This is a translation of the second part of "Ningyo no Mori" by Takahashi Rumiko, the third story from the manga compilation of the same name. See the posting of Part 1 for slightly more details. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Ningyo no Mori" (Mermaid Wood) written and illustrated by Takahashi Rumiko --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Translated by The AmaTran Group from the manga compilation "Ningyo no Mori" Original story and artwork is (C) Copyright 1988 by Takahashi Rumiko "Ningyo no Mori" translation is (C) Copyright 1991 by The AmaTran Group, all rights reserved. This draft was last revised October 20, 1991. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- No portion of this translation may be used or reprinted by a commercial publication or venture without the express written permission of the translators. For non-profit ventures, please maintain the integrity of this translation, and do not abridge or rewrite without permission. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Second of two parts --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outside the Kannagi estate, a storm gathers. Inside, on a futon, Mana, dead or merely unconscious, lies helpless. Towa, Sawa and Dr. Shiina sit around Mana... Dr. Shiina: Cut off the head...? Towa: (calmly) Yes Doctor, and replace this girl's with my own. Dr. Shiina is speechless. Sawa: (agitated) Please stop this foolish playacting. Towa: (stroking Mana's head with her claw) I want this girl's immortal body. Dr. Shiina: Towa-san, why are you going to such lengths... Towa: But, I don't want to die yet. Towa turns to her sister. Towa: Or Sawa-san, will you guide me to the mermaid mound? Sawa: (head bowed) Is, is that the only... Towa: (looking at her claw) Yes, I'm sorry to say. If I could just get my hands on some mermaid flesh, I may be able to live even longer than this girl. The wind blows forcefully as Yuuta prepares to fight a creature that had been a dog, altered with mermaid flesh into something monstrous. Yuuta holds the spear that had previously impaled him ready as the dog lunges forward, grazing his arm with a paw. Yuuta manages to wound the dog slightly, giving it pause... Yuuta: Hold on, Mana. Right this second... I'm coming... The dog leaps, and forces Yuuta to crash against a cabinet. He drops the spear, leaving it spinning on the floor. In desperation, he grabs a drawer and hits the dog on the head with it. Inside the drawer are folded kimonos. Yuuta quickly unfolds one and hurls it at the lunging dog. Temporarily blinded, the dog continues its leap into the wall of crossed wooden beams with its jaws locking onto one beam. Yuuta quickly grabs the spear and hurls it through the back of the dog's head, right through out the jaws and through the beam. The dog convulses slightly... Yuuta: (gasping for breath) Mana... Elsewhere, in a dimly-lit corner of the Kannagi household's basement, Mana has been tied down to the top surface of a horizontally-positioned half-log. Her head extends past the log's end, tilting it back and neatly exposing her neck. On one side stands Towa, with Sawa behind her. Dr. Shiina, on the other side, wields a scalpel with a shaking hand... Dr. Shiina: (dropping scalpel) I... I can't do it... Towa: What's wrong, Doctor? Until now you've been of great service to us... Dr. Shiina: (shaking) It's because until now they were all dead bodies... Towa: (feigning innocence) Oh, is that what it was. I'm so sorry. Towa picks up the scalpel... Towa: I'll do it myself. Towa places the scalpel on Mana's neck and begins to draw it across... Sawa: (head bowed) Please wait, sister!! Sawa drops to her knees in misery... Sawa: I'll tell you the location of the mermaid mound. So... Towa: (pleased) So... Show me... In the teeth of the gale, the three set out, with Mana tied into a fetal position on a cart, knees up to her chest, feet bound and hands tied around her legs, lying on her side... Dr. Shiina: Why do we still have this girl?... Towa: (glancing back) Until we really reach the mermaid mound, she won't be safe. As she turns forward, the axe she holds in her hand becomes visible. Towa: And if it's a lie, I'll cut this girl's head off right there. Inside the house, Yuuta staggers about with spear in hand... Yuuta: Mana. Mana, where are you...? At that moment, Mana suddenly opens her eyes. She discovers her helpless condition, and is not pleased... Mana: (angry) Hey, you bastards!! Towa: Well, you've come back to life. Mana: Let me go!! Towa: (annoyed) Be quiet. Mana: (looking back) Yuuta! Yuuta! Towa: He should be dog bait about now. Mana: (screaming at the top of her voice) Yuuta--! Yuuta limps outside the house, and falls to the ground. Slowly, he crawls forward, leaving a trail of blood... Yuuta: (weakly) Ma... Mana... The wind whistles fiercely through the forest. In front of a huge cairn of boulders topped by a tree, the doctor, the two sisters and their captive come to a halt. Towa looks at the mound, lantern in hand to dispel the darkness... Sawa: (strained) Below the rock... Towa pulls Mana from the cart, still tied up... Towa: (dragging Mana from cart) Now, come along. Nothing worse will happen to you. Mana: (defiant) Let me go!! Sawa rolls a boulder to the side, revealing a low entrance. Inside, crude stone steps lead down. Sawa, with the lamp, leads the way, followed by Towa, dragging Mana over the steps, and Dr. Shiina walking behind. Mana: (sliding over steps painfully) Ouch! Let me go you brute! Through a wooden support with netting strung along it, the quartet pause at the edge of a pit secured with large logs running horizontally parallel across the top, forming a cage. A shelf of jugs and bottles containing unknown substances stands by the side. Sawa dips the lamp down a little into the pit, permitting Towa to see a gruesome sight: A creature, half-woman and half-fish, unmistakably a mermaid, suspended from the pit floor by an enormous stake driven through the side of her midsection and on through the pit wall. Another stake slightly below and behind the mermaid provides some support for the tail. The mermaid's bare back faces upwards, her long white hair hanging down and concealing her face. Towa, smiling in triumph, cradles Mana close to the pit edge, making her look... Towa: It's a mermaid... Look. Finally I've found one! Voice: (behind Towa and Dr. Shiina) Hold... it... Yuuta, bloodied and bruised, propped up against the cave's woodem support beam, holds the spear with one hand, attempting to staunch his bloody stomach wound with the other... Yuuta: (in great pain) You mustn't... eat it... Towa is silent. Mana: (overjoyed) Yuuta! Yuuta: (smiling) Ma... na... ...Don't you look well... Mana: Yuuta! Mana is suddenly dragged back by Towa. Towa: Don't get in my way... And, even though you say that, you seem to be well enough. Yuuta: Listen... The flesh of a mermaid... is poison... It's a deadly poison... Towa, unconvinced, remains quiet... Yuuta: Each and every one of them... did not achieve immortality... Instead... Yuuta points at Towa's claw of a hand. Yuuta: That hand of yours... You only drank of a mermaid's living blood, and it did that much didn't it? Towa draws the sleeve up on her claw... Yuuta: Eat mermaid's flesh and see... how much more it can do... Towa: (defiant) You're alive, aren't you? Towa tilts Mana's head with her claw. Towa: This girl too. Yuuta: ...Until we met five hundred years had passed. I was all alone. Mermaid flesh mutates the body's form in its entirety... Those who... endure the rapid mutation... for countless decades or centuries are all alone... Towa, kneeling by the pit, cradles a resisting Mana's head back with her disfigured limb while wielding the axe in the other... Towa: So... But, whichever way it goes, I don't care. Yuuta: (alarmed) What are you up to?! Towa swings her axe, cutting away the ropes binding her captive. She proceeds to push Mana into the dark pit... Towa: (gleeful) There, bring it to me. The mermaid flesh! Mana lands heavily on the pit floor, gritting her teeth. Seemingly unhurt (except perhaps for her pride), she struggles to get up, when she hears a sound behind her. As she turns, a large, grotesque man-shaped creature shambles towards her, clawed limbs and sharp teeth showing. The creature moans... Mana: (surprised) A failure... Yuuta suddenly descends into the pit. Yuuta: Mana! Yuuta positions himself between the creature and Mana, spear in hand. Towa and Sawa observe... Towa: (mystified) A failure...? What's that, Sawa-san?... Sawa: (shaking from fright) T-t-that... Towa: (glancing at Sawa) When you inherited the mermaid mound... Didn't you know...? Sawa: (horrified) It is... a person that ate of mermaid flesh... and failed to become immortal. Down in the pit, Yuuta and Mana are cornered by the creature... Mana: (concerned) Yuuta, you're in no shape... Yuuta: (annoyed) This isn't the time to talk about that!! The creature swings a claw at Yuuta, who avoids the blow and drives his spear right into the creature's chest. The creature breaks the shaft off and with another blow sends Yuuta flying. Mana runs to his side as he groans in pain... Mana: (concerned) Yuuta! Up above, Towa eggs them on... Towa: (smiling) Pull yourselves together! You're immortals! Mana: (angry) Bitch! Suddenly, an axe falls in front of Mana, surprising her. Towa: (gleeful) Quickly, take the flesh! If you don't you won't be leaving here!! Mana: (angrily picking axe up) When I get out, the first thing will be to chop off your head! Mana runs off to face the creature as Yuuta tries to get to his feet... Yuuta: (weakly) Come... back... Mana: (annoyed) Injured people should shut up and go to sleep! Mana takes a swing with the axe at the monster and misses. Her next swing hits the creature on the right shoulder. The monster picks Mana up in rage, as Yuuta stands... Yuuta: You!!... The monster hurls Mana at Yuuta, knocking them down. The axe flies from Mana's grip, well out of reach. Yuuta picks up the spear shaft and tries to fend the monster off with it. The monster picks him up and throws him high at the pit wall. He hits just above the mermaid. Falling, he grabs the large stake driven through the mermaid. Bracing his feet against the wall, he begins to pull the stake out of the wall. The monster advances on Mana... Yuuta: Mana, come this way!! As Mana runs, Yuuta pulls the stake completely out. Mana braces against the pit wall, the creature right behind her. Yuuta's timing is perfect and the stake impales the monster right through the head. Yuuta lands on top of the mermaid, then slides off into Mana's hands... Mana: Yuuta! Towa appears in the pit, having recovered her axe. She approaches the mermaid... Towa: Thanks to you two... Yuuta: (alarmed) S-Stop... The mermaid, seemingly dead, suddenly moves, jaws open to bite at Towa's neck with sharp teeth. Moving aside, Towa gets bitten on her left shoulder instead... Yuuta: (surprised) Ah... As they descend via a rope ladder to the pit, Dr. Shiina and Sawa come upon the scene... Dr. Shiina: (alarmed) Towa-san... Towa, gritting her teeth from the pain, hacks the mermaid's head off with her axe, sending it flying towards Sawa, who squeals in fright. Towa, smiling, observes the blood that has begun to flow from her wound, and offers a testimonial to the persistence of the mermaid... Towa: To have... lived... To have continued to live even in this condition... Towa lowers her head, as blood flows down her arm... Towa: Just like... me... With her good hand, Towa uses her axe to remove some flesh from the mermaid's tail. She quietly holds it up in her claw, sadly looking at it... Yuuta: Don't eat it! Towa: (looking at her sister) Sawa-san... Towa offers the flesh to her sister, who backs up against the pit wall, terrified... Towa: (holding flesh out) Here... Sawa: Wh-what... Towa: Eat it... You wanted to eat it, so I kept looking for the mermaid mound... Dr. Shiina: (shocked) T-Towa-san... Yuuta: What are you talking about?... Towa has pressed forward, holding the flesh almost against Sawa's face... Towa: Eat it... You were the one that truly desired immortality, weren't you... Dr. Shiina: Towa-san, what in the world are you... Towa: This person, Doctor... Towa turns to face the doctor... Towa: She was testing for the effects of a mermaid's living blood. I, her older sister, was used... Dr. Shiina: (shocked) Wha... That's... Towa: (smiling) Isn't that right, Sawa-san? But we're twins. Originally we were the same person. Flashback: Sawa receives a severe slap across the face from her father, more than sixty years ago, after Towa's traumatic experience... Father: (enraged) Sawa, you--! Even though I went so far as to tell you that the mermaid mound must not be opened!! Lying on her sleeping pallet, hand bandaged, Towa overhears her father chastising her younger sister... Father: I told you mermaid flesh is a dreadful poison, and not even one person became immortal or anything like it, they - grew - old - as - everyone - does - !! Towa sits up abruptly, realizing something... Towa: (thinking) She knew...!! Towa thinks back to an earlier conversation she had with her sister as they walked around the estate... Sawa: If I inherit the mermaid mound, the first thing will be to finally eat some mermaid flesh. Towa: Why, Sawa-san? Sawa: (smiling) Well, to be forever young and beautiful, wouldn't that be splendid? Towa's thoughts of the past end, and she broods on her miserable life as a prisoner within her own home... Towa: Within my prison as time went by... Towa looks in the mirror one day and realizes that she has ceased to age. Towa: I had no idea how much time passed but... Towa recalls Dr. Shiina coming to visit her periodically... Towa: Attending physician Dr. Shiina aged without fail... A particularly good meal is placed before Towa... Towa: This is my dinner today?... Voice: (from the side) It is Lady Sawa's wedding... Towa's breath mists as she looks outside the bars of her small window to see winter snow fall, some flakes falling inside her room. More time passes, and Towa hears a commotion coming her way... Voice: You, hold it! Towa sees a small boy being restrained by an older woman in the dim space beyond her prison. Woman: You mustn't go in here! Boy: (pointing to Towa) Mother, who's that!? The woman and boy move towards the stairs... Woman: Now, let's go! As the older woman turns to look, Towa sees her face clearly in the light coming from upstairs. Her hair is still black... Towa: (surprised) Sawa-san... is that you? More time passes. Towa: I heard that the boy became a soldier. Autumn leaves fall through Towa's little window. She hears the door of her prison opening, and turns to see Sawa walk in. Her hair is now tinged with white, and there is strain clearly showing on her face... Sawa: (sadly) Sister... Father has passed away... Sawa sits down and weeps. Sawa: (sadly) My husband and son are also dead... The two of us are all that is finally left... Towa looks dispassionately at her sister and thinks of the life Sawa has had. Towa: (thinking) What are you crying for, Sawa-san? Even though we were born with the same face and body... You have married, had a child, and brought that child up; to have lived the life of an average woman... And to grow old properly, and live to die... Towa's outer calm belie the inner rage she has nurtured toward her twin sister during her time in isolation. Towa: (thinking) Shall I make arrangements for your death? Enraged, Towa continues to wield the piece of mermaid flesh at Sawa... Towa: (angry) Now, eat! Become a monster, and in that aging body, continue to live for all eternity. Sawa, under great stress, grimaces as Towa viciously presses the flesh into her cheek... Towa: (angry) Here! With Towa still towering over her, Sawa suddenly pitches slightly forward and collapses in a heap. Her eyes closed, her face seems more relaxed and peaceful... Dr. Shiina: (examining Sawa) Heart failure. In abject shock, Towa drops the mermaid flesh. Towa: (gently crying) She's so unfair... Towa collapses on her knees. Yuuta draws close... Yuuta: (concerned) Hey... Towa: (sadly) For this day... Only for this day... have I lived... And now... it's over... Listening to the last surviving member of the Kannagi household, Yuuta and Dr. Shiina follow her last instructions... Towa: Please burn it, the mermaid mound... And everything having to do with it... At the bottom of the mermaid pit, Towa is lying down with her hands clasped upon her chest. Beside her, containers of substances derived from the the mermaid lie along with associated books and writings. Not far away, the bodies of the mutated monster, the headless mermaid and Sawa lie where they fell. Yuuta and Dr. Shiina pour some liquid down on Towa and everything else in the pit. Finally, Yuuta throws a match into the pit, which sets the pool of liquid immediately aflame, the tongues rising past the wooden logs of the pit. Both men watch as Towa's serene face vanishes amidst the flames... Dr. Shiina: (sadly) Now are you satisfied? You... Many times... I asked you to come with me and leave this place... Yuuta: (surprised) You were that woman's... Dr. Shiina: (watching the flames) She was my betrothed. Dr. Shiina thinks back to when he was a younger man, not too long after Towa's "death"... Dr. Shiina: (kneeling before Towa) Let's go away. I'll stay with you until death do us part. Towa: (in shadow) Thank you, Doctor... But I will stay here, there are things I have to do... Yuuta also watches the flames... Yuuta: Vengeance... ? Dr. Shiina: And so, right up to the end Towa-san did not take me seriously. The one she fixated on was... Sawa-san... the other part of her... On a beautiful day, by a seaside road... Mana: Hey, Yuuta. Yuuta, with his duffel bag, walks on the roadside while Mana walks atop the roadside wall beside him, knapsack slung around one shoulder... Mana: Living all alone, isn't that hard? Yuuta: For example... if I disappear, what will you do? Mana reflects on the question for a moment. Mana: (smiling) I'll search for you. Yuuta: (bemused) And if you don't find me? Mana: (brightly) I'll search again. Yuuta is rather disappointed with Mana's answers... Yuuta: (thinking) Lonely or sad, she won't say, this bitch. Mana: (smiling) I'll search all over. I'll search everywhere. I'll search as long as I live. Yuuta: (smiling back) Alright, alright, thanks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The End -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, | Ragnarok ---- mikem@comspec.UUCP Moves on: not all thy Piety nor thy Wit |--------------------------------- Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, | Path: ...uunet!mnetor!lsuc! Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. | comspec!mikem