Operetta - Brothers 8

[bakemonoremy]

Location: Coffee Shop

Kaoru: Hm~... If I’m gonna be honest, at this point in time I’d appreciate any publicity we can get.

But it’s me and Rei-kun we’re talking about, so it’s not like we’re struggling in the idol industry or anything.

Yet the other graduates are all working like crazy too, so it’s pretty hard for the two of us to stand out among the rest.

So no matter the reason for it, the attention from this’ll help us gain momentum and turn into an advantage for us.

For me personally, it’s something I could never acquire no matter how much I wish for it.

I’ll respect Rei-kun’s decision, but it does feel like “we let that chance go to waste”, I guess.

Of course, if this kind of attention would be a bother for Little Brother-kun, or cause him pain, I’ll let this one go… Though it kinda makes me feel sick.*

Rei-kun may have one-sidedly decided that this is hurting Little Brother-kun, and arrogantly said something like “I’ll deal with it” like usual, but…

Hey, did you really confirm your Little Brother-kun’s feelings on this?

If you decided all of this on your own without making sure of that, almost like you don’t understand his feelings one bit… Well, don’t you think that’s exactly the kind of attitude that hurts him the most?

Rei: …………

Mao: Umm. Please excuse me for acting like I can’t read the mood, but I didn’t call Sakuma-senpai here today for this kind of conversation, so…

Well, it does seem like a rather important topic so, um, feel free to continue.*2

Ritsu: Yeah… That’s right, we originally wanted to ask Anija about this “Operetta” thing. So what is that all about, after all?

Rei: Yes, well… The way this conversation is going, this is extremely difficult for me to say.

Since Koga and Kaoru-kun performed in it, I’m sure you remember, but last year… Just around this time of year, something called “Resurrection Sunday”*3 took place.

Kaoru: Aah… Yeah, that’s a memory I’d prefer not to recall, though.

Koga: Hahaan, I get it. So to sum it up, this “Operetta” thingie is this year’s version of “Resurrection Sunday”...Did I guess right?

Rei: Indeed. You’ve gotten quite perceptive and grown up, haven’t you Koga… You’re a real 3rd year Onii-san now. There there, let me pet your head for that ♪

Koga: I’ll kill ya.

Hmm… Well, last year it wasn’t just us, but even 2wink got involved in it and it was a whole thing. But this year it’s just gonna be you two brothers?

Ritsu: Eh, that’s the first time I’m hearing this. Anija, don’t go deciding my schedule all by yourself.

Rei: Nono, this is a misunderstanding… As you’re all aware, the Sakuma family does carry out that moldy, idiotic ceremony every year.

Last year I was forced to integrate that ceremony into a DreamFes…

Or rather, I managed to dodge the issue by carrying both out together. As you know, that was “Resurrection Sunday”.

However. While, thanks to all of you, it did turn into a truly wonderful live, I came to regret my decision in retrospect…

This is exactly why you shouldn’t let personal and public matters intermingle.

As a result, I am thinking of carrying out the ceremony on my own this year.

And that is “Operetta”, and coincidentally also the reason I traveled to Europe to discuss the matter with our family.

Since I can’t muster up any enthusiasm to simply carry out that annoying ceremony by itself…

I made a friend overseas who manages an opera house, so I thought to use this opportunity as publicity for it.

Koga: Aaahn? Is this like that time with the beach house, and the opera house is strugglin’ to attract customers?

Don’t go extendin’ a helpin’ hand to just anyone, are you Jesus Christ or what?

Rei: I’m not. Having turned my back on the teachings of the Lord, as a vampire I am by no means a messiah.

Despite the fact that operas are completely out of fashion in these modern times, the management of this opera house is doing anything they can to catch the public fancy.

I don’t think doing some advertising for them is a bad thing, and even if I didn’t, it’s not as though their fortune is on the decline.

I’m well aware of my own position, so I didn’t decide on this by thinking “I’ll save you”.

It’d be too arrogant of me to think that. Since I’m a mere mortal*4, I cannot save anyone.

This is just Hibiki-kun’s pet theory, but people can only save themselves*5. All we can do is be even a little bit of help to them in that endeavour. 

It’s just that performing the ceremony by itself wouldn’t be to anyone’s benefit at all…

So since I’ll be wasting my precious lifetime on this, I thought I’d prefer if it was at least to the advantage of someone.

The opera house was looking to promote themselves, so my friend carefreely came to ask my opinion on the matter…

Since it was a good opportunity, I offered for him to leave the performance to me, and he accepted my proposal.

Well, the conversation just kind of turned out like that and so we decided on this plan.

Then the whole affair got mixed up in the simultaneously occurring racket over “Sakuma Rei having a little brother” in the news.

Somehow, people just decided that this meant that “the siblings are going to perform in a live together”... And that’s how we ended up in this situation.

Ritsu: Hmmm, I see… I think I’ve gotten the gist of it.

So “Operetta” is really just a live you plan to do as an individual, and not us brothers?

Rei: Indeed. I’m sure you have no objections against that, everyone?

This shouldn’t cause trouble for anyone, since UNDEAD has recently taken to separating into solo or duo groups for jobs. 

I am free to do as I please.

Koga: ...Well, you ain’t wrong. But you’re actin’ so stand-offish, if you’d just said somethin’, everyone would’ve been happy to help you out like we did last year durin’ “Resurrection Sunday”.

The twins would’ve been overjoyed… They keep tellin’ me stuff like how they wanna work together with Sakuma-senpai again.

Well, after the shit he went through last “Resurrection Sunday” Hakaze-senpai might not be up for it though.

Kaoru: Yeah, thanks to that I’ve actually kinda come to hate Easter itself.

But you said last year that the role of the “sacrifice” changes every year, so there’s no chance of it being me again this time, right?

In that case I won’t have to go through the same thing again, yeah? So in other words, there wouldn’t be any reason for me to be against doing this together with you, would there?

Ritsu: ...Probably not. But I think Anija just didn’t want to drag all of you from UNDEAD any further into the customs of our family. 

And that really is stand-offish, or rather that ship has sailed by now...

You said you don’t want to pretend to be a messiah, but on some level you do look down on others.

We’re perfectly fine even without you trying to be considerate and protecting us, okay?

Rei: Uuu. I’m being attacked from every direction here… Were my actions really terrible enough to warrant this disparaging treatment, Isara-kun?

Mao: Eh, you’re asking me?

Hm~... Since this problem affects me the least here, I can see and understand everyone’s positions and opinions.

To be honest, I think no one’s really at fault here. You just had some miscommunication, and that’s what caused each other pain, maybe…

From the looks of it, the senpai have a job to get to after this, but I think you should really talk this out and clear up ill feelings between you.

And if you need someone to be a level-headed third party, I’ll take that responsibility.

Rei: Fufu. You’ve really grown into your role of student council president, Isara-kun.

Yet it feels like only yesterday when you and Ritsu would cuddle up to me saying “Rei-chan, Rei-chan ♪” all the time.

Mao: No, please don’t fabricate memories. The two of us didn’t even interact at all as children, right?

Rei: You got me. Putting the jokes aside… We certainly should talk this out properly. 

Through the gift of speech bestowed upon mankind, disagreements are born. And yet in most cases, piling on more words is the only way to come to an understanding.

While it’s possible we’ll be miles apart someday, right now we sit here and can have a meal together. Thankfully, you’re within a distance where my voice can reach you--

In which case, I shouldn’t neglect to make use of this ability which every human possesses, and strive to reach an understanding with you.

Since all of you went through all of that trouble… of turning me into a human.

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* This is often translated as the occasion calls for it and therefore pretty much lost in translation, but Kaoru has a habit of going “gerogero” (which is the sound effect of throwing up) when something isn’t to his liking, especially with regard to getting closer to other guys, and that’s what he said here.

*2 Mao is at least trying to speak in polite keigo when he addresses Kaoru and Rei, but he’s obviously not all that good at it.

*3 The UNDEAD Easter event is basically known as only that, UNDEAD Easter, but the word used for it in the original text is 復活祭, which means Easter in the Christian sense but literally translates to “Resurrection Festival”. In order to avoid confusion between the times characters actually use the English “Easter” and the Japanese word for it when they refer to the UNDEAD event, the translator for that event decided to translate it as “Resurrection Sunday”... Which also ties in with the rebirth theme going on there. To keep the translations consistent, I chose to do the same thing. Whenever characters actually do speak of Easter itself, I’ll keep it as such, and when they’re referring to the UNDEAD event, it’s “Resurrection Sunday”.

*4 He uses the expression “神ならぬ身” here, which if taken literally translates to something like “those who can’t be(come) God”, but is used to mean “mortals”, so that’s what I went with. Wanted to add this as a TL Note because it’s just another one of those times Rei likes to invoke religious imagery in this monologue.

*5 This is very likely a Bakemonogatari reference. Rei says “People can only save themselves”, which is almost identical to the famous words of Oshino Meme, “People can only save themselves, so all I can do is lend a helping hand, but I cannot save anyone”. Oshino uses the verb “tasukaru” which is to help/save someone, but Rei replaces it with “sukuu” which means save/rescue.