"500 years had passed, and still the land was closed off." "It was isolated from the world, and knew neither hope nor despair." "An atmosphere of total stagnation ruled the land." "The rebels who dared to start an uprising... were eliminated by the state." "The House Takemikazuchi... was a band of assassins, hired to quell this rebellion." "For a long time past... they were the bodyguards of the rulers from a neighboring country." "But this land had overthrown its monarchy." "So they fled to this land, branded as exiles." "Now they're a band of mercenary assassins." "Selling their skills to anyone in need of effective killing." "The Takemikazuchi." "Mother." "Byakurai is looking for you." "Anka ran away this morning." "If he has deserted the Takemikazuchi... he will betray our secrets." "He wants to flee to the Shikon-mountain." "But with that leg of his, he won't even have reached the old mine yet." "Yuki." "Take Kiri with you." "I go alone." "I'm going too." "He will only slow me down." "Take me with you." "That's what Byakurai wants." "Would you really kill Anka?" "Of course." "And when he begs for mercy?" "Even then I'll kill him." "I don't think so." "Yuki, it's you." "I'm unarmed." "Don't kill me." "Please." "Take my sword." "Just tell them you've killed me." "Alright?" "I see that I'm no longer a match for you, Yuki." "Who are you?" "My name is Kuka." "I used to work for your mother." "I'm here to tell you something." "About the way your mother died." "You believe that she was killed in a raid." "But she was murdered by Byakurai." "You're lying." "Byakurai is the murderer of your mother." "Azora, princess Takemikazuchi." "You must avenge her and take your mother's rightful place." "Or leave." "Tomorrow is your 20th birthday." "On that day, a princess becomes the leader of the Takemikazuchi." "You must take over the House's leadership." "Or you must leave." "Should you decide to leave... come to meet me at the old mine." "With this i have delivered the message from Azora to you." "Did Anka beg for mercy?" "Did my mother beg for mercy?" "What do you mean?" "Your voice is quivering." "You think feverishly." "Do you realize what you're doing?" "Tell me!" "Byakurai." "Did you kill my mother?" "No." "Yuki, put away your sword." "I'll overlook this incident." "I never meant to tell you this." "Your mother was killed, because she wanted to betray us." "And wanted to flee." "Liar." "Stop it." "Fighting will only make this worse." "You leave me no choice." "Die." "Important news from the Assembly." "The ministry of Consumption reports... that the living-standard has increased by 20 percent last year." "To celebrate this news... the citizens took to the streets." "It turned into a spontaneous parade of rejoicing." "Aya." "What's wrong?" "You want to kill me with this?" "You're of the Takemikazuchi aren't you?" "Who sent you?" "Tell me." "Where are the others?" "There are no others." "And I don't want to kill you." "You're lying." "You expect me to believe that?" "Trust me." "Trust you?" "You're prepared to kill anybody for money." "If I trust you, that will get me killed." "If it were you I was after... you'd be dead right now." "Do you trust me now?" "Doesn't that hurt?" "Of course it does." "If you allow the pain." "I saw a girl." "Where is she?" "I'm alone here." "That bed is mine." "Goodnight." "We've lost her." "On the way through the forest." "Is that all you have to report?" "No." "Someone saw a car." "We're keeping an eye on the road." "She'll be back." "She wants revenge." "Somebody told her." "But who?" "That's the question." "Yuki turned 20 today." "Whoever told her about Azora must have known that and its meaning." "Kuka." "She wants to kill you, to avenge Azora?" "Then she will be coming here." "There can be no doubt." "Suppose Kuka would want to speak with Yuki." "Where would he meet her?" "Where he lives maybe." "I'd do it somewhere else entirely..." "How are you?" "It's me, Kidokoro." "I've returned." "There's something I want to talk to you about." "I'm coming today." "No, I will come to you." "The day after tomorrow." "Agreed." "I'll be waiting for you at the usual location." "A man once made a promise to Azora, heiress to House Takemikazuchi." "He swore fealty to the House." "But Byakurai branded him a traitor and killed him." "That man was my father?" "You wouldn't be able to remember that, you were only 2 years old." "The Takemikazuchi still had many members back then." "Byakurai wanted to marry Azora himself." "And make House Takemikazuchi his own." "But Azora refused this." "In her desperation she wanted to disband the Takemikazuchi." "But Byakurai found out about it, and ended her life." "That changed everything." "Many were dissatisfied with Byakurai." "They tried to detach themselves from him." "But there were only few who managed to escape." "Most of them had to pay for their attempt with their lives." "Only one or two got away." "This is the place where princess Azora died." "Undoubtedly she hoped for you to leave the Takemikazuchi." "She wanted you to succeed where she had failed." "There is no sense in seeking out Byakurai for vengeance." "The Takemikazuchi are doomed to disappear" "Princess Yuki." "Your mother was tortured to death in this place." "But the final blow was dealt by me." "You may kill me now if you wish." "Since then I've been waiting only for this day to come." "I offered to join her on her journey to the other side." "But she didn't allow me to." "She ordered me to tell you everything." "Once you reached the age of 20." "Princess Yuki is the one who must slay me now." "Don't say that." "That would be pointless." "So it was you, Kuka." "Soma." "My, how you have grown." "If you'll allow me..." "This is what I've wanted." "Princess Yuki, do not die." "Kill me if you want." "But don't raise your sword against princess Yuki." "I can't promise you that." "When I was little..." "I used to be cheerful all the time." "I never dreamed... that it would end like this." "Do you know why people thought like that back then?" "Because nobody had ideals." "Certainly, people died because of our bomb at the Assembly." "But is was very effective." "You should be proud of that." "But it was a holiday." "The Assembly would be empty." "That's what you told me." "Some losses are inevitable." "We don't get it for nothing." "Mimura knew that." "He did not die in vain." "Nobody will pay us any heed if there aren't any civilian deaths." "I want to move on to the next project now." "Sugimoto... thought differently." "Did he call you while I was gone?" "Last month." "Sugimoto is no longer with us." "I have faith in you." "We must be prepared to do whatever it takes for our ideals." "Takashi." "Do you know what the safest place in the jungle is?" "On the back of the lion." "The fleas on its back live an extremely peaceful life." "What the..." "Where are you bleeding?" "You need protein." "Otherwise you won't heal." "Put this on." "It's the only thing there is." "Hurry up." "It suits you." "What are you doing?" "I'm throwing these away." "Have you seen Kidokoro?" "Takashi, beware of him." "Have you heard about Sugimoto?" "Kidokoro told me he is no longer a member." "He's dead." "Murdered." "I'm leaving this country." "There must be happiness somewhere." "I'm trying to find that." "Who's that?" "She's a guest." "A guest?" "So you have found happiness." "Good luck to you." "Let me know, should you want to come with me." "Thanks." "Why did you come back?" "What happened this time?" "You don't want to tell me." "It's probably safer for me if I don't know." "Is it difficult for you to kill someone?" "Why do you kill people?" "For the money?" "My body moves." "When I'm holding my sword, and approach the victim... my body seems to move by itself." "Without any conscious thought." "Ah, poor you." "A monarch no longer wants to pay his bodyguards." "So they take their talents elsewhere." "You just kill people." "Not to defend your country, not to defend yourself." "You have nothing to defend." "You just kill." "But I did... have a reason." "I certainly had a reason... to kill people." "A reason to kill." "Come." "My sister." "When she was 8 years old, I came home from school one day." "Everything was covered in blood." "Only she was still alive." "The perpetrators were acquitted, for lack of evidence." "So I killed them myself." "I was arrested." "I was put on trial and convicted." "When I came out 4 years later..." "I had a completely different view of the world than I did before." "Everything seemed different." "And then I met someone." "He told me... that he wanted to see me as happy as I had been before." "He was the only one who said that." "I did things." "I was forced to do things." "To become happy again..." "I rationalized everything." "Renkyo." "I need to talk to you." "About what?" "Can we really kill Yuki?" "Without Yuki... we will no longer have a leader of Takemikazuchi blood." "And then..." "Then what?" "There are only very few Takemikazuchi left." "We've lost almost everyone." "But what reason is there for us to continue?" "Without that name." "We don't need a reason." "There's nobody for us to guard anymore." "I honored our ancestors." "I believed in the fatherland." "But when the monarchy fell... our swords were taken from us." "Some were imprisoned." "Their memories erased with drugs." "To block their fighting power... needles were stuck into their elbows." "Some of us have fled." "But never have we fought against the motherland." "Do you remember, Renkyo?" "Those tanks on the southern island... that we encountered along the way?" "Corroded by the acid rain." "The stench of corpses filled the air." "But there were no corpses." "The stench came from us." "At that moment... we were dead." "Hello." "It's me." "Kidokoro." "Why do you call?" "I've sent you some plans." "Could you have a look at them?" "Sure." "I'll be right back." "Did you see it?" "In ten days we'll make our move." "Are you there?" "Ten days." "I can't make it." "Alright." "When can you?" "Never." "You won't do it?" "No." "Very well." "I'll contact you later." "You always look so somber." "You're expressionless yourself." "Have you ever been somber?" "I suppress it, like pain." "And that's how you can kill people?" "When you're somber... you mourn." "When you're happy, you act cheerful." "Have you ever laughed?" "When I'm somber, I mourn." "For hours." "For days." "For years." "Do you know what miki-ishi means?" "No." "It means 'beautiful gemstone'." "They're very rare." "Even if you search for a year... you'll find one at most." "If you polish them, you will get a green crystal." "My mother used to collect them." "Whenever she had one, she'd polish it and keep it safely." "When she had thirty... she'd make them into a necklace for me." "For my wedding day." "She'd put it around my neck on the day I was to be married." "She started to collect when she was 18." "She had me when she was 22." "And she died when she was 27." "On the day she died, she had nine of those crystals." "In a little box." "Not enough for a necklace." "Soon I'll be as old as she was when she had me." "And then as old as when she died." "But I've collected nothing to leave behind." "To nobody." "I don't have anyone to leave something to." "I have nobody." "Nobody to cherish." "Let's go away from here." "Away from this country." "There's nothing to keep us here." "There must be a place somewhere." "Away from here." "A place where we can forget everything." "Let's go to that place." "Your mother." "At this moment..." "I feel happy." "But will you ever be capable of feeling happiness?" "I don't think so." "Mother." "Now..." "I'm happy." "You will never know happiness." "Even if you'd kill me... you will keep walking the path of death." "That is unavoidable." "Kidokoro." "Your sister looks very well." "What do you want from me?" "Is it about the plans?" "No, I have a different plan." "It's a very good plan." "You will like it." "What's the plan?" "We'll strike a bargain with the government." "We will accomplish our ideals, and there won't be many casualties." "What do you think, Takashi?" "Good plan, isn't it?" "You're betraying me?" "It's all been arranged." "We keep quiet and our ideals will be safe." "Traitor." "We'll continue in spirit." "The plan that I sent you, would have been the last." "Because we'd all be dead afterwards?" "Don't talk to me like that." "It's what you've always wanted." "You have it your way." "And so you keep out of harm's way." "We've made the deal." "It's a good deal." "Then why did we do it?" "Why all the casualties?" "It meant something." "We believed in our ideals." "No, we all believed in you." "Manabe shot." "Kazuki tortured." "Mimura blown up." "They all believed in you." "You said we'd be happy again." "But that only goes for you." "Happiness will come." "But not just like that." "You knew the price would be high." "We pray for the victims." "Takashi." "You won't have to pray." "Because you're one of the victims we'll be praying for." "You bastard." "I'm Azora's daughter." "Princess Yuki of the Takemikazuchi." "In the name of my mother..." "I claim your life." "Don't you understand?" "It's over." "Scram." "I want to keep that." "Live." "Be happy." "Live for me."