Tokyo Crazy Paradise
Hana to Yume
1997 vol. 20, episode no. 28
Translation by Yuki-chan

On the rescue boat headed for Tokyo Bay.

Tsukasa, with the kid in her lap: "...Ummm~~~~... Because we survived and all... let's be a bit more happy about it..."

Tsukasa is sitting between Ryuji and Akira, who are glaring at each other above Tsukasa's head. It looks like there's flames in the background.

Ryuji: "...Hey, Tsukasa."

Tsukasa: "N?"

Ryuji: "Didn't this cop know you as a guy? Why does he know this 'Tsukasa'........"

Tsukasa, trying to look cute: "...Eh? ...Um there's a deep reason behind this..."

Ryuji: "...What reason...!?"

Tsukasa: "Eh?"

Akira: "Tsukasa. ...You're living with this guy? I thought you said he was just a friend."

Tsukasa: "...Oh... Um there's a deep reason behind that too..."

Akira: "...What reason!?"

Tsukasa: "Eh?"

Akira and Ryuji: "What reason...!?"

Tsukasa, panicking and holding her head: "Eh?"

Kamo-san: "Sandaime, we've reached the port."

Everyone else was already getting off the boat.

The first thing they see is Asago's very ticked off face.

Bun-san: "....."

Akira looks surprised.

Kamo-san: {U.....}

Tsukasa: {Oh.....}

Ryuji has no expression.

Asago: "...Okaerinasai ...Ryuji..." [Okaerinasai = "welcome back home" It's the best translation I can do.]

Ryuji: "...Aah..."

Asago wraps her arms around Ryuji: "...Thank goodness you're okay....." Asago suddenly notices Tsukasa over Ryuji's shoulder. She moves to slap her, but Tsukasa manages to intercept her arm with both hands.

Tsukasa: "...What's with this...?"

Asago: "It's all your fault that you were too slow to escape!! You're the worst [bodyguard]!! You make the kumicho you're supposed to protect go back into a dangerous situation to save you!? And you call yourself a bodyguard!!?"

Akira starts at this. {...Bodyguard...!?}

Tsukasa is still holding Asago's hand. Her brain is moving very slowly. {...... ...... Made him go back...? ...Does that mean... that if he wanted to he could have gotten away, but he returned...? Him... for me...?} Tsukasa shows this goofy smile. {Hmmmm is that right~~~}

Asago sees this and becomes even more angry. She tries to slap Tsukasa with both hands now, but Tsukasa manages to deflect each blow while moving back, still smiling strangely.

Akira watches this: "-----..." He then turns to Ryuji. "...You..."

Chief: "Where's the one who saw the terrorist bomber?"

Akira starts.

Cop: "Over here. Apparently he was off duty... Huh?"

The cop and the Chief get to where Akira was standing just seconds ago.

Cop: "...That's strange, he was here just a minute ago....." {He's so tall that he stood out in this crowd too...}

Chief: "...Hey..... You're not joking are you... Do you know how many people there are here with a white T-shirt, half jeans and a blue cap!? It's probably faster to make a sketch of the guy. Hurry up and find him!!"

Cop: "Sir, don't get mad at me....."

At knee level height in the crowd.

Tsukasa: "Akira-san, why are you running away? Why don't you just say that you're the witness?"

Akira is running a knee level through the crowd, with Tsukasa at his heels.

Akira: "......"

Tsukasa: "You risked your life to prevent an explosion and all, wouldn't you get rewarded?"

Akira: "...I can't..."

Tsukasa: "Eh?"

Akira: {...I'm a cop on a break to go find a new job... At a time like this when I'm about to get laid off, if my superior finds out that I was having fun at a resort... I'd probably be fired on the spot!!}

Akira's flashback.

Akira: "---Kozuki-san, Kozuki-san! Look!! I managed to get promoted!!" Akira proudly holds up his police ID tag.

Kozuki Yutaka (Tsukasa's father): "Oh! That was quick! You did well Akira. I knew you could do it."

Akira: "Eh, really? I had no confidence....." He laughs nervously. "But I bet I can't get any higher than beta class."

Kozuki: "What are you talking about?" He hands the tag back. "You have more talent than you think. Just do what you think you're the best at and put your heart into it." He pats Akira on the back. "Gambare." [Gambare = go! Fight! Good luck!]

Akira: "Hai."

Some time while Akira was remembering the past, they had stopped running.

Looking at his ID tag, Akira sighs: {I finally got here... I don't want to quit...}

Tsukasa: "...Akira-san... Are you still uncertain...?" {That you can't find the guy.}

Akira: "Eh... No... ...Because you gave me the confidence....."

Tsukasa, looking a bit shocked at first: "...Oh..." {I guess it wasn't a loss to reveal my identity. Maybe Mom and Dad will forgive me...} She laughs embarrassed and looks down.

Akira smiles.

Asago: "My, what a close couple. You guys suit each other well." She's attached to Ryuji's arm. {My how envious.}

Tsukasa: "..."

Akira: {...Eh... Really?}

Asago: "Right Ryuji?"

Ryuji: "-----..."

Akira: "....."

Voice: "Why the hell do I have to be taken away by the police? Iyada!! I haven't done anything wrong!!"

They all turn to the source of the voice. A teenaged boy is about to be taken away by the police. He's dressed in a white T-shirt, half jeans and a blue cap.

Tsukasa: "...Is it him?" {He looks pretty young...}

Akira: ".....I don't think so."

Tsukasa: "He is too young."

Akira: "...Not quite... He's not the one I pictured in my mind...."

People in the crowd: "---Look it's a brat from Kurayoseba."

[kura = competition; yoseba = a place where people are gathered... together they mean!!!!??? I don't know.] Akira starts at this.

The people in the crowd are whispering.

"What's Kurayoseba?"

"The Institute. You know, where they rear kids without parents."

"It's supposed to be the 'National Child Welfare Centre', but I hear it's more like a jail. Everything's planned for them at certain times and there's even robots in the building as supervisors. I hear they're even in the washrooms. On top of that, the kids are called by numbers."

"You know, now that you get money for having kids, there's a lot of parents who have kids solely for the sake of money... so the guards there can't remember their names either."

"Hey... the way you say guard really makes it sound like a jail."

"Well what do you expect? I've heard that 'yoseba's other function is as a jail."

"And look. That kid's being taken in by the police... maybe he's the one that blew up New Heaven~~~?"

"Waaa. That's possible, since he's from yoseba." Tsukasa's dog ears prick up.

"Yeah, you can't expect kids who were sold for money to turn out to be any good. They have no sense of morals." Tsukasa's (dog) ears start twitching. She starts shaking and is ready to explode.

"I wonder what they think human life is worth? They probably don't see people as people."

Tsukasa, really pissed off: "Why the hell do they have to be talked about like that!!!!???" She turns to yell at the people. "Aren't the kids who were sold like that victims!!? Who's the one with no morals!! You, who can say anything you want!!!!?" Ryuji has her on the end of a leash and Tsukasa, in dog form, is trying to attack the crowd like a violent dog.

"Kyaaa!!!"

"What's with this kid!?"

Ryuji: "...Give it up." Ryuji grabs her by the shoulders. "It's useless to say anything to those with a prejudice."

Tsukasa, breathing hard: ".....!"

Akira watches the scene in front of him, and notices one kid in particular. He recognizes the kid.

Tsukasa: "...Akira-san...?"

Cop 1: "...I'm not saying I going to arrest you, I just want you to come with me so we could ask you a few questions."

Kid: " Iyada!! You're thinking in your heads that I'm the criminal! If not, you're going to set it up so that I am the criminal!!"

Chief: "---..."

Cop 2: "...So he was the only one who wasn't present for the lunchtime roll call?"

Woman 1, one of the 'guards' of the yoseba: "...Hai. ...That one's always like that, never listening to what we say. He stands out the most in the group and he is the child that gets into the most trouble...... If he's suspected of planting the bombs, we don't have the confidence to say it wasn't him......"

Woman 2: "......Right." The male guard also agrees.

Conversation between the guards.

"I thought something like this would happen someday..."

"Even the Juvenile Welfare Law states that we have to take the kids out like this at least twice a year if it's going to be trouble like this..."

"Haaaa... [a sigh] If they have money to send them to have fun here then I wish they'd raise our salary instead..."

Chief: "......"

Akira walks passed the chief, who notices his tag plate.

Chief: "......" {...This tag plate...}

The bomber is still watching a fellow member of the Institute.

Male guard: "Come on! You too A-53!"

A-53 (the number of the bomber) notices Akira.

Tsukasa: "What's up?"

Akira: "...There......"

Chief: "?"

Tsukasa: "Eh?"

Akira: "The terrorist bomber."

Tsukasa: "!!? W... Which one..."

A-53 starts dashing away, dropping a towel.

Tsukasa: "AH!!! That one!!"

In Tsukasa's mind, she sees the bomber as skipping away, taunting her to catch him. She catches up with him easily and knocks him to the ground.

A-53: "What are you doing!?"

Tsukasa, with the towel in her hand: "'What are you doing'......? Well let me remind you!!!" She's sitting on the guy's back with the towel wrapped around his neck. She also has her foot on the back of his head, choking him.

Akira: "Hey hey hey Tsukasa~~~~ Leave things like that to the police." He drags her off the guy's back.

Tsukasa: "But Akira-san!!"

Chief, bending down to the guy's height. "...Did you do it......?"

A-53: "...Do what?"

Chief: "Did you plant the bombs?"

A-53: "I dunno what you're talking about."

Chief: "Then why did you run away?"

A-53: "I was going to go the washroom."

Tsukasa: "Did you have to go that bad!!?" She tries to pull down the guy's shorts.

A-53: "Waaa!!"

Chief: "Hey---! You again!?"

Akira drags her away again.

Ryuji: "..."

Chief: "...There's people who saw you acting suspiciously at New Heaven... You were supposively wearing a white T-shirt, half jeans and a blue cap." Behind the chief, Ryuji rips Tsukasa out of Akira's hands.

Akira: "!"

Chief: "...Did you get rid of them?" In the background, Asago rips Tsukasa out of Ryuji's hands and throws her off in the distance.

Akira: "A!"

Ryuji: "..."

Tsukasa: "A-----"

Chief: "...So that if something happened you could put the blame on him?" The boy who was about to be taken in for questioning looks a bit shocked.

The expression on A-53's face doesn't change.

Chief: "...He's like you, a kid from the institute right? Even if you're not suspected, just because he is, you will be regarded as 'a kid from the institute' as well. ---Of course that extends to all those there that are trying to live a decent life." Akira looks on. Tsukasa finds her way back to them but Asago's still angry.

Chief: "Do you understand that!?" The crowd starts whispering again.

A-53 turns suddenly, looking like he's about to yell back.

Akira: "He knew that so that's why he did it."

Everyone turns to Akira in surprise.

Akira: "Even if we try to lead a decent life we're always seen by others like that. No matter how honestly we try to live everyone only tries to see the bad side of the 'kids from the Institute'."

Tsukasa: "...... Akira-san...?"

Akira, smiling: "I bet that's what you were just thinking."

A-53 looks surprised.

Akira: "It's hard isn't it. Just because you're a kid from the Institute nobody believes what you say and nobody trusts you. If you sincerely believe that then I can see why you have become rash like that, because it's easier to deal with." He bends down to the kid's height.

A-53: "......"

Akira, crouching down and balancing on the balls of his feet: ...You were sold by your parents weren't you."

A-53 starts: "......!"

Akira: "A-53."

The kid looks up angrily.

Akira: "When I was about your age, that's what they called me too........."

The kid stares in surprise.

Akira, resting his head on his arms: "...I couldn't stand it... Every time they called me that I felt like I was less human..." {...I felt that that everything in the world was worthless, and I wished that everything would just disappear without shame. ...I could no longer tell the difference between what was good and bad...} "...You... hate your parents don't you........." {...But} The kid nods. "You don't want to become an adult that would get rid of his kid right......?"

The kid: "....."

Akira: "...But you know..." {There was this person...} "You're on the track straight towards the lowest rokudenashi." [Rokudenashi = a good-for-nothing] {Who reminded me what the most important things were......} [Akira is talking about Kozuki Yutaka.]

The kid looks up at Akira, who's smiling. Tears start coursing down his cheeks.

Chief: "---..."

Akira: "...Then I'll ask you once more okay...? ...You know what you did was bad right......?"

A-53: "......" He nods. Tsukasa watches on.

Akira: "You understand you've committed a serious crime......?"

The kid nods again. Akira: "That's a good kid." He starts ruffling the kid's hair.

The kid looks up in surprise with tears still in his eyes.

Tsukasa: {...Ah... He doesn't know how to react. ---He's probably never been praised like that or had his head patted like that.....}

The police take the bomber away.

Tsukasa: {He'll probably reform---... If it were me using strength, I'd never get a criminal to acknowledge that he committed a serious crime...... ---To reform every criminal in the world is impossible even if I spend a lifetime trying...... but...} "...Wow..." She watches as the bomber is lead away to the cruiser. Akira goes to talk to the kid again. Ryuji is standing beside her. {...I'd like to become a cop who can change at least one person like that. I hope someday that I can become a cop like Akira-san!!}

Ryuji glances at her and looks troubled.