Vol 6 Chapter 6 (1/2)
Even Though I's
1
The long season of rain had ended, and only a single petal-like cloud floated in the night sky, illuminated by the crescent moon The breeze that entered the rooht, and seeh I becahts scattered about in the distance, I continued to press the organ’s keys,a sheet of music
I ression of notes that flowed out and then proceeded to slowly hu how far this “la-la-la” ht this silent, and my voice became soft
As if drowning in the soundcountless times At last, I had become nearly satisfied with the accuracy ofto add the lyrics on my next attempt
At that mo door
“Eru”
It was my father
It was incredibly rare for him to coan, or , had been too loud I timidly responded
“Yes?”
“Come to the shrine room”
As usual, his voice was serious, but he didn’t appear to be angry I was relieved, yet all the more struck by how mysterious it was The shrine roo iine what there was to talk about
“I’ll be there shortly”
The sound of footsteps faded away It seemed that today’s practice was coan and shut the
Suddenly, as I left my room, I became inexplicably hesitant What exactly was it that he wanted to talk about? For no particular reason, I felt a terrible apprehension
—Maybe I could just continue to hum instead?
Even thoughts like these passed through my head at that moment
Of course I couldn’t As I approached the ed to steel ht about hts in my room Beyond the , across which the curtains had not been closed, a small cloud drifted in front of the moon
2
After co for the start of suh School had been enveloped by an aty; the Earth Sciences lecture room was no exception That said, it’s not like I could really say that this kind of at that it was the first tiathered in the clubroom at the same time
Each of us sat in whichever seat anted, in a room that could fit an entire class That said, it wasn’t like any of us were that far apart from another We all tended to sit somewhat close to the center
Chitanda and I were silently reading My book was about a ninja, a princess, and their illegitimate child; their story consisted entirely of a rapid succession of major incidents, all cos or underpinnings, with each chapter si into sole difficult aspect about it—a truly pleasant read For a ed by tests, I can say it was an undeniably perfect fit
I had no idea what Chitanda was reading It was a large book abundant with photos, so I assuuide, but I couldn’t see it very well fro, nor did I really even mak
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e the effort to do so At any rate, it didn’t appear to be very interesting as even Chitanda herself stared vacantly at its pages
Ibara and Satoshi+ were scribbling over and over all over an open notebook and talking about who-knoith each other… But as I paused between my chapters and peeked at the two, it appeared that Ibara was the one leading the discussion With a pen in her hand and a conflicted expression, she spoke
“It’s the hand The problem has to be the hand,” she muttered
Satoshi+ nodded, as if in coreement “I see, the hand, huh?”
“This guy can’t use his right hand Actually, if I could draw it like it was a psychological thing—that he didn’t want to use it instead—that could set up so”
“I see, foreshadowing, huh?”
It appeared they were outlining the plot to a a
Ever since Ibara had left the ards to drawing a Simply put, maybe because both Chitanda and I had known about her creations, there wasn’t any point in feeling e the e
Ever since the beginning, it had been decided that Chitanda would inherit her fa resolute in her passions, only Satoshi+’s and ht to the fore What a troubling situation
No, the two of us were norarding their future pursuits—these two girls who only wanted to refine their beloved skills—they were the strange ones
“It’d be fine if I made someone ask him ‘What happened to your hand?’ but he’s alone in this scenario Looking at your own hand and then breaking out into so speech feels so forced too What should I do?”
“I see, alone, huh?”
As he listened with a huge grin, Satoshi+ added only this
“What do you do when you’re alone?”
“What do I do um”
Without even acknowledging hi Finally, her eyes suddenly sparkled and she spoke up
“I see! Nice job fuku-chan, that’s it! I didn’t have to think very hard about it after all Why did I try to make it so complicated? All I have to do is make hiht hand, but in the next panel do it with his left instead Yeah, that’s natural, that’s what I’ll do”
I had no clue as going on, but it looked like she thought up a nice idea Ibara drew some broad strokes in the notebook, and then finally closed it with an emphatic “Okay!”
“Did you finish the first step?”
“For theyet, but with this, I think I can basically visualize the completed product”
“Good to hear”
And then Satoshi+ added, “This time, at least tell me what kind of story it will be”
So he had essentially been offering re what kind of story it was I didn’t knohether I should’ve been disappointed in him or simply impressed
Perhaps relieved after overco that hurdle, Ibara spoke with somewhat less enthusiasm than before
“Speaking of coffee, soe happened to me a while back”
“Oh really?”
“I went to an art supplies shop in Kiryuu, but”
“Kiryuu? Why would you go that far?!”
Although Satoshi+ was the one that interrupted her story, I understood where he was co from Kiryuu was the northernmost part of this city and even by car took up to twenty h School From Ibara’s house, it could take an hour at worst There should be at least one art supplies store nearby With a somewhat irritated expression, she responded
“Yeah, the thing is there’s an old tone that I can only get at that shop I don’t use it much, but it was just in case”
“Huh, I see”
What on earth is a tone? I suppose I could at least guess that it was soa I wasn’t really interested in eavesdropping any more so I decided to return to5:00 If I were to start a new chapter now, I undoubtedly wouldn't be able to finish it before the school gates close I decided to save it for when I return ho my movements, Ibara turned to face me
“Oreki, listen to this, too”
“I already am”
“Oh yeah? So, after I finished shopping, I ended up getting really thirsty and decided to go to a nearby café since finals had just ended and all Apparently they had really good coffee, so I got that, and, like, it had this weird taste I wonder why”
“I’ coffee in a café You’re just like Houtarou” Satoshi+ suppressed a laugh
Ibara grumpily puffed out her cheeks “It was research, just research! Hey, I was able to think of soood because of it, wasn’t I?”
“I know, I know So? Why was the taste weird?”
Although it was essentially an obligation to Satoshi+, I had gone to cafes several times It wasn’t to the extent that I could appreciate the subtle differences between different types of coffee, but I could at least distinguish a good one froine what a weird-tasting coffee ht taste like
Ibara disly waved her hand in front of her face “Oh, by ‘weird taste,’ I was talking about the sugar”
I was becoar is sweet; that e Satoshi+ looked confused as well, but he eventually broke out into a smile
“I understand It was sour, right?”
“fuku-chan, you’refun of me, aren’t you”
“I’ a little fun”
Ibara glared at his nonchalant sh “That’s not it It eet”
“Wasn’t it normal then?” Satoshi+ and I unexpectedly responded at the same time
Ibara sla this discussion right now because I’ it wasn’t!”
Yes ma’am
Ibara glared at the both of us as if to lued shut and then continued “It wasn’t just sweet, it was extre like it other than those over-sweetened canned coffees, so I was really surprised”
“Didn’t you just put too iving enough information, she abruptly nodded her head
“Let’s see Starting fro, I ordered a coffee and cake set It was a lemon cake and honestly not that sweet, in ar and I told theht out had the ar cubes placed on the saucer I took one sip and thought it was pretty norain and… well it was basically sugar water at that point”
Satoshi+ nodded gently “So, it was a sugar cube, huh If they gave you a sht be too sweet; you ht’ve simply added too much in that case”
“It was quite shocking for a single sugar cube to turn it that sweet, so I couldn’t help but think it was strange I’ve been thinking about it a lot since then, but nothing else was out of the ordinary”
Satoshi+ crossed his arar, huh?“
“Right? It’s strange, right?”
“It is, but that’s not to say I can’t think of a reason why”
Ibara leaned forward “Really?”
Satoshi+ nodded solemnly “There are sweeteners that are hundreds—no, thousands—of tiar If you added as et so ridiculously sweet”
“Hrunt and then continued with a wary expression “Sure it was really sweet, but, just like I said earlier, it wasn’t as undrinkable as canned coffee is for ives you sweetener in the shape of a sugar cube?”
“No, I haven’t I can’t even i”
Then why did you even mention it?
“Maybe it was soar For exa process, or maybe it came from a difference source”
Satoshi+ uncrossed his arms and turned his head to look at Chitanda
“Hey, Chitanda-san Do you have any idea?”
“Huh?” Chitanda, who had been absent brought back to reality by Satoshi+’s question “Uh, about what?”
Our voices had been fairly loud while ere talking, however it appeared that not an ounce of it reached her ears With a large grin, Satoshi+ responded “Mayaka was talking about how she went to a café and did this and that, and how they brought out soht’ve been soar Don’t you know a lot about different kinds of foods?”
“Oh, that’s what it was”
Chitanda closed the book in her hands and s disco, she was a reserved person She didn’t s bluntly And yet, even after ruling that out, her current smile looked stiff, almost like it was manufactured
Chitanda responded in a soft voice “Unfortunately, I’ar beet”
“I see I was thinking you ht’ve produced it at some point”
She ihtly
“I don’t know I’m sorry”
“Gotcha My bad, e question I wonder what the deal with the sweet sugar is then It’s surprisingly difficult to solve I’m a little curious”
“Yes, I wonder”
Judging by how she responded, since she couldn’t enter the conversation, it see else after all
Ibara stared at uess, it was probably so the lines of “Doesn’t Chi-chan look a little off? Do you know anything?” I shook my head to add an “I have no idea”
Our unspoken conversation created an aard silence during the break in discussion As if trying to salvage the conversation, Satoshi+ spun around to face me and asked a question “What do you think, Houtarou? Do you think it was a special type of sugar after all?”
Listening to the conversation, a thought did in fact crossit up as long as I wasn’t asked, but now that I have been, I didn’t see any real need to keep quiet about it either
“I don’t think it’s as difficult as you’reit out to be,” I responded
“Wait, really?” Satoshi+ looked astonished
On the other hand, Ibara’s eyes ca? I didn’t see anything other than a norar cube”
“Then it was probably just a norar cube”
“Was it that my taste was off after all?”
“I thought you were insisting that wasn’t the case” I scratched my head “Didn’t you mention it earlier—what happened to the coffee that the server brought for you?”
Satoshi+ responded iar cubes on it”
“That’s right, but I’ar cubes”
Both Ibara and Satoshi+ becalanced at Chitanda out of the corner ofsomewhat, she stared blankly as if she had no idea I just asked a question
“Ibara When you ordered the coffee, what did the shopkeeper ask you?”
“I already told you They asked if I wanted ar”
“Was that was they said, word-for-word?”
Ibara looked down as if retracing her memories and then finally shook her head “I can’t remember it very well”
“I ht’ve sounded a bit harsh when I asked that, sorry It’s only natural to forget so that ar?’”
She nodded
“But I had taken a sip and then added the sugar cube because I thought it was too bitter That shouldn’t have been the case if the sugar was in it fro”
“You’d think so By the hat did you do after you put in the sugar cube?”
“I drank it”
“No, I mean before that”
“I had the lemon cake, but—”
“I’ about that”
Chitanda, who had been an to speak
“U about is the fact that you mixed it”
Hearing that, Satoshi+ immediately spoke up “Oh, that’s it!” He turned to Ibara and continued enthusiastically “That’s right The coffee that Mayaka drank had sugar in it fro, but the problem was that it had sunk to the bottom, so you didn’t taste any sweetness After you ar cube on top of that—”
Ibara also exclaimed with the realization “I see It had the potency of two sugar cubes mixed into it at once”
“Yeah, that does seem pretty likely That has to be it”
After saying that, Satoshi+ nodded with deep satisfaction and then turned to smile at me
“I gotta say, you’re quite the armchair detective, aren’t you?”
It’s not like I caenious… It could probably just be chalked up as a lapse of memory from the involved party—Ibara
But, Ibara, on the other hand, hesitantly responded: “Yeah I guess it doesthat I can’t say with 100 certainty that that’s the answer I feel like o one more time to confirm it”
Considering that the cafe was next to the art supplies store she frequented, she’d probably have the chance to go again in the future At any rate, there was nothingit was about tian to pack away my paperback
At that o to confirm it then”
As I proceeded to wish the two of theood luck on their travels
“We have to start working on the anthology after all,” he continued
“That’s true You do have a point there”
“Right?”
In order to prepare for the eventual culture festival, we certainly did not need to travel all the way outside the city; staying at the school would suffice At the same time, however, a trip to a cafe to resolve the ar wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea I refrained fro
All I said was, “It would get too late if we left now”
The clock on the wall read 5:40
“That’s a good point Then tomorrow“—he paused—”actually I’m busy then I have student council business”
Toeneral council, Satoshi+ likely had stuff to do
“Will the day after tomorroork?”
Not that I cared, but doing preparation work on the first day of suent of us Ibara didn’t seem to have any objections either Just as I assumed it would be a done deal, Chitanda spoke in a small voice almost like a whisper
“I’m sorry I’ll be preoccupied that day”
Ibara’s face suddenly changed “Ah, that’s right I forgot”
Neither Satoshi+ nor I had said a thing, but a stiff, impermeable atmosphere suddenly overtook the room Ibara faced us then continued
“Chi-chan’s perfor in the choir festival,” she said
“So that’s what it was I guess that day won’t work then”
Satoshi+ nodded, seely convinced, but I was left confused This school had been feverishly enhanced with event after event, starting with the culture festival, but I had never once heard of the choir festival
“They put on soym?”
I received two cold stares in response
“Of course not”
“It’s an event hosted by the city”
So it wasn’t a school activity I guess that only aze froo without even knowing an event existed What a relief
“It’s called the Ejima Choir Festival, named after Sandou Ejima, a famous composer from Karoups come fro all sorts of choir pieces, not just those that Sandou wrote”
“Never heard of him before”
This kind of topic was Satoshi+’s area of expertise and his alone He seely
“He was a writer of nursery rhyazine, ‘Red Candle’ He wrote alongside Hakushuu Kitahara, Yaso Saijou, and Ujou Noguchi Together, they were dubbed the ‘four heavenly kings of children’s songs ‘“
That last ‘kings’ bit was undeniably made up by Satoshi+
“I was invited by Chi-chan to participate, so I went to a practice once; but now that I want to work on etically While she said this to h she didn’t say anything in return Sheabout her at all
The Classics Club was of course only one of h School, and outside of the things that classmates and students in the sa else connecting us I didn’t know each and every thing that happened outside of the school, nor did I even think it was important to know in the first place It’s because of thistogether in a choir only caht surprise
Satoshi+ rested his hands behind his head “Well, let’s decide e should meet some other time, then We can talk about it over the phone”
Although he mentioned this nonchalantly, he essentially said he would be taking care of it himself He really was the type of person who took on more work than anyone else and did it without any pomp and circumstance; I really respected him for that
“Yes, that will be fine”
With Chitanda’s reply, it seemed that at least today’s activities were over The days were long at this point in the su 6:00, there was no trace of the nighttime sky
I putnow”
“Oh yeah, see ya”
I wasn’t intent on peeking, but as I was leaving the lecture rooht’ve just beenthe lines of a career guide
3
On the first day of summer break, I made myself chilled noodles
Perhaps due to the o as if they’d bring rain at any moment, it was somewhat chilly out as it neared lunchti I couldn’t exactly say it was a perfect day for chilled noodles, but I couldn’t really change the menu since the noodles expired today
I ar, sesaether a quick sauce and then cooked and rinsed the noodles The toppings I chose were to that I had accidently forgotten on the stove and let burn a little I cut the to into thin strips I couldn’t care less about the presentation, so I dried the noodles, piled thes on top Finally, I quickly poured the sauce over it and added the finishi+ng touch: a dash of e of the plate
I took the plate fro room and prepared some chopsticks and barley tea; with that, the preparations were co the chopsticks in hand, the phone started to ring
I stubbornly ignored it as it continued to ring and looked at the clock hanging on the wall While I was ready to be utterly offended that they had called right in the middle of lunchtime, it had already turned 2:30PM Since the sun had started to shi+ne in the afternoon, I took the laundry out to dry; it ht I couldn’t exactly claim that the caller had a lack of common sense I stared intently at the chilled noodles in front of me Maybe I should be thankful that I chose a noodle dish that wouldn’t go stale I stood up, swaying back and forth, and picked up the receiver
“Yes,” I replied in a voice that you couldn’t really bla as irritated as it was
“hello, my name is Ibara Is Oreki-san currently home?”
As much as I wanted to tell her that he wasn’t, her voice see myself to joke around
“Ibara?”
“Oh, Oreki Thank God What the heck was up with that deep voice just now?”
“I was just about to eat lunch”
“I see, sorry about that In that case, don’t worry about—”
The fact that she calledhad happened I had no choice but to let the chilled noodles sit for a little longer
“I don’t mind What is it?”
“The thing is”
It felt like I could hear hesitation from the other end of the call She finally asked
“Do you know any places Chi-chan o?”
I moved the receiver to my other hand
“Why are you asking me?”
Her response carried a harsh tone
“I called everyone I could think of You’re the last one”
“I see”
I wanted to ask her what had happened, but I could tell her back was up against the wall The explanation would have to wait until later
“My first guess would probably be the school”
“Yeah”
“After that would be the city library There’s the place next to Kaburaya Middle School—what’s it called—the café that ent to with Ohinata There’s also Pineapple Sand, though it moved”
I continued to offer her nao In the end, however, uess was the library Even I realized that the possibility of her going to a café on her oas slim
“Got it, thanks I didn’t think of the library fuku-chan’s doing general committee stuff at the school, so I asked him to look around, but he said her shoes aren’t there”
“I see Did anything happen?” I asked, and remembered e talked about previously, “Wasn’t the choir festival today? Chitanda didn’t show up?”
“No, she hasn’t”
So that’s why she was in such a rush
“She goes on stage at 6:00, so we still have time, but she’s nowhere to be found”
After I heard her say 6:00, soth leave my body
“Couldn’t she have just slept in?”
“She’s not like you”
“Sure, I’ve been late to things here and there, but I’ve never once slept past my alarm Never mind, that’s beside the point Doesn’t that mean you just have to delay the preparations a little bit?”
She responded with clear irritation in her voice: “That’s not it There’s an old lady saying that she rode the bus with Chi-chan all the way from Jinde, where her house is, to the cultural center”
I guess the choir festival was being held in the city’s cultural center I could bike there from my house in around 10 minutes
“So then she disappeared after arriving at the cultural center, huh Considering you’re calling even ”
“Many times She’s nowhere to be found”
I switched hands once more
“Should I be worried?”
“I don’t know I feel like she’ll co worried and asked me to call people that know her”
“It ht be a bit late to ask this, but why are you there in the first place?”
“Did I tell you I participated in one of the practices? I just thought I’d co as it was just for one day”
So that’s what it was “I understand Well, at any rate, she hasn’t shown up here”
I had said that as a joke, hoping it would help calm Ibara down a little as she seemed tense, but she responded coldly instead: “I didn’t think she went to your house”
“Is that so”
“Well, thanks anyways I’ up now”
“Sure”
The line disconnected I set the receiver down and turned back to my chilled noodles
It had one huge advantage that normal soba didn’t: I wouldn't burn myself I could eat it in however short of a period I’d like
The Ka covered in red tiles that resee hall and one srand impression I didn’t knoat the infore hall had around 1200 people and the s “Ejima Choir Festival” stood in the black marble atriu about
The choir festival itself had apparently started at 2:00 The fact that there were still four e was a testaroups thatOr perhaps there was an afternoon seg written on the signboard that revealed the answer to me
I went to the infor to the clerk dressed in a light blue uniform
“Um”
The clerk was a wo I was a student, retained her cheery, polite attitude
“Yes How may I help you?”
At that moment, I suddenly had a vicious realization I didn’t know the naht if I went to the group’s waiting room I’d be able to