xxxHOLiC 171

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[Side text: Watanuki has invited the woman to the shop... what is he trying to do?!]
[BubbleSFX: creak]
Watanuki: I'm sorry for making you come all this way.
Client: No, that's fine. // Although if you're just going to be teaching me to cook, / I don't see what's wrong with my own house...

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xxxHOLiC
Chapter 171
[Insert text: When the butterfly dream is realised, what manner of reality will be born? // Haruka spoke of this. / Even a dream, if you believe, and wish, can become reality with the help of those you love. The butterfly never ceased to dream... // And so Watanuki asked the question. // "Is the butterfly... Yuuko-san?" // As the dream goes on, with no sign of awakening, to what manner of reality will it lead...?!]

4
Yuuko: You want to cook here?
Watanuki: ...Yes.

5
Yuuko: I thought you were carrying out the lessons at her house?
Watanuki: I was. // But...
Yuuko: ...All right. // You can pay me for the trouble with some nice sake and some home-made accompaniments of your own.
Watanuki: Yes, yes, I know! // I've already made preparations to cook some katsuo shigureni...
[TN: Tha~~~~t's skipjack tuna cooked in soy sauce and mirin. Apparently.]

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Yuuko: Is that what you're going to teach her to make?
Watanuki: No. / She's going to be making...
Client: ...Rice balls?
Watanuki: That's right.

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Client: Well... / To be honest, I think I could make those without any help, but...
Watanuki: I don't doubt it. // But today, I want you to make them, and eat them. // Yourself.

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Mokona: So, she's here.
Doumeki: Yeah.
Mokona: ...Do you think she'll eat it?
[SFX: gulp]
Doumeki: It'll work out somehow. // Knowing him.

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[SFX: smile]
Mokona: Drink up!
[SFX: glug glug]
Doumeki: Yeah.
Client: I'm sure we've discussed this before... / Things that I've made myself...
Watanuki: You don't like to eat them, right? // You find things you've made yourself to be disgusting.

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Client: Quite.
Watanuki: But you're all right with looking, aren't you?
Client: Hmm?
Watanuki: Looking at yourself. / You can do that, can't you?

11
Client: Well... // ...yes.
Watanuki: And touching your own body. / You can do that, can't you?
[TN: ...That's actually really difficult to translate without sounding rather dirty... ~_~]
Client: ...I'm not sure... / ...what exactly you are trying to say...

12
Himawari: Hello there.
Doumeki/Mokona: Hey.
Kohane: Hello.
Himawari: I met Kohane on the way here. / She said she was going to Yuuko-san's shop as well, so we came together.
[SFX: nod]
Himawari: I came along because Watanuki-kun asked me to...
[SFX: boing]

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Kohane: Is Kimihiro-kun in the kitchen?
Doumeki: That's right.
Kohane: Can I go and help him?
[SFX: boing]
Mokona: There's a client here right now. / In the kitchen. // Watanuki's in there with her.
Himawari: A client of Yuuko-san's?

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Mokona: Nah. // Of Watanuki's.
Watanuki: ...Right now, I don't know the flavour of my own food.
Client: ...What?
Watanuki: To be precise, I don't have any memory of tasting it.

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Client: I don't really know what you...
Watanuki: No, I suppose you wouldn't. / I don't understand it myself. // But I can still cook just fine. // Even if it's not there in my memory, my body still remembers.

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Watanuki: It's something I really enjoy. / Cooking. // I live alone, so I do all sorts of housework for myself, / but I like cooking more than anything else. // To be able to make others happy with something you've made yourself... // But recently, after hearing a certain person say that's not all there is to it, I got to thinking.

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Watanuki: I think that cooking can be an expression of one's "self".
Client: "Self"...?
Watanuki: Of what the person who made it likes... / ...or dislikes... // Of what they've eaten in the past, who they've met, what they've thought about... // That's why...

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Watanuki: I think people make food for others because they want those people to know them a little better. // And perhaps eating the food that you yourself have made... is a way of better knowing yourself.
[SFX: clench]
[Side text: His true self... what he's always wanted to express, and always wanted to know. That wish, embodied in the form of food... will it be able to move this client's heart?!]
[Bottom text: The OAV's going great; don't miss the report on the next page!! The next chapter will be on sale 19th January!!]