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- RSG -

Dear Oreki Hotaro,

I'm currently in Benares.

Hotaro, this is an amazing city.

A city of funerals.

There are funerals being held wherever I turn.

It seems that if you die here it's guaranteed that you'll go to Heaven.

You'll be spared reincarnation.

I know this came a bit late but congratulations on getting into your high school of choice.

Kamiyama High, I hear.

An uninspired choice.

Now that you're a high school student

I have a piece of advice for you as your elder sister.

Join the Classics Club.

"Reviving the Classics Club"

- Hi. - Good morning.

High school life is a rosy life.

A rosy life is a high school life.

That will soon be a famous quote.

And yet, it must be said

it doesn't mean all high schoolers desire a rosy life.

There are those who have no interest

in study, sports, romance or any other endeavors.

In other words, some high schoolers prefer their lives to be grey.

Right?

Don't you think?

I didn't know you were a masochist, Hotaro.

A masochist?

Study, sports, and... what else?

Romance. You shun them all.

A grey-loving high schooler.

That's you, right?

I don't shun them.

They're just too much trouble.

A boring waste of energy.

Sure. You're an energy saver, Hotaro.

Even so, you've got no hobbies,

and despite all the school clubs here,

you haven't joined any.

You can't get any greyer than that.

You want to join too many.

I do?

Handicrafts on Monday, Go on Tuesday

Ink Wash Painting on Thursday, and Magic on Friday.

I bet you've got nothing to do.

You speak too soon.

No way! Is that...

A club membership application?

You actually joined a club?

"Membership Application, Classics Club"

Classics Club?

"Membership Application, Classics Club"

This came from Benares.

My sister's in India now.

She was in the Classics Club.

The club hasn't managed to recruit anyone in the last three years.

If it doesn't get any new blood this year it will be defunct since the only members have graduated.

Hotaro, since your sister asked I bet you can't say no.

I've no obligation to protect my sister's club.

But Oreki Tomoe is the one person

I cannot disobey.

She specializes in Aikido and Taiho-jutsu.

Incurring her wrath will be unwise.

To those about to expend copious energy

I salute you.

I'm not of the belief that low energy consumption is superior.

I don't look down on the energetic.

But I do...

adhere stubbornly to my own beliefs.

In other words,

I don't do what is unnecessary.

That which is necessary...

I get it done quick.

That's far.

Kamiyama High's farthest frontier.

The epitome of wasted energy.

Hello, Oreki.

You are?

Chitanda Eru. Don't you remember me?

Chitanda?

Sorry, I don't.

You're Oreki Hotaro, aren't you? From Class 18.

I'm in Class 1A.

If we're in different classes, how...

Wait. Class 1A? The elective class?

Do we...

attend the same music class?

Yes!

We've only had one class so far.

That's some memory she's got.

You're in Classics Club too?

What? Too?

Yes! I just joined.

So I came to introduce myself.

Darn it.

If she has joined the club

my sister's command is already fulfilled.

I didn't have to come here at all.

Why would you join this club?

For a personal reason.

Worse still, she dodged my question.

We've been introduced.

I'm going off.

Without doing anything?

Lock up when you go.

Wait a minute!

What?

I don't have the key.

Oh, right.

I went and borrowed it.

Why do you have this key?

How else would I get in?

Come to think of it...

how did you get in?

The door was unlocked when I got here.

But it was locked when I got here.

Which means...

I was locked in this room?

But why?

You must've locked the door behind you.

I didn't.

You forgot or got mixed up.

I didn't. How did this happen?

- I don't know! - The door can't be locked from the inside.

Satoshi? I thought you went home.

I wanted to make sure you joined the club.

Look at this.

The door can't be locked or unlocked from the inside.

So students can't get up to mischief.

How do you know?

I was bored last week, so I experimented.

I could sneak in but couldn't lock anyone out.

Hey. That's the kind of mischief the school's trying to stop.

- You could be right... - Whatever.

It was probably nothing. I'm going.

I...

need to know.

Why was I locked in? Please think!

Why should 1?

Yeah! Sounds interesting.

Hotaro is the sedentary, thinking sort.

He'll figure it out.

Please.

And so, I gave it some thought.

When Chitanda got to the room

the door was unlocked.

And when I came to the room

the door was firmly locked.

The door can't be locked from the inside.

However

what if it had been done unconsciously

rather than consciously?

In other words

if the door was partially locked

before Chitanda entered

the spring might have moved back in place

functioning like an auto-lock.

That won't work, Hotaro.

If the door's partially locked, the key won't budge.

You sure know a lot.

Then perhaps someone else locked it.

Hey. What time did you enter the room?

About three minutes before you.

Not enough time

for someone to borrow the key and return it

before I borrowed it.

What?

- Maybe you locked it. - Hey...

Can I trust you, Oreki?

Well, that's a question worth pondering.

Hey. Why would I lock a door that I'd be entering shortly after?

Besides, I have no interest in locking you in.

Scratch all that.

There must be a clue somewhere.

A clue?

Did you notice anything unusual?

Now that you mentioned it...

I've been hearing some thumping coming from the floor below.

Hotaro, you figured it out?

We'll recreate the scenario.

Right before our eyes.

What do you mean?

The key that was used to lock the door wasn't the one I'm holding.

It was probably the master key.

A key that students won't have access to.

Why would you hear thumping noises coming from the floor beneath?

Oh! Someone was fixing something on the ceiling?

Someone was fixing something on the ceiling after class.

That someone has to be...

So this was what happened.

The janitor would unlock a classroom

to check the smoke detector...

before moving on to the next room

to do the same.

That's what he did along the whole level.

He wouldn't have noticed a student wandering

into one of the unlocked rooms.

Once the janitor was done

he'd locked all the classrooms

on the third floor.

Just like that.

That's amazing.

Oreki, you're amazing!

Right? When Hotaro decides to use his brains he's surprisingly useful.

Well I can't explain why you didn't hear the door being locked.

I can explain that.

I was looking at that.

I was wondering why that building is much older than the rest of the buildings.

You're right. It does look much older.

I wonder why.

Is that the gym?

Oh, I should introduce myself.

I'm Fukube Satoshi.

He's full of trivia, and himself.

Call me a walking database.

What's your name?

Chitanda Eru.

C-Chitanda?

Chitanda as in... that Chitanda?

You know her?

Hotaro! Haven't you heard of the Chitandas?

Kamiyama doesn't have many elite families but the Chitandas are wealthy farmers.

Plus, their daughter's an A-grade student and a beauty to boot.

She topped the prefectural junior high mock exams.

That was... just a fluke.

I never thought you'd join the Classics Club.

Why don't you join too, Fukube?

Sounds cool. I'm in.

Fukube, what activities do you have in mind for the Classics Club?

We can go cycling and I...

Hey, Sister. Are you happy now?

Your beloved club will continue to exist.

Thankfully, I'm no longer needed.

Oh, we have to choose the club president.

Oreki, would you like to be the president?

No way! Not Hotaro.

It has to be you, Chitanda.

All right. I'll be the club president.

Hotaro, where's your application?

I hereby accept your application.

I look forward to seeing you at the club, Oreki.

I have a bad feeling about this.

"Club Activities"

The club was revived.

However our clubroom was really the Earth Sciences prep room

and had little we could use.

All we had is a table made of cardboard boxes

with a sheet of plywood on top.

Worst of all...

we had nothing to do.

This is fallow.

As in cultivating a field twice a year?

That's the two-crop system.

Or double cropping with the same crop.

You really know your farming stuff.

There's no need to compliment me.

I meant it in a different context actually.

What do you mean?

We're a club.

We should have some sort of club activity.

Club activity, huh.

Yes.

What does a Classics Club do anyway?

I don't know

and we have no senior members to ask.

What did the club do before?

I like it this way.

I don't do what is unnecessary.

That which is necessary...

I've got it!

Let's come up with a book for the school festival!

Hi there!

Fukube! Oreki and I were talking earlier.

We decided to publish an anthology for the school festival.

- The school festival? - Yes.

Our festival has seen the best attendance in this area.

The school rules forbid the running of booths

so an anthology might work well.

The Classics Club is over 30 years old.

I bet they had made anthologies before.

Let's start by finding the back numbers.

No, thanks.

This way!

The back numbers...

Oh, Oreki?

Oh, Ibara. It's been a while.

Not long enough for me.

She is?

Ibara Mayaka.

From the same junior high as Satoshi and me.

Her sharp tongue has claimed countless male victims.

This is a sacred place of learning.

Scram, Oreki.

You really are made for each other.

Kamiyama High's best couple!

Fukube! You're better off with a slug than this loser.

Fukube, how can you make such jokes when you know how I feel towards you?

Forgive me, Mayaka. Did I hurt you again?

Can't you be serious for once?

Ibara fell for Satoshi in junior high.

Mayaka, any Classics Club anthologies here?

Anthologies?

We're thinking of making one for the festival.

For the Kan ya Festival?

What festival?

Kan ya Festival. The school festival.

Everybody calls it that.

Oh, I get it. Kamiyama High Festival

gets shortened to Kamiyama Festival...

Kanyama Festival...

and finally Kan ya Festival, right?

Don't ask me.

The anthologies could be here

but Ms ltoigawa, the librarian, is busy.

She should be back in 30 minutes.

Want to wait?

Yeah, may as well.

What a pretty book!

"50 years of Kamiyama High"

There's something weird about this book.

What do you mean?

Since I started working here it's been taken out every Friday.

For five weeks in a row now.

Wow, so it's popular.

I don't think so.

Yeah, it doesn't look like the kind of book that gets taken out every week.

Plus, you can borrow books for two weeks.

There's no need to return it weekly.

It's a different person borrowing the book each week.

And it's always a girl.

That's not all.

It's returned every week on Friday too.

It's taken out and returned on the same day.

Machida Kyoko borrowed this book today and returned it just now.

So did Suzuki Yoshie and Yamaguchi Ryoko.

Borrowed and returned on Friday.

For five weeks in a row.

What's going on?

They wouldn't have time to finish the book.

I...

need to know.

Why do they do that, Oreki?

What?

Since we're waiting for the librarian anyway

why don't you give it some thought?

Is Oreki that smart?

Not really. He just happens to be brilliant at unimportant stuff like this.

You certainly don't hold back.

And so, I gave it some thought.

Different people borrowing the book weekly

and returning it on the same day.

For five weeks in a row.

There is a chance that it's just sheer coincidence.

However, I do not believe in coincidence.

For one, Chitanda won't be convinced by that explanation.

The truth isn't important.

Convincing Chitanda is.

Let's tackle this from another angle.

Why are different people borrowing the same book every week?

All the borrowers were female.

That leaves two possibilities.

First being the girls don't know each other.

Borrowing the book on Friday is just some kind of a fad.

This month's lucky item is... books on the school's history.

Borrow and return such a book on Fridays will improve your love life!

That's ridiculous.

The second explanation for it

is that the girls share something in common.

They have a use for this book

and take turns borrowing it.

The one thing they have in common is that

they're all Year Two students.

However, they are in different classes.

I smell something on this book.

What sort of a smell?

It's acrid, like paint thinner.

Oh, Hotaro's got it.

Tell me!

- Even better, I can show you. - Let's go!

I'm not going, it's too far.

Where is it? Spit it out!

The book wasn't borrowed to be read.

It was to be used.

To be used on Friday afternoons.

Specifically, in period five or six,

or perhaps both.

Oh, it's that smell.

The borrowers were all in Year Two.

The one class that has students from different classes is...

Art class?

An elective.

So that's what the five girls borrowed the book for.

Way to go, Hotaro!

They weren't going to read the book

so they returned it on the same day.

How did Oreki guess that?

See? Hotaro can be useful sometimes.

Well, I guess...

Oreki might even be able to...

You're my hew assistant?

"Itoigawa Yoko, librarian"

Nice to meet you.

Excuse me?

Ms ltoigawa?

Ms ltoigawa?

What is it?

I'm Oreki Hotaro, from the Classics Club.

I'm looking for back numbers of the club anthologies.

The Classics Club?

You're in the Classics Club?

I'm looking for the club anthologies.

Oh.

I'm sorry.

The back numbers aren't kept here.

Not in the library, but maybe the stack room?

No.

Not in the stack room either.

"The Curious Club Successor"

Chitanda wanted to see me.

Outside of school, that is.

Sorry for asking you out.

May I have your order?

Wiener cocoa.

Coming right up.

Would you like a refill, sir?

I'm good.

So?

Sorry?

Why did you ask me to come all this way?

Come all this way? You suggested this place.

- I'm going. - No, wait!

Sorry, I'm a little nervous.

Why? Are you going to confess your feelings for me?

Sorry to keep you waiting.

A refill, please.

Yes, sir.

I guess you could call it that.

I...

have a favour to ask of you.

I had an uncle.

My mother's younger brother, Sekiya Jun.

He's been missing for ten years.

He was very knowledgeable

and would answer any questions I had.

I can't remember what I asked him though.

I'm hoping you can

help me remember what he told me.

You want to ask me what he told you?

- Yes. - That's crazy.

I know it's a strange request,

but there's something I need to remember.

When I was still in kindergarten

somehow I learnt that

my uncle was in the Classics Club once.

The club's name reminded me of

my favourite shack, chewy kelp.

He worked at our home

and often looked after me.

One day, I asked him something about the Classics Club.

He had always been quick to answer me

but that day, he was evasive.

I kept pestering him

until he eventually answered my question.

What he said made me...

Made you?

It made me cry.

I don't know if I was scared or sad

but I bawled my eyes out.

My mother came running to me...

I have a vague memory of it.

All I could remember is that

my uncle didn't try to comfort me.

Instead, he simply stared.

That's the last thing

I remember about my uncle.

My uncle was always kind to me. So why did he do nothing then?

That's your personal reason for joining the Classics Club?

Every time you answered my questions

you reminded me of my uncle.

I know it's an imposition

but I think you can lead me to the truth.

This isn't some guessing game.

At the risk of overstating it

this could affect her whole outlook on life.

I'm an energy conserver

so a tricky request like that...

It's beyond me.

I need to remember before my uncle dies.

What?

His family reported him missing

seven years ago.

Those who are missing for seven years

can be legally declared dead.

His family plans to hold a funeral.

I want to know what he was trying to tell me.

There's no one else I can ask.

Please...

Please do this for me!

I can't be responsible for you.

Even so

I'll think about what you told me.

If anything comes to mind

I'll let you know.

Thank you, Oreki.

I don't do what is unnecessary.

That had always been my motto.

Maybe my energy-conserving stance

isn't as staunch as I thought it to be.

Dear Oreki Hotaro.

I'm currently in Istanbul.

Things didn't go as planned and I'm stuck in the Japanese consulate

so I haven't seen the city yet.

What on earth did she do?

This trip has been so amazing

I'm sure that even after ten years, I won't regret a second of it.

Hotaro, make sure you go about your high school life the same way.

How is the Classics Club?

Are there more members?

A word of advice.

When putting an anthology together read the back numbers.

What on earth? Is my sister telepathic?

Look in the clubroom.

The back numbers are stored

in an unused medicine safe.

The lock is broken, it will open easily.

Wow, that was fast!

Really?

You have big eyes, Chi. And that makes it easier to draw.

- Really? - Like this?

She calls her "Chi" now?

Girls can become friends in the blink of an eye.

Before I knew it, Manga Club member Ibara

had joined the Classics Club.

- Good morning. - You start with an outline?

Don't look yet.

Good morning.

- That's so cute. - Ibara, stop!

Sorry.

The anthologies are somewhere in this room.

They finally noticed me.

We've looked everywhere.

Oreki, are you sure your sister wasn't just messing with you?

Well, I wouldn't put that past her.

Wait, there's one place we haven't looked.

Oreki!

Chitanda, grab that end.

OK.

Found it.

We looked everywhere else

when it was under our noses the whole time.

Hyouka?

That's an odd choice for a title.

Wow. Look at this cover.

A dog and...

rabbits?

It's kind of creepy.

Oreki...

This is it.

What?

That day...

I found this.

I showed it to my uncle

and asked him what it was.

"Foreword."

"The school festival has come around again."

"A year has gone by since Sekiya went away."

"In that year"

"he went from hero to legend."

"The festival will be as grand as ever."

"I wonder..."

"If he will be remembered"

"ten years from now."

"Conflicts and sacrifices"

"fade with the flow of time."

"And so they should."

"They must not be remembered."

"For his tale..."

"Was far from a heroic one."

"It will cease to be subjective"

"and historical perspective will turn it into a classic."

"Koriyama Yoko."

The Sekiya mentioned here must be my uncle.

33 years ago, something happened to him.

When I showed him the anthology

he told me about the Classics Club.

What was it he told me?

What happened to him 33 years ago?

We'll look it up.

This is Hyouka's second issue.

The answer will be in the first issue.

Easy.

It says it shouldn't be remembered.

What if digging into this brings about misfortune?

I think some truths are best forgotten.

You don't mind not remembering it?

Don't you...

want to remember?

I...

need to know.

What on earth?

The first issue's missing.

"The Classics Club's Buried Secrets"

When we realised the crucial first issue was missing

I thought we had no choice but to give up.

However, it only got Chitanda all fired up.

I need your help to find out what happened to my uncle 33 years ago.

Please, help me.

I can't believe Sekiya Jun is your uncle.

The mystery of the Classics Club hero solved by his juniors 33 years later.

I like the sound of that! Let's do it.

Yeah! I want to know the story behind the cover too.

It could be good material for our anthology.

It's really getting interesting!

And so,

unraveling the history of the Classics Club became our number one priority.

What happened to Chitanda's uncle Sekiya Jun, 33 years ago?

And what did he tell young Chitanda about Hyouka?

We gathered information that might help us.

- Hey, don't procrastinate. - I am not.

Hotaro!

Sorry! Waited long?

What was that for, Hotaro?

Keep it down. Do you want people to stare?

Wait up!

Our club's general meeting was held at Chitanda's.

The 33-year-old mystery of Classics Club president Sekiya Jun

would be investigated by us, his juniors.

We began with a meeting.

I've been expecting you.

This is the annex where my uncle lived.

To Chitanda, Sekiya Jun was more than just an uncle.

What happened to him 33 years ago?

Let's begin.

Let's unravel the 33-year-old mystery of Sekiya Jun.

First, what does "Hyouka" mean?

The literal translation would be "frozen desserts".

In other words, ice cream.

Why name it after a dessert?

"When: 1967"

"Where: Kamiyama High"

"Who: Sekiya Jun"

We've had one week to do our research.

Let's present our findings

and come up with a theory.

Time for the first presentation!

Chi, who's going first?

It doesn't matter.

You go first, Chitanda.

OK.

All right, let's go clockwise

starting with me.

I focused my research

on our starting point, Hyouka.

I've read all the issues we found

but Sekiya Jun was only mentioned in the foreword of the second issue.

Without the first issue...

this is what I can gather.

"A year has gone by since Sekiya went away."

"In that year, he went from a hero to a legend."

It says your uncle left school.

My uncle dropped out of Kamiyama High.

He never did finish high school.

The foreword mentioned "he went away". I think it refers to him dropping out.

He left school...

Sekiya Jun was a hero.

What's more...

there was conflict and sacrifice.

What caught my attention is the line that says, "A year has gone by".

This means my uncle dropped out

around the time of the school festival.

By the way, guys.

Do you know what happened at the neighbouring school the year before?

Oh, a bunch of thugs barged in during the school festival and extorted money from the students running the booths.

That's right.

This is my theory.

Get your popcorn here!

Jumbo size for a limited time!

During the Kan ya Festival 33 years ago

thugs barged into our school demanding money.

None of the students were strong enough to stop them.

Until...

my uncle appeared.

Go to hell!

My uncle got rid of the thugs.

But because of that

he was expelled from school.

My heroic uncle

protected his fellow students from thugs

and was made to leave school.

That could be the sacrifice mentioned in the foreword.

Sorry Chitanda, but I don't buy it.

You don't? Tell me why.

When you first suggested we put together an anthology for this year's festival...

do you remember what Satoshi said?

Our school rules forbid the running of booths.

Since there won't be any money involved there's no reason for thugs to show up.

Sorry, Chi!

The evidence I found doesn't support your theory.

It doesn't?

I want to see your evidence, Ibara.

OK. It's my turn anyway.

Everybody, read this.

This is a school notice from 33 years ago.

Here you go.

"The two Film and Photo club members who have disgraced our school"

"was suspended last week."

"Classics Club president Sekiya Jun's repudiation of teachers was justified."

"He refused to yield to their tyranny."

"In his absence we must follow in his footsteps."

Repudiation of teachers?

Yes. Sekiya Jun wasn't standing up against thugs at the school festival

but rather the school teachers.

My theory is...

this.

33 years ago, the teachers did something that incurred the wrath of the students.

The teachers were in the wrong

and Sekiya Jun stood up against them along with the other students.

As a result of that conflict, he left school.

No... the teachers had him expelled.

Well...

- What? - It's too vague

and we're no farther along than before.

I know it's kind of flimsy.

But that's all the information there is!

What did the teachers do 33 years ago?

It's bugging me.

You've all overlooked an important fact.

Which is?

The period where it happened.

The school back then was nothing like what you're thinking.

Tell us your findings then, Fukube.

OK, I'm next.

I found this in the general office.

It mentions Sekiya Jun.

A pamphlet from 1967. It's called "Solidarity and Salutes".

"We will..."

"We will continue to be autonomously anti-bureaucratic."

"We will never bow to reactionary oppression."

"During the June 'straggle'

"Sekiya Jun's heroic leadership"

"bolstered our bold course of action”

"and dealt the powerful a crippling blow which sent them into disarray."

- What does all that mean? - Well...

In other words, the students were oppressed by reactionaries.

There was a 'straggle' in June.

Sekiya Jun from Classics Club was the leader

who led them into action

against the powerful.

What's a "straggle"?

It's supposed to be "struggle".

The sixties was the era of student activism.

There was the Anti-Security Treaty Movement.

The All-Campus Joint Struggle League.

There were demonstrations, class boycotts, and protestors' barricades.

Activism can be against war, discrimination, and much more.

This student activism demanded autonomy.

Students wanted schools to recognise their right to act autonomously.

So, "we" referred to the students,

and "the powerful" was the school?

Sekiya Jun wasn't in conflict with teachers.

The students were in conflict with the school.

And Sekiya Jun was their leader?

That's how it was back then.

But what were they standing up against?

So? What's your theory?

What?

Hey.

Well, I'm just a walking database.

I provide information, not conclusions.

You come up with one, Hotaro.

Yeah. You're up next, Oreki.

Please tell us your theory, Oreki.

"Peace Treaty Movement in 1960"

"Solidarity and Salutes"

"Common folks versus Reactionaries"

"The June Struggle"

"Sekiya Jun led the fight"

"Expulsion from school"

"Hero"

"Conflict and sacrifice"

Sorry, I don't have a theory either.

Oreki!

I did do my part.

I looked for information too.

I was hoping to find a lead here.

But even after reviewing all we have

I can't think of a compelling theory.

Me neither.

I think we're close but we don't know his motivation.

So we don't know why he was a hero or what the sacrifice was.

All we have is a loose list of vague facts.

They don't link up.

Maybe solving a 33-year-old school mystery was impossible from the start.

We've done all we could.

To be honest, I can't see how...

Toilet.

I need to go to the toilet.

The truth isn't important.

What's important is convincing Chitanda.

Think, Hotaro.

And so, I gave it some thought.

The time? 33 years ago.

1967.

The place? Kamiyama High.

The person involved? Sekiya Jun.

A student movement.

Led by Sekiya Jun. A dispute with the school.

Why were Kamiyama High students in conflict with the school?

Conflict and sacrifice, linked with...

a struggle in June.

June...

Hotaro, you've got it, haven't you?

Here's my theory...

No, my conclusion.

Oreki! That's...

This is my source.

"50 Years of Kamiyama High".

Our school's history! I can't believe I overlooked it!

It says what happened in June.

"A fire at one of the school buildings"?

That's why it's much older than the rest of the school compound.

The gym.

The gym?

The building you were looking at the other day. Our school's oldest building.

The one you can see from our clubroom.

There's another important clue here. It's about what happened in May.

A meeting to discuss the school festival?

The conflict was caused by the school festival itself.

The festival?

This is the conclusion...

I came to.

33 years ago. 1967.

Student activism was sweeping the nation.

In May of that year...

Kamiyama High was moving towards cancelling the school festival.

It was probably

the school's way of displaying resistance against the growing student movement.

They wanted to remove the students' venue for expression.

We have decided to cancel the festival.

The students were furious

and the protests began.

Comrades! We're being oppressed!

The protest's key figure was Sekiya Jun.

This is an outrageous abuse of authority!

- Hear, hear! - Let's make them

- retract the order! - Hear, hear!

Don't bow to oppression! - Hear, hear!

Kamiyama High comrades, unite!

It's time for us to make a stand!

Hear, hear!

Retract the order!

Retract it!

Seize student autonomy!

Sekiya Jun led the students in a protest to keep the festival.

They launched a demonstration.

The June Struggle.

Amidst the uproar a fire broke out at the gym.

It was damaged during the June Struggle.

That's why it was rebuilt earlier than the other buildings.

So that's why it's the oldest.

You can still see signs of a fire along the perimeter of the gym.

Look here.

"Preparation for the festival"

"Preparation for the festival" The festival wasn't cancelled?

The festival wasn't cancelled?

After the June Struggle the school retracted its order.

The students were victorious and won the right to hold the festival.

Thanks to their hero, Sekiya Jun.

"What happened: He saved the festival."

And that was how he saved Kamiyama High's school festival.

The gym was rebuilt in October.

However...

someone had to take responsibility for the uproar.

The sacrifice was made by...

the struggle's key figure, Sekiya Jun.

Sekiya Jun was expelled.

From that year on,

students called the Kamiyama High Festival

Kan ya Festival, in tribute

to the name of their departed hero.

"Sekiya"

Kan ya Festival?

It can also be read as Sekiya Festival!

It's wordplay.

A secret dedication to the students' hero.

That was when the school festival was given its nickname.

"He went from hero to legend."

"The festival will be as grand as ever."

By renaming the festival as Kan ya Festival they made him a legend!

Way to go, Hotaro!

You figured all this out from such scant information?

He did it again? Unbelievable!

Yeah, but you helped too.

I know! I worked hard on it.

You're amazing...

Oreki.

It's just a fluke.

Honestly, you blew me away, Hotaro.

The festival we take for granted every year

exists because of someone's sacrifice.

No. That's not what I meant.

Why didn't you turn Chitanda down?

Energy-saving Hotaro doesn't do what he doesn't have to.

But you're different today.

You could've just given up.

Instead, you holed up in the toilet and searched for an answer.

I guess I'm tired of being grey.

What's that?

Oh, Hotaro's pet theory.

High school life is a rosy life but Hotaro prefers a grey life.

Grey for Oreki?

Very apt!

I don't know if my life's rosy...

I love drawing manga

but I am well aware of my limitations.

My manga is totally mediocre.

I'm frustrated with myself for having no talent.

Even so, I continue to draw them.

Even if it's pointless

drawing makes me feel like life is rosy.

You just haven't realised it yet, Oreki.

Deep down, you long for a rosy life.

Oh my god! He totally does!

Even I like having fun.

Saying dumb stuff. Doing stuff for Chitanda.

They're pretty decent ways to kill time.

But...

if...

I could throw myself into something more serious

without worrying about wasting time or effort

wouldn't that be

an even more fun way to live?

Even if there is the risk of using energy inefficiently wouldn't it be worthwhile?

Like how Chitanda did her best to uncover the past.

Like how Sekiya Jun gave his all to save the festival.

Will I...

be able to look back

on my high school life

ten years from now

and say I have no regrets?

"Hyouka: Second Issue"

That's not it.

If that were the case...

why would I cry?

That's not it.

I've overlooked something important.

"He went from hero to legend."

"I wonder if he will be remembered ten years from now."

"Conflicts and sacrifices fade with the flow of time."

"And so they should."

"They must not be remembered."

"For his tale... was far from a heroic one."

He wasn't...

a hero?

Hello?

Hey, Hotaro!

So you're alive.

Don't be rude! You thought I'd been killed by Mossad agents?

Exactly.

So, how's the anthology coming along?

Hyouka. I've been looking up Sekiya Jun.

Sekiya Jun? That's a blast from the past.

Wow, the students still talk about him?

So is Kan ya Festival still taboo in Classics Club?

What did you say?

That was such a tragedy.

Wait, I'm talking about Sekiya Jun.

I know. The kind hero, right?

Do you really have your facts right?

Hey, tell me. What happened to Sekiya Jun?

No, I'm busy. Bye now!

Hey!

Darn you!

I've overlooked something important.

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

What is it?

He wasn't a hero.

He wasn't a hero.

He wasn't a hero.

What does that mean?

"Koriyama Yoko"

Oreki!

There's...

still something bugging me.

Yeah. I know.

I'm sorry.

My theory was wrong.

Let's go and find out the truth.

From the source.

The source?

There she is.

Ms ltoigawa?

Ms ltoigawa Yoko.

Koriyama Yoko?

Of course!

Ms ltoigawa?

Oh, it's you. From the Classics Club.

I'm Oreki Hotaro.

Ms ltoigawa.

There's something I'd like to ask you.

"Hyouka: Second Issue"

Ms ltoigawa, you wrote this, didn't you?

You found the club anthologies.

Yes. Koriyama Yoko was my maiden name.

We came here today to find out what happened to Sekiya Jun 33 years ago.

Why would you want to dig up the past?

Because Sekiya Jun is my uncle.

He is?

That name takes me back.

Is he well?

He's been missing for ten years.

It is just a formality, but the family will be holding a funeral for him soon.

I had hoped...

to see him again one day.

The first issue of Hyouka isn't in the library or the stack room.

I keep it locked away in my desk.

I\ I've...\.

Kept mum all these years

but I'll tell you what really happened.

"Hyouka"

The year was 1967.

The school arbitrarily announced

the cancellation of the school festival.

The school was in turmoil.

- Don't bow to oppression! - Hear, hear!

The students were furious. They began to protest.

Smash school fascism!

Smash it!

Retract the order to cancel the festival!

Retract it!

Sekiya wasn't the leader.

Rather he observed the tension and anger from a distance.

Sekiya Jun didn't lead the student movement?

Sekiya...

wasn't the type.

He was gentle and a truly kind soul.

He was incapable of what was done.

- The protest movement... - Bring it back!

It was... not a peaceful movement.

Destroy school authority!

It was more like a riot.

Time to rally!

The students abandoned their classes.

They lit fireworks and fires within the school grounds.

Seize autonomy!

Seize it!

I don't know who started it or if it was even intentional

but a fire broke out in the gym.

Amidst the commotion

a female student was injured.

Fireworks exploded at close range

and it damaged her eardrums.

She couldn't move.

Hey! It's burning!

- Hurry! - Bring more buckets!

- The fire's spreading! - Hurry!

Sekiya Jun saved the female student.

He braved the flames and rescued her.

Just like a hero would.

Sekiya was in no way responsible

for instigating the riot.

However, within the protest movement

students came to regard him as its symbol.

He was called Sekiya Jun, the kind hero.

And that was...

the beginning of his tragic fate.

The gym was rebuilt.

However, someone had to take responsibility

for the uproar.

After all, a student had been injured on school grounds during the riot.

And so, fearing police intervention,

the school needed a scapegoat.

Class 3A. Sekiya Jun.

Class 3A. Sekiya Jun.

Report to the principal's office immediately.

The sacrificial lamb

was the kind hero, Sekiya Jun.

The actual cause of the fire remained unknown,

but the perceived leader of the protest movement, the gentle Sekiya,

was made to shoulder the blame.

Sekiya was expelled from school.

He was innocent

yet, none of the other students defended his innocence.

As he was sacrificed

they merely watched in silence.

That's what the illustration on this cover is about, isn't it?

The dog represents the school.

The rabbits are the students

who stood and watched.

From then on, Kan ya Festival

was taboo within the Classics Club.

Sekiya...

was a hero

but he wasn't treated as one.

Excuse me, Ms ltoigawa.

The female student that Sekiya saved

was you, wasn't it?

You...

figured that out?

Ms ltoigawa?

Ms ltoigawa.

You're right. That's why...

I'm deaf in my right ear.

Sekiya Jun

found me when I was unable to move.

He braved the flames to rescue me.

And yet...

I couldn't do anything for him.

I was...

one of the watching rabbits.

That's the whole sordid story.

You've heard it all. Please leave.

No. Wait a minute.

You've left out something important.

What?

I have one last question for you.

Did Sekiya Jun...

choose to sacrifice himself for all of the other students?

I don't know.

He wouldn't tell me.

He only left me one thing.

Hyouka.

The anthology he put together before he was expelled.

Hyouka?

Calling it Hyouka...

was Sekiya's idea.

It was his idea?

""Hyouka""

He was driven out of school

over a mere festival.

His life was thrown into disarray.

High school life is a rosy life.

A rosy life is a high school life.

His rosy high school life was prematurely and brutally terminated.

Does such a bountifully rosy life...

really exist in our world?

It never did.

I... scream.

Hyouka.

Ice cream.

I finally get it.

Hotaro? What do you mean?

It's wordplay. No...

It's a code. Try breaking up the syllables.

Ice... cream...

I scream?

Sekiya Jun left this

for his Classics Club juniors.

Hyouka represents his innermost voice.

I need you to listen.

These are the words your uncle left behind.

"I scream”.

The truth is, your uncle...

wanted to cry out.

He wanted to cry out

and rail against the injustice

of being thrown to the wolves.

I remember now.

I asked my uncle...

what Hyouka meant.

He said to me...

Be strong.

If you're weak,

a time may come

when you can no longer cry for help.

If such a time comes...

If such a time comes, you'll...

die on the inside.

"Like I did."

I cried because I was scared.

The idea of dying on the inside scared me.

I remember now.

I finally remembered.

"Welcome to Kamiyama High"

I'll be attending to my uncle's funeral.

Thank you, Oreki.

Now I can finally say goodbye to my uncle.

I see.

You'll bind the anthology for us?

Leave it to me.

Actually...

there's one thing that's still nagging at me.

The day my uncle made me cry...

that was the day he went missing.

He said this to me.

"I don't want to go on living"

"feeling dead on the inside."

Maybe my uncle...

Your uncle...

is in Benares.

Benares in India.

Where you'll be guaranteed to go to Heaven.

You'll be spared reincarnation.

That's where...

he lives.

Dear Oreki Tomoe.

"Dear Oreki Tomoe"

I'm writing this to ask you something.

I trust that you're still staying at the same hotel.

It's been almost 33 years

since Sekiya Jun left.

"Hyouka"

The festival will be held again this year.

I wonder how much you knew

and why you made me join the Classics Club.

The tragedy of Sekiya Jun

was brought about 33 years ago by the overzealousness of rosy-minded students.

"Hyouka, Issue 31. Price: 100 yen"

"The Tale of A Kind Hero"

If their excessive energy is what led to the title "Hyouka"

then being rosy isn't all that great.

Actually, since learning of that incident

the unease I felt at school disappeared.

I don't consider myself to be superior

but perhaps being grey...

isn't so bad after all.

Did you expect it to work out this way?

No. You couldn't have.

That would mean you're telepathic.

I'm probably as grey as I ever was.

Maybe that's for the best.

I'll just be myself.

Chitanda?

Chi?

Didn't you go home already?

I did.

But I saw something and it's bugging me.

This way! It's this way!

You can still make it. The archery ground!

What is it?

It's easier to show you.

It's no use.

When Chitanda gets like this nothing can stop her.

All right, I'll go with you. Let's go.

Something's bugging you, right?

Yes.

I...

need to know.