xxxHOLiC Manga Volume 10

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SPOILER Summary:

As Yuuko-san cools off in a kiddie pool, the Neko-Musume arrives suffering from the heat. Yuuko-san gives her something to keep her cool and for payment, Neko-Musume leads a reluctant Watanuki to a well on private property for some special water. Since the water is heavier than normal and there was a woman that could be seen in the window, Yuuko-san enlists Doumeki-kun to assist Watanuki. The two have to bring back a jug of water each day until 12 jugs have been filled.

As they make the trips, Watanuki sees the woman in the window and notes that she appears to be wearing the same clothing. Since Doumeki-kun can see the woman with his natural eye, it is clear that the woman is not a spirit or youkai. At school, Himawari-chan is concerned about Watanuki, who’s troubled about the woman, and makes a yubikiri (pinkie promise) with him to not overdo it. Watanuki notices her touch causes a reaction for him. That afternoon, when he and Doumeki are there to draw the last batch of water, Watanuki’s pinkie finger gives him pain and the cloth that Yuuko-san had given them to assist them in carrying the water gets blown up and into the window where the woman is sitting.

Doumeki and Watanuki enter the home and find it a mostly empty mess. Working their way upstairs, they find the woman, only she’s dead and has been dead for a long time, though she’s not begun to decay. This is something that Doumeki-kun has noted from his time at the family temple. Watanuki relays this to Yuuko-san later on and as she probes him and leads him back to the source of the problem — his yubikiri with Himawari-chan.

That night, Watanuki meets with Doumeki-kun’s grandfather (Haruka-san) in his dreams. They discuss things, especially Himawari-chan and Haruka-san tells Watanuki that he won’t be able to go back to the time when he didn’t notice the odd things about Himawari-chan. He also advises Watanuki to carry one of the dream balloons with him on the following day. Watanuki does this and ends up meeting Kohane-chan, who’s wanting to return the borrowed umbrella. Watanuki decides to make a “date” with the young girl and the meal he’d prepared for himself and Doumeki-kun, he gives to Kohane-chan. She enjoys the repast, something her mother won’t allow her to do. After talking and eating, the somewhat cheer Kohane-chan is given the dream balloon by Watanuki. She accepts but before she leaves, she asks him if he made a yubikiri with someone.

Later at school, Doumeki is concerned over Watanuki giving away the balloon. He’s not concerned and inside the school, Himawari-chan touches Watanuki’s shoulder which causes him discomfort. As they talk and walk, Watanuki ends up stumbling and when he goes against the window, it falls out, Watanuki as well. Unconscious, Watanuki hears the voices of his parents and they speak with him. He desperately wants to be with them, but they try to encourage him to return to life. He ends up being rescued by Haruka-san in the dream state and wakes up in Yuuko-san’s shop.

Yuuko-san explains a few things to him and then Himawari-chan enters the room. Himawari-chan ends up explaining that because she’s cursed, she brings unhappiness to others except for her mother and father. As such, many bad things that have happened to Watanuki are the result of his contact with Himawari-chan. Despite being injured and in bed, Watanuki assures her that she actually made him very happy. He told her he loved her and that her enjoying his food or saying his name was enough to really make him happy. He wants to continue being with her and in the end, she concedes and agrees to allow him to make her a cake.

Outside Watanuki’s room, a bloody Doumeki-kun sits and Himawari-chan tells him that he doesn’t know about the cake as it is something special between herself and Watanuki. He agrees but says he’ll be eating lunch with the two of them just the same, which she smiles and agrees to. Watanuki asks Yuuko-san about the price for her help, which she says has already been paid. The 2nd Syaoran-kun paid part of the price in advance to ensure Watanuki wouldn’t disappear. Doumeki-kun paid the price in blood that Watanuki lost. Yuuko-san won’t say what Himawari-chan paid because she promised she wouldn’t. Watanuki goes back to sleep and Himawari-chan goes home, revealing to the audience that the price she paid was taking the scars of Watanuki.

As Watanuki recovers, Yuuko-san pays him for his work in bringing her the special water. It is a special golden egg. Watanuki sleeps again and the egg communicates with him. Watanuki requests it become something that can be with Himawari-chan and make her happy. It hatches and becomes a special small bird. Yuuko-san tells Watanuki that the bird can be with Himawari-chan and not be affected by her curse. She further tells Watanuki that he has changed as has Himawari-chan and that changes will continue.

Thoughts/Review:

I remember when I cheated and read ahead for these chapters. I was so ecstatic to see the Himawari-chan story-arc brought to a resolution. This had been building from the first volume and considering the slow releases of xxxHOLiC, it took a long time to get these answers to all the hints Yuuko-san had been dropping. So this was a really good volume for me.

The hinting about linkage between Syaoran-kun (and also Sakura-chan) and Watanuki is interesting (those characters being from Tsubasa). I’ve theorized that maybe those two are in fact the parents of Watanuki, but we’ll see if that comes through or not.