amatsuki 77

amatsuki 77

1
Text: [Chapter 77: A Song Of A Thousand Torii Gates]

2-3
SFX: [*whoosh*]
SFX: [*splash*]
SFX: [*tap tap*]
Bonten: It looks like the water washed away those corpses...
Bonten: [Where did that water go?  For that matter, where did it come from?]
Susutake: Haha, the whole gate got a good washing!
Susutake: Awesome, now it doesn't stink anymore!
SFX: [*cough cough*]
SFX: [*cough*]
Toki: !
Toki: Hizame-san!?
SFX: [*crash*]
SFX: [*collapse*]
SFX: [*cough cough*]
Hizame: ...Forgive me.  I'll be fine.
SFX: [*ugh*]
Hizame: I just got a bit dizzy.
Ainezu: Hii-sama,
Ainezu: If you can't go on, just say so.
Hizame: Please, don't worry about me!!  You must keep going without me!
SFX: [*gasp*]
Ainezu: But...!
SFX: [*flop*]
Toki: Oh man...

4
Toki: I am soooooo tired!
Toki: After all that, I can't move!
SFX: [*smile*]
Toki: Can't we rest for just five minutes?
SFX: [*rustle rustle*]
Hizame: Tadaa!
SFX: [*pop*]
SFX: [*wow!*]

5
Ainezu: Wow, your origami sure is useful!
Hizame: Ohoho~  Well, I thought we could use a little snack.
Susutake: Huh!?
Susutake: How did you do that!?
SFX: [*chat chat*]
Hizame: Oh, I just wrapped it up!  See, I keep it folded inside until it's needed.
Hizame: I can create a kekkai if I need to store people or large objects, but for small items, I just use this.
Susutake: Wow, that's great!  I was kinda worried that if we were stuck here too long without food, the demons might eat us...
Toki: Susutake-san!
SFX: [*shock*]
Susutake: Huh?
Susutake: What?
SFX: [*gaaaah*]
Toki: You know...
Toki: You're kinda obnoxious...
Hizame: Oho~
Hizame: Thank you, Rikugou-dono.
Hizame: I know you were worried about me.
Hizame: I'm afraid my story is a sad one...
Hizame: The years have become folded up like origami, but the wounds from long ago still remain.

6
Hizame: Sometimes I'm able to forget...
Hizame: But when the years are pulled back, those old wounds still bleed.
Villager: You *what!?*
Hizame: Again,
Hizame: and again...
Villager: You want to save that fish demon!?  You fool!
Villager: It's meat!  Why not eat it!?
Villager: The alternative is starving to death...
Hizame: I've seen those memories so many times...
Hizame: That they've become engraved in my heart.
Hizame: [I often think...]
Villager: I'd rather eat it than starve!!
Villager: This meat is delicious!
Villager: Really!?
Hizame: ["What could I have done differently?"]
Hizame: But,
Hizame: You know,
Hizame: Always thinking about "what-ifs"... is its own kind of curse.
Villager: Give me some!
Villager: Me too!
Hizame: [I ate it too.]
Hizame: [I may be a nun now, calm and enlightened,]
Hizame: [But back then...]
Hizame: [I was just a foolish girl.]
Toki: That's so sad...

7
Toki: I sure wish I could have done a lot of things differently, too...
Toki: But... I 've been thinking...
Toki: Maybe if we could go back and do things over, we wouldn't regret anything...
Toki: But is it really such a bad thing to have regrets?
Toki: I have a lot more regrets now than I used to have, but I think I've gotten stronger, too.
Hizame: [I...]
Hizame: [I've been so focused...]
Hizame: [On the mistakes I made...]

8
Hizame: [That I forgot where humans get their strength.]
Hizame: Because you have love!
Toki: NO!! NO!! AINEZU-SAN, DON'T LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE SCARY EYES!!!!
SFX: [*eeeeek!*]
SFX: [*staaaaaare*]
Susutake: Uh, bro, something been bugging me for a while now.
SFX: [*point*]
Susutake: What the hell is that thing?
sFX: [*fwoom*]
SFX: [*wiggle*]

9
Toki: WTF!?
Toki: Why is it still here!?
SFX: [*wiggle wiggle wiggle*]
Toki: [STOP WIGGLING!!]
Hizame: Well, it's true that the fish demon's ghostly power should have faded by now...
Bonten: Maybe it's still hanging around because of *your* power?
[Hizame: Believe in yourself!]
[SFX: [*sting*]]
Toki: [My power...?]
Toki: ......
Toki: Noooo!!  Why won't this gross thing just go away!!!!!?
Susutake: It doesn't bother me!
SFX: [*waaah*]
SFX: [*waaah*]
Toki: Whyyyyyyy!?  Why can't I just put all those horrors behind me???
Susutake: Oooh, yeah, from before...
Toki: Noooo don't remind me!!
Susutake: Hey... didn't you just say that regrets aren't a bad thing?
SFX: [*grin*]
Susutake: That was you, right?
SFX: [*shock*]
Toki: WAHHHHHHHH!!
Kon: [Don't do anything crazy.  That thing is *you,* remember?
Toki: !?
SFX: [*shock*]
Bonten: Yeah.

10
Bonten: My "soul" was some kind of blood-sucking leech.
Bonten: The doctor was an anglerfish.
Bonten: That's the species where the males spend their lives as parasites on the females.
Bonten: The guy possessed by the Inugami...
Bonten: Was a cannibalistic worm.
Bonten: You were one of those "deep sea alien" jellyfish.
Bonten: You were one of those green monkfish that has a giant mouth.
Bonten: And you, you were just some protozoan, barely above the level of a bacterium.
Bonten: We all have sides to ourselves that we're ashamed of.
Bonten: So just chill out, Rikugou.
Toki: Bonten...
Bonten: Just remember...


11
Bonten: This place is Rashoumon Gate.
Bonten: The entrance to hell.
Bonten: The fish demon was intended to separate us,
[Old Woman: Why don't we pull the hairs from your head?]
[Old Woman: Why don't we strip the clothing]
[Old Woman: From your body?]
[SFX: [*bubble*]]
[SFX: [*stare*]]
Bonten: Just like mermaids are said to lure sailors.
Bonten: The enemy wanted...
Bonten: To find the cracks in our hearts,
Bonten: And use those to drive us apart.
[Background Stuff: Pages 6-7 of chapter 76]
Bonten: The point was to target us one by one...
Bonten: To separate us.
Bonten: Whatever warped fish she showed us...
Bonten: Were meant to throw us off guard.

12
Bonten: Which is why I think we ought to split up from here on.
Toki: What!?
Toki: Wait a minute!!
Toki: If we do that, then what was the point of working together all this time!?
Bonten: Working together?
Bonten: Whatever pretense of cooperation we might have had, it's going to fall apart as soon as it's threatened.
Bonten: No one is going to risk their lives with someone they don't really trust by their side.
Toki: ......!
Kanzou: ...Under any other circumstances, I'd be kicking your ass right now!
Toki: Kanzou...!?
Bonten: .....
Bonten: I don't really care if the rest of you die.

13
SFX: [*glare*]
Toki: ......
Toki: Bonten...!!
Hizame: ...Is something bothering you?
Hizame: So far, we've been able to combine our strengths,
Hizame: But things are likely to get even more difficult.
Hizame: As we just saw,
Hizame: We face enemies who can expose the very deepest secrets in our hearts.
Hizame: What is it that you don't want to see?
Bonten: .....

14-15
SFX: [*jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle jingle*]
Susutake: !
Susutake: .....?
Susutake: Oi!
Susutake: What the hell is that?
Toki: Huh?
SFX: [*jingle*]

16-17
Demon: Red on red -
Demon: If you want to follow those bloodstained priestesses, come this way.
SFX: [*jingle*]
Hizame: .....!
Bonten: .....He's here.
(Note: The hat demon is singing the traditional folk song "Tooryanse," which is about a parent seeking blessings for their child from Tenjin Shrine.  In one common version, there are two verses - in the second verse, the parent returns to the shrine because their child has died.]
Demon: Let me pass,
Demon: What is this narrow pathway?
Demon: Let me pass,
Demon: This is the entrance to Tenjin Shrine.
Demon: Let me pass,
Demon: Let me pass,
Demon: Please let me pass.
Demon: Those without good reason shall not pass.
Demon: But...
Demon: If you want to retrieve the remains of the dead from the Yakou, come this way.
SFX: [*jingle*]

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Susutake: (Whoa...)  Boss, it's just like you said!  They're splitting us up!
Toki: W...
Toki: Wait!!
Toki: We just have to discuss this all together...
SFX: [*gasp*]
Bonten: !
SFX: [*squeak step squeak step*]
SFX: [*squeak step*]
SFX: [*squeak*]
SFX: [*squeak step*]

19
SFX: [*grin*]
???: Don't forget...
???: Little bird...
Bonten: .......!?
???: A bird in a cage can't fly.

20
SFX: [*dash*]
TOki: Bonten!?
Bonten: I'm going after the priestess!!  You take the other path!!
Toki: Wh...
Toki: What...?
Susutake: Whaaaat!?
Susutake: Boss!?
Susutake: Man...
Susutake: He's so reckless...
SFX: [*run*]
Toki: Utsubushi-san?
SFX [*run run run*]
Utsubushi: ......

21
Susutake: Aw man, Big Bird's leaving us too?
Toki: Waaaaahh!!
Toki: Come on, you guys!
SFX: [*gaaaahhh!!*]
SFX [*run*]
Kon: Toki!?
Toki: I'm sorry, but please wait here!!
Toki: I'm going to get those two and bring them back!!
Hizame: But...
Hizame: The other path is disappearing...
Ainezu: We should take the other path before it closes!!
Toki: ......
Toki: I'll be right back!!
SFX: [*dash*]

22
Demon: Let me pass,
Demon: Let me pass.
Demon: What is this narrow pathway?
Demon: It's the entrance to Tenjin Shrine.
Demon: Those without good reason
Demon: Shall not pass...

23
Demon: [Going in might be easy,]
Demon: [But coming back is frightening.]
Kon: Toki!!
Toki: Wah!?
Toki: Kon!?
Toki: Why are you following me!?
Kon: Because I figured you'd start crying if I left you on your own!
Kon: .....!?
Toki: Huh?
Toki: That's...
Toki: No way...
Toki: It can't be...
Demon: [It's frightening, but...]

24
SFX: [*beep*]
Computer: You may pass, you may pass.