I decided to have a conversation with Yotsuba.
Yotsuba used the letter board while I responded by writing Japanese on a wooden board.
[Thank you for your help the other day. Thank you so much.]
[I’m glad you’re feeling better.
My name is Tomita, and the Goddess reincarnated me three years ago.]
[Goddess? Do you mean Hardis?]
[Yeah.] I wrote.
[I’m Yotsuba, and the goddess’ subordinate reincarnates me.]
[By the way, we don’t have much time to talk.
The only chance I have is when Nancy-san is napping.]
[Please sneak over at night when everyone is asleep so we can talk.]
“I wanna play with Yotsuba too!”
Nell interrupted our conversation.
[You will wake up Nancy-san, please talk quietly.]
“Okaay. I want to draw a picture and show it to Yotsuba.”
I hand Nell a pencil and a wooden board.
Yotsuba and I resumed our conversation.
[I’ll try to come over regularly to talk at night. Anything you’d like to know?]
[Tell me about Neko-san’s cheat.]
Cheat? What do you mean?
The Japanese translation of cheat means ‘to deceive,’ ‘being dishonest, deceitful,’ or something similar.
Those who find it difficult to understand in English should consider that cheating is the Japanese equivalent of kanningu (カンニング).
In high school, kanningu will get you a zero on a test, and parents will be called. While in university, you will get a zero and are guaranteed to repeat the class; I’m sure you understand that it’s terrible.
[I want to change the world with my friends.]
Yotsuba is making an outrageous statement.
[I can’t overlook this if you’re gonna do bad things,] I wrote.
If left unchecked, this reincarnated person is going to commit a crime.
As someone who has more life experience, I have to stop him.
[Is it bad? Isn’t it normal in stories?]
[Those would only apply to fictional stories. It’s wrong to do that.
If you do bad things when you’re young, you’ll grow into a lousy adult.
You shouldn’t cheat.]
[Having a cheat isn’t a crime?]
…Huh? What are you talking about?
We talked for a few minutes and realized we had misunderstood each other.
The ‘cheat’ that Yotsuba refers to is the ability given by God.
…No, that’s not a cheat.
In English, it’s more appropriate to say it’s a gift.
Someone jealous might say, “That’s a cheat!”
But referring to yourself as a cheat is strange.
In the novels that Yotsuba was reading, it is the norm. What the students mean by cheat these days is what Yotsuba refers to.
I don’t know… I don’t understand what these young people are up to these days…
TFTC.
Too short though.
I hope you can manage to release more frequently. This is an amazing story, but it’s not going anywhere with how short the chapters are.