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Huh, I forgot I was nearly halfway through 明日をくれた君. I kinda doubt I can finish it before the year’s up, though. Granted, if I continue at this rate, I’ll finish before the week is up, but I ain’t counting on that lol. Anyway, I read a whole 43 pages (though the letters inflate the page count by ~3), reading all of ch 3 and leaving off on pg 153! I’ve never read this much of a novel in a single day, aside from when I read ahead in 夜カフェ① and read the last several chapters in a single day to see if I could, but that’s written for a younger audience than this. So that’s definite progress.
Some happenings this chapter
Midzuki likes cute things, but she’s the type of person who doesn’t seem like she would. It’s a little heartbreaking that even Kaito, her childhood friend—whom you’d think would know her better than that—thinks it’s strange for her to have/like cute things. In the next letter, Satou-kun asks her what kinds of things she’s interested in, and she says that she likes cooking, making sweets, and handicrafts, and confesses that this is the first time she’s told anyone because she’s always told that those sorts of things don’t suit her character, and he replies: “素敵な趣味だな.” ♡
I don’t really get why people say liking cute things or liking to make things seems unlike her. She doesn’t seem particularly tomboyish or anything. She’s serious and gets good grades, and she’s shy and/or socially anxious, and none of that points away from her liking the things she does. I don’t think she’s particularly athletic, either? In any case, she’s not in any clubs. The first time it was mentioned that she keeps that she likes cute things a secret because it seems unlike her, I was like, “What?” I dunno, maybe I missed something, or maybe this part just wasn’t very well thought-out/executed. Or maybe it’s just that she’s the POV character, so of course she seems girly to us since we can see her thoughts and feelings that others can’t, but maybe she seems less so, more cool/mature, to an outsider. I just wish we could see that more, or at least that the first mention that others think that cute things don’t suit her came a lot earlier.
It’s kinda funny though seeing her reactions to some of the things Satou-kun says. Like, after he asked her what she enjoys most about school (she doesn’t much like school; he thinks that’s a waste/shame), she asks him the same, and he says that the thing he enjoys most (not just at school but in his whole life) is this ongoing correspondence with her. And while it makes her somewhat happy, she just utterly cannot fathom it, even without factoring in the “生きてきた中で” part. She knows he likes her, and even she thinks a lot about him and her letters, even zoning out in class because of it when usually she’s so studious. Is it really so incomprehensible that he could enjoy it so much?
Or at least, I thought she knew he liked her, but here she’s wondering, “佐藤くんって、私のことが……好き、なのかな?” It turns out what he really said was, “俺はずっと君のことが気になっていた,” which isn’t exactly the same thing. She interpreted it as him wanting to be friends, and she’s only just figuring it out.
It’s also kinda funny that after her one positive interaction with Sugiura-kun last chapter, she completely forgets that he’s a delinquent. She only remembers after she runs after him and he turns to her with this kinda scary/intimidating expression and she quails a little at it. But he also seems to see her for who she is, so I wouldn’t mind if he were Satou-kun, but I’m 99% sure he’s not. They’re pretty cute, though.
Some vocab of note:
神無月 (かんなづき) [archaic, noun, adv.] This one’s interesting. It’s the 10th month of the lunisolar calendar, and in modern days is also used to refer to the 10th month of the Gregorian calendar (October), even though it actually usually falls in November. The 無 in this case is ateji for a genitive particle, making it “Month of the Gods,” just like with 水無月 (6th month of the lunisolar calendar; June) being “Month of Water” rather than “Month Without Water.” However, since this is the month that all of the Shintō gods gather at the Izumo shrine in Izumo, Shimane-ken, that means that there are no gods in the rest of the country, so that 無 is often interpreted as 無し rather than の, and in Izumo the month is known as 神有月 (かみありつき).
名残惜しい (なごりおしい) [い-adj.] reluctant (to part)
自暴自棄 (じぼうじき) [四字熟語, noun, な-adj., の-adj.] desperation; despair; self-abandonment
拍子抜け (ひょうしぬけ) [noun, の-adj., する verb (自)] anticlimax; letdown; disappointment; loss of interest
つゆ知らず [expression, adv.] not knowing at all (that); without the slightest idea (that); completely unaware (that)
他言 (たげん or たごん) [noun, する verb (他)] telling others; divulging (a secret); disclosing; letting out
言葉を濁す (ことばをにごす) [expression, サ五] to be vague; to speak ambiguously; to be evasive; to not commit oneself
自問自答 (じもんじとう) [四字熟語, noun, する verb] answering one’s own question; wondering to oneself; soliloquizing. This one’s meaning is obvious, but I like the sound and rhythm of it. (This is technically a word I heard—it was in a song I was listening to, リセット by 向井太一—not read, but shh)
December 21st 
)
I guess some of those words I learned from brute forcing my way through 言語学 papers a while back ended up sticking
// 
Dec 21 
chef’s kiss 
You are now 100% 
At least your first 漱石 (if this is your first) wasn’t mine. I read his rambling about pens… 
Cats seems a better choice.
And that’s just one of the questionable relationships in Card Captor Sakura. Spoiler for the next 2 or 3 volumes(?): 
I assume, I’ll get to this plot point soon enough to confirm this memory…