Chapter 232

Saying Goodbye to A.W. - Red and the Clown (A.W（アレン・ウォーカー）に別れを告げる・赤腕とピエロ, A.W. (Aren Wōkā) ni wakare o tsugeru ・ Akaude to piero) is the two hundred and thirty second chapter of the D.Gray-man manga series written and illustrated by Katsura Hoshino. It was published in Jump SQ Rise on April 22, 2019.

Cover
Red and Mana are standing on a black and white checkered scene. Red is on the right side, facing the reader and is wearing his usual attire. Mana is on the left side, turning his back to the reader and is wearing his clown attire. He salutes the audience. Red is lit up by a spotlight and all around them confetti are falling.

Short Summary
Allen starts telling his story to Kanda. When he was a boy called "Red", he recalls bringing food to the members of the Garvey Circus. After the show, he is busy with cleaning up the equipment when Cosimov, a clown comes and hassles him. This degenerates in Cosimov beating him, prompting  the ringmaster to step in. Cosimov lies and the ringmaster threatens Red. Later, as Red fulminates against his condition, he hears singing outside. He sees Mana, another clown singing in the cold night.

Long Summary
Allen begins the story of his past. He sets the events in the past, in Edinstown. The boy, then known as Red is called out by a Cook. The cook commands him to bring food to the performers. Red takes the trolley and goes about, serving breakfast in the different tents of the circus. As the artists chat about the coldness of the day, Red goes out and finds a certain performer: Allen explains that this is where he met Mana.

The show of the night ends with all the performers gathered on the scene, the ringmaster in the middle and the two clowns juggling to his sides. The latter thanks all the visitors not without reminding the next performances. Outside, the children are filled with enthusiasm. Inside however, Red is cleaning the circus stuff under the watch of an old man. The performers get in, giving orders to the old man that he slavishly executes and other boxes to clean up to a sullen Red.

One of the clowns, names Cosimov bursts in and starts nagging Red. He demands that Red be more cheerful and congratulates him. Red pushes him back prompting Cosimov to grab the child by his collar in a menacing fashion. Struggling, Red headbutts him and knocks off the clown's wig. Enraged, Cosimov throws Red on a wall and starts to beat him up while insulting him. Hearing the noise, the ringmaster appears. He calls out Cosimov on the fact there are still customers who may overhear the ruckus. Cosimov blames Red for slacking off at work. Believing him, the ringmaster grabs Red's hair and threatens him of parading him in the freak show with his misshapen left arm. Terrified, Red apologizes. The ringmaster reminds the boy that he belongs to him and that he owes him before leaving.

Red is left alone and wanders outside in the snow. He contemplates grudgingly what the circus master told him. The boy angrily swears that he will make them pay someday. Suddenly he hears a song. He glimpses the clown Mana Walker next to a tree. Red wonders what the man is doing, singing in the middle of the night. But hearing the melody, he feels like he has heard it somewhere. Red is taken aback and finds himself shedding tears once the lullaby is over. The clown's dog appears and the man strokes him and goes with him prompting Allen to say "what a weirdo". Perched on a tent, Timcanpy is watching.

Places

 * Edinstown

Chapter Notes

 * The flashback retells the events of the novel chapter Lost Fragment of Snow.
 * The first pages indicates that the flashback takes place in the same town of Edinstown, in winter several years earlier.
 * When Red finds him, Mana is making a family of snowmen.
 * Mana's face, at the age of when he encountered Red, is fully shown for the first time. There he is shown to bear a striking resemblance to the Earl of Millennium's human form.

Translation Notes

 * In the title "赤腕" (Aka Ude) literally means "red arm". It is the nickname given to Allen who had no proper given name at that point. This nickname is generally simply rendered as "Red" in many English translations and in this wiki.