Thank you both @Kazzeon and @windupbird!
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@marcusp
You are onto something here with the “can’t” -
取り出しません (negative) would be “won’t retrieve it”
取り出せません (negative potential), as used in the chapter, is “can’t retrieve it”
I was interpreting the katakana as stylistic “robot” speech, but someone correct me if you know differently!
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Page 20
Oh! I see! Right… got it! Thank you so much for pointing this out @natsu-leaf! Thank you!
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Aye, that’s exactly it.
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Ok, I’ve been a bit distracted this weekend, so I didn’t get much chance to read the chapter, but I’ve made a start now, and… does the grape box read “New Pione”? What’s that supposed to mean?
Apparently, New Pione actually a specific variety of grape produced in Okayama - as suggested in the chapter, they’re supposed to be seedless and easy to peel. You can buy them on Rakuten xD
Personally, I’ve never eaten a grape that required peeling, so I thought it was interesting that she immediately assumed they’d be hard to eat. I guess the seed-filled, peeling variety must be more common in Japan? Or maybe it’s just common for specialty grapes? (I’ve only ever had the cheap kind you get from the supermarket, so I can’t really say xD)
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Oh, right. Google is a thing that exists.
I can’t say I’ve ever had to peel a grape, but that site you linked certainly touts several of the grape varieties as being easy to peel, and several more for being edible without peeling. Mind you, it’s sometimes suggested you should peel grapes before giving them to small children to eat (as it’s much less likely they’ll choke on it if they accidentally swallow them whole).
I’m certainly with her on how annoying seeded grapes are, though.
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Yeah, I’ve eaten seeded grapes by accident before and it’s not an experience I’m eager to repeat xD The grapes I’ve always eaten have very thin skins (like, so thin that I’m not even sure how you would peel them), but I could see how the varieties with thicker skin might be peeled for kids in particular. Upon further searching, it seems that the more common type of grape in Japan (the Kyoho grape) has a thicker skin and is usually peeled, so maybe that’s why “difficult to eat” is her default perception of grapes. I just thought it was interesting, because to me, grapes are one of the easiest fruits to eat, especially for kids xD
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The way we usually eat grapes (and I think they are just coming into season now aren’t they?) here in Tokyo is to pull off just a little bit of the skin at one end and then squeeze the grape from the other end and all the fruit inside just pops out and into your mouth! Just like the picture on page 55! Really nice!
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Page 34
Today I’m reading two books, Yotsuba and にゃんにゃん. And loh and behold the same brand new grammar (brand new to me that is) comes up in both:
Yotsuba: かくしてもわかる - even if it is hidden, I know what it is!
Nyan-nyan: チャイムをならしてもだれもでてこない - even though I rung the bell, no-one came.
Just to check… is this indeed the same て form + も in both cases?
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That’s great! Thank you so much!
I’ll study that link tonight, thank you!
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Alrighty, finished reading the chapter. Noticed Chiyo-chan’s dad lying on the shelves in the top-right corner of page 42. 
Someday I kinda want to visit Japan for a long enough period that I can afford to spend a whole day lying around in a tatami-mat room…
Back to the subject of grapes, I honestly don’t get how the Japanese treat fruit sometimes. Over here, it’s something you buy en masse at the supermarket, but in Japan, it’s a fancy luxury…
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First pass through this chapter and I can’t stop laughing! Definitely has to be one of the funniest, if not the funniest, chapters I’ve read so far!
Just a few points I’d greatly appreciate some clarification for!
Pg. 35 panel 2: with kanji Yotsuba says 父ちゃん皮取る係, right? So this sentence loosely translates as “You’re in charge of peeling the grapes, dad”?
Pg. 38 panel 1: Mrs. Ayase says 花火やら釣りやら…, is やら doing something similar to what や and とか do (enumerating some but not all items) or is the ら adding some slight nuance?
Pg. 40 panel 1: I honestly have no idea what Yotsuba means when she says うえへまいります, any clues? The only verb that I think would make sense is 参る, but as far as I know, that’s an honorific for going or coming or means to be defeated. This one has got me stumped 
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That’s how I interpreted it 
I think it’s similar, but with the nuance of uncertainty (per Jisho). Like, she’s giving random examples that are popping into her head in the moment, but she doesn’t have a concrete list of them in mind and she’s not sure if there are other things or not. (This explanation was brought to you by a synthesis of Jisho, this page, and this Reddit discussion - so in other words, someone else who actually knows grammar can feel free to correct me xD)
I have no idea if this is correct or not, but this is what I came up with:
うえ = top
へ = directional particle
まいります = 参る = comes/goes
“It goes/comes to the top” (as in, there are so many clothes in the washer that they fill it to the top).
I’m not really sure, but that’s all I got xD I can’t think of any other word まいります would be.
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Thanks for the explanation! Clearly, I need to get better at google (maybe even before I get better at Japanese?)
Ah that makes more sense. I guess Yotsuba doesn’t really understand all of the nuances so she’s maybe using some words interchangeably?
My IRL job is basically a very advanced version of Googling things for other people, so xD I actually like doing it, and it helps me learn, too - a lot of times, I don’t bother to look into things very deeply unless I’m trying to answer someone else’s question, so feel free to keep the questions coming 
I’m guessing so - it seems a bit formal compared to her usual mode of expression xD She probably heard it somewhere and is just repeating it.
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Remember, she believes it’s an elevator. She’s saying “going up”, in the same way that the voice on the elevator says (though elevators I’ve been in usually say 上に参ります… I’m pretty sure).
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Ah, I forgot about that elevator comment from the previous panel. That totally explains it! Good call 
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