p.17
Yeah, I got the same vibe reading this. If it’s not meant metaphorically (he saw this side of me that I carefully hide away from everyone) but literally, then that rings pretty shallow.
p19
Based on my understanding, and some searching, it’s maybe just marking something along the lines of casualness?
The ィ after 気 is a way of writing 気 in a casual or slangy way. It is not a formal way of writing, and it is usually used in informal speech or text messages. It does not change the pronunciation or meaning of 気, but it may convey a sense of playfulness, cuteness, or laziness.
p17
Probably both meanings. Hori is pretty put together (she’s basically mothering Souta at this point after all), but high school girls are still permitted a bit of vanity, right?
Also this is one of those things where in manga whether or not you are wearing basic level makeup is impossible to tell because everyone is (usually) a pretty face. lol
That’s the joke. 
Love seeing all the language learning discussion in this thread. I very much agree that not knowing isn’t a failure, it’s a win. My style for learning is smashing my face against the brick wall that is “not knowing” until I just know (which I’m doing right now with this book club, lol).
p17
堀…なんか顔すごいことになってるよ？ 大丈夫？
Hori… why are you making that terrible face? Are you okay?
なんでもないのよ
It’s nothing.
ほ…本当…
Really?
本当に同一人物だったのかしらアレは…
I wonder if this guy is really the same person…
今でも信じられないんだけど…それより何より。
Now I’m not sure what I believe but… but more than anything else…
スッピン見られた
He’s seen me without makeup！
堀…本当に大丈夫？
Hori, are you really okay?
堀の奴どうかしたか
Is she okay?
なんとなく話しかけづらいんだよなあ…
It’s kind of hard to talk to him…
Nothing too troubling with this first page I don’t think!
I do have a quick question about すごい. I have just learnt it can be used for both amazing/terrible. Is it only the context of the situation or sentence that would indicate which translation to use?
The context it’s used in should make it clear.
I seldom see it used in a “terrible” sense in manga, though I’m sure I’ve encountered it.
The “amazing” translation also works like “exceptional” in English.
Here's an example of that.
The dialogue is a bit busy here, but the scene is that the girl and the boy she’s always liked have become a couple. However, their mothers hate one another. Thus, the couple must hide that they’re together because if their classmates find out, it’ll spread from one mother to another.
The girl says, 「母親同士のネットワークってすごいから」 “Because the network of moms is exceptional.”
This can also be translated as “amazing”.
It can also mean the degree of something is extreme.
Example of this usage.
Consider this scene from ARIA where Akari is out when a downpour starts:
After finding shelter, she says:
「すごい雨ですねぇ」
It’s a 「すごい」 rain.
The same from another manga:
Another example.
On the subway, Ninako sees Ren, the most popular boy at school, just a couple of seats away from her.
She pulls out her phone to lets the other girls from class know that Ren is…
…「そごい近い」, extremely close (to her).
And another.
「すごい光が!!」
I do have that book and I started Cure Dolly but stopped - I guess I should restart
p17
I had a different understanding from these two phrases.
本当に同一人物だったのかしらアレは…
かしら is probably not used in the meaning of “I wonder”, but more as “somehow”.
=> Somehow, he was really the same person, this guy.
今でも信じられないんだけど
I had 信じられない as the negative potential form of the verb, i.e. cannot believe.
=> Even now, I cannot believe it, but…
It can also mean the degree of something is something is extreme.
Thank you for these examples! I didn’t realise it could be used for extremes, I’m sure I’ll encounter this soon in my reading.
If you stick with volume 1 to the end, then continue on to volume 2…
Super-mini volume 2 weather spoiler.
Page 20
I’m not too familiar with a lot of the grammar on use here so just to clarify:
何照れてんのよ
This would be using the 点 grammar point correct? And as such should mean something like “What is this bashfulness?” correct?
Also
慣れてなくてそういうの…むずがゆいと言うか…
Would mean something like…“I’m not used to it, but it’s the sort of thing that…would you call it feeling uneasy?”
p20
It’s 照れる + ている, but horribly shortened:
照れているの → (drop い from ている) 照れてるの → (shorten る to ん) 照れてんの
This is all explained here:
Casual Patterns and Slang – Learn Japanese
Ah makes sense! Thank you so much!
This is another of those things that gave me trouble early on in my native manga reading.
It helped me a little to think of how we do the same thing in English.
For example, a person may ask, “Whajulike for dinner?” and it’s understood as “What would you like for dinner?”
While this 「verbているの」 
「verbてんの」 is common, I think I see it most often in 「何しているの」 「何してんの」.
But I almost never see 何しているの (in manga).
So you’re covering up that it rains in Horimiya, but you’re not concerned about telling everyone that it rains in Aria? 
p19
So the 様 in お高い様 gave me a bit of a pause thinking it was some sort of name/nickname/role but then it would seem a bit sarcastic for 様 to be used between classmates so had to look it up to see it’s basically a set phrase
Other than that, this week’s section went pretty smoothly.
お互い様？
お高い様 would be a real funny nickname indeed
Isn’t アレ usually used for inanimate objects?
Unrelated but I recently saw a clip of a Japanese TV show where a young boy was asked to choose his favorite person out of several adults, and he pointed and said あれ to refer to the older adult, and then everyone laughed. Which makes me think that あれ is not supposed to be used with people… unless it’s just impolite.
the animate/inanimate distinction is for the verbs ある and いる, あれ here is a demonstrative pronoun. (along with its friends これ and それ). They point to something, in this case with a helpful illustration of what the あれ she’s referring to in the sentence is 
Although I think it probably would be more polite to use あの人 or something here (but for pragmatic politeness reasons rather than any grammatical animate/inanimate distinction)