Hyouka:Volume 5 Prologue-1

Prologue-1

Rain did not fall. Even though I prayed a lot. I bet my last year's prayer too did not reach God. So basically, praying for rain to fall is a useless thing. Having understood that, I will probably be calmly waiting for this time again next year. If something's fine without lifting a finger, then I won't lift a finger and when it comes to something that has to be done, then it will be done in a short time taskwise. Today, me Oreki Houtarou got enlightened by the fact that amegoi (praying for rain to fall after seeing a pretty clouded sky) is a good thing even if not prayed for.

As for the 1000 people spread out in the school ground, the spread out kamiyama high school students about one-third of them had already vanished. They had already gone far across. Understanding the fact that this unfruitful slavery (marathon) has still not run it's course. But I won't sympathize with them. I will also be following the same path.

Evident with a harsh howling sound the loudspeaker just switched on and an instruction came.
"3rd Year Students, positioning over. 2nd year class A, move forward."

Classmates head to their set positions one after another as being dragged by something. There are those students too that are full of spirit (which is) brimming on their faces. However, on many faces an expression of a quitting feeling was showing after having felt that school was "somewhere where the only thing needed is a devoted nature similar to the Holy nature of believers who believe blindly, devoted as well as unquestioning"

A chalk line...with the General Affairs committee to one side of it it.
I can't stand looking at the seriousness of the Administrator who passes cruel decisions on the students through the General Affairs Committee aside the chalk line, holding a pistol(for signalling start).
Whenever I see a face that gives a feeling of "Middle School (-liness)" still being left on the face, I think - "Most probably, this student is still a first year student."
At this moment, even a single second of craziness is unforgivable. So, I keep looking at my watch.
In the end, the administrator has been following the orders given to him from the superiors and did not think about stuff like "the meaning his actions held for us."
Even if he had given it a thought then something like "This is not something for me to be concerned with. Since there are people who give me orders to act upon, just being able to fulfill the task given to me without fail is enough. To be concerned or take action by myself is not my desire nor my responsibility" is the most he would have been able to think of.
That's why the Administrator and the General Affairs Committee are able to do such a cruel deed without displaying any expressions. The General Affairs Committee holds onto the pistol tightly.

Is it something like a ground breaking discovery in Meteorology, this mysterious phenomenon of not experiencing any downpour even though it exists only for a small interval of time, i.e, right now, this present moment
But, the May Sky is clear and the atmosphere is fresh which makes me angry.
In present conditions, even foxes would not get married, wouldn't they?? - I wonder.

"Preparation"
Yeah, that's right. Didn't I just have a deep realization a while ago.
Heaven won't answer to a praying voice. The thing is that I have to cut a path for myself through self effort.

In the end, the general affairs member did not raise their face until the last moment before the start.
Then...thin fingers advance towards the pistol's trigger. Gun powder explodes, white smoke rises from the pistol's muzzle.
The Kamiyama High School "Valley of Star Cup" has started for Oreki's class. Finally, 2nd Year - Class A was also ordered to start.

The fact that Kamiyama High School is a top class school where club activities prosper has been made well known. Even the task of counting the number of clubs is troublesome. If I recall correctly, the number is something 50+... The Culture festival is to be held in Autumn over a period of 3 days.
Calmly given a thought to doing so much is going a little overboard, isn't it? and it is as exciting as one can think of(not for everyone.)

Because of that 10,000, the sports oriented events too did not not lack any participation. The thing is that last year, no extraordinary or devoted member from any sports team in the whole school showed up. I mean the type that do "really great deal of effort or activity".
I hear that the Martial Arts System's (Kendo, Judo etc. taken together) club activities have their share of reasonable traditions.
After the Culture festival, a meagerly prepared say small Athletic Festival will open. The period of time immediately after the new year, there is also a ball tournament. But it's not like the sports players are suffering more than us. The decision to direct students that fit the bill to the place of Volleyball Receivers was accepted and also hosting a 200 meter run, although I don't think the students would participate gladly.

The time when told to run while taking more and more longer strides, the situation was like the popular(Japanese) idiom "Want to laugh, but cannot laugh".
It was the time when we were told to run concretely until 2000 meters.

The Kamiyama High School long distance run tournament is held every year at the closing of the month of May. The correct title for calling this event is "Valley of Star Cup", kind of.
Since this title is associated with the name of the Alumnus who established a record for Japan at a former long distance championship, nobody calls it by that name. Even though the culture festival has no formal name, being called "Kanya Festival" in comparison is not fitting, so the problem is solved by it commonly being called as "Marathon convention".
In my case, my friend Satoshi Fukube calls it the Valley of star cup every time so I somehow got infected with that name.