacle rather rough on the eyes, but the impact here was much the same.
    At the moment, the opposition was having difficulty deciding where to look. Asahina was wonderful in every possible way, and the same could, for the most part, be said for Haruhi, barring her personality. Like her looks or figure.
    Haruhi did not overlook the fact that the pitcher, whose control suddenly went out of whack, threw a really sweet pitch. She hit it past the center fielder for another stand-up double. While some miscommunication occurred during the throw back to the infield, Haruhi slid into third base. I was wondering where the third baseman’s eyes were when Haruhi slid.
    And the next batter was a beautiful cheerleader whose charms surpassed those of Haruhi’s. Asahina, cowering with the bat in her hands, was dizzy with embarrassment as she endured the stares of many males (including myself). Very nice.
    The opposing pitcher was unable to manage anything beyond a wobbly pitch at this point, but I suppose I shouldn’t have beensurprised when Asahina still couldn’t hit it. Even when he was throwing easy ball after easy ball.
    “Eh!”
    Her eyes were shut when she swung the bat, so it’d be pretty hard for her to hit anything.
    Soon enough, she’d racked up two strikes. At this point, Haruhi began waving her arms around on third base. What is she doing?
    “That appears to be a bunt signal,” Koizumi explained calmly.
    “Did we ever decide on any signals?”
    “No. However, we should be able to conjecture what kind of signal Suzumiya would use in this situation. She’s probably signaling for a squeeze.”
    “Signaling for a squeeze with two outs? Even a tenured manager would try to come up with something better than that.”
    “Presuming that Asahina’s chances of hitting the ball are practically zero, using a squeeze play when the opposing team least expects it may possibly cause the infield to commit an error. Or perhaps she believes that even Asahina can at least manage to make contact with the ball.”
    “They’ve all figured it out, though.”
    Their infielders were all ready to swoop in on the ball. There was probably something wrong with Haruhi’s gesturing. Everybody could tell that she was signaling for a bunt.
    As expected, the squeeze play ended in failure. After all, Asahina had no idea what a squeeze was to begin with so she simply tilted her head and watched Haruhi’s obvious signals with a puzzled look on her face while the third strike flew by. Three outs. Change sides.
    Like a puppy resigned to being scolded by its owner, Asahina returned in low spirits and stopped when Haruhi called her over.
    “Mikuru, come over here and buckle down for some pain!”
    “Eh…”
    Haruhi raised both hands to pinch Asahina’s trembling cheeks and