Yeah, that makes sense for いきなし. Thanks! And welcome to the club!
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The ん in the first case is る (garbled because of the の). In the second case, it’s るの (so “you make me blush” “they get shy” (talking about the fans) but in rough old manly way). In the second case, the の is merged because the だ behind would already make it ん. So んん became just ん.
I just checked the context of the second one, and I think it’s indeed ない(ん)[だよ] (don’t blush, or in English maybe something closer to “don’t think about it”). I misremembered what was going on. And I have now remembered to check the further context.
I don’t think it counts as dialect. It’s just poor elocution.
Edit 2: if anyone wonders what made me check the second time, it’s the fact that のだ is explanatory or emphatic, but neither usage fit the context of telling her to do anything. So I went back and checked what it could be about.
He said she has many fans, she blushed and denied it, saying that she rarely has any customer, he then explains that they are just creeps shy.
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Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I’m still having trouble deconstructing the first sentence, though. “Just seeing them pass by from time to time is okay” is the best I can come up with, but it doesn’t make much sense… Maybe I’m still missing some grammar knowledge?
Some other questions I had about the prologue:
On page 18 she says ありやま or ありゃま (it’s hard to tell). What could that be?
The montage of scenes on page 22 is nice. How do you guys interpret the end? She doesn’t have any money left for the hotel, right? (after buying clothes?). And that’s why she’s sleeping rough on the next page?
And I just want to check if I got the gist of page 23 (not a literal translation): she’s saying the world has changed completely over the last years with the evenings now having come to be relaxed like this and that maybe she came all this way to experience this twilight world. Something like that?
Indeed, it doesn’t really match the roving bands of Mad Max bandits/wild animals theory 
Oh yeah, regarding まっつぐ: 大辞林 has this:（江戸言葉などで）まっすぐ。
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the と at the end indicates that what he said is a quote. that sentence is from the perspective of her admirers
I think 私は X をずっと見ていく is more like “I’m always watching X as I go”, so I’d translate it as something like I’m always/I’ve always been watching this fading world
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I was thinking of 黄昏 as being more symbolic, so maybe: who would’ve thought that the old days would come to an end so calmly and quietly. Maybe I’ll see this world through to the end too.
Oh right! I didn’t even notice that she was looking through an empty wallet standing in front of the hotel. I thought she’s crazy like that and just decided to sleep outside lol
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Yep, precisely.
It’s the twilight age that’s doing the coming, not Alpha - 時代 refers not to the time of day, but to the time of century, sort of thing, so it’s not that Alpha came to Yokohama to enjoy how nice the twilight is, but rather the world of twilight which has come is unexpectedly slow and relaxing.
～ていく also means “continuing from now into the future”, so I’d say it’s more like “I will be watching for a long time”.
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It’s the other way around. They are satisfied just seeing her from time to time as they pass through.
Hm, my feeling is more that it’s short for ということ, which marks an explanation in this case.
yes
For page 23, what @Belthazar said.
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ooh thanks, I forgot about this and it didn’t come up when I looked it up just in case
isn’t ということだ talking about hearsay/talking about someone else’s feelings? tbh, the two concepts are similar enough that I don’t really differentiate them in my head
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Ah, that’s what you meant! I thought you meant a more literal quote.
I just checked the 日本語文型辞典, and they don’t mention feelings for the definition you are talking about, just hearsay.
That being said, I’m looking at the example sentences for both entries (the one I was talking about and yours), and I’m also having a hard time separating them. I guess the one I am thinking about also works in the case it’s not info from someone else.
Ah, but hearsay can be used as standalone, while the other one is always connected to the thing it describes. Considering the flow of the conversation, I guess it is hearsay indeed.
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Thank you for all the replies! This is really helpful!
Ah, that makes sense indeed. I was wondering about the と and for some reason only the conditional と came to mind earlier. Rookie mistake, I guess 
Ah yes, I was just taking things too literally again 
. The fact that it’s twilight while she is saying these things is on purpose no doubt, but she isn’t literally talking about the ‘evening’ kind of twilight. 
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Here are some questions I have about the first chapter (you asked for it 
).
On page 30, after remarking that the gun is a rare model, the old man says ふつう持つならあれとか… How should I read this? In particular, I can’t really place the あれとか (and maybe I also have trouble interpreting なら correctly).
On page 31, final panel, Alpha says 私にとっては武器っていうか. I think this means something like “For me, it’s not really a weapon”, is that correct?
On page 32 middle right panel, she says よく見ると銃はカドがとれてピカピカしていた. I saw that 角が取れる is an expression that means ‘to mellow with age’ but I think she means it more literally here, in the sense that the corners have been smoothed down, or is that going too far? She must have been stroking it a lot
By the way, what might be the reason for using katakana and hiragana in this case (カドがとれる)? For emphasis?
On page 34 top left, the old man says 鎌倉や葉山あたりにゃまだあんけどよ. I guess にゃ is a slurred には, but what is the あん?
And is the next text bubble still him talking or is it her reply? It’s something along the lines of “it’s not much more than an observation deck with coffee”, I think?
And finally (phew) on page 35 when Alpha appears with the 月琴, the old man says あにそれ. Is あに maybe 豈 (def 2)? Making this “what is that for?”
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30: Because it’s a rare model, he says that people who own guns (持つなら) normally own that and that model (ふつう…あれとか).
31: Yup, that should be correct. Another possible translation would be: “I’m not sure I’d really call it a weapon.” Japanese love their ellipses and wishy-washy speech. It usually sounds horrible when translated directly.
32: It can also mean polished, see (2) here: 角が取れるとは - コトバンク
Katakana are used for stylistic purposes here I think, it’s often done when children or people with dialects speak and sometimes for no reason in particular at all.
34: まだあんけどよ = またあるんだけどよ I think
35: I think that’s just his sloppy way of speaking, so あにそれ = なにそれ.
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In that panel he’s placing a gun in his hands so maybe it could be translated as: if it was a normal (model) you would hold it like this ?
It’s so weird because if まだ is used in this context then he would mean that there are still proper restaurants in Kamakura and Hayama. And that would be a little mean, right? Like he would be implying that Cafe Alps isn’t a proper cafe. But on the other hand he just said that it’s very quiet. So maybe he meant a “proper restaurant” with a lot of guests. また would make more sense but I don’t get how he can mumble so much that he mixes up two very different words and that would change the meaning of the sentence quite a bit.
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Still, nice safe habits he’s got there - even after being told it’s not loaded, he still doesn’t put his finger on the trigger, or point it in any particular direction.
アルプスじゃなくて、アルファだよ。
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It is really まだ, and that’s what he meant. It’s a contrast with the fact that here, it’s really calm/one can really relax from the previous sentence. She agrees and say that this place is more like a viewpoint with coffee.
About あん, it was mentioned before, but his るs turn into ん in front of hard (? I don’t know the proper terms from phonetics) sounds like け.
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hehe oopsies
checked for grammar multiple times but didn’t bother to check cafe name once
Edit: I’ve been playing too many Yakuza games recently and there is Cafe Alps indeed lol hence the mixup
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I was also having some trouble with this panel but now it makes a lot of sense. My first time reading along with a book club and these discussion are really helpful. 
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It’s also the Japanese equivalent of italics/boldface, so it could be emphasizing that it’s been polished/cleaned so much that the corners are worn down
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Yes, the discussions are very helpful for me too! Thanks again everyone! And welcome to the club @lutabanga!
Ah, so あれとか in this kind of a context basically means something like “something else” or “a different one”.
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