Editing Hyouka:Volume 4 Sappy New Year (section)

===6 (side B)===

The banquet had started in the main hall.

there were many empty seats, and I'm not the type of guy who gets bashful when doing something alone, but since I was bored beyond boredom itself, I immediately pulled out of the hall.

There was no other destination except for Mayaka's place. I didn't want to be a hindrance to the part-timers. I thought about the two people working with Mayaka, but I felt at ease after exchanging some words with them. Apparently, Mayaka had made a declaration to the two of them.

"I'm aiming to go out with that guy," she said.

The three shrine maidens-for-hire must have gained a feeling of solidarity after working with each other for a long time, for the two of them were supporting Ibara vehemently. I wonder where those girls came from. They're not Kamiyama High students, I think.

As soon as I slid open the door, I could see Ibara beckoning me to enter. But if I stepped out of the threshold of the door, I would be in full view of the customers. No matter how few customers there were present now, I couldn't do that. Instead, I stretched my neck as much as I could.

"Fuku-chan, look at this!"

She produced a foldable wallet with two denim surfaces. Ah, I've definitely seen this before.

"Isn't that Houtarou's?"

"Yeah. That idiot must have dropped it."

"Well, Houtarou's a guy with many chinks in his armor."

Houtarou might think that he backs up Chitanda on many things, but that's only one exceptional case in my memory. Houtarou has actually caused Mayaka and Ibara to worry quite a few times already during our normal club activities. I remember the time when we all went to the hot spring this, I mean last, year thanks to Ibara's connections, Houtarou actually fainted after being in the hot water for only a short time.

Anyway, it would be just like Houtarou to drop his wallet. But if that's the case, I'm starting to doubt that Chitanda is the owner of that handkerchief.

"This is strange. Here, take a look."

Mayaka said as she opened the wallet. It's improper to look into others' wallets! Even so, I concentrated on staring at the wallet. This is...

Mayaka accurately summed up the state of the wallet.

"It's an empty wallet."

There was nothing in the part used for keeping notes, as well as in the part for coins. Not a single yen.

"Isn't that strange? Oreki came here for a shrine visit. He would at least be holding a monetary offering."

"Nah, that's not weird at all. He could have used all his money as an offering."

"Him? Are you serious?"

No, I think that would be unlikely. Then again, he could have had some really intense wish. I pointed at the wallet.

"What's strange is the card slots. Houtarou would usually carry around a point card or membership card, but there's none here."

"Ah, yeah, that's true."

"So this wouldn't be Houtarou's wallet, right?"

But Mayaka strongly rejected that theory.

"No, this is definitely his wallet."

"... Why do you think so?"

"Because this was tied to the wallet at the metal fixture usually used to attach a metal chain."

Mayaka removed a scrap of paper from her purse. It was a small, crumpled piece of paper.

I knew what it was when I received it. It was a fortune.

"Take a look at it."

I unfolded the fortune... and burst into laughter.

"Misfortune! Misfortune! Man, Arekusu Shrine sure is nasty. To think they actually have bad fortunes!"

But Mayaka didn't laugh at the bad fortune. A wry smile surfaced on her lips, but her voice was dead serious.

"That's the fortune that Oreki drew. It also said something like 'Pecked at by birds' or something like that. Oreki dropped his wallet while his bad fortune was tied to it."

I see.

I furrowed my eyebrows. As I had suddenly fallen into silence, Mayaka was worried.

"Fuku-chan?"

"... This means..."

I gulped in awe.

"Because Houtarou tied this inauspicious fortune to his wallet, on top of dropping it, its contents were also removed!"

That's really unfortunate of Houtarou, to suffer hardships so early in the new year.

This is the power of a fortune. It predicted Houtarou's calamity so accurately. I should also make use of this power.

I retrieved a 100-yen coin from my own wallet.

"Mayaka, let me draw a fortune too."