Hitomi no Catoblepas 15

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Hitomi no Catoblepas
#15 Thank You
[insert text: Powerful, vast, enveloping. That eye is like the very sky.]

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[side text: The defeated Konton explodes! And the Suzaku Retreat...?!]
Kazuto: Y'okay? // You guys... // Honestly... that guy just didn't know when to give up...
Miiko: We... / We're safe?!

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Touji: Young master... The Suzaku Retreat...
Kazuto: ..................
Miiko: There are charms all over the framework...
Kazuto: The Suzaku Retreat was safeguarded in case of the worse-case scenario. // Even if the building itself was destroyed completely, the structure would be unharmed.
People: Young master!! // Young master! Are you all right?!

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Kazuto: Yeah. // I should be asking you; I'm not exactly gonna get beaten up by a fart like that. // ...............Although... // It looks like the kekkai has been exposed.

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Kazuto: Well, it doesn't look damaged...
Miiko: What the heck is this thing...?
Kazuto: This is a kekkai.. / ...the "Suzaku Renketsukou".
[TN: Literally from the kanji, "Renketsukou" would be something like "group-binding post"]
Kazuto: This is something that I... that all of us at the Suzaku Retreat protect with our lives.
Miiko: Wow...
Kazuto: Don't touch it, idiot!! // That has to be handled with care... it's like the heart of the Guardian House.
Miiko: S... sorry......
Kazuto: You got that?! Each of the Guardian Shijin has its own headquarters, and each of those headquarters protects a kekkai. // There is a huge kekkai over the whole of K City, formed by four kekkai posts driven into the ground at each of the compass points. // This is what prevents the Yoma in the underworld from invading. // And even if they do manage to make it here, they cannot leave the borders of K City... and nor can they stay within the barrier for very long.

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Miiko: I see... so basically this thing is crazy important! / And there must be one in Genbu Temple as well...
Kazuto: Yeah. // We've gotta fix it up quickly... With it like this, even low-level Yoma could pull the kekkai post out of the ground. // This is bad... damn!
Kaimei: We now know the location of the kekkai! // Let us return, Shikyou!!

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People: !!
Shikyou: Tch... My time's up, eh?
Kaimei: ...My, my, the barrier in this place... / ...it is rather excessive... // I was unable to see the "wood for the trees", as it were...... // ...but my "clairvoyance" cannot be mistaken.
Tamaki: Wh... // What did you say...?!!

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Kaimei: That "building"! // To think that the building itself would be the kekkai.........
Tamaki: ...Ugh...
Kaimei: ...And the kekkai of Genbu Temple...
Hakutaku: ............
Kaimei: "Hakutaku".

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Kaimei: You yourself are the kekkai, are you not?
Hakutaku: ..................
Kaimei: You despicable Guardian Shijin... // Thanks to your kekkai, when we seek to enter the human world... / ...even when we do manage to emerge...... // We can spend no longer than a single hour in the human world at any one time... / Our bodies cannot take it for any longer than that.
Shikyou: Hah! / This is boring!!
Kaimei: We are out of time right now, so we will take our leave... // But I hope you will prepare yourselves.

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Kaimei: Next time, we will end this.
Shikyou: Now that we know the locations, destroying them will be simple. // Next time... // Hajun-sama will finally be fully revived.

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Kaimei: Well, then, we shall excuse ourselves. / Until we meet again.
Shikyou: Bye bye~!
Tokio: (My brother, revived...... // "Shikyou"... he's too strong... I'm nowhere near a match for him as I am. // And then there's "Kaimei"... I felt an unfathomable level of youki from him, too...)
Michiru: Tokio-kun... show me your wounds!
Tokio: (And not gorgetting that I have no hope whatsoever... // ...of defeating my brother......!! // Right now... // I don't think I'm nearly strong enough...)

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[box: Three days later]
Miiko: I've heard about everything, Shimura... // Is your eye okay?!
[box: Genbu Temple]
Tokio: W... well...
Miiko: Awww, geez! You're not gonna let me look at your eye even now?!
Hakutaku: Well, Miiko-dono... // Right now, Tokio-sama is unable to make use of his eye's power... // Michiru has healed all of his physical wounds, but the Catoblepas itself in his eye was damaged... // Most likely in the process of protecting its master...
Miiko: Ehh...
Tokio: No matter how I call, Catoblepas will not show himself...... / He has entered some sort of dormant state deep within my eye.

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Miiko: No way!! Without Cat-chan, you're just an ordinary human... no, even less than that!!
Tokio: Y - you don't have to go that far...
Miiko: What're you gonna do?!!
Hakutaku: ............ // ......Tokio-sama... // You must once more undergo training at Mt. Kurobo!
Tokio: !!
Miiko: Huh? Kurobo?
Tokio: Ohh...
Hakutaku: "Mt. Kuroba" - a secret place that has been used by Shimura Hous Heads for generations as a training ground... // Even Tokio-sama underwent a half-year retreat at Mt. Kuroba six years ago when he became the Head. // Once he had completed this exacting training, he had tamed Catoblepas and was able to use the power of his eye.
Tokio: I have to... go there again...?
Hakutaku: But of course! You must resume from the point of awakening Catoblepas!

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Miiko: (He went through some incredibly intense training...?)
Tokio: (History repeating itself...) // ...But I can't win like this...... / There's no other way... // I'm the only one who can... stop my brother...
Miiko: ...............Shimura......
Kazuto: Can't believe you got that eye of yours injured...! / We had some pretty nasty trouble, too. // Igarashi's fixing up the kekkai as we speak... but we've had to close down the cafe for the moment.

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Miiko: Ah, the Hosomis arrive at last!
Tokio: Kazuto-san.
Kazuto: Yo.
Miiko: Are you okay? Mikki...
Mitsuki: Owowowowoww!! Not yet! I'm not really okay yet!! // Apparently we're having a general meeting of the Guardian Houses at Genbu Temple today. / Michiru should be coming too, right? I was thinking she might be able to heal me up... // Aren't the House of Kuramochi here yet?
Tamaki: It seems we are all present.
Mitsuki: Ah...
Kazuto: Huh... granny! You got here pretty quick.
Tamaki: The Yoma have discovered the locations of the kekkai! // This is the biggest disaster since the Guardian Shijin were first formed!!

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Tamaki: The kekkai at the Suzaku Retreat was exposed, and all the kekkai are mystically linked together... / This allowed the locations of the other kekkai to be uncovered one after another... / As it stands, we are liable to lose.
Miiko: But... but that's just... an exaggeration......... / Right? Shimura?!
Tokio: Right now... // I'm not... nearly strong enough......
Kazuto: What we need is to gain more power. // I'm up for it! I'm goign to undergo further training!! / The rest of you are with me, right?!!
Touji: Naturally, young master!
Mitsuki: Of course!!
Michiru: ......I, too... // ...My father is opposed to the idea of my doing battle, but...
Tamaki: Michiru...

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Tamaki: Iwao is worried about you, that's all... // He wants you to be able to live an ordinary life, like an ordinary girl...
Michiru: I understand that... But I have already decided...... // My "resolve"... is already fully made. // I would hate to be the only one left out... / Even though my nakama are fighting... // I cannot bring myself to simply watch from the sidelines!
Tamaki: ......I see... // (You have become strong... // It looks like the resolve displayed by Tokio made a deep impression on her...)
Michiru: I want to be able to help everybody out!

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Miiko: You really do have so many... // ...you know, I've heard. / All about your older brother......
Tokio: !
Miiko: "As for my brother, I will deal with him somehow!" // "I will!" "I will!"...... // But Michiru-san told you, right...? You were just putting yourself in danger, fighting like that... // ......Trying to bear all the burden yourself like that... / You don't have to!
Tokio: ......Miiko-san?
Miiko: Because you really do... // ...have so many of them! // Nakama!!

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Miiko: To be honest, I'm really jealous! / You really do have sooo many nakama, it's amazing!! // If you all just try to deal with this together... I'm sure things will work out somehow!
Hakutaku: Hoho... She's really telling you, Tokio-sama...
Tokio: ............ // ...You're right...
Miiko: You won't see each other for a little while, and that might be hard, but... / You've gotta do this mountain retreat! That's just how it's done! // If you hate it that much, then just get it over with! / You can become stronger and stronger, and amaze me over and over again!!
Tokio: ............ // ...Huh...... Honestly...... A girl like you...... // (My "time", which seemed to stop back on that day...)

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Tokio: (Right now...)
Miiko: .........Oh...
Tokio: (It seems to have started flowing again...)
Miiko: Finally... / You looked into my eyes...!
Tokio: Thank you.
Miiko: And I'm with ya too!
[TN: Not sure on that line ~_~]
[box: Japan... K City]

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[box: On this land, there are people who even now continue to battle against the Yoma from the underworld.]
Tokio: Brother... I will not lose...... // Miiko-san is here in K City... / I will be sure to protect it.
[bos: The K City Guardian Houses. // Our destiny has just begun to move...]
[insert text: Together! Looking straight ahead!! / Thank you for reading! We've collected 45 pages together into a final second volume, to be released on 2nd November!!]
[bottom text: Final Chapter / The End]
[TN: T_T Why did it have to get cancelled? ...Ah well. At least now I can say I've translated a full series from beginning to end XD]