You and I Are Polar Opposites: Sunny & Rainy Chapter 2 Summary
Chapter 2
A-side: Was that girl we saw at the Saturday performance Class 8's Nishi?
This section is written from Nishi's POV. Nishi calls Honda "Hon-chan," while Honda calls her "Nisshi." This is already present in the manga/anime, but I didn't realize that Honda's "Nisshi" had an extra γ.
Year 2, Class 8, Classroom: 11:15 (Third Period) β Rainy
Nishi's class is also stuck in self-study due to the rain and the gymnasium's construction. She finishes the fantasy novel she bought on Saturday and starts looking up reviews online. Honda turns around and starts talking.
Honda: It's good that it's raining.
Nishi: Oh, yes. It's such a relief, honestly...
Honda: You don't like tennis,1 after all.
Nishi: Yeah. I feel bad for the people who love it, but I'm glad it got canceled...
There's a lot of people who are good at tennis at their school, so whenever Nishi plays doubles, the opposing team always aims for her. As a result, her doubles partner has to run a lot to cover her, and she always feels bad about it.
Honda: It's sure has been raining a lot lately.
Nishi: I heard today was supposed to be sunny...
Honda: I'm fine since I have a spare umbrella. What about you, Nisshi?
Nishi: Nothing. I didn't bring one.
Honda: Want to tag along with me on the way home, then? Under my umbrella.
Nishi: Is that okay? If that's all right with you, then I guess I'll impose...
Honda: Then that's our plan. Today we go home together!
Nishi likes how Honda gives an unbothered smile and takes the lead of their conversation. She feels like Honda's always helping her.2
Honda: This reminds me of last Saturday. The forecast said it'd be clear, but it ended up raining for a long time.
Nishi: Oh, uh, right, Saturday! On Saturday, uh-huh!
Honda: ...Nisshi, did something happen on Saturday?
Nishi: Huh?
Honda: Something did happen. Clearly. You've got a grin plastered all over your face.
Honda's face seems to have "Who did you meet? Come out with it right now," written on it. Nishi can never keep a secret from Honda. Nishi looks around to confirm that everyone else is busy with whatever they're busy with, and then whispers.
Nishi: So actually... I met Yamada.
Honda is making her classic scrunched-face expression.
Nishi: But it was just because we happened to run into each other! It wasn't like we planned to meet upβ
Nishi continues to explain. She's always worried about being misunderstood when she says something, so she tends to overexplain things, but she can trust that Honda will listen and understand.
Shopping Mall: Two Days Before, 15:00 β Rainy
Nishi is at the shopping mall when it starts raining. She decides to wait it out, and goes to investigate the area where she heard applause coming from. When she gets there, she finds that the rest area was transformed into a little stage. A comedian she likes, who she had watched as a kid on TV, is there performing. There's no cost to watching, so she sits down in one of the seats.
The performer goes on to start singing and dancing weirdly while wearing traditional clothing as a gag. The place is quiet as the segment ends, but Nishi lets out a short laugh. At the same time, she hears someone else doing so as well. Nishi feels conscious about being one of the only people to laugh but is really curious about who else laughed with her. She looks to her left and feels time stop. A heat blooms in her chest. It's Yamada.
The comedian continues their gags and more people are laughing this time, but Nishi is listening carefully for Yamada's voice.
Shopping Mall: Two Days Before, 15:45 - Rainy
Yamada and Nishi are walking around the mall together after the show. Yamada says that he invited his guy friends, but Tani had something to do, Taira had his part-time job, and Gachapon had something come up last minute. Nishi asks if he hangs out with Tani a lot. Yamada says not really, he just felt like inviting him.
Yamada asks Nishi why she's here. She says to do shopping. Yamada asks what she was buying, and she says sweets like chocolate and marshmallows. Can't she just get that at the convenience store, he asks? Nishi says she likes looking around.
Nishi realizes that she's slipped into formal speech again. She's been staring at the floor this whole time and thinking too much about the sea of white tiles and the fewer black tiles in between. She's happy to have run into him, and some part of her was hoping for a coincidental meeting like this, but it actually happening without any preparation has made her afraid of talking. She feels like she's trying to avoid having Yamada take over all of her thoughts, like sticking to the black tiles while avoiding the white tiles as if they were lava in a child's game.
The next black tile her eyes cross, Yamada jumps onto with a light hop. Nishi looks at him with surprise.
Yamada: Oh, whoops... Seeing the black ones just made my brain go "safe."
Nishi laughs.
Yamada: Huh? Are you laughing at me for being such a kid? Back in elementary school, we played the tile lava game so much that it's second nature at this point. I know it's kinda silly, but I can't help it.
Nishi: Oh, um, that's not it... I do that too.
Yamada: Huh?
Nishi: I was just thinking to myself that black tile looked like a safe zone... I had the same thought...
Nishi feels embarrassed for saying that.
Yamada: Cute...
Nishi realizes that Yamada just voiced an unconscious thought as his mouth is hanging open. When she processes the word, she immediately covers her face in both hands. She feels like her body and mind are in chaos and doesn't know what to say back to him. She desperately looks around and sees a bookstore and says she was planning on looking around there. Though it's somewhat of a lie, it isn't like she's uninterested in looking. Yamada looks over at it and asks if he can tag along too. Nishi says, "Um, yes. Wouldn't you like to go with me, please...?" This is both formal and somewhat incorrect grammatically. They head to the bookstore.
The bookstore is quite small since it's in a mall of a rural area, but it's easier to navigate. Sometimes Nishi feels lost in the big bookstores. Here, all the publishing companies are mixed together with the author names alphabetical, and there are fewer shelves to look through.
Yamada comes over to Nishi, saying that he can't find the manga magazine he was looking for. Nishi's heart is going wild. Yamada asks if she as able to find the book she was looking for. She says she hasn't yet. Though, to be specific, she's not looking for anything in particular but seeing whether there's anything she wants. Now that she's off-kilter, she's forgotten where she was looking. But then she sees a familiar title. It's the 7th volume of a fantasy series written by a female author that she read as a kid. She thought the author had given up on writing these, so she'd stored the first 6 volumes in a case somewhere in her room. She's so excited that when Yamada asks if that was the book she was looking for, she says yes and then rambles on about how she read this series in middle school, and the first book was the first time she'd pulled an all-nighter reading. She read it over and over, and then the second and third books also had her up late, reading and crying.
Yamada notes that's a lot of words she's saying. Nishi apologizes, but Yamada says no, he was just thinking that it was rare for her to talk so much. His warm grin makes Nishi feel a little more at ease. Yamada thinks over aloud how the series must be really interesting, and it's got 7 volumes too, which is long. Nishi says that the books are easy to read. Yamada asks if she's going to buy the book. She says yes and rushes to the register to buy it, excited to make it hers as soon as possible. Nishi thinks to herself that there was no other book that she needed more than this, and it might be thanks to Yamada for talking to her and leading her to find something unexpected.
Nishi buys the book and then goes back to Yamada. He asks her if she has volume one of that book series. She says she does have it at her house. Yamada asks if he can borrow it. Nishi is surprised and asks if he wants to read this series. He says he doesn't really know since he doesn't normally read books, but what she was saying earlier got him interested in trying it. Nishi is excited to hear this, already looking forward to sharing the fun between them. She says she'll contact him later, and he says okay.
Nishi finds herself looking forward to lending him the book, which is a curious emotion. She feels that her world is expanding to include more people.
Year 2, Class 8, Classroom: 11:35 (Third Period) β Rainy
Nishi finishes telling Honda what happened, and then says that she gave Yamada the book this morning, quietly, since it looked like he was busy. Honda says they're practically dating. Nishi fumbles for a response. It's embarrassing to be told that, but it's not like she hates the idea and denying it outright could be rude also.
Honda changes the topic to ask why Nishi is worried if everything seems to be going well. Nishi confesses that she read the 7th volume of this series last night and realized that it might be something that she enjoyed specifically because she was a middle schooler at the time. The book series is less polished than she remembers, and now she's worried about whether the book she inadvertantly recommended to Yamada will actually be interesting to him. She had been waiting for this book for years, so she immediately read it, but there were a lot of forced plot developments, a lot of things were left at surface level, the lines from a character she thought was cool sounded rather childlike, and the way the characters' thoughts were written seemed kind of outdated. It wasn't boring, but the same kind of spark she felt when she was younger wasn't there.
Nishi says that this is also what the book reviews she found said. She shows an article on her phone to Honda, who reads aloud:
- "Despite its strengths, this book is ultimately for middle schoolers who aren't accustomed to reading novels. It's best not to think too much about the worldbuilding or realism."
- "I didn't hate it, but I'm giving it 2 stars. The ending was so unsatisfying that I laughed."
- "I don't get what anyone likes about this. I was pointing out flaw after flaw the whole time."
There are also a lot of good reviews, but enough negative ones to make you notice. The overall reception of the book isn't overwhelmingly positive.
Honda: Wooow. These are so malicious. Some of these comments are just hung up on insignificant details, too.
Nishi: But I kind of feel like I understand them...
Honda: These trash reviews? If they're stressing you out that much, how 'bout you quit reading these books?
Nishi: Oh no, I think there's a lot of good parts too, and I've liked this series for a long time, so I'm still interested in how it'll develop from here... So, I don't mean I feel exactly the same as them, just that...
Nishi thinks she'll still be excited about getting more of these books. No matter if they follow or betray her expectations, there's still something good about the experience. But not being able to enjoy the stories she was obsessed with as a middle schooler makes her wonder if she's lost something.
Nishi says she's worried about the fact that she didn't check over the book again before recommending it to Yamada. Reading books takes time, so she's scared that Yamada might find it boring after all of that. She feels like Honda is thinking, "Do you really have to worry about all that?" but Honda slowly makes a more serious expression and says that she doesn't think Nishi has to worry because Yamada probably won't finish reading the book. He doesn't seem to be the type to read many books, so even if he finishes it and finds it boring, he'll probably just think it's because he lacks experience.
Nishi thinks this over and feels that she'll probably feel lonely if he doesn't finish reading it. Both possible outcomes make her uneasy. But Yamada did look like he was genuinely interested in reading it. She wishes she could confirm that the book she leant him was actually interesting... which gives her an idea.
B-side: Yamada was reading a novel...
This section is written from Yamada's POV.
Year 2, Class 7, Classroom: 11:35 (Third Period) β Rainy
Yamada closes the book, his body trembling. He's done it. He's finished a novel and read everything, even the bar code on the back. He feels like a new world has opened to him. Suddenly, he realizes that the classroom is bustling with chaotic activity. He'd normally join in, but instead he spots Tani studying and goes over to him, saying, "Tani! Tani! Tani!"
Tani asks what's going on as Yamada looks very happy. Yamada only just then realizes that he's smiling big. He proudly says he finished reading a novel. Tani is quiet for a few seconds before saying that's great. Yamada assumes that the silence was because Tani didn't think it was a big deal, but Tani says that's not what he meant. Yamada brushes over that and asks Tani if he's ever read this book. Tani says yes, in middle school. Yamada says Tani's amazing for reading through the whole thing in middle school and asks how many books of the series he's read. Tani says 3. Yamada is impressed, though Tani notes that there's more books in the series, so he wasn't that thorough about it.
Yamada remembers that Nishi said she also read this book in middle school. Maybe if he had known about it then, he would've also read it. He thinks Nishi and Tani are cool for doing so. But he's also cool for reading it now. It would've also been cool if he read it in middle school.
Yamada says he and Tani should talk about the book, but no spoilers past the first one. Tani thinks it over and says that his memory is foggy now but he does remember that it had an impressive setting. Though it was fantasy, it was also easy to read. There were also mysteries in the narrative that kept him interested in reading more. Yamada is in enthusiastic agreement with all of this. And then Tani says that there was a part that bothered him, but other than that, he remembers it being a fun read. Yamada is confused about this and asks him what part. Tani points out how the opposing country's king's only motivation for doing evil things was his own pleasure and he didn't really have any humanity to him. Yamada says, isn't that just common for fantasy, though? Tani says yes, but since he was enjoying the rest of the book, this part didn't sit right with him. Yamada is quiet. Tani goes on to say that he had been completely engrossed in the book, but that part made him come back to reality a bit. It was disappointing because if it had been slightly different, he would've had more fun. Yamada says that makes sense and thinks more about it.
Thinking over the book, there were places that gave Yamada pause, but he couldn't put it into words, so he didn't think too hard about it. He thinks Tani is probably right. This conversation has returned Yamada to reality and made him aware that the book he just read was purposefully made by someone. Tani's attention to detail also has him wondering if he was too slapdash about the way he read the book.
Year 2, Class 8, Classroom: 12:55 (Lunch) β Rainy
Yamada figures he should go ask Nishi about it. Honda says she went to the library. Internally, he describes Honda as someone who was in his class last year, so she's basically his friend. Honda's making that weird expression, and Yamada asks what's wrong and laughs. He feels like he saw a hint of a grin, but Honda forces herself back to a straight face and says there's nothing. Honda asks what he needs Nishi for, and Yamada says he wants to return a book to her. Honda asks if he read all of this, given that he borrowed it just this morning; he doesn't seem the type to finish a book that fast. Yamada says that he did because Nishi strongly recommended it, and he wants to tell her his impressions. Honda suggests he hurries up to the library, then. Yamada thanks her and heads off, but before he turns away, he feels like he saw her making that weird expression again. Yamada wonders briefly why she knew about when he borrowed this book but doesn't think deeper about it.
As he steps into the hallway, Gapacho comes up to talk to him, looking really excited. Yamada says he can't chat since he's in a hurry.
Library: 13:00 (Lunch) β Rainy
Yamada asks for Nishi at the counter since she's a library assistant. The two first-year girls staffing seem a bit annoyed but start discussing with each other, trying to remember who Nishi is. One of them says that they've probably seen her around. Nishi's not on duty today; it's just the two of them.
Yamada walks around the library and starts noticing all the various types of books. He spots Nishi, crouched in the fantasy corner, and calls out to her. She lets out a small yelp and falls over. Yamada holds out the book and says that he's finished reading it, so he came to return it. Then he notices that Nishi's holding the same book that he is. He looks to the bookshelf and asks if those books are the rest of the series. Nishi says yes. Yamada comments that the subtitles sound so impressive. He feels excited.
Yamada asks why Nishi is here. He thinks over how Nishi owns the whole series and he's borrowing book one right now. Nishi replies in a very small voice (library volume) and says that there's some stuff she become worried about after she lent him the book. She suggests they talk at a nearby desk.
Nishi starts out by apologizing to Yamada; Yamada asks what for. Nishi says she might have lent him a weird book and she doesn't know if it was interesting at all. He says it was super interesting. Nishi says, "Really?" so Yamada says that the world was huge and there were so many mysteries that made him want to read more. As he says that, he feels like he's heard someone else say that before, but doesn't think too hard about it. He tells her that basically he had a good time. Internally, he notices that's pretty vague, but he's not someone who can put exactly what he found fun into words. But seeing the rest of the books lined up makes him excited, so that's good enough.
Nishi says that's good, then, but she looks bothered. Yamada asks if what he said was superficial. Nishi immediately says no, she was just thinking that if he didn't find it fun at all, then she would've felt bad about wasting his time. Yamada asks if Nishi's here because she wanted to check over the contents of the book. Nishi says she would've felt bad if she had recommended him a bad book. He says that she doesn't need to think about it that hard but thanks her. Nishi is quiet.
Yamada asks, wasn't this a book that she really liked before? Nishi says yes, she found it at a bookstore and used her New Year's money1 from her grandma to buy it. Yamada says that means that this is a really memorable book for her. And then he realizes that's why she came to check the book: She stayed up all night the first time reading it, but what if all her excitement from that time disappeared? Yamada feels like he gets it.
Yamada: Hey, that reminds me. You remember that comedian we saw together?
Nishi: Uh, um...
Nishi is confused why he's bringing this up. Yamada doesn't have a fully formed thought yet either, but he feels like it's connected, and if he talks about it, he'll figure it out. If not, that's okay too.
Yamada: That comedian was crazy funny back when I was in elementary school. I'd laugh so hard every time they2 came on TV, but they weren't funny at all this time...
Nishi: Huh? But Yamada-kun... Weren't you laughing?
Yamada: Yeah. I was crackin' up.
Nishi: So you were laughβ
She makes a noise.
Yamada: ...Did you just laugh?
Nishi: I mean, you're acting like you did the complete opposite...
Yamada: Okay, look! The jokes weren't that funny, but it brought me back to old times, so I was laughing before I knew it! It happens.
Nishi: Really...
Yamada: Don't you just laugh for no reason sometimes?
Nishi seems to suddenly think of something and stares directly at him.
Nishi: Well, now that you mention it...
She's looks down, her face red. Yamada can feel his own face heating up. He averts his gaze slightly.
Yamada: Being the only one laughing is kinda lonely, or at least that's what I was feeling. But then you happened to be there, laughing too, and...
His voice is decreasing in volume. His head is growing hotter and his throat feels dry.
Yamada: ...I felt kinda better... Happy, even....
Nishi is quiet.
Yamada: And you know, it's wild, yeah?! The jokes didn't get me laughing, but something else 'bout it did, so I was having a blast for a whole other reason!
Nishi: Yamada-kun, shhhh!
Yamada forgot they were in a library. He lowers his volume.
Yamada: So, how do I say this... It's chill if no one laughs but us, right? It can be fun in its own way. I think this book's like that too.
Nishi: ......
Yamada: ...At least, I'm glad I read this book. And I'm happy I got to talk to you more.
Yamada doesn't know what Nishi was like in middle school, but he knows that she loved this book then, and he feels like he gets how she felt. Nishi has a hand to her chin and is thinking very deeply.
Nishi: ...Maybe you're right. It's important for books and comedy skits to be interesting, but even just making a space where you can experience something together and make new memories might be meaningful already...
Yamada: It definitely is.
Nishi: Yeah. ...Thank you, Yamada-kun.
Nishi is smiling like all her worries are gone. Yamada returns the book to her and thanks her for recommending it. Parting with the book feels a bit sad. He tells Nishi that he had a ton of fun reading it.
Yamada's never had memories of a book before. He thought you needed some kind of talent to finish a book; he's always just winged it for his book reports at school. He feels like he's going to really remember these last three days. Yamada's grateful for the whole experience, the good and bad.
Nishi holds the book with a small smile and says that she's happy Yamada enjoyed it. Her pure, unguarded smile sends an arrow right through Yamada's heart. He stops himself from saying out loud that she's cute again. But he already opened his mouth, so he thinks of something else to say and suggests that they talk more about the book again later. Nishi says yes, and Yamada feels himself breaking out into a grin.
The two of them wonder if it'll be sunny after school. Yamada finds himself thinking ever so slightly that he hopes it won't be sunny if it'll lengthen their time together.
Personal Commentary
This section is much better than the beginning Tani/Suzuki part. Baby's first book. I can't imagine that Yamada will ever read stuff with a very critical eye, but maybe Nishi will just be happy to have someone that is excited to read whatever she's reading. The way he parroted Tani because he hasn't exercised any critical thought about fiction before is kind of funny. Hopefully he develops his own sense of interpreting story craft.
As for me, I think I would've liked to read something with a little bit of friction here. I am curious about how these two would handle having a genuine disagreement in opinion, and I don't really recall anything like that happening in the manga. Again, the story flow is a little predictable, so I feel like it's not as good as it could've been. To paraphrase Tani's review of this fictional fantasy book.
Translation Footnotes
As always, thanks to my friend @magical-pun-girl for helping with some of the dialogue.