How do I translate this one?


I am currently working on a certain game's translation. The dialogue goes like
this:

> Sōsuke: それじゃあ、お互いに愛称で呼び合ってみようよ  
>  Riho: 愛称、素晴らしいですね。では、どのような呼び方をいたしましょう  
>  Sōsuke: えっと、俺のことはダーリンって呼んでみて  
>  Riho: ……やはり破廉恥なことではありませんか  
>  Sōsuke: お、お願いだよ……里穂に呼んでもらいたいんだ、いや、りほに  
>  Riho: それが私の愛称ですか？では……ダーリン

Which I then translated as:

> Sōsuke: Then, let's call each other by pet names!  
>  Riho: Pet names? That's wonderful. Well then, what should I call you?  
>  Sōsuke: Uh...call me 'Darling'.  
>  Riho: ....Isn't that too shameful?  
>  Sōsuke: P-Please...? I'd really like Riho to call me that...no, りほに  
>  Riho: Is that my pet name? Well then...darling.

I left the word to be translated as is. Should it be translated as "Rihoni"?
Is that how nicknames work? Please feel free to correct my translation
attempt. Thanks in advance.




No, りほに should be translated has Riho. Since Sousuke is repeating himself,
replacing her proper name by her pet name, and her name being inflected, に in
りほに would be the particle. The change in orthography indicate a change in
meaning.




I think he corrected 里穂に to りほに. That is, りほ is her 愛称, and this に is a
particle like "by". It's hard to translate this into English...

> I want you to call me darling, [Riho]{(里穂)}, I mean, [Riho]{(りほ)}.

Hiragana nicknames themselves are understandable because it [looks cute and
affable](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/19441/5010). The puzzling point
is that she seems to have noticed her new nickname is "in hiragana" just by
hearing it. Maybe they're somehow doing text-based communication, or maybe
this is a tricky [metafictional](https://www.novel-writing-
help.com/metafiction.html) joke, or maybe the author of the game was simply
lazy. You know the story, so I think you know what's happening better than us.

