#IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE I'VE SEEN TOUDOU

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki SSL～sweet school life～ 『Christmas Weekend』 2016 SS

Well, I've decided that this is going to be my last Hakuoki post for the year. For December, I plan on working on that Collar x Malice Xmas short story that I've been putting off for a while and the next Deemo chapter... and then I'll probably try to do something about my non-existent queue since I really don't think I'll be able to translate much in January or February because of my exam... though I swear that I'll at least put in some effort. Also I do want to get back to Hakumyu Hijikata-hen's extras. Been sitting on those for a while because life's been busy... 😅 ehehehe.... (facepalm).

Anyway, this translation is originally from a story that was posted by Otomate in 2016... and I am 70% sure that this image was published with it. Unfortunately, I can't check since the link it was posted to no longer works, and I also can't check where I found the tl for this story (unlike most things, I know where it was located... but it was on blog.sina and I can't do anything about unviewable content). Still, I had this image in my drafts for years with a note blurb about the the 2016 SSL Xmas story so it probably is the right one?

Enjoy~!

Hakuoki SSL～sweet school life～

『Christmas Weekend』

Translation by KumoriYami

——Saturday, December 24

This year, a Christmas event was to be held on the 24th of December, between 3 consecutive days of vacation.

Although the 23rd is a Friday and a holiday, [since] the 24th fell on a Saturday and the 25th fell on Sunday, which resulted in a 3 day consecutive holiday, it was a rare occurrence to have such a Christmas holiday in recent years [SSL is set in 2016 [or so the tl note said]…. which had December 23rd, a Japanese national holiday which celebrates the birth of Emperor Akihito, fall on a Friday]. Therefore, it is very meaningful for those who had people of significance to them such as family, loved ones, and close friends who enjoyed such holiday activities.

However, there were also people who couldn't be included among them. Those who were working for example, who were unable to celebrate or find time to spend together with their partners, and those who did not make plans for Christmas, or even the holiday… Yukimura Chizuru was one of those people.

Chizuru did not originally intend to spend Christmas like this.

However, her father, Yukimura Kodo, was on a business trip at an offshore island and hadn't returned, while her older twin brother, Nagumo Kaoru, the adopted son of the Nagumo family, was spending Christmas with them.

Additionally, since the holiday this year had consecutive days, according to the usual conventions, Principal Kondou asked that the school activities be kept simple. Of course, Chairman Serizawa did not hold any Christmas activities.

It would have usually just been girls… Chizuru had originally thought that, but Suzuka Sen and Suzuka Kosuzu, who she had good relationships with, also had three consecutive days off, so they had gone back to their hometown in Kyoto to spend Christmas, and Chizuru had just seen them off yesterday.

Then her friends from junior high school were apparently going to an event by their new high school to play with a group and some boys. Chizuru was also invited, but as she was the only student from another school, even she participated, she would still experience anxiousness [tl says stage fright… so w/e], so she didn't go.

In this way, the 24th became a day without any plans.

So, what were the boys at Hakuo Gakuen who had good relationships with Chizuru? She didn't know why, [but] she hadn't hadn't received any invitations from them. She had already asked her childhood friend, Toudou Heisuke, indirectly, but he had refused and said that he had something else happening that day. In addition to Heisuke, it appeared that everyone else had a similar reason.

( It was just, the "something" Heisuke mentioned definitely had nothing to do with other girls! Chizuru tried to persuade herself about this.)

(That's right… For 3 consecutive days off, everyone else must have their own plans. Yet I….)

Thinking this, Chizuru had a sudden realization. Because she had realized it was the Christmas holiday, she had a strong desire to spend it with someone, even though it was simply 3 consecutive days off… As long as it could be thought of as a normal weekend, it wasn't strange that there was nothing to do.

（——Hm. Although it's a bit early, the end of the year is approaching anyway, so it wouldn't be bad to do a lot of cleaning.)

Just as Chizuru thought that, she received a text message on her phone, with the sender being Toudou Heisuke. She thought he wanted to call her for something so she picked up her phone and looked at it——.

----------------------------

Subject: Danger

Sender: Heisuke-kun

Message: Even if something happens, don't leave home!

----------------------------

………………

Chizuru stared at her phone's screen and tilted her head in confusion. What danger would there be on a calm and peaceful Saturday afternoon? But if what Heisuke said in his text message was true, there apparently was some sort of danger 【outside her home】, which was why she had been told to 【not go outside】.

She tried to get him to reply about if he had made a mistake or meant something else, but she received no response. Although she did try to directly call him, she only received a voicemail.

(What should I do? Maybe something happened to Heisuke-kun…)

Anyway, let’s go to Heisuke’s house next door first. She thought about this while she recalled the content of the text message he sent.

(It's just next door… there shouldn't be any problems, right?)

Just as she thought that, a message notification rang out in the silent room. She hastily got to checking her phone, but its sender was not Heisuke. The sender this time was Okita Souji.

----------------------------

Subject: Because it's dangerous

Sender: Okita-senpai

Message: You're a good kid, so you should stay at home

----------------------------

(……Okita-senpai is also saying this, what on earth is going on?)

Just as she was feeling baffled from what was on her cell phone, the sound of a a message notification rang in Chizuru's hands again.

----------------------------

Subject: (none)

Sender: Saito-senpai

Message: Regardless of what happens, stay where you are and don't move

----------------------------

Subject: It's alright [basically the tl here can be interpreted as 'it's fine', or 'no problems']

Sender: Harada-sensei

Message: Just bear for it a while longer, and keep staying at home

----------------------------

What could be learned from the text messages received was that something was happening to everyone. And the contents were almost the same, Not only were the contents were almost the same, they were all instructions for her to not leave her home… However, Chizuru was incapable of honestly staying home as everyone was saying. She grabbed her coat and hurried towards the entrance, not bothering with how her shoes were only half-on, and only wanted to open the [front] door and go outside. Accompanying the sound of being hit by the door, Chizuru was then pushed back into the inner entrance [uh, something like that?].

"——Why!? Why!"

Chizuru re-confirmed that the door was already unlocked again, and once again tried to open it, but the door remained motionless. It was as if someone was forcibly holding the door from outside, deliberately making it impossible for her to open the door.

Since that was the case, she could just use her body to press against the entrance with all of her strength to push it open. Just as Chizuru was about to do that, a voice spoke from the other side side of the door.

"Yukimura, I'm sorry… I cannot let you go outside."

"……This voice is Hijikata-sensei!? Why are you here…. that doesn't need to be mentioned now, what happened?"

She was pushing against the door while speaking to him, but it didn't work due to Hijikata's suppression from outside.

"Just lock up all the locks…… stay inside your home. After that…… Until one of says you can open the door, absolutely do not…… open it….. for anyone of us….."

Then Hijikata's voice disappeared midway. At the same time, the suppressing heaviness on the entrance hall also disappeared.

"Hijikata-sensei——!!"

Chizuru used all of her strength to push against the door, and the heavy door finally budged a bit, so she squeezed through the crack in the doorway that large enough for a single person to pass through and went outside.

Then what Chizuru saw was——.

"You've finally come out? My wife, you're late."

Dressed in a bright red Santa outfit, while also holding a large white bag and a bouquet with dozens of roses, was Kazama Chikage.

Then there was Toudou Heisuke, who was tightly holding onto Kazama's legs, Saito, who was grabbing Kazama's arms from behind him, and Okita, who was watching the two with a smile.

There was also Harada, who was sitting not too far away, looking a bit helpless, and Hijikata Toshizou, who was sitting against the door, motionless.

"Uh…what happened? Also, why is Kazama-senpai here?"

""Of course, I came to welcome you to this young master's Christmas party at the Kazama family home!" [I couldn't figure out how else to say this… lol.]

"Then everyone else is…"

"They were seemingly trying to prevent me from approaching you, but that wasn't able to stop me."

"Um…. did I make a promise with you…?"

"Of course this is a su-r-p-is-e [the tl had サ。プ。ラ。イ。ズ to accentuate "surprise" i guess]. However since you've come outside, doesn't that mean that you have already prepared to go out with me? Then just follow me——"

As Kazama spoke, he extended his hand towards Chizuru, and upon seeing this, Heisuke immediately ran over.

"Hold it——！ Don't joke around——！"

"I didn't expect that so many of us wouldn't be able to stop him…"

"His strength is still as outrageous as before."

With a serious expression, Saito tried to pull Kazama away from Chizuru. Okita muttered helplessly.

"Is is possible that everyone saying that there was something they were busy with today meant…"

"Ah, that's right! In order to prevent Kazama-senpai from coming here, we started monitoring him in the morning!"

"I-I hope you're not misunderstanding anything. We were monitoring Kazama, not your home."

"Wait a moment Harada-sensei. Even though you are resting, please come and help me me—"

"I'll leave the physical/hard work to you."

"Hey, Yukimura! We'll definitely drive Kazama away, so just stay at home and wait!"

"Ahahahahahaha!! Even if you struggle, it will all be futile! My sincere love is incapable of being stopped by anything! Surrender to my power of Christmas!"

With six adults arguing in front of house and making a racket, it was inevitable… that passers-by would stop and whisper, while people nearby would open up their windows to watch the fun…

"Please….. Please stop stop it——！！"

Because she was feeling heartbroken from this argument that seemed like it would never end… and more importantly, since Chizuru was more concerned about her neighbour's gazes, she therefore suggested holding a Christmas party inside her home, which finally got both sides to call a temporary truce.

"Wait a second, where did all of this food and decorations come from?"

"Of course, this is the result of the Kazama family's efforts, so be grateful."

"I'll say this beforehand, we didn't invite you, and simply couldn't leave you outside and bother/cause trouble for the neighbours."

"Didn't my wife ask everyone to come inside together?"

"Nn… Is this the inside of Yukimura's home…" "Well, if we had planned to find a place to hold the Christmas party from the beginning, there wouldn't have been that commotion. Speaking of which, who was the one to suggest it?"

"The person who said that they wanted to stop Kazama-senpai's plan, was Heisuke."

"Hey, wait a sec! Souji and Hajime-kun agreed too!"

"……You guys, just shut up. I am rarely able/You are seldom able to spend Christmas with my wife [no subject in this part so I don't know who is referring to whom here], so just enjoy this day and this moment."

"For Kazama to say such kind words… then let's just enjoy ourselves as much as we can. Got it? Yukimura?"

"Yes!"

「Merry Christmas！！」

Christmas 2016.

Chizuru, who originally had no plans, happily spent Christmas with everyone until deep in the night.

END

----end---

original link (no longer works): http://www.otomate.jp/xm2016d3tm4m/cri_ssl.html

The tl I found said that Otomate themselves probably said "Unauthorised reproduction of the text and images on this website is prohibited." or something to that effect of that, which is one of the reasons why I don't make Otomate stuff rebloggable.

[ypthoughts]

i just love how Toudou’s the annoying and loud one that everyone’s just like, “oh my god shut up”

[jadehqknb]

Imaizumi's character development is one of the best things about the series tbh. His relationship with Naruko is also my favorite (hardcore ship them, but that's just me haha), just how they grow to accept each other as rivals and yet will help each other out, even if they're super childish about it. And I've seen "Spare Bike", I think it was, about how Maki and Toudou got into biking? (It's been a while since I've watched it, tbh...)

Oh you’re right, helps if I get the name right lol.

I also love Naruko and his friendship, it’s so funny. 

I don’t ship them, I don’t ship any characters together but that’s just my opinion lol. 

The anime really surprised me with how it grabbed my heart right away, but it’s one of my favorites now!

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Ginsei Souma Story

Well, this is the last of these stories that I can translate. The fanbook's got 5 other stories - four being associated with the seasons and one extra I don't know enough JP to understand what's it's about... and I'm too lazy to mtl the title (plus I don't remember which of those have/haven't been translated, and am also too lazy to check that right now since im driving myself crazy trying to download video stuff 😅).

Anyway, I don't know what I'm going to translate next month, but I should have more free time then so I'll hopefully get back to creating a backlog of translations... though if I don't, I guess I'll do things week by week, or whatever my schedule allows (sorry but r/l priorities>tl unfortunately hahaha).

anyway, this story was originally published in B’s Log 2020年9月.

enjoy!

Hakuoki Ginsei B’s Log 2020年9月 Souma Short Story “Fumidzuki (文月)” [meaning the 7th month]

Translation by KumoriYami

During the start of summer, at the beginning of July

The days completely felt like summer, but the evenings/nights were still a bit cooler.

"...Ah, speaking of which, today is Tanabata [Star Festival]."

I was patrolling headquarters, and stopped in front of the bamboo branches decorating the inside of headquarters.

The bamboo of the Tanabata were decorated with paper strips and streamers, which were made by Toudou-san and Harada-san to properly celebrate/enjoy Tanabata.

…While I stood there, lost in thought, as I stared at the bamboo, a voice came from behind.

"Souma-kun? Good work on your patrol/Patrol must be exhausting."

"Ah... Yukimura-senpai. It's quite late, so why haven't you gone to sleep?"

"It's been getting very warm at night and I couldn't sleep. so I'm cooling off while reading these tanzaku [the pieces of paper that wishes get written on during Tanabata]."

Yukimura-senpai stood beside me, and looked up towards the bamboo/looked up hopefully at the bamboo [*same note as the eighth next line].

"This tanzaku, is it Nagakura-san's? It says "I want my swordsmanship to reach the pinnacle.""

"Ah, next to Nagakura-san's is Nomura's. Although he doesn't he say that he wants to win against the executives, he still wants to beat me."

As I watched this scenery swaying in the wind, I abruptly asked with interest.

"Senpai, what do you wish for?

"Huh?"

"As expected, you still want to find your father as soon as possible and return to Edo with Kodo-san…."

"Of course I wish for that…[though] I asked for something else on my tanzaku. I wished that everyone would be healthy."

Senpai had a slightly forced smile as she looked up at the sky [ the word for 'looked up' here can be interpreted so that this says "looked up at the sky hopefully"].

If you looked up, you could see that the night sky had spread like after the tide receded, and how silver skies flickered as they formed the Milky Way [or something. confusing structure].

"There were many people injured during the patrols, and apart from that, with the sudden heat after Tanabata, the number of people getting sick has also increased. We should look for countermeasures."

"...Senpai really is like a doctor."

"My level of knowledge is only to the extent of what I've heard about."

Senpai was very humble, but I didn't think like that.

I had seen Senpai learn how to tie bandages, studying medicine and do other things when she's not doing chores...

I also know that when Matsumoto-sensei visits, he teachs her together with Yamazaki-san.

And most importantly, she acts with kindness, which is essential for a doctor.

"Water needs to be drank frequently, and the time and place of practice/training needs to be changed. Although various types of assistance can be obtained…"

I open my mouth to ask Senpai who was reflecting on the problem.

"For cooling off in the summer, what about this? It's something the Chief specially prepared for Tanabata."

"This is...?"

What I brought out was a very small wind chime.

The sound that reverberated in the night wind was very crisp.

"It might just be a matter of mood, but it becomess cooler when you hear that sound."

"Nn... I think it's great. It's incredible how just one sound can make such a big difference."

It's wonderful.

---end---