Hyouka:Volume 1 Chapter 6

6 - The Old Days of the Glorious Classics Club

It was the end of July when Summer Vacation had begun. Today I was riding my bike along the road towards Kami High as usual. It would take 20 minutes to get there from my place by foot, though I have no idea how long it'll take by bike. I stopped to buy a can of black coffee from a vending machine while resting. I then followed the riverside and turned beside the hospital before arriving in front of Kami High. And there I stood with an amazed look.

Summer Vacation is supposed to have started already.

Yet the sports ground was filled with prop equipment and students in their summer uniforms. I could hear music played by various wind instruments, electric guitars and bamboo flutes. Even though the Special Block was some distance from here, I could tell there were many students there as well. They were of course all here to prepare for the Kanya Festival. The energetic side of Kami High has only just gotten more active as Summer Vacation has started. Crowds of people were crawling around like a group of ants as though saying "Alright guys, the festivals coming up soon! Now that annoying classes are out of the way, let's give it our best!"

I gazed at these people overflowing with energy while noticing a person trotting towards me. It was Fukube Satoshi, dressed casually in short sleeved shirt and shorts, while carrying a sporty-looking mini-rucksack over his back.

"Hey,"

"Sorry, man. Kept you waiting?"

I was happily listening to the A Capella Club practicing their singing in the central courtyard, and Satoshi had to make me turn around with such a creepy voice. I contemplated turning my bike around and going home, but then I changed my mind and proceeded to walked towards him and acted as if I was about to kick him.

"Whoa, Houtarou! What's with the sudden ferocity?"

"You sure are one to talk! Have you no shame in not knowing when not to disturb the peace?"

Satoshi shrugged his shoulders.

It doesn't seem like he has any.

"Sorry man, the Handicraft Club meeting went into overtime."

"Just what on earth were you discussing anyway?"

We're going to knit a Buddhist-like Mandala carpet for the Kanya Festival. Though we've run into a few problems, so we had a contingency meeting just now."

Well, tough work you had there. Not just you, but Toogaito, or even the whole school for that matter.

"So, you got your notes ready?"

As I ask dryly, Satoshi merely bounced back the question to me,

"What about you? It's not something you're used to doing. You thought up of something yet?"

I felt a bit embarrassed at having to answer that, so I said,

"Well, sort of."

"Oh? Now that's rare. Normally you would try and find an excuse and deny such questions...... Anyway, I'll go get my bike, so hang on a bit longer."

And so Satoshi insolently left me waiting while he trotted towards the bicycle parking lot.

As to why I was waiting for Satoshi out here when I ought to be sleeping like there's no tomorrow during such a precious Summer Vacation, we'll need to go back to a week ago, the day when we were so close to finding out the truth about Sekitani Jun, which should be written in the first volume of the club anthology "Hyouka", only to find out that that specific volume was missing. As we couldn't get anywhere without that first volume, I thought to myself that I was not going to go all out to pursue the answer. But it was already too late, for I had crossed the Rubicon without even realizing.

I knew it was pointless to dissuade Chitanda from this, so I proposed a compromise solution. If we're going to investigate the past, just the two of us was not going to be enough. After all, "Three's a crowd" as the saying goes. It may be a bit hard for her, but I told her that we had a better chance of solving this with Satoshi and Ibara's help.

Thereupon Chitanda nodded in agreement,

"I guess we have no choice then."

Even though she requested to keep it between ourselves during our discussion in the Cafe Pineapple Sandwich, I ended up letting her down. I could not tell if it Chitanda realized deeply that she would need all the support she could get, or because she no longer regarded the clue that appeared before as important anymore, or it could be possible that our lady here was simply whimsical, at any rate, she had called for an emergency meeting with the Classics Club the following day.

There, Chitanda repeated what she told me before and concluded,

"I'm 'very' curious as to what happened to my uncle 33 years ago."

Ibara accepted the challenge right away,

"The cover illustration interests me. If we can solve this and find out the story behind that, I could even use it as publishing material for the Manga Studies Club."

Satoshi followed,

"The Fictional Heroic Tale to be solved by their juniors 33 years later, huh? I just happened to be researching into stuff from that period."

And approved with both hands raised. While I had no intention of speaking since I had no power of veto, I decided to say something anyway since we're at it,

"Since we're still deciding on what to write for our essay anthology, why don't we use Chitanda's story to help fill up the pages...... um, I mean, killing two birds with one stonr...... sorry, I mean, write something meaningful for it?"

My energy-saving proposal, though quite forward-looking, was accepted unanimously. And so investigating the incident of the Kamiyama High School Classics Club 33 years ago became the Classics Club's priority.

Satoshi rode a mountain bike. As he was wearing shorts, sturdy muscles could be seen on his legs that doesn't match his short stature. For a polyglot like him, the only sports that I knew he was interested in was cycling.

By the way, my bike was what you'd call a family wagon, so there's not much to elaborate upon.

(TL Note - Original term is "mamachari" ママチャリ, a Japanese-term to refer to bikes mounted with a huge basket in front. The name comes from them generally being used by mothers (mama) to carry their babies around in the basket (chari - a slang for bike). http://www.tokyobybike.com/2009/06/introducing-mamachari.html )

We rode along the river and away from the main street. Slowly the distance between houses was replaced by huge paddy fields. Stopping under the shade of some tobacco store to hide from the sun, I took a towel out of my bag to wipe off the sweat that's been constantly dripping out.

Ahh, such good sweat.

Was not something I would ever say. Rather, I wonder why people have to move in order to get to their destination. "The information revolution has not yet succeeded. Comrades, you must carry on!" (TL: Probably referring to quote by Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen)

"Satoshi, are we there yet?"

Satoshi placed his hankerchief back in pocket and replied,

"Yup. We're pretty much there. According to your speed, of course."

He then smiled,

"You'd be surprised when you see their mansion. The Chitandas are one of the biggest farm owners in Kamiyama City."

Guess I'll be looking forward to it. I'd sure like to hear how they do their spring cleaning in such a big place. After wiping more sweat with my towel, I put my foot on the saddle and rode on.

Once we restarted, Satoshi took the lead and guided us. After crossing numerous traffic signals, we then came to a long straight road, where we rode parallel to each other. For some distance now there was nothing but farmland on both sides of the road.

As Satoshi spun his pedal, he began to hum joyfully. Smiling was his default expression, though he seemed particularly delighted today. I decided to ask him,

"Satoshi,"

"Yeah?"

"Are you happy?"

Satoshi turned towards me and replied cheerfully,

"Sure I am. Since I like cycling. Look at the blue skies! And the white clouds! No matter how dull they look, the joy of looking at them while riding at full speed is like......"

I quickly interrupted Satoshi's attempt at joking,

"I thought your high school life was average at best."

Suddenly looking sullen, Satoshi replied,

"Oh...... you mean the rosy-coloured thing."

Great memory you have there, especially when we last spoke about it nearly three months ago. Satoshi slowed down somewhat and faced forward while saying,

"You know, basically I think my high school life is pretty rosy-coloured."

"No, it's more like shocking pink."

"Haha, that's good as well. If that's the case, then yours is grey."

"You already told me that."

As my voice was hardly raised, Satoshi didn't go whistling in glee.

"Did I? Don't take it the wrong way, I don't meant it as an offence when I said the colour of your highschool life is grey."

"......"

"For example, if my life is shocking pink, then no one can paint it rosy. I won't let them."

I ridiculed his smiling face at once,

"Really? I thought it's already painted."

"Of course it hasn't!"

Satoshi said with a surprisingly firm response and continued,

"It hasn't, Houtarou. I'm already busy with the Student Council General Committee as well as the Handicraft Club, you think I'd say that? You gotta be kidding me. Whether it's helping to organize the timetable for the Kanya Festival, or knitting the Mandala carpet, I have enjoyed every moment of it. Otherwise, who would want sacrificing having a joyous bicycle ride during Sundays or Summer Vacation just to go to school anyway?"

"They won't?"

"There exist occasions where one has to lend their skill and presence for the sake of the greater society. But even so, you're not the sort who would budge an inch, right? For a grey-coloured person like you, if a flag-bearer declares that 'everyone is rosy-coloured', you would wave your hand and say count me out."

After saying all that in one breath, he calmed down a bit and went on,

"If I really wanted to offend you, I would have called you colourless."

Satoshi went silent after saying that. I ruminated at his response while getting my skin burned by the sun,

"......"

And made a sullen face,

"I'm not going to say I wanna like you or something like that, you know."

"Nah, that's not what I meant."

Satoshi raised his voice and laughed. He then said,

"Look, Houtarou, we've reached the Chitanda residence!"

As befitting of its description, the Chitanda "mansion" was built in the middle of a vast paddy field. It was built in a Japanese-styled bungalow surrounded by hedges. The sound of water flowing suggests the presence of a pond in the garden, which was surrounded by well-trimmed pine trees. And in front of the large opened gate, there were people sprinkling water ritually.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uchimizu )

"How about that? Pretty impressive, isn't it?"

Satoshi said while puffing his chest, even though I was no expert in Japanese architecture or Japanese gardening. While I had no idea how impressive this estate was, though I did feel that it had an elegant and pomp feel to it.

As we were marvelling at the estate, I had a look at my watch. We're just about in time...... No, seems like we're a little bit late.

"Let's go, the girls are waiting for us."

"Ah, yes...... By the way, Houtarou,"

"What now?"

"Aren't we supposed to wait for some servants to come out and greet us?"

I decided to ignore him. I stepped on the front porch and rang the doorbell.

"...... Coming~"

After waiting for a while, the door was opened by none other than Chitanda herself. Her summer cold seems to have healed as she's now speaking in her usual voice once again. She let her long hair flow down her shoulders without binding them, and was dressed in a fitting bright green one-piece dress.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

I could hear Satoshi click his tongue, as though disappointed that there was no servant out to greet us.

After taking off our shoes at the concrete entrance, Chitanda led us through a wooden corridor,

"Where did you park your bicycles?"

"Where can we park them?"

"Anywhere is fine."

Then why did you ask?

Before long, we were led to a pair of paper sliding doors, and a cool breeze was felt upon opening them. As the ceiling was high, the room felt refreshingly cool. The room size was about...... 15 square metres. That's huge.

"You're late."

Ibara had already arrived. It seemed like she had some business at school beforehand, as she was dressed in her school uniform. There was a dark brown table which gave a dull light reflection, and on top of it were many pieces of paper. Must be Ibara's notes. She's quite fired up for it.

"Please sit anyone you please."

I sat opposite Ibara upon being prompted. As Chitanda took the host seat, so the remaining seat was taken by Satoshi. It was rare to have someone carrying a rucksack sitting in a traditional Japanese-styled reception alcove. (TL: Japanese alcove - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokonoma) Opening the rucksack, Satoshi took out numerous copies of paper from it. I too opened my shoulder bag and took out my own notes. Ibara looked very ready as she toyed with her pen, while Chitanda stacked a pile of paper on the table.

"Now then..."

Chitanda spoke,

"Let us begin our investigative meeting."

We all bowed and took our greetings.