Kohaku Oukawa - Colors of the New Year

[daze_0907]

Author: Yuumasu (ゆーます)

Season: Winter

Location: Stalls Lining the Pathway to the Shrine, Downtown (New Year)


Kohaku: (— The first three days of the new year have passed, yet ‘s full of stalls still. There's lotsa people too, so it's real lively.)

(Wah, they're sellin' huge dango. It looks super tasty~ ♪)

(This stall here's sellin' some real strange stuff.)

(Tornado potato......? "Poteto" means potato, right? Wonder what kinda flavor it has.)

(...... No, that's irrelevant! I'm losin' sight of my original goal.)

(I didn't come here ta stroll around and tour the food choices. I came here ta see Rinne-han's situation.)

(Yesterday, Rinne-han asked me ta "help him open a stall at the shrine", but I turned him down right then and there—)

(Seems ta be that HiMERU-han and Niki-han also flat-out rejected him, but him all by his lonesome was weighin' on my mind, so I came ta see what he's doin'.)

(I'm not interested in helpin' out in the least, and it'd be a bother gettin' tangled up in it, so it's better not to be seen......)

(I can hear Rinne-han's voice...... He's mannin' that lottery stall.)

(...... Hm? The guy next ta Rinne-han is......)

(Bon!? Wh-What's he doin' here......!)

(Subaru-han and Koga-han're there too. Could it be they're standin' in for us and workin'?)

(Rinne-han. If that's the situation, I won't spare ya from just punishment, got it......?)

Tsukasa: Marvelous! The jackpot is a special travel voucher ♪

Subaru: Good for you! Congratulations, congratulations, congratulations ☆

Koga: You over there, yer the second place winner. Congrats.

...... Hah? Don't go huffin' and puffin' over not claimin' the grand prize. This wolf plush's not half bad, ya know.

Subaru: Yeah, yeah. The eyes and everything really look like Gami-san so it's super cute ☆

Koga: Heh. It's 'cause I'm a proud wolf.

...... Or— Who the hell are you callin' "cute"!?

Subaru: Ahaha, don't get mad. Laugh, laugh, fortune comes in by a laughing gate~ ♪

Koga: It's 'cause ya keep sayin' unnecessary things, ya bastard. Good grief......

Hey, young master with the red hair, special prize still not ready yet?

Tsukasa: Please wait a moment. I'm looking for the voucher that I stored earlier as we speak. Ummm......

Ah, it was on the shelf! Hup......

Uu, I can't quite reach it...... Amagi Rinne-senpai, would you mind fetching that box for me?

Rinne: Sure, leave it to me.

Here ya go. That'll be one million yen.

Tsukasa: Eh...? One million yen?

Rinne: That's the service fee for usin' me. Installments're fine too, if that's more your speed.

Tsukasa: ......

Rinne: Gyahaha! I'm just jokin' around, don't make that face ☆

When yer done wrapping that travel voucher, help me out a bit. I'm gonna tidy up the display case.

Tsukasa: Of course. I was also a bit troubled about the display becoming more unattractive since the prizes are slowly diminishing.

The grand prize may have been given away already, but let us devote ourselves to devising a plan to make customers see that the remnant prizes are also good fortune ♪

Kohaku: ......

(...... I almost ran over when Rinne-han was demandin' a million yen, but.)

(Looks like Bon's havin' a good time, so maybe it's fine ta think of it as him learnin' about the world.)

(I'll quit thinkin' about punishment. Ya escaped by the skin of your teeth, Rinne-han...... ♪)

(Well, I'll beat a hasty retreat before I'm found out.)

<One hour later>



Kohaku: (...... All the shops're in a New Year's mood too, huh. They're callin' out to passersby all energetically with Japanese-style music playin' in the background.)

(There's fukubukuro sales. That said, 's peak season, so it's gotta be tough for the shop staff. I appreciate the hard work you're puttin' in followin' the wake of the new year...)

Jun: Oh, if it isn't Sakura-kun. Hello~.

Kohaku: Jun-han. And also—

Shinobu-han and Midori-han. All three of ya are together, huh. Where're ya off to?

Jun: At Takamine-kun's invitation, we're doing a little shopping.

Midori: Well, I just mentioned that the fukubukuro sales were happening. I didn't necessarily invite them, but......

Shinobu: Then I guess we'll call it a chance meeting. I also wanted to see Midori-kun's parents' faces, so.

The more people we have, the more spins we get for the lucky draw anyway, right~? Nihihi ♪

Midori: You said you wanted to "see my parents' faces", but you saw my family yesterday too......

Kohaku: Jun-han. What's it mean ta say that the more people ya have, the more spins ya get for the lucky draw?

Jun: For every thousand yen you spend on shopping, they give you one spin for the lucky draw.

We're aiming for the second place board game prize 'cause we wanna use it for ASOBI club~.

Kohaku: Ain't it cheaper ta just buy the game directly 'stead of spinnin' for it?

Jun: Ahaha. We're planning on that in the worst case scenario, though~?

There's other attractive prizes too, so we thought we'd try our luck.

Kohaku: Gotcha. I felt like buyin' this 'n' that just fer the lucky draw might be a bit unhealthy, but......

'S lookin' like it's a New Year thing ta spend money so enthusiastically?

Jun-han, alright if I accompany ya?

Jun: That's fine with me~. What about you two?

Shinobu: You're welcome with me, of course!

Midori: Yeah. If it's just one more person it should be fine......

Kohaku: Thank ya kindly. I'll help out best I can, even if it's not much ♪

(...... Back home, the new year was somethin' other people celebrated. Some fancy food made its way ta me, but if ya put that aside it was "just some other day".)

(The PC was just about my only window ta society. I thought it was a flight'a fancy that people went outta their way to go somewhere with so many other people bustlin' about, but......)

(I didn't know that the new year was this much of an excitin' time.)

('S been real hectic these past twelve months, but this comin' year should be no different —)

(That's not quite right, though. I hope this year'll be even more fulfillin' than the last.)

(It's what I'm hopin', but that depends on other folks, too. The me of now's standin' on my own two feet, so...)

(To have a more fulfillin' year. That'll be my own New Year's resolution...... ♪)


Notes:

• as always, my japanese is not native-level and thus is prone to error! please understand that this is a fan translation unaffiliated with happy elements.
• the celebration of the new year, called "お正月/oshogatsu", lasts from january 1st-3rd of each new year. the new year is arguably the most important holiday on the japanese calendar, and many people visit shrines and temples during these three days to wish for a good year ahead. it's why kohaku points out that there are still plenty of stalls lining the shrine's pathway, even though these three days have passed.
• kohaku calls tsukasa by "bon", translating kind of to "boy" in english. i'm far from an expert on how their relationship is written, but from what i can gather it's because kohaku sees tsukasa as someone with very little "real life experience".
• a "tornado potato" is a popular type of street food snack and originates from south korea. it's a potato cut into a spiral and put onto a stick, usually fried and then brushed with flavoring. if you look up "tornado potato" you'll be able to find plenty of examples! here, kohaku wonders if it's really a potato because the name uses the loanword ポテト/poteto" rather than the more "japanese" "ジャガイモ/jagaimo" for potato. my guess would be that kohaku's more familiar with jagaimo than poteto when referring to the vegetable :) jagaimo's actually also a loanword, it's just much older than poteto.
• subaru's "fortune comes in by a laughing gate" is a saying that essentially means that good fortune comes to those who smile.
• fukubukuro are kind of like grab bags that many japanese shops do in the new year to sell excess inventory and also "turn over a new chapter" by starting anew. they can be filled with literally any kind of merchandise depending on the store, from character goods to cooking tools to clothes to even food! they sell at a fraction of the price the merchandise usually sells for, so it's one of the most anticipated shopping days of the year.
• the ASOBI club jun talks about is a club that, according to the wiki, is "a circle of people gathering to play different games every day for stress relief and health. the game type and teams will be drawn randomly, and the game rules are never strict". the members of this club are jun, shinobu, yuuta, rinne, and sora! there's also a shinobu scout story with the same name, though there are no english fan translations of the story to my knowledge.
• the end of this story is kohaku saying that rather than wishing for something generic like "a more fulfilling year" that may depend on how other people act, he'd like to have a more fulfilling year for his own standards through his own efforts. :)