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I was confused by 委員会 because I learned it via WK as committee meeting, confirmed via dictionary that yeah I was right, and then finally remembered that it makes sense to call their matsuri group a committee owkhsoikeihds
Also, my feelings reading this and then previewing a bit of the next chapter
I’ve finished this week’s reading. It was a bit… frustrating? On the one hand, I can sort of figure out pretty much everything that’s being written. But I have the feeling that I’m still missing out on what’s really going on; who’s saying what; what’s being said, and what’s being thought.
I’m going to go over everything again, and see if I can pinpoint where’s I get this feeling of being stuck. I’ll either figure it out, or ask some questions here.
I read this week’s dose last week, and even though I mostly felt I’d gotten the gist of it I reread it today with the vocab list open and was surprised how many details I’d missed or misunderstood during the first read.
As said, I’m coming back to this week’s reading, just to see what I picked up on。Half-way now. Sorry for the long post.
Previous week
We left off with Koga having had a talk with Narita, which Oosawa unfortunately overheard. Koga confided that she gets shy when they’re together. She isn’t able to tell Oosawa the truth, because she’s afraid that it will be a disappointment. And she doesn’t want to see Oosawa get hurt.
This week, p. 97-100:
Oosawa does some investigation into Koga’s locker and finds "onii-san"s black clothing in there? She puts together that they’re the same person and gets mad at being deceived. She briefly considers that the two of them might be equally awkward (which softens her ange). But Koga’s words that she doesn’t want to see Oosawa get hurt means that she thinks of the worst-case scenario. And she can’t bring herself to confront “onii-san”.
Pages 101-105:
Koga has been playing guitar until her fingers bled. They’re not healing. Oosawa’s friends are asking about the guy she’s been meeting. They comment that she hasn’t been looking well lately (? See below.). Aya retorts that she’s just been busy and hasn’t been able to go see him. And that she might just quit the committee. This gets a reaction from Koga and she flees the scene.
Narita goes after her. He’s a decent guy, but pretends to be out for his own interest. If the two of them were to quit the committee, he’d be in trouble. He says something to calm her down. (Not quite sure what, see below), and she thanks him for it. The drawing puts some focus on her shaky fingers, for some reason.
Specific translation questions:
p.101
なんかずっと元気ないしなぁ (おま… ぶっ込みすぎ!!)
This is Aya’s friends talking? “You haven’t been well for quite a long time.” Followed by a whispered addition to indicate that she’s said too much?
p.102
委員会とかやめよっかなぁ - Is this abbreviated from やめよう, the volitional form?
p.103
別に空気みたいな存在で満足だったのに
なんで欲張ったんだろう
These seem to be be one connected phrase. “I was pretty content with being ignored (lit. an existence like I was air). Why did I become greedy (and want more from life in general, and from Aya in particular)”. Is that it?
p.104
何か感じてる今のほうが古賀さんらしいんじゃない？ “Feeling something, like now, isn’t that typical for you?” (Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me)
No, those are her own clothes, in her own wardrobe. Her school uniform, I think.
元気 primarily means “lively, full of spirit, energetic”. So, “You haven’t been very energetic”.
Yep.
Yep.
The ほう adds a meaning of “more”. “It’s more like Koga-san, now that you’re feeling something” kinda thing. Like, because she’s feeling something, she’s more like herself.
That’s the second time Narita has been threateningly shoved against the wall in the CD shop, first by Mitsuki, now by her uncle. The poor boy keeps getting the life scared out of him. But he keeps coming back.
I think that’s a good interpretation, but that’s not the first thing I thought of. I originally took this as her realizing that the おにいさん is wearing the same uniform as in goes to the same school / in the same class. The line right before (私の気になってた人は男じゃなかったらしい) points towards your interpretation, while the lines afterward (私は怒ってる。だってあっちはずっと私の誰だかわかってたってコトじゃん) point to mine. So I think both of these interpretations have some weight to them. That said, I think yours probably wins out slightly because the text is on the same page and because of the title of the chapter. Maybe it’s meant to mean both, who knows.
