act44side

He ignored warnings, defied the chairman, and refused to change—he should've died long ago. The fact that he lived this long is a failure of my leadership.

Well, I brought her here; my work is done. It's time I answered for disobeying Chairman Tessai's orders.

He aims his bloodstained long sword—still unsheathed—at his finger.

Before the old man can even speak, the Phidia swings his blade, and his left pinkie falls to the floor.

There. That should atone for my sins, yeah?

No one says anything.

The Phidia slides the blade back into its sheath, bows deeply to Tessai, and gives a small nod to Hoshiguma.

Chairman Tessai, I will now take my leave, so as not to bother you further.

Welcome home, Hoshiguma.

I'm going to call the police—

Hoshiguma's voice trails off, as she becomes lost in thought, remembering how Kinbee swaggered around the police station.

The old man squints his eyes slightly, as he glances at Hoshiguma.

It seems you've been getting on well in Lungmen. You've forsaken the life of crime, eh?

If you still walked the path, you would remember this—no matter how a man dies, someone always comes to <i>clean up.</i>

And as long as the <i>cleanup</i> happens, the police won't bother themselves with our 'messes'.

You've had a long trip. Let's talk inside.

Though she has been away for twenty years, Hoshiguma still pushes open the gate with practiced ease.

Just like in Kajimachi, time has not left much of a mark on this place. Hoshiguma immediately spots the little path she used to take—the quickest way across the courtyard.

She can't tell whether the koi in the pond have lived all these years, or if the owner has been quietly replacing them with identical ones.

I'm back.

Sit.

Uncle Tessai, did you write me that letter because Kinbee—

I never wrote you a letter.

It wasn't you?

When you left Mitsukue twenty years ago, I told you we would never again make contact. I intended to honor that promise.

So, that letter...?

Kinbee forged it. What else could it be?

Why would he do that? You're the chairman of the Kinsekikai. How could you permit such a transgression?

Chairman? If that viper didn't keep calling me that, I'd have forgotten I was chairman of anything.

Look, I'm an old man with no real power. Even my last parcel of turf, Kajimachi, is about to be taken from me.

And Kinbee... heh, he's taken over the Originium crystal business that I built from the ground up. He's taken control of all our operations.

He's started new ventures like a TV network and even a talent agency, and made them hugely successful.

So he's usurped all Kinsekikai businesses and is now planning to take over Kajimachi?

'A radical rebirth and redevelopment plan' — that was how he put it, just a month ago.

Who's rebirthing what? How are they redeveloping it? Who keeps the proceeds? Ha. These are not questions I can ask, of course.

That's why you forbade him and his men from entering Kajimachi.

And today we get this grand performance, where he uses his minion's life as a stage prop… no, not a performance, it was a show of force.

He didn't use to be like this.

He was a better actor back then. He tricked me, and he tricked you. That's the only possible explanation, no?

You didn't realize that finger-chopping bit was all a ploy?

A... a ploy?

A fake finger? Surgical reattachment? A prosthesis? He's got no shortage of tricks.

He wasn't 'atoning for his sins'. He was spitting in my face! He was making a mockery of the Kinsekikai, of everything we stand for.

I don't know what scheme Kinbee had in bringing you back, but there's only one thing you should do now: return to Lungmen, and don't ever come back again. He's a rabid tuskbeast now.

But what will happen to you?

Me? As long as the Kinsekikai still exist, I'm still their chairman by title. Kinbee wouldn't dare raise a hand against me, at least not out in the open. And that's enough.

I can't just leave.

Then what do you intend to do? Wait until Kinbee has pushed me to the brink and then end my suffering?

I just don't want any more regrets this time.

So you regret going to Lungmen?

No. Everything I regret... is from my time in Mitsukue.

Watching Kinbee cut that man's head off like it was nothing... it sent all kinds of regret bubbling up from my stomach.

Kinbee's men see Kajimachi as nothing more than a pimple on Mitsukue's hide. You can't change their minds about that.

I'm going to do whatever I can.

By the way, amidst our grim conversation I almost forgot to ask... what happened with Hannya? When Kinbee was here, I took a glance at it. Looks different than it did the day I gave it to you, no?

Well, to be honest, a corner got sliced off.

How?

With a sword.

The old man's world-weary gaze suddenly flares with intensity.

Whose sword? What was it made of? How was their sword technique? Did they use any Arts?

A good friend of mine back in Lungmen, a colleague—

Explaining it all with words is going to take too long. Give Hannya to me. Let me see it.

Huh—tsk tsk...

A cut like this doesn't come from advanced reinforced steel or simple Arts alone. Sure, there's always someone stronger out there—but let's not forget, Hannya's no ordinary shield.

...Chi Xiao.

Uncle Tessai, you can tell just by looking at the cut?!

Don't forget, I've been around. Back when I was knocking back drinks with the Yanese trade envoys, the name 'Chi Xiao' came up more than once.

For Hannya, being bested by Chi Xiao is no shame at all.

At the end of the day, it wasn't sharpness or toughness that turned Chi Xiao and Hannya into legendary weapons.

Your mind was weaker than Chi Xiao's wielder. Not by much, but enough to turn the tide of battle.

In that case, I guess Kinbee's letter wasn't totally useless. At least it gave Hannya a chance.

Do you want to reforge it?

Of course. Do you expect me to let you run around Lungmen with this broken shield?

Still... I need to think for a bit about how I'll reforge this shield, to give you a sliver of a chance to best Chi Xiao. Let me think it over...

The old man, who once stared down disaster unblinking, now burns with the impatience of youth. He's learned that there's someone stronger out there, and he yearns to test his mettle.

The old acquaintance's long sword has just shattered any sort of 'parting sorrow', yet nostalgia stirs in Hoshiguma all the same.

Heh. Forget it. This isn't something you and I can figure out by just sitting here and thinking about it. Give me some time.

You've spent all night in an interrogation room. You must be tired. Go to the guest room and get some sleep.

No.

What?

I want to pay my respects to my father first.

I'm sorry.

He's your biological father. What are you apologizing to me for?

Is that clinic, my old home, still there?

It's there, but no one has lived in it for about a decade. I'd bet it doesn't much resemble its former self.

The abandoned house in the alley at the end of Kajimachi's North Street... everyone calls it the 'Haunted House'.

After the vicious Oni disappeared, Shimasu, who was the shateigashira, moved into the house with his family, but within three months, he fell ill and passed away.

Six months later, Sanoguchi, who was then serving as wakagashira-hosa, bought the house. After hiring an onmyoji to perform rites for seven days and nights, he moved in with his new bride.

On the seventh night, a patrolman heard wretched wails coming from the 'Haunted House'. In a fit of madness, Sanoguchi took up his family's heirloom blade, killed his wife, and then took his own life.

In the years that followed, every soul who deigned to live in the Haunted House met a terrible end. Eventually, no one dared go near it again.

Legend has it that the vicious Oni never really disappeared. From time to time, her tortured visage will pop up in the Haunted House.

And so, today...

It's too dark in here. I can't see anything...

(Lights lantern) M-Mio-san, are you there?

Whoa!

It's a pull-top!

Momoka, calm down. The camera on your head is shaking all over the place.

Where did Mio-san go? She said she'd be here with me.

She's feeling under the weather. She called in sick today.

I've known Mio-san for years, and I've never seen her get sick. Last winter, I watched her eat twenty ice creams with my own eyes, and she was completely fine. You're telling me she caught a cold? I don't believe it.