X from Asuka 11, 2000
Another rather demented summary and translation from your correspondent in Japan.
Okay, y'all, brace yourselves.
[COLOR PAGE! A blood-spattered background, above which Subaru's right-side-up white pentagram is superimposed on Seishirou's inverse black one. In the center of it is one of those funky onmyoujutsu symbols that may or may not mean anything.]
[COLOR 2-PAGE SPREAD! My friends, this is a thing of beauty. Subaru in white shikifuku patterned with cobwebs and sakura; Sei-chan in a black kimono with the same pattern. The two of them are back-to-back and turned towards the reader, and their hands are bound to each other with red thread tied with bells. Seishirou is lifting up a sort of diaphanous dark veil and wearing his typical knowing smile; Subaru is tugging at the red thread with his teeth. Is he trying to escape, or merely look angstfully sexy? You decide.]
At Shrine Wherever, the DoH are freaking out.
Yuzuriha: That's Subaru-san's kekkai!
Sorata: What's going on!?
Kamui arches his head back and clenches his fists in concentration. Yes, the attractive beads of sweat are still there. In his mind's eye, he sees Subaru and a dark trench-coated figure smiling from amidst swirling sakura petals.
Kamui: That's the Sakurazukamori.
More Dramatic! Shock! from the DoH.
Arashi: They're at...
Sorata: Rainbow Bridge...
Yuzuriha: But Hinoto-san said the next kekkai to be broken would be here...!
Puppy-Inuki takes this opportunity to bark loudly. (Kristin experiences severe flashbacks from "Lassie".)
Yuzuriha: What is it!? Inuki!
Without so much as a by-your-leave, Kamui takes off running. Sorata whirls.
Sorata: Kamui!
He stops in his tracks and looks back. Oooooh, the determination in those big eyes! *heart*
Kamui: I'm going where Subaru is.
Sorata sweatdrops and nods slightly.
Sorata: I guess we'll have to split up.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the dreamscape, Evil Hinoto is watching the proceedings with an Evil Smirk. (Sorata and Yuzuriha stay where they are, while Kamui and Arashi are leaping from building to building through the mighty skyscrapers of downtown Tokyo! The larch, the fir, the mighty Scotch pine! ...Er....)
Smirking Evil Hinoto: It's useless. The Dragons of Heaven shall die, one by one.
Looking up at the doings of her evil self through some sort of freaky giant eye-shaped looking glass, Good Hinoto is sniveling away wretchedly. Suddenly she senses a presence; a shadow appears on the paper screen behind her. And BOO! It's Kakyou. (Wait a minute... what happened to going to the beach with Fuuma?? That was a short date.)
Hinoto: Why are you...
Kakyou: Because our dreams are linked to one another. The place in which you are shut away is... still part of a dream.
Hinoto: ...Please, stop my other self. If this continues, the Dragons of Heaven will...
Kakyou: I stand opposed to that. I am one of the Dragons of Earth. And besides...
Good Hinoto crumples, tears pouring down her face.
Kakyou: You know as well as I do, don't you?
The eye-shaped looking glass thingie zooms in on Rainbow Bridge and Subaru, whose trenchcoat is blowing in a wind of apparently tornadic intensity. (We have sakura petals... repeat, we have sakura.)
Kakyou: The future cannot be changed.
Back at the bridge, Sei-chan is flinging evil dark ofuda like mad. They go whipping past Subaru and land around him in a circle of which Subaru is the epicenter. Again lightning zaps from the sky. We then have a 2-page spread of the center of the bridge exploding. There is rather large kersplash.
Subaru steps out of the rubble onto a sort of concrete crag. The bandages around his right eye have started to come undone. Seishirou looks on, smiling faintly. Chanting, Subaru does more fabulous tricks with ofuda and sends them flying in bird-shape at Sei-chan.
Subaru: Shuku! You! Dou! Hikuu!!
Sei-chan dodges, but Subaru sees him doing it, and sends the barrage after.
Subaru: Hikuu!!
Sei-chan puts up a shield, and then (KYAAA! this is so fricking cool) whips off his trenchcoat and uses it to deflect the onslaught. (And puts it back on slick as a whistle. Ladies and gentlemen, a big round of applause, please.) Subaru's ofuda flutter downward and litter the rubble of the bridge. Then Sei-chan lifts his hand slightly, and once again the sakura begin to fall.
The whirl of petals turns into a tumult, and illusory branches snake out to ensnare Subaru, twisting around his limbs. For a moment he hangs in darkness, entangled and trapped.
With one hand, he pulls a single ofuda from the sleeve of his coat and closes his eyes. Blood dribbles down his thumb as he lifts it. Sei-chan's illusion explodes into a shower of blackened petals, and Subaru stands once again on the bridge.
Subaru: Even without an illusion like that, I've been caught by the sakura.
He loweres his head, staring at Sei-chan. The bandages have almost entirely unraveled.
Subaru: Ever since that day.
Still smiling, Sei-chan reaches up and removes his sunglasses.
Seishirou: The Kamui of the Dragons of Earth was saying that no one but me can fulfill your true wish.
Subaru reaches up and pulls off the the rest of the bandage. Loosed to the wind, it flutters toward Sei-chan, who reaches out and grasps the end of it with one hand.
Seishirou: But it seems that wish is different from what I had thought.
His sightless eye glints as he smiles at Subaru.
Seishirou: Isn't your wish to kill me?
Subaru meets his gaze with one green eye, one white.
Subaru: No.
[SIDE NOTE! The layout of this 2-page spread is JUST like the one in Tokyo Babylon Vol. 6 when Hokuto tells Sei-chan, "No. It's because it's you." (If I remember right, she says "Chigau wa. Anata dakara yo.") How haunting.]
Subaru extends his arm to battle position, and Sei-chan does the same. Power builds around them, and then the camera pulls back.
The whole
bridge
explodes
with
atomic
force.
On the next page, Subaru's star-shaped kekkai starts to disintegrate.
Not far away, Kamui jerks as though his heart has stopped. From the top of the building they are currently leaping from, he and Arashi can see the five-pointed shield melting from the sky.
Arashi: The kekkai's come undone...!?
...And can you guess what Kamui has to say about that? Come on, all together now:
SUBARU-----------------!!!
[And he speaks with the voice of many, many fangirls. The font's not as big as last week, but the scream is clearly longer and ends with more exclamation points.]
To be continued.
....... We are currently taking bets: Is this the end for Subaru? If it is, will Kristin self-destruct? Will she stop reading X forevermore? Or will she fly to Tokyo and personally punish CLAMP in creative and excruciating ways involving red-hot knitting needles, whips, and duct tape? FIND OUT NEXT MONTH!
But seriously, folks, I am in grave distress. Part of me is screaming, "THEY CAN'T KILL HIM NOW!!! What would be the point!?! And what would Kamui do?!?" while the other part is snarling, "I wouldn't put it past them, the bastards." But for the moment I think I'll keep clinging to hope.
Thoughts?
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