Capítulo 14: The Descendants of the Eventful Classics Club (part 1)
It was on a Sunday that I was invited out by Chitanda. She said she wanted to see me outside school, though counting on me to arrange where to meet, so as a result, here I was waiting at the 'Cafe Pineapple Sandwich'.
The coffee shop, which serves the sourest seasoned Kilimanjaro coffee I've ever known, was decorated in a sombre dark brown hue. The conspicuous advertising board outside was quite hard to miss.
This coffee shop was quiet as there was no radio or TV being broadcast. Though it was indeed a pleasant environment, it was quite a boring place to wait for someone.
There were only a few minutes before the appointed time, so I was getting a bit fidgety about Chitanda not yet arriving as I stared at my cup of coffee within the compartmentalized table I was seated at.
Finally, Chitanda arrived, and according to my watch, right on time at half-past one. It's quite a small coffee shop, so she quickly
found me. Dressed in a mostly white one-piece dress, she came over and got herself seated.
One could say there's no other person
more well-dressed than this casually dressed Chitanda.
"Sorry for calling you out on such short notice."
"It's fine," I replied as I emptied my cup of coffee, and then called for the waiter.
Chitanda had a look at the menu and said, "I'll have a Vienna Cocoa, please." She decided on something sweet. As an ordinary highschool student, I wasn't wealthy enough to make another order myself.
Before getting to the main agenda, we had some small talk, which started with Chitanda's favourable impression with this
coffee shop. I then commented on how a person like her who doesn't order coffee in a coffee shop was like a person who visits
Ueno Zoo but doesn't go to see the giant pandas.
As Chitanda began listing many examples of coffee which were weak in caffeine, her Vienna Cocoa had arrived. I was startled to see the amount of cream on her cup.
Seems like she has a sweet tooth.
Chitanda began to use the spoon to stir in the cream. She seemed to be enjoying herself while she was at it. At this rate, she'll just be drinking her coffee and engaging in small talk all day before going home. Being half serious and half fearful about that happening, I decided to get the ball rolling.
"So, what do you want?"
"Huh?"
Is this the attitude you should have for asking people to take time out of their holy weekends?
"What is it that you asked me out for?"
Silently sipping her coffee and muttering, "That was delicious," Chitanda tilted her head and said, "Well, it was you who chose to meet at this place."
"That's it, I'm going home."
"Ah! Please wait!"
Placing her spoon and cup down, Chitanda quickly sat upright. " I... I was a bit nervous."
Though she looked as though she was calming herself down, her expression was hardly stiff to begin with. It would seem it's
her nature to just blurt anything out whenever she's nervous.
So I decided to tease her by asking, "Nervous? You have something to confess to me?"
Upon saying that, I quickly noticed that such a generic joke had a subtle effect on her.
"No, I..." As though trying to conceal her embarrassment, she looked hesitant as she slowly nodded.
I started to panic, and quickly called for the waiter. "... I'd like another coffee, please."
Not minding my reaction, Chitanda silently spoke. "While it might be a confession, it's more of a request I have for you. In truth this is my problem alone, so I don't know if I'm justified to make such a request. Yet, would you please hear my story first?"
Chitanda was no longer staring at her cup of cocoa. Is that so...
Though I'm ill-equipped with such solemnness, I replied, "Okay, let's hear it."
"Arigato."
After taking a gulp, Chitanda began to slowly speak. "... I have an uncle, he was my mother's older brother. His name was Sekitani Jun. Ten years ago he embarked on a voyage to Malaysia, but he has been missing since seven years ago.
"When I was young... no, I'm probably still young right now — Ten years ago, I was quite attached to my uncle. From what I can remember, he could answer any question that I could ask him. As a child, what he said naturally sounded amazing to me, though I
can't exactly remember anymore the things he told me. The image I have of my uncle is that there was nothing that he didn't know of."
"Sounds like an amazing fellow."
"He was knowledgeable and eloquent, though I don't know if that's still true now."
I smiled and replied half-jokingly, "Well, at least you knew he was when he was still around. I have 2-3 uncles myself, though none of them are missing. So why are you asking a request of me? You're not expecting me to go to Malaysia to search for him, are you?"
"No. My uncle was last seen in the Bengali region... umm... in India, that is. What I wanted to request from Oreki-san is... to help me remember what it was that my uncle said to me."
Chitanda finished her sentence upon saying that, which seemed appropriate, as I had no idea what she had just said. She's asking
me to help her remember what her uncle told her?
"... That's too ridiculous."
"I'm getting ahead of myself, aren't I? My memories relating to him come from my childhood, so I can't exactly remember
them myself. But, there's this one event that left a strong impression in my mind. I really want to recall that moment."
As her lips were getting dry, Chitanda took a sip of her cocoa.
She then continued in a lower volume, "It was when I was still in kindergarten. For some reason, I managed to hear my uncle mention something about a 'classics club'. I always thought this 'jurassics club' had something to do with dinosaurs, so I became interested in this 'classics club' of his[1]."
'Jurassics Club', 'Classics Club', it was a silly pun, though kids that age usually pronounce things wrong. Maybe that's why. This must be when Chitanda Eru, the incarnation of Curiosity itself, was born.
"I heard many stories about my uncle's 'classics club'. Then one day, I went looking for my uncle to ask him about something concerning the 'classics club'. Normally he would answer me as usual, but on that day, he seemed reluctant to answer. He began
wringing his hands with this regretful look, and when he finally calmed down, he answered my question. Upon hearing his answer, I..."
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