Editing Hyouka:Volume 4 To Commit A Deadly Sin (section)

===5===

It should be safe to assume that Omichi was indeed writing down the class' progress in his textbook. At any rate, he's done nothing but teach math for the last ten or twenty years. Like for previous years, he's teaching many classes this year, and it would be definitely confusing to keep track of each class' progress. Using memos would be the obvious answer.

However, despite his efforts, he made a mistake. And he did not backtrack, but went further ahead. This is truly a strange story.

Wait a minute. How would it be possible to skip ahead?

To commit that mistake, there has to be a note on one of the pages after the correct one. Class X has not advanced that far yet, but a note on the page indicates that they have.

That could just be the simple answer to the problem. I crossed my legs and asked Chitanda,

"Your class hasn't learnt about domains, right?"

"Yes, you're right."

Chitanda looked bewildered as she affirmed the needless statement. My next question only added to her confusion.

"What if I said that your class already has?"

"... What do you mean?"

"Omichi teaches math every year. We're not Omichi's only students... last year's class A also learnt about restrictions on the domain of X at some point."

"Ah," Chitanda gasped. Mistaking last year's memo for this year's is certainly plausible, right?

However, before Chitanda could declare her agreement, Satoshi shook his head slowly.

"If you're saying that he might have mistaken last's years notes, I'm afraid that's impossible."

"What do you mean?"

As always, Satoshi seemed awfully happy when sharing some meaningless information.

"It's simple. The teachers get new textbooks every year. They need to have the latest revisions to stay consistent with the students, right? By the way, Omichi is using this year's fourth edition."

Chitanda cast down her eyes.

... I see, it does seem obvious after Satoshi said it. I would really like to know how he even knows which edition Omichi is using, though.

But since Omichi has the habit of writing in his textbooks, what if the notes got mixed up... it's certainly possible, but whether Chitanda would accept it is another question. Omichi probably writes the class and date on the page where he stopped. Could he have written it in some confusing scrawl? Unless there's a way to prove that he likes to scribble in his textbook...

Hmm.

Seeing me sit there in sullen silence, Satoshi decided that I was not to be depended on and continued in a light-hearted tone.

"I really don't get domains, though. I'm not proud of it, but it's already hard enough for me just to draw the x and y axes. It would be scary to be singled out by Omichi."

If that's the case, how about you forget some of your random trivia and focus on your studies instead? ... I can't really say that, can I? It would be like telling birds not to fly. I wonder what Satoshi is trying to learn about now. I remember him saying something about The Book of Changes.<ref>An ancient Chinese divination text, also known as I Ching.</ref>

Ah, hang on.

I suddenly hit upon an idea. I questioned Satoshi.

"Satoshi, is your class already done with domains?"

"Hm? Yeah."

"What class are you in?"

"Hey Oreki, you should at least remember your friends' classes."

I tried a counterattack on Ibara.

"Then do you know what class I'm in?"

"It's not like we're friends or anything."

I was lost for words.

Seeing the situation, Satoshi laughed.

"It's okay, Mayaka. Houtarou knows."

As he said that, I had a feeling that I did know.

Satoshi's class has completed domains. My class has not. And of course, neither has Chitanda's.

I see. I get it now.

"There is not question that he made a note on some page ahead of where your class has gotten to."

I asserted.

"Yes, that's right. I think so too."

"Additionally, the note was written this year, and shows the class' progress. What if the memo he wrote wasn't, in fact, for your class, but for Satoshi's class?"

"Fukube-san's class?"

Ignoring Chitanda's question, Satoshi asked dubiously.

"Omichi is in charge of classes A, B, C and D. Even if it wasn't class A or B, it doesn't have to be class D, right?"

Ibara interjected.

"And anyway, why class D?"

"Because it wouldn't be strange for him to mistake D for A. C is clearly nothing like A."

Ibara glared at me, as if to say "You've said something stupid again." No, that's inaccurate. She actually said it.

"You've said something stupid again. A and D are totally different."

I slightly quailed under her stare, but I pretended to remain calm.

"Omichi's a math teacher."

"So?"

"A math teacher has a much higher chance of mixing up A and D. It's like the katakana ツ(tsu) and　シ(shi)."

"What?"

Her disdainful glare seemed to ask, "Hey, are you not feeling well?" Somehow, when she's arguing with Satoshi, she can remain enlivened all the way until the end, but when arguing with me, she seems to lose her energy.

Even so, I continued.

"For example, Omichi wrote something like '1<sup>st</sup> June, A' on page 10 and '1<sup>st</sup> June, D' on page 15, right? If he mistook D for A, that would explain what happened. Furthermore..."

I took a short breath.

"Omichi would be used to writing in the lower case."

At that instant, all four of us fell into silence.

I was wondering if they had understood, or if they were thinking, "What rubbish is this?" It was a tense moment for me.

Finally the silence was broken.

"Ah, I see!"

Satoshi exclaimed.

"It's the lower case a and d!"

I nodded with a stiff expression. Since Chitanda claimed that Omichi checked the class name plate, it would be wrong to say that he had gotten the classroom wrong. In that case, there would be no other way for him to be mistaken except through the memo. It would be impossible for him to read A wrongly. However, it would be a different story for a.

Ibara still firmly remained silent.

Her lips stiffened, and for some reason she stared at me resentfully. But unexpectedly, what came out of her mouth was words of agreement.

"... Yeah, that's possible."

"What, are you feeling uncomfortable?"

"Yeah, I recently lost points in an English test because the teacher couldn't tell the difference between my a and d."

"Oh, you too? In my case, it was n and h."

Thankfully, it seems that I'm not the only one with this experience. In my case it's not English but Math, and I've lost marks because my 1 and 7 could not be differentiated. Thinking about it, that was when I was still a rosy-cheeked, handsome youth, that is to say, when I was in first grade. I remember feeling vexed about getting the right answer and not getting the marks, but I didn't care too much about it.

Now, what about Chitanda?

Chitanda, with her elegant handwriting, has not had such an experience. She thought for a while, then gave two slight nods.

"Yes, that does seem likely."

Chitanda smiled gently.

"a and d... I can understand the mistake now. I may have gone too far in what I said to Omichi-sensei. That was wrong of me."

Those words made me feel slightly shocked.

Those were almost the exact words that I predicted that Chitanda would be thinking.

"Eh? Why do you say that?"

After taking a sidelong glance at Ibara, who was insisting that Chitanda did not go too far since Omichi was in the wrong, I stole a glance at Chitanda's face. Contrary to her self-blaming words, her countenance was sunny and I could even see that she was somewhat relieved.

This is what I thought deep down.

The normally calm Chitanda got angry, and she wanted to know why. She said that it's not necessarily bad to get angry, but the truth is that she never wants to. Perhaps Chitanda wanted Omichi to have had his reasons, and wanted to believe that she got angry because of her own mistake, so she wanted to understand her reasons for getting angry.

Isn't Chitanda that kind of person?

No.

I shook my head to chase that last thought away. What's with me thinking "Isn't Chitanda that kind of person?" when I've known her for only two months? I would largely understand Satoshi's thoughts and feelings, since I've known him since middle school. The same can be said of Ibara, who has been in the same class as me for nine years and can be said to be an acquaintance. But what do I know about Chitanda?

That's right. I've managed to predict her actions sometimes, but then again, her motives were clearly shown, and to think that I can read her innermost thoughts would be, as she said, to commit a deadly sin. The deadly sin of pride. I'd better watch out, I've somehow become quite conceited. Even just today, how many times has Chitanda acted different from my expectations?

I smiled bitterly, and realized that Ibara and Satoshi had digressed from the topic of Omichi. Seems like it's not my turn anymore. I looked at my watch and found that it was almost five. I gazed at the sunset outside. Perhaps it's time to go home?

"I understand what Chii-chan is saying, but I don't know, if I was there..."

"Then you would do what you would normally do. But think about what Chitanda-san was saying earlier..."

Well, I guess it's still early. I picked up my book and read the page it was open at again. Like this, more of my high school life is squandered away. Personally, I think that committing the deadly sin of sloth is more than enough for me.

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