Free The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa

“It’s love” thing all about earlier? Whom had those words been meant for?
    “I don’t actually know her name. I do know she’s a student at North High, though.”
    Although I had no idea what he was going on about, I breathed a sigh of relief. I felt like a foot soldier in a foxhole at the front line of battle who’d just heard news of a treaty being signed. Getting a love confession from a guy was kind of surprising. In my case, anyway.
    “Well, then explain yourself better! Who’re you in love with?”
    There was a limit to how vague you could be, after all. I was just about ready to put him on my block list.



And anyway, what was the big idea, talking so seriously about love while still in his first year of high school? Maybe that was the craziest thing. It was embarrassing just to say it. I mean, love?
    “It was this past spring… around May.”
    Nakagawa started talking. There was something euphoric about his tone.
    “She was walking with you. I can still see it clearly every time I close my eyes. Ah, her form was so fetching, so beautiful. And that wasn’t all. I saw a radiance shining out from behind her. It was no illusion—yes, it was light as though from heaven itself…”
    His rapturous tone had a dangerous edge to it, as though he were under the influence of a dangerous drug.
    “I was overwhelmed. I’d never felt such a feeling in my entire life. It was like electricity—no, like a thunderbolt had struck me where I stood! I stood there for hours, having lost all track of time. When I came to my senses, it was nighttime. That’s when I knew—it was love.”
    “Now wait just a minute—”
    Nakagawa’s words were like the feverish ramblings of an
Andromeda Strain
patient, but I tried to make sense of them. According to him, he’d seen me walking with someone in May, and the sight of that person had overwhelmed him. She was a North High student… which meant there weren’t many possibilities.
    I hadn’t walked around town with many girls this past spring, to be honest. If she was a North High student, that eliminated my sister, so it had to be one of the three girls in the SOS Brigade.
    Which meant…
    “It was a fated encounter.”
    Nakagawa continued his intoxicated rambling.
    “Do you understand, Kyon? I never believed in anything as superstitious as ‘love at first sight.’ I was a strict materialist. But my eyes have been opened. There is love at first sight—there is, Kyon.”
    Why did I have to listen to him go on and on about it? Love at first sight? I asked if he was sure he wasn’t being deceived by outward appearances.
    “No, I’m not.”
    His reply was decisive.
    “I’m not being fooled by either face or figure. It’s the inside that’s important. I saw through to her soul in an instant. A glance was all it took. Nothing can change the impact it made on me. Unfortunately, it’s hard to put into words. But I’ve fallen in love—I feel like I want to keep falling. Do you understand, Kyon?”
    Now it was my turn to say no.
    “Forget about that, anyway—” I decided to cut off Nakagawa’s inane chatter.
    “So you were shocked or whatever by that girl in May, right? But it’s winter now. It’s been months, so what have you been doing all this time?”
    “That’s right, Kyon. Now that you mention it, it’s been rough. These past few months have been pure suffering. My mind hasn’t had a moment’s rest. I’m constantly agonizing over what to do. I wonder about what part of me could possibly be worthy of a girl like her. I’ll be frank, Kyon. It was only recently that I realized you were the one walking next to her. That’s why I called you. That’s just how dazzling she is. I’ve never felt this way about anything else in my life.”
    The fact that he’d fallen head over heels for a girl whose name he didn’t even know, then mooned over her for months was a little frightening.
    Asahina’s, Haruhi’s, and Nagato’s faces appeared in my mind; I