"This is troubling." "Where's the road?" "I struggled like mad but they wouldn't budge at all." "Those huge arms that seemed like they were made of straw squeezed me." "I started to black out." "Then, when I woke up, it was morning." "There wasn't any evidence of anything like that ever having appeared." "But this was a monster called Tsuchikorobi, which I came across in the mountains three years ago when I got lost on my way to Mino." "I'll never get over the eerie sound the wind made back at that time." "Landlord, the light." "Hurry!" "All right, everyone." "Let's do the curse eliminating ritual." "This is a One Hundred Stories social gathering." "Every time one story ends, one candle is meant to be put out." "There is an old saying in which, when the last light is put out, an apparition will make an appearance." "At the end of the gathering, it is customary to participate in the curse eliminating ritual." "Good morning!" "Ah, good morning!" "Good morning!" "Hey, I'm on my way." "Come home immediately after you get paid." "Yeah, yeah." "I'm counting on you, Daikichi." "I'll drag him back even if I have to put a noose around his neck." "You'd better." "Rock, paper, scissors!" "Rock, paper, scissors!" "You're it!" "You're it!" "Hey, avoid ripping up the umbrellas." "Working hard, I see." "Ah, Okiku, visiting?" "What's that?" "He's Mr. Tajimaya's right-hand man, isn't he?" "Hey, what's the meaning of this?" "You're Gohei, the caretaker?" "That's right." "In that case, hurry up and get ready to leave the premises." "Leave?" "Why?" "This property now belongs to Mr. Tajimaya." "Say what?" "!" "Mr. Tajimaya will tear down this filthy shrine and build a brothel." "I haven't heard any of this!" "That's because there's no need to tell you about it!" "I don't know what's going on but I can't allow that to happen!" "This shrine belongs to the town." "Not to mention it's a shrine after all." "You can't even change a tile on this place without the approval of the Shrine Magistrate." "No need to tell me that, I already know." "The proper approval was already given." "That's a lie!" "What are you doing?" "Start already!" "Stop!" "Stop it!" "Don't interfere!" "Gohei!" "Let go!" "I'd like to meet Mr. Tajimaya." "And what do you hope to accomplish by meeting him?" "Don't get the idea you have any clout." "You're just a caretaker in the employment of the town." "I know that!" "But if you build a brothel here, it'I I cause a lot of neighborhood disturbance!" "No need to worry about that." "We'll tear down the tenement house while we're at it." "The house too?" "You can't do that!" "That tenement house belongs to Mr. Jinbei!" "You don't have a say in this if Mr. Jinbei says yes though." "My father would never approve of that!" "Why don't you go home and ask your daddy then?" "Hey, stay back!" "Get rid of that junk!" "Yes, Sir." "Hey, that stuff's on loan!" "Let me have them back!" "You don't understand anything!" "This is no place for a girl to stick her neck in." "Stop it!" "Haul this guy's ass out!" "Gohei!" "Gohei!" "Yasutaro!" "Yasutaro!" "Get up!" "Please get up!" "For crying out loud..." "Hi, Osen." "Don't you hear the ruckus out back?" "Gohei's been beaten and he's all bloody!" "What?" "Why?" "In any case, you're the only man here in the tenement house." "Please do something!" "I can't do anything about that anyway." "Coward!" "Fine, I won't ask anymore!" "Tajimaya" "It's wine on the open sea" "It's ship number ten" "It's a time for celebration" "Whee!" "Getting plastered!" "It's sake, it's sake from Fujimi" "Darling, the Lord of Hotta is here to see you." "What?" "The magistrate?" "Yes!" "Take care of things." "Yes, Sir." "I'm sorry, not being able to welcome you properly." "It's quite festive around here." "Yes, thanks to you." "We were able to carry cargo on up to ten ships." "It's good to see you prosper." "Mr. Tajimaya, your payment in regards to lifting the zoning ordinance has been approved." "I see." "I somehow expected that and already went ahead with the next step." "You're one step ahead." "Tajimaya..." "You really put your eyes on a good place." "The shrines you've looked at have no deities and they're obscure." "Yes, but there are still some places with those obscure shrines which are no better than an empty lot." "This is Edo, where it's said the land is worth its weight in gold." "Depending on the place, it might make you an enormous fortune." "Thank you." "I'll see to it you reap the benefits as well." "I'll be looking forward to it." "Shinkichi!" "Come and get me!" "He's like a child no matter how much time passes." "Shinkichi, come on out." "Hide and seek again?" "Go call Oriku!" "Yes, Sir." "Come out, Shinkichi!" "Dad, don't tell her where I am!" "This here is the Magistrate." "Say hello." "Welcome, I'm Shinkichi." "My name is Uzen." "Uzen?" "Dad, this isn't the magistrate." "It's Uzen." "Moron!" "Why weren't you watching him?" "Hurry up and take him away!" "Yes, Sir." "Come on, Shinkichi." "It's Uzen!" "My deepest apologies." "What that Tajimaya goon said isn't true, right, Mr. Jinbei?" "Of course." "Even Tajimaya can't come onto another's property and do whatever he wants!" "That's right!" "Mr. Jinbei?" "I'm sorry." "Then you agreed to such a thing with Mr. Tajimaya?" "Well, no." "I just couldn't do anything about it." "What's that supposed to mean, "couldn't do anything?"" "You're not the kind of person to give into threats." "The story is..." "I owe him thirty ryo." "Thirty ryo?" "!" "He found out my late wife was bedridden from a chronic illness and recommended some medicine from Holland." "The payment for that kept going and going and went up to thirty ryo." "In retrospect, this was something he plotted and the tenement house was put up for collateral." "He wants me to pay the thirty ryo but I can barely pay the interest." "So that's why they were so cocky." "Damn it, how far will those bastards go anyway?" "I'll ask for another postponement, so please don't make a fuss." "Father!" "What's the matter?" "It's Gohei!" "Gohei!" "Damn it!" "Daikichi!" "Daikichi!" "Where are you off to?" "To Tajimaya's, of course." "Don't bother." "He's not someone you can do anything about." "But a man just died!" "He'll find some way to talk black into white." "Whose side are you on, anyway?" "I just don't want to see any more victims." "Give it a rest." "What a weird guy." "The reason you were all invited, beginning with Lord Uzen of Hotta, the Shrine Magistrate, was to say thanks for all the special support which has been provided." "While I would like to say more thanks for the additional support," "I felt having an ordinary party would be lackluster, so I will provide a different kind of entertainment tonight." "Tajimaya..." "What's about to start?" "The one hundred stories." "I see, sounds interesting." "Now, Master." "All right." "Now to begin with, every time a story ends, I'll ask you to put out one of the candles in front of you." "The final one will be that one behind me." "The first story is a story concerning the Tone River." "It was in Nakasendo Kurihase, an area that was prosperous." "It is a story that takes place at a gathering such as this one." "It was springti me, it was about this time of the hour, between seven and nine at night." "The bell which indicated the top of the hour went "gooong"..." "I tried going to City Hall to put in for a postponement, but it stinks of Tajimaya." "The worker refuses to accept anything." "Damn it!" "I feel bad for Gohei, but there's nothing that can be done." "Father, will the tenement house be torn down as well?" "No, I'll ask to stop that from happening, even if it means I have to lay my life on the line." "...and his skin started to crawl." "It was obvious there was a lot of suffering." "There was a man's head which had turned brown with its teeth clenched." "Lighting up the area slowly, hands and feet were scattered everywhere." "In one hand, there was a drawn sword strongly clenched in it indicating a fierce struggle." "This was the last anyone saw of the man who was devoured by the monsters." "Now we come to tonight's last story." "The story takes place here in Edo." "It takes place in town, on a hot and muggy summer night." "Suicide Prohibited" "It takes place in town, on a hot and muggy summer night." "They're not biting." "I wonder if it'll rain?" "Probably not." "Anyway, we can't go back empty-handed." "You shouldn't fish there." "Give it up." "Why?" "Since the old days, this has been a lake of death." "You'll be hit by a horrifying curse if you take fish from here." "How stupid." "There's no curse." "Yes, there is." "Truthfully, there is." "No offense, but please go home." "Interesting, if that's true, being cursed might be fun." "Of course, I just want to see what kind of a curse it is." "You guys don't know the horrors of being cursed." "Shut up!" "Get lost." "The fish will go away." "They're not biting at all." "That damned monk, ruining the mood around here." "You're still here?" "Get lost or I'll kill you!" "Damned monk." "Damn, the hook's gone." "Weird, there wasn't any resistance at all." "Probably caught the bottom and the string got cut." "Got one!" "It bit!" "It's big!" "Careful!" "It's a koi!" "Pull it in more." "Don't let it escape!" "This is fabulous!" "Let's go back and have a drink!" "Let's go, it's going to pour." "Hurry up." "Leave it." "Hey, don't be stupid." "Why should we give up something we caught?" "I didn't say anything." "Is that so?" "Leave it." "That wasn't me." "Then what was with that voice?" "Hey, it was from the lake." "Can't be." "That damned monk from earlier is playing tricks on us." "Let's go." "Ah, welcome home, darling." "Cook this up." "Yes!" "And pull out some sake." "We'll drink that first." "But I wonder..." "What was that voice all about?" "I doubt it was a kid playing tricks." "You're still bothered by that?" "Hey!" "Is the fish ready yet?" "In a moment." "Darling, where did you catch this koi?" "Why do you ask?" "No matter how many times I try to wash off the blood..." "It won't come off?" "How absurd." "Wash harder." "All right, I'm digging in." "It's good." "Have some." "Don't worry about something so trivial." "You'll spoil this meal." "More sake!" "I'll go get some." "Still won't come off?" "Not really." "I'm going to take some sake." "Help yourself." "What is it?" "Nothing..." "What's wrong?" "Hey, get up." "What, drunk already?" "You wimp." "Hey, what about the sake?" "Yes!" "In a moment." "Damn you, monster!" "Excuse me." "This may be a strange question, but did you seen two men fishing around here yesterday?" "Two men?" "Masterless samurai?" "Yes, do you know them?" "One of them is my husband but they haven't come home even after dawn." "I'm sorry." "They were struck by lightning." "For ignoring the curse warnings, the two masterless samurai lost their lives." "Light!" "Light!" "This concludes the One Hundred Stories." "Now let us prepare to go through the curse eliminating ritual." "An apparition appears if the ritual isn't performed." "That's just a superstition believed only by the weak-minded dregs." "Meaning?" "There's no need to go through with the ritual." "That's not good." "These legends have been passed down for a reason since the old days." "It's not prudent to neglect them." "Do please go through with the ritual." "I said there's no need for it." "But that's..." "I'm planning to do my own personal curse eliminating ritual." "Thanks for your time." "Now sit back and have a good drink." "Hey!" "Yes, Sir." "Master, this way." "Tajimaya?" "What's this?" "This is the personal curse eliminating ritual I mentioned earlier." "Stop staring at that thing." "Mommy, is this an umbrella monster?" "That's right." "Monster!" "Missing one?" "Can't be." "But for certain, there's one missing." "That's strange." "At any rate, prepare another one." "Hey, could you take a look to see what's up?" "I think they've all been distributed." "Now, there's nothing in this world better than the good luck charms at your knees." "Please use them as your One Hundred Stories curse eliminating ritual." "I see, to use as a charm for the curse eliminating ritual..." "This is just like you, Tajimaya." "Don't move." "Now this concludes our evening." "It was fun." "Please see yourselves out, every one." "Who the hell are you?" "What reason do you have to sneak in here?" "Money?" "One Hundred Stories..." "You gave this some thought." "How fitting for a group of monsters possessed by greed." "Say what?" "!" "Ryuemon!" "If you think everything will go according to your plans, you have another thing coming." "Now excuse me." "Don't let him escape!" "What happened?" "Unfortunately..." "He must have had some goal to have snuck in." "I'm sorry." "Sorry?" "!" "What if he was an investigator from the high magistrate?" ""I'm sorry" isn't going to cut it!" "We had very tight security for the entrances and exits." "Sir, there's no question he's some masterless samurai hanging around Jinbei's tenement house." "What?" "Allright, we'll capture him for sure." "Darling, I'm a little concerned." "About what?" "We didn't do the ritual." "How foolish." "There's no such thing as an apparition." "Lea ve it." "Leave it." "Leave it." "Shinkichi!" "Sir!" "Here..." "Leave it." "Tajimaya must have really deep pockets." "Yeah, there was seven, eight hundred ryo just counting the money he gave to us as a charm to eliminate a curse." "He wouldn't fork over that kind of cash if he wasn't doing well." "Leave it..." "What was that voice?" "We didn't do the ritual." "Can't be." "But all three of us heard that!" "What?" "It was only caught by a whirlwind." "Let's hurry up and go home." "Leave it..." "Leave it..." "I can't wait any longer." "I have my own circumstances as well." "As promised, I will take charge of the tenement house." "I figured I would be asking for the impossible but I came to discuss that anyway." "If you tear down the tenement house, the tenants will have now here to go and won't be able to live." "I don't care." "Mr. Jinbei..." "If I were to say I won't tear down the tenement house, what would you do?" "I would do anything." "I don't think it's a bad deal." "It's about your daughter." "About Okiku?" "I want her to go as my daughter to the Hotta Shrine Magistrate's place and work there." "Well, this isn't a decision for you to make alone." "Talk it over with your daughter and give me an answer by this evening." "But my daughter..." "If she's the daughter of Tajimaya, then he won't turn her down." "What?" "Dancing, it's dancing." "Stop it." "That tickles." "That's enough." "Mommy!" "Hurry up and come here." "What's the matter?" "Some monster showed up." "It's true." "Hurry." "What's going on?" "He said some monster showed up." "Can't be." "It's true." "It's really true." "What monster?" "Doing something foolish like this..." "It really did come out!" "An umbrella monster licked my cheek with its long red tongue." "Enough already!" "Hurry up and change the sliding doors." "And paint over the walls too!" "Yes!" "It's true." "Hey..." "About the other night..." "We've been watching you ever since then." "Well, thanks for the trouble." "You'll accompany us to the mansion." "That's inconvenient." "I have business at the tenement house." "Shut up!" "We'll take you there by force if we have to!" "Kill him if we can't capture him!" "Go around!" "Hey, where's Yasutaro's house?" "He hasn't come in the past two or three days." "I'm asking you where it is." "That fifth house over there." "This way!" "Damn, he's quick." "When he returns, report it to City Hall." "Okay?" "Hide him and you'll regret it!" "What's with them?" "They're Hotta's thugs." "Yasutaro really gave them trouble the other day." "What?" "Sorry for entering without asking." "Are those goons gone?" "What have you been doing the past three days?" "I didn't want to inconvenience every one." "What are you, anyway?" "Just a typical masterless samurai." "I'll pretend that's it." "But it's not just the Hotta goons." "Even Tajimaya's desperately looking for you so maybe you shouldn't go near them for a while." "There's something I want to give you." "Here." "What's with this?" "There's thirty ryo there." "It originally belonged to Tajimaya that night." "Give it to Mr. Jinbei." "And use this to..." "That's right." "Pay off the debt to Tajimaya." "But this is rather odd." "Who cares?" "The money's not marked." "Just tell Mr. Jinbei the money fell out of the sky." "Later." "Yasutaro!" "Please be careful." "I'd like to get the deed back now." "Toubei, bring us a drink." "Yes, Sir." "Well, I'd rather..." "Tajimaya house rules." "Well, have a drink." "That Tajimaya's probably shocked." "He made his plans assuming that the loan would never be paid back." "Thanks to you, Osen." "There's no need to thank me for this." "But he's rather late." "He should have come back by now." "Why don't the two of you pick him up?" "I can do that by myself." "You shouldn't." "Right, Okiku?" "Some... somebody... help..." "Mr. Jinbei?" "He hasn't come." "That can't be..." "We're still waiting for him." "Today was the appointment." "He came here to return the money." "The money?" "Hopefully he didn't meet with an accident on his way over here." "Toubei!" "Hey!" "That can't be." "Anyway, let's go back." "It's weird." "I'll take care of it." "What?" "There..." "Father!" "Damn!" "Tajimaya's behind this, there's no doubt about it!" "But, Daikichi, even that time with Gohei..." "He's the type that can cover something that took place in front of us." "There's nothing we can do." "Damn it!" "If I knew this would happen, I never would have given him the money!" "Osen, it's not your fault." "You did that, thinking you'd be able to help Father." "Tajimaya will probably come to demolish the tenement house next." "I won't let that happen!" "Of course!" "We're not just going to go away quietly either!" "Daikichi, I don't want anyone else to be inconvenienced anymore." "Okiku, you can't be thinking of letting Tajimaya own you, right?" "Excuse me." "At the moment, as you can see..." "Well, I've heard." "It's unfortunate Mr. Jinbei ended up like this." "But a promise is a promise." "Starting today," "I'd like to tear down the shrine out back and the tenement house." "Today?" "!" "Hey!" "Can't you see the circumstances here?" "!" "It's the day after a tragedy!" "I'm just following orders." "I only came to tell you what Tajimaya wants." "Then you're determined to start tearing down today?" "Can't be helped." "Allright..." "If that's how it's going to be, then we're prepared for the worst!" "What do you guys have in mind?" "Hey, kid." "You think you can win by force?" "That's our line!" "We have the deed." "Thanks to Mr. Tajimaya, we waited until today." "Damn..." "You idiot!" "Daikichi!" "Daikichi!" "Stop it!" "I'll meet with Mr. Tajimaya." "What are you saying, Okiku?" "!" "I don't want anymore wrongs to be committed!" "I'm prepared for the worst." "Don't say such a stupid thing!" "Daikichi, I'm happy you feel that way, but there's nothing else that can be done." "Please, forgive me." "Daikichi..." "Still no idea where he is?" "I'm sorry." "He hasn't even come near the tenement house since then." "It's best to take care of it just in case." "Hurry up and search again!" "Yes, Sir." "My Lord, the promised object is now in hand." "What is it?" "Come on in." "So, she's finally mine." "Yes, from this day on she's at your discretion." "You went through a lot of trouble." "Do you plan to cancel the demolition?" "No, this is this and that is that." "I plan to proceed accordingly." "You can't!" "I'll have it demolished by tonight, raise the ground tomorrow, then move in some contractors in your presence." "Mr. Tajimaya, that's not what was promised!" "I don't remember promising that." "Let go!" "Let go of me!" "I'm going home!" "If you'll accept the Magistrate's love, there's no happiness higher than that as a woman." "There's absolutely no way for you to escape from this mansion." "Well, then..." "Hurry up and tear them down!" "Got it?" "!" "Right!" "Damn you, even tricking Okiku!" "After we're done with the shrine, it's the tenement house next!" "We'll tear it down by tonight!" "Take the time to get lost now!" "In that case, we'll be a road block!" "If you can tear it down, try it!" "We'll go inside and won't come out!" "What are you saying?" "!" "Stop it." "So, you really won't come out?" "Fine, we'll smash you along with the house." "Hey, hurry it up!" "Get a hold of yourself!" "Hey, help me!" "Are you okay?" "Leave us." "Yes, Sir." "How about it?" "Are y ou ready?" "There's nothing to be scared of." "No!" "I can't say that you have a tasteful hobby." "You!" "Yasutaro!" "I'm going to take her home." "Damn you!" "Yelling won't do any good." "You called your goons away." "I'll eventually come back to say hello." "Okiku..." "After him!" "After him!" "For an old piece of crap, it sure was a bitch to tear it down." "That's one down." "Sir!" "Sir!" "The tenants won't move out." "What?" "Tear two or three down and they'll run." "What's that?" "Sir, what's that?" "Take that!" "It's a curse!" "It has to be a curse!" "A curse!" "It has to be a curse!" "A curse!" "A curse!" "Calm down!" "Don't panic!" "Allright, we'll clean this up later." "The tenement house!" "Hit the tenement house!" "But, Sir, I..." "You idiot!" "Damn these fools..." "Genji!" "If you don't go in first, then who will?" "Genji?" "!" "Who, me?" "It's quiet all of a sudden." "I wonder what happened?" "It's strange." "Ah, Okiku!" "Okiku!" "Everyone's safe?" "What happened to those guys?" "We have no idea." "Hey!" "No one's around." "Can't let our guard down now." "Everyone, look after Okiku." "Right!" "Don't go." "There are things I still need to do." "Okiku!" "Daikichi!" "How did you..." "Yasutaro, he..." "Yasutaro?" "Still not asleep?" "The monster came back." "It said it likes me." "Idiot, hurry up and go to sleep." "If you don't, a real monster will come." "But it already has." "Hey, hey!" "Stop it!" "Stop!" "That tickles!" "Tickles!" "Troublesome kid..." "Gone, gone..." "Oh, it's you, young master Tajimaya." "What are you doing in a place like this?" "What about you yourself?" "It came out." "What did?" "A monster!" "A monster?" "It came out in front of me too." "What?" "Where?" "Over there." "What?" "It was there until a moment ago." "For an idiot, he plays a mean joke." "Did you say something?" "Oh, nothing." "What monster appeared for you?" "It was a no-face." "No eyes, no nose..." "No-face..." "No-face..." "Like this?" "What's the meaning of this?" "!" "A monster!" "A monster?" "Now even you're saying such ridiculous things." "It's not a lie!" "I saw them with my very own eyes!" "What did their faces look like?" "It was..." "Better not say." "Just come out and say it!" "If I do, then your face will..." "What nonsense are you blabbering?" "!" "Sir, this has to be the curse from not performing the ritual!" "There's no such thing as a curse." "No, they really did come out!" "The underlings all ran away, and..." "Hey, I wonder what happened to Mr. Toubei?" "Allright..." "I'll accompany you." "Sir..." "What a creepy old woman." "Can't be!" "This place is..." "What?" "It's where we killed Jinbei." "What?" "!" "What's that?" "Look..." "Juusuke!" "What's the meaning of withdrawing after having come this far?" "!" "That 10,000 ryo you were supposed to put to use was given to the junior lord Akinokami Honjo, who plans to restore Nikko to its former condition." "By the time the restoration is finished, the current lord will be retiring." "At that time, the title of the junior lord is supposed to be recommended to me!" "I'll show you the evidence." "This is the document I received from Aki." "There's no turning back." "Have you forgotten your obligations?" "Are you trying to pop the bubble of my deepest desires?" "Your silence tells me nothing!" "Show me your face!" "Show it!" "Show it?" "Like this?" "Damn you, monster!" "Damn you!" "My Lord!" "My Lord!" "My Lord!" "Is something the matter?" "My Lord!" "Get away!" "Stay away!" "What are you doing?" "!" "Damn you, monster!" "It appears your greed has turned on you by driving you insane." "Go away!" "Hannai!" "You!" "You've come to your senses." "What the hell are you?" "!" "Why are you pestering me?" "!" "Lord Uzen, you'd better be prepared for the worst." "What?" "All of your evil deeds committed by treacherous misuse of your authority as shrine magistrate will soon be reported to the high magistrate." "So you were... after all..." "Kuro Sugahi, from the high magistrate." "There's no escape, Lord Uzen." "You'll be visited by an investigator within three days." "Now excuse me." "Yasutaro!" "So he was dead after all." "Why?" "There are things man just can't measure or understand in this world."