"[Yumeno Barber Shop]" "I'm late!" "The editor-in-chief's gonna be mad at me again!" " Hey, good morning, landlady!" " My, you're up rather late." "I set aside breakfast." "You want it?" "No, sorry, I'm kind of in a hurry!" "My goodness." "So many career women these days, and every one of 'em's in a rush." "The Woman Who Loved Books" "If you listen closely, you should be able to hear" "The faint voice calling out to you" "Yes, deep within the thick woods of three thousand worlds" "Someone is screaming out to pry open the night" "Secret world, let's go to help beyond the veil" "Close your eyes and fly towards an invisible world" "Of the past, of the future" "Secret world, secret world" "[Kaikado Publishing]" "Do you have any idea what time it is?" "!" "You imbecile!" "But my proofing yesterday took me well into the night, and..." "If you have time to be making excuses, you have time to get me that overdue manuscript!" "Yes, sir." "I understand, sir." "This book is called Notes on the Onmyo Way, and it says that tools that have been around for a hundred years or so can acquire spirits, and become monsters that deceive human beings." "These monsters are known as "tsukumogami,"" "and the book says that there are all different kinds of them that exist." "Is that interesting or what?" "You know, I don't need an explanation of the text." "What I need is the manuscript you owe me." "Well, then, it looks like his plan has failed." "I will only wait on this one more day." " If you don't have it for me by that time..." " Then what?" "What's gonna happen?" "I will request that you come to our editorial department and finish the manuscript while I watch." "Aw, come on, Reiko, don't do that!" "I'm the kind of guy who can't sleep if you so much as switch his pillow, you follow me?" "Oh, don't worry." "It'll take you all night, so you won't be needing a pillow." "Slump!" "This is how I feel when Kantaro forces me to do something." "I think there's a lesson to be learned here." "I think you're right." "Reiko!" "Huh?" "Suzu, is something wrong?" "There's something that I wanna ask you about." "Huh?" "[Shaved Ice Monjayaki]" "Ah, so from what you're saying, I'm guessing you want to become a career woman when you grow up, huh, Suzu?" "That's right." "I really admire working women like you." "You're the coolest!" "Oh, thank you, Suzu!" "So what was it that made you choose the kind of work you're doing right now?" "I have liked books ever since I was a little girl." "At first I was dead set on becoming a writer, but then I discovered that I was much better suited for doing publishing work than I was for writing." "And then I found a job at the company I'm working at now." "Wow, must be a lot of fun doing all the things you enjoy for a living." "Well, the truth is..." "Yes!" "It's a very rewarding job!" "Now this is some good sake!" "So, can I understand that this means that you will give our company permission to publish your latest work?" "They say a warrior never goes back on his word." "Well, it's the same with writers." "Thank you very much, sir!" "Sir, please be careful and watch your step." "My, the restroom certainly is far, huh?" " S-sir, you're making me uneasy." " What's there to be uneasy about?" "If anything, sweetheart, you oughta be uneasy about losing my next work to another publisher." "Besides, as an editor, you should stay close to your more popular authors." " Now, please stop it." " Come on, it's not so bad, right?" "Right?" "Stop!" "Oh, no!" " Who the hell do you think you are?" "!" " Sir!" "What happened?" "!" " Oh, no." " Do something about that insolent bitch!" " Leave at once." " But..." "Just do it!" "Now go!" "[Oden Stew]" " Come on!" "One more, please!" " Haven't you had enough already?" "Who cares about being a stupid career woman, anyway?" "Maybe I should just quit altogether." "Mr. Ichinomiya!" "Good evening!" "Reiko?" "What brings you here at this hour, huh?" " She reeks of sake!" " To hell with that stupid author!" "Reiko, you gotta calm down!" "You're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood and..." "As a single, hard-working career girl of modest means," "I oppose the blatant abuse of..." "It sounds like Reiko had some really terrible thing happen to her at work, huh?" " Anyway, what do we do?" " Why don't we let her stay the night?" "No way!" "I haven't finished the manuscript." "We can't do that." "Reiko's house is over in Hongo, isn't it?" "Why am I the one who has to do this?" "This is nice." "It feels just like I'm flying through the air." "Please just go to sleep." "That woman stinks of liquor!" "Well, see ya." "Wow, what a hunk!" "Come here, you!" " Hey!" "Let go!" "Let go of me!" " No way!" "You're all mine!" "Somebody please come and help me with this!" "So, does the great demon-eater need a little help?" " Huh?" "!" " Muu!" "Get real already." "Don't you feel like just ditching Kantaro?" "He even has you looking after drunks." "It's a disgrace to the name demon-eating goblin." "I have always considered it a rather grave mistake to have a human and a goblin living under the same roof." "There is a gap between humans and monsters that simply can't be bridged, you understand me?" "On what planet are employees free to come in later than their bosses?" "!" " Why, you imbecile!" " I'm very sorry..." "And then there's that stunt you pulled last night." "It was a hell of a mess I had to deal with." "You think I should of kept quiet and put up with that man's depraved behavior?" "!" "No, I said nothing of the sort." "Still, a professional editor would've been able to deal with an old baboon like him and get the job done." "Delivery!" "From Sarashina!" "Could someone tell me who ordered the tempura soba?" " Oh, right here!" " Yes, sir." " Who are you?" "Are you new there?" " Yes, sir." "We thank you for your patronage." "Something wrong?" "Um, you have somebody named Reiko working here, don't you?" " So then, are you an acquaintance of hers?" " Uh-huh." "And since I'm here, I thought I'd just drop by and tell her hello." "I see." "Knowing Reiko, she's probably in her usual place." "Her usual place?" "She's always out to be the number one bookworm in the company." "Whenever she has a break, she goes down to the basement storeroom to read." "There are a lot of old books in the basement, and people hardly ever go down there." "The basement storeroom?" "I'll go and say hi to her." " I'm sorry, but would you mind not?" " Why?" "What's wrong with that?" "A lot of things have happened today." "I wanted to give her some time to herself." "[The Great Detective and the Hidden Jewels]" "What was I doing just now?" "Apparently I was reading this." "I must have gotten so into this book that I guess I blanked out." "Aha." "So this is where you've been hiding." "The chief wants ya, Reiko." "His message for you is " ""Go get Mister Ichinomiya's manuscript, you imbecile!"" "OK, I'm on it." "Today's the deadline, but just as I thought, you haven't written a single page, have you?" "Uh... no." "Then there's no other choice." "You'll have to keep your promise and finish it up at our office tonight, Mr. Ichinomiya." " But aren't you gonna get mad?" " Now, why would I go and do that?" "I'll be there with you all night, so let's get this project done together, OK?" "I've got some other business to attend to, and I won't be back into the office until sometime this evening, so I'd like you to come in after that, if you would, please." " Hey, Reiko!" " Oh, hello there, Suzu!" "Do you think we could continue our talk from yesterday?" "Sure." "No problem." "Well, I'm counting on you, Mr. Ichinomiya." " Let's go, Suzu." " OK." "Reiko sure is in a good mood today, isn't she?" "It's like she's a different person from yesterday." " Kantaro..." " Yes, I know." "Huh?" "!" "Reiko's emanating a strange force?" "It's possible she's been possessed by some sort of monster." "I wonder if that's why she's in such an unusually good mood." "So what do you plan to do?" "Before we do anything else, we have to find out exactly what kind of monster is possessing her." "As always, we're the ones who end up doing the actual investigating." " What's that?" " Huh?" " I'm terribly sorry about last night." " Don't worry." "I was a little drunk myself." "Let's call yesterday's mishap water under the bridge." "Thank you, sir." "By the way, I thought I would mention I'm planning to make my next work a love story set at a lush hot springs resort deep in the heart of the country." "Given that, I will need to conduct some research." " And I want you to accompany me." " You want me to do what?" "Sir, I must let you know, she's still just a novice." " Please, why not choose someone else?" " I'm asking you, girl." "If you take on the work of a famous author like me, you'll gain prestige as an editor." "You want to advance your career, don't you?" "What's the matter?" "You forget how to speak?" " The pain!" " Sir, what is it?" "It's my chest..." "I can't breathe..." "Sir!" "Sir!" "Please, somebody help me!" "That's..." "Talk to me!" "Please, sir!" "Hang in there, sir." "Sir!" "Sir!" "Reiko!" "Why are you just standing there?" " Oh, no!" " Call a doctor!" "A doctor!" "I'll go right away!" "[Kaikado Publishing]" "That was quite a scare earlier, wasn't it?" "The doctor said it was a combination of intemperance and overwork." "Unfortunately, it appears he won't be able to do any writing for a while." "And after we'd just asked him to let us publish his latest work." "Oh, well." "It doesn't even look like Reiko has a clue what she did to that guy." " It does seem that way." " What are we gonna do now?" "Maybe we should go back and let Kantaro know about this." "Let me know what?" "Kantaro?" "I've come to write that manuscript, as promised." "Thank you very much, Mr. Ichinomiya!" "I had the meeting room set aside, so why don't we work in there?" "I brought these two along to help us out, so let them know if you've got any work for them." "I think that would be a big help." "Oh, thank you." "What do you say we rest for a little bit?" "Oh, man, that'd be great." "Let's go ahead and take a full 30-minute break then, all right?" " Where does she plan on going?" " Probably the basement storeroom." "A storeroom?" "Sounds suspicious." "The tsukumogami here in "Notes on the Onmyo Way"" "are articles which fell out of use and were thrown away at some point." "Are you trying to tell us that those old things in the storeroom have turned into monsters?" "I'd say there's definitely a possibility." "[Tales of the Bizarre and Fantastic]" "Tales of the Bizarre and Fantastic, huh?" "Sounds interesting!" "Hey, Kantaro, look!" "Stop it, now!" " Reiko just got..." " What the hell?" "!" " Just what are you doing with Reiko?" "!" " Be silent!" "I know you not, nor whence ye came, but I shall brook no interference!" "Bring it on, you old hag!" "Haruka, wait!" "You mustn't fight this monster!" "And why not?" "I don't feel any pain in my chest." "So there's no evil spirit controlling this monster." "My name is Kantaro Ichinomiya, and I am one of Reiko's acquaintances." " What's your name, ma'am?" " I am known as Fuguruma Yohi." "A tsukumogami who turneth aged books into monsters." "Could you please explain to us then why you've chosen to trap Reiko inside this book?" "Wherefore that girl doth love the printed word." "Verily, she taketh pleasure in reading." "For a book monster such as myself, witnessing her joy is a thing that doth touch my heart." "This monster was actually being a friend to Reiko." "So the incident at the restaurant was because you were protecting her from that author, wasn't it?" "A writer with such an impure heart could ne'er craft a true tale." "He got his just desserts." "But why was it that Reiko is the one locked inside a book?" "At present, she is fully absorbed in the world of that book, and is no doubt enjoying its story in all its fullness with all her heart." "It's about time I got back." "Oh, hey there, everybody." "What's up?" "Um, well, you see..." "You seemed to be taking a while, so we came down here to check on you." " Oh, is that so?" " Uh-huh." "I hear you're always coming down here to read." "Yes, that's right." "It's because I really love books, you know?" "And I love thee, as well." ""A gap between humans and monsters that simply can't be bridged," was it?" "What, Haruka?" "However... there are also monsters who can clear that gap, aren't there?" "Well, you know, there's nothing wrong with us getting to like humans, right?" " Should we head back?" " Sure." "There!" "All finished!" "Thank you for all your hard work." "Where's that Reiko?" "!" "Is she late again?" "!" "Man!" "I was even planning on treating her to lunch today." "That girl really is one heck of an imbecile." "[Imperial Onmyo Journal] [The Woman Who Loved Books]" "[Kantaro Ichinomiya]" "I shall always be by thy side to watch over thee." "Be thou diligent, and the books thou makest shall be good." "In the town at night, I found myself calling out to you" "I found myself calling out to you" "Though we're far apart" "I won't fall prey to loneliness" "When we feel there's someone on our side" "We all change" "Becoming stronger, stronger, stronger" "The unseen power invites hope" "The unseen power is the courage you gave me" "What will Kantaro's next case be?" "It's the end of summer, and Kantaro and the gang go visit an old mountain villa that holds a special place in Suzu's heart." "However, no one could have imagined Suzu's memories of the place would serve as the catalyst for a series of unusual events!" "Is it a dream?" "A hallucination?" "It's a veritable kaleidoscope of imagery!" "And then everyone disappears!" "Next time on Tactics, "The Fading Song of the Summer Cicadas.""