level_act44side_01_end

(Yawns)

Ooo! New senbei flavors! 'Premium muskmelon with Siracusan red sauce' and 'condensed cystymilk with honjouzou soy sauce'...

They look delicious.

No. I'm counting my calories! I have to watch what I eat!

Huh? Mio-san?

I'll be at the agency in just a few minutes. Did you need something?

What?

Almost there. I'm running over now!

'Treating fans like fools, nose in the air'...

'I'm no fan of hers anymore, that's for sure. She ruined the concert!'...

'Trying so hard to go viral, pretending to be scared—aren't you embarrassed?'...

What... what is all this?

A media smear campaign. It started early yesterday morning—most likely the work of a rival.

Producer.

Producer! I didn't know you were coming!

What's the situation?

It all happened so suddenly. PR is still investigating.

This isn't just PR.

What do you mean?

That 'one-horned Oni' wasn't our doing, right?

Mio, you are responsible for Momoka's safety. Please get to the bottom of all this.

Of course.

Momoka, your gaffe on stage yesterday was one thing, but <i>upstairs</i> is more upset about something else.

What's that...?

You've been acting less and less like a pop idol lately. Then this happens, and you vanish without a trace?

The fans didn't seem to react too negatively. I even gave them an encore. They were into it.

I was tired and hungry when I hopped offstage, not to mention scared. I just went to my favorite oden yatai, is all.

Well, how do you explain your inappropriate monologue up there?

'Inappropriate monologue'?! What, what did I say wrong?

Your remarks on Kajimachi.

Kajimachi? Oh. You mean the fan that——

The Kinseki Group is the sole backer of our entire operation. They have a very tense relationship with Kajimachi right now—speaking out recklessly will only make things harder for all of us.

I don't understand what the big deal is. I was just thinking about how I shot my first movie there.

I still remember when I got started. You told me Chairman Tessai valued my skills...

The past is the past. I'm talking about the present. Things are different now.

Besides, we've always told you to stay in your lane and stick to the script when you're onstage. The people come to see Momoka, not you, with your big mouth.

I... I get it.

As long as you get it.

Producer, when are we going to the recording studio? My schedule is packed today. We have to get a move on.

Meh. Actually, why don't you take a few days off.

HUH? What?!

P-Producer! I don't need any rest! I'm used to the grind by now! We're in peak season. I know that. If I take a break now, that put us several days behind!

Maybe if you hadn't been so busy during the day yesterday, you would have been calmer last night.

I'm sorry, but——

If you really want to make up for your mistakes, Momoka, I have an urgent assignment for you.

Anything!

The television station wants to book you on a show. Take a look.

The Haunted House of Kajimachi?! Another one of these shows? Why?!

And why now, of all times, would they produce a program that makes Kajimachi look bad?

Then you'd rather take a break?

No! I just...

Momoka, you know that when you don't do what we say... it reflects... poorly on you.

But...

Momoka!

Producer, I don't want to die!

I've known that place was haunted for forever! A bunch of people died in that house!

They say it's... it's somehow connected to the 'Nameless Oni'. It was her there on the stage last night...

Momoka, I will take measures to ensure your safety.

(Quietly) Mio, back me up here.

Momoka, do not worry. I'll go with you.

Mio-san... is going too?

Yes.

Are you strong enough to take down that vicious Oni?

Mio tilts her head and thinks hard for a few seconds.

Maybe not.

I'm doomed. I'm done for!

'If we keep walking down Nita Street, we'll soon arrive at Kajimachi. From now on, that will be our place, our city.'

'Our city? But, Papa, we've been walking down the street, and I don't see anything all that different. What do you think, Uncle Tessai?'

'It will become different. It will change.'

A wind carrying a scent—woody, or perhaps musty—blows against her face, and somehow, Hoshiguma is compelled to take a deep breath.

The houses are all so old.

Does Uncle Tessai still live in the same place?

Yeah. The big house at the end there.

Kinbee, what's the deal with the funeral? Kajimachi looks like it's doing fine?

It's a long story.

What's wrong?

Hoshiguma quickly realizes why Kinbee has fallen silent—and why the expression on his face now carries a touch more respect.

Not too far away, there's an old man standing in the road, facing them.

The old man's back is slightly hunched. Yet somehow, as the wind lifts his wide sleeves, he seems to stand a little taller.

Uncle Tessai!

Chairman Tessai.

Kinbee, I told you that you are not permitted to set foot in Kajimachi ever again.

The Phidia appears startled. The reverence on his face quickly turns to fear.

I was preoccupied with a certain 'happy event' that happened today. I lost track of my surroundings and accidentally walked into Kajimachi. Damn!

She's in cahoots with you. That's what you're happy about?

Chairman, I just got her out of the police station, is all. The cops started chasing her as soon as she arrived in Mitsukue. She only just slipped out.

She's come back here out of genuine concern for her home. If you're unhappy about something, please, take it up with me. Do not blame her!

As for my trespassing into Kajimachi—shall I'll perform a <i>dogeza</i>, offer a formal apology on another date, or cut off a finger—

Ha! You'd do any of those things if I asked?

The decision is yours—

*huff huff* Oyabun! I ran around to everyone asking where you were, until I found out you'd come here to Kajimachi!

Why did you make the trip out here? That old bastard doesn't have many days left—why bother coming to this forsaken place?

O-Oyabun?

You know I'm your oyabun?

Then do you know who gave this 'oyabun' the lofty position that he holds today?

I—

Ah, right, this isn't your first offense.

Some time ago, Chairman Tessai forbade me and my men from ever entering Kajimachi again. This is not the first time you've disobeyed that order. Am I right?

Well, I wasn't—

You were the one who drove those three families out of Kajimachi—plus the two shops that had to shut down, and that was all after Chairman Tessai ordered us to stay out of Kajimachi. Isn't that right?

You knowingly went against his orders. How should we punish you?

Beads of sweat form on the flustered gangster's forehead.

The oyabun isn't usually like this—he toasts me when I do well and offers gentle encouragement when I fall short.

Before he can even finish his thought, he hears a sound.

*swish*

Wait!

Kinbee, what are you doing?!

Before he can even finish his thought, it's cut short—the gangster's headless body collapses to the ground with a thud.

Neither Tessai's iron fan nor Hoshiguma's Hannya can match the quick draw of the Phidia's long sword.

That was your Kinsekikai brother!

Murdering a member of the family right in front of me. Is this your way of raising a hand against me?

But Chairman, you've already given me managerial control of the clan.

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.

Momoka, we're just trying to add some color here for TV. Work with us, okay?

But I just saw that Oni at the stage, and now I'm going to visit her haunted house...

Ugh. Relax. You're going to be fine.

Alright... I'll do my best.

Ugh, why are there so many pull-tops here?

I don't like this... Wait! What's that sound behind me?

Who's there?

The vicious Oni? A ghost?!

It's you? What are you doing in my house?

Momoka grabs something shaped like a stick from the ground and points it at the shadowy figure.

But she quickly realizes that whatever she has picked up will be ineffective against ghosts or a fierce, vicious Oni. In a hurry, she shoves the stick-thing into her coat and pulls out a box...

...of roasted soybeans.

Vicious Oni! I-I've got roasted soybeans! If you dare come closer, I'll waste you!

<i>Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! Oni wa soto, fuku... fuku... err... uh...</i>

The beans aren't working. But I have some salt here too! Check it out! Salt!

The thing... you... fear... most...

Well, I guess I'll be going. Sorry for intruding. Sorry for bothering you. Byebye. Sayounara!

Hey! Wait a second!

No, I don't think I will!

My head!

Are you alright?

Momoka, who has just struck her head on something, starts to fall to the ground. However, 'the ghost's' voice jolts her back on her feet.

I'm fine. I'm fine. Sorry for bothering you.

I've got uh, kids, and my parents, they're so old... to take care of back home!

No! Hasuke is at home, waiting for me to water him! Let me go! I have to go take care of him!

In her panic, Momoka lets out a high note she's never even hit in the recording studio.

Later that day, as the production team looks at the footage, they are unsure which one of the two, Momoka or Hoshiguma, most resembles a wailing wraith.

What... what is that thing at my feet?!

You're asking me?

No! I didn't ask you! Let me go!

The terrified girl suddenly disappears, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

Perplexed, Hoshiguma leans in for a closer look, and finally sees what happened.

She smashed right through the floorboards.