Hyouka

Chapter 18

8 - Credit Roll

 

Log No 00299

Mayuko: i"m really, really grateful
Anonymous: enough of that already
Anonymous: you"ve been thanking me for a while
Anonymous: you even thanked me at school, so there"s no need to thank me anymore
Mayuko: but still
Mayuko: thank you
Mayuko: since it was all my fault
Mayuko: even though everyone seemed to enjoy the murder scene
Mayuko: since it"s that sort of script
Anonymous: just don"t follow up with "i"m sorry"
Mayuko: i"m sorry
Mayuko: oh
Anonymous: everything"s been taken care of
Anonymous: though it didn"t end up as the movie you had hoped for
Anonymous: what"s important is that it"s been completed
Mayuko: don"t say that
Anonymous: which line were you responding to?
Mayuko: oh, i meant, the part about it not ending up as i hoped for
Mayuko: what i would hope for most
Mayuko: would be for everyone to go hurrah in the end
Anonymous: really, you"re so easy to read
Mayuko: hmm?
Anonymous: nothing

 

 

Log No 00313

A.ta.shi♪: seems like you got things sorted out
Anonymous: all thanks to you, sempai
A.ta.shi♪: why you"re welcome. glad to be at your service
Anonymous: though i feel sorry for him
Anonymous: for doing something like that to him
A.ta.shi♪: you really think so?
Anonymous: really what?
A.ta.shi♪: as in you"re really sorry towards him
Anonymous: since you"re on the other side of the world
Anonymous: i felt like bluffing
A.ta.shi♪: lol, figures
A.ta.shi♪: but you know?
Anonymous: yes?
A.ta.shi♪: you"ve lied to me as well, haven"t you?
A.ta.shi♪: so you keep your trap shut!
Anonymous: i, lied?
A.ta.shi♪: that"s right. you shouldn"t manipulate people on the other side of the world
A.ta.shi♪: especially me
A.ta.shi♪: just kidding
Anonymous: i wasn"t really lying
A.ta.shi♪: you wanted to protect the girl who did the script, which is why you asked me for help, right?
A.ta.shi♪: in other words, the problem lies with the script, right?
A.ta.shi♪: you knew i would reject solving such a hopeless problem
A.ta.shi♪: yet you still wanted to protect her
A.ta.shi♪: you sure know how to help yourself under the pretext of helping someone else
A.ta.shi♪: though it seems that idiot still hasn"t realized
Anonymous: sempai
Anonymous: my priority has always been to ensure the success of the project
Anonymous: sempai?
A.ta.shi♪ has logged out

 

 

Log No 00314

Houtaru: will this be fine?
L: yes, this is good
L: you"ve got a strange username
Houtaru: i misspelled "houtarou", but correcting it is too bothersome, so
Houtaru: yet this feels strange
Houtaru: my last access time was only just now
L: huh?
L: oreki-san, is this the first time you"ve usd this?
L: used this?
Houtaru: maybe
Houtaru: oh well
L: so what was the script that hongou-san had envisioned?
L: oreki-san?
Houtaru: no, i"ll do it
Houtaru: since i didn"t ask her, i"ll just have to speculate
Houtaru: if kaitou didn"t die, then there would be no sealed room
L: even without the role of the cameraman?
Houtaru: you sure can be mean, you know? first, the killer is kounosu, she came in via the window
L: eh? but isn"t the window?
Houtaru: there"re two control room windows, either one"s fine
Houtaru: using a rope, kounosu climbed into one of the control room windows
Houtaru: she then stabbed kaitou
Houtaru: though it was not enough to kill him
Houtaru: she then used the rope to return to the second floor
Houtaru: she then walked down the stairs to the lobby as though nothing happened
Houtaru: that"s it
Houtaru: must be quite bitter for haba
L: what about the seventh actor hongou-san was looking for?
Houtaru: oh that? she wrote that requirement in before she completed the script
Houtaru: though i only realized afterwards, but there were 7 people in the movie
L: eh? no, there should be 6
Houtaru: it"s not limited to the actors
Houtaru: there"s also the narrator, remember? the one introducing the characters
Houtaru: even in the credit roll, his name was listed alongside theirs
L: oh, now i see!
L: but i don"t understand, the room where kaitou collapsed
L: why is the door locked?
Houtaru: kaitou must have locked it himself from the inside
L: but why?
Houtaru: to run away from the killer, which is pretty common
Houtaru: but it"s probably not the case here
L: i think i know
Houtaru: really? that"s rare
L: since i think i understand a bit of what hongou-san is thinking

 

L: after getting stabbed by kounosu-san
L: kaitou said to her
L: why did she stab him
L: by any chance, maybe she wasn"t aiming to kill him
L: so kaitou-san decided to cover for kounosu-san
L: as kounosu-san returned to the 2nd floor, he returned to the right stage

 

L: huh? but how does that explain the wounds?
Houtaru: i was thinking the same thing
Houtaru: that could be easily explained. maybe he got hit by the splattered gla.s.s
L: that"s some strange gla.s.s
Houtaru: i meant "shattered". stop correcting my spelling, are you ibara or what?
Houtaru: maybe he was injuring himself so he could use that as an excuse
Houtaru: why did kounosu stab kaitou? and why did he forgive her?
Houtaru: we may never know the answer unless we ask hongou
L: guess it can"t be helped
L: even though i"m curious about it
L: to stab one"s own cla.s.smate, and to run away from the cla.s.smate that stabbed you
L: how would hongou-san envision such scenes?
L: i"m very curious about it

 

Houtaru: by the way, there"s something i"d like to ask
L: yes, what is it?
Houtaru: this might be my imagination, but
Houtaru: didn"t you yourself realize one answer from all this?
L: eh?
L: but i didn"t solve anything
L: why do you say that?
Houtaru: the three from cla.s.s 2-F plus me
Houtaru: you were convinced by none of our deductions
Houtaru: this is so unlike you. does that have something to do with your resonance with hongou?
L: oh, i see
L: let"s see, it"s because i think hongou-san and i are alike
Houtaru: ?
L: oh, this is a bit embarra.s.sing
L: so please don"t laugh
L: truth is
L: i don"t like stories where people die