nenena | This week's Tsubasa

So, picking up where we left off last week. Syaoran just showed up in the ruins, Sakura is there, and Sakura turns and asks, "Who are you?"

Syaoran starts to say, "I'm Li Syao--"

But then Sakura trips and falls face-first into the water that she's standing in. LOL.

Syaoran wades into the water and reaches out to help her up, but she splashes away from him. "Eeek! Don't touch me! Sorry, sorry, but I'm in the middle of a purification ceremony and nobody is allowed to touch me. I'm sorry." Commence much adorable Sakura-esque flailing.

Eventually Sakura manages to clumsily right herself. She sits on the edge of the wading pool, her feet still in the water, and talks to Syaoran. She explains how she's in the middle of a purification ritual. Syaoran says, "Then this must be right before some sort of important ceremony, right?"

Sakura is le shocked. "How did you know that?!"

"Well, purification is something that you do before an important ceremony, right? I know all about that. I've done it myself many times."

Note: I don't know much about Chinese religious traditions, but in both Shinto and the types of Buddhism practiced in Japan, this is very true. Purification before any sort of religious ceremony is a common practice. Although one does have to wonder what sort of religious ceremonies Syaoran, as a child, would be able to take part in.

Anyway, Sakura starts questioning Syaoran. "Those clothes aren't from Clow Country. Did you come from another country?" She doesn't seem at all concerned about the fact that he spontaneously appeared right in front of her a few minutes ago. Did you come from another country? indeed.

Syaoran answers, "I came from another world."

"Another... world?"

"Yeah. I came from another world, from a country called Japan."

"Japan..."

"You don't seem surprised," Syaoran observes.

"But I've heard of this before!" Sakura says, a big huge smile on her face. "From the priest... My mother. That there are more worlds than just the one that we know."

Now it is Syaoran who is le shocked. "My mother told me the same thing..."

"But it's so strange," Sakura says, "That I'm from Clow Country, you're from Japan, we're from different worlds, and yet we can both understand each other's language..."

"That's a coinci--" Syaoran begins, then corrects himself. "No. There are no coincidences in this world. Only hitsuzen."

Oh Yuuko, you've corrupted him already!

"Did your mother tell you that?" Sakura asks.

"No. My father did."

"Hitsuzen..." Sakura ponders. Good God she's adorable in these panels. Then she turns to Syaoran with a big smile. "That must be why I met you! So what's your name?"

"Li Syaoran."

"I'm Sakura of Clow Country."

Syaoran is super le shocked. "You have the same name as my mother..."

Sakura is all like, "Buhwhat?"

Then Syaoran stares at her and think-bubbles, She looks just like her. She looks just like my mother when she was a little girl. Sakura is still giving Syaoran the buhwhat? face.

Then a woman appears and says, "Oh my, weren't you supposed to be being purified?"

Sakura turns around. "MOTHER!"

Holy shit it's Nadeshiko. Holy shit. She looks gorgeous in her Clow Country High Priestess outfit and she's carrying a GIANT-ASS MAGIC WAND. Holy shit.

Syaoran looks at Nadeshiko and thinks, She looks just like the photographs of my grandmother. Oh my god ICK. This is getting VERY ICKY VERY FAST.

Nadeshiko smiles and says, "You look like you're having fun, Sakura-hime!"

Commence adorable Sakura-flailing. "I'm sorry I'm sorry but I didn't let him touch me I'm still being purified I totally swear I'm sorry but but but--!"

"It's all right. I understand." Nadeshiko turns to Syaoran. "Welcome to Clow Country, you who have come from another world."

Syaoran is surprised. "How did you know...?"

"I saw this in a dream."

Syaoran is pretty shocked to hear this. "Are you also a dream-seer?!" Isn't every woman in this series a dream-seer? Sheesh!

So now we have the scene set: Sakura looking adorable, Nadeshiko looking beautiful and mysterious, Syaoran looking shocked, and...

Cue Sakura's stomach rumbling. LOL.

Sakura is mortified and flails around some, but Nadeshiko says, "The purification ritual is finished for today anyway. Let's return to the castle. I've already made arrangements so that those apples that you love so much will be waiting for you." She turns to Syaoran. "Come with us."

"But..."

"Oh, I've already prepared some food for you, too. You like fruit, don't you?"

Syaoran think-bubbles, So it's true. This woman really can see the future in her dreams.

Sakura's all like "WAAAAAAI!" (yes she actually shouts that) and does a happy-dance. Syaoran is going to eat dinner with her! ~~Syaoran is the son of her parallel universe self and this is really icky!~~

Sakura is so caught up in her happy-dance that she trips and falls flat on her face. LOL.

So they all go back to the castle. Sakura's father is there waiting for them. Holy shit it's Fujitaka. Fujitaka introduces himself to Syaoran. "I am Fujitaka, the king of Clow Country."

Fujitaka and Nadeshiko watch Sakura and Syaoran run off hand-in-hand. Fujitaka watches Syaoran's back and says, "So it must be him."

"Yes," Nadeshiko replies. "Sakura-hime's fated person."

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

And on that note, the chapter ends. Well, my brain is broken. How about yours?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thought I would let you know how it turned out. I gave it to a few more people who spoke Japanese with no success so I posted it to a learning Chinese message board. Several people still didn't get it , and finally one person said that the last character was probably a kanji equivalent to meng(4) so the title is A Tragic Dream in Shanghai. No one seems to know whether it is Japanese or Chinese though as the characters have the same general meaning in both languages.

This week's Tsubasa - Chapter 190

Re: OT