Yami no Matsuei
                                  Part One
                             By Matsushita Yoko
                      Translated/Summarized by Theria

Translation Key

"Quotes" mean that someone is talking.
Unformatted text without quotes are narration that often appear in boxes.
Italics are someone's thoughts.
Smaller font are comments outside of speaking bubbles or thought boxes that
are usually handwritten into the manga.
{Bracketed items} are comments by translator.
[Square bracketed items] are descriptions of something from the manga.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This is my daughter, Mister."

"The payment has been received. Let us begin at once."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tsuzuki: "Eh? I have to go to Nagasaki!!?"

Konoe: "That's right, Tsuzuki. You are to immediately depart for an
investigation in Nagasaki. Those are the orders from above."

Tsuzuki grumbling: "From the oh great Administration Office? They always
give us the bad stuff."

Konoe: "What are you talking about you bottomless pit? You want to be fired
right now?"

Tsuzuki waving his arms: "Waaaaaaaahh! I'm sorry, please forgive me!!"

Tsuzuki reluctantly: "...I understand."

So Tsuzuki is sent on an investigation to Nagasaki. Apparently, there have
been quite a few deaths in that region lately. The Castle of Candles
usually keeps tracks of who dies, but they can only report normal deaths.
People who die in accidents or are killed aren't listed. So that's what
Tsuzuki needs to investigate. He also needs a new partner but Konoe says
Tsuzuki's new partner will catch up later. For now, one of the GuShouShin
will work with Tsuzuki. And Tsuzuki must also not forget to buy the Chief
some souvenirs.

In Nagasaki, GuShouShin has arranged a room for them both and carries
around a laptop to keep up with his work of cataloging the dead. Tsuzuki
senses something for a moment but thinks it might just be his imagination.
GuShouShin tells Tsuzuki the important points of the current case, that all
of the victims have had their blood sucked from them, giving the nickname
"Dracula Case".

As Tsuzuki is thinking about this, a girl runs into him. She doesn't say
anything but keeps running. At that moment, Tsuzuki thought he felt
something but dismisses it. Some red stuff was left on his black overcoat
by her and he thinks it is lipstick. But then there are screams.

Another person is dead, the twelfth this year. Tsuzuki notices two small
punctures on the victim's neck and it all clicks together. He immediately
begins chasing after the girl. It wasn't lipstick on his coat, it was
blood.

Someone smirks in the corner.

Suddenly, Tsuzuki can't move. Someone who could stop a Shinigami like him
couldn't be normal. Tsuzuki breaks out of it but by now it's too late to
chase either the girl or whoever briefly caught him. He's still a bit woozy
from the paralysis when a gun is put to his head.

Someone:"Don't move. Dracula."

It's a young boy.

Tsuzuki hedged, moving closer to the boy: "Ummm...You know...you have the
wrong person..."

The boy raps Tsuzuki on the head with the gun: "I told you not to move!!"

The boy believes that Tsuzuki is the Dracular killer. Tsuzuki hasn't
recovered from the paralysis yet, and in this physical body he can't fly,
plus using magic before (living) humans is too dangerous. As he tries to
talk his way out of this, GuShouShin runs up and yells at Tsuzuki for
making trouble again. After a brief argument, GuShouShin reveals that this
boy is Tsuzuki's new partner.

The boy's name is Kurogawa Hisoka and he's very distant and cold to
Tsuzuki's attempts at being civil. GuShouShin tries to keep the peace as
they're all sitting in a restaurant. As GuShouShin explains, Hisoda is a
rookie but passed the entrance exams with flying colors. He has high
healing and defensive power as well as spiritual power. BTW, the gun Hisoka
had earlier was a model gun. When Tsuzuki wonders aloud why such a young
boy (Hisoka is 16) is dead, Hisoka replies 'Illness'.

Then Tsuzuki asks GuShouShin why didn't the Chief tell him who Hisoka was.
GuShouShin replies that the Chief never told Tsuzuki because 'Tsuzuki
should recognize him when they meet.' At which Tsuzuki throws a fit and
begins to eat a lot at the company's expense amidst GuShouShin's protest.
The next person to throw a fit is Hisoka. He had a hard time believing that
Tsuzuki was the best of the elite in JuOhCho to which GuShouShin laughs his
heart out. Tsuzuki isn't too happy about GuShouShin saying that the 2nd
Block (Tsuzuki's area) is for losers and that Tsuzuki was top alright, the
top bottomless pit in EnMaCho. After which, I believe Hisoka lost his
temper and blew out the windows of the place.

Later that night, Hisoka is asleep after drinking way too much sake.
Tsuzuki uses that time to catch up on reading the details of the case. Out
of curiosity, he looks up Hisoka's file in the Database of the Dead and
finds out a secret. Hisoka didn't die from an illness but was actually
killed. Tsuzuki keeps it a secret from Hisoka, realizing that he may have
been killed through magic, making it seem like an illness. Then GuShouShin
throws the papers at Tsuzuki to get back on the investigation, Tsuzuki
decides to watch some TV. Lucky him, they're showing the Nagasaki's singing
festival with a special guest, Maria Wong, a famous singer from Hong Kong.
Tsuzuki notices something about her.

In the morning, Tsuzuki drags the hangover-suffering Hisoka to the TV
station. Maria Wong is the same person who ran in to Tsuzuki yesterday.
They get in pretty easily and find Maria walking around, completely spaced
out. Hisoka senses something, when Tsuzuki asks, he says she moves like a
soulless puppet. Tsuzuki silently disagrees, before he felt something
strange, but now he doesn't sense anything. So Tsuzuki goes up to talk to
her.

Tsuzuki: "Will you please autograph this?"

Hisoka chews him out for being silly. But just as Tsuzuki settles down to
do some serious questioning, who should show up but Maria's mother who
literally kicks them out of the studio. The two call it a wrap for a day
and return to EnMaCho for further research. Someone watches them leave from
the shadows.

Back at EnMaCho, Tsuzuki asks for permission to access the Chinese database
for research on Maria Wong. He gets it and Hisoka hauls him off
immediately, even though Tsuzuki wanted to take a break first. Konoe KaChou
notices that they get along rather well.

The GuShouShin are the ones who actually work the computers. Maria Wong is
a native of Hong Kong though her current mother is actually her stepmother.
The remarriage had been one for money, Maria has tried to kill herself a
number of times because of her stepmother's bad treatment.

GuShouShin: "But Tsuzuki-san, why are you looking up the information of a
dead person?"

Tsuzuki and Hisoda: Dead!!?

Tsuzuki: "That's ridiculous! We just met her yesterday!?"

GuShouShin (both freaking out): "Um...uh...but that's what it says here?
Here this."

Tsuzuki reads the printout, stating that Maria Wong had died two months
ago, killing herself by slitting her wrists. But if she was dead, then who
was the person they met?

Maria's mother: "Ah, Mister! There were some people earlier who looked like
they were asking Maria something. A suspicious pair..."

Mister: "A tall mand and a boy with a sinister look to his eyes? I saw them
when they left."

Maria's mother: "E...eh, so. What should we do, Mister!! If someone founds
out..."

Mister: "Don't worry, Madame. At that time, I will deal with them. Aside
from that, how is Maria? There aren't times when she doesn't listen to
you?"

Maria's mother: "No, not at all."

Mister: "That's fine. But there's not reason to be careless."

Mister: "Good, Maria. You're a good child. If you listen to me, you will
have nothing to worry about."

Mister: "Listen to me, and you will always be a young and
beautiful...well-behaved child..."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Previous      Manga Index       Next