Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Twenty-Eight--Toward a New Age
Part 251--HURRY GO ROUND
(The police boats have arrived. As Saitou directs the investigation of the island, Enishi is
led off in custody.)
Kaoru: Misao.
Misao: Yeah?
Kaoru: Did you bring what I asked you for? It's all right, isn't it Kenshin?
Kenshin: Yes . . . That's best.
Kaoru: Wait!
(Enishi turns his head.)
Kaoru (holding out Tomoe's old, worn diary): Here . . . take this.
That was the last we saw of Yukishiro Enishi. When we reached Tokyo Bay,
he had disappeared from the ship, along with Tomoe's diary.
One week later.
(A summer's day at the Kamiya dojo. Aoshi, Megumi, Sanosuke and Misao are out on the verandah;
the last two are eating watermelon.)
Misao: So, how's the search going?
Aoshi: The same. Yukishiro Enishi's whereabouts are still unknown. The police have achieved
their objective of breaking up the arms smuggling ring, but they're still searching for him
frantically in an effort to save face. Except for Saitou.
Saitou: Yukishiro Enishi as he is now couldn't kill anyone. Searching for that
wreck of a man is a waste of time.
Aoshi: He's already been transferred to his next assignment.
Misao (through a big bite of watermelon): He's gotta be dead though right? If he jumped into
the ocean he had to've drowned.
Sanosuke: Doesn't matter. As long as that nutcase stays away from us.
A voice from inside: Hey! Are you eating watermelon without me?
(Yahiko, covered in bandages, bursts out, followed by a worried Tsubame.)
Yahiko: Where's mine!
Misao: There's no yours. (Why would there be?)
Tsubame: You're not supposed to be walking around-
Sanosuke: What, you get up just to bother us?
Yahiko: Huh? Where's Kenshin?
Tsubame: Can't you be a little quieter-
Sanosuke: What're you talking about?
Misao: Himura and Kaoru are in Kyoto.
Yahiko: Oh, okay.
Tsubame: If your wounds reopen . . .
Misao: Himura's so amazing. He was a mess when we got back, but he's already up and around.
Yahiko: Hey, shut up!
Misao: But he's a practitioner of the Hiten Mitsurugi school, so his body just works
differently.
Megumi (thinking): That's not true. In fact, it's just the reverse . . .
(In Kyoto, Kenshin and Kaoru enter a cemetery. As they approach Tomoe's grave, they are
shocked to find fresh flowers, incense and two gifts laid before the grave--a
hairpin and a bottle of perfume.)
Kaoru: Could Yukishiro Enishi have been here?
Kenshin: The flowers . . . maybe, but . . . (thinking) This . . .
(He picks up the hairpin.)
Kenshin (thinking): What relatives does Tomoe have left besides Enishi?
Kaoru: Kenshin? What's wrong?
Kenshin: Oh. It's nothing.
(They pray before her grave.)
Kenshin: What did you say to her?
Kaoru: Oh . . . "Thank you." During his Earthly Justice and in the end, on the island, what
saved me is that Enishi couldn't kill a girl of Tomoe's age. But now that I think about it,
I feel as though Tomoe was protecting me . . . (she blushes a little) And I guess I have a
lot of other things to thank her for as well.
(She turns back toward the grave.)
Kaoru: Yukishiro Enishi . . . I wonder where he disappeared to. He said that death is the
only way to atone for the sin of taking life. But if you think about it, he himself has
killed. He was a criminal that sold weapons to murderers. But I don't think he would have
killed himself.
Kenshin: No . . . I think he's alive. When time stopped for him, fifteen years ago, he
wouldn't have thought about it, but now that time is moving again, that's no longer true.
He has to atone. Not through death, but in life. If he doesn't, Tomoe will never smile
for him . . . Unless he atones, and is able to smile himself, the Tomoe inside Enishi
will never smile again.
Kaoru: That's so hard . . .
Kenshin: But, the real Tomoe was kinder than anyone I ever knew. I'm sure she's watching
over Enishi. She'll always watch over him . . . At least, that's what I believe.
Kaoru: You're right.
(She picks up the wooden bucket that contained the flowers.)
Kaoru: Kenshin. What did you say to--
Kenshin: Like you, Miss Kaoru, I said "Thank you." And, "I'm sorry." And, "Farewell" . . .
(Kaoru looks at him in surprise. Kenshin offers her his hand.)
Kenshin: Let's go.
(In Rakuninmura, Oibore is walking through the streets singing loudly.)
Oibore: Oh, well, what the hell. Oh, well, what the hell. Oh, well--
(He stops. Enishi, dirty, bloodstained, and clutching Tomoe's diary, is slumped against a
wall. Oibore sits down next to him.)
Oibore: New here, eh, youngster? You know, I wonder if we haven't met before . . . Ho ho ho,
must be my imagination.
Enishi (listlessly): Maybe it's my imagination as well, but I feel like I've seen your face
before as well.
Oibore: That's good, then. Both our minds are playing tricks on us. You must have lost
something to look so broken down. But I don't need to hear about that. As long as you
didn't throw it away, then just like him, you won't be one of those who lives in this
dungheap. The time will come when you walk out of here again. Until then . . . I think
it's some good fortune that led you to rest here a while.
The real Tomoe was kinder than anyone I ever knew. I'm sure she's watching over
Enishi. She'll always watch over him . . .
translations by maigo-chan
last updated 10 july 2002