Chihayafuru 18

*Only for use by Lazy Ass Scans

tl by JinHea

02
- Characters & Story
Chihaya: Ayase Chihaya / In 6th grade, she met Arata and came into contact with competitive Karuta for the first time. Naturally blessed with sharp hearing, she began utilizing this exceptional ability once she started playing Karuta.
Arata: Wataya Arata / The one who led Chihaya into the world of Karuta. His grandfather holds the title of Eisei Meijin. After graduating from primary school, he returned to his hometown of Fukui with his family in order to look after his ailing grandfather, leaving behind Chihaya and everyone else. [NB. Eisei Meijin – literally Eternal Meijin, bestowed upon players who have served as Meijin for 5 consecutive periods OR who have served as Meijin for a total of 7 or more periods]
Taichi: Mashima Taichi / An all-round athlete and honours student. He dislikes losing, and began playing Karuta out of antagonism towards Arata, who had grown close to Chihaya through the game. Co-founded the Mizusawa High Karuta Club with Chihaya.

03
Kana: Ooe Kanade / Daughter of a traditional clothing retailer, loves the classical period. Joined the Karuta Club out of desire to wear hakama.
Nishida: Nishida Yuusei / Faced off in Karuta against Chihaya and co. during primary school. Joined due to this history. Commonly known as Meatbun-kun.
Komano: Komano Tsutomu / Once fixated on studying, he joined the club after being moved by Taichi’s passion for Karuta. Commonly known as Desk-kun.
- As a young girl in 6th grade, Chihaya met Arata, a transfer student from Fukui, and came into contact with the world of competitive Karuta. Arata was already a National level player, and Chihaya’s inborn listening ability gradually drew out her aptitude for the game. The two of them influenced Taichi to play, and somewhere along the way the trio became fast friends. However, Arata returned to Fukui right after graduation……
- Even apart, the bond that Karuta forged between the three of them will not change…... is what Chihaya believed, but the death of his grandfather caused Arata to distance himself from Karuta. Even so, with the promise – “As long as we continue playing Karuta, we can meet again” – they made back then in their hearts, Chihaya and Taichi vowed to reunite with Arata, and founded the Mizusawa High Karuta Club. Their goal – to participate in the National Tournament’s group matches. The results of the prefectural preliminaries are—!?

05
- 18th song

06
- Fukui Prefecture, Awara City

Arata: Welco…

07
Arata: Manager.
Manager: Hm?
Manager’s magazine: Lovely breasts
Arata: May I use the store’s computer? [aside] Since there’re no customers…

Manager: No porn sites, okay?
Arata: My home computer’s slow and run down. [linked] I just need to check my messages…
Computer: click [linked] click

Arata: Well, I don’t text all that much though… [NB. In Japan texting is actually a form of email-sending, thus the reason for Arata using a computer to check his messages]

Manager: What? [linked] Spam from porn sites!?

- Thank you
- Chihaya here. Arata, thanks for the birthday message! / I was really surprised! I didn’t think you’d remember. Taichi keeps giving me uncalled-for advice / but

- Documents for Tokyo Preliminaries received
- We did it---! / Now that we have five club members, we can enter the competition! Just got the documents today,

08
- Mizusawa High School’s first victory!
- We won--!! / Taichi and Meatbun-kun were / Kana-chan and Desk-kun / worked hard relentlessly / Our first match as a team

- Preliminary League won
- Conquered B League with 3 wins 0 losses! Everyone’s completely wiped out though. We all need a good rest. [diamond enclosed] Chihaya

- Final round held after lunch
- Off to battle! [diamond enclosed] Chihaya

Manager: Hey Arata-kun, [linked] didn’t you say you don’t text all that much?
- click
- click
- click
Manager: Why’re you checking your messages every 10 seconds?

09
- Off to battle! [diamond enclosed] Chihaya

SFX: huff huff

SFX: huff

10
- I’ll win.
- With my…
- Aggressive Karuta.

Paper: Hyoro / Prediction / Nishi / Ooe / Mashima / Komano / Ayase

11
- Thank you very much.
Box: Ryuugasaki / Ooe (17 card difference)

- Thank you very much.
- Takuma / Komano (15 card difference)

- Hokuou has 2 wins.
- Just one more win.

Hyoro: Sudou-senpai and Amakasu-senpai are having a harder time than expected.
Hyoro: I’ll be the one to save the day!

- Except—
- why is he so persistent!?

12
- mutter
- mutter
- mutter
- Of the 100, 4 are “Ya” cards. “Yae”, “Yamaza” have been read, so I can take the final 2 from my right territory as soon as I hear “Ya”.
- As for “Yo” cards, 2 “Yononaka” have been read, but with “Yomo” there’s still “Yoo” to be read so I must be careful capturing at “Yo”.
- “Chigirio” has been read so I’ll take “Chigiriki” and “Chiha” from my opponent’s territory at “Chi”.
- Don’t hold back!
- “Kiri” can be captured at “Ki”. The 2 “Kimigatame” were read ages ago.
- 8 “Na” cards. “Nagara”, “Nagaka”, “Nanishi”, “Natsu”, “Naniwaga” have already been read.
- “Nageke” and “Nanihae” are still live. Gotta be alert for the ghost card “Nageki”.
- Listen hard! Don’t be fooled!

- I…
- mutter
- mutter
- …don’t have Chihaya’s acute “perception”, nor do I have Nishida’s ability to predict how the match will develop.

- Nage

- ki tsutsu—
- Unh!

13
- Huuuh~~~? I faulted!?
- “Nageki” hadn’t been read yet~~~~~!?

- mutter
- mutter
- Monitoring ruling-letter shifts is the one thing I AM good at.

- Everyone’s relying on me.

- Make a mistake?

- Like I’d even let that happen!

14
- Thank you very much.
Box: Kinashi / Mashima (8 card difference)

- Mizusawa has 1 win!

16
Sudou: I beg your pardon.

SFX: phew—
Sudou: 6 more cards…

- I didn’t expect such an even match…
- No matter how much I attack, I can’t completely dominate it.

- Right now…
- Right now, I really don’t want the cards in my territory to be taken—

Chihaya SFX: huff

- Na

17
- ni

- wae no—

Sudou: Damn!

- He’s trying to protect his own territory.

Mochida: Attac…

18
Mochida: I’m sorry! I’m sorry!
Mochida: I beg your pardon!

- Mochida-sensei…

19
- I’m the Karuta Club advisor, Mochida.
- I will teach you the basics, but…

- since my dream is also to become Mejin…
- I will be practicing for my own sake!!

- Eeh—?
Small box: 7th grade
Box: Despite saying all that…

- there was nothing formidable about sensei’s Karuta.
- I quickly overtook him in terms of ability.
Box: 9th grade
- But…

20
- “Having an aggressive mindset is very important.”

- Japanese blades are able to cut not when you push, but rather when you pull, right?
- First attack the opponent’s territory…

- …from that position, it’s faster to return to your own territory.
- Hmmmm

Sudou aside: Ah— you’re right— / That was a piece of cake—
Box: Whether things are going right or wrong…

21
- Nageke tote—

- Sensei was the one who taught me the joy of playing Karuta.

Nishida: I got it!
Nishida: I got it!!

- Mizusawa has 2 wins!

22
- ……ngh

- Mochida-sensei…
- Everyone…
- I want to take us all to the National Tournament.

- I want to win.
- I want to win!

24
- Chi

26
- Thank you very much.

27
- Whoaaa!
- Chihaya!
- You did it!

- TOO SCARY—!! There was still “Chigiriki” left but you captured at “Chi”!
- Whoa! I knew it! She’s asleep!
Kana: Chihaya-chaaan!
- We came this far…
- How was she able to get the card like that?

28-29
- With eyes that no longer held any desire to win, even…

- Chihaya…!

30
- Arata…
- Look, Arata!

31
- New message

- We’re going to the National Tournament!

32
- Look, Arata! These are my friends! / Come see us at Oumi Jinguu! [diamond enclosed] Chihaya

34
- Some fun basics of competitive Karuta / part [circle] two

- [Ruling-letter shifts during the match]
- Players can determine which card to get when it’s read up to a certain point. The syllables up to that point are called “ruling-letters”. The 100 cards range from “one syllable cards” – where just hearing “Mu” or “Su” is enough for the capture – to “six syllable cards” like “Asaborake a”. At the quickest, hearing just 1 syllable is enough for players to identify the card, and even at the slowest only 6 syllables are needed. As the match progresses, the ruling-letters change too. For example, there are 3 “Chi” cards – “Chihayaburu”, “Chigirikina” and “Chigiriokishi” – but once “Chigirikina” is read the ruling-letters for “Chigiriokishi” change from “Chigirio” to “Chigi”. Furthermore, once “Chigiriokishi” is read the ruling-letter for “Chihayaburu” becomes “Chi”, and it becomes a one syllable card. Every time a card is read, players must readjust their memory of the ruling-letters, the accuracy of which is a key contributory factor to the match outcome.
- [Like cards]
- Cards like “Harusugite” and “Harunoyono”, where the first few ruling-letters are the same, are called like cards.
- [Long shot cards]
- Cards like “Asaborake” that have 6 syllable ruling-letters are called long shot cards.

Kana aside: The basics, huh.
Komano aside: Hmm, I see.