#227: The evil clone - 2011-04-19

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The girl told Rosa to go inside, to the house's living room. The house was a wooden dwelling, bungalow-style, rather spacious.

- “Firstly, girl, tell me, what's your name?”

- “My name is Rosa. Rosa Martínez.”

- “My name is Naoko Mori (最里真子). よろしくお願いします. If you look that much like me, clearly you're part of the family. As you spoke in Kansai dialect, I can tell that you're a relative of the Nishida family. I've never seen you before, but I remembered that my great-grandfather's niece married a chilean man.”

- “That's right. I'm a granddaughter of Atsuko Nishida and Carlos Martínez (whose japanese name is Karō Nishida (西田華郎)).”

- “I knew it. My maternal grandfather's name is Shunsuke Nishida (西田俊介); he's Atsuko Nishida's cousin. It's a small world! Don't you think so?”

- “Yeah! What a coincidence to find relatives here.”

- “Incidentally, what are you doing here in Minakami?”

- “I came with my family. They're waiting for me at a guesthouse, a couple blocks from the train station. And I came to bring this message, it's for Noriyuki Tochinohana (栃ノ花 紀征), from Kōbe.”

- “Kōbe, where the earthquake happened! This property belongs to my boyfriend's grandparents, I don't know how they're named, and my boyfriend's name is Nagahiko Higuchi (樋口 長彦), he's not a Tochinohana, but I'm sure he will tell you. He's taking a bath now, by the way. We'll have to wait.”

- “Oh.”

- “Hey, and how are the Nishidas doing there? If I recall correctly, they all were living in Ōsaka. Didn't they suffer any losses because of the earthquake?”

- “No. They're all okay there. By the way, my grandmother Atsuko is living in Kōbe.”

- “Really?”

- “Yes. Her house was the only one of her block that was still standing. She told us that she only lost her dishes. My uncle Miguel is living in Kōbe, too, near the coast. We haven't had the chance to see him, but my grandmother told us that nothing happened to him.”

- “Incredible! I saw the scenes of destruction on TV, the fires, that was awful!”

- “Yes! I was there, collapsed buildings in which the first floor was crushed by the above floors... there's still dead people below the rubble!”

- “Oh, yes, I can imagine that.”

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Then, Naoko's boyfriend appeared. Unlike her, Nagahiro doesn't know spanish (remember that, unless noted, most of the dialogue in this comic is originally in Spanish, and translated to English for your convenience).

- “直ちゃん! やりました! 。。。だれですか? (Nao-chan! I did it! ... Who is this?)”

- “ああ、長くん! 彼女は、私の邪悪なクローンです! (Oh, Naga-kun! ¡She is... my evil clone!)”

- “邪悪なクローン? 凄い! (Evil clone? Wow!)”

- “おい! あたしは邪悪な少女やあらへんで! が、あたしはいくつかの悪いことをやりました... (Hey! I'm not an evil girl! However, I... I've done some bad things...)”

Rosa is now thinking on events like when she rejected Arnoldo Navarrete, when she scared her parents and siblings while disguised as a snowman, the times she ate all the remaining cake... She looked quite regretful.

- “真ちゃん、僕は彼女が悪い人だと思わない。。。 (Nao-chan, I don't think she's a bad person...)”

- “え? あなたは、私が邪悪なクローンだと思うか? (Huh? Do you think that I am the evil clone?)”

- “ええと。。。 あ! 私は考えている! (Err... Oh! I have a nice idea!)”

Nagahiko went to look for a newspaper, and showed Rosa a particular news item: “ A dog was rescued from a house's ruins, 18 days after the Kōbe earthquake. ”

- “Little dog! - Rosa said, and started crying.”

- “これはバカげている! (This is ridiculous!) - Naoko said.”

- “ちゃうねん!子犬は生き残った!十八日間! (It's not! The little dog survived! 18 days!)”

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