The all-hands meeting started on time. There were nearly 200 people gathered in the wide, drafty hall. Most had traveled from Kouchi and Aki, and some from as far away as Ashizuri.
They were divided into three main groups. Kada Reijirou was in charge of the operation. After speaking about the significance and purpose of the attack on Hakuchi, Kada began to explain the operation using a video projector.
Kusama was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t involved in this operation at all. He, too, was obstinate.
On the other hand, the gathering was fired up.
The ‘vengeance for Akutagawa’ mood was at its peak, and the eagerness of the assemblage was tangible. News of Akutagawa’s death had reached even faraway Ashizuri
, and the men were so enraged that they were ready to rush out at the slightest provocation.
At last the squad assignments were announced, and Takaya was named as the captain of the commando unit.
Although there were murmurs of “Who’s that?” from those who didn’t recognize the name, there was no strong opposition. Surprisingly, there was no outburst from Yoshimura and his gang. Was something going on?
The commando unit consisted of twenty members. Though small, it was an elite crew. Yet Takaya, its leader, stared fixedly at a spot on the floor—had he not heard Kada’s exposition? His face was stiff. A worried Utarou asked Nakagawa, “Did I say something wrong...?”
(I don’t think that’s it.)
Nakagawa could see that something was wrong. He had never seen Takaya look so grave.
“The attack on Hakuchi will be our most important battle for protecting Shikoku from the enemy! We’ll attack and attack and attack! I want all of you to unite your hearts and minds!”
Riled up by Kada’s fierce proclamation, everyone let out a rousing war cry. Let’s do this! Damn Miyoshi, damn Oda! We’ll drive them out of Shikoku! We’ll avenge Akutagawa-san’s death! We’ll take Hakuchi!
The men were in high spirits. Kada raised his fist in the air to stir them up further.
“The Red Whales will take Hakuchi! We won’t hand Tosa or Shikoku over to anyone! We’ll defend Shikoku!”
The hall rang with their voices. They raised their fists and shouted in unison, “Let’s do it! Let’s go! Let’s defend Shikoku!”
Takaya crouched against the wall, his eyes dark, as if the warriors seething with enthusiasm and excitement were a world away.
The men’s vortex of voices rose to the ceiling. Kada basked in their power and stared fiercely into midair with a vibrant gaze.
“Wait, Ougi-san! Ougi-san!”
Nakagawa came running up the stairs by the lobby after Takaya.
The hour-and-a-half all-hands meeting had ended without a hitch, and the troops were about to disperse to their respective squad meeting rooms. Takaya was heading against the flow of people back to his room with Nakagawa chasing after him.
“Ougi-san!”
He caught Takaya’s arm. Takaya shook him off roughly. Undeterred, Nakagawa forcibly seized his arm. Takaya turned to him, annoyed.
“What’s the matter? The team meetings are starting now. You’re a commander; you have to go!”
Takaya had told the members of the commando unit, “There’s no need for a meeting. Dismissed,” before heading for his room. It had surprised and perplexed them. Common sense said that a new leader like Takaya needed to spend more time with his team than the other commanders.
“Please come back. You need to hold a meeting.”
“I said it’s not necessary because it’s not necessary.”
“What happened? Please talk to me. This is ridiculous, Ougi-san!”
Nakagawa held his arm in a tight grip and refused to let go. Takaya glared at his hand in irritation, but eventually averted his eyes in distress.
“I can’t...remember...”
“Huh?”
“I can’t remember the name of someone I absolutely could not have forgotten!”
It startled Nakagawa. He could guess at the seriousness of the situation by the paleness of Takaya’s face. He immediately hugged Takaya’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him.
“Why don’t you tell me about it? Come to my room.”
Nakagawa steered Takaya to his room with an arm across his shoulders. Takaya didn’t seem to have the energy to resist. Yoshimura and his gang watched them from behind the stairs.
“He’s damned cocky for an amateur. He doesn’t need a strategy? He’s got a big mouth.”
“He ran away because he’s insecure. Well, whatever. I look forward to go-day.”
During the meeting, Kusama remained in his room on the third floor. He could clearly hear the men’s excited voices. The more roused they got, the more the walls groaned and the floor shook, as if it in the midst of an earthquake. Kusama hated their energy.
Each team’s strategy meeting took about two hours. Eikichi’s Squad Three surged straight into the banquet, where they made quite a racket. It took considerable guts to be so merry during preparations for battle. Noisy people liked to boast that it gave them extra energy for the next day; that it wasn’t a lie made them daunting.
Hikawa Samanosuke arrived after his strategy meeting.
“So the attack on Hakuchi is about to begin?” Kusama muttered.
The room was dark. To express his mourning for Akutagawa, he didn’t turn on the light at night. Still, an outdoor lamp shone through the window and lent its glow to the room. He’d shut himself up in his room since Akutagawa’s death; it must have been a terrible blow to him. He hadn’t even been able to eat for a few days.
“Reijirou must be in high spirits.”
Kusama’s voice was filled with unabated anger. Hikawa replied, “Everyone else seems to be convinced that it was Sogou who killed Akutagawa-san.”
“Those stupid sheep. Reijirou’s taking them for a ride,” he tsked bitterly. “If you can do it, then do it. I don’t care if you fail or suffer casualties, fighting without the Life-Ripping Star. If you rub Oda the wrong way, Reijirou, and Oda pays you back twofold, that’s on you. It’s got nothing to do with me. I hope you get what you deserve for killing Akutagawa-dono.”
Not, of course, that he wanted Reijirou to fail; he simply couldn’t hold back the upsurge of maledictions. He had no intention of getting involved. His fist still hurt from striking Reijirou. The thought that Akutagawa, whom he had loved and respected so much, was no longer in the world, was heartrending. He’d gritted his teeth so much he’d worn away a layer of enamel.
“Let him pay for killing Akutagawa-dono! The Red Whales are finished. We’ll never recover...!”
“Please don’t be so irresponsible, Kusama-san.”
Kusama’s hot blood ensured that once he started sulking, he was unmanageable. Though his reason thought Samanosuke’s remonstrations were reasonable, his heart was uncontainable.
“We need you not to give in to despair. Please get ahold of yourself. Now that Akutagawa-san is gone, you must keep the faith all the more.”
“I know. But I can’t forgive Reijirou! He didn’t have to kill him!”
“Was it friendly fire?” Samanosuke’s face grew grave as he asked in a low voice, “Why did Kada-san kill Akutagawa-san?”
“It’s obvious—because he was a direct vassal of Chousokabe-sama. Reijirou was jealous.”
“I’m curious about what Akutagawa-san said at our last meeting.”
“About what?”
“That Kada-san is connected to Sogou.”
Kusama’s eyes widened with shock. Samanosuke sounded as if he were about to violate a taboo.
“I’ve been wondering about it since then. If what Akutagawa-san said is true, then Kada-san must have killed Akutagawa-san to prevent him from revealing what he knows.”
“Impossible,” Kusama refuted emphatically. “Reijirou would never do that.”
“But isn’t it strange that he has killed twice without consulting the rest of us? Don’t you think his persistent refusal of Chousokabe is also due to the fact that he has something to hide?”
“Certainly not... And besides, Reijirou is attacking Hakuchi Castle.”
“You don’t think it’s a trap? Just as we were ambushed at the Star Cave, there may be a trap waiting for us in Hakuchi.”
(Are you saying that Reijirou will sell out the Red Whales?)
Kusama’s face turned grim. Was Reijirou selling out the Red Whales to Sogou? Had he betrayed them?
“Nonsense...! Reijirou isn’t that kind of a man!”
“I’m saying you should be vigilant. No one among the Red Whales can prove he didn’t.”
Reijirou had also disposed of Yasuke with Ougi Takaya as the only witness. This Ougi had Kada’s favor; he couldn’t be trusted.
“Please send a spy to monitor him, Kusama-san.”
“Samanosuke.”
“If you find anything suspicious about Kada-san’s behavior, please be ready to take action immediately.”
(By “taking action”, you mean...kill him.)
He couldn’t believe that Reijirou would sell out the Red Whales. The Red Whales were more important to him than Chousokabe. His world revolved around the Red Whales. He would never betray them. Kusama knew Reijirou. He knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t that kind of a person.
“Samanosuke... I’m not doing that.”
“Why not, Kusama-san?!”
“I’m indeed deeply enraged by what Reijirou did. But he hasn’t fallen that far. I’d rather die than bring suspicion on a friend! Wouldn’t you agree?!”
It surprised Samanosuke. Kusama, who had cursed Reijirou so, was now defending him.
“But just in case...!”
“Samanosuke. As soon as you start to doubt your friend, you destroy everything. The heart of the Red Whales is the bond between Reijirou and me. When that bond is lost, that’s when the spirit of the Red Whales collapses. I believe in Reijirou.”
“Even if he double-crossed us? Kada-san has already assassinated Akutagawa-san. What if he betrays us and kills all the Red Whales, don’t you care...?!” !
Kusama looked up resolutely. “...Even so.”
“Kusama-san.”
“Kada has put his faith in the Red Whales. After what happened, I no longer trust everything Reijirou does, but I do trust that faith. He cares more about the Red Whales than Chousokabe or me. That’s the kind of man he is. He’s self-reliant. He doesn’t depend on anyone.”
He wasn’t swayed by anyone—
Samanosuke gave up. But he would do the monitoring himself. He was more pragmatic than anyone else in a crisis. “I understand,” he answered.
Kusama said, “I won’t aid the attack on Hakuchi in any way. It means I have no faith in this operation. Tell him that.”
“Eikichi is still carousing, isn’t he?” Reijirou said with disgust. The banquet was still going strong, though it had relocated to the large room annexed to the assembly hall. “There’s always tomorrow. Tell him to go easy.”
“Aye,” answered Kirino, his acting secretary, before leaving the room. Reijirou returned to his own room. Maintaining his firearms calmed him, and he did so now with his psychic gun from his leather chair. Nakagawa stared at his rough fingertips.
He looked calm at first glance, but inwardly he was anything but. The way he kept wiping at the same spot was evidence of this. Though he affected an air of tranquility, Kada was nervous. You could tell by the hardness of his expression. He hadn’t slept.
“Are you anxious?”
Reijirou came back to himself and manufactured a deliberate smile. “Me? Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Are you stressed about not being able to use the Life-Ripping Star?”
Bull’s-eye. There was no comparison between an attack on Hakuchi and any other castle. It was the most important castle on Miyoshi’s front line. It was tough. One wrong move and the Red Whales could be done for. The probability of success was 50-50. But if they didn’t take Hakuchi now, it would be too late. It would be too late once Oda joined the battle. He was taking a deliberate gamble.
“But Kusama-san has his pride, too. It’s understandable. You brought this on yourself.”
“I know that. I knew from the start that it was too much to expect to use the Life-Ripping Star.”
“You gathered the best men from all over Tosa, but you still felt uneasy, so you forced Ougi to take command of a squad.”
Reijirou looked thoughtfully out the window, and then began to move his hand again, “I heard that Ougi didn’t hold a meeting. Well, it’s true that the commando unit needs to react on the spur of the moment, so there’s no point in planning in advance.”
“Can’t you relieve Ougi-san of his command, Kada-san?”
It was already past midnight. All was prepared. Nakagawa had come to Reijirou to make his request.
“I believe I asked you not to use Ougi. He’s unstable both mentally and in his «power». Please remove him from the attack on the Hakuchi. For both Ougi and the troops’ sake.”
“I have no intention of changing my mind. Ougi is leading the commando unit.”
“Something’s seriously wrong with him.”
“Someone so precious to me...!”
Even in Nakagawa’s room, Takaya’s agitation hadn’t subsided. Nakagawa had sat him down on the examination table, where Takaya had stared at his palms, trembling and pale.
“Something’s wrong. I don’t know what’s going on. I can’t remember anything!”
He’d wept in frustration, clenching his teeth and shaking his head repeatedly. No matter what Nakagawa said, nothing seemed to reach him.
“Does this have anything to do with the disturbance in his energy?”
“I don’t know. But it does seem to be connected.”
Reijirou’s hand stopped on his arquebus as he pondered in all seriousness. —Did he have a memory problem?
“I think it would be better to stop involving Ougi in the Red Whales’ activities.”
“Are you saying we should kick him out?”
“I didn’t say that. But I don’t think it’s right for us to use his power so casually. If his being here is bad for him, we should let him go.”
“...Hmm. He doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”
“Shouldn’t we look into his identity more carefully? I know you want his power to make up for the lack of the Life-Ripping Star. But he’s too much of an unknown.”
Nakagawa didn’t often get involved in other people’s affairs, so he must be very concerned about the situation. But Reijirou brushed it off as unnecessary.
“It doesn’t matter who Ougi is. I have no intention of prying.”
“Please listen, Kada-san. I think Ougi may—actually be kanshousha.”
As expected, even Reijirou reacted to that. With ample opportunity to medically observe Takaya, Nakagawa had begun to harbor suspicions about his nature.
“The poison in his body is so psychically strong that I can’t say for sure, but I think he may have performed embryonic kanshou on his host.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Even if we can’t see the psychic scar, his being an embryonic kanshousha would make sense. If he’s used «power» before, it would explain his conduct at the cave. You’ve suspected, haven’t you, Kada-san?” Reijirou was silent.
“Life and death are the last bastion of order. You shouldn’t exist...!”
(You shouldn’t exist...)
He didn’t utter a rebuttal because that thought had stuck. In Nakagawa was combined the compassion of a doctor and its antithesis: the coldness of a soldier.
“If he’s a kanshousha with a grudge against the Red Whales, we must take measures. Especially so if he has anything to do with the onshou—a seed of disaster must be dealt with as soon as possible.”
“Take measures? Are you saying we should use poison to kill Ougi?”
“Kada-san.”
“He has all the qualifications needed to join the Red Whales. That much is certain, no matter who he is. He wouldn’t be living like an animal unless he was being chased by something. Aren’t the Red Whales supposed to be a place for the hunted and oppressed?”
There were no barriers. They didn’t ask about past lives lived in past eras, families of origin, or why anyone was on the run. They accepted the oppressed. This was the highest creed of the Red Whales. Although some of his fellow Tosa compatriots resisted the inclusion of outsiders, Reijirou’s view had remained unchanged since the group’s founding.
“It doesn’t matter if he’s kanshousha or a monster. He’s a man who needs revenge more than anyone else. I understand that. He’s a man born to fight. There will come a time when he realizes that for himself.”
“Even if it leads to the destruction of the Red Whales?”
“The Red Whales will not be destroyed so long as the oppressed continue to exist.”
Nakagawa knew that Reijirou’s broad-mindedness had nurtured the Red Whales, but who was to say it wouldn’t backfire? His anxiety would not go away.
“Tell Ougi that whatever he’s forgotten, he’ll eventually remember. Until then, there’s no use flailing about. He needs to concentrate on the Hakuchi attack.”
“Kada-san.”
He began cleaning his gun again, refusing to discuss the matter further. Nakagawa watched as Reijirou oiled the trigger with a firm hand. In terms of ideals, Reijirou’s were far more profound than Kusama’s. One might say he had his own unique ideology. He was on a different level from Kusama, for whom Chousokabe was still the center of the world.
(Kada-san’s ideas are beyond Kusama-san’s understanding.)
Kusama would never allow a vassal from another family to enlist. Reijirou would; it didn’t matter to him.
“If he’s being pursued.”
Ideals that floated too high tended to crash back down to earth upon meeting reality. Tolerance was important, but they had to be on their guard.
(Ougi Takaya—...)
Was he really someone ‘out for revenge’? Or did he ‘cry out for power’?
At this point, it was hard to say. The morning of the attack on Hakuchi arrived with the question still unresolved.
Kada and his team joined up with the advance party and bivouacked for four days at Nakanishi Castle, a fort on the opposite bank, to await the right time for the castle assault. This operation would take much longer than their previous. However, once they launched their general offensive, they had to achieve their objective before reinforcements arrived. Time and timing would determine the outcome.
The term ‘castle assault’ meant something completely different from what it had meant four hundred years ago. In the «Yami-Sengoku», the term ‘castle’ meant ‘a point of confluence or relay position for spiritual power’. If one called the reach of a single onshou’s power his ‘sphere of influence’, then a castle was a pylon that supported and transmitted that power.
For the Miyoshi (Sogou) forces, Hakuchi was their Iyo/Tosa front line. A castle on the front line had two functions: to prevent enemy invasion and to serve as a base from which to make advances of their own. In such a place there was always a magnetic field that concentrated friendly spiritual power into a particularly stable force. The castle’s shape differed from one onshou to another, but Miyoshi’s was certainly a true ‘tower of steel’.
A lodging facility called the Convenient Recuperation Center [Awanosyou Inn] now stood over the ruins of Hakuchi Castle. On its grounds, Miyoshi had built a gigantic steel tower. It was 80 meters (~262 ft) tall. Local residents found the fact that it wasn’t strung with any transmission lines strange; its transmission lines were actually invisible, and they carried—not electricity—but spiritual power.
The operation’s main objective was to destroy or occupy this spiritual steel tower.
They also had to drive out the Miyoshi soldiers residing in the building in order to seize Hakuchi Castle completely.
“There’s no need to hold back. This castle did, after all, belong to Chousokabe.”
Eikichi’s thinking was unequivocal. What was wrong with taking back something that belonged to you? was his logic. It had actually belonged to Miyoshi ally the Oonishi Clan until Motochika had taken it and made it a defensive position in his conquest of northern Shikoku. He’d held his peace negotiations with Hideyoshi there.
“We’re only returning it to its true master. We’ll give it our all.”
Hakuchi Castle was located on a 40-meter high (~131 ft) river terrace at the confluence of the Yoshino and Umaji Rivers. On the opposite banks of each river were smaller castles: Hanakoma Castle and Nakanishi Castle. Of these, they had already succeeded in capturing Nakanishi Castle on Yoshino River’s far shore. The Red Whales would use it as a base from which to attack the castle.
This time, it wouldn’t be a night attack. They would fight in board daylight. Broadly speaking, the plan’s first target would be Mt. Tenjin behind Hakuchi Castle. They were to occupy Mt. Tenjin Shrine at its summit, which would leave Hakuchi Castle sandwiched between it and Nakanishi Castle. They would siphon off the power gathered at the tower from both sides and disperse it. Once it was weakened, they would fall upon the tower in one fell swoop.
Timing, speed, and sheer force. In the best-case scenario, they would connect the pylon to the spiritual wave line from the Tosa side before enemy could react—before they could concentrate spiritual power from Awa on Hakuchi. In other words, change the wire. If that couldn’t be done, they needed at the very least to destroy the tower and make restoration difficult. Not having the use of the Life-Ripping Star was painful. Its terrifying power would’ve been like having a cannon. It wouldn’t have taken long for the castle to fall.
Reijirou had decided that it would be impossible to achieve the original target (occupying Hakuchi) and had decided instead to destroy the steel tower. They would take the castle afterwards. Iwata’s unit was to attack Mt. Tenjin, while his own and Hikawa’s teams would blow up the steel tower. Each unit was further subdivided into three to carry out the operation. Takaya’s commando unit needed to be mobile in order to provide support during the battle. One or a pair of men were assigned a motorcycle and radio.
The operation had already begun. Until the calls came in, Takaya and his team would stay on alert at the rear, in a dilapidated rest house along the national highway. It was a holiday, so they didn’t stand out much, dressed as they were for touring. They’d rented a single room to act as their operations room. Each unit reported in via radio.
But there was no sign of Takaya in the operations room. He was on the bank of the Yoshino River below.
“Captain,” called Someji Shingo, a member of his unit, as he descended to the river. He’d heard Someji was a former member of the Tosa Imperialist Party, the same as Utarou. He looked old, but one certainly wouldn’t call him an old man. He was wearing a vintage flight jacket and jeans, and he rode a Harley. He looked like an easy rider in the prime of his life.
Takaya was sitting along a rocky stretch. The wind blowing from the Yoshino River, which became the Ooboke-Koboke river gorge upstream, was exceptionally cold, and the riverbank was exposed.
“You’ll get a chill if you stay here. Why not go inside?”
“Is there any movement?”
“No. Nothing big yet.”
“I didn’t think so. I don’t expect anything for another two or three hours.”
Takaya told him to go inside and have a cup of coffee, and turned away. He’d only been in the building with his team for the first ten minutes or so; rather than attempting to build rapport with them, he seemed to reject them.
“Please come inside with the others. Everyone’s getting anxious without you there, Captain.”
“Without me there’s no unity, you’re saying? Don’t worry,” Takaya said, looking at the stream lapping at the rocks. “You just have to follow instructions. We’re not here to make friends.”
“But—”
“They’re unified enough with you there. Not like they’ll even listen to a newcomer. Those roughnecks.”
With their roughness peeping through every word. Spurring harshness and sharpness. Influenced by that, probably.
“Isn’t it a bit irresponsible to talk like that?”
“Irresponsible? I don’t remember accepting responsibility for anything. You people just decided to impose yourselves on me.”
Takaya was a hard case. Someji attempted persuasion, but Takaya was not listening.
“I’m not gonna do anything but the bare minimum. If you don’t like it, kick me out.”
Someji’s temper frayed. He gave up and went back to the rest house. Takaya covered his face with his hand. His mouth curved into a smile.
(Might as well get killed here.)
Wasn’t it a surprisingly good opportunity? If you can’t kill yourself, why not have someone do it for you? He would join the onshou war and die in battle.
(Stop it. You’re drunk.)
He had shielded himself when things became dire. Blame it on the stubbornness of life... He couldn’t take the last step off the cliff. If he couldn’t defy it, if he couldn’t overcome it, why not just disappear? The suffering would, too. But even if he died, his consciousness would remain.
Even if he were not ‘Uesugi Kagetora’. Even if he were purified and became someone else, ‘he’ would remain. There was no escape.
He envied the self that had believed that death was nothingness.
(Will I be happy if this ‘consciousness’ disappears?)
He thought about those whose wishes were granted by a ‘demon’ and disappeared after receiving its power. Were they happy? Wasn’t peace thinking about nothing?
(At that point, you don’t even feel at peace...)
Existence was a mysterious thing. What was it? How strange that he could not allow himself to live without a reason, though nature did allow it. Wasn’t it ridiculous that he couldn’t live if he didn’t have value?
(Life can exist without heart.)
Was that...
How long was he to stay in this place?
Naoe—was coming after him. That was something he would do, even if he had to throw everything else away. Takaya knew it, even if he couldn’t see him. Naoe would abandon Uesugi and everything else without hesitation. It was perfectly clear to him that Naoe would come after him without regard for any crime he might commit, even if he had to cover himself in scars. He knew that. Unless Takaya died and was purified—Naoe would one day catch up with him. I know you’re searching for me right now. I can hear your voice.
Had he wanted Naoe to abandon Uesugi? To abandon the «Yami-Sengoku»? No. He hadn’t wanted that, had he? Did he want Naoe to give up, then? Give up on Takaya, return to Uesugi and do what he should have done...
(No.)
Takaya shook his head.
(That’s not what I said at all.)
It wasn’t what he wanted Naoe to do. Not this. He didn’t want Naoe to find him. He had to escape Naoe because—
(I’m afraid.)
His reasons were not pretty. He believed that the next time they met, it would be the last time. He knew that he would never be able to leave Naoe again, even though he knew he would kill him. He would consume Naoe greedily and endlessly, no matter how much agony he caused. Like a female mantis, he would eat and eat until he killed Naoe, until he demolished him. He would sway over Naoe as he died, his hips thrusting over his corpse. Even if you want to live, I’ll pursue you hellishly with no regard for your life.
(I’m afraid...)
He would never be able to stop himself. Even now he was barely holding himself back. Masturbation was no longer enough. His body hungered for Naoe, and he couldn’t stop the swelling urge. Only surface tension allowed him to choke it down. When next they met, it would burst. He would forget how harmful he was. I will breathlessly devour your lips, straddle you and fuck you to death. He wasn’t only going to be filled. There was also the dark rapture of being conquered by the man he had dominated. He had always both feared it and desired it. As Naoe fucked him with both a wild beast’s fierceness and gentleness, he would be both supplicant and victor; Naoe would be the king who cornered him at last with thrilling caresses. Victory and defeat would fuse and collapse; though both present, neither would remain. Their arms, reaching desperately out for each other, would transform them into something never seen before. The naked figure which discarded all ornamentation held everything.
He was no longer the person who had left Naoe: he was worse. His desire was swelling with more love, more savagery. He had certainly surpassed even Naoe’s love. If he didn’t hold himself back, his desire would become—not love, but violence.
He was afraid. He’d intended to find a place to die, but in the end he hadn’t even accomplished that. Like this, he would slowly erode away into nothing.
(Why have you left me alone when you know I’m dangerous?)
Heaven couldn’t allow something like him to do as he pleased. He was too dangerous. He couldn’t stop. He was already going crazy. He couldn’t even remember his best friend’s name. Before he truly became a harmful animal—vermin, he needed a place to die. An ending place. You must give me that, while I’m still human.
(Please...)
Nakagawa and Utarou watched Takaya crouched on his rock from the shoulder of the national highway. Nakagawa had used his position as a military doctor to forcibly attach himself to the unit.
“Should I call him, Nakagawa-san?”
“No. I’ll keep watch. You go inside and drink some warm milk.”
“I’ll get some for Ougi-san too, then,” Utarou said, and ran back to the rest house.
Nakagawa was sitting on the guardrail, looking down at Takaya on the riverbank. Takaya spurned and vented his anger on everyone around him because he was intensely impatient and afraid.
“He’s a man who needs revenge more than anyone else.”
(Ougi Takaya...)
The wind from upstream was so cold that even his fingers had turned numb. Was he trying to hurt himself in this cold? Takaya didn’t seem to want to leave.
But the battle was already heating up. The attack began on the summit of Mt. Tenjin. Iwata’s troops, who had begun their march in the mountains at dawn, arrived at last to set off the operation. Miyoshi’s observation platform was located here. Fifty spirits, thirty of them with bodies, kept a watchful eye on the Iyo-Tosa area.
They encountered fiercer resistance than anticipated. The enemy’s forces were also comprised of elite troops, and Eikichi and his men barely managed to occupy the position after desperately hard fighting.
“All right! That’s one!” he cried in triumph without even bothering to wipe the blood from his face.
“We’ll soon turn this place into a castle for the Red Whales! Cut off all communication with the fort below! Let not a single enemy escape!”
Iwata’s troops, who had thus taken Hakuchi Castle’s rear, immediately began to set up their device without pausing to catch their breath. Said device was an enormous parabolic antenna named a ‘byoubu’ [folding screen wind], a spiritual tool created by the Red Whales. They assembled it and directed it toward the foot of the mountain. A second identical device had been installed at Nakanishi Castle on the river’s opposite shore. It served as a magnet, acting as a giant vacuum cleaner to suck up the spiritual power of Hakuchi Castle. The divine power of Mt. Tenjin Shrine was its motor.
“Start it up on my signal. We’re counting on you! Battle squad, follow meee!”
Eikichi on the battlefield was a fish in water, a monkey home in its mountains. He wasn’t one to command from a fixed position.
“We’re gonna beat them down, beat them into the dust!”
He ran down the mountain at the head of his troops, ready to cross swords with the enemy.
Meanwhile, Kada Reijirou was at Nakanishi Castle on the other side of the river. The battle progress wasn’t bad. However, the turn of battle depended on the enemy’s movements. Their main camp had already acquired the appearance of a field hospital, with soldiers running, bellows thundering past each other, and a great deal of information flying about. Reijirou observed Hakuchi Castle on the other side of the river from the observation platform.
“What a terrible castle! How can the air be so thick?”
Mutou Ushio was there too, standing next to Reijirou, looking overwhelmed.
“It’s not mist, is it? That. The air is so thick I can’t see in front of me. You’re not going to plunge in, are you?”
What Ushio called ‘air’ was Miyoshi’s spiritual power gathered in Hakuchi Castle. Ushio’s «power» was still poor, but his psychic senses were sharp, and he could see that Hakuchi was different.
“The ‘two byoubu’ will start operating soon.”
“Isn’t it a bit of a waste? Are you going to destroy that tower?”
“I’d take it from them if I could, but I don’t think we can. They have a special trump card.”
"A trump card?
“The curse-burning fire.”
Hakuchi Castle was equipped with a special device which made casual approach impossible.
“Course-burning fire? What is that? Something wrapped in aluminum foil?”
“Are you an idiot? It means to burn something enchanted.”
Using the spiritual power gathered by the steel tower as fuel, it instantly incinerated any foreign bodies encroaching on the castle. Once activated, the intruder was instantly reduced to ashes.
“For real...? You can’t escape?”
“Because invaders will necessarily be wearing armor. The more spiritual power you accumulate, the hotter the ‘curse-burning fire’ will burn. That’s the mechanism that presents the biggest obstacle for attacking the castle.”
In order to take the castle, they first had to remove this obstacle. That was why their first priority was to destroy the steel tower before it could be activated. Ushio shivered at the thought of plunging right into the middle of such a contraption.
“Fortunately, if we strike the control center, we can eliminate the problem. It’s not that easy, though. But once set in motion, the castle will be defenseless for several minutes. The enemy won’t be able to use it easily. We’ll take advantage of their hesitation to destroy the pylon.”
“Curse-burning? Are we like insects to them? They really treat us with contempt.”
“Hmmm. We’re not just any insects. Besides, termites can take down houses.”
Ushio was impressed by Reijirou’s upbeat attitude.
“You’re always so calm. You’re so confident that it’s almost detestable. Don’t you ever worry that you might fail?”
“I’m always worried,” he answered unexpectedly. “I’m not as confident as you think. Do I look that way to you?”
“Yeah, you do. You’d be more charming if you could feel intimidated sometimes.”
“You’re always thinking about trivial things.”
He didn’t show it, but though things were going well now, there was no telling how badly they might fall off a cliff the very next moment. He never counted on a favorable wind. He was sensitive to even the smallest piece of information regarding this war. Kusama, who tended to be more on edge normally, was, conversely, more relaxed in battle. This was where you could tell whether or not someone was suited to being a general, Reijirou thought.
“The battles where Kusama-san are present are calm. I’m not suited to be a mood-maker.”
“Really? You were magnificent at inciting them, though.”
“It’s easy to stir things up—it’s just pouring oil onto the fire. But war is different. You can’t win by bluffing.”
He couldn’t be calm unless someone else stood firm. He was the quintessential second-in-command type.
“You’re talking too much, as usual.”
“I can’t relax unless I’m talking.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Yeah, see?” Ushio pulled open his mountain jacket to show Reijirou. On his belt were an armor-orb, a psychic grenade, and even a pistol: a compact psychic gun, to be precise.
“Iwata and the others taught me how to use it. All you have to do is put your will into it, right?” Ushio’s tone was joking, but he was serious. “I’m different today. I’ve been practicing Usubae-ryuu for real. I’m not losing to Ougi.”
“That’s the spirit. ...Right! Are the two byoubu ready?”
A report confirmed its completion. The byoubu at Mt. Tenjin was ready. The red signal flag had been confirmed. Reijirou nodded firmly.
“The Kada Corps will now execute Operation No. 177. All battle groups will converge at Point B at 0800 hours! Construction teams will start induction at 1815! Attack Hakuchi Castle!”
The daring and spirited voices came back to him in unison, uniting the hearts of his comrades. Once the action began, success or failure would be left to the heavens. Reijirou raised his gun high in the air.
“Commence operation!”