1. Chapter 14.2
2. That was back in my first year of high school.
3. Dear Flowers That Bloom in Days of Yore
4. "Any good suggestions, Yamabe-chan?"
5. "Still working through 'em..."
6. "For a 1st year, you sure keep yourself busy, Yama-chan."
7. "I thought Student Council'd look good on my resume!"
8. "Jeez, how are you already thinking about after high school!"
Caricamento…Caricamento…
1. Our school had a suggestion box set out for anyone to use,
2. but we might have advertised too hard. Most put in dumb little gripes and jokes.
3. Anything serious would be replied to and posted on the board.
4. So one of us had to pick out whatever was worth giving a response.
5. That day, that person was me.
6. "Hn?"
7. I want a friend
8. "...I want a friend"...?
9. "That's a new one."
10. "It's already May; kind of late for that isn't it?"
11. "Hey, it's never too late to try!"
Caricamento…Caricamento…
1. "But it's not exactly... one for the board, is it?"
2. "Guess not."
3. "I'll put it in the pile."
4. "..."
5. "She's in the same grade as me..."
6. "Looks like she's in high school too."
7. I kept looking at it and something...
8. "...Nn?"
9. seemed a little off.
10. I want a friend.
11. "Something in how she writes...?"
12. "Oh..."
1. "Were the strokes in the wrong order?"
2. "Like she copied the kanji from a reference."
3. Straighten up your letters!
4. As if she was nervous, "Have to do this right."
5. "Is she not..."
6. "used to writing Japanese...?"
7. "Our class? Yeah,"
8. "there's a girl who came back from abroad."
9. "There's usually a few but I think she's the only one this year."
10. "Oh, huh."
1. "See her?"
2. "The one reading by the window."
1. "Is she normally on her own?"
2. "She is, but there's more to it~!"
3. "That girl, Mia-chan, I don't think she's been in Japan long..."
4. "And she's still getting used to Japanese, so we can't always tell what she means to say."
5. "Ooh."
6. "So I tried asking her back in English,"
7. "Oh! Mia-chan's from England, see."
8. "but I think I only hurt her feelings. She's hardly spoken to us after..."
1. "None of us know how to open up to her..."
2. "I honestly think I ruined our first impression~!"
3. "Hey, I said we gotta take her out to karaoke!"
4. "Don't butt in."
5. "We all sing together and then we'll all be friends!"
6. "That's all this airhead can think of!"
7. "Ahaha..."
8. Then...
9. she must be the one who wrote it.
10. I want a friend
1. How did she...
2. feel, to write that?
3. "Though we're in different classes. I can't exactly talk to her either..."
4. "Guess I'll just hope for the best..."
5. "She said we're in earth science room #2 next!"
6. "Crap, that's the other building. Better hurry."
7. "Does that girl struggle with these kinds of instructions too...?"
8. "Our school's way too big; shuffling classrooms is always a huge hassle."
9. "Hey, get a move on...!"
1. We would always get lost back in our first year.
2. "Where's the home ec room!?"
3. "Which way!?"
4. "That way!?"
5. So what about her?
6. How does Mia handle it?
7. Can she tell when the classroom moves?
8. Someone must have to point her the way.
9. But otherwise...
10. if she's completely isolated in this big wide school...
1. Hearing Mia's from England brought back a few embarrassing memories.
2. In my 1st year of middle school we took a family trip to London.
3. I think I tried to buy non-carbonated water.
4. "I do well in English class; I'm good at this!"
5. But when I worked up the courage to ask, the lady didn't understand.
6. That's all it took for me to lose any confidence in speaking English.
7. It can really crush you
8. when the native speakers can't tell what you said.
9. "I would simply read."
10. Mom and Dad could speak it fine, so for the rest of the trip I left it to them.
1. On my trip I had my parents and could come home in a few days.
2. Mia will be here for years on her own.
3. Why did she write to the suggestion box?
4. It had to be the only place she could pour her heart out.
5. She put all her effort into those scrawled letters,
6. and all her courage into leaving it for someone to read.
1. And all I could think anymore
2. was that I had to give her a response.
3. "But what could I do?"
4. "Go up and talk to her?"
5. "Did you write this?"
6. "Uh..."
7. "That's the worst idea!"
8. "I'd have to say I found it because of her weird handwriting, then she'd never write again!"
9. "...She doesn't talk, but she writes..."
10. "Then could I start writing to her?"
11. "But how would I get her to write back to a total stranger...?"
12. "Mmhh..."
1. Passing anonymous letters.
1. "Mor-ning."
2. "Mor-ning!"
3. For Mia-san
4. "Sorry it took so long, I'm here~"
5. "You took forever, Yamabe!"
6. "We need this model ready ASAP, I've got pics to upload!"
7. "Get your part done!"
8. "Ue-ghh"
9. "Huh, you get that magazine?"
10. "I didn't peg you for the fashion type."
11. "Yeah, fashion's not really my thing."
12. "Then why'd you buy that?"
1. For Mia-san.
2. Sorry for writing to you like this out of the blue.
3. But if it's okay, do you want to be friends with me?
1. "I buy it when Mia's on the cover."
2. You might be alone but the world noticed you.
1. The Princess of Sylph (still ongoing, still translating, check links)
2. I See You, Aizawa-san!
3. noighd - noighd.wordpress.com - discord.gg/PVw7wpsQxQ
4. Mia's handwriting vs print: I want a friend
5. Japanese characters have strict stroke orders; breaking them can lead to characters looking jumbled and misaligned.
6. On top of that it's a bit rough and stiff in a way that shows she might not have much practice.
7. "Something in how she writes...?"
8. Even though it's a fashion mag, the magazine's name is Caisson. A caisson is a structure used to create a dry space underwater. It's Igarashi's favorite construction method.
9. bit.ly/arisaku-raw
10. If you have the means, please consider supporting the author and purchasing the Japanese volumes.
11. Physical: bit.ly/arisaku-cd Digital: bit.ly/arisaku-kobo @nishi55.bsky.social