Hyouka:Volume 2 Chapter 2

Status: Incomplete

14% completed (estimated)

   

2 - "The Murder in the Abandoned Village of Furuoka"

Upon returning to the Geology Room after returning from the preview, Satoshi spoke.

"Irisu Fuyumi is pretty well-known, you know?"

"Really? So does she have three different faces on her head or something like that?"

"Well, I dunno about that, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did. I've mentioned this before, but Irisu belongs to one of the clans that rival the four Exponential Clans."

The Exponential Clans refer to the Juumonjis, Sarusuberis, Chitandas and Manninbashis, seemingly four of the most prominent old families in Kamiyama City. By the way, this rather weird term for them seems to have been coined by Satoshi himself, as I've only heard Satoshi use it.

Satoshi pointed to the streets outside the window.

"The Irisus run the Rengou Hospital over there."

The building that Satoshi was pointing at seemed to be Rengou Hospital, alright. It's a private general hospital with facilities on par with those run by the Japanese Red Cross. As it's only a five minute walk from Kamiyama High School, any students that get injured or sick would end up visiting them. I see, so that's why Irisu Fuyumi is famous.

Though I was starting to be convinced, Satoshi didn't stop there.

"But that's not the only thing Irisu Fuyumi is famous for. She has another nickname."

"Really?"

"So how about it, Houtarou? Wanna guess what it is?"

While I have no intention of attending a game show, I decided to think about it upon being asked. If it's Satoshi that's asking such a question, then Ibara-style nicknames like "Iri-chan" would be out of the question. Since she has that ice-cold aura of grace about her, something that would make her classmates shiver, then...

"Theresa."

Satosh smiled broadly.

"Amazing! You were actually very close. It's 'the Empress' to be precise. Just think about it, to be entrusted with solving something by 'the Empress', doesn't it sound awesome?"

The Empress, yet another very exaggerated nickname. For her to be honoured with such a name...

"Is she sadistic or what?"

Ibara, who was speaking to Chitanda for some reason, now turned around to interject, "That would be a dominatrix, not an empress."

She then turned her back to us again. I admire her ability to quip at will.

"I see. Then why is she called 'the Empress'?"

"Well, she's pretty and all that, plus she's good at making people do her bidding with a cool attitude. It always seemed like she could control the people around her with ease."

"Really?"

"Take the incident with the Student Council Committee meeting with her that I mentioned earlier as an example. Irisu-sempai managed to see through to the root of the problem between the three debating members, and directed them into taking turns listing their points, thus leading to a resolution as a result."

Sounds amazing. She was able to deduce a problem just from listening. She seemed to be the sort of commander-type person. Yet because of that, things have now developed in a way not to my liking. I had no intention of doing anything for anyone, but I've ended up doing an errand for her.

As I crossed my arms, Satoshi tapped his fingers on the table. Just as he had stopped his rhythmic tapping, I saw him grinning once again.

"Besides,"

"Besides what?"

"Since we're talking about 'the Empress' and all that stuff, how about we assign a symbol for ourselves as well?"

"A symbol?"

For a short while, I was led on by Satoshi. Before long, he continued, "First, Mayaka would be 'Justice'."

"The Empress" and "Justice", huh? As a person of reason who hardly believed in any superstitions, even I knew he was referring to Tarot cards. Satoshi spoke in a voice which Ibara could hear, so I duly kept quiet to see how things would develop.

As expected, Ibara snapped back at us from across the classroom, "And why am I a guardian of justice anyway?"

Satoshi turned around to face her.

"Not a guardian of justice. You're confusing it with 'Judgment'. People of the 'Justice' types tend to be stern with themselves, right?"

He seemed to be blowing off steam. While I had absolutely no idea what meaning the card 'Justice' holds, Satoshi's description pretty much matched Ibara quite well. As I was thinking that, Ibara turned to glare at me.

"What's so funny!?"

"Hey! You should complain to Satoshi, not me."

"Even if Fuku-chan was talking about me, you weren't exactly listening, so you're not supposed to comment either!"

... What a way to justify things.

Her interest ignited, Ibara got up from her seat, and so too did Chitanda. The girls then walked towards us. Ibara leaned her flat chest towards Satoshi and asked, "So, what would Fuku-chan be then?"

"Me? Hmm, I'd be 'the Fool', I guess... No, more like 'the Magician'. 'The Fool' would be Chitanda-san."

How thoughtlessly rude for him to call someone a fool. Yet Chitanda didn't seem to have taken it badly. Just to be safe, Satoshi added, "I don't mean any disrespect, by the way. But I'm sure Chitanda-san gets what I'm saying."

Chitanda slowly opened her mouth.

"Yes, I do. Now that you mention it, I do match the description for 'the Fool', I don't think it's anything disparaging, but... Fukube-san, you do indeed suit the image of 'the Magician'."

Seems like they were talking about the hidden meaning behind each Tarot card. While Satoshi and Chitanda each understood what the other was saying concerning Tarot cards, I was completely out of the loop. While Ibara was also involved in the conversation, she probably didn't get it either.

"Then what about Oreki-san?"

Satoshi replied right away, "That would be easy, 'Strength'."

"? Why is that? I thought he would be more like 'the Star'..."

"No, he's definitely 'Strength', fits him to a tee."

He smiled as I slowly realized he was jesting with me. Chitanda tilted her head while trying to think, but still could not comprehend what he was saying. Neither me nor Ibara could find anything to say either.

"But why is that?"

"Well, no, 'the Star' would also suit him."

Satoshi somehow evaded her question. Chitanda now tilted her head from left to right, but fortunately, she didn't go "I'm really curious about it" this time. I leaned further back in my chair as I frowned.

"... Hmph. It's not like you're complimenting me, anyway."

"Oh, no, that's not the case at all!"

He smiled briefly again. An annoying fellow he was.

The subject then moved on to something else. While the day turned out to be quite unproductive, efficiency-wise, not much energy was expended anyway. I'm sure things will be the same tomorrow.

The following day.

The Classics Club gathered in full force at the club room - though we've only got four members in total. Its objective today was to kill time...... sorry, I mean, to review a murder mystery. To think that I would take time off this sacred summer vacation just to come to school, I've become rather active lately, or so I joked to myself. All in all, this was all Chitanda's fault...... To be truthful, I didn't want to come, but guessing my intentions, Satoshi called me and said if I didn't, our most gracious lady would personally come to my house herself to pick me up, in all her vigour as well.

For some reason, Chitanda seemed pretty pleased as she grinned, which was in contrast to me sighing besides her. On the other hand, Satoshi and Ibara began discussing today's agenda,

"Guess we would have to visit the scene of crime after all."

"But that's all the way in Furuoka Town. Are we seriously going there? Though it's approachable by bus, it's still quite a long train ride away."

"A detective does not do his work on foot, huh? That said, it's only twenty kilometres from here, should be just right if we go by bike."

"Rather than working on foot, this feels more like a standard police field investigation than detective work......"

Twenty kilometres? Gimme a break. I thought we were supposed to just listen to what the "detectives" of Class 2-F have to say.

But how exactly do we hear from them? We have hardly met anyone from Class 2-F, so it'd be awkward for lower classmen like us to suddenly go and ask them for their opinion. Besides, we have absolutely no idea who we should first listen to. As I was wondering what we should do, I noticed Chitanda was looking quite calm.

"Chitanda, is something going to happen today?"

Upon being asked, she nodded.

"Really? So what is it?"

"Irisu-san will be sending a representative to guide us to hear from the movie crew."

A representative? That means this has all been sorted out already. Come to think of it, this made sense.

"When did you sort this out with her anyway?"

Chitanda spoke as though revealing a secret,

"Actually...... I was using a browser."

A browser?

"Stop saying things so strangely. Just say you communicated via the internet, it's not so strange nowadays, is it?"

"Just a moment there, Houtarou. Technically, she's using the world wide web, not the internet."

I ignored Satoshi's protests and continued,

"So, what did you do over the internet?"

"I was in a student-only chatroom on the Kamiyama High School website."

"You got the expression wrong, Chitanda-san. It's accessing the chatroom via the website."

Chitanda ignored Satoshi as well and went on,

"And I communicated with Irisu-san there. She said she may not be able to come herself, but she's arranged a place for us to meet with her classmates, and will send a guide to lead us to them."

Hmm, she was quite prepared for this. Though it may be somewhat bothersome, at least for an Empress, she wasn't simply sitting on her throne with her legs stretched out doing nothing.

Chitanda looked up at the clock above the blackboard. It was just past one.

"It is almost near the appointed time. She should be here any moment now."

As though right on cue, the door opened quietly.

The person that entered the Geology Room was a girl, who was shorter than Chitanda but taller than Ibara. In other words, she was of average height. Overall, she was of a small stature. If there's anything special about her appearance, it would be her short hair, which reached up to the back of her neck. While I'm no expert in fashion, at least I knew such a mature hairdo was quite rare for girls her age. Coupled with her thin lips, she gave me the impression of a polite person.

Upon entering, she gave us a deep bow.

"Is this the Classics Club room?"

Chitanda replied right away,

"Yes, it is...... Are you from Class 2-F?"

"Yes. My name is Eba Kurako. Pleased to meet you."

She bowed courteously once again, and deeply as well, despite the fact that we were her underclassmen. The girl called Eba then raised her head up to look at us and spoke in a business-like manner,

"Today, I have been entrusted by Irisu to guide you to meet a member of our class project's filming division...... Shall I lead the way if you're ready?"

It's not like we have anything to prepare anyway. I stood up to indicate I could leave right away, the others did the same. Eba nodded and said,

"Then let us go."

We duly left the Geology Room at her words. While we were merely going to listen to people's opinions, I just had a bad feeling about this, as though we're merely going along with the flow.

The sound of the brass band blowing out their instruments was heard on the corridor. As I was wondering why that melody sounded so familiar, I realized it was the theme song for Lupin III. Humming along with the tune, Satoshi approached my side as though amplifying the music and said to me,

"She's like a butler, isn't she?"

Was he talking about Eba? Thinking about it, she sure matches the description.

The music faded a bit as we descended down the stairs. Eba then stopped and turned to face us,

"Fell free to ask any questions you like."

Speaking in a casual tone, Ibara was first to ask the first question that came to her mind,

"Who will we be speaking to today?"

"His name is Nakajou Junya."

I looked at Satoshi to ask whether he knew this guy, to which he shook his head. Didn't sound like someone famous, I guess.

"What does he do?"

"He's the assistant director of the filming division, so he's most familiar with the scenes that have been shot."

Chitanda then asked,

"When you say filming division, does that mean there're other divisions involved in making the movie as well?"

Eba nodded,

"The project is split between three divisions. The filming division was the one that went to Narakubo to film on location. The other two divisions are the props division and the marketing division."

"Then the actors would come from......"

"The filming division, as it's the biggest division with twelve people in total. This is followed by seven from the props division and five in the marketing division."

That's quite a lot of people. To be honest, I was in awe of them.

Chitanda then asked a natural question,

"What about you, Eba-sempai?"

As with before, Eba answered without delay,

"I was not a member of the project...... as I wasn't particularly interested in it."

I grinned, as that was my preferred type of answer as well.

We then came to the connecting corridor linking the Special Block with the General Block. As it's name suggests, the General Block contains regular classrooms. There was less activity related to the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival on this side. Unlike the Special Block, there were more empty classrooms.

Eba stopped right in front of one of those seemingly empty classrooms. Looking up at the plate, it indicated the classroom for 2-C. But Irisu should be from 2-F. Upon seeing our faces, Eba explained,

"It would be better to discuss in a quieter classroom, as I was told. As Class 2-C have no exhibition whatsoever, no one would disturb you during your discussions."

She then opened the door.

It was a typical classroom. Symbolized by its usual desks, chairs, teaching altar and blackboard, there was nothing else.

Sitting at the front of the room was a guy with his arms crossed. He seemed to be of the muscular type with his hulky arms. He also had thick eyebrows and a stubble chin, though it did seem like he had shaved somewhat...... This should be the assistant director, Nakajou Junya. Upon seeing us, he stood up with composure and spoke with an unnecessarily loud voice,

"So you're the guys who're familiar with the mystery?"

So he said.

I felt tempted to reply that we were not exactly familiar with anything, as I wasn't particularly interested in making fun of people. As we kept silent, Eba spoke on our behalf,

"Yes. These are the capable people that Irisu had managed to find. So do be respectful."

She then turned towards us and introduced Nakajou,

"This is Nakajou Junya."

Nakajou lifted his chin upwards. Seemed like he was greeting us.

Chitanda stepped forward to introduce herself,

"I'm Chitanda Eru of the Classics Club."

She then introduced us one by one, with me the last one being named. Eba led us to sit opposite of Nakajou. As we all seated, Eba said,

"I shall be taking my leave. I leave the matter into your hands now."

And left the classroom. She's not staying behind? So she really was playing the role of Irisu's "butler".

Being left behind, we now faced Nakajou. Let's start this then.

Translator's notes and references

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