Volume 3 Chapter 21 (1/2)

2-1 Has So Happened With the Classics Club?[]

005 - ♠02

Saying ”I enjoyed this a lot” may sound easy, but is actually a pretty difficult task Rather than the possibility of the difference in one's level of understanding, a more important factor would be the difference in one's level of interest When watching a ic performance, a dense person would not even understand even a hundredth of as going on On the other hand, if one had the ability to see through a ician's trick, then no matter how much entertainment he may see, while he may try to enjoy to his heart's content, there's no way he could have enjoyed it sufficiently

It wasto school earlier than usual, as the Ka fukube Satoshi+ constantly repeating ”Ohh, I' this,” I felt compelled to mischievously tell hihtful smile and slowly shook his head

”An excellent idea, hat I wanted to say, but you're too naive, Houtarou,”

”Oh? How so?”

”For a person like you as raised on nothing but boorishness to even think of lecturing me on my enjoyer and swung it left and right as though acting

”Of course I already knew that it was useless to try to enjoy myself deep doithin the marrow of my bones The most important aspect of Epicureanism is to be able to separate one's senses It's just as iy-saving ways and actually work hard on a test”

”Like hell that day would arrive Anyhat's this about separation of your senses? What does that have to do with you being able to say you'll enjoy yourself?”

”All right, then letlike ”I'onna enjoy a lot,” as I'ood at resigning myself to? Just from the point of view of Houtarou the Boorish”

Do you know? Satoshi+ gestured as he finished his sentence Fleeting a gli his bubble, I said nothing Sensing I had no intention to answer, he lowered his voice as though inforood at enjoying myself”

””

He gave a broad smile

”I could still look forward to people giving me their enjoyment!”

Oh boy

Ignoring my cold expression, Satoshi+ continued with his talk of how he's still ”gonna enjoy this” I could do nothing but keep quiet and smile bitterly

fukube Satoshi+ I have been hanging out with this fellow since junior high

From his appearance, Satoshi+ was a person with brown eyes and a sliirl when seen fro, he has developed so

Though his real features lie with his limpse of that from our conversation just now; he can be pretty forceful in abandoning his studies and social life casually Already a member of the Handicraft Club and the General Committee, he decided to join the Classics Club as well si”

He is never seen without his drawstring bag in his hand, though I have no idea of its contents All I can say is that it contains all sorts of stuff

In the road ahead, we could see Ka The outer walls weren't painted pink due to the Cultural Festival, and seen froh school However, within its grounds were flourishi+ng all sorts of activities concerning the Cultural Festival In order to prepare for the festival, classes were suspended since yesterday

The body of students heading towards school looked different today While there were many in their uniforms, there were also many from other clubs in their casual wear And there werewith the any scholastic equipment Due to such discrepancies, even I could feel the expectation that so different from usual was about to start

Though Kaeared towards students entering university, it didn't have that many suppleh record of students entering famous universities If you were to ask the students of Kah School what its specialty was, only one in ten would have said it specializes in university entrance exams The other nine would answer ”It's a school known for its vibrant Arts-related club activities” There are h, and its activities too are various And the highlight of these activities would of course be the Cultural Festival, which was rare ah schools for its number of days, with one day for preparation and three whole days for the main event

Satoshi+ suddenly raised his voice cheerfully

”And besides Why, Houtarou, isn't that Mayaka?”

He pointed to a girl in front of us She was dressed in casual wear coan and white brocade trousers, but I couldn't tell whether she was Ibara Mayaka froh I've known her since elementary school, I've rarely seen her in casual wear since junior high But if Satoshi+ says it's her, then it has to be

For many times Ibara had confessed her love to Satoshi+, yet while Satoshi+ was not one to fall into self-loathing, he had chosen to evade her advances tiure out why he's done so even if I wanted to

”I'll be going on ahead”

He turned and said that before running off towards that girl ahead of us

006 - ♣02

As I h seeking Houtarou out in a croas like trying to look for a needle in a haystack, there was no way I could miss Mayaka I ran up and tapped her on the shoulder

”Hey, Mayaka Morning!”

Knowing her, she would have stared at me and said ”Hey! That hurts!” Which hy I only tapped her softly Though it seemed Mayaka didn't seem to be in that mood today, as she became stiff and turned her head slowly

”Morning”

She muttered only that and turned back forward Ahh, I see I exclaiood at; I've long forgotten how to make a serious face), and I answered Mayaka's anxiety

”Your costume suits you”

”R-really?”

”So, who are you cospla”

I could not finish my sentence, as I could feel a jab into my stomach Great aim Due to that hit, th, so its effect was immediate

Mayaka limmer in her eyes, ”Don't use that term in front of normal people”

Well, I don't think ”costuet that Mayaka's feeling pretty e By the way, I already knew that she was planning to cosplay today Mayaka's Manga Studies Club had asked for permission fro As there were not enough changing rooranted that permission

Mayaka wore off-white brocade trousers and a scarlet cardigan It was a pragmatic costume that was able to withstand the cool autumn winds of early October Soan, and inside she wore a white collared shi+rt, and a thick looking belt rapped around her abdomen The main point would probably be this belt

I looked at her costume from top to bottoain

”So, what costume is this?”

Like a rat trying not to alert the cat, I carefully chose the right words so that Mayaka may accept my question She quickly looked forward and said in a detached manner,

”Frol,”

”Frol? Frolbericheri Frol? You're wearing her costume?”

”Yeah I also brought this handbag”

I wouldn't get what she was referring to even if she said so Well, that's what Mayaka wanted to wear after all When she learned that her club required her to co the shy person that she is, she would definitely choose a character that was hard to recognize

Ibara Mayaka As I was a guy, she ay shorter than irl she ay shorter than others If she wasn't dressed in her sailor uniform, she would no doubt be ht now, Mayaka wasn't dressed in her sailor unifor from the features of her face alone, one could say Mayaka was baby-faced

Yet it was hard to figure out Mayaka's vigorous sense of justice fro frory, she would si can replace the smile that she was born with (On the other hand, fro out with hi able to notice that)

I'd better stop looking into so, so I began spinning ood luck with your role I'll pop in at the Manga Studies Club later”

Mayaka showed some shyness as she nodded softly

”You have to contribute articles for the Manga Club as well, right?”

”Yeah”

”I read it Must be tough, to hold sia Club”

”It is tough Since nobody else illing to contribute”

I was originally planning to congratulate her for her hard work, but all of a sudden her gaze suddenly became sharp Oops, looks like the conversation is headed in the wrong direction For the Classics Club manuscript to arrive so late, no matter how one looks at it, I couldn't offer any excuse So I decided to change the topic

”Ah so, Mayaka, you'll be with the Manga Studies Club all day then?”

Though she didn't look pleased that the topic was changed, she nodded

”Will you be stopping by the Classics Club?”

”Nah, it's probably i And besides, it's not worth it for s through”

I deepened my smile and patted Mayaka on the back

”Try not to think too much about it! It can't be helped once you wake up from it!”

Mayaka gave an auous sht Such a grey-looking sreat

Even though Mayaka said she's fine with it, there are occasions when Houtarou expresses doubt at my evasion of her advances Well, Houtarou was never one to flatter people I could tell him the reason, but I wasn't sure if he would understand even a tenth of it To begin with, this is a problem between me and Mayaka alone, so it doesn't matter whether Houtarou understands it or not

Before we realized, we had arrived at the school gates I turned to have a look at the gates, which had huge, colourful flowers hanging over them This was the hard work of the General Committee, made to welco fro, which read ”The 42nd Kah School Cultural Festival”

And so it begins

I wonder if I' to enjoy all this As I was in a trance looking at the school grounds, Mayaka suddenly jabbed her elbow at me

”fuku-chan Try not to do anything silly during the Cultural Festival, okay? While you h for me”

Heh, guess I'm not trusted at all, eh?

But that doesn't !

007 - ♠03

There's this hard object resting inme

It was the fountain pen, or to be more precise, the trash known as the unusable fountain pen The ink had long run out, and I was entrusted by ht, as I didn't want to just toss it on the floor, I brought it toto throw it away there But it see with my handkerchief While it's pretty oes on

I toyed with the pen by flipping its cap on and off,sound as I walked up the stairs My destination was the Classics Club room on the fourth floor

Seen froh School appears as an H-shape On one side was the General Block with its regular classrooms, while on the other side would be the Special Block with its arts and science related classroo corridor When seen from further above, one would see the corridor fro towards the Gymnasium

The Geology Lecture Room, which is used by the Classics Club as their club room, is located in the Special Block And it's all the way in the corner at the end of the corridor If Kah School was the whole world, then this would be its periphery Normally, we'd curse about how far the club roorateful for how serene it was Yet with the Cultural Festival upon us, we had to consider another factor, the fact that being located in such a re any visitors

In every floor, you would see posters,boards in all different shades of colour, though that's only up to the third floor In the fourth floor, all you get is a barren landscape You won't even see any ads for shopping in with, there aren't many clubs based up here anyway

Still, we've put up a few posters in so the Classics Club, but even that was not enough to enliven the mood of this God-forsaken place Personally, I prefer this sort of tranquility, but it's troublesoanization, particularly for its president, who sees it as so

I slid open the door of the Geology Roo in the centre of this dreary roo me enter

”Goodblack hair flowing as she did This was Chitanda, president of the Classics Club I reckoned she was probably the first to arrive

Chitanda Eru is a girl with jet black hair extending all the way to her back as well as pupils of the same colour Gentle in her deirl Her calant lady with a prestigious upbringing In fact, she is the only daughter of the Chitanda clan, known for being the owners of large tracts of farmland

However, if you ask e is not Chitanda's true nature

Ae eyes betray her true character Possessing a sense of curiosity which has exploded many times before and will continue to explode in the future, this was Chitanda Eru Ever since I entered school, I and the Classics Club have been involved in many bothersome events thanks to her curiosity My life motto has always been ”If I don't have to do it, I won't If I have to do it, make it quick” But so far I have been unable to adhere to it, and it's all her fault

Chitanda lifted her head and h she wears her heart on her sleeve, she would rarely express her feelings in an exaggerated way Rather, she does it in moderation

”The day has finally arrived”

”So it seems”

”Let's give it our all!”

”Yeah”

I nodded

Looking at the pile of objects lined up between roaned

”You say give it our all, but do you have any idea hoe're gonna get this sorted?”

We're talking about none other than the Classics Club essay anthology, ”Hyouka” A rather queer name for a title; as for why it had such a queer na story Each voluh adhesive surface treat and rabbit biting each other This cover design was derived from the first ever voluh this year Ibara decided to draw it in a cute style Objectively speaking, it didn't look bad at all

The people working on this anthology included me and Chitanda, and while Satoshi+ did contribute, he only participated in writing his part of the manuscript Of course, even after the y wouldn't be finished right away There would still be work involving confirht font and paper type, arranging the e nu All that was left to Ibara, who also worked on the other illustrations as well

While ere consulted on y, erehow troublesome it looked for her to have to work on so many details, both Chitanda and I had offered to help her many times

Yet Ibara had turned our offers down, saying she's used to doing such stuff, so it's no big deal to her, and how she can easily handle this amount of work Besides, she said it would be quite botherso her say that, Chitanda decided to relent on helping

And so, the anthology ”Hyouka” is finally complete In fact, it was a job well done Very well done, indeed

Upon seeing the final product, Ibara went speechless

When she brought them over to us the day before yesterday, we too became speechless

The pile of objects lined up between ies Rather than ”pile,” ”stack” would be a more appropriate description Even ”mountain” would not sound far-fetched

Before, we had only planned onone for ourselves, as well as one each for our supervisor and one to keep for archiving, it would leave us with twenty-four left to sell, which was how many we expected to sell

However, the nu more than we expected

About seven times more

I learned that even for a thin anthology like this, two hundred copies of theh to form a ”mountain”

To ask us to give our all selling all these is an extrerumble, Chitanda became lost for words as her smile went stiff

”U, I'!”

The proble then, but

The door behind us opened; it was Satoshi+ Lifting his right arreeted us

”Hi there, I see you're all worried about our excessive stock!”

Well, so are you

While still at a loss for words to address the predicament ere in, Chitanda still bowed deeply like she had to me

”G-good , fukube-san How is Mayaka-san?”

”Oh, she said she'll try and come, but she probably won't make it”

”I see,” she retfully That was to be expected

While Chitanda and I aren't affiliated with any other club save the Classics Club, Satoshi+ has his hands tied with the General Committee and Handicraft Club, while Ibara spends ti the Cultural Festival, Satoshi+ would be busy patrolling the grounds as a member of the General Coa Club for some time

”Then, shall we begin?”

Satoshi+ and I nodded Looking at us one by one, Chitanda slowly spoke

”There's notCeremony starts So does anyone have any ideas on hoe could sell this many copies of 'Hyouka?'”

The price of ”Hyouka” was set at 200 yen

This was the price decided by Ibara and Chitanda after inally wanted to sell 30 copies at 400 yen each As ere expecting to sell the would be just enough to cover the printing costs

But noe have 200 copies of ”Hyouka” It's not exactly an extre of excessive copies also meant we actually paid far less for each volume as a result If ere to sell all 200 volumes, then we could lower the price down to 120 yen per copy and still break even

But it was i that into consideration, we settled for 200 yen apiece, though ould need to sell 120 copies in order to break even Chitanda eventually decided on this price, though selling 120 copies still seems rather opti on co afterwards anyway Surely 200 yen is pretty cheap for an anthology sold at a Cultural Festival, after all

By the way, even if ere to sell them all, ould not be able to profit froh School Cultural Festival expressly forbids clubs fro While I've heard of stories where　people would occasionally get aith pocketing 1000 yen for themselves, any amount more than that would end up in the national treasury, sorry, I mean the school treasury

There are about a thousand students in Kah School, so in order to break even, ould need to sell to 12 of the student body In order to sell all copies, ould need to target 20 This was a pretty difficult task To use TV ratings as an analogy, even a lay person would kno hard it is for a progras

To begin with, our market is not lih School Cultural Festival is free for all, so even regular townspeople would come As the Cultural Festival takes place from Thursday to Saturday, most visitors would opt to visit on Saturday, the third day But I have no way of guessing how much they would contribute to the sales

Besides

”The problenition and its poor geographical location”

”Yes, I agree this is the biggest obstacle”

I felt the same ith both of their opinions

I have already y Roonition, it's even worse Nearly all of the students in Kah wouldn't even know of the existence of the Classics Club In fact, if I hadn't applied to join this year, the club would have been abolished altogether Unlike the Tea Ceremony Club, which was known for its open air tea ceremonies, or the A Capella Club renowned for its abilities, who's gonna buy the anthology of a club they've not even heard of?

So there's the location and the nanition I spoke up

”In other words, ill need to find a more conspicuous place to sell, as well as to advertise our club name”

”Well, obviously,” Satoshi+ said teasingly, as though saying ould sell out if we could achieve both Of course I know that, but it's because we can't achieve them that we're at a loss for what to do

Meanwhile, Chitanda nodded in admiration

”Find a new location to sell And all this ti customers all the way here Oreki-san, that's a really innovative idea”

”Erm, it's not exactly innovative”

”But, e be able to get perht away?”

Who knows? That's Satoshi+'s department, as he's with the General Committee But he shook his head

”I'm not really sure While it may be possible to just move to any space, it depends on whether the Classics Club could be granted such a privilege So you're gonna have to ask the General Committee president, or even the Student Council president himself”

”Who's the General Committee president?”

”Tanabe-se s in the Conference Roo by to have a look”

”Why don't you do it?”

Satoshi+ bit his lip and nodded auously

”Well, I could do that But I'otiations Chitanda-san, it ht be better for you to start the conversation with them, and for me to assist you by the side”

I see, that could be a good way of doing it Yet Chitanda looked soht be a forceful lady, like Satoshi+, she probably wouldn't be confidentsuch an unreasonable request either Yet she could expect no help fros

The situation at present was nothing to be joyful about Yet Satoshi+ looked pretty jolly Well, that's fukube Satoshi+ for you, he h bouncing, he spoke

”Rather than that, I'd prefer to do the advertising”

”Advertising, huh? So how're you gonna do that?”

”Well, that's a secret”

I have a bad feeling about this I could not think of any secret plan of Satoshi+'s that could ever work

”Huh? Do you have a good idea?”

This got Chitanda interested, to which Satoshi+ puffed his chest

”There arethis Cultural Festival, so I was thinking of joining theood result, ould increase the club's popularity!”

”T-that's a great idea!”

How's that a great idea anyway? I raisedfooled Satoshi+ basically wanted to participate in all these coin with, it'll still be Satoshi+ participating, it's just that the entry name will be that of the Classics Club instead

But still, it's not a badour club It was possible it could actually turn out quite well

I looked at the clock and said, ”So it's roughly decided then? Chitanda will go and request a new selling location, and Satoshi+ will do the advertising”

”Yes, so we had better make our way now But ill you do, Oreki-san?”

Me?

Actually, I had a plan A plan to contribute greatly to the selling of ”Hyouka,” as well as stay true to my creed

I cleared my throat and said solemnly, ”I will”

”Yes?”

”Stay and watch the stall”

Chitanda blinked her eyes while Satoshi+

”In-indeed, or else there won't be anyone left behind”

”Yes, you're right We would need someone to watch the stall”

No's that? No complaints at all

”Well, now that things are decided, we should get going We don't haveat the clock on the wall

There were only ten ins Even the Cultural Festival and Sports Day were not exe into consideration that students would be scattered in their clubroo theassembly every day In other words, we'll be counted as late if we don't get to the Opening Ceremony on time

Nodding greatly, Chitanda cleared her throat Taking a deep breath, she said in one go, ”Then let us proceed with our allotted tasks We should try to sell as et is to sell all 200 copies of 'Hyouka'! Let's give it our all!”

Well, let's just say I wasn't even thinking of whether we could sell all 200 copies

[200 COPIES REMAINING]

008 - ♥02

About a thousand students were packed within the dark gymnasium, which had its s covered by curtains, and due to today being a rather hot October day, the gyht that shi+nes onto the stage, but even now that light was turned off, so it was pitch black inside But it only lasted for a ht shone on a male student; it was the Student Council president He was a rather tall and intrepid looking person as said to speak eloquently as befitting of a Student Council president

The president walked towards the mic and looked around the hall as he took a deep breath He then declared loudly, oether, ”I declare the 42nd Kanya Festival open!”

As the voice froh students instantly burst into an uproar The Kaun

According to the ”Kanya Festival Guide” published by the General Co ceremony with their performance I'm asha before While I know it has so, I don't exactly kno dances can be broken I wonder if it has so on the stage?

As red, yellow, blue and green lights shone on the stage, the bewildering perforhts shone fro equipe It probably takes lots of practice to be able to et the chance, I must inquire how they mastered this pattern

Se as the rumble briefly quieted down As the s froroundelectronic sound I wonder if the ie it conveys was that of space? In tune with the

So this is breakdancing? The dancers looked as though they were turning a key in a doorknob, and they swung their ar in breast stroke Dancing in a variety of moves, they looked very active indeed Would it be rude to call theanic dance

Oh! They jumped!

Oh! They spun!

Oh! They stood on their hands!

This ti on their hands But would they be fine with all the heat caused by the friction of their heads rubbing against the ground? Wouldn't their hair be scratched off fro? I'm curious about it