[ES!!] Ibuki Taki – Idol Story 1
You can see Ibuki Taki’s profile on the Wiki.
To learn more about Ibuki and Okinawa, I recommend reading the following stories: Submarine (the start of the storyline), Supervillain (has a few mentions), and Stella Maris (dives deep into Okinawa)
Season: Spring
Location: In front of ES building
This story is fully voiced. Click the YouTube video to listen while reading!
2nd year of ES’s establishment…
Like~ I’d just~ said~, how come I’m not allowed inside this building~?1
I keep telling you this; I was called over by a bigshot who’s in there~. If you don’t believe me, how about you double-check with the higher-ups~, c’mon~?
Mm? My name is Taki Ibuki, I was born in Okinawa and grew up in the US. But my current nationality is Japanese, yeah~?2
Or what~? Are you trying to say that anyone who looks American or Okinawan can’t enter your pretty country or its Japanese buildings~?3
What, is this discrimination or something~? I’ll sue you if so~?
Nyahaha. Despite how I may seem, I grew up in the US, the land of court trials, so I’m much more familiar with settling matters through court rather than violence~♪
Oh, but that doesn’t mean I’m not good with violence, too~. Wanna give it a shot~? Nyahaha, I’m also a little oni who prides himself on his physical strength, so~♪4
Look, look~. I’ve got traces of grown horns right here~, yeah~?5
But I kept doing lots of bad things, so my grampa back at my hometown snapped them off~♪6
…Wait, this isn’t the time to be chatting~. Hey~, I’ve said this so many times by now; let me in the building already~.
Here, look, I brought you a souvenir! I beat up a bear that tried to attack me on my way here, so it’s for you. C’mon now~, you can eat it with everyone~♪
Deep within Mt. Ashigara~ Kintarō-san~♪ is learning Sumo wrestling today, too~♪7
Ah~, singing felt so good, I don’t even care about anything anymore~. I’ll just go home and sleep for today~, yeah~♪
Right, see ya, Mr. Security Guard.8 Good luck; make sure to do your best at work tomorrow too, okay~?
—Nnho!?
Nyahaha… Nee-nee, are you okay~?9
Sorry~, it looks like you almost slipped on the bear’s blood I left over there~.
You have to be careful~. Well, I shouldn’t be the one to say that, huh~? Nyahahaha~♪
I’m sorry~, I’d rather you not sue me for this, okay~?
Mm? Never mind that, you’d like to know if I’m having any problems…?
Nyaha~, treating me so nicely after what’s happened — You’re a weird one, aren’tcha~♪
Well~, you see~……
I forgot!
Nyahaha~, I can only think about one thing at a time~. And when I’m focused on one thing, everything else just doesn’t matter to me anymore~.
Ahh, right, right! I was called over by a bigshot in this building~. Y’see~, while I was in the US, I did a performance that originates from my hometown, and that’s when he approached me~.
And then he told me, “come and meet me if you’re interested in trying out showbiz”.
That’s why I journeyed a far distance across the sea to come see him~♪
Mm? I’ve got an incredible ability to take action? As long as they focus on one thing at a time, any human being is capable of doing absolutely anything~♪
But I appreciate the compliment~! Thank you!10 Can I kiss you?
I can’t? Nyahaha~. Oh yeah, that’s how it is in Japan, huh~! I’ve already forgotten so much— Or actually, I don’t really know much about the mainland anyway, yeah~?11
This encounter must be a sign of something, so if it’s alright, I’d like it if you could teach me a whole bunch of things~. The social etiquette, the common practices here, and anything else.
If I’m not proper with my manners, then I’ll just end up having my horns snapped off by the time they’ve grown out again, right~? Nyahahaha~♪
Whoops, before that— You’ve been so kind to me, so could I know your name?12
Hmm, Anzu? Anzu nee-nee, then~, I don’t forget important stuff like people’s names~!
You don’t look like an ordinary person, so you must be a bigshot somewhere~, right~?
Maybe you’re even the person who can help me connect with the person I wanna see~?
Nyahaha, my intuition is always spot on with these sorts of things, y’know~? After all, I’ve lived my life through intuition alone~, for pretty much everything!
Mm? I don’t seem to be an ordinary person, either? You can tell ‘cause you’re a producer?
“Producer”…! The person I wanna meet has the same job title~, which means there’s a high chance you know him~! Right~♪
So I got approached by the same type of person as the one I wanna meet! I must be the luckiest boy today, huh~? Nyahaha~♪
Then could you show me the way to the person I wanna see~? Before I lose interest!
Oh, but before that, let me introduce myself again~. You told me your name, so it’d be rude not to say mine~, right~? ♪
—I’m Taki Ibuki, born in Okinawa, and grew up in the US.
Though I may have been called “Oni”, I would never carry out something as inhumane as returning a favor with evil.13
I hope to make your acquaintance, Anzu nee-nee. ♪
To learn more about Ibuki and Okinawa, I recommend reading the following stories: Submarine (the start of the storyline), Supervillain (has a few mentions), and Stella Maris (dives deep into Okinawa)
Story Directory
Translation Notes
- ↑ Ibuki speaks with a lot of tildes (~), and usually ends his sentences with sa~ (an Okinawan dialect), as well as sometimes saying ne~ (roughly meaning “right~”). His first-person pronoun is 吾 (wa~); it’s a slightly old-fashioned, formal pronoun to refer to oneself.
- ↑ This is about his nationality and citizenship, not his ethnicity.
- ↑ Ibuki says uchinaanchu when referring to Okinawan. This is an Okinawan word that means “born in Okinawa”.
- ↑ Ibuki says onikko, lit. oni kid. “Oni” means ogre or demon, and it refers to a type of demon found in Japanese folklore. It typically looks like this. Onikko can refer to any of the following: A kid born with strange features akin to an oni, a kid born with teeth, a kid that doesn’t resemble his parents, or a misbehaved kid.
- ↑ Oni have horns on their head, typically either one horn or two horns. Ibuki doesn’t state how many horns he had grown.
- ↑ Ibuki says ojii for “grampa”, which is Okinawan dialect. It’s originally written in kanji as 爺様 (grandfather + -sama polite honorific), which may indicate respect towards him. His grandpa lives in his hometown, Okinawa, and he was described in Stella Maris, hidden island 10. In the same chapter, there is information about Ibuki, so I recommend reading it.
- ↑ This is referring to the nursery rhyme “Kintarō”. In the song, Kintarō fights a bear in a sumo wrestling match, which can be seen in this video. Translation of the lyrics here.
- ↑ The “Mr.” is originally -sa, written with the same kanji for -sama (様).
- ↑ Nee-nee (written as 姉様, older sister + the -sama polite honorific) is how Okinawans refer to an older lady (or elder sister) in Okinawan dialect.
- ↑ Here, he says sankyu in katakana. Usually, when a character pronounces English words in katakana, it implies that it’s not entirely native pronunciation.
- ↑ Okinawa is a prefecture in Japan, but it’s also its own island far away from the rest of Japan, so Okinawans refer to the rest of Japan as “mainland”. Okinawans also have their own history and culture separate from the Japan mainland. Read more here.
- ↑ Ibuki says 汝 (na~) when saying “you”, which is an old-fashioned second-person pronoun.
- ↑ Here, Ibuki doesn’t speak in his typical speech quirk, and instead speaks in an old-fashioned, formal manner. The “inhumane” is hito denashi which lit. means “inhumane person”. It also refers to someone who may appear to be human, but doesn’t have any humanity or compassion in them.