Hyouka:Volume 1 Chapter 7

7 - The Truth of the Historic Classics Club

In the evening after a lengthy debate, I leisurely pedaled my bike in the farmlands drenched by the orange sunset, and struggled to listen to Satoshi's soft voice.

"To be honest I'm quite surprised, Houtarou. Indeed I'm surprised by what you said there. If you're right, then our Kanya Festival owes its existence to the expense of one person's high school life. However, I'm even more surprised that you're able to deduce all that."

"You're doubting my ability?"

I replied jokingly, yet for once Satoshi didn't smile when he answered, "You've been solving riddles ever since enrolling at Kami High. During our first meeting with Chitanda-san, or the case of the popular book that nobody reads, as well as the one with the Wall Newspaper Club president."

"They just happened by chance."

"Yet the results mean that didn't matter. Yet the problem is why would someone like you who finds solving riddles to be bothersome end up solving them? The answer is simple when you think about it. You're doing it for Chitanda-san."

I turned my head, and wondered whether that was true.

"Doing it for Chianda" wasn't exactly right, I think I would accept it if the reason was worded as "it's all Chitanda's fault". I remember Satoshi saying something this aptly as well before, that I wouldn't take action unless someone asks me to do so. While she didn't ask me directly, it's true that I ended up doing something bothersome for her, but...

"Today's different."

Yeah, today's different.

"You can be good at drawing attention to yourself as well, you know? Today, the job of solving the riddle was supposed to be done equally between the four of us. You could have chosen to run away saying you didn't get any of it, and none of us would have said anything. Yet why did you still seek out the answer yourself under the pretext of going to the bathroom?"

The sun continued to set, and I could feel the breeze of the wind. I moved my eyes away from Satoshi's gaze and looked forward.

"Wasn't it because you were doing it for Chitanda-san?"

Satoshi's question was quite right. Normally, I wouldn't have bothered to solve such a puzzle. I guess I was extremely active today.

Yes... that has to be it.

Why did I act as I did today? I think I more or less understood the reason, and it had almost nothing to do with Chitanda. However, understanding something myself was different from getting someone else to understand it as well. Without refining my knowledge and vocabulary base, I was not able to convey my thoughts to others, not even to a telepath like Satoshi.

No, rather than that, I think it's because I've known Satoshi for so long that explaining becomes difficult. Since my actions and motives today were a departure from my usual modus operandi.

Still, I had no obligation to explain myself to him. I could have said it had nothing to do with him. Yet I felt like answering Satoshi, as well as organizing my thoughts for my own sake. So after a long silence, I gave my answer after choosing my words.

"... I guess, I'm just tired of having a grey-coloured life."

"?"

"Ever since meeting Chitanda, my energy efficiency levels have fallen to their lowest levels. She would prepare making essay anthologies as a club president, take exams as a student, and seek out her past as a human being. That's quite tiring for me. You and Ibara are the same, spending time on all sorts of worthless endeavors."

"Well... I guess."

"But you know, sometimes I do think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence."

I stopped speaking right there, as I realized I could have phrased that in a better way. Yet I couldn't think of anything better than that, and so I continued, "Whenever I look at you guys, I can't bring myself to calm down. I want to stay calm, yet I don't find anything interesting in that."

"......"

"So at the very least, I wanted to, how'd you put it, solve the riddle. I wanted to have a taste of your way of life."

I shut my mouth after that. Amidst the sound of the pedals and the breeze, Satoshi said nothing. Satoshi was normally talkative, yet there were times when he couldn't say anything, and I was quite mindful of that, as I wanted him to say something. I'll just think of an excuse later, for now, I couldn't stand this silence any longer.

"Well, say something,"

I could sense Satoshi smiling even though I couldn't see it as he spoke at last.

"I think..."

"Hmm?"

"I think you're actually envious of those with a rose-coloured life."

I replied without thinking, "Maybe."

Staring at the ceiling in my own room, it was white as usual.

I ruminated on what Satoshi said earlier.

Even I liked hearing fun stuff, which includes silly jokes and popular music. Even though I got spun around by Chitanda, it was still a good way to kill time.

However, with all due respect to all comedic acts out there, what if I become obsessed with these things regardless of time and effort... Would it have been much more entertaining for me? Would it have been worthwhile despite being detrimental to my energy efficiency?

For example, Chitanda's pursuit of her past.

And more importantly, how the "Hero" Sekitani Jun ended up protecting the Kanya Festival 33 years ago, according to my deductions.

My vision just couldn't focus on a single spot. It's as I thought, whenever I think about this, I just couldn't remain calm. I turned my eyes from the ceiling to the floor I'm lying on and saw the letter that my sis sent me lying there.

My gaze was drawn to one of the lines written in it.

I'm sure I'll look back ten years from now and view every day I'm out here without regret.

Ten years later, for a mere human like me, is just a hazy future after all. I would be 25 by then. Looking back at myself ten years before, I wonder if I'll look back and ponder about the things I did and could have done. Perhaps Sekitani Jun, as a 25 year old, would also be looking back on when he was 15 with some regret as well.

I...

Suddenly the phone rang.

No, it's not like I've never heard a phone ring before. It's just that I was so immersed in my thoughts that it felt sudden. I left my anxiety behind as my mind returned to reality, and got up and headed downstairs to answer the phone.

"... Hello, this is Oreki."

"Huh? Houtarou?"

I felt my spine tingling in nervousness. It was a familiar voice, one that would mess up my lifestyle, and get me involved in all sorts of meta-level trouble. It was a call from Oreki Tomoe, wandering somewhere in Western Asia and hiding in the Japanese Consulate from the pursuit of Mossad agents. As it was an international call, it was hard to listen to, but there was no mistake it was her.

Without fail, I gave my honest response upon hearing the voice that I hadn't heard for so long.

"So you're still alive?"

"How rude, you think I'd get killed by one or two bandits?"

So she actually did go through that? Can't say I'm surprised.

Probably mindful of how expensive the call would get, my sis spoke quickly.

"I arrived at Pristina yesterday. That's in Yugoslavia, by the way. Finance and health are both in good condition and my plans are going along fine. I'll write to you once I get to Sarajevo. If I travel leisurely, I'll get there within two weeks. This ends my report. So how goes things over there?"

My sis sounded happy as usual. Though she's emotionally unstable in that she can get very angry, or cry like there's no tomorrow, or be extremely joyful, generally she's usually just happy.

I flicked the telephone cord with my finger and replied, "Nothing unusual in the Far East Command."

"I see, then..."

My sis was about to hang up. Though I wouldn't have minded if she just hung up, I still spoke.

"We're publishing an anthology, 'Hyouka'..."

"... Huh? What?"

"We looked up Sekitani Jun."

My sis still spoke in a swift manner, "Sekitani Jun? What a nostalgic name. Hmm, never thought that story would still be passed down. Is 'Kanya Festival' still a taboo term?"

I did not get what she meant by that.

"What do you mean?"

"That's a tragedy. I don't like that."

Taboo? Tragedy? Don't like that?

What's she talking about? What's she trying to say?

"Hang on a moment, we're talking about Sekitani Jun, right?"

"Of course. The 'kind hero'. You get it, don't you?"

It was a pointless conversation. Even though we're talking about the same subject, we can't seem to connect.

As for why, I instinctively realized that I could have been mistaken. Perhaps the deduction that I made at the Chitanda residence was mistaken or lacking in some details. Yet I was not feeling impatient, since my sis would know what happened at Kamiyama High School 33 years ago.

"Sis, what do you know about Sekitani Jun?"

I decided to ask her seriously.

All I got was a simple answer.

"I don't have time for that! Bye!"

Click. Beep, beep.

I took the receiver away from my ear and looked at it like an idiot.

"..."

... Why this...

"Stupid sister!"

I slammed the receiver on the phone, causing it to shake with a loud noise. My irritation was now doubled, thanks to my sis.

I no longer remembered what my sis said exactly, as the conversation happened so quickly there was no time for me to verify it. Still, the part where she replied negatively concerning the incident was fresh in my mind.

I went back to my bed and took out everything the Classics Club has collected concerning the incident from my bag. 'Hyouka', the 'Unity and Salutation', the 'Kami High Monthly' and the 'Kamiyama High School: Walking Together for 50 Years'... I also placed the letter my sis sent from Istanbul alongside those as I once again read that line that got my attention.

I'm sure I'll look back ten years from now and view every day I'm out here without regret.

Ten years from now, huh? As Sekitani Jun was president 33 years ago, if he's still alive he would be about 50 by now. Would he still look back at his high school life without regret?

I think he wouldn't. The "hero" that sacrificed himself for the passion of his comrades and forsook his choice to continue his high school education would have no regrets for making such a decision. Ever since my deduction at the Chitanda residence, that was what I thought.

But was that really true?

It was just a Cultural Festival, yet it led to the school coming after him and changed his life. If life in high school is rose-coloured, then would such an intensely rose-coloured life that gets interrupted still be called rosy?

The grey-coloured part in me told me this wasn't so. Sacrificing oneself so that his comrades would be forgiven, would a hero endure something like that? That thought surfaced in my mind. Though I still resisted such a thought, I could not ignore the fact that my sis had called the incident a tragedy.

I needed to revise this once again. I took out all the copies that mentionsed that incident.

And so, I began to inquire whether Sekitani Jun's life was really rose-coloured 33 years ago.

The following day, I headed to school dressed in my casual wear. In order to confirm something, I called Chitanda, Ibara and Satoshi out as well. All I said to them was simply this,

"There's something else I needed to add to yesterday's deduction before this can be fully concluded. I'll be waiting at the Geology Room."

And so the three of them came. Ibara was bound to treat my bringing up a supposedly resolved problem with sarcasm, and while Satoshi was smiling, the look of surprise at me deviating from my usual behaviour could still be seen. As for Chitanda, she spoke upon seeing me,

"Oreki-san, I feel like there's still something that I needed to know."

I felt the same way as well. As I nodded, I placed my hand on her shoulder,

"It's fine. I think we should be able to sort this out by today. Just hang on a bit longer,"

"What do you mean by adding to yesterday's deduction, Oreki?"

"Adding means taking the final step in order to complete something that is still incomplete."

"I don't get it, are you saying we've been looking into this the wrong way or heading into the wrong conclusion?"

"Just hear me out."

As I took out my notes, I glanced at it myself rather than showing it to the rest,

"...... 'Hyouka' was meant to write something more important. It was not meant to chronicle the life of Sekitani Jun or made as a heroic tale, that's what the preface says anyway."

That was the part that Satoshi covered yesterday. As expected, he spoke up,

"Isn't the part discussed yesterday?"

"Yeah, but perhaps we may have been misled."

"What do you mean?"

"This passage here, 'As a sacrifice of the conflict, even Sempai's smile would end up along the flow of time into eternity.' The 'sacrifice' here does not mean giving up voluntarily, rather, it means 'sacrifice' as an offering."

Ibara raised her eyebrow,

"But wouldn't they have used 'victim' instead of 'sacrifice' then?"

'Victim' huh? Though I didn't need to do much explaining, as Chitanda covered for me,

"No, 'sacrifice' can also be involuntarily. It used to mean just that in the past." (TL: Again this part is all liberal translations of puns)

As expected from an honours student, that was quick. And I was just about to get a dictionary.

Satoshi commented with a sigh,

"...... I get what you're trying to say about a different meaning to that word, but isn't that obvious? Besides, there's no way we could find out which meaning is true without asking the author first."

Of course, the difference in meaning was not purely a linguistic problem. As language was never as precise as math, so it was natural that words would have more than one meaning. So it's not possible to conclude that a word means something else completely.

Yet there was a way to solve this. I nodded confidently to Satoshi and said,

"Well, then we'll just have to ask the author."

"...... Who is it?"

"The one who wrote this foreword, of course. Kooriyama Youko-san was a first year student 33 years ago. She should be around 48 to 49 now."

Chitanda's eyes widened,

"So did you find her?"

I brusquely shook my head,

"I don't have to. Since she's very close by anyway."

Ibara raised her head. As expected, she was the first to figure out,

"Oh! I see!"

"That's right."

"What do you mean?"

"What have you figured out?"

Ibara looked at me, and I nodded softly to urge her to explain,

"...... It's Itoikawa-sensei the Head Librarian, isn't it? Itoikawa Youko-sensei, her maiden name was Kooriyama. Am I right?"

As Ibara was a librarian herself, she naturally knew the full name of Itoikawa, that's why she was quick to realize.

"Exactly. If you merely heard a name called Ibara Satoshi without seeing how it's fully spelled, then you have no way of guessing whether Satoshi has adopted Ibara's name. But since we know Itoikawa's given name is spelled 'Youko', as well as the fact her age matches, then figuring out her maiden name becomes elementary."

Crossing her arms, Ibara began spouting her cynical sarcasm,

"You really are weird. Even I couldn't realize such a thing despite being in contact with sensei all the time, yet you managed to do that. Maybe you should get Chi-chan to have a look inside your head."

As I said before, I got lucky with a flash in inspiration. I also do not want to be lobotomized by Chitanda.

Meanwhile, Chitanda's face was slowly getting redder,

"T, then, if we hear from Itoikawa-sensei......"

"Then we'll know what happened 33 years ago. Why that was not a heroic tale, why was the cover designed that way, why was the anthology titled 'Hyouka'...... We'll get all the answers concerning your uncle."

"But, do you have any proof that it's really Itoikawa-sensei? Wouldn't it be awkward if it turns out to be someone else?"

We won't be mistaken. I took a look at my wristwatch and reckoned it's about time,

"Actually, I did made sure of that. I found out she was club president in her second year. I made an appointment to discuss with her about it. It should be about time now, let's head to the library."

As I turned to leave, I could hear Ibara mutter,

"You sure are enthusiastic."

I guess I am.

Translator's notes and references

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