Reading aloud friends!
Saruko is away on holidays this week, is anyone interested in starting an hour later than usual (ie 9:30pm JST)? (I don’t mind either way, but given how few people were around last week I was wondering if a different time would help).
Really fun story. I like Miki. So brave. Hair coming down from the toilet ceiling and she still didn’t call it quits!
When she reads the instructions the first time she’s told 通の人は、半分残すのが常識。I thought that meant eat it all, or give someone half because if you put it half eaten in the freezer, you’ll have ghosts haunting you. But that’s not it, right? Because the instructions she reads later tell her something else about the person who finishes it? What did i miss here?
I’ve got many small questions… but i don’t have a physical book to give page numbers and there’s so much context i’ll have to type out to ask about the stuff i’m unclear about… i’ll just put the context in english and if any of you remember what the sentence meant in context 教えてください。
When describing the zenitendou’s okamisan: この暑いのに着物なんか着ていて、しかも汗ひとつ浮かべていないので、余計に妖怪めいて見えた。
What does the bit in bold mean? She looks like a youkai?
When the scares keep increasing in intensity and the futon almost strangles her でも、そういう過激なのはやめてくれと頼んだところ、おばけたちは、かげんをしてくれるようになった。
That probably means they oblige and stop right? Whats the かげんにして
When she comes back from her trip and opens the door 部屋の中はうすぐらく、こそともおとがしなかった。Whats こそとも？
When she realizes that something has been stolen after all. よりにもよって、ホーンテッドアイスをぬすまれてしまったのだ。What’s the bold phrase mean?
When she realizes that the icecream is gone and therefore so are the ghosts: おのれ、どろぼうめ。What’s that mean?
And lastly, when she realizes that the burglar ate the icecream and then got frightened by the ghosts. この泥棒は怖がりなのだ。さまあみろ。うんとこわがればいいんだ。
Again, what’s the bit in bold?
Also feel really bad for the robber. Quite excessive, his punishment! Poor guy. I’ve noticed this before in things I’ve read and seen that have to do with south-east asia. Stealing is considered a MUCH bigger crime there than in some other places. I’ve wondered about it. Why this ‘right to property’ feels so ‘self-evident’ to people…
I’m actually currently a chapter ahead, and looking back on the posts about this chapter, I feel like I barely remember anything about it! Must’ve been all those nights of reading until I passed out (oops). May have to go back and read it again, because there are definitely questions that have been asked that I don’t know the answer (or remember the context) to.
This next chapter is really good, though! I’ll definitely be coming back around for the discussion threads about it. I think it’s a nice change of pace from the previous chapters.
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I’d say something like “because of …, she looks all the more like a yôkai”.
I think it’s just 加減（を）する “to adjust / moderate”.
I read it as the mimetic こそ（こそ）, implying stealth, highlighted with も. Maybe there’s another way to read it?
It’s よりによって “of all (things)”, focused with も.
Standard-fare swearing, おのれ is used as some kind of pronoun, often translated as “those bastards” or something, for lack of a better idiom. め is a condescending suffix when used of others or humbling when used for yourself as わたくしめ.
Should be ざまあみろ < ざまをみろ < 様を見ろ, apparently, meaning “serves you right”.
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I think this is saying that the connoisseur (of this type of ice cream) knows that you should leave half of it (so that you can enjoy being haunted? 
)
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thank you! that’s made things a lot clearer!
Ah. Now i get it. Thanks 
Aah I loved this chapter. Miki is my fave so far. I believe that she will find the candy shop again someday and be reunited with the おばけたち. She bought them gifts!!
Edit: Also the poll won’t let me vote in it for some reason, but I’m still reading along! No one warned me painting a house would take this long…
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Oooh, sorry, I’ll open the polls up for you!
This is the only week’s reading I haven’t done yet still ^^’ hope your (?) is looking lovely 
Thanks! Actually I am having the same issue with “Week 8” when I tried to update status. I am hoping to get through Ch 4 today, and Ch5 by Wednesday so I can catch up and read with everyone for Ch6.
And yes!! My house looks so much better! The previous owners let the kids paint, which is fun and teaches valuable skills but having to cover red, grey, blue, purple, yellow, and in one case gold/silver/bronze-metallic paint is a chore. It’s basically the entire upstairs and all the walls are textured to boot and none of the holes were patched, so I had to repair drywall on about 30 holes. I figure two more weekends and I am done and can start moving furniture into the rooms.
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Any loose black hair falling from the your bathroom ceiling?
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If only! If I had おばけたち roommates I give each of them a paint roller so they could pull their own weight!
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Okay, bumping this topic now that I’ve finally finished the chapter, to add to the chorus saying it was great. I found the conclusion perhaps slightly less exciting / suspenseful than some other chapters, but I really liked the build-up to realising her house was haunted, and her super nonchalant reaction to that.
The way it described their developing relationship was adorable (??!), with the ghosts trying increasingly elaborate ways to scare her, and then backing off when she asked them not to do anything too dangerous. Plus she brought them souvenirs! Ack!
I was a lot sad 
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Guess Japanese summers are so brutal, one would do anything for air conditioning 
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