September 20th, 2009 
AstroNerdBoy xxxHOLiC Manga Chapter 186
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
A few years have passed since Watanuki made his choice to wait for Yuuko-san and Doumeki, now a university student, stops by the shop with some groceries that Watanuki requested. After being greeted by Maru and Moro, he stops by to see Watanuki and Mokona, briefly giving Watanuki a hard time about sleeping so much.
Since Doumeki brought everything Watanuki wanted, Watanuki has Maru and Moro help him make dinner and invites Doumeki to stay. Doumeki agrees and after Watanuki leaves the room to make dinner, Mokona says that Watanuki is the same as always.
Over dinner, Watanuki asks why Doumeki was so dressed up, to which Doumeki responds that he had to help his professor with a presentation. They discuss Doumeki’s major, folklore, which was not his original major (apparently). Doumeki repeats what he’s apparently told Watanuki before — he’s interested in the subject and that interest is furthered by the various things his grandfather left behind.
Thoughts/Review: As most of you know, it has been officially announced that both xxxHOLiC and Tsubasa will be coming to an end soon. I think most of us had that idea a long time ago with the obvious marking time that the manga did to keep it from ending so that Tsubasa could continue its mind blowing ways.
As to the chapter itself, it is interesting to see that CLAMP decided to fast-forward a few years (four I guess) to show that Watanuki is still wasting time at Yuuko-san’s shop waiting for her while Doumeki is likely researching stuff on how to use that egg of his. Too bad we didn’t get to see Himawari-chan as well, but I guess that wouldn’t have fit into the current story.
Also of note is that Watanuki didn’t go off on Doumeki in this chapter. Instead, Watanuki actually invites Doumeki to stay for dinner rather than Doumeki be the one to insist Watanuki make him something. Watanuki seems to have mellowed out over the years. Maybe that stuff Yuuko-san smoked which Watanuki now smokes played a role in that. ^_~
I took a peek at the current Tsubasa chapter and see that Watanuki has a guest star appearance there, though it would appear that time-wise, those events may have happened after chapter 185 but clearly before 186.
In the end, there’s still very little story advancement for xxxHOLiC. Well, that’s the problem with it being linked to Tsubasa.
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No, I think xxxHolic is telling a far more coherent story and taps into a more classic storytelling style of CLAMP.
You didn’t think you could make that comment about Yuko’s smoking without someone making a weed reference.
My (non-serious) guess is that for the last few years Watanuki has been getting high and has caused high to mellow out so much.
Man, am I late on this comment. ^_^;
Yeah, the smoking did make me think he’s high on something, whether weed or not.