Saaaame. But I’ve seen the anime and was like “WAIT she didn’t get stabbed in the anime!”
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I did. I fact, once it became apparent that the wanderer was pretty much the original Kino, I knew that it was a matter of time before he disappeared from the story, permanently. I didn’t know how that result would turn until the chapter reached the climax, though. In addition people commenting that they had read the entire chapter rather than just week ten’s selection also hinted to me that something was coming.
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I’ve officially caught up. This was a very nice chapter, the second chapter I really liked after chapter 3.
I guess I’ll ask some minor questions.
Q1
「ああ、そこいらへんにしておきなさい」
そこいら - that area
へん - circumstances
にしておく - to leave as
Please leave that area to its circumstances?
Q2
それは貴方のどうこうできる問題ではない。
I like how 貴方 is in kanji, but what does the sentence mean?
Can someone please break down どうこうできる?
Q3
それは殴りかかってきたキノの胸に当たり、そして突き刺さった。
What is 殴りかかってきた in this case?
Do you have page numbers or are you using the ebook?
Unfortunately I am using the ebook, otherwise I would put them in. These are from the place where the noble man talked with Kino.
Fair warning: I didn’t read the book, so this is a bit out of context.
Q1
Out of context, I read it as “leave it at that”.
- そこいらへん is a single word, made of そこ（い）ら＋へん（辺）, meaning “around there” or “about that (area)”. It just means somewhere vague. Maybe we could say “leave it there (=as it stands)”, where “there” is the abstract position.
- The perhaps bigger issue is にしておく. The way I see it (but I’m sure it’s not the only one), する here is an “empty verb”: it doesn’t mean much. If you’ve seen the expression in Xとして, you probably know it usually translates to “as X”, which is already the meaning of と; する doesn’t add much meaning, maybe “to be (as X)”. I believe here is more of the same. The important verb in Xにしておく is in fact （て）おく “to leave”. にして only indicates “as what (in what state)” you’re leaving things. If this all sounds confusing, just learn しておく as a unit.
See also 「もうその辺にしておけ」の言い換えや類語・同義語-Weblio類語辞典 which is a similar construction.
Q2
- どうこうできる is どう・こう・できる. It’s the normal どう (“how”) and こう (“like this”). The dictionary seems to imply that the phrase comes from どうのこうの, which is, despite appearances, not the genitive の (“of”). It’s closer to どうか こうか, where の substitutes for か as a question marker, used as embedded questions, literally “somehow? like this?”. If you’ve seen expressions such as どれもこれも (“something or other”), it’s similar in (the parallel) construction, hence どうこう = “somehow or other”.
- Since you know that どうする means “to do what” => どうこうする “to do something somehow” => どうこうできる “to be able to do something somehow”.
Q3
I think this is perhaps just naguru + (i)kakaru (“be about to”) + (I)te kuru (“towards speaker”). Who was about to attack (towards speaker)? Haven’t thought much about this last one; probably clearer in context, so I’ll leave it to someone else who’s read the book.
As usual, it’s just my reading of the passages; I’m sure others will let us know if I misinterpreted something!
P.S.: Should I “hide” the responses somehow, as I’ve seen others do? I don’t know how to do it, though… EDIT: Hidden!
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Probably.
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I watched the (older) anime last year or so, so I knew what was coming.
By the way,
I’m pretty convinced that a 10-year-old girl is not able to straighten up a motorbike like that in the picture after the chapter, which will probably weigh more than 200 kilos. Not even if she knew how to do it (which most people don’t, initially). And the way it was described, somehow pushing with her foot, no way. (Or maybe I totally misunderstood that part, but still…)
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I think she pushed up with her chest against the machine as leverage, and then used her foot to push down the stand? Didn’t check again, but I think that’s what I remember. Pretty sure somewhere in that description was a 言う通りor something along those lines, and she followed Hermes’s instructions.
Also, she’s 12, and the tallest among her friends, so I figure we might as well suspend that disbelief. 
According to this Wiki, Hermes is a variant of a Brough Superior SS100, which according to the official site weighs 186 kg dry. Not a bad guess at all, when we add some gas.
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Hermes is modeled after a real motorbike? Wow 
And it’s from the '20s - even more wow
Oh, I see. The earlier motorbikes tend to weigh a bit less than modern ones because fewer security features. Also, it does not seem to be that tall (when looking at the pics with actual people on it).
Thanks for the trivia!
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You’re welcome. I looked it up special for you! 
Not that I have any clues about motorcycles. You seem quite knowledgeable about them, though. 
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Yeah, I used to ride motorcycles for, uh, a very long time. And so, this and that bit of information still sticks 
Mind you, I never owned a gun, though.
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The end of Week 10’s reading was too intriguing so I ended up reading the rest of the chapter today. It was pretty intense. The whole chapter I was confused about the change of narrator, and I was wondering if maybe this was someone キノ rescued but then the 男 had me like… wait, this is not our キノ.
I found myself reading pretty fast compared to what I’m used to in Japanese since it was interesting, even if I still had to take some breaks due to reading fatigue, but it was pretty niceanyway. This chapter was No guns/10 would read again.
And now I’m basically caught up? Until the new thread is up. Oh god how is it already Friday?
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It’s not for some of us. 
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I unfortunately had the gist of this chapter spoiled for me when I was looking at stuff about Kino in general, but I was still engaged enough that I still read the chapter in basically one go (with a break for unavoidable life things).
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