Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 3-3

3-3 The "Juumoji" Incident

037 - ♠10

I opened my boxed lunch while listening to the Broadcast Club's live radio broadcast.

What kind of day is it today, you ask? And I would say today was one of those days when my sis would decide to make my boxed lunch for me. I should really be giving my thanks to the food I'm receiving, but what's with this ethnic-looking dish comprising of spicy soybeans and fried chicken covered in yoghurt? The rice in this Nasi Goreng (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasi_goreng) looked bigger than the ones I normally have, where'd she get those from?

The door was closed during lunch time. This ethnic looking boxed lunch sure looked good. Guess I'll take my time enjoying this.

"Heya."

Opening the door, Satoshi walked in, followed by Chitanda and Ibara.

"Great work you did there, guys,"

I said, pointing upwards, or rather, towards the radio broadcast from the speakers. A while ago, they were doing an interview with The Cooking Club.

"That sure was a high quality competition, wasn't it?"

"Yes, indeed. The results were that close. I thought the amberjack teriyaki, the main dish of Team Fata Morgana's second member would be most capable of winning. The same goes for his steamed clams, though as this is a school cultural festival, in place of steaming it with sake, he substituted with rice wine, still the taste was superb. Though he prepared it too early, that by the time the time limit was up it became quite cool. This was where Team Classics Club made their comeback, the second member's giseyaki and imo-mochi was suitably stored aside to be re-heated, while you could feel the heat from their third member's kakiage rice bowl so much that it looked as though that the prawn heads were crying. This heat was the difference that decided their victory."

"And what about Team Astronomy Club?"

"They were in a world of their own."

Putting down my chopsticks, I spoke,

"Congratulations on winning."

By the way, something seems to have happened. As representing the winners to receive the prize, Ibara did not promote the Classics Club's name as she was supposed to, and to think Satoshi went through all this trouble to participate. At any rate, Satoshi was basically enjoying this more than promoting the club.

Despite being complimented on, the three members were surprisingly apathetic to the radio broadcast.

"Thank you. It was thanks to Oreki-san's help. By the way, we have something to show you,"

Chitanda spoke first. I have a really bad feeling about this.

"A, anyway, let us have lunch."

I prompted them to their seats, which they duly did and slowly took out their own food...... They've all bought bread from the canteen. How unambitious.

Opening her bag of green bean paste bread, Chitanda turned around without even taking a bite,

"We have something to show you."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"This,"

She said and handed something to me. It looked like a greeting card. On it was written "The Cooking Club has lost its ladle." Signed by "Juumoji".

"Hmm."

I took a bite of the spicy beans and said,

"The ladles were stolen?"

"Yes...... but just ours."

Ibara nodded. As Ibara had made the kakiage rice bowl, she would be most affected by the theft. And to think she could have just made dumplings out of the flour I provided...... Who would have thought she would fry something with it? She sure is a sensitive person.

"Probably a prank by someone with too much time on their hands."

I returned the greeting card, yet the conversation did not end there. Munching on his red bean paste bread, Satoshi smiled and said,

"It's not just The Cooking Club, the same happened to the Go Club as well. I hear the A Capella Club was also hit."

"The Fortune Telling Association, too. They both found this, um, declaration of crime with the same fonts."

I see.

"Looks like someone really has a lot of time on their hands."

I tried to downplay the incident, but Chitanda was not one to be fooled. Disregarding the green bean paste bread in her hands, she held her fists tightly. Chitanda's large black eyes, which betray her normally gentle image, were now widening. I could sense the atmosphere changing.

T, this is bad. Why now? Not even half a day had passed yet. And I was hoping to endure the Cultural Festival without incident. To think Chitanda had restrained herself well yesterday, how did it come to this? Where has it gone wrong? Once she makes her move, nobody could stop her. I knew very well when Chitanda Eru would start getting curious, a dark emotion that could kill cats.

Speaking one word at the time,

"Just who would do such a thing during the Cultural Festival? Why would Juumonji-san commit such acts with such a name? Why would he steal these items one after another? ......"

She's about to say that line.

"I'm really curious about it."

Ah, she's said it. She has finally gone and said it.

...... No wait, there's no reason to be scared. Ever since enrolling here, I have not been able to suppress her curiosity, but right now, I have a trump card.

Instead of wasting my time making excuses, I promptly showed my trump card,

"Now is not the time for that. What about our anthologies?"

Yet just as I had finished speaking, Satoshi spoke,

"What about those anthologies indeed. Even if we raise our name recognition by participating in these straightforward events, we're not gonna improve our sales anyway. I was prepared to accept that this was a futile exercise, so I just thought of something better."

"Something better?"

Satoshi's eyes were smiling, but that's his usual self. Though what he seems serious in what he's about to say,

"These series of thefts, coupled with a signed declaration of crime, it's clear we're looking at a phantom thief incident. It's bound to get reported by the Wall Newspaper Club, and possibly broadcasted by the Broadcast Club tomorrow. If we go along this line of thinking, even if we don't sell out, we'll still be able to look forward to selling up to thirty to forty copies."

...... I see. It's not so bad if that's the case. Indeed, this is certainly a newsworthy topic. Satoshi's mic appeal yesterday yielded some results, so if we could get the two media clubs to work for us, it's possible to sell up to thirty to forty copies. However,

"How are we going to improve our sales in the first place anyway? This incident has got nothing to do with the Classics Club."

"Oh, I know,"

Ibara interrupted,

"We have Oreki."

"Yup. Just as with the 'Hyouka' incident or the 'Empress' incident, Houtarou certainly performed well in both."

Wait a sec, I know where this conversation is going, but wait a sec.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Chitanda was a bit slow in getting their meaning. Satoshi explained with a mischievous smile,

"In other words, 'To find out how Oreki Houtaou, the Classic Club's super sleuth, manages to bring the harbinger of the Cultural Festival Juumonji to justice, read all about it in this "Hyouka", the Classic Club's anthology!' We could kill two birds with one stone by capturing Juumonji and promoting the Classic Club's name."

"I, I see! This is an excellent idea! I should hurry up and......"

Argh! I smacked my chopsticks onto the table,

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm not playing along with your games!"

I yelled. How can they toy around with people like that?

Yet, in contrast to my expectations, Satoshi surprisingly nodded in agreement that he was fooling arounf,

"You're right. I want to improve the sales, but it's probably not good to have Houtarou be our clown."

So you do get it...... That I'll be nothing but a circus clown in such a charade,

"Besides, this 'Juumonji' guy is just stealing randomly. What do you want me to say to him if we do catch him?"

"I dunno, I was thinking you'd come up with something."

Don't be ridiculous,

"Why do you think that I would be the one to do such a thing...... First of all, how many people do you think has entered and left the school grounds during the Cultural Festival? And that's not counting that we have nearly 1,000 students."

The room went silent. I munched another mouthful of ethnic boxed lunch.

Unwrapping the layers on her bacon roll, Ibara sighed,

"I don't think Fuku-chan's idea was bad. While I think it's a bit mean to have Oreki do something, but if we could somehow catch that phantom thief, we could involve the Classics Club into this."

She unwrapped another layer,

"...... If only the Classics Club were targeted."

"Yeah."

I nodded. If that were to happen, people will gradually turn their attention to the Classics Club while following the phantom thief incident. But in that case, there was no need to even catch this "Juumonji". Satoshi muttered,

"...... We could stage this......"

"REJECTED."

Ibara replied sharply,

"It's too risky."

"I was only kidding."

"When Fuku-chan says it, it doesn't sound like you're kidding...... But, really, what could we do?"

"Try not to think too much about it, your roll's about to become straight."

Despite my quip, Ibara didn't even glare back at me and unwrapped yet another layer on her roll. She twitched her brows hard. Though she had the strongest sense of responsibility amongst us, she was also the one who's contributed least to the Classics Club during this time. She must have realized this as well.

"Is there a chance the Classics Club would be targeted?"

Holding the green bean paste bread on her hand, Chitanda asked.

"Satoshi, how many participating clubs are there?"

"Fifty-one. Not a small number if you're wishing to be targeted."

"Would the thief calling himself Juumonji-san make his targets randomly?"

"You think he'll target the Classics Club if he were to do so in such a fashion?"

The possibility would be zero. If it's completely random, the odds of being targeted would be...

"...... Which clubs have been targeted again?"

Satoshi replied instantly,

"The Go Club, A Capella Club, The Cooking Club, and what was it? Ah, the Fortune Telling Association."

Our odds of being targeted would be forty-seven out of fifty-one. Even if it were completely random, the possibility percentage would be insanely low. As I'm the only person watching stall for the club, if I were to go out to take a walk or go to the bathroom, it would make it easier for us to be targeted.

...... Hmm?