Tegami Bachi 22

This chapter broke my heart the first time I read it, and continued to do so over and over again as I was translating ._. Thanks to haya5h1 for going back and redoing the raw. Apologies for the horrific delay; illness and school, you know the drill... As always, advice, comments, and corrections greatly appreciated ^^

International Translators / Scanlators: You're welcome to use this, but I'd really appreciate it if you include a credit for Niphredil.

Line break: New speech bubble / text box within the same panel
Blank line: New panel
**Purple, asterisked lines are ones I'm unsure of.


-01-
Lag: Wow, this is amazing!
Lag: Everything's frozen!

Man: This region has no geothermal heat, you see
Man: So it's become a "perpetual glacier"
Man: There it is—

Man: Over there.
Man: That's "Elk's Head".

Man: You should be able to see the town and the glacial lake.
Lag: ......
Lag: This is...

-02-
Lag: Blue Notes Blues!!
Text: In the far north—
[Text at bottom is just advertising the anime special, and the Niche figure]

-03-
Image text: The land of frozen hope and despair

Text, bottom left: Asada Hiroyuki
Text, bottom centre: Chapter 22: Film Noir

-04-
Lag: Someone tracked down Gauche...?
Lag: Is that true, Director?!

Lloyd: Yes, boy
Lloyd: Apparently, a driver on a scheduled "Todobin" delivery heading for the glacial region saw a man resembling Noir dressed all in black
Lloyd: And a shining light thought to be that of a Heart Bullet.

Lloyd: What was Noir doing at the northern border?
Lloyd: For a mere story, it's intriguing...

Lloyd: And with your Heart Bullet which senses the Heart contained within objects
Lloyd: Nothing else compares to your spectacular investigation ability... you know?

-05-
Lloyd: So please set off right now for Blue Note Blues in northern Yodaka.
Lloyd: Lag Seeing.

Lag: YES SIR!!!
Lloyd: A good response as always~~
Lag: Yes—oh!!
Lloyd: Hm?

Lag: Blue Notes...

Lag: If I remember correctly, that's part of Niche's background...
Lag: That's the place with the last sightings of the legendary creature Maka, isn't it?...

-06-
Man: I'd just never seen any travelers on foot around here before, you see

Man: That crow-like guy really left an impression on me...

Man: Him and the girl he had with him, with the white face...

Lag: Roda?!
Lag: No doubt about it... it had to have been Gauche!

Man: On my way back from a 5 hour delivery...
Man: A huge light came shooting up from the direction of Elk's Head
Man: And countless blue flashes lit up the night sky.

-07-
Lag: This is a set a stamps, as a thank you.
Lag: You can use them as currency.
Man: Hey, thanks very much!

Man: You'll reach the town if you continue on 20 kilometres from here...
Man: But even the locals won't walk such a dangerous glacier path, you know? Are you sure you'll be alright?
Lag: Yep! This is a Route Survey, so... Thank you very much!

Man: Hey, kid, listen up.

Man: Out here, you gotta follow the town rules...
Man: Do that, and you'll come back safely.

Lag: ......
Lag: Th...
Lag: Thank you very much...
Lag: ......

-08-
Lag: Wow!... The ice really does look like a deer's antlers!
Steak: nuni
Lag: N... Niche, that's dangerous!

Lag: Why would Gauche have fired Heart Bullets out here...
Lag: !

Lag: That's the lake... it seems like a pretty mystical place.
Lag: I guess it IS the place where the legend of Maka still exists...

-09-
Lag: Oh, right!!
Lag: Now I think of it, Niche...!
Lag: Niche might have some sort of connection to Blue Notes Blues—

Lag: WAH!!

Lag: She flew...

Lag: N-Ni-
Lag: Niche?!
Lag: Ah—
Lag: Wh—

Lag: AA
Lag: AAA
Lag: AAAAA
Lag: AAA
Lag: AHHHHH...

Niche: Lag!!
Lag: Huh?

-10-
[no text]

-11-
Lag: ......
Lag: What...

-12-
Lag: What IS this?!
Lag: A...
Lag: Gai...chuu...?!

Niche: Hey Lag, it's not moving!
SFX: thwack thwack thwack
Lag: Niche!! [small text]w-w-wait...
Lag: !!
Lag: Gauche's Heart Bullets... could they have been... aimed at this?!...

Lag: But... after Heart Bullets have made their Heart cry out, Gaichuu should just burst apart...
Lag: Yet this one is just full of gaps...
Lag: And has a huge hole in it

-13-
Lag: Still... it must've been huge!
Lag: I've never seen it in the "Encyclopedia of Gaichuu"... maybe it isn't a Gaichuu after all...

Lag: The delivery man didn't say anything about this thing either...
Lag: !!

Lag: I get it now...
Lag: You can't see this place from the top!
Lag: And from the town, it's hidden behind the antlers...

Lag: I'm sure of it...
Lag: Something...

Lag: Happened here...

-14-
Lag: ...!!!
Lag: ......

Lag: Cartridges!!

Lag: If they came from Gauche's Heart Bullet Gun...

Lag: Then...
Lag: There should be fragments of Gauche's Heart left inside them!!

Text: Please, show me!!
Lag: Nocturne Number 20!!!

-15-
Text: Show me Gauche's Heart—

Lag: Cry out!!!
Lag: AKABARI!!!!
[Red Needle]

-16-
Bubble: ......
Bubble: ......

Gauche: Where am I...

Gauche: Who... am I...
Gauche: ......

-17-
Hatman, now hatless: So you're awake
Hatman: Gauche Suede...

Hatman: Let's offer up a prayer for the blessing of your recovery.

Hatman: This is a small town on the eastern side of Yuusari...
Hatman: It's one the hidden bases we have dotted around every region of Yuusari and Yodaka.

Gauche: Yuu...
Gauche: ...sa...ri...

Hatman: ......
Hatman: What a wretched man you are...
Hatman: You've lost not only the memories of your mother...

Hatman: But all of your Heart aswell...
SFX: thud

-19-
Gauche: ......
Gauche: ......
Gauche: Heart...

Hatman: Even so, this is still a joyful occasion.
Hatman: Together with us, you shall become one who changes the world.

Hatman: Because you are the only human
Hatman: Who has ever returned from the "Light" alive!

-20-
Gauche: l..
Gauche: ...igh...
Gauche: ...t...

Hatman: It shall be this child's duty to look after you.
Hatman: She was born in the place where I once lived...
Hatman: You may do with her as you please.

"Roda": Give me your hand...

-21-
Roda: The name of this country is Amberground.
Roda: It's surrounded on all sides by ocean
Roda: And composed of three areas – Akatsuki the capital, Yuusari, and Yodaka – divided by a class system.

Roda: A small man-made sun illuminates the capital Akatsuki, where only people chosen by the government can live.
Roda: The closer you get to the outer lying regions of the country, the more wrapped up in darkness and poverty the world becomes.

-22-
Roda: The three areas are divided by rivers which flow out to the sea.

Roda: It is forbidden to cross over to a higher-ranking area without a government-issued crossing permit.

Roda: Here in Amberground
Roda: You held the role of a Bee, a national government postal worker.

Roda: Possessing a high level of skill in using "Heart"
Roda: You crossed from here in Yuusari over to the capital, Akatsuki.

-23-
Gauche: I lost my "Heart"
Gauche: In the midst of that Light?...

Gauche: So you never told me.
Gauche: Your name...

Roda: I don't have a name.

-24-
Gauche: Well then...
Gauche: You're just like me.

Gauche: I have a request.

Text: I want to see it...
Text: The place where I...

-25-
Text: Where "Gauche Suede" lived...

-26-27-
[no text, just Asada breaking my heart for the 60th time this chapter]

-28-
私は飛行船の開明者の一人として首都「アカツキ」に入った．．．！！
**Hatman: I entered the capital Akatsuki as a one of the developers of the flourishing airship technology!
[Wasn't really sure what to do with 開明者 here. Online dictionaries talked about the flourishing of culture, enlightment, etc, which says to me that he came to the capital because he was one of those who had provided or would be able to provide new developments in airship technology, but I'm not certain.]
Hatman: That is how it SHOULD have been!..

Hatman: However, that place was divided into countless class ranks
Hatman: And I was unable to reach the centre of the "Light" they call the "capital".

Hatman: What took place there were countless inhuman experiments and plans to enrich the capital...
Hatman: I, having expressed to the government my objections to these matters, became a victim of one of these experiments.

-29-
Hatman: An experiment to cross humans with everything imaginable...
Hatman: With creatures that had amplified the power of "Heart"...
Hatman: An experiment to recreate by human hands "Spirit" which existed in ancient times!

Hatman: Naturally, when these outlandish plans came to a standstill
Hatman: They simply moved on immediately to the next one!!
Hatman: And the failed products of these experiments were slaughtered and discarded...
Hatman: Even though they had survived!

Hatman: In order to take revenge on the government, and to bring to light the "truth" about the "capital" they so earnestly hide
Hatman: This "Man Who Could Not Become Spirit" joined together with "Those Who Are Willing"

Hatman: And gave birth to a single entity!!

Hatman: We are
Hatman: "REVERSE"!!
Crowd: We are!!
Crowd: REVERSE!!!

Gauche: Experiments...
Gauche: Is that...
Gauche: A true story...?

-30-
Roda: Yes
Roda: I too am one of those test subjects.

Hatman: Gauche
Hatman: This seems like the right time to return this to you.
Gauche: A gun...?

Hatman: It's your Heart Bullet Gun... "Gymnopédie".

-31-
Hatman: A year has passed since you came here.
Hatman: Even if your memory doesn't return
Hatman: If your Heart recovers, you may one day be able to fire Heart Bullets again.

Hatman: At that time...
Hatman: Reverse shall become, to the Amberground government,..
Hatman: A threat...

-32-
Gauche: Tell me.

-33-
Gauche: What...
Gauche: Should I do...?

Hatman: ......
Hatman: Magnificent...
Hatman: Th...
Hatman: That's magnificent, Gauche!!
Hatman: You—

Gauche: Stop...
Gauche: Don't use that name again.

Gauche: Because Gauche Suede
Gauche: No longer exists...

-34-
Hatman: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Hatman: HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Hatman: Fair enough...
Hatman: In that case, I shall give you one.

-35-
Hatman: Your name is...
Hatman: "Noir"!!!

Hatman: My
Hatman: Marauder!

-36-
Lag: ......
Lag: Gauche...

Text: You really...
Text: You realy did lose all of your Heart...

Gauche: Well, if you don't have a name either...
Gauche: Would you mind if I gave you one...?
Roda: I don't mind.

-37-
Gauche: "Roda"...
Gauche: I'll call you "Roda"...

Gauche: I don't know what the word means, but...
Gauche: It's a name that just now...
Gauche: Just... came to mind...

Lag: Ro...da...

Lag: It... isn't lost...
Lag: It's only a little... but he remembers...
Lag: Gauche remembers "Roda"!!

Lag: I know he can get it back!!
Lag: Because Gauche hasn't lost all of his Heart!!

-38-
Lag: That was all the Heart contained in the cartridges...
Lag: I couldn't see anything about this thing...

Lag: Right...
Lag: At any rate, we can go ask around in town...
Lag: We're moving on to the town, Niche!
Niche: Town

Lag: Hey, Niche?!
Lag: That's the wrong way! The town's on the other side of the lake...

-39-
Niche: There's a bridge this way.
Niche: The ice on the other side's weak, so be careful.

Lag: Eh? Niche...
Lag: How do you know all that...?

Vertical text left: This is her birthplace?! To top it off, she's 200 years old?!

Niche: Niche was born

Niche: In that town...
Niche: About 200 years ago?
Text, bottom: Tegami Bachi – To be continued in the December issue.

- - Chapter 22 END - -

Chapter Note
The name Gymnopédie, like Nocturne, probably comes from the classical compositions of the same name.