Why Tasuki Hates Women: Fushigi Yuugi Special Story: Part 4 - Manka
“The reason why I started hating women”
(Ore ga Onna-girai ni Natta Riyuu)
PART FOUR
~From Fushigi Yuugi Perfect World compendium, Vol 6, 2005
(Author Nishizaki Megumi, who also wrote the Gaiden novels.
Original work and illustration, Watase Yuu)
Translation is mine, any errors are also mine.
Above image of Tasuki and his sisters - Eimin (centre), Rin’an (top right), Manka (bottom left), Aidou (bottom right) and Fuyou (top left).
Scene:
The Seishi are en route to Hokkan (yeah, before all the nasty kicks off) and they’re taking a break. Tasuki is recovering from his seasickness, and Miaka is keeping him company in the way only Miaka can - by eating lots and asking him probing questions. Miaka tries to figure out Tasuki’s perfect woman and Tasuki explains his childhood traumas - all five of them ;)
This is a longish story so I am splitting it into parts where there are natural divides.
“I have it!” Miaka snapped her fingers. “Till now I’ve been thinking about girly-esque types, but maybe that’s the problem. So, what about this? What about a girl who’s more manly than you are right now, Tasuki? A tomboyish girl!”
When he heard this, Tasuki’s shoulders sank in resignation.
“There was one of those as well,” he said gloomily. “The fourth sister, Manka.”
******
On seeing the completely filthy appearance of Shun’u as he crawled up towards the house, the youngest sister, Aidou, exclaimed, “What on earth happened to you?”
Shun’u groaned. He flopped over onto his back, gazing up at the sky, unable to speak, and Aidou asked,
“Did you get beaten up?”
Shun’u nodded wearily.
“Oneechan! Everyone! Come quickly! Shun’u got beaten up!” Aidou raised her voice, and at the sound of her cry, the other four older sisters hurried out into the yard.
“Who beat you up?”
From the midst of the group, the hotblooded fourth daughter, Manka, demanded forcefully as she glared at Shun’u. If you overlooked the length of her hair, she could easily have been mistaken for a young boy. “Was it the Ken family’s boy and his hangers on again?”
Shun’u nodded again. The Ken boy was sixteen, while Shun’u was still only thirteen. The Ken son and his followers were the thugs of the village and known to everyone.
“You went up against the six of them on your own again, didn’t you?”
Manka was demanding the details one by one.
“What was your reason?”
Shun’u tried to respond but, for some reason, he couldn’t get the words out.
“Doubtless they said stuff about you being used by your sisters and being only a weak little coward, right?”
Shun’u gave a tiny nod. At his response, Manka nodded her head decidedly.
“Right. Then I’ve got the message. Shun’u is entirely blameless. Even though he’s been working hard for the household, it’s strange for those guys to be picking fault over it. Plus, for six guys to go up against one, it’s hardly what a real man ought to do.”
Manka normally held herself with a sense of calm, but, when there was a fight on the horizon, she was always full of enthusiasm and eagerness.
“And, now that’s settled, I obviously have to go and avenge Shun’u. It would be great if Aidou and the rest of you came as well!”
“Right!”
This was the only time this group of calm, attractive and poised sisters appeared like a military detachment.
“The job of taking the lead is mine. So, while I’m putting the Ken boy in his place, nobody else get involved, right?” Manka said decidedly, forming her military band of five. “We’ll definitely go and avenge Shun’u!”
“Right!”
And, still bare-handed, the five sisters hurried out of the gate of the farm.
“Good luck!”
From the doorway, their mother watched them go, a wide smile on her face.
******
“Your sisters are really cool, Tasuki.” [Miaka observed].
“Well…maybe.”
“So what happened after that?”
“Well, off course, they kicked those guy’s butts.”
“When you say that, you don’t mean they drew blood…?”
Tasuki spread out both his arms.
“Even now, Manka is stronger than I am. But…you know…that’s kinda dispiriting for a guy to handle.”
Why Tasuki Hates Women...(Fushigi Yuugi Special Story - Translation) Part 1: Eimin
“The reason why I started hating women”
(Ore ga Onna-girai ni Natta Riyuu)
PART ONE
~From Fushigi Yuugi Perfect World compendium, Vol 6, 2005
(Author Nishizaki Megumi, who also wrote the Gaiden novels.
Original work and illustration, Watase Yuu)
Translation is mine, any errors are also mine.
Above image of Tasuki and his sisters - Eimin (centre), Rin’an (top right), Manka (bottom left), Aidou (bottom right) and Fuyou (top left).
Scene:
The Seishi are en route to Hokkan (yeah, before all the nasty kicks off) and they’re taking a break. Tasuki is recovering from his seasickness, and Miaka is keeping him company in the way only Miaka can - by eating lots and asking him probing questions. Miaka tries to figure out Tasuki’s perfect woman and Tasuki explains his childhood traumas - all five of them ;)
This is a longish story so I am splitting it into parts where there are natural divides.
“Hey, Tasuki, are you feeling better now?” Miaka squatted down beside the pallet bed where Tasuki lay, letting out her breath in a rush.
“Yeah, more or less. More importantly, how’s Tamahome doing?”
“Mmm. Right now he’s fast asleep. Nuriko and the palace cooks are currently preparing him something to eat.”
“I see…”
Tasuki gazed at his reflection in the splashes and flow of the running river surface.
Having failed to summon Suzaku, the Suzaku Seishi had to set out on a new quest to find the shinzahou. Hotohori had commissioned a boat to take them, and they were now taking a break on their journey to the northern climes of Hokkan. Tasuki, as a mountain bandit, didn’t get on well with water, and, to make matters worse, was also prone to getting seasick.
“I think this might be the first time I’ve had a chance to chat alone with you like this, Tasuki.”
“Huh? Mm, now you say that, maybe you’re right. Since I’ve known you you’ve always been flitting here and there all over the place, generally looking for something to eat…”
“Do you want to eat this?”
Miaka pulled a pork manjuu from her pocket, holding it out, and at the sight of it Tasuki blanched, looking like he might throw up.
“Idiot! I’m still seasick! You eat it yourself! Seriously…”
“What? To think I took the trouble of bringing it to you, thinking you’d be hungry…”
Miaka took the manjuu that she had produced from her school uniform and added it to the growing pile she had been hiding beneath her skirt.
“You…”
Tasuki covered his mouth.
“Hey, hey, Tasuki, while we’re at it, tell me – why do you hate girls so much?”
Miaka asked, paying no attention to Tasuki’s nausea and starting to eat through her manjuu.
“Hrm…well…you see…”
Tasuki clutched at his head.
“That’s the fault of my older sisters.”
“Ahh, Tasuki, you have older sisters? One? Two?”
“Five of them.”
“Huh?” Miaka almost choked on her manjuu. “But being the youngest brother, I bet they spoiled you rotten, right?”
Tasuki shook his head, suddenly lacking in strength.
“Noo. From morning to night, I had to fetch water, cut wood, clean and do laundry. They worked me to the bone. And then on top of that, hard work in the fields. I was just a skinny little boy, but they still worked me mercilessly anyway.”
“Hrmm.”
“So, because of that, I basically got fed up with women.”
But, Miaka, her mouth full of manjuu, replied,
“Tasuki. Half of the world’s population are women, you know. Don’t you think that making up your mind after meeting just your five older sisters is rushing it a bit?”
Tasuki stared up at her with wide, apprehensive eyes.
“I decided, I’m going to find the perfect girl for you.”
“Huuh?!”
Miaka looked at Tasuki again, and tapped him lightly on the hand.
“You’re always quick to get into a fight, and you never really calm down. That means you need a girl who will just agree and be calm and gentle with you.”
Tasuki raised his gaze to the heavens.
“There was one like that…you know. The oldest sister…Eimin…”
-----------------------------
“Hey, Shun’u!”
(Note, Shun’u is Tasuki’s real name with its Japanese reading. I think Sinified it was Shun Yu or something like that, but I always keep to the Japanese for consistency).
“Stop trying to escape!”
“Hey, we should corner him from four sides, all at once!”
“Grab his legs! Start with his legs and we’ve got him!”
The still only ten year old Kou Shun’u was suddenly surrounded by four of his older sisters, and captured.
“Right, now we have to give him the lecture.”
The four older girls, with a firm grip on the arms and legs of their younger brother, carried him forcibly into the main living area.
“Eimin-neesan! Shun’u was skiving off his chores again!”
“Hrmmm, I see.”
Seated in state in the main living area was the eldest of the family, the firstborn sister Eimin. She had already surpassed 20 years of age, and there were already many rumours in the neighbourhood that she was not going to marry and would become an old maid.
“Shun’u, you…”
Eimin spoke in a more slow and measured way than most other people.
“Have you forgotten that, one day, we’ll all be gone to be brides in other families?”
From somewhere there came the sudden sound of someone stifling a snort. Eimin shot the youngest daughter, Aidou, a dark glare, then continued [to lecture her brother].
“That means that one day you’ll have to inherit this farm. Not just the house, but the fields as well. You need to learn how to do that now. We’re hardening our hearts and being strict on you because it’s for your own sake – for your future.”
(That’s a lie. You’re doing it because you enjoy it).
Shun’u swallowed the words in his throat before he could speak them out loud. Even though they were women, it was one against five.
“You get it? You’re not learning anything like this. Your body’s still really feeble, and you’re not that bright. Your face…you have those staring mean eyes and those fang teeth. There’s literally no point in sending you out into the world. You should work your hardest here in this village…you don’t have any other path than that, going forward.”
The four younger sisters all nodded their agreement to these words.
For Shun’u, just listening to his eldest sister’s words made all the fight seep out of his body. Being endlessly ranted at, and being lectured with precise wisdom had completely the opposite effect from each other. There was no way of finding a trigger from which to launch a rebellion when Eimin put all her points so eloquently…her words had greater impact than a physical punch.
“So, take on board all that I’ve said, and go and do your tasks out in the fields like a good boy.”
“Yeah, and do it quickly!”
Four sets of sisterly arms wrapped themselves around Shun’u’s body.
-------
“And so that’s how it was. A calm, reasoned woman can basically make me completely depressed.”
“Huh. And I thought it would be just right for you as well.”
Miaka looked disappointed, shoving the remaining manjuu into her mouth.
Why Tasuki Hates Women: Fushigi Yuugi Special Story: Part 3 - Fuyou
“The reason why I started hating women”
(Ore ga Onna-girai ni Natta Riyuu) PART THREE
~From Fushigi Yuugi Perfect World compendium, Vol 6, 2005
(Author Nishizaki Megumi, who also wrote the Gaiden novels.
Original work and illustration, Watase Yuu)
Translation is mine, any errors are also mine.
Above image of Tasuki and his sisters - Eimin (centre), Rin’an (top right), Manka (bottom left), Aidou (bottom right) and Fuyou (top left).
Scene:
The Seishi are en route to Hokkan (yeah, before all the nasty kicks off) and they’re taking a break. Tasuki is recovering from his seasickness, and Miaka is keeping him company in the way only Miaka can - by eating lots and asking him probing questions. Miaka tries to figure out Tasuki’s perfect woman and Tasuki explains his childhood traumas - all five of them ;)
This is a longish story so I am splitting it into parts where there are natural divides.
“Though, you know, you’re really eating a whole lot.” [Tasuki observed]
“Am I?”
Miaka had been looking at the pork manjuu fixedly, and she got to her feet, turning her back on him for a moment.
“What are you doing? Going to get more?”
“I got it! This! Tasuki, you are, after all, a guy. What about a super sexy kind of a girl? Then you’d have no complaints, right?”
Tasuki, as though he had remembered something, clutched at his hair suddenly.
“There was one of those, too! A completely shameless one…”
----
“Shun’u! The hot water’s more like lukewarm! What are you doing? Get some more firewood!”
While puffing and blowing, Shun’u had just managed to return to the fireplace. He stood and yelled in a loud voice up towards the bathroom.
“I’ve just finished chasing away neighbours from the perimeter fence!”
The third daughter, Fuyou, had such a nice physique that, when she took a bath, it had become customary for the neighbourhood youths to gather furtively, trying to get a glimpse of her.
“Hmm,”
Fuyou’s responding murmur sounded as though she wasn’t entirely unsatisfied with this state of affairs, and she gave a mocking laugh, speaking in a sing-song voice.
“Shun’u. Come here for a minute. Wash my back for me.”
“Huh!?”
“Quickly!”
“But…but neechan, that’s a bit…I mean…I’m already twelve now…”
“What? Do you think you’re now a fully grown upstanding mature guy?”
“I…that is…”
“You’ll wash Dad’s back and Mum’s back, right? We’re family, aren’t we? No discrimination.”
“…….”
“If you’re worried about getting wet, you can take your clothes off too!”
Shun’u was extremely troubled by this, but he didn’t see anything for it but to obey, and so, in very bad temper, he stomped his way upstairs with a hand towel, and entered into the bathroom.
The delicate back of his sister, pale as though she came from the country to the West (translator’s note, it says West in katakana, but I am going to assume here Sairou?) was fully visible before him.
“Well, come wash me.”
Nervous and on edge, Shun’u tentatively began to wash Fuyou’s back.
“Ah, that feels good.”
For a while, Fuyou sat quietly, allowing Shun’u to wash her back, then, after a little while, she began to laugh, turning around suddenly to face him.
“Gyah!”
Right in front of Shun’u’s eyes were two large pork manjuu-like objects, suddenly trembling in front of him.
“Shun’u,” Fuyou suddenly embraced her younger brother with this voluptuous body. “You’re so adorable.”
Fuyou always had the habit of being more over the top than she needed to be in playing around with and babying Shun’u, often taking things to extremes. When Shun’u had been a small boy, she had dressed him up in girl’s kimonos, and it had greatly delighted her to see the result.
This playful Fuyou glanced down towards the area of Shun’u’s groin.
“What’s this? There’s nothing much there, is there! Hrm, maybe I should let you breastfeed from me!”
Shun’u was all over the place, frantically trying to get free, but, trapped in by his sister’s ample bosom, it was impossible to escape.
“Wouldn’t that be nice? It would be soft, and warm, don’t you think?”
Feeling pleased with herself, Fuyou gently patted Shun’u on the head as the young boy opened his mouth to scream.
(Translator’s note: Fuyou has problems).
*****
At Tasuki’s side, Miaka was rolling around the floor laughing.
(Translator’s note: Apparently so does Miaka).
“Don’t you get it now?” [he demanded]. “The female body is the greatest source of abject terror for me!”
Miaka wiped away her tears of laughter, and asked,
“So is that what you call a breast-attack?!”
“It’s exactly that!” Tasuki nodded firmly. “The truth is, my mother’s breasts were at least double the size of my sister Fuyou’s, too…”
(Translator’s note: Perhaps they all have problems.)
“Double?”
“Yep. Each time she had a kid they got bigger. She had enough trouble when she was feeding the older kids, but, by the time she got to me, they were as big as her head and sometimes she’d smother me by accident. I’d stop breathing.”
“Hah..”
“And when we used to sit down at the dinner table, when Ma would put the plates out for us all, her breasts would hit me on the head then as well. I was an inch away from having it snap my neck.”
“Tasuki, you’ve really been through some trouble, haven’t you?”
Why Tasuki Hates Women: Fushigi Yuugi Special Story: Part 2 - Rin’an
“The reason why I started hating women”
(Ore ga Onna-girai ni Natta Riyuu)
PART TWO
~From Fushigi Yuugi Perfect World compendium, Vol 6, 2005
(Author Nishizaki Megumi, who also wrote the Gaiden novels.
Original work and illustration, Watase Yuu)
Translation is mine, any errors are also mine.
Above image of Tasuki and his sisters - Eimin (centre), Rin’an (top right), Manka (bottom left), Aidou (bottom right) and Fuyou (top left).
Scene:
The Seishi are en route to Hokkan (yeah, before all the nasty kicks off) and they’re taking a break. Tasuki is recovering from his seasickness, and Miaka is keeping him company in the way only Miaka can - by eating lots and asking him probing questions. Miaka tries to figure out Tasuki’s perfect woman and Tasuki explains his childhood traumas - all five of them ;)
This is a longish story so I am splitting it into parts where there are natural divides.
“Well, then, [Miaka said], “Tasuki, you’re the kind of person who gets easily carried away, so maybe a serious girl with her head screwed on right would be a better fit…how about it?”
Tasuki arched his eyebrows slightly at this suggestion.
“If we’re talking about a straight talking kind of girl, then that would be my next sister, Rin’an.”
And, with a tut tut, he shook his head in despair.
---
Shun’u had a treasure. During his childhood, he had picked up a very pretty gemstone from the streets outside. When you turned it every which way, it reflected different colours, and sparkled brightly in the light.
His older sisters secretly wanted the treasure, but Shun’u was determined not to let it go.
One day, the second daughter, Rin’an, was struck down with a bad fever and was confined to bed. Shun’u, as usual, at the beck and call of his other sisters, but, with one less pair of hands after him, it felt like everything was somehow out of sync. This was especially the case because Rin’an was the sister who did things properly and in the correct order.
“Oneechan.”
Shun’u slipped into the room in which Rin’an was sleeping.
“What? Shun’u, huh?”
“Are you still feeling ill?”
Rin’an tried to lift her body from the futon, coughing.
“You’re a kid kid, Shun’u. But I’m afraid I’m still pretty bad…maybe I’m done for.”
“What are you saying..?”
Shun’u was a little panicked.
“Well, there’s one thing that might work. One possible good method.”
“What? What’s that? What is this method!?”
Shun’u leaned his body forward, and Rin’an whispered the method into his ear.
“That’s for real, right? That’s really a way to cure this illness?”
Shun’u darted out of the room at lightning speed, and Rin’an poked out her tongue at his retreating back. Her fever had long since gone down.
Rin’an, who never gave up unless everything went exactly the way she had planned it, easily obtained possession of her eleven year old brother’s sole special treasure.
Of course, not just that.
“Shun’u! You can’t eat that! You’re the precious heir to the family! I’ll check to make sure it’s safe to eat for you first!”
By this method, Rin’an made sure she got the first and best places and snacks, and with her tiny attention to detail, she managed to steal away Shun’u’s things as well. This happened more times than he was able to count.
---
“Hahaha! Tasuki, that just proves you’re a real idiot!”
“What are you talking about? I was just naïve, that’s all!”
Tasuki let out a heavy sigh.
“Though more than having her head screwed on right, that was pretty much just straight up fraud, really.” He let out a groan of frustration.
