xxxHOLiC 202

Guidelines For Using My Translations

1
xxxHOLiC Rou
Chapter 202
[Side text: Having received the Pearl, the Jorougumo makes a sudden request. The cat's spirit within the shamisen should be dormant now... and yet...]
[SFX: plumpf]
Jorougumo: Ahhh, I'm bored. // I know!
[SFX: pop]
Jorougumo: Why don't you play some music for me?
Watanuki: Hm?
Jorougumo: You know, like you were doing just before you invited me in.
Watanuki: The shamisen?
Jorougumo: Yes. Play her for me.
Watanuki: It's down in the storeroom right now, so I'd have to go and...
Jorougumo: But surely that's her, right there.
[SFX: point]

2
Watanuki: Eh? / Why is she...?
[SFX: sip]

3
Jorougumo: It would seem that there is plenty of fun to be had around you. // Mr. New Owner.
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ngchachang // cha~~ng]

4
[BubbleSFX: chacha~~ng // cha~~~ng // ching // cha~~~ng]
Haruka: Looks like your customer today was a bit of a tough one, huh?
Watanuki: Well, she only just left. / Between her, Mokona and the kudakitsune, we ended up getting through ten whole bottles of expensive drink. // [aside]I thought it was snakes who were supposed to be the big drinkers, not spiders...[/aside]
Haruka: [aside]hahaha...[/aside] // And you... / ...ended up making the snacks the whole time?

5
Watanuki: Well, that... / ...and this.
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng // ch-ching]
Watanuki: I told her plenty of times that I could only play two songs... / ...but that didn't stop her interrupting with the occasional "I'm bored", or "play something else"... // [aside]and with Mokona requesting enka and anime songs left and right, it was frankly ridiculous...[/aside]
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng]
Watanuki: ...The Jorougumo said something to me. // That I... / ...probably don't need these glasses any more.
Haruka: I suppose she's right. // In a sense... / ...that left eye of yours isn't "seeing" things in the literal sense any more.

6
Haruka: That's why, isn't it?
Watanuki: ...Recently, I find myself forgetting to take them off sometimes. // Since it doesn't make any different whether I'm wearing them or not.
[BubbleSFX: cha~~~ng]
Watanuki: Just before Yuuko-san disappeared, when people who had been to the shop as customers... / ...started saying they didn't know Yuuko-san... // ...even though I'd experienced so many strange things already working here... // ...I was afraid...
[SFX: cha...ng...]

7
Watanuki: It was after that... / ...that I understood what the Ame-Warashi had said about my very existence being an impossibility. // My memories of my parents and my past, all these things I had believed in... // ...suddenly didn't seem nearly as certain...
[BubbleSFX: cha...ng...]
Watanuki: ...and I became even more afraid.
[BubbleSFX: cha...ng...]
Watanuki: Afraid that I might forget about Yuuko-san as well...

8
Watanuki: That one day I might just forget it all, and she would be gone even from my memories... / ...and yet I wouldn't even realise that anything had happened... // When I started thinking about that... / ...it scared me so much.
[BubbleSFX: cha...ng... // cha...ng...]
Haruka: Is that why you wear things that were hers? // To make sure you don't forget...? // So that even if you do forget, you'll have something to help you remember?

9
Watanuki: For the record... / ...I'm quite aware that they don't suit me at all.
Haruka: Oh, I wouldn't say that. // You've even become an expert at smoking a kiseru! // Besides which, even if it doesn't suit you right away, given time, it will become natural. // In order to reduce the effect that your unstable existence has upon those around you... / ...you chose to halt your own personal time, and shut yourself away in the shop... // For that sake, you chose to refrain from halting your ever-growing power, instead nurturing it to still greater strength... / ...and to use it for the sake of Shizuka and Kohane-chan, and other people who associate with you to whatever extent.

10
Haruka: And for the sake of granting that person's wish... / ...you chose to stay here, always. // Isn't that right?
Watanuki: ...Yes.

11
Haruka: Now, then... // You've certainly improved at smoking the kiseru and at granting wishes... // ...but I'd like to hear just how far you've come with that shamisen.
Watanuki: Oh, no...! / Like I said, I can still only play two -
Haruka: Two is plenty.

12
Haruka: To charm women, that is.
Watanuki: ...You talk just like that old kiseru-maker. / Haruka-san.
Haruka: Ahahaha!
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng // chacha~~ng // cha~~~ng]
Haruka: She has a lovely voice.
Watanuki: I think she deserves better than me, to be honest.
[BubbleSFX: chacha~~ // cha~~ng]

13
Haruka: I think she's really taken a liking to you. // I doubt she would let anyone else play her.
Watanuki: Well, even if that's the case, it still doesn't stop her wandering out of the storehouse of her own accord. // [aside]she made the Jorougumo laugh at me...[/aside]
Haruka: Cats are fickle creatures.
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng]
Haruka: That song...
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng // cha~~ng]
Watanuki: It's one of the tunes that the shamisen taught me.
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ // ...ng]

14
[BubbleSFX: cha~~~~ng // cha~~ng // chachacha~~ng]
Haruka: I see... / A fine choice.
[BubbleSFX: cha~~~~ng]
Haruka: Watanuki-kun... / Do you know the lyrics?
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng // chacha~~ng]
Watanuki: No... / I'm afraid not...
Haruka: To meet...

15
Haruka: To meet brings such joy... / and parting such pain
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng // chacha~~ng // cha~~ng... // chacha~~~~ng]
Haruka: Ah, to meet... / ...and never to part...

16
[BubbleSFX: cha~~ng]
Haruka: Once there is love
[BubbleSFX: chachang // ching]
Haruka: there is nothing that can be done
[BubbleSFX: cha~~~ng // cha~~~~~~~ng]
[TN: "Aute ureshiya / wakare no tsurasa // Aute / wakare ga nakerya yoi // Horerya / shou koto ga nai wai na" This is the song in question.]
[Side text: The cat's song of love... reflects her sorrowful heart.]
[Bottom text: To be continued next issue - see you in Young Magazine Issue 15, on sale Monday 15th March!]