Vol 5 Chapter 32 (1/2)

Hyouka:Volume 5 Chapter 3-2

2 Past: 13 Days Ago

Ōhinata’s request had co about it for a while, biding her ti for a chance to ask it

That Friday, I hadn’t intended on going to the clubroom Because the inside of my wallet was barren and I had to consequently le butter roll and small milk carton for lunch, by the time after-school activities rolled around, I had becoh I wasn’t noro horab a bite

As I headed for the entrance however, soan to crowd the entire width of the hallway and prevented anything aside froh them would only prove to be a pain, so I turned back Before I realized it, I was in the connecting corridor leading to the Classics Club’s classroo I mind as well show my face

Speaking out of consideration for ed stomach, that was the correct decision When I entered the clubroo in on soirls, Chitanda, Ibara, and Ōhinata, all turned to look at me Ibara started to speak

“It’s al this”

“Targeting what?”

To that, Ōhinata played around and answered

“We’re about to open a box full of snacks”

What an incredible eh my head at that very moment I spoke, blindly driven by my lust for food

“I feel like I’ry Please share some with me”

I ignored Ibara as she , that was so straightforward,” and added myself to the circle around the table

The snacks inside the box were potato chips “Chips Satsuured they ular ones[1] It wasn’t the first time that snacks had been laid out like this in the Earth Sciences lecture rooiven to her family over the course of the year The potato chips this ti unrelated

“Who brought these?”

“I did,” said Ōhinata as she sheepishly raised her hand “What? You can’t eat theht them?”

Why on earth had she said so like that I wonder

“It doesn’t s you snacks it is a good cat”[2]

Ōhinata stared back with a puzzled face

“Um, was that Zhou Enlai?”

“It was Lee Teng-hui, right?”

Ibara piped in from the side

“Wasn’t it Chiang Kai-shek?”

As she listened to our back-and-forth, Chitanda showed an uneasy smile on her conflicted face

“Umm, well, maybe it was Ho Chi Minh”[3]

It felt like she was playing du terrible On the other hand, while it was true that I had actually forgotten the person behind the quote, I ended up re Xiaoping

“Anyways, let’s just sit down”

It was a sound suggestion I went to grab a chair Ōhinata took a cellphone out from her pocket and placed it on the table in front of her I suppose if you were to leave it in your pocket while you sat down, it et in the way

The cover was removed from the box And noe feast

Even though the chips were thick and had a consistency vaguely rese a capsule fruit[4] There was a faint sweetness to it as well

“It really perhout the body, doesn’t it?”

As I said this, Ōhinata couldn’t help but comment

“You look like an oldout of the bath when you say that”

I really wanted to ask her whether or not she had actually seen aalcohol after a bath

“Wow, this is good”

Ibara hadthat, Ōhinata let out a huge smile

“That’s great My family loves these, so we picked up some”

“Really? From where?”

Chitanda was focused on the box’s cover as she asked this

“It says ‘Kagoshi+h it’s not in season, it certainly is very delicious I guess you can sell it like this too, huh?”

Chitanda looked at the package with appraising eyes I didn’t knohether or not Chitanda’s faht’ve been sizing up JA Kagoshi+ma as a business rival

“You said you got it fro over there?”

I also thought it was strange that Ōhinata had known about a regional confection frooshi+ma, but if she did have a relative there, it would’ve one there once before As I juan to shake her head

“No, no I went to a concert over there”

“A concert? In Kagoshi+ma?”

Looking embarrassed, she responded, “It was in fukuoka These snacks were at a shop in fukuoka”

For a Kagoshi+ional specialty to be sold in fukuoka, just how far were they reaching out? I had a feeling that for Chitanda, aindeed As Ibara continued to stack several chips on top of each other and bring them to her mouth, she started to talk

“What concert did you go to in fukuoka?”

Ōhinata winked and held up her index finger to her mouth

“That’s a secret”

“Oh really now?”

No one to see, even if it was so like that, I doubt any of us would have viewed her any differently But if she wanted to keep it a secret, then there was no reason to pursue it

“But fukuoka’s pretty far Was that the only option?”

“No, it was a nationwide tour I followed the band, although as expected, going to every event was impossible”

“It was nationwide?”

Chitanda was the one who asked this

“From Hokkaido to Okinawa?”

Ōhinata responded in a confused manner, “Umm, from Sendai to fukuoka” She then added in a frustrated tone, “The only one I couldn’t go to was their important Tokyo performance because the tickets were sold out”

It wasn’t like I didn’t listen tolike follow a band on their nationwide tour I was honestly moved by her determination

“You really did a good job following them, didn’t you?”

For some reason, as I said this, Ōhinata seemed to become a little docile

“This is just soenerously”

“It never runs out?”

As she heard this, she tilted her head in thought and showed me a bitter smile

“After I listened to their newest albuht be starting to run low”

Even while ere talking, the four of us continued to reach out for ht yet pervasive sweetness and the exquisite feel in your mouth when you ate it, but it was iot about my empty stomach

When I came to my senses, I noticed there was only one chip left Ibara and I ers suddenly stopped above the chip It was a situation that could’ve been seen as being roazes that we exchanged at that moment, only cold hostility

“I’uys liked it so much”

Neither of us paying any attention to Ōhinata, Ibara and I slowly started to retract out hands at the saht, both of us, once again at the same time, shot our arms forward and met in the middle It wasn’t like I wanted the last chip so round as a result, but…

The silence around us ard I hesitated to do anything with my outstretched arm, nor could find the resolve inChitanda, who had been watching the situation unfold, was about to mutter a nervous “umm” e all heard a sound come to her rescue Someone opened the door to the Earth Sciences lecture room

All four of us turned to look at him at once Satoshi+ stood there with a relaxed s Ibara then spoke

“It’s al this”

Of course, Satoshi+ should have had absolutely no idea as going on Confused, he asked, “Targeting what?”

Ōhinata responded

“We’re about to finish off a box full of snacks”

And with that, the entire Classics Club had unexpectedly gathered in one spot As Satoshi+ finished off the final chip, Ōhinata gazed around at everyone and finally got around to the heart of the matter

“Now then, because you ate the snacks, there’s so that I’d like my beloved upperclassmen to do for me”

By the time I realized that this was all planned fro this, all of us had traded our Saturday plans for Ōhinata’s sweet potato chips

The weather reports weren’t looking very good, so I constantly worried about the i rain Fortunately, when I left the house the clouds were still while, and it looked like they would stay that way for a while I didn’t knohat ti, however, so I put a coh nor with me; I would only carry a wallet in my pocket

We were told to wait in front of Kaburaya Middle School’s front gate Certainly enough, it was a location that all of us knew On the school grounds were the soccer and track clubs, and additionally as probably the tennis club, as they practiced I took a cursory glance around, but I didn’t see anyone I recognized

I had predicted that if anyone was going to show up late to our 3:00 appointuess was off Five minutes before that time, everyone, both Satoshi+ and I and well as Ibara and Ōhinata, had gathered Although it was denim, just the fact that Ibara wore a skirt was alone entirely unexpected Because it was rapidly beco summer, Ōhinata wore a short-sleeved shi+rt

“Sorry about this, for asking soe”

Considering she was apologizing, she looked unexpectedly happy Ibara and Satoshi+ also looked as if they were having fun while they said things like:

“This kind of thing is really rare I’ forward to it”

“I’m a bit excited Don’t expect too much out of this, okay?”

…and so on and so on as they s, but even my interest was somewhat aroused

“It’s close by I’ll show you the way”

Ōhinata walked in front

Our destination was a coffee shop, and it hadn’t yet opened It wasn’t that the store hadn’t opened for the day, but rather that the store hadn’t even had its opening day yet

“So your uncle works over there?”

As Satoshi+ said this, Ōhinata shook her head with a bitter smile

“Didn’t I explain it to you? He's es are pretty far apart”

I had also thought he was her uncle I guess he’s an old cousin I’ll have to remember that

At any rate, according to yesterday’s story, one of Ōhinata’s relatives was opening up a new coffee shop, so ere asked if we could go in before they officially opened as test-guests Just like Satoshi+ hadable to enter a shop before it opened was a rare opportunity indeed As ere essentially the first customers, it felt like some sort of honor

Had Chitanda been here, it would have probably exposed her curiosity even more, however she wasn’t She had some inescapable business to attend to, and because she didn’t kno long it would take, she couldn’t make any proo too, but… it’d probably be too late if we did it in the evening,” clearly displaying her lingering attachment

Personally, I was really looking forward to the opening of a new coffee shop The shop that I had frequented so, so as a result, there weren’t any shops nearby that a first-year in high school could really enter Seeing that this shop looked like one that would be easy to walk in whenever really made me thankful

“So what kind of shop is it?”

I said this while alking, but Ōhinata looked like she was deep in conversation with Ibara, so most likely she didn’t hear me Oh well, I’ll be able to see it for myself in due time

I ended up walking next to Satoshi+

He suddenly mentioned what had just been on my mind

“This is pretty nostalgic, isn’t it?”

“Yeah”

This was the route we had always taken to go to and from school Because I had been essentially forced onto the Health Co school late, and it was at tiether It felt strangely unsettling to walk this path as a high school student in normal, weekend clothes

“It al bad”

As I said this, Satoshi+ quietly nodded

“You’re right I aluilty”

We had walked this route for three years, and in reality, this was the entire extent of our reach Good things and bad things, our relationshi+ps with others and alht here on this path Kaburaya Middle School was a place that should’ve been filled with such warely cold and distant I felt out of place nearing the school I graduated fro taboo

“Thinking back on it, I also reet close tomiddle school”

“Wasn’t it because of the uniforms?”

I wasn’t being serious of course Satoshi+ also showed a bitter smile

“Should we go pull out our middle school uniforms?”

I couldn’t even try to i that in an attempt to becoer had a place in Kaburaya Middle School If I absolutely wanted to be able to return, there was probably no other way than to get a job there

As we seely became further and further separated frorounds could no longer reach us, Ōhinata finally stopped

“Here we are”

It was located in-between a soba shop and a private residence, and it faced a busy street[5] The building wasn’t a new one; rather, I could tell it was actually quite old when looking up at all of the rust and discoloration on the sheet-iron roof In saying that, however, the glass door didn’t have a single blemish, and the doorknob was polished to a shi+ne

“Wow, it looks pretty nice,” said Ibara as she faced the creawhether or not a shop is easy for someone to casually enter for the first time, s are of key importance If the ere too sht see secret base, but it would befor a random passerby to enter On the other hand, if the ere too big, you would feel exposed while in the shop to the people outside, and itThis one, however, appeared to deftly avoid both of those possible problems The ere perfectly sized and had so red flowers They were the kind you see often, but I couldn’t re them as well, so I asked him

“Satoshi+, what are those?”

“They’re flowers”

I only received this condescending answer I lightly glared at hied his shoulders

“I don’t know h Chitanda-san would probably know”

“Oh, that’s right!”

Ibara was the one who raised her voice She pulled a cellphone from her pocket

“I suddenly reht already be done with her business today”

“Is that so? I really do want her to come,” muttered Ōhinata as she turned the doorknob “At any rate, let’s just go in for now”

There was no sound when the glass door was pushed open I guess they hadn’t put so like a customer bell on it yet

I took a step inside, and before I realized it, I couldn’t speak It wasn’t that the interior decoration was bad or anything It was the smell of neood, the smell of soround coffee beans I was instantly assaulted by all of these at once, and it felt likelike this be generally considered a terrible smell? I wondered if it was really okay for the place to s it was just renovated, I suppose it couldn’t be helped As I rationalized it to

“So you guys came Welcome”

I finally noticed thebehind the counter as he said this

Although he was supposedly a relative, he didn’t look like Ōhinata in the slightest I guess stuff like that happens though When I compare my sister to myself, there certainly are aspects that are similar, but there’re also aspects that are entirely different Anyways, that aside, he was surprisinglyquiet, whenever our eyesaway somewhat unnaturally I wondered if that was any way to run a shop, but I suppose the owner of Pineapple Sand was also fairly e about it h school students and, as a result, not part of his intended targeted customer base that he skipped the warm reception

“It has a bright atmosphere I like it”

As Ibara said this looking around at the also crea on the wall and muttered to himself, “Oh hey, it’s Lautrec”

I also turned to look at it

There were seven seats at the counter and four tables It was nice that there was a lot of room at them, but I couldn’t help but be disappointed at the fact that they were circular When a table is round, I always end up feeling like everything will fall off froo

The wall behind the shop owner at the counter was decorated with a relief It looked like a heart lying flat on its side, but judging by the vine patterns surrounding it, it n were two rabbits facing each other Although the owner seemed to be fairly emotionless, the relief was almost excessively sweet

“Sorry there’s no , it must make it feel kind of lonely around here At any rate, please just relax for now and have a nice time”

As he said this in a somewhat muffled voice, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was really necessary I suppose that when this shop eventually opens, he plans on playing so I prefer the quiet, although I feel like my opinion rests in the minority I should’ve probably just been happy that a shop like this opened up near me in the first place

“It’s alo!”

Ōhinata spoke in a much more familial manner than I had heard her talk at school Even if two people were relatives, that doesn’t say anything about how close they actually were Not only were there siblings ere raised apart like strangers, but I’ether as well Even though two of thee, she seemed extremely attached to the shop owner Ōhinata stood on her tiptoes and tried to look inside the kitchen

“Ayuood practice for you”

When the shoner responded to Ōhinata, his expression didn’t change one bit Rather than being particularly cold to us, I suppose that’s just what he was always like

“We had business to take care of at the public office, so Ayumi is headed there at the moment You can mention that next time you come”

“The practice is i like Po-chan in front of the customers”

Considering what Ōhinata said about us coood practice, I could only assuer after the place opened Was she the owner’s wife? Maybe a girlfriend at least If she was just a waitress that he hired, I doubt he would have sent her to fill out paperwork at the public office

Ōhinata turned around and then asked us a question that sounded like she was the waitress herself

“What would you guys like? A table, or perhaps…”

Satoshi+ looked around the shop’s interior once more and then responded

“It looks like all the tables are ht now, but we still don’t know if Chitanda is going to be co later”

“Oh, that’s right”

Ōhinata nodded and then pulled out a stool from next to the counter before everyone else We all followed in procession: Ōhinata, Ibara, Satoshi+, then me, in that order The stools were tall and weren’t fastened to the floor They didn’t swivel however, so it didn’t feel unstable at all, and to add to that, there was so about the stool that just an to stoke the brand-new counter hat resembled deep affection and then started to say rather uncharacteristically:

“I think this ht be the first time I’ve ever sat at a counter like this It’s almost like I’ve taken another step into adulthood”

That adultlike that was a step to reach it The owner lined up cups ater in the to Ōhinata

“I still can’t get rid of the paint thinner sh”

“You better hope it does The second I entered I knew there was a problem”

Just like I had thought, I wasn’t the only one as taken aback by the terrible stench Strangely enough, however, I ended up already getting used to the smell I didn’t really mind it at all

“Apparently it’s because of the wallpaper adhesive… I give up Oh, that’s right I haven’t finished taking care of printing the menus yet”

“That’s terrible though!”

As Ōhinata laughed while saying this, the shop owner finally broke out into a grin

“It’s fine, I’ll just go over each thing one-by-one I’d like for you guys to test the house blend though”

“Is everyone okay with that?”

All of us lightly nodded in response to Ōhinata’s question, so she continued

“Then we’ll have that and…”

Ōhinata leaned across the counter

“Is there anything to eat?”

“Four house blends If you’re looking for soht, I think I’d be able put out a couple different types of sandwiches”

“Then I’ll sample them for you”

That’s probably i so in response

“He probably doesn’t have any of the ingredients”

“…Oh, maybe Is that the case?”

The owner replied with a small “Prettylike a coht’ve been out of appreciation

“I do have scones though If you guys would like, I could get you some of those”

Because he went out of his e took him up on that offer

Perhaps he already had experience with this line of work or perhaps he was si deliberate with his actions this tile ounce of tension in his htest, but his every single action was perforhtest bit of unwarranted excess

However, Ōhinata seemed to have a different impression

“Co? When that happens, will you really be able to do all of this by yourself?”

With this, I beca about it, I just realized the nauy’s name as well

As he lined up the saucers, the owner responded

“It should be fine if we don’t havethat that’ll be the case though…”

“Obviously You shouldn’t stop until there are hordes of custoet in”

“I’ve never seen a café like that”

That was to be expected

“I guess you’re right It’d be nice if you could work part-time here, Tomoko-chan”

“Part-time, huh?”

Ōhinata sighed

“I’m not even sure I’d be able to I’ve never worked a part-time job before”

“Everyone starts somewhere”

“That’s not what I mean You knohat h he slashed my allowance”

“Loans are rough You should try to be ”

“He stupidly bought an expensive car and even affected me with his decision And yet, he refuses to let me earn money on my own It doesn’t make any sense at all”

As she complained by herself, she suddenly looked like she realized that not only her cousin but her school seniors were present as well She began to smile with embarrassment

“You kno it is There’s a lot going on”

As the conversation ca car outside As she stared at a corner of the shop, Ibara slowly started to speak

“The wooden shelving is nice It doesn’t look cheap at all”

I didn’t even notice it was there until Ibara had mentioned that

The low-rising shelf wasn’t anything like a cheap, unpolished self-project It was fashi+onable, for sure, but it didn’t look like it could carry much All of the books on it were fairly small[6] There were several voluether

“I wonder if he reads a lot,” said Satoshi+ to Ōhinata instead of asking the owner hile with the answer, but the owner raised his hand to stop her and answered

“Not that much The books over there are just ones I chose because I thought they looked cool”

“You mean you didn’t put them over there because you wanted your customers to rea…”

“That didn’t really cross my mind at all”

Although it was si to hiazine rack on the edge of the counter, but it only had a single stack of norazines and newspapers Satoshi+ followed ht and started to stare at the rack as well

“Oh hey, they have shi+nsou”[7]

He pointed out the weekly publication sitting in front Even I had heard of shi+nsou, but it wasn’t like it had particularly a journalism, nor was it even one of those tabloids that only covered sex and scandals I iht it was strange that Satoshi+ would be so interested in the kind of azine that you could find anywhere

“Ōhinata-san, could you do rab that for me?”

“Oh, yeah”

Ōhinata was the closest to the rack at the end of the counter She tried to yank it out, eventually needing to hold the rack doith one hand because everything was so tightly packed in it, and eventually pulled out the copy ofshi+nsou As she handed it over to Satoshi+ and he flipped through the pages, Ibara asked him a question

“What is it? Was there an article that caught your eye?”

“Yeah, soazine to cover so from this city”

“Oh yeah? What’s it about?”

“The Suitou Co incident, of course”

Ibara responded with an “I see,” and Ōhinata didn’t act like anything particularly strange had happened Everyone seemed to accept what Satoshi+ had said with so and comprehension

Essentially, I was the only one out of the loop

“What’s that?”

As I said this, Satoshi+ stared at me blankly, almost as if on purpose

“What are you talking about, Hōtarō You’re joking, right?”

“I think I’ve heard the na to do with picnics, right?”

Without even listening, Satoshi+ opened up the e and showed it to me

“It’s this”

It was a s like a small corner section devoted to random tidbits of domestic news The headline, however, stood out quite a bit This is what it said “Big-na Easy Pocket Money” I would have been fine reading it, but ere still waiting for the coffee, so Satoshi+ just summed it up for me

“There’s a company in this city called Suitou Co, and they recently started recruiting a lot of new employees Anyways, a lot of these recruits were sent notifications of appoint, and then after they were told to show up at the office in four months for their new job When the four months had passed and they showed up at the office, however, no one at the company kneho the new employees were and why they were there Essentially, no one had actually employed them”

It all seehtforward

“Wait, letI bet all the new recruits had to pay so like a uniforht?”

“Exactly Although I guess that’s really the only possible explanation for it”

Ibara looked at me in amazement

“It was a pretty big deal in the news, and yet you still didn’t know about it? Are you sure you’re properly paying attention to what happens in the world?”

Just because I didn’t know about a single incident didn’t mean there was a need to say that As I was about to say that, however, I figured there was no reason to escalate things like that, so I stayed silent

“That’s a pretty simple case of fraud Did they catch the perpetrator?”

“It wasn’t really so you could pull off without a list of the test-takers It appears they caught the culprit surprisingly easily Interestingly enough, the perpetrator’s father was apparently an infa out about it led to the father’s arrest It ht be written in the article”

That was probably false

“Has a parent ever been arrested because the child was?”

However, it seeed

“Maybe that’s why it only has a small corner section in shi+nsou

I see