GJ Bu Vol 1 Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Jigsaw Puzzle

In the same room as always; at the same round table as always.

But today the setting was a bit different.

Countless pieces were scattered on top of the stump-like table.

“Hmm… This one doesn’t go here either I guess.”

Megumi said with a serious face. Frowning with her chubby eyebrows, she pushed the jigsaw puzzle pieces together, but they didn’t fit at all.

“Jeez, don’t stand there watching, Shinomiya-kun. Give me a hand.”

“Eh? Ah? Is it okay?”

Having been told that, he stopped resting his chin on his hand. He had a.s.sumed this was a game you enjoyed individually.

“Of course. Let’s all do it together.”

At Megumi’s invitation, the remaining three joined in too. Shion, Kirara and Mao, the whole club set out to solve the puzzle.

At the box, it said there were 500 pieces. It was quite an epic puzzle.

“We start by putting together the outermost pieces. Look, the most straightforward ones are these. They definitely go somewhere along the sides.”

Megumi said, putting another piece in.

The border was almost done.

“I see, this is actually my first time doing this.”

Shion said as she took a piece in her hand.

Then, for some reason, she started staring at the jigsaw puzzle’s casing.

For several seconds she gazed at the drawing on the box.

“Like this, right?”

Suddenly, right in the center of the frame they’d set up, with nothing around it, Shion placed down the piece.

“This one goes here, this one here.”

One by one, Shion placed down the pieces at places that didn’t connect to the rest at all. Completely isolated from each other, the pieces were quickly filling up the s.p.a.ce. Every now and then a link would form and one could see that, indeed, the pieces were where they were supposed to be.

“Shion-san, that’s amazing.”

Megumi raised her voice. Kyouya was at a loss for words.

“Puzzles are a kind of game too, after all.”

The genius of games said nonchalantly.

“By the way, er… Kirara, what are you doing?”

Back to his senses, Kyouya directed the question at Kirara.

If one were to ask what the girl was doing while everyone else was normally, or prodigiously, putting the pieces together…

She was smelling the pieces. One by one, she’d bring her face close and sniff them.

How could you explain to this wild girl what a jigsaw puzzle was? Kyouya was pondering on the problem when…

“This and this.”

Suddenly, Kirara put two pieces together.

“This and this. Smell. Same.”

And so, the a.s.sault began.

Shion placing them one by one and Kirara combining them in pairs, their speeds were exactly the same, with almost instant movement.

The puzzle was quickly coming together with an incredible momentum. Kyouya, who was now just watching without even putting his hands out, took a glimpse to the side.

There stood a silent, motionless person.

Mao had her arms crossed.

She stared at the jigsaw puzzle, her eyes filled with vigor.

Just a little bit, Kyouya was looking forward to see what she would do.

The two uppercla.s.smen were solving the puzzle with their ludicrous method.

In that case, Mao would definitely show them an even more incredible solution. An even more creative one.

“That’s enough! Aah! Jeez! What the h.e.l.l are you doing?”

Mao screamed, unlocking her arms.

“All this time, this piece here, this piece there, this piece here, this piece there…”

She made a sudden movement.

Like a pianist about to start a performance, she raised both her hands up high.

“Hyaaaah!”

All of the pieces were turned upside down simultaneously, scattering themselves about.

“Let’s see you put the together now.”

Mao had been original, but it wasn’t a solution at all.

“With us playing like this, it’ll be an endless game.”

Megumi said with a calm face.

“You only have to buy it once but you can play with it forever. Isn’t that great?”

That way of playing was definitely not in the manual, Kyouya thought.

“I tried to make a jigsaw puzzle with cookies.”

QUICK FACTS:

The Amatsuka Sisters

The big sister-like, tolerant little sister, Amatsuka Megumi, and the extremely selfish, little sister-like character, the big sister, Amatsuka Mao.

Just by looking at them, one can tell that they’re amusingly uneven sisters.

Their name is written as 天使 and read as Amatsuka.(1)

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) They would be read as tenshi (angel) in everyday usage, but when giving someone a name in j.a.pan you don’t necessarily have to use the established reading of a Kanji. Amatsuka seems to be an unusual reading for those Kanji even for naming purposes though.