Sound Horizon – Saihate no L

Saihate no L – 最果てのL – The Last (No)L^[1]

(…。

さて。気を取り直して、ワタシは《十三番目の宿主》とでも呼ぶべき人物の深層に《意識と呼ばれるモノ》を接続した…
【彼】は愛情というモノを疑って育ったようだ。其れは、母親に捨てられた事に起因し、
その後のに境遇に倍われた性質だと思われる。さて。どうしたものだろうか。
幸い何を否定したとしても《対象》の《心》と呼ばれる機構の辻褄は、強引にでも合うように出来ているようだ……。

此の悲劇の結末を左←→右すると予想される《因子》。ワタシは【彼の】ad921d604863662588095―――)

[///]

…

(Well then. After thinking it over, I linked {what is known as my consciousness} to the depths of the character who could be called the {thirteenth host}…

It seems [he] had grown up mistrusting what is known as love. It is thought that this was originally caused by his mother’s abandonment of him, and that disposition was exacerbated by his later environment. Well then. I wonder how this will go.

Fortunately, no matter what is denied, the mechanism known as the {heart} of the {subject} should be able to be made to remain consistent…

The conclusion of this tragedy is a factor that can be moved to the right or left. I tried denying his ad921d604863662588095–)

「もう止めてくれ…。
それじゃぁ、あまりにも哀しいじゃねぇか…。
俺はバカだからよ…こんな時なんて言ったら分からねぇ！
だから、この気持ちを歌にするっ！聴いてくれ、Nein！！！」

“Mou yamete kure….
Sore jaa, amari ni mo kanashii ja nee ka….
Ore wa BAKA dakara yo… konna toki nante ittara wakaranee!
Dakara, kono kimochi o uta ni suru! Kiite kure, Nein!!!”

“Give it up already….
Isn’t that just too sad?…
I’m an idiot, so… I don’t know what to say at a time like this!
So I’ll put my feelings into song! Please lend an ear to Nein!!!”

(最果てのL
『Nein[First Inspiration Ver.1]』　作詞・作曲：Noël)

[///]

(The Final (No)L
“Nein [First Inspiration Ver. 1]” Lyricist/Composer: Noel)

たとえば　やり直しの効く　物語を　人生と呼ぶのなら
俺は　今　を　本当の意味で　燃えられただろうか？

tatoeba yarinaoshi no kiku monogatari o jinsei to yobu no nara
ore wa ima o hontou no imi de moerareta darou ka?

If a story that you can rewrite can be called a life,
Have I been burning down the present with true meaning?

クソ最低なことばかりが　起こる【第九の現実】だけれど
オマエと出逢えたこの《人生》を否定しないぜ
《グラサン、ヴァニスタメンバー、インタビュアーの三人、市蔵ファミリー
そして、
愛のある手紙や声援、これまでの俺の人生においては、信じられねえくらい温かいメッセージをくれたクソ最高な奴ら》

KUSO saitei na koto bakari ga okoru (daiku no genjitsu) [sekai] da keredo
OMAE to deaeta kono {jinsei} [roman] o hitei shinai ze
{GURASAN, VANISUTA MENBAA-, INTABYUUAA no sannin, Ichizou FAMIRII
soshite,
ai no aru tegami ya seien, kore made no ore no jinsei ni oite wa, shinjirarenee kurai atatakai MESSEJI o kureta KUSO saikou na yatsura} [Laurant, Laurant]

Even though this world is full of the most fucking awful things happening
I won’t deny this story where I was able to meet all of you
{Sunglasses, the VaniStar members, the three interviewers, the Ichizou family,
And
All you fucking awesome guys who have given me cheers and letters filled with love and messages so filled with warmth that, given my life so far, I can hardly believe it} [Laurant, Laurant]^[2]

俺は愛されても良いのだろうか？　正直…　裏切られるのが怖いんだ…
それでも《俺が産まれたこの地平線》を愛そうと決めた
だから　命の限り歌うんだ！

ore wa aisarete mo ii no darou ka? shoujiki… uragirareru no ga kowai n’da…
soredemo {ore ga umareta kono chiheisen} [sekai] o aisou to kimeta
dakara inochi no kagiri utau n’da!

Is it all right for me to be loved? To be honest… I’m afraid of being betrayed…
But I’ve decided to love this horizon I was born into
So as long as I’m alive, I’ll sing!

否定しないでくれ　俺達は　皆　弱い
↓
Nein
↑
だからこそ　痛み　何かを生みだせる

hitei shinaide kure ore-tachi wa mina yowai
↓
Nein
↑
dakara koso itami nanika o umidaseru

Please don’t deny this; we’re all of us weak
↓
Nein
↑
But that’s why our pain gives birth to new things

何が正解か　そんなこと　俺には判らないけれど
だが
《観惻者》の数だけ《世界の解説》があると
《オープニングアクトで訪れた第二の故郷とも言える愛すべき地平》で知った

nani ga seikai ka sonna koto ore ni wa wakaranai keredo
daga
{kansokusha} [tabibito] no kazu dake {sekai no kaisetsu} [kotae] ga aru to
{OOPUNINGU AKUTO de otozureta daini no furusato to mo ieru aisubeki chihei} [ano basho] de shitta

I don’t know what’s the right answer, but
Even so
There in the horizon I visited as an opening act, which I could call my second hometown, I understood
That the explanation for the world can only be found in the number of compassionately observing travellers^[3]

だから
《遮光眼鏡型情報端末》（das Rührendes, Evolutionäres und Vorzügliches Optikgerät）
《いずれ消えゆく人間》が必死に生きた《現実》を
勝手に《悲劇だと決めつけて改竄》しないでくれ
《与えられた命がその檻の中で出逢い懸命に煌めく場所》で
燃えたんだ！

dakara
{shakou megane-kei jouhou tanmatsu} (das Rührendes, Evolutionäres und Vorzügliches Optikgerät) [R.E.V.O.]
{izure kieyuku ningen} [hito] ga hisshi ni ikita {genjitsu} [monogatari] o
katte ni {higeki da to kimetsukete kaizan} [fukou ni] shinaide kure
{ataerareta inochi ga sono ori no naka de deai kenmei ni kirameku basho} [hoshizora] de
moeta n’da!

So,
R.E.V.O., with your sunglass-type information terminal (Touching, Evolutionary, and Exquisite Optical Device),
Don’t decide all on your own that the stories
That people who will someday pass away have been struggling to live through are tragedies
They’ve all burned in the starry sky (the place where those given life meet and eagerly shine in their various cages)!

(今夜は月が、いえ星が綺麗ですね。
もし、ワタシの【否定】して来た行為が望まれざるなのだとしたら、
やはり、ワタシは何の為に生まれて来たのでしょうか？
いえ、其れを自らの意志で見つけるこそが〈存在理由〉なのかも知りませんね。)

[///]

(Tonight the moon is, no, the stars are beautiful.
If my acts of denial are unwanted,
Then what, after all, was I born to do?
No, maybe finding that out for myself is my <raison d’etre>.)

ならば、ワタシもアナタ以上に救いようの無い馬鹿であると思われるので、
此の《気持ちと呼ばれるモノ》を詩にしたいと思います―――

[///]

So because I’m really even more of a hopeless idiot than you,
I think I want to put these {things known as feelings} into a song–

Notes:

[1] So, “Saihate no L” literally means “the last L,” with the “no” particle acting to adjectivize “saihate” (which on its own is a noun), but it’s clearly also a pun on the name “Noel.” I really couldn’t figure out an elegant way to translate this. Thanks, Revo.

[2] I feel like I should apologize for the F-bombs–in J->E translation it’s rare that that’s actually justified rather than the translator wanting to make things sound edgier–but I wanted to preserve the “KUSO saitei”/”KUSO saikou” parallelism, and “shit” can’t really be used positively, whereas “fucking” is conveniently versatile.

[3] 観測者 “kansokusha” means “observer,” but here the second kanji is replaced with 惻, also read “soku” but meaning “pity” or “compassion.”

(Original lyrics by Revo)