Wheelchair Girl: Chapter 5-6

RAWS: https://novel18.syosetu.com/n2611p/29

Chapter 5-6: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

　―8―

After getting all excited about the revelation of Haruka’s parents having frequented that Okonomiyaki restaurant, a sudden silence enveloped the two of them.

The conversation ended and there was an awkward pause.

The clock above the shelves was seemingly trying to fill in the blanks with its almost rhythmic ticks and tocks.

He had already finished drinking his tea and technically this was the point where he would conclude the conversation with: ‘Well, I gotta go now’ or something. However, it just didn’t feel right to leave like that for some reason. He just didn’t want to leave yet.

He wanted to talk more, the topic didn’t matter.

Actually, scratch that. It would also be okay if they didn’t talk.

He just kind of wanted to spend more time with her. Just drinking tea together and spending quality time together was nice. 

However, he needed an excuse for that.

Hence Kazutaka tried desperately to find a new topic and found himself staring at the ceiling. The lighting was dazzling.

Did she perhaps feel the same way?

When he checked out Haruka’s expression, she also seemed rather reluctant. She was fidgeting with her hands, wondering if there wasn’t something else they could talk about, and looked around restlessly.

Suddenly, something came to her and Haruka raised her voice.

“Ah yes, Akasaka-kun. Do you have something planned after this?”

“Hm? No, not really.”

“Ah, then… well… If you’re okay with it… Want to watch a movie together?”

Haruka pointed at the pile of DVDs that were scattered on the floor.

Kazutaka was immediately onboard.

“Oh, yeah sure.”

If it was a movie, he’d be able to get at least two more hours or so. 

“Is there a particular movie you wanted to watch?”

“No, not really. As long as Akasaka-kun wants to watch it as well, I’m good.”

With that being said, Kazutaka went for it, fished through the pile, and grasped some DVDs that seemed interesting.

‘Midnight Run’, ‘Scarecrow’, ‘Perfect World’, ‘The Straight Story’…

(TLN: Movie about a bounty hunter, A road drama, Movie about a Prison breaker kidnapping an 8-year-old and becoming buddy-buddy with him (Yes, if you Google パーフェクト・ワールド some Japanese romance movie pops up but it was released in 2018, so I doubt it), Movie about some old guy visiting his terminally ill bro on a lawn mower or something. All these movies are American btw and I just googled them quickly.)

Is this how she copes with the fact that she can’t really move around much?

Most of her collection falls under ‘road movies’ and for some odd reason, they also tend to feature a rough-looking middle-aged man.

Kazutaka asked Haruka.

“Harukawa, are you perhaps into old-timers?” 

(TLN: Bro worried that she’s a DILF, probably. He refers to ‘ossan’)

There was also the American New Cinema’s masterpiece ’Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.’ Kazutaka doesn’t think he could win against Paul Newman. 

(TLN: That’s the OG title, the Japanese title is: 明日に向って撃て!, which kind of translates to ‘Shoot for tomorrow’ or something.)

“No, it’s not like that at all.”

Suddenly, a certain work catches Kazutaka’s eyes.

Being immediately charmed by the title, he took the DVD in his hands.

It was ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.’ A German movie which also happens to be a road movie. 

“Ah, this one is actually really good. Have you seen it?”

Haruka came to his side.

“I just felt like I’ve heard the title somewhere. What is this movie about?”

“It’s a story about two men who know that they don’t have much time left due to their illness, so they do all kinds of crazy things while driving to the ocean.”

(TLN: Probably the guy who made Narcissu was inspired by this, lol.)

“To the sea?”

Kazutaka tilted his head as he asked.

“You see, those two have never seen the ocean before since they were born.”

The two of them decided to watch that one.

Haruka dragged her body to the TV, put the DVD into the deck, and pressed the start button with familiar movements.

Before the movie started, Haruka told Kazutaka all kinds of miscellaneous things about the movie and its background.

“So you know the title, right? ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’, you know it? It’s the one from Bob Dylan’s song.”

She seemingly enjoyed herself as she was telling him all this trivia.

And when the movie finally began, Haruka immediately quieted down and faced the screen. It was almost as if she was possessed, she just had to watch it.

Kazutaka found himself glancing at Haruka’s profile more often than the screen and couldn’t help but smile. Seeing her like that made him feel happy for some reason. It was a good expression.

He re-seated himself on the zabuton and focused on the movie.

‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’, recommended by Haruka who had seen many movies, was quite an interesting one.

It contains heavy themes of life and death while portraying the friendship between the two main characters refreshingly. Even after the movie was over, Kazutaka felt like it wasn’t enough yet. He felt satisfied yet empty.

(TLN: Me after I finish reading a visual novel….)

Haruka asked.

“And? Did you like it?”

“Yeah, I liked it a lot.”

In response to his answer, Haruka made a relieved expression, as if this was actually a movie she had made and was praised for just now.

“This one happens to be one of my favorites. I’m happy that Akasaka-kun liked it as well.”

After watching the end of the credits roll, Haruka pressed the ‘stop’ button.

She took out the DVD from the deck and carefully placed it back in its case. 

Kazutaka flopped down on the ground.

He was still able to clearly see the last scene of the movie: the ocean.

What did those two who had never seen the ocean before think when they finally laid their eyes on it?

“Ah, it was really a good movie.”

Haruka nodded deeply in agreement and stared at the DVD cover.

“I want to go to the ocean…”

“Hn…?”

Hearing those words, Kazutaka got up again.

“What, the ocean?”

“Ah, sorry. It’s nothing.”

Haruka feeling flustered, quickly shook her head.

“What’s up? What do you mean with the ocean?”

Kazutaka wouldn’t let this one slide and asked further.

“No… It’s just… I felt like it’s been ages since the last time I went to the ocean…”

“When did you go?”

“Hm… I guess when I was around four to five years old?”

While saying such, Haruka patted her legs.

(In other words, she never went after the accident…)

Kazutaka found himself glancing at her legs as well.

…I guess it makes sense with this condition.

If you can’t even walk with your legs, you can forget swimming. Regardless of where you want to go, you soon lose the desire to carry this body anywhere with your car. Even if you do, you’d still have to support her afterward, effectively dropping any desire to go out and travel.

Conveniently, a TV program related to the ocean popped up.

The screen showed the gorgeous white sand of the beach and crystal clear blue water glittering in the sunlight.

“Ah, the ocean. Looks really nice.”

Haruka smiled brightly while watching the program.

It was a bright but also longing smile. As if she was aware that she’d never be able to get there by herself. That little hint of loneliness leaked through.

Kazutaka looked around the room, checking out all the piles of DVDs that were scattered around him.

They were overflowing with road movies.

Some major works with names he knew very well but also many Indie ones he had never heard of. So many different movies about traveling.

Was this indirect way of expressing what lies deep within her heart: “I want to go far away, I want to travel around the world.” 

Since she was unable to go anywhere by herself, she opted for movies instead, experiencing such vast journeys indirectly at least.

Kazutaka found himself staring at Haruka’s face.

And then he spoke up.

“…Yup, I got it. I’ll take you with me.”

“Eh?”

Haruka looked back at Kazutaka with a surprised face.

Kazutaka invited her.

“Let’s go to the ocean together in the upcoming spring break.”

Haruka was at a loss for words.

“To the ocean… You’ll take me to the ocean…?”

She looked at the desktop calendar next to the TV.

“Even if we go to the sea now, the water will be ice cold, you know? And it’ll take a while until the beachgoing season comes around…”

“No, I mean, of course, I don’t think we’ll be able to swim but I think just seeing it with our own eyes is enough. So let’s go, to the sea.”

He invited her casually if it was just a walk around the corner.

“It’s been a while since I last went there. So I feel like going as well, I wanna go fishing.”

“No, but I…”

Haruka made a troubled face, looking at her own legs.

“Even if you say you want to go the sea, it’s quite a distance from here, you know?”

“Yup, you’re right about that. So we’ll have to board the train I guess.”

If he was 100% honest there, he would have loved to take her there with a car just like in those movies but unfortunately, reality would not let him off so easily. He needs a license for that.

“…So you really want to take me to sea…”

Haruka found herself lost in thought for a moment as she looked at Kazutaka.

And then, as if she had given up, she let out a deep sigh.

“I’m very grateful that you invited me but in the end… I don’t think I can go.”

“Why?”

“This is a far cry from just having you pick me up and drop me back home, you know? This will definitely trouble you Akasaka-kun and I just can’t do that. I’m really grateful that you always pay attention to me but I really don’t think I can go.”

Haruka shook her head weakly.

She made a face as if she had given up on everything.

But Kazutaka wouldn’t budge this quickly and persisted.

“It’s fine, I’ll just follow up.”

“But…”

“Don’t you want to go? To the sea I mean?”

He asked her while tilting his head.

“Well… I do want to go, it has been a while after all…”

Haruka mumbled a bit as she answered shyly.

“That’s why I’m really happy that you invited me but…”

“Then it’s all fine, isn’t it? So let’s go, baby!”

(TLN: No really, it actually says baby = ベイベー)

With a ‘Hey, Come on’ Kazutaka was trying to get Haruka into the mood like a foreigner.

“But I..:”

She looked back at him and made a bitter expression.

It’s as if she wanted to say something but forced herself to shut up.

There were so many places she wanted to go but she was also somewhat afraid of going away too far.

And she really didn’t want to trouble Akasaka-kun further…

She probably was thinking along those lines.

Kazutaka looked at Haruka and sighed. She was always difficult to deal with. It’d be so much easier if she just was more honest with her feelings.

He decided to change his approach.

Kazutaka asked her.

“Did you know, in heaven, everyone talks about the sea?”

Haruka raised her face.

“That line just now…”

Indeed, that line was from the movie they’ve just watched: ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.’

This was the line that made the two main characters decide to go to the sea.

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life within a five-kilometer radius of your home?”

“No… Not really…”

“You say that the sea is far away but it’s as far away as a fart when compared to something like Mars.”

The latter half was a bit unreasonable but he was really trying his best to persuade Haruka.

Don’t confine yourself in this little world. Let’s go out. Let’s knock on many more doors.

“…So it’s much simpler than going to Mars…”

Hearing those words, Haruka couldn’t help but smile a little.

“Quite the universal analogy, huh?” 

“Ah, aiming for Jupiter now, are we?”

With a cheerful tone, their banter unfolded the world around them as they knew it. 

Haruka asked.

“…When exactly do you plan to go?”

“If I’m not mistaken, the weather will be clear next week. How about on that Sunday? Are you free?”

“I don’t have any particular plans…”

“Gotcha, then it’s decided.”

With a grin, Kazutaka concluded the conversation, cutting off her option to escape.

Haruka couldn’t help but respond bewilderedly.

“Nee, are we seriously doing this?”

“I’m always serious.”

Kazutaka responded cheerfully and tossed a manju bun into his mouth. He already started to plan and think of the various things they had to prepare in advance.

” But I… I can’t walk and we have to also bring the wheelchair along…”

She looked down timidly.

“Ey, stop grumbling about that stuff.”

Kazutaka started to ruffle her hair.

“You want to go to the sea, right? You want to smell the nostalgic scent of the sandy beach, right? So it’s fine. It has been decided and if I need to, I’ll even take you with me by tying you up.”

He displayed Jainism with a grin.

(TLN: Katakana was ジャイアニズム. I assume this refers to that religion, which includes Karma)

“Mou… You’re so overbearing sometimes…”

Haruka smiled as she fixed up her messy hair.

She had to admit her defeat there.

“It can’t be helped. I understand I’ll be taken to the beach by Akasaka-kun next week.”

“Yup, just leave it to me!”

Kazutaka patted his chest confidently.

Haruka dragged her limbless legs with her, moved to the desk, and picked up the calendar.

Then she wrote with a red pen: ‘Sea’ on the upcoming Sunday.

She then also circled the characters with a flower.

While saying it couldn’t be helped, she wasn’t able to hide her smile and anticipation, like an elementary schooler getting all hyped for the upcoming field trip.

Kazutaka, while also smiling, threw a tsukkomi at her.

“Aren’t you even more excited about this than I am?”

Translator’s note:

And that’s about it. The romantic development will happen in Chapter 6 and I guess it’ll be at the sea, how romantic! That being said, since I’m not American, I have no idea about these movies, oof.

Also, there is one part I wasn’t sure how to translate. I translated it, then handed it to ChatGPT, asking it to phrase it better based on the context, because I kind of knew what they were saying but the way I wrote it didn’t make sense.

“You say that the sea is far away but it’s as far away as a fart when compared to something like Mars.” 

The latter half was a bit unreasonable but he was really trying his best to persuade Haruka. 

Don’t confine yourself in this little world. Let’s go out. Let’s knock on many more doors. 

“…So it’s much simpler than going to Mars…” 

Hearing those words, Haruka couldn’t help but smile a little. 

“That was quite a ‘worldwide’ example, no?” 

“Oh, you want to perhaps step on Jupiter instead?” 

My prompt: Considering context, rephrase the last two lines such that they kind of make sense.

Result:

“Quite the universal analogy, huh?” Haruka remarked, a hint of amusement in her tone.

“Ah, aiming for Jupiter now, are we?”

It does make more sense like this, so I kept it. Generally, I only use ChatGPT just for edge cases, where my brain just farts and I’m out of ideas. If it’s about translation, I look it up or discuss it with people on discord. I’m still too hesitant to overly rely on MTL resp. ChatGPT, so I’ll never give ChatGPT the whole translation. Not sure if that’s good or not. People are getting sensitive about AI nowadays… Zetro getting sometimes indirect haters because of the AI image covers but I also noticed that authors are using those as well to promote their novels. For the time being, I refrain from doing that but I might consider just paying someone on Fiverr to read this novel when it’s translated and make illustrations for it. That would be such a flex, considering that this novel is from 2010, lmao.

Anyway, see you in the next one!