TOKYO BABYLON BY CLAMP VOL. 7 TRANSLATED BY MENE SEISHIRO I believe the time has finally come to keep our promise. * SEISHIRO Subaru Sumeragi SUBARU Sei…shiro? * SEISHIRO I created this universe with my magic powers. SUBARU What? SEISHIRO It's been exactly a year…since we met again, you and I. Today we must fulfill our promise. * SUBARU …since we met…again? What promise are you talking about? * SUBARU Where am I? That boy…it's me….when I was little. * SUBARU I was born in Kyoto, and I'd been with Hokuto all of my eight years of my life…then I decided to come to Tokyo with my Grandma…It was not always easy to be the 13th head of the Sumeragi family. I wore an exorcism robe…I was nine… * SUBARU I was seven…on the day where I effectively did my first job…I've already had this dream…It's the dream I had this morning. That tree… * BOY The cherry blossoms are magnificent. Do you like these flowers? SUBARU Yes. Who was…that boy? * BOY I'll tell you a story. A body is buried under this cherry tree. SUBARU A body? SEISHRIO This tree has such pretty flowers every year…thanks to the body beneath its roots. Look, the other cherry trees bloom white like snow. * BOY Do you know why these flowers are slightly pink? Because they're nourished on the blood of the body found beneath it. SUBARU But….the body who's under the cherry tree…does it suffer? * BOY Let's make a promise. SUBARU I made a promise with that boy…a promise…yes…a promise… * BOY Next time we meet… SUBARU I'm sorry, I didn't hear you very well because of the wind… * SEISHIRO Take a good look…who did you meet that day. * SUBARU It was you…Seishiro? SEISHIRO Yes…we met, seven years ago… * SEISHIRO Under this tree. SUBARU But…why did I forget we met? SEISHRIRO Because, I erased your memory seven years ago. SUBARU You…erased it? SEISHIRO You don't remember…what happened? You don't remember what passed under the cherry tree? * SEISHIRO You don't remember what I buried? The cherry blossoms are magnificent. Do you like them? SUBARU Yes That was…that was Seishiro who buried it, it was… * SUBARU A child?! A child!! SEISHIRO It's an image from the past…even if you run very fast, it'll already be too late. SUBARU Who killed…that child? SEISHIRO You don't remember? SUBARU What? SEISHIRO It was I who killed her. * SUBARU Yes…It was the day I did my first job…I remember…that cherry tree…that cherry tree…that day my grandmother had a date with the people from the emperors interior cabinet…and I waited for her all alone. I should have waited at that place, without moving…but that day…I felt like someone was calling me…and I went far from the place where my grandma told me to meet her… * SUBARU I walked along roads in Tokyo that I knew not. I noticed that cherry tree. That tree emanated all the hate and bitterness of many people…not only two or three…many more. I felt there must be a reason for this phenomenon…so I decided to stay near it…It was truly a magnificent cherry tree. And I really wanted to rid it of all those evil feelings…I had just learned the characteristics of yin and yang…that's where I used them for the first time…yes…it was my first job…but another magic had already been worked…upon that cherry tree and my powers seemed useless… * SUBARU So that's… a rain drop…red? *(times 2) SEISHIRO It's the first time someone's seen me…kill someone….obviously this child practices the same profession as me. Well…what should I do? * SUBARU I'm so sorry…but I lost consciousness…I'm sorry to have bothered you. Thank you for helping me. The…cherry blossoms are magnificent. SEISHIRO Do you like these flowers? SUBARU Yes It's not possible…I can't believe it… SEISHIRO Do you remember now? SUBARU Sei..shiro, is this…still a dream? I had this same dream… * SEISHIRO No, it's your memory. I shut it away in your mind, for seven years. You've arrived at the moment when I finished my work, and you saw me kill that child. SUBARU No, you lie! I know that you are incapable of killing a child… SEISHIRO But it's the truth. I am…a Sakurazukamori. * SEISHIRO I am an assassin…and to kill my victims, I use a yin/yang technique…which I'll use on you too. SUBARU It's a lie…if you're the Sakurazukamori, and all this isn't a dream….why am I still alive? * OBASAN Everyone who meets a Sakurazukamorie…will die. SUBARU My Grandma always told me that! So if all this is true, why am I still alive? SEISHIRO Because we made a promise. SUBARU What… SEISHIRO Do you know why you never have taken off your gloves…since you were nine? * SEISHIRO Do you remember the reason…your grandmother always told you not to take off your gloves in front of others? If we meet again one day… SUBARU I'm sorry but…I didn't hear you very well, because of the wind… SEISHIRO That's why today…I'll let you go. * SEISHIRO So that I'll recognize you when we meet again…I'll engrave these marks on your hands. These marks signify…that you are the property of the Sakurazukamori. * SUBARU It's impossible…I can't believe it… SEISHIRO But…Even if I knew you used the yin/yang technique… * SEISHIRP I didn't know that….you were the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi family. I imagine she who proceeded you…must have been very surprised…to see the mark of the Sakurazukamori on her grandson's hands. * SUBARU Grandma… * SEISHIRO When I saw you at the station, chasing after a shikigami…despite your gloves…that your grandmother had you wear for your protection…I recognized you right away…right away… * SEISHIRO I believe my power is superior…to your grandmother's. But is it superior….or inferior to your own? It's time to fulfill our promise. * SUBARU Our…promise? SEISHIRO You still don't remember? The next time we meet…the next time we meet….we'll live near each other for a year…your spirit is the opposite of mine…you are gentle, pure and sincere… * SEISHIRO When you become an adult, you will look as you are now…your spirit will always be pure. On our next meeting…I'll do everything I can to love you for a year. And if at the end of that year…I truly have feeling for you…I won't kill you. Otherwise, if you mean no more to me…than this corpse…then… * SEISHIRO I…will kill you. That's why today…I will let you go. SUBARU Sei…shiro… SEISHIRO I have no feelings…none…even when I kill human beings. * SEISHIRO Do you want to know why…Subaru? People talk of the Sakurazukamori clan, like it's a group of assassins…but in reality there's only one…sakurazukamori. To become sakurazukamori, there is a succession ceremony like in the Sumeragi family. Subaru, you told me the other day that you were very sad to have Hokuto since that ceremony. * SEISHIRO The sakurazukamori succession ceremony…consists of killing the previous sakurazukamoru. Sakurazukamori always has clients and collaborators. That's why…they speak of it as a "group" of assassins. But the sakurazukamori is always alone. To become the sakurazukamori, we must kill our predessessor and then his entire entourage. The first time I killed a human being…I was fifteen. I killed the previous sakurazukamori…It was my mother… * SEISHIRO But I felt nothing. I felt nothing seeing my own mother bathed in blood. Since that day nothing's changed when I kill someone…I am always insensitive. I feel no difference between a human being and an object. For me…breaking your arm…is like breaking glass….there's no difference. * SEISHIRO For me, a corpse…is just trash. I believe I am a good sakurazukamori. SUBARU Sei…shiro SEISHIRO You don't understand why we made that promise…the next time we meet…we will live near each other for a year. If after that time I have real feelings for you, I will continue to love you…I will only look at you…and protect you… * SEISHIRO If I considered you as a person dear to my heart…if I could differentiate you from an object…I wouldn't kill you. But….as I imagined it was impossible. And watching you suffer now…evokes no emotion. * SEISHIRO For me, it's as if I'm hitting a rock * SEISHIRO We'll now fulfill our promise…I will kill you. * SEISHIRO Why don't you try to defend yourself? You have no chance of leaving this nightmare, unless you seriously fight me. * SUBARU Sei…shiro… SEISHIRO What's with that look, is it so sad? You think maybe that I betrayed you? Yet it happens every day in many similar stories in the city of Tokyo… * SEISHIRO A human being who betrays another…it's the sort of thing… * SEISHIRO That happens every day, in the streets of Tokyo. * SEISHIRO I don't feel any hate towards you. But neither do I feel any love. You're naught for me…but a simple object. Even if I was attracted to the purity of your being…in the end it changed nothing. All the people I killed…wait for you. Among them, you'll find the little girl that I killed seven years ago. Sayonara Subaru Sumeragi. * SEISHIRO I seem to think this is your grandmother's shikigami. She must be very worried about you, she managed to find the world I created with my power. I must now finish my work. Sayonara Subaru… * SEISHIRO I believe she's in the process of destroying my universe. She'll regret having broken the sakurazukamori's world… * NURSE Kyaaa! * NURSE Call a doctor! Quick! Take him to the recessitation room! SUBARU Sei…shi…ro… * SUBARU I really loved you… HOKUTO Subaru… * HOKUTO Subaru * HOKUTO You don't eat anymore…you don't talk anymore…Subaru…Subaru…I'm sorry…I'm really sorry…this is all my fault! I'm the one who introduced him to you… * HOKUTO Subaru…you were always so nice, and so honest…but…you never seemed attached to life. Grandma and I need you, but you didn't understand…you were ready to sacrifice yourself for any cause…that's why…I wanted you to be attached to something. You wanted to be a zoo vet, but you had to abandon that dream for our family…I always thought that if you were capable of renouncing it…then it couldn't really have been your dream. * HOKUTO I wanted you to have something so that you could say " I don't care what other people think, and even if they don't approve, I won't change anything in my life."…I'm the one who introduced you to him…I saw from the beginning…that Seishiro should become…someone very important to you, Subaru….I knew he'd represent a danger for you…but above all…I wanted you to live…I wanted you to be like other human beings…and act upon your own will… * HOKUTO I don't want it to end like this! That man…stole your spirit. Subaru…I'm sorry…because of me, your life is now worse than death…I'm sorry…Subaru…I don't want to let you die… * HOKUTO If that man is really a sakurazukamori he'll come back to kill Subaru…but I won't let him do it… * HOKUTO Subaru…please forgive me. You may be mad at me….because all this is my fault. I'm the one who made your life so difficult….but I can't be happy any longer…all alone. So… * HOKUTO I beg you…come back. *(times3) OBASAN One month's passed since Hokuto's disappearance…despite their searches. None of our family members can find out where she's gone…while Subaru is always in the same state….Subaru * Su Ba Ru SU BA RU * HOKUTO Su…ba…ru *(times3) SUBARU Hokuto!! * SUBARU Hokuto! Hokuto!! OBASAN Subaru! What happened? Subaru! SUBARU Hokuto!! *(times2) OBASAN Hello. Yes…what? Ho…Hokuto is dead… * SUBARU She was killed…by that man… OBASAN Subaru…how do you know that? SUBARU I've decided to stop going to school. OBASAN What? SUBARU Starting today, I will focus myself. It's my only chance to win against him. I will be very busy…I won't have anymore time to go to class. * SUBARU Big sister…Don't worry, it is I…who will kill…that man… * SUBARU I'm the one who will kill him. * ANNEX/SECRET SEISHIRO I believe today I derived a lot of pleasure from seeing something that I don't usually observe…It's true, I'd yet to see you become angry. People like you are always influenced by their power. * SEISHIRO Some people take it too seriously. Others are the opposite, they become timid and reserved. Professor Kumiko, who I killed today, was one of those who took it too seriously. But you…I don't know anyone who pays more attention to others than you…and you never judge them yourself…you are a martyr. He is dead…I'm surprised, the weakest always dies before the others. * SEISHIRO Here is the reason I work as a vet. I believe I already talked to you about…Sakanagi (the "return" on a magical power) Those who use powers that are not compatible with their own personal capacities, are always confronted by a return to their person of this power is always proportional to the amount of force used…these evil spirits continue to haunt them, because they are written on their karma. But the professionals know very well about this problem, and that's why they use defensive techniques and protection against the Sakanagi. I, myself, sacrifice the living animals in this clinic…to protect me. * SEISHIRO Among all those animals it is the weakest who die first. In a veterinary clinic, people often bring sick animals, who are thus weak…in fact, I chose them…and no one asks any questions, even if there are lots of deaths. I wonder how you'd react if you knew this…would you still be as nice to me as with the others? I don't have any feelings….one year is closing to an end, since we found each other again, but…I still feel nothing for you. And if you were dead like that dog, I'd walk over your body and just keep on living. * SEISHIRO There are still some days left before we fulfill our promise…and I still wonder if I'll not anull the whole thing…I'll wait till then in respect for the protection technique your grandmother placed on your gloves. HOKUTO Don't pay attention to what's written there! Your love is greater than all those obstacles! SEISHIRO When I think that your own big sister pushed you into my arms! The result of this horoscope has no real importance, because I wasn't born on April first…and you weren't born in Tokyo. * SEISHIRO You are…the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi family, and you were born in Kyoto where you stayed until you were eight. I always knew that…I lied about the place and date of my birth, and you…you only lied about the place. Those who are in our line of work…know they must never reveal the place and date of their birth…it's like revealing their weakness. So, why didn't you lie about your birthday? I know that your grandma taught you never to give it out. In the end, it doesn't really matter. * SEISHIRO There…now I'll take you home. Subaru Sumeragi, my beloved. * ANNEX/START * SUBARU Ho…kuto…Hokuto…wait! * SUBARU I can't move my feet…wait for me!! I can't move anymore….something's holding me back…I can't go any further…the roots…of a cherry tree. * SUBARU A mirror? * SUBARU Hokuto…that's…my ceremonial robe… * HOKUTO I beg you…come back… SUBARU Hokuto!! * SUBARU Hokuto! Hokuto! HOKUTO I even managed to find you…listen to me closely…I won't ever let you kill Subaru!! * HOKUTO I'll never let you…kill him. SEISHIRO But your power won't let you ever kill me…Hokuto. HOKUTO I know that. SUBARU Hokuto HOKUTO I know I could never beat you. But… * HOKUTO There exsists a technique that only I can use… SEISHIRO That only you…can use? SUBARU Hokuto! Stop! Hokuto! * HOKUTO Now…I want… * HOKUTO You to kill me. SEISHIRO Very well… * SUBARU Hokuto!! HOKUTO Su…ba…ru… * SUBARU Seishiro!! *(times2) HOKUTO It's not because we have the same face and spend all our time together that people must think Subaru and I just form one single individual. It's very important to understand that you and I are two different human beings. That's a detail I hold onto tightly. * HOKUTO Since we're lucky to be two, we can stay near each other. Staying close to each other is an act of kindness. So you mustn't be ashamed. Each time you make me happy, I will continue to thank you…and when I make a mistake, I'll ask you to forgive me. And even when you are tired and you have lots of work, I love that you never forget to say hello. These are the little things each day that make me love you a little more. * HOKUTO All the little rituals of daily life make us more and more intimate. SUBARU Hello…my big sister… * BRIEF The subject of this inquiry: A paranormal phenomenon produced in the H.L.M of Nerima-ku. H.L.M of Nerima…is a group of buildings, consisting of ten ten floor apartment buildings. It's been inhabited since February, but starting in June paranormal phenomenon have appeared. There have been twenty incidents so far. In the beginning, there were trash cans that jumped or telephones that rang for no reason. But little by litte, these incidents have become more serious…an inquiry was requested, but no one could find the least trace of what was causing these anomalies. Some specialists have affirmed that they are neither natural phenomenons, provoked incidents or human acts. The chief of the investigation section asked the Sumeragi family to send their own investigator…from a spiritual point of view. * BRIEF The first electric mishap was on June eighteenth. After this date, the incidents happened every two or three days, in the escape stairs, on the security area or even in the water resevoir. The telephine line was cut June twentyfourth. The most recent event is…this here… SUBARU I sense nothing…these phenomenons all happened at different times and at different places…that's the effect of a spiritual phenomenon. * SUBARU I think I'll find its source easier at night. VOICES Come in! It's ready! Okay! What's to eat tonight? BABY Ouinn…ouinn… * BABY Ouinn, ouinn,…ouin! Ouinn…ouinn… * SUBARU There was something weird about her…and also…it's not normal to look at a baby like that…that…look… * SUBARU It's not a spiritual phenomenon…But I sense…something that resembles a force of will. It's… * VOICES That scared me… Another strange phenomenon happened here. Maybe it's the work of a maniac? Do you think a single person could do that? I'm really scared…maybe we should move. * VOICE If I had the means, I'd leave this H.L.M. GIRL You came to play? SUBARU What? GIRL Come on, let's play! SUBARU No…I… * GIRL Come on…let's go on the swings. You want…me to push you? SUBARU No, don't worry about me. GIRL But it's lots of fun! SUBARU But why'd you ask me to play? GIRL Because I thought that…you could help it. * SUBARU What? GIRL I thought that…you could hear it. SUBARU Help? But who must I help? GIRL Look. Again… * GIRL Didn't you hear it? I'm sure you could hear it. I'd truly like you to help it. SUBARU Wait! * SUBARU She disappeared…I could…hear it? Help it…but who must I help? I hear a voice…the cries….of a child…no, he's even younger… * SUBARU Go…go to those…cries…find! It went…to this apartment? * READOUT The inhabitants of apartment 1026, who are the object of you inquiry are: A thirty year old man employed by an exterior commerce, and his twenty eight year old wife. It seems the husband has recently been transferred to another department, he is absent for the time being. * READOUT Since their move to this apartment, not much has differentiated them from the other inhabitants, though some people have remarked that the wife has stopped frequenting The Women of H.L.M's Club meetings. In general, the inhabitants don't talk about her much. * GIRL My Mom said smoking was bad for your health. It's not good to smoke. SUBARU Who are you? GIRL I'd like you to help that baby…he never stops crying…you heard him cry…right? * GIRL I want…you to help him. SUBARU You mean the baby in apartment 1026? What's going on? GIRL Go! Quick, he's crying! He's still suffering! * SUBARU I heard the cries…of a baby…I didn't believe it…but… * SUBARU These cries…form a terrible spiritual wave!! Kuu! *(times2) SUBARU Stop! Stop! But…why… WOMAN It's my child…He's a part of my body, that's why… * WOMAN I hit him. I'm punishing myself….is it bad to hit him? BABY Ouinn, Ouinn, Ouinn * WOMAN Why…why don't you come back to me? I can only think about that. I spend my time punishing myself…so why…why do you prefer this girl?! Why?! *(times2) GIRL Thank you…for saving the baby. SUBARU So you knew….that the baby living in that apartment was tortured so terribly… GIRL I heard his cries…even when his mouth was closed…I heart the cries of his spirit. * GIRL But why did that woman hit her baby? SUBARU Her husband left her for another woman, somewhere far away. Left alone with the baby…she lied to the neighbors, telling them her husband was transferred to a new department, but it wasn't true. GIRL But why did she hit her child? SUBARU Maybe because she thought that she and her baby formed a sole being…she saw him as her double, she had brought him into the world… * SUBARU She thought punishing her baby would forgive her…she thought her husband would come back…that's how the doctor explained it to me… GIRL But a baby…it's a baby! It has nothing to do with this woman. SUBARU You are right… GIRL Will he be ok now? SUBARU Yes, he's in the hospital. GIRL Great! SUBARU It was the baby's interior force, that destroyed the balcony and crushed the ground…because he couldn't stop crying over being maltreated… * SUBARU His cries transformed into a formidable force capable of doing anything to ask for help from the outside world. I you could hear this child's cries…it's because you died too…by submitting to terrible suffering, right? * GIRL Yes. It was my mommy who killed me. My daddy was dead, leaving us with lots of debts…and my mommy told me…"You are the most important person in the world to me. I can't leave, and let you stay all alone." But me…I'm a different human being from my mother…Me, I'm me. * GIRL The newspaper said a mother committed suicide with her child…but me, I didn't want to die. It was my mother who decided to kill me….But I'd have loved to have the choice not to follow that decision. She killed me because she was very unhappy…this woman may have been sad too. * GIRL People do bad things…because they are really all alone… * GIRL I didn't doubt you could hear his voice. Because I understand you hold your sadness and misery, in the deepest part of your heart. The wind's blowing me…I must go with it. SUBARU Wait! GIRL What? SUBARU Tell me, is my sister where you are? * GIRL What is she like? SUBARU She looks a lot like me. GIRL No, she's not there…in this place, there is no one who has a face as sad as yours. * GIRL People do bad things…because they are really all alone… *(times3) Tokyo Babylon (1990-1993) END.