#like. I’ll maybe accept it if an is there because I like an. an shiraishi my friend an shiraishi :)

[ssruis]

People who ignore emunene to center akitoya in their rks fics are the weakest links and must be killed off. If we have to bring in vbs in a wxs fic at least bring in an or something.

[otomesations]

Kei scene - Retranslation

Context: 

SPOILERS FOR THE LATTER PART OF KEI’S ROUTE

Kei and Ichika have a scene where they make out in chapter 6, and there seems to be some ambiguity within the English-reading community as to how consensual it all is, how pushy Kei is being, and whether they do or don’t… erm… bring it home.

I think the Japanese version makes it clear that it is consensual, that Kei is being quite considerate in his Kei way, and that they do bring it home.

I also thought it would be an opportunity to discuss a few of the scene’s themes - many of which are present throughout Kei’s route and additional content.

So I did a translation pass on the scene and changed the bits that felt inaccurate in theme or meaning. I explained some of the big differences below the translation.

In bold, the parts that I changed from the original localisation.

Translation:

KEI: “More importantly, we can’t really make out if your brother comes home early.”

ICHIKA: “...”

KEI: “I’m just kidding. I’ll wait until you’re completely ready.”

ICHIKA: “... No. You don’t need to wait.”

KEI: “Huh?”

ICHIKA: “I… I also want to make out with you.”

KEI: “...”

Okazaki’s eyes widened, and he blinked a few times. 

ICHIKA: (M-Maybe that was too sudden.)

But it was sincerely how I felt. 

These might be our last moments together. That was all I could think about. 

KEI: “Are you serious about that?”

His hand gently reached for my cheek. 

The touch caused my shoulders to tremble slightly, but I kept my eyes fixed on his.

ICHIKA: “... Yes.”

Then we inched close enough that I could feel his breath on mine…

ICHIKA: “O-oh but wait, just a moment. There’s something I want to ask you first.”

KEI: “...”

Okazaki hung his head, clearly disappointed by the sudden interruption.

KEI: “... Ichika. Don’t you think you’re teasing me a bit much?”

ICHIKA: “S-Sorry. But I really need to ask.”

Our faces were still very close, and his eyes invited me to continue. 

ICHIKA: “Erm… Okazaki, what do you like about me?”

Although he had confessed his feelings to me, I had turned him away in that moment, and I hadn’t quite believed what I’d heard.

After learning his past and sharing our feelings I thought we’d finally become close, yet…

ICHIKA: (Somehow… I still can’t quite believe it.)

The affection that he had for me was unmistakable. But I was still sure he only viewed me as an ideal. 

KEI: “... There are a whole lot of people that I can say I like.”

ICHIKA: (...?!)

Suddenly, he dropped a bomb on me and my mind just froze. 

KEI: “I like Yanagi’s team, Yoshinari, my friends in the force, and even girls I see walking by, I guess. I like a lot of people I think are good people. But… I can’t really say that I’ve ever gotten attached to anybody.”

ICHIKA: “...”

KEI: “Even when people confessed to me and went out with me, I was often told that things were different from what they expected. ‘I’m not special to you.’ ‘I’m just another person in the crowd for you.’ … Stuff like that”

ICHIKA: (I think I can understand that)

KEI: “However, you’re the only one who’s special to me.  It doesn’t make sense. It’s not about liking or disliking you.  You’re someone that I need to live. …Now you’re the proof of my being, you’re my identity.”

KEI: “Isn’t it normal to want to touch that person, or keep her all to myself?”

While he talked, his fingers touched my cheek. The gesture was completely gentle, and I could feel the warmth from this fingertips. It conveyed his feelings much better than his words did.

KEI: “Back when you were mad at me, I thought that I should’ve done a better job hiding it from you. Maybe I should have said my death wish was a joke, and that I just wanted you to feel safe. Yeah… I could’ve lied to you and kept using you. But I couldn’t make myself do it. I wanted you to accept me for the person I really am.”

ICHIKA: “...”

I was rendered speechless by his complete honesty. 

I’m not special, my being is not important to anyone else - I was sure that I and everybody else had felt that way before.

ICHIKA: (What should I do? I’m so happy.)

This was more than love or romance - what he wanted was my being. 

It made me so happy that I shivered. 

KEI: “So, what do you like about me?”

ICHIKA: “Eh…”

KEI: “I was happy to hear that you like me, but it’s still a bit of a wonder to me. You got that angry for my sake, and you even said that you’d rather sacrifice someone else so that I could live because you didn’t want to lose me. I don’t think I’m worth that much. … To be honest, I can’t honestly believe that you actually feel that way. After all, you didn’t like me that much at first, did you?”

ICHIKA: “...”

The sudden question troubled me. I had been attracted to his kindness at first. He was warm and gave me peace of mind. He put a broad smile on my face and made my days gentle. 

But he was stubborn and uncompromising. He could be cold and lived by his own rules. He’d ignored my feelings and stubbornly wanted to die for his own satisfaction.

ICHIKA: (When I think about it…)

ICHIKA: “What DO I like about you…?”

I unconsciously let that slip. 

KEI: “Should you really be saying that in front of me?”

ICHIKA: “S-Sorry… But I’m the same as you. What I like about you, or dislike about you… I dislike everything that isn’t a part of you. I need your being.”

KEI: “Hehehe. So there are still things that we can’t believe or understand about each other. Yet we still want to be together. Doesn’t that feel pretty special to you?”

ICHIKA: “... It does.”

When we put it that way, I could agree with it. 

KEI: “If it’s hard to put into words… wanna try this?”

ICHIKA: “Huh? Try what?”

I tilted my head, unsure what he meant. But in the next moment…

ICHIKA: “Eh?”

My world turned upside down, and I saw stars.

Eventually, I realised I had been pushed down. 

Above me, he was smiling calmly. 

KEI “Do you dislike it when I do this?”

ICHIKA: “...”

My heart was pounding. This was unfair. Right now, I was feeling… vexed.

ICHIKA: “It’s vexing… But I don’t dislike it.”

Rather than dislike… I felt happy. 

When I nodded, Okazaki chuckled.

KEI: “Then, there’s your answer.”

ICHIKA: “You said you were going to try something, but isn’t this a little extreme?”

KEI: “But you understand me now, don’t you? If it was meaningless, I wouldn’t want to do this. Forget about like, dislike, all the small stuff. Right now I just want… you.”

ICHIKA: “...!”

KEI: “If you dislike this even a little, then just refuse me. But if you feel the same way I do… Then please accept me.”

ICHIKA: “... You’re mean.”

Unlike the gentleness from before, our hands held each other so tight it hurt. 

He looked at me with hot, passionate eyes, and lovingly ran his hand through my hair…

ICHIKA: (And yet there’s no reason to refuse.)

KEI: “Before, I said there are a lot of people I like, but I rarely find anyone I want to be mean to.”

ICHIKA: “I don’t know… You’re pretty mean to Yoshinari, too.”

KEI: “Yeah. That’s just my way of showing him I care. Obviously, my feelings for you are different. I want to be kinder towards you than anyone, but at the same time, I want to put you on the spot.”

ICHIKA: “I remember Shiraishi saying you’re a selfish man.”

KEI: “Yeah, didn’t you know?”

ICHIKA: “You’re good-looking but bad on the inside.”

KEI: “Heh. That’s right. But it’s your fault for getting involved with this bad boy, so won’t you resign yourself to it?”

Okazaki’s fingers touched the nape of my neck.

There was a slight click as his fingertips landed on my collar.

KEI: “They’re listening now, aren’t they?”

ICHIKA: (He’s saying that at a time like this?!)

KEI: “I’ll never hand you over to the likes of them.”

He threw these provocative words at them.

I knew that I wouldn’t be killed as long as I had some use for Adonis. But now that Okazaki was being targeted, my mind was in turmoil.

KEI: “Don’t break our promise, or I won’t forgive you.”

He said that with an infinitely gentle smile, as if he could see right through my heart.

ICHIKA: “...Okay.”

I couldn’t stop my voice from cracking. 

KEI: “If you don’t want to let me die, then don’t run away from me.”

He whispered those words into my ear. They sounded as if he was casting a spell. 

ICHIKA: (He’s so unfair.)

I thought that, but contrary to those words, I was filled with overwhelming love for him. 

I was unable to take my eyes off his bewitching smile. In truth, perhaps I should resist this. But…

As he had said, no matter how we tried to make each other understand with words, we’d never be able to fully express ourselves that way.

KEI: “I don’t want you to think of anything else. I want to be the only thought on your mind. Because the more you crave me, the more I want to live. Ichika… Be only mine.”

ICHIKA: “...”

I wanted him to take everything. Just for now, I didn’t want to let go of this hand.

That was the only thing I was sure of.

With acceptance and anticipation, I clasped his hand tight.

Comments:

The major translation issues:

They translate いちゃいちゃ at the beginning as “steamy” stuff when Kei uses the word, then as “flirting” when Ichika uses it. It means the same thing in both cases, which is to make out, and is clearly physical. She’s not being coy. She states from the beginning she wants them to fool around. 

When he pushes her down, the localisation again uses two different translations for the same word, 悔しさ: “humiliated” and “embarrassed”. Both are wrong. The first one is SUPER strong and very shocking to read, and implies that she’s feeling degraded. That’s not what it means - that nuance is not in the word at all. But it’s not as light as just “embarrassed”, either. What it means is along the lines of “vexed” or “mortified”. 

In general, they use different translations for the same Japanese words that are used in close proximity, and often in dialogue. The problem is that it a) breaks the flow of dialogue and b) breaks the themes of the scene. In fact, during the whole scene, Kei and Ichika are picking up on each other’s words and riffing off each other constantly. Among those words are “making out” (as we established), “mean” (that they bicker back and forth on, teasingly, as foreplay), and many smaller bits of dialogue. But more importantly, the big theme of this confession is that they go beyond and discard the concepts of 嫌 and 好き (dislike and like). Instead, they affirm their connection to each other’s being or essence (存在) and their way to reach that connexion is beyond words - by merging those beings in a, well, more direct way, which is what the whole conversation leads to on both sides.

Part of that theme is Kei’s confession. In English they make Kei say that she’s “the reason I’m alive”, which sounds like he’s grateful she brought him back from the brink. But that’s not what he says. He means much more than that. He says that she’s his 存在証明, which sounds more like “proof/justification of my being” (reusing the same kanji for being as I mentioned in point 3 above), and seems to be often translated as “identity”. Kei boy doesn’t mince words lol :D

There’s an unexplained translation mistake at the end. In English Kei says “If you want us to live together, you have to want to live too.” That’s not what he says at all. He says “The more you want/crave me, the more I want to live,” which makes more sense thematically tbh.

[muwi-translates]

Collar x Malice予約特典ドラマCD「HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR……」

Collar x Malice Yoyaku Tokuten Drama CD - HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR...

Word count of 4712, approximately 35 minute long track. Spoiler free. Just a note that I used a Chinese translation as my main source, and did some light cross-referencing from the original audio. I guarantee there will be some inaccuracies.

**Please don’t move this translation or claim it as your own.**

---

Shiraishi: This is Yanagi Detective Agency. 

From cat hunting to investigating extramarital affairs, all kinds of complicated cases aren’t refused. This is an agency where detectives specialising in different fields live together. 

Eh? Shinjuku quarantine? Nonsense, nothing that shocking has happened here. That must have happened in another world’s Shinjuku. 

In short, the members of the Yanagi Detective Agency are Aiji Yanagi, the director, and the investigators; Mineo Enomoto, Takeru Sasazuka, Kageyuki Shiraishi, and… 

[Knock knock]

Okazaki: Good morning, detectives of Yanagi Detective Agency, here’s today’s request~! 

Enomoto: You again, Okazaki?

Okazaki: Yup, me again. I’ve already become a regular here. I’m coming in~

Enomoto: But we just finished your request not that long ago.

Okazaki: And thanks for always helping.

Enomoto: You probably don’t even need detectives for your request. It’s always something that you can do yourself.

Enomoto: You even asked Yanagi-senpai to make you food a while ago.

Okazaki: It’s because I’m disastrous with housework. Plus, Yanagi-san’s homemade food is so delicious~ 

Shiraishi: It’s because Yanagi-kun is particular about the details.

Sasazuka: That said, Yanagi-san, even though that guy said it was because he made a request, don’t you think he comes in and out of here too often? 

Yanagi: Ah, it’s because he pays generously. Maybe he’s scam-- no, he’s definitely a regular customer. 

Sasazuka: Maybe he’s planning something? It wouldn’t end up being something like “he’s actually from the police force” right?

Yanagi: Enomoto and I can’t do anything, if you and Shiraishi just look into him then we’ll be able to see his true colors. 

Sasazuka: Don’t act like it’s none of your business, aren’t you the director? This should be a joint responsibility. 

Enomoto: Well? What’s it going to be today? Cleaning your house? Repair the roof? Walking the dog? 

Okazaki: All of those are attractive, but it isn’t about me today. Actually, I wanted you guys to help plan Ichika Hoshino’s birthday party!

Everyone: Hah?!

Okazaki: Eh? Why’s everyone so surprised?

Yanagi: Let me just confirm first… Hoshino is a member of our agency, you do know that… right? 

Okazaki: Mhm, of course I know. You’ve been looking after me the whole year, after all.

Yanagi: So why exactly are you asking us to help you plan her birthday party?

Okazaki: Eh? Isn’t it obvious? I want to get along with her more.

Enomoto: Hey, you dumb gourd. Don’t tell me the reason why you keep coming up with requests-- was ‘cus of her?! 

Okazaki: …Of course not~ ⭐

Sasazuka: What’s with that unnatural reply?

Shiraishi: I see, I suppose ‘a moving effort’ is a nice way to put it. 

Enomoto: No matter how you look at it he’s one step away from being a stalker. 

Yanagi: Okazaki, if you’re going to do this to our staff--

Okazaki: Ah, if it’s about the payment, I already prepared it.

Yanagi: …!

Okazaki: I’ll pay for the full cost of the birthday party. I think… this should be enough? 

Yanagi: W-With this amount, this month’s rent…

Enomoto: W-Wait, Yanagi-senpai! I can see dollar signs in your eyes! 

Yanagi: Food expenses have gone up recently too...

Enomoto: Nonono, you can’t sell your conscience like this! If we don’t have enough money, you can just borrow some from Takeru!

Sasazuka: Don’t joke around, you won’t get even a cent from me.

Enomoto: HEY! You’re the one who’s upping our food expenses!

Sasazuka: I’ll only pay for my portion. 

Shiraishi: Now, now, it’s not a difficult request, let’s just accept it. It’s just her birthday party, nothing bad.

Yanagi: But…!

Shiraishi: As long as we keep watch, even if Okazaki plans to do something weird, we can stop him before that happens. 

Okazaki: So mean, I already said I won’t do anything weird. I’m not Shiraishi-san.

Shiraishi: Ahaha, I hope that you’ll acknowledge that everyone thinks you’re more dangerous than me, hm?

Yanagi: Well, fine. We’l...l accept your request. 

Okazaki: Really? You’re a great help~ I already promised Ichika-chan that I’d throw her a birthday party.

Enomoto: Hah?!

Sasazuka: Oi, when the hell did you-- 

Okzaki: It’s a birthday party, right? If you don’t tell her about it and she doesn’t come then there would be no meaning, right? You should schedule these things ahead of time! 

Shiraishi: As expected of Okazaki, you move quickly.

Okazaki: Hehe, compared to Shiraishi-san I’m still a long way off.

Sasazuka: You two, you’re making it feel colder here with those smiles. 

Yanagi: As long as we’re able to keep Okazaki and Hoshino from being alone together we can avoid any issues. 

Enomoto: That’s true… as long as we can protect her from Okazaki’s claws then--

Okazaki: It feels like you guys have some sort of misunderstanding about me? I’ve been officially introduced as a pure-hearted airheaded man who’s completely harmless, you know.

Sasazuka: You’re just saying that yourself.

Enomoto: A guy who pretends to be an airhead is the most dangerous of ‘em all!

Okazaki: So mean… well, fine. Then, let me explain my request again from the top.

Okazaki: I want you guys to investigate to see what will make Ichika-chan happy, and help throw a wonderful birthday party~ 

Okazaki: After all, her birthday is only 5 days away. 

Yanagi: I got it. It’ll be faster if we split the responsibilities. We need someone for the gift, the food, and the cake, and… let me think, if we’re going to have a surprise party, we need someone to be in charge of that too. Since it’s a surprise party, we should also take into account how to make Hoshino happy.

Sasazuka: I’ll take the cake. 

Enomoto: You’re deciding yourself?! 

Sasazuka: Because I’m not going to eat a cake that tastes bad.

Enomoto: So you just care about eating it yourself…

Yanagi: If Sasazuka chose it himself then there probably won’t be any problems. Next, the cooking--... I guess it’s me. 

Okazaki: Yanagi-san makes the best food, after all! I’m looking forward to it! 

Enomoto: Okayokayokay! Me! I’ll do the presents! 

Sasazuka: Hah? You?

Enomoto: That’s right, I’ll use my high aesthetic sense to make her happy! 

Shiraishi: Haha, indeed, Enomoto-kun does have “good” sense in a way. But if you’re going to go while wearing those clothes, then I don’t think you have the right aesthetic sense that will please girls. 

Enomoto: Heh, Shiraishi-san. I don’t want to hear that from a guy who’s almost thirty years old who wears cat ears. 

Okazaki: Hehe, that’s true. 

Shiraishi: Hm…? Enomoto-kun, you see, I don’t often get angry, but just then, I felt just a little mad. 

Enomoto: Guh…! I-I didn’t say anything wrong, I-I’m not scared of you! 

Sasazuka: You’re shaking though, and your voice is getting smaller.

Okazaki: Hey, hey, should I be in charge of the present too? I want to give her some sleeping goods, so my gift to her will be the gift of the most comfortable sleep! What do you think? 

Enomoto: Aren’t you the client? Why are you taking part?

Yanagi: A present, huh… well, at Hoshino’s age, wouldn’t accessories be more appropriate? When it comes to women, they’d be happy to receive those. 

Okazaki: Accessories? I’ve already decided to give those to her when the opportunity is right. 

Enomoto: When the opportunity is right? 

Okazaki: It’s customary to give an engagement ring when you propose, right? Ah… a birthday proposal doesn’t sound like a bad idea. 

Enomoto: E-E-E-E-Engagement?! A birthday perpozal?!!?!

Shiraishi: Enomoto-kun, Enomoto-kun? You’ve gone from disbelief into speech impediment territory.

Enomoto: Shiraishi-sanwhatareyousayingIdon’tunderstand!!

Shiraishi: I meant you were saying words that sounded right but also mangled almost beyond recognition.

Enomoto: Oh, yeah, right!

Sasazuka: Hey, Okazaki, what you just said… are you being serious? 

Okazaki: Eh? Why wouldn’t I be? I wouldn’t joke about these things. 

Sasazuka: Hm...

Enomoto: Yanagi-senpai, is this okay? Our own staff member is gonna get taken by this guy--

Yanagi: [Sigh] ...Calm down. Okazaki just said he’d do that when given the opportunity. And he never said he was talking about Hoshino. 

Enomoto: Oh… I see… Yup! That’s true! I was overthinking too much! Ah, got all surprised for nothing.

Shiraishi: Well, I just think he wasn’t saying it clear enough. 

Okazaki: Haha, that’s true.

Enomoto: W-Wait, what’s with that secretive dark smile?! Don’t tell me this guy… is planning to do something!!? 

Okazaki: Hm? That’s why I said I wanted to give her a birthday present, it’s why I came to make my request today. 

Sasazuka: Tch, that stupid cat. Don’t just be all nice to people whenever you want, god dammit. 

Enomoto: Arghhh… alright, Okazaki! Come out! To the roof! 

Okazaki: Huh?

Enomoto: We’ll decide with a contest who will get the gift! It’s a duel! And it’ll definitely be me, the great Mineo Enomoto, who shall be victorious!! 

Yanagi: No, no, Enomoto, wait a second-- 

Enomoto: Don’t stop me, Yanagi-senpai. There are moments where a man has no choice! Yoooooooooooooooooo--!!

[Door slams]

Okazaki: ...He left...

Yanagi: Good grief, did he forget that this was Okazaki’s request? 

Shiraishi: Isn’t this a good thing? It’s all in good fun. If there wasn’t a contest, then Enomoto-kun wouldn’t have accepted it. 

Yanagi: You say it like that but...

Shiraishi: Then Okazaki-kun, Enomoto-kun, Yanagi-kun and I will be part of the contest. It looks like Sasazuka-kun doesn’t plan on doing anything else other than picking the cake, so could you be the referee? 

Sasazuka: So annoying, I want to hurry up and pick the cake. 

Okazaki: Hehe… a contest? I’m getting all excited. 

Yanagi: Huh? Me too?

---

Sasazuka: Let’s start, who’s going to buy the present? Fight for it. Tell me what gift you’re getting for that stupid cat. The most suitable gift for her will be in charge of the gift. That is all. Anybody going to raise any complaints? 

Enomoto: No problems here but… did we really have to take this to the roof? 

Enomoto: So cold… who was the one who wanted to do this up here? Ah. It was me. 

Yanagi: Enomoto…

Enomoto: Guh… I’m sorry...

Yanagi: You need to be more observant of things around you. 

Enomoto: I’ll keep that in mind…

Yanagi: Well, the roof isn’t bad. [Lights a cigarette] I can smoke here.

Enomoto: …! Yanagi-senpai! I’ll follow you for as long as I live!! 

Yanagi: Ugh-- don’t get so close, it’s disgusting… 

Shiraishi: You two get along so well, even though it’s a little suffocating.

Sasazuka: If I had to say, it’s a little cold. It’s not really a feast for the eyes if it’s Mineo and Yanagi-san. 

Enomoto:  Hey, don’t say stuff that people will misunderstand! In my heart, I’ve already decided on a partner--

Sasazuka: Whatever, talk about it later. Let’s hurry up and get this over and done with. 

Enomoto: Okay, okay. 

Yanagi: [Sigh]

Sasazuka: Then let’s start with Shiraishi.

Shiraishi: Can I? Let me think… I want to give her a pair of cat ears like mine. 

Okazaki: A pair like Shiraishi-san’s...

Sasazuka: …Cat ears. 

Shiraishi: Ah, hers won’t be the same as mine. I’ll make sure they’re high-tech. I want to install a security system that will protect her in any crisis. Ah, of course, I’ll manage the 24 hour surveillance, so there won’t be a problem at all.

Enomoto: What do you mean ‘no problem’?!!!!

Okazaki: It’s like putting a fawn in a lion’s cage. 

Yanagi: Shiraishi, no matter what you say you’re obviously out. 

Sasazuka: Don’t even need to think about it. Rejected. 

Shiraishi: Ehh…

Sasazuka: Isn’t that completely just restraining her? Next, Mineo. 

Enomoto: Okay, leave it to me! If it was me then I’d make her a homemade protection charm! 

Sasazuka: Next. 

Enomoto: HEY! Wasn’t that a quick rejection?! This is going to be my masterpiece so at least listen to ‘till the end! 

Shiraishi: Even if he does, it probably won’t change anything. 

Enomoto: In the protection charm, I plan to put my own original prayer for her happiness. And, I’ll pair it with a charm of my own in my own design-- 

Sasazuka: Rejected, next.

Enomoto: So tell me why?!! Give me a reason! A reason!!!

Shiraishi: That protection charm or whatever, isn’t it a bit too serious? I can already roughly imagine what you’ll write on the prayer. 

Okazaki: Ah, I know, he’ll curse her by writing “I hope Ichika-chan will fall in love with me”, right? 

Enomoto: N-N-N-NoOO!! And don’t call it a curse!

Yanagi: Calm down, Enomoto. All you’re doing is confirming their suspicion.

Enomoto: Yanagi-senpai, you can’t go talking about suspicion or whatever too! 

Sasazuka: Plus as soon as you said it was going to be a pair I’d heard enough. As long as I know that they’re a pair, I’m rejecting it.

Yanagi: Maa-- it’s best to try and avoid hiding personal feelings as much as possible. 

Sasazuka: Next, Okazaki.

Okazaki: Hm… it has to be those sleeping goods I talked about earlier. High quality sleep is good for health, right?

Yanagi: Well… that’s true.

Shiraishi: Coming from Okazaki, that’s a decent thing to say.

.Okazaki: If she uses the sleeping goods I choose, she’ll definitely be able to fall into a comfortable, deep sleep, regardless if there’s an explosion or fire, it’ll be a top quality item that you’ll be able to sleep in~ 

Enomoto: Nonono… isn’t that way too much? That’s like… coma-level sleep. 

Shiraishi: Aha, so it wasn’t decent after all.

Okazaki: Eh? Is it no good?

Yanagi: Okazaki, you know you’re supposed to be the client, right? Why are you even participating? 

Okazaki: Ahaha, that’s true. Ahaha… I got a little careless. 

Enomoto: You forgot…?

Sasazuka: Good grief, all these ideas are horrible. If you’re all going to be like this then don’t participate to begin with. You’re last, Yanagi-san.

Yanagi: Didn’t I say accessories were good before? They’re a bit too expensive to buy herself, and rings and necklaces are a bit too heavy, so I think a bracelet would be nice. 

Sasazuka: As expected of Yanagi-san, reliable as always. Let’s go with that. 

Okazaki: Wow! A decision’s been made? The title “When You Have Trouble Go Find Yanagi Aiji” wasn’t given for nothing, huh... 

Yanagi: Where did that come from? Never heard of it… 

Okazaki: It’s like saying it’s okay to rely on Yanagi-san even in the main story. They say you’re as reliable as a certain cat-shaped robot [1]. 

Yanagi: Don’t talk about the main story. And, don’t compare people to service tools. You lot are just too unorganized. 

Enomoto: Eh? Wait… if Yanagi-senpai’s handling the gift, then who’s in charge of the cooking?

Sasazuka: We can have Mineo or Shiraishi-san do it.

Enomoto: Eh….? But Yanagi-san’s full course spread… 

Shiraishi: I’ve never done anything like cooking before, I’d rather plan for the surprise. 

Yanagi: Shiraishi doing the surprise? …I’ve got a bad feeling about that… 

Sasazuka: The stupid cat might die if you screw up. 

Okazaki: It’s okay, I’ll eliminate any threats that come her way.

Shiraishi: Why don’t you guys trust me? I’ll scare her properly. 

Enomoto: That’ll be bad for her heart… I’m sure of it.

Yanagi: Shiraishi, we’re doing a normal surprise. 

Shiraishi: Okay, okay, I’ll keep that in mind. 

Sasazuka: The cooking duties will be on Mineo. 

Enomoto: Me…? Well, if it’s for her then fine… 

Yanagi: Then let’s start preparing. That’s all for today. Disperse. 

---

Sasazuka: Five more days until that stupid cat’s birthday.

Attendant: Welcome~ Please let me know when you’ve decided on something. 

Sasazuka: I’ll have your best looking, best tasting, if a person were to receive it they’d be the happiest ever cake. 

Attendant: E-Eh…? Um… uh, I-I’ll get a pamphlet for you… please wait a moment. 

Sasazuka: Mm. 

Sasazuka: (As always they have the good stuff, as expected, I’m not mistaken. There should be something that will satisfy me in this shop. It’s rare to be able to buy a cake with company allowance, should definitely buy one that’s good. Nothing will go wrong if I pick her cake out myself, plus it’s not bad to see that stupid cat’s happy expression.

Getting a cake that will make her happy is nothing, it’s easy. When she does her work well enough once in a while, she’ll wag her tail when I give her sweets as a reward-- is she a dog? Well, it’s not bad to see. And it’s entertaining. 

Besides, she’ll be happy then, because I gave her sweets— no, because I praised her. Even I know this much. Let’s not think about the outcome for now, even I know how hard that idiot works all the time. If I tell her “I don’t hate this idiotic side of you”, then she’ll definitely be happy. 

Heh, not bad. There’s a limit on how unlike me I can be though.)

---

Enomoto: Four more days until that one’s birthday. 

Hmhm, today’s special is… oh, bean sprouts are on sale. If I grab these then next month’s rent will be a little easier-- wait, no, no, no, no, how could I do something Yanagi-senpai would?! I don’t have to pay attention to what’s on sale if I’m cooking for a birthday! 

Hm… homemade… feels celebratory… is a bit luxurious… okay! Let’s go with the great Enomoto special chirashi sushi[2]! That’s that~ 

When it comes to chirashi sushi, there should be shrimp, and… I’ve read that girls like refreshing food more than greasy ones. Speaking of, does she like eel? … Grilled eel isn’t usually something she’d be able to eat, she’ll definitely be excited for that!

Dammit, if only I could ask her what she likes… 

Oh! What about cutting carrots into star shapes? Hoshino likes childish things, she should be happy with that.

Hehe, her smile’s gonna be taken by the great Enomoto! 

Hm, no, maybe heart shapes would be better.

Guh, no! It’s not like I’m showing her my feelings! I’m not planning to say something like “please accept my feelings” or anything!! 

Uh… what am I saying to myself, I should confirm the menu first. 

If the most important flavours aren’t good then there’s no point making it. I’ll definitely make her say it’s delicious!

---

Shiraishi: Three more days until her birthday. 

Now then, after some thinking… my head hurts. I’ve never been to a birthday party, nor have I seen one before.

[Clicking and typing]

What exactly is a birthday party?

Even though it’s work, a case that isn’t stimulating is just bothersome. 

Well, as long as I understand it well, it’ll be useful in future psychoanalysis, so I’ll deal with it. 

Hm~ I see… I mostly understand what a birthday party is, it wasn’t too far from what I expected, next is about the surprise…  [Clicking] He~eh? A classic surprise is a trap? And… putting a blackboard eraser in the crack of a door??

Heh, being able to see her surprised reaction wouldn’t be bad at all. She’s so open, seeing her expressions one by one will be amusing. Ah, but.. this is a birthday celebration so I shouldn’t... make her angry.

Even though it’ll be fun to see her angry, I’ll bear with it this time… this time I should try to make her smile?  

Hm… what can I do to make her smile? ...How strange, usually these things are easily known just by observing them, but when it comes to her, it becomes more and more difficult to find the correct answer… 

But, when I imagine how she’ll laugh… it’s nice, it’s not bad at all. 

It’ll be nice to see the real thing once in a while, the smile she always shows when she’s happy. 

---

Okazaki: Two more days until her birthday.

Mm! I got it, I’m glad the preparations are going along smoothly. Thank you. I’m counting on you to keep this up until the day! 

[Beep]

Everyone’s working so hard, it’ll definitely be a wonderful birthday party. But, I can’t just leave it to everyone else. I also have to think about what will make her happy. 

Yanagi-san was chosen to handle the gift we’re giving her… hm… if it was her, no matter what we give her, she’ll probably say that she’s happy. 

If that’s the case, I hope she can be happy from the bottom of her heart. 

When it comes to things that won’t be forgotten, memories are best. 

Ah, maybe I’ll take her out to see the wonderful night view after the birthday party. 

Hehe, a helicopter date sounds good too. 

Hu… I actually wanted just the two of us to celebrate together… I really wanted her birthday to be a special day. I think about it a lot. ...But, you told me you’d be happy to spend time with everyone… when you say it like that, you make people want to make your wish come true.

But, it’ll be a little frustrating for me to tell them that, so this will be a secret.

Next year, I want to celebrate with just the two of us. 

---

Yanagi: One more day left until her birthday.

How weird… how did it turn out like this? How did I end up being in charge of the present when I was obviously more suited for the food? 

Attendant: Welcome, please take your time looking.

Yanagi: It’s been years since I went into a jewelry store. No, wait, have I ever been in one? I’ve never chosen a gift for a woman before. Hm... 

Attendant: If you’re having a hard time, I can give you my recommendations. Is it a gift for your girlfriend? 

Yanagi: Ah- no- it’s for a coworker. [Small voice] A coworker, right? [Normal] A coworker… I… think. 

Attendant: In that case, how about something from this series? It’s not as bold as some of the other ones, but it has a cute design, and is popular among women. 

Yanagi: A-Ah...

Attendant: If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. 

Yanagi: It’s not too luxurious, but not too simple either. It’s not conspicuous but the design is quite good, it’s not bad. I feel like it’d suit her. This is already the tenth store, I should pick one out soon… if she knew I picked it out what would she think? 

“It doesn’t seem like something Yanagi-san would do”... or something like that. … Well, I’m thinking of the same thing about myself anyway.

(That one’s always doing her best. Our office is full of men, not to mention we all have unique personalities. It’s obviously difficult for her to be able to keep up with us. But she never gets discouraged and she thinks about clients more than anyone else. There’s not much I can do for her, but I want to make her happy as a woman just once…)

Attendant: [Laughs] You’ve been thinking about it for a while now, you must be giving it to someone very special. 

Yanagi: Uh… ah… yeah. 

Attendant: For you to be able to think of her that much, I feel jealous just watching. 

Yanagi: (I see… so being this hesitant means that I value her that much. Then let’s keep thinking about it until the last moment. 

In any case, I don’t want to choose carelessly.)

---

Enomoto: Is this enough? 

Sasazuka: It’s tilted, idiot. 

Enomoto: Seriously? Where? 

Sasazuka: Why do you have to make that much noise when you’re just putting up flowers?

Shiraishi: Mm~ it looks good.

Yanagi: Shiraishi, why have you been walking around for a while now? 

Shiraishi: I’m checking on the surprise. 

Okazaki: Are spears going to fall from the sky? Or an explosion? If the office explodes I won’t be able to protect you.

Shiraishi: So annoying, how could you think of me like that? Today’s a birthday celebration, right? A frightening surprise like that would have a negative effect on her heart. I’ve avoided those properly, okay?

Shiraishi: I safely recreated a trick, don’t worry. Hehe, when I see what kind of expression she’ll make… 

Yanagi: You? A trick?

Shiraishi: I properly researched it, read all the information, and practiced it several times. I worked so hard, I hoped you guys would praise me. 

Enomoto: Ehh, Shiraisai-san? Kinda surprising.

Sasazuka: Speaking of surprising, it’s the same for Mineo. 

Enomoto: I-I worked hard, you know! 

Sasazuka: It’s the opposite, I didn’t expect you to be able to make a decent dish. 

Enomoto: …!  Y-You praised someone? Is it going to snow today?! 

Okazaki: The chiraishi sushi is made well! The colors are beautiful, the carrots cut into stars are also really cute. I just stole a small bite earlier and it was delicious! The rice was cooked well too~

Enomoto: That’s because I practiced at home so many-- ha?! Y-You ate some?!!! 

Okazaki: Eh? Yup! A heart-shaped carrot, it was delicious!

Enomoto: HEEEEY!! That was the ONLY special carrot that I put there!! Besides, why are you eating before the birthday girl?! 

Sasazuka: Shut up, what a bunch of idiots.

Shiraishi: Haha, speaking of, as expected of Sasauka. The cake looks both high-quality and delicious. 

Sasazuka: I looked a few highly reviewed cake shop, narrowed it down to a small range and decided to eat all the candidates before I decided. It’s impossible for it to taste bad. Should also suit the stupid cat’s tastebuds. 

Enomoto: You ate them all… how many did you eat? 

Okazaki: And the present Yanagi-san chose fits her image perfectly. Hehe, I’ll be glad to make her happy.

Shiraishi: It looks like you struggled a lot too?

Yanagi: Something like that.

Okazaki: I remember you said you were hesitant about which one to buy for a really long time? I heard you went into every single jewelry shop in Shinjuku. 

Yanagi: First of all, just entering one takes a lot of effort. 

Shiraishi: No matter how you look at it, you don’t suit jewelry stores at all. It would have been amusing if I was there to see you in person.

Enomoto: Maa, it’s great we managed to finish preperations safely. The interior decoration and the dining table setting are also done. Now all we have to do is wait for today's protagonist to come! 

Yanagi: We’re finally here, fortunately nothing bad happened… 

Shiraishi: It’s because everyone was doing things their own way~ 

Enomoto: I don’t want to be told that by Shiraishi-san… 

Okazaki: Hmhm! I agree with Mineo-kun.

Shiraishi: How surprising, I care less about the atmosphere more than I do things my way. 

Yanagi: The only reason why we’re all willing to assist is because it was “for Hoshino”, huh? No wonder everyone’s been so united... 

Sasazuka: I want to hurry up and eat the cake. Is she coming or not?

Okazaki: I think she’s almost here...

Enomoto: Oh! She’s coming!

Shiraishi: Hu… then shall we start the birthday party?

Okazaki: Everyone, are your poppers ready? 

Yanagi: Yeah.

Sasazuka: We were ready ages ago, just hurry up and let her in. 

Enomoto: Then I’m gonna open the door!

Everyone: ⭐Happy birthday!⭐

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

Yanagi: So you’re a year older now. The age difference between us is smaller by a year for now. You’re happy? Haha, I guess I am as well. I really appreciate the day that you were born, from the bottom of my heart. 

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

Okazaki: I’ve always wanted to celebrate your birthday. I wanted to have you all to myself on your special day. Hehe, it feels like I’m happier about this than you, huh? Next time, can I celebrate my birthday with you? 

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

Enomoto: Um… you know, I thought about it a lot. About how to make you happy. This might sound stupid but-- when it comes to how I feel about celebrating your birthday, I won’t lose to anyone!

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

Sasazuka: Ah? You’re surprised to see me celebrate your birthday? You’re my plaything, so it’ll be weird if people other than me celebrated your birthday. Alright, don’t be so loud, let me talk. You just need to wag your tail and be happy. 

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

Shiraishi: I don’t really understand it but, today is a really important day for you, isn’t it? Then, that means it’s an important day for me too. Haha, yes. Because you’re special to me, in every sense of the word. If this kind of thing can make you smile that brightly, then birthdays aren’t so bad. 

--------------------------- Translator’s notes: [1] ‘certain cat-shaped robot’ - Doraemon. [2] Chiraishi sushi - Called ‘scattered sushi’ in English, think of a rice bowl but with sushi rice and sushi toppings.

[jokertrap-ran]

Collar X Malice ~UNLIMITED~ ADONIS Route Translations (Part 4)

Translator’s note : MC’s name shall remain as my normal (ラン) Spoiler FREE : Translations under cut !

I hear the sound of water in the darkness.

I wonder if it's raining?

Maybe someone left the tap on.

I told you to shut it off properly since it's a waste of the water fees.

......? "Who" did I say that to again?

--Ah, no. This isn't the sound of water.

Ran Hoshino: (This is...The sound of the dripping of blood.)

—— —— ≿————-　❈　————-≾ —— ——     

...Unforgivable.

I'll never forgive you, never, ever.

Everything was blurred by hatred.

—— —— ≿————-　❈　————-≾ —— ——   

 --2 years ago. I lost him--my younger brother Kazuki, in an incident which made me fall into despair.

But, wallowing won't stop anything.

Adonis will massacre again and victims just like Kazuki will increase.

That's why I obeyed the collar's instructions and went to their hideout.

You can use me, kill me, even make me stab others in the back.

--All to kill this one man.

Zero: We finally meet, Hoshino.

Zero: The fact that you're here means that...

Zero: You've come to "kill" me, right?

Zero: Not to arrest me as an officer. --But to kill me for your own personal gain.

Ran Hoshino: ............

I thought you were my friend.

One who sought out justice.

I believed and never doubted you. You wanted to help the victims!

Ran Hoshino: Everything will end with your death.

Zero: No. Nothing will end. You of all people should know that best.

Ran Hoshino: Shut up...

Zero: This despair will continue even if I'm dead.

Ran Hoshino: Shut up! Don't talk anymore!!

If only this man was gone.

If only Adonis ceased to exist.

Kazuki would still be alive!

And yet--

Aiji Yanagi: Hoshino! Are you okay?

Kei Okazaki: ...Put down your gun, Saeki.

Zero: So your knights have arrived.

Kei Okazaki: Move and I'll shoot! It'd be better to surrender.

Zero: Now...What will you do, Hoshino?

Zero: You'll have to shoot me if you don't want them to die.

Aiji Yanagi: Rest assured, Hoshino.

Aiji Yanagi: There's no one else here but us. No hidden weapons either. Sasazuka has full control of the systems.

Zero: Haha, you're pretty confident. You all seem to think that Sasazuka Takeru is capable of anything, like God himself.

Zero: How foolish...That arrogance will be your downfall. Those who get too close to God will only have their wings clipped.

Kei Okazaki: ...Shut up. I don't want to listen to a criminal's ramblings.

Zero: Hey Hoshino. You understand, don't you? The tragedy that will befall everyone if you don't kill me here and now.

Ran Hoshino:  ...Of course I do...

Aiji Yanagi: Hoshino! Don't listen to him! He's just bluffing!!

Ran Hoshino: ............

Aiji Yanagi: Everything's fine now so stand back.

Ran Hoshino: I don't want to.

Aiji Yanagi: Okazaki and I are here for you. Enomoto and Shiraishi will be here soon. Everything will be fine so put your gun down...

Ran Hoshino: I can't. I have to kill him here and now!

Aiji Yanagi: Hoshino!!

Ran Hoshino: I have to be the one to kill him. If I don't...

Aiji Yanagi: Stop!! No matter how much you hate him, if you pull the trigger, you'll...

Ran Hoshino: ............

Aiji Yanagi: You'll never be able to take it back. So please...Don't shoot.

Aiji Yanagi: ...For Kazuki's sake too! Don't become a killer, Hoshino!

Ran Hoshino: ............

Yanagi-san's voice rang in my ears.

My hate-filled vision cleared up, and in that moment, I"exacted my justice."

I met his gaze as I lowered my gun.

He looked really sad, perhaps even utterly disappointed.

That was my last memory of him.

Yanagi-san.

Okazaki-san.

Enomoto-san.

And Shiraishi-san.

They're all dead.

All because of me.

And because of him.

Because of this world filled with despair.

Ran Hoshino: (That's right. Just killing him isn't enough.)

Ran Hoshino: (Nothing will change if I do that.)

I finally understand now...

—— —— ≿————-　❈　————-≾ —— ——  

Ran Hoshino: ............

???: --Hey, stupid cat.

Ran Hoshino: ...Sasazuka-san.

Takeru Sasazuka: That's one hell of an expression on your face.

Ran Hoshino: Do you need something from me?

Takeru Sasazuka: You're really asking me that?

Takeru Sasazuka: Haa...I heard about it. You resigned?

Ran Hoshino: That's right. From today onward, I'm no longer a police officer.

Ran Hoshino: I won't be working with you from now on so-

Takeru Sasazuka: Don't give me that.

Takeru Sasazuka: Are you just run away with your tail between your legs?

Ran Hoshino: I am. Does that have anything to do with you?

Takeru Sasazuka: ............

Takeru Sasazuka: Listen here and listen well. I'll even put it simply for you.

Takeru Sasazuka: The investigation headquarters won't have you take the responsibility for this.

Takeru Sasazuka: We'll treat it as if you were threatened by the collar even if you went to their hideout on your own will.

Takeru Sasazuka: That's what Yanagi-san and the rest wished for as well, despite their untimely end. They just wanted to save you.

Takeru Sasazuka: Headquarters has cleared them despite the fact that it was their own choice. Above all...

Takeru Sasazuka: I didn't notice that the cameras were fakes and that there were weapons deployed on the walls.

Takeru Sasazuka: ...It's my fault.

Ran Hoshino: ............

Takeru Sasazuka: This and that. Everything...

Takeru Sasazuka: None of it was your fault.

Takeru Sasazuka: ...No. I was the one who killed them. Ran Hoshino: ............ Ran Hoshino: But this sin cannot be atoned for. It's not something that can possibly be atoned for. That's why...

Takeru Sasazuka: ......

Ran Hoshino: I'll end this myself.

Takeru Sasazuka: --Are you planning to avenge them?

Ran Hoshino: ............

Takeru Sasazuka: Don't. It doesn't suit you. Besides, what do you intend to do alone?

Takeru Sasazuka: Are you going to do it without a police badge under your name? There's a limit to what you can do alone. It's suicidal.

Takeru Sasazuka: --Calm down, idiot.

Ran Hoshino: Then Sasazuka-san, how about you answer me this?

Ran Hoshino: When will this hatred of mine finally disappear?

Takeru Sasazuka: ......!

Ran Hoshino: Are you of all people going to stop me?

Ran Hoshino: Even though you know how I feel better than anyone else.

Takeru Sasazuka: ...I...

Ran Hoshino: I'm sorry.

Ran Hoshino: The Ran Hoshino you know is already dead.

Takeru Sasazuka: I'm telling you to listen to me! You're being too reckless! Right now, you're just

Ran Hoshino: Farewell, Sasazuka-san.

Takeru Sasazuka: Damn it! That idiot...!!

Takeru Sasazuka: I'm begging you, Hoshino...Don't go.

Takeru Sasazuka: Don't leave!

—— —— ≿————-　❈　————-≾ —— ——   

 --What a nice person, I thought.

He lowered his outstretched hand even though he could have easily stopped me by force.

I closed off my heart, and accepted their will.

...I bet I must have killed off their hearts too.

These hands were long soaked in blood.

That's why--

There's only one path I can walk.

There's only one hope left.

—— —— ≿————-　❈　————-≾ —— ——   

Zero: ...You're here.

Ran Hoshino: --I'll say this first. I have no intentions of killing you.

Zero: ............

Ran Hoshino: In order to create the world without sorrow that you so desire...

Ran Hoshino: Zero, I'll take your hand.

Zero: I see.

Zero: Purging evil so that what is just may survive. You should already be prepared for that.

Zero: I understand your pain. Let's create a new world together, to prevent such sorrow from happening again.

Zero: I will turn your despair into hope.

—— —— ≿————-　❈　————-≾ —— ——     

Ran Hoshino: ...What a long dream...

A dream that blurs the line between reality.

But, I can't advert my eyes...

Because this is reality.

Ran Hoshino: (It's fine. I know now. I won't forget my purpose.)

I will grasp that one hope I have with these bloodied hands of mine.

... Even if I have to walk on corpses.

——≿————-𝕿𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖓𝖊𝖝𝖙 𝖙𝖎𝖒𝖊... ————-≾ ——

[dandeaix-oomph]

two four six o fucking one

Ogata doesn't blink. "Only members of the production company are allowed."

"I was told I could come for a viewing."

"No," says Ogata, "you can't."

Koito hates this man. "I'll pay for everyone's supper," he bargains.

"No."

"I'll also get boba," Koito adds. Ogata still doesn't blink, but something has shifted in his eyes that convinces Koito he's on the right track. "I can get them right now, in fact. Or coffee too. Whatever. I'll get them if you'll let me in."

"The good boba?" Ogata clarifies. "The one near the ramen place? Not the one near the engineering campus?"

"The good boba," Koito promises, immediately pulling up the food delivery app on his phone. "So do we have a deal?"

"Buy a ticket for all three days of our showing and I'll consider it."

"Fine."

"Then deal." Ogata swipes his pass; the keycard reader pings and glows green. "After you."

Koito doesn't bother to thank him. He walks down the corridor. The backstage of their university theatre isn't big, and Koito has enough friends in the performing arts to know that most performers prefer to linger outside the hall or watch the rehearsals in the audience's seats. "Tsurumi is here today, right?"

"Obviously."

"Just to be sure," Koito supplies, "Tsukishima told me that sometimes Tsurumi leaves them to practise alone."

Ogata clicks his tongue impatiently. "Then shouldn't you ask before attempting to bribe me?"

"Hey! I'm not here for only Tsurumi!" That is only ninety percent of the reason. The other five is Tsukishima, and the rest is because Koito is bored. "So he's here?"

"Yes."

"Huh." Koito wonders if that means rehearsals are not going so well. He decides not to probe. "What's your role again? Tsukishima didn't mention much about this production."

In fact, Tsukishima has stared at him with such weariness when he brought up the topic that Koito decidedly aborts that line of conversation.

Ogata halts. He does not look impressed. "Do you even know that we're doing a musical this time?"

"I know that much," Koito huffs. "Les Misérables right?"

"Yes. I am playing Enjolras."

Koito double-takes. "You? Enjolras?"

"Yes, me. And Tsurumi is playing Javert. In case Tsukishima didn't -" At this point Ogata infuses a certain mockery into his tone, "- tell you. Again."

Koito hates hates hates Ogata Hyakunosuke. "Oh, he definitely did tell me that much," he sniffs, "as well as his schedule, and that he has casting problems."

"That's just some actors being unprofessional," Ogata dismisses. He pushes the door open. "Now head down the stairs and keep out of everyone's way."

"You don't need to tell me that," Koito grumbles, hastening down. The door to the hall opens and a burst of frigid air slaps him in the face. Someone's turned the air-conditioning too low again.

He picks a seat in the second row, near the aisle. Sugimoto is there too; from what Koito remembers, it’s because Kiroranke has to stay behind and can't drive Asirpa and Enonoka home.

But if outsiders aren't allowed, then couldn't Sugimoto wait outside too? He can pick them up after they are dismissed from rehearsals. That's what Tanigaki does, and he's dating Inkarmat -

Oh. Koito sees what's going on here. It seems Ogata is a little bitch who doesn't bother masking his favouritism.

Their theatre group have framed itself as a sort of service-oriented production, wherein their projects' ethos is to provide affordable yet quality theatre experience to the community. 

The production team itself is mostly made up of members and alumni from their university's various theatre clubs. Some, like Tsurumi and Kiroranke, are past professional performers turned coaches, their careers punctuated with the occasional contract acting. Others are members of the public that volunteered, including some elderly and more importantly, at-risk teenagers who figured they like the familial solidarity of this production team.

Community theatre, Koito thinks. Has a good ring to it. At least, it certainly appeals to potential sponsors. Koito knows this. After all, Koito's family is one of their sponsors.

Tsurumi is on stage now, his voice loud and powerful, his tone angrier and angrier until it swallows up Kiroranke's firm baritone.

"Every man is born in sin," he sings, "every man must choose his way."

The light dances off the edges of his cheeks and the strong lines of his back; arresting, mesmerising. There is power in every gesture, power in every tremble of his voice, and the audience gapes awestruck at him, looking up in worship of this man, great as a deity.

(And Koito he, he can't look away.)

"I think this scene is pretty much done,” Kiroranke is saying. “You can stand to be a tad more hysterical, but this is good too."

"I'll keep it in mind." Tsurumi stretches his back. "We’ll skip Asirpa's scenes too, there’s not much issues there. Let's focus on what needs focus. Run through the previous scenes: the earlier one with Fantine's death isn't satisfying."

"Respectfully," Inkarmat cuts in. She has been sitting cross-legged at the end of the stage. "It is hard for either of us to express the sincerity of a scene that tragic when both of us hate each other."

"I don't care about that," Tsurumi dismisses. "You are both professional actors, so I expect you to act like ones. Sort it out."

"Excuse me," Tsukishima calls out from a seat near the back. Koito hasn't noticed him, and startles. "But this is the first time we've seen such genuine animosity on set. We are too close to the deadline to pin our hopes on them working this out."

"I can switch with Inkarmat," Igogusa offers, "if necessary. I did Fantine before."

"But I prefer Inkarmat's voice for Fantine's solo." Tsurumi shakes his head. "Never mind that, we'll proceed as is for now. Let's take a ten minutes water break, and we'll do Scene Nine Heart Full of Love after. Our syncing for it has been horrendous."

-

Here’s the thing: when he is a young boy, Koito watches Tsurumi act on stage, and falls in love.

For the next three days, he whines about wanting to go into acting to his family, but got bored on the fourth. So he makes it a point to keep tabs on Tsurumi’s acting career, and attends every show that is put up.

Then he grows up, goes to university, and decides that he wants to experience living on campus.

Koito has already been living alone, even if it is in a loft at a highrise that his family bought. It’s only a fifteen minutes drive from the university, and two hours away from the family mansion.

But to actually live in a college residence is a much different experience. His brother has told him stories about it, about how it can be a mess but also how it feels like something of a coming-of-age ritual. Koito is curious, so Koito applies for campus housing.

Three things happen.

Firstly: he ends up rooming with Tsukishima, a graduate student. 

Secondly: he lasts six months.

Thirdly, and most importantly: he finds out that Tsukishima is in the same theatre production as Tsurumi.

The rest, as they say, is history.

-

Tsukishima does the sets, so even during the break, he looks distracted enough that Koito has to snap his fingers repeatedly by his ear before Tsukishima comes back into the moment. "Sorry, you were saying?"

"I got everyone some boba. From the stall near the hotpot place, not the one near engi'," Koito repeats, "but I got you your special order."

"Thank you," Tsukishima says as he accepts his drink, but the frown doesn't go away even as he sucks up the taro balls.

Koito folds his arms. "Hey," he begins, in a bid to distract, "Tsurumi pretty much call the shots huh?"

"He is technically our director." Tsukishima kneads between his eyes. “And producer. He’s split that role with me since he’s acting this time. Thankfully, we have Kiroranke and Inkarmat around, but they are feuding. I told Tsurumi that even though we are only a small independent production, we need to find more stagehands because of our choice of play  - but no, it’s all casting and finding the right actors and making sure they live up to their potential -”

“Don’t say that,” Koito defends, “this gives you much more control on what goes on, right? Isn’t that good?”

“What makes you think the actors are not all obnoxious egomaniacs?” Tsukishima points out tiredly. “We have the same problems every year. I told him we should have done black box this year and expand from there, but Tsurumi has a vision.”

“Maybe if you delegate more -”

“I did.” Tsukishima covers his eyes with a palm. “Usami is frighteningly competent, although the Nikaidou twins could not be given any autonomy. Also, I was planning to promote Tamai to assistant stage manager, but he dropped out last week." He drinks his boba stressfully. “We almost borrowed some crew from the university, except Hijikata has made it clear that he is not loaning out anymore students from the drama club.”

Koito does not know enough about theatre production to make more comments. “What if I hire some professionals? I mean, my family is a sponsor.”

“Then this would not be an independent charity production anymore. But thanks.” Tsukishima finishes his drink. “Right, I think I need to go check on the techs. If anyone starts crying, I’m off to the gents.”

“Why would anyone - ” Koito tries, “Tsukishima? Hey, don’t run away. Tsukishima!” but Tsukishima has already slipped away. 

Koito wanders back into the hall. Everyone tries to keep food off the stage, but Ienaga is munching on a doughnut while gesturing aggressively at the props, and no one is going to argue with Ienaga. 

He turns towards the seats and - never mind, Sugimoto is fussing over the kids as Shiraishi shares some silly anecdote with them again, while Ogata - Ogata? - hangs his arms over the back of the seat adjacent to Sugimoto. Koito doesn’t understand what is going on. Koito doesn’t want to understand what is going on. 

Then he sees Yuusaku standing by the fire exit and understands anyway.

(Frankly, Koito doesn’t understand what it’s like to hate his family. He loves his family. His brother is great and charismatic and his mother is affectionate and funny, and while there used to be some hostility with his father, that has passed after adolescence too.

But in the end, that’s none of his business.)

Koito hops up onto the stage in the end. He ignores Usami’s grin and heads straight for Edogai. “Hey,” he calls, “you do costumes, right?”

“Yes?” Edogai lowers his notebook. “Is there an issue?”

“I like what you did with Javert’s costume,” Koito tells him seriously, “it’s arresting.”

He spends the rest of the break discussing costumes edits until Tsurumi calls for them to clear the stage, get back to work now, and Koito returns to his seat.

Sugimoto turns to Koito. “Have you seen them rehearse this scene before?”

“No.” Koito leans forward. “Have you?”

“Yeah. Thing is, all three of them don’t have a strong enough presence to complement each other, so Tsurumi has been pretty unhappy about it. I tried coaching Umeko on her gestures to make up for her voice, but there’s only so much she can do.” Sugimoto pauses. “However, Yuusaku has been stepping up. Apparently Ogata gave him tips.”

“Ogata?” Koito is usually not this much of a gossip. “I thought he hates Yuusaku?”

“He does, but Tsurumi made him help Yuusaku.” Sugimoto chuckles. “He can’t say no to that, can he?”

That is devious. Koito knows there is a reason why he is so mesmerised by Tsurumi. “I bet he’s pissed.”

“Fluffed up like a cat,” Sugimoto agrees. “He -”

“Silence from the house, please,” Tsurumi announces, and Sugimoto immediately faces back towards the front. “Thank you. This is Koito’s first viewing; it won’t do if you keep distracting him, Sugimoto. Koito - apologies for not greeting you, I’ve been busy.”

He noticed me! He noticed! “No worries!” Koito shouts, feeling a little light-headed. Sugimoto shushes him. 

Tsurumi smiles from the stage. Smiles at Koito, god, the brilliance of his smile, the soft curve of his lips - “Right then, let’s continue. We’ll run through the scene one time, and then repeat once more with music.”

Koito sinks back into his seat. He’s ready to combust. 

Solemnly, Sugimoto reaches over to the box of unclaimed boba and passes a cup to him.

-

And then Umeko cries when Tsurumi yells too harshly at her. 

Tsukishima makes eye contact with Koito from the stage. His eyes resemble that of a man who has walked in and out of hell. 

Koito considers getting Tsukishima some vouchers for that spa he likes so much.

-

For dinner, Inkarmat volunteers to greet the delivery man. 

“What’s going on?” Koito asks, and receives a round of sniggers.

“Tanigaki works the night shift for this eatery,” Ariko explains. Cikapasi nods fervently.

“Right,” Koito says slowly. “I see,” and mourns for his empty stomach. Sympathetically, Ariko passes him a bag of chips. 

They get their dinner eventually. Tsurumi asks Koito on his opinions about the musical, you are our sponsor after all, did we meet your expectations?

Frankly, the musical can catch fire midway and implode in a fiery wreck for all Koito cares. The only thing that matters is that Tsurumi is involved. “Of course,” Koito answers excitedly, “it’s great!”

Tsurumi smiles again. “That’s good,” he says.

Koito feels like his heart is about to leap out of his chest and perform a pirouette.

Then they finish their dinner, dry-run one last time, and the kids have to go home. Practice grinds to a halt as Sugimoto waves his goodbye, gives Shiraishi a half-hug, and whisks the children away.

Koito fiddles with his phone, posting weird selfies on his InstaStory and Snapchat and snorts when people comment ridiculous answers on his guess where I am poll. He barely notices when Tsukishima sits down on the seat beside. “I imagine it must be pretty boring.”

“Hm?” Koito shrugs, putting his phone away. “I think it’s fine. All rehearsals have their boring parts. At least there’s drama.”

Tsukishima exhales deeply. “I don’t like this kind of drama.” His head lolls when he leans back, propping himself up by the elbows. "Will you be coming over again?"

"I don't know." Koito pouts. "Will Tsurumi want me here?"

"Well, you are a sponsor."

Koito lets out a long-suffering whine. "Then what can I do? I can't impose, no matter how much I want to see him!" He slumps against a seat, cheek resting on the back of his arm. “I just want to hop on his dick.”

“I know, Koito. I have known you for two years and five months.”

Koito eyes him. “You keep track of that?”

“It’s not hard,” Tsukishima dismisses, “I simply subtracted the months from the first day of the academic year when I was a graduate student.”

“Smart.”

“Not smart, just sensible.”

Koito makes a face. “Too practical. I don’t want to know whether I can come over, I want to know if Tsurumi will want me to come to rehearsals.”

“And like I said, he doesn’t not want you here,” Tsukishima returns, “but based on personal experience, I would advise against coming over too often. It gives everyone unnecessary stress.” He pauses. “The boba is good though.”

“I’ll get it again the next time I’m over.” As his mother always says, if they have the money to spare, then they might as well use it to cheer up other people.

(People-pleaser, his father has chastised lightly even as he hands over the month’s paycheck. This, Koito thinks, must be why Koito Heinojou decides to pursue a second major in social work.)

"You're not unwelcomed, Koito," Tsukishima emphasises. "I am glad that you're here to show your support. But when money is in the picture… you get it, don't you?"

"Yeah, don't sweat it." His wealth may have made him insensitive at times, but he isn’t stupid. Rich people are snakes, or at least surrounded by them; dealing with them and their assistants take a certain amount of astuteness. "I'll give you a heads-up a few days before I come over."

"Thank you, Koito. I really appreciate that."

Koito waves a hand. "It's no problem."

-

It takes five days.

Tsukishima frowns. "Didn't you say -"

"I forgot," Koito lies. In actuality, he has decided to pop by on a whim, and is further emboldened when he meets Inkarmat on the way up. "Anyway, Inkarmat says it's fine.”

“Sure she did,” Tsukishima counters dryly, “and did she tell you that Tsurumi would only be coming in later for an hour today?”

“What!” Koito doesn’t know that. “But he will be here?”

Tsukishima simply shakes his head. "If this is going to be a regular thing," he informs, "then you'd better make yourself useful."

Which is how Koito finds himself at the backstage, helping touch-up what little make-up has to be put on for characterisation purposes.

"Eponine's make-up," Inkarmat mutters, hovering over Igogusa, "must smear just right. She is a little rough around the edges, so her makeup must reveal that."

Koito carefully curls Igogusa's lashes. "This is stage-acting, not a film, you know? The audience will be watching for big movements. They won't be close enough to notice the details."

"Even if most of the audience won't see it, some of them can," Inkarmat chides, "and most importantly, as actors, we can feel the difference. So smear it carefully with your fingers - she wants to be a lady for Marius, but this isn't who she is, and deep down, she knows that too."

For a while, the only thing that can be heard is the white noise in the background. Then: "Inkarmat," Igogusa remarks softly, "you should be the one playing as Eponine."

Inkarmat shakes her head. "Tsurumi knows what he's doing," she declares. "Right, now I'm going to try and get into Fantine's headspace to see if her impressive kindness can tamper down my aggressiveness towards - you know. Catch you later." She turns to leave, only to pause to nod firmly at Koito. "Do your job."

"Of course!" Koito rubs the kohl onto Igogusa's eyelids. He'll give her the hottest smokey eyes that'll rival those beauty youtubers - which he knows for a fact that he can definitely accomplish, because he is added into their group chats and spends spa day with them.

"Koito," Igogusa says, later, when Koito decides to do her hair too because he fucking adores that volume, it has so much potential for elaborate hairstyles - "You are a very good friend to Tsukishima, aren't you?"

"Buh-what? I mean, I try." Koito contemplates this. "I feel like it's mostly Tsukishima being a good friend to me."

Igogusa laughs, light but throaty. "He does that," she agrees, "but that also shows that he cares. He only mothers the people he cares about. So if he cares about you…" Her face splits into a brilliant grin. "You must have been a good person. Thank you for being there for him."

[waterlinkedgirl]

‘Let's hope the complementary AU won't become a drabble even though I thought of this one first,’ is what I said, but at 5613 words this really is halfway to being written. Emphasis on halfway. This was meant as basically just an outline for a fic because I was too busy to actually write it (I really am, actually >.>), but uh. It started leading a life of its own. The first part or so is as its purpose and in tweets so the formatting might be a bit odd but

Basically this is half outline, half drabble, only one round of editing so it’s really rough on the edges, R-17, ShiraYuki mafia x stripper/assassin also roommates AU Both of them (especially Yukimura) are manipulative bastards and there’s elements of forced intimacy at times so if that squicks you, please proceed with caution.

Shiraishi is a normal stripper to the public eye, under the name of Poison Ivy (or Nightshade or something of the likes) but the criminal circuit, Yukimura head of Rikkai’s mafia included, knows better.

He's a traceless, mysterious, independent assassin, with poisons as his expertise (though rumours go they don't even make half of his murders), an incredible asset, but only if you win his favour. Those are the rumours. But fact is, nobody has ever seen him in the body.

The only thing they know of him is that he works through various strip clubs over the region, that you should leave a message with a generous donation to unravel someone's bandage- (there are many, too many with bandages to count) and you might find your job cleared, or declined.

Needless to say, Shiraishi is rather surprised when Yukimura approaches him, as nothing in the way he holds himself tells him he came here to watch him undress. "You have some killer thighs," he says nonchalantly, handing him a folded bill.

He catches it between his lips, and when he unfolds it, a familiar petal falls from the paper. Then, an imperceptible caution finds its way onto his face, Yukimura notices. He smiles. "You'll meet me after work." "I don't meet clients after working hours." Yukimura chuckles.

"You'll take your bandage off for me and hand it over," he whispers. "You won't refuse, will you?" Shiraishi smiles at him. "That'll depend on your offer." Yukimura nudges towards the bill. "Think about it." After all, Yukimura finds, he can't refuse.

Shiraishi waited for him in the alleyway, as he should. "What is your offer?" he asks. Not 'Who are you,' or 'Why did you approach me,' or 'For 9000 I'll fcuk you into Heaven.' No useless questions, no playing dumb, Yukimura notes, pleased. "I want you, Shiraishi."

"Your reward is handsome, moreso than any other would offer," Yukimura says, playing a card between his fingers. Both of them knew it wasn't about the money, at all. "You will live in with me, eat my food, and sleep under my roof." Yukimura leaned in. "You will be safe with me."

With Yukimura's knowledge about his identity, the way he'd tracked him down, he was left with no choice. After all, Shiraishi had no clue how many people his data went by. Even if he killed Yukimura, it would do him no good. Shiraishi was his. "...I accept."

Shiraishi took in a breath. "I accept, if you protect my rule." "Rule?" Yukimura's instincts sharpened. Shiraishi was in no state to negotiate here. "That you won't touch my body for your physical gratification." That, is the rule he would wager his life on? He smiled. "I won't."

It's immediately obvious this isn't where Yukimura lived. The apartment was too white, too... impersonal for that. Still, it'll have to do, Yukimura thinks. Supervision was vital, as was creating familiarity, no, dependency, obedience. Shiraishi's poisonous plants would stay out.

It would grow in time, he thinks to himself as he watches Shiraishi chew his bread-- Shiraishi seems susceptible enough. They sleep in different beds, in the same room. [if I were writing a fic, I'd be telling myself to do some roommates shenanigans here.]

Going out was a different matter all on its own, solved by proximity and communication. Shiraishi was good at blending in, true, but letting him come to meetings... He settled on passive monitoring and keeping him occupied in times of need. Drugging, would harm their bond.

Probably, as his first assignments, Yukimura has him cut off his last ties first, to force his unequivocal loyalty. He's there with him, no, he guides him, not for his capabilities, but to remind him of his involvement. Every time, he cooks him dinner afterwards.

Yukimura wasn't fond of assassinations or any of the kinds, but fact stood that in order to have a healthy garden, weeding was necessary. Weeding, as well as pruning and bugkilling, placing traps, and thorough observation. He'll point Shiraishi where to cut, and where to bother.

Yukimura has communication with the ones below him, of course. Phone calls, mails, messages. The encryption is Yanagi's, at least its base. It had taken him weeks to crack, after which he devoted another month perfecting it. Nobody but him knew and understood the full decryption.

The verbal code was of his own devise. Illogical, personal, effective. He hadn't devised one for Shiraishi, yet. He might want to eventually, but it would come with the trust, in higher-profile and less-contact assignments.

Shiraishi proves himself to be very efficient, a more than intelligent asset he discovers when Shiraishi challenges him to a game of chess. It was said that you could read into someone's personality by the way they played. Into Yukimura's? No. But Shiraishi was interesting.

Methodological, clever, but sly and prepared to take risks. That was his assassin's method as well, and he knew that thoroughly by now. Ever mysterious, funny, fickle, serious. Shiraishi mentioned a detail about the plant of a poison this case, before he knew it, he'd been hooked.

Yukimura had never planned on their relationship being simply subordinate and master. His hold didn't work that way. But friends... The longer the days passed, the more comfortable he seemed to feel. Shiraishi was a natural smooth talker, obviously, but beyond that, amiable.

He decides that having plants in their apartment was perhaps a reasonable addition, after all, when he sees Shiraishi's eyes light up talking about taking care of them and their poisons.Keeping his garden lively and thriving was his priority. However, as time passed, Yukimura noticed a family of weeds, growing vividly in small, persistent patches. It was an eyesore, and a worrisome one, as well.

Removing them would leave the soil vulnerable and at risk, a round of herbicide might damage his own plants. Yes, it'd been occupying his thoughts, even weighing down on him. However, Shiraishi seems to have noticed his worry. "Is there something wrong?"

He supposes that it does concern him, with Shiraishi's involvement as his gardening tool. Yukimura sighs, and decides to tell him of the situation. He'd only give him the necessary context, without metaphors or code. He could be of help, even if it ended up just as a listening ear.

He surprises Yukimura when, after hearing him out, he advises him for a systemic approach. It wasn't just advice, no, on top of it being rationally sound it was solid and good. Shiraishi didn't know it, he didn't have the information, but handling things like would be beneficial to Yukimura in a different way as well.

"Thank you, for your advice," he says, genuinely grateful for a change. It wasn't often that he found himself like that, usually people were thanking him with their lives. Shiraishi smiles. "You're welcome. If you ever want me to think with you again, don't hesitate. I'll be there." He'll be there, huh. However, whether he'd confide in him again was entirely up to whether Yukimura was willing to put that trust in him once more.

It turns out that was more often than he'd initially thought. Shiraishi was intelligent and logical, he knew that, but he was confirmed in it when he posed him with a few minor but troublesome problems. Occasionally, Yukimura would give him a hypothetical problem to test him, or a past decision he made. He was delighted when he came to the correct conclusions, surprised when he approached the problem from another angle Yukimura hadn't thought of. Shiraishi was becoming a greater asset to him than the extremely capable assassin he took in, and Yukimura couldn't help but smile inside himself.

Which is when Yukimura decides he wouldn't make meetings a hassle again. Shiraishi was excellent in keeping low profile, hence, he'd let him come in the guise of a waiter. He wouldn't be allowed to speak, but he would allow him to listen. And Yukimura would watch. He'd always been an expert at reading people, and as long as he's known Shiraishi, his opinions would be clear as day, hidden in imperceptible signals in his breath, his posture, his eyes.

Yukimura finds he has no regrets doing so.

One night, he finds himself awake, the silhouette of a sleeping Shiraishi having caught his eye. He can't remember when he woke up, or why, or even how long he'd been observing him, but... Blankets sparsely strewn over his body, breaths languid, moonlight over his slightly toned skin, Yukimura can't deny it's aesthetically pleasing. His posture is messy, as is his hair, his midriff bared and muscled. Shiraishi is peaceful when he sleeps, he notes. Defenseless, even. He supposes that had been different, back in the beginning. Oh, how the times had changed. Against all odds, Shiraishi had become more than a forcibly assimilated assassin, his friend. He didn't just want him. He wants to keep him. By chance, he remembers the spark in Shiraishi's eyes when he talked about his hobbies. Maybe he could... indulge himself for a bit in them, as well. And for the first time in what felt like centuries, Yukimura takes out his sketchbook from the nightstand.

[If I were writing I'd tell myself to write in the conspiracy plot and some foreshadowing. It's Shitenhouji, coming in because they haven't heard from Shiraishi in much too long (not since Yukimura made him cut off his connections). Shiraishi catches wind of this at one point because he's hacked the Yanagi-Yukimura encryption, and from his knowledge of Yukimura's personality has learned how the verbal code works.]

Yukimura one day wakes up early enough to watch Shiraishi doing his yoga routines. Yukimura asks if he minds him sketching him while he holds his pose, Shiraishi doesn't mind at all. The conversation flows to Shiraishi's ex-part time job as a stripper, and that he was quite good, from what Yukimura had seen of him.

"Thanks," he laughs, "I guess that comes easier when you're having fun." This takes Yukimura a bit aback. "You did it for fun?" "Yeah. I like the exercise, as well. Do you know how many muscles you use when working the pole?" A lot, he guesses. "If it's about exercise, if you want, I can fetch you a pole somewhere." "You'd do that for me?" Yukimura smiles gently. "Of course. You're my friend, after all."

"Shiraishi. You'll have to forgive me if I let my body have its natural reaction," Yukimura tells him when he watches Shiraishi lightly finger the pole after doing his warming up. "It's good. Actually, that might be even better." "Oh?" "I like it when people enjoy what they see. So if you could enjoy it, it'd make me very happy." Yukimura hums. "Don't hesitate to get hard," Shiraishi winks at him. Yukimura laughs. "You'll have to try a little harder than that, Shiraishi." Yukimura's just leisurely watching Shiraishi do his pole exercises, heat rising in his body and Yukimura letting it within boundaries, when, after a remark from Yukimura questioning Shiraishi's fondness for laying himself bare, a certain tension snaps. Shiraishi gets off the pole in one fluid motion and walks over to where Yukimura is sitting, with fire in his tread and desire in his eyes.

Yukimura clutched the chair when Shiraishi unbuttoned the first few buttons on the side of his shirt, teasingly pulling at it to reveal his collarbone. "Shiraishi, what are you..." "You wanted me to try harder, no?" He was only getting started. He had challenged Shiraishi, lit a fire under him. Very well. That didn't mean he'd make it easy for him.

Shiraishi slid in his lap, one leg over his left and the other over his right, letting the gap of his shirt fall to reveal his shoulder. His clothes are loose, hardly revealing, which made the peeking of skin as they were loosened all the more desirable. Until Shiraishi lets his hand run over his chest, lingering along the lines of his groin to tug his pants down, that is. That, was revealing. Hands on the sides of the chair, leveraging the rolls of his hips when they buck forward, movements sure and smooth. Closer, ever so slightly closer, until he closes the distance by overlapping his crotch with his.

Yukimura clutches the edge tighter when Shiraishi smirks at him, and he smiles back calmly despite the searing sense of arousal rising in his chest.

At which Shiraishi leans forward provocatively, throwing his exposed shoulder in the game, midriffs melding together in an extremely sensual grind. Shiraishi's arms come to lean loosely over the back of his chair, breaths mingling with his as a shiver travels up Yukimura's spine. Did Shiraishi ever do lap dances for others? Table dances, he could see, but--Lips connect. What...? In the electricity of the moment, Yukimura almost forgets to breathe, thoughts easily shifting into total disarray. Shiraishi's hips slide along his groin as his lips slide slowly along his. Shit, it feels good.

With the maddening touch of his lips, the sweet taste of Shiraishi's kiss-- Yukimura inadvertently tilts his head a bit to taste more of it-- the heat falls and rises in his body. Shiraishi kisses him again, draws a soft sigh from his lips as he leans in deeper in tandem with the rhythm of his hips. Eyes closed, dazed, when Shiraishi pulls back before he'd kiss him again, he manages to breathe "What happened to your rule...?"

Shiraishi pauses and pulls back, eyes locked with Yukimura's. When he sees the look in his eyes and feels the throb of his body longing to have his lips back on his again instead, he almost regrets asking. "I thought... maybe it'd be okay if I broke it, since it's my own rule, but..." Shiraishi almost looks guilty, shoulders tensing up as his head lowers along with the volume of his voice, "But if you don't want to..." Shiraishi's nose strokes his cheek when Shiraishi's lips trail away from his, down, along his chin and tilting his head down when he lightly caresses Yukimura's cheek with his own.

Oh no you don't.

Yukimura puts his hand to his head and his arm to Shiraishi's back and steps forward, taking advantage of Shiraishi's position in his lap to topple them over and pin him to the ground as he forces Shiraishi's lips open. One hand lowers to his cheek, gently letting his fingers stroke it as his elbow presses his arm to the floor, his other hand pinning his other down. In a single second, his tongue enters Shiraishi's mouth to French-kiss him deeply. His strokes are heated and slow, interspersed with deep breaths and pants as he drives Shiraishi's tongue out from its hiding place. Tilting his head with no choice but to let him in, Shiraishi mewls softly. It's beautiful. He pulls himself further up Shiraishi's body, closer, moans indulgently as everything, everything melts away in the small sea of pleasure roused by the touch of his tongue and the taste of bliss. 

Sensing no resistance, he reaches up to unbutton the rest of Shiraishi's shirt.

It was all he could do not to startle when a gunshot and the shattering of glass rings through his ears. In a split second, his eyes dart from the rain of window glass to the figure on the balcony, to the still smoking nozzle when he collapses without further notice. An assassin. He lets go of Shiraishi's arm, leaves himself to sit upright on top of his legs, breathing slowly to hold down the adrenaline and the fire attempting to sway his reason. Shiraishi puts the gun in a more comfortable place than the sleeve he took it from and moves away from Yukimura's legs. 'Shiraishi is not a prostitute,' ghosts through Yukimura's mind. He doesn't sell his body. All of this had been an-- "You're a good actor, Yukimura," Shiraishi says. Because to him, it had been just that, only an act. To Yukimura...

He could have killed him. Shiraishi could have killed him.

"Thanks," he manages. Of course he's only acting. "It's more convincing if you leave your body to do its thing, after all." Shiraishi stretches out his hand, and forcibly discarding his hesitation, Yukimura takes it and pulls himself upright. His hand is warm and gentle, and Shiraishi lets go only slowly, fingers slowly sliding over and out of the palm of his hand as he looks at Yukimura's roused state.

"It's my win, though." Despite everything, Yukimura laughs. It should have been his... It would have been his. No, he'd already thought it was his the moment the subject of Shiraishi pole-dancing came up. And yet... Shiraishi's eyes run over Yukimura's shape once more, mouth curling in a triumphant smirk. He never wanted to steal Shiraishi's sight more, after all, he's embarrassingly hard. The best he could do is stay calm.

Shiraishi closes his eyes briefly and walks away to inspect the balcony. "That's a mess. The only way in which this would have been more of a pain to clean up is if he'd fallen off the balcony." "It's fine. I'll call Jackal and Yagyuu to take care of the scene. Niou will take care of the window and the coverup." "I see. That'd be a great help." Yukimura steps closer, pauses, watching the wind graze Shiraishi's hair, the dimly lit silhouette of his back glimmer in the light of the night. Finally, he opens his mouth.

"Why did you let your no-touch rule go?" Shiraishi turns to face him, tucks a strand of hair behind his own ear. "You should know, shouldn't you?" He smiles, whispers softly. "I'll protect you with my life." And Yukimura knew, from the smallest hints in his posture and the intricacies of his tone of voice, that no word of it was lied.

His heart stirs, heat rising again from the tingling in his stomach to his cheeks as he has to catch himself before he'd reach out to cup Shiraishi's cheek and hold him. And for the first time, he feels unsafe.

 He knows what it is to feel attraction for someone. Yukimura's loved by many, it's what he instils, and at times this causes his body to react beyond the trust and connection he finds to be beneficent. 

Controlling his emotions, however, had always been his forte. He's never let his attraction cloud his judgement, lead his actions. He knows how it is to be cruel to someone dear to him, and never has he not been able to see when it worked in his favour, socially or otherwise. He knows when it's necessary to be forgiving.

However, right now he once more lies awake at night, Shiraishi's memory filling his mind every time he attempted to drift off to the land of dreams. Ridiculous, he thinks it. It overcame him at random times, when he was cooking, tending to their plants, even when he saw the cold in his eyes when they'd plotted the demise of another hopeless assassin. When it had been anyone else he'd let it happen, in no danger of making less sensible decisions. He'd never lost himself like he did when he kissed Shiraishi. Never. And worst of all...

The feeling of Shiraishi kissing him replays in his mind once more, in all the detail his dazed mind can muster. He shouldn't put his focus on it, no matter how much that voice in the back of his head begs him to. If he does, he fears his foothold will be swept away from under him with no turning back. He feels the touch of Shiraishi's nose and cheek caressing his own, sees the vulnerability in his eyes again. It's maddening, maddening even as he once more attempts to resist the one thing that had made him snap in the first place. He curses under his breath.

Shiraishi has poisoned him with his kiss and his act.

Digging with his nails in his arm in an attempt to get a hold of himself, he rolls over. Calm down, Seiichi... Just... He breathes in, breathes out in a slow rhythm, in through his nose, out along his palate, sinking deeper into the ocean with each passing breath. He'd find a way to vanquish it. He'd find a-- The image of Shiraishi ties his tongue with his and derails his thoughts.

Grabbing his pillow, he vainly tries to fight back his unconscious as the rising and falling of his chest slips away from his control. How he wishes he could sleep a dreamless sleep for once... He's weightless as Shiraishi embraces him, even as his body attempts to brace himself against the bed, with Shiraishi's kisses as his lifeline. He's drowning.

And in a moment, sharper than the others, he can hear self-satisfaction in Shiraishi's breath.

 If I were writing this this is where the conspiracy plot would have come to its culmination, starting off with Yanagi noting there's been unrest and advising Yukimura to be safe. Ofc the number of people coming after Yukimura is foreshadowing for that 😜 Which is when he makes his personal rounds, passing by his members one by one to disarm them for him. Yanagi warns Yukimura about an information leak. Yukimura supposes it's time for a round of rain to chase the worms from hiding. And boy, do the worms come from hiding.

When the time comes the worms wage war against his garden, he leaves matters in Yanagi and Sanada's capable hands, when Shiraishi urges him to find a secluded place should people have come to discover his whereabouts. ...I mean that'd be the logical course of action I think but the whole convo thereafter taking place in their own kitchen is also a really good image, so flip a coin I guess!

 After a bit of struggle they find a place where they know nobody would just find them. "Hey, Shiraishi do you--" He doesn't get to finish his sentence when Yukimura grabs the wrist holding the gun pointed at him. Shiraishi doesn't wait a second pulling Yukimura along with his hand and trying to aim for his neck with his fingers, but Yukimura is quicker as he twists Shiraishi arm and moves aside to evade it. It isn't long before they find themselves pushing against each other, struggling for control.

In raw power, Shiraishi would win, he knew.

He steps sideways, using Shiraishi's power to pull the two around and despite a moment of wobbling resistance, to put him in a lock. "Shiraishi. Will you tell me what this is?" Shiraishi tries to break out of Yukimura's hold, but Yukimura twists his arm a little further, eliciting a small yelp.

One second of desperation, before Shiraishi sweeps his legs against Yukimura's and turns the two around again, but Yukimura wouldn't give him the freedom of giving up his own arms. He pulls Shiraishi's over his head, pulls them down and leans forward, gaining back his balance. Shiraishi is vicious, however, and bites him in the neck. He manages to keep his hold on Shiraishi's wrists, but that split second was enough for Shiraishi to turn them against each other and free himself. This time, it's Yukimura between him and the kitchen counter. But he wouldn't give in, no.

He looks Shiraishi in the eyes, and for a second he can see him falter, shiver. The gun drops to the floor. Thigh squeezing between his legs, lips on his. Shiraishi puts his hand on the small of his back and disturbs his footing. The counter as leveraging point, his feet off the ground, hips against his.

He's trapped.

 "You wanted me to tell you what this is all about?" "You purposefully lured me into here," Yukimura says as flatly as he can manage, after that kiss and with Shiraishi's thigh to his crotch. "That I can understand. But I can't wrap my head around why." Shiraishi smiles, when it flashes into his mind. "You knew when we'd..." "Yeah, I planned it. Have been for a while, to be honest, but only now did I get my first and final chance to."

His mind is in disarray as Shiraishi's words clash with the image of reality he'd painted. A shadow of self-doubt creeps into his mind. It couldn't be that he'd misread a lie as truth? No, that can't be...

"How long was this your plan?" “Do you know who it was that leaked my information to Mouri?” From... the beginning... Shiraishi had thrown himself into the lion's den with the intent to pin him down here from the beginning... But no matter what, he couldn't have planned this. He didn't have the info...-- "How, did you know...?"

"Who do you think the worms came for infesting your garden?" His eyes widen as his mind rushes to piece through the meanings of this new information. "You cracked Yanagi's code," he manages, to begin with. "I have, for a while. Though," he laughs, "you have no idea just how many weeks it cost me to even get a hang of it. It came in handy when you wanted to ask me for advice... I'm glad you took to listening to me." Advice, that he couldn't do without. Shiraishi, that he couldn't do without. Shiraishi starts stroking his cheek, and there's nothing he could to do stop himself from leaning into it. From wanting more.

“I need you,” he whispers, as Shiraishi’s betrayal sinks into his mind. “I know.” He crumbles as the feeling rises in his body. “You could destroy me...” Shiraishi kisses him. “I already have.” He clutches Shiraishi's shoulder when Shiraishi makes their lips meet again. God, it feels good... He can't let this happen now, for fear of his life. Shiraishi is just as dangerous as his plants, he thinks to his grief. He'd poisoned him, and is now coming to seal his fate with his kiss of death. Shiraishi had been acting, not to deceive the assassin, but to plant this seed in him. And yet, there's many things that don't add up. He manages to tilt his head away to speak.

“I don’t understand… With that knowledge you could have murdered me and whoever knew about you long ago…” "The gun's not loaded." "Huh...?" “I was planning to kill you at first. Though when I got to know you better, that easily faded away. I guess in the end, your plan didn’t fail... But neither did mine.” Shiraishi smiles. The heat rises to Yukimura's cheeks. "It was not an act," he whispers in disbelief. Shiraishi had fooled him, not because his ability to read people was faltering, but because he hadn't had the intent to lie for even a single time. "I told you before, didn't I? I don't sell my body. When I kissed you..." he locks twistingly sincere eyes with his, "it was because I wanted to."

He leans in close again, moving a strand of hair from Yukimura's face. "I love you." The hairs rise in Yukimura's neck. Shiraishi lowers his head. "...It's a shame I had to off one of my own to protect you, though." "'One of... my own'?" Damn, it's getting harder to keep his voice straight. "So you staged this?" "Well, it wasn't on purpose. Turns out my men have an agenda of their own, trying to get me back. But knowing your operation really helped."

Yukimura breathes.

“Who are you?” Beside himself, he couldn’t help but ask the stupid. ”Shiraishi Kuranosuke, head of Shitenhouji, the Kansai region's mafia. Qualified assassin, part-time stripper, up until I caught you."

God...

“Why did you approach me?” “Honestly, I was attempting to thin out Rikkai and weaken it. Your position here is really valuable, you know? And in the confusion, the desperation, I’d aim for your head. But Rikkai was much more powerful than I’d thought. You..." he traces Yukimura's chin, "were much, much more powerful than I thought. I wanted to get closer and slowly gain your trust... How could I have known what to do when you just handed it to me? When you saw through every single one of my insincereties... I didn't expect you to find my last ties, either. But it's fine this way. If you'd done exactly as I planned, I wouldn't have wanted you."

God, Shiraishi...!

He breathes in. "Can I--" fcuk you into Heaven? Swallowing the sentence on the tip of his tongue, he fixes it to a different one. Breathing disrupted, he's played for a fool, only asking useless questions. He reaches for Shiraishi's cheek. “Can I make you an offer?” Of which this one the most foolish, most useless of them all.

Shiraishi laughs as Yukimura has no choice but to willingly play to his wants. "Let me guess..." He kisses Yukimura's neck, moves his lips to his ear. "You want me," he whispers, biting softly into the lobe of his ear. "So do you," Yukimura purrs back, as he lowers his hand to trail down Shiraishi's neck. Shiraishi chuckles lowly.

“Your reward will be handsome, moreso than any other would offer…” Yukimura’s hand slides over his chest as Shiraishi holds him off balance with his arm at his waist. He hums, gently listening to Shiraishi's proposal.

“You'll live in with me, eat my food, and sleep under my roof. " Yukimura smiles. "Don't you mean, my roof?" Shiraishi's thumb grazes his lips when he holds his chin. "Are you in any place to negotiate here?" Yukimura nudges his head up. "I wonder." Shiraishi smirks. "How does our roof sound?" Yukimura's smile curls wider. "It's a pleasure working with you."

He wraps his arms around Shiraishi's back and pulls up to kiss him. Shiraishi's only shy in the first second, before their lips melt together, lightly. A short pause, a breath, before their lips meet again in a deep, deep kiss. Shiraishi moans softly when their lips slide against each other, indulgently, liberated. Another kiss, when he tilts his head to give him the space he needs. It's as if he'll never be able to taste enough. That's fine with him, really. Really... 

Yukimura pulls Shiraishi closer, his tongue going over Shiraishi's upper lip. It's a warning, nothing more as his tongue rushes to meets with Shiraishi's in a frenzied tango.

Shiraishi attacks, leans forward and manages to draw out an unexpected noise with a strike of his tongue. It isn't long before Yukimura turns his efforts against him as he tilts his head slightly. Who said that he'd just let him?

Yukimura chuckles, tightens his hold as he slows down Shiraishi's pace. He can feel Shiraishi tremble, but right how he wants it, he hasn't given up. His hand sneaks behind Yukimura's head, burying his fingers in his hair. Shiraishi's tongues are passionate but faster. More aggressive than his sensual strokes, but just as greedy. Yes, this is it.

An uneven rhythm, interspersed with pants and breaths as they vie for dominance.

He'll never be safe again, and he loves every second of it.

 The door busts open. "Let him go!" is the unanimous call. Multiple footsteps enter the room, the sound of guns being readied. Yukimura holds up his hand mid-kiss, knows Shiraishi to do the same. "It's good." he breathes out, concealing his panting, "Don't shoot." Shiraishi pulls himself upright with a hum, and with Yukimura's arms around his back, so he pulls Yukimura. "Thanks."

Yukimura lets his eyes go over the heads in front of him. Some of them were new additions-- Shiraishi's men--, some of them his. Yukimura laughs. Aren't you loved as well? In the flash of a moment, he changes his aura. Still at gunpoint, Yukimura walks over to whomever Shiraishi held his hand up to.

"Oshitari Kenya," he says, voice sweet as he steps close and his hand slides around the hand holding his weapon. "Will you drop your gun?" After a moment of his gaze, connected to his collapsing eyes, Kenya's gun easily clatters out of his hand.

It only takes a glance from him for the rest of both Shiraishi's and his men to do the same. "Thank you."

He flashes a smile at Shiraishi, who has to swallow a bit at the sight. "See? You were my only danger."

He turns around again, projects his voice to those present. "We will be working together with Shitenhouji, as one and on equal grounds. Both parties are to see this as an expansion of their turf." Shiraishi hugs him from behind, Yukimura takes to stroking his cheek, and with amusement Yukimura watches the shoulders of everyone present to tense. "Yukimura and I will lead you together." Yukimura chuckles. "You know what this means for you, right?"

There are none who could question their power. He knows, from Rikkai's side, that they could have nothing but respect for the man freely embracing his shoulders. Of course, Yukimura forcing Kenya's hand, everyone's hand simply with his presence should have made an impact as well.

On top of that...

"This means nationwide dominion, right, Seiichi?" Yukimura smiles at Yanagi. "Exactly."

From Shiraishi's side, they know that Shiraishi's plan both failed and succeeded, and that only Yukimura is to blame for that. "Shiraishi..." Kenya starts. "I'm glad to have you back. We half thought you were done for." "I'm glad to be back too. Though, done for?" "Done for," Yukimura repeats, "couldn't be further from the truth. Right?" Shiraishi lightly rubs his cheek against Yukimura's, and a glimpse of the future makes its way into Yukimura's mind.

"Yeah. We're only getting started."

[krys-does-otome]

Bae in Review: Takeru Sasazuka, Collar x Malice

Oh, this boy... this boy...

Hoo boy...

The sass master himself, Takeru Sasazuka. He is rude, crude, and doesn’t care who knows it. He should be everything that I hate in a bae, and yet... I can’t possibly bring myself to hate him. Like, maybe a little, but not as much as I want to hate him.

This should be fun.

As always, first impression:

and last impression:

The progression of this route was definitely a tough one, as I had to restart it, three times actually, because of first getting not enough right answers in the Q&A segments, which lead to a bad end, second time because I was a dumb dumb that forgot to save my progress, (had made it all the way in Chapter 6 previously, forgot to save, and had to replay all the way back in Chapter 2), third time because the save file I loaded to progress from was the one that lead to the bad end I got the first time, so I had to start over AGAIN in Chapter 1, and saved every chapter from that point forward (auto skip stopped after about mid Chapter 2/3ish, so I was rereading everything again up until Chapter 6, ugh).

Sasazuka was a pain in the ass, even in the real world while I was trying to play his route.

And let it be a lesson in always saving your progress, because you never know when you’ll have to start over again. And again. And AGAIN.

...Anyway, more in-depth analysis below, because spoilers, you all know the drill.

For Previous Baes in Review for Collar x Malice, here’s Okazaki, Enomoto, and Shiraishi.

Onward to the full review!

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

If I had to pick a relationship where there was quite a clear Dominant and Submissive distinction was made, for this game, it’d have to be Sasazuka and Ichika.

Sasazuka is bossy, he gets under people’s skin, he hates it when people are slow or stupid, can sometimes add more fuel to the fire if he’s not careful. And I had to grit my teeth whenever Ichika was at his beck and call for pretty much the entire route, him treating her like a dog at some points, something which I HATED since I was used to the feistier Ichika of previous routes.

Yet, I honestly can’t bring myself to hate Sasazuka. Not really.

Matter of fact, he’s still one of my favorite characters of the game.

Why, you ask, if he embodies a lot of the traits I hate in an otome bae?

He’s... actually pretty relatable.

He has his insecurities, his troubles, his moments of weakness, he has a mouth that I wish I could get away with. He doesn’t like loud and crowded places, he understands the appeal of the virtual and online world, yet his social skills are pretty poor, at best. He’s also weak against crying women and children.

He also understands the appeal of the criminal mind, how it feels when you hate someone so much that you could kill them, something that Ichika failed to grasp?

Sasazuka gives form to some of our darker thoughts, as I’m sure a lot of us have been in a place where we are tempted to do the wrong thing, that we had been failed in the past and are very tempted to right that wrong ourselves, no matter the cost.

I think this is where Ichika shines in this route, despite me hating her puppy behavior. She helps to remind him of what he has to lose, should he accept the offer from Adonis, to help exact revenge on the guy that murdered his mother. He would become a wanted criminal, plus revenge won’t bring back the dead.

And he would make Ichika cry, the worst crime of them all.

I think this is what brought me around to Sasazuka after gritting my teeth at his cruel and cold snark. That beneath that cold and demeaning exterior, he actually does care, a lot more than he’d like to admit. Once past that hard exterior, he’s actually pretty kind, no matter what his sharp tongue will tell you otherwise.

PROS AND CONS

PRO: He will speak his mind and tell it like it is. CON: He’s pretty petty and cruel in his mind, which can lead to some butting of heads, especially with those that are equally or more hot-headed than he is.

PRO: He is quite intelligent and efficient with his work and his life, for the most part. CON: He hates it when others are slower or can’t keep up with his inhumane pace. Enomoto is a frequent victim of his baka bombs and verbal abuse.

PRO: He will eat most things, as long they aren’t too bitter or spicy. CON: He will eat a ton of food in one sitting and still keep his slim figure. Let’s not get started on his diet of junk food and pre-made food like doughnuts, cup ramen, and delivery pizza.

PRO: Once you get past his barriers, he actually is pretty affection and straightforward with his feelings for you CON: Getting past said barriers.

PRO: He likes when you are straight with him, speaking your mind and being frank with him. CON: This may or may not lead to merciless teasing on his part, especially if he knows you for not being especially forward with your thoughts and feelings.

PRO: Once you two become an item, he is the most loyal partner you could ever ask for. CON: The possessiveness. Oh god, the possessiveness. He will forcibly pull you away from a situation where even a close friend is getting too friendly I’ll still be your wife, Sakuragawa! I’ll be your meat wife, please!!

Bae Rating 8.5/10

His snark won me over in previous routes and continued to be a joy throughout the previous routes. He never failed to make me laugh with his biting commentary. And throughtout the route, he continued to bring a smile to my face despite his treatment of Ichika, especially the uncalled for pet relationship.

He fits the tsundere description to a T, cold and biting on the outside while holding a softer side hidden away, waiting to be discovered with enough prodding.

Next route, the final round, the final countdown...

It’s the much anticipated Aiji Yanagi, the true canon route of the game.

I’m waiting on bated breath.

If anyone has a special request for a bae for me to review, here’s the most current list of games and routes I’ve completed thus far, plus who I’m currently pursuing for that game: Butts Touched Master List

Have a good day, lovelies, and remember to touch all the butts.

[wirgins]

Golden Kamuy Question Box

Young Jump is accepting questions sent from fans for Noda Satoru to answer. They’ve been posting answers once a day on the official Golden Kamuy twitter. I’ve gathered and translated all the Q&As so far and will continuously update as new answers are posted.

All question numbers link to the original source. These usually contain screenshots pertaining to the manga scene in question and might be helpful in providing context to the questions.

Questions for Volumes 1 - 4

Q001. The greatest mystery in Golden Kamuy is the truth behind the missing gold. Has sensei already decided in his head what it is? Or is it only temporarily decided and something that might change depending on story developments?

Of course I’ve decided on it. If the story continues as planned, it’ll remain unchanged.

Q002. When did Sugimoto get the scars on his face? In the scene where he’s facing the battlefield in volume 4, he already has them…I really want to know!

I think it happened early in the war. The first division fought for 3 months at 203 Hill then went to Mukden in the winter. According to the clothes worn in the volume 4 flashback, they are heading to Mukden.

Q003. I’m currently enjoying the tankoubon releases. I work as a librarian and I’m always impressed with the abundance of references listed at the end of each volume. How do you search for and gather your literature and sources?

I learn from authentic Ainu sources. Even with famous fictional works featuring Ainu, professors will warn, “There are a lot of inaccurate details, so you must be careful”. Because of that, I try not to read creative works. I buy recommended materials and if those materials have references or works cited listed, I buy those too.

Q004. If Shiraishi were to grow his hair out, would it be straight or curly?

It would be lightly wavy.

Q005. Out of all the foods you ate for the sake of researching Golden Kamuy, which was the most delicious that you’d like to eat again?

Raw liver. It’s possible to catch hepatitis from it though, so I really shouldn’t eat it. Recently, hunter Kubo Toshiharu was on an NHK documentary where he cut out a deer’s liver and suddenly said, quite erotically, “You’re a delicious deer”, but I think the scene where the liver was eaten was cut. That kind of liver can only be eaten on the spot. If you’d like to eat it, then you’d have to become a hunter.

Q006. How does First Lt. Tsurumi protect his forehead while bathing? Does he use a bath bucket? Please explain.

I think that his brain isn’t really exposed. It’s covered with skin to some extent. But fluids leak when it’s rubbed or if he gets excited. He takes his head plate into the bath with him. The inside of it is probably caked with fluid. I wonder if he plays with it while it floats around.

Q007. I’m planning a trip to Hokkaido this summer. Can Noda sensei share with us a location that most strongly represents the time period Asirpa and Sugimoto lived? It doesn’t have to be a tourist spot. I want to experience the casual world of Golden Kamuy. Thank you.

The Historical Village of Hokkaido.

Q008. Is Kouhei or Youhei the oldest of the Nikaidou brothers?

Kouhei was born a bit earlier.

Q009. Are Shiraishi and Sugimoto’s socks that got mixed up in volume 1 still mixed up?

Even now they’re still mixed up.

Q010. Please tell me Tanigaki nispa’s chest measurement. I want to hug it and sleep on it.

It would be about the same as Jason Statham’s. [Note: Google says this is 48 inches.]

Q011. Is it true that you had sexual relations with Mr. Okuma Hakkou, your managing editor?

Where the hell did you hear a rumor like that? We didn’t.

Q012. I want to be a father like Nihei. I want to become a father who talks about boners properly. And I want to explain to my son the importance of boners. However my appearance and my voice are not rough enough. How can I become that kind of a brilliant man?

I too wished I could’ve been born a man as sexy as Murofushi Koji. But we have to work with the cards that life dealt us.

Q013. In volume 4, chapter 34, Hijikata goes to the bank to retrieve Izumi no Kami Kanesada [his sword], but why was it being kept at the Hokkaido bank? I’ve heard pretty often that it was sent to his brother-in-law in Hino during the Battle of Hakodate.

There are also theories that he had multiple Kanesada with small differences between them. 

Q014. What is the difference when Shiraishi’s name is spelled out in kanji versus when it’s spelled out in katakana?

There’s no particular reason. When there’s already a lot of katakana in a word bubble, I’ll spell Shiraishi out in kanji. It just depends on my mood at the time.

Q015. Since it seems like you collect a lot of research, have you ever ran into any fans while visiting places for research, such as museums, etc.?

Not at all. It’s because I gather everything in secret. I’m thankful to the many museum curators I’ve interviewed who’ve read my works. I received a letter from Kushiro City Museum before going there to conduct research. It also seems like the people at Abashiri Prison wanted to provide support since my previous work, “Supindarama!”.

Questions for Volumes 5 - 8

Q016. When did Sugimoto get that scarf he wears? Is his scarf still okay after it was cut apart by that yakuza boss?

He got it when he went to Otaru. Since there were many foreigners in Otaru, I think it’d be easy to obtain foreign-made goods. After his scarf got cut, he kept it in his pocket then he’d have to sew it up later, right? Like how Kenshiro [from Fist of the North Star] would have to sew up his red shirt every time it got torn, too. 

Q017. Shiraishi says [to Ienaga] that he’ll “keep her company, passionately and whole-heartedly”. Are there other women in the past that Shiraishi has kept company with?  

There are not. It’s because he spent such a long part of his adolescence in prison. He’s a man who’s only had sex with sex workers. He’s had some favorites among prostitutes, though.

Q018. Why did Ogata grow his hair out after being hospitalized and become the most devastatingly sexy private first-class?

Because he felt liberated.

Q019. Why are peaches Ushiyama’s favorite food? Is it because he also likes butts?

Yes.

Q020. Is the “Kano” part of Ienaga Kano her real name? Or is it a pseudonym?

It’s a fake name, her real name is Chikanobu.

Q021. Cosplay is one of my hobbies, and I thought this time I’d like to cosplay Kiroranke. But I’m having trouble understanding something about his hair. How in the world can you achieve that kind of a haircut?

His hair is cropped short to around the ear or the whorl of his head. I referenced this hairstyle from old photos of Karafuto Ainu men of that time period. 

Q022. Who shot Captain Wada? I’m so curious that I can’t sleep at night.

It was Tsukishima.

Q023. Why is Egodai not wearing any shoes on the volume 8 back cover illustration?

To foreshadow his death.

Q024. Does Edogai’s house not have a bath? Since Sgt. Tsukishima went to a public bathhouse, I’m guessing there’s no bathtub, but it’s hard to imagine Edogai also going to a public bathhouse. Back in those days, baths in residential homes didn’t seem to be popular yet, so this must be the case.

Edogai doesn’t have a bathtub. He’d be able to hide it with a towel, though, wouldn’t he? Yubari also had hot springs along with bathhouses. He’d go somewhere where there’s not a lot of people. A while back, I also went to bathhouses, but I’d go 30 minutes before closing. There weren’t any people around during that time. It’s not that I didn’t want people to see my dick, but it’s because seeing the dicks of random men I don’t even know makes me feel ill.

Q025. Please tell us the sex, age, and name of the cat with the center part fur pattern in Edogai’s house! I want to know more about that adorably ugly cat. Thank you.

He’s a male. Since he’s just a stray that wandered into Edogai’s house, his age is unknown. I think Edogai would’ve just called him “kitty”. When I was younger, we kept a cat at my parent’s house, and no one in our family could decide on a name, so we just called it “kitty”.

Q026. I have one question that’s been troubling me lately, it’s about my favorite, Sergeant Tsukishima, and I’d like to ask about it. Since I’ve learned that Tsukishima enjoys taking long baths, about how long are they? Maybe you could share with us any particular stories regarding Tsukishima’s long baths.

After leaving the 7th Division’s barracks in Asahikawa and mobilizing in Otaru with First Lieutenant Tsurumi’s group, bathing times were no longer tightly controlled, so it’s possible that Tsukishima just wound up taking longer baths as a result. It’s also possible that since Ogata doesn’t like soaking in hot water for a long time, that he finds the amount of time Tsukishima takes in the bath to be excessive.

Q027. Ogata’s hair grows so quickly. Why is this?

It’s because the author’s hair also grows fast. I don’t find the detail to be odd myself. Some things that seem ordinary to the author can seem strange to the readers, huh? In “Hana no Keiji”, Keiji scrubs his dick after he pees and I guess that’s just something normal to Hara sensei (the author).

Thus concludes all the questions so far! The official Twitter states their next Q&A Box will cover volumes 9 to the current issues.

[fenren]

[BL Game] Omega Vampire [Goods]

Masterpost, Site

Includes the artbook, drama CD, clear file, and OST information. These can be purchased from the producers’ online store directly (Karin’s Shop) or from places like animate or Stellaworth. You can find larger, higher quality, and more preview images on the site itself.

I’m going with fairly loose translations on the summaries for these products, since summaries are usually concise, vague, and difficult for me to translate.

Note that (+ tax) means you need to add tax to the price listed. Most JPN sites that sell these products seem to list both so you don’t need to calculate it yourself, but I left that information out here.

Omega Vampire Artbook Vol. 1 & 2

The site lists this product as a “rough book”. Rough book (ラフ画集) is apparently the word for an artbook containing sketches such as character designs or line art. For example:

This is one of the images from volume 1.

Omega Vampire Artbook Vol. 1

*In production, final product is subject to change.

Rating: All Ages

Release Date: April 14th, 2017 (Available for sale earlier on March 25-26 at AnimeJapan2017, but you obviously must be in Japan or contact someone who can pick it up.)

Price: 1200 Yen (+ tax)

Size: B5/48 pages (projected)

This is a compilation of “rough” illustrations (sketches), event CGs from the game, and OV illustrations published in magazines. I’m not exactly sure what most of these things are, having never really dabbled in VN media before, but this is an artbook, basically.

You can find some other image previews here at Karin’s Shop.

Purchase Info

I browsed through a few popular sites to find out what each was offering in terms of tokuten. They are all the same price.

Stellaworth: large (unidentified) bromide tokuten

Animate: none that I’m aware of. You get some points for the online shop, though.

Omega Vampire Artbook Vol. 2

*In production, final product is subject to change.

Rating: R-18

Release Date: May 19th, 2017

Price: 1200 Yen (+ tax)

Size: B5/48 pages (projected)

This one contains the ending CG illustrations and some “heart-pounding” (their words, not mine) R-18 scenes.

Purchase Info

Stellaworth: large (unidentified) bromide tokuten

Omega Vampire Drama CDs Vol. 1-4

These will be released across four consecutive months.

Vol. 1: Hakurō [Ｍoonlight Birthday]

Cast:

Moriya Keiichi: Sawa Manaka

Shizuru Hakurō: Aoi Yūma

Ōizumi Genma: Jōgasaki Shinobu

Arimura Kai: ??? (I don’t know how to read this name: 真野大)

Shibukawa Tatsunosuke: Kuroi Isamu

Tani Tomoki: Minamoto Ryōma

Release Date: March 17th, 2017

Price: 3000 Yen (+ tax)

Disks: 1

Summary: Keiichi suddenly remembered that Hakurō’s birthday was coming up soon. As his partner, Keiichi was in high spirits about celebrating, but for some reason Hakurō was indifferent and cold…? Furthermore, there was a splendid full moon on the night of his birthday.

That was because werewolves like Hakurō turn into ferocious wolves on the night of a full moon. Can Keiichi really turn this dangerous night into the best one ever for Hakuro!?

Vol. 2: Genma [Our All Night Binding*]

Cast:

Moriya Keiichi: Sawa Manaka

Ōizumi Genma: Jōgasaki Shinobu

Shizuru Hakurō: Aoi Yūma

Tani Tomoki: Minamoto Ryōma

Gōsawa Gisuke: Ōno Ken

Fuwatari Haruki: Satonaka Kanete

Release Date: April 14th, 2017

Price: 3000 Yen (+ tax)

Disks: 1

Summary: December 31st, 20XX. The busiest and most bustling day of the year. Keiichi was fired up, but what really worried him was his partner Genma…In the midst of that, a troubling call came in from the Society. The Club Nosferatu vampires escaped to the shrine grounds bustling with people there for the first visit of the new year. Thus Keiichi and Genma’s endless night began...

「オレとアイツの一夜さ綴り」 is an odd title. It literally means “his and my all night/one night binding” because 綴り (綴る) is the word for “binding pages of a book together”. Not sure what it’s supposed to mean. Although 一夜さ can mean “a single night” or “all night”, which is a nice dual meaning.

Vol. 3: Aoi [The Doctor’s Love is Too Abnormal]

Cast:

Moriya Keiichi: Sawa Manaka

Aoi Setsuna: Hanasaki Ōji

Heinrich Schellenberg: ??? (Once again, no clue. The name is 黒瀬鷹. Most of these are alias anyways.)

Shiraishi Masasumi: ??? (Actually I have no clue how you’re supposed to pronounce this character’s name either. 白石真澄 is a real person, and a woman, so who knows???)

Dr. Mizuki: Ushikaeru Kitarō (ushikaeru is apparently the American bullfrog. It’s obviously an alias.)

Release Date: May 19th, 2017

Price: 3000 Yen (+ tax)

Disks: 1

Summary: One day, while Keiichi was living at Aoi’s apartment. Hungry for Aoi’s blood and love, Keiichi rushed home from school…

“I’m terribly sorry, but can you look after the house for a week starting today?”

“What…! I’ll be lonely.”　

Aoi had to rush off to Kyoto for a business trip. And furthermore it seemed that he was traveling together with his coworker, Shiraishi, whom he had once been in love with.**　Instinctively sensing a crisis, Keiichi suddenly got an idea.

“I know. I’ll go to Kyoto, too!”

However, once he got there he ended up running into Heinrich, who was in the middle of filming…!?

*This is actually less of a request and more of ‘I’m leaving for a week starting today; I’ll leave the house to you?’.

**想いを寄せる means “to fall in love”. I’m thinking it should be read as past tense, but who knows maybe Aoi is actually cheating on Keiichi??

Vol. 4: Heinrich [I’m Marrying a Vampire]

Cast:

Moriya Keiichi: Sawa Manaka

Heinrich Schellenberg: ??? (Once again, no clue. The name is 黒瀬鷹. Most of these are alias anyways.)

Kumada Takeshi: ??? (蝶華無悟)

Furuya Hiroshi: Ame Kanmuri

Tani Tomoki: Minamoto Ryōma

Gōsawa Gisuke: Ōno Ken

Fuwatari Haruki: Satonaka Kanete

Release Date: June 16th, 2017

Price: 3000 Yen (+ tax)

Disks: 1

Summary: “…Keiichi, let’s get married.”  

“Nonono! I-is that a proposal?”　

Although the vampire Heinrich was a feared despot in his hometown, Keiichi ended up accepting the marriage proposal. But that would mean drinking this man’s blood for the rest of his life. One day, as the marriage drew near, Keiichi was suddenly struck with wedding blues…Can these two and their love overcome this trial!?

Purchase Info

From Karin’s Shop: The tokuten is basically a cast commentary CD. 各巻 seems to indicate one for each volume?

Stellaworth: Jacket design bromide. No preview yet, so I’m not sure what it is.

Complete Set: If you buy all four volumes, you get the illustration below. In order to get it, apparently you have to buy all four volumes, and fill out an application included in the last CD (Vol. 4). I think. I’m not really sure on this one. Like I’ve said before, I never buy these things when they’re released so even though I know what the sentence says, the process is unclear to me.

Omega Vampire Clear File Set

This is a set that includes the illustrations used for the DVD and USB versions. You can find the ones included on the site.

Release Date: March 17th, 2017

Price: 800 Yen (+ tax)

Contents:

Size A4 Clear Files (2)

Poster Card (1)

Soundtrack

I translated the tracks in this post. 

You can now listen to a preview on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2y7NXdF_sc

Omega Vampire B2 Tapestry

These were on sale at AnimeJapan 2017 and there was a set amount that could be pre-ordered online. It’s a wall scroll type poster.

Omega Vampire Trading Accessory Buttons

Is that what button sets are normally called in Japanese? Well, these are just regular buttons with the characters printed on them.

These were also on sale at AnimeJapan 2017

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Your analysis on Golden Kamuy is so in depth and interesting. Being as such what would be your ideal ending for Golden Kamuy considering everything that's happened so far?

I apologize @violentmaiden and Anonimous reader if I’ve placed your two asks together but as they’re similar I thought it would work better if I were to reply to you both together. Also I apologize for my lateness in answering.

First of all thank you for enjoying my analysis! I’m really happy to hear that.

To be honest it’s pretty hard to predict how things will go in the future.

I’ve found pretty peculiar how the whole cast was basically made to converge on Sapporo where there are convict number 22 (Jack) and 23 (Ueji) but we still don’t know the whereabouts of convict 24.

Normally you’ve such a situation at the end of the story, but, unless it turns out that convict 24 got missing for some reason (he got killed, he got eaten by a bear or a fish, whatever) or that he’s actually present but in disguise (among friends we joked that Vasily was actually a convict who escaped and managed to get back to Russia... which obviously it's extremely unlikely but still fun to think), we aren’t at the end of the gold hunt yet.

The real problem with the Sapporo situation is that Tsurumi is converging with his men there.

Tsurumi carried with himself in Karafuto 16 men but he might have left some on stand by in Wakkanai. Plus he told Tsukishima and Koito to converge on Sapporo as well and they might bring other men in reinforcement.

Considering Tsurumi has 100 men under himself... well, even if Asirpa’s group and Hijikata’s group join forces they’re rather outnumbered as they would only be 13 (with Ogata 14 but I doubt he’ll join them).

In two days Jack is expected to strike again and by then I think Tsurumi would surely have the numerical advantage. So I’ll say either the Asirpa/Hijikata group find Jack first or they’re going to have troubles dealing with him and would do better to scatter and try to get convict number 24... or still hunt for Ueji... unless Ogata got him first.

I expect Ariko to be ordered to kidnap Asirpa... and possibly to steal Hijikata’s skin.

For a confrontation between Tsurumi’s many men and them I would say the Asirpa’s group needs to join forces with the Sofia’s group so as to have an equal number of men... otherwise if they come to a fight I really don’t expect them to win, at best they can escape after making some serious damage to Tsurumi’s files and probably receiving damage as well... but it sure seems as if Noda is setting up things for the big climax.

Overall, if we’ll get a fight it shouldn’t be one to one as we’re talking of men all used to war. In wars back then there were charges and you didn’t really get an opponent just for you but many would try to attack you and you would try to attack many.

I don’t really look forward to a battle Abashiri style exactly due to this, I would prefer things to involve more strategy than just two huge factions fighting each other... but it’s kind of hard to predict how things will go.

We talk of groups but actually there’s plenty of interests at play here so people can change sides very easily.

We have:

- Tsurumi who wants to form a military dictatorship

- Hijikata who wants to form the republic of Ezo

- Kikuta who represents Central’s interest and who’s in an allegiance with Ariko even though Ariko is supposed to serve Tsurumi and be in the Hijikata group

- Asirpa who wants to protect the Ainu interests

- Sugimoto who wants the money for Umeko and who doesn’t want Asirpa to be involved in a war

- Sofia who wants to bring change in Russia with the Ainu gold

- Usami who’s technically loyal to Tsurumi but is kind of an unpredictable oddball

- Koito who wants to make sure Tsurumi’s goal is one he can accept

- Tsukishima who’s... in between Koito and Tsurumi and might not have truly picked a side yet

- Tanigaki who might come back for... reasons

- Ogata who has his own goal and isn’t sharing it

- Boutarou who wants his island on which to rule

- Nikaido who’s in this just to kill Sugimoto but in the past was in an allegiance with Ogata

And those are just the people with a strong determination to reach their goal to the point they could do something unpredictable.

Then there are the other guys, all with goals but who I don’t expect to switch sides or do unpredictable things.

It’s a lot because each of them is taking care of his own interests and could end up in conflict with those who’re actually his allies.

Add 3 missing convicts to the mix and what happens next is pure mystery.

So... even if the close future seems hard to predict, how would the story end?

Well, this is equally hard but my wish is for no one to get the gold.

Well, if I were to be honest I wish for the Ainu to get the gold and their own state (yeah, I vote for Wilk’s idea in short), but for how the story is set up I think it’s extremely unlikely Noda will let this happen. I think he’ll probably go for a story that will end resuming the ‘historical continuity’ hence the situation in Hokkaido won’t change.

No military dictatorship, no republic of Ezo but sadly not even a far eastern federation for minorities... which makes sense as to create a new state by freeing a territory from a domination is hellish hard and requires not only money but a lot of support from other states otherwise even if the newborn state managed to free itself it might end up being swallowed by another state.

So, since the Ainu can’t have back their gold or, if they were to have it back it would probably solely to hide it again so as not to create a completely different future... well, at this point I prefer no one to get it, for the gold to either sink or be buried under a mountain or be blasted away or whatever.

I get the boys have fought hard for it but it wasn’t theirs in the first place and overall I don’t think the theme of the story should be they should get rewarded for trying to get the gold to fix their problems instead than facing them and solving them on their own.

Of course i would love it if they could understand the real gold was the friends they made along the way and everyone could have a happy ending because I love them all and want them happy... but I’m not sure Golden Kamuy will go for such a solution.

Among the things foreshadowed there were Nagakura and Hijikata’s death, as they were walking on the wrong side of the survival road (Shiraishi managed to escape, good for him)...

...and therefore for Asirpa, Sugimoto, Ushiyama and Ogata to survive.

If it’s true that who kills a tiger has to face a life of misfortune and we can consider ‘tigers’ also who’s named as such, Koito, Tsukishima and Tanigaki are all responsible for Kiro’s death (Kiro’s name Yulbars means ‘tiger’)... and it’s possible that, if Sugimoto had an involvement in Toraji’s death (it’s suspected he mercy killed him) the same fate will befall on him as well (Toraji was nicknamed ‘Tora-chan’ and ‘tora’ means “tiger”).

I’d like for Shiraishi to find a goal instead, possibly one related to Kiro, maybe helping Kiro’s family, or helping Asirpa to protect the Ainu.

I’d like for Asirpa to find her own way to protect Ainu, not through war but through a more pacifical method and maybe a better use of media. The movie idea wasn’t bad but it was very poorly executed.

It’s difficult to figure what would happen to the rest of the cast because I really would love for them all to be happy... but I fear this won’t be what Golden Kamuy will end with. Some of them will probably die or end up worse than they started or nothing will change for them and it’ll be all for nothing. Or maybe not really nothing as they might have gained something but not what they were hoping for.

Still... it’s difficult to say what will happen as really, my wish is for them to be happy so I’m probably not impartial enough to view the possibilities with a cold head and for this I apologize.

Thank you to you both for your asks!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 236 “King”

And so in this chapter we learn something important about how someone was…

…yeah, an unreliable narrator as there was more than a bit of trouble in Barato and it was caused by a tattooed skin, tattooed skin he left there. Still, kudos to @bloody-fabre​ for guessing Wakayama was the one to blame for the skin which ended in Barato.

There’s to say the situation is much more complicate than what it looked like when we first met Wakayama and a side of me is very happy that a arc that seemed to go nowhere (the Wakayama arc didn’t seem to have effects on the plot beyond giving Sugimoto an extra skin) is now becoming a relevant part of the plot.

But let’s dig into the chapter.

We resume where we have left, with Boutarou and Sugimoto fighting.

Despite the punch Boutarou doesn’t even let go of his gun but hurries to point it to Sugimoto. Sugimoto however put to good use his experience as a war veteran and grabs the gun in such a way not only he manages to move it slightly away from his face but also takes care to place his hand between the hammer and the bullet, so that when Boutarou pushes the trigger, the gun can’t fire.

Hand-to-hand combat is where Sugimoto excels after all, with tons of life threatening battles on the battleground, surrendered by other soldiers all willing to kill him. It’s in these moments Sugimoto’s six sense and experience, let him find a safe way out in the blink of an eye.

It’s kind of amazing as he just knows how to do.

This is not being a tactician genius though, that requires long term planning. Sugimoto doesn’t have the time to plan, he’s just a man who, when in extreme danger in a hand-to-hand fight, can find the right countermeasure in a blink thanks to his huge experience and talent in this sort of things.

Give Sugimoto two days to think of a plan and he likely will come up with only a vague idea of what to do. Give Sugimoto five second to stop a fatal blow and he’ll come up with the perfect method to stop it and, if possible, to retaliate.

So, now that he has stopped Boutarou from firing, Sugimoto tries to retrieve the gun from himself and at the same time damaging his enemy by attempting to cut away his fingers from it with his bayonet.

Who has good memory might remember Sugimoto doing the same with Nihei, cutting his fingers to stop him from holding his weapon.

(Japanese people knew very well how big of a harm it was to lose fingers, that’s why Yakuza used to cut the pinkie of a Yakuza who failed them, because afterward he would have troubles holding his sword)

Boutarou though isn’t a rookie either.

He’s quick enough to let go the now useless gun, so that all that Sugimoto’s bayonet hit is the gun itself and uses his powerful legs to kick Sugimoto hard enough not only he send him flying against the wooden railing but makes it partially crack. As someone who can jump out of the water like the merman he obviously is Boutarou clearly has strong legs and if he had kicked that way another men, the poor guy might have been sent out of commission.

Meanwhile the postman is still shooting like crazy, Boutarou’s accomplice swearing he’ll kill him but, thanks God (or should I say thanks Kamuy?), Asirpa is there to save the day.

She calls him and hurries him to come with her, telling him there’s spare ammunition there, then catches her chance to retrieve Sugimoto’s rifle and kick him off the boat at the same time, forcing him to swim away.

Asirpa is a genius and this constitute as planning as she considered her options, laid out a trap for the postman and put it to work.

Boutarou, on the other side, has recovered his anchor and is tossing it at Sugimoto, who manages to avoid it before Asirpa reaches him. Sugimoto worriedly asks her if she’s hurt.

I wonder if he realized how, while he was busy punishing Boutarou for putting her in danger, he had left her to fend for herself as Boutarou had an accomplice and that postman was completely out of it.

Boutarou’s accomplice informs him the postman has escaped leaving behind the money.

Shiraishi in a scolding tone stops Sugimoto from fighting further, reminding him there’s something they have to ask Boutarou.

This is the problem with Sugimoto losing control and getting himself into battle. In his attempt to ‘avenge Asirpa’ he had left her on her own and has risked jeopardizing his chances to get info out of Boutarou. His actions weren’t a smart move, they were just the result of his feelings overtaking him.

However, after a moment of hesitation, Sugimoto now makes a powerful and rather smart gesture, throwing Boutarou’s gun in the water.

Why is it a powerful gesture?

Because normally it’s assumed that the one with a gun is at a huge advantage toward the one who haven’t it. By tossing it away and therefore by apparently tossing away an advantage, Sugimoto gives a clear demonstration of not having aggressive intentions and only wanting to talk.

Why is it rather smart?

Because Sugimoto is rather bad with firearms and much, MUCH better with his bare hands and therefore for him the gun is more of a disadvantage than a help as it keeps one of his hands busy and, if he were to lose it by mistake, Boutarou could manage to get it back.

Boutarou accepts the truce with another of his smiles, acknowledging Sugimoto by his name. I wonder if his name also rang a bell or he’s just repeating it to make sure he would remember it/got it right.

‘Omae… Sugimoto tte iu no ka’

「お前… 杉元っていうのか」

“You… are called Sugimoto, right?”

We’ll see.

Honestly I doubt Boutarou heard of Sugimoto before but it’s possible. Everyone and their mom know Sugimoto in the 7th so that they could even open a fanclub. People talk and maybe rumours of Sugimoto had reached Boutarou as well. But still i think it’s unlikely, as Boutarou didn’t act as Sugimoto’s name rang a bell.

Meanwhile Shiraishi asks for clarifications about what Boutarou said on how there’s a rumour about how it’s no more possible to solve the code, also asking him if, due to it, he’s no more collecting tattoos.

In the panel we can see clearly Shiraishi and Sugimoto. Asirpa is present too but she’s in it only partially due to her head and due to the ballons covering her partially, hinting at how in a way she’ll be cut out from the discussion even if she saved the day.

Boutarou tells Shiraishi that a little over one year ago he met Wakayama in Sapporo… and approached him planning to murder and skin him. From the way the scene looks like, with Boutarou naked on a bed, I’ll say his way to approach him, was to try to seduce him.

Wakayama though, evidently realized something was off, had his men encircle him. Among them there’s Nakazawa (princess), while the others are all dressed in black suits with sunglasses (okay, no, they don't have sunglasses, it's just their eyes are so deeply shadowed they seem to wear sunglasses, which fits with the stereotype of Yakuza wearing them so I love Noda's visual choice).

Wakayama tells him that the code can’t be solved. He then explains he killed (and skinned) one of the tattooed men just after he escaped but then dropped by to Barato and left it as a payment for a game he lost.

As he says so we see the same image we saw in the Barato chapter, showing how the Hidoro gang got the skin, but not showing it was Wakayama giving it to them.

As Boutarou asked him why he did so, Wakayama claims the tattooed code can’t be solved because the other convicts might have ended up in the sea and be swallowed by a fish (and at this we’re shown an image of Henmi meeting this fate) or killed by a bear on the mountain (and at this we’re shown an image of Gotou).

Or that a certain weird guy (which I bet is our dear candy seller) might ruin it on purpose.

Long story short, Wakayama leaves without skinning him, which convinces Boutarou he was sure that the tattoo code couldn’t be decrypted.

At this Asirpa is reminded of how the candy peddler commented that ‘Boss Wakayama’s disappointed face was pretty great too, though’.

Shiraishi also whispers to Sugimoto that this might be connected to what Asirpa overheard the candy peddler saying, both of them sweating as, after this story, the possibility he was right, seems even more concrete.

And maybe it means nothing but in the panels, even though the group thinks exactly the same thing Asirpa is visually ‘parted’ from Sugimoto and Shiraishi.

They’re in separate panels, the panel with the candy peddler divising them.

Now… let’s stop a bit and recap what we knew about Wakayama and the Barato skin PRIOR TO THIS CHAPTER.

Time unknown (It could be before Wakayama was arrested or afterward): Wakayama entered a gambling den by chance and was charmed by Nakazawa’s (Hime’s) skill in rolling the dice. After an initial refusal, Nakazawa betrayed his group, ran away to Wakayama’s place, spent a hot night together, but the yakuza pursuers were already outside… we’ve no idea how it ended as Noda interrupted the story here. [Noda Satoru’s Q&A]

FEBRUARY

- Wakayama escapes with the other prisoners…  [GK according to Noda begins at the end of February, the convicts, supposedly, escaped a bit sooner than that]

MARCH

- Wakayama with a young man drops by in Sapporo World Hotel. Ienaga locks the younger man in the underground and tortures him, and the guy admits that the man he was with has the same tattoo as Ienaga and is an escaped convict from Abashiri. When Ienaga goes to check on him the morning after Wakayama has disappeared, supposedly planning to go in Hidaka to meet an American named Dun. [The guys went to Ienaga’s hotel in April, she said Wakayama was there a month before] [Chap 55-63]

APRIL

- Things escalates in Barato between the Hidoro gang and the Umakichi gang after a guy went to their gambling hall, lost a lot of money and left a tattooed skin as a collateral. Nagakura, Hijikata and Ogata went there and manage to retrieve the skin from Hidoro. [Chap 55-59]

- Wakayama buys horses from Dun [chap 69: When meeting Wakayama again, Dun said he’s the guy who bought horses from him a month before]

- Kiroranke takes part to the Tomakomai race on Wakayama’s horse in place of the jockey who has escaped. However, instead than throwing away the final race he wins it. [Chap 61-62]

May:

- While trying to deal with 3 bears Sugimoto group ends up hiding in the same place in which Wakayama and Nakazawa (Princess) had met the guys who organized the race. Wakayama explains the oddity of him not having men around with sending all of his men to Barato to help a guy in Barato who did him some favors. It’s unclear if the guy is Hidoro or Umakichi but I would say it’s Umakichi as the visual shows him.

It also turns out it was Nakazawa who exposed the heads in plain view because Wakayama cheated on him with a prostitute.

It also turns out the prostitute ended up being killed, although Nakazawa denies killing anyone (was it Jack who killed the prostitute? I wonder... after all Jack kills prostitutes in Sapporo although so far it seems he focused on females).

Wakayama complains he should have left him in Sapporo.

Due to various happening Wakayama and Nakazawa die, Wakayama’s skin ending up in Sugimoto’s hands. [Chap 65-69: Noda said chap 64 is placed in May]

And this is were I thought Noda placed the words ‘THE END’ to Wakayama’s story.

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

Turned out that’s not the case.

In fact, whose info made it look like Wakayama had no interest in the skins, in fact he was back handling his betting business instead than searching for convicts, which made me think it would be weird if he had taken his time collecting a skin and then… dropped it somewhere, as if it were to be useless.

I mean, if he went through the trouble of getting that one skin, I would expect the guy who beat a bear wouldn’t let it go easily.

However this chapter and chapter 233 added some interesting info to Wakayama’s story.

The first is that yes, Wakayama in the beginning wanted to collect the tattooed things but then something, or more likely ‘someone’ (read ‘our dear candy peddler’) persuaded him that it would be impossible to do it, suddenly making the skin he had collected to look worthless.

Hence it was possible for Wakayama to have an abrupt change of heart and drop collecting skins.

I wonder if the candy peddler, to persuade him, told him about Henmi’s death, or just showed him he has completely ruined his own tattoo.

Hard to say.

However he and Wakayama likely met pretty early on, likely in March as, by then, while he was in Ienaga’s hotel he was already thinking to go meet Dun to buy horses from him, meaning he wasn’t going to devote all his strength in pursuing convicts but was going back to his horse betting business.

Note that this is just my speculation, I might be completely off and maybe he wanted to pursue both.

We don’t know what pushed him to leave abruptly Ienaga’s hotel, maybe he couldn’t find the man he was with and assumed Nakazawa killed him, or maybe Nakazawa dropped by in his room and he left with him or maybe he was actually penniless and couldn’t pay the bill of the hotel nor the man he came with and left.

Hard to say.

We aren’t even sure back then he was already with Nakazawa as we don’t know when the two met.

However, according to what he says to Boutarou, we’re to suppose he moves to Barato alone, went into a gambling hall, lost a lot of money and left the skin he had with himself as collateral, tattling out the whole tattooed skin matter that could set everyone and their moms hunting for him.

As he did so he clearly didn’t act like a Yakuza boss, Shuhei wasn’t impressed by him and even said they planned to have him work in the fishery, meaning they didn’t realize Wakayama could be a dangerous fighter or even a Yakuza himself.

Why going there alone?

We get he likes to gamble but unless it was Nakazawa who again worked against him as Wakayama complained Nakazawa kept on trying to screw him over it seems weird he would just put himself into a huge debt.

Or did this happen really early on, when Wakayama hadn’t yet managed to reach his underlings?

After all it seems his headquarters are in Sapporo, it can be that moving from Abashiri to Sapporo he just stopped to Barato, which is on the way...

...ended up losing money in the gambling hall and, not wanting to lose face, he hid his own identity.

Anyway, after he left the skin there, he meets Boutarou in Sapporo.

The cover of chap 233 showed Sugimoto and Shiraishi looking at huchen/Adonis flowers, which we know can be observed in April, so if Wakayama and Boutarou’s meeting in Sapporo happened a year before than we supposedly were in April. Boutarou says a little over a year though, so it can be it was in March.

This time Wakayama has plenty of his men around himself, among which Nakazawa.

But figuring out when this meeting exactly takes place becomes hazardous and that’s not the only problem.

When talking with Sugimoto Wakayama declared he went to meet Dun alone because he sent all his men to help someone who helped him in the past (supposedly Umakichi).

As his men were with him when he was in Sapporo we’ve to assume the fight in Barato hadn’t taken place yet (Umakichi will die during it so he can’t really ask for support afterward) so he hadn’t sent his men there yet.

Overall the thing seems to be a bit shaky.

If Umakichi was someone who helped him, why did boss went to bet at Hidoro’s place instead than at a friend’s place? Or was that the moment in which Umakichi helped him? Because Umakichi should have helped him BIG TIME if boss sent ALL HIS MEN to help him… yet he didn’t warn him pursuing that tattooed skin was useless as we know Umakichi was actually pursuing it?

And Umakichi didn’t know Wakayama was also someone who escaped from Abashiri?

Because if he had known sending all his men to help him retrieve the tattooed skin would be dangerous as then Umakichi might try to get Wakayama’s one.

Besides we don’t even see a single man, among the ones with Umakichi, dressed in black suit and tie as Wakayama’s men. Sure, maybe they changed so it’s not big deal but overall the whole thing is weird, so weird even Sugimoto found odd how Wakayama went there alone.

Did Wakayama lie to Sugimoto, whom he knew was searching for the tattooed convicts?

Is there another reason why he sent all his men to Barato but didn’t go there himself?

Or actually he was there also for some other reason than punishing the two at the race (he said he wasn’t expecting Kiro and the others to show up and it makes sense, Wakayama didn’t meet Kiro back then so I’m not even sure if he would have recognized him)?

I don’t know but I’m starting to wonder if we’ll learn more about boss and how that skin ended up in Barato, maybe through Shinpei, who left Barato with Chiyoko and might have transferred temporally to Ebetsu.

It would be interesting to meet Shinpei again as we were never told exactly how his meeting with Ogata ended, we just saw that Ogata gave him a scolding...

...then the scene was cut and we dealt with Hijikata’s group reaching the place, Hijikata and Nagakura getting in to talk with Ogata who now owns the skins, the bodies of Shinpei’s parents nowhere to be seen.

The next we see Shinpei he’s with Chiyoko, first observing the place burning down,

then ready to start a new life with her.

Besides, Shinpei was there when the skin was left to his family, he might tell us exactly how things went and if Nakazawa or the candy peddler were involved and if he knew if Wakayama had a relation with Umakichi.

LOL, overall I’m curious.

When I first read the Wakayama arc it felt like its only purpose was to hand Sugimoto a new skin as it seemed to bring no other development, so now I’m extremely intrigued at the idea there could be more behind it.

And always about Wakayama… what the candy peddler said that made him so sure the tattooed skins can’t be used anymore? Did he ruin his own tattoo? Or, since Wakayama was spot on about a convict ending eaten by a fish and another by a bear someone warned him about Gotou and Henmi’s deaths? Because okay, Gotou’s death is normal enough and one could guess it but Henmi’s death is a bit of a stretch. They were supposed to go to Otaru after all, not go to fish whales or orcas so one of them drowning wasn’t something one should consider a normal occurrence yet it’s the first thing Wakayama comes up with.

But yes, it could also be a lucky guess.

Long story short though… I don’t know anymore which of Wakayama’s words were true and which were a lie, making him an unreliable narrator. I’m only sure that he believed they couldn’t use the tattooed skins anymore to find the gold but that’s it.

I wonder if more will come up in the future.

Back to the story, Boutarou explains that since Wakayama was sure the tattooed skins couldn’t be collected he also decided stopping collecting them.

Shiraishi, clever guy, asks him if he found the place in which the Ainu gold is hidden.

Boutarou though, might act friendly but he’s clearly not a stupid.

He doesn’t directly answer, he just says it’s possible to get close to it but he’s confident Noppera-bou wouldn’t have hid it in a place that’s easy to spot once you get close by.

So Boutarou asks Shiraishi and Sugimoto to join forces with him and help searching for it. He claims he wants Shiraishi in his team because Shiraishi is fun and Sugimoto because Sugimoto is strong and both are things he likes he claims as he wraps his arms around them.

Shiraishi though, using a joking tone, points out they might end up on fighting over how to split the gold.

Boutarou claims they can become his vassals as he wants to become the king of a warm Southeast Asian small island on which he can grow and sell fruits to other countries and have so many kids he can make a country of his own family.

The way Boutarous smiles as he asks them to become vassals in his kingdom is kind of cute, like the one of a happy child.

Shiraishi laughs a bit uncomfortable at his ambitious dream while Sugimoto wonders on why everyone wants to be in charge of something as huge as a country.

He covers his eyes with his hat at this, shadowing them completely even though he smiles, making hard to read his expression. It’s usually no good when Sugimoto’s eyes can’t be seen.

I think Sugimoto believes Boutarou is moved by either ambition or greed or both, therefore by something negative, and that due to this he’s getting in his way when he instead aims at something much smaller and that should also help a person he loves.

I think Boutarou gets what Sugimoto is implying and that’s why, although he keeps his smile he looks much more serious as he makes Sugimoto a personal question.

‘Do you have any family?’

Sugimoto’s face is shadowed and his eyes fully black as he says he doesn’t, Boutarou clearly touching a sore spot.

Boutarou goes on, asking him if they’re dead. He’s still smiling but he’s not being overly cheerful.

Sugimoto, also smiling but with his eyes downcast, admits they died due to tuberculosis.

I think that’s the first time Sugimoto talked with someone about how his family died. Sugimoto, Asirpa and Shiraishi are a group but, except for Asirpa who occasionally talk about her father or about Huci, they hardly talk of any personal matter. Credits when its due both Shiraishi and Asirpa tried talking with Sugimoto about personal matters but both stumbled on the Umeko issue (Shiraishi asking him if he had someone and Asirpa asking him what he planned to do with the gold) and Sugimoto closed up to Shiraishi and wasn’t quite honest with Asirpa so talks never went that far… when instead it was probably important they did. They’re risking their life together, they should be able to share the burdens of the pasts with the others.

Anyway at Sugimoto’s reply Boutarou’s smile stay even if his expression is much more serious.

Then Boutarou goes closer to Sugimoto (WOW, Boutarou seems quite a bit taller than him), wrapping his arms around him in some sort of conforting or kinship gesture and telling him his family died too, although what killed them was smallpox, and adding ‘you know what it’s like, right?’.

He’s likely not referring to smallpox but both to the pain of losing your family but also to the sad fate of victims of contagious illness. Places in hospitals were scarce, which means they would have to stay home until one would free, infecting, if they hadn’t already, their family members.

Back then there was no cure for illness like smallpox or tuberculosis same as there is no cure for coronavirus now and they also had a lot less mean to protect themselves from infection.

The result would be that neighbors, in fear of getting infected, would ostracize the families whose members would fall prey of an illness, mock them, claim if they got sick it was because they did it was due to something they had done, as if illness was some sort of divine punishment, abandoning them to their sad fate and refusing to help.

It’s easy to feel empathy for Boutarou and Sugimoto’s conditions, especially considering how even now, in a time in which superstition shouldn’t rule us way too many people had felt entitled to mock or blame or turn their backs to those who would get coronavirus cases.

Boutarou found himself living this situation when he was a child and, as he was a child, he came up with this naïve dream.

‘If I become a king, nobody would ever shun my family.’

For a child this makes sense. He was powerless to fight what was happening so he assumed if he were to be the most important person he would have had control and would have been able to stop the world from rejecting and abandoning him and his family to their fate.

In a way it’s not a completely wrong assumption as we see that people in position of power or with a lot of money can get tested sooner than people who aren’t and they also get better health care, everyone hurrying to find a comfortable place for them in the most comfortable hospital.

Child Boutarou was aware of this as well but instead than thinking that the system was unfair and wanting to fight the system decided he would ride it.

If only who’s in power, who’s rich get help, he would be that person.

A king.

And then he wouldn’t have to suffer that fear and that pain anymore.

This thought helps him to survive.

He decided to stop being afraid of getting smallpox, to pursue his dream and look at the world in a positive manner and this allowed him to carry on to the point that adult Boutarou thinks it was his own attitude that kept smallpox away from him.

Boutarou makes it simple but it doesn’t really work like turning a switch on. You’ve to persuade yourself that you aren’t afraid, that you’ve to feel positive day after day, wearing these thoughts as if they were a mask that covers fear and negativity until the mask becomes you and you believe in all this… but sadly it’s not so easy and it doesn’t necessarily work smoothly.

Often the mask remains just a mask that stops us from facing what we’re really thinking. Only we’ve been wearing by so long we just delude ourselves the mask is us when it’s always just a mask and, since what’s behind it remains there unchallenged, it slowly poisons our life.

For Boutarou by now it’s probably hard to say if he smiles because he’s genuinely happy or if he smiles because HE MUST BE POSITIVE.

And he’s not the only one who hides behind a smile. We saw how in this chapter Sugimoto too smiled as he said his family died. His smile is a lot less cheery than Boutarou, it’s clear it’s a sad smile but Sugimoto too tries to cope with pain through a smile… although Sugimoto more often than not use it to cover his fear.

We saw him smiling when he punched the bear and it didn’t work, when he faced Tsurumi for the first time he smiled and even joked around even though he knew he was in deep troubles.

Although smiles are usually connected to happiness, they don’t necessarily mean the one showing them feels genuine happiness because they’re also more often than not used as a mask to show confidence, to hide troubles, pain and fear to the others and to yourself.

So I’m not so sure always smiling Boutarou is as happy as he looks like, and I don’t know if his obstinacy in having a positive outlook might cause him to miss facing something negative, becoming a maladaptive behavior. We’ll see but, for now, I think there’s more in Boutarou than just a happy guy, and the same goes for other Golden Kamuy smiling prone characters.

Who knows, maybe as @osomanga has suggested, maybe the funny Shiraishi too has behind himself a sad backstory and let’s not forget the friendly Kiroranke hid behind himself a partisan fighter who had remained alone after he believed Wilk, his hero, betrayed him.

Golden Kamuy is a story with characters with a complicate psychological background after all, we shouldn’t just wave them off as just black and white.

So, back to Boutarou, now we know it’s not greed or ambition what’s behind his wish, but merely a traumatic past that forced him to face on his own the powerlessness of watching your parents and relative die due to a terrible illness and the people turning their back to you.

What Boutarou GENUINELY wishes is fundamentally to never again live that experience, to erase it from the universe but, as this is not possible, he came up with this, with a dream that deludes him he won’t be abandoned, that he will be able to control his fate, that he and his family will be able to live happily.

Not being abandoned, having a measure of control over our fate and live a happy life with our beloved ones are really normal things, things we all wish and that we normally pursue through more normal means but as Boutarou lived in desperate times he decided to use desperate measures.

And, in a way, Boutarou’s dream is overall pretty similar to Tsurumi’s goal and to his men’s dream. They want a country in which they will be safe, happy and in control.

And yes, although what they fundamentally wish is something really normal and human… their wish is sadly a very selfish one as, to fulfill it they would sacrifice other humans. Their world is not a perfect one where everyone is safe, happy and in control but one in which they are.

However, as they perceive they were sacrificed first, they have a hard time realizing sacrificing others is wrong, that they should just accept they were wronged but that it’s not okay to retaliate, to return just retribution for the pain they were made to suffer.

It’s sad. It’s wrong. And it’s also something that happens way too often in life.

As Boutarou explains his dream, Sugimoto’s eyes are still downcast...

...and he remembers himself as he watched over his sick father, Sugimoto’s eyes back then, completely void of light.

This transition reminds me a bit of the transition Noda used to shift from when Asirpa asked Ogata which was his favourite food to when we saw him with Hanazawa.

We know that Sugimoto’s father was the last to die, before him Sugimoto lost three other family members.

One of them was likely his mother, the other two are either his grandparents or two younger siblings (Sugimoto’s name implies he’s the firstborn as it contain the kanji for “1”).

His father is probably the last surviving member of Sugimoto’s family and he’s there, sitting at his bedside, watching him slowly die due to illness.

There are many stress lines under Sugimoto’s eyes and his expression is grim. He likely knows there’s no hope, that there’s nothing he can do, that he can only stay there and watch.

Sugimoto’s father tells him not to hope he’ll manage to get a bed in the sanatorium. For who’s not familiar with the term,  in a time in which they had no antibiotics against tuberculosis, they assumed you could cure the illness just by giving the ill person a regimen of rest, fresh air and good nutrition. But beds in sanatorium were scarce, that’s way Sugimoto’s father is warning him he won’t get a bed in one… and since sanatorium were assumed to be the only place in which one could heal and he finds unlikely he’ll get a bed in one, basically Sugimoto’s dad is telling Sugi to prepare to the idea of his death.

His father then tells Sugimoto he’s kind and this causes him to end up stuck with the worst roles… same as it used to happen to his father, a personality trait which didn’t seem to want to change.

Sugimoto’s father looks like Sugimoto, only older, thinner and sick. He’s in a bed whose covers are dirty with the blood he should have coughed. The poor guy choughs occasionally but he’s smiling and, contrary to Sugimoto, there’s a light in his eyes.

Sugimoto’s father probably sees the shortcomings of being kind but, at the same time I think he also sees the good sides of it.

It’s not a personality trait that doesn’t want to change, it’s him who didn’t want to change it.

And this makes me think at how it should have been terrible for Sugimoto to accept to kill in order to survive. Because killing is all but kind and he should have made a lot of mental gimmicks to accept to do it and receive a lot of mental scarring.

So of course his reasoning to cope with it is that enemies are soulless bad guys, which Asirpa waved off as an excuse one would give to a child.

Probably a side of him, to protect himself, reverted to a kid and came up with such a silly excuse, same as Boutarou who can’t let go of his childish dream, and then he clung to it and he keeps clinging to it even now, a maladaptive copying mechanism that helped Sugimoto survive the war but that’s now plaguing him, a mask he uses to try to cover the fact he views himself as no more kind as his father said he was.

Sugimoto is a complicate psychological mess and I’m sorry for him because deep down he should be suffering a lot inside and hiding it deep inside himself, covering it with a smile and a kind attitude and not really facing it, which only result in more psychological harm for him.

Again, it’s sad.

The scene changes, Sugimoto is outside of the house and a black cat comes to him.

Contrary to what us westerns say Japanese people back then believed black cats to bring good luck and ward off against illness.

As the cat comes to him to be patted Sugimoto, who has shown through all ‘Golden Kamuy’ to be superstitious enough he even absorbed Ainu superstitions, complains with the cat that the cat was supposed to cure tuberculosis and asks him if this is happening because the cat hardly comes there, therefore making the cat useless. The cat leaves at that, leaving Sugimoto alone to watch him walk away, bringing away with itself even the silly hope the cat could fix everything.

It’s another bit of life experience that forms Sugimoto’s mind, a bit that explains why he’s not very good at cooperating, because back then he could do nothing but entrust his hopes to a black cat and yet he was left alone to deal with it.

Sugimoto stands there as he watched the cat leaving, clearly trying hard not to cry. He’s alone stripped even of the delusion the black cat would magically save his father. No one will help him.

He can’t do anything and no one will help him.

At this point I think he remembers what his father told him, he told him to leave the house and not let himself trapped by tuberculosis. He told him he could live for his own sake, that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

The words, the memory of them after the cat’s abandonment, push Sugimoto to run.

He wants to do it, to escape from that house, but more exactly to escape from that pain. However, as he’s about to get out of the fence he stops, unable to go further.

He looks at the world that extend itself outside the fence, he looks at the freedom, at a place in which he isn’t plagued by the specter of getting infected with tuberculosis each day. He squeezes his eyes shut. In his home his father is still lying in his bed, coughing.

And, I think, at this point Sugimoto knows he can’t leave him to die alone.

In fact in the past flashback we learnt that his father managed to find a spot in a sanatorium… but then he died there and only when the note he was dead reached Sugimoto he managed to leave his home.

So, even though Sugimoto wants to escape, even though he can’t bear it any longer, he can’t leave either. For his torn mind not to crack under the pressure of this two contrasting things, wanting to leave and wanting to stay, his psyche build up a narrative meant to help him to cope.

Sugimoto is a good judoka, isn’t he?

Well, this is a fight, a fight to death against him and tuberculosis, a fight Sugimoto isn’t going to lose. He states he’s going to live and then challenges it to try and kill him, like he will challenge the Russians much later on war, stating he’s immortal.

The image depicts him as if his aura was a fire, a fire burning around him but his expression is contracted, ugly. Not as bad as Usami when he murdered Tomoharu but still… ugly.

You can see in it determination… but it’s a forced determination.

Sugimoto is forcing himself to think all those things to overcome his fear.

Telling himself he’s immortal is the copying behavior he has chosen, a behavior that fits with how he’s a fighter at heart but it’s also just a big lie. He’s not immortal and he’s not really facing the realty of the situation, that he’s a mortal taking upon himself a risk.

He’s young, the situation is so traumatic and terrible he simply CAN’T face the truth, but that copying behavior will follow him traumatic situation after traumatic situation, covering his fear behind a wall of fake confidence into something that’s simply not real.

It’s true that a strong will can overcome a weak body, but will can’t do miracles. Sugimoto is a normal person and therefore he can die like any other person. Just because he has more endurance and luck (and a solid plot armor) than others it doesn’t mean all of sudden he’s immortal and this wrong belief might end up doing him more harm than good.

The flashback ends and we go back to present time and to Boutarou, asking Sugimoto what he plans to do once he finds the gold to reach HIS OWN HAPPINESS and if he doesn’t have any dream.

It’s clear Sugimoto started this adventure hoping he could get gold enough for himself to cure Umeko but also to be capable to present himself in front of her as a man who’s better than the one who left her, if not in actions (Sugimoto is plagued by the fact he’s a killer now), at least in finances.

Although Toraji clearly wasn’t rich I always had the feeling he was a little better off than Sugimoto and Sugimoto was afraid this influenced Umeko’s choice... so, since he can’t clean away the blood he has shed I think he hopes he can ‘hide it’ by presenting himself as someone who’s better off economically and can provide Umeko with the means to cure her eyes.

I think he’s afraid to present himself to her but wanted to believe by going back rich and capable to cure her he could find the guts to show himself to her again and get what he truly wanted, her love back.

However many things had happened and more than a full year went by from when he started hunting skins, not mentioning the time that had gone by from when he returned from war.

This goal had moved always further from him while his hunt for the gold became a sidequest that didn’t help him to go back to Umeko but that actually kept him away from her.

So Sugimoto likely knows what he used to dream for when all this started, what he believed would give him happiness… but instead than getting closer with any skin he gained, it only got far. The shading on him isn’t uniform, it’s swirling, I think it hints Boutarou’s words forced him to realize, if not this, at least ‘something’.

Meantime the boat has almost reached Ebetsu.

Boutarou, the gentleman pirate, apologizes to the passengers, telling them he didn’t mean to cause them troubles and commotion so he won’t steal things from them, he’ll just settle for taking the money that was sent as registered mail. As he says so though, he spot Sugimoto opened back with, inside it, Heita’s skin and the tobacco case he always carried with himself.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess this means troubles for his alliance with Sugimoto, Shiraishi and Asirpa… which, to be honest, never got involved in the alliance. Boutarou just wanted Shiraishi and Sugimoto and they didn’t mention having a third member in their group even if it was kind of obvious Asirpa was connected to them.

I’m a little annoyed at this, it’s not the first time Asirpa is handled as a minor part to the group even though today she’s the one who saved the day by handling the problem of the crazy postman (along with Shiraishi who got information from Boutarou and set the basis for an allegiance)… but well, I guess it can’t be helped. We’ll see if things will change in the future.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 234 “Steamboat”

And now we dig on a chapter in which there’s something predominant.

Yeah, in this chapter there’s a lot of “Murphy’s law” at work or, if you prefer, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".

But let’s start digging in the chapter which has a colour cover which is… nothing special really.

Mind you, it’s not a bad colour cover, it just doesn’t tell us much.

It’s just Asirpa and Sugimoto’s face, Asirpa smiling and Sugi looking very aware, his scarf fluttering in the air like when he’s ready to start a fight. Asirpa is in front of Sugimoto and, in a way, the cover seems to play on their contrasting colours, white fur Asirpa, black hat Sugi, purple bluish bandana Asirpa, red and yellow scarf Sugi, big, bright blue eyes Asirpa (typical of how mangaka draw children) versus normal sized brownish (I think they’re again a mix of red and yellow but at a distance the result is brown which is Sugi’s eye colour) Sugimoto, Asirpa smiling, Sugimoto not in the slightest, Asirpa relaxed, Sugi apparently ready to battle.

You can see them like the opposite sides of the same coin if you want, or just as the two main characters, poor Shiraishi again forgotten.

Honestly I understand how Shiraishi originally wasn’t meant to be part of the main cast and everything, but now he’s a team member and it’s a bit sad to see despite all the time he’s with us, how he has changed and the things he has done, he’s not considered that much. Whatever, maybe it’s just me.

In fact the chapter start with Shiraishi coming up with a course of action, going by boat down the Ishikari river so as to avoid the muddy ground and save time and energy.

Shiraishi also gives us some info from which we can figure that the convicts were again used as hard labor men to make the river usable.

Golden Kamuy has mentioned often how the convicts were used and also abused for the convenience of others. Shiraishi here doesn’t mention anything bad happening to the convicts who worked cleaning the wood but we heard convicts used in other jobs weren’t equally lucky… and maybe it’s just Shiraishi who’s not planning to make ‘mistreating of the convicts’ awareness. We’ll see.

Anyway, considering the boys are planning to reach Ebetsu I’ll say they’re pointing at Sapporo, which is pretty close by.

I fear they could end up in a happy reunion with both Hijikata’s group and Tsurumi’s forces. Really, I’m not sure it’s a wise move considering Asirpa is stilla target.

The scene moves on the boat, a paddle streamer, Shiraishi giving us info about it while Asirpa claims it’s her first time on one.

Shiraishi claims they’ll get to Ebetsu before noon.

Evidently at the time “Murphy’s Law” wasn’t known yet, probably due to Murphy not having been born yet. We’re readers though. We can easily see this is a giant red flag… even if we’re giving still some time before it’ll strike.

Meanwhile we can see Vasily isn’t on the boat with them but on the last of the three small boats attached to the paddle streamer, Asirpa being the only one who worry about him. Shiraishi comments he seems to be fine with staying with the horses… and I get why Shiraishi isn’t fond of Vasily as the guy targeted him twice, once hitting him in the leg but still, I’m not sure this sort of behavior is going to help in the long run. They’re travelling together, they should make an effort to get along. Though maybe Shiraishi would prefer if they were to lose him somewhere.

Sugimoto points out Vasily is keeping at a distance deliberately to wait for Ogata to come… then comments, as if surprised that Vasily thinks of Asirpa as a bait.

Honestly yes, this is the right explanation but I’m not really fond of how Sugimoto put things.

First of all he makes it sounds as if he realized only now they would be bait, for Vasily when it was clear right from the start Vasily was using them as such and Sugimoto was aware of it. Then he comments it’s just Asirpa who’s bait.

Vasily has no idea which is the relationship between Sugimoto, Shiraishi, Asirpa and Ogata. He saw Shiraishi and Asirpa with Ogata and Sugimoto kindly informed him he also knew Ogata (it’s hard to say what else Vasily understood from Sugimoto’s ‘spider artwork’). For Vasily the three of them could very well be baits, not just Asirpa.

There’s no reason for Sugimoto to assume he and Shiraishi aren’t bait as well for Vasily.

Mentioning just Asirpa he put pressure on her, albeit I realize he might not be aware of this as he’s so focused on Asirpa he might think Vasily is the same even though Vasily has no idea why Ogata would target specifically Asirpa.

Besides he shouldn’t really blame Vasily much because, aside from Asirpa, they had done no effort to make friends with him and has used him (to escape, to shoot people) so really, if Vasily was okay with using his companion border guards as baits, why should he hesitate in using them?

The story goes on.

Asirpa falls asleep, either due to the rocking of the boat or the stress of the past days...

...and two small boats approaches the paddle streamer.

“Murphy’s law“… pardon, Boutarou and his men are on them.

Boutarou points out he’s broke because he gave a lot of money to the Ainu village.

Honestly I like this guy. He paid for the information he wanted from the Ainu, he didn’t just went there threatening them or pretended to pay and then took his goods away. He paid a high sum for his information.

I wonder what his backstory is because it’s also clear, considering his crimes, he’s not a pure, little lamb. Did he have a reason to become a criminal? What’s his honour code beyond paying for the info he gets?

Anyway Boutarou thinks to attack the paddle streamer. The sailors on the paddle streamer realize they’re tailed and that they could be criminals targeting them because they’re carrying customers with valuables and also the money that’s being sent by registered mail.

The captain wants to set a resistance and abruptly turns the boat, managing to cause the criminal on one of the two boat to fall in the water.

Sugimoto and Shiraishi realize something is up and go to check. Boutarou deliberately tosses himself n the water. The sailors thinks they can kill him by hitting him with a hammer the second he pops his head up. Everything is under control, right?

Wrong.

“Murphy’s law”… sorry, I mean Boutarou, swims below the ship, moves to the opposite side and… well he JUMP out of the water the way a dolphin or a merman like him would do.

So in a second he’s on the opposite side of the boat, take a moment to blow the water out of his gun and then, from that position, he can comfortably threaten the boat captain, ordering him to stop the ship.

Sorry, Shiraishi, I don’t think you all will be to Ebetsu by noon.

Sugimoto and Shiraishi who wanted to check on the situation appear just right then and meet “Murphy’s Law”… no, it’s Boutarou again, who, when Sugimoto attepts to grab his rifle (probably to use it like a wand knowing his aim),

recognizes Shiraishi, looking delighted to see him.

The sailors, seeing Boutarou knows them, thinks Sugimoto and Shiraishi are Boutarou’s accomplices so instead than attacking Boutarou, attack them.

Well, maybe they’re aware they can’t win against “Murphy’s Law”… sorry, sorry, Boutarou, so they try attacking his corollaries, pardon, the ones they think are his associates despite Shiraishi protesting they’ve got nothing to do with Boutarou.

Does it comes as a surprise if no one listen to him and the sailors try to grab Sugimoto’s rifle?

Because among all the people you should attack, picking Sugimoto is, of course the worst choice possible.

‘If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the FIRST to go wrong.’

So Boutarou turn to aim at the sailors, either to stop them from getting the rifle or to protect ‘Shiraishi’s underling’ since he seems fond of Shiraishi, we don’t know but Sugimoto, thinking Boutarou will fire at the sailors, tosses them both off the boat one after the other… dropping his rifle in the process.

I bet this will have relevance in the next chapter.

Really, why Sugi carries around a rifle is a mystery for me. He doesn’t know how to use it well, he can’t remember to use it to draw attention when he gets lost, loses it 9 times out of 10 and, at most, he uses it to hit people as if it were a wand. It’s time he accepts he’s just not a rifle person and that his strength lies elsewhere.

Boutarou is impressed by Sugi’s work, praising Shiraishi for the ‘dependable underling’ he got for himself. Really, Boutarou seems rather friendly with Shiraishi. Honestly I wonder about the relation between the two.

Is Boutarou a fan of the Escape King?

Just joking but it would be interesting.

Meanwhile Boutarou’s men manage to climb on the boat but, at that point, another paddle streamer is moving toward them and is one filled with soldiers.

I bet the ship could be named “Gumperson’s Law”...

“The probability of anything happening is in inverse ratio to its desirability.”

No one probably wanted that ship of soldiers to meet with a paddle streamer with aboard Boutarou and Sugimoto, probably not even the soldiers on the boat and if the passengers think differently they might end up reconsidering.

The meeting could very well the presude to two boats sinking.

Is there any iceberg around by the way? ^_-

Just joking, of course.

Anyway the chap ends here.

Overall, although not much is happening, I’ll say this chapter is meant to set up the situation. Asirpa’s group and Boutarou’s group are meeting and from this the story can take many possible developments as Boutarou likely isn’t going to escape like the CandyMan did, he got from the Ainu precious info and, considering he seems to have some sense of fairness and a sympathy for Shiraishi, it’s even possible an allegiance might have birth out of this meeting.

I wonder if the situation will develop in such a way though that the guys will continue together for Sapporo, or just Sugi’s group will go there, or the meeting will have them radically change course.

This depends a lot on what Boutarou discovered and if they’ll manage to strike an allegiance. Honestly Sugimoto’s group needs allies, it’s beyond naïve to think just the three of them can deal with Tsurumi and Hijikata’s groups.

So, even if I’m not impressed by the chap in itself, really I think it might set up interesting developments. We’ll see.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 209 “Kesorap”

And with this new chapter we see how the group is back on changing as it loses one of its members. I wonder if more changes are also on the way…

I have mixed feelings on this chapter. A part of me is VERY HAPPY with these developments as I was hoping for some of the things that happened in this chapter to happen. The other is just… okay, this is all good and nice but how we got here?

But let’s dig into the chapter.

The cover shows Enonoka and Cikapasi walking away together which basically foretells the events of this chapter and becomes a huge spoiler scene.

Cikapasi and Enonoka will stay together as hinted in the movie ‘The life of Kesorap’.

I won’t beat around the bush, I’m happy with this development and I was hoping for it.

The editor also make sure to deliver the message home with his ‘the path that brought us together is a miracle’ (lines on the title pages are usually written by the editors not by the authors).

As some already know I usually don’t pay much attention to the comments on the cover as they’re often written by the editor, not by Noda himself but this one is interesting. Apparently although the translation says ‘the path that brought us together is a miracle’ this is because the word used for ’path’ can be also read as miracle so the writing is more ‘the path/miracle that brought us together’.

The mention of paths and miracles cannot remind me of Ogata and his hope a blessed path would open up for him.

He too longed for a family, same as Cikapasi, and for someone who wanted him… however he chose the wrong person as Hanazawa clearly wasn’t interested in him and didn’t become interest in him likely not even when Yuusaku died. It’s worth to note though the words Ogata used in Japanese were different, so maybe it’s just a matter of translations.

And now let’s look at the story.

We see that the group is again on the move, which not only is a clear sign NODA ISN’T GOING TO TELL US IF MORE WAS SAID AMONG SUGIMOTO AND ASIRPA OR AT WHATEVER CONCLUSION ASIRPA CAME even though the discussion was left on hold in chap 206 and chap 208 showed us an image of Sugimoto and Asirpa still supposedly at it,

but also of how the group is leaving Toyohara, likely moving toward Odomari because, remember? That was the place in which they should have their rendezvous with Tsurumi.

The two weeks are evidently either up or about to be up and the group is supposed to reach him there.

Am I upset I don’t know the results of the discussion between Sugimoto and Asirpa? If he managed to persuade her or not? If he managed to get the code from her or not?

Well, of course I wanted to know… but I like to hope we’ll learn about it in a better moment.

We’ll see.

Somehow though, from when Sugimoto and Asirpa had gotten back together they hadn’t really seemed to drive the plot that much. Before they seemed to have a plan, a goal, and cooperated to reach it. Now Asirpa is not sure what to do while Sugimoto has the vague goal to get Asirpa out of the gold hunt and get the gold but how he plans to do all this is up to everyone’s guess. The only moments of ‘confrontation’ between them were in chap 192, in which Sugimoto actually lied to Asirpa and in chap 206 in which the discussion between them was left on hold.

Even with Ogata, nothing was cleared up and Shiraishi never got to express his own opinion on anything, not even on being shoot, Vasily accepted in the group as if he had done nothing wrong in shooting Shiraishi merely because ‘he was Ogata’s enemy’.

What’s Shiraishi’s position in all this? Sugimoto’s deal regards handing Tsurumi the code in exchange for 200 yen. What’s in for Shiraishi in this deal? He too wanted a part of the gold but if he’s handed to Tsurumi he clearly has no means of bargain. Is he destined to become a new skin in Tsurumi’s skin collection? Or it can be Tsurumi still needs him alive?

Anyway as a result Sugimoto, Asirpa and even Shiraishi seem to walk forward without any clear direction, basically doing what Tsurumi wants them to do (go in Odomari so Tsurumi can secure Asirpa and get the code from her) as if they were merely side characters.

I guess this is to keep the suspense so it’s not wrong per se… it’s just I can’t really cheer on them if I don’t feel they’ve a goal but they’re just… wandering.

But let’s return to the story. Ryu had become the front leading dog on the sled Sugimoto, Asirpa and Shiraishi are riding and carries them to Enonoka’s village.

Them reaching Enonoka’s village might mean they won’t get a chance to drop at the fox farm upon which once was Wilk’s village. It’s hard to say as we don’t have a map for where Enonoka’s village is (we know only it’s near Odomari) nor for where the fox farm is (near to the sea since they carried there a sea lion they hunt but it’s hard to say where exactly and in the map I made there are only speculations that can be completely off) so it’s still possible it’s on the way but, it’s also possible we aren’t meant to see that place again.

I’m a bit sad at this, I was hoping we would see the place again and learn something more about Wilk. We still have to see Wilk’s mother’s face after all (I like to think there was a reason if it was never shown) and learning something more about Wilk might help Asirpa take a decision. Why her father got involved with the partisan movement, likely he too at a young age? Was it just for what happened when Karafuto was handed to Russia? Or there was more? What about her paternal grandparents? Are they still alive?

New info might give her a better perspective to know why Wilk decided to go through that path.

Vasily is nowhere to be seen.

As, unless something happened, there’s no reason for him to give up in chasing them in hope they’ll meet with Ogata, either is just keeping away from them or they managed to leave Toyohara without him noticing. We’ll see.

Anyway once they reach Enonoka’s village Asirpa praises Ryu because a lead dog gets special treatment and can stay inside the house with their owners… we might think Asirpa is doing this because she feels a bit like Ryu’s owner but Shiraishi will hint to us what they’re actually planning for Ryu.

In fact Shiraishi comments Ryu wil lead a better and more love-filled life if he remains HERE, which, according to Shiraishi, means RYU found the place where he belongs.

Long story short, they plan to leave him with Enonoka’s grandfather.

And this is where I start to have problems with this chapter.

Honestly this development came as abrupt to me as I never expected them to dump Ryu in Karafuto.

Chap 204 showed Ryu still hanging around with Tanigaki and Cikapasi,

with Tanigaki commenting it was a good think they didn’t send away Cikapasi and Ryu...

...so I would have expected them to keep on thinking Ryu could be useful and want him to stay with them. While on a side no one in the group really became Ryu’s owner replacing Nihei, Ryu had given no signs he viewed Enonoka’s grandfather as his new owner. Ryu had seemed just an independent dog who had decided to stay with them.

Mind you, my problem is not with Ryu remaining in Karafuto with Enonoka’s grandfather as lead dog. Ryu, despite being a hunting dog, has showed talent for it (he realized when they weren’t following the sled anymore for example). My problem is the lack of build up on this decision.

I’ll explain myself better. When Nihei died Ryu chased his rifle, refusing to be parted from it, clearly still thinking at Nihei as his master.

Once he found it back he has remained in Sugimoto’s group as a willing and helpful member, generally hanging with Cikapasi and Tanigaki.

Nowhere in the Karafuto arc it was shown that Ryu had grown close to Enonoka’s grandfather to the point to consider him his new master, nor we even heard Enonoka’s grandfather asking if he could keep him. For unknown in-story reasons (but with the very clear plot reason to show that Ryu realized they were going in the wrong direction), starting from chap 166 Ryu is attached to the line of dogs pulling the sled (with Sugimoto claiming he’s not suited for pulling it because he’s a hunting dog and that’s why he’s doing a fuss… Sugimoto, really…).

Sure, later in chap 168 Sugimoto praised Ryu and said he could become a great sled dog, which had seemed to ‘spark’ a rivalry gaze between Ryu and the head dog of Enonoka’s grandfather...

...but the most we could assume is that either Ryu is competitive or got a liking for that job. Ryu has likely continued to pull the sled through the rest of the story until, in this chapter, it was remarked he was promoted to lead dog but… that’s all.

Am I supposed to think Ryu, for a ‘new interest’, wouldn’t suffer at all leaving the people who had been his companions and that he had helped and protected till now, when he couldn’t let go of the last memento of his previous owner?

I guess we can speculate that, while the group was busy performing in the circus, Ryu was left in Enonoka’s grandfather’s care, which we know is very good with dogs and views them as his family and the man has developed an interest in him and, possibly, a bond with him, and that’s why Ryu was placed in the dog line afterward… but that’s speculation. There’s no hint things went that way as I can’t remember Enonoka’s grandfather doing so much as to pat Ryu.

Also, Shiraishi’s sentence said after Asirpa listed all the benefit of being a lead dog feels less meaningful as it seems Ryu will be loved as long as he can be the lead dog.

Long story short, I get the story wants me to be happy for Ryu who had finally moved over Nihei, who’s dead and can’t be back to him, had found a new job as sled dog that will give him gratification and benefits, and is supposedly left in the care of people who’ll love him and I WOULD BE… but as the part of Ryu accepting Enonoka’s grandfather as his master isn’t developed at all it feels more like they realized Ryu can be a good sled dog, thought he would be well cared and decided to abandon him there without caring of what Ryu might feel.

Sure, later we’ll see when they leave Ryu has no problems remaining with Enonoka’s grandfather so evidently he agreed to it but this agreement came out of nowhere.

Dogs aren’t really boxes you can pass along to other people easily, so I honestly feel I need for Ryu’s bond with Enonoka’s grandfather to be developed for me to fully appreciate this development and not to feel it was merely a way to get Ryu out of the plot… but maybe the thing will be more developed in the volume version. We’ll see.

Back to the story it’s meaningful how, as Shiraishi says Ryu seems to have found there the place in which he belongs, Tanigaki is in the same panel and below it, in another panel, there’s Cikapasi with a serious expression.

Ryu and Cikapasi came to Karafuto together, both in a way bereft of home as Ryu lost Nihei and Cikapasi his family. They both tagged after Tanigaki, Cikapasi thinking Tanigaki would ‘adopt’ him, Ryu likely thinking he would replace Nihei as his master since Tanigaki had Nihei’s rifle yet Tanigaki never thought to ‘adopt’ either of them. He had kept them with him when they had chased him and had kept responsibility for them and I think in his own way he had grown to care for them but… he was neither Cikapasi’s family nor Ryu’s master.

I wonder if more than him not wanting them, it’s just he didn’t feel ready for it so he avoided considering the option. Taking Ryu, a hunting dog, meant going back to being a Matagi hunter and, although he wants it, he’s not ready to go back home. Taking Cikapasi, a child, would remark the need to form a family with Inkarmat and, although he wants it, he’s probably not TRULY ready yet.

It was Cikapasi who, by telling Tanigaki to offer his rice to Inkarmat, ‘forced him’ to face Inkarmat and the fact he fears she’s still tied to Wilk with the whole sharing rice thing and, although in the end he told her he wanted to share rice with her… he didn’t want to do it right then but in the future, when they both would be free. Tanigaki was procrastinating, likely afraid Inkarmat could still favour Wilk to him.

Marrying Inkarmat for him in a way is like going back home.

Something he wants to do but doesn’t have the guts to. Maybe that’s why he wanted to kill Kiro thinking fulfilling his revenge would this time give him the determination to go back to Inkarmat. And instead he got himself a tiger’s curse.

Personally I think that with Ryu leaving the plot the chances that Tanigaki will go back on being a Matagi hunter will decrease and will lower further when he’ll also give up on Nihei’s rifle.

Anyway the group thanks Ryu for taking care of them till then, which is another hint they plan to leave him to Enonoka’s grandfather… but the scene of them all patting Ryu is really sweet.

Also the fact they are all thanking him for his help NOW seems to imply they know they will part ways with him now, as in they expect Ryu to remain in Enonoka’s village and not come with them in Odomari… and if that’s the case this means they don’t plan to use Enonoka’s sleds as means of transportation.

In fact a horse sled conveniently drops by Enonoka’s village and Tsukishima informs them it’ll carry them to Odomari, confirming they won’t continue their travel to Odomari on Enonoka’s sleds… and this too comes as an abrupt plot development.

Why switching mean of transportation?

Enonoka’s sleds can carry them to Odomari, not only tthey had hired them to carry them around and they travelled with them till Akou but they had met Enonoka very close to Odomari after she had just left it so there should be no problem in her sleds going there.

So why all of sudden break their working contract when Odomari is really close by? Has Koito finished his spending money?

I wonder if there’s a plot meaning to this.

Is Tsukishima afraid if Sugimoto’s group has its own sled they can try to use it to escape? Was he afraid Tsurumi could harm Enonoka and her grandfather? Is the guy on the sled someone relevant to Tsurumi’s plot as his eyes are almost always shaded

(they’re visible only when Tanigaki tells him to stop because Cikapasi fell off the sled).

Also Tsukishima looks as enthusiast of this development as a guy who had just been kicked in the balls.

I wonder if this is tied to Sugimoto and Asirpa. Tsukishima was always urging Sugimoto to get the code from her… did Sugimoto managed to do it? Does Tsukishima know? Does he fear for what Tsurumi will do now?

Hard to say with their discussion between Sugimoto and Asirpa abruptly cut before they even got the chance to mention the code. They seem okay though so maybe no argument between them took place or if it did it got hopefully solved, but Sugimoto knew he was supposed to hurry in getting the code so… am I to assume Asirpa either told him the code or managed to persuade him she actually hadn’t remembered? Did the two of them come up with a plan on how to deal with Tsurumi afterward?

No idea.

On the other side moving on the sledge could be merely a narrative device to have the following plot taking place in Enonoka’s village with no other special in-story reason.

It’s possible, after all the scene works much better here, in Enonoka’s village, and ensure Ryu and Cikapasi are smoothly removed from the cast without any risk for them to meet Tsurumi… whom I don’t think would positively impress Ryu and who could end up looking at Cikapasi and Enonoka as threatening material.

We saw how he handled Ariko, after all, and maybe Tsukishima, out of thankfulness for Enonoka and her grandfather, wanted to make sure they would remain safe. We’ll see.

I don’t know, I think this chapter could have benefitted for more explanations of why changes happen instead than just dropping them on us.

Maybe it’s just me but, from when they got to Akou, I got the feeling some things were rushed up a little without a clear explanation. Svetlana had basically no role, the doctor who took care of Ogata had an unexplained 180° turn when he first didn’t want to welcome Sugimoto’s group in his hospital because it was full then felt obliged to carry Ogata there to take care of him even though Sugimoto basically lead him there by threatening him, we still have no idea whatsoever why Toni and his men were in Noboribetsu and why Tsurumi sent Nikaido and Usami there in advance, it’s unexplained why Hijikata already knew Ariko, that he was an Ainu and his Ainu name, Ryu got left into Enonoka’s grandfather’s care without the man showing interest for him and Tsukishima decided they would reach Osomari with a different mean of transportation when there’s no need for it.

Those are no bad plot decisions (except Svetlana, I’m still hung up on how as a character she basically went nowhere)… it’s just they’re abrupt and/or unexplained and it doesn’t seem like Noda is planning on explaining them. Maybe they’ll be expanded in the volume version, maybe he was just told to rush them up. Hard to say but I wish they had been expanded.

Anyway Koito pays Enonoka, the girls crying as she counts the money and then shakes hands with Koito as she did when they got hired by him.

Sugimoto praises her for being a mature kid (probably because she’s the one handling the money) but well, I like to think we could have gotten that by ourselves.

Cikapasi calls Enonoka but she walks away. Sugimoto tells him they’ll wait for him so that he can talk to her,

because Tanigaki is obviously too busy doing… no idea really, what’s busying you so much Tanigaki?… to play the role of the parent and just watches the scene.

Well, I like to think Tanigaki understands the moment is difficult for Cikapasi, after all Tanigaki seems to have a sad expression and he was there when Enonoka asked Cikapasi if he was really going back. That discussion also was abruptly cut. I wonder if something relevant was said in it but I’ll talk about this later. Tanigaki was also observing Cikapasi and Enonoka during the movieso it can be that deep down he’s concerned and just in denial over the importance of the whole thing.

On another side it’s ironic how Sugimoto tells Cikapasi to talk with Enonoka when he sucked at doing it with Umeko (he basically refused to listen her, telling her only what he wanted to do and then escaping) and Asirpa (actually in Asirpa’s case the first time he escaped in the night without telling her a word and once we were reunited he first lied to her and then he went at it in a rather terrible way, trying to scare her in not murdering people because that would be hell and insisting she should let someone else fight).

Enonoka tells Cikapasi she won’t say goodbye to him because she’ll expect him to get back, then she asks him to not lose the hohciri she gave him once he’ll cut it off (remember? That hohciri had belonged to her father and Cikapasi was meant to cut it away once he would capture/kill a prey on his own) and to not forget her.

Cikapasi promises he won’t forget her, his expression showing us that, although he’s not crying, he’s pained at the idea to leave her, as Koito calls everyone so they can leave.

Koito wants to go back home and back to Tsurumi… though I wonder if deep down what had happened with Ogata is still weighting on him and his wish to meet Tsurumi is also due to confronting them man. I hope he hadn’t just forgotten it and moved on or misinterpreted it but well, I guess we’ll find out in the future.

We see Cikapasi sweats a little as Koito calls him. He’s clearly torn between leaving and staying. Enonoka is still crying.

Going on.

They get all on the sled… well, all except Ryu as they clearly leave him with Enonoka’s grandfather.

As said before I’ll assume the fact Ryu isn’t trying to chase them as a sign Ryu acknowledged Enonoka’s grandfather as his master.

Cikapasi is still serious. He notices Enonoka is hiding behind her grandfather.

When he turns away to stare at the way ahead of him (and it’s relevant how he is all shaded in that moment), Enonoka calls him. He turns back abruptly, his eyes shining, and starts to wave at her, sweating and telling her to wait for him and that he swears he… at this point fate helps him and he slips off the sled.

Tanigaki tells the guy leading the sled to stop as one of them has fallen off of it (as said before this being the only scene in which we’ll see the guys’ eyes as all the other times they’re shadowed…) and asks Cikapasi if he’s fine as the boy stands up. Shiraishi tells him to hurry back on the sled. He doesn’t seem to understand what Cikapasi is waiting for… but well, Shiraishi had only spent a small time with Cikapasi. He might not know of his bond with Enonoka and her grandfather. This panel is also interesting as everyone seems to look at Cikapasi except for Asirpa who seems to look at Tanigaki whose face we cannot see. but maybe it’s just me.

Anyway Cikapasi turns to look at Enonoka and her grandfather and it’s meaningful as he does so his whole body turns toward them (he was already partially turned due to his fall but now he seems to look straight at them). His eyes are particularly shiny as he stares at them and I think it’s Sugimoto the one who tells him they’ll leave without him if he doesn’t come back, but I’m not sure but what matters is how tiny they are. The balloon is right above Cikapasi’s ear, a hint he has heard them but in a way, they’re very far away from him.

Cikapasi thinks back to the movie they filmed about ‘The life of Kesorap’, to how in it he moved to live with Enonoka and her grandfather and formed a real family with them. Cikapasi is clearly wishing/thinking what happened in the movie could be turned into reality, he could really have a happy family with Enonoka and her grandfather instead than keeping on chasing one with Tanigaki and Inkarmat.

He turns toward Tanigaki’s group but it’s as if his feet are glued on the ground.

He had looked at Enonoka and her grandfather with hope before, eyes all shiny, but now, as he looks at Tanigaki and the other, there’s hesitation. He’s sweating and clearly he can’t see his place among them, he doesn’t long to join them back. It’s meaningful the scene is viewed as if the camera was below Cikapasi so that, even if Cikapasi is still a child, in a way he seems taller. He’s facing his first important decision as an adult. His expression is very different from the one of the cheerful kid who trotted around Tanigaki.

Shiraishi doesn’t get why Cikapasi isn’t coming back but it seems he realized something’s wrong with him. Tanigaki instead seems to have a sudden revelation

as he leaves the sled to join Cikapasi, thinking back at all the moments they spent together.

The scenes shown are from chap 95, when they were travelling with Inkarmat and he explained Cikapasi the purpose of his journey was to bring Asirpa’s back as this was his duty and then wanted to hunt with him, the scene from chap 96 in which Inkarmat was in troubles and he hesitated in helping her only to be reminded by Cikapasi they were a family and from chap 167 when they were about to die for the cold and he shared his kane mochi with Sugimoto and Cikapasi.

Basically, sharing his goal and hunting, being told they were a family and risking their life together.

As Tanigaki reaches him, Cikapasi still hadn’t moved and he’s looking down as if feeling guilty, but then he looks up with a serious expression as he calls Tanigaki’s name. He’s sweating a little but I think deep downCikapasi has already decided what he wants to do.

Drops fall on his face and he’s surprised by them.

Tanigaki is crying, his face red, his tears falling on Cikapasi.

It’s worth to note that’s how the scene in ‘The life of Kesorap’ should have gone, with tears falling on Tanigaki instead when filming the movie it was only Cikapasi who cried, only Cikapasi who felt moved.

Tanigaki is prone to cry, he did it when he was about to leave Huci, when he was a burden to the girls in the circus and when he had to say goodbye to them but he hadn’t cried when filming the movie. Maybe he hadn’t understood the meaning of the scene, he hadn’t imagined what it would mean to him to let Cikapasi go. Maybe he hadn’t even considered the possibility as Cikapasi was conveniently following him around without needing for Tanigaki to verbally commit himself to become his father.

However now Tanigaki is finally understanding it, understanding Cikapasi is important but he’s too late.

He had understood this now that Cikapasi has decided to leave him and this probably makes things even more painful as Tanigaki hadn’t considered the possibility.

Tanigaki crying is meaningful. Tanigaki never expressed his wish for him and Cikapasi to be a family and it could be speculated he protected and helped him out of a sense of duty an adult should feel for a child. After all he protected Enonoka too. All he had managed was to acknowledge Cikapasi had been useful and therefore he was glad they hadn’t sent him back… which however was nowhere near close to wanting to have a family with Cikapasi in. So it could be speculated Tanigaki didn’t want him, he just had to cope with him. But now Tanigaki is crying at the idea Cikapasi would leave him and this shows us Tanigaki deep down wanted ‘the fake family’ he had with him and Inkarmat, he wanted for it to be real.

Something else is meaningful.

Tanigaki tells Cikapasi to make a REAL family for himself.

Tanigaki is in pain at the idea Cikapasi is leaving but doesn’t try to persuade him to stay, doesn’t try to tell him he’ll offer him a better family compared to Enonoka’s grandfather and Enonoka. He accepts the fake family he had offered to Cikapasi wasn’t enough and that he had lost. He should have committed to becoming Cikapasi’s father/big brother and instead he had preferred to take it easy and never reassure Cikapasi by then they were a family, not united by blood but by love for each other. He didn’t mean to do it out of laziness, he just had failed in recognizing what really mattered until he lost it. I knew he was going to lose Cikapasi in ‘punishment’ for the tiger’s curse and not realizing sooner how much Cikapasi mattered to him.

I was afraid he could lose him due to something happening to Cikapasi so it’s a relief to see it happening merely because Cikapasi had found a better family.

On another side… the fact he so easily concede defeat still means he’s not ready to commit himself to Cikapasi. Cikapasi’s decision is likely based also on how Tanigaki never promised him anything while Enonoka made clear she wanted him to stay with her and when he said he had to leave she asked him to not to forget her and come back.

In short Cikapasi, who had always wanted a family, in a very adult way decided to stop chasing the dream of a family with Tanigaki and Cikapasi when he had no insurances this could become realty as Tanigaki didn’t seem interested in it, to pursue the real possibility of having a family with Enonoka and her grandfather. Things could change though if Tanigaki were to now offer him a family as well.

Theoretically Tanigaki could offer him a better deal. He’s a man while Enonoka’s grandfather is an old man who won’t live long and Enonoka is a child so Tanigaki can provide to Cikapasi better and for a longer time. He can bring Cikapasi back to Hokkaido where he had grown up. If he marries Inkarmat he can offer him a mother figure.

But Tanigaki concedes defeat. Even as he realizes Cikapasi matters to him, he’s still not willing to fight for him, to form a family with him. His decision to let Cikapasi go is painful but easy… which sadly fits with his character as, although he claims to be a man of duty, ultimately he can’t find the courage to go back home, nor he insisted for Asirpa to go back to Huci or volunteered to help Inkamart overcome her feelings for Wilk, or decided to stay next to Inkarmat until she felt better.

Taigaki can risk his life for duty… but he can’t find the courage to face others or what he truly wants for himself. He escapes responsibilities by setting himself up for side quests, getting revenge instead than supporting his family, killing Kenkichi from behind instead than facing him, remaining in the 7th instead than going back home, hunting Retar instead than admitting he doesn’t want to stay in the 7th any longer, searching for Asirpa instead than going back home, helping her to reach Abashiri instead than insisting she were to go back to Huci because she can concretely die, bringing Asirpa to Huci instead than tying the knot with Inkarmat, pursuing revenge instead than remaining with Inkarmat.

Note that many of the tasks Tanigaki devotes himself to are physically dangerous and would require him to face life threatening experiences… while the ones he tries to avoid are emotionally dangerous and would require him to face people.

Tanigaki is not afraid of death, just to face people and, as long as he doesn’t overcome this, he’s going to lose people.

Anyway, if Cikapasi might have any hesitation based on the hope for his family with Tanigaki to become real, well, now he has no more. Tanigaki made clear what they had wasn’t real nor that he would try to offer him something real.

The best Cikapasi can do for himself is to let him go and focus on what he could instead have.

Cikapasi has a single tear in his eyes as he agrees to do what Tanigaki told him to do.

He’s not crying as much as he did in the movie or as much as Tanigaki. We see he thinks back at when he travelled with Tanigaki and Inkarmat, he seemed happy but he has clearly realized he has to let that happy dream go.

Cikapasi then tells Tanigaki to take care of Inkarmat as she’s alone like him, so Tanigaki has to be a family at least for her. In a way, this is very sad.

Cikapasi cared for Inkarmat, he always had even if he was a child (it’s Cikapasi the first to suggest they’ve to protect her), and even now he’s trying to care for her. He didn’t just want Tanigaki and Inkarmat to marry for himself, so they would become a real family, but for her as well. Even though Tanigaki made clear he wouldn’t adopt him, Cikapasi wants to hope at least he will form a family with Inkarmat.

In fact, his last act of care for her is to tell Tanigaki to become Inkarmat’s family, reminding him SHE IS ALONE LIKE HIM and therefore she needs Tanigaki to take care of her (and stop worrying about Wilk as the guy is dead).

Tanigaki doesn’t reply, he just passes to Cikapasi Nihei’s rifle.

Back in the past Tanigaki claimed he wanted to keep on using Nihei’s rifle even though it was old, so that he wouldn’t forget Nihei’s teachings. Tanigaki however never showed he reminded them well, as HE NEVER WENT BACK HOME AS NIHEI TOLD HIM TO DO but made excuse upon excuse to keep away from it and even fell himself in the trap of leaving his fake family in order to embark in a second quest for revenge.

It’s also noteworthy how Nihei’s whole philosophy of ‘one shot’ didn’t necessarily have to be taken as literal and referring only to bullets.

Nihei told Tanigaki ‘If you have five rounds, you’ll start to think you have five chances. That’s dead wrong. If you don’t end in one shot, you die. I’ve only got one shot, and that’s why I can use it with absolute confidence.’

There’s a high chance Nihei’s philosophy refers to chances in life as well.

If you believes you’ve many possibilities in front of yourself, you might think you have an equal number of chances to get what you want and therefore won’t focus all of yourself on pursuing it with the result you might lose your only chance at getting it.

Nihei’s got that rifle from his son who died in the war after all. Nihei implied his son could have decided to become a hunter like him, instead he volunteered for the Sino-Japanese war, regretted killing people and died before he could return back and become a hunter again. Nihei’s son wasted his chance at a long life as a hunter and paid with his life.

Nihei on the other side clearly wanted to live a fulfilling life till the end, fully focusing on the present, without regretting anything. His philosophy is kind of like the ‘carpe diem’ in a way.

Catch the first chance you’re given and use it well, don’t wait for another, don’t think you’ll surely have another.

Nihei wanted Tanigaki to catch the first chance he got to return back home. Even though he had no idea why Tanigaki ended up on becoming a soldier he even tried to tell Tanigaki it was wrong pursuing revenge, admitting he chose the wrong option when he murdered those guys who shoot him (something Tanigaki didn’t learn as he pursued revenge again to kill Kiro).

It’s interesting to parallel the Nihei/Tanigaki interaction with the Tanigaki/Cikapasi one.

Nihei picked Tanigaki up and yes, he told him he had to go back home instead than keeping him with himself, but that was because Nihei understood Tanigaki HAD a home and it was important for him to return to it. Nihei was willing to make sacrifices to help Tanigaki return home because for Tanigaki it was important.

Cikapasi for a long time didn’t have a home yet Tanigaki neither picked him up (it was Cikapasi who followed him) nor offered him a home and only now, when Cikapasi has basically already decided where his home is, Tanigaki is showing him support in ‘going home’.

Tanigaki thinks he’s mimicking Nihei, leaving Cikapasi there and leaving him the rifle he got from Nihei (well… got… Nihei merely died and Tanigaki got the rifle by chance, Nihei never passed it to him) but actually he’s not getting even remotely close to him.

Nihei willingly did all he could to help him. Tanigaki just… ended up helping Cikapasi by chance.

Back to the story Tanigaki tells Cikapasi he should use the rifle to repay Enonoka’s grandfather (which is a hint Tanigaki is entrusting Cikapasi to the man) but that Cikapasi has to use it when he’ll be old enough (good suggestion though it would have been better if this had been made clear sooner since in the past Tanigaki had left Cikapasi unguarded with his rifle)

and that Tanigaki won’t be there to help him to hold it properly so Cikapasi would have to use it for himself and by himself… another hint Tanigaki isn’t even remotely planning to come back to check on Cikapasi.

From now on Cikapasi will be on his own for what regards Tanigaki.

Enonoka has asked Cikapasi to come back to her. When believing he would leave her, Cikapasi had still promised he would come back. Tanigaki instead is cutting all the bridges with Cikapasi. He’s not saying he might come back to visit, to see how he’s doing, to teach him how to use that rifle when he’ll be of age. He makes clear he WON’T come back, opposed to just saying he MIGHT NOT because life might not allow him or that WILL NOT because he knows life won’t allow him.

While this might be a good way to push Cikapasi not to look back… since Cikapasi has decided to stay here in Karafuto Tanigaki makes clear Cikapasi has to learn to stand on his own… even though he’s only 9… and not to count on Tanigaki anymore.

It’s a bit of a too big request for a child of 9 considering Tanigaki, a man about 21, had needed the help of a man like Nihei.

The next scene is relevant but it’s meaning is a little lost in the English translation.

Cikapasi though, although at first had hugged the rifle, now holds it properly next to himself and with a  very mature expression repeats Tanigaki’s words “standing on his own” (ひとりで立つ ‘Hitori de tatsu’)

pointing out how this too is also a ‘bokki’ (勃起). We’re familiar with the word ‘bokki’ meaning “erection” but in this case it can mean “to stand on my own” as the whole sentence is a word play that don’t quite work equally smoothly in English.

The word play is meaningful also in reference to Cikapasi’s name.

We know that Cikapasi’s name means “the cikap is raising” where ‘cikap’ can either mean “penis” or “bird”. So the meaning is either “the bird is soaring” or “the penis is standing erect”. So far it had been assumed the intended meaning was “the penis is standing erect” which in Japanese would be ‘bokki’. But now, by pointing out that the word ‘bokki’ means also “Standing on my own”, Cikapasi hints his name means more “the bird is soaring” as in “leaving the nest and standing on his own”.

There’s a bird soaring in the title page and it’s also therewhen Tanigaki tells Cikapasi to make a real family for himself and when Cikapasi walks toward Enonoka. @chibivesicle suggested it can be a reference to the bird in ‘The life of Kesorap’ as in that tale Tanigaki interpreted the role of a bird. It’s possible though it also refers to Cikapasi, starting to fly on his own.

At Cikapasi’s reply Tanigaki smiles softly and confirm that too is a ‘bokki’.

I think it didn’t dawn to Tanigaki Cikapasi would answer in such way. Firmly and very adult like and using the word ‘bokki’ with such meaning. Cikapasi had grown, likely much more than Tanigaki, and he’s set on the right path.

Tanigaki leaves Cikapasi his bag (we could see Tanigaki had it when it left the sled and now it’s on Cikapasi’s feet) and Cikapasi asks him to bring Asirpa home so Huci will feel better.

Tanigaki confirms he’ll do it. Honestly I think he won’t manage to do it at all.

Anyway the rest of the group says goodbye to Cikapasi. They don’t cry but seem happy for him, apparently understanding Cikapasi, like Ryu, had decided this is his place. I’m particularly happy to see Koito is smiling as well.

The last page shows us three panels.

In the first there’s clear the image of Cikapasi, standing on his own, Nihei’s rifle in his hand,

in the second there’s a serious Tanigaki, all shaded, leaving behind Cikapasi and Nihei’s rifle, their images sort of fading,

while the final panel showing Cikapasi going toward Enonoka who runs toward him with Ryu.

While the final image is happy and hopeful I think this might be the start of the downhill spiral for Tanigaki. He was shaded, opposed to Cikapasi who’s always clear (except when he was about to leave Enonoka), meaning Cikapasi was the light and he’s leaving it behind, walking toward a dark path.

The contrast between Cikapasi and Tanigaki is stricking in a way, while Tanigaki is leaving his family, Cikapasi is walking toward his own.

Tanigaki has lost his chance to form a family with Cikapasi, and with the loss of Ryu and Nihei’s rifle, I think he has lost also his chance to go back on being a Matagi hunter, to go back home.

Tanigaki thinks he still has other rounds, namely bringing Asirpa to Huci, returning to Inkarmat and then going back home but I think he actually has lost all his chances, the chances he hadn’t caught when he could. Pursuing revenge again caused him to lose Cikapasi, Ryu and the rifle… and might have caused him to lose Inkarmat too… and I wouldn’t be surprised if this would reflect on Huci and Tanigaki’s family as well.

The first time Tanigaki pursued revenge, although he was punished with the loss of his mother and the discovery his quest for revenge was wrong, he was also given a chance in form of him learning the truth about his sister’s dead and getting a shoot at a new life. If he had had the guts to go back home and apologize to his father he could have restarted again from where he left… but he procrastinated… and kept on procrastinating even though he was shown he could easily die and never come back (killed by Retar, killed by the amappo) and he met up a man who desperately wanted to live and die in the wilderness he considered home and that tried to tell him to go back home.

Tanigaki just couldn’t grasp his chance to go back home. He was given the chance to form a new home, one with Inkarmat, Cikapasi and Ryu… and let that one chance escape as well.

Maybe I’m being pessimistic… but I doubt Tanigaki will have more chances.

Still, I was really hoping for Tanigaki to grow, understand his mistakes and have a chance at finally finding a home but Tanigaki just doesn’t seem to learn his lesson and I don’t know what it would take for him to learn it.

He seems to think he can just hand Asirpa to Tsurumi, has her tell him the code and then carry her back to Huci and go back to Inkarmat. First of all I’ve my doubts on Asirpa WANTING to tell the code to Tsurumi, and Tanigaki hadn’t even tried to taste the waters in that regard.

Has Tanigaki considered she might not want to do it? Has he considered what Tsurumi might do in that case? We saw how he persuaded Ariko to cooperate with him… Has Tanigaki considered Asirpa might give Tsurumi the code and Tsurumi might still be unwilling to let her go so as to make sure she wouldn’t give it to Hijikata? That he might kill her to make sure she wouldn’t give it to Hijikata?

And what about Inkarmat?

Is Inkarmat still alive or has Ienaga eaten her? Is Inkarmat going to be used by Tsurumi to manipulate Tanigaki? Or does Inkarmat still have her own agenda unknown to us? Is she going to be happy Tanigaki left Cikapasi in Karafuto?

Besides… does he really think Tsurumi will let him go? And even if he were… has he considered the consequences of Tsurumi finding the gold for himself who wouldn’t be able anymore to go back home as Hokkaido would turn into a military state and they would all be considered traitors by Japan? For Inkarmat and the other Ainu like Huci, Makanakkuru and Osoma?

Tanigaki needs to start thinking at this sort of things or he’ll soon meet his downfall.

I don’t think he’ll die though. The tiger’s curse involves an unhappy life so theoretically Tanigaki should live and be unhappy… unless he manages to lift it. Can it be done though? We’ll see.

On a minor side note regarding Nihei’s rifle I think Cikapasi will take good care of it, enough to make Ogata proud. For him it’s an important memento and we saw he didn’t let go of it not even when he was facing the wolverine.

And now I’d like to focus a little on Cikapasi as people wondered again if the presence of this little boy in the story had a purpose and why was he pulled out from the story now.

We know Cikapasi is an orphan however Ainu don’t abandon their orphans to themselves.

We are told that, at Asirpa’s village the elders would ‘look after’ him… but it seems more like they just feed him (we know Huci was among the ones who did so). Cikapasi comes and goes as he pleases and remarks often when he leaves to follow Tanigaki how no one waits for him at the Kotan (chap 87) and how he has no home to return (chap 140). Makanakkuru didn’t even know his name, a sign Huci hadn’t taken him in, as an adoptive grandson, and introduced him to her son, she just would hand him food.

Maybe for Cikapasi it felt as if they were giving him charity food, not taking care of him… though it’s worth to point out though that I’m not really sure how an Ainu family work. Asirpa has a family and her family let her live alone on the mountains when she was younger than Cikapasi and now they are okay with her travelling through Hokkaido with a man she met and a convict  to hunt the gold.

Cikapasi likely got even less attention, hence his desperate wish to get a family.

This was Cikapasi’s true goal likely. Sure, he might have wanted to help Huci but I think the real key point was he believed he had bonded with Tanigaki and wanted to prove himself so that he would have more chances to bond with him and, ultimately, be adopted. Inkarmat, being an orphan as well, caught up basically as soon as she saw him and made him part of their group sort of giving him also what he wanted, giving birth to the creation of the fake family.

But Cikapasi clearly longed to turn that fake family into a real one and did all he could for it.

Inkarmat seemed to care for him but she had too many personal issues to deal with.

Cikapasi laced to Tanigaki but Tanigaki didn’t manage to answer in kind.

On the other side Enonoka had started to consider him part of his family after he had helped her to retrieve her dog, proof is she had given the hohciri that used to belong to her father.

Enonoka made clear she didn’t want Cikapasi to leave, that the thing saddened her tremendously, that she wanted him to not forget her and come back. Enonoka wanted Cikapasi in her family and made it clear to him.

In short, choosing to stay in a foreign land to have a family with Enonoka instead than stubbornly pursuing a family he might never have with Tanigaki or leaving for a side quest (bringing Asirpa back) when his presence is unneeded means Cikapasi correctly used his own one bullet, correctly handled the chance to have what he truly wanted.

That’s why Cikapasi’s adventure can end here, with him reaching HIS REAL GOAL, having a real family.

Cikapasi’s choice wasn’t easy, the story made it clear. He clearly still felt some obligations toward Inkarmat, toward Huci, toward Asirpa… but understood he wasn’t the one meant to fix things in Inkarmat’s case and in Asirpa and Huci’s case he probably has no idea handing Asirpa to Tsurumi doesn’t mean to have her go back home as he might have swallowed they only wanted to ‘save’ Asirpa, not use her for the code.

Why Cikapasi’s story is important?

Cikapasi, so far, is the first character who grasps the correct choice for himself, who understood he didn’t have to leave in a side quest the people he love promising he’ll return when he actually could simply STAY THERE.

Cikapasi understood he didn’t have to leave to go search for happiness, himself, revenge, a family, money, truth, glory or whatever, all he needed was there… and he was brave enough to decide to stay. He decided to stop chasing something that might not become true, his dream of a family with Tanigaki and Inkarmat, to grab the concrete possibility to have a family with people who wanted him, Enonoka and her grandfather.

It’s a decision the adults weren’t capable to make.

In a way or another the adults (and Asirpa too) wish for a place to belong, their own family yet they all, for a reason or another, left their beloved ones thinking they could always come back and then… Tsurumi send his wife and daughter away without explaining them things due to his work as a spy… only had his wife trying to come back to him and dying with his daughter, Tsukishima and Sugimoto came back too late (Egogusa was either dead or married off, Umeko married) and now Sugimoto is chasing the gold because without it he isn’t capable to go back home, Ogata stubbornly searched for his father’s love when the man clearly had none for him and his mother, Tanigaki pursued a pointless revenge and lost his mother, now he pursued another pointless revenge and he lost Ryu, Nihei’s rifle, Cikapasi and possibly Inkarmat, Inkarmat pursued her own goal only to see Wilk being killed in front of her, Sofia didn’t even get that much and gave up on any chance of family to be a revolutionary, Kiro won’t come back home to his family… and Asirpa might come back too late to see Huci again.

I like to think Cikapasi’s story is here to remark this, that the guys are making the wrong choices, pursuing something that’s not truly important and, as a result, neglecting what truly matters to them in order to be happy and ending up on losing it.

Now… in Cikapasi’s story there’s only a part I’ve to admit I’ve disliked.

So far we’ve only seen Cikapasi interact with Enonoka. She’s the one who doesn’t want Cikapasi to leave, she’s the one who’s close to him and seriously distraught at the idea of him going away, begging him not to forget her. WE NEVER SAW CIKAPASI INTERACT WITH ENONOKA’S GRANDFATHER.

The FAKE family Cikapasi had with Tanigaki and Inkarmat had them playing the parents and he playing the child.

Theoretically we would expect the new family to have Enonoka’s grandfather playing the father/grandfather with Cikapasi being the child meaning there should have been somewhere in the story some focus on Enonoka’s grandfather becoming a parent figure to Cikapasi.

The man though was only shown showing love, care and interaction with his granddaughter, we never saw him interacting with Cikapasi. It’s not he avoids him, they’re just not shown together, except that when filming the movie.

The movie ‘The life of Kesorap’ however, which is mean to parallel Cikapasi’s story doesn’t make things better as in it Cikapasi had a family because he MARRIED Enonoka and therefore became her father’s son.

Long story short, yes, in the movie Cikapasi got a family, but not as a child finding parents but as a man finding a wife and becoming part of his wife’s family.

Therefore, since Enonoka’s grandfather wasn’t shown to have a meaningful bond with Cikapasi, the story seems to suggest THE REAL FAMILY Tanigaki spoke of and that Cikapasi has to form is with Enonoka, by marrying her and therefore entering in her family.

It’s Enonoka after all who doesn’t want to let him go, who wants him to come back for her, and who’s shown with him in the cover… and the implication Cikapasi remained there JUST FOR HER is big.

Personally though I want to think that the movie is merely foreshadowing that Cikapasi will marry Enonoka in the future, not telling us Cikapasi, a child of 9, has to choose to form a family (or better devote himself into forming one in the future) in order to have one.

I want to think Cikapasi had found a family willing to welcome him and this could later develop in Cikapasi forming his own family with Enonoka but it’s not the reason due to which they’re welcoming him in it.

This could have been easily solved involving the grandfather. He could have interacted with Cikapasi or, at least, I would have been contented if Enonoka’s conversation in chap 204 hadn’t been cut but she had said something along the line of Cikapasi not having to leave as he could stay there and even her grandfather would be happy to have him there.

Instead, same as with Ryu, we’re asked to imagine the old man wanting to welcome Cikapasi in his family (and not just Enonoka independently asking Cikapasi to stay), our only two hints Tanigaki saying Cikapasi can use the rifle to repay Enonoka’s grandfather, implying the man will take care of him and Cikapasi staring at him and Enonoka and not just at Enonoka when he looked back with light in his eyes.

And yes, I know we can imagine it, same as we can imagine he wanted Ryu among his dogs… but the man is seriously underdeveloped as a character when this would have been the perfect chance to give him some space. It would have been great if it had turned out Asirpa knew of the man’s wish to adopt Cikapasi and that’s why she gave them those parts in the movie (instead than giving to Sugimoto the role of the hero again which was a relevant change for her).

So yes, I love how Cikapasi and Ryu found a place to stay they can call home but I think the story would have benefitted of more developments in regard to their interactions with the person welcoming them in their homes. Otherwise I feel that the story is just begging on my suspension of disbelief in exchange for them to get a nice house and this ruins my enjoyment of their choices.

Of course there’s a third alternative.

We never saw Enonoka’s grandfather interact with Cikapasi because there was no need to. Hokkaido Ainu feed orphaned children. Maybe Karafuto Ainu do the same hence if Cikapasi remains there, OF COURSE he’ll remain in the care of the Ainu village, which would explain why Tanigaki said ‘Henke and the rest of them’ and not just Henke.

Back in Hokkaido Makkanakkuru said Cikapasi was an odd child who didn’t socialize. Here he bonded with Enonoka.

Basically, Cikapasi’s family, wouldn’t be just Enonoka and her grandfather but the whole village.

Cikapasi is now able to give up on his wish to have parents to go back into the Ainu system in which the village would take care of him until he’s older.

His ‘odd’ behaviour was probably due to the trauma of losing the parents but now he has recovered and he can accept Enonoka’s Ainu community as a ‘family’, without longing anymore for what he can’t have back (his dead parents of whom Inkarmat and Tanigaki were just an ideal replacement).

It’s possible, but honestly I’m not sure about this interpretation either.

I guess coming from a different culture it’s hard for me to grasp Noda’s intended meaning. Maybe it’s a little of all of the above.

Anyway for this chapter is all, see you in the next!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Theories, speculations and what else for the future

Tossing in a bunch of theories, specilation and what else for future developments.

POSSIBLE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR THE SUGIMOTO GROUP

This is made without considering the unpredictable (ice breaking again so as to force them to part or end in the water, Russians circling them, wild animals/convicts attacking them, an alien attack and what else):

We’ve left them with Ogata unconscious and Sugimoto telling Asirpa they should chase Kiroranke. From here we can have:

- Sugimoto’s group leaves Ogata as he is, while he’s unconscious and can’t move and even if he were to wake up he’ll probably could do little and where the ice can break under him and cause him to fall in the water or an animal can attack him.

- They try to drag him along in the Kiro hunt, even though it would be pretty unpractical for them, not mentioning unsafe. Someone has to physically carry Ogata as, even if they were to wake him up, I’m not sure he can move on his own and Asirpa can’t be the one carrying him for obvious reasons which leaves only Shiraishi and Sugimoto. Sugimoto is better suited for this but if he were to do so he would have problems hunting Kiro, so the task would fall on Shiraishi who’s not that physically strong.

- They’ll give up on hunting Kiro and try to move Ogata to a place where they could take care of him as some serious medical aid would do him good.

- They’ll split, someone remains with Ogata to take care of him, and someone goes to Kiro hunt. If that’s the case Asirpa will likely remain behind as she’ll know how to take care of him while Sugimoto will go hunt for Kiro. No idea what Shiraishi will do.

Personally I think the best choice would be for the group to give up on the Kiro hunt (not that they know but Kiro had been stabbed and he’s not going anywhere anyway) but Sugimoto seemed to wish for it pretty badly so I’m not sure he’ll consider giving up and therefore I think the most likely solution is they’ll split.

On a sidenote chap 188 created an interesting reference with the gospel of Matthew which mentioned eye loss, and then will move to the parable of the lost sheep, the brother who sin and forgiving seventy-seven times.

However if we switch to the gospel of John we’ve the part in which Jesus was arrested, with his following interrogations and Peter’s three denials… but well, so far Golden Kamuy hadn’t referenced John’s gospel…

(in the last supper Matthew was Ogata, John was Shiraishi, Peter was Sugimoto and, of course, Jesus was Asirpa)

POSSIBLE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR TANIGAKI AND KIRO

Kiroranke is likely dying as his wound is pretty serious and it’s unlikely he’ll get appropriate medical aid. It’s however the sort of wound that kills you slowly. This means he could try to go back to Sofia before dying.

On a personal note though I hope he’ll talk to Tanigaki first, to tell him that the whole thing with Inkarmat was an incident and that, despite everything, he’s satisfied because he managed to bring Asirpa to Sofia. In short Kiro is dying for his cause, very much as Kenkichi died… though I’d like for him to also have some last words for the family he’s leaving behind. But well, since he think his cause will be beneficial to them as well, maybe he won’t feel the need for it.

On another note, but that’s mostly because I like the mystery, I want for Kiro to deny any involvement in the Ainu murder. I want him to claim he was sure Wilk did it and that’s why he felt obliged to kill him.

Mind you, Kiro could have done it, the Ainu could have been killed by explosive, hence their disemboweled bodies and Wilk burned out face. However as I said I like mysteries so for me it would be more interesting if Kiro acted under the wrong belief Wilk did it and there was actually a third party involved.

Lastly… I’ve no idea if Tanigaki can get up after Kiro smashed that ice block on his head. He seems conscious enough but still on the ground. He should have at least a concussion. I’m not sure he can go walk around.

We’ll see… but, although I love Tanigaki, I still think it would make sense if he were to face some misfortune for killing a ‘tiger’ at least until he were to regret giving in to his wish for revenge.

POSSIBLE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR KOITO, TSUKISHIMA AND SVETLANA

Maybe it’s just me but I fear Tsukishima is going to blow up at Koito. The meeting with Svetlana has shown to have upset him as it likely awoke painful memories from his past.

Tsukishima might be in a state in which he isn’t willing to put up with Koito any longer even though, truth to be told, this time isn’t like Koito did something terribly wrong.

However there’s Svetlana to consider and how Tsukishima wanted to carry her to the dog sled. Will he pass the task to Koito or will he do it himself?

And Svetlana herself with her obsession to see Saint Petersburg… instead than let’s say Vladivostok which is a lot closer and who’s wearing a male coat and used to hand with Sofia. Is she up on something? Is she in Sofia’s group of ‘friends’ and actually she’s only playing a role here? I’ll admit I’ll be more intrigued if she were and there would be more about her, because otherwise she’ll be a little flat. But again this might be just me.

POSSIBLE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR SOFIA

I just can’t think at Sofia disappearing from the plot so early. I would speculate that if Sugimoto’s group parts ways she might think Asirpa and Ogata and take them away. Of course there would be a problem with her talking with Asirpa as her Japanese is poor and Asirpa’s Russian is inexistent.

On another side we know that Sofia can speak French and Koito very likely can as well so if Sofia could get her hands on his she can use him as interpreter.

However for Sofia to get Ogata, Asirpa and Koito I think she needs to have some accomplices as I doubt Ogata is in the shape to walk on his own and Koito won’t come along obediently.

Kiroranke said Sofia has dozens of underlings in Ankou prison. Now that the weather has improved they could regroup though and help her.

We’ll see.

In a way it would be fitting if Sugimoto were to lose Asirpa again because too taken by the idea of hunting for Kiro.

POSSIBLE CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS FOR OGATA

No, I don’t think he’ll die and, unless we’re going to have a time jump forward, he’s probably not up to much. Tanigaki spent a lot of time in bed before recovering so, while I’m pretty sure he might go back sniping in the future, this will be IN THE FUTURE.

The story had given hints that, if he doesn’t get abandoned on the ice, he might develop in a more positive manner, so I’m hopeful for him.

I know everyone is having fun drawing him with a black eyepatch but I’d like it if, instead, he were to use Asirpa’s Matanpushi (the embroidered headband Asirpa wears). I guess I can blame this to how Asirpa’s grandmom bandaged Tanigaki’s head with her own Matanpushi.

Also, in term of personal preferences, I’d like for him instead than have another flashback through dreams to just talk about his past. I know flashback through dreams can be viewed as more reliable (not that they are as not necessarily one dreams the truth) but I think it would be better for him to talk about things than just… dream them.

And it’ll be nice if Asirpa were to set him straight on something important: it doesn’t matter how good your reasons are for doing something, if your feelings are against it, you’ll still feel guilty. Actually it doesn’t have to be Asirpa who set him straight on this but as Sugimoto is also having problems with this I can’t expect this from him... and I’m not sure Shiraishi would be up to the task. Sofia would be fine but also we know Sofia tried to suppress her heart so she’s probably not up to the task as well.

On an weird sidenote Sugimoto bandaged both his eyes, even though only one got removed so Ogata can’t see. To make up for it both Asirpa and Sugimoto should reek of Shiraishi’s piss and Ogata has a great nose. I wonder if this can play in future developments.

POSSIBLE REASONS FOR WHY OGATA GOT INVOLVED IN THE GOLD HUNT

- He wants all the gold for himself for money related reasons (as in: he longs for a life of luxury or just for a really huge collection of rifles, etc…)

- He wants all the gold for ambition related reasons (as in: to buy himself an easy career in the Japanese army or to win acceptance for the remaining relatives he might have in his father’s family or to get himself legally acknowledged as his father’s heir, etc…)

- He wants only part of the gold for himself to satisfy a personal need (as in: he has to pay a family debt, he wants to move in a better place where he could start a new life, etc…)

- He wants only part of the gold for gold for someone else (as in: he wants to give it to his grandma or to someone else he’d like to help, etc…)

- He doesn’t want the gold, he just doesn’t want another to have it (as in: he has a grudge on Tsurumi and doesn’t want him to get it, etc…)

- He doesn’t want the gold, he’s in merely for the chase (as in: hunting it gave him a purpose as he had no idea what to do with his life, etc…)

- He doesn’t want the gold, he wants something that’s buried with the gold

Personally, as the gold is an insane amount and Ogata is scarce in resources, I don’t think he might really want it all. In fact taking it all away and converting it all in money would require resources Ogata doesn’t have. It’s a work that could be done by someone who has manpower and connections, not him.

True, he could hand it out to the Japanese government in exchange of favours (title, ranking, etc…) but it would require him to trust the government to pay him back. As Ogata isn’t really prone to trust others I see this as unlikely.

While Ogata wasn’t completely sincere when talking with Asirpa he remarked he would have done everything for the gold which seems to fit with his behavior as he really risks a lot to get it.

At the same time though, alter the last developments in which he was completely okay with dying, searching for the gold seemed to be all Ogata had that kept him going.

The moment he gave up on it, it’s the moment he’s okay with Asirpa killing him. So whatever he planned to do with the gold wasn’t something he just wanted but something that was meant to give his life either a purpose or a closure (if getting the gold was actually the last thing he planned to do).

Hard to guess what it was, maybe it was really just to pay his family debt as he hinted he’d like to go back home to eat anglerfish nabe but his mother by now is long dead and so it’s not like she can make it for him. So, among so many characters who’d like to go back home but are afraid to do it, Ogata might be the only one who’d like to go back home but CAN’T as his home doesn’t exist any longer.

We’ll see.

IF THE AINU WEREN’T KILLED BY KIRO OR WILK THEN WHO DID THE DEED?

Assuming I’ll get my wish and there’s a third person/party involved in the murder of the Ainu, who could that person/party be?

The Ainu were many and were dismembered. Either they were attacked by many or a single person could get this result with some explosive. However unless the dismembering happened because Wilk tried to hide how he survived the murder attempt, if it was the explosive that caused it, then it would be an overkill. We saw Kiro didn’t need to use that much to murder the Russian guards.

Hence it’s someone not expert with explosives.

We know Tsurumi was after the gold, but since he didn’t get it and couldn’t get it by murdering the people who knew where it was, I would discharge him as possible culprit and think the culprit is someone who actually doesn’t want for the gold to be found.

This would point to an Ainu and would explain why all their objects had a small cut.

 The Ainu we know who voiced his disliking about using the gold was Asirpa’s uncle, who viewed the gold as cursed

It could make sense it was him as the old person who knew of the gold in Asirpa’s village was probably her grandfather and he would have likely been more prone to pass the info to his son than to his son-in-law... though of course we can’t tell for sure and there might be rivalries at play as well.

Of course it could have been someone else who did it, someone we hadn’t seen yet (the other remaining Ainu we know is Kirawus who 10 years ago met up with Nihei and therefore could have been in the Otaru’s area but somehow I doubt he’s involved).

Still, since explosive was used, both Wilk and Kiro could have thought the other to be responsible. Wilk could have remained injured, hence his disfigurement, and might have tried escaping and report ‘Kiroranke’s’ betrayal.

Kiro might heve believed instead Wilk was escaping because he was the one who betrayed.

Tsurumi might not know of a third Ainu person’s involvement, or if he does he might not know who that person is, but might have used the incident to put the others against Kiroranke by claiming the fingerprints were Kiro’s. In this way Inkarmat would continue to support Tsurumi against Kiro, giving him information about the whole group.

We’ll see. For now this is just because I like complicate plots. As said before Kiro might have very well been the one who murdered all the Ainu

EXTRA

Last but not least I would like for Wada's death to reveal it had a bigger purpose than show Tsurumi was capable of killing superior officers. I'd love it if Tamai and Co's rebellion was counting on him for support and if we were to get more info about them but that's probably just me.

[jokertrap-ran]

Collar X Malice ~Unlimited~ Limited Tokuten drama CD

「 I'm him and he's a cat 」

*Spoiler free: Translations under cut * Will be added to master-list soon *Thank you @mineokun​ and @merlinii​ for proofreading!

Commissions open!

CollarxMalice -Unlimited- Limited Tokuten drama CD.

I'm him and he's a cat

Mineo: Whoa, the lightning seems to be coming closer to us now.

Okazaki: You’re right…

Okazaki: I have to hide it snugly under my shirt.

Mineo: Right? Wait, Okazaki!? I’ve had enough of you getting me into trouble! Didn’t I tell you to stop your unlawful trespassing!?

Okazaki: Sorry about that but I happened to chance upon this cat outside.

Okazaki: It seemed terrified by the lightning so I thought that it could take shelter here.

Cat: Meow...

Mineo: A cat?

Shiraishi: It’s No.26. It’s a scaredy cat so wouldn’t it be sad if we left it outside?

Mineo: Shiraishi’s actually being kind!?

Mineo: Spears won’t start plummeting from the sky instead of lightning now, would they…?

Shiraishi: Hehh... Is that all you have to say?

Mineo: Ah, no, I was just…

Shiraishi: I heard the god of lightning gives a person gangrene as punishment. I’d like to see whatever you’re reduced to...

Shiraishi: How about you go on your belly and roll around in the grass for a bit?

Mineo: No hecking way! Besides, that’s just a superstition!

Sasazuka: Shut up. You’re all being way too noisy. If you want to kick up a fuss then do it outside.

Sasazuka: Also, getting struck by lightning might help fix your stupidity while you’re at it.

Okazaki: Hm? Takeru, aren’t you being way pricklier than usual?

Yanagi: There’s a chance that the storm might cause a power failure when it hits. I’m currently working on the computer here but…

Okazaki: Ahh, I see. You’ll lose all your data on the desktop if there’s a power failure.

Mineo: Hey, you guys think Hoshino’s okay? I think she said that she was going to pop by the office today.

Shiraishi: Eheheh. This is you we’re talking about, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you were thinking of getting closer to her in this huge storm.

Mineo: HUH!? N-No, not really… I wasn’t thinking anything like that! Besides, she’s just a fellow investigator… I wouldn’t do something like that!

Sasazuka: Well, you can relax. That stupid cat hasn’t noticed one bit.

Mineo: Ngh!

Okazaki: Don’t cry, Mineo. You can leave the role of hugging her as the lightning strikes to me!

Yanagi: Hey. Don’t declare your plans for sexual harassment in the middle of his turmoil.

Mineo: Damn it! All of you making fun of me! You’re making a big mistake if you think I’ll stay a naive teenager forever!! When it really comes down to it, I...!

Mineo: Hoshino, are you afraid of lightning?

Mineo: Have no fear. I’m by your side, aren’t I?

Mineo: Heh.. Still scared?

Mineo: Don’t mind the lightning. Instead of the lightning, look at me...

Mineo: I’ll make you fall so hard for me, you won’t have time to be scared.

Mineo: ARGHHH--!! Just how bold can I get?! Ngh…

Shiraishi: Would you look at that... He’s getting all riled up over his own imagination.

Sasazuka: It’s his final hour. Leave him be.

Okazaki: It’s great to see he’s always having fun.

Yanagi: Enomoto, calm down a little would you?

Mineo: Ah--! I was too caught up in my imagination…

Mineo: But now, my heart is ready!

Mineo: I’ll become a man today!

Okazaki: 100 yen says he can’t.

Sasazuka: 100 from me too.

Shiraishi: I’ll go for 1000. Wait, but this won’t work as a bet at all...unless…

Shiraishi: Yanagi, will you bet on him succeeding?

Yanagi: Sorry, Enomoto. I don’t want to pay up these guys…

Mineo: Y-Yanagi, not you too! You’re going to crush my dreams before they’ve even begun!?

Yanagi: No, I know that you’ll strive to attain your goal. I know that, but…

Mineo: That’s fine… I’m a loser who isn’t anything like you at all, not even my wit can compare…

Shiraishi: Oh dear, what have you done, Yanagi? He’s withering!

Yanagi: If you really want to get to the root of this problem then weren’t you guys the one who started it?

Yanagi: Don’t treat Enomoto like a plaything!

Sasazuka: Isn’t his overly-active imagination also to blame here? Even though he has no courage to make it into reality.

Okazaki: Right, let’s see… How about we lower the hurdle?

Okazaki: Maybe just touching hands would work out fine?

Shiraishi: Enomoto, you should be able to do it if it’s merely touching hands, right?

Mineo: O-Of course I can! Be my witness, for I’ll grasp Hoshino’s hands the moment she comes waltzing in!

Okazaki: Grasp, you say? Just a little nudge will work fine.

Sasazuka: You might get punched in the gut if you do it too casually.

Okazaki: Don’t really want all your enthusiasm to go to waste like that, you know?

Mineo: N-No way!!

Yanagi: Enomoto, don’t go latching onto their words like a lost puppy.

Yanagi: Just go at your own pace. Don’t force yourself.

Mineo: Ngh! What a force that can even penetrate Susano himself!

Mineo: As expected of Yanagi-senpai, what a great learning experience!

Sasazuka: But the main point here is about the stupid cat, no?

Sasazuka: She’ll come over braving that huge storm if we don’t do something about it.

Yanagi: I guess I should contact her just in case and tell her that she doesn’t have to come by if she can’t manage it. That way’s much sa-

Mineo: Uwah!!

Mineo: Hweeh!

Mineo: What, what!? Is it an enemy attack!?

Sasazuka: Relax, it’s just thunder.

Sasazuka: Damn it, I do hope my data’s still safe…

No.26: Meow? Meeoww!

Okazaki in Yanagi’s body:Ah, the cat’s frightened. It’s okay, everything’s alright. The light will come back on in a while.

No26  in Okazaki’s body: Meow! Meoww?? Meow-

Mineo: O-Okazaki? What’s with you all of a sudden?

Sasazuka: DId you get shell-shocked by the lightning or something?

Okazaki in Yanagi’s body: Me? I don’t particularly mind some thunder and lightning.

Okazaki in Yanagi’s body: I wonder why Yanagi-san yelled…?

Yanagi in Shiraishi’s body: From that tone of voice, Okazaki?

Okazaki (Yanagi;s body): Hm? How unusual for Shiraishi-san to drop the nicknames.

Yanagi (Shiraishi’s body): I’m not Shiraishi...I’m Yanagi.

Mineo: Come onnnn! What’s up with you too, Shiraishi-san!?

Mineo: That joke isn't funny in the slightest!

Sasazuka: No wait. Yangai-san’s acting weird.

Sasazuka: The tone he’s speaking with is disgusting.

Yanagi: Although it seems like Enomoto and Sasazuka are perfectly fine.

Mineo: Eh? W-What do you mean by that?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Oh! The light’s are back on.

Okazaki (Yanagi): But...Uh, I’m in front of myself now. How is this happening?

No26 (Okazaki): Meow…?

Mineo: Hey! O-Okazaki don’t rub against me!

Mineo: You’ve been meowing since earlier. What are you!? A cat!?

Sasazuka: Are you for real? Is this even possible?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): I don’t really want to put much thought into it but this seems like reality.

Sasazuka: I would have written it off as a joke if it was only Okazaki-san and Shiraishi-san who were affected but…

Sasazuka: To think that even Yanagi-san’s acting like that…

Okazaki (Yanagi): Does this mean that I’m Yanagi-san now?

Sasazuka: Yeah, he really does gives me the creeps.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): That kinda stings, Sasazuka. How about you choose your words a tad more carefully now?

Shiraishi (No26): Meow! Meow!!

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Shiraishi wouldn’t keep his silence in a situation like this...So that means that he’s this cat here?

Shiraishi (No.26): Meooooww!

Mineo: What are you going on about, Shiraishi-san? There’s no way you can turn into a legitimate cat as much as you adore those feline crea-

Mineo: OUCH!! W-What!? The glare this cat’s giving me’s a little scary…

Mineo: You looked so peaceful back when the lights were still on!

Sasazuka: Like I said, their bodies were switched.

Enomoto: Ohh! I see!

Enomoto: HUH!? THEY SWITCHED BODIES!?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Yeah. You might not believe it but it seems like everyone has switched bodies with the exception of you and Sasazuka.

Enomoto: No no, aren’t you being way too calm about this whole thing?

Enomoto: Why isn’t everyone kicking much more of a fuss than this?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): We can’t do anything but to accept it because this is reality we’re talking about.

Yanagi (Shiraishi):Judging from your actions and attitude towards me, I guess I’m parading around in Okazaki’s body.

Okazaki (Yanagi): That’s right. We just have remain level-headed and deal with this issue. You must be Yanagi-san, despite looking like Shiraishi-san.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Yeah. And inside Okazaki…

No.26 (Okazaki): Meow? Meoowww???

Okazaki (Yanagi): Is the cat that I bundled into here, huh.

Sasazuka: So that means that Shiraishi-san’s inside the cat and…

Shiraishi (No.26): Meowwwww.

Enomoto: This is...him?

Enomoto: I want to think of it as a joke and all but...It does give off similar vibes…

Shirashi (No.26): Meow...Meowww!!

Enomoto: This cat’s been on the edge since earlier...I bet he’s really elated about this turn of events!!

Sasazuka: Well, leaving Shiraishi aside, I don’t think we can leave Yanagi-san and the rest alone like that.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Of course, I have absolutely no intentions of living as Shiraishi.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Hmm, I do like my own face and I really have no confidence in being a reliable dad like Yanagi-san.

Enomoto: Uwah, it really is Okazaki inside that body…

Enomoto: Speaking in that manner while parading around as Yanagi-senpai’s a spell for disaster…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Yeah, It’s way harder seeing myself speak like that even though I’m in Shiraishi’s body.

Okazaki (Yanagi): How mean! I’m just speaking like how I usually do.

Sasazuka: That’s why I’m telling you not to do it while you have Yanagi’s face! It’s disgusting…

Sasazuka: Lightning struck when you all switched bodies, right?

Sasazuka: So wouldn’t it all go back to normal once lightning strikes again?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Oh! You’re right, that might work!

Okazaki (Yanagi):I should try doing things that only Yangai-san would do since I’m in his body now!

Enomoto: O-Okazaki...What are you planning to do in his body!?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Of course, if we’re talking about things that only he would do...It has to be none other than this.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Phew- Ack! cough!

Okazaki (Yanagi): What’s this? How do you even smoke something like this?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Don’t get all teary-eyed over a little smoke…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): But still, why smoking?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Being an SP means that your body has to be in top form so we can’t smoke.

Okazaki (Yanagi) :But...Hmm...I can’t really say that it’s delicious…

Enomoto: Yanagi-san, don’t you have anything you want to do now that you’re in Shiraishi’s body?

Enomoto: It’s best to enjoy yourself in cases like this, just like what Okazaki’s doing.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Now that you mention it...I can’t really think of anything.

All: Whoah!!

Shiraishi: Oh? I’m already back to my original body, huh. And here I was thinking of napping on top of Enomoto’s head. What a pity...

Yanagi: You’re probably the only guy who’d enjoy being in a cat’s body.

Shiraishi: Oh, Yanagi-kun. I see you’re back to normal, which means Okazaki-kun and the cat should also be…

Okazaki (No.26): Meow!

Shiraishi: There, there No.26! Not...You’re not No.26...Someone else’s inside it…

Shiraishi: This floaty vibe it’s giving out...Isn’t this Okazaki-kun?

Yanagi: What? Then who’s in Okazaki…?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Geez! I’m so glad that Yanagi-senpai has returned to normal!

Enomoto (Okazaki):This is such a relief!!

Yanagi: Huh?

Yanagi: He looks like Okazaki but judging from the way he speaks...It’s Enomoto within, isn’t it?

Yanagi: And so, the one who’s inside Enomoto’s…

Sasazuka: The worst possible situation. I can’t believe I switched with an utter idiot.

Yanagi: You must be Sasazuka.

Yanagi: Which means….

Shiraishi: Calm down No.26. You’re now someone called Sasazuka Takeru!

Yanagi: Is this really the time to be explaining things to the cat?

Yanagi: This has turned out into another troublesome string of events just when I thought everything was solved...

Enomoto (Okazaki): I don’t understand anything anymore! But if anything, an SP’s body’s really top tier! So light! Seems like I can easily do jumping jacks now! How about I try it out…

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Stop making a ruckus, you dimwit. You’re just kicking up dust.

Shiraishi: Sasazuka-kun, you’ve got to be louder if you want to cut in like that.

Shiraishi: Now, how about you try doing it like how you usually does instead of muttering like that?

Sasazuka (Enomoto):Nope. I don’t want to waste my energy on this at all.

Shiraishi: Hmm? I thought you’d be more enthusiastic about it since you’re in Enomoto’s body…

Shiraishi: Perhaps I was mistaken? But his face does look a lot smarter than before…

Okazaki (Enomoto): Shiraishi-san! Stop saying such rude remarks!

Okazaki (Enomoto):I’m always reasonable and logical!

No.26 (Sasazuka): Meow…?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Oh! The cat’s making Sasazuka look different for a change! In a good way!

Enomoto (Okazaki): Hehe, it seems like it’s enjoying itself with that white grin!

Shiraishi: Wow, to think the day I’d see Sasazuka-kun in a wide smile has come…

Shiraishi: Better take a picture of commemoration.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): You bastards, I’ll remember this!

Yanagi: Sorry to interupt your fun but wouldn’t it be bad if lightning strikes again and we all get switched up because of it?

Yanagi: In worst case, we’ll be stuck like this forever.

Enomoto (Okazaki): T-That’s a big problem!! I can’t live as Okazaki! Impossible!!

Enomoto (Okazaki): Can’t you do anything about this, Yanagi-senpai!?

Shiraishi: Oh! How about falling from stairs?

Shiraishi: Thankfully, we have one just right outside!

Enomoto (Okazaki):No, no, no thank you! We’ll all die if we did that!

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Although you’ll still feel the initial impact.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): How about I punch Mineo with all my strength to test that out?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Stop it!! Don’t say such crude things while you have my face on!

Sasazuka (Enomoto): That’s fine because Okazaki’s body is the one who’d die.

Enomoto (Okazaki): No but aren’t I the one feeling the pain!?

Shiraishi: Hehe, Okazaki-kun going full-on assault is really new! How interesting it is!

Yanagi: Shiraishi. Stop fooling around and think of a solutio-

All: Uwah!!

Enomoto (Okazaki): It striked again!

Yanagi: I...I’m still me.

Yanagi: How about the rest of you?

Okazaki: I’m back to myself. This body’s the most comfortable after all.

No.26 (Shiraishi): Meow…

Okazaki: Shiraishi-san, would you have preferred to remain a cat?

No.26 (Shiraishi): Meow?

Yanagi: This…

Yanagi: Hey Shiraishi? Say something, would you?

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Yeah, right. I’m right here.

Enomoto: Ugh!! Shiraishi-san! You’ve become Takeru!!

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): That’s true. I was a little surprised because I suddenly grew much shorter, although not as short as a cat.

Sasazuka (No.26): Meoww!!!

Enomoto: Urk, the cat’s angry.

Enomoto: Could you perhaps be...Takeru?

Sasazuka (No.26): Hiss!!

Yanagi: So Shiraishi became Sasazuka, Sasazuka became a cat and the cat’s Shiraishi this time?

Okazaki: This certainly is confusing…

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): How’s my body No.26? Can you speak?

No.26 (Shiraishi): Meow…

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I see. Words are difficult, aren’t they?

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I’d have loved to hold a conversation with you if I could but…

Enomoto: No that wouldn’t happen in a normal situation!

Enomoto: Besides, don’t talk like that in Sasazuka’s body!! It makes my hairs stand on their end!

Yanagi: I feel like we’ll slowly get back to our normal bodies but I can’t say for sure about the next hit…

Enomoto: Whoah!!

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Huh? I’m still Sasazuka, though.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Has everyone gone back to normal?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): No. I’m supposed to be Yanagi but…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Why am I Shiraishi yet again?

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Why am I the fool, Mineo, again?

Sasazuka (Enomoto): I demand a change.

Okazaki (Yanagi): I’ve become Yanagi-san again.

Okazaki (Enomoto): So that means the one with my face’s Mineo-kun, right?

Enomoto (Okazaki): All 5 of us swapped this time!? Are you for real…

Enomoto (Okazaki):Only the cat’s back to normal!? WHat are we gonna do about this!?

No.26: Meowww

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I guess there’s no other choice but for us to fall down the stairs.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): How about we start from Enomoto-kun?

Enomoto (Okazaki): No, no. Shiraishi-san should start it off since you’re the one who brought it up.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Hm?

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Who’s here in the midst of such chaos?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Wouldn’t that be...her?

Okazaki (Yanagi):Didn’t she say she was coming round?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Ah! Now that you mention it!

Enomoto (Okazaki):What should we do about this, Yanagi-senpai?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): I don’t want to worry her unnecessarily.

Yanagi (Shiraishi):I wouldn’t do anything about it if I could.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): You mean, you’ve given up.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I’m Sasazuka-kun, huh. So you mean that I have to say things like “That’s all., period.” and “pochie”?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Shiraishi-san, Takeru’s eyes don’t twinkle like that! You’ll be suspicious if you don’t cool your gaze down a tad or two.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I see. Aren’t you glad you’re Okazaki-kun, Enomoto? You won’t get found out so long as you act all floaty.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Ehh. Just don’t act like an idiot.

Enomoto (Okazaki): Mmngh! I don’t know what I should do when I’m being yammered at left and right…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Let’s just try our best to impersonate who we’re in right now.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): I’m going to open the door then.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Ah, you’ve finally managed to come by. Come on, over here.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Wait. There’s no need for you to be holding her hand if you’re just guiding her to her seat, right?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Eh? Was it a no go?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Are you blind!? Yanagi-senpai’s a lone wolf!

Enomoto (Okazaki): He doesn’t stick to people and gets his hands all over them like that!

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Hoshino, it would be better for you to not get closer to this guy.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Although that would mean not getting any closer to Yanagi-san. Are you sure about that?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): A-Ah, right! He’s not feeling quite well today, you see. So I think you’ll be safe from his bugs by keeping away from him.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Hehe, it would do you well to heed Shiraishi-san’s words else you’ll come to regret it, pochie. That’s all.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): What is it, stupid cat? Everyone’s acting funny?

Enomoto (Okazaki):  Aren’t we all the same?

Enomoto (Okazaki):Everyone’s blatant about it…

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Hey, this isn’t the time to be blanking out. You’ve got to keep watch over her.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Don’t play around in this situation. Honestly…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): You’ve not made a move to change even though I’ve already warned you so many times.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Shiraishi-sa- Shiraishi. You’re acting just like a dad.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Who’s a dad you sa- Ah! No...Nothing.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Heh? That’s how I am when brooding? I don’t really get to see that much so I’ll take my time to observe…

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Shiraishi-san. You’ve got no intention of acting like me at all, do you?

Enomoto (Okazaki): You guys! No- All of you! Wouldn’t it be bad if we don’t take this seriously? Humph, humph!

Sasazuka (Enomoto):  Who are you now?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Huh? I’m Okazaki…?

Okazaki (Yanagi):I can tell that you’re trying your damnedest but that’s a little different from how I usually am.

Sasazuka (Enomoto):Well, I guess that’s all an idiot can accomplish.

Enomoto (Okazaki): W-What’s up Hoshino? I-I’m not acting like myself? How can that be?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Seasalt chocolate and the like are really delicious, aren’t they?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Eh!? I’ve eaten marshmallows of that sort but there’s also chocolate?

Enomoto (Okazaki): Yeah! I’m sure there was.

Enomoto (Okazaki): My! Kei-kun’s really funny, it’s hilarious!

Okazaki (Yanagi): I sound kinda disgusting now…

Okazaki (Yanagi): Mineo-kun, just leave it at that.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): You’re not one to talk either.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): You’re going to bust your cover just by speaking.

Enomoto (Okazaki): Ugh! It feels frustrating to be backing out at this point…!

Enomoto (Okazaki): If I have to say something else that he’d say…

Enomoto (Okazaki): Oh, right! I’m Okazaki right now so-

Enomoto (Okazaki): Doesn’t that mean any skinship I have with girls will be taken as a normal occurrence!?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Hold up! Don’t go committing crimes with my face, yeah?

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I don’t think you have to worry too much about that since Enomoto’s within your body.

Sasazuka (Enomoto):Haa…

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Mineo, don’t make me repeat myself a hundred times over. I told you to sit still and sit put!

Enomoto (Okazaki): Uwargh! That hurts!!

Enomoto (Okazaki): Hold back a little, would you!?

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Huh? I just punched you normally.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): That’s because Enomoto-kun’s body is packed with strength so I think it’ll be quite a hit even if it’s just a normal punch.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): I see. So it’s perfect for exacting revenge upon one hit?

Enomoto (Okazaki): M-Mineo-kun? Aren’t you making one hell of a scary face there?

Enomoto (Okazaki): T-That’s not good at all! That eyepatch and outfit really makes you look like a bad guy.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): I was thinking about how it’d be to finally be able to punch you with all my might.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): I’d never have thought that my wish would come true, albeit in this form but I’m not complaining.

Enomoto (Okazaki): Wait, wait! Calm down!!

Enomoto (Okazaki): Nothing will be solved from you punching the daylights out of me!

Enomoto (Okazaki): You’ll only be injuring Okazaki’s body, see? So think about it more rationally.

Sasazuka (Enomoto): That’s enough out of you. Just let me hit you already.

Enomoto (Okazaki): Uwoh! My body moved on it’s own accord?

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I see. So reflexes still stay with the body, huh.

Okazaki (Yanagi): I really wish you wouldn’t do whatever you like with my body, though.

Okazaki (Yanagi): But then again, they’re already starting a brawl right there…

Okazaki (Yanagi): It would be better to stop them.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Yanagi-kun would normally be the first to step in in situations like this, so…

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): I’ll leave the rest to you.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Hmmmm. “Idiots!!!” Would that stop them?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Why would you think of that?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Have I ever stopped anyone by yelling something of that sort?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Wait, you haven't?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): No.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Really now. Hey, knock it off. That goes for both of you.

Enomoto (Okazaki): Damn! As expected of me, how tough!

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Tch. Just a little more and I'd have him.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): That's enough so just sit put. Sorry for surprising you Hoshino.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Forget him acting like an officer, he's just like Yanagi-san himself…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Well I...Just felt like I was in the mood today.

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Hm? What? Got something you need from me?

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): You're giving Shiraishi-san a present? Heh.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka):  A cat tag, huh. Wow. Tiger-stripped, mottled and black cats. What a great assortment you have there.

Okazaki (Yanagi): Yanagi-san, she'll figure that something's off with Shiraishi if you keep mum in front of cat accessories! You have to react!

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Yeah, you certainly do have a point there…

Yanagi (Shiraishi): Ah, the cat's...Cute. Especially this one here with it's belly up. I'll add it to my cat collection at once…

Okazaki (Yanagi): P-Pft!

Okazaki (Yanagi): A-Aren't you glad, Hoshino?

Okazaki (Yanagi): Shiraishi….

Okazaki (Yanagi): Pfft-

Okazaki (Yanagi): Really elated over your gift!

Yanagi (Shiraishi): I want to die right now.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Hm? You bought me donuts? Oh, okay.

Shiraishi (Sasazuka): Hey, I don't need the donuts so how about you give me the cat tags instead?

Yanagi (Shiraishi): S-Sasazuka!

Okazaki (Yanagi): Ahh...He went for the cat accessories rather than the donuts huh...

Enomoto (Okazaki): Hey, hey! That totally wasn't like Takeru at all!

Sasazuka (Enomoto): Seems like even the stupid cat caught onto something. How about I take those donuts off her right this instance?

Enomoto (Okazaki): This isn't the time for you to be doing that!

Enomoto (Okazaki): We really can't fool her any longer than this with how we're all acting!

Enomoto (Okazaki): Since this is the case, we have to explain this bizarre situation to her-

All: Uwargh!?

Enomoto: Whoa, the lights!

Yanagi: Hoshino! You okay?

Okazaki: The lights went out earlier and came back after a while. It should be the same this time round too so just sit still, okay?

Shiraishi: Say, where did you buy these cat tags?

Sasazuka: Talking about cats at a time like this...Well, I guess that's just like Shiraishi-san to do so.

Enomoto: Oh! The lights are back on.

Sasazuka: H-Hey.

Sasazuka: Does this mean that-?

Okazaki: Everyone seems to be back to their usual selves.

Shiraishi: Wow, you're right. It was really fun but it was starting to get a little troublesome so I guess all's well.

Yanagi: Oh, right-- Hoshino, pay no heed to us. It's a personal matter of ours.

Yanagi: Putting that aside, it seems to be really pouring out there so you'll be better off staying here for a while.

Okazaki: Ah! Could you be scared of thunder?

Okazaki: Then how about I hold your hand?

Okazaki: You won't feel as scared if I do that, right?

Enomoto: Don't touch her you sketchy bastard!

Enomoto: Well, it's just like what Yanagi-senpai said. You should just spend the time here since it's dangerous with all that lighting and around outside.

Shiraishi: That's right. I couldn't really observe her because of all the big fuss going in earlier and I wanted to ask about the tags too.

Sasazuka: But still, were you serious when you said that you brought snacks in this plastic bag like an idiot?

Sasazuka: I'll give you one as a reward considering how you made an effort despite your stupidity.

Enomoto: How high up your horse do you really have to act?

Yanagi: Hoshino. I made some hot chocolate for you. Have you eaten dinner yet? How about I make you something if you haven't?

Shiraishi: Oh! Fried chicken sounds good!

Yanagi: I'm not asking for your opinion here.

Okazaki: Fried chicken's delicious, isn't it? Yanagi-san, could I get 10 of those?

Enomoto: Hey!! Why are all of you placing your orders!? There's no friend chicken for you to eat!

Okazaki: No way...And here I was, intending to keep quiet about how you used my body to sexually harass her!

Okazaki: Should I spill it all if we're going to cut our friendship?

Enomoto: Yanagi-senpai!!! I'm relying on you for Okazaki-kun's share of fried chicken!!

Yanagi: Guess there's nothing else I can do about that. Hoshino, are you okay with fried chicken too?

Shiraishi: Yay! Seems like we're all decided on fried chicken.

Shiraishi: I'll be your conversation partner till it's done then!

Okazaki: That's selfish of you, Shiraishi-san! I want to talk to her too!

Sasazuka: Stupid cat. I've not seen this donut packaging before. Where did you buy them?

Enomoto: Oh no I'm late!! Hoshino! Don't you have a souvenir or something for me too?

Yanagi: Haa...Seems like this will be one lively dinner.

Yanagi Aiji, Morita Masakazu.

Okazaki Kei, Kaji Yuki.

Enamoto Mineo, Saito Souma.

Sasazuka Takeru, Namikawa Daisuke.

Shiraishi Kageyuki, Kimura Ryohei.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Hello. 1, I love your blog and your analysis. 2, I speak very bad English, so I will be concise (I read you with google translation) . On Reddit, I read two interesting things about chapter 187. 1 : /r/manga/comments/ajnc3y/disc_golden_kamuy_ch_187/ef46h13/?context=3 (the first paragraph about the translation). 2 : /r/manga/comments/ajnc3y/disc_golden_kamuy_ch_187/ef43hv0/?context=3 (the last paragraph). (Put the address of Reddit before the links) What do you think? Thanks for your blog.

Thank you alot for loving my blog!

I hope it’sokay to report the quotes from reddit for who doesn’t feel like going to checkthe tags.

For the first link they say:

Thetranslation is good, but it's missing something Ogata said as Asirpa points herpoisoned arrow at him and says she can't trust a single thing about him."Yappari ore dewa dameka" has a meaning more like, "I guess I'mnot good enough (for you)," and implies the person tried to win someone'sheart, but failed. It's not just about his plan not going well; it means he asa person wasn't wanted.

A lot ofJapanese readers felt like this was Ogata's whole life so far -- he wasn't goodenough for his dad, he wasn't good enough for his mom, and was never goodenough for anyone. He also says nothing ever works out for him. There's astrong nuance of sadness and self-hatred there. I think it's why Asirpa hasthat troubled expression after he says it and hesitates to shoot.

Now, whileall this is really interesting and for me it would fit well with the mood ofthe story and Ogata’s character... I’m not the right person to whom people canask about Japanese translations as I’m not really knowledgeable in thisdepartment, sorry. Therefore I can’t say if this translation is more or lessright than the official one. I’ll say it’s possible maybe both can be true?

Anyway, assaid before, the sentence fits well with my feeling for the chapter. Ogataseems to take Asirpa’s reaction very personally, not as if she was saying ‘this lie isunbelievable’ but more as if he believed she was saying ‘I’ll believe in everyone else’s liesbut not yours‘.

While Asirpa just meant ‘this lie isunbelievable’  Ogata knows Asirpa has wanted to believe in Kiro even when Shiraishi himself pointed outhis story was shacky and she’s still crushing for Sugimoto even when he hasanother woman he seemed to never plan to mention to her (I think Ogata’sjudgement is a bit tinged by his own personal family issues to be impartial onthis) so he might feel she’s rejecting his own lie just because he’s the one saying it, not for the lie itself. Maybe it’s just me though.

Still, asI’ve ranted about, he seemed to think Asirpa would be more willing to helpSugimoto’s problem than his own.

I think whatOgata truly wants is to be accepted and validated for himself. Probably, morethan Asirpa telling him something on the theme of ‘no, I won’t kill even ifyou killed my father’ he needs a ‘no, I won’t kill you because it’s you’but I guess that would be asking too much of Asirpa as of now and probably evenOgata knows..

As for thesecond link it says:

Lastly,there's a recent cover picture of Asirpa looking regal with her short swordsheathed, and the words over her are, "There is nothing brought to earthfrom Heaven that doesn't have a role/purpose" (rough trans). Ogata doesn'thave a role, and no one wants him. Does Ogata have any purpose? If he's killedright here, with no gold, and certainly no love or connection, it contradictsthe whole point. He definitely deserves to be be killed, especially afterdeceiving Asirpa. But if he is killed here, it would be bad storytelling tobuild him up like this, only to show he was doomed from the start.

I know thatline, it is also on my blog because it’s actually written in each volume ofGolden Kamuy: Kanto orwa yaku sak no arankep shinep ka isam [Nothingcomes from heaven without purpose]. It’s an Ainu proverb and I’ve always wondered if it applies to his existence as well.

PersonallyI’ve remarked more than once that I think this isn’t the right moment to killOgata and, considering the last developments, I think he will remains alive a little longer at least. Of course Noda can be capable to kill him and, at the same time archievegood storytelling but this is a chat for another time.

 I’mnot sure if this quote is a good plot armour.... but I’m really hoping it is.

For Ogata tofind a purpose in life would be great... but I think this won’t come until he doesn’t believe he has found acceptance. Ogata craves to be accepted, yet, at the same time, he’s unable to act upon his wish. Normally this is because the fear of trying and failing is bigger than the craving. We’ll see how is situation will change now.

I hope google translate will let you understand my answer. Please, feel free to ask for clarifications and thank you for your ask and for enjoying my blog!