Tonari no Seki no Satou-San chapter 64

This is the beginning of Yamaguchi’s boss battle. It will be a test of his mental strength. Enjoy!

Translator: butterreader

Editor: butterreader

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Title: Satou-san’s Treasure (1)

“Yamaguchi-kun, I’d like you to come to my house sometime.”(S)

When I called to arrange a date with her, Satou-san said this to me. 

“To tell you the truth, my mother said she wanted to meet Yamaguchi-kun once. “(S)

“I don’t mind.”(Y)

 I replied, trying to look nonchalant, but inwardly I was a little shaken up.

While I was thinking about this and that, Satou-san continued to speak.

“She said that she wants to treat you to dinner. I hope it’s not too much trouble.”(S)

“No, it’s no bother. Am I the one who’s bothering you guys?”(Y)

At any rate, the worst thing you can do is to be scared to death when this kind of thing comes up. The fact that I am a student can’t be helped anymore, so I’ll just tell them that I am studying hard for my future and that I am thinking seriously about you, Satou-san.

“Yes, I’d like you to come, if you can”(S)

Satou-san’s voice lightened a bit at that point. I couldn’t see her expression because I was on the phone, but I guess she was relieved that she didn’t scare me away.

“We have my mom and grandma and grandpa at home, so it might be a little noisy, but…”(S)

I can’t really imagine Satou-san’s family being so loud, though. I look forward to meeting them. I laugh at her as I prepare myself, and she chuckles too.

“As expected of you, Yamaguchi-kun, you sound so calm.”(S)

“What? I doubt it.”(Y)

“That’s right. If I were you, I’d be very nervous if I were to visit your house.”(S)

It’s not that I’m a calm person, but when Satou-san said that to me, I was strangely nervous and troubled.

On the Saturday I had promised, I visited her house alone. I knew where Satou-san’s house was because I’d driven her home on the way back from our previous date. She had told me to come over around four o’clock in the afternoon, so I arrived in front of her house five minutes ago and rang the intercom.

“Ah, Yamaguchi-kun! Welcome.”(S)

I rattle open the sliding front door to reveal Satou-san’s face. Dressed in a navy blue sweat dress with an English logo on it, she looked at me and her expression lit up.

“I’m glad you came. Anyway, will you come up?”(S)

“Yeah. I’m sorry to intrude!”(Y)

I raised my voice to greet the family in the house so that they could hear me. But they didn’t respond, and as Satou-san pulled me in, the house was quiet. 

“My mom and grandparents are out shopping right now. They said they’ll be home in time for dinner.”(S)

“What? Oh, I see….”(Y)

As I took off my shoes, I was out of it. I was a little nervous because I thought we were going to say hello to each other around the dining table when we arrived. But I was also relieved. Even if it was just a case of procrastination.

“So hold on a minute. My room is upstairs.”(S)

Satou-san said plainly and walked out ahead of me as if to show me around. Her house was a little old, a two-story building with a staircase leading up to the second floor at the end of the living room you entered from the front door. There was a faint scent of incense in the air on the first floor, perhaps a Buddhist altar or something. Satou-san looked back at me once and then went up the stairs, and I followed her, looking at her calves and her ankle-length sock-clad feet.

“Here we are. Sit down and wait, and I’ll bring you a drink.”(S)

As we went upstairs and opened the door just outside, Satou-san urged me to enter only.

“Yeah, no problem,”(Y)

I said quickly, but she smiled and shook her head.

“We can’t just not serve our guests anything. Cold tea, if that’s okay?”(S)

“Yeah, well I guess I’ll have to oblige.”(Y)

“Yes, sir.”(S)

As soon as Satou-san left the room and closed the door, I heard the sound of light footsteps descending the stairs.

As I was left behind, I looked around the room, feeling a little uncomfortable. Naturally, this was the first time I was allowed into Satou-san’s room. Since we have never invited each other to our homes or visited each other’s homes, I have been able to imagine the room where Satou-san lives rather freely. Any man would have done that much. And the room I saw in person was not exactly as I imagined, but it was reasonably true to my image. It was a small room with just an old study desk and chair that looked like it had been used since elementary school, and a black colour box lined up next to it. It was probably about a four-mat room. There was only one window in the room, which had a bunch of plain gray curtains, and directly opposite the window was a sliding door that looked like a closet. The walls are plain wooden boards with a newspaper store’s calendar pasted on them, and a plain blue carpet is spread on the floor. This alone doesn’t seem like a girl’s room, but there are a number of stuffed animals inside and above the color box, and the small flowers in a vase give off a faintly sweet scent, so it’s barely a girl’s room at least.

There was a white wooden photo stand on the desk. I casually glanced at it, and the next moment I felt dizzy. On the photo stand was a picture of Satou-san, who had played the role of a noblewoman at our high school festival, and me, who had played a mouse. Of course I had ears, whiskers, and white tights.

“Why did you print this picture…!”(Y)

I’ll never forget that this photo was taken during last year’s school festival when we performed a play, and I was pushed by a girl in my class. Afterwards, I was asked by Satou-san to transfer this picture to her mobile phone as well, but I didn’t expect her to keep it on display. But I didn’t expect her to keep it on the wall, and I wanted her to hide it if possible, as it was nothing more than black history for me. As I was tempted to put the photo stand down, I heard her come up the stairs again.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Yamaguchi-kun. Mugi-tea is fine, right?”(S)

Satou-san came back into the room with two cups in her hand, opening the door with her elbow. And when she saw me holding a photo stand in front of her desk, she had a somewhat happy grin on her face.

“Oh, did you see that?”(S)

“Yeah I saw it…”(Y)

Instead of being happy, my mood sank as it brought back memories of those days that I’d almost forgotten.

“I wanted to display Yamaguchi-kun in my room. Was it wrong?”(S)

Still, when asked that by Satou-san, who tilted her head slightly, it was hard to deny it all.

“It’s not that you can’ t. I just want to see more beautiful pictures on the wall of us.”(Y)

“That’s another pretty picture for me.”(S)

Then Satou-san placed the two cups on the desk and took the photo stand from my hand. Then he returned it to its original place with a very careful hand.

“Yamaguchi-kun didn’t like it? Then I’ll do something different…”(S)

“It’s not that I don’t like it, but I don’t know what to say.”(Y)

It was hard for me to say no to her because she was so carefree. It’s also true that the fact that she hung my photos in her room was, if anything, a bit alarming. I wondered if she looked at my photos when she was alone – well, that’s not so subtle when I’m in that rat suit. I’m not genuinely happy about it 

“But I hope your family doesn’t get the wrong idea when they see it. ‘She’s going out with some creepy guy in tights’.”(Y)

When I politely expressed my concern, Satou-san blinked and then said, “No, it’s not.

“Not really. My mom said it was a great picture.”(S)

“Did you show them already!?”(Y)

I hope I haven’t seriously been misunderstood by them. This costume is definitely not my style.

I was told that there was only one chair and I could sit in it. But I didn’t want to sit apart when I was alone with Satou-san, so we decided to sit on the floor together. As we got comfortable with our cold tea, the quietness of the house suddenly began to bother me. It’s just you and me, Satou-san, right? It’s not that I don’t like it, and I see her alone a lot when I meet her outside, but seeing her alone in her room made me feel strangely uncomfortable. I’m sure I would have been nervous if Satou-san’s family had been there, but I felt fidgety if they weren’t here. Maybe the same thing is happening to Satou-san She was sitting next to me, drinking barley tea and blinking repeatedly. Even when she was at home, she was always wearing a single knot ponytail, and she didn’t dress up or wear make-up, even though it was a day like this, but that was the opposite of what was bothering me. Maybe it’s because I imagine she always looks like this when she’s in this room. I wonder when your family will come back. It’s fidgety to not know that.

“……Yamaguchi-kun.”(S)

Suddenly, Satou-san called me over to her. Aware of my heart skipping a beat, I turned my attention to her. She was sitting right next to me and was looking at me intently, as if she cared about something. When her eyes met mine, she continued before I could say anything else.

“Isn’t it weird in my room?”(S)

I was a little surprised that such a thing bothered her.

“Why? It’s not weird at all.”(S)

It’s plain. But I guess you could say it’s more like Satou-san. I’m relieved to see that it’s not so far removed from what I had imagined Satou-san’s room to be. I felt that I was in her room, not some girl I don’t know. The only thing that struck me as surprising was the many stuffed animals on display in the color box, but I remember Satou-san likes to keep her character toys, too. I remember when she gave me an adhesive plaster a long time ago, and it was too cute to use.

“I didn’t know you had stuffed animals on display.”(Y)

When I touched on this point, Satou-san looked as if she had been hit on a sore spot.

“Oh, yes. As a matter of fact, I do.”(S)

“It’s good, isn’t it?”(Y)

Before you ask me if it’s not strange, I’ll follow up. I don’t think it’s weird. It’s childish, though. Then I looked at the color box to see what kind of stuffed animals were on display, specifically. There were seven stuffed animals on display, three on top of the color box and four inside, and I noticed that all of them had white bodies. Each one was dressed differently – some were dressed in suits with ties, some were dressed in marine borders and wore sailor hats, some were dressed in rather casual hoodies, and some looked like princes with crowns placed between their ears. All of them had two round ears, dull, small eyes, a thin whisker that looked tingly and hard, and a pointed nose.

“…A stuffed mouse?”(Y)

My questioning was half to myself. Satou-san nodded her head.

“The house mouse,”(S)

“Why are there only mice here? Do you collect them?”(Y)

It’s strange to ask why. I know the answer, and I’m not so slow like Satou-san that I need to ask her to tell me every single time. But I would have liked to hear it from her if I could.

Before she gave an answer, Satou-san stood up and picked up one of the stuffed rats on top of the color box. It was a rat dressed like a drum and fife band, wearing a black jacket and red pants. Satou-san returned holding the stuffed animal and sat down next to me again. She glanced at me and said shyly,

“Whenever I see it, I end up buying it. It reminds me of Yamaguchi-kun.”(S)

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Notes:

Japan measures the size of a room in tatami mats, so the size of her room is 6.48 m² or for imperial users 21.26 ft². There are special rules for how the mats are supposed to be laid out so the dimension of her room is 1.8 m by 3.6 or 5.9 ft by 11.8 ft. Here’s an example

Mugi tea is barley tea

When I was translating I laughed when one of the translations I got was “I wanted to hang Yamaguchi-kun in my room. Was it wrong?” For a second there I thought Satou went yandere.

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