level_act44side_06_end

Hoshiguma! Hoshiguma! Can you hear me?

Can you hear—

Quit yappin'!

Hoshi—

You know what, yap all you want, we'll give that <i>aho</i> a warm welcome!

What does Kinbee want with me?

Kinbee? Who's that?

I mean, Mifune.

How am I supposed to know? You're an idol, so maybe the oyabun has some use for you. Or maybe he just plans to do you in.

Should've buttered him up more with that pretty face of yours. I don't know what you're thinking.

<i>Bakayaro</i>, who the heck's texting me? Everyone knows I got assigned last-minute guard duty—

What? Some other unlucky sod's taking over the shift?

Ya—hoo!

He's gone.

What happened? Why did I feel like I was hearing voices... even talking to Hoshiguma?

Am I going crazy?

Behind—you—

Eek!

Pfft!

So you weren't acting in those shows. I didn't believe it when Kichisei told me.

You know Kichisei? Is she alright?

Locked up, like you, but probably safe for now.

Wh-Who are you?

You can call me Sarasa. I'm a fan of yours, and I guess you could say I'm Mifune's employee, but my true identity is an undercover <i>cyber ninja!</i>

Cyber... ninja? How's that different from a regular ninja?

Look, ninja are nothing more than hired killers. But the cyber kind? We're wanderers of the intercity net!

But I thought cyber ninja were pretty much the same, hired by corporations to attack each other, just specializing in intercity net operations?

Fine, I'm a cyber <i>ronin</i> ninja!

But I don't know where you came from, or why you're helping me—

That video that you saw at home, the one where Mifune and Mio plot to infect you with Oripathy? I was the one who leaked it to warn you! Do you trust me now?

You were the one who gave me that fright in the middle of the night?!

Well, it was the first time I worked on a Mitsukue—I mean, the Kinseki Channel signal system. It was a mistake. I didn't do it on purpose, I promise!

A-Alright... well, I guess I do owe you my life...

Honestly, I only applied to Kinseki Channel because I heard it was the biggest TV station in Mitsukue, and I needed a job.

But the longer I worked, the more things began to stink. But at least they had you as their poster girl... but they wouldn't even keep their hands off you!

Especially that Mifune. I would've just kept my head down and did the work I was paid for, if he wasn't so <i>yabai.</i>

But I'd rather jump into the sea than work another day for that piece of shit.

...Hehe.

I located Hoshiguma using Mifune's monitoring network, so I patched you in briefly.

You can do that? I remember how the technical director spent a long time fumbling with a pre-set connection the last time I was live on air...

That just means he sucks at his job.

Now, listen to me. I'll patch you in with Hoshiguma again, and have her wait outside.

We'll take Kichisei. Listen to me, and I'll make sure those stupid yakuza never even catch a glimpse of your shadow.

No, I can't go.

Are you crazy? Do you WANT Mifune to cut you up into burdenbeast feed?

Where can I go, if I leave?

The Southern Court's a big place. Plenty of places you can go.

Lay low the rest of my life, always looking over my shoulder? No way.

I didn't give myself the name Momoka Hanyuu, but if you tell me I have to give it up now...

How's that any different from being dead?

Are you serious? Aren't you afraid to die? Do you have a death wish or something?

I don't know. All I know is that it's the only path I have left.

Fine. You know what, that sounded really cool, like a line straight out of a movie. You're a star for a reason!

How do you plan on continuing to be a star, then? What if Kinbee won't let you?

Whoever stands in my way... they're gonna find out that even I can bite when backed into a corner.

Didn't Kinbee make up all those kaidan stories? I'll tell all Mitsukue that they've been lied to.

Interesting.

Can you connect me to every TV set in Mitsukue? I'm going to expose Kinbee to the entire city.

How long do you think it's gonna take, hacking all those TVs, one at a time?

But they're doing that accession ceremony and broadcasting it to the whole city. All we need to do is take a ride on it.

You still have that broken sword? It'll come in useful.

The first thing that Kinbee's people did when they captured us was take it from me...

But I'll say it, with or without the evidence.

Good.

I'll get that Kichisei girl, and Ao-Oni on the other side of the TV, and then we can talk about how we'll teach Mifune a lesson!

Where are you?

Where are... you...?

Did I doze off?

Wait, did the kami-sama...?!

I'm not in that much of a hurry.

It's you?!

Moriuchi sits straight with a start.

He wants to turn around, but dares not, afraid that he will learn that it is all a dream, and there is nothing there at all.

The kami seems satisfied with this reaction.

Kami-sama...

It... it's been a long time.

You're finally willing to show yourself to me.

I'm very grateful that you pulled my family out of poverty.

Did you spend all these years looking for me, just to say thank you?

I wanted to thank you, of course, but there was also something I wanted to ask.

Why... why did you leave us? Why was it that we lost our happy life, little by little, until it was all gone?

Did we offend you? Or was it fate that not even you could avert... and that was why you chose to avoid us?

What does any of that have to do with me?

I-I understand, of course it couldn't be...

What I mean is, did you spend all these years looking for me just to learn the reason?

Were you not looking for me because you wanted to seize happiness again?

I've said this many times, but I guess you were too young to remember, so I'll be patient and tell you once more.

I never give anyone anything.

Think of it this way: there's something I like, and I appear in front of people when I see it.

Something... do you mean, happiness?

Yes.

I didn't avoid you because I was angry at you, or ashamed to see you. I simply chose not to see you because happiness had left you.

But now, I have a reason to see you again.

Choose the right path, and you shall know happiness beyond your wildest dreams.

The kami's voice is exactly as he remembers, but for some reason it makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Is it because he has lost the innocence of childhood?

Is it because he has heard too many lies in his time?

Yes. He has heard too many lies, and he has learned to treat all beautiful promises as deception.

But this is different.

Please... tell me.

You stand in the eye of the storm.

The Oni, Hoshiguma; the snake, Kinbee. Add to that a poor goldfin, and a wolf who believes its own nose—you. All your fates are intertwined.

Oh, there was also an unfortunate old man, but he's dead now.

Tessai-san?!

With his death, you finally have the chance to seize the happiness that you have longed for.

His death... my happiness? What do you mean?

Why... why is Tessai dead? Who killed him?

Is it so hard to guess?

What you REALLY should ask yourself, though, is if it matters?

You stand where countless people could only dream of standing, Moriuchi. This is a business opportunity, a big one. Choose right, and everything will be yours.

You want me... to stand on Kinbee's side?

Kinbee is a liar. He wouldn't let me live.

That's why it's a big business opportunity.

Kinbee is a liar, certainly, but he needs you. More specifically, Kinsekikai needs you.

The separation of the Kinsekikai and the Kinseki Group has entered the final phase. Only a catastrophic event could stop it.

Everything seems to be going according to Kinbee's plan, but he's about to find that he isn't as powerful as he thought.

You've survived for so long between the overworld and underworld of Kajimachi and Nita Street. As a man, you're not that far off from Kinbee.

Moriuchi is stunned.

In his mind, he fantasied about his reunion with the Kami countless times, but never in another thousand years could he have imagined that It would so calmly tell him something so...

...Terrifying.

You want me to take Kinbee's place? Is that the happiness that you're talking about?

Yes.

What if I take his place, but find it beyond my abilities...?

But you'll be rich. Very rich.

Rich...?

You'll be rich, whether you have the ability or not. Maybe not as rich as Kinbee is... but the kind of wealth that you could hardly even imagine right now.

Is money not happiness?

Was it not money that you and your family found when you were young?

Is it not because of money that Mitsukue, and this country, enjoy endless happiness?

Where would happiness be if money left you?

...Is this the lesson you have for me?

It's not a lesson, just the simplest law of existence.

Kinbee knows it. The Diet knows it. Virtually everyone in Mitsukue knows it... you knew it too, when you were little.

Moriuchi feels a chill come over him, as though the setting sun is suffocating in its own golden rays.

Is this really the Kami that he encountered when he was young?

Or is this simply an absurd nightmare... no, something trying to deceive him and make him abandon his search for the kami?

But Its mannerisms, the way It talks, even the line 'What does any of that have to do with me?'... he has never forgotten them.

In Moriuchi's memory, even those cold words seemed to be a kind of encouragement. Now, though...

Moriuchi is gasping for air, but the cold nightmare seems inexorably suffocating.

He reaches into his pocket and takes out the key.

There are numerous scratches on the old-fashioned key, with a tiny maneki-neko hanging from the keychain.

It has kept him company for many years.

Money is happiness, you say?

Maybe. Maybe that's what I always thought, deep inside.

But did you ever stop to think... before all that happened, I only ever thought of you as a friend, the only friend of a lonely boy?

The friend brought me happiness, for which I was very grateful, but could never repay. You had no intention to accept everything that I did.

When you disappeared after I failed to come to see you for a while, I thought it must be because I had neglected you.

I thought I deserved it, because I had abandoned my only friend.

You know? I almost did the exact same thing when I was being coerced by Mifune.

The Oni?

Yes. My guts wrenched in shame when she came to rescue me, but I couldn't say anything.

But you just told me that I got it backwards all along. It wasn't you who brought me happiness. You simply came to me because happiness was there.

Yes.

I see. You're a kami... you've never been any more or less than a kami.

I'm sorry for my arrogance, to think that I could befriend a kami, never mind trying to catch its tail.

Thank you for coming to see me, and telling me that I have been walking down the wrong path my entire life.

How could an information broker have any true friends?

Moriuchi raises the keys and takes off the maneki-neko accessory.

He looks at the keychain, as though he is talking to the kami behind it.

But I wanted a friend. A true friend.

Can you understand that? Would it make you... angry?

If you're not angry... might I be so presumptuous as to... make a bet with you?

Moriuchi stretches out his hand, into the sky unobstructed by concrete.

If I do as you say...

I'll never have a true friend for the rest of my life...

I'll never have true happiness.

He bites his lip and opens up his trembling hand.

The accessory falls straight down, like any ordinary object, and is soon swallowed by the dark streets beneath the setting sun.

...Sayounara.

Where are you going?

To find Hoshiguma. If Tessai's dead, as you said, then I have to go and help Hoshiguma.

She's in the back alley of Nita Street. The one with that tiny shrine.

Huh... huh?

What are you huhing for? It's me?

Maneki-Neko-sama, It—

Moriuchi turns around to see nothing, as though nothing was there to begin with, except for the orange-yellow glow of dusk.

He turns his head to the front, and sees the Nosy Kami floating in the air in front.

That neko left because you rejected It. Does that surprise you?

Then... why did you help me?

It's not me who wanted to help you. The star of our shrine told me to help you if I have time, for all the chikuwa offerings you made.

That neko could've done it Itself! Hmph!

Thank you for the help, and pass on my thanks to that... er... 'star'?

Don't expect me to help you fight. I'm just pointing the way.

After all, both of us have a score to settle with that bastard Mifune.

Moriuchi-san?

Did you come to help me, or stop me?

Help.

Did you find your kami-sama, then?

It's doing fine. Much better than I am. But It has nothing to do with me, now that I've found It.

Where's Momoka? Isn't she with you?

I was about to go in and rescue her—

Moriuchi? Is that Moriuchi?

The TV?

Moriuchi-san! Momoka told me your oden's the best in Higashi! I want to try it, once this is all over and done with.

Who are you?

Call me Sarasa, but we don't have time for introductions right now!

Momoka, Kichisei, get closer to the mic! Time to make battle plans!

Mitsukue's in for a BIG surprise!