Translated by Kudou Omi, 2005 July the 5^th

Note : This chapter closes the main story in volume 4. Then starts an interlude with an old friend of Ritsuka. But I’ll start working on volume 5 before translating it.

I really liked the Kouya/Yamato couple, in spite of the fact that I don’t particularly like yuri manga. But they were especially well introduced by Kouga-sensei: we could understand how they felt thanks to flashbacks and their thoughts. Other enemies in this manga didn’t have the same privileges. That’s maybe why I really enjoyed this particular book. J

P128

Kouya: "Shall we start the fight?"

Soubi: "We shall. Ritsuka, what’s your plan?"

Ritsuka: "Don’t think of them as Zero, but as perfectly normal persons."

P129

Ritsuka: "They’ll feel pain without the need of a wound."

Soubi: "You want to hear them scream?"

Ritsuka: "Idiot! That’s not it! It’s because… it’s better… if we don’t perceive them as different."

Soubi: "Why?"

Ritsuka: "I don’t know. Maybe because we don’t know if pain changes something."

Soubi: "Pain… I like that word."

P130

Soubi: "Born through pain, fall in this world, needles! Pounding pain, proof that we’re living, pour quickly like rain!"

Ritsuka: /needles/ That’ll hurt…

Soubi: "Needles will help you feel huge pain."

Kouya: "It’ll have no effect on us! Pain has no hold on Zero!"

P131

Ritsuka: /How much agony can she bear? She doesn’t even move an eyebrow./

Yamato: "Kouya, counterattack! Restrain them quickly!"

Kouya: "All right! Tear the pair off right in half , the whole body splits into three."

P132

Kouya: "Schoolboy!! Your fighter is being hurt because you didn’t settle limits."

Yamato: "It’s because you go against your names."

P133

Ritsuka: "Old woman, don’t pretend not to feel pain!!"

Soubi: " Electric pulse, flows through everything that was pierced by needles! Electric shock, attack my enemy!"

Yamato: /!! I have to stand it!/

P134

Kouya: "It’s useless. Yamato…?"

Yamato: "It’s nothing. I felt dizzy." /She’ll know if she sees my face./ "Old women don’t forgive… I thought we were young… Kouya, let’s end this."

Kouya: "Restriction! Restrain the target’s freedom by binding them up tight!"

P135

Soubi: "Rejection!"

Yamato: "Kouya! Focus your mind properly! His words have no power!"

Soubi: "You look as if you were living. Your enduring face looks good."

Kouya: "What is he saying…?"

Soubi: "There’s no way a woman that doesn’t feel pain like dead persons can win against me."

P136

Yamato: /Damn… just at Kouya’s weak point…/ "Don’t believe him, kouya! It’s suggestion! He’s bluffing!"

Soubi: "You look like a cute butterfly. Shall we use a specimen? Let’s pierce you with a pin!"

Yamato: "Ha…"

P137

Ritsuka: "Idiot! Stop it, Soubi! You’re going too far! Hey! You! It hurts isn’t it? You were hurt by the coffee because it was hot! You actually can experience pain!!"

P138

Yamato: "Kouya! Don’t listen to him! No!"

Kouya: "Yamato…could it be…"

Yamato: "It doesn’t hurt at all!"

Kouya: "Yamato!!"

Yamato: /NO!/ "It doesn’t hurt!"

Kouya: "Show me your name!"

P139

Kouya: "Your name… disappeared… why?"

Yamato: "I don’t know."

Kouya: "Since when? Why? Yamato!"

Yamato: "I don’t understand! And I want to know why as well!! Why only me? If I become a nuisance, I want to die…"

P140

Soubi: "You abandon the fight?"

Kouya: "We can’t fight no more."

Soubi: "Then…"

Ritsuka: "Yeah! It’s the end of it! The end! We don’t want to fight anymore so let’s close it!!"

Soubi: "Say termination, ritsuka."

Ritsuka: "Termination!! Is it enough?"

P141

Soubi: "You can’t stop a fight half-way once it started. Abandon is worse than defeat."

Ritsuka: "How could I know that? Then don’t start it even once if it’s better!"

Soubi: "Ritsuka…"

Ritsuka: "You’re wrong! If your partner says to stop, then stop! It’s a negligence! It won’t end if you don’t make its perfect conclusion. Why are you that firm? I understand all that! Are you listening to me? Are you not? Which?"

P142

Soubi: "Don’t challenge us twice if you abandon the fight."

Kouya: "We have no one to fight against anymore."

Yamato: /It’s over. It’s the end. It’s the end, I won’t be able to stay with Kouya. It would be alright if it wasn’t only me but everything that came to an end./

P143

Soubi: "It’ll mean you’ll die as a fighter. Are you okay with it?"

Kouya: "Yes."

Soubi: "Well then, we have nothing to do here."

Ritsuka: /Again this matter…/

Soubi: "It has nothing to do with us. We have no interest in this."

P144

Soubi: "It’s over."

Yamato: "kouya, I’m sorry… but there was nothing I could do as my name disappeared."

Kouya: "Your name… if it disappears, you’re no longer Zero."

P145

Kouya: "Do you love me even if you’re not Zero? Would you die together with me?"

Yamato: "I would, if it’s what you want."

Kouya: "It’s the first time I see you crying, Yamato. Let’s die together."

P146

Kouya: "I’ve always been thinking… do I want to die? Living is always somewhat troublesome. But dying isn’t a simple thing. I won’t be afraid if I die with you."

Yamato: "I don’t want to die. I love the living Kouya. The Kouya who lives, moves, cries or smiles… but it’s enough…"

P147

Yamato: "But if we live and can’t be together, I prefer death!"

Kouya: /Yamato/ "We’ll die together." /I love you/

Yamato: "Yes."

Kouya: "Yamato… I love you." /I love you more than anyone/

P148

Kouya: "I’ve been loving you since the very first time we met. You became my fate when you became my Sacrifice. I was so happy!!" /I love Yamato more than anyone else/

Yamato: "Me too."

Kouya: /Yes. More than this worthless part of me, I will love Yamato even more/ "Right. I shake since it’s my first time, but…"

P149

Kouya: "Shall we start!!"

Yamato: "Kouya…"

Kouya: "I’ll protect you, forever. Let’s be born again!!"

P150

Nagisa: "Kouya? How did it go? You must have won, haven’t you? Hn? What?"

Kouya: "Nagisa-sensei, goodbye."

Nagisa: "Huuu? What did you say? Wait a minute!!"

Kouya: "Sensei, I’m sorry. I’ll return your phone."

P151

Nagisa: "Kouya!"

Kouya: "Now the only people who live are…"

Nagisa: "Yamato! Wait!!"

Kouya: "… Yamato and kouya. Zero is dead. Goddbye!!"

P152

Kouya: "Woa~ my hand is shaking!"

Yamato: "I’m shaking hard too! We had never disobeyed Nagisa-sensei."

Yamato: "From now on, we’ll be together, Kouya."

Kouya: "Yes, together…"

/More than a name, is there a deep wound? I want to make sure if there’s one./

p153

Kouya: "This evening, to say we’ve died to is the same as to say we’re born."

Yamato: "Kouya, I don’t understand what you’re saying."

Soubi: "You’re feeling cold?"

Rtsuka: "I’m fine. Said I’m fine!! you…You went too far!"

Soubi: "Really?"

Ritsuka: "Yeah!! I wasn’t ready!"

P154

Soubi: "You really realized it!"

Ritsuka: "Hu?"

Soubi: "About their sense of pain. I didn’t heard that Zero’s sense of pain could come back through an accident. That Fighter didn’t want to be a tool."

Ritsuka: "Isn’t she right? Don’t be a mere tool! The fact that they’re close friends can’t be replaced by absolutely nothing!!"

Soubi: "Close friends…"

Ritsuka: "Yeah! Close friends! There’s no doubt!"

Soubi: "So that is what you call close friendship!"

Ritsuka: "Hu…"

P155

Ritsuka: "So what?"

Soubi: "They’re Fighter and Sacrifice. They can’t live if they’re separated."

/I don’t understand the meaning, only this deep wound/

Ritsuka: "You and Seimei too?"

Soubi: "Exactly."

P156

Soubi: "Whaat? You feel bad?"

Ritsuka: "No…I…sympathize! I sympathize with you!!"

Soubi: "Haa! Sympathy? Thanks for your encouragement!"

P157

Soubi: "I was living for Seimei only. But for me, Seimei wasn’t."

Ritsuka: "Eh…" /That night, something began/

P158

Ritsuka: /But no one realized it until this time came./