Well, the word is out. There's no Doumeki in this week's Holic chapter and I'm sure quite a number of 104 shippers out there are rather diappointed about that and/or the "WataHima(?) overload(??)" in recent chapters. But do worry no more! If you look closely, this chapter is actually a feast for 104 shippers<3! You just have to drift off into daydreams 'read between the lines'....fufu.
Warning: serious delusional fangirl rambling ahead. (But am half-asleep so...)
Holic chapter 120 translation(Japanese->English)
Please do not use my translations in scanlations!
p.1
---
p.2
Watanuki(Wata): "...Yuuko-san...How long....was I asleep?"
Yuuko(Yuu): "Six days."
Wata: "And Himawari-chan? Did you...."
Yuu: "I told her that you've gotten a lot better. And I told Doumeki-kun too."
p.3
Wata: "Yuuko-san...?"
Yuu: "You're not saying it. "
Wata: "Saying what?"
Yuu: "Asking me to do something about Himawari-chan and saying that you'd pay the price all by yourself."
Wata: "....I was planning to. "
Wata: "But I was wondering what Himwari-chan'd think if she heard what I might have done to pay that price"
p.4
Wata: "I don't think she'd be happy about it. I'm sure it....would hurt her feelings very badly."
Wata: "Just as I don't want anyone('s feelings) to get hurt for my sake, I'm sure Himawari-chan also.....doesn't want to hurt anybody('s feelings)."
Yuu: "....yes"
p.5
Wata: "That's why I'll do my best. I'll do what I can to make her smile even the tiniest bit."
Yuu: "This is what good children deserve."
Wata: "I'm not a kid anymore, you know."
p.6
Wata: "huh.....[I'm falling asleep] again...."
Yuu: "Sleep, so you'll get better as soon as possible."
Wata: "But...I'm sleeping all time. Is there nothing I can...."
Yuu: "Then take this."
Wata: "What is it?"
Yuu: "That's the price I received for the water you fetched. That's why it's yours."
p.7
Yuu: "Hold it in your sleep and it will hatch."
Yuu: "It will turn out as you want it to turn out."
p.8
Egg: "It's so warm. You're very gentle. You're holding me with very gentle feelings in your heart."
Egg: "That's why I'll be able to become gentle myself."
p.9
Egg: "I'll be raised to be gentle."
Egg: "How will I turn out? How do you want me to be?"
p.10
Wata: %I want her to be happy. I'm sure she was lonely. I'm sure she was sad.%
Wata: %But despite that she smiles. And it doesn't have to be all that much, but I wish for her happiness. %
Egg: "Yes. I've understood."
p.11
Egg: "So that she'll become happy, so that she will be able to smile for real, I'll hatch."
p.12
---
p.13
Wata: ".....so you were the one talking to me in my sleep."
Yuu: "I see it hatched."
Wata: "This...?"
p.14
Yuu: "I see. So this is how it turned out."
Yuu: "Himawari-chan's power does not affect this bird. In a way you could say it's just like Doumeki-kun."
Yuu: "That's why it's okay for it to be with Himawari-chan."
p.15
Yuu: "It's not like it can do anything, but it will be with her unconditionally."
Yuu: "I'm sure that will mean a lot to her(/make her happy)."
p.16
Yuu: "Just like you have changed through your encounters with others, Himawari-chan has also changed."
Yuu: "And she will keep changing from now on."
Yuu: "If she strongly believes in it...and if there's someone who believes in it with her."
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thoughts and comments:
What a nice chapter! I prefer to have a chapter like this when there's a two(?) week break for Holic. (I mean, would you rather have a 104 cliffhanger?! Clamp-sensei can save those for a month without breaks <3!) Anyway, I'll just leave my comments chronologically, as usual.
p.1
This chapter is giving me some serious flashbacks. I remember a SeiSub poster with a similar theme that was furoku in Asuka YEARS AGO. All strings and bells and !fate written all over it (not really). Hmm....I wonder if we're getting a matching pic with Doumeki some time. Yeah, as if XD! Ok, I know I'm probably delusional but let a girl dream!
p.3
Yeah, with all that "worrying that he could hurt Himawari's feelings" on Watanuki's side some might think Doumeki is getting the short end of the stick. If that's what you think, I can assure you: it's absolutely not that way^^. There is a reason Watanuki never apologizes to or thanks Doumeki. Sure, a great part of it is that he's shy/embarrassed and doesn't want to admit any gratitude to Doumeki at all. Now what's really behind this is that Doumeki is Watanuki's safety net. He doesn't need to worry about Doumeki hating or rejecting him because no matter what Watanuki did or said to him Doumeki would stay with him. And he knows that. It's really easy to understand if you think of them as a married couple *slightly delusional*. I mean, they behave like one ALL OF THE TIME anyway. *cough* What was I writing about? Ah, yes. Watanuki knows about it. Why not think of it as an unspoken agreement between them? Feelings are hurt but there are no apologies and, more important no regrets.
[will edit/continue tomorrow. I'm falling asleep...I might delete this later because I'm sure it will sound totally absurd once I'm out of my sleep-deprived state..]
Watanuki wishes for everybody(Kamui + Suu flashback) to find happiness and for nobody to get hurt. It is true that he himself has talked about helping/ helped quite a lot of 'people' he 'barely knows' so far (i.e. like Zashiki warashi, ghost woman, Kohane etc..). But it's the ones he doesn't talk about that matter.
p.5
Now, I really, really like Watanuki saying this. Instead of saying "he'd do everything" like before, he's really come to learn that it is more important to do "what he can do". Neat. Yay for spider woman. She did teach him his lesson <3.
And I also love Yuuko in this scene...
p.6
Is it just me, or is anyone getting Harry Potter flashbacks? The "egg of requirement", is it now? Actually it's a wish egg.
I wonder if that egg could really turn into anything (besides animals). Maybe we'll hear some kind of explanation later(in Tsubasa...?).
p.10
Lovely scene. Have you ever notices how Watanuki -selfless as he is- never wishes for his own happiness. And to me, the fact that he wishes Himawari happiness means that he does so because he is not going to be the one to make her happy. As far as I remember he has never said that he wants to make her happy personally. And there's a big difference in wanting somebody to be happy and wanting somebody to be happy with you. Watanuki 'creating' the bird for Himawari is only adding up to my theory.
He wants someone to be there for her when she is lonely or sad, someone who will be with her unconditionally and will make her happy. Sorry. I'm half asleep. Am I making any sense at all??
p.11
Definitely indictaing that Himawari-chan's smile has been fake so far.
p.14
So Himawari-chan doesn't affect Doumeki. Big surprise. He's by far the most fortunate guy in Holic's world. I'm wondering if this will make Watanuki "partly-immune"(-->blood) against her power, too.
Serious delusions (I should go see a doctor. Maybe.):
Congratulations on your first-born Watanuki XD *please don't hit me*! And since Doumeki helped Watanuki with fetchthing water it's actually their baby, er, egg I mean.....*see what this series has done to my head?! I'm afraid the damage is beyond repairable by now.*
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Tsubasa:
And Tsubasa seems to be turning gayer week by week. Thankfully I feel no moe er, chemistry betweeen me and that manga. Thank goodness!(Couldn't afford to get hooked on another series
P.S.: Sorry that I haven't replied to all of the comments in the last post yet, but I'm really busy at the moment *_*!
University's starting soon and I'm moving back into student dorm in a few days and since I've only just come back
from Japan and that 3-week holiday I haven't even started packing my stuff....oh boy.....