Silver Diamond: Chapter XI (Translated)
May. 26th, 2005 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akujunkanWow. I'm really behind on these, aren't I? No matter, when I say I'm translating, I am translating, dammit! (It's the editing and formatting that's the real bitch, btw.) This chapter is a favorite of mine, because it contains the FUNNIEST bit of repartee I've ever encountered in any manga, anywhere. My future bride, Sugiura Shiho, is one clever lady. I only hope my translation can do her justice. So anyway, here is Silver Diamond, Chapter XI, for your reading pleasure.
Silver Diamond: Part XI
(Silver Diamond copyright 2005 by Sugiura Shiho)
(Translation copyright 2005 by gmorrison (hermestrismegistus at operamail.net))
I took the time to translate this, type it out and format it, so please don't take it without my permission.
As usual:
Words in " " are spoken aloud.
Words not in " " are internal dialogue.
Words in ( ) are character asides.
Words in {{ }} are Sugiura's asides.
Words in (( )) are my comments on the text/translation.
Words in [ ] are telepathic communication between two characters.
Words in // // are descriptions of action.
Words in \\ \\ are flashbacks.
Words in double double-quotations " " " " indicate when The Prince is speaking through Kinrei.
Words preceeding an * will be footnoted at the page break.
Double returns = page breaks.
Any time there's a whole bunch of dialogue from Random Person/Student/Male etc, you can imagine a host of people talking, even if it looks as though it's only one person in my translation.
Silver Diamond: Part XI
Step Into Another World
Enemies and Friends
Touji: "Prince! These are really good! What's in them? Meat?"
Rakan: "Call me 'Rakan,' Touji."
Touji: "Rakan."
Rakan: "Fish is what's inside them."
Touji: "Fish. So that's what this meat is."
Narushige: ('This meat?')
"Rakan-kun, did you make seperate bentous for lunch?"
Rakan: "Yup."
Narushige: "That must have been a lot of work."
Sorry. And thanks.
Rakan: "Mm. Don't worry about it. I suppose you could say it's a hobby of mine..."
I more or less got into a snit when I realised they were all returning to this world and cooked all this food to make them feel guilty...
Chigusa: "Rakan, you're really... Hmm, how would you put it? Erm..."
Chigusa: "'The number one actress I'd like to make my lady.'"
Rakan: "Where exactly did you learn that catchphrase?"
(You barely spent any time in my world.)
Kou: "Yeah, that's not right at all, Chigusa."
"The phrase you're looking for is:"
"(I'm the one who knows about these sorts of things!)"
Kou: "'The number one man you want to take you home.'"
Narushige: "Kou, that isn't what he means to say either."
Rakan: "(Do I look like Kimutaku(tm) to you?)"
Chigusa: "Yeah. Don't you mean 'The number one man I want to take home?'"
Rakan: "(Is that even a real poll?)"
Narushige: "I'm not talking about that sort of nitpicking!"
I don't think he has any idea what he's talking about.
Touji: Perverts really are always on the prowl.
(This guy never lets up.)*
*((So much going on in this exchange, which is perhaps the FUNNIEST thing I have ever read in a manga. Here's the breakdown. Chigusa and Kou are bandying about categories from the Japanese equivalents of People Magazine's Sexiest Person of the year deals. Basically, a woman's magazine runs regular 'Actor You Most Want to Take You Home' polls. Chigusa's first calls Rakan the 'Number One Actress You'd Like to Make Your Lady," which Kou corrects to "The Number One Man You'd Like to Take You in His Arms." (Note that the verb being used here often means 'to hug' in the same sense that 'to sleep with' someone in English does not mean passing out on the next twin bed.)
Anyway, Chigusa corrects Kou - Rakan is actually the 'Number One Man I'd Like to Take Into My Arms.' Narushige is wonderfully miffed (gods, I adore him), and Touji is suitably freaked out. His last little aside, written in hiragana could mean either 'This guy never lets up,' or 'This guy doesn't have a chance.' So. Much. Love for Sugiura. So much love.))
Rakan: "Well, I suppose it can't be helped if he use strange expressions every now and then. He really is a very naive person."
Chigusa: "Yup!"
Narushige and Touji: No, you're the naive one here!
{{They can't play the straight role.}}
Rakan: ..................................
The black clouds really are endless, after all.
A black desert.
Like the black clouds before a thunderstorm.
Rakan: But it isn't as if the wind is unbearably strong, and it's not scorchingly dry either.
It's fairly humid too. That's probably thanks to the clouds.
It isn't too hot, and it isn't too cold.
Sure seems like the 'desert' is a comparatively easy place to live in.
The Sun.
But you could never see the sun.
Rakan: ........................................
//Chigusa looks through the nearby boulders and spies several people heading toward them.//
Chigusa: !
"Rakan. Narushige. Touno. Stay exactly as you are and listen to me."
"There are five men armed with katanas coming towards us from the rocks behind Narushige's back."
Rakan: "What?"
Narushige: "....What kind of clothing are they wearing?"
Chigusa: "No, it's not a uniform of any kind. They're probably mountain bandits."
"(Coming here to target us.)"
Rakan: "Mountain bandits?"
So they really do exist?
Touji: "So is this the wasteland?"
(Come to think of it, we haven't seen any dwellings.)
Rakan: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'MOUNTAIN BANDITS?'"
I haven't heard that particular phrase in a long time!!
Chigusa: "Don't worry, Rakan. I'll take care of them."
Rakan: Huh?
Narushige: "We'll help you."
Chigusa: "Mmm. For the moment, the two of you should stay by Rakan's side."
Rakan: Hold-- Hold on a second here.
Narushige: "Understood."
Chigusa: "(Behind these rocks here.)"
Rakan: "CHIGUSA!"
"Wait a minute here! You--"
"You can't possibly mean you're going to...kill them?"
Chigusa: "They're after us."
Rakan: "Even if they're after us, killing them would be..."
Touji: "Rakan, it's that sort of world here. Kill or be killed."
"I think the world you lived in was probably a very peaceful world. So of course you'd believe it's only natural that killing is wrong."
Rakan: "It's only natural no matter where you are!"
Narushige: Ah. He really is a moralist.
Rakan: "People hate dying no matter where you are! It doesn't matter who you are."
\\
Rakan: "I'll feel horrible for anyone, if they've been hurt! What is wrong with you!?"
\\
Chigusa: This straightforward kindness really is the product of a completely different world.
Rakan: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you!"
Kou: "That's ridiculous, Rakan."
Rakan: "Is it impossible, Chigusa?"
Chigusa: "I'll do as you say, Rakan."
So that you can continue living with this straightforward kindness.
Rakan: "..............................."
Chigusa: "Hmm?"
Rakan: "Hmm? No, it's just..."
"Thank you!"
Chigusa.
It somehow feels like this is the first time...
It somehow feels like... this is the first time...that I've really seen you smile.
Touji: "Shigeka. Is this really the Senrou Chigusa everyone says is such a monster?"
Narushige: "It certainly does seem that way. After a fashion."
Touji: "Yeah, 'after a fashion.' I'd heard..."
I'd heard that he was completely without mercy, but...
Chigusa: "Ah. Here come the bandits."
Chigusa: "Don't either of you kill them either."
Touji: "What? I can't either?"
Narushige: "Yes, we know that. Kou!"
Kou: "Yo."
//Kou turns into his sword form.//
Chigusa: "Touno, you do realise..."
"That if Rakan hadn't stopped me like he's stopped us now, I would have taken care of you long ago."
"(If you think of it in those terms...)"
Touji: Ack! He really is completely without mercy! Rakan really is the only one you…
"All right, all right, I got it. Catch them, but don't hurt them."
Chigusa: "Yup. And also, you can see that space between those rocks, right?"
Touji: "Yeah, over there."
Rakan: "..........................."
Chigusa: "Rakan, stay here in this shadow with Touno. (Right here. And don't move.)"
Rakan: "'Kay.... ......But how can I say this?"
"Sorry, uh..."
"Did I..."
What if this is a really serious situation?
"Did I maybe ask something really difficult of you?"
"Um......."
Chigusa, Narushige, and Touji: "Don't worry."
Bandit: "What? They just vanished."
Bandit 2: "What do you mean? And The Prince?"
Bandit: "Gone."
"Did they move somewhere? I don't sense them at all--"
//Chigusa puts his gun to the bandit's head...//
Bandit: "!"
Bandits 2 through 5: "!?"
//...and blows the blade off of his sword.//
Bandit: "Aaah!"
Bandits 2 & 3: "A gun!?"
//Chigusa pistol whips the first bandit.//
Bandits 2 & 3: [A gun!]
[Fall back!]
Bandit 3: [What the hell?]
Bandit 2: [What the hell is this? Someone's here with a gun or something!]
Bandit 4: [Can it really be a gun?]
Bandit 2: [Yes, it's really a gun!]
Bandit 4: [But I thought they'd all withered!]
//Chigusa leaps into the thick of the bandits and blasts all of their swords to pieces.//
Bandit 2: [Scatter!]
Chigusa: Excellent, they've split up. All it'll take now is one swing of the sword each.
Two on the right hand side, hidden in those rocks.
And the two on the left are doubling around to get down behind me.
Bandit 4: "Shouldn't we go back, Akiichi? (I can't do much with this dagger...)"
"If we tell Kazuhi..."
Akiichi (Bandit 3): "Don't! Kazuhi won't do a thing."
"He's not the type."
Akiichi: "We're going to steal that guy's gun instead and take it to Kazuhi."
"It's four against one, after all."
Rakan: "What......"
"What do you think?"
Touji: "Hmmm... It'll be all right. Those guys don't have guns after all, and once Chigusa blows their swords to bits, all he has to do is capture them."
"Ah, come to think of it, I've got these..."
"(Not that they're a sword or anything."
//Touji pulls out some seeds.//
Touji: "Rakan."
Rakan: "Yes?"
Touji: "Grab this will you?"
Rakan: "This?
Touji: "Yup. This is what I'll use."
//The seed sprouts.//
//Some more bandits are watching from their base.//
Bandit 6: "....What the hell's up with them? They just got whupped."
Bandit 7: "Huh? Weren't there five of them out there? How many are they up against?"
Bandit 6: "The Prince and three other men...I thought..."
"I can see one of them now."
"Ah, what the hell. Don't have a choice, do I?"
//He loads a bolt into a crossbow.//
Bandit 6: "So I might as well go ahead and kill him."
//An arrow flies through the air and splits the rod holding the window open. Touji's fired it, and man does he look fly.//
Bandit 6: "What the...?"
Bandit 7: "What? What just happened?"
Bandit 6: "!"
Mystery person: "Hey. Give me that."
Narushige: [Understood. Well then, I'll take care of the two doubling back on the right.]
Narushige: I can...
...feel them coming.
Three...
Two...
...One.
//He draws Kou and parries someone's strike.//
//And did I mention, this is the hottest Naru's ever been. Oh, I love him so much.//
Bandit 2: "...A woman!!"
"Shit!"
//Narushige knocks the wind out of him.//
Bandit 5: "You..."
//He gets knocked out by Narushige.//
Narushige: "Unfortunately for you..."
"...I'm no woman."
//SO. MUCH. LOVE for Narushige here. Just thought I'd say.//
Akiichi: "What the hell is this? She looks like a woman, but..."
Bandit 4: "They must be The Prince's personal guard."
"(What else would they be?)"
"Akiichi, we'd better go back!"
Akiichi: "But Minari's..."
Bandit 4: "Idiot! There's no way the two of us can take them!"
Chigusa: "That's right."
Chigusa: "There's no way you can take us, so behave yourselves."
Akiichi and Bandit 4: "!!"
When did he...?
{{Captured.}}
//The five bandits are sitting bound in Touji's vines.//
Chigusa: "Yup."
"Mostly uninjured."
"(Just like I said.)"
Rakan: "Chigusa! Narushige!"
Chigusa: "Rakan."
"It's all okay now."
Rakan: "........................."
Rakan: "........................."
//Rakan embraces Chigusa and Narushige.//
Rakan: "Thank you..."
"...for listening to what I asked of you."
"...and..."
"I'm sorry..."
"For having asked something so difficult without thinking."
"Thank..."
"Thank god...the two of you weren't hurt either."
//Chigusa pauses, and reaches for Rakan...//
//But he's too late! Narushige's got to him first! Hee hee!//
Narushige: "It's all right, Rakan-kun."
"(Ah, you're adorable.)"
Rakan: "Narushige-san."
Narushige: "Chigusa's a sturdy individual, and I'm not the sort to be reckless, so you don't need to worry."
Chigusa: "................................................................"
Akiichi and Bandit 2: "......................."
Bandit 4: [.....Is that The Prince?]
Bandit 5: [It's The Prince. Look at his face.]
Akiichi: [It's got to be The Prince.]
[...But, something's....]
Something's different.
Bandits: Ack! He's coming toward us!
Akiichi: ".........................."
The Prince!!
Rakan: "Sorry. You've been treated kind of roughly. It's my fault."
Bandit: [He spoke.]
Bandit 2: [He spoke to us.]
Rakan: "Um..."
"Why did you attack us?"
"(Come to think of it, who are you?)"
Bandits: Uh, that's what I'd like to ask you right now.
Bandits: "..........................................."
Touji: "(Get away from them.)"
"They've got to be mountain bandits. They have allies, too."
"You can see the window in between those rocks."
Chigusa: "Ah, over there."
"They've got lodgings. Wonderful."
"(We'll impose on their hospitality.)"
Narushige: "Chigusa, that means they're probably mountain bandits..."
"(How can you let your guard down like that?)"
Chigusa: "If they try anything, I'll attack them and occupy their house."
Touji: "(Of course! ...)"
Narushige: "That would make you the mountain bandit."
//Someone knocks a bolt to a crossbow and fires.//
Chigusa: "!"
//Chigusa grabs the bolt as it whizzes by his head.//
Narushige: "!?"
Bandits: "!?"
//Someone showers the bandits with bolts.//
Touji: "What the...?"
Chigusa: "(Rakan, come here.)"
Rakan: "Woa."
Chigusa: "No, they aren't targetting us."
Akiichi: "...Kazuhi!"
Kazuhi: "What the hell are you doing?"
//Kazuhi is standing on a cliff, crossbow in hand.//
Kazuhi: "Pitiful..."
"Getting yourselves caught."
//Chigusa pulls Rakan against him.//
Rakan: "..........................."
Kazuhi: "Anyways, my apologies to you. Looks like my idiots couldn't keep you occupied."
Akiichi: "!"
"Kazuhi!"
"You were the one shooting at us?"
Kazuhi: "Yeah? And why not? Did I tell you 'go get caught?'"
Bandits: Eeeeee....
Kazuhi: "And I don't think I told you 'go get killed,' either, did I?"
"If you lot didn't know if these guys were tougher than you or not, then what were you doing going after them?"
Akiichi: "..................................."
Kazuhi: "...........You people can relax."
Kazuhi: "...Since I don't plan on doing anything to you."
"Kay?"
//Chigusa smiles.//
Kazuhi: ".......................................Well, well."
"Aren't you an intimidating one?"
"Now is that any way to greet someone?"
//Chigusa has put his gun flush against Kazuhi's chest."
Rakan: "Chigusa!"
Bandits 2 & 5: Chi...gu...sa?
: "!"
Kazuhi: "......................................"
"You..."
"You aren't...."
"'Senrou Chigusa?'"
Chigusa: "........................."
Bandits: ...The Family of Monsters!!
Chigusa: "...Mmhm."
Kou: Monster.
Akiichi: 'Senrou Chigusa!?'
Bandits: From the purged Family of Criminals...!
Bandit 4: [What's he doing here..!?]
Kazuhi: "......................................"
Ah, so that's why he's got a living gun...
The plot thickens.
Kazuhi: "I gotcha. I'm even less likely to do anything to you now, so you can put that gun away."
"I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with the Senrou Family."
Chigusa: "......................................."
Kazuhi: "You listening to me?"
"Or are you incapable of holding a conversation with someone?"
"You want 'proof?' Okay."
"I'll kill these guys."
Bandits: "!!"
Bandit 2: "Kazuhi! You bastard!!"
Kazuhi: "That should cement our mutual good will."
"Well?"
"How's that sound?"
//Rakan throws himself in front of Kazuhi's sword.//
Rakan: "What the hell are you doing?"
"From the beginning?"
Kazuhi: "What am I doing?"
"What are you doing? What do you mean by this?"
Rakan: "These people are your friends, aren't they? What are you doing trying to kill your friends?"
Kazuhi: What is this?
He's not The Prince. He has The Prince's face, but...
Bandits: "........................"
Kazuhi: ...he's a completely...
...different...
...creature.
Kazuhi: "You don't rattle, do you?"
//Kazuhi takes Rakan by the chin.//
Kazuhi: "You've got a lot of guts for someone with such a delicate face."
"And you're a babe in the woods."
"Did it never occur to you that I could break your neck right now?"
Chigusa and Narushige: "........................Oh..............."
Chigusa and Narushige: "I don't think I'd try that."
//They draw their respective weapons on Kazuhi, point blank.//
Kazuhi: "...!"
".........................."
"Ahh. Ahh, okay. I get it! I give in, I give in."
Touji: "Rakan, you really are ridiculous, you know that?"
//Touji trains his bow on Kazuhi.//
Rakan: "Ah. Really? I see. Sorry. Didn't mean for this..."
"(It's because this is another world.)"
"Sorry, you two. Put your weapons down, put your weapons down."
Kazuhi: Ah, maybe...he can only hear what Rakan says to him?
"I've get it already. I won't do anything to him, and I won't do anything to them."
He isn't The Prince. ...But who is he, then?
Kazuhi: "Come with me."
"You don't have anywhere to stay, do you?"
"So come on."
What the hell... I don't see why not.
Seems like a good way to kill some time.
Narushige: [What should we do?]
Chigusa: [It's fine. Let's go.]
"If they try anything, I'll--"
Rakan & Narushige: "Don't start."
Touji: "(Is that such a bad idea?)"
Kazuhi: "Let's go. Stand up. You can walk, can't you?"
"If you'd have been stronger, this wouldn't have happened to you."
Akiichi: ".................................."
Narushige: "Are you all right, Rakan-kun? (Watch your step.)"
Rakan: "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."
"The way in is pretty decent, back here."
//The bandits' hideout is perched atop some massive cliffs.//
Rakan: ".............................What an amazing place to build something."
"How did it come to be like this?"
Chigusa: "The trees that used to grow here died, and the rock beneath them crumbled away."
<;b>Rakan: "Ah, I see. Desertification."
Rakan: "Speaking of, who are these people, anyway?"
Touji: "They don't feel like a Family, do they? And their clothing isn't uniform either."
Chigusa: "............................................."
Kazuhi: "Well, in my case, I come from a long line of drifters on the edge of the desert."
"The others are just people The Prince dislikes. That's all."
Rakan: "!"
"'The Prince?'"
Chigusa: "The 'Frontier Guard?'"
Kazuhi: "......................................."
"Bingo."
"And just how did you know that?"
Rakan: "........'Frontier Guard?'"
Kazuhi: "We're a group of Numeric Children discarded by The Prince."
That will be all.
Silver Diamond: Part XI
(Silver Diamond copyright 2005 by Sugiura Shiho)
(Translation copyright 2005 by gmorrison (hermestrismegistus at operamail.net))
I took the time to translate this, type it out and format it, so please don't take it without my permission.
As usual:
Words in " " are spoken aloud.
Words not in " " are internal dialogue.
Words in ( ) are character asides.
Words in {{ }} are Sugiura's asides.
Words in (( )) are my comments on the text/translation.
Words in [ ] are telepathic communication between two characters.
Words in // // are descriptions of action.
Words in \\ \\ are flashbacks.
Words in double double-quotations " " " " indicate when The Prince is speaking through Kinrei.
Words preceeding an * will be footnoted at the page break.
Double returns = page breaks.
Any time there's a whole bunch of dialogue from Random Person/Student/Male etc, you can imagine a host of people talking, even if it looks as though it's only one person in my translation.
Silver Diamond: Part XI
Step Into Another World
Enemies and Friends
Touji: "Prince! These are really good! What's in them? Meat?"
Rakan: "Call me 'Rakan,' Touji."
Touji: "Rakan."
Rakan: "Fish is what's inside them."
Touji: "Fish. So that's what this meat is."
Narushige: ('This meat?')
"Rakan-kun, did you make seperate bentous for lunch?"
Rakan: "Yup."
Narushige: "That must have been a lot of work."
Sorry. And thanks.
Rakan: "Mm. Don't worry about it. I suppose you could say it's a hobby of mine..."
I more or less got into a snit when I realised they were all returning to this world and cooked all this food to make them feel guilty...
Chigusa: "Rakan, you're really... Hmm, how would you put it? Erm..."
Chigusa: "'The number one actress I'd like to make my lady.'"
Rakan: "Where exactly did you learn that catchphrase?"
(You barely spent any time in my world.)
Kou: "Yeah, that's not right at all, Chigusa."
"The phrase you're looking for is:"
"(I'm the one who knows about these sorts of things!)"
Kou: "'The number one man you want to take you home.'"
Narushige: "Kou, that isn't what he means to say either."
Rakan: "(Do I look like Kimutaku(tm) to you?)"
Chigusa: "Yeah. Don't you mean 'The number one man I want to take home?'"
Rakan: "(Is that even a real poll?)"
Narushige: "I'm not talking about that sort of nitpicking!"
I don't think he has any idea what he's talking about.
Touji: Perverts really are always on the prowl.
(This guy never lets up.)*
*((So much going on in this exchange, which is perhaps the FUNNIEST thing I have ever read in a manga. Here's the breakdown. Chigusa and Kou are bandying about categories from the Japanese equivalents of People Magazine's Sexiest Person of the year deals. Basically, a woman's magazine runs regular 'Actor You Most Want to Take You Home' polls. Chigusa's first calls Rakan the 'Number One Actress You'd Like to Make Your Lady," which Kou corrects to "The Number One Man You'd Like to Take You in His Arms." (Note that the verb being used here often means 'to hug' in the same sense that 'to sleep with' someone in English does not mean passing out on the next twin bed.)
Anyway, Chigusa corrects Kou - Rakan is actually the 'Number One Man I'd Like to Take Into My Arms.' Narushige is wonderfully miffed (gods, I adore him), and Touji is suitably freaked out. His last little aside, written in hiragana could mean either 'This guy never lets up,' or 'This guy doesn't have a chance.' So. Much. Love for Sugiura. So much love.))
Rakan: "Well, I suppose it can't be helped if he use strange expressions every now and then. He really is a very naive person."
Chigusa: "Yup!"
Narushige and Touji: No, you're the naive one here!
{{They can't play the straight role.}}
Rakan: ..................................
The black clouds really are endless, after all.
A black desert.
Like the black clouds before a thunderstorm.
Rakan: But it isn't as if the wind is unbearably strong, and it's not scorchingly dry either.
It's fairly humid too. That's probably thanks to the clouds.
It isn't too hot, and it isn't too cold.
Sure seems like the 'desert' is a comparatively easy place to live in.
The Sun.
But you could never see the sun.
Rakan: ........................................
//Chigusa looks through the nearby boulders and spies several people heading toward them.//
Chigusa: !
"Rakan. Narushige. Touno. Stay exactly as you are and listen to me."
"There are five men armed with katanas coming towards us from the rocks behind Narushige's back."
Rakan: "What?"
Narushige: "....What kind of clothing are they wearing?"
Chigusa: "No, it's not a uniform of any kind. They're probably mountain bandits."
"(Coming here to target us.)"
Rakan: "Mountain bandits?"
So they really do exist?
Touji: "So is this the wasteland?"
(Come to think of it, we haven't seen any dwellings.)
Rakan: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'MOUNTAIN BANDITS?'"
I haven't heard that particular phrase in a long time!!
Chigusa: "Don't worry, Rakan. I'll take care of them."
Rakan: Huh?
Narushige: "We'll help you."
Chigusa: "Mmm. For the moment, the two of you should stay by Rakan's side."
Rakan: Hold-- Hold on a second here.
Narushige: "Understood."
Chigusa: "(Behind these rocks here.)"
Rakan: "CHIGUSA!"
"Wait a minute here! You--"
"You can't possibly mean you're going to...kill them?"
Chigusa: "They're after us."
Rakan: "Even if they're after us, killing them would be..."
Touji: "Rakan, it's that sort of world here. Kill or be killed."
"I think the world you lived in was probably a very peaceful world. So of course you'd believe it's only natural that killing is wrong."
Rakan: "It's only natural no matter where you are!"
Narushige: Ah. He really is a moralist.
Rakan: "People hate dying no matter where you are! It doesn't matter who you are."
\\
Rakan: "I'll feel horrible for anyone, if they've been hurt! What is wrong with you!?"
\\
Chigusa: This straightforward kindness really is the product of a completely different world.
Rakan: "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you!"
Kou: "That's ridiculous, Rakan."
Rakan: "Is it impossible, Chigusa?"
Chigusa: "I'll do as you say, Rakan."
So that you can continue living with this straightforward kindness.
Rakan: "..............................."
Chigusa: "Hmm?"
Rakan: "Hmm? No, it's just..."
"Thank you!"
Chigusa.
It somehow feels like this is the first time...
It somehow feels like... this is the first time...that I've really seen you smile.
Touji: "Shigeka. Is this really the Senrou Chigusa everyone says is such a monster?"
Narushige: "It certainly does seem that way. After a fashion."
Touji: "Yeah, 'after a fashion.' I'd heard..."
I'd heard that he was completely without mercy, but...
Chigusa: "Ah. Here come the bandits."
Chigusa: "Don't either of you kill them either."
Touji: "What? I can't either?"
Narushige: "Yes, we know that. Kou!"
Kou: "Yo."
//Kou turns into his sword form.//
Chigusa: "Touno, you do realise..."
"That if Rakan hadn't stopped me like he's stopped us now, I would have taken care of you long ago."
"(If you think of it in those terms...)"
Touji: Ack! He really is completely without mercy! Rakan really is the only one you…
"All right, all right, I got it. Catch them, but don't hurt them."
Chigusa: "Yup. And also, you can see that space between those rocks, right?"
Touji: "Yeah, over there."
Rakan: "..........................."
Chigusa: "Rakan, stay here in this shadow with Touno. (Right here. And don't move.)"
Rakan: "'Kay.... ......But how can I say this?"
"Sorry, uh..."
"Did I..."
What if this is a really serious situation?
"Did I maybe ask something really difficult of you?"
"Um......."
Chigusa, Narushige, and Touji: "Don't worry."
Bandit: "What? They just vanished."
Bandit 2: "What do you mean? And The Prince?"
Bandit: "Gone."
"Did they move somewhere? I don't sense them at all--"
//Chigusa puts his gun to the bandit's head...//
Bandit: "!"
Bandits 2 through 5: "!?"
//...and blows the blade off of his sword.//
Bandit: "Aaah!"
Bandits 2 & 3: "A gun!?"
//Chigusa pistol whips the first bandit.//
Bandits 2 & 3: [A gun!]
[Fall back!]
Bandit 3: [What the hell?]
Bandit 2: [What the hell is this? Someone's here with a gun or something!]
Bandit 4: [Can it really be a gun?]
Bandit 2: [Yes, it's really a gun!]
Bandit 4: [But I thought they'd all withered!]
//Chigusa leaps into the thick of the bandits and blasts all of their swords to pieces.//
Bandit 2: [Scatter!]
Chigusa: Excellent, they've split up. All it'll take now is one swing of the sword each.
Two on the right hand side, hidden in those rocks.
And the two on the left are doubling around to get down behind me.
Bandit 4: "Shouldn't we go back, Akiichi? (I can't do much with this dagger...)"
"If we tell Kazuhi..."
Akiichi (Bandit 3): "Don't! Kazuhi won't do a thing."
"He's not the type."
Akiichi: "We're going to steal that guy's gun instead and take it to Kazuhi."
"It's four against one, after all."
Rakan: "What......"
"What do you think?"
Touji: "Hmmm... It'll be all right. Those guys don't have guns after all, and once Chigusa blows their swords to bits, all he has to do is capture them."
"Ah, come to think of it, I've got these..."
"(Not that they're a sword or anything."
//Touji pulls out some seeds.//
Touji: "Rakan."
Rakan: "Yes?"
Touji: "Grab this will you?"
Rakan: "This?
Touji: "Yup. This is what I'll use."
//The seed sprouts.//
//Some more bandits are watching from their base.//
Bandit 6: "....What the hell's up with them? They just got whupped."
Bandit 7: "Huh? Weren't there five of them out there? How many are they up against?"
Bandit 6: "The Prince and three other men...I thought..."
"I can see one of them now."
"Ah, what the hell. Don't have a choice, do I?"
//He loads a bolt into a crossbow.//
Bandit 6: "So I might as well go ahead and kill him."
//An arrow flies through the air and splits the rod holding the window open. Touji's fired it, and man does he look fly.//
Bandit 6: "What the...?"
Bandit 7: "What? What just happened?"
Bandit 6: "!"
Mystery person: "Hey. Give me that."
Narushige: [Understood. Well then, I'll take care of the two doubling back on the right.]
Narushige: I can...
...feel them coming.
Three...
Two...
...One.
//He draws Kou and parries someone's strike.//
//And did I mention, this is the hottest Naru's ever been. Oh, I love him so much.//
Bandit 2: "...A woman!!"
"Shit!"
//Narushige knocks the wind out of him.//
Bandit 5: "You..."
//He gets knocked out by Narushige.//
Narushige: "Unfortunately for you..."
"...I'm no woman."
//SO. MUCH. LOVE for Narushige here. Just thought I'd say.//
Akiichi: "What the hell is this? She looks like a woman, but..."
Bandit 4: "They must be The Prince's personal guard."
"(What else would they be?)"
"Akiichi, we'd better go back!"
Akiichi: "But Minari's..."
Bandit 4: "Idiot! There's no way the two of us can take them!"
Chigusa: "That's right."
Chigusa: "There's no way you can take us, so behave yourselves."
Akiichi and Bandit 4: "!!"
When did he...?
{{Captured.}}
//The five bandits are sitting bound in Touji's vines.//
Chigusa: "Yup."
"Mostly uninjured."
"(Just like I said.)"
Rakan: "Chigusa! Narushige!"
Chigusa: "Rakan."
"It's all okay now."
Rakan: "........................."
Rakan: "........................."
//Rakan embraces Chigusa and Narushige.//
Rakan: "Thank you..."
"...for listening to what I asked of you."
"...and..."
"I'm sorry..."
"For having asked something so difficult without thinking."
"Thank..."
"Thank god...the two of you weren't hurt either."
//Chigusa pauses, and reaches for Rakan...//
//But he's too late! Narushige's got to him first! Hee hee!//
Narushige: "It's all right, Rakan-kun."
"(Ah, you're adorable.)"
Rakan: "Narushige-san."
Narushige: "Chigusa's a sturdy individual, and I'm not the sort to be reckless, so you don't need to worry."
Chigusa: "................................................................"
Akiichi and Bandit 2: "......................."
Bandit 4: [.....Is that The Prince?]
Bandit 5: [It's The Prince. Look at his face.]
Akiichi: [It's got to be The Prince.]
[...But, something's....]
Something's different.
Bandits: Ack! He's coming toward us!
Akiichi: ".........................."
The Prince!!
Rakan: "Sorry. You've been treated kind of roughly. It's my fault."
Bandit: [He spoke.]
Bandit 2: [He spoke to us.]
Rakan: "Um..."
"Why did you attack us?"
"(Come to think of it, who are you?)"
Bandits: Uh, that's what I'd like to ask you right now.
Bandits: "..........................................."
Touji: "(Get away from them.)"
"They've got to be mountain bandits. They have allies, too."
"You can see the window in between those rocks."
Chigusa: "Ah, over there."
"They've got lodgings. Wonderful."
"(We'll impose on their hospitality.)"
Narushige: "Chigusa, that means they're probably mountain bandits..."
"(How can you let your guard down like that?)"
Chigusa: "If they try anything, I'll attack them and occupy their house."
Touji: "(Of course! ...)"
Narushige: "That would make you the mountain bandit."
//Someone knocks a bolt to a crossbow and fires.//
Chigusa: "!"
//Chigusa grabs the bolt as it whizzes by his head.//
Narushige: "!?"
Bandits: "!?"
//Someone showers the bandits with bolts.//
Touji: "What the...?"
Chigusa: "(Rakan, come here.)"
Rakan: "Woa."
Chigusa: "No, they aren't targetting us."
Akiichi: "...Kazuhi!"
Kazuhi: "What the hell are you doing?"
//Kazuhi is standing on a cliff, crossbow in hand.//
Kazuhi: "Pitiful..."
"Getting yourselves caught."
//Chigusa pulls Rakan against him.//
Rakan: "..........................."
Kazuhi: "Anyways, my apologies to you. Looks like my idiots couldn't keep you occupied."
Akiichi: "!"
"Kazuhi!"
"You were the one shooting at us?"
Kazuhi: "Yeah? And why not? Did I tell you 'go get caught?'"
Bandits: Eeeeee....
Kazuhi: "And I don't think I told you 'go get killed,' either, did I?"
"If you lot didn't know if these guys were tougher than you or not, then what were you doing going after them?"
Akiichi: "..................................."
Kazuhi: "...........You people can relax."
Kazuhi: "...Since I don't plan on doing anything to you."
"Kay?"
//Chigusa smiles.//
Kazuhi: ".......................................Well, well."
"Aren't you an intimidating one?"
"Now is that any way to greet someone?"
//Chigusa has put his gun flush against Kazuhi's chest."
Rakan: "Chigusa!"
Bandits 2 & 5: Chi...gu...sa?
: "!"
Kazuhi: "......................................"
"You..."
"You aren't...."
"'Senrou Chigusa?'"
Chigusa: "........................."
Bandits: ...The Family of Monsters!!
Chigusa: "...Mmhm."
Kou: Monster.
Akiichi: 'Senrou Chigusa!?'
Bandits: From the purged Family of Criminals...!
Bandit 4: [What's he doing here..!?]
Kazuhi: "......................................"
Ah, so that's why he's got a living gun...
The plot thickens.
Kazuhi: "I gotcha. I'm even less likely to do anything to you now, so you can put that gun away."
"I'm not stupid enough to pick a fight with the Senrou Family."
Chigusa: "......................................."
Kazuhi: "You listening to me?"
"Or are you incapable of holding a conversation with someone?"
"You want 'proof?' Okay."
"I'll kill these guys."
Bandits: "!!"
Bandit 2: "Kazuhi! You bastard!!"
Kazuhi: "That should cement our mutual good will."
"Well?"
"How's that sound?"
//Rakan throws himself in front of Kazuhi's sword.//
Rakan: "What the hell are you doing?"
"From the beginning?"
Kazuhi: "What am I doing?"
"What are you doing? What do you mean by this?"
Rakan: "These people are your friends, aren't they? What are you doing trying to kill your friends?"
Kazuhi: What is this?
He's not The Prince. He has The Prince's face, but...
Bandits: "........................"
Kazuhi: ...he's a completely...
...different...
...creature.
Kazuhi: "You don't rattle, do you?"
//Kazuhi takes Rakan by the chin.//
Kazuhi: "You've got a lot of guts for someone with such a delicate face."
"And you're a babe in the woods."
"Did it never occur to you that I could break your neck right now?"
Chigusa and Narushige: "........................Oh..............."
Chigusa and Narushige: "I don't think I'd try that."
//They draw their respective weapons on Kazuhi, point blank.//
Kazuhi: "...!"
".........................."
"Ahh. Ahh, okay. I get it! I give in, I give in."
Touji: "Rakan, you really are ridiculous, you know that?"
//Touji trains his bow on Kazuhi.//
Rakan: "Ah. Really? I see. Sorry. Didn't mean for this..."
"(It's because this is another world.)"
"Sorry, you two. Put your weapons down, put your weapons down."
Kazuhi: Ah, maybe...he can only hear what Rakan says to him?
"I've get it already. I won't do anything to him, and I won't do anything to them."
He isn't The Prince. ...But who is he, then?
Kazuhi: "Come with me."
"You don't have anywhere to stay, do you?"
"So come on."
What the hell... I don't see why not.
Seems like a good way to kill some time.
Narushige: [What should we do?]
Chigusa: [It's fine. Let's go.]
"If they try anything, I'll--"
Rakan & Narushige: "Don't start."
Touji: "(Is that such a bad idea?)"
Kazuhi: "Let's go. Stand up. You can walk, can't you?"
"If you'd have been stronger, this wouldn't have happened to you."
Akiichi: ".................................."
Narushige: "Are you all right, Rakan-kun? (Watch your step.)"
Rakan: "Huh? Yeah, I'm fine."
"The way in is pretty decent, back here."
//The bandits' hideout is perched atop some massive cliffs.//
Rakan: ".............................What an amazing place to build something."
"How did it come to be like this?"
Chigusa: "The trees that used to grow here died, and the rock beneath them crumbled away."
<;b>Rakan: "Ah, I see. Desertification."
Rakan: "Speaking of, who are these people, anyway?"
Touji: "They don't feel like a Family, do they? And their clothing isn't uniform either."
Chigusa: "............................................."
Kazuhi: "Well, in my case, I come from a long line of drifters on the edge of the desert."
"The others are just people The Prince dislikes. That's all."
Rakan: "!"
"'The Prince?'"
Chigusa: "The 'Frontier Guard?'"
Kazuhi: "......................................."
"Bingo."
"And just how did you know that?"
Rakan: "........'Frontier Guard?'"
Kazuhi: "We're a group of Numeric Children discarded by The Prince."
That will be all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
on 2005-05-26 03:03 pm (UTC)*sigh* I really should finally go get this manga...
no subject
on 2005-05-29 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-06-01 04:49 am (UTC)no subject
on 2005-05-26 03:23 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to all the explication in the next one when it comes! I seem to remember that that was the one with all the millions of words of technical babble about Numeric Children that I didn't understand at all...
no subject
on 2005-05-29 06:22 pm (UTC)Unfortunately, the Numeric children bit is at least two chapters down the road. I'm going to try and get one up every week or so though, so you won't have too long to wait.
no subject
on 2005-05-26 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-05-29 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-05-27 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
on 2005-05-29 06:25 pm (UTC)I love you!
on 2005-05-27 05:52 pm (UTC)you made my day!! *sends kisses* thank you ;)
Re: I love you!
on 2005-05-29 06:27 pm (UTC)Re: I love you!
on 2005-05-29 10:54 pm (UTC)by the way... may I friend you? *puppy eyes*
Re: I love you!
on 2005-05-31 05:53 am (UTC)And please feel free to friend me. I'd be honored!
no subject
on 2005-05-30 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
on 2005-05-31 05:54 am (UTC)no subject
on 2005-05-31 11:27 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2005-06-01 03:10 am (UTC)