I'm a big fan of Haruhi Suzumiya, both the books and the anime. I've read all the books at least once, some of them more than that, and I join in on the /a/ streams whenever I remember them or see them in the catalog. Today, I was supposed to watch Terminator with my friends, but hours after I had woken up, there was a blackout in my neighborhood, and it wasn't a short one. I picked up my PS Vita, started playing Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 SISTERS GENERATION until the battery ran out. Left with nothing to do, I used my phone's light to re-read The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya. This book was a big deal when it came out, considering it had been almost 10 years since The Surprise of Haruhi Suzumiya. So, yeah, I just read it, with hindsight about the whole "whodunit" being on my side, and here are my opinions on Haruhi's future as of late.
Although I'm a big fan of the books and the anime, I was very late to the party on the Haruhi train. By the time I got acquainted with Haruhi, everything except Intuition was out, so I didn't have to ponder whether or not there was a continuation to all of this. And yes, I'm aware that The Theater of Haruhi Suzumiya (tentative title maybe idk) has been announced and will be released sometime in the future. I didn't have to question if a plot point would be relevant in the future; I just had to read the rest of the books to get my answer (here's a salute to everyone who had to wait 4 years for the conclusion to The Dissociation of Haruhi Suzumiya). Now, though, that same train of thought is not true.
Haruhi was never the main character in her series; it was always Kyon, with her being a very good character. I'd argue she didn't even get to do as much as the other colorful individuals in the SOS Brigade. This couldn't be more true in "Intuition." Although she's more proactive in Tsuruya's challenge, Koizumi, and to a much lesser extent, T, take the main role. As we learn later on, the whole challenge was orchestrated by the "Mystery Research Club." So, this begs the question: will they have an actual importance in the story?
One of my favorite stories and episodes from Haruhi Suzumiya is "The Day of Sagittarius." It's got a lot of good moments relating to Yuki, but it also uses previously introduced characters brilliantly. In Intuition, not only is a new character introduced, a group of characters are teased, and a previous character gets a decent spotlight. In turn, this makes me wonder if the same will happen in the future with characters from Surprise (you know the ones) and Intuition (T and Mystery Research Club).
I should mention that I'm not a huge fan of any of the characters introduced (or used, I should say) in Surprise. I dislike Sasaki and her way of talking. Maybe it's the way it's translated to English, but it feels very smug and condescending to the reader, not in a way it would feel to Kyon. The others are alright, but they suffer slightly from the fact that we don't spend that much time with them. Now, considering all of this, I only have one hope, which is that all of my worries are unwarranted and Tanigawa-san will deliver on everything just like he has done many times over.