Sincerity Will Be Rewarded
Partial Translation Disclaimer: This is a partial translation of the Sincerity Will Be Rewarded scout story.
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Chapter 6
— Hm, I see how things came to be this way. If it’s just that you’re wanting to learn something for work, I wouldn’t be opposed to helping, but...
Before that, I just have one question. Why did you come to me?
(Sigh). I’m the fool for having asked something so seriously. Honestly, how incorrigible…
First of all, I’m the son of a temple, but I’m not a monk. And I haven’t shaved my head either. I doubt I fit the requirements you guys brought up.
Wait, hold on a sec! There’s more reasons!
Hey guys, I’ve already told this to you before we met up with Hasumi-senpai, right? Back me up here so he’ll be convinced!
Oh, he suddenly passed the baton to us.
Alright, I’m happy to be relied on ♪ I’ll answer the reasons from here.
Hasumi-senpai might know this, but “zatou” can refer to the social class or group of people who made an occupation out of traditional performance arts and skills. Traveling biwa players5, for example.
Well, that’s right, more or less.
And among those groups were Buddhist monks, too. I thought that AKATSUKI resembled the way they excelled in the arts.
Also, it seems like zatou traveled around Buddhist temples too.
Like you just said, you’re not a monk, but you still have connections to temples, right?
It might sound like a real big stretch but that’s the reason we came to see ya.
… Well, they’re certainly more convincing reasons than the ones Aoi explained.
Be that as it may, compared to the objectiveness of, “1. Fuji, 2. Hawk, 3. Eggplant”, that’s some pretty generous judgement criteria.
Please rest easy about that, Hasumi-senpai. Right now, the four of us are going to go to a temple.
What? You’re not really going to go look for some Buddhist monks, are you?
Ahaha, of course we’re not.
We’re gonna go pray for the job to go well ♪
If we happen to meet some monks there, wouldn’t that be lucky, huh?
If that’s the case, then I don’t mind, but don’t be too disruptive.
Yes~sir, got it.
Well, anyways, it seems like you’re in agreement too, Hasumi-senpai. “6: Zatou” has been cleared~♪
Eheehee, we got through all of ‘em!
Now then, if that’s all the business you had with me, I’ll be off. I need to return some items I borrowed from the ES building.
By the way, are those things in the cardboard boxes the things you gotta return? If you need an extra pair of hands, we can help carry ‘em too.
No, it’s no problem. There isn’t anything that heavy inside of them, and I was the one to borrow it for AKATSUKI’s work. I should be the one to return it.
You’re so diligent, huh… Wait, I just saw what was in the cardboard boxes. Are there only folding fans in there?
Huh, folding fans!?
They’re “dancer’s fans”6, to be precise. That’s the direction our next live will take for the choreography, so I borrowed these for practice.
Ah, well, that would’ve counted, huh?
Hm? What are you talking about?
I was just thinking that if we went to you first, we would’ve been able to see “4. Fans” and “6. Zatou” at the same time, wouldn’t we?
I said that we should go to the shopping district to see if we could find some fans, so it might have been my fault I dragged everyone around.
Well, in this day and age, you could say that a “folding fan”7 works for “4. Fans”8... or something like that. It worked out in the end, though~
… Well, if you had, you might’ve spent less time on the task, though.
Didn’t you say you proposed it was important to see and experience “4. Fans, 5. Tobacco, and 6. Zatou,” yourself while you were looking for them?
Ahh, yeah, you’re right, huh~ I completely overlooked something so important.
Eheehee, the meat skewers we ate at the shopping district were just the best ♪
Mhm. I don’t usually go into general stores like that either, so it was very refreshing.
What they said, Aoi.
I definitely had a lot of fun too. Besides, I managed to memorize all of them by heart, from “1. Fuji” to “6. Zatou”!
Hmm. Well, if you guys already have the motivation and initiative to do so, why don’t I open up a study session?
Huh? Wait, that’s…
I’m really grateful you’d take the time to teach us yourself, Hasumi-senpai!
H–Hold on a second, stop! Get a hold of yourself Hiiro-kun!
It’s Hasumi-senpai, he’s going to pull out all the stops on the homework, y’know?
Ko-ko-ko ♪ Hinata-han, that’s some real desperation you got there.
I don’t really get it, but the liveliness is fun ♪
Right? Ah, how about we talk about the memories we made today on the educational program?
Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. There’s all sortsa episodes after all.
Yeah! If there were kids who listened to what we said and got interested in it, I’d be really, really happy for it…♪
Translation
- ↑ 座頭 (zatou) were blind traveling entertainers.
- ↑ 毛がない (ke ga nai) without hair.
- ↑ 怪我ない (kega nai) without injuries; it's a homophone of 毛がない (ke ga nai).
- ↑ 六座頭 (6: Zatou). The auspicious items are 一富士二鷹三茄子 (first is Fuji, second is hawk, third is eggplant) and 四扇五煙草六座頭 (fourth is fans, fifth is tobacco, sixth is zatou); if you see these in your first dream of the new year, it's a good omen. The logic here is that zatou have no hair, which is homophonic to "have no injuries", and so to see one is auspicious for good health. I localized this line a bit to get that across.
- ↑ A biwa is a Japanese lute. Biwa hoshi (琵琶法師), or lute priests, traveled around the country to perform. They were mostly blind, and wore robes and had shaved heads like Buddhist monks.
- ↑ 舞扇 (maiougi).
- ↑ 扇子 (sensu) is a hand-held fan you hold and flap to be cool.
- ↑ 扇 (ougi) is a fan you hold while you're dancing. The two terms are more or less indistingushable in modern times.