048 - ?16

Now that sure was quite a blusterous article, though I don't particularly dislike such style.

I didn't really learn much from the part about how the clubs like the A Capella Club and Go Club were targeted. The A Capella Club's cooler box had been placed outside the courtyard from the beginning of their performance, while the Go Club left their Go stones inside their club room the day before the Cultural Festival started without locking the door. In other words, the suspect could have been anyone.

I was probably reading the article posted on the billboard by the entrance with a smiling face. While I hardly know the people from the Wall Newspaper Club, I do get a sort of closeness with them by just reading such an article.

Besides, what moved me was the timing of this special edition. As they were supposed to release a special edition once every two hours (come to think of it, that coincides with the time taken for "Juumoji" to commit his crimes) starting from 8am. But right now it's only a little past 7. They must have pasted this first thing upon arriving at school. They sure got some spirit.

As I too was full of spirits to begin with, there's no way I could lose to them, as I too had arrived at school by 7. To be precise, I was already here when the gates opened at 6. And I was thinking there wouldn't be anyone at this time of day, but there turned out to be quite a number of people. Guess common sense doesn't work during the Kamiyama High School Cultural Festival.

Now, for the main target.

There were two clubs that begin with [KU]: the Quiz Study Club ([KU]IZU KEN クイズ研) and the Global Act Club ([GU]RO-BARU AKUTO KURABU グローバルアクトクラブ). While the [KU] in Quiz Study Club lacked a diacritic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakuten), and would seem like the obvious choice, their activities were already completed by the first day, not to mention they did not book any classroom for use (as a member of the General Committee, I guarantee this to be true). On the other hand, the Global Act Club would be holding a panel exhibition, which was quite rare for the clubs here, which means the door to their room would be open at all times. So by process of elimination, the best way to catch "Juumoji" on his act would be here.

I climbed the stairs and headed to the classroom of Class 3-E, where the Global Act Club would have their exhibition. Before leaving school yesterday, I went to check if they had anything stolen or if any note was left behind, but could find nothing. So by making a stakeout here first thing in the morning before "Juumoji" could act, I was sure of my success in catching him.

Even so......

There was already someone else in the Class 3-E classroom.

"Hey, Fukube, you're late."

It's Tani-kun, and it wasn't just him.

"Hmm? You're with the Classics Club...... Thanks for the help last time. So, you're into this case as well?"

It was Haba Tomohiro-sempai from the second year. I met him during the "Empress Incident" during the summer vacation, he's from the Detective Fiction Study Club if I remember correctly.?Once this becomes public, it'll attract a great deal of attention.?Looks like Tani-kun's prediction was correct. Does that mean I too have been attracted to it as well? Well, I don't deny it though.

Besides these two, there was another student I didn't know standing some distance from us. As this is the last day, it's not like the clubs would need to prepare for anything extra, so I presume he too is a detective-wannabe. That makes four of us. This is bad, though we may now have more eyes present, it would also mean security has become too tight for "Juumoji" to make his move.

Hiding such anxiety, I spoke cheerfully to Tani-kun,

"Hey, morning. For you to stakeout here, you sure must have some spirits, huh?"

"Same goes for you."

"So? Has it begun?"

With his thumb, Tani-kun pointed to the centre of the classroom,

"As if I'd show any kindness to an expected worthy rival. Go investigate yourself."

He must have not found anything yet, as if the crime has been committed, these three detective-wannabes wouldn't still be here. So I shrugged my shoulders.

The clock had just moved past 7. As we would need to be by the Gymnasium by 8.30 to have our attendances taken, if "Juumoji" were to appear, he too would choose this moment to strike. I, and most likely the other three as well, would be focusing on whoever has come here before then. If the crime had happened during this time frame, we would be able to narrow down the suspects.

Silently, I moved away from Tani-kun and Haba-sempai and leaned on one of the walls by the corridor. If I were a hard-boiled detective, I would have taken out a cigarette and smoked it while I waited. Unfortunately, this is a high school, so I took out some chewing gum instead.

049 - ?11

The final day has at last arrived.

As it's a Saturday, there were more visitors from outside of school than usual. Today is also the day where the "Juumoji Incident" must come to an end. It's a make-or-break moment, no matter how one looks at it. To get things started, I first headed to the nearest billboard to have a look at the newest edition of the "Kami High Monthly".

There was already someone else present when I arrived.

Crossing her arms and nodding her head, this person didn't seem like a high school student. She's most likely in college. Dressed in an orange shirt, she had rather tanned arms. Even though autumn had already arrived, she still wore short jeans that still give out the scent of summer. Standing with her legs slightly apart, she gently tapped the ground rhythmically with one of her feet. It looked as though she was enjoying herself.

And right now this person was reading the wall newspaper, moving her gaze up and down many times, before long a smile appeared on her face,

"I see..."

I heard her whisper. Unfolding her arms, she turned around, neither in a hurry nor sluggishly, and disappeared through the entrance as her guest slippers squeaked against the floor.

I wonder where I have met her before? A lively looking college student...... I just can't figure out where. But I'm sure I've seen her face before. I was quite confident in memorizing people's faces and names, after all.

"Hmm..."

I guess I just can't quite remember. It must have been my imagination.

050 - ?13

As usual, hardly anyone came to the Geology Room. That said, we still managed to sell up to thirty copies so far, so not that we have anything to complain about.

While I'm grateful for not needing to work hard, upon seeing those boxes, even I could feel myself getting anxious. Right now those generic looking boxes look quite intimidating to me.

Inside those boxes are printed words that will never be read by a single soul. Besides, by staying sealed inside those boxes, the books would slowly transform, page after page of words would slowly go yellow. As though they would etch itself into one's heart upon being read, these words are now longing to be read. Sealed away in a damp place never to see the light of day, they would continue to ferment and go mouldy while chanting "Read me!" in eerie way. But still they will never be read, all the way until they rot away, or get burnt completely......

Guess I really have too much free time to be making such imagination. With 141 copies to go, not even entrusting 20 copies to Irisu could guarantee we would ever sell out. So I was pretty much prepared for the worst. There's just no point in keeping up to a hundred copies of a single anthology. If we end up with a large number of copies remaining, the only fate that awaits them would be for them to rot away in some storage, or be disposed as recyclable paper.

I looked at the cover drawn by Ibara, of a rabbit and dog biting each other, as well as the book binding, glued together by polypropylene.

"......"

Hmm. It wouldn't be so bad even if she had cut corners with it.

Well, at any rate, there's nothing much I could do. Resting my chin on my hands, I listened to the gentle sound of musical instruments being played from the Gymnasium. Looking across the courtyard at the General Block, I noticed one of the classroom windows being covered in black curtains, resembling a broken tooth.

I switched the hand on which my chin rested.

...... I did not dislike the idea of using the "Juumoji Incident" in order to draw visitors over to the Classics Club, much like how zoos would covet a panda to raise attendance. If the Wall Newspaper mentions the Classics Club as being the last target, that'll surely attract people's attention.

Yet I was going along a different train of thought, namely the selling of?Hyouka. Just attracting visitors was no guarantee of improving sales......

There were no visitors now, though we do have lots of time. And so I began to think, slowly progressing with my thoughts.

[141 COPIES REMAINING]

051 - ?17

The Global Act Club, as its name suggests, is involved in global current affairs, thus its exhibition panels include stuff like the flood in Bangladesh, or the internal unrest in Indonesia. Unfortunately, I wasn't particularly interested in such topics so I can't say whether this stuff is fascinating.

Wait a minute, what have we here? A panel reads "A Mexican cornbread you can make", another says "How to make Bulgarian yogurt using ordinary dairy products". They've got all sorts of ethnic dishes introduced here. Feeling interested, I decided to have a chat with their president, who replied with a bitter looking expression,

"We're not exactly a cooking club. This is a global affairs volunteer club, after all. Though we also dress in various ethnic clothing, but we thought ethnic dishes was more interesting. Actually we would be making some of those dishes ourselves...... though it doesn't look like anyone was interested in how it's made."

Indeed. Whether it's thanks to the Wall Newspaper Club, or by word of mouth, as time passed, the number of detective-wannabes seemed to have increased, and the Class 3-E classroom gradually became rather crowded. As I did not hear this from the Executive Committee, it seems the Global Act Club intends to make cornbread on the spot and give them out to visitors. In less than an hour after student attendance was taken in the Gymnasium, all the cornbread had been consumed by these detective wannabes. I can totally understand the president's lamentations. Yet if such a crowd were to appear at the Classics Club, we would probably be sighing and crying out in joy at the same time.

"...... Nothing's happening so far."

A bored sounding whisper entered my ear, it was Tani-kun. He was already saying that even though there was still an hour to go. Yet I find myself agreeing with him. My watch showed the time was approaching ten soon. If "Juumoji" were to release a note every two hours, he would have to strike soon (as Kami High's lessons begin at eight). Still, no matter how many eyes were present, no suspicious movement was spotted.

Could it be? A doubt arose in my head. Could it be that "Juumoji" really targeted the Quiz Club instead? No, it can't be. Their activity was long finished, and their members would surely be scattered around the school enjoying the Cultural Festival. How is a thief going to steal from them in such conditions?

But if I consider the question of what could be stolen, then the Global Act Club would seem like an odd target. For example, the Magic Club had "candle" ([KI]YANDORU キャンドル) that begins with [KI], but I can't find anything in the Global Act Club that begins with [KU]. Since all students would be wearing indoor shoes ([KU]TSU 靴) inside Kami High, could it be that he would be stealing those? I can't really imagine him leaving a message the reads "Hey I've stolen your shoes, mwahahaha." (That said, the shoes from the cosplay costumes in the Manga Club and other fashion clubs don't count.) If the phantom thief "Juumoji" can twist "water" as "Aquarius" ([A]KUERIASU アクエリアス), then there's got to be something here. Could it be that he's given up because he couldn't figure out what matches his sequence as well?

Amongst the detective-wannabes,

"This is getting boring, I'm off."

Said one.

"Text me if something happens."

Said another. Even Haba-sempai had disappeared, apparently off for some club errand. The only people that were here since the beginning were probably me and Tani-kun.

What's wrong with you "Juumoji"? You can't simply be scared just because there's many of us! I don't believe this, it's nearly ten now!

...... Suddenly, Tani-kun placed his hand in his pocket and took out his cell. He seemed to have received a text as he turned on the display.

It was then when Tani-kun raised his voice,

"...... WHAT?!"

Huh? What happened?

Tani-kun closed his cell phone and placed it back into his pocket, and appeared to dash off. Before he does, I decided to calmly ask him what had happened,

"Did something happen?"

Tani-kun bit his lips, as though gesturing it's got nothing to do with me. The way he's remaining silent means it's something to do with "Juumoji".

I decided to push his buttons a bit,

"I don't get as many friends like you, Tani-kun, so please do tell me what just happened."

Things sure proceed smoothly if you're willing to lower yourself. Tani-kun snorted,

"Hmph, this 'Juumoji' had set up a decoy for us to fall into."

"A decoy? Could it be that he went for the Quiz Club?"

He shook his head and smirked,

"No,"

"Then who?"

Making sure the other detective-wannabes couldn't hear him, Tani-kun lowered his voice,

"It's the Light Music Club ([KE]IONBU 軽音部). Their guitar strings ([GE]N 弦) were stolen."

The Light Music Club??

In contrast to Tani-kun, I raised my voice without thinking,

"You're kidding me, right?!"

Tani-kun's face quickly went sullen,

"If you don't believe me you can go confirm it for yourself. I'll be off then,"

He said and dashed out of the Class 3-E classroom. I thought of chasing after him, but quickly abandoned the thought, as I knew it'd be pointless.

"Juumoji" is more flexible than I could ever imagine. I have been bound by the suggestion of the gojuuon sequence and the release of a note every two hours, and was hoping to make a stakeout in his supposed next target, thinking he too would be bound by these rules. Yet, upon seeing the heavy security of the Global Act Club, he had opted to go straight for the Light Music Club. How could I be beaten by such a simple move like that? You can't win against that.

This means the usual method of meeting the suspect head on would not work against him.

In that case, I should focus on finding out what his weak spot is, but I did not have the talent for that. After all, I would have already done that if I had known what his weak spot was.

Then......

I've been thinking since last night. In order to catch this "Juumoji" from the sea of anonymity, I thought the only way was to stakeout in his intended target. I could not figure out any other way to do so.

Yet "Juumoji" had easily evaded such a confrontation. If he could abandon such rules so easily, how am I going to catch him on the act?

This requires a rethink.

There's got to be something else which I could do.

052 - ?14

As expected of a Saturday, by noon there were already more visitors than before.

Thanks to Irisu's movie selling well, it seems the twenty copies we entrusted to her had managed to sell as well. As a result, Chitanda had came over to bring ten more copies over.

Most of the visitors that came here were those who were just visiting this part of the school grounds on a whim. Two were middle-aged women, who decided to buy a copy each as they chatted idly away. Including those two, we've now sold nine copies today. As long as this keeps up, this could be something to look forward to.

"Thank you very much," I said with a stiff smile as I saw them off.

...... I feel like taking a leak.

It's times like these when being the only person in the store becomes bothersome, as I couldn't find someone else to stand in for me while I'm away. While we're merely selling anthologies, it doesn't feel right to leave any interested buyers waiting. So I locked the candy box storing the money and placed it in my shoulder bag, and then took out a piece of paper and wrote:?Currently away. Anthology?Hyouka?- 200 yen per copy. If interested, please leave money on counter.

Under my bag, I noticed something glowing. It was the heart-shaped brooch that Ibara threw at me yesterday. For some reason, I placed it beside the stack of?Hyouka?anthologies and wrote another note:?Please feel free to exchange brooch with something of equivalent value.

Now then, nature is calling out to me.

Phew.

I'm home.

Hey, I'm only gone for about five minutes and the brooch's gone. Instead, I see 200 yen being placed on the table. Did someone buy a copy? When did they come?

I noticed someone had written on the note for the brooch exchange. Upon seeing it, my face went sour. I've seen that handwriting before. Reading it, I knew right away who had visited.

You shouldn't leave the store unattended like that. You wouldn't want this brooch, I presume? Then, I'll have it. I've placed the exchange item on top of the stack of?Hyoukas. This would be a good way for you to kill time...

It's my sis. So she did come. Yet it feels bad for her to sneak in during the five minutes when I was away. On second thought, personally, it's actually not that bad.

Starting with sis's fountain pen, this Straw Millionaire Protocol has gone from a needle badge, a Glock pistol, weak flour, and a brooch, and now it's gone full circle back to my sis again. So what's this item that she had exchange? As it's coming from her, it's gotta be something of interest. I took a look at the stack of?Hyoukas.

True enough, on top of that mountain, was an anthology-like book similar in size to?Hyouka. Bound in the back with polypropylene glue, it's quality was inferior to that of?Hyouka, though it was rather thick. The cover featured an illustration of a girl's face from the side. It wasn't a live-action sketch, but a manga drawing.

At any rate, I returned the candy box to its original position and placed the 200 yen my sis left behind inside. I don't supposed I need bother counting how many copies we have remaining. Even if it's my sister, I just can't see her stealing many copies of?Hyouka. Resting my back on the chair, I picked up the book my sis left behind.

On the side of the cover was a vertical row of small words. Seems to be the title.?Ashes at Dusk? What a morbid title. And besides that title was the name of the author. "Anshinin Takuha"? Sounds like a Buddhist monk if you ask me, most likely a pen name. And I hope I got that name pronounced properly.

Looking at the title and author name, I wondered what my sis was thinking giving an occult book to me. Flipping to see the contents, turns out it was indeed a manga. It opens with a scene of a sailor uniformed schoolgirl exiting a train station built of wood. Whoa, this drawing is pretty good.

I see. If it's a manga, it would indeed help me kill time. Though it feels weird for sis to show such blatant goodwill. Well, if she had brought it all the way here from home, it can't be that bad. I might as well give her my gratitude and start reading this.

Before that, I decided to see if there was any afterword by the author, and sure enough, it was on the last page.

Here it is.

How did you find?Ashes at Dusk?

If you ask me, I thought it was well done, though I'm mostly in charge of the background art and didn't really contribute much. If you had enjoyed reading this, rather than thank me, you should thank its writer and illustrator.

Neither three of us belong to the Manga Study Club. We are simply people interested in manga who had decided to try and create a manga on our own. As a debut work, guess we shouldn't be bragging about how good it is ourselves. That is for the readers to decide.

We do not intend to disband after just making this once. We plan on making another manga in next year's Kanya Festival. Our writer "A" plans on writing a mystery story for it, and I am told it would be based on one or two of Agatha Christie's most famous works. As such, the title has already been decided.

So stay tuned for our next work,?The Kudryavka Sequence...... Yeah, I know, another morbid sounding title. (LOL)

I look forward to meeting you again in next year's Kanya Festival.

"Anshinin Takuha"

It was written in neat handwriting.

"......"

I raised my eyebrow and read the afterword again.

Kanya Festival, this means this manga was drawn by one of Kamiyama High School's students. There can be no mistake, this was created for the Kanya Festival.

And then there's this "Kudryavka Sequence". While I have no idea what on earth this "Kudryavka" means, but I am intrigued by the word "Sequence". No, if it was just that word alone, I wouldn't have been that interested. Rather, it was the mention of "Agatha Christie's most famous works".

Moreover, this was brought over by my sis. I once again looked at the memo she wrote.

This would be a good way for you to kill time...

Why is it a good way for me? If it's just for me to read a manga, then the way she said it was strange. This was definitely not her way of saying "Since my brother is feeling bored, I've brought a manga for him to read." You can bet my ass that I'm right.

"What bothersome matter have you gotten me into?"

I muttered and straightened my back.

The art looks good, and the afterword said it's enjoyable, so I might as well give it a read. While it wasn't explicitly written, but the person who wrote the afterword seemed pretty confident of what he's saying. Even if this was a random joke by my sis, it'll still do as a great way to kill time.

[121 COPIES REMAINING]

053 - ?18

I've finally organized my thoughts.

My conclusion was: There's nothing I can personally do about it.

For better or for worse, I'm pretty good when it comes to letting go and giving up.

In other words, there was only one thing left which I could do right now. So I said calmly,

"I'm counting on you, Houtarou."

054 - ?12

I am currently searching for a person.

It is none other than the President of the Broadcast Club. Thanks to the Juumoji Incident, news of the Global Act Club receiving more visitors than usual have reached my ears from various people, and not just Fukube-san alone. I am very curious as to who is this "Juumoji-san", and why is he continuing with such thefts. My mind was filled only with thoughts as to why he would be doing this. Yet it's only now that I began to think of such things. Until now we had only learned the what and the how, which was pretty frustrating.

If we could attract many visitors by using the Juumoji Incident, wouldn't this be a great chance? Right now, I am making the most of this bold chance, or rather, I'm executing one part of a systemized plan to make this chance work. Thus, I am attempting to offer an interview on behalf of the Classics Club with the Broadcast Club during their lunchtime broadcast.

With advice from Irisu-san, I have managed to enlist the assistance of the Wall Newspaper Club in promoting our cause, the next step would be to speak with the Broadcast Club.

However, just when I thought I would meet him at the Audio Visual Room, the president wasn't there. A girl, whose voice I recognized as the host of the lunch time broadcast, heard my request and tilted her head,

"The Prez' is probably somewhere around here. Wonder where he went...... Well, since he's not yet decided what to put in today's programme yet, you might have a chance if you speak with him."

Thankfully, I knew what the president looked like, so I should be able to find him if I see him. So I began moving around the campus in search of him. And yet, I couldn't find him.

I came to the third floor of the Special Block during my search, thinking of paying Oreki-san a visit while he watches the stall. While I did stop by before to collect another 10 anthology copies as requested by Irisu-san, but he was fast asleep.

As I climbed the stairs, I noticed a person walking towards the Geology Room. To my surprise, it was Yoshino Yasukuni-san, the president of the Broadcast Club which I was looking for. As I did not expect to see him here, I straightened my uniform scarf and chased after him,

"Hello, Yoshino-san."

Yoshino-san stopped and turned around with widened eyes. His unpretentious hairstyle and thick eyebrows stood out,

"Yes?"

I bowed politely,

"My name is Chitanda Eru, the president of the Classics Club. I was looking everywhere for you, as I was hoping to request something from you."

Yet Yoshida-san did not wait for me to finish my sentence. Upon giving my name, he startled me with a yell which overshadowed the last part of my greeting.

"So you're the Classics Club president! What a coincidence, you came at just the right time. I was just looking for you for a favour."

Oh?

I wondered what it was, and soon enough, Yoshino-san began explaining,

"Is the report by the Wall Newspaper Club true? That 'Juumoji's' final target would be the Classics Club? 'Juumoji's' the trending topic right now, you see? So I was thinking of doing something about that for today's lunch broadcast, otherwise we won't have anything interesting to talk about for the rest of the afternoon. Thank goodness for this incident to happen. As for who would be our guest, that would naturally be the president of the final targeted club. So you interested? Don't worry, all you'll need to do is answer a few of my questions. Besides, you've got a pretty voice, so it'll be just fine. How about it?"

Oh my.

I didn't even need to apply any of Irisu-san's negotiating skills that she taught me. Though I never expected myself to be a guest in a radio broadcast, as I was only thinking of having them simply mention us in their broadcast. But as a guest...... That would be like Fukube-san making his speech before the Quiz Club president in the First Day.

...... Will I be able to do this?

A long silence ensued. Yoshino-san scratched his head,

"Well, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, of course."

"No, wait,"

The sight of the mountains of?Hyouka?floated in my mind, as well as Mayaka's expression upon realizing she made the ordering mistake. I thought of Oreki-san and Fukube-san's hard work as well.

I should not be hesitant, so I bowed deeply once again,

"I'll be most glad to do this,"

"R, really?"

Yoshino-san broke into a broad smile,

"Then, do please come to the AV Room at noon, the broadcast will begin at 12.30. You may bring your boxed-lunch. Thanks a lot, I'll be seeing you then!"

"No, the pleasure is all mine."

I wonder if I could say I felt relieved? Instead, I felt anxious. While Yoshino-san all I needed to do was answer a few questions, I'm sure they aren't anything private. I took a deep breath.

Oh yes, I came here in order to pay Oreki-san a visit. The Geology Room door was closed, even though it's supposed to be left open for the whole day. I knocked and opened the door.

Inside were Oreki-san, as well as Fukube-san, who raised his hand to greet me,

"Hey, Chitanda-san. Irisu-sempai's managed to sell her copies quite well, hasn't she?"

"Yes, she's asked for another 10 copies,"

I said while looking at Oreki-san, who seemed to be fervently reading some anthology and didn't bother to lift his head. Could it be that he didn't notice my presence? Noticing my gaze, Fukube-san shurugged his shoulders,

"He's reading a manga. And he seems pretty obsessed with it, since he's not even listening to what I'm saying."

His eyes fixed on the book, Oreki-san spoke,

"I heard you. The thief had skipped [KU] altogether and went for the Light Music Club, which began with [KE]."

"It's no use just listening if you don't get the importance of what's happening, you know."

"Hang on, I'm about to get to the ending."

You see??Fukube-san gestured to me as he shrugged his shoulders again.

Upon thirty seconds after he told us to "hang on", Oreki-san finally closed the manga he was reading and sighed deeply. Fukube-san began to tease him,

"Who would have thought Houtarou would be so immersed into a manga? Maybe you should consider follow Mayaka as her disciple?"

What's the difference between these doujin manga and normal manga? I'm not too familiar with such things......

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