"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" "The wrong I have done..." "Chapter Nine Front and Back" "Now, we have nothing more to worry about." "Saizo!" "There you are, you damn foxes!" "You certainly treated us to a fine feast back there." "Though we are both servants of divinity," "I serve the Temple and you serve the Inari shrines." "I shall show no mercy!" "I wish you'd show some gratitude." "I made your job easier." "Like hell you did!" "Do it for me, Yukiatsu!" "Divine Fire" "Whoa..." "So that is what we get for helping you." "My name is "wrongdoing"." "To be pierced by a needle..." "Saizo!" "Abi, stop!" "Don't take that mask off!" "What have you done to Saizo?" "!" "That mask belongs to Saizo." "So we had its owner come pick it up." "The mask belongs to Saizo?" "Saizo, what are you..." "Saizo!" "Settle down!" "Guess we'll have to rein her in ourselves." "This is going to hurt." "What's going on?" "!" "Saizo shouldn't have that kind of martial arts skill!" "The mask grants one's ambition to be a different self." "A different self?" "You're making her do this, aren't you?" "!" "Saizo!" "Saizo!" "Damn foxes!" "We will start by destroying you!" "Fine, then." "Give it a try." "If you think you can kill and devour every last one of us." "How many of them are there?" "Yukiatsu, do you know how many Inari shrines there are in Edo?" "What do you mean?" "They even say, "As common as Iseyas, Inari shrines, and dog shit."" "There are countless Inari shrines in Edo, large and small." "Every time someone prays at one, a Youi is given form." "In the form of a fox." "There's no end of them to defeat?" "To begin with, about all we do is mimic humans and put on plays, or perform small acts of mischief." "But that mask began wreaking havoc in this area." "We merely wanted to be rid of it." "That's why you used Saizo?" "Why are you so dead set on performing your plays?" "All we do is mimic humans." "There is no reason." "I cannot trust what you say." "Every Youi we have encountered so far has been a large beast." "Yet these foxes understand and speak human words." "They are strangely clever." "As far as speaking goes, I'm no different." "Don't muddy the waters." "Ever heard of a story that goes like this?" "The place is a certain temple in Ushigome Yamabushi Town." "Seeing a house cat stalking a pigeon, the priest saves the pigeon." "To which the cat says..." "Too bad." "The priest is greatly surprised." ""You!" "You're a beast and yet you speak?" "!" ""Here, speak again for me."" "Oh, please, Priest." "Live for ten years, and any cat can speak." "Live 14 or 15 years, and we can do anything." "It's just that there aren't any cats who've lived that long." ""You haven't lived for ten years!"" "No, a cat born of a fox can speak from the moment they are born." "They say the priest made the cat promise never to speak again, but shortly thereafter, the cat apparently vanished." "That will be all for today!" "You came back at the bidding of Youi?" "!" "Are the foxes and masks completely unrelated?" "We have no definitive proof." "But either way, if they are the embodiment of the Inari shrines all across Edo, they are not an opponent we can win against." "Who told you that?" "Yukiatsu's horse..." "At any rate, we must do something about Saizo." "Earlier, I received a summons from the Lord of Noto." "You will have my decision as soon as I return." "You two nail down Saizo's whereabouts." "Genbatsu, accompany me." "I shall get ready." "What's wrong?" "Sorry." "Keep the matter of the horse secret for a while." "The Boss has agreed to give refuge to the foreign girl and the horse." "But it's a different story if Kumoshichi's soul is part of him now." "It looks that way to you too, doesn't it?" "I trust you." "Now, then..." "Shall we make some of those things?" "Those deep-fried tofu stuffed with rice that have been popular lately." "Those Inari sushi?" "Also, there are foxes living in Hibiya too, right?" "What is going on?" "As you asked, we are investigating the case of people going missing in the old theatre town." "It appears that a mask-shaped Youi has made the area its haunt and..." "The theatre town is the least of our concerns!" "Are you unaware of the strange occurrences in Honjo tonight?" "Honjo?" "That which is commonly known as the Seven Wonders of Honjo." "Tonight of all nights, the Callback Moat, the Raccoon Dog Festival Music, and even the Foot-Washing Mansion are all in an uproar." "Indeed." "Torii's..." "Why is he here?" "Likewise, in Azabu, the seven-color camellia reportedly changed colors, and a giant raccoon dog peered out from the raccoon dog burrow." "The Seven Wonders of Azabu..." "Furthermore, in Bancho, broken dishes were spewed towards the heavens from the well, and a strange bubbling has been reported in Onbou Moat." "The Dish Mansion and even Oiwa..." "It is as if a fire has been lit under the fiends of Edo tonight." "Is this not all the handiwork of the Youi?" "In this world, there exist beings that are like the seeds of fiends, lurking shapeless." "They feed upon people's souls and clamor to take shape." "Why do they clamor all at once?" "That is..." "A commotion of this magnitude can no longer be left solely to the Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement." "Lord Torii... the South Magistrate..." "The South Magistrate's Office is off duty this month." "Though not in an official capacity, we will join the investigation." "I hear there is an Ayashi who performs a peculiar dance." "If you are referring to Saizo's dance, it is a dance that was offered to a god, and it is effective in calming Youi." "The Youi love that dance, don't they?" "Leading lady of the women's troupe, won't you step outside for a moment?" "That was fast." "Do you live in Hibiya?" "I ordinarily reside at the Toyokawa Inari shrine." "Ooka Echizen's estate?" "!" "Well, I will appear at any Inari shrine." "I am a fox, after all." "I thought as much." "In which case, can you talk to all the Inari shrines in Edo?" "Then you know where Saizo is right now, don't you?" "Hold on there." "We finally foisted the Badger onto that woman and got rid of it." "The Badger?" "So that's the name of the mask Youi." "Rest easy." "We'll kill it and eat it, without fail." "Oh, how terrifying." "Please do not eat me as well." "No, being devoured by you might not be such a bad thing." "One moment." "A map, if you will." "Where were you?" "!" "We know Saizo's whereabouts." "She's headed for Saruwaka Town." "Where the three kabuki houses moved to?" "If the mask has drawn out what is in Saizo's heart, she still yearns for the stage..." "She only wants to escape her own wrongdoing." "I have no use for reasons." "Pursue her and cut her down." "Please wait a minute!" "That would be..." "Torii's office found out about everything." "Saizo is dancing her dance all over the place." "Thanks to that, monsters all across Edo are in an uproar." "Youi love Saizo's dance." "It is effective in drawing Youi close to defeat them, but now, it only serves to provoke the Youi to no purpose." "Leave her be and there is no knowing what powerful Youi might appear." "But to cut her down for that?" "We did not go so far as to say Saizo has been possessed by a Youi, but she has been sighted at every checkpoint in town." "If we Ayashi cannot dispose of Saizo ourselves," "Lord Atobe will lose face to Torii." "Worst case scenario, the Ayashi will be disbanded." "I refuse!" "Ryudo!" "I don't know everyone's background, but we've gathered here because none of us are normal!" "Am I wrong?" "!" "I am..." "At this point, your circumstances don't matter!" "I am..." "At this point, your circumstances don't matter!" "You're a damn retainer!" "I'm a vagrant." "Abi is of the Mountain People." "Edogen is a head priest without a single parishioner." "And Saizo was born to a stage that women are not allowed on." "So she had no choice but to become an Ayashi." "How can I cut her down?" "!" "But can one who has already been possessed by the mask be saved?" "I'll handle it somehow." "Ogasawara," "Saizo felt small when she met the Youi, whose front leg she had eaten." "We ate because we wanted to, but who was it that fed her Youi for the very first time?" "It seems we got our hands on some rare fish." "Have a taste." "Is this really all right, Lord Ogasawara?" "Yes." "This is delicious!" "If you like it, I'll have them bring you more." "It will be a celebration of your coming to work for me." "Something this delicious..." "I will not know what to do tomorrow." "Yukiwa." "No, this is nothing to worry about." "My fellow friends all across Edo are in an uproar, you see." "Because of Saizo's dance?" "That dance is something else." "It makes Youi remember the past..." "A past long, long ago, when there were still gods around." "What an amusing thought." "If the Youi would just overrun this city, once and for all..." "Atl, Yuki will never allow that to happen." "There are a lot of people here." "Performances go from morning to dusk." "A theatre aficionado leaves his house before the crack of dawn." "In this weather, when there are fiends in an uproar all over the city?" "That is how much people are drawn to theatre..." "To the world on stage that is different from ours." "It is only then that you can forget where you are." "Surely you don't need that explained to you?" "A different world that is not this world..." "You must be very familiar with how it feels to yearn for the Other World." "I ran away from there, you know." "But there is a part of you that is drawn to it." "Over here." "You've known Saizo since she was little?" "They looked after me for a long time as a stagehand at the Eiraku Theatre." "So, what's happened to the little miss?" "You say she's in danger?" "Could Saizo have some sort of grudge against the theatre town?" "If she does, for what reason?" "Is it because she's a woman, and no matter how she strives, she can never stand on a proper stage?" "He might know something..." "Are you Shinzaburo Murasawa?" "I'm not an actor anymore, so you can just call me Shinza." "Shinza the handbill printer." "The blame for that lies at her old man's feet." "I shouldn't speak ill of the dead, but it was the proprietor of the Eiraku Theatre." "Saizo's father died in the fire the year before last, right?" "He must have really loved Miss Saizo." "Giving her a name like "Saizo" and dressing her like a man..." "Teaching her to dance and having her perform..." "Even when she grew older, he would put a mask on her, you know?" "Sending her up on stage as a man." "The little miss loved her old man, after all." "Since her mother passed away, she became attached to him all the more." "That's probably why she wanted to please her old man." "But he suddenly ordered that Saizo wasn't to be allowed on stage." "Was he being watched by some police hand?" "There was probably some of that too, but..." "It was the woman." "The woman?" "Saizo's body and face were gradually becoming more womanly." "The old man liked slender youths like you might dream about." "So, gradually, the old man's tastes and Saizo just..." "Around that time, the old man began to show favoritism towards me." "Even on that day..." "That day?" "The day of the fire at the Nakamura Theatre." "Thanks to that, the theatre houses have been forced out to this out-of-the-way place." "And this happened to my face..." "Here she comes." "I killed my father..." "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" "Now, next time at our theatre, we have a brand new play that we shall debut." "The lead shall be played to the fullest by female-role actor Saizo!" "Next Time" " Chapter Ten A Maiden's Dance Like Spring Flowers The lead shall be played to the fullest by female-role actor Saizo!" "Next Time" " Chapter Ten A Maiden's Dance Like Spring Flowers"