Things enclosed by tildas (~) are non-vocalized. A number
enclosed by asterisks is the page number it's from in the manga.
Short scenes bracketed by (^) are flashbacks. The everpresent
(TN) is short for Translator's Note. (Please tell me if this last
is annoying. ...I sincerely hope not.)
...Thanks for taking the time to read this.
-Mei
~...hiru to yoru to ga gyakumawari...~
------------Translation Begins Below This Line------------------
*5*
A girl with a ponytail holds out a pendant, and smiles.
"Wow! It's such a pretty stone!" says her friend.
"This and my tarot cards were gifts from my grandmother.
...With them, I can predict the future."
"Really?"
"They have a special affinity for my family, you see?"
The ponytailed girl flips over two cards.
"The five of wands and ...The Tower?"
~ ...What..?~ thinks the fortune-teller.
(TN: 5 of wands= competition/an endeavour, Tower= sudden
change/disaster)
*6*
She starts to feel lightheaded, then collapses to the ground.
Her friend leaps up.
"Hitomi!?" she calls out.
~The tower of destruction... Why has everything gone red?~
HITOMI
TENKUU NO ESCAFLOWNE 1
*7*
*8*
*9*
Flame curls towards the sky. A young boy with dark hair
staggers, clutching his shoulder and carrying a sword. The fire
is everywhere, and he is bleeding from a number of wounds.
~It was an ambush. The western fortress was a trap... And now
they've reached the passageway.~
He thinks back to something he overheard:
^
"They've captured the escape route and killed humans... Women
and children, too...." someone tells an older man.
^
*10*
~Those guys aren't human...!!~
He opens a door, and freezes in the doorway. Bodies are
sprawled across the floor.
He sees the man from the flashback, blood on the floor beneath
him.
~Father~
A corpse still burns.
~Big brother~
His sword clatters to the floor, and he brings one hand up to
cover his mouth as he falls back against a wall.
"This..."
~Everyone..?~
"...Van-sama...," comes a weak voice from the floor.
Van turns, and looks at the speaker.
"...you're safe..."
*11*
Van kneels next to the other man. "Are you alright? Take my
hand..."
"This place will be surrounded in flames soon. Van-sama, please
escape by yourself."
"What are you saying? I can't rebel against the enemy all by
myself. Run away?! ...I won't!"
A woman's hand reaches out, as though to touch the two. Van
appears to fight against some unseen force, his protest dying
away into nothingness. An woman's voice speaks:
"It's pale... The illusory moon..."
A tremendous beam of light spears into the heavens from the
smoking ruins of Fanelia.
"And so, the seal of Fanelia's God of Protection..."
(TN: The kanji 'God of Protection' are written with the furigana
for 'Escaflowne'.)
*12*
Hitomi stares down at the backs of her hands.
~Crimson... This is burning? ...So hot.~
The scene switches slightly; we now see Hitomi standing on a
barren plain, flames burning to the ground around her.
~Why? Who could do such a thing? What happened?~
A tear trickles down her face, and you can see her pendant.
~Who would...?~
The school bell rings, and Hitomi wakes with a jolt. She sits
up, holds a hand to her face. There are still tears in her eyes.
~I...?~
*13*
A friend stands at the foot of her bed. "Hitomi," she says,
"Are you feeling better?"
(TN: This is a different friend than the first one.)
"Yukari," says Hitomi.
"When you fell down after your fortune-telling, I was really
worried. I didn't come just because I was worried about the
accident, though."
~Those images were a prediction of the future. ...Floating..,~
Hitomi thinks.
Yukari hands Hitomi her bag and keeps talking.
"Your fortuneŠtelling has no connection with your feelings."
(TN: ...sou ka?)
~That was the first time.~
*
Hitomi is walking home, thinking about her prediction. ~What
does it mean...~
She pauses a moment in startlement, seeing a boy in strange
clothes lying on the ground. ~What? That person is in front of
my house...~ She looks at the boys face, and sees blood staining
the ground beneath him. ~He's injured!~
(TN: And guess who it is...)
*14*
She runs towards the boy. "Hey, you! Are you alright?" She
reaches out her hand to him. "Hey..."
Van's eyes open, and he sits up, smacks her hand away. "Leave
me alone, I tell you!"
Hitomi holds her hand where he hit her. "Leave you alone?
...But you're injured..."
Van clutches his bleeding shoulder, and you get a clear look at
the blood running down his face. ...There is a strange mark on
the back of his right hand. Hitomi sees it.
*15*
~...!... The same symbol as on the backs of my tarot cards...?~
Hitomi stands over the boy in shock.
"You have nothing to do with this!" Van snarls. "I'll worry
about myself!"
Hitomi frowns, and grabs his hand to help him stand. "You're in
front of a hospital. It's okay, so please come in."
(TN: No, I didn't make a mistake. ...Her mother is a doctor,
and their house is in the same building as her clinic. ...How
terribly convenient...)
Van's eyes widen in shock, and she stares back at him.
"!", he exclaims, staring at her necklace.
*16*
"That pendant.... ...I've seen it befo..." he says as he passes
out against Hitomi's shoulder.
"Hey!" Hitomi cries as he falls against her.
~His wounds are serious...!~
"Hang on!!"
~"The key...~ says an unseen speaker.
*17*
~...to the seal of Escaflowne..!~
It is night, the full moon shines outside. Van's sword is
partially swathed in fabric, and is lying on a counter top.
Hitomi is clearing away dishes.
"Hey, big sis, what do you think you're doing? Shouldn't we
report this to the police?" says her little brother, who is
sitting at the table. "That's a sword wound he's got. I think
there's something strange going on."
(TN: Her outouto's name is Mamoru, but you don't find that out
'til later.)
~That symbol on his hand~, Hitomi thinks. ~I know it has
something to do with my tarot cards. That kid... I wonder who
he is...?~
She remembers talking to her grandmother when she was young.
^
"Grandma, what's this?"
"These are for reading the future. ...A method to increase what
you know."
^
*18*
"Big sis!" Her brother yells, breaking Hitomi out of her
reverie. "Are you even listening to me?!"
Hitomi squawks indignantly. "I'm listening, I tell you! I
couldn't just leave an injured person." She turns on the coffee
pot to brew.
"You say such sweet things.. But for all you know, he'll bring
the Yakuza down on us."
Hitomi narrows her eyes. "Oh, you..." she mutters.
Unnoticed by either of them, the door opens, and a woman walks
into the room.
"That kid is a stranger! You had no reason to get involved!"
Mamoru yells.
The woman in the doctor's coat runs a hand through her hair; she
looks tired. "Hitomi, coffee please."
Hitomi and her brother both look over at the woman.
"Mom." says Hitomi.
*
They're all sitting around the table now, their mother is
drinking her coffee.
"How's the boy doing?" asks Hitomi.
"He's lost a lot of blood, but he's going to be okay. We saved
him."
Hitomi sighs in relief. "So then..."
"Sweet," her brother mumbles to himself.
*19*
"Hey, Mom. That boy has a symbol on his hand," says Hitomi.
"It's identical to the one on Grandma's tarot cards, isn't it?"
Hitomi's mother looks at her over the rim of her mug, and she
has an odd look in her eyes. "...yes, it is," she says finally.
*
Van wakes up in a strange bed, and the strange mark on his hand
is clearly visible. There are bandages on his arm and around his
forehead. He can see the moon through the open window.
"The moon... ...I shouldn't be seeing only one..."
~...That pendant...~
*20*
He thinks back to Hitomi earlier that day.
~The feeling at that time! I think that the energy in that
thing was the key to the seal. Her quick hands caught me, and I
cannot betray... Father! I've let everyone down. But this body
can barely even move.~ His hand clenches to a fist. DAMNIT..!!~
He fights to hold back tears.
(TN: Use morphine much? ...He really is this disjointed here.
...Sorry I can't translate this better...)
*
A tarot spread is partially visible.
*21*
~NO!~
Hitomi is leaning against her bed, tarot cards scattered across a
small table. Her eyes are closed, and she huffs a small breath of
irritation.
"This strange set of events was predicted by me. We're caught
in the middle of something that isn't finished yet."
She shifts the cards around in her hands.
~The image of the tower, destruction, crimson flames. ...And
then, that boy.~
Her eyes snap open, and she quickly draws a card. The face of
the card is of a knight on a flying horse. She stares at it.
~The Knight of swords.~
(TN: Knight of Swords = capacity/bravery/action, often interpreted as a
'personification' card.)
*
~Wind. A strong wind is blowing~
A man's boots crunch on gravel.
*22*
He pauses, and looks up. His long blonde hair blows in the wind
as he watches a column of light stretch up into the night sky.
His hand rests on his sword hilt.
*
Van opens a cabinet. ...There are a lot of drawers lying open,
and the morning sunlight shines in the window.
*23*
As he's looking into the cupboard, a woman's voice stops him.
"It's bad for you to move around; your wound is going to open
up."
He turns around to see Hitomi's mother watching him.
He stands there, and she shifts his sword in her hand. "I
wonder if this is what you were looking for?"
Van stares at her.
"...Or was it this?"
(TN: We don't see what she's referring to. ...All I can say is
remember the look on her face when Hitomi mentioned the symbol on
Van's hand/her tarot cards... ...She obviously knows something
about all this...)
---------------Translation Ends Here----------------------
Demo na, ...tsuzuku.
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