Hyouka - Volume 03 - The Kudryavka Sequence - Welcome to KANYA FESTA! (1)

Borrowing something from Oreki, I took this moment to head to the First
Preparation Room. I didn't feel like heading to the Manga Club, and I wasn't
thinking of defeating Kouchi-sempai now of all times. Still, I had wanted to
at least show her Ashes at Dusk. My position in the Manga Club and its
policy during the Cultural Festival notwithstanding, I simply wanted to show
it to her as a fellow manga lover.
As luck would have it, Kouchi-sempai was outside the classroom speaking
with President Yuasa. I called her out from some distance,
"Sempai,"
They both turned around,
"...... Oh, Ibara,"
Kouchi-sempai sighed, and asked with her usual upright demeanor,
"Yes, what is it?"
"I know it's a little late, but, here......"
I presented the Ashes at Dusk copy to her,
"I've brought it, the manga that I believe would become a classic one day,"
Kouchi-sempai's gaze sharpened as though it would shoot through my chest.
She looked at the copy of Ashes at Dusk with quite some bitterness before
sighing deeply,
"Let's go somewhere else,"
The place she took me was the same place I spoke with President Yuasa, the
roof of the connecting corridor. Leaning on the handrail, Kouchi-sempai
glanced down at the courtyard below. I stood a few paces from her and