Editing Hyouka:Volume 6 4 (section)

=== 3. ===



My parents didn't say much to me about my drawing manga. They were neither disapproving nor supportive of it; as long as I studied hard, they gave me the leeway to do whatever I wanted in my free time. The "as long as I studied hard" part implied that I was free to draw manga only on weekends and holidays. My mom and dad always looked a little worried when they saw me drawing manga on the weekdays, so I stopped doing it. I of course had other plans as well on my days-off, so I often ended up being really pressed for time.

Asanuma-san told me about her plans on Monday, and I needed to get back to her on my decision by Friday. Although it was true I hadn't drawn anything yet, I didn't want to break the unspoken promise with my parents to not draw anything at home on the weekdays, so I decided to work on it at school.

The problem was where. I had to keep Asanuma's scheme a secret, so there was no way I could do anything related to it in the Manga Society clubroom. I wish I could've used the earth sciences lecture room—where the Classics Club met—but I didn't want to drag them into the utter mess that was the Manga Society's problems. I was similarly uncomfortable with using the library room as a member of its staff for something completely unrelated, so with all of those crossed off the list, I had only one more option. I decided to open my notebook in my homeroom, Class 2-C.

I can't speak for others, but at least personally, it's really difficult for me to draw manga with people around. Especially doing so at school, surrounded by classmates, was out of the question. All I was doing at this point was jotting down ideas, so it couldn't have looked like I was doing anything more than studying hard from the side. To add to that, I even had a textbook open to further camouflage my manga brainstorming. It was a disguise so perfect that not even God or Oreki would be able to see through it.



After school on Tuesday, I sat up straight at my desk in classroom 2-C, opened my world history textbook, and started to write down some ideas.

This was my first time ever using a theme from someone else, so I guess I was a bit unsure about what I was doing, but I'm confident it wasn't impossible. While Asanuma-san did say the theme was "the Manga Society," she never specified that it had to take place in Kamiyama High School's Manga Research Society. A group that researches manga... I see. How about a story set in the future? In a world where civilization has collapsed, a group of people come across the ruins of a Manga Research Society and try to figure out what exactly it was. Would that be too convoluted?

I scribbled down ideas like these into my notebook with a mechanical pencil, but my thoughts started to get scattered and I found myself unable to concentrate, the reason being a couple of girls still in the classroom. One of them was Maki Hani, a girl with a name that rolled off the tongue so well that it made me always want to say the entire thing when I called out to her. She looked mellow, despite her bold cosplay choices during the culture festival, and she seemed pretty smart. To top it all off, she was a member of the Manga Society. At the moment, she was happily chatting away with some other girls about their summer vacations.

I usually don't really try to learn every little detail involving the club conflict, but I could tell just by watching that Hani-san was technically with the so-called reading faction. That said, it was pretty clear that she never actively supported them, and when the two sides started to insult each other, she always stayed quiet, even though she sat with the reading faction. It could be that she was like me, and got wrapped up in one of the sides while thinking the whole thing was stupid at the same time. I never talked with her in the clubroom, but our conversations in class were pretty normal.

I was pretty sure Hani-san wouldn't tell anyone anything, even if she did somehow find out about Asanuma-san's plan, but she might be able to figure out I was outlining the plot to a manga by looking at my notes. That would be more embarrassing than anything, so I stayed in constant alert.

I might've just been paranoid, but who was to say for certain? I labored over my notes, constantly writing and rewriting, and then suddenly looked up. Hani-san was facing away from me, talking as carefree as she had been when I'd started.

"What, no way! Our baseball team totally sucks."

Hearing her say this, among other things, meant that she was at least participating in the conversation, I guess, but then why couldn't I shake the feeling that someone was watching me? Even if she did somehow figure out that I was putting together the plot to a manga, what was the point in watching from a distance?

...Though, there was something about Hani-san that bugged me.

She was on really good terms with Kouchi-senpai, who had quit the club. It wasn't the typical senior-junior relationship you'd see in most clubs. I'd noticed them talking really naturally, like they were old friends, tons of times before. Kouchi-senpai was really popular with the other girls as well, so their relationship was a pretty common topic. From the bits that I picked up on, it looked like the two of them lived close by, and they played together a lot as kids. Maybe she was observing me, the possible instigator of a drawing faction coup d'état, as a friend of the reading faction's leader? Well, I guess I couldn't rule out the possibility completely, but it really did sound like something straight out of a manga. But if that wasn't the case, then I really was at a loss. Why would she be watching me?

As these thoughts crossed my mind, Hani-san looked at her cellphone and then stood right up to leave the classroom. I guess it really was in my head after all, I thought, embarrassed.



The next day, however, Hani-san stayed again in the classroom after school ended, and just as I started to wonder about it, she began to look at me. The only ones in the classrooms were three boys talking about soccer, Hani-san, and I, and I concentrated on my notes as she silently read a book. It was getting tough, but I had to finish the rough draft quickly or else I wouldn't make the deadline.

It might be a little different from how others do it, but when I draw manga, I write the dialogue first. I end up having to do it first in order to get a good feel for how everyone talks and what they would say in each situation. I'm not really sure if this way is efficient—actually, I usually have to shorten the lines when I try to put them in the speech bubbles for the first time, so it's probably safe to say it isn't... There's really nothing that can be done about that, though. Drawing the rough draft at school would be way too embarrassing if I added the dialogue at that point, so I had to resort to desperate measures.

I wrote the first line of the dialogue I had carefully thought about over the past two days into my notes. I wasn't too thrilled about the chosen theme, but as I wrote more and more, the story started to move surprisingly well.

I thought back to the criticism I got in <i>La Shin</i>. A professional manga author participates in the selection process for the New World Prize and even writes short comments for the winners of the participation awards and up. The one who did it this time was Yutaka Niiro, and his comments to me were this:

"Great point: climax pacing. Okay point: art. (You can do it!) Bad point: the lines were too long. You're getting better and better, so good luck on your next submission!"

I'd never actually heard of Niiro when I first read his comments, but the day after I did, I used up all of my spending money to go out and buy tons of his volumes. Even before he mentioned it, I knew vaguely that long lines were my Achilles heel, so I took painstaking care to figure out what words I should cut and which ones were effective as I filled up the notebook.

As I was completely engrossed in this, a voice suddenly called out to me.

"Maya-cchi"

It was Hani-san. I looked up and noticed that the boys had disappeared at some point, leaving her and I the only people left in the room. She wasn't looking at me, but down at the phone in her hand. I responded, nonchalantly closing the notebook.

"What's wrong?"

She looked up and faced me, not a trace of emotion in her expression.

"They found out about Asanuma's plan."

There was no reason to play dumb, and it wasn't really that surprising either. Asanuma-san said it was a secret, but it looked like she was going to ask anyone who looked promising to help with the project, so I figured it was just a matter of time before the truth got out. With this in mind, I guess Hani-san really was observing me after all.

"I see."

With us being exposed, there was probably no way we could continue drawing the manga using our club's budget. Even from the get-go, however, there was a problem with our plan of talking to the club president to get our funds that way. Releasing the manga by pooling together money from the people involved was probably a more clear-headed approach, and it might've been a good idea to stick with that from the start.

Hani-san sighed with a look of resignation as she watched me.

"Maya-cchi, you're a little calm, don't you think? It's looking like it'll get pretty nasty."

I glanced down at the phone in her hands. I'm guessing someone sent her some kind of message. Something nasty... I had an idea of what she was talking about.

"Did something happen in the Manga Society?"

She nodded, and her face turned into an exhausted grimace.

"It looks like they're giving Asanuma a lot of hell. Well, it's pretty obvious they would..."

When she said "obvious," was she talking about that being the obvious result for someone who tried to do something so shady behind everyone's backs, or was she sympathetic of Asanuna's determination even though she knew the reading faction would definitely get angry? I had no way of knowing. I didn't even know where I stood on the issue.

"Yeah, I guess," I agreed as I started to put away the notebook on top of my desk. Hani-san looked a little shocked.

"You're going? You'd be better off if you stayed clear..."

I was happy to see Hani-san that worried about me, considering we didn't really talk much, but you know... What can you do?

"It's not like I decided to help her with her book yet, but I can't bring myself to ignore it either."

Hani-san chuckled slightly and responded, "Gotcha. Sorry, but I'm going to go with you."

The fact that Hani-san, member of the reading faction, was going meant that she didn't want me to add myself to the side under fire and upset the current balance. She probably said sorry with this in mind.

"Maya-cchi, let's give each other our phone numbers. If anything happens, I'll send you a message."

I nodded and pulled my phone from my bag.



The Manga Society clubroom was on the second floor of the main building, in the first prep room, and my 2-C classroom was in the same building on the third floor. The walk wasn't very long, but to tell the truth, I took my time in getting there. Was it even possible for me to hurry to a place where I knew I'd be yelled at? Hani-san followed right behind me in that state.

We finally arrived at the clubroom, and as I slid open the sliding door, I started to regret not running. It became clear with a single glance that everything had already ended. Asanuma-san, Harigaya-san, and Tai were all surrounded by a crowd of girls in a semicircle around them. Tai was sobbing pitifully and Asanuma-san stared at her feet, silently taking it all. Directly in front of the three was the sophomore, Shinohara-san. Her arms were crossed, and as I entered the room, she looked at me and sneered.

"Ibara, huh? Were you waiting for us to finish up before you came? Pretty sneaky, aren't you."

"That's not it. I didn't know about it is all."

"Sure you didn't," she jeered, and then proudly turned to point at the three silent girls in front of her. "Then I'll spell it out for you because you're so late. We know everything. You were planning on stealing our club funds to make your book, and then you were going to chase out everyone who couldn't draw manga. Seriously, how dirty can you get?"

After Kouchi-senpai left the club, Shinohara-san was the one who stepped up more or less to be the reading faction's leader. That might've been how she saw the plan, but she was going way overboard.

"You're completely wrong. Asanuma-san just wanted to create a manga without the Manga Society giving her a hard time. She said she was going to get permission to use the club funds from the president, Yuasa-senpai. Please don't call it stealing."

"The president?" Shinohara-san muttered and a huge smile grew across her face. "She already left the club. Needed to concentrate on her college exams, apparently. Didn't you hear?"

"What...?"

I looked around, scanning the clubroom for Yuasa-senpai's presence. She was nowhere to be seen. Not only her, but all of the seniors were missing.

"So that's what it was," I quietly said to nobody but myself.

Just as Asanuma-san was planning on taking the initiative by creating this manga, Shinohara-san and the others were set on getting the neutral Yuasa-senpai to quit the club, leaving the position of president open for them to fill. It was reaching the time of year when most seniors quit their clubs, so there was nothing strange about it happening now. Sometime yesterday or today, without a doubt, the president had stepped down without me realizing it. Look at me, getting all worried about whether or not I'd draw manga in the Manga Society while this was going on... What the heck was I doing?!

Seeing my expression grow conflicted, Shinohara-san continued without a second thought. "What do you even mean 'giving her a hard time' anyways? You might as well be describing yourself at that point. You act all high and mighty, laughing at people who can't draw manga but want to join the club, and then get such a victim complex when we ask you to not do stuff like that on your own. Cut the crap. We just want to enjoy what we think is fun. Just by saying we like manga, our parents and teachers treat us like we're idiots, so why do we have to go through the same crap in our club, too?!"

The club members surrounding Asanuma-san all had their eyes fixated on me by this point. All of their gazes were so cold and bitter. In the silence that followed, I could tell that they all agreed with Shinohara-san's words, resenting both Asanuma-san and I.

I hadn't ever treated them like idiots. All I wanted was to draw manga. Sure, it's not like I ever apologized for being able to, but I never once looked down on those who couldn't.

—Was that really true?

Was it possible that, without realizing it, some nasty part of me surfaced and did something to them—like a strongly worded sentence or annoyed attitude?

No, get a grip. I've never thought anything like that. Being able to draw manga is just another talent. It's no different than being able to swing around on a high bar or remembering all the periods in Japan's history. It might be important to the person herself, but I've always thought that bragging about something like that to others was completely dumb. You can't be doubting yourself, Mayaka.

I had to stop myself from getting worked up by those cold stares. For now, I needed to take things slowly and figure out what was going to happen.

"So? Who's the new president?"

Shinohara's eyes opened wide in surprise. "You don't know?"

I guess that response meant it was someone I knew. There's no way it'd be Asanuma-san, right? Shinohara-san raised her arm and pointed at me.

"Me?"

"Yeah right. Behind you."

I turned around.

Standing there was my classmate, a girl who looked timid despite not being so, who had entered the clubroom after me. It was Hani-san. She held up a hand in slight apology as I stood there dumbfounded.

"Sorry, Maya-cchi. It wasn't easy to tell you." She then walked next to Shinohara-san and asked, "Did they accept?"

"All of it."

"Good. Tell Maya-cchi, then."

They were probably talking about something like the terms of surrender. With a calmer attitude than before, Shinohara-san started her explanation.

"We decided on it before you got here."

"We're not allowed to draw manga, I'm guessing," I said.

"If you want to do it, we won't stop you."

Taken aback by her response, I turned to Asanuma-san without thinking. However, her expression remained listless. It looked like there was more to her terms.

"The manga in question is probably going to fall flat anyways. Although you guys think you're all that, Ibara's the only one who's even made anything in the first place. Do whatever you want, though. How about we even help you fill out the club expense form too? If you can't manage to finish it in the end, we'll all have a good laugh at you. You'll also have to take responsibility for wasting the club's budget and quit."

She then retracted her index finger and placed her palm on her chest.

"In the one-in-a-million chance you do make something worthwhile... well then, good for you! We'll let you guys do whatever you want with the club. We'll make our own club so we can do what we want as well."

So that's what it was. The time finally came.

I'd had the feeling for some time now, but it looked like the rift between the two factions had already become too deep to repair. By taking out money to make her manga, the club would be split into two.

Hani-san clapped her hands together to bring me out of my daze.

"I'm sure you understand where this is going, Maya-cchi. Sorry about all this. Let's do what we have to, now."

Shinohara-san brought out a piece of paper and waved it in front of Asanuma-san.

"As for the club expense form, we've actually already filled one out. We've even got our signature down and talked with the club adviser. It's up to you to write the amount and purpose, Asanuma-san."

Hearing her name, Asanuma-san finally looked up and stared wearily at the form, but in the end, she shook her head slowly.

"I don't know how much it'll cost. We haven't even decided on the page count..."

"Oh, come on! Don't worry about that! If it's not enough, we'll just submit another one. Let's go for 10,000 yen. Starting is the most important part!" Hani-san replied.

As if being lured in by her cheery voice, Asanuma-san shakily approached the two of them and took the form. Shinohara-san even had a pen at the ready, and she handed it over as well. Asanuma-san looked at the pen cautiously, but just as she was about to start writing, her entire body froze up as if being held back by something.

"What's wrong? Too scared?" provoked Shinohara-san, and I felt like I could see something like a flash of anger run through Asanuma-san's eyes and she immediately started to write.

I only watched as this happened, unable to come to my senses. I knew something was off about all this, but I couldn't think straight at all. Maybe too much had happened for me to process. Finally, a single question started to take form in my consciousness: why was Hani-san in such a hurry to fill out the club expense form? What would change if we filled it out? We'd be able to work on our manga? No, that wasn't the issue...

What was Shinohara-san saying earlier? I desperately racked my head, mind full of muddled thoughts, for the words. I'm pretty sure it went something like this.

—We're going to have you take responsibility for the funds you wasted and make you leave the club.

"Wait!"

I quickly blurted that out to stop Asanuma-san, but she'd already finished filling out the form like she'd been asked by that point. She turned around, flustered, when she heard me say that, but Hani-san immediately pulled the form out from under her palm.

There was only one way to prevent the Manga Society from splitting into two. We would have to give up on our plans to create the manga, still in its developmental stages, and promise the others we wouldn't go off on our own to do something like this in the future, making up with them in the process. Now that there was a club expense form involved, however, we wouldn't be able to use the excuse that the manga wasn't even started yet. Even if we didn't touch a single yen, they could still accuse us of "wasting club funds" and prevent reconciliation.

I've never genuinely hated the reading faction. I mean, I didn't even really consider myself a proper member of the drawing faction, after all. Yet, their tactics this time around were just so cruel. If they wanted to split the club from the start, they should've just quietly left themselves or even told Asanuma-san and I to quit outright. And yet, they were doing all this to purposely try and humiliate us as much as possible. I glared at Hani-san, but she was no longer facing my direction. She carefully placed the form in her bag and left the room with a simple, "Alright then, good luck with everything, okay? I'm going to get the teacher's signature now."

If I were to chase after her right now, slap her across the cheek, and grab the form from her bag, would I be able save the club then?

...It would only make things worse, I guess. In the freshly silent classroom, all I could hear were the silent sobs of the freshman, Tai, until she finally started to speak, forgetting who was around her.

"I'm so sorry, senpai. I'm so sorry!"