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Don't die for me like this—humiliated... trampled beneath another man's feet...

Y-You don't deserve to be my father. But I don't deserve to have you die for me like this!

Why would you do this for me? Why would you do this for a fool?!

Papa...

Mifune-san...?

Yes, I took over from the ninja.

His reaction...? I'm sure you can imagine.

You... you have no further use for him?

—Yes! What other orders do you have?

Yes, I will go to the place where Momoka is being held.

But was there not someone else? The woman by the name of Kichisei—

Mio, is it?

Mifune told you to kill me, didn't he?

He wants to wrap things up cleanly. He doesn't want any loose ends, does he?

Then do it. Kill me here and now.

Otherwise, I'll kill you with my tooth and nail, whatever it takes to get out of here.

Go.

...Go?

Go. Before I change my mind.

Never come back.

Has the sun set?

Tessai does not know.

He has lost track of time.

He remembers falling to Mifune's blade. He remembers Mifune grabbing his hand and leaving a bloody handprint on a new contract.

Then, the footsteps grow distant, and his vision grows grey and blurry.

He wants to be free of all this—

Uncle Tessai?!

The old man stands back up feebly as he hears the familiar voice, perhaps out of guilt, perhaps out of lingering sentiment, perhaps because he does not want Hoshiguma to see the true extent of his weakness.

...Hoshiguma?

Who did this? Kinbee?!

Hoshiguma... I couldn't protect Kajimachi... or Hannya...

Where's Momoka? Kichisei?

Kinbee was right about one thing... sitting in my chair... I started thinking of everything as shogi pieces...

Moving them... trading them... sacrificing them...

But I forgot... I'm no more than a shogi piece myself, in the eyes of others...

Run... you're no match for Kinbee... leave this forsaken place... go back... go back to Lungmen...

No, I won't!

Sit down, Uncle Tessai. I'll find a doctor—

*cough* *cough* Don't... bother...

Can't you see... I'm beyond help...?

Uncle Tessai—

I'm here, Uncle Tessai. I'm not going anywhere.

Sit down. We'll sit together for a little bit... just like old times.

Hoshiguma helps the dying old man sit down.

She casts her gaze toward the tall walls in the distance. There are lights flashing outside, and the sound of tracks rolling over the ground.

She does not care what it means. Kajimachi is dead, and she cares not what will become of it later.

All she knows is that she must stay with the dying man.

The old man's breathing grows weaker and weaker, but he begins to feel the rumbling of tracks too.

He looks up in terror, but his eyes can no longer see. The ground trembles beneath him.

Is that... a sound... I can't hear...?

What is it, Hoshiguma... what is it...?

It's—

Hoshiguma stops in mid-sentence, choking back tears.

After a while, she growls from the back of her throat—

It's the signal... to begin the fireworks show.

The fireworks... have begun?

Yes. They're getting ready. You hear the commotion, don't you?

Yes... Kajimachi hasn't been so lively... in a long time...

A smile appears on the old man's face.

An engineering vehicle rams through the manor's walls, causing the beams to shake violently.

Not too far away, the pachinko parlor's machines are crushed to pieces, sending tiny balls flying everywhere.

Do you hear... the fireworks...?

Yes...

The sound of fireworks going off, taiko drums rumbling, the noise of the crowd.

He feels the trembling of the ground again, its joyful dance.

He hears the faint sound of car horns, from vehicles caught in the traffic jam outside.

He senses his own heartbeat growing slower by the second.

No...

No... I can't...

In his final moments, his heart races once more, and hot blood flows swift through his veins, as the dying man gazes at the sunset, thinking that it is the rising sun—

The wrinkled hands fall weakly.

Found the body that the witness reported... and the suspect, matching the description of Hoshiguma!

Was this part of Kinbee's plan too?

Shut up and come with us.

Calling the police, letting you see me with Uncle Tessai as he draws his last breath, so that I'll once again be suspected of murder...

Was this part of Kinbee's plan too?

Did his people call you?

...I see.

Hoshiguma takes a leap and sees a familiar foe before the policeman says anything.

Yakuza. Ninja.

You're in league with each other?

The policeman looks down at his own feet—as Hoshiguma swings her unsheathed sword, trying to cut a path through the faint but inevitable dusk.