This is the translation for the Baccano! story from the 2020 Kadokawa expo, again courtesy @agallimaufryofoddments. This story makes me swoon with delight. Maybe it’s all the ephedrine.
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Baccano 193x Sakura Circus
A Washington riverside, the night growing thoroughly late.
On a road where a number of trees were planted, several woman were gazing upward as they conversed.
“Huh? But they were blooming last time I came…”
Standing beside a despondent Miria Harvent, Nice Holystone spoke.
“It looks like they already fell, I’m afraid.”
They had probably been in full bloom until a few days ago, but now most of the petals had disappeared from the branches, and already the fresh green buds were starting to peek out here and there.
“The wind was strong yesterday. We should have come 107,200 seconds earlier.”
“Hyaha.”
Various other women from Nice’s gang, including Melody and Chaini, muttered things that may or may not have made any sense as they looked up at the cherry trees.
“When I heard from Mr. Yaguruma about these cherries and went to see them, I thought they were really pretty! So I wanted you all to see them too, but…”
“Yes, I’ve heard of them as well. Over twenty years ago, two thousand cherry trees were sent as a gift from Japan…”
“Lots of people have been planting cherries over the years starting from way, way back! But the two thousand trees that the Japanese people gave got sick on the ship, so they were burned up…”
Miria spoke sadly, and Nice gazed at the surrounding trees with a mysterious look on her face.
“That’s… quite a difficult history, isn’t it…”
They had come all the way to Washington D.C. for a certain project, but due to various circumstances Jacuzzi, Isaac, and the other guys in the gang were working on something separately, so only the women were visiting the row of cherry trees.
“Isaac said it… he said that cherry pollen can be used as a medicine, so everyone should gather under the flowers.”
“Medicine? I wonder if it’s like a Chinese herbal remedy…”
As Nice tilted her head, Melody spoke up from beside her.
“There is ephedrine in pollen. It is said to act as a bronchial medicine and stimulant. Well, there’s only a small amount of it in cherry pollen, though.”
Melody spoke in a relaxed tone.
With her explanation thus fortunately substantiated, Miria spoke up again, remembering her conversation with Isaac.
“Then, he said the leaves become poisonous! So you can view the flowers, but you can’t view the leaves!”
“That is coumarin. It dissolves in rain and withers other plants, but a human will be fine if they don’t get too much of it. If they do get a lot, it’s bad for the liver and kidneys.”
“Melody, that’s a strange thing to have so much knowledge on… well, no, Miria is also like that…”
Nice considered the weirder aspects of her friends.
Oblivious to her bewilderment, Miria again continued to speak.
“But depending how you use it, that poison can also be made into medicine! It’s amazing! It’s the cycle of death and rebirth! It’s a phoenix! A dead body buried under a cherry tree is born again as a fairy with the spirit of a tree!”
Although she had been depressed about the cherry blossoms falling just a few minutes ago, Miria had completely regained her good cheer.
Nice was relieved to see that, but she suddenly noticed another woman who was accompanying them and addressed her.
“What’s wrong? Chané, you look troubled.”
“…”
The woman dressed in black who had been listening to the conversation in silence – Chané Laforet – was glaring out at the darkness in the opposite direction of the river.
Then – from the depths of that darkness, several people who all carried an atmosphere of absolute villainy appeared, and they brandished weapons as they made to surround the gang.
“…Ah, they found where we are already. I hope that Jacuzzi and the others were able to pull off their escape…”
Nice gave a sigh.
Simply put, their current circumstances were that in the middle of a job, they had gotten wrapped up in a dispute with a local gang, and seemed like they were about to be killed.
In the middle of that situation to which they were, in a sense, already accustomed, Nice behaved just as she usually did.
“It would be a shame if I hurt the cherry trees, so… with this much, it will work… there.”
As she lit the fuses of the handmade firebombs she had taken out from somewhere, she flung them without hesitation toward the thugs who chased them.
A shock wave expanded, and the screams of the goons rang out, but –
“Aaah!”
Miria let out a surprised cry, and Melody and the others unthinkingly turned to look.
And then – on the river, illuminated by the explosion, they noticed a lovely cherry-pink carpet of petals that had seemingly fallen just before they arrived.
“Amazing! Thanks to Nice we could see the flowers after all! I want to show Isaac and Jacuzzi and the others!”
Standing beside Miria, who was innocently delighted despite the continuing booms that echoed out, Nice spoke with an ecstatic smile playing over her face.
“I’ve also been stimulated by ephedrine.”
“Doesn’t that have nothing to do with ephedrine? Isn’t it because of that bomb you threw twenty-eight seconds ago?”
Ignoring Melody’s words, Nice threw even more bombs toward their enemies.
“Now, so that we can have a proper flower viewing next year… first off, everyone, let’s all survive this!”
Wearing a sunny smile, Nice stood with her figure illuminated by the explosion.
As the cherry petals that had fallen to the ground fluttered through the air in the wake of the blast, they all started to run.
As if they were just some of the petals that danced powerfully through the flames.
With their hearts never wilting, as they continued through that era blooming at full strength.
Translator’s notes as I finish up the Baccano! Kadokawa expo story:
-I’m loving this collection of ladies. Miria and Nice and Melody and Chané (and Chaini says ‘hyaha’ once) please lay it on me. Nice is my big longterm fave, so I am 5000% sold on this. It’s basically Narita’s unbirthday present to me.
-I have no idea why Isaac and Miria are helping Jacuzzi’s gang do crimes, but I’m with it all the way. They have such spectacular luck, and the gang could really really use it.
-I was today years old when I learned sakura contained coumarin. Melody’s science facts are absolutely correct. Miria’s ‘science’ facts should not be tried at home, kids.
-’Nice behaved as she usually did’ you have three guesses as to what exactly that entails. The first two don’t count.
-No, Miria, do not bring Jacuzzi to see Nice blow up the cherry blossoms. You are very sweet, but I guarantee he will not enjoy it.
-Why exactly is the gang in Washington D.C. with Isaac and Miria? What precise crimes/bootlegging-or-bomb related business brought them there? They’d have to take a train to get there, at least, right? It’s not, like, that close to New York, right? (Disclaimer- I am not American and have no idea where D.C. is.)
-…Narita, what is it with you and all the loose ends in these stories? Did Jacuzzi and Isaac make their escape? What are they escaping from? Who are these people Nice just presumably murdered? Narita please stop ending your stories like this.
I need to stop making notes or else I’ll never finish formatting the actual translation post. It’ll be along in just a moment, folks.
i’m rewatching the anime for the 100th time and i’m still not over how jacuzzi meets isaac and miria, nice legit just shoves him in their vague direction and says “go make friends” and jacuzzi’s response is “i don’t wanna, i’m too scared” like… only jacuzzi could look at isaac and miria and think that they’re scary lmao
i did two pieces for @baccano-zine and im ECSTATIC to finally share them!! i had such a blast drawing my favorite characters from one of my favorite anime– check out the full zine!
