By the way, did you know that the name of the school that Reika attends is actually read as Zuiran?
Due to historical reasons I ended up imitating this one facet of the first translatorâs translation. Originally I was translating a few teasers like 70 chapters down from where he was translating, and for that reason took âSuiranâ as the translation.
This was despite ignoring all his other unique takes on translating names, which bothered me a lot more. (Enzo, Kishouin etc.)
When I began re-translating the series as a whole, I stuck to Suiran, figuring that it was already a point of familiarity, and by the time I reconsidered, I was already like 40~50 chapters in.
Recently, however, I went back and made edits to a large amount of Tileaâs Worries chapters, so itâs probably not as big a deal as Iâm thinking.
If youâd like me to use the proper translation of the name (and replace it in all previous chapters), say so down in the comments. If youâd prefer Suiran just out of familiarity, please also let me know in the comments below. It doesnât bother me either way, personally.
The Kaburagi Masaya from âYou Are My Dolceâ was absolutely not this ridiculous emperorâŠ
Handsome and sharp, they called him the Emperor of Suiran, and despite having a cold and unapproachable exterior, when it came to romance he was passionate and overbearing, earnest in the pursuit of the girl that he liked, even if he was a little clumsy at times.
Sometimes he didnât use enough words to clarify, which turned into misunderstandings, but those few moments of incompetence stirred up the maternal instincts in the readers.
Particularly heart-pounding was that scene by the ocean, alight with sea sparkles, where he held out his hand and said,
âIâm sorry.â
Waah~!
Anyway, he was basically all the attributes that young maidens found charming, rolled up into a single character.
And yetâŠ
The Kaburagi Masaya I knew in reality was, yes, still handsome and sharp, and still called the Emperor of Suiran. And yes, I was not arguing that he had a cold and unapproachable exterior.
But the inside.
His mind was on the level of a primary schooler, unable to read the mood, and with a tendency towards stalking. The type of loser who would hand-make an accessory and then engrave their initials into it despite not even dating the girl or even securing her love.
This was just cruel.
Give me back the excitement from my previous life.
And the nickname âEmperorâ was supposed to be because he had the bearing and charisma of a ruler.
It wasnât supposed to be because he was the Napoleon of childrenâs cavalry battle!
Unlike this laughingstock, the Emperor from the manga was dignified.
The difference was just too muchâŠ
Although I could admit that he did a good job of hiding it.
I had even begun to suspect that most people thought of him as the same sort of person as his manga counterpart.
Even Wakaba-chan said that he was mature.
Of course, his true self was that, thoughâŠ
Life sure was convenient for hot guys!
Well, not that I really cared.
He could fail at romance as much as he wanted so long as he did it out of my sight.
The problem was that now that I did know, it was only a matter of time before he made me bawl out of pity.
Why did I have to ask her about that necklace�
It would have been better not to know.
Anyhow, ignorant of my inner thoughts, Kaburagi continued brainstorming his next plan for a present.
âI donât know what women want,â he said helpfully. âWhat do youthink they want?â
I was sitting in my usual spot in the salon when he had come over for another consultation.
Since by all appearances he was discussing something serious with me, everyone around us had given us space out of consideration. As long as there was no shouting, we wouldnât be overheard.
âYour best bet are consumables or perishables,â I told him without hesitation.
Things like flowers or food were good because the receiving end didnât have to think too hard about it.
Actually, food was really good.
You just ate it, and it was gone.
âPerishables!? No way. I want to leave behind some proof of my feelings. Something that she can always keep near, so that she can always keep my heart near.â
The man with the heart of a stalker, ladies and gentlemen.
Every one of his ideas gravitated towards heavy crap like that.
But I couldnât just leave him be either.
If I did, I could almost guarantee that heâd come up with another insane present.
I had to course-correct before it was too late.
âI believe it would be best if you refrained from presents that are too expensive,â I said.
âWhy,â he demanded.
âBecause in consideration of her personality, she is more liable to feel guilt or discomfort from receiving a present bought with a mountain of your parentsâ money. Being the case, would she not be much happier to receive a cheaper present bought with money you earned yourself?â I asked.
I was pretty much certain about that.
All I needed to do was think back to how she reacted when I handed over my expensive uniform, paid with my parentsâ money, and without an inkling of how much they cost.
Wakaba-chan loved her parents, and on top of that she already knew how hard it was to make money.
âSo youâre telling me to get a job, and buy a present with that?â
âWell, I suppose that is what this comes down to.â
Wasnât it moving to receive a present that somebody worked hard to get you?
Still a bit heavy thoughâŠ
Especially considering they werenât even datingâŠ
âI do have some money that I earnt myself, you know.â
âEh!? Truly!? How?â
That came as a shock.
Suiran forbade its students from working part-time after all.
âMostly investing.â
âInvesting⊠Stock trading, in other words. Hmmm~ Making money through stocksâŠ? Would that count as money you earned yourself, thenâŠ? Stocks⊠Wha-!? Stocks!?â
I did a double-take.
âKaburagi-sama! Are you planning on buying all of our companyâs stocks and initiating a hostile takeover!? This is not what we agreed on!â I accused.
âHaah!? Why the hell would I do that!?â he yelled.
The noise caused everyone to glance our way for a moment but I was in no state to care.
Stocks!
Take-over!
Destruction of my family!
I retrieved the oath from my bag.
âDo you dare claim that you do not remember this!?â I demanded.
âUwahâŠ! Did you seriously go get that laminated!? Youâre really creeping me out hereâŠâ
Did he really think that I wouldnât?
With it laminated Iâd never have to worry that Kaburagiâs oath would get dirty.
It would never be damaged by rain nor wear now.
But the oath by itself wasnât enough to reassure me anymore.
Not now that Kaburagi was trading stocks.
âKaburagi-sama. If you desire my help then I will require another written oath from you. With a proper blood seal this time!â
I had been right. A thumb print would never be enough.
I needed to carve the promise into his body.
âAgain with the blood seals!? What the fuck is your family up to!?â
âKeep your voice down. What will you do if somebody hears you?â
âIs it fraud!? Donât tell me youâre connected to the underworld!? Leave me out of this alreadyâŠâ
What the heck?
The company run by the Kisshouin didnât have a single tie to anything shady.
We were 100% above the board.
âLook, Iâm trading in stocks but Iâm not making enough to take over any companies, okayâŠ?â
âTruly?â
âTruly. With how little time I get to spend on it between studying, I barely make anything. Just how much money do you think youâd need to buy up the majority share in your familyâs company?â
âSo you already know exactly how much money is needed to forcefully take over our company then!â I accused, bearing down on him.
âEven if I knew, I wouldnât and couldnât!â he defended as he drew his body back.
He had better not be lying.
Lives were depending on this.
There was no place for lies here.
I stared at him a while before he averted his gaze.
âJust how fucked up is this companyâŠ?â he muttered.
How rude!
Weâre 100% above the board!
But fine.
If he was willing to go that far, then Iâd believe him.
For now.
At any rate, Iâd be keeping a close eye on him.
It would also be best to confirm with Oniisama that we werenât in a position to suffer a hostile takeover.
âI understand. I shall believe you. Well then, shall we return to our previous topic?â
âYeah.â
Kaburagi sighed in relief.
Iâm trusting in you, Kaburagi.
âWell then, in regards to the present, you can increase the chances of her accepting your gift by making them easy to accept. Foods, consumables, perishables. Besides, girls love to be given beautiful flowers, or charming little desserts. Leaving that aside, would it not feel like bribing her into dating you if you brought her expensive gifts every time?â
âThat is trueâŠâ he nodded.
âYou should save the expensive gifts for when it counts.â
âLike Christmas. I wonder what happened to the handmade necklace I gave herâŠâ
Wah! Please stop!
Donât make me remember that!
Your M&W necklace has been given to Wakaba-chanâs little sister.
ââŠWell, forget about that for now. Ah, that reminds me. I think that that teddybear was a good idea. And the maple syrup from Canada too!â
Wakaba-chan had been pretty pleased with that maple syrup.
I thought it was pretty delicious too~
Could we find it in Japan?
âI see. Hm? How come you know that I gave her maple syrup?â he asked.
Eh!?
Had he never told me!?
Oh no!
âOh? Did I not hear about it from you? Strange, I recall you telling meâŠâ
I couldnât let him see my eyes.
They were the window to the soul, after all.
Instead, I pretended to examine the contents of my tea cup.
What, didnât you know? Iâm well versed in tea leaf reading.
This kind of behaviour is totally natural for me.
âI really donât remember thoughâŠâ he muttered.
His memory seemed to be stupidly good.
Donât tell me he remembered everything he ever told anyone?
As Kaburagi seemed to be going through our conversations in his head, I hurriedly interrupted him instead.
âThat maple syrup was delicious, no? How was it? Her reaction?â
ââŠYeah. She told me it was great when she thanked me,â he said a bit happily. Maybe he was recalling the memory.
âSee? That was a splendid brand that you chose!â I praised, hopefully buttering him up.
âIt was pretty good. To be honest I wanted to get her something better than just maple syrup, but Shuusuke stopped me. He said that since I had already given that kind of Christmas present, a small souvenir would be just right.â
âMy!â
Nice save, Enjou!
âEnjou-sama has been giving you advice as well, then?â
âSometimes.â
I see.
âIn that case would it not be better to seek advice from him rather than me?â
Come to think of it, wasnât that guy part of the Fulfilling Romance Village?
Kaburagi, that guy definitely has a lot of real experience, so you should go get your advice from him.
âShuusuke told me that for romance it was better to get a girlâs perspective.â
âWhat did you say!?â
Enjoooouuuuu!
So all of my suffering right now was because of you!
That bastard!
He came up to me commenting about how heâd âheardâ that I was Kaburagiâs strategist when he was the mastermind all along!
Baastard schemer!
Where was he right now!?
Donât tell me he went home!
Kiiih!
âSo I was wondering who I could even ask,â continued Kaburagi, âWhen Iwamuro and Class Rep told me to ask you.â
Aah, Iwamuro-kun, Class RepâŠ
No, it wasnât their fault.
The one at fault was Enjou.
âIf you wanted a female perspective, why not simply ask Yurie-sama or Aira-sama?â
âThose two are busy thinking about what they want to do in life, you knowâŠâ
This is my last year in high school too, you know?
Hmm?
He was looking oddly grumpy.
Could it be that he was sulking because Yurie-sama hadnât paid more attention to him?
Wakaba-chan, just what part of this guy is ânormally matureâ?
ââŠHonestly. Those two told me about how your hair was a god of love, but I havenât seen a difference at all.â
âThat is because you lack faith.â
Pray, ye faithless.
I raised my right hand into the Abhaya Mudra for bestowing courage, while my left pointed downwards to form the Varada Mudra of fortune bestowal.
âAllow me to gift you with some advice from the divines. Push not your own preferences, and match the likes of the girl instead. If you do so, your path will surely become clearer.â
âSo dodgyâŠâ
Dodgy!?
If thatâs the attitude youâre going to take, then forget about any fortune!
Hmph, Kaburagi wasnât getting a drop of my romantic luck!
âThen in light of your deficits in both comprehension and imagination, allow me to give you something concrete instead. The thing that would make Takamichi-san the happiest is probably a reference book for her studies.â
âHaah!?â
As if preparing for uni entrance exams wasnât enough, Wakaba-chan was also a scholarship student.
Those reference books were indispensable for her.
Plus, reference books and exercise books were both pretty expensive.
âWhat a cynical and unromantic present⊠I really did choose the wrong person.â
Shoulders slumped, Kaburagi walked away.
*
*
Kaburagiâs only redeeming factor was his obedience in learning though, so despite his parting words he still did as I said.
He came and told me that Wakaba-chan was overjoyed and thanked him.
And thanks to that, they even ended up agreeing on another visit to the library together.