"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" "That day..." "A Maiden's Dance Like Spring Flowers That day..." "A Maiden's Dance Like Spring Flowers" "A Maiden's Dance Like Spring Flowers October, two years ago..." "A Maiden's Dance Like Spring Flowers The wind was strong, like it is today." "The wind was strong, like it is today." "Father!" "They're saying the Nakamura Theatre has caught on fire!" "You're beautiful." "Shinzaburo..." "Proprietor..." "You stay just the way you are now." "I knew she would, but Saizo's ended up a woman, after all." "Proprietor..." "The Eiraku Theatre's caught fire too!" "Father!" "Saizo wanted to stay up on stage forever, and be the actor that the old man dreamed of, but..." "And that's why she became an Ayashi." "But that was out of her lingering desire for the stage too..." "She's here." "Saizo!" "Where are you going?" "I will destroy everything." "What do you mean by "everything"?" "The illusion!" "It is an evil as malevolent as the Other World!" "It is no different than the Other World." "Theatre beguiles people." "Piling lies upon the stage, it steals people's hearts." "All such things deserve to be done away with!" "She means to bring down the theatre houses?" "Every one of them is packed with people!" "Saizo!" "Cast aside that mask!" "I suppose I can hardly use this." "She certainly is like a different person." "Like a Youi." "It seems that mask seizes upon the desire to be something else." "Do you think you've become something else by doing this?" "Show me!" "The wrong you have done!" "No!" "No Ayagami..." "No!" "We have no choice but to cut down Saizo." "These are all my faces." "Not one of them is my true face." "You're open!" "Lord Ogasawara!" "Well, what with the weather being what it is," "I was thinking of closing for the day." "Medicines Y orozuya" "Medicines Y orozuya Are you looking for dragon bones again?" "Are you looking for dragon bones again?" "You have yet to turn them into powder, I hope." "No..." "You people called these bones of dragons and turn them into medicine, but these are really old turtle shells." "They were scored and baked to be used for divination." "You are always looking for these." "Do you practice divination as well, Lord Ogasawara?" "I do not believe in such superstition." "Carved upon these are the oldest written characters from the Mainland." "This is writing?" "This looks like people dancing about!" "That's right." "This is..." "That's it!" "See here, have all of these delivered!" "Certainly!" "I shall have the bill sent to your estate as always." "I could get many times that if only I could sell them as medicine..." "Out shopping, Young Lord Ogasawara?" "So I am being watched." "We hear the Ayashi called Saizo seems to be headed for Saruwaka Town." "My men are already on their way." "We will accompany you as well." "Our oversight also has the approval of Finance Magistrate Lord Atobe." "Come along." "Moheiji!" "Is there something?" "There's no mistake." "Moheiji Honjo." "Why is Hozaburo Shiroyama with them?" "Ogasawara told me." "That there's also a needle in my name, in the character for "dragon"." "You say that none of these is your true face?" "!" "You're wrong!" "All of these are you!" "People have many faces within themselves at all times." "There are no truths or lies." "They're all your faces." "No!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Everyone has many masks on." "After a day of good deeds, people will behave like a demon at night." "You have no choice but to accept that someday." "Saizo, what you have to choose is the face of an adult like that." "This mask was..." "This was my mask." "I always believed that my current self was not my true self." "Perhaps that sentiment is what turned this mask into a Youi." "In the theatre town where you were," "I'm sure that kind of sentiment was common." "You're right." "Those who see dreams upon the stage..." "Those who play the part of other people upon the stage..." "They are all looking for something other than who they are themselves." "Feeding on that..." "It still means to keep feeding, on the sentiment of those who want to be someone else!" "We'll stop it." "Let's go." "We'll stop it." "Let's go." "Saizo, you stay here!" "Ogasawara..." "It seems the Youi has finally shown itself." "Was it you who gave life to that mask, Saizo?" "Some Ayashi you are." "Ogasawara, Saizo has nothing to do with this now." "Ryudo, draw out the Ayagami from Saizo." "What do you mean?" "Do as I ordered." "So is that it, then, Boss?" "The character "sai" in my name refers to wrongdoing." "It represents the needle that pierces those who break an agreement." "Most likely, the needle will be drawn out by the Ayagami, and I shall be pierced by it." "There's no need for that." "Do it, Ryudo!" "I gave life to that Youi." "So the Boss is telling me to pay for it with my death." "I questioned you once, that at your age, you still yearned for something not of this world." "But that was referring to me." "Meaning, you yearned for the stage?" "For yearning for the illusion..." "For yearning for something other than what I was," "I felt disgusted with myself." "I despised you and others, who yearned for the Other World, and I wanted to cut off the Other World." "I had decided that I would side with those who would bring down the Other World." "And yet," "I am still unable to abandon it." "Are you talking about what that fox said?" "That's right." "The reason I became an Ayashi was because I wanted to dance." "As if I were upon that forbidden stage," "I wanted to dance openly." "What of it?" "Such a lie will not be permitted." "An Ayashi is supposed to save people from being beguiled by illusions, and yet, here I am, longing for the illusion." "I told you before." "A person does not have only one face." "If you cannot choose between being a man or a woman, and you yearn for the illusion while despising it, there's no need to choose." "I pretend to have found my way, but in my heart, a part of me wants to go back to the Other World." "If a needle has someone to pierce, I'm as guilty as you." "But I'm going to have faith that there is no wrong in you." "Sai" "Sai" "What's this?" "That is a ceremonial blade wielded by the likes of chief retainers, advisors to kings." "What?" "I had let myself be misled by popular theories." "Your character "sai" does not represent a tattoo needle." "It refers to one who wields that scimitar during rituals to carve a sacrifice." "Sai during rituals to carve a sacrifice." "Sai It represents a trusted advisor who supports the king." "Sai" "My father..." "Your father hoped that you would become a force to be reckoned with, who would serve to support someone." "Even if you could not be a lead actor on stage." "So you'd gone off just to find that out?" "After you told us so callously to cut down Saizo!" "What are you doing?" "!" "Go on!" "What an enlightened judgment that was." "There should be no problems, as long as we bring down the Youi." "It seems you have forgotten that you are indebted to Lord Torii." "For being spared the Imprisonment of the Society for Barbarian Knowledge," "I am grateful." "I have my own duty to fulfill." "What the?" "What's that?" "What the?" "What's that?" "Whose pushy advertisement is that?" "Hold on now, it's coming down!" "Ba nc ho Dish Ma nsion" "Smile, Saizo!" "The character for "smile" depicts a woman dancing with her hands raised!" "Smile and dance!" "How beautiful!" "What theatre..." "I am an Ayashi." "I need no other masks!" "You've got my business!" "Tell us who you are!" "This cannot be good, by any measure." "Right now, they'll believe that it was advertisement for a theatre." "Let's go." "Hibiya I nari Shrine" "Hibiya I nari Shrine When we meet next," "When we meet next, who will devour whom?" "I cannot wait to find out." "Tenpo Y ear 1 4, March 21 st, on the occasion of the visit to the Nikko Mountains." "Tenpo Y ear 1 4, March 21 st, on the occasion of the visit to the Nikko Mountains." "P olice" "P olice" "It was decreed that scoundrels in the Kanto area were to be arrested." "The order was issued to the 29 daimyo in the vicinity." "Indeed, from the Inner Palace." "Ostensibly out to visit the Sensoji Temple as proxies, several ladies of the Inner Palace apparently just happened to be in Saruwaka Town on that very day." "Though, with it normally being against the law, not to mention the Reform we are in the midst of," "Lord Mizuno was not clear on that score either." "It seems one of them was utterly mesmerized by the actions taken to defeat the mask Youi." "They are apparently now quite fervently asking the Shogun to put his support behind the Ayashi." "That was most unexpected." "Accordingly, Torii voiced his opposition, but you are to be assigned another task immediately." "Did the meeting go well?" "Yes." "I have another brief stop to make." "Go on back without me." "Have you heard where he's going?" "I believe it's his old master's place." "Master of what?" "Discerning the movement of the stars through mathematics." "But I was sure I'd heard that he had been expelled." "Academia U niversalis" "Academia U niversalis Mathematics and expelled, huh?" "Mathematics and expelled, huh?" "Master!" "Master Uchida!" "I see your skill has not improved much, Shiroyama." "Oh, you go by Ogasawara now, don't you?" "See here now!" "Kanou, what are you doing?" "!" "Master!" "You are peers who studied mathematics together under me." "Shiroyama was adopted into the family of a retainer, and Kanou, you went on to pursue the study of artillery." "What do you have to fight about?" "There is a matter that I wish to rectify." "Kanou, you studied under Master Shuuhan Takashima in Nagasaki, didn't you?" "The Master was arrested last year under suspicion of treason." "You know that, don't you?" "The one who betrayed the Master to the authorities is a man called Moheiji Honjo." "Honjo?" "The man you were speaking with so familiarly the previous day." "Tatsusuke Honjo serves Lord Torii of Kai." "He is a respectable..." "The one who wanted Master Takashima arrested was Torii, who hates all things Western." "By his orders, Honjo laid a trap for Master Takashima!" "And..." "The man overseeing the arrests at the Nagasaki Magistrate's Office was Mitsugu Ogasawara." "Your adoptive father!" "Just like Honjo, you turned traitor on us, and betrayed Master Takashima, to whom we all owe so much." "You are wrong!" "Yes, my father has gone to Nagasaki to take a post as a deputy, but that has nothing to do with me..." "Kanou is saying that he will cut down this man named Honjo." "but that has nothing to do with me..." "Kanou is saying that he will cut down this man named Honjo." "Master Takashima is as good as dead now." "And he says he means to avenge the Master." "Why don't you also lend him a hand?" "Master!" "No need for that." "Your skills are inadequate." "But if you should get in my way," "I will cut you down first." "Kanou..." "Good grief." "The mathematics I taught you two is so powerless..." "I do not know what kind of work you are doing now, but you need not be bound by your old man's words forever." "That is not it." "I am a man and I am also a woman." "I yearn for the illusion, while despising it." "What?" "Right now, I am still..." "Maejima Temple" "Maejima Temple Next month, on the 13th," "Maejima Temple the Shogun will be going to Nikko to pay his respects." "the Shogun will be going to Nikko to pay his respects." "However, there are concerns about the journey there." "I heard that a terrible proclamation was sent out, ordering any and all hoodlums and vagrants to be arrested." "That is right." "It has been decided that Senior Councilor Toshitsura Doi will take the planned route in advance." "But that is just the outward pretext." "Not in a million years can the Shogun's cavalcade be allowed to come under attack by Youi." "To ensure this, every last Youi along the high road will be destroyed." "When is the departure?" "Tomorrow." "Of the Ayashi, I will be the only one to accompany Lord Doi's cavalcade." "What is the meaning of this?" "Listen to me." "Lord Doi is a great Senior Councilor." "Beginning with Lord Torii's subordinate, Lord Honjo, only respectable retainers have been chosen for his cavalcade." "With your ranks, you cannot accompany him." "How can you bring that up now?" "!" "Without us Ayashi, do you think the Youi can be properly taken care of?" "!" "All of you, protect Edo." "Where are you going?" "Are you planning to protect Honjo, and get cut down by that samurai named Kanou?" "That is my business." "It has nothing to do with the rest of you." "You didn't forsake Saizo." "In which case, I can't forsake you either." "Lord Hozaburo Ogasawara's attendant, I suppose?" "Well, that'll be fine." "That reminds me..." "A woman dancing forms the character for "smile"." "Adding "woman" to the character for "smile"..." "Do you know what character it forms?" "Fiend" "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" "The spring breeze, a two-man journey." "Following rumors of evil spirits and fiends, they travel the Nikko High Road." "What Hozaburo pursues is his other self." "Next Time" " Cha pter Eleven Nikko Fey Road What Hozaburo pursues is his other self." "Next Time" " Cha pter Eleven Nikko Fey Road"