Bushido Sixteen 2

[boke's comments in brackets like this]

Page 1 Panel 1

Chapter 2 of a new series! [upper right]

Bushido Sixteen

The path to knowledge is mountains high, oceans deep

Chapter 2 Is that Hanya?

2-1 April [The school year starts in April in Japan]

2009 [vertical banner]
Toshou Acadamy High School
Girl's School
Entrance Ceremony

Toshou Academy High School [plaque]
Girl's School

2-2 ...Toshou?

3-1 Yeah

3-2 What about Fukuoka Minami and Toubu Kitayama?

Mom said that you had offers from other schools too

3-3 Two from Kyuushuu, two from Kansai, five from Kanto. Nine altogether. [She's taking about regions of the country]
But I'm turning them down

I'm going to Tosho acadamy for high school

3-4 If that's ok with you, oniichan

Me?

Why?

3-5 Well...

4-1 Tosho is where Oka Takumi is, right?

4-2 That doesn't bother me, you know

It bothers me!

That the kohai of your rival would... [kohai is an underclassman]

4-3 You say "rival", but...

4-4 It was Oka's fault that you quit kendo, right?

Even if you've forgotten, I haven't!

5-1 When you get wound up like that
You resemble dad, Kaori

sfx; ruffle

5-2 I don't!

5-3 Oka [the score board marks the contestents, the round circles the winning techniques]
Men
Dou

Isoyama [scratched out because he lost]

5-4 I don't...

5-5 But why give famous schools the boot
and go to Toshou which is local?

Well, the high school Kendo club is well regarded, but... [italicize "is"]

6-1 Well...

Some stuff happened

6-2 Koumoto (Toshou Acadamy Jun) [junior high is cut off]

6-4 It was just a ordinary men strike, but...

7-1 I've got a score to settle

7-2 Ahhhh

8-1 Chooo [In Japan, there is a superstition that you sneeze when someone is talking about you]

8-2 Whoops, whoops

I just can't get excited, even though it's the entrance ceremony

sfx: sniff sniff

8-3 Good morning, Sanae! [Nice cameo from Shion]

Good morning!

Well, no suprise

8-4 We automatically move from junior to senior high
So I recognize almost everbody

8-5 Take the same bus at the same time

Walk the same path to school

9-1 The only thing that's changed is that we've shifted one building over on the campus

Well, we're closer to the bus stop now

Junior High [lower right]

Senior High

9-2 So I'm a High School Student starting today
You'd think that something a little more exciting

9-3 ...would happen

10-2 ...right?

11-2 Sorry!

sfx: Kya

sfx: bump

11-3 Did she transfer in?
But why carry her shinai?

11-4 Huff Huff

sfx: glance glance

11-5 She's not here...

12-1 I'm in C class, huh?

12-2 Where's Koumoto?

12-3 Well, no need to worry about it
If she's in Toshou, I'm sure to run into her sometime

12-4 There!

12-5 I'm not going to lose her this time!
I'd better say something

Talk to her for a while, become friends...

sfx: th-thump th-thump

13-1 Um!

13-2 You want something?

13-3 Ah
Um...

hah hah

13-4 What should I do? I didn't think about what to talk about

I can't ask her "do you do kendo"
She's carrying shinai, after all

Umm...

14-1 Is

14-2 Is that Hanya? [Hanya is a classic mask/character from the Noh theater. In the story, a women falls in love with a priest (who cannot return her love). Her jealousy and anger turns her into a monster. The image is commonly used to represent something scary that drives out evil.]

15-1 2009
Toshou Acadamy High School
Girl's School
Entrance Ceremony

15-2 So everyone should use these three years as Toshou Girl's students to know yourselves
I hope that you all have a rich time in your lives as students

To that end, each day...

15-3 Sigh...

15-4 Even for me, that was pretty pathetic

15-5 "Is that Hanya?" Geez...

16-1 Yes

What of it?

16-2 Well, you can't start a conversation after that
After I worked up my courage to say something, too!

16-3 But why is she carrying shinai to school?

16-4 No way!
Maybe she's in a gang!

sfx: hah

16-5 It's possible.

sfx: gulp

16-6 It's Hanya, after all

17-1 Take each sheet of the shool's policies as you head home

17-2 Fill them out and turn them in this week

Ok, that's it for today

17-3 Be sure to go straight home. Don't stop off anywhere.

Oookay!

17-4 What do you want to do? Go somewhere?

Yeah, it's still early to go home

Let's go to Yokohama station and decide from there

17-5 Yeah, it's still early to head to the dojo

18-1 Might as well eat my lunch here

18-3 Glance glance

18-4 Sigh...

I should have at least asked what class she was in

18-5 Mm?

18-6 Mmm?

sfx: stare

19-1 There!

19-2 Huge!

19-3 But, it's onigiri [a no-frills lunch]

19-4 Student directory

Koumoto...

19-5 Not here after all...
Why?

sfx: chomf

20-1 And you're all "like you could"!?

20-2 She said that with a Kyuushuu accent [southern Japan]

Maybe she went back to Kyuushuu or something...

20-3 Um

20-4 Sorry about before
I just started talking and you don't even know me

sfx: bow

sfx: th-thump th-thump

20-5 You again?

21-1 Before you ask, let's just get it out of the way

21-2 This is my lunch

I have one at lunchtime and the other before practice

21-3 And I'm eating my first one right now!

Right! Sorry!

21-4 But you said practice?
There's no club activities today

21-5 I go to a dojo on the way home

I don't miss a day

21-6 Every day?

22-1 If you want to get stronger, it's only obvious, right?

22-2 S-so cooool!

So that's why you brought shinai to the entrance ceremony

22-3 Hey, Isoyama-sa...

Wha?

22-4 Ah...
Your name's on your bag

Aaah

22-5 So you're going to join the kendo club, right?

That's my intention

23-1 To tell you the truth, I was in the kendo club here in junior high

In Junior high?

sfx: oho

23-2 If I ask her, I might be able to find out about Koumoto

23-3 The high school kendo club is much better known here at our school [in other words, the level's much higher]
So most of the junior high club members quit kendo

So when I saw you carrying shinai, I was really happy and wanted to talk to you
Sorry

23-4 Um, you're...

Nishiogi!

I'm Nishiogi Sanae

24-1 Nice to meet you!

Urk

sfx: squish

24-2 Ah... ah
Nice to meet you

24-3 Ah...
I got rice on my hands

She's weird

24-4 Well, whatever. Lemme ask her and get on my way to the dojo

24-5 You said that most of the junior high kendo club members quit, right...?

25-1 That's right

I think I'm the only one continuing

25-2 Just you!?

25-3 That's not possible!

sfx: clatter

25-4 Ah...
No
I see

25-5 What's going on here?
So where is Koumoto...?

25-6 Hey, hey, Isoyama-san

25-7 Can I see your shinai?

26-1 Hanya! It's Hanya!

26-3 That strap - normally cases don't have that strap, right?

26-4 I asked my kendo supply shop to add this
I carry it everyday, after all

"My kendo supply shop"? She's serious.

26-5 Whish

27-1 Here

Whoa

sfx: whoosh

27-2 This is a three point eight, right?

3 shaku 8 sun (117cm) [Traditional japanese measure is 1 shaku (30 cm or 1 foot) divided into 10 "sun"]
It's the normal length for high school boys. The standard weight is at least 480 grams for boys, 420 for girls.

27-3 But it's got a slim grip

27-4 It gives a good feeling when swung and makes it easy to raise the blade

27-5 And with the grip shaved down, it makes the tip heavier

28-1 Hey, hey
Swing it for me

Ah

28-4 Whoosh

28-5 So fast!

28-6 And so pretty...!

sfx: shiver

29-1 So you must be really good, huh, Isoyama-san?

Um, well
I'm not bad
...I think

29-2 That's great

29-3 If I knew you were really strong
I don't think I'd have been able to come talk to you

29-4 And then we wouldn't have become friends this fast

29-5 Friends? When did we...?

30-1 Hey, hey
Isoyama-san

Can I borrow a shinai for a bit?

Ah...
Sure

sfx: trot trot

30-2 Whoa! Slim grip!

She's strange

30-3 How did she get under my guard so quickly?

30-4 Men!

30-5 Actually, up until about six months ago, I was also thinking of quitting kendo
Practice is hard and I can't win at all

30-6 So what made you decide to continue?

30-7 During a certain match, I figured out

31-1 That I like kendo!

31-3 That stance

33-1 What do you think of my stance?

I'm still just a beginner, so feel free to really criticize

33-2 Isoyama-san?

33-3 There's nothing to criticize
No openings. It's a great middle guard

Aw, shucks...
I'm embarrassed

33-4 It was the same at the match

Eh?

Nishiogi Sanae?

34-1 No...

You're Koumoto!