Vol 6 Chapter 1 (2/2)
The path following the river ran up against the wooden fence surrounding a residential house and turned at sharp right angle We continued to follow it and eventually arrived at a small three-way intersection The road that stretched to the left and right had a traffic line running down theup until that point, and the entire stretch was brightly illuhts I didn't norht, if you went right and continued through the residential district, you'd find my old Kaburaya Middle School If you went left and continued in that direction, you'd eventually reach the don area
We stopped walking and Satoshi+ looked at o I was a little worried that so all the way over to the don area, but part of o near Kaburaya for soo left and then turn onto a different street before hitting the main area I started to walk and Satoshi+ silently followed next to me
”So,” I said, restarting the conversation once more, ”as far as you know, there were no possible opportunities for anyone to itimate ballots?”
Satoshi+ suddenly grinned and muttered a barely audible ”I really a in his usual, unaffected voice, ”That's right! I really have given it a lot of thought, but in the end, I can't find any real holes in the syste If I had to say for certain it's not that I don't consider it a possibility, but I get the feeling that chasing that line of thought will only lead to a dead end”
I wanted to ask hi I didn't even kno the student council president election process worked in the first place, I probably wouldn't understand his reasoning It'd probably be best to get hi from the start
”Fro, please”
”Okay Where's a good place” Satoshi+ said, his arms crossed and head tilted deliberately in conteht To start with, it's important to remember that the ballot boxes have locks on them Also, like I told you earlier, a third party has to confirm that the boxes are eain before the committee counts them”
”You can cast a ballot even while the box is locked, right?”
”Of course It should've been locked when you voted as well”
I figured that was the case, but I just wanted to make sure
”The election ade and brought thee roo, so I' about It also has mops, wax, and the like Anyways, by yesterday, the paper ballots had already been bundled into a stack for each class with a rubber band holding theether After school ended for the day, the entire election coathered in the council roo handed the boxes and ballots to each classes' representatives I'm sure you're already aware of this, but there are two election coirl—in each and every class That meant that in the council roorades—forty-eight students—plus the two overseers for a total of fifty students, all packed in there like a can of sardines”
”Sounds cramped”
”Prettythe ballot boxes, they had us confirm that each one was ee of the key locked them After each box was locked, the members waited with them on standby Once that had finished for all the boxes, the coave the call for each of them to return to their classrooms”
I had seen the boxes and ballot slips, of course The box was made of worn, aether at first glance The word ”ballot box” ritten in bold characters along the side The paper ballots seemed to be cut from simple printer paper The one I used earlier today didn't even have straight edges I did re the election administration co like an identification number to tell it apart from the rest
”You knohat the election coht?” asked Satoshi+
”Yeah”
Once in the classrooms, the members placed their ballot box on the teacher's podium and wrote the candidates' na out the paper ballots As each of the students finished writing their choice—be it one of the candidates' na at all—they walked up to the front of the room and individually dropped their slip into the box Each time this happened, the election committee members drew a tally mark on the paper in their hands to record the total number of votes
I didn't really want to interrupt Satoshi+'s story, but I needed to ask hi just in case
”Do the election administration committee members also have to take into account the number of absent students?”
Satoshi+ shook his head and said, ”From what I've heard, they don't Apparently, only the total student body count and the total number of votes are important”
I see I guess so up to school wouldn't really impact their job, now that I think about it
”The rules state that after thirty minutes, the members should cast their own votes and then take the ballot boxes back to the council room, but in reality, many of the classes finish much faster than that After all, once everyone in the class has finished, there's nothing more they have to do, so they can pack up and leave This part goes against the rules a bit, but there's nothing we can do about that considering it's pretty much a custom at this point”
I suppose if every ballot box was brought back to the council room at the same time, it'd slon the process as well
”As a result, the committee rade and class on a list to shoho had returned The person in charge of the key opens their box, and the member empties out its contents onto the table There were several tables arranged into a cross shape, and we used that to tally the votes We don't have to return thee until tomorrow, so there wasn't any rush Once the overseers confirm that the box is indeed empty, they place them in the corner of the room Once all the ballots from every class are on the table, they mix them around so that no one knohich one ca ten or so designated vote counters The counters then place the votes into one of three trays—in this case, marked either ”Haruto Obata,” ”Seiichirou Tsuneoes pretty quickly The votes are clipped together in groups of twenty and then exchanged with another counter to confir was done correctly Once both counters finish checking it, the overseers will verify it as well”
”It certainly is thorough”
”I know, right?”
I had no idea why he sounded so proud We literally just finished talking about how he had nothing to do with the election administration committee
”After doing that, rote down the total nu probably took about forty minutes Just as ere about to record the victor, however, someone pointed out that the final nu after that was pure chaos”
I thought I heard soine All of a sudden, a sports car sped furiously past us on the slared at it as its tires screeched around the corner and then eventually let out a sigh
”Everything I told you just noas exactly as it happened, but because there were sothe ballots on the table at all ti possible to taiti And that ine is that they were added to the ballot box froht?”
”It does look that way, but—”
”But what? I already told you this, but there are about forty-three to forty-four students in each class in Kaiti them to one box, that'd nearly double the amount it had compared to the other classes We weren't really focused on the amount of votes that came out from the boxes, but I'm pretty sure everyone would notice if there were twice as much”
I agree What if it wasn't twice as much, however?
Considering he had been thinking about it ever since school got out today, Satoshi+ had already considered the possibility
”It'd be iitimate votes to be in one class's box Then how about if it were split between two classes? We'd still probably notice Three classes also see ten classes, then each class's total would go up by a measly four votes That'd probably be unnoticeable”
”That ht be true, but that then raises the question of how soitimate votes into ten ballot boxes”
”Yeah,” Satoshi+ said as he nodded He then added with a disinterested expression, ”Though, honestly speaking, I'm pretty sure the culprit is in the election administration committee”
”I thought you wanted to help out that Class E freshman”
”I don't think it's hi any other way Only the election committee dealt with the boxes”
It's true that the committee members move the boxes around, so it'd be simple for them to secretly drop in some votes, but
”So according to your theory, Satoshi+, several election administration coiti in a little bit at a time? Sure it's not outside the realm of possibility, but do you really believe that's what happened?”
”That's why I said that line of thought led to a dead end One or two ine nine or ten being involved in this”
After saying that, Satoshi+ clapped his hands together and continued
”So basically, I have no idea where to continue frouarantee that someone used a trick to pull it off, but if we assuure it out, to confir within the election committee If we assume there is no shadowy entity, then we have no further way of figuring out where and how the votes becaht, I want to start froround up and flesh this situation out into a proper whodunit After all, because I had no one else to turn to, I ended up calling you, Houtarou”
4[edit]
Red lights illuht ti at the same time, and we briefly lost track of our conversation as our eyes were held captive by the warn ination As he continued to stare at the lights, he suddenly started to speak, his head notan inch
”You hungry?”
I wordlessly stared at the red paper lantern, ”Ra its side
It hadn't even crossed ht be a trap in a place like this, still so far away froood children, run quickly on hoht in Kamiyama City is dark and full of terrors
”We shouldn't give in to evil”
”That's true Evil things aren't good”
Threeshoulder to shoulder behind a narrow counter The only things on the yoza, rice, and beer I ordered the regular ra, ”I didn't really have a normal dinner,” to justify it, and Satoshi+ asked for wonton ramen and a bowl of rice The shopkeeper had a thick chest and a face the color of sandpaper, and there was a towel tied around his head As we gave hi froht up!”
Oil seehout the interior of the sinally, took on a yellow tint as well It was only that way froe, however, and not from a lack of cleanliness There had been another customer, but he passed by us on his way out, so the two of us were the only ones there I took a sip of cold water from the cup in front of me and suddenly let out a s a hot season in a hot place, but I didn't realize I was this thirsty
”Have you been here before, Houtarou?” asked Satoshi+, who had taken to fiddling around with a pepper shaker as he lacked anything else to do
”No You?”
”Nope It'slike this all the way here It's just that you walked into the shop so confidently I was sure you were a regular”
”You were so quick when you said we should go in I was sure you always came here”
Probably hearing our conversation, the owner responded with a bellowing voice, ”Coret it”
As I zoned out, beco sound from the ventilation fan attached to the counter, Satoshi+ started to grumble to himself
”I don't really care about the culprit but I wonder why he did it”
”Who knows”
”The student council president doesn't even really do anything in the first place All he pretty much does is speak as the student representative at events I'd understand if the culprit got angry at the election because he wanted a change in the school regulations so a wrench in the process?
The only way to know that would probably be to ask the person himself That said
”If you’re fine with guesses, I have a couple,” I said
”Let's hear it”
”He loves elections, so he wanted to do it again”
”How intriguing”
”He hates elections, so he wanted to watch it burn”
”I see”
”He thought student autonomy was a farce and wanted to pose the question on the election's relevance to the student body”
”Terrorism, huh?”
”The candidate he backed wasn't done preparing, so he wanted to buy some time for him”
”The deadline for that had already passed, so that's a no”
”He didn't like the election administration coo pale”
Satoshi+ snickered ”The scary part is I can't really rule that out At any rate, I guess we don't know his h”
”It could even be a love charm, too”
The owner took out a tied bundle of chashu fro the narrow size of the shop He took out a kitchen knife and said, ”Special service for the students” I guess he was planning on giving us extra I couldn't wait
I suddenly asked so that had been on my mind
”You said there were forty-eight ht?”
Satoshi+ returned the pepper shaker to the rack, rested his cheek on his hand, and responded, ”Yeah Three grades with eight classes each, and two from each of those classes”
”Yet, you also told ”
Satoshi+ swiveled around on his bar seat to face me somewhat
”Even with ten counters, that's only about 100 votes per person, so it's plenty possible Besides, the counting process eats up a lot of space If we had everyone do it, we'd need the gymnasium”
”How's it decided who does the counting?”
”Uht members, half of those are the box carriers They take the ballot boxes to the classroo's over Their jobs end after they open the boxes and pour out the votes, so o home when that's over”
”They didn't stay and watch?”
”Some of them did The Class 1-E freshman was one of the meated to”
”You said there were also e of the key and box distribution?”
”Two people take care of the box distribution Like I said earlier, that includes the person as in charge of distributing the paper ballots”
”Are the boxes already assigned to a specific grade and class from the start?”
”Nope, the boxes were each handed out to whoever was closest in line The paper ballots were different, though The students announced what grade and class they were in and then received their respective stack”
In Kah School, there were approximately forty-three to forty-four students in one class, though of course that nu too h ballots were both concerns, so they probably counted the total number of students in each class beforehand Naturally, there'd be tooslips as a result of the students ere absent or had left early, but that surplus itself had nothing to do with the proble that the total number of votes exceeded the total student body count
”Is it also the box distributor's job to make the ballots?”
Satoshi+ tilted his head in thought
”All I did was oversee the process today, so I don't know What I can say, though, is that there's no way any one person could ine that there were a number of people that split up the work They cut the paper and marked it with the election committee president's stamp”
”That staitimate votes had it too”
”That's right Just like I said at the start, it'd be sie the ballots”
The only reason this whole debacle becaitimate votes in the first place was because they had the president's sta on the votes that were n objects It was necessary to have itimate votes ahead of tiht be able to co
—This hat Satoshi+ wanted to know In order to restore the dignity of Class 1-E's John Doe, he didn't want to figure out the culprit's naitioes without saying that knoho the perpetrator ould be ideal, but we had neither a list of naet one in the first place Theto do the impossible
”What about the people in charge of the key?”
”There's only one key, so only one person He closes all twenty-four locks before the elections and opens all twenty-four after it
”Sounds like he has a lot of free time”
”He does Maybe it's the perfect job for you, Houtarou”
I wonder about that Those kinds of jobsamount of time precisely because there's so little to do, and on top of that, there's a lot of responsibility involved as a result—sounds like a strange way to waste your energy I'd want to tap out
”So, within the forty-eight committee members, twenty-four are box carriers, two are box distributors, one is the key carrier, and ten are counters”
”Aside from those, there's the president, the two vice presidents, and the two members rite stuff on the whiteboards”
”So that leaves 6 people without responsibilities”
”Some people took care of various chores and the clean-up I don't think they have anything to do with it”
Satoshi+ leaned up close to me
”With this, we have a general idea of what all forty-eight people we in charge of Thislead”
”Who knows It et us nowhere, but our conversation just now proved to be a huge help”
”Oh? Why is that?'
Before rance of soy sauce The noodles were thin and wavy and the broth was the deep, dark color There were two slices of chashu, two pieces of bareen, freshly boiled spinach
”One bowl of ramen!”
I took one of the disposable chopsticks and broke theazed down upon the chopsticks, beautifully separated with a clean edge, and responded
”It helped shorten the wait”
”Go ahead and eat Don't wait for me”
”Will do”
Thank you very much
The shop oasn't lying when he said ouldn't regret co special about it co, it was a bit salty, but it was precisely that aspect of it thatas to befit the dish I had never seen spinach added as well, but all it took was one bite to make myself wonder why I hadn’t In addition to that—and I couldn't decide if it was for better or worse—the soup was inexplicably and excessively hot As Satoshi+'s wonton ramen came soon after, I exclaimed, ”Ouch! That's hot”
”dareed Satoshi+ in the forht the noodles to his lips He wolfed down around half of it as if in a trance, and then stoppedlike he was checking to see if I had slowed down
”By the way, and this is unrelated, but—”
The noodles were delicious I've never been this fully aware of the taste of ramen I don't think it was even the taste itself Maybe the texture?
”Are you listening?”
”Yeah”
”These wontons are a”
”Gimme one”
”Back off But yeah, did you know? Apparently Chitanda was talking about running for student council president”
My chopsticks stopped for a moment and then resumed
”News to me”
Satoshi+ blew on the wontons a couple tiulp
”I guess she was pretty popular back at Inji Middle School, and she's frorades are a, and she's really likable Ru if she'd run Sheof culture festival incidents, and that was onlyDolls Festival got out All that's reallyis her club activity track record”
It's probably true that being the Classics Club president didn't do much for you in that department
”I' about her—”
I picked up the hot tangle of noodles and held them over the bowl to cool them naturally
”—but I don't think she's the kind of person capable of doing what a student council president needs to do, practically speaking”
”It was Mayaka who took the hely, too But that's no different Some would say that if the president ell liked by others, that'd be enough; all you'd have to do is support thes”
So like a decorative portable shrine, huh? It felt like hi the student council president a purely sy we did have the do election committee president as an exa a possibility
”Well, she ended up not running”
”Yep Just like you said, Houtarou, apparently Chitanda didn't feel she was the right person for the job That said, it looks like she was interested in if being the student council president ca”
”Came in handy like for a recommendation?”
I heard that being a student council president h, I couldn't for the life offor president with college entrance exams in mind
Satoshi+ chuckled and waved his hands dismissively
”I doubt it”
”Yeah”
”Apparently it wasKa her when she inherits her family's estate”
I ran out of noodles I wanted to pick up the bowl and drink the broth, but it was still too hot I absent the dishes and the large pot of boiling water
An heiress, huh? The world she lives in is so far reh I've come to bear witness to the circurasp it When I try, I can't help but be astounded that soe To Chitanda, however, that very word, ”heiress,” was her reality
”Yeah” muttered Satoshi+ with soft indifference as he slurped down the wonton ramen, ”I wonder what I should be”
After a second failed atteht and heat, I spotted some spoons next to the pepper shaker I took one immediately and scooped up a mouthful
”How about a lawyer?”
”A lawyer?”
Satoshi+'s voice burst out crazily as if someone had told him there was a mythical creature nearby
”Haha, where the heck did that idea come from?”
The ramen in this shop has certainly piqued my interest I'd have to try the wonton ramen next time if that's what it did to Satoshi+ I had scooped up so much broth that it looked like it'd easily flow over the edge of the spoon, so I tilted it back and forth to empty it a little
”'Cause you're a hero in the shadows”
”According to you”
”A laas just the first thing that ca down evildoers with a single blow under the veil of the night”
”Ha ha”
With a dry laugh, Satoshi+ returned to his wonton noodles We had been eating at pretty much the same pace, but he still had his rice left It looked like we'd be here a while longer
A pair of flushed faced men in business suits walked into the shop that formerly only had the two of us The owner called out, ”Welcome!” Likely drunk, the men yelled in purposely obnoxious voices:
”Tls o' ramen!”
”An' two pints Ya have any snacks?”
I felt like I heard Satoshi+amidst the instantly lively shop interior
”I hadn't considered that option Interesting”
I wonder if I had inadvertently brought a hitman into this world
5[edit]
As we left the shop, the lukewar the red paper lantern back and forth Satoshi+ had tried to pay forit a consultation fee, but I shot down his attempt A consultation fee can you believe it?! The nerve of this guy sohtest It was a good thing I had the foresight to stash away a couple thousand yen notes before co
The loose change in ether with every movement I made Satoshi+ looked all around him and then peered