It’s the end of a “chapter”, for want of a better word. The book is divided up into days, and each day is divided into chapters. They’re listed on the contents page, at least for the Tsubasa Bunko edition. The page following the end of the reading is the start of the chapter named さあ始まるよと、皆がささやく.
So yeah, there’s probably a marker in the Kindle. Couldn’t say for sure.
For some atmosphere at the end of page 32 (Tsubasa Bunko edition), here’s the earthquake alert sound that plays through people’s phones in Japan:
A quick warning, though, if you happen to currently be in Japan, absolutely do not play this video aloud in public - as I understand it, it’s several flavours of illegal, in the same vein as the hypothetical “Shouting ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre” law in the US. Perhaps for this reason, the movie uses a similar, but distinctly different, alert sound.
I feel like it’s a bit rude that the Worm gets all the blame for the earthquake, because it rather seems to me like it was just popping its head out for some sun, and then those golden threads showed up and dragged it down. Blame the threads!
Suzume brings a strange man home so she can bandage his arm. Instead of showing him through to the living or dining rooms, her first thought is to send him up to her bedroom?
The ferry that shows up at the end of the section is portrayed in the movie by Orange Ferry Line’s おれんじ四国, albeit renamed みかん四国 - except the ferry travels from Usuki in Oita Prefecture rather the far southern end of Miyazaki. Near as I can tell from Googling, A"Line’s Tokyo-Naha ferry service has ported in Aburatsu Port since 2023, but I’m not sure that any other ferries do.
Running a bit late this week, but I just managed to finish the part. Not sure if my brain was running especially slow this week, but it did take me a while to get through, and I had to look up vocab a bit more often than usual. Oh well~
While I remembered the chair being there somewhere in the story, I totally forgot that it was actually 草太さん all along. Oh dear. Bad kitty! I feel like Suzume is honestly taking everything in stride and handling it a bit too well. I would probably check myself into an institution right after talking cats and animated chairs (rather than chase after the bunch) but let’s say that’s the power of youth xD
I thought we had until today to read this section, so this is a bit late but I finished it! It felt so long, probably because it was 18 pages. a lot happened too.
I didn’t expect the chair to start moving or the cat to start speaking. I wonder why people seemed to be able to see them (the middle schoolers that took pictures, unless I misunderstood) since they didn’t see the giant worm. And also why the chair ran away.
It’s interesting that Suzume can use the big medical kit so proficiently. I was a bit surprised they had one at first, but then she said her aunt was a nurse so it made sense. But still weird that she picked up so much advanced practical knowledge. She gave him an injection if I didn’t misunderstand.
Why does her aunt have a coworker who works at the harbour, loading ships? Or at least that’s what it sounded like. I have so many questions and not all of them are about the supernatural stuff XD.
I wonder where the ferry is going. Hopefully not very far (like another country). I don’t think she has her phone considering she didn’t notice when her aunt called her…
Also, I wonder if the fact that she has the kanji for door in her name is just a fun little easter egg or if it’s relevant. Since she does seem to have a connection to everything through her mother…
I think I may have missed that. I thought it weird he just suddenly disappeared when he seemed to be sitting on the chair (?) before. The way I understood it he got tangled up in the sentient chair or something and then got dragged along? So did he just turn into the chair and run away on his own or did the cat do something? I’m very confused.
As far as I undertand (and please take it with a grain of salt, my Japanese is still very much eehh and uhh) the cat turned Souta into the small wooden chair that Souta was sitting on. Then the cat proceeded to run away, and Souta chased after him. What a mess!
They’re both visible to muggles. Not completely sure about the cat, but the chair is a perfectly ordinary mundane chair, just one that can now move. And Souta is chasing the cat, to get it to give him his body back.
Her mother was a nurse. She calls her aunt 環さん, not お母さん. The movie version of this sequence shows Souta cleaning Suzume’s bedroom rather than Suzume cleaning the living room, and in the process it shows that she has a well-read book called 看護師になるには, so it’s probably something that she’s actively studying, and hasn’t just absorbed it by osmosis.
Tamaki mentioned back in the first reading that they’re preparing for a 漁業体験 at work, so her job is at least something fish-related. I don’t think her exact job is ever specified, but the anime later shows her working in a building on the waterfront, at a desk with a plaque on it saying 総務部長. Presumably the coworker just offers muscle when needed.
She has her phone. Remember, the earthquake alert noise was coming out of it.
Protagonists in manga often have some kind of thematically-relevant name, but which rarely get connected directly to the plot.
The cat turned Souta into the chair. Or… sent his soul into the chair, or somesuch. I dunno.
Thanks for your clarifications, I feel like I understand much more now. I’ve had to memorize way too many things and people in the last week so I think I mixed up the aunt and the mother . That’s also why I was confused about the coworker thing, since I thought the aunt was a nurse.
I kind of thought she heard the earthquake alert noise coming from other people’s phones rather than her own but I guess it might make more sense if she had it with her. But then maybe she had it silenced?
Out of curiosity, is the chair thing clearer in the movie?
Thanks for sharing, I love reading about these references! The ferry’s facilities look really nice as well. And I totally thought the same about Suzume brining an unknown, definitely not normal guy home to help him, so I had to chuckle when I read your comment.
I didn’t watch the movie nor knew much of the story, so I wasn’t expecting this development!
すずめの戸締 Week 4 (IBC) - Japanese Language / Book Clubs - WaniKani Community
. That’s also why I was confused about the coworker thing, since I thought the aunt was a nurse.
