Genjitsushugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki

Chapter 2: Let’s Create an Educational Program B

Prev List Next

Translator Corner

Minasan oideyasu. This is Yukkuri demasu!

Another chapter.

The chapter is short, but so packed fullwith reference.

Also… I completely don’t have any idea wherethe Zenpoko-kun’s Song came from.

DISCLAIMER: There is noguarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I waswrong.

Author:

Dozeumaru(どぜう丸)

Translator:

Yukkuri Oniisan

Editor:

So-Chintzy

Enlightenment Arc

Chapter 2: Let’s Create an Educational Program B

This might sound sudden, but in acertain city in the Saitama Prefecture where I lived in previously, there wasanother yuru-chara or local mascot character[1]other than 『Musashi Boy-kun』. Its name was 『Zenpoko-kun』. It was a mascot character that was designed based offa zenpoukouenfun or keyhole-shaped tumulus.[2]This 『Zenpoko-kun』 appearance was simply that of a keyhole-shaped tumulus with hands and feetsticking out. Even though it’s a mascot character (yuru-chara), the design wastoo laid-back.[3] Well,that’s just like what my hometown will do, after all, they already created 『MusashiBoy-kun』 when my hometowndidn’t have any connections with Benkei and only because it used to be called asMusashi Province in the past. However, there was a reason behind this laid-backdesign.

Within the city, there was a keyhole-shapedtumulus, but it had long been called the 『Twin Mounds』 by the locals. It was originally considered not as a keyhole-shaped tumulus,but two small tumuli that wer built side by side. For this reason, when theidea of “let’s create a mascot character to promote these Twin Mounds”, themascot character design was originally a boy and a girl duo wearing clothingfrom the Kofun period[4].However, when this design was completed, there was a land survey conducted that confirmed that the Twin Moundswas in fact a single keyhole-shaped tumulus.

The manufacture of the mascotcharacter had already been decided. The budget had also already been pa.s.sed. However,the Twin Mounds was not two tumuli, but a single keyhole shaped tumulus. Fortunately,only the design of the twin mascot had been finished, and it hadn’t yet reachedthe phase where it was manufactured or the costume itself or merchandise had beenordered. That’s why they immediately redesigned the mascot character as akeyhole-shaped tumulus. Because of this public office way of thinking, itresulted in the sudden birth of 『Zenpoko-kun』. However, although the problem of the budget and orderingof materials was cleared, this improvised lackadaisical solution was so unattractivethat it was not that popular among the citizens.

◇　◇　◇

That 『Zenpoko-kun』 wasright now being projected onto the Royal Voice Broadcast in the FriedoniaKingdom. It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon on Month 1 Day 10, when the New Year’sFever had died down. The audience, that gathered due to the King performing yetanother broadcast, was taken aback at the sudden appearance of this mysteriouslifeform (?).

Unaffected by the audience’s confusion,the Zenpoko-kun inside the projection spoke out loudly.

『h.e.l.loeverybody~ My name is Zenpoko-kun poko. After this 「Togetherwith Oneesan」[5] will begin poko~』

After Zenpoko-kun finished sayingthis, a laidback melody began to play.

【『Zenpoko-kun’sSong』 Lyrics: Souma Kazuya Composition: Juna Dohma】

Zen, zen, zenpokorin♪Zenpo-kokun♪

He came from an ancient country,an energetic round and square child♪

In study and play, full energy go♪

Look, Ju~na Oneesan♪

Zen, zen, zenpokorin♪Ze-n-po-ko-ku~n♪

　◇　◇　◇

「………」(Liscia)

Standing in a place that wouldn’tbe picked up by the broadcast equipment, Liscia who was looking at the scenetogether with me, was gaping her mouth wide open and had an astonishedexpression on her face.

「……Youhave something to say?」(Souma)

「Idon’t know where to start…… But first, what’s that?」(Liscia)

「Zenpoko-kun.」(Souma)

「Yes,I already knew that. Since you named it yourself.」(Liscia)

「It’sa practical effect of using my 『Living Poltergeist』. Iasked Pamyu Carol to provide the voice.」(Souma)

「Voice……You can’t be serious. Pamyu is inside that thing!?」(Liscia)

Yeah, that was the truth. Sincethere was no recording equipment, we couldn’t perform a dubbing, so there wasno other option beside making the voice come from Zenpoko-kun itself. Itsmovements were due to my skill manipulation as Pamyu wasn’t that heavy, but itsinsides seemed to be humid so she threw complaints at me.

「Ipreviously thought “What is that thing that Aisha had brought with her”, but tothink that the inside was a new doll costume……」(Liscia)

「MusashiBoy-kun’s appearance had become famous among the adventurers, so I couldn’t letit appear in the Royal Broadcast.」(Souma)

「Then,why…… Or rather, what kind of program is this in the first place?」(Liscia)

「Whatkind? It’s an educational program.」(Souma)

「Educationalprogram?」(Liscia)

「Yes,look. The real part will begin.」(Souma)

　◇　◇　◇

After the laidback song was over,what projected next was a scene of a stage. On the stage, there were 『props』 of trees, gra.s.s, and stumps arranged to represent a clearinginside a forest, where Zenpoko-kun was writing something on the ground with thechalk in its hand.

『U~mm……1 + 1 is 2, 2 + 2 is 4…… U~mm, arithmeticis so hard….』(Zenpoko-kun)

Zenpoko-kun said while looking troubled.Then, a blue-haired onee-san, who looked rather boyish with a hat, shirt and shortpants, happened to pa.s.s by. The blue-haired onee-san noticed Zenpoko-kun andthen made a wide smile as she began to talk with it.

『What’swrong Zenpoko-kun? Why do you look so troubled?』(Juna Onee-san)

Zenpoko-kun raised its face andthen walked stodgily towards the onee-san.

『h.e.l.lo,Juna onee-san♪』(Zenpoko-kun)

At this point, the adults in theaudiences realized that this onee-san was the famous 『Supreme(Prima) Songstress(Lorelei)』,Juna Dohma-dono. Since when fans were talking about Juna, her appearance in herusual elegant and expensive dress had a strong impression, so they didn’tnoticed her in her current boyish outfit. Her way of talking and atmosphere hadbecome plainer. Right now, Juna had lost her charming older female persona, andshe now displayed the loveliness of a girl of her age.

Zenpoko-kun then consulted withJuna onee-san.

『JunaOnee-san. I am troubled because arithmetic is so hard. Even when I look at thebook, there are only lines of numbers and symbols, it isn’t fun at all.』(Zenpoko-kun)

Many people in the audiencenodded at this statement from Zenpoko-kun. Several days earlier, King Souma hadencouraged the citizens to study reading, writing, and calculation. However, 「Readingand writing, I could understand, but why do we have to learn to calculate whenwe are not even merchants?」 Calculation was something that was normally unrelated to their lives, or sothey thought.

However, Juna onee-san, winked atZenpoko-kun who was speaking the opinion of the audience.

『Ara, arithmeticis actually really fun, you know?』(Juna Onee-san)

『Eh~,is that true~?』(Zenpoko-kun)

『Yes.』(Juna Onee-san)

Juna onee-san declared this to Zenpoko-kunwho looked doubtful. Then out of nowhere, a happy bright melody began to play. Junaonee-san then began to sing along with this melody.

The song was 『Fun Arithmetic』[6]. A song from 『Everyone"s Songs』[7] that Souma had taught to her.

This song that the SingingOnii-san, Tanaka Seiji-san, who was famous from 『BeautifulSunday』[8], had sang. The song lyrics were about adding andsubtracting, the changes when multiplying by ten, and that no matter how bigthe number is, it will disappear when multiplied with 0 in several comical realworld events. Juna onee-san and Zenpoko-kun were singing in a circle, theirdancing figures looked extremely fun.

After the song had finished, Zenpoko-kunflapped his hands happily.

『Ifeel that arithmetic has become a bit more fun. If I study, then will it becomeeven more fun?』(Zenpoko-kun)

『Ofcourse. If you study properly, then you can do even more amazing things.』(Juna Onee-san)

Then, Juna onee-san sang once more.This time, the song was a song where the tones were sung individually with pausesin between them and was ill-balanced. Even so, it couldn’t be called a discordantsong. A mysterious melody:

『If・you・keep・mo・ving・for・ward・in・the・world・of・num・bers

e・ve・ry・cir・cle・dances・in・the・mu・sic……』(Juna Onee-san)

　◇　◇　◇

「……Whata mysterious song.」(Liscia)

Liscia, who was watching thebroadcast, muttered so.

「Isthis also a song from Souma’s world?」(Liscia)

「Itcould be called that, but this world could be said as to have this song, too.」(Souma)

「Whatdo you mean by that……」(Liscia)

Liscia looked at me with disapprovingeyes. She might be thinking that I was ridiculing her.

「Hmm……Liscia, do you know how to calculate the surface of a circle?」(Souma)

「Areyou making fun of me? It should be (circle’s radius) x (circle’s radius) x (circle’scirc.u.mference ratio)」(Liscia)

As expected from a Royalty who hadreceived proper education, Liscia answered it smoothly. I didn’t know how high thelevel of mathematics was in this world, but perhaps Liscia had a bettermathematics knowledge of mathematics than me, who was just a Social Science student.By the way, I would lost majorly to Roroa. This girl seems to be an expert atthe abacus, to the point where she could nonchalantly perform mental arithmeticsup to 10 digits.

「By theway, how much is the circle’s circ.u.mference ratio in this world?」(Souma)

「『3.14』, althoughI know that it actually has a much longer digits after this.」(Liscia)

「I’mrelieved that they didn’t just simplify it as 『3』. WhatJuna-san was singing right now, was using those long-long-long digits of thecircle’s circ.u.mference ratio that had been adapted into a musical scale. 1 isdo, 9 is high re, 0 is a pause.」(Souma)

What Juna-san was singing was the『Songof π』 with lyrics added onto it. My high school musicteacher was a funny one, and I heard this 『Songof π』 that he arranged himself. The arrangement method…… Orrather, the pauses inside this 『Song of π』 gave it a strong impression. Liscia was astonished byit.

「Inever thought that a circle’s circ.u.mference ratio could be turned into a song.」(Liscia)

「Yes.I think that the person who come with this idea is amazing.」(Souma)

「Themathematics world is fascinating. Perhaps I should also aim to become a mathematician.」(Liscia)

「Hey-hey-hey……I beg of you, please carry the role of my queen properly.」(Souma)

「Fufu,just kidding.」(Liscia)

Liscia smiled teasingly at me, soI lightly hit her head in retaliation.

✦✧✦✧✦

Author’s Note:

The educationalprogram will keep going on. Though it’s t.i.tled 「Together with Neesan」, the show is modeled from 「Fun with Songs」. [9]Even if you know about Gorori[10],you might know the same character from 「ALot of Friends」 like Hyorori[11].Mekagamemekakame.[12]By the way, I also wanted to do it in Hotch Potch Station style,[13]but if I do this, then the main point will be a song parody, so I gave up. Idon’t want get deleted again. (Yukkuri’s Note: Several Months later, Syosetsu did deletethe entire series due to a song parody. Also, I gave up searching for thereference below……)

It the author speaksabout the NHK educational program, then it will be a lengthy story. I couldwrite about how I like the age of 「Ten・Ai・PrismAccess!」[14], or if I asked about NHK educationanime, then rather than Nadia or Sakura[15],I would say the Tensai Television Trilogy 「Dinosaur」[16], 「Gene」[17], and 「Nano」[18], I could talk about this endlessly…… Yup, if I write about these things, then thisstory could be said as to be reeking with an Ossan’s stench…… I still have a self-awareness.

☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽☾☽

In case you are wondering, there is song ofP in pentatonic or in Major Scale at Youtube.

Prev List Next