20th Century Boys
	 Volume 2 : Prophet
	  Chapter Eighteen
	   Sister's Lover

 - Page 135 -

Sign: Endou Family

Sfx: (pock pock)
	(pock pock)
	(pock pock)
	(tiiiin)
	(pock pock)

Kenji: Hey sis...  I know it kinda sucks to say this now...
	I'm...  y'know...
	Well, Dad's dead, but...
	Right now...  is the most important time for the band...
	And I just don't feel like taking over the store...

Chapter 18 : Sister's Lover

 - Page 136 -

Kenji: I dunno...  and in a way, you're partly responsible for what I'm doing right now...

Kiriko: What are you mumbling about?
	You just leave the store all up to your big sister.

Chapter 18 : Sister's Lover

 - Page 137 -

[An electric guitar, priced 26,000 yen...]
[When I was in 9th grade, my last year of middle school, that number seemed astronomical...]
[If I only had that, I would be invincible...]
[If I only had that weapon...]
[Yup...  The fact that I was ever in a band is directly related to my sister...]

 - Page 138 -

Kenji: Why...?
	Why does a letter addressed to my sister...
	Have that symbol inside it...?

Mother: Kenjiii!!

Kenji: (fwt)

Mother: What are you doing here in Kiriko's room?!

Kenji: Huh?  Oh... yeah...  What's up, Mama...?
	(crumple)

 - Page 139 -

Mother: It's him again.  Ootake from the company headquarters!!

Kenji: Yeah...

Mother: Did he say he'll cut off our contract if we don't put Kanna in childcare?

Kenji: Yeah...

Mother: What are you going to tell him?  We've already got plenty of debts.

Kenji: Mama...

Mother: What?

Kenji: Why did Kiriko watch over me so much?

Mother: W... well, that was...
	You know, before...  you were born...

Kenji: Before I was born...?

 - Page 140 -

[1959]

<<Mother: Y... you must be kidding, dear!!

<<Father: Ain't kidding...
	Thought it was a bad dream, so I went to sleep, but when I woke up, it weren't no dream...

<<Mother: All that money we worked so hard to raise...

<<Father: Yup...  all pinched.
	They said newcomers should stay away from the Azuki market...  I guess they were right.

<<Mother: So we're broke?

<<Father: Yup...  even pulled the hairs outta my ass...

 - Page 141 -

<<Mother: W... what about the baby?!

<<Father: I dunno...

<<Mother: How are we going to raise two children if you don't know what to do?!

<<Father: I dunno...

<<Mother: Sighhhh...

<<Father: Sighhhh...
	Oh...  oh well, I guess we'll just have to...

<<Mother: Sighhhh...
	Looks like I'll have to find work again...
	No...  choice...

<<Kiriko: I'M GON' BE A MOMMY!!

 - Page 142 -

<<Parents: Huh?

<<Kiriko: I'm gon' be a mommy.

Mother: Y... you know, she always picked up stray cats and dogs and took care of them, had a real sense of responsibility.

Kenji: Wow...
	I thought I'd been on the verge of death 3 times...
	Fell in the river twice...  got in an accident on my bike once...

 - Page 143 -

Kenji: But if my sister hadn't been there...
	I might as well have never been born...

[Rolling Stones, T. Rex, Jimi Hendrix,]
[Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Lennon, Bob Dylan...]
[If I just had that, I could be someone like them...]
[If I just had that...]

<<Kiriko: Kenji.

 - Page 144 -

<<Kenji: Told you not to enter without knocking.

<<Kiriko: If I knocked, I'd rip the fusuma*.

*Fusuma: Paper wall material

<<Kiriko: I'll leave it right here.

<<Kenji: Leave what...?
	K... K... Kiriko!!
	W... w... where did you...!!

 - Page 145 -

<<Kiriko: That's what you're looking at when you've got your face
	pressed to the glass of the instrument shop in front of the station, isn't it?
	One of the boys at my school is rich.  He's got a bunch of them.
	I went on a date with him and he gave it to me.
	I hated him, though.  (slam)

<<Mother: What's all the fuss about here?!

 - Page 146 -

<<Mother: Why are you opening the curtain?!  We're closed for today!!

[I saw my reflection in the glass.]

<<Mother: What are you doing?!

[There, machine gun in hand...]

 - Page 147 -

[Stood an invincible man.]

Ootake: Have you given thought to the matter?

 - Page 148 -

Ootake: Why no, you don't even need to.
	If your low sales continue, it will be impossible to continue our contract regardless of the matter.
	If you will do something about that thing on your back...

Kenji: Don't call her a thing.

Ootake: What?

Kenji: Don't treat her like an object.

Ootake: What are you trying to say, sir?

Kenji: Kanna is Kanna.  Don't treat her like an object.

Ootake: Listen, sir...

Kenji: I'll work my ass off and get you your sales.
	If you still want to cut off the contract, then do it.  We'll start over as a liquor store.

 - Page 149 -

Kenji: This is my sister's baby.
	And I'm going to raise her until she comes back.

 - Page 150 -

Ootake: I...  I understand you, loud and clear...
	I will return to the company and review this!!

Kanna: Daaaaaaa!

Mother: Why did you say that to him?!

Kenji: Hm...?  Yeah...

Mother: We're done for if they cut our contract!!

Kenji: Mmmm...  we'll manage.

Mother: We will NOT manage.
	Because you're an idiot!!

 - Page 151 -

Kenji: Hey, Mama.

Mother: What?

Kenji: I found this typed-up letter in Kiriko's room.
	It doesn't say who the sender is.  Do you know?

Letter: So your plan and my plan were the same.
	What a wonderful thing it is.
	To meet another person with the same plan as I.

Mother: I don't know.
	That nice young Moroboshi-san always wrote in nice, clear handwriting.
	I suppose you never knew she actually had a pretty advanced relationship with him.
	But then she had a baby with some other man...
	It's really a shame we lost him...

Kenji: Lost him...?

 - Page 152 -

Mother: Jumped in front of a train...
	Never seemed like the type of person to commit suicide, though.
	Nobody could believe it.  Some people even said he might have been pushed off the platform...

 - Chapter 18 Owari -