Unfortunately, I am quite pressed for time this weekend. I managed to finish the chapter today, but don’t have the time I would like to go through the thread and check what’s already been answered. I’m going to rush through my usual write-up and then I have to take off again. Please forgive any typos and such. If any of the questions I have, have already been answered, please feel free to ignore the question! Hopefully I’ll get a bit more time later in the evening to come back to this, otherwise, I will check in tomorrow!
Pg. 3
「オレには今日作戦があるのさ!!」
“As of today, I have a new strategy!!”
I haven’t seen に and は put together as a single particle before. What’s the significance of that?
「帰り道２回も合わせて…今日はからかわれた…」
"Twice more on the road home, altogether that’s… 15 times I was teased today. "
Just not totally confident in my translation. 合わせて is the sticking point for me.
「それくらいじゃなきゃダメなんだ!!」
“It has to be that much or it’s no good.”
I’m guessing here by basically puzzling together the words I know, but I’m not confident. Am I ballpark?
Thought process:
それくらい = “That much”
じゃな = negation??? I truthfully omitted this from my thought process because it threw me, and is why I’m not sure about my sentence
きゃ = “must be/do”
ダメなんだ = “It’s no good/that’s no good.”
But I could be way off.
Pg. 4
「思ったよりメチャクチャキツイぞ… 少し回数減らすか?」
“This is much harder than I thought… Should I reduce the number of times.”
Okay, I’m fairly confident of my translation, but why is the verb at the front of the sentence in the first phrase? I know reverse order is sometimes a thing, but I don’t know why it is really, outside of when OreGairu made the joke about “You don’t have to use reverse order to emphasize that.” So is it just for emphasis purposes?
Pg. 5
「これは普段からかわれすぎる自分への罰なのだ。」
“This is my punishment for getting teased too much on a regular basis.”
すぎる throws me. I know すぎ is usually a suffix applied to a verb to say too much of that verb. I don’t know that the る is usually there. Does it change the meaning? Is there a particular purpose for it being there, as opposed to it being dropped?
への is also a big question mark. I have no idea what it is contributing to the sentence. I suspect the の is supposed to the be ownership の (A’s B/B of A), but why is へ hanging around?
「この苦しみを噛みしめながら…次こそはという意識を高めるのだ…この罰の目的はそこにあるのだから」
“Reflecting upon this pain… Next, they say your awareness is raised… That happening is the goal of this punishment!”
This was a very difficult sentence for me to parse. I spent probably the majority of my reading time on this one statement alone. のだ is still something I’m getting used to, but it’s the explanatory の, and while I’m not sure how to translate it into English with this sentence (because I’m STILL very unhappy with my phrasing in English for it, as is, but refused to continue to waste time on tweaking it so it sounded better), I understand that its there because each sentence is being used to explain the previous sentence…kinda. 多分.
My big question is という. It has…well. A lot of uses. It came up a few times in this chapter, though this was the first run in, and the cause of a lot of my reading time being eaten into because I was trying to understand it. Mostly, I’m just hoping that I applied the right use here. “They say” was the meaning I applied to it this time. Am I at least close?
「こんな苦しみ味わいたくないければ… 明日からはもっとからかわれないように気をつけるんだ!」
“This type of pain isn’t something I want to experience… That’s why I will be careful and I won’t get teased more tomorrow! (Like I have before).”
The only thing that gets me here, is ように, which I believe is for comparisons (like, such as, etc.). It didn’t seem to fit neatly in here, though, and that’s why I put the comparison phrase in parentheses. I’m not super confident I am right. Is there another use of ように that I don’t know?
Pg. 7
Can I just say it was nice not to agonize over anything on Pg. 6? This chapter definitely felt a bit more challenging to me overall. 
「ここは自分に厳しくいくべきだ、１回としてカウソトしてあこう。」
“I must go hard on myself, so let’s count that as one.”
べきだ is must, correct? Only question I had in this one.
「あはは、だまきれたー。よっぽどひどいんだね筋肉痛。」
“Ahaha, you weren’t lying~. Muscle pain is really terrible, isn’t it?”
Not confident on the first sentence translation. It comes off almost a bit meaner than Takagi usually is, so it doesn’t sound quite right to me. I’m also not positive Nishikata is the intended subject of that sentence, but couldn’t think of another possible translation. In addition, just noting that the second sentence also uses reverse order, so there it comes up again. It makes me wonder if I have just missed other cases of it, and it’s only standing out to me in this chapter because I have been struggling a bit more with the chapter overall.
Pg. 8
「へぇー、三日坊主にならないといいね。」
“Well, I hope you don’t flake out~”
Just including to thank whomever included that term on the vocabulary sheet because that is a phrase that would have taken me a very long time to figure out on my own! It’s definitely a cute idiom, though. I like it!
「この筋トレという苦行から解放されら時…」
“This weight training is a penance until I’m free…”
という comes up again here. This time I feel like it’s emphasizing the weight training in the sentence, since it can be used for emphasis too, according to what I was reading. Do y’all agree?
I’m also not super confident in this translation or the following sentence that I feel links to it. Feedback would be appreciated!
「それすなわちオレが高木さんにからかわれなくなった証なのだ。」
“That is, in other words, when I have proof I am no longer being teased by Takagi-san.”
The 証 is what’s throwing me here. Also, のだ makes another appearance here linking it to the previous sentence, I think.
Pg. 10
「すごく警戒してるっていうのに… なぜだ… それ自体が逆効果なのか!?」
“Even if I’m being super careful… Why?.. Is that, in and of itself, having the reverse effect!?”
っていうのに looks to me like it’s another form of という (cue the Simon and Garfunkel), with のに attached. This time, I think it’s taking the “even if” meaning becaude のに is there. Am I right that they are related, and that is the intended meaning in this context?
It is so odd to me that I have not seen this grammar point at all, but then to have it bludgeon me repeatedly all in the same chapter, again and again.
Pg. 12
「そういえば…どこかでそんなコトを聞いた覚えが…」
“Come to think of it, I remember hearing something like that…”
Easy question here: is どこか actually meaning somewhere/anywhere, similar to when なにか means something/anything? I kinda just guessed because they look similar, but maybe I’m off-base.
「それはマズイ…高木さんの方が身長高くなってしまったら、今まで以上にからかわれてしまうじゃないか.」
“This is bad… It’s Takagi-san’s way that if she grows taller than me, the teasing would be even more than it’s been up to now.”
Honestly, I probably should have taken a break at this point because my brain was so fried, but I pushed through anyway. Am I right in my translation? Some kind of breakdown would be helpful here. I might just come back and do it myself, but I don’t have the brainpower right now. I blame という. (冗談です… 多分.)
Pg. 13
For the next 3 sentences, I felt like I intuited the meaning, but didn’t really understand the grammar at all. Also the latter two both have らしい. It looks to be used the same way as in Chaper 2, right? Note to self: look back at that thread when there’s time. (Sorry I’m using this almost as a notepad reminder, everyone! Hope my rambling isn’t too obnoxious!)
「ここ数日でかなり筋トレしちゃったぞ…!!」
“I have done a considerable amount of weight training these past few days…!!”
ここ throws me… I know it means here, so I’m not sure how it belongs in this sentence at all.
「まぁアレってまったくのデマらしいけどね。」
“Well, that’s really just a false rumor though, right?”
らしい was the only thing that got me here. Will check other thread later, unless somebody is kind enough to talk about it again here.
「むしろ、適度な筋トレは成長ホルモンが活発になるとかで、身長伸びやすくなったりするらしいよ。」
“Rather, moderate weight training causes your growth hormones to become activated, which causes your height to become more developed.”
Points of confusion:
I’m not sure what とかで contributes to 活発になる.
伸びやすくなったりする. The grammar construct at the end of that verb has me baffled. I think it’s related to become, but not really sure why it’s necessary, or if I’m even right. That’s why the English translation sounds awkward. It’s to reflect my confusion.
らしい coming up again. Here it makes me think of “trust me,” or something like that, which would make sense in the previous sentences too… Again, will review that when I can. I’m really pushing my luck for time here trying to get this all written out!
「ムシしないでよ!!」
“Don’t ignore me!!”
It was at this moment I realised his first statement in the same panel was actually out loud. Sometimes it is a bit difficult to tell when he is thinking vs speaking. Usually there is a sorta cloud shape to the bubble when he thinks, so I should have clued in, but didn’t until this was said. Dropping it here in case anybody else finds it useful. 
Pg. 14
いいと思うよ、ちょっとだけどなんかたくましくなった気がするし。」
“I think it’s a good thing. I feel like you have become a bit stronger.”
I think I have the spirit of the meaning, but not really understanding it entirely. Is ちょっとだけど a set phrase? I know ちょっと means a bit, but not sure what だけど adds to it.
Also want to note the くなった construct again. It’s really interesting to me how this book almost seems to introduce grammar constructs per chapter and use them repeatedly in that chapter. It is super helpful from a learning perspective, and almost feels like it’s on purpose.
Pg. 16
「ちょっとカッコ良くなったんじゃない?」
“Haven’t you become a little more attractive?”
Yeah, not sure. This feels too on the nose… Takagi is usually a touch more subtle than this when she is trying to flirt/elicit a reaction, so I’m not confident in that translation at all…
「とりあえず高木さんにからかわれなくなっても筋トレは続けようと思った。」
“I thought, for the time being, I’ll try to continue weight training, even if Takagi-san doesn’t tease me.”
A few thoughts:
Is ても related to てもいい at all? That is the phrase that made me put in “even if”, but I’m not sure if I’m correct. That was just intuition.
Is ようと related to ようとする? I know that means to try, so that’s why I have that in the sentence. Feels like it behaves similar to すぎ, but then if that’s the case, why does すぎ keep showing up as すぎる with the last consonant dropped, where as this shows up as ようと without the する? Is there a rule I need to be learning for that? Or am I totally wrong, and ようと is its own grammar point?
Also, why the sudden switch in tenses to past tense? Is it supposed to imply the manga is sorta like “The Wonder Years,” and is a flashback from Nishikata’s POV? Just sort of caught my eye because I don’t think the last bubble that was formatted similarly in the previous chapter was in past tense, but I could be mistaken. Another note to self (sorry!): look back at that and see if it was.
What a cute, if occasionally hair-pulling (というめ…) chapter! As you can see, definitely was more of a challenge for me than before! I had a lot more questions and had to really slow down to get through it this time!
As mentioned above, if the questions have already been answered, please don’t feel obligated to answer them again! When I have the time, I’ll look through the thread and come back and edit this post to point out which have already been answered. I just want to get this posted before I lose track of all that confused me. My handwritten notes only get me so far in that respect!
Also, if you actually read this entire post, then you have earned an お疲れ様でした! I commend you for your patience in reading my rambling and numerous questions!
As always, thank you everyone! Y’all are amazing!
またね!
