[ES!!] Some Day, On The Path To My Ideal
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Hinata and the others catch news of Tetora’s personalized outfit. They ask him what he’d like for the design, but all he can say is “something cool-looking”…
This story is connected to the card [Growing Young Tiger] Tetora Nagumo.
Story Release Date: September 25, 2021
Chapter 1
Season: Autumn
This is the first meeting…! To discuss Tetsu-kun’s personalized outfit~!
Y-Yaaay…?
This is gonna be super exciting!
I don’t quite understand, but I’m in your care!
Hinata-kun, everything’s so sudden that I can barely understand what’s goin’ on. Couldja explain yourself?
Eh~? It’s exactly as I said. This meeting is for discussing Tetsu-kun’s personalized outfit together!
I got that part just fine! What I wanna know is how we got here.
…I, Aoi Hinata, spotted Anzu-san heading somewhere. I then learned that Anzu-san was off to speak to Tetsu-kun about his personalized outfit, and decided to accompany her.
That’s when Mitsuru and I came across Hinata and Anzu-san, who were on their way to the dojo. And for whatever reason, we were dragged into tagging along.
After that, the four of us saw Tetsu-kun and Hiiro-kun cleaning up the dojo. With everyone gathered, that was when the hosting of the meeting was announced—
I get how you’re all here now, but did you hafta explain it like it’s a summary of an episode…?
Tomo-chan, nice ad-libbing!
Man, Hinata… Don’t send me a signal through eye contact out of nowhere. I wasn’t expecting that.
I see, so the line delivery just now is called ad-libbing. I learned something new!
Ahh, the conversation’s goin’ all over the place! So basically, Anego and everyone else are all here ‘cuz of my personalized outfit, right?
You got it! Anzu-san looks fully prepared to take notes, so let’s get to talking about Tetsu-kun’s personalized outfit already! ♪
Is there anything you’d like in particular, Tetora? Like, a certain kinda outfit you wanna wear…
Mm~ I’d like a cool-looking outfit, but nothin’ specific comes to mind…
Whaaat!? This is your personalized outfit! It’d be suuuch a waste if you go about it in such a vague way~!
I struggled at first too, but then I figured out how to convey all my feelings to get the perfect Super Star outfit for me! ☆
Yeah, I know that just saying a “cool-looking outfit” wouldn’t be enough as a reference point… But to be honest, I trust Anego with this.
I feel like it’ll all go okay as long as I have Anego make an outfit suitable for me through her own vision.
Ohh? Anzu-san’s looking super motivated now that she heard that~♪ But I think it’s a little too much pressure on her as well?
Hm. Anzu-san seems interested in hearing a little more of Buchou’s thoughts, isn’t that right?
…Yeah, that makes sense. I don’t mean to trouble Anego, so I’ll try to think it through a li’l.
I probably shouldn’t say this when I struggled with mine too, but… I think it’d be good to have a basic idea of how you want it to look like, or what you think would be important to have.
(Somethin’ I think would be important… I got asked that once, just before the Motor Show event happened.)1
(I couldn’t immediately think of an answer back then, either… After that, though, I did manage to find somethin’ certain for myself at that time.)
…Ermm, please wait a moment. I’m tryna think of how to word my thoughts.
An idea that could be useful to Anego… A suggestion Anego could use for reference when making my outfit…?
Heeey, Tetora~? Your face’s looking all scary, y’know?
Yeah! This is all about your outfit, Tetsu-chan, but you just keep mentioning Ne~chan’s name!
For Buchou, any outfit would definitely suit him, and he’d look cool no matter what he wears, don’t you think? So that might be why this is difficult for him?
Ahaha… I don’t have it that good, y’know. My worries are a lot more basic.
Alright, you know what this means! It’s time to put your mind to it and concentrate, Tetsu-kun! I’ll sit and do zen meditation with you!2
Two hours later…
…Everyone left before the sun went down, even Anego… So why’re you still here, Hinata-kun?
Since I’m the one who opened up the meeting in the dojo, I thought I should join ya in doing meditation, too. Ossu!3
Don’t imitate me while answering.
……?
—Hinata-kun, couldja wait here for a sec?
Sure…?
(Huh, there’s a first year outside the dojo. I didn’t even notice he was here.)
(Is Tetsu-kun giving him advice for something? The first year looks to be nodding to his words…)
(…Oh, now he’s bowing his head to Tetsu-kun. I guess the conversation’s over? He’s leaving with such a relieved look on his face…)
Sorry to keep ya waiting.
Nah, not at all. Was that a first-year student just now?
Yeah. There was somethin’ he wanted to talk to me ‘bout.
Huh~ You’re a legit senior to the juniors, aren’tcha?
That kid left with such a bright look on his face. I’m guessing it’s ‘cause he got to hear your advice, right?
I didn’t do anythin’ special, really. He wasn’t sure how to word a message to his colleague, so I gave him a li’l bit of advice, that’s all.
Still, he came all the way to ask you, yeah? That means he sees you as a reliable senior, no?
I hope so, it’d make me real happy. Having juniors in my life’s motivating for me, too.
If even someone inexperienced like me could be reliable to him, then I’d love to help him out. I wanna present my best, dependable side as much as possible.
I showed my juniors a pathetic side of me before, too, but… If he still chooses to follow after me…
Then that just makes me wanna grow stronger and bigger for his sake, as well, yeah~?
……………
Hey, c’mon… Don’t go quiet on me.
Ahh, weeell… I don’t have any close juniors, so that was so new to me… Like, wow, Tetsu-kun’s seriously a reliable man now~♪
Nah, I’m still far from it. I gotta keep up my rigorous trainin’ every day.
…Right, I gotta lock the dojo already. Let’s head out, Hinata-kun.
Gotcha~♪
Chapter 2
On the way home, to the dorms…
Tetsu-kun, want chocolate?
Chocolate?
I got a mixed bag of chocolate, but I doubt I could eat them all on my own.
Look, there’s all kinds of flavors~ Milk choco, bitter choco, caramel, matcha… There’s a bunch of others too; which do you want?
Mm~ I’ll have the milk chocolate. A mixed bag just makes me wanna eat the classic flavor first.
Sure, then I’ll go with matcha. (munch, munch)…
Oh yeah, so how’d the meditation go? Anything came to mind for your personalized outfit?
Mm~… ‘Cuz the meeting earlier was so sudden, all I could really think up was a “cool-looking outfit”, but…
After clearing my head from thoughts, I feel like I’ve gotten myself to think ‘bout “what exactly is a personalized outfit for me?” kinda thing.
…What do you mean?
When Shinobu-kun showed me his personalized outfit a while back, I thought it was amazin’ how it represented all the things he loves and considers important.
But I couldn’t think up anythin’ of the sort for myself. So instead, I thought ‘bout myself, wearing outfits…
Or somethin’ like, “what if my personalized outfit is somethin’ that represents who I am?”. But really, no matter the outfit, that wouldn’t change the side of me I wanna show to others, or the version of myself that I wanna become, right?
Well, what you wanna do and what you wanna become can only ever be within you. So yeah, that wouldn’t change no matter what you’d wear.
Right? So at the very least, that’s how I now see my personalized outfit… Like, I can’t really put it into words well, but…
Rather than just having the outfit represent who I am, I feel like I gotta have my own feelings poured into it too, or the outfit’ll be wearing me instead.
Wow, that’s such a cool, manly way to think. Speaking of, could I ask what version of you you’d like to show, and what you wanna become?
‘Course you can. I’d like to organize my thoughts while we talk, anyway.
…For somethin’ I wanna show, I think it’s the side of me that’s always growing more as I keep working hard. And for the version I wanna become, that’s always been—
A man among men!
Bingo!
…Wait, hold on. Don’t steal my line!
Sorry, sorry. It’s pretty much your catchphrase at this point, so it’s left an impression on me.
Well, that’s ‘cuz being a man among men is my ideal image. My determination to reach that ideal is never changing.
…That’s also how I felt when my junior came over to rely on me for somethin’. If someone’s asking me for advice, then I wanna be of help.
Even someone like me has got juniors who look up to me. And if that’s the case, then I’d obviously wanna be a version of myself that doesn’t betray that admiration.
In order to do that… My only choice is to work hard, hone myself, and focus my mind more.
……………
No matter what frustrating or irritating thing happens… There’s nothin’ I can do but absorb every single ounce of my feelings—
And no matter how muddy the path ahead of me gets, no matter how many times I trip and fall on my way there… I still have no other choice but to keep my spirit goin’ and run down the path of effort at full speed, without ever giving up.
……?
Why do you keep goin’ quiet every time I talk today, Hinata-kun?
So that I can focus on watching you talk like a true man, probably.
But, y’know, if you just tell Anzu-san what you told me right now, I think your passionate feelings would reach her. And then hopefully, that also turns your outfit into something great.
…Well, it’s all just your feelings though; you still haven’t actually come up with a concrete design~♪
Gnh— J-Just so you know, there are things I’m fond of that I wanna add to my outfit, okay!? Like Taishou and tigers and stuff!
Tigers? Like, saying “roaar~! ♪”?
Woah!? Hey, it’s cheating to suddenly aim for my sides!
Ahaha! Not my fault you left an opening~♪
…If you keep laughing, this is what’s gonna happen to ya! Take this!
Kyaa~! Tetsu-kun’s about to grab me by his hands~☆
This is payback. I won’t hold back from chomping you down. ♪
And besides, what I’m imagining isn’t a cute “roaar~! ♪”, but a much cooler, more majestic tiger!
You gotta keep that in mind. Mark my words… I’m definitely gonna grab hold of my aspired, ideal version of myself with my own two hands. ♪
At a later date…
…And that’s why, I opened a second meeting: all to tell you how I feel.
Well, it’s only you and me participating, but yeah. I’ve now told you every single feeling and thought I had inside me.
Although, I feel kinda bad that in the end, I can only really say that I want a cool-looking outfit that represents my passionate feelings…
……“Isn’t there something else you want to tell me deep down”? You’re real perceptive, Anego.
—Truth is, I did think up one tiny li’l thing… Somethin’ I might want in my outfit.
Erm, I dunno if it’s okay to have this done for my personalized outfit, but… I’d like you to make my outfit into somethin’ just a li’l too big for the current me.
An outfit that looks a bit more mature, or somethin’… Anythin’ works. That way, when I wear it, I’ll feel like I can keep workin’ harder and harder ‘til I become a version of myself that matches the outfit.
Erm… So, yeah, I guess I’d like you to make it an outfit I could grow bigger and stronger into…?
Huh? You’ll think it over?
“I’ll try my best”…? Thank you very much, Anego!
All sortsa things happen in my life every day, but… I’ll make sure I become a man among men, while fueling myself through every single one of my life events.
I’ll let my personalized outfit influence me to continue becoming a great man. So please, keep watching over me…!
Tetora Feature Scout Stories
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Translation Notes
- ↑ Referring to what happens in the early chapters of Motor Show.
- ↑ Zen meditation involves sitting cross-legged. Tetora does this pose in his Christmas Live card.
- ↑ Here, Hinata imitates Tetora by saying his typical phrase “Ossu!” and ending his sentence with ssu.