Sakuranbo Syndrome - Cupid no Itazura II Volume 1

I've been dying to release this forever! Now here it is.
For the scanlated version, click your way to this page and enjoy.

003
The arrows that Cupid, of Roman legend fame would shoot around at a whim had an uncanny power that let him have men and women's hearts at his beck and call. Any human being whose heart he pierced with a golden arrow would awaken to love, and there was no passion that wouldn't be squelched after a shot from his arrows of lead. Nowadays, should Cupid ever get in a mischievous mood..............

004
Sakuranbo SYNDROME. [Cupid's Prank II] {1}
Chapter 1 - Please? .........5
Chapter 2 - Come on! .......53 Chapter 3 - That's like, somebody else! ........81
Chapter 4 - Lie after lie. ...........111 Chapter 5 - What are you talking about? ...........131
Chapter 6 - C'mon, I'm treating. ...........151 Chapter 7 - Follow me. ...........171
Chapter 8 - I know what it's like. ............191

005
Rena: Here it is........//No doubt about it.*snap*
Rena: This/is my Prince Charming.........*lick...*
Chapter 1: Please?

007-007
Chapter 1: Please?

008
Leaflet: Lips./Sanctuary.[tn: Actually, it's "Wildlife Sanctuary". But I think "sanctuary" alone has a better impact in English.]
Mune: "Untouchable", the new product of our firm, is proving to be an exceptionally popular summer article/according to the company's statistics........
Ugly: Ahem. Agawa-kun?
Mune: Yes?
Narrator: Agawa Munenori, 23. Lèvres Cosmetics Sales Department.[tn: "Lèvres" is French for "lips".]

009
Ugly: Are things working out as expected here?
Mune: Ye... Yes./About that//According to the company's statistics, seeing as this article has the highest growth in sales pattern, greater results could be achieved by adding the POP nail polish among the articles disposed near it..........
Ugly: Wait a minute.//Nail polish? Who wrote that?
Mune: That's... Well, it might seem a bit tedious, but according to our data, the nail polish would prove the most efficient...
Ugly: Data this, data that. I've been selling cosmetics for years, you know?
Mune: ..........
Ugly: If you want my opinion, lipstick goes near mascara! That's how it works!
Mune: ........//You're perfectly right!/All the same....
Ugly: ......./You know, Agawa-kun........//It's not readily apparent, but I've been a woman for decades.
Mune: ........
Ugly: You enter some company, and after one measly year of studying cosmetics there, you think you know better than a woman?
Mune: ("I'm a woman", eh?)

010
Mune: She says that like it's a magic word to make me shut up!//(That said...)/Yes ma'am!/I'm learning everything I can!//(I've been thinking hard about it, lately.//About my life inside the company/How everyone else is always appraising me.)/Wooh!//(And now/here I am)

011
Mune: In this industry geared towards women/I unmistakably stand at the bottom end of the totem pole.)//What.../There's no place here for a man, that's it........?

012
Mune: Ultimately, the negotiations haven't progressed one bit...
*silence*
Mune: (I guess I got back a little early.../Aaah. I would've liked to get straight back home too.)
Board: ACTIVITIES SCHEDULE BOARD
*sob sob sob* *startle*
Mune: Er... Um.../Who's there?*sob sob sob*

013
Mune: Kago-san?*sob sob*
Mune: Wha... What's wrong? Shouldn't your team be in the Nanbu Department Store, today?
Kago: ........
Badge: Lèvres Cosmetics./BA/Kago.
Mune: Bah. I guess something went wrong with the rest of the BA again?
Caption: BA=Beauty Advisor.[tn: The Kanji say something along the lines of Esthetic Staff.]
Mune: (In Department Stores, these performers demonstrate and explain the use of our company's products to the clients. They're essential partners for us Sales Department folks.//But, uh/that's my seat, y' know........)
Kago: .......
Mune: (Sigh. She came back with her performer's outfit still on...)
Kago: .......//Today again, Gotou-san said....../she said horrible things to me.
Mune: ..........

014
Mune: (The BA staff is almost exclusively female... Well, that doesn't come without its lot of colorful situations.......//But what? She's whining about Gotou-san again...?
Kago: ...and... ...but Gotou-san... ...unthinkable...*prattle prattle*
Kago: What do you think?!//Am I really THAT hopeless?!/I'm already trying as hard as I can!*jiggle-jiggly*

015
Mune: Uh... Um, yeah, well...//Ahem./.......//........./I don't know what happened, but I'd say everyone has high hopes for you?
Kago: Eh?
Mune: See, you just got out of training, straight into the company./So they wanna see for themselves what you're really capable of.
Kago: ........//Really?

016
Mune: ........ I mean, you were expecting an office job, but the BA are also assigned to field duty.
Kago: .......
Mune: It's been what, 3 months since you've joined the company? You can't expect things to work out smoothly from the get-go.//Look at me. It's my second year, and things still aren't anywhere near perfect.
Kago: *chuckle*
Kago: Speaking with you always cheers me up, Agawa-san.
Mune: Is... Is that so?
Kago: ......../So today........ I'll be waiting for your return......... again./........Mh?
Mune: ..........

017
Kago: Well, back to Nanbu for me!
Mune: Eh?/Ah, okay.../Yeah... That's right.
Kago: But if I get back all on my own now, like nothing happened/I'm not sure Gotou-san is gonna let it slide.//........
Mune: ........//No. No way. Me?/I got plenty on my plate. Like that POP thing for a client........ So I can't go with you!
Kago: ........
Mune: Right, then. I'll give Gotou-san a phone call for you...
Kago: Thank you so much!//I knew it. Men can be so dependable!
Mune: .........

018
Mune: ........
Kago: Okay, then. Thanks in advance♥.
Mune: (N... now I'm gonna have to listen to Gotou-san's endless chatter about how much Kago-san sucks.../Wh... why me? .........//Over half of the whole staff is female here. So picking one of them for a love affair at work spells trouble with a capital "T"! I am well aware of that........)/Ah, hello. Gotou-san?/Yes. It's Agawa./Erm, it's about Kago-san.../(But there's that small, perverted little corner of my mind. And they're taking advantage of it...//and the guy they exploit gets pelted with criticism. Ruthlessly........)/Yes! For the umpteenth time!/Right! I'll tell her when I see her. I'll be merciless... Yes!//(Have the model Nujibara Natsumi and the actress Komori Manami play lesbian and given the high opinion women have of them, a heated debate ensues and your summer product becomes an unprecedented hit... .......Right...?)

019
Mune: (From what I hear, sales geared towards big markets like girls' schools have become cake. But the old lady at the private retail store treats them with all the attention she'd give old friends, and it doesn't seem likely she'll ever get in the mood to fulfill our business objectives.//I wouldn't be surprised........//to have become a complete misogynist, lately......../.......I just can't trust a woman.//Speaking of which, it's been a long while/since I even so much as kissed a girl........)
Asou: Excuse me, Agawa-kun!

020
Mune: Ah./Asou-san!
Asou: You could have picked a better spot for your little break.//That said, this poster's coming free. Doesn't it bother you?
Mune: Ye... Yes!
Asou: You can't reach it?
Mune: Gi... Give me a minute... I'll fix it later...

021
Asou: But some clients are about to walk through here. That'd be in bad taste.
Mune: ..........
Asou: Just/just a little bit...//Mh...//You can't afford to show such imperfections./Or else people will just walk all over you.

022
Asou: The inside is important alright./But appearances are even more essential.........
Mune: .......
*chuckle*
Mune: Ye... Yes ma'am!//(Asou Sayako, 26. Publicity Department./The woman behind the promotion of our new product. Lips - Sanctuary, from Untouchable.)

023
Mune: I'm at the peak of my awkwardness around her...........//My OG-houmon with Asou Sayako is the reason I was able to get myself recruited here.[tn: OB/OG-Houmon=Old Boy/Old Girl meeting. After college, when you go job-hunting, you may contact a former upperclassman (senpai) who's already working in the company you're seeking to join for an interview. They provide concrete, valuable information about the inner workings of the company (practical aspects of the job, salaries, atmosphere at work...), which would be very hard to obtain otherwise.]
Asou: Agawa... Munenori-kun?//Why are you interested in our company?/A cosmetics company?
Mune: We... Well!//I think the cosmetics business is closely connected to life in general
Asou: .......
Mune: I was greatly impressed with this company's spirit and its strong management.//And I wished I could participate in this trade of craftsmanship so closely involved in real life itse...
Asou: Yeah, I got it!//........ But you know/Rather than the prefabricated talk for job-hunting/I'd like to hear what you really have to say./Like.......

024
Asou: "I don't have any objective in particular. I'm merely here because I'm aiming for a somewhat big company, strong even during a recession!"/.......you know?[tn: Explained later in the "Making-Of"... Which I now have to translate. Crap!]
Mune: I... I don't.../mean...
Asou: Well, you get the picture./Didn't you consider knocking me silly with an approach like that? Then, you can demonstrate just how useful someone with your skill could be to the company, or something? Leave me thinking you're such a fascinating person?

025
Mune: So, I'm not... fit for the job/am I...?
Asou: The cosmetic products in themselves don't make women beautiful./You need to entrance them into thinking using them will do so.//You must realize that maintaining the bluff is what our job is about./If you don't, we can't use you. Eh, Agawa-kun?
Mune: ........//(At that point........//I'd become a living picture of the worst humanity had to offer........./though I managed to make it into the company somehow........//That's why/to this day, I'm still unable to look straight into Asou-san's face when I speak to her...)
Asou: Right?
Mune: Uh?
Asou: The poster./Have you been listening?
Mune: E... Excuse me?

026-027
Asou: !!//........./Getting an eyeful, are we? Humph........
Mune: Ha-ha-ha/Gasp!/Choke!
Asou: !!

028
Asou: Aaaah!
Mune: !!//........
Asou: Oooowwww

029
Asou: Agawa-kun, are you alright?
Mune: Ye... Yes!//Wha... What about you? .../I'm sorry.
Mune&Asou: Uh.//Sorry.
Asou: For the broken glasses.
Mune: I didn't mean to peek......./........
Asou: ......./I'll compensate you for that.
Mune: You don't have to...//Not after what just happened...//......

030
Asou: Agawa-kun!/You ought to face people when you're talking to them!//People and posters are the same, insofar as appearances are the only way you can judge them./And it's kinda hard to have faith in someone with your current attitude!
Mune: Ye... Yes ma'am...
Asou: Lately, you've been working hard after hours, it seems?
Mune: .......?*scaredy-scared*
Asou: But without any demonstrable results to show for it/you're just needlessly adding to the company's electricity bill.

031
Mune: ..........
Asou: I'm the one who recommended you. Don't disappoint me.
Shimatani: Sorry for the wait, Asou-kun. Let's get going.
Asou: Shimatani-buchou.[tn: "Buchou"="head of section/department".]//And sorry again for the glasses.//.........Ah!

032
Asou: Excuse me. There's still some left, so trash it when you're done.//Sorry I've kept you waiting.
Shimatani: Uh-huh.
Mune: ........../Hufffff.//Gulp//Hell.../She's making a fool out of me........
Coworkers: People with authority are really something else.
Mune: Oonishi. Miyabe. How long have you been there?
Miyabe: Since the "Don't disappoint me" bit.
Oonishi: What have you been doing? It's the first time I hear about someone breaking his glasses here at work♥.

033
Mune: ........
Miyabe: Ms Asou's probably on a business meeting about the new commercial./With Shimatani-buchou...
Oonishi: That's because you've gotta be Asou-san in order to sink your claws into a couple of superstars everyone is fighting over.
Miyabe: What about the method she used to hook them? Is it true?/Did she really sidestep the agents and go speak to them directly?//And that she had an entire set of our high-end cosmetics sent to them via top-notch BA members?
Oonishi: Who knows?
Miyabe: Still, co-starring such celebrities is really something.//At any rate, this time around/she's made it plain and clear how she was able to propel herself as the rising star of the Publicity Department at only 26!

034
Miyabe: I wish I could make it into Publicity too.
Oonishi: It's not like a bunch of freshly recruited noobs like ourselves could hold a candle to her.//Huhuhu. Filling Shimatani-buchou-shoes... Seriously?
Mune: Eh?!
Oonishi: Whaddaya mean, "Eh?!" You Queen's lapdog./Hee hee.
Miyabe: You just lick the Queen's lipstick off that can, and be quick about it!*flab flab*
Mune: !//Like hell I'm drinking that!!//(Work is over for today. At last........)

035
Clerk: Welcome.
Sign: Wack Donald's/Hamburgers.[tn: Mhhh. That sounds vaguely... familiar...]
Clerk: What will it be?
Mune: Mh... Well...//A cheeseburger menu and one fried chicken.
Clerk: What drink with the menu?
Mune: Uh, make it a cola.
Clerk: Are you eating here?
Mune: Er, takeout.
Clerk: Alright. Let's sum up your order.//It's gonna cost you ￥860 total.[tn: Somewhere around ＄8.]
Brunette: Let me recapitulate. 5 hamburgers. 6 cheeseburgers. 3 Gourmet Fish menus. 7 extra-large fried potatoes.//Then, we also have 3 Tomato Chickens...
Rena: That's it. 3 Tomato Chickens.
Mune: (She ordered the entire selection of menus or what?)
Mune&Clerk: .........

036-037
Brunette: That's ￥6700 please![tn: 65 USD.]
Rena: O... Okay...//'Sit alright if I give you 7000?//Ah. I've got change..........//Ah!//Aaaaah!*poke*

038-039
*clap*

040
*huff*

041
Mune: She......./She's blushing.......
Rena: So... so... I'm sorry!/Th-thank you!
Mune: It's nothing.//(She's gotta be around 14, 15. And red like a tomato. So cute.)
Brunette: Here's your change. ￥500.//Is it for takeout?
Rena: N... No./I'm eating here!

042
Mune: (Uh?)
Brunette: Uh?
Rena: !//I... I mean no!/Ta... Takeout!*jumpy*
Rena: I....../I've got a lot of friends at my place...
Mune: Aa-hah...
Clerk: Here. Sorry for the delay.
Mune: (Come to think of it, it's been a long while/since I last talked to a woman outside of work...

043
DVD: OL. NEWBIE TRAINING 5. Your senpai has a LOOOOOT to teach you, new guy. Azusa Tanie.[tn: OL=Office Lady. "Azusa Tanie" is written twice: Once in Japanese characters, once in romaji.]
Mune: .........//I wonder.../which one of them looks the part........
DVD: Don't violate me/ON THE DIRECTOR'S CHAIR./Office Lady Slaves series 23.

044
Mune: .........//(Nah, let's drop it./Office Ladies aren't even my thing in the first place...)
Clerk: Thank you very much.
Stones: Tsudzurao Shrine.[tn: Or Kuo Shrine, maybe.]

045
Mune: (Alone in a shrine at this time of night?/Is she waiting for her boyfriend or something?)//!

046
Mune: (The girl from earlier......../.......?)

047
Mune: (She said something about eating with her friends/but she was unable to hold back till home?//Or maybe there's a boy she likes among those friends/and she doesn't feel comfortable eating around him.//Ah, how cute...//Give it a few years, and she'll turn into a hottie, like these...)

048
Mune: (........There won't be anything left for her friends.../I mean, hey/How many of them is she gonna eat?)
Rena: Munch munch
Mune: (I thought being endearing was a typically female attribute.//Guess that's only a male delusion thing...)

049
Azusa: Stop it!
Pimple: Senpaaai!!*Aaaaaah*
Azusa: We can't do that in the office! ...What if somebody comes in?!
*Nooooooo. Uhn. Uhn.*
Pimple: It's your fault, senpai! You always make a fool out of me!
Mune: (She doesn't resemble Asou-san........)
Pimple: C'mon. It's gonna get even more awesome this way........
Mune: (as much as she did on the cover...)
Azusa: No. It's not!

050
*fap fap* *ding dooong*
Azusa: Ah/ah.
Mune: (Duh?/It's so late. Who could it be?)
Azusa: ...Ah...
Muna: ?!//(The... The girl from earlier?!/Uh?/She's been following me?/Why?!)//.......//A... ahem.../Who...... who's there?

051
Rena: My name is Amami Rena./Sorry for coming at this time of night.//This is... Agawa-san's house, isn't it?
Mune: (She... She knows about me?//N.. Nah, Probably she just saw the nameplate./.......)
Plate: 03. Agawa.[tn: Obviously.]
Rena: Is this Agawa Munenori-san's house...?
Mune: (My full name!! She actually came for me?!)
Rena: Um... Pleased to meet you. I know it's a bold thing to do....../but I need to ask you a favor.
Mune: ......../A favor?
Rena: ......./..../...../...../...

052
Rena: Agawa-san, I'd like you to......../ki.../I'm here because I'd like you to kiss me.[tn: Kissing is a very intimate thing in Japan, so this is actually a pretty big deal.][/end

053
Chapter 2: Come on!

055
Mune: (Duuuuh?!//That girl standing behind my door......./said what?//I merely chanced into her at the burger shop. She's got to be somewhere around mid-school age........ Sti... still..........)
Rena: Agawa-san/I... I'm here because I'd like you to kiss me.
Mune: (She did say that, unless I heard wrong...//....../That's the guy from next door...)

056
Mune: Um... I don't think I heard you correctly.......
Rena: Er/Um.../Ahem.../I'd...
*inspect*
Rena: ........//For now... could you .../just open the door, please........?
Mune: (No weirdo lurking in the shadows, apparently...//Nah./Still...)

057
Mune: (No matter how you look at it, a stranger girl who wants in a single man's room this late at night.........?/That sounds just wrong.//I really shouldn't......)/.........
Rena: I beg you.//You/You're the only one left I can turn to.

058
Rena: Help me...!!
Mune: ......//(That/reminds me/of what happened at work.)

059
Mune: (A girl among my co-workers asked me to clean up her mess./She was all tears, almost like she'd put those there on purpose...//I can't help falling for it. I always do./And I get sacrificed on the altar of harmonious working relationships.//But this girl here/I don't know her.//I can't exactly trust a stranger who gives a guy she's just run into the "you're the only one" line in a tearful voice./Her crying may remind me of my co-workers, but no matter how desperate she sounds.//That's just not how it works.//Hers is/none of my business.)

060
Mune: Okay, I'm willing to listen, if you make it quick.../Let's hear it...

061
Mune: (Dang it. I can be so spineless......../No wonder women take advantage of me.)
Rena: .......//Er, um... Could you by any chance, be the guy who picked up my money for me at the burger shop?
Mune: (She came without even knowing what I looked like?)/.......//(How come she knows my name and where I live, then?)
Rena: Tha... Thank you for that)
Mune: I... It's nothing.
Rena: ........//Oh no.../What now?//I feel.../so embarrassed...

062
Rena: It's a bit of a mess...//but it's still pretty clean. I fancied a boy's room would be much dirtier.
Mune: I'll clean up the table. You just take a seat.
*gulp*
Mune: Mh?
Rena: Ah./You were still having dinner?
Mune: Nah, I'm finished.//And, what about you and those burgers you'd bought?
Rena: Uh/Ermm.........//My friends must have eaten everything, by now./You know?
Mune: Ah-hah....../......../Well, you'd bought quite a lot of them.

063
*click*
Rena: Hey.
Mune: Uh?/What? The smoke's coming your way?
Rena: N... No. That's not what I mean.....//.........//I've asked you to kiss me, and you're smoking anyway./That's a bit...
Mune: BWARGH!!

064
Mune: Cough cough!
Rena: I'm sorry./That was a rude thing to say for someone who's asking for a favor...!//Excuse me...
Mune: (I... I'd heard right/she really meant to kiss me...)/.........//........*ahem*
Rena: .......
Mune: ........ You... you mean "kissing"/as in, the real thing...?//If so, why.../why does it have to be me?
Rena: You.../You don't want to?

065
Mune: Well, no. I mean/you want me to swallow that if I kiss you it's gonna help you out...
Rena: ........
Mune: .......
Rena: And this funny dismissal/is your idea of refusing me a simple kiss?
Mune: ........./(I don't like the way this is going...)//What was you name again?
Rena: Amami Rena.

066
Rena: "The Firmament's Sea". Plus you merge the left radical from "sphere" and the "re" from "command".../But you can use katakana or hiragana for the "Rena" bit.
Mune: ? Why's that?
Rena: I'm not too fond of the "na" Kanji for "cabbage".[tn: Okay, that demands an explanation. "Amami Rena" is written 天海 玲菜. The first two Kanji are "the sky" (ama) and "the sea" (mi) respectively. The third one indeed borrows from two other Kanji ("ball/sphere" and "command/order"), and references the tinkling sound of jewels. Finally, the "na" is found in "nappa" (greens). I used "cabbage" to make the uncoolness factor more apparent.]
Mune: Haha./I read something like that in a Montgomery novel.[tn: Lucy M. Montgomery (1874-1942). Canadian writer, famous for her novels geared towards children.]*chuckle*
Paper: Amami Rena.
Rena: ....../Duh.
Mune: Phone number?
Rena: Uh?
Mune: I'm not asking for your cell phone or anything./I just need to know how I can contact your parents, okay?
Rena: Why? Just kiss me, and I'll be on my way.
Mune: And adults have no business doing such out of place stuff with kids. I could go to jail for that.

067
Rena: I'm not a child!!//I may be wearing this uniform, but I don't go to middle school! I'm not running away from home!!
Mune: .......
Rena: I'm not lying!!//......
Mune: ........//But you already lied, didn't you?
Rena: Eh?
Mune: Back at the shrine, you ate all those hamburgers by yourself. Didn't you lie about that?

068
Rena: You... you saw me...?*trembling all over*
Mune: ......../By... By accident... yes.
*rattle rattle*
Mune: (Maybe/that wasn't such a nice thing to say to a girl?)/.......
Rena: This.../is my kiss, you know...?*twitchy*
Mune: Huh?

069
Rena: When girl offers you something as important to her as a kiss./You ought to shut your trap and take it!!

070
*Ha ha ha*
Mune: ........*beep beep*
Rena: You're calling?
Mune: The police.
Rena: Wait up. Stop!
Mune: Hell no. If you're gonna throw more groundless temper tantrums at me over some nonsensical jazz, I can't really say I feel safe around you. I'll let the cops deal with it.
Rena: I'm sorry! I apologize!
Mune: Nope. I let you into my room, and I already regret it badly enough as it is!

071
Rena: I... If you call the police/I'll say you forcibly dragged me in so you could rape me!!
Mune: ........//........
Rena: .......

072
Mune: I don't know how much this kiss is worth to you, but this isn't how you're gonna talk a guy into giving it...
Rena: .......//I.../I'm...

073
Rena: So... I'm sorry./I.../I.......//I don't have much time left.../I don't.
*clap*
Mune: Okay, I could do with some more details/So I'm gonna need a good explanation...

074
Rena: Sorry./Even if I explain, I don't think you're gonna believe me right away.//The doctor said she didn't know yet if kissing you would work at all.
Mune: Work? Doctor?
Rena: But time is running out. I can tell that much.//Whether it works out or not, I'm gonna have to find out by myself.//I know I just dropped out of nowhere//But I need to know if kissing you will yield any positi...*GRR* *RRRRUMMMBBLLLL*
Rena: Um... Can I have some of this?
Mune: Uh.../Um/Sure...
*crunch*

075
*crunch crunch crunch*
Rena: Have a look at this for starters, will you?
Mune: A student card?
*GRR GRRRRUMMMBLLL GURGLE*

076
Mune: Here.
Rena: Thanks...*grumbll*
*munch crunch*
Mune: (Hojo University...)//.........
Rena: .......
Mune: This?/What about it?
Rena: Just as I thought.../You're not getting it...Very well.../........Actually it's.......
*GRUMBL GRRRR GRUMBL*
Rena: No!/Enough already...*GRR*
Mune: You're really that hungry...?*grrrrrr*
Mune: (She's eaten so much already........ That's insane.)

077
Mune: I'm gonna cook up something. I can make some cup ramen, if you like./Sounds good?*grrrrr grrrr*
Rena: I'm sorry...
Mune: ......../(Where does all the food go?)
*grr grrr grrr*
Mune: ...../Uh. The name.......
*grrrr grrrrrr*
*grrrr grrrrr* *rumble* *churrrn*
*grrr*
Mune: There's gotta be something wrong with her stomach...*chuckle...* *rrrrummmmblllll*
Rena: I... I'm sorry.
*grrr gurgle*
Rena: Can I turn on the TV?

078
Mune: Go ahead./(Now she's trying to conceal her noise with the TV. She's really a girl.)
Azusa: UUUNH. OOH....YEAH!!//FUCK!!/Shove it all the way in, Yokoyama-kun![tn: I took some liberty with the actual text here. Hentai stock phrases tend to sound quite unnatural when translated in English.]
Pimple: Come on, senpai. Louder. Let all the company hear your pretty voice!
Azusa: Aaaaaaaaaaaah!

079
Mune: I'd only turned off that TV!!*AH AH AH AH*
*Unh Hunh hunh*
*Aaaaaanhh hunh*
*Yeah. I'M CUMMING*
Mune: How do you.../like your ramen?*FUU[UUUUCK.]*
*AAAAAAAH*
*AAAAAAAH*
Rena: I'll be on my way!
*slam*

080
Mune: (Not even a little/........"What the hell!" moment...?)*I'm gonna shoot my load. Yeaaaaaah*
Mune: Uh./She forgot this....//There's the picture of a total babe with the same name as her on this student card.........
Card: HOJO [UNIVE]R[SITY]/(In Kanji): Hojo University [Student Card/[School Registration Number: OOQ]PD628/[Section: Fac]ulty of Literature, Department #1./Japanese Literature Major/Name: AMAMI RENA./The current document identifies the aforementioned individual as one of our st[udents./Hojo University, the President.][tn: The parts between brackets indicate the portions of the text that are obscured within the picture.][/end

081
Chapter 3: That's like, somebody else!

082
*AAAAAAAAH Yeah So gooooood*

083
Azusa: Ahh!/Anh.
Rena: ......
Azusa: Anh!!
Rena: I'll be on my way!
*slam*
Mune: ....../(What the heck.../She leaved just as arbitrarily as she'd forced herself in...)//Ah./The card........
Card: [tn: See the previous chapter.]

084
Rena: Hah/Hah//Hah/Hah//A perv!/Hah!/Hah!/He's a pervert...
Mune: !//Wai... You forgot...

085
*scrutinize*
Mune: .......//(Running away was a bit out of proportion. Why so serious...?/I don't look anything like a guy who's gonna act out after what he's seen in a porn video....//........I mean, at least I don't think I do.../........//That girl.../and the one on the picture are completely different people.........//So ultimately........)

086
Flashback!Rena: I'm here because I'd like you to kiss me.
Mune: (What was she trying to pull.......?)
Kago: This color does look good on you. And since you have particularly fair skin all-around, you should try these colors, in the same range of pink./I recommend Lèvres' new product. "Gorgeous Pink", from "Untouchable", or ... there's also "Milky-Plum".

087
Gotou: What's up, Agawa-kun?
Mune: Ah. Gotou-san. Thanks for yesterday........//When I saw Kago back at the company yesterday she was crying, so I was a bit anxious about how things would play out.//I'm relieved to see she's apparently doing well enough.
Gotou: The new girl cries a little bit/And you actually take her seriously? You shouldn't have bothered.
Mune: Haha. I guess you're right.
Gotou: ........./I don't mind being misunderstood.//But when I chewed her out, it wasn't because I had it in for her or anything. Though she's bound to think I did, given her inexperience...
Mune: Tha/That goes without saying!

088
Mune: Kago's barely hit her twenties, so she hasn't gotten all the way out of childhood yet.../Good thing she's got a full-blown adult senpai like yourself to teach her some good discipline. I think she'll get to understand someday.
Gotou: ......
Mune: Take me. My superiors have been very strict with me, and this as soon as I'd entered the company. Stuff like that can prove fundamental in the long run...
Gotou: Oh my. Form my part, I haven't changed all that much from when I was her age.
Mune: Uuuuh/Ah?/Yes!//......../(Gotou-san is 28, so...)/........I see...
Gotou: But.../It was really kind of you to come all the way here to check up on one of your BAs.
Mune: (Kind?)/Nah. One of our employees has been causing trouble, for you and the rest of the Nanbu staff. So I dropped by in order to make a proper apology...

089
Gotou: I thought Lèvres took good care of its employees before, but now I'm really jealous.
Mune: Uh?
Gotou: Okamura-kun married a co-worker, right? You know, the previous supervisor. Before you took the job.
Mune: !!//(She... she's trying to check if there's something between me and Kago-san?//She's merely having suspicions, but if I let these go unchecked, she might end up making the wrong conclusions.*gulp*//I wouldn't be surprised if it got me into the kind of trouble I found myself in yesterday...//I need to work a way around it that doesn't end up hurting her feelings./Gotta find something. Anything!)//Well, love affairs at work are a pretty rare thing, you know?/Take our company. There are hardly any men at all, yet it's not quite as easy as it sounds like...//Actually/I never had a girlfriend ever since I was recruited!

090
Gotou: Uuuuuh?/Is that so? A young handsome man like yourself♥.
Mune: (He... Her mood got better?!)
Gotou: So what have you been doing on your day off?
Mune: Ah, that. Washing the mountains of laundry, cleaning up the place./(That's it. Casually point it out that there's no girl around.)//Ah, I'd rented a DVD too, so I watched that./(.........Make a natural transition towards movies or something...)
Gotou: What kind of DVD♥?*todom* *chuckle*
Mune: What's that tone supposed to mean...*chuckle chuckle*
Gotou: Embarrassed? I knew it. It was "that" kind of DVD...
Mune: (She was still able to railroad the conversation. From women, straight to this. Didn't see that coming......../That's a 28-year-old for you........)

091
Gotou: But men will always watch that kind of stuff. I think that's just the way it is. You know.
Mune: (What? Now it's the "Sympathetic Big Sister"?!!)
Gotou: Still, you could use a girl to date on your day off.
Mune: !!//(Ho... How do I answer that...?)/What about you? Do you have anyone you're dating on your days off?/Nice.//...........
Gotou: ..........
Mune: (Wrong!!//There must be something I can say to raise her spirits!!)//I see.../Spending the day off with a beautiful woman like you must be a lot of fun.

092
Gotou: I'm not seeing anyone at the moment.
Mune: !!*shivers*
Mune: ............//....... I. I see./(In the end, that's the best answer I was able come up with........)
*splash* *gurgle*
*bom* *shake..* *gurgle gurgle gurgle*
Mune: Uuh.../(Stomach problems. I knew it'd get to me...)
*splish splash*
Mune: (I guess being around women every day is getting on my nerves.........)

093
Mune: (I wish I could go back to when I was a girl-obsessed student. Let my old self know what's coming for him. Hehe...)//!!*bump*
Asou: Eeek!
*sbam*
Mune: ("Eeek"? .../I know that voice.........)

094
Mune: (Asou Sayako.)
Asou: May I advise that you keep your carelessness within the limits of the bathroom?/Agawa-kun.
Mune: Ye/Yes.../(Says the one who reads documents while walking around.)
Asou: Thank God. They aren't broken this time.
Mune: Ye... Yes./Thank you...

095
Asou: Anyway. I'm gonna pay for your glasses' repairs/Be sure to let me know the cost.
Mune: Nah, you don't have to worry about that./I have these to make up for it.
Asou: You looked better with those you had yesterday.
Mune: Uh?
Asou: Well, I can understand how awkward it might be to receive money from a senpai in the company.
Mune: Uh... Yeah...

096
Asou: So let's do this. I invite you to lunch./This should make up for that. Agreed?
Mune: Lunch...?*todom*
Asou: Don't wanna have lunch with me?
Mune: Tha... That's not it!/I'd be... honored!
Asou: Honored.../Stoopid./Anything you'd like?
Mune: N... No.
Asou: Any dislikes in particular, then?
Mune: A... Anything outside prawn.
Asou: You don't like prawn?
Mune: Don't they... kinda remind you of insect larvas? Isn't there anything you don't like, Asou-san?

097
Asou: Don't mind me.//
Mune: ........
Asou: I just hate to contract debts over that kind of stuff./That's it........//Alright. I'll chose the place, and then I'll contact you.*tilt*
Mune: Ah.
Gal: Aaaah!
Asou: Wah!*bump*
Mune: ........!!*flomp*
Asou: !!

098-099
Mune: !![tn: "Mune" sounds like Japanese for "chest" or "breasts". I'm sure there's the makings of a joke in there.]
Asou: .........*squeeeeeeeze*
Asou: Ahem... Agawa-kun.../You hand... How should I put it......
Mune: ........
Asou: !!//Wai.../Agawa-kun?!

100
*fshaaa*
Mune: (Ah, Asou-san... She's clumsier than I thought.......)
*fshaa*
*fshaaa fshaa* *wriggle wriggle*
Mune: (That was... quite an earful......./Oh yeah...)/.........//(But when I groped her chest it was an accident!/I mean, that's some attitude to give someone who kept you from falling..........)
Asou: You never learned how to dodge properly or what!!/Didn't I tell you to be more careful?!!
Mune: (I remember how/the girl had blushed completely........)

101
Mune: (....../Oh, well. It was right in the middle of a wet, sloppy finishing scene...[tn: The word employed has a double-meaning of "completely" and "dripping wet/immersed". I assumed its employ was deliberate.] That'd make anybody blush, I guess...)//Ah.//(Broken again!!/I can't conduct business properly in those conditions! Duh?!)
Student: Amami Rena?//Beats me. I don't know by that name.

102
Mune: (What am I doing here when I should be at work?//It's not like when I find the card's owner/I'm gonna be able to meet her. .......//That said the girl is a real knockout.......)
Couple: ........../...........
Mune: Cough.../......../Eeeer......//Um... I'm looking for someone...
Dude: Yes?
Mune: She's called Amami Rena...
Dude: Amami?
Gal: Well, I don't think I...
Dude: Ah!//Well, I think I've heard that name before./Maybe if I knew what she actually looked like.......

103
Mune: That's her...
Dude: Ah. Ah, that girl!!//She's one of this year's freshmen!
Gal: You know her?
Dude: I chased her for the International Studies group.
Mune: International Studies group?
Dude: It's a little circle, all about traveling... They're always hanging out in the lounge.
Gal: What do you mean, you chased her?
Dude: That means I attracted her attention, so she'd join the club...
Gal: Attracted her attention. You were skirt-chasing, you mean!
Dude: No, I wasn't!
Mune: Tha... Thanks a lot.
Sign: University./LOUNGE
Mune: Hello. Is this the International Studies group?//I'm looking for Amami Rena please?

104
Students: ....../.......
Dude: We've seen neither hide nor hair of Amami-san for about a month.
Mune: Uh?
Dude: Something about her being hospitalized with a health condition./Right? Sakai-san?
Sakai: Ye... Yes.
Dude: She's the closest to Amami-san.
Sakai: Seems like she won't get better anytime soon. So she went back home, and is currently under medical care./That's about it.......
Mune: Medical care.......

105
Mune: (So Amami Rena is undergoing medical treatment. What was that girl trying to pull with her student card, then...?)
Rena: Amami Rena./You can write "Rena" in katakana or hiragana.//See, I'm not too fond of the "na" Kanji for "cabbage".........
Mune: ........

106
Sakai: Er.../If you have a message for Amami-san, you can tell me about it, and I'll let her know...
Mune: ........O... Okay. Then....../(Time to give away the card.........)//......./Thank you. But... Um, it's nothing of importance.
Sakai: I see.
Mune: This is gonna sound weird, but/Does Amami-Rena... appear younger than her age... ... I mean, like a really young girl or something?
Students: If you ask me, she looked older than her age, more like./Pretty calm and collected, for a 19-year old...

107
Mune: (Calm and collected...?)
Rena: I'll say you were trying to rape me!!
Students: And she was pretty stacked, too./Naaah./Let's just leave it at that./Hahaha.
Mune: (This confirms it.../This girl and Amami Rena are two different people...!!//To put it bluntly, the fake Amami Rena/had not chest at all...!!)/Thank you very much......
Students: What was that?
Sakai: ......
Students: Maybe an ex of Amami's?/Or maybe a stalker. Now that'd suck.
Sign: Japanese Secretariat Closed.

108
Mune: The office is closed at this time of the morning.......?
Sign: University Secretariat./[Unive]rsity Research Center./[Unive]rsity Research Center./University Department Office.
Mune: (I could just return this to the secretariat and be done with it........../Still... maybe I should keep it for now.//If I do, maybe the girl will come back for it./Maybe...

110
Mune: (What the...//What is she doing here.......?)
Rena: I want my student card. Give it back![/end

111
Chapter 4: Lie after lie
Rena: Give it back./I want my student card.

112
Chapter 4: Lie after lie

113
Mune: My card? Yeah, right!
Rena: !//It's mine!!
Mune: "You can write Rena in hiragana or katakana", my foot./'I'm not too fond of the "na" Kanji for "cabbage". That's a plausible lie, you came up with there.//You're a big, fat liar./You've been telling me lie after lie. From the very beginning!

114
Mune: !!//........
Rena: .........I.../I don't tell lies.//Well./Most of the time.

115
Rena: That picture/That's what I looked like 3 months ago!
Mune: Uuuh?

116
Mune: (Yeah......./Sure!//Is it some kind of stunt pulled by a cosmetics company?//Even if you use makeup to make someone look younger, you can more or less guess their age from the brightness and stretchiness of the skin.........
*rrrrummmbblll*
Mune: He... Hey?/Are you...*grrrrr*
Rena: ........me.*rrrumbl*
Mune: Uh?

117
Rena: Quick.../Kiss me.........
Mune: DUUUUUUUH?!!//This isn't the place to talk about those things![tn: Kissing is an intimate thing, remember?]//(I mean, I can't exactly let a kid make a fool out of me like that!)
Rena: Don't you run away!!

118
Rena: If you don't kiss me/I'll/........I'll end up reverting into a even younger child.........

119
Mune: (Huh.......?//What........./did she say?)
*stare*
Mune: ........?
Rena: Truth be told/I would've preferred to wrap things up without mentioning this........

120
Rena: But I'm steadily reverting into a child./It's a disease.//The picture on the student card is what I actually look like.//The first symptoms appeared suddenly, 1 month ago./And I ended up looking like this.........//And I can't show myself in front of my college friends/not under my current appearance.........
*chattering crowd*

121
Mune: (Ah./The circle from earlier...)
Students: Hey. You saw that?/Over there.

122
Students: He's dating a middle-school girl?[tn: The Japanese word (enjo kousai) refers to a specific form of compensated dating between schoolgirls (high school and higher... hopefully) and older, working men. Sometimes borders on prostitution, though officially sex is not involved.]/So creepy.//We should report that!/Gyahaha./They're gonna hear you!
Mune: (They're her friends, yet not a single one of them has spoken to her/or acted like they knew her at all.//She obliged with an explanation for that.)
Rena: Since the disease has turned me back into a child/neither my parents not my friends will recognize me.[tn: Aren't there scientific methods to circumvent that problem and prove her identity?]
Mune: (......... Bullshit./It's only natural to think that you and the real Amami Rena aren't the same person.)

123
Mune: (But/she's holding onto me tight enough for her nails to sink in/her hand is trembling slightly/I can't just shake it off.)
Rena: Save me......../My Prince........
Mune: Eh?
Rena: Agawa-san, you might be the Prince that'll save me./The doctor said so.

124
Mune: !!//(Prince...?)//That sounds fascinating... but it's about time I got back to my company./(That's like the first time I hear that in a normal conversation.......)/I still got work to do...//Later.
Rena: Ah!//........
Mune: I finish in a couple of hours.//You saw a family restaurant on your way from the station to my place, right?/How about you go wait for me there, around 9?

125
Mune: At least, I'll listen to whatever you have to say.
Rena: I'll be waiting!//I promise.//Save me my Prince.

126
Mune: (What, then. Rena's a Princess awaiting a kiss that'll break off the spell? (lol).
Co-worker: I'll let you put out the lights.
Mune: Yup. Have a good night.
Site: Web./Images./News. New!/Groups/Directories.
Search bar: Disease adult reverting into a child.
Site: Search./I'm feeling lucky./Search the whole web./Search pages in Japanese.
Mune: Only one corresponding site........//Wow./This site has an underground feeling about it...
Site: Mysterious/STRANGE DISEASES, RARE DISEASES Web. + Enter.
Mune: (Okay, this is the company's PC, but I don't know about catching a virus...)
Site: English: Progressive Rejuvenation Syndrome./Japanese: Progressive Aging Regression Syndrome.[tn: The Japanese text actually makes up a word (i.e "age reduction") instead of using an existing one.]

127
Mune: English: Progressive Rejuvenation Syndrome.[tn: In English in the original text.]//Japanese: Progressive Aging Regression Syndrome. Aging Regression?//Manifestations of it are quite rare on a worldwide scale./The appearance of the symptoms are accompanied with abnormal hunger and appetite, with practically no discernable increase in weight... Tha... That does sound like what she has...//Past a given period, the rejuvenation of the cells comes with the body itself reverting to a younger age./.........//(Aging Regression........./Doesn't sound like some kind of anti-aging fad, or anything like it.......//But the only place I could read about it is on that fishy website. Like hell I could believe that./It's gotta be some joke site!)//........

128
Mune: "The information has yet to be confirmed but there's a unusual cure for this condition.".........?/A cure...
Rena: If you don't kiss me/I'll end up reverting into a child.........
Site: [The information h]as yet to be confirmed but there's a unusual cure [for these symptoms]//Cure.
Mune: A dead link!!/I should've known that site would be useless!!
Site: Unable to find the page./Perhaps the page you are looking for no longer exists, [...]//Please consider the following//Check the address you typed in the address bar for accuracy.[tn: Bah, it's just your average "page not found" message. I've already seen one of course, but in French (lol). So don't hesitate to alter this to match what you'd actually find on the English equivalent.]

129
Mune: Alright!/(I should be able to make it in time.//Let's not forget to turn off the lights...)
Asou: Aah, thank God. There's still someone left.
Mune: Ah.
Asou: Aah, that you, Agawa-kun... Okay, never mind./Do we have the data regarding the sales per age demographic for Untouchable over the last 2 months?
Mune: (Never mind...?)/Ye... yes, Asou-san.
Asou: Could you collect it and put it in order for me?
Mune: Ye... Yes. I shall start on it first thing tomorrow morning.
Asou: .........

130
Asou: I have a meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and I'm gonna need it as part of the documentation I'm gonna distribute./Sorry, but I'd appreciate it if you could do this right away.
Mune: Uh?
Waitress: Welcome.
Rena: Ah./Coffee, please.//......../I guess I arrived a little early...[/end

131
Chapter 5: What are you talking about?

132
Asou: I have a meeting first thing tomorrow morning, and I'm gonna need it as part of the documentation I'm gonna distribute.//Could you collect the data regarding the sales per age demographic for Untouchable and put it in order right away?
Mune: ....../(Well... I was about to go home........)
Asou: I'm counting on you, then.
Mune: !//(That was kinda.../arbitrary......../Perhaps she's still holding a grudge for what happened today........)*pissed*

133
Mune: I'm in Sales, you're in Publicity. Why should I take orders from you?
Asou: Who do you think you're talking to?//!!*grope*
Asou: Do you have any idea what you are doing?/Agawa-kun.*fondle fondle*
Mune: That's what I'm doing! Yesterday, you showed me your panties. Today I got to touch your breasts, and you didn't cry out even once./What a bad girl you make.*fondle fondle fondle*
Asou: Stop it... Or I'll shout!

134
Mune: What are you waiting for, then? Do it!!//How 'bout we let everyone see the pastel pink panties you're wearing!
Asou: Eeeeeeeeeek!!

135
Mune: She'd be like....../Eeek........./Huhu...//Crap.
Rena: I'll be waiting!/I promise.
Mune: (Hell.../Should've asked for her cell phone number...)
*tap*
Mune: 'Rite!!//'Tis done!!//(It's completely dark in the Publicity Department./She lumped all the work on me and just went back home or what.)

136
*type type type*
*riiiiiiing*
Asou: Asou. Yes. Good work./Eh? The design might take until Sunday to complete?[tn: TO be honest, I have no idea if I actually got that sentence right.]

137
Asou: ....... Understood./I'll be waiting, so call me again when you have the time. It's something of an emergency.
Mune: (Duh......../She's not gonna work until that call does come, is she...?)[tn: Same here.]
*beep*
Asou: Phewwww...//Ah.
Mune: !//He... here's your data.
Asou: Good./That was fast enough.
*flap*
*silence*
Asou: ........
Mune: ........

138
Mune: ?
Asou: .........
Mune: (She worried she might've been dressed too lightly/so she put on her jacket.//Go... gotta admit. A man and a woman, all alone/in a dark, deserted room.........)
*todom todom todom*

139
Mune: (Now that I know she's considering that/it reminds me of how I touched her breasts today//that and the porn video I watched last night//Oh, crap.../I'm beginning to consider it too...)
Asou: Hey. What's that?
Mune: Ye... yes?/Is there any problem?!
Asou: Are these... from Mikadou........?
Mune: Yes... Yes they are! I also found the data about the sales of that company's products that compete with ours over the same period./So I ordered them for an easy comparison...//(Maybe... that wasn't necessary?)

140
Asou: How thoughtful of you./Thanks.
Mune: Uh... Well....../Yeah.../(Wha... What's going on?//I feel kinda.../..........I mean, really/pleased with myself.......)
Asou: Very well.//The next job looks like it's gonna take some time. So we might as well go eat right now.//Also, there's what happened with your glasses...
Mune: Eh?

141
Asou: Dinner's on me, tonight/Any objections?
Mune: (Duuuuuuuuuh?)/.......

142
Waitress: How about another coffee?
Rena: Please.
Waitress: Enjoy.*rrrummmmblll*
Waitress: ........*giggle* *rrrmmmbb*
Rena: Get yourself here, quickly...*grrrr*
Mune: ........//(Erm... Actually...)
Asou: That said, at this time of night, there aren't many places to go except the Bellissima.

143
Asou: If I go there, I'll wind up drinking too much.
Mune: Haha......./(I/I can't say anything........)
Asou: Mh?/You have something to do?
Mune: ........./No... I don't......
Asou: Look into my face when you speak to me!!
Mune: Ye... Yes ma'am!*jump*

144
Asou: Do you have business elsewhere?
Mune: That.../Er...//Actually/There's already someone I...
Asou: .......//I see. Alright, then.
Mune: Ah...
Asou: Thanks for your hard work.
Mune: ........//It... It's been a pleasure.

145
Mune: (Crap...//Asou-san is an ace. The star of the Publicity Department and the company!//I could have there with her as a fellow employee, but no.......)
Rena: I'm steadily reverting into a child.
Mune: (All for what? To listen to some retarded explanation.//I'm 2 hours late!)//Ha!/Ha!/Ha!//Hah/Hah/Hah.)

146
Waitress: Welcome.
*Ha/Ha*
Mune: Ah...*Haaaah*
*du-dun du-dun du-dun*

147
Rena: I have a disease/that turns me back into a child.
Mune: Uh.........*todom todom*
Site: Web./Images./News. New[...]
Mune: (No way/it can't be...)
Site: English: Progressive Reju[venation Syndrome.]/Japanese: Progressive Aging Regression Syndrome.[tn: Refer to the previous chapter.]
Mune: (That kind of disease/exists for real........)

148
Mune: ........./........//Uh...
Rena: Ahem...
Mune: ........Duh/Yikes!
Rena: My seat is over there.
Mune: Uh? Whe... Where were have you been?/She was there?
Mune: Bathroom. So what about it?!
Mom: Yocchan, I'm finished.
Kid: Mama!
Mom: What did that man have to tell you?
Kid: What do you mean, what?! Something could have happened to me?!!
Mom: ...
Rena: What have you been doing?
Mune: ........./Well.../Forget about it...//(Hell, what's with those palpitations...?/For one second, I actually bought that tall tale of hers...)*todom todom*

149
Rena: You're late! Do you have any idea how long past schedule you are!//I told you I didn't have much time left, didn't I!//You're acting like it's somebody else's problem...//Well, it is, but...
Mune: (What are you talking about?//Jumping straight to anger and general crankiness. You're a kid, alright./Because of you, I've had to run like I never did in years.)*blah blah*
Mune: (Speaking of which, a few other "little girls" of sorts come to mind........//Kago-chan, whenever she sports her trademark coquette's expression. The one she uses to have men do her bidding./Kago-san, who settles for playing the confident adult, while actually she envying younger girls.//And then)

150
Mune: Asou-san, who showed several facets of herself today./I'm wondering what she looks like right now, all alone in that dark room.)
Rena: Generally speaking...//Ah.
Mune: Uh?
Rena: By any chance, Agawa-san/do you have a girlfriend?[/end

151
Clipboard: Eeerm. Very well, then. To the freshmen who were courageous enough to join our International Studies group./Please introduce yourselves each one in turn, ladies and gentlemen.
Sakai: I'm Sakai Rumiko. I'm from Okayama, and I've joined because you get to be a student only once in your life.//Pleased to make your acquaintance.[tn: Okayama prefecture.]
Students: Pleased to meet you!/Pleased to meet you!*clap clap*
Rena: Okay, I'm next......
Clipboard: Amami...//Rena... kun?
Rena: My name is/Amami Rena.
Chapter 6: C'mon, I'm treating.

152
Rena: I'm not too fond of the "na" Kanji for "cabbage"/So call me Rena. And I'd be glad if you could spell that in katakana or hiragana.

153
Chapter 6: C'mon, I'm treating.

154
*silence*
Rena: My motivation for joining is that I wanna go on a trip while I'm still a student with enough time on my hands. Exchange with all kinds of people. The kind of trip you can do only when you're young.

155
Narrator: Here I was, in a family restaurant/Listening to the story of the girl sitting in front of me, and who styled herself Amami Rena.//She told me how she was living a student's high life here in the city//Lots of boys were fighting over who would be the first to ask for her e-mail address./How every day she would go through the trouble of answering every one of them.//I felt something was off as I listened to the girl I had before me bragging about her past./But I shut up and listened anyway.//To think the imagination of a deluded runaway girl who fancied an adult's life could come up with something so elaborate.........
Mune: (That's even harder to believe than the rest)
Narrator: But

156
Narrator: But I decided to put up with her childish story for a little while longer.
Mune: (I mean come on.......)
Rena: Tell me, Agawa-san/do you have a girlfriend, by any chance?
Mune: Uh?//No... I don't really...
Rena: But you looked like you were thinking about somebody else!
Mune: (Somebody else?)

157
Rena: I guessed right.../You do have a girlfriend.
Mune: You're a fairly young child/to be making fun of grown-ups like that........

158
Mune: That said/I'm indeed in love with someone.......//Wha... what are you crying for?

159
Rena: I'm sorry./Of course./I should have expected this. But I never considered it.........
Mune: ?
Rena: You were in love with somebody.../But I was being too self-absorbed to even think about it...//Asking you... to kiss me........//So insensitive of me. Now I can... barely live with myself......
Mune: .....

160
Mune: ......//......./Well... ...Maybe.
Rena: Sorry I bothered you.......!/I won't appear in front of you ever again!!
Mune: Ah.//(Oh, well. She's not a bad girl. Gotta give her that.......)/........//(So ultimately......./what was the whole Prince thing about...?)//Uh.

161
Mune: What about the student car...*ding dong*
Mune: ......./Looking for something?*welcome*
Rena: ......../There's that, and there's something else......*A couple non-smoking seats please*
Rena: Um.../actually...//I don't have enough money...... So if... if you could lend me some...
Mune: She's gulped down like several bills' worth of food...*2...3. 4...*
Mune: .......
Rena: I... I've been holding out while I was waiting for you, but...

162
Rena: You weren't showing up at all!/And my belly was making so much noise it resonated in the whole restaurant and it was so embarrassing!
Mune: ........
Rena: I... It's kinda your fault. Sort of. So...//Ah!*rrrummmble*
Mune: Pft!//Hh Hh Hh...*grrrrrr*
Mune: Hh Hh Hh...
Rena: Uuhhhh*grrrr*
Mune: To be serious, I'm not really in love with anyone.........

163
Mune: Actually I haven't had dinner either, and I'm kinda hungry./Care to eat with me? C'mon, I'm treating./And I'll listen to you while we're at it.
Narrator: It's not like I was going to believe her/It's just that I wanted to look around more, figure out why she'd approached me.
Rena: Well, you get the picture.//This was the beginning of my college student's life, and I can't say the girls were all that fond of me./Except Ruu-kun... Um, the name was Sakai Rumiko.

164
Mune: (I've heard that name somewhere.../Aah!/The girl at the University...)
Rena: It was during a Language Studies lecture
Sakai: Hey, Amami-san//That stuff you said during your introduction. That was Anne of Green Gables, right?//"If you must call me by that name, don't spell it "Ann", but "Anne./ With an "e" at the end. Because"
Sakai&Rena: "It is so much more distinguished".

165
Rena: With you, she's the only one who ever got it.[tn: Given how far-fetched it is, this is hardly surprising.]
Mune: Yeeaaaah.//Actually/I haven't read the thing.
Rena: Uh?
Mune: You just happen to be the type of girl who's likely to enjoy Anne of Green Gables. I just dabbled into the anime, to get a general idea.[tn: "Ann of Green Gables" is a novel by Lucy M. Montgomery. The eponymous character dislikes her own name, but settles for having it spelled with an "e" at the end. There was indeed an anime about it, aired in 1979. Of course the joke gets bent over backwards when adapted to Rena's name, so you can't really blame people for not getting it.]
Rena: Wow./You sound like quite the skirt-chaser.
Mune: Back when I still went to school, yes./By now I've become a woman-hater of epic proportions.//But what happened to that Ruu-kun of yours?
Rena: Yes. She's the first female friend I've made in college. Ah. Over here.

166
Rena: From time to time, we'd sleep at one another's place.
Sakai: Hey, Rena-chan.
Rena: Mh?
Sakai: I've been thinking about this for a while/You're always eating something, but you aren't putting up any weight?
Rena: Ye... Yeah, I guess.
Sakai: Do you have some kind of secret?//If I ever ate that much, I'd get too ugly to look upon. You've just been hardwired that way?
Rena: ........

167
Rena: It's the first time I ever got to live on my own. Must be the stress or something......../What can I say? I'm just that hungry.
Sakai: ......;
Rena: Hm?
Sakai: That T-shirt of mine you're using as pajamas... We're mostly the same size, but it still manages to look tight on you at places.
Rena: It's fine./What with me dropping on you unannounced.
Sakai: You eat so much and you still get to keep those proportions./I'm so jealous.

168
Mune: (Yeaaaaah./This is the part of the description where reality takes a week-end off...)
Rena: .......
*tic toc*
Sakai: Zzzz/Zzzz/.......
Rena: ..........//........./Hah/Hah//Hah!/Haah!!

169
Rena: Haah/Haanh!!/Hah
Sakai: Aaaah/Aaaaaaaaaah!!
Rena: Wh... What are you shouting for...?/Yawn
Sakai: Wh./Wh...

170
Sakai: Who........ Who are you?!
Rena: Hm?[/end

171
Rena: ........//I.../Uh...?//What the/I've turned back into a child?
Chapter 7: Follow me.

172-173
Chapter 7: Follow me.

174
Rena: No way!/No waaaay!!
Sakai: .......
Rena: The Channol jacket I was wearing!/My Cucchi skirt. None of it fits on me now.//E.../Even my underwear has become too baggy!!//No. No way... No way. I look like I'm back in middle school now.
Sakai: Uh... Um/Rena... -chan...//How about/going to the hospital, for starters?

175
Mune: Pfah!//That's one point for Ruu-kun!
Rena: That's not funny! I couldn't exactly go to the hospital naked, could I?
Mune: That's how you got... these?
Rena: Yes. That's Ruu-kun's middle school uniform.//If I'd had my say/I wouldn't have picked anything that short.
Mune: ......./How come Ruu-kun had her middle school uniform with her?
Rena: I asked her why she came all the way from the coast with it.[tn: The Okayama prefecture is near the Seto Inland Sea on the Honshu island, and also includes 90 smaller islands.]/She blushed in embarrassment, and...

176
Sakai: Because when you put it on you have boys at your mercy./So I took it with me./It's a bit small for me now, and I feel really tight in it. But I don't get to keep it on all that long, so it's okay. Sort of.
Rena: To hear a line like that from my bosom friend./I'm still so grossed out I can hardly believe it.[tn: It's "close friend", but I used "bosom friend" to keep up with the Anne of Green Gables gimmick.]
Mune: Hahha!/Now that's funny.
Rena: ......./What about you, Agawa-san. This is really turning you on, isn't it?/By any chance...
Mune: What's this?/An invitation?
Rena: Invi...//You mean/DUUUUUUUUH!!

177
Rena: Of course I didn't mean it that way!/What are you talking about! A-a-are you some kind of pervert?!
Mune: Yeah. I see.//........//Ah, yeah. So when you showed up out of nowhere at the station...
Rena: Ye... Yes. Ruu-kun gave me a phone call
Sakai: A man called Agawa came at school!
Rena: Do-do you think you can believe me now?
Mune: Yep./I do believe you're in cahoots with Ruu-kun.

178
Rena: So you really don't believe me when I say I've turned back into a child?
Mune: Right./Not at all.
Rena: Sigh.
Mune: Uh? You aren't getting angry this time?
Rena: Even I can tell how crazy my story sounds like!//But you aren't moved at all despite a girl's best, desperate efforts. You're a lot more stubborn than I imagined, Agawa-san.
Mune: Really now. Look who's talking.
Rena: Oh, well./You're also manlier than you look. I admire that.
Mune: .......

179
Mune: I don't know what you're after.
Rena: Wh-what I'm after? What the...
Mune: No matter what that is/But it's not that simple. A stranger girl can't just ask a grown-up to kiss her and expect him to go "Yeah, let's do this".
Rena: Mhhhhhh/Hmmmm.
Mune: Say/You said something today, about a Prince. What was that?
Rena: I told you, didn't I./That's how the doctor put it.//The disease is called/Pu... Pu-ro-gu.......//Er...[tn: That's Rena trying to speak English.]

180
Doc: Progressive Rejuvenation Syndrome.[tn: In English in the original text.]/Progressive Aging Regression Syndrome.

181
Doc: There's one case in several millions... no, several tens of millions.
Rena: A... Aging Regression... You mean, as in aging in reverse?[tn: It sounds less silly in Japanese. The "aging regression" thing is a made-up word, remember?]
Doc: That's it./It's about rejuvenation.[tn: As in, the actual Japanese word for "rejuvenation".]//The detailed explanation is that it's an enzyme generated inside your body./It's called CS (Counter-Spiral) enzyme, for the time being.//Its influence starts with your oogonia, or proto-egg cells. The embryonic germ cells are transformed and merged with your bodily cells. And these merged embryonic germ cells reset your cells into a state identical to those of a newborn baby.[tn: An oogonium is a rudimentary egg cell. Embryonic germ cells is just a fancy, generic name for spermatozoa and eggs.]
Rena: ?/?

182
Mune: ....../I'm having trouble getting the point of this.[tn: Tell me about it. I've spent less time on some entire chapters than on these goddamn lines.]
Rena: Same here./I don't really get it.//To put it simply, every day a human being's cells die, a few at a time, yes? And new cells are generated in a similar amount.
Mune: Well well well. This story is getting kinda complicated...
Doc: And since your new cells are similar to those of a newborn/your body is partially growing into a state similar to that of a baby, from within.//Which means you're going to look as if you'd actually turned younger.

183
Doc: Your unusual appetite and food intake are probably owed to your body seeking energy to sustain the rapid cellular activity.
Rena: So the next time I get hungry again...
Doc: Your body will have collected a certain amount of energy, and another aging regression will have occurred.
Rena: No way. I don't wanna turn into a child, I'd hate that!!//Isn't there any cure at all?!
Doc: ......./There's little data, and it's not so certain.//The existence of an ACS enzyme that'd counter your CS enzyme has been reported.
Rena: ACS enzyme?
Doc: Anti-Counter Spiral enzyme. It allegedly has a suppressing effect on the CS enzyme's acitvity.
Rena: Wh-where do I get my hands on some of that enzyme?

184
Doc: There should be........ someone like you, who holds the ACS enzyme within his body.//The greatest concentration of it/is most likely to be found in saliva.
Rena: (Saliva?!/As in, spit?!)
Doc: The problem is, ACS is an excessively fragile substance, easily destroyed when put in contact with the atmosphere.
*todom*
Doc: So we need to figure out a means of direct body-to-body intake.//I'm wondering/if taking in the ACS-laced saliva during a kiss would work out, for example.
Rena: A.../A kiss...

185
Doc: Sorry, just joking./Ultimately, it's just an empty theory.//Unlike people with CS, those with ACS aren't aware that they have it.//Which is to say, even if you were to seek out one among tens of millions of them//no matter how loud you cried out//that one person wouldn't notice you.//But should you chance upon that soulmate/should you be able to kiss them

186
Rena: As I said

187
Rena: This is what makes you my Prince Charming.

188
Mune: Prince Charming...//That's... me?
Rena: Yes!/I was able to find you somehow...
Mune: Alright.
Rena: Uh?
*clip*
Mune: If you really insist/I'll let you have that kiss.

189
Rena: Re.../Really?//Uh.
Clerk: 16800 yens, please.[tn: $160-165. For further reference, 1 yen=roughly 1/100 USD.]
Rena: Agawa-san!//I-is it really okay?/You're gonna do it? Are you gonna kiss me?//.......Um/Where are you going?//Hem...

190
Mune: You wanna kiss me, right?/Don't you?//You just follow me.
Sign: HOTEL CARMILLA/REST: ￥4.200/STAY ￥7.800/Weekdays; Rest: PM 5 : 00~/Stay AM 1 : 00~/Sat. Sun. Holidays; PM 5: 00/IN; FULL[/end

191
Chapter 8: I know what it's like.

192
Rena: He.../Here......
Mune: Don't tell me this is your first time?*todom*
Rena: Eh?/Huh?!
Mune: You've been in a Love Hotel before?[tn: As the name implies, a hotel specifically dedicated to nookie-esque pursuits. They're fairly common in Japan.]
Rena: Ah/Aaaaaaaah.
Mune: If what you said is anything to go by, you used to be pretty hot stuff among the boys./I can't imagine...

193
Rena: An... Another lie, you mean?
*tilt*
Rena: Ah./Agawa-san!
Doors: Auto[matic doors]
Sign: [tn: I don't have the whole sentence, but it's more or less about having the right amount of money ready before you leave.]
Clerk: Welcome.
Mune: Woops!
Rena: !!//?
Mune: Le-let's go to that hotel over here.
Robot: Welcome.[tn: Special font for my robot friend, please.]
Signs, from right to left: Notification/Parking lot notification/Lodging for today

194
Robot: When you've chosen your room, push the button.*beep*
Robot: Prices are calculated depending on the room...
Mune: Quick!//See, It's really tough to look face people/when you're walking around with a girl in a school uniform.*vrrrrrrr*
*todom todom*
*clank*

195
*creeeeak*
*slam* *jump*
*startle*
Mune: Something wrong?/You look like you're scared or something.
Rena: ......./You really look at home, here.//Agawa-san.../Do you.......*todom todom*
Rena: Do you get a lot of girls to come in that kind of place?
Mune: Me?/Do I give you that impression?

196
Rena: You look so cool, wearing your suit like it's a second skin. You give out that cleanliness vibe./Even your watches look expensive.
Mune: My glasses are always broken when you're around, though.
*chuckle*
Rena: I knew it.../A real ladies' man.
Mune: Wanna take a shower?
Rena: I-I'd like one/but...
Mune: You don't feel comfortable doing it?/Come on over here, then.

197
*startle*
*awkward*
Mune: Why don't you put down your bag over there?
Rena: ........//Ah//Can I at least go brush my teeth?/I've eaten so much.........

198
Rena: .......//I really wouldn't mind a bath.../!//!!

199
*booooong* *giddy*
Rena: ...........//Ah.//Just as I thought... You're smoking.
Mune: You don't wanna kiss a guy who's smoking, that's it?[tn: I guess most people know this but for the record, the mouth of someone who's just smoked has a revoltingly bad taste.]

200
Rena: It's not.../that I really mind........*uneasy*
Mune: Come.//You just lie down here, then.
Rena: Uh?
Mune: What?

201
Rena: A-Agawa-san. You look kinda.../scar........./N......../Nothing...

202
Rena: ........//Aaaaaah!!//........
Mune: I told you a bit about it earlier//But/I can't stand women.

203
Rena: Uh?
Mune: .........I don't mean I like men or anything.
Rena: Ah. Aaaaaaah.
Mune: You know/women just make a fool out of me.//Back in the restaurant, you told me how manly I was, didn't you?
Rena: Eh?
Mune: You just spouted that on reflex, as soon as you figured you'd have to make me happy so you could reach your goal.//Any man would be all too glad to hear that kind of things./And women know it.

204
Rena: Put a woman in the equation, and you can get men to do whatever you please./That's the general idea.//Prince Charming... my ass.//That pisses me off to no end.

205
Rena: Are you saying I'm the same as them?
Mune: Aren't you regretting asking to be kissed by a guy who thinks like I do?
Rena: I don't care what you think of me/I don't wanna stay a child.
Mune: .........//.........
Rena: Ah./Wait!

206-207
Rena: Your glasses.../They might fall down, and the frame could get broken.../Alright?//Well./Go ahead...//Ha...ah!!

208
Rena: Ah.../Hah...*sniff*
Rena: Uh...?/Uuuuuuh?//A... Agawa-san//I-It's.../It's got to be on the lips.........//!!//!!

209
*jumpitty-jump*
Rena: Wai-wait!/Not-not there.../NO...//I.../I don't want that...!

210
Mune: You casually follow an adult man here of all places/and you think you'll just get your kiss and walk away?
Rena: !!//!!//Aaaaaaaaah![/end

211
CUPID'S PRANK
Making of Cupid II
An inside story about what happens during production, delivered by the author. The topics addressed are a bit of a mixed bag. Welcome on board.

212
[Kago-chan and Gotou-san.] Chapter 1, Chapter 3
I do remember Kago-chan being named after the Kago-chan from Morning Musume because it had a charming ring to it... but for Gotou-san, I wasn't aware of it at all. No reference to Morning Musume whatsoever. I swear.
By the way, the Esthetic Staff who demonstrate the goods at cosmetics stands and the like are the BA (Beauty Advisors), but they also go by the name of BC (Beauty Counselors/Beauty Consultants).
And while we're at it, Kago-chan is a member of BA, which puts Agawa-kun in charge of her management. Gotou-san wears the same outfit as her, but she's a Nanbu Department Store employee.[tn: Gosh. Now I have to explain the explanation. Morning Musume is an all-female J-Pop band created in 1997. Former members include Gotou Maki and Kago Ai. The surnames are spelled in the exact same way in the manga, although the first names haven't been retained.]

[Strong during the recession] Chapter 1
In times of prosperity women buy expensive cosmetics. Since they tend to go work outside during recessions, the demand for cosmetics increase, as these unfortunate circumstances would have it.[tn: As soon as she's married, the default place of a Japanese woman is in the kitchen. Which explains why women tend to work outside only when money gets tight. All the more as it's somewhat shameful for the household, as the man is meant to be the family's breadwinner.]

213
[Agawa-kun's hobbies] Chapter 2
Agawa-kun collects watches as a hobby, it seems. Those cool watches of his look like they cost enough to afford a car.

214
[Mysterious, STRANGE DISEASES, RARE DISEASES Web.] Chapter 4
The one only page that showed up in the research results, just like it did in my previous work. I'd forgotten how fishy the front page was... The important links are down, which attests to the site's perpetual lack of decent management.

[Sendouji Tokuko-sensei] Chapter 7
Another carry-over from my previous works, along with "Mysterious STRANGE DISEASES, RARE DISEASES Web." She researches only the strangest things. Speaking of which I had my friend come up with the name and a likely-sounding explanation for the Progressive Aging Regression Syndrome, just as I did the last time.[/end