verdantgrove

Chapter 3

Location: Dojo

Season: Summer

Author: Yuumasu

Souma: Yah…! Hyah…!

Shinobu: Kanzaki-dono, Kanzaki-dono, are you over here~?

Souma: Gah, you knave…!

Shinobu: Eek?!

Souma: Huh? I had thought that you were someone else, but it’s you, Sengoku.

Shinobu: That’s right, it is I! A-a swing more, and you would have chopped my head clean off…!

Souma: I am so terribly sorry. Being approached from behind had made me think you were someone who carried ill intent, and thus I attacked. Please accept my humble apology.

Shinobu: No, no. It was my fault as well, Kanzaki-dono. You were focused, and yet I still called out to you abruptly...

...Well, I did not get your attention just to apologize. Kanzaki-dono. I would like for you to play this game with me.

Souma: Hm. Are these… Ogura Hyakunin Isshu karuta1?

Shinobu: That’s right! I belong to that circle known as “ASOBI club”.

The other day, when I was looking through our stock of games, I found these ♪

Souma: Haha, I see. ...Good gracious, how nostalgic. It has certainly been quite a while that I’ve gone without playing this, but...

When I was a child, my relatives and I often gathered together around New Year’s Day and the like to play karuta.

Shinobu: Just as I would expect! You are good at hanafuda2, after all. You being good at karuta as well is exactly what I had anticipated ♪

Although I have learned about Ogura Hyakunin Isshu in my Japanese class, there is a lot about the rules and such that I’ve forgotten, so I’d quite like to play the card game together~!

Souma: Wow, Sengoku, you have played Hyakunin Isshu as well, then?

Shinobu: Mhm! Incidentally, my favorite poem is: “Though I would hide it/In my face it still appears--/My fond, secret love./And now he questions me:/‘Is something bothering you?’’”

It makes me feel special because it has my name in it3, so it was the very first poem from the anthology that I memorized~♪

Souma: I see. What a nice experience to have.

As for a poem that contains my name… Hmm, nothing is coming to mind.

The first thing that I thought of was “a revolving lantern”4... Perhaps that?

In any case, Sengoku, I understand what you request of me. Let us play; who else shall be joining us?

Shinobu: Eh? But… I hadn’t asked anyone else besides you, Kanzaki-dono...

Souma: What? Sengoku, the two of us alone are too few to play karuta. If you and I were to go against one another, we would need to call upon the cooperation of another good soul to read the cards.

Shinobu: Ah, you needn’t worry about that! I shall read the cards, and you shall be the one playing the game!

Souma: In other words, I shall be playing karuta by myself? How peculiar...

But if that is what you wish for, Sengoku, I shall play along. Is it alright if we play right here on the tatami?

Shinobu: That’s perfectly alright, thank you~♪

I don’t know the rules in detail, so would you do me the favor of explaining them to me?

Souma: Understood. ...First, have a seat, and then bow. Let us begin.

Shinobu: Yes, let’s!

Souma: Hmm. Well...typically, after shuffling the deck, we each take twenty-five cards without looking at them and arrange them each in a line facing each other, but...

Given that upon this occasion, I have no opponent… It would be best for me to line them up in a manner that allows me to read them, be it proper or not.

Shinobu: Hmm? If we take twenty-five cards each, that is fifty altogether. Aren’t there one-hundred cards…?

Souma: We shan’t use the remaining fifty cards during the match. Go ahead and put them back in the box.

Shinobu: Understood~ ...Rustle, rustle… Kanzaki-dono, I’ve returned them to the box!

Souma: I appreciate your help. Before the match begins, there are usually fifteen minutes for memorization, but we should be able to skip that as well.

Let us allow this game to commence at last. We shall exchange bows, and...

Shinobu: I shall bow! And after that, is it alright for me to read out the poem that’s written on the card?

Souma: Nay, before we begin, there is a joka.

Shinobu: Joka… Like a joker?

Souma: No, no. I am not speaking of Western playing cards. It is customary that, before the match begins, the reader will read aloud a poem that is not from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu called a joka.

Shinobu: I-Is that so? However, I… I know very little Japanese poetry.

Souma: If you do not know any other poems, it is perfectly alright to compose your own. My family all perform their own individual poems as well, you see?

Shinobu: I can make one myself…? Hmm~

Alright. I may not feel confident in it, but I did it, more or less!

“Ryuseitai/Red, blue, green/Black, yellow/Allies of justice/Hip, hip, hurray”...☆

Souma: Wow. That is certainly very much like you, Sengoku. I liked it. Go on, you can read the card now.

Shinobu: Alright! Truly, this is where--5

Souma: Hyah!

Shinobu: Whoa~! Just as I would expect of you, Kanzaki-dono, how gallant! You figured out what it was so fast!

The movement you made when you were grabbing the card was so beautiful; it was almost like you were throwing a shuriken! I was super enchanted by it~!

I want to be as fast as you, Kanzaki-dono. Shusshu...☆

Souma: While it is certainly not bad to desire such a thing, in order to recognize the card by simply the first verse of the poem, you must memorize the entirety of Ogura Hyakunin Isshu before you can so much as lay a finger upon the card, you know?

Shinobu: Ah, memorization, right. I often struggle to remember just the first verse, but...

That’s just another way that I can discipline myself! I aim to handle cards just as well as you do, Kanzaki-dono, and so I shall try my best~!

TL Notes:

1: “Ogura Hyakunin Isshu” is an anthology of Japanese style poems called tanka or waka; it can be written in English as “Ogura Anthology of One Hundred Tanka by One Hundred Poets”. “Karuta” is a game in which a player has to identify a poem from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by hearing the first half, using cards on which the second half is written. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogura_Hyakunin_Isshu

2: A style of Japanese playing cards used to play multiple types of card games. Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanafuda

3: The original Japanese of the poem is read as “Shinoburedo/Iro ni ide ni keri/Waga koi wa/Mono ya omou to/Hito no tou made”. Shinobu’s name appears in the part read as “shinoburedo”, which is translated as “though I would hide it”.

4: “Soumatou” in Japanese.

5: The first verse of Semimaru’s poem from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. The full poem is:

“Truly, this is where/Travelers who go or come/Over parting ways--/Friends or strangers--all must meet:/The gate of "Meeting Hill."

Chapter 1

Location: Meeting Room

Souma: Hmm. Well, then, Kanzaki Souma will continue to push forth.

“Oh noo. Sorrii, ai kyant speaku Engurishu.

Yesu yesu, ai amu a Japanesu. Okay, so sorrii.”

...Is that correct? Hmm, I wonder if the effect is somewhat lacking?

(Hmm. I am still far from perfection. Were I to self-evaluate my skills, I would give myself a solid 70 points out of 100.

Although there is no particular problem with my current skill, it is not sufficient enough to utilize and receive pay for as a means of work.)

...Huh, who’s there?! (reaches for the handle of his sword)

Oops. My deepest apologies; I had thought that you were someone else, my lady!

I am so extremely delighted to be able to direct the slightest glimpse upon your countenance! Have you any business with me?

Hmm? You wouldn’t like to be called “my lady”, you say? However, for us idols, a “purodyuusaa” is our lord and master, you see?

Well, at the very least, I’ve been taught that I must show to those that I work with the utmost respect!

For myself, it’s not that “the customer is king”, but that “the customer is your master”! Hahaha ☆

...I must be honest. Was there not an instruction the other day that we as “aidoru” are to refer to you by the title of “purodyuusaa”?

Naturally, if those are my master’s orders I am more than willing to obey them, but…

Try as I might, my English pronunciation is quite unseemly…

With another higher-up, upon the occasion that I referred to them as “purodyuusaa”, they replied with “Are you making fun of me?” and such, and I had ended up vexing them.

That was not my intention in the slightest.

I had intended to show my reverence, as if I were prostrating myself, but, on the contrary, it ended up looking as though I were mocking them from above--I feel frustrated that it was taken in that way.

Therefore, I am in the process of studying English pronunciation, but for the time being, I have decided to call you not “purodyuusaa”, but rather by an alternate title with which to honor you.

It is my plan for a compromise in order to still honor those instructions, as well as to not injure the feelings of others.

Yes. And thus, the title I’ve chosen is “my lady”. Although I feel as if referring to everyone by the title of “lord” or “lady” will lessen the significance of the word somewhat, there is nothing that can be done about that.

I am unskilled in this regard, so English is not something I can learn in just one day. I have no choice but to give the very best of my ability, to the extent which it is possible. Perseverance always prevails.

Look. Even now, I have been making the utmost use of my time during work, as well as my spare time at work, by constantly consulting English teaching materials and disciplining myself. Naturally, I obtained a permit to use this room as well.

That reminds me. On what business are you here for, my lady?

I see. So there will be a meeting taking place here a little while from now, then?

Because of that you arrived here early, as you thought you should arrange the materials you printed at every seat and do other such preparations?

How admirable. You’ve become a person of quite distinguished standing indeed, have you not, my lady? Yet you still do not shun the idea of behaving as if you were a lackey.

I admire you greatly; I, too, must follow your example.

I had not intended for this either, but… It seems as if my way of speaking almost gives off a subtle air of superiority.

Every now and again when I first meet someone, they seem almost excessively respectful around me for some reason.

...Hmm, isn’t it because my sword is frightening, you ask?

However. Not only is this sword my proof that I am a son of warriors, but also, as you know, I have a permit to carry it properly.

It’s identical to one that one would have for needing to wear glasses while driving a car, so there is no need to be frightened.

It is sincerely difficult for warriors to live on in this day and age…

...Ah. Once again, allow me to offer my apologies. I’ve become a nuisance by remaining here, haven’t I…

If that is the case it’s certainly possible for me to continue my English studies in the hallway, or otherwise move elsewhere.

Hmm? That isn’t necessary? Rather, you want to study together, you say?

Ah. From time to time, you struggle to communicate with your overseas clients due to a discrepancy in “nyuuansu”1?

Therefore, you feel like you would like to learn English as well?

But you’re rather busy, so you cannot find the time to go to English conversation school or anything of the sort… right?

I see. These days, we live in a “guroobaru society”2-- or more precisely, a society in which it is better to be fluent in a foreign language as well.

If we remain secluded within our small island nation, we will not last.

Of course, I am proud of my home country; our “Akatsuki” is a “unitto” whose very basis is the graceful elegance of Japanese style. But…

If one does nothing else but simply adhere to their narrow set of values, sooner or later they will reach a breaking point.

Hasumi-dono and Kiryu-dono, my “Akatsuki” senpais, seem to take a liking to Western music as well.

If I become proficient in singing English lyrics as well, my range of skills will only grow.

The moon will remain as the moon no matter how many thousands of years pass, but we who look upon it are constantly changing.

In order to be loved forever, we as “Akatsuki” must alter ourselves to suit the modern era.3

And then, we shall show our radiance to the entire world forevermore!

We, are, etaanaru moonraito4! Yes! Was that correct English, my lady?

Huh? Leaving that aside, the title “my lady” makes you uncomfortable so you’d like me to call you “purodyuusaa”?

Understood. We are comrades; you understand us and walk together with us down the same path.

I shall respect your wishes--I pray that you’ll watch over us carefully for many years to come ♪

TL Notes

1: nuance

2: “global society”

3: When Souma says “alter ourselves”, he literally says “apply to ourselves makeup for keeping up with the times”. It’s a metaphor for changing one’s appearance (as one would with makeup) for the express purpose of “keeping up with the times/suiting the modern era”.

4: eternal moonlight

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