Monday, January 14, 2013

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai (Novel) - Vol. 8 Ch. 5

Here's the next chapter of Haganai, a fairly short one focusing mainly on Yozora and her severe social ineptitude.Hopefully you're all enjoying Haganai NEXT with the improved art and way higher budget overall; it looks like it won't be as stilted as S1 was.

Also the reason this is a bit late is because I got my hands on the English translation for WEE episode 1, and was busy writing a program to move all the text into the script files and word wrap it. I don't plan on releasing it until Fancy Frontier at the earliest, but you can rest easy knowing it won't be lost in limbo for all eternity.

In any case, you can grab the chapter with the links below:

Mediafire
Baka-Tsuki

59 comments:

  1. thanks for the chapter!
    i feel pumped up now! all yozora haters come at me! i'm ready to take on all of you at once!!! gwahaha! j/k

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    1. Yozora's future = closed asylum

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    2. Poor Yozora, it was just a joke

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    3. It might be a joke but i sincerely feel sorry for Yozora, people seem to misunderstand that all Sena fan's hate Yozora, but while i can't speak for others i myself as a Sena supporter can say that i don't hate Yozora but feel sorry for her, her future is bleak unless she undergoes some kind of epiphany, she NEEDS to change, and the author has to be very very careful about the process as if it was some fucking surgery because anything short of brilliant development will be called BS turnaround by the masses.

      Sena is currently in the lead to win, you Yozora fan's should take a step back and see why, i never said she will win but that i sincerely think she will win, because as of now she is WINNING, not yet won mind you. Yozora as i said before needs a change, a comeback, a huge twist in character to have a chance, because no matter what you fans say, being completely objective here, Yozora is currently losing. If you can't accept this then you are beyond reason. I will gladly admit all the faults Sena has in detail, heck i already have mentioned quite a few before, it's about time though that you give Sena her credit for her change, she HAS improved, even if slightly she HAS gotten better.

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  2. You don't have to hate Yozora to like Sena better, nor do you have to be a hater to state the simple truth that she as of now has a negative future, she would have to change drastically for her to even have a shot at winning because as it stands she is social suicide, everything Kodaka DOES NOT want to be.

    Well call me a fanboy or whatever else you like, but despite her SEVERE issues, Sena looks like the optimistic pick as well as the one more suited, past ties mean nothing in the present, her clinging to the past is part of the reason Yozora has declined also. I don't want her to win but i do hope she at least changes before the series is over, her staying like this is depressing.

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    1. here we go again

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    2. YAY, another discussion? Love it!

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    3. Sena vs Yozora has been one of the major debates of this series after all, both characters offer completely different things so it comes down to preference.

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    4. Eh, as a fictional character, I prefer Sena, because she pushes my buttons. But looking at it objectively, Yozora would probably make a better partner in a real relationship. For all her problems, Yozora can take care of herself. She's strong, she goes places by herself, she's willing to butt heads with people. When things were bad she'd be fighting right beside you, taking on her share of the load. Just look at when they first met.

      Sena is cuter, but she's fragile and has no common sense at all. She needs somebody to take care of her and keep her in line. Her father currently has that job, and she's attracted to Kodaka because he seems able to take over. In a relationship, she would have to be protected and cajoled and when shit got serious, you'd be on your own while trying to take care of her.

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    5. Oh, and Rika's probably better than both, really. She's not as strong as Yozora, but she has more common sense than either of them (except about male anatomy), and she just admitted that, while she really is a huge fujoshi, her crazier tendency about it are mostly pretense. He only actual problem is that she can't handle crowds, and Yozora has a problem with that, too.

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  3. Thanks a lot. Riajuus should explode (?)

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  4. There are many complaints people can make about Yozora, but unrealistic would definitely not be one of them.
    Who's to decide if she has a positive or negative future?
    I think that when you are talking about social suicide and ideal situations, you're fundamentally wrong in thinking that not being social means that you lose any race.
    Personally no matter what Yozora does, I consider personalities like Sena as far worse.
    Pretentious and pushy, without sympathizing with anyone below her.
    I'm definitely on the side that agrees with how Yozora and Kodaka feel about the literature situation in this chapter.

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    1. You are right, you don't have to be social to be successful or even happy, heck most rich people are awkward socially (Bill Gates) HOWEVER Yozora has given strong implications that she is a borderline misanthrope, i won't go as far as saying she doesn't care about anything and is nihilistic but she definitely has issues in her viewing of people, her descriptions speak for themselves.

      Being spoiled can be cured with time, Sena being pretentious is way easier to fix then someone who downright doesn't care for anybody (well aside from Kodaka), i mean she is seriously the only one in that club who doesn't care to make friends, or are you gonna deny that the only reason she even made the club was to be alone with Kodaka, heck it's why she started hating Sena in the first place.

      Interactions are essential in life, be it awkward or whatever you can't have a positive future if you dislike the air you breathe simply because others breathe it, she as i said isn't that degree YET but she isn't progressing but declining in this matter, no one can really say how far she would fall at this rate. She hasn't gotten better at all in her problems while EVERY other character has made some kind of improvement.

      Say what you will about Sena being a snobby pretentious rich girl, or Rika being a super class pervert, or any of them really, they all have major issues, yet they all have made some kind of improvement, what has Yozora truly improved upon when relating herself huh? Also before you try to act sly by naming some random small detail, do consider adding up her negative declines vs her positive improvements. Do a compare and contrast and see your own results, if you are to lazy i could always spell out what you would see in advance, it's not that hard for anyone who hasn't been blinded to her actions you know. I have admitted Sena's faults, as all characters have faults, its time you admit how flawed Yozora really is.

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    2. Great analysis and I completely agree

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    3. It's really sad to see people confuse stories with reality.

      Yes, in real life, people who are utterly cruel, misanthropic and anti-social can win, and achieve success. Hell, just look at the government. Life is a crap shoot.

      However, in the realm of fiction, these sorts of horrible people getting what they want usually doesn't make for good story telling, especially in light-hearted stories like this. They need to experience a significant change and learn to overcome their negative qualities in order to gain success.

      Is it possible for the author to defy these tropes? Absolutely. Is it likely? Hell no. If you like Yozora, fine. Just don't kid yourself. She has a long, long journey ahead of her if Hirasaka wants to make her the winner.

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    4. This is exactly my point, the author needs to be very very careful with how he proceeds with Yozora, whether she wins or not her character is in a fragile state. She NEEDS change but how that change comes about can only be placed in the hands of the authors touch and as fans we can only be optimistic that he doesn't pull BS on us who have followed this series all this time.

      This story has long since set the idea of struggling through awkwardness, the idea of perspective from a guy who has no friends yet makes friends by the end, or do you think the author seriously would troll everybody and give a bad ending? No right, that means Kodaka by the end will have a better life then at the start, now it brings forth a question that i please ask you all to consider.

      Ready?

      Which girl gives the best chance to provide or better yet support Kodaka in a bright future?

      Not financially mind you, that would be unfair to everyone aside from Sena, talking about emotions here. I'm a Sena fan, but in terms of understanding Rika beats Sena by a long shot, i would admit this anyday, Rika knows him best. Which is why i believe Rika will be his first friend since Yozora, a stepping stone needed before he can truly be without anyone.

      Now the other candidates

      Yukimura: No real shot
      Kate: Even less of a shot
      Yozora: Contender 1
      Sena: Contender 2

      Other characters that i didn't include is because frankly its meant for comedy on a less shot scale then even Kate, it's always been Sena vs Yozora so now it comes down to the prior question

      Which between them provides the best chance at a good future? What does Kodaka want and who also desires it as well?

      In pairings it is ESSENTIAL that they have similiar interests, you can be different but you can't have completely different desires, it's like someone saying i want to go east but you say fuck you i want to go west, you can't even agree on your direction much less you do while you are traveling.

      You all see where I'm going right? Yozora isn't even on the right road, much less anything else. She isn't even at the starting line anymore. Yozora WAS the favored girl, but she has sadly and i truly mean sadly declined, you people shouldn't misunderstand my analysis as hatred because in honesty i don't want to see Yozora get a bad end, at the very most i just don't want her to win but at this rate she will lose much more then just Kodaka, that's a fact.

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  5. Yay new chapter, thank you!

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  6. Thank you as always.

    I still waitng for WEE translation ;)

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  7. Thank you very much

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  8. Yozora's problems are way mroe interesting than any other character

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  9. Thanks Vexed, I was waiting for Haganai xD
    So, next chapter is the friend making game, more Sena? Can't wait for it!

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  10. The author of Haganai had those issues himself.

    So he can write about it and made a novel.

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    1. Is it true or you are just saying it?

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    2. From the afterword of the first book: "This novel is a story about myself who also had few friends, bad communication skills, negative thinking, lacking life experiences and useless delusional habits."

      http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index.php?title=Boku_wa_Tomodachi_ga_Sukunai:Volume_1_Afterword

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  11. Thanks a lot! Too bad this was a short chapter :(
    Anyway, keep on your hard work
    GAMBARE!

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  12. Haganai is so good

    I think I'm going to re-read volume 8 before the next chapter is out

    Thank you Vexed, you are awesome

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  13. Thanks again Vexed for this new released chapter!! :D

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  14. The plagiarazing topic is still there
    Was there any case that involved the author himself? He keep remembering what Yozora did

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  15. Good chapter even being this short
    Thanks Vexed

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  16. Vexed you are my hero! Thxx

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  17. thank you for Vex! keep up the good work.

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  18. Thank you very much!

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  19. It's interesting that the members of the club can't understand a normal human interaction. I wonder if people of this kind does exist

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  20. I found myself in a similar situation as Yozora a while ago when we were discussing / interpreting poems in school and this certain line appeared that read something like:
    "You are the knife I use to dig inside of myself." So, when the teacher asked for the meaning of this I calmly raised my hand being sure about the correctness of my point of view. I proceeded to explain how this was most likely a statement of the author questioning society's concept of relationships and love and how putting effort into issues related to these topics tends to be more trouble than it's worth. The actual answer the teacher was looking for described this line as intending to point out how love and relationships makes people feel alive.
    So there I sat realizing how my social awarkdness just took the best of me a minute earlier. I also was a little mad at the teacher back then since her disagreeing with my interpretation automatically displayed my antisocial attitude and gave an insight on some of my more unlikeable character traits(that all of the others probably knew about already, but still ...).
    This is one of the things I love about this LN series the ability to relate to the characters within which to this extent I rarely experienced in any anime / LN / manga I picked up before (maybe in connection with WataMote).
    Aside from that I can't help but mentioning how Kodaka acted like an asshole coming up with that plagiarizing story again instead of maybe soothing her by for instance mentioning how most likely none of the neighbour's club members would have been able to guess the correct answer to the question she was asked. It's not like she hasn't already been given enough of a hard time for that. She even agreed to take part in the film despite Sena taking the leading role in the project after the incident and despite the humiliation she has been put through in beforehand which frankly I wouldn't even have considered since it's enough having to pay for your mistakes once, isn't it? That's definitely a sign of remorse if you ask me.
    Also, let me leave a quick remark about the statement I read in one of the other comments stating that Yozora doesn’t show any positive character development. That’s definitely false. Think back to the theme park chapter where she explained to Kodaka why she would continue tricking Maria into doing certain stuff. She cares about her, that’s why she does it. If you consider the events in the PSP game as a basis of argumentation this fact is also stressed right at the very beginning of it, too when she says that her demeanor towards Maria is “tough love”. Furthermore in one of the previous chapters she stated that it would be no use showing the festival if they couldn’t watch it together in beforehand. Last but not least there is also the scene where Kodaka speaks to her about whether the events of 10 years ago or what is going on in the present is more important after she had a dispute with Sena about the roles in their movie. Even though she initially claims that their mutual past is more important to her than the club she does care about the latter as one can see by her reaction to Kodaka’s follow up question.
    ...

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    1. ...
      The aforesaid dispute really pissing me off is a whole different story. Sena who seems to have gained the ability of standing up to Yozora in an instant (which itself can only be seen as a result of Meat being occasionally teased by her) just claims that her past with Kodaka is irrelevant. Something so insensitive cannot be forgiven. One’s past defines the person you are just as much as the present and possible future events, besides Sena at that point didn’t even know about the importance Yozora sees in her former friendship to Kodaka. Meat’s statement definitely was an effective way to win that argument I can’t deny that, but it’s the verbal equivalent of kicking a dude in the balls in order to win a fight, no inherent classiness whatsoever which one would expect from a self-proclaimed goddess, right? I never really understood and still don’t for that matter what people see in Sena as a character, but it wasn’t until the day I read that chapter that I started hating her. I felt like taking the whole of volume 7 and slapping it right across the author’s face while yelling at him to rewrite it. That being said I must praise him at the same time for developing such believable characters.
      Anyways, I’m pushing 800+ words now according to MS word so I guess it’s about time to wrap it up. I’m wondering if anyone will ever read this in its entirety, but even if not it had to be said if only for the peace of my own mind.

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    2. Just noticed a little mistake of mine:
      In line 46 it should be "... it would be no use showing their film at the festival ..."

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    3. "I have admitted Sena's faults, as all characters have faults, its time you admit how flawed Yozora really is."

      OP: Intellectual discussion aside, I'm placing all my money on black.

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    4. Yozora has been exceedingly cruel to Sena the entire story. making her cry, beg and humiliating her at every turn only because she sees her as her biggest rival for kodakas affection. the reason she gets away with it is because sena doesn't know how to defend herself. you can count on one hand how many times sena has been able to get back at yozora, yozora is a petty and possessive person thinking that she has the right to kodaka just because she knew him years ago. kodaka, like sena, thinks of the present and doesn't let it dictate his behavior in the club. imo yozora had that shit coming to her and she had a taste of her own medicine.

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    5. Sena doesn't need to lower herself to Yozora's level of bullying, her winning Kodaka will be the biggest payback of all, because it wouldn't even be a sadistic move by Sena, unlike Yozora it would have been a clean move since in the end Kodaka is the one who chooses, so if he chooses Sena the method of victory is completely different then how Yozora does it and that will sting all the more. Sena is favored because she is NOT like Yozora, so she has just gotta keep doing her own thing, improving herself little by little, calming down her snobbish faults, as well as her other problems, while she improves Yozora will decline, she doesn't even need to give the idea of getting back at Yozora the time of day.

      Yozora for all the reason's mentioned is sealing her own defeat, and i sincerely feel sorry for her, i can only hope the author will improve her before the story is done so even if she loses Kodaka to Sena she can at least still get friends because even tho i want Yozora to lose i don't want her to be the misanthrope of society who has zero friends to speak off and is depressed at losing Kodaka.

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  21. Kodaka behaving like an asshole because he repeats the plagiarism?

    Well, it's easy. He don't like her, has no respect and just looks down on her. Hateful people who are always complaining are very unattractive. Those people can't make any friends.

    Projecting your dreams and wishes on those characters will just lead to a big disappointment in the end, especially if you like Yozora.

    After all, you should not forget that Kodaka will judge Yozora based on her PRESENT behavior and not on her dreams and wishes about her friendship of the past.

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    1. Kodaka doesn't like Yozora? That's new
      I do not like her but what you are saying is an absurd

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    2. Agreed, I don't like Yozora either but Kodaka doesn't dislike her, that said he doesn't like her either (not in the way she wishes anyway). Though your last part is indeed true, he is more focused on the present her then the past her, something she doesn't like since she simply can't let go of the past.

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  22. I hope next chapter is released soon
    Thanks for the translation

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  23. There are some really nice analysis and such in the comments... they're pretty good reads :O

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    1. That feel when you're the Anon that started the biggest discussion and heated debate on the page. :P
      Even if I may not agree with them, your statement about being nice analysis and solid reading is accurate.

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  24. It seem there are some psychologists reading Haganai since they can give us such a detailed description of the characters' behaviors.
    That's nice, keep doing it. I love reading your discussions as much as the novel xD

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  25. There is not much to discuss about this chapter because is too short, I'm going to wait the next one that seems to be the most waited
    Thanks Vexed

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  26. So many people here are talking on behalf of Kodaka that it's funny.
    "Kodaka will judge Yozora"
    "everything Kodaka DOES NOT want to be."
    "Kodaka will have his first friend being Rika"
    "This is how Kodaka should see his future bla bla"
    Do you guys relate to him that much?

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    1. People are allowed to sympathize with emotions, or characteristics of characters, just because two people aren't exactly the same doesn't mean they can't understand certain way's of thinking.

      Also FYI certain quotes of yours don't even require relating, it requires prediction, everything points to Rika being his first friend, it was almost set in stone when she showed just how much she understands him, everyone should mark my words on the following, Kodaka needs a true friend before he can even go into Sena and Yozora nonsense, because even if they are all "friends" volume 7's end has already shown what Kodaka thinks of that, thus volume 8 is to get rid of his hesistation, that part isn't hard to predict at all...the part that becomes more debatable is Sena vs Yozora, thus the differing views. All that said though i have yet to see one Yozora fan give actually objective analysis, both before and now Yozora fanboys have ranted as if they were under attack instead of seeing analysis for what it is.

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  27. Yozora fans should be more civil about there cases in why they believe she should win, if you disagree so much then take a step back and use an objective view instead of a fanboy's rant in order to reply. Sena fans know her faults, the question here lies is do you know Yozoras? because as it stands you have zero reason to imply she is winning, you can't even give any indication at all, this may not be fair to you all considering how volume 7 was Sena heavy but still, even before that thing's weren't looking so great for Yozora, volume 7 just shot her down even more.

    Even Vexed who translates this series knows about Yozora's problems or did people suddenly skip over his description of " severe social ineptitude"? Yozora has many many problems, it's kinda sad that you fanboys are in denial of it. I can easily list all kinds of Sena issues, she has TONS of them, yet she still has countless fans you should ponder about that. Also before you go saying she has fans only for her MEAT status, like Yozora herself would say you should compare and contrast their positive characteristics, you may not like the difference you see, unless of course you delude yourself with bias and don't compare it fairly.

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  28. This may be a bit random, but if you all like analysis of this series and are watching the second season (awesome second episode btw) then i recommend you read the reviews on mdzanime which review the anime weekly along with other series that you may watch as well.

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  29. thanks a lot
    what a short chapter

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  30. Tsk tsk. This many negative comments on Yozora? I just don't feel up to the task of reasoning them out this time around. It's pointless anyway. Sena's boobs tend to cloud peoples' perception.

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    1. More like you can't reason them out, your remark of Sena's boobs as if it was an excuse is proof enough.

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    2. Sena is so hopelessly pathetic in so many aspects.
      And Yozora only started bullying Maria because she was such a demanding little kid to begin with.
      http://www.batoto.net/read/_/135940/boku-wa-tomodachi-ga-sukunai_ch28.5_by_maigo/22
      Yozora actually thought of Maria as a nice and honest girl until she was insulted by Maria's disregard for others.
      "As others have mentioned above like such, One’s past defines the person you are just as much as the present and possible future events, besides Sena at that point didn’t even know about the importance Yozora sees in her former friendship to Kodaka."
      Sena doesn't see value in anything that she doesn't personally like and has a severe superiority complex.
      After reading about the other aspects of Yozora's character and seeing the reason for her actions, I can't really hate her for anything and only find her realistic qualities more endearing.
      Yozora's disapproving stance on bullying to make a person feel better about themselves was made clear since the very start.

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    3. ^You took most of those words right out of my mouth. In other words, I agree with a lot of what you said.

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    4. These are just poor excuses for Yozora's antisocial behavior.

      Yozora fans have fallen into a pit. The author used a little trick to manipulate your thoughts about her.

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