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Soul Eater Not! Chapter 8: "You make even ice cream taste like shit!"
I'm just going to open this post with this fanart of Jackie by Jinya because it is awesome.
So anyway, this month's chapter begins with Tsugumi and Me-Me playing a game of janken (A.K.A. "Rock, Paper, Scissors").
"Jan."
"Ken."
"Pon!"
Me-Me clearly wins with her scissors beating Tsugumi's paper. Yet for some inexplicable reason, in the next panel Me-Me and Tsugumi are playing achimuitehoi (A.K.A. "Look This Way") which is often reserved as the tiebreaker in a janken game. Except that there was no tie. Oh well.
"Achimuite," Me-Me says. "Hoi!"
Me-Me points up, and Tsugumi looks up.
Which means that Tsugumi lost. Except that a second later Tsugumi turns her head to the left and tries to pretend that she didn't just look up.
Me-Me won't be fooled, though. "Tsugumi-chan, you're so sneaky!" Me-Me says, tickling Tsugumi as punishment.
"A ha ha!" Tsugumi laughs helplessly. "B-B-But I wanna tickle you! I s-said-- A ha ha!!"
Oh god, Anya's face. That is my face right now. That is exactly my face. "What is that?" Anya asks. "Are you playing some sort of commoner game? Is doing something like that actually enjoyable?"
"Do you want to play too, Anya-san?" Me-Me and Tsugumi ask in unison.
"Hmph. As if I would play such a low-class game."
"Okay, so instead we'll play janken the way that I just explained," Tsugumi says, not deterred, "but this time, the winner can attack the loser with that rolled-up paper, and the loser can try to defend herself by picking up that book and using it as a shield."
Because adding combat practice to the outcome makes a simple game of janken suddenly fit for a princess. THIS IS AWESOME.
"Well, in that case, I can hardly refuse, can I?" Anya says. "I suppose I shall join your game, then."
"Jan."
"Ken."
"Pon!"
Anya grabs the paper club as Tsugumi dives for her book. Unfortunately, as Tsugumi tries to defend herself with the book, she somehow manages to drop it on top of her own head, thus Maka-chopping herself.
Tsugumi groans and collapses on her bed.
Me-Me laughs at Tsugumi's agony.
Meanwhile, Anya stands still holding the rolled-up paper in her hand. Now what am I supposed to do with this commoner's weapon that I have grasped in my hand...?
Finally, deprived of her chance to beat Tsugumi with a rolled-up paper, Anya instead settles for beating a daruma and crying.
Anya doesn't just have issues, she has a book. More than one book, actually. Let me try again: Anya doesn't just have issues, she has a multi-volume international bestselling book series about a teen boy wizard.
"HE~~Y, YOU NEWBIE CHICKS!!"
It's Kim, suddenly bursting into Tsugumi's dorm room. Wearing nothing but a two-piece swimsuit and a tiny hoodie. "Yo!"
"Kim--"
"Jim--"
"--senpai," Tsugumi and Me-Me finish together.
"I found a great job for you guys," Kim says, grinning like a greedy shark.
"Whuh?" Tsugumi asks.
"Hurry up and change into clothes that you won't mind getting wet!" Kim says.
And one panel later...
"We have to clean the pool?" Tsugumi asks.
"Exactly!" Kim says. "You can play around in the water and earn money at the same time. So it's a pretty great job, isn't it? And in this heat it's nice to be able to work without being cooped up in a stinky indoor room, right?"
"All right then," says some guy who I suppose is in charge because he's wearing a shirt that says "POOL" on it. No, really. "I'm leaving the rest up to you girls."
"No problem!" Kim shouts back at him. "My peons say they're gonna work real hard!"
Actually Kim just called Tsugumi & Company her shatei, which is a term that yakuza bosses might use to refer to their underlings. Oh, Kim.
And they don't have to know that I'm deducting 90% of their three combined paychecks as my middleman's fee... Kim grins to herself and stretches happily. All I have to do is splash around in the water just a little bit. Oh yeah, I definitely found a great job... for me that is!
Then her grin vanishes. So then what the hell is Jacqueline doing here?!
"All right then, let's begin," Jackie says. "Kim and I will get the cleaning supplies. And we need one more person to come with us."
"Oh. Okay. I'll go," Tsugumi says.
"Waitaminute, why are you giving orders?!" Kim yells at her. "Why are you even HERE, anyway?!"
"The four of you alone will never finish this job in time," Jackie answers calmly. "But with me giving directions, this job can be finished quickly and efficiently."
Kim is temporarily taken aback by Jackie's answer. But by the time that she and Tsugumi arrive at the shed to collect their cleaning supplies, Kim has found her inner witch again. "I'll let you make all of the 'efficiency' decisions," Kim tells Jackie, "But I'm still the leader here! Got it?!"
"Do whatever you want," Jackie answers coolly.
Kim steps into the shed, then looks around helplessly. "It's so dark in here. I can't see where anything is."
Suddenly, fire!
Specifically, Jackie's arm is on fire.
Tsugumi is radiating a little heart above her head. "Wow--!"
"Oh, that's right. You're a lantern," Kim says.
Jackie suddenly starts blushing. "So, what do you think?" she asks. "I'm, uh, I'm really... u... useful, aren't I?"
Then Jackie realizes that Kim has already turned her back and stepped away from her. "Just keep glowing like that," Kim orders. "But your fire's too hot, so don't come any closer to us." Kim slaps Tsugumi on the back. "All right, Tsugumi, go and find those cleaning supplies!"
Tsugumi looks over her shoulder and sees the crestfallen expression on Jackie's face.
Oh... Maybe Jacqueline-senpai actually...
Later, the girls are busily scrubbing out the pool. And Ohkubo really likes to draw bubble-butts on middle school girls. Okay.
Kim sprays Tsugumi and Me-Me with the hose. They scream (grinning as they do so) and Kim laughs as she drops the hose. Me-Me grabs for the hose and a moment later both her and Tsugumi are holding the hose together, poised for revenge.
Anya watches all of this, puzzled.
"Anya-san, now it's your turn!" Tsugumi says.
Anya smiles, then stands in front of Tsugumi, preparing to be soaked. "Eeeek!" She prematurely screams and flinches.
But Tsugumi can't bring herself to actually spray Anya. That dress that she's wearing looks so expensive...
So Tsugumi finally aims the hose and sprays Anya's left foot. "Take that!"
Anya makes epic pout-face.
"Stop screwing around!!" Jackie yells at all of the girls.
"We're sorry," Tsugumi and Me-Me apologize in unison.
"You should be!" Anya huffs. "This is no time to be fooling around!"
"Oh look, Ms. Stick-Up-Her-Ass is being no fun again," Kim says, sitting on the edge of the pool and swinging her legs. "It's no big deal if we play around just a little bit. You are so freakin' boring."
Jackie looks up at her. "I'm just trying to get the cleaning over with as quickly as possible. It's better to save the playing around until after the job is done! See, it's not like I don't care at all about having fun, or like I never have fun myself, or...."
Kim jumps off the edge of the pool and lands right in front of Jackie.
"Um... Um..." Tsugumi flails, sensing the
Kim turns away from Jackie, giving her an epic cold shoulder. "Either way you slice it," Kim says, "I'd pity the person who has to end up being your meister. God, that must be awful."
Jackie looks devastated.
Oh, no... Tsugumi think-bubbles. Kim-senpai...
Later! The pool is now sparkling clean.
"We're done!" Tsugumi explains.
The girls wriggle their toes against the clean pool ledge and grin happily. "I don't remember what we're smiling about..." Me-Me says.
The "POOL" guy is back, this time with a cap that says "POOL" on it. "Wow, that was fast!" he says. "Here's your pay."
Kim reaches for the envelope greedily. "Thank you! Oh, and I'll be handing those three their wages, too."
Then she laughs to herself. "Middleman, middleman! I get to keep 90% because I'm the middle~man~!" Kim separates out her fees, then calls over the other girls. "Hey, peons! Here's your payment."
"Thank you very much."
Me-Me: Doesn't remember what she just did so doesn't notice that anything is amiss.
Tsugumi: Thinks that the amount isn't quite right but is too scared of Kim to say anything.
Anya: Has no idea what a fair wage would be in the first place.
Kim laughs to herself. "These chicks are easy marks!"
"Kim," Jackie suddenly says.
Kim turns around, startled.
"Um... Since we finished the job early, and all... I know this really great ice cream place, so maybe we could go get some ice cream together?"
"What?" Kim asks. "Are you prankin' me or something?! Why would I want to go anywhere with an anal-retentive asshole like you? It doesn't matter how delicious that ice cream might be, as long as I'm with you even the best ice cream will taste like shit! I wouldn't go with you even if you paid me to."
Wow.
Wow.
Now THAT is a rejection.
Jackie is devastated, again. Tsugumi watches the entire exchange silently.
Later, in a locker room, Jackie is putting back on her school uniform. Tsugumi approaches her. "Um, Jacqueline-senpai...?"
Jackie rubs at her eyes, then turns around to face Tsugumi. "What do you want?"
"Um, Jacqueline-senpai, do you..." Tsugumi ellipses, then blurts out the rest of her sentence. "YOU WANT TO BE KIM-SENPAI'S PARTNER, DON'T YOU!"
Jackie blushes beet-red. "Wh... Wh-Wh... Wh-Wh-Wh... Wh-Wh... Wh... Wh... What are you talking about?!"
Well, that was certainly a convincing denial!
Tsugumi grabs at Jackie's hands. "Please let us help you!!"
"Whaaaat?!"
" 'Us'?" Anya says.
NEXT MONTH: COLOR ILLUSTRATION! Also the first volume of Not! will be released simultaneously with SE volume 20 on 9/22.
And that's the end for this chapter. Next month: Lesbian match-making! More love triangles! A slight possibility of danger and intrigue! Or (most likely) more of Ohkubo drawing lots and lots of long legs and bubble butts. On fourteen-year-old girl characters.
Oh, Ohkubo.
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But poor Anya, being so left out. :\
WTF, Kim. Jackie, you're so too good for her. Seriously. Why even try, she's such a……….*sigh*. Well, we know eventually, everything turns out okay, so, whatevs.
But seriously. God, what the hell did Jackie ever do to Kim, besides saying, "Alright, let's just clean the pool first real quick and then everyone can have all the fun they want"?
*shakes head*. Just, never mind. There's not even a point in me going on about this =_____=;;
Thanks for the translation! ^__^ I'm excited for the next chapter now~
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Kim has a pretty good reason to not like Jackie. Jackie has been trying to blow open Kim's biggest secret, a secret that - if it ever got out - could get Kim killed or much worse.
I mean, just to be fair here. Kim isn't very nice, but she also doesn't owe Jackie anything after Jackie tried to antagonize her earlier. And she certainly doesn't have to trust that Jackie's invitation to ice cream was sincere instead of just a trap to get closer to uncovering Kim's secrets.
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What I find funny and awesome is that Kim and Jackie are so close in the original series that it's so interesting seeing them be like this. At least they become really good friends later on.
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(Anonymous) 2011-08-14 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)Wonder if she’ll show up in the next chapter? I would love to see Maka and Tsugumi planning a malefic plan to bring Kim and Jacky together :D
Also, I wonder if Ohkubo has the munchies (and where I can get some… you know). Because I’m sure this chapter derived from lots and lots of Ice-cream in front of the Tv while watching girls cleaning Ferraris and sprinkling water all over themselves. (Good munchies though)
Loved your post! Thank you :D
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I recall Maka being quite friendly with Kim (like when they hugged in the chapter where Kim runs away, when Maka says that Kim is a good friend and that belonged in Shibusen, and even when Kim got angry with Kid because Big Daddy wanted Spartoi to kill Crona).
You're right, and it would definitely be interesting to see Kim and Maka interacting in Not!. I wonder if they were friends to begin with, or if they became friends after Kim was promoted to the EAT class, or what.
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Man, Kim is well... extremely anal-retentive, sheesh.
Really curious to why Jaqueline would be willing to tolerate that but is still extremely curious to how they partnered up given Ohkubo's lavish detail into backstory for our meister/weapon pairings.
As noted in above comments, would really like to see Maka team up with Tsugumi to bring them both together C:
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