Sket Dance 41

1
[insert text: On their way home after club activities...]
Bossun: Man, it's pretty late, huh...
Himeko: Y'know, I don't know that we're too good at this romantic consultation stuff.
Bossun: Really? / I like to think I'm pretty hot at that kinda thing...
Himeko: Hah, yeah, sure!! You spent the whole time putting on that weird face of yours!
Bossun: I still say we should've gong with my strategy... // The "Ore-ga-Kanojo-wo-Osotte-Kare-ga-Tasuke-ni-kuru" (I Attack Her And Then He Comes To Save Her) Strategy, or the OKOKT Strategy for short!
Himeko: That name's way too long! / And the idea itself is just stupid! // Why is it that your strategies always seem to involve clichéd little dramas? / Oh, and afros. / Just... why?
Shinpei: Move it!
Shinzou: Wait!! Hold it right there!!
Shinpei: Ah, shaddup!! Just get the fuck outta my way!!

2
Sket Dance
Chapter 41: Brothers
[insert text: He looks... just like Shinzou?!]
Shinpei: The hell's it got to do with you where I go and what I do?!! // I ain't gotta answer to you!
Shinzou: What has happened to you of late?! You are wasting your life away! // But today, this time, I refuse to let you pass!
Shinpei: Well, I'll just go this way, then.
Shinzou: Ahh!! // Ugh... / I failed...
Bossun: Shinzou?

3
Bossun: Huh, so this place is your house, is it?
Himeko: Quite a place... ah! I like the look of this pot...
Shinzou: Haha... ah... I have brought tear; please, be seated.
Bossun: What's that other building next door?
Shinzou: That is a kendo dojo that my father established.
Bossun: Wait, though... wasn't your father some actor who did period pieces and stuff?
Switch: Only an extra, mind.
Himeko: Ya don't have to mention that...
Shinzou: He also teaches kendo to young boys. // I and my brother, too, both trained there, at his kendo dojo.
Bossun: Your brother? // ...You have a brother, do you?
Himeko: Huh? Wait, don't tell me that guy back there...
Shinzou: Indeed... / I must apologise quite profusely for letting you witness us like that. // It is a great embarrassment.

4
Shinzou: The boy you saw back there was my younger brother, Shinpei. // He is a Kaimei Academy student like ourselves, in the first year.
Bossun: Y - Younger brother?!
Himeko: That guy? / But he was so completely... different...
Bossun: If I imagine you having a little brother... yeah... / I'd've thought... / ...he'd, like, address you as "Aniue" and stuff...
Shinzou: Hahah...
Himeko: I just love the weird faces you do, Bossun...
Shinzou: In truth, my younger brother was once a wonderful child who loved me dearly... // But now... // It seems he has fallen from grace.
Bossun: Well... I don't know this is really something we should be poking our noses into... // But we'll hear you out if you like.

5
Shinzou: In our younger days, we had always devoted ourselves wholeheartedly to our swordwork together, but he began to fall behind... // My brother was an incredibly hard worker, and I lived in anticipation of the day when that hard work would pay off and his skills would truly come to fruition. // But...
Flashback!Father: All right! Good work, Shinzou!
Flashback!Shinzou: .........
Flashback!Father: Shinpei!! What kind of match was that today?!! // You could learn a thing or two from your brother!!
Shinzou: I am sure that my father never meant to discriminate between us; my brother just could not manage to please him... // It seemed impossible that he would ever catch up to my own skill with the blade... // ...and eventually, he laid down his sword for good. // This happened in his second year of middle school... // ...And as I am sure you can tell from what you just witnessed, he has come down in the world since then... / It is a truly miserable tale.

6
Switch: Year 1, Class D; Takemitsu Shinpei... // My data does not contain any particularly nasty rumours about him.
Bossun: Oh, here we go!
Himeko: He's even got data on all the first-years?! That's kinda creepy, you know...
Shinzou: Well, he may have gone down in the world, but I do not mean to say that he has joined any gangs or the like. / He fancies himself something of a lone wolf; it seems to be his way of trying to assert himself. // But recently, he seems to have been mixing with the wrong sort of people; he has been staying out late every night... // Tonight, my patience finally ran out, and I tried to do something about it, but you saw the result of that...
Bossun: A lone wolf suddenly becoming all social...? // Was there some kind of trigger cause?
Shinzou: I fear that must have been his falling-out with myself. / It happened... about a week ago now.

7
Shinzou: He had picked a fight with a group of thugs from another school a while back, and they came calling at the house whilst I was out.
Flashback!Thugs: Hey, punk!! // Get the fuck out here, Takemitsu!!
Shinzou: Grabbing the closest weapon he could find - my own shinai, which was hanging in the entrance hall - my brother rushed out to confront them...
[TN: A shinai is a bamboo blade used in kendo.]
Flashback!Shinzou: And... what happened after that?!
Flashback!Shinpei: Eh? // Well, y'know, there were three of them and only one of me... I got my ass kicked. / Not to say that they got away completely unharmed... heheheh...
Flashback!Shinzou: Y... You fool! Allowing yourself to become so hideously wounded... / What, then, has become of my precious shinai?!! // That shinai is a valuable possession that has always brought me good fortune in my kendo matches! You should know this!! // What has become of it?!!!

8
Flashback!Shinpei: Ah, it got completely wrecked, so I got rid of it. // That's just what happens in a fight like that, y'know? // Wh... What's wrong, huh? Not gonna hit me?
Flashback!Shinzou: I will not lower myself to assaulting one such as yourself. // My fists would be sullied.
Shinzou: It was after that night that Shinpei began avoiding me, and hanging around with his new friends every night instead...

9
Shinzou: I certainly regret speaking those harsh words to my own brother, but that shinai was truly precious to me. // I even have an important match tomorrow...
Switch: You should have punched him. // If you truly cared about your brother, that was the time and place to make your emotions clear to him. // Leave it any longer... and it becomes too late.

10
Bossun: It's not often... / ...that you come out with a thing like that.
Switch: When a younger brother strays from the path, it is the elder brother's duty to set him straight. // If such issues are not addressed at the appropriate time... // ...it leads only to regret.
Bossun: A disciple of the sword... straying from the path...

11
Bossun: Heheh... but that's only assuming he really did stray from the path in the first place... // Me, I'm not quite so sure...

12
Shinpei: (Dammitall...! I never used your shinai in that fight, Aniki... // I just picked up the closest thing I could find without thinking... // The moment I realised it was your precious shinai... // I stopped in my tracks, just as the fight was about to begin... // But then they ripped the blade out of my hands... // ...and threw it out into the river... // I felt so terrible about what happened, Aniki... // What if, because you didn't have that shinai... // ...because of me... // ...you were to lose in that match tomorrow...?!)

13
Shinpei: I might never be able to find it... / But I've gotta try... before that fight tomorrow...! // Aniki can't... he can't lose! // He's always been so strong... // Ever since we were kids... // Always... // Always...! // !! // H - Hey!! / This is nothing to do with you punks!! // Huh?! / What are you - ?! // Oi!! // Stop this already! / Oiii!!
[Text: ◯ 佐木 // 武光 ×]

14
Shinpei: *pant* // *pant*
Shinzou: Shinpei... // All of you... // And that shinai...
Shinpei: Aniki... // Your match...?
Shinzou: I lost.

15
Shinpei: ............ // Aniki... / ...lost... // No... // I'm... // I'm so sorry... // ...Aniue! // It's all my fault!! // It's all because I'm such a useless brother......!! // Forgive me, please, Aniue... // I... // I...!

16
Shinzou: YOU FOOL!!!
Shinpei: !!!
Shinzou: The reason why I lost that match... // ...was thanks to my own weakness!! // It had... // ...nothing to do with you or that shinai!!!
Shinpei: No! / I'm the one who...!!
Shinzou: Oh, be quiet!! Silence!!

17
Shinpei: Listen to me, Aniue!! // The truth is... / I... // I've always...
Shinzou: Take your stance, Shinpei!! // Today's the day I'm going to beat some sense into you once and for all!!
Shinpei: All this time...! // I've always looked up to you, Aniue...!
Shinzou: Here I come!! // You're wide open, Shinpei!!

18
Bossun: It really is a beautiful thing, huh. // Having a brother. // I guess it brings you back, huh?
Switch: ...Yes.

19
Flashback!Switch: An-chan, if you don't get up, you're gonna be late! // Morning, Kaa-san.
[TN: Holy shit, it's Switch talking.]
Flashback!Mother: Good morning. // How's your brother?
Flashback!Switch: It's no good. // He's just not getting up. // Honestly, he's in high school now and everything...
[Text: Switch at fourteen; spring...]
[insert text: Switch tells all... the story of his past is revealed!!]
[bottom text: Next issue, Switch's past...! And there is a terrible incident hidden back there...?!]