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joeboygo · 2012-07-03, 01:39

Is it possible that the real reason Chitanda and the other members of the classics club were wary of fully expressing their doubts about Houtaro's solution and thereby upsetting him was not because it was "wrong" but because they all knew that he had been played like a fiddle by Irisu? In other words, what they had been struggling to gently or in a roundabout way tell him was not that his ending was wrong, but that he had been strung along like a fool. If we view things that way, then all the hushed and ominous tones as well as Houtaro's fury at the teahouse suddenly makes perfect sense.

Houtaro's solution was not "wrong" any way you slice it. It made the most sense of all the available options, was extremely clever and creative, and it was a hit with the audience, as acknowledged by all the other three members of the club even as they were trying to tell Houtaro that something seemed "off." And if the solution demonstrates that Houtaro has real genius as a mystery writer, why would he be angry about that, even if he had to be tricked into realizing this hidden talent? It should have been a source of gratitude instead.

I think what really pissed him off was that, for all his vaunted deductive abilities, Houtaro was the last person in the club to figure out that Irisu had played him for a sucker, an irony that could not have been lost him. All his friends suspected as much, but none of them had the heart to tell him outright. As if being the last to find this out was not humiliating enough, Irisu rubbed salt into the wound by refusing to acknowledge what she had done to Houtaro, much less offer an apology. He had to lay everything out in her face to make it clear that he had busted her, and even after all that all he got out of her was a non-denial, the most tacit of admissions, and absolutely zero sympathy. What was translated as "that makes me happy" would probably have been better understood as "that will have to do."

Viewed in this light, I feel the reactions and behavior Houtaro and the others displayed appear perfectly appropriate and not all overwrought.

2012-07-03, 01:39	Link #58
joeboygo mechaii Join Date: Jul 2009 Age: 44	Is it possible that the real reason Chitanda and the other members of the classics club were wary of fully expressing their doubts about Houtaro's solution and thereby upsetting him was not because it was "wrong" but because they all knew that he had been played like a fiddle by Irisu? In other words, what they had been struggling to gently or in a roundabout way tell him was not that his ending was wrong, but that he had been strung along like a fool. If we view things that way, then all the hushed and ominous tones as well as Houtaro's fury at the teahouse suddenly makes perfect sense. Houtaro's solution was not "wrong" any way you slice it. It made the most sense of all the available options, was extremely clever and creative, and it was a hit with the audience, as acknowledged by all the other three members of the club even as they were trying to tell Houtaro that something seemed "off." And if the solution demonstrates that Houtaro has real genius as a mystery writer, why would he be angry about that, even if he had to be tricked into realizing this hidden talent? It should have been a source of gratitude instead. I think what really pissed him off was that, for all his vaunted deductive abilities, Houtaro was the last person in the club to figure out that Irisu had played him for a sucker, an irony that could not have been lost him. All his friends suspected as much, but none of them had the heart to tell him outright. As if being the last to find this out was not humiliating enough, Irisu rubbed salt into the wound by refusing to acknowledge what she had done to Houtaro, much less offer an apology. He had to lay everything out in her face to make it clear that he had busted her, and even after all that all he got out of her was a non-denial, the most tacit of admissions, and absolutely zero sympathy. What was translated as "that makes me happy" would probably have been better understood as "that will have to do." Viewed in this light, I feel the reactions and behavior Houtaro and the others displayed appear perfectly appropriate and not all overwrought.