Meerkat Localizing Literature
Epilogue: The Winter of University Entrance Exams is Short
Among all the hectic seasons of my three years of high school life, the winter of university entrance exams was particularly short, I think. It was already March.
There were probably things I should be doing, but I couldn’t focus on anything until the acceptance announcements. In the early afternoon, I visited Iwama’s house as summoned. The front door opened as soon as I pressed the doorbell.… Read more
“Riochi doesn’t know about this yet. There’s no way she could. She hasn’t been told that Mizzucchi heard about the cherry blossom heart collapse incident from me, she hasn’t seen the fluorescent pen frame around Euler’s identity, and the poster in front of the biology room was removed long ago. If you don’t tell her, she won’t know.”
“…You’re asking me not to tell her?”
“Yep. If Del-chi and Nabichi cooperate, you should be able to keep it hidden.… Read more
Reagent (指示薬).
Literally “the entity that indicates.”
Change a character and it becomes—director (指示役).
A term that’s become commonly used recently in contexts like fraud and illegal part-time jobs. The mastermind who plans and moves people. Certainly a fitting word for this person.
Rather than anger, fear filled my chest.
A feeling close to awe for the intellect and boldness that could make this a reality.
“To get members into the Biology Club, you incited Mizusaki to introduce Iwama and me, commanded Mikage to get Mizusaki and me to join, and used Kannabi to push Iwama’s back.… Read more
I was brought all the way to Sansetsu-cafe. The setting sun streamed into the shop through the wide windows.
Even the orange color that should have been beautiful felt somehow suffocating.
As if the sky was telling me—in the end, you can’t escape from this cycle.
At the very back of the shop was a single private room. The door across from the restroom that was always closed.… Read more
Interlude: Erythronium japonicum
“Riō, why are you so full of yourself?”
When someone finally said it straight to my face for the first time, rather than feeling shocked, I actually felt relieved.
She finally spoke her true feelings. The reason they disliked me and ignored me wasn’t because I’d done something critically wrong.
It wasn’t because I insisted on conducting a vegetation survey in drizzle despite poor weather, or because I tried to increase our twice-weekly activities, or because I turned down a sudden confession from the boy Sana liked—
It was simply because I was full of myself.… Read more
“If there’s blood, no matter how minute, this reagent will emit light. The floor was just waxed at the end of the school year. If Jounouchi injured his foot and bled, only those footprints will glow.”
How many sprays was it? Mizusaki, still kneeling, continued spraying with unusual seriousness.
“Whoa!”
Mizusaki’s loud voice. I approached carefully and peered down to see something glowing pale blue in spots on the pitch-dark floor. And it wasn’t random.… Read more
“So… what do we do?”
When Mizusaki asked, Iwama put her hand on the entrance door.
“For now, let’s lock it.”
Click. The biology room was now closed off again. Jounouchi should be inside.
Looking at the biology room, which for a hamster would be like a small island, I sighed.
“…We have no choice but to keep searching methodically.”
“Right.”
Looking at the old wooden floor, we searched silently for a while.… Read more
“Got tired of playing with test tubes and now you’re playing with hamsters, Delta?”
“It’s not playing. Today we’re just learning how to care for them. If you’re not interested, hurry up and go back to interfering with waves or something.”
I’d accidentally retorted, and the biology room’s atmosphere became tense.
“Come on, don’t be like that. We came to observe in the spirit of friendship.”
Tomare Jō, looking far from friendly, appeared restless and idly reached out to touch Jounouchi.… Read more
“But Gamma-san, why did you suddenly come today?”
Having been diverted from his intended path, Mizusaki stepped into the place I least wanted him to touch.
Of course, it wasn’t something I was trying to hide at all costs. I just hadn’t mentioned it yet. But the events of Saturday were somehow hard to talk to Mizusaki about. One reason was that Mizusaki would surely tease me about going out with two girls, but more than that, Saturday’s outing was something difficult to explain—a tangled combination of the delicate relationship between Iwama and Kannabi and my own delicate involvement.… Read more
The Austrian ethologist Konrad Lorenz is famous for discovering “imprinting,” where waterfowl chicks follow the first thing they see. There’s even a photo in biology textbooks showing him with just his head poking out of a lake surface, having his hair fiddled with by Greylag Geese from both sides.
True to the impression that photo gives, he was apparently quite the eccentric. Well, I suppose it would be rude to call a Nobel Prize-winning researcher in Physiology or Medicine an eccentric.… Read more