Rurouni Kenshin Manga Translations
Volume Eight--On the Meiji Toukai Way
Part 63--Makimachi Misao
Kenshin: My sword . . .?
Misao: Yeah. You’re wearing it even though there’s an edict against them, so it must be
pretty valuable. Right?
(She punches; Kenshin dodges, but she lands the next one.)
Misao: How bout that!
Kenshin (holding up the sack of money): How indeed. (It did kind of hurt though . . .)
You’re small, so even a blow to a
vital point doesn’t have much power. Stop that. Now about the money--
Misao: Now I’m mad! (holding up a handful of kunai daggers) Give it back! It’s mine!
Take this, Kansatsu Tobikunai!!
(Kenshin whips her cloak in front of him, glancing the kunais aside.)
Misao: My--my cloak!!
Kenshin (holding up the cloak, now full of holes): Oh, sorry about that.
Misao: Give it back! My cloak and my money!!
Kenshin: The money is sort of different from the cloak, isn’t it?
Misao: If it’s in my hands, it’s mine!! (Kenshin is rather shocked) All right, first pay me
back for the cloak. I’ll take the sword instead!
Kenshin (sighing): All right, here you go.
Misao (drawing it): Let’s see what we got--huh? (The blade’s backwards!)
Kenshin: As you can see, it’s not an ordinary sword. You won’t get much for it at a
swordsmith’s.
Misao: Well, even not much is something. I’ll take it.
Kenshin: ORO?!? Wait a minute! That’s my beloved blade!!
Misao: So what? I liked that cloak too!
Kenshin: Okay, okay, I’ll give you all the money I have!
Misao (counting it): This is just small change. You really are broke.
Kenshin (slinking off): All right. I’m going to return the money to its original owner.
From now on, stop stealing from people.
Misao: (We’re right back where we started!) Wait a minute! That’s mine!
(Kenshin: I can’t deal with her.)
Misao: Just you wait . . .
(One of the defeated men watches them go.)
(In town)
Kenshin (finding the shop whose name was on the bag): This is the place, Tamura Money Exchange,
Odawara Inn. They still don’t know they’ve been robbed.
We’ll give it back and all will be well.
(He leaps to the rooftop.)
Misao: Not bad. Oh, I get it. You’re really a robber too? But this is nothing.
(she leaps up beside him.) How was that?
Kenshin (thinking): She's good with kempo and with her tobikunai . . . this is no ordinary girl.
Of course, her clothes are
already out of the ordinary . . . (She's of no age to bare her thighs.)
Misao: Huh? (What?)
(They enter. Kenshin replaces the bag.)
Kenshin: Well . . . this is good.
Misao (bandanna tied under her nose, a bag in each hand): This is good!
Kenshin (marching her out): What are you thinking. We did what we came to do, and we’re
leaving.
Misao: But without money I can’t get back to Kyoto!
Kenshin: You live in Kyoto?
Misao: I ran out of money on the way back from Tokyo. That’s why I was robbing them. At least
until you got in the way!
Kenshin: But why would a girl travel alone, all the way to Tokyo--
Misao: I was sort of looking for someone. (They walk along a
bridge.) I’ve been alone in the world soon after I was born. Way back in the time of the
Bakumatsu, he and his friends took me in and raised me. When the Meiji era began, they
went out to wander the country, and left me with this old guy he knew in Kyoto.
But I wanted to see him. I’ve been hearing rumors about him, so I ran away to look for him.
(strangling Kenshin)
And I struck out everywhere!!
Kenshin: Well, I understand the situation, but, um--
Misao: Oh, my name? It’s Misao. Makimachi Misao.
Kenshin: But no matter how much you need the money, it’s wrong to steal.
Misao: Then how am I supposed to get to Kyoto!
Kenshin: Use the money I gave you to send a letter your guardian and ask him to come get you.
Misao: I see!
Kenshin: Another thing, since those men
were probably from the yakuza around here, we should leave Odawara--
Yakuza: There they are!!
(Yakuza have blocked off both sides of the bridge.)
Yakuza: This way!! Cut them off!!
Misao: Persistent little . . . About thirty men. You’re a swordsman, think you can take half of them?
Kenshin: I give up . . . even though I didn’t want any contact with people . . .
Yakuza: What, you puffed-up little shrimp! We’ll kill you too!
(Kenshin deals two great blows to the bridge.)
Kenshin (sheathing the sword): You were wrong to work as robbers, but Miss Misao, a bandit, was
in the wrong too. I was involved as well, so forgive me for this mutual punishment.
(The bridge collapses. After the dust settles, yakuza pick themselves up, clambering out of
the river.)
Misao (eyes spinning): I’ve never seen anything like that. That was amazing.
Kenshin (helping her up): I had to get used to fighting on bridges and riverbanks in the old
days. On this type of bridge, as the enemy came to attack, their weight would approach the
center and it could easily be destroyed.
Misao: Hmm . . . but the people I’m looking for would have done it better.
Kenshin (smiling): Is that so . . .
Misao: During the Bakumatsu they defended Edo Castle from the shadows. (she is oblivious to
the shock she has caused Kenshin) I wonder what they’re doing now . . . Lord Aoshi and
everyone in the Oniwabanshuu . . .