Sket Dance 44

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[insert text: The elder brother arrives at a tragic scene...]

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[no text just tragic scene]

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Sket Dance
Chapter 44: Switch Off (Part C)
[insert text: And now, the whole truth is revealed...]

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Mother: Aahhh... / Kazuyoshi... // Masafumi's...

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Mother: I can't believe Masafumi's dead... / Kazuyoshi...
[TN: Well, they sure got me with the names >_< I did wonder briefly why the older brother was never actually called by his name... now we know. Looking back, that one time when the mother addressed both of them was indeed the only time in this arc (before now) when either of the brothers was called by name. I'm not going to go back and edit the names in the last two chapters, because it's pretty obvious they wanted us to think that the elder was Masafumi and the younger was the Kazuyoshi we know and love.]
People: Hirai Yukino was a classmate of Yamauchi Sawa-san, yes? // Indeed. It looks like the motivation for murder was a high-school grudge. // It seems initially, her intention was to attack Sawa-san herself... // But then she changed her mind, reasoning that the best way to hurt someone is to hurt the ones they love. // And as it seems that she was under the mistaken impression that Masafumi-san was Sawa-san's boyfriend... // I really am... so sorry.

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Flashback!Kazuyoshi: It's those two who are together.
Flashback!Yukino: I see.
Kazuyoshi: (It was me... // It was all my fault... // Just because of one stupid little thing I said... // Switch... // Masafumi went and died...)

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Sawa'sMother: Kazuyoshi-chan... / I am so...
Kazuyoshi: Obasan. / How's Sawa?
Sawa'sMother: I must apologise for her... She's the one person who ought to be here more than anyone else... // But she still... hasn't managed to recover...

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Flashback!Masafumi: An-chan, check it out!
Kazuyoshi: (He was the one with all the talent... // The one who people actually cared about... // The one who was sure to make a name for himself someday... // Not like me... // He really liked that nickname of his, too... "Switch"... // ...And now he's just gone? // No more Switch? Not anywhere? // That's just crazy. // Just because of one stupid little thing I said...?

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Kazuyoshi: Why the hell am I still alive...?
Hairdresser: "Short"? // Well, this is a change! You've never changed your hair like this before... // Trying to become a better person, or something?
Kazuyoshi: Yeah... / Something like that.

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Kazuyoshi: I just want to destroy myself completely...
Hairdresser: Hm? / What was that? // Oh - / Hello there~!
Kazuyoshi: I'm back.
Mother: Kazuyoshi... what... // What are you trying to pull?

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Kazuyoshi: I had the lenses replaced in the glasses. They're just plain glass now. // Does it suit me?
Mother: ...What IS this?! // You don't think playing some ridiculous game is going to make Masafumi come back, do you?! // Just stop it! // What, you think that you can just replace him?! / There's something wrong with you, Kazuyoshi!!
Kazuyoshi: (No... // It's not that I wanted to become Switch... / I just... // ...couldn't stand the thought that he was gone completely. // I wanted to let some trace of him remain in the world, even if only a little... / ...That's all it was. // What's so wrong with that?
Sawa: You look so stupid...

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Sawa: What, so you're going to be Switch? / You, An-chan? // What's that going to solve?
Kazuyoshi: ............ // Who knows.
Sawa: You're trying to punish yourself, aren't you... / That's the kind of person you are! // Stop it... / Don't blame yourself like this... // You should just blame me...
Kazuyoshi: ............ // Goodbye. // Sawa.

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Sawa: Yeah... // Sorry... // I'm sorry... // So... sorry... // I just... / I can't take it any more. // Living in this town. // I just find myself seeing Switch everywhere... // I'm not strong... // Not like you, An-chan.
Kazuyoshi: (Me... strong?) // Take care. // (I knew we would probably never see one another again.)
Sawa: You too.
Kazuyoshi: I loved you.
Sawa: Me too.

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Kazuyoshi: (And so I lost another person... // Now I was alone.)
Students: So is it, like, some kind of image-change? // Usui always had great eyesight, though... // I heard he lost his brother, though. // Oh, yeah - I heard about that... // Hey, I talked to him just now... he said I should just call him "Switch"... // I heard that was his brother's nickname. // Yeah, I knew him a little - he's the spitting image of him now. // The hell? That's just kinda scary... // You know, I was at the funeral, right? And Usui-kun didn't cry. Not even a little. / He seemed a little strange back there, too... // Yeah, I hear they were pretty close. Must've been a real shock.

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Kazuyoshi: (Morning came, and I headed out to school. // Evening came, and I slept. // Then morning came, and I headed out to school. // And evening came, and I slept.) // I'm heading out.
Mother: Is something wrong?
Kazuyoshi: No... just a little stomachache. // I'm fine, really. See you later.
Student: [aside]morning~![/aside]

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Kazuyoshi: (What the hell am I doing...?) // Better head home.
Flashback!Masafumi: I don't like you like this, An-chan.
Kazuyoshi: It's not like that, Switch... // I'm sorry... // It was all my fault...
[Text: ...take a look at my computer... // ...How were your test results? // That's really impressive... // Hey, how about we go cycling with Sawa next week, the three of us? // Have you read this book? It's really good. // Ugh, you'll never believe what happened... // We should talk more, Switch. // There are so many things I'd like to tell you! // What would you like to be when you grow up? // It's all too late now... // There are so many things I'd like to talk to you about...]
Kazuyoshi: (The wind blowing in through the window made me uncomfortable...)

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Kazuyoshi: (...So I closed the window.)
Flashback!Kazuyoshi: It's those two who are together.
Kazuyoshi: (I... // ...stopped talking.)

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Kazuyoshi: (Switch... // As for when that window was wrenched open... // ...and a hand appeared through it, pulling me back up onto my feet... // ...that wasn't until... / ...a little later...)
[insert text: That hand guided Switch back into the light...]
[TN: Okay, three guesses whose hand that is. Actually, screw three. ONE guess.]
[bottom text: Next issue, we return to normal life in the present day. ...Or maybe it's not that simple...?!]