Vol 3 Chapter 31 (2/2)
Irisu Fuyuou Hospital, located right next to Kah her figure is much more slender Just to be safe, this doesn't ives an impression of one who is very sharp, a resolute person who could solve any problem encountered She was someone I admire somewhat
Before I could say anything, Irisu-san pointed towards the Audio Visual Room
”Thanks to you guys, our reat success, as you can see And to think ere in danger of not being able to coratitude”
”Oh, no, there's no need to Is Hongou-san all right?”
Hongou-san was originally the screenwriter for the movie, but I heard she collapsed due to stress
”Oh, she's fine now Would you like to see her?”
”I see Oh no, not now”
Perhaps sensing my hesitation, Irisu-san lowered her voice
”Do you need so from me?”
”Yes, rather than you, I have a request for Class 2-F”
I nodded deeply
I'll need to get to the ht away
”Please help the Classics Club sell their anthology”
Irisu-san blinked her eyes twice, before quickly saying, ”So you're asking us to sell your anthology where we're showing our ht?”
”Yes, that's the idea”
”All right How many copies do you have?”
Eh?
”Y-you're accepting our request?”
As I replied without thinking, Irisu-san raised her brow
”Why do you look surprised?”
”Oh, no, umm”
As I was used to being flatly refused right away yesterday, I was at a loss hearing that ranted so suddenly now Besides, I've once again forgotten to explain the details
”Thank you so much!”
”You can thank me once we've sold the copies So how many copies you have?”
Irisu-san placed her right hand on her hip and asked as though she ht tear the wall down anytime
”We've printed 200 copies”
”200?!”
Irisu-san's small eyes widened for an instant
”That's a lot”
”We ordered more copies than ere supposed to byto sell as many as possible I-I”
Oh no Just when I thought I had obtained Irisu-san's help, I becaritted my teeth and went on, ”I'm sorry As for the price, we've set it at 200 yen per copy”
Irisu-san nodded gently
”If you're willing to lower the price to 150 yen per copy, then I can take twenty copies from you”
”Eh? Lower the price?”
”Our pay, that would h we'll need to ements”
”Umm, but, don't you need to consult with the others from Class 2-F?”
”Oh, I'll take care of that afterwards”
Incredible If it's Irisu-san, she would accept any request with no questions asked Besides, wouldn't it be bothersome for her to receive twenty copies from us? Since we had only intended to sell twenty-four copies over three days
As though she could read the anxiety on my face, Irisu-san added nonchalantly, ”We should be able to sell them all by today If we do, we may be able to order another batch from you”
”Is that fine with you?”
”It's fine”
I felt ain
Irisu-san stretched out her right hand which she had rested on her hip Was she trying to shakeout my hand, I placed it on top of hers
”?”
”Rather than shakeme a sample copy instead”
A sah Did I s up? She then softly spoke while I remained startled
”It's all right since it'sto ask soy for you, you should at least bring a sample with you Or you won't be able to convince anyone”
I-I see So that's how one gets things done
”I understand Thank you so much!”
It was then that I began thinking Yesterday I hardly achieved anything Maybe I spent soabout what to do next that et turned down I've spent a lot of effort explaining aito-san, but if I had asked Irisu-san to coht not have had my requests turned down
Yes, I must not make the same mistakes as yesterday I must ensure my success rate is improved from now on
Having made my mind, I decided to make another request to Irisu-san
”Irisu-san,”
”W-what is it?”
Oh no, I ended up approaching too near to her This was a bad habit which Oreki-san has often told me to be careful of I took one step back
”Irisu-san, you're good at having other people carry out your requests, right?”
””
”Please teach me how you do it!”
”WHA–!?”
Irisu-san h her ruffled state only lasted for a
”Heh, I've been called a lot of things, but never 'good at having other people carry out requests' before,” she muttered
Leaning against the eazed at me and spoke slowly
”Right You do tend to be too direct in your approaches sometimes I'll teach you two or three methods which you can remember”
”T-thank you”
”What do you know about role-playing?”
Irisu-san lowered her head and closed her eyes and began thinking This was the first ti time to think My body went stiff from the anxiety,
”Right Well, let's put it this way,” she muttered and opened her eyes She then raised her clenched fist towards me I instinctively leaned backwards as a result
”There are tays to get people to carry out your requests First, there is one in which you're expected to repay the favour received”
She lifted her index finger
”The second is where you do not repay any favour”
She then lifted her ers and placed her hand back on her hip
”For requests where you're to repay the favour, itdoes not trust you”
”Eh?”
Maybe it had so, but Irisu-san's serene voice seeenerated by the Cultural Festival around us
”For situations where you're dealing with strangers which you would not deal with again after you receive the favour, in nine out of ten cases, they would consider your request a rip-off Even if they don't, they would try toyour request So in cases where you're expected to repay the favour, you mustn't just think about what you would expect them to do, but also take into consideration the ti to make You must also take into consideration that they may not be able to do what you request of the to do that, then they too will not be willing to take such a risk for your request
”While you could use reverse psychology toyou off instead, that would be too difficult for you So for the , you're more suited to the second type, where trust would be needed
”In such a situation, you would need to provide them with mental satisfaction in order to carry out your request It is easy to cut corners when only a physical reward is available, but not so for a mental reward The best way to achieve that is to make them feel they're charismatic or popular, but you will find you would not have much opportunity to use those The next would be faith and love, but these would require a lot of time to prepare beforehand By the way, I myself have never relied on these two
”If possible, you should take advantage of their sense of justice or duty, their professional spirit or their self-esteeet the hang of those, you should be able to apply them to many situations
”On the other end of the spectrum would be to make them think they're feared or superior to you, but we'll not go into that today
”For you, as a beginner, you should aim to have expectations of them
”Listen up, it's basically to make them think that 'Only they could accomplish this request of yours' To make them think they're your only hope, which is pretty easy to do It would not be rare for them to even make some sacrifices for you, since you have expectations of the to
”In addition, do not e Don't let them know that you're desperate for their help There just aren't many people ould help others solve a major problem with no benefit to themselves Instead, you should make it look like the problem is very trivial, that way it'll make them feel exceptional
”Finally, if possible, make the request where no one else is around to soender”
For a moment, my head went blurry
I-I just heard sos before In order to have a stranger do one's request, one must make them feel loved and trusted, as well as feel superior because you have expectations of the to be difficult for est all of this at once
I would need time to slowly understand all of this At any rate, I would need to thank Irisu-san
”Um, umm, I”
Yet Irisu-santhe copies over”
And hurriedly returned to the Audio Visual Room
I should at least bow deeply in gratitude to her
Thank you very o to waste!
027 - ♠08
The paperback novel I brought turned out to be quite a bore
Though I hadn't exactly wasted ht it for only 100 yen from a new second-hand bookstore, I still felt like i had been ripped off by the on Having said that, there's was nothing I could do but yawn I should have brought a backup novel
Hearing the A Capella Club singing yesterday sure was a good way to kill tiain, I decided to stand up and open the s And I sht beloere so a stove As there seeroup, thatClub
Sweet potatoes - just s their scent makes one feel famished Whether its sweet potatoes or not, at the , since I overslept thisand decided to skip breakfast This was reallymy alarm clock fro a bit hungry As it was only eleven, it was still too early for lunch
As I continued to stare at the stove
”Trick or Treat!”
”Yay!”
Soe voices They sounded like girls, but I have no idea who they are if I can't see their faces Or rather, there was no way I could see their faces There were two intruders, both carrying baskets covered in white cloth and wearing pumpkin masks over their heads Pumpkins?
W-what on earth? Pumpkin Heads? Halloween costumes already?
As I continued to look bewildered, ”Trick or Treat!”
”Yay!”
Theytheir arms
Were they trying to dance?
I needed to calht, so they're in a Halloween mood Does that mean I should throw beans at them? Or I should pour sweet tea at them?[4]
No, wait, I re pumpkin heads and said, ”If it's candy you want, I haven't got any, so get lost”
One of the puasped
”Yikes! How mean!”
”But you are welcoies”
”Not interested!”
”Who the hell are you guys anyway!?”
It was then the two pumpkin heads walked forward in synchrony and showed h trained for this, they both spoke at the same time
”We're doing door-to-door sales for the Confectioneries Studies Club Would you like some cookies, biscuits and cream puffs?”
”What if I said no?”
”Trick or Treat!”
”Yay!”
OK, I get it I get it already, so stop dancing, you pushy saleswomen
But this could be great ti,
”How much is one of your biscuits?”
”Heh heh, it's 100 yen per bag, master!”
They really don't have much consistency with their sales pitches I took out one copy of Hyouka
”What's that?”
Whoa, they reverted to their normal voices
”It's an anthology by the Classics Club 200 yen per copy I can so bags of your biscuits with this”
”Not interested”
”Oh, don't say that, I want your biscuits, after all”
”That'll upset the balance between supply and demand~”
It's useless I decided to take out my wallet
”Wow! What's that? It's so cool!”
One of the pu around the room, suddenly raised her voice In her hand was the Glock 17 pistol
”Wow, cool! How come you have one of these? Could you be a collector?”
”Hey, you think it would be better for our sales if we carry this around?”
Really? I think you'd scare everybody instead
Oh well, if they wanted it, ”I'll give you that ses of your biscuits”
”Really? You're giving it to us?”
I nodded Holding the Glock in her hand, she began dancing again After spinning one turn, she took out two bags of biscuits fro
”Here's a sign of gratitude from the pumpkins”
”What's that?”
”Yay!”
”Yay!”
Without answering lock and a copy of Hyouka and left Those heads look rather large, will they be able to stand properly in those Just hope they don't trip
Opening the paper bag, I looked inside
It's wheat flour Looking at the description, it says ”weak flour”
Once again I've obtained so I have no use for
Froe to a Glock, and now fro of flour This somehow feels like the story of the strawdon't see in value Co me these items simply because they have no use for them themselves?
Taking out 200 yen from my wallet, I placed the back towards the side, I opened one of the bags of biscuits
[171 COPIES REMAINING]
028 - ♣09
It's just past eleven The Cooking Club's tournament will take place at half-past eleven
This , but I do have soh I have not taken into calculation about having three people as a team I would have enjoyed it better if I could do this all on my own, but as we're not allowed to participate alone, I guess it can't be helped Still, it's not as if I wouldn't enjoyas well While it's also interesting to see Houtarou carry a knife, he probably wouldn't come even if I invited him
Except On one hand, Mayaka can really cook I knew that, as she would occasionally bring her own boxed lunch Though I don't know about Chitanda-san, so she's an unknown factor When I told her about it, she readily agreed, ”Understood It's to proht?”
That was one of my concerns Actually, I had two concerns By the way, should they be called ”concerns?” Wouldn't it be better if I describe the the s of these words Anyway, my other concern hether Mayaka would a Club
Deciding to pay her a visit, I headed towards Preparation Room No 1
Whoa, there's quite a lot of people here And Mayaka was saying how the Manga Club was quiet yesterday It's basically packed today, it's like a carnival here As I thought that, I noticed a poster pasted on the door:
Speed Poster Drawing
Featuring two of our best artists! (The Esper vs The Panther)
Watch how their artistic senses shi+ne at unwavering speed!
I had never heard of such an event before
I decided to take a peek
”Whoa”
I let out a gasp
Mayaka, dressed in a cardigan over her blouse and wearing a beret cap, was scribbling her pen across an A3 paper without evenher eyes away This was Mayaka in serioustapped on the paper as she drew I could even see her cheeks reddening as though blood was rushi+ng to her head I had no idea what she was drawing as I couldn't see it from here
Next to her, the girl in a tuxedo was just as aht there were still a lot of white areas in her drawing, as though receiving so already
Again, I had no idea what she was colouring, but within five minutes
”Done!”
She handed her drawing to the girls waiting before her At once,on a table for it to dry It was then I sahat it was, a drawing of a feood That's Mayaka's drawing, no doubt So Mayaka does the drahile the tuxedo girl does the colouring
Two of the Manga Studies Club's best artists, huh? I see
I chuckled and turned back
If Mayaka ended up not attending the cooking tourna by default as a result of this, I wouldn't have complained
Translator's notes and references
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Ju the customs of Halloween and the japanese holiday Setsubun - Wikipedia
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