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Takayama Kazumi (Kazumin) / 1st Gen

Discussion in 'Nogizaka46 Graduated Members' started by kimunlimited, Feb 19, 2012.

  1. Gofindnova

    Gofindnova Future Girls

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2019
    I translated “Carry-Over,” Kazumi’s first short story. It was originally published January 2016 in Da Vinci magazine, and is free to read on their website.

    Carry-Over
    by Takayama Kazumi
    Illustrations by Fukagawa Mai

    I was bullied as a child.

    “My family is poor” was the exceedingly simple reason, but even if I knew the cause, it was painful being unable to fix the situation. To give an example, there was no variation in my clothing. At home, I only had three pairs of faded sweatshirts with the print peeling off that I must have worn for many years.

    At a Christmas school event, even though the class decided on a 1000-yen present exchange, my mother only gave me 200 yen. After trying and failing to win the big prize from a crane game, I only had 100 yen left, so I had no choice but to buy “watapachi” candy floss to bring to the exchange. From that day on, I was branded as a target for bullying. It would have been nice if there were any allies of justice to say that “Money isn’t everything~”, but since I stood out in no way from the guys around me, my fate was sealed as [good-for-nothing + poor = not someone you want to be friends with]. I had no one on my side.

    That’s why my fixation with money didn’t settle down as I grew older, in fact it instead became stronger. The bullying escalated as the builds of the guys around me grew larger, and I completely shut my heart off from the world and other people. No power. No smarts. If only I had money…if only money… every second, that was repeated in my head. Somehow enduring that hell, I welcomed the day that I could finally start earning.

    A month after I began my first job, my eyes were caught by an advertisement hanging in the train on my ride home.

    [New-generation Jumbo Lottery / First Prize 10 Billion Yen!! / Now with Feelings]

    [​IMG]

    “Ten…billion…”

    If I had that, nothing would be impossible for me. Warped fantasies flooded through my mind. Revenge against those who had bullied me so harshly. With that money on hand, I would hire some professionals to crush all the happiness of those bastards. Push every single one of them into the depths of despair. Smiling, I looked up the lottery sales counter.

    The lottery offered sets of 10 tickets that you could select between numbers that were random or in sequential order, but at any rate, one lottery ticket was thirty thousand yen. It was much too expensive, but the “With Feelings…” option(?) looked like it could be worth it.

    “There’s a different personality with every ticket, it’s a lot of fun~. The price wouldn’t be so bad if you think of it as buying a pet, right?”

    It didn’t feel like the lady at the counter was pushing the sale, instead her gentle smile gave me a good impression. Luckily, I had put the precious first salary I had just received in my bag, so I offered it up to buy one ticket. There were three weeks left until the winner announcement. I had bought a dream; I would show them all.

    But, well, I didn’t have the slightest clue what With Feelings meant. As soon as I arrived home, just as I saw that it was no more than a scrap of paper, the ticket stood up on its own.

    [Thank you very much for purchasing me.]

    “Wh… it spoke.”

    That’s how I met it. If you looked closely at its center, there was a small slit that it used for its mouth. This is what it meant to be With Feelings? Since I had associated the act of speaking with negative emotions since I was young, I couldn’t help but be put in a bad mood. Upon seeing my expression, the ticket also didn’t dare to say anything more after that.

    [​IMG]

    Two days later, I thoughtlessly forgot to set the alarm when I went to sleep, and stayed wrapped in my blanket past my usual wake-up time.

    [Um…it’s morning. Ah, it’s past the time you woke up yesterday. Sorry if I’m bothering you. Just thought you should know.]

    I was woken by the incredibly self-effacing tone of the thirty-thousand-yen ticket. As a result, I barely managed to avoid being late that day. I felt a little bit saved, but I would hate to get caught up in the moment and drawn into a chatty conversation, so I didn’t particularly say thank you.

    For the time being, I put this 10-billion-yen candidate into my wallet whenever I went out. Every time I swiped the Suica card that I kept in the same wallet over the train ticket barrier, apparently due to some obscure magnetic reaction, an annoying [Whoa] would ring out.

    I periodically checked the internet for talk about the New-Generation Jumbo Lottery.

    <I don’t want this Feelings feature. My lottery ticket was so annoying I tore it up lol. If it wins I’ll cry though lol>

    [​IMG]

    I couldn’t imagine anything so wasteful as tearing up something I bought for thirty thousand yen. If I closed my eyes, I could clearly envision myself surrounded by that colossal fortune of 10 billion yen. I’m making a happy face. With such a big fortune, there’d definitely be some guy sniffing out word of it from somewhere and coming to sponge off of me. I’d ask that guy what he thought of poor people. At the very moment he started to show condescension, I’d brutally dispose of him. Heh heh…

    As I opened my eyes, the 10-billion-yen candidate approached near.

    [I am… on your side.]

    Though I heard the words, I ignored them. After that, even if I closed my eyes again, nothing appeared.


    Two weeks after the lottery ticket arrived, my mother died. The only family member I had in the world passed away. I knew she had always been suffering from illness, but for it to deteriorate to the point where she was beyond any help… Was the problem if only we had the money for treatment? No, my mother definitely wouldn’t have spent a penny on herself. With her earnings all sunk into my tuition, rent, groceries, and repaying the debt my father left behind, she must have neglected to visit the hospital. The life my mother provided by staking her own life. I, who considered it poverty, looked down on it, ridiculed it, assaulted it, frantic only to survive, I was unable to pay attention to my mother’s hardships. A life that could be saved… if only there had been money. Without money… without money…

    My mother left a letter behind in the top drawer of her desk.


    To my son,
    I am deeply sorry I was unable to provide you with any luxuries. I must have made you endure many things. I am truly sorry. You can blame your mother. Treasure the people around you. Please be kind. If you do that, you can surely… surely become happy. The days I was able to spend with you were my happiness. Thank you.
    From mom


    [​IMG]

    I raised my voice and cried out. I wanted to save my mother. The lottery ticket stayed by my side through all of it.

    [Sorry, sorry. I’m truly sorry…I couldn’t do anything.]

    As my tears were repeatedly, frantically wiped away, drowning in sorrow, I lost consciousness.

    How long did I sleep? When I woke up, the lottery ticket was watching me intently as though it had been there all along.

    [Looks like it’s time for us to part.]

    “Eh?”

    [Today is the day of the New-Generation Jumbo winner announcement. Congratulations. You have won the top prize of 10 billion yen. Take me to the bank. And also, sorry… If only I had been faster, perhaps your mother could have been saved. Our time was short, but it was fun. You are my treasured friend. I’ll never forget it.]

    Friend. What I had always wanted, was money. But that was because I hadn’t found anything with value higher than money.

    I didn’t go to the bank. Now that my mother passed away, I had only a single person on my side. When I was with this guy, my mind was at ease. It seemed stupid to think of wicked things. And more than anything, it was fun. Money is not everything in this world. From now on, I want to work a normal job, make an honest living, and be happy. Together with the first friend I’ve made.

    [New-Generation Jumbo Lottery / Jackpot Carry-Over Piling Up to an Eight Trillion Yen Prize!! / with Feelings]

    It looks like a winner hasn’t been chosen yet. Although, maybe, like me, they haven’t come forward.

    -The ticket refers to itself as oira, a rare form of the masculine ore, that no one actually uses in real life.
    -The narrator refers to himself as boku, so you know from the first sentence he’s male.
    -Suica is the name of the smart card used for trains around the Tokyo region.
    -The name of the ticket deal is 感情つき kanjou tsuki, or 感情ついてます kanjou tsuitemasu, lit. “feelings attached.” This might be some kind of half pun on tsuku having the double meaning of “being lucky,” 運がついてる. I’m not sure, so I just translated it literally.

    I’m going to be honest, I started translating this a while ago, but gave up when I got to the story’s end, because it made me go what the heck? The pacing is very abrupt (maybe Kaz was working under a word limit?) so the characters' behaviors seem unnatural. That said, there are good ideas in it, and the overall story arc is powerful, if only the relationship between the two was developed more. It’s good for a first effort, and the sheer weirdness of being thrust into a world where we have to accept the ticket can talk makes it memorable. I finished translating it since I figured people would enjoy it anyway.

    Regardless of how good you think the story is, I think it’s interesting because it reveals what Kazumin’s concerns are. “Write what you know,” as the saying goes. This story is about learning to value personal connections over money. Kazumin is known for looking up sales and shopping deals (she was put on trial for being miserly in Nogi Doko #131), and she co-wrote a book on financial investment. So even if she isn’t obsessed like the narrator, it’s a motivation she can relate to.

    It’s not a clean 1:1 metaphor, but I also can’t help but see the lottery as a parallel to being an idol. Dream of money, win the lottery, but prefer the company of the ticket > Dream of being an idol, beat the odds to join a wildly successful group, realize that the most important thing in your life is friendships. The ticket is a “member” of the lottery so you could interpret it as an industry friendship like Naa-chan (symbols don’t have to mean one thing), but Kazumin has also always kept close ties to her hometown, and she’s said that one of the toughest things about being an idol is that her vacation days don’t line up with her non-idol friends.

    I haven’t read Trapezium, but apparently the protagonist deliberately makes friends for a pragmatic purpose in that book. Carry Over’s happy ending keeps the friendship secret, and therefore untouched by ulterior motives. There is “economic” pressure in idol groups for girls to make friends or (pretend to) get along to improve their own image or the group’s. Being so good-natured, it makes sense that Kazumin would be more sensitive about this topic. In Nogibingo 9.3, over a year after Carry Over, she talked about how she didn’t feel honest simply telling fans that everyone in Nogi gets along. Everyone seems to be saying that nowadays though, so maybe Nogi does get along better now, but that pressure is still in their lives. It doesn’t necessarily mean their friendships are fake, but it does mean they’re more complicated. In real life, it’s hard to know who’s a true friend, after you’ve won the lottery.
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2019
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  2. sambelteri12

    sambelteri12 Next Girls

    Joined:
    Sep 21, 2018
    It's very nice story, imo. But i do agree the relationship between the two could be more developed.
    I haven't read Trapezium too, but if it's different with this one, i hope Kaz would developing this story to a novel.
     
  3. hart123

    hart123 Member Stage48 Donor

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2012
    Kaz on Nogiobi


    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
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  4. MasToppu

    MasToppu Next Girls

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    Jun 29, 2016
    Location:
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    Oshimen:
    Kosaka Nao
    Kaz on Harry Potter.:D

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
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  5. iainus

    iainus Future Girls

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    Oshimen:
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    I would literally watch her do this for ALL of Harry Potter.
     
  6. galangsatria

    galangsatria Next Girls

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    Twitter:
    galangsatrw
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  7. galangsatria

    galangsatria Next Girls

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    Oshimen:
    Nishino Nanase
    Twitter:
    galangsatrw
    Kaz on Shanghai airport.
    IMG_20191024_000103.jpg IMG_20191024_000105.jpg
    I really think that she's one of the most fashionable members right now. She had pretty terrible fashion sense in her early days. Remember in Nogidoko when she always bought cheap stuff? [hehe]
    And now, damn, look at that hella expensive Louis Vuitton bag. :cool:
     
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  8. Geribanana

    Geribanana Kenkyuusei

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    Sep 5, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Akimoto Manatsu
    9ed8fd68-s.jpg
    even Maaya has Vuitton, lol
     
  9. Generic_User

    Generic_User Under Girls Stage48 Donor

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2016
    Location:
    Isulando
    Oshimen:
    The Ikuta Erika
    I think that's Yves St. Laurent... but whatever it is the real ones are expensive... perhaps these are Chinese knock-offs... Nogi's back to buy some more fakes?
     
  10. KingCrimson

    KingCrimson Kenkyuusei

    Joined:
    Nov 26, 2017
    Oshimen:
    Ikoma Rina, Saito Asuka
    That shopping roke with Marika has changed her forever [hehe]

    But really, I don't think there should be any doubt that Kazumin is one of the richest Nogis currently. She's super busy with TV stuff, and she made hella bank on her novel. Being able to afford whatever you want to wear certainly helps.

    That aside, she looks damn good. I'm a big fan of her shorter hair.
     
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  11. bananaboy

    bananaboy Member

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  12. theobserver

    theobserver Next Girls

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  13. Kataomoi

    Kataomoi Member

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  14. bananaboy

    bananaboy Member

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2018
    Location:
    arita factory parlour
    not to take it seriously, even to imply wrongness; i merely follow bananaman "doushita doushita" reaction

    Still has subsequent streak like that then its might fun for internet psychoanalysis ;)
    busy girl, might occupied by that
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2019
  15. Blitz Comet

    Blitz Comet Kenkyuusei

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  16. Seditious46

    Seditious46 Next Girls

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    Higuchi Hina
    Happy Birthday lovely Kazumi!

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. iainus

    iainus Future Girls

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    Mar 19, 2019
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    A Rainy Scottish City.
    Oshimen:
    Sakaki Miyu
    Happy Birthday to the charming, adorable, funniest, most amazing lady ever. <3
     
    Last edited: Feb 8, 2020
  18. Kataomoi

    Kataomoi Member

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2019
    Oshimen:
    Ikuta-chan
    Happy 25th Birthday to the weirdest member in 1st of Nogizaka46
     
  19. Arbios

    Arbios Future Girls

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    Jan 7, 2016
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    Komiyama Haruka
    Happy birthday kazumin,my nogi oshi since day 1
     
  20. Jumps_Zilla

    Jumps_Zilla Upcoming Girls

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    <3 Nishino Nanase <3
    Happy birthday!
     

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