Not Afraid To Admit...my MUSE

[complete]

Untold Story

Here’s my attempt at a translation of the BSD third light novel, Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency. This rambling post talks about the what and why. Done partly for practice, but mostly out of love for the incredible original.

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The book has two stories, both pretty much standalones. The first, shorter one, tells the story of the ADA planning Atsushi’s entrance exam. No plans to translate that one, but it is not tied to the main story. The rest of the book is Untold Story itself.

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1/6 — docs.google.com/document/d/1rmIA6WJaMRsQyTJab2xugi9fBvJW-xrVt0qrLjfJaBU

2/6 — docs.google.com/document/d/1L45bhrttssqj9TrKfDs6Ocsuy1mMXgc9IFIkazkJfII 3/6 — docs.google.com/document/d/1kudanKQAIi7piunBhqx4rkum8oEEx4BI5Hd5xGZE7_g 4/6 — docs.google.com/document/d/11K3_nUay_w92_68wSh3pMG7ok5bpzAAw1zyfZybsjV4

5/6 — docs.google.com/document/d/1HbZUlKyVsrxVluZYeGpx50Bm4_JvpMmPYvKf736OUy4

6/6 — docs.google.com/document/d/18ApNI3620WtllJMxSSrGY0_KK_ze12Tcfmn0QhPucnA

please DO NOT REPOST outside tumblr please

55Minutes

This is my attempt to translate the fourth BSD light novel, 55minutes, purely for some quick (and I mean quick) practice.

That said — the official comes out next month, so please, please buy it if you enjoy the series. The story is really interesting, too!

Last but absolutely not least, I have the pleasure of having the very talented @bsd-bibliophile proofread it for me! It was my first time working with an editor, and it’s been a game changer. Thank you so much!!

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1/10 — docs.google.com/document/d/1_LfOxLImRLJIy11tiwKhmkAERjXlzVPxke9ADUayMxk

2/10 — docs.google.com/document/d/1qBi8RH-Q89WlgxplEdTckfeKIWR4A5jd3ZaLV0WWIX8

3/10 — docs.google.com/document/d/1k7sSJzPTExIdMZmCS09CThII7j9hntKJQxDgxa-GZR8 4/10 — docs.google.com/document/d/1nLKFAheJOBHa1T6NjpWG64HpjuWKXollm8nNMHCrI5M

5/10 — docs.google.com/document/d/1JiCadasyjUxs90r3NQsObifMj6poEsZt26P0vfi9WOo

please DO NOT REPOST outside tumblr please

Pain Threshold.

pm!dazai didn't abuse akutagawa. he reacted proportionately to the threat akutagawa posed to himself.

when dazai smacks akutagawa around in canon, they're running drills. dazai is not hitting him in misdirected anger or because he is venting his own suffering on him. akutagawa does not instinctually protect himself. in his fits of hyperviolence, he seeks to kill and be killed, and nearly is in beast, and in the course of his initial pursuit of atsushi.

he does not have the reflex or will or instinct to defend himself, and he is slow because he is having to consciously process the effort. his automatic reflex is to attack, but that will not stop him from being shot or overwhelmed or blindsided.

what they are doing in those scenes, what dazai is uniquely able to practice with him since rashomon can't pierce him, is not unlike cognitive behavioral therapy interventions. akutagawa is wired such that when he is triggered, he develops tunnel vision, pressing forward relentlessly without registering danger or responding to negative stimuli. this is a pattern developed from when he deemed dearh inevitable, and one which is liable to get him killed regardless of whether he has a reason to live.

he needs to consciously retrain his instinctual response, and he has to consciously and consistently reinforce it against his existing, much quicker instinct. he has to do it before he has the conviction or will to do it. and he has to do it over and over again, even when it isn't immediately life or death, because the instinct is self reinforcing, and the pattern he is trying to supplant it with is not yet.

skills are part of their users' framework for responding to their environment. jun'ichiro is anxious, but he can hide within light snow. kunikida has his notebook, but it has rigid limitations that he adapts to, similarly to how he works within the limitations of reality to keep from becoming consumed by his ideals.

akutagawa's skill, meanwhile, is wildly fucking disproportionate to akutagawa's constitution which is a problem when akutagawa wont react defensively. akutagawa is canonically frail, chronically ill, thin, and short (he's 5'8", but asagiri insists he's itty bitty every time he describes him in prose). rashomon, meanwhile, is monstrously powerful and hungry. it lends a false sense of untouchable violence when akutagawa himself is weak, and also is just really difficult to focus and control such that using it brings akutagawa into coughing fits. rashomon is also terrifying even in visage; it invites others to react with violence proportionate to their terror against the spectre of rashomon — but akutagawa is small, sick, and human; what is proportionate to rashomon is IMMENSE overkill if aimed at akutagawa. which is especially egregious because akutagawa will let them.

in other words, when dazai meets akutagawa, rashomon is as dangerous to its user as to anyone else. skills should not get their users killed. dazai is right. it's a shit skill.

akutagawa is vulnerable and self-destructive, and he and dazai are working to rewire his instinctual evaluation of his stakes. even when dazai punches akutagawa after akutagawa kills the mimic soldier, it's not a random act of violence or unregulated anger. the mimic soldier was not going to lead them to gide, there was no reality where they restrained him before he bit his cyanide, and he'd attacked dazai. but instead of reacting defensively at the opportunity, akutagawa fell to the former instinct, leaving himself wide open.

dazai reacts how he does because:

they are supplanting an ingrained instinct that is self reinforcing, the correction needs to be consistent to change the pattern and the former instinct needs to be discouraged with the same severity as the threat it poses;

by punching akutagawa first, dazai gave him notice and time to consciously muster the defense reaction theyre working on;

akutagawa needs to build an association between the defensive reaction and the triggering stimulus for this to work;

the context in which this happens is the exact sort of threat that rashomon is then ill equipped to handle— gide can see into the future, like oda, and mimic are military trained gunmen.

when dazai tells akutagawa that he couldn't ever defeat oda, he's not taunting him, he's right. akutagawa is relying on swift killing blows, but against someone who can see into the future, akutagawa is as vulnerable as a baby. and then, shortly after, that's what happens: gide wrecks his shit and is about to murder him dead when oda swoops in to grab dazai's dumb horrible baby kouhai who's trying to kill himself with the ambitious gusto of a horse.

as long as akutagawa fails to seek self-preservation, he is remarkably vulnerable. he's weak, and he's going to get himself killed. dazai doesn't coddle him about it for the same reason fukuzawa slaps ranpo for scampering into a police car with a murderer. you dont get praise for self endangerment.

dazai is not going to affirm a version of akutagawa that is trying to kill the boy dazai promised to save.

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(also, this explains why akutagawa hates taking baths and being without his coat. dazai tried to instill in akutagawa the vigilance to register danger. in his absence, akutagawa strove to be worthy of demanding his approval by diligently practicing. but he's dazai's dumb baby kouhai who. takes things too far lmao.)

Kisses on cheek

looks at you with my autistic eyes

I bet on WINNING dogs. We WILL get through this atsushi

@fixation-central yes. happy house

Every day I wish I had Katai’s ability simply for the fact that I hate getting caught at red lights while driving

~ you're my sea you're my sunshine the star the moooon ~