Vol 4 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Story 4 - Those Who Know So

1

Suppose that one day, I took a microphone and said, ”Today will be sunny” Souess Oreki Houtarou-kun is testing his ht think, ”Oreki Houtarou-kun is broadly asserting that today will be sunny” Whichever deduction is valid, whichever deduction matches the truth, can only be said to be a matter of luck To increase the chances of that, one would have to gather as much detailed data as possible, but usually it would be absolutely impossible to expect such information to fall into one's hands Furtheroes into the her possibility for truth and theory to coincide, and nothing more

It was the first day of November Only Chitanda and I were present in the clubroom It was that time after class in autuht about the dangerous, disturbing occurrences in the world like arson, robbery, counterfeit notes and assassinations With nantly just to make a point is uncharacteristic ofto praise me for my role in the Hyouka incident

From her words, it was as if I had within me some sort of special ability to deduce the truth all the tihed at, but I can't ignore being praised highly I added,

”To conclude, I don'tperson”

Knowing ently and reticent personality, Chitanda was taken aback by , she nodded and ss

”You're so modest, Oreki-san!”

Nope, she didn't understand at all

It's been alh School Since then, Chitanda's curiosity has found the abnorlance It is certainly true that I've been involved in helping Chitanda understand the reasons behind those abnor for the Hyouka incident and the Empress incident Also, unbeknownst to Chitanda, I did a little work behind the scenes of the Juumoji incident

But it would be best to set things straight right now

”Chitanda, the ancients said some ords”

”What did they say?”

”'Theory and oint' Admittedly, ointment doesn't exactly stick on every surface, but that has nothing to do with the matter at hand”

I said seriously, but for soiggled She turned to me as I felt a little morose

”Oreki-san occasionally says phrases that are never used”

Is that so? I hadn't noticed

”But that's not the issue here,” I wanted to reply, but Chitanda continued with a smile still on her face

”I'm not sure why you would want to use that phrase, but Ah, I get it Let's assued to find the truth so many times was not talent, but luck

”But wouldn't you call the ability to reason out theories, or the ability to apply a plaster[1] to bridge the gap between clues a talent in itself? Even if a sowed seed bears fruit due to luck, it would not be worth considering if the seed was not sowed in the first place”

I folded ument

But I would not admit defeat that easily

”So you're saying that I' plasters?”

”Is that wrong?”

I responded to Chitanda's gentle se

”Yes, soic behind my theories, myself”

My statement was immediately countered

”That's because you don't use ordinary reasoning”

That's kind of true, but I felt a little disheartened at being identified tiain with that trait

But I firround

”Then how about this, Chitanda Come up with some sort of situation I'll prove that you can'tso easily”

I haven't called for a contest against anyone before, but I can't back out nohen my life's at stake

Chitanda's large eyes widened even more Based on my observations of Chitanda thus far, it was ame I proposed, rather than her amusement towards the situation

”That sounds fun! Then what should we go with?”

It hen those eyes andering around, searching for a question

The speaker that was fixed on the top of the blackboard and used for schoolwide announcements crackled into life Our eyes turned to look at it at the same time

Without any preface, the announcement started

”Anyone who, on October 31st, shopped at Koubundou in front of the station and who knows so, report to shi+bazaki in the Staff Room immediately”

It was spoken somewhat rapidly The announcement was then cut off without hesitation

We dropped our gaze from the speaker at the same time

”I wonder what that was about”

”No idea”

I said, while noticing that Chitanda's htly tilted I thought that she see and predicted what she would say next As expected, she spoke in a lively tone

”Let's use that announcement! Please come up with a theory about what that announcement just noas about!”

Hm

I arrogantly nodded

”Fine, I accept your challenge”

I'll show you just what an untrustworthy guy I am!

2

”Let's write it down so that we don't forget”

As soon as I finishedShe then took out a ballpoint pen designed to look like a fountain pen and flipped the notebook to a blank page

”Anyone who, on October 31st, shopped at Koubundou in front of the station and who knows so, report to shi+bazaki in the Staff Room immediately”

Chitanda's memory was scary That was probably the announceant handwriting that could be used as a model for penmanshi+p, Chitanda put the pen dohile I looked at the note and folded my arms

”First, I need to knohat everything means Do you knohat 'Koubundou' is?”

Chitanda nodded

”The announcement mentioned that it's in front of the station, but to be more accurate it's a short distance away from the station It's a small stationery shop that is run by an elderly couple and has been there for a long time”

”Have you gone there before?”

”Yes, but only once”

I was thinking about one to a stationery shop recently, since it's easier to get stationery from a bookshop or convenience store nowadays However, there would still be shops that specialize in selling stationery, I suppose

”Does it sell any special stationery, like expensive paintbrushes, or that strange sheet that Ibara uses for drawing a?”

”That would be a screen tone But no, it's a really soods North Ele an elementary school student would need”

I see

I looked at the words on the notebook again

”Is shi+bazaki a teacher here?”

Chitanda giggled

”Oreki-san, have you always been bad with names? shi+bazaki-sensei is a head teacher here”

Ah, now I re ceremony There was a head teacher with almost no hair and another with an abundance of white hair, but I don't knohich one is shi+bazaki Well, I guess it doesn't really matter

Right, now there should be no more unknoords ”If I don't have to do it, don't do it If I have to do it, make it quick” I subscribe to this idle life philosophy, but this is an iy into this

I examined the notebook for another ten seconds, then slowly opened my mouth

”First”

”First?”

”We known that shi+bazaki is trying to call a student”

A forced s to laugh at a boring joke

”Yes I can see that too”

Her words see to be patient, so I justified hness”

”This is a contest I have to be careful about this”

I then continued

”Let's call this person 'Student X'”

” This feels like a real investigation!”

”At this point, we don't know if Student X refers to singular or multiple students”

Ifthe announcement would have said ”Everyone who shopped at Koubundou” or ”Those who shopped at Koubundou”, but that's quite a weak argument

But my next deduction could not be doubted

”shi+bazaki probably intends to give Student X educational guidance In other words, he's going to scold them for some reason”

On hearing that, Chitanda titled her head and stared fixedly at the words on the notebook After a while, she looked up and tilted her head once more in doubt

”Why do you say that?”

I answered confidently

”Because a student will only get called to the staff roo bad, based on my experience”

”Oreki-sanare you really taking this seriously?”

”I haven't been this serious since I entered this school You ht even say that this is the first time I've been so serious”

Chitanda sank into silence, so I added,

”Furthermore, if he wanted to commend them, he wouldn't use a phrase like 'Anyone who shopped at Koubundou and who knows so He would becalled out like that, myself included The way he worded it, anyone who did know soo”

”That sounds right”

She agreed, huh I was half-joking when I said that, though

Time to move on

I chased the thoughts around ed them in order

”By saying 'Koubundou in front of the station', it indicates that Koubundou isn't a very well known store”

”Well, you didn't know it too”

”Yes, but X should known Koubundou There's no need to intentionally say the phrase 'in front of the station'”

However, Chitanda promptly responded

”That is because there are three stores with the name Koubundou in Kamiyama City Besides the stationery shop in front of the station, there is also a shop selling Buddhist altar equiph School, as well as a bookstore by the highway[2]”

Is that so

What else, I thought as I folded roaning sound filled the back of my throat

What would a normal school announcement be like? Obviously, it would clearly state the na? As I thought along those lines, I was struck by a flash of inspiration

”Whatever this student is being called for, it's urgent shi+bazaki's in a hurry”

Using a ballpoint pen, Chitanda pointed at the word ”immediately” on thte transcript

”He did say 'immediately'”

”No, they always say that when they call someone That's not what I meant”

I continued as Chitanda stared in puzzlement

”There's a standard format for school announcements, but this one was done differently, so we know they're in a rush”

”Huh”

”Let's say you wanted to call me to Classroom 1-A Hoould you say it?”

Chitanda thought for a short while, then brought her hand near her mouth and cleared her throat

”I see It would be so like this 'Oreki Houtarou-san from Class 1-B, please see Chitanda Eru in Classroom 1-A immediately”

”That's all? Weren't there other announce how they went”

Chitanda closed herfro of her head, I expected that she would take a while to co that I should hurry

”I'd say it like this: 'Chitanda Eru from Class 1-A, please see Oreki Houtarou in Classroom 1-B immediately”

”What's the differencce?”

”I repeat Chitanda Eru from Class 1-A, please see Oreki Houtarou in Classroom 1-B immediately”

A gasp escaped from Chitanda's mouth

”It's not only for school announcements Most announcements like this are usually repeated, because there's a high chance that they will be missed if they are only said once However, this announcement was only read once Since this differs from the usual format, we can say that they're in a rush”

Chitanda nodded grandly, indicating that she fully accepted that reasoning

Having made the point that the announcer was in a hurry, I kept having the strange feeling of chess pieces falling one after another Instead of finding out what that strange feeling meant, I ith the flow and continued with my deduction

”And not just any rush We can tell that this is an eency”

”What do you mean?”

I suddenly realized that Chitanda and I were both leaning forward too e eyes, I retreated and settled down

”Because this announcement was made after school”

Chitanda, as leaning forward, pouted in dissatisfaction

”Please don't skip the steps in your reasoning”

”Skip! What a lovely ring to it!”

”Oreki-san!”

H at me with upturned eyes

Well, it wasn't exactlyI just felt that I would forget the points that i thought of if I didn't first state the conclusion In any case, I should probably proceed with the explanation ofrather than account forChitanda, I cleared my throat

”Doesn't that ardless of the circumstances, it's inefficient to h does have a lot of clubs, but not all students stay in school and exert their energy on club activities There is a considerable nuo home immediately after school A normal announcement should be made at a time when all students can be assu lunch break, or the time before and after home room But they still made the announcement, after school, because”

I stopped talking and thought for a while

”Firstly, the reason behind calling out the student occurred after school Furthermore, it's so important that they can't wait for toerate, shi+bazakion the possibility that X hadn't gone home yet”

As I spoke, I realized thatdue to her enjoyame, but her smile had disappeared, while her eyes were now filled with seriousness

Chitanda spoke in a soft voice

”Oreki-san This smells like quina, doesn't it?”

Quina?

”Chitanda, the common phrase is 'smells fishy'”[3]

”Eh? I can't say that it smells like quina? It's the plant that quinine is made of”

”The language council will get angry if you go aroundup phrases like that”

I laughed it off with a Satoshi+-style joke, but I was actually thinking the sa in an ominous direction

As I thought about this, another strange point appeared

”Next deduction shi+bazaki doesn't want to make public whatever he wants to talk to X about We can't tell if it's only for now, or if it'll never be publicly known”

”Because he didn't say why X was called out?”

That's certainly a way to look at it

But here was a chance for me to show off

”That's true, but there's another way to explain it more clearly”

Chitanda stared sharply at the note, as if that would dispel all her doubts Since Chitanda's facial features were ently, unlike Ibara's her look wasn't so intense, but it was still with a force that seeh paper However, I poured cold water on her excitement

”You won't find anything just by staring at the words Or rather, there's soh it doesn't seem like it”

”No, I don't get it”

I nodded at Chitanda, who had raised her head

”shi+bazaki is the head teacher There would be one in every high school across the country, but educational guidance would be the job of the Student Counseling Departh”

”That's true Morishi+ta-sensei usually makes this kind of announcements”

”The Student Counseling Departht?”

”Yes, it's on the second floor of the ”

Chitanda followed up spontaneously, probably trying to speed up the discussion Being taken in by that reaction, I started speaking a little quicker

”But X was called by the head teacher shi+bazaki to the staff room Isn't that an act that exceeds his authority? The head teacher, who should be in charge of theDeparto directly to hih that they need to keep it classified at an administrative level”

At least, it could be The whole Student Counseling Depart or sonore these special cases After all, if we start considering that those involved in the incident were hit by unthinkable coincidences or that they had eccentric behavior, we ht as well just declare that aliens are somehow connected It would be best to assus

I temporarily closed my mouth

In the silence that followed, Chitanda nodded a few ti on the discussion so far After a while, she looked into my eyes

With a stifled voice, Chitanda muttered

”If we assume your theory is correct, that wouldvery bad”

”You ht as well say it clearly”

”Then”

I nodded

”The conclusion drawn from the other deductions thus far: X is involved in a crime”

3

X is involved in a crime

I laughed at the iained my composure

That's right, what I'ame My theory doesn't have to be true, and anyway, didn't I agree to do this to prove that uess I'll just take it easy

Perhaps noticing that my emotions had settled, Chitanda also seemed to be more relaxed With a calm voice, she asked,

”So what ht this crime be?”

I held out my hand to stop Chitanda

”Wait Before we get to that, I have an additional deduction assu that all theories thus far have been sound, there are no police at this school, so there's a high chance that a related official is here”

”An organization related to the police?”

”There are many of them, like the District Public Prosecutor Office's Special Investigation Departh chance of so here is because of so we touched on earlier Do you knohat it is?”

Chitanda's gaze fell to the ground as she wondered about it for a while, but she eventually gave up and shook her head Seeing that, I nodded lightly

”I believe it was near the end of our discussion about calling out someone after school No ical to one home But they still made the announcement, so as mentioned earlier, it was because the reason for the announcement happened after school”

I unfolded my arms and pointed at a phrase in the notebook

”However, if a crime did occur, it happened on the 31st of October Yet the announcement was made today, just now, and in a hurry We can take this to ators only just made the request”

”But they could also have made the request over the phone”

”That ht be true, but it should be safe to assuators want to apprehend X To do that, they would need to come here in person”

”Apprehend”

Chitanda ain her eo? It certainly wouldn't be impossible for Chitanda

Chitanda asked with that worried expression,

”Oreki-san, do you mean to say that you think X-san is responsible for the crime?”

I couldn't understand the purpose of that question

”What do you mean by 'responsible'?”

”I mean, do you think that X-san is not a victim or an eyewitness, but someone who is involved with the culprit?”

I see

I answered immediately

”That's right”

””

”If that's not the case, shi+bazaki wouldn't have needed to be so flustered He could have made the announceht?”

Chitanda nodded reluctantly

Right, time for the crux of the mystery Just like how both of us had looked up at the speakers at the same time, we looked down at the notebook in unison