It obviously means race car number 10. It took me zero effort to figure that out.
sorry
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Ahahaha 
I find I usually suck at working out English loan words unless I say them out loud - maybe that would help? ^^
Sure 
just wanted you to be aware that some things might be even more confusing in case it puts you off altogether! I definitely think reading a plot summary might help, but they usually give quite a broad summary, so it might not be so helpful.
I haven’t read the last page properly so don’t want to comment on that bit, but no, the fire was not a nightmare. The fire happened, and then once she finally fell asleep afterwards she also had a nightmare. When she bumps into Gorou on the way to school, he says he also overslept, because he couldn’t sleep after the fire.
I also found the last page pretty confusing - was actually just sitting down for a second read to try to figure it out 
Bahahaha, spot on 
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Spoilers for the very end of the chapter:
They’re both walking in the crosswalk, but she reacts first and tries to go back the way they came, causing her to smack into Gorou, and they both fall down in the traffic lane with no time to do anything anymore.
I can break it down if someone wants.
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Okay. cracks knuckles
My first question about the last page (page 24 in the tsubasa bunko ed.) is about the very first sentence. @QuackingShoe you might be able to help here given you offered to break down the collision bit but don’t feel you have to!
車道の中ほどまできたときだった。
So much kana @.@ it seems to be saying 時だった - is this basically a !dramatic! way of saying something like “it was the moment”, to set the scene?
In which case, it’s saying that Kazuko and Gorou had made it as far as the middle of the road, right? To put it dramatically: “it was the moment they had come as far as the middle of the road… dun dun DUN”
The author uses とき in what seems like a similar way to me a bit further on - when Kazuko is lying on the road, it seems to be used in a dramatic kind of “in the moment she was lying on the ground, she saw the tyres of the approaching truck before her eyes” way. My imagination? 
Next confusing bit:
和子はあわてて引き返そうとした。I know that あわてる means to be flustered or panicked, and that 引き返す is to turn back. Just not certain how the そうとした bit is functioning.
Then I’d just like to check my understanding of the next bit 
ふり向いたとたん、彼女のすぐうしろをかけてきていた五郎と、はげしくぶつかった。
“Just as she turned around, she collided violently with Gorou, who had just come up behind her.”
Wow, a second read really helped. I think the first time round some incorrect assumptions I made early on then caused even more confusion as I kept reading.
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I encounter this a lot in basically everything I read, so I don’t really think much about it anymore. Maybe it gives off a dramatic feel (I wouldn’t know) but I see it as just a way to set the scene really.
Verb in Volitional + とする is a construction that means “try to [Verb]”, so it just means she panicked and tried to turn back.
Seems fine to me 
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Thank you!
Hmm, okay. I was probably reading too much into it then ^^ for some reason that “it was the time” setup felt different from the usual とき’s that get thrown around
Ooooh, lovely. I’ll try to remember that sorry if I ask about it again
Sweet!
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Finally finished the chapter! I’ll go through the thread tomorrow.
General thoughts:
- So far the story is holding my interest. I’m really excited to read the next two chapters next week.
- As far as difficulty goes, overall the chapter wasn’t too bad. There were a few sentences / paragraphs that I had to read a couple times before I actually understood the meaning. But in the end, almost everything clicked. I have a couple minor questions that I’ll post later.
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Thank you, I felt like there should be a similar situation but i could not understand. But i’m not worrying too much because I am still learning a lot even if I skip a paragraph or two.
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Okay, some thoughts on the story.
It’s pretty interesting so far! Very classic use of cliffhangers at the end of every chapter is definitely having the desired effect on me 
As for the last page… how freaking hard do you have to crash into somebody that both of you literally fall to the ground?!
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Kazuko straight bodied him
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I really like the story so far as well!
Not much. That happened to me by bumping into a pole. I was walking at a snail pace while thinking of something else. → ground.
I assume that bumping into someone at the wrong time would also have that effect.
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Okay, so, I did once walk into a telegraph pole while reading a book, stagger backwards, and then fall flat on my face. But! That’s because poles are very immovable, unlike people, and also I brained myself 
I just find it unlikely ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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To be fair, Gorou is very ずんぐりむっくり.
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Very true
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I have now read this chapter, and as such, I will now comment on it to show that I indeed did read it(and because, well, I want to):
An earthquake, a fire, and nearly getting run over(well, at least I’m assuming they won’t be since there are a lot of pages left of the book, thus the “nearly”) all in one day(or maybe over two days, depending on which time the earthquake and fire occured) seems like pretty bad luck. Well, I guess the last two didn’t affect the same people, but that’s still a lot of bad stuff in a fairly short span of time
That you mentioned this made me think of the one book I read where the main character/narrator specifically said something kind of like(I don’t remember it verbatim) “This chapter is the only one left that won’t have a cliffhanger, so here’s a good place to stop.” at the start of a chapter. That said book also had chapter names like “Bob” and " chapter 4237865" though, so it fit in fairly well with the rest of the book.
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Same here. It’s definitely much more attention-grabbing than the slice of life nature of 魔女の宅急便.
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Do you remember the name of the book?
I don’t remember which part of the series, but I think it was one of the “Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians” books by Brandon Sanderson. They’re supposedly supposed to be targeting a slightly younger audience than his other books, but I liked them anyway.
Actually, now that I think of it, the chapter name thing was from the fourth book, but I’m not completely sure if the other thing also is from the same book in the series.
Okay, cool. I liked The Reckoners, which is also targeted towards younger readers, so maybe I’ll try that series at some point.
But why would you read books that aren’t in Japanese tho
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