"Charge!" "Protect Texas!" "Prove your loyalty to the King of Espana!" "Espana and Texas have nothing to do with us." "Please do not drag us into your war." "Grandmother!" "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" "Cha pter Six Racing Dragon Aura" "Who are you?" "Is someone there?" "A ghost?" "Diabloma." "In our Nahuatl language in Mexica, we had no word that meant "demon"." "But the people of Espana called our gods Diabloma." "Demons." "What are you talking about?" "!" "Demons and ghosts don't exist!" "Are you a Youi?" "Well..." "Even I don't really understand." "Shichiji!" "Hey, don't go!" "Don't go, Shichiji!" "Shichiji!" "Shichiji!" "I'm a dragon..." "You're a cloud..." "Cloud" "Yukiatsu." "Hey, Kumoshichi." "What are you doing out here?" "Oh, well, I was looking for you." "I'm right here." "I'm always with you." "Yeah, that's right." "You don't really understand?" "So only I can see or hear him..." "That man is an alien being." "He has powers that are not human." "You mean the Ayagami?" "With the power of another world, he created a person only he could see." "To escape from his crime." "What do you mean?" "I've had enough of this!" "Where is he?" "!" "Where did you bury him?" "!" "There must be some bones, at least!" "I'll find it!" "I'll find it, I'll find it!" "I went crazy after you and Shichiji disappeared." "Now, all I can do is work in the show tents." "Give it back!" "Give back my fifteen years!" "Give it back to me, please!" "Stop this!" "Why do you go after him?" "Ever since I came to Edo, I've been feeling his aura." "If he's a Youi, I'll destroy him." "Then destroy him." "And you die with him." "That will be your punishment!" "Yeah, that's right, die!" "Die!" "South Magistrate's Office" "Yukiwa of the Namigoro Nankai Troupe, come forth!" "Will this be all right?" "The Youi are still fearful, but for now..." "Presenting the South Magistrate, Lord Torii of Kai!" "Hey, hey, hey!" "It seems you gave us quite a bit of grief." "Eh?" "!" "This tattoo has seen it all!" "Well, I suppose that is about how Touyama would have settled it." "I would not know." "That is just a rumor, is it not?" "Lord Magistrate, you take this jest too far." "This is my way of honoring him, Hanai." "Honoring him?" "After all, before us stands a foreign god." "Honoring him?" "After all, before us stands a foreign god." "Once upon a time, 300 years ago now, there was a country across the ocean called Asuteika, or also Meshiika." "They worshipped numerous gods, and he is one of them." "Lord Magistrate, where did you learn of this?" "Well, that is merely one story that is out there." "And now, I shall deliver the verdict." "Horse by the name of Yukiwa, it is clear that you caused Gigi, a Youi living in this land of the rising sun, to run amok to no purpose." "We shall investigate this power!" "It may reveal some way to control the Youi." "Even so..." "Even so, I will live." "It's a dragon..." ""Tokugawa Chronicle" Around February of Tenpo Y ear 1 4, there is an account stating, "In this month, a white aura appeared in the southwest."" "A white aura was a phenomenon where a portion of the sky shone brilliantly, and it was considered a good omen." "Quetzal!" "Is that the horse that you had with you?" "So, it was a Youi after all!" "And you brought him here!" "Quetzal was always well-behaved." "It was your Diabloma that..." "It was this city that made Quetzal go crazy!" "Edogen's firework!" "Here they are!" "Dance, Saizo!" "We cannot fight it unless we drag it out of the sky!" "Will we be able to bring it down?" "Who knows?" "We've never faced such a large Youi before." "Whether we stew it or eat it raw as sashimi, it looks like it could last half a year." "If we can bring it down." "Quetzal became excitable ever since we came to Edo." "That same aura made the monsters that you call Youi go crazy too." "The blame lies entirely with your Diabloma." "Shichi!" "Shichi!" "Stop that already." "Oshino..." "Quetzal is trying to get back to the Other World." "So he's desperately searching for a way into the Other World." "Don't take Quetzal away..." "Ouma..." "No, Atl..." "Quetzalcoatl is a god of Mexica." "He's everything to me." "That dance..." "It is different from any school of dance." "According to one account, it is the dance Ame-no-Uzume offered before the Ama-no-Iwato cave." "A dance of the gods to offer to the gods?" "For some reason, that maiden was born with the innate ability to perform that dance." "And it is captivating to Youi." "Will that Youi appear?" "It will come." "Just watch." "Here it comes!" "It looks like a dragon..." "No, a serpent." "I see no legs." "Do you know the legend of Miwayama?" "The god enshrined at the Suwa Shrine in Shinano Province is also a serpent." "In ancient times, there were people who revered serpents." "Then, that is..." "No, it is a Youi." "We will dispose of it as a Youi." "Where is that girl?" "We need not leave this to the Ayashi if we have that girl..." "Yukiwa!" "Quetzalcoatl!" "What are you so afraid of?" "!" "Have you grown weary?" "Of searching for our own land?" "Quetzalcoatl!" "It's vanished?" "Even if it reappeared, there is nothing we can do." "Atl!" "I believe we asked you to leave the matter of this girl to the town magistrate, my dear Hozaburo." "Who is he?" "Toraichi Hanai." "My senior in Western learning." "That man..." "Lord Torii of Kai!" "The Lord South Magistrate!" "The "Monster", huh?" "All you Ayashi, the investigation into this matter is concluded." "Surrender yourselves without a fight." "Do not resist!" "As Ayashi, we serve in an official capacity and obey the magistrate." "If we quarrel with them here, it will make trouble for those above us!" "Damn." "The harboring of the foreign girl has nothing to do with the boss." "It was just how things turned out." "That Youi might appear again!" "When that happens..." "Why bother worrying about that?" "You were helpless to do anything to it." "Well, all of you are just..." "Kumoshichi!" "You can see him too?" "!" "Atl!" "What did you do to her?" "She has been drugged..." "You have chosen exactly the right moment to appear." "This foreign girl will serve as a sacrifice and soothe the serpent Youi." "Thus, this commotion will be settled." "Sacrifice?" "!" "You mean to offer this girl to the Youi?" "!" "The girl came up with this plan herself." "She told us everything." "Just who she is and where she came from." "I had heard that you are a magistrate who hates foreign nations." "There was once a country across the ocean called Asuteika, also known as Meshiika." "But 320 years ago, men from Espana crossed the ocean and the country fell to ruin before Cortez's army." "Thus, the nation of Nueva Espana was established." "This girl is a descendant of the people who were of Meshiika." "Her country was destroyed?" "My country..." "In Nueva Espana, all we of Mexica had was a life worse than that of slaves." "In search of a land where we could hopefully have a life of our own, we headed north." "Retreat!" "They called themselves "samurai"." "They said they were a people who came from a country called Japan." "There is a record that under the reign of Lord Ieyasu, the Shogun Tosho, a warrior by the name of Tsunenaga Hasekura crossed from Nueva Espana to Europe on Daimyo Masamune Date's orders." "And during this time, records also show numerous warriors remained in Nueva Espana." "It was not clear what became of them, but..." "To think they passed down their Japanese heritage for 200 years..." "A country full of beautiful nature, where justice and kindness are upheld..." "Somewhere along the way, I had come to dream of such a Japan." "War suddenly erupted in the land of Texas, where we had migrated to." "To the starving soldiers, we were still slaves." "And I prayed, to Quetzalcoatl." "There was once a god named Quetzalcoatl, but it was said that he was defeated by a god named Tezcatlipoca, and departed from this world." "I slipped into a troupe of showmen, because I had heard that this troupe would be crossing the ocean." "And then..." "Quetzalcoatl, to Japan!" "There, we will find our land!" "But this place was the same." "Just for being a foreigner, I was nearly killed right away." "Na nkai Trou pe Bearded Lady" "Nankai Troupe Bearded Lady I hid the color of my skin" "I hid the color of my skin and worked desperately to recall the words of Japan." "That was the only way for me to survive." "Quetzalcoatl wants to go back to the Other World." "I will grant that to him." "It's our fault that the horse went crazy." "What crime have these two committed?" "So, it looks to you as if this girl has been at the mercy of this terrible fate for absolutely no reason, does it?" "However, do you know why Espana destroyed Asuteika?" "In Asuteika, they had a tradition of carving out the hearts of the chosen and offering them up to the gods." "To the people of Espana, this looked to be the deed of the Devil." "Offer... me... to god..." "Quetzalcoatl is something this girl summoned in the first place." "She will be punished for toying with the gods." "Wait." "I'll fight with him one more time..." "With the Youi." "Yukiatsu..." "Yukiatsu, there is no need!" "This is already..." "This is the duty of the Ayashi, isn't it?" "!" "When a Youi appears, it always involves a person's emotions." "If so, if we killed that person, would that Youi disappear?" "Rank and poverty and prejudice are also created by man." "If so, would those also disappear if we killed man?" "Is our duty to commit murder?" "A heart that desires a place that is not here..." "I cannot pass judgment on that." "All I can do is defeat the Youi." "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" "Men are wounded in equal measure to the wounds they inflict." "They pray to the gods and are wounded by the gods." "The name of Kumoshichi and Yukiatsu's wound." "Next Time" " Cha pter Seven The Dragon Is Within The Cloud" "Next Time" " Chapter Seven The Dragon Is Within The Cloud Chapter Seven:" "The Dragon Is Within The Cloud." "Next Time" " Chapter Seven The Dragon Is Within The Cloud"