PROLOGUE

Looking back, the memorable inauguration of the SOS Brigade, which had left me, not Haruhi, in a state of melancholy, had been back in the beginning of spring, and the incident involving the production of the independent film, which, naturally, had forced me, not Haruhi, to sigh, had technically happened in autumn if you go by the calendar.

Approximately half a year had passed in between, of course, and Haruhi sure wasn’t going to sit around and watch six whole months, including all of summer, pass by. Naturally, it goes without saying that we ended up involved in various irrational and incomprehensible events or pseudo-events that shouldn’t even be called as such.

At any rate, the season was what it was, and baffling ideas were popping out of Haruhi’s head the way insects pop out when the temperature rises. I could live with the popping-out part, but the fact of the matter was, we would be forced to deal with whatever idea had popped out. Seriously, what’s up with that?

I have no idea how Koizumi, Nagato, and Asahina felt about all this, but my subjective symptoms told me, at least, that while my energy and strength remained at adequate levels, I always ended up feeling like a little round animal that couldn’t move after eating more than it should have, leaving no choice but to roll down the hill.

I may still be rolling at this very moment.

After all, Haruhi has a habit that other people would find excruciatingly annoying of thinking about utterly worthless things whenever her head isn’t filled with happy thoughts. Basically, it would appear that she’s unable to tolerate any situation which requires her to do nothing. She’s the kind of person who will forcibly find something to do when no such thing exists. And based on my experience, we can no longer have peace of mind once Haruhi opens her mouth. And we may never have it again. She’s unbelievable.

Haruhi Suzumiya, the girl who hates boredom above all else, regardless of the good or the bad.

And so I would like to take this opportunity to fill you in on the various undertakings of the SOS Brigade to counter the boredom during the six months when melancholy turned to sigh. I can’t really explain how this constitutes an opportunity, but it won’t kill me to talk about it, and it’d be pretty satisfying to get it all off my chest and share this indescribable feeling with someone else.

Let’s see… I’ll start from the stupid baseball tournament.