The Circumstances of the Classic Lit Club's Scion

Amazed with Houtarou's logical skills, Eru asks him for a favour. She wants him to help her remember the words of her uncle, which made her cry when she was little. Houtarou reluctantly agrees to help her.

Synopsis
Eru asks Houtarou to help her solve a mystery she has been troubled by for a long time. When she was small, she picked up a book, which is suspected to be one of the issues of Hyouka anthology, and asked her uncle about it. For some reason, her uncle refused to answer her. But Eru was persistent and finally he obliged. His response terrified Little Eru and made her cry. Though she had forgotten about the memory over the years, she remembered it again recently. She joined the Classic Lit Club to find out what had made her cry and her uncle upset. Because her uncle has been missing for seven years, she doesn't know what else to do than refer to the book she had shown her uncle.

Missing Chemical Safe Box in a Old Classic Lit Club Room Case
Houtarou was told that the previous issues of Hyouka were kept in a chemical safe box. Houtarou, Eru and Mayaka went to visit the Biology Prep Room, which was the Classic Lit Club room at that time. When they came to that room, its door was locked and they didn't get an immediate response. After some time, an upperclassman, Masashi Toogaito, opened the door and told that this room now belongs to the Wall Newspaper Club. He didn't want to let them in, but Mayaka persisted. While arguing, Masashi found out that Eru was from the Chitanda family. He immediately became tense and told Eru that he doesn't know anything about the chemical safe box. However, after some persisting, Masashi let Eru, Mayaka and Houtarou in.

The room's windows were open, and electric fan was turned on. A makeshift table made from cardboard boxes and a big piece of wood was present at the centre of the room. Eru, Mayaka and Houtarou looked around the room but failed to find the cabinet. Houtarou asked Masashi about other club members, and Masashi answered that today was their day off. After a few more questions, Houtarou gets a clue that some of the cardboard boxes were just moved in.

Houtarou asked Masashi if they could get their club adviser to help them in their search. Masashi angrily refused, saying that he is too very busy for it. After that, Houtarou calmly explained, that all they need is the anthology issues located inside the chemical safe box. He continued, that all of them would be grateful if Masashi will bring them to the their club room located in the Geography Prep Room. Masashi was quite furious, but he forced himself to calm down, and agreed to help Houtarou. Then Houtarou together with Eru and Mayaka left the room, and waited for some time in a corridor nearby, which puzzled the girls. After five minutes, Houtarou said that it's enough, and went to their club room. When they entered the club room, they saw that Hyouka anthology issues was accurately stacked on the table.

Solution: Masashi was secretly smoking in the room. That's why he was airing the room out so it wouldn't smell like tobacco. The chemical safe box was under his makeshift table, and along with the Hyouka issues he kept his cigarettes there. That explained his anger, as he feared that in case of a complete search is conducted in the room, he would be found out which will ruin his and his family's reputation. That's why he complied to Houtarou's request, and then when he and the girls left, Masashi got the Hyouka issues and carried them to the Classic Lit Club room.

Trivia

 * This episode is adaptation of Ch. 4 "The Descendants Of The Eventful Classics Club" and Ch. 5 "The Hidden Seal Of The Pedigree Classics Club" from.
 * In the novel, Eru's uncle disappeared in Malaysia, not in India.
 * In the novel, it's told that Houtarou was ranked 175th out of 350 students, Eru was ranked 6th.