There’s also the bit earlier in the chapter where the mother had her hands all over Shimeji, admiring her hair etc then Majime tells her to get off, “it’s my Shimeji-chan!”
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Chapter 15: 図書室の人
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When 上田 got a face during roll call, I expected him to somehow feature into しめじ’s day. In hindsight the fact that his head is very normal should have clued me in.
That awkward situation when her chair was taken during lunch… I feel for her.
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Wow that was hard work! For anyone who doesn’t fancy translating 10th centure Japanese literature on page 51 here is a translation copied from the internet…
秋は夕暮れ。夕日のさして山の端いと近うなりたるに、烏の寝どころへ行く とて、三つ四つ、二つ三つなど、飛びいそぐさへあはれなり。まいて雁などの つらねたるが、いと小さく見ゆるはいとをかし。日入りはてて、風の音、虫の 音など、はたいふべきにあらず。
In autumn, the evening – the blazing the sun has sunk very close to the mountain rim, and now even the crows, in threes and fours or twos and threes, hurrying to their roost, are a moving sight. Still more enchanting is the sight of a string of wild geese in the distant sky, very tiny. And oh how inexpressible, when the sun has sunk, to hear in the growing darkness the wind, and the song of autumn insects.
The Pillow Book by Sei Shonagon, circa 990-1002, translated by Meredith Mckinney
Page 56
Connecting Understanding the link between the Bible, “No Longer Human”, and “Thus Spoke Zarathustra” took a little bit of time reading on Wikipedia!
Page 60 handwritten kanji - is that 自称 美少女（成人）? - self-proclaimed beautiful girl (coming of age)
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Care to share some links or explain a bit? During sections like this sometimes I don’t know to what extent my confusion is from lack of understanding Japanese and to what extent it’s my lack of understanding the content.
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Well, my basic understanding was:
Summary
No Longer Human is a 1948 Japanese novel. It is considered Dazai’s masterpiece and ranks as the second-best selling novel ever in Japan. The themes include suicide, social alienation, and depression.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a philosophical novel by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. It looks pretty complicated but one of its themes is criticism of Christianity including the famous dictum “God is dead”.
So:
The Bible is a book about God,
No Longer Human is a book about pessimism,
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is a book concerning pessimism about God!
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Chapter 16: 掘り出しもの
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Spoilers
Wasn’t there something in volume 1 about how the club changes its theme from hole digging to hole filling every few years? I kept wondering if the teacher or one of the former club members put all this random stuff into the hole while filling it, so the next digging generation would find it 
Also, I’m glad we got another Ayaka scene in this chapter, definitely my favourite character 
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I don’t know, I like the メガネかけてるモササウルス説! 
I totally forgot about that, but now that you mention it, that does make sense!
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I also like Sumida-chan although I wish her handwriting was a bit easier to read! Was pleased when I managed to figure out 依存症 on page 66 though… 
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Chapter 17: ショッピングモール
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Lots to like in this week’s chapter. But for me the best thing was: the fried egg! Right from the first page I was puzzled by how it was sitting on the top of her hat. Then on page 77 we see her putting her hat on, again I was puzzled by what was happening with the egg. The explanation on page 79 was rather unexpected though!
36% - I think that comes from the rule of nines used for estimating body surface area in burns victims:
Summary
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Same here! Now I’m wondering how far it can be pulled away…can she use it like Captain America’s shield? Or for playing frisbee by herself? So many possibilities!
On page 80, did I understand it correctly that they’re talking about how weirdly normal this town seems?
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Chapter 18: 先生のかたち
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After reading that chapter I need some ワイワイワイン🍷!
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One question please meow~
Page 92
I’m having trouble figuring out what 何留 means… 留 doesn’t seem to a counter, and the two meanings I can find in jisho don’t make much sense (Russian ruble? Stationary?)
Any help is appreciated!
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I think this is based on 留年 meaning ‘repeating a year’. It seems to be used as a counter for 'years repeated. ‘How many years have you repeated (to be of age in high school)?’
This question used the term 何留, and the answers seem to confirm that.
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That explains everything. Thank you!
Had to read four chapters in a row, but I did it! Yomikawa’s tree metaphor monologue gave me a headache, both because of how difficult it was Japanese-wise as well as metaphor-wise. At least I understood what Shimeji didn’t (pretty girls read books!).
I loved the shopping mall chapter. The egg’s physics explanation, the make-over (kinda) scene, and the ongoing joke from the previous chapter of having theories about everything. I have one quick question from that chapter:
On page 80
EDIT: Just in case someone saw my first post, I realized I was misreading 脱 as 説 just after I posted the question! 
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たち does not only mean “multiple of the same type” but also “and those who belong to”; (e.g. 私たち does not mean “multiple instances of me” but “we” in the sense of “I and my friends”, for example).
In this case this means going shopping with the whole family (where only the mother is being singled out and mentioned).
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