Sket Dance 32

1
[insert text: What will Roman's match involve?!]
Announcer: It is finally time for us to begin the fourth round - love-simulation game Kokuhaku Monogatari. // First, let us explain the rules. // Upon this stage, each of our two contestants... / ...will be called upon to act out a confession of love to a random male chosen from the audience.
Girl1: From the moment I first saw you...
Girl2: I have always loved you so!
Announcer: Afterwards, the "object of their affections" will be called upon to choose which of the two set his heart the most aflutter. // Our contestants have a free choice of character and situation!
Himeko: This is it!
Announcer: Each contestant is advised to let her imagination run wild and come up with a scene just bursting with originality!
Bossun: I can't tell if the Roman World is gonna bring good fortune or horror... // ...or unimaginable horror...
Announcer: Now, let our contenders take the stage!!

2
Sket Dance
Chapter 32: Round 4 - Kokuhaku Monogatari
[insert text: Are you ready? 'Cause there's an arrow of love pointed straight at your heart!]
Announcer: From the Student Council team... / Why, it's the granddaughter of the famous Unyuu Group's president! // Reckless beyond belief with money, it's everyone's favourite pompadour ojou-sama, Unyuu Mimori!! // Facing her, from the Sket-dan team... / Ah... her team has just sent us a detailed profile! // Instead of the expected Yabasawa Moe-san... // We have the girl in the beret who dreams of being a shoujo manga-ka... // She'll hold you captive in her charms; welcome to her Otome World - it's Saotome Roman!!

3
Announcer: And this is our randomly-chosen judge.
Tadokoro: My name is Tadokoro, I'm from Saitama. // I enjoy reading, and my talent is Shogi.
Himeko: Man, what a normal guy...
Bossun: Doesn't exactly strike you as a good match for Roman...
RefereePerson: Well, then... let us begin the game. // One after the other, each of you is to make your confession to Tadokoro-san right here on this stage.
Mimori: Good luck all around, everyone!
Roman: Yes, I quite agree. // (I will never let you have Tadokoro-san. // I shall never lose!)
Michiru: Huh? Is it just me, or did it just get kinda... dark...?
Soujirou: I offer you my apologies, Tomori-san. // After all, right now we are losing by two games to one.
Tomori: Yes... / Well, don't get too worried about it. // Though it would certainly improve your manga's popularity if you were to win, and it would be better for us too...

4
Tomori: But whether you win or lose, the important thing is that I document the events as they happened. / Just as long as you all do your best, that's more than enough; it'll make a great article whatever happens.
Soujirou: Haha... / Well, that certainly is reassuring.
Announcer: Now... what kind of confession situations will be be witnessing here today?! // First up: Unyuu, of the Student Council team! You may begin!!
Mimori: Tadokoro-san...
Tadokoro: Ah... // Hey.
Mimori: I thank you most humbly for coming to see me like this when you must be so very busy.
Michiru: Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mimorin, that's way too formal!!
Tadokoro: (Incredibly formal... but somehow she really is incredibly cute...) // Oh... not at all...

5
Michiru: Tadokoro-san... The truth is, I have something to give you.
Tadokoro: Huh? // This is...
Michiru: Would you be so kind... // ...as to accept it?
Announcer: And here it comes!!! It looks like this is... a love-letter strategy!!! // In this day and age, with email so widespread, the sweet explosion of a handwritten letter has all but died out!! / Let's see how this daring strategy plays out!!
Himeko: Jeez, these guys'll get heated up over anythin'!!
Tadokoro: Ahh... // Thank you.

6
Michiru: I really wouldn't say love-letters are a dying breed, though. / ...I've had a fair few... // Besides which, Mimorin's methods do seem a little... old-fashioned... // ...Agata?!
Soujirou: What is this...? / This powerful bittersweet sensation...
Michiru: Tsubaki-chan?!! // Man, you guys are smitten easily!!!
Announcer: Somehow, I find my mind drifting back to the glorious days of my own youth...
Michiru: Even the announcer, Nitta-san?!!
Announcer: And I don't know if it's just my imagination, but there seems to be some kind of pink aura emanating from the stage.
Himeko: Bossun?!!
Bossun: My heart... // The pain... it's incredible...
Himeko: Shinzooooou!!! // Switch... don't your glasses look kinda weird?! / WHAT'S WITH THIS AURA?!!!
Mimori: I confess, I have never written anything of this nature to a gentleman before... / I was unsure as to how I should approach the task...
Announcer: Tadokoro-san appears to be opening the letter... / What will he find within?!
Daisy: Shinba-san...
Michiru: Yeah... / Those two have been engulfed in the aura and aren't thinking straight... / But I have a nasty feeling I know what's in there...

7
Mimori: But I decided ten million yen would do for now...
Michiru: I knew it!! A cheque!!
[TN: That's around £50,000, or US$100,000 ~_~]
Announcer: Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!! // We all thought it would be a love-letter, but instead... / ...the envelope contained a cheque for ten million yen!! // Aaaaaahhhhh!!! // Why... this brazen financial "confession" could turn even the truest of loves to naught!!
Soujirou: Ahh... // Of course... That's what Mimorin's like, after all... // You idiot!! / You can't do it like that!!
Tsubaki: You can't buy love with money, you fool!!!
Michiru: Feeling!! // It's all about the feeling!!
Mimori: F - // Feeling...

8
Mimori: Understood.
Tadokoro: Ah!
Announcer: And now Unyuu is writing something else... what could it be?!
Tadokoro: This is...
Mimori: Ten million, five thousand yen!
Announcer: The sum of money now has more feeling...?!!!
[TN: I don't know whether there's some kind of pun hidden here or she's just being weird ~_~]
Michiru: That's not it!! / What the hell is your idea of "feeling"?!
Announcer: Ah - and Tadokoro-san has given the sign indicating that this scene is over!!
Bossun: ...Man, of all the ridiculous things to do...
Himeko: But d'you think she might win with this?
Mimori: Ahhhh! I was so nervous...
Michiru: Yes, well done... // You really need to get some part-time work or something and learn the value of money...
Announcer: Now, then! The first contender has had her opportunity... / It's now time for the Sket-Dan team member to take her turn!

9
Announcer: Saotome Roman!
Roman: Y - Yes!
Announcer: Her reputation isn't exactly sparkling... but what kind of scene will this second contestant show us today?!
Himeko: What's with that response like somebody just called your name when you were spacing out in class?!!
Bossun: Come on, Roman...
Announcer: You may begin!! // What's this?! // It seems that Saotome Roman wishes to begin her scene some distance from the stage!
Roman: Let's see... it should be somewhere around here... // My new school!

10
Roman: I've only just moved here, and I don't know my way around, and I'm terrible with maps too! // Huh? Oh, no! I brought a weather-map instead of a map by mistake!
Himeko: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoooa!! // What the hell, what the hell, what the hwll?!! // What're you doin' gettin' off the stage?!!
Bossun: Ah - sorry about this...
Roman: This is Act 1: "First Meeting".
Himeko: "Act 1: First Meeting"?! // You're gonna start this thing THERE?!!! / Just hurry up and get to the point will ya?!!
RefereePerson: Ah... could you please not interrupt the match? We did state that the contestants may do this however they wish...
Bossun: Ahh... Of course...! Sorry about that...
Himeko: I just couldn't help buttin' in there...
Bossun: No, no... it's not your fault...
RefereePerson: W - Well then, let's get back to the game!

11
Roman: Ohh, I don't know... / I'm just such a scatterbrain!☆
[box: Note: No random comments for the moment.]
Roman: Why, there was this one time, when my mother asked me to go and buy some "mayonnaise"... // And I ended up buying a "Maltese" doggy instead! // Eheheh! // Ah, of course! / I'll just ask that random passer-by if he knows the way!
[Text: Otome Filter: Activate]
[Labels: Otome Dial // Min // Max]

12
Roman: (Ahh, how lovely...! // Ahhhh... // But if I just go up to him and start a conversation, he might think I'm strange... // No...! // I can't let nerves get the better of me before I've done a thing! // That simply wouldn't do! // All right... // Here goes! // ...A new town... // ...A new school... // ...The faint scent of greenery upon the wind... // Upon a day such as this... // Could this wondrous meeting that sets my heart aflame be some kind of gift from God?)

13
Roman: (What kind of person might you be...?)
Himeko: Oh, come ON!!! // COULD-YOU-FREAKIN'-WELL-GET-TO-THE-POINT-ALREADY?!!! // HOW LONG IS THIS FREAKIN' "ACT 1" GONNA TAKE ANWAY?!! / I CAN'T NOT BUTT IN ON THIS CRAP!!!
Bossun: Himeko! Himeko! Calm down, okay?!
RefereePerson: Sorry... I'm the referee, and I feel compelled to butt in as well. / Could you please hurry this up a little?
Roman: All right. / Let's move on to Act 2!
Himeko: WHO CARES ABOUT "ACT 2"?!! // COULD YOU JUST GO CONFESS TO THE GUY?!! WE JUST NEED TO SEE HOW HE REACTS!!
Michiru: We could've done with a proper quip like that...
Roman: All right, then. I suppose we'll just have to skip to the climax. Here comes Act 176: "Confession".
Himeko: HOW LONG IS THIS THING?!!
Bossun: And she was planning to do it all...?
RefereePerson: Well, then... let's start over, yes? / Is that okay? Shall we do this through to the end without any more interruptions?
Somebody: Yes! / Sorry about all this...
Announcer: Ehhhh... are we sure about that...? Well, then, let's continue the game.

14
Roman: We're finally here! The city of Bristol, where your mother lives!
Himeko: Where's that?!!
[TN: For shame :p]
Switch: Bristol is a port city located in the south of England.
Bossun: Wait, so Tadokoro-san's mother's English?!
Roman: It's been a long journey, but finally we have arrived...
Guy1: Wait... / Do you see...?
Guy2: Yeah... / You see it too?
Guy1: Somehow I feel like the stage is covered in incredible foreign scenery...
Roman: Ah!! / *cough, cough*
Tadokoro: Ehh?! Wh - What's wrong?
Roman: *pannt* // *pant* // Edward...
Bossun: Edward?!
Roman: It looks like... I won't be able to go on...
Bossun: What the?!!
Roman: We've been through so much... over the course of Acts 2 through 175... // *pant* // *pant*
Bossun: The hell actually happened?!!

15
Roman: Go on without me, Edward... // Finally... // You'll be able to see your mother...
Tadokoro: Stephanie!!!
Himeko: Who's that?!!
Tadokoro: Hang on in there, Stephanie!!
Himeko: Oh, crap, Tadokoro's been sucked into the Roman Aura...
Roman: Edward... Do you remember the day we first met? // I was lost in an unfamiliar town, and after showing me to the school, you walked me home... // And you told me all about your mother... // That was when I made my decision. / That this time, I would be the one to take you home. // And also... // That once we made it there, I would finally make an important confession...
Tadokoro: Stephanie...

16
Roman: Let me say it, before it's too late... // I love you... // Edward...
Bossun: STEPHANIIIIIIE!!!
[Text: The latter half of the fourth round; Saotome Roman's tale of confession... // Before long, the entire stadium was engulfed in the Roman Aura.
People: EDWARD! // STEPHANIE!
Michiru: Huh? // What's going on?
[Text: Has a natural resistance to the Otome Aura]
People: EDWARD! // STEPHANIE!

17
[Text: And the final verdict...]
Tadokoro: I have to choose this one!
[sign: Student Council Team]
Himeko: After all that, you went and chose HER instead?!!
[TN: I can think of only one explanation... authorial meddling. Purely for the sake of making the final round the decider ~_~]
[Text: Winner: Unyuu Mimori]
Roman: I'm afraid I lost, my Prince... // I am so sorry.
Bossun: Ah, well, don't worry about it, this just makes us even...
Himeko: Yeah, that's right... hell, if you won this one, Bossun wouldn't get anythin' to do.
Roman: You're right... with the score at 2-1, the readers must have been expecting a loss in the penultimate match.
[TN: ...Well, at least the author's honest about it XD]
Bossun: R... right. // Could you maybe stop saying weird stuff like that?
Himeko: Yeah, but it still pisses me off... everyone loved Roman's performance so much, an' all...
Switch: It cannot be helped. This is a matter of pure personal preference.
Shinzou: I too believe that Stephanie-dono was far the superior.
Bossun: This guy's still caught up in the Aura...

18
Tomori: Here you go, Tadokoro-san... good job.
[TN: ...And the authorial meddling has a face!]
Tadokoro: Are you sure about this?
Tomori: 'Course I am. Just don't go telling anyone, okay? / Man, those Student Council punks are making this hard for me... // But we can't have people being disappointed in our lovely models, now, can we! / Heheheh...
Announcer: Next up... the time has come! It's the final round! If both team leaders could make there preparations!
Himeko: All right!! Bossun, it's your turn to shine!! Go for it!!
Shinzou: Nobody could defeat you, Bossun-dono!! To victory!!!
Roman: Please don't die out there, Prince!! For my sake...!
Switch: If you win, we take the tournament; if you lose, we lose everything. Good luck now!!

19
Michiru: You've gotta win this one, Agata, or we'll be disgraced!!
Mimori: Go for it, President~!
Soujirou: Yeah...
Tsubaki: Show them what the Student Council are made of, President!!
Soujirou: Yeah...
Tomori: I'm expecting great things from you, Agata-kun. / You're on equal points with the Sket-dan now, so...
Soujirou: Tomori-san. // I'll ask you not to do anything... unnecessary.
Tomori: Huh?
Soujirou: I said you shouldn't overstep the mark.
Tomori: Hm? / Sorry, didn't catch that...?
Soujirou: I said you'd better not interfere, you stupid old man.
[insert text: A mad gleam in the President's eyes!! Things are heating up!!!]