Rounin is No Good!

Everything this world has to offer
I don't need right now.

Hobbies.
Health.
Friends or lovers.

Because I

am a rounin. [tn: Students who fail entrance exams and have to take a year or more off.]

Mom~ There's a vengeful spirit over there.
Shh! Don't look!
Year 1 Rounin - Mogami Yui

My family...
Father - East University graduate - General practitioner
Mother - East University graduate - Former TV announcer
Brother - Currently studying at East University - Science III
Hanako - Agility Contest winner
pretty much like this.

The moment I became a rounin, I was a loser.

I'm the black sheep of the family.

I can't fail again.
I need to at least pass at the top of the class next time...

Ah~

Yui! Good morning!
You're here early today!
Year 1 Rounin - Isshiki Amane

...Don't good morning me.

Why are you dancing on your desk first thing in the morning?
Hm? It's a rounin dance.
Such a dance doesn't need to exist in this world.

Exercise is good for stimulating the mind~ Wanna dance with me?
I'll pass.

Amane's the kind of girl
who thinks of cram school as an extension on her youth.

On the very first day of lessons,
she left a huge impact.

She came up with an informal social gathering,
Do you prefer shabushabu warm veggies or shabu grass~?

Shabushabu
Shabu

she ate her lunch early during the 10 minute break between the first and second periods,
Don't tell the teacher. Keep quiet and I'll give you this.
I don't want it.

and at the very end,
Look at this~!

she made class t-shirts.
That's way too embarrassing.

ROUNIN East University Science Course

The heck is that!? A rounin class doesn't need something like that!
Will a size M do?
I haven't even said I'd wear it yet!

Geh!

She even printed our names on the back.

Isshiki Amane
Mogami Yui

Let's all wear them for the mock exam.
It's like the worst festival ever.

I'm never gonna wear something like that!
Eh~ But I made enough for everyone in class.
You really go all out, don't you...

I just want to focus on my studies,
but ever since I met Amane at cram school, she's thrown a wrench in those plans.

...Say, Amane.
Maybe you should be a little more aware that you're a rounin.
You don't wanna fail again, right?

Of course I'm aware I'm a rounin.
Look.

My nails are the color of blue reference books.
That's just plain blue.

If anything, you're too determined, Yui.
Exams are a war of attrition that last a whole year! It's important to take breaks.

What are you talking about?

We're living corpses known as rounins.
We don't even breathe through our noses.
We do. We're just plain living~

Honestly... Amane's way too easygoing.

p10

...Urgh.

Class 3-5 Usual Members
Morning, everyone! Wanna get dinner tonight?

It's a LIME from the exam passers (those guys who just got lucky).
Ooh~ Are they inviting you to hang out?

It's nice to have friends who'll invite you out even when your career paths are different.
It sounds fun!
No, I'm not going. I'll just be showing those exam passers (those guys who have lost their purpose) what a disgrace I am.
Your habit of using rubi is intense! [tn: Rubi = small text similar to furigana which is written next to dialogue to provide a phrasing, clarification or nuance different to what's being said aloud by the character.]

Look, Amane.
They're just inviting me so they can mock me.

p11

If I go, they'll just parade me around like a loser at the very end.

Waaaaah

Rounin! Rounin! Rounin! Rounin!
Sounds like a wild festival!

Oh man, I think I might wanna join in on that.
You're being treated like a god.
A god? More like a sacrifice.

Ahaha

College is such a pain~
Wanna just skip first period?

p12

...Are you really not going to go?
You're free after school, right?
I said it's fine.
Once class is over, I'm gonna do some self-studying.

I can't waste a single second.

p13

I can't believe it!
Failing of all things...! What will our relatives say...?
Nerves? That's your responsibility.

Failed

How did you even fail?
This is
my last chance.

p14

Yui~
The study rooms are closing.
Kay.

Hey.
How about the two of us stop by somewhere on the way home?

Eh?
I said I'm not hanging out with anyone.
It's fine. Come on.
Hey...

p15

If it's just the two of us,
no one will care that you're a rounin.

Seriously.

Amane keeps throwing me out of whack.

A shrine in a crevice between buildings...?

p16

Didn't know there was something like this here.
Yep! It's for praying for success in your studies!

I pray that me and Yui will pass!

...Don't you feel any pressure, Amane?
Heh?

Like, don't you ever think about what'll happen if you fail again and trouble your parents?
Hmm.

In my case, my mother's a dancer and my father's a haiku poet,
so they just tell me to do whatever I want.
That explains that free-spirited nature of yours...

p17

Besides,
there's no failure when it comes to exams.

...Wha-
Of course there is!!
Passing means success! Anything else means failure!
But y'know,

even if you don't pass, all those days of hard work don't just disappear, do they?

I probably won't remember all the calculus and English vocab after ten years or so have passed,
but coming to cram school first thing today
and studying with you until closing time is something I'll never forget.

p18

Just having that experience
makes it the best!

...Haha.
The heck?
She's all talk.

Not passing means failure.
It's better to not experience being a rounin in the first place.

But...

p19

True.
I doubt I'll forget about you even decades from now, Amane.

Okay~
How about we put on the class t-shirts and do the rounin dance while we're at it?
...For now, maybe just one of those to start off.

Warning