Free The Wavering of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa Page A

decided to cut to the chase. To be honest, I just wanted to hang up, but judging by his crazed tone, if I hung up on him he’d just keep redialing me.
    “Tell me what the girl you fell for looks like.”
    After a moment of silence, Nakagawa spoke.
    “She had short hair,” he said, speaking slowly as he recalled her. “And she wore glasses.”
    Aha.
    “The North High uniform looked spectacular on her.”
    Uh-huh.
    “And she was surrounded by a glittering aura.”
    Well, I don’t know about that.
    “So, you’re talking about Nagato, then.”
    This was a surprise. I thought for sure the person he was so crazy for would be either Asahina or Haruhi, but Nagato? I guess there was something to Taniguchi’s A-minus grading. My first impression of her had been that she was an antique doll of a girl, quiet and eccentric, but I guess there are girl-connoisseurs everywhere. Of course, now it’s different—my opinion of her has completely changed in the last six months.
    “So her name’s Nagato, then?”
    Nakagawa’s voice was strangely aroused.
    “What characters does she use to write it? What’s her full name?”
    “Yuki Nagato. Nagato as in the battleship, Yuki as in ‘hope,’ ” I told him.
    “… What a lovely name. Her family name is magnificent and strong, like the
Nagato,
while her given name is pure and clear, full of optimism and the possibilities of the future. It’s neither banal nor overstated, just like the image of her in my mind.”
    And just what image was that? How could a single look reflect anything but his own conceited delusion?
    “You said it was what was inside that counted, but what does love at first sight have to do with that?” I asked him.
    “I just knew.”
    He was annoyingly confident.
    “This isn’t just a delusion. I know it. I don’t care about outward appearance or personality. It’s her intellect. I saw her. She had agodlike intelligence to her. I’ll never meet such a highbrow girl again.”
    There was still much I didn’t understand; I’d have to look up “highbrow” in the dictionary later.
    “So how can you tell all that from a single glance? You only saw her from a distance, and you haven’t said one word to her.”
    “I can’t help it—I just know it’s true!”
    Why does he have to yell?
    “I’m grateful to God. I’m ashamed I never believed in religion before. Now I go to the neighborhood shrine every week to pray, and I’ve been going to the church for confession—both Protestant and Catholic.”
    “That just makes you more of an unbeliever,” I said. “You can’t just worship anything. Pick a god and stick with it!”
    “You’ve got a point,” said Nakagawa. “Thank you, Kyon. I’ve made up my mind. I need worship but one goddess—and that’s Yuki Nagato. I’ll devote all my life’s love to her—”
    “Nakagawa.”
    He’d just keep going with his nonsense if I let him, so I cut him off—it was just too corny, and I was starting to get irritated.
    “So what do you want? I get why you called, but what of it? What’s the point of declaring your love for Nagato to me?”
    “I want you to give her a message for me.”
    So said Nakagawa.
    “I want you to convey to her my words. Please. You’re my only hope. You were walking right beside her. Surely you must know her well.”
    He wasn’t wrong. Everyone in the SOS Brigade was in the same orbit around Haruhi. And he’d said he saw Nagato and me in May, and she’d been wearing glasses along with her school uniform. So it must have been the day the SOS Brigade had gone on its first patrol, when I’d gone to the library with her. I got a little nostalgic thinking about it, but compared to then, I know ahundred times more about Nagato now—more than I’d like, if I’m honest.
    Feeling it a bit keenly, I put a question to Nakagawa.
    “So you remembered that I was walking with Nagato…”
    It was a little hard to say.
    “So, um, did it occur to you that we might not just be