Natsume Yuujin Chou 12

For AshitakaxTaiyou Scans Only

Code
N- Natsume
M- Nyanko-sensei
I- Isozuki
H- Hazama
T- Touko-san/Tama
Ni- Nishimura
?- Unknown

Natsume Yuujinchou 12

01
Natsume Yuujinchou
Chapter Twelve

02
N- Ever since I was little I would sometimes see strange things
N- As it seems other people can’t see them they are most likely
N- What you would call ayakashi
N- I’m home
T- Welcome home Takashi-kun
T- Look, today I tried making taiyaki
N_ Woah, they look good…
N- Eh? Taiyaki is something you can make at home?
T- I received a frying container
T- Perhaps next time I’ll trey making omelettes with it
N- I have no relatives and was passed around and the ones who have taken me in are the kind hearted Fujiwara couple
N- Because I don’t want to worry these people the fact I can see ayakashi is a secret
N- Yum…
Sfx- Mishi

03
N- Uwaaah
N- In this way
N- It seems my now deceased grandmother Reiko also often saw ayakashi
N- She made a lot of ayakashi become her underlings
N- With a ream of paper contracts, the ‘Book of Friends’
N- Ever since I inherited it
N- I have been visited and attacked by ayakashi who want their names returned, and my days a bustling
N- Wha…

04
N- From the gap in the floor…
H- …Hungry hungry
H- Give me something
H- Give me something
N- …Here, will you leave if you eat this?
M- Oh, Natsume you’re back
M- Today the people in this house made taiyaki…
N- Nyanko-sensei
M- Mu?
N- Nyanko-sensei is
N- An ayakashi living with me as a pet cat
N- He’s a youkai who has declared himself my guardian using the Book of Friends as collateral but…
M- Gyah, it’s eating it!!
M- My taiyaki!!?

05
M- You bastard
M- Curse you, in that case I will swallow both of you –
Sign- Original form
N- Ah geez I’ll give you the tail
N- Sensei, you’re my guardian aren’t you? Why’d you let a ___ ayakashi like this in the house
M- Idiot, that’s ‘Hazama’, an ayakashi that moves between the gaps in the floor
(T/N: Hazama – Loophole)
M- It’s quite a big shot, but it’s harmless
H- Thankyou very much, in return I shall tell you something good
N- Hm?
H- In a tree in the backyard of this house a bird made a nest
H- Today, it departed the nest

06
M- Wait what’s with that information, it doesn’t feel important at all
N- …Wasn’t it supposed to be something good? That was very vague
N- But it’s true there is a bird’s nest here
N- There was five eggs and it seems now four have hatched but…
N- It’s the one near the gate, look, that tree
M- If you’re already done checking I plan to eat it now
N- Sensei everything’s about eating to you
N- Ah, by the gate… is it a guest?
M- Mu?
M- No one’s there?
N- Ah? I’m sure just now there was…

06
N- Who was it, putting graffiti here
N- Crap, it won’t come off…
N- The ones that flew away were
N- Two parents and four chicks…
N- Today, they left the nest
N- …The last egg was

07
N- Left behind…
T- Haha
N- Touko-san?
T- Ah, Takashi-kun
N- That large quantity of distorted taiyaki is…
T- Haha I failed…
T- But it’s okay I’ll gobble these done
T- …Were they good?
N- …Yes
N- So is it okay if I eat those with you as well?
T- … Yes, of course

08
N- Sometimes
N- I wonder why
N- I am not these people’s real child
N- …What are these good selfless things
N- I knew it the parents aren’t coming back
N- You were left behind
N- Even though you’re still warm…

09
M- …Mu?
M- Woah what the hell’s with this egg?
N- Ah, good morning sensei, you’re free aren’t you? Could you keep it warm?
M- What!? You’re awfully impertinent aren’t you
M- Things like eggs are dead the moment they’re abandoned
N- If a chick hatches it could be tasty sensei
h/w- I’m off
M- I see
N- I’m off

10
N- What?
N- The graffiti symbol is changing
N- And so on a complete whim
N- We decided to try warming the egg
N- Do you know how to hatch an egg
Ni- I know, first buy a lamp used for egg warming and with the blue light- and- then you- Dan- Ball a- completely pluck it a- warm it up
N- I’m back
M- Shit, I need a drink
M- Shit, it hasn’t cracked yet
N- Ah, hey quit it!
N- …Huh? Was the egg that big
N- I’m o…
N- What is this…

11
N- I wonder if the egg will really hatch
N- But it’s still warm
N- I would feel sorry for it
N- If it were born all alone in that nest
N- If
N- If it hatches
N- What name should I give it
N- I’m ba-
N- Mairu?
N- San…
(T/N- These are the Chinese and Japanese readings of this kanji. ‘San’ is the word for three)
N- …Three…? I see it’s counting!
N- Riku was Roku (six) Go was go (five) (T/N- The kanji are different than the number kanji)
N- Why didn’t I notice that
N- Yesterday was four and today is three…

12
N- …Countdown
N- But of what…
I- Boy
I- Human’s child
I- What are you to be able to see that symbol
N- …An ayakashi…?
N- You drew this symbol?

13
I- Affirmative
I- Sir, are you a member of this household? Do you know of an egg that was in a nest in that tree?
N- Egg… he means that?
I- My master desires that chick
I- I immediately came to this land and marked the day that it would hatch
N- …Desires you say…
I- Naturally
I- To eat it
I- Because there is no meat that is such a delicacy as this
I- The blood squeezed from it gives longevity
I- And its antlers
N- A, antlers!?
h/w- On a chick?
I- Mu, surely
I- A lowly being such as yourself didn’t remove it did you boy
N- I, I’m home –

14
N- Sensei just now outside a weird ayakashi was looking for the egg…
N- Ah
P- At my limit, gone drinking
N- That will powerless…
N- Wha, what the hell it defiantly feels like it’s gotten bigger
N- If I handed you over
N- You’d be eaten the moment you were born
N- This egg is alive
N- It’s trying to live
N- Too bad for that ayakashi but it might be fate that I picked it up
H/w- I’m home, ugh
N- Would you like to try living a bit longer?

15
Box- Two days later
N- …Ah
N- Se, sensei the egg is
M- What!?
M- Chick chick

16
N- What!!!?
h/w- That’s no chick!!
M/N- A, a person!?
T- Achoo
N- Ah
N- Wah, hot water hot water!
M- Wah, towels towels!
T- Stare
M- Stare
M- Kuh, can you eat this thing?
H/w- Are you looking down on me
N- You’ll wreck your stomach if you eat things you don’t understand Sensei
M- Mumu? Those antlers
M- If I’m not mistaken that thing is the chick of an ayakashi called Tatsumi
N- …Tatsumi?

17
M- It’s an ayakashi something close to a bird and a dragon, and they don’t raise their own children, that’s why there are so few of them
M- When the chick hatches it seems it transforms into the shape of the first living thing it sees. When it’s grown to a certain point it assumes its original form and leaves.
N- …Really so if it had seen sensei first it would have turned into a maneki neko chick…
h/w- Like this?
N- Well at any rate I’m glad it hatched safely
N- Alright how’s this
h/w- handkerchief
N- Ha
N- Just how long will it take to grow up I wonder
M- Who knows, I heard Tatsumi grow fast but I don’t know the details

18
N- What does it eat, I wonder if milk is okay?
M- Maybe it eats people
M- Gyah!!?
N- Ah hey you’ll wreck your stomach!!
h/w- What the hell don’t you know you’re in debt to me
h/w- I looked after you way more than this matchstick
h/w- What was that about a matchstick sensei!?
N- …It may have been, a bit rash
N- Even though we don’t know how to look after a bird after it’s hatched
N-… much less a dragon
N- Just picking up a life on a whim
N- Humans don’t understand dragons
N- Dragons don’t understand humans
h/w- sigh
Ni- What’s up Natsume
M- Tatsumi don’t raise their own children
M- So the chicks transform into the first living creature they see

19
N- In order to be loved
?- Again
?- That Natsume kid is lying about seeing monsters again
?- The adults say he tells lies so people will notice him
?- 'They say none of his relatives will properly take him in'
?- Really, but it can’t be helped can it after all
?- You wouldn’t want to let some stranger into your family would you
Ni- Natsume!?
h/w- Huh
Ni- Natsume, what’s wrong?
N- What
N- …nothing
N- Tsk
Sfx- gon gon
Ni- Wah, Natsume!?
N- Back then, those words around me probably weren’t meant to injure
N- But whenever I associate with Ayakashi I can’t help but remember it

20
N- Unfortunately I can’t seem to forget about it
h/w- I’m home –
N- Woah
N- He’s not in the bed I made for him
N- He wasn’t eaten by sensei was he
H- Kui
H- Kui
H- Kui
N- Ah, you were behind me?
N- What? Do you want me to follow you?
N- Wah
N- What’s that
H/w- A vase?
N- It’s made of paper…
N- Perhaps it’s made a nest
Sfx – kui kui

21
N- Ah… I’m sorry
N- Even though you went to the trouble of making it for me
N- I can’t go inside with you
N- I’m sorry
M- I’m ba
h/w- Gyah
M- The economics paper I was reading
M- I won’t forgive this midget any more
h/w- ah
N- Come on cut it out sensei
N- In the end the chick never went back into the nest he made
N- Or the bed I made for him
N- Or next to the sleeping Nyanko-sensei
N- He snuggled up into my futon and slept
N- I feel like I’m gonna squish him
N- If it were the parents from that bird nest I’m sure they could have entered that nest with him

22
N- After a few days, I had a dream
N- The chick made a huge nest for me
N- We quietly entered, and inside that nest
N- There was something very important
N- … Nyanko-sensei….
M- Hm?
Sign- A picnic to appreciate the aesthetics
N- It seems like he’s gotten bigger, a little bit
M- He’s gotten bigger alright
M- Chick size has become pigeon size
N- I wonder how big he’ll get

23
M- Remember he’s an imposter at the moment, he is a dragon
h/w- imposter
N- I see then maybe in that time…
h/w- Gyah you’ll break the house –
N- I guess he won’t be able to stay with us
M- I already said this but when they grow up they leave the nest
N- That’s right I suppose…
N- Even though I was thinking I should give him a name soon
M- I already named him
M- He came from an egg so he’s Tama-chan (T/N: Japanese word for egg is ‘tamago’)
N- Eh!?
h/w- I object let’s discuss this!!
h/w- Idiot in these situations the early bird gets the worm
N- Tama-chan (temporary)
N- Little by little got bigger
N- And for some reason he rapidly
N- Became weak
N- …Tama?
M- He’s sleeping
N- He’s left his milk and ham again…
N- What’s wrong with him
N- You were going to get big weren’t you?

24
N-You were going to become a splendid dragon weren’t you?
N- I’m home…
I- Chuu chuu
N- Wah
N- A mouse…!?

25
N- You’re the guy from…
I- I am known as the Mouse of Isozuki
I- Boy, you were hiding it after all
I- My master desires it, I will be taking the Tatsumi chick
N- What!?
h/w- Isozuki?
I- Up there is it
N- Wait!
M- Mu?
M- Seems like an Ayakashi has entered this house

26
M- Ho, a lowly beast is it
M- You are awfully insolent to be entering my territory
M- If it is a mouse such as you then with the right hook I have trained as a cat I will…
I- …What a peculiar… pig? No, perhaps a tanuki?
M- Wha
M- How rude! I will defiantly eat you rat!
N- Thanks for buying me time sensei! Leave the rest to me

27
M- I wasn’t buying time!
h/w- Take this off Natsume -
I- ! Wait boy
Sfx- ha
N- I’m stuck, where should I go
N- I’m sorry for jerking you around Tama, are you okay?
N- What on earth happened Tama
N- To have become this thin
N- Why did you stop eating…
N- I see
N- Don’t you want
N- To grow up?
N- When you grow up

28
N- You’ll leave the nest
N- You were thinking
N- I want to be together longer
I- I found you boy, now hand that over
N- Sorry but I won’t give him to you
I- It’s already grown that big
I- If you say you won’t hand it over then I shall take it by force
I- Understand boy, you weak human’s child

29
N- Uh…
I- In the long run a dragon will bring a weak being such as you nought but misfortune
I- Now hand it over
I- The life of one little Ayakashi makes no great difference to you does it?
N- Ta, Tama!? Don’t struggle…
N- It’s alright Tama
N- You don’t have to leave
N- Its okay if you stay here
N- Eat properly, and even if the day for you to leave comes

30
N- That doesn’t mean it has to be the day we part
N- So until that day stay…
M- ! Natsume

31-32
N- Tama…

33
N- Stop it Tama!
N- Let him go!
I- Guh…
N- Stop it he’ll die!
N- No!
N- Tama!!
M- Don’t go near him Natsume, he’s forgotten us through the shock of the growth
N- Then let’s calm him down
N- If I hug him he might remember
M- Stop Natsume…
N- Tama…
M- Tsk

34
Sfx- fu

35
N- Let’s go home
N- Tama
N- Let’s go home

36
N- …Amazing Tama
N- You’re like a bird
N- Guess what Tama
N- I also didn’t know
N- Didn’t know my real parents
N- I’ve always been alone

37
N- This might be…
N- Weird but I didn’t really miss them
N- However
N- I was really sad
N- But you know
N- When I came to this town
N- I met people who loved me
N- I knew great loneliness but
N- I’m not lonely anymore
N- Tama, it would be good if that were the case for you too
N- You know solitude while wanting to be loved

38
N- It would be good if I was able to
N- Relieve just a bit of your sadness
N- After Tama let us down he circled the Fujiwara house countless times, then
N- Set out for the far distant sky
N- Are your injuries okay?
I- Pretty much… However it seems the adult form is also a delicacy and I was unable to obtain it. I will be scolded by my master…
N- I brought you some taiyaki…
N- …I’m sorry for taking the egg from you
I- What of it, I’ll just look again
I- One adult took flight, one day it’s egg too
I- Will become a new life
N- Today when I get home
N- I’m gonna try making omelettes in the shape of taiyaki

39
N- Even if I fail I’m sure I can laugh and eat it
N- Afterwards,
N- I took a peek inside the nest that Tama left behind
N- As I had thought there was nothing inside but
N- I have a feeling I know what’s left at the bottom