Hyouka

As I reflected back on this, I cemented my belief that there was at least one strange thing with what had happened that day. Something that wasn’t the case when I walked into the shop for the first time but was the case after I left it. I couldn’t imagine that it was simply a coincidence. Someone did it on purpose. It was connected with the question about what to do with the lucky cat on my birthday, so to speak.

As I traced further back into my memories, a thought started to ama.s.s in my head. At this point, however, it still remained nothing more than an ambiguous idea. In the end, I needed to ask her for her side of the story.

The mountain-pa.s.s stopped rising. A small collection of houses started to fan out from below my vision. It was Jinde, the place where Chitanda’s house was located.

By this point, my approximation of the distance between me and Chitanda was already beyond salvation. As I ran and walked, my pace continued to change all over the place.

And yet, for some reason, I felt like I’d be able to talk with her once I reached the end of the decline and finally entered the area called Jinde.