"Kotoba dake ja tsutawaranai mono o The things you can't get across with just words" "Ichiban tsutaetai no wa naze?" "Why do you want to get those things across the most?" "Kutsuzoko o suriherashite Wearing down the soles of your shoes" "Hadashi demo tomarenai no wa naze?" "Why can't you stop, even when you're down to your bare feet?" "Kaban no naka ni hoshizora The starry sky is in your bag" "Arashi no yoru mo soko ni aru The stormy nights are in there too" "Soro-soro tabi ni dero It's about time you go on a journey" "Robou ni saku hana yo hana yo The flowers, the flowers that bloom by the wayside" "Goro-goro doro-darake Rolling around, covered in mud" "Mune o kogasu yoake yoake The dawn, the dawn that consumes your heart" "Soro-soro hashiri-dase It's about time you start running" "Kowareru made asobe asobe Play, play until you break down" "Odorou yo doro-darake Let's dance, covered in mud" "Mune o kogasu yoake yoake The dawn, the dawn that consumes your heart" "Chapter Twenty-Two The Drunk Who Does Not Come Home" "It smells like Pa's sake..." "Maejima Temple" "Maejima Temple The Youi is thought to be hiding in the aqueducts." "The Youi is thought to be hiding in the aqueducts." "Upstream, the aqueducts go all the way into the castle." "Find it at all costs and stop it." "So, the wells do not bring up underground water." "Edo is close to the sea, so the spring water is salty." "So we draw water from around the Tamagawa River and use aqueducts to get it to wells." "So, what did the monster look like?" "Water..." "Ryudo!" "Shall we give this thing a try?" "Do it!" "Boss, this water is..." "This is excellent sake." "Sake?" "!" "Saizo, do not drink it!" "You are asking the impossible." "It is everywhere around us." "In the 21 st century, you must wait until you are 20 to drink alcohol." "It appears the actual Youi escaped." "Unbelievable." "Sake..." "Is it a crime... to drink sake?" "Come now, have a drink." "To think I came to Edo, but had not been to Yoshiwara until now." "How foolish of me, if I do say so myself!" "Okada, do not get too carried away." "Do you know why warriors shave their sakayaki?" "Sakayaki?" "Oh!" "Ouma!" "It's fine, it's fine." "I'll tell you why." "It's because we grow bald." "Men go bald when we grow older." "When we go bald, the ladies start giving us the cold shoulder." "But if we are all bald from a young age, we needn't worry about that." "My..." "No, really." "All men cover up the fact that we go bald." "Our country is not alone in this." "In the West, they wear hats and wigs like these, and on the mainland, they all wear eboshi hats." "Even in Korea..." "Okada..." "Right..." "What was I saying?" "Please let him stay the night." "He won't be receiving any reprimands at this point." "We expect he'll be required to slit his stomach in the next day or two." "Seppuku?" "!" "That's right." "I sold... some bamboo." "It was bamboo that I was not supposed to sell." "So it's seppuku." "Ouma..." "That is your name, correct?" "If my daughter..." "If my daughter should be reduced to working in such a place..." "Please be good to her..." "Well, being a country girl from Iwami," "I doubt the fine establishments of Yoshiwara would take her, even if they were paid to." "Please, stay the night." "No, get me the bill." "For a warrior, committing seppuku is his moment of glory." "Rather than being executed at the hands of another man, it means he gets to pass judgment on himself." "Clad in white, he takes up the short sword upon the ceremonial stand, thrusts it into his left side and draws it all the way to the right!" "Samurai these days don't have the nerve to stab themselves in the gut, so his second standing behind him will wait for the suitable moment, then..." "Whack!" "I hear the samurai of old were incredible." "They slit their stomachs sideways and up and down, then grabbed out their entrails." "As if to say, "What do you make of this?" "!" ""Look well!" "Do my guts look filthy and black like those of a treacher?" "!"" "Why die?" "What's wrong?" "Here!" "Here!" "Tokoroten jelly is good for hangovers." "This will be a great help." "Soy sauce and vinegar?" "!" "No brown sugar syrup?" "We're natives of Edo, aren't we?" "That will be two mon, please." "You're charging us?" "!" "Ryudo, what are you drinking?" "!" "Huh?" "When you have a hangover, you have another drink, of course." "What kind of carefree talk is that?" "!" "The Youi is still hiding in the aqueducts!" "But that sake was delicious, with that hint of Youi in it." "Maejima Temple" "Maejima Temple I have devised a plan." "I see." "So we are damming up the aqueducts." "The bastard will be left dry, and head for Okawa River, looking for water." "And this thing will be washed out to sea." "As I recall, there is a monster called "suiko"." "Suiko (Water Tiger)" "That is exactly what this thing is." "I understand the "water", but why "tiger"?" "Unruly drunks are called "big tigers"." "You're still drunk, aren't you?" "By the river!" "With this..." "With this... what?" "You also said something about how it would be washed out to sea..." "It has grown bigger." "Uh..." "At any rate, I bet that sobered you up." "Yes..." "Lady Courtesan, I will do this later." "You have a habit of chewing them off." "So..." "That man named Okada is apparently the accountant for a certain clan in Iwami Province." "Iwami?" "This is where Master Okada's clan is." "Seven years ago, its neighbor, the Hamada Clan, was investigated by the authorities, under suspicion of secretly conducting trade with Korea." "Korea?" "On Takeshima Island near Iwami, it seems there is high-quality bamboo to be harvested." "But the island is Korean territory." "So, buying the bamboo constitutes trading with a foreign country, and the Hamada Clan was harshly reprimanded." "Master Okada's clan was also buying bamboo from Takeshima Island." "Bamboo..." "That bamboo had been hidden, but unable to find the funds to pay for his lord to present himself in Edo," "Master Okada ended up selling it." "So, what happens?" "If the Shogunate should find out, it will be a grave situation." "Master Okada will commit seppuku." "It will be as if none of it happened." "But Master Okada is not to blame!" "The clan is to blame!" "The Takeshima Island we just talked about is modern-day Ullung Island." "The place called Takeshima Island today was called Matsushima Island in our time, and it was considered part of Japan." "This side is Japan and the other side is foreign." "Drawing a line does not change the fact that it is still one sea, and yet..." "Okada sold the bamboo, thinking to do what would be good for his lord!" "I'm going to go object to this!" "But you know, Atl, does that mean his lord was to blame then?" "If the lord were unable to present himself in Edo, the Shogunate wouldn't excuse him." "No..." "To begin with, his House would be ruined if the unlawful trade were discovered." "If that should happen, not only would the lord lose his home, but so would his thousands of vassals." "But that can all be avoided, if Master Okada alone slits his stomach." "But..." "The one to blame is..." "That's right." "The people saying trade with foreign countries is wrong!" "You don't mean..." "Maejima Temple" "I have devised a plan." "Lord Magistrate." "You came all this way just to discuss that?" "Very bold of you." "Just because we cannot easily touch you..." "How insufferable." "Why is it a crime to trade freely with foreign countries?" "The answer is simple." "If we consort with foreign nations, it will give rise to strife." "People look for things that are different than themselves and they belittle those qualities." "And given the opportunity, they bare their fangs and invade." "There was a time when this country intruded on the peninsula in question." "Who can say that this time, it will not be their turn?" "And that is why trade is not permitted?" "!" "You expect everyone to stay huddled within this country?" "!" "Shut away like the courtesans of Yoshiwara!" "Perhaps Japanese people like being shut away more than you think." "Your ancestors were destroyed by Espana, and you lost Texas too." "You must have seen how easily you can be robbed of your land." "If Torii is protecting this country from war, who is truly to blame?" "!" "Whose fault is it that Okada will die?" "!" "Stop agonizing over a matter that has no answer." "Even so, there is still something that I can do!" "Is it destroying the sake brewery?" "!" "It's a sake Youi itself, but it seems to consider sake its foe." "Let us do this." "New Weapon Kiyomasa!" "Huh?" "Do you not know of Kiyomasa Kato's tiger slaying?" "Boss!" "Dance, Saizo!" "Yes, Sir!" "Here we go!" "Good grief." "With this..." "Hey, Saizo!" "It's become see-through!" "Never mind that!" "Dance!" "She's a maiden yet to be married!" "What?" "!" "I will find you a husband!" "This is bad!" "We have to hurry!" "Abi!" "Right!" "Like this?" "Uh..." "The oil is old." "This is a Youi?" "Yes, and quite a powerful one at that." "So?" "Why did you summon me?" "I am the one who summoned you." "You can sense the aura of Youi all across Edo, right?" "Well, yes." "I hear there's a sake Youi causing trouble in the city right now." "Where is the person who gave rise to this Youi?" "What will you do with such information?" "I want to find a way to the Other World!" "Oh?" "There's someone I want to send away where no one can reach him!" "If a person gave rise to a Youi, the Other World will open up near that person!" "Atl, that's..." "All right, I will show you the way!" "A way to the Other World, is it?" "That is exactly what we are looking for most of all." "I have to hurry!" "By morning, Okada will be..." "We can't do this anymore!" "We can't hold it!" "Yukiatsu!" "Shall we burn it?" "Yeah, do it for me." "This is..." "The intoxicating substance in sake called "arukohooru"..." "The character "sake" represents the shape of a sake barrel..." "That is its true form..." "I haven't been drinking sake for forty years for nothing..." "Kame Matsu" "Kame Matsu Well, this is one of our bottles..." "Well, this is one of our bottles..." "But it's so dirty..." "Oh, this!" "Sir, this is the one that girl always brings." "Huh?" "Oh, right." "There's a girl who's always being sent here to buy sake." "And this is what she brings." "It's not Father..." "It's not Father..." "That child created the Youi..." "Yes, yes, she positively stinks of it." "Yukiatsu..." "Why are you here?" "The Youi..." "Yeah, the Youi seems related to this family." "Apparently he's a good metal worker, but he becomes a different person when he drinks." "He goes on a tear, hits his daughter, breaks things, then drinks some more." "It seems the daughter laughs it away at the sake shop, saying, "He is not my father when he does those things."" "It's not her father." "It's the sake that's the monster." "That thing is a separate beast." "Her desire to believe that gave rise to the Youi..." "She is really close to opening the way to the Other World." "How?" "Let us encourage her." "What?" "She cannot even acknowledge the way her father really is." "She even created the Youi." "She is really close." "Make it so she does not want to be in this world a moment longer." "But that would be..." "Come, quickly." "Quickly!" "There's someone you want to take to the Other World, isn't there?" "Even now, that girl is in a situation that could not be worse." "What more can I do to her?" "Is that what I must do for Okada?" "Quickly!" "I can't do it!" "You bitch!" "Look at him!" "This is your old man!" "Don't look away!" "And you, you wake up!" "Father!" "Will the Youi not appear anymore?" "By the day after tomorrow, that old man will be drinking again." "When he does, there's no knowing what might happen." "But then, can you bring yourself to do something about that girl?" "Atl will never seek out the Other World again." "You think so?" "There's really no reason to remain in this world." "Okada." "That raucous gathering certainly was fun." "Do you find this world fun?" "Mado no soto no sora o mitara Outside my window, looking at the sky" "Kumo ga haato no katachi ni mieta yo The clouds looked like they were in the shape of a heart" "Iki o ookiku suikome ba If you take in a deep breath" "Kokoro ga ookiku natta ki ga suru ne It makes you feel like your heart's grown bigger, doesn't it?" "Ai to wa nanika?" "What is love?" "Nante kono toshi ja wakaru wake nai kedo There's no way I'd know that at my age" "Itsu no hi ka wakaru toki ga kuru no kana I wonder if there'll come a day when I do know" "Mado kara mieru ki no eda mo ha mo Outside my window, I can see tree branches and leaves" "Mainichi mainichi nobite-iru yo And they grow every day, day after day" "Kore kara mo nobite-iku yo ne They'll continue to grow from now on too, won't they?" "Konna toki ni wa konna uta ga niau At times like this, a song like this is just the thing" "Jibun no ima omou kimochi o kuchizusame Sing whatever you're feeling right now" "Aishite-iru to iu suteki ni hibiku kotoba ga The words "I love you" have such a wonderful ring to them" "Mirai ni iru jibun o kitto ima no nanbai mo ookiku Surely they'll make my future self many times greater" "Yasashiku sasete kureru no kamo shirenai Maybe many times kinder than I am today" "Preview" "Preview If people's emotions give rise to Youi," "If people's emotions give rise to Youi, the fight is never-ending." "Even if you set up a convenient villain as the mastermind, all you have done is avert your eyes from the truth." "Next Time Chapter Twenty-Three" " Inba Swamp Construction Along the Old Canal" "Next Time Chapter Twenty-Three" " Inba Swamp Construction Along the Old Canal Chapter Twenty-Three." "Inba Swamp Construction Along the Old Canal."