時をかける少女: Week 10 Discussion (Chapters 16 and 17)

Japanese Language Reading
#1

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Chapters 16 and 17: 侵入者はだれか？／未来からきた少年

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Start Date: January 26th
Previous Chapters: Chapters 14 and 15
Next Chapters: Chapters 18 and 19

Vocabulary List

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Vocab Sheet

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun!

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#2

Damn, I was expecting some explanation from chapter 17, and what is explained? Nothing we didn’t read in the chapter title. I’m tempted to read the next chapter now…

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#3

Yeah I just read the thread title and was like… way to give away the plot book, well done xD

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#4

Lookit me go, actually reading the current chapter on the Saturday!

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#5

What annoys me the most is that people (maybe even you? I can’t remember) have suspecting him since pretty early, but I was not seeing it… Well, I was wrong.

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#6

I think I was (if we’re talking about the same person here). I haven’t even read the chapter yet (probably shouldn’t have posted xD) and then I read your comment :joy::joy::joy:

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#7

Good thing I was vague even in the spoiler :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

It’s not like it’s so tense it had me on the edge of my seat so it’s fine xD I’m sure it won’t be tgat much of a surprise :yum:

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#9

Me reading chapter 16:

GDI girl move! :angryviet:

Me reading chapter 17:

GDI man just explain! :angrymami:

Also chapter 17 title is just :ok_hand: lol

Ps. Guess I must jump forward in time and read next week chapter this week. :eyes: Maybe :eyes:

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#10

Whoops this week snuck up on me. Usually I’m already following it the hour it posts!

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#11

These were quite strange chapters. Should start unraveling the secrets because there are not a lot of pages left(30~).

I wonder why there are seperate unrelated stories in the same book? i do not remember seeing this thing in other books. Epilogues and prologues sure but not unrelated stories.

Not sure how Kazuko could decide that he is not a boy so fast. In high school i knew this guy who behaved and carried oneself like a grown man but we did not think that he was from the future.

Overall i am pretty pleased with this book. Chapters are short so you can do short read sessions without stopping in the middle of the story/chapter. Vocab is good to, even not everyday usage words are not that obscure. Like “time leap”, not sure when i will use it again but it is a word i definitely want to know.

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#12

It’s pretty common for novellas. And by “pretty common”, I mean “it’s always the case”.

As an example, I was talking about a story written by Stephen King in last week’s thread. It was published with three other unrelated stories.

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#13

Chapter 16, page 92 of the Tsubasa version says:
しかし、たとえ相手がだれであれ、和子はその人間に合わねばならなかった。

After some jishoing it became clear that ねばらならい is the same as なければならない. But this got me wondering, is ねば the conditional form of ぬ? Does anyone have any insight into this?

Is this sentence basically saying that Kuzoko has to meet the other person no matter what? I’m not really sure how だれであれ affects the meaning of the sentence. Actually, is it “no matter who the other person is, Kazuko has to meet them”? The previous sentence is when Kazuko is speculating about what kind of person the other person might be, so that meaning could make sense, but I’m still not sure.

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#14

Yes, it is. Using ぬ always give a bit of a stiff/formal sound, but that’s it.
I can’t remember where I picked it, but I love the sentence せねばなるまい. I used it for fun on occasion.

“Whoever they are”, more specifically, but yes :slight_smile:

(So yes also to your speculation after that; I should read posts completely before answering)

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#15

Maybe it’s just my cold, but I found chapter 16 to be much harder than the last few chapters. I’m going to have to reread the last page and a half tomorrow. If I still can’t make sense of parts of it I’ll post questions then.

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#16

I’m sorry to hear you’re unwell D: hope you’re feeling better soon!

If it’s any consolation though, I found chapter 16 much harder than the last few weeks’ chapters too :sob:

Edit: dang, the pacing in this book is crazy. One minute she’s leaping around all over the place, the next we get three pages of "should I confront this person? Maybe I shouldn’t confront this person!

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#17

Wow, just finished chapter 17, and suddenly stopping time is possible! I mean, I did get used to the time jumping stuff and there being more than one person who does it, but that’s like another level… still not sure what to make of that…
And level 18 isn’t much better with the chapter title, either :sweat_smile:

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#18

Oh. My. Gosh. I finally caught up! \o/ I will be reading 16 and 17 chapters tomorrow and will join the conversation finally!:3 So happy to be here! :yellow_heart:

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#19

Alright, done rereading the end of chapter 16. I’m still unclear about two things in the chapter.

Tsubasa version for page numbers.

Page 91:
自分の秘密を見られ、おこってとびかかってくるようなことはないだろうか？

Wow that’s a lot of kana in a row. So something about her secret being seen, and maybe the unknown person getting mad and leaping at her? I think the ない + だろう is partly throwing me off. I get the general meaning from the context, but what exactly does this mean?

Page 94 (SPOILERS for end of chapter 16)

自分の苦しみをずっとそばで見ていたくせに、今まで知らん顔をしつづけていた一夫が急に憎らしくなり、和子は恨みを込めた目つきでかれを見た。

Maybe I’m finally making sense of this one, but I’ll ask just to be sure.
I think I’d break it up as:

  • (自分の苦しみをずっとそばで見ていたくせに、今まで知らん顔をしつづけていた)一夫が
    Kazuo, who even now (up to now) has continued to feign ignorance, despite seeing my pain this whole time
  • 急に憎らしくなり
    Suddenly started to hate him (the Kazuo described in the previous clause)
  • 和子は恨みを込めた目つきでかれを見た
    Kazuko looked at him with eyes mixed with resentment.

I’m too lazy to translate that whole thing as one sentence, but is that right? Did I miss anything or make any mistakes?

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#20

Not her secret being seen, but rather the unknown person’s secret. Basically, she’s worried if they won’t get mad about being exposed and leap at her or something. I think the ないだろうか bit is hard to explain, but the negative is used a lot when speculating about stuff like this. Maybe in some way this has something in common with the way constructions like “isn’t it…” “won’t he…” work in English.

Page 94 thing

That’s pretty much it :wink:
I probably didn’t even need to hide my answer in this thing, but oh well. What’s done’s done.

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