I finished 不機嫌なモノノケ庵 vol 10!
Yup, that woman is Hanae’s sister, and she seems to have a bit of a brocon. And she dyes her hair blond; she naturally has dark hair and eyes like Hanae and their mother, and she can’t see youkai either. Hanae has a single memory of their father (one which suggests that Sakae was never around even before he disappeared for good), while his sister does remember him but doesn’t care to, because Sakae cast them aside/abandoned them. She does tell him though that she doesn’t remember anything about Sakae being able to see youkai, and in fact she doesn’t believe they exist (as most people don’t), but she recounts memories of him acting suspiciously, which confirms Hanae’s feelings that their father could see youkai too.
Look how cute baby Hanae was though! (excuse my finger)
(Sakae kinda gives me bad vibes though? Like, that smile? Definitely one of a suspicious person.)
Abeno overheard Hanae’s mother say the name “Sakae” at the hospital (he followed ostensibly to pick up Moja, who’d gone with Hanae, but I’m pretty sure he was worried too) and remembered that Aoi, the previous モノノケ庵主, had once mentioned the name Ashiya Sakae—as someone who’d died 100 years ago. He’s certain though that the two are the same person and Aoi could have gotten the time wrong, as youkai don’t necessarily have a good grasp of time; Yahiko had thought it had been 30 years since he’d last seen Abeno, but it had only been 8.
I’m wondering if I’m misremembering that Aoi was human too. Although if the info about Sakae dying 100 years ago had come from a youkai, that could still track.
Abeno agrees to take on the job (yes, he’s charging Hanae for it, increasing Hanae’s debt and the amount of time he’ll be working for him to pay it off… and he only puts a paltry amount toward paying off the debt with each job that Hanae helps with… he claims he doesn’t want Hanae around, but…?) of searching for any leads on Sakae in the Legislator’s records warehouse. When the Legislator later goes investigating after reports of a shrill noise coming from there, he finds Abeno passed out in the stacks with his phone (犯人) sitting atop a stack of books beside him. It makes sense that he wouldn’t know what a cell phone is, but it’s still hilarious to hear him call it an 現世の板 lmao (at least it’s an iPhone and not a flip phone).
ワクワクする立法さん：おや？ 押すと文字が浮かぶのか。現世の文字……〝アラーム〟とはなんだろう？
He’s kind of adorable.
That day is the Halloween-themed 文化祭 at their school, and Hanae and Abeno are dressed as a witch and shinigami respectively (Abeno quite unwillingly lmao) and set to advertising the café their class is doing, but Abeno isn’t very jazzed about it, so it devolves into a sword—er, broom-and-scythe—fight lmao. Anyway, Yahiko shows up and causes trouble as usual, and while Abeno’s scolding him, a small childish figure and a tall black-hooded figure facing each other, Hanae remembers the single memory of his father that he has. Back then, he’d thought Sakae was Santa Claus, but now he thinks he seemed more like a shinigami…
And of course, when asked, Yahiko thinks he knows of someone who fits Abeno’s description of Sakae, but he refuses to be helpful until Abeno plays with him until he’s satisfied. And he’s never satisfied. He’s incredibly わがままだ. This doesn’t exactly bode well for the next volume.
I don’t actually think that them both having golden hair and eyes points to Abeno and Sakae being related, that’s just something I remember seeing some people wondering around when that chapter came out (or maybe that was in the anime? I don’t really remember, but I don’t think so); my first thought was that it was related to their ability to see youkai, since Abeno was probably born with it while Hanae only gained it after being possessed and Zenko after being bitten by Yahiko. But if it does, then even shipping aside—because I do, unsurprisingly, ship abeshiya—I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of Hanae and Abeno possibly being half-brothers, especially since Sakae was clearly married to Hanae’s mother if his surname’s Ashiya too. Yeah his being absent from Hanae’s life but for that one day when he was 3 and then disappearing without a word again is shitty, but he could have had his reasons, likely related to youkai, and he wouldn’t necessarily be a dick. (He definitely still could be, though; we know nothing of him or his motivations yet.) But if he’s Abeno’s father too? Yeah, he definitely would be. There’d almost certainly be some mixed feelings finding out that your (best?) friend is your brother through your father cheating on your mother who clearly loved him a lot.
I also picked up 君に届け again, reading episode 4. I forgot how difficult Shiina-sensei’s handwriting is for me to read. I’m afraid I mostly didn’t try to today.
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12月02日
About as good as any time, I say. I’ve been so disorganised with Japanese this month, at least with reading, but I’ve been listening quite a bit so it’s alright, still daily study just different focus for a bit. I’ve needed a bit of leeway what with all the schedule adjusting I’ve been doing this week, but I’m happy to announce that it’s been going great. I’ve been going to bed early, waking up early and going for a walk daily since Monday (which has given me the opportunity to do more Japanese listening with podcasts), and I want to start going for an easy run here and there from next week’s Monday onwards to start preparing for regular exercise again. A part of me is still resisting and missing staying up late at night sooo much, but I know that if I give in I’m definitely at risk of going to bed super late again feeling tired most of the day and honestly… I very much prefer the energy I have now, which is not a whole lot but it’s still noticeable. It’s still early and I still prefer the night, but… 
perhaps that’ll change with time, waking up early definitely has its perks too.
Dec 2 
To be fair I am also at a part where there are just a lot of characters saying weird things so that’s probably not helping 
at least 蜂楽’s having the time of his life, and 潔 is… experiencing 
I think this is my favorite chapter so far, I really enjoyed the way it was written and the extra flavor it gave to the story.
