Rose Plum Demons Tinged by the Twilight/Event Scenes

01

Translator: Kelly
	We’ll be doing a gravure photoshoot for Setsubun this year.
	Last year, Yamashita-san and the others did it instead. That one was cool!
	Demons are seen as symbols of catastrophe and disease… Would a former surgeon like me really suit that?
	You’ll be fine, Sakuraba! There’s no one who suits de’ moniker of “demon” as much as you! Heh, get it?
	…Hey. Aren’t there any beans to drive off Tendo’s idiotic puns?
	There, there… Umm, this time we’ll be doing the job alongside the members of Sai, right? It’s the first time we’ve done a job together in units. I’m looking forward to it.
	The bean-scattering and how we proceed with making the ehomaki will also be filmed and used for the offshots.
	All right! We’re gonna fire up Setsubun all together!
Translator Notes: Setsubun is the day before the beginning of spring. It’s a sort of New Year’s eve event which also is accompanied by rituals to clear away evil spirits or demons. One such ritual is the mamemaki (bean scattering/throwing), which are thrown out the door or at family members wearing demon masks. The usual chant is “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi!” (Demons out, luck in!) Ehomaki are rolls made of seven ingredients that are seen as being lucky, often consumed on Setsubun. People eat the rolls while facing a direction considered to be lucky, hence the literal translation of Ehomaki, “lucky direction roll.” It is customary to consume the number of beans that equal your age for Setsubun (or sometimes, age + 1 to ensure good luck for the coming year).

02

	I was wondering where they’d take pictures of us doing the bean-scattering. We’ll be doing it in the agency?
	The Setsubun events will be filmed as offshots, correct? I will be in your care for the photoshoot, Producer.
	I am totally purrfect with prepurrrations ♪ Time to scatter the beans with all my paw-er~! But even though this is a photoshoot for bean-scattering, we don’t have someone to act as the demeown.
	I guess so. We might not be able to get extravagant and easy-to-understand pictures taken of us… But wouldn’t it suit us more to enjoy the Setsubun events in a calmer way like this?
	You’re right. Let us try our best at bean-scattering as we wish to have good fortune come to us.
	‘Kay then, I’ll be going first. Luck~ in! Demons~ out! *throws beans*
	…We will be acting as demons for the photoshoot afterwards, so the phrase “demons out” is somewhat… vexing me.
	Nyaha! Demeowns have both good and bad points to them too, Kuro-kun. We shall have any claw-ful demeowns who attempt to get in the way of our work to go dispawse at once ♪

03

	The number of beans to eat is the number of years we have on us, right? 25, 26, 27… and there.
	Mrrgh~, I want to eat some meowre beans! Just 18 won’t be able to fill up my stomewch!
	Eating the number of beans that equal your age is a custom to spend the year in good health, after all. How many would you have wanted to eat, Nekoyanagi-san?
	Ummm~… Mewbe I would’ve been satisfied with around 200 of them~?
	Oh my. Then you should eat as many beans as you want, kiddo. We’ll be making ehomaki in the dorms with Tenteru-chan and the others… Fufu, but you won’t be able to eat that many then, right?
	Mmumu!? Ehomaki… Fur real…? Then I’m fine with just 18 beans!!
	Well, we’ll have beans left over, so once Setsubun’s over, we can eat the rest ♪

04

	So this is the ehomaki recipe. Ohh, looking at this lets me picture it a lot more clearly.
	The ehomaki ingredients are dried gourd, cucumber, eggs, sakura denbu, and more…
	They’re all normal ingredients that are sold at the nearby supermarket.
	We’re going out of our way to make it, so don’t you think making it normally would be boring?
	Oho, Tenteru-chan. You sure look like you’re plotting something.
	Yeah! I’m planning on messing with the ingredients and make an ehomaki that’ll shine with individuality!
	Nyaaffufufu, this sounds very inpurresting… I shall head out to purrcure ingredients as well~!
	All of us have to buy the ingredients, so let’s get rice and seaweed.
	We’ve split up the jobs we’re in charge of. Now then, let’s set out to obtain what we need.

05

	…Haah. To think it’d take this much time to carry just one package of rice.
	Um… Kashiwagi-san, I truly do apologize for making you carry the rice…
	Don’t worry about that, Kuro-kun. I’m completely fine with something like this. But Shoma-san, you went completely unrivaled when choosing the rice. I’m really surprised!
	I did meddle with a lot of different things, didn’t I? But I’m satisfied that we managed to get some good rice.
	You knew that this rice suited vinegar best. That’s like some classified expertise or something.
	We managed things on our end. I wonder how the kiddo and Tenteru-chan are doing?
	I do hope Nekoyanagi-san has not bought something strange…
	Teru-san’s very skilled with cooking, so I think it’d be fine to leave it up to them.
	So how about this? When we get back to the dorms, let’s first make the vinegar rice. It’s gonna be an important job ♪

06

	We have returned just nyaow! And our purrcurement of the ingredients has finished, indeed!
	These normal ehomaki ingredients are these 7 types associated with the Seven Gods of Fortune, but… Since we’re here already, we bought some different ingredients to go along with the standard ones!
	Nyaow we can make an ehomaki that is furmidable when it comes to variety!!
	Salmon and avocado, perilla and teriyaki chicken… Huh? There’s even keema curry!?
	These strange combinations are only to make a show of individuality. I’m not eating those.
	No, no, I think it’ll be pretty good, surprisingly enough. It just depends on how you pair them up, though!
	Now that we’ve collected lots of ingredients, we can make all sorts of ehomaki, hmm? It might actually be a good idea for each of us to make his own original roll.
	Our unique original rolls? I can’t decide which one I should do!

07

	When you roll it up with seaweed and you go, “eho, eho” as you pant… How’s this! It’s a fine ehomaki! When you eat ehomaki, you gotta go with big chomps all around!
	Something that big can’t be eaten that way. We’re cutting it up.
	Waah! Wait up, Sakuraba! Isn’t it more exciting to eat it without cutting it!?
	I’ll refrain from that. It’s impossible to do. For the most part, you’re always so…
	…Yay! I did it well!
	Whoa, that surprised me! What’s up all of a sudden, Tsubasa?
	Roll it with one more piece of seaweed… I think I can go one more round… Fufu, I want to eat this as soon as possible… ♪
	…It looks like he’s absorbed in making the ehomaki.
	Ah… Then I guess we should get back to work, too.
	…Yeah. I’ll cut up my portion. You do whatever you want with yours.
	Sure, I got it.

08

	The ehomaki that everyone’s made looks so delicious! Could we try them out?
	You completely ate up that huge roll back then, but you can still keep eating more?
	I have no doubt that Tsubasa-kun’s stomewch is connected to a black hole!
	I like bread and ramen and cake and grilled meat, but I like rice especially… Honestly, I still have space in my stomach for more!
	Ooh…!
	I wonder why I love rice this much? Maybe it’s because I ate lots of delicious rice ever since I was young?
	Ever since you were young? What relation does that have?
	My hometown is Niigata. I still remember the taste of the rice there…

09

	By the way, sis, you’re also from Niigata, right? Same as Tsubasa.
	Huh? Shoma-san, you’re also from Niigata!? What a coincidence! Could it be… that the reason why you were so knowledgeable with the rice when we went to buy it…
	Ahaha. Well, I think you’ve got the general idea of things, Wing-chan. I come from a family of rice farmers. You never forget your trade, and that’s the case with me knowing rice.
	Rice farmers…! I don’t know how to say this, but I feel like I keep admiring you more and more, Shouma-san!
	With your stomach, all of the rice that our rice fields make might just get swept up in one go.
	Rice from fields… All of them!? In that case, there would be all sorts of ways to eat them, right? Onigiri and fried rice… Cutlet bowls and curry rice… Ah, like with risotto or even just cooking it with rice…!
	Good grief… Your hunger knows no limits.

10

	Hanamura-san, thank you for your hard work during the long filming period. Would you like tea?
	…Oh, I’m so sorry. I was spacing out. Fufu, thank you for the tea. The filming took a while, but it’s not like I’m tired or anything. More importantly… When we were talking about that thing from before, I just remembered my home.
	Your family of rice farmers back home, wasn’t it? I remember you talking about it before. Is there something troubling about your family…?
	Nothing’s wrong. There’s no need for you to look so worried. It’s just as I said before. It’s just a regular farming family, with nothing out of the ordinary.
	Though mew say it is ordinary, your mewd is filled with quite the ennui.
	Really? I wasn’t aware of it myself, but… let me think… Well then, I guess I’ll have you two accompany me for a little bit of a chat.

11

	My family’s a normal, plain rice farming family. We pretty much have some fields and a mountain, is all.
	You previously talked about how you would run around in the paths between the rice fields with your sisters, right?
	Yes, yes. Plus, we’d make grass boats, play oobako sumo… It’s because we were surrounded by just nature, everywhere. We played with what we had by making use of ingenuity.
	Hmm, hmm. Mister Butterfly, your lifestyle in the countryside… sounds fur real exciting~!
	It was. Even though it was countryside with nothing to it, it really was fun. …Well, at least when I was a kid, I would’ve been satisfied with just fun.
	Were there some unfurtunately not-fun things?
	You got it. It’s one of those problems that pops up when an ordinary farming family’s the topic. There’s lots of things to deal with when you’re an adult. For example, succession of the family. If I had any male siblings aside from me, it might not have become such a fuss, y’know.

12

	Nyat’s that? There are no successors to your family, Mister Butterfly!?
	You hit the nail on the head. For the record, we did talk about my older sister taking a son-in-law for that… But there’ve been a few calls here and there for me to go back to the family, too. That’s been happening ever since I was acting in kabuki, and all the way up until now, too. There was even a call this morning. I’ve been in my parents’ care, but it really is a bother.
	……The problem of succession… So that’s what it was about.
	Hold your horses, boys. What are both of you getting all serious on me for? It’s not really that big of an issue. Especially when it comes to the countryside. It’s not rare in the slightest: it’s a common thing to happen.
	Even if mew say that, it’s a big purroblem to us!! Mister Butterfly, I still don’t want mew to go back home~!

13

	Hold on, hold on, kiddo! You’re jumping to the wrong conclusion, so stop that! My mind’s set and decided that I’m not going back!
	Hanamura-san…
	Right now, I’m still spellbound by my dream of being an idol. It’s too soon for me to go back home and retire just like that. Don’t you think? Well, yes, I am a little sorry to both my parents. But until I can protect the seat at the peak of all idols, I’ve got no intention of getting down from this stage.
	…Fufu. I’m relieved to hear that.
	Ha-whew… I am also so relieved that my entire paw-dy released its paw-er as if it were a balloon getting air squeezed outta it…
	Fufu. My determination for settling that decision was something extraordinary, you know? Since that’s the case, I’ll continue to be in your care. Kuro-chan and kiddo both!

14

	Oh. Sakuraba, are you studying the photoshoots from the magazine back numbers? Isn’t that the demon-outfit gravure that Yamashita-san did last year? Let me see! …Hey. What’s up—, Sakuraba? You listening?
	…You’re a noisy guy. I’m concentrating. Yes, I’m studying it. For this job, Sai… will be a difficult opponent to be up against, with Hanamura-san in particular. He’s a professional at showing himself off. The other two will surely provide support, too. If he’s working at this with extraordinary resolve, then we’ll be completely overwhelmed.
	So that means we have to go at this with even more force than usual.
	The three of us should check out the magazine together. We might get better ideas than when we do it ourselves!

15

	Everyone is really so amazing. It’s like they have a sense of allure…
	These expressions have a bewitching aura to them, befitting of the things known as demons. It’ll be difficult to create these expressions. I tried making it for myself a number of times, but it didn’t go well.
	You’re right. It would seem hard to do. We’ll also need acting ability, too. We might not be able to do it immediately if we’re asked to do it at the photoshoot location…
	There’s a guy with constantly slanted eyebrows and upset expressions like a demon here already, though.
	…If you have something to say, spit it out. They might just slant even more while you’re at it.
	There, there… Oh, that’s right. Should we go ask Producer about last year’s photoshoot then? We might be able to understand something else that we wouldn’t be able to get from just the magazines.

16

	Thanks for letting us ask you a bunch of stuff, Producer! That helped us out a lot! So Asselin built the worldview with demons in mind by saying what a demon would talk about during the photoshoot…
	There won’t be spoken lines during the gravure, so that means Asselin-san made them up himself?
	If that method will be something we can use as reference, we should think up our own lines as well.
	I’ve never considered creating my own dialogue on my own. Speaking of acting, though, I remember the time Tsubasa was trying to relieve his nerves during the wedding photoshoot.
	Ahaha… I tackled the filming as a role of “me, who wouldn’t get nervous even with a woman by my side,” didn’t I. …Now that you mention it, being able to grasp the difficult expression-making and acting this time… Sort of resembles the time we did the wedding photoshoot. In that case… It might actually work out for the better if we try building up our expressions through thinking up lines!
	Now that it’s settled, first we’ll have to have an understanding of the gravure’s perspective and concept. When that’s complete, we’ll pack in lines that would suit our individual demons’ personalities and the like.

17

	It’s really just like I thought it’d go! Creating expressions gets easier while we’re saying lines. It looks like we’re doing well.
	Saying the lines we made up ourselves is a little embarrassing…
	Our voices won’t be recorded in the gravure. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.
	No, that’s not what I’m talking about… Eh, whatever.
	Regardless, this is for work. Tossing away your sense of discomfort is key. The photoshoot will begin tomorrow. We don’t have much time left.
	It’s tomorrow already…? Hmm. Honestly, I’m still a little worried…
	For now, let’s practice, practice, practice! Let’s get a feel for how it’ll go!
	Exactly. Now, we’ll begin with the expression-building practice once more.

18

	Hanamura-san, Nekoyanagi-san! Thank goodness. You were already here. Due to yesterday’s snow, the public transportation facilities were later than usual… I was rather flustered.
	I’m glad mew managed to reach us without coming too late! But… Today is pawfully coldy-cold and freezy-freezing~. Shiver shiver shiver…
	Thanks to that, the snow also piled up. Isn’t that nice? Take a look at the lovely scenery outside the window.
	Well, this…! This is quite a picturesque scene. Shall we be filming outdoors as well?
	Doing a photoshoot underneath this cold sky… purrhaps we will become frozen stiff as a result…!?
	There’s no way we can’t make use of this wonderful coincidence. Kiddo, you better get changed and stick some warming pads on you while you’re at it.
	Uugh… I’m not quite as mewtivated nyaow~.
	(…Is it just me, or is Hanamura-san putting more effort into things than usual…?)

19

	Ha-whew~! Kuro-kun’s tea purrks me and warms me right up ♪ It warmed up my fureezing photoshoot-subjected body~! ‘Twould be a cat-astrophe if some nice manjuu were provided next…
	Yes, yes, I hear you. I’ve prepared manjuu as well. …It seems Hanamura-san is still retaking.
	Even though the staff meowmbers have given him the okay, Mister Butterfly seems to not be satisfied.
	I don’t believe it would be in his best interest to persevere too much for too long…
	Let’s see. The one on the right suits what I was going for, but the eye contact just isn’t good enough…
	Sudden paw-erful attack from yours truly~!!*
	Oh, dear! Kiddo! And Kuro-chan, you too.
	Mister Butterfly, your eyebrows are all furrowed right nyaow~? If they keep staying furrowed, mew won’t be able to get rid of the furrows for the rest of your life~!?
Translator Notes: Kirio’s line of being afraid of manjuu comes from a rakugo story (Manjuu Kowai) where someone admits his fear of bean paste-filled buns to get his friends to give him a lot in order to spook him… unbeknownst to them that he actually loves them and has been gobbling up the bread in return.

20

	I’ve brought you tea. You didn’t notice me even though I had called out to you, so…
	That’s why I brought on my paw-erful attack!
	You tried talking to me? I’m sorry for not noticing.
	There’s no need to apologize. I was simply worried for you, as it seems you were brooding over something.
	Oh me, oh my. Did it look like that to you? Dearie me. It really was nothing. Just because I talked about my family back home a while back… I might’ve been a little more forceful, putting more effort into things than what was necessary.
	…My initial suspicions were correct, then? You had been worried about your family? I thought that was the case.
	With me continuing to stand onstage, there’s a part of me that thinks I’m making someone else be the scapegoat. When I realized that, I just knew I couldn’t take things lightly. But thinking too much made my field of view narrow too much. I’ve still got a ways to go.

21

	Mister Butterfly, mew are amazing enough already!! Mew are all sparkly~ and stuff!!
	I feel the same. Your demeanor regarding “displaying yourself” and the particularities you have with it… Watching you do that allows me to know that I always have much to learn.
	Fufu, you really think so? It’s a little embarrassing. Thank you, both of you. Having you two say that means I gotta accept my fate and do this to the end! But it’s not good for me to brood over things too much and lose sight of what’s around me, hm? I feel more strongly that I can’t compromise with half-baked efforts, though. Since we’ll have to make this the best gravure photoshoot it can be!
	Yes…! I will exert my best efforts as well.
	Let’s hit the second half of the photoshoot right out of the pawll-park~!!

22

	They’re focused over refining just one shot? Sai truly is amazing.
	Next is our photoshoot. We can’t lose to sis and the others, huh! But I didn’t expect snow to start falling too.
	I don’t think it will have an effect on the lines we thought up…
	That sounds to be the case. If we leave it the way it is, it doesn’t seem it’ll be that bad… Since we’re here already, why not try out lines that involve snow related to them?
	Lines that involve snow, huh? It’ll have a sense of realism if we do that. Good idea!
	There’s still time. Let’s look over and redo our phrases.

23

	“…What are you doing here? Your smell woke me up. I have no interest in blood staining this silvery-white snow, but… Hmm. Your smell is enticing. You foolish human… If you don’t want to be eaten, you’ll have to obey me.”
* camera flashes *
	“Oh, good grief. To think I’d meet a lost human on a snowy day like this. It’s cold outside, isn’t it? It’s fine. Come here. You can feast on some miso soup with meat and vegetables that I’ve prepared for you.”
* camera flashes *
	Teru-san, Kaoru-san, both of your abilities are so overwhelming…! Even though you’re both demons, your types are completely different. Watching you makes me think about the story of the north wind and the sun, or something.
	It might have been because I kept the image of the pride and cruelty of demons in my mind as I did it.
	I’m going with the friendly-with-humans type of demon. I think that not all demons are bad guys, anyway. Next is your photoshoot, Tsubasa. I’m looking forward to seeing what kinda demon you’ll be! Do your best!

24

	“This is an unusual guest to come within the snow… Human, you… What business do you have to do in this remote place? …What? I’ve charmed you? Fufu. I don’t know if you’re brave or thickheaded… But, that seems fine… I was just about to be bored. Let me hear what you have to say about human villages.”
* camera flashes *
	That was amazing, Tsubasa. You captured the demons’ allure perfectly!
	Pairing that up with the difference between it and your normal self was also praiseworthy. The cameraman also complimented you for that.
	Really? Hehe… It looks like my hard work paid off. …I thought I could express all sorts of things… if I were doing it by acting, or doing it like this…
	…It stands to reason that when you’re acting, there’s nothing that you can’t do. I believe as such.
	…Haha. You might be right. Thank you very much, Kaoru-san! Okay. Let’s finish off the last cut of the photoshoots!

25

	With the cuts we did with Sai having ended… We’re all done filming now. Good job, guys!
	Phew… It really does occupy your concentration when you’re acting in front of a camera, doesn’t it. Ahaha. Now that I’m not concentrating anymore, I’ve gotten hungry.
	It’s a complete about-face from that bewitching atmosphere and now we’re back with the regular Tsubasa. All right. Let’s invite the other three on our way back and eat some hot and piping oden!
	Oden! Wow… It’s perfect for this season! Would you like to join in too, Kaoru-san?
	This is the part where I’d refuse… but it’s true that I’m cold. Consuming something warm is a simple method of combating that.
	So you’re coming too, Sakuraba! Yes, I heard that completely crystal-clear!
	Producer, you should come too. Let’s warm ourselves up with some oden!