Haru Polish 5

[p001]

(top right) Chapter 5: A Curse and Swords of the Heart
(above Hina) Jinbei would have been better...
(Jinbei are what she's wearing in the thought bubble, and are men's summer clothes)
(left) [Girls] who look good in [yukata] are [great]!
(I've put the yellow parts in brackets, for reference)

[p002]

Box: I have the same dream often.

Box: A dream of being taught to fight with swords.

Box: I've had it over and over again,
Box: since the time I was very young.

[p003]

Box: At the part where I'm killed, I wake up.

Box: It's the worst.
Box: For a little while, I'm unable to move my body.

Box: But I've also not let myself simply be killed.
だが俺もやられてばかりじゃいられない

Box: In the dream, I've grown.

[p004]

Box: I've honed my technique while awake, too.
Box: It's a strange story, but
Box: I've trained my body so that I won't be killed in the dream.

Box: I even went so far as to create an Iaido Club at school.

Box: But

[p005]

Box: No matter what I do, I can't win against the final swordsman.
Box: I am invariably cut down.

Box: Always,
Box: in the same place.

[p006]

sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

sfx bubble: Hah
Ogami: I was...
Ogami: killed again... huh.

[p007]

Box: My body is sluggish.
Box: On days when I have this dream, I'm absent from school and don't go out until the afternoon.

Box: If I told anyone this sort of story, they would probably laugh at me.
Box: I'm talking about a dream, after all.

Box: But I understand
Box: that this isn't just a dream.

Box: The place where my head is always cut.
Box: In that very same place,

Box: I have a bruise.
Box: One that looks just like a katana injury.

[p008]

(black) It's a curse.

Box: If this keeps up, in the end I'll
蝕まれて恐らく最後は
Box: likely really be killed.
Box: What happens in the dream will become reality.
Box: That much, I know.

Box: Lately, the bruise has been getting bigger.
Box: I've been having the dream more frequently, too.
Box: So much so that I'm certain I don't have any time left.

[p009]

Girl: Ah!

Girl: You're wandering around naked again.
Girl: I've told you to stop doing that, haven't I!!

Girl: Hey, are you listening to me, oniichan?
Girl: Really, it's aaaalways so impossible to tell what you're thinking.

[p010]

Girl: And besides, what's with that moody
Girl: older brother-type character, are you trying to be cool?
Girl: Don't be stupid! You're just morose.

Box: My younger sister...
Box: Kyouka.

Box: Even though she was very attached to me in the past,
(top) Oniichan, wait for me~
(right) Oniichan,
(center) let's eat them together!
(left) Waaah! Oniichan, my leg huuuurts
Box: what's with this confrontational attitude lately. This rude treatment...

Box: Perhaps
Box: this is also connected to the curse.
Kyouka: You're not listening again.
Kyouka: Give me a break already!

[p011]

Box: Still, there is no way I can tell Kyouka about this sort of thing.
Kyouka: And don't go strolling around in just pants like you did the other day, even though I had friends coming!!
Kyouka: It's perverted.
Kyouka: Or more like you're just stupid.
Box: She would just worry about me.

Box: But...

Box: A high school student dreaming of being chopped up by a katana...
Box: I'll have to deal with it myself...

[p012]

sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

[p013]

Haru: A dream.

[p014]

Haru: Ah.

Haru: Looks like
Haru: I have a bit of a fever.

Haru: Yesterday...

Haru: It's because I saw Ogami-senpai's Iai...

sfx bubble: Knock
sfx bubble: Knock

Mother: Haru, please get up already.

[p015]

Father: Haru's still not up yet?
Mother: It's seems she's uncharacteristically gotten a fever.
Mother: Thermometer, thermometer...

Father: WHAT!!
Father: A FEVER?!!

Father: F...for Haru, who's always so energetic, to get a fever...
Father: H-h-h-h-hospital! Ambulance!
Mother: You're getting a little too worked up, dear.
Mother: It's nothing serious.

[p016]

Mother: She's just developed a slight fever.
Mother: She'll go to school once her temperature goes down.
Father: Is it really okay not to rest first?
Father: Shouldn't we play it safe and hospitalize her?!

Father: That's right.

Father: We need that thing at a time like this...

Father: The katana my grandfather crafted for Haru's sake!!
Father: It's the Japanese sword that's at my dad's house right now.

Father: The katana that saved Haru's life when she was born.
Father: That's right. If that katana were here, she wouldn't have come down with a fever in the first place!

[p017]

Father: It's mostly because you selfishly say you don't want a katana kept at our house....!!
Mother: Of course I'd say that, it's not safe!
Mother: It was really dangerous when she actually drew it out at grandfather's house!!

Haru: ......were you just talking about katanas...?
Mother: There's no way we'd have that sort of conversation!
Mother: Come now, go rest in your room!

Haru: Katana......
Mother: Yes, yes, let's get some sleep until the fever goes down~

[p018]

Father: My father promised, didn't he.

Mother: That katana may belong to Haru, but
Mother: It's absolutely too early to hand over something that dangerous.

Father: Yeah... once she's become a proper adult and goes to become a bride, we decided we'd let her keep it.
(Mother): I don't know what to think of including a Japanese sword with wedding garb, though.

Father: When she becomes...

Father: WHO IS GOING TO MAKE A BRIDE OF MY PRECIOUS ONLY DAUGHTERRRRR!!!
Mother: Don't start roaring so early in the morning, you'll trouble the neighbors!!

[p019]

???: UWAAAAAA!

Shun: GAAH!!

Shun: ZUGEEEH!!

Shun: GYAAAAAAAAAAHH!

[p020]

sfx bubble: Fwump

Shun: OWWWWWWW!
Brother: You're really loud in the morning, niichan.

Brother: What're you crying about.
Shun: Idi... Like hell I'd be crying!!
(left of brother) Pfft

Shun: Ughh... I had a terrible dream.
Shun: It's from club activities.
Shun: All because I saw Ogami-senpai's whatever-it-was kata...

Shun: Ahh... I've got some sort of fever.
Shun: That incredible bloodlust really effected me...

Shun: Tell mom I'll be a little late today.
Brother: What, playing hooky?
Brother: Freshman blues, already?

[p021]

Box: ----and so, today, these 3 were late.

Box: By the way, as for these two...

[p022]

(sfx): Staaaaaaare

Haru: What? What's wrong, Yayoi, Satsuki?
Haru: Is something on my face?
Satsuki: Yeah.
Yayoi: A lot of rice.

Satsuki: Haru having a fever and being late is, y'know.
Yayoi: I think such rare occurrences happen sometimes.

(Shun): Okamoto, too...
(Shun): It must have been because of yesterday...

[p023]

Shun: Weeell, I had one too.
Shun: That was a real shock yesterday, huh?
(Shun): Isn't this my chance for a conversation about something we have in common?
(Shun): But still...

Yayoi: Oh, that's right!
Yayoi: I'll give you a piece of my karaage, Haru.
(Karaage is a sort of food preparation similar to tempura)

Haru: Yaaay!!
Yayoi: You'll feel better if you eat a whole lot.
Yayoi: Here, have this octopus weiner.
Satsuki: Then I'll give you a meatball, too.
Satsuki: And some tamagoyaki.
(Tamagoyaki is a kind of Japanese omelette)

(Shun): That's right, I can give her some of my side dish.
Shun: If you'd like, would you care for some of my mini tomatoes?
(Shun): That's it!! I'll enter the conversation like that!

Boy: Yo~ Shun, let's eat.
Shun: Ah- just a sec!! Right after this.
Shun: My lunch today is......

[p024]

(Shun): The whole thing is light brown......

Boy: Wow, that's really the sort of lunch you'd expect of a guy.
(Shun): Mom... I've said how much I like Rousong, but...
(Rousong is a dried meat product that has a texture similar to coarse cotton)
Shun: Whatever, let's just eat.

[p025]

Haru: Club time, club time~

(sfx) Diiiing dooong
Haru: Today I'm gonna swing a katana--!!

Haru: But...

Haru: Like I thought, boys are really scary...
Haru: I really can't get used to them......

Haru: No one's coming.
Haru: Alright, I'm not gonna waste any time.
Haru: I have to swing senpai's katana around secretly.
Haru: And I know where they keep them, too.

[p026]

Haru: If I open the hidden door over here...

Haru: There they are!

Haru: Waah, so high up~
Haru: I can't reaaaaach.

[p027]

Ogami: Yo...
Ogami: I've been waiting for you.

Ogami: You're
Ogami: Okamoto
Ogami: Haru, right.

[p028]

Haru: Yee
Haru: eee
Haru: eeep

Ogami: Don't be so scared.
Ogami: I'm not really giving off any bloodlust or anything, you know.

Ogami: ...please listen to me.

Haru: Eek...

Ogami: The Japanese sword
Ogami: is something which was created for the purpose of killing people.
Ogami: It is a killer's tool.
Ogami: You know that, right?

[p029]

Ogami: In the past, a lot of blood was shed when katanas were put into practice.

Ogami: Yeah... this is a story about the past.
Ogami: The katana was truly a killer's tool...

Ogami: But it leaves behind a curse.
だが呪いは残る

[p030]

Ogami: My family have been masters of the sword for generations.
Ogami: Maybe you would have an easier time understanding if I called them swordsmiths, instead?
Ogami: I say that, but my grandfather was the last of them...

Ogami: Among swordsmiths, there are craftsmen of varying levels.
Ogami: For example, those who are masters at engraving ornamentation into a katana,
Ogami: or those who are masters at sharpening completed katanas.

Ogami: My ancestor was a master at creating a sheath to perfectly match a katana.

Haru: Yeeeeeeeeeeek

Ogami: Don't get scared.
Ogami: Listen.
(Haru): It's not the story I'm scared of, but you!!

[p031]

Ogami: Inside my grandfather's cellar, a single katana lay sleeping.

Ogami: When I was 3 or 4,
Ogami: I was playing in the cellar and discovered it.

Ogami: I felt as if it had called to me.
Ogami: Drawn to that katana,

Ogami: I drew
Ogami: it from

[p032]

Ogami: its sheath...

[p033]

Ogami: Blood flowed from my head and I, who had drawn out the sword, collapsed.
Parent: Touji?!
Parent: Oi, hang in there!

[p034]

Ogami: And like that, I came down with a high fever and practically teetered on the border of life and death for 3 days and 3 nights.

Ogami: Yet the strange part was how there was not a single wound on my forehead, from which the blood would have flowed.
Ogami: ...instead,

Ogami: A small, small
Ogami: bruise appeared.

Ogami: Ever since,
Ogami: I began to dream of
夢を見るようになったのは

Ogami: Fighting with a katana...
Ogami: Dreams in which I could even sense...
Ogami: the distinct smell of fresh blood.

[p035]

Ogami: And the bruise has steadily gotten larger.

Ogami: This is a curse.
Ogami: Are you going to laugh?
Ogami: No, you would probably understand, Okamoto Haru.

Ogami: Because...

Ogami: you give off the same scent as I do......

[p036]

Ogami: ......That's it.

Haru: Stay away...

(Ogami): That bloodlust, as if she'll tear a person to pieces.
(Ogami): Like I thought, she really is the same as me---

[p037]

Haru: Stop it......
Haru: Don't come any closer......

[p038]

Ogami: So you felt it...
Ogami: The curse......

Haru: Scary...
Haru: I'm scared...

Ogami: Always carrying a katana within your heart.
Ogami: Something from which you cannot part,
Ogami: that clings to you.

Ogami: It is proof that you are a person who has been pulled into the world of the katana.
刀の世界に取り込まれてしまった者の証だ
Ogami: Just like me...

[p039/040]

Ogami: You can see it, can't you, Okamoto Haru.
Ogami: You should be able to see the bloodlust an opponent aims toward you.
殺気を向ける相手には見えるはずだ

Ogami: Iaido is where you cross blades with an imaginary opponent born from your own heart.
Ogami: I believe this katana brought forth from the heart is the end result.
その行き着く所のひとつがこの心が生み出す刀だと俺は考える

Ogami: While polishing your technique with Iai,
Ogami: Don't you think it would be possible to control the curse?

[p042]

sfx bubble: Badump
sfx bubble: Badump

Ogami: ......Oi.
sfx bubble: Badump
sfx bubble: Badump

sfx bubble: Badump
sfx bubble: Badump

Ogami: Hey.

Ogami: Hey, stop it, Okamoto.
Ogami: I'm not an enemy.
Ogami: Restrain yourself.

[p044]

(Ogami): This girl...

Shun: Wah...

[p045]

(Ogami): What's with her...
(Ogami): Something's off.
(Ogami): She's different from me.
(Ogami): Is she not cursed after all...?

(Ogami): Why is she smiling...
sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

[p046]

Ogami: Oi.
Ogami: Stop already, Okamoto.

Ogami: Tch.

Ogami: I told you to stop!

[p047]

sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

[p048]

sfx bubble: Hah
sfx bubble: Hah

(Ogami): Why
(Ogami): is she smiling.

Wakana: Haru-san?!
Wakana: What did you do, Ogami-senpai!!

Ogami: Katayama.
Ogami: I finally... understand your feelings.

(Ogami): She has no relation to my curse.
(Ogami): I wanted to try polishing her ability.

[p049]

(Ogami): This Okamoto Haru,
(Ogami): I just simply---

Ogami: I'm going to teach her.
Ogami: Teach her about Iai from the ground up...

Hina: What?
Hina: Did something happen?
Shun: Beats me. I can't make heads or tails of it.

(right box) Starting next time, it will finally become a hot-blooded Iai manga...?!

-------

Notes:

Page 30: Toushou (刀匠) and Toukou (刀工)
Both of these words translate into English as "swordsmith", but Ogami purposefully makes a distinction between them. There's a slight difference in nuance in the Japanese - apparently toukou is used for generic sword craftsmen, whereas toushou tends to be used for master smiths. You could probably say it's a matter of difference in experience.