Dowolf Releases

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 11

2021-01-17T17:54:21+00:00

Chaos Child 11

p1: ==============================================
Chapter 11: Claire Coleman 01

p2: ==============================================
If you move, I’ll have to shoot you.

…!

p3: ==============================================
[sfx]: Whiff

p4: ==============================================
[sfx]: Thud

[sfx]: Click

[sfx]: Bang x2

[sfx]: Tink x2

p5: ==============================================
The next bullet will be going through your skull. Now, how did you get here?
Ugh…!

You… bitch…!

[sfx]: Hah

p6: ==============================================
--Ah!
[sfx]: Shudder

p7: ==============================================
Answer me. How did you manage to get here?

…
/ I hacked you.

You?
Nothing I uncovered about you suggested you had such skills.

So it was you who dug into my data.
[sfx]: Puh

A monster-level geek wrote the code.
He expects to hear from me. If he doesn’t, then sooner or later you’ll have him to deal with.

p8: ==============================================
The Japanese man,
the one Miss Makise knows, I assume.
!

Huh…?!
[sfx]: Whoosh

[sfx]: Crack

You turn to her help *now*, of all times?

…!

p9: ==============================================
As troublesome as she and her compatriots can be, that changes nothing.

[sfx]: Click
My research is at stake. Nobody will get in my way.

“Research”?
What happened to the pretty little story about the lab you built for the children?

I’ve figured it out. You made Beth panic, back at that party when we first met.

p10: ==============================================
I found traces left behind in the earphones’ data.
/ That wasn’t an accident. You did that, didn’t you?

…

You knew about that phenomenon of hers.
And that, if she panicked, the elevated stress could get you your precious data.

You’re using Beth to do something. What?
Something to do with Alan, who you got lying next to her? Or is he just another one of your guinea pigs?
/ What the hell have you figured out?

Young lady, you…

p11: ==============================================
And what the fuck are Gigalomaniax?

No, I have to…!

[sfx]: Vibrate

[sfx]: Place

p12: ==============================================
[sfx]: Stab
--Ah!

p13: ==============================================
[sfx]: Vibrate

[sfx]: Swipe

Apologies. Were you in the middle of an experiment?

I was, but it’s fine. What is it?
[sfx]: Step

Mrs. Coleman, we are currently discussing the matter of your disposal.

p14: ==============================================
[sfx]: Pop

[sfx]: Flick

[sfx]: Puff
…And why is that?

You must know.
/ *We the Committee* seek data concerning Gigalomaniax and D-Swords, not the trifles from the cognitive research lab you use as cover.
Which is to say, your present efforts are insufficient.

You will not be erased… However, we must insist you relinquish authority over all personnel and test subjects.
Including, of course, your son—

p15: ==============================================
This is MY laboratory!
[sfx]: Punch!

Because we decided it would be yours… But I digress.
We demand results, Mrs. Coleman. Need we say more?

[sfx]: Puff
It’s “Miss.”
/ …You’ll never take Alan from me.

[sfx]: Squish

p16: ==============================================
I’m sorry, but Claire? Should you really be working?

I’m fine. I can’t afford to take off over just this.

But even so…

I’m only having the child because the higher-ups spouted some patriarchal buffoonery
/ about how only a parent could be trusted with children.

If maternity leave costs me an opportunity, I’d be throwing away everything.

p17: ==============================================
And you’re okay with this, Mr. Claire Coleman?

It’s her choice. I support it.

You’re making me feel bad for the poor baby!

Rest assured I pity him too.
[sfx]: Ahahaha

I truly cared nothing for him, at first…
[sfx]: Gaaahhhhh!

p18: ==============================================
Waahhhh!

[sfx]: Grab

Good boy.

Good boy.

p19: ==============================================
Good boy.

[sfx]: Ratatattat

Mommy, what’s that girl doing?
Who?

She’s right there!

p20: ==============================================
[no text]

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 10

2021-01-14T06:38:57+00:00

Chaos;Child 10

p1: =================================================
Chapter 10: Ask Yourself 2

p2: =================================================

p3: =================================================
No, you wouldn’t possibly…!

[sfx]: Crash!

p4: =================================================
No…!

What do you think you’ve—
Be quiet. Are you trying to wake her?

I’ve got a message for whoever made this.
[sfx]: Clink

Tell ‘em whatever they’re using for the DSS*, it’s garbage. Until they fix that, we can’t use this.
*: Dopamine System Stabilizer. These medicines regulate the amount of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, in the central nervous system.

p5: =================================================
What…?

To be fair, it ain’t like this stuff always affects everyone the same way, but…

…Huh? What’s with you two?
…

[sfx]: Fidgeting
…And what might that be?

p6: =================================================
That?
/ A sleeping tablet and a stabilizer. She was moaning in her sleep. Must’ve been a light nap.

Could you please not try to terrify us?

What, you thought I was using this stuff on Beth?
/ ‘Cause if you’ve figured out how to put a pill in a syringe, I’m all ears.
[sfx]: Mmngh

How’re we supposed to get usable data unless we use the right medicine?!

p7: =================================================
…

p8: =================================================

Sorry for taking all your time.
Nonsense. It was time well spent.
We can’t say for certain that it was the Coleman Institute that dug into your data,
but at least promise me you’ll be careful.

…Kurisu.
What is it?

Dammit, but the only thought in my head’s the same shit I said before.

?

p9: =================================================
Backlash, defiance, whatever you wanna call it…
Thing is, that stuff’s a big part of me.

…Mio,
/ I know you think an awful lot of me, but…

To be honest? Somehow, I feel there’s ways you’ve already surpassed me.

Like my chest?
I’ll kick your ass.

p10: =================================================
I could never hope to live as you do.
/ Neither as a scientist, nor as a person.
While I’m sure everyone has their own view of what constitutes a genius,

from where I stand, you are beyond brilliant.
I’ve felt that way since the day I met you.

p11: =================================================
…

…Shut up.
You keep talking like that, and I won’t be able to be me anymore.

When that happens, I’ll be happy to support you. Because while you may be my rival,
/ you’re also my friend.

…Screw that shit.

You always do try too hard to make everything simple and clean.

p12: =================================================
I’ll stay in touch.
I hope and pray you’ll find something else that’s worth the world to you.

I’ll at least get my hands on a clue before the night is out.

p13: =================================================
Booyah!
[sfx]: Ratatattat
Even I can get past these low-level locks.

Now’s my chance!

p14: =================================================
Here’s all of my research, my papers, their evaluations.
[sfx]: Ratatattat
: I couldn’t do nothing before, since it wasn’t hooked up to the internet,
but so long as Claire stuck this USB into her computer…

Perfect!
/ The program I swiped from Hashita-san’s already infected her.
[sfx]: Tap
The data’s all mine!

…!

p15: =================================================
Damn thing’s broken…
Nah, maybe run-of-the-mill software just can’t keep up…

Hm? Weird…
What’s this folder?

“Gigalomaniax”…?

[sfx]: Ratatattat

Isn’t this…?

p16: =================================================

p17: =================================================
[sfx]: Tap

[sfx]: Click

[sfx]: Touch / Vibrate

[sfx]: Vnnnnnnn / Szzzzz

p18: =================================================
…You gotta be shitting me.

…
[sfx]: Tap tap
[sfx]: Swing

p19: =================================================
[sfx]: Gulp

[sfx]: *Sigh*

[sfx]: Creak

[sfx]: Step

You think this shit’ll catch you up to Chris?

Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

p20: =================================================

p21: =================================================
Beth…
And Alan…?

But didn’t the experiment end…?

Please don’t move.
[sfx]: Scrape

p22: =================================================
Or I’ll have to shoot you.

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 9

2020-01-22T01:43:03+00:00

Chaos Child 9

p1: ===================================================
Chapter 9: Ask yourself 01

p2: ===================================================
[sfx]: Swallow

[sfx]: Ah!

p3: ===================================================
Spit that up this instant!

…9:37.

Claire,
/ my body won’t start really absorbing this until it gets to my intestines?
…Yes.

Then it’ll be at least 15 minutes.

Mio, where do you think you’re--
The bathroom. While I can.

p4: ===================================================
Put the sample in the middle box, please.

…I am disappointed in you, Miss Coleman.
You’re the director here. How can you allow something so dangerous?!

We both know she never listens once she’s made up her mind.

…

p5: ===================================================
[sfx]: Heavy breathing
Mild perspiration… Heartbeat over 120. Shouldn’t have taken effect that fast.

Then, the placebo effect? Am I being too rash?
[sfx]: Tick tock

No… She’s still way ahead of me.

…?
Pupils dilated—

p6: ===================================================
You think that’ll catch you up to her? To Kurisu?

p7: ===================================================
[sfx]: Heavy breathing
Who the hell are…

Wait…
She looks like I did as a kid…?

Lame.
/ You could’ve taken your time, too, but noooo.
Oh, or perhaps…

p8: ===================================================
You’re upset that she saved Beth, and not you?

[sfx]: Heavy breathing

Though you know, maybe that’s the way you should be.
Be the kids’ friend and settle with researching ways to help them.
You’ll never overcome [em]her[/em], but that’s fine.

p9: ===================================================
[sfx]: Heavy breathing
…Shut up.

Why? You figured it out just fine over the year you spent with her.
Figured out that she’s not made of the same stuff as you.

Shut up…! I’ll kill you…!

Give up already. Doesn’t this form make it all clear?
There’s a part of you that’s scared shitless.

p10: ===================================================
Right now, you’re no different than me.

I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!

p11: ===================================================
Mio…?!

p12: ===================================================
[sfx]: Blink

How are you feeling?

…How long was I out?
Less than two hours.

Why am I in the director’s office?

Because it was close.
Besides, Miss Coleman said we shouldn’t let any of the other staff see you like this.

p13: ===================================================
…Good.

[sfx]: Throb!

Lie down! Don’t push yourself!
[sfx]: Thud / jump!

…

Mio.

Come back to our lab.

Huh…?

p14: ===================================================
While Miss Coleman bandaged your hand,
she took the time to draw blood.

Any scientist would’ve.

…Perhaps. But personally?

It upset me. Terribly.

p15: ===================================================
Sorry, but I’ll pass.

…Why do you do research?

You told me, before, that you want to destroy everything I am.
…But even so, this is too extreme. Why do you feel such a need to—

What about you, huh?

?

p16: ===================================================
Why do you keep researching?

[sfx]: Muttering
…Because that stupid whatchamacallit final battle thing is coming, and we must be ready.

…What?
Ignore that.

…Hmm.
To forge a future that goes beyond my own expectations, I suppose.

p17: ===================================================
Didn’t expect something that vague outta you.

It’s a tremendously important goal. To me, at least.

Mio?

Is there anything you hold that high?

p18: ===================================================
…

[sfx]: Lean

[sfx]: Clack

[sfx]: Throb
OUCH!

Damn blood vessels expanding…
[sfx]: Throbbing

p19: ===================================================
Be the kids’ friend
and settle with researching ways to help them.

You’ll never overcome [em]her[/em], but that’s fine.

p20: ===================================================
[sfx]: Pour

[sfx]: Sit

Thank you for taking care of Mio.
/ How is she?

She’s asleep. Her condition is stable.

Then she should be fine. Given that, let’s both go back.
/ Beth’s experiment should be done in another hour or two as w—

Miss Coleman.

p21: ===================================================
How do you view Mio?

…In what sense?

She’s exceptionally talented, yet knows no way forward except by charging straight ahead.
Are you acting as a director should, and guiding her to other paths?

p22: ===================================================
You may be right, and she may indeed lack the ability to put on the breaks.
Yet isn’t that the mindset a scientist should strive for?

p23: ===================================================
[sfx]: Squeeze
Mio may have no intentions of leaving this place…
But if something does happen to her, do not expect me to remain silent!
The girl’s merely 16, for goodness’ sake!

[sfx]: Whisper
And Alan’s only 8.

…?

p24: ===================================================
[sfx]: Step x2

[sfx]: Tink

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 8

2019-11-25T00:26:32+00:00

Chaos Child 8

1: ========================================================
Chapter 8: Keep going 02

2: ========================================================
I’m terribly sorry I couldn’t show you around after you came all this way to observe.
/ But what do you, a neuroscience researcher at Viktor Chondria University, think of our little Coleman Institute?

Let me think…

To be honest, I expected a more theoretical approach.
/ But I see you put a lot of weight on experiments.

That’s right.
/ The Institute exists for the children, after all.

Also…
It feels incredibly warm here.

p3: ========================================================
Mio, it must have taken a lot of work for you to get used to it.

Mind your own business.

I confess, while I did want to see inside here,
/ I mostly came to check on Mio.

…You did?

Yes.
/ All of us in my lab, myself included, expected her to come work with us.
And we did in fact make an offer, but she brushed it off to come here instead. I was curious to see if she was doing well.

p4: ========================================================
Hence, given your focus on experiments, I would hope I could have the pleasure of witnessing one.

!

…Miss Makise, what you ask is—

Absurd, I know. But I swear I will keep everything I see and hear to myself.
And of course, you needn’t show me anything you aren’t comfortable with.

p5: ========================================================
…All right.
/ We do owe you a debt for the care you gave to Beth.
Whoa, hey—

However, to be perfectly clear, the experiment we’ll be carrying out today is one commonly performed in any laboratory.
/ A routine follow-up.
That’s fine.

…I see.

p6: ========================================================
The experiment will begin this evening.
/ Mio, you’ll take charge.

Huh…?

Miss Makise is here to see you. It would be silly, then, to have you absent.
/ In exchange, I expect you to spend your time until then showing her around.

--Oh, right. There’s something I have to apologize for.

p7: ========================================================
…Oh.

This is a picture of my son, yes.
Nevertheless, “Miss” will do.

…I see. Then I’m sorry to bring it up, Miss Coleman.

p8: ========================================================

The heck was that?!

“That” was exactly what it sounded like.
As long as I’m already here, I would like to see whatever I can.

…

You don’t have to worry. It’s your research; I won’t butt in.

p9: ========================================================
Though I did happen to spy a few things while you were in the shower.

She suffers from a temporal lobe abnormality and hyperacusis.
She’s your charge?

…

p10: ========================================================
Mio?!

p11: ========================================================
Huh? Why?!
Hey, what’re you getting up for? Lie down.

Come now, Beth! Control yourself.
/ Did you take your medicine?
Yes, yes.

Then close your eyes.
/ Do I have your attention? This experiment is to—

To fix my ears.
/ I know, I know.

p12: ========================================================
Okay, Mio. Good night.

…Get to sleep already.

[sfx]: Giggle

p13: ========================================================
Beth, was it? She seems rather used to this.

I’m sorry events aren’t more dramatic.
/ But we’ve done this dozens of times.

You must be gathering data while she sleeps because—

Because the fMRI’s noise bothers her, I bet.
Gotta do it while she’s asleep.

…That’s right.
It’s the latest technology, but ultimately, that bit still nags at her.
[sfx]: hummmm

p14: ========================================================
…That concludes the observations?

Yes. That’s all there is to it. Did we disappoint you?
No, it’s just what you told me to expect.

Claire.

Why administer her a drug that increases her dopamine levels?
Her hearing’s already sharp. Won’t that do the opposite of what we want?

It’s—

p15: ========================================================
It’s to raise her baseline.
/ Rather than suppress her oversensitivity,
the idea is to achieve balance by aggressively raising the baseline of her other senses.
[graph, from top, clockwise]: Sight / Sound / Touch / Taste / Smell

Exactly.
/ Mio, this is a standard application of the drug to treat illnesses such as hers.

[sfx]: Tch.

…

p16: ========================================================
What about this?
You’re not gonna use it? It’s ready and waiting.

[sfx]: Twitch

That drug is currently undergoing animal trials in other facilities. It’s not yet been approved for human use.
But if it’s data on dopamine levels we want, why’re we settling for second best?
/ It meets safety standards.

There’s still so much testing to do. You must know that!

p17: ========================================================
[sfx]: Flap

[sfx]: Step

…Mio?
[sfx]: Grab

p18: ========================================================
Wh—What are you doing?!

The basics: drawing blood before administering a drug.

And I’m not on my period. There’ll be no noise in the data.
[sfx]: clink

p19: ========================================================
Hold on. You can’t possibly—
[sfx]: Punch

Don’t!

…Mio?

p20: ========================================================
[sfx]: Smirk

[sfx]: Gulp

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 7

2019-10-21T00:27:12+00:00

Chaos Child 7

p1 =============================================
Chapter 7: Keep going 01

p2: =============================================
I finished.

Do it again.

…Why?

p3: =============================================
Again.
Why?

Again.

The broken record* method?
*A technique wherein one repeats the same commands to e.g. children with developmental disorders.

You’re welcome to do so, but you could be a bit kinder about it.

p4: =============================================
Here.

…And this is?

Beth’s to-date experimental data.
/ Look it over. There’s an experiment tonight.
I can come?!

Beth requested you herself.
/ Here, we prioritize the children’s wishes.

I finished.

p5: =============================================
Again.
Why? I finished.

Erin, do it again.

…Honestly, I opposed you being in charge of her. You haven’t been here long enough.
/ But you have gotten used to our methods, if only just.

Mmngh?

p6: =============================================
You made sure to call her “Erin,”
not “Girl lacking facial recognition skills.”

p7: =============================================
[sfx]: click

…

p8: =============================================

It’s good, steady data.
Knew her temporal lobe numbers would be strong.

But there’s no data about that [em]phenomenon[/em], not that I’d expect there to be.
Still…

At that moment, she tilted her head.
Wouldn’t have done much, but it would’ve slightly increased the pressure on her temporal lobe.

p9: =============================================
The temporal lobe handles memory, speech…
and [em]hearing and music[/em].

I’ll figure it out!

Why?

p10: =============================================
You need to be punished for taking her away the other day.
Which means you won’t be present for the experiment.

But the person in charge of the child is supposed to be there for her experiment!

…

Or is there something you don’t want me knowing?

The final choice is mine to make.
Accept it.

p11: =============================================
Huh…?
But you’re in charge of me now!

…Yeah.
And yet I’m not allowed to be there, apparently.

p12: =============================================
Hey,
/ about the music trick—
STOP!

It’s a secret.
/ I wasn’t even supposed to let you hear.

On Claire’s orders?

…

p13: =============================================
Mio, put your favorite songs on here.
I want to hear Japanese music.

I have bigger things to be doing right now, so why…
[sfx]: Waaaaaah!

Gotta get my hands on some clue, fast.

[sfx]: Huff
Or else I’m never gonna catch up to…

[sfx]: sniff

…What are you doing?

p14: =============================================
No bugs, it would seem.
[sfx]: rattle

…What’re you here for?

There’s signs that someone on the outside rifled through our lab’s database.
[sfx]; step down

p15: =============================================
What they looked at, Mio,
was almost certainly your personal data.

…When?

Just the other day.
/ The day after you ignored my phone call.
And you’re saying someone here did it?!

We don’t know. Even Hashida couldn’t catch them.
But with this being our only lead…

…And?
Why come all this way when you could’ve told me over the phone?

Oh Mio…
/ Couldn’t you choose your words a bit more carefully?

p16: =============================================
This simply added to my list of reasons why I wanted to see the Coleman Institute firsthand.
The standard terminals aside, the research machines here are all stand-alone. We can’t peak at them from outside.
/ And besides…

I wanted to see you again.
It’s good to see you’re doing well.

…

[sfx]: Flip

I technically do have permission to observe,
/ so won’t you show me around?

p17: =============================================
…Sorry, but someone else already asked me to do something.

Just grab the first person you see and have them help you.

…?
Okay. All right.

I’ll see you later.
[sfx]: close

…

p18: =============================================

p19: =============================================
Who’re you…?

Isn’t she…?

I’m Mio’s…
/ Well, I suppose I’m her friend.

Mio has friends?!

p20: =============================================
You and Mio must be close.
/ We met once before. Do you remember?

You know, at the party hall.

[sfx]: clap clap clap clap clap clap

[sfx]: splash

[sfx]; roll

p21: =============================================
[sfx]: type

Dammit, I could half-ass this and she’d never even know…
[sfx]: type
I wanted to see you again.
It’s good to see you’re doing well.

…What am I to her, 5?

Isn’t this…

[sfx]: vibrate

p22: =============================================
BETH!

What happened?
Oh, uh… I think she had an attack?

[sfx]: slump

p23: =============================================
…Better now?

…Mm-hm.
Thanks.

p24: =============================================
--I apologize for the trouble,
[sfx]: step

Miss Makise.

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 6

2019-09-21T00:45:41+00:00

Chaos Child 6

(note: i'm now just marking the JP segments, rather than the english ones)

p1: ===============================================
Chapter 6: Dear My Family
[insert]: Seeking for somewhere in the world to call home—

p2: ===============================================
[sfx]: slam
Why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you say something?!

I-I’m sorry.
/ But they said they were only going for a short walk nearby…
And how many hours ago do you think that was?!

What about the field in back?
We’ve searched there!
Search again! Every inch of it!

All right.
/ We’ll deal with it from here.

p3: ===============================================
You all are to return to your daily duties.
[sfx]: Click

The children would detest the interruption of their routines.

[sfx]: clack

…Now then, just what do you have in mind?
/ I can’t imagine bringing Beth out of here could accomplish anything.

[sfx]: clack

p4: ===============================================
[sfx]: Voom

If I contact [em]The Committee[/em], they’ll secure the two some way or another.
/ But…

Then they would know a staff member took a research subject on an unauthorized excursion, a mark on my record I’d rather avoid.
I cannot afford for the Committee to critique my research, not now.

[sfx]: click

p5: ===============================================
As annoying as it will be, I’ll have to search for her the mundane way…

[sfx]: spark

Where…?

I’m right here, Alan.
Your mother’s right here.

p6: ===============================================
[sfx]: ting

Don’t worry. Mother will protect you.
/ And if anyone tries to get in our way…

Mother will kill them.

p7: ===============================================
--Tell me.
Where are we going?

Tell me already!
[sfx]: Gwahahah
[sfx]: *startle*

p8: ===============================================
[sfx]: click click click

*squeeze*

[sfx]: unzip

[sfx]: snatch

psfx]: phew

p9: ===============================================
…

Report 001

…First interview.

p10: ===============================================
[sfx]: sway
Can you tell us your name?

She rocks in place, says nothing.
/ Heavily malnourished, cared for in a hospital.
Only recently discharged; the mental strain from the visit likely still persists. Time and patience will be necessary.

[sfx]: close

Report 041
/ Oh, so it was tasty?

Yep!

p11: ===============================================
Mommy would cook for me when she hadn’t had too much to drink,
and she’d make cakes and pies, and… and cookies!

Beth, you’ve done nothing wrong.
Your ears—or more accurately, a part of your brain—just happens to function a little differently than most people’s.

But I—
Nothing, Beth. Nothing.

p12: ===============================================
[sfx]: Vroom

The Coleman Institute,
eh…?

--So nobody said anything?
Nope.
/ All the adults nearby always just came to drink.

[sfx]: Yank

p13: ===============================================
You need to calm down. Now, what’s the matter?
Lewis always does that!
/ Even though he’s not my daddy!

p14: ===============================================
Lewis wants you to think of him as family.

p15: ===============================================
I don’t need a mommy or a daddy!

p16: ===============================================
…
Beth, you’ve done nothing wrong.

p17: ===============================================
--up
/ Hey, wake up.
Mnngh…

Why are we…?

I wanted to make sure of something.
There’s gotta be a way in somewhere.
[sfx]: vibrate

p18: ===============================================
Why now…

Must mean the Institute’s contacted Kurisu.
/ Screw me.

Hurry up and show me in. You used to live here, didn’t you?
/ …Hm?

The door’s open…?

[sfx]: creak

What’s that smell…?
[sfx]: blech

…Beer.

[sfx]: flick

p19: ===============================================
The electricity works?
Wasn’t this place for sale?

The nearby men
/ would always use it whenever they liked.

[sfx]: turn

Looks like there’s no fixing the stench.
[sfx]: Rattle

p20: ===============================================
And she was here until she was 8…?

[sfx]: tick tock tick tock

p21: ===============================================
The sound of that clock’s your favorite, right?

And you recorded it before you left for the Institute?
/ Or did you find something just like it?

…

You said a whole lotta words about how you didn’t need any parents,
/ but basically, you’re still clinging to the image of your mother baking you tasty treats.
[sfx]: creak

…You’re wrong.

p22: ===============================================
Were your happiest moments the ones you spent listening to that clock, waiting for the desserts to come out of the oven?

--…!

And the sound of the tree’s the same way.
It’s not that you like it up there, on top of the tree in the courtyard – it’s that you wanted to hear the same sounds you heard here.

NO, YOU’RE WRONG!

Brats.
End of the day, you can’t let go of your mother.

p23: ===============================================
[sfx]: rustle

Mio, don’t you have a mommy too?

What?

…Then I don't get you.

[sfx]: Slap

I—

p24: ===============================================
[sfx]: vibrate

Tch.
[sfx]: vibrate

[sfx]: Thud / step
…Mio?

--Hello?

p25: ===============================================
…Mom?

!

How did you get this number?
Some woman at some institute or another called me, asking if you hadn’t come to see me.

We spoke briefly.
/ …Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?

…?

p26: ===============================================
She seemed rather upset with you over something.
I really couldn’t care less what you get yourself up to, provided it doesn’t come back to me.
/ Some of us are busy. I was in the middle of work when she called.

You’d think you would have learned by now, after all the times we’ve had this conversation since you were little…

Are we clear?
/ You are to handle your issues by your—
[sfx]: twitch

[sfx]: spin

…Mom, do you remember what happened when I was in first grade?
…Huh?

p27: ===============================================
We were living in Japan. I cooked. You got angry.
[sfx]: slap

Angry that I’d gotten food on your work documents. You kicked me out of the apartment.

…What are you talking about? I told you, I’m busy.
You yelled at me to stop crying, the way you always did,
/ whined about the mess I’d made like I’d ruined your day.

I don’t remember. Now as I said, I happen to be—
That day…

p28: ===============================================
was my seventh birthday.

I knew you were busy, so I cooked on my own.
I wanted us to eat and celebrate together.
I told you, I don’t remember any of this.

…No, you don’t.

Regardless, stop causing me trouble!
/ Hurry on back to that Institute or Facility or whatever it was and do your “research.”
I have one warning for you. Just one.

p29: ===============================================
I better be the last time in your life you forget both condoms and the pill.

Mio, what are you—
[sfx]: tap

[sfx]: totter

p30: ===============================================
…Well I look like a hot mess.
Heh. See? I do have a cute side.

[sfx]: sizzle

[sfx]: sizzle
…What are you doing?

Cooking.
You’re hungry, right?

…

p31: ===============================================
Doesn’t it smell burnt?

[sfx]: fire!

Wa… Water!
[sfx]: splash

Idiot—No!

[sfx]: whoosh!

p32: ===============================================
Put it out! Put the fire out!
Eeeeek!

[sfx]: drip

[sfx]: Huff huff

[sfx]: tip

[sfx]: CRASH!

p33: ===============================================
[sfx]: pf

[sfx]: pfft

p34: ===============================================
Don’t tell anyone.
?

[sfx]: tilt

That’s the music from…

p35: ===============================================
--And your excuse is?
It was for research.
/ Wasn’t Beth uncooperative with our research and with living here?
The tree climbing and everything else stems from a dependence on certain sounds. I wanted to confirm just what those sounds were.

What did you tell her?

?

She said that she wants you to be in charge of her, going forward.

p36: ===============================================
Nothing, really.
/ Just to not be so fixated on her parents.

…Aren’t you the one fixated here?

Are we done?
/ It’s been a long day. I’m tired.
But what about the truth?

Huh?

If you only wanted to confirm the facts about her, you could have gone by yourself.

Between how you treat the children and from talking with your mother herself, I can tell…
/ that what you wanted was to find a kindred spirit.

p37: ===============================================
Or perhaps—

[em]was your goal to take Beth out, cause her to panic,
and thereby recreate the music you heard in the party hall?[/em]

[sfx]: Smirk
So you admit it?

p38: ===============================================
…Go.
/ I’ll decide how to discipline you later.
[sfx]: thump

[sfx]: step

--Hey.
[sfx]: turn

p39: ===============================================
She’s 9. I’m 16.
How old do you gotta be before you’re an adult?

Wouldn’t that depend on the person?

…Guess so. Sounds about right.

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 5

2019-08-31T13:49:38+00:00

Chaos Child 5
(update 9/7/2019 to add a page)

p1: ===========================================
[sfx]: slap

You’ve made a complete mess! Explain yourself!

But Mommy, I just—

p2: ===========================================
[sfx]: Slam

[sfx]: Bang
I’m sorry!
I’m sorry!

I’m sorry…

p3: ===========================================
Chapter 5: Home Sweet Home

p4: ===========================================
Ugh…

…Leave me alone already, you damn dream.

…Looking over all those brats’ docs must’ve triggered it.

p5: ===========================================
[sfx]: Swing

<>

{Miss Kunosato.}

p6: ===========================================
{You’re 20 minutes late. }

{ …Mio’s fine.
/ So you really do all eat here together. }

{ It provides regular training in social skills,
so that they’ll always be ready to enter general society. }

{ We dorm here at the facility
/ and live together with them for the same purpose. }

{ Here, we’re all family. }

p7: ===========================================
{…Family, huh? }

{You gotta be kidding. }

{Hey! Beth! }

{…The director told me to watch over you as you learn the work.
/ Did you read the children’s documents? }
[sfx]: Clatter / sigh

p8: ===========================================
{ What do you expect me to understand given just a summary with no fMRI* imaging? When’s the experiment?
…As a newcomer, there’s things you have to do before you can even begin to talk about experiments. }
*A method of visualizing changes in blood flow in the brain, which relates to brain activity, using an MRI

{ And where is our grand director? What, she’s the only one not stuck eating here? }

{ Alan won’t eat his food unless he’s sitting in a certain place. }
{ The director’s with him. }

…

p9: ===========================================
…What even is this?

[sfx]: Bam!

{ As a beginner, you’ll start by watching over and observing the children. }

{ Wasn’t that your specialty? }

p10: ===========================================
<>

[sfx]: pass
{ What are you doing? }

{ Are you completely unfamiliar with child-raising techniques?! }
/ {We’re intentionally creating a parallel play environment. }

{ That wasn’t what I meant!
/ Why bother wasting time with this when you aren’t even scanning their brainwa—

[sfx]: Thunk

p11: ===========================================
{ Injections and experiments that require machinery are conducted at most once per week.
/ Any more would be too much on the children. }
~~~~~!

You can’t be serious.
[sfx]: Throb (with pain)

{ Each of these children has some form of mental handicap or another.
James, I’m starving.
They’re the sort that those uneducated in these matters would label eccentric or disobedient and look down on. }

{ Our most important task is to raise and save these children. Research is secondary.
That’s our director’s approach, and it’s why I’m proud to work here. }

p12: ===========================================
{ I’m going to check on the other children. You’re in charge here.
Hey! }

But what the heck do I do now?

[sfx]: Thud

I read his file…
[sfx]: jogging

Minor parietal lobe abnormality, right?
When writing, he doesn’t grip the marker with his ring or pinky fingers. His hand must be malformed.

p13: ===========================================
[sfx]: jogging

Poor perception of extremities. Naturally, body image is weak as well.
/ He keeps falling.
[sfx]: Smack

[sfx]: Roll

What else?
Let’s experiment.

{ Hey. }
?

p14: ===========================================
{ Let’s say I’m about to leave this room.
[sfx]: drag
{ And, while I’m gone, someone moves this ball from here… }

{ to here.
/ Then I come back to find my ball.
Which box would I search? }

…

[sfx]: jogging

p15: ===========================================
{ So you don’t even understand the question?
/ Or do you just not trust the new adult?
[sfx]: sigh

[sfx]: smack

[sfx]: drip

[sfx]: WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

p16: ===========================================
[sfx]: WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

{ Hey, anybody…? }

[sfx]: Gaaaaaaahhhhhh!

[sfx]: step
{ Hey… }

p17: ===========================================
[sfx]: bang

[sfx]: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

{ …On your feet. }

p18: ===========================================
{ Stop crying and stand up on your own. }

p19: ===========================================
[sfx]: Smack
Wow!
[sfx]: Twitch

[sfx]: yelp / eeek / bounce
Screw this.

p20: ===========================================
{ Hey. }

{…What?}

So she can talk…
{ There’s something I wanna ask you. You remember me? }

{ You’re the new woman. Mio Kunosato.
/ From Japan. }

{ We met at the party hall.
/ I’ve still got your teeth marks in my skin.
…What do you want? }

p21: ===========================================
What was that music?
[sfx]: startled

[sfx]: slide

{…The what?
/ How would I know? }

{ Don’t play dumb with me. When I heard it— }
[sfx]: EEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKK

p22: ===========================================
{ What happened? I heard a scream. }

{A panic attack?! }

{What did you do?!
Let’s have you rest in your room. }

p23: ===========================================
[sfx]: smirk

An act?
You little brat…!

{ Hey! What are you doing?! }

p24: ===========================================
{ Why’d you come out here while Al was crying?! }

{ Leave a brat alone long enough, and they’ll stop crying on their own.
/ His is a minor parietal lobe abnormality. How does playing daycare give us any information on that? }

{ …Albert. }

{Huh?}

{HE HAS A NAME: ALBERT!
I TOLD YOU, WE’RE ALL FAMILY HERE! }

p25: ===========================================
Hmph.
[sfx]: step

{ Mio,
/ the director showed me your history.
/ I get it. You want to prove you’re better than Miss Makise. }

[sfx]: stop
{ Huh? }

{ But don’t treat these children as tools to get ahead.
/ The Institute exists for them! }

[sfx]: beckon

p26: ===========================================
{ I thought you were a bit cleverer than that. But no, you can’t soothe a single child? }

{…I can’t stand brats.
/ Besides, I didn’t come here to babysit. }

{ Everything begins with us earning the children’s trust.
/ When you can’t even do that, you have no right to experiment on them. }

{…Meaning? }

p27: ===========================================
{You tried to test Albert on the Sally-Anne Test.
/ We do have cameras and microphones in the rooms where the children play. }

Sally-Anne Test.

Sally and Anne each have a box. Sally puts a ball in hers, then leaves the room.

Next, Anne moves that ball into her own box.

When Sally returns to the room, which box will she search?
*Children who can’t think from Sally’s perspective would answer “Anne’s.”

[sfx]: Tch.
{…Mio.}

p28: ===========================================
{Did your parents never hug you? }

[sfx]: slap

{ …Huh? }

p29: ===========================================
{You abandoned Albert while he was crying. }

{ Care or abuse tends to recur prominently in successive generations.
/ When you were little, how did your parents treat you when you cried? }

{…I don’t remember anything that far back. }

{…}

p29.5 ===========================================
Elizabeth. Age 9. Temporal lobe abnormality.

Suffers hyperacusis, along with other disorders.

Her parents, farmers, died of acute alcohol poisoning.
Sending her to the Institute.

...When we first found her, she was highly malnourished.
Rural, alcoholic farmers... Typical story. Suffered from neglect.

{Did your parents never hug you? }

...Why am I even...
[sfx]: Creak

p30: ===========================================
[sfx]: Rustle

{You like it up there?}

{…You again? Leave me alone!}

{Suit yourself. Not my problem if you fall and hurt yourself.
/ Just make sure you don’t fall headfirst. I need my data. }

[sfx]: blink
{…You’re not going to tell me to come down because it’s dangerous? }

{Would you listen if I did? }
[sfx]: sigh

p31: ===========================================
{…I’m sick of this boring place.}

{Have you seen the other kids? Most of them can’t even talk properly.
/ Us, family? You’ve got to be kidding! }

{ … }

{What sort of family doesn’t know a [em]thing[/em] about me?}

{ You’re such a brat. }

{Now you?
Now you’re gonna say the same things as Louis too?! }

p32: ===========================================
{Ever looked up the definition of “family” in a dictionary?}

{…What’s a “definition”? }

{ Basically, there’ll be some drivel about a group of people who are related by blood, or a group who lives together.
/ Japanese dictionary, Mariam-Webster, doesn’t matter. You won’t find a thing in there about mutual affection.
/ And forget love or intimacy. Won’t be a word about those. }

{…}

{As someone who’s been [em]where you’re at[/em], lemme give you some advice. }

p33: ===========================================
{ No one’s ever said family’s gotta be nice to each other.
/ When you got a bunch of people living together, wherever they are, sure they’re family.
/ But don’t expect that word to carry any more meaning than that. }

{You’re weird. You’re not making any sense. }

{Then forget about that and tell me about the music.
/ That’s what I’m here to learn about. }

{…
Claire said not to tell anyone. }

{Beth!
Where are you?!}

p34: ===========================================
{I’ve never been in here before!}
[sfx]: excited

[sfx]: swing
{ Wait! There’s nothing in here! }
{ How about you shut up before they find you? }

{Girl, are you always slipping out of your room before curfew? }
{They’re always trying to put me in bed way too early. }

{Hey,
/ you’ve looked up “family” in a dictionary, haven’t you? }
{Yeah.}

{Why?
/ Most people wouldn’t do that.}
{…If you say so.}

{…?}

p35: ===========================================
{…Ahhhh.}

{Hey…?}

{No, no…}
[sfx]: slip

Because of that?!
[sfx]: Roar

p36: ===========================================
[sfx]: trip

[sfx]: Ahh, ahh

[sfx]: hug

{Calm down.}

p37: ===========================================
Most people wouldn’t, eh?
[background]: Family (noun)

[sfx]: brush

You’re not wrong.

{…Mommy.}

p38: ===========================================
[sfx]: breathe

[sfx]: snatch

[sfx]: snap

p39: ==========================================
The sound of a clock.
[sfx]: Tick tock

Entitled “Antique Clock.”
And the picture… I saw it in the data. It’s her family’s home.

{…Damn brat.}
[sfx]: close

p40: ===========================================
{ We found you trying to sneak back into your own room this morning.
Where were you until then? }
[sfx]: shouting

{ I dunno. }

p41: ===========================================
{ What? }
{…Nothing.}

{Hey!}

[sfx]: Slam!

{ Who gets to be around for experiments and injections? }

{?
/ The director, and the one in charge of that child. }

p42: ===========================================
{What do I do to get to be in charge of Beth? }

{ …Did you forget what I told you yesterday?
/ They’re not here for your convenience. As a newcomer, you need to--
What. Do. I. Do? }

[sfx]: Sigh

{ Everything begins with you earning the children’s trust.
Didn’t the director tell you that? }

p43: ===========================================
{ Well, above all,
Beth’s a little rascal. Nobody but the director can get her to listen to them. }

{ How so? }

{We tell her to stop climbing the trees, but she puts in her earphones and ignores us.
She’s a handful and a half. }

{ First, you’d need to do something about that. }

{…}

p44: ===========================================
[sfx]: tick tock

[sfx]: Ah!
[sfx]: swing

{…Mio?}

{ You’re sick of this boring place, right?
/ I’m breaking you out. }

{…Huh?}

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 4

2019-05-17T05:37:44+00:00

Children’s Collapse chapter 4

p1: ================================================
There’s something about that place that stinks.
Be careful.

p2: ================================================
Chapter 4: Going the distance

p3: ================================================
{ I’m terribly sorry, but Coleman cannot spare any time right now… }
{ Would you please wait for her? }

{ In the meantime, you are free to observe our facility. }
{ I can?! }

{ You may.
/ There are some areas you’ll be forbidden access to, but all of them are marked. }

[sfx]: Bounce

p4: ================================================
So much space…
/ And it’s so open.
I wasn’t even patted down.

[sfx]: Fween

p5: ================================================
This’s less a lab and more an orphanage.

p6: ================================================
[sfx]: Crash!

[sfx]: Squeeze!

{What…?}

p7: ================================================
{…Where?}

{…?}

{Alan!}

{Hey now!}
{Mnph!}

{Oh!}

[sfx]: Sigh

{…Sorry. Are you the woman here to observe?}

p8: ================================================
{…He has hypersensitivity?}
{Yes}
[sfx]: Stab

{He was born with abnormally acute sensory organs.}
{ He follows his own rules when interacting with others, and…
/ Please don’t view him too harshly for what he did. }

{I realize I’m in no position to judge when you so kindly let me observe, but it seems like there’s more children with early-onset developmental disorders than there are those with higher brain dysfunctions.
/ Any reason why you’re obsessing with them? }

{You certainly know your stuff.
/ Umm, aren’t you-- }

p9: ================================================
{Mnnn! Mnnnn!}
[sfx]: Slap

{Sheesh. Again…?}

{Here.}
[sfx]: Squeeze

[sfx]: Toss

[sfx]: Run

[sfx]: Squeeze

p10: ================================================
{ An obsession? }

{ Yes. He won’t drink out of any cup but the right one.
/ But his old one’s gone missing. It had a duck on it. }

{We tried putting a similar sticker on this one, but to him, it’s just not the same… }

{You have to drink your milk if you want to grow up big and strong. }

{ Alan…
Let him do as he pleases. }

p11: ================================================
{ And if he insists on not having anything to drink, put him back on the IV during his nap. }

{Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms. Kunosato.

p12: ================================================
{ Beth! Jake! }
{ You’ll hurt yourselves! }

{ Get down from there! }
{ Beth, Jake, please…! }
Isn’t she…

{Apologies for all the ruckus. }
/ { My staff are excellent researchers, but they aren’t the most experienced in dealing with children. }
{It’s fine. I’m the one who dropped in unannounced. }

{So, what brings you here today?
/ How’s your shoulder? }

p13: ================================================
{ Your research caught my eye. I looked into it…
And it looks like you’re chiefly concerned with the issue of perception. }

{Yes.
Investigating how the children view the world gives us insight into it. }

{…That girl. Beth, was it?
…? Yes, that’s her. }

{What in the world is she?}

p14: ================================================
{ Music suddenly rang in your ears?
/ Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination? }

{ Then why did you know to come to the bathroom?
/ Wasn’t it because you heard the music? }

{ When the children panic, what they seek are quiet, enclosed spaces. }

{…}

p15: ================================================
[sfx]: sigh

{ Hypothetically, if what you say were true, then what is it you would like to ask? }

{ It’s not normal.
/ Which makes it interesting. }

{ But why? Aren’t you Ms. Makise’s assistant?
I can’t imagine our research has much to do with hers. }

[sfx]: Mmph
{ I’m not her assistant.
/ I’m not even on her staff. }

p16: ================================================
[sfx]: Heh

{ I read the article you wrote for the conference.
It shared the same theme as hers… Though apparently, it was a bit shallow. }

{I’m terribly sorry, but I can’t share details about the children to people who aren’t staff. }
{ You’ll have to accept that. }

p17: ================================================
{…}
sfx: clench

{ Ms. Kunasato, you are still young.
/ You can’t possibly know what you want to do, or even what you should do. }

{ …What’d you say? }

{ Ms. Makise is terribly brilliant. As a fellow researcher, I understand the pressure to succeed you feel around her.
Gather experience as her assistant. I expect big things from you. }

{…Back where I’m from, people like you get told to mind their own damn business. }

[sfx]: Slam

p18: ================================================
[quote to 4-17] { You can’t possibly know what you want to do, or even what you should do. }

…I know damn well she’s fucking brilliant.
[sfx]: Tch

p19: ================================================
[sfx]: Eeeeek!

[sfx]: Thud

[sfx]: Rise

{ Beth, no! }
{ It’s dangerous! }

[sfx]: Vibrate

p20: ================================================
Mio?
/ You all right?

…What part of me?

Have you already left?
I’m still here.

If there’s nothing for you to gain, then let this end.
{ Beth! Stop this at once! }

p21: ================================================
[sfx]: Reach

p22: ================================================
…I get it.
That’d make sense.
[bg]: YEOUCH!

…Mio?
Are you listening to me?

Yeah.
At any rate, come back here right away.

{ Yeah, mom. }

p23: ================================================
YOU’RE WHAT?!

The Coleman Institute has made great strides. I’m going there.
Looks like it’ll be fun.

Now wait one moment!
[sfx]: Grab

p24: ================================================
What is the meaning of this? I hope they didn’t try to bribe you into going.

Nah, just the opposite.
Coleman told me to gather experience under you.

…

[sfx]: grin

And that pissed me off.

Huh…?

p25: ================================================
At the end of the day…
I can’t even put my dreams to words if nothing’s fighting to keep me down.

{So Mio,}
/ {could you maybe stop looking like you’re having the time of your life when you’re getting payback?}

I’m the kind of person who wants to seek her teeth into whatever’s in front of her.

…You’re leaving out of stubborn pride over what she said?
/ I know the university’s made offers. And right here, we—

No. It’s you.
…Hey, Kurisu?
/ That thing you said, about the riddle that is the universe? But that’s just dealing with the one we’re looking at right now, isn’t it?

…?

p26: ================================================
[ref, p14] { Music suddenly rang in your ears?
/ Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination? }

…That reaction was almost certainly genuine.
The sound was almost farcical, the way it appeared.

That kid doesn’t see the same world I do.
Nevertheless, I heard that sound. She [em]influcenced[/em] my world.

p27: ================================================
If I can explain why, that’ll rock the foundations of the world we’re researching.
I might even be able to show that all our research is nonsense.

I might be able to surpass her…

In other words, Kurisu, if we take things to extremes…

p28-29: ================================================
I’m damn sure I want to kill you.

Kill your research, kill its results.
Kill the whole universe you see.

p30: ================================================
…

You think I’m gonna latch on to you and beg for scraps at your feet?

By my measure, the people who do are incompetent.

In fact, over this past year, you’re the one who showed me that.

Becoming a scientist isn’t my dream.
/ But I’ve figured out what it is I want to do.
It’s to destroy you.

p31: ================================================
And so you would kick away this familiar laboratory
to begin anew doing new research in some suspicious institute?

…Mio, people like that?
By my measure, they are exactly who I would call scientists and researchers.

p32: ================================================
[sfx]: spill

{ Again, Alan? }

[sfx]: Step

…You’re the one from yesterday.

p33: ================================================
[sfx]: Clatter

{ What?! }

[sfx]: Offer

p34: ================================================

[sfx]: toss
[sfx]: slump

{ Next. }

{Excuse me. What are you-- }
{Shut up. }

[sfx]: mmph

p35: ================================================
{ Look, it’s not going to work. I don’t know why you’re doing this, but please let me do my job. }

{ Like I told you before, the boy isn’t going to accept any cup that doesn’t have a duck on i-- }

p36: ================================================
[sfx]: Pour

{But why…?}

{ I don’t got a clue how long you’ve been here,
but maybe you need to spend more time observing. }

{ The kid obsesses over texture. Touch and feel.
What his eyes tell him about some picture doesn’t mean crap in comparison. }

p37: ================================================
[sfx]: Clink

{ When Coleman said most of her staff don’t know how to deal with the brats, she must’ve been thinking of you.
…! }

{…Hmph.
/ So I take it your boobs are as hard as hard as this handle? }
[sfx]: Tap

p38: ================================================
[sfx]: Yank

[sfx]: Press

{What are you--?! }

{You tell me.
/ That kid’s the only one who knows what it is he’s looking for. }

p39: ================================================
{Or do you honestly think he’s living in the same world you are? }

{…What? }

{That’s why you don’t know how to deal with him. You said it yourself: he’s got his own rules. }
{If you’re a researcher, then look at him as nothing more than a research subject. }

{Who do you think you are?! }
{Enough. }

p40: ================================================
{ Ms. Kunasato,
/ what was the meaning of that? }

{I just want to be part of your institute. }

[sfx]: Speechless
{…And you expect us to accept you? }

{Yeah, unless you want me to tell everyone about Beth.
Do you mean that gossip you brought here yesterday? You can’t expect people to believe— }

p41: ================================================
{ Wanna try me? }

{ Here’s all of my research, my papers, their evaluations.
If this isn’t good enough, then you don’t have to make me a full researcher. }

[sfx]: Click

[sfx]: Smoke

{Smoking in a lab, in this day and age? }
{Of course it’s fully banned.)

{…I’ll ask you again. What is the meaning of all this? }

p42: ================================================
{ I told you, your research interests me.
What do you say? }

[sfx]: Sigh

{You will start by learning the children’s names and conditions.
Then you’ll move to research. }

p43: ================================================
{ Heh.
/ And here I thought you’d start me off doing office work. }
[sfx]: Pass

{I’m familiar with your achievements.
/ Additionally, you have, in your own way, decent knowledge and understanding of the children’s conditions.
What you said earlier was largely accurate. However… }

{ I do have one correction:
That child lives in the same world we do. }

{ …Heh. With you running a lab so young, I figured you as more of a researcher.
/ What’s all that humanity supposed to get you? }

{ Our research exists to help the children here.
/ As an employee, you would do well to obey that tenet. }

{ Furthermore… }
[sfx]: Squeeze

p44: ================================================
{ The boy has a name: Alan.
Alan Coleman. }

{He is my one and only son. }

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 3

2018-08-05T03:00:13+00:00

Chaos Child ~Children’s Collapse~ 3

p2: ================================
--o!
/ Mio!
[sfx]: Shake

[sfx]: Scratch
Wha…?

p3: ================================
It’s getting late.
I won’t bar you from sleeping here, but you could at least take off your lab coat.

All I’m doing is following your perfect example.

That is quite the thing to say after you surprised me with that paper during my presentation at today’s conference.
/ Submitted by referral, no less. When did you even lay the groundwork for that?
And how’d it do?

“Well written, but could use a bit more data and inquiry,”
/ was the general consensus.

[sfx]: Tch.
And you?

p4: ================================
Well, I believe I’ve managed to secure our budget.

One year had passed since I met Makise Kurisu.
[sfx]: Blow

I still showed up at high school now and then,
but I mostly hung out in Kurisu’s lab as a non-matriculated college student.

p5: ================================
Beethoven?
I cannot recall the last time I heard you put on anything classical.

…

Have you ever applied Uexküll’s Umwelt* to your work?
?
/ Yes, on occasion.
* Jakob von Uexküll, a German biologist and philosopher, who introduced the idea of the umwelt, or the subjective world-view.

Living things do not perceive their environment, time, or space equivalently,
but rather process the same stimuli uniquely, and thus live in a unique world.

…Sounds like you take his view.
I suppose I do.

p6: ================================
Even after Beethoven grew hard-of-hearing, his compositions continued to be masterpieces.
Musicians have often viewed this as bizarre.

What’s more, he never knew more math than basic addition.
And Mozart, he’s supposed to have paced around his room even while washing his face in the morning.

Do you think they’ve got the same brains normal people do?
I see.

I wanna know what world it was they saw, the one other people can’t.

p7: ================================
And? Did you learn anything?

Someone wrote Europeans knock on doors in a four-beat pattern because of Beethoven’s Destiny.
[insert]: Thus Knocks Destiny at the Door
Though who knows if it’s true.

…Is that all?
As if this stuffy old music could teach me anything.

You need to let yourself grow a bit more accustomed to this sort of thing.

Now then. I’m heading out. Come along, please.

?

p8: ================================
…What am I even doing here?
[insert]: *Sigh*

p9: ================================
Perhaps that statement would carry more weight if you weren’t wolfing down all that food.

Some of us aren’t rich.
Besides, didn’t you once tell me you’d rather spend an hour talking to a wall than go to an academic social?

I’m not here by choice either.
But our lab’s sponsors are here. I had to come.

Then why’d you drag me a—
{Miss Makise!}

p9: ================================
{My, your presentation today was absolutely splendid.}
{Oh… Thank you very much.}
[sfx]: Twitch

{And who’s this young lady?}

{She’s something of a new researcher in my lab.}
{I’m sorry, but I have so many people to introduce her to, so…}

{Miss Makise?}

p10: ================================
*Sigh*
You literally found yourself a wall.

You’re the one not used to stuffy high society.
Oof… That’s enough out of you!

{Miss Makise?}
{WHAT NOW?!}

p11: ================================
?

p12: ================================
{A pleasure to meet you, Miss Coleman.}

{I’m honored to see you’ve heard of me.}
{Your presentation was wonderfully intriguing, and rather stimulating.}

p13: ================================
{And yet, your budget! It appalls me. The University lacks proper appreciation for your work.}
{If you are ever in trouble, feel welcome to visit me. As a fellow researcher, you have my support.}
{…No, there are still too many details I am yet to handle properly. }
/ { But that is very kind of you to offer. }

[sfx]: Rumble

p13: ================================
{--Please, I would love you to pay me a visit. }
{ You need simply show the doorman my card. By all means, please. }

What was that?
…

Claire Coleman,
the head of the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience.

And the kid?
…I have no idea.

p14: ================================
[sfx]: clap

p15: ================================
[sfx]: clap
She’s so far.

p16: ================================
[sfx]: clap

[sfx]: ooh

[sfx]: click

?

[sfx]: flap

[sfx]: Chah
??

p17: ================================
[sfx]: clap / haha

[sfx]: dash!

BETH!

p18: ================================
[sfx]: tick tock

p19: ================================
[sfx]: tick tock

[insert]: Phew

[sfx]: Click open / jump!

[sfx]: slip

p20: ================================
[sfx]: crash

[sfx]: rattle

Kid,
/ Are you all right?!

Hey? What’s wrong?!
[sfx]: creek

p21: ================================
[sfx]: SLAM!

{No… Stop… }

p22-23: ================================
What the hell?!

Where’s this music coming from?

Hey!
[sfx]: lift

p24: ================================
[sfx]: silence

It stopped…?

[sfx]: bite

{Hey! Stop that‼ }
{Mnn! Mnnn!}

p25: ================================
[sfx]: grab

[sfx]: drip / twitch

So that’s what’s going on!

p26: ================================
{ Beth! }

{Beth!}

p27: ================================
[sfx]: huff, huff.

…
[sfx]: Squeeze

[sfx]: phew

{Weren’t you Miss Makise’s… }
{I am terribly sorry for any trouble she caused. Are you all right? }

{A panic attack from auditory overstimulation? }

p28: ================================
{ …Yes. }

{I brought her along today in order to help develop her life skills, }
/ {but it looks like the noise-canceling headphones she had to play her favorite sounds broke.}
[sfx]: Scritch scratch

{Umm, let me treat you. }
{Forget me. More importantly… }

What was that sound I heard a second ago?

p29: ================================
{Yes? }
{…Never mind. Let’s get her to some place calming and get her some earmuffs. }

{ …Yes, let us do so. You know quite a bit about this sort of thing. }
{Not that much, really. }

{Come now, Beth. What do you say to the nice lady?}

{…Thank you. }

p30: ================================
{You finally come back here after who knows how long, and you got bitten? }
{You’re not some runaway boy living on the streets. }

{Whoa… What sort of fight were you even in? }

{A kid with hyperacusis bit me. }
{Hyper whatsit?}

{…Tell me you at least know what the Cocktail Party Effect is.}
{No, what’s that?}
*: The ability to pay attention to certain sounds within a noisy room. Those suffering from hyperacusis often struggle with it.

{ …Both it and hyperacusis come down to the same thing.}
[sfx]: sigh

p31: ================================
{ Have you ever thought about the world experienced by bats and dolphins, }
{ / the creatures in the animal kingdom with the strongest hearing and who use echolocation? }
{ Or how some who experience synesthesia can hear in color? }

{ …Fine. Don’t tell me. }
[insert] Hmph

{ No matter how many times I listen to a D-major chord, I can’t hear the yellow that Scriabin heard. }
{ That was a world all his own, one only he could hear. }
*Alexander Scriabin, a Russian composer and pianist.

There weren’t any speakers.
But the moment that girl tilted her neck…

p32: ================================
{Oh!
/ You were there, right? It even made the news. }

{ I was what? }

{… I’m no genius like her. }
{ You both seem the same to me. }

p33: ================================
{ We’re not the same! You have no idea how hard I’ve-- }

[sfx]: Ah!

{…Sorry. }

{ I’ve heard the university dean’s called our school again. }
{ They want you to skip the rest of high school and enroll this semester. }
{ … }

p34: ================================
--No. I won’t give you up.

Huh? Why not?

I just won’t.
What about you. Why be so fixated on this?

…

Don’t you remember what you told me a year ago?
?

p35: ================================
“We must use logic and reason as our tools to question the riddle that is the universe.”

I’m still saying nothing about becoming a scientist, but…

I could spend all my life trying to fight that riddle of yours…
And I’d never even lay a finger on it.

…But you believe a hint lies there?

Dunno.
/ But I’m planning to find out.

*Sigh*

p36: ================================
I have one condition.

If anything catches your attention, no matter how trivial, you are to contact me immediately.

…You know something?
I would tell you if I did.

All I know is that it smells fishy.

…Hashida-san said that?

Yes.
[sfx]: Slide

p37: ================================
Well you can tell Hashida-san that I’m still waiting for him to show me that database.
…According to him, you refused to pay compensation?

I’d sooner drop dead than cosplay as some random anime girl.
[insert]: Is that what that HENTAI asked for…?

Mio,
/ please don’t forget that condition.
[sfx]: Click

…You might still have me beat in brains,
/ But I’ve got the edge in height, weight, and a feel for when people are up to no good.
Experience’s taught me that.

…Do be careful.

p38: ================================
Coleman Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience

[sfx]: typing

[sfx]: typing

DI-SWORD failed to materialize.

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 2

2018-01-06T00:31:30+00:00

Chaos;Child ~Children’s Collapse~ 2

p1: =======================================
{The girl’s an acquaintance of mine.}
{Would you kindly overlook this entire episode?}

Makise Kurisu.

p2: =======================================
Chapter 2: Kurisu Makise

p3: =======================================
Miss Makise…
[sfx]: Step

{You know this girl?}
{Yes, she’s a distant relative of mine from Japan.}
/ { I did ask her to wait patiently for my own lecture, which was running long, to end.}

{Your lecture? You lectured?}

{I tried to refuse, but the dean insisted I substitute for a professor currently in the hospital.}
/ {He did promise it would only be for the month, at least.}

p4: =======================================
[sfx]: Clench!

{Strip a Jap of her manners, and she has nothing left.}
[sfx]: Swoosh
{You had better set this girl straight!}

{Pure, unadulterated hatred. Not even a hint of humor.}
{No wonder your lectures are so boring.}

[sfx]: Squeak
{…Excuse me?}

{Maybe we should strip you of your textbook and see if there’s nothing left you can teach.}

p5: =======================================
{Did you even notice how many people were sleeping?}
[sfx]: Snicker

[sfx]: Grab

{Excuse us.}
{Come with me.}

[sfx]: Chatter
{Umm…}

p6: =======================================
{Why did you just—}

Speak Japanese, please.

{Huh?}
Do you see the couple at the table behind me?

p7: =======================================
[sfx]: Slurp / twirl

…Those must be the best flunkies he can get, given his lectures.
[sfx]: Hah

Well, I cannot say I am surprised those lectures bored you,
Kunosato Mio.

…How do you—

p8: =======================================
You access the university’s private server, from time to time.

But how… I know I erased any trace of my entry. Yet she even got my profile?

What were you up to?
You must have known what you did was illegal.

…I wanted to read some papers.

And what brought you here?
Nothing.
/ Just wanted to take a look.

…

p9: =======================================
I took the liberty of perusing your thesis -- though given its format, perhaps I should call it a “mock thesis” instead.
“On Quantum-Consciousness Vision within the Tractatus’s Framework,” was it?
* The Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, the representative work of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s early philosophy.

She even got inside my machine?!

Given how you constructed your argument, I must assume you’re yet to read Investigations?
*Philosophical Investigations, the name of Wittgenstein’s posthumously published final work.

…There a problem with that?

…Not as such.
/ I simply thought it would be interesting if you did so, and used that to further your thesis.
Given only the Tractatus—

p10: =======================================
Because anyone who understands the Tractatus will recognize its propositions as senseless,
and she must so to speak throw away the ladder, after she has climbed up on it?

Yes. Proposition 6.54.
/ …You have a quick mind.
*From the Tractatus.

Maybe not as quick as yours,
but at least I’m not one of those idiots who’ll quote Prop 7 and act like they’ve read the whole thing.
*”Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.”

…I would love to tell him that.

p11: =======================================
Just to confirm, you accessed the University’s server strictly to perform research?
[sfx]: Nod

[sfx]: Rustle

[sfx]: Write

Here you are.
?

Go to the office and show them this. It will grant you permission to audit classes.
You will also have access, albeit limited, from University computers to our servers and the articles therein.

p12: =======================================
No, I—

I was considering handing you over to the authorities, depending on the exact circumstances,
[sfx]: Stand

but I did find your research stimulating, and you seem too talented to place a black spot on your record.
However, it is in your own best interests to cease illegally accessing the network.

Hey wai—
[sfx]: Stand

p13: =======================================
Does she think I’m just some idiot?!
[sfx]: Crumple

[sfx]: Type

Dammit… I can’t find even a trace of her on my machine.

p14: =======================================
Makise Kurisu, 20 years old.
/ Graduated from Victor Condria University at age 18.
Gained attention at 17 after one of her papers was published in Science, and has been a research scientist at the university since she was 18…

…And you’re calling me too talented to give a rap sheet?

All her published papers,
they were miles ahead of anything I’d done through self-study.

[sfx]: Rustle
Found it.

Philosophical Investigations.

p15: =======================================
[sfx]: Open

{Oh, Mio?}
/ {How’d it go?}
{How’d what go?}

{Didn’t you go to the university? To meet Kurisu Makise?}
/ {What was she like?}
{…That wasn’t why I… She was just some creep. }

{Really?}
{Then why are you so driven?}
[sfx]: Write

p16: =======================================
{Now then.}
/ {We will begin today’s lecture with a review of—}

[sfx]: Open

[sfx]: Whispering

[sfx]: Plop

p17: =======================================
[sfx]: Stare

{You there, the person next to her.}
/ {Please allow her to share your textbook.}

[sfx]: Slide

{Now, we’ll start by reviewing the solution to the previous homework…}

p18: =======================================
{That will be all for today.}

{This class is way too hard.}
{Things were way easier back before she started subbing.}
[sfx]: Murmur

[sfx]: Squeak

{Don’t you give any lectures closer to your specialty?}

{…I usually spend all of my time in the lab; I don’t have much to do with the teaching side of things.}
/ {I’m only teaching this class because I was asked to… And I wish I weren’t.}

[sfx]: Flash

p19: =======================================
[sfx]: Running
{…What do you suppose they hope to do with that? Create a flyer with my picture on it, slandering me?}

{…They’re idiots.}
{I read that professor’s papers yesterday, and they’re garbage next to yours.}

Well thank you oh so very much.
{Huh?}

[insert]: Ah!

{N-Never mind. Thank you.}
[sfx]: Spin
{…?}

p20: =======================================
{They really do seem to know each other.}

p21: =======================================
{They’ve been together a lot lately. Though I think she’s just a high schooler who’s skipped a few years.}
{She’s been granted permission to audit classes.}
/ {That’s going to make it tough to go after her for sneaking someone onto the campus.}

[sfx]: Crumple

Professor?
[sfx]: Type

{Maybe we should strip you of your textbook and see if there’s nothing left you can teach.}

{FUCK YOU!}

p22: =======================================
Her lab is well-equipped, but there’s nothing making it leagues better than any other place.

Which means the only explanation left for her success is that she’s just that good,
/ that damned monster.
[sfx]: Open

{Uh, Mio, you should take a look at this.}

{Someone just posted it on the middle school student community message board.}

{…Are you kidding me?}

p23: =======================================
[sfx]: Ah!

[sfx]: Dive!

[sfx]: Type

Does the grade-skipping girl wonder
Go drinking at frat parties?

Reports say the frat is filled with drug addicts.
…There’s stuff on the high school board, too?!

p24: =======================================
[sfx]: Beep

“Kurisu”? It couldn’t be…

[sfx]: Click
[sfx]: Slide

Kunosato-san?

p25: =======================================
So you dug through all the accounts to find mine, did you?
We can worry about that later. First—

These fucking images?

…You’ve already seen them, then. I’m sorry. This is my fault.
And how’s that?

[sfx]: Beep
[bad English] You’ve received a file.

!

p26: =======================================
Are they birds of a feather?

…It’s that damn professor. He’s making me out to be a drunken, drugged-out thug.
And he’s doing it just to make you look worse through association?

Probably so… Sheesh, these games are a waste of time.
If he doesn’t like me, he is perfectly welcome to say so to my face.

The weaker they are, the weaker the prey they try to find.
/ You’ve given me all I need. I’ll figure something out.
Allow me to help you.

I’m good. This isn’t the first time.
[sfx]: Slide

…
/ You never thought they might be real?

p27: =======================================
Huh?
The images. Why’d you know they were fake?

Because you’re not that kind of girl?

…You think you know me?!

Heavens no. However, that dress and that party looked quite expensive. If you had that sort of money…
I cannot imagine you spending it on anything other than books.

Hello? Did something happen?
[sfx]: Grab

…No. I simply thought that, if you’d said something preachy, it would’ve taken the wind out of my sails.

p28: =======================================
Okay…
[sfx]: Crack

{Maybe I started this whole mess with that first putdown, sure…}

{But I’m sorry to say you messed with the one Japanese girl who don’t give a shit about manners.}
[insert]: {No…}
[sfx]: TYPE!

Zero security on your computer? Really?
So you go to dating clubs… And you’ve plagiarized.
Ooh, and what’s this? You’ve padded the results from your experiments? But the numbers tell all.

p29: =======================================
[sfx]: Type

{So Mio,}
/ {could you stop looking like you’re having the time of your life when you’re getting payback?}

p30: =======================================
…For goodness’ sake.
/ I did tell her not to hack her way onto the University intranet.

[sfx]: Heh

She’s a strong one.

p31: =======================================
I’ve got a decent amount of data, but if he plays dumb it’s all over.

Leak all I want, who’re people gonna believe: a male professor, or some high school girl?

I don’t like it, but I’m gonna have to use rumor and gossip, same as him.
/ But if he finds a trace of me, it’ll all be summed up as a personal grudge. That’d ruin everything.
So what do I…

WoWoooW

{What the…?}

{Is this real?}

p32: =======================================
{Shit! How did they—}
[sfx]: Clattering

{I have to destroy it!}
{All of it‼}
[sfx]: SMASH!

p33: =======================================
[sfx]: Ring

[sfx]: Ring

It’s… The dean?
[sfx]: Ring

[sfx]: Ring x3

p34: =======================================
{I hear that professor got kicked out.}
[sfx]: Chatter
{Oh, him?}

Huh?!
What makes you think you deserve a reward? This was none of your business!

That’s enough out of you. I don’t see why I should care about your plans!
Look, just tell him hello for me!

[sfx]: Phew / swipe

[sfx]: Bang

p35: =======================================
How.

…How what?

Getting my data is one thing,
but you got everything, even proof he trumped up his experimental numbers, then plastered that on every monitor on campus and on every student and professor’s personal terminal. At the same time.

[sfx]: *Sigh*

…Would you like to sit down?

p36: =======================================
I know someone, a self-styled “Super Hacka.”

…”Hacka”?
[sfx]: Ah!

I meant “Hacker”!
/ He is the one who noticed you were infiltrating the school’s server,
and he handled everything this time as well.

[sfx]: Clench

…Nobody asked him to.
I wanted to pay off my debt to you.

Because I covered for you when you attended classes without permission?

p37: =======================================
That couldn’t possibly make up for the false images and all of those awful rumors.
Besides, I didn’t save you out of any feeling of goodwill.
/ It was to ask you why you had illegally accessed the server.

[sfx]: Ah

[sfx]: Stand!

Kunosato?!
[sfx]: Walking

p38: =======================================
[sfx]: Grab
{Wha—}

{Will McLachlan.}

{Keep prowling around Makise Kurisu,}
{and that girl next to you’s gonna see you and the professor getting your kicks with that big-assed woman.}

{Hic!}

[sfx]: Waaaaahhhh!
{Will?!}

p39: =======================================
[sfx]: Step

[sfx]: Sit

Thank you.
For what?

p39: =======================================
“The world is everything that is the case.”

…Prop 1?
*From the Tractatus

I consider those the most resolute words in the entire Tractatus.
/ With that opening declaration, he proceeded to, if nothing else, brave the dogfight of reasoning to introduce the concepts it posited to the world at large.

Though he was a philosopher, I’ve always felt his style ultimately resembled a scientist’s ambition.
We must use logic and reason as our tools to question the riddle that is the universe.

I believe you have both the fervor to tackle that question, and the ability to answer it.
Your research is impressive, of course, but you even played the hacker in your pursuit of the truth.

…That doesn’t sound like a compliment, coming from you.

p40: =======================================
?

Let’s go with a more American style, shall we?
/ Makise Kurisu. Kurisu is fine; there’s no need to be formal.
I would love to work along someone as talented as you.

Kunosato Mio. Mio’s fine.

Also, I never said nothing about becoming a scientist.

*Giggle*.

p41: =======================================
{So I heard this college professor got hung out to dry.}
{Did you do that?}
[sfx]: Type

…

{Whoa… Isn’t that kind of overkill?}
[sfx]: Type
[insert]: {My god.}

{He fucked with me, so I fucked with him.}
/ {…And I owed someone a debt.}

{Wow, that’s new.}
{Huh?}

p42: =======================================
{You owed somebody something?}
{And you decided to pay them back?}

{…Whatever. It happens all the time.}
{I don’t want to hear that from y—}
[sfx]: Pfft

[sfx]: Smack
{Ow!}

[sfx]: Boooooo

What a creep…

p43: =======================================
[sfx]: Type

[sfx]: Beep

So Mio-tan’s rummaging through the college database to look at the department-only papers.

As long as she stays away from the research server, let her do what she wants. After all, I believe our relationship is going to last a while.
…There she goes again.
[sfx]: Type

And send.

Translation: Chaos;Child ~Children's Collapse~ 1

2017-12-26T19:12:51+00:00

Chaos;Child ～ Children’s Collapse ～ 1

NOTE: Throughout this manga, I will be using curly braces {} to indicate text that is spoken in English

p1: ======================================
--Push comes to shove, what drove me
Were never dreams of fame and adulation
Or fleeting flickers of love and emotion

p2: ======================================
But rather enmity: a desire to kill.
Chapter 1: Mio Kunosato

p3: ======================================
Did you hear the rumors? They say that, after his capture, the culprit behind the New New Generation Madness was whisked away somewhere.
That’s bull.
Nah, I hear he’s in some city hospital.

[bg]: Shibuya News

There certainly have been rumors.
/ Did you read this week’s FR○DAY special report?
I do a radio show. It gets me info – and lets me control it.

p4: ======================================
[sign]: Coffee?

On a similar note,
/ would you happen to be familiar with the disappearance of a single teacher at the culprit’s school following his arrest?
[sign]: Freesia

p5: ======================================
I know that.

And that.

Fake news.

You I’ll look at later.

Each of my listeners thinks he’s the only one with any idea what this information is worth,
and slavers over the thought of getting my attention so they can “help” me.

p6: ======================================
I am glad to see you are all so well-informed.
But they have no idea

whom I’m even out to kill!

p7: ======================================
[background]: Kei-san, what were you like as a child?

That I will leave to your imaginations.
/ I will take a short break; in the meantime, please listen to this work by Phantasm.
[sfx]: Click

Good work, Mio.
/ Any leads?
[sfx]: Clink

Not especially.
/ This broadcast is mostly intended to keep them from getting bored.
I haven’t done one in a while.

p8: ======================================
Then wouldn’t it be a good idea to give them an answer?

?

To this.
[screen]: Kei-san, what were you like as a child?

…

I was a normal child.
Cheeky, crafty,
/ a girl who couldn’t stand the world around her and didn’t bother to hide it.

As if everything revolved around you?

…Yes.

p9: ======================================
Have a good night. You’re going to be at the hospital tomorrow?
Yes. I’ll contact you if there’s any progress.

It was a lie.
/ Throughout my childhood…

p10: ======================================
[sfx]: Flash!
!

You bitch!

What’re you tryin’ to pull?!
[sfx]: Grab!

[sfx]: Smirk

I’d never assumed everything revolved around me.

p11: ======================================
What about you? You’re still kids.
You think everything revolves around you?

Huh?

[sfx]: Slide

Hello? This is the Shibuya Police Department.

Shit, man.

p12: ======================================
Hello? Is anyone there?
/ This is the Shibuya Police Dept—
[sfx]: Click
Excuse me?

Th-Thank you, miss.

…

p13: ======================================
[sign]: Elementary school
Third grade was when I first realized I was different from everyone else.

Hey! Hey!
[sfx]: Running

I would bounce between my father in America and my mother in Japan, based on who was less busy with work,
/ which of course everyone else noticed.

Kunosato, you lived overseas, right?
[insert]: Squeeee♪
…Sure, I guess.

[sfx]: Yank

p14: ======================================
I never really knew why. Maybe they wanted to make fun of my awkward pronunciation of Japanese, or maybe they’d latched onto me because I was tall for a girl.
Really? You sure don’t look like an illegal.

Hey, stop it.

No one asked your ugly face.
[sfx]: Shove

Eeek!
[sfx]: Thud

Maybe they were just looking for an excuse.

p15: ======================================
Waaaahhhhhhh!

[sfx]: Pff.

[sfx]: Splat

But it was when I broke the nose of a fifth-grade boy
Ooh…

And bit his arm

p16: ======================================
YEEEOUUUUCCHHH!

Wh… What the heck, girl?
I-I’ll call a teacher!

[sfx]: Whipe

That it was made clear to me I would never make it except by being different.
{Bring it on, you fuckin’ brats.}

p17: ======================================
{Are you OK, Kanako?}
Th-Thank y—

Hic!

Eeeek!

p18: ======================================
I’m home.
[sfx]: Close

Use that money to buy him an apology gift.
[sfx]: Type

p19: ======================================
This, please.
Would you like me to wrap it?
Please.

Thank you for your patronage.

p20: ======================================
…I’m sorry.

For goodness’ sake. What sort of girl bites a boy’s arm?

And where are your parents?

[sfx]: Glare / Hide!

p21: ======================================
{Be a man and fight your own fight, coward.}

?
?

Wh-Why am I wasting my time speaking with a child?
Go run on home now!

At the time, I couldn’t stand the world around me.

p22: ======================================
[sfx]: Open
Q: What sort of person were you as a child?

[sfx]: Drop
Well,
/ I still can’t stand the world around me.

p23: ======================================
The bastards who caused all of this
would probably consider being cheeky and being crafty one in the same, anyways.

The child’s the mother of the woman…
[sfx]: Slurp

The Return of the New Generation Madness murders occurred just last year.
The killer’s abnormal methods quickly swept the nation’s attention, a popularity that lasts to this day.

[sfx] Rustle
But they caught the culprit.
Or at least, that’s what the police wanted the world to believe.

p24: ======================================
But I knew better.

…I’m missing information.
But where’s it hiding?
I’d set myself to chasing after the true culprit.

[sfx]: Meow / scratch

…You again? I told you, there’s no food here. Try somewhere else.
[sfx]: Meow

[sfx]: Break
Heh.
!

p25: ======================================
[sfx]: Whoosh

[sfx]: Purrr

And now I’m using a cat to keep warm…
[insert]: *Sigh*
/ Just because I’m the same as I was back then in every other way doesn’t mean I still have to be broke, too.

Oh be quiet.
[sfx]: Meow

Quit grumbling. Pipe down!

p26: ======================================
{M-Mio!}

{Long day of classes, right?}

{Hm?}

{Th-There’s a bunch of us heading over to my place tomorrow to work on our math homework.}
/ {And my mom said she’ll go all out making us lunch.}

{Y-You can come too, if you want?}
[sfx]: Snicker

p27: ======================================
[sfx]: Grab
{Wah!}

{Tim, }
/ {I know I’m poor and all,}
{but if you think one lunch will get you a kiss and a fuck, you’re more pathetic than I thought.}

{I-I didn’t mean it like that!}

{I already finished the homework anyways. But thanks for the drink!}
[sfx]: Phew / Ahaha

p28: ======================================
For middle school, I attended an American boarding school.

The 2009 Shibuya earthquakes caused my mother to move to America,
/ and we began living with my father.

But nobody so much as whispered that it was nice to live together as a family.
My father’s only love was his IT development work, and my mother’s her web editing.

I couldn’t have told you if they had any feelings for each other.
/ They certainly didn’t care about me.
[sfx]: Type

p29: ======================================
{Mio,}
/ {hurry up or you’ll miss or bath time.}

{I’ll go once I’m done with this.}
{You said the same thing yesterday, and then never wound up bathing!}

My parents were working when I told them I wanted to go to a boarding school.
That actually got them to look up from their computers for once.

That sounds wonderful. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
I could see the relief in their faces as they spoke.

I could see how happy they were to have little miss problem child out of their lives.

p30: ======================================
I focused on schoolwork.
[sfx]: Write

[sfx]: Write

My parents automatically sent me an allowance every month. I’d spend it all within a week.

[sfx]: Munch
I’d buy all the books I could, then go out to eat with one of the creepy older guys and get him to show me the latest articles.

I got access to a local university’s network and browsed their servers.

p31: ======================================
I absorbed all the information I could from mathematics, where the answers were always clear,
and from neuroscience.

[sfx]: Flip
{So Mio.}

p32: ======================================
{Do you want to be a researcher?}

{Huh? Why’d you ask?}

{Because you’re super pretty, but you still don’t have a BF,}
/ {you always wear the same clothes, and you never come to hang out.}
[Insert]: {Right?}

{Some of the teachers have been saying they’ll have you skip up to 10th grade so the school will look better.}
/ {They also say you’re obsessed with knowing things.}

{…Is that what they think?}
Incorrect. They didn’t know me at all.

p33: ======================================
Tetsuya, Shuuta,
Donna, Linda,
Takahiro, Jude, Eri:
Every one of them had bullied me in elementary school, and I would never forget their names.

Between them, the teachers who didn’t want to deal with a girl who didn’t fit into their little boxes,
the parents who probably didn’t even know what school I attended,
and the classrooms where I never belonged,

All I wanted to do was to get away from it all.

p34: ======================================
[sfx]: Chirp

Hmm…
[sfx]: Rub

MN?!
[sfx]: Purr

[sfx]: Toss

The short answer is, we’ve got nothing.

p35: ======================================
We’ve dug through all the stores he visited
and every person he interacted with, but nothing came up.
[tl/n: The pronoun used here in Japanese is singular and gender-neutral. I’m assuming they’re talking about Takuru and therefore am using “he,” but I might be wrong.]

…You kept me waiting for that?

I’m the only detective who can work on this.
…And I’m happy to help search for the culprit, but let’s not forget our primary task.

Meaning?

p36: ======================================
The police and the hospital gave you access to this room so you could do research.
/ You’ve already managed to get on the nurses’ bad side.
I’ve been getting them the results they’re looking for.

No, they think you’re scary.

The Return of the New Generation Madness murders are deeply connected with the Chaos Child Syndrome mental sickness.
That was the only reason a mere researcher like myself was being allowed to assist in the investigation.

p37: ======================================
Where’d you get that mark?

[sfx]: Shift

Oh, that must’ve been her nails last night.

*Her* nails…?
Shinjou…

I’m sure that hyperactive imagination of yours is wonderfully useful as a detective,
but “she” is a cat!

I-It’s not like I said anything.

--Oh.
/ That’s right. Did you call the station yesterday?

Huh?
…Yeah.

p38: ======================================
One of the younger guys took the call.
He told me about it, saying he recognized the number…
Did something happen?

…What sort of kid were you?
…What?
Your childhood. What kind of brat were you?

…I mean, I was normal.
I lived for soccer; I was a full-fledged jock.

Of course you were. What else would you have been?
[sfx]: Heh.

…What’s that mean? What were you like?
Who knows.

p39: ======================================
[sfx]: Open
If you do find the culprit, what will you do then?

Do you even have to ask?

They’ll tell me everything they know, and then they die.

…And that’s why the nurses are afraid of you.

[sfx]: Close

p40: ======================================
One year after skipping from 8th grade to 10th…
{So Mio,}
/ {why do you want to pursue neuroscience?}

It was a simple, run-of-the-mill question, but I didn’t have an answer.

Gun to my head, I’d tell you there was no good reason I’d studied neuroscience and not something else. It just turned out that way.

{Yo, little miss genius! Did you really go backing the math teacher into a corner again?}

{Sure, BJ, but you’re the one he has to make pass his class if he doesn’t want to get a pay cut.}

p41: ======================================
Why did students talk about such stupid things?
How could parents not love their daughter?
What drove brats to bully anyone who was different?

I wanted to know what made their brains tick,
what drove them to those decisions.

[sfx]: Creek

p42: ======================================
If I really sat and thought about it, I knew that question fell under the field of psychology.

But I couldn’t see psychology as anything more than a cult whose practitioners believed whatever theory happened to be the most convenient.

Look at me. I can’t even put my dreams to words if nothing’s fighting to keep me down.

[sfx]: Open

{Huh.}
/ {I can’t remember the last time you weren’t banging away at your keyboard.}
{…}

p43: ======================================
{So? What’s wrong?}
{I’m on my period.}

{That’s never held you back before.}

{Tim came by again, asking if you’d come to another party.}
{Tell him no.}

{I already did.}
/ {…Sheesh, you Japanese girls really do care about nothing but studying.}
{Huh?}

[sfx]: Flap
Pah!

p44: ======================================
{Kurisu Makise.}
{She’s published another paper.}

--I’d heard her name before.
She was Japanese, same as me, and did research at Victor Chondria University.

She’s a neuroscientist.

{You ever met?}
{You think all Japanese know each other?}

p45: ======================================
{No, I think you’d want to meet someone in the field you want to go into.}
/ {Especially since her school’s so close by.}

{…I mean.}
{ I don’t really want to go into it, or anything.}

{Huh?}

p46: ======================================
I didn’t have a clear goal in mind.
/ I just sort of wanted to know more about this Japanese woman only five years older than me,
to know where she worked and what sort of life she lived.

The neuroscience department’s… this way.

…

p47: ======================================
This is better than high school,
/ but this is all you’ve got for an intro course?

The students don’t seem much different.
[sfx]: Whisper

The textbooks are worse than I’d imagined.
I mean, the independent study I’m doing at 15 make this look like child’s play.

p48: ======================================
{All right, that’ll be all for today’s lecture.}
{Please prepare beginning from page 95 for next time.}

{So that’s it.}
/ {Well, I can’t hope to find actual research-level stuff in an intro course.}

{You there.}
/ {Can I talk to you for a moment?}

{You were in my class earlier, weren’t you? I haven’t seen you before.}
{Are you a student here?}

{…Do you have permission to audit classes?}

p49: ======================================
…

[sfx]: Dash!

{Stop!}
[sfx]: Grab!

{Please wait.}

--And that
[sfx]: Click

p50: ======================================
Was when I met the woman who dragged me down this path,

{She’s an acquaintance of mine.}
Makise Kurisu.

{Would you kindly overlook this entire episode?}

Translation: Kangoku Gakuen 277

2017-12-25T17:28:59+00:00

Prison School 277

p1: ====================================
Even now that it’s too late, she still can’t give up

Chapter 277: Bonnie and Clyde / The End of Our Road

p2: ====================================
Nooooooo‼
[sfx]: Smash!

p3: ====================================
NO! No!
I just can’t fucking take this!

No, no…
This is all wrong!
…You’re…

p4: ====================================
You’re embarrassing yourself, Midorikawa Hana!
[sfx]: Point!

Get a hold of yourself!
/ Why are you upset?
How would I know? I just am!

And to think you said you’d forgive me…

p5: ====================================
Was that all a lie?
Do you hate me that badly?!

Shut your fucking mouth!
/ You and Chiyo-chan won’t work at all!

Hah…
I seriously don’t get you.

Or wait… Hana-san. Did you actually like me?
Are you like a grade schooler who can’t stop from messing with the boy she likes?

p6: ====================================
That is enough, Kiyoshi-kun!

Huh…? What?
Why are you angry, Chiyo-chan?

Try to think about… About how she feels!
…? But how would I know how she…

She feels…
the same…

…
[small bubbles]: Huff

p7: ====================================
as I…
…Ooh… Ooh…

RAHHHHH‼
[sfx]: Flash!

p8: ====================================
[sfx]: Smack!
GIVE THEM BACK!
GIVE ME BACK MY PANTIES!

Wh… What’s wrong with you?
[sfx]: Slide

p9: ====================================
Give them back this second!
I gave you back yours!
[sfx]: Stomp

Fucking give them back already!

H-Hana-san, please relax.
How about you start by putting on some panties?
NO!

p10: ====================================
Your panties aren’t here, Hana-san.
/ Kiyoshi-kun will give them back once he’s back at the dorm, so…
No! He has to give them back now!

Please don’t be ridiculous!
It’s easy! Just give me the ones you’re wearing right now!

Th-That’s clearly ridiculous!
Hana-san, I have to agree that that seems a little strange.

Chiyo-chan…
/ So today, honestly, I was planning on not coming here.

p11: ====================================
I was super, super nervous… None of my clothes felt right.
Hmm…
I couldn’t find the right outfit to tell you the truth in, and was running late…

But… I was wrong. My clothes weren’t the problem.
It was my underwear that didn’t feel right!
[small bubbles]: Huff

This really does feel right…
When I put Kiyoshi’s briefs on, everything felt right. I thought I could actually do this… Heh heh.
/ But you understand, don’t you, Chiyo-chan? Heh… Heh heh…‼

No, not in the slightest.
Basically…

p12: ====================================
I knew that, today, Kiyoshi would be wearing the underwear that felt perfect to him, too: mine!

…

So… Take them off already!
[sfx]: Grab!

Cut it out! Wah!
Fine! All right already! I’ll show you my underwear!

p13: ====================================
But first, I have to go to the bathroom!
No! You’ll just change underwear in there!
Who would bring a spare pair of underwear to a confession?!

Stop talking and strip!
[sfx]: Yank / Thud
Gugh…‼

Hana-san, there’s no need to be so forceful. He said he’d show you… Okay?
[sfx]: Step

p14-15: ====================================
[sfx]: Roll!

[sfx]: Thud

Oof…

[sfx]: Swipe!

p16: ====================================
[no text]

p17: ====================================
[no text]

p18: ====================================
[sfx]: Blast!

Hic…‼

p19: ====================================
See? I was right.

[sfx]: Shiver
NOOOOOO‼

p20: ====================================
Oh… Where did I go wrong?

What should I have said?
Was there a right answer?

What should I have done?

p21: ====================================
Yeah… These really do feel right.
No… It was impossible. If I hadn’t worn Hana-san’s panties, my confession never would have succeeded.

Maybe I never had a chance in the first place.
Kiyoshi-kun… You didn’t peep, right?
…Nope…
My entire relationship with Chiyio-chan was based on a lie, after all.

p22: ====================================
Maybe I’m still as immature as ever…

p23: ====================================
[sign]: Underground Student Council
President, it’s time to patrol.

Thank you, Vice President.

p24: ====================================
Shall we get going, then?
21st President of the Underground Student Council: Kurihara Chiyo

Time to see if any of those scummy boys are up to no good.
[insert]: Thank you for your years of love and support!
[sidebar]: Always and forever, in jail.
[bottom]: The final, 28th volume, featuring an epilogue, will be out in April 2018!
/ Look forward to Hiramoto’s next… WORK!

Translation: Mix 45

2017-10-01T17:18:04+00:00

Mix 45

Reserved for RyColaa Scanlations

p1: ==========================================
Chapter 45: Looks don’t really matter
[insert]: We’re so close to glory…
Take things step by step!

p2: ==========================================
Meisei
7: Tachibana Tou
4: Murotani
2: Tachibana Sou
3: Imagawa
8: Ogi
5: Nangou
6: Hirao
9: Koma
1: Takeshita

Kai
Mei

p3: ==========================================
I never saw this coming.
[sfx]: Cheers

You sure didn’t.

I figured we’d go as far as Touma’s arm could take us,
while I spent the games scrutinizing the team’s issues.

I never thought to think of anything bigger than that.

You sure didn’t.

p4: ==========================================
Now look at us. Here we are,
/ all the way in the top 8!
[sfx]: Cheers

Yes, look at us. We’ve had Touma-kun, our freshman ace, pitch four games straight.

I told you, I never saw this coming!
I didn’t even dream we’d make it this far.

Ball!
[sfx]: Cheers

p5: ==========================================
Excellent eyes from Ogi, the second at-bat.

It’s Takeshita on the plate for Meisei Academy, his first start in his first appearance,
/ and he’s let a quick-footed runner onto first with only one out!

The probability of us facing off against Meisei Academy in the finals is no longer zero…

p6: ==========================================
But at the same time, it’s loads more likely they get taken out here and now.

[sfx]: Cheers

Ogi’s taken a big lead off the plate.
He leads his team in stolen bases this tourney!

Ball!

p7: ==========================================
Left field

They have no respect for you, Takeshita-san.

He tries to pick off the runner!

[sfx]: Catch
[sfx]: Cheers

p8: ==========================================
His slide step and his pick-off attempt both aren’t up to par.

Not the sorta pitcher you field in the quarters.

Strike!

[sfx]: Whoosh!

p9: ==========================================
Ah!

[sfx]: Thunk

[sfx]: Cheers

…

I’m sorry, did you say something?

Two outs!
[sfx]: Cheers

p10: ==========================================
[sx]: Ding

[sfx]: Bounce

Nice!

[sfx]: Cheers

p11: ==========================================
[sfx]: Cheers

Out!

We barely survived that inning.

Today, I’ve put our best batters at the top of the order.

[background]: Tachibana Tou

There’s no predicting how many runs we give up this game,
/ so we have to score every chance we get!

p12: ==========================================
C’mon!

[sfx]: Ding!
Meisei’s first batter today is Tachibana Touma, playing left field—
He gets a booming knock on the first pitch, but sends it straight to the center fielder!

p13: ==========================================
On the mound for Kaiou West is Karashima, an underhand pitcher in his second start.
[sfx]: Cheers

He’s thrown nine innings this tourney, including in relief, with only one earned run against him.
/ Unbelievable consistent performance from the young man.

[sfx]: Smack!

p14: ==========================================
Murotani swings and hits the third pitch,
/ but it’s a grounder to short. Two outs!

[sfx]: Cheers

I can’t stand his form or his looks.

You know looks don’t really matter…

Right, Nangou?
…

The ball shoots the gap between first and second!
[sfx]: Ding!

p15: ==========================================
He’s fielded it!

A quick relay to first!

And he’s out!

[sfx]: Cheers

p16: ==========================================
Almost.

Guess that’s not gonna work on any teams that makes it to the top 8.

Besides us, anyways.

[board]: Kai / Mei

Did you know Tou-chan wasn’t going to throw at today’s game?

p17: ==========================================
--Yeah.
/ Ooyama called me yesterday to say.

I see.
That old manager, he must be satisfied with just making it to the top 8.

You got it all wrong,
/ dumbo!

…Uh.
Who might you be?

Someone entrusted with a message from your boss.

She said, “Please stop telling such obviously transparent lies. They’re pathetic.
/ “Also, the afternoon meeting has been pushed back to 3. You owe me.”

That’s all.
/ We got the call as I was leaving home.

p18: ==========================================
Why would she call our home number?!

Probably because a certain someone turned off his cell.

Oh,
yeah, right.

[sfx]: Ding

[sfx]: Cheers

p19: ==========================================
[sfx]: Cheers

Takeshita’s making things hard for them, what with those pitches of his.

It seems like they’re struggling to time their swings.
[sfx]: Cheers

p20: ==========================================
[sfx]: Cheers
After all, Kaiou West has made it this far batting against fastball pitchers throwing at over 140km/hr.
Of course, they expected they’d face the same sort of pitcher today in Touma-kun, and practiced accordingly. Now here we are.

So far so good.

--However,
/ they’re an offense-based team at heart.
Once their eyes adjust, we’re in trouble.

I know that.
I’ll spend today showing off how good I am…
/ at knowing when to switch in my three senior relievers.

p21: ==========================================
*Chirp*
/ *Chirp*

*Chirp*
/ *Chirp*
[sign]: Akai

p22: ==========================================
It’s the bottom of the second, and first at the plate is Meisei Academy’s fourth batter, the first baseman, Imagawa…

[sfx]: Cheers

Ryou-chan,
/ could you take these bags up to your brother’s room?

You know how angry he gets if I go in there.

I’ll tell him I brought the bags in,
so please. They’re blocking the street.

…Fine.
[sfx]: Cheers

p23: ==========================================
[sfx]: Open!

[sfx]: Place

p24: ==========================================
…

[sfx]: Push

p25: ==========================================
To Akai Tomohito,
Toushuu High School’s Baseball Club
Mita Hiroki

…Mita?

[sfx]: Cheers

p26: ==========================================
[sfx]: Cheers

p27: ==========================================
If he lets one pitch go a bit wild, they’re hard enough that we can do something huge.

But instead, it’s just one low ball after another.

[sfx]: Thwack!

[sfx]: Cheers

Out!
[sfx]: Cheers

p28: ==========================================
That face and that form are still pissing me off.

And looks still don’t matter one bit!

Right,
Nan…
[sfx]: Ding!

15: Nangou

p29: ==========================================
…gou.

p30: ==========================================
[sfx]: Cheers!

See? I told you.

Looks don’t really matter.
[board]: Kai / Mei

Translation: Mix 44

2017-07-24T05:59:33+00:00

Mix 44

Reserved for RyColaa Scanlations

p1: ==================================
[top]: Meisei Academy advances to Top 8

: This summer, all eyes are on the freshmen Tachibana Brothers

This for real?

I can’t believe it. Are we really gonna face off against Meisei in the fin—
--Nah.

Not a chance.

p2-3: ==================================
My brother is carrying so much on his back.
Chapter 44: 100%?

p4: ==================================
East Tokyo Tourney, Quarterfinals

Day 1

p5: ==================================
[sfx]: Cheers
[shirts]: Toushuu

p6: ==================================
Jinguu Field, First Match
Toushuu 9 -1 Jindai
(Called in the 7th)

[sfx]: Cheers

Jinguu Field, Second Match
Saijo 4x – 3 Bukyou

p7: ==================================
[sfx]: Chirp

Chirp
/ Chirp

So it’s Toushuu in the end?

--Yeah.
Everything played out straight.
/ And they got themselves another mercy-rule win.

p8: ==================================
They rested their ace, Mita, in the fifth.
/ Even if they hadn’t, since they’re seeded, they still had to play one less game than us to get here.
So they’ve gotten through with power to spare, and got spares to power them through.

Well, this is all assuming we win tomorrow…

Koushien’s in our sights! –The Meisei Academy Alumnae Association

Man oh man,
/ my family and relatives are so excited I don’t know what to do with them.

Oh,
/ that how it is?

*Faucet*

Oh,
/ none of my folks much care about ball,
/ not a one of them.

p9: ==================================
--Heck,
/ I ain’t even sure they got a clue I play ball.
*Rub*
/ *Rub*
Hah!
/ I don’t believe that for a second.

Well y’see, my parents don’t got much time to spend fussing over me.
/ So long as the cops don’t get called on me, whatever I do’s good in their books.

Do they both work?
Yeah.

Must be hard on them.
What do they do? For work, I mean.

One’s a doc, the other’s a lawyer.

[sfx]: Smack
Ouch!
/ The hell, man?!

p10: ==================================

p11: ==================================
[sfx]: Catch!

Right,
/ that’s enough—

Hey, wait!
/ 10 more!

That’s enough—
Hey!

p12: ==================================
Souichirou.

Yessa.

Here.
/ Good work today.

Oh,
/ than—
I almost forgot!

p13: ==================================
Did you hear?
/ Katatata Falls disappeared.

Huh?
For a little while, there’s been huge deluges all focused in one specific area,
/ and the landslides from that completely changed the terrain!

[sign]: Katatata Falls

Ohhhhhhh.

p14: ==================================
That waterfall…

All those stupid riddles came back to bite it,
/ I bet.
See Volume 5.
[signs: I’m not sure how these were translated by the other translator?]

Don’t you feel anything?
/ We have so many wonderful memories of that place, and now it’s gone!

Memories from when I was 3 that are all but gone.
/ And our recent trip was too recent for me to look back on fondly.

Oh, right.

p15: ==================================
Sorry.
I didn’t mean to bring up something stupid during your practice.
Huh?
/ What about the bottle?

[sfx]: Smack!
Thanks.

*Cheer*
*Cheer*
*Murmur*
*Murmur*

p16: ==================================
Hey!
/ Hey!

Hah!

C’mon!

[sfx]: Screech

p17: ==================================
A… childhood friend?

Woof!
Woof!
Woof!

p18: ==================================
Then you’ll fill out the survey, right?

Oh,
sure, yeah.

Something like this,
/ it doesn’t matter what I put.

No, it doesn’t,
/ unless you care what they say about you when they introduce you live on TV.

…

Got an eraser?
Here.

p19: ==================================
Where’s Souichirou?
Coach asked him to head into the clubhouse a few minutes ago.

Roger.

*CRACK*!

What?
Uh…

p20: ==================================
The clubhouse, right?

Probably, I guess?

Chirp
Chirp
Chirp

*Swing*
*Swing*

p21: ==================================
*Chirp*
*Chirp*

He’s clearly paying the piper for pitching so many games straight.

p22: ==================================
Did you say something,
/ Punch?
Woof?

[sfx]: Rustle

p23: ==================================
Quarterfinals,
ji Jinguu Baseball Field
National High School Baseball Championship – Tokyo

Day 2
Match 1 (9:00)
Seinan – Izumi Daini
Match 2 (11:30)
West Kaitama – Meisei Academy

p24: ==================================
First match.
[sfx]: Cheers
[shirts]: Seinan

p25: ==================================
Last match, the second-half pitches were all out of control.
[scoreboard]: Sei 2 0 1 […]
[Below that]: 1 2 3 4 5 6
[Below that, cut off]: Izumi

If not for the catcher’s lead, they would’ve had a comeback on their hands, I tell you what.

Sure he’s had time to rest, but push comes to shove, he’s still got a freshman’s arm.
/ I’ll bet good money he trips up somewhere during the match today.

p26: ==================================
Even in the one-in-a-million chance I’m wrong and he does last through the game,
/ he’ll be worthless in the match against Toushuu.
That happens,
/ they won’t even be able to put up a fight.

You’re 100% sure?

Yeah.
/ 100%.

[sfx]: Cheers

We’ll be facing Toushuu in the finals.

p27: ==================================
Second match.

*Murmur* x5

p28: ==================================
Coach!

What’s up?

*Murmur* x5

p29: ==================================
The odds’ve changed.

*Murmur* x3

Now there’s a chance we do face off against Meisei Academy in the finals.
1: Takeshita

Translation: Mix 43

2017-04-04T20:50:17+00:00

Mix 43

Reserved for use by RyColaa Scanlations

p2: ==================================
Chapter 43: Too easy?
[insert]: An especially / hot summer

p3: ==================================
[sfx]: Pwan
*Mob*
/ *Mob*

p4: ==================================
Look, there’s him,
/ and him,

And that guy, too. I see those regulars here all the time.

Do you think they’re all Meisei alumnae?
--Nope,
/ I doubt it.

Ahhh,
/ that old man with the hat and sunglasses has been famous for ages.

Wow.

He’s always sneaking looks from a corner seat,
/ though during the last match, the no-hit shutout, he actually got excited for once.
Of course he got excited. Anyone would.

Do you think they’re all right?

p5: ==================================
Don’t they have work to go to?

Well, I’m sure they’re basically guys with too much time on their hands.
There’s no way they could hold a 9-to-5 job.

--You’re not wrong.

Washa
/ Washa

Washa
/ Washa

p6: ==================================
[sfx]: Silence…

*Click*
[sign]: Tachibana

Woof!
/ Woof!
Woof!

It’s me, it’s just me.

I’m home.
[sfx]: Close

p7: ==================================
Welcome back.
Oh,
/ thanks.

Man,
/ it’s hot as hot can be.

I spent the whole day outside, and I thought I was gonna die.

Are you going straight in the bath?
Yeah,
/ I think so.

You’re not going to ask?

Hm?

p8: ==================================
About the game.
Oh.

Right, right!
Man, my mind was so busy with work that I completely forgot.

--So.
/ How’d they do?!
--They won.

Oh,
/ great, great!
So they won!
/ 3-0!

…

Try not to get fired.
Hm?

p9: ==================================
*Woof*

Oh,
/ how nostalgic.

Isn’t it you gave him for Father’s Day back in elementary school,
/ that hat?

--Furthermore,
/ these sunglasses are Sou-chan and Tou-chan’s present.

[in really awful handwriting] Banish the rainclouds and rise~
/ Ah, Meisei, our beloved school

p10: ==================================
Your father’s in a wonderful mood.
[insert]: Hip-hip Hooray!

No wonder he never gets promoted…

Did you say something?
Nah,
/ it’s nothing…

*Wait*…

p11: ==================================
The Meisei Academy Baseball Team,

in its first trip to the Sweet Sixteen since that fabled year—

p12: ==================================
The eyes of the world turned towards them, towards that famed school of old,

and excitement spread with each passing day to the people around the team.

School officials grew agitated and nervous,

while the graduates jumped the gun with their excitement.
[sign]: Keep it up! To Koshien / Meisei Academy Alumnae Association

p13: ==================================
*Murmur*
/ *Murmur*

*Murmur*
/ *Murmur*

*Murmur*
/ *Murmur*

What do you think?

p14: ==================================
About what?

We’ve only gotten three wins.

Don’t you think they’re overdoing it?

--What’s more, the average age of the onlookers is way too high…
We’ve got a lot of fans besides just our alumnae, here at Meisei.

The year we were top in the nation, we did light a fire over all of Japan, after all.

I don’t give a damn,
/ not about something that ancient.

p15 ==================================
We certainly do have nothing but strong teams left to face.
/ Dialing up hopes just dials up the pressure.
*Keeeen*

You got it wrong.

Things are gonna get real exciting once we’ve toppled Toushuu, right?

And once we’ve defeated Seinan in the finals,
/ the drama will be at a climax!
That’s when it’ll all go [handwritten] Kazoom! [/handwritten]

Where do you get that baseless confidence?

p16: ==================================
‘Course I’ve got none, not a sliver.
/ Not when we’ve accomplished jack.
Huh?

I just figure, things would be a whole lot more fun if they turn out that way.

Correct!

That!
/ That is where everything begins.

Uh, no no no.
/ Hold up a second…

p17: ==================================
Here. It’s Toushuu’s match from yesterday.
/ I recorded the television broadcast.
But first there’s the battle with Houkai Third!
Thanks a ton.

What’re you saying?
/ Once you beat them, and the next team,
/ you’ve got Toushuu on your plate!

They’re on our plate already?

Someone like you, who always looks at their feet as they walk, is doomed to go crashing into telephone polls.
That metaphor—the heck’s it even mean?!

p18: ==================================
You good there? Should you be smiling?

Looking at your mug alone, it’s hard to tell the difference between you and a persimmon.

What sort of metaphor was that?
I’unno.

[sfx]: *Keeen*

p19: ==================================
--And then.
[sfx]:Chirp x2

[sign]: Punch

[sfx]: Chime

*Silence*

p20: ==================================
*Land*

*Chirp*
*Chirp*

[sfx]: Rustle

*Chirp*
/ *Chirp*
*Chirp*
*Chirp*
[sign]: Punch
*Chime*
*Chime*
*Chime*
*Chime*

*Chirp*
*Chime*
[punch]: *Whimper*
[sign]: Punch

We dove into summer.

p21: ==================================
[sfx]: Rustle

*Twitch*…

Grrrrr
Arf!
/ Arf!
/ Arf!
[sfx]: Rustle…

So Otomi,
/ take care of the shopping.
[sign]: Together, let’s maintain the feeling of the season

‘Kay!

Whoa there!

p22: ==================================
What’s wrong?

Gotta fill it in, gotta fill it in…

: Meisei Academy / Kenjou / Yoda
(to the right): 9 (W) / Kami 2 | 15 (Tu) Koma

[sfx]: Squeak
20 (S) / Kami
15 (Tu)
18 (F) Kami 2

And… there.
*Cap*

Okay,
/ I’m off.

p23: ==================================
[sfx]: Keeen

Goodness.

*Murmur*
/ *Murmur*
*Murmur*
/ *Murmur*

p24: ==================================
There’s even more onlookers today.

Well, I can’t say I’m surprised.

We can see you in Koshien! / Meisei Academy Alumnae Association

Oh, Otomi-chan,
/ Your brothers are sure puttin’ in a ton of work!
I’ll tell them thanks
[sign]: Limited-time Sale
[box]: Potato Chips

We’re behind them all the way.
/ Here! On the house.
Oh, are you sure?
/ Thank you.

Hey!
/ Otomi-chan!

p25: ==================================
Go on, take this!
Oh,
/ don’t mean to impose.
[board]: Fresh Fish

It’s good, it’s all good,
/ don’t pay it no mind!

Otomi-chan, Otomi-chan!
[sign]: Fruits and V/ Kamioka Produce

Hey!
/ Otomi!

Good grief.
Nothing weighs you down as much as good will.
[sfx]: Chirp

p26: ==================================
[sign]: Coffee Nandeth

…Mita-san?

Goodness.
/ Who’s that? Who’s that man?

He’s Akai’s brother.

p27: ==================================
Goodness.
/ Who’s that? Who’s this man?

Heyya.

Koma-chan?!
/ What’re you doing? Why are you way out here?
Well, uh…

There were so many spectators, I didn’t even have time to catch my breath.
/ I started to fear I was going to pass out from lack of oxygen, so…

So you snuck out and are playing hookey?
I prefer to call it “taking a breather.”

I don’t really care,
/ but what is up with your clothes?

p28: ==================================
I can’t very well go loitering around in my uniform,
/ so I brought a disguise.
This clearly isn’t your first “breather”…

…Akai-kun’s brother?!
Oh,
/ we’re going back to that?

*Stare*…

That’s his non-blood-brother,
/ who he can’t get along with and who bats fourth for Kenjou?
Wow, so that’s who he is.
/ I didn’t know that much.

Why’s he with Mita-san?
Just how long have they…

Want me to go ask?

p29: ==================================
Are you stupid?!
Uh…?

--Okay!

We’re almost out of pages,
/ so we’re going to act like we didn’t see anything.
Uh…?

*Schwa*
/ *Schwa*
*Schwa*
/ *Schwa*

That’s a lot of stuff you’re carrying.
/ Shopping?
Goodness no.

Dad wanted me to go buy all the morning sports papers, so…

p30: ==================================
He’s gotta be happy, your old man.
Happy doesn’t even begin to cover it.
/ He partied so late into the night, I can’t believe the cops weren’t called on him.

But he wasn’t partying alone, was he?

…Well, no.
[sfx]: Flip

[top-left]: Sports / Meisei Academy Makes It to the Elite Eight
: All eyes on the freshmen Tachibana brothers’ battery this summer

After the next win, it’s Toushuu…?
--Yeah.

p31: ==================================
Mm.

Doesn’t this seem…
/ Too easy?

…Well,
/ now that you mention it…

--To be sure,
/ it’s during developments like this that you have to be careful.

After all…

[insert]: You retard! You got a death wish?!

p32: ==================================
[sfx]: Ding ding ding…

Someone you know?
Nope,
/ never met…

*Stare*
/ *Stare*…

p33: ==================================
*CATCH*!

Aww yeah!
I can see it now: Koshien!

…Seriously?

Translation: Mix 42

2017-03-10T20:52:28+00:00

Mix 42

For use by RyColaa Scanlations

p1: ===================================
[scoreboard] {
[top row]: Team / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6
[second row]: H
[third row]: M
}

p2-3: ===================================
[insert]: Everyone at the tournament has their eyes on his right arm. / Hurry to the mound!
Chapter 42: Jealous?

p4: ===================================
[sfx]: Ding!

[sfx]: Wobbly

Fair!

p5: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheers

So what’s this supposed to mean?

Every borderline pitch gets called a ball,
/ and every shoddy hit gets called in.

Did I go and blow all my luck on the no-hitter from last time?

Now, now.
/ Who actually has no luck?

p6: ===================================
You, who’s been doing nothing but grumbling all game,
/ or the team that has four hits, three walks and zero runs?

He sure looks pissed…
[sfx]: Cheers

Regardless, they’re a team without any big hitters.
/ Their plan is to keep going one single at a time.
We won’t be punished even if you pitch straight down the middle.

Overpower them!
Isn’t that what Haruka-chan said,
/ back at the meeting?

p7: ===================================
Huh?
Don’t “huh” me.
/ Weren’t you listening?

Don’t you remember how one the buttons on her blouse popped off as she stood,
/ and how she held it together with her hand while she spoke?!

…

Ah-choo!

A cold?
--No,
/ that doesn’t sound…
[small bubble]: *Sniff*

[sfx]: Cheers

p8: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheers

p9: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheers

Just like that, Touma.

Been thinking from the start, I have.
/ This lineup’s not hitting anything out of the park, so let’s simply overwhelm them.
Oh.
/ You too?

Huh?

Nah, nothing.
/ No wonder you were the captain back in middle school.
Right?

p10: ===================================
[sign]: Exit / Concessions

[sign to the right of the first one]: Smoking Section

p11: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheering

p12: ===================================
Whatever sport you chose, you would’ve been an ace at it,
/ Akai-kun.

---Nah.
/ Baseball was the one thing I never had a shred of confidence in.

Oh~?
[sign]: Register
Natsuno Ichiban (Baseball Team). Having lost the match, he has to pay.

I did grow up right getting to watch a bona-fide genius play.
Wouldn’t that be the ideal environment?

Screw being compared to him.

What’s so bad about that?
/ You’re brothers, and he’s older than you any—

p13: ===================================
--Yeah.
/ He’s my brother.

A brother who showed up out of the blue when I was four, anyways.

My parents, they both had been married before.
Oh, really?

Then you’re the same as us!
I can’t believe it!

Huh?

The same?
/ Huh?
You’re kidding!

I mean, your brothers are so—
/ Huh?
They’re not just twins who look nothing like each other?

p14: ===================================
Hey, hey.
/ What’re you talking about now?
It’s hard, trying to find someone in the neighborhood who doesn’t know.

[sfx]: Cheers

*Zoom!*

p15: ===================================
Out!

[sfx]: Cheers

p16: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheers

Hey, hey.
/ These guys, are they really Meisei Academy?

p17: ===================================
I thought the no-hit no-run game had been a fluke, and came here half on a lark,
/ but that freshman—he’s not given up a proper hit this game, either.
Yeah.
[sign]: Meisei Alumnus

The strongarmed catcher who bats third picked off all three attempts to steal, too.
/ Damn, those brothers are good.

--Hey, did you hear?
/ Those two perfectly-in-sync brothers? They’re not related by blood.

You idiot.
/ Sure I know that.
[upper left]: --Yeah. They live a stone’s throw from the school,
/ and both parents are in their second marriage.
[lower right]: That’s common sense.
/ There’s not a person in the neighborhood who doesn’t know.
[sfx]: Hah hah

…

p18: ===================================
[scoreboard] {
[top row]: Team / 1 / 2 / … / 8
[second row]: H
[third row]: M
}
[sfx]: Cheers

Look out there all you want, you ain’t finding her.

p19: ===================================
Otomi-chan’s over there.

[sfx]: Cheers

Those brass band guys scouted her, and now she’s performing.

p20: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheers

p21: ===================================
Well?
/ Is Mr. Soccer Team jealous?

In today’s Japan, there’s nothing bigger in summer than high school ball.

p22: ===================================
Yeah.

[sfx]: Cheers

…I’m jealous.

Don’t go telling me this’s making you finally start wanting to play baseball.

Not once in my life have I been confident about baseball.

Yeah,
/ I heard.

--But.

p23: ===================================
Recently, I managed to beat our middle school’s ace and fourth batter in a batting contest.

*Spurt*

Y-You idiot!
/ Mine was at 130km/hr; yours, 100km/hr. You had a handicap!

--But.
/ That did give me confidence.

Dude,
/ don’t tell me you’re—?!

p24: ===================================
I’m kidding.

[sfx]: Cheers

p25: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheers

[sfx]: Pitter-patter

p26: ===================================
[scoreboard] {
[top row]: Team / 1 / 2 / … / 9
[second row]: H
third row]: M
[final row]: m / 1 / 2 / … / 9

p27: ===================================
[sfx]: Whoosh

p28: ===================================
[sfx]: *Gasp*!

Whoa,
whoa.

Stop wasting so many panels…
OUT!

[sfx]: Cheers!

p29: ===================================
A no-hitter followed up by a shutout…
/ Nice pitching, and nice game!
[sfx]: Cheers

What game were you watching?

With how Touma was doing today, the fact that he didn’t get scored on was basically a miracle.

Well, to be fair,
/ that every instruction their manager gave them backfired really helped us out.

p30: ===================================
Souichirou took the lead and made it so everything backfired.
[sfx]: Cheers

--However, there was only one worrisome error…

Along with five more mistakes on offense and defense that won’t show up on the books.

--Good.

You’re seeing everything there is to see, aren’t you?

Good boy.
Hey,
/ umm…

p31: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheering

p32: ===================================
[sfx]: Cheering

Truly…

I’m jealous.
[sfx]: Cheering

Translation: Mix 39

2017-01-25T22:17:45+00:00

Mix 39

Reserved for use by RyColaa Scanlations

p1: ==================================
[insert]: Midsummer dreams, memories of a white ball
Chapter 39: He Really Does

p2: ==================================
[sfx]: Chirping

He’s making the same jokes as you?

What’s so bad about that?
/ Just give him the old “Hell naw.”

A half-cocked attempt at being sly will only cause you to embarrass yourself.

p3: ==================================
Besides, I don’t think people are expecting that much.
/ Not out of you, not now.
TV Life Counseling

--I see.
/ What do you think, Mr. John Doe?
Was Tsukikage-sensei’s advice helpful?

I’m so sorry about all this,
/ about talking like a know-it-all about high school baseball manga when I’m actually clueless.
[sign]: Tsukikage Kiyo

I feel like I’ve met her somewhere before,
/ that old lady.

She’s been showing up now and then on TV lately.
/ She’s a popular author, the way I hear it.
Fancy that.

p4: ==================================
Speaking of high school ball, today’s another day of young men all over the country giving it all they’ve got for a chance to go to Koshien.
Fuck all that.

Huh?
Oh, no, it’s nothing…

Ah!
Hmm,
/ what’ll I have today…

Sorry, but I’m closing up shop.
Huh?

Uh, wait,
/ didn’t you only just open up?
Quit your babbling!
/ Now get lost!

p5: ==================================
Wssh
/ Wssh

Wssh
/ Wssh

Wssh
/ Wssh

p6: ==================================
[sfx]: Snatch!

*Totter*

*Totter*

That manager – is he okay?
/ He looks kind of unsteady.

p7: ==================================
Manager Ekoda, eh?
/ That old veteran’s been leading Sankou Institute’s team for over thirty years.

He’s never quite made it to Koushien, but his teams have posted solid results year in and year out.

They weren’t good enough to be seeded,
/ but word is that his team this year is the best it’s been in a long while.

The cleanup batter’s supposed to be the pride of the team.
Hmm.

And who was it who gathered that information?

…Ah.
Well pardon me.

p8: ==================================
[sfx]: Wah!

From what I can see,
/ their coach isn’t the only unsteady on his feet.

Ball four!

[sfx]: Cheer

p9: ==================================
I’m told he pitched a wonderful game at his last match,
/ but today, he’s all over the place from the get-go.
Eh, Morishima?

Uh,
/ it’s Kondou.

Oh, yes, yes.
/ Morishima left the team two years ago.
Yes, he did,
/ three years ago…

[sfx]: Cheers!

p10: ==================================
[sfx]: Whoof
Batter hit!

[sfx]: Cheer

No outs, runners on first and second?!

--And now,
/ it’s time for their pride-and-joy, the cleanup hitter?

p11: ==================================
In the end, he’s just a freshman, eh?
[sfx]: Cheers

Condition-forming losses can make for a good experience.
/ Eh, Watanabe?
It’s Kondou.

Hah hah.
/ I kid,
/ I kid.

[sfx]: Cheers

p12: ==================================
Umm, all right.
/ Now that I’ve returned your answer sheets,
I’ll do the usual announcement of the top five in the class.

p13: ==================================
How’d you do, Otomi?

Well,
/ I think I did fairly well, but…

Sweet.
What are you…

Oh…

p14: ==================================
She’s even got bags under her eyes…
/ Well, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.
She’s barely ever made top five before, that girl.

First place, Mita Arisa.

Bwuh?

Yeah!

*Clatter*

p15: ==================================
Hey, hey.
/ There’s no need to jump to your feet.
And stop striking that pose.

Second, Tachibana Otomi.
[sfx]: Oh!

Yeah!
[sfx]: Clatter

Why are you jumping up now, too?

Third, Akai Ryou.
[sfx]: Oh!

Fourth…
Fifth…
[sfx]: Oh!

p16: ==================================
The class average this time was pretty high;
/ the top three were all neck-and-neck.
As your homeroom teacher, I couldn’t be happier.

--Now,
/ time for cla—
Zzz…

Who is it?
/ Who went straight to sleep?!

…First-place Mita-san.

Huh?

[sfx]: Snore~

p17: ==================================
That girl…

She might be far more amazing than any of us realize.

…

--Well,
/ that’s enough talking about some random test.

Aren’t you curious?
Your brothers are playing right now.

p18: ==================================
You didn’t “catch” a cold this time?
Haha…

When I called our homeroom teacher this morning,
/ he said that, if I don’t show, he’d post my answer sheet up on the wall, so…

He completely found you out, right from the start.
But like I’m saying, don’t you wanna know how the game’s going?

There’s no need to worry about Tou-chan today!

He said this morning that his shoulder felt light as a feather, so—
He what?

p19: ==================================
Ever since elementary school, whenever he says that on the day of a game,
he gives up barely any hits.

Really?

[sfx]: Snatch!

p20: ==================================
Ball four!

[sfx]: Cheers

p21: ==================================
[sfx]: Cheers

Get a hold of yourself.
/ Every inning, you’re letting runners get on base!

Hey, hey.
/ There were errors in the second and fourth.

All of it’s because the rhythm of your pitches has been off!
Thanks to that, our offense is completely off, too,
/ and every good hit goes straight to a fielder!

Weird.
/ I feel like I’m in good shape.

p22: ==================================
We can just sit back and wait for him to self-destruct,
/ that pitcher of theirs.
I suppose so.

…However...

Oh, no.
/ It’s nothing.

[sfx]: Tap!

[sfx]: Cheers!

p23: ==================================
But all the same,
/ that pitcher…

I feel like I’ve seen him before.

[sfx]: Cheers

p24: ==================================
Hmmmmm.
[sfx]: Cheers

It feels like we get in scoring position every time, but never quite get that last hit.
Forget the last hit…

We still haven’t gotten even one.

p25: ==================================
Hey, hey.
/ What’re you worrying about?

Our lineup in the last game, in seven innings, got…
/ …Umm…
Twelve hits.

--Right, twelve hits and nine runs.
/ Every team I craft focuses on the offense.
In the thirty years I’ve managed,
/ we’ve been shut out, but we’ve never lost in a no-hitter.

Not even once!

[sfx]: Snatch

p26: ==================================
Oh.

Not even once,
/ sir?

Nope!
/ If you think I’m lying, go and check the record.
*Totter*
My memory’s always been something to be proud of, I’ll have you know.

…
[book]: Sankou Institute Baseball Club Records

p27: ==================================
[sfx]: Snatch!

Okay, okay.

He really does look like someone,
that pitcher…

…
[book]:

1986, East Tokyo Tournament Semifinals,
Sankou Institute 0 - 6 Meisei Academy

p28: ==================================
[sfx]: Whoosh

[sfx]: Whoosh!

p29: ==================================
[scoreboard]: Meisei / Sankou

One out left!
One out left!
One out left!

Ah.

p30: ==================================
AHHH.

Have you remembered now?
[book]:

[sfx]: Cheers!

Meisei Academy
Pitcher / Innings Pitched / At-Bats / Balls Thrown / Hits / Strikes / Walks / Earned Runs
Uesumi /

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 27

2017-01-11T05:05:26+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 27 (Final)

p1: ======================================
Six months later…
[sfx]: Stare…
Well?
/ Gotten used to the work yet?

Yeah. I always have been skilled at looking after people, after all.
Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto Art / BAREISHO
Midnight Cross Method
Chapter 27: Epilogue

Wow~.
[sfx]: Creak
Okay.

p2: ======================================
I really owe you a lot, Mikuriya.

After it all ended, I quit school.
/ I had no relatives to rely on, but you introduced me to this job.

It’s nothing…
/ They’re always shorthanded here,
since the pay’s cheap.

…Still, I couldn’t believe it.
/ All that money you were gathering…

Was for these kids.

p3: ======================================
You really are a kind and good person, Mikuriya.
[sfx]: Pat
Despite that mouth of yours.

Well sorry!
/ Look at you, acting cool and talking all sappy.
When you’re just a… A dumb virgin!
[sfx]: Jump

…I went through a lot of awful stuff when I was a kid,
but the people working here saved me.

Fate bringing me here was my only salvation.
/ So… I wanted to take care of it all.
To take care of this place, and to take care of all the kids who are just like me.

p4: ======================================
And you, too, of course,
/ Hiroki.

Argh! This is all your fault.
Now I’m getting all sappy, too!

…Thank you.

p5: ======================================
By the way,
/ have you… Read it yet?

…

…You must mean my sister’s diary.

After the incident, when the police thoroughly investigated my place,
they found my sister’s diary.

Written within
was a stark and detailed account of everything that had happened to her until the day she died.
/ Powerful evidence, but the detectives warned me that I should ready myself before I opened its pages.

p6: ======================================
…I still haven’t read it.

Thought so.
Your sister’s thoughts, on all that?
/ Who’d feel like they’d want to read that?

But… I did read one part.
/ When Mitsumune-san handed me the diary,
She marked one spot with a label that said “At least read this.”

I did read that part.
What’d it say?

p7: ======================================
October 16th
/ Another fight with Hiroki…

I was in the wrong, of course.
I’m the one always sucking up to him and causing him problems.
[sfx]: Scratch

I have to get a hold of myself,
/ because sooner or later, he’s going to run out of patience.
…Yeah.

Tomorrow, I’ll try to head outside.
But I’m still too scared to head out alone.
/ So I’ll apologize to Hiroki, and we’ll head out together.

p8: ======================================
Will he go along with me?
He surely will.

After all, he’s the kindest guy in the world.

That’s right. I have to hurry up…
and free my kind brother from this sorry excuse for a big sister.

So… I’m sorry, Hiroki.
But you’ll have to deal with my selfishness a little while longer.
[sfx]: Scratch

p9: ======================================
…
Was that all?

It seems less like something special…
/ and more like that she wrote down how she usually felt.

She wrote that entry on the night of her murder.

In other words, this was the last thing she wrote before she died.
…

Mitsumune said,
/ “I don’t know how her final entry will look to your eyes,
“but I do think you should read it.”

p10: ======================================
“After all, they’re your sister’s last words.”

[sfx]: Crunch

p11: ======================================
[sfx]: Place
Yeah…
/ They were.

[sfx]: Hug

MIkuriya…
…Hm?

p12: ======================================
The kids are staring at us.

[sfx]: Waaahhh!

[sfx]: Squirming

[insert]: Hahaha…

p13: ======================================
Huh?
You wish for me to assist your investigation?

Yes.
/ The police have declared investigations concerning body swapping to be taboo.
From what we can tell, several higher-ups are involved with the Midnight Cross Methods.

However, we have no intention of stopping.
/ Our plan is to continue our investigation of body swapping.
We can’t let this tragedy ever repeat.

…I do get what you’re trying to say.

p14: ======================================
But that said, you would genuinely ask for my assistance?

That’s right, Kirishima Sachi. Your powers of insight are astounding.
/ Furthermore, information on the dark side of body swapping is surely buried in X’s memories.

…You’re fine with this? Think it through.
/ Because of me, the person you hold dear is now—
I am well aware.

…Or so I would like to say, but I have some misgivings on the matter.
!

p15: ======================================
Was killing Grandpa really what X willed?
[sfx]: Twitch
…

…I don’t mean to be cruel, but…
/ Your sister’s heart was far more broken than yours.
And so you merged with her. To keep her safe, according to you.

Hey. Isn’t the truth…
/ That you wanted X to take the blame for crimes your sister willingly com—

Okay.
/ I’ll help you out.
[sfx]: Slap

It seems that if I leave you alone, my dear great detective,
you will make the deduction of the century.

p16: ======================================
Art: BAREISHO

Staff
Shioji
Junko
Emi

Editor
Kataoka Ken

Design
Volare
Sekiyoshi Yuki
Aoyama Isao

Story
Yamaguchi Mikoto

p17: ======================================
[screen and text box]: Have you ever wanted to become someone you’re not?

[ditto]: You can, using the power of body swapping.

[ditto]: If you happen to be interested,
[ditto]: please visit the URL below by 11 p.m. tonight.

[insert]: Thank you for reading! The fourth volume will be on sale January 27th!

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 26

2016-12-31T16:32:41+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 26
(sorry this is late. again. i'm sure you're sick of me apologizing for this by this point, though...)

p1: ===================================
The clue that led us to the true culprit…
/ was my Cross Ability.

Cross Abilities are special powers that can be used only when body swapping.

When swapping into a body, one can make use of the unique ability
that reflects the body’s owner’s deepest desires.

p2: ===================================
For instance, with Mikuriya Mikuni,
/ her desire to know how the mother who abandoned her truly felt
gave her the power to read other’s minds, Silent Regret.

Kirishima Sachi,
fed up by the Kirishima Family’s deceitful ways, craved a world free of lies and falsehoods.
/ This gave him the power to determine a written passage’s truth, Judgment Fake.

p3: ===================================
In An’no Shion’s case,
/ since a certain idiot couldn’t take a hint and start calling her by her actual name,
she worried that, when he finally did, she wouldn’t be able to respond honestly. Hence, she gained the power to force someone to respond, Too Loose Name.

Kirishima Ai,
the subject of abuse that could come and go at any moment,
could obtain absolute security only when her abusers slept,
/ and so her power, Love Lullaby, sent the listener into a deep slumber.

p4: ===================================
What, then, was my own Power?

I had the strange ability to wake up instantly after falling asleep, but…
What desire could that possibly reflect?

The answer told me who it was who had killed my sister.
/ After all, I desired, always and forever…

p5: ===================================
To keep my sister safe.
Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto
Art / BAREISHO
Midnight Cross Method
Chapter 26: Tragedy, and Its Last Dregs

p6: ===================================
…Are you all right, Hiroki?

Y-Yeah.
*Huff*
*Huff*
…I’m sorry. You’re going to be late for school, and it’s all my fault, and…

Stop that!
Sick kids don’t get to worry about their big sisters.
[sfx]: Flick!
At times like this, just lie down and let me fuss over you.

Thank you.
…You…

p7: ===================================
You seem kind of like Mom.

Ahaha… Do I?
The other day, Dad said that I’m starting to look like her.

Oh yeah. Where is Dad?
Still out on his business trip, apparently. He probably won’t be home for a week.
He’s never around these days…

He can’t help it.
/ If he were around, he wouldn’t be able to keep from remembering.

p8: ===================================
I’m sure losing Mom hurt him the hardest.

Hey, Kamiya-kun…
/ Before, didn’t you say you wanted to become strong in order to protect your sister?
Yeah.

But why do you need to?
Your sister is already so strong.

p9: ===================================
…She certainly is, yeah.
I don’t know if I could give you a clear-cut reason.

However, lately, I’ve been feeling it even more strongly.

…I wonder why.

…I’m home.

…Huh?

Nee-san, you’re home early today.
/ Is work over already?

p10: ===================================
…Nee-san?

I quit my job.

Huh? Why?
Did something happen?

…It’s…
/ It’s not like it’s anything I could tell you.

…

p11: ===================================
Well, what’s so bad about that?
You’re in the adult world. I’m sure there’s lots of things you have to go through that I don’t understand.
[sfx]: Pat

…What… happened?

We fought, me and Dad.

p12: ===================================
…Where’s he now?
Out for work, I guess. He won’t be back for a while.

[sfx]: *Sigh*
Why did this have to happen again?

Dad’s been in a good mood lately,
/ so I thought maybe we could go back to living as a family, but now…

You said something that went a bit too far, didn’t you?
And you don’t even leave your room anymore…

Why don’t I call him, and we can apologize together?
Sh-
/ SHUT UP!

p13: ===================================
You could never understand.
Never understand my pain!

Of course I can’t.
/ You won’t tell me anything.

What happened?
…

There’s things a girl can’t tell a guy!
If only I were born a man, I wouldn’t even have to deal with any of this crap!

--Once I knew the answer,
/ I saw the truth behind my sister’s words.

p14: ===================================
Nee-san merged in your mind with our deceased mother…
into a single woman.

Eventually, you weren’t able to hold back your feelings any longer,
/ and so you wound up doing… something to her.

p15: ===================================
What that was, I won’t ask you. Not right now.
But that action left her soul scarred.

So scarred that she closed off her heart,
/ and withdrew within it.
…

[sfx]: Clench
How could I have been so blind?

I lived with her, so why didn’t I notice?
The answer was simple.

Father, you acted while I slept.

And not while I slept normally.
/ Whenever you did whatever it was you did to her, you drugged me, didn’t you?
At those key moments, when I should have kept her safe, you put me to sleep.

p16: ===================================
That’s why I have the Cross Ability to reject slumber,
/ Unsleeping Guardian.

My subconscious could probably sense how my sister’s spirits fell with each passing night.
That’s exactly why this power came to dwell in my body.

And what’s more, I’m sure you used that same drug on my sister.

She was too strong otherwise to go down without a fight.

…I had no idea, Father, that you knew so much about medicine.
In truth,

p17: ===================================
didn’t you use that drug to freeze your own body in place?
Weren’t you the seventh participant in the Cross Act, Father?
[graph, from top, counter clockwise]: An’no Shin’ichirou / Kirishima Ai (X) / Kamiya Daiki / ? / Kamiya Hiroki / Mikuriya Mikuni / Kamishiro Sachi / Furuyanagi Kou

You participated in the Cross Act that day for a certain reason,
[graph]: {
Eighth Participant
Kamiya Daiki
}
and entered the body of the eighth participant.

That reason…

was to kill me.

In other words, the eight participant
was the one person who could definitively kill me during that two-hour span:

p18: ===================================
My sister, Kamiya Yui.

[sfx]: Drowsy
By necessity, we then know that Nee-san must have entered my body.

With that, we now know the identities of everyone who participated in the Cross Act.
[graph]: Kamiya Daiki / Kamiya Yui / Kamiya Hiroki

p19: ===================================
In order to kill me,
you planned for both me and Nee-san to participate in the Cross Act.
Nee-san wanted to become a man, and so you lured her the same way you did me.

But that, Father, was when you were completely caught off guard.

You had drugged my body to sleep, and yet…

With the power of Unsleeping Guardian,
she awoke.

The two of you clashed.

But my sister was the more skilled fighter.
She stole the weapon from your hands...

p20: ===================================
And stabbed her own flesh.

…Nee-san… She killed herself with her own two hands.
In a manner of speaking, she committed suicide.

All to keep me safe!

p21: ===================================
…Why won’t you say anything?
Do you think you can just stay silent for two hours, go back to your body, and get away with this?

Not a chance.
At this very moment, the police are barging in on your room, Father,

where they will be securing both your body and Nee-san’s corpse, which you stole.

It’s high time you gave up and told us everything.
/ Everything I said is true, isn’t it?

…I’m sorry to say, but there is one thing you’re mistaken on.
I did not just want to kill you…

p22: ===================================
Not until I’d fucked up your face so bad I’d never have to see it again.

You what?

Now that I understand how you felt about my sister,
and knowing that you read my blog,
/ I can imagine what feelings you held for me.

But… It was that strong?
/ You hated me that much?

Yes… I loathed you,
detested you uncontrollably…

And envied you.

p23: ===================================
Yui, you see,
was my one and only hope.

When I was drowning in the despair of losing your mother Yuriko, it was Yui who did everything she could to cheer me up.
I wouldn’t have survived without her.

You are right. At some point, I don’t know when, she began to merge with Yuriko in my mind.
And so I loved her.

But she completely and utterly
/ rejected those feelings.

Well, I was willing to accept that.
My expression of love was perhaps a little twisted.

…But it didn’t make sense.
/ Why did she reject me…

p24: ===================================
When she let you stay by her side, you and your face that looks exactly like mine?!

You had no idea how much that meant.
/ Not only that, you even vilified Yui with every unbearable post you flung onto your blog!

I would have obeyed her every whim,
so why you? Why you, Hiroki?
/ I… I could never understand.

So I hated, hated…
and envied!

p25: ===================================
That, Hiroki, is why I sought to kill you.
I would destroy that face that looks so much like mine, and use Yui’s body to do it.

Yui would lose another person she cared about.
And what’s more, she would kill him with her own two hands. Who knows how much despair that would bring to her?

And then, wouldn’t she become like me? Wouldn’t you and I, Hiroki, overlap in her mind…
until she came to love me?
[sfx]: Hug

p26: ===================================
Like hell it would, you fucking pervert!

M-Mikuriya…?

A self-righteous piece of shit like you could never experience true love!

I’ve met enough assholes in my life
/ to be able to know one when I see him!

I’m not saying this twice, so you better clean that shit out of your ears and listen up…

p27: ===================================
YOU DON’T LOOK ONE BIT LIKE HIROKI!
SHE’D NEVER START THINKING YOU WERE HIM!

Hiroki’s always kind,
/ and willing to go on a limb for another.
[flashback]: {
SHUT UP!
/ Y—You haven’t been able to cry for ten years,
so I’m crying all the tears you couldn’t!!
[sfx]: Wipe x2

Ha ha… The hell?
/ That’s super lame, you idiot.
}
While you, you live only for yourself. You’re nothing like him.

He’s someone who’s been loved.

p28: ===================================
[insert]: Heh

Kamiya-kun.

We’ve received word from You-san.
/ She’s secured your father’s body.

…And your sister’s body really was there.

…I see…

p29: ===================================
And thus did the incident I’d been caught up in come to a close.

If I had one regret,
/ it’s that I wish I had come to understand…
how my deceased sister had truly felt.

…It’s finally over.
Yeah.

Sorry about this, about dragging you along the whole way.
…It’s fine.

…By the way,

p30: ===================================
Why are you crying, Mikuriya?
[sfx]: Drip

Shut up!
/ I’m crying all the tears you can’t! You’d better be thankful!

I get how much it hurts to lose family, after all.

…Yeah.
Thanks.

If only… If only lonely hearts could come together and become a family.
[sfx]: Squeeze
Haha. What’s that supposed to mean?
You sound so lame, you idiot.

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 25

2016-11-26T22:52:38+00:00

Midnight Cross Channel 25

p1: ===============================
XX/YY, Hiro’s NEET Sister-Watching Diary
Chapter 25: When I Call Your Name
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

It has been a long time since the last time I updated this. I apologize to anyone out there who has been eagerly awaiting my return.
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap
…Hmm…
/ Well, it’s already over and done with, so let me just say it…

The truth is, a few days ago, my sister died.
[screen]: Let me just say it / the truth is, a few days ago, / my sister died.
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

p2: ===============================
The cause of death was suicide.

With my sister herself having passed away,
/ we’ll never know the real reason why she did it.

…However, I’m certain she was in agony.
/ Agony over the burden she was placing on her family.

Especially the burden she laid on me, her brother.
Nee-san, I’ve bought the stuff.
[sfx]: Rustle
Seven’s kalpi lunch and Fammart’s chicken.

How many times have I told you not to let the garbage build up!
[sfx]: Stink
You’d better clean this all up tomorrow.

She really did cause me so much trouble.

p3: ===============================
To be honest, I’ve always wished my sister were gone.

But now that it’s really happened,
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap
I wound up crying out.
/ Why, you ask?

Obviously… it was because I was overcome with joy. (lol)
[sfx, rest of page]: Rat-a-tap-tap

Finally… Finally! Finally, I’m free of that piece-of-shit of a sister!

She was a useless idiot, but always acted like she was queen of the world. She was a trashy woman whose life meant nothing.

Ah… Let me speak from the bottom of my heart:
/ I am truly thankful that my sister is—
[sfx]: Freeze

p4: ===============================
Are you all right, Hiroki?

No matter how much this might be for the sake of the plan,
/ this is just too much for you to bear.
[sfx]: Slide

Do you want me to type for you?

p5: ===============================
No, I’m fine.

This is something I have to do!
[sfx]: Wipe

All right, it’s finished.

If I upload my journal now,
/ I’m sure there’ll be a response.
[sfx]: Tap

[background]: Latest Comment
We’ve got one!

p6: ===============================
Hiro-sama, long time no see. I have been an eager reader of your daily entries.
[background text on top is from what he wrote, ending in “I am truly thankful that my sister is dead.” Bottom rows are these black boxes now]

…I am surprised to learn that your sister passed away.
And from suicide, no less.
[background is black boxes]

I simply cannot believe it.
/ I do not mean to be rude, but are you telling us the truth?
Now…
[sfx]: Nod

Thank you for your comment.
Yes, I am certain of it. She killed herself.
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

…I see…. Your family surely must be in grief.
Oh, not at all.
[bg: top section is first black boxes, then hiro’s response, then black boxes, then hiro’s response (going into the next page)

p7: ===============================
Everyone in our family is feeling heartfelt joy over no longer being burdened by her.
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap
Goodness… Is that the truth?

All right… It’s almost time to go for it.
Umm… Might you possibly happen to be…

The person who taught me how to exchange bodies?

…Yes, I am.
I knew it.

Wow! I was certain you were!
/ I’m so glad to get to speak with you again.
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

You see, the truth is, I’ve been longing to thank you.

p8: ===============================
I would love to meet you in person?
[sfx]: Freeze

…

…I must respectfully decline.
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap
I am terribly anxious around strangers, you see.

Oh… That’s too bad.
After all, it’s because you taught me the method that I was able to experience something as wonderful as exchanging bodies…

And I’ve been given the biggest blessing of all: my sister’s suicide.
/ All of that is thanks to you.
[sfx]: Glare

Oh… In that case, how about this?

p9: ===============================
This time, how about you exchange bodies and then meet with me?
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

In that event, you would be able to meet me in another’s form.
/ Shouldn’t even one as shy as you be able to handle that?

…
…

That is a good idea.
/ That way, I would be able to get through the event without suffering overly from nerves.
!

Truth be told, there is something I would like to discuss with you as well…
[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

p10: ===============================
Let us schedule it for… Tomorrow night, at midnight. I will prepare for you a white door you can use to meet with me.
The door will have a very peculiar look to it, so you should be able to quickly identify it.

Thank you for making all of the preparations.
I cannot wait to meet you.

Neither can I.

With that, until tomorrow… The situation will be a bit peculiar, but you and I, Hiro-san, will be alone together.

[sfx]: Rat-a-tap-tap

p11: ===============================
Let’s look forward to the Midnight Cross Method.

…*Sigh*.
It looks like I got him to take the bait.

Right… Now I need to update everyone else about this.
[sfx]: Flip

Hello?
Yes… Yes. Everything is ready.

Yes… I am mentally prepared, too.
/ So tomorrow, at midnight…

p12: ===============================
Let’s all capture the culprit who killed my sister!
Roger that!

p13: ===============================
The next day, at midnight.

[sfx]: Step x2

[sfx]: Press
So then… I’m off.

p14: ===============================
Yui.

This time,
/ I’ll make sure to kill him.

p15: ===============================
[sfx]: Slide…

[sfx]: Squeeze

A slightly peculiar white door.
/ It must be this one.

[sfx]: Click

p16: ===============================
You’re here.
[sfx]: Pull
/ I’ve been waiting.

Yes… A pleasure to meet you, Hiro-san.

Let’s drop the charade. A pleasure to MEET me?
/ Don’t we know each other very well?

That’s why you’ve come to see me again.
All so that, this time, you could kill me for good.

p17: ===============================
I only had you come here because I knew that.
?!

You must be amazingly furious.
/ But of course you are, after how much I insulted the person you love.

I fail to understand the meaning of your words.
I’ve spoken with you a number of times online, but this is the first time we’ve actually met—

Again, enough with the lies.
[sfx]: Clench
All we have to do is get a little confirmation.

p18: ===============================
I’m counting on you, Mikuriya.
[sfx]: Stand
On it.

Class Rep’s body’s power is called Truthful Name, or “Don’t Call Me Class Rep.”
/ It is the power to force someone to respond when called by their true name.

I will now have her call you by your true name.
If we are right about who you are…
/ You will respond.

p19: ===============================
[sfx]: Nod

You…

Are Kamiya… Daiki, right?

…I am.

p20: ===============================
…I knew you were the culprit.
No… You’re the ringleader behind it all…

Father!

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 24

2016-10-27T15:08:21+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 24

p1: ==============================
My sister’s corpse is gone.
/ And right when we thought we’d solved the case, too.

Kamiya-kun, tell me everything about the day your sister died.
O-Okay.

…When you awoke, you found the murder weapon gripped in your right hand?

…Yeah, that’s what happened.

p2: ==============================
Kamiya-kun… Remember? X is left-handed.
!

Then… Then my sister’s killer isn’t X?!
Yes. The very foundation of our deduction proved incorrect.

p3: ==============================
#24: The Killer in My Memories
[insert]: With my sister’s corpse vanished, we’re back to the drawing board!
Story: Yamaguchi Mikoto / Art: BAREISHO

p4: ==============================
…

…Hm.
I don’t know who this is.

…
…

Kirishima Sachi, which personality are you speaking as right now?

p5: ==============================
I couldn’t say one or the other, I guess?
Two sets of memories dwell within my mind.
/ The memories of the Sachi you knew and the memories of X are all jumbled together.

But the two sets are mixing, fusing into one.
/ I can tell you with confidence that those merged memories are now mine.

…In other words, there’s a fair amount of confusion in your memories,
/ but the merged memories are clear to you?

Yeah…
In all likelihood, X did not murder your sister, Hiroki.

…I knew it.
In that case, what about the letter?

You know, the letter you left behind when you escaped from your cell.
/ You wrote that X’s identity was someone I knew!

p6: ==============================
You’re slightly off there.
/ There were two pieces of information written in that letter.

The first was that I had realized who X was.
The second…
was that your sister was murdered by someone you knew.

…Huh?
/ Then you’re saying…

Correct.
/ The two pieces of information were not connected.

I was convinced that X had killed my sister,
/ so I mistakenly thought it was all a single hint?

p7: ==============================
Therefore,
/ there was never any guarantee Kamiya Yui-san’s murderer was X.

However, the culprit is someone Kamiya-kun knows.
We can be absolutely certain of that, right?

That is the truth of it.
[sfx]: Nod

I have no idea who the culprit is, but it has to be someone I know…

Then our hypothesis and conclusion were backwards.

…Yes, they were. I think it would be wise to ask Master for more details.
…”Master”?

p8: ==============================
It has to do with my Cross Ability.

…You’re this “Master”?
Indeed.
/ Sachi-kun calls me that, in respect for my erudite intelligence.

Umm… I haven’t yet had the opportunity to ask this,
/ but what in the world are you two?

I am Igarashi Daigorou.
And I’m his attendant and great-granddaughter, Igarashi Shino.
I both invented body-switching and am the first test subject of the art.

p9: ==============================
I originally invented it to help heal those like Sachi, whose hearts had been riven.

But before I knew it, my masterpiece was misused for dangerous entertainment and heinous crime.
As the inventor, I could not stand by. Which is why I’m now taking action.

As for the question of why I am like this—
/ GEH!
You can’t keep going on like that, Great-Grandpa! They don’t want to spend all day listening to your story.
[sfx]: Squeeze
S-Sorry. But we are in a hurry, so if you could start by telling us about your Cross Ability?

My Cross Ability is Lucky Detective.

It is the ability to blow past all the deductive reasoning and immediately produce the conclusion.
The motive? The trick? I can’t answer that, but I can tell you the culprit is among us!
[sfx]: Snap!

p10: ==============================
In other words, I can’t tell you why or how,
/ but I can tell you with 100% certainty…
that your sister was murdered by someone you know.

X was one such candidate, of course, but we now know it not to be him.
…

Unfortunately, my ability cannot produce the ultimate answer.
/ That is to say, we have to figure this out using only the information we currently have on hand.

But there can be no doubt.
The culprit exists somewhere in your memories.

p11: ==============================
…Well? Is there anyone that comes to mind?
…This is tough.

Even someone like me has plenty of acquaintances.

Hmm.. Grasping at straws isn’t going to get us an answer.
We have to narrow down the possibilities.

For instance,
/ is there anyone you know who had a grudge against your sister?
!

p12: ==============================
Why are you asking that?

If she wasn’t killed by a serial killer like X,
then the possibility exists that she was targeted from the start.

In other words, the person with a reason to kill my sister is the culprit?
[sfx]: Crush

The first suspects in an investigation are those who may have killed out of enmity, right?
…Though actually, a lot of murders stem from egotistic spite.

…You want me to name someone who hated my sister so much he would kill her?

Hey. I’ve been wondering about this for a little while now, but…
?

p13: ==============================
Why did your sister become a recluse?

From what I saw of her, she never seemed like the type.

W-Well…

I don’t really know the answer to that, either.

My memories of when and why that happened are all vague.
/ It’s like, one day, she suddenly stopped leaving the house.

Perhaps…
could someone have been stalking her?

p14: ==============================
That couldn’t be.
/ Class Rep, you know how good she was at karate.
She’d knock your run-of-the-mill stalker flat on his back.

…Uh, but even so…
My sister certainly did act like she was afraid of something.

If that’s true, then was there something she didn’t tell me about?
Some reason she felt her life was in danger?

That would be why she withdrew, why she hid herself.

If I’m right, then who was it? Who do I know…
who could have made such a strong woman tremble in fear?

p15: ==============================
Kamiya-kun, Shion-san, can I have a moment?

Kirishima-kun said he’s remembered something.
!

I truly would prefer if I could explain it all at once, but…

As I said before, the two sets of memories in my mind have begun to meld.
/ In the midst of that, one thing has become clear.

During the Cross Act that day, the body X entered…
belonged to Furuyanagi Kou.

p16: ==============================
Furuyanagi Kou.
/ He was one of the people who participated in the Cross Act on the day of the crime.
A man of 86 years, he lived in a hospital strapped to a bed.

I gave myself a look at this diagram.
[sfx]: Flip
I assume this is a diagram you made of the Cross Act before going to capture X.

However, there’s a mistake here.
/ After all, X didn’t enter your body, Hiroki.
[paper]: Kirishima Ai (X) -> Kamiya Hiroki.
[lower right of paper]: Mikuni
[upper right of paper,cut off] Kirishima Sachi

Which begged the question: whose body did X enter?

Look at this photograph.
Is this… some ceiling?

This is the ceiling of the hospital where Furuyanagi Kou is staying.
I had a detective take it for me.

p17: ==============================
And furthermore…
/ The ceiling X saw after swapping bodies was unmistakably the very same.

Why I can be so certain of this memory, you ask?

Because, now that my memories have fused,
/ I can recall a clear difference in the ceiling Sachi saw in the body he entered.
[box, upper left]: The ceiling Sachi saw
[box, lower right]: The ceiling X saw

To sum this all up, fixing the diagram…
…gives us this.
[paper] {
[upper right]: Cross Act Participants (8 total)
[upper left, counterclockwise, from top]: Furuyanagi Kou / An’no Shin’ichirou / Kirishima Ai (X)
[lower right, counterclockwise, from bottom]: Kamiya Hiroki / Mikuriya Mikuni / Kirishima Sachi
}

p18: ==============================
Hmmm.
/ Nevertheless…

The fact remains that about these two, we know—

In fact,
/ there is one more thing I’ve remembered regarding that.
Do you remember, Hiroki, what Sachi experienced in the body he swapped into?

Yeah.
/ That would be this person here, right?
He was an adult man in a hospital, as I recall.

Additionally, you said you could hear the faint sound of water.

That’s exactly it.
/ Now that I’ve come here, I’ve figured out what was making that sound.
What do you mean?

p19: ==============================
The answer lies there.
*Drip*
*Drip*
…The IV?

But if he’s a patient, there’s nothing strange about him receiving an IV.
/ That can’t be particularly vital information.

About that…
It might be possible that the person is in fact not a patient.

When I compare the memories X experienced when he truly took the body of Furuyanagi Kou, a man forced to lay all day in bed,
with those Sachi experienced of being in a bed unable to move…

I find that the sensation of each is clearly different.
/ While it came in waves, the sick man in bed faced a constant stream of pain.
However, Sachi experienced no such pain. If anything, he even felt a strange comfort.

p20: ==============================
I suspect that that was because he intentionally ensnared his body using some sort of drug.

Then that’s why he set up the IV?
That would be the conclusion, yes.

…
/ What is it, Kamiya-kun?
N-No, it’s nothing.

Well? Did that provide you with a hint?

A feeling rose in my gut. It said we were close to grabbing hold of something concrete.

…

p21: ==============================
…But ultimately, we made no further progress that day.

I see… So that’s how things have gotten now.

At the moment, the clues we have that are connected to the culprit…
/ are that he is someone you know, Hiroki…

That it’s likely someone who had a grudge against my sister…

And that Sachi entered the body of a man who used a drug to keep himself stuck in place.
…That’s about it, I guess.
[sfx]: Rub, rub.
Huh? There’s one more thing, right?

p22: ==============================
That the culprit’s a perverted bastard who stole your sister’s body.

…Huh?

Don’t “huh” me. Her body disappeared, right?
/ That was the first thing you told me!

Which means the culprit’s the only person who could have taken it. Get it?

…She’s right…
How did my sister’s body disappear?

p23: ==============================
[sfx]: Tremble
…Hello?
/ Hello?!

Out of all the people I know,
who stole my sister’s body?
Who hated her so much…
that she lived in fear of the person?

…Mikuriya, what sort of Cross Ability did my body have?
Huh?

I couldn’t completely tell,
/ but it was some sort of ability where even if I went to bed, I’d soon wake up, I guess?

…Oh… So that’s what it is.
…Hiroki?
Hah… Haha…

p24: ==============================
Umm… Are you sure you’re all right over there?
[sfx]: Tears

…Mikuriya…
/ Maybe my sister’s death was suicide…

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 23

2016-09-23T22:24:45+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 23

p1: ====================================
Kirishima Sachi, age 18. Lived with his parents, an older brother, and a younger sister.
He was always at the top of his class. A prodigy, some called him.
/ His family was close. They were famous in the neighborhood for how well they got along.

…But all of that was strictly their public persona.

A heavy darkness lurked within the Kirishima household.

And that itself led to the birth of the serial killer X,

p2: ====================================
Kirishima Sachi’s other self.
[insert]: The serial killer born from the Kirishima Family’s darkness: Kirishima Sachi‼
Chapter 23: Emptiness
Midnight Cross Method
Story: Yamaguchi Mikoto
Art: BAREISHO

p3: ====================================
Kirishima Sachi had a split personality?
Yes.
/ A strong indicator supporting the initial theory was our finding of left-handed scissors in the right-handed Sachi’s room.

…Even if that were true, can that method actually bring back the split-off personality?
It should… Right?

Precisely.
When they pressed the single, folded-in-half card between their foreheads, the personality returned to its original body.

…There’s much I can’t believe, but when the most unbelievable thing of all is happening right in front of my eyes…
Heyya.

…What do you say, Kirishima Sachi-kun?
/ There is much we’d like to ask you about the incident, if you are able.
…Mm.
/ …I supposed I don’t have much of a choice. I admit it; I’ve lost.

I shall tell you everything.

p4: ====================================
But first, please take Ai from this room.
/ None of this is anything she would want to remember.
…Understood.

…As you’ve requested, we’ve had her removed.
Then I’ll start again.

As some of those present may be aware,
every member of the Kirishima clan is as two-faced as could be.

However, even though we were counted among their number,
/ the world considered my family to be as honest and clean as they come.

But you know?
The truth is, my house…
/ was the darkest of all.

p5: ====================================
Especially my brother.
He was truly a man beyond redemption.

He played the serious and stupendous brother in public…

But beneath that mask was a mind warped by jealousy.
Whenever he saw something that wasn’t just the way he wanted it, violence followed.

He relentlessly beat me when I was little.

p6: ====================================
SACHI‼
[sfx]: Thud!

B-Brother, why do you keep hitting my chest?
/ If you hate me that much, you’re welcome to hit me in the face.

I do that, everyone else’ll find out.
/ You think I wanna get shamed out in public?

“Shamed”?
/ Heh heh… Given that you’d attack your own brother because you’re jealous of his abilities…

I’m pretty sure you’ve already brought more than enough shame upon yourself.
…Sachi, you piece of…

Sachi… Nii-sama…
[sfx]: Pound!
In the house of two-faced liars stood I, a man who did not mince his words. That I was hated would be an understatement.

p7: ====================================
With each passing day, my brother’s violence escalated.
My parents, meanwhile, turned a blind eye.

It was a wretched time.
/ If I had had no one on my side, I wouldn’t have made it through—but I did. I had Ai.

But time went on, and eventually my brother’s beatings were suppressed.
Or rather, I should say I suppressed them myself.

Brother, if you continue this any further, I won’t hold back.
[sfx]: Creek
…!
For by the time I entered my sophomore year of high school, I could outmuscle him.

p8: ====================================
After that, my days grew tranquil.

However, inversely, all strength seemed to drain from Ai.

And then…
Sachi-nii-sama, have you ever thought that you wanted to become someone you aren’t?
when Ai reached the point where she could ask me that puzzling question…

…I saw it.
[sfx]: Creek

p9: ====================================
I saw the true darkness.
[sfx bubbles, all over page]: Creek
It’s all your fault.
Because you always take his side.
Listen, and don’t you forget it.

It’s over, Ai. You’re mine now.
[bottom-left sfx bubble]: Ooh…

Suck it, Sachi. Now you’re all alone.
[bottom-left sfx bubble]: *Whimper*

Once I had born witness to that…

p10: ====================================
My other self had already been born.
[sfx]: Huff

No. Perhaps he had always been there, deep inside my heart.

I had written that story of a protagonist enjoying the act of killing.
[sfx]: Type
And most of all,

When I returned to my senses, I saw I’d only struck my brother’s chest.
/ I’d let my subconscious take over, and had done the exact same thing he had.

p11: ====================================
Was it the Kirishima blood?
I, too, had a dark side; the thought revolted me from the bottom of my heart.

I’m sorry, Ai. Sorry I didn’t realize sooner.
But I won’t let this happen ever again.

…Sachi-nii-sama, I really do want to become someone I’m not.
/ I don’t want you to embrace me when I’m in this body, this defiled flesh.
…Don’t say that.

What’s more, so long as I’m in here, my true wish will never be granted.
Your true wish?

p12: ====================================
I want to become one flesh with you, Sachi-nii-sama.

Because I truly, truly love you.

p13: ====================================
Ai’s mind had already all but snapped.

If I left her alone then, she probably wouldn’t have been able to live on.
So…

Okay… Let’s do it, Ai.
We decided to use the cards to perform the act.

Later, I would take my incorrigible brother, who again tried to lay his hands on Ai…
Ai…
And my parents, who did know of everything he was doing, but said nothing…
It’s not our fault!
/ It’s all yours, Sachi!

p14: ====================================
And killed them all.
[sfx bubbles]: Splat / Thud / Crash / Slam / Rip / Crunch
(rip is lower-right, rest are in order)

p15: ====================================
Then,
/ I laid all the blame…

On the Sachi I left behind, who only remembered the Kirishima family’s good side.

The culprit is my brother, Kirishima Sachi.

I did so because that was the only method I could devise that would let Ai survive.

p16: ====================================
That concludes the facts behind the Kirishima Family Murder Incident.

…Don’t mess with us.

[sfx]: Push

Don’t mess with us, Sachi!
[sfx]: Grab

p17: ====================================
In that case, why’d you kill my sister?!
Why did you even kill Shin’ichirou-san?!
[sfx]: Squeeze

If you’re telling us the truth, then even if you were going about things the wrong way…
/ You were doing all of it to protect your little sister!

But they had nothing to do with that, so why’d you have to kill them?

p18: ====================================
…I’m sorry to say this,
/ but no amount of probing will provide a satisfactory answer to that question.

…The one thing I can say…

Is that, in the end, the two broken souls literally became one flesh.

So within us lay not only a tremendous insanity, but additionally, where there should have been something to restrain it, there was only emptiness.
…Wouldn’t that be it?

p19: ====================================
The heck does that mean?

…However.
Now that I have returned to my own body…

When I match my memories of my time with you…

With those of my actions as X, I realize…

p20: ====================================
I truly am the worst.

…I’m sorry, Hiroki.
You placed your faith in me, but…

I was never worthy of it.

…You…

p21: ====================================
You freaking idiot…!

And so the curtain closed on the X incident.

Along the way, the police learned of the existence of body switching,
and came to understand my circumstances.

Yes. Everything had come to an end.

p22: ====================================
Hello… This way.

My sister is in here.

I-In the refrigerator?
U-Umm, what’s going to happen to Kamiya-kun?
/ Is he going to be charged with anything?

…It probably won’t be anytime soon,
/ and I don’t believe he’ll be charged with a major crime, but I can’t guarantee he’ll be considered innocent.
But Kamiya-kun’s—

p23: ====================================
It’s fine, Class Rep.
[sfx]: Pat
All I wanted to do was avenge my sister.

I’ve prepared myself for when the police come knocking.
/ And I’ll quit school.
…

Now then. Let us confirm your sister’s body.
Yes, ma’am.
/ …Please do the honors.
[sfx]: Snap

[sfx]: Open

p24: ====================================
?!
My sister’s body—it’s missing?!

What the… How can this be?

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 22

2016-08-24T23:54:36+00:00

(Technically not late [again {sorry}])

Midnight Cross Method 22

p1: ======================================
Chapter 22: A Stage of Madness and Bloodthirst

There!
Capture him! Quickly!

…No.

He can handle himself.

Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto
Art / BAREISHO
[sidebar]: Danger comes Mikuni’s way?!

p2: ======================================
[sfx]: PUNCH!

…Ugh.

He’s not out cold?!

Ahh!
[sfx]: Grab!
?!

p3: ======================================
[sfx]: Snag!

Hah!
[sfx]: Bam!

[sfx]: Thump

Seize him!

p4: ======================================
[sfx]: Crush!

What a shame.
/ Do you honestly believe we the police would place common civilians in this dangerous a situation?

Other than the six individuals who answered the question correctly…
Everyone here is a detective.
[sfx]: Nervous

p5: ======================================
Furthermore, both people standing on-stage…
are skilled at self-defense.

It’s time to pay the piper, X.
Ugh…
/ Ugh.

…No.
Culprit—

p6-7: ======================================
Perhaps you will be the ones paying the piper, not I.

Schlafe, shlafe (Sleep, sleep,)
holder süßer Knabe (my dear sweet child,)
Leise wiegt dich deiner Mutter Hand (Softly rocked by your mother’s hand)
Th-This song, it’s…

p8: ======================================
Wh…
Why?
[sfx]: Slump

“Why”?
/ The better question would be: What possessed you to expect me to waltz unprepared…
into what was such an obvious trap?

p9: ======================================
I believe I told you before how exemplary a Cross Power this body boasts.
A lullaby that puts its listeners to sleep is not the half of it.

While my victims are asleep, paralyzed,
/ I can lay on them hypnotic suggestions.

Sh-She used hypnosis?!

…Ugh.
Is that why it took so much work to knock him out?

The individuals are paralyzed, of course. That does severely limit the breadth of the orders I can give.
Two hours from now, go up onto the stage and attack.

Nevertheless, I must commend you on having scrounged together such an interesting plan.
Using the loud volume to prevent me from singing? Ingenious.

However, allowing me myself to purloin the microphone?

p10: ======================================
A dreadful mistake that has rendered me invincible.

Schlafe, shlafe, holder süßer Knabe (Sleep, sleep, my dear sweet child,)
Leise wiegt dich deiner Mutter Hand (Softly rocked by your mother’s hand)

Good night…

p11: ======================================
So then. What shall I do now?
/ Sachi is still yet to make his arrival, it would seem.
I could wait. I am confident he would not fail to join us.

After all, he considers my sins…
to be something he must handle himself.

…That said, simply waiting here sounds so terribly dull.

Oh, yes. ♡

I am sure the good detective brought one of those with him.

p12: ======================================
[sfx]: Dash!

You are rather late, Sachi.
[sfx]: Swing

p13: ======================================
I grew sick of waiting.

Do relax. None of the souls here have yet been plucked from their bodies.
…

Your presence here would suggest…
that you must have realized the identity of my true body.

…Yeah. Of course I’ve figured it out.
/ You…

p14: ======================================
Are my other half.

p15: ======================================
Through my arrest, through meeting you, through all the information I’ve learned,
I ran into one major problem:

There were too many gaps in my memories.

What happened on the day of the crime?
Why didn’t I know about the scar on Ai’s body? Those two were no surprise.
But why was there so much about the Kirishima family that I heard from the police and lawyers that I didn’t know?

Our house wasn’t that large. How could I have been blind to so much of what went on within it?
At first, I was shocked by my own insensitivity.
/ But that wasn’t it.

p16: ======================================
I had known…
the awful things that had taken place in the Kirishima house.

I’m sorry, Ai.
/ I should’ve saved you.

It is fine, Sachi.
I kept her safe.

p17: ======================================
…
[sfx]: Rustle

Let’s put an end to this.
/ I can’t let you stain my sister’s hands with any more blood.
[sfx]: Pull

…A card folded in half.
/ Someone must have taught you that method.

[sfx]: Dash!

[sfx]: Slam!

[sfx]: Stuff!
This’ll stop you from singing.

Now…
[sfx]: Press
You’re coming back, X.

p18: ======================================
[sfx]: Bang!

p19: ======================================
…You still want to keep going?
…Haven’t you… had enough?

No, not nearly.
For you see…

Through all the innumerable bodies I have taken,
I have touched upon innumerable spirits, and their innumerable suppressed desires.
And so I realized…

…Humans restrain themselves far too much.

p20: ======================================
And that my raison d'être…
was to free them in ways they themselves could not.

Y-You think that’s your purpose?

Intriguingly,
/ even beings such as I, once born into this world, long for a reason to exist.

And that reason’s to hurt people?
…You’re nuts.

p21: ======================================
What else would I be?
[sfx]: Yank
I’m your raw insanity, given life!

With you gone, I will obtain freedom in the truest sense.
[sfx]: Roll

Do not worry.
[sfx]: Smile
I will make sure to keep this body safe.

With that, Sachi, I bid you adieu.
[sfx]: Press

[sfx]: Click
Farewell, my other half.

p22: ======================================
[sfx]: Bang!

Y-
/ You’re…

[sfx]: Huff x2

p23: ======================================
[sfx]: Yank

Right… My Love Lullaby proved ineffective against that body.

Up until the very end, we debated who would stand upon the stage…

But once we realized this body would be our trump card, I had Mikuni-san enter my body.
/ A true idol, she quickly picked up self-defense. Thank goodness for that.
Lower your body and pull my arm towards you.
This isn’t much different from dancing.

And then I entered this body!

All so that I could keep my promise to Grandpa.

On suspicion of the murder of the Kirishima Family, along with the murder of An’no Shin’ichirou,
/ X… No.

Kirishima Sachi, you are under arrest!
[insert]: Finally, X has been arrested!

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 21

2016-06-26T12:32:09+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 21

p1: ========================================
So at the next BKR concert, Miku-Miku’s gonna be there for the first time in forever!
Dude, I knew that hours ago.
/ And besides, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I hear they’re gonna introduce a new song and a new member.
Seriously?! Shit, tickets are gonna be hard to get.

Well, about that…
/ Sounds like they’re not going with a normal raffle this time.
[sfx]: Swipe
Huh?

p2: ========================================
Top priority goes to whoever can fill the blanks in the lyrics!
[upper left]: Midnight Cross Method / #21: Outside and In
[cell phone]: {
[upper left] Guess the lyrics!
[upper right]: Mikuriya Mikuni’s Return / Special Concert
[bottom, not bubble]: Guess the lyrics for the new song, and immediately get a ticket to the performance ♡
[bubble]: Touch!
}
[bottom]: Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto Art / BAREISHO

p3: ========================================
And for our next story,
/ the popular idol group BKR48 are asking fans to guess the lyrics to their new song.
[background]: What are the new song’s lyrics?

The fans are wrestling with the sudden challenge.
The sole clue is rumored to be the song’s title.
/ And that title…

is “Outside and In.”
[sfx]: Glance

…I get it. The title—and these lyrics—
They’re a challenge sent to X.
[background]: The title: Outside and In

Which means, come that day, I should be able to meet Sachi as well.
…Interesting.

p4: ========================================
[background]: The Bakuan Shrine
I wonder if the plan’ll work…

…If nothing else, we should’ve caught X’s eye.
/ We’ve got the information spread far and wide. Even the media picked up the story.
They did? Then all that’s left to see is if X shows up as challenged.

Okay! That’s enough warming up.
[sfx]: Clap clap!
Let’s get this started.

p5: ========================================
Hey,
/ do I really have to do this?
[sfx]: Stretch
You know there can’t be any more mistakes.

…No, there can’t.
/ And I should do everything I can.

One, two, three, four!
[sfx]: Pose!

p6: ========================================
The Day of the Concert

[signs]: BKR Concert Hall / The Bakuan Shrine / Mon Quiho
[sfx]: *Crowd noises*

Gyah!! / I didn’t win a ticket!!!
[sfx]: Stirs

[sign is the same]

Did anyone answer that question correctly?
Well, six people solved it in all.

p7: ========================================
?!
/ That many?!
A lot of people posted on the ‘Net what they thought the answers would be. One of them was right.

…X must be behind that.
All to disturb our investigation.

Couldn’t we simply arrest all six of those individuals?

No, we can’t!

X is as sly as a fox.
/ He might have leaked the answer and then not submitted it himself. There’s no guarantee he’s one of the six!

If we wind up arresting the wrong people, we’d be playing right into X’s hands.
Screw things up badly enough, and we might never get another chance.

p8: ========================================
I understand what you’re saying,
/ but however unlikely, if anything were to happen to you all—

That is the most foolish thing I’ve heard.
[sfx]: Tap

No matter what happens, no matter who is in the stands, we idols will still be the ones performing on stage.

And before we made it big, we had to make it through some pretty dangerous times.

Don’t underestimate an idol’s experience.

p9: ========================================
Besides, after you came to our center crying your heart out, how could we say no?
I-I wasn’t crying!!

Mikuni, if you’ve gone from being a workaholic to that, well…
/ You must’ve met someone nice.
…
Mngh~

However! Until you graduate, don’t forget: Relationships are strictly forbidden!
I-I know that!!

Detective, with our new member, we can handle ourselves.

Instead,
/ could I please ask that you ensure none of our fans are harmed?

Of course.
I swear by our pride as policemen they’ll be safe.

p10: ========================================
Thank you for coming to today’s special BKR48 concert.

We have for you a unique setlist to be used today only.
/ I hope you all enjoy it ♡
Today only?!
Wonder what’s gonna be different.
[sfx]: Stirs

That came to you from BKR48’s Mikuriya Mikuni!
Whoa!

And with that, it’s time to raise the curtain!

p11: ========================================
[insert]: Whoaaaaaaaaaa!

p12: ========================================
Our plan was to lure X to our concert.

The thunderous volume
/ meant that X couldn’t use Kirishima Ai’s Cross Ability, Love’s Lullaby.

TIGER FIRE!
CYBER FIBER!
K-BAR VIBER!

p13: ========================================
Of course, the only way to completely cut it off was to make sure the music never stopped.

So we couldn’t take any breaks.

We had to keep the concert going at full throttle.

p14: ========================================
Of course, X was sharp. Since that possibility existed, X almost certainly wouldn’t appear in Ai’s body.

And in fact, it would seem Ai was nowhere within the hall.

What of the six?
At present, none of them has acted suspiciously.

…Then if X does take action, it really will be during the new song.
How had we initially drawn X to us?

By hiding a secret within the new piece’s lyrics.
In truth…

p15: ========================================
They spelled out the truth of what happened during the Kirishima Family Murder Incident.

We didn’t know if we had every detail right.
But we were certain that X wouldn’t want the full story made public.

And thus, the challenge. If X didn’t want what lay hidden within the lyrics to be made public,
/ X should come and stop us.
Which meant the true battle would be when we introduced the song.

Next is the new piece.

Next is our new piece.
/ It’s a unit song together with our new member.
[sfx]: Huff x2
We hope you enjoy it.

p16: ========================================
Outside…
and In.

p17: ========================================
I’m on the outside.
Always with a smile, and seeking love from you all

I’m on the inside.
Always with a tear, and seeking to break it all

p18: ========================================
My heart grows distant
It’s going to break.

So I lay my right hand
So I lay my left hand
On the mirror and ask,

Is it all my fault?
Am I to blame?
I’m going to break.

p19: ========================================
But there’s a person I love,
/ A person who loves me
So I can still hang in there.

Why do you cry?
Does loving me scar you?

I knew it was my fault.
No, I did nothing wrong.
It’s all my fault.
No,
/ it’s all theirs!
My heart grows distant… Truly, truly distant.
it’s going to break.

Hey, what should I do?
Hmm, let’s…

p20-21: ========================================
Let’s just split in half.

Half for the outside, half for the in!

p22: ========================================
And I, the outside, will break it all!

p23: ========================================
[sfx]: Bathump
Waaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!

[sfx]: Shove

p24: ========================================
?!

There!
[insert]: Has X finally made their play?!

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 20

2016-05-26T16:09:49+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 20

p1: ================================
#20: The Heart of Justice Never Dies
What’s the situation?

Well, all the detectives we had watching the place fell asleep, and…
?!

Any injured?
Umm, the investigators are fine, but we found one on the second floor.

An elderly male.

Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto Art / BAREISHO

p2: ================================
Dammit. We can’t stop the bleeding!
Hey! Where’s the damn ambulance?!
[sfx]: Swing!

p3: ================================
…
[sfx]: Shake

Shion-san!
/ What in the world happened?!

It…
/ It’s…

All of it,
/ it’s all my fault.

p4: ================================
Hurry off and contact your family.

[sign]: In Surgery
We’ll do our best,
/ but I fear it might be…

We’ll call you if the time comes.

[sfx]: Running

p5: ================================
[small bubbles]: *Huff*

Y-You…
/ You little…

WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?!
[sfx]: Grab!

p6: ================================
I-I’m sorry…
I-I didn’t think, I just acted, and now…!

The fuck’s an apology gonna do?!
/ Right now, your grandfather’s body…

It’s got Hiroki’s soul in it!
If… If he doesn’t pull through this, then…

Then Hiroki’s the one who’s gonna die!

p7: ================================
And if… If you let him fucking die…
/ you’re gonna pay for it!

He’s one hell of a guy.
[flashback, c3]: {
SHUT UP!
/ Y—You haven’t been able to cry for ten years,
so I’m crying all the tears you couldn’t!!
}
Someone kind enough to cry for me, even once he knew my shitty-ass past.

Without him, I… I dunno what I’d do.
So please…
Don’t let him die.

I don’t like this either. I don’t want him to die.
I mean, I’ve… I’ve been in love with him for years.

p8: ================================
But I—I can’t make that choice!
How can I choose his life
/ over my grandfather’s?

Ain’t this all your fault?
It is. It is, but…

Screw this!
/ I guess I—I’ll just have to tell him!

…Old man, we need you back in your body. Now.
And then…

p9: ================================
Take Hiroki’s place… and die for him. Please.

?

I know I don’t have any right to ask.
/ But even so…

To me,
Hiroki’s too precious to lose.

p10: ================================
Oh,
were you two having a spat over that?

Relax.
That was my plan goin’ in.

Mine’s the body at Death’s door,
so it’s my soul he ought to see.

If I was there, I would’ve done just what he did to protect Shion.
So given that…

p11: ================================
Being able to share a few last words with you’s a godsend.
[sfx]: Pat

Mind giving us a minute or two?

If time runs out, we can wrap things up quick.
[sfx]: Nod

Shion, I don’t blame you nothing for this.
I’m right sure there’s enough regret filling your heart to stop you ever making this mistake again.

So I’m not gonna let my last words be those of a bitter old Stooge.
/ Instead I’mma ask, both as a detective and as your assistant…

You figure out who X is?

p12: ================================
Yes,
I have.

…I see.

Then go catch X.
/ Their evil deeds must be brought to an end!
But Grandpa…

Stick with your gut
[sfx]: Grab
and do what is right.

p13: ================================
Or would you have the Heart of Justice die with me?

…[sfx]: Tight

[sfx]: Rub

[sfx]: Slap

[sfx]: Slap

14: ================================
[sfx]: Slide

…I won’t let anyone else die,
not now, not ever!

Good.
Well spoke.

p15: ================================
[sfx]: Ah
…We’ve done all we could, but…
Could his family come this way?

I see…
[sfx]: Pat

In that case, well,
[sfx]: Pat
I bid you all…

a fond farewell.

p16: ================================
…I’m so sorry. It shouldn’t have come to this.
What, this? There’s nothing here to apologize for.

…You must have been scared.
So, so scared.
Yet still you stood your ground and protected my granddaughter.

p17: ================================
I thank you, Kamiya-kun.

I chose well to entrust you with my body.

p18: ================================
[sign]: [gen]eral Hospital
This time, could you tell me the full story?

p19: ================================
Yes, we’ll tell you everything.

We told her everything that we knew.
All the things we’d been through,

all about body swapping,

and X’s identity.
X is actually…

p20: ================================
…I see. I understand things, by and large.

So. We the police will be handling things from here.

That’s not acceptable.
/ Let us assist you in arresting X!

Shion-san, you’re—

I’m fine.
/ I won’t demand that I get vengeance with my own hands, or anything like that.

p21: ================================
But X has multiple bodies,
and what’s more, he possesses powerful Cross Abilities.

When you put that into consideration,
/ the rational determination would be that you need our help, since we’re decently knowledgeable about body swapping.

…You have a point. Since we can’t identity X based on appearance,
this will be a tricky one.

I would take it, Shion-san, that you have an idea on how to find this “X”?
I do.

I do, but… But if X doesn’t try anything fancy and simply shows up in Ai’s body,
/ her Cross Ability might make arresting X tricky.

p22: ================================
You mean Love Lullaby,
/ the ability to make everyone who hears it fall asleep?

Even if we wear earplugs,
/ it would be difficult to block out all of the sound.

We have to figure out a better way.
Failure is not an option.

…

p23¨================================
[sfx]: Rumble

…Who’s calling me now, of all…
Geh!

I’m sorry, I have to take this!
Hello? This is Mikuni.

Huh?
/ Can’t that wait?
I’m in the middle of something important right now!

Oh?
/ Something important, is it?

That, coming from the girl who thinks money makes the world go round?
[sfx]: Jump!

p24: ================================
So what is it? What’s more important than your work?
[sfx]: Crack

R-Rikako…

…Wait, isn’t she from BKR?
Yeah, isn’t she she’s Shimazu Rikako?

Kaede, you snitched on me?!
I-I’m sorry, Mikuni-sempai.

p25: ================================
Don’t go glaring at Kaede!
/ You’re the one who’s been skipping out of work left and right!
[sfx]: Pinch!

I’m sorry for the fuss, everyone.
/ I’ll be bringing this one back with me, so…
[sfx]: Slide
H-Hold on a second!

Shut up!
/ You know how many times you screwed up during the performance? Twelve times. Twelve!
[sfx]: Scream!

----------!!

U-Umm, by “performance,” you wouldn’t mean…?!

The same one we’re always doing at the BKR theatre.
/ So, well… The concert.

p26: ================================
That’s it!
[sfx]: Squeeze
[insert]: L-Let go of me…

I’ve figured it out!
I know how to capture X!
[insert]: Let’s corner X at BKR48’s “Special Performance”!!
[arrow]: To be continued in the June issue [on sale 4/27]!

Translation: Rin (HAROLD Sakuishi) 41

2016-04-20T19:00:01+00:00

Rin 41 (FINAL)

Reserved for use by RyColaa Scanlations

p1: ===========================
[insert]: I’ll draw on, and on, and on / until my art brings me to you

p2: ===========================
[JR Nagoya Station sign is already translated]

[sign in last panel]: High Calorie Spot‼

p3: ===========================
Katsuo‼

Whoa, you can’t get this flavor outside of Nagoya.
And I’ve missed this spoon so much.
[sfx]: Slurp
When were you last back in town?
[bottom right]: Not since before last summer, so it’s been a year and three months.

Well, it’s more like you’re stopping by than coming home.
/ When’s your bullet train back?
Damn. For a ramen shop, this place has good softserve.

p4: ===========================
I mean, I figured I’d sleep tonight at my parents’ place.
My legs are killing me after all that walking we did at Kumano.
I need a day of R&R.

Why not stay a couple days?
Can’t you work at home.

Nope. Haven’t you read The Path of Manga?
It tells what happened to Maga Michio, who tried to work from home.
Why would I’ve read that?

Remember Mai-chan?

Huh? Who’s that?
You know how during Koubou-san, we bumped into that girl from your high school?
She was with her then.

p5: ===========================
Ohhhh,
the girl with Honda-san!

Me and her BF work at the same place.
And he goes to the same technical school as her.

Wow. The world’s a small place, huh.

He does DJ-ing, and they’re having an event today.
Wanna pop in?

…
Well, so long as it’s quick.

p6: ===========================
[sign]: Princess Odori

Whoa, all the buildings are so short!
/ And the streets are so wide!
And with so few people, walking around’s easy!
Compared to Tokyo.

Man, being in Nagoya really is relaxing.
You dissin’ us, or something?

p7: ===========================
[sfx]: Heavy beats

Ah, Katsuo-kun. Long time no see!

Mai-chan, remember this guy?
/ You met him during Koubou-san.
Hello. Long time no see.
You’re kidding. That Fushimi-kun?!

I read Re:Member!
I-I’m glad you enjoy it.

p8: ===========================
I figure Asuna’s coming later.

[insert]: Huh? Seriously?
[insert]: He’s like that?
[insert]: Damn!

Lu-san, I’m at the old club in Nagoya. You know the one. I never did figure out how to feel at home in here (lol).

p9: ===========================
I can’t believe I’ve come back to this place.
Whelp, I’ll just go to my normal spot in the corner.

!
Seriously~~?!
I’m in Nagoya right now, too.  (sweatdrop)
Specifically, a stone sauna in Nakagawa. <3 <3

Wow, what a coincidence!
I guess Lu-san’s touring the deluxe bath houses she likes so much.
Heck, her writing’s as cutesy as ever.

Wow!

p10: ===========================
Fushimi-kun, long time no see!

Honda-san!

When did you get back into town?
I only just got here. I decided to stop in on my way home from a vacation.
A vacation? Where to?
Wakayama Prefecture.

p11: ===========================
Wakayama?
/ To do what?
Uh, well, how do I say it…
i just sort’ve went with some friends, and…

Are they here, too?
[sfx]: Turning about
Nah, they flew back already.

…
Might they be the ones I bumped into before?

…Yeah.

p12: ===========================
The girl in that group…
Doesn’t she look a lot like Mirai-san in Re:Member?

Huh…?
[sfx]: Blush
M-Maybe, I guess?

[sfx]: Smile

Fushimi-kun,
just know that I’m never going to stop cheering you on.

Th-Thank you.

p13: ===========================
Asuna, your brother’s upstairs.
He was putting back tequilas like they were water.
Oh, Junpei!
Fushimi-kun, let me introduce you.

This is Junpei.
/ My boyfriend!

WHAT?!

C’mon. It’s Fushimi-kun, the manga artist.
Oh. You write Re:Volver, right?
It’s Re:Member.

p14: ===========================
Sorry. I don’t read much manga.
No, it’s fine.
And nice to meet you.

Your brother’s looking wobbly, so I’m gonna walk him home.
I’ve never seen him this drunk.
Oh, I’ll join you.

So take care, Fushim-kun.
Yeah. See ya.

He’s a dancer. I hear the girls are all over him.

p15: ===========================
They started going out soon after high school graduation.
They have their little breakups, then always get back together, and now here we are.
Least, that’s how Mai-chan tells it.

O-Oh…
…I better not probe too deep.
*Ring*

p16: ===========================
I’m heading to Sakae right now~ <3  <3

p17: ===========================
Oh, so you went to Kumano.
Yes!
Had fun?
/ Got pictures?
T-Tons!

p18: ===========================
Norito, I know this might sound threatening…

But the path you walk
is one of either creation or destruction.

No act of creation is without its risks.

p19: ===========================
I’m never going to stop—I’ll always keep moving forwards!

p20: ===========================
…Lu-san,

thank you for everything,
even what you did so, so long ago.

…
Then it would seem you got something out of your trip.

Yes…

And I’ve figured out who Yassan really is!

p21: ===========================
[sign]: Hotel Kumagusu Gardens

[sign]: Men’s Bath

[sfx]: Staggering
Damn. I’m so exhausted, I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.

Is it past 12 already?
Hm?

‼
[sfx]: Slide!

p22: ===========================
[sfx]: Silence

[sfx]: Open
[sign]: Please be quiet within the sauna.

Weird. Where did he…?
[sfx]: Splash

p23: ===========================
Fushimi…

Surely you understand by now
just what I am.

p24: ===========================
Yeah.
Yassan, you’re me myself!

[insert]: You’re what I lost that day:
[insert]: My insight, my intuition, my inspiration…
[flashbacks are literally pages 28-29 of chapter 40]

p25: ===========================
My soul.

Meeting Ishidou-san was probably the trigger…
that allowed you to appear before me.
[flashback (to chapter 4, p49-51)] {
Rin: I’m glad I was able to see you again.
Fushimi: I wonder why… / Why those words brought tears to my eyes.
}
[flashback (to chapter 7, p46)] {
Bird: If you always take the wrong path, / you’ll never arrive at the place you should be going.
}

p26: ===========================
I’ve never been as happy…
as I am right now, having figured that out.

…Am I never going to meet you again?

[sfx]: Drip

[sfx]: Drip

Yassan?
Could it be? Are you crying?
[sfx]: Splash!

p27: ===========================
No, that was just the steam condensing and dripping back down on me.
[sfx]: Snap!

Fushimi, I will henceforth be with you always.

In the very moments when your shadow seems thinnest,
let your thoughts fade and feel the world around you.

For in the passing of the clouds,
in the swaying of the trees,
in the conversations of strangers aboard the train,
in the movies shown on daytime TV,
in the news posted on the Internet…

p28: ===========================
In those ways and in every way shall I whisper to you.

p29: ===========================
[sfx]: Zahhhhhh

Have you been slacking on your art recently?
/ Your sketches are all over the place.
[sfx]: Wobbly
And really, couldn’t you try to make the girls look cute?
They all have the same face.

p30: ===========================
I liked the Near-Future Arc, but that ending was iffy.
Don’t you think it’s gotten a bit repetitive?
Are you out of ideas?
[sfx]: Trembling

CAN IT!
I can’t even eat with you like this!
Did I hit the nail on the head?

Thanks for the food‼
[sfx]: Phew!
Shit, I didn’t expect to get bombarded with the same things I hear online by my own sister.

p31: ===========================
You amateurs don’t get to talk smack. You don’t know anything!
You don’t have a clue how hard it is to be a pro!
Or are you saying you could do better?!
[sfx]: Sweep!

Oh, shit!
[sfx]: Fall

[sfx]: Panicking

A diary?

[sfx]: Glance
[sfx]: Heh heh heh.
You’ve gotta have better security than this, Nee-chan. So what have you been writing?

p32: ===========================
[diary]: {
November 19th, sunny
The neighbor’s dog wouldn’t stop yelping.
Aren’t toy poodles supposed be cute?

November 21st, cloudy
Grandma bought me some candies,
but they’re all iffy brands and I’m not sure how they’ll taste.
}

Is this something she’s doing to hold back the advancement of the disease?
It must have taken her hours just to write this much.

November 22nd, cloudy
I had a weird dream last night, maybe because of that recorded anime I watched.

I was lying on a bed
atop an empty beach.

p33: ===========================
The tide would soon come in.
[sfx]: Zah

My heart bounced back between surrender and rage.

[sfx]: Chirp, Whistle

Somewhere nearby, I heard a giant thump—like a triceratops was stomping around.

p34: ===========================
I will grant for you a single wish.

[sfx]: Flap x3

A wish?
Just one wish?

p35: ===========================
Zahhh

Zah

Zah

Flap x2

p36: ===========================
May Norito draw wonderful manga.

p37: ===========================
I wonder why I wished for that, of all things.

[sfx]: Tap

[sfx]: Drip

p38: ===========================
[sfx]: Zah

[sfx]: Clickety-clack

p39: ===========================
Norito! I bought some akafuku, so eat up!
Uh, I’m already on my way out.
Then eat them on the way.

[sfx]: Zoom!

p40: ===========================
[above the white’s are “Katsuo”; left of the dark bubbles is “Read”]
Gone home already? Then you never got to stop by Bizenkou’s.
Next time.
I’ll give The Path of Manga a shot (lol)
It’s scripture. There should be a copy in every house.

[sfx]: Munch x2 / Chomp x2

[sfx]: Ring

Katsuo
I can’t do anything real, but I’ll at least cheer you on.

[sfx]: Ahhh.

Katsuo
When I get to Tokyo, take me to Gotanda.

p41: ===========================

p42: ===========================

p43: ===========================
Yeah, this is just the cover for the first issue of the year!

p44: ===========================
Wonder what I’ll do for the insert text…
Hmm… “Happy New Year,” maybe?
Guess he’s still not giving that stuff much thought…

Oh, I finished the storyboard, too!

Next up, I’m beginning the Three Kingdoms Arc!

p45: ===========================
Wow~~~~‼

You have Bumgarner with the Wei, Mirai-san with the Wu, and Shun with the Shu.
/ I know this’ll be popular!
And the Polycoriac Man’s part of the Sima Clan?

To be honest, the episode following the Near Future Arc, where Shun took a trip with his father to the fishing hole,
caused you to drop all the way to fifth in the survey.
WHA?!

And on the flip side, Taki-kun took first place by storm.
/ He really does have chops.

P-Personally, I’m not looking to draw endless battles.
I’d rather create a more thought-out, more human drama.

I’m not against that kind of thing, either, but…

p46: ===========================
[sfx]: Slump
Manga’s such hard work…

[sfx]: Roll
If I want to tell Re:Member’s story right,
it’s the chapters with the little things that are the most important, and yet…

Did I present it wrong, maybe?
[sfx]: Slip

*Rumble*
[phone]: Mizuno Tooru
*Rumble*

H-Hello?‼
[sfx]: Shkeeen!

p47: ===========================
I heard you got the New Year’s cover.
Congrats!

Th-Thank you very much!

But… It was entirely a lucky fluke.
/ My ranking plummeted in the latest survey.
[sfx]: Slide
You worry about that stuff?
I-I mean…

p48: ===========================
…
A couple of chapters ago, wasn’t there a scene where he slipped out of a party?

Huh? In Re:Member?
Oh, yes!

[flashback]: {
Oh, there’s stairs.
There’s a slope over there.

[sfx]: Roll

You were the only one in the whole hall, Sakura-chan.
Huh? The only what?

The only person who came down to my eye level and talked to me.

Don’t you feel like, with every Reality you synchronize with,
/ the way you see people’s changing?

It’s like, you stop caring about how much worth the outside world says someone has,
and more about their worth on the inside.
}

[Black box in the upper-left corner of the bottom half of the page]: Mizuno-san reads my work!

p49: ===========================
That scene? I thought it was pretty great.
Maybe my favorite of yours thus far.

Thank you very much!
Yeah. I’m not on the wrong path.

p50: ===========================
I’m right to trust in my shadow, my inspiration.

Oh, I liked that scene, too.

My sister said the same thing.

Even though your sister’s your harshest critic?
Yeah. Her scathing remarks can bring me to tears.
She gives one compliment for every ten critiques.

p51: ===========================
She must really be supporting you.

I get so much support through the surveys, and through volume sales.
I want to live up to that large-scale support.

But I also want to do everything I can to live up to the little things that keep me going, too.

p52: ===========================
[sfx]: Smile

Oh, Mizuno-san asked about the Taurus Meetup…
Ishidou-san, want to come?
Huh? What’s this meetup?

It’s basically an end-of-the-year party for manga artists.

Oh, now that you mention it, Nishigaitsu-sensei said something about it.

If I can finish all the work I have, I was thinking of going.
I’ve never been, so…

p53: ===========================
[sign]: Shounen Taurus / Meetup

[sfx]: Chatter / Laughter

p54: ===========================
Nishigaitsu-sensei, allow me to introduce you!
This is my girlfriend!
It’s nice to meet you. I’m Furukawa.

Whaaaaat?! Nishi-chan got a girlfriend?!
The biggest shock of the year, right at the end!

At 30 years old, I, Nishiguchi Shuuhei,
finally got my first girlfriend!
[sfx]: Shaking

M-Miss, just as an aside, exactly what part of Nishi-chan do you like?
Please don’t ask something that rude‼
[sfx]: Smile

p55: ===========================
Shuu-nyan is truly a courageous individual.
[insert]: Shuu-NYAN…?

When a group of delinquents surrounded me…

S-Stop that, all of you!
Huh?

You think you’re cool? Huh?

[insert]: Awawawa.

p56: ===========================
Nishiguchi-san, take care of these punk…
and it’s 5,000 yen!

[sfx]: Twitch!

[sfx]: Pow!

[sfx]: Slam!

[sfx]: Thud

p57: ===========================
[sfx]: Boom!

I couldn’t believe it. In that narrow space, he took out all three in an instant.
I mean, he was as cool as Jason Borne.
I could literally hear Moby’s Extreme Ways in the background.

Nishiguchi-san…

[sfx]: Heh

p58: ===========================
5,000 yen, please!
Yes, yes. I’ll pay.

[sfx]: Cheers
[sfx]: Guffaw

p59: ===========================
Taki-kun.

Did Fushimi-kun sit this one out?

Editor-in-Chief, it’s been so long since you last saw Taki-kun,
but you immediately ask about Fushimi-kun?

Well, how can you blame me?

The man is practically the star of the evening; how can we have this event without him?

p60: ===========================
[sfx]: Smirk

Right about now, he’s working on his manuscript!

p61: ===========================

p62: ===========================
No freaking fair, Furukawa-san!
I wanted to go to the meetup, too.
[sfx]: Slide

Tajima-kun, you can get going soon.

So we’re goin’ to the meetup?
Not me. I’ve still got a little more work to do.
/ The art for the Three Kingdoms arc is awfully complex.
I mean, we’ve suddenly got some thirty thousand soldiers all in one panel.

Oh, so you ain’t goin’.
[phone is zoomed-in on next page]

p63: ===========================
[top bar]: R / Nishigaitsu Group
I got a fever. I’m so sorry, especially after you invited me, but I don’t think I can make it today. :_;

Nishigaitsu Hanako / Are you all right?
Nishiguchi / First Fushimi-kun can’t come, and now Rin-chan? Get some rest.
Falls / Copy that. Take care.
R / Please have fun, everyone.

What’s wrong?
It’s nothing; Ishidou-san’s just…

Hey, does Ishidou-san have a boyfriend?
Huh? I don’t think so?

p64: ===========================
That case,
you thinks I got a chance?

I wonder… She might not have a boyfriend, but…

But she’s got someone she likes?

Probably.

p65: ===========================
Aww….
[sfx]: Shit.
He hot? Rich?
Well, I get the feeling it’s not like that.

…
Anyone I know?

…

Oh, right. She’s in Nishigaitsu-sensei’s group, so…

By the way, what’s the guy think of her?

p66: ===========================
Incidentally, he…

He thinks he likes her.
…Probably since the day they met.

p67: ===========================
Sorry. I was so busy with work, I didn’t notice. Are you all right?

Yeah. I just need to lay down and get some rest. My fever’s mostly gone down already.

p68: ===========================
Would you mind if I headed over right now?

[left of bubbles says “read”]
I’ve got the first issue of the new year, and I’d like you to see it.
The unpublished new issue? I’d love to see it!
Mutou-san usually just half-asses things, but he really brought it home this time.

p69: ===========================
[top]: Gunners TV Anime Second Season Begins‼‼
Shounen Taurus
[upper-right]: Mizuno Tooru x Christie Sakuishi / A pompous conversation for the new year
[below that]: Center Color 24P
[bottom-left square]: High Fly Flow Girls
[bottom]: I yearn to see you once more / Re:Member
[bottom-right insert]: Time for the Red Cliffs!

[is zoomed-in version of above panel]: I yearn to see you once more

p70: ===========================

p71: ===========================
[first panel is conveniently in English]

Monthly Shounen Magazine Editorial Department
[left column] {
Eda Shin’ichi
Nakama Keigo
}
[right column] {
Takami Youhei
Hamanaka Shinsuke
}
Sakuishi-Pro
[bottom row, left column] {
Nakama Nobuyuki
Kido Seito
}
[bottom row, middle column] {
Sawada Shin’ichi
Mutou Taisei
}
[bottom row, right column] {
Saitou Hiroaki
Hirooka Shin’ya
}
p72: ===========================
To all the readers who have read this story through to the end, you have my thanks.

Harold Sakuishi

Next issue, we’ll be looking back on Rin’s completion and run an interview with Harold Sakuishi-sensei!
*The final, 14th volume on sale June 17th.*
[We plan to include Harold Sakuishi-sensei’s debut one-shot, “No, You Can’t”!]

Translation: Yokohama-sen Doppelgänger 7

2016-03-17T22:10:30+00:00

Doppelganger ch. 7

Reserved for lasleels

p1: ==============================

7: Depending on Me

[sfx]: Slap!

What’cha doin’?

p2: ==============================
‘Specially ‘round here.
[sign]: Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters
7: Depending on Me

[sfx]: Dash!
Wait up!

Don’t meet with the victims.
Someone will remember that once the incident occurs.
[sfx]: Hah!

p3: ==============================
It’s fine.

Thanks!
[sfx]: Dash!
Bye!

[sfx]: Grab

What’s the rush fer?

People done speak fast what they’re nervous,
[sfx]: Stare
and hidin’ yer palm means a man’s got somethin’ he right wants t’keep hidden.

p4: ==============================
Somethin’ been weighin’ on yer mind as o’ late?
[sfx]: Twitch!
They’ll send you to death row on false charges.

That swollen eyelid’s a Quincke’s edema.
Somethin’ what comes from stress.

Who in the world…?
Anything happens, gimme a buzz.

[card]: Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters Detective, First Investigative Branch / Danki Gensaburou.
Geh!
/ A detective!

See ya ‘round.
…Ah.

p5: ==============================
I ever met you somewhere?
No?

[box]: First Investigative Branch

He’s this here fellow.
[magazine, right side]: Young Sculptor
[magazine, left side]: Kenzaki Makoto / After providing sculptures for a popular drama, ----- sudden attention

[sfx]: Snap.
Kenzaki Makoto, eh?

p6: ==============================
…It couldn’t be.
[insert]: H-
Hey, who’s the detective who captured you?

[sfx]: Snap

Detective Danki.
The man stuck to me like glue, and was abnormally suspicious.

Geh! That’s the worst person who could’ve seen me with Kinugawa.
How do I tell him?

…

p7: ==============================
Of all things, I go from talking about Makoto to running square into the guy.
Huh?

p8: ==============================
Another coincidence?

…Wait.
Can’t be. I mean, that person’s…

[sfx]: Step

We’ve gone out into the middle of nowhere…

[sfx]: Slide

p9: ==============================
Hey… I know this place.
Which means it’s really…?

[sfx]: Ding-dong!

[sfx]: Silence

[sfx]: Ding-dong x2

[sfx]: Silence

p10: ==============================
Ain’t you gonna open up?
[sfx]: Rattle

…Whatever. I’m outta here.

I just hear something?

…Guess it was my imagination.
[sfx]: Silence

…Nah. It’s faint, but it’s there. The voice of some brat—no, a girl?
………..

p11: ==============================
[sfx]: Crash!

Hey! You all right?!

Gh…
/ This place reeks of blood.
And it’s dark.

[sfx]: Jingle

Hey, where are you?!

p12: ==============================
[fsx]: Silence

[sfx]: Creeking

There’s gotta be someone else here besides him…

[sfx]: Flash

…S-Statues? Earthen ones?

p13: ==============================
…But these masks, they’re not earthen statues.*
*Something sculpted from scratch using only clay.

Life masks?*
* A mask created by directly using the form of a person’s face.

I’ve seen more than a few life masks in my time,
[sfx]: Creak x2
but these are damn creepy.

[sfx] Kick!

p14-15: ==============================
[sfx]: Clink

[sfx]: Thud
Waaahhhhh!

[sfx]: Dink / Roll

p16: ==============================
[sfx]: Slip!

[sfx]: Fall!

C-Calm down.
/ He’s gotta know I snuck in.
…But since it’s too damn dark for me to have a clue where he is…

He oughta be just as clueless!

p17: ==============================
S’long as I’m silent, I can get outta here.
Huh?!

My phone!
/I’ve got my phone!
[sfx]: Bah!

Dial 110…
[sfx]: Click

Beeeeeeeeeeeep!
[sfx]: Shocked!

[phone]: Text received / Natsuki Hikari
[sfx]: Rumble

p18: ==============================
[sfx]: Pull!
[insert]: Yokohama line Doppelganger 1 (Fin)

Translation: Rin (HAROLD Sakuishi) 40

2016-03-15T04:24:39+00:00

Rin 40

Reserved for use by RyColaa

p1: ======================================
A pure dignity--
--Deceit is beyond you

p2: ======================================
Hmm…

I’ve got a single text from Chouno-san.
It came last night.

Maybe it’s to tell us who got the cover?
[sign]: Hotel Kumagusu Gardens

p3: ======================================
[sfx]: Glug

I’m going back to the room to give Chouno-san a call.

Huh? Is he going to be up this early?
It’s 7.
No worries. He doesn’t go to bed until after he’s seen the international sports results.
[insert]: Later.

……..Did Taki-kun get the cover?!

p4: ======================================
Hey, tell me more about the dream.

Huh?
You’re interested in it?
[sfx]: Nod

You see, Yuri-sama…

p5: ======================================
She’s so revered by the Five Princes, the few elites permitted entry into the main shrine,
that they bow their heads so low they touch the floor.

But to Kiou…

[sfx]: Pop!

He snuck in again?
Yeah. The second time was on the day of the festival, when security was lax.

p6: ======================================
Uh, umm… Here.
This is in thanks for saving my life.

[sfx]: Gulp

p7: ======================================
I had hoped to…
Hoped to…
To see you from up close.

p8: ======================================
Th-Thank you.

Afterwards, again and again,
/ he braved the dangers…

Oh, want to see the storyboard?
Huh? You sure?
Then I’ll read it while I’m holding down the fort.

p9: ======================================
[sign]: Kumano Road

[handwritten]: {
[right bubble]: Walking the Kumano Kodou
[top bubble]: Day 2
[text]: Kumano Nachi Shrine
(Big Kumotori Pass) (Small Kumotori Pass)
Kumano Honguu Shrine
}

That’s a pretty rough itinerary.

What’d Chouno-san say?
Oh, he didn’t pick up.
Sleeping like a log, I assume.

…
Well, I’m sure he’ll give me a buzz once he’s up.

p10: ======================================
It’ll probably be when we’re eating lunch, or something.

Good morning!
[sfx]: Rush!

p11: ======================================
So Fushimi-kun and Taki-kun are spending today hiking through the mountains.
They really are an austere group.

The path they’re taking it supposed to have some hard climbs, even relative to the rest of the Kumano Kodou.
They said they’ll be walking nine or ten hours.

Whoa… I could never do that.

Right?
[sfx]: Ring
Rin-chan said she’s going to be taking it easy in the hotel hot spring.

Hm…
It’s Rin-chan.
Remember: “Not one step back.” ♪ Don’t forget :D

p12: ======================================
What is it?
Oh, nothing…
We’re just going to see a movie; what’s with the message?

[sfx/insert]: Shh Shh / *Laughter* / *Slap*

p13: ======================================
[[same as previous chapter, but handwritten this time]]
Yuri-sama,
by its own body does wood give light to the flames.

I will use my own soul
to give you light.

And I…
will use my soul to light you, Kiou.

p14: ======================================
The New Year’s ritual is, to me,
the most trying of all.

On the final day of the year, starting from before the sun sets, I remove myself from my body.
I go to the rivers, the boulders, the waterfalls, the trees…
To all the gods, and converse with them.

p15: ======================================
it is difficult to demand understanding from one who does not understand.

Is it to know what sort of year the new year will be?
Well, roughly speaking,
/ I also pray that the new year be a good one.

Meanwhile, during my meager breaks, I sip a few drops of water.

It ultimately ends when the sun sets and the new year dawns.

Only then, with my body and heart exhausted, do I finally partake of the porridge.

p16: ======================================
Wow…
So that’s why the New Year’s Ritual requires two vessels‼

Well done, Bun’ou.
Your workmanship has such elegant beauty!

No matter what anyone else makes,
my vessels will be chosen.

No one knows Yuri-sama like I do‼

p17: ======================================
[sfx]: Panting

p18: ======================================
[sfx]: Crackling

[sfx]: Roar

[sfx]: Splash

p19: ======================================
Whoa!

Kiou, that looks awesome!
/ You’re totally winning this.
It’s friggin’ sweet.

Th-Thank you, everyone.

When I think of the 99 princes, the group I’m now a part of,
I’m truly glad I came to this place.

Aren’t you tired of gazing at the moon?
Huh?
Want to take a trip out of here, just once?

I can’t remember ever being anywhere but in here.

Let’s go see the sunrise, together.

p20: ======================================

p21: ======================================
[signpost] {
[top]: Big Kumotori Pass

: Mt. Nachi
[right side]: Koguchi (Noboritatechaya Trail)
[middle]: Lottery
[below that]: World Heritage Site: Kumano Sankei Michi
[very bottom]: Kumano Kodou
}

*Wheeze*
*Wheeze*
*Wheeze*
♪

Water…
[sfx]: Huff x2, *Rustle*
Water…

[sfx]: Flutter

Wah! Why did I even bring these?
Hm? What are those?

p22: ======================================
[sfx]: Zah

You’re normally not allowed to come in here,
but this waterfall is my absolute favorite.

Of all the fourty-eight waterfalls,
this is the most elegant and beautiful.

Yuri-sama said that, although the great waterfall is a male deity,
this waterfall is a goddess.

[bubble]: A storyboard I threw out.

Bun’ou-sama, what do these three characters mean?

They represent the gods of the three mountains.

…

Bun’ou doesn’t really seem like a bad guy.

Of course. Kiou respects him a ton, too.
[sfx]: Gulp

p23: ======================================
He’s clearheaded, and has by far the sharpest mind out of all the 99 Princes.
It’s generally assumed there was no writing system during that era, but somewhere, he learned how to write.

Hmmm.
Hey, are you getting hungry?

Oh, shoot.
What?
I’ve got no signal here.

We’ll probably be out of range until we reach our goal.
F-For now, let’s eat. We’ve got mehari-zushi.

p24: ======================================
[bottom-right bubble]: The storyboard ended partway through, right?
So what happens after?
Huh?

Did the two settle down together
and live happily ever after?
[sfx]: Munch x2

Nah.
[sfx]: Munch x2

Everything had gone fine so far,
but at a heavy cost.

p25: ======================================
Yuri-sama had lived like a bird in a cage.
Hiking through the mountains was rough on her.

[sfx]: Flash

It’s like she was allergic to the sun.
The parts of her skin that bathed in its rays swelled up.

Hmmm.
[sfx]: Munch x2
They returned long after they’d planned.

After all but killing themselves to get back to the shrine, they found it in an uproar.
[sfx]: Wahh

p26: ======================================
[sfx]: Slam / Crash / Snap

[sfx]: Thud

[sfx]: Munch x2
Executed?

It seemed like he would be,

but his friends begged on his behalf…

p27: ======================================
and Yuri-sama entreated that he be spared.

[sfx]: Gulp

Kiou, be gone from this shrine.
/ And never again show yourself here.
[sfx]: Wind howling

p28: ======================================
Bun’ou-sama,
…Stab, please.

?

In the village where I was born,
it’s said that the soul dwells in your shadow.

I will leave my soul behind.

p29: ======================================
Do it.

[sfx]: Stab!

p30: ======================================
So he was exiled.
It was a strange dream.
[sfx]: Munch
When I woke up, I felt like I’d been struck mute.

In the end, I never did find out who won the pottery battle.
[insert]: Thanks for the meal / The mehari-zushi was delicious.
Bun’ou smashed them.

Huh?

When Kiou departed,
he smashed them to smithereens.

p31: ======================================
[sfx]: Howl

…

p32: ======================================
[sfx]: Shatter!

p33: ======================================
….

As for Yuri-sama, she lost control of the New Year’s ritual
[sfx]: Stand
and from that day forth, she made a mess of all her duties.

…
How do you…?

I get the feeling this isn’t my first time walking this road.
[sfx]: Step
With every step, so many things flash back into my head.

[sfx]: Gyah x2
I’ll head on ahead.
Let’s each walk at our own pace.

p34: ======================================
Man, that movie was great.
And the action scenes had almost no CG.

I love spy-action flicks.

Oh, yeah. How about we take a pic?
We can send it to Fushimi-kun.
Oh, nice.
Let’s send it to Rin-chan, too.

[sfx]: Snap

p35: ======================================
[sfx]: Quiver
Hey, you bastards!

You takin’ a picture of us?
Gimme that phone!

Huh…? We didn’t take a picture of you.

Don’t play dumb!
Hand it the fuck over! We’ll be erasin’ all your data.

What…?
But I have reference photos for Re:Member on this…

p36: ======================================
Nishiguchi-san, let’s go!
[sfx]: Dash!
Oh, yeah.

Wait, dammit‼
[sfx]: Dash

Aieeee‼

[sfx]: Slam!

p37: ======================================
Fork over your whole bag!
We’re gonna fuck you up‼

[insert]: Awawawa!

I-I can’t—I’m gonna piss myself.
I know I will…

[sfx]: Turn
S-Sorry, Furukawa-san.

Remember: “Not one step back.” ♪ Don’t forget :D

p38: ======================================
S-Stop that, all of you!
Huh?

Huff.
Huff.
Huff.

Huff.
Huff.

p39: ======================================
Fushimi…

Huff.
Huff.

Huff.

Huff.

[sfx]: Flap x2

p40: ======================================

p41: ======================================
*Wheeze*
*Wheeze*
Yassan…
I did like you said, and came here.

Welcome to Kumano!

Actually, whoa…
I can’t believe I’m seeing you while I’m awake…
[sfx]: Freeze
Coming to this land has brought you clarity.

p42: ======================================
Isn’t that right, Kiou?

When you lived in this land,
you were a gushing fountain of creativity.

Simply being by her side
granted you inspiration.

p43: ======================================
[sfx]: Stab!

After losing your soul,

you never again attempted anything inventive.

After wandering various lands for years on end…

I died in obscurity?
No…

p44: ======================================
You found a home in a small, seaside village.
The village shaman took a peculiar liking for you.

p45: ======================================
Well, this “shaman” was pretty much a charlatan.

The ocean’s goin’ crazy.
Like there’s a huge storm comin’.
Damn…

Must be a giant storm, the kind that only comes once a decade.
A lot of people might die.

Your prayers, please!
No, no. That’ll never work!
Forget it—we need to evacuate.

p46: ======================================
[sfx]: Howl

[sfx]: Dash
!

I went back to the shrine?

You did.

You had lost your father, your mother, and your sister.
So in those days you spent as one of the 99 Princes, you found true family.

p47: ======================================
[sfx]: Roar

What about Yuri-sama?

The elites immediately evacuated her to high ground; she was fine.

Yet most of the princes, including the children…

p48: ======================================
It’s Kiou‼
Kiou’s come back‼

Time in the ocean had made you a strong swimmer,
and that strength let you save two, maybe three of the children.

p49: ======================================
Yet the good and bad alike fall victim to a storm’s wrath.

[sfx]: Zah!

p50: ======================================
[flashback to ch. 37]
Kiou…!

Bun’ou-sama…
You’re the one Yuri-sama needs by her side.

p51: ======================================
[sfx]: Rush

p52: ======================================
Fushimi…
[sfx]: Flap
In all likelihood, this will be the last time I ever appear before you.

Huh?!

Yassan,
I still don’t know who you are!

[sfx]: Flap x2
Surely the answer has largely come to you…

p53: ======================================
[sfx]: Bah!

p54: ======================================
[sfx]: Screech

[sfx]: Pnph

p55: ======================================

p56: ======================================
*Wheeze*
*Wheeze*
*Wheeze*
[sign]: Towards the Honguu Area (The Little Kumotori Pass) / Kumano Kodou

I might’ve come up with the plan myself,
[sfx]: Wobbling
but I was a reckless fool.

Will I be able to get straight to work after getting back?
[sfx]: *Wheezing*

Huff.
Huff.

Hey!
!

p57: ======================================
I think this view makes walking all the way up here worth it.

Maybe it was somewhere around here
that you saved my life, Fushimi-kun.

p58: ======================================
Huh? You’ve got a signal?
I’m still out of range.
Ah.

[screen]: Taurus Editing Department

H-Hello?

p59: ======================================
Sorry to interrupt your trip,

but it’s about the new year’s cover:
/ Re:Member’s won it‼

p60: ======================================
…Don’t tell me…

R-Right now, Taki-kun’s by my side.

p61: ======================================
Okay. I think Chouno’s going to call him later.
Though he’s seriously pissed.

…

…Oh.

[sfx]: Fwamp

p62: ======================================
Congrats, Fushimi-kun.
Th-Thanks.
[sfx]: Ring

I’m at the finish line, Kumano’s Honguu Shrine. Call me when you get here!

Ishidou-san said she’s at the goal.
Huh?

p63: ======================================
The old shrine’s site is across the road. Beyond there lies a river. I’ll be waiting by its shore.

Wow, that’s truly amazing.
I mean, should I really be doing it?
I’m no good at coloring, and…
Fushimi-kun, don’t hold back on my account. Go ahead. Be happy.
Now I feel even more down.

p64: ======================================
I think somewhere upstream or downstream from here…
lies the place you drew, Fushimi-kun.

Huh?!
But the river’s so shallow!
You’d never drown in this.
[sfx]: Splash

…Even if it had been there, I doubt there would be any vestige of it.
After all, everything took place oh-so-long ago.

…

p65: ======================================
I’ve been wondering…
What happened after?

p66: ======================================

p67: ======================================
Yuri-sama’s gone‼
[sfx]: Running
Sh-She’s what?!
Wake everyone and find her‼

p68: ======================================
I yearn
to see you
once more.

p69: ======================================

p70: ======================================
Huh…? What’s wrong?

It was in the same spot…
Huh? What was?

…

[insert]: Next issue, the final chapter—Every mystery will be answered‼!
[box]: To be continued in the May issue.

Translation: Mayonaka no X Giten 19

2016-02-21T17:15:32+00:00

Midnight Cross Method 19

p1: ================================
Midnight Cross Method
Story / Yamaguchi Mikoto
Art / BAREISHO
#19: The Lullaby, Death’s Melody

…Truly, what is with that child?
Oh, Sachi-kun? He is a bit off-putting, isn’t he?
Things at home must be a nightmare, too

p2: ================================
That’s not true at all.
After all, I love my brother Sachi.

Ah…

…O-Of course you do. You’re siblings.
/ What sort of sister wouldn’t say that about her brother?
[sfx]: Pat x2
Ai-chan, you really are such a good, kind girl.

p3: ================================
…No, it’s not like that.
Us being family or siblings has nothing to do with it.

I love my brother Sachi
/ as a man.

[sfx]: Eww
I knew I would get those looks.

When I spoke to Mom and Dad about this, they were very angry.
…Why can’t anyone understand?

p4: ================================
“Why can’t anyone else see how wonderful a person my brother Sachi is?” she asked.

What was that, just now? …I feel like she’s lost her head.
…

[sfx]: Hah / Pat
Saeko-san!

…Huh?!
/ What am I… This is…?
Could I have a brief moment?

We’re sorry. We forced you to tell us most everything.
/ Specifically, that you—that all of you—hated Kirishima Sachi.

p5: ================================
Which is why, when Kirishima Sachi was named suspect, no one rose in his defense.
…

I don’t have the time to berate you for that, not even if I wanted to.
But there is one thing I would like to ask.

Why do you bear Kirishima Sachi so much hatred?
/ Was there any definitive reason for it?

…Well…

p6: ================================
The boy was far too smart…
…And besides,

He was too honest.

There was a family gathering.
While everyone was exchanging hellos, Sachi-kun suddenly said,

p7: ================================
Why are you all smiling and welcoming people you don’t even like?

The air in the room froze over.
[sfx]: Ugh…
Why?

Because it was the truth.

The Kirishima clan is giant, and has existed since ages past.
Given the size, of course there’s a few feuds.
But we’re adults. What’s wrong with forcing a smile so you can get through a brief gathering?

…Yet he saw right through us,
even though he’d only just entered elementary school.

p8: ================================
The disgusting boy.

And he didn’t stop. He kept speaking as if he could see the thoughts that lay hidden in your heart.
[bottom right]: No one’s seriously listening to a word you say.
[upper left]: Why would you go out of your way to partner up with someone you hate?
Everyone’s so desperate because they want Grandpa’s inheritance, huh.

Maybe the boy was so smart that our adult facades seemed ridiculous to him.
But you know how it is.

Nothing hurts more than the unassailable truth.

p9: ================================
So as a result, Sachi grew ostracized and hated?
…Yes.

…As I recall, Sachi himself said…
/ that as long as he can remember, everyone around him had considered him odd.
…!

Hey, Kamiya-kun?
/ Could you tell me about Kirishima? Tell me everything, no matter how little.
Okay, sure.

…I think that’s about all I know.

p10: ================================
[flashbacks, right column] {
Kirishima Sachi, age 18. His was a family of five: two parents, an elder brother, and a little sister.
His grades were always at the top of the class; some even called him a prodigy.
/ He and his family got along well. They were even famous in their neighborhood for how close they all were.

I loved my family.
[sfx]: Clench

I loved my father, who was always relaxed and took things at his own pace;
/ my mother, who rarely spoke but never lacked a smile;
My brother, who was exemplary and serious to a fault;

And my sister…
/ She was a bit of a dreamer and terribly kind.
}

[bubbles, right side] {
They were famous in the neighborhood for being a close family.
/ He was interested in seeing the look on someone’s face when the person they trusted the most suddenly attacked them.
Sachi loved his entire family.
}

[bubbles, left side] {
Sachi’s cross ability is Judgement Fake, or the Novelist Who Cannot Write Lies.
Sachi said there are two personalities within AI.
/ Sachi is right handed.
}

[flashbacks, left side] {
“I did not murder your sister.

“The veracity of this letter will be confirmed by my Cross Ability,
“Judgment Fake, or the Novelist Who Cannot Write Lies.

“My ability can determine if the text is truth or deceit.”

There’s two people inside Ai…!

Hey,
/ won’t one of you lend me your body?
Then, afterwards, I’ll listen to whatever you have to say.
}

[sfx]: *Gulp*

Saeko-san, would it be all right if I asked you one last question?
G-Go ahead.

p11: ================================
Is Kirishima Sachi still like that nowadays?

…No.
/ His family must have scolded him harshly.
He began to mind his words around when he entered high school.

…I knew it.

…Kamiya-kun,
I think I might have figured out who X is.

p12: ================================
[sfx]: Shivering

What’s wrong? Why are you fidgeting?
[sfx]: Nngh / Twitch
?!

Don’t get in my face looking like that!!
[sfx]: Nyah!
[insert]: Ah, the bittersweet feelings of youth~ <3

p13: ================================
Umm… It’s a little late to ask,
/ but are you sure you shouldn’t have gone?

May I take that to mean leaving Kamiya-kun alone with Shion has given you pangs of jealousy?
DON’T FRIGGIN’ LOOK LIKE YOU’VE SOLVED A MYSTERY!!

I’m saying that maybe you should’ve gone to the crime scene to investigate!
I see.

Yet in that case, there is nothing to worry about.
/ By now, Shion’s detective skills have well surpassed my own.
…I-I see.

That is precisely why I have let her take over the business!
[insert]: I am her assistant, and nothing more.

But, well… There is one concern of mine.

p14: ================================
When Shion lets her mind focus on deductive reasoning…
she becomes blind to everything else around her.

…I have to go.
?
/ Go where?

Hey…
Class Rep!
[sfx]: Dash!

p15: ================================
She inherited that power of concentration from her father—that is, from my little boy.
It can be her greatest weapon.

Yet it is fair to say the self-same power cost my little boy his life.
Huh? Then you’re saying…?

…My little boy was a detective, same as me.

I might be biased, but I thought him exemplary.
Yet every time he closed in on the truth, he had no eyes for anything else.

p16: ================================
And one day, while the solution to a case lay before his eyes, he died in a pedestrian accident.

If there was one thing I felt for Shion at the time,
/ it was pity.
She fell mute for a while.

After all that, why’d she go on to do something as dangerous as investigative work?

Well… The girl inherited more than one thing.
What else did she get?

p17: ================================
A hatred of evil, and the heart of a hero!
[sfx]: Snap!

Oh, yeah…
[insert]: I’ll never let evil win
[sfx]: Ding!
That would be just like her.

But even so…
Hiroki—he’ll dash into things on a whim, too…

Really…
I hope they both make it back safe and sound.

p18: ================================
[sfx]: Slap
Class Rep!
Class Rep, wait a second!!

It’s… It’s hard…
To run… in this body…!!
[sfx]: Huff

[sfx]: Wheeze x2

Here it is…

p19: ================================
?!
[sfx]: Spring!

You’re kidding me…
/ C-Can I even make it in this body?
[sfx]: Hut… / Oww…

Wah!
[sfx]: Grab!
What’s going on?!

What business do you have here?!!
/ Are you connected with Kirishima Sachi?!
…Oh, the detectives on watch!

Class Rep, stop! It’s dangerous to go alone!!
[sfx]: Tah!

[sfx]: Snap

p20: ================================
And here’s the room…

If there’s any evidence remaining here…
[sfx]: Open

[sfx]: Rustle

…No good.
Most everything was taken away by the police…

…!

p21: ================================
This is…

…I knew it!

p22: ================================
Ah, it would appear you have arrived at the truth.
[sfx]: Creek

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiegenlied,_D_498_(Schubert) >>

Schlafe, shlafe (Sleep, sleep,)
?!
holder süßer Knabe (my dear sweet child,)

p23: ================================
Wh-What?
A song…?
Leise wiegt dich deiner Mutter Hand (Softly rocked by your mother’s hand)

--?!
[sfx]: Droop

I suddenly… feel so tired…

Such is this body’s Cross Ability: Love Lullaby.
All who hear this song will, without exception, be put to sleep.

In truth, I had intended to conclude the game upon the unveiling of my identity, but, well…
[sfx]: Tremble
Y-You… little…

With Sachi also on the move,
I find myself wanting to enjoy this scenario a short while longer.

p24: ================================
And so, while it pains me to say it,
now that you have arrived at the correct answer…

I fear this is farewell.

p25: ================================
Shion…
/ Shion.

What is it,
/ Grandpa?

Do you really intend to join me as a private eye?

Of course.

…But you know? Hiroko-san—your mother—is against it.
Think closely on the reason why your father died.

I’ll do it because my father has died.
What?

p26: ================================
My father’s just soul lives on within me. I don’t want it to die, too!

…

…I see.
[sfx]: Ruffle
…Okay.

This isn’t what we agreed to!
/ Father-in-law, you promised me you would talk her out of it!!
If something were to happen to Shion, too, then I…!

p27: ================================
Don’t worry!
/ No matter what happens, I will be sure to keep her safe.
[sfx]: Thumbs up!

…That is a surprise.
[sfx]: Huff x2
Would this be the power of the body itself?
[sfx]: Drip… x2
Or else, is it the strength of will borne by the soul currently within it?

…Very well. In deference to such a beautiful spirit,
/ I shall permit this round to end with you alone.

After all, it would seem I cannot stay here indefinitely.

Shion, no matter what happens, I will at least keep you safe.
Class Rep, I’m not willing to lose anyone else I care about.

p28-29: ================================
Kamiya-kun…?
Grandpa…?

?!

p30: ================================
…Y… You’re kidding…

Shion, promise Grandpa…
/ that you will never rush. Rushing into things will someday bring you face-to-face with danger.
Okay!

N-Nooooo!!!
[insert]: The long-awaited third volume is on sale February 27th!
[bar]: To be continued in the April issue on sale Feb. 27th!

Translation: Rin (HAROLD Sakuishi) 39

2016-02-19T16:33:04+00:00

Rin 39

Reserved for use by RyColaa Scanlations

p1: ========================================

p2: ========================================

p3: ========================================
[sfx]: Scratch
In essence, the test subjects find Shino Mirai to be their anima,
while Shino Mirai finds the test subjects to fulfill the roll of her animus.
Within the Realities, the Polycoriac Man she creates plays a number of archetypical roles…

[sfx]: Chatter

p4: ========================================
[sfx]: Chatter

That presentation was superb.
Ryuu Bumgarner is an exemplary man.

But of course—he is the scion of one of the East Coast’s greatest families.
And hasn’t he erased the most Realities?

Shun!

It’s all pretty tasty.
Especially the roast beef.
Sakura-chan!
You haven’t eaten anything, right?

p5: ========================================
And it’s like, sure Ryuu’s amazing,
but you’re the one conquering the most difficult Realities.
Yeah, Ryuu’s got you beat on number, but…

I guess all the research scientists don’t get any of that, maybe?

Well, all the details are part of a top-secret project.
[sfx] Munch

[sfx]: Yawn

Hey, Shun—wanna slip out?
/ Another minute in here, and I’m totally gonna die of boredom.
[sfx]: Huh?

p6: ========================================
Oh, there’s stairs.
There’s a slope over there.

[sfx]: Roll

You were the only one in the whole hall, Sakura-chan.
Huh? The only what?

The only person who came down to my eye level and talked to me.

Don’t you feel like, with every Reality you synchronize with,
/ the way you see people’s changing?

p7: ========================================
It’s like, you stop caring about how much worth the outside world says someone has,
and more about their worth on the inside.

Says the middle schooler. That’s what you’ve been thinking about?
Hey, are you making fun of me?

Regardless, I think that’s what my sister’s teaching us.

p8: ========================================
And we’re definitely going to wake her up from her sleep.
[insert]: Ahahahaha
That’s gotta be a bit weird for her to hear from us, the people who live in her dreams.

Thanks for all the hard work!!

Furukawa-san, wanna go eat some jumbo gyouza on the way home?
I’ll pass.
Huh? Furukawa-san, you don’t like gyouza?
Xiahou Dun, the place in front of the station, makes a pretty good one.

p9: ========================================
Oh, right. You got a date tomorrow.
No, it’s not a date.
We’re just going to see a movie.
Huh? With who?

Nishiguchi-san!
Well, I’m free, so I thought “Why not?”

WHAAAAAAT?!

You’ve already finished packing, I see.
Yeah. We’re heading out early tomorrow, so…

Have a good trip!

p10: ========================================
Heck, you’re goin’ to Kumao, right?
I really don’t got a clue why you’d wanna go there.

[insert]: Hahaha…
Good question.

It’s because Yassan’s been hinting that I should…
Not that I can tell anyone that.
[top-right magazine]: Kumano / Trip through a World Heritage Site
[bottom-right magazine]: Three Kumano Shrines / Nachi / Honguu / Shinguu
[upper-left magazine]: Nanki / Kumano Kodou / A Professional Trip
[middle-left]: Perfect Guide / Kumano / The Raging Thunder Road
[bottom-left]: Let’s walk the Kumano Kodou!!

p11: ========================================
[sfx]: Roar

Kumano Trip Rough Plans
[bubble]: Day 1
Depart from Haneda -> land at Nanki-Shirahama
Rent a car
1) Kumano Honguu Shrine
2) Kumano Hayatama Shrine
3) Kumano Nachi Shrine
[bubble]: Visiting the Three Kumano Shrines
Stay at Hotel Kumagusu Gardens
[real text bubble]: ……

p12: ========================================
Morning!

Ah!
[sfx]: Jump!

I-I’m happy to be going with you.
[sfx]: Bow x2
Oh, and I’m happy to be going with you.

p13: ========================================
That night…

Would you like to go on a trip some time? There’s a place I’d like to take you.

[sfx]: Bathump

*Ring*
Ugh, that was quick.

I can’t believe she instantly said “OK”…

p14: ========================================
You can afford to take off from work?

It’s just a three-day, two-night trip; we can manage.
I haven’t spent any time thinking about what comes next, so I did bring what I need to make a storyboard, just in case.

You’re sure I wouldn’t just be a third wheel?
[sfx]: Rattle
!

p15: ========================================
O-Of course not.
I did force you to let me come after I heard the news.

Really, though—I won’t be a nuisance?

I-I mean…
Neither of us has a license, so…
Oh.
Then leave the driving to me.

[sign]: Nanki-Shirahama

p16: ========================================
[sfx]: Roar

I can’t believe Ishidou-san showed interest in the mountains of Wakayama Prefecture, of all places.
/ Why’d you want to go to the shrines, Fushimi-kun?
Hmm, how do I say it… I want to know more about ancient Japan, so…

Regardless, I’m interested in seeing how Ishidou-san reacts out there.

p17: ========================================
[sfx]: Roar

[magazine]: Shounen Taurus

p18: ========================================
Taki-kun,
/ Fushimi-kun,
/ and Rin-chan, too—they’re all crazy.

Normal kids their age would be partying at Disneyland or Universal Studios Japan.
Yes, they’re a sober bunch.

Back during the Heian and Kamakura eras, all the nobles would visit the Kumano shrines.
[sfx]: Eh heh heh
It’s supposed to be an ancient place of faith.

[sfx]: Ring

Rin-chan!
Nishiguchi-san, the keyword to making things go well with Furukawa-san is “Not one step back.” ♪

p19: ========================================
What’s wrong?
No, it’s nothing.
L-Let’s go.

[sfx]: Roar

Fushimi-kun, I read Taurus during the flight.

Sakura-chan’s gotten irresistibly cute lately!

[sfx]: Haha
That costume was my editor’s idea…

p20: ========================================
…But I’m having a lot of fun drawing the near-future arc.
I really like the setting and its twin Mirai-sans: one light, one shadow.

Which do you like more: Presence or Re:Member?

p21: ========================================
Let me be a bit more specific: From September through last week’s, which did you like more?
Why that question?
It’s extremely important to us.
[sign]: Welcome to Shirahama

Whichever work comes in first on the survey the most times over that period is going to grace the cover of the first issue of the year.

Huh? What’s with that?
It’s something the new editor-in-chief came up with.

Taki-kun, your five straight weeks of double issues were a masterpiece.
Yeah, well, as you’d expect I was all but dead by the end of it.
I literally had to skip the week after because I was sick in bed.

p22: ========================================
Drawing manga really is a harsh business.

[sign]: Expendable Rent-a-Car

We might know the results today or tomorrow!

Huh? I hadn’t heard a word of that from Mutou-san.
I’m sure he’ll call once the results are in.
After all, the winner has to draw the cover.

I have zero confidence…
Both our works have amazing energy.

I’ve been so focused on my work lately that I haven’t heard any of the rankings.
I wonder how it’ll go.

p23: ========================================
[sign is already translated]

There’s so much green here.

p24: ========================================

1) Kumano Honguu Shrine
[side bubble]: Kumano

We’re almost to the first destination.

[sfx]: Roar

[sfx]: Bathump

[sfx]: Roar

p25: ========================================
*Ring-a-Ding*
*Clap, Clap*

p26: ========================================
H-How was it, Ishidou-san?

Hmm. I liked it.

That’s it?

Retired emperors visited the Kumano Shrines a number of times from the Heian Era through the Kamakura Era.
[upper right]: Kumano Hayatama Shrine
[upper left]: Kumano Guutai Shrine
[bottom]: Kumano Nachi Shrine

Later, the common folk were told of it and went as well. To the people in the mountains, the pilgrims looked like ants. That’s where we get its nickname: the Ants’ Kumano Pilgrimage.

p27: ========================================
There’s a hundred bookmarks in those guidebooks.
Okay, here’s a question:
/ Which retired emperor visited the shrines the most over his lifetime?
a) Emperor Toba b) Emperor Goshirakawa c) Emperor Gotoba
So, who was it?

I couldn’t care less.
First hint: he’s famous nowadays.
That was delicious!

Okay, let’s go to the next destination!
[sfx]: Stand
Second hint—and I think this’ll let you figure it out.
/ “Japan’s greatest Oo-Tengu”!

[again, a snippit from the earlier handwritten plans]
1) Kumano Honguu Shrine
2) Kumano Hayatama Shrine

[signs are already translated]

p28: ========================================
[sfx]: Vroom

[sfx]: *Clap, clap*

[sfx]: Fidget

W-Well, Ishidou-san?

p29: ========================================
Yeah. It’s a nice place.

Huh? Again, that’s it?

Fushimi-kun, I’ve got your answer.

[sign]: Emperor Goshirakawa / Thirty-three Times

It’s three hundred-odd kilometers each way from Kyoto to Kumano.
/ So a round trip took just under a month.
Wow. He must have been a great walker.

Umm, Fushimi-kun?
You’re sure this was the right trip?

p30: ========================================
Okay. Next up is the final destination.

[again, the previous handwritten message]
3) Kumano Nachi Shrine

I completely get that the people were heavily religious in the Heian and Kamakura eras,
but there’s nothing I can use here for manga.

I’m just pretending. Pretending to sleep…

It started way before then.
Huh?

p31: ========================================
Long, long in the past…

Though I doubt any of this is recorded in history.

p32: ========================================

p33: ========================================

p34: ========================================
[sfx]: Sparks

Yuri-sama,
by its own body does wood give light to the flames

I will use my own soul
to give you light.

p35: ========================================
And I…
will use my soul to light you, Kiou.

[sfx]: Shake
Fushimi-kun!

We’re here.

[sfx]: Spaced-out

p36: ========================================
[sfx]: Zaahhh!

p37: ========================================
…Well, I get to see a waterfall, so all’s good.
You do like your waterfalls.

This might be the coolest one I’ve seen all my life.
I could stare at it for ours.
[sfx]: Roar
The Nachi waterfall is the tallest and fastest-flowing waterfall in all of Japan.

I-I wonder what Ishidou-san’s thinking.
There’s no point just asking her.

[sfx]: Smile

p38: ========================================
How’d you find it, Fushimi-kun?
/ How was the first day of the trip to you?

Huh…?
Oh, personally? Umm…

Did you get anything out of your long-awaited trip?

[sign]: Hotel Kumagusu Gardens

p39: ========================================
The hot spring was great.
There’s an open-air bath here where you can see the sea.
[sfx]: Open

p40: ========================================
[sfx]: Thud

Oh, sorry. Am I interrupting?

p41: ========================================
Huh?
You’re storyboarding, right?
Oh, well…

I wanted to write down everything from my dream so I wouldn’t forget,
but doing so makes it sound cheap…

I was just jotting down some ideas of mine.

[sfx]: Swipe!

Your handwriting’s awful!
I mean, I’m the only one who’ll look at it.
[handwritten section is largely unintelligible; only the middle bit is really readable and not covered by speech bubbles. Also the (?) bit is literally in the text; it’s not me guessing]
[…] shrine in the sanbank; working (?) are a total of 99 people named Kiou, Bun’ou, Saiou, Ishiou, Meiou etc. “Ou” here is used in male names […] Five Princes […] Absolutely cannot enter […]

p42: ========================================
[sfx]: *Crumple*

!!

You don’t need any of this!
[sfx]: Thunk

I say, don’t write an idea-book.
You won’t forget something if it’s really good.

You’re forcing your style on me?
[insert]: Now, let’s eat some grub.

p43: ========================================
It sounds like Nishiguchi-san gave a good impression during his date.
They’re meeting up again tomorrow.
Wow. That’s awesome.
You said Furukawa-san’s cute, right?

And now he’s going on about if he should formally ask her out.
[insert]: Hahaha

p44: ========================================
!

p45: ========================================
[sfx]: Scratch x2

p46: ========================================
Hey, don’t go leaving your Shadow.
You’ll get your Shadow—your soul—sealed within.

I wanted to put this comb with my sister in her grave, so…

How beautiful.
I can only conclude that divine spirits rest within your craftwork!

p47: ========================================
Everyone makes fun of me, saying how my fingers are as nimble as a girl’s.

I’m awful at hunting,
and I’m always holding everyone else back…

Yet with your sister’s passing, all your relatives have departed this world. Now what are we to do with you?

Elder!
A messenger from the shrine has arrived.

You have our true appreciation for the fortuitous offerings you made last month.
Well, well. The one good thing about this village is how blessed it is with trees.
[insert]: *Panting*

By the way, as part of that offering…

Was there some sort of trouble?
[sfx]: Bathump!

p48: ========================================
Who in the world crafted this well-used vessel?

[sfx]: Bathump x3

Worry not, young one.

Various rituals take place at the shrine throughout the year.

In doing so, we require a variety of religious tools.
And I believe you can make ones appropriate to the tasks.

W-Wait a second.
*Huff*
*Huff*
*Huff*
M-My thighs are killing me.

p49: ========================================
*Huff*
*Huff*
*Huff*

See the river there, the one that goes from Heaven to Earth? On its sandbank stands our temple.

p50: ========================================
Saiou-dono, is your mind certain?
Only those bound by blood with they who have for generations served the gods of these three mountains
are permitted to serve at this shrine.
(TL/N: Saiou: Literally “Festival King”)

Bun’ou, the occasional exception is permissible.
/ Take a look at a vessel this young man made.
(TL/N: Bun’ou: Literally “Literary King”)

You are well-versed in the ritual tools; I would ask for you to judge its beauty stringently.

Were those made by this “Bun’ou” person?
They’re so beautiful…

p51: ========================================
Show it to me.

[sfx]: Trembling

!!

You’re fine with me staying here for a little while?
I’ll work super hard at crafting!
Good. Yet let me give you a warning.

You may tread only within this front shrine.
/ Entering the main shrine is absolutely forbidden!

p52: ========================================
For there dwell the Gods.
Only a scant few people are permitted entry there. Bun’ou is one.
I myself have never stepped within.

S-Saiou-sama?
Hm?
Incidentally, what would happen if I did go in?

To date, two people have made such plans. Both were killed before they could.

p53: ========================================
Hey, novice. I hear ya got specially appointed.
Y-Yes, luckily.
The name’s Maiou. Nice to meet ya.
(TL/N: Maiou: lit. “Rice King”)

Whoa, what a feast!

Hungry? Here’s a tochimochi.
Th-Thank you very much.

Today, the local clan chief is coming to pray for rain.

Afterwards, everyone from the temple’s gathering for a grand feast.
/ Ya oughta come, too.
[sfx]: Munch

[sfx]: Chatter

First, I have to focus on my work and earn everyone’s acceptance.

p54: ========================================
!

[sfx]: Flap x2

[sfx]: Flap x2

p55: ========================================
It’s like the butterfly’s inviting me.

[sfx]: Glance x2

[sfx]: Gulp

Once in my life is all I want—
I just want to see the form of the Gods.

And to ask them…
why they took my father, my mother, even my sister.

[sfx]: Bathump x3

p56: ========================================
[sfx]: *Gulp*

p57: ========================================
It’s not a god—it’s a person!!

[sfx]: Flick x2

[sfx]: Drizzle

[sfx]: Drizzle x2

p58: ========================================
[sfx]: Pour

p59: ========================================
Hey, what’re you doing there?!

B-Bun’ou-sama!!

[sfx]: Gust

[sfx]: Slip

p60: ========================================
I’m loving this kettle; I use it for rice porridge divination.
Maiou-san.
Thanks, man.

This is the greatest talisman I’ve ever seen.
Ishiou-san, thank you very much.
(TL/N: Ishiou: Literally “Stone King”)

I’ll use this earing as a charm.
It feels truly blessed.
Keou-san, I’m glad to hear it.
(TL/N: Keou: Literally “Measurement King”)

With that, I appoint you a youth in service to this shrine.

Since you were raised in a village bountiful with trees, I name you Kiou.
(TL/N: “Ki” can also mean “tree,” while his name is written with the characters for “chronicle king.”)

p61: ========================================
!

Umm, Bun’ou-sama?
Why did you not censure me for what happened that day?

Naturally, I would have liked nothing more than to tear you limb from limb, then to toss your corpse into the valley.

Yet Yuri-sama said I mustn’t.

Would that be the lady’s name?

Yuri-sama converses with the gods of these three mountains, and grants oracles to we the people.
She is this temple’s secret medium.

Listen well. Should you reveal Yuri-sama’s presence to any other individuals…
I get it. I won’t tell a soul!

p62: ========================================
More importantly, what are you doing for the equipment to be used in the new year’s ritual?
Huh?

That ritual is the most important one out of the entire year.

There is the vessel used to offer holy water to the gods at the main temple before the new year dawns,
and then there is the one used to offer holy mochi to the gods after the dawn.

Everyone serving the temple is free to submit a pair of such vessels.
/ The offerings are impartially judged, and one pair is picked to be used.
Who makes the decision?

The five Great Princes who can enter the main shrine…
and Yuri-sama.

By the way, mine was chosen last year.
Whoa, that’s impressive.

…This time, I suspect
that yours or mine will be chosen!

Ahhhhhhh!

p63: ========================================
Wh-Who said you could read that?!!
Hey. Morning.

Fushimi-kun,
is this really Re:Member?

No, it’s actually…

p64: ========================================
A dream?

Yeah. While I was dozing off in the car yesterday,
I had a really odd dream.

So in the end, who won?
[sfx]: Munch x2

Dunno. I don’t really remember that far.

………

p65: ========================================
Hmm…
I’ve got a single text from Chouno-san.
It came last night.

!!

Maybe it’s to tell us who got the cover?
[insert]: Re:Member vs. Presence: who wins? Find out next issue!
[box]: To be continued in the April issue / On sale / March 5th