Tokyo Crazy Paradise
Hana to Yume
1997 vol. 14; episode no. 22
Translation by Yuki-chan

Ryuji, kneeling and supporting her: "Tsukasa!" He slaps her on the face lightly. "Open your eyes!" {You baka!} "It's me!" She opens her eyes and tries to speak.

Ryuji: "What?" He leans closer to her.

Tsukasa, lifting up a hand as if to wave: "L... Long time no see..." Her voice is shaking, but she explains that she couldn't grab her chain properly because the thing on the end of her chain [a bug-worm according to Tsukasa] wasn't attached. She's kind of laughing.

Ryuji, with a popped vessel: "Don't you have anything else to say!!?" {And with such an non serious expression!!?}

Kamo-san tells Ryuji that they'd better hurry and have the bullet removed. Ryuji picks her up. Asago is watching, with her gun pointed at Kasagi. Her expression is stern, but not jealous.

Tsukasa: "The boat..."

Ryuji: "What?"

Tsukasa: "The boat's too small~~~" There are tears streaming down her face.

Ryuji: "What? Where the hell is your mind?" {Come back!}The vein on his head is popping.

Tsukasa is delirious, and is seeing herself in a tiny boat in a large river. There's music in the background about the boat ride down the Sanzu. The waves are threatening to sink and drown her. "Nooooo!!! I'm going to sink!!! I going to drown!!!"

[In Japan, they say that when you die, you cross the Sanzu river, the equivalent of the River Styx in Greek mythology. In Tsukasa's case, it seems like she's trying to cross an ocean in a rowboat.]

Ryuji: "Go ahead and die before me! I'll never forgive you!"

Tsukasa is only half listening: {...You're mad...? ...Why...? I did my duty as bodyguard... just like I was supposed to... Why are you mad?} She closes her eyes.

Ryuji passes Tsukasa to Kamo-san.

Ryuji: "I'm leaving her in your hands."

Kamo-san nods gravely.

Ryuji: "Don't let her die."

Kamo-san: "...Of course not..."

Kamo-san leaves the ship and takes Tsukasa to their car. Ryuji watches them go. He turns suddenly with his gun drawn and gives everyone the evil eye. [Very impressive.]

Outside in the car, Kamo-san binds up Tsukasa's left shoulder. She comes to.

Tsukasa: "Kamo-san..."

Kamo-san: "Don't worry, it didn't hit a vital spot."

Tsukasa: "Akira-san...There's a police man out there..."

Kamo-san: "...?..."

Tsukasa: "I can't leave him there. If anything happens to him..." She starts crying.

Kamo-san looks at her closely: "Okay, don't worry. We'll just leave him there." [He literally says throw him away there.] He gets into the driver's seat and floors the accelerator.

Tsukasa: "Ka... Kamo-san-----!!"

Back in the ship.

Ryuji: "Shibata, put your hands on the floor." Azumi comes to.

Shibata starts making quick excuses: "I didn't promote the Inverted Cross. I just mentioned that these types of guns existed and Kasagi and other customers wanted them."

Asago: "Liar!! You gave out the guns in return for switching over to your business!!"

Shibata: "That's not true. The customers said they'd switch over to the Gold Dragon clan in return for the Inverted Cross."

Kasagi: "!! That's overstating it!!" {You make it look like it's all our fault.} "If it's that precious a gun then you shouldn't have even mentioned it and none of this..."

Asago: "Anyways!!! The biggest problem here is you, Shibata's oyabun. [Oyabun = head/chief person.] You let out Kuryugumi's secrets!! You have to pay for that!! So follow Ryuji's orders!!"

Shibata: {...This little bitch~~~~~} "Sandaime, forgive me for letting out the word about the Inverted Cross. I will take full responsibility and recover all the guns and I'll have all the customers who switched over go back to Silver Dragon..."

Ryuji fires a shot. The floor smokes. The gun is like a laser. Everyone blanches. "I'm telling you to put both hands on the floor." He's glaring.

Shibata, freaked: "...Sandaime! I was reckless!! I'll never do such a thing again. As proof of my promise I will increase my payments to Kuryugumi..."

Ryuji: "How long have you been living in this world (of the gokudo)? With the police, you'd probably get away with paying money.... But for money not to work like that is the way of the gokudo!!!" Ryuji kicks Shibata in the ribs knocking him over and pins one of his wrists under his foot.

Azumi, who gets up all of the sudden: "Wait a minute!!! Stop it! You don't have to embarrass my father like this in front of his men like this!!! Aren't you the one who said you had to respect their pride!!!?"

Ryuji: "---Wasn't it that to be disrespected by your men could cost your life...."

Azumi starts, and says nothing else. Asago is glaring, and is probably happy inside.

Ryuji: "Don't move Shibata... I have bad aim sometimes. I might miss your pinkie and take off your whole wrist!" [Among the yakuza, it's customary to lose your pinkie as a punishment for treachery, lying, stealing, etc.]

Shibata starts screaming, but you don't know what happens here.

Tsukasa is lying down in a white room. She opens her eyes.

"Where am I? Ummm" She tries to recall what happened.

All of the sudden, a lion comes up from behind her and bites her on the left shoulder.

"A lion? Why is there a lion in the world of the dead!?" She tries to fight the cat off but is helpless. She suddenly comes up with a dog bone and throws is off in the distance. The lion of course ignores it. There's blood spurting everywhere.

"Auugghh!! I forgot that lions are cats!" [How dumb of her... (-_-;) ] She starts screaming when she sees Ryuji walking by with a can of cat food as a tie pin and a cat treat as the yakuza badge.

"Ryuji! Pass me that tie pin and badge!" She looks relieved, but Ryuji just keeps on walking.

Tsukasa: "Hey! Why are you ignoring me? Don't you care if I die!? Aren't we friends!!?" The lion is on her back and she's covered in blood.

Ryuji turns to look at her from far away. "This doesn't involve you..."

Tsukasa is shocked. The words Shibata had said to her echo in her mind. {Really... Is that true..? Do you really...?}

"...Why...? Ryuji!!!"

Tsukasa wakes up to find herself in a bed. Her left shoulder is bandaged and she's confused as hell.

Voice: "I didn't know you thought that much of me to dream about me."

Tsukasa's confused. She turns to see Ryuji sitting beside her bed.

Ryuji: "...How do you feel...?"

Tsukasa says nothing, but slowly reaches out with her good arm.

Ryuji: "...What?" He starts to get up.

Tsukasa: "You bastard!!" She dives out of the bed and delivers a screw punch to his face. [Picture of him with his "face" as a swirl] "You ignored me as I was being eaten by a lion!!! You let me die in the other world too!" {Now where am I supposed to !!?}

She throws herself at him as if she was a football with the spin included.

Ryuji: "Calm yourself will you?" She stops her with a baseball glove. She has tears in her eyes. "You're alive I tell you! See?" He starts fondling her breast.

Bells chime as little angel Tsukasas are dancing with joy. Then she realizes what Ryuji's doing.

A smiley Kamo-san enters: "I'm surprised that you're like this just 2 days later. We were worried that you wouldn't wake up soon." {She's back to her usual self.} "Right Sandaime?"

Ryuji: "...Kind of..."

Tsukasa is back in bed looking away in shame. Kamo-san looks down to see Ryuji on the floor with his arms and legs tied into bows.

Tsukasa: "Is it because the gun I was shot with was a military weapon with its frame removed...?" Kamo-san looks away and glances at Ryuji. "...What exactly is the Inverted Cross..." Kamo-san turns to look at Ryuji, looking away from her. [Ryuji is still on the floor] She notices this and remembers what her brother Taku had said to her earlier. "Oh... Sorry. It's not something you want me to know right? You can't trust a person like me who wants to become a cop... you don't want me involved..."

Ryuji getting up: "Nobody's saying that."

Tsukasa: "...Yes you are."

Ryuji: "No I didn't."

Tsukasa: "Yes you did!" Kamo-san looks back between the two of them as if he's watching a tennis game.

Ryuji: "No I didn't."

Tsukasa: "Yes you did!!! When Shibata Azumi came over, you herded me out saying it had nothing to do with me!! Isn't that evidence that you didn't want me involved!?"

Kamo-san, softly to Ryuji: "...See~~~ I told you she was mad."

Ryuji: "....." {Shut up.}

Tsukasa: "You haven't changed since back then right... Even now, to you I'm still just a police kid." {Even if I thought we were friends...} Shibata's words keep repeating in her mind.

Ryuji, getting mad: "...I didn't say that to mean it like that---"

Tsukasa, also mad: "Then what did you mean!?"

Ryuji: "...It's... kakkowarui..."

Tsukasa: "....Hai?"

Ryuji: "...It's shameful..."

Tsukasa, looking utterly confused: {Th...That's it?} "Why!? Why don't you want me to see you caught between 2 women!?"

Ryuji: "I'm saying that it's shameful!"

Tsukasa starts talking to herself. "I don't get that!....."

Kamo-san: "! Sandaime! It's your chance!! Your chance to tell Tsukasa-san your feelings!! Okay!? Be direct!! I'll get out of the way... Good luck!!!"

Tsukasa: {Oh I get it... He's embarrassed because we're not friends... Maybe some of what Shibata said...} She turns to see Ryuji staring at her and Kamo-san gone.

Ryuji turns to Tsukasa: "Ore...Omae ga sukida." [I like/love you. In Japanese, suki can be interpreted as like or love, which can make things confusing, but love is probably more appropriate. This suki can be used for love of things, friends, lovers etc.] "That's why I didn't want for you to see me like this."

At that point, many things passed out of her mind. The words Shibata said, her questions about the Inverted Cross... it all disappeared except for the words Ryuji had just said. Tsukasa smiles. "Why didn't you tell me earlier!?" She does a flying kick, knocking him to the floor. "Thanks to you I spent my break being blue." She climbs back into bed to sleep.

Ryuji: {...She did get that didn't she...?}

Ryuji leaves the room and meets with Asago who probably came over. She accuses him of skipping school to be at Tsukasa's side again.

Asago, looking both worried and angry: "So did she wake up!? She's not going to die or anything right?"

Ryuji: "That sounds strange coming for you."

Asago: "If she died now, it would be like she won and left so that I can't defeat her again... Especially after seeing that battle."

Ryuji: ".....?"

Asago, looking serious: "---What about scars/after effects...?"

Ryuji: "...We don't know yet."

Tsukasa is smiling to herself. At this point she didn't care what happened.{So what if there are many doors I can't open in Kuryugumi. Who cares about the Inverted Cross. He said that he liked me... From today we're really friends.} She opens her eyes all of the sudden. She blanches. {A... Akira-san...}

That's right. Akira was really just "thrown away there" on the docks, not knowing what happened. [There's a chalk outline of where he was dumped on the dock.] He apparently had returned to the sight in search of Tsukasa who had disappeared, after taking Kasagi and his son into custody...