There is definitely value in both the ability to skim through a text and understand most of it, and to stop and properly get the nuances.
I just finished the book ! It’s funny I feared I would not be able to keep up, and ended up reading it in about a week. The whole thing was easier than volume 3 tho, with only a couple dialogues a bit on the harder side.
Of course that won’t stop me from participating in the book club, discussing the stories and the harder parts of the text.
(Guess I’ll also pick up ホリミヤ and レンタルオニーちゃん again.)
…and, to the surprise of absolutely no one, old man was Sakura great-grandfather !
Which does raise a question, why on earth is father not introducing him to Sakura ? He was really planning on her meeting him, why can’t he just say it ? And old man knows from the start who she is… Why is everyone so secretive ? Family conflict ? People still mad at father for marrying one of his 16yo student ? (not that I can really blame them)
The only real tricky sentence was
page 44
悪かったな、つきあってもらって 悪かった can actually mean “sorry” and つきあって is written 付き合って, so "I’m sorry you had to play along [for me]
Also, a couple occurences of -てほしい. Had not seen this one is a while.
Missed last week but just sat down and read the whole chapter. Maybe I’m forgetting details from past volumes, but I too have left this chapter with so many questions. In addition to everything you’ve pointed out, why is Sonomi even there?? Why was she hiding? And yeah I don’t understand the dad’s motivation for secrecy at all. Has been there mention of a great grandfather before and I’m just forgetting?? All that aside though, Sakura saying “your grandchild and my mom must be in the same beautiful place now!” Was just
I don’t think you’re forgetting anything. I don’t remember the great grandfather being mentioned, either. But, yeah, Sakura is just the sweetest kid :')
Here’s my interpretation of the context (based on just vibes, not on things explicitly said in the story):
Vibes-based interpretation of chapter 19
We all know Sonomi hates Sakura’s dad for taking Nadeshiko away – I imagine the rest of her family doesn’t get along with him either. They may even have explicitly banned him from coming to family gatherings, etc.
Nonetheless, Sakura’s great granddad probably felt sad he had never met his great granddaughter. He doesn’t seem to care about Touya at all, so I think he cares about Sakura because she’s a little girl and he remembers when Nadeshiko was a little girl.
I think great granddad requested to see Sakura. Maybe he asked Sonomi, who asked Sakura’s dad – maybe he asked Sakura’s dad directly. But it would explain why Sakura’s dad went out of his way to tell Sakura to visit “the big villa.”
As for why great granddad didn’t say who he was to Sakura, I think he knew if he did so, she’d want to visit more often and ask painful questions about her mom. She’d probably want to visit with the rest of her family too, including her dad, ofc. Remember how sad great granddad looked the first time Sakura mentioned her dad? He’s probably reminded of his granddaughter’s death when he thinks about Sakura’s dad and so he really doesn’t want to meet him at all.
I may be forgetting a detail or line of dialogue, but I read it this way:
Sakura’s father orchestrated the whole thing so that great-grandfather could meet Sakura.
Great-grandfather had no idea about it. That’s why he remarks on not knowing the neighbor had a daughter of Sakura’s age. He puts the pieces together after things like hearing Sakura’s family name. (This doesn’t explain why he had a second teacup available when Sakura first visited.)
Tomoyo’s mother came over to help prepare tea and snacks for Sakura’s follow-up visit. But she had to stay hidden to avoid revealing to Sakura her (Sakura’s) connection with the old man.
Why keep it a secret? I don’t know, unless it was so Sakura’s true personality would show without being filtered by being around a relative.
@simboubou In regard to Touya, my guess is that Touya was old enough when their mother was alive to remember their great-grandfather. I agree with Christopher the dad set up the meeting on his own and I get the vibe the great-grandfather might have had a hard time accepting his granddaughter’s marriage, just because it’s pretty clear he never really got to know the dad. There might be a bit more baggage attached for Touya in that sense, and it feels like the dad was trying to avoid difficult conversations. Like the dad and great-grandfather are dancing around each other.
Edit: Oh, also, the thing was Kero was so charming. I love how well they seem to get along.
@ChristopherFritz This is pure speculation, but I thought the second tea cup was set out in honor of Nadeshiko.
The reason I thought it was great-grandpa’s idea is because that by the second time he and Sakura meet, he very clearly knows who Sakura and her father are. Like there’s no way he had Nadeshiko’s dress from when she was around Sakura’s age ready just by coincidence.
But I didn’t consider that in their first interaction, he acts more like a normal old man, assuming Sakura is just a lost child. It’s only after she mentions her name that he immediately invites her to have tea.
…The second teacup is really suspicious, though, as is Sonomi’s appearance at the end. Like, since Sakura invited Tomoyo to the villa, Sonomi would have known Sakura was coming, right? Sonomi could have told her grandfather about it and they could have orchestrated it all from there. Otherwise, she would have to have either been at the villa by complete coincidence. I guess it’s also possible that great-grandpa met Sakura and then called Sonomi to ask her for help with prepping tea and such, but one day seems like short notice.
If great-granddad did know Sakura was coming, then his behaviour in their first interaction was just acting in order to make an excuse to interact with Sakura.
This would also explain why he didn’t have a bigger reaction to Sakura’s last name (like, he couldn’t even hear Sakura mention her dad without frowning), because he actually knew what it was beforehand.
I’m not sure Tomoyo being offered to come with them would mean her would knew. Tomoyo appears to be given a good deal of autonomy, and she might just say “we’ll be in the countryside”
Whoa tons of theory happening here! Meanwhile I’m just like “lalala what a cute chapter “ lol
The bit at the end with Sakura making the rainbow and telling him that his granddaughter must be in a beautiful place with her mom omgggg I shed a couple tears ngl
It’s very sweet, but since he speculated that she made the rainbow, I’d like to know how he thinks she did it… My guess is he thinks she used a big hose
Definitely agree that how Sakura and great-grandpa met is not something we can completely figure out. My theory is similar to @zucchi except that only Sonomi set the whole thing up. Maybe great-grandpa didn’t want to meet Sakura even though Sonomi wanted him. The second cup was for here but she was deliberately late. And she told Sakura’s father to send Sakura over to the house so Sonomi could show Sakura their ancestral home, which is why Sakura’s dad was suprised Sakura said she met an old man (but quickly figured it out).
I’m having so much fun with this chapter. Excuse my aunt energy, but I want to pinch Li’s cheeks. He’s actually really sweet. And Tomoyo’s enthusiasm in dressing everyone is so cute. Plus Sakura in her little prince outfit!! Ugh, why are these kids so adorable?
That said, that one teacher continues to be SO creepy, oh my god.
I feel like there’s a lot of benefit in being able to read the story casually and understand the gist, but I also want to be able to use the club as an opportunity to learn from my more experienced peers. Since I have the time right now, I decided I would try reading it once casually and then rereading it again more studiously. We’ll see how it goes! Funny enough, the only part I really couldn’t figure out was on the very first page.
Page 51
やっぱり観月先生見てるとはにゃーんってなっちゃうんだよう<3
I’m completely lost on this one. When she’s looking at her teacher, she starts meowing? Becomes a cat? I’m really not sure what I’m looking at with the grammar. Also, uh, yeah, I strongly suspect this is not related to cats at all.
@zucchi Your poll introductions are always really fun btw.
“ lol
