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ekusudeiI like these chapters a lot. They make Oura-san seem so much more... human? Touchable? Just an ordinary girl lost in the dream world. They're the reason I decided to start posting these translations. :)
4 ~*~ First Love
In my second year of junior high school I was chosen as an athlete to participate in the district-wide track and field competition. However, I turned it down because of how easily I could injure my Achilles tendon.
And yet, when I was chosen to be an athlete in the high jump during my third year, my mother recommended to me, "If you are accepted into Takarazuka, you won't be able to participate in things like this, so how about taking a break from ballet and trying?", and so I did.
After school, for the first time I remained at school until after dark. And also, although Komura-kun (whom I liked just a wee bit) was competing in a different category, he was practicing on the same field, which made me happy. --It was completely one-sided, a secret that no one knew except my best friend Tada Shimiko-chan, although it was finally revealed. He was good at all sports, tall, and an interesting person.
At the competition, I was surprised to see all of the athletes from the other schools in spikes. I had only normal sneakers. The others all did belly rolls or backward jumps, I simply jumped. But for some reason I made a record high jump for the competition, and was the winner. Komura-kun also got an award.
The next day, we lined up together at the morning assembly, and received our awards. I was happier over lining up together than over winning.
Ah, how sweet. We both took part in the city-wide competition. However, it was the day after we got back from our big class trip, --since our school really wasn't athletic at all-- and the teacher said, "You're tired, so just go and give it a shot", and so we both appeared at the National Sports Track. This time I also placed. The next day I received my award at the morning assembly. But because I was alone, I wasn't happy at all. This ends the chronicle of my first love; from the next day I returned to my busy days of ballet and school.
5 ~*~ The Incident
When I became a third year junior high student, I began to learn another skill I would need for the entrance exam: singing. I was introduced by a Takarazuka Revue teacher, the late Takagi Shirou, and I went once a week to the studio of the just-deceased Matsumoto Hiroko-sensei.
Matsumoto-sensei was at the time a teacher in her 50s, who wore her makeup in the style of Awaya Noriko-san. I supposed it was because she had been singing for many years, but even if the style of the songs was different she would sing them all with the same feeling. It seems there were many other students like me studying for the Takarazuka entrance exams, but there was never an opportunity to become friends. It's too bad, since it would have been heartening to have made friends.
My teacher's rehearsal space was on the sixth floor of an apartment building in Roppongi, and I could see the Metropolitan Expressway from the window of the room we rehearsed in. Rather than singing rehearsal, my strongest memories are of watching the cars whiz by on the expressway. And also, being able to go into Roppongi in the heart of the city, where even now no trees grow, made me feel somehow grown up, and suppose that I was one step closer to Takarazuka; an all-around nice sensation.
Although I had been busy with only ballet and school, increasing things with singing lessons turned my life very difficult, but when I could find some free time I would ask my mother and go to watch a show. I would buy the magazines put out by Takarazuka every month without fail, and read them until I knew them by heart. --Not to boast, but at that time I knew the names of just about every member of the Revue. --Well, I had to study more and more, and it felt as if my promise with my parents had blown away somewhere on the wind.
And, in the end, there was an incident.
At the time, my most beloved Star Troupe was coming to give a performance at the Shinjuku Koma Theater. In October of my third year, the big star Kouzuki Noboru was retiring. Absolutely not to be missed! I don't remember now why I couldn't ask my parents to let me go see it, but I gleefully went to the Shinjuku Koma to buy tickets. Somehow there were a lot of front tickets remaining. However, only on two days. On both days I had ballet rehearsals, but I bought them without hesitation. My joy at seeing Takarazuka for the first time from the very front won.
On that day ballet rehearsal was from six to seven-thirty, then one hour from the school to my home, so in other words, if I returned home with an innocent expression at about eight-thirty, they wouldn't know. It was a little more than thirty minutes from the Shinjuku Koma to my house, meaning if the curtain went up at five-thirty and I watched until about eight I would be all right. In order to construct an alibi, I forbid my ballet friends to say anything and made my ballet rehearsal clothes as soggy as they would be after a rehearsal, then dumped them in the laundry basket. I thought it was the perfect crime.
But my mother was good. The next day when she spotted my clothes in the laundry basket she immediately saw through to the truth, she found the ticket stub from that day which I had hidden with such care, and she comprehended everything.
The day after watching the Revue in a dreamy state of mind was hell.
When I returned home from school, mother was standing there with the expression of a demon. And then:
"You haven't kept your promise to study, reading only Takarazuka books, and then what do you mean by going to see the Revue without telling your parents--and skipping ballet! If you feel so fickle about it, you are no longer permitted to take the exam!"
My mother's voice was incredibly angry, but I could hear that half of it was sorrow over her daughter's lie. Seeing my mother like that, I couldn't speak. It was aaaaall my fault.
They made me throw out all of my Takarazuka books, and I went with my father to the house of my teacher, to tell her that I would no longer be taking the exam. I had given up, and allowed myself to be taken. I was more regretful than I could say, because I couldn't imagine any other path for myself but entering Takarazuka.
Aaah, a desperate situation!
But Lady Luck's smile hadn't been a lie. My teacher supported me. "This child is aimed for Takarazuka, it would be such a waste to stop her!"
I heard my teacher's words at that moment as if they were shining.
"Would you consider letting her take it just once?"
I suppose that my teacher had various other persuasions for my father, but her first words were enough for me. Because my rose-colored world, my dream world, had returned to me.
I returned home and spoke to my parents.
"I'll study hard from now on. And I absolutely won't go to see Takarazuka secretly. So please, let me try for Takarazuka."
My parents reluctantly agreed.
Hooray!
"Ah, but what shall I do, I still have one more ticket to Takarazuka. Well, it'll be fine. Next time I'll tell mother and then go to watch. It's all settled."
But my obstinate inability to learn my lesson is my great misfortune, and I once more repeated the same kind of mistake, and made my parents angry.
Once again my father took me to Matsumoto-sensei's home, and once more my teacher persuaded my father and saved me. The second time, because I felt a sense of security that my teacher would be on my side, I wasn't scared at all. But I can't remember at all now what it was that I was guilty of then. And yet even so, without Matsumoto-sensei, I wouldn't be who I am today.
4 ~*~ First LoveIn my second year of junior high school I was chosen as an athlete to participate in the district-wide track and field competition. However, I turned it down because of how easily I could injure my Achilles tendon.
And yet, when I was chosen to be an athlete in the high jump during my third year, my mother recommended to me, "If you are accepted into Takarazuka, you won't be able to participate in things like this, so how about taking a break from ballet and trying?", and so I did.
After school, for the first time I remained at school until after dark. And also, although Komura-kun (whom I liked just a wee bit) was competing in a different category, he was practicing on the same field, which made me happy. --It was completely one-sided, a secret that no one knew except my best friend Tada Shimiko-chan, although it was finally revealed. He was good at all sports, tall, and an interesting person.
At the competition, I was surprised to see all of the athletes from the other schools in spikes. I had only normal sneakers. The others all did belly rolls or backward jumps, I simply jumped. But for some reason I made a record high jump for the competition, and was the winner. Komura-kun also got an award.
The next day, we lined up together at the morning assembly, and received our awards. I was happier over lining up together than over winning.
Ah, how sweet. We both took part in the city-wide competition. However, it was the day after we got back from our big class trip, --since our school really wasn't athletic at all-- and the teacher said, "You're tired, so just go and give it a shot", and so we both appeared at the National Sports Track. This time I also placed. The next day I received my award at the morning assembly. But because I was alone, I wasn't happy at all. This ends the chronicle of my first love; from the next day I returned to my busy days of ballet and school.
5 ~*~ The Incident
When I became a third year junior high student, I began to learn another skill I would need for the entrance exam: singing. I was introduced by a Takarazuka Revue teacher, the late Takagi Shirou, and I went once a week to the studio of the just-deceased Matsumoto Hiroko-sensei.
Matsumoto-sensei was at the time a teacher in her 50s, who wore her makeup in the style of Awaya Noriko-san. I supposed it was because she had been singing for many years, but even if the style of the songs was different she would sing them all with the same feeling. It seems there were many other students like me studying for the Takarazuka entrance exams, but there was never an opportunity to become friends. It's too bad, since it would have been heartening to have made friends.
My teacher's rehearsal space was on the sixth floor of an apartment building in Roppongi, and I could see the Metropolitan Expressway from the window of the room we rehearsed in. Rather than singing rehearsal, my strongest memories are of watching the cars whiz by on the expressway. And also, being able to go into Roppongi in the heart of the city, where even now no trees grow, made me feel somehow grown up, and suppose that I was one step closer to Takarazuka; an all-around nice sensation.
Although I had been busy with only ballet and school, increasing things with singing lessons turned my life very difficult, but when I could find some free time I would ask my mother and go to watch a show. I would buy the magazines put out by Takarazuka every month without fail, and read them until I knew them by heart. --Not to boast, but at that time I knew the names of just about every member of the Revue. --Well, I had to study more and more, and it felt as if my promise with my parents had blown away somewhere on the wind.
And, in the end, there was an incident.
At the time, my most beloved Star Troupe was coming to give a performance at the Shinjuku Koma Theater. In October of my third year, the big star Kouzuki Noboru was retiring. Absolutely not to be missed! I don't remember now why I couldn't ask my parents to let me go see it, but I gleefully went to the Shinjuku Koma to buy tickets. Somehow there were a lot of front tickets remaining. However, only on two days. On both days I had ballet rehearsals, but I bought them without hesitation. My joy at seeing Takarazuka for the first time from the very front won.
On that day ballet rehearsal was from six to seven-thirty, then one hour from the school to my home, so in other words, if I returned home with an innocent expression at about eight-thirty, they wouldn't know. It was a little more than thirty minutes from the Shinjuku Koma to my house, meaning if the curtain went up at five-thirty and I watched until about eight I would be all right. In order to construct an alibi, I forbid my ballet friends to say anything and made my ballet rehearsal clothes as soggy as they would be after a rehearsal, then dumped them in the laundry basket. I thought it was the perfect crime.
But my mother was good. The next day when she spotted my clothes in the laundry basket she immediately saw through to the truth, she found the ticket stub from that day which I had hidden with such care, and she comprehended everything.
The day after watching the Revue in a dreamy state of mind was hell.
When I returned home from school, mother was standing there with the expression of a demon. And then:
"You haven't kept your promise to study, reading only Takarazuka books, and then what do you mean by going to see the Revue without telling your parents--and skipping ballet! If you feel so fickle about it, you are no longer permitted to take the exam!"
My mother's voice was incredibly angry, but I could hear that half of it was sorrow over her daughter's lie. Seeing my mother like that, I couldn't speak. It was aaaaall my fault.
They made me throw out all of my Takarazuka books, and I went with my father to the house of my teacher, to tell her that I would no longer be taking the exam. I had given up, and allowed myself to be taken. I was more regretful than I could say, because I couldn't imagine any other path for myself but entering Takarazuka.
Aaah, a desperate situation!
But Lady Luck's smile hadn't been a lie. My teacher supported me. "This child is aimed for Takarazuka, it would be such a waste to stop her!"
I heard my teacher's words at that moment as if they were shining.
"Would you consider letting her take it just once?"
I suppose that my teacher had various other persuasions for my father, but her first words were enough for me. Because my rose-colored world, my dream world, had returned to me.
I returned home and spoke to my parents.
"I'll study hard from now on. And I absolutely won't go to see Takarazuka secretly. So please, let me try for Takarazuka."
My parents reluctantly agreed.
Hooray!
"Ah, but what shall I do, I still have one more ticket to Takarazuka. Well, it'll be fine. Next time I'll tell mother and then go to watch. It's all settled."
But my obstinate inability to learn my lesson is my great misfortune, and I once more repeated the same kind of mistake, and made my parents angry.
Once again my father took me to Matsumoto-sensei's home, and once more my teacher persuaded my father and saved me. The second time, because I felt a sense of security that my teacher would be on my side, I wasn't scared at all. But I can't remember at all now what it was that I was guilty of then. And yet even so, without Matsumoto-sensei, I wouldn't be who I am today.
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Date: 2010-09-22 04:53 pm (UTC)I'm really enjoying reading these, BTW. Thanks for posting them. <3
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Date: 2010-09-23 12:31 pm (UTC)Someone recommended it to me years ago, but I never actually picked up a copy, so.....
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Date: 2010-09-26 09:05 am (UTC)I am curretly reading your older post about 'live' events.. ;p They are Love! so great and cute and funny and eyes tearing and so on... Well I enjoy them very much ♥♥♥
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