Translation liberties:
I think Shina, might be better written as Shiina... but for consistency I'm sticking with Shina.
Sumire: Sumire is more direct than previously here, but I think she's still using polite language so I tried to reflect that.
Sena: I altered how Sena talks about 'strength' early in the chapter slightly. Based on
I think Sena might be frustrated with the expectations her family puts on Shiina
I tried to use the English language to direct her statements as open ended questions/prompts to Shiina.
Sumire: I changed sumire's line to refer to Mikage as a young lady, since I used he/him pronouns for her last chapter (now corrected).
Masked girls: Based on later information, I think one of the themes of the story is actually family expectations, so I also changed the mask girl's explanation slightly to highlight Mikage's motivation to fulfill her grandfather's wishes.
Mikage: Mikage's proposal isn't explicit if translated directly, but my understanding is that it would be explicit to a Japanese reader. Because Mikage is and continues to be a forceful character, I chose to make her wording seem a little more forceful than it would be if directly translated.
Sena: I really struggled to find the right words for Sena to say here. In Japanese she gives a sarcastic apology and says something that seems more dismissive than aggressively protective. I took extreme liberties with "who is marrying whom" and "I won't give Shina to you", I think part of the intention is that Mikage is being forced to gain the permission of Sena to marry Shiina. This is, as many people can sus out, a concept at odds with Shiina being male.
I believe part of the intention the author had in this scene is to show Shiina:
1. Being proposed to (even less common for women to propose to men in Japan, from my understanding)
2. Shiina's "family" declining Mikage who is asking for Shiina's hand in marraige (also traditionally something done by a woman's family)
I feel somewhat defensive of my interpretation here, which isn't a good space to be at. I think thats because you could reasonably argue that I have it wrong here. However, there are reasons I believe that this is the message the author is trying to convey. I'm willing to discuss this with someone if they have a problem with it and lay out my reasoning(which is too spoilery for me to tempt people with here).
Mikage: rather than Shii-chan, Mikage uses for Shiina at the end. I used "Shiina my love", this is for two reasons.
1. The audience might interpret '-chan' as feminine, I'm pretty sure its normal for a woman to use '-chan' as a pet name for a male partner. My understanding is that '-chan' isn't inheirently feminine, but instead indicates a lack of formal respect.
2. I would prefer not to use honorifics in translated texts, personal preference.
I put this all here because I'm well aware there will be people who disagree with my interpretations, I don't think their opinions are less valid but I can only really view the content through the lens I have. If I do something wrong, comments can be made and I'll try to review them and see how I can improve.
Finally: I'm aware that another site grabbed my scans, and also put watermarks on them. because this is a long form strip there is text at the top right of the screen sometimes. In the future I will try to avoid putting text here where it will be obscured by that sites watermark. I really just want to share this story with others, so I want to make sure people can read it no matter what site they're on.
Thank you in advance to anyone who takes interest in this project. I'll continue to try my best~