"May we have a plentiful rice harvest again this year." "May we have a plentiful rice harvest again this year." "Come on!" "You pray too!" "That..." "The god..." "The mountain god has descended upon our land..." "Sou sa maiagare hoshi yo That's right, soar high, o star" "Ichido dake kagayaite futari o terashite Shine just once and illuminate the two of us" "Unmei no sora o kakeru hito-suji no hikari ga The single streak of light dashing across the fateful sky" "Futari o kaete yuku yo It's going to change us both" "Tashikameta no wa kowai kara ja nai The reason I double-checked wasn't because I was scared" "Shoujun wa ano ryuusei ni shibotta I've set our sights on that shooting star" "Marui renzu ni hitai o yoseta We crowd our foreheads around the round lens" ""Hajimaruyo" kimi ga yoko de tsubuyaku "It's going to start," you murmur next to me" "Sotto iki o tometa Quietly, we hold our breaths" "Futari te nigitta And join hands" "Wakatterunda mousugu kitto kiseki ga yatte kuru We know that soon, a miracle is sure to come along" "Saa maiagare hoshi yo Now, soar high, o star" "Ichido dake kagayaite futari o terashite Shine just once and illuminate the two of us" "Unmei no sora o kakeru hito-suji no hikari ga The single streak of light dashing across the fateful sky" "Futari o kaete yuku yo It's going to change us both" "Cha pter One" " The Youi Cometh" "Let us see it, Lord Magistrate." "Well, but this is..." "Please do not call me "Magistrate"!" "In a manner of speaking, you are the magistrate charged with the oversight of all fiends in Edo." "Sir..." "According to witness accounts from the scene," "I believe it looks something like this." "Lord Magistrate, is art not your forte?" "They appear to be coming closer to the Kanto region... to Edo..." "It is as you say." "So, not only are the people coming, but the fiends too." "You" "I" "Youi" "Youi Youi." "Since ancient times, tales of fiends and monsters have largely been the product of delusions or false reports." "We will call the Office of Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement's target Youi, and thus differentiate them." "The Youi are neither fantasy nor superstition, but a canker with corporeal form." "Wipe them out completely, and your achievements shall reach even the Shogun's ear." "As well, the shame brought upon your house shall be cleared." "So, have you found the final Ayashi?" "About that..." "Am I to truly make that man an Ayashi?" "That was the condition upon which the Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement was established." "Make the ronin named Yukiatsu Ryudo a member, without fail." "Yes, Sir." "I heard Touyama, the North Magistrate, will be ordered to transfer to the post of Inspector General soon." "The year before last, it was Yabe, and now, the North Magistrate is being relieved." "As expected, those not in agreement with the Reform will be driven out." "That's why the Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement must succeed, so they know that they cannot touch us." "Please, I beg of you." "It don't have to be money." "Food..." "All I'm askin' for is leftover food." "Where are you from?" "From Nanbu..." "The Lord's..." "Nanbu?" "It's in Mutsu." "Way up north." "Yuki, you go do your work." "Coming from so far out in the country, you may not know, but..." "There they are!" "Over here!" "There they are!" "Over here!" "We were just beggin'..." "There's a proper understanding of who goes begging at what stores!" "But..." "Thanks, Sir." "Hold it!" "We're not done talking yet!" "Let go!" "What're you doing, you brat?" "!" "Let her go!" "What're you doing, you brat?" "!" "Let her go!" "Come on, quit it, you brat!" "You damn brat!" "Let go!" "Let go!" "Let go!" "You're going to tear it!" "Hey, break it up!" "Break it up!" "Chief!" "I'm Tamahei, and I bear the authority of Hacchoubori!" "You guys are vagrants, aren't you?" "!" "You keep making a ruckus and I'll throw the lot of you in the camp!" "Anything but that!" "Run!" "Anything but that!" "Run!" "Come on, Yuki, back to work." "Yessir." "You see vagrants in every town." "What's the story on them anyway?" "Well, it varies, but the one you hear the most is that they came to Edo because they couldn't make a living on their land." "No home, no work." "The Shogun decreed that they were vagrants, different from us townspeople." "And he had proper shelters called vagrant camps built and told them to go to those places." "But with so many of them..." "Yeah, there's no catching them all." "These vagrants, are they easy to spot?" "If they go into the camp, they get tattooed." "Run away, and they get another one." "Then, if they run away a second time..." "They ought to just stay quietly in the camp." "Not like they've got anywhere else to go." "Yuki!" "Hey, ladle me a hot one." "Yessir." "Hey, Yuki, what's holding you up?" "Here you go." "Hey, Yuki, what's with that wrap?" "Sir?" "Go on, let's see that come off." "Quickly now!" "Chief, that's..." "Two tattoos, eh?" "Yuki, I've known you for a long time, but I never noticed." "So, you were a vagrant, eh?" "!" "And what if I'm a vagrant?" "Don't play games with me!" "You damn rogue vagrant!" "Prepare yourself!" "Hot!" "Yuki!" "Hey!" "What's this?" "!" "What's going on?" "!" "What is going on here?" "!" "Yuki!" "Playing games with me?" "!" "I'll throw you back into the camp!" "And then I'll have my head cut off?" "What good does that do me?" "What good?" "!" "That's the law!" "What's this commotion?" "Vagrants are supposed to live in the vagrant coop!" "What's this commotion?" "Vagrants are supposed to live in the vagrant coop!" "What'd he do?" "What'd he do?" "A vagrant?" "Come to steal something?" "A vagrant?" "Come to steal something?" "Go on back where you belong!" "Yuki, did you used to be a samurai?" "You don't get skill like that from an ordinary training hall." "But a samurai becoming a vagrant?" "I'm not a samurai." "Nor am I a vagrant." "I'm..." "I'm... nothing." "Buddha, have mercy!" "Buddha, have mercy!" "Essentially, in this era, a senior councilor named Tadakuni Mizuno is in the midst of executing the Tenpo Reform." "No theatre, no gambling." "They're clamping down on everything." "Even so, the number of poor people streaming into lively Edo only keeps increasing." "With no home and no work, they were discriminated against as vagrants." "And we'll just leave it at that." "Yukiatsu." "Oh, it's you, Kumoshichi." "Some true friend you are." "Showing up after it's all over." "You went to some trouble to show him your tattoo, didn't you?" "You may as well have announced you were a vagrant." "Why would you do something like that?" "I wonder why." "You're always doing this, Yukiatsu." "Wrecking your home of your own will." "That family is the same as me, but I couldn't do anything for them, while I hid who I was and had food to eat." "I just didn't like that." "You finally ended up becoming a vagrant..." "But then you ran away from the camp..." "You've got nowhere left to go." "But I still have to run..." "This man was definitely a vagrant?" "Yeah, but he didn't have a grand name like Yukiatsu." "Everyone called him Yuki." "You're not a townsperson either, are you?" "I'm from the mountains." "Mountain People, huh?" "Abi." "Well?" "Have you found out anything?" "Miss, the women's bath isn't too crowded right now." "Are you sure about that?" "I'm a man, you know." "And now, the track has gone cold again." "But I wonder what kind of man he is." "I hear he used to be the son of a noble vassal." "Twenty-five years since he left his house, there's no sign he ever lived in the same place for more than a year." "Gambler." "Thief." "Vagrant..." "Worse and worse." "Well, I suppose at his age, he can't very well go back now." "Where's Saizo?" "Ordered by the Boss to follow up on that Youi." "The search for him will have to wait, I suppose..." "Yukiatsu Ryudo..." "Where has he vanished to?" "It'll be troublesome to dig in the frozen mud looking for them now." "And these guys have been fed a special diet." "Absolutely perfect for fishing for bitterling!" "Thanks a lot." "Spend all you want on a rod." "A bad fisherman's a bad fisherman." "Boy, there's nothing to eat here." "This is trash." "They collect trash here to make land." "Quit it." "You..." "I have to find it!" "I'm going!" "I'm going!" "Outa!" "Oh, it is you!" "We met at the bathhouse." "Yes..." "So you're living here..." "No matter where we go, we're told to go elsewhere." "You should go to the camp." "There'll be food there." "We'll be found." "Found?" "Someone's after you?" "You don't look the sort to have enemies." "Did you kill your husband or something?" "So you're running away, too..." "Child." "What's your name?" "Your name." "Are you not Outa?" "Hey!" "Are you the one after this family?" "Who are you?" "!" "A child?" "You think I'm a child?" "!" "You saying you're not?" "Don't come any closer." "Don't get an upset stomach." "What?" "Time to run!" "Hey, hold it!" "Wait..." "Hey!" "Come on in." "Well, it's at least got a roof." "Ramshackle houses like these are called slug-infested row houses." "Don't worry." "No slugs here." "To these guys, even used tea leaves are nourishing for them." "The fish eat these guys and we eat the fish." "It's a fine design." "Nothing can survive without eating." "You still stink." "What?" "!" "You sure brought home an interesting find." "You mean, Tae and Outa?" "It's a rare occasion, you showing interest in a woman." "Don't be ridiculous." "Well, it's just a little something that happened." "You're not going to run away this time?" "Eh?" "What's that..." "Excuse me..." "Something the matter?" "Oh, this guy's my friend." "His name's Kumoshichi." "Outa has..." "Outa has gone off again!" "He ain't doin' that 'cause he's hungry!" "Then..." "He's lookin'!" "Looking?" "!" "Weren't you guys on the run?" "!" "That's why he's lookin' for a place to run to!" "That child can see!" "What do you mean by that?" "!" "I don't understand either!" "I knew it was here!" "Just like I saw in the mountains!" "Pa, are you there?" "!" "Pa!" "Outa!" "I found it!" "I found it!" "That land that I saw!" "Still..." "So it's still coming after me..." "Master Yukiatsu!" "I won't go." "I told you, didn't I?" "Kumoshichi, that child..." "He saw it." "The same thing that you did." "That Other World that you've been running from." "The mountain god's come..." "So you've finally come to Edo, Youi!" "Abi!" "Hey, what are you guys..." "The child!" "Protect the mother and son!" "What?" "!" "This monster's followed them here!" "All the way from Mutsu!" "Outa!" "Master Yukiatsu!" "This light!" "Filth" "That is Ayagami..." "So he's the man we've been looking for." ""Filth" as in "rubbish and filth"." "Filth "Filth" as in "rubbish and filth"." "Filth The lower part, "kai", is said to originally have referred to armor." "The lower part, "kai", is said to originally have referred to armor." "It was from there that the meaning "to hinder" was born." "That man is capable of drawing power from words?" "That power is called Ayagami." "Yukiatsu Ryudo..." "Run, Outa!" "Hurry!" "Outa!" "Don't go that way!" "It can't be..." "There are two Youi..." "Nagaku nagai tabiji ni On that long, ageless journey" "Boku wa kimi ni koi shita I fell in love with you" "Kisetsu meguri shigure-zuki The seasons turned to the month of autumn rains" "Kokoro o sotto nurasu Gently dampening hearts" "Toki ga nanika kaeru nara If time can change things" "Douka douka sotto shite Please, please be gentle" "Kimi to aruku ima dake This one moment as I walk with you" "Shizuka ni tomatte ite Stay quiet, be still" "Mizube no hotori ni tsuzuita Winding Road The winding road following along the water's edge" "Konna futari ni wa oniai nandarou It's probably fitting for a couple like us" "Hitotsu no kasa ga kanashii The lone umbrella is sad" "Mada kimi ga suki dakara Because I still love you" "Sunao ni uketomerarezu ni I couldn't accept it graciously" "Kono ame ni nagasarete Let this rain carry you away" ""Subete ga uso da" to mou ichido hohoende Smile once more and tell me, "It was all a lie"" "Preview" "A boy bewitched by the Other World." "That is Yukiatsu's past." "The Ayagami has howled." "Next Time" " Chapter Two After the Fall of the Mountain God" "Next Time" " Chapter Two After the Fall of the Mountain God Chapter Two:" "After the Fall of the Mountain God." "Next Time" " Chapter Two After the Fall of the Mountain God"