Stardust★Wink [Chapter 25]

Originally posted @ tatsukida.pitas.com on January 27, 2011

Cover: “With Nanoka in the classroom, I won’t be all alone right?!” Thank you for the support, it is now the series’ second year. Narration: “On Sou’s 16th birthday, there are two meteorites that hit my head then, it was over. Two days after, there are no traces of peace within my mind.” While eating breakfast, Anna becomes depressed over what Sou said regarding keeping some distance between them temporarily. She then blushes after remembering Hinata telling her that Sou is stupid for he didn’t thought that he [Hinata] might make a move on her. Anna suddenly screams out loud that it shocks her parents. Her poor father had spit out the coffee he is drinking. Her mother shouts at her what’s up with her to suddenly do that. Tense and worried, her mother says that these past two nights, Anna has also been acting weird. “Is there really no problem at all? It’s also vacation [no school day] yet you are wearing your uniform..” Flustered Anna shouts for her mother not to overly worry about that because even if there is no school, she still has club activity so she has to wear her uniform. With that, Anna leaves the house. Going to school and riding on the train, Anna thinks, “I’m already at my limit. So many things had happened that no matter how I think about it, I cannot calm myself down. Regarding Sou, no matter how many times I thought of it, it really pains my heart that I couldn’t bear it. It is obvious that being like this can be quite exhausting. Then, Hinata at that time.. what the heck does that mean?! Kissing me on the cheek!! He never did that when we were young, right?! What’s up with Hinata all of a sudden?! What was he thinking all of a sudden?! I totally cannot cope up with the current situation!” Anna moans as she holds her arms up on the train’s door. Soon, she is standing in front of the clubroom. Anna hears laughter inside that she thinks that Nanoka and Aya are already inside. “There is a huge possibility that Aya-chan will ask about Sou’s birthday.. and they also helped me a lot. But how am I to tell them..” She doesn’t want to tell them that she doesn’t want to talk about it since she doesn’t want to keep it a secret. “It is only that I have not sorted out myself yet!!” Anna becomes tense when she overhears the others wondering why Anna hasn’t arrived yet and could it be that she has forgotten about it. Anna decides to go in since they are going to send her a text message.




Anna goes in the door and apologizes for being late. She is surprised when Nanoka and Aya suddenly take her picture. The two girls laugh and say that they got Anna’s picture. They then look at the pictures in the camera’s lcd display and comments that it looks really good. Anna is still stunned wondering what they are so excited about. Chiaki comments that Anna is late. Anna apologizes for this. Chiaki tells her that she already had given theirs so this one is for Anna. It is a Canon DSLR [Digital single-lens reflex] camera. Nanoka happily pulls Anna’s arm and tells her that they go out and take beautiful pictures. Chiaki tells them to wait for there is something she wants to ask them. “Do you know of Shashin [/Photo] Koshien?” They all pose like baseball. [Koshien is a well-known baseball stadium in Hyogo prefecture. It is the home base of a popular professional baseball team and the site of the national high school tournaments every spring and summer. It is also a generic term adopted by major national high school tournaments of other kinds for example Manga Koshien or Dance Koshien. In this series, it is Photo Koshien. Source: Click Japan ] Teacher tells them that she didn’t mean baseball but rather, there is also photography Koshien. It is a national photography contest for high school students, grouped into three, which represents one school. In the preliminary round, the group of three will take pictures and submit 4-8 pictures as entries. After passing the elimination round, on summer, they can go to Hokkaido and participate in the main Shashin Koshien event. “If you guys are interested, want to join? ♪” [Shashin Koshien is a real life national photography contest for high school photography clubs that is held in Higashikawa, Hokkaido. For more info, check it out at Click Japan , Column 5].] While the girls look interested, Chiaki tells them to take pictures for a while and think about it. At the hallway, Nanoka and Aya express their interest in joining the contest. Nanoka happily says that since it is a group of three, Anna should also join. It turns out Anna isn’t listening because she is busy looking at the camera. Anna then exclaims that there are too many buttons and she doesn’t know which one is the shutter. Nanoka is shock that Anna didn’t know. Nanoka points out to Anna where the shutter is and the viewfinder. Anna points the camera to the sky and takes a picture. She looks at the display and says that it is amazing for it seems like a piece of the sky has been taken. Anna looks at the camera in amazement. She thinks that of course, since the sound of the shutter and the color isn’t the same like that of an ordinary camera. Nanoka asks Anna about joining the Shashin Koshien. Anna happily says yes, for she wants to try it out, too.



Anna and Nanoka are very enthusiastic about this that they want to go and take pictures. They have permission from Chiaki to go out of the school premises to do just that. Just when they are raring to go, Aya asks Anna how was Sou’s birthday. Anna becomes gloomy for it is brought up at this time. She thinks that she cannot escape from this topic. Shaking and tense, Anna timidly says that the birthday party went well but a lot of things happened afterwards. Aya looks worried upon seeing her reaction. At the park[?] near the subway, the girls are sitting on a bench to talk about it. Aya asks if this is the reason why she came to school alone yesterday. Anna says yes. With a smile, Nanoka thinks that it isn’t bad for Sou can do whatever he wants. Anna says yes, for her, it is like that. They notice that Aya has zone out. Aya snaps out of it and apologizes to Anna for naively asking about that. Anna tells her that it is okay and she ought to apologize since they helped her a lot yet the result ended up like that. Nanoka exclaims that they drop this topic for they specially went out to take pictures. Suddenly, Nanoka stands up and points towards the subway. She shouts, “It’s Hinata!!” Anna turns around to where Nanoka is pointing. “Eh?! Hinata?!” Nanoka calls out, “Hey- Hinata--” Standing by the stairs and carrying a lot of heavy bags, Hinata turns around. While Anna laments over how many times she is going to be mistaken about the two HINATA-s, Hinata looks surprised upon seeing them that he lost his balance and falls downstairs. While Nanoka comments that Hinata is an idiot, the other two girls are shock. The trio rush downstairs to find Hinata lying flat on the ground along with the shopping bags that he was carrying. Aya exclaims to Hinata if he is alright. Nanoka says that he is really slow-witted for he will, of course lose his balance from carrying all those things. Hinata is surprised when Anna asks if all the things are his since the things in the bag have already spilled out. Hinata quickly sits up and tries to tell Anna to stop and just leave everything as is. Anna holds a plastic with papers inside. Anna’s eyes widen since it is paper for drawing manga/comics. After a pause, Anna asks, “..eh, this is.. Kazami-kun, you draw manga?” Hinata looks dark while his childhood friends go ‘hehe’ since they already knew.




At Hinata’s room, Nanoka tells Anna that ever since before, Hinata likes to draw and he also really likes manga. Hinata says that during first year junior high, Nanoka and Aya encouraged him to submit an entry to a manga reward contest. Nanoka exclaims that Hinata luckily won the prize and he’s such a lucky guy. “Afterwards, he formally started his career. Basically, Hinata is a high school mangaka ☆” Sparkling eyes, Anna exclaims, “Is that so!!! It’s like Bakuman” [<- hehe, same with my reaction when I learned about it. Bakuman is a manga about talented artist Moritaka Mashiro and aspiring writer Akito Takagi, two ninth grade boys who wish to become mangaka. Source: wiki] While Aya trying to comfort him since this is exposed to Anna, Hinata gloomily asks why they are in his room. Nanoka says that it is because he seems to be having a hard time carrying those things so they helped him. Hinata angrily shouts that he is asking as to why Anna also came. Anna sheepishly apologizes for being thick-faced to come in. Hinata freaks out and says that isn’t what he is referring to. After a pause, gloomy Hinata apologizes and tells Anna that he would be really grateful if she keeps this a secret from the people in school. Anna sweatdrops and says okay, she won’t tell. Aya asks if he is going to draw an [original] manuscript that is why he bought a lot of drawing tools. Hinata says that he is still drawing a draft storyboard and the drawing tools are just for him to use to relieve his boredom. Hinata’s mother comes in and tells Hinata that he has a phone call from his editor. Hinata is in a panic for it is comment about the draft storyboard [he submitted] and he didn’t expect that there will be a quick reply during the break. He then tells the girls to go. Anna is puzzled what a draft storyboard is. Someone tells her that before drawing the formal manuscript, one has to draw the layout/composition of the manga’s manuscript. While Hinata goes to answer the phone, Nanoka and Aya greet Hinata’s mother. Anna is still looking at Hinata’s direction. Hinata goes back to his desk and listens to his editor on the phone regarding the corrections. He is told by the editor regarding the long talk which can be superfluous/redundant and about the female character.

After Hinata hangs up the phone, he is looking at his rough storyboard. He is startled when Anna takes his picture. He goes into shock that Anna is still there. Anna happily exclaims, “How cool!! [That] I wanted to take Kazami’s picture!!” Hinata goes ‘huh’. Nanoka asks if she is referring to the Shashin Koshien. Aya says that it a good idea for they are beginners who doesn’t have any photo taking skills. If they are to win the elimination round, they need a good and new story outline [/theme for the pictures] is very important. “It is also quite rare to use a high school mangaka as the subject for photography. It could also give others a deeper impression about the pictures.” Nanoka happily embraces Aya and exclaims no wonder she’s Aya [that’s a good idea]. Aya asks what Hinata thinks. Anna asks, “Kazami-kun, can you be our model?!” Scowling Hinata bluntly says, “..I refuse.” Nanoka looks irritated while the two other girls’ smiles are just..ah frozen, it seems. Soon, after school dismissal, Anna is walking at the hallway. She thinks that of course Hinata will refuse for he did told her to keep it a secret. “But, since then, [I/we] do not have any other thing that [I/we] want to take a picture of.” Then, her cellphone rings. It is an email from Hinata. “I’m going to eat dinner at Mashiro’s place. It will be omrice [rice within an omelete] (‘ワ’)/ I’m going to leave my stomach empty before going. *runs away*” After looking surprised, Anna somewhat smiles and thinks that ever since Sou’s birthday, Hinata starts to earnestly write her emails and calls her up. Anna muses what’s up that colorful language he used, it’s so cute. “Happy at one side, I cannot help but think, ‘why?’, although it should just be [his way] of helping me to cheer up. I still don’t know if Hinata still remembers about my confession last year..” Anna is surprised when she sees Sou, coming out of the classroom. Sou is telling some guy that he has work. The guy says about going to have fun at his work but Sou declines. Looking at Sou’s back, Anna sadly thinks that it seems as if she is hearing Sou’s voice from afar and it is as if he is someone whom she doesn’t know. “The more I do not want to hear, the more it goes into my ear.” She didn’t notice that Hinata comes out of the other door of the classroom and is watching her. Hinata turns around and walks away. Then, he takes out his cellphone to call Aya. Aya is delighted that Hinata has finally agreed to be their model. After Aya thanks him, Hinata says, “But, on contrary, there is also something that I want to ask [a favor/condition].”