香君 上 西から来た少女 | Week 7

Japanese Language Book Clubs
1

香君 上 西から来た少女 | Week 7

Week 7 12 July 2025
Chapters 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
End page 33
Pages 35
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Home Thread 香君 上 西から来た少女 Advanced Book Club : now reading!

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Chapter 3.3

Interesting how Aisha surprises everybody with her skills. And how she trusts that 黄君 has the same skills. The question is, why was マシュウ in the area? Did they plan to meet secretly? :thinking:

Chapter 3.4

Aisha starts to realize that Orie doesn’t really have smelling skills like her. And of course Orie and マシュウ realize this as well. Now the question is: In which way are they planning to proceed?

Chapter 3.5

At least they did not treat Aisha as if she were dumb :sweat_smile: Instead, they tell her the truth straight away. Makes them even more sympathetic.

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3.3

I think that’s supposed to be 香君’s thing, so it seems like a reasonable assumption. (By the way, I added 香君 to my IME’s dictionary so it comes up when I type こうくん.)

I was wondering that too… maybe it was pre-planned and related to chapter 3.4 and 3.5 stuff?

3.5

Yeah, I agree. Like sure, they have selfish motivations, but at least they are up front about it! (Well, at least they indicate they will be. We don’t know for sure yet since they don’t actually explain things in this chapter.)

Finished in record time! Now I don’t know what to do the rest of the week!

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3.3 to 3.5

It sounded to me as if they were always planning to have the conversation that is clearly upcoming in the next chapter, just maybe not quite this quickly. So it makes sense for マシュウ to be planning to arrive a little after アイシャ and オリエ, with the intention of having this discussion once they’ve had a chance to settle in and get to know each other. マシュウ definitely expected that アイシャ would figure out soon enough that オリエ didn’t have the sense of smell she should do, and I doubt he planned to leave オリエ to have to explain that without him.

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Chapter 3.3

Oh, how I love japanese ! Me, glancing at the 当て字: “リチヤガ ? Yet another made up thing. Wait, they’re dangerous ?”… actually reading the kanji :" 赤毒蛾… ok then" :sweat_smile:

I’m always amazed at how a sentence is written can bring way more nuances than just its spoken form.

Chapter 3.4

I loved that part. Though I felt a bit sad for アイシャ who suddenly realizes that all is not what it seems, and that オリエ’s divinity is most probably a lie. Though of course it opens up the way for her (theory more than spoilers) to truly come into her destiny as the real reincarnated 香君.

Chapter 3.5

I think マシュウ actually knew all along, from the very beginning, what アイシャ’s skills were, and planned the encounter. They’re hinting at the real reason why マシュウ saved アイシャand her brother : my theory is that he planned all along to have アイシャ replace オリエ as 香君, so that he and オリエ can finally be together. アイシャ’s brother and their childhood caretaker are probably there only to convince アイシャ to play along. How exactly to achieve that, and what kind of political up-heaving that would bring to the Empire is still a mystery, and they might not even have thought so far. Another question I had when reading the chapter (more theory): are オリエ’s skills simply below アイシャ’s, or are they actively withering ? and if so, why ? Could she be pregnant (another reason to have アイシャ replace her, and the sooner, the better, and another reason for マシュウ being there ?)

On the whole, I really enjoyed this week (as many of you said before : the exposition-heavy chapters from previous weeks were simply boring), and for the first time since the book club started, I actually look forward to next week.

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I have a different theory. I think they want アイシャ to act as オリエ’s personal aide/servant/whatever so she can do all the divine things in オリエ’s name. The 香君 is publicly known as a reincarnated being, so you can’t replace one just like that.

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My theory is that it’s more that they know they have a probable big problem coming up and they believe that somebody with this sense of smell ability will be able to help them with spotting it coming and finding the solution (e.g. alternatives to オアレ稲). But the bit where オリエ is worrying that if アイシャ agrees she won’t be able to have a ふつうの一生 suggests maybe that there will be a more public role, so maybe I’m wrong.

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