As per their annual tradition, this summer Dengeki Bunko hosted their gratitude event called the Dengeki Choukansha (super gratitude) Fair, during which people can receive various bonuses for buying select Dengeki Bunko LNs, marked with a special seal. The short for this year is called "Bluish Memories (ブルーイッシュ・メモリー)" and is set during the Mother's Rosario side arc and focuses on Asuna and Yuuki... and Yuuki's obsession with bugs... Since Takazuki graciously helped providing the raws for the story... and seeing as I've done the leaflet shorts for the previous years (excluding the 2017 leaflet that Defan somehow swiped from me and everything before 2016, since Tap was still around and handled those shorts himself back then), so it's kinda my thing at this point, I decided to translate this one as well.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the release. If you have any suggestions/requests for what to work on, feel free to leave a comment or contact us through Twitter/Discord/Email.
Any feedback is appreciated.
-Gsimenas
Credits
Raws: TakazukiTranslation: Gsimenas
Editing: Gsimenas, Cirtoyt
Translation (choice/nuance) comments:
- In the original Japanese text, all ALO fairy races are written twofold with furigana: the base text consists of kanji that describes what element the fairy race is affiliated with (basically, a simplified Japanese translation of the fairy race's name as in what it stands for) and a furigana text that gives the actual name of the fairy race in katakana, since all the fairy races are based on creatures from Western mythology.
- The Japanese term for rhinocerous beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) is kabutomushi (literally "helmet insect"). This term can be either written in kanji as 兜虫 or in katakana as カブトムシ, because it's both simpler and because species names are usually writen in katakana in scientific nomenclature (because again, the kanji for species names can be a pain). The original text primarily uses the latter, but there was one or two instance using the former. So, I decided to use Courier font to indicate the latter as per my usual markup.
- The first instance of the word "scroll" was written with furigana. The base text was 巻き物 (makimono, lit. "rollable thing" or "scroll"), while the furigana text was スクロール (Sukurōru, literally the English word "scroll" trascribed to katakana syllabry). Since the kanji base text was just used to translate what the English word "scroll" meant in the Japanese language, I decided to just use the English word as is, instead of using furigana formatting. Second and later instances of the term only used the Englsih word.
- The term for bringing out an item out of the player's inventory in the original text was オブジェクト化する (obujekto-kasuru). This term is literally just the English word "object" with the suffix verb ka-suru ("-ise/ize"), so the literal translation for the word would be "objectise". Since such a translation sounds awkward in English, I've taken the liberty of changing the word to a more proper English word "materialise".
- Japanese usually abbreviate words by taking the first two kana of each word in a phrase. Yuuki's nickname for the beetle (インコバ, "im-koba", Impercob) is just an abbreviation of "Imperial Cobalt" (インペリアルコバルト, imperiaru kobaruto).
- Likewise, Serene Garden (セリーン・ガーデン, Serīn Gāden) is abbreviated as SereGa (セリガ, seriga).
Markup explanation:
- Itallics mark text that was written in katakana English (I only highlighted the cases where the author uses both English and actual Japanese equivalents for the same thing, or when I needed to emphasise that an English word is used there).
- Courier font indicates that the original word was written in kana for emphasis (when such a word usually isn't written in kana)
- Comic sans indicates emphasis added by myself when I needed to stress something to get the meaning across properly.
- In some instances, the original text used furigana. In cases where the furigana wasn't exact match for the underlying text (usually when the author uses furigana to translate or describe foreign words in Japanese), I maintained the furigana format. Furigana text should be read as follows: Japanese translation/description of what the term/name means (e.g. cat fairy race - "Cait Sith" is what was actually said in text, while "cat fairy race" is just a brief description of what Cait Sith are to help differentiate between the different fairies.
- Single quotation marks (') are quotes that weren't in the original text but were added for the convenience of English speakers to mark implied quotations. I used it mostly to separate Kirito's internal monologue from his narration, as well as mark sound effects and so on. Actual dialogue lines or quotations (with 「」 punctuation marks) within a narration line are indicated with the usual double (") quotation marks.
- Em dashes (———) indicate dashes that were present in the original text. Hyphens (-) are punctuation marks I use to replace certain commas in the original text to make the text easier to read in English.
N/A |
Bluish Memories
"Asuna, don't move!"Hearing this whisper out of the blue, Asuna's Water Fairy Race avatar reflexively froze in place.
On the opposite side of the round table, the Darkness Fairy Race one-handed sword wielder got up gently from her chair. Lowering her posture and lifting her heels from the ground, she took one step closer… then another.
"W……what's the matter, Yuuki?"
Despite voicing her question in a whisper - a glass of berry juice suspended mid-air in her right hand - the only answer she got in return was a single "Shh!". If they had been in a dungeon, her action would have implied that she had set off a trap or something; instead, they were as in-town as you could get——seated at an open terrace of a cafe in 《Entra》, the main town of the 29th Floor of New Aincrad, inside the world of ALfheim Online (ALO).
If she had to be honest, for how manly Yuuki's nickname of 《Absolute Sword》 sounded, the leader of the small 《Sleeping Knights》 guild didn't exactly lack a slight fondness for messing around, yet the girl's wide-open amethyst eyes were consumed by a serious glint, making it seem highly unlikely that she was plotting some devious deed.
Her entire body still fully frozen in place - any and all comprehension of the situation eluding her grasp - Asuna's gaze continued to be locked upon Yuuki as the girl gradually closed in on her with gentle steps, when——
Out of the blue, a strange sensation tingled Asuna's back. Around the bottom of her left shoulder blade, she could feel something wriggling around…… but wait, it got worse: now it was crawling up her back, little by little.
"Wh……what is that thing crawling over me…"
Now only about a metre away from Asuna by the time she heard the girl's question, Yuuki gave her a nod, as if trying to assure her that everything would be okay, before whispering the following.
"A rhinoceros beetle."
"Honnyaaaaaa!!!"
Upon Asuna jolting upwards with a scream, 'vmmm', the pressure on her left shoulder went away as a huge, blue rhinoceros beetle flew off towards the radiant sun with a bassy buzz.
Thirty minutes later.
Having returned to the cafe after failing to catch up to the beetle in a bout of aerial superiority, Yuuki sat back down opposite to Asuna, before voicing her dismay.
"Aw～～w, and I was so close～～"
"Did rhinoceros beetles always fly so fast that even you, Yuuki, couldn't manage to catch up to it?"
"This dude is a special cookie, you see!"
The moment she replied as such, the girl opened her menu window and materialised a large scroll. Moving to Asuna's side along with her chair, Yuuki unrolled her scroll onto the table, revealing an orderly list, covering a diverse range of insects, with illustrations.
"Lookie, see here?"
Yuuki pointed at an entry quite high up the list. Next to the picture of a deep blue rhinoceros beetle that looked identical to the one Asuna had caught a glimpse of for a single instant, was a string of text written in ink: 《Imperial Cobalt Rhinoceros Beetle》.
"I-Imperial Cobalt……that is quite the imposing name, huh. Wait, what's this list for anyway?"
"Oh, you mean you've never heard about it, Asuna?"
With gleaming eyes and a beaming smile, Yuuki continued on.
"You see, there's a bug battle…… sorry, I mean 《Bug Duel》(1) arena right in the middle of the Floor; there, players can arrange fights between the insects they've managed to catch."
"Whoa, to think that there was a facility like that around here……"
Muttering so, the girl suddenly found herself plagued by a question the moment she gazed down onto the list once more.
"Wait a minute……that rhinoceros beetle is the third entry on the list from the top, isn't it. So is that supposed to mean that it's quite the strong insect to have around?"
"Yep, that's right～～!"
Cried out Yuuki, rocking her chair back and forth.
"The Impercob had been flying all around us for a loooong while, but when the little guy landed on your backrest, Asuna, I simply couldn't believe my eyes. This dude is hella hard to catch, you see."
"Oh yeah, it did manage to shake you off even when you were going after it at top speed, after all……"
Among the nine fairy races, the Darkness Fairy Race were about right down the middle when it came to baseline flight speed, yet whether due to her skill set or simply because she had the guts for it, Yuuki herself was quite the speedster. Among the gang, she was second only to Leafa the Wind Fairy Race and Kirito the Shadow Fairy Race. If the beetle managed to shake off a girl of that caliber, any attempt to capture it relying solely on a simple-minded game of catch is basically doomed to fail.
"Sorry, Yuuki. I never knew you were into Bug Duels……If I'd just sat still without moving a muscle back then, you might have been able to catch the rhinoceros beetle…"
Upon hearing this despondent apology, Yuuki extended her right hand and slapped Asuna's left shoulder with a smile.
"Oh, it's not your fault, Asuna! Besides, it's not like I'm all that hooked on Bug Duels, either."
"Huh……but you even nicknamed the Imperial Cobalt Rhinoceros Beetle as Impercob……"
"Oh, well, you see……"
Finding herself with a rare case of a tied-up tongue, Yuuki took a gulp of her fruity juice, before offering Asuna an explanation.
The Sleeping Knights was apparently founded by a group of three people: Yuuki, her elder sister, and a girl named Merida. The three of them met at a VR hospice named 《Serene Garden》, which also had a 《bug battle》 activity where the users could have their pet insects fight against each other.
And the spark that kindled Yuuki and her elder sister's friendship with Merida was a deep blue stag beetle known as a《Royal Triton Stag Beetle》 that they had both tried to catch——(2)
"……When I first saw the Impercob on this list, I was hit by a certain impression: you know, this little guy sure looks like our Royton from SereGa. Which made me want to get one as a pet……"
"……Oh, I see……"
Once Yuuki was done telling her story, Asuna extended her hand towards her and gently rubbed her soft, purple hair. After a while, she slapped her petite back as she said the following.
"In that case, let's come up with a proper plan of action and give the bug hunt a proper challenge this time. Regardless of how fast the Impercob can fly, I believe we could very well catch it if we were to put magic and tools to good use."
"Oh, I know!"
With that cry, Yuuki spinned with her chair to face Asuna head-on.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that the Impercob stopped on your chair specifically, Asuna!"
"……Huh? What do you mean by that?"
"Asuna, you have blue hair, blue eyes, a blue outfit, and to top it all off: you were even drinking blue juice, remember?"
She did have a point: Asuna's appearance was indeed blue-centric and her glass on the table still contained just a little bit of leftover indigo-blue berry juice. But what did this all have to do with the rhinoceros beetle… or so she wondered for an instant, before recalling the vivid blue the rhinoceros beetle was clad in when she saw it flying away.
"I'm just guessing here, but don't you think the more blue stuff you have on you, the easier it is to lure the Impercob in? So……"
With a broad smile, Yuuki said the following.
"Next up, let's try dyeing your skin deep blue too!"
"…………D-deep blue……"
Imagining herself in the image of the frost giants in Jotunheim, Asuna was rendered so utterly speechless by Yuuki's idea that she found herself unable to do more than give a nod in response.
N/A |
Notes
1. ^ Yuuki uses two different phrases here. At first, she uses the phrase ムシバトル (mushi batoru), where ムシ is the katakana spelling of the kanji 虫 (insect, bug) and バトル is the English word "battle" in English. She then uses the phrase バグデュエル (bagu dyueru), which is the katakana spelling of the English words "bug" and "duel". The former phrase is a colloquial nickname for the event, while the latter is an official name. Unfortunately, the word ムシ is colloquial, so the English translation ends up with a double instance of the word "bug".
2. ^ Referencing the events of Sisters' Prayer, originally released as a Blu-Ray/DVD side story and later compiled as part of volume 22.
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