Oregairu Volume 6

251

We would.

In the span of almost half a year, we were finally able to know that we existed.

Our statues were constructed from just our names and fragmentary impressions of each
other, like that of mosaic, burying one fragment one by one until we were able to make
up virtual images of each other.

And surely enough, those images probably weren’t even real.

Well, that didn’t matter right now.

With the end of the long break and the short festival, finally returning were the
worthless and hopeless days of everyday life.

On the door came knocks that were as though they were the footsteps of that everyday
life.

“Yahallo!”

The one who opened the door was Yuigahama Yui.

But I couldn’t figure out the reason for why she would come here. Shouldn’t she be at
the celebration party somewhere right now?

“Yuigahama? You need something?”

“Good work with the Cultural Festival! So let’s go hit up the after-festival event!”

“Not going. So, what’s this about an after-festival event?”

“You don’t even know and you refused!? C’mon, Yukinon, let’s gooo!”

Yuigahama sat at the usual seat situated beside Yukinoshita and shook Yukinoshita’s
body like a spoiled child. Although Yukinoshita looked somewhat bothered, she didn’t
push her away.

“I don’t know too much about it myself, but what exactly is it?” asked Yukinoshita.

Yuigahama looked up at the empty ceiling. “U-Um… It’s kinda like a big kind of
celebration or something…?”

“What the, you don’t even know either…”

I shuddered to Yuigahama’s overly vague comprehension and Yukinoshita placed her
hand on her chin.

252

“Judging by the word, can I interpret it as the opposite of the eve of a festival?”

“That’s it!” Yuigahama pointed at Yukinoshita, praising her for the correct answer. Did
she really get it right…?

Yuigahama continued with her vague explanation.

“Hayato-kun and the others planned it and it’s at the live house near the station! They
started talking about inviting a lot of other people and not just from our class too,
see…”

“I see. So that’s why you wanted to invite Hikigaya-kun too.”

“No, I’m part of their class too. I’m included in the former already. Right?”

I had to confirm out of anxiety.

“Uh huh, just barely. Hayato-kun did say to invite Hikki too.”

“What do you mean by barely…? As in barely part of the class or barely not part of the
class? Forget that, I’m the one who wants to refuse here. As if I’ll accept Hayama
casting me his patronage.”

I’m not so painfully pathetic that I need an invitation of pity. These obligatory
formalities that did nothing but cause unhappiness for both parties need to be done
away with already.

To appease my temper, Yukinoshita spoke with a guiding and soft tone. “You don’t
need to be so headstrong about it. It’s a wonderful invitation, no? Why not join them?
Hikicasting-kun.”

“Hey, don’t casually say my name wrong. Anyway, what the heck is Hikicasting? Don’t
go making me a part of the cast because you feel like it, okay?”

First off, I could never take up the role of being someone’s foil. At best, I could be a
mob character or a wicked assistant. As a matter of fact, it’s possible I was no longer an
actor.

“N-Now now… It’s a good opportunity so let’s go.”

“I’m fine here. Even if I went, I’ll just be hanging out at the corner of the wall
somewhere. Having a guy like that ruining the mood would make me feel bad,” I said,
and went back to organizing the reports.

Work was good… It makes for a convenient excuse when refusing people. If I became a
corporate slave, my loner life would accelerate even faster.

253

“…That’s true. Besides, this after-festival party isn’t a part of the Planning Committee,
so I don’t really see a reason to go.”
“Ehhh!? We can’t do anything about Hikki since he has work, but Yukinon is…” said
Yuigahama and Yukinoshita began writing something as well. “Yukinon, what are you
writing?”
“Career aspiration survey.”
“Ohhh… Okay, I’ll wait until you’re done!”
“I didn’t say a thing about going…”
It looked like Yuigahama was positioned to wait. Yukinoshita said so in bafflement,
but Yuigahama was watching over her with a smile. Ahh, she’s going to take her along
at this rate… If she said she’s going to wait, then she’s going to wait. She’s a faithful
dog.
The deep reddened evening sunlight poured into the club room.
The festival had ended.
What’s done is done.
You can never redo things in life. Even the curtains on this hopeless act will be drawn
eventually.
But knowing fully well that one day I would lament over the things that I had lost, I
concluded the written reports.

254

Afterword

255

Translation Notes

1. » Original Japanese meme is “ii hanashi da naa (イイハナシダナー)”. It basically
means “that’s nice”, but it’s also used for sarcasm.

2. » Necronomicon
3. » The Prince of Tennis
4. » The Little Prince
5. » The Curry Prince
6. » Gin Ishidia from Prince of Tennis has a style with 108 levels to it.
7. » Shiki Theatre Company
8. » Bonchuu
9. » Dragon Ball Z – We Gotta Power
10. » Kiteretsu Encyclopedia – The opening is called “Lack of Sleep”.
11. » Beep bop beep
12. » Pani Poni – Suzuki Sayana’s catchphrase.
13. » Ashita no Nadja – The previous line is from the ending song.
14. » Bleach – KUBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, whenever something

“surprising” happens in Bleach, this is the go-to phrase.
15. » Shinsei Motemote Oukoku
16. » Kaiji (S2, episode 8 of the anime, 10 minutes in) – When Ootsuki, the foreman

of Kaiji’s group of the underground labor camp, gets his cheating figured out and
gets cornered, he shouts “No count! No count!”
17. » Commercial
18. » A Japanese copypasta meme. The original joke is about a monk called T-san
who randomly appears and saves people from spiritual related stuff by screaming
“haa!” After he leaves, the person always ends with “being brought up in a temple
sure is amazing”.
19. » Idolmaster – Haruna Kamijo‘s phrase.
20. » Tereriko, tereriko
21. » Cold compresses
22. » Jigoku no Misawa – mangaka
23. » Street Fighter
24. » http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DdLH75GKkc&#160
25. » K-On! – Yui playing castanets
26. » GA Art School – Commercial
27. » Jaguar is a band. “Fight! Fight! Chiba!” is a famous song performed by them.
28. » Pyuu to Fuku! Jaguar: The Movie
29. » Smile Precure – Cure Peace’s phrase.
30. » Idol Harassment – BL visual novel
31. » Sazae-san – Tara-chan
32. » Pocasukajan – A comedy trio that uses various instruments.
33. » Pom Poko

256

34. » Fate Series – Unlimited Blade Works
35. » A line from Attack No.1 – “But tears came out. I mean, I’m a girl after all.
36. » Furby
37. » Bayside Shakedown – A line said by the protagonist Aoshima Shunsaku.
38. » Super Robot Wars
39. » Australian beef in Japanese is オージービーフ (oojii biifu).
40. » Legend of the Century’s End Messiah: Fist of the North Star – Fodder cheer
41. » Hogeeee!
42. » Nareru! SE
43. » Eroge-like Idol Master (エロゲーッぽいアイマス) – Fuhiho (フヒ歩) is a character of

the game that goes “fuhi” whenever he gets excited or horny, essentially, a pervert.
44. » Ceylon – Japanese hononym joke. Sound argument (正論, seiron) and Ceylon

(セイロン, Ceylon)
45. » Doraemon – A piece of konjac jelly which enables a person to understand and

speak any known language in the universe.
46. » Mighty Cat Masked Niyander
47. » Ishikawa Takuboku is a Japanese poet and the opening line is a parody of what

he writes in his poem, “A Handful of Sand”.
48. » Apartment with a living room, dining room, and a kitchen.
49. » Original slogan of Saitama’s store “It’s delicious! It’s so delicious!”
50. » Hakko Ichiu – Japanese political slogan.
51. » Hanabatake Farm – A shop that makes all sorts of caramel.
52. » Johnny’s & Associates
53. » A slogan for female pads.
54. » Doraemon laugh.
55. » Lyrics from the opening of Tottemo! Luckyman.

257

Credits

Translator: Excorcism (aka Spyro) @Kyakka
ePub Version: johny_dmonic
This ePub was created using Sigil.

258