“Naoe is not coming to save you, Kagetora-dono.”
Takaya was unable to immediately comprehend what Kousaka had said, but Kikkawa Motoharu reacted sharply. Is he really going to, said his expression.
“Kousaka-dono, You—”
“Naoe has forsaken you at last, Kagetora-dono,” Kousaka said loudly. “Do you still not understand? Naoe has betrayed you.”
Takaya was stunned. He stared mutely at Kousaka.
“Poor thing. Sold out by your retainer after four hundred years of marriage? I understand your incredulity, but to lie would only be a form of pity.”
“Sold me...out?” Takaya muttered hoarsely. “...Naoe has...?”
“Yes. The very same Naoe Nobutsuna who has been your trusted confidant for so long has sold you out and is begging for his own life.”
“!”
In quiet tones, Kousaka told the shocked Takaya pityingly, “You probably haven’t heard the news due to your infiltration of Kumamoto. ...Several days ago, Naoe was captured by our ally, Lord Shimazu Yoshihiro.”
“What...?”
“You sent Naoe to investigate the missing persons of the Himuka cult, I believe. I can tell you now that the Himuka cultists are allies of Lord Shimazu. Naoe’s persistent investigation placed him in the cross-hairs of Shimazu soldiers, and they caught him in the end.”
This was news to Takaya. Though he listened attentively, his expression was full of doubt. Kousaka continued in a low voice.
“Lord Shimazu intended to kill him immediately, but had an unexpected offer from Naoe.”
“...”
“He would give you up in return for his life. ...In other words, Kagetora-dono, he delivered you to Lord Shimazu. That was the offer Naoe made.”
Takaya was completely speechless. “...That’s impossible...”
“I believe Naoe met you a few days ago. The purpose of that meeting was to lead the Shimazu to your location, Kagetora-dono. ... As you well know, our ally Shimozuma Rairyuu-dono then attacked you, and when you lost consciousness we rescued you and brought you here. That’s the brief synopsis, in any case,” Kousaka finished smoothly with every conviction of truth and nary a stutter, though of course it was all fiction. He was such a master liar that he made it all sound plausible—as would be expected of a great strategist, perhaps. Even Motoharu was astonished.
Takaya had no basis for contradiction.
He’d turned deathly pale.
“That’s...a lie.”
“It’s not a lie. He is a despicable man. Besides, there was another reason for him to beg for his life.”
Takaya looked uneasily at him. Kousaka politely returned his gaze.
“Do you want to know about the Lady in White of Saga?”
“...What...?”
“From your reaction I see you know nothing about this. In that case, here’s what you should know: the one who destroyed the Lady in White you placed in Saga was not Oda or Ryuuzouji, to say nothing of Ootomo. ...It was this man you see before you, Kikkawa Motoharu-dono.”
“What...?” Takaya turned and looked up at Motoharu.
It was true.
Motoharu nodded gravely.
“Several days before your Lady in White was killed, Ryuuzouji Takanobu too was killed.”
“...!” This was news to Takaya. No report had reached him of this fact. “How did it happen?”
“Ootomo conspired with someone to assassinate him. Saga is Ryuuzouji’s territory; it would not have been easy for Ootomo to touch him there. Ryuuzouji’s movements were leaked to Ootomo. I can’t help but conclude that someone was doing Ootomo a favor.” Kousaka coldly concluded, “Your Ladies in White were lending Ootomo a hand.”
“That’s impossible...!” Takaya furiously refuted. “The Ladies in White would not act like that of their own volition! They can’t act without my command...!”
“What if they were commanded by Kenshin?”
Takaya paled. “By my father...?”
“Yes. If they had orders from Kenshin, the Ladies in White would obey.”
“No way...”
“Ryuuzouji Takanobu was killed by Uesugi soldiers. If it has not reached your ears, then they are concealing their actions. And then they invited Ootomo into Saga. In order to stop them, we and Kikkawa-dono exterminated the Ladies in White supporting Ootomo and cut them off at the root.”
The Ladies in White in Saga had been aiding Ootomo.
While Supreme Commander Kagetora knew nothing...
Takaya was completely incredulous. The Ladies in White acting outside of his orders had never once happened in four hundred years.
“It is concerning, but I’m afraid it’s true, Uesugi-dono,” Motoharu said, addressing Takaya in formal tones. “Kenshin is beginning to make his move.”
“Move...?”
“It’s as I told you before. Kenshin has abandoned you and created a new Uesugi army in order to realize his ambitions.”
“!”
Motoharu had said the same at Hagi Castle
. The same dismay revived in Takaya’s chest. His face stiffened, and his lips trembled.
“That’s ridiculous...! But that’s...”
“Kenshin, it seems, has found you wanting when it comes to fulfilling his long-cherished desire. Perhaps he is unable to have complete confidence in you due to your Houjou origins.” Takaya was stunned. Kousaka continued mercilessly. “Naoe appears to have joined Kenshin.”
“!”
“This is what lay behind Naoe’s offer when he begged for his life. Naoe seems to have been working under Kenshin’s command when he clashed with Shimazu. It would have been inconvenient if you knew everything. Besides, Kenshin’s orders take precedence, and he couldn’t die before executing them. He weighed his life against that of a faithless master...”
Takaya caught his breath.
Kousaka looked at him.
“You can’t deny it, can you?”
“...” His pale lips trembled. His eyebrows drew together, his head jerked a little, and he beseeched, “Motoharu...”
Kikkawa Motoharu was silent. He could give no answer. Having understood Kousaka’s intention, he could only go along with the deception.
Takaya was violently agitated.
The word ‘faithless’ had buried itself deep in Takaya’s chest.
(He’s lost interest in me...) A Naoe whom Takaya’s heart’s no longer touched... (He’s...disappointed...)
“You must have suspected,” Kousaka said as if he’d read Takaya’s heart. “The enmity between you was obvious even two years ago, before Itsuku Island. I was quite worried it was always going to come to this even though it was none of my business.”
(True...)
He recalled Naoe’s cold expression.
That night in Hagi... But he was certain they’d managed to touch each other. No matter what enmity lay between them or how much their relationship had deteriorated, he’d been sure they’d grasped either other’s soul that night.
“For your...no, for our highest state of being!”
He’d thought they could seek it out. At least he’d thought they would try. But Naoe’s heart had never drawn near Takaya again. Even the wedge with which he had always tied Takaya to him had vanished, and Naoe had never again used the language of their innermost hearts. Even the screams and pleas on which he had wagered his entire soul had not reached Naoe’s. Had he touched no more than a phantom of his self-conceit?
Had Naoe given up? Had he lost the energy for interest? Or had his heart been charmed by another, so that Kagetora no longer held any fascination for him?
Had he finally decided to let Kagetora go...?
In the flames he’d truly thought they had touched each other, tuned each to the other so that they vibrated to the exact same pitch.
Had it all been illusion?
Had it all ended for them that night two years ago?
(Is that it...?)
Takaya saw nothing but darkness. Yet one sliver of hope remained to tell him that it was not quite over.
“It ended two years ago,” Kousaka concluded. “What a self-centered man. After tormenting you to such a degree, and then to leave you so abruptly—to trample on your heart like this... I sympathize, Kagetora-dono.”
“But—...” Takaya said tremblingly, touching a fingertip to his parched lips. But then, what was that? Bearing with it the hint of promise, that... “...that kiss. Why did he kiss me the other day...? He said he’d come to see me, and then...”
Motoharu’s eyes widened. Kousaka was unmoved; with a cynical expression he folded his arms.
“Probably...a ‘traitorous kiss’.”
“!” Takaya looked sharply up at Kousaka.
There was a thunk as pieces of firewalls collapsed in the fireplace. Red flames brightly illuminated the three occupants of the room.
The man who had sold out his master in order to preserve himself—his black shadow twisted within the flames.
Within Takaya, time stopped.
There was a tiny lull in the snow falling on Aso Valley. The night was about to grow much colder. The cedar trees around the main building of the Shinto shrine were draped with white garments.
At the foot of the northern rim of the Aso crater was Kokuzou Shrine [Regional Administrator Shrine] of Teno, Ichinomiya Town. Hayamikatama-no-mikoto, Takeiwatatsu-no-mikoto’s son and first generation regional administrator of Aso, was enshrined there; this prestigious shrine was itself listed in the Engi-Shiki. The famous natural monument the ‘Giant Cedar of Teno’ was here, but after a calamitous typhoon a few years ago the tree was no longer its former majestic self; only the trunk with its chipped bark remained.
An ancient burial mound was located a little ways into the mountains past the shrine. It was a stone burial chamber in the tunnel tomb style, one of the many ancient mounds that dotted the northern outer rim. The inside was brightly illuminated by an electric light bulb.
Inaba Akemi was being held in its innermost chamber.
This was where Shimozuma Rairyuu and Shichiri Yorichika had brought her after kidnapping her.
Akemi was asleep stretched out on silk wadding within the sarcophagus, as still as the body she had displaced. Within the stone coffin was a layer of Bengal (a red powder used by artists), and so long as she was inside she would remain unconscious. This powder was created by burning Aso’s yellow ochre with spirit-fire, and was imbued with sleep-magic.
“...But she’ll simply stay asleep,” explained the guard and guide.
“Sleep without eating or drinking, which means in time her body will weaken and eventually waste away. If she’s not put on life-support, that is.”
“How long does she have left?”
The guard pondered the question with head tilted. “Well, let’s see. Maybe ten days or so.”
“I suppose whether she lives to wake up will depend on the Miike family and what they do with Asara-hime,” murmured the man in the trenchcoat. He added, “We’re done here,” and they left the tomb. The light went out.
The man descended the narrow hill road and retraced his steps to the main shrine building.
“We are as yet uncertain of Kagetora-dono’s welfare?” he asked Fuuma Kotarou, who was following half a step behind him. He took out his gloves and put them on.
“We are searching for him with all available resources,” Kotarou answered in a low voice. He’d been working with this man ever since leaving Takaya at the hotel yesterday: the companion of the man he’d met in the lobby yesterday. Kotarou had learned of Rairyuu’s attack on Takaya from him. He had hurried back to Kumamoto and rushed to the hospital there, but...
Only unbelievable news had awaited him there.
“Ougi-san has passed away.”
The body had already been taken away. After a full investigation by his subordinates, he’d learned that those who had abducted him were likely cultists of the Himuka.
He’d still been unable to make contact.
“Shimozuma Rairyuu is a troublesome fellow. I do not know what personal grudges he bears, but to disregard Kennyo-dono’s command and attempt to kill a likely ally like Kagetora-dono... It appears Kennyo-dono was greatly angered and has recalled Rairyuu from Kyuushuu.”
“Is that so?”
“I have heard Rairyuu is also bitterly opposed to joining forces with Shimazu.”
Which was not without cause. In the Edo period, Shimazu persecuted Hongan Temple followers even more than the early Japanese Christians. Rairyuu’s opposition and assertion that he couldn’t fight beside such people was perfectly understandable... The man in the trench coat looked over his shoulder at Kotarou.
“An alliance is necessary to bring down Oda. I need both Kennyo-dono and Shimazu-dono’s power. I intend to mediate between them as best as I can, but perhaps it would be best if they did not meet face-to-face. It was hellishly difficult to persuade Kennyo-dono. ...You’re in the same position, I believe.”
Rairyuu’s grudge towards Kagetora was no trifle thing. Mediation was close to impossible. Yet Kotarou’s heart was set. What had happened must never happen again. If Rairyuu was going to hurt Takaya—
(I’ll kill him.)
Was the man aware of Kotarou’s intentions?
He was silent, listening to the clear waters of the Miya River flowing past them.
They ascended the stone steps.
“Kotarou-sama!” A soldier rushed toward them. “We’ve found Lord Kagetora’s location!”
“So Saburou-dono is with Motoharu-sama?!” Fuuma Kotarou cried in what was for him an unusually loud voice.
Kotarou’s question was directed at Shimozuma Rairen. Though he’d died two years ago at Taishou Cave on the night of the Hagi incident, his windpipe crushed by a spirit-tiger’s jaws, he’d managed to change bodies and make his return. Kotarou had recognized him despite the change in appearance; it had been Rairen he’d met in the hotel previously.
“We just received word. Kagetora-dono is being looked after by Kikkawa-dono and Kousaka-dono. We know where they are. He’s wounded, but his life is not in danger.”
“Motoharu-dono is...?” Kotarou’s expression blanked as if in relief. “...That means the bird-people who saved Saburou-dono from Rairyuu-dono’s attack were...”
“Himuka cultists,” Rairen answered.
Of course it was common knowledge that Kousaka and Motoharu were communicating with the Himuka cultists with regard to the Kihachi matter, but they hadn’t been aware that the two parties were working together as well.
“Takeda and Kikkawa appear to be successfully colluding with the Himuka cultists. Of course we followers of the Ikkou Sect could not possibly do the same,” Rairen added chillingly.
Beside them, the man in the trench coat interrupted, “In any case, we can entrust Kagetora-dono to Kikkawa-dono while Kotarou-dono assists me with the capture of Kumamoto.”
“No, I must go to Saburou-dono.”
“There is no need. Please remain here, Kotarou-dono.”
“Why?” Kotarou demanded, suspicious of Rairen’s attempt to detain him. “Saburou-dono will think it strange if I do not go to help him. Right now he believes I am Naoe Nobutsuna. Naoe would not sit around doing nothing even if he did not know Saburou-dono’s whereabouts. If Saburou-dono is to return to the Houjou, he must trust me as Naoe. If I go to save him, he will believe more strongly than ever that I am Naoe.”
“...But there is no knowing how long we would have to wait to attain such a result.”
For a moment Kotarou was at a loss for words.
Rairen said coldly, “Takeda is using you as Naoe to break apart the Uesugi.”
Kotarou’s eyes widened. “What...?”
“I regret to say Takeda knows Kagetora-dono’s Achilles’ heel perfectly well.”
They were perfectly aware of Kagetora’s greatest vulnerability. They knew how to deal the most damaging blow possible to Kagetora’s sense of belonging to Uesugi. They knew how to drive him to the edge.
(If Naoe were to betray him...)
Kotarou understood what Rairen was saying. He knew well how obsessed Kagetora was with Naoe even if he couldn’t understand the emotion. He knew its intensity.
Kotarou becoming Naoe had damaged Kagetora, messed him up. He was filled with anxiety when he looked at this Naoe who refused to touch him, wondering if he was drawing away. If Naoe now deserted him in truth...
If Naoe really betrayed him...
He could easily imagine the trauma and despair Takaya would feel. It would finish him.
To be thrown over by Kenshin meant that Kagetora had lost the foundation of his raison d’être for these past four hundred years. The shock of it would be immeasurable.
If Naoe left him...the damage might well be the coup de grâce.
“Certainly Kagetora-dono is shaken,” Rairen said without hesitation. “Listen, Kotarou-dono. ‘Naoe has betrayed Kagetora.’ Therefore you must never show your face to Kagetora-dono again, let alone go to save him.”
“But I’m Saburou-dono’s...!”
“Yes. That is why you should return to being Fuuma Kotarou.”
Kotarou was dumbfounded.
“It would be simple,” Rairen said. “Kagetora currently recognizes Kotarou-dono as Naoe Nobutsuna, correct? So, if you were to possess another body, you would become ‘Fuuma Kotarou’ once more and serve Saburou-dono thus. There would be no difficulty.”
“...”
Did Rairen notice the iron mask of Kotarou’s expression stiffen as he spoke those words?
Such an expression would never have appeared on his face before. He would have accepted the logic of the strategy with the impassiveness of a robot.
Rairen had not yet noticed Kotarou’s transformation.
“I trust you would have done so even if I had not made the suggestion, Kotarou-dono. You are a brilliant leader of the ninja corps. You’ll take care of Saburou-dono, I’m sure.”
Rairen left the main shrine building along with his followers.
Kotarou’s face had turned white as a sheet. His clenched fists shook.
Only the man in the trench coat observed the unsettled robot.
The southern part of the area sandwiched between the cluster of Aso’s central volcanic cones was the South Country Valley [Nangou Valley]. Looking toward the ‘Shakyamuni entering nirvana’ of the Fives Peaks of Aso from this side, one could see the top of the head to the right and a slightly different sleeping figure.
Night had arrived in the South Valley Country.
Kaizaki and Hakkai had continued their search for Takaya after joining up in Tateno, but neither the Gohou Douji nor a telepathic probe had yielded any results—perhaps due to interference.
Aso was vast.
He’d traced Takaya’s response, but the location was imprecise. Now the obstruction was stronger, and using telepathy to find him was pretty much impossible.
“The jamming appears to be a sort of telepathic perturbation,” Kaizaki commented from the passenger seat of the four-wheel drive.
As a result Gohou Douji couldn’t spot Takaya either. The bell-ringing method was out as well. Was driving around haphazardly the only thing left?
“Mikuriya-sama is having her subordinates at Old Castle High School track down Kiyomasa starting from Katou Shrine—as we suspected, his trail ends in this area.”
“The missing Himuka cultists, then...?”
Kaizaki and company had already conducted their own independent investigation of the disappearances. They were nearly certain, based on testimonies from eye-witnesses and hospital staff as well as Mikuriya’s investigation, that these were the people who’d kidnapped Takaya and Kiyomasa.
(But why...?)
At this point Kaizaki and the other still had no knowledge of the connection between the Himuka cultists and Kousaka and Kikkawa Motoharu—let alone the Shimazu army.
They’d only noted Shimazu Iehisa’s existence.
(The Himuka cult... They seem to have some role in the Yami-Sengoku—...)
“But is this really something we should be doing?” Hakkai asked, his hands gripping the wheel. “Would it not be inconvenient if Ootomo were to be made aware that we are working to save Kagetora-sama?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll come up with an excuse,” Kaizaki brushed Hakkai’s concerns aside. “Besides, I am nothing but an exile from Satomi right now. I have nothing to do with Uesugi.”
“...”
Another of Hakkai’s worries remained: should the Supreme Commander himself really be running after Takaya like this?
(My only duty is to obey him.) Hakkai corrected himself, and turned his gaze forward. His four-wheel drive headed toward Hakusui Village [White Water Village]. Kaizaki appeared to have come up with a way to break through the obstruction.
The car arrived at Shirakawa Yoshimi Shrine. It was well-suited to the Shira River [White River] source.
Hakusui Village, abundant in spring water, was located at the source of Shira River, which flowed down into Kumamoto City. It was the most beautiful water in the entire country, and there were eight large sources and numerous small ones. This location could be called representative.
Hakkai and Kaizaki got out of the car, the murmur of the flowing water immediately reaching their ears. They entered into the depths of the forest. As expected, at this hour there was no sign of another human presence.
They came to the innermost shrine building, in front of which stood a pond of incredibly clear spring water. During the day one could see the lovely emerald gradations at its bottom, but unfortunately it was dark now. The pond reflected the darkness, its surface rippling slightly as it welled forth, while piles of snow quietly fluoresced.
There were steps to the pond’s rim, which led to a place where water was drawn. Kaizaki and Hakkai descended towards it.
“This water is full of spiritual power.” It was imbued with Aso’s mysterious power. “This is a good spot,” Kaizaki said.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Perform the water-mirror ritual.” Kaizaki quietly took off his gloves. "Use the underground water pulse to find him. Underground is the only place not affected by the telepathic perturbation.
Kaizaki ordered Hakkai to make preparations and extracted a paper doll prepared for this purpose from his breast pocket. On it he wrote the five Sanskrit characters representing the five rings for space, wind, fire, water, and earth: ‘ (kya) (ka) (ra) (ba) (a)’. With a brush prepared by Hakkai, he wrote Takaya’s name on the back of the doll. He then folded the corners of a piece of calligraphy paper together and drew on it the seed syllable for the guardian buddha of all directions. Chanting the mantra of Varuna, Kaizaki quietly set the piece of paper afloat on the pond. At the pond’s center, it suddenly glowed and dissolved. A blue light simultaneously filled the entire pond, and the symbol for the directions he had written earlier floated to the surface. The water rippled, and its north side bulged upward to form intricate peaks and valleys—exactly replicating Aso’s topography. The water had changed into a diorama of Aso.
Kaizaki continued to chant. Then he set the doll afloat on the glowing blue surface.
Then...
The doll instantly raced across the water’s surface towards the northwest. It sank halfway up a mountain and dissolved.
“That’s...”
It was about ten kilometers (~6.2 miles) to the northwest, halfway up Eboushi Peak.
The water sank into its usual flatness as soon as the doll dissolved. Now it changed into something like a mirror. Hakkai involuntarily cried out.
“Ah... !”
The pond’s surface had become a projection screen. A video gradually appeared. An outline emerged as if it were gradually gaining focus, until finally a person became recognizable.
“There he is...!”
It was him. It was Takaya. Though the image couldn’t be called clear by any measure, it was unmistakably him. He was in a room somewhere.
The water-mirror ritual was a type of magic that reflected a distant target object through the medium of water or other liquids. It worked with a bowl or a drop. If someone was reflected by water, their image could be transmitted to a distant water’s surface. They’d been lucky in the pitcher placed next to Takaya.
“Kagetora-sama...”
Kaizaki held Hakkai back as he involuntarily drew closer to the water’s surface. They’d lose the image if any foreign substance touched it. Hakkai hadn’t seen Takaya for a long time, and thus was perhaps all the more affected. He stared intently, not even breathing.
Takaya was sitting on a bed with his eyes cast downward. Though they’d heard he had been seriously injured, he now appeared to be healed—in body if not in spirit. He was too pale, his expression haggard.
(Takaya-san...)
Kaizaki bit his lip, feeling again that irritation at himself. Anger and impatience welled from his gut; the situation was unbearable. All of it was directed at himself: how could he have failed to protect Takaya? Allowed him to suffer like this? It was inexcusable of him.
At that moment.
As if sensing his presence, Takaya’s reflection looked straight at him.
They couldn’t communicate, of course. They could only look. Still, had he sensed that Kaizaki was looking at him?
Takaya’s gaze held shades of torment.
“...” Kaizaki shivered with a sudden chill.
He felt a deep foreboding.
Making up his mind, Kaizaki took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He concentrated, pressing his palms together and moving them up and down as if swinging a bell.
“Kaizaki-sama...”
With Hakkai watching attentively, Kaizaki chanted some kind of prayer—invoking the mysterious power of the enshrined deity of Yoshimi Shrine, Kuniryuu-myoujin—also known as Hikoyaimimi-no-mikoto. He was worshiped within Aso Shrine’s third shrine as one of the pillars of Aso’s founding. He was the son of Emperor Jimmu and father of the Lady of Aso City, who was wife to Takeiwatatsu-no-mikoto.
A shimmering blue flame rose from Kaizaki’s body. Within the pond, the god’s power began to fuse with the power of the buddhas. Kaizaki opened his eyes.
“O God of Yoshimi, descend to this sacred pond and guide me to Ougi Takaya!”
The pond glowed.
The wind rose, and waves began to churn across the surface of the pond—then a whirlpool began to form with its center at the point where the paper doll had sunk earlier. A spherical blob of water bubbled up into the air and floated there.
Hakkai couldn’t believe his eyes.
The glass sculpture-like hovering mass of water freely changed shape. It stretched into a long narrow shape and became a snake.
A water snake, whose transparent body made it almost invisible in the darkness.
“Guide me to Ougi Takaya!”
As if in response to Kaizaki’s words, the water snake wriggled, sending waves through the pond. Its energetic movements brought it soaring over Kaizaki’s head.
“This water snake will guide us. Let’s go, Hakkai.”
“Ri...right!”
The spirit-snake made of Aso’s spring water flew through the air, leading the way. Water was their ally. Aso’s underground water had found Takaya’s aura and was guiding Kaizaki and Hakkai to him.
The car left the cluster of snow-blanket cedars behind and accelerated onward.
Snow began to fall from the ashen sky once more.
They sped along the highway after the water snake in the direction of Eboushi Peak as the car’s wipers flicked snow from the windshield.
“What do you mean, Kotarou-dono has disappeared!?” Rairen shouted in response to a subordinate’s report. The group gathered within Kokuzou Shrine’s residence area milled in confusion for a moment before venturing a response.
“Well...he looked to be in a rush and suddenly drove off alone earlier. We asked him where he was going, but he didn’t answer; he just left...!”
“Alone? Without saying anything?”
It made Rairen suspicious. There was something very strange in what his subordinates had told him. Kotarou’s subordinate Shichirou rushed over in answer to Rairen’s summons, but he too was in a state of agitation.
“Where did Kotarou go? What have you heard?!”
“I...!” Shichirou was just as surprised by Kotarou’s abrupt departure. “He said nothing to us! He forbade us to follow him! I don’t know what’s going on...!”
“Rairen-sama! Here’s someone who says that Kotarou-dono asked about Kikkawa-dono’s whereabouts...!” A sectarian reported in breathless haste.
“What...! Did you tell him?!”
“I—! He insisted...! I couldn’t refuse!”
“What is the meaning of this!”
Kotarou was a Houjou vassal as well as a key figure in the Anti-Oda Alliance. Had he gone to Motoharu? Kotarou could not be unaware of what that meant.
Rairen was rattled. He would never have imagined that Kotarou could act in a manner detrimental to his goal of returning Kagetora to the Houjou. What did it mean...!
“He has likely gone to join Kagetora-dono.”
“!”
He turned in surprise to the man in the trench coat, who was leaning against a pillar. Rairen’s breath stopped at this impossible reply.
“What did you just—what do you mean?”
“He’s gone to Kagetora-dono’s aid.”
“Aid...?! That’s ridiculous! There’s no need! Kagetora-dono is being protected with all courtesy! He knows that! Naoe has betrayed him!”
Rairen found it impossible to believe that Kotarou had turned his back on their plans. The man in the trench coat quietly shook his head.
“Rairen-dono, this ninja is no longer the Fuuma Kotarou you know.”
“That can’t be...”
Rairen couldn’t immediately accept the reality of the situation. Yet the other man seemed to have anticipated it. He calmed advised, “As a precaution, we should immediately send some men after him to prevent him from coming in contact with Kagetora-dono. If things come to a head...”
“...”
Rairen’s expression turned grave. He immediately summoned his subordinates and issued orders.
“Chase Kotarou-dono down! Find him and bring him back immediately!”
“Aye!”
They set off without delay. Rairen was still incredulous, but his expression eventually turned heavy.
(Could he really have...?)
“...” The man in the trench coat, standing apart, regarded him in silence.
His name was Akechi Mitsuhide.
This man, who had once betrayed and destroyed the Supreme Ruler, serenely turned his gaze toward the snow falling on the Five Peaks of Aso.