Hyouka:Volume 2 Chapter 1

Status: Incomplete

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1 - Let's Watch a Movie Preview!

There was a saying that all men are created equal. At the same time, it was also said that nobody is born perfect. If both these phrases were valid, then the order of heaven would be unenforceable. As a person's value would change depending on the region they're from, one cannot just dismiss their values entirely. Let alone being born perfect, just being born with one talent is difficult enough. While the common folk may be envious or jealous of geniuses around them, for me their talents are just a part of our daily lives, so I don't see what the fuss is all about.

It was the end of the summer vacation. I was having such a conversation with my old mate Fukube Satoshi, who nodded in agreement with my thoughts.

"Exactly. For the past 15 years of my life, I haven't seemed to be the sort to possess any talents at all. There's a saying that great talents mature late, but that sounds more like working hard through nurture rather than talent. So I guess wishing for some talents is a distant dream for us."

"Well, geniuses are geniuses for a reason. If we common folk could obtain their talents, then we wouldn't need to be envious of them."

"My, longing for the life of common folk now, aren't you, Houtarou? ... If it's you, then..."

Satoshi then casually quipped, "I think you're actually quite talented."

I had no idea what he was talking about. As I gave a puzzled look, Satoshi chuckled and said, "I know very well that I'm not the talented sort, but the same cannot be said about you, Houtarou."

"Wha?"

As his manner of speaking was usually filled with jokes, I thought a little about accepting the good parts of what he just said at face value. I had two rebuttals to make, firstly, "If I had to say it, I think it's premature of you to call yourself a normal person. Aren't you pretty good at collecting vast amounts of knowledge?"

Satoshi shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, I guess, even if it sounds like bragging. Though I wouldn't go so far and say that I'm good enough at winning quiz shows. The knowledge I learned isn't that vast."

Really?

Anyway, second rebuttal, "If I wasn't not a normal person, then there's no way I could observe people."

"Then I won't say anything more. Though I still have reservations about you not having any talents."

"Where have you ever seen me using my talents anyway?"

"Hmm, where, huh?"

After pretending to think, he pointed his finger towards Kamiyama High School.

"There."

"The school?"

"No, the Geology Room, AKA the Classics Club room... You were simply amazing in solving the 'Hyouka' incident. Truth be told, I never expected you to be that good. That's why I said I'm having reservations about you not being talented based on that," He said while smiling. In contrast, I looked bitter.

The "Hyouka" incident. It was not a criminal incident, neither was it civil. "Hyouka" was the name of a series of essay anthologies published by the Classics Club, a mysterious organization which Satoshi and I belonged to. The reason why the anthologies were named as such cannot be explained in a few sentences, and for very good reason as well. Thanks to such a reason, I was involved in all sorts of bothersome events. And Satoshi was commenting on my role in such events.

He continued, "The one who solved all that was you."

"Now you're exaggerating. I was just lucky."

"Lucky, huh? I wasn't talking about how you think of yourself, but how I see you."

He can say such haughty stuff with such a calm tone. As I was used to his manner of speaking, I was hardly annoyed.

Besides being an old mate, Fukube Satoshi is also a good rival. As a guy he was short in stature, and his weak-looking appearance could easily be mistaken for that of a girl if seen from afar. However, he is actually quite spirited, especially when pursuing things that interest him. So much so that he would prioritize that over other things that are considered "necessary" by everyone else. He is always seen carrying a smile and a drawstring bag. As he swung the drawstring bag around, he asked, "By the way, what time is it now?"

"Check your own watch."

"It's inside my bag, it's too bothersome to take it out," he tapped at his bag and said. Satoshi considered carrying a wristwatch around too troublesome, and would prefer to check the time via his cellphone.

"I'm the one that's feeling bothersome here."

"'If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, hurry up and finish it.' Right?"

Satoshi smiled while poking fun at my motto. I checked the time on my wristwatch and corrected him, "It's 'If I have to do it, make it quick.' ... Anyway, it's just past ten."

"Do you really have to memorize every word of that? It's not like it's some grandiose motto or anything. Wow, is it ten already? We'd better hurry. Chitanda-san may be able to forgive us for being late, but it's Mayaka I'm scared of."

With that I agree. Ibara Mayaka can be very scary when she's angry. I don't know if Satoshi knows this or not, but I have a feeling Chitanda Eru's the same as well. As Satoshi picked up his speed, I followed suit.

Crossing the crosswalk, we came upon the school gates. It was a typical day in Kamiyama High, where there are students everywhere despite it being a school vacation.

The courtyard was filled with students either in uniform or casual wear. The music from the musical clubs could be heard playing. Besides the courtyard some sort of large monument was being erected, probably some attraction devised by some club. Even though it was summer vacation, Kamiyama High School was still filled with students with full of energy, as all were preparing for the Cultural Festival.

The total number of students Kamiyama High School numbered about a thousand. The school provided curriculum for university entrance exams as well as having a lively club activity scene. If you excluded the exalting Cultural Festival, Kamiyama High was just a normal school like any other. The campus contained three buildings; the General Block which houses the regular classrooms, the Special Block with their special purposes classrooms, and the Gymnasium. The Classics Club room was located in the Geology Room on the fourth floor of the Special Block.

Amidst the singing of the Chorus Club and A Capella Club from the courtyard, we hastened our pace. As Satoshi said, my motto was "If I don't have to do it, I won't. If I have to do it, make it quick." To put it simply, I was an "energy saver". Such a lifestyle was totally different to those that go all out in these student activities like the Cultural Festival. Though I wasn't in the mood to think about such things now.

From the entrance, we headed towards the corridor leading to the Special Block. A long painting from some club could be seen placed on the side of the staircase to dry as we climbed them, taking four steps at a time, which was quite exhausting. As it was late summer, I took out my handkerchief to wipe my sweat as we entered the Geology Room.

We were at once greeted by someone yelling, "You're late!"

Standing firmly in the centre of the room like a guardian god was none other than Ibara, the actual person in charge of overseeing the publication of the Classics Club anthology "Hyouka", with whom I have a long acquaintance.

Ibara Mayaka. While we were not exactly intimate with each other, for some reason we just couldn't avoid seeing each other all the time. While she had grown since primary school, she still had a childish-looking face despite being a high school student. Despite her appearance, she was actually quite strict. Besides being unforgiving to mistakes made by others, she was even more demanding towards herself. The reason for her wrath was simple, as it was agreed that we were supposed to meet up here at ten in the morning.

Maintaining her guardian god stance, Ibara spoke, "Fuku-chan, explain yourself."

Satoshi's smile became stiff as he said, "Well, we couldn't use our bikes today..."

"You should have known that already!"

By the way, while people were free to come to Kamiyama High School via bicycle during summer vacation, as the bicycle park was currently under maintenance, it was unusable.

"Get a grip already, Fuku-chan! You still haven't handed in your manuscripts!"

Satoshi spread out his hands as he struggled to protest, "W, wait a minute Mayaka! Isn't Houtarou late as well?"

Ibara turned to look at me, and upon meeting my gaze, turned back towards Satoshi.

"Who cares about Oreki?"

... Double standards, huh?

The reason Ibara paid so much attention to Satoshi was because she had a crush on him. And she herself made no attempts to hide this. On the other hand, Satoshi had been evading her advances to this day. As to when they started all this, I had no idea.

Anyway, the Classics Club was made up of four members: myself, Satoshi, and Ibara, as well as the President, Chitanda Eru. Though right now Chitanda was nowhere to be seen.

"That's double standards!"

"What're you talking about? There's no double standards."

I interrupted their meaningless exchange and said, "Hey, Ibara, Chitanda's absent as well."

"How can I have double standards... Huh? Chi-chan? That's right, she still hasn't arrived. That worries me."

"I see, indeed it's not double standards," Satoshi muttered.

"Yeah, it's triple standards."

Unusually, Ibara replied while smiling.

As if on cue, a silhouette was seen silently opening the door and entering the room. It was Chitanda.

Chitanda Eru. With her long, dark hair and frail-looking figure, she gave the look of an elegant lady. And that was a fact, as she was the daughter of the Chitanda Clan, which owned vast tracts of farmland within a corner of Kamiyama City. However, in contrast to her graceful nature were her large eyes. To me, those were what represented her the most. If Ibara was a child in appearance, then Chitanda was a child due to her incredible curiosity to every mystery she ever encountered. Yet she was intelligent despite such a childlike nature, which made it all the more difficult to cope with her.

The clock pointed to half past ten. Chitanda bowed deeply and said, "I'm very sorry for being late."

Chitanda hardly ever looked this unkempt. While not strictly punctual, it was rare to see her late. Ibara must have been thinking the same thing as she asked Chitanda without blaming her, "Did something happen?"

"Yes. A little bit. I was having a long conversation just now."

What conversation? We won't know if you don't elaborate. That said, Chitanda continued before I could ask.

"I'll explain later about what conversation I was having."

What's she up to? I have a bad feeling about this.

"Hmm... Oh well, let's get started then."

The reason the Classics Club was gathered here today was to hold a meeting concerning the publication of the club anthology "Hyouka", which included what design and fonts to use, how to arrange the articles and what paper to print on. While it would have been better if I had just suggested to let Ibara handle everything, she probably wouldn't allow it, as she reasoned that since we have all contributed our money and manuscripts, it's only fair that we take part in compiling the anthology as well. I didn't exactly want to do this, but then I don't have anything better to do during summer vacation anyway.

Ibara took out a few paper samples from her bag and began speaking.

"This is the highest quality paper that our budget could allow, while this is the cheapest. They're very different, and not just in appearance, but how the ink appears on them..."

As she began explaining, both Satoshi and Chitanda listened with enthusiasm. While I felt like a piece of rotting wood on the mountain, I still made an effort to listen, so that Ibara wouldn't get mad.

The editorial meeting was over sooner than expected at just under an hour. Ibara had written down the items which have been approved in her note, which she would then relay to the publishers. Being an editing supervisor sure sounds tough, so I placed my palms together in gratitude of her hard work.

It was now afternoon. While we were free to return, we decided to stay and have lunch, having just bought some boxed lunches from the convenient store. Taking out my boxed lunch worth less than 400yen from my shoulder bag, the other three followed suit as well.

As he peeled the film wrapping around his rice ball, Satoshi spoke without addressing specifically to anybody,

"So when's the anthology gonna be published?"

The one who should have an idea to that question was of course Ibara, as she grumbled as though saying "As if I could remember exactly when" and said,

"We should have the sample copy by early October, but we won't be getting the actual copies until just before the Cultural Festival."

It was now late August, a week to go before summer vacation ends. It would become bothersome to continue writing when classes resume in September. As an energy saver, I do not like to leave work undone as it's inefficient. It is of course better to get it finished as soon as possible. Anyway, we've still got plenty of time.

The sound of Chitanda opening the lid of her boxed lunch could be heard. For girls her age, boxed lunches would usually be small and contain food as simple as small snacks. Though her box was just as small, the food it contained looked quite filling: Stewed butterbur, sweet omelettes and minced meat. Before taking out her chopsticks, she asked nonchalantly,

"By the way, are any of you free this afternoon?"

As I was never the sort with anything better to do anyway, so I do have time to kill. Naturally, I shook my head. So too did Ibara,

"Though I've got to take these notes to the publisher, it won't be till this evening."

Satoshi thought for a while,

"I was thinking of heading to the Handicraft Club to see if I could help out, I've not gotten my hands on sewing equipment for some time now. Besides, it's been a while since I hung out with the Student Council committee. But why not?"

As all three of us were in agreement, Chitanda looked as though she was the happiest person alive. Seeing her smile, I suddenly had a bad feeling. Though I wouldn't go so far say this was based on experience, I was just apprehensive of trouble, that's all.

As she placed her chopsticks down, she spoke with vigour,

"Then, let's watch a preview!"

Preview?

I have no idea what she's talking about. Did something happen which I have no knowledge of? Without thinking, I turned to look at Satoshi, who simply shook his head to indicate he too knew nothing. Ditto for Ibara, who looked puzzled,

"Chi-chan, what preview are you talking about? A movie?"

"Yes...... Umm, it's not really a movie, but more like a videotaped movie,"

Videotaped movie? Surely she means home-made movie.

"Is it with the Movie Studies Club?"

Chitanda shook her head,

"Not really,"

"Then, the Home Movie Studies Club?"

Stop being silly, Satoshi. Both Ibara and I stared coldly at his smiling face, though he continued smiling as usual and said,

"I'm sure it exists! If there exists a Classics Club, surely a Home Movie Studies Club would exist as well."

Satoshi dispelled his joke right away, true to his motto of "Jokes are to be made on the spot, so too are misunderstandings to be dispelled right away." If he says it exists, then it probably does exist. This was not something to be surprised, as Kamiyama High School does have a huge variety of arts-based clubs out there.

But still Chitanda shook her head,

"It's not that either. It's an exhibition movie made by Class 2-F."

"Wow, a class exhibition,"

Ibara nodded in admiration.

"Don't think my class would have the energy to organize their own exhibition, as everyone is busy with their own clubs,"

Indeed. Even for my class 1-B, no one made any proposals to organize something for the Cultural Festival in the class's name, as everyone was tired out by their own club activities. Besides, holding an exhibition would be quite a huge task. Come to think about it, this would make Satoshi pretty amazing, as he's busy with the Classics Club, Handicraft Club, and Student Council.

"Some Class 2-F students belonging to the various sports teams decided they too want to take part in the Cultural Festival. As I know someone from Class 2-F, I was invited to their movie preview in order to ask for my opinion of it. How about it? Are you interested?"

"Yeah, I'll come!"

Satoshi agreed without even batting an eyelid. Then again, anything that interests him would elicit such a reaction.

Ibara raised her brows slightly and asked,

"What kind of movie is it?"

"Umm, I hear it's a mystery movie."

That answer was enough to satisfy Ibara,

"Sounds entertaining. Sure, I'll come as well."

"I thought you hate artistic movies, Mayaka,"

"I don't dislike them...... This one's made by people with an interest in movies, after all."

Indeed, no one would think along the lines of wanting to watch a movie made by people who just "want to take part in the Cultural Festival".

Now, what about me?

To be honest, I'm not exactly that interested in movies. I've never felt like watching any movie, whether its arthouse movies or blockbuster movies. As to why that is, I'm not too sure myself. Probably something to do with watching movies being too time-consuming, I was told that I'm missing half the fun of my life as a result. I don't exactly hate watching them, and there were some movies which I was fond of......

Anyway, guess I'll go home.

Before I could speak, Chitanda cheerfully opened her mouth,

"Then it's decided! We're all going then!"

"No, I......"

"Actually, besides myself, I was told to bring three more persons along with me. As I was thinking there's three of you here in the Classics Club, the numbers just right."

She's not even listening.

Smiling mischievously, Satoshi pointed his thumb at me and said,

"Chitanda-san, Houtarou seems to have something to say,"

"Oreki-san, you're coming, right?"

Ugh.

"...... Aren't you?"

Argh.

Why was it that I do not know how to handle Chitanda everytime? No matter what kind of responses I thought up of beforehand, she was bound to have me go. Of course I could have chosen to just turn her down without feeling guilty, but the problem was I could find no reason to refuse her.

I shrugged my shoulders in resignation. Whatever, there was nothing for me to do even if I go home now anyway.

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