Chapter 13
The beginning: 2 years worth of months and days 3
Calligraphy was the art that attempts to express the beauty of words by writing .
While studying the standard discipline in the expression of the aesthetics of words, through use it would beautify one’s life, make one’s heart wealthy, and express the beauty of one’s personality . And through the process of training, it would cultivate your character, and refine your sensibilities . Therefore, learning the basics of calligraphy was~……… .
And so on .
Even if I’m told something like this, it honestly has nothing to do with me .
Even though I’m being taught calligraphy, I don’t recall my heart becoming wealthy nor have any experience of my character being cultivated .
But what was certain was that as I wrote my palms were sweaty . (tn: mom’s spaghetti lol)
But, without any concern for my thoughts, once again today’s calligraphy training is beginning .
“Today pick a word you like and write it . ”
“”””Yes””””
Right now we are all sitting in a single japanese-style room, picking up our brushes under Oyaji-sama’s guidance, kneeling and facing towards the paper in order to express the beauty of words .
In front of Oyaji-sama we sat in order, from the left was Shuusui, me, Nagikaze, and Rangiku . These were our normal spots . Before, Rangiku had been next to me on my left, but every time he would start teasing me without Oyaji-sama knowing so I told on him pretty quick .
The next day after the anonymous tip off Rangiku was forcefully moved to the very edge, and when Oyaji-sama told him to move,
“You’re at the very right . ”
“Eh, but I usually,”
“To the right”
“……… . . ”
Though grumbling slightly to himself, he reluctantly moved .
I was thankful that Oyaji-sama didn’t mention my name . Thanks to this, the one in question still didn’t know why he had been moved .
“I think I’ll do the character for 4,”（四）
“I’ll do 3”（三）
“Then I’ll do 2”（二）
“Then I… . uh… . ”
Oh, whatever shall I do— .
“Are you stupid? It’s 1!”
“Shut up Ran-chan”
Even though we were separated he was still really noisy .
“All of you, cut the crap and choose and write already . ”
After having been told so, we took up our brushes and faced our paper .
The word I was going to write had already been determined . That word was a treasure I had found recently, and whenever I saw it my heart felt warm .
Behold, I shall write it splendidly!!
Incidentally, during calligraphy it was forbidden to look at another’s writing . Apparently because your intuition would be influenced .
That’s why I would single-mindedly write, write, write!!
Unfortunately my powers of concentration were (cough) quite poor, so every now and then I would look at Rangiku’s word to my right .
But without fail,
“Whaaat is it? Nogiku”
“Y, yy, yeah . It’s not what you’re thinking, nope . ”
I would be caught before I could see . And whenever I was caught, some ink from the end of his brush would conveniently fly onto my paper and leave a stain . He wasn’t even looking at me, what a formidable person .
It was such a simple and unobtrusive harassment, but it was so well executed that I was impressed each time, and I kind of looked forward to it .
But how did he know?
Nagikaze definitely had ESP after all .
While I was like this, on the other hand I would never look at Shuusui’s .
But if you asked me why, even my own brain wouldn’t know the answer .
“All right, that’s enough . Present the one you think you did best on today . ”
While this and that were happening, it was the final stage; time for everyone to present the respective words they had written .
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First was Rangiku . Standing in front of everyone, he held up the word he had chosen .
What had been written was “kiku” (chrysanthemum) . (菊)
The grass radical on top(艹)was written big, kind of looking like a hat, or rather both ends were dangled down so it looked like hair . The (米) in the middle looked like a face .
But I see, so Rangiku did his own name . Maybe I should have done the “No”(野) from my name…
Fufufu . But writing his own name was kind of cute .
“Ran-chan, that,”
“It’s not like I wrote your name or anything, okay!! I just like the “kiku” that’s the same as Oyaji-sama!”
(okay so the kiku, meaning chrysanthemum, is the same in both Rangiku(蘭菊) and Nogiku(野菊) (that’s the giku part) and I guess oyaji-sama’s name too? Idk what it is lol Rangiku’s name is literally orchid chrysanthemum i think? and Nogiku’s name is literally wild chrysanthemum)
Um, no one asked though .
Next was Shuusui, and what was written on his paper was “black . ”(黒) Black? Did he like black? Somehow when Shuusui wrote it it felt kind of sinister . He was already carrying something on his back .
Instead of a word he liked, to me it seemed more like a word that described him .
But the ‘black’ that was written dynamically to fill up the whole page, was somehow beautiful and dignified .
“Oh, black huh . Shuusui, why did you choose black?”
“Because it is strong and beautiful, unable to be dyed by anything . ”
What an intellectual statement .
Next was Nagikaze, with the word “small . ”(小) It was written very small, as well . Small? Did he like small, meaning… . . meaning what?
Maybe it meant he liked small things .
Nah, there was no way it would be that simple . It had be something like, some more twisted deep reason… . if you took ‘small’ and twisted and twisted and twisted… . .
“Small huh . So, why small?”
“I chose it because I like small things . ”
It was so obvious .
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“Then it’s Nogiku next . Give us a look”
It was my turn now, so I came in front of everyone and showed everyone my paper . Behold, this is my favorite word!!
“’Law’? Nogiku, why did you choose law?”
“You actually know kanji?”
I will ignore this Elite Boy’s snide remarks at this time .
My favorite word was law . (憲) [more specifically constitution]
Because, well, I want you to look closely .
“It is the word of the brothers . ”
‘Law . ’
Ujino nii-sama’s roof radical, (宀), Kiyomizu nii-sama’s ‘blue’ on top, and Ramon nii-sama’s ‘four,’ all peacefully lined up from top to bottom .
{宀from his name Ujino -> 宇治野, that first character 宇}
{blue from his name Kiyomizu-> 清水, the first character 清, the kanji for blue is ‘青’}
{from his name Ramon-> 羅紋, the first character 羅, the top part 罒, I think bc it has the same # of strokes as 4(四) or, maybe the name of the radical… . ?}
At the very bottom was ‘heart’(心), and whenever I saw this word I would remember the brothers who always treated me kindly .
The people I loved .
That’s why it was my favorite kanji . Favorite word .
I wrote the ‘heart’ that was at the bottom as if to wrap up the three above .
The result was pretty good, if I do say so myself . Well, I accidentally made a spot on Ramon nii-sama’s part, but what was important was the heart, the heart! It’s filled with 100% of my feelings .
And so, tonight I’ll sleep with the ‘憲’ that I wrote in today’s practice under my pillow .
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“I see . … . Nogiku, write another one . ”
“?”
Though my thoughts digressed; when I explained my reasoning, for some reason another one was requested .
So for the time being, I just went back to my calligraphy spot and wrote ‘憲’ according to Oyaji-sama’s request .
Ah, I made a spot on Ramon nii-sama again .
… . No, wait . If I said that that mark represented the crying mole under Ramon nii-sama’s right eye, wouldn’t that be super cool?
It’s not like this is a mistaaake, ha ha .
I mumbled these inconsequential excuses in my head .
“For the brothers, this must be unbearable… in some sense, this could be one of the arts of temptation . Seems like you have quite the aptitude! Whether it’s the classics or poetry, you’re doing well even though you’re so small . I didn’t think I’d see something like this in calligraphy…”
“……eh”
I don’t really get it but I think I’m being praised?
“Still just 7… Even though I’m the one who raised you like this, seems like I still don’t want my sons to rush to be adults . Though I took you in as a boy, for parental affection to pop up now…seems like I should have given them more time with you,”
“?”
Oyaji-sama said as he roughly patted my cheek .
H, hey, kindly don’t do that with your ink-stained hands!
“This is a special exception, you hear? Since there’s really not supposed to be any passing of paper . …Here, this is the word Nogiku says she likes . Your letters are inside it”
“? … . . ~ah, to write somethin’ like this for the word you like… . ” (Ramon)
“It makes one want to meet even more, doesn’t it” (Ujino)
“… . I think I’m likely to become even stranger than usual” (Kiyomizu)
Boyz of the Law
(tn: what the author actually wrote was 憲 s)
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