Vol 6 Chapter 5 (2/2)

”Could I ask you a question?”

”Mhm”

What kind of question is it? It's probably too early in the year for it to be about the culture festival anthology

There was a lull in the conversation as Chitanda see She wouldn't say a thing Hearing only the sound of herthe exact same spot continuously

Getting irritated, I was about to ask her what she wanted to say when she finally opened her mouth and started to speak

”Um Please don't answer if you don't want to, but—”

”If it's about her, anyway”

”No, that's not it”

There was a pause long enough to take a deep breath

”Why are you always saying that thing you say?”

”That thing I say?”

”You know 'If I don't have to do it, I won't If I have to do it, I'll make it quick'”

Oh

I stoppedon the soil halted

See I did, Chitanda quickly started to shake her hand in apology

”U It's okay if you don't need to talk about it Wait did I say that correctly?”

A soft smile came across my face before I realized it

”I knohat you want to say”

I sighed

”I was just wondering what I should say, is all It's not a very interesting story, and there isn't much to it in the first place It really just boils down to ”

”Really?”

I looked back on ap in the trees, I peered into the cloudless sky To think I was going to answer a question like that Today really was strange

”Let's see” Ionce more

3[edit]

Now, I' this is the exact reason, nor a to in the first place, but it probably beats listening to me hum

It happened back when I was in 6th grade At e of souess it wasn't that strange after all

Anyways, I was put in charge of so as well At first they'd let us apply for the job anted, but if everything wasn't sorted through that, then it'd be put to a vote I don't re duty I was basically like one of those people orked at old phone co like a phone operator Well, just ask Satoshi+ to tell you about it later

It was s like cleaning duties, there were things like the beautification committee, and so on Basically, because they split up the entire class into different jobs, there had to be a job where they could assign whatever task still wasn't being taken care of The one I got assigned to was—you better not laugh—watering the flower garden

Now, I don't really know much about flowers Even with their names, pretty much all I can remember is the pansy Anyways, so this proved to be ht all I had to do ater the You probably knohat I' about I also had to check the condition and dryness of the soil to see if I should give the was assigned to a different class each week So essentially, I had to check the soil every day for one week every three weeks and water the flowers if they needed it There was a lot to learn Unlike doing the sa on your day-to-day discretion becomes a real pain

I didn't do it alone I was put into a team of two The other person's name was I wonder if it's okay to say it Let's just say Tanaka for now Hirl pairs

Tanaka really didn't stand out all that much in class So much so, that even someone like me, asn't really concerned with other people's lives in the classroom, knew about it She was really withdrawn, and even if you tried to strike up a conversation with her, it'd end after only a feords There definitely loo as yours though Why? Is there so important about the hair?

Anyways, so Tanaka and I were both in charge of watering the flowers For the first couple of weeks or so, there weren't really any issue When it was our week to water, we'd go out to the shack behind the school after classes ended Then we'd check the condition of the soil Things would usually go so it was still unnecessary She'd tell me that it was actually bad to water theirl that never really asserted herself, nothat kind of firm resistance from her, even if it were softly worded, really shockedsome flowers, I felt like it was my responsibility to not let them wither

That said, this exchange of ours only lasted through the first week We'd gotten used to the floatering fundamentals, so there wasn't really any need for the two of us to do the job at the saured that'd be for the best

That didn't last, though I wonder how much time passed before then At a certain point, the situation changed Tanaka had asked me for help

”Becauseto have to live far away It takes an hour to the city via the city bus There aren't , and it'd be really bad if I ht away, after school,” she said

I don't recall feeling too reluctant about it, but our class teacher ended up entering the mix as well He tried to talk me into it

”Tanaka is also in a difficult situation, so please try to see where she's co a little late shouldn't be too bad, right?”

That was correct I do live pretty close to the ele pretty far away, but I'll leave that for another time

This teacher was a young man who'd been an instructor for only three years, if I re to is to revise it

Like

”Oreki, could you stick soround so it’ll be easier to reposition the tables?”

Or

”Oreki, I want to o ahead and cut this paper?”

And

”Oreki, I feel like the ceiling light has gotten a little dim, so could you be careful and take it down?”

Are you surprised? I don't blas Thinking back on it, that kind of thingtenets Anyways, usually, after I finished up with the garden and returned to the near-eet tothat I'd always say yes, no questions asked That was sorade I guess it did depend on the person, though

He knew about Tanaka's circumstances and asked me to take care of her portion of the work I said that I would The next week, I was in charge of the gardens, I did everything myself, every day of the week At first, Tanaka would say, ”Sorry, and thanks,” but you'll get used to everything over time, I suppose After a while, she started to sih I didn't think poorly of her because of it I understood what she was going through Having to walk all the way to the bus station and then enduring an hour-long ride back would be really difficult

That was the first part Is there anything you didn't understand so far? I' stories like this

Good Then I'll keep going

One day, it happened

Tanaka and I were headed towards the flower garden during our lunch break We had been asked to plant soot what kind of seeds they were It was right before sulories No, I'm serious, I don't remember

He also told us to stick in sons with the flowers' names on them Now that I mention it, that was probably his own idea What that oals weren't lins, and they were difficult to carry, even for the two of us We also had to bring the seeds, so there was a bit of an issue I ended up putting the seeds inas I wrapped them with some paper, there'd be no proble to hold the seeds between her fingers while she carried the signs, and, as youout

”Put them in your pockets,” I said, naturally It worked for me, after all Tanaka, however, shook her head

”I don't have pockets”

For a while after she told irl clothes sieneral In reality, it was because I never really had the chance to check it for myself

We didn't talk all that h we shared the same job, Tanaka hadn't actually done any work for it in a while, so we had nothing to talk about First, we planted the flower seeds, and then we took a look at the signs and immediately fell at a loss Neither Tanaka nor I remembered the naht them in the first place Because of that, eren't able to finish setting up the signs, and our lunch break was co or other

And then came after school

That as our class's turn to take care of the flower garden However, as I had already checked the soil while planting the seeds, I decided that there was no need to water it I probably should've gone home early at that point, but I instead stayed andwith my friends in class That's when Tanaka walked in She looked like she was on the verge of tears

”My backpack's ,” she said

It was a backpack How could soht, but it's not like saying that would ain We briefly searched the rooo to the teacher for help It was 6th grade, after all Kids were starting to grow up There were kids who absolutely hated talking to the teacher, no reed

The three of us searched wherever we could think of Who searched? It was Tanaka, the teacher, and ht? I wonder what happened to the with us, so they probably ran off right away

The teacher was really desperate I didn't realize it then, but thinking back on it, he was probably suspecting it What do youabout You don't? I see That it was bullying He probably didn't actually believe that she was being bullied and that her backpack was hidden by so for it as fast as possible

Don't giveafter all It was by the pilotis Don't you knohat those are? It’s like a recreational area, or an open area, or whatever you call it Anyways, we had one of those at our school, and Tanaka was playing there after classes ended when she set her backpack down What happened apparently was sorader walked by and delivered it to the lost-and-found in the faculty room out of the kindness of his heart That's all it was Unfortunately, the head teacher, the one who received it, had to leave for a bit to take care of so, so for a while, no one knew that the backpack was a lost ite

Honestly speaking, I was relieved Although Tanaka and I had only talked with each other through our shared job, I felt as if I absolutely had to help her find it

When the head teacher finally returned with the backpack, I was really happy

He didn't forget to lecture her as well ”It's inexcusable to leave so like that I had also taken my backpack off to play countless tier student who had carelessly assumed it was a lost item Of course, I didn't say any of that

As he was scolding her like that, Tanaka sat there, fidgeting nervously the entire ti If you think about it, she hadn't even been able to confirm if its contents were safe yet She probably wanted to check inside it as soon as possible On that subject, our teacher was a little htful He waited for a pause in the head teacher's rant and interjected with a quick conclusion

”The head teacher's exactly right Though, you should check to see if everything's safe in there”

As Tanaka was handed the bag, all of her usual silence seeerly twisted the knob to open the top and pulled out a pencil case I think it was a pretty sn was really plain

Upon spotting the h of relief

”Thank goodness!”

I only caught a slimpse of it, but it was one of those mechanical pencils that had a little character on top of it Which character was it, again? She told s you could win froazine contests It was probably pretty cheap, but, you know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder It was probably her treasure Tanaka looked truly happy

So I asked, ”Is everything inside okay?”

She gripped theas I have this, it's okay for now I'll check the rest when I get home”

”Are you sure?”

”Yeah, thanks”

There was nothing wrong with bringing a mechanical pencil to an eleurebanned in schools hadn't even been brought up yet at that moment as well Unfortunately for Tanaka, however, the head teacher ended up noticing it

”It's inexcusable to bring sorily If you think about it, though, textbooks were ic, you should only bring things you wouldn't ument's sake?

The next day, the school sent out a notice banning all stationery with character designs on them It came completely out of the blue Notebooks, erasers, desk pads all sorts of character ornaed into the problee fuss Out of all of the students, it was probably only Tanaka and I who actually knew the truth behind the reason why

Well, that's pretty much it

I was also pretty shocked at this turn of events I think that around then was the moment when I first started to say ”If I don't have to do it, I won't”

4[edit]

”Huh?”

Chitanda paused Impressive She didn't even twitch

She continued to stand frozen in place, possibly trying to go through the story once ed her, but I went back to work instead Istory All that was left was to pick up the fallen leaves with the dustpan and stuff thes That final step proved to be a little ht

The dustpan was still in the bucket that Chitanda brought As I took a step, about to go get it, she finally spoke up

”Huh?”

”There's nothing 'huh' about it”

”I heard the entire story, right?”

”I hope so”

”Wasn't that ending a little weird?”

Well, I guess it was a little

”Oreki-san, you helped Tanaka-san search for her backpack, right? You then ed to find it, and her precious oods with character designs were banned froht?”

Exactly I picked up the dustpan

I heard a loud clap

”Ah, I got it!”

”Oh yeah?”

”You oods yourself, Oreki-san When they were all banned, it cae shock to you Wait But what does that have to do with 'If I don't have to do it, I won't'?”

She started to tilt her head left and right once ht, and then finally timidly followed her theory up

”Maybebecause the character goods ended up being banned, you regretted ever helping her fro?”

Not bad If I tried hard at anything, I would only beoing with this, huh?

Unfortunately

”That's wrong”

”But—!”

”Don't stop cleaning”

”O-okay”

Chitanda was also h there weren't e

I started to use the dustpan first As I was collecting the leaves, I started to speak

”You always start talking froive you a taste of your own medicine”

”You're terrible! You really did leave out parts of the story, Oreki-san!”

”Yeah”

Hearing that was music to my ears

I really wasn't feeling well today Even though there was clearly a better way to tell that story, for so the distressed Chitanda, well, itevery now and then ht not seem that bad It was a completely faultless way to kill ti itself felt brief

”Let's see” Chitandasilent would probably be a bit too cruel, so I gave her a little help

”The whole thing with the banned goods with character designs was kind of just an afterthought It doesn't really have anything to do with the rest of the story”

She stared atme?”

”So like that”

”O-Oreki-san!”

I put the leaves I collected into the bag Although I'd supposedly cleaned up such a large area, after I stuffed it all inside, the resulting a up dirt

”Don't get so angry My elee You shouldn't have a difficult ti it out, either”

”That doesn't helpher head ”You and I are different, Oreki-san I just can't do that kind of reasoning I don't knohy”

I guess she are of it as well

I didn't mean for this to turn into some kind of harassh

”Okay, first, Tanaka and I were doing our shi+fting job I explained that thoroughly, right?”

”Right”

Chitanda started to lean forward and nodded Her expression was dead serious I kind of had the feeling I did so terrible to her

”Halfway through, Tanaka couldn't stick around after school anymore Because of that, I had to take care of the plants every day for a hen it was our class's turn to do it”

”Right” As if trying to hammer in the fact that she had properly listened, she added, ”She was living in arebuilt It took an hour”

”That's the part I' about”

Chitanda had a great h I didn't otten about it either

”I believe I said so about exactly what took an hour and from where”

”Right It took one hour from the station by bus”

”Good Specifically”

”You said the city bus”

”Hoas she planning on getting on it?”

It looked like Chitanda finally realized it for herself Her expression took on a surprised look, and she covered her mouth with both her hands Her broo that

”Oh, I figured it out Tanaka-san couldn't return home The clothes she wore that day didn't have pockets, after all”

”That's right”

”In order to ride the bus, you'd need money or a ticket If you couldn't carry either of those on your person, you'd have to put it in your backpack”

I nodded emphatically

”That's right I thought it was a bit strange froht that the teacher had asked et on the bus, but as she playing when she lost it after school in the first place? I figured that she was having fun while giving herself enough time to catch the bus, so I was really desperate to find it for her in time

”When she got it back, however, the only thing important to her in it was the mechanical pencil with the little character on top I even asked her if she was sure that that was the only i she needed to check for, but she couldn't think of anything else”

”What does that mean?”

We'd gotten this far and she still couldn't figure it out?

Well, I guess I couldn't blame her Even I didn't want to believe it at the time

”The only conclusion I could draas that Tanaka didn't actually need to take the bus”

”How could”

Speechless, Chitanda's eyes opened wide

”I don’t think that was actually the case at the start When she initially asked ht've actually had to take the hour-long bus ride At the very least, however, her situation was different that day A siet hoer needed to take the bus”

”The construction work on her house had already finished? Then why didn't she”

”Isn't it obvious?”

I sighed

”She pushed all the job onto me so she could skip out on work”

Chitanda spoke as she gathered the leaves with the dustpan

”So that's what happened You hated being lied to, so you started to say 'If I don't have to do it, I won't'”

That wasn't really it

I guess ood, after all That wasn't the case at all

What happened from that point on wasn't a very pretty story I knew, as well, that it wasn't the kind of thing you could just tell anyone

Chitanda had gone a little too far with her assuh Could I re misunderstood like that?

”No,” I interjected ”That day, I realized that Tanaka didn't have any money or tickets for the bus My first reaction was to immediately look at our teacher In the first place, he was the one who told me to do all of that hard work byrebuilt, after all He'd notice if there was soe about that situation If he found out, he'd iht? But he didn't”

Chitanda looked at ed with suspicion

”Doesn't that just ured it out?”

That'd be much more preferable

”No, he had a crazy expression on You could see the 'shi+t, I messed up' written all over it Because of that, I was able to confirm that her house's construction had indeed already been finished at that point”

””

”So then why didn't he tell o back to hoas on the first day of our switching duty?

”It could've just been that I had sootten for all I knew But on that day, when I saw that expression of his, one thing went throughthat was asked of me without a word of complaint It was because I was so convenient in that sense that he didn't bother to do anything about so their work onto me”

I propped myself up with the broom, as if it were a cane, and continued

”I then thought a little more about it You know, the construction on Tanaka's house didn't even have anything to do with h some kind of mistake of mine that I ended up with the responsibility to do Tanaka's share of the work for her? That's not right Tanaka's business was hers alone I had nothing to do with any of it

”Though, I guess ere technically classood for us to help each other out I arden wasn't really that much work It's true that my house was close by, so it was probably fine to help someone in need

”These kinds of thoughts, I realized, were the reason I was taken advantage of”

All Tanaka did was seize the opportunity

After that incident, I started to realize there were two kinds of people: those who kne the world worked and pushed everything they didn't want to do on others and those who happily accepted being on the receiving end of the forrew old enough to understand s, I started to realize that I was one of the latter As I did, all my memories started to flood back, one-by-one That time, that ti

How about when I was told to bring the heavy, one-liter container of salad dressing on our class daytrip? When the school was on the verse of stopping classes temporarily due to an influenza outbreak, was there anyone else besides me who had to visit countless houses to deliver all of the sick students' classwork? When we accidently broke aduring a game of kickball, was the reason I went to the principal's office alone to apologize on everyone's behalf and instead got chewed out by our teacher because I was the leader? No It was because I never talked back

That in itself was fine, really None of the things I did were un those kind of stuff some sort of loss, and I didn't hate the it easy

It's just that i used like a convenient tool made me sad

I thought back

At that ti too painful to keep silent about it, so I told my older sister

Even if you think that fellow hus should help each other, others won't necessarily think of you as being worth it It's not like I wanted anyone to appreciate ht of me as such an idiot I won't stay after school any as I' They probably think I'm an idiot because I always did what they asked without resisting I don't care about what they think I just hate being used Of course, if I have to do it I will I won't complain at all But, if it's not necessary If it turns out it's someone else's responsibility If I don't have to do it, I won't I absolutely won't

My sister listened to this unspecific story of mine, and placed her hand atop my head as she spoke

Yeah Even though you're so aard, you alant to be useful Even though you're such an idiot, soe part of you is so smart you've picked up such a nasty outlook That's fine then I won't stop you There shouldn't be anything wrong with that, right? I don't think anything you're saying is incorrect

I wonder what she said after that I felt like she said a little ht If I remember correctly

Fro holiday It'll be for the best Take it nice and easy It's okay Even if, while you're resting, you can't change yourself fundamentally—

”—ki-san”

I ht I hadn't realized Chitanda was calling out to me

”Uh, sorry What were you saying?”

Chitanda's face was right before me Her massive eyes stared into mine

”You were sad, weren't you, Oreki-san?”

I turned away and smiled

”It wasn't that bad All it as a case of a sulking boy who ended up with nowhere to turn”

It was such an ingrained habit of ined it was difficult to adopt a new motto like that If I don't have to do it, I won't

Out of the corner ofher broo away, she said so completely out of the blue

”I've been thinking, though, Oreki-san About the 'you' in your story and the 'you' standing here right now I was thinking they ht actually not be that different after all”

I wanted to laugh off her statement

But nothing came out

Chitanda took a step away She bent over and picked up the trash bag stuffed with fallen leaves

”Thank you very much Thanks to you, this place looks really nice now”

”Yeah”

”Kaho-san will probably bring out some tea and snacks for us Would you like relax with us for a little while longer?”

I smiled softly and waved my hand to decline Please sparebetween those two

”Nah Hand me that broom I'll take it back with me”

I took it from her and rested each one on a different shoulder I turned around as to not hit her with the end and then started talking with my back turned

”Give Juu now”

I started to descend down the stairs, assaulted by the shadows of the foliage above The sound of the leaves rustling in the wind softly reached iven up on me yet The laundry will probably be already dry by the tiet back

As I was leaving, I heard Chitanda's voice

”Oreki-san! Thank you for telling me your story! I'm really happy that you did!”

It'd be too much of a hassle to turn around with the heavy brooms on my person, so I just pretended I didn't hear her in the first place If I don't have to do it, I won't Oh, would you look at that Even though today was such a strange day, co here was all it took to return me back to normal I scratched my head

I then suddenly remembered I remembered the rest of what my sister said at that moment, as she violently ruffled around my hair

—I'm sure someone will end your holiday for you

Translator's Notes and References[edit]

Jump up↑ A God of war

Jump up↑ A verse by the most famous japanese haiku poet, Matsobsho (1644-1694)

Jua (1728-1780) is a fas Oreki here is referring to how his electrostatic generator (erekiteru) sounds like ”Eru's here” (eru kiteru)

Ju like ”amen” Juumonji's shrine is shi+nto, however, not Buddhist

Jump up↑ shi+nto God of harvest and commerce