Chapter 2: Kishida Saneatsu’s Biography
(Excerpt loose translation of Miss Sherlock’s Novelization Chapter 2; pg 72-74)
Closing the book shut, Wato let out a huge sigh. It was evening in 221B. Sherlock sat at the desk by the window, not giving a glance at Wato’s reaction. Sherlock had been in that state ever since they came back.
Wato deliberately cleared her throat, rising up from her chair. With the book opened near her chest, she approached the person she was living with.
“I’m reading Kishida Saneatsu’s biography and as I’m reading it, I feel like I can kind of understand the reason why Mrs Maibara’s husband gave the painting to her as a gift. That painting was the last work made by the painter before he died from pulmonary tuberculosis that year. At that time, the picture wasn’t selling, Saneatsu was really living a poverty life. It was his wife, Sachiko-san who continued to support him until the very end. So, Sachiko-san became the model for his painting ‘Portrait of Sachiko’. Hey, it’s a nice story, isn’t it?”
Sherlock glanced at Wato, and immediately faced back towards the desk. With her hand still holding the book to her chest, Wato continued pouring out her thoughts, “A painting filled with love for his beloved wife. Hey! Isn’t it wonderful?!”
“Naive. The husband might have had a mistress, the painting might have been a gift to relieve his guilt. Or it might have been him telling his wife to be more devoted.”
Wato took a deep breath, her mouth open as she stared blankly at Sherlock. Her companion, who was looking into a microscope, jerked back as Wato firmly grabbed her shoulder.
“Hey! Why are you so cynical? Have you never felt affection for others!”
“Such emotions get in the way of logical thinking. And you…”
Sherlock shook Wato’s hand off her shoulder, turned her chair around and started staring and observing Wato’s whole body. Even just by looking, Sherlock made Wato felt like she was being stripped naked. Wato covered her face, trying desperately to escape from Sherlock’s piercing gaze.
“You’re observing. Stop, wait! Don’t look! Stop it! Stop…”
“Well, well. Looks like the two of you are getting close.”
As the sound of the door opened, a cheerful voice was heard, it was Mrs Hatano. She was holding a long tray with both hands, pleasantly smiling at the playfulness* between Wato and Sherlock.
Unexpected by the interruption, they both turned away from each other, replying Mrs Hatano nearly at the same time.
“Not even 1 millimeter close.”
Hatano looked more than happy, as she set the tray on the table. On the tray, there were steaming hot tea, with an egg-colored, nicely baked sponge cake. Wato’s face brightened. This castella, there are chestnuts in it!
Wato picked up a toothpick, while Sherlock returned to her desk, not turning around. Still smiling, Hatano looked at Wato, then spoke to Sherlock’s back.
“So how’s the progress of your investigation?”
Once again, a short answer.
Hatano took a deep breath and continued.
“Ever since Maibara-san’s husband passed away, she’s always at home, you know, not leaving the house. Her legs have gotten weak, and coops up in her room all day watching TV. I wish she’d go out more and had more of a social life……… Well, I’ll be going now* ”
Even as Hatano went out of the room, Sherlock was still unmoving at her desk. While holding her sponge cake with her toothpick, Wato moved closer to Sherlock’s space. She peeked at what Sherlock was holding. Her housemate had a thick book open to illustrations of minerals, comparing the materials in the photograph with an amber-colored stone in a petri dish.
“Manila copal. Fossilized plant resin. There’s only one other use beside holding dinosaur DNA. Sherlock picked up the amber-looking stone with tweezers and held it under the light. Eyes scrutinized the fragment. Light reflected the fragment, sparkling and flickering.
“This is a clue that connects the two cases together.”
Notes: The italicized word of “playfulness” has two points I’d like to raise. :D The word the author has used is じゃれあう and it means playfulness, frolicking about, messing about - something of that nature. But, I was reading this website and saw another meaning to jareau which is flirting. Flirty. In this context, of course, I’d have to use the definition of “playfulness” rather than “flirty” hehe but like any other literary works - you may depict it in anyway you like. Them playing around in the drama scene shows that they are playing around, but no matter how you look at it, it was pretty flirty. I mean, who the hell does that (Sherlock obv). Ok, Imma stop there with jareau definitions.
The other point I’d like to raise, is the fact that in the novel, it was emphasized. In Japanese characters (hiragana, katakana, kanji), you aren’t able to italicize them just as how you’d do so with roman alphabets. But the author had used kurogoma (a long comma which marks each character of the word that they want to emphasize) on the word jareau. The author herself italicized it! Haha!
Another thing, which I would like to point out is when Mrs Hatano said お邪魔した (ojamashita) before she exited the room. It’s a common Japanese phrase to use when you exit the room to say goodbye, but at the same time, the literal translation is “I’d bothered you.” / “I was in the way.” Mrs Hatano might’ve used this phrase in a literal sense, but masks it as an informal “Imma go now, see yuh”. Y’all Mrs Hatano deserves all the hugs.
Also shout out to @gludzilla @chibikita @perchance for teaching me good things about translating and life 🙌🏻
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