Week 12 ゆびさきと恋々・A Sign of Affection 💕 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

Welcome to Week 12 of ゆびさきと恋々・A Sign of Affection :two_hearts:

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Week 12 August 23 2025
Start page 153
End page 172
End phrase 《第2巻につづく》
Last week Week 11
Home Thread ゆびさきと恋々

Page numbers may differ between digital and physical copies.

Last panel

Vocabulary

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14VrOPrrse8i-ent28ZdhC0tqQyEpDGsBnH-v0p67kAU/edit?usp=sharing

Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy!

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

  1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
  2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
  3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.
Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice
  • When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
  • Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

Proper Nouns

Name Reading Image Notes
糸瀬 雪 いとせ ゆき Main character
波岐 逸臣 なぎ いつおみ The other main character
藤白 りん ふじしろ りん Yuki’s friend from university
波岐 京弥 なぎ きょうや Itsuomi’s cousin and manager
芦沖 桜志 あしおき おうし Yuki’s childhood friend

Participation

Will you be reading along with us this week?
  • I’m reading along
  • I have finished this part
  • I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
  • I’m reading this book after the club has finished
  • I’m no longer reading the book
0 voters
6 Likes

Yay, we finished! Thanks to @josephsl for running the club

もうちょい - just a little more
めんどくさい - bothersome
などなど - etc.
ひっくり返る - to be overturned
突き動かす - to push, to stimulate
ただ - only
はぐらかす - to dodge (the question)
願望 - desire, wish, aspiration

Oushi mind your business :bangbang:

Itsuomi treats Yuki like a person making her own choices, and Oushi treats her like a small child to be coddled lol

Nice to get some more info on Itsuomi and his intentions but this section was really hard to follow! I think it’s the shift from “mostly kanji” to “mostly kana with no furigana.” I actually typed out a few sentences again and broke them down into component parts just to try and figure out what was being said.

〜てくれる came up a lot in this book so I just wanted to put a belated research note (mostly for me!)

If people want more shoujo, just a plug for 俺物語! ・ My Love Story! 🍰 (Absolute Beginner Book Club) - Starting September 6! (I’m running it)

7 Likes

And yet he bought her a drink without even asking what she wants! The audacity!

4 Likes

100% agree! Romance stories can be tough for me when only one character gets to have internality, so I was glad to see that Itsuomi actually has thoughts and feelings about things. And re: the difficulty, I took a break from reading Japanese for a few days before tackling this section so I thought I was struggling because I had forgotten everything, lol. Glad it wasn’t just me!

Thank you so much @josephsl for running this club! It was my first WK book club and it did not disappoint :slight_smile:

6 Likes

My last translation for this book. Thanks @josephsl for hosting the club!

I really enjoyed this book and will continue with the rest of the series soon, and maybe the anime too

pg153

急いでるからじゃなあね
I’m in a hurry

急いでるって言ってるのに
I told you I’m in a hurry

まさか今から誰かと会うわけ?
Are you really meeting someone now?

そうだけど?
Yeah, so?

男じゃねえよな?
It’s not a guy, right?

そいつ、こんな時間から呼び出したわけ?
What kind of guy is this to be calling you out at this hour?

pg154

門限までに帰るし
I’ll be home by curfew

親にもちゃんと言ってるから
I made sure to tell my parents what I’m doing

あの銀髪の男?
Is it that silver haired guy?

ふたりで会うのはやめとけよ
You two should stop seeing eachother

おまえ多分それ遊ばれてるから
Because you’re probably being played

遊ぶとか
Something like playing

そんな言い方しないで
Don’t talk that way

遊びじゃねーなら
If it’s not for fun

pg155

酔ってるだけだ「俺やさしいー」って
You’re just intoxicated by him

おい雪
Hey, Yuki

もうスタート地点は過ぎた
We’re already past the starting point

走り出したからふりむかない
I’m going to run and not turn back

pg157

飲んだら?
You want a drink?

金いーから?
Do you have money?

雪、10円持ってねぇ?
Yuki, do you have 10 yen?

俺も買いたい
I want to buy one too

ありがとう
Thanks

これいる?いらない?
Do you need this? You don’t need it?

確か10円くらい
It’s around 10 yen

日本じゃ換金できんけど
It can’t be converted to Japanese cash

どこの国の通貨だろ?
Which country is it from?

pg158

クーナはクロアチアの通貨
Kuna is currency from Croatia

すごーい、初めて見た
Awesome, this is my first time seeing it

何の鳥だろう
What is this bird?

どうして海外によく行くんですか?
Why do you go overseas so much?

もうちょい仲良くなったら教える
I’ll tell you when we get to know eachother a little more

説明めんどくさいんだこの人
This guy is such a pain to explain

pg159

仲良くなりたいです
I want to get to know you

かわいーな
You’re cute

この間教えたやつ
The one I taught him the other day

かわいいには色々パターンがあって。手の甲を見せて擦る。親指を立てるなどなどです。
Cute has various patterns. Showing and rubbing the back of your hand, thumbs up, etc etc

そーなんだ
I see

他にもあんの?
Anything else?

それは…
Also…

pg160

なんか
Something

何?見せて
What? Show me

頭をなでます
I’ll pat your head

これはいつもしてもらってる
He always does this for me

pg161

あれってどうしてしてくれるんだろう…
I wonder why he does that…

あ、動物に対する感じに似てるかも
Oh, maybe it’s like how I feel about animals

おもしろいね、手話の世界も
Interesting isn’t it, the world of sign language

雪に初めて会った時手話してんの見て
When I first met you, Yuki, I saw you signing.

pg162

なんか…
Something…

今までの自分の世界がひっくり帰ったら気がした
It feels like my whole world has been overturned

昔海外に住んでて、自然と言語やカルチャーに興味を持って、自分を突き動かすのがそれになってて、遠くにばっか目を向けてたけど
I used to live abroad, and I was naturally interested in language and culture, and that is what drove me to travel, so I would turn my search far and wide

pg163

こんな近くにもいたんだなって
With this kind of thing closeby I realized it was here

何か言ってた?
What is he saying?

俺と仲良くなりたいの?
Do you want to get to know me?

はい、もっと仲良くなりたいです
Yes, I want to get to know you more

「もっと」の手話は?
What is the sign for “more”?

はぐらかされた?
Is he sidestepping me?

pg166

わかった、わかった
Ok ok I get it

pg167

この手をにぎっているのに
I’m holding his hand, and yet..

いつおみさんの手のひらの上にいるみたいで
It’s like I’m in the palm of his hand

余裕を見せられると
He looks so composed..

余計にドキドキしてしまう
While I’m just so nervous

pg170

人の反応で遊んでる!?
He’s playing on people’s reactions!?

でも、いい。笑ってるなら
But it’s ok. If he’s smiling

いつおみさんのゆびさきは
His fingertips..

いまも
Even now…

pg171

絶対に話せない強さでにぎってくれてる
He has such a strong hold on me that I can’t speak

私も
Me too

ただ強い
Just be strong

にぎり返して
Hold his hand back

pg172

痛いくらいなのに現実じゃないようで
It hurts but it doesn’t seem like reality

門限まであと1時間ちょっと
Just an hour until curfew

外に降るあの雪が一瞬止まって見えたけど
That snowfall outside seemed to stop for a moment

ただの願望だった
It was just wishful thinking

第二巻につづく
To continue in volume two

4 Likes

I had a lot of trouble with this one and just realized it’s -たら conditional/if-then, thanks!

4 Likes

Finally got around to finishing! This was my first WK book club and my fifth manga finished overall and man is my brain tired! I had already read vol 1 in English so it was nice to read/work through it in Japanese. Even though I didn’t post at all during the club, I still read through other people’s translations and I always had the vocab spreadsheet out for reference.

Thanks everyone! See you next time!

5 Likes

This was fun! Thank you putting this together josephsl and thanks to everyone over the past few months for helping me get through my first reading experience. It’s crazy looking back how much more I know now than I did 12 weeks ago. This was in last week’s reading, but seeing stuff like 頑張んなきゃ or 過ぎてしまった doesn’t trip me up at all anymore. In week one I was having trouble picking いつおみ’s name out of a sentence!

5 Likes

I’m so glad this book group happened, thank you so much everyone! I’ve been wanting to read this series in Japanese for so long, but I wasn’t confident enough to start, and now I’ve read the whole first volume and I’m so happy! It was tough, but I’ve already picked up a lot of new vocabulary, and I’ve been able to use this to help reinforce grammar points I’m learning. I can’t wait to start volume 2!

6 Likes