A3! Backstage Story Translation - Kamekichi SSR - Zodiac Races: Crash and Dash - Part 1
requested by anon!
also proofread by myuntachis!
This is Zodiac Town, where animals who serve God reside.
Although they are sometimes victims to their capricious God’s whims, the many animals live their days happily.
I live in Zodiac Town with my many friends, and serve God as one of the few messengers of the Rat…
Izumi: Phew, it’s so busy at the end of the year. Well, next up is the paperwork…
???: Hey, Izumi.
Izumi: ! I’ve heard that voice before… And those feathers…
Kamekichi: You’re working as hard as a mouse today too!
Izumi (So it is the Rooster messenger Kamekichi after all!)
Kamekichi: Working so much must be painfully boring. Come take a trip ‘round the skies with me!
Izumi: You sure love playing around. I’m busy with work, you know.
Kamekichi: Want me to give you a helping hand so you don’t have to work so much~?
Izumi: You never change, do you…
Izumi: I worry about your future if all you do is keep chasing after girls and slacking off.
Kamekichi: You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll get my big chance and become Zodiac Town’s most shining star!
Izumi: Yeah, you keep dreaming.
[Bell tolling]
Kamekichi: Oh?
Voice from Heaven: Animals of Zodiac Town…
Izumi: (This voice… It’s Dad… No, the God of Zodiac Town!)
Izumi: (Which means he’s about to say something mind-boggling again…)
Voice from Heaven: Hey, how are you guys? I’ve come up with a really fun idea.
Voice from Heaven: I’m thinking of holding a race for New Years’, with my shrine as the finish line!
Kamekichi: A race?
Voice from Heaven: We’ll start on New Year’s Day, and the first 12 animals to reach the finish line will be given the position of representative in the order in which they arrive.
Voice from Heaven: Each year, a different animal will be in charge as the representative… the Leader of the messengers of God.
Voice from Heaven: Should you become Leader, the humans will definitely celebrate you during your Zodiac’s year…
Voice from Heaven: And that’s not all! You’ll also get a special bonus from yours truly!
Kamekichi: C-Come again!?
Voice from Heaven: All that said, good luck, you all! I’m looking forward to this myself.
Zodiac Town Resident A: Did you hear that? The Leader of God’s messengers!
Zodiac Town Resident B: I want everyone in the human world to celebrate me! I want them to squeal for me like I’m an idol!
Zodiac Town Resident C: And there’s a special bonus! I’ve got to get my clan’s representative to participate in the race!
Izumi: (That got everyone excited. I mean, I guess Zodiac Town livening things up with events is a good thing.)
Izumi: (If a representative from each clan has to participate in the race, does that mean I have to do my best as the messenger for the Rat as well…?)
Kamekichi: Now that’s an interesting development…!
Kamekichi: I have to get the race car ready with my fellow representative, Tsumugi!
Izumi: Wait, race car?
Kamekichi: Obviously! It’s a super long walk to God’s shrine. You’d be crazy to go there on foot.
Kamekichi: I could fly there, but that’d get tiring, and I’m sure everyone else will have their own race car to begin with.
Izumi: Oh no… Our poverty-stricken Rat clan doesn’t have the means or time to prepare a race car…
Izumi: Uuuu… I want to do all I can for my clan… What do I do…
Kamekichi: Should we give you a ride in our race car, then?
Izumi: Huh!
Kamekichi: In exchange, you’ll have to go on a date with me.
Izumi: Wha!? … Hmmm…
Izumi: (Asking for a date in exchange is kinda giving me the ick… And honestly, it’s kind of a pain…)
Izumi: Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to decline.
Izumi: (I’ll consult the other animals…)
Masumi: …
Kumon: Oh, there he is! Masumi-saaan!
Kumon: Did you hear God’s voice just now!? We’ve been chosen as the representatives for the Horse clan!
Kumon: Hehe, let’s do our best with the Horse clan’s heirloom race car, “Hop, Hop Rider Z”! (2)
Masumi: First, I’ll go buy some white paint.
Kumon: Huh? Paint?
Masumi: I’ll make the race car look like a white horse and ride it with her.
Kumon: Uhhh… Do you mean the Rat clan’s representative?
Masumi: She’s in a pinch because the Rat clan doesn’t have a race car. I’ll take her with me.
Kumon: I-I see. Right, of course you’d want to help someone in a pickle.
Kumon: But are you allowed to just… paint our clan’s heirloom car…?
Masumi: If you help me, I’ll have no choice but to let you sit on the edge/end.
Masumi: We’re going to start painting it now.
[Masumi walks off]
Kumon: HUH!? W-Wait, Masumi-saaaan!
-
Izumi: *Sigh*… I tried searching for someone who looked like they’d be able to help me in the race, but I couldn’t find anyone…
Izumi: It’s gotten dark already. What should I do…
Azuma: Oh?
Guy: That is… the Rat clan’s messenger.
Izumi: Ah, you’re the Cat clan’s messengers…! Good evening.
Azuma: Good evening. Fancy meeting you here.
Izumi: (Right, I’ll try asking them too.)
Izumi: Um. What are you two going to do about the car you’ll be needing for the race?
Guy: Hm, I suppose you mean the New Years’ race God spoke of earlier today.
Guy: Unfortunately, I do not hold much interest in the race.
Azuma: Neither do I.
Azuma: Guy’s bar will be open until late, so we were heading there to have a drink.
Azuma: If we do prepare for the race, we’ll be driving under the influence. I suppose that writes off driving for us.
Izumi: Oh no… This chance doesn’t come often, why not participate?
Izumi: It might be because you have this mysterious vibe going on, but… The other animals don’t know much about the Cat clan, either…
Izumi: I think this will be a great chance for everyone else to learn more about your lovely clan as well.
Izumi: Please join the race with us!
Azuma & Guy: …
Azuma: Fufu. Since you’ve asked so cutely…
Guy: Right. Then, let’s transform the store for the first time in a while…
Izumi: (T-Transform? I don’t really get it… Are they considering joining right now?)
Izumi: I’m glad. I’m sure God will be very happy too.
Azuma: By the way, what will you be doing for your race car?
Izumi: Ummm… Well, the truth is…
Guy: I see. So you don’t know what to do regarding that.
Azuma: If that’s the problem, I know just the person. I’ll introduce you.
part 1 | part 2 | part 3
NOTES:
(1) the story's title 干支干支マシン猛レース (eki eki machine mou race) uses the kanji 干支 (eki), which means means chinese zodiac; meanwhile チキチキマシン猛レース, written with the katakana チキ (chiki) is... the franchise wacky races (wikipedia link to the tv show) l i couldn't come up with a nice enough wordplay for this so i stole the subtitle of one of the video games (wacky races: crash and dash)
(2) kumon and masumi's race car is named パカパカおうまさんZ (pakapaka ouma-san Z), looking this up turns up with a children's song named パカパカおうまさん, and a board game named hoppe reiter, based on the german nursery song hoppe, hoppe reiter (hop, hop rider)
Hi friends, I finished a silly little painting of Urashima Kotetsu riding on the back of his turtle-familiar Kamekichi. They're searching for shooting stars and look at all the planets out there!
I should probably not say that, but I actually intended to make it all pastel and fluffy sugary, but since I was using Inktense, the colours turned out to be a lot more vibrant and now you have this... Oh well it's alright, I can make an alternative version where also Midare Toushirou is on the picture. And at that point I better make it pastel as intended x'D
Director: I''m back home. What's everyone doing gathered in the courtyard?
Kumon: Welcome home director~!
Kazunari: There's a cute dance going viral on TikTak, so I filmed it with Kumopi!
Kazunari: The photographer was Tenten, by the way.
Tenma: Seriously...why am I the photographer?
Yuki: You just happened to pass by.
Tenma: That doesn't answer my question at all!
Kazunari: Come to think of it, I've been totally addicted to animal prank videos lately.
Kazunari: I've had videos of cats getting scared from cucumbers for a while now, but they're just so funny and cute I watch them again!
Misumi: We do only have a Kamekichi~.
Kamekichi: Oi! What do you think you're doing talking about me!?
Yuki: What a fast reaction.
Kazunari: We probably can't do a prank, but if we uploaded a pic of Kamekichi drinking alcohol it'd totes go viral, right?
Kumon: Now that you mention it, Kamekichi does like alcohol.
Tenma: That bird's a little too unique.....
Kamekichi: I am not just a spectacle for you to gawk at! Well, whatever, I would definitely go viral.
Tenma: .......I think I'm done shooting pictures.
Kazunari: Gotcha~
Kamekichi: Oi! What's that supposed to mean!?
Director: (Heheheh, it's as lively as ever)
------------------------------
Tenma: I'm back home.
Kumon: Ah! Tenma-san just came back!
Muku: Tenma-kun, welcome home.
Tenma: Hm? Are you going somewhere at this hour?
Misumi: Yup yup~!
Kazunari: We're going out to buy some of the Karekochan* goods!
Tenma: Huh?
Kazunari: Cuz we gotta get the Karekochan goods! This kind of thing is normal, isn't it?
Tenma: This thing....is it a....figure?
Yuki: Yup. They're what's called "The random goods of Karekochan".
Kazunari: It came up in my Inste recommendations earlier, and when I mentioned it to Kantoku-chan, I just like, couldn't wait any longer.....
Kumon: So that's why we're just going to buy them now! That's what we were talking about~.
Tenma: Can't this wait until tomorrow?
Director: That's what I thought too but everyone was into it surprisingly.....
Kazunari: I checked on social media and it looks like a store in the next town has it in stock, we we're going over there!
Yuki: Misumi said he'd drive us there.
Misumi: Yuu~up! I'm the driver~
Kazunari: While we're at it, should we get some fireworks?
Muku: Oooh, that'd be nice!
Kazunari: Do you wanna come with, Tenten?
Tenma: .....You leave me no choice but to come along.
Yuki: Just say you want to go with us.
Kazunari: Someone's not being honest~!
Tenma: Sh-shut up!
----------------------------------
I next
*karekochan is spelled カレ子 which is a play on the word
"kare" for "curry" in the first 2 characters and the 2nd character means "child".... so basically like a curry child !
In this chapter of the A3! Web Manga, the Mankai Company is changed to the "Manzai" Company, but manzai comedy masters Tsuzuru and Citron are nowhere to be found! It's up to Citrun's competitors to take up the torch for some laughs!
