| Warning: information below contains some spoilers! |
Houtarou realises that girl who wrote about Eru's uncle in the "Hyouka" anthology 33 years ago is actually the school's current librarian. He decides to ask her about Hyouka with the other three members of the Classic Lit Club.
Plot[]
Houtarou and Satoshi are on their way home in the rain. As they ride, Satoshi speculates that Houtarou has been solving mysteries after mysteries "for (Eru) Chitanda's sake, which he's surprised about. Houtarou corrects him that it was her fault that he had to solve them. But Satoshi disagrees that at the last one, where the Classic Lit Club was having a research-collaboration, Houtarou didn't have to really solve the case, yet he went out of his way to do so. Houtarou reasons that after seeing the liveliness of the other members, he may have wanted to waste energy by creating a theory. The rain stops, and he states that he may have been jealous of their rose-coloured lifestyle.
Back at home, Houtarou thinks to himself if he really wanted a rose-coloured lifestyle, like Eru or her uncle, or even like his own sister. He couldn't understand his feelings though. Looking back to his sister's letter, Houtarou reads a line that said "I'm sure I won't regret it 10 years from now," possibly relating to her request for Houtarou to enter the Classic Lit Club. After he wonders what he would think about himself 10 years in the future, the home phone rings and Houtarou heads over to get it.
It is his sister calling, giving a report on how she's doing with her world travel. She then asks how Houtarou was doing, and he replies that the club was working on the Hyouka and articles related to Jun Sekitani. Hearing this, her sister asks if the term "Kanya Festival" is still taboo. This surprises Houtarou, making him ask if she knows what she's talking about. Tomoe, his sister, talks about how tragic and depressing the event was, which made him want to ask more, but she was out of time. Tomoe cuts the phone, leaving Houtarou a bit confused, as the story of Jun Sekitani he knew of was heroic, not tragic.
Houtarou reviews the resources, and concludes that if the story about Jun Sekitani was "tragic", the theory he gave everyone was either incorrect or incomplete. He thinks about how Jun sacrificed his high school life for the sake of the other students. This high school life should have been rose-coloured to him, but if it was tragic, as Houtarou's sister said, it was not at all. Houtarou finds interest and wishes to solve this case.
The next day, Houtarou has everyone meet him at their club room where he reveals that he believes that his deduction is incomplete. So to learn the truth he had arranged a meeting with a person who witnessed the actual events that took place all those years ago: the librarian, Youko Itoigawa. They all go down to the library and meet Ms. Itoigawa, who reveals that she was a fellow student like Jun Sekitani and is more than happy to explain what happened all those years ago. Ms. Itoigawa learns about Houtarou’s theory and is surprised as it is pretty much what took place all those years ago. Houtarou then asks if Sekitani achieved his goal and became the hero that he was rumored to be, Ms. Itoigawa is impressed that he had managed to see through everything.
Ms. Itoigawa explains that everything did indeed go as Houtarou deduced, however there were several things that no one knew or were forgotten as time passed. She explains that during the protest the true organizer and leader knew that they needed a scapegoat, so they chose one: Jun Sekitani. The protest and boycotts lasted for what seemed like forever, until one day things went too far. The students had made a bonfire during the night, however it quickly went sideways as the fire grew too large and ended up setting the school’s storage building on fire. The fire was eventually put out, however things had become too serious to ignore any longer. In order to remedy this, they decided to expel the organizer and leader (and unfortunate scapegoat) Jun Sekitani. Everyone turned their back on him as they did not want to get in trouble themselves, Ms. Itoigawa herself regretted not being able to do more for him and besides that, all of it was for nothing. As according to Ms. Itoigawa the school festival was eventually shortened to three days for the foreseeable future.
Chitanda then asked if she knew what “Hyouka” meant, but unfortunately even she didn’t know as Jun Sekitani had named the anthology before he left and no one knew what it truly meant. However, Houtarou visibly unsettled reveals that he has figured out what it meant, he asks them what does Hyouka mean in English and it means: Ice Cream. Almost immediately, Satoshi, Ibara, and Ms. Itoigawa realize what it means. Houtarou reveals that it is actually a pun, he writes it down on a piece of paper and gives it to Chitanda, who upon seeing it remembers everything. She as a child asked her uncle Jun Sekitani what those words meant, he revealed that it meant that one could be alive but dead at the same time, and unable to scream. This terrified her which is why she started to cry, which causes her to cry as she finally remembered why she was so terrified back then.
Hyouka turned out to mean "ice cream" in English, therefore Jun made the pun "ice cream" as the English phrase "I scream". Jun did this intentionally as well as with the drawing on the anthology, as the rabbit represented him being devoured by the wolf representing the school and the other rabbits represent the students who did nothing and turned their back on him. He wanted those of the future generations to understand what he went through and left an everlasting emblem that would resonate to the future and beyond. Chitanda thanks Houtarou for finally giving her and her uncle the closure they needed.
Mystery solved[]
Trivia[]
- This episode is adaptation of Ch. 7 "The Truth Of The Historic Classics Club" and Ch. 9 "Letter To Sarajevo" from Hyouka.
- In the novel, Classic Lit Club members have a talk with Youko Itoigawa in the librarian office because the library is full with students.
Notes[]
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