Tegami Bachi 20

It's been a long few weeks away from translating :x Computer woes meant I couldn't do much of anything, but everything should be fine now! So my apologies for the ridiculous delay on this chapter, I hope someone can enjoy this nonetheless :x Any advice, comments, and corrections appreciated! Thanks for reading.

Scanlators / International Translators: You're welcome to use this translation, as long as you credit Niphredil @ MangaHelpers.


Line break: New speech bubble / text box within the same panel
Blank line: New panel
Blue lines are edits
Page numbering is by the raw filenames.


-01-
Vertical text, left: The boy, silently maintaining a swarm of machines. Just what is this murmuring he hears...?

Speech: ......
Speech: Get...
Speech: Out...

Speech: Of...
Speech: ......
Speech: Here...

Loog: ......

-02-
Man: You've sure gotten used to maintenance!
Man: There’s enough coolant in the projector to last until 6.

Man: I've got some nice tea leaves; I thought we could drink some together.
Man: Let's have some tea, Loog!

Loog: ......

Loog: Okay!
Loog: Gramps

-03-
Image text, vertical: In silence and solitude, that tower shines to the ends of the earth... for all eternity—

Image text, bottom: Chapter 20: "The Lighthouse in the Wilderness"

-04-
Man: Loog
Man: You've got the knack

Man: You sure are something! It was worth it bringing you up here in the wilderness lighthouse.

Man: You could be a born lighthouse keeper!
Man: Just like me!

Man: You're my treasure.
Loog: S-Stop it, Gramps!

Loog: I... I want to hurry and become a lighthouse keeper just like you...
Loog: But I still can't even keep the lamplight stable.
Loog: Ch...

-05-
Man: Wahaha... You've got a ways to go yet. Don't sweat it!

Man: ......
Man: Loog...

Loog: ......
Man: The wind's strong today...
Man: Something the matter, Loog?

Loog: L... Lately... something weird's been happening…
Loog: As if in the lighthouse... there was someone else in there other than us...

Man: What... an intruder?! Where did you see him?!

Loog: Th... That's not what I meant...
Loog: I mean... it could've been a person...

-06-
Loog: Or more like... it felt like something was there...
Loog: But... it was...
Loog: As if it... wasn't a living thing from this world...

Man: ......
Man: What?...

Man: Well what do you know, a ghost story!
Man: If you think you can scare me that easily...
Loog: N... No!!

Loog: I couldn't really catch what it was saying...
Loog: But I *could* hear a voice too...

Loog: "Get out of here"...
Loog: That's what it sounded like...

-07-
Man: ......
Man: Loog...

Man: Even if that was a joke, I'll tell you a sad story...

Man: The sandstorms here on the Liquid Sand River are so bad... that the only ones who come out here are Bees.
Man: We who look after the lighthouse are to live in the tower until our lives come to an end.
Man: Your mother and father left because they didn't want that.

Man: Loog...
Man: You're... the only one... I've got left...
Loog: Gramps...

Man: The job of a lighthouse keeper is a noble one, linking towns together and becoming a lifeline for travellers.
Man: But...
Man: If you left... I just don't think I could go on alone...

-08-
Loog: I... I'm not going anywhere!...
Loog: Don't make that face, Gramps...

Man: Is that so... Then that's fine...
Man: ...Well... I need to get back to writing up the log.
Man: You should take your rest now...

Loog: The wind's so loud...
Loog: The purple iron shutters are creaking...
Loog: It's like... a living being's voice...

-09-
ScaryAsHellBlob: Get out of here...

Loog: Uu...

Loog: Uwahhhhhh!!!

-10-
Loog: -Haaaa-

Loog: I just fell asleep after fainting...
Loog: Just... what was that thing...

Loog: I wonder if I'm going crazy...

Loog: ......
Loog: Gramps...? The hot water's ready!
Man: Loog? I'm up here!!

Loog: Still writing the log?
Loog: You sure do spend a long time writing them...

-11-
Loog: Wha...
Loog: Wow!!

Loog: Gramps!! Are these all log records?!
Man: Yep! Hahaha
Man: Now I think of it, you haven't been in this room before, have you?

Man: Keeping the log is my life, you know...
Man: Right, come over here! Let's make the tea.

Man: I've got some nice tea leaves, you see
Man: I wanted us to drink some together!

Loog: ......
Loog: Okay

-12-
Loog: Wh...
Loog: What...
Loog: What're all these bruises?!

Loog: ......
Loog: What's going on...
Loog: It's as if I'm gonna remember something...

Text: -Haaaa-

Loog: That's weird...
Loog: It just got cold all of a sudden...

-13-
[no speech]

-14-
Loog: Gra...
Loog: Gra...mps...

-15-
[Nothing, just Jiggy being awesome on his bike. Text on left is another announcement about TB anime, saying next issue will have a TB cover.]

-16-
Man: I hate you...
Man: I wanna kill you
Man: I hate you
Man: I hate you
Man: I hate you...

Loog: ......
Loog: G...
Man: I hate you
Loog: Gra...mps...
Loog: Gr...
Man: I hate you
Man: I hate you

Loog: Wait a minute...
Loog: ......
Loog: I...
Loog: ......
Loog: I don’t...

-17-
Loog: I don't have
Loog: A grandfather...

Loog: ......
Loog: How long... have I been here?!

Loog: Who...
Loog: Are you?!

Loog: ?!

Blob: Ooo...
Loog: Uu...
Loog: Uwahhhh!!!

Speech: L...
Speech: ...ag...

-18-
Zaji: Well?
Zaji: Did you write it? The Letter to Gauche...

Lag: No… I was pretty bad at Picture Letters... way too bad...
Zaji: Hmmm... Lag!
Zaji: You've never met the Express Delivery Specialist Bee, right?

Lag: Jiggy Pepper? No... not yet!
Lag: But I met his sister in Kyrie!!
Neri text, right: Looks like a boy!
Neri text, bottom: Neri
Neri text, left: She's a girl
Zaji: Eh?! Sister?! He's got a sister?!

Zaji: Apparently he passes by Liquid Sand River in northwest Yuusari around 6.
Lag: Liquid...? My next delivery's in the town right before that!

Connor: People hardly ever see him... why don't you try going a bit further out?
SFX: munch munch
Connor: You might be able to get some great stories out of him or something!

-19-
Zaji: Jiggy's so cool, man!
Zaji: And then there’s the bike!!
Text above Zaji: Ku-haaa! That’s a real man's world!
Zaji: He makes it run by filling it up with Heart, just like a bullet!!
Zaji: I wanna try making it run too!!

Connor: But you know, if you don't keep using Heart continually for a long time, it won't work.
Connor: So it'd be impossible for someone short-tempered like you, Zaji!
Zaji: Shut your mouth, Connor!!
Zaji: Man, if I didn't have a delivery I'd totally go out to meet him too~

Lag: ......
Lag: Right...?
Lag: I...
Speech: ...ag...

Speech: L...
Speech: ...ag...

-20-
Niche: LAG!!
Niche: Get out of here!!

Lag: ......
Lag: N...
Lag: Niche?!

SFX: thwack thwack thwack
Text, above Lag: Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow!

Man: You threw away our proud work...
Man: Why did you leave?!

-21-
Man: My grandson was... my treasure...

Man: Why...
Man: Why did you take him away...

Jiggy!: The logs of lighthouse keeper...?
Jiggy: Now I get it.

Jiggy: So what you flooded this tower with...
Jiggy: Was the Heart contained in the logs, huh...

-22-
[JIGGY IS STILL AWESOME]

-23-
Jiggy: Corona Gaichuu!!

Jiggy: It’s time

Jiggy: For dessert!!

-24-
Jiggy: Heart Bullet!!
Jiggy: Gunjou!!!
[TN: Sea blue, ultramarine]

-25-
Lag: ??!

Lag: The...
Lag: The old man disappeared?!

Niche: Lag!!
Niche: That guy just broke up into pieces!
Lag: Huh?... (that guy?!)

Lag: !!
Lag: That’s...

-26-
Lag: Corona Gaichuu?!
Lag: That light's a Heart Bullet!!

Lag: But who did it?!
Lag: What am I doing here...
Niche: Hey, Lag...

Niche: Why didn't you understand Niche?!
Niche: I licked you and bit you and dropped you and jumped on you and spun you around and dropped you!!
SFX, right: thwack thwack thwack
Text above Lag: I'm fine now, I get it now!
Lag: S-S-Sorry, Niche!
Lag: Where did you drop me from twice?!

Lag: The building's collapsing...!
Lag: For now let's just get out of here, Niche!!

-27-
Lag: !!

Lag: This is terrible...
Lag: Everything's falling to pieces...

Text: That's right...
Text: I came here to Liquid Sand River to meet Jiggy...

Text: And at the top of the ruined lighthouse...
Written text, left above Lag: That's—

Text: We found
Text: A Corona Gaichuu
Written text, bottom right: Oh!
Written text, bottom left: It's a Corona!
Written text, bottom left: Nuni~

-28-
Lag: To defeat the Gaichuu
Lag: We went inside the tower...

Text: And...
Lag: ......
Text: At that moment...
Loog: Huh?...
Loog: What was I doing again...?

Loog: Oh right! I've gotta fix the coolant pipe...!

Lag: Under the influence of something drifting about in the lighthouse
Lag: I got trapped in an illusion.

-29-
Lag: That old man...

Lag: Just who...
Lag: His face was scary...
Lag: He just kept repeating... "I hate you"... over and over...
Lag: I wonder who he was pointing the gun at...

Man: The logs... are...
Man: My life...

Lag: Show me
Lag: The old man's Heart...
SFX: click

-30-
Lag: AKABARI!!!

Man: ......
Man: ......
Man: I suppose
Man: You could say
Man: The logs are my life...

-31-
Man: After I succeeded my father as the lighthouse keeper...
Man: When I married my wife...
Man: Joyful times...
Man: When my son was born...
Man: When my father died...
Man: When my wife passed on before me...
Man: Sad times...
Man: When my son got married...
Man: When my grandson was born......

Son: I ain't taking over this place.

Grandson: I'm gonna be a lighthouse keeper like Gramps!
Man: Hahaha, is that right! You'll take over after me, will you?

Man: My son and his wife took my grandson and left.
Man: Today, even on a day like this...
Man: I'm still keeping the log...

-32-
Man: ......
Man: ...It's unreadable now.

Man: I need to...
Man: Write it out again...

Man: ......
Text: I hate you...

Man: Today...
Man: My son and his wife left...

-33-
Text: I hate you...
Man: My grandson and I... it's just the two of us...
Text: I hate you...
Man: Starting today, my grandson and I

Text: I won't forgive you...
Man: Have to look after this wilderness lighthouse, together
Text: I hate you...
Text: I hate you...
Man: Happily...
Man: My grandson takes pride in this work...
Text: I hate you

Jiggy: Unable to stand the sorrow of being left alone
Jiggy: The old man kept logs of a life together with a grandson who didn't exist.... He truly believed it all.

-34-
Jiggy: To him, the fabricated logs were what kept him going...
Jiggy: They were probably like Letters to himself.

-35-
Jiggy: But what was contained in them
Jiggy: Was Heart of Hatred...

Lag: ......
Lag: ...Y... You're...
Lag: J...
Lag: Jiggy Pepper!!!
Lag: The actual person?!

-36-
Jiggy: The old man died long ago
Jiggy: Without anyone to succeed him, the lighthouse was shut down

Jiggy: But the logs were just left there.

Jiggy: The Gaichuu ate the Heart contained in the logs
Jiggy: And using the whole lighthouse as an "outer stomach"
Jiggy: It just kept on consuming large quantities of Heart.

Jiggy: The old man's Heart which was overflowing in the lighthouse
Jiggy: Probably took over your consciousness.

-37-
Jiggy: It looks like that Dingo Kid wasn't affected at all.
Jiggy: Thanks to her, I was able to beat the Corona easily... You have my thanks.

Steak text: Nufuuu~

Jiggy: It seems that sensing the contained Heart is your own ability
Jiggy: But getting caught and being unable to come back is simply weakness...
Jiggy: Lag Seeing.

Lag: ......
Lag: ...Y...
Lag: Yes...
Lag: Jiggy...
Lag: G...
Lag: ......

Lag: Gramps was...
Lag: Really kind to me...
Lag: He treated me well...

Lag: If I had left, I would have felt sorry...
Lag: For Gramps...

-38-
Man: Come over here... Let's make some tea.
Man: I've got some nice leaves, you see.

Man: I wanted us
Man: To drink some together...

Lag: ......
Lag: Gramps...

-39-
Jiggy: Letters take the form of people's Heart contained within them.
Jiggy: However... there also exist the forms of one-sided feelings.
Jiggy: You've got to remember that Letters of caring and longing for someone aren't the only ones out there.

Jiggy: Become a Bee with a strong Heart
Jiggy: One that can be taken over by neither good nor bad intentions...

-40-
Lag: I...
Lag: Learned something new about Letters...
Lag: I'm sorry for making you waste your time out here, Jiggy...

Jiggy: Don't worry about it... I wanted to meet you too.
Lag: Huh?!
Jiggy: I got a Letter from my adopted sister in Kyrie...
Lag: Eh?! Was it... from Neri?!

Jiggy: Yeah... Thank you, Lag Seeing.
Jiggy: You saved my sister...
Jiggy: We'll never forget it.

-41-
Jiggy: See you around, Lag...!

Lag: Y...Yes!!
Lag: Thank you very much!
Lag: Jiggy!

Zaji: Whaaaaaat?! SERIOUSLY?!
Lag: Yeah
Zaji: Was his bike awesome?!
Lag: Yeah
Zaji: No way... Did you... ride on it?!
Lag: Yeah
Connor: More importantly, the old man was dead?!
Lag: Yeah...
Niche: Niche turned into a monster!
Connor: So scary~~!!
Connor: ...Sylvette, isn't the food ready yet?

Vertical text, left: Jiggy, so dashing! Sylvette, fuming?!
Horizontal text, bottom: Tegami Bachi --- To be continued in October’s issue (out 4th September)

- - - Chapter 20 END - - -

Note: I'd decided this a couple chapters ago, but failed to mention it until now. From now on, I'll be considering Zaji a boy rather than a girl. Taking Zaji as a tomboyish female was a judgment I made when he first showed up, but after some brainstorming with fellow readers I came to the conclusion that even if my apparently far-fetched idea of Zaji being a tomboy turns out to be correct (and I doubt it XD Ah well…), after 20 chapters it's obvious that he is supposed to be taken as male right now regardless. So, sorry about the confusion, and thanks for reading this far!
-Niph