Arakure Chp 46 Translation

http://omaris-sister.blogspot.com/2010/02/wild-ones-arakure-volume-9-is-out-from.htmlHere's Arakure chapter 46.

Link to Arakure Chp 46

So ... I don't want to give away what happens, but there's significance in Japanese culture about what name you call a person by and it comes into play in this chapter.  People are called by their first name only by family and really close friends.  It is basically a sign of intimacy.   Therefore, when the person you like calls you by your first name, it's a big deal and escalates the relationship.  In the Viz version of the manga, Sachie calls Igarashi "Rakuto" from the start, whereas in the Japanese version she always calls him "Igarashi-san."  I don't know how Viz is going to resolve the error.  I'm surprised they went with "Rakuto" in the first place considering the cultural significance of it all.  I guess we'll see when Volume 9 comes out sometime next year.

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 5, Chp 23

This chapter starts with Igarashi having a dream about his childhood. He is a very cute little boy with a lonely but bright smile. He is assuring himself repeatedly that he is okay and that the situation is okay. As Igarashi awakens, Sachie narrates, "There is something I don't know about Igarashi-san." Igarashi thinks, "What is it I wished for?" It's New Years and everyone is going to Hatsumode. Igarashi and Azuma are at temple together. Azuma wishes that Sachie will acknowledge him in the coming year and then asks Igarashi what he wishes for. Igarashi, ever the smart-ass, says he wishes for Azuma's happiness because he (Igarashi) can't be happy without that happening. Azuma is touched until Igarashi actually says his prayer, "I wish for Azuma to be happy alone." This illicits shouts of "Bastard" and such from Azuma. Azuma then tells Igarashi that his first dream of the year was about Sachie and that he believes this is a good omen for "love-love" between him and Sachie. Igarashi is dilligently praying and doesn't seem to be paying too much attention to Azuma's babbling. Finally Igarashi finishes and says, "Whatever ..." to Azuma. "The only first dream of the year I care about is hers," Igarashi continues, referring to Sachie, who has just joined them. Azuma and Sachie are shocked. "So what nice dream did you have?" he sweetly asks Sachie who is trying to dodge the question by looking like she's busy praying. "Uh, well ..." she begins. "I dreamt of the boy who was my first love." "First love?" asks Azuma, who knows nothing of the story. The yakuza fill him in that Sachie's first love is a boy she met at a World Exposition 10-years ago. She and this boy promised to send each other New Years cards (so they all know, which must be entertaining to them all to watch Sachie twist in the breeze). Igarashi, clearly pleased, inches in closer to Sachie and asks what happened in the dream. Sachie is quite nervous and embarassed about the dream, so she says that she doesn't remember and then takes off running. She can't tell Igarashi that in the dream the little boy said, "since then I've always liked you," and then turned into Igarashi as he is now. Shocked at recalling the dream, she wonders why Igarashi was in it. She relieves her anxiety by blaming the dream on the necklace Igarashi gave her. She pauses on the note left with the necklace -- "Here is the necklace you wished for." But she didn't wish for anything.

It's getting cold and Igarashi comes to get Sachie to take her to an area where there's a fire so they can keep warm. Sachie is still lost in the thought about the necklace, and then decides that she'll just accept it because the more she thinks about it, the more confused she gets. So off she storms to get Igarashi some sweet sake, which causes her for feel greatly embarrassed. Next they are writing wishes for the New Year and Sachie asks Igarashi what he wrote. "Me? If I? ..." says Igarashi as he passes out in Sachie's arms. He's got a very high fever and apparently, he shouldn't have had any sake. Igarashi is feels really bad and in his mind calls out for help and then he sees Sachie's worried face. It's been a while since he had a cold. Igarashi thinks, "Don't worry, I'll be okay. I'll get well soon, so don't make that face. Smile."

Back to dreams of Igarashi's childhood. His eyes are blank even though he's smiling. He tells his mother that he will be okay alone and his mother praises him for being a good boy. "I'm okay," he says in his sleep. Sachie is by his side as he sleeps. She feels bad because she didn't realize should not have given Igarashi sake. She wonders why Igarashi is saying that he's okay in his sleep . She gets up and decides to got fix him some traditional sick-person dishes. Then Igarashi starts coughing and Sachie quickly returns to his side and holds his hand. Igarashi awakens briefly. He's in a daze and says, "Thank goodness, Mom." "Did he dream of his mother?" Sachie wonders. "Was the dream painful?" Then she thinks about an earlier conversation they had on the porch and wonders what he was deprived of as a child. "What happened? It must have been tough leaving home at 5-years old," she thinks. Then she looks at the necklace and wonders what she could do to bring Igarashi some comfort. Holding the necklace, she folds her hands and prays for power.

Back to Igarashi dream ... "What is it I wished for?" Igarashi's Mom is packing up to leave for the day. Igarashi cheerfully asks when she will be back, to which she replies that she doesn't know and that he should go to sleep instead of waiting for her. Igarashi's eyes go blank. Another day, little Igarashi is excited again because it will be parent's day at his daycare soon. His Mom says that she can't go and Igarashi replies that he will okay alone. Even though he is smiling, he looks likes he could be crying at the same time (T_T). Another day, little Igarashi is running home with a bag full of groceries in his arms. He's excited because it's his Mom's birthday and they are going make dinner and have cake. When he gets home, though, nobody is there (it looks like she gave him money for food and then disappeared while he was shopping. T_T). Then we move forward a little to Igarashi's awful relatives who don't want to take him in. "I promised ..." Moving forward a little, ... "Soon I we have say goodbye" ... a little girl is waving back at him. "C'ya" she says. "Don't forget our promise. From now on everyone will be together always" Igarashi recalls, "The promise was for me to be in that person's future. Through this I forgive my existence." Igarashi then awakens to find Sachie asleep as his bedside. She is holding the necklace he gave her.

Soon Sachie awakens and excitedly asks Igarashi if he okay and begins to feed him some of the sick-people's food that Azuma brought earlier. She is very happy that Igarashi is okay. After feeding him, she remarks that the necklace is wonderful and it's just what she wanted. She continues by saying that she's also happy that Igarashi got well quickly just as she wished for. They do some back and forth about what her wish really is and it ends with her declaring that her wish was fullfilled by her own power because year after year everyone will be together for days like Christmas and New Years. Meanwhile, Azuma is putting away laundry. He puts some clothes in Igarashi's clothes and finds an old New Years card that Sachie sent to Igarashi (yes, Azuma, Igarashi is Sachie first love and she doesn't know it). Back to Igarashi and Sachie. "So, the the effects of this necklace can't be avoid, let me put it on you," Igarashi says as puts the necklace on Sachie. Sachie looks a little surprised. The narration closes, "Together with you in the future"

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 5, Chp 22

Everyone is in a panic about what to do about the phone call from the class president's father, who is a police officer. They run around comically, looking very guilty. Sachie tries Tora, who looks very calm, but he's so nervous that he ends up talking into a sandal. The Sachie's grandfather gets on the phone and gives some weird polite romanticized out of era greeting, greatly embarrassing Sachie. Finally, Igarashi steps in to stop the stupidity. He tell's the class president's father to excuse the fun and that everything is okay -- goodbye. He then powers off the cellphone and asks the class president to turn his phone off during his visit. Sachie then remembers Igarashi's earlier advice to be cautious around the class president.

Back to the party, Sachie calls everyone together for the present exchange. One of the male students is eating some cookies that one of the female students had hoped to exchange with Igarashi. He says the cookies aren't very good which pisses the girl and her friends off. Sachie has two gifts and offers them up so everyone can participate. In the back of her mind, though, she is worrying about what to give Igarashi, who always bring her happiness. She wants to bring him happiness too. Cookie thief tries to stealthily throw away the rest of the cookies and is caught by Sachie who goes "yakuza" on the boy for disregarding the feelings the girl put in the cookies. Igarashi reminds Sachie to contain her temper and that she's in front of her friends. Her friends are scared and speechless. Then the class president breaks the silence by saying that Sachie truly is a princess. Sachie freaks thinking that he means "yakuza princess," but then he continues to explain that she's truly a princess because she and her household care so much about the feelings of others. Sachie is saved and everyone is at ease and happy again.

The party continues and comes to an end. As the class president is leaving, Igarashi stops him to return his cell phone. The class president says that he had a good time and that it looks like Sachie is well cared for. He then reassures Igarashi that he won't say a thing about anything. He continues by explaining that he doesn't think the group is about money. Igarashi asks, then what the class president's interest was (Igarshi is worried that the class president could be interested in Sachie) and the class president says that we was interested only in getting to know Igarashi better. He then shakes Igarashi's hands in an overly familiar manner -- cupping both of Igarashi's hands in his own -- and with a sparkly aura tells Igarashi that he admires him. As he leaves, the class president says that he hopes to follow in sempai's foodsteps. Igarashi is left feeling violated, then tinged with a little of happiness after being greatly complemented, and, ultimately, confused by what just transpired.

Back in the house, Sachie thanks the yakuza for a great party. Azuma is excited because he got Sachie's present and brags about it to Igarashi, who doesn't care all that much. Azuma is greatly disappointed by Sachie's weird present (red wrapping paper ??? -- I have no idea what she got). Meanwhile, Igarashi is walking around thinking about the day when he sees Sachie outside climbing at tree. It's very cold outside and it has begun to snow. Igarashi, worried rushes out to find out what Sachie is up to. Of course, Sachie slips out the tree and into Igarashi's waiting arms and they both fall to the ground in a quasi-embrace. Igarashi scolds her for climbing trees while it's snowing (she's bare footed too). Sachie explains that she had put a Christmas cake in the tree to decorate with snow (??? perhaps she wanted to hide it too and that's why she put it in the tree ???). "Cake?" Igarashi inquires. With downturned face, Sachie explains that she wanted to give Igarashi a present to thank him for taking care of her, but she couldn't come up anything. So instead she decided to try making him a Christmas cake. By the way, the cake is beautifully decorated, despite her saying that it was easy to make. Igarashis is suprised and asks if the cake is really for him. Sachie panics thinking that he doesn't want the cake because they've already eaten cake at the party and maybe he doesn't like sweet things, but instead Igarashi is overcome with joy and kisses her hand and then gives her a big hug. He whispers in her ear that the day was wonderful because of the party and the cake. He lets go and then politely thanks her. It's an adorable scene. Sachie thinks "The two of us together, the cold snow, and the warm feeling of his gaze was so kind and gentle." The next morning, Sachie wakes up with a present on her bed from "Santa" with a note that says, "A necklace to fullfill your wish." Sachie is again reminded about how Igarashi always brings her happiness -- "Merry Christmas."

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 4, Chp 20

It's winter time and Christmas is coming. The yakuza are testing white powder to the horror of Sachie. It turns out that it's just flour that the yakuza are going to use to make goodies that they will sell in vendor stalls for the upcoming Christmas festivities. Meanwhile Igarashi and Azuma and lamenting over having to get dressed up for the festivities. In particular there's a kooky looking reindeer costume. Sachie teases them and Igarashi reminds her that she has to study for her exams -- he will of course be her tutor.

At school, Sachie gets through her tests thanks to Igarashi's help. She free and looking forward to winter break. Sachie's friend is excited about the Christmas party and wants to spend it with Igarashi, which doesn't please Sachie. The class president warns everyone about exceeding the budget. The girls ask Sachie what Igarashi likes and what kind of girls Igarashi likes. Sachie doesn't know. Which sends her mind thinking about presents. After school she decides to go shopping instead of going straight home. She ends up at the place where the yakuza are running the food stalls. They are all dressed in Santa Clause costumes and they welcome Sachie and her friends. Sachie begins to wonder who's who. One is super polite and offers to get her some takoyaki. He reminds her that he told her not to come and Sachie figures out that it's Igarashi. Poor Azuma is in the kooky reindeer outfit. They chat about how it sucks to be in costume and the fact that Igarashi is a pitiful Santa. While they talk, Sachi rubs her hands together and blows on them to try to warm them up. Igarashi notices and puts her hand into his pocket and then remarks that there are advantages to being in disguise. Sachie thinks that this is un-Santa like because Santa is supposed to pat your head and ask what you wish for. Igarashi gets up for a bit to tend to the customers. Sachie for some reason blurts out that she would be happy with anything that Igarashi would give her for Christmas. Igarashi doesn't hear her clearly. He comes back and asks Sachie what she wants for Christmas and she says that she wants to be together with everyone. And off she goes to do her shopping.

At a store she finds some gift (I'm not quite sure what's she's buying. It looks like wrapping paper to me). When she goes to pay for it, she discovers that her wallet is missing. Meanwhile back at the street festival one of the yakuza finds Sachie's wallet and he along with Igarashi decide to go find Sachie while she is still in the area. Sachie is back tracking to find her wallet, when she comes across across a couple of yakuza not in her family who are trying some you-knocked-me-over-now-pay-for-my-injuries scam on a well dressed old man. Sachie protests and says that the yakuza bumped into the man. The yakuza threaten her and Sachie pulls rank on them. Just as one of the thugs was about to hurt Sachie, Igarashi rushes in to the rescue with a big protective face burying hug (he's always trying to shield her eyes from violence). The man thanks Sachie and then pulls out a police badge which shocks everyone -- especially Sachie since she just bragged about being a yakuza princess. She and Igarashi get the hell out of Dodge before the policeman realizes what happened. It seems the policeman is the class president's father. On their way back Igarashi teases Sachie about her wallet and says that bad girls that don't go straight home don't get their wallets back. Sachie calls him devilish and says that she wishes the rest of her classmates could she what a meanie he really is. Igarashi says that only she gets to see this side of him which causes Sachie to blush and her heart to skip a beat.

The next day at school, the class president asks Sachie if they can have the Christmas party at her house because her mansion can accommodate all of the students and to keep within the budget. Sachie looks very nervous. The ending caption reads, "It looks like Christmas is becoming troublesome"

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 4, chp 17

This chapter is another filler chapter that took me FOREVER to get through because most of the dialog was very casual speech. I'll try to keep this brief since this chapter really doesn't move the story along. I have some comments to make at the end. So here it goes:

Leaving off from the last chapter, Azuma is at school sitting and his desk. He's resting his chin on his hand and he looks extremely salty. His classmates detect the strong negative vibes that are emanating from him and that wonder what his beef is. It seems that Azuma is in a bad mood because he's tired of hearing from everyone how handsome, smart and athletic Igarashi is. Azuma feels that he should be thought of highly too because he, too, is handsome, smart, and athletic -- but sorely lacking in humility. Azuma's egotistical outburst irritates his class mates. Blushing as though thinking about a royal prince, his classmates tell Azuma that he should give up because nobody can rival Igarashi. Azuma is crushed and his classmates turn away and start talking about the upcoming athletic meet. In walks Sachie which brightens Azuma's day only to have it turn gray because she just wants him to relay a message to Igarashi for her.

Later, in the boys locker room, Azuma, Igarashi, and so other guys are changing into their PE clothes. Azuma wonders what evil lurks behind Igarashi's smile. Meanwhile Igarashi is annoyed that Azuma is staring at him. Out loud Azuma says, "Actually, I wonder if he's hiding something. He really could be yakuza." This catches Igarashi off guard. He comes in close to Azuma and with a charming upward gaze says to him, "If you don't want to cause trouble to Sachie-sama, I, myself would stop taking. So ... don't cause trouble. " I guess Azuma hadn't realized he spoke out loud and says to Igarashi that it was a slip of the tongue, to which Igarashi, with that falsely sweet smiles that he delivers threats with says, "I see, well then don't let your tongue slip." The class bell rings and Azuma is left once again salty with the thought that Igarashi is perfect.

Later in the day, Azuma is back in class. He is furious and thinking about how he wants to win. Then he overhears some boys talking about Igarashi. Apparently Igarashi has enemies and they plan to interfere with him at the athletic meet. Later on the class is deciding what events to enter at the athletic meet. The class wonders what Igarashi will do. They agree that he can participate in anything other than volleyball. Azuma, upon hearing this, assumes that it means Igarashi is bad at volleyball, so he hatches a plan in his mind to be Igarashi's savior to elevate his own status and, therefore, volunteers Igarashi and himself to participate in the volleyball competition. Later back at home, Sachie brings up the fact that Igarashi, as a 1st year student, single handedly beat the third years at last year's volleyball competition. The other yakuza wistfully recall the memory and the bets they mode in association with last year's sport competitions. Azuma is mad that Igarashi is ringer. Sachie breaks the tense moment by promising to buy them meat with all the money she collected from the class if they win. Sachie smiles broadly and says that she thinks the two of them together will be invincible. Happily, Azuma grab Sachie's hands and says, "Sa-chan, I'll do my best." The sight of Azuma holding Sachie's hands upsets and saddens Igarashi. I guess he's sad that he isn't free to act the same way towards Sachie.

The day of the meet comes and Azuma acts like he doesn't know anything about volleyball. Igarashi makes up for him though. Later, the 3rd year boys are planning to sabotage Igarashi in the final match. At the water fountain, Azuma is openly criticizing Igarashi which draws the attention of the 3rd-years. They go about enticing Azuma to be a part of their scheme. Later, Igarashi is cooling off at the water fountain when Azuma approaches and asks him to follow him somewhere. Azuma has only pretended to go along with the 3rd years' plans and instead wants to side with Igarashi, but he doesn't know how to approach Igarashi yet because he knows that Igarashi would not accept "The Big Handshake." Azuma figures that siding with Igarashi would be better for his popularity than going against him, besides, he doesn't want to hurt Igarashi. And off they go ... Azuma leads Igarashi to the bushes that the 3rd-years are lying in ambush. Azuma brags that he fooled the 3rd-years and tells them that he's in league with Igarashi. Igarashi has no choice but to go along with Azuma. Azuma continues with a sick grin of his face saying that he betrayed them because he hates them and that while he understands their beef with Igarashi, he doesn't feel that there's any pride in winning through sabotage. Igarashi follows up with the threatening sweet grin by reminded the third years that they should be studying for entrance exams. The third years seem to be cowering away and Igarashi and Azuma go on their way. However a few of them are hell-bent on taking revenge for last year's 3rd year students and attack Igarashi with a wood post (by the way, this a great way to kill somebody, so I found this scene quite disturbing -- people don't get up after being hit with one of these.) "Shit!" Azuma says as he realizes what's just happened. (Though, I'm not sure whether he's worried for Igarashi or worried that Igarashi will lose it and go ape-sh*t-crazy on the boys who just assaulted him. Next page --) It appears that he's actually concerned for Igarashi's safety. Igarashi, looking fairly bruised and battered, picks himself off the ground, licks away the blood from a cut inside his mouth and, while taking hold of the wood from his assailants grip, informs him that the final round of the volleyball competition is starting soon and that they should leave for the meeting area. Igarashi continues by informing his assailant that he thinks the 3rd years are on the edge of being unsportsman-like and that it's best that they decide this dispute at the competition, as he breaks the wood post in half.

Back at the competition, Sachie is arriving to watch volleyball from having watched the basketball game. Igarashi and Azuma, now united, decide to kick some a** on the volleyball court. They, of course, win. Later, Azuma walks in on Igarashi who is bandaging himself up in the nurse's office. Azuma confirms his suspicion Igarashi was hurt and suggests that he let a doctor tend to him. Igarashi acts like nothing is wrong, which causes Azuma to grab and lift up Igarashi's shirt, revealing a bandage on Igarashi's ribs (yet again). Outside, Sachie is happy and calls up through the window to congratulate the two on their victory. Azuma yells back "Thanks, Sa-chan." Igarashi, irritated, remarks about whether it's okay for Azuma to call Sachie that. Azuma then realizes that he's not the only one who wanted to show off and is envious. He decides to take a little dig at Igarashi by saying, "It bothers you that call her 'Sa-chan.'"

And finally, they are back in class and there's a notification on the blackboard about how the 3rd years were disqualified from games involving balls and that their penalty is to clean the school grounds (or something like -- I really struggled with this one). The 3-yrs complain and Igarashi with that threatening grin asks them if they would rather do something else, to which they all eagerly agree that they will clean the school yard. The ending narration reads something like, "Who knows whether the Class President's kindness will allow them to pass their entrance exams or not."
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My thoughts on this chapter:

It seems that after the last couple of chapters, the author is trying to tone down Igarashi's temper and violent tendencies. I'm not sure whether I bought it. My feeling is that if someone were to start beating me with a wood post, I would think that this person is trying to kill me, so my instinct would be obtain a weapon and fight back with the intent of injuring the person enough to stop them from hurting me. I wonder are we supposed to believe that Igarashi did not return the assault because they are on school grounds and he has an image to maintain. I imagine breaking the post in front of the boys was threat enough to stop them from doing anything further. Perhaps Igarashi believes in order to not trouble Sachie that he has to maintain his princely image at school. Sigh ... still I think a proper beat-down was in order, though.
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Ugh, now that that's done, I can get around to the next chapter of "Kisu mo yori Hayaku". I already skimmed it so I can tell you that the chapter is very sweet. Anyhow, it should only take me a sitting or two to translate it. As for "Arakure," a new story arc begins with the next chapter. This arc begins at Christmas with a gift and ends with Sachie caring for Igarashi when he gets sick. There are, also, flashbacks to Igarashi's childhood. This looks like a very nice story arc and I look forward to finally being able to read it in detail.

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 4, Chp 19

This chapter begins with a flashback back to when Igarashi and Sachie knew each other as children. The narration reads, "We (I? -- I'm not sure) made a precious vow." And on to the yakuza household ... All the yakuza underlings are concerned about whether Igarashi will return with Sachie on the last train. Raizo assures them all that he's sure Igarashi will return with Sachie on the last train. Meanwhile back to Igarashi and Sachie. Igarashi is still holding a stunned Sachie by the wrist and caressing her hair, when the train announcer comes on announcing the next stop. That's when they realize they got on the same train that Igarashi came in and that they are traveling further away from Tokyo towards Kobe. The mood is broken and Sachie jumps up and suggests that they exit at the next stop.

At the next stop they exit. The guy at the ticket booth informs them that they were on the last train for the day. Sachie desperately asks about other options like the bus, but is informed that they are not running because of the holiday. Sachie then suggests that they head to Nagoya. Igarashi asks Sachie how much money she has. She says she has enough for transportation. Igarashi is in the same situation, so going to Nagoya would be pointless. They also can't get a hotel room because they are minors. Sachie, realizing the situation they are in, understands that they will be camping out until the first train comes in the morning. This is very upsetting to her. Igarashi is not that concerned though and calls back home to let them know the situation. The yakuza inform him that Raizo is sharpening his sword and if anything happens to Sachie, that sword will be used to remove one of his fingers. Igarashi puts on a good face for Sachie after the phone call. Sachie then realizes that it's just the two them and freaks out. Igarashi grabs her hand and leads the way. Meanwhile Sachie is thinking about how happy she is that Igarashi unexpectedly came to get her and how she does not know how to express her feelings. She's feeling ashamed of her desire for this situation to happen. While she's in deep thought, she begins to ask Igarashi a question. He then asks what he can do for her. He is smiling at her with his pleasant, but distant, fake smile. Sachie thinks back on things and thinks that on the train Igarashi seemed like a totally different person. She then says, "Nevermind" and they continue on. Suddenly Sachie remembers that they are Kobe and asks about all the different tourist traps. Igarashi tells her that they are nowhere near all that stuff. As they continue to walk, Sachie stubs her toe (she is wearing sandals) and falls into Igarashi's awaiting arms. Igarashi asks if she's okay and then apologizes for the situation saying that she must be tired and that they will find a store soon so they can rest. Meanwhile, Sachie has become self conscious of her sweatiness due to the day's walking and running. Embarrassed, by her funk, she pushes Igarashi away. Suddenly behind her, a lady from a bathhouse yells at them and asks if they want to enter before she closes up for the night.

While Sachie is cleaning up, she is worrying over why her heart is racing. Meanwhile, Igarashi is looking at the hand that was hugging her before he was pushed away. When Sachie exits, she finds that Igarashi has already left according to the bath house lady. Sachie panics and thinks that Igarashi is mad because he went out of his way to pick-up Sachie only to have her push him away. She wonders if he's become tired of her. She really wanted him to know that she is very happy to be with him now. As she leaves the bath house in a panic, she runs into Igarashi, who is returning from somewhere. Sachie is upset and in tears so Igarashi asks what's wrong, whether she feels bad, and whether she was able to bathe. He starts explaining how he found a bench when suddenly Sachie can't contain her emotions any longer and rushes head first into his chest for a hug. She explains that she got scared because he left and that she thought he came to get her because she was being selfish. She says that she thought that he couldn't care less about her. Igarashi stops her mid-sentence and yells that is not the reason he came. (Both of them, now are very emotional.) Sachie lets go and she raises her hand to her forehead in relief while still bawling. "Thank goodness," she says and continues by saying something about him loosing a finger (I'm not too sure about this part.)

Sachie then accidentally kicks over a bucket Igarashi has brought. It is a bucket full of little fireworks and sparklers. Igarashi says he bought them at a nearby convenience store to fulfill their promise. They play with them and talk about how pretty they are and so on. After they are done, Igarashi leaves Sachie on the bench while he goes to find a trash can. As he is walking off, Sachie thinks about how Igarashi's multiple faces are all him. When Igarashi comes back, Sachie starts dozing off while saying, "I ... more I want to ... "(literally, "with respect to Igarashi, more I .." -- it doesn't translate well into English. ) And then she's out, leaving Igarashi to wonder what she was trying to say. Sachie falls asleep with a big smile on her face. She is dreaming of her first love and remarking how much he seems like Igarashi. Meanwhile Igarashi is thinking about Kou and how he said he wanted Sachie. Igarashi then leans down and kisses the sleeping Sachie. In the background it reads that Sachie wants to know more about Igarashi while in the waking world Igarashi is making it clear to himself what he wants.

And so day breaks and they return home on the first train. It turns out that the yakuza waited at the train station all night for them. And then it's back to life as usual. Igarashi is, as always, the handsome, intelligent, and athletic class president who is surrounded by girl asking for help with their homework. Meanwhile Azuma is a bitter bystander and remarks about how Igarashi has entered the lion's den and dug himself a grave. The end narration says something like, "with which face shall we show" (This is a guess based on the flow of the page and the pictures. I don't know what "Higa" is and I can't find it in any of my dictionaries. I hope I'm not too far off.)

-End of Chapter-

Note: the next chapter looks like filler between story arcs. I may not do a detailed summary in favor of writing up something short since it appears that the next chapter is not pertinent to the story as a whole. The last chapter of volume 4 starts of a very cute story arc which includes Igarashi coming down with a cold and his Christmas gift to Sachie. Please look forward to it :).

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 4, Chp 18

This chapter starts tense, with Igarashi and Raizo facing off. "Please left me pick-up Sachie," Igarashi requests. "Pick-up?" Raizo asks. "Yes" replies Igarashi. Raizo then tells Igarashi that there is no reason to go all the way to Oosaka if Sachie will be returning in only 3 days. He will be relieved soon. Igarashi replies that that long of a wait is no good. Igarashi is beginning to fall apart. His emotions are showing as he states that he's going and then asks whether his going is unacceptable. Raizo looks a little taken aback by Igarashi's state. There is a flashback to the recent events -- Kou's phone call and Sachie pretending everything is okay. "I promised to protect you yet I let go of your hand," he thinks. Igarashi regains his resolve and continues. "It's just that I want to settle this. May I please leave," he says.

Meanwhile Sachie is under the fireworks with Kou, but she's forgotten all about Kou. Rather she is stunned and blushing and in disbelief that Igarashi is coming to get her. She calls home to confirm it and Raizo answers the phone telling her, indeed, Igarashi is coming to pick her up.

Sachie then comes back to Earth and graciously apologizes to Kou for not being able to keep her promise of a 3-day visit. While this is happening, Igarashi is buying a train ticket while thinking about how time seemed to stretch out while he was asking if he could go. Meanwhile, Sachie is stomping off to somewhere with her cellphone in hand wondering what's with Igarashi picking her up after he had wished her a safe trip.

Back at the Yakuza house, Azuma comes to see what's going on. Raizo says, "Isn't it a good thing" Azuma worries that this may cause bad relations with the Shinome family (or so I think that what he's saying). Raizo laughs it off and says something like "when it's time it's time." Azuma then insist on going to Oosaka too, but is denied and carried off by the other Yakuza at the snap of Raizo's fingers. Raizo then looks out the window with a little knowing smile on his face.

Meanwhile Sachie is looking at a voice message alert from Igarashi and wondering whether she wants to listen to the message or not. "Is he really coming?" she thinks to herself. Meanwhile Igarashi is very unsettled as he rides the train traveling towards Sachie. He's so anxious that he can't sit down despite the train's stewardess's urging. Both Sachie and Igarashi are lost in teenage angst and longing wondering how to face each other when they finally meet.

Later, Sachie is waiting at the train station platform for Igarashi. Kou comes to meet her and Sachie tries to pretend it's no big deal that Igarashi is coming to get her. Then some obnoxious drunk guys try to hit-on Sachie. Kou does his best to try to protect her. In the middle of the fray, the guys are taken out by Igarashi who has just exited the train. With a warm smile on his face he tells Sachie that he has arrived. Kou's Dad dispatches the last of the drunkards leaving Kou and Igarashi to confront one another. Igarashi tells Kou the promise is off. Sachie jumps in to say it was her decision, but Igarashi cuts her off saying the that it was his selfishness after hoisting Sachie onto his shoulder. With her in tow, he gets back on the train. The train leaves the station and Kou's father remarks that Igarashi is more attractive and charming than Kou. As they walk off, Kou's father tells young Kou not to worry because he's a child worth boasting about.

Meanwhile Igarashi and Sachie are in the train. Igarashi sets her down of the floor, but they still remain in an embrace. Igarashi asks Sachie to forgive him for his selfish action. He continues, "I should have expressed my feelings from the start instead of deceiving you."

Back to the yakuza house where Raizo is looking at a childhood photo of Igarashi. Raizo's right hand man remarks that Igarashi has a good smile in that picture. Raizo then says that since he's taken Igarashi in, Igarashi, until now, has never made one selfish request. Raizo explains how Igarashi thought that if he let anyone see his true self that he would be hated. This was the first time that Igarashi said "please" (onegai).

Back on the train Igarashi is looking rather seriously at Sachie. His hand is stroking her ear and hair. "I wonder what is the extent of this feeling," the narration reads. Sachie is looking at Igarashi and meeting his eye. The situation is intense because they are still touching. Sachie says, "let go." Igarashi replies, "I won't left you go." They falls to floor, Igarashi is fully embracing Sachie tightly. Back at the station Kou realizes that Igarashi and Sachie got on the same train Igarashi arrived upon, so instead of returning to Tokyo, they are continuing on South to Hiroshima. Back on the train Igarashi appears to leaning in for a kiss and Sachie looks like a deer in headlights.

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 4, Chp 17

The chapter begins with a flashback to Igarashi's childhood. He is walking in a building alone and looking a little down. People in the background are talking. The things being said are, "What a weird kid" "He's always so quiet", and "What is he thinking?" Next some old guy is slapping young Igarashi around while saying, "What's with the look on your face? Who do you think you have to thank for the food you're eating?" Some more adults comment about how Igarashi's facial expression never changes. Next we see young Igarashi being introduced to Raizo. Raizo remarks that Igarashi's facial expression is not cute. Below Igarashi is introducing himself. He is smiling, but his eyes are blank and dull looking.

Back to the present. Kou is happy that the day is clear -- perfect for watching fireworks. Igarashi is rude to him and tells his to leave quickly if he's gonna leave. As Igarashi leaves the room, he crushes a soda can with his hands before throwing it into the trash. Kou wonders what's with Igarashi's attitude. Meanwhile, Sachie is looking at the bruise Igarashi made on her wrist when he restrained her and asked her not to leave with Kou. For impact, a drawing of a crush soda can is shown beside the drawing of Sachie's wrist. (This is a little awkward. Clearly Sachie was abused, but I don't know how this plays in Japan. In the US, I would say this is an alert that Igarashi is no good because he's most likely abusive and the abuse will only get worse in the future). Sachie thinks about how her wrist was crushed like a soda can and flashes back on the memory of the event. Apparently after coming on so aggressively, Igarashi let go and said it was joke. He explains that he can't go to the fireworks with her because he has kendo practice (a lie) and that it's okay for her to go to Oosaka with Kou. "Really, I don't mind," he tells her with his gentle smile and lifeless eyes that don't match. So Sachie goes ahead and tells her grandfather that she will go to Oosaka with Kou. Kou overhears and is very happy at the news. Igarashi asks if 3-days and 2-nights is too much. Kou tells him not to worry and that he will serve as Sachie's bodyguard in Igarashi's stead. Driving the knife deeper in Sachie, Igarashi gives a super-fake-smile and tells Sachie to have a good time. Raizo takes note of Igarashi's behavior.

And so Sachie, Kou, and Kou's entourage are in Oosaka at some kind of festival. Sachie is excited and wants to play carnival games. She picks a rifle shooting game and Kou thinks that this is a wonderful chance for him to show off his manliness. He assumes Sachie can't shoot. Sachie, however, has perfect aim and looks fierce while shooting. Kou is stunned and feels intimidated. They move on to some more carnival games. All the while Sachie is angrily replaying the scene with Igarashi in her mind. She cannot figure out why he seemed so serious about asking her not to go, followed by telling her he was joking, and then sending her off with well wishes. After making 3 bullseyes at a darts booth, Sachie sees a guy that looks like Igarashi from the back. For a moment she is shocked but it's some bucktoothed guy instead. Kou notices and tells Sachie to get a hold of herself because Igarashi isn't coming all the way to Oosaka.

Back in Tokyo, Igarashi is the glittering prince of the fake smiles. He has prepared a meal for the household and the other yakuza are in misery because Igarashi is only cooking vegetarian meals. They understand until Sachie comes back, that Igarashi will be acting like a nut. Igarashi's cell phone rings, and it's Kou on the other side. Kou is calling to confirm that Igarashi is indeed still in Tokyo and tells Igarashi that everything is okay. Igarashi is very annoyed, of course. And then for a moment Igarashi's composure is broken. Raizo comes along and sees Igarashi looking upset. Raizo reaches out to Igarashi telling him that he has not seen Igarashi with this expression since long ago. Igarashi turns and smiles with blank eyes and tells Raizo that he's just tired. Raizo pats his head. While Kou is calling Igarashi, Sachie is trying to call Igarashi too. Instead of getting through, she gets a busy signal. Sachie gets really sad because now she believes that Igarashi is very angry with her and has, therefore, given up on her. Tears are welling in her eyes as she waits outside the bathroom for Kou. When Kou comes back out, she regains her composure.

Kou grabs Sachie's hand and says that he's going to take her somewhere else where there are fewer people. Sachie tells Kou that he's kind and he is delighted to hear it. He then grabs Sachie and steals a hug while asking her how she feels about him. He uses "ore" for himself, the grown-up version of "I." Kou father hears this and scolds Kou for using "ore," reminding Kou that he's still a child. Kou changes to cute little kid mode and laughs it off and Sachie jumps in to rat Kou out for using "ore" all the time. Kou tells her to butt out. A little bit later, Sachie and Kou are alone. Sachie says to Kou, "Can I ask you about yourself?" Kou spouts out a bunch of stuff about his birthday and blood type and so on, but that's not was Sachie wants to know. She asks her question differently and specifically asks about the his use of "boku" and "ore." Kou is at first annoyed with the question, but then begins to clarify the matter for her. "'Boku' is the good kid and "ore" is something I decided" He says. Sachie probes further and asks why he has to be careful when using the words. Kou says, "so I can't be separated." Meanwhile, there's a cut away to Igarashi, who is walking around thinking about Kou's challenge and Sachie's shocked expression. He puts his head in his hand in frustration. "I'm miserable" he laments and then continues on with dead eyes. Back to Sachie and Kou. Sachie asks for more clarification. Kou explains that he acts cute because he wants to be liked. He says he smiles and agrees but behind the laughter he's really manipulative and not very cute. Interleaved with this are drawings of Igarashi in full emo-boy mode. Azuma is walking around with a rice cooker and bugging Igarashi about it. Meanwhile Igarashi is pouting about how he could have handled the situation with Sachie better. Azuma asks Igarashi what's with the face he's making. Suddenly, Igarashi comes to resolution with himself and tells Azuma that he's gotta run. In walks Raizo who tells the confused Azuma not to worry. Igarashi has realized that there's something more he can do. Igarashi and Sachie are now both lost in though. Igarashi's thoughts are kinda hard for me to understand, but here's my try: "If I'm going to speak, the words ... my intentions, my intentions ..." They stop and look up in the sky as the fireworks begin.

Both Sachie and Igarashi look longingly into the sky, both asking themselves what they should do and questioning why things are this way. Then Sachie's cellphone rings. It's Igarashi. Sachie answers, but in her mind she feels herself falling apart. "No good" she thinks. She makes small talk by asking Igarashi how he's doing and tells him that she doing fine. "Bear it," she thinks to herself as she says words she doesn't mean while tears are welling in her eyes. Igarashi then asks Sachie if she is now crying, which she is. Sachie is stunned and tries to make an excuse while in the background, Igarashi has said something. Igarashi repeats himself louder. "I'm leaving now."

Igarashi, full of resolve, then goes to talk to Sachi's grandfather. Raizo asks Igarashi what's up and remarks about how hard it's been on Igarashi. Igarashi then says, "I have a request. Please let me pick-up Sachie-sama." The chapter closes with, "But surely that is the real me."

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 4, Chp 16

Wow! I made it to volume 4! There's high drama in this volume as Igarashi needlessly worries about the intentions of a little kid towards Sachie. He definitely loses way too much cool in the next couple of chapters. So here it goes ...

The chapter starts with the words (Sachie's thoughts I guess) "If I wish to (with myself) extend my hand". Sachie is putting on an apron and Kou is happily offering to feed her a very big strawberry. While making the "Say-aah" face, Kou explains that the strawberry is a rare peach-strawberry that he has brought with him all the way from Oosaka especially for her because she will become his bride. Sachie blanches at the thought and thinks that she has no intention of becoming that brat's wife. Meanwhile, Kou is holding the strawberry on the end of a fork looking like a big eyed and innocent little kitten.

Flashback to one hour earlier to the situation that led to Sachie becoming Kou's prospective bride and Kou's invitation to Sachie to spend time in Oasaka with him as his guest and traveling companion. Sachie looks overwhelmed with shock as this is all happening too quickly. She does not give an answer while Igarashi looks on with a serious expression.

Back to the present, in which now Igarashi, doing his handsome-devil best, is offering to hand feed a cherry to Sachie. Sachie is now happily eating cherries from Igarashi and strawberries from Kou. Apparently both fruits are delicious. Later, Sachie is lying on the ground with a tummy ache from eating too many fruits. Igarashi enters the room to give her some stomach medicine. He asks her if she's okay and then begins to apologize for his earlier behavior only to be interrupted by a phone call from Kou. Igarashi, jealous again, has picked up the bowl of cherries, ready to defend his territory. Kou is at the grocery store with his bodyguards/handlers and is calling Sachie to inquire about the ingredients for hamburgers. Sachie is very pleased and says that she coming to the store to help him shop. As she is leaving Igarashi asks where she is going and why she has to help Kou. Sachie explains that Kou is impractical and will buy very expensive meat. Sachie then turns to leave, but is stopped when Igarashi grabs her hand. "I will go with you," he says. His eyes are obscured by his bangs.

At the grocery store, Sachie's fears are confirmed. Kou has already made his purchases and he's bought some very expensive meat. Sachie is highly displeased, makes a very ugly face, and then scolds Kou for his decision. Instead of getting mad himself, Kou is very pleased to be scolded and says, "Onee-chan is unexpectedly loving" as he snuggles up to her with the other women at the store looking on. Igarashi is unimpressed and grabs Kou by the back of his shirt collar, lifting him high as though lifting a kitten. Igarashi seems to be insulting Kou. ( I don't know what a "Sekuseku" is, but Igarashi says "With that Sekuseku shopping, sekuseku cooked, and after that sekuseku eating, can sekuseku return home?") He says something to the effect of "after shopping cooking, and then eating, won't it be time to return home?" To which Kou counters that yes he will leave, and when it's time to go, he will be taking Sachie with him. Which sets off a ball a lightening between Kou and Igarashi as they angrily glare at each other. Sachie then innocently asks, "Go to where? Are you serious?" Kou is infuriated and says that he's always serious. Kou then calms down and with a serious expression says, "Nee-chan said 'if you wish for my extended hand.' I am serious, I wish to take Onee-chan's hand." Igarashi then says that it's kidnapping to take somebody against their will and that Kou cannot use his childish desires forever. Kou says he understands and tells Igarashi that if Sachie consents, then Igarashi has no right to complain. Confidently Kou says, "I will get what I want with my own power. Surely the response I will get is that we will return to Oosaka together." Sachie thinks back. She did say something like that earlier, but ... flashback to an earlier conversation with Kou's father. He is inviting Sachie to go sightseeing on a 2-night, 3-day visit . Sachie questions whether this counts as Kou using his own power. Igarashi has no reply to give and is looking a bit strained.

Later on Sachie is back in her room, face down on a pillow wondering what to do about the trip to Oosaka. It's troublesome to her. Igarashi approaches her door and asks SUPER politely if he may enter her room. She lets him in while asking herself why Igarashi is being so polite. Igarashi explains that while he was cleaning/organizing the shed he found a kimono that belonged to Sachie's mother. He then asks Sachie to wear it tomorrow during the fireworks display that they promised to see together if Igarashi won the kendo tournament. Sachie is surprised at first and then very happy. She answers back that she would be happy to wear the kimono and go see the fireworks with him. Igarashi is very happy and smiles very sweetly. Kou overhears their conversation is looks saddened. Afterwards, Sachie is walking down a hall. She has a very determined look on her face and is thinking about how she will reject Kou's offer.

Next we see a conversation between Kou's father and Sachie's grandfather, Raizo. Kou's father explains that Kou never knew his mother and asks Raizo if he will do the favor of letting the Sachie spoil Kou for a little while. Sachie overhears the conversation and then realizes that she can't say no to Kou, even though she was really happy about going to the fireworks with Igarashi. Kou then approaches her and expresses how happy he is that Sachie is going to make hamburgers and that he's okay not knowing his mother because he has Sachie to look after after him. He then says that sometimes Sachie feels like a mother. While all this is going on, Sachie is feeling sorry for Kou and giving him loving hugs. Kou accepts the hugs, sinking into her bosom with closed eyes. He asks if Sachie will go with him to the fireworks festival in Oosaka. Sachie then remembers Igarashi's invitation and tells Kou that she will think about it.

A little bit later, Kou is on the phone ordering an additional train ticket for the return trip to Oosaka. Igarashi approached with a cold blank look in his eyes (very SCARY). "So this is your power?" he asks Kou. Kou explains that he used his credit card, but he doesn't have to say that to Igarashi. Kou rubs it in by continuing, "Indeed, even with that keepsake kimono you can't do anything. You can't go against me (implying the difference in their rank)." Then Kou asks, "When you aren't allowed to go, will you ask her not to go?" Kou looks quite serious. Igarashi is frozen in shock -- the kid has read the situation well. Kou then goes and grabs Sachie to tell his father that she is coming with them to Oosaka. Igarashi excuses himself from dinner to get away from the scene. Sachie follows. She wants to explain the circumstances, but Igarashi is looking at her with cold eyes. She stammers a little as she tries to explain and then Igarashi turns, grabs her by the wrist with one hand and corners her against a wall, blocking her escape with his other arm. He's taken a very agressive stance. He then says, "But it remains that you that you don't want to go, but ..." "Igarashi-san" Sachie says. "But what if I said 'don't go,' would you stay here?" Igarashi asks. The narration reads, overlayed in three parts over the scene, "If I wish to extend my hand."

End of Chapter

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 3, Chp 15

This chapter leaves off directly where the last chapter ended with Sachie and Igarashi surprised to learned that the brat, named Kou, they encountered earlier is the son of a visiting gang head. The kid makes some comment about Sachie's unsexy panties from when he flipped her skirt up earlier. Sachie starts roughly lecturing the kid while the rest of the yakuza, in fear, try to calm her down. The kid threatens to tell Sachie's grandfather that she was rude to him, so Sachie stops her rant and tries to be nice to the boy. Enter the boy's father and Sachie grandfather. The father says to the boy, "Where have you been aimlessly wandering around? I take my eye off of you for one sec9ond and you disappear. You could have at least called, what were you thinking?" Kou's father is all up in Kou's grill -- so to speak. Sachie is very pleased because an adult has come to discipline Kou. But Kou, being the manipulative brat that he is, gets all teary and lies about being lost and not wanting to disturb his father while he was working. The father forgives him and Raizo sympathizes and calls Kou a good boy. Kou turns and gives Sachie a sh*t-eating grin (little prick!).

Some time passes and Sachie and company are walking into the main house. Sachie is uneasy as she thinks about the two nights she will have to endure with this brat. Igarashi holds her hand and tells her it's all right because he will protect her. Sachie resolves to do her best. Kou basically runs Sachie all around the house being mean to her the entire time. He wants to play a video game, he wants something to drink, and so on. Igarashi gets pissed and pulls the kid aside to ask him if he's having fun yet. The other yakuza break up the confrontation.

Off to the store to buy the ingredients for some meals. Kou reveals that he's never eaten with his father because his father is too busy. The look on the boy's face reminds Sachie of the sad,but smiling look on the face of her first love (Igarashi, but she hasn't connected the dots yet). Sachie decides that she going to help bring father and son together through food, but Igarashi warns her to stay out of other family's business. Sachie continues to talk about the pleasing effects of food. There are some nice drawings of Igarashi looking very sweet and handsome as he listens to Sachie. She then tells Igarashi that the boy reminds her of her of the boy who sends her the New Years Cards, so she just can't leave Kou alone. Igarashi is shocked and then blushes furiously as Sachie leaves the room to give Kou a snack.

When delivering the snacks she suggests to Kou that he help her prepare dinner and that she will get his father to eat with them. Kou gets mad and slaps the tray out of Sachie's hand saying that it will never happen. Sachie has now had it with Kou and says to the boy, "Do you think I'm going to forgive you this time?" She then unloads on the kid about how selfish he is. In the middle of her tongue lashing, Kou's father comes in and startles Sachie. "Oh, crap!" Sachie thinks, but she doesn't apologize. Rather stands up for her actions and then braces herself for a bitch slap. However, the father doesn't slap her, rather he says that for standing up to Kou and scolding him she would make a good wife. Kou is stunned in a good way. Igarashi is stunned in a bad way and knits his eyebrows in confusion.

End of Chapter
End of Volume 3

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 3, Chp 14

The chapter starts with Sachie recalling a dream . She says, "I dreamed of a boy who smiled with sorrowful eyes. My first love (hatsukoi). In this opening there is a picture of Igarashi as a little boy only Sachie still hasn't put together that this boy and Igarashi are the same.

The usual introduction is given with Sachie explaining her living situation and the oddness of Igarashi who is smiling like a prince while offering his hand. Sachie is in a lovely-dovey mood brought on my the dream of her first love love she had that morning. Her classmates are annoyed by her happiness and ask if she's in love. Sachie explains about her first love and how they went out once when she was 5-years old. Her friends are unimpressed and ask her about her current love life since she seems so close to Igarashi. Sachie, still lost in her dream comes to with Igarashi standing there very close to her. She is startled and Igarashi, not understanding her reaction, asks if she has changed yet. She thinks that Igarashi is not a bad person and then makes some excuse to leave (she just received a text message on her cell phone) because she has suddenly become very aware of Igarashi. Her heart is pounding and her face is red, but she's thinking to herself that her friend Kayo-chan doesn't have to worry because she's not in love with Igarashi.

Igarashi follows Sachie as she looks at her message. Sachie explains that she is going with her friends to the kendo tournament. Igarashi is happily wide-eyed and surprised and asks if she is really going. This time Sachie is surprised by Igarashi's reaction. She doesn't have the heart to tell him that she's going because her friends pressured her into going. Rather she tells Igarashi that she going to cheer the school on so he should do his best. Igarashi then asks for Sachie to do him the favor of making him a lunch. He's leaning in face-to-face with her as he asks and smiling sweetly. "A lunch?" Sachie thinks ... she is a little surprised but doesn't seem that enthusiastic about the request, nor does she seem to consciously comprehend the meaning behind that request.

The morning of the competition, Sachie wakes up early to make the lunch (my guess is subconsciously she understands the lunch request). She is very unhappy with her lunch making skills (although the lunch looks fine to me). Her grandfather comes down and sees her making the lunch. He says he's up early to go meet an important customer/associate and that instead of them staying in a hotel, he has invited them to stay at the house for a few days. He will be returning home with the guests in the late afternoon. Sachie has written "Do your Best" on the rice in the lunch with seaweed flakes. Her grandfather notices and then asks whether this is the weekend of Igarashi's kendo tournament. He then remarks how Igarashi never tells anybody about things like this. Sachie, then realizes that he hadn't told her either. She wonders whether he wanted it that way. Then she remembers his enthusiastic face when she said he was coming and realizes that he was just too humble to invite anybody to see him. Her grandfather then asks Sachi to help prepare for the visitors.

Off to the tournament Igarashi and Sachie go. Their journey is delayed a few times as Igarashi stops to help an old lady, a lost child, and a man who has lots his contact. Next they spot what looks like a pack of thugs trying to shake down a kid for money. Self righteous Sachie jumps into the middle of the situation and tells the punks to get a job. Igarashi with a menacing grin completes the punk vanquishing. The kid is surprised and when the punks are gone, Sachie hugs the little boy like a mother, calming him saying that it must have been scary for a little boy all alone. The boy, deadpan, says that he could have handled punks like that himself and that Sachie had gone overboard. Sachie questions whether she is hearing things (she can't believe the boy is not thanking her), and then counters the boy saying it was a one time rescue so there was no need for him to thank her. Then they do some weird pose thing (a photo perhaps???). While Sachie is bent down posing the little boy flips the back for her skirt up which pisses off both Sachie and Igarashi (he's livid) who now are smiling with pissed off squinty eyes. And then it's back off to the kendo tournament.

They arrive a the tournament a little bit late. Sachie is tired from all the action that happened just getting to the tournament. On the other hand, Igarashi doesn't seem tired at all and is kicking some ass in the tournament. Sachie is a amazed and Igarashi looks like a glowing prince as he takes off his head gear. She then notices that there are a bunch of girls cheering for Igarashi. It is now lunch time and Sachie goes to get the lunch she's prepared for Igarashi only find that it's been messed up because it was jostled in her bag. Still tries to give the lunch to Igarashi and in the process, is trampled by a mob of enthusiastic girls who are all trying to give lunches to Igarashi too. One girl goes so far as to insult Sachie, which doesn't go over well. Igarashi instead stops Sachie from leaving the scene. He comes from up behind her, places on hand on her should and with the other wraps around and takes the lunch from her lunch saying, "excuse me, but this lunch is for me." Sachie blushes and Igarashi smiles very warmly.

They sit to eat and Sachie is worried about the taste of the food even though she tried hard to prepare it. She tells Igarashi that everyone else's lunch may taste better. Igarashi tells her that it would be bad for him not to eat before the continuation of tournament in the afternoon. Sachie, then hands over the lunch with much enthusiasm. Igarashi asks if what she's cooked came from watching TV to which Sachie explains that it's her homestyle of cooking. Igarashi then explains that he has been in the care of the house since he was 5, and, in all that time no one has ever prepared a lunch for him, making this his first. Sachie counters that girls offered him lunches just now. Igarashi says that to accept them would have been troublesome. He tells Sachie not to worry because her worry because the first lunch that was made for him will taste good. Igarashi then eats while Sachie nervous sits beside him. They are outside on the lawn under a tree. She thinks back to what her grandfather said about Igarashi not telling people about things like the tournament and then thinks about all the things that Igarashi has suffered through in his childhood. Sachie notices that it's late and tells Igarashi to hurry back to the tournament. As she goes into motion, Igarashi grabs her hand and asks if she will go with him to see the upcoming fireworks presentation because he wants to thank her for the lunch. Sachie says there's no need to thank her, but Igarashi points out that she went through the trouble of waking up early to prepare the lunch. Sachie says that she will let him thank her if he wins the tournament to which Igarashi tells her to watch him. Igarashi fights well and Sachie admires his fighting form while still trying to convince herself that she's not in love.

They return home to find the lower yakuza scrambling to get ready for the guest. The guest arrives and it's the little boy Igarashi and Sachie saved from the thugs earlier in the day.

End of Chapter

Sneaking a peek ahead, it looks like it's Igarashi vs. the kid, with Igarashi getting extremely jealous. His jealousy causes him to have a couple of melt downs resulting in some behavior that is "lost in translation" -- as in it seems that over possessiveness is meant to be romantic in the manga, but in the US, Igarashi's behavior would be considered physically abusive. For us his behavior and level of jealousy is indicative of a guy who should be avoided because he will become more abusive as time goes on. I wonder how Viz will handle this. The easiest thing would be to PS the sign of abuse or to simply remove the offending image and fill in the blank space with something else. Hmmm ...

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 3, Chp 13

This chapter begins with a flashback to Jin and Yukie (Sachie's mother) when they were teenagers. Jin is remembering the day Yukie left the house. That day she told him, "Bye Jin, you are always very refreshing and pure hearted." Jin's thoughts at that time are, "confined and protected, do you not need my hand anymore?" Back to Jin at the present time -- He has a stunned look on his face as Sachie flies out of the 4th story window. Igarashi is yelling "Sachie-sama!!"

On the next page we see Sachie's and Igarashi's hands as they are about to meet. They connect and they interlace their fingers, tightly curling them around one another's hand in tight bond. Together, their fall backwards is cushioned by a bush. Sachie raises her hand and gives a victory sign over Igarashi's back as Igarashi hugs her close. She completes her victory by giving Jin a cheesemo victory grin. She says to Igarashi, "you are just in time." Igarashi goes into a panic, saying, "Just in time .... NOT!!" and continues fussing about how she jumped out of a 4th story window. He then asks whether she's hurt and asks how many fingers he's holding up. She assures him that she is fine and then Igarashi hugs her again and says to Sachie, "Thank goodness you're safe..."

By this time, Jin has come down to see what's going on. Igarashi is very protective and pushes Sachie behind him. He has a very angry look on his face. "It was you, Jin-san" he says as Jin lights up a cigarette. Igarashi, looking annoyed, explains that he figured out it was Jin because his MO is the same as always. Slow as ever, it dawns on Sachie that Jin and Igarashi know each other and she wonders what kind of person Jin is. Igarashi formally introduces Sachie to Jin. Jin used to be Yukie's bodyguard. Sachie is shocked and then wonders why he did what he did if he is a member of "the family." Igarashi asks Jin what his object was and Jin tells him that he wanted to test him and then sarcastically congratulates him for passing. He then talks about how he found it hard to believe that Igarashi was given such an important role as Sachie's bodyguard. He then says to Igarashi, "In case I didn't tell you, you are not at all scared or smelly like you used to be, Hetare, but as of now, you are above your limit. The Princess was taken and and you could not protect her." "To make things worse," he continues, " in the end you had to rely of the Ojou's power. How can you possibly be a bodyguard?" Jin then stops in his tracks and looks surprised. Sachie has pulled a gun on him. She lowers the weapon and yells back, "He didn't rely on my power, we combined our power!" Igarashi is dumbfounded and wonders where Sachie got the gun from. Jin is annoyed. Sachie points the gun back at Jin and urges Igarashi to say something. Igarashi retorts, "Like I will porotect you." (I think Igarashi feels somewhat outdone by Sachie's awesome show of girl power.) Sachie, frustrated and red cheeked, desparately says to Igarashi, "I don't know this guy's definition of protection, but at the time when I was kidnapped, I believed in you, so I jumped because I knew Igarashi-san came to save me."

"Annoying, annoying, annoying" Jin thinks. Igarashi is no longer the spoiled Hetare that was always at his back. Sachie is still yelling, hurling insults at Jin as Igarashi tries to safely get control of the handgun. Jin smiles, approaches Sachie and pats her on the head. He tells Sachie that she is definitely that person's daughter.

In walks Sachie's grandfather and the rest of gang. They wonder what Jin is doing at the onsen. Jin very humbly asks for forgiveness and then informs everyone that through some circumstances the previous owner of the onsen ran away and that he is now the owner. Further more, there is a feast awaiting all of them on the veranda. At the feast, Igarashi is crowding Sachie so she can't eat and tasting her food before she eats it. He's being an ass and taunting Jin who is trying his best to make Igarashi understand that he has nothing more to worry about. Sachie wonders why Igarashi is being so protective. As Sachie is eating, Jin asks if she likes the taste of the food. Sachie remarks that something she had eaten earlier was her favorite and Jin tells her that her preference in food is like her mother's. Excited now, Sachie asks Jin what her mom was like when she was younger. Bluntly, Jin tells her that Yukie was "very manly." Sachie frustrated goes of in search of something to drink, leaving Jin and Igarashi alone together. Jin asks Igarashi if he's found his precious person yet. Igarashi replies affirmatively and flashes a warm smile as Jin reflects with his cigarette in hand.

Meanwhile, Sachie finds Azuma who got some sake, so she starts to drink with him. A little later Igarashi comes with something else for Sachie to drink and finds Sachie totally wasted. She's acting flirty towards him and slurring her speech. She holds her finger up to to Igarshi's lips to quiet him so she can drunkenly tell him not to bully her. The other yakuza find this too cute and pass out. Igarashi looks embarrassed like whatever intimacy he and Sachie share, has just been exposed. He then switches on the evil grin and apologizes. Azuma is taking pictures of Sachie in her drunken state. She then gets back to Jin, asking him in slurred words to tell her more about her mother. Igarashi, then takes control of the situation and declares that he carrying Sachie to her room. He puts Sachie on his back and as he walks away with her, Jin says that he envies Igarashi and that he should try hard to enjoy the time he has with Sachie as her protector, implying that some day they will have to part. He tells Igarashi to never let Sachie's hand go. Igarashi stops and asks Jin whether he was in love with Yukie. Jin replies, "so what if I was." Igarashi dismisses the comment with a smile and replies to the previous comment Jin made, saying that he's prepared to do what he must and then walks off. Alone in his thoughts, Jin hopes that if Igarashi can grab hold of Sachie, that they will have a different future than he had with Yukie.

As Igarashi walks back to the resort with Sachie on his back, Sachie wakes up to admire the moon. She says it looks as though she could grab it. Igarashi say something like, "No matter how you pursue it, you can't shorten the distance." Sachie get's punchy and plays with his ears. Igarashi blushes furiously. Igarashi finaly lays Sachie to rest in her bed. The narration reads something like, "Even if this person did not return my hand (feelings), at no time will I ever give up. In the background of the narration, Jin is looking at a old picture of Yukie. Igarashi is in the background of the words, "Never give up" He looks down tenderly at Sachie and strokes her cheek with the back of his knuckles. Sachie mumbles, "Igarashi ... don't hold onto everything by yourself. Believe in me." Igarashi is surprised and remembers Sachie's speech about how they used their combined power to get out the kidnapping situation. The end narration is hard for me to translate, but here's my stab at it. "How long will I dream of the moon that this hand grasps."

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 3, Chp 12

This chapter begins with a flashback to Igarashi's childhood. He appears to be about 5 or 6 -- sooo very cute. Someone is saying something to him that is making him sad. The person refers to Igarshi as "Hetare" I don't know what that means though. Current Igarashi thinks, "Oh yeah that's when it happened." "I do not want what I cannot have" he thinks. The person says to him, "Yeah, but when the important time comes, can you say the same thing?" Back to the scene in which the last chapter ended. Igarashi has grabbed Sachie's cellphone away from her. He is reflecting, "Can I say the same thing?" He caresses Sachie's lips with an intense look on his face. Sachie is still stunned. The situation is broken by a lost child type announcement telling Sachie and Igarashi to meet their party in the lobby.

Sachie tries to dismiss the situation saying that Igarashi did what he did because the announcement was going to be made. She tells him that she going off before him and then rushes off. When she is out of the room, she talks to her mother in her mind explaining that Igarashi is acting weird. She has accepted that Igarashi is excessively touchy-feely, but something about this time has made her uneasy and she doesn't understand why. While walking back, dwelling on the matter of Igarashi, the man from before approaches Sachie and asks her whether she is the Asagi's group princess and whether Igarashi is her bodyguard. She answers yes, and then finds herself that the end of a barrel of a handgun. Sachie has been kidnapped.

Igarashi is still in the room. He is looking at the cards Sachie brought and thinking about his desires. "I do not want what I cannot have. That is how I lived until now. Since then the strength of my wish has gotten stronger." He thinks back to Sachie's grandfather desire to find Sachie a good man outside of the yakuza. Igarashi's thoughts continue, "The thought has crossed my mind that if I were not her bodyguard, perhaps we could date normally."

Igarashi goes to the lobby to join everyone. The other yakuza ask where Sachie is if she's not with him. Igarashi starts to panic and then his cellphone rings. It's the kidnapper and he informs Igarashi that he has taken his precious princess. He tells Igarashi if he wants Sachie back, he has to find were they are hiding. Sachie has a gag over her mouth and she is wide-eyed. Igarshi is shocked, but quickly calms himself and puts on a smile. The yakuza ask about Sachie again. Igarashi covers and tells them to rest for while. They complain that they haven't eaten yet. Igarashi gives them a bullshit smile and then turns, tightly gripping the phone. The kidnapper has told him that he has 30 minutes to find them. Igarashi's face must look tortured. Out of nowhere, Azuma stops him and comes very close, face-to-face with Igarashi while holding Igarashi's face by the chin with one hand. It looks almost like Azuma is going to kiss him. Igarashi leaps back, looking completely horrified and sickened. Azuma asks why his face looks so bad. Igarashi pats him on the shoulder and says thanks. Azuma is very confused. Igarashi then takes off running. He doesn't have time to dawdle.

Meanwhile back where the kidnapper is holding Sachie, we see that she's gagged, her hands are tied behind her back and her shoes have been removed. The kidnapper's assistant tells her that if she behaves they won't have to hurt her as he unties her and removes the gag. Sachie immediately takes off once she's freed, shouting back to her captors, "Like hell I'll behave after what you've done to me!" She runs toward the door. Upon opening it, she discovers the door leads directly outside and they are four stories up. There is nowhere to run. The kidnapper coaxes her away from the door by explaining that he has no grudge against her and then offers her some food as he is sure that she is hungry. Sachie's stomach grumbles, so she grudgly eats. The kidnapper comments that Sachie is full of life, just as expected of one with Asagi blood in their veins. Sachie's curiousity is piqued. She asks what this is all about. The kidnapper says "Taking someone away." (This doesn't translate well into English, sorry). Sachie says that she doesn't have any money. The kidnapper replies that he knows. Sachie asks if it's a grudge. The kidnapper explains that his beef is not with the Asagi group, but rather he went out of his way to get Igarashi's attention. Sachie understands, but she wonders why on Earth is this guy targeting Igarashi. The kidnapper aggressively closes in on Sachie and asks whether Igarashi will really come.

Igarashi is on his way and the kidnapper is monitoring his progress with cameras. Igarashi is frantic. He has to find the key. The first room he goes to is 5011. From within the room a bunch of women dressed as geisha welcome him. One approaches and tells him that if we wants the key, he will have to find it on her body. Sachie blanches as she sees the scene on camera and tells the kidnapper that since she's known him, women have always been weak against Igarashi. As Sachie foretold, Igarashi goes into ladykiller mode and tells the geisha, "It's fine with me if you want to expose that body." The woman goes goo-goo eyed and gives Igarashi the key. The kidnapper is in utter shock, Sachie is not. Next comes a room full of dogs, reptiles, and darkness, all of which the kidnapper thinks Igarashi fears. After watching this all, Sachie comments to the kidnapper that she thinks he is really bad at this. The kidnapper snaps and starts ranting about how long ago Igarashi used to following him around while crying and that he was smelly and completely unreliable. Sachie sarcastically response, "You know quite a bit about Igarashi." The kidnapper yells back at her for her nasty attitude.

Sachie thinks about each obstacle Igarashi faced and feels proud that he's overcome his weaknesses. She's laughing very cutely as she thinks of Igarashi. The kidnapper catches her expression out of the corner of his mind and it reminds him of Sachie's Mom, Yukie.

The kidnapper reminds Sachie that there is no meaning if Igarashi arrives after the time limit. There are only 6-mins left. Igarashi is still running. There is another key and he has just about reached his limit. He pauses and gets down on his knees in pain in frustration. He thought he would never experience this much fear, regret, and horror. He feels like his chest is being crushed. He then realizes that he's been on a wild goose chase with the keys. Sachie tells the kidnapper that he's been playing dirty and the kidnapper decides to be an ass. He tells her that rules are rules and then starts the countdown. There is less that a minute left. Igarashi is running and steeling his resolve with the thought that it's meaningless if he can't be by Sachie's side. "Always near, protecting her, that is my place. WE CANNOT BE SEPARATED" he declares. 15, 14, 13-seconds left. Igarashi is frantically running. He has no idea where Sachie could be. Sachie runs to the window and sees Igarashi. She shouts down to him to stand right where he is. She opens the 4th story door, to the kidnappers shock. She says to her kidnapper, "The princess certainly can't wait, rules or nothing." Igarashi looks up. He is adorably wide eyed. The narrator says, "A strong desire was born." Next page. Sachie continues talking to the kidnapper, "A sheltered princess is so not me." She then looks forward and leaps. Her hair is floating in the breeze as she flies down. The kidnapper looks totally freaked out. The closing narration reads, "From now on, I always want to be by your side."

End of Chapter

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 3, Chp 11

This chapter begins with Sachie describing how Igarashi acts like a sparking prince to her and how her heart won't stop beating fast when he's near.

Next page: It's spring and the cherry trees are blooming. Sachie has just won a 3 day, 2 night trip to a hot spring. Of course Sachie is excited but her excitement is tempered with the realization that it's going to be tough for her to go on the trip on her own terms. Igarashi has a cheesmo smile on his face and declares that he's going because he is her caretaker. Igarashi is joined by the rest of "family" and they insist upon going as well. It's pretty much a hopeless for Sachie, so the whole family comes to the hot springs with her.

They arrive at the hot springs and there are lots of cherry trees blooming. Sachie thinks back to her childhood and watching the sakura at her neighborhood park with her mother. She's never seen sakura on such a large scale before. She's greatly charmed by the idea of watching the cherry blossoms with everybody. In the background her grandfather starts singing anka songs. It's quite embarrassing. The gangsters are moved by the old man's singing. Next comes Igarashi, who after some encouragement from the boss, does a graceful twirling dance in the falling sakura. He is wearing traditional costume and holding a fan and some bells. Azuma watches on and comments that Igarashi is a graceful one (the way he says it, though, could have double meaning, implying that because Igarashi dances so gracefully that he's a "small man"). Sachie is entranced by Igarashi and his dancing. In her eyes he is dazzling.

Later they check into their rooms. Sachie and Sachie's grandfather each have separate rooms while the rest of the family shares a single very large room. Sachie is happy to be able to sleep peacefully by herself, but she seems a little envious of the guys staying in the big group room (I guess she doesn't want to miss any of the fun).

Igarshi tells Sachie that she should go and try out the hot water bath because it will affect her body (it the "Beautiful Women's Bath). Sachie is offended, taking it as though she's not a beautiful women. Igarashi tells her not to worries since he considers her a special existence. Meanwhile Sachie's grandfather is talking to a close companion about how lively things have become since Sachie came to live with him. He worries, though, that he has made a bad choice by having his good natured and spirited granddaughter live in a yakuza household. He says he feels obligated for find a good man for Sachie (presumably not yakuza) so she can be happy. Sachie's grandfather feels that he must do this in order to face Sachie's mother in the afterlife. Igarashi overhears the conversation and looks saddened.

Back to Sachie who is stewing in the hot water bath. She is thinking of Igarashi's dance and how beautiful he was. As she is washing up, she thinks about how strange she has become toward him and how her heart beats fast and her breath becomes short just from seeing him. She thinks since seeing him dance, suddenly the scenery has become colorful and vivid. Her chest hurts ... she doesn't understand her pain. Then she gets mad again thinking about the perceived insult about the beautiful women's bath and she decides to get out since it isn't doing anything for her. Her thoughts about Igarashi soften again as she wonders when he learned to dance and thinks about how even though he is always beside her, she knows very little about him. Sachie didn't get out of the hot water fast enough and passes out. Some lady's find her.

After her bath, she joins Azuma to play ping pong. Igarashi looks on jealously (he's probably thinking about how Azuma is not yakuza). She invites Igarashi to play, but Igarashi is feeling emo and declines telling Sachie that he's not good at and that he's doing to bathe instead. One his way out, Igarashi accidentally bumps into a man with dark hair and sunglasses. Igarashi excuses himself and the man recognizes Igarashi. Igarashi finds a doorway to sulk in. He calls himself stupid and wonders why he ran away. Sachie finds him. Apparently he was sulking in the big room the lower yakuza are sharing. Sachie says that she brought cards to play with him since he's bad at ping pong. Sachie happily looks around the room remarking that the futons are all set-out and it looks like a school field trip. Somehow, Sachie manages to get to the ground on her back with Igarashi above her. He's constrained her wrists and looks like he's coming in for the attack. He begins to play with her hair.

Meanwhile the guy in the sunglasses asks the hotel clerk to show him the guest registry. He sees the Asagiri group registered and says that he has a debt to pay to them. Back to Sachie and Igarashi ... Sachie is in wide-eyed deer-in-the-headlights panic mode as Igarashi is closing in. Her cellphone is ringing, which breaks the situation. It's Azuma on the phone. Sachie clumsily explains that everybody must be looking for her. Igarashi stroking his chin, says "Azuma-san" and then takes Sachie phone out of her hand and hangs it up. He has a rather stern and menacing look on his face. Sachie narrates, "I didn't know myself that a storm was coming".

Igarashi seems a little over possessive at times. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 3, Chp 10

This chapter is basically a filler chapter. Due to a lot of slang, it was very hard to translate, so forgive me for not going into detail about it . So here is goes:

Three of the dimmerwitted yakuza find a pair of underwear in the hall. They assume it's Sachie's underwear and conspire to get out the situation. Unfortunately, they choose to hold on to the underwear and not tell anyone about them. While kicking back at a Yakari's lounge (or maybe a brothel), they fumble around and alcohol gets spilled on the undies. Meanwhile, Sachie notices a pair of her undies are missing, which sets everybody in search of a panty thief. The yakuza try to replace the underwear, but instead scare the shopkeeper at the lingerie store. Sachie and crew happen up on the guilty yakuza as they are being thrown out the store and they finally 'fess-up. The underwear they picked up, though, is not Sachie's -- they are "grown-up" panties as opposed to "high school" panties. And so everybody's off, again, to find the underwear thief. Back at home, Yukari is there in plain clothes. She says she came to deliver something and that she was present the day the yakuza found the sexy panties, which is the same day Sachie's panties went missing. Igarashi doesn't like the story and believes Yukari knows more. While the the rest of the household is trying to lure the panty thief out, Igarashi goes to question Yukari more about what she had to deliver to the boss in so much haste. Yukari says she can't tell him that, but she can tell him that Sachie's missing undies are red.

Now onto what really happened -- apparently Sachie's grandfather spotted a pair of Sachie's panties in the pond in the yard. He freaked out and asked Yukari to buy a replacement pair. Yukari came to deliver the replacement underwear. The dogs show up with the bait underwear in their mouths, implying the dogs are to blame for the missing panties and the panties in the hall. Also, during this time, a real underwear thief is caught falling for the bait.

Sigh ... I hate filler ... I burned so much time wading through this chapter ... The next chapter looks a lot better though. Thumbing through it, it seems that Igarashi gets pissed and sad when he overhears Sachie's grandfather say that he wishes to find a good guy outside of the yakuza for Sachie to settle with.

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 2, Chp 8

This chapter opens as the school is preparing for the cultural festival. Everybody is asking Sachie where Igarashi is. She asks why everyone keeps asking her about Igarashi. They tell her that he seems to be at her beckon call -- like a princess ringing a bell. Sachie remarks that he's not a pet and that she's not a princess. Rather she's a yakuza princess and she'd like to clear up that matter. The Film Study's Club shows up and reflexively Sachie yells, "I don't know," and continues on her way wondering why so many people are looking for Igarashi and where in the world he went. As usual, Igarashi comes out of nowhere from behind Sachie, covers her mouth and grabs her. He is dressed in his kendo clothes. He slides down to the ground, his arm around her waist with his other hand still covering her mouth until they are sitting. Sachie is in his lap. Sachie starts to ask what's going on, but Igarashi shushes her. The Film Studies Club girls are looking for him. They reason that he is still at school because his shoes are still in the shoe locker. They continue looking and the president refuses to give up. Finally Sachie is able to speak. She shouts to Igarashi about how everybody is looking for him and asks him what he's doing. Slyly he says he's sneaking a nap. He then starts to drop off to sleep and asks if he can sleep on her shoulder.

Sachie remarks that he fell asleep like flipping an electrical switch. He must be very tired she thinks and then wonders when he will wake up. Sachie then remembers that her mother would cling like this to her when she was tired. "I see. This is what body heat from the skin is like," she thinks. This is the situation she, surely, yearned for. She tells herself to calm down and then dozes off herself. When she awakens, she finds herself in Igarashi's arms and it's now night time. Apparently, they were asleep for quite a while. He remarks that he hasn't been able to sleep this way in a while and that Sachie was very helpful. And then from around the corner comes one of the girls that is looking for Igarashi. She announces that she's found him and then goes to capture him so he can't get away. Igarashi quickly turns around confining Sachie to the wall and leaning in close so it looks like they are kissing. The girl who has found then, excuses herself and Sachie asks what just happened. Igarashi explains that it's the season for mosquitoes and that he suddenly felt like exterminating some.

Onto the Film Studies Club president who is fired up again about Igarashi. "Of course! Nobody has seen the mystery of Igarashi's private life!! We want to see, we want to know. If I can film it, I am guaranteed customers!" she gushes to herself. She decides that she is going to make a movie about his true life. Igarashi sneaks up on the president and tells her that dodging her is inexcusable and that he will grant her an interview. Meanwhile, Sachie is waiting for Igarashi at the shoe lockers. He told her he was going to change. She's wondering what is taking so long. Meanwhile somebody is sorting through a box of video tapes labelled "Igarashi". The Film Studies Club has been filming him, and Igarashi is less than pleased. He tells them that they are being annoying and pulls the tape out of the cassettes, destroying the entire box and making an enemy of the Film Studies Club. The girls agree that Igarashi is a frightful person.

Back at the shoe lockers, Igarashi meets back up with Sachie. He asks if she saw him destroying the tapes and Sachie says has has. "Even though it turned out well, shouldn't you have considered something else?" she asks. He replies, "If I let things be, sooner or later the consequences would affect you. " He continues, "If it's to protect an important person, there is no other way." Igarashi smiles coolly and tells Sachie that it's time to go home. On their way home, they meet up with some of their yakuza "family." Igarashi has a weird look on his face, like he'd rather not to be seen with them or perhaps he wishes they hadn't encountered them. Sachie remembers that she wanted to buy rice since it's cheap (90-kg) and then leaves the yakuza holding the heavy bags of rice and taking Igarashi with her, claiming that there's something else she forgot that she wanted to buy. Meanwhile, the Film Studies Club president is lurking around. She starts filming. Suddenly some guy claims another guy "stole" a picture of them and that the camera in hiding in his suit. The accused guy says he has nothing to do with it and asks what evidence his accuser has. Sachie asks the accuser to further explain the situation and the proof. Meanwhile the yakuza, swoop in and take the camera phone and toss it to Igarashi who confirms that the guy is a known criminal. The guy tries to run and Sachie kicks him to the ground. She takes a picture of the guy with her camera phone and a bunch of bystanders do the same. Finally, the cops come. Igarashi hugs Sachie and says they are leaving. The Film Studies Club president is amazed by Sachie's power.

Back at home, Azuma feels left out as the yakuza relay the exciting story to him. Sachie offers Igarashi some tea. Meanwhile at her own house, the Film Studies Club president is muling over what she witnessed, thinking that perhaps Igarashi is more interesting than she had initially thought. Back to Sachie and Igarashi ... she has given him some home brewed medicine to help alleviate tiredness. Igarashi is grateful and thanks her with a with a warm smile. He is blushing furiously. The final narration reads, "Finally, the cultural festival is going to happen."

Summary: Arakure (Wild Ones), Vol 2, Chp 7

This chapter begins with Sachie in bed. She is having a dream of her mother. Her mother tells Sachie that she has to go. Sachie begs her not to go. "Don't go, don't go, mother ..." Sachie pleads and then wakes up in the middle of her dream, obviously talking in her sleep. She gets out of bed and heads to the kitchen, thinking about how she hasn't dreamt of her mother in a while. On her way to the kitchen, she sees blood drops splattered on the floor and upon entering the kitchen a huge bald maniacal looking yakuza turns his head and grins while holding a bloody knife in his hand. "You saw," he says and Sachie freaks outs. He continues, "When I came into possession of this fine tuna, I thought I would surprise you because we usually have mackerel." Sachie is in too much shock ... "tuna, tuna," she repeats to herself. The other yakuza wonder what has happened. Shortly after, Sachie regains her composure and thanks the bald yakuza, saying that she looks forward to eating the tuna the next day. She reflects on how she still isn't used to living in a yakuza household.

Out of nowhere, Igarashi scoops Sachie into his arms, telling her that if she sits there she will cat cha cold. He's smiling at her sweetly, and Sachie feels belittled and defends herself by explaining that she's okay because unlike normal people she's not that weak. In fact she's forged like steel. Igarashi agrees that her head is indeed forged of steel (in other words, she's hard-headed). Sachie narrates about how her caretaker, Igarashi, is sweet, but peculiar. She wonders why he's up this late and asks him. Igarashi explains that Azuma's loud snoring woke him up. Azuma joins in to defend himself because he fears Sachie will get strange notions about him. Finally, Sachie's grandfather comes to see what the noise is all about and gives Sachie some warm milk to settle her so she can go back to sleep. Sachie reflects on how different her life is now and that she is happy to be surrounded by lots of people. She says, "Mother in heaven, I'm not alone."

Later in the morning at school ... Sachie's class is having a meeting to decide what they will do for the cultural festival. Sachie gets excited and tells everyone her mikoshi fantasy. She is very much into this, talking about how the heat of souls come together, sweaty, and become one. Her classmates are appalled. Then there's a flashback to Sachie's childhood (hard to translate because there's too much slang and dialect involved) in which she asks an elder to be carried in the mikoshi once around the block. The elder explains that only males can be carried in the mikoshi and that she would be crying behind a curtain because she would only be dressed in her underwear (apparently from the picture, the guy in the mikoshi goes shirtless). The class rep. seems to be going along with the idea and says that if there are no other ideas ... and then is bombarded by requests to do a haunted house or a maid cafe. Sachie is bummed, but the class rep reassures her that she helped make the meeting lively. (It seems that maybe he's little sweet on Sachie ??? perhaps).

Moving on, Sachie and her friend see Igarashi outside as they are passing through the hall. Igarashi is surrounded by girls. The film studies club president is talking to him. Sachie's friend think she's inviting him somewhere, but Igarashi seems to be refusing her. He sees Sachie in the hall and leaps onto the window sill and asks if she wants to go do something later. He's trying to get away from the film studies club president. The film studies club president comes running after Igarashi asking if he would talk to her and Igarashi is being an ass. Finally he asks what she wants. Does she want to see him in glasses or wet in the rain -- something like a shower scene. The film studies club president is very excited and animated and says the film Studies club exists for it's customers -- "Viva megane moe and viva wet moe!" On she prattles about how sibling romantic forbidden love is hot this year, or perhaps Korean flavored platonic love. Igarashi continues to be an ass, asking Sachie whether she knew and Sachie is passed caring. Finally, Igarashi explains that he can't help out the film studies club this year because he is the class president, is active in a club (kendo), and helps out in class.

The girls of Sachie's class explain that they are doinga haunted house maid cafe for the cultural festival. Igarashi is intriqued (I imagine he's thinking about Sachie dressed in a maid's costume) and asks if he can join in. The girls go nutz and surround him. They decide they want to go to a haunted house to get ideas and to find excuses to get close to him. At the haunted house entrance, the Film Studies Club President is waiting for Igarashi along with the crazy girls. Igarashi tries to get away to be with Sachie, but is carried off by the sea of girls. Sachie gives up. Cut away to a couple of wimpy guys who can't handle the haunted house. They meet up with Sachie, who seems to be fine walking through the haunted house. They finally get too scared and run out of the haunted house but Sachie decides to continue through, collecting ideas. She then starts thinking about her dead mother and whether she is in a world like this alone. As she sinks further into sadness, she falls to her knees and then Igarashi shows up. He's close up to her and asks if she's okay. Sachie tentatively reaches out and then pulls back. Igarashi grabs her hand and then hugs her tightly. He apologizes and says he should have stayed with her and not left her on her own. Sachie remembers back to the wee hours of the morning when she couldn't sleep and Igarashi was awakened too. She asks him whether he was awakened by her crying out in her sleep. He covers her mouth and says that it has been a year and she still hasn't cried for her mother. He says that she doesn't have bear it and that when in need, call him and he will come to her side. They stand up and Sachie asks if he thinks her mother is in a world like this. Igarashi says he doesn't know, but he thinks probably is not. He says it would be nice if heaven is a warm world with blooming flowers and then he reaches out for Sachie's hand and asks if they should leave now.

The next page ... Igarshi is looking at some drawings of monsters for the haunted house. He complements Sachie on her drawings even though they are not good -- Sachie knows this. Sachie's classmates are impressed by the number of drawings they have now to use as reference for the haunted house maid cafe. Cut to later (oh, here comes the fan service), Sachie is walking to the bathroom to take a bath. She's very happy thinking about the upcoming cultural festival. She opens the bathroom door and there Igarashi is in the bathroom, wet from his shower and towel drying his hair. Sachie thinks "I did it" -- again, apparently. She excuses herself and runs off. Igarashi, for the most part now dressed, finds her waiting near the bathroom. He leans in close to her, his arm coralling her against the wall. He's now very close and then asks, "Did you see it? The shower scene." Sachie is very embarrassed and hits him on the head and then runs away. Now we see Sachie in the bathtub. She is thinking about what happened in the haunted house. Meanwhile, Igarashi encounters Sachie's grandfather. The old man asks Igarashi how it's going being Sachie's caretaker and says he bets her tomboyish ways are causing him lots of trouble. Igarashi agrees that's she quite a handful. The old man blanches -- I imagine he was fishing for a complement. Igarashi continues though, saying that Sachie is straightforward and truthful and so he will be the person that shares her pain. "Your precious granddaughter is my very special person, so no matter what happens, going forward I will protect Sachie-sama," he explains to her grandfather. (This sounds a lot to me like Igarashi is asking for Sachie's hand.) We aren't shown Sachie's grandfather's face, so we can't know his reaction. (I suspect, though, that he has raised the boy intentionally to be Sachie's husband). Back to Sachie who is almost submerged in the tub and blowing bubbles. She is still thinking about the haunted house, lamenting how she couldn't get any words out.

On the last page, we are back to the Film Studies Club president. She is vowing to stick to Igarashi 24/7. The ending narration reads "It seems like the quiet before the storm" (Not exactly this, but I think this is the closest English idiom.)