Author Note
I have been slacking on my updates. For that I have many excuses like improving my organisation and workflow, but most of it comes down to shameful procrastination. However, I have kept track of all the weekly chapters I still owe, and hopefully I can squeeze them out in the next couple of days.
In the past, people have inquired with me how I intended to explain away Cain & Setsu's fluency with the Japanese language, and I hope that the past two chapters have already clarified that a little bit. Despite that, learning Japanese is not a thing I want to push away to the background: it is a crucial part of their upbringing and will serve as a recurring point of conflict that cannot be purely developed off-screen without losing its credibility. And worse, my pride does not really allow me to handwave this simply because I myself do not know the language. :-)
Thankfully, shadowsapex has been kind enough to help me out with the bits and pieces I needed translated thus far. From what I understand, he is still learning himself, so if there are mistakes that fall outside of the plot-boundaries where I ask him to butcher things, I want to ask for understanding and nice words. Without him, some of these chapters simply wouldn't have been written as the help I needed went beyond simple translations at times.
I want to show the siblings progressing, and ideally, I want to show that progress to people regardless of their own understanding of Japanese. When someone speaks a language you don't know, you can almost always tell how practiced they are. Is it a sentence from a tourist book? Are they making stuff up on the fly? Maybe they have considerable experience.. or perhaps have reached the apex of accentless fluency. To achieve this, what matters are two things: the person speaking the language, and the person having to interpret said language. The combination of the two is what determines the overall success in communication.
Whenever there is speech, the way it is written is indicative of mastery. Romanji (written in typical latin letters) are the most primitive, hiragana is the next step up and eventually kanji are for the fluent speakers who truly understand the language. In reality, these are just ways to write and have no audible difference, but for novices (like myself!) I feel it would nevertheless give a visual indicator of mastery. If some speech was in a foreign language, I will include the POV characters interpretation of said text after it in square brackets: ["kind of like this"].
I know: it is a lot to take in when I write it all down like that. But I think it will make sense as you read the chapters that tackle this subject. Which is not to say that I intend to go overboard on Japanese dialogue or anything: the Japanese language is just a facet of the story I want to tell, and I have zero desire to drive either my readers or my helpful translator crazy with my desire for perfection. Or myself, for that matter!
You are all way too bleepin' patient with me. Less-Than-Three ~SilkHandkerchief
Chapter 81c: Two Hearts As One (16 July 2003, the lawn of the apartment building)
As Quinn and I glance upwards, we are only barely able to see her head peering out at us with an angry expression from the half-opened window.
"Okay, love. Come on down, and we'll talk about it."
The reflection of the sky wins out at she distances herself from the window, but I don't need to see to know that what was mere annoyance before has now turned into outright frustration. A door once more hits a doorframe with enough force that the airing rooms fail to conceal it.
Fucking Quinn, always making things worse. Maybe he'll get some noise complaints if Setsuka's mood holds out.
While we wait for her Quinn distances himself, getting himself a cup of tea from the thermos, and of course being annoyingly considerate towards Setsuka by pouring her one too. Always with the bribery…
Soon, she comes walking out with that bit of arrogance to her. Or no. Not arrogance. More like… she's trying really hard not to care.
.. Right, that's it! It has to be her Miss "I don't care." face.
"Okay sweetie, come here. You too, Cain."
Ugh. The man has no sense for her moods at all. I can just tell by the tone of his 'sweetie'. What was this bullshit about her maturing a minute ago, and now you are treating her like a little kid again? Make up your damn mind!
But hey, if she's going along with it, I might as well. It's not like I hadn't intended to go along with these lessons to begin with… but Quinn's expression right now is making me second-guess that decision for the… six, no, seventh time since these lessons started.
"It is probably a bit of an understatement to say that we're having a slight breakdown in communication right now."
Silence. But like a brave man, he continues on. Or is it a foolish man?
"So I figured we might as well utilize the opportunity. Obviously, neither of you is anywhere close to fluent, so to make up for the lack in vocabulary, how about you just gesture out the bits you can't quite express? The only rule: no english. When you are in Japan, english isn't going to get you anywhere, so your arms and legs are the best you've got. Are you both with me so far?"
Whatever we do, he'll take it as an affirmative. Why bother asking?
Well, for Setsuka's sake, I'll nod. If she walks away, the lessons will end, and while I don't particularly care, I know she quite enjoys them.
"Okay. Good. So love, you are going to apologize to me for slamming the doors. As you know, the Japanese are a very introverted and soft-spoken people, so what you just did wasn't too far off from rudely insulting and inconveniencing everyone around you."
For what it is worth, Setsuka is a trooper, just going along with it and nodding.
A moment or two passes with her biting her lip in thought, and then she puts her arms tightly against her sides, starting to bow while looking down at the floor for two words.. and then she starts to gesture elaborately while looking up at Quinn.
"Gomennasai desu. Door wo … de wa warui. Sore ni gomen." ["I am so sorry. I should not have 'bonked' the doors. Sorry for that."]
Despite the few missing words, her smashing gestures actually make it pretty easy to follow. I wo.. oh, that silly paper game those fake figures are making her play. Right. That makes sense.
"Very good, Setsuka. Pay attention to your pronounciation, though. 'Door' should be pronounced 'doa', not like the English word. And the word you don't know is…"
This is how Quinn does his lessons. Overbearingly.
Throw you into the deep.
Make you come up for air.
Point out your mistakes.
Pushing you back down.
Until you get it.
Surprisingly, Setsuka's pronounciation and sentence structure gets his approval the second time around already.
「いいよ。 最早お兄さんと談話して、彼は間違いに謝れるのため。」 ["Good. ? brother ?"]
She appears a bit confused as she looks at him, and already understanding, Quinn repeats himself more slowly, making sure to clearly pronounce every syllable for both our sakes. But mostly hers.
"Ii yo. Mo haya oniisan to danwashite, kare wa machigai ni ayamareru no tame." ["Good. Now go talk to your brother so he can apologize to you for his mistake."]
The asshole. Who is he to try and mediate between her and me?
I stare at Quinn for a moment, but the man just smiles that disarming smile that I bet played a huge role as to why mom married such a scoundrel. The fucker.
But with Setsuka moving to stand opposite me, and the coldness in her eyes, I can't really keep up the staring exchange of non-verbal daggers.
I bow somewhat clumsily, and do my best to apologize.
"Kimi ni ikari no koto sumimasen. Kimi wo.. ureshii… shitai… katta dake desu." ["Sorry that you're mad. I just wanted you happy."]
But even before Setsuka can respond, Quinn is on my case with more criticisms than a cat could find mice in the middle of a field.
"What is with that bow? There's no heart in it. Lower. Keep your back straight. Arms too. Look down, don't look into her eyes. You are trying to show your sincerity, not that fierce glare of yours. No matter how suave your words are, if you act like an asshole, you'll still be seen as an asshole. And really, 'ureshii'? At least use 'shiawase' if you can't help yourself from butchering the language!"
In his eyes, I can see he wants to add even more words to that rant of his. Like how suitable it is because I am a little shit and whatever else his peanut-sized brain can come up with. Thankfully, Setsuka is here, so he's not going too far.
"Wabi wa.. dame desu yo. Tsugi wa… watashi no mondai desu." ["Apology not accepted. Next time, let me decide."]
Her response is pure japanese save for the strong shaking of her head that marries the word apology. Alright. It isn't hard to get what she's saying to begin with given that she's always been an open book to me. Her frustration over the past few weeks are no different in that regard. Before Quinn can interject and spoil our making up, I quickly offer my response to her.
"Ii yo. Demo … eh… wa onaji desu." ["Fine. But our 'hearts' are the same."]
Not knowing the word, I just substitute the word 'heart' with a tap on my chest as well as hers.
Her eyes meet mine. Her cheeks flush with the healthy shade of embarassment. Her "I don't care." face was breached with a single sentence.
She understands.
I smile. She smiles.
And for those few seconds, Quinn is utterly confused. Good!