Editing Hyouka:Volume 6 5 (section)

=== 3. ===
 
 
 
Now, I'm not really saying this is the exact reason, nor am I even saying it's worth listening to in the first place, but it probably beats listening to me hum.
 
It happened back when I was in 6th grade. At my elementary school, everyone was assigned to be in charge of something or another. Oh, yours too? Then I guess it wasn't that strange after all.
 
Anyways, I was put in charge of something as well. At first they'd let us apply for the job we wanted, but if everything wasn't sorted through that, then it'd be put to a vote. I don't remember how it went exactly, but I ended up with the switching duty. I was basically like one of those people who worked at old phone companies. Huh? You don't get it? Um, maybe something like a phone operator... Well, just ask Satoshi to tell you about it later.
 
It was more or less just another school grounds job. For things 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 more of a hassle than I'd anticipated. I thought all I had to do was water them every day, but I was wrong. You probably know what I'm talking about. I also had to check the condition and dryness of the soil to see if I should give them water or not. There were three classes, and the watering 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 same thing every day, having to change your actions depending 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. Hm? It was a girl. Everyone was put into boy-girl pairs.
 
Tanaka really didn't stand out all that much in class. So much so, that even someone like me, who wasn'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 She was really withdrawn, and even if you tried to strike up a conversation with her, it'd end after only a few words. There definitely might've been something gloomy about her. Her hair? I feel like it was long. Not as long as yours though. Why? Is there something 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 something like me insisting that we water them and Tanaka saying it was still unnecessary. She'd tell me that it was actually bad to water them too much. She was the kind of girl that never really asserted herself, no matter the situation, so hearing that kind of firm resistance from her, even if it were softly worded, really shocked me at first. Even though it was only watering some 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 flower-watering fundamentals, so there wasn't really any need for the two of us to do the job at the same time. We started alternating turns. I figured 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.
 
"Because my house is being rebuilt, I'm going to have to live far away. It takes an hour to the city via the city bus. There aren't many of them running, and it'd be really bad if I missed it, so I want to leave right 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 coming from. Your house is pretty close, so being a little late shouldn't be too bad, right?"
 
That was correct. I do live pretty close to the elementary school. High school ended up being 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 remember correctly. He was pretty zealous. He was always trying to improve the classroom somehow and kept on doing various things to revise it.
 
Like...
 
"Oreki, could you stick some tape on the ground so it’ll be easier to reposition the tables?"
 
Or...
 
"Oreki, I want to make the class bulletin larger, so could you go 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 blame you. He always used to tell me to do various things. Thinking back on it, that kind of thing might've been one of his teaching tenets. Anyways, usually, after I finished up with the garden and returned to the near-empty classroom, he'd often be waiting there to get to me to do something or other. It goes without saying that I'd always say yes, no questions asked. That was something that became pretty common after I entered 6th grade. 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 simply leave without saying anything beforehand, though 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'm not really used to telling 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 some seeds in the corner by our teacher. I forgot what kind of seeds they were. It was right before summer, so they might've been morning glories. No, I'm serious, I don't remember.
 
He also told us to stick in some signs with the flowers' names on them. Now that I mention it, that was probably his own idea. What that meant was that his "education environment improvement" goals weren't limited to his class alone. There were a lot of signs, 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 in my pocket. As long as I wrapped them with some paper, there'd be no problem. Tanaka, on the other hand, was trying to hold the seeds between her fingers while she carried the signs, and, as you might imagine, it ended up not working out.
 
"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 me that, I became under the impression that girl clothes simply didn't have pockets in general. In reality, it was because I never really had the chance to check it for myself.
 
We didn't talk all that much. Although 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 names of the flowers. Let's just say we were never taught them in the first place. Because of that, we weren't able to finish setting up the signs, and our lunch break was completely wasted on something or other.
 
And then came after school.
 
That week was 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 and messed around. I'm pretty sure I was talking with my friends in class. That's when Tanaka walked in. She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
 
"My backpack's missing," she said.
 
It was a backpack. How could something that big go missing, I thought, but it's not like saying that would magically make it appear again. We briefly searched the room, and once we were certain it was missing, I proposed we go 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 matter what the situation, but Tanaka quickly agreed.
 
The three of us searched wherever we could think of. Who searched? It was Tanaka, the teacher, and me. Oh yeah, the friends I was talking to, right? I wonder what happened to them. I don't remember them being 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 you mean, what? I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. 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 someone. I had my own idea of what was going on and was looking for it as fast as possible.
 
Don't give me that look. It turned out that it wasn't bullying after all. It was by the pilotis... Don't you know what 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 some first or second grader 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 something, so for a while, no one knew that the backpack was a lost item. It was all just a simple misunderstanding.
 
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 something important like this alone!", or something like that. I had also taken my backpack off to play countless times before, so I felt the problem lay more with the younger 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 time. I could understand what she was feeling. 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 more thoughtful. 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 seemed to be kicked out of the door as she lunged for it. She eagerly twisted the knob to open the top and pulled out a pencil case. I think it was a pretty small one. The design was really plain.
 
Upon spotting the mechanical pencil inside it, she heaved a sigh of relief.
 
"Thank goodness...!"
 
I only caught a small glimpse 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 me about it sometime later, but it was one of those things you could win from magazine 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 the mechanical pencil in her hand and responded, "As long as 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 elementary school, of course. The whole thing with character figure mechanical pencils being banned 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 something valuable like that to school," he said angrily. If you think about it, though, textbooks were much, much more valuable. According to his logic, you should only bring things you wouldn't mind losing to school... Am I just arguing for argument'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 ornamented goods were dragged into the problem. They all had to be replaced, and it caused a huge 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."