Mintna Bokura (We are Mint) Chapter 12 Translation by Dimitri Ashling All rights held by the authoress, Wataru Yoshizumi. Special thanks again to Masatomo (for checking my translations), and Karen Duffy (for showing me this story in the 1st place) Prelude Maria: A childhood friend...? Yoshiaki: Yeah. She's my next door neighbor. When we were little, we were always together. Cause of that, it seems like she thought I belong to her. I'm sorry she made you think of unpleasant things. So don't worry about Akira. Maria: Sure. Page 1 Noel: Yeah, there's a 3D movie called "Blue Oasis". You can see undersea fish & plant life rendered as three-dimensional pictures. What. Really!? You can go!? Yeah, gotcha. See ya day after tommorrow at 1 o'clock! Page 2 Beep (getting off the cel phone) Yahoo!! (Door shuts) Maria: I'm home. Noel: Welcome home, Maria! I'm coming in. Maria: Oh, Noel. I'm home. How did it go? Did you get home safe? Noel: Yeah, somehow. I'm really sorry about today. Thank you. Page 3 By the way, Miyu and I are going to the I-Max Theatre in Shinjuku! I just called Miyu to invite her, and she said OK. It's our first date!! Just the two of us!! Maria: I see. You're happy about it. Noel: You don't look too well. Did Yoshiaki's team lose to Higashiyama? Maria: No, they won 64-38. Noel(thinking): So, Daisuke's team lost. I hope it wasn't because I hit him. Maria: I met Akira. She's a childhood friend of Yoshiaki. Page 4 She's in high school. She's really pretty and adult-like. She said "I want him back someday." about Yoshiaki. He said not to worry about it, but... Noel: Look here, that guy's still no good. That annoying girl's stuck to him like glue! Just stop going after him and break up! ______That's what I'd like to say, but Maria loves that guy.... Page 5 Noel: That's OK. You're a much cuter and better girl than she is! Don't lose. Don't worry about that girl!! That's why I told Yoshiaki "You better take good care of her." Have faith in him! Maria:...Noel.... That's right. I'll stop worrying. And have faith in Yoshiaki. Thank you! Page 6 Noel: Oh, yeah. If it really doesn't work out with Yoshiaki. Maria: What!? Noel: There's always a one in a million chance. There are lots of other guys out there. Daisuke for instance! It looks like that guy loves you. Maria: Daisuke? You gotta be kidding. What's your basis? Noel: Nah, I won't tell you that... Maria: What about you, Noel! What did Karin talk to you about? Could it have been a confession? Noel: A confession? No, it was... What was it? Page 7 Sorry, Karin! I was a little worried today and I had a bad headache. I didn't listen to you properly. I'm really sorry!! Karin: That really hurt. I was so messed up cause you wounded me! Noel: Oh, so sorry! Sorry... Karin: But that's OK. You called me, so I forgive you. Noel: Really!? Oh, what a relief___ Thank you, Karin! So do you want to talk? Page 8 Karin: Yeah, but not over the phone... I want to talk to you directly. So can I do that next time? I feel a little disappointed about today. But til next time, I'll just recover by myself. Noel: ...I really did something bad. Are you seriously distressed? Are you OK? Karin: Yeah, I'm OK. I'll call you soon. Then we'll set the date. Noel: Gotcha, I'll be waiting. Cheer up! Karin: I will. See ya. Page 9 Whose fault was it? I'm feeling terrible, you twit! (thinking):...but I still love him... OK, I'll do my best one more time! Miyu: That was amazing! 3D movies are lots of fun! I didn't know a thing about them! Page 10 Miyu: Especially the shrimp coming out of its skin! Noel: Yeah, that was great. Miyu: The fish were cute, too. And so was the squid! 3D movies have caught my fancy. Thanks for inviting me. Noel: Sure! (thinking): Oh, this is delightful. Miyu's having a lot of fun, too. Look at that smile! She's not shy at all around Toru! This is a super feeling between us! This is love! Page 11 Noel (with a really straight face): Miyu, I love you! Page 12 Will you be my girlfriend? Miyu:............. Page 13 Noel (thinking): What? No way! She's troubled? Why? Why? This was a great feeling. Isn't it OK? Miyu: ....We can't be just friends? Page 14 Toru, you're just like Noel. It's not just your looks, but also the atmosphere... Your voice and your personality too. So, it seems like I'm with Noel... I can talk to you really easily. To me, you're not a guy at all. (BBBOOONNKKK) Page 15 But I'd love to be friends with you. Really!! Having a guy as a friend expands my ways of seeing things. I think that's really precious. So, at times I want to see you again! Noel: So, that's it. But... Page 16 Miyu: Toru, you don't have a "girl". Don't you need one? Noel: Huh... Miyu: Can't you look for another girl to date? Maybe I have no value as a friend... Noel: No... nothing like that... Miyu: Then from now on will you be close friends with me? Noel: ........................Sure! Miyu: Really!? That's a relief! Thank you! Page 17 Noel(thinking): Oh, she dumped me... Page 18 Maria: "You're just like Noel. To me you're not a guy at all."... Noel's a guy. Noel: If she's friends either way, I didn't need to do the "Toru" bit after all. It's gotten complicated, but... Maria: You poor thing. But friendship can change into love. Don't give up and do your best! Noel: Yeah, that's it! Page 19 Maria: Say, I'm in the mood for a change of scene. Let's go hang out at Karuizawa. Noel: Karuizawa? Oh, the country house. Yeah, we haven't gone there this year. Maria: Yeah, let's invite our friends too! We'll all have a pleasant time for sure. Noel: Geez. Friends means Yoshiaki. I envy the two of you in love... Maria(blushing w/pastels): Tee hee. Noel: It's nothing to laugh about. Page 20 Sasa: Oh, it's a pretty country house. Maria: Yoshiaki and Sasa can use the guest rooms over there. Noel and I will use the bedrooms on the second floor. Yoshiaki: Oh my, isn't that Mt. Asama? Maria: Yes. Yoshiaki: The view is great from here. Page 21 (Yoshiaki and Maria looking at Mt. Asama) Maria: We're going to take a little stroll around here. Sasa: OK. (They're doing great.) Page 22 Noel: Hey, help me open these windows. Huh, where'd they go? Sasa: They went for a walk. Noel: Oh, that's cheating! There's lots to do around here. Opening the windows and cleaning... Sasa: Oh, it's OK. There's nothing we can do about it, cause they're in love. I would have been happy if you'd invited Makimura too. Noel: Don't say that so loud... I wasn't prepared for 2 couples. By sweatbead: 2 couples. Sasa: You could have invited her as Toru and came that way. If Makimura and Toru are a couple... Noel: Nope, I got dumped. Page 23 But she doesn't see me as a guy. "Cause you're just like Noel"! Sasa:....... Noel: She said she wants to be close friends from now on. Now I really understand your feelings the time I said, "I want to stay friends and keep seeing each other." Sasa: Oh, I see! Noel: But that time you separated after that. But for me, staying friends is fine. So I told Miyu that I want to chat and go places with her. That was a little strange. The time I told you, was it different.. Sasa: ...Well, everyone's unique. Noel: Well, the pattern of friendship changing to love does exist. So I'll do my best! Sasa: Oh, that pattern usually doesn't work. (Arrow: No malice.) Page 24 Noel: Yippee, I won again! I'm rich... Let's do it again. Look at Sasa, he's in the poorhouse! Hurry up and deal the cards! Sasa: Shit... (Ring...) Noel: We've gotta exchange 2 cards. Sasa: Shush, I gotcha. Maria: Hi, this is Minamino. Page 25 Maria: Yoshiaki. It's Akira.... Yoshiaki: Hello. Page 26 ...Oh. No, it's impossible. I can't go. It's impossible! See ya, I'm getting off. Sorry about that. Page 27 Maria: Did you give her this number to contact you earlier? Yoshiaki: ..No. I think she got it from my family. Maria: What's up with Akira? Yoshiaki: It's fine. Nothing to worry about. Noel: Ah, I'm gonna watch something on TV. Sasa: Me too. Page 28 Yoshiaki: She's bedridden with a fever. Her heart's getting weak, so she asked me to come... It's fine. I think she's probably lying. Maria: There's nobody at her place? Yoshiaki: ...no. Akira's an only child. Her parents are away busy at work a lot. So, since we were small, we always hung out together. My brother was away for several years, so he didn't take care of me. So Akira and I were always together. Page 29 Maria: Surely Akira has always loved you since about then... Yoshiaki: No. The reason isn't that she loves me. I was the one who always loved her more. Page 30 (Maria very stunned) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Coments, corrections and suggestions are welcome, contact Dimitri Ashling at: pokota@teleport.com Find more Mintna Bokura translations at: http://www.swb.de/~zahara/yo/yo.html Thank-you! ^^ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------