On the night of the explosion at Jikou Temple
, a crescent moon shone upon Yamagata.
The door of the godown opened with a heavy, ponderous sound.
It was already ten p.m. Yoshihime, also known as Ohigashi-no-Kata, entered with several attendants.
“Dost thou refuse to obey us still?”
At the sound of her voice, Naoe, still suspended from the manacles, raised weary eyes. Perhaps he no longer had strength to speak; he only looked at her blearily.
“Hmm. It doth appear that thou art at thy limit.”
Ohigashi approached and smiled at Naoe’s pale face.
“Thou canst not fight us in that state. We shall make thee our puppet. We will make much benefit of thy power in our unification of the country. Now—” Ohigashi lifted Naoe’s chin and stared into his pupils.
“Ugh...”
Naoe’s eyes instantly blurred, and the world swayed. Ohigashi’s strong gaze locked his in place.
It was a powerful hypnotic technique. The words of suggestion flowing into him were crafted to steal away his will.
«Thou art our servant...»
«Thou shalt obey no command but ours...»
«Thou shalt move to our will.»
“Unngh...”
Groaning in pain, Naoe wrung out the last remaining dredges of his power, concentrating it between his brows and glaring back at her.
“Thou—”
Slightly agitated, Ohigashi poured even greater power into her suggestion. But Naoe continued to repel her with sheer tenacious force of will. Ohigashi’s face warped in annoyance.
“!”
She dealt a sharp slap to Naoe’s cheek.
“Thou impudent knave...!” she said menacingly, “Thy resistance is in vain. Soon or late thy strength will fail thee. Or dost thou wish more pain before thou wilt obey us?”
“—”
Naoe closed his eyes tightly. For a moment Ohigashi’s hands appeared to tremble before she slapped his cheek again with all her might.
“Thou damned obstinate wretch!” she flung at him in rage, before turning on her heels and leaving the godown.
(How dare he...!)
Several days had passed since his capture. She had attempted hypnotism such as this on him countless times, but this man, perhaps because of prior training, had not given in. She had waited until his will was weakened to try again, but he still doggedly resisted.
(Though he is unable to even use «power»!)
That impudent...she was thinking with a tsk of her tongue, when a voice spoke to her from behind.
“How dost thou, Yoshi?”
Mogami Yoshiaki walked over to her with his hands tucked into the sleeves of his kimono.
“Aniue.”
“Doth that man yet resist the manipulation of thy power?”
“Yes—” Ohigashi, calming her rage somewhat, answered in disappointment.
“Though he still resists most stubbornly, ’tis but a matter a time before his will breaks in his state of exhaustion. My power is more than enough to tame a rat or two of his ilk.”
“I see. Then I will entrust the rest to you.”
“Aniue?” Ohigashi peered at Yoshiaki. “Dost thou intend to go somewhere?”
“Mmm. I am going to Tokyo. There is work to be done on the party executives. The committee which is the driving force behind the transfer of the capital is meeting to polish the relocation plan such that an extraordinary session of the Diet can be called at the end of the next month.”
“So at last the time hath come.”
“Yes. At last.” A quiet smile filled Yoshiaki’s face. “So too, the «jike-kekkai» on Sendai be will completed tomorrow, and our servants in Sendai will immediately begin to move. Then will the people of Sendai give everything they have according to our command for the single goal of making the ‘Capital relocation to Sendai’ a reality.”
“...”
“If the transfer of the capital should be approved by the National Diet, construction of facilities and projects for outfitting of the city would be announced immediately. It would have a great impact upon the budget, and each government office must be pushed to make the necessary preparations quickly. The transfer of government agencies must begin without delay. Construction must commence on the new National Diet hall in Sendai, and the prefectural assembly must be moved. And once the transfer is complete, there will be more work for the doing in the remodeling of the administration of the islands.”
Mogami Yoshiaki’s eyes glinted.
“We will control some few of the prefectures and create a wide-area local administration. We will use our onshou of the «Yami-Sengoku» as intermediaries to govern the area. Namely, daimyo self-government. For this endeavor we will take in all of the onshou as subordinates of the Mogami.”
“And those who refuse...?”
Yoshiaki snorted a laugh.
“They shall be prey to the foxes.”
As he walked towards the pond, Yoshiaki added, “Ashina Moriuji hath already made the necessary arrangements in Tokyo. So too doth my son Yoshiyasu have Sendai well in hand. His Dakiniten-hou is stronger than I anticipated. I shall make fullest use of him.”
“Hath he succeeded in the extermination of that rat’s fellows?”
“Uesugi’s Yasha-shuu? Hmm. He who cannot even exterminate demons hath not the right to be called a general.” Yoshiaki turned to Ohigashi. “I shall leave affairs here to Kojirou and thee. Date Kojirou is the precious right arm of the Mogami. Be sure to assure him of that. ...And that I shall destroy that damned wretch Masamune, who killed his own brother.”
“Aniue.”
“Sendai belongs to Date no longer, but to Mogami,” Yoshiaki declared, and turned on his heels. “Soon we shall go to clean out Sendai. We shall sweep away all the Date onryou. Tell him that as well.”
“... Yes.”
“Ah, and that man,” he said, looking towards the godown. “He will likely attempt suicide when driven into a corner. Allow him no opportunity to choke to death by biting off his own tongue.”
She saw Yoshiaki off, then peered at her own reflection in the pond.
Masamune’s face suddenly appeared on the water’s surface.
(A demon?—)
The wind ruffled the pond surface, and the reflection melted into the waves.
Was this the end?
Naoe was indeed at his limit.
He had not seen the sun for many days. How long had he been imprisoned in this «kyuuryoku-kekkai» cage? He had been given no food at all, only water. His body and mind were so weakened that though he had somehow been able to refuse Ohigashi, he probably no longer had the strength to do it again.
He had no strength left with which to resist her if she used her powers on him again.
(Can I go...no further...?)
Whatever else might happen, he could not allow himself to be controlled through hypnotic suggestion, for they would certainly pervert his extraordinary «powers». As one of the Meikai Uesugi Army, that one thing he could not allow.
The manacles did not seem to contain any weaknesses. He had one way left of escaping before being used by them.
(Abandon this body—)
There was no other path open to him.
Unlike ordinary spirits, kanshousha could not freely leave a living body once they were in possession of it. They could not part from the body while it lived. So to switch bodies, death of their current body was necessary.
In other words—suicide.
No matter how difficult a barrier this was, it did not have the power to «bind» a spirit. He could become a spirit to escape and seek a new host body.
The decision pressed upon him. Since his hands were tied, he would not be able to use any tools. He could only bite off his own tongue.
(—This is no time to hesitate.)
He would not be able to do it if left with no strength at all.
(Throw away Tachibana Yoshiaki...) he thought, but the faces of his family came unexpectedly to his mind. They slipped into his strained thoughts, and he hesitated.
These were the faces of the people he had lived with for the past twenty-eight years. For these many years Tachibana Yoshiaki’s family had been Naoe Nobutsuna’s family. Though he was probably nothing but a sham, they were a real family to him.
Would the corpse be returned to his parents? How would they take the sudden death of their son? Would much grief would he be putting them through?
He knew all too well. Even were he not Naoe, as Tachibana Yoshiaki the priest he had seen many bereaved families say good-bye to the dearly departed over the years.
Regret flashed through his chest. —He would not feel this way if he had been the kind of heartless person whose life or death mattered to no one. If like Yasuda Nagahide he had cut off all ties to the family of his host body from the start, he would probably not think twice about its death.
In this he was weak. It was probably ludicrous for them to be so fixated on ordinary human emotions when their very existence ran counter to all the laws of nature.
And yet—
“If you should throw away your heart...”
The words that Kagetora had said to him so long ago came echoing back to him.
“If you should throw away your heart, you will become nothing more than true yasha.”
In the many times they had been in these situations, Kagetora had always moved them with these words.
You must not abandon yourself.
Don’t give up until the very end.
“You can live this finite life only once, so endeavor to grieve no more of those who love you... Because it is the only thing that we, who put our borrowed lives at risk, can do. And I will never abandon you.” And then he had given them a quiet smile.
When had that been?
(Kagetora-sama...)
Naoe shut his eyes tightly against the irrepressible warmth rising in his chest. —But he could no longer do that.
Theirs was an existence that could be forgiven only because of their mission—so when the very end came, they could not do otherwise than discard their human emotions in order to fulfill that mission.
He had probably suffered with that knowledge.
(Please forgive me...)
He apologized in his heart to his faraway family, though he knew that it could not reach them. Then, his mind resolved, Naoe positioned his tongue between his teeth.
But at that moment—
His eyes opened in surprise at the sound of the godown door opening.
A young man stood at the entrance. The moonlight illuminated his face. It was—
(! Date Kojirou!)
This is it, then, Naoe thought in despair, and bit down, but.
“Don’t!”
“!”
An unseen force forcibly wrenched open Naoe’s mouth and froze his jaws at the young man’s cry, prevented his suicide.
(He’s not going to let me die...?!)
As Naoe glared at him with loathing, Kojirou stuffed the towel in his hand in Naoe’s mouth and tied it behind his head so that when he released his «power», Naoe could no longer kill himself.
“What is the meaning of this?” Naoe mumbled. “Are you here to use your arts on me again?” he demanded coldly, but for some reason Kojirou only looked at him sadly.
“?”
Then, as Naoe stared at him with surprise, Kojirou took out a tiny key and began working to unfasten the manacles around Naoe’s wrist.
(Huh...?)
Kojirou wordlessly released the shackles and helped Naoe to a sitting position on the floor.
“...What are you...”
“Take thou this opportunity to escape.”
“!”
He involuntarily stared at Kojirou.
“Wh... Why...”
“Hurry hence. Now, while Uncle is not here. While Mother hath not yet noticed...hurry!”
“Wait. Wait a moment...You...”
Kojirou warily kept a close watch on his surroundings.
“I have released the barrier. Thou canst use thy «power» once more. Hurry thou to escape. Mother and the people of the house are seeing Uncle off at this moment . ’Tis your chance.”
“Seeing your uncle off...? You mean Mogami Yoshiaki? Where is he going? What is he planning?!”
“Ssh! I know not the finer points. It appears he goes towards Tokyo. He hath said that he will leave Yamagata to Mother and me...”
“Tokyo? What in the world is he planning this time...!”
“If thou dost not make haste towards Sendai now, ’twill be too late. Sendai’s «jike-kekkai» will be completed tomorrow. And then Yamagata’s onryou—and the nue—will begin to converge upon Sendai in earnest. In order to annihilate the spirits of the Date in Sendai.”
“!”
“Thou must tell thy friends in Sendai forthwith. I know not how many would become victims of the onryou’s violence. If the ‘kinrin no hou’ should become effective, the onryou will have free rein. Thou must haste to stop them!”
“Why...why are you telling me this? Aren’t you with Mogami?!”
“...”
For a moment Kojirou’s face twisted with pain.
“I... Yes, ’tis true, I am with Uncle. When I was killed by my brother Masamune, my regret was such that I could not rest in peace, much though I desired it.”
“...”
“But I did not come back to do battle with my brother! Nor do I wish to take revenge on him!” the young man pleaded desperately. “I am Kojirou of the Date. I am the younger brother of Date Masamune! I am not here from hostility towards my brother. I desired...I desired to say to him that I wish to meet him one more time. I wish him to continue suffering no longer. That is what I would tell him! That never did I hate him!”
“Kojirou-dono...”
Four hundred year earlier, as a result of Kojirou’s mother, Hashunin—Ohigashi-no-Kata—attempting to assassinate Masamune with poison to make Kojirou head of the Date, Masamune had personally pronounced his sentence. It had been the night before the twenty-four-year-old Masamune was to enter the battle against Odawara Castle in order to prove his allegiance to Regent Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Masamune had been forced at that time to make a choice between resisting and supporting Hideyoshi, who stood on the verge of unifying the country. If he joined the battle in Hideyoshi’s offensive against the Houjou at Odawara, then he would be for Hideyoshi—if not, against. At last, after much hesitation, he had wagered the continued existence of the Date Clan on his decision to spearhead the battle against Odawara according to the Regent’s command.
Kojirou himself had actually had no designs on the position of clan head. But it was also true that under those tense circumstances, his existence was a seed of calamity.
To say that he did not hate Masamune, who had killed him, was a lie. It was probably because of that hate that he was an onryou. But how much pain had Masamune suffered, heartbroken by a mother who had tried to kill him, overwhelmed by shame at the necessity of killing his own younger brother? Knowing that Masamune would writhe in agony until he surmounted these feelings, Kojirou could only wonder why he hated his brother.
Was it not those who remained behind in the world of the living the ones who suffered most?
He could no longer hate. He could no longer go up against his brother. He longer wanted to fight his brother. And yes, now—
“Naoe-uji. Go to Sendai. If thou shouldst meet my brother, tell him that I have not the least intention of hostility towards him. I will never fight against my brother!”
He grasped Naoe’s shoulders, clinging to them in entreaty.
“Please...! Please tell my brother that!”
“...”
Naoe grasped Kojirou’s warm hands in return, and his expression softened.
“If you wish to tell him, then go meet him yourself.”
“...”
“Please tell him from your own lips. You’ve always wanted to, have you not? Was that not why you came back?”
“Naoe-uji...”
“Come with me. Let’s go to Sendai together.”
“I shall not let thee go, Kojirou!”
“!”
He whirled, startled by the voice. Ohigashi stood there, accompanied by her retainers.
Oh no...!
Ohigashi glared at them, looking at that moment exactly like a demoness.
“How...how darest thou, thou impudent... How darest thou trick Kojirou...!”
“Mother...”
“Come here, Kojirou, to Mother’s side! Thy mother shall exterminate this rat...!”
No sooner said than a blue light flared from Ohigashi’s body. Naoe caught it with his full «powers». A violent plasmatic light scattered right in front of his eyes. Naoe’s «goshinheki» had broken apart Ohigashi’s «nenpa».
“Thou impudent—!”
She shot an arrow-like «nenpa» at him. It burst into a shower of sparks in front of him. Naoe clenched his teeth and released a «nenpa» from his upraised fist.
“Gyaah!”
“Mother!”
Kojirou, about to run to his mother’s side, was hurled violently to the ground.
“Ah!”
The ground shook up and down. The tremor grew in intensity in the blink of an eye, and with a terrible sound like the trunks of the trees in the garden splitting apart, the roof tiles of the godown came sliding down.
“!”
Naoe promptly erected a «goshinheki» to protect Kojirou. Ohigashi was certainly not going easy on them! She aimed a mass of will point-blank at Naoe.
“Gwaah!”
The shock sent him flying. Kojirou cried out, “Please stop, Mother!”
“Come here! Kojirou! Let Mother put an end to this!”
“Mother!”
Kojirou stood protectively in front of Naoe as he got up, moaning. Rage distorted Ohigashi’s sagacious face.
“Kojirou, what dost thou mean by this?!”
“Do not hurt him, Mother!”
“Thou...wouldst thou betray thy own mother...?!”
“Please remember, Mother!” Kojirou yelled desperately. “Make me fight no longer! ’Tis my only desire!”
“What dost thou say? Art thou a coward, Kojirou!”
“I do not desire to rule the country! I desire nothing if it means fighting against my brother!”
“!”
Ohigashi’s face stiffened. Kojirou pleaded with intense earnestness, “Why must we do this? Why must we fight against my brother? Why must we annihilate Date...?!”
“Kojirou...!”
“Dost thou wish so much to rule the country? It cannot be the reason thou hast remained in this world, unable to rest in peace!”
“...”
“Dost thou hate? Is it to take revenge on my brother that thou hast remained? Why must thou confront my brother unto death? Are my brother and I not both thy sons?”
“Be silent, Kojirou!” Ohigashi cried sharply, shaking slightly. “I shunned Bonten for the future of the Date Clan...’twas for the Date Clan! Bontenmaru was not fit to be a general! Jikumaru, thou wert so much more...”
“That’s not true! My brother was the one who built the clan into a splendid 620,000-koku domain! My brother was the one...”
“Kojirou! Masamune had thee killed!” Ohigashi screamed. “’Twas Masamune who killed thee! He put thee, his own brother, to the sword with his own hand!”
“I do not hate my brother! He had no choice, so I do not fault him!”
“You understand not, Kojirou!”
Kojirou’s shoulders jerked in surprise. Ohigashi continued in a low voice, “The heart of a mother whose child was killed... You understand not. How grieved I was. Thou knows not the heart of a mother whose child’s life is stolen...”
“Mother...”
“I hate Masamune for killing my child. Though I gave birth to him in the same way, it changes not my hatred for him for killing thee.”
Kojirou bit his lip sharply, then said, “...And who was it that thus drove him? Who drove him to it? All of it...was not everything thy fault, Mother!”
Ohigashi’s eyes widened as if she had been struck.
“Thou wouldst...thou wouldst say...that all of it was Mother’s fault?”
“Yes, I would! If thou hadst not stood me forward, it would not have happened! Was not my brother’s hatred in revenge for thy love?”
Tears welled in Kojirou’s eyes.
“Mother! Why didst thou not love my brother the way thou loved me? Did thou not know his loneliness? Why didst thou not love him, though he too was thy son?”
“...”
Ohigashi murmured in astonishment, “...Dost thou...blame thy mother...for that tragedy? Because I did not love Bonten... Thou wouldst say ’tis punishment?”
“...”
“Why...did I not love him...?”
“... Mother.”
“Why did Mother not love Bonten...?”
Taken aback, Kojirou stared at her intently.
Large teardrops spilled from her eyes.
“There is not a day in which Mother does not think of Bonten—”
Kojirou looked at her in bewilderment. “Mother...”
“Yes, ’tis true. As thou hast said, Mother did not dote on Bonten as I did thee. But, Kojirou—”
“...”
“In the depths of Mother’s heart, there are so many words that cannot be easily said to shallow outsiders!”
Naoe’s eyes widened. At that moment, the moonlight shining on her tear-streaked face lent it an almost divine light to his stunned gaze. Ohigashi’s stern face did not crumble. But that only made it seem more filled with love, a mother’s face—
(Bodhisattva—...)
Ohigashi’s tear-filled eyes glared at them.
“Kojirou, come what may, thou must take this country. This country that Masamune could not take, I will give to thee, whom he killed.”
A shimmering pale light intensified around Ohigashi’s body.
“I shall allow interference from no one! Thou shalt not interfere with Mother!”
“!”
“Mother!”
Ohigashi howled and released an intensely concentrated «nenpa» at Naoe with all her might.
Skreee!
Naoe’s «goshinheki» blocked it right in front of them with a screech of flying sparks that pierced their ears: a violent plasmatic light, filled with the same high energy, meeting her attack!
“Graaah!”
Straining his powers, Naoe slashed the light apart with his arms.
“Gyaaaah!”
Ohigashi threw her head back, a hand pressed against her forehead. Naoe immediately shouted, “ (bai)!”
“Naoe-uji!”
Her body was bound. Kojirou quickly tried to stop him, but Naoe, paying him no heed, joined his hands in the ritual gesture.
“Noumakusamanda bodanan baishiramandaya sowaka!”
“Stop! Please stop, Naoe-uji!” Kojirou clung to him.
“Namu Tobatsu Bishamonten!” Naoe shook him off and shouted, “For this demon subjugation, lend me thy power!”
An enormous energy gathered within Naoe’s fists and in the blink of an eye became a pure white ball of light. Ohigashi-no-Kata could no longer move. She cried out in a voice full of hatred, «Thou...! Damn...thee...!»
“Stop, Naoe-uji!”
He could show no mercy.
“«Choubuku»!”
Flash!
Incandescence.
A violent power attacked Ohigashi.
The terrible power of «choubuku» tore Ohigashi out of her vessel and swallowed up everything near her in its raging force.
Ohigashi’s horrible scream!
The light became a wind that wrapped Ohigashi away.
In the blank whiteness, Kojirou screamed, “Mother—!”
Crash.
Masamune stared intently at the broken fragments of the cup that had fallen from his hand. His wife Megohime peered at him.
“Dono...?”
Masamune looked up at the moon floating in the skies over Sendai, feeling as if someone had called his childhood name.
(Mother—...?)
The light gradually faded.
Quiet returned once more to the garden of the Ueshima mansion, where a woman’s body lay.
Around her were the crumbled forms of those the Mogami onryou had possessed. Naoe’s «choubuku» had exorcised them all in a single blow.
Tears slid down Kojirou’s cheeks as he looked down at them dazedly.
“Kojirou-dono...”
He did not turn even at the sound of Naoe’s voice. Naoe called to him once more and moved to lay a hand on his shoulder.
“!”
Kojirou slapped his hand away violently and whirled. Hatred smoldered in his silent glare.
“Kojirou-dono. Come with me to Sendai, to your brother.”
“...”
“Kojirou-dono.”
Kojirou looked down silently. His shoulders trembled—because of rage?
“...”
Resigned, Naoe stood and began to walk away. Only then did Kojirou open his mouth.
“Naoe-uji.”
“?”
Kojirou said, with his back to Naoe, “The ‘kinrin no hou’ can be countered by ‘Gouzanzemyouou-hou’ and ‘Daiitokuou-hou’. The dual casting of these spells will surely grant thee victory.”
“The dual spells of Gouzanze and Daiitoku...”
“I would ask thee to speak to my brother. To tell him of my mother and myself—”
Naoe nodded quietly.
“... I will.”
The young man trembled.
Looking over his shoulder at Kojirou on his knees beside the woman whose body had been host to Ohigashi, Naoe left the garden.
Dawn approached.
Naoe scowled at the eastern sky, the stern austerity returning to his face.
(Kagetora-sama...!)