: dialogue
: [translator's notes]
61. Valentine's Day
Hachikuji: Are you sure you want to talk about Valentine's Day?*
Araragi: Why not? No need to hold back. Say as much as you want. I'll be the
perfect listener.
Hachikuji: Why are you just going to listen? I'm sure you have at least one
Valentine's Day story. It's an event that you can't leave out of school life.
Araragi: I don't. Besides, Japanese people apparently don't experience a real
Valentine's Day until they enter the working world. Something like there being complicated relationships within the company and stuff.
Hachikuji: It's a hard world.
Araragi: It's just bitter chocolate.
[*lit: are you sure it's ok to talk about stuff like Valentine's Day?]
62. Changing classrooms*
[*Would this be easier to explain if I'd been educated in the States? I don't think we actually have a uniform term for it in English... Basically, where is class normally held in a classroom is held somewhere else, e.g. the library or AV room etc.]
Senjougahara: Forgetting that the class in first period has been moved and being
the only person left behind, it's quite a shock. I've even though that my classmates were bullying me.
Araragi: Yeah. That's happened to me too.
Senjougahara: I almost wrote to the MEXT** about it.
Araragi: And since we had no friends, no one would think to tell us about where the
class had been moved to.
Senjougahara: And conversely, you'd think that the next lesson was moved for
some reason, and be waiting outside the locked AV room in a daze.
Araragi: Sorry. I've never done that.
[**Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology]
63. The Blackboard
Senjougahara: Hanekawa-san has really nice blackboard writing - does she
practice somewhere? Compared to pencils, chalk as a writing instrument requires a completely different skill. How, on a surface that's perpendicular to the ground, can she write as she normally does (on paper)?
Araragi: You shouldn't even bother asking. It's not even a matter of writing, she can
even draw a perfect circle without a compass. She's basically a freak of nature.*
Senjougahara: That's mortifying.
Araragi: Why are you mortified? If it bothers you, then why don't you practice writing
on the blackboard too?
Senjougahara: To me, a blackboard isn't something you write on, it's something you
claw.
Araragi: Don't you dare even practice that.
[*lit.: someone with remarkable ability]
64. Future Dreams
Oshino: Araragi-kun, do you have a dream for the future?
Araragi: Huh? Well, I wonder if something like this counts. I'd have to eat, so I'll
work at least.
Oshino: Living for the present, huh? Well, those who live for the present or for the
past, without dreams, perhaps that's practical.
Araragi: Hey...that's not something an adult should be saying to a kid. Even lying is
fine, so give me something I can dream about at least.
Oshino: If you work hard, your dream will come true!
Araragi: That's shallow!
Oshino: If you work hard, you'll lose interest in your dream!
Araragi: Wah...deep! But not what I'd want to hear!
65. Love Letters
Hachikuji: Well, we'll just skip this topic.
Araragi: Don't pull that on me!*
Hachikuji: But Araragi-san, isn't it something that has no connection with you
whatsoever? Love letters, that is. Airmail would have a better chance of reaching the addressee, don't you think?
Araragi: Or rather, love letters themselves are rather rare nowadays. Don't people
do this all by messaging anyway?
Hachikuji: Guess so. But messaging has a decisive weakness.
Araragi: Like what?
Hachikuji: You can't confess to anyone not in your address book.**
Araragi: Ohh...
[*lit.: don't just decide it so arbitrarily]
[**lit.: You can't confess to anyone you don't know.]
