Chapter 2: Camouflaged Reality

The second winter since Naoe NobutsunaNaoe Nobutsuna (直江信綱) ? - Oct. 6, 1581

Also known as: Nagao Kagetaka (長尾景孝), Nagao Toukurou (長尾藤九郎)
Title: Yamato no Kami (大和守)

Historically: Son of Nagao Akikage, he became head of the Sousha-Nagao Clan at a young age. He later (around 1545) passed the position to his younger brother Nagao Kagefusa. When the clan was destroyed by Takeda Shingen and their territory lost, the family escaped into Echigo. There Kagefusa became a monk, and Kagetaka was adopted by Naoe Sanetsuna when he married Sanetsuna's daughter, Osen-no-Kata. He succeeded his adopted father as master of Yoita Castle in 1577 and was a vassal of Uesugi Kenshin. He promptly took the side of Uesugi Kagekatsu during the war for succession after Kenshin's death and mobilized the members of the Naoe Clan at the castle to subdue Kagetora's troops.

After the intra-house war and Kagekatsu's victory, a question of reward was called into question. Yasuda Akimoto, one of Kagekatsu's trusted commanders, had promised rewards to Shibata Shigeie, Mouri Hidehiro, and others to convince them to join Kagekatsu's side. However, Yamazaki Hidenori, Naoe, and others objected, for they had risked life and limb at Kasugayama Castle from the very beginning of the battle, while Shibata Shigeie and the others had been lured by promise of reward from Yasuda Akimoto.

Yasuda Akimoto committed suicide when he could not keep his promise of reward. Later, Mouri Hidehiro, carrying a grudge for his death, murdered Yamazaki Hidenori at Kasugayama Castle; Naoe, who was with him at the time and took up a sword to defend himself, was killed as well. His death ended the Naoe line, which Kagekatsu later resurrected by marrying Naoe's widow, Osen-no-Kata to Higuchi Kanetsugu and commanding him to take the Naoe name.

In Mirage of Blaze: According to Kousaka Danjou, and Houjou Ujiteru he was the ringleader of Uesugi Kagekatsu's forces in the Otate no Ran. He is now Uesugi Kagetora's protector and one of the Yasha-shuu under his command. He alone, as Kagetora's protector, was given the power to perform kanshou on other souls, a power he used to force Kagetora's soul into Minako's body.’s ‘death’ had arrived...

Amidst the «Yami-SengokuYami Sengoku (闇戦国)

Lit.: "Dark Sengoku", the civil war still being fought by the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period in modern-day Japan.»’s intensification, Ougi Takaya was still busily engaged with exorcism of the onshouonshou (怨将)

Lit.: "vengeful general": the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period, who continue their battles even in modern-age Japan., just as he had been two years ago. As soon as an incident was detected he rushed to the scene to settle matters with his rhapsodic command of «choubukuryokuchoubuku (調伏)

Also known as: choubukuryoku (調伏力)

The special power given to the Yasha-shuu to banish onryou to the Underworld using the dharani of Uesugi Kenshin's guardian deity, Bishamonten. The types of choubuku include "kouhou-choubuku", "ressa-choubuku", "kekkai-choubuku", etc. Each choubuku is begun with the incantation "bai" and the ritual hand gesture of Bishamonten's symbol.

Choubuku does not work against kanshousha, who have bodies of their own.». Thus the days passed.

He had not changed much since the Itsuku Island incident.

Ougi Takaya was just the same as he had been when he’d woken up in HiroshimaHiroshima-shi (広島市)

The City of Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and the largest city in the Chuugoku region of western Honshuu. Its name means "Broad Island," and was established on the delta coastline of the Seto Inland Sea in 1589 by the powerful daimyo Mouri Terumoto, who made it his capital. He built Hiroshima Castle there and moved in five years later, in 1593.

Hiroshima became a major urban center during the imperial period, and later a major port city. The city was a key shipping center during World War II, and became known as the first city in history to be targeted by a nuclear weapon when the US Air Force dropped an atomic bomb there on August 6, 1945.
.

He had not stopped thinking of KotarouFuuma Kotarou (風魔小太郎)

Historically: The name Fuuma Kotarou was given to each leader of the Fuuma Clan/organization of ninjas which served the Later Houjou Clan, starting with its first leader. The clan started information-gathering and espionage activities in the time of Houjou Souun, the founder of the Later Houjou Clan. The clan name began as 風間, composed of the characters for "wind" and "space", but was changed to its present form, a homophone composed of the characters for "wind" and "evil/demonic/magical."

In its 100 years of service to the Houjou Clan, the most renowned Fuuma Kotarou was the fifth, who served Houjou Ujimasa and his son Houjou Ujinao (unknown - 1603). Stories say that he was 7'1". One of his most famous exploits was in 1580 and the Battle of Kise-gawa, during which he slipped into the enemy camp at night and caused mass chaos. Another famous ninja, Ninokuruwa Isuke, also belonged to the Fuuma Clan.

After the destruction of the Houjou Clan, Kotarou and the Fuuma Clan became thieves near Edo. Kotarou was captured and executed in 1603 from information given by Kousaka Jinai, another ninja-turned-thief who formerly served the Takeda Clan.

In Mirage of Blaze: Fuuma Kotarou leads the Fuuma ninjas in service to the Houjou Clan. He is described as a tall, slender man with broad shoulders and a muscular but supple body. He wears his hair long, tied in a long tail that reaches to his waist., head of the Fuuma ninja corps, as ‘Naoe Nobutsuna’. He had not managed to snap out of it. He never seemed to question it: he called Kotarou by Naoe’s name, treated him like he would Naoe.

He felt neither grief nor a sense of loss. Naoe’s ‘death’ had gone unrecorded in Takaya’s history. To Takaya, ‘Naoe’ was right there. This was his reality.

When I wake up, you’ll be with me.

 
Chiaki and Ayako had tested Takaya’s recollection of the series of events in Hiroshima. At the end of their inquiry, they‘d concluded that he didn’t precisely believe all of the events on Itsuku Island had been a ’dream’.

He considered the ‘Yamato’, ‘manjutide jewels

The tide jewels of legend can be used to control the tides. The kanju (干珠, lit. pearl of dryness), the legendary Shiohinotama, when thrown into the sea causes the waters to recede. The manju (満珠, lit. pearl of fullness), the legendary Shiomichinotama, causes the waters to swell.’ and ‘kanjutide jewels

The tide jewels of legend can be used to control the tides. The kanju (干珠, lit. pearl of dryness), the legendary Shiohinotama, when thrown into the sea causes the waters to recede. The manju (満珠, lit. pearl of fullness), the legendary Shiomichinotama, causes the waters to swell.’, and the fight with Nobunaga more or less ‘reality’. There were a lot of peculiarities in that ‘more or less’, but that was the only way they could describe Takaya’s perception.

At times he’d given some simply outrageous answers.

The most striking were those involving the events at Hagi Castle.

“I met up with Naoe at Hagi Castle.” he’d claimed, and when asked what Naoe had been doing there, Takaya had searched his memory, tilted his head to the side, and smiled a puzzled smile.

“Who knows?” he’d answered.

“You don’t remember?”

At which point Takaya had smiled quizzically.

“—...Naoe was with me the whole time.” he’d replied, unconcerned. Yet he had also answered that Kotarou and Chiaki had been working with him at the naval castle. He accepted that Naoe had not been there.

When they’d touch on UjiyasuHoujou Ujiyasu (北条氏康) 1515 - 1571

Title: Sagami-no-Kami
Also known as: The Tiger of Sagami, The Lion of Sagami

Son of Houjou Ujitsuna and third head of the Late Houjou Clan, one of the greatest daimyo of the Sengoku in both military and political arenas. He expanded the Houjou holdings to five territories and battled both Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin over the Kantou and Suruga regions.

He retired in 1560 and handed over the clan to his eldest son Houjou Ujimasa, but continued to guide the clan until his death of palsey or stomach cancer in 1571. He made an alliance with the Takeda Clan in 1562 and gave over his 7th son, Houjou Saburou, to Takeda Shingen for adoption.

Houjou Ujiyasu was a great admirer of poetry, culture and learning as well as a outstanding administrator who created unique bureaucratic organizations such as litigation processes for the ruling of his lands. He was much beloved of his people and widely mourned at his death. and asked when he’d been with Takaya, Takaya had again repeated, “Who knows?” Like someone with dementia, Takaya would tilt his head and fail to give a straight answer when asked about the particulars right before and after Naoe’s death. He couldn’t connect before with after.

He had erased Naoe being shot from his memory.

Then there were the many ‘dreams’. He’d seen Ujiyasu in dragon-form at the beach in a dream. But according to Kotarou, it had actually happened: after Naoe had died at Hagi Castle, Ujiyasu had met him at Susa and taken him away.

In any case, those events were vexingly nebulous in his mind. He had the gist of things, but his answers regarding details and inconvenient events changed every time he was asked about them, until the exchange grew more and more vague. When pressed on his contradictions and asked for explanations, Takaya would only repeat ambiguous answers.

Takaya had lost his mind.

When they forced him to clarify, Takaya was unable to answer. Yet he didn’t think it was strange that he couldn’t answer.

Other than that, he was completely normal.

What was this haze around the events surrounding Naoe’s death, and what was this lack of concern regarding that haze? Was this also a result of his strong delusion?

Takaya was not cognizant of his own abnormal state, which was precisely why he was ‘out of his mind’.

In any case, Takaya was now with ‘Naoe’. He‘d shoved Naoe’s death into a chest marked ’dream’, and now resided in the camouflaged reality he had willfully created.

“How are your injuries?” Kotarou asked.

Back in their hotel room, Takaya sat down on the sofa by the window and looked outside.

It was past two in the morning.

Takaya was still brooding. He hadn’t said a word in the car.

It was probably the shock of injuring a vessel.

“...”

Kotarou tactfully started making coffee. He held out a mug to Takaya. “Here.”

“...”

Takaya finally turned to him. Perhaps the scent of coffee calmed him; he finally broke his silence to say: “Thank you.”

“Are your injuries all right?”

“...They’re fine. Just scratches. Showering’s not gonna be fun for a while, but that’s the way it is.”

“I’m glad you were able to resolve the matter successfully.”

“...”

Takaya’s expression turned grim. He had not recovered from his shock. His mistake had resulted in serious injury to a vessel, and he was seized with guilt. The matter had not been resolved successfully.

“...It’s fucked up...” Takaya bit his lip. “This shouldn’t have happened. I should’ve been able to save him...”

“...”

“I killed him...” Takaya dug his nails into his knees. In his deep regret he gritted his teeth and glared out the window like a savage dog. “Why did it end up like this? It’s been weird lately; my will keeps slipping out of my control for a split-second like something suddenly slipping out of my hands. What the hell is this? Why is this happening?”

“...”

“...I killed him...!”

Takaya’s fists trembled. He suddenly slammed them down on the table. Kotarou gazed coolly at Takaya, not at all shaken.

“Perhaps you are tired? Sometimes your will can slip if you are unable to concentrate.” Takaya’s shoulders quivered. His skittish eyes fixed on Kotarou. “An unlucky vessel. Sometimes death is unavoidable. It was his misfortune to have been possessed by NarimoriNagano Narimori (長野業盛) 1544 - 1566-11-10

Narimori became head of his clan at 17 after the death of his father Nagano Narimasa's death in 1561 and his older brother Yoshinari death during the Siege of Kawagoe Castle in 1564. Like his father, he was called a an exceedingly brave warrior.

His father managed to repel several invasions from the Takeda Clan, but after his death Takeda Shingen gathered 20,000 troops for a further assault in 1566. Narimori fought a defensive battle from his main castle of Minowa-jou, but was unable to hold out. He committed suicide along with his entire clan..”

“Unavoidable? Misfortune?” Takaya lifted his eyes in anger. “You can’t just dismiss it like this! I killed someone tonight! With these hands! Someone I should’ve saved...! It’s not just something slipping or not slipping out of my hands; tonight my «power»...!”

“It was his fate to become a casualty of war. There is no need for panic.”

“Fate...?!”

“Yes. Despite your efforts, the dead man is dead. Feeling responsible for another’s death will only harm you. You should bend your thoughts towards that which might yet be recovered or which will confer an advantage on you; to be fixated on that which is already lost is not rational and will only handicap you.”

“...!”

Takaya impulsively kicked the chair as he stood.

“Advantage? That’s not the point, Naoe. Stop talking about life and death as if they were money or goods. Harm or not, do you really think a person’s life can be treated like a commodity?”

“It’s a good comparison. There are no ethics to life and death. In this day and age, people who have forgotten war treat death too seriously. Don’t you think they enter into the pretense because otherwise they would not fit into this society? This is an era in which conscience has run rampant. Conscience regulates freedom of speech and places too much emphasis on life and death.”

“!” Takaya’s fury mounted. "That’s complete rubbish! You don’t understand anything!

“You pretend to believe things you really don’t. You have no interest in the death of anyone who is not personally related to you.”

“Are you...calling me a hypocrite?” Takaya glared with the force of his entire body at Kotarou, whose expressionlessness was as iron. “I can’t believe you, I just...can’t believe you at all! I fucking can’t believe you! You don’t understand my feelings at all!”

“Kagetora-sama, calm down.”

“You have no fucking clue! If you knew how I feel, you’d never say something like this!” Takaya yelled—then his shoulders jolted in realization. “Or is it because you do know?”

Kotarou’s eyes abruptly widened. "...Kagetora...sama...?

“Is it? What were you hoping to accomplish? Does it make you happy to see me like this? Does it give you pleasure to thrust me away? What the hell are you up to? No matter how much I call out to you, you can’t hear me at all. Do you enjoy ignoring me? Are you having fun completely avoiding me, evading me, spurning me?! When did you become this person?!” Kotarou was stunned. Takaya continued in agitation, “Is this your revenge? Your revenge against me...to deliberately ignore my feelings, shun me! Your revenge for the four hundred years I’ve bound you?! Or is it...!”

“...”

Takaya jolted back to himself, Kotarou had turned pale, his face stiff. Was it because of those last few words?

Takaya choked back the flood and took a deep breath to compose himself. “...I’m sorry for yelling. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Don’t let it bother you. I just got a little irritated...”

“Kagetora-sama,” Kotarou said, “Are your tired? Perhaps rest would be better than talking.”

“...No. ...No, I’m fine...”

“You look pale. Please lie down. The exhaustion of your mind and body affects your ability to concentrate and will hinder you in battle. You need sleep. I will retire. I will await you in the lobby tomorrow morning.”

“...”

Takaya didn’t respond. Kotarou gazed at him for a moment before giving up. “Well then.” He turned to leave.

But Takaya muttered haltingly, “Why...”

Kotarou turned back to Takaya to see with surprise that his face was downcast as if he were about to cry. But he was mistaken. Takaya was furiously choking back frustration.

“Why...I don’t understand...”

Takaya’s meaning was unclear to him. He frowned. “Have I offended you?”

But the question only made Takaya bite his lip in even greater frustration. After a moment of silence, he clawed back his overflowing emotions and forced serenity over his face.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it, Naoe.”

“Kagetora-sama.” It was then that the hitherto calm Kotarou displayed the first signs of uneasiness. “Are your wounds paining you? Or...”

Takaya sank into silence. Kotarou couldn’t understand the reason for Takaya’s irritation. Though he recognized it had been caused by his own words or actions, he didn’t understand what he had done wrong.

“Kagetora-sama?”

Takaya’s eyes slid shut with a look of pain, and he turned his back to Kotarou—yet his every sense was fixed on Kotarou’s presence.

But Takaya waited in vain for the movement he sought. Kotarou only stood there looking at Takaya’s back.

The silence stretched, to be broken by Takaya’s voice: “Naoe...”

“...”

“Isn’t there...anything you want to say to me...?”

“Anything I want to say?”

Kotarou knit his brows in puzzlement. Takaya turned and repeated, “Isn’t there anything you want to tell me?”

“Kagetora-sama, your meaning is—”

“There must be something you want to say! Words you have to speak right now! Something you have to do! Something only you can do!”

Kotarou’s face stiffened in agitation. He hadn’t the faintest clue what that something was supposed to be. Takaya’s frustration peaked at this lack of understanding despite his unsubtle hinting.

“...”

Glaring at Kotarou, Takaya rose once more, reached for his own shirt collar, and tore it viciously open.

“...!”

Buttons flew, exposing his right shoulder and chest and the painful-looking wounds sustained from his earlier battle. In hushed tones, Takaya pressed, “Do you still not understand?”

Kotarou only stared wide-eyed at Takaya’s strange behavior.

“...Kagetora-sama...”

“—Isn’t there something you should be doing?” Takaya demanded as he eagerly flaunted his wounds, “Are you going to leave me like this? Do nothing, walk away? You’re not, are you? Are you?!”

“...”

“I want you to...!” Takaya said, but could not continue; he glared at Kotarou with pleading eyes.

Kotarou showed no signs of moving.

Takaya bit his lip again in frustration and wrapped his arms around himself. “You’re not...interested in me anymore?”

“Interested...”

“—You don’t...want to do anything to me anymore?”

“...Kagetora-sama...”

“You no longer want...anything from this body...?”

Kotarou stared at Takaya. Takaya was motionless, holding his breath. Kotarou couldn’t grasp his meaning.

Takaya closed his eyes in defeat. “... Forget it.”

He put his shirt back on. Kotarou was frozen in place. Takaya walked quickly past him and opened the closet for a change of clothes, an expression of cool rationality back on his face.

“You may retire. Be in the first floor tea lounge tomorrow morning at eight. We’ll meet and discuss the investigation report. Tell Haruie and Nagahide for me.”

“Understood!” Though he felt awkward, Kotarou recovered his usual thick-skinned continence and nodded. “Excuse me.”

With a conscientious bow he left the room.

After the door had closed Takaya ran his fingers through his fringe and buried his hands in his hair.

(Why...?)

Takaya didn’t understand this ‘Naoe’.

He couldn’t obtain what he longed for. No matter how hard he tried, that which had always been his for the taking was no longer there.

He couldn’t get it though he yearned and yearned; and like a starving child, it frustrated him.

(Why...?)

Was he doing it on purpose? Was this revenge?

Payback for four hundred years of suffering...

(Or—)

Was Naoe oblivious to Takaya’s desires? Or had he recognized it and was deliberately depriving Takaya of what he wanted? But if he had noticed, surely he would have reacted? He hadn’t even given Takaya that much.

(I don’t understand you.)

He understood so little, it was driving him crazy.

Suffocating, Takaya closed his eyes.

That headache pounded at his temples again. Takaya pressed against his forehead. This pain had been growing in frequency lately. It felt like a warning. Like an alarm bell ringing...

(Shut up...)

Takaya thought at no one.

(Shut up, please.)

An image flashed into the back of his mind. A red like fresh blood, a blood-stained body, a scene that felt too dangerous to look upon directly. They flickered into the intervals between a pain which had become all-too-frequent of late...

(Shut up...)

Takaya slumped down, both hands pressed against his forehead.

“...”

Kotarou was still standing outside the door, rooted to the spot, looking toward the room.

Faint distress marred the normal stoicism of the finely chiseled features.

“He injured the vessel? Kagetora?” Ayako repeated, grimacing reflexively.

“Yeah. That idiot, he lost control of his «power» again. He released too much energy and seriously injured the vessel. He’s not gonna make it.”

“Wasn’t he cured? Didn’t Kagetora say he’s okay?”

Chiaki tsked. “He’s not okay at all. And now look. Now we’ve got a dead guy on our hands. He wouldn’t acknowledge there was anything wrong without a casualty turning up, that asshole.”

He stamped on the gas in disgust. Ayako’s gaze fell to the dashboard as her expression turned grave.

Indeed, this was not the first time Takaya had lost control of his «power».

The signs had started two, three months ago. Takaya had experienced it several times in fights with onryouonryou (怨霊)

Lit.: "vengeful ghost"; the spirits of those who died in the Sengoku period who are still so filled with rage and hatred that they continue to exist in the world as vengeful spirits instead of being purified and reborn., which was not to say he was unable to release his will. If anything, it was the opposite. For just a second, the «power» would slip out of Takaya’s control, to overflow and break free from his volition and go berserk.

It had happened recently in a battle with the Mikumo Clan of Oumi. Takaya had been fighting the onryou of Mikumo SadamochiMikumo Sadamochi (三雲定持) - 1570

As a vassal of the Rokkaku Clan, Sadamochi fought against Oda in the siege of 1570 and died in battle. Afterwards the remnants of Mikumo and other powerful local clans left Rokkaku and submitted to Oda., vassal of the Rokkaku Clan, in a nenpanenpa (念波)

Lit.: "waves of will/thought"; a nendouryoku attack using spiritual energy which focuses the will and releases it in a burst to strike at a target. battle at the Yasu River-side when he had lost control over his will and nearly destroyed the entire riverbank. Chiaki and Ayako had managed to patch things up and prevent major damage.

Several other more minor but still chilling incidents had occurred. It felt as if a running car’s tires had unexpectedly lost their grip, causing the car to drift. Takaya’s «power» was slipping the control of his volition without any warning and running amok.

He had tried to conceal his condition by strenuously pretending nothing was wrong, but he couldn’t fool Chiaki. Once they had become aware of Takaya’s abnormal state, they had forced their stubborn leader to take a break and placed him under observation. Since there were no signs of immediate deterioration, Chiaki had performed hypnotherapy in order to stabilize his «power».

“Just what the hell is really going on? He’s not the kind of person to make the mistake of allowing his control over his will to slip. And it doesn’t seem to be because he’s tired, either.” Ayako had no idea how to fix whatever was causing Takaya’s disorder.

Chiaki replied in a low voice as he glared out the windscreen, “He’s living a contradiction.”

Ayako looked at Chiaki in surprise. “A contradiction...?”

“Yeah. ...in that ‘grotesque escape’.” Chiaki glared ahead, his countenance forbidding. “He drove himself crazy because he didn’t want to acknowledge Naoe’s death, so he deludes himself into thinking Kotarou is Naoe: which is all very well. But Kotarou is not Naoe. He can’t possibly keep up the pretense. ...Even Kagetora can’t continue deluding himself that Kotarou is Naoe when he’s so obviously not.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s forcing himself.” Chiaki stepped on the brake in front of a red light and crushed his cigarette in the ashtray. “That delusion is now itself a burden. A heavy one.”

“Burden...?”

“Yeah. How do you think he’s maintaining this delusion that Kotarou is Naoe when their forms, shapes, voices, and scents are all different? He’s internally warping the information from his five senses into a more convenient form. But only when it comes to Kotarou. He set his psyche to do it. Right then.” Ayako looked at Chiaki with wide eyes. “He’ll maintain this contradiction at any cost. It’s become a burden.”

“So you’re saying Kagetora’s getting weaker because of that? And that’s why he can’t control his «power»?”

“Kotarou probably understood this from the start. I’m sure he’s trying to ease the burden of the auto-suggestion for Kagetora as much as he can.” Chiaki sighed.

“That’s why he’s imitating Naoe?”

“Yeah.”

“It really surprised me. His manner of speaking and how he projects his voice and his gestures and bearing and even his mannerisms... He is so like Naoe, it’s unnerving. I keep thinking Naoe’s really here.”

“The ‘Art of Mimicry’, I think it’s called. One of the ninjas’ skills. That’s the head of the Fuuma for you.”

It was true. Astonishingly, that day just after Takaya had started calling Kotarou ‘Naoe’, Kotarou had begun to act the part. From his tone of voice to his mannerisms, he performed the part of Naoe so well that it amazed both Chiaki and Ayako.

“He’s trying to diminish Kagetora’s burden. It’s pretty thoughtful of him, though regard like this is rather out-of-character. But otherwise Kagetora would be having an even harder time.”

“That’s true. But...how long can this deception last?”

“We are talking about Kagetora here.”

They had, after all, been together for four hundred years. Naoe had always been at his side, and Kagetora knew him viscerally—knew him almost as if he’d worn Naoe’s skin. He was more aware of Naoe than anyone, more keenly sensitive to the precise details that made Naoe unique; he scented it on an almost instinctive level.

Such a Kagetora was difficult to deceive.

Or should have been.

“If he hadn’t placed that suggestion on himself.”

“So he’s intentionally made himself dull?”

“He’s forcing himself to shut out the feelings of wrongness. It can’t be easy. Contradictions are inevitable.”

His own keen senses were back-firing. He, who knew Naoe better than anyone, could not help but become ever more deranged living in this camouflaged reality.

But it was precisely his feelings for Naoe that had caused Kagetora to create this mess in the first place...

“But that’s not the only reason for Kagetora’s weakened mental state.”

“What do you mean?”

“Half of it is a nervous breakdown,” Chiaki said bitterly, turning the steering wheel right. “We can change bodies, but we can’t change our personalities. Like when we perform kanshoukanshou (換生)

To possess another's body, driving out their soul, so as to be reborn with memories intact. Only Naoe of all the kanshousha has the power to perform kanshou on another soul., our forms and voices change, but our cores stay the same. Naoe wasn’t Naoe because of his shape and voice. Every word out of his mouth, every action he took—those things made him ‘Naoe’. ...And when we heard and perceived them, we recognized them as originating from ‘Naoe’. Right? It’s one thing for someone who knew him only superficially, but when you’ve known him for as long as we have, you can see past the skin to the deeper parts of his character. Because of that, we knew that ‘Naoe’ was ‘Naoe’.”

“Then Kagetora...” Ayako said in a muffled voice. Chiaki tapped the wheel with his index finger.

“He’s strangling himself. Kagetora is fucked up. To him, Naoe is doing and saying un-Naoe-like things, and he can’t figure out why. He ends up wondering if Naoe’s had a change of heart, if Naoe’s doing things to spite him, and becomes more and more suspicious.”

“...”

“It’s punishment for his denial of Naoe’s death.”

Takaya was wounded.

He had been dealt an injury he would not otherwise have suffered because he had deluded himself into believing that someone else was Naoe. The sham was hurting him.

Hurting him in proportion to the sincerity of his feelings towards Naoe, ironically.

Perhaps this was indemnification for his escape.

He was suffering the consequences of his own actions: there was no other way to put it. Perhaps to Kotarou it was only a nuisance.

Yet...

If he had admitted Naoe’s death, what would have happened to Takaya?

“This emotional breakdown is expediting the weakening of his control over his «power». As long as this continues, there’s no way for him to recover.”

Takaya, of course, didn’t know the cause of his disorder. Naturally, so long as he believed Kotarou was ‘Naoe’—so long as he forced himself to believe it—he could not be aware of it.

Because what he was doing had always been impossible. To delude himself into seeing someone who was not Naoe as Naoe—it simply couldn’t be done. Yet he was forcing himself to do it by sheer force of will and adjusting his narrative to smooth out the contradictions...which had only invited further aberration...which he’d tried to suppress by applying more brute force—in this way the thread had become ever more tangled. It was a quagmire. Takaya was only driving himself into a corner, and he didn’t even realize it. But even if he did realize it, he wouldn’t stop.

What had driven him to such extreme measures?

There was... but one answer.

“Because he can’t admit Naoe’s ‘death’,” Chiaki said bitterly. “To Kagetora, admitting that Kotarou isn’t Naoe is the same as admitting that Naoe’s dead.”

It meant accepting reality.

Which was, to Takaya, a surrender. He would have to admit that Naoe no longer existed.

And that, Takaya could not do.

Takaya was trying to escape precisely because he couldn’t accept it.

He was managing it by the skin of his teeth.

To escape from a world without Naoe.

“...I know...” Ayako faltered, “...Kagetora’s only managed to carry on this long by doing this. Otherwise he’d already have broken apart.”

“... Yeah.”

“But that’s so unfair to Naoe. Even though he’s dead, even though he’s no longer in this world, Kagetora still believes he’s alive. So what was Naoe, then? Is that all Naoe was to Kagetora, someone who can be replaced? I don’t want to accept that. But that’s what I think. Kagetora is dishonest and unfaithful! ...But!”

“...”

“I don’t know anymore. I don’t know what to think.” Ayako sounded like she was about to cry. “But what would become of Kagetora if he acknowledged Naoe’s death? He went completely insane at Hagi. If he hadn’t had Houjou UjiyasuHoujou Ujiyasu (北条氏康) 1515 - 1571

Title: Sagami-no-Kami
Also known as: The Tiger of Sagami, The Lion of Sagami

Son of Houjou Ujitsuna and third head of the Late Houjou Clan, one of the greatest daimyo of the Sengoku in both military and political arenas. He expanded the Houjou holdings to five territories and battled both Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin over the Kantou and Suruga regions.

He retired in 1560 and handed over the clan to his eldest son Houjou Ujimasa, but continued to guide the clan until his death of palsey or stomach cancer in 1571. He made an alliance with the Takeda Clan in 1562 and gave over his 7th son, Houjou Saburou, to Takeda Shingen for adoption.

Houjou Ujiyasu was a great admirer of poetry, culture and learning as well as a outstanding administrator who created unique bureaucratic organizations such as litigation processes for the ruling of his lands. He was much beloved of his people and widely mourned at his death.’s help, what would’ve happened to him? Just imagining it sends shivers down my spine. It’s because of his denial that he’s made it this far, and barely. If Kagetora truly acknowledges Naoe’s ‘death’, this time he’d die for sure. He’d go mad and die!”

It was probably because Kotarou knew this too that he’d started using the ‘Art of Mimicry’. He had actually seen with his own eyes Takaya’s insanity at Hagi. It was because he knew the dangers of Takaya’s mental weakness that he was going along with his delusion.

“...Are we just gonna let things go on like this? Overlook the fact that this Kotarou is ‘Naoe’ business is driving him more and more crazy? Is his loss of control over his «power» fine too?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know what to do anymore!”

Chiaki fell silent at Ayako’s raised voice. He looked down and took a little time to compose himself before sighing long and deep.

“...You gotta get a grip on yourself, Haruie.”

“...Me?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t matter to me either way, but you lot need Kagetora. His power and talent are necessary for the Uesugi to deal with the onshou, right? We can’t just let him go mad and die.”

"That’s true, but... But that’s...!

“That’s how it’s always gonna be us on the outside. In the end all of this is between Kagetora and Naoe. Only Naoe could’ve say anything about the state Kagetora is in.” Chiaki heaved another deep sigh and stepped on the gas again. “But he can’t force himself like that forever. His escape is going to collapse. The day’s gonna come when he’ll have no choice but to acknowledge Naoe’s ‘death’—when he has to accept reality.”

When his escape will collapse entirely.

When he would have to accept Naoe’s death.

When he would no longer be able to run.

Even if he went mad and died...

“Nagahide.”

Chiaki glanced at the forlorn Ayako sidelong and then dropped his left hand on her head.

“Hey, don’t give me that look of death. I’ll fix that head of Kagetora’s right up. My hypnotherapy is more reliable than any doctor. And if all else fails, I’ll brainwash him by brute force.”

“...You’re so pushy, geez.” Ayako lightly wiped her eyes. Chiaki collected himself.

“Anyway, right now we’ve got no choice but to try and stabilize his mood with every trick in the hypnotherapy book. Our first priority is to settle things for the near term. Let’s rest for now and head for the scene tomorrow,” Chiaki decided, and accelerated even harder down the empty road.

After leaving Takaya’s room, Kotarou returned to the parking lot to find someone standing in front of his car. It was a well-built youth wearing a rider’s suit. He immediately noticed Kotarou.

“Boss,” he called. The man waiting for Kotarou was Shichirou, one of the Fuuma ninjas.

“...Ah, it’s you. I must have kept you waiting.”

“I apologize for coming at this late hour. I’ve come to report that the matter had been dealt with.”

“Thank you for your trouble.” Kotarou nodded expressionlessly. “How is the vessel? Nagano’s vessel?”

“The vessel is dead.”

Kotarou’s eyes went wide.

“His carotid artery was severed. He bled to death.”

“... I see.” was all Kotarou said. Shichirou stared quizzically at Kotarou’s face. Noticing, Kotarou asked, “What is it?”

“Is something the matter, Boss?”

Shichirou’s hushed tone puzzled Kotarou.

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s just, You seem...”

Though an outsider would have seen only the usual stoic lack of expression on Kotarou’s face, his subordinate had detected the tiniest disturbance. True, unaccustomed ‘color’ had appeared on that cold robot’s metallic face, as if something was weighing on Kotarou.

Yet he didn’t seem aware of it. Kotarou made an even odder face. Examining it nervously, Shichirou repeated, “...Is something the matter?”

Kotarou’s expression returned to normal.

“No. What of it?”

Shichirou seemed yet more uneasy. He looked like he wanted to say something; Kotarou folded his arms and prompted, “You appear to want to say something to me.”

“No, it’s just...”

“Speak your mind. You needn’t hold back.”

“Boss...” Shichirou bowed. “Is this regarding Saburou-sama?”

Only Kotarou’s eyes moved to look at Shichirou.

“...Does your anxiety have to do with Saburou-sama?”

“To be concerned about one’s master is only natural.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

Kotarou finally sensed Shichirou’s meaning. He glared coldly, displeased by his subordinate’s suspicions. Shichirou shut his mouth abruptly.

“We serve Saburou-sama by Lord Ujiyasu’s command. All of Saburou-sama’s orders must be obeyed. It is only natural to ponder the quickest way to execute an order to perfection. ...If you have enough time to pry, you should endeavor to finish your investigation faster.”

“... I understand.” Shichirou did not touch the matter further. “My report is as follows.”

His voice returned to a business-like tone as he began his report.

 
Since that day, Kotarou had joined forces with Kagetora in accordance with Ujiyasu’s command.

Naoe’s death had changed the situation. Kagetora’s auto-suggestion made him believe Kotarou was ‘Naoe’—thus it had been necessary for Kotarou to become ‘Naoe’ in order to preserve his master’s psyche. In light of the situation Ujiyasu had commanded him anew to ‘devote yourself to Saburou Kagetora.’ That was the reason he and the Fuuma faction he led now ostensibly followed and worked for Uesugi.

But that did not mean they obeyed Kenshin. Though they were with Kagetora, in truth they still operated according to Ujiyasu’s intentions.

(Uesugi KagekatsuUesugi Kagekatsu (上杉景勝) Jan. 8, 1556 - Apr. 19, 1623

Also called: Nagao Kiheiji (長尾喜平次), Nagao Akikage (長尾顕景), Nagao Kagekatsu (長尾景勝)

Historically: One of Uesugi Kenshin's nephews, he was adopted by Kenshin and named Kenshin's heir along with Uesugi Kagetora. Following Kenshin's death in 1578, he provoked the feud against Kagetora in the Otate no ran for succession. His forces won over those of Kagetora in 1579, and he forced Kagetora to commit suicide. He lost the Uesugi's western holdings to Oda Nobunaga, and later submitted to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, under whom he rose to prominence to become a member of the council of five regents appointed by Hideyoshi to protect the Toyotomi rule.

As a general under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Kagekatsu received the 1.2 million-koku fief of Aizu in addition to his 550,000-koku fief of Echigo. After Toyotmi's death, Kagekatsu was one of the first daimyo to plan revolt against Tokugawa Ieyasu with the building of a new castle in Aizu and the accumulation of troops, and could be said to have least partly begun the Battle of Sekigahara. He refused a summons from Tokugawa to go to the capital to explain himself, and attacked with a 50,000 army, which were held back by Mogami Yoshiaki and Date Masamune. Kagekatsu was defeated early at the siege of his castle at Shiroishi and declared his allegiance to Tokugawa.

Afterwards, Kagekatsu was given the 300,000-koku Yonezawa-han in the Northeast.—...)

Narita Yuzuru flickered across Kotarou’s mind.

The human whose true self was Maitreya. It was no exaggeration to say that that fearsome power held the key to the «Yami-Sengoku».

Ujiyasu intended to eliminate Narita Yuzuru before he could be used by Kenshin. For that reason he meant to return Kagetora to the Houjou—and perhaps then take the fight to Kenshin.

Therefore in a sense it was convenient that Kagetora believed Kotarou to be ‘Naoe’. It had allowed him to broach Kagetora’s inner circle without rousing either opposition or wariness, and to become one of the Uesugi. He had achieved his initial goal of getting close to Kagetora. Conditions were extremely favorable for him to now advance the work of Kagetora’s Houjou reset.

And to probe into Kenshin’s opening moves in his conquest of the «Yami-Sengoku».

But until now there had been no indication that Kenshin had contacted Kagetora.

(So Kenshin really does intends to keep everything an absolute secret from Saburou-dono...?)

That certainly appeared to be the case.

Some time ago Uesugi’s Ladies in White had made some suspicious moves, as if in obedience to someone other than Kagetora. Kagetora hadn’t noticed. Kenshin had apparently met with them to convey his direct orders somewhere away from detection, and had established a new chain of command.

(Kenshin intends to discard Saburou-dono.)

That was what Kotarou read from Fuuma’s detached unit covertly following his movements.

(He’s going to raise Kagekatsu up to the head of a new Uesugi army, I’m sure of it.)

This was being kept an absolute secret from Kagetora and the others.

Ujiyasu believed this to be Kenshin making preparations to join battle in the «Yami-Sengoku».

(You are going to be thrown away, Saburou-dono,) Kotarou addressed him silently.

Ujiyasu had not severed his connection with the Ikkou Sect. When Saburou Kagetora returned to the Houjou, he would need them to be on his side to stand against Oda and Kenshin.

Caution was necessary against Kenshin; thus they had made no large movements as of yet.

(You must return to the Houjou.)

“I trust Lord Kenshin! Lord Kenshin has no ambitions! Father is mistaken!”

The Kagetora who had issued that rejection had placed a servant of Ujiyasu at his side without knowing it.

“I will not return to the Houjou.”

(Someday you will be Houjou Saburou again...)

As he listened to his subordinate’s report, Kotarou quietly raised his eyes to glare into the heart of darkness.

Suddenly, Takaya’s voice echoed again in his ears—that voice that called him by the name of Takaya’s former right arm.

Kotarou turned his gaze to the hotel.

The light in Takaya’s room was still on.

He had not yet gone to sleep.

“There are words you have to speak right now, aren’t there, Naoe?!”

That look refused to disappear from his mind’s eye.

Nor that voice from his ears.

What was Kotarou thinking?

His eyes narrowed.

Chapter 4: The Island Bought by Yama

The young man certainly appeared quite the marine sports aficionado. Muscular, tanned a golden brown even in winter, Kitahara worked here part-time and had seen the merpeople about a week before the magazine had gone on sale.

“There were already a lot of rumors going around by then. I saw them on the south side, just their heads bobbing on the water. It was pretty dark, so when I first saw them I thought they were drifting buoys or something.”

There had been five or six of these buoy-like shapes.

“Their eyes were glittering like cat’s eyes. It gave me such a fright! I screamed, and my friends and I hurried back to port.”

“Did they look like this?” Ayako showed Kitahara the picture from the magazine, and he nodded.

“Yeah. This is the photograph, right? The photographer got it perfectly. It was exactly like this. Except their heads were a bit...”

“The shape of their heads was different?”

“These look almost bald, right? The ones I saw had just a bit of hair. They looked like how samurai-san wore them in the old days...”

“Samurai-san?”

“You know, the type you always see on warriors fleeing the battlefield. Long loose disheveled hair hanging down their faces on both sides. It was like that. But just a little of it.”

At ‘warriors fleeing the battlefield,’ Ayako and Takaya simultaneously turned to exchange a look.

“The ferry crewmen also say they see them a lot around there.” added the senior employee from earlier.

“Ferry?”

“Yeah. The one that runs between Benten Bridge and Chigo Pool every fifteen minutes or so. It’s a shortcut to the grotto—pretty popular with the tourists. Those sailors see ’em a lot, so you should probably talk to them.”

Takaya and Ayako immediately decided to follow his advice.

They retraced their steps from the yacht harbor and made their way to the Benten Bridge ferry boarding area.

But despite the clear weather, there was a sign indicating that the service was suspended for the day.

“Because the grotto is closed,” explained an elderly sailor performing boat maintenance. “There was a cave-in yesterday. We don’t get many customers if the grotto isn’t open—plus it’s the off-season, so business is suspended for the time being.”

Takaya and Ayako recalled the newspaper article from that morning. The sailor continued as he carefully wiped the guest seating handrail with a dustcloth, “You’re here for the merpeople? Yeah, they make an appearance every so often. They burble up like huge bubbles before submerging again. When they come out we’ll make an announcement on the speakers: On your right you can see merpeople emerging. It surprises the guests, but then they’re quite happy.”

“Do they really appear that often?”

“I’m delighted to think we’re able to offer such a great specialty attraction, but now our grotto is closed. It’s really the heart of our operations. Can’t be helped, there’s been talk we’ll change our course for merpeople-watching. Honestly, it’d probably be more profitable,” the sailor laughed. “Eh, I’m not that worried; only a part of the grotto’s collapsed, so they’re saying it’ll be declared off-limits while the rest will be reopened in no time... But just when the addition to our attractions is pulling in the tourists, an essential part of our island is...”

“An essential part of the island is...?”

“Oh, just... Recently the souvenir shops and eateries that’ve been here since forever have all started to close up shop and leave the island.”

Takaya and Ayako frowned doubtfully.

“What happened?”

“Well...I commute, so I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard the so-called Tourism Rejuvenation Project is forcefully evicting people.”

"They’re evicting people? Why?

“Well. I’m not too clear on the essentials, but the people who live here are in a tight spot. The eight views of Kanazawa were turned into an amusement park, right? Eight Views Island Sea or something. Rumor has it they want to do something like that with E Island, too...” The sailor’s expression was obviously disgruntled. “What a stupid idea. E Island is wonderful because it is what it is. It’s unsophisticated, it has a little of that old-time charm to it. If it’s turned into a recreational area, Benten-sama will be angry. She might be a gentle goddess who grants good fortune and happiness, but did you know she’s quite terrifying when angered? After all, in the old days Lord Minamoto no YoritomoMinamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝) May 9, 1147 - February 9, 1199

Minamoto no Yoritomo was a warlord of the late Heian and early Kamakura Periods, born as third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto (Seiwa Genji) clan. He founded and became the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate. He ruled from 1192 until 1199. prayed for the Eight-Armed Benzaiten-sama of E Island Shrine to descend to exorcise the Oushuu Fujiwara Clan.”

“Really...”

“If you do terrible things, the gods will curse you. Don’t you think so?”

“Right...” Ayako nodded, but the sailor seemed unmollified by her prevarication.

“I heard there’s a councilor who’s opposed, but that’s only natural. They really taking the people for fools, aren’t they? What is the government coming to these days?”

“Um...is it possible to go to the grotto today?”

“You can’t go in, but you can go as far as the entrance. You can gather crabs and shellfish on the seashore, and a lot of people fish there as well. You can probably see merpeople on the other side of the island as well. If you’re visiting the shrine, go have a look.”

Thanking the friendly and loquacious sailor, Takaya and Ayako left the boarding area.

Turning from Benten Bridge back toward E Island, Takaya asked Ayako, “So what do you think?”

“Hmm. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it bothers me. Let’s take a look around the island. See if anything odd’s been happening at the shrine.”

They passed through the ‘Bronze Toriitorii (鳥居)

Lit.: "bird abode"

Traditional Japanese gates found at the entrance to, within, or close to Shinto shrines, symbolically marking the transition from the profane to the sacred. They are usually vermilion or unpainted and date from at least the 10th century.’ at the head of the shrine road and began ascending the gentle hill path. Ayako’s remark about the place being ’way too quiet’ had hit the nail on the head. Of the gift shops lining both sides of the slope, two-thirds were closed. Some had signs saying, ‘Thank you for your long-time patronage.’ Even the shops that were open seemed dull and lifeless.

“It feels lonely, doesn’t it? Browsing the souvenir shops is part of the fun of being here. It’s when you smell the steamed bean-jam buns along the storefronts that you feel like, ‘Here I am on E Island!’”

A group of tourists walking nearby also appeared underwhelmed. Had all of the people here been ‘evicted’?

“Oh, I wonder what’s going on over there?”

There was a commotion in front of a restaurant up ahead involving what appeared to be several locals. They looked very angry and were raising a furious racket.

“They’re back at the shrine office!”

“Those bastards don’t know when to quit! Let’s drive ’em away! Bring the Matsuya head, too!”

“Kudou-san’s gone on ahead to keep a look out. Call everyone together and tell them to gather in front of the shrine office!”

All of them appeared to be shop owners. After some shouting, they hurriedly dispersed in all directions.

“I wonder what all the fuss is about...?”

“Are you tourists?” The employee of a souvenir shop standing in front of a store asked Takaya. It was a young woman with golden tanned skin wearing an orange apron. She was a surfer type with straight chestnut hair bleached almost blonde and pink lipstick well-suited to her coloring; she looked as if summer had arrived in that one small spot.

“Eh...ah, yes.”

“Please come in and take a look around. We have steamed buns as well.”

“...Excuse me, is it okay I ask you some questions?”

“Yes?”

“There were a lot of people shouting earlier—has something happened? They all looked angry and pretty threatening.”

“Well...” the poster girl grew somber. “The corporate bigshots who want to evict us are at E Island Shrine right now.”

“Is this regarding the rejuvenation project? The one that wants to remodel E Island?”

“Oh, you’ve heard about it? Are you from the media...?”

Ayako responded steadily, “Yes, we’re freelance.” Then she introduced the cameraless Takaya as ‘my photographer’. “We came to conduct interviews on the merpeople, but we overheard the news about the evictions.”

“Ah, I see. They came here, too. They said they’re planning to improve everything around here and pave a new shrine road. They wanted us to leave until it’s finished, then we’d become tenants of the new buildings the business organizations would build.” The shopgirl folded her arms, thin eyebrows drooping disconsolately. “They said they would lease the land, and we’d get a monthly rental fee, and tenancy would be unconditional. We’d have to commute, but they said they’d help us with new houses in the city. It’s not a bad deal, but...you can’t help but feel... I mean, the shops have been here such a long time. And also...”

“You don’t think the plan is reasonable?”

“That’s right.” She held up a finger. “Everyone’s opposed to it because we don’t want E Island to change. This island has been like this, simple and unsophisticated, since the old days. We don’t want it to become some sort of weird resort. And there’s something fishy about the plan itself.”

“Fishy...?”

“It’s more or less the Keibu-affiliated corporations that’re participating, and they seem on the up-and-up, but...”

“Keibu...”

It was a famed industrial association. The concern had gotten its start in Tokyo’s major private railways before rapidly and successfully expanding into department store operation and real estate management, etc. It owned a professional baseball team, so the association owner’s name was familiar to Takaya from the sports pages.

“But why E Island? Because it’s in Shounan?”

True, it was a great location for a recreational area to make money off young people. But wasn’t Shounan only known because of E Island’s traditional tourist attractions?

“Hmm,” Ayako pondered. “...Can I ask, when they tell you they want you to leave, are they harassing you like the old-style land sharks? Throwing stones and having gangster types show up and stuff...?”

“No, none of that. They’ve been quite polite. It’s just that some strange things have been happening,” the shopgirl said.

“Like what?”

“Everyone on the island’s been having strange dreams.”

“Dreams...?”

“I’ve had them too, and my family. When I asked, we found out that they were really similar.”

Takaya seemed to have caught onto a scent. Until then he’d allowed Ayako to do the talking, but now he took up the questioning.

“What kind of dreams?”

“Dreams about Yama-sama.” She lowered her voice as if she were speaking of a taboo. “Yama-sama appears to warn us. He says that he’s bought E Island, so we should all leave.”

Takaya and Ayako goggled.

“Yama bought the island?”

“Yes. Hell is too crowded, so he made this island a part of Hell. In a month the grotto’s blowing cave will open, and the dead will emerge from Hell, so we should leave now. We’re having the same dream every night now.”

Takaya’s expression was very serious as he carefully asked, “...This dream, when did it start?”

“About two weeks ago, I think. It’s creepy, right? It wouldn’t be too bad if dreams were the end of it, but now people have spotted ogres on the island, too.”

“Ogres? As in Hell’s prison guards?”

“Exactly. Scary ogres like the ones that torment people who fall to Hell in old paintings. They have great big bodies and iron clubs, and tiger-hide pants.”

Takaya’s eyes narrowed, and he pressed his fist against his mouth as he concentrated. This was certainly pretty unusual.

“There are a lot of families who left because they’re scared. That’s why you see so many closed shops in the neighborhood. Fortunately, due to the timing, the city was able to accommodate them with temporary housing. It’s like a refugee situation.”

Takaya and Ayako jolted, and they looked at one another.

“Temporary housing?”

“Yes. Until they can find new homes. The ones who’ve evacuated are no longer having the dream. They’re advising us to flee, too.”

“Yama-sama has bought E Island.”

It wasn’t as if Keibu Group’s president was King Yama. (Even if his face looked gargoyle-like in sports newspapers.)

Takaya examined the young woman’s face for a moment before asking, “You said earlier that Keibu Group’s bigshots are at E Island Shrine, right? What’s their business there?”

“They want to buy the shrine.”

“What?” Ayako yelped. “Buy E Island Shrine?”

The young woman nodded.

“I’m actually E Island Shrine’s shrine maiden.”

“What?” They stared. This high-spirited surfer girl was a shrine maiden?

“Ah! Please don’t look so shocked. The chief priest keeps telling me to do something about the way I look, but it fits Shounan, don’t you think?”

“...Th-that’s true...I mean, this is Shounan...”

“My dad’s sick right now, so I’m taking a break from the shrine to help out at our family shop,” The surfer shrine maiden said, face clouding. “My dad...is actually the neighborhood council president. But with all the ruckus recently...he’s had a bit of a nervous breakdown...”

“Nervous breakdown?”

“Yes. He sleepwalks, and he would sometimes mutter about this or that thing the King of Hell said. He’s gotten really thin. We’re making him rest, but he’s been really troubled this past month. Recently the councilor opposed to the project suddenly died, and we have no supporters left.”

She faltered. Takaya’s face was grim with suspicion, and the young woman came back to herself with a start.

“I’m sorry, I was talking about the shrine. Would you like me to take you? The chief priest has rejected their acquisition offer, but they’re insistent. If you want to ask him yourself, I can introduce you.”

Takaya and Ayako exchanged glances, ascertaining each other’s thoughts. Ayako turned to the young woman and said, “We’d appreciate it.”

A large torii stood at the terminus of the gentle shrine road. Stairs continued past it, and at the top stood a magnificent shrine with combined main hall and worship hall connected via an intermediate passageway. This was E Island Shrine’s Hetsu Shrine.

Hetsu Shrine was also called the Lower Shrine and enshrined Tagitsuhime-no-mikoto. It had been founded by RyoushinRyoushin (良真)

A monk of Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine in the Kamakura Period who was said to have built Hetsu Shrine, one of the component shrines of E Island Shrine, in 1206. in the 1st year of Ken’ei (1206) by decree of Minamoto no Sanetomo. The current structure had been rebuilt in the 51st year of Shouwa (1976).

To their left was the octagonal Houan Hall, where two forms of Benzaiten were enshrined: Benzaiten of the Exquisite Voice and Eight-Armed Benzaiten. The first, known as ‘Nude Benten’, had her captivating white skin bared.

According to legend, in the old days a wicked dragon lived in the seas around E Island and troubled the people there with acts of evil. A solitary island suddenly surfaced in the time of Emperor Kinmei—E Island—onto which Benzaiten descended. She punished the dragon, and from that time forth was enshrined there as one of Japan’s Three Great Benzaiten. In the Edo EraEdo-jidai (江戸時代)

The Edo period in Japanese history, which lasted from 1603 until 1867, was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and was the period in which Japan was ruled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is seen as the beginning of modern Japan. During this period, the Shogunate perceived Christianity as a threat to the stability of Japan and actively persecuted adherents of the religion until it was almost completely eradicated. During this period Japan also isolated itself from the rest of the world, an isolation ending only with the appearance of Commodore Matthew Perry's ships in Edo Bay in 1853. the island flourished as common people went to ‘visit Benten-sama’.

Guided by the girl from the shop—Suga Natsuo was her name—Takaya and Ayako entered Hetsu Shrine.

The splendid building to the right of the main shrine was the shrine office. Protesting shopkeepers had already gathered at its entrance.

Takaya et. al. made a wide circle around Houan Hall and waited for the people from Keibu to come out. They didn’t have to wait long. After about ten minutes or so, a group of business suits exited the shrine office.

There were seven of them. Three appeared to be secretaries-cum-bodyguards. At their center was a man of mature age and excellent build who appeared to be the representative. The thin-faced middle-aged man he was conversing with looked like a secretary. Behind them came a stocky man of similar age wearing glasses and one more—a young man around thirty, with an unruffled air around him, wearing a black coat. One of their junior staff, probably.

The chanting of the protesters started:

“You’re not crossing the island!”

“Get out! Don’t show your faces around here again!”

The shopkeepers jeered in a mass. Ignoring them completely, the representative exchanged farewells with the chief priest.

“I think that’s Keibu Real Estate’s CEO.”

“CEO? Isn’t that—”

“Yes, the younger brother of Keibu Group’s president.”

Him? Takaya and Ayako stared at the man in question: Tatsumi Yoshitsugu, who was said to be the right-hand man of Keibu Group’s president, his older brother Kuniichi. He was currently the managing director of Keibu Real Estate, an affiliate company under the group umbrella, which he was said to run single-handedly.

But for such a person to make an appearance here...

Natsuo lowered her voice. “You see the two men behind him? I know them because they came to our shop. The middle-aged one is Yashiro-san; the younger is Kaizaki-san.”

“They’re from Keibu Real Estate?”

“Yes. I forget what their positions are, though. Yashiro-san is head of one of their departments. Kaizaki-san is pretty high up—he’s actually distantly related to the CEO. He’s pretty handsome, don’t you think?”

“What did they want when they came to your house?”

“To talk about the eviction. They’ve been around to see everybody. They didn’t leave such a bad impression. They were polite and seemed in good faith—but if I say that, people get angry.”

“Do they?”

“Yes. ...But don’t you think he looks like he’d be good in bed?”

Takaya and Ayako nodded, then goggled. ‘Huh!?’"

If he was a distant relative, he didn’t give off those privileged scion vibes. Rather, with his clever face framed by thin-rimmed glasses, he looked like a young industrialist. Though his almond-shaped eyes gave an impression of a nervous temperament, his bearing was flawless.

The bodyguards held back the shouting shop owners as they pressed close. Within their circle, Yashiro shielded the CEO while they walked toward the stairs. At that moment—

Next to the CEO, Kaizaki turned his gaze their way.

“Oh crap. Le-let’s go...Kagetora!”

As a startled Ayako hurried Takaya toward the escalator terminal in the back—

They suddenly heard a scream from the shrine office.

“What!”

They turned in surprise to see the people gathered around CEO Tatsumi sink to the ground as if their legs had given out.

“Kyaaaah!” Natsuo screamed next to them.

“Wh-what’s wrong?! Suga-san—!”

“There’s an—there’s an ogre over there!”

(Ogre...!)

Natsuo threw herself on Takaya and repeatedly pointed to the shrine office. All the shop owners’ faces were also twisted with fear.

“O...ogre! There an ogre, aaaah!”

“Eeeek, ogre!”

Came the screams from every mouth. But Takaya and Ayako saw nothing. There was no ogre anywhere.

“Where is it? Suga-san, what...?”

“There’s a red ogre with horns right there! It’s swinging its iron club!”

“S-stop! Please stop! Waaaah!”

The shop owners screamed and scurried about in their hurry to escape. There appeared to be a great ogre standing somewhere in front of CEO Tatsumi.

(They...)

The suspicious tenor of Takaya’s thoughts was not unfounded, for the Keibu people displayed no surprise at this display. Did they know about the ogre? Yashiro was saying something to the CEO. Tatsumi nodded and, accompanied by secretaries and bodyguards, descended the stairs. Yashiro and Kaizaki remained. They exchanged a few words, glanced at the shop owners, and calmly walked down the stairs as well.

The red ogre seemed to have disappeared.

“Kagetora...”

Takaya followed the men with a fierce gaze.

Takaya and Ayako never saw the ogre.

Natsuo was anemic from shock, and after the ruckus they took her home.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to show you around after all... And you came such a long way, too...”

“Don’t worry about it,” Ayako reassured her after exchanging glances with Takaya. “If anything else strange happens, can you contact us? We may be able to help.”

“Erm... But...um...”

“Especially if it’s something to do with Yama-sama. If you see Yama-sama, for example, or anything else. We...um...know somebody who’s a medium, who might be able to drive the ogres away.”

“Okay,” Natsuo agreed doubtfully, and Ayako gave her the number for their current hotel. Takaya and Ayako said goodbye to Natsuo and decided to look around the island.

Normally they could‘ve taken the sight-seeing escalator called ’esca’ from Nakatsu Shrine to the botanical gardens at the summit, but it had stopped operating three days ago.

Performing a spirit-sensingreisa (霊査)

Also known as: reisa-nouryoku (霊査能力)

Lit.: "Spiritual investigation"; the ability to use the spiritual senses to distinguish between residual thought signatures, and thus recognize spiritual entities. A person with a high-level form of this ability could potentially recognize souls by the pattern of their "soul-nucleus", which is the part of the soul that remains unchanged through purification and rebirth, especially if they had met that person before previously. Haruie and Kousaka both excel at this ability, though Kousaka seems to be one of the few to possess a very high-level form of it. as they climbed, Takaya and Ayako took a breather when they reached the plaza at the top.

The Western-style outdoor restaurant next to the botanical gardens was also closed. Munching on snacks from the confectionery vending machine next to the esca drop-off point, Ayako continued to puzzle over what they’d found.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? If it’s a tsukumogamitsukumogami (付喪神)

Artifacts and items that are older than 100 years and become spirits who are alive and aware. (The characters were originally written "九十九", meaning "ninety-nine" and were later changed to the homonym "付喪神", with the characters for "adhere", "mourning", and "god").

In Mirage, however, the kaki are also a type of tsukumogami. or youkaiyoukai (妖怪)

In Japanese folklore, a youkai is a monster, spirit, or demon who range from malevolent to mischievous to benevolent. They can take various shapes, some human- or animal like, or appear to be or possess inanimate objects. Some are shapeless, and others shape-shifters. They usually have spiritual or supernatural abilities., we should be able to see it.”

They hadn’t sensed anything like an ogre during their hike.

“They’re the only ones who can see it,” Takaya answered as he drank a canned coffee. “...It’s possible they’ve had a suggestion implanted.”

“Suggestion?”

Nodding, Takaya extracted a coin-like object from his jacket pocket. Ayako picked it up between her thumb and forefinger.

“What is it?”

Like a 5-yen coin, it had a hole in the middle. A character was engraved on its black surface, but it was so worn that she couldn’t make it out...

“Is this Sanskrit?”

“It was dropped right where the ogre stood. I picked up another one of these things in front of Nakatsu Shrine.”

He placed another one on Ayako’s hand. It was etched with the same pattern.

“What is it?”

“Some kind of charm, I’m guessing. There’s an ‘energy’ coming out of the hole like fragrance from an incense stick—can you feel it?”

“?”

Ayako placed a coin on the palm of her hand and held a finger over the hole.

“Yeah... It’s exuding some kind of interesting ‘energy’, like mosquito repellent.”

“It’s probably acting as a projector.”

“Projector?”

“Yeah. The ‘energy’ coming out of this thing is showing an ogre to those people.”

“This ‘energy’? But we don’t see anything.”

“Right, it’s not working on us. Only the people who’ve been given a particular suggestion are responding to the ‘energy’. These things are probably scattered around the island so that every time the locals go to those places, the suggestion gets triggered, and they see the ogre.”

“So it’s not a real ogre but an illusion? But who would’ve placed the suggestion? Why?”

Takaya was silent. He had a pretty good guess. “...Those guys from Keibu, they weren’t surprised when the locals started panicking.”

“So they’re the instigators...?”

“...They may not be the instigators, but I’m certain they know about the illusion.” Takaya wrapped his hand around the can of coffee and glared in the direction of the observation deck. “The fact that they went door-to-door is suspicious. That’s probably when they planted the suggestions. Those dreams about Yama, too. ...They stink of mass hypnotism.”

“Why would they do something like this?” Ayako tilted her head in incomprehension as she crammed more snacks into her mouth. “To drive away the residents? They’re awfully prepared, aren’t they? They’re even accommodating people in temporary housing like they’re operating some kind of evacuation center. Are they coercing them? Or is it more that they’re trying to get them to leave as quickly as possible?”

“It’s also weird that they want to buy all the component shrines of E Island Shrine.” Takaya lifted the can to his mouth with his hand still wrapped around it. “The resort development story doesn’t track. I mean, it’s a bit late in the game, isn’t it? The economic climate isn’t exactly auspicious.”

“That’s true. It seems like they just want to own the entirety of E Island...”

But why...?

As he fell into a contemplative silence, a white cat appeared out of nowhere and capered between Takaya’s feet. It was wearing a collar, so it must be someone’s pet. Stroking its head, Takaya said, “‘The grotto’s blowing cave will open, and the dead will emerge from Hell’—that’s what Suga-san said, right?”

“Yeah...”

“We know about the rock slide incident from yesterday that closed the grotto. It might be related.”

“Should we go check it out?”

“Yeah,” Takaya answered, standing. “There’s probably some connection to the merpeople case, too. We should go take a look.”

“All right,” Ayako answered, tossing a last piece into her mouth. The cat looked up hungrily, and Ayako crouched down and rubbed its head.

“You’d better take care not to get eaten by an ogre, okay?”

They started walking away. Left on its own, the cat squinted after them as they headed for Okutsu Shrine.

Chapter 6: Three-Eyed Dog

“Your illusionary suggestion seems to have been quite effective on the islanders.”

Kaizaki Makoto had come to the second-floor study of Tatsumi Yoshitsugu’s residence on Mt. Kamakura in response to the latter’s summons. From the window he could look out over the pond in the spacious Japanese garden.

“As you saw,” Kaizaki answered his CEO. His dark suit was becoming to his muscular body. His slicked-back black hair and slender-framed glasses gave a firm impression of intelligence.

Tatsumi peered out over the nighttime garden. This venerable estate had been built in the first year of Meiji (1868). He slid his hand from the polished amber window frame into the loose sleeve of his silk haori and turned to Kaizaki.

“Nothing could have been more startling. The ogre illusion was certainly quite fearsome... I have heard that it caused a stream of evacuations. For one of the modern era, you are possessed of rare and exquisite psychic power.”

“Thank you.”

“You are worthy of being a descendant of our Satomi clan. I am delighted to be blessed with such a brilliant scion.”

“Thank you very much, Yoshitaka-sama.” Thus did Kaizaki address Tatsumi. “I am proud to be a descendant of Satomi. It is a privilege to serve my honored forefather.”

“Mmn. You shall bear our magical sword, the Murasame. I look upon our future with anticipation,” nodded Tatsumi—no, the onshouonshou (怨将)

Lit.: "vengeful general": the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period, who continue their battles even in modern-age Japan. Satomi YoshitakaSatomi Yoshitaka (里見義堯) 1507 - June 19, 1574

Satomi Yoshitaka was the son of Satomi Sanetaka and became head of the Satomi Clan by killing the then-head, his cousin Satomi Yoshitoyo (son of his father's older brother Satomi Yoshimichi) in 1534. The traditional version of the story goes that Yoshitoyo killed Yoshitaka's father, who was in communication with the Houjou, and Yoshitaka killed him in revenge. In recent years, however, historians have theorized that Yoshitaka and Sanetaka, father and son, allied themselves with the Satomi Clan's bitter enemy, the Houjou Clan, in order to take over the clan. They then changed the records to hide the fact that they betrayed the Houjou Clan after their plan succeeded.

As clan head, Yoshitaka fought numerous battles with Houjou Ujitsuna and Houjou Ujiyasu. He pushed into Shimousa and Kazusa, making his stronghold Kuruji Castle in Kazusa, and brought about the golden age of the clan. He battled the Houjou to the last and died at Kuruji Castle at the age of 68. who had possessed him—with satisfaction.

Satomi Yoshitaka.

Brave general of Bousou, he had survived a violent intra-clan war to lead the Satomi into becoming one of the leading military powers of the Kantou in the space of a generation.

In the «Yami-SengokuYami Sengoku (闇戦国)

Lit.: "Dark Sengoku", the civil war still being fought by the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period in modern-day Japan.», after having recovered their territory post-Houjou’s destruction, he had confronted a Takeda invasion and was now engaged in a fierce resistance.

In order to achieve a certain aim, he had won over a young man of the clan bloodline, Kaizaki Makoto, three months ago. He himself had possessed the president and CEO of Keibu Real Estate, Tatsumi Yoshitsugu, while his vassals had done the same to other related personnel; the company had essentially been usurped by Satomi.

“The foundation is finally ready.” Yoshitaka sat down in his gigantic office chair. “The residents have been driven out, the opposing councilor is dead, all conditions are favorable. Now we only need to wait for a response to our acquisition of E Island Shrine. —Incidentally,” Yoshitaka changed the subject, “the Uesugi appear to be on the move.”

“Yes,” Yashiro, who’d listened quietly until then, responded. —Or rather, the Satomi retainer who had possessed Yashiro: Masaki TokishigeMasaki Tokishige (正木時茂) 1513 - 1561-05-29

Son of Masaki Michitsuna who served the Satomi Clan. His father and older brother died in the Satomi intra-clan battle in 1533; though Tokishige was also injured, he managed to escape with his life. He was known to be an excellent spearman., the possessor spirit Takaya had spotted.

“It is a certainty. Uesugi’s general, Saburou Kagetora, was there along with Kakizaki HaruieKakizaki Haruie (柿崎晴家) ? - 1578?

Titles: Izumi no Kami

Historically: the son of Kakizaki Kageie. He was sent to Odawara Castle in Sagami when the Kenshin and the Houjou clans struck a peace treaty in an exchange of hostages with Houjou Saburou (Uesugi Kagetora). The fate of Kakizaki Haruie was unknown when his father was accused of treason. There are theories that he either died in 1575 along with his father, or that he was murdered by Uesugi Kagekatsu's faction in 1578 during the Otate no Ran.

In Mirage of Blaze: He was one of Uesugi Kagetora's most loyal followers as well as the leader of his faction in the Otate no Ran, and was killed by Uesugi Kagekatsu's followers. He is now one of the Yasha-shuu under Kagetora's command. Haruie possesses female bodies (the only member of the Yasha-shuu to do so) in search of a lover who died two hundred years ago.

Of the Yasha-shuu, he is the one who excels most at the spiritual sensing ability called reisa..”

“You’re certain?”

“Aye. I saw them pursue Nagano with my own eyes.”

“Hmm. So they were not satisfied with killing Nagano, and have now decided to meddle in our affairs.” Yoshitaka tsked in vexation. “Saburou Kagetora? I have heard of him. Was he not originally a son of Houjou? Knowing he is a child of the detestable Houjou only increases my desire to strike him down with mine own hands.”

Numerous were the grudges between Satomi and Houjou; they were like cats and dogs. Though ultimately Satomi could be said to have come out the victors after Houjou’s destruction in the Siege of OdawaraOdawara no Eki (小田原の役)

The Siege of Odawara in 1590 was the campaign by which Toyotomi Hideyoshi killed Houjou Ujimasa, exiled his son Houjou Ujinao, and eliminated the mighty Later Houjou Clan, ruler of the eight provinces of the Kantou, as a threat to his power.

The Houjou were not caught unprepared; guessing at Hideyoshi's intentions, they had made preparations by making a massive recruitment effort targeting men from 15 to 70 years of age, shoring up arms, and making large-scale renovations and repairs to Odawara Castle, Hachiouji Castle, Yamanaka Castle, Nirayama Castle, and others.

Toyotomi's main force consisted of Toyotomi Hidetsugu, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Oda Nobukatsu, Gamou Ujisato, Kuroda Yoshitaka, Hashiba Hidekatsu, Ukita Hideie, Oda Nobukane, Hosokawa Tadaoki, Kobayakawa Takakage, Kikkawa Hiroie, Hori Hidemasa, Ikeda Terumasa, Asano Nagamasa, Ishida Mitsunari, Natsuka Masaie, Hasegawa Hidekazu, Ootani Yoshitsugu, Ishikawa Kazumasa, Mashita Nagamori, Kanamori Nagachika, Tsutsui Sadatsugu, Ikoma Chikamasa, Hachisuka Iemasa, Ootomo Yoshimune, and Shimadu Hisayasu leading approx. 170,000 troops. His navy was lead by Chousokabe Motochika, Katou Yoshiakira, Kuki Yoshitaka, and Wakizaka Yasuharu with approx. 10,000 troops. An additional army lead by Maeda Toshiie, Maeda Toshinaga, Uesugi Kagekatsu, Sanada Masayuki, and Yoda Yasukuni came down from the north with approx. 35,000 troops.

In all, around 210,000 troops faced the Houjou 82,000 (though opinions differ on those numbers).

For the Houjou, Houjou Ujimasa, Houjou Ujinao, Houjou Ujitada, Houjou Ujiteru, Oota Ujifusa, Narita Ujinaga, Minagawa Hiroteru, Haga Yasutada, Matsuda Norihide, Kasahara Masaharu and Kasahara Masataka held Odawara Castle. Matsuda Yasunaga held Yamanaka Castle, Houjou Ujikatsu Yamanaka Castle then Tamanawa Castle, Houjou Ujinori Nirayama Castle, Daidouji Masashige Matsuida Castle, and Houjou Ujikuni Hachigata Castle.

Toyotomi's basic strategy held the troops from the north in reserve while sending his main army towards Odawara Castle, taking Yamanaka Castle, Nirayama Castle, and Ashigara Castle along the way. At the same time, his navy circled Izu Peninsula toward Odawara from the south. Though Toyotomi controlled an overwhelming force, the Houjou had gathered an elite force of 50,000 at Odawara Castle, with the most elite among them placed at Yamanaka, Nirayama, and Ashigara Castles.

One by one, the Houjou's supporting castles fell either to Toyotomi's main force or to the reserves from the north. At Odawara, however, only a night attack by Oota Ujifusa on the Houjou side and some skirmishes from the Toyotomi side could be called actual fighting.

In July, Ujinori and Ujifusa began peace negotiations via Ieyasu. The Houjou agreed to surrender, and Ujimasa and Ujiteru were moved to the guardhouse. They committed seppuku on the 10th of August., Yoshitaka still turned hostile at the mere mention of Houjou.

He addressed Kaizaki: “I suppose you are unfamiliar with the Uesugi kanshoushakanshousha (換生者)

Those who possess others by driving out the soul from a body and making it theirs.

Unlike normal spirits, kanshousha cannot exchange bodies at will; they can only switch to another host body when their current body dies. Because kanshousha become the owners of their bodies, choubuku does not work on them. It is, however, still possible to exorcise kanshousha when they are in spirit-form (i.e. between possessions).. They are monsters who have lived in this world for four hundred years.”

“Saburou...Kagetora...”

“By Kenshin’s decree, they possess the power of «exorcism». Any spirit on the receiving end is driven into the other world. They are fearsome adversaries. But ’tis irrelevant to you,” he said, chuckling. Yoshitaka appeared quite taken with Kaizaki, a full-fledged person of the modern era who was also an outstandingly skilled magic user. “You must take great care not to arouse their suspicions with our plans.”

“I understand.”

“As if I would allow them to interfere. Yet Takeda and Miura, too, are moving against us. What of the grotto, Masaki?”

“Aye! Yesterday we sealed off the grotto using the pretext of the rock-slide. The foe who forced his way inside today was likely one of the Miura.” Masaki glanced up at his lord. “As we thought, the thief who stole Koubou DaishiKuukai (空海) 774 - 835

Also known as: Koubou Daishi (弘法大師), or High Priest Koubou

A Japanese monk, scholar, poet, calligrapher, and artist who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism. He is credited with inventing kana (which includes hiragana and katakana) of the Japanese writing system as well as introducing homosexuality (or at least shudo) to Japan.

He studied in China from 804 to 806, where he was initiated into the Esoteric Buddhism tradition. He returned to Japan to establish the Shingon school, which would become the dominant Buddhism sect for the next 300 years. His teachings and his many writings, such as Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence, The Meaning of Sound, Word, Reality, The Ten Stages of the Development of Mind, and Ten Abiding Stages, synthesized Buddhism into a coherent whole, and displaced Confucianism with Buddhism as the official Japanese state ideology.

He was contemporaneous with Shaichou, the founder of the Tendai school.’s vajratokko (独鈷)

Also known as: tokko-sho, toko-sho, dokko-sho, dokuko-sho (独鈷杵)

A rod-shaped object with tapered pointed ends used in Esoteric Buddhism rituals, which represents the indestructible nature of Buddhist law and the power to defeat evil. The tokko is one type of vajra. was likely Miura YoshiokiMiura Yoshioki (三浦義意) 1496 - 1516-08-09

Nickname: Arajirou (荒次郎)

Eldest son of Miura Yoshiatsu and last head of the Sagami Miura Clan. His father gave him Arai Castle (also known as Misaki Castle) in Sagami and handed the position of clan head to him in 1510. He was known as the 'brave warrior with the strength of 85' and fought against Houjou Souun, but he lost Okazaki Castle and Sumiyoshi Castle, and went to ground in the Miura Peninsula. He and his father held Arai Castle in a three-year siege, but the castle fell at last, and he witnessed Yoshiatsu's seppuku.

Yoshioki then charged out into the midst of his enemies and was killed, thus ending the Miura line. With his death the Houjou Clan achieved subjugation of Sagami.

Note: English sites seem to universally give Miura Yoshioki's name as Miura Yoshimoto, which the Japanese Wikipedia lists as a possible reading. It officially gives the reading as "Yoshioki", which is also used by Mirage..”

“Cursed Miura. They intend to bury the grotto and stop the ‘Rite of Passage to Hell’. Uppity knaves.”

“I will strengthen our defense.”

“Aye, do so, Masaki.”

Yoshitaka leaned against the armrest with one hand on his chin.

“What of Fuji Shrine, Yoshiyori?”

“Yes, Father,” answered a young man with the air of a college student standing behind Yoshitaka. “Everything has gone smoothly. The Sengen Shrine will soon be in our possession.”

“I see. Well done, I wouldn’t have expected anything less from my son.”

Yoshitaka beamed from ear to ear as he sang his son’s praises. Yoshiyori sniffed lightly and looked over at Kaizaki and Masaki with an arrogant eye.

“Hmph, but this is a roundabout way to achieve our aims. We could have easily taken over E Island by sheer force of arms without going through the trouble of purchasing it. You were the one who came up with this plan, Kaizaki? ...Hmph. It cannot be helped, given the timidity of the people of the modern era.”

Kaizaki glanced up at him.

“Father, these cheap tricks are tiresome. I can dispose of all the residents and seize E Island for you by tomorrow.”

“Do not rush, Yoshiyori,” Yoshitaka soothed his son. “The endgame is set. Tomorrow we will finish off this head of the neighborhood council—Suga, I believe. It will act as a fine threat to the inhabitants. And ’twould be a fine thing if the chief priest of E Island Shrine were to disappear. I cannot tell how many days it would take to change that obstinate man’s answer to yea.”

“The ‘Rite of the Ten Night-Demon Kings’...?” Masaki queried in a hushed voice. “Would it be suitable to use it again?”

“Use it so that we may procure E Island. As for the aforementioned sacrifice...”

“Aye, arrangements are being made.”

Yoshitaka nodded magnanimously. “There remains very little time until the appointed date. Nobunaga-sama has nearly reached the area.”

“...”

“Present E Island to me—that was Nobunaga-sama’s command. If we can accomplished this, he will recognize our claim to Bousou as a member of his alliance. Once Takeda is destroyed, he will surely entrust the entire region of SagamiSagami-no-kuni (相模国)

An ancient province in south-central Japan which was ruled by the Later Houjou Clan during the Sengoku Period. Now a part of Kanagawa Prefecture., KaiKai-no-Kuni (甲斐国)

Also known as: 甲州 (Koushuu)

An ancient province in central Japan which was ruled by Takeda Shingen during the Sengoku Period. Now known as Yamanashi Prefecture., and MusashiMusashi-no-kuni (武蔵国)

Musashi Province, a province of ancient Japan, was comprised of the present-day prefecture of Tokyo as well as parts of Saitama Prefecture and Kanagawa Prefecture. It was the largest province in the Kantou and was formed in the 7th century. It was governed by many, many clans, including the original Houjou Clan for about 100 years starting from the 1210s. The Later Houjou Clan took the territory in the late Sengoku Era after the Battle of Kawagoe Castle in 1546 drove out the Uesugi influence. Tokugawa Ieyasu took control of the Kantou after the fall of the Houjou Clan in 1590. to us.” Yoshitaka placed both arms on his desk with its beautiful wood texture as ambition blazed in the back of his eyes. “If we complete the ‘Rite of Passage to Hell’ as planned, we Satomi will be secure. We will have room to breathe. Let us exert ourselves to the utmost.”

“Aye!” Masaki promptly answered. Yoshitaka’s gaze turned to Kaizaki.

“You as well. Your «power» has developed to an astonishing extent over the past few months. Have confidence in yourself. You are a magnificent warrior. Believe in yourself, and serve me well.”

“Yes,” Kaizaki answered, lifting his eyes aggressively. “I would like to test how far my abilities can bloom. I am very grateful to you, Yoshitaka-sama, for awakening them. If I can be of use, I am willing.”

“Mmm. Then here is my command.” Yoshitaka glanced sidelong at the miniature model of E Island on his desk. “Seal the power of the Yasha-shuuYasha-shuu (夜叉衆)

The five kanshousha at the head of the Meikai Uesugi Army ordered by Uesugi Kenshin to hunt for the onshou who are disrupting the peace of modern-era Japan in a battle which has lasted four hundred years. Led by Uesugi Kagetora, with Naoe Nobutsuna, Kakizaki Haruie, Yasuda Nagahide, and Irobe Katsunaga. The name "Yasha" refers to soldiers in the army of Bishamonten, called "Yaksha"..”

“... My target is the Yasha-shuu, then?”

“I warn you that they are strong. An ordinary onshou would not stand a chance against them. Happily, you are not a possessor spirit. So long as you are not killed, you need not fear «exorcism». Your power rivals theirs. Fight and grow stronger. They are the perfect adversaries for you.”

“I understand.” A faint smile curved Kaizaki’s lips. His face was full of confidence. “I will attempt it.”

“You show no fear, I see. Make use of Murasame. It will amplify your strength.” Yoshitaka shook with laughter. He leaned back against this chair and murmured, “Now then, why don’t you gather the scalps of the Yasha for a gift?”

Leaving the Tatsumi residence behind, Kaizaki returned to his street-parked car.

He stopped as he caught sight of the man emerging from its shadow, who was in his late thirties and wore a duffel coat. They seemed acquainted.

“It’s you...” Kaizaki stepped up to the side of the car.

“How did the conversation go?”

“Smoothly and as planned. They seemed satisfied; we have nothing to worry about. Though I do not yet have a firm grasp on the matter we discussed.”

“I see. And the synchronization?”

“Yes, as you see.” Kaizaki put a cigarette to his lips and lit it. Smoke rose gently into the darkness. Kaizaki gazed at it for a moment before casting his eyes downward. He said in a low voice, “—I saw them at E Island today.”

“Them? ...You met...?!”

“Yes.” He fell silent, a serious look on his face. What was he thinking of? After a moment, he smiled faintly with his eyes still lowered. “He looked at me with such cold eyes...”

“...” He fell silent once more. The man gazed at Kaizaki’s profile, trying to peer into his heart. The smile had disappeared from his lips. He finally asked in a low voice, “You are not yet able to discard your doubts, then?”

Kaizaki’s eyes widened.

“I presume you are unable to completely accept it from an emotional standpoint. You wonder whether it would not constitute an act of treachery, and I understand. Since it is you and not someone else. However—”

“You don’t have to say anything else,” Kaizaki interrupted him firmly, and the man closed his mouth. “My hesitation is entirely directed towards my own strength. I am merely pondering whether it would be a good thing for me to accept.”

“There is no need. Everyone believes in your strength whole-heartedly.”

“What flattery...” Kaizaki smiled sardonically. “You may say that, but I can see that you’re the one who distrusts my strength the most.”

“...” The man’s expression stiffened: bullseye.

Kaizaki gazed at him for a moment and smiled. “It’s fine. You have cause, after all. I will only be able to convince you with actual results, I suppose.”

Kaizaki’s smiled disappeared as if he had stuffed his emotions into a bottle. He pressed his lips together and stared at the cigarette smoke for several seconds before forcing himself to resume a business-like expression. “And the matter in question? Any progress?”

“Yes, we are heading for Yokohama tonight in order to establish contact.”

“I see,” Kaizaki answered, and got into the car. “Withdraw for today. Report back to me to tomorrow. I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Understood!”

He shut the door and turned the key in the ignition. The roar of the engine reverberated through the quiet night of the high-class residential neighborhood. The car glided into the darkness and disappeared.

“!”

She brought down her whip. At the signal, the pack of stray dogs charged at Chiaki and Kotarou all at once.

“Guh...!”

Barking and baying furiously, the dogs bared their fangs as they rushed to the attack. These were no ordinary dogs—a red eye glowed in each of their foreheads. Chiaki’s eyes widened in surprise.

(Three-eyed dogs...!)

He elbowed a canine in the face as it snapped at his windpipe and shot his will blindly into the pack. Ear-piercing howls resounded across the harbor. He sent dogs flying away from him like rubber balls, but they instantly regained their feet and charged at him once more.

(Are they demonic hounds?)

These were the souls of dogs who bore deadly curses, a type of animal spirit brought forth by magic, also called inugami.

“You little—!”

He continued to strike with his will, but there was no end to them. The pack of three-eyed dogs attacked from front and back. There was a limit to his will. They bit at his clothing, and he feverishly tore them off, yelling, “You...damned freakish dogs!”

With the fwoosh of something bursting into flames, all the demonic hounds surrounding Chiaki were enveloped in blue fire. Chiaki They hopped and rolled on the ground, writhing in the inextinguishable flames.

“Yasuda-sama!” someone shouted from behind the warehouse: alerted by the commotion, one of the «NokizaruNokizaru (軒猿)

Lit. "roof monkey"; Uesugi Kenshin's ninja, who used a special technique which involved traveling on rooftops and entering houses from above. Their forte was hunting down other ninja, such as the Fuuma of the Houjou Clan and the Toppa of the Takeda Clan.» had come running.

“! Stay back!”

“Yeek!”

Chiaki’s warning came too late. Now that they had found a new target, the demonic hounds all turned to the «Nokizaru» and charged.

“Gyaaah—!”

The choked scream lingered as their sharp teeth sank into the «Nokizaru»’s flesh and ripped open his veins. Fresh blood showered down as the demonic hounds fought each other greedily over his body.

“You too will soon be their victim, Yasuda!” the courageous warrior Yamagata Masakage yelled in his blonde vessel’s high voice, swinging the whip. Chiaki filled his body with «power» and resolutely charged towards the advancing dogs.

“You’re the one going to the dogs, Yamagata!” Chiaki yelled, forming the ritual gesture with his hands. A fiery aura blazed from his body.

“Ari nari tonari anaro nabi kunabiari nari tonari anaro nabi kunabi ()

In the 26th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the dharani given by Bishamonten to the followers of Buddhism for protection. A distance of one hundred "yojanas" is specified for the radius of protection.!”

The demonic hounds’ third eye glowed with the need for blood. Chiaki threw everything he had into a «ressa-choubukuressa-choubuku (裂炸調伏)

Lit. "rend-exploding exorcism"; a type of choubuku which uses the incantation "ari nari tonari...." Described as gun-like, as opposed to kouhou-choubuku.».

“ (baibai ()

Intoned by the Yasha-shuu at the beginning of choubuku, 'bai' is the "seed syllable" for Bishamonten, originally known as Vaiśravaṇa.)!”

Shyuurp!

They vanished as if sucked into a vacuum. Weaving his way through, Chiaki advanced his assault. “Out of my way, you blasted things!”

Multiple vacuum whirlwinds sprang violently into being in multiple spots, sucking demonic hounds in and killing them. A berserker aura exploded from Yamagata as he readied himself to meet him. Chiaki yelled, “Sorry, but KawanakajimaKawanakajima (川中島)

Lit.: "the island within the river"; a plain located in Shinano Province, very near modern Nagano, on which Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin fought five major battles in 1553, 1555, 1557, 1561 and 1564. In the battle of 1561, Takeda with 20,000 men won over Uesugi's force of 18,000. 12,400 and 12,960 men were lost by Takeda and Uesugi respectively, a loss of life greater than in any other battle in the Sengoku period ended a long time ago!”

“Die...Yasuda!”

Yamagata attacked with his will, only to be deflected by Chiaki’s «goshinhagoshinha (護身波)

Lit. "wave of self-protection"; the goshinha is a protective mesh spun from fine strands of spiritual energy which surrounds the caster and protects from an opponent's spiritual as well as physical attacks. The mesh gains strength and stability when it is multi-layered and becomes the goshinheki. The goshinha is Naoe's forte.». Yamagata’s whip blazed incandescent red and elongated. Chiaki blocked it with his right hand just before it could wrap around his neck.

“Guuuh!”

The heat of it scorched his skin. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Chiaki pulled at the whip with all his strength.

“Waugh!”

Perhaps handicapped by a woman’s body, Yamagata was yanked forward and lost his balance. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Chiaki mercilessly attacked with his will.

“Gyah!”

Asphalt spurted fire and crumbled. Yamagata was possessing the body, which meant he could be «exorcised». Chiaki gathered his «power».

“Prepare yourself, Yamagata!”

“Graaah!” With a ferocious roar Yamagata pressed both hands against the ground and shoved his will into it.

“What?!”

The asphalt squirmed, bulged, and mushroomed. Then it peeled back with a groan to reveal a giant black shadow emerging from underground. The enormous tube-like black lump danced in front of his eyes and raised its head.

It was a centipede. A grotesque, demonic, lumpish centipede.

“Woah!”

It spat a yellowish mucus at Chiaki. Chiaki struck with all his «power» at the thing’s guts.

“!”

Strange dark red flesh flew in all directions. Chiaki continued his assault. The centipede convulsed and fell with a thud flat to the ground. Yamagata turned on his heels and ran. Trampling over pieces of flesh, Chiaki followed.

“Weren’t we gonna settle things, you asshole?!”

“Graah!”

Kotarou was engaged in a hard fight. Chiaki turned and fired his will like a machine gun. The pack was sent flying, but one with its teeth sunk deep into Kotarou’s arm refused to let go.

“Damn it!” Kotarou clenched his teeth hard and wrenched open the jaws of the dog clamped to his arm, firing his will directly into the eye on its forehead.

Gwarl!

Green blood burst from its head as it was crushed. Flinging away the corpse, Kotarou rolled away from a fresh assault. He grabbed hold of a crystal ball in his jacket pocket and hurled it out over the waves.

“Awaken, spirit-beast!”

Rumble.

The crystal ball glowed as it churned up waves. A large lion appeared out of it.

The demonic hounds charged it in a pack. The lion shook its mane dramatically. Its roar was more resonant than a ship’s steam whistle. Battle was joined.

“Boss!” One of the Fuuma yelled, rushing up. Kotarou’s mangled right arm had soaked his tattered sleeve with blood. “Are you all right?!”

Roar!

Demonic hounds with their throats torn out by the lion raised howls as of confession and penitence as they were flung to the ground. In the blink of an eye the pack had been defeated at the lion’s fangs.

Kotarou confirmed the last kill. As the three-eyed demons breathed their last, they melted like wax, turned to sand, and were swept away by the harbor breeze.

“Boss! Allow me to treat this terrible injury!”

“It’s not serious. What of Yasuda-dono?”

“He went off in pursuit of that woman!”

Kotarou stood, panting.

“Takeda’s Yamagata Masakage... That such a commander would appear...”

 
“Stop running, you asshole!”

Attacking with his will, Chiaki chased after Yamagata. But this woman, though she was wearing high heels, was bizarrely fast. Even at his top speed Chiaki couldn’t catch up. In fact, she was lengthening her lead.

He was going to lose Yamagata in the maze of warehouse streets.

(He’s getting away!)

The distance between them widened again, and he was about to lose sight of the distant figure when—

Flash.

A car’s lights suddenly barred Yamagata’s way. Dazzled and stunned, he covered his eyes.

Someone climbed out of the driver’s seat.

“Who are you?!”

“...You will go no further, Takeda.”

Behind him, Chiaki also inadvertently covered his eyes against the headlights’ glare. He couldn’t see the other’s face.

(Who is that?)

“Who are you? Identify yourself!”

“I am sorry to tell you the Takeda atake-bune has sunk.”

The words rattled both Yamagata and Chiaki.

“What?!”

“It was attacked by a group of merpeople in the seas off Miura PeninsulaMiura-hantou (三浦半島)

Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa Prefecture south of Yokohama and Tokyo. It lies between Tokyo Bay to the east and Sagami Bay to the west.. The ship capsized and sank with the spirit-stone to the bottom of Sagami Bay. Thus your long-awaited transit plan has ended in failure.”

“You bastard, you’re kanshousha, aren’t you?” Yamagata warily scanned his opponent’s aura: “If you’re an enemy, you’re not leaving this place alive!”

“Look out, get out of here!” Chiaki yelled, but Yamagata was already running, about to fire his will at the other man.

“Haaaaah—!” He shot off the will gathered in his hand! But the man moved at the same time. His magnificent «wallgoshinheki (護身壁)

Lit.: "wall of self-protection"; the goshinheki is a barrier constructed for an instant using spiritual energy. The goshinha is effective when maintained, but the goshinheki takes shape in the instant the caster is attacked and is a basic method of self-protection. However, its weakness is that it cannot protect the caster against 100% of the damage caused by the attack.» blocked the heavy bazooka-like attack, where it shattered.

(He’s...!)

Chiaki caught his breath again. What the man did next could not be done by anyone save themselves.

“ (baibai ()

Intoned by the Yasha-shuu at the beginning of choubuku, 'bai' is the "seed syllable" for Bishamonten, originally known as Vaiśravaṇa.)!”

Instantly rooted to the spot, Yamagata’s body convulsed as if he had touched a live wire. He had been caught by a strong paralysis. He was unable to move no matter how much he struggled.

“You...graaaah...!”

“Noumakusamanda, bodanan baishiramandaya sowakanoumakusamanda bodanan baishiramandaya sowaka

「のうまくさまんだ　ぼだなん　ばいしらまんだや　そわか」

A mantra of Bishamonten which protects the caster from fatigue and calamity, usually used when starting a long or complex invocation.

"noumakusamanda bodanan" = a devotion to the Buddhas/"homage to all the Buddhas".
"Baishiramandaya" = a reverence to Bishamonten, or "hail Bishamonten!"!”

Vibrant energy overflowed from hands locked firmly in the ritual gesture. Standing at the center of the gathering light, he chanted that well-known abjuration without a word out of place:

“Namu Tobatsu BishamontenNamu Tobatsu Bishamonten (南無刀八毘沙門天)

Lit. "Hail Eight-Sword Bishamonten" Chanted during "light-enclosing exorcism," the summoning of the Sword of Bishamonten, and other invocations to Bishamonten.! For this demon subjugation, lend me thy power!”

Yamagata struggled, face twisted, but he could not escape from the outer bind. He was about to be struck by the full force of that power...!

“You’re...Uesugi? Curse yooou!”

“«Choubukuchoubuku (調伏)

Also known as: choubukuryoku (調伏力)

The special power given to the Yasha-shuu to banish onryou to the Underworld using the dharani of Uesugi Kenshin's guardian deity, Bishamonten. The types of choubuku include "kouhou-choubuku", "ressa-choubuku", "kekkai-choubuku", etc. Each choubuku is begun with the incantation "bai" and the ritual hand gesture of Bishamonten's symbol.

Choubuku does not work against kanshousha, who have bodies of their own.»!”

A flash of light more intense than the headlights overflowed from the man’s hands. Yamagata screamed and continued to struggle. Chiaki covered his eyes with his arm. The swirling light engulfed Yamagata with a sound like a mountain of sand collapsing.

At last the sound grew distant and faded as the darkness of night leeched away the light, and the last misty eddies of «choubukuryoku» subsided.

The formerly possessed woman lay between Chiaki and the man. Her long blonde hair curled on the asphalt like a spool of gold thread.

“Looks like he got away,” the man smiled wryly. The «exorcism» had failed. It’d been a long time since he’d last used it, and he seemed to have lost the knack. Yet he didn’t seem much bothered. He straightened the collar of his mountain parka and turned to properly face Chiaki. “It’s been a long time, Nagahide.”

Chiaki stared in dumbfounded amazement at this unexpected apparition. He hadn’t thought he would perform kanshoukanshou (換生)

To possess another's body, driving out their soul, so as to be reborn with memories intact. Only Naoe of all the kanshousha has the power to perform kanshou on another soul. on an adult. For Chiaki, this was actually a reunion 30 years in the making.

“Y-you...”

“She’s going to catch a cold if we let her sleep here. Give me a hand, Nagahide.”

The man carefully lifted the blonde woman. Chiaki only stared dumbstruck at him. Then he sank to the ground as if all the strength had gone out of his legs and pressed his hands around his head.

They’d never found him even after searching so hard...

“Why are you here...?”

“...”

The fifth member of the Uesugi lifted his head and smiled that smile he hadn’t seen for so long.

Chapter 8: Rite of the Ten Night-Demon Kings

Ayako called Takaya in the morning.

She‘d received an urgent request from Suga Natsuo to ’Please come immediately.’ Her father’s condition had taken a sudden turn for the worse. He had developed a high fever and was crying out Yama’s name. He was becoming violent. It was so bizarre that Natsuo, trusting in what Ayako had said about ‘chasing out demons’—even if it meant grasping at straws, had decided to call her.

“There’s a high possibility that someone’s placed a lethal curse on him,” Ayako said urgently, having heard Councilor Gotou’s story from Reiko. “I’ll get to E Island as soon as I can. If it is a curse, it needs to be taken care of ASAP.”

“I’ll come too,” Takaya offered, but Ayako declined.

“It’s better if we don’t work together for now.”

When Takaya asked why, she answered that she had a somewhat troublesome companion.

“Troublesome companion?”

Ayako explained briefly about Nikaidou Reiko. Takaya appeared to be a target for Reiko and her team, and she didn’t want him getting caught up in the mess, which would probably result in everyone wasting a lot of time. Thus it was better if he avoided them for the time being.

He wasn’t quite clear on where things stood, but decided to agree for now.

“But I do need to go to E Island. Our grotto investigation isn’t done yet.”

“Right... Just make sure you’re not recognized, okay?”

 
Ayako and Reiko left for E Island first. Chiaki left word for him with the front desk at around 7. Just an I’m-all-right-don’t-worry-about-me, not even a mention of where he was. Had he been in a hurry? Or did he not want to be grilled about what had happened?

There were no other messages.

(This has gotten a bit strange.)

Takaya grimaced as he descended the wide staircase to a lobby that looked like a movie set. There was an atrium, and behind the staircase a glass elevator that came and went. He hadn’t gone so far as a disguise, but heeding Ayako’s warning, he was wearing sunglasses and a leather cap in order to conceal his face. He’d also decided to change his style, and had donned an all-black ensemble. After hesitating for a while, he’d also ditched his leather jacket for the coat. Maybe it was way too stylish or made him look like some kind of celebrity, because everybody he passed turned to look at him. Given that this was the opposite effect of what he’d hoped to achieve, it made Takaya dispirited and annoyed.

Or maybe the real cause was the striking 190-centimeter (~6’3")-tall man following behind him, also dressed in black but paired with an off-white trench coat, his long hair gathered in a tail.

(Except he doesn’t seem bothered by the attention.)

“National Public Safety Commission special investigator...hm?”

They probably had something to do with the police.

So the country’s public institutions were beginning to look into the «Yami-SengokuYami Sengoku (闇戦国)

Lit.: "Dark Sengoku", the civil war still being fought by the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period in modern-day Japan.». His difficulties just kept multiplying,
and Takaya was sick and tired of it.

All the disturbances lately must’ve caught their attention.

(...It’ll be fine, I guess.)

“I will bring the car,” Kotarou said in front of the entrance, all business. “Please wait here.”

Takaya only looked at him.

Naoe seemed determined to ignore everything that had happened last night. Takaya’s subconscious response was to train himself to expel his own emotions to avoid being hurt, and he no longer knew when he’d started doing it.

“All right,” Takaya answered. But as Kotarou was about to head for the parking lot, a man standing by the door turned to them. He looked as if he’d been waiting for somebody.

Takaya almost shouted out loud: he remembered this man.

“You...”

The man quietly bowed his head. He seemed to know Takaya.

The man awaiting him was none other than the man they’d met in the grotto yesterday—onshouonshou (怨将)

Lit.: "vengeful general": the spirits of the warlords of the Sengoku period, who continue their battles even in modern-age Japan. Miura YoshiokiMiura Yoshioki (三浦義意) 1496 - 1516-08-09

Nickname: Arajirou (荒次郎)

Eldest son of Miura Yoshiatsu and last head of the Sagami Miura Clan. His father gave him Arai Castle (also known as Misaki Castle) in Sagami and handed the position of clan head to him in 1510. He was known as the 'brave warrior with the strength of 85' and fought against Houjou Souun, but he lost Okazaki Castle and Sumiyoshi Castle, and went to ground in the Miura Peninsula. He and his father held Arai Castle in a three-year siege, but the castle fell at last, and he witnessed Yoshiatsu's seppuku.

Yoshioki then charged out into the midst of his enemies and was killed, thus ending the Miura line. With his death the Houjou Clan achieved subjugation of Sagami.

Note: English sites seem to universally give Miura Yoshioki's name as Miura Yoshimoto, which the Japanese Wikipedia lists as a possible reading. It officially gives the reading as "Yoshioki", which is also used by Mirage..

 
“The Satomi clan?”

Takaya and Kotarou expressed their surprise upon hearing Yoshioki’s story, sitting in the first floor tea lounge with its view of the harbor. Takaya was especially wary given yesterday’s events, but Yoshioki had been courteous throughout in an attempt to demonstrate that he was not their enemy and meant them no harm.

After having candidly identified himself, Yoshioki explained: “Verily, the men I put to sleep in the grotto all belong to Satomi.”

Yoshioki had the presence of a military commander of old. He faced Takaya perched at the edge of his chair like a warrior at the front line on his camp stool: with his legs spread wide and his spine perfectly straight. This affected posture earned him more than one strange look from the waiters.

He had escaped into a strong barrier yesterday into which the Gohou DoujiGohou Douji (護法童子)

Also known as: Gohou Douji of the Swords

Lit.: "Dharma-protecting boy"; a variety of demon-deity in the service of Bishamonten who can be summoned by a high priest with mikkyou to do his bidding. They look like boys of 9 or 10 with red hair and golden skin who wear a thousand swords and ride on top of a magic wheel (Cakraratna). Their power and skills are varied and depend on the power of their summoners.

In Mirage of Blaze, Takaya summons the Gohou Douji by writing Bishamonten's mantra on a piece of paper in Sanskrit and wrapping it around a dagger while chanting On beishiramandaya sowaka, then drawing Bishamonten’s seed syllable in the air above the blade before placing the fore- and middle fingers of his right hand against his forehead. He then touches the sword to his fingers, whereupon the paper ignites, and the Gohou Douji appears from the fire. had not been able to follow. Takaya would never have thought he’d show himself of his own accord.

“I apologize profusely for yesterday. I mistook you for allies of the Satomi. Only later did I hear from my retainers that you took down their ally, Nagano NarimoriNagano Narimori (長野業盛) 1544 - 1566-11-10

Narimori became head of his clan at 17 after the death of his father Nagano Narimasa's death in 1561 and his older brother Yoshinari death during the Siege of Kawagoe Castle in 1564. Like his father, he was called a an exceedingly brave warrior.

His father managed to repel several invasions from the Takeda Clan, but after his death Takeda Shingen gathered 20,000 troops for a further assault in 1566. Narimori fought a defensive battle from his main castle of Minowa-jou, but was unable to hold out. He committed suicide along with his entire clan.. My ignorance is inexcusable.”

Though Yoshioki displayed no signs of animosity, Takaya couldn’t help but have his guard up upon hearing that he was dealing with someone from the Miura clan: Miura, after all, had been destroyed by Houjou SouunHoujou Souun (北条早雲) 1432 - Sept. 8, 1519

Also known as: Ise Moritoki (伊勢盛時), Ise Souzui (伊勢宗瑞), Shinkurou (nickname—新九郎), Souunansouzui (Buddhist—早雲庵宗瑞)

Houjou Souun was the founder of the Later Houjou Clan, but he was never known as "Houjou Souun" during his lifetime. His son Houjou Ujitsuna, who succeeded him as clan head, adopted the clan name of Houjou and posthumously named his father Houjou Souun.

Though popularly portrayed as a humble masterless samurai, Souun's father, Ise Morisada, held an important post as an official of the shogunate according to modern-era research. The name of Ise Shinkurou Moritoki appears in written records from 1481, when he was appointed to a company of troops by Ashikaga Yoshihisa. Souun initially served his brother-in-law, Imagawa Yoshitada, and after his death, help his young son Imagawa Ujichika become the next head of the clan. In gratitude, Ujichika gave him Kokokuji Castle and the "uji" character in his name.

Souun took advantage of general unrest in the Eastern Provinces to take Izu Province for himself in 1493 (an event that many scholars mark as the beginning of the Sengoku), then Odawara Castle and Sagami Province in 1495. He died in 1519, leaving his new terrorities and the clan to his son Houjou Ujitsuna.

. Luckily he didn’t seem aware that Kagetora was Souun’s grandson, and Takaya was not about to mention it. He said, “Never mind about that. More importantly, what are you doing here? And what was Satomi doing in that cave?”

Yoshioki’s prominent jowls stiffened, and his wide mouth pressed into a thin line. He asked with a grim expression, “Do you know of the tale that says there is a blowing cave at the back of that grotto which leads to Mt. FujiFuji-san (富士山)

Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan, an active volcano, and one of its "Three Holy Mountains," frequently depicted in literature and art. It is popular tourist and mountain-climbing destination.?”

“Blowing cave?”

“Aye. It is said to be the ‘Passageway of the Gods,’ used by the gods to travel between the sacred mountain Fuji and E Island. But there is a different version of the folklore,” Yoshioki’s voice hushed, “which says that it is not the gods who traverse the blowing cave, but the dead.”

Takaya’s eyes grew round. “The dead?”

“Aye. It is also said that Koubou DaishiKuukai (空海) 774 - 835

Also known as: Koubou Daishi (弘法大師), or High Priest Koubou

A Japanese monk, scholar, poet, calligrapher, and artist who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism. He is credited with inventing kana (which includes hiragana and katakana) of the Japanese writing system as well as introducing homosexuality (or at least shudo) to Japan.

He studied in China from 804 to 806, where he was initiated into the Esoteric Buddhism tradition. He returned to Japan to establish the Shingon school, which would become the dominant Buddhism sect for the next 300 years. His teachings and his many writings, such as Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence, The Meaning of Sound, Word, Reality, The Ten Stages of the Development of Mind, and Ten Abiding Stages, synthesized Buddhism into a coherent whole, and displaced Confucianism with Buddhism as the official Japanese state ideology.

He was contemporaneous with Shaichou, the founder of the Tendai school.—KuukaiKuukai (空海) 774 - 835

Also known as: Koubou Daishi (弘法大師), or High Priest Koubou

A Japanese monk, scholar, poet, calligrapher, and artist who founded the Shingon school of Buddhism. He is credited with inventing kana (which includes hiragana and katakana) of the Japanese writing system as well as introducing homosexuality (or at least shudo) to Japan.

He studied in China from 804 to 806, where he was initiated into the Esoteric Buddhism tradition. He returned to Japan to establish the Shingon school, which would become the dominant Buddhism sect for the next 300 years. His teachings and his many writings, such as Attaining Enlightenment in This Very Existence, The Meaning of Sound, Word, Reality, The Ten Stages of the Development of Mind, and Ten Abiding Stages, synthesized Buddhism into a coherent whole, and displaced Confucianism with Buddhism as the official Japanese state ideology.

He was contemporaneous with Shaichou, the founder of the Tendai school.—journeyed along the blowing cave. Have you heard the tale?”

It was said that in ancient times, the Great Priest secluded himself in the grotto to undergo ascetic training. At Katase Beachkatase_beach was a master of the Japanese lute, a youth called Inagi, whose great skill drew forth heavenly music from his instrument. When he played, tempestuous waves fell into harmony; wilted flowers revived and bloomed again; the hearts of those who heard him were cleansed; and the wicked wept and were reformed.

Inagi had a lover named Nami who fell ill and died.

Inagi was distraught with grief. His instrument lamented for seven days and seven nights. The lute’s sound was so heartbreaking that the seas raged, rain poured down without pause, and all the crops withered. In their distress, the inhabitants begged Great Priest Koubou for help. The Great Priest devised a plan.

He spoke to King Yama in the underworld and asked him to open a passageway from E Island’s grotto to ‘the other world’ on the night of the full moon to allow Inagi to meet his dead beloved one last time. In return, he would never play his ‘lamenting lute’ again. Inagi agreed, and was overjoyed he would be able to meet Nami once more.

Thus on the night of the full moon there opened a passageway from E Island to ‘the other world’: the ‘Night-Demon Road’. Inagi traversed it swiftly, bare-footed, to be reunited with Nami.

Then disaster struck. Unwilling to part with his beloved, Inagi took Nami’s hand and charged back toward the world of the living.

‘This is our chance to return also,’ the dead exulted, and clung tight to Nami. A chain of the dead—hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands strong followed after Nami, all pulled through the blowing cave by Inagi as he ran toward E Island.

In order to stop the dead from leaving, the startled Great Priest Koubou had no choice but to seal the blowing cave’s exit with something called a vajra boulder, imprisoning Inagi within. King Yama was so angered by Inagi’s actions that he separated Inagi and Nami and confined him to a prison of rock in Hell forever.

Thus the blowing cave was sealed. According to legend, the sound of Inagi’s lute crying out to Nami could still be heard in the depths of the grotto on full-moon nights.

“Folklore says that ‘the other world’ lies beneath Fuji. Later, it is said the Venerable Ippen and the Venerable Nichiren both traveled the ‘Night-Demon Road’ and sealed it up again, but such accounts were never verified. There is nothing in the grotto now that appears to be an blowing cave.”

“...”

Sipping a rather milky coffee as the story drew to an end, Takaya made a complex expression with the cup still in his hand.

“That’s pretty similar to the legend of Izanagi...”

It told of how the deity Izanagi went into Hell to retrieve his wife Izanami. The particulars were somewhat different, but given that even the names had a similar feel, perhaps the story of Inagi and Nami came from Izanagi’s myth. Inagi as a master of the lute also had similarities to Orpheus from Greek mythology, who traveled to Hades in order to bring his dead wife Eurydice back to life. The ending was different, but it felt as if the Inagi legend was been a combination of these other myths.

A legend that took elements from both Buddhism and Shintoism was strangely suited to an island whose traditions were rooted in the syncretization of Shinto with Buddhism.

“I didn’t know such a story existed,” Takaya said, his expression stern again. “So what does Satomi intend to do with this blowing cave? They can’t mean to open the sealed passageway again to connect this world to the other?”

“But they can mean to do just that, Uesugi-dono,” Yoshioki answered, voice hard. “Satomi intends to open the ‘Night-Demon Road’ once more and call forth the dead from the other world.”

“What...?!” Takaya and Kotarou were left speechless. “What do you mean? A road to the other world? That—!” can’t be possible, Takaya wanted to say, when he recalled what Natsuo had said.

“Yama-sama appears to warn us. He says that he’s bought E Island, so we should all leave.”

“In a month the grotto’s blowing cave will open, and the dead will emerge from Hell, so we should leave now...”

(That’s what she was talking about...!)

Satomi was behind the mass dream, as they’d suspected. Which meant Keibu Real Estate was connected to Satomi somehow.

“Why would Satomi do such a thing...?”

“I know not. I do not believe ‘tis possible to open a path to the other world,” Yoshioki averred. “A legend is but a legend, and I do not think even Great Priest Koubou could have done such a thing in reality. Yet Satomi wishes to perform in reality the ’Rite of Passage to Hell’ that the Great Priest enacted in the tale.”

“The ’Rite of Passage to Hell”...?"

“Aye. They would revive that esoteric ritual and open the path to the underworld. If such a thing is truly possible, they would bring disaster upon the world. Mayhap Satomi desires to supplement their own faltering fighting power with the dead from that other realm.”

Takaya was so flabbergasted that he couldn’t speak for a moment.

“They must not be allowed to open the path, for it would give Satomi dominion over E Island’s stronghold of the dead. It cannot be allowed. ...Uesugi-dono, will you not lend me your aid? Our strength alone is not enough to stop the ‘Rite of Passage to Hell’. Help us!”

Takaya listened to Yoshioki’s passionate speech with wide eyes.

(Could they really...?)

Was it really possible to open a path to Hell? But if it was, if they could bring out the dead from that other world.

Depending on how you looked at it, it would be a disaster if the souls of that world returned to this one. If such a thing was possible, it would render their power of «exorcism» pointless.

(Is it really possible...?) Takaya wondered grimly.

“...”

But he regained his composure after a moment and looked up abruptly.

“Kagetora-sama...?” Kotarou questioned.

Takaya said with cool eyes, “...All right. We’ll cooperate with you.”

“Verily, Uesugi-dono?!”

“What will you give us in exchange?”

“?”

“What will you give us in return for our aid? The Uesugi do not work for the benefit of any given onshou. We do not enter into unconditional collaborations.”

Yoshioki was silent for a moment. He had not been so naïve as to believe that he would be given something for nothing, yet he had not come prepared to answer. “...I see. In that case, allow me to ask what you would like in exchange.”

“Information on Takeda,” Takaya responded immediately, and Yoshioki started.

Takaya’s expression didn’t change.

“I have heard Miura has joined forces with Takeda. What is Takeda doing? This is their territory; surely they would not stand idly by.”

“...”

There must be a reason they weren’t taking steps against this encroachment.

Shingen appeared to be giving Ujiyasu a wide berth. Therefore, though they had claimed this territory, they were not intervening. Instead, they were forcing E Island’s problems on Miura Yoshioki, who was half-subordinate to them. His position against Takeda was weak. If he could not resolve the problem, the alliance would be broken; if he made a wrong move, Takeda would send its troops to crush Miura. If Satomi took over E Island as their stronghold, it would endanger Yoshioki’s own claim over the Miura Peninsula.

He was trying to cling to his own puny influence. He needed Uesugi’s help in order to offload some of the risk.

“We’ll help you,” Takaya pressed once he’d sized up Yoshioki. “In return, tell us about Takeda. If you can do so...”

“... Very well,” Yoshioki answered with some chagrin. “I accept your conditions. That being so, return to the grotto with me and put a stop to Satomi’s ritual.”

It was board daylight by the time Ayako’s car arrived on E Island, and the sun glittered on Shounan’s waves.

“Kadowaki-san!” Natsuo, who had been waiting impatiently for Ayako’s arrival, almost tumbled down the shrine road’s back hill. “Please come to my house! My dad...my dad is dying!”

“I know, I’m coming!”

Natsuo pulled Ayako after her as she rushed home.

Up on the second floor, her father groaned in anguish while people held down his hands and feet.

“Aaaaagh—!”

He writhed in agony, shrieking like a wild animal. He had torn off his nightclothes, yelling “It’s hot, it’s so hot!” but they could do nothing. His skin was burning with an unbelievably high fever, and those who gripped him could only do so with cloth wrapped around their hands.

“! ...This is!” On Natsuo’s father’s chest the Sanskrit character “ (enen

The seed syllable of Yama deity of death and the underworld.)” could clearly be seen.

(Oh no...!) Ayako thought with fury and regret, for this was clearly some kind of ritual curse. Someone somewhere was performing a curse against this man. She could tell by the surge of psychic energy. The character on his chest, this feeling...

(There’s no mistake.)

“Kadowaki-san!”

Reiko grimaced as she ran into the house after Ayako and felt the full force of the curse’s aura.

“This spiritual waveform is...!”

Ayako turned to her. “What? Do you feel something?!”

“It’s the same as the traces I felt at City Councilor Gotou’s house. That curse had the same residual aura. I’m sure of it, it’s the same curse!”

(The ‘Rite of the Ten Night-Demon Kings’...!) Ayako realized. It was a remote ritual also called the Ten-Day Murder. Every night the ten rulers of Hell would appear and slowly steal away the life force of the afflicted. She hadn’t encountered this curse in decades—no, centuries. Since the deva Yamaten’s power formed the magical foundation of this curse, depending on its usage it could be absolutely lethal, and required an especially strong caster. It was said the afflicted suffered the agony of the Eight Greater Hells.

“Kyaaah!”

Ayako’s head jerked up at Natsuo’s scream. A hologram-like figure was floating in midair at the center of the room.

It looked like a buddha riding on a water buffalo. In his hand he held the petals of the sacred lotus, inside which was a smaller face. At first glance it looked like KannonKannon (観音)

Also known as: Kanzeon, Kwannon (Japan), Kuan Shi Yin, Kuan Yin (China), Avalokiteśvara, Avalokiteshvara, Lokeshvara (India)

Kannon, represented in both male and female forms, is the Goddess and Bodhisattva of mercy, or Lord of Compassion whose name means "observing the sounds of the world". She is one of the most widely worshiped divinities in Japan and mainland Asia, and has many manifestations, such as Fukuukenjaku Kannon, Juuichimen Kannon, Juntei, Senjuusengan Kannon, etc. According to the Mahayana school of Buddhism, Kannon made a vow to listen to the prayers of all sentient beings in times of strife and to postpone his own perfect enlightenment until he has helped every being on earth achieve nirvana.

During the Tokugawa Shogunate, when Christianity was punishable by death in Japan, some underground Christian groups disguised the Virgin Mary as statue of Kannon; these statues are known as "Maria Kwannon"., but Ayako knew what it really was.

(Yamaten...!)

The curse was at its terminal stage. If she didn’t hurry, Natsuo’s father would die.

“Kadowaki-san! Help him, please save my dad...!”

(I don’t know if I can...)

For an instant fear rose into her mind. If she failed, in the worst case she would take the full force of the curse on herself, depending on the strength of the caster. But now was not the time to be mired in uncertainty.

(Can I also borrow power from a deva?) Ayako pondered, and then was struck by a thought: (E Island...of course. Benzaiten!)

It was a strong power. If she could leverage «earth energy», she could repel the curse. She couldn’t do it alone, for it required two people performing different parts. What if...

Ayako turned to Reiko.

“Nikaidou-san, I need a favor from you. Can you use mantras?”

“Mantras? ...Yes, I can.”

Reiko might be a private religious consultant, but she came from the bloodline of Shingon SectShingon-shu (真言宗)

A sect ("True Word") of Esoteric Buddhism with around 3000 temples and 5000 priests through Japan, founded by Kuukai. Its teachings are based on the Mahavairocana and Vajrasekhara Sutras. monks and had studied and excelled at Shingon practices since she was a child.

Ayako took a pair of koppashin-like but smaller wooden dollskokeshi (小芥子/こけし)

Handmade painted wooden dolls with simple limbless bodies and large heads, traditionally from northern Japan. out of her bag. She drew a mantra in Sanskrit on one with a felt-tip pen and passed it over to her partner.

“Take this to Houan Hall. Dedicate it to Benzaiten and chant the mantra there.”

“I just have to chant the mantra?”

“Yeah. Don’t let anyone into the hall for the time being. Pray to Benzaiten with your undivided attention until this curse boy cracks apart.”

“Will doing so save this man? It’ll stop the curse?”

“It’ll flick it away.” Ayako glared into midair. “You’ll be engaged in a contest of wills with the curse-caster. But there’s no other way. Go now. As soon as your preparations are complete, start!”

“Got it!”

“I’ll take you! Come with me!” Natsuo bravely stood and rushed outside with Reiko. Ayako assumed lotus position and placed a wooden doll called the curse boy in front of Natsuo’s father.

“Make sure you hold him down until we’re finished!”

Cowed by Ayako’s intensity, everyone nodded. Ayako began her own ritual in order to counter the ‘Rite of the Ten Night-Demon Kings’. She was going to fight magic with magic.

Ayako formed the ritual gesture and began to concentrate.

 
Guided by Natsuo, Reiko sprinted up the rear shrine road to Hetsu Shrine.

Natsuo went straight into the shrine office to grab the key to Houan Hall and opened the door.

“Please, please save my dad!”

“I will do everything I can,” Reiko said, entering the octagonal hall and shutting the door behind her. In front of her were enshrined the wooden Eight-Armed Benzaiten and the beautifully colored Nude Benzaiten, both said to be made by Minamoto no YoritomoMinamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝) May 9, 1147 - February 9, 1199

Minamoto no Yoritomo was a warlord of the late Heian and early Kamakura Periods, born as third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto (Seiwa Genji) clan. He founded and became the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate. He ruled from 1192 until 1199..

Reiko placed the curse boy given her by Ayako between the two images and sank to the floor in a similar position. But when she caught sight of the image of Benzaiten, she felt suddenly uneasy.

(I have to repel the curse.)

That’s what Kadowaki Ayako had told her, but was it something she could actually accomplish? She knew more than most people about curses, as well as several rituals for counter-curses. But she’d never before encountered a spell waveform as vivid or strong as this one.

(If I fail, the curse will rebound on me.)

Could she do this? Could she trust in that woman? Yet...

(I can’t just stand aside and do nothing.)

Reiko gulped and resolutely formed Benzaiten’s ritual gesture. She modulated her breath and concentrated.

(Until the doll breaks.)

She began chanting.

 
Natsuo peeped into the hall worriedly. She could hear something like sutra chanting. She’d been told not to open the door.

(...They’re starting something.)

Natsuo understood none of this. She only knew they were trying to help her father.

(Please, Benten-sama,) Natsuo addressed the goddess with the intimacy she’d felt toward her ever since she’d been a child. She put her hands together and prayed with all her heart. (Please save my dad.)

Just at that moment, a group of men in suits with Keibu Real Estate badges hanging around their collars appeared from the back of the shrine office. The man who appeared to be the leader came up behind them and wordlessly gave them his instructions. Rather than enter the shrine office, they walked toward Houan Hall and approached as Natsuo she prayed with her hands pressed together.

“?”

Natsuo lifted her head at the sudden appearance of a murderous aura at her back.

“What?!”

As she began to turn, a gauze-like object suddenly covered Natsuo’s mouth from behind.

“!”

As she was about to scream in surprise, she felt the strength leave her legs.

(What...?!)

Natsuo pitched forward, and the man behind her caught her as she fell. Her vision dimmed, and she lost consciousness.

As he gazed at the girl in his arms—

Kaizaki Makoto slowly sank to one knee and carefully lowered her body to the ground. “Bring her,” he instructed the men surrounding them.

His men approached, picked up the drugged and unconscious Natsuo, and carried her toward the stone steps.

Kaizaki rose and looked toward Houan Hall. Though he seemed unruffled, he appeared to have recognized exactly what was happening inside.

“...”

But Kaizaki looked away, turned his back on Houan Hall, and told his remaining men, “We’re going to the grotto. Bring her.”

Kaizaki turned on his heels and set off on foot, his movements efficient and economical. His men followed after him.

The motorboat carrying Takaya, Yoshioki, and Kotarou arrived at the rocky stretch on E Island’s southern side.

The sky was clearing, and against the spreading blue of the horizon the silhouette of Miura Peninsula could clearly be seen. Yet the sea wind was even stronger than yesterday, the sea rougher.

Takaya got out of the boat and gazed resolutely at the tall cliffs rising on his left. They would be traversing the rocks along the western cliffs to get to the grotto.

Work would be undertaken in the grotto today to remove yesterday’s fallen rocks, but it was still quiet; apparently the operation hadn’t started yet.

“Here, Uesugi-dono.”

Yoshioki, climbing off after him, handed Takaya an esoteric ritual implement: a heavy and very old single-pronged vajratokko (独鈷)

Also known as: tokko-sho, toko-sho, dokko-sho, dokuko-sho (独鈷杵)

A rod-shaped object with tapered pointed ends used in Esoteric Buddhism rituals, which represents the indestructible nature of Buddhist law and the power to defeat evil. The tokko is one type of vajra.. It had once been gold in color, but was now a dull ochre. On closer inspection, he could see the traces of something etched on its surface:

The mantra of Fudou-myououFudou Myouou (不動明王)

Also known as: Acala, Acalanatha Vidya-raja, The Immovable

Fudou Myouou is the chief of the Five Great Kings of Wisdom, whose direction is the center. He is the destroyer of delusion and protector of Buddhism; he is called The Immovable because he is unmoved by carnal temptations. He seeks to transform anger into salvation, and is usually depicted as a fiercely-scowling figure with a demon-subduing sword in one hand and a rope in the other. He is worshiped as a manifestation of Dainichi Nyorai.
.

“This is...”

“I deem ’tis the vajra Great Priest Koubou thrust into the ground in the grotto’s innermost chamber when he closed the ‘Night-Demon Road’ in the legend. It was transformed from Fudou-myouou’s sword underground. ’Twas found deep inside the grotto, said to be proof the legend was not mere fabrication. So long as this vajra is buried here, the ‘Night-Demon Road’ will not be re-opened, ’tis said.”

It was a safety valve, in other words: as long as this vajra was lodged in place, the road to Hell would not reach the world of the living. But if it was here...

“...You pulled it out?”

“Nay, not I, but the Satomi.” When Satomi had occupied the grotto, they’d located the vajra and pulled it out. “’Twas long slow work recapturing it.”

“So you were trying to bury this yesterday...?”

Yoshioki nodded. “If the ‘Night-Demon Road’ is never to reach this world again, this vajra must be lodged back within the cave and the grotto buried before they begin the ‘Rite of Passage to Hell’.”

“Bury the grotto?”

“Aye. ’Tis said Great Priest Koubou completely sealed the blowing cave with a rock—a vajra rock born of Fudou-myouou’s superhuman strength which cannot be gouged with either dynamite or excavator. I have heard the ‘Rite of Passage to Hell’ will destroy it, however.”

“...”

“If we are to stop Satomi from performing the ritual, this vajra must be driven back into its spot and the grotto buried. Falling rocks will not be enough. The bedrock itself must be collapsed so that it can never be reopened.”

“Along with the cliff...?” Takaya frowned and looked up at the cliffs. “It’s gonna take a lot of power. And if we’re not careful the buildings on the cliff will go down with it.”

“But there is no other way. The grotto must be sealed.”

Takaya stared fixedly at the back of the rocky stretch.

Right now there seemed no other way.

“And after all that money they spent to reopen it.”

It was looking to be an enormous undertaking, but it couldn’t be helped. Takaya turned to Kotarou.

“Wait here, Naoe.”

“But, Kagetora-sama...”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. Ready the boat so we can make a quick getaway if we need to. Keep a lookout for activity from the sea. Please,” he said, and walked off. But on the rocks he turned around and looked at him as if he wanted to say something.

“...”

Kotarou returned his gaze silently. Takaya closed his mouth again and walked off, disappearing beyond the rocks.

Kotarou watched him go, his expression austere.

Takaya and Yoshioki reached the shadow of a rock from which they could see the grotto. They saw no one. It was eerily quiet but for the ceaseless sound of waves.

The strong wind tossed about his hair.

“They’ve erected a barrier,” Takaya muttered, extending his senses to the surrounding auras. “I’ve got a bad feeling. It would be best if we could avoid a head-on clash.”

“What, then?”

“...” Takaya pondered. As he searched for a strategic approach—

“What are you doing here?”

Takaya and Yoshioki’s heads jerked up at the voice coming from ahead of them. A man appeared from the shadow of a rock opposite them.

“!” Takaya’s shoulders jolted. “You’re...!”

“This site is off-limits. How did you get in here? The grotto is dangerous—there was a rockslide; there should be signs. The stairs were roped off,” he said in a pleasant baritone, and descended the stairs almost as a model might.

It was Kaizaki.

“You...!”

“Uesugi-dono!”

At Yoshioki’s warning, he turned to see at least ten men appear from the concealment of the rocks.

They were all possessed—«nuenue (鵺)

In Japanese mythology, the nue is a chimera formed from the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and a snake-tail. The nue can transform into a black cloud and brings illness and misfortune.

In Mirage of Blaze: The troops of the various clans, lumped-together masses of onryou, are called the «nue». Mori Ranmaru commands the Nue-shuu of the Oda, who are onryou with strong powers.».

“...What is your business in the grotto?” Kaizaki asked in a low voice, approaching with an agile gait. “Will you return the vajra to us, Miura-dono?”

“!” Yoshioki’s eyes widened. “How do you know me...?!”

“Your actions are known to us. Yes, just as King Yama of Hell sees the dead’s every deed.”

“What...?!”

“Do you know of the jouhari mirror?” Kaizaki asked as he folded his arms and looked down at them. “It’s a magical mirror in Yama’s possession which shows a person all the good and evil deeds they committed in their lifetime, like a video.”

“...”

“We Satomi are Yama’s emissaries. The jouhari mirror can tell us about you whenever we wish.”

(Satomi...!)

He had boldly named himself. A frightened Yoshioki retreated into Takaya’s shadow. Takaya, on the other hand, glared at his opponent with obvious wariness. “Kaizaki...just who the hell are you?”

“I see you decided to wear my coat,” Kaizaki smiled, looking at the object in question. Takaya gripped the coat’s collar in surprise with a feeling of having had a weakness exposed. He glared back defiantly, face flushed. “It’s a little big, but it suits you very well.”

“You...bastard...”

“You’re general of the Uesugi, Uesugi Kagetora-dono, I believe. —Ougi Takaya.”

“...!” Takaya flinched, startled. He hadn’t thought they’d have discovered even his current name. Feeling as if he really had been seen through a jouhari mirror, Takaya’s wariness intensified. “Who the hell are you, Kaizaki?”

Kaizaki stared quietly straight back at Takaya. Takaya pushed his power into his eyes to perform a spirit-sensing, but he still felt no trace of a possessor spirit. Neither did he seem to be kanshoushakanshousha (換生者)

Those who possess others by driving out the soul from a body and making it theirs.

Unlike normal spirits, kanshousha cannot exchange bodies at will; they can only switch to another host body when their current body dies. Because kanshousha become the owners of their bodies, choubuku does not work on them. It is, however, still possible to exorcise kanshousha when they are in spirit-form (i.e. between possessions)..

“How do you know my name? What are you to the Satomi?”

“I am a descendant of the Satomi clan,” Kaizaki answered calmly. “After the resurrection of my ancestor, I lent him my services using the power passed down through the generations of my family. If you intend to interfere with us—” slowly unfolding his arms, Kaizaki took another step towards them “—then I must defeat you.”

“...Defeat?”

“People of antiquity are not the only ones who possess «power». Would you care to test the «power» of one from the modern age, Kagetora-dono?”

An orange light flared to life in the palm of Kaizaki’s hand. The sea wind howled in their ears. Takaya bent his legs defensively like a beast going into a crouch as he concentrated on his opponent’s movements.

“You appear very strong, Kagetora-dono.”

“You...”

“I am interested in the kanshousha’s power. Allow me to test myself against you. Show me the power of a kanshousha who has lived for four hundred years. Which is stronger?”

“!”

A fissure ran through the rock under Kaizaki’s feet with a dull cracking sound. Then flakes of rock shaped like arrowheads rose into the air.

“Please take care. If you underestimate the power of a man of the modern age, you will get hurt.”

Kaizaki’s eyes abruptly narrowed, and Takaya had the feeling a combative flame flared to life in their depths. Takaya gathered «power» into his body in an instant.

“Now!” Kaizaki yelled, his eyes opening wide. The flakes of rock shot towards Takaya. Takaya clenched his jaw and countered with his will, smashing the projectiles into dust.

“Curse youuu!” Yoshioki shouted. He counterattacked before Takaya could, shooting a «nenpanenpa (念波)

Lit.: "waves of will/thought"; a nendouryoku attack using spiritual energy which focuses the will and releases it in a burst to strike at a target.» at Kaizaki.

But instead of erecting a «shieldgoshinha (護身波)

Lit. "wave of self-protection"; the goshinha is a protective mesh spun from fine strands of spiritual energy which surrounds the caster and protects from an opponent's spiritual as well as physical attacks. The mesh gains strength and stability when it is multi-layered and becomes the goshinheki. The goshinha is Naoe's forte.» around himself, Kaizaki caught Yoshioki’s «nenpa» in his right hand and waved his arm dramatically.

“Gyah!”

Yoshioki pressed his hands against his face as he somersaulted backwards and hit the rock behind him hard.

“Yoshioki!” Takaya yelled, and Kaizaki attacked with his will. Takaya reflexively brought up a «goshinhagoshinha (護身波)

Lit. "wave of self-protection"; the goshinha is a protective mesh spun from fine strands of spiritual energy which surrounds the caster and protects from an opponent's spiritual as well as physical attacks. The mesh gains strength and stability when it is multi-layered and becomes the goshinheki. The goshinha is Naoe's forte.» to scatter it, but with a low hum the advancing «power» spontaneously overwhelmed it.

“Guh!”

Sharp plasmastic fireworks danced as Takaya barely managed to disperse his opponent’s will, but the recoil knocked him off-balance. The «nue» moved to take advantage of this opportunity. Kaizaki warned them off sharply: “Don’t touch him!”

His will flared menacingly. Takaya regained his balance and impatience.

(This man...!)

Was strong. Far stronger than the onshou here. As strong as kanshousha.

(He...!)

“Would you care to make a serious effort now?” Kaizaki suggested, not at all out of breath, a dense mass of will gathered in the palm of his hand. To Takaya’s surprise, the energy transformed with a wave of Kaizaki’s hand into a real sword.

“!”

Almost like the Sword of BishamontenBishamonten-tou (毘沙門天刀)

The Sword of Bishmonten is an incarnation of Bishamonten, a physical blade which can be summoned only by the general of the Meikai Uesugi Army. It contains the power of «choubuku», and any spirit cut by it is exorcised; however, none-spiritual objects are not harmed by its blade.

Its summoning calls upon Namu Tobatsu Bishamonten with the incantation "on beishiramandaya sowaka". Its dismissal uses the incantation of unsummoning, "on basara bokisha boku.". Takaya stared at his opponent in disbelief.

“You, that’s...!”

“Here I come, Uesugi!”

Brandishing the sword, Kaizaki charged at Takaya. Takaya raised his eyes sharply. He was about to release all his amassed «power», but at that moment—

“!”

Takaya’s shoulders jolted. He felt control slip out of his hands yet again.

Oh shit, Takaya thought, and hesitated. Kaizaki caught the moment of indecision.

“...!”

Kaizaki’s «nenpa» grazed Takaya as he stood wide open. As he shielded himself, Takaya’s head jerked up toward Kaizaki. The azure sword in Kaizaki’s hands flashed toward him. He couldn’t evade it...!

!

The blow came straight at his head like a bolt of lightning. The shock knocked him unconscious, and Takaya crumbled to the rocks.

“...”

Kaizaki vanished the sword in his hand and approached the fallen Takaya.

He hadn’t actually used the sword. Instead, he’d used an induction blast—an energy shock wave straight to Takaya’s brain.

Takaya had fainted and lay unmoving on his side. Kaizaki crouched down and lifted Takaya’s upper body in his arms.

Takaya’s head tilted backwards under its own weight, and Kaizaki shifted it to loll against his chest as he held Takaya’s limp body.

Takaya was motionless, eyes closed and lips faintly open.

The sea wind seemed to wrap around Takaya protectively as Kaizaki lifted him lightly.

“What will you do with him, Kaizaki-sama?”

One of the «nue> in front of Yoshioki asked, and Kaizaki turned to look at him.

“Bring him back with us. Put him on the boat.”

“Kaizaki-sama, allow me...”

Another of his men came forward to help him, but Kaizaki stopped him with a shake of his head.

“It’s fine. I’ll take him.”

He set off toward Chigo Pool. Men descended from the stairs ahead of him.

“So you managed to bring him down, Kaizaki.” He looked up quietly. Standing there was the man who’d been at Tatsumi’s residence on Mt. Kamakura last night, Satomi YoshitakaSatomi Yoshitaka (里見義堯) 1507 - June 19, 1574

Satomi Yoshitaka was the son of Satomi Sanetaka and became head of the Satomi Clan by killing the then-head, his cousin Satomi Yoshitoyo (son of his father's older brother Satomi Yoshimichi) in 1534. The traditional version of the story goes that Yoshitoyo killed Yoshitaka's father, who was in communication with the Houjou, and Yoshitaka killed him in revenge. In recent years, however, historians have theorized that Yoshitaka and Sanetaka, father and son, allied themselves with the Satomi Clan's bitter enemy, the Houjou Clan, in order to take over the clan. They then changed the records to hide the fact that they betrayed the Houjou Clan after their plan succeeded.

As clan head, Yoshitaka fought numerous battles with Houjou Ujitsuna and Houjou Ujiyasu. He pushed into Shimousa and Kazusa, making his stronghold Kuruji Castle in Kazusa, and brought about the golden age of the clan. He battled the Houjou to the last and died at Kuruji Castle at the age of 68.’s son YoshiyoriSatomi Yoshiyori (里見義頼) 1543 - 1587-11-26

7th head of the Satomi Clan; various accounts say he is either son of the 6th head Satomi Yoshihiro or son of 5th head Satomi Yoshitaka. He and Yoshihiro's son Satomi Yoshishige were joint heirs to Yoshihiro.

He achieved peace with the Houjou Clan in 1577 and married Houjou Ujimasa's daughter Lady Tsuru. When Lady Tsuru died two years later, he married Ujimasa's younger sister Lady Kiku. When Yoshihiro died in 1578, he forced Yoshishige out of the clan and took over his territories with Houjou's support.. Yoshiyori looked down at him in his typical disdainful manner and said, “I was worried, so I came to check on you, but I see you are worthy of being our descendant. I congratulate you!”

“...”

Kaizaki stared silently back at Yoshiyori. Then he gave a slight bow and carried Takaya toward the boat.

TO BE CONTINUED