"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" "What was that?" "!" "That character is his name!" "Y u ki" "Y u ki The character "yuki" in "Yukiatsu"" "Y u ki refers to the authority of ancient kings." "Y u ki The authority to behead a wrongdoer at any time..." "The authority to behead a wrongdoer at any time..." "A giant battleaxe!" "Youi!" "I'm a monster, too!" "Let's get along!" "Cha pter Five The Tale of a Murderer" "So he can draw Ayagami not only out of his opponents, but from himself as well!" "No!" "Quetzal!" "Quetzal?" "That horse was not a Youi, right?" "It should not be." "The kidnappings were the work of the dolls." "Quetzal..." "What is this?" "!" "It's as if that horse and Youi are howling to one another." "Oh, hey..." "That is tonight's..." "Over here!" "The Lord Magistrate ordered us to provide assistance." "Ah, yes." "An unruly horse." "It's related to the kidnappings." "Capture it." "Yes, Sir." "Barbarian Knowledge Enforcement will be thoroughly investigated later." "This goes far beyond overreaching your authority!" "That horse..." "Something about it makes me oddly uneasy." "It seems to have been tormented quite a bit..." "Kumoshichi, what about that girl?" "Over there." "You bastards stink!" "Hey, move aside!" "I want to let this girl get away safely somehow." "It's a crime for her just to be here in Japan, isn't it?" "There is nowhere for her to escape to." "Then, I guess she's the same as me." "No, you're a vagrant." "This girl is a foreigner." "Do not waste your sympathy on her." "This girl told me off, too." "To say I feel sorry for her is the same as looking down on myself." "Even so..." "I..." "According to the owner of the tent, those life-size dolls were made by an eccentric dollmaker in the Kyoto area." "The dollmaker apparently hasn't come to terms with his wife's death, and is known for making dolls that look exactly like his wife." "People said they've heard laughter inside the empty tent for some time." "In other words, there were Youi inside the dolls long before, but they had caused no marked trouble previously and likely were not very powerful, either." "But they suddenly turned the dolls into monsters and attacked people!" "The Youi-like monsters that the South Magistrate's underlings brought also went crazy all of a sudden." "There was probably something there that makes Youi go crazy." "If it is related to the foreigner, we cannot involve ourselves in this matter." "Why not?" "!" "The South Magistrate is using Youi!" "Is this to be permitted?" "!" "They must be doing it with approval." "South Magistrate Torii is the man Senior Councilor Mizuno trusts most." "If we foolishly make a fuss, we will be the ones to be quashed." "Ogasawara, it seems you accepted the work of Ayashi rather unwillingly." "Are you the Lord Ogasawara?" "My father is in Nagasaki." "I am his adopted son, Hozaburo..." "Oh, I have something of a favor to ask of the Lord Hozaburo." "You are a townsman?" "Yessir, I'm looking for a vagrant named Yuki." "He is the police hand who was after Ryudo." "Chasing after a vagrant or two won't win me any praise, but I don't like being made a fool of either." "This man Yuki is most certainly my subordinate, Yukiatsu Ryudo." "However, he is no longer a vagrant." "Therefore, he is free to live in Edo anywhere he pleases." "Yessir, I was reprimanded on that score." "But..." "But you see, if he turned out to be a murderer," "I thought it might cause some trouble for you as well, Lord Ogasawara." "Murderer?" "He pretended to befriend and then killed a merchant!" "I know he did..." "A merchant?" "Back then, apparently about fifteen years ago, he wasn't a vagrant." "He was a ronin." "People talk of a samurai's right to kill with impunity, but even a high-ranking warrior can't thoughtlessly draw his sword without witnesses who saw the insult that he was subjected to." "To say nothing of a ronin." "He had better have a really good reason for it to be permissible." "You're sure?" "I heard Ryudo and Shichiji were quarrelling, so I ran to find them, but there was no one there by then." "I heard that Ryudo left Edo, but that was the last I heard of Shichiji." "If he hadn't been killed, why..." "Fifteen years?" "That would have been before I was born." "There was a temple ruin behind Juunisou in Naitou Shinjuku." "Yeah..." "Yeah, I remember that." "Remember how we used to take refuge there often?" "After we raided some gambling house around the Ueno area, while we waited for the dust to settle." "We'd even refrain from cooking rice, surviving off the fields of gourds and daikon horseradish." "We sure were young." "Why were we always doing such reckless things?" "It was always your idea to begin with." "You didn't like some gambling house, or some samurai looked at you wrong, or some shop was too greedy." "You picked fights with everyone and anyone." "At any rate, I'm going to Naitou Shinjuku." "Over there, whether you're a foreigner or an ogre, they don't give a damn who lives there." "Diabloma!" "Tezcatlipoca!" "Ouma..." "I am Atl!" "Atl?" "So, what's wrong?" "This is Kumoshichi." "You can see him?" "You can see that demon too?" "!" "Demon?" "Kumoshichi and I are the ones who saved you." "Even now, he's thinking of you..." "Get away from him!" "Quickly!" "He's not of this world!" "Quetzal had sensed this thing's aura!" "That's why he was acting strange!" "Yukiatsu..." "You're not getting away!" "A cloud?" "Ryudo, what are you doing?" "Saizo..." "Abi..." "That was the foreign girl, wasn't it?" "So you were the one harboring her!" "Oh..." "Sorry for not consulting you guys." "But it doesn't make any sense." "She suddenly stabbed Kumoshichi and..." "Kumoshichi?" "He's someone I've hung out with since way back when." "He used to be the son and heir of a clog-maker, but he's been disowned and..." "What do you mean, "hung out with"?" "!" "You killed him!" "How dare you?" "!" "Are you Oshino?" "Is that you, Oshino?" "!" "You didn't see Kumoshichi?" "!" "It was just you and the foreign girl." "There was no one else from the start." "Come to think of it, you were behaving strangely earlier, too." "Like there was someone else there..." "What are you all going on about?" "!" "Kumoshichi's a friend of mine!" "Has been for a long time!" "He's playing dumb." "You know him!" "This is Kumoshichi we're talking about!" "Yeah, Shichiji!" "I'm a dragon, so he's a cloud!" "Ryu and kumo!" "So Kumo-Shichi!" "Shichiji has been missing for the last fifteen years." "Then are you saying I've been acting like the guy is there when he isn't?" "!" "Why would I do that?" "!" "Maybe you wanted to forget." "What you'd done..." "Kumoshichi!" "You know Kumoshichi!" "Like I told you, you were always alone." "Remember, Yuki?" "I came here through Kumoshichi's introduction!" "You always came alone, made some small bets, and went home." "That's all you've done for years now." "It's around here!" "I'm pretty sure Kumoshichi said there's a row house around here!" "You think I'm crazy?" "No one has seen this man except you." "Earlier, Atl..." "That girl saw him." "But we were unable to see him." "If so, he's a monster." "Am I wrong?" "It seems you had bigger problems than your sympathy for the foreigner." "What should I do?" "If you really took a man's life, you will explain yourself before the boss." "But if you had been possessed by a Youi..." "You're telling me to resolve this myself..." "Would you bring that foreign girl for me?" "What's this?" "That girl was able to see Kumoshichi." "She was able to see him!" "This is where Shichiji and Ryudo met." "A kendo training hall, huh?" "Ryudo was sort of like a bodyguard, and Shichiji ran away from the clog shop, frequenting gambling houses..." "He used to attend the training hall to test his skills." "Well, well," "I guess even the haphazard style that I've learned from brawling can be pretty handy." "At this rate, maybe I should be the one doing the training." "Yukiatsu." "Oh-ho, the bodyguard, eh?" "Come at me... with this." "What?" "Wait a minute." "This is a real sword!" "This'll be fine for me." "Come on, come on!" "Come at me!" "You asked for it!" "Never handled a real sword, huh?" "Scary, isn't it?" "That was dirty!" "This is foul play!" "What did you say?" "!" "It's foul play!" "It's foul play!" "Yeah, it's foul play!" "Hold on, just want part of this is foul play?" "I don't care, it just is!" "After them!" "Don't let them get away!" "After them!" "Don't let them get away!" "Kill them!" "Kill them!" "Bastards!" "You're not getting away!" "Bastards!" "You're not getting away!" "You're absolutely crazy, Yukiatsu!" "You hadn't even picked out an escape route?" "!" "If we get caught, we'll deal with it then!" "You've got nowhere to go now!" "We'll show you mercy if you throw the money over here!" "Come and get us!" "It's so heavy..." "I thought I'd never get up here." "Yukiatsu, you're really going to end up dead." "You think so?" "Why do you always do such reckless things?" "Messing with gangsters and their bosses is one thing, but you'll even draw against two-sworded samurai." "Like even that time when we went at it at the training hall..." "I told you I got spirited away to some strange place when I was little, remember?" "Right, and that was why it got to be hard for you to stay at the estate." "Ever since then, I've always been scared that I might get dragged back to that place again." "I feel like I'm going to disappear again anyway." "I doubt anyone can understand it." "Not even you." "Hilarious, isn't it?" "Yes, what a funny story!" "But if I'd been there, I might've done the same." "My!" "You, too, Shichiji?" "That's right." "I'm not a patient man either." "Sorry, I'm going home." "Yukiatsu!" "Shichiji, doing those dangerous things with Master Ryudo is..." "That's easy for you to say, Oshino, but I never know what's going to happen next when I'm with Yukiatsu, and I just can't give that up." "Master Ryudo!" "Are you going to settle down with Kumoshichi?" "Oh, please." "Things are not so far along yet..." "Kumoshichi sure seems happy." "I wonder what it feels like to have a place to belong." "But you have a place at the training hall as well." "It's different... with me..." "than for other people..." "Mercy!" "Master Ryudo, please have mercy!" "No..." "I won't go..." "Master Ryudo..." "Yukiatsu, I heard Oshino made a nuisance of herself to you." "She'd hurt her leg and she was in a bind, so I took her home." "She sure was heavy!" "What did you see in the place that you were taken away to as a child?" "I forget." "That's a lie." "You're still chasing after it, even now." "That's why this world is unbearably boring to you." "You can't find satisfaction, no matter what you do." "You're wrong!" "Go get a sword." "I don't need one." "I'm not like you, you coward!" "Kumoshichi!" "You're a dragon and I'm a cloud?" "Quit giving me that fool's talk already!" "Kumoshichi!" "What did Oshino ever do to you?" "!" "I wanted to give it a try." "See if I could feel happy like you!" "I can't help it." "I'm different." "I always have been, because of my childhood." "Being afraid..." "Hating this world..." "You think you're the only one?" "!" "Please don't do this, Shichiji!" "I don't want to die!" "You finally said it." "No one wants to die." "You... and everyone else are the same." "Shichiji..." "Shichiji!" "You killed Shichiji." "I see." "So you've remembered." "Yukiatsu." "Who are you?" "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" "Preview Three hundred years ago, there was a country that fell to ruin." "Three hundred years ago, there was a country that fell to ruin." "The name of that country was Mexica, also known as Azteca." "The legend of the land of gold that the girl heard about." "A giant serpent swallows up Edo." "Next Time" " Cha pter Six Racing Dragon Aura A giant serpent swallows up Edo." "Next Time" " Chapter Six Racing Dragon Aura" "Next Time" " Chapter Six Racing Dragon Aura Chapter Six:" "Racing Dragon Aura."