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agirlinjapan · 5 years ago

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Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars (Week 27)

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara A Translation

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I did it! This week I finished translating RDG 6! And with that, I’ve finished translating the RDG series! There’s a new book that came out last year, Ice Shoes, Glass Shoes, and I do plan on translating that, but it’s a book of short stories, not a seventh book in the series. Keep an eye out for more information on what I’ll be doing after RDG 6.

While I’m finished translating RDG 6, I still have another 100 or so pages of the book left to post here for you. I expect that I’ll be posting the last piece of the story sometime in early September. Until then, enjoy the last third of the book!

Red Data Girl: My Wish on the Night of the Shooting Stars By Noriko Ogiwara Chapter 4: Mizuho Part 1 (1 of 2)

The December closing ceremony was set for the 22nd.

Many of the students who lived far away would be leaving for home that day. However, Izumiko, Miyuki, and the Souda siblings had plans to stay at the school until the 25th. Miyuki had not forgotten the promise he had made to put something together for them and their friends to do so that Izumiko could dress up and Mayura and Manatsu had readily agreed to the suggestion as well.

However, something unexpected occurred the day before the closing ceremony. While gathered at one of the cafeteria’s white tables and just about to finish their lunch, Miyuki said, “I got an invitation to a party on Christmas Eve. It’s for all of us. Angelica’s putting it together at her home and she’s invited ten or so of her new friends. What do everyone’s plans look like?”

“What?! Her house in Paris?” Izumiko asked, the words coming out of her mouth before she could think about them.

Miyuki turned to look at her, his eyes disbelieving. “Yeah, right. There’s no way we could go there even if she invited us. Her father apparently has an apartment he rents in here in Tokyo. Here are your official invitations.”

Miyuki handed each of them an envelope. Their names had been written on them. The card inside, decorated with Christmas-y drawings, gave the date, time, and address. While Izumiko had been indeed invited to the barbeque at the Souda’s house that summer, this was the first time she had gotten a formal written invitation to a party. She stared at the card for some time, struck by its novelty.

“The address is in Minato-ku, the harbor district. Angelica’s dad really is rich just like she said then,” Mayura said with admiration. Then she looked towards Miyuki questioningly. “But why did she pass this information on through you? Were you talking to her about something? You’ve gotten awfully close to her lately, haven’t you?”

Izumiko immediately turned to look at Miyuki, taking in his expression at Mayura’s question. It was something she had wanted to ask about as well.

Miyuki, apathetic to their suspicion, denied the connection. “You’re wrong. It’s Claus I’ve been getting to know. He’s the one I got the information about the party from. Apparently, Claus mentioned to Angelica that you didn’t have fun at the school party, Izumiko, and that’s how we got the invitations. He also told me that most of the people who are invited are exchange students, but he knew you wanted another chance to dress up.”

Izumiko was quiet for a moment as she gazed at the invitation one more time. There were a lot of things she hadn’t experienced yet, including karaoke, going to a movie theater, and attending a party at a friend’s house to name a few. Going into the city just to have some fun was a big event for her.

“If the four of us are together, I’ll go anywhere…”

When Miyuki had promised to put together some other opportunity to celebrate Christmas, Izumiko had secretly imagined that he had been talking about a first date. After he had brought the suggestion up with Mayura and Manatsu though, she had felt a mix of disappointment and relief. With that said, Izumiko certainly felt the most at peace when the four of them were together. Now that she had friends as good as these, she was ready to try anything.

…But Angelica’s party feels a little like a trick.

Manatsu didn’t seem to have much interest in going to the party. He was holding the invitation between two fingers and waving it back and forth like a fan as he said, “I like your first idea of going to see a movie better. Or just us going to karaoke. I really didn’t ask for anything boring like this.”

“Takayanagi isn’t one of those friends Angelica’s invited, is he?” Mayura asked quickly. She, unlike her brother, seemed interested in going.

Miyuki nodded. “I didn’t ask, but I’d say there’s a good chance of that.”

“Then, let’s not go… Or at least that’s what I want to say, but I really want to.”

Mayura leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Angelica’s dad is the one who is came up with the idea of us coming together as a team to become the World Heritage Candidates, right? What do you think about that? Should we be grateful?”

“What are your thoughts on it, Mayura?” Miyuki asked instead. “That’s what I’d rather hear. Obviously, Izumiko and I will be grateful if none of this continues on beyond school. But you wouldn’t really understand that, would you?”

The bright winter sunlight shone through the big glass windows of the cafeteria. With the seating so near to those windows, it was practically like sitting in a sunroom. Seeing as exam days were only half days of class, the cafeteria was mostly empty. The space was quiet and comfortable, a far cry from what it always seemed to be like when it was packed with students arriving for lunch. Izumiko and the others were now basking in the calm. They had all taken off their uniform blazers, revealing their v-neck sweaters beneath.

Mayura looked around the room for a moment. Then she pushed her hair behind her shoulders and replied, “…That’s not true. I had completely given up on becoming the World Heritage Candidate, so when I heard the chairman had said something like that, I was unexpectedly happy. I thought, ‘So they don’t think I’m useless. Isn’t it good that they changed their minds? I’ll be with Izumiko. It’s great that I’ll be in a position where I can protect her.’ When the shikigami started to attack at the party, all I could think about was how important it was to make sure she was safe.”

Izumiko was well aware that she would only ever be seen as someone who needed protecting. Just thinking about what might have happened if she had stayed in that dark place still made her stomach drop.

“It seems like there’s still a lot of things I don’t know about myself…” she said dejectedly. “I felt the dimension change during the party. I’m really sorry for being so useless.”

“If we’re talking about not knowing ourselves, then I’m a mystery too,” Mayura said, sounding caught up in her thoughts. “I started seeing shikigami out of nowhere, remember? Before, I could never make out the differences you described between them and humans.”

“Me too,” Manatsu added. “I can spot them a lot better than I could before. I have a theory. Maybe once the campus came under Izumiko’s control, this and that started changing little by little.”

“Like, the campus is changing to resemble the way Izumiko sees it?” Mayura cocked her head to one side and then said hesitantly, “I didn’t want to say this in front of Takayanagi before, but now that I can see the shikigami, I feel a lot better about them. I can’t think that they’re entirely bad anymore…”

“I didn’t think they were from the start. That’s why I said you were being too stubborn about them.”

Hearing her brother say this, Mayura lifted her chin primly. “We might disagree with the diviner when it comes to our opinions on using shikigami, but now it’s clear where we stand with him. That’s because now, everyone knows he’s not the best magic user on campus. I think it’s safe to say he never gives up though.”

Manatsu laughed and said off-handedly, “Think of the shikigami as Spot’s toys. Anyway, Masumi’s definitely more powerful than he is. And now that Izumiko’s forgiven Takayanagi, we can be on just as good terms with him as we are with Masumi. But have you noticed that since he started saying the school is his, it feels like a load has been taken off?”

“Oh. Now that you mention it, I have noticed that. I haven’t needed as much sleep.”

Mayura stared at him. The day after the party, both she and Izumiko had gone about their day completely normally with no ill effects despite everything that had happened.

“Something’s definitely different,” she said. “Is it what you mentioned before?”

Miyuki, who hadn’t said anything until this point, opened his mouth and said thoughtfully, “Takayanagi said that the goddess can alter the flow of magic from its origin and amplify it. Maybe that’s what’s different. Speaking of becoming a team, I still don’t know how I feel about it, but I heard what you had to say, Mayura, Manatsu, and it sounds like we need to talk things out more before we make any decisions. We’re not just dealing with divine spirits and ghosts here. We’re all people who are being affected by living inside of the goddess’s barrier.”

Izumiko’s heart lightened as she thought of what Hodaka had said to her during their last meeting.

President Hodaka said everything in this world shares the same roots. Humans are just one part of a greater picture. But humans are a big part of nature…

Manatsu smirked, saying, “I guess we’d become Team Goddess. That sounds good. Team Goddess. It sounds like fun to me.”

Izumiko laced her fingers together and brought them up to rest in front of her chin. “I’m going to do my best to make sure there aren’t any negative effects and adjust any magic I’ve put in place if need be. I also need to take advice from more people so that I’m not alone or wondering what needs to be done. I’ve become much more conscious of what I should be doing than I was before. So, please let me stay with all of you.”

Mayura reached out a hand and lightly smacked Izumiko’s stiff arm.

“Easy there. You jump to conclusions so quickly. We’re all in the same boat here. Takayanagi’s still kind of a problem, as is Angelica and everyone she’s connected with.”

At Mayura’s words, Miyuki quickly looked away and rested one elbow on the back of his chair. Then he gazed out the window for a minute before finally saying, “It definitely won’t be hard to come to a compromise. Ascetic monks, diviners, and ninjas all have the same ancient, Japanese roots and we all know that already. It’s just because of the situation surrounding the adults that our backers and Takayanagi’s backers haven’t joined forces. But if we can work together here at the academy, those adults might end up working together, too.”

“What about Angelica and her father? Are you suggesting that we should feel grateful for their offer?” Mayura asked.

“So that’s going to be the attitude that people working with the goddess adopt, huh?” Manatsu picked up the invitation he had placed on the table and looked at it again. “I guess we should go to this party to see what Angelica and her family really want then, right? If that’s the plan, I’ll go too.”

Miyuki looked at Manatsu, his expression somewhat strange, but then readjusted his position in the chair and turned his attention to Izumiko.

“What do you want to do, Izumiko? If you have a bad feeling about this, you can decline.”

Izumiko wondered why Miyuki had turned his head away before. It had looked as if he hadn’t wanted Mayura to see his expression. She realized that he hadn’t said one word about his own thoughts on the party. Izumiko suspected that he had kept his mouth shut because he wanted to go to Angelica’s party.

For some reason, it was because of this, not because she had a bad feeling about the party, that she didn’t want to attend. Even Manatsu was going to the party, so Izumiko didn’t have any reason to decline.

Her mind decided, she opened her mouth and said, “Let’s accept the invitations and see what happens at Angelica’s party.”

~*~

Accepting her report card from her homeroom teacher, Izumiko returned to her seat and nervously peered at what was written on it. Her body immediately began to shiver as a rush of accomplishment she had never experienced before washed over her.

Yes!... I did it!

Her results on the end of term exams had ranked her tenth in the grade.

However, her true excitement wasn’t due to her high rank. If she was feeling this pleased with her grades, she would have an excuse to openly thank Miyuki for his hard work and give him the Christmas present that was currently hidden in her bag.

When Izumiko had gone out shopping with Mayura for an outfit and jewelry, she had also bought Christmas presents. Seeing as she had had plenty of spending money from Sawa left over after buying the clothes, she had been able to buy a lot.

Mayura had given her an important piece of advice. At this point, she shouldn’t buy anything expensive for anyone. Doing so would only make the recipient feel badly.

“Don’t go crazy,” she had said. “Something little is good. For example, get something that’s unique and will make them smile or something they can use.”

She had gotten her grandfather, Takeomi, a paperweight, and Sawa a kitchen gadget. Both gifts had been unique, but easy to pick out. However, it had been harder to find a good present for Miyuki seeing as she didn’t know what he liked. At a loss of what to pick, she had eventually chosen gloves. She had gotten the feeling that if she had chosen a hat or scarf for him, he would still keep using the ones he already had. All the same though, she still wasn’t sure if he would like her present either.

Originally, she had planned to give the gloves to Miyuki during the Christmas party and pretend she had gotten them as a store freebie or something along those lines. However, she had missed her chance and had been carrying them around ever since. Throughout that time, the present had begun to feel more and more boring to her. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted to give them to him anymore.

As she thought about this, Mayura appeared at the door to Class 1-C and waved to her. Izumiko’s braids bounced behind her as she quickly got up and went to meet her friend.

“How did you do, Izumiko?” Mayura looked calm, but she had a satisfied smile on her face. “I got ranked number one. Miyuki’s number two, and Takayanagi’s number three.”

“You’re amazing, Mayura! You did exactly what you said you would.”

When Izumiko clapped for her, Mayura added with no embarrassment whatsoever, “They compiled the rankings only using the grades from our core classes. I’m not going to say this to many people, but that meant that Takayanagi couldn’t throw his weight around to get a better rank. What did you get, Izumiko?”

“I’m ranked tenth.”

“What? That’s a huge jump! That makes you way more amazing than me!” Mayura sounded genuinely surprised and her voice rose to show it. Realizing they weren’t in the best place to be exclaiming over grades, she lowered her voice and said, “It’s because you managed to fill in that gap you had in math, right? Was it worth all that extra studying you did?”

“Yeah, for sure.” Izumiko nodded.

An unusual expression crossed Mayura’s face as she looked at her. “Today, Manatsu and I are going to have a serious talk about the importance of schoolwork. I’m hoping he’ll take on a different attitude after it.”

“Oh?”

Izumiko blinked, but kept her gaze on Mayura’s face. When she looked into her friend’s eyes, she understood exactly what she was telling her. Usually Manatsu failed most of his exams.

“I think Miyuki’s already on his way to the student government room. Go tell him thanks.”

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#rdg #red data girl #rdg 6 #rdg my wish on the night of the shooting stars #translation #rdg 6 week 27

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