Wed, 25 May 1994 00
Pei Lee: _SPOILER_ Summary:Tokyo Babylon vol. End
This is my first attempt to write a summary/synopsis for manga, so it's
probably pretty bad. Please bear with it. I only have vol. End with me, so the
background info may contain some errors. Gomennasai.
WARNING!!!
If you're crazy about Tokyo Babylon and you've gotten something important
to do within the next few days, do NOT read this.
I feel it's probably safe to do it now since people who REALLY cared would
have read it by now.
***************************************
Some background info for people who have yet to read #5, #6, #7 :
In vol. Rebirth (#5) Sakurazuka Seishirou injured his right eye when
protecting Sumeragi Subaru from a mother, who's desperate to get a kidney
transplant for her son.
In vol. News (#6) Subaru apologized to Seishirou, who's right eye is now
completely blind.
In vol. Pair (#6) Subaru dreams of his first encounter with Seishirou,
again, but this time as a bystander looking at the scene. He recalls that he
had a bet with the person (still unaware of the identity) and that it was his
first job. When Subaru (both 9 yrs old and 16 yrs old) starts saying that he
cannot hear the person because of the wind, someone put his hand on Subaru's
(the 16 yrs old one who's seeing the scene) shoulder. Subaru turns back but
can only see a person smiling. The face was half hidden by the cherry
blossoms flying around.
Then Subaru sees a person holding a dead body (with a hole on the chest
and blood all over) with Subaru's own face! The person is smiling, and he
dissolves into a shower of cherry blossoms.
Subaru wakes up calling "Seishi...." And he realizes that it was his
memory.
* * * * *
Subaru goes to Shinjuku Hospital to visit Seishirou. But when he enters
Seishirou's room, he finds himself in a "maboroshi" (illusion, more like a
kekkai here) with a big cherry tree and Seishirou standing in front of the
tree. And Seishirou says that it's time to see who won the "kake" (bet).
******************************
continues from vol. Pair.
Seishirou says, "It looks like the time has come to reveal the winner
of the bet. Sumeragi Subaru-kun."
He then goes on telling Subaru that they are in his jutsu (spell), and that
it's been a year since they met _again_, so that it's the "yakusoku no hi"
(the promised day).
Subaru then starts seeing that encounter again, just like in the dream that
he had that morning. But when he turns back, he sees that it was Seishirou who
puts the hand on his shoulder. Seishirou tells Subaru to look closely to see
who
that mysterious person was. That high school guy turns his face toward Subaru's
direction, and Subaru realizes that the person is Seishirou.
Seishirou confirms Subaru's conclusion, and he tells Subaru that he has
blocked this scene from Subaru's memory so that Subaru can't remember any of it.
He then asks Subaru to remember what placed right near his feet. Subaru looks
back at the scenery and finds out it was the dead body of a little girl.
Seishirou tells Subaru that it's him who killed that girl.
Subaru starts to remember that day. That day he was left alone to wait for
his grandmother. But he heard something calling and left the place where he was
supposed to stay. He ran at the streets of Tokyo and thus found a beautiful
cherry tree in full blossom. He felt a strong wave of hatred and sorrow coming
from that tree. He realized the danger, but the tree was so beautiful that he
decides to help it get rid of the hatred that was haunting the tree. He used
onmyou-jutsu for the first time, but there seemed to be a spell on the tree, and
thus Subaru's attempt was in vain.
Then Subaru saw red drops falling onto his hands, so he looked up. And he
sees young Seishirou sitting on the tree, smiling, with his hand through a girl'
s
chest. Seishirou jumped down from the tree and put Subaru into a state of
unconsciousness. Seishirou then mumbled to himself that it's the first time
he's been seen killing someone.
Seishirou put Subaru back to conscious. And the memory comes to the part
part where Subaru once recalled in his dream. (vol. Destiny)
Subaru gets back to present time and he cannot believe what he remembered.
Seishirou confirms the fact and tells Subaru that he is "Sakurazuka-Mori".
Subaru still cannot believe it, saying that if it were true he should have died
then, since anyone who's seen "Sakurazuka-Mori" was to be killed. Seishirou
replies that it was because they made a bet, and he asks Subaru to remember the
the reason why Subaru's grandmother told Subaru never to take down his gloves
when there's people around.
Seishirou shows the end of their encounter to Subaru.
After Seishirou said that he will let Subaru escape for that day, hemarked
the mark of Sakurazuka-Mori on Subaru's hands, signifying that Subaru was
Sakurazuka-Mori's prey, so that Seishirou could recognize Subaru when they meet
again.
Seishirou then tears Subaru's gloves by a spell, and says that Subaru's
grandmother must have been shocked when she saw the marks.
Subaru recalls that it was since that day that his grandmother had him
wearing the gloves. And he faints.
Seishirou remarks that even with the grandmother's spell on the gloves, he
still recognized Subaru at the train station, so that his power must have been
much stronger that Subaru's grandmother. He wonders how his power would
compare to Subaru, who is again back to consciousness. And Seishirou tells
Subaru that the "bet" is over, and shows Subaru the part when they made the bet.
"If we could meet again, let's spend a year together. You have a heart
that's kind and honest, exactly the opposite of mine. You probably will stay
that way even when you become an adult. So if we could meet again, I'll try my
best to "like" you. Only for one year. If after a year I actually do think
that you're "special" to me, then it's your victory, and I won't kill you. But
if I still can't think you're "special", that I can't see any difference
between you and that corpse, then, _I will kill you_. So today, I'll let you
go."
Seishirou folds Subaru's hands to Subaru's back and says that he cannot
feel anything even when killing people. Seishirou then tells Subaru that
although "Sakurazuka-Mori" is being referred to as a "assasinate group", there
is actually only one person. It's because that when one becomes Sakurazuka-Mori
,
one has to kill everyone who's associated with the previous Sakurazuka-Mori.
So did Seishirou. His first victime was the previous Sakurazuka-Mori, who is
also his mother. But even then he felt nothing, though surrouned by his own
mother's blood. After that anyone is the same. He cannot distinguish human
from objects ever since long ago. To demonstrate that, Seishirou breaks Subaru'
s
hand bone, saying that the act to him is the same as breaking a glass cup.
Everything means the same to him, whether with life or without life. That's why
he made the bet with Subaru at that time. He would keep on acting as if he does
like Subaru; saying that he likes Subaru, and sees only Subaru, protects only
Subaru. If within himself he actually feels that Subaru is "special", he would
not kill Subaru. But, it looks like all the efforts were in vain.
Seishirou then starts kicking Subaru and states that it's the same as
kicking a rock to him. So he has won the bet, and Subaru is to be killed by him
.
Subaru makes no attempt to protect himself during the whole process, he just
looks at Seishirou sadly. Seishirou asks Subaru whether he thinks he is
betrayed, and Seishirou states that this kind of thing happens all the time in
Tokyo; that people betraying people is happening everywhere within Tokyo.
He doesn't hate Subaru, but he doesn't love Subaru either. Subaru to him was
just another object. Even after getting into contact with Subaru's heart, he
still haven't changed a bit.
At this time Subaru's grandmother's "shiki" came and tries to break
Seishirou's spell, so Seishirou says that he should hurry up. But his
"maboroshi" was broken before he could kill Subaru. So he leaves smiling,
saying that the grandmother must have suffered a lot to break his spell.
Subaru falls to the floor, sadly confessing to Seishirou, who's already
gone, that he "liked" Seishirou.
* * * * * * * *
Subaru is now sitting in his own room, but he doesn't move and he doesn't
speak. Hokuto cries and blames herself for letting Seishirou to get near
Subaru. Subaru never cares about himself, so Hokuto wanted him to have some
kind of special emotion, and thus she let Seishirou get near Subaru. She
realized from the start that Seishirou can become Subaru's "special person", so
even though she understand that Seishirou is dangerous, she still wanted
Subaru to see his heart, to become a _person_. But she never wanted such an
ending. She didn't want Seishirou to take Subaru's heart away like this.
Hokuto apologize to Subaru for making him face a life worse than death. But
even so she doesn't want him to die. So she takes Subaru to onmyoji uniform
and leaves the room, leaving Subaru only one sentence, "Please come back."
* * * * * * * *
A month has passed, but Subaru's still in the same condition, and Hokuto's
nowhere to be found. Their grandmother, who's now blind and on a wheelchair,
has come to Tokyo and is in Subaru's room. Suddenly Subaru hears Hokuto
calling his name, and he sees her killed by Seishirou, just as he saw in in the
dream.
Subaru jumps down from the bed calling Hokuto's name. His grandmother is
shocked by his sudden awakening. Then a phone call comes. The grandmother
answers the phone, and finds that Hokuto is killed by Seishirou.
Subaru decides to quit school, since if he stay in school he'll never be
able to win over Seishirou.
"Only him... I'll kill him myself."
(ano hito dake wa, boku ga koroshimasu.)
~~~~~~~The End~~~~~~~~