Tegami Bachi 11

UPDATED 12/01/10. Slowly reworking the older TB translations. Volume 4 will be first, hopefully to be re-released by JAC with the omake added too.

International Translators / Scanlators: You're welcome to use this, but please include a credit for Niphredil.

Line break: New speech bubble / text box within the same panel
Blank line: New panel
Blue text: Edits
Corrections, comments, and advice always appreciated!

Page 1
Sylvette: First, the Heart Bullet Gun!
Sylvette: "Nocturne Number 20"

Sylvette: And secondly, here! Your lunch!
Lag: Waaa!!!

Sylvette: It's my own original recipe special soup!
Lag: Gross soup hand-made by the creator herself...

Sylvette: Be careful, Lag...!
Sylvette: Soon you'll probably be apprentice level...
Sylvette: But there aren't any deliveries which aren't dangerous! And—

Lag: Thanks, Sylvette...

Lag: I'll be fine! I definitely won't break the promise I made at your house.

Lag: "Whatever happens, I'll come back to this house no matter what!"
Lag: So... don't worry and just wait for me, Sylvette!
Sylvette: Lag...

2-3
Lag: See you later!!

Text: There's a star in the night sky which never sees the dawn...
Text: The ones who travel through that dark, dangerous region...
Text: The national government employees, "Bees"
Text: Their job is to deliver...
Text: The "Hearts" they call...
Text: "Letters"

Text: Chapter 11: The Lying Letter
Text bottom left: Asada Hiroyuki

4
Text: Two weeks after becoming a real "Bee" –
Text: In Yuusari Central, a town dyed in twilight,
Text: Having achieved his goal of becoming a Letter Bee, Lag moved forward, a day at a time...

Text: Chasing after the vanished Gauche... and the shadow of his mother...
Text: While aiming to reach the top rank of the Letter Bees

Text: The "Head Bee"...
Lag: Ni-Ni-Niche!!
Lag: W-What's with those pants?!

5
Lag: Where are your (my) usual big pants...?
Niche: That Sylvette girl washed them!

Lag: Washed them...?

Niche: She said that if I wore them, in exchange she wouldn't make the "Gross Soup" for three days, so I did.

Niche: Are you happy?
Lag text: Extremely happy
Lag: Thank you so, so much...

Niche: But these are weird, Lag!
Niche: They get stuck up my butt
Niche: And go "Pi!"
[TN: She means they fit snugly & tightly]

Lag: Is... Is that right... (weird?)
Niche: But...
Niche: Don't forget, Lag...

5
Niche: You're the only one who can make Niche wear pants
Niche: It's as Lag's Dingo that Niche went "Pi!"

Lag: ......
Lag: Th..
Lag: Thanks.....

Box: Today, Lag is again out on on a delivery with his Dingo Niche, child of the legendary creature "Maka".
Box: And the strange animal, Steak

Lag: So the only ones I know are Connor and Zaji...
Lag: And the express delivery guy Jiggy, though I've never met him...
Lag: It's hard to meet other Bees because we're always out on deliveries

7
Niche: You have a delivery too, Lag?
Lag: Yep!!

Lag: Today we're making a delivery in northwest Yuusari, after we pick up the Letters from "Black Milk Hood"
Lag: The pickup address should be around here...

Lag: H—
Lag: Hey!!
Lag: That's the Letter Bee uniform...!!

8
Lag: Excuse me...
Lag: Sorry to bother you while you're on a delivery!!

Lag: You're a Bee, right?
Mock: Yeah...
Lag: I'm Lag Seeing, a new Bee!
Mock: Lag...?

Lag: Yes!! I'm looking forward to working with you!!
Lag: This kid is my Dingo, Niche, and...
Niche: Niche's "Tasty When Grilled" St-

Mock: Whatever it's called, it just looks like disgusting bait.
Lag: Ah...
Lag: Really?
Steak: Nuniiii?!

Mock: I know about you. You're one from Yodaka
Mock: The country boy.

9
Mock: According to the rumour at the Bee Hive, a newcomer with an eye of Spirit Amber...
Mock: And the Heart Bullets you shoot... they can sense the "Heart" within objects, right?
Lag: Er...
Lag: Y... Yes...!

Mock: To think that someone like you could become a Bee...
Mock: I take issue with that!

Lag: W-Why's that?!
Mock: Why?

Mock: Does a Bee need an ability
Mock: That lets him peek at the contents of Letters?
Lag: !!

10
Lag: ......
Lag text: It... went in...

Mock: That was "Letters Through Door"
Mock: Country boy!

11
Mock: As long as a Letter gets through the door of the destination, that's all that matters.
Mock: Beyond that, we shouldn't have anything more to do with it.

Mock: Because for Bees, Letters are simply
Mock: "Things to be delivered"

Lag: I...
Lag: I think...

Lag: Letters are people's "Hearts"...
Lag: That's what Gauche Suede taught me...!!
Mock: Gauche? Never heard of him.

12
Mock: I'm Mock Sullivan.
Mock: Oh... Was it Lang? Lob?
Mock: Whatever, see you around
Mock: Not that I care anyway

Lag: IT'S LAG
Lag: SEEING!!

Mock: *ignore*
Lag: ......

Lag: Mock...
Lag: Sullivan...

13
Lag: Hello, Mr. Vincent Alcott!
Lag: I'm Lag Seeing, the Bee. I've come to pick up your post!

Vincent: Oh, you're early, aren't you!
Vincent: I haven't finished writing everything down yet.

Vincent: Just sit there and wait a little while, would you?
Lag: Ah.. alright...
Lag text: Where...?
Vincent: Don't touch those books over there! Otherwise I won't be able to find where anything is!

Vincent: ...Oh right! You!
Vincent: You got anything you're proud of that you could tell me about?
Lag: Something I'm... proud of?

Vincent: It doesn't matter what! Like... Something tasty you ate....
Vincent: Or somewhere really fun you went...
Lag: Ah...

14
Vincent: Please, I'm counting on you... Lag-kun, wasn't it?
Vincent: I've run out of fun things to lie about in my Letters...
Vincent: It's a real problem!

Lag: L..
Lag: Lies?!

Lag: Why are you putting lies in your letters?!
Vincent: Huh...?
Vincent: Are you stupid or something?
Vincent: Look at me. Just look at me!

Vincent: Stuck in this dust-filled, leaky roof, bug-infested room
Vincent: Unable to sell my stories, with only half-rotten beans to eat...
Vincent: There's no way I could write about this stuff to my mother who's out in the country worrying about me!

Lag: You're lying...
Lag: To your mother...

15
Lag: That's...
Lag: THAT'S WRONG!!!

Vincent: So loud!
Vincent text: You'll knock the books down...
Lag: You shouldn't lie!!

Lag: "Letters" are
Lag: The "Hearts" of people who write them, aren't they, Mr. Alcott?!

Vincent: I-I can write whatever I want!
Vincent: You just have to keep quiet and deliver them! It's nothing to do with you!!
Lag: But...

Mock: "Letters Through Door"
Mock: Beyond that, we shouldn't have anything more to do with it.

Vincent: Ugh... if you're gonna be so noisy then why don't you just wait outside!

16
Vincent: Right, let's see... "My books are quite popular" ...
Vincent: "And at the Cafe—" Wait! "...at the Bee Hive every day, the Director... " Am I overdoing it? Well, whatever!
Lag: ......
Vincent: Okay... after that...

Lag: Post collection complete...!

Lag: Our destination is Breath Mint Gelato, a small, mountaintop village in northeast Yuusari.
Lag: The Gaichuu territory covers a wide area around there, so whether we have to fight will depend on our timing...
Lag: But for this distance, it'll only take a day to go there and come back!
(Map marker, top) Destination: Breath Mint Gelato
(Map marker, bottom) Starting Point: Yuusari Central

Lag: Okay!
Lag: Let's—

SFX: SIIIIIGH

Lag: Delivering a letter full of lies about good things...
Lag: It's just not good for his mother...

Gauche: Even a single word is fine...

Gauche: For people living apart from one another
Gauche: A "Letter" is like the "Heart" of the person who wrote it

Lag: Gauche...

18
Lag: Is there any in this one?...
Lag: ......

Lag: Even in a Letter full of lies...
Lag: Is there really any
Lag: "Heart"?...

19
Man with very happy sheep: Ahh
Man with very happy sheep: If you're looking for Mrs. Alcott's house, it's on the other side of the Gale Bridge
Man with very happy sheep: It's the only house on the other side of the suspension bridge, you can't miss it

Lag: Suspenson bridge...?

20
Lag: ......
Lag: Eh..
Lag: Ehh...
Lag: Ehhhhhh?!

21
Lag: Wahhhh!! Niche!!
Lag: Stop doing that! Stop doing that!

22
Niche: You can do it, Lag!
Niche: We're so high up you can't see anything down below!
Lag: Niche... that's not helping at all

(Louisa Alcott) : Good day!
Lag: Ah... hello!
Lag: Eh?

Lag: Huh?
Lag: Good day?
(Louisa Alcott): Good day!

(Louisa Alcott): You're a Letter Bee, aren't you?
(Louisa Alcott): There's only one house around here...

(Louisa Alcott): You wouldn't by any chance
(Louisa Alcott): Be looking for my house, would you?

Lag: A-Are you Mrs. Louisa Alcott?
Louisa Alcott: Yes, that's me.
Lag: Y-Y-Yes, I was looking for your house...

23
Lag: Um... Here...
Lag: It's from your son...
Lag: I'm here to deliver a Letter from Vincent Alcott

Louisa Alcott: Oh my...!
Louisa Alcott: From my son...

Lag: What...?

Niche: Lag!
Niche: Above you!

24-25
Lag: !!!!

Lag: Gaichuu...
Lag: Duvel!!!!
[TN: Possibly Flemish for "devil"]

Lag: !!!
Lag: Agh..!!

26
Lag: !!
Lag: Uh oh... I think the bridge is going to collapse!!
Lag: Niche!! Carry Mrs. Alcott across the bridge!!

Louisa Alcott: Oh my goodness!!
Louisa Alcott: Oh my!! Oh my!!

Lag: Did the Gaichuu jump up from the valley?...
Lag: It's coming back...!!
Lag: Hurry up, Ni—

27
Lag: Oh no...
Lag: Vincent's...
Lag: Letter...!!

Lag: Ngh...

28
Lag: ......
Lag: Should I go...?!
Lag: Across a collapsing bridge...

Lag: For a Letter full of lies...
Lag: Which might not even contain any "Heart" at all...

Lag: Should I risk my life for that....?!

29
Lag: I wonder what kind of "Letter" I was...
Lag: To Gauche...

Lag: You... and Letter Bees...
Lag: I hate you both!

Gauche: I'll deliver you to Cambel...
Gauche: No matter what...!!

Lag: I have to do it...
Gauche/Lag: Because that's...

Lag: The job of a Letter Bee!!!

30
Lag: !!
Lag: Uh—
Lag: Waaaaah
Lag: Aaaaaaah

Lag: ...!! [small text] nngh...
Lag: The Letter—!
Lag: Wha—

31
Lag: !!!
Lag: Whaaa—Niche!!
Lag: Niche...
Lag: Watch out!! Behind you!!!

32
[....]

33
Lag: Niche...
Steak: Nunini!!
Steak: Nuniiiii!!!

Lag: ......!!!
Lag: There's a gap...!!

Lag: The bullets I shoot... are fragments of my "Heart"...

Lag: Heart Bullet!!
Lag: Loaded!!!

34
Lag: AKABARI!!!! [Red Needle]

35
Lag: The Heart...
Lag: Resound!!!

Lag: Deep within!!!!

36
Louisa Alcott: Are... are you kids alright?!
Lag: Yes! Somehow...! Are you okay, Mrs. Alcott?
Louisa Alcott: Don't worry about me, just climb up quickly!!

37
Louisa Alcott: ......
Vincent: Not again...
Louisa Alcott: What...
Vincent: ......
Vincent: Not again...

Newspaper Employee: A book about a kid who tells made-up stories?
Newspaper Employee: It says this is a fantasy adventure...?

Vincent: No matter how many I write, no one wants them...

Newspaper Editor: No one would read this stuff...
Newspaper Editor: This is a newspaper!

Lag: ......!!
Lag: This is... Vincent's "Heart"...?
Lag: Does that mean... my Heart Bullet hit the Letter?

Lag: Argh.. so that..!!
Lag: That was a real memory...?!
Lag: Waaaaaaah!! I mustn't look!!

38
Lag: Here it is...!!
Lag: This is the Letter written with...
Lag: Your son's...

Vincent: Damn it...
Vincent: Damn it.....

Louisa Alcott: Vincent...!!

Lag: ......

Mock: Does a Bee need an ability that lets him peek at the contents of Letters?

Lag: It's just like that Mock guy said...
Lag: Mrs. Alcott...
Lag: I.... I'm really sorry....

39
Lag: It's just like he said...!!
Lag: I'm really sor—

Louisa Alcott: You're...
Louisa Alcott: Fighting for it...
Louisa Alcott: and trying your best, aren't you...

Louisa Alcott: ......
Louisa Alcott: Thank goodness...

Lag: ......
Lag: Mrs.... Alcott...

Louisa Alcott: Ever since my son ran off from home saying "I'm going to be a writer"...
Louisa Alcott: He's been sending me Letters full of made-up things to stop me from worrying
Louisa Alcott: But even with him doing that... It just made me worry even more!

40
Lag: You mean...
Lag: Vincent always lies in his Letters?
Louisa Alcott: Yes...

Louisa Alcott: Even though that boy's so good at writing fantasy stories, he's a terrible liar
Louisa Alcott: Isn't that strange?

Louisa Alcott: But, what he writes isn't all that important...
Louisa Alcott: I'm just happy that my son thought to write me Letters

Louisa Alcott: Always trying to look good
Louisa Alcott: And bad at lying...

Louisa Alcott: This Letter really is
Louisa Alcott: Just like my son...

41
Vincent: I'm sorry, Mum...
Vincent: I'm sorry
Vincent: Even though you sold our house just so I could go to school...
Vincent: Uuu..

Vincent: For leaving you all alone, I...
Vincent: I...
Vincent: Mum...

Vincent: No matter how many times I have to throw it out and start over again...
Vincent: I'll never give up!!
Vincent: You'll see, I'll write my great masterpiece!!

Vincent: A story that'd resound within anyone's heart...
Vincent: I'll definitely write it!!
Vincent: No matter what...

42-43
Louisa Alcott: I can really believe now...
Louisa Alcott: That someday... all of that will come true...

Louisa Alcott: And that I'll see my son come home, glowing with pride...


Louisa Alcott: The Letter you delivered is very special
Louisa Alcott: My sweet little Letter Bee...
Louisa Alcott: Thank you

Louisa Alcott: For delivering my son's "Heart"...
Louisa Alcott: And for giving me...
Louisa Alcott: "Hope" to live on for tomorrow...

44
Lag: Hey Niche...
Lag: I wonder what kind of book Vincent will write

Lag: I'm sure it'll be a great story...
Lag: I'd like to read it...

Lag: Oh right! When we get back to Central we can drop by and bring h—
Lag: --whaaa?!

Lag: Niche?!
Lag: W-W-W-
Lag: WHERE ARE YOUR PANTS?!

45
Steak: Nunii......

Niche: Those pants that Sylvette gave me that go Pi-! are weird! I don't want them anymore!
Lag text: Steak... is wearing them...

Lag: ...But...
Lag: That... that's just for Sylvette's ones, right?...
Lag: I mean... I guess even I would change my mind after wearing those too...

Lag: I've decided! With my first paycheck
Lag: The first thing I'll do is buy big pants for Niche!

Niche: Can I go with you?
Lag: That's... that's fine but...
Lag: Before that
Lag: PLEASE PUT YOUR PANTS ON!!!!