Thirsty Moon (manga)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Thirsty Moon (渇きの月 Kawaki no Tsuki) is a one-shot manga work (yomikiri) by Hisaya Nakajo. It's included in the fourth volume of one of her other manga series, Hana-Kimi.

[edit] Plot

One night, Miho Shinoda (篠田 実穂 Shinoda Miho), a 16 year-old girl, was cornered by some gangsters. A youth, Tsuki Kirishima (桐島 月 Kirishima Tsuki) stepped up to defend her. Although Kirishima acted like a gangster himself, Shinoda found herself attracted to the boy. Despite the fact that she was engaged, she began dating Tsuki.

However, she found out that Kirishima was putting up an act; he had purposely got close to Shinoda to seek revenge. Her father, a doctor, had misdiagnosed Kirishima's half-sister, causing her to die at a tender age. Yet, unexpectedly, Kirishima himself had fallen for Miho. In another twist of fate, it turns out that Kirishima's birth father was Dr. Shinoda, Miho's father. Nevertheless, the half-siblings declared their love for each other.

Tragically, Tsuki was stabbed by a ruffian who had harassed Miho that night when they first met. Concealing his pain, he sat beside Miho to await the sunrise. As the sun rose, Tsuki passed away beside Miho...

After Tsuki's death, Miho found a note by him. In it, he mentioned that he had a heart condition, and was not expected to live for long. He then reaffirmed his love for Miho, and claimed that knowing her was his only redemption, which brought tears to the lady...

[edit] Trivia

• According to Nakajo, Tsuki was the first character to be killed off in her stories. She also recommended that the reader listen to Sting's Shape of My Heart while reading the story. The song is found in his 1993 album, Ten Summoner's Tales.
• The original Japanese title meant "The Withered Moon". However, Tsuki itself means "moon", and thus the title could be used to refer to him, as he felt that he too had withered away when his sister died, only to be revived by Miho's love. Incidentally, he also had in his possession a cactus plant which was withering (see below). At the end of the story, a flower bloomed from the cactus, which was no longer withering, an allegory to Tsuki's circumstances.
• Besides "moon", Tsuki mentioned that his name was also derived from the Japanese name of the cactus Epiphyllum oxypetalum (月下美人). The literal meaning of the name is "The Beautiful Lady under the Moon". In English, the equivalent would be "The Queen of the Night".