Yeah, I think this is exactly right. Sorry @MrGeneric, I didn’t realize there was confusion about who was saying what.
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Thanks everyone! I’m finding this a bit harder than other chapters, and everyone’s questions and comments are super helpful.
On page 26, there’s a bit … 将棋部っていう響が…いいし？ Confused by a few parts of this. 1) not clear on the って, guessing it’s our old friend the indirect speech marker or acting kind of as a は here (like happened frequently in Takagi) but not sure. 2) the し ending, seems to just be a characteristic of her speech but not adding much meaning, could someone confirm what it’s signifying? And 3) unpacking this all is tough, my best guess on the meaning (answering why she wants more people in the club) is “um… not sure… I heard it would make a good impression”. And if I’m right on that, I’m not actually sure what she’s referring to. Does she mean that it would be a good thing to be part of a bigger club, or it would be good to increase the popularity of shogi at the school with more members, for instance?
Thanks a bunch!
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Followed this chapter along quite easily this week. I think I’m speeding up, but that might actually be because the chapters are shorter in this manga. Either way this week felt good.
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Page 26
So yes って here is a casual variant of と, and since いう follows it, it will be modifying what comes after the いう, which is 響き here. So what’s being said before the って? 将棋部. So she’s saying “the sound of” shogi club"
Then to complete the statement she is saying something about the noun phrase (because that’s all we have so far), and what she says is that it’s いい
Then you have the し - I know Urushi says it a lot, but it does add meaning. It’s used for listing reasons (and this chapter is her listing reasons for why she wants to make it a club), generally over multiple statements
So to put it all together, she’d be saying something like “Because, the sound of ‘shogi club’ is good”
Remember too that this is in response to Ayumu asking why she wants it to become a club (and that Urushi doesn’t currently consider it something that can be called a club)
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That makes sense to me! Thanks heaps!
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Hello lovely people! I’ve been here since the Takagi-san ABBC, and hope to join up with the spin-off book club as soon as the new volume(s) arrive in the post. Loving every word of Ayumu so far – living for Urushi’s fragile bossiness with all the お前 's and だろう’s and the way she just gets knocked flat the instant Ayumu so much as waves a verbal feather at her. – and finding all the comments super helpful!
Page 27-28
何か私攻められてる!?
いえハッキリさせたいだけです
First of all, great callback to last chapter with 攻める; but second, I’m having some trouble figuring out Ayumu’s response here. I feel like this is where he should be saying something like “I don’t think I’m being any more aggressive than usual” but it doesn’t seem to fit with the actual words:
ハッキリ = to be clear; to clear up (OHHHH WAIT IS THIS A する VERB)
させたい = to want to allow to do? (する = to do, させる = to force to do / to allow to do)
だけ = only; just; merely; simply / as much as; to the extent of; enough to
The best read I can come up with so far is
Urushi: For some reason [I feel like] I’m being attacked!?
Ayumu: No, I just want to be allowed to be clear –
but this seems a bit stilted… and her next words on the following page are そうだ! (you’re right!), but it’s not clear what he would be right about with that response?
Thanks and looking forward to reading more in due course!
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Don’t forget that starting this week we’re reading 2 chapters a week!
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It is!
はっきりする - to be clear
はっきりさせる (causative) - to make somebody be clear
はっきりさせたい - want to make somebody be clear
My understanding of the whole sentence is “No, I only want to make you be clear” And that’s why he is being so argumentative (or that’s the reason he gives anyway) 
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Just finished the 4th chapter (since @msbrown was wonderful enough to remind everyone that it is two chapters per week from here on out!)
It went much more smoothly than chapter 3. I think in Takagi-san, I was relying too much on the panels to give me enough context, whereas this one seems to be more dialogue-based context than panel-based, overall. Having that realization last night made a huge difference, and I actually went back through and re-read the first 3 chapters before jumping into the 4th to see if they were making any more sense armed with paying closer attention to the dialogue than the scene. I am definitely feeling more comfortable with this manga now after that.
As a result, no questions really. I went ahead and added some vocab to the sheet when I did my second pass of the chapter, since any “questions” I had were any vocabulary words I had to look up, so I added any I had to check myself with, and any that I knew for sure off the top of my head.
One comment on the plot though:
He almost let it slip! 
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Just imagine reading an official English release, where we wouldn’t have the luxury get the casual versus polite distinction!
I’ve been mostly away from the computer these past couple of days, so it’s nice to see all this discussion going on.
Chapter four is a favorite of mine, so I’m off to go re-read it.
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Well, I’ll start on my chapter four questions. I understand chapter 3 much better now with everyone’s help, thank you! First question is this part of her song: 2つ置くと負ける— 何気に最強 I know the kanji for the last bit but it’s still not making sense to me, maybe it will if I can understand the first part.
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In shogi, when you capture an enemy’s piece, it joins your side. On a later turn, rather than moving one of your pieces, you can instead place an opponent’s captured piece on the board (as one of your own). But you cannot place a 歩 (pawn) on any column where you already have a 歩. If you place a second 歩 in a column that already has one of yours, you lose.
I think the first part of that line of the song refers to this.
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Perfect timing! I just translated the song when I saw these comments. Please correct me if I’m wrong, but this is what I came up with:
歩でも強いぞ
Even the pawn is strong
でも２つ置くと 負ける〜
But put two in place and you’ll lose~
何気に最強〜〜
It’s the strongest without realizing it~~
…which makes a lot more sense given @ChristopherFritz 's insight about shogi. Before seeing that I just figured she was saying that two pawns together are strong.
Also… I find it absolutely hilarious that her shirt says と金.
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Aaaaaaa thank you that makes way more sense than before!
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My next question is from page 34. 何で家にするんだスマホにしろや I’m struggling with a lot of those words, and is that smartphone in there?
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Pg. 34
何で = why
家に = home, with the に particle
する = do. This is the weird part because it’s like she dropped the 電話 off of his 電話する (to make a phone call), not sure the significance of that
んだ = contraction of のだ, an explanatory marker
スマホに = smartphone, with the に particle
しろや = imperative form of する, with や as a casual imperative form. や has different meanings as a sentence ender though, so be careful not to assign just the one meaning.
Taken all together, “Why don’t you call my cell instead of my house!?”
Though this is heavily reliant on context, since she uses plain する without the 電話. I guess because in the context, the only “doing” he mentioned was calling her home, so it’s technically unnecessary. Japanese loves to drop words if they think context is good enough.
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Or, if we want to be more literal, “Why are you (calling) my house? (Call) my cell!” Although, this one’s a bit difficult to translate very literally.
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Yeah, I had a tough time with a literal translation, and so I went with the more natural sounding sentence. I also considered, “Why call my house when you should be calling my cell!?” but it didn’t sound as commanding as the other.
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Sadly life won´t permit me to keep up right now, but I’m determined to finish it. I will treasure these threads when I’m able to start reading again.
I wondered: Is it frowned upon to post questions in these threads at a later time, or is it OK, but that you can’t expect an (quick) answer?
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Highly encouraged. Even if it’s years later. Answer may not come as quick, but often is still sooner than you might expect!
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