xxxHOLiC 165

1
xxxHOLiC
Chapter 165
[insert text: To eat is a very important, and very pleasurable thing... / ...but it can also be very frightening...]
[insert text left: Watanuki teaches cookery to the woman who came to the store. However, Doumeki senses something wrong with the food that the woman made... Slowly but surely, Yuuko's words begin to sink in... This future, interwoven with the concept of "eating"... where will it lead?!]

2
[side text: "I want to learn to cook"... food made by a woman with a wish... yet for some reason, Doumeki stops in his tracks. What lies hidden in its flavour...?!]
[sFX: wobble]
Yuuko: Dear me... / That's...
Mokona: It's sake~~~~~! / And snacks to go with it~!
Watanuki: Ah... / Would you mind having some of this?

3
Yuuko: Usually you get angry at us if we snack before dinner...
Mokona: [aside]uh-huh![/aside]
Yuuko: What on Earth could have brought this on, hm?
Watanuki: It's just... I wanted to see what you thought of the flavour.
Yuuko: Hmm? / What's this all of a sudden?
Watanuki: ......
Yuuko: Well, naturally, I won't turn it down.
[sFX: take]
[sFX: munch, munch]
Yuuko: Hmm... Potato nikorogashi...

4
Yuuko: Yes... / It's delicious.
Watanuki: Does it... / ...seem at all different to usual?
Yuuko: No... It tastes the same as it always does.
Mokona: Mmm, tasty~! // [aside]goes well with the sake~![/aside]
Watanuki: ...But Doumeki, he......
Yuuko: ...I see. // Doumeki-kun.

5
Watanuki: He just left it! // He... / He wouldn't even touch it afterwards...
[sFX: munch]
Yuuko: But it was your cookery student who made them, correct?
Watanuki: But she made it exactly like I told her... and for Doumeki to just leave food...
[sFX: munch munch]
Mokona: Watanuki made sure she got it right! / I know, I was watching~!
Watanuki: But... / Well, I can't sample foods myself... / ...I just don't know how...
[TN: Okay, am I understanding that line properly? >_< He's either saying he doesn't know how, or he's forgotten how, neither of which seem to make much sense ~_~]
Yuuko: Two foods made in exactly the same way - hers, and your own... // But there's a difference between them.
Watanuki: Huh? // But they were made exactly -

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Yuuko: Simply knowing the method isn't enough to be able to make a dish. // There's something else you need, surely?
Watanuki: Something... / ...else...

7
[sFX: grab]
Mokona: The last one......!
[sFX: munch // munch, munch]
Yuuko: You were careless there, Mokona. / [aside]ohohohohohoho![/aside]
Mokona: Watanuki~~! More nikorogashi~~~!
[sFX: tumble tumble]
Mokona: You can't resist making another one for this cute face~!
[sFX: ta-da~!]
Watanuki: Don't praise yourself! / [aside]...and is that how you ask for a favour?![/aside]

8
Watanuki: Fine, I'll make some... / Might as well make it meat and potato stew...
[sFX: thunk]
Yuuko/Mokona: Ya~~~~y!
Watanuki: ...Honestly... it'll be dinnertime soon, so you're not getting much, all right?!
[sFX: swivel]
Mokona: Sure! Not much... just loads!
[sFX: clap]
Yuuko: And plenty of shochu, as well~!
Watanuki: Not much means not much!

9
Mokona: You know, Watanuki's flavour... // ...it tastes like his dad's.
Yuuko: ...Indeed. / And like that of a more distant relative, as well...

10
Customer: I must apologise, really. // Making you come out here every time...
Watanuki: Oh, ah, no... / So how was it? / The potato nikorogashi that you made.
Customer: I thought it turned out wonderfully! / You teach very well, Sensei.
Watanuki: Oh, I'm no "sensei", really...
Customer: So what will you be teaching me today, then?

11
Watanuki: How about some spring rolls?
Customer: That would be lovely! / Sensei!
Watanuki: Now, we're making them with pumpkin... / So start it at a low temperature...
[sFX: sizzle~]
Watanuki: ...and then gradually increase the temperature over time.
Customer: Right.
Watanuki: That should just about do it. // Now, just serve it onto the plate... // That turned out well! // I hardly feel like I really have to teach you at all, mind... / You're so good at it.
Customer: Oh, that's not true at all.

12
Customer: This is all very educational.
Watanuki: But why exactly do you want to learn to cook, anyway?
Cutsomer: Oh - I'm getting married!
[sFX: swish]
Watanuki: Is that right...! // Well, congratulations, then!
Customer: So I just thought I'd like to try and learn how to do these things properly.

13
Watanuki: So... / Would you like to give it a try, then? // What we've made here is the basic recipe... / But while we're at it, we can try and season it to fit your own personal tastes.
Customer: Oh, no.

14
Customer: You see, I can't eat anything that I've made myself.
Watanuki: Huh?!
[side text: Watanuki, who cannot sample foods, and a woman who cannot eat the food she makes. These two people making food together... is this coincidence? Or else...?!!]
[bottom text: "To eat can be a very frightening thing." Yuuko's words come forth once more! Just wait for next chapter!!]