Chihayafuru, chapter 94 spoilers
So, the first chapter of volume 18 is finally published. Here we go.
While Chihaya and Taichi participate in Fujisaki training camp, Nikuman-kun, Tsukue-kun and Kana-chan all take part in the training camp held by Kitano-sensei of Suihoku-kai at his personal residence. Kana-chan decided not to sleepover at his place, heading home instead, which upset Nikuman-kun for some reason. He even says that he wishes he'd gone to Fujisaki camp.
Meanwhile, it's the second day of Fujisaki training camp, and it sees Taichi, Chihaya and the rest of the participants put through some gruesome physical training. They're supposed to mountain climb and play 4 matches on that day. The mountain climb that Sakurazawa-sensei mentioned turned out more than just climb - it's literaly running up the mountains! Chihaya is happy with the training, but her body doesn't exactly agree with her as she's rather tired.
The matchups for Chihaya and Rion surprise them both because for 3 matches out of 4 they get unchangingly pitted against one another. That makes Chihaya rejoice while Rion doesn't like that kind of matchup. Sakurazawa-sensei is fully responsible for deciding matchups, so she apparently had some kind of goal in mind.
Sakurazawa-sensei sees that Rion is not happy, but thinks, "Ah, that won't do. Rion is already losing any kind of fighting spirit. So be it, but I will make her play those 3 matches anyway. What Rion seriously lacks is stamina and passion for karuta".
Rion wins the first match by a landslide (let's not forget Chihaya can only play with her left hand for now). After the first match there's a break for lunch, and Chihaya and Rion eat it together. Rion's reason for playing karuta is her wish to have rice?... (wtf... don't ask me, I'll need a bit more context to decifer that...)
The second match is also won by Rion by 9 cards.
By the start of their 3rd game Chihaya notices something. When you play against the same opponent more than 2 times in a row, your memories become confused because the card placement both in your own and in the enemy formation is similar, and you start commiting a lot of faults because of overlaying memories from the past games, and also, by the 3rd match fatigue starts to take its toll.
While the two of them play, Sakurazawa-sensei approaches to give them advice. "I don't usually give advice in the middle of a match, but just this once I'll do. Watch your posture. All the Queen and Meijin title holders had a good posture. They all looked beautiful. They didn't so much aim to take cards fast as they were mindful to take cards while keeping a beautiful natural form. No matter how tired you are, you need to be able to do that."
Rion wins the third match as well, this time by 7 cards. After the match, Rion elaborates a bit on her extraordinary hearing, "It's different when I listen to my grandmother's reading... But when it's other people doing the reading, I think I can hear whether the tone is going to be highpitched or lowpitched... I can hear the modulation of the sound right before the decisive syllable is read..."
So, Chihaya is finally through her 3 matches against Rion. And her opponent for the final match is Taichi. We're not shown what went on in that match as the scene cuts to the moment when Chihaya and Taichi are going back home by train after the camp is over. But from their conversation it's clear that Taichi won. Chihaya felt that the atmosphere during that match was very different from her usual matches against Taichi. And Taichi confirms that by proclaiming, "This fall, I'm gonna win against you even when you play with your right hand". Which opens up a possibility of their direct confrontation soon as they're now both Class A players.
Rion is puzzled why Sakurazawa-sensei pitted Chihaya against Taichi knowing full well they're clubmates. She gets the following answer, "Because when he was not suffering from the lack of self-confidence, he turned into a monster. And I'm sure there's a level of confidence which only [winning against] Ayase-san can give him."
PS. You might want to check out one of the earlier posts to get the scanlated chapters 89&90. And also, feel free to point out weird wordings, grammar errors and things like that in ch.89-93 so that they could be fixed for the tanko version of vol.17. I'll be eternally grateful.
While Chihaya and Taichi participate in Fujisaki training camp, Nikuman-kun, Tsukue-kun and Kana-chan all take part in the training camp held by Kitano-sensei of Suihoku-kai at his personal residence. Kana-chan decided not to sleepover at his place, heading home instead, which upset Nikuman-kun for some reason. He even says that he wishes he'd gone to Fujisaki camp.
Meanwhile, it's the second day of Fujisaki training camp, and it sees Taichi, Chihaya and the rest of the participants put through some gruesome physical training. They're supposed to mountain climb and play 4 matches on that day. The mountain climb that Sakurazawa-sensei mentioned turned out more than just climb - it's literaly running up the mountains! Chihaya is happy with the training, but her body doesn't exactly agree with her as she's rather tired.
The matchups for Chihaya and Rion surprise them both because for 3 matches out of 4 they get unchangingly pitted against one another. That makes Chihaya rejoice while Rion doesn't like that kind of matchup. Sakurazawa-sensei is fully responsible for deciding matchups, so she apparently had some kind of goal in mind.
Sakurazawa-sensei sees that Rion is not happy, but thinks, "Ah, that won't do. Rion is already losing any kind of fighting spirit. So be it, but I will make her play those 3 matches anyway. What Rion seriously lacks is stamina and passion for karuta".
Rion wins the first match by a landslide (let's not forget Chihaya can only play with her left hand for now). After the first match there's a break for lunch, and Chihaya and Rion eat it together. Rion's reason for playing karuta is her wish to have rice?... (wtf... don't ask me, I'll need a bit more context to decifer that...)
The second match is also won by Rion by 9 cards.
By the start of their 3rd game Chihaya notices something. When you play against the same opponent more than 2 times in a row, your memories become confused because the card placement both in your own and in the enemy formation is similar, and you start commiting a lot of faults because of overlaying memories from the past games, and also, by the 3rd match fatigue starts to take its toll.
While the two of them play, Sakurazawa-sensei approaches to give them advice. "I don't usually give advice in the middle of a match, but just this once I'll do. Watch your posture. All the Queen and Meijin title holders had a good posture. They all looked beautiful. They didn't so much aim to take cards fast as they were mindful to take cards while keeping a beautiful natural form. No matter how tired you are, you need to be able to do that."
Rion wins the third match as well, this time by 7 cards. After the match, Rion elaborates a bit on her extraordinary hearing, "It's different when I listen to my grandmother's reading... But when it's other people doing the reading, I think I can hear whether the tone is going to be highpitched or lowpitched... I can hear the modulation of the sound right before the decisive syllable is read..."
So, Chihaya is finally through her 3 matches against Rion. And her opponent for the final match is Taichi. We're not shown what went on in that match as the scene cuts to the moment when Chihaya and Taichi are going back home by train after the camp is over. But from their conversation it's clear that Taichi won. Chihaya felt that the atmosphere during that match was very different from her usual matches against Taichi. And Taichi confirms that by proclaiming, "This fall, I'm gonna win against you even when you play with your right hand". Which opens up a possibility of their direct confrontation soon as they're now both Class A players.
Rion is puzzled why Sakurazawa-sensei pitted Chihaya against Taichi knowing full well they're clubmates. She gets the following answer, "Because when he was not suffering from the lack of self-confidence, he turned into a monster. And I'm sure there's a level of confidence which only [winning against] Ayase-san can give him."
PS. You might want to check out one of the earlier posts to get the scanlated chapters 89&90. And also, feel free to point out weird wordings, grammar errors and things like that in ch.89-93 so that they could be fixed for the tanko version of vol.17. I'll be eternally grateful.