SEVEN SEAS’ COMMITMENT TO
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TRANSLATION AUTHENTICITY
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JAPANESE NAME ORDER
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To ensure maximum authenticity in Seven Seas’ translation of Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator Part 2, all character names have been kept in their original Japanese name order with family name first and given name second.
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For copyright reasons, the names of Boogiepop creator Kouhei Kadono and illustrator Kouji Ogata appear in standard English name order.
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HONORIFICS
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In addition to preserving the original Japanese name order, Seven Seas is committed to ensuring that honorifics-polite speech that indicates a person’s status or relationship towards another individual-are retained within this book. Politeness is an integral facet of Japanese culture and we believe that maintaining honorifics in our translations helps bring out the same character nuances as seen in the original work.
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The following are some of the more common honorifics you may come across while reading this and other books:
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-san - The most common of all honorifics, it is an all-purpose suffix that can be used in any situation where politeness is expected. Generally seen as the equivalent to Mr., Miss, Ms., Mrs, etc.
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-sama - This suffix is one level higher than “-san” and is used to confer great respect upon an individual.
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-dono - Stemming from the word “tono,” meaning “lord,” “-dono” signifies an even higher level than “-sama,” and confers the utmost respect.
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-kun - This suffix is commonly used at the end of boys’ names to express either familiarity or endearment. It can also be used when addressing someone younger than oneself or of a lower status.
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-chan - Another common honorific. This suffix is mainly used to express endearment towards girls, but can also be used when referring to little boys or even pets. Couples are also known to use the term amongst each other to convey a sense of cuteness and intimacy.
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Sempai - This title is used towards one’s senior or “superior” in a particular group or organization. “Sempai” is most often used in a school setting, where underclassmen refer to upperclassmen as “sempai,” though it is also commonly said by employees when addressing fellow employees who hold seniority in the workplace.
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Kouhai - This is the exact opposite of “sempai,” and is used to refer to underclassmen in school, junior employees at the workplace, etc.
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Sensei - Literally meaning “one who has come before,” this title is used for teachers, doctors, or masters of any profession or art.
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Oniisan - This title literally means “big brother.” First and foremost, it is used by younger siblings towards older male siblings. It can be used by itself or attached to a person’s name as a suffix (-niisan). It is often used by a younger person toward an older person unrelated by blood, but as a sign of respect. Other forms include the informal “oniichan” and the more respectful “oniisama.”
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Oneesan - This title is the opposite of “Oniisan” and means “big sister.” Other forms include the informal “oneechan” and the more respectful “oneesama.”
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One year earlier...
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Just before dawn, the coldest wind of the day swept across the world.
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A girl was standing at the edge of the silent school roof.
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"............"
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The wind whipped her long hair about roughly, as if trying to tear it out.
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Unaffected, she stared back at the shadowy figure that stood with her on the roof.
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“It’s a shame, really,” she said with a thoroughly groundless and unsettling smile floating across her face. Not because she was happy, not because she was amused, nor even because she was, instead, much too sad-there was no reason for it. She just smiled, but with her eyes alone-her mouth remained locked in a straight line.
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“Ultimately, you too are unable to free yourself from the ‘here’
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and ‘now.’ Such a shame.”
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"............" The other figure remained silent. It resembled a pipe more than a human with the shadow of the school building enveloping it, leaving it only partially visible.
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“But no matter how long you wait, nothing will ever begin.
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Eventually, you will float moumfully away, just as your name suggests. . .vanish with a little pop.”
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She put her hand to her mouth. Her shoulders shook slightly.
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She was laughing.
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The gesture was incredibly natural. How was it possible for anyone to laugh so unaffectedly? It was quite a mystery.
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If her feet shifted a mere ten centimeters, they would find themselves heading swiftly towards a sharp impact with the ground below. But this precarious position had no influence on her laughter.
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"........."
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The shadow beside her didn’t move. It showed no signs of emotion. It was as if it didn’t even know what laughter was.
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“Don’t you agree, Boogiepop?”
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Addressed by name, the shadow stepped forward.
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“Say what you will. Either way, you are finished here. There is nothing else for you.” The shadow’s voice was somewhere neutrally between that of both male and female genders.
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“Hmmm. . .finished? Really?” The girl failed to flinch before the advancing shadow. She stood her ground. “I think I’ve barely begun. I don’t even have a name yet...”
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A cloud lit ever so slightly by the rays of the rising sun passed by in the darkened sky above. The wind was extremely strong.
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“Then I shall name you now. Existences like yours were dubbed “Imaginator” by the father of the Fire Witch.”
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The shadow continued towards the girl, feet never pausing.
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The girl was unmoved. She nodded quietly.
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“I read that book too. But it’s an awfully prosaic name, isn’t it? It lacks romance. How unlike you,” she said, mockingly.
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Her long black hair was now pulled at an almost perfect right angle to her head, as if pouring ink into the river of air around them.
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“Romance...? I have no such thing. Only normal humans do,” the shadow said, producing an arm from beneath the cloak that covered its body. There was a knife in its hand.
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Faced with the blade’s sinister gleam, the girl’s lips at last curved upwards.
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Curled into a look of pure confidence.
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“‘Love is like snow that falls in April. Unexpected, yet not unforeseen. . .out of season, it chills you to the core.” Who was it that said that?”
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"......!" The shadow stopped in its tracks.
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Because the girl had taken a step backwards, there was nothing behind her and nothing below her.
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“The end of the beginning is also the beginning of the end, Boogiepop. You stopped me here. . .but that is just the beginning of the next ending.”
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Smiling broadly, the girl’s body plunged from the roof, falling towards the garden below.
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There was an ugly, unpleasant sound. The sound of something splattering.
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"............"
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The shadow stood where it was. It did not rush to the edge and look down.
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It did not need to.
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A vision of the girl floated in thin air in front of the shadow.
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“I have plenty of time before I actually hit the ground. Will you be able to find me before I do?”
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The vision smiled-once again, only with its eyes.
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Then it gradually faded away, melting into the air.
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"............"
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Left behind, the shadow stood, knife in hand.
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The wind stopped.
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The sudden silence gave the impression that all movement had left the world.
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On the ground below, a body lay, broken open like a flower that has bloomed. The stain it left behind would take a great deal of time to remove.
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But that was all a year ago...
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The mountain was not far from the city center. It had been carefully leveled off, with staircases built up the slopes. But despite the size of it, there was nobody there. The earth was exposed, with nothing growing or living on it besides a few tufts of brown grass barely managing to get through the winter alive.
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In a few more weeks, weeds would spring up everywhere, and the ground would look even less pleasant, but for the moment, it was simply desolate. Piles of steel and other building supplies lay abandoned, never to be used, near half-constructed towers left to forlornly rust away.
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Five years before, there had been plans to turn this mountain into an amusement park, with the groundwork having been completed three years ago. But problems with the developers had led to the land becoming repossessed by the bank, which in turn tried, unsuccessfully, to put the land up for auction. Unable to find any buyers, the lot ended up abandoned, the amusement park construction frozen, waiting absently in the faint hope of things getting worked out.
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The land was surrounded by a tall fence that cast long shadows in the sunset, like stripes across the ground.
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A large round shadow fell across those stripes, and leaping down inside the fence came the silhouette of an almost spheri-cal human. As he vaulted the two and a half meter tall fence, his graying hair flew upwards, displaying the torn up flesh where his right ear had once been.
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It was Spooky E. An overloaded convenience store bag hung from his left hand.
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He clicked his tongue, and fussily straightened his hair.
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Through the knotted hair, he scratched at his wound. Blood welled up, getting into his hair, but Spooky E paid it no mind, and kept on scratching, putting his nails into it. It had been almost a month since his ear had been sliced off, but his incessant scratching had prevented the wound from healing. As a synthetic human, Spooky E’s healing abilities were far greater than those of an average human, but he was scratching it so persistently that his abilities were unable to compensate.