Translation for inabakumori’s song “Copy and Pastime” (うつしあそび), featuring Kaai Yuki.

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I got a blank notebook¹ and saw yourself reflected under it
I gripped the pen you got from somewhere and traced it, traced it

It’s hard to understand, it’s hard to understand, if I had a “difference” in my lines
I thought my words would end up being lost

With the pure-white notebook I peeked into your dreams and trembled, trembled
I thought I might secretly slip my heart somewhere in there

But I didn’t want to be “different”
Ah, the shadow that appeared on the blank canvas

Tracing it, tracing it
Because I want to make your words into mine
Even though that’s all I ended up doing…

I took the blank notebook and put me over you
Painting out the exposed cracks and the slips I couldn’t hide

But I started playing spot the “difference”²
Ah, the shadow lurking in your melancholy

Tracing it, tracing it
Because I want your words to be mine
Even though I just wanted to be like that…

Ah, those shaky lines will probably be forgotten
Soaked by rain and exposed
As if doing just enough to never disappear
Permeating into the rolled-up pages

But it wasn’t any “different” in the end
Ah, the shadow that appeared on the blank canvas

Tracing it, tracing it
Because your words are wonderfully pretty
Even though I just wanted to be like that…

Trace it, trace it
My words couldn’t become yours,
and in my blank notebook my one word that peeked through
is worn out, and you can’t even see a hint of it anymore

Even though I just wanted to be like that…
Even though it’d been better if I’d been “different”.

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Translator's notes

1. The title “Utsushi Asobi” (うつしあそび) refers to utsushie (うつしえ), or blank paper meant for young children to use to trace over a picture on a lightbox. [↩]
2. The game of “spot the difference” is “machigai sagashi” (間違い探し), literally meaning “search for mistakes”, so trying not to be “different” here carries the nuance of trying not to “do it incorrectly”. [↩]