The Northeast-bound No. 107 bullet train to Sendai
departed from Kooriyama Station.
The train was conspicuously empty—perhaps because it was before noon on a weekday. Passengers slowly trickled into the compartments with unreserved seating, among them a peculiar male and female party of two.
“Oh, are you done eating already?” Kakizaki Haruie—Kadowaki Ayako—asked, peering at the high school student next to her.
“You need to stop gobbling down your food like that,” Ougi Takaya responded, putting the lid back on his half-finished train station box lunch.
“It’s ’cause I didn’t have breakfast. And you ate way too little for a growing boy. Are you on a diet or something?”
“Who the hell...!”
“If you’re not going to eat it, gimme the lobster?”
Takaya gave up and handed over his boxed lunch wordlessly. Ayako picked at the lobster happily and finished up Takaya’s remaining portion as well.
Takaya stared outside.
He had received a phone call from Naoe two days earlier.
“I had mentioned before that I would need you to go to Sendai. That time is now, so please make your preparations.”
“Huh?”
“Please take the bullet train to Sendai the day after tomorrow. The appointment is for...”
“Woah, wait a minute here. The day after tomorrow is way too sudden.”
“It is sudden, but you have had ample time to prepare. Actually, I would have asked you to come tomorrow if it were possible.”
“But I have a final the day after tomorrow!”
“Ah yes, you have school,” Naoe said as if it were someone else’s problem (though of course it was someone else’s problem). “But surely with your usual diligence to your schoolwork, you’ll be fine even if you do not take the exam, yes?”
Takaya’s shoulders began to shake. “Guess that sarcasm of yours is the one thing that’ll never change.”
“I have no idea what you mean. In any case, your «power» will be needed. We have a prior engagement, so please keep your promise.”
“What ‘promise’, you bastard! I don’t remember making any promises! Look!”
“Please don’t shout into the phone. Then let us meet in front of Tokyo Station’s Yaesu ticket-examination booth at eleven. All right? Do you have any questions? My parents will frown at me if I’m on the phone too long, so... Kagetora-sama. It’s a long way from Matsumoto, so please take care not to be late. I apologize for the bother. Good night.”
“Aaaaaargh, wait! Damn you, Naoeeee!!”
And the line went dead.
Masterfully trapped by Naoe’s whirlwind pace, the dazed Takaya dropped his head into his hands.
Only Ayako showed up to meet him at Tokyo Station.
“Naoe? He just went off to Yamagata.”
“ Yamagata?”
“Anyway, here,” Ayako said, handing him a three-day-old newspaper that looked like it had been flipped through quite a few times. He skimmed it as they got on the train.
Hotel collapse, cause unknown, Sendai.
Rebar concrete building collapse, Sendai.
Continuing the string of mysterious building collapses, this time the collapse of a senior high school gymnasium, Sendai.
The articles with these headings had been circled with a red pen. Takaya had also heard of these strange events from somewhere, probably the news on TV.
Curiously, buildings in Sendai were now collapsing suddenly and without warning. A number of people had already been killed or wounded, and the police and fire departments were becoming increasing desperate in their investigation. However, the cause had been completely elusive.
Though there were speculations that they were acts of terrorism, the collapses had not been caused by explosions, and the substantial cave-ins at the sites lent credence to the theories of abnormal underground water flow—however, the frequency of the events was as of yet unexplained. And so the people of the city of Sendai lived in fear, not knowing when or where the next collapse would occur.
This was why Takaya and the others were going to Sendai. In other words—
“So you guys’re thinking that this has something to do with the «Yami-Sengoku»?”
“We can’t say for sure, but maybe. After all, Sendai is the stronghold of the resurrected Date Masamune. The onryou of the Date and Mogami have been quite active in that area lately. Frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me,” Ayako said, frowning.
“So you’re saying that Date Masamune might be causing the building collapses?”
“I wouldn’t quite say it like that, but he might certainly be involved somehow.”
“We’re talking about that Date Masamune, right? It’s kinda hard to believe the resurrection of someone as famous as him. I mean, there are dramas about him and stuff. Doesn’t it feel really, really weird?”
“It is weird. Spirits are. It’s unnatural for dead people to remain in this world.”
“... That’s not what I’m talking about...”
It probably wasn’t surprising that Ayako and the others thought about it differently. Well, but they had memories from four hundred years ago. Maybe it was because they had actually known these historical figures from when they’d been alive.
But still, it was just strange to have personages from the history books appearing in the present. Although—
(I guess I’m supposed to be one of those ‘personages’ too...)
Takaya sighed.
Ayako, finally full, asked while drinking 100-yen tea, “Anyway, Kagetora. Can you use your powers properly now?”
“As well as ever, I guess.”
“What? Hasn’t Nagahide been giving you special training?”
“Yeah he has, it’s thanks to that.”
Takaya abruptly turned away with sulky rudeness. Yasuda Nagahide—Chiaki Shuuhei—who had made an equivocal appearance before Takaya and the others, was one of the kanshousha of the Uesugi. It was true that he was giving Takaya training in the use of his «powers» every day, but.
“That guy would fit right in in Sparta. Argh, he hits me and kicks me—did he have a grudge against Kagetora or something?!”
“Yeeeah. He’s always been a sadist.”
“Dammit, it’s not like I did anything to him...!”
Takaya’s fist shook as he recalled—
“You can’t even move this? Did you lose your brains along with your memories? You’re a total waste if you can’t move this. Did you hear me, you moron? A total waste! Move it, you stupid idiot!”
A kick to go with the verbal abuse.
What he called special training was stuff like moving a coin dangling from a string or rolling an empty can—and whether being able to do these things would really develop his «powers» was also up for debate.
“That guy totally has a grudge against me or something. Argh, I’ll remember this when I can use my «powers», Chiaki!”
“All right, all right. There, there,” Ayako soothed him, sipping her tea. “But there’d be no point bringing you if you can’t use your «powers». Well, don’t worry, when we get to Sendai, we’ll get you a proper teacher.”
“What?! What do you mean, teacher?”
“Someone recommended by Naoe who he said can help draw out your «powers».”
“Urg! You’re kidding, right?”
And here he was thinking he’d finally gotten away from Chiaki. He looked up at the ceiling dejectedly.
“Gimme a break, geez.”
“If you don’t like it, hurry up and get your memories back.”
“I’m not Kagetora...!”
“You’re so obstinate.”
Takaya, looking uncomfortable, dropped his chin into his hands. “Won’t Naoe...” he muttered haltingly, “Won’t he be coming with us? You said something about Yamagata.”
“...Yeah.” Ayako pulled out the newspaper and looked at Takaya. “Read this article.”
“?”
Ayako was pointing to an article on the margin of same page as the Sendai reports. Takaya skimmed it quickly.
“Death of graft suspect due to unnatural causes?”
The article was about a series of corruption cases connected to resort development in Yamagata. Bureaucrats at the highest levels of the government had been implicated, but one of those at the center of the bribe scandal had strangely, just a few days earlier, died.
Furthermore, the way in which he had died had been quite out of the ordinary. He had apparently died in his own bed at home, but his body had been covered with hundreds of dog bites.
“Bites?”
“Yeah. And there’s something else weird, too. Just a week ago someone else in the graft case died in the same way, bitten to death. It’s probably not a coincidence, but...it’s weird, isn’t it?”
Takaya groaned. Being bitten to death in one’s own bed was certainly out of the ordinary.
It could hardly be ordinary.
"So their deaths probably have something to do with the «Yami-Sengoku», too?
“Yeah.”
“This graft case?”
“I wouldn’t necessarily go that far, but... More like there are probably people related to the graft who also have something to do with the onshou of the «Yami-Sengoku».”
“So Naoe went to Yamagata to investigate.”
Ayako nodded and began to peel a mandarin orange.
"Mogami Yoshiaki’s in Yamagata Prefecture. And we already have more than enough on our hands with Date Masamune.
Takaya chin sank down lower in his hands as he looked outside the window.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling uneasy that Naoe didn’t come with us?”
“That’s s...!” —tupid, Takaya was going to say, and sighed instead. “That’s not it.”
“You seem relieved.”
“When he’s around I just somehow feel like I’m going crazy,” Takaya muttered, gazing at the rustic scenery outside. “He—I don’t know, he’d put his life on the line for me without a second thought. That’s, I mean, that’s just so...so...confusing,” Takaya finished, and sighed again. A strange expression came over Ayako’s face.
“That’s natural. That’s the reason Naoe is at your side.”
“Natural? I couldn’t do that even if someone told me to. At least, I...”
He recalled Naoe’s words: “If anything happened to your body, there are people who would grieve.”
Takaya lowered his eyes. “... If there are people who would grieve for me if I died, then of course it’s the same for him, right...?”
Ayako was silent for a moment.
“That’s true.”
“—”
“Actually, Naoe’s parents and family are truly very important to him.”
“?”
“It a sort of devotion, if you look at it from the third person. It’s always like this. Every time we perform kanshou, our parents and family are always very important to us. In the beginning I wondered why that was.”
“...”
“It must be because we feel remorse for stealing the bodies of their true sons or daughters. See? Because even though we change bodies, our consciousnesses still belong to Naoe Nobutsuna or Kakizaki Haruie. So we can’t wipe away the feeling that we’re fakes.” Ayako smiled and said, “Because we feel guilty, we try to atone for it. Because in actuality, we’re people who died a long time ago. Of course, they would never think that, since we’re their sons and daughters...it’s too much. Naoe probably isn’t conscious of it himself, but he naturally acts in that way.”
Takaya vaguely remembered: “Don’t you think we’ve thought about that?”
When had Naoe said that to him?
“So that’s why we wonder, why do we continue to perform kanshou even while thinking these miserable thoughts?—but it really is because we have a ‘mission’. In order to fulfill it, we must do some things that we can say ‘can’t be helped’. Naoe’s ‘mission’ is to protect Kagetora—that is, to protect you. So if he doesn’t protect you, then he wouldn’t be able to justify this foolish long life. That’s why—”
He protects me?
A tiny bit of disappointment flashed across his chest.
Of course Naoe protected him because he thought Takaya was ‘Kagetora’. If that were not true, he probably wouldn’t have risked his life like that even if there would have been people who would have grieved for Takaya. —He wouldn’t have, would he?
He protects me because I’m ‘Kagetora’.
He protects Kagetora because it’s his ‘mission’.
To justify himself.
(Is that all it is...?)
Ayako gazed at him with a mouthful of mandarin orange. She said after thinking for a moment, “Well... in its own way, it’s complicated for Naoe too.”
“... Hatayama...Ranmaru was mouthing off about Naoe the other day, wasn’t he?”
“Eh?”
Ayako was visibly flustered. Takaya turned to her.
“He said something about Kagetora being a victim and shame among his comrades. What did he mean by that? Did something happen between Kagetora and Naoe thirty years ago?”
“I guess you can’t really ask him, huh?” Ayako made a face. “You probably lost your memories because you didn’t want to remember that?”
“Ah...really?”
“Naoe probably wouldn’t want you to remember it, either.”
“Wh-what the heck? Didn’t you just say that you wanted me to hurry up and remember everything? If you tell me, maybe I’ll remember something. So what happened, anyway?”
“Ah...mmm...” Ayako gave Takaya a sour sideways glance. “Well, because things got really ugly between the two of you back then.”
“Ugly? Between Kagetora and Naoe?”
“Yeah. Oda concentrated his attacks especially around you, and misery was putting it lightly. But though you made a show of strength—”Never say die“, ”I’m fine“ and whatnot in front of me, I think you really were crumbling inside. It looked like you really wanted to let go of everything...and many times I think you told only Naoe about what you were truly feeling.”
Takaya stared at Ayako intently.
“But from Naoe’s standpoint, like I said before, he couldn’t let you run from the ‘mission’. It would have made the misery of kanshou and existing until now meaningless. No matter how much Kagetora wanted to capitulate, Naoe hardened his heart against it and brushed it off.”
“...”
“But I guess Naoe was pressed by the violence of the battle too, and overdid it. He began to forcibly push Kagetora along. Kagetora was more and more worn out, and the battle against Oda was a bog... Wounded again and again with no place to run, tortured and embittered, you began to hate Naoe, who would not let you escape.”
Ayako sighed deeply.
“In the end, to put it plainly, it looked like you hated Naoe more than Oda. And yet, even yet, Naoe was still the person Kagetora trusted at the last. So, though you hated Naoe from the bottom of your heart, you entrusted to him, to the one upon whom you relied more than any other, the person who was more important to you than any other...and Naoe—”
Ayako suddenly trailed off. Takaya’s eyes widened slightly at her expression.
“Hey Nee-san?”
“Do you remember the name ‘Kitazato Minako’?”
Takaya looked back at her with wide, blank eyes.
“‘Kitazato Minako’?”
It didn’t sound familiar at all.
Ayako resolutely opened her mouth, but hesitated and finally concluded haltingly, “I think I should ask, after all...if Naoe says that I can tell you, then I’ll tell you.”
Takaya shut his mouth.
Kitazato Minako—
Ayako abruptly gave a false laugh.
“Ahah. Ahahah. Naaah, don’t mind me. Let’s stop talking about all this gloomy stuff. Hmmm—...Oh, right, how’s that good friend of yours, that cute kid? How’s he doing?”
“Yuzuru? He’s fine, but what... Ah?” At the mention of Yuzuru’s name, Takaya remembered something. “That’s right, that bastard Ranmaru said something about Yuzuru, didn’t he? What did he say—that Yuzuru’s a jewel that he’s gonna take? What the hell did he mean by that?! I don’t understand it at all.”
As she’d thought, the mention of Yuzuru immediately caught Takaya’s attention. But this was the one thing that he wanted Ayako to tell him.
“Avoid telling Kagetora-sama about Narita Yuzuru as much as you are able.”
So Naoe had stabbed a nail into this topic too. Uh-oh, Ayako thought, and shut her mouth.
“You guys know, don’t you! Explain it to me!”
“Uh—... aaaactually, we don’t know anything. So I don’t know.”
Takaya scowled at Ayako skeptically.
“It’s true, I’m telling you! We have no idea. So I can’t give you an answer even if you ask me. So anyway, Kagetora. You should be prepared. I don’t know what’s gonna be waiting for us when we arrive in Sendai, but we are the Uesugi Yasha-shuu of the Meikai Uesugi Army. We are representatives of Lord Kenshin, so carry yourself with pride.” A scary look entered her eyes. “And no whining.”
“... All right.” Takaya said, following distant birds flying through the clear sky with his eyes.
(—Sendai, huh...?)
The bullet train drew closer to Sendai with every passing mile.
Miyagi Prefecture, Sendai City.
This city nicknamed the Capital of Trees, while still holding onto the remains of its tradition as a castle town from the time of the Date Clan, had also developed into the economic and administrative center of the Northeast and was its largest capital.
July. A line of Zelkova trees stood alongside the row of buildings on Main Street, glowing with the vivid green of early summer.
On the outskirts of Sendai City.
On a corner of a quiet residential area street was a large, old house with a gate. This area had once held samurai residences, and even now retained many traces of that history. This house appeared to be one of that type. Its sprawling grounds was encircled with a white plaster wall, and situated deep in the inner part of its well-tended garden was a dignified Japanese-style tiled house.
A shishi odoshi resounded sharply.
The silhouettes of several people moved within the house.
“Well, what a fiasco. That the great Date Masamune would have his right eye picked out by such piddling, small fry soldiers,” Shigezane taunted his lord. Another youth with a bandage over one eye was seated on the floor beside the thick-eyebrowed and lively-eyed Shigezane. “Still, it was perhaps fortunate that that was the only injury thou received in a place like that. But to lose thy right eye, of all things...!”
The one-eyed young man laughed sardonically. “’Tis evident that that right eye and I are nothing but nodding acquaintances. I never thought that I would become one-eyed again after being revived.”
“Perhaps because my lord is the reincarnation of Holy Priest Mankai.” Wearing an old-style rolled bandage, the vassal of the Date family, Katakura Kojuurou Kagetsuna said. “Perhaps this, too, is the will of Heaven.”
“The will of Heaven...?” The young man’s clear left eye darkened. "But this body does not belong to me. It is inexcusable carelessness towards the person whose body I’ve taken.
And for a moment the youth sank into silence.
This young man was the ‘One-Eyed Dragon’ who had governed Oushuu from the Sengoku to the Edo Period and built it up to a 620,000-koku domain, the valiant yet resourceful general and hero of Sendai, Date Masamune.
After death, he had slept in the Zuihouden and continued to protect Sendai as well as the Oushuu. His soul had been revived because Mogami Yoshiaki, who had resurrected into the «Yami-Sengoku», had invaded Sendai. Mogami had begun his invasion with his onryou in order to add the Date territories into his own sphere of influence.
Knowing of these plans, Masamune, in order to protect Sendai from falling into the hands of his old enemy, his uncle Mogami Yoshiaki, had returned via a spiritual vessel.
Several fierce battles had already unfolded with the city of Sendai as Mogami sent more and more of his onryou.
Shigezane snorted with annoyance.
“Those Mogami bastards thought we were away from home, so they’d just come trampling in here and step into our shoes and take our territory. They look with contempt on the might of the Date,” he said roughly over his shoulder. Shigezane was one of the Date Clan who, in their previous lives, had been a stalwart at Masamune’s side since their infancy. Masamune’s warriors had also been resurrected with him, and had variously taken possession of the bodies of their blood descendants in order to check Mogami’s invasion. “But ’tis aggravation beyond bearing. If we had revived sooner, we would not have let Mogami into our Sendai one single step. But our honorable uncle certainly has it in him. As usual, he does not seem to be holding back against his cute nephew.”
Masamune laughed sardonically and murmured, “Because my honorable uncle’s clan ended with him. His son was completely mediocre, and his 570,000-koku territory was forfeited. The vexation must have been making my uncle turn over in his grave. So I understand his feelings...” Masamune said, looking out the window. “But we are dead—we cannot do it over again now. We cannot relive the past. Is there no other way but for the dead to fight each other?”
“Really? That’s not what I think,” Shigezane said, leaning forward. “Though we’re dead, to this degree, to the extent that we are here, we’re alive. We can look at it as a chance to fulfill the dreams we had in our lifetimes.”
“Wouldst thou support my uncle?”
“I didn’t say that. Only that we should look on the good side. Does my lord not think so?”
“...”
Shigezane laughed. “Proof that the ‘One-Eyed Dragon’ has grown old, too.”
Shigezane looked at Kojuurou.
“And what of thee, Kagetsuna? A general brought back to life after his death to go forth to fulfill his dream of conquering Oushuu—dost thou not understand a little of Mogami’s heart?”
“Well. To that—” Kojuurou said with cool eyes. “One’s life is lived once. We who stand here are nothing but the husks of what we were. Whether it be regret or anything else of our former lives, all are now buried with our bones.”
Shigezane pouted. “Humph. None of you have any ambition.”
“And yet, Shigezane—” Masamune said impassively, folding his arms, “Mogami’s army grows rapidly here. We easily drove his warriors back earlier, but now that their numbers have increased, sooner or later ’twill be difficult for us to hold them back. And stranger still, this is Sendai, the territory of the Date. Even if he should use the spirits here, they should be favorable towards us. Where are Mogami’s reinforcements coming from?”
“Dono. They do not belong to Mogami.”
“What?”
Shigezane and Masamune turned sharply towards Kojuurou. He looked at them calmly.
“What dost thou mean, Kojuurou?”
“I mean that those ghosts who attacked us earlier were not the troops of Lord Yoshiaki.”
“Not Mogami? Then—?”
Kojuurou said in a low voice, “They were warriors of the Ashina.”
“! Ashina?!” Masamune involuntarily cried out. “Ashina Yoshihiro? Have the Ashina been resurrected as well as the Mogami?”
“Art thou certain, Kojuurou!”
“Perhaps. The crest on their battle flags, armor, sword hilts was that of the Ashina. And also, I recalled that the warriors were wet, as if they had had water poured on them. They were probably the spirits of those who had died by drowning. If you recall that in our previous life, we defeated the Ashina forces at the Battle of Suriagehara by chasing them into the violent torrents of the river...”
“Were yesterday’s warriors from then?”
“Though I cannot say for sure.”
Masamune’s eyebrows drew together painfully. The Ashina had once, along with the Mogami and Satake, been strong rivals with whom he had fought many fierce battles for control of the Northeast. Many had met their ruin at the hands of Masamune in such battles as the Battle of Hitotoribashi and the Battle of Suriagehara
So this was what it meant to be resurrected.
“The Ashina resent their defeat by the Date Clan. If they have been revived, then revenge against us would inevitably be first on their agenda.”
“We would almost certainly be at a greater disadvantage from their blunders than the Mogami...” Shigezane also chimed in.
Masamune pondered, still and silent, his one eye narrowed. “This will not do. The Date’s forces are too weak. Our main troops have their hands full even now with the extermination of the onryou within the city. If we should be attacked by fresh troops here...”
Their fighting strength, spread too thin even now, would be further scattered. Mogami in the west, Ashina in the south. A perfect scenario for a pincer attack.
“Dono. Let us call upon the spirits of Shiroishi. It will allow us to hold the Ashina back from advancing further north, and fortify the south.”
“But do we have enough time?”
“I know not. Still, the news of the breach of the fortress in Aizu has not yet spread. Ashina’s main force will likely not move for the time being. If we move now, perhaps...”
“... Those spirits who died in battle cannot rest even though they are dead, can they?” Masamune murmured, and abruptly raised his head. “We have no choice. Kojuurou, I give thee command of Shiroishi. Summon the spirits there.”
Shigezane interjected immediately. “What do we do about Mogami? If they knew about the resurrection of the Ashina, they would take the opportunity to attack.”
“Shigemoto and the others are there. We should summon the spirits of the north as well.”
“Dost thou plan to raise yet more spirits? The fighting will spread. The fortress in the north is engaged in battle with the Nanbu Clan. We cannot move further!”
“Aah,” Masasume groaned painfully, when—
Someone called from the direction of the paper sliding door. Kojuurou responded and stood. He stepped out, and after a moment returned to report.
“Dono, it appears that thou hast a guest.”
“A guest? Mine?”
“Yes.”
“Who is it?”
Kojuurou, his wise eyes alighting, replied steadily, with care: “One belonging to the Takeda.”
“What?” Masamune’s left eye narrowed in surprise. “Takeda? That’s...but, could it be—”
“He hath expressed a desire to discuss something with thee directly. Shall I allow him in?”
Masamune and Shigezane exchanged a glance. Their lips tightened. Masamune asked Kojuurou guardedly, “Who is this person from the Takeda?”
“It is,” Kojuurou responded with cool composure, “Kousaka Danjou Masanobu.”