1. The girl in the letters,
2. my sweet little sister,
3. was older...!?
Ładowanie…Ładowanie…
1. "After I left the brooch, I looked for you."
2. I'm in serious trouble right now!
3. Hi, Haruyo here!
4. "My curiosity got the better of me..."
5. The girl I was trading letters with was actually an upperclassman!
6. "Uhm,"
7. "I think it was from up there."
Ładowanie…Ładowanie…
1. "Lemme just take a quick peek!"
2. She won't notice a thing~
3. Look how tiny she is!
4. She's going!
5. She's a high school-er!?
6. Wha...?
7. What should I do...?
2. "I have to tell the truth..."
3. "Nuh-uh! No way I won't let it slip now!"
4. Do I not tell her and keep being "Onee-sama"?
5. "But I couldn't work up the courage and left..."
6. "I was scared you'd be disappointed if I said, "Actually, I'm younger!""
1. "I waited the whole day for you..."
2. "The whole day till school closed!"
3. "I was so scared too..."
1. "I'm not brave... or modest, or anything..."
2. "Anything like your ideal 'little sister.'"
3. "I thought you left... cause you were disappointed."
4. "No, I..."
5. "How could I be disappointed in you!"
6. "Mhm."
1. "I went to see you because I trusted you'd say that..."
2. "But you couldn't trust your "little sister?""
1. "...Sorry, that was really mean to say."
2. "What's wrong with me..."
1. "Aa-ahh..."
2. "I'm sorry."
3. "I never should've done that to you..."
4. "Don't cry, Sumi-chan."
1. "In the book, they shortened each other's names, so..."
2. "Oh um, because you're Sumire-chan?"
3. "...Sumi-chan?"
4. "My little brother calls me that too."
5. "Just a coincidence..."
6. "...I'm actually Kasumi."
1. "Wah wah waa ah~"
2. "Wa aaa hh h~"
3. "What's the yelling for?"
4. "But, but, Moooom! It's soo, soooo bad!"
5. "Don't make me come over there, Haru!"
6. "Haruuu! Cut it out; I'll have to iron your uniform!"
7. "See, um..."
8. "Onii-chan...!"
9. "What'd you do, Haru?"
10. "Talk sense into your sister!"
1. "Really bad, and... I made her cry."
2. "...but I let my friend down."
3. "I can't say the whole thing,"
5. "I wanna time machii-iiine~!!"
6. "What exactly did you do?"
7. "Broke a promise... A big one..."
8. "And now we..."
1. "...I'm going home for today."
2. "At least we could clear things up."
3. "Sorry I cried."
4. "It's not even a real one anyway..."
5. I never gave her the flower.
6. on those cold steps?
7. Did she wait for me, for hours,
8. Those steps were cold...
1. Sumi-chan.
2. Su-mire-chan.
3. Ka-sumi-chan.
4. Sumi-chan.
5. Do you hate me now?
6. "... No..."
7. "I don't want it all to be over!!"
8. How can she say she's not brave?
1. "Then you have to show how serious you are."
2. 100% without a doubt my fault!
3. "This uhh... Fight? Is it your fault?"
4. "Think you can do that?"
5. Never get mad back at her.
6. Stay patient until she forgives you.
7. Use your words.
8. "I'll do it!!"
1. Sumi-chan!
2. No, Kasumi-chan!
3. "Thanks, hun."
4. "Well she's back on her feet."
5. "Haruyo will do whatever it takes to win back your trust!"
6. "...Even if I'm not really sure where to start...!"
1. "!"
2. "Wait, it's not a competition!"
3. "Why'd she show up before I cou-"
4. "A senpai wants to see you!"
5. "Ha-ruyo-chaa-an!"
6. "Senpai, what do you need?"
7. "Su-mi..."
8. "?"
1. "How'd you braid it when it's that short?"
2. I didn't get to ask...
3. "It was down past my shoulders before."
4. "Oh, my hair?"
5. "See, it's like, "proof of my resolve!""
6. "I wanted to be different."
7. "But I cut it when I made up my mind to meet you the second time."
8. "Oh and it's a lot easier to dry now!"
9. "No no no! I never planned on letting it get that long!"
10. Be-cause of me...?
1. "You don't have to feel bad about it, Senpai..."
2. "So, um..."
3. "...Hey, Senpai? We got to finally meet."
4. "I want to get to know you more."
1. "Is that okay?"
2. "..."
3. "Eh?"
4. "..."
5. "mumble..."
6. "!!"
7. "I'll be there!"
8. "After school... at the library's desks..."
2. "..."
1. Do you study here a lot?
2. I do.
3. Do you like studying?
4. I'm a scholarship student so I have to keep my grades.
5. That's so cool!
6. "..."
1. "You got that into roleplaying?"
2. If you memorized my handwriting, you must have spent a lot of time looking at my letters.
3. "Sumi-chaaan?"
4. "Come onnn, Sumi-chan."
5. "I want to talk to you~"
1. "Owie!"
3. "...sigh"
4. "?"
1. I got seriously mad when you didn't show up.
2. So mad I swore when I saw you I'd punch you.
3. "It's what you get!"
4. "You'll pay for this, Onee-sama!"
5. But when I found out the truth, I didn't know what to do with my anger anymore.
1. "Let's go."
2. "Sen-pai..."
1. "Want to keep it going? Playing "S.""
2. "Use your words."
3. Okay.
4. "Yeah!"
1. "And I won't ever make you cry again!"
2. "If we meet, I'll always be there first!"
3. "I'll never leave you waiting again!"
4. "So please, give me another chance!"
1. "I was just sulking and I wanted to get you back for it."
2. "...You know, it really tires you out staying angry."
3. "that felt pretty good and I calmed down."
4. "So when I kept making you panic,"
5. "You're probably right about that..."
6. "You deserved it for leaving me in the cold."
7. "W-Well I..."
1. "Mm-hm. Now we're even."
2. "So use this and write me another letter!"
3. "Show you can still be a good "Onee-sama!""
1. "I'll do a really good job!"
2. "...Okay! I'll do my best!"
3. "Oh and, you see..."
4. "Ah-"
5. "I'll do my ut-most!"
6. "That's better."
7. "...A "really good job"?"
1. "I'd planned on giving this to you that day."
2. "Here you are!"
3. "Sadly, it's not a real one..."
4. "Nobody's given me a flower before."
5. "Mh-mm."
6. "Even if it isn't real..."
1. "And I made her favorite for dinner..."
2. "Looks like she's over it now."
3. And with that,
4. I got out of the fire and back in the frying pan!
6. If you have the means, please consider supporting the author and purchasing the Japanese volumes.
1. let's talk register
2. Register is the varying degree of formality in language. Japanese has 3 primary registers: casual, polite, super polite.
3. Mostly this is expressed through the equivalent of verbal punctuation: desu/masu forms of words.
4. Kasumi pointing out Haruyo being overly polite with "masu", breaking "Onee-sama's" character.
5. AriSaku (aka Dear Flowers, Flowers of Yore, whatever the collective eventually settles into calling this manga) is crazy heavy on register changes.
6. Haruyo writes politely and elaborately as "Onee-sama," (which breaks down after she learns the truth), speaks very childishly at home, is naively respectful with Kasumi-senpai, and is familiarly casual with "Sumi-chan."
7. She may jump between them on the same page or even the same panel.
8. Kasumi sulking in part because Haruyo swapped from "Sumi-chan" to "Senpai."
9. "Su-mi..."
10. "Senpai, what do you need?"
11. Kasumi was always distantly respectful writing to Onee-sama, but after meeting Haruyo she switches to a casual demeanor, like speaking to a kid.
12. With their "S" relationship continuing, it's no spoiler to say there will be a lot of register switching coming up.
13. However this can be an ordeal to cleanly express in English (in skinny speech bubbles), so please bear with me and read between the lines.
14. If it helps, I brainstormed a little cheat-sheet while translating to establish character voices:
15. Haruyo. Kouhai: Deferential, immature, hesitant. Onee-sama: Clipped, assertive, refined.
16. Kasumi. Senpai: Casual, direct, omitting. Little Sister: Polite, reserved, passive.
17. Anyway that was all you needed to know.
18. If you really needed to know that?
19. The rest will be example dialogue you really don't need to know.
20. You can stay late to watch the teacher scribble on the board if you're a nerd.
1. let's talk register
2. Extra credit AKA I cannot shut up
3. For example, here Kasumi asks,
4. "How'd you braid it when it's that short?" omitting the subject.
5. But little sister Kasumi might say,
6. "Your hair is so short; how did you braid it?"
7. The switch works better with wider context, where I can omit more to make lines brief and casual.
8. "How'd you braid it when it's that short?"
9. "It was down past my shoulders before."
10. "Oh, my hair?"
11. Now one of the liberties I've taken is making Haruyos Onee-sama speech fancier - not so ornate as her letters, but enough to distinguish it from normal dialogue.
12. "I'd planned on giving this to you that day."
13. "Sadly, it's not a real one..."
14. "Nobody's given me a flower before."
15. Haruyo Onee-sama mode
16. Haruyo's onee-sama speech may be casual but still quite feminine.
17. "Here you are!"
18. "I'd planned on giving this to you that day."
19. "Sadly, it's not a real one..."
20. "Have this!"
21. "I wanted to give it to you back then."
22. "Too bad it's a fake flower..."
23. Once again, there's a little more context given when speaking upwards. Her Onee-sama voice is slightly stilted, but that's fitting.
24. Haruyo kouhai mode
25. But!
26. In reality Haruyo in Onee-sama mode is simply more casual, acting as if she's the one speaking to a younger student.
27. I elected to retain more of her refined speech, since I think it immediately captures the stark difference in tone where English (or my English at least) struggles to.
28. Ironically this makes Haruyo come across as more polite where she's actually being less. And as a result, I had to lean into the immature roughness in her usual speech.
29. The result isn't a perfectly faithful translation of the exact wording, but I think it faithfully represents the many voices of the characters, repurposing their existing traits in a way that suits a new language.
30. That's just translation, baby.
31. Expression's an artform, and art has no right answers.
32. You're stuck viewing it through my lens. (though it totally has wrong ones)