Current mood:	hungry
Current music:	It's a long way to go (Monster OST 2)
Entry tags:	translation:xxxholic

xxxHolic, chapter 136
Looks like I get my Holic fix today, after all! Look around MangaHelpers for raws.


Chapter 136

-01- (splash: Doumeki)

The heart that fears being able to hurt other people's fates
keeps fighting, wishing, and praying.
--- I want to protect what is important.
Everything is because of that feeling.

-02-

Side text: Watanuki, who again encountered Sakura in the world of dreams. To that soul that won't be able to return to the body if separated from it for long, what does he say!?

Watanuki: Sakura-chan...

-03-

Watanuki: Sorry.
Watanuki: For me to be attaching a "chan", even though we just met...

Sakura: A person I liked very much

Sakura: also called me that.

-04-

Watanuki: That's right!
Watanuki: Yuuko-san said that at this rate, your heart and body will stay separated like this.

Watanuki: So if you don't hurry back, Shaoran-kun will also be worried...

Sakura: Do you know Shaoran-kun?

Watanuki: Y- yes.
But, we only just met...

Sakura: The one you met was which Shaoran-kun?

-05-

Watanuki: Sakura-chan...

Sakura: I saw a dream. (T/N: Usually this would be translated as "had a dream", but considering this is about Sakura's yumemi powers, I'll use the literal translation.)

Sakura: It was a dream where
the other Shaoran was stabbed by Fai.
Sakura: Not wanting that dream to come true,
I paid a price and came into a dream, without saying anything.

-06-

Watanuki: Without saying anything?

Sakura: It's very difficult to change the future, and
Sakura: if I talked about it, yet more choices would appear.

Sakura: There was no time.
Even if, after I speak, yet another future is born, I don't know whether I'll be able to see that in a dream. (T/N: After being reminded once again of the expression "saki ni matte iru" by TRC 153, I decided to stick with 先 meaning "after".)

Sakura: Besides,
Sakura: even if I saw it in a dream, I can't speak of what Fai-san is always hiding.

-07-

Watanuki: ... Sakura-chan, did you try to save everyone by sacrificing only yourself?

Sakura: It's not like that.

Sakura: I wanted to do what I could.

Sakura: It certainly isn't the best method.
Maybe it's the worst one.
Sakura: But
Sakura: I want everyone to live.

Watanuki: And that also includes you, Sakura-chan?

-08-

Sakura: ... Yes.

Watanuki: Then it's all right.
Since they're important people for you, Sakura-chan.

-09-

Watanuki: They'll surely understand.

Watanuki: But you might get scolded.

Sakura: I think
I'll be scolded a lot by Kurogane-san.

Sakura: Because although he didn't show it, the one who was most worried about everyone was Kurogane-san.

Sakura: To be scolded,
and then I want to apologize.

-10-

Sakura: Even though the stabbed party was changed, it was certainly painful.
Although he was kinder than everyone, only to himself, Fai-san won't turn that kindness.

Sakura: Although I think ey was uneasy, Moko-chan was eagerly cheering us on all the time. (T/N: Sorry for Spivak-ing Mokona. Just pick the pronoun of your preference.)

-11-

Sakura: It's certainly my fault that he is always, always alone,
Sakura: and even so he doesn't condemn me,
"Shaoran"-kun who had those honest eyes.

Sakura: ... You are similar.

Watanuki: Eh?

-12-

Sakura: You and "Shaoran"-kun.

-13-

Sakura: ... Your name, tell me.

Watanuki: Watanuki Kimihiro.

-14-

Side text: "I want to protect what is important." Sakura-hime, Shaoran, Watanuki... What enveloped each's feelings was the "April 1st" connection!!

Sakura: April first.

Sakura: Mine and Shaoran-kun's... birthday.

---

Bad me. I wrote a translation note on page 10 and forgot to provide more information. I'd link to Wiki as usual, but the article sports a pretty "unverified" tag, so I'll just put the rest of the notes here. The Wiki article on gender-neutral pronouns isn't tagged (yet?), though.

Spivak pronouns are thus named after one Michael Spivak, who used them in a book (a guide-to-software kind of book). He wasn't the first to come up with the pronouns, but he brought them into light. The set I use differs from the one in Spivak's book by the nominative pronoun (I use "ey", Spivak used "e"). Both are known as "Spivak pronouns". The pronouns in the set I use are formed by taking the corresponding third-person plural pronoun and slicing off the "th" (with the reflexive also changing "selves" back to singular). This is the reason why I chose this particular set of pronouns, it's the easiest to remember. So, we have:


Here are two more non-Wiki links about gender-neutral pronouns.

---

-Now- I understand why Sakura had to come over to Holic: the sheer cuteness of pages 9-11 is the kind of thing that apparently has no place in shou* manga.

I'm happy that Sakura is articulating more complex sentences. Although her kiddie-like sentences are easy to translate, something about having a teen-aged main character speak like -that- bothers me to no end.

My ramblings from the spoiler post still apply: Mainly, "Similar where?" and the spelling of "Watanuki".