Chapter 23 Four

"Hey, Chitanda. Is there a saying that 'what you do on New Year's Day will be repeated for a year'?" Hearing my question, she thought for a while and said, "How should I put it... I don't think there is such a thing. Otherwise, it would be too unreasonable to say, 'If you are off in the first month, you will be off for the whole year'... But Oreki-san, what I have to say, I care more about the status quo than the remaining 364 days." The cold wind blowing through the cracks in the wall made people's cheeks hurt, but a ray of light also flowed into the darkness.My eyes have gradually adjusted to the darkness.

What I could see in front of me was a bamboo broom, a shovel, a long stick for filling coal, and a cardboard box that didn't know what was in it. In addition, Chitanda was wearing a kimono and looked a little distressed. In addition, there are four walls that surround us. It was only now that I could squeeze out a complaint: "How could this be?" "That's right. Think about it..." In the darkness, Chitanda seemed to smile: "Could it be due to bad luck?" I sigh deeply. Is that really the case? ...No, not right.There are two reasons.One is because the old man passing by was drunk and locked the door without confirming the inside.The second—the root cause—was pretty self-explanatory, but I said it anyway: “Sorry, I made a stupid mistake.”

Chitanda shook her head. "No, generally speaking, no matter how you make a mistake, you won't be locked." Having said that, I should apologize for just getting it wrong. Fortunately, although it is locked, this is not an unmanned factory or a school building during summer vacation.Although it is located in the corner of the courtyard, it is unobtrusive, but there is an endless stream of people who visit the Inari God.Just call for help, and it's a piece of cake to get someone outside to unlatch the door. "Then I'll call someone. I'll shout with all my might. You'd better cover your ears."

No matter what, Chitanda couldn't get Chitanda to call.So I did a pronunciation exercise or two. "Ah, wait a minute..." What should I shout?How much is a high school student, isn't "help" inappropriate? How about "Is anyone there?"Anyway, if you yell out, someone will notice.Just when I took a deep breath and was about to shout out— "I said wait a minute!" In the darkness, suddenly a white thing stretched out.A soft object suddenly blocked my mouth.I swallowed my voice subconsciously, and focused my gaze closer - the one covering my mouth was Chitanda's palm.

I was frightened and confused.Chitanda straightened her body, put her left hand on the right sleeve, covered my mouth with her right hand, and said, "I'm sorry, but please wait a moment." Her expression was unusually serious.I nodded without thinking.But is there any reason to have to wait? Chitanda took his hand away from my mouth and asked, "Well, how would things go if we shouted at people now?" I still don't know why, so I replied: "Someone should come." "Then we'd ask each other to take down the latch." "Almost, and then the latch will be removed."

"So the door will open." "It's open." "In this way, how will we be treated?" I was at a loss for words. Afterwards, I also gradually understood what Chitanda was worried about.It would be fine if Satoshi and I were locked up, and it would be fine if Chitanda and Ibara were locked up.But that's not the case. The friendly passer-by who came to help take down the door latch; Chitanda and I who came to a corner of the shrine at night in an inaccessible hut—can the other party understand correctly what we want to do? After a brief silence, Chitanda whispered in an indiscernible voice, "It would be nice if I was rescued by a complete stranger, but there have been helpers patrolling the yard since just now. They all know me."

I remembered that when I walked into the social affairs office, Hikaru Chitanda gave her name, and the other party changed her attitude. "If you are rescued by those helpers... I'm afraid you will be misunderstood. After all, the distiller's grains are not in the miscellaneous room, but in the warehouse. Even if we jump into the Yellow River, we won't be able to wash it away. Oreki-san, today I am acting as my father. I came here. Leaving aside other times and places, I would be very disturbed if people spread gossip at Arakusu Shrine in the first month of the lunar year.”

I pondered. Just listening to this sentence, it is inevitable that there will be a feeling of "too much care about decency".There is no need to pay so much attention at all-someone must think so.However, the reason why I have this kind of thought is because I, Oreki Houtaro, am just an ordinary high school student. However, Chitanda Eru's world is slightly different from mine.The Togakiuchi family, which is quite influential in education administration, and the Irisu family, which runs a major hospital in Kamiyama City, also know Chitanda with their daughters.In addition to the relationship between junior and junior at the school, they also have a close relationship with Chitanda.And on New Year's Day, Chitanda took the New Year's gift in place of his father and came to Jumonji, who was in charge of the divine affairs of Arakusu Shrine.

It's not my world to judge - I judged.Chitanda is worried that people will gossip about me calling for help. Is this a legitimate worry or is it unfounded?I have no idea. Unintentionally, although it was just a flash of thought, I felt a little lonely. I sighed slightly and said, "Got it. What should I do then?" There are cracks everywhere on the wall, but there are no gaps around the aluminum door, and the latch cannot be removed from the room. "I have to find someone to open the door from the outside. I have to do it as soon as possible. If someone comes here for some reason, they will definitely be misunderstood. Speaking of which, there are only people who can explain things clearly..."

"Student Jiasui..." "With Ihara." "Now that I think about it, I would have told him not to lock the door before he closed it. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have time to speak..." Chitanda said sadly, but her tone suddenly became clear again: "But, it's okay!" "Oh? Do you have any good ideas?" "yes." It seems that she is full of confidence, has she thought of any good way to make her shine. In the darkness, Chitanda smiled: "It's very simple, just make a phone call." Is this a good idea? "It's really simple. But Chitanda, there shouldn't be a public phone here, right?"

"What are you talking about? Are you kidding me? Of course you are using a mobile phone." Started to have a headache.The cold wind that blows through the cracks in the wall pierces the bone marrow. "So that's what it is, a clever plan. Then please." "Ah, I don't have a cell phone." Is this guy serious?Or are you confused by the status quo and forget everything?I responded indifferently: "Me neither." Then, silence fell. "...I, I forgot! What can I do!" You still know how to panic... Is there no way to get out of this miscellaneous room other than shouting loudly?I think about it. Surely the latch cannot be removed from the inside of the shed?Although the mind has always been so default, let's discuss it rigorously. First, I took another look at the latch system.The door itself doesn't have a lock, so it can be pushed open a bit if you push hard.The thing that prevented me from pushing further was the latch. As far as I can see when I came here, there are "コ"-shaped iron buckles on the outer walls and doors of the miscellaneous house.Of course, I haven't really seen the details of whether the screws or nails are used for fixing.However, judging from the fact that I have used a lot of strength and haven't seen it loosen, the iron buckle should be nailed quite firmly.Finally, a wooden rod is passed across all the clasps - this is the latch. If so, is it possible to move the latch laterally?If this miscellaneous house uses a snap-on latch, after opening the door a little, you can still find a way to lift and remove the latch wood a little bit.But the side-slip style can't be helped. Conclusion: The latch cannot be removed from the inside of the shed. but…… "There is not only one way to open the door." Hearing my words, Chitanda responded with a "huh".I pointed to the aluminum door and said, "For example, just remove the whole door. How is this door installed..." In the darkness, I cast my gaze at the joint between the door and the wall.There is a hinge on the top and bottom of the door frame.Well, this is the most common way to pretend. The problem with this method of installation is that in order to unscrew the hinges and remove them, I have to open the door first.If the door is closed, the screw heads will be caught in the crack of the door and cannot even be seen. The method of removing the hinges does not work. "and also……" "That, Oreki-san." Chitanda's voice felt a bit bitter. "Ok?" "How should I put it, I forgot. I forgot that Oreki-san doesn't have a mobile phone, so I beg you not to call out loudly... But this is another matter. Let's call someone. If things go on like this , Oreki-san, you..." I?What's wrong with me?Chitanda hesitated and said, "...you're going to catch a cold." Well, indeed.Now I too am shivering from the cold.I thought it wouldn't take even a minute to get a distiller's lees, so I didn't wear a coat.It's really cold just wearing a sweater——even so, it's not so cold that it's unbearable. "But you're still worried that we'll be misunderstood, right? I'll call someone right away when I'm desperate. But before that, let me think of a way." "Oreki-san..." Chitanda lowered her head in the darkness.Although I didn't know if she could see it, I tried my best to smile and said, "Don't worry, it's fine. Although the door can't be pushed and the hinges can't be removed, there are still four escape methods that haven't been discussed yet. " "Hey, there are so many more?" "That's right." I folded my fingers one by one and began to enumerate: "First, break through the door; second, break through the wall; third, dig out the ground; fourth, break through the roof." After folding four fingers, only the pinky finger is left on my right hand.Chitanda didn't reply.Although she didn't reply, I could feel her astonishment. I'm not kidding, though.In the past, Satoshi borrowed a line from My Sherlock Holmes that said, "After all the impossible methods are eliminated, no matter how jaw-dropping it may be, what remains is the correct answer".That's what I said in my impression, don't blame me if I'm wrong. I punched the wall with my fist. "Anything you can think of will work. While the door itself is strong, the wall it's attached to is flimsy. A few kicks will break around the hinges. After all, the panel It’s already a bit rotten. As long as you have tools, you can break it without much effort.” "This this……" Sure enough, Chitanda stopped him and said, "This is not allowed! No matter how old it is, this is the house of Arakusu Shrine!" "Sure enough, it still doesn't work." She should be angry.Regardless of whether Chitanda was angry or not, his brutal behavior would attract the helpers.If you recruit people's eyes and ears in order to escape, then the cart before the horse.In this way, the ceiling does not need to be considered.The rest is... "Is it an authentic tactic?" Fortunately, there was a shovel standing by the wall of the miscellaneous house, and the tip of the shovel was still very sharp, which seemed to be just right.On the other hand, there is no floor covering on the ground.It turns out that the reason why the house is extremely cold must be because there is no floor, and the air-conditioning can be directly transmitted from the ground——I suddenly thought. "...Do you want to dig?" "How long will it take..." Feels like I should be able to dig it out by tomorrow morning - as long as I don't collapse in the middle. The general direction of the escape strategy is yet to be considered.This is a miscellaneous house, but there are some tools.But at this stage, there's nothing "necessary" to get us out of here.A shovel, a broom, and a long stick that can be used as a flagpole in addition to being used to fill coal, and a frame to fix the drum.Plus, there are tons of bowls in the carton...what are these things for? Cold air poured in through the cracks in the wall. These things are still embarrassing to reuse.It was impossible to get out of the hut without opening the door, which didn't have a single window after all.However, the more we procrastinate like this, the harder it is to explain when we are rescued by a third party.Maybe it would be neater to shout loudly.Thinking of this, I felt that I had to do something.Is this stubbornness?No, I should not be so stubborn.I just saw that Chitanda was really worried, so I wanted to do something for her.Besides, what a wonderful world out there! Because of my longing for freedom, I looked at the "outside world" through the cracks in the wall. Even though it was only a small gap, the field of vision was surprisingly wide.The exuberant bonfire is extraordinarily dazzling, so nice, it looks warm.Is there any rum for hospitality?If we can't help, it must have caused a lot of trouble for Shiwenzi. Just as I was thinking about it, I saw an old man who smelt of alcohol and obviously did not look like a worshiper walking towards me.It must be a helper on patrol. "Ah, here he is." Looking back, Chitanda was also observing the outside world from another crack in the wall.The gap I was looking for was at waist height, but Chitanda found a gap at eye level.Just like that, her handbag was attached to my squatting head. The old man did not go to the side of the miscellaneous house.Judging from the direction of travel, I thought he was going to God Inari. I didn't want the old man to turn his head to pick up something, and then turned back immediately. "What is he doing?" Hearing my muttering, Chitanda said with some lack of confidence: "I must have picked up something, it seems to be a mobile phone strap or something." "Can you see clearly?" "more or less." "This distance is fine? And it's still at night?" She answered me with the utmost earnestness: "My night vision is very good." Not to mention eyesight of over 2.0, does he still have night vision... Not only eyesight, Chitanda's hearing and sense of smell are also very sensitive.In addition, she is so good at cooking, perhaps because of her keen sense of taste. While talking, I lost sight of the old man's whereabouts.However, Chitanda seemed to be keeping an eye on it.After a while, she whispered, "Ah, he's going to hand it in." "Hand it in? Where?" "It should be the social affairs office. Ah, there are too many pedestrians, and I can't see it anymore." At this time, an idea flashed through my mind: "...I said Chitanda. If the wall in front of me is only slightly damaged, it should be fine, right?"