Editing Hikaru ga Chikyuu ni Itakoro:Translator's Afterword (section)

====Volume 4 – Oborodukiyo====

“What did you do with Her Highness Aoi!? ヽ(●`口′●)ノ”

Alright, I admit, I had a seizure at that part.

Those messages were not so much messages as they were orbital bombardments from Memento Mori. Honestly, Honoka’s antics always get me. By this time, if you have read the author’s previous work ‘Book Girl' (which I highly recommend to anyone), you would have noticed the comparisons with Nanase Kotobuki (though the author would admit that she is actually trying to diversify the characters.)

This is the volume where I really thought I should just stop with the translator notes because it really is tedious for me to do so, and also, I thought I might be able to force readers to continue&nbsp;researching into the stuff if they want to, rather than me having to feed the readers by the spoon.

Also, this volume is also the story where things really got darker. You think raising a harem is all fun and saccharine? Well, this volume clearly shows otherwise. Not only is there a Betty and Veronica situation happening between Honoka and Aoi (with poor Yu, the first love, deported to Australia faster than the original convicts who were sent there), but now you add in an additional member who’s not only sexy, but also quite the tease, hoping to latch onto Koremitsu to escape from her own troubles. Admittedly, such fears Tsuyako had would be seemingly nothing to readers like us, but given that the premise of the story involves a ghost floating around a delinquent, hoping to train him into a protagonist with enough guts to take on an entire Dead Or Alive assortment of girls, I’m willing to let it pass through my weirdness filter. I’ll cover more on Tsuyako’s fears in her character discussion, but for now, back to the story.

The introduction of Tsuyako as another member of the delinquent’s harem will clarify that yes, Hikaru did not die a virgin. Hey, it is all but stated here.

I know we have jokes about ‘please notice me, senpai’, but we start off the volume in a reverse situation ‘please notice me, kouhai’...which led to me using Earthmind music for the latter half of this volume.

One of the key dynamics would be Tsuyako’s position as compared to the other girls. While Tsuyako knows, and accepts that she’s just one of Hikaru’s ‘concubines’ in his conquest to philander more than the number of concubines King Solomon gathered in his lifetime, this places her as a contrast to Aoi, for obvious reasons. Later on, this will get complicated when Tsuyako is placed as the contrast to Asai (do note that I am leaving out Honoka because the girl has shown no affections for Hikaru. Why would she?)

For Aoi, she was the ‘chosen’ girl by those around her, but not the one Hikaru ‘chose’ until the very end of his life. In the original Genji story, Aoi, 4 years older than Genji, was the one betrothed to the latter, and it was only when she was dying (and died) did Genji treat her earnestly. Long story short, the roles were reversed. The love Aoi had for Hikaru was unconditional, but ultimately, she has the possessive vibe, for very good reasons.

For Tsuyako, she was a ‘chosen’ girl by Hikaru, but not the one ‘chosen’ by the people around her. When you have someone making your life a living hell, there are times where you are simply going to snap, and the reactions will vary. Honestly, I’m not sure how Tsuyako managed to hold it in for so long. The love for Tsuyako was unconditional, and she knew that though Hikaru does love her back, the actual value isn’t requited (well, given that Hikaru has his own issues with his beloved...this is also based on Genji Monogatari). Knowing that, despite Tsuyako claiming that she has no issues with Hikaru philandering with other girls and so on, and then joining in on the fun with Koremitsu, I do have a feeling that Tsuyako as a character really hates being alone. Most of the reason can be thanks to that.....for a lack of a better term, twit, but one really will get the idea that Tsuyako’s actions were mostly a facade, until she got liberated, at the very least.

Let’s face it, I like this volume for how much the mood changed with the introduction of a ‘Rokujo’. If you do know the source material, Rokujo is the infamous first yandere of classical Japanese literature (there’s a lot of firsts in Genji Monogatari), so it would be interesting to see how a delinquent would handle a yandere...though I doubt anyone would have expected who the yandere would be unless you’re the type to think that a character that suddenly pops up is always suspicious (thanks Keima).

The theme for this story, I feel, is hidden depths, what may be apparent on first sight was not what it seemed to be. Just like how Tsuyako had her own troubles she chose to keep hidden, so does he-who-must-not-be-named (you-know-who) has his own issues that would not be made known until 5 volumes later. Gosh, that volume’s scary, in more ways than one. Appearances typically deceive because as humans, we put on a facade for various reasons, to not make others worry, or to hide something malicious. In this case, this proves to be the case. However, there is only so long before a facade is shed to reveal the true nature of a person, and luckily for us, we have our delinquent king deliver a punch Kamijou Touma will always be proud of.

If I had to mention which was my favorite part of the story, it was...the kiss Tsuyako had with Koremitsu, with the other two girls watching. I was feeling...sadistic seeing the stunned looks on the girls faces. Boy, did it feel satisfying.