Here comes another three chapters from volume 10 of xxxHOLiC. Thanks to to eXeXeX HOLIC for the scans.

Chapter 115

Summary: Watanuki is surprised to see Kohane-chan waiting for him with his umbrella that she’d borrowed. As they talk, Kohane-chan reveals that she does not attend school and hasn’t done so since her first year of elementary school. Since she is hungry, Watanuki decides to ask her out on a “date.”

The two eat the bento that Watanuki had prepared for himself and Doumeki-kun. She’s a bit concerned that this meal had been prepared for someone else, but Watanuki assures her that it is OK for her to eat it. She hesitates at first since she’s never been allowed to eat such foods, but proceeds anyway, enjoying it as she does.

Watanuki tells Kohane-chan what happened to the woman in the sakura tree. Kohane-chan wants to know more about Yuuko-san, which has Watanuki list all sorts of bad things about her before ending by saying that he’s glad to have known her. Kohane-chan looks somewhat depressed thinking about how nice it must have been for Watanuki, which prompts him to tell her he’s glad to have met her too. This makes her smile.

Kohane-chan has to leave to do a TV appearance. She declines his offer to escort her to her destination. So, Watanuki decides to offer her the dream balloon he has with him. He explains what it is and his belief that if she has it, something good will happen. She is concerned that she might deny him of something good by taking his gift, but Watanuki assures her that if something good happens to her, he’ll be happy.

She takes the balloon and promises to let him know if something good happens. He even states that he’ll come get her since she’s so busy and that he might even bring Yuuko-san, Mokona, and Doumeki-kun. She asks him if she can address him as “Kimihiro-kun,” which pleases Watanuki.

As she leaves, much to Watanuki’s surprise, she asks him who he made a promise with.

Thoughts: Kohane-chan is a sweetheart to be sure and I can’t help but feel for her since her mother is so caught up in her child’s fame. CLAMP is doing something different with her by breaking up her story-arc. I kinda like that because her story feels like one that would slowly progress. It was neat seeing her used as a vehicle to again push the Himawari-chan arc, even if only a small amount.

Chapter 116

Summary: Watanuki mentions meeting Doumeki-kun’s grandfather (Haruka-san) in his dreams. Doumeki-kun reveals that his grandfather died when Doumeki was in the fifth grade. Watanuki wonders why Haruka-san would look so young in his dreams and why he’d dream of Doumeki’s grandfather to begin with. Since Haruka-san had informed Watanuki that they are similar, Doumeki figures that something will happen since Haruka-san could not only kill evil but make predictions.

As the two continue to talk, Doumeki asks about his grandfather’s instructions that Watanuki bring the dream balloon with him. Watanuki states his belief that Haruka-san’s request for him to carry the dream balloon was because he would meet Kohane-chan and needed to give the balloon to her. Doumeki-kun wants to know if his grandfather’s instructions specifically told Watanuki to give the balloon away or not. The instructions said no such thing, so the fact that Watanuki gave the balloon away seems to cause Doumeki concern. Watanuki doesn’t mind being without the balloon since Kohane-chan has it. This prompts Doumeki to ask Watanuki to wait for him after school, something he’s not happy about.

A little later, Himawari-chan catches the fuming Watanuki on the 2nd floor of the school, where she greets him with her normal, cheery smile. His reaction to her presence is not like normal as he recalls Yuuko-san, Haruka-san, and Kohane-chan all making statement about Himawari-chan. She immediately senses that he’s not his normal self and is concerned that something is wrong. He tries to play it off.

As they begin to discuss Kohane-chan, Watanuki inexplicably finds himself falling out of the window of the school and landing hard on the ground with broken glass and blood all around.

Thoughts: OK, CLAMP has clearly decided to advance the Himawari-chan arc to what appears will be its conclusion. For the last chapter, I mentioned that Kohane-chan’s story-arc was the first to be broken up. However now that I think about it, technically Himawari-chan’s story is the first. However, I didn’t think of her this way since she’s a main character and thus far, Kohane-chan is just a guest character (howbeit a recurring one).

Chapter 117

Summary: Watanuki finds himself in younger form, in pain, and in the dark crying for his parents. He finds himself pulled from the ground and in a discussion with his parents (presumably). They apologize to him and lament that he’s lonely and injured. They assure him that he will meet someone who will be waiting for him. They do not want him to die and leave, but the child Watanuki decides he wants to go with them.

A hand stops him and that hand belongs to Haruka-san. He explains that Doumeki-kun wasn’t able to enter Watanuki’s dream. Further, upon seeing Watanuki being recalled to life, he tells Watanuki that they should meet again in a real dream.

Watanuki wakes up in Yuuko-san’s place. Yuuko-san is there and explains how he fell out the school window. Doumeki happened to witness this and was going to call for an ambulance, but Yuuko-san called him first and told him to bring Watanuki to her. She also seems to know that Watanuki was visited by Haruka-san in his dream-state. Watanuki, knowing that there is a price to be paid for Yuuko-san’s services, remarks that the price must have been very high, presumably thinking he’d have to pay it. However, he’s surprised to learn that she’s already been paid by three people before noticing Himawari-chan standing in the doorway.

Thoughts: Whoa! I can’t wait to see this come out from Del Rey since what I read was taken from the Chinese release (which isn’t good for getting the story exactly right). I have the essentials of the story, but getting Del Rey’s official translation will be sweet indeed (too bad it will be July 31, 2007 before I get that).

Still, as suspected, the Himawari-chan story-arc is being brought to a head with her in Yuuko-san’s shop. Yuuko-san’s immediately knowing about Watanuki’s accident shows how important he is to her.

Three people paid the price for Watanuki’s recovery at the hands of Yuuko-san. Clearly this would be Himawari-chan and Doumeki-kun, but who’s the third? That will be fun to learn.