Mayonaka no X Giten 3

Mayonaka no X Giten 3

p1: =====================================
[upper right]: Will you vow to truly love me and me alone?
[upper left]: #03: What She Held Dear
[lower right]: Written by Yamaguchi Mikoto / Art by BAREISHO

p2: =====================================
I’ll avenge my sister.
The culprit must be one of the seven people besides myself who participated in the Ritual.

Which means you’re a suspect, too.

p3: =====================================
Did you
/ kill my sister?
[sfx]: Crouch

Of… Of course not!
Why would I? It wouldn’t make me even one yen.

If you want to prove that, then tell me who it was you entered.

…That’s…

p4: =====================================
I don’t want to say.
[sfx]: Turn away
Wha…?

Why not?! If you don’t tell me, you can’t prove your innocence!
…It’s just, you see, the person whose body I entered…

Must be the culprit who killed your sister.

p5: =====================================
What… did you say?

Then you have to tell me!!
Not for free.

You want something?
Yes!
/ Your use of my body has fucked me up pretty bad.

So I won’t tell you who the culprit is…
until you clear up the shit you caused.

p6: =====================================
This is… fan mail?
/ What about it?
Would I be showing you this if it were just a regular piece of fan mail?

The problem is that this was delivered straight here, to my room.
/ There’s lots of fans who know what neighborhood I live in, but for him to find out my exact address means…
He’s a pretty tenacious stalker.

A stalker?
[bg]: {
You need to be punished. <3
EEEEEEEEKKKKKK
}
[inset]: Did he follow me afterwards?
[bubble, far left]: Oh!

p7: =====================================
Hey. You just realized something, didn’t you?
..Uh…err…
So something did happen. You bastard…

OK, I… I see…

So a man approached you, saying he was my boyfriend…

And then…?

You… You really didn’t do it?
Do… Do what?
Have sex, obviously! Can’t you take a hint?!!

Here—look at this!
…?!

p8: =====================================
<no text>

p9: =====================================
This… definitely looks like you’re doing it.
[inset]: Whoa…
It’s fake! Photoshopped!!

If you’re sure you didn’t do it, then these have to be ‘shopped.
/ Composite images… But the real problem here is…
[sfx]: Strip!
…! Why are you taking off your clothes?!!

You get all up in arms thinking you lost your virginity, but you’re fine being naked?!!
[inset]: ?
Huh? I’m a professional.
/ An idol’s job is to be gazed upon. All’s good, so long as I don’t show them the most important bits.
That’s way too extreme!!

More importantly, look at this mole here…
/ They made sure to include it in the composite image.
[sfx]: Squish
Although, I do wear some risqué outfits, so they might’ve been able to find that out.

However…
!
[sfx]: Slip

p10: =====================================
Then there’s this scar…
I’ve been hiding it.. No one knows about it.
[sfx]: Slide…

However, they included it in this photo.
[sfx]: Pow!
He must’ve seen it when I threw out that high kick…

The stalker said that, if I don’t let him make me his,
/ he’s going to give these images to the media and spread them all over the ‘Net.

That
/ is why I plan to make him disappear.
!

…”Disappear”… Are you saying you’re—

p11: =====================================
If you’re going to use that body to off one person,
then what’s the big deal about adding one more?

You…! Are you telling me to be a murderer?!

Yeah,
I am.

p12: =====================================
QUIT SCREWING AROUND!!

You don’t have to kill anyone!
Just go to the police, and that’ll solve everything, right?!

I can’t. It’d be a scandal.
/ Doesn’t matter if it’s false. If rumors spread, before you know it people’ll start adding embellishments,
and it’ll damage my stock, which I’ve been working so hard to build up!


Your “stock”?
You mean, your stock as a top idol?

Is that that important to you?
/ What’s it get you that makes it worth killing someone?

p13: =====================================
Money.

Top idols make money.
/ Like hell I’m going to let go of this gold mine so easily.

For… For money?

That’s bullshit!!
[sfx]: Pound!
Who’d murder someone for that?!!

p14: =====================================
[sfx]: Slap!

Don’t call it “bullshit.”

You don’t get to say that—you don’t know anything!!

…
/ But… I mean, money? You can—
Enough.
If you can’t do it…

p15: =====================================
Then I will.

You can just stand there and watch.

Then I’ll give you the info.

Thanks for waiting, Miku-Miku.

[sfx]: Crunch…
You wore that for me, didn’t you? It looks wonderful on you.

p16: =====================================
And you must have come here…
/ to accept my proposal.

….
[sfx]: Shake-shake

………Huh?

Then… Then what?
/ Y—You’re not going to say you can’t marry me, are you…?
[sfx]: Nod

DON’T FUCK WITH ME!!

p17: =====================================
How many times do I have to say it?! Who is it you have to thank for your present lifestyle?!

Me, right?!
Because I bought so many of your CD’s, right?!
Ugh!
[sfx]: Slam!
How many? Just how many do you think I bought?!!

A hundred!! 160,100 yen worth!!
Do you have any idea how much I had to beg to Mommy to get her to give me the money?!

Don’t just stand there! Say something!!
…D…Die.
Yeah, you’re going to die, bitch! Death’s scary, isn’t it?!!

p18: =====================================
The only one who’s going to die here is you, you piece of shit.

?!!
[sfx]: Pow!

p19¨=====================================
What?!
[sfx]: Clatter!

[sfx]: Snap!
Wh… Who are you?!

[sfx, top]: Clench
[sfx], right]: Winding up…

p20: =====================================
You think a hundred fucking CD’s buys you a girlfriend?!!!
[sfx]: Kapow!

Do you have any fucking idea how much I’ve put up with
/ just to make it this far?!
[sfx]: Grab!

One hour earlier
Th… That’s…

p21: =====================================
This is your first time participating in the Ritual, right?
[sfx]: Slide
So you wouldn’t know this, but…

Besides swapping eight people’s souls at random,
these cards have one additional use.

They can directly exchange souls.
[sfx]: Press

[sfx]: Press
We put our cards up against our foreheads, like this,

and then we touch our foreheads together.
[sfx]: Bump!

p22: =====================================
Next, we stay like this for one minute…
Do that, and our souls will switch bodies.

I’ll kill the fucking stalker,
/ using your body!

You can just watch from inside mine.

p23: =====================================
But you better not get in my way.
/ If you do, I’m not telling you a single thing I know.
[sfx]: Clench!

Like hell I’m going to sit by and watch as some piece of shit ruins my life!!
S… Stop. I… I won’t follow her anymore, just…

It’s too late! You shouldn’t have brought a knife.
Now I’ve got an untraceable murder weapon!

GO TO HELL!!
[sfx]: Swoosh!

Aiieee!
[sfx]: Slice!

p24: =====================================
[sfx]: Drip / drip

I told you not to get in my way!
Do you want the information or not?!

That’s enough… I can’t watch this anymore…
[sfx]: *Quivering*
What? …Are you actually sympathizing with him?

p25: =====================================
No!
/ …It’s not that.

But I’m watching myself kill someone right in front of me,
/ and I look so… so…
[sfx]: Huff / Huff

Did I like that, when the culprit killed my sister?

Did my face look that cruel,
that heartless…?!

So how could I sit here and watch?!!

p26: =====================================
Hey, tell me why! Why are you so desperate for money?!!

You’ve got all those banknotes in that drawer of yours—are you that low on cash?!
………..

Don’t look away—look at me!!
[sfx]: Yank!

p27: =====================================
….I.

…What… is this sensation?
[lower right]…you?
[upper left]: …….And
…….is…

This…
[insert, far left]: is just like back then…
[bg flashback]: {
[going in columns here]
Miku… Miku-Miku. *Pant* Pant*
Mikuriya Mikuni’s my waifu.
Miku-Miku’s all mine.
[starting second column]: So you can’t just do whatever you want.
You have to do exactly what I want.
And if you can’t, then you need to be punished. <3
[insert]: Is this…
}

p28: =====================================
[upper right quadrant]
Mother… Mother, it hurts…
Just be patient, Mikuni. The doctor will come soon and make it all better!

[upper left quadrant]
Doctor, is Mikuni that sick?
She is…
/ However, it’s not incurable. If she stays strong and keeps taking her medicine…

….The medicine costs…
this much?

[lower right quadrant]
Mother… Mother… It hurts.
Just be patient, Mikuni. Now, take your medicine.

Mother… Motherrrr…
Just be patient… Right now… I’m going to give you your medicine… Your 30,000 yen medicine…

[lower left quadrant]
Mother…
Where are you…?
Mother…?

p29: =====================================
[in rows on this page, roughly]
Hey, Mikuni-chan.
You poor thing, abandoned by your mother.

Sniff…..*Hick*…
/ Mother…
[sfx]: Bam!
Eeek!!

No crying now, Mikuni-chan.
/ You’re such a burdensome child.
[sfx]: Menacingly

Do you understand?
[sfx]: Drip…
You’ve cost us all oh so much.
/ The longer you live, the more everyone else has to suffer.

That’s why your mother abandoned you.
[sfx]: Grin

From now on, until the day you’ve paid back the money you owe,
you only get to cry or laugh when I tell you to.

p30: =====================================
[sfx]: Bawling

Wh… What’s with the waterworks…?
!

You… You didn’t.

Did you look inside my mind?

p31: =====================================
I’m sorry…

I just called what you said “bullshit” without even thinking,
without having any idea what money means to you.

Because of it… You’ve suffered so much,
/ lost so much…

But… I know you might not be happy to hear this, but…
[sfx]: Firmly…

p32: =====================================
It… It wasn’t your fault she abandoned you!
So please… Please, stop blaming yourself!

Wha…

I…
/ I don’t—I mean…!!
[sfx]: Jump!

[sfx]: Bawling
Huh…?

p33: =====================================
[sfx]: *Sigh*…
H… Hey,
why’re you crying so much?
/ What are you, a crybaby? Stop being such a girl.

SHUT UP!
/ Y—You haven’t been able to cry for ten years,
so I’m crying all the tears you couldn’t!!
[sfx]: Wipe x2

Ha ha… The hell?
/ That’s super lame, you idiot.

p34: =====================================
I… was sort’ve abandoned by my parents.

Then I was sent to a home, and…
Well, some pretty bad things happened after that…
……

And then… I mean… well…
Ha ha… I don’t really know how to say it.

p35: =====================================
But I guess I don’t have to explain.
/ You saw the whole thing anyways.

So let me tell you just whose body I entered…
…Are you sure?

Yeah… It’s fine.
/ I mean, that stalker’s saying from the bottom of his heart he won’t do anything else.
I… I ‘on’t do anyt’ing.
Yeah, that’s for sure.

So tell me.
Tell me whose body you entered.
/ And…

Tell me why you’re so confident that person’s the one who killed my sister!

p36: =====================================
After the Ritual started,
/ once I opened my eyes, I saw—

the inside of a prison.
And I was inside the body…
/ of a person who had brutally murdered three people for sport…
[insert]: Next time, a hasty meeting with our new suspect!!