Aeterre Mementa

Snow: Rustica, thank you for inviting me to this tea party.

Snow: Since my darling White is away for the day, I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself otherwise!

Rustica: Why, the pleasure is all mine.

Rustica: This is the least I can do to express my gratitude to you two.

Rustica: Please, try some of the tea—it’s a special blend I got in the West.

Snow: What a delightful aroma. Pray tell, what makes it so unique?

Rustica: I suppose you could say it has a “sparkling” secret.

Rustica: Shall I pour us a cup?

Snow: Ooh… The liquid is shimmering like the night sky itself!

Snow: Don’t mind if I do, then.

Snow: …!

Rustica: Well, how is it?

Snow: Positively delicious~☆

Snow: …Hm? I swear I heard the twinkling of a star just now….

Rustica: Ah, that must be your “inner sparkle” manifesting.

Rustica: Whenever you drink this tea, it’ll resonate with the joy and excitement within you to produce a sound akin to that of a falling star.

Snow: My, my! What a deliciously amusing drink~!

Snow: I wonder if this little trick will work when White returns…

Snow: Glug glug glug…

Rustica: …Hm?

Snow: Do my eyes deceive me, or are you more adorable than ever, my dearest White~☆

Snow: Ah! There’s that chiming again, this time filled with the sound of my adoration~ ☆

Rustica: What a marvelous idea! I’m positive Lord White would be delighted.

Rustica: Perhaps I ought to try it with my precious apprentice…

Rustica: Glug glug glug…

Rustica: Thank you for the constant joy you bring into my life, Chloe ☆ I am filled to the brim with happiness each time I see you ☆ 

Rustica: At least, that’s what I hope to tell you soon ☆

Snow: Bravo~☆ Look at us sparkling away~☆ 

Snow: Allow me to try again, but with a more dashing touch this time…

Snow: Glug, glug, glug…

Snow: White, I shall love you forever! ☆ 

Rustica: Perhaps I ought to give it another go as well…

Rustica: Glug glug glug…

Rustica: …Lord Snow, you are shining brighter than ever.

HEATHCLIFF — Ow! Hey, don’t push me!

SHINO — Quit rambling, breathe out and tuck in your stomach more.

HEATHCLIFF — There’s no way I could get in by doing that though!

AKIRA — (Is–is this gonna be ok…)

I nervously watched their situation. Shino was forcefully pushing Heathcliff into the hole that seemed like it could barely fit a single adult.

SHINO — …Ah. Oh no, we can’t come back out.

HEATHCLIFF — This is why I told you to not push! It’s all because you tried to force us into it….

SHINO — That’s because your shoulders are wider than….² Hey, Sage. Don’t just stand there, pull my arm.

AKIRA — Huh, me!? A–Alright, there I go! …One, two!

With a pop, the two of them rolled out of the hole with great momentum.

SHINO — Whew, we’re free.³ Sage, you’re stronger than you look.

HEATHCLIFF — h…! Master Sage! I’m so sorry we made you lift heavy weights…!⁴

AKIRA — It’s–it’s alright! Is either of you hurt?

HEATHCLIFF — We’re fine. But….

Heathcliff stared down at the now empty large hole while brushing off the dirt from his arm.

HEATHCLIFF — To think that it’s become this hard to go in it…. We’ve really grown bigger.

SHINO — Yeah. But we can still grow. Especially me.

HEATHCLIFF — Ahaha. …Yeah, you’re right.

Heathcliff’s eyes narrowed gently from how dazzling Shino puffing his chest in pride was. And…. He shrugged, a little fond and a little exasperated.⁵

HEATHCLIFF — That being said, you should think more about how we can get in before pushing us in.

SHINO — …Don’t start grumbling like Faust.

HEATHCLIFF — Don’t call Mr. Faust’s teachings grumbling. In the first place, you’re always….⁶

AKIRA — (Ah–ah, they started quarelling again…)

The two of them kept quarreling like children in front of the hidden house that’s certainly become smaller. Nonetheless, something about them was livelier than usual….

AKIRA — (They are surely going to butt heads a lot from on as well, but they’ll surely stay together all the same.)

I imagined them in a distant future, and smiled as I stepped closer to the two of them.

──────────

Mahoyaku Tanabata 2026, Heathcliff SSR card story

² the original says "it's because your shoulders' width compared to the past is---", but since this obviously doesn't flow well in english I reworked the sentence

³ 『助かった』 (read: tasukatta), literally "we're saved", but i feel like "we're free" fits more in this situation.

⁴ the original says "i'm sorry we made you work heavy labor", using 『重労働』, but this. does not sound natural in english. it still doesn't, but it's the best compromise i can make while keeping close to the original material's wording. i did not have enough braincells for this at ungodly 2AM

⁵ 『呆れるように肩を竦める』 , "he shrugged, exasperated", but I wanted a way to convey that it was also very fond. because 『呆れる』 (read: akireru) in Japanese can easily also mean it in a fond way, but "exasperation" feels like a stronger word with more of a negative connotation.

⁶ changed "sensei" to "Mr. Faust" for better flow in English.

thank you to my friends @phantomsstar for the title translation and emil for your assistance

shino my baby is SO FUNNY look at my silly treating his lord like he's made of glass but then shoving him into a tree hole........... and also akira just suddenly remembering they're thirdwheeling and not just a wall like "oh what? who? me???" made my week

←CH2

↞CH1

AKIRA — Huh…? That means, it wasn’t that one of you would say ‘sorry’ and make up with the other, huh.

SHINO — That’s right.

AKIRA — Since you called it the place for reconciliation, I assumed that would be the place where you’d talk to each other and apologize.

HEATHCLIFF — Ahaha, that’s true. But….

When we were little, we were much more stubborn than now, and we often just couldn’t back down.

Talking about something else without looking at the other’s face may have been our best effort at saying ‘sorry’.

SHINO — Yeah, and that was enough.

HEATHCLIFF — By just spending time with each other in the same space…. We learned to be able to tell when we wanted to make up with each other.

…It’s so nostalgic.

Heathcliff stares at the large hole and smiles with a huff.

Within the warmth of that cherishing gaze, a faint trace of sadness spilled into its colors.

AKIRA — (Even without apoplogies, being able to find the next word to say was enough. I see, the two of them had a way of reconciliation like this one.)

HEATHCLIFF — …Ah, I’m sorry. That was a weird story.

AKIRA — No, not at all! It wasn’t a weird story at all. Rather, it was very….

SHINO — Very?

AKIRA — I can’t word it well but…. I can really tell that this is a place you two have been in.

I’m happy I got to be told a story like this one. Thank you, Heath, Shino.

HEATHCLIFF — I too, am glad to have told you about it, Master Sage.

Though…Looking at it now, this hole was this small huh….

SHINO — What, do you want to go in it again?

HEATHCLIFF — No, with the way we are now, we really wouldn’t be able to go in it.

SHINO — You won’t know if you don’t try.

And also I’m not asking if you “can go in it” but if you “want to go in it”.

Shino stared right at Heathcliff.

HEATHCLIFF — ………….

Mahoyaku Tanabata 2026, Heathcliff SSR card story

¹in the original text, heath uses 『片方』 『もう片方』 for "one side" and "the other one", which is not simply 'one and the other' but really implying one part and another part of a whole. i thought important to point this out because i'm biased and ill

thank you to @phantomsstar for the title translation and proofreading♡

heath's face when he first mentions the reconciliation house and then when he says "it's so nostalgic" i can't do this anymore

←CH1 CH3→

HEATHCLIFF — Shi–Shino…! Don’t talk about such embarrassing things in front of Master Sage. …Though something like that did happen.

AKIRA — (It did, huh…)

HEATHCLIFF — You too though, Shino, back when you weren’t used to the forest yet and———.

It’s so heartwarming, I thought, walking next to the two of them as they chatted excitedly about fond memories.

AKIRA — (This place is really like a treasure box filled with memories of the both of them.)

Eventually, I noticed beside me a tree trunk in which a large hole sat.

AKIRA — Shino. Is that big hole over there an animal’s nest or something?

SHINO — A nest? Aah, that’s….

HEATHCLIFF — …Ah, Shino! Um….

SHINO — ………….

Shino glanced to the side at Heathcliff, and stayed silent.

AKIRA — (Huh, is something wrong? They were having so much fun until now.) Errr, did I maybe ask something weird?

HEATHCLIFF — !! N–no! You didn’t ask anything weird. It’s just that, the story about this hole is, a little bit childish you see…. I just got embarrassed.

SHINO — It’s not really embarrassing to me though. Hey, Heath. Isn’t it fine if it’s just to the Sage? You should tell them.

HEATHCLIFF — …Well, if it’s just to Master Sage then….

Heathcliff nodded shyly, then shifted his gaze to the large hole. He blinked, as if hesitating, before opening his mouth.

HEATHCLIFF — Umm, that was something like our hidden house.

AKIRA — A hidden house…! It sounds like a secret hideout, that’s so exciting! But what did you mean by “childish”…?

SHINO — The reason for using that place is the childish part.

HEATHCLIFF — That place was…, “the hidden house for reconciliation”.

Mahoyaku Tanabata 2026, Heathcliff SSR card story

credits to @phantomsstar for the title translation (and thank you for proofreading too<3) an alternate idea i came up with was "the bridge between then and now" to make a reference to tanabata but we decided miyu's tl was better since it's closer to the original. the 『交』 in 『交わった』 in the original title is very specific. it can mean "change", "association", "mixing up", "merging", "intersecting", and so on. so it was a pretty tricky one to translate so it also has a good flow in english while staying faithful to the original.

the card story where akira is just thirdwheeling shino and heath the entire time. they are so romantic the whole time i feel ill

CH2→

CH3↠