Hyouka:Volume 3 Chapter 5-3

5-3 The Curtain Closes

063 - ♣20

The special, three-day long festive atmosphere is quickly coming to an end. And it was time for me and the General Committee to prepare for the Closing Ceremony.

The phantom thief "Juumonji" had magnificently achieved his final objective and made the Classics Club lose its proofread manuscript. The result was announced by the Wall Newspaper Club, while the details were spread via word of mouth. With the last target being taken down, the "Juumonji" Incident has come to an end. And as though the final event of the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival has ended, everyone realized the Cultural Festival too is coming to an end.

As the Closing Ceremony approaches, I walked towards Mayaka, dressed in a track suit. I never did asked why she was wearing such a track suit for nearly the whole day today. Come to think of it, Houtarou got a bruise on his eyebrow for correctly guessing something. But I'm not as good as he is, and I was unable to ask her properly.

Yet, as though completely forgetting about the Manga Study Club, Mayaka was mad at something else entirely,

"I don't believe this! How did he manage to bring fire in? Did he threw matches? But we didn't find any......"

She was like that for a while now. She must have thought acting as guards was just a marketing ploy to sell our Hyouka anthologies, but we never thought "Juumonji" would actually appear, so she was pretty shocked. All I could do was casually shrug my shoulders to tell her I wouldn't know the answer to her question either. After all, I much prefer seeing Mayaka look so worked up than dejected.

We walked down the stairs to the first floor.

"Hey, Fukube,"

Someone called me, it was Tani-kun.

I made an abjected smile as befitting of a loser. As I really have lost, so it was not a hard expression to make. Though it was not Tani-kun that I had lost to.

"Hey, Tani-kun. As you see, we got had. You were at the Geology Room, right?"

"Of course,"

Yet, Tani-kun spoke with less confidence than before. That's to be expected. I went on to ask,

"So, Tani-kun, did you manage to find out who 'Juumonji' was?"

Tani-kun's face scowled for an instance. He probably felt a sense of humiliation. Yet he quickly went back to his relaxed demeanor, and said in a graceful manner,

"Nope, I haven't,"

"I see,"

"Well, there were too little clues. With so little information, one could never come to any conclusion no matter how much they would think about it,"

There were indeed too little clues.

"Then, what about you? Did you figure out something?"

He smiled while asking with serious eyes, I smiled bitterly and shook my head. Tani-kun quickly show a sign of relief,

"I see, I see. Even you couldn't solve it. And I had expected something of you,"

"Sorry to let you down."

"Don't worry about it. Well, it was a fun Cultural Festival. I'll have to repay you for the Cooking Club clue you gave me someday,"

Come to think of it, I did tell him something like that, but it was quite some time ago.

We waved at each other and walked our separate paths. Mayaka then asked,

"Your friend?"

...... Hmm, I wonder?

"Not exactly a friend,"

"Then what?"

"Hmm, let's see, you could say he's just a classmate,"

I gave it some thought,

"He's bad in Languages, I think,"

"So he flunked his tests often?"

"Not really. How should I say it, it's the way he uses his words that's weird,"

Mayaka raised her eyebrows, indicating that I was saying something strange again. I smiled and explained,

"He uses the word 'expect' a bit too lightly,"

"...... What's wrong with that? It's not like it's a taboo word,"

"Uh uh,"

I raised my right index finger and waved it two, three times,

"This is a really complex subject. I'll explain to you once the Cultural Festival is over,"

"Um, Fuku-chan,"

"One should not use the word 'expect' when one is confident of himself,"

I interrupted Mayaka before she could continue, which was kind of rare. Mayaka shut her mouth and held back whatever it was she had wanted to say.

Looking down the decorated corridor, I smiled. I was pretty good at smiling, to the point of not knowing how to make a serious face.

"Dictionaries usually have a preset definition for a word. I myself am not really a person that quotes from dictionaries. So, Mayaka, while I wouldn't know how a dictionary would define this word, but for me, 'Expect' is only something you say when you've given up,"

"......"

I really hoped she would have said something in response, or I'm just talking to myself,

"One only expects when one is depleted of time, resources or energy. The reason Nelson said 'England expects that every man will do his duty' to his men was because even Nelson himself wasn't so sure if he could defeat France. One only expects when one has run out of all other options.

"Tani-kun doesn't really expect anything from me, as he thought he was able to figure something out by himself. It's concerning how young people these days misuse their words, there should be a reform of the Japanese Language education. You only use the word 'expect' in occasions like......"

As expected of Mayaka. Just when I thought she was merely listening, she spoke with her usual annoyed tone,

"Like how Oreki beat you in figuring something out?"

Bravo. I clapped my hands,

"...... Wow, how'd you know? I didn't even tell anybody about it,"

"If it's Fuku-chan, I could tell just by looking,"

Was I really the type to show stuff on my face?

Approaching the gymnasium, the corridor was still full of smiling students from Kami High. Everyone either felt fully satisfied, or wanted to spend as much fun as they could in these three days. Dwarfed by such laughter, we could hardly hear each other speak. And so I pretended not to hear Mayaka's reply.

"...... Fuku-chan, did you want to beat Oreki that much?"

Yet I was unable to ignore that. No, that's not it, that's not what I had intended, but......

"Well, it's complicated for guys. You wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you,"

Glancing sideways at me, Mayaka muttered something without making any sound. I managed to make out "That's not true" by her lip movements. It's just that Mayaka rarely makes such a quiet expression, and I've not seen her like that before.

So in response, I cheerfully placed my hands behind my head and said,

"I should have realized from the start now that I think about it. I was careless. He's the sort that would finish things off neatly without making any unnecessary movements for not even a moment,"

Mayaka tilted her head to signal she doesn't understand what I was saying. Entering the connecting passageway, we got closer to the gymnasium where the Closing Ceremony will be held. With a voice that the Kami High Students around us could hear, I spoke clearly. After all, this was something I felt no shame in saying as I was very sure of it,

"I can't come to any conclusions just based on my own database alone."

Mayaka smiled bitterly in response.

064 - ♥15

In the end, Irisu-san was able to sell all 30 copies of Hyouka that I gave to her, that's 15% of the total amount of copies. I never thought we would be able to sell them off via this method, so I was at a lost at how to thank her.

Handing me a small nylon bag containing the proceedings, Irisu-san said softly,

"If I could, I had wanted to sell them at the full price,"

"No, that's more than enough,"

Those 30 copies were sold at a 50 yen discount, still 150 yen is worth more than nothing. It's better to sell these 30 copies at a discount than discard them completely, after all.

While I haven't heard the exact figures from Oreki-san, but I hear that he's sold quite a lot of copies in the Geology Room. I was able to feel some relief at last after such a long anxious Cultural Festival. After that...... yes, all that's left is to investigate the person known as "Juumonji-san". I'll do this. There's nothing that can stop me.

After giving my awkward thanks, I was about to return when Irisu-san stopped me.

"Yes?"

"Hmm...... I think I'd better say this to you now.

It is rare for Irisu-san to be so hesitant with her words. I wonder if it's something important? I stood up straight and replied,

"Yes, what is it?"

She spoke as though carefully choosing her words,

"My advice...... I heard you using it on the school radio broadcast."

Oh, the school radio broadcast. Anyone in school would have heard that broadcast. Even though I knew that already, when being told of that fact, it still felt a little embarrassing.

Still, it was thanks to Irisu-san that my radio interview went smoothly. That's right, I must thank her properly for this,

"It's thanks to Irisu-san that I was able to do this properly, I......"

"It's about that,"

Irisu-san interrupted me with a forceful tone,

"I was too naive. I never thought you would reenact what I had advised.

"I knew what your intention was when you agreed to appear on that radio programme. You probably brought a memo along with you when you went, right? So I'm going to tell you clearly, you're not suited for this sort of thing."

"......"

Without realizing, I nodded gently.

Once she began, Irisu-san showed no sign of stopping,

"Unless I'm mistaken, I always knew you are the type to not want to rely on the help of others.

"Yet, I don't think you should go on manipulating expectations of other people like that. With the way way you spoke and demeanor you put on, it makes you sound very dependent. While it's a very effective way to give someone the illusion that they're reliable. Yet it's risky for you to go on like that, not just in the long term, but in the short term as well,"

She gave a very serious advice.

She was right. I realized I was very uncomfortable with myself after that radio broadcast. During that time, or rather, during these three days, I wondered if I was being too dependent on other people.

Maybe I was too conscious of my relationship with Oreki-san. Anxiously aware that I was constantly making him do the explanation on things I don't understand, without even trying to figure it out myself.

However.

To rely on this many people, and to get some deal out of them was, how should I say this? ...... Yes, to quote from Oreki-san, this goes against my personal creed.

I think it's problematic to rely on someone else to solve one's own problems. While it is true that the Classics Club was unable to sell all the anthologies on its own, but I'm not used to such a solution. I was unable to distinguish between 'expectation' and 'reliance'. Could my fatigue last night be related to such anxieties?

With some trepidation, I asked,

"Did I really sound that dependent?"

Irusu-san raised her hand to the side of her face, and lifted her little finger.

"...... Girlfriend?"

"No, I mean you sounded as dependent as the tip of my finger,"

Irisu-san continued,

"If you keep on with such an act, sooner or later pretending can turn into your reality. It's true that you've never negotiated like that before...... but in that case, you should have placed your expectations on people who could do the task. What I'm trying to say is, you should quit with such unskilled maneuvering and just say what you want to say. While going straight to the point is often your weakness, on the other hand, it could also be your greatest weapon...... You understand what I mean?"

Yes, I do. Irisu-san was worried about me.

Though with apologies to her, she may be worrying too much. So I gave her a reassuring smile andsaid,

"Yes, I was thinking the same thing...... I just felt I wasn't suited for such a thing. Umm, in other words...... I'm tired of it."

Irisu-san smiled gently in response.