Jyunishi Comedy #116

Because we don't have the time to just stand around......

This chapter continues last chapter's story and goes into Momiji's character. It's very bittersweet and shows Momiji's maturity... ;_;

We start the chapter seeing Momiji's mother out on the balcony watering some plants when she suddenly sees Momiji on the street below. As Momiji says "good morning," we flash back to moments after Momiji's curse was released. Akito comes up barefoot and dirty, clearly having run from her room to Momiji's place.

Shocked, Akito asks Momiji not to go; not to leave her while Momiji wonders what it had all been.

[Just what was it

In the corner of my heart
Always watching me

Various feelings

What were they]

[Just what about this person could possibly bind me]

Akito: ...Mo-

[To this small

Weak

Pitiful person]

Akito, seeing Momiji's look, frantically yells at Momiji not to look at her that way. But Momiji tells Akito that she should go back to her room since she wasn't well.

...You don't need to worry
I won't tell anyone about this.

Momiji tells Akito that he needs to think about things as he was confused about what had happened, and that he would come see her again the next day. However, what Momiji'd said was a lie in that he already knew exactly what he would do.

The next day, Haru asks Yuki if he'd seen Momiji that day. Yuki denies having seen him and asks if perhaps he hadn't come, but Haru says that he was there although he'd been late.

Haru: No... He's here, although he came late but...
......Maybe it's me.

Yuki: Did something happen?

Haru: Nothing.

But... I wonder.
Something's...

Strange.........

Haru: He's the same as always but

Somehow

Something's a bit--

.........

What...?

Tohru then comes up as Haru and Yuki are talking, and Haru asks her if she's seen Momiji. Tohru too, denies having seen him yet that day and asks if something was wrong. Haru wonders if so... throwing Tohru into confusion. Yuki tells Tohru that it wasn't that way at all and that Haru'd just been asking when Tohru blushes.

Yuki: ...?
...Oh

It's you...

Kyo: Huh?

As Kyo continues on past, Momiji watches from another window on the other side of the school. Seeing Tohru's sad expression as she blushes Momiji hugs himself from the feelings he feels all too keenly. As Momiji walks slowly down the hall, Kyo sees him, and asks if he'd seen Tohru and the others but hesitates.

Momiji: ...What?

Kyo: Eh?

Ahh... no

...?
...Did

Something happen?
To you

Momiji: Because my curse was released

...Would

it surprise you if I said that?

Kyo: ...Huh?
W- why you...

Momiji: More than my being released,
...You being released

Would make Tohru much happier

No doubt she'd be really happy.

But then...

...

You know, right?

...I'm the one

Feeling crushed...

Kyo: Shut up. I don't
Want

To know that sort of thing

That sort...

......

It's the absolute worst......

Momiji apologises to Akito for having sent her back on her own and tells her that he'd thought about a number of things during the day. Why it was him and only him that was released, what caused it... He couldn't think of any reasons, but there was one thing that he did know:

Momiji: Akito

I can't stay by your side from here on for the rest of my life.

Momiji: ...Can't do it
Anymore

You can't bind me-...

Akito calls Momiji an ingrate and traitor and yells at him how that even if he were to leave, he had no where to go and that no one, not his mother, nor his father, would take him in. Akito continues on that Momiji couldn't go back to his family at this point and wouldn't be able to find happiness.

Momiji: I know

I'm this free yet

Became

This lonely......

Just because the curse was lifted
Doesn't mean I can have the person I love

The thing (bond) that could unconditionally connect me with everyone
Is gone now

Momiji tells Akito that even so, he couldn't go back to how things were before the curse had been released at this point.

Back to that morning on the street, Momiji's mother is surprised at Momiji's appearance and how much he's grown; so much that she almost didn't recognize him. When she asks him if that was his usual route to school, Momiji tells her that it wasn't but that he'd felt like taking a different route that day.

Momiji asks his mother if Momo has also grown much but she says that she's still very much a child. Apparently Momo's already very excited about how they're to take a family vacation somewhere during summer holidays and asks if Momiji and his family were also to go somewhere together.

[...A distant

Place]

"A happiness" in a place where I'm not.

Momiji: ...But

But, that I
Can't be "happy" because

Those things can't be realised... That sort of thing

Don't assume that sort of thing.

Momiji: I'm free and

Feeling uncertain but

It may be that my happiness is still

Is still in the future

Waiting for me to come

Momiji, thinking of the family that he'll one day have, tells his mother that his family would be going somewhere and Momiji decides to start down his own path now into the world ahead and the future.

Momiji: ...And you?

How long are you going to stay here?

Momiji: The one most afraid

That if they go away from here
there'd be no place to go back to,

And won't be able to find happiness is...

Akito yells at Momiji to shut up and get lost.

That morning, as Momiji continued on to school, his mother wished him a good time and to take care.

Banner: Despite losing family, the bond, and place, as long as hope isn't lost, one can continue to move forward. By the feelings one's born with...

To be cont'd in Issue 22; Oct 20 release.