"Shirogane, don't drop dead in the classroom! Why do you look even more haggard?"
Shirogane Miyuki smiled awkwardly. "Last night I went through the names of Shuchiin's second-year, third-year, and graduated students again. There really aren't many that can be linked to Hyacinth."
"And those few don't seem like students who could write the number one selected Tokyo short story... Judging from their Japanese literature grades and club types, I can't see very high literary literacy."
Uchiha Ryo blinked. "You're trying too hard. But I do have another way to break through..."
Shirogane Miyuki looked over in surprise. "I'm all ears."
Uchiha Ryo showed a confident smile.
"Take a rest first, let's talk at the club at noon... Oh right, you're not at the club but in the Student Council room. Then I'll go to the Student Council at noon."
Dispelling Shirogane Miyuki's curiosity, he finally lay on the table and fell asleep before the first class in the morning. It must be said that Shirogane Miyuki is definitely very qualified as a friend.
Clearly, as the Student Council President, he didn't need to worry about club activities at all, but after hearing that the Classic Literature Club's goal was to find the author of The Legend of Devotion, he immediately used his authority as President to investigate.
However, they couldn't trouble Shirogane all the time. Their Classic Literature Club wasn't just about the Student Council.
While Shirogane Miyuki's curiosity was quelled, a certain curious baby at the back table who had been listening in leaned forward.
"Ryo-kun! You said there's a way to break through, what is it? Tell me quickly."
"Chitanda, go back first, you're too close. We'll talk at noon..."
Chitanda Eru squatted down, resting her head directly on Uchiha Ryo's lap, staring straight at him with those purple eyes.
Reaching out to pinch Chitanda Eru's cheek, Uchiha Ryo indicated that he wouldn't reveal it in advance. Wait until noon and go to the Student Council room together.
...
Finally enduring until noon, Chitanda Eru puffed up her cheeks and came to Uchiha Ryo's side.
"Hmph, you piqued my interest and then ignored it. Now it's break time, you must satisfy me!"
"Fine, fine, fine, let's go~ to the Student Council office." Uchiha Ryo stood up and walked to the Student Council office with Shirogane Miyuki.
When they arrived at the office and sat down, Vice President Shinomiya, Secretary Fujiwara, General Affairs Yukinoshita and others also arrived one after another.
"Alright Ryo-kun! Now can you tell us your progress?" Chitanda Eru sat next to Yukino holding black tea, but her eyes were still on Uchiha Ryo.
Yukinoshita Yukino looked over in surprise. "We are all investigating Hyacinth, have you already found them?"
Uchiha Ryo waved his hand. "Haven't found them, still far off. Just made a little breakthrough. But... the following is just my guess, no guarantee it's correct."
Thus, Uchiha Ryo told them what he investigated online after returning home from the cat cafe last night.
"First of all, we fell into a wrong behavior from the start, which is looking for people based only on the name Hyacinth! Because most authors won't let their pen names deduce their real names."
"So, we should focus more on [Hyacinth] itself. Why did the author name their pen name Hyacinth..."
Last night, Uchiha Ryo collected a large amount of relevant information. Finally, after translating Hyacinth... into Hyacinthus, he discovered a story.
In ancient Greek mythology, Hyacinthus was Apollo's playmate but died due to the jealousy of a wind god. From the pool of his blood, a purple flower grew because of Apollo's tears. We call this flower [Hyacinth].
The language of the purple hyacinth is: jealousy, sadness, apology, regret.
Uchiha Ryo rubbed his temples. "After that, I finished reading the short story The Legend of Devotion. Just like Chitanda said, this book is very well written, but lacks the final ending."
"Maybe most people see the ending as open-ended, but there is a lot of foreshadowing in the text. If you read carefully, you can definitely feel... the author vaguely should have thought of the ending of the story, but delayed writing it."
Why? Maybe the author didn't want to write it, or couldn't write it.
"Yukinoshita, help me check all short stories published under the name of Shuchiin last year!"
Yukinoshita Yukino, who was using a laptop, nodded. As the Student Council General Affairs, she often assisted Vice President Shinomiya in her work, and Shinomiya Kaguya was completely ignorant about the internet. So the right to use the laptop was given to Yukino.
"There are over a hundred short stories published in Shuchiin last year..."
Uchiha Ryo frowned. "These students are really capable. Investigate the works that participated in the Tokyo Short Story Selection last year, and keep the works that overlap in both!"
Yukino started operating... Soon, under everyone's surprised gaze, she slowly said.
"Works that fit both being published by Shuchiin and selected for the Tokyo Short Story Selection are... seven books. Including first place, second place, eleventh, fourteenth, and three peripheral selections."
Uchiha Ryo rubbed his chin. "Then our next target is not just finding the author of The Legend of Devotion, but also the authors of other short stories! They might know something."
Shirogane Miyuki nodded and immediately began to investigate using the convenient conditions of the President. He didn't believe it! Could others hide as well as the author [Hyacinth]?
Meanwhile, hearing Uchiha Ryo's investigation method, Shinomiya Kaguya frowned.
"Uchiha-kun, if Hyacinth represents jealousy, then how could he, as the first place in the selection, be jealous?"
Uchiha Ryo waved his hand. "So I said I'm not sure, just betting once. Besides, the protagonist of Hyacinth isn't jealousy but being envied... So isn't the second or eleventh place very suspicious?"
Shinomiya Kaguya still didn't quite agree.
"Could the author's pen name be just to mock others for being jealous of me? I don't think there would be such a person..."
At this time, Yukinoshita Yukino suddenly spoke. "What if... the pen name Hyacinth wasn't chosen by the author themselves?"
The meeting room fell silent—
Chitanda Eru's eyes suddenly widened. "What Yukino said is completely possible. We can't find the author of a book published in Shuchiin at all, which means he himself doesn't want to be exposed. In that case, why choose a pen name instead of using Anonymous!"
At the same time, Shirogane Miyuki laughed.
"Sure enough, only Hyacinth is a mysterious guy. Since the authors of other works published in Shuchiin, there must be registration records!"
Last year's Tokyo Short Story Selection, first place was The Legend of Devotion author pen name [Hyacinth].
Second place was... Heart and Fox author's real name is... Kazeno!
Shirogane Miyuki said in surprise. "Kazeno-senpai, he was actually in the Literature Club when he enrolled last year, but quit and transferred to the Rugby Club in the second half of the year."