Ohh right, now I understand
Yep, you’re right. I was confused as to how 連体詞 worked but now I get it.
1 Like
I liked this chapter. It was nice to take a little break from the heavy technical term loaded chapters for a little more backstory on the characters and the light teenage drama. I’ll try listing some of the highlights in chronological order for those who are still in the middle of reading the chapter (sometimes it can be tempting to check new book club posts even if that means diving into a potential sea of spoilers).
First, new development about Tina and the family drama she faces at home. Her parents are divorced and her mother is a famous celebrity she’s not too fond of. If I remember correctly, she hasn’t really offered her opinion on her father (whether she likes him better than her mother or if she lives with him or is shared between them, I can’t remember).
But as soon as Tina was introduced, I knew she was probably going to be the one to have a thing for Yamato - a popular looking girl having a thing for an ikemen boy (not to mention, an older, more mature boy) is a common trope afterall. It’s probably going to cause some kind of falling out between her and Hanabi down the road since Tina is already jealous that Hanabi has found a family for herself at the café already (something that Tina has been wanting - being able to sit down and have a homecooked meal with people who love and care about her), and to work with ikemen Yamato on top of that would probably get those teenage hormones raging. In any case, it’s a good lesson for teenagers to read about.
As for the discussion on Tina and who her mother is… those who are confused, yeah, there has been no mention on what kind of mother she is that’s told from a perspective from anyone else except Tina. We know that she doesn’t really like her (she seems to hate her, in fact) so it’s pretty safe to say that her mother’s status is a target of the bullying she gets at school. On top of that, I’ve finally realized that her kirakira name was chosen by her mom specifically because she’s a celebrity and having a common name for her daughter wouldn’t fit her image. And since she has a flashy name, that can also be a reason why she’s bullied.
But back to unpacking Tina’s mother’s character. Since her mother is never home to make her homecooked meals (hence why she’s always buying bentos and the conbini), we know she’s a busy celebrity. We might go as far to say she doesn’t really care about Tina because she probably didn’t even tell her mother she’s out with a friend at a café for the night. And I think the chapter ending with a little girl out after dark on a swing by herself isn’t a random coincidence but further symbolism of Tina’s character. After all, guess who just went home before Hanabi and Yamato encounter the little girl?
We also get to see Yamato being a little more open about his private life with Hanabi, admitting that his father is more fond of his new family than he is of his first son. Sad for many reasons but the part that hit me is his father’s attitude towards him is probably why he’s so withdrawn from everyone. It’s hard to care and let others in if your own parent makes it pretty clear they don’t care about you. What gets me is his father isn’t a divorcee but a widower who remarried, so either there was foul play involved (less likely as this isn’t a detective series) or his father is still hurt about the loss of his wife and he actively avoids his son so he doesn’t have to remember the pain - starting a new family is his way of starting fresh (more likely)which feels awful because he isn’t thinking about Yamato at all - as far as we know, the loss of his mother was probably very tragic for him so he needs some kind of support which is thankfully where Auntie Aiko comes in.
Just a little contextual information regarding schools: In Japanese schools, the homeroom teachers are also held responsible for the wellbeing of their students, and since Yamato has stopped coming to school, he and his father are asked to meet to discuss how they wish to proceed. Since high school isn’t obligatory in Japan like it is in other countries, there’s probably less necessity to keep Yamato in school unlike say, Tina who cuts classes - she and her mother probably get parent-teacher meetings and phone calls more often, and she’s more obligated to at least make appearances at school once in a while as opposed to Yamato who is virtually never at school (and prioritizing his part-time job anyway).
Now to more formally address Risa at the end of the chapter, she’s clearly an ES student but she’s sitting on a swing in the park by herself at 9PM which is about the time kids her age should be going to sleep (most of my ES students sleep around 9PM or by 10PM at the latest if their parents don’t let them play games all night). It was very nice to see Yamato change his personality and try to boost Risa’s spirits (I feel like if Tina saw this scene, she would absolutely fall for him considering that little girl would probably remind her of herself - no one at home waiting for her, no one to cook for her, no one to care about her, just alone).
And then when we find out her mother worked at the izakaya and doesn’t come home until the first train, that hurt pretty hard. Not only does Risa not get to see her mother at night, but by the time her mother comes home, it’s early in the morning, and she’s probably dead tired and sleeping in, and goes back to work from noon so her daughter essentially doesn’t get to see her at all. (Not to mention, her mother probably doesn’t make breakfast for her if she’s that tired. Clearly no one made dinner for her because she hadn’t eaten yet either.)
I don’t know what to make of the friend that comes to check on her from time to time. She’s clearly not very concerned about Risa, but perhaps their situation has been going on for a while so it’s just a normal situation to her now. Unless you’re very close family, people try not to get involved in other people’s problems. People here hav a very “that’s not my problem” attitude here especially in the city. That’s why Aiko is very strange to everyone.
It’s already been said but it’s definitely not a normal thing that little kids are just walking around willy nilly especially past dark. Yeah children as young as first graders will walk to school and home but that’s usually in a group. Some kids go to juku and will be out until around 7 in that case but unless they live really close their parents pick them up. Plus they’ll still be wearing their school uniform if they have one (not all ES do).
Honestly, after thinking about the circumstances of our three main characters, I feel wanting to connect more to Yamato because he’s essentially ignored by his family and he lost his mom, but he’s trying his best. We don’t know if he’s been bullied but he probably doesn’t go to school often enough that that would be a problem. He also found a way to keep himself busy by doing a part-time job instead of running away and feeling sorry for himself (and he has Aiko’s support which is the important part). He’s also older so it makes sense he’s more mature and has things figured out better. Hanabi was a little cringe in the beginning but that was because she had room for a lot of growth which she achieved somewhat. Tina’s growth is probably going to be addressed next, but she still doesn’t pull me in as a character.
5 Likes
While reading this I was like: omg, is Aiko really going to kidnap that child? 
But yeah, from the context it kind of gives me the feeling that this is not the first time Aiko has taken “lost” children with her. I mean, come on, she’s even letting Yamato live with her. It’s actually kind of wholesome how she cares so much about troubled children.
3 Likes
Yeah, Aiko is good people, for sure!
3 Likes