Laruha Art Book and a surprise short story

Laruha's gorgeous art book, containing e.g., art works of Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

Gosh, apologies for being so inactive lately. Too many IRL deadlines to finish… BUT, I have finished transcribing Vol 7 Ch 4 (yaay!), so I can start translating it! It is 20 A4 pages, so I will need about a month to finish translating, so hopefully I can finish it by mid-September or so. Gomen… But Vol 7 Ch 4 has an interesting tidbit about Ōdanna-sama, and the intelligence comes from Byakuya-san. So, it’s definitely worth the wait IMO.

Now, in the meantime, I have more interesting tidbits. I recently purchased several Kakuriyo books that I want to share with you. The first one is Vol 12 of the light novel (I need to translate the table of contents soon!). The second one is Vol 8 of the manga in Japanese. Not too much happening there in terms of Ōdanna-sama, because he was traveling in Utsushiyo and Aoi had to help the Tenjin-ya guys catering to my other heartthrobs Hatori and Tokihiko-dono who barged in into Tenjin-ya as guests. We do have some moments of Aoi having a lavish kaiseki with Ōdanna-sama (which makes me really really want to visit Japan again, as if I haven’t longed to do so the last two years!) and them exchanging the Kakuriyo version of emails. But the rest of manga vol 8 is about Aoi match-making Shizuna-chan and Tokihiko-dono and winning Hatori on her side as well. Oh, we also see the jyaki who almost killed Shizuna… and I have to say, it’s VERY different from the anime visual. 

Vol 12 of the light novel (left) and Vol 8 of the manga (right)

The third book that I bought was the Laruha artbook, containing many of Laruha’s beautiful artworks on Kakuriyo and other stories (see the first image in this post). Boy, I am glad I bought this artbook, for it took me a while to make up my mind… (eBay has some copies, if you’d like to buy it!). 

Anyways. I found three new information in the Laruha artbook. First, it has the visual of Takechiyo-sama’s, the prince who is instrumental in helping Aoi rescuing Ōdanna-sama. We first met Takechiyo in Vol 7 Ch 3 (which I only summarised). He looks like what I imagined of him, actually… 

Takechiyo-sama and Zakuro, art by Laruha (sourced from this site)

The second one: it has the visual of Zakuro-san’s, a beautiful ayakashi who might have had a crush with Ōdanna-sama (there was certainly a gossip back when they were in college that Zakuro and Setsu were dating, and it upsets Aoi big time, to Setsu’s glee!). Zakuro is beautiful, but not as beautiful as I thought she would. I always imagined her to be as gorgeous as… say, Sailor Mars… (cos I think Sailor Mars is the most beautiful Sailor ever!)… but Zakuro is definitely gorgeous. 

The third and most important tidbit from the Laruha artbook is… a SHORT STORY about Setsu and Aoi… and it is set when Aoi was already back in Utsushiyo to continue her tertiary degree. 

KYAAAAA!!!

Anyways. Upon realising the hidden gem in this gorgeous art book, I actually squealed! Laruha painted Setsu like a younger version of Ōdanna-sama, just like a college boy, and he looks gorgeous in a white shirt! 

KYAAAAA!!!

So the story is that Aoi apparently often returned to Kakuriyo during her study breaks (or weekends). Hence, it is technically part of Volume 10 of the light novel. During one of the trips to Kakuriyo, she forgot her smartphone there. Hence, Setsu decided to go to Utsushiyo to bring the smartphone back to her. 

How sweeeeeet….

Ōdanna-sama's unexpected visit to Utsushiyo (art by Laruha, short story by Yūma Midori)

Even sweeter: Setsu had an overnight stay at Aoi’s place!

Yes, dear readers! The title of this short story is actually 大旦那様が我が家に一白, or “The night Ōdanna-sama stayed at my place”.

KYAAAAA!!!

How gorgeous is this Ōdanna-sama in a white shirt? I bet Aoi goes berserk just looking at him!
(art by Laruha, story by Yūma Midori)

Okay, although Setsu stayed overnight, I don’t think the story is X-rated at all. However, skimming over it, it’s a sweet chapter. Definitely worth translating!

This short story also has two illustration panels of Setsu and Aoi in Utsushiyo. So sweet… I’ve taken photos of the panels above. I purposely did not scan these panels because… well, I want to help Laruha. Hence, if you like these panels, and you have a bit of spare income (I know it’s hard these days…), please buy the artbook on eBay. It’s usually titled “Laruha Art Book Camellia Snowdrop Kakuriyo Bed and Breakfast for Spirits”. It’s expensive, but who knows you might find a cheaper copy one day…

(Update 18 May 2024: I have translated this story, but I used the 2022 version from Vol 12 Ch 13. You can read this sweet story here)

Anyways, I will go back to translating Vol 7 Ch 4. Talk to you later, and be safe and happy…

Update 14 Aug 2022:

I should've translated the content of Vol 12 of the light novel first. Apparently, the short story above (“Ōdanna-sama’s overnight stay at my place”) is one of the short stories of Vol 12. Thus, this volume seems to collect stories before Aoi got married to Setsu (but after she returned to our world to resume her university degree) AND also after Aoi got her degree and married Setsu. So, yay! And definitely Vol 12 list is coming up!

Also, Vol 12 of the light novel has some cross-over chapters between Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi and "Asakusa Oni Bride's Diary"!! Specifically, one chapter is about conversations between Ōdanna-sama and a shop proprietor of a Chinese herbal pharmacy called “One Thousand Nights” (千夜漢方薬局). The proprietor's name is "Suiren" and he is described as a "suspicious-looking guy". However,  Ōdanna-sama obviously trusts Sui. Sui himself knows Ōdanna is an important ayakashi and was appropriately surprised when he learned why Ōdanna-sama was in Asakusa. Get this: this story was BEFORE Aoi confessed her love to Ōdanna-sama, way back in anime Season 1 when Ōdanna-sama was doing an errand for Aoi (specifically, buying chocolate). Specifically, Ōdanna-sama asked Sui where he could buy the chocolate, because that was the only thing on Aoi's errand list he hadn't been able to obtain. So cool! 

The next chapter is about Ōdanna-sama bumping into Shutendōji on the way to get the chocolate. As the main male character in the "Asakusa Oni Bride's Diary", Shuntendōji has settled in Asakusa and he now calls himself Amasake Kaoru. Kaoru/ Shuntendōji is an interesting character. His way of words reminds me of Ranmaru; he has no qualms in saying 「うるさい！」or "Urusai!" or "Shut up!" to the powerful Kijin Ōdanna-sama. But clearly, from their interactions, they are old friends. From my skim-reading, in terms of love, it seems Kaoru is the antithesis of  Ōdanna-sama who always professed his love silently (and not so silently) to Aoi. Kaoru loves his girlfriend (see below), but it seems he's not ready to take his relationship further. It was the conversation with Ōdanna-sama who made Kaoru realised he missed  his girlfriend. At the end of the conversation, as Ōdanna-sama disappears into the night, Kaoru hastens towards where his girlfriend lives. 

The last chapter shows a conversation between Aoi and Shutendōji's girlfriend (who is also an oni, actually). The girlfriend's name is Ibaraki-maki, who might have been inspired by Ibaraki-dōji, another important oni, during the Heian era. Aoi and Ibaraki are on first name basis; Aoi called Ibaraki "Maki-chan" and Maki also calls Aoi "Aoi-chan". Thus, the story must have been set after Aoi returned to Utsushiyo for her university degree, and Setsu must have introduced her to both Kaoru and Maki. 

Kyaaaa!! I want to translate these chapters!!!