Chapter 4 Four

"Which junior high school are you from?" I have been asked countless times since I entered school, but this is the first time I have asked such a question.Although Chitanda should have been asked many times, but she replied without the slightest bit of boredom: "I'm from Indy Middle School. Fukube-san and Oreki-san are from the same school, right?" "That's right." Satoshi's voice came from behind: "Speaking of Satoshi Fukube and Houtarou Oreki, people in the world are called 'Earth in Kasiya? Wind & Fire'!" who?where?What's the mess?

Needless to say, my junior high school career didn't leave much of a mark.Satoshi stayed, he was the accountant of the student union. Chitanda and I walked down the stairs side by side, Satoshi following behind.After school, it looked like it was getting dark.There are many people coming and going on the stairs.We are always careful not to walk side by side and take up too much space, so as not to get in the way of others. On the landing of the stairs between the third and fourth floors, colorful posters are competing for beauty on the bulletin board.Because each club is unique in a different way, it can seem disorganized at first glance.Chitanda pointed to one of them and said, "I like this."

That poster is round.That said, it fearlessly takes up a lot of space. "Aren't you going to join the craft club?" Under the simple slogan, there is a panda knitting.Pandas are not paintings but embroidery.Paste the cloth embroidered with pandas on the thick cardboard to make a new poster.The amount of labor, just imagining it is enough to make people faint.Why do you have to do this... Seeing my dumbfounded look, Satoshi put his hands on my shoulders: "What's wrong, Houtaro? This kind of exquisite workmanship can be said to be the complete opposite of energy conservationism. Seeing this, I feel the producer's desire for perfection. Persistence and perseverance, don't you say something?"

"It's always exciting to come into contact with a different culture." "Thank you very much for your sincere thoughts." After Satoshi nodded emphatically, he turned to Chitanda and said, "I joined the handicraft club because I like this too." "Hey?" Chitanda was at a loss for words for a moment, she didn't seem to know that Satoshi also joined the handicraft club. If Chitanda could keep in touch with Satoshi, she would know how reckless this guy's actions were.At that time, she would think: "Could it be that Satoshi Fukube just has no integrity?"

After I fiddled with the notice board, one poster was completely askew. "Oh, did the pin fall off?" Chitanda crouched down and started looking, but the thumbtack was nowhere to be found. "...In short, it seems that there is no one here, let's go to the next place." Then, we searched the landings from the second floor to the third floor, and from the first floor to the second floor. Gorgeous text, witty slogans, exquisite workmanship, and various illustrations ranging from realistic to comic styles.At this moment, all the efforts to attract new students are unfolding before my eyes.The number of clubs is really not ordinary.The ink painting department displayed ink paintings, the manga research group drew four frames, the shogi club and the Go club each presented endgame puzzles, and the brass band attached photos of the grand performance.The slightly weaker sports clubs in Shenshan High School are not polite, basketball club, volleyball club, track and field club, baseball club... I can't help but have the illusion: activities that are worthy of high school students' enthusiasm, shouldn't they all be gathered here? ?

"Yeah, no matter how you look at it, I think it's amazing, Shenshan High School." "Indeed, the notice board itself is out of sight." Looking at the two people who are so excited by the various posters, I always feel that I have made a mistake. I have to walk this staircase every day, and I have seen the poster dozens of times.However, when it came to confronting each other head-on, I still couldn't help being dazed by the energy that I should have avoided. Nevertheless, we finally made it down to the ground floor.In front of the stairs where the first-year high school students go up and down the stairs.This bulletin board is by far the most confusing.

Satoshi smiled and said, "This is the first bulletin board that freshmen can see. This is a prime location, an absolute battle zone." Is the General Affairs Committee taking good care of it?Not a single normal-sized poster here.Postcard-sized recruitment campaigns filled the notice boards.Because it is a prime location, do you need many clubs to share it?Although I can see it every day when I go to and from school, it turns out to be like this. Before the confusion, Chitanda seemed to understand something: "Ah, so that's the case, is that the case?" She turned her head and smiled at me: "Why Oreki-san said that it is the most eye-catching bulletin board, I am still wondering... But, with so many posters here, the illegal posters are not obvious. "

Is this the so-called "hidden trees in the forest"? For a moment, I really wanted to puff up my chest and say "that's natural".But that is not pride but vanity.Let's be honest: "...no, sorry. I didn't think about it that much. I forgot the notice board here was like that." "Huh? That's it?" "If it's here, I'll explain it. If you say it too early, it will be a shame if you can't find it." Chitanda put her finger on her chin and smiled.She stood in front of the bulletin board and said, "Yeah, I would have a headache if I wasn't here. I always feel that Oreki-san just now was unbelievably confident. Please tell me the reason."

It's not that exaggerated... Speaking of which, Chitanda seems to be able to see that the confident attitude doesn't suit me.I obviously didn't say anything. Staring at the bulletin board, Chitanda's already big eyes widened even further.Seeing her eyes that could penetrate the back of the paper, I also felt a wave of uneasiness in my heart.This guy's intuition should not be very sharp, but his observation and memory are outstanding.When we first met, I didn't even know Chitanda existed, but Chitanda remembered my full name clearly.That is the result of observation and memory.If she can write down this notice board in its entirety... well, I'm going to have a really bad headache.

"International event club, debating club, hundred-person-one-song club, you really have everything you need. Ah, divination research club! My friend went there!" From the upper right to the left, and after reaching the head, lower your gaze a little, and look to the right again.Chitanda scanned the club directory-like bulletin board. "I said, is there any?" Satoshi spoke up.Chitanda, who was concentrating on her eyes, didn't notice the irony at all. "Zheng music club, table tennis club, art club. Mmmm..." Chitanda muttered, standing up from the squatting position.

"It seems not." She smiled wryly in disappointment. Seeing that expression made me feel guilty for the first time. "Come to think of it, is the secret club posting a new recruitment notice? We have no way of knowing. It's not that Oreki-san made a mistake in his judgment." If so, she even started to comfort me. Suddenly, I kind of wanted to apologize to Chitanda.It's not because I'm soft-hearted, it's just that she is too straightforward.Regardless of whether it was voluntary or not, Satoshi and I were a bit oblique in our actions.However, this kind of personality should not be related to Chitanda.She is also too gullible to others.Didn't she think about whether there was something hidden about the matter, whether she was deceived?You should have thought about it, Chitanda is not stupid after all.If so, why didn't she show any doubts about me?From this point of view, I have become a complete clown. However, so far the plan is going well.Now that the matter has come to this, I can only bite the bullet and act until the end.Satoshi replied to Chitanda from behind: "Isn't it? I think there should be. It's just that it's hard to say whether you can find it just by looking." "how do I say this?" Chitanda turned around and asked. "In order to avoid the eyes of the General Affairs Commissioner, they should use their brains. Well, it doesn't matter. If you really want it, you will find it." Satoshi shrugged slightly, and continued: "Compared to those, I also want to ask: Why Houtarou, if there is one, must be in the activities of high school students?" "...Ah, that's it. I said that's it." My answer was as dull as I am.Well, it probably sounds like "depressed because of the failure of expectations". I waved my hand and said, "Let's put it this way, Satoshi. If you were asked to hide things in this school, where would you choose?" Probably because he didn't expect to be asked a question suddenly, Satoshi's answer was a little slow: "Hidden things? Well, it depends on the size. It also depends on the conditions... However, the front of the staff bathroom on the first floor of the general building is quite good. Yes. Not to mention the many empty classrooms, the most important thing is that almost no one goes.” "Other than that?" "...Japanese room, it's only used for tea ceremony society." "I see. Then, what if I go to Kasaya Junior High School?" Satoshi's answer was several beats slower this time. "Of course it is..." As soon as he opened his mouth, he snickered: "Ah...that's how it is." "That's what happened." We communicate tacitly. "I know what you're trying to say, Houtarou. It's true." "Hey, what's going on? Is there such an ideal hiding place in Kasiya Middle School?" Chitanda, who was left aside in the cold, spoke with strong curiosity and a little bit of dissatisfaction. "It's not ideal. The first thing I think of is the pantry. Although there will definitely be a large number of people every day, no one will pay attention." Chitanda didn't seem to be enlightened yet.She didn't seem to understand the difference between a Japanese room and a pantry.I said bluntly, "Satoshi wanted to hide in an inconspicuous place at Kamiyama High School. But at Kasiya Middle School, he wanted to hide in a conspicuous place instead. What about you? If it was at Indy Middle School Wouldn't you choose a 'striking blind spot' for hiding something?" "what……" Chitanda gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "We haven't adapted to the brand-new environment of Shenshan High School. Because we are not used to it, we will be sneaky when we hide things. But after three years of junior high school life, our understanding of the junior high school building has even reached the corners. Come on, it's better to be bold and exploit some loopholes than to be clumsy and evasive--I think so. "Generally, if it is a Japanese room or an empty classroom that is inaccessible to people, people who occasionally enter it will look around. You must know that people will go to places that are inaccessible, so it is dangerous to hide things in such places, and you should stay away from them." "So it's an entrance. Indeed, there is no corner in the school that students can't reach. Just like what Chitanda-san said just now, this place is more likely to achieve the effect of 'hiding a corpse on the battlefield'." Although this metaphor is a bit scary, it makes sense. "Real people don't show their faces, only half-baked ones like to play tricks. There are no high school students in the 'Girl Spider Club'. Instead, the shrewd secret club will see things with a bright and aboveboard eye." Chitanda was even a little moved.She sighed deeply with an extremely serious expression, and nodded slowly as if reflecting on what she had just said. "Indeed, that's very natural. I was too naive to want to hide in the corner of the school building. After being told like this, I even feel that it would be unnatural not to post it on this notice board." "But, what is not there is not. Houtarou's self-confidence is sometimes unreliable." While joking, Satoshi approached the notice board: "...Huh?" He stopped.Satoshi suddenly became serious, and reached out to a recruitment postcard.Amongst the pile of postcards of similar sizes, one seemed to be a little bigger than it was a self-assertion. "This one belongs to the baseball club." "Well, that's right. But it feels a bit abrupt." While Satoshi answered vaguely, he opened a postcard from the baseball club. In an instant, Chitanda screamed. A small, torn piece of paper was stapled to the back of the postcard.There are several words written with a ruler on the paper.The words left by the black marker are as follows: "Girl Spider Club, two members are vacant: 05021722LL". "I found it... It's incredible. After hearing what I said just now, I thought it was natural that there would be one here, so I wasn't surprised at all." Chitanda said.She looked more dumbfounded than surprised.Satoshi, on the other hand, was very calm.He stared intently at the note. Then slowly—"There is no seal of the General Affairs Committee, this is my job." And tore it off. During this period, several high school students passed by one after another.They all put on their shoes at the entrance and exit, and set off on their way home in the rain. I said, "I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. I went to the Academic Affairs Office to hand in my composition, and then I went home." "Alright, I'll go back too." Chitanda was stunned for a moment, but she immediately smiled and said, "I see. Let's say goodbye here... The real person doesn't show his face, I remember." After finishing speaking, Chitanda waved her hand in front of her chest as a farewell.