Tokyo Babylon :: Clamp
 VOLUME 7
:: translated by mene :: editted by tenno yukie ::
:: volume 06 :: END :: ANNEX.SECRET :: ANNEX.START ::
Annex

volume 11

Tokyo Babylon
VOL.11/END

(in a dream world, sakura petals falling)

SEISHIRO : I believe the time has finally come to fulfill our promise. Sumeragi Subaru.
SUBARU : Seishiro...... san?
SEISHIRO : This is inside my "magic".
SUBARU : ......Eh......?
SEISHIRO : It's been exactly a year... since we met again, you and I. Today is the day we fulfill our promise. (makes subaru's bookbag break off)
SUBARU : Since we met again......? Promise......? (close his eyes, when he opens them again, the scene has changed) [Where am I? (not far away, there is a little boy standing under a sakura tree) That boy...... It's me...... when I was little. I was born in Kyoto, and I'd been with Hokuto all of my eight years of my life......When I decided to come to Tokyo with my Grandma for the sake of becoming the 13th head of the Sumeragi family. That is an official robe worn to perform spells...... so I was nine then......]

(the little subaru chants a spell, light appears in his hands, he cast the spell to the tree)

SUBARU : [That's right...... that was seven years ago...... the day I performed my first job...... (suddenly the spell rebounded and subaru got knocked back) I've had this dream before...... It's the dream I had this morning. (little subaru looks at the tree a bit cluelessly -_-) That is a sakura tree......

(a young man appears)

SEISHIRO : The cherry blossoms are magnificent. Do you like sakura?
LITTLE SUBARU (brightly) : Yes.
SUBARU : [Who...... is that......?]
SEISHIRO : Do you know? Bodies are buried under this cherry tree.
LITTLE SUBARU : Bodies?
SEISHIRO : This tree has such pretty flowers every year thanks to the bodies beneath its roots. The real cherry trees bloom are supposed to be white like snow. But why are these flowers slightly pink? Do you know? (little subaru shakes his head) Because they're nourished on the blood of the body found beneath it.
LITTLE SUBARU (looks sad) : But the people who are under the cherry tree would suffer, won't they?
SEISHIRO : ...... (not an answer he expected, then smiles as if coming up with an interesting idea) Let's make a promise.
SUBARU : [That's right, I made a promise with him. a promise...... yes...... a promise......]
SEISHIRO : Until the next time we meet......

(the flashback breaks up into sakura petals, subaru misses what the young seishiro says next)

SUBARU (yelling) : I'm sorry, I didn't hear you very well because of the wind...... (seishiro taps him from behind) !!
SEISHIRO : Take a good look, who did you meet that day.

(the young man turns around, his hair is no longer covering half of his face, he's smiling although somewhat scary if you ask me)

SUBARU : That was...... Seishiro-san...?
SEISHIRO : Yes, we met seven years ago, under this sakura tree.
SUBARU : But why did I forget we met...
SEISHRIRO : Because, I erased your memory seven years ago.
SUBARU : ...You did...?
SEISHIRO : You don't remember what happened? You don't remember what passed under the cherry tree? You don't remember what I had at my feet?

(flashback comes back again... replay)

SEISHIRO : The cherry blossoms are magnificent. Do you like sakura?
LITTLE SUBARU (brightly) : Yes.
SUBARU : [That was...... what Seishiro had by his feet......]

(eyes open wide, he can finally see clearly, there is a girl's corpse)

SUBARU : [A child!?] (he runs towards it but seishiro grabs his arm) The child......!!
SEISHIRO : It's an image from the past, even if you run, it's already too late.
SUBARU (very sad) : Who... killed that child...?
SEISHIRO : You don't remember?
SUBARU (looks up) : Eh?
SEISHIRO (smile) : It was me.

(those words came worse than a thunder, all the happy memories shatter and subaru begins to remember, or maybe the spell cast over him had just been lifted)

SUBARU : [Yes... It was the day I did my first job... 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 the usual place... but for some reason... I felt like something was calling me... and I wandered from the place where my grandma told me to meet her... 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 just one or two but many more. I felt there must be a reason for this phenomenon... So I decided to stay near it... But it was truly a magnificent cherry tree. And I really wanted to rid it of all those evil feelings... I had just learned the basic exorcism spells... That's where I used them for the first time...... Yes, it was my first job... (chanting spell) But another magic had already been worked upon that cherry tree and my powers seemed useless...... (spell bounces) So that's......]

(subaru holds out his hands and captures a falling sakura petal, with it, a drop of liquid falls on him)

LITTLE SUBARU : Rain......? (looks up) Red rain...

(and he sees seishiro for the first time, sitting in the tree holding a dead body, blood continues to drip on subaru. seishiro looks at him and smiles, he pulls his hand out of the corpse, little subaru is frozen in horror, seishiro jumps off the tree and immediately puts subaru to sleep)

LITTLE SUBARU : !!
SEISHIRO : It's the first time someone's seen me kill someone... And this child practices the same profession as I... Well... What should I do? (remove sleeping spell)
LITTLE SUBARU (wakes up, looks around, doesn't remember what just happened, nervously) : I'm so sorry... But I lost consciousness...... (bow) I'm sorry to have bothered you. Thank you for helping me. (seishiro seems very surprised by this, he looks like he's conceiving some evil plan -_- subaru looks up at the tree) The cherry blossoms are magnificent.
SEISHIRO : Do you like these flowers?
LITTLE SUBARU : Yes
SUBARU (shock) : ......It's not possible... I can't believe it...
SEISHIRO : Do you remember now?
SUBARU : Sei..shiro-san..., is this... still a dream? Am I dreaming again...
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... the Sakurazukamori. As you well know, the assassin who kills people with onmyoujitsu.
SUBARU : It's a lie...... If you're really the Sakurazukamori, and all this isn't a dream, why am I still alive?
OBASAN (flashback) : Everyone who meets Sakurazukamori will die.
SUBARU (sad subaru, desperately trying to find a reason to believe) : My Grandma always told me that! So if all this is true, why am I still alive?
SEISHIRO : Because we made a promise.
SUBARU : ...eh...?
SEISHIRO : Do you know why you never have taken off your gloves since you were nine? Do you remember the reason your grandmother always told you not to take off your gloves in front of others?

(switch back to under the tree, the past is still playing)

SEISHIRO : If we meet again one day... (he says something that subaru missed because of the wind)
LITTLE 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. (he holds both of subaru's hands in his and kissed them gently) 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.

(at that point, little subaru passes out. on the back of his hands are two bloody marks in the shape of a five pointed star)

SUBARU : ...It can't be... I can't believe it...
SEISHIRO (puts his arms around subaru from behind) : But even though I knew you also used onmyoujitsu, never for a moment did I think that you were the thirteenth head of the Sumeragi family. I imagine the previous family master must have been very surprised to see the mark of your archenemy the Sakurazukamori on her cute grandson's hands. (as he spoke, he chanted a spell that ripped off subaru's gloves)
SUBARU : [Grandma...]

(watches the memory continues, now the grandmother runs towards subaru happily probably because she finally found him, and then she looks down in horror... and saw the mark on his hands)

TEXT : "SAKURAZUKAMORI"
SUBARU : [that's right... since that day, those gloves... grandma told me never to take them off... even to people in the family, I must never show them my hands...... (his gloves ripped off completely land he passed out in seishiro's arm) 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. (subaru's not completely unconscious but he's lying against seishiro and looking up blankly) 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...

(omg, this has to be the Nth time they play this same flashback >.<)

SEISHIRO : 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. 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... Then you've won and I won't kill you. But if I do not think that you are special to me... if you seem no different to me than this corpse... then... I will kill you. That's why today... I will let you go.

(subaru cries, seishiro locks his arms behind his back)

SUBARU : Sei...shiro-sa...
SEISHIRO : I have no feelings, I don't feel anything even when I kill human beings. Do you know, Subaru-kun? People talk of the Sakurazukamori, like it's a group of assassins... but in reality it's only one person. There is only one real Sakurazukamori. We have a succession ceremony like in the Sumeragi family. Subaru, you told me before that you were very sad to part with Hokuto for that ceremony... The sakurazukamori succession ceremony is to kill the previous sakurazukamori. 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... was when I was fifteen. I killed the previous sakurazukamori... my mother. 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... (suddenly twists subaru's arm) breaking your arm is like breaking a glass cup. there's no difference. (subaru falls to the ground) For me, a corpse is just trash. (laughs) That probably means I am a good sakurazukamori.
SUBARU (trauma) : Sei...shiro...san...
SEISHIRO : That's why we made that promise. The next time we meet, I will think of you as being special for just 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... 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. (steps on subaru's broken arm)
SUBARU : !!
SEISHIRO : And watching you suffer now... evokes no emotion. (kicks subaru) For me, it's as if I'm hitting a rock. (beats him, subaru spat out blood and offers no resistance) We'll now fulfill our promise, I will kill you. (sakura vines grows out of nowhere and wraps around subaru's wrists and ties him up onto the tree) Why don't you try to defend yourself? You have no chance of leaving this nightmare, unless you seriously fight me.
SUBARU (eyes blank, definitely traumatized) : Sei...shiro...sa...
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. A human being who betrays another, it's the sort of thing that happens every day, in the streets of Tokyo. I don't feel any hate towards you. But neither do I feel any love. You're nothing to 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 await you. Among them, you'll find the little girl that I killed seven years ago. Farewell, Sumeragi Subaru-kun. (smile, suddenly a little white bird flies towards them) It seems like this is your grandmother's shikigami. She must be very worried about you, she managed to find the world I created with my power. We have to speed things up. Goodbye. (suddenly the black dream world breaks like glass behind him) I believe she's in the process of breaking my spell. She will have to pay a dear price... for breaking the sakurazukamori's spell. (smirk)

(elsewhere, the grandmother now lies on the ground as many family members rush towards her, there's a mirror on the ground, cracked, still reflecting seishiro's heartless smile. the dream world breaks into sakura petals and disappears, subaru lands with a thud in the hospital room that he was in)

NURSES (rush in to find subaru all bloody on the ground) : Kyaaa! Call a doctor! Quick! Take him to the recessitation room! (they busy themselves)
SUBARU (stares ahead blankly) : Sei...shi...ro...san
TEXT : I really loved you...

(time passes outside... the door to subaru's apartment opens)

HOKUTO : Subaru... (inside, subaru is sitting alone on a chair in the middle a large room, not speaking and not moving, his eyes are open and staring blankly) Subaru. You don't eat anymore, you don't talk anymore. Subaru... (walks up to him, kneels down weeping) Subaru... I'm sorry, I'm really sorry... This is all my fault...!! I'm the one who brought him close to you... (hugs subaru, her tears fall on him but subaru does not react) 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 always 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. 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 brought him close to you... I knew from the very beginning that he would become someone very important to you, Subaru... I knew he was dangerous... but above all... I wanted you to live... I wanted you to be like other human beings... and have your own heart... But I didn't want it to end like this! That man took Subaru's heart... Subaru... I'm sorry... I made your life worse than death... I'm sorry...... (gets up and rub her cheeks) But even so, I don't want Subaru to die... (turns around and goes digging in the closet) If that man is really the sakurazukamori, he'll definitely come back to kill Subaru. (takes out subaru's onmyouji robes) I won't let that happen... (gives subaru a goodbye kiss) Subaru... I'm sorry. You may be mad at me... but... this is all my fault. (smiles gently) I'm the one who made you suffer, but everything will be lost like this, I can't go on happily all alone. (opens door to leave) So... (gives subaru one last sad smile) please... come back.

(she leaves and that is the last we see of hokuto, time passes, subaru is now lying in his bed. his grandmother is at his side, sitting on a wheelchair - probably a result of that confrontation with the sakurazukamori)

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-san...

(in his coma, subaru suddenly hears someone calling him)

VOICE : Su Ba Ru... SU BA RU (subaru's consciousness returns, his mind is transported to another scene)
HOKUTO (before she dies) : Su...ba...ru

(subaru's eyes open wide, he sees hokuto falling back, blood gush out from her chest and she lies in the arms of a man who turns around and smiles at subaru. lastly the image of hokuto and seishiro all dispurse into sakura petals)

SUBARU (yells) : Hokuto-chan!! (jumps out of his bed) hokuto-chan! HOKUTO-CHAN!!
OBASAN (grabs a hold of him) : Subaru-san! What happened? Subaru-san...! (falling out of her wheel chair)
SUBARU (still yelling at a certain direction with tears in his eyes) : Hokuto-chan!! (his hands reach out but then he trembles and falls to the ground, suddenly the phone rings)
OBASAN (pick up) : Hello. Yes... what? (drops the phone in horror) Ho...Hokuto is dead...
SUBARU (gets up and walks over to the balcony slowly) : She was killed... by that man...
OBASAN (surprised) : Subaru-san... how do you know that?
SUBARU (looks out the window and says peacefully) : I've decided to stop going to school.
OBASAN : What?
SUBARU : The way I am right now, I can't win. That's why I will stop going to school. (he leans on the glass and cries silently) ["Nee-san"......] (this is the first time subaru called hokuto nee-san)
HOKUTO'S LAST WORDS : Please come back.
SUBARU : [I'm the one...... who will kill him.]

(outside, the streets of Tokyo are busy as always, somewhere in the crowd, seishiro looks up)

SUBARU : I will kill him.

end of END

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annex.secret

Tokyo Babylon
ANNEX.SECRET

(at seishiro's vet clinic)

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. (subaru is unconscious on the clinic's operation bed) 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. (then seishiro notices that there is a puppy that is dead in the cage) He is dead... as expected, the weakest always dies before the others. (he grabs the little dog) 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. 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? (dumps the dead dog somewhere) 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. (takes subaru's hand, some blood drips on subaru's cheek) 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.

(on the bulletin board on the wall, there is a piece of paper plasted there which was the results from that love test... next to it are some cute writing from hokuto)

WRITING ON THE WALL : Don't pay attention to what's written there! Your love is greater than all those obstacles! BY HOKUTO-CHAN *heart* (and draws a cat face)
SEISHIRO (smiles) : 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. (tears the paper in half with a smirk) 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. (holds subaru in his arms) There... now I'll take you home, "my beloved Sumeragi Subaru-kun".

end of ANNEX.SECRET
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annex.start

Tokyo Babylon
ANNEX.START

(in his dream, hokuto is running away from him)

SUBARU : Ho...kuto...Hokuto...wait! (he wants to go to her but his body is held back) 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... (looks down at what is holding him back) the roots... of a cherry tree? (just then hokuto appears before him, but she repeats everything he does) A mirror? (inside the mirror, hokuto is wearing the sorcerer's robe) Hokuto…that's... my ceremonial robe... (hokuto's image reach out of the mirror and hugs subaru)
HOKUTO : Please... come back. (and she runs away)
SUBARU (calls after her) : Hokuto!! (scene changes to under a sakura tree, where hokuto faces seishiro) Hokuto! Hokuto!
HOKUTO : We finally meet again...... (determinedly) I won't let you kill Subaru!! I won't let you kill him.
SEISHIRO : But with your power, you can't kill me, Hokuto.
HOKUTO : I know that.
SUBARU (bangs on mirror) : Hokuto!!
HOKUTO : I know I could never beat you. But... There is one spell that only I can use...
SEISHIRO : That only you... can use?
SUBARU (yelling in vain) : Hokuto! Stop! Hokuto!
HOKUTO : That's why... I want you to kill me.
SEISHIRO (smiles) : Very well...
SUBARU (scream) : Hokuto!! (hokuto chants a spell, while seishiro's hand pierces her chest)
HOKUTO (before she dies) : Su...ba...ru... (and she creates a ball of light that blows everything away. the mirror cracks and seishiro is standing on the other side)
SUBARU : Seishiro-san!!

(subaru jumps out of bed, sweating. he looks much older here, like the X version... personally of the 3 subaru versions, I like the post X look best. he gets dressed in front of a mirror, an image of hokuto appears *memory playing tricks*)

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 ties the tie for a young subaru) 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. (shows subaru his look in the mirror) All the little rituals of daily life make us more and more intimate. (subaru looks at the mirror sadly which now only reflects himself)
SUBARU : Good morning, nee-san... (and then he breaks the mirror with his fist)

(subaru is sitting on the side of a playground, reading through a briefing)

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. 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 (concentrates) : [I sense nothing...these phenomenons all happened at different times and at different places... that's the effect of a spiritual phenomenon. I think I'll find its source easier at night.]

(at night, all the children leaves the playground)

PEOPLE : Come in! It's ready! Okay! What's to eat tonight?

(suddenly subaru notices a woman pushing a baby carriage)

BABY : kyah... kyah... (subaru sees the woman suddenly glaring at the carriage angrily, but immediately turn into a kind and gentle look) kyah... kyah
SUBARU (taking out a cigarette) : There was something weird about her, and also it's not normal to look at a baby like that. that look... It's not a spiritual phenomenon... (suddenly things in the playground starts to break and bend) But I sense something that resembles a force of will. It's... (suddenly he jumps out of the way and a tree falls on where subaru was standing)

(next morning)

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. If I had the means, I'd leave this H.L.M.
SUBARU : ? (someone is tucking on his shirt)
GIRL (smiles) : Let's play.
SUBARU : Eh?
GIRL (grab his arm) : 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 (she seems to be having fun on the swings) : But it's lots of fun!
SUBARU (curious) : But why'd you ask me to play?
GIRL : Because I thought that... you could help it. (looks afar)
SUBARU : What?
GIRL : I thought that... you could hear it.
SUBARU : Help? But who must I help?
GIRL : Look. Again... (points at a nearby apartment building, suddenly one of the floors explodes, subaru jumps up) Didn't you hear it? I'm sure you could hear it. I'd truly like you to help it. (runs off)
SUBARU : Wait! (calls after her, but a large pit on the ground suddenly appears by some supernatural force and stops him) She disappeared... I could…hear it? Help it... but who must I help? (concentrates) I hear a voice…the cries...of a child... no, he's even younger... (creates a white bird shikigami) Go... go to those... cries...! It went...to this apartment?

(he followed the bird to an apartment, just as he was debating to enter or not, the door opened and the woman from previously *baby carriage* came out. she completely ignored subaru as if he wasn't there and walked down the hall. later in an office, subaru got a printout of the information he needed... he went back to the playground while reading it, at this time it's already nightfall. note: he's smoking now)

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. 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 (suddenly appears next to him) : 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? I want you to help him.
SUBARU : You mean the baby in apartment 1026? What's going on? (suddenly a wave of supernatural attack comes towards them)
GIRL (scream) : Go! Quick, he's crying! He's still suffering!
SUBARU (runs up the stairs) : [I heard the cries of a baby... I don't believe it...] ! (just when he tried to reach for the door knob, a wave hits him) [but... These cries form a terrible spiritual wave!!] (gets up, bangs on the door, no answer) *chant spell*

(he busts in and is shocked to see the woman slapping her own child repeatedly in monotonous motion. the baby has a piece of cloth stuck in the mouth so it can't even cry or yell)

SUBARU : Stop! Stop!(push woman out of the way) But... why...? (hugs the baby protectively)
WOMAN (dreamy smile) : It's my child... He's a part of my body, that's why... I hit him. I'm punishing myself... is it bad to hit him?
BABY (subaru takes the cloth out of its mouth and it starts crying) : kyahh kyahhhh
WOMAN (falls to the ground crying) : 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?! (there's a photo of a man and another woman)

(subaru just looks at her, the baby is crying in the background, afterwards in the playground...)

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. 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... 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... 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 (smiles sadly) : 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. 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. People do bad things...because they are really all alone... (he ghost starts to fade away) 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 (close her eyes) : No, she's not there... in this place, there is no one who has a face as sad as yours. (completely fades away, her voice still echoes in subaru's head) [People do bad things... because they are really all alone]

(the scene fades into falling sakura petals and subaru sees an image of seishirou holding hokuto's dead body. a fierce look passes through his eyes and he turned around and walked away into the night)

end of TOKYO BABYLON

note : for more stories of Subaru and Seishirou, see Clamp's other work X.

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:: volume 06 ::