Kind Hero Incident: A 45-year-old Truth Uncovered
By Houtarou Oreki
The primary purpose of this anthology is to lay bare the truth about the hero of Kamiyama High School's Kanya Festival, the events surrounding his expulsion and the creation of the Hyouka anthology. It is the story of a hero who does not wish to be remembered as a hero, one who would rather his accomplishments be lost to time. Were you to ask him, he would humbly say he did what any decent person likely would have done in his situation, one of several steps he took to disguise the impact he made on his alma mater. His measures were unnecessary, as even this lie has been forgotten over the course of our school's storied history until now. Today, we present to you the facts and nothing more.
In the late sixties, with activism running through the boiling blood of every student in our fair school, a fatal mistake was made by our faculty. A blind pursuit of education at the expense of all else led them to choose to reduce the length of our cultural festival from five days to two. Perhaps, knowing that our current festival lasts only three days, you believe you already know the outcome of this story. This is another falsehood lost to history. In truth, the entire student body rose up in response to the faculty's oppression. Walk outs, bonfires, protests, nothing sans outright violence was prohibited. And who was responsible for this ardent fervor? Only one name was permitted to pass by the lips of anyone questioned. Jun Sekitani, former Classics Club member and leader of the rebellion movement 45 years ago was that student. To claim to be the head of this movement was a mantle Jun Sekitani did not accept readily, yet in the end he was compelled to accept this role for the sake of his comrades in the student body by his bleeding heart. His efforts bore fruit when the faculty relented and allowed the festival to continue for its traditional five days, but such victories never come without great costs.
Drunk on the freedom found in their rebellion, the student body held a bonfire too close to the site of the old Martial Arts Building. Nothing was salvaged from the uncaring flames when the bonfire grew out of control. There was no way to excuse such wanton destruction of property, regardless of original intent. It is here that our hero truly earned the title he has shunned to this day. Sensing the brewing ramifications of the actions of his friends, he chose to end the conflict by himself. Forty-five years ago, he was the leader of a movement by the entire student body to prevent the cultural festival from being shortened from five days to two. Forty-five years ago, Jun Sekitani published the first volume of Hyouka as a capstone on a rose-colored high school life cut gloriously short. The name of this anthology, Hyouka, was chosen by Jun as a message for future generations of the Classics Club. He means to claim to be alive but dead at the same time though a pun on the English word ice cream, screaming despite being unable to be heard as a final layer of dirt kicked over the truth buried by time. Only in what happened next was the irony of this statement truly made known.
Jun Sekitani was expelled 4 months after the then-named Kanya Festival in his honor concluded. With his work done, there was no more need for a hero at Kamiyama High School. On this fact alone the students and faculty could find common ground. Expulsion from the land he fought to protect was not, however, out of Jun's control, as even he himself might have believed. Instead, the tragic hero's desire to ensure the accomplishments of his thankless job were sustained was strong enough to compel him to walk away from witnessing the fruits of his labors. Though it may not have been what he expected, the rose-colored life Sekitani Jun led in his brief tenure at this school 45 years ago was perhaps brighter and more vivid than any others who have come before or after him. Without question, there is no better case study for what the paragon of freedom and pride as students of our fair school should look like in the face of oppression. We of the current generation of the Classics Club salute our founder and strive to live up to his shining example for the benefit of the student body and our school as a whole. As you enjoy this year's cultural festival, please spare a moment to thank those who came before you and fought to make it possible.
Ominous grey clouds hid a stagnant late morning atmosphere from the world outside Kamiyama High School. Rather than providing a respite from the summer heat, the brewing storm had captured the oppressive zeal of those not entrapped by schoolwork and circulated it through every hallway and classroom. Those few hostages who remained could all sense the pregnant moment before a downpour stopped in time, awaiting the worst possible instant to strike, and acted with the muted haste brought about by that dreadful anticipation. The air was stale, only the barest hints of rain detectable to the nose if one concentrated in the vacuum left by too many empty rooms. Nobody in their right mind would be anywhere but home on such a dull summer day if they could help it, and it was for this reason that Mayaka Ibara found her footsteps stuttering as she approached the school's front entrance. Her body protested entering the hot zone in front of it, but Mayaka's mind was stronger, at least for the moment. She made it as far as the door with her eyes trained solely on her goal before she realized she'd made a mistake. "Hey, don't ignore me," the mistake complained.
Mayaka only had a brief instant to hide her embarrassed blush as a freshman accosted her from his spot against a nearby wall. When she faced Houtarou Oreki, Mayaka was wearing her best irritated expression. "Couldn't wait until we got to the clubroom? Creepy," she accused as she let Houtarou come to a stop a few steps below her, making them appear to be the same height. "Just because nobody's around doesn't give you the right to be weird."
Houtarou's emerald eyes regarded Mayaka with the disinterest of someone who'd done what he was about to do innumerable times, eyelids struggling to keep the body conscious. His school uniform's monochromatic black color felt more sinister when it fit so easily into the slowly greying background around them. Though impossible, Mayaka could believe that Houtarou had brought about the aberrant weather himself by the way it accepted his presence so naturally compared to the few hurried pedestrians she'd passed on the way to school. Mayaka felt her soul threatening to be severed from her body as Houtarou dug into his pocket suspiciously for something. Much as she disliked Houtarou and his lifestyle, his current state had elevated him from irritating to enervating just to be around.
To Mayaka, Houtarou was an antithesis to the active high school life valued by normal people, a walking drought of vigor that purported energy conservation as his primary life goal. Despite this, until recently he'd begrudgingly gone along with the activities of their Classics Club, helping their headstrong leader Eru Chitanda solve various mysteries around the school for reasons Mayaka couldn't fathom. It was only after he'd failed to figure out the intended ending of the filmography club's unfinished movie that he'd regressed into his current pitiable state. An involuntary step backwards Mayaka took was shamed into being retracted with a look from Houtarou. Childish. He's just being a kid who wants to give up at the first sign of conflict, to be a victim. You make one mistake and suddenly the whole damn world collapses, Oreki? How many mysteries and problems that nobody else could solve did you handle before last month? I almost miss the sarcastic jerk Oreki. At least I could tell he was human, if not a lazy grey one. The form of Houtarou Oreki presented a drab piece of paper that Mayaka mistook for a contract for her soul for a second. "The manuscript story," he explained brusquely.
His voice was quiet, more brittle than the paper in his hand. Mayaka's image of a reaper set on bringing down pestilence to the rose-colored life of high schoolers everywhere wavered long enough for Houtarou to tilt his head. "Huh? Oh, thanks, I- wait!" Mayaka exclaimed, snatching the fellow freshman by the collar as he tried to walk away. "Hold on a minute. At least let me make sure you completed it right before you go wandering off. This is our contribution to the cultural festival, so it has to be good. Besides, I called Chii-chan and Fuku-chan to come look over it today too."
The boy only grunted in response, unwilling to stick around but even more unwilling to fight over it. Grateful for the second time nobody was around to see them, Mayaka flipped through the manuscript story Houtarou had written. As she turned the pages over with her free hand Mayaka's brow began to furrow. The monotonous voice that had called her over couldn't have written something so passionately wrong. Though what was described was the story of a hero, a pit had formed in Mayaka's stomach that only grew with each word she read, the true nature of Houtarou the reaper becoming terrifyingly clear to her. Characters started to melt through the page, black ink leaking everywhere and threatening to drown Mayaka along with the truth about the Jun Sekitani incident she and the Classics Club had worked so hard to discover. Houtarou stared up at the gathering clouds dispassionately, oblivious to the wretched effects of his work as Mayaka's disbelief started to coalesce into rage. When she'd finished, she glared at the boy refusing to meet her gaze. So that's it then? One mistake and you decide that you're done with us? Is that what you're trying to say? Houtarou the reaper didn't respond to Mayaka's accusatory glare, letting the gathering storm around him answer Mayaka's unasked questions.
When she could bear the insufferable silence no longer, Mayaka spun Houtarou around by the collar, nearly choking him. "What the hell is this?" she demanded, shoving the manuscript back in Houtarou's face. "This isn't even close to the truth we uncovered. Can't you take anything seriously?"
"I did take it seriously," Houtarou defended emotionlessly. "If I didn't you'd have made me do it again."
"You think I'm not going to make you do this again?" Mayaka snapped. "We all worked together to find the truth about the Jun Sekitani incident for our club's and Chii-chan's sake as his nephew, but you wrote this just like he was the hero you initially thought he was. Where's the part about how he had no intention of leading the student body in the first place? Where's the mention of the student who was the actual leader of the movement? Did you forget what Chii-chan told us her uncle's thoughts on the matter were?"
The tirade had little effect on Houtarou, failing to even disturb the dark brown mop of hair on his head as infuriating apathy met Mayaka's demands. "If you don't like the way it was written, you're free to change it. I included all the facts in there. If you're done, can you let me go now?"
Mayaka stamped her foot on the ground. "Of course not! We're going to the clubroom right now and you're going to explain yourself to me and the others!"
This proposal was the first thing that had garnered a reaction from the boy. His expression was suddenly both lucid and fearful, if only for a brief instant, such that Mayaka was compelled to loosen her grip on him. By the time she'd realized what was happening, Houtarou was out of her reach. "If I wanted to do that I'd have done it," He responded like nothing had happened. "Go show them if that's what you want to do. I'm going home before the storm comes."
Complete rejection wasn't a surprise to Mayaka, but the lack of emotion in Houtarou's tone was. Despite the boy's self-proclaimed commitment to conserving energy whenever possible, he'd proven himself to be more than capable of pitching in when necessary, and he wasn't usually one to take a verbal lashing without having something of his own to say. This didn't mean Mayaka trusted him to get a job done, but she did at least expect an explanation when such failures happened. She'd even started to believe Houtarou might be capable of enjoying himself before the club had been asked to solve the filmography club's movie murder mystery. Since Houtarou had failed to find the complete truth he'd moped his way to the end of the semester and through the first part of summer. Mayaka didn't personally care according to her, but it certainly made their already tenuous relationship as members of the Classics Club that much more annoying to deal with. Now, staring into the empty eyes of the boy, she wondered if perhaps she should have said something to him sooner. Suddenly the black sea of lies she'd been drowning in had a single grey island on the horizon. A boy sat there, watching her struggle to stay afloat but unable to do anything to help her. Though she was the one who was lost, Mayaka couldn't help but want to reach out to the truth she'd glimpsed at, if only briefly.
"W-wait!" Mayaka insisted, getting between Houtarou and the exit. "Listen, Oreki, I'm not mad, okay? Let's just go talk about this in the clubroom. Whatever you're dealing with I-"
"Dealing with?" Houtarou asked, genuinely confused. "What are you talking about? I did what you asked me to do. It's about to rain. Is it wrong to not want to get wet?"
Mayaka found herself unable to meet the sudden intensity in Houtarou's eyes. "Well, no, but like I said, I told Fuku-chan and Chii-chan that we'd go over the manuscript together today. Help us understand where you're coming from at least."
Another dramatic pause still wasn't enough time to convince Houtarou to turn back to face his friend as he walked slowly past her. "The final deduction I made about Jun Sekitani was wrong," he affirmed quietly. "He's a special guy. Like I said, all the facts we found showing it are in there."
There was no doubt that Houtarou was dodging the point on purpose. "And that gives you the right to drop this in my hands like it's the final word and walk away? Don't you care about how our anthology turns out? You can't make these decisions without us! That's how you messed up the movie-" A glance backwards from Houtarou caused Mayaka to realize what she was saying and cut herself off.
"Can you prove my deduction wrong?" he questioned, raising his voice slightly.
Mayaka opened her mouth, but the stinging rebuke to Houtarou's points wouldn't come. Looking at Houtarou's manuscript, Mayaka was certain that it was specious at best, but she couldn't point to any individual piece of the article that could be identified as objectively false. Sensing this, Houtarou nodded to himself and turned away. "Then I'll see you later," he waved off, striding past a disgruntled Mayaka and back down the road towards his home.
The grey aura that had been emanating from the freshman lingered behind him as his form grew smaller to Mayaka, mingling with the air around it and making it harder for her to keep her head above water as she tried to refocus on the issue at hand. By the time she'd brought herself back to reality, Houtarou was gone. Rage that had abandoned Mayaka seconds ago returned in full force as she stumbled inside to find breathable air again. The island she'd seen sank below the horizon as the reaper that had claimed Houtarou Oreki disappeared, leaving only unanswered questions and no direction for Mayaka to place her righteous anger. I don't get it. I don't understand at all. Houtarou's a jerk, but why would he blatantly ignore the truth and refuse to take any responsibility for it? Even that's too far for him. It even goes against his energy conservation principles. And I just daydreamed my way out of dragging the truth from him. Damn it. I need to get to the bottom of this. With that sentiment in mind, Mayaka found herself storming towards her original destination, the Geography Prep Room that currently served as the headquarters for the Classic Literature Club.
As she made her way through the empty halls, Mayaka began to berate herself further with neurotic mumblings only she could hear. It was her own fault for being so lax with the deadline on the rest of the club. To expect anything out of Houtarou Oreki when there was no proverbial gun to his head was foolish. And yet Mayaka's footsteps still carried her up towards the Geography Prep Room, Houtarou's manuscript crumpling in her vice grip. The passive threat from the grey sky above only reminded her that the source of her problems had fled before she could do anything as she flung the door to her clubroom open. The room's sole occupant, freshman and fellow club member Satoshi Fukube, glanced up in alarm then relaxed when he recognized her. "Mayaka! Hope you aren't here to cool off, it's no cooler up here compared to the library. Hey, listen, great timing. About my part of the Hyouka anthology, I'm probably gonna need another day or three to-" Satoshi silenced himself as Mayaka slammed the crinkled manuscript on the table Satoshi was sitting at.
"I haven't gone to the library yet," Mayaka corrected, making a note in her head to chew out Satoshi for his own failings later. "Oreki showed up and just shoved this in my hands before running off instead of coming here to show everyone like he said he would."
Satoshi leaned over and eyed the manuscript's title. "Ah, so Houtarou finally finished the headline Jun Sekitani story for our Hyouka anthology, huh? Something wrong with it?"
A murderous look informed Satoshi that it was his responsibility to answer that question. Shrugging, he scanned the article while Mayaka started pacing, her frustrations burning useless energy as she tried to determine Oreki's motive. Rose-colored light that normally coated the clubroom around this time of the morning had vanished and left in its place the stench of Houtarou Oreki despite the student not being here. The notorious energy conservationist had apparently stolen the life from this room as well when he left, weakening even the lights Satoshi had turned on in an effort to ignore the oncoming storm's presence. Their cluttered room at the end of the hall on the top floor of the school was cozy enough most days, to put it nicely, but Mayaka often wondered if it ever got used for anything other than an escape from responsibility for the four current members of the Classics Club. Then again, that's exactly what I wanted it to be. I thought at least we all agreed on that. And yet Oreki of all people seems to be intent on disturbing that peace. It's like he can't be bothered to take any pride in anything he does. Moron. Satoshi glanced up in confusion at the antsy girl in front of her, prompting Mayaka to blush and find her seat.
Annoyed as she was, making a fool of herself in front of Satoshi wasn't an option. It was hard enough getting him to take her feelings seriously without putting herself at a disadvantage by coming off like a loon. Instead, Mayaka tapped her foot impatiently in time with the rolling grey clouds until Satoshi set the manuscript down with a sigh. As he did, Mayaka leaned forward assertively. "It's crazy, right? We can't let him get away with this. Does he care at all about how hard I'm working on this anthology for the club? Don't answer that. Just help me convince him to come back so I can destroy him."
Satoshi merely raised his hands and grinned sheepishly in place of the person who couldn't defend themselves. "Peace, peace, Mayaka. I'm sure Houtarou had a very deliberate reason for ignoring the truth as we understand it. Did you ask him before you came storming up here?"
"Of course, and he didn't answer me. What do you think I came here to do?" Mayaka huffed. "I assumed Chii-chan would be able to get some answers out of him, but it looks like she's not here yet. That's probably why Oreki just decided to not show up to the clubroom in the first place, that conniving jerk. Sure, when he calls meetings, everyone has to show up, but when I say we actually have to do the one job we have as Classics Club members, suddenly attendance is optional, huh? I didn't go to all that trouble setting up this anthology for it to be filled with lies Oreki has the gall to tout as the absolute truth." The irate freshman could have kept going had Satoshi's hand not appeared on her shoulder.
The boy's eyes reflected Mayaka's nettled state and bade her calm down. "I get that you're angry, but I'm not sure what you want me to say to you. I've known Houtarou about as long as you have, and I expect only Chitanda-san would be able to do something about it at this point," Satoshi deflected, releasing his friend and returning to his seat calmly.
Realizing that she was leaning across the table to yell at someone who wasn't at fault, Mayaka took a moment to breathe as she sank back into her chair. Dying morning light caught up to the girl along with the reality of the situation. The current Classics Club had been brought together by the solving of the mystery of what happened to one of the club's founders 45 years ago, and now Houtarou Oreki was trying to throw all that away. Though Mayaka's crimson aura had faded, the burning righteous anger in her heart remained unchecked. "Jun Sekitani was expelled from Kamiyama High School after being forced to lead a student rebellion against the faculty he wanted no part in," Mayaka reminded her friend. "This manuscript paints him as some gallant hero who planned everything from the beginning, right down to getting expelled. It's almost identical to Houtarou's original interpretation of events before we learned the real truth from our librarian. What am I supposed to do about this?"
Throughout the entire encounter, Satoshi had remained strangely calm. "You could rewrite it yourself," He suggested, earning him a glare. "Yeah, yeah, I know. He's been out of sorts since he couldn't figure out the ending of that movie a while back. Houtarou's more sensitive than you're giving him credit for."
"He can be as sensitive as he wants when he's not on my time," Mayaka responded dispassionately. "This was for the entire club's sake. I don't have time to nurse his ego back to health every time he makes a mistake."
Two of the four members of the Classic Literature Club at Kamiyama High School allowed the silence left by the other two members to fill the room as Mayaka's implications sat heavily around them. How could he pull a stunt like this again? After all this time, I think he's finally starting to change, and here I am getting the short end of the stick for trusting someone. Damn you, Houtarou Oreki. It had only been 3 months since she'd joined the reformed Classic Literature Club, but Mayaka already felt like it had been a lifetime.
Between the club's de facto leader Eru Chitanda dragging them into every minor mystery that caught her attention, Houtarou claiming to have no interest in anything while constantly showing her and the others up with his mystery solving abilities, and Satoshi doing his best to pretend her feelings for him didn't exist, she was lucky her hair had maintained its brown pigment. But it's been fun, overall. Even Oreki was tolerable when Chii-chan was convincing him to be more than a bump on a log. Stupid filmography club, filming a mystery movie without knowing what the ending was. Stupid Houtarou for thinking he could solve the mystery himself. I thought we had something interesting going. Am I the only one who felt that way? "The least you could do is agree with me, you know," Mayaka accused with another light glare. "Aren't you just a little angry that he decided not to tell the truth?"
"Oh, I'm definitely upset," Satoshi agreed with an amicable nod. "Miffed, even. This isn't like Houtarou, though. Slacker that he is, he wouldn't outright lie about the truth for no benefit, which means there's more to it than what you're saying. He knows it'll just make everyone put more pressure on him. It goes directly against his energy conservation lifestyle."
"That's why this is exactly like him!" Mayaka snapped, causing Satoshi to start in his seat. "And either way we need to chew him out. You didn't answer me. What do you know about what he's doing this for?"
Satoshi shrugged, his lack of interest starting to get on Mayaka's nerves. "Beats me. He never came up here, remember? I figured he was just avoiding Chitanda-san to get back to his summer weekend, or he didn't want to get poured on."
The word weekend caused Mayaka to remember something critical. "Crap, it's Friday. He knows I have library duty today. That bastard, he planned this, didn't he? He knew if he gave it to me when I had other things to do he wouldn't have to face the consequences of his actions. Oh, that bum's not getting away with this. I can probably still catch up him if I-" Mayaka was cut off by Satoshi shaking his head.
"Just let it go, Mayaka," he advised calmly. "We're not going to change his mind by arguing with him the way he is now. Let's just rewrite it. Chitanda-san and I can help you."
"That would be nice," Mayaka muttered without thinking about it.
At this Freudian slip, Satoshi grinned in a way that caused Mayaka's heart to skip a beat. For just an instant, the gloom of the morning was shattered by a ray of light coming from the boy seated casually in front of her. It wasn't rose-colored, but Mayaka wanted to reach out to any source of color that wasn't grey at this point. She doubted Houtarou or Satoshi would believe her, but she didn't enjoy having to default to red anger to motivate everything. "Great, then we can do it today," Satoshi agreed, rising from his seat. "Let's tell Chitanda-san and go to the library." He offered a hand to help Mayaka up.
The offer of spending time with her friends, even for work, was tempting enough to give Mayaka pause. She'd never tell the others, but the Classics Club was her respite, a place to spend time with people who she felt like she could be herself around. And as much as I hate to admit it, Oreki was one of those people until recently. There's more to this than him avoiding work. Carefully, Mayaka rose up by herself, shaking her head. "I'd like to, but that would defeat the purpose of us putting this anthology together, and I think Chii-chan would agree," Mayaka denied, earning a raised eyebrow from Satoshi.
"And you suddenly care about Houtarou's feelings?" he questioned suspiciously as he retracted his hand. "Interesting. I didn't know you liked Houtarou so much."
This claim triggered Mayaka's instinctive response to fold her arms and look away. "Moron. You know it's not like that. He's the most irritating person I know."
"So you're constantly thinking about him?" Satoshi guessed, his smirk giving his thought process away easily. "Sounds to me like-"
"Shut it!" Mayaka snapped, snatching up the manuscript. "Don't think I've forgotten about you either, Fuku-chan. At least Oreki bothered to finish his manuscript."
At this, Satoshi frowned. "The deadline's not for a few days though, isn't it? I thought you wanted more time for Houtarou's story since it was the main one. Besides, when he showed me the manuscript a few days ago I thought mine was- oh, crud." At his slip up, one incredibly angry Mayaka was bearing down on him.
The irritation at being jerked around all morning finally spilled out on a terrified Satoshi. "Now you listen here. I've had it up to here with you and Oreki writing this off for so long. If you knew he wrote it like that, why didn't you say something sooner? Hell, why do you think we formed this club in the first place?"
Before Satoshi could answer, the clubroom door slid open and distracted both parties. Eru Chitanda burst into the room, panting slightly. "S-sorry I'm late! There was some new construction going on at the road and- are you fighting?" she asked tilting her head.
Mayaka blinked, as if she noticed what she was doing at the same time as Eru. Satoshi recovered first, backing off and bowing slightly to Mayaka. "Sorry, Mayaka. Houtarou asked me to wait to say anything until he showed it to you. Which I was against, but I should have said something." It wasn't perfect, but recognizing what was happening, Mayaka decided to relent as well.
"Sorry I snapped at you. This is bothering me more than it should, I guess," Mayaka sighed, leaning against the table with one hand.
Even without Eru's interruption, Mayaka doubted her anger would have led to anything productive had she pushed Satoshi further. Despite how much effort he went to ensuring that her feelings weren't reciprocated, Mayaka still felt some attraction to the boy who was now rocking back and forth on the hind legs of his chair. She'd never tried to hide that fact, and Satoshi had never tried to acknowledge it either, their odd relationship carrying from middle school to their time as clubmates in high school. It didn't stop her from becoming infuriated with her friend who caused almost as many headaches as Houtarou, but the emotion rarely stuck long enough to matter. "But next time, tell us," Mayaka warned bluntly. "Especially for something like this."
"What did I miss?" Eru asked, approaching the pair. "And where is Oreki-san?"
In response, Mayaka handed Eru the manuscript she'd reclaimed from Satoshi. "Look at this, Chii-chan. It's Houtarou's draft for the manuscript."
"He finished it?" Eru asked redundantly as her eyes scanned the pages.
As she read over Mayaka's explanation of the events right before she arrived, her bright violet eyes sparkled in what Mayaka initially presumed was curiosity before she noticed the tears forming beneath then. Oh right. Jun Sekitani is Chii-chan's uncle. Missing in India as of 7 years ago, presumed dead. Oreki knows that. So why the hell would he lie about this guy's history knowing that Chii-chan would find out? And why do I have to be the one to break this news on her? Anger overwhelmed what little curiosity Mayaka had felt over the entire situation as she shared a look of concern with Satoshi.
"I'm curious!" Eru announced, startling Satoshi and Mayaka with a complete lack of sadness in her expression.
Though this had partially been her intention, Mayaka still couldn't believe Eru had worked through whatever other emotions had been running through her mind as she'd read Houtarou's work. "Uh, are you sure, Chii-chan?" Mayaka asked. "I mean, Houtarou basically just lied about your uncle being a hero in our anthology."
"Of course!" Eru insisted, pacing over to the table in the center of the room and setting the manuscript down on it. "For starters, why did Oreki-san draft the story like this? He told the truth, yes, but he framed it like my uncle was still a tragic hero as you said. I'm curious about why he did that because it doesn't seem like something he'd do without consulting us. I'm also curious about why he decided to phrase that line about the naming of Hyouka the way he did. It makes it seem like he decided on that before the incident he believed would lead to his expulsion, but we never determined that order of events. Finally, I'm curious about Oreki-san's reasoning for making it seem like my uncle embraced the role he was given so ardently. Where is he? Has he said anything to you?"
"You know as much as we do," Satoshi waved off. "Unfortunately, it looks like he decided to go somewhere else for the day. He didn't answer his phone when I called this morning, either."
"Curious…" Eru muttered to herself, pacing around the table. "Then we'll have to find him if we want to solve this mystery!"
"Or we could just give him a piece of our minds later," Satoshi suggested helpfully. "We do have our own duties to attend to here, after all, or at least Mayaka-san and I do."
Eru, seeming to just now remember this fact, practically deflated as the adventure she'd planned for her club fell apart instantly. "Ah, of course. My apologies, Mayaka-chan. We'll have to postpone things until tomorrow, I suppose."
"Now hold on," Satoshi interrupted. "We don't have to give up just because Mayaka is busy, Chitanda-san. Why don't you go hit up Oreki's house and see if he'll be willing to chat with you? I'm sure he knows it's coming anyways."
Mayaka raised an eyebrow. "Oi, Fuku-chan. Why're you stirring up trouble for Oreki when nobody's around to enjoy it? I thought you just wanted to rewrite the paper?"
Satoshi apparently didn't notice the implications Mayaka was sending him with her voice. "Sure, and we still can, but that won't answer any of Chitanda-san's questions. I'm busy and you're busy, but as usual, Houtarou didn't account for Chitanda-san. If it wasn't him, I'd say he intentionally made it so only she could pursue the truth."
"Oh, no, it's okay!" Eru insisted, though the look on her face was telling of her desire to solve Houtarou's mystery. "We can wait until everyone is available tomorrow, really!"
As soon as she said it, Mayaka realized both that it was impossible for that to work and that Satoshi knew it too and had chosen not to say anything. "No, no we can't. Fuku-chan has that family trip tomorrow, don't you?"
Guiltily, Satoshi rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I was planning on finishing my manuscript while I was gone. But you know, I don't care what you decide to do. If you want to confront Houtarou without me, it's fine, so-"
"It's not fine!" Eru insisted before Mayaka could speak up. "We all worked together to solve this mystery, so it's only right that we see it through together! I can go look for Oreki-san right now and see if he will come back here to speak with us. How about that?"
Mayaka's ruby eyes shone, confusing Eru as she found her hands taken in Mayaka's. "Thank you for understanding," she thanked wholeheartedly. "Please, find him. We'll wait for you."
With that decided over Satoshi's protests, Chitanda made her way out of the room with a wave, leaving Mayaka staring at an irritated Satoshi. "What? You said you had things to do here anyways, right? Or is it something else you left me out of the loop of?"
There was a brief pause while Satoshi collected himself, a default smile absorbing his emotions. "Of course not. I was just thinking about something in the library that might be worth checking out."
Mayaka hadn't realized that Satoshi's intended destination was the same as hers. To hide this, she turned her head and scoffed. "You should have just said so. If we're going, then let's go already."
The trip to the library was uneventful, with Satoshi remaining surprisingly quiet and leaving Mayaka to her thoughts until they'd reached the front entrance. Though she wanted to ask Satoshi what his thoughts were on the way, Mayaka could tell that Satoshi wasn't open to the idea of discussing things at the moment. As she made her way behind the front desk, Satoshi nodded towards the far wall of the library. "Well, I'm gonna check out some books in the back. You want anything?"
An eyebrow was raised in response. "You're asking like it's not my job to bring you books you can't find," she accused without any humor in her voice.
Satoshi smirked as he glanced at some of the books on display. "Aw, come on, don't be like that. I'm just trying to help out."
"Please let me know if there's something I can get for you, sir," Mayaka sarcastically replied as she settled into her seat.
It was truthfully a bit pointless in Mayaka's mind for her to have library assistant duties today. Given that it was summer, most of the student body was off doing other things anyways, and those who weren't had very specific purposes that generally didn't involve whiling time away in the library. She generally enjoyed spending time in their school's library, which ironically gave her similar vibes to her time spent in the Classics Club, but the lack of people was somewhat unnerving. Scattered tables that normally housed study groups and high schoolers browsing novels sat open and unused. If she strained her ears, she could almost trick herself into hearing her own voice echoing through the aisles as she greeted the school librarian. The only real benefit of the role was that it gave Mayaka more time to consider her options for dealing with the current situation. This quickly turned out to be a fruitless endeavor as no plan for corralling Houtarou the reaper of roses came to her while she watched Satoshi bumble about and chat up the librarian. Suppressing the urge to wander over and see what he was doing was difficult, but Mayaka wasn't about to just let him off the hook for failing to tell her and Eru about Houtarou's manuscript. The least he could have done was let me know that I would probably end up rewriting it. That boy never fails to make my life difficult. Both of them. Mou. I joined the Classics Club because they were interesting, and the second something goes wrong it turns into this. What am I supposed to do about it? These thoughts failed to lead the girl to any meaningful conclusions.
Only long after Satoshi left, claiming he'd found what he was looking for despite not checking out any books that Mayaka had seen, did the present catch up the girl with a thunderous crash. The freshman jumped up in her seat at the reminder of the coming typhoon. A few drops of rain had started to fall, the conditions reminding Mayaka of a drooling starved beast being held back from pouncing. Damn it. I'm too jumpy today. It's stupid Oreki's fault. If he hadn't gone rouge then I could have submitted our manuscript for approval already. Why would he go back on the solution we all worked to find? No, that's a stupid question. There's no other reason than his damn smug pride. He just always has to be right about everything, doesn't he?
"Are you feeling alright, Ibuki-san?" A kind voice came from right behind her. "Who are you talking about?"
Mayaka whirled around and came face to face with the librarian, Youko Itoigawa. "I-Itoigawa-sensei! You startled me."
Mrs. Itoigawa smiled knowingly. "My apologies. Are you feeling alright? You've been moody ever since you got here."
The idea of confessing her frustrations to the librarian was turned over a few times in Mayaka's head. It was only because of Mrs. Itoigawa that they'd come to the conclusion that Oreki was choosing to ignore, that Sekitani Jun had become the martyr for the student body unwillingly. She should know about this mystery too. "Well, the thing is, when we had Oreki write up the story for the anthology about Sekitani Jun, he messed up the narrative that we'd established when we talked to you about it," Mayaka admitted, her cheeks flaring red in frustration. "I just don't get it. I mean, I know he likes to be right, but to blatantly ignore the truth, it's-"
"One moment, please," Mrs. Itoigawa requested as Mayaka started to go off on a tangent. "Fukube-san mentioned something similar. Could I see the story you're referring to? He said you'd have it."
Realizing that she was getting ahead of herself, Mayaka handed the papers over to the librarian. After scanning the document with the speed of someone who lived around books her whole life, Mrs. Itoigawa nodded to herself. "It's a bit short, but I think it sums up the events well enough," She concluded. "What's wrong with it?"
Mayaka was stunned to find that the island she'd seen off in the distance had another inhabitant. "What's wrong with it? It paints Sekitani Jun as some gallant hero who fell on the sword intentionally instead of someone who was so frustrated with how things turned out that he couldn't even voice his opposition! It doesn't make any sense! How could you be okay with that?"
Mrs. Itoigawa raised her hand for calm. Had there been more students in the library, Mayaka might have been making a scene. Instead, her voice was almost silenced by the first wave of rain as it crashed onto the mosaic windows lining the library's halls. "Yes, it's true that Sekitani Jun did not choose to be the leader of that movement 45 years ago. It's also true that he never indicated any sort of pride in the role, rather a sort of resigned opposite. However, he was not silent. Oh, he was never silent. When Oreki-san revealed that pun, it seemed so obvious, I never realized it."
"Realized what?"
"Realized that Sekitani Jun actually enjoyed being a leader. Not enough to risk being expelled, mind you, but I suppose he felt comfortable enough with the mantle. You know, he was there for every major event the student body organized in demonstration against the faculty. Even that terrible night we lost the old Martial Arts building, he was there then too. He fought as hard as anyone to put it out, but there was no saving that building once the flames took it." A long sigh left the librarian's mouth as she looked out the window. "If it had rained like this on that evening, perhaps everything would have turned out differently."
Mayaka's eyes turned out towards the grey landscape as well. I wonder if Oreki got home alright. I haven't heard from Chii-chan either… No, focus, Mayaka. "So you're saying it's possible that Oreki was actually right?" she asked in some disbelief.
The librarian frowned. "More accurately, I'm saying he can't be proven wrong. The only way to learn the real truth would be to ask Jun-san himself."
Ask him himself… Something he would have left behind explaining exactly what he meant… Mayaka's eyes lit up as an idea sparked within her. "Did Oreki come by in the past few days?" Mayaka asked, leaning forward.
Mrs. Itoigawa tilted her head. "Now that you mention it, he did. He didn't check anything out, though."
Mayaka nodded to herself. Before she could pursue that point, however, the PA system crackled to life. "Attention all students and faculty. Due to the inclement weather, a flash flood warning will soon be in effect. All persons on campus should return to their homes for the day if possible. Repeat: Due to the inclement weather, a flash flood warning will soon be in effect. All persons on campus should return to their homes for the day if possible." The part about the deteriorating weather conditions wasn't encouraging, but the excuse to leave overshadowed this concern in Mayaka's mind.
A knowing smile formed on the librarian as she noticed the shift in Mayaka's attitude. "It seems like you have something you need to attend to. Go on. Nobody else will be coming by today."
Though she felt a bit guilty, Mayaka's interest in finding the solution to her annoying friend's behavior was too good an opportunity to pass up. "Thank you, Itoigawa-sensei! I promise I'll make it up to you next week!" With that, Mayaka gathered her things and bolted out of the empty library.
As she made her way to the front of the school, Mayaka's jumbled thoughts started to coalesce into a singular purpose. Fuku-chan and Oreki figured this out before I did. Fuku-chan knew what was going on and he still sent Chii-chan off on her own. Well I figured something out too, you jerk. I'm not letting you solve this mystery without me. I'll show you what it means to take pride in your work. Wait for me, Chii-chan. This thought manifested in a text that Mayaka sent to her friend informing her of her intentions.
After a moment, Mayaka knew that Eru was at the Oreki residence waiting for Houtarou. How that situation came about wasn't a concern of Mayaka's, only that she be there when the boy eventually came home himself. It was tempting to summon Satoshi as well, but she resisted the urge to give in to such weakness. He'd probably just brush me off anyways. I can handle this myself. This resolve lasted all the way to the front door, where the weather reminded Mayaka exactly what her situation was.
Mayaka stared out into the yawning grey expanse in front of her. Not even the odd student or passerby dared to challenge the downpour in front of her. It was as if Houtarou himself had organized the storm to trap his clubmates and prevent them from solving the mystery he'd dumped in their laps before taking off. It made Mayaka want to yell in frustration, which wasn't a terrible idea given how unlikely it was that anyone could hear her. Though she'd had the sense to bring a pink raincoat that she slipped on, the task laid before her was still daunting considering she'd only been by the Oreki residence once before. I could just make a run for it, but if I fall there's a good chance nobody will be able to help. I also don't know exactly where I'm going, and getting lost in this rain could be dangerous. But I can't give up. I refuse to give up. I'm going to solve this mystery and fix everything just to rub it in that jerk's face. With this determination in mind, Mayaka took five steps out into the rain before white lightning crashed across the sky and sent her scrambling back inside. The frustration at her own powerlessness finally overcame her. "Damn it damn it damn it!" she yelled at the rain. "What gives you the right to get in my way, huh?! This was supposed to be something special! You're not allowed to ruin this!"
The rain had nothing to say to Mayaka's slander, continuing to fall at an angle just sharp enough to wet her shoes despite being under an awning. With no better recourse, Mayaka found herself offloading all of her problems into the rain, complaining loudly about whatever issue came to mind. Her struggles getting the manuscript published, dealing with Satoshi and Houtarou, even her issues with her other friends were not spared as Mayaka threw every problem she had at the uncaring grey mass in front of her. The burning pink raincoat glistened with what Mayaka chose to believe was rain as she finally slumped against the wall behind her, out of breath and problems to complain about for the moment. As she did, the rain slackened for a moment, as if acknowledging a threat had passed. The shimmering rain caught stray sunbeams attempting to pierce the grey veil, creating mirages of students passing to and from school like it was any other school day. Mayaka observed this phenomenon thoughtfully as the crystals of light appeared, interacted with each other, and vanished unceremoniously. There and gone. Is that what it really means to live the ultimate rose-colored life, Houtarou? You get to be alive, but you don't? Maybe that's what Jun Sekitani was trying to say. As she pondered over this fact, one of the rays of light happened to illuminate someone's reflection in the glass wall by Mayaka whose form was far to solid to be an illusion of the rain. Blinking, Mayaka turned to see Satoshi had appeared in the doorway next to her. Before she could even begin to process the implications of him witnessing what she'd just been doing and why he was even there, the boy smirked playfully at her and offered his umbrella. "Need directions?"