xxxHOLiC 172

1
xxxHOLiC
Chapter 172
[Side text: Watanuki's unwavering gaze...]
Watanuki: You told me that you don't want to know, isn't that right? // About other people... // ...and most of all, about yourself. // Let me ask you this... isn't the real reason you don't want to know yourself... // ...not because you find yourself "disgusting"...

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Watanuki: ...but because you're "afraid"?

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[Side text: When you cook, you put something of "yourself" into what you create. Watanuki believes that this is what cooking signifies. Will his earnest insistence get through to her?!]
Watanuki: You're afraid. // Afraid of knowing other people, and more than anything, of knowing yourself. // Isn't that the reason you don't want to eat the things you've made?

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Client: Why does it have to be like that?! // I just don't want to eat it... that's all...!
Watanuki: Because that's... / ...how it is with me.
Client: Wha...?

5
Watanuki: As I told you just now, I can't grasp the taste of the food that I make. / It isn't just that I don't know what I like or dislike... // I don't know what I have eaten in the past, what kind of people I have associated with... / ...and to be honest... // ...that really scares me.

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Watanuki: Knowing yourself can be a frightening thing, I understand that... // ...but I'd say not knowing yourself... // ...to me, at least... / ...is far, far more frightening.

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Watanuki: But then... / ...I have people who eat the things I make... / ...and tell me that they find it delicious. // I may not be able to grasp the taste myself... // ...but I believe in those people.

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Client: Wh... / Why... // Why do I have to listen to all this... // ...coming from someone I only just met?!

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Watanuki: Because we may not see each other again. // Just because we can see each other today is no guarantee that we will see each other tomorrow. / There will never be another moment the same as this moment right now. // That's something I learnt from working at this shop and meeting all kinds of different people. // And also...

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Watanuki: "There is no coincidence in this world." // "Everything is 'hitsuzen'". // Or so Yuuko-san is always telling me, anyway... // It's like her specialty. // Since we're lucky enough to have met one another like this...

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Watanuki: I'd like us to do some cooking together, then eat it together... // ...and to be able to learn... / ...about you. // And I'd like you to learn... / ...about me, too. // So how about it... // Shall we make those rice balls?

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[SFX: CRA~~~~~SH]
Himawari: What was that?
[SFX: tap tap tap]
Kohane: From the kitchen?
Watanuki: Wait, please...!
[SFX: scramble]

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[SFX: SLAM]
Himawari: Watanuki-kun?!

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Kohane: Are you all right?
Watanuki: Yes... / I'm all right...
[Side text: Wanting to find his true self, wanting to know the true meaning he is here. To Watanuki, cooking is a bond connecting him with his friends!!]
[Bottom text: The woman rejects eating her cooking. What fate awaits her...?! We'll have to wait until next issue!!]