Vol 1 Chapter 5 (2/2)
I turned around and found Chitanda and Ibara standing by the Preparation Room entrance
Ah yes, we had to look for the chemical safe
Still, with things being placed everywhere in such a narrow room, there was no way to search like that Simply by observation alone, there didn't see a cheed Perhaps I did see it but didn't notice it properly
Hmm
I crossed aito, who had been watching us, ”Do you knohy the club rooms were moved around last year?”
”Nope Maybe they were trying to fill out the rooer existed?”
”Howin when you moved in here?”
Toogaito thought for a while before replying, ” Now that you mention it, how many boxes did we move?”
”The cardboard boxes?”
”Yeah”
I see Then it should be there I'd nearly forgotten that the Toogaito clan was also quite a prestigious clan; it wouldhis clan
I'd h obtaining the up a trap I turned to face Toogaito
”Se around, it would be quite tedious to search like that This ht trouble you a bit, but do you mind if we ask Ooide-sensei to come help us search as well?”
Though he'd put on a sober expression until now, Toogaito's broere raised
” No I told you not toinside”
”We'll place the objects back where we found them e're done, please let us search”
”I said no!”
He suddenly raised his voice
”Oh, I'uess that's too bad”
Chitanda replied frantically while Toogaito continued speaking loudly
”I'm already quite busy today as I have to submit my ideas to the editorial tea into our place to search all over for stuff? Your anthologies ain't here, so leave already!”
While Toogaito was getting increasingly agitated, Ithe trap as I had expected him to
I gazed at Toogaito while holding a friendly smile
”Sempai, we're interested in the contents of a chemical safe”
” What?”
”The anthologies are supposed to be inside the chemical safe If you said they're not here, then they surely must not be here Since we don't want to trouble you any further”
I then stopped s to the library now If after we leave you ies, would you please be so kind as to bring they Room? We'll leave the door unlocked”
It seeaito was really furious at my proposal, as he twisted his previously rational face and stared atspecial After all, I've never heard of anyone in the history of this world getting injured just by being stared at
”W, why you, how did you”
”Yes, Sempai?”
After restraining hiaito shat he was about to say
He then sighed deeply and reverted back to his courteous self
”Fine, I'll do it when I find them”
”I ao, Chitanda, Ibara?”
Probably not understanding the irls reed withany longer
”Oreki-san, what just happened?”
”I'll explain later”
After telling they Room
A voice called out to me from behind, ”You, first year I still haven't heard what your name is”
I turned and replied indifferently, ”Oreki Houtarou Sorry about that just now”
Along the corridor linking the Special Block and the General Block, I leaned against one of the walls As ere killing tiirls took this chance to askon, but aren't we heading to the library?”
I waved my hand
”Nope, since there's no need to”
”I don't get it If there's no need to, why aren't we going back to the club room?”
”We can't We'll need to wait a bit longer”
Ibaraunconvinced
Chitanda, while sniffling her nose, took over for Ibara and asked, ”Oreki-san, Toogaito-sempai looked furious”
”It seems so”
”Of course it's good if the back issues are indeed found, but to make such a forceful request out of him”
”Forceful? I merely requested him reasonably”
Chitanda opened and closed her mouth as she was at a loss for words That is to be expected Since all I asked was ”to help look for our stuff” and ”bring them over once they're found”
”But, Toogaito-sempai was furious”
”Was he that furious?”
Standing beside Chitanda, Ibara raised her brow and asked, ”After Oreki er looked ”
Oh, so she noticed
”Is that so?”
Though apparently Chitanda still hasn't
I took a look at my watch Three minutes had passed Should be about ti on and asked, ”Chitanda, hoell-known are the Toogaitos?”
Chitanda tilted her head, wondering why I would ask for soaitos? They're quite influential in the high school educational circles They've got one member in the Prefectural School Board and one in the City School Board, as well as one school principal and two teachers”
Now I see
”Oreki, what about the anthologies already?”
I replied, ”I think it's time we return”
Chitanda and Ibara looked at each other upon hearing my answer I merely smiled
And so we arrived at the Geology Room
”Ah, here they are”
It was as I said On top of the teacher's desk were stacked dozens of thin notebooks I couldn't help but puo co to plan
”They ca towards the teacher's desk As she picked up one of the notebooks, she ies”
”Eh, eh?? Eru, let me have a look as well!”
”How did you do that, Oreki? Did you know so we didn't?”
Ibara's stern questioning ood at evading questions, so I leaned on one of the tables nearby and answered, ”I just did a bit of black, that's all”
”Blackainst the President of the Wall Newspaper Club?”
”Yup But, Ibara, can you be more discreet?”
Ibarathat
”It's not like I would go tell anyone”
”Yeah, but you don't sound too reliable It's supposed to be a secret that Toogaito is doing errands for a first year student, it'll be too pitiful for him if that secret is not kept”
”I won't tell anyone If you don't trust ive me the explanation” she said brusquely She's probably not lying Chitanda was a co her curiosity wasn't exactly a priority for her So if she realizes that trouble , then she'd rather not hear it She's the sort that would come up with such solutions
Anyway, now that I've tested theo telling anyone else
”Sorry about that Anyway, Ibara, didn't you find it strange as to why Toogaito would have the door locked?”
Ibara replied bluntly, ”He probably didn't want anybody to disturb hi articles to publish, didn't he?”
”Then, what about the Preparation Room? Why was the fan on when the as already open?”
”Maybe he's feeling hot?”
”Then he could have just placed the fan next to theYet the fan was placed opposite it With the fan in that position, if the pen case was htly, all the B1 paper underneath would have been bloay”
Ibara rubbed her hair in irritation
”So what about it?”
”Don't you get it? What Toogaito was intending to do?”
”If you put it that way, then I kind of get it Was he trying to ventilate the room?”
I gently liftedto find that interesting and so turned her gaze away
”Now then, the next question would be, ould he want to ventilate the rooaito, fro alone in the club room with the door locked with infrared sensors set outside?”
”W, wait a minute! What infrared sensors? Are we in a spy novel or so?”
Ah, I forgot to explain, ”Don't you ever see those gadget store co those infrared sensors that would trigger the security alaret them for 5000 yen now”
”Where did you find them?”
”By the side of the third floor corridor just outside the Wall Newspaper Club rooed in white It's hard to conclude that they're sensors just by observation alone, but the fact that there was a speaker inside the Preparation Room more or less confirmed my suspicions”
Ibara raised her brow and said, ”You really are weird”
”Stop treating me as so infor, ould he risk getting the B1 papers bloay just to ventilate the roohts?”
Ibara began thinking at my question, and so I waited
She then replied with an incredulous look befitting her sharp tongue, ” Could it be some odour?”
I gently clapped my hands two to three times,
”You got it He was trying to get rid of an odour If we think along this line, then hi to do with any obsession with cleanliness Noas the odour he was trying to get rid of? By the way, it's not any sort of narcotics”
”Then, could it be?”
”That's right, he's probably s It was a device used so that he ious clan, you can iine what a scandal it would be if a son of a noble upbringing were caught doing soaitos are supposed to be respected high school educators In this day and age, if you're a doctor, teacher or police officer, even just yawning in public could get you in a lot of trouble”
” I see If that's true, then he sure has gone to a lot of trouble doing all that”
Indeed That's what I thought as well Had the circumstances been different, the proble back, he seemed visibly shaken when he learned that Chitanda was fro that if his deeds were exposed by soious clan, the relationshi+p between his and other clans would have been greatly affected After all, we all kno sensitive Chitanda's senses are Had Chitanda not caught a cold, no a of his shi+rt would have fooled her
”Well, I don't exactly understand his desire to sh Happy with the explanation now?”
Upon saying that, Ibara's gaze changed Whoa, she's showing her true worth with such a cold stare
”You knoas ht the anthologies over While I get how you black them over, you still haven't explained where they were in the first place”
I see, I must have missed that part So I explained, ”They must be in the chemical safe”
”O-re-ki!”
”I, I' to ridicule you! The probleaitocardboard boxes in when the rooured that the chemical safe was somewhere in the club room”
” But I didn't see it”
”It doesn't mean it's not there You couldn't see it because it was hidden I'ies”
I let Ibara digest what I ies were also hidden along with it As for why he hid the safe away, that's because he was using it to store his cigarettes Notice we didn't see any cigarettes, lighters or ash trays? That's because he hid them all inside the safe Did you notice his expression when I suggested to ask Ooide-sensei to search the roouess that it was probably under that makeshi+ft cardboard box table”
I took a deep sigh upon finishi+ng my explanation
I did so hih I had no intention of exposing his secret, as we all have secrets to keep, and I wouldn't like it if mine were exposed either Let's just say he was unlucky
Ibara, wholance Following it, I noticed the presence of a person who ought to have been more talkative about this I turned to face her
”Chitanda?”
Chitanda was looking at the anthologies on the teacher's desk Though she was only looking and had not opened any of theaze was the same as those I saw in the Cafe Pineapple Sandwich It was as though she didn't even hear me call out to her
”What's wrong, Chitanda?”
As she didn't hearon and walked up to tap her shoulder
”Is so the matter?”
”Oh, Oreki-san Have a look at this”
She handed one of the anthologies over to me
It was a thin notebook, with the same dimensions as those Campus Notebooks seen in stationary stores[2] The books were stitched together elegantly They must have relied on someone professional to help them publish these The cover wasand a hare drawn in a deformed cartoonish style
A nu, and within the centre were a dog and a hare biting each other The dog's canine teeth were sunken into the hare's torso as though ripping it apart, while the hare's incisor teeth were nibbling deeply at the dog's neck As it was drawn in a deforh it also felt o dogs getting cooked alongside the hares that they just hunted[3] But now the dog and hare were instead hunting each other Two of the hares in the ring looked on at such a seely cute scene
On top of the illustration were some words, printed in proper fonts that read ”Hyouka[4] Volume 2” The publication date was 1968 That's quite old, and the name
”Hyouka?”
Is that the title?
”Such a strange title”
Ibara peeked across reed with me, ”Yeah, and a hard to understand one as well”
We felt the sa the na the origin for the nahtforward If the writers of this anthology had to decide upon a naly connected to its contents But I can see no connection between ”Classics Club Essay Anthology” and the name ”Hyouka”
Pointing at the illustration at the cover, I asked Ibara, ”As soa Studies Club, what do you think of this cover?”
”I think it's drawn superbly The illustration design has brilliantly discarded all sense of perspective regarding distance Hood I like this”
I was a bit surprised, as it's not normally possible for Ibara to clearly say whether she likes or dislikes soed to leave an i she just said she liked this, Ibara returned the book to an her justification,
”Er, 'like' is not exactly right Since the art is not that beautiful it looks threatening as well, after all And I wasn't talking from an artistic point of view, but from a media perspective”
Meanwhile, Chitanda didn't see the long sought after back issues Rather, it looked as though her expression had been sucked out by a vampire
I asked her once again, ”Chitanda, is so the matter?”
Upon hearing ed me to the corner of the classroom and said, ”This”
”What?”
Rather than her eyes glittering in curiosity, the neat expression of our elegant lady that was drenched in the orange sunset lookeda secret as she whispered, ”I found this This is what my uncle wanted to show me If I have this, then I should be able to find out what it was that my uncle said to me”
I see
”So do you re?”
In place of an answer, she pointed to the ”Hyouka Volu
”Thisseeo Have a look inside”
I did as she told me and opened the cover, and before me ritten a foreword
Foreword
And so we have a Cultural Festival again this year
It has been one year since Sekitani-sempai left us
During this year, Seend and become a hero As a result, the five day Cultural Festival will commence as usual
However, as the legend spread, I went into deep thought Would people ten years from now still remember the silent warrior and the kind hero? All Sey ”Hyouka”, for which he has provided the title
As a sacrifice of the conflict, even Se the flow of time into eternity
No, perhaps it is better that we do not remember it As it was not intended to be a heroic tale
Once the subjectivity is taken away, this story will become a classic as it transcends all historical perspectives
Will the day come when our stories become a classic for someone in the future?
October 13th, 1968 Kooriyama Youko
”This is”
”The 'last year' referred to here o today In that case, the 'Sekitani-sempai' of the Classics Club must be my uncle What happened to my uncle back then? The answer thatto do with the Classics Club then”
I s as well as I said, ”Isn't this fine? You should be able to remember now”
Yet Chitanda's expressionless face gave way to one of glooet the words out softly,
”But, I just can't Even though I was this close! I, as? What was it o?”
I could not tell whether her muffled voice came from her cold or her tears
Chitanda
I decided to speak, ”Let's investigate it”
I didn't think I spoke coldly
The anthology ”Hyouka Voluo On it was the strange naiven by Sekitani Jun, as well as the otten incident
This was a great chance For these clues were like lights that shone for us ere groping in the dark In order for Chitanda to regain her past, I firmly believe we must not discard such clues
That's why I said again, ”Then we'll just need to investigate what happened 33 years ago”
”But,”
Chitanda drooped her shoulders
”But it said they'd rather not remember it”
I was surprised at her tis
”But you want to reht?”
”Of course, but if we investigate further,”
She paused before continuing, ” If we investigate further, we s that are better forgotten, aren't there?”
””
That's because you're too kind, Chitanda
”Even if it's happened 33 years ago?”
”Is that wrong?”
I shook my head
”Yeah After all, didn't it say here as well? 'Once the subjectiveness is taken away, this story will become a classic as it transcends all historical perspectives'”
””
”In other words, there's an expiration date for that”
I h Chitanda didn't sently
” OK”
And so
Yes, and so, I chuckled withinshouldn't take upabout ”last year”, all we had to do was look in the first volume to find out what happened to Sekitani Jun It should be finished in no tih I wouldn't say which was the easier option: the avoidance of the proble of the problem
I was naive to think like that As Ibara was quietly fishi+ng through the renantly,
”What the? There's no volume 1!”
In order to digest what I had just heard, it seemed I needed some time
Translator's notes and references
Jump up↑ Wikipedia
Jue, Official Site
Jump up↑ TL Note - 狡兎死して走狗烹らる (Koutoshi+shi+ soukuniraru) japanese idio to victorious eenerals once they had served their purpose of vanquishi+ng the enemy
Jump up↑ Hyouka (氷菓) means ”frozen treats” such as ice cream, popsicles, etc