I was still reading 窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る (The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese) by 水城 せとな (Mizushiro Setona) and on the page 29 I stumbled across a word which I keep forgetting and keep looking up in the dictionaries.

恭ちゃん...あのね ... 別れてほしいの。  -- Kyou-chan... well... I want to separate.

Seeing that she is married to that Kyou-chan I guess we could assume that she wants a divorce.

• 別れ --わかれ-- (n) parting; separation; farewell; (lateral) branch; fork; offshoot; division; section;

• 夫婦別れ --ふうふわかれ-- (n,vs) divorce; separation.

This is a compound of 夫婦(spouses) + 別れ(separation) .
夫婦 --ふうふ(P); めおと; みょうと-- (n) married couple; spouses; husband and wife; couple; pair

• And then at wiki the divorce is listed as 離婚 --りこん-- (n,vs) divorce.  I guess, this is a legal term, then.

I was reading 窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る (The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese) by 水城 せとな (Mizushiro Setona) and right on page 4 I had to stop and contemplate the difficult nature of the Japanese language.

僕は今強請られている。-- Right now I'm being blackmailed.

• 強請 --きょうせい; ごうせい-- (n,vs) blackmail; extortion; persistent demand

• 強請る --ねだる(P); ゆする-- (v5r,vt) (1) (ねだる only) to tease; to coax; (v5r,vt) (2) to solicit; to demand; to extort;

I'm pretty sure of the translation, but what puzzled me is the reading for 強請 --ゆす. From what I gathered the primary reading for 強請る is ねだる, not even every dictionary lists ゆする reading... And then the noun 強請 has a yet another reading... Really, such a mess.....**sigh**

薔薇 --ばら-- (n) rose.
That's an easy word, but such a difficult kanji combination...
黒薔薇アリス 3 by 水城 せとな (Mizushiro Setona)

This is the vol.3 of sensei's manga about vampires (!) and roses (!) - very pretty.  And as we all know it, vampires is the new!hot!thing.  Kuro Bara Alice (Black Rose Alice) - there is Alice somewhere, but the vol.3 cover rendered me speechless:

Vampires are just so in! )))))

I finally had a chance to listen to the 俎上の鯉は二度跳ねる Drama CD part 1 based on the 俎上の鯉は二度跳ねる - A Carp on the Chopping Block Jumps Twice manga by 水城 せとな (Mizushiro Setona).  Absolutely delighted drama.  So much emotions!

And the good news that  Drama CD part 2 will released 23/12/2009.

I'm SO looking forward!!!

The manga by 水城 せとな - Mizushiro Setona consisting of 2 tankoubons with the most beautiful titles I've ever seen.

窮鼠はチーズの夢を見る -  The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese

Kyuuso wa chiizu no yume o miru

窮鼠 --きゅうそ--  cornered rat or mouse

俎上の鯉は二度跳ねる - A Carp on the Chopping Block Jumps Twice

Sojou no koi wa ni do haneru

俎上 --そじょう-- (n) on the chopping board

鯉 --こい -- (n) common carp; koi carp

The Mouse Drama CD is already out and it is a must-hear.  

The Carp Drama CD is upcoming in the 25.11.2009

I absolutely love the concept of comparing the emotional/physical condition to animals, and I want to start collecting the saying related to the animals/fishes/birds alike.

Jim Breen offers more about cornerned mouses and carps:

• 窮鼠噛猫 -- きゅうそごうびょう-- (exp) A cornered rat will bite the cat; One who is cornered will fight like a devil.
• 窮鼠猫を噛む --きゅうそねこをかむ -- (exp) a cornered rat will bite a cat; despair turns cowards courageous.
• 俎板の鯉; 俎の鯉 -- まないたのこい-- (exp) confronted with a hopeless situation; about to be cut off (e.g. in a battle) and unable to do anything

More to come when I find new expressions that feature animals.