Yao Tsukumo 1

*For Psylocke Scans

p1:
Ikume-Irihiko-Isachi-no-Mikoto proclaimed / that he was to be brought the Tokijiku-no-Kagu-no-Konomi.

This task was bequeathed to Taji-Mamori. / What sort of object was it?

It was a fruit which bore its scent through all seasons, / whose scent was said to never, ever vanish.

And furthermore, / he who ate of that fruit would there and then return to youthful form and never again age.

p2:
Title: Chapter 1: The Maiden of the Tokijiku

That is the power / of the Tokijiku. / A miracle drug granting unaging immortality.

[story title]: Yao Tsukumo

p3:
[blue text]: Spinning a tale / of the life of the girl who bears eternal time.

Presented by / Suzuki Nanami

p5:
Girl: Hah / Hah / Haah

Girl: No! / Stop! / Please, let me go…

(?): Oh? / This scent / is wrong.

p6:
(?): So where / is the Maiden of the Tokijiku?

p7:
Sign: Tachibana Kendojo

Tsukumo: Ah!

p8:
Tsukumo: Mask!

Ref(?): Point! / Winner: / Tachibana Tsukumo!!!

Tsukumo: Hah
Cloth: Tachibana

Tsukumo: *Sigh*

p9:
<no text>

p10:
Girls: Nice! / You did it, Tachibana Tsukumo! / You, the only daughter of the Tachibana Dojo, scored a point on Shihan!
[inset]: (top): Congrats! Congrats!
(bottom): Thank you! Thank you!

Tsukumo: Shihan, / thanks for increasing my allowance like you promised!

Father: Do not grow prideful, Tsukumo! Do you believe scoring a single point makes you a warrior? You must maintain your calm! Clearly, I must again teach you the basics of a warrior’s spirit! / Now sit!!

Girls: Well, we’ll head out now, then.
Tsukumo: Wait—

Girls: Good luck, Tsukumo!
Tsukumo: You three meanies!

p11:
Father: Listen to me, Tsukumo.

Father: You must know yourself, and work to improve yourself. / In other words:

Tsukumo: Huh? / Huh? / Huh?

Tsukumo: Ah! / That’s a really big bruise!

Tsukumo: I thought you might have hit me back there.
Father: You thought?!

Tsukumo: That’s cold! / You could put it on a little more gently, Father…

p12:
Father: So you really don’t feel anything other than the coldness.

Box: From the day I was born, I’ve never felt any pain.
Tsukumo: Yeah. / There’s no pain.

Tsukumo: I have a sense of touch and can feel temperature, / but for some reason pain is different.

Father: That bruise shouldn’t be enough to interrupt your training. / [inset]: Don’t worry about it, don’t worry about it.
Tsukumo: Thank goodness.

Father: Look, / how many times have I told you? / You’re not like other people.

p13:
Father: That’s why I have used martial arts to train your mind and body. / You shouldn’t overestimate yourself, Tsukumooooo!

Father: It looks like your summer oranges have grown bigger, Tsukumo! / No—they’re more like dekopons!

Box: And this is my idiot father.

Mother: Husband, Tsukumo, / dinner’s ready!

[inset]: You perverted old man!
Mother: My goodness.

p14:
Tsukumo: Ah!

Tsukumo: Sorry, Mom, / but I’m having dinner with Chii-chan tonight.
Mother: Oh, is that so?

Mother: There’s been a random slasher on the streets at night lately. / Be careful out there, Tsukumo.

Tsukumo: I’ll be fine! / Leave it to me!

Tsukumo: I’ll be off!

Mother: She said “leave it to me,” right?
Father: She must be / planning something, again.

p15:
Mother: But / she’s such a good girl, / right, husband?

Father: I know that much, / wife.

Mother: Also, / husband?

Mother: There was a call from the main family.

Father: Sorry. Take care of things today, too.

p16:
Mother: I will.

Box: Yes. I feel no pain.
Sign: Watch for the slasher!

Box: And that’s why

Box: I can’t bear to watch people get hurt.

p17:
Box: I won’t show mercy to anyone who wounds another!

Punks: What the hell, bitch? / You watchin’ something? / You wanna play, too?

p18:
Tsukumo: Mask!!!

Punk: Ah! / ‘The hell you doin’?!

Tsukumo: You’ll bite your tongue,

Tsukumo: Mr. Slasher!

p19:
Tsukumo: Killing blow!

Tsukumo: Power Bomb!

Box: Mom, dad, I did it. / I avenged my friend, Chii-chan.

Box: I, Tachibana Tsukumo, captured the slasher!

p20:
Chii-chan: Tsukumo, / those people aren’t the slasher!

Tsukumo: Bwuh?

(?): You idiot.

p21:
Chii-chan: The slasher is pitch-black, / gangly, / and wears a wide-brimmed hat / and a sword… He’s nothing like them.

Chii-chan: Tsukumo, / trying to capture the slasher is really dangerous. / You should stop.

Tsukumo: I can’t stop, Chii-chan.

Tsukumo: It hurt when he cut you, right? / You didn’t like it when he chased you down, right?

p22:
Chii-chan: Yeah.

Chii-chan: But I was one of the lucky ones. / Others were hurt a lot worse than I.

Tsukumo: Yeah… / Those girls must’ve felt a lot of pain.

Tsukumo: I don’t want any girls to have such painful memories. / And I won’t just sit back and wait for him to be caught!

Chii-chan: Tsukumo…

p23:
Tsukumo: Also, did you see / how gallant I was?

Tsukumo (?): Right now, I’m in perfect form. / And Tsukumo-san’s going to become even stronger! *

Chii-chan: So this is all because you feel no pain, right? / Are you worried you won’t become stronger?

Tsukumo: Uh, yeah. / And there’s one more reason, too: / A promise.

SFX: Ring

p24:
(?): Tsukumo!

(?): I told you that tree has thorns and that you needed to be careful!
Tsukumo: But it feels so nice under that tree!

Box: It was back when I was four. / I have faint memories of a certain boy.
(?): Take this, Tsukumo.
Box: Though I’ve forgotten both his name and face.

SFX: Ring

Tsukumo: Wow! / Pretty!
(?): It’s a charm that will stop you from ever hurting yourself again.

p25:
(?): You’re going to grow strong one day. / And someday,

(?): I’ll protect you, Tsukumo.

Box: His eyes / always looked so sad and alone.

Box: And then / I happened to think:

p26:
Tsukumo: Yeah! / I’ll grow strong! / Stronger than anybody else! / And then

Tsukumo: I’ll protect you, ■ ■ ■!!!

(?): You’re a weird one, / Tsukumo.

p27:
Tsukumo: So yeah.

Chii-chan: … / That / was a PROPOSAL, right?

Tsukumo: Chii-chan, that reaction was all wrong! <aside: You should’ve gone, “That’s just like you, Tsumuko,” or something! > / He must have been thirteen or fourteen at the time!

Chii-chan: So now, twelve years later, / he must’ve grown up into an elegant, hot 25- or 26-year-old.

[inset]: Tsukumo

p28:
Tsukumo: OK, OK, OK, OK, OK!!! Girls talk is now over!
Chii-chan: Interesting.

Tsukumo: So then, I’m going to take another look around.
Chii-chan: Don’t push yourself too hard, Tsukumo.

Tsukumo: I’ll definitely get that slasher!

Chii-chan: OK.

p29:
Tsukumo: So then!

Tsukumo: You’ve been following me for a while now. / But I’ve caught you now!

Tsukumo: Who are you? / Show yourself!

p30:
<no text>

p31:
Tsukumo: Huh? / … A boy?

Tsukumo: But / What is / this feeling…

p32:
(?): You are an idiot, Tsukumo.

(?): Come.

Tsukumo: Huh? What?

(?): The spirits have noticed you. Now run!

Tsukumo: Quit it! Let go of me!

(?): I can’t! / Don’t leave my side!

p33:
Tsukumo: Huh?! / What / do you think you’re doing?

(?): So, / you’ve forgotten about me entirely.

Tsukumo: Fay!
(?): “Fay”?

Tsukumo: Your face is too close!!!!
(?): Ow!

Tsukumo: So who are you? / What middle school do you go to? Tell me!!!
(?): “Middle school”?

p34:
(?): Tsukumo, have there been any changes to your body?
Tsukumo: Huh?

(?): Any changes to your ability to sense things?

(?): I am asking whether or not / you have lost something besides pain.

Tsukumo: What? / How do you know…

p35:
Tsukumo: Huh? What’s this smell? / It stinks!

(?): Tch. / It’s the smell of iron. / Shit…

p36:
Tsukumo: Gangly, / pitch-black, / and a wide-brimmed hat.

Tsukumo: It’s the slasher!!

p37:
(?): You idiot! Run!!
Tsukumo: Don’t get in my way!!

Tsukumo: I’ll avenge Chii-chan!

(?): Stop!

p38:
Tsukumo: Huh?

Slasher: My apologies. / My cutting edge has again grown dull.

p39:
(?): Tsukumo!!!

Slasher: You / are quite / boorish.

p40-41:
<no text>

p42:
Tsukumo: Huh? / Huh?

p43:
<no text>

p44:
Slasher: Augh, again my blade has been chipped. / I ask you, what sort of blade designed to cut down humans dulls after only two or three people? Don’t you think that’s a little

Slasher: odd?

Tsukumo: Ahh!

p45:
Slasher: The brain?

Slasher: The heart? / No. / It must be

Slasher: the liver.

Slasher: This time I am certain. / This is the miraculous eternal drug—the fruit which bears its scent through all seasons.

p46:
Slasher: You are the Tokijiku-no-Kagu-no-Konomi— / the Maiden of the Tokijiku.

Tsukumo: “Tokijiku…”?

Slasher: So long as I possess / the flesh and blood of the Tokijiku / eternity / will be mine.

p47:
Slasher: My master passed away some years ago. / Since he kept me hidden, when he died I was left alone.

Slasher: However, I cannot live for long without a human’s power.

Slasher: But with the power of the Tokijiku, / I can cut all things once more: dogs, cats—

p48:
Slasher: and humans.

Tsumuko: Wh—what the hell are you saying? / You’re not making… any… any sense!

Tsumuko: This isn’t nearly enough to hurt me! / And I’m sure not scared…

Slasher: A lady must be graceful.

p49:
<no text>

p50:
Tsumuko: Shit! Shit… Shit…..

p51:
Slasher: Oh, what a fragrant aroma.

Slasher: Truly, this is the smell of the eternal fruit.

p52-54:
<no text>

p55:
(?): … Ugh. / Gah.. / Ah…

Slasher: Oh… / Hii… / You’re…

(?): Mo… / Tsu… / Tsuku…mo. / …Don’t…

p56:
(?): Don’t lay a finger / on Tsukumo!!!

p57:
(?): Oh great skein, / who meanders through this mortal realm!

(?): I beg thee listen to my call.

(?): Thy name is God of Gouging.

p58:
Gouge through!

p59:
Slasher: It can’t be… / You! / The power of the Tokijiku…

Slasher: No fair! / No fair! / No fair!!!!

(?): You have lived a long life. / Now, as steel,

(?): Return to the earth.

p60:
Tsukumo: No. / Stay away… / What are you?

(?): Remember, / Tsukumo.

p61:
Yao: My name / is Yao.

Yao: I will protect you, Tsukumo

Tsukumo: No… / It can’t be…

Yao: So you

p62-63:
Yao: must kill me.

p64:
Box: His eyes looked so lonely / and in pain.

Box: Thus the story

Box: of me

Box: and the suicidal boy

Box: began its end.