妖しのセレス (Ayashi no Ceres) Volume 9 Translation (Part 1) Formatting conventions: text = character's thoughts [text] = narration //text// = sound effects, when necessary {text} = translation notes Page 4 Tooya: "Miori?" Tooya: "Why do you look just like... Ceres?!" Page 5 Ceres: "...Sahara, are you one of the C-Genoma?" Ceres: "No, more to the point... you're one of my own bloodline, aren't you?" Miori: "It makes no difference to me I hate you--or rather, Aya Mikage--now bring her out!" Ceres: "You said something about 'revenge'... what did you mean?" Miori: "Why don't you turn into Aya, and I'll explain it to you." Ceres: "What a pity, then... she doesn't seem to want to come out." Miori: "...well if that's so..." Page 6 Miori: "I'll bring her out my own way!" [Miori flings a burst of energy at Tooya, who shields it. In the ensuring confusion, Ceres turns and flees.] Miori: "Wait, damn you!!" Page 7 [Inside Mikage International...] Man 1: "Ceres is outside!! Shit... we had her dead to rights!" Kagami: "Retrain the camera and follow their movements." Kagami: "Miori... I told her she couldn't just do as she pleased, but she's completely lost control of her emotions..." [Wei turns, and notices Shiso's absence.] Wei: "Master?!" Page 8 Tooya: ...what does it mean? Tooya: Why does Miori look like Ceres is she C-Genoma, just like me?! Tooya [remembering Miori's words]: [I hate Aya Mikage] Tooya: Aya... Aya Mikage Tooya: "Shit...!! This headache... I can't..." Shiso: "It's useless, you know. You won't be able to remember that girl for the rest of your life. Why don't you just forget about her?" Page 9 Shiso: "She's been my woman for a long time... more than a thousand years... Do you always want to take what doesn't belong to you?" Page 10 Tooya: "Aya Mikage... ?!" Tooya: "...to take... why? I... Aya Mikage...?" Shiso: "Kagami said she was already out of your life... but it seems like you can't manage to completely forget her." Shiso: "That itself makes my blood boil... Kagami has such a halfassed way of doing things." Tooya: "What are you talking about...?!" Shiso: "Why don't I clue you in..." Page 11 Shiso: "This 'Tooya Mizuki' doesn't even exist." Shiso: "It's all lies." Shiso: "Many months ago... you were carried into the laboratory, unconscious and bleeding to death. Wei and Assam had their suspicions about my reasons for not going to attack you... and thanks to you, seizing her has been much easier than I thought." Shiso: "Kagami said that he'd implanted false memories in order to remake your former personality... now, you're going to join us..." Shiso: "...and you're going to leave Aya behind..." Page 12 Shiso: "When it all comes down to it, your memories are those of a perfect stranger--nothing more than pathetic marionettes that somebody put in your head." Tooya: "...Nonsense!!" Shiso: "It seems that Kagami wants your powers. However, I have no use for them." Tooya: "It's all... fake?!" Shiso: "After all... you're going to simply disappear." Page 13 [Tooya turns and flees Shiso.] Tooya: Fakes? Tooya: Marionettes put in my memories? Tooya [remembering Aya's words]: [Tooya, it's me! Aya!] Tooya [remembering Miori's words]: [Oh, yeah! Now I remember!] Tooya: 'Tooya Mizuki doesn't even exist'?! Then...then...what am I?! Page 14 Tooya: Who am I?! [Back with the Mikage...] Kagami: "...Our Shiso really doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut... doesn't matter who he's talking to." Kagami: "I was going to use Miori to carry out my plan, but her personality has become far too much to handle." Kagami: "The creation of a personality is no easy task... I'll have to remove his memories and implant him a new ones again." Kagami: "...so..." Kagami: "Go catch him!" Man 2: "Chief! I've found Ceres and Ceres Type-B!" Kagami: "All right then... keep following them, this way we can observe their original powers." Page 15 Miori: "Hold still! Don't run away!!" Ceres: No doubt about it... this girl is a descendant of mine. Ceres: But why...?! Miori: "It's pointless to flee..." Miori: "I have the same powers as you, after all..." Miori: "Now bring Aya Mikage out..." Page 16 Miori: "Quickly!" [Miori blast the side of a building, showering glass all over Ceres, who screams.] Page 17 [Meanwhile, in the limbo state that Aya floats in...] Aya: This place... what tranquility... Aya: Can't hear a thing... can't see a thing... Aya: If I could stay this way forever... I'd never have to deal with anybody... Aya: I won't hurt anyone... no one will hurt me... Urakawa: "I won't hurt myself, if only I let life take its natural course..." Urakawa: "...and in the end, I realize all is said and done." Page 18 Urakawa: "But... finally I found someone I can rely on..." Aya: Urakawa Urakawa: "It was the first time that I met someone I wanted to protect..." Urakawa: "...I didn't want to lose him, and consequently I closed my eyes on the harsh reality... till the end." Urakawa: "...however... once closed, my eyes were forever blind to the truth." Urakawa: "Aya, you too... do you turn a blind eye to reality?" Page 19 Miori: "Come out, Aya Mikage!!" Miori: "You can't run away forever!!" Page 20 [Miori and Ceres fight near street level, causing several traffic accidents.] Ceres: "If there's no other way than to fight you...!!" [Ceres being charging power... meanwhile, back in the limbo world...] Aya: "If I close my eyes, I won't see what I don't wanna see. I don't wanna be that dirty girl any longer." Aya: "...I'm miserable, and I'm gradually turning into someone shameful that I can't stand..." Hirobe: "I can understand your feelings because I like him... because I like him but I hate him..." Hirobe: "Still... in spite of being so shameful, somebody loved me." Aya: Hirobe Page 21 Hirobe: "I don't want to become a Tennyo... someday I want to be happy..." Suzumi: "Exactly... I want you to be happy, just like me." Aya: "Suzumi...!" Aya: "But...!! How long do I have to wait? I'm always so sad, so worried!! I'm not that strong!" Suzumi: "Nor am I." Suzumi: "When I lost my husband and child, I denied my own destiny... however, now I know that I have to live my life as is, instead of fighting my fate." Page 22 Tooya: "...Aya... Aya... Mikage..." Tooya: "Aya...!!" Tooya: "Sh... shit...!!" Tooya: "Are these things... that he said... true? ...why...!!" Shiso: "Are you still trying to remember Aya?" Page 23 Shiso: "You don't look so steady, there... it would be easier if you just forgot her, wouldn't it?" Shiso: "Feels like your skull's going to split, doesn't it? Perhaps somebody manipulated you so that your head would hurt you when you tried to think about Aya..." [Ceres and Miori, outside, continue to do battle.] Page 24 Shiso: "Such a fight... those girls are something, aren't they?" [So saying, Shiso seizes Tooya by the head and lifts him.] Page 25 Tooya [struggling in vain]: "...ku..." Shiso: "You were quite strong before, but when your personality changed, you became insignificant! If you were the same bastard as before, you wouldn't lose your composure!" Shiso: "I'll solve the little problem of your headache for you... trust me, you'll forget about Aya Mikage forever!!" Ceres [flying by the window where Tooya and Shiso are]: "Tooya?!" Page 26 Aya: "What do you expect me to do?" Aya: "Do you want me to be even worse off?" Aya: "I don't need Tooya by my side any more. I have to forget him! I'll forget him!!" Shuro: "...I wanted to be with him, but it was so very hard..." Page 27 Shuro: "I was lying to myself, and in truth I didn't really run away..." Shuro: "...but my voice will be able to reach him..." Shuro: "'I love you'" [Aya, for once, is speechless with her emotions...] Page 28 [And suddenly, in the real world... Ceres begins crying.] Ceres: "These tears... Aya's?!" Tooya: "...ya ...Aya...!! Aya: Those women are like me now. Even though their hearts were torn, and they cried out... they loved somebody desperately. Aya: "But... if I go back, I'll feel very sad, and we'll always hurt each other..." Aki: "...the chains can't be broken so easily, can they?" Page 29 Aki: "Don't you stay here forever!" Aki: "Hey, the life is very esay here but you feel lonely; it's dark and nothing happens." Aya: Aki Tooya: "A... ya!" Aki: "I want you to stay alive in order to protect the things that are important to you... you can do it!" Aki: "To the Mikage family... and to me... you're our only hope." [Aki's face fades to Shiso's in the real world.] Shiso: "Are you still worried about Aya!!" Page 30 Shiso: "If you call her name again... I'll obliterate you!" Aya: Really? Can I do it? Aya: I have to do it! Aya: I don't want to run away from anybody Aya: I'm going back Aya: Will my voice reach him? Aya: I have to try, to cry out his name... To... Aya: ...ya Aya: TOOYA Page 31 Tooya [grabbing Shiso's arm and twisting it]: "Aya---------!!" Page 32 [Aya snaps back into the real world... replacing Ceres...] Aya: My voice has... [...and finds herself standing on a window ledge, high above the city streets... looking across the chasm of the street to see Tooya and Shiso in the windows of the building across the way.] Aya: ...reached him Aya: "...Too... ya...?" Continued in Part 2...