竹ノ花 || Bamboo Flowers

竹ノ花
take no hana
Bamboo Flowers

Vocals: めらみぽっぷ (Meramipop)
Lyrics: RD-Sounds
Arranged by: RD-Sounds
Album: 薦 (Susume)
Circle: 凋叶棕 (Diao ye zong)
Event: C85
Original theme: Japanese Saga [ジャパニーズサーガ]

Requested by: Bagong016

This song is based on Gyokotsu Kouzou’s R-18 doujin of the same name as the title of this song. The ‘bamboo flowers’ are the three children of Mi-Are (Anana, Aya, and Akyuu) who this song revolves around. I can’t offer up a detailed plot summary since I haven’t read the original doujin, but it seems to be a tragic love story.

This time, there’s a lot of emphasis on その (sono, that) and この (kono, this). It seems to be the difference between ‘you’ and ‘me.’ That basically informed my choice of pronouns. But if I’ve made a mistake with my interpretation, please let me know! Especially if you’ve read the original doujin.

By the way, for us, there’s more than 1 ‘bamboo flower,’ so the title is ‘Bamboo Flowers.’ But to the protagonist, there’s only 1 (hence the line ‘O, Bamboo Flower’). There’s no difference in the original Japanese, but that’s my interpretation of it…

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非公式の英訳/Unofficial translation

Is it fate for that flower
To wither
When it is made to bloom?

That life scatters,
And I accept
All of the thoughts tied to it.

O, bamboo flower.

[Seven]
That silhouette, visible in the distance, quickly passes before me.
We exchanged a promise in those distant days…

You travel towards a place where these hands cannot reach you.
The shadows come together upon your back.

Those words, which I did not exchange enough of –
I hold them all back in my chest.

The thing I still, still wish for…
Is it the happiness of the girl I loved?

O, bamboo flower.
Though I ask
If this is only your body until you scatter, when you bloom…

As long as you have that life,
Somehow, continue to live.

If you say you wish for that happiness,
Then take this body, without revulsion.

Those small, yet deep scars
Still throb, for eternity. Aah…

[Eight]
My eyes blur as I gaze upon that silhouette disappearing into the distance.
My beloved is going somewhere far away.

Whilst accepting the fate that delivered you into that body,
Only these feelings are difficult to change.

It gently slips off…
In the brittleness of the happiness I grasped.

Nevertheless, the thing I wish for
Is to be with the man I loved.

O, bamboo flower.
You bloom,
And I carry your body, which is only yours until you scatter, in my arms…

Alone, I cry out my love,
“I want to live together with you…”

Though I just wished for happiness,
It only vanished away, fickly.

I am forever left behind,
Still without an end to my deep sadness. Aah…

―Please, instead of me,

Please, convey my love.

―Please, instead of me,

Please, live with that person.

[Nine]
That silhouette, who I searched for far away, draws near.
She draws nearer than anybody else.

Everything is imprisoned inside those eyes.
Still, the moments pass by silently.

Love and sadness…
I shall take them all upon my back.

The thing I wish for my child
Is for her to live
Burdened with nothing.

O, bamboo flower.
You have not yet bloomed.
Because you have that body, live!

Your life is limited.
So, at least, live in your own way.

In the world of humans,
If only love
Is meant to be everything, then…

I wish for you to live
In only earnest happiness.

If you wish for that happiness,
Then please, travel straight down that path.

I shall just hide my deep love inside my chest.
Aah… I will always be praying…