Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 1

Status: Incomplete

18% completed (estimated)

   

1 - A Sleepless Night

001 - ♥01

As I couldn't sleep, I decided to take a walk outside.

The history of the Chitanda clan can be traced back to the beginning of the Edo period.

The large fields in the north of Kamiyama City used to be a farm village. As the leaders of the village, the Chitanda clan has maintained, farmed and rented out the land around here. As representatives of the village, they were charged with negotiating the taxes with the feudal lords as well as act as the local magistrates. They were also involved in projects taken to improve the farming products. And of course, they would represent the village and take part in the annual festivals in spring and autumn.

The land here isn't really that blessed by nature. Though the soil is rich, it is vulnerable to typhoons as well as blizzards. After all, this land wasn't really well irrigated until irrigation works were carried out during the Edo period. Just a minor change in the climate would result in crop failure, so it was natural for people then to fear and worship the gods.

As people of prestigious wealth, the Chitanda clan would represent the mortals in carrying out the rituals during the festivals. As they would be offering their wealth to the gods in the shrine on behalf of everyone else, before the laying of the crops and after harvest, as well as during Obon and New Year, they would go around collecting food and drink from the village folk. It would seem that this was considered a form of payment in lieu of money for renting land from the Chitanda clan. In turn, the leasing of land would form the basis of their wealth.

After the war, as part of the land reforms, the Chitanda clan, like all other large landowners, were compelled to sell most of the land they held to the government. Yet, Chitanda Shounosuke, the leader of the clan then, saw this as an opportunity to use the money from the land sales to modernize the farming equipment as quickly as possible, and profit from the new farming techniques. As such, Shounosuke was able to slowly buy back the land that was sold off, and by the time my father became head of the clan, the Chitandas had reclaimed nearly half of what was once their land, which was considered to be quite large during the late Showa period.

This may sound like me boasting, but Chitanda Shounosuke was not simply a man with business acumen, he was also a trustworthy man, as well as my grandfather. Though as he died early on, I did not remember much of him.

Anyway, the Chitanda clan had managed to weathered the chaos during and after the war and maintained their status, as a result, they are still in charge of representing the local community during the festivals.

To begin with, unlike what Fukube-san had said, the Chitanda clan aren't exactly that rich as to tower above the rest. As a result, the annual festivities were reduced from four times a year to just twice, during spring and autumn respectively, and the symbolic "payment" these days was merely a bottle of wine. As such, the ritual was merely an excuse for everyone to gather and have a feast. Though as I can't drink, I couldn't take part in the feast myself.

The spring and autumn festivals would take place in a small shrine worshipping the "village god", which was a minor deity. There would be the usual rituals of a lion dance and carrying of the mikoshi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoshi). A person from the Chitanda clan would act as representative for the shrine pilgrims and pray for a peaceful year during the spring festival, as well as give thanks during the autumn festival.

And I too have been participating in such a festival ever since I was old enough to remember. I often get asked by my friends living nearby as well as visitors to the shrine as to what is it that I do during such a ritual, though I didn't exactly have to do much. There wasn't much to notice besides having to pay attention not to make many sounds until the end of the praying ceremony. So it's just the usual clapping your hands during a prayer.

As for me, I'm not a particularly religious person. To some degree, I'm not too different from my schoolmates. But maybe it has something to do with my experience in such festivals, though it may be bothersome, whenever I visit a shrine, I would make it a habit to hide what I'm wishing. I wasn't sure whether this meant I had faith in the gods, or whether this was just my systemised way of calming myself whenever I'm feeling insecure. Time to time, I would feel curious about it, but I could find no answer.

Recently, my wish had been granted during the high school entrance exams. It has also been granted during the "Hyouka Incident", as coined by Fukube-san.

And once again, tonight I find myself heading towards the shrine.

The Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival begins tomorrow. And for our Classics Club, which was just one of the many illustrious arts-based clubs in Kamiyama High School, a troubling situation awaits us, and we could find no solution to it. Though we intend to give it our best...... It would seem we would still need luck on our side.

Placing a 100 yen coin into the offering box, within the precincts of the moon-lit shrine, I clapped my hands together and closed my eyes as my thoughts for my friends in the Classics Club appeared.

Ibara Mayaka-san, Fukube Satoshi-san, Oreki Houtarou-san.

I wonder if Mayaka-san is sleeping well tonight?

Right now, she must be blaming herself for the predicament the Classics Club has found itself in. But that was not the case. Compared to Mayaka-san, I was totally of no help. If only I had been able to give my all and helped out with her work, we could have avoided this altogether. So I too must bear some of the responsibility.

I wonder if Fukube-san is sleeping well tonight?

Sometimes I do suspect whether Fukube-san's hedonistic-like behaviour comes from the bottom of his heart. At the very least, he sure wasn't acting selfishly, as there's no way I could imagine him just laughing away at Mayaka-san's pain.

I wonder if Oreki-san is sleeping well tonight?

...... He probably is sleeping well. If he wasn't, I would be very worried.

From time to time, I often find Oreki-san being able to sharply observe things that are out of the ordinary. I might even say that I was moved by it. But most of the time Oreki-san, how should I put it, tends be slow in getting things done. So it's hard to determine whether he's a reliable person or not.

I prayed for everyone's well being.

I pray for luck to befall us for the next three days. Please let us overcome this "mountain".

As I opened my eyes, I still felt rather uneasy about it, so I took out another 50 yen from my purse.