Brief passage from the light novel requested by an anon that mainly deals with Suoh’s family situation and more of Suoh’s internal struggles.
If someone has already done a translation of this, or picks up the translation of the light novel, let me know and I’ll remove this. Also, please don’t read if you don’t want spoilers for the novel.
There was no particular reason for Suoh walking about the city.
It's not that he was actively seeking to have some fun in the positive sense of the word, nor was he looking for a place to be. He was just following the flow around the city, like how fish in fish tanks swim round and round in circles,.
In his life up till now, Suoh had never felt that his situation was unfortunate. Though he lost his parents at an early age, he had been left with an inheritance that let him live comfortably.
Suoh's grandfather, who had become his guardian after the death of his patents, was narrow-minded and only did the bare minimum when it came to scolding Suoh in his younger years, so there was almost no one who interfered in his affairs.
There was nothing that he lacked and nothing in particular that he was held down by.
Despite that, Suoh felt confined by the world.
The world that is so crowded you brush shoulders with people as you walk and is entangled with their many emotions.
(To think your parents were generous and good people.)
His grandfather had once said such while drinking saké.
His marveling over how people like that could have given birth to someone like Suoh was implied in his words.
(But they were already not normal to have gently accepted a brat like you.)
His grandfather was a narrow-minded and a man of few words.
Having fallen ill, he had been advised to be admitted to a hospital but spurned the advice saying that he'll decide himself where he dies. He hated serious illnesses, and so strong was his hate towards treatments that only delayed death you could say he detested them.
(I'll live my life freely and die freely. You should live freely too.)
Even though his grandfather had grown thin due to his illness and his eyes had grown dark and dull, he pushed himself upright and fixed his eyes on Suoh.
(You need to decide how you're going to go about dealing with that "annoying thing" you have inside of you.)
His grandfather's finger pointed to the center of Suoh's chest. Suoh did not ask what the "annoying thing" his grandfather had mentioned was referring to. He just instinctually thought that it had something to do with this stifling feeling that endlessly incased him.
Suoh swims like a fish. In Shizunome City where he was born and raised. People brush shoulders with each other as they pass each other by, making it seem both glamorous and also like a rubbish heap.
Suoh didn't dislike people like his grandfather. If they got along with him, he would hang around them and didn't detest others.
He found hanging out with Kusanagi was pleasant. But still, like Honami had said, Suoh was very at ease with the current state of things where those around him feared him.
It was not that he hated people, but that the thoughts and feelings and emotions of people he became involved with only made the stifling feeling inside of him grow stronger.
The "annoying thing" inside of Suoh was likely the reason why those around him called him a "Wild Beast" and also why that boy would call him "King" and follow after him.
"Ah, it's King."
Suoh suddenly heard a voice that sounded familiar.
Suoh, who had been walking about the city without any destination in mind, came to a halt. There's only one person who would call him something like that.
As he thought, he saw the boy who he had been thinking about came into his view.
Another snippet from my continuing journey of reading the novel. Because I was surprised to see that Ichigen and Yukari made cameos in it and have an obvious Totsuka bias.
If someone has already done a translation of this, or picks up the translation of the light novel, let me know and I’ll remove this. Also, please don’t read if you don’t want spoilers for the novel.
It was a few years after the huge crater in the south of the Kantou region happened that he met that person.
10 year old Totsuka was searching for edible grass by the edge of the river. The reason for him doing so was because at the time his adoptive father was not at home and, with no money at house, the payments for his lifelines were defaulted on. They were in the middle of being cut off one by one, from that which least affected his life to that which affected it the most.
In other words, first of all the electricity was cut off. Next would come the gas, and it was likely the power would then soon follow. So he decided to make some food while he was still able to cook it.
“Ah, white clovers!” Discovering a cluster of them growing along the bank,Totsuka’s eyes glistened. White clovers can be used in tempura, and if the stems were soft enough they can be boiled and eaten with soy sauce* or even made into broth**. He ran up to the white clovers, stroking the flower portions of them down to the stems until his hands came across those with a soft texture.
He cheerily picked the white clovers to add their stems to the huge pot of soup with soy sauce, sugar and mirin*** he was planning on making before the gas got cut off.
Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a person’s legs appeared in Totsuka’s line of sight which was filled with the white carpet of white cloves. The legs were clad in clothing which was neither pants nor a skirt and when Tatara’s eyes followed the line of those legs up to their owner, he found a man who wore traditional style clothing.
He was a mysterious man who seemed too young to be called oji-san, but at the same time his aura was too mature to call him onii-san. He was draped in a deep purple haori and a navy blue hakama and wore a brimmed hat on his head.
When the man’s gaze met Totsuka’s, he gave a gentle smile.
“Are you making a flower crown?”
Totsuka tilted his head. But, quickly realizing the man was referring to the white clovers Totsuka was holding in his hand, he shifted his head back upright.
“No, these are for eating."
Totsuka went to the man’s side and showed him the white clovers he had picked.
"Here, touch it. It’s soft isn’t it? But if it was one that was hard you wouldn’t be able to chew it,” said Totsuka with a wide grin. The man in traditional style clothing gave an impressed ‘I see’ and nodded.
Totsuka was filled with joy.
“Would you like some too oji-san? I’ll split them with you."
Aah, I said oji-san, Totsuka realized just after he had spoken. Even though he’d just thought of the man as being too young to be an oji-san too.
The man did not appear to give any indication that he minded however, and answered his question with a perfectly natural smile.
"It’s fine. I think I’ll pick some too while I’m here."
"Then I’ll pick out ones that look tasty for you.”
Totsuka and the man wearing traditional style clothing squatted down in the field of grass where the white clovers were growing.
With his tiny hands, Totsuka scouted for white clovers and when he would find one that looked like it would be tasty showed the man ‘This one!’
The man plucked the first 2 or 3 that Totsuka had shown him and then after that smiled and said 'let’s have a race to see who can gather the most tasty ones!’
Totsuka and the man in traditional style clothing chatted as they picked the white clovers.
When Totsuka would talk, the man would always smile or laugh or give a pleasant interjection and when he would speak, Totsuka’s eyes would twinkle as he listened attentively.
The two became good friends and by the time that they thought they had a decent amount of flowers, Totsuka asked an innocent question.
“What do you do oji-san? Are you someone who doesn’t have a job?"
From listening to the man in traditional style clothing’s stories, he did not give off the signs of someone who normally worked. Totsuka’s adoptive father was the same way and many of the adults that Tatara would make friends with at the park and river beds were too.
The man smiled brightly. "You’re right, I don’t have a regular job at the moment.”
“Occhan……My father is like that too. He works sometimes and then sometimes he leaves on journeys. Do you do that too, oji-san?”
“I had to retired from my job that I did previously early. Now I …..” the man paused and his smile turned troubled.
“I gained a bit of an unusual….. Standing.”
Totsuka tilted his head as he looked at him. “So then what do you do?"
"I decide for myself what I do. I was given power and I use that power as I wish.”
“Hmm? So then what did you decide to do?”
A wry smile came across the man’s face and he turned his gaze to the surface of the water. Before they knew it, the sun had started to set and its light red evening rays were reflected on the water causing it to glisten.
“I wish to do all I can to preserve the tranquil days people have.” The man’s voice was gentle as usual, but seemed to be a bit pained too.
Totsuka stayed silent and looked up at the man’s face from the side.
“There are certain things about fate which cannot be changed. However, there are still times where one can slightly move its wheel when it’s heading towards misfortune and be able to avoid it."
The man’s hair fluttered in the chilly wind made its way from the surface of the water.
"But I failed to do so.”
The man gave a lonely smile and when turned his gaze back to Totsuka, who still had a stupefied expression on his face, he suddenly started a new topic.
“Have you experienced any hardships as a result of the South Kantou Crater incident?"
In July of the past year, the southern portion of the Kantou region was blown away, changing the topography of Japan. There was a huge uproar about it through Japan which caused the economy to temporarily shut down. In the days that followed, the news continued to broadcast stories about the state of the damage and show pictures of the lamenting families of the victims. There was a gloomy atmosphere that permitted throughout the country.
None of the people Totsuka knew personally died. However, there were a number of children at Totsuka's school that had transferred there after having lost their home or family and been evacuated to the area. Totsuka often played with them. They seemed to have fun while playing, but when it came time for them to go back to their homes seemed to look as though they felt guilty for having had fun and smiled.
"I didn’t. But there were lots who did.”
There were also families who were without injury but having lost their jobs were at a loss of what to do. Things had been tough in Totsuka’s home from way before this had happened, and though they were tough they did not have any serious hardships from it, so Totsuka’s life remained mostly unchanged.
The harsh waves of the large scale nationwide panic that had surrounded him had stirred up choppy waters around Totsuka, but standing unassumingly on a small island, Totsuka had just watched it with a sense of wonder.
The news had broadcast much information related to the Crater Incident but for some reason there was never anything but a simple report on what everyone wanted to know about the most, the “cause” of it.
An incident occurred at a research facility that was handling experimental new age energy which had led to the huge explosion is what was reported in the public spaces.
Though there was commentary from experts that seemed like they didn’t buy it, in comparison to the scale of victims that had been enough to shake the nation, the report on the cause of it was surprisingly was surprisingly plain.
This had, of course, given rise to suspicion in people’s minds, and speculations flew around about there being something about the incident that caused the the government to have to regulate the information released about it.
One theory was that it had been a terrorist attack, another that the area at the heart of the blast had actually been a military training facility and that the incident had occurred had been a result of that, another that a meteorite had fallen, as well as a fake one about a UFO crash and alien invasion.
But, as no new information came forth, people’s suspicions remained simply suspicions and people’s interest in it began to fade.
As time passed, the suspicion, chaos and uncertainty that had dominated Japan changed into a one of moving towards restoration.
Though it had not been a year since Japan’s topography had changed as a result of the giant crater, the lives of average people had for the most part already gone back to normal.
“The influence that the Kokujouji possess is truly incredible. Japan was able to recover from the mess it was in was because the Kokujouji group kept the economy going. It led to the rapid biggest economic growth since after the war and led the tragedy-enveloped Japan a step forwards. The restoration moving forward at a surprisingly fast pace. It wouldn’t be exaggeration to say that the leader of the Kokujouji group is the ruler of this county.”
A friend of Totsuka’s who he spoke with sometimes at the park, a man who lived in a cardboard house, had said such. He had a hobby of picking up various genres of newspapers from out of the trash each day and read them.
Even though the Crater Incident such a tragic accident, it was already quickly becoming part of the past.
“Why did you ask about the Crater Incident?"
The man slowly opened his mouth after Tatara asked him the question.
"You see, I wasn’t able to stop that incident from happening."
His tone of voice was very serious. When Tatara took in a breath to ask the meaning of his words, a voice called out 'Master!’
The man in traditional style clothing turned to face the direction of the voice. Totsuka also looked over in that direction.
On the bank of the river stood a beautiful person who carried themselves in a very good manner.
For a second, Totsuka wasn’t sure whether or not they were a guy or girl. But when he thought back to the voice that had rang out just now, he decided they must be a boy.
The person was a boy still in his pubescent years, an "onii-san” from Totsuka’s perspective. His legs and arms had grown out, but still had the limberness of being in the middle of a growth phase to them.
Totsuka stared absentmindedly up at the person.
“Yukari.”
The man in traditional style clothing called out what appeared to be the boy’s name and held up the white clovers he was holding to show them to him.
“Sorry. I got caught up in reliving my childhood.”
“Do you plan on making a flower crown?”
“No, I’m planning on using these to make a side dish for today.”
Smiling at the puzzled looking boy once more, man in traditional style clothing then returned his gaze to Totsuka.
“It’s time for me to go.”
“Okay. It was fun picking plants with you."
The man in traditional style clothing said 'me too’ with a smile and, after a just a moment of hesitation, spoke.
"You’ll one day meet your King.”
“Huh?”
“I hope that that meeting will be something good, both for you and for the world."
Totsuka tilted his head but the man in traditional clothing didn’t seem as though he was going to give any more of an explanation. The man gave Totsuka’s head a pat and then started walking towards the direction of the boy.
Totsuka, who found it very mysterious, forgot about that person after a while. It would be four years later that he remembered this.
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T/N: The dishes chibi Totsuka plans to make are all Japanese foods. Since just a name doesn’t give you much of an idea of what they are and why he’s planning on making them with the flowers, I put an explanation of what the food is instead of its actual name for flow purposes. But for those curious there’s a list of them below.
Basically, I started reading KOR and this scene struck me, not just for shipping reasons (be still my Mikototsu-loving heart )but for the insight into Suoh’s character offered in it as well.
If someone has already done a translation of this, or picks up the translation of the light novel, let me know and I’ll remove this. Also, please don’t read if you don’t want spoilers for the novel.
“I believe you shouldn’t judge things based on the impression you have of them.” Honami looked up at Suoh with a smile that enveloped her usual pure aura that made male and female students alike take a liking to her.
I’m not good at dealing with this woman after all, thought Suoh.
“You could say the same about you yourself, Suoh-kun. You don’t feel restricted by what others think about you?”
Suoh’s lips turned downwards at Honami, whose smile made it seem as though she was still thinking of placing the knitting needles in Suoh’s hands.
“I don’t give off much of an impression” said Suoh. And I have no interest in knitting. In what was for him a courteous manner, Suoh conveyed his strong desire to leave.
Honami laughed and placed the thread and knitting needles she had been holding out to give to Suoh back in her lap.
“Knitting aside…. The impressions of someone created by the people around them can really influence them before they even realize it.” Honami, who up until now had been enjoying herself joking around, said with an expression that had grown utterly serious.
Suoh stayed silent as he met Honami’s gaze.
“A wolf who detests others crowding around him and lives in solitude. Who puts up walls around himself and won’t let people get close to him.”
Suoh’s shoulders stiffened. Is Honami, as his teacher, worried about the fact that he seemed friendless?
“It’s not as though you were the one who built up the walls around yourself, right? It’s just that those around built them and then kept their distance from you. Because if someone tries getting closer to you, you’ll let them be around you.”
Honami lifted up a slender finger. “You chat with me, and recently you’ve even been getting along with the third year Kusanagi-kun, haven’t you?”
Suoh made a doubtful expression and tilted his head. He didn’t remember ever saying something that would count as a ‘chat’ to Honami, and though he had sometimes hung out with Kusanagi since that incident, it seemed to be stretching it to say that they get along.
“But, for the most part, you seem to accept the impression others have of you, Suoh-kun. You’re fine with people thinking of you as a scary beast who detests others crowding around him, because,” Honami paused in what she was saying to give a slight, cheerful smile. “it’s bothersome to deal with.”
Suoh could not say anything to refute that.
“You find things bothersome, so the walls others have built around you and the distance they keep from you makes you feel at ease. Right?”
“Are you telling me to make friends with others?” he said as he started to feel as though he’d been swept up a little bit in the argument that the young female teacher was gently making to him. But Honami denied it with a smile.
“I’m not going that far. I’ve never gone to that point, even if I were to say so, you wouldn’t break the walls around you and try to get along with everyone, would you Suoh-kun? Because it’s bothersome.”
Her tone gentle, Honami continued to speak in a surprisingly blunt fashion.
“But you should prepare yourself.”
“Prepare?”
“Sooner or later, the present circumstances that you currently feel at ease in will be destroyed. I get the feeling that when someone who can easily break the walls that seem to surround you comes along, you’ll become a center figure among people. As though how things are now never happened.”
