Vol 6 Chapter 4 (1/2)

Our Legendary Volume[edit]

1[edit]

What was the firstthat I'll never be truly certain, no matter how many possible titles come to mind All I warmly remember is how absorbed in it I was

In le bookshelf, and on that bookshelf sat only dust-covered encyclopedias and literary anthologies that I had never even seen so a at all I had my first experience with it because of my aunt, my mother's sister She had a crude house ly, but it contained bookshelves of dizzying heights, filled to the bria froes

It became a daily routine of mine I would drop offfroo on over to a until I eventually went home for dinner Whenever I visited, my aunt, the polar opposite of aback on it now, she probably a with unsafe scenes to the top shelves, beyond my elementary schooler arm's reach

The turning point carade As far as I can re ”Phoenix,” by Osaht've actually been ”Wild 7” or ”Toward the Terra,” but at any rate, I was reading, eyes glued to the pages, like I always had been when my aunt unexpectedly walked in and offered ht eater as a child, so she norht make me lose iven soh-quality watermelon and apparently wanted me to try some as well

”You should have some water it, but I don't reh, was so our snack

”Books are strange, aren't they? It doesn't matter the least bit who you are To think that anyone can write them”

I have no clue where that thought of hers ca about how even though driving cars and operatinga book could be done by anyone With that single phrase, however, so incredible dawned on me

I see There's no reason soa

As I realized this, the floodgates opened, and I i I had never disliked drawing itself, and to add to that, I often got the highest scores possible in a! How long did it take for that confidence of mine to crumble, I wonder Ten s I did back then, I can't help but cry At the ti, so miserable The words, ”It wasn't supposed to be like this,” formed behind my clenched teeth I softly cursed at myself as tears dropped onto the paper below, and then at last, my resolve solidified with a final cry of frustration

Ever since that day, I've continued to draw unrelentingly

The monthly m

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anga inally sold as an extra volume to the similarly purposed shi+n Soh The name apparently derived from the japanese ono pretty different Unlike the mainly shounen shi+n Soh, La shi+n was azine that seea There were quite a nu the ”For all a lovers!” label on, but La shi+n specifically didn't really cater to any one niche, I guess, and they generally didn't publish anything too difficult for the average person to get behind Even if I didn't have the pocket change or the tiazine as they came out, I would still make sure to buy the latest issue of La shi+n every month without fail on its release day, the 18th

Like a submissions and also offered an award for newcomers called the New World Prize It is handed out four times a year, and in addition to the chosen work—itself published in that month's issue—the titles of twenty or so other runner-ups each receives an honorable mentions shout-out with a short comment

The 18th of February fell on a terribly cold Sunday As snow fell tirelessly and without rest, continuing to bury the city, I headed, scarf wrapped around my ears and covered head-to-toe in cold-resistant clothes, towards the Kobundo bookstore next to the highway Even I didn't really want to be out on an accident-prone day like this one, but it was for the latest issue of La shi+n, after all That said, even though I bought each issue every et it the very day it cah, today's March issue was a different story altogether

I plodded, step-by-step, through the ankle-deep snow, and after I finally arrived at Kobundo—er than it usually did—I took a second to relax and deeply inhale the warm interior air I carefully went over every inch of my clothes to brush off the snow, and once I was certain I wouldn't accidentally get any of the books wet, I went over to the azine shelf

From a results perspective, all of my efforts were in vain The latest La shi+n issue hadn't arrived yet According to the shop employee, the shi+pments sometimes moved forward or back a day if the official release date fell on a Sunday There was nothing I could do about that, so I sie my way back home

After school the next day, I et one of my friends to cover for oing to neither the Manga Research Society nor the Classics Club I ran as quickly as I could along the snow-cleared sidewalks and finally burst into Kobundo I grabbed an issue of La shi+n, tied shut with plastic string to prevent anyone fro chest, and headed towards the cash register I'd seen the girl behind the counter here before, and in her usual sweet voice, she asked, ”Would you like a bag?”

”Yes, please,” I replied, nervously sing as I did so

”Would you likefor you?”

My cheeks burned up as I wondered what sheofout of the ordinary, however, so I replied, ”Yeah,” and she went to take out some scissors and did just that

I went outside with the bag and iazine out There probably weren't thattheir purchase the second they left the shop Although a bit concerned about being seen by anyone I knew, I shuffled through the pages

14th New World Prize winner: ”Tanuki Counterattack” by Mamoru Mamiana

I've never heard of hiood

I went to look at the other notable selections Each of theazine, but none of them looked familiar In other words, mine wasn't chosen

I looked up at the clear winter sky; the breath that escaped h turned white

The participation awards went to Ichitarou Tasaka, MILULU, Kinsuke Shouda, Satou Georgia, Kaoru Yajima, Kazuru Ihara, Enma Haru

”Wait, wha”

A strange noise calanced at me out of the corner of his eye, but I didn't feel even a shred of embarrassment

”No way”

Kazuru Ihara! ”The Island with the Tower!”

It was published! My story with s was published under my pen name in La shi+n!’s March issue[1]

I closed the , opened it a second tiured Maybe, once I opened it again, the contents would change

But they didn't

2[edit]

It was a sunny Monday in May, and I headed to the school library after hoa Society, Classics Club, and Library Coh I normally only worked there on Friday, Monday e were training the new recruits that joined in April, so I figured taking care of the returned books was the least I could do I finished putting all of them aithout a hitch, but there was still soood idea to drop by the Manga Society, but instead I walked to the very end of the special wing's fourth floor, towards the Classics Club

Upon sliding open the earth sciences lecture rooreeted by familiar, cheery voices

”Hey, Mayaka! Perfect ti Come look at this”

Seeing fuku-chan in the center of the roo me over with his hand, my mouth subconsciously curved into a smile

All of the sophomores were here, but it looked like the freshman didn't come today Satoshi+ fukube and Eru Chitanda—fuku-chan and Chi-chan—were sitting side-by-side, looking at some kind of pamphlet spread open on their desks Oreki was in a seat so outside the ith a sour face

”Yeah? What is it?”

I droppedon a nearby desk and walked over to the two, and Chitanda held up the pa with a wide smile The cover read ”Kamiyama City Book Report Contest Results”

”It's froo, but I happened to co my room yesterday I opened it up out of curiosity and saw an unexpected naers, and I looked at the contents:

First place: ”My Opinions on 'Blue Bird,' by Ami Kojima”

Second place: ”My Opinions on 'Salamander,' by Jirou Miyama”

Third place: ”My Opinions on 'Run, Melos!' by Houtarou Oreki”[2]

Four years ago rade at the time

”Mayaka-san, you were in the saht?” asked Chi-chan

Right As regrettable as it was, I was in the same class as hiuely reot an award in soh I had no idea it'd been recorded in the pamphlet

”Melos, huh Doesn't see Oreki would write about”

”Come on, Mayaka Do you honestly think Oreki would pick a story about friendshi+p like that? It was probably just a topic that was assigned to him,” Satoshi+ said

Chitanda pondered a little bit and then started to speak

”When I was in 7th grade, I' December for the summer vacation book report”

Now that she mentioned it, I feel like I had to read the same one

The three of us fixated our eyes on Oreki at the saave into the silence and let out a s back to face us

”It was one of the recommended books at the library Besides, it was short”

Oh It made sense if that was the reason

fuku-chan sreat time

”So anyways, Mayaka This book report is quite the ht tears to ine it ritten by the 7th grade Houtarou”

Chi-chan nodded and also piped in, ”I was also very fascinated by it I could never write so like this”

Hearing them talk about it to that extent ured I'd at least ask Oreki about it first

”Can I?”

Although he looked back with a sullen, dissatisfied expression, he responded, ”It's not like that pas to me”

Instead of replying with a simple ”I don't want you to,” he said it that was public inforht've not liked that fact, and ies I thanked Chi-chan and happily took the pamphlet from her hands

I'inal was handwritten, but it was converted into print for the pamphlet

My Opinions on ”Run, Melos!”

Houtarou Oreki

I read ”Run, Melos” It was interesting I was glad that Melos was able to save Selinuntius I was also glad that King Dionys had a change of heart I thought it would be nice if that change lasted for a long time

Originally, there was no need for Melos to run at all His village and the castle were only ten Chinese miles apart—or forty kilometers in today's terms—so even if he walked, it would only take him around ten hours The reason Melos ran at the start was to force hih away froe, he started to walk like normal

However, there were two reasons why he had to run with everything he had at the end of the story The first reason being the bridge ashed away due to heavy rains the previous day The second, and the h he was completely surrounded, he was able to defeat at least four of the A normal person couldn't do that Because Melos became very tired from that and fell asleep, however, he had to run to make it in time

Melos had nothing valuable on hi withat hi to achieve, then? They answered that question the with me save for my life,” the bandits responded, ”It's that very life we're after!” Essentially, they were less bandits, and ranted As for who ordered the assassination, Melos hi must have demanded it,” to which the assassins didn't respond I thought it was very good of them to not betray their client

The question is: was Melos correct in assu who sent the assassins after him?

I don't think so Nowas the only person who it absolutely couldn't be

King Dionys didn't have faith in anyone, so he didn't believe that Melos would return, at all It was exactly because he thought it wouldn't happen that the shock in seeing Melos return caused such a change of heart in hiht Melos wouldn't return would also send assassins to try and prevent that return

Then who sent them? Who would've been happy to see the assassins succeed in killing Melos?

Let's try to ione well Without Melos arriving before sunset, Selinuntius would've been executed, and the king would have exclaimed with a sad expression, ”This is exactly why people can't be trusted”

If Melos' corpse had been discovered after, it would get out that the king executed a h the person as supposed to arrive had been killed by highway robbers While the king's subjects may have feared him, deep down, they would also chastise his decision If Melos' body was carefully hidden and never found as a result, the king would continue to believe that Melos had run away according to his expectations He would've lost his chance to believe in people and continued with the executions, further destroying the country from within

Essentially, had Melos been assassinated, the country would've suffered regardless of what happened after Thinking about it like this, the person who sent the assassinsto reforh the arrival of Melos, thus earning the support of the people When Melos did successfully return, I bet he was yelling on the inside

On another note, when Melos was running back to the castle, he met a man nah Selinuntius hadn't actually been executed yet, he told Melos, ”You're too late! Please stop running!” Philostratos didn't sound at all like he wanted to save Selinuntius Wasn't he his disciple?

It's likely that he was sent by the same person who hired the assassins to at least try and talk Melos out of it before he ended up reaching the castle

In the book, it ritten that ”King Dionys couldn't trust anyone” I think that distrust was founded The king had enemies However now, because of the incident with Melos, it would be even harder for hiure out who those eneainst his people, the person who targeted Melos would likely continue to go to whatever lengths necessary to prey on his distrust

I was glad that King Dionys had a change of heart However, after I finished reading ”Run, Melos!” I thought that changetime

I brought my palm to my forehead

”Oreki”

I had no clue he'd submitted a book report like this I looked back at hiine how difficult it o read next to you like that

fuku-chan, who had crept up next to ets me especially is that it represented Kaburaya Middle School in the contest and even got an award, albeit third place Honestly speaking, when you're assigned a book report, I figured everyone just wrote what they thought the teacher would like the best, not what they actually thought I've learned the error of ood too!”

”I'm pretty sure it usually doesn't work out like that Our japanese language teacher in 7th grade was Mr Hanashi+ht? He was a little off,” I responded

I could still remember hi ”There's no need to think about the author's intent”

I'm pretty sure he continued like this: ”They were probably thinking so 'I just want to get drunk and fall asleep already' when they wrote their sentences, we can still exae is For example, Matsobsho wrote, 'Theand going, sie honestly and without preconceptions, we can see that Basho considers the years not as so that co a time traveler”

Yeah, he really was a strange teacher If ere talking about Mr Hanashi+ he'd submitted Oreki's

”I wonder what happened to King Dionys after that What do you think, Oreki-san?” asked Chi-chan, to which Oreki briefly responded, his cheeks somewhat flushed, ”Who knows”

I flipped the pa

”Hey, Oreki Your's was pretty long, wasn't it?”

”Hmm?”

Thrown off guard, he glanced over at me

”The other ones are a bit shorter Isn't yours at the max character limit?”

”Oh, that” A sht it said the report had to be es, so I did exactly five It turned out that it was actually no h I tried my best to only do the bareabout cutting out some parts after”

”Cutting out stuff after finishi+ng it doesn't really sound like doing 'the bare ned

Satoshi+ nodded deeply ”I can understand where you're coht've cut out some stuff too”

Not cutting corners in order to cut corners? That makes sense to you? This question showed in my expression as I turned to ask Chi-chan, but she looked equally clueless Her reaction only made sense Hoould anyone have any idea what they were talking about?

Our boys were both all kinds of strange We exchanged glances and giggled

Well then I looked at ot up from my chair I couldn't spend too much time here

”You going home, Mayaka?” asked Satoshi+

”No, I have to go to the Manga Society I haven't really gone much recently”

As I said this, I noticed fuku-chan's expression see

Ever since last year's culture festival, the Kaa Research Society has been in a state of disrepair

Thanks to an assort around the time of the culture festival, the two factions in the club—those anted to try their hands (experienced or not) at drawingto read—began to view each other as eneht it was pretty sia, then draw it, and if you only want to read, do just that At this point, though, neither side cared about ht

I was partially to blaer, and the drawing faction had no choice but to wait in the shadows During the culture festival, however, a girl fro faction spilled dirty water onfaction, and that caused the rest of the drawing faction to co they took things too far Sure, the girl may have disliked me, but I personally think that it was just an accident Of course, at that point, what I thought didn't matter at all

As the new term rolled around and the new student recruit happened that affected the situation between the two factions Kouchi-senpai, the actual leader of the reading faction—despite the fact that she dreonderfulthe others know—quit the club earlier than the other seniors norn of victory at first, but it quickly beca like a daone Back when she was still around, there were lots of tis indirectly about each other or only suggest their insults, but now, as we entered thespiteful phrases at the other side beca as it was still an argua itself, but it only ever started with so” or ”stop being so stuck-up”

In the first prep roorouped up near the front while the drawing faction gathered at the back Since there was a door at each side of the room, these were also split up between the factions I knew everyone sawfaction, but it was all just so ridiculous that I ended up using whichever door was closer I guess that also ca to provoke the other side

That Monday after school, I sat down in my usual seat next to theand started to jot down soa Recently, I've only been writing stories that take place in modern japan, so it probably wasn't a bad idea to switch it up and think of so that in mind, I wrote down sos like ”stea cooker used by the entire city,” and so on A shadow suddenly appeared over the page, so I looked up and foundbefore me

”You have a sec?”

I wasn't shy about the fact that I'a Society clubroom, but I closed the notebook out of habit anyways

”Sure What is it?”

”So, here's the thing There's so I wanted to talk with you about” Her voice was a bit hushed

Asanuma-san had a slih-pitched She also drewtime now since her strokes were quick and confident like she was really used to it I got pretty jealous sometimes, because I was so slow in coa itself would probably be happier if she took a little more care with it

Although I butted heads with Kouchi-senpai during the culture festival, Asanu faction's reins afterward If I had to guess, it was probably because she wanted to change the Manga Society—a place where even picking up a pen would attract a bunch of cold stares—into an environa to their heart's content It was so I could never do, since I always tried to avoid dealing with people like that and preferred to create a by my own rules, so I couldn't help but be impressed by her resolve

Asanu to self-publish a a I wanted to ask you for your help”

I instantly looked around to see if anyone was nearby, but it looked like no one was paying attention The idea hadn't even occurred to a before, but I had never once paired up with Asanuma-san in the past

”A a what kind?”

Asanuma-san furtively looked around the preparation room like I had and then responded in a bitter tone ”At this rate, we're going to end up only having opinion pieces again for this year's culture festival too Joining the Manga Society and not being able to write ht as well just make one ourselves at this point Don't you think so too?”

”Do youa separate club?”

She shook her head ”That's not it There'd be no point in doing that I'h School Manga Society label, and then sell it over summer break With that, we could show that it's possible to write a in the— Actually, scratch that We'll sho the club is essentially a”

I couldn't shake off the feeling that she was saying soerous If she were to use this surprise attack to force her opinion on the club, leveraging it into an advantage for the drawing faction, wouldn't that basically be a coup d'état? Although it's true that this club's sad condition went on 24/7 It had never crossed a could be used as an attack against the reading faction Thinking about it so ato a Society Who auess I could understand” is the understatement of the century It's obvious it'd look like that Maybe I was being too naive up to this point

”Who else is going to be in on it?” I asked She listed soer for every one she mentioned

”Me, Tai, Nichiyaaya, and then there’s you I haven't asked the others yet, though”

All of theh, but as far as I are, Asanu substantial Tai was a new student, so I didn't knowshe hadn't drawn a Society Nishi+yaaya-san were both sophomores, and I was pretty sure neither of the outside a panel or two

”Will they really be able to write sohtly chuckled

”I doubt it, but we don't have to h You know, even a two-page spread is fine The iet as many people as we can involved”

It was pretty rude to assuaya-san couldn't draw just because theyfor the club I really wanted the answer to be that they would be able to do it What Asanuma-san said to me showed that she didn't care whether or not they could Though, to souess it wasn't that surprising

Asanu how unco

”I' yourself The topic's already decided, so just throw together whatever you can”

Although it ht've been too early for an amateur like a wasn't soether” like that For someone like Asanuma-san, who I'uess it went to sho desperate she was

I figured I'd at least ask

”What's the topic?”

”It's going to be be: 'Manga Society'”

I couldn't help but groan a little Asanuly

”If we don't do so like that, then on't be able to release thedoesn't have any iraduate before we can take the chance to represent the Kaa Society naet another chance I can't stand thinking about that Don't you feel the same way, Ibara?”

I didn't really feel up for representing the club's legacy or whatever, but if I was able to get even one or two people to read uess I would be happy

”So? How about it?”

My heart was drawn in two directions I really didn't like the thought ofa tool in the club's faction warfare, but it did boil down to a and have it be read by others If I had to say it, Iup to it as long as it was read in the end

Possibly seeing a glimmer of hope in my hesitation, Asanuma-san continued in a es you'll draw beforehand”