Koukou Kyuji Zawa-san 5

p045

chapter 5 - Tokyo-bound

p046

[sfx everywhere] タタン = clack-clack (train track noise)
I'll make an assertion.

The buzz-cut boys sitting before me are, without a doubt, on their school baseball team.
Seriously though, Takeda-san pisses me off.

p047

It's not that all dark-skinned, buzz-cut high-schoolers must be baseball players, but...
Huh? Why's that?
Meh. Kusamoto and I were singing the "Ponyo" song pretty loud in the club room, and he snapped.
This whole time, they've been giving off a "baseball team" aura!

Just look.
Ahahahaha!
That'd make anyone snap.
Look at those eyebrows that have earned him rebukes (ineffectually) and how warped they are.

And that "sake bottle" shirt.
So then, that bastard Takeda says "You guys piss me off so tomorrow let's see your hair at 5 rin*."
Well, I'm not gonna do it though.
Ah, the baseball team loves wearing those high-neck undershirts.
* 5 rin is about 1.5mm or 1/16 inch.

p048

When I was in high school, my classmates also wore their "sake bottles" when away from practice, for no reason at all.
Almost as if they're not at ease without something covering the bases of their necks.

Pro baseball players' street clothing also, mysteriously, seem to have a high "sake bottle" content. Either that or they have something wrapped around the bases of their necks.
<- Vintage jeans, by sheer force of money.
Leather jacket shows awareness of fashion ->
Something around his neck anyway ->
Despite being brand-name clothing, looks just like an undershirt. ->
I don't think anyone is doing the "small pouch on a gold necklace" thing anymore, but basically they all wear clothes that are expensive yet unfashionable.

Unlike for soccer players, the inability to cultivate a fashion sense is in the nature of the game of baseball.
Does he expect me to mow this flawless, salon finish down to 5 rin?
Right. Your mom cuts your hair.

p049

Well, point is we can just ignore what Takeda orders.
Yeah, it's fine. I'm not afraid of him.

Speaking of which, Takeda acts self-important, but I hear when he was in his first year he was awful.
The third-years called him "totally useless" and stuff.

I wonder if that sailor-suited schoolgirl, silently reading Yokoyama Mitsuteru's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" all this time, is with the "sake bottles".
If so, is she the sake bottles' manager? Or maybe she simply happened to sit down next to them...?

p051

Hey Kusumoto-kun, could you bring the next volumes of this tomorrow?

Huh? You've already read up to volume 20?
Yup.
......Oh.

Her tan line is
another sake bottle...