Hyouka Volume 2 Chapter 88 – 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 glass

L: that's some strange glass

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 classmate, and to run away from the classmate 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 class 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 embarrassing

L: so please don't laugh

L: truth is

L: i don't like stories where people die