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kaialone · 27 days ago

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Guilty Gear Xrd Series Official Artworks- Short Story "The Reminiscent Gale" (English Translation)

This will be a full English translation of the short story "The Reminiscent Gale" (JPN title: 追憶の疾風)

It’s the third out of three new short stories written to be included in "Guilty Gear Xrd Series Official Artworks"- an artbook released in October 2024, containing concept art for all three main versions of Guilty Gear Xrd.

The specific author(s) of these short stories have not been revealed, but it's been indicated that they were in-house staff of Arc System Works.

The Reminiscent Gale

The "wall".

It's not one of the iron fences that might surround you, or some hardened gang of thugs.

But surviving in this harsh environment for sixteen years? That's one "wall" you'll find yourself facing, no matter what.

It may be called by many names, but even in the town where the boy grew up, people knew the "Wall of Sixteen".

The boy possessed extraordinary intellect, allowing him to quickly understand the reality of this. He mastered the art of living in the shadows, and cleared the wall with ease.

—

Countless shadows fell to the ground, and a mob eagerly pecked away at them like a wake of vultures.

One shadow found himself completely unable to move. There was a man, gently whispering to him, keeping both of them out of sight.

"Don't worry, I won't bite. You get it, don't you?"

"E-eek…"

"See, we just wanna get along, too. So, how about you show us some sincerity?"

"G-got it, I'm sorry, please forgive…"

Before he could finish his sentence, the larger man had passed out from fear. As the other let go of his collar, he heard someone call his name.

"Hey, Answer. How's it going over there?"

It seemed his fellow slum residents had finished their "work" early.

"Done already, Martin? Well, same here. Doubt they'll try anything else after this."

"Hmph, sure hope they learned their lesson."

"If they didn't, we'll just pay them back in kind. Anyway, we're leaving!"

Following Answer's command, everyone withdrew. Since it was a struggle just to make it through each passing day, their group always stuck together closely. As a result, their bond had grown stronger than blood.

And for Answer, the very act of protecting them was his sole purpose in this hell.

…Until he met a certain man.

—

"Alpha Blade!!"

"Gaaaargh!!"

A man who could only be described as bizarre, calling himself a ninja. Answer happened to be familiar with the concept of a "ninja". And this man, who'd appeared like a gale of wind, looked nothing like one.

"Wh- What's with this guy… Is he crazy?!"

"He's so fast… Gaargh!"

"Hey, Answer! You gotta help us!!"

"Martin! Harold! Keith! Damn it, what the hell's going on?!"

This guy just started preaching to them out of the blue, claiming he would make the world a better place. It was more than enough to set off Answer and his cohorts.

So, they decided to rough him up a bit, figuring it wouldn't take much to make him cry and beg them for forgiveness. Instead, they were now the ones falling to the ground, one after the other.

Inexplicable techniques, incomprehensible speed. Swirling echoes of angry shouts, instantly silenced by an unseen blade.

And mere moments later, only two shadows were left standing… The man who called himself a ninja, and Answer.

"…What's with that stupid-ass get-up? Don't you know who you're messin' with?"

"Hmph. You're talking a lotta smack… considering you don't even know about the most lethal of Japanese weapons—the shinobi!"

"Th- That's it, you're dead…!"

It didn't make any sense. How could the home he wished to protect, his family, just be trampled like that?

For Answer, it was like everything he'd done up until this point was being rendered null and void. He had to fight back. With nothing but that single thought in his mind, he stood up to the man before him.

—

"You're actually tougher than I thought you'd be. What's your name?"

Even as Answer was lying on the ground, the self-proclaimed ninja continued to speak to him with the exact same tone as before.

It took great effort to even move his head, but he still turned to glare at him, and a completely genuine question escaped his lips.

"…Seriously, what the hell's your problem? If it's money you want…"

"What I want is your name. Even if you grew up on the streets, you gotta at least have one of those, right?"

"…It's Answer."

"Answer, huh? That's a fine name. Hey, you should help me become president."

"…What?"

"I bet you'd make for a pretty good ninja."

What is he on about? Did I really just lose to an actual nutcase…?

It took the full capacity of his brain to even come up with a follow-up question.

"Why… president?"

"Like I said, I wanna make the world a better place. That's why I'm hard at work to get folks to vote for me, obviously."

"Vote? You're telling me you're running for office?"

"Running for what?"

Now his anger started giving way to sadness. Even the little brats around these parts knew their place better than this guy.

"You really gonna waste your time with scum like us? If you wanna make the world right, you gotta use your head a little more."

"Don't be silly! Being a ninja isn't just about your head, you gotta train your mind and body, too. And even I used to be a… Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. Tell me, are you okay with the way things are right now?

"…Am I what?"

"Like, trying so hard and just barely surviving. 'Grin and bear it', and all that. You gonna keep doing this forever?"

"…Don't you make fun of me. What do you know? Every single day I see things in this garbage dump that I wish I hadn't. They're forever seared into my mind."

All the things they'd done. Telling themselves that they had to, in order to survive. And all the faces that followed along.

Faces of his family, contorted with pain. Faces of his comrades as they breathed their last. Faces of those damn hypocrites that made him want to puke. Faces, faces, faces…

"There's nothin' good about living like this, but you gotta do it if you wanna protect people! I don't need some well-off asshole without a care in the world showin' up to spout hollow bullcrap and tell me what to do!"

After his outburst, he realized he'd completely forgotten to breathe. A sharp pain filled his lungs, and he was starting to feel dizzy. Probably from the lack of oxygen.

Having kept quiet so far, the man before him sighed deeply, and looked Answer straight in the eye as he spoke.

"I dunno what kinda things you've been dealing with up until today. But, the things you're dealing with right now? I'll carry those for you. So, become a ninja, and help me become president."

"Are you shitting me?! The hell are you gonna do, jackass?! An outsider like you got no business in this shithole!"

"I'm gonna change this shithole."

"…Huh?"

"I'm gonna talk to everyone here and tell them to vote for me. That way they'll all agree to make me president. And presto! We'll have a safe and secure country."

"…"

"Well, there's probably gonna be folks like you who aren't gonna listen. I'll still talk to those guys though, even if I gotta beat them up, too."

"…"

"Oh shoot, our country's gonna need a name then, huh? It's probably better to keep it simple, so how about 'Shinobi Kingdom'? What do you think, Answer?"

"…Hah… Hahaha…"

The corners of his mouth curled up all on their own. He could practically hear the sound of his brain cells blowing out.

This guy was the real deal. His instincts told him so.

"Y'know…"

As he sat up and regained his balance, something caught his eye.

The barrel of a gun, hidden in the shadows behind the ninja, pointed in their direction. It was Martin.

In that instant, two options flashed through Answer's mind.

The first was to just let the crazy ninja die.

And then continue living this shitty life for the rest of his days.

The second was…

"Watch out, dumbass!"

Not quite what you're supposed to say when you're saving someone.

—

"I must say, I did not expect you to actually kick everyone's butt and then talk with them."

"A ninja never lies. Good thing you trusted me, huh?"

"Indeed. Well, in hindsight."

"…By the way, Answer. Shouldn't you first practice your ninja skills instead of how to talk all stiff like that?"

"Oh, quit your bellyaching, would you? Seeing as you are quite unreliable, I have no choice but to rely on anything else available to lay the proper groundwork for us, Boss. Really, you should be on your knees and profess your gratitude towards me."

"Oh yeah, about that 'Boss' thing! I told you to call me 'Okashira'! Martin and the others get it right." (1)

"Yes. Yes, you did tell me. My humblest apologies."

"Plus, there's your look. If you were just a tad more… you know, like an actual ninja, it'd be perfect."

"Aaaarrrrgh! Will you shut up already, you moron?! Ah, shit, a call. Hello, yes, this is Answer! Yes, thank you for the other day- Oh no, we pride ourselves on dedication and sincerity…"

Translation Note:

(1) What happens here is that Answer refers to Chipp with the actual English word "boss". This is fairly common in Japanese pop culture for this sort of character context. Of course, Chipp being the way he is, insists on being called "okashira" instead, a Japanese word that can be translated as "boss".

It's also spelled in katakana as "オカシラ" when Chipp says it, rather than the more conventional kanji/hiragana spellings, which—long story short—is a visual indicator showing that Chipp is literally saying the word as "okashira", even if in-universe these characters are likely supposed to be speaking English to each other.

Because of this, I left the word untranslated here, as that seems to be the intent.

There's one more thing to note about this, however.

By the time of Guilty Gear Xrd itself, Answer actually does consistently refer to Chipp as "okashira". But now Chipp wants to be called "president" instead, making the "okashira" bit from this short story intentionally ironic.

This only goes for the original Japanese script though, since Chipp's "okashira" title was just translated as "boss", or sometimes "my lord" in the English localization of Xrd.

So, if you're only familiar with the English script, you don't really get the full context of this bit, which is why I wanted to explain it here.

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