Where appropriate, the transliterations add bars called “macrons” above vowels for a closer approximation of the pronunciation, including for names and words that appear without them in the main text; a syllable with “Ō” is supposed to sound more like boat than bot. A repeated consonant like “CC” should be construed in the same manner as in Rebecca.

The translator agreed beforehand to provide the bulk of the annotations. The author’s infamous penchant for wordplay always poses a challenge, but it is the work’s period setting that inspired Vertical’s request. If all that it does is open a window into the difficulties of the endeavor, not just for this particular project but regarding any attempt to convey the sense of a source language, then so much the better.

Enjoy.

Within these walls, seven men faced off.

But no─to say they faced each other confuses things. In actuality, six men surrounded one man, in a circle.

Not what you would call a sporting atmosphere.

Something was awry.

Dressed in the black gi6 of Hisho Dojo, the six men stood with their bokutos7 at the ready. Unbelievably, the man trapped in their weir of swords was empty-handed.

This was not exactly the right time for contemplation, but the man penned by the other six was focused not on them, but on the floor, as if puzzled by the planks below his feet.

The only one without a gi, he was bare to the waist and basically in rags. While fit and long in stature─he was not what you call slender. You could say that he had just enough muscle in just the right places. His tousled hair was knotted at the back. Every movement radiated wildness.

He shook his head.

Eyes on his feet.

“What’s wrong now?”

She spoke at a remove, from a corner of the dojo.

A woman in a brash, brilliant kimono leaned comfortably against the wall. The perfect vantage point for watching the seven men─that is, the six men encircling the one. She did nothing to hide her smile. While young─her long hair was completely white. No strand of black.

“If something’s on your mind, just say it.”

The man seemed bothered by her question.

“It’s not like that─I’m just a little out of place. I’m an island monkey. I don’t think I’ve ever stepped on wood so shiny.”

“I suppose not.”

The woman smirked.

Enjoying herself.

“Don’t take the name of the dojo seriously. The floors aren’t actually made of ice. Pay attention to these guys─none of them should be mistaken for expendable. Men of their ability go down in history─”

“History? Who needs it. Can’t help you, can’t help me,” the lone man said. “All that matters is they’re swordsmen.8 And up against a sword, I never lose.”

“That’s some confidence. And no doubt justified. But remember, you’re not up against one man. There’s six.”

“Six swords.”

“Six is six. Even if you punch and kick and headbutt all at once, that’s only five─you and your kenpo9 are in over your head. Something must be wrong with you to face a sword barehanded. But then again, if you were any other way, you’d be no use to me.”

“I want to show you. I want you to need me. I need you to. Nothing else matters.”

The six men shrank their circle.

Not happy.

And why would they be? Those two were blabbing as if none of them were here─it was enough to annoy anybody, not to say the elite of a venerable dojo.

Their stirring made the trapped man raise his head.

But his words─

“Alright. Let’s go.”

─were endlessly aloof.

The same went for his expression.

“No use thinking. No room to move, but no room to slip─let’s go. You say the word.”

“Alright,” the woman nodded. “Let’s─”

Begin.

Before she could say the word, the six men─six wooden swords─rose to action. Swordsmen of such legendary promise could aim10 at the same target without clashing. Sparing none of him, their swords would fall at once over his body─

Or would they?

“Ugh─what a pain…”

Even now, he showed no sign of excitement.

“I told you─this isn’t kenpo. This is swordplay.11 And even with six, they’re short a sword─against me. Feast your eyes on this.”

The Swordless Swordsman crouched─low to the ground.

“Kyotoryu12─Shichika Hachiretsu13─”

To unroll the scroll of this war of katanas.

This swashbuckling play on swords, this piecemeal period piece.

And so we begin: the Tale of the Sword14♪

Empty…or was it?

It had been, until some twenty years ago.

Twenty years back, when a family crossed over from Shinso─they named this place Haphazard Island.2 They were the only three souls on earth with a reason to name it.

It was the crack of dawn.

Outside a ramshackle hut built near the center of the island, a man sat grumbling, dressed in rags, tousled hair tied at his neck. Still in the process of waking, he muttered over his handiwork.

A bucket.

Big and round.

Perhaps, more aptly, a barrel─and shaped with the same slapdash attitude as the hut. At first glance, you might mistake it for a roped-up bundle of sticks, but the seams lacked even the slimmest gap for water to intrude. He threw a ladle in the bucket and slung it on his back, using the ropes that bound it tight to strap it to his shoulders.

What a pain, he thought, not voicing the words this time.

He wasn’t mad─had nothing against the bucket or the ladle. To him, almost everything was, by default, a pain. Waking up? Absolutely. But even closing his eyes to go to sleep at night. A pain.

“Here we go.”

While not actually pausing, he seemed supremely bothered that he had to stand. Eyes bleary from sleeping, he turned and set off for the mountain─

Which is when the door to the hut creaked open.

“Shichika…”

Someone called him from inside.

Shichika Yasuri4…

His name.

“Where are you going, Shichika?”

“Uh…”

He turned, flustered and embarrassed, and tried but failed to look away. Eyes spinning in his head. The face of a kid caught red-handed in a prank. But Shichika was too old, though not by far, to be confused for a kid, and no kid had a build like his. Strictly speaking, he was doing nothing wrong, but when the voice from the hut─his older sister Nanami─reached his ears, he was as good as guilty.

Nanami Yasuri.5

Unlike her wild younger brother, Nanami was the picture of comely grace. Her face and bearing had the attraction of porcelain─but in her beauty and crafted smoothness, there was something fragile and breakable. Leaning in the doorway, wearing just a haori6 over her slip, she watched Shichika with a cold stare.

Voice drained of feeling.

“I asked where you were going.”

“It looked, uh, like we were low on water, so I figured I’d go fetch some. Go back to bed. You shouldn’t come out dressed like that. You’ll catch a cold.”

“Says the guy not wearing a shirt. I’m fine. It’s just enough to cool me down. The cold air feels nice against my skin. Besides, I was supposed to do the chores today.”

“Yeah, I know. I mean─” Shichika sputtered, “I didn’t know that.” He was shaking in his sandals. “Does it really matter? Consider it part of my training.”

“Shichika.”

Her voice was cold.

Ready to refute any excuse.

It shut him up real quick.

“How many times do I need to tell you? Stop treating me so preciously.”

“I didn’t─mean to.”

“I’m capable of fetching water. You were raised better than to be so pushy. And all this training?” Nanami sighed7 dismissively. “Pointless.”

“What makes it pointless─”

“Everything. Why train when you’re the end of the tradition?”

“…”

Nanami sighed again.

She could sigh with the best of them.

“No one’s asking you to be a hero.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for the advice. I’m doing my best. Yesterday I came up with an insane new Fatal Orchid. This one is out of control.”

“Shichika.”

Nanami wouldn’t let him change the subject.

“…What?” he asked.

“It’s been a year since Dad died. Don’t you think it’s time?”

“Time for what?”

“If you can build a bucket,” she said flatly, pointing at the thing strapped to his back, “I’m sure that you can build a boat. Dad was the one they banished.8 I would never make it over there, but you…”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” This was too much. Shichika was done humoring her. “I get what you mean. Same as you, I’ve been on this island as long as I can remember─but I can’t just up and go over to the mainland. I wouldn’t know my left from right, or up from down. I’d wind up dead in a ditch9 somewhere.”

“Still,” Nanami said.

“Training may be pointless. I agree. But the school is the only thing Dad left me─I’m going to uphold the tradition as long as I can.”

“Huh.” Nanami smirked. “I had no idea that you missed Dad so much.”

“Sis.”10

“What? Go ahead. If you want to go fetch the water, go and get it. We can talk about this later. It’s too early for this sort of thing. I’ll make breakfast. Is the water gone?”

“There’s a little left.”

“Alright,” she said. “You can show me your new move later on.”

Nanami stepped back into the hut and closed the door.

Seeing her go was such a relief that Shichika heaved a sigh. And for a man his size, a sigh was not becoming in the least. His sister put him to shame.

“I knew she’d bring it up someday, and I guess today’s the day. But she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. A bucket’s nothing like a boat.”

Maybe their father could have built a boat. Twenty years ago, he built the hut─with his own hands.

But Shichika? No chance.

Not without a single blade11 on the entire island.

This was no exaggeration.

Shichika and Nanami were stuck here.

On this island.

Stuck to their father.

And to his school.

“…”

Did he miss him?

Did he really?

His line about fetching water being part of his training was sincere (it had to be), but it surprised him when his sister referenced his feelings for his father.

He was a great man. They called him Hero of the Rebellion.

By comparison, Shichika had accomplished nothing.

To be fair, having lived most of his life on Haphazard Island, he had yet to have the chance to perform daring feats of valor─but this gave him a lingering sense of inferiority.

Uphold the tradition─

His father had trained him up until his death.

It was his father’s school. That made the training matter.

But Nanami was right. If Shichika stayed holed up on this island, the school would die off with him. She may have been the one to bring it up, but it was on his mind. Hell, even their father must have known─a day would come.

But all the same.

At any rate.

Shichika knew nothing of the outside world─

And didn’t care to learn.

Why bother─such a pain.

“…Here we go.”

He twisted his back to slide the bucket into place and headed toward the mountain.

Across the desert island.

Deserted as it was, Haphazard Island had freshwater─if it didn’t, his whole family would have died of thirst years ago. But the water wasn’t in a river or a well. It bubbled from a spring in the mountain. Because the island was a single mountainous mass, it was hard to say what was mountain and what wasn’t (and in reality, outside of the beaches and the clearing where they kept their hut, almost everything was mountain), but the spring in question sat beyond an especially treacherous pass─not a place he would gladly have his sister venturing for water. In the year since their father’s passing, Shichika had been quietly replenishing their supply, but it seemed that she had finally caught on. Soon she would discover all the other menial tasks he had been carrying out in secret─but what could he do. It was a miracle that somebody as dull as him had been able to delude someone as sharp as his sister for so long.

─Her face.

She did look a little pale.

The hour was not to blame.

Only her brother could possibly have noticed, since already on normal days her complexion was not just clear and white but almost sky blue─

─Still.

What if she is sick again?

When she said the cold air felt nice, could that mean she was catching a fever?

Nanami was frail. That much was certain─encountered in the night, she would be easy to mistake for a spirit,12 if not an actual ghost.13 She had been doing so well─not like this was to his credit, for handling all the chores─yet now that she had caught up on his act, he doubted she would listen if he told her to stay home and rest. More likely she would overextend herself, trying to compensate. The opposite of her apathetic brother, she hated nothing more than sitting still. At first glance, you may think her lethargy shared some aspect of her brother’s grumbling, but at the root, these moods were unrelated. Hers, quite simply, was a function of her sickly constitution.

She would rather be working. Always.

Sick as she was.

Or maybe sickness was the reason─people want what they can’t have, and long to do what they cannot. Surely this was the case for Nanami.

But not Shichika. He hated what he had, and was loath to do the things he could.

My father─

─the hero.

Enough thinking. He closed his eyes.

His head was hurting.

Shichika was not a thinker. Reasoning was not his strength. If there was anything he hated or loathed, it was complicated explanations.14

That was his sister’s territory.

─They were like a bow and string.

Or rather, a mended lid on a cracked pot.15

As Shichika would have it, things were the way they were, and whatever happened happened─period. In his view, it was best to leap before you looked.

“Huh?”

He noticed something.

Shichika knew this island better than anyone, with his father gone─and maybe even when his father was alive. The island was so small. He knew it all, down to the last blade of grass. If something changed, even slightly, he would notice.

“…”

A disturbance in the soil.

Footprints─small, but human.

They were wearing sandals. Flat ones.

Was it Nanami? Couldn’t be. First off, he had no memory of making her this kind of sandal, and second, the footprints were fresh─there was no way Nanami could have overtaken him. Distracted as he was by his confounding thoughts, he had traveled in an almost perfectly straight line, but Nanami, on top of being too weak to catch up to a tortoise, was so easily disoriented16 she was apt to set off for the mountains and wind up in the sea.

It was just the two of them, on the entire island. If these footprints weren’t Nanami’s, and obviously not his, whose were they?

By process of elimination─no, no matter how you thought about it, or even if, like Shichika, you didn’t think, the answer was clear─someone else was on the island.

Not a problem.

Just a pain.

Shichika even felt that his priority was to move on to the spring and fetch water─but he couldn’t let himself ignore this. His father had been on the lookout nineteen years, since being banished, watching for someone from the mainland to show up on the island. While there had been a few near misses, no one had ever come.

Until today.

Sure enough, only after his father’s death.

“If Dad was here, he’d school them and be done with it. But what am I supposed to do? Welcome them? I’d better leave that to Nanami.”

Talking to himself, Shichika adjusted his route. Knowing the entire island─he could guess, from the footprints, what this stranger had been thinking. They were trying to follow the easiest path. Wherever it was easiest to walk─of course, this being in the mountains, there was no path, but that aside, the steps did not suggest that whoever made them had a specific destination─or if they did, they had no clue how to get there.

Or maybe, like Nanami, they were quick to lose their way.

Shichika knew exactly where he was, but if a normal person wandered off into these hills, they would be in deep trouble, quite doomed. But then again, as far as Shichika recalled, he had never met a “normal person.” Twenty years ago, when his father brought them here, he was only four years old. He lacked the perspective necessary to comprehend words like “normal” or “other.” His world had only two people─his father, dead a year, and his sister, whom he saw every day. His father had taught them facts about the outside world─but facts were not reality.

Faced with unfamiliar footprints and the question of who left them, a normal person would have been more cautious─or at least indulged in some degree of speculation, but in Shichika Yasuri’s case, even this variety of thinking was a pain.

Speculation was not among his special moves.

If only he had run home and sought help from his sister, who despite her identical island upbringing was prone to speculation, he would never have been embrangled in the pain-in-the-butt adventure that was to come─but alas, it wasn’t in the cards.

Whatever will be will be.

Things will happen as they will.

Such is the way of the world.

From the way the branches had been bent back from the path, Shichika was able to discern the height of whoever left the footprints. Whoever this was, they weren’t very tall, but no kid either. Small footprints, on their own, could be a kid, but factoring in the disturbance of the branches, Shichika was certain they had been left by a woman.

A woman.

But he didn’t think anything of it.

Well, there was one other thing.

One thing his dull mind couldn’t shake─the way the footprints pressed into the ground. The soil wasn’t squishy, like fresh mud, but while he couldn’t say for sure, it seemed as if the footprints on the left were deeper than the footprints on the right.

Something she was carrying made her favor her left side.

Something heavy.

“Hmm.”

But hmm was as far as he got.

Nevertheless, in short time he discovered that his guess was on the mark─thin as Shichika may have been, he was a big guy with a big stride. And a woman left these footprints. Carrying something heavy. She didn’t know her way. It would have been far stranger if he never found her.

But there she was.

Slim silhouette.

Long white hair─no strand of black.

The hair had made it hard at first to tell how old she was─but she was young. Like his sister Nanami, she left her hair undone, flowing down over her shoulders, but she wore a voluminous kimono in gold brocade. However elegant and brilliant, her outfit was the worse for wearing on a mountain pass, and its hem sprayed thread where it had caught so many pesky branches. Yet her sloppy17 way of dressing made the fraying seem like a fashion statement.18 Each of her appurtenances glimmered with luxuriance. No detail, taken singly, could be rightly called offensive─but as a whole, at least by normal standards, she came across as showy, enough to make you want to take a step back.

Then again.

To Shichika, ignorant of any norm, she somehow made no overstrong impression. Not even her curious hair─but again, there was one thing that caught his eye.

The katana dangling from her left hip.

The heavy thing was a katana.

“Hey, it’s not like you’re not welcome here. People can visit if they like.”

Shichika addressed the woman without hesitation.

Fear didn’t register.

Though perhaps a little fear would have been normal.

“So yeah, just letting you know, now that you’re here, there’s one big rule─no blades allowed. On the entire island.”

“…”

She heard this sudden greeting from behind─

But it did nothing to discomfit her.

Taking her time, the woman turned.

Her countenance was no pushover’s. Eyes perked up at the corners.19 No grandeur left unaired.

Those perky eyes scrutinized Shichika before glancing at the thing slung from her hip.

“Then I apologize.” The woman did bow her head. “I didn’t know, so forgive me.”

“…Hey, I didn’t make the rules.”

His father had.

And thanks to him, he and his sister had to do everything, including cook, without so much as a knife. After twenty years, he couldn’t care less─but truth be told, this was the first time Shichika had seen a real katana.

It was possible that he had seen a sword before coming to the island─but his four-year-old mind had retained no record of it, and besides, seeing something after two decades is just the same as seeing it anew.

Look at that.

A real─katana.

It sure looked heavy.

“How’d you get here, anyway?”

“A boat,” she said. “How else do you get to an island?”

Obviously.

Right. How else.

The question was embarrassing enough to make you want to take it back.

But not Shichika. He went on.

“Why are you here?”

He wasn’t asking to find out. He was merely keeping faith on what his father and his sister told him he should ask at times like this. Unconcerned with how the woman answered, he thought only of what to ask next, or─crap, should he have asked her for her name first?

“I came to see Mutsue20 Yasuri, Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu. Do you know him?”

“He died,” said Shichika. “Last year.”

So she was here to see his father.

In which case, she had a distinct destination after all.

Betraying only a flicker of surprise, the woman caught herself.

“Is that so.” She nodded. “I assumed as much─after all, it has been twenty years─but if he’s no longer with us, you must be─”

“I am Shichika Yasuri. Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu.”

“Ah.”

She smiled.

An understanding grin.

“What was I thinking─how silly of me to ask. What with Mutsue and his family being the only ones who live here. Which makes you─”

“His son. For what it’s worth.”21

“I see. You have a nice build. You’re in good shape. I’d say you pass muster.”

“Past master? I’m the present master.”

“…Yes, of course.”

“If you came to see my father, I hate to disappoint you.”

“I did indeed, but my business remains with the master of your school. Which means, young master, that my business with your father is now with you. Excuse the tardiness of my own introduction. I am Togame,22 the Schemer.”

“Togame?”

What a strange name.

Wait─what did she say after that?

The Schemer?23

Shichika was on the verge of asking his first unrehearsed question, but the woman made the first move.

“Let’s see this Kyotoryu of yours.”

She drew the katana at her hip.

A thin sword,24 four feet25 long.

Its temper line26 perfectly straight.27

Blade engraved with the image of a tiger.

“An early work of Kasamaro Mibu, one of the thirty-six Fugaku28 Swordsmiths─I had feared it may be no match for Mutsue Yasuri, Hero of the Rebellion, but for a go around with his son, it may just do the trick.”

“A go around? What do you mean?”

“Nothing more than its customary sense. Have at you!”

This was the first sword Shichika had ever seen─and of course the first sword anyone had pointed in his face─but he did not flinch. Although his real eyes had never witnessed a sword, his mind’s eye had seen them constantly over his twenty years of training on the island; he hadn’t slacked off in the year since his father’s passing.

He was ready.

Shichika Yasuri feared no sword─

“Gadzooks!”

However.

The many secrets of the Kyotoryu were not to be aired on this precise occasion. Coming at him with her stalwart battle cry, her sword raised high─Togame caught her foot on an outcropping of rock and fell flat on her face.

Thus Shichika, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, made the acquaintance of Togame the Schemer.

It was the first moon of the new year, in an era long before Gadzooks! had fallen out of fashion.

It was founded in the chaos of the Age of Warring States.

By Kazune Yasuri.30

The reputation of katana31 as the epitome of handheld weapons is perennial─a fact destined to go unchanged. Its strengths are too numerous to tally, but if forced to offer only two, they would be that it is long, and it is heavy. Its length makes it lethal, as does its weight. This combination would give anyone the upper hand. But as with all things far and wide, these strengths double as weaknesses. The length of a katana, like its weight, make wielding it impractical.

Thus came Kazune to his philosophy.

Swordsmen, he reasoned, are the strongest creatures on earth. But to truly be the strongest, you must be void of any weakness─even if it means surrendering your strength. He took the discipline places no swordsman before him had dared to venture.

Kazune forsook the sword.

A true swordsman needs no sword─to him, this was the key. For the next ten years, he retreated to the mountains and toiled in seclusion as he shaped the Kyotoryu. And later, in the service of the House of Tetsubi, one of the six daimyos responsible for the current shogunate, his art sent tremors through the battlefield.

Not kenpo of any stripe. And not mutodori.32

This was swordplay─swordless and lethal.

So legend had it.

Legendary, but true? True or false aside, that much was known to those who cared to know. Yet few among the living were familiar with the workings of the Kyotoryu─the only school of swordplay with no sword at play. Its secrets were unknowable, not even rumored. To witness it at work, you had two options─train, or fight─and the former was next to impossible. Kazune decreed the school would only be passed down by bloodline. The gates of the school were more than barred: they were invisible.33 The only viable option was to provoke one of the masters with a katana─and the moment you witnessed the Kyotoryu would be your last. Even if you somehow survived, you would think twice before bragging about losing, sword in hand, to a man without a sword.

The school was shrouded in darkness.

Its techniques had been showcased only twice before the public eye: during the Age of Warring States, by Kazune, and during the Rebellion, by Mutsue. Its powers were only to be loosed amid the chaos and confusion of the battlefield.

And after nineteen years of training under Mutsue, his son Shichika became the newest Master of the Kyotoryu.

“Miss Togame─was it?” Nanami asked in a calm tone, sounding completely at ease.

To recap.

The woman, Togame, who had banged her head against the ground so hard to go unconscious, wound up in Shichika’s water bucket and rode back to the hut strapped to his back. Nanami, changed into a short-sleeved robe, raised an eyebrow when her brother returned laden not with water but a woman─his failure to return with water obviously not being the reason for the gesture─but simply couldn’t leave the fainted woman outside. It took the two of them to carry her in, whereupon they dispossessed her of the glimmering thing slung from her hip. The sword was trouble─though in her hands, not exactly big trouble, judging from her last display.

Nanami had spent more time on the mainland than her brother, but she too had gone these twenty years without seeing a stranger. Nevertheless, she regarded the woman before them with equanimity. Not simply because she did not share her brother’s aversion to thought─Nanami had readied herself daily to meet a situation such as this. She exuded prudence. Should the sky crumble and fall, she would be there to catch the pieces.

Their hut had a dirt floor and a step-up into a single room.

The brother and sister took their breakfast together, discussing what to do next. Just as they finished eating, Togame woke from where she lay at the edge of the room. Nanami stood and offered her a cup of water heated by the fire.34 Let us take it from there.

“You’re the first visitor we’ve ever had─please forgive us for being so ill prepared to entertain you.”

“Please, I owe you the apology. I showed up unannounced.”

Togame accepted the sayu. It seemed that she had known Mutsue had a son, but had she known about a daughter? From the way she had approached him when they met, she seemed to have arrived at Haphazard Island with some intelligence. She must have known─but Shichika could not be bothered to take the thought this far. He assumed that if she hadn’t known, she had put two and two together, which meant that there was nothing left to say.

His virtuous sister knew better than to wait idly for her not-so-virtuous little brother to introduce her.

“I’m Nanami. Daughter of Mutsue Yasuri.” She paused to look Togame in the eye. “I hear you came to see our father─would you mind me asking what your connection was to him?”

To the point.

“We never met,” Togame said. “I wouldn’t call it a connection.”

“No?”

“No,” Togame confirmed. “Let’s just say I didn’t have a standing invitation, Nanami.”

Behind the polite welcome Nanami had extended was a detectable backdrop of nervousness and caution─but Togame repaid her courtesy with brusque arrogance. The Schemer’s bearing suggested not even the slightest shame at arriving unannounced. As towards Shichika, she addressed Nanami without formality.35 But for someone who had eaten dirt and earned herself a fat bump on her forehead, such airs were nothing if not comical. Or were they? Up until she took her fall, the woman had been searching in vain for this very hut─her destination─and lost her way…for her to maintain such composure after such a misstep was perhaps less comical than admirable. But regardless of whether Nanami saw the humor in it, she didn’t let it hurt her feelings.

She had approached this situation from the first without concern for how Togame held herself. Her sole interest was why Togame had arrived. Shichika may have been the Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, but with their father gone, Nanami was head of the house.

“Your sword is in safekeeping─I believe my brother has already informed you, but on this island, carrying or using any kind of blade is not allowed.”

“I suppose I have the Kyotoryu to thank for that.”

“Yes…but why attack my brother?”

“I merely hoped to spur him to reveal the school’s secrets. But I’m afraid my skills are not so sharp as his. I’m the Schemer─not a swordsman.”

“Still,” Shichika inserted himself into the exchange, “you sure know how to draw a sword.”

Too bad she couldn’t do more.

“Hah.” Togame laughed defiantly. “That much I’ve practiced.”

“…”

Why not go all the way?

Shichika did not approve.

“Your method was crude─I cannot say I’m much impressed.”

“Far be it from me to try to convince you otherwise, but I had my reasons. I knew Mutsue Yasuri of the Kyotoryu by name, but not by face. I’d hate to go after the wrong guy. What better way of confirming his identity than to force his hand and make him show36 the power of the Kyotoryu?”

“In which case,” deduced Nanami, “either Mutsue or Shichika would do.” She nodded comprehendingly.

But what was there to comprehend?

“How about you have another go?” Nanami glanced at the doorway, where leaned the blade. “Though I can’t say that I recommend it─the Kyotoryu may make him look unarmed, but Shichika is a sword, meant for killing.37 Not halfway. All the way. Consider yourself lucky for tripping on that rock. If your sword had so much as grazed him, you would have more than a bump on the forehead.”

Nanami’s words were keen enough to chill the room.

While her face said otherwise─she was angry that a blade had been turned against her brother.

Togame swallowed her breath, but not before Shichika could swallow his. He wanted to counter that he could in fact control his strength─how else could he train?─but his swallowed breath blocked any protest.

“I’ll take that as sufficient evidence I’ve come to the right place. I need this life of mine. Today is not my day to die.”

“Well, then.”

We are ready to hear you out, invited Nanami.

She was clearly holding court, and Togame was her subject. Between them, Shichika felt vaguely excluded, but he was not sensitive enough to interpret their exclusion as offensive. He merely figured it was best to let his sister handle things from here.

Togame tried to pique his interest.38

“Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu. Don’t you desire the world?”

“Nah.”

“Indeed. Who doesn’t? To be born into this world is to vie for its dominion. Don’t shy from your ambition. The Rebellion is fresh in our memories, but who could deny the determination of the rebels? Even the current shogunate had to seize their power first. No one has any reason to hold back in desiring such an office─wait, did you say ‘Nah’?!”

Fool me once.

Shame on you.

“Yeah. I mean, not ‘Nah’ as in ‘No’…”

Shichika searched for the right words.

Suddenly put on the spot, he had refuted her by reflex, without so much as understanding her question. Try as he might to take heed now, he couldn’t see what he was supposed to take. That was it─he should tell her that he didn’t get it. What was he to think when she came at him asking about the world? The only one he knew was Haphazard Island. How could he desire what was his?

This confounding, unenthused reaction made Togame roll her eyes. Nanami felt the need to intervene.39

“Please remember. This island is the only world we know. If you start from the end and explain things backwards or beat around the bush, you may as well assume you’ve lost him.”

“Thanks for clarifying.” Togame nodded. “Now, if it’s all the same, I hope you won’t mind if I ask for you to leave. I don’t want any little birds─”

“That’s out of the question,” Shichika cut her off before she could finish, and not by reflex. “Two reasons. First, the Kyotoryu is shared across our bloodline. If our father was alive, he would have both of us here beside him. Second…I’m not so good at thinking. I can’t understand difficult things. If you have something important that you want to say, it’s in your best interest for sis to be here.”

“Understood.”

Faced with Shichika’s response, Togame retreated, her arrogance intact. The first part was well and good, but the second was just embarrassing.

“Right you are─well then, so long as you can keep this strictly confidential, I’ll get started.”

“As simply as you can, please.”

“Have you ever heard of Kiki Shikizaki?40 The swordsmith.”41

“Nope.”

“Indeed. Even out here on this godforsaken island, anyone who calls himself a swordsman would know that name─no, for the Swordless Swordsmen of the Kyotoryu in particular, Kiki Shikizaki is a natural enemy. The same goes for you as for your ancestor Kazune. I’m sure he would agree that─wait, did you say ‘Nope’?!”

Fool me twice.

Shame on me.

“Come on, Shichika. You know who she’s talking about. Dad taught us about this. Kiki Shikizaki…the famous swordsmith from the war. Right, Miss Togame?”

“Huh? Is that really all you know?”

Togame wasn’t razzing Nanami. She was really asking. She didn’t even bother asking Shichika─and rightfully so. It sounded like their father had told them about the swordsmith, but Shichika, who skipped over any words that were too hard, seemed to have remembered nothing. It was his special move, and wholly unrelated to the Kyotoryu.

“What are you talking about? Is this Shikizaki, uh─what you said before…oh right, one of the guys from Mt. Fuji?”

“Not exactly─that’s hardly it… Nanami, how much did your father tell you about Kiki Shikizaki?”

“Just what you mentioned─that he’s the ultimate rival of the Kyotoryu, and that he had some deep connection42 to the founder of our school.”

“Anything else?”

“I’m afraid that’s all. I don’t even know what the connection was.”

Togame was silent, her face fixed in thought. These two knew almost nothing of the celebrated swordsmith. She could see if only Shichika was in the dark, but since Nanami didn’t know much either, Togame could safely guess that Mutsue had been stingy with the details. Why might that have been, she might have pondered.

Shichika, however, could not care less43─if Togame was going to tell them about the swordsmith, she could just get down off her high horse.

Not like it mattered to him if she told them.

“In the Age of Warring States, more than any other era in this country’s history, swordsmen were supreme─the power brokers of the battlefield were not the lords or the captains, but the swordsmen.”

Thus Togame began her story from the first─no, from zero.

“Kazune Yasuri was one among them─but the light of glory was cast forth by the swordsmiths. The forges.44 The craftsmen.45 If the swordsmen were the players, the smithies were the crew─nay, the stage directors. Needless to say, without a sword, the swordplay would be curtains. Kyotoryu being the exception.”

“Obviously.”

Shichika was onboard. This level of discussion was well within his grasp. He almost wished that she would stop right there, but she was only getting started.

“Those thirty-six great swordsmiths represented one camp, but the most heretical of heretics was Kiki Shikizaki. He pledged allegiance to no school, and manned his forge alone, aloof to the world, and yet his swords reigned over the warring states like none before or since.”

“Reigned how?” asked Nanami. “Over the warring states?”

“Quite literally. Unlike the Kyotoryu, who as you know swore its allegiance to the Tetsubi, Kiki Shikizaki swore fealty to no state or house. He allowed his swords to infiltrate the various powers. All told, they landed in twenty-five different states─a thousand swords.”

“Wait, a thousand?” asked Shichika.

“Just a thousand?” questioned Nanami.

The siblings clashed heads. They looked each other in the eye.

“I guess it’s not that many,” Shichika gave in.

Their dynamic was clear.

“A thousand swords across twenty-five states,” Nanami said. “Did each have forty?”

“No, each had a different number. In fact, that was the problem. Trust me, if I showed you a map, you would see how brutal the imbalance was─the states with the swords were the states with the power. The more Shikizaki blades a state possessed, the greater their dominance in battle.”

“Isn’t it the opposite?” asked Nanami, somewhat tentatively. “As in, The better the state fought its battles, the greater it became, the more Shikizaki blades they were able to collect?”

“No doubt, that’s the historical reality,” Togame agreed, “but the illusion I described was no less a reality. Those who possessed Shikizaki’s swords held the power. The only ones free from this illusion were the Tetsubi, who retained the Kyotoryu. Maybe that was why your father never told you about Kiki Shikizaki─”

Out of his pride for the Kyotoryu.

Could that be?

Shichika wanted to interrupt and say his father wasn’t like that, but kept quiet. Not because it was a pain, but because he was starting to get just a little curious about this Kiki Shikizaki character. He didn’t want to change the subject.

This swordsmith truly was the opposite of the Kyotoryu.

The swordsman who forsook his sword.

Against.

The thousand blades that reigned over the warring states.

“There is an emblematic episode. Were you aware that, at the close of the war, well before today’s Owari46 Bakufu was established, one man unified the nation, albeit only for a short time?”

“Yep.”

“Ha, even you know that much─wait, you do?!”

“Yeah.”

“Unreal.”

Togame didn’t like this.

Fool me three times?

She was pissed.

“Where was it,” muttered Shichika. “Oh yeah. Tosa in Shikoku. They joined forces with the other domains on the island─Awa, Sanuki, and Iyo─and planned to reign over the nation from Shikoku. They called him the Old Shogun, right?”

He couldn’t claim to know much more. Their father had tried to provide them with a proper education, a part of which was history, but Shichika remembered only isolated facts.

The Old Shogun.

The daimyo responsible for putting an end to two hundred and fifty years of war. But by the time he had seized power and unified the nation, he was old, without an heir, and unable to control what would happen to the nation he had unified. Though he may have been shogun, he had no family to succeed him. Nevertheless, the Old Shogun was a mighty force, and the Owari Bakufu had merely picked up where he left off─or that’s what Mutsue had taught.

“Did the Old Shogun have swords from Shikizaki too?” asked Nanami. “Based on what you’ve said, he must have owned more Shikizaki swords than anyone.”

“True,” affirmed Togame. “When he overtook the nation, the Old Shogun possessed five hundred and seven Shikizaki blades─a majority of them. With that many, it would have been stranger if he had failed to rule the land. Given the…illusion we discussed.”

“A majority─sounds obsessed with collecting. Like some kid.”

“He was insatiable. But this is how he seized the throne so swiftly. Listen─I had planned to touch upon this later, but now is actually perfect. In the short time the Old Shogun was in power, his government barely had a chance to govern─with one important exception. And I don’t mean important to me. Important to history. Do you know what it was?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, um…”

Togame was wary of a fourth back and forth with Shichika. Now she didn’t know what to say. Things were not proceeding as planned.

“From what you’ve said so far, you must mean the Sword Hunt,” Nanami chimed in, more than accustomed to her brother’s curtness.

“The Great Sword Hunt,”47 she elaborated. “Among the most ignoble acts of legislation in our nation’s history─some say, it was the reason that the Old Shogun’s bloodline did not rule after him.”

“Oh yeah,” said Shichika. “I remember now.”

He wasn’t simply faking after having heard the answer. He actually did remember. He must have learned about it from his father. The Great Sword Hunt─a stupid law requiring every person in Japan, without exception, to hand over their blades, supposedly to amass enough metal to cast a giant buddha.

“But that was just a front, right? Weren’t they really hunting swordsmen? The way I remember it, the Old Shogun was trying to smoke out all the warriors and rid their kind from Japan. They may as well have called it what it was: a swordsman hunt.”

“That motive was there, to be sure,” said Togame. “The Old Shogun started from the bottom as a foot soldier, brandishing a single sword, but he made it to the top. He knew as well as anyone how far and fast a swordsman could climb. He must have deemed the world had room for no swordsman but himself. But what you termed a front was no lie, either. On Mt. Sayabashiri in Tosa, on the grounds of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, a statue of Gautama, known affectionately as Katana Buddha, was cast from melted swords collected in the hunt. Today, Mt. Sayabashiri is renowned as a tourist destination, especially among swordsmen, who view it as a holy site and journey there as pilgrims.”

Togame shot Nanami a sidelong glance, no doubt to see if the sister guessed what was coming. It seemed that she had caught the gist.

“But neither the surface nor the underlying reason was the truth of the story, right?” Nanami picked up the thread. “He just wanted to collect all of the Shikizaki swords.”

“Precisely!” Togame slapped her knee with the satisfaction of a storyteller. “The Old Shogun was trying to collect all thousand Shikizaki swords. After relieving the daimyos of their portions, he scoured the land for every sword that had landed in private hands─this was the true purpose of the hunt. He was convinced the Shikizaki blades were the reason he’d been able to claim power─an illusion? Perhaps. A delusion? Maybe so. But he was a believer. Those swords were his true purpose, and their truth was sacrosanct. Which was all the more reason for him to seek out the remaining four hundred and ninety-three. To clad his regime in steel.”

“Stupid law.” Shichika was fed up. “Some guys can handle power, and some guys can’t. It would’ve made more sense if he were actually trying to hunt swordsmen.”

“In a sense,” Togame said. “But in the three years before the hunt was curtailed, the Old Shogun came nowhere near eradicating all the warriors,48 although he did deliver on his buddha, and amass well over a hundred thousand swords.”

“Hundred thousand─that’s all?”

“Hundred thousand─that’s a lot!”

Here we go again.

Shichika and Nanami locked horns.

You know who gave in.

“I’ll admit that hoarding a hundred thousand swords to find five hundred may have been overkill,” Togame agreed, “but by and large, what they found was nothing special. Run of the mill. Nevertheless, they managed to collect the vast majority of the Shikizaki blades. Most were already in the hands of the daimyos, who by then were sitting ducks, but it took no small amount of strategy to track down the hermit swordsmen who held the others.”

“Vast majority? You mean they didn’t get them all?”

“Not all of them. They found another four hundred and eighty-one. In the end, the Old Shogun possessed a grand total of nine hundred and eighty-eight Shikizaki blades.”

“Wait, what? How come they ended the Great Sword Hunt after three years, before they found them all? Oh, I get it. The rest must have been busted in the war.”

“Wrong─the Old Shogun gave up.”

“Why?”

What would make the ruler of a country give up?

“Flawed as the Great Sword Hunt may have been, it was the law of the land. They managed to trace the whereabouts of all one thousand swords. But for some, only the whereabouts.”

“But if they knew where they were, they should have grabbed them. We call him the Old Shogun now, but back then, he was the Shogun. So what was he afraid of? Even if the swords had rightful owners, he had the power, and might was right─right?”

“If he were only so lucky.49 Remember, Shikizaki didn’t create normal weapons─frankly, I’m not even sure it’s accurate to call those things katana. They were forged under the premise that people don’t use swords─swords make them who they are. Some call his swords the Mutant Blades,50 which I think is closer to the point.”

“The most heretical of heretics,” said Nanami.

“Exactly. And the twelve remaining swords were the most peculiar of the lot. Some today maintain that the nine hundred and eighty-eight swords the Old Shogun managed to collect were merely prototypes for the remaining twelve.”

“Made a thousand…just for twelve?”

“Even loopier than hoarding a hundred thousand for five hundred,” sneered Togame.

She pulled a folded piece of paper from her kimono.

It bore the following markings in red ink:

Nanami was the first to offer her opinion.

“That’s a funny bunch of names. Are these swords famous?”

“Less so than you might think. But their power is more awful than the most legendary enchanted blade.51 Allow me to put things in perspective. Take, for example, this fifth one on the list.”

Zokuto the Armor.

“This sword was located shortly after the Old Shogun launched the Great Sword Hunt─at the time, it was being held by the captain of a band of pirates marauding the Inland Sea. When the pirates proved resistant to negotiation and unprepared to bow to his authority, the Shogun issued a new law dubbed the Pirate Ban.52 Ostensibly intent on maintaining the peace, the handy pretext aimed to help them seize the Shikizaki blades and drub the pirates in one go.”

“A lot of work for a single sword.”

“Indeed. And that was only the beginning. The Pirate Ban was one of the more orthodox decrees. Nevertheless─it was a failure. That one sword managed to defeat every last bruiser in the Shogun’s army.”

“You mean it beat them?”

“Creamed them. But don’t expect to read that in any history book─that was the Old Shogun’s first encounter with the horrors of the Twelve Possessed, Shikizaki’s masterpieces. And over the ensuing three years, he met the same fate twelve times over.”

“…”

Silence reigned over the scene. The madness53 that Togame told of wasn’t lost on the two siblings, however sheltered and unworldly they were─and yet.

“Being so powerful may have allowed them to collect so many Shikizaki blades─and yet, from the sound of it, that might be a blithe interpretation.”

“I’m not sure if the same goes for Kyotoryu, but most schools have a saying: ‘A sword will choose its owner.’ The sense is usually positive, though not always. It may sound close to Shikizaki’s line about how ‘People don’t use swords─swords make them who they are,’ but it’s a world apart… We know each sword was brandished by an individual of uncommon skill. Turning this around, we could say these individuals only came to possess the swords because their skill was so exemplary. That goes for the pirate, too. But I’m afraid that leaves much unexplained.”

Togame paused. “There’s that illusion again. No─more than an illusion.”

“And more than a delusion?”

“I’m not saying every word of this is true.”

“So that’s why they’re legendary, enchanted swords…”

“That is why they are more─Nanami, you said the reason for the Old Shogun losing power was the fallout of the Great Sword Hunt, but the deciding factor was unquestionably these twelve defeats, lost as they may be to history. The Old Shogun was in no position to appoint a successor from outside his bloodline. In the end, his fiefdom was worth no more than fifty thousand koku54 of rice.”

“I had no idea. That’s nothing like what I’ve heard.”

“Reality is not for civilians, and history is writ by the victorious. Why would the winning side sully their journal with details they’d rather forget?”

With an air of finality, Togame folded up the piece of paper and drank the cup of steaming water Nanami had offered her. Instead of stowing the piece of paper at her breast, however, she passed it to Shichika.

“Which brings us back to why I am here today on your island, Shichika Yasuri, Master of the Kyotoryu. I need your help retrieving the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki─I have come here to enlist you.”

“…”

Silence. Thick enough to slice.

Shichika was not so socially inept to refuse her outright─though Togame, after so many surprises, had likely braced herself for such a disappointment─in actuality, he was slow to answer half because Togame’s words had captured his imagination, and half because her account was too grand for his brains to comprehend.

He turned to Nanami for help. When in doubt, ask sis. But Nanami─had closed her eyes. It appeared that she was brooding over Togame’s words. Heavily─she sighed.

“Is this what you meant by desire the world?”

She opened her eyes. Glaring at Togame, who appeared to wince. The Schemer caught herself, but before she could respond, Nanami continued.

“Maybe things were different during the Age of Warring States, but at this point, those twelve swords would never be enough to take over the country. It doesn’t matter whether your story is a fantasy, or a delusion, or the truth─or anything else. The current bakufu is secure. Even during the Rebellion, they had enough power to─”

“Enough power─exactly.” Togame welcomed the assist. “The nine hundred and eighty-eight swords reclaimed by the Old Shogun are now in the possession of the present bakufu. Supposing the illusion is a reality, it may be precisely why the bakufu is secure.”

“But in that case, what made the Old Shogun fall from grace?”

“Fall is a strong word. He simply lacked a successor─though a shogun without one sounds like some fairy tale. Anyway, Nanami, you’re basically correct. In these times of peace and order,55 discovering the twelve lost swords would matter little. When I asked if Shichika desired the world, that was a rhetorical question and merely a way of launching my explanation of the Shikizaki blades. It’s not like the world’s mine to offer.”

“Okay.”

Okay─but was it?

Shichika saw no use keeping up if even simple questions had no answer.

And yet.

“While I can’t believe you’d never heard about the Shikizaki blades, that’s not what I came here to say─”

“Wait a second, do you work for the bakufu?”

Bullseye. The way he said it cut through the conversation.

“I guess you could be working for one of their enemies─if they weren’t wiped out in the Rebellion. Not likely, huh?”

“I would have preferred not to tell you just yet.”

Togame was flustered. Shichika had ruined her story. And still she sat there, looking silly, holding out the folded piece of paper, playbill of the Twelve Possessed─for him to take.

“You’re right─but how’d you figure me out?”

“I didn’t. It’s not like I gave it any real thought. But you seem to know things, inside out─like about what’s his face the swordsmith, and even the Kyotoryu. That line about enlisting me didn’t help. I got to wondering if you wanted these twelve swords to give the bakufu an even thousand.”

“You didn’t think a whitehaired lady in a crazy outfit couldn’t possibly be working for the government?”

“Huh? No. Why?”

“…”

There’s no running from stray fire.

Togame should have known, but she glared unpleasantly at Shichika.

“No matter… For your information, this is not a costume…but I guess the truth is out. Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu.”

“Grand Commander of Arms, you say.”

Having gathered that Togame was not some nobody, Nanami must have been waiting for the other boot to drop. Perhaps she even guessed a moment before her brother that Togame was affiliated with the shogunate. But their guest’s official title was far longer than she could have imagined. She was stunned. Nanami wasn’t one to show it, but the waver in her voice was hard to miss.

Meanwhile, Shichika was unfazed. He knew the shogunate was called by that name, but nothing about its structure, and had no idea how high up a Grand Commander was. It sounded important, to be sure, but he didn’t know why. The concept of rank was beyond him.

Nanami would know.

“Hey, sis. So she doesn’t command his legs?”

“Arms as in an army, Shichika. It’s a directorate consisting entirely of strategists. Thanks to lessons learned during the Age of Warring States, it came into being concurrently with the current bakufu. In fact, during the Rebellion, Dad wielded the Kyotoryu under them.”

“So…my dad worked for your dad, Togame?”

“…”

She was at a loss to answer. Better put, she was about to lose it.

“What’d I say?”

“Nothing. You’re just so innocent, I could kill you. Let’s make this clear. I didn’t inherit my title from my father. The office of Grand Commander is nothing like the Kyotoryu. It isn’t passed down.56 Where I come from, ability is all that counts. If you have what it takes, the world can be yours─even if you’re a woman or a child.”

“Even if you can’t swing a sword?”

“I use my head. As a Schemer, I take pride in my eschewal of armaments. My inability to wield a sword makes me a perfect arbiter of swordplay.”

She spoke down to Shichika, not expecting a blockhead martial artist to understand, but what really puzzled him was her suggestion that any world where ability didn’t count existed. Maybe he’d implied that she was some princess sitting on her daddy’s fortune, but it wasn’t worth getting riled up about. She was wrong to spout, “nothing like the Kyotoryu.” And if she shooed armaments, why did she end up swinging a sword, he wanted to nitpick.

Parley as Shichika might with Togame, they seemed to be talking past each other.

“Much of our work happens behind the scenes, alongside the Onmitsu.57 Though by now ‘alongside’ may be a bit misleading. Our organization probably won’t be in future history textbooks. And it’s not like we carry badges. You’ll just have to trust that I’m not an imposter.”

“I trust you,” Shichika answered readily. “Your high-fluting attitude is proof enough.”

Togame took an overly deep breath, trying to push through this affrontery, but she seemed to reconsider and acknowledge that his trust was the best thing she could ask for.

She turned away from Shichika, toward his sister.

“And you, Nanami?”

“You’ve asked the Master of the Kyotoryu. If Shichika trusts you, I trust you. Now that I understand your affiliation and who you really are, most of what had been confusing me makes sense.”

“I can see how that would clear things up. But I’m afraid from where I sit this is not the most advantageous of developments. If knowing that I work for the government causes you to hold back, I should not be so transparent.”

“Why would we hold back?” asked Shichika.

The frankness of the question baffled Togame. “Because─”

“If it’s about our father, don’t worry,” Nanami interjected. Her words were candid and unvarnished. “Our father taught us to come to terms with─his banishment. We harbor no ill will for the bakufu.”

“That’s reassuring.”

“But really, go on. If you’re working for the bakufu, they must have ordered you to find the twelve remaining swords─but why now? Other than allowing them to gloat over amassing all thousand of the Shikizaki blades, what good does it do? The Owari Bakufu has been in power over a hundred and fifty years─and in all that time, the only threat to their regime was the Rebellion. And it’s over.”

“The Rebellion isn’t over. Not exactly. Yes, the Owari Bakufu has lasted for a hundred and fifty years─long enough for anyone who understood the meaning of the Age of Warring States to die away. These Shikizaki blades have become little more than talismans─but we’d do well to take another look. What if the ringleaders of the Rebellion had all been wielders of the Possessed?”

Nine hundred and eighty-eight swords─versus twelve. It was no match in numerical terms. But if it took nine hundred and eighty-eight experiments to attain the twelve─

“In retrospect, it would be an open question whether they could have been crushed by force. The Old Shogun was powerless against the Twelve Possessed─and remember, he was on the offense. His foes did nothing more than respond in kind. Imagine what would have happened, how far he would have fallen, if they paid him back and then some.”

“We’re talking a hundred fifty years ago. The swords must have changed hands by now.”

“Certainly, but the owners are none of our concern. These swords, as Kiki Shikizaki made them, do the owning. And if the Possessed have found new homes, that’s not exactly bad news for the bakufu. We live in a peaceful world. There’s no way the dozen who have them now could be as tough as those stalwarts.”

“Are you saying the bakufu is scared of another Rebellion?” asked Shichika. He was thinking─indisposed to thinking as his brains may be.

It seemed to him the bakufu, or at least its upper ranks, had taken the Rebellion as a cue to round up the remaining Shikizaki blades before someone beat them to it. If the Old Shogun really had failed twelve times standing, he could see where they were coming from. What if the twelve swords, each so menacing alone, were used in concert, in the spirit of the late Rebellion? That would terrorize the bakufu. Which made collecting the last swords a matter of national security.

But this reasoning left much to be desired. Their strategy must have another side. What if they ended up aggravating whoever owned the swords?

“That’s where the Schemer comes in.” Having read his mind, Togame spoke decisively. “Someone like me, who works behind the scenes.”

“Um, I’ve been meaning to ask…” Nanami said. “What exactly does a Schemer…do? Is it some new rank the bakufu created in the last twenty years?”

“No. I made it up.”58

Not a whiff of shame. Made up? She made it up?

“The Great Sword Hunt is history. At this point we need to proceed with the utmost caution. While I have my own opinions on the matter, I’m in no position to quibble over the particulars of an order from on high. If my liege charges me with gathering the Shikizaki blades, I’ll set to work hatching a scheme.”

“Hatch─”

“Just as a tactician deals in tactics, the Schemer deals in schemes─to the extreme. The most exceptional tasks are reserved for my most exceptional office.” Togame struck a pose59─like she was on stage. “Which brings me to you, Master of the Kyotoryu. Let’s join forces. As a Swordless Swordsman, you must be curious about how the other half lives─and about these Shikizaki blades and the ultimate dozen.”

“I won’t say no…but why me? Why the Kyotoryu? Earlier, I wondered if you might be an enemy of the bakufu because who else would bother coming here─right? So why are you here? You originally came for my father.”

“Not necessarily. I knew, by now, your father would be at least two decades past his prime─too far along to head off on a wild sword chase. My plan, should he refuse, was to ask for his permission to borrow the son he raised here, on this island. Just for a while.”

“Borrow…” growled Nanami. She wasn’t happy.

Shichika could tell. This could be bad.

If this Togame lady was rubbing Shichika the wrong way, she might feel downright abrasive to Nanami. Perhaps the dynamic between the women only seemed different because they were both smart.

“If this son of his proved capable, that is.”

“First of all,” Shichika took the wheel before Togame could continue with her provocations. A rare moment of engagement from someone so averse to action. “You don’t need any help─not from me or from my father’s school─not if you’re working for the bakufu. The Kyotoryu may be unrivaled in its strength, but it’s also the school of a banished criminal. The bakufu has money. You can hire proper help.”

“No. My help can’t work for money. I tried that already, thank you very much. Or should I say, I followed standard policy, which is to contract work to ninjas.”

“Ninjas?”60

“The Maniwa Clan, to be precise. But I suppose you haven’t heard of them, either. For future reference, theirs is among the oldest orders, up there with the Iga and the Koga.61 We’ve hired them for countless other jobs. Worked with them for years. But suddenly they stab us in the back.”

What was Togame saying? Stabbed in the back─by ninjas? This was not the world Shichika knew. The clans were known for their unflagging allegiance. You would sooner find the sea gone dry than suffer their betrayal.

“Why did they do it?”

“Why wouldn’t they? A single Shikizaki blade is worth more than the finest piece of art. Enough to buy a country.62 Anyone who works for money will stab your back for money.” Togame cast her eyes upon the piece of paper sitting on the floor. “Once they had Zetto the Leveler63 in their grasp, they made off like bandits. And I don’t mean the ninja that we hired. I mean the whole Maniwa Clan.”

“The whole…”

“The entire clan went rogue. And thanks to them, all ninjas have lost the better graces of the bakufu. Almost makes me sorry for their brethren, the Onmitsu, humiliated by association.”

“Oh, those guys. Right… But if the ninjas betrayed you, the unthinkable came true. That sucks. You have a point about money, though. Makes sense. How about honor? You need someone who works for pride, whom money can’t buy. Honor makes a swordsman. That’s what my dad always said.”

“Swordsmen are useless to me. The Shikizaki blades─poison them.”

“Really?”

“Trust me, samurai were the obvious next choice. I found some good ones, too. And from the strongest and most loyal warriors, I cherry-picked one swordsman. A fine young buck of barely twenty named Hakuhei Sabi.”

“Sabi?64 Sounds weak to me. And twenty? That’s even younger than me.”

“I take your point. But his skill was genuine. He was an incomparable artist with a sword. By now, a hundred fifty years after the Great Sword Hunt, there are only six swords, including the Leveler, whose whereabouts and owner are both known. But on his first day, Sabi tracked down the most evasive sword among them, Hakuto the Whisper.”

“Go, Sabi, go.”

“But once he had it in his grasp, he disappeared.”

“Whoa, Sabi.”

“Like I said. It poisoned him. To a man who works for honor, the honor of possessing a Shikizaki sword was irresistible. Since most of the bakufu’s upper ranks got their start as swordsmen, however, the profession didn’t lose credibility as a whole. Nay, it is I, Togame, who lost their trust.”

Which made perfect sense. Her lofty bearing made it hard to see, but she had failed outright, and twice. Adding insult to injury, both times her hired hands absconded with the swords. To put it cynically, she had done nothing but place the swords in stronger hands.

It only takes three strikes.65 The third time’s the charm, they also say.

In other words─it was the Schemer’s last chance.

“And now you want the Kyotoryu to save you,” Nanami said. “You need a swordsman who isn’t after money─a swordsman with no use for a sword. And no one else is qualified.”

“Precisely. The blades will not poison the Master of the Kyotoryu. And honestly, I don’t have time to wait─for all we know, the Maniwa and Sabi have set their sights on the remainder of the Twelve Possessed. That is the kind of men they are. Having turned traitor, they are now formidable foes, and they must be defeated. Shichika Yasuri, Master of the Kyotoryu─only you boast the skills to allow the Owari Bakufu to last a millennium. Will you fight for me?”

As if to try again─she picked up and offered him the folded piece of paper. Looked him in the eye. Nothing left to say.

“I get it.”

But Shichika would not accept the piece of paper.

Much as it seemed he had no other option.

“Listen. You’ve made it clear why you need the Kyotoryu, but that doesn’t explain why I need to find these swords for you. You’re right that I don’t care about money, and I need a sword like I need a thorn in my side, but frankly I couldn’t give a crap about the bakufu. I ain’t no samurai. I don’t consider it an honor to take orders from the government.”

“…”

“Like sis said, we’re not sore about what happened to Dad. Twenty years ago, when we were little kids, we blamed noble folk like you, but now it’s just a pain, nothing more─because here’s the thing. I’ve come to like living on the island. I’m not in any mood to sail over to the mainland and play66 samurai.”

“You’re scared.”

“Sure I’m scared…” Togame had tried to strike a nerve, but Shichika was not about to disagree. “Mostly, though, it’s a pain in the butt.”

“Shichika─”

“Come on, Nanami. You feel the same.”

Her interruption cut off, Nanami fell silent. Seeing this, Shichika faced back toward Togame and went on.

“I’m curious about this Shikizaki character. Making all these fancy swords. From what you say, it’s the complete opposite of my school. But I’m not curious enough to hop into a boat. And if he was born around the same time as our founder, he must have died ages ago. Sorry you had to come all the way out here. But don’t worry. You’ll find someone. Thanks for the story. Would have been even better as a bedtime story. Too bad it’s so early.”

“You’re unbelievable.”

Faced with Shichika Yasuri’s curt refusal, Togame couldn’t help but smile. She had him. In the palm of her hand. They may have strayed off-topic, even zigged and zagged, but she had led him down the route, as planned, and had him where she wanted him. Her smile said it all.

“You think that’s all I got? Please. I knew you’d say that. Word for word. After being burned twice, by those ninjas and that samurai, can you seriously see me─the Schemer─coming all the way out to this island without a surefire way of winning you over?”

Her voice was sticky with insinuation. Shichika looked puzzled.

“You think you have something? To make me move. Some reason I should help collect those twelve swords…”

“Yep.” You bet she did. “I can’t trust people who work for money, and I can’t trust people who work for honor. Beyond that, there’s only one thing anyone would work for─love.”

“L-Love?”

“I can trust a man who works for love.”

He had a decent body.

Handsome enough.

Maybe not so bright, but he would do.

“Shichika Yasuri. Go ahead and fall for me.”

Unlike with all the schools of swordplay, it would behoove us, from the get-go, to let off trying to enumerate the exact number of “official” ninja enclaves, since their art, by dint of its reclusiveness, evades precise classification─but make no mistake, the Maniwa stand out from the rest. Since long before the Age of Warring States, the ninjas and the daimyo have been inextricable─not only in battle, but in politics. The dirty work─anything too vile for the public eye─was left to ninjas. While the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki reigned over the Age of Warring States, the ninja stars rained over every era. The operatives played a multitude of roles, from spy to assassin, but the Maniwa, matchless murderers, were the most gruesome clan.

A hidden enclave2 specializing in assassinations.

The Maniwa Ninjas.

Nanami was the only one who moved.

Perhaps this should have come as no surprise. Togame, so thoroughly pleased with the killer line she had just dropped, and Shichika, who had been left speechless and stupefied, were unable to rise to the occasion.

Rising to her knees without warning, Nanami thrust her flattened hands at the shoulder of each. Though it was a light strike, Togame and Shichika, who had been facing each other, tipped sideways, losing their balance─or rather tucked their legs to catch it.

That very moment, the wall, or perhaps more aptly the boards, the wooden slats that gave the hut its shape─in any case thick enough to ward off the heat and the cold.

It went flying.

Inward.

As if imploding.

“Wh…aat?!”

Reacting a heartbeat later than his sister─the young and battle-ready Master of the Kyotoryu screamed and grabbed Togame in all her finery around the waist─and swept her across the room. Nanami flew behind them, as if sucked into the action─

All this, in an instant.

Splinters from the blasted wood stabbed into the wall across the room─shredded wood mixed up with metal─and not scraps of iron, but a gale of blades! Spinning shuriken3 and soaring kunai4─all told, forty-five.

All forty-five projectiles blew through the wood at once─as if the boards were only paper doors─and planted deep into the other wall! Though none shot all the way through it too, each blade had sunken to the tang. If Nanami had not poked their shoulders, Shichika and Togame would have been honeycombed by this fusillade of cutlery.

This was no target practice.

Nor sniping.

It was a surprise─bombardment.

“…ard.”

Shichika sprang up.

His face anything but carefree.

“You bastard! You screwed with the house my dad built!”

Roaring at the artillery strike, Shichika dashed out of the hut, or what was left of it, jumping straight through the blown-out wall rather than the door.

“Shichika!”

By the time Nanami called his name, he was already out of sight, out of the hut and up the mountainside. Chasing the knave5 who had showered them with knives. She knew what he was thinking─mess with me and you get messed!─that simple. She let out a heavy sigh.

“Sometimes he doesn’t get it…”

“No, he’s got it right,” Togame said. Shichika had shielded her but also flung her into the entryway when he bolted. She rubbed her shoulder. “If we held our ground, there’s high chance he’d only strike again. In that case we’d be worse off than the wall. There’s only one way to answer to a missile6: fast. I’m impressed… Seems your brother has a sense for battle.”

“He’s just acting instinctively…”

“Seems that way. No strategy in that. Running off without his sandals was not the brightest move.”

“I’m not so sure. To him, sandals7 and arm guards8 are like sheaths. He has no use for them in battle… Uh, I suppose this breeze feels nice.”

“It was the Maniwa. I’m sure of it.”

Pensively uttering the name of the ninja clan, Togame tugged free one of the shuriken embedded in the wall and perused its features. Sure enough, the star was of the very shape the Maniwa preferred. This flagrant indiscretion suggested they weren’t trying to hide─and maybe even wanted to be seen.

“Ah.”

Nanami nodded. She didn’t seem particularly rattled.

After all, when shuriken start flying, ninjas aren’t much of a surprise. And they had only just discussed the Maniwa. The thought of them was fresh.

“How many of them?”

“One, I suspect.”

Togame’s reply was all the more ludicrous for its casual delivery. What’s more, her tone was certain. One? Nanami had not seen this coming. She was baffled.

“The Maniwa stay out of each other’s way─those guys work better alone.”

“But how─”

Nanami turned from the shuriken lodged into the wall to the gaping hole where the other wall had been. No point in even asking. A squad of forty-five ninjas, each throwing their own star, would have been infinitely preferable to one ninja throwing forty-five in unison.

“How could they know I was here, though? They couldn’t have followed9 me. I didn’t tell a soul where I was going…”

“Miss Togame,” Nanami caught her mid-thought. “About what you asked Shichika. You have my blessing.”

Her voice was weak, and her bearing weaker still, but her eyes bespoke conviction.

After the embarrassment of weaponry, Togame was perplexed to hear Nanami revive the conversation. What surprised her even more was what Nanami said.

“I was certain you would be against it.”

“I can see why…but frankly, I couldn’t care less about your story. Like my brother, I don’t care about money, or about honor, or the government, or Shikizaki’s swords. Not to brag,10 since I can hardly claim to have taken vows,11 but at this stage of my life, I have no interest in the world outside. Shichika sees something in the Shikizaki challenge─and he’s the master of the school.”

“…”

“I want him to go out into the world, whatever the reason. He and I have spent the last two decades on this island. After watching him train for so long, perfecting one move after another, I can’t bear the thought of his skill going to waste.”

“Forgive me, but wasn’t it your father, Mutsue─the previous master─who was exiled? Now that Mutsue has passed away─”

“My body isn’t strong enough to last outside. When I told you that I had no interest in the world─I meant it, but there’s more to it. I fear the air on the mainland would be too rich for me. And my brother─worries about me.”

By now Nanami’s weak constitution must have been apparent to Togame. The sister was fragile─even brittle.

“It’s none of his business,” Nanami asserted. “I’m done being coddled by my little brother─and have no interest in chaining him in place. What matters most to me, Togame, is for the Kyotoryu to go back into the world, where it belongs. With your rank in the bakufu, surely you can handle that?”

She wasn’t so much asking as confirming.

Togame nodded urgently.

“Of course I can─I never thought it sensible for a Hero of the Rebellion to be shut up in a place like this. If your father were alive, and amenable… I would see to it that his honor was restored.”

“I see,” Nanami responded with some nuance to the claim. “Then how can I stand in your way?”

She stood up straight and bowed. “He managed to silence me earlier, but I’ll speak to him. Take good care of him, Miss Togame.”

“Let me warn you, the road will not be easy. No matter who takes care of him, he may never come home. I almost wish you’d not make such a request of me. He would be taking on the Maniwa Clan, needless to say, and also Hakuhei Sabi─and who knows whose grubby hands have made it to the six swords we don’t have any lead on. Could be monsters. Demons. Serpents…”

Nanami lifted her face again and spoke.

“If you’re unsure about the true power of the Kyotoryu, why not go see it in action?” For Nanami, always so marmoreal12 in her speech, this was uncharacteristically bold. “Assuming you’re correct and there is just one ninja, I’m sure Shichika has guided him down to the beach below. Go see for yourself─if you can make it there before he’s through.”

“Are you sure? Up against the Maniwa?”

“The Kyotoryu would never succumb to a mere ninja.”

She sounded certain.

When Nanami had spurred the conversation, Togame felt puzzled─but now she saw Nanami’s great faith in the power of her brother and his school.

The sister smiled.

It was─an evil smile.

“Bless your heart, Miss Togame. I can tell you’re really looking out for Shichika. With you, he’ll be in good hands, request or no.”

“What?”

Togame went red.

It seemed as though she couldn’t take a compliment.

Though it was not so much a compliment as a jab.

“W-W-W-W-W-Wait. We need to focus. Why is this ninja here?!”

“Sure…” Nanami giggled. “I’m focusing.”

She sounded pretty evil.

Maybe she was evil.

“Miss Togame, are you sure that no one followed you? We’re dealing with ninjas here. Stalking13 is what they do.”

“Thanks for the insight. I’ll have you know I factored ninjas into my scheme, taking the utmost precautions to hide my tracks. That’s why I told nobody where I was heading. We face numerous adversaries apart from the Maniwa and Sabi. I am perplexed as to how─”

“Miss Togame? Just one thing. Did you come to our island alone?”

“Huh?” Togame shook her head. “What do you think? The Maniwa aren’t the only ones who fly solo─so do the strategists of the Directorate, and the Grand Commander is no exception. In any case, we’d want as few mouths flapping about this mission as possible.”

“Okay. So how’d you get here?”

“How else do you get to an island? A boat,” Togame gave the same answer she’d given Shichika─though with a moment’s hesitation.

Of course. A boat.

How could she even ask? The rube.

But Nanami saw no reason to be flustered. She wasn’t finished.

“Did you paddle here yourself?”

“Myself? Don’t be silly. I’m a thinker. Cogitation is my forte. Do I look like I could scull over from─wait.”

“By any chance─did a boatman bring you?”

“Uh, yes…no, but─”

That was it.

The boatman.

Just one more soul, turning the oars, ferrying Togame from the Shinso coast to this island─she’d told the man to sit tight, at the spot where they made ground, to keep the boat from drifting off.

“The boatman! But if it’s the boatman…” With a gasp, Togame’s hot face lost its blood. “He has a Shikizaki sword!”

Ninja or otherwise, no one could outmaneuver Shichika on this terrain. Amidst the chase, his quarry seemed to accept this.

Jumping from tree to tree.

Descending the mountain.

To the sandy beach─and the rote of the waves.

It was just as Nanami had predicted─although Shichika hadn’t quite guided the ninja.

In the teachings of the Kyotoryu, a shuriken was not a sword. When Shichika saw the cross-shaped stars and kunai that had blown apart their hut, he hadn’t the slightest clue who was behind it. He had never heard of shuriken and barely knew the first thing about ninjas. His father had once told him about the faithful soldiers who had your back no matter what, but Togame had upended that definition. The Maniwa didn’t so much as cross his mind.

Which is why─

Down on the beach, watching this clown step from the shadows of the mountain14 and out into the sun, he didn’t recognize his ninja garb for what it was.

But that wasn’t Shichika’s fault. This ninja had a style all his own. Sleeves shredded at the shoulders, body bedizened with chains. Far from a stalker─he made you look.

He didn’t even wear a mask.

Spiked hair pointed to the sky.

Seeing Shichika leap from the woods, the ninja welcomed him with a grin that threatened to tear his cheeks from ear to ear.

“Hey, tell me, Kyotoryu. Did you chase me here? Or was it the other way around?”

“…”

Zum, Shichika landed face to face with his foe─and realized he hadn’t considered his next move. He’d come this far coaxed by his anger at seeing his home violated, but─

What now?

It was sad. Apart from his father and his sister, and Togame whom he had just met, Shichika knew no other human beings. He was unsure of the right way to behave when you run into one.

The right way.

As if there were such a thing.

His home wasn’t flattened; its posts were intact. The house had been made by hand, and with a little work, it could be fixed by hand. Why did I lose my mind like that, Shichika even began to wonder.

But that was it.

His father built that house─that was enough.

To make him yell.

His father.

Boy, he’d lost it.

What did sis think hearing me yell like that?

Needless to say, the ninja paid Shichika’s disposition little mind. He struck a pose and gave his name.

A grand pose─especially for a ninja.

“I am Komori15 Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Ninja. Take heed, Kyotoryu. I bear no grudge against you, but I need to take your life.”

His voice was shrill enough to turn your insides out.

A voice that couldn’t possibly be issuing from a mouth.

“Maniwa? Oh, right. I heard about you.”

“That was an error you will pay for with your life. If you hadn’t, I might have let you go. I came, originally, to hear that woman’s story.”

The knave─the ninja─had more to say.

“Not much of a story. Barely worth my time, though I was surprised to hear she called on Hakuhei Sabi after we parted ways. She must have told him the same story she told you, which puts him next in line. For me to kill.”

“Were you eavesdropping?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s in bad taste.”

“You mean good. Kyahah!”

Komori’s laugh was as shrill as his voice.

“Did you follow Togame here?”

“Why be so sneaky? We came together, in the same slow boat. I paddled, pumping like a seesaw the whole way─it was no joke. She sat on her derriere watching the sea and didn’t lift a finger. I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with her.”

“Well, I’m being swamped by visitors16 today.”

Two didn’t make a swamp, but Shichika said so anyway.

He’d always wanted to try out the expression.

“Kyahah, here’s some more advice, Kyotoryu. Stop wasting your time wondering how I got here. I’m here, baby. And there’s something that you need to do.”

“What would that be?”

“Don’t be cute. Start begging for your life,” Komori instructed with a callous grin. “How about, I’ll give you anything so please don’t kill me! I love that one. So much. Wow. And I reply, I’ll take your life and nothing else.”

“…”

Were people this weird in general?

Shichika wasn’t sure.

But one thing was clear: this man was scum.

He knew that much─instinctively.

“Hmm… How am I supposed to fight a ninja, though?” he wondered out loud. “As far as I can see, you carry no ninjato17 either.”

Huh?

Shichika had noticed something.

Not only did Komori Maniwa lack a ninja sword, he was totally unarmed. He could be packing weapons in his clothing, but it didn’t look like it. What about the shuriken? Had he blown through his supply? No, the ninja must have more tricks up his sleeve─sleeveless as he was.

“Ninjato? Oh, right. You’re the Swordless Swordsman. And for proper swordplay, I suppose there needs to be at least one sword. Kyahah, you’re that kind of a swordsman.”

“No─the Kyotoryu doesn’t only work on swords. It isn’t mutodori. I just never saw a ninja before.”

“Don’t talk back. Obedience is a virtue. Or perhaps your master skipped that lesson. But don’t fret. I may not be a swordsman─but that doesn’t mean I can’t use a sword.” Komori let this sink in. “I hate to keep you waiting… I know I left that precious sword around here somewhere.”

The ninja raised one of his chain-wrapped arms and stuffed it in his mouth. In any generation, there will always be some kid ready to show off how he can fit his whole fist in his mouth, but it would be mistaken to compare what Komori was doing with such shenanigans.18 Down his throat went his hand, and after it his wrist and his elbow, even his bicep…his jawbone dislocated entirely. He was like a snake eating its own tail.

“What the hell? People can do that? I had no idea.”

Shichika was stunned. They can’t, of course.

Don’t try this at home, kids.

“Geg gahfu hah fahra kago gah fuhrah, ge googoo ga gehgeh ga rah gongfah fugerah ga geh.”

Komori felt the need to go on speaking, but it didn’t amount to anything intelligible. He had reached down his throat as far as his shoulder─and now he was backing the arm out, inch by inch.

Inch by slimy19 inch.

At last his fist appeared─closed tight around the handle of a sword.

The grip of a katana.

Stymied by this grotesque carnival display, Shichika could only watch as the ninja pulled the handle from his throat, until finally the blade met air.

It was long. So long.

Far too long to fit in his torso.

Shichika had no idea how Komori had stuffed it in his body, but at least this solved one mystery.

This ninja didn’t hide the tools of his trade on his person but─in his body!

He was a monster. No other word sufficed.

“Khak…”

The tip of the blade cleared Komori’s lips.

He wielded the weapon, smugly.

The blade was slick with gastric juices and saliva, but there was no trace of blood. Fearsomely, he’d drawn the blade out of his body without so much as nicking himself. No rookie ninja move.

“Behold! Beware! Bear witness to Zetto the Leveler, one of the Twelve Possessed, the masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki.”

For real?

What Shichiki needed to beware of was the guy’s stomach.

“Care for a taste of hell? Kyahah! Coming right up. My friends call me Komori the Hell-Made because I’m so ready to dish it out. Now be entertained.”

“Your nickname is Hell Maid?20 It’s not cool or scary. More like, I dunno. Cute, for some reason.”

But why?

The reason would not be clear for centuries.

“Hey, Kyotoryu. Try making sense for once. And while you’re at it, tell me what you think.” He brandished the sword. “Look who has one of those Shikizaki blades the woman was blabbing on about.”

“Hm…”

Despite being more interested in the ninja’s stomach trick, Shichika eyed the blade.

It was altogether different from the sword Togame drew on the mountain.

First off, it had no curve.

Unlike most katana,21 the blade was straight, forged in the kiriha zukuri22 style.

It also lacked a handguard between the blade and grip.

Almost five feet23 long.

Twin blood gutters24 were engraved into the whorled face25 of the blade.

This was one big sword.

“…”

“Come on, nothing? Speak up!”

“No, it’s just─more like a sword than I expected. Like you were saying, Togame kept going on about these legendary enchanted swords. I thought it would be, you know, weirder. Not like I was expecting it to be covered in spit and mucus. Can’t you keep that thing in a sheath?”

“This sucker is way too long to carry on the hip─and it doesn’t need a sheath.”

“Why not?”

“Kyahah! Shall I make an example out of you? But first, some good news─I’ve never killed somebody with this sword─but only because I just laid hands on it. Use that to your advantage, and you may beat me yet. Kyahah! Oh, how I love to entertain.”

“Isn’t that thing supposed to be valuable? You sure it’s okay to walk around with it? I mean, shouldn’t you keep it somewhere safe?”

“Other way around! I wouldn’t let go of something this valuable. It stays inside me, wherever I go. Really, what place under the sun is safer than my belly?”

He had a point.

“This sword is something special. That woman spoke of poison, but no, it’s the best medicine.26 Just having it makes me want to kill!”

There was no more time for talking.

Without a running start, Komori leapt into the air, held the long sword high, and executed a swing aided by gravity.

“Side Splitter!”27

Komori was in the game.

Shichika didn’t know much about how to interact with others, but this he understood.

In fact─it was the moment he’d been waiting for.

His first sparring partner in a year.

Except this wasn’t sparring.

For the first time, Shichika Yasuri, Master of the Kyotoryu, was tasting battle.28

“Hmph!”

He jumped backwards on his tiptoes and dodged Komori’s opener. It mattered none that they were on the beach. There wasn’t a single place on Haphazard Island that was unusual for Shichika. On the beach or in the mountains, there was no good or bad terrain.

The tip of the sword passed before his eyes.

A real sword.

If it cuts, you bleed.

After landing, Shichika ran backwards, putting five long strides between him and Komori before stopping and assuming a stance.

Legs saddled wide, hips low.

Left foot forward, toes pointed ahead.

Right foot back, toes pointed to the right.

Palms open, right hand high, left hand low.

Becoming a wall for his opponent.

“Kyotoryu Form One: the Suzuran.”29

For a split second, Shichika had debated which move to use for his debut, but he settled for his most basic. He had maneuvers specifically for long swords, and for straight swords too, and from that garish opening attack, he gathered that Komori was no expert swordsman (he was a ninja, after all)─but picking the right move required thinking, and that was a pain in the butt.

Even in the heat of battle, everything was a pain to Shichika.

This also meant that he was calm.

The rattled nerves of his earlier outburst and frantic pursuit down the mountain were gone. In that sense, Komori’s sideshow act of pulling a katana from his mouth worked in Shichika’s favor─at least in that regard.

Kyotoryu Form One─the Suzuran.

Outside of the Kyotoryu, the world is not without its other ways of taking on a sword barehanded. If you adopt the proper method, you stand a chance. The most surefire method of all is “running away” (since the heavy sword slows down your enemy), but when that’s not an option, “fighting while running” is the next best thing.

A katana is long.

That is its advantage.

It could reach him from a distance─all Shichika’s attacks would fall short, but the Leveler was long enough to cut him where he stood. This was an immovable fact. If a fact couldn’t be minimized, maximizing it was one way to go.

In other words, Shichika might fight at a distance. Evading the katana, he could nettle his enemy, trick him into leaping forward, and proceed to counterattack. A simple tactic, but simplicity truly is a virtue.

Except the Suzuran made this impossible. Legs firmly planted, all footwork was out of the question. The stance permitted next to zero movement. It seemed to dare the enemy to move in for a hit.

“…Hmm.”

In practice, it served only to encourage Komori’s wariness. Standing where he landed after making his first move, he puzzled at Shichika’s rigid pose. There had to be a reason to opt for such a stance against an armed opponent.

However callous this ninja seemed, he was a Maniwa─and no foil offered up on page one of the story30 just to demonstrate the protagonist’s prowess.

“How about this, Kyotoryu?”

Komori kicked the sand at his feet into a kind of smokescreen─but no, a smokescreen is for hiding. This was a sandstorm, blowing all the way to Shichika, to swarm his vision. Komori rushed through the cloud of sand─

And delivered one thrust after another.

“There! Side Splitter!”

A head-on assault.

Throwing all his weight.

While no swordsman, Komori knew this much─straight swords stab better than they slice.

But not this time.

“Kyotoryu─Kiku!”31

The tip of the blade never found Shichika. The smokescreen obstructed Komori’s own vision, and he did not catch Shichika swiping his hand and clearing the air before his eyes. The Master of the Kyotoryu hadn’t even blinked. Dodging a thrust bound for his abdomen, he swung his right foot in an arc and turned his left toes so that his left side faced his opponent.

The blade of the Leveler missed his bare back by a skin. He caught the sword near its grip in the crook of his left arm and, as if executing a pincer strike, shot out his right elbow against the tip─naturally, aiming for the flat of the blade in both instances.

Then, using his spine for a fulcrum.

He stilled the Leveler in midair.

“Gah─y-you!”

No matter how Komori thrusted or tugged, the Leveler wouldn’t budge. His sneering face was finally betraying signs of panic. This ninja had only just learned of the Kyotoryu; and though he had granted Shichika some chance of winning, the power of this seizure throttled him.

Now would be the time for Shichika to strike back─if this were a different story. Komori seemed to think as much, until he saw the absurd look on his opponent’s face.

As if he’d forgotten that he was in the middle of a battle, Shichika’s eyes were wide with fascination. His eyes darted from Komori to the steel of the Leveler. This simply stunned the ninja for a moment.

At almost the same time, both of them remembered they were fighting. Shichika released his grip on the Leveler and spun to face his enemy, who was within reach. Unbending the elbow he had whammed into the sword, he chopped with the blade of his hand.32

And when the ninja dodged his hand─Shichika answered with the blade of his foot.33

His heel just grazed the ninja’s throat, but this, too, he evaded─yet clearly unaccustomed to handling the ponderous Leveler, Komori could only dodge the blows. He had barely room to squirm. Up this close, no sword was at its best, even one created by the legendary swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki.

The endless flurry of chops and kicks drove Komori mad.

“Mother of hell!” he groaned, dropping almost to the sand. Turning the katana sideways so he could hug it close and tumble backwards, he rolled a safe distance away from Shichika. A retreat he only could have managed on a beach─but the real surprise was seeing the side with a sword fleeing from the side without one.

Shichika neglected to close in.

If there was a time for closing in, this was it─but not for him.

Komori sprang up and raised the Leveler─but not for battle. He rested the flat of the blade on his shoulder as if it were a piece of luggage. No student of swordplay would ever be caught dead holding a sword this way.

The ninja was running out of breath.

He must have meant it about not having had the chance to feed the mythic sword a human life─the Leveler was not under his complete control.

Was the illusion just an illusion, after all?

Was an illusion not reality?

It was ludicrous to think that mere possession of a Shikizaki blade would make you stronger─

“I gotta hand it to you, Kyotoryu. I haven’t seen a show like this in ages. First time since I became a Boss. I had my doubts about this swordless swordplay, but you wield your hands and feet as well as any blade. I can see why you would call yourself a swordsman. I’m impressed.”

“That was nothing. You’re the one who pulled a sword out of your mouth,” Shichika put the fight on hold to offer his rejoinder.

Lest he let his guard down, he resumed the Suzuran.

“That Leveler’s a bastard, too.”

“Ah.” Shichika’s choice of words prickled Komori. “What did you see, boy?”

“See? Look, that last move─the Kiku─where I caught the sword against my back─is not supposed to work that way. It’s used for catching a long sword, but the idea is to work your arms and elbows against your back to harness leverage─and snap the blade in half.”

Shichika acted out the strange ballet.

“But it didn’t even bend. Did my training fail me?”

“…”

“That sword─is totally weird.”

Komori sabered the air, as if showing off his favorite toy.

“Of course it is─as one of the mutant dozen. It would be far weirder if it weren’t weird, although I can’t claim to know anything beyond what that woman said. It wasn’t long ago that I learned of this crazy old coot Shikizaki. But Zetto the Leveler was made to be the hardest sword imaginable. People love to talk about how katana never bend or break or lose their edge, but as a rule, swords are expendable. To use them is to abuse them. But not so with the Leveler. It truly cannot break or bend, and thus can never lose its hard edge.”

“No way…”

Could such a sword─exist?

“People say the curved blade is what makes a katana resist breakage, but check this puppy out─no curve, but no nicks, down the entire blade. An elephant34 could step on it and it would look brand new. This thing’s worth millions! Kyahah!”

Komori reeked of greed. Money was his everything─or perhaps, more aptly, it was his mantra, a notion he used to insulate himself from the venom of the Shikizaki blade.

“That’s impossible. It’s like perpetual motion.35 If this sword is so hard, how could you ever make it?”

“Hell if I know. And if you don’t know, it’s not your place to ask. There’s only such a thing as stupid questions. That woman might know more, but my hunch is that this Shikizaki gramps wasn’t exclusively a swordsmith. He must have dabbled in the occult,36 and in alchemy. I bet he knew some scary tricks.”

Komori did not seem to care one bit.

He had no interest in developing a theory.

He was simply rational, as any ninja worth his stars should be.

“Scary tricks! I’d say pulling a sword out of your mouth is twelve times scarier. I can see now why it wouldn’t need a sheath, but that doesn’t explain why you would keep it in your stomach. Why can’t you carry it like a normal person?”

“Simpleton. Sticking this sword in a sheath would be boorish.37 Gotta have style.”

Komori laughed expansively.

“But hold on. Have we not already proven that the Kyotoryu is no match for a Shikizaki blade? Your sword-snapping move wasn’t much to snap at.”

“Mrg.”

“That did surprise me too, though, when I heard about it. Barehanded up against a weapon, most people would try to dodge it─their most aggressive move would still only catch it midair.38 But with you, Kyotoryu, you’re bent on snapping it in two. A most laudable achievement, I must say─if you could pull it off.”

“…Just watch.”

Accepting Komori’s challenge, Shichika shifted his stance.

One leg behind the other, unlike the open Suzuran.

Spear hands,39 staggered, but held at the same height.

“Kyotoryu Form Two─Suisen!”40

“I can see your stance is different from before, but what am I supposed to watch? You bleeding to death?”

“Wait and see. Once I snap that Leveler in half─”

“Idiot!!”

Another voice.

Shichika meant business, but his brazen declaration was riven by it. He turned to see where it had come from, and sure enough, he saw the Schemer.

Incandescent finery in disarray.

Soaked in sweat and out of breath.

No wonder, after rushing here in those cumbersome adornments and hollering at the top of her lungs─nevertheless, Togame managed to catch Shichika in a rigid stare.

Not Komori, who was so obviously the enemy, but Shichika.

“Snap it in half? We’re trying to collect them, not break them! If I gave the bakufu a broken sword, they’d have me spill my guts!41 Do you listen to a word that people say to you?”

“I was…”

She was right. Breaking swords was not the point.

The point was to amass all thousand of the Shikizaki blades─ideally, without damaging any.

The ninja had pushed his buttons, talking daggers about his school.

Ridiculing the Kyotoryu─meant ridiculing his father.

Is that…what did it?

Shichika didn’t know.

He had never thought or had to think about it─or rather.

He did have to think about it, but had never.

“I don’t remember agreeing to join you,” Shichika said.

“That’s not the issue! Do you have no sense of value?” Togame was enraged─her voice more ragged than her kimono. “No person with their head screwed on would dream of damaging a Shikizaki blade.”

“You got that right!” It was Komori who agreed. “I’d never harm something so valuable. And I know a thing or two about the market.”

Togame had much more to say to Shichika, but the ninja’s voice─so void of feeling─made her pause. She turned his way.

“Kyahah! We had a lovely boat ride, and from my perspective, we only just parted. But I’ll assume yours. Long time no see, Pussycat.”42

Mind you.

This was long before calling women “pussycat” fell out of favor.

“Komori Maniwa! You─”

“What’s gotten into you? You’ve been nothing but angry since you screamed your way in, you ball of energy. Upset your devoted ninja stabbed you in the back? Well, guess what. Ninjas stab. Dirty deeds43 are how we make a living.”

But then Komori took back what he said.

“Wait, maybe you do need to be upset here─no, you gotta be. If you weren’t─things wouldn’t add up. The story wouldn’t hang together.”

“Huh? What are you─”

“Nothing. Your timing really was impeccable, but forgive me, my dear Schemer, if I beg you to allow me to explain things later─let’s do lunch, once I demolish Kyotoryu.”

Komori trained his eyes on Shichika, who hadn’t broken the Suisen, despite the sudden visit from Togame.

“Nothing gets in the way of a match between two men. Wouldn’t you say, Kyotoryu? Come on. Tell her for me.”

“Togame, I can’t promise you I’ll head off on this journey, but one thing’s for sure─you’ll have this Leveler in no time. Just watch. You wanted to see the Kyotoryu in action, right? Here’s your chance.”

Those were Shichika’s words.

It wasn’t that he concurred with Komori’s about a match between two men.

The Leveler─the strange Shikizaki blade that not even the Kiku could destroy─had simply caught his interest.

“The sword must not be broken, or─”

“I know, I know, I won’t break it. Any other requests? I’ll do my best.”

“Well, let’s see…”

Togame gave this some thought.

“Something spectacular,” she said.

“Spectacular?”44

“Put on a good show. When we’re done collecting all twelve swords, I’ll need to write up a report detailing how things happened─give us something dashing. Something to make the readers keep on reading.”

“…”

“Look. You break this sword─even by mistake─and the story’s over. Before we’re even done with Book One.”

“Book One… You’re writing a whole book about this?”

“Not yet, but think of the sales.”

“Who would read this?”

Seriously.

What a pain to think about.

“Alright, I’ll show you the most45 spectacular move I’ve got─sorry to keep you waiting, Komori… Hey!”

While Shichika and Togame exchanged their pointless repartee, Komori had taken more than half the lengthy Leveler in his mouth─and down his guts.

“Ah.”

“Ah!”

It was too late. Komori coaxed the long sword deep inside him, up to the grip. Arresting as it had been to watch him stick his whole arm down and pull it out, it was even more alarming to watch him swallow the thing. No matter the angle, it didn’t physically add up. Unless his throat46 stretched all the way down to his ankles, there was no way he could stuff the entire sword into his body. But stuff the sword he did.

“Ahem. No, no. I should be the one apologizing. Shall we continue, Kyotoryu?”

“Continue what? You just swallowed the whole sword. How are we supposed to battle now? What’s the matter? Scared that I might break it this time?”

“You can’t break it─don’t even bother with that second stance. Sadly, our katana’s too much for me. I can’t keep up with it. I’m no swordsman, and dying on its account─now, that’d be too hard to swallow.47 Get the joke? Kyahah!”

Komori was quite pleased with himself.

“Your Kyotoryu’s all well and good against a sword, but if you’ll permit me to use my ninjutsu,48 I’m afraid that you can never win. It’s a matter of experience. I have it─you don’t.”

“Maybe so.”

Shichika could hardly argue with that.

This being his first battle.

“That swordplay was just my way of humoring you,” Komori added. “Consider it a present from your buddy the Hell-Made.”

“Quit screwing around!”

Once again, it was Togame doing the yelling.

She might have been even louder than before.

She was losing her temper.

“That’s not some toy for you to suck on. It’s one of Shikizaki’s Possessed! Spit it out. Now!”

“Spit it out? You’re one meddlesome Pussycat, aren’t you? Aren’t you too old to be caterwauling like that? Alright, alright. If you say so, I’ll spit it out…”

His pliancy was odd─even bizarre. Komori inhaled deeply, filling both his lungs and then some, until his back began to arch. His chest and stomach and entire upper body filled with air, like a balloon. He was the definition of bizarre.

Quite the sight to see.

Neither Shichika nor Togame could look away.

Which is to say.

They missed a beat.

“BLAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

Komori spat out all his air.

Not the Leveler. Air.

But this wasn’t air alone. The air that he released was full of shuriken. A gale akin to that which slammed the hut where they’d left Nanami.

He was a cannon. Shooting stars.

This went beyond the gag of stuffing things in his body─his body was an arsenal, and ready, on command, to free a swarm of shuriken.

No matter how you looked at it.

Way stranger than the Kyotoryu or the Possessed.

“Nraaaagh!”

This menace was nothing like that screen of kicked-up sand, which Shichika had cleared with a swift wave of the palm. This menace had a precedent. And at this range, he wasn’t going to be gouged. He would be shredded.

Yet Shichika held his ground.

Try to escape, and he would perish.

It was lucky that he had maintained the Suisen─if it were the open Suzuran, he may have perished all the same. Reducing his exposed area to a minimum, he shielded his torso with his arm and leg. Those limbs would suffer many wounds─but his vital organs would remain intact.

Whooosh!

A mighty wind blew past his body.

Mighty enough to all but knock him over─but he persevered. Persevered─not even twitching as pain bloomed through his limbs.

“Owww…”

Though he couldn’t help but groan.

When he opened his eyes, four shuriken had bit into his arm and two into his leg, but none so very deep, since he had flexed his muscles in defense. Considering the number of stars thrown (up) in the assault, this was a precious bit of good luck among bad.49 No, this wasn’t about luck, good or otherwise. Shichika had put his training into practice. And it had worked.

“I could have sworn my arm and leg were blown off!”

This was no time to wallow in the pain. Shichika raised his head─embodying his inexperience. In battle, the dust rarely settles with a single blast. You can’t just catch your breath and have a look around.

Which is why─

“Oops.”

Even when Shichika looked─there was no one there.

No Komori.

No Togame.

“Oops.”

Her quest to capture the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki.

Her journey to Haphazard Island.

These were not for the benefit of the shogunate.

She, more than anyone else in the world, was neither money-hungry ninja nor honor-hungry swordsman.

What, then, did she seek?

Shedding light on the matter happens to be one goal of the present tale.

Togame knew it.

But what the mistake was, she wasn’t sure. Maybe it was coming to this godforsaken island2 in the first place, or maybe it was trying to use the Kyotoryu to do her bidding─why had she chosen them?

Out of all the other schools.

Shichika Yasuri. Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu.

She had learned enough from their exchanges to know that he was not so bright, but she had not expected him to be this much of an idiot. How could he be so absorbed in battle that he’d forget his employer? Granted, there could have been no other way for him to evade Komori’s Star Cannon─which is why he also missed Komori snatching her off her feet and fleeing in the blink of an eye─and maybe she ought to go a little easier on him. After all, she wasn’t officially his employer yet, and from the sound of it, this was his first real battle. Comparing the Kyotoryu to normal schools of swordsmanship may be absurd to begin with, but who ever trained for situations where the opponent cut and run?

Why would he?

But his opponent was a ninja.

Making a living out of dirty deeds.

If you’ll permit me to use my ninjutsu.

Komori had done just that.

After bombarding Shichika with shuriken, Komori launched from the sand and landed in a single bound beside Togame, who like Shichika was so mystified by the ballooning ninja that she lost her chance to run away.

But no.

Truth be told, Togame, who lacked any martial arts skills, could never have evaded Komori Maniwa, one of the twelve bosses of a ninja clan.

Proud as she was of going unarmed.

A Schemer─an eschewer of armaments.

“Holy crap, that guy is crazy! Look at those reflexes. He braced himself before I’d even puked out all the shuriken. Anybody else would have turned and ran. Good going, kyahah! But I should have seen it coming, from any man of yours. Right, Pussycat?”

Snickering, Komori finished tying Togame to the trunk of a tree. The thick straw rope was soppy with saliva─naturally having been stowed in his stomach.

With Togame slung over his shoulder, Komori had run into the forest, sprinting left and right in random zigzags all over the mountain. Unlike Togame on her morning trek, he had taken great pains to leave no footprints and jumped from tree to tree─until, judging that he’d gone far enough, he’d stopped. When he pinned her up against the tree, she had no way of resisting him. He tied her hands around her back, and wound the rope around her body, lashing her ribs tight against the bark.

“That boy is so naive.3 Ready for battle, but not the battlefield. Suppose that’s what you get if you grow up on an island in the middle of nowhere.”

“You…coward!” Togame cursed her captor. Tied up as she was, words were her only weapon. “What’s the matter, chicken? Too scared to face the Kyotoryu?”

“Whoa, whoa. Easy, tiger. I’m no swordsman, nor a warrior, and never claimed to be. Put up a fair fight, as a ninja, and I’d be the laughing stock of the village. Only meatheads rely on muscle. I take a wiser approach─you might even call it tactics. Isn’t that right, Schemer?”

“Don’t compare us, you scumbag,” spat Togame. “You’re just a bully. All you do is take the easy path─I’m the opposite. I stake my life and soul on devising ways for the weak to take on the strong─”

“That sounds so brave. Reminds me of some of the less brave things I know about you.”

“What?”

“In any case, I’m a ninja, not a swordsman. Don’t confuse me with Hakuhei Sabi.” Komori laughed condescendingly, his cheeks threatening to tear up to the ears. “I overheard your conversation with Kyotoryu. What do you expect from a ninja? I must say I was surprised that Sabi was okay with sloppy seconds. I suppose someone had to try and fill my shoes. But then he went and stabbed you in the back─yeah?”

“If you heard me, why are you asking?”

“Don’t look so sour, Pussycat. It’s not as if I peeped in on two lovers making out.4 But you could have been a bit more careful. You may be smart, but you’re wide open.”

What was there to say?

The possibility of the boatman being anyone but himself─much less this ninja─had failed to cross her mind. She should have known─after all, she knew what powers he could muster. Even if the Star Cannon was a surprise. And here she thought she knew his tricks more than she cared to.

“You might not have caught me snooping, but there’s no excuse for that pickup line of yours. ‘Go ahead and fall for me.’ Whew! Laying it on thick. I wish you’d used that one on me.”

“Only to have you double-cross me? Don’t waste your breath. What’s your plan? You think that you can hold me hostage?”

“Hey! There’s an idea.” Komori gave an exaggerated shrug. “But you only just met Kyotoryu and might not serve as one. Personally,” he said, grinning, “I would have picked his sister.”

So he knew about Nanami. How couldn’t he, if he’d been listening; but this proved it.

“Then again, maybe not─that sister of his is more than meets the eye. My Star Cannon was supposed to wipe out you and Kyotoryu─but that girl somehow saw the whole thing coming.”

He was right.

Only now did the Schemer realize that Nanami had saved them from the gale of ninja stars that blew through the wall of the hut. Throwing herself into the line of fire and pushing Togame and Shichika─before the shuriken came through the wall!

Nanami Yasuri.

Was she another master of the Kyotoryu?

“Where’s she gonna hide? She’s on an island. Soon it’ll be her turn to taste what the Hell-Made is serving up─after I kill you and her brother.”

“So go ahead and kill me.”

“Don’t act so noble, Pussycat─I know you inside out. You’re brimming with schemes of how to finish me off. Your guts are far more hazardous than mine.”

Komori got up in her face, so close their breath mixed.

“Don’t fret. I’m not gonna kill you─we have so many things to talk about. Even when I came at you with the Star Cannon, I wasn’t trying to kill you off, much less the Kyotoryu. That line about wiping you out was just my way of speaking.5 I merely hoped to whip you to a pulp─kyahah!”

“If that was the idea, you could have exercised a little self-control─I can’t speak for the Kyotoryu, but it’s a miracle I didn’t die. I’m feebler than you know.”

“Don’t sound proud about it. Kyotoru would have partially shielded you if it had gone according to plan… So, what I’d like us to discuss, of course, are these Shikizaki blades, the masterpiece Mutant Blades. I know where the Leveler is─safe inside my belly. Tell me where I can find the other eleven, along with who has them and what each blade can do.”

“…”

“You said you only knew what was up with six of them, but you can’t be absolutely in the dark about the other six. The Old Shogun had his finger on the whole lot. If you put your precious directorate to work, you’d at least have a place to start from.”

“…”

“Trust me, I’ve done my best to find out all I can. I know all about this Hakuto the Whisper sword that Hakuhei Sabi ran away with. Sounds like a wild weapon. As thin and light as the name implies. From overhead, it’s practically invisible. Fit only for the hands of a true master─right? Designed to be light as the Leveler is sturdy─or so I hear. But that’s what makes it delicate; unless it’s in the hands of someone who can swing it perfectly, it’s bound to shatter. Kyahah! I can see why you ordered Sabi to go after it first. He’s probably the only living swordsman in Japan who could handle it.”

“…”

“Wasn’t there another one that Shikizaki designed around the principle of strength in numbers? I believe it’s called Sento the Legion. A sinister mirage─a thousand swords in one. Anyway. That’s all I managed to discover. I’m dying to know what else you have to share with me. That’s why I followed you to this landfill of an island. But in the end, you tell Kyotoryu nothing that you didn’t tell me.”

“…”

“Cat got your tongue?”

Komori clucked6 at her with disgust before giving her a little breathing room.

“I’m only gonna ask you once, so listen up. Why don’t you just backstab the bakufu and team up with us? You’ll get a fair cut. No funny business.”

“Eat me.” Her reaction was instant. “I can’t trust anyone who works for money.”

“You still mad about what happened? We’ve been over this. You messed up when you put your trust in a pack of ninjas. But I know why you need to get mad─”

“Need to? What are you─”

“Never mind.” Komori steered the conversation in a new direction. “Me and the other Maniwa Bosses, we’ve decided to have ourselves a competition─to see who can snatch up most of the twelve swords. Once we’ve sold them, we’ll divvy up the spoils, but the more swords you found, the bigger your piece of the pie. I’m one step ahead of the game, but the other guys aren’t far behind. Especially that prick Kawauso.7 He knows how to sniff these suckers out. If you and I had teamed up, it would have been lucky for both of us.”

“Guess your luck’s run out.”

“I’ll show you how lucky I am─I can torture you to my heart’s content. What’s the matter? You look a little pale. Kyahah! They say that any punishment beats being tortured by a ninja. Isn’t that a horrible thing to say? I wouldn’t say we do anything horrible. Per se.”

“Creep.”

“Don’t fret. We won’t get started yet. I don’t have any of my toys. With that last Star Cannon I blew through most of my stash, except for the Leveler. It’s not the sort of move I ordinarily pull twice in a day. You’ll have to wait until we return to the mainland for the physical interrogations to begin─first, let me take care of Kyotoryu.”

Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu─Shichika Yasuri.

“This game of swords is crazy enough with just us Maniwa Bosses. I’ll have to take care of Hakuhei Sabi, too, as soon as I have the chance… Kyahah, last thing I want is to be sword-handed from behind while I’m torturing you.”

“Then why didn’t you stay and fight? You didn’t look so cornered that you had to start anew.”

“Remember? Only meatheads rely on muscle. The moment for that sort of thing has come and gone. Nothing’s more passé than a bona fide swordfight. And where’s the sport in a ninja─who regurgitates far better than he ripostes─battling a swordsman who doesn’t even use a sword? It’d be like trying to cuddle with a cuttlefish8─not that cuttlefish aren’t cuddly. Did that pun suck? No bones about it. I know I’m preaching to the choir,9 my dear Schemer, but the best way to stay alive is to avoid fighting anyone stronger than you. To play it safe, I’d personally avoid anyone who’s half as strong. But after that sermon of yours on the glories of weakness, I get the sense I’m not so much preaching to the choir as casting pearls before swine.”10

“Stuff your nonsense11 down your star hole. I have no interest in battling anyone weaker than me.”

“Well, I guess you and I have different tastes after all.”

“So you think highly of Shichika.” In essence, that was the Maniwa Boss’s assessment of that untested youth.

“Head to head, he would be hard to take. If I were a swordsman, I may even have lost. He had a chance. But I’m a ninja─and I know how to eliminate that chance.”

“Lofty remarks, from a man relying on a hostage to lure his enemy into the mountains for a sneak attack.”

“Tsk tsk tsk. To be a hostage, you need to be desirable. And these mountains are hardly the place to try and snare that Kyotoryu. This is his turf. Were he to show up now, the disadvantage would be mine. And if he comes for me, he’s taking you down, too.”

“Take me down?”

Could that happen?

Togame doubted the efficacy of a hostage scenario, but she had no way of predicting how that simple man would react to a situation like this.

When you’re smart, you can’t imagine being stupid.

And what if─

If the Kyotoryu…is that kind of school…

“So I’m not going to ambush him. We’ll square off. I’ll be a good sport.”

“…”

“Don’t look so skeptical. You know what I can do. You’ve seen my ninja skills.”

Komori Maniwa. One of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa.

Defying physics and anatomy to stuff a plethora of exceedingly long or sharp or useful things, like rope, inside his body─was not the main attraction.

This was just a taste of him─merely the first sip. Komori had mentioned how Kawauso could sniff them out, but Togame had originally hired the clan because it was Komori whose powers were best suited to the task at hand.

His face was melting.

It transformed as she watched.

As if it were clay, he thumbed the skin and muscle of his face─but didn’t stop there. He tugged and squeezed at his entire body until─

“How’s this look? Think I’ll pass?”

Before the count of ten─Komori had molded his head into hers. From the neck up, he was Togame.

This was no mere disguise.

His bones and very flesh had changed.

He had her long hair─white of course.

And had even copied the bump on her forehead.

“Yuck!”

To repeat, Togame already knew about this move─but it never failed to disturb her. Komori’s ninpo12 allowed him to modify his body, on command, to have a different figure, a different feel, a different skin.

This is how he had transformed into the boatman.

The boatman she had vetted so severely─and that was why, when Nanami raised the possibility, Togame saw instantly that it was Komori who had bombarded the hut.

She’d been so careful about being followed.

And never dreamed she’d be accompanied instead.

The actual boatman─was surely no longer of this world.

“Behold, the Body Melt13─kyahah! Whoops, don’t want to forget the rest of my body. And what a fine body it is─”

He yanked and pinched and tugged and squeezed.

Stretching flesh and bone into shape.

Transforming from a muscly man into a skinny woman─yes, with Komori’s Body Melt, body type was no concern, and even gender distinctions14 were meaningless.

Perhaps it’s a cliché to describe ninjas as masters of disguise, but in Komori’s case, his powers were absolute. Nobody knew his true identity─whether he was a he or a she, or old or young. Even the figure we saw on the beach might have been artificial. In all likelihood, Komori Maniwa had forgotten his original form.The Softeninja.15

His ability to load that bare sword and those prickly shuriken into his body without a drop of blood was owing to this fearsome elasticity.

The owner of the supplest body in existence claiming the hardest and firmest katana was ironic, perhaps─but maybe this was necessity.

After all, it was why Togame had enlisted him to seize the Leveler, just as she had tasked Sabi with capturing the Whisper.

Pinching and squeezing to make the last few touches, Komori completed his transformation into Togame. It may have taken slightly longer than ten seconds by now, but far less time than you might expect. Forced to watch herself take form before her very eyes, Togame was hardly at ease.

“That just about does it.”

Even the voice was Togame’s.

“Kyahah!” he laughed─in her voice. “You think that doesn’t sound like you? People never hear their own voice as others hear it. But that’s what you sound like to everybody else. Doesn’t it make you squeamish?”

This was no impression. It was far more sinister than mimicking her voice─Komori had her vocal cords. He probably even had the same lungs and other vital organs─which is why.

It was exactly her voice.

Indeed, she felt squeamish─

Not at the sound of her own voice.

At the thought of her insides being replicated.

“Is this how you’re going to fool Shichika?”

“You know it. And if you think I’m playing dirty, keep it to yourself. I’m only doing what I did for you when I seized the Leveler.”

“…”

He was right.

She had utilized his transformative powers to the utmost.

“Actually─you need to keep it to yourself all the time.”

With that suggestive declaration, Komori plunged his hand into his mouth. This topped the list of feats Togame hoped he would not execute as her, but lashed to the tree, she was powerless to stop him. Perhaps he was making her watch simply to force her to savor her powerlessness.

The hand he eventually pulled out of his throat was gripping a bindle16─packed with carefully folded clothes, from the looks of it. Of course. Togame put it all together. Komori hadn’t worn his wacky ninja garb as the boatman─

“Even with your skin and bones, I’d never pass for you in clothes this baggy. If I had time to strip you bare─I would enjoy every minute of it, trust me─but I thought ahead and packed accordingly. The same kimono.”

He had wrapped the clothes to prevent them from being drenched in spit. He had to have another outfit, for the boatman, packed somewhere else in his body─was his stomach connected to a fourth dimension? It was a mystery that could not be explained in terms of flexibility alone. That said, it would be futile to attempt an understanding of ninjutsu based on logic─

“Kyahah! Don’t forget to write in your report to your superiors how I brought a change of clothes. Make sure you say exactly what I’m wearing. Lots of guys go crazy for those details. But I digress─the only thing you’ll be submitting to your superiors─is your resignation.”

“…I’d rather not have to explain how a maniac ninja like you showed up.”

“I bet. Man, these are some fancy duds. By the way, I got a receipt. Can I expense this? That price tag made me sick to my stomach. But I guess it’s nothing compared to what I’ll get for a Shikizaki sword─no, not even close.”

“Aren’t you ashamed for being such a money-grubber?”

“Of course not. Like I said, that age is over. These days, shrewdness is a virtue. It’s proof of your intelligence, your cleverness. Though I suppose the Schemer would have to disagree.”

Komori sloughed his ninja clothes and changed into the outfit wrapped up in the bindle. Donning17 a kimono is an art, and he made it look easy. A little too easy─at times, he moved his arms in ways a normal human skeleton should not allow, like when he was adjusting the position of the obi at his lower back. He slipped on a pair of the same sandals as Togame and finished off by wrapping up his ninja garb, throwing open his mouth, and swallowing the whole package in one gulp.

“Now I just need to tear apart the hem a bit…like so. Hey! Look at that. Twinsies! Kyahah! Imagine if I showed up like this at Owari Castle instead of you? That’d be a laugh. If I caused enough of a scene, you would become a wanted woman, and you’d have to help me, like it or not.”

“Fool… You won’t get very far. Bump into enough people, and someone will catch on.”

“Don’t act so serious. I’m kidding. You’re so uptight. It’d be great if I could replicate your brains, but I’ll need some more practice to get there. By the way, where’s your weapon? When you left the boat, you had a big sword─too big for you─dangling from your hip. Did you leave it at the hut after they confiscated it?”

“I must have…”

Yep.

Unaccustomed to carrying a katana, Togame didn’t think to reach for the sword when she ran off to chase after the two men. Even if it had crossed her mind, Nanami would hardly have given it back. Besides, Togame could barely swing the thing.

“Oh well. Looks like I’ll have to finish this with the Leveler. I can’t exactly fight him hand to hand, not with a body like this…and I’m all out of shuriken.”

“Think you can pull it off?”

“Sure. He’ll never see it coming. You’ve seen my bag of tricks, but Kyotoryu thinks I’m just some ninja who pulls swords out of his stomach. He’s too gentle for his own good. Doesn’t seem to have the temperament to ambush me or anything. But what do you expect from an island monkey?”

“I thought you said you’d be a good sport.”

“I said we’d square off─not that I’d fight fair and square. It would have been much better if I’d turned into his sister, but sadly, I don’t know her face well enough to make it work. Maybe I should have peeped while I was eavesdropping. I wonder what happened to her. Think she’s still sitting up in that hut?”

Togame wouldn’t say.

But that is where Nanami had to be.

You go and watch─I’m sure my brother will take care of things─go see the Kyotoryu in action─was what she’d told Togame.

Nanami trusted Shichika with her life.

That trust had gotten Togame into this mess…but it was no reason to inform Komori of her whereabouts.

Togame held her tongue. She wouldn’t answer.

But it didn’t seem like he was waiting for an answer.

“Who cares,” Komori said. “Once I’ve thoroughly18 squashed Kyotoryu, I’ll take his shape and kill his sister. On this small island, she can run, but she can’t hide. Sorry, but you’ll have to wait here till I’m done.”

“No! Wait.”

First the Maniwa double-crossed her.

Then Hakuhei Sabi double-crossed her.

And now she had to wait here while Komori killed the Kyotoryu?

She would run out of options.

She would have no hope of rounding up the Shikizaki blades─it was that simple.

Whether or not it had been a mistake, at this point, relying on the Kyotoryu was the only strategy19 available to her─her only scheme.

I’ve come this far.

How could I possibly give up now!

“What do you care anyway?”

Komori laughed, with Togame’s face, narrowing its eyes.

“Whether I kill him or not, that kid isn’t going to cooperate with you. What was that hot line of yours? ‘Go ahead and fall for me’? Man, do I wish you’d used it on me. My comeback would’ve been ‘No one in this world would ever fall for you.’”

“…”

“Sure, I stabbed your back for money, but if I had known what kind of person you are, I never would have signed up in the first place. And know what? I only asked you to team up with me just now so I could stab you in the back again.”

Then he said it again.

His comeback line.

“No one in this world would ever fall for you.”

Given his awesome power, now come to light, pronouns are an unresolvable dilemma, but for the sake of continuity, he─a ninja upon being born in the Maniwa enclave, was raised as a ninja of the ninjas, by the ninjas, for the ninjas.21

No values or ideas of his own.

When his turn came, he became a Maniwa Boss.

That was all there was to it.

A nonpartisan unit with allegiances to no country, the Maniwa Clan was, in a certain sense, a perfect portrait22 of the ninjas. It was organized around a principle of free agency,23 but this was not because they didn’t get along. It developed organically: each ninja was a true army of one, and when they tried to work together, they couldn’t help getting in each other’s way. Komori fit right in, distinguishing himself as among the most reliable of the Twelve Bosses. And while the unprecedented proposal that the entire village go rogue did not come from him specifically, you can bet he was behind it.

The Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki.

His twelve masterpieces.

If they sold the lot of them─

They could all give up on being ninjas.

No more slinking around in shadows.

They would no longer have to hide, and no longer have to endure.24

Something unresolved was how they would unload the Possessed. One sword was supposedly enough to buy a country. Who had that kind of money? With the exception of an area of Nagasaki, Japan was pursuing a policy of isolation,25 but they would have to seek a patron overseas. While they were at it, why not move the entire clan overseas? Japan no longer had a place for them.

It never did.

“If for no other reason…” muttered Komori, in the voice of Togame the Schemer. “I need to make sure and finish off Kyotoryu.”

To recap.

He couldn’t have Togame crying out for Kyotoryu or his big sister to come save her. Tying her to the tree was not enough; he had gagged her (at this point, you don’t need to be told where he pulled the gag26 from) and sprang off─zipping into action.

He had already laid his trap.

Repairing into the mountains with Togame in his clutches, Komori had made frantic zigzags up and down as a cover lest Shichika follow his tracks─but had left discernible traces here and there. Not pointing toward Togame, they’d lead Shichika somewhere completely different.

Tracks he would follow─without fail─precisely because of his comprehensive knowledge of the island and the mountains. A ruse, intent on laying bare the poor interpersonal skills of a youth who’d barely met a soul. Because he had never been the victim of malice, the possibility would never occur to him.

It was a matter of experience.

Plain and simple.

According to plan, Shichika followed the false tracks until he was right where Komori wanted him─the site of the natural spring, which Shichika had meant to visit earlier that day with a bucket on his back. That detail was not known to Komori, who had only picked the place because it was a clearing. Which made sense─after all, the Yasuri family had been drawing water here and tending to the spring for twenty years.

From up in the branches of a tree, Komori watched a nonplussed Shichika find himself at the end of the trail.

Kyotoryu was tall and muscular, but far from oafish.

Lengthy arms and legs.

The shuriken were gone, the bleeding stopped.

His heart and his lungs in tiptop shape.

A perfect man, one hundred percent.

Back at the enclave, Komori had trained day in day out to reach this level of skill─but it was becoming clear that Shichika Yasuri had trained at least as hard. Komori was observing Shichika in order to assume his form and slay his sister back at the hut─but his body was so fine it almost put the ninja in a trance.

Komori could shapeshift into any kind of body─but he needed a model.27 The humanly impossible─like becoming a giant ten times taller and infinitely stronger than any man─was beyond him. If he continued training and honing his ninjutsu, perhaps someday he could accomplish such a feat, but it was just like in the fine arts─imitation was easy, but creating some-thing new was challenging. At present, his Body Melt was limited to imitation, falling short of true creation.

Hence.

Komori found Shichika’s toned body, in the flesh, so beautiful.

It’s a shame I have to do this─

The uncharacteristic thought did cross his mind.

From a business perspective, that body was a hot commodity, so maybe the thought wasn’t so uncharacteristic after all.

Still, it was a shame.

You could say it wasn’t in the stars.

In his first true match, Kyotoryu, a swordsman who never used a sword, was up against a ninja, rather than a swordsman, who moreover came brandishing the unbreakable Leveler, forged by Kiki Shikizaki to be the hardest sword imaginable.

These were no terms for swordplay, nor could the sword be snapped.

Too bad for the youth.

No─his bad luck began when Togame chose him. If the two hadn’t met, Kyotoryu would not be embroiled with the Shikizaki swords, much less the Maniwa Clan.

Nevertheless.

Something told Komori that this kid was too big a fish─or monkey─for this tiny island. There was something about him.

Just a hunch.

What if Komori could get him to be an ally instead?

As a Boss, he could invite Kyotoryu to be part of the New Maniwa.

No. No way.

Maybe under different circumstances, but not now. This job was supposed to be the last hurrah for the Maniwa. Galvanized by their fraternal competition to collect the Twelve Possessed, Komori already had a lead on several of the swords. If he asked around─posing as Togame─back on the mainland, he could no doubt locate several more. This was not the time to add an unknown quantity to the mix.

It was nowhere in the stars.

Komori felt bad for the youth.

Thinking like this was truly out of character.

“Weird,” Shichika muttered to himself, pacing around the spring. “What happened to the tracks? Where’d everybody go?”

“…”

Komori’s eyes were darting, but his body was motionless. He would not be discovered. Then again, he thought, this man was not like other men. Komori had opted for this plan of action because he doubted that Togame would be effective as a hostage, but it was still a gamble as to whether she’d even serve as bait28…and yet Shichika had swallowed it right up.

Judging from his use of the word “everybody,” which lumped Komori with Togame, Shichika, wild animal that he was, had chased them simply because the ninja had run. In that sense, Komori had been correct in opting not to use Togame as a hostage─but as bait she wasn’t much good either. As far as the gamble was concerned, Komori had lost, but things were working in his favor.

He had him good.

Absolutely. Without a doubt.

Komori checked for the Leveler in his stomach. He had flipped its orientation─no longer hilt side up, it was ensconced with the point at the top of his throat. He would probably have to catch Shichika off-guard once they were close. He wouldn’t have a chance to reach down into his mouth and extract the blade. If he did that as Togame, it would be a miracle for him not to blow his cover.

Then he would launch it.

Not the Star Cannon but a Sword Cannon.

The straight sword was a perfect missile.

Since he could hardly get away with blowing up like a balloon, it would not have the same unfettered strength, but one breath in was enough to fire the Leveler through the organs of whoever stood before him. Though of course this was a move he could never execute with any other sword, not even the other Shikizaki blades. Only the Leveler could withstand such abuse.

“That’ll do it.”

He had memorized the shape of Shichika─and was thus prepared to pay a lethal visit to his sister. Shichika was confused, but the ninja would do well not to spook him; if Komori was forced to leave the clearing, his plan was ruined. His Cannon attack─whether it flung ninja stars or a sword─would not be possible in a confined environment.

Since it would be absurd for the real Togame to hop from a tree, Komori made a different entrance. As if merely walking down a staircase, he footed his way down the perpendicular tree trunk without a sound.

And pranced his way over to the spring.

He figured why not go all out.

What was it she had called Kyotoryu? Yasuri? Shichika-dono?29 No, Togame had certainly skipped over those courtesies even in second person.

If they talked too much, the truth would come out.

He only needed one line: He abducted me, but I fought for my life and managed to break free. The Togame that Komori knew would not attempt such a thing, but it didn’t matter. He would run straight, with arms outstretched─

And lance Kyotoryu through the guts.

“─Shichika!”

“Ah.”

When Togame, or rather Komori, called to him─

Shichika Yasuri turned around.

Which is where the trail broke off.

Shichika had not the slightest inkling of having fallen for a trap. Unlike his father Mutsue and his sister Nanami, he was clueless about such maneuvers. Outside the context of a battle, he was quite vulnerable. His level gaze around the clearing for a continuation of the tracks was less humorous than it was piteous.

Dad.

What would he do now?

How would Mutsue Yasuri have combated the Star Cannon? Or would his father’s Kiku have already snapped the Leveler in half? Komori said that it could never break or bend, but maybe at the hands of Mutsue Yasuri─

Or maybe not.

Shichika wasn’t sure.

But his father─Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu and Hero of the Rebellion─

“…”

Ninjas.

Kiki Shikizaki. The Possessed.

This was unknown territory for Shichika.

An unknown world.

For nineteen years, he had trained under Mutsue, whom they even called a Hero of the Rebellion… That hadn’t given him a big head, he hoped, but he wasn’t prepared for the ninjutsu of Komori or the nature of a Shikizaki sword. He felt like a frog in a well30 that had been sucked out into the ocean.

…The ocean.

Across the sea.

Were such things fairly common on the mainland? Komori had called himself one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan…in other words, there were eleven more of these guys, each probably capable of that sort of thing. And of the twelve Shikizaki blades, eleven more remained, each peculiar like that.

If he crossed over.

“…”

What would happen to his sister?

With his father gone, he couldn’t leave his feeble sister on the island by herself─but this line of reasoning failed to settle in his heart of hearts.31

His sister was the head of the house.

Nanami needed to be protected, but he was overprotective to a fault─that much he knew. Self-reliant in spirit, she wanted to help with the chores and would certainly hold it together without him around.

He was the one who couldn’t separate himself from her.

No, that wasn’t it, either.

It was worse than that.

At the end of the day, it was a pain─leaving this island for the mainland would be a colossal pain in the butt. What he had told his sister, by way of making an excuse, had been far closer to the truth.

I’ve been on this island as long as I can remember─

I can’t just up and go over to the mainland─

I don’t know anything about the outside world─

And I don’t care to learn─

“…”

She said she came here in a boat.

Which meant there was a boat on Haphazard Island.

In which case─

All he needed was a reason.

A good enough reason to leave the island.

He wouldn’t work for money.

He didn’t care about honor.

What would make him move?

─Go ahead and fall for me.

Remembering Togame’s line made him chuckle.32 There was no way that was going to be his reason─but…

Hm.

About that boat. The ninja said he had masqueraded33 as the boatman for the ride here… But according to Komori and Togame’s exchange, they’d met before─that is to say, even before she hired the ninjas to track down the Leveler. In fact, as Grand Commander, she had hired them for countless other jobs.

In that case, how on earth had the ninja traveled with her in the boat without Togame wising up? She called herself the Schemer or whatever, but for all her insistent emphasis on her brains, the woman…

What disguise?

Could a disguise work so well?

“Hrrm.”

Had Shichika been capable of redirecting his suspicion, he could have seen the light─perhaps. But guessing that Komori, no mere masquerader, could mold his body into any shape he chose would have been a tall order for anyone.

There was a chance─and yet.

Shichika stopped there.

Thinking was such a pain.

Putting that aside─and also putting aside why he might leave the island, he had to find those two.

Maybe he should head back to see his sister.

She was probably at the hut, sipping sayu.

And so on.

That was where his mind was, when from behind─

“Shichika!”

Togame rushed toward him through the underbrush.

Togame, who he was certain had been captured.

She ran towards him, nearly tripping over.

Not, of course, the real Togame, but Komori as Togame. All the same, Komori played Togame so well, right down to the way she walked, you would never notice─even if you knew.

“Ah.”

Hence Shichika, not fathoming the extent of the ninja’s powers, hardly stood a chance…

“Kyotoryu─Botan!”34

…and yet.

Playing off the turn of his hips, Shichika displayed the Botan, a spinning rear kick of Kyotoryu’s own. In rapid-fire, he aimed the left blade of his foot at Togame’s─at Komori’s belly.

The ninja ran straight into the attack.

And doubled over in midair.

“Bwah!”

The point of the Leveler slipped out of Komori’s body.

Leaving himself wide open─naturally, since pulling off a believable Togame meant leaving himself wide open─he took Shichika’s foot at the center of his spleen meridian.35 It was a brutal blow. He fell on his stomach─and puked up a mess.

A hot and slimy mess.

Which happened to include the Leveler.

The air he had sucked in was gone, blown into the sky upon impact.

His raid36 was an utter failure.

The Leveler was out of him, handle and all─Komori shot Shichika a rueful glare.

Togame’s face…Togame’s eyes…

Had the disguise not worked on Shichika, then?

A minute before, right before he quit thinking about Komori masquerading as the boatman, had he arrived at the truth of the matter? Unlikely. That very expression, the truth of the matter,37 and Shichika Yasuri were strangers to each other.

So had he seen any difference between Togame and Komori posing as Togame? Surely not even Komori, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa, could perfectly imitate another person. There had to be some tiny difference─had Shichika not overlooked it? Unlikely. Komori’s Body Melt was no stingy sleight of hand.

What of the palpable blood lust? When Komori took a deep breath preparing to deploy the Leveler at close range from his cannon belly, to send it piercing through his enemy’s heart, did Shichika, raised in the wilds of this island, feel a tremor in his skin? Had he leapt before he looked, reacting faster than his mind? Unlikely. Komori, who could hold himself utterly still, could surely suppress any cues to his attack.

After all…

“Hey, Togame is that you?”

This was Shichika Yasuri─

He hadn’t suspected that the person rushing at him from behind was even Togame, much less Komori Maniwa.

“Hm? But you just puked out a sword. Can everybody from the mainland do that, after all? Wait a sec, isn’t this the Leveler?”

“…nkk.”

Consider this.

Shichika knew every tree on the island, down to the last leaf. Which meant he could tell every tree from every other tree, tell every leaf apart. And why not? He saw them every day. He knew them intimately.

In contrast, when most people see an animal, whether dog or cat, fish or fowl, unless they see the creatures regularly, they all look the same─but why limit our example? Even among fellow humans, foreigners can look the same, and few could pick somebody they just met from a crowd. Our brain is incapable of distinguishing between unfamiliar objects on command.

Herein lies the problem.

Since before he was a conscious being, Shichika Yasuri had been living on Haphazard Island, nary another human in his life but his father and his sister─the real question we should be asking is: between Togame and Komori, did any difference register?

For example, size.

Were they as different as, say, a dog and a puppy?

Gender, you say?

How many people can tell if a fish is male or female?

Their voices?

When a bird sings, can you tell whether it is male or female?

Their clothes? Their hairstyles? The color of their hair?

That brash kimono and transparently white hair─

How would he ever have memorized all of that?

The only people Shichika Yasuri could recognize on sight were his family; and since his father died, that meant only himself and his sister─which is another way of saying that Komori needn’t have transformed himself to dupe Shichika. If he had only done what he told Togame he would do and squared off against Shichika instead of rushing him from behind─

Shichika would never have launched a kick, his instinctual reaction to an attack from the rear.

“G-Ghak…”

“Ah, okay, I get it. You’re a shapeshifter. I heard that kitsune and tanuki38 can transform, but I had no idea people could too. Crazy. So wait, though. Are you…the ninja?”

“Dammit.”

Komori couldn’t stand up.

Sure, he had been caught off-guard─but he had no idea Kyotoryu could kick with such terrible strength. A direct hit could knock an opponent out of commission! Komori’s plan to shoot the Leveler from his belly may have sputtered, but it was perhaps providential39 for him that he had swallowed the adamantine sword before battle. For had he not, the spinning rear kick Shichika had called the Botan might have cracked his spine. The Leveler had played a surprise role as a buttress─but it had also transferred the blow and sent it radiating through his whole body.

Komori was not moving anytime soon.

As done as a prey frozen by a snake’s stare.40

“I guess this means I’ve captured the Leveler?” Shichika asked himself.

He looked back and forth between Komori, in the aforementioned state, and the Leveler, which had rattled to the ground.

“Togame requested something spectacular…but the Botan is a pretty boring move. Oh well. I made short change of a shapeshifting weirdo, so she better thank me. This is what she wanted for her report. If the cast of characters includes a guy who can disguise himself as other people, you won’t ever know who’s really speaking. It’d be hard to─”

“Hey…you,” Komori whimpered. “Why are you…so happy to help…this woman?”

“What?”

“I’m asking…why you’d want to let her use you. Listening to the likes of her will do you no good…”

“Huh? I’m not trying to be useful, or not useful─”

Use41 him?

Is that what he just said?

“I didn’t mean it that way. I’m just glad she’s going to have the Leveler back.”

“Didn’t you find something fishy about this one’s story?” Komori continued, still on the ground. “At this point, why would the bakufu bother with the Shikizaki blades?”

“Uhh─they’re scared of an uprising, right? Like, if someone with all twelve of the Possessed started an uprising on the scale of the last Rebellion…”

“That makes sense as a reason. It’s reasonable. But it sounds a little too pat. Don’t you think?”

“…”

Hmm.

Maybe?

Was there…another side to it?

“Today’s bakufu isn’t as entranced by the Shikizaki blades as the Old Shogun. They’re far more…realistic. This is about all about her. This little Sword Hunt42 of hers is no more than a career move. It’s only happening because Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms, wants the bragging rights.”

Komori spoke in a voice thick with spite.

“Collecting the last twelve swords wasn’t some idea that came down from on high at the bakufu. It was this woman’s idea. Even if the shogun made the proclamation, she’s the one who lit the fire, just so she could put it out. And now you hear her spouting, ‘It’s not as if I don’t have my own opinions on the matter,’ and ‘I’m in no position to quibble over the particulars of an order.’ But the Sword Hunt is happening on her terms. Every bit of it is for the good of her career.”

“Career?” Shichika wasn’t sure what the word meant. “Isn’t the Grand Commander already a pretty high position? Sounds like it anyway.”

“It is. She’s up there. But is up there enough for this woman? Hell no. She’s heading for the summit─you’re gullible, kid. You don’t know to doubt, do you? No way a woman this young isn’t going to play dirty on her way to the top. A world where only ability counts is almost impossible to find.”

“…”

“When I first met her, I was stunned─by her smoldering ambition, by that eye. I could tell that she would sacrifice anything─or anyone─to get her way. She certainly had no qualms about using the Maniwa Clan. We’re talking an entire band of ninja assassins. She’s out of control. And you too,” Komori said. “Now she wants to use you, too. Can’t you see, Kyotoryu? You’re being exploited. No good will come from teaming up with this woman.”

“…So you betrayed her before she had the chance?”

“Yeah. But the stuff about money aside, I couldn’t hope to keep up with her. I told you she wasn’t satisfied with being up there. What do you think she has in mind? The very top, at the side43 of the next shogun.”

“What?”

“Kyahah,” Komori laughed wheezily─but also like he was enjoying himself. “No matter how cooped up and simpleminded a life you’ve led here on this island, I hope you can understand how outrageous an idea that is. The shogun is getting on in years. It won’t be long before he steps down─and when he does, she’ll be there, beside the new shogun, who is at present still a child. And you know what that means.”

“The world─”

There it was.

Don’t you desire the world? she had asked him.

Right at the beginning, and not just as a way of launching into her tale of the Shikizaki blades─she was saying that she, herself, did!

That was some serious ambition, if true.

She hoped to bring to life the illusion about the Shikizaki blades…in pursuit of her goal?

“Still,” Shichika got out, flummoxed though he was, “you can’t blame her. Working your way up is a natural part of working for an organization─or so my dad taught me. But I can see why you guys might not feel so good after being used and all…”

“We could care less. I use you, you use me, that’s what makes the world go round. The problem is what she used us for. Working your way up makes sense, most of the time, but this lady is aiming too high. Taking over the nation all by herself, not by waging war, but through sheer politicking!”44

“…”

It sounded like she was living in the past.45

The Age of Warring States was over.

No one was interested in superfluous conflict─well, almost no one.

“I did some research of my own about this Sword Hunt. Just because the Maniwa are known for being assassins doesn’t mean we can’t do our due diligence.46 My ninpo is especially well suited for that line of work. And since we have this competition going among the Bosses, I went all out─a passion project, if you will─and I hit pay dirt. Found some fun facts. Or not so fun facts.”

“Stop beating around the bush. You need to understand I’m not big on thinking about stuff. I can’t understand you when you talk like that. Let’s back up. What you found, when you were digging. Was it that stuff about Togame working her way up? About positioning herself beside the next shogun?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t stop there─I knew there was something else. There had to be some other reason being Grand Commander wasn’t good enough─some reason she would stop at nothing, even suffer the betrayals of the Maniwa and Sabi, if it meant collecting all the Shikizaki blades.”

Komori hacked through a cough.

It must have hurt to speak─and yet.

He was regaining his strength, which Shichika failed to notice, too focused on the conversation.

“This woman,” Komori said, pointing his finger at himself, “is the daughter of Takahito Hida47─the Mastermind of the Rebellion.”

The words chilled Shichika to his core.

The Rebellion is fresh in our memories─

But who could deny the determination of the rebels?

Togame had described the spirit of the uprising thus, to Shichika.

“In a different world, she would have been a princess, with a castle of her own. The bakufu branded the Hida family enemies of the state and annihilated every last one of them─yet somehow, a child was spared. I’ve yet to figure out where that little girl grew into a woman and how she snuck her way into the bakufu─but I can tell you this much, she’s shameless about clawing her way up. She won’t stop until she’s at the side of the next shogun. Is it not clear what she is plotting?”

“What is she?”

“It should be obvious by now why being Grand Commander will never satisfy her. While by no means a low rank, it stops short of direct audience with His Excellency.”48

Komori was melting.49

His bones shifted.

The flesh of his body changed by degrees.

But Shichika completely failed to notice.

That was the last thing on his mind.

Takahito Hida─Shichika knew the name.

He had heard it from his father, Mutsue Yasuri.

The name of the Mastermind of the Rebellion.

Uttered by the Hero of the Rebellion─Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu, Mutsue Yasuri.

“This is revenge. Plain and simple.”

Komori’s voice was clear.

“Either vengeance for the obliteration50 of her family line─or a reboot of the Rebellion to bring her father’s vision to fruition. In my opinion─kyahah!─it’s the former. Apparently, that woman watched her entire family get murdered one by one. I hear that’s when that hair of hers turned white─with terror!”

Meanwhile, Komori’s hair was no longer white.

It was changing into black─black tousled hair. Which is why he said that hair of hers─instead of this hair of hers.

Not this woman─but that woman.

“…”

But Shichika did not react to this grotesque display.

He was distraught.

In a state of confusion.

Takahito Hida. Kaoyaku51 of Oshu.52

The Traitor.53

Their father, Mutsue Yasuri, Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu, had always talked about it─even bragged. How magnificently, using nothing but his own two hands, the blades of his hands, he had beaten off the leader of the rebel army. A glorious tale of heroism if there ever was one!

But not necessarily common knowledge.

Shichika was sure that after the Rebellion, all mention of the Kyotoryu and Mutsue Yasuri, who had been banished to this island, was taboo for the House of Tetsubi. Apparently, Komori had not even known the Kyotoryu existed until visiting the island, in which case he couldn’t possibly have known it was Mutsue who had vanquished Hida. Perhaps he hadn’t dug that far, but this was not a story you would ever figure out by digging.

Still…

Togame must have known.

It involved her, after all.

I knew Mutsue Yasuri of the Kyotoryu by name─

But not by face─

That was a lie.

Having seen her father slain before her eyes, she must have known.

Known the face of Mutsue Yasuri.

And that was why.

She had arrived on Haphazard Island knowing everything─having witnessed, like no one else, the fearsomeness of the Kyotoryu─so thoroughly it turned her hair white.

What if his father─

If Mutsue were still alive─would she have entrusted her father’s enemy54 with rounding up the Shikizaki blades?

I’m the son of that enemy.

And yet.

Why did she─

Not see it as a mistake?

No, she must─at least, she must by now. Nobody could overlook the error of someone with her past coming to this island.

But she was out of options.

Betrayed by the Maniwa Clan─and by Hakuhei Sabi.

Betrayed!

“That dirty little scion of an insurrectionist55─and no innocent herself, the wormy traitor─dares call me a backstabber and a coward? Kyahah! But look. I’m an assassin. I know exactly what she’s plotting─what I saw in that eye wasn’t ambition after all. It was a burning desire for revenge. Madness─no other word suffices. Me? I work for money─she’s trying to pull off the unthinkable, and it’s not even for the money. I can’t go for that. And you, Kyotoryu. Don’t you think it’s foolish, after all the years you’ve spent honing56 your skills, to let her use you as a tool?”

Let’s make this clear─

I didn’t inherit my title from my father─

She’d said that too.

After Shichika, who couldn’t have known better, asked Togame his superlatively insensitive and distorted question about whether his dad had─of all things─worked for her dad.

It was just as Komori said─Shichika had been too soft in the head to see what might have driven Togame to follow the path of a Schemer.

Right, she hadn’t followed in her father’s footsteps.

She had become Togame the Schemer.

To inherit her father’s cause.

“If you did the research on your own,” Shichika whispered, “does that mean you’re the only one, for now, who knows all this?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I guess so. What about it?”

“In that case─”

Shichika assumed a stance.

Spear hands.

Kyotoryu Form Two─the Suisen.

“If I defeat you for good─you’ll take that information to your grave,57 where it can’t hurt Togame.”

“Whaaat?”

Komori couldn’t believe his ears. Was he being challenged to battle?58

“What the hell are you saying? You should be mad at her, not me─how did that boost your morale?”

Komori would never understand.

Who could have understood where Shichika was coming from, raised as he had been on this tiny island, only ten miles around? He had truly believed that his father, Mutsue Yasuri, was a hero, from the bottom of his heart.

He had swallowed whole59 the title of “Hero of the Rebellion.”

A sense of inferiority─is no more than a love turned inside out. While Shichika was not about to step up and declare his affection for his father, he revered the late Master of the Kyotoryu enough to lose his temper when the hut Mutsue built was reduced to splinters─enough for his sister to tease him that he always thought of Daddy. Even banished to this island, Mutsue Yasuri was, in Shichika’s reckoning, a champion of justice.

Which is why, until now.

He had never even given it a thought.

People had fallen victim to the Hero of the Rebellion.

Shichika Yasuri─so face-blind he was unable to tell men from women─was recognizing for perhaps the first time the existence of the other.

“I am Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu. Prepare to die.”

“Alright…fine!”

Airing the details of Togame’s plot to deaden Shichika’s fighting spirit was a miscalculation─it had only flared up─but Komori seemed to have fulfilled his foremost objectives.

Recovering from his wounds.

And buying time60 for a transformation.

“I, too, am Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu!”

He took to his feet to face Shichika─as Shichika.

The robust build, the fit body─and the tousled hair.

From every angle, it was Shichika. A flawless replica.

Lying on the ground, holding Shichika’s attention with Togame’s story, Komori had slowly remade his body from the inside. The disclosure may have failed to discourage Shichika but had bought the ninja more time than he had bargained for. The replication process was complete.

He was still wearing Togame’s luxurious kimono, which helped to tell them apart─but his voice, too, was Shichika Yasuri’s.

“You don’t sound like me at all…”

Komori didn’t bother to recapitulate for Shichika what he had told Togame.

The air was already heating up.

Hot enough to boil.

“Kyahah! To tell you the truth, being an assassin, my ninpo isn’t suited for direct attacks. My only real move is the Star Cannon, which you saw. And you already beat that move, Kyotoryu. Honestly, if I fought you head to head when I was me, you’d probably win.”

Shichika didn’t flinch at the words issuing from his own figure.

“But what’s this? Now we’re square!61 Same biceps, same forearms, same thighs. Same strength. Actually, one each of your arms and legs got cut up by my shuriken, so I guess I have a little edge?”

“Hmph.” Shichika kept his cool. “If you’re gonna bother doing that, why not make yourself into someone even stronger? Like that swordsman Hakuhei Sabi. Or maybe you guys never met? But you have lots of experience, I’m sure you’ve met all kinds of guys who are stronger than me. Right?”

“I’m almost jealous of how you could be so clueless. No, those guys wouldn’t necessarily be stronger than you. A fight is all about the matchup. It’s like how rock beats scissors, but is weaker than paper, which loses to scissors. So what’s the best scenario? Two rocks,62 one stronger than the other.”

“I hate to break it to you, but my cuts are basically fine. They may have bugged me if we’d done this right away, but now they barely even hurt.”

“Okay. Great. So we’re even then. Rock versus rock.”

Komori as Shichika─

Looked at the Leveler lying at his feet.

Zetto the Leveler, which he had spit out of his body.

One of the Twelve Possessed, the masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki.

A sword that would never bend or break or lose its edge.

For the Kyotoryu, it was the worst match possible.

“This ought to make me the stronger rock.”

“…”

“Kyotoryu─the Swordless Swordsman. But really. If the Swordless Swordsman wielded this, he would be stronger than the same without it. No contest.”

Komori made it sound like he had already won.

The Leveler had fallen right by where he stood. He would have no difficulty grabbing it. Even if Shichika tried, he’d never get there first: they had the same legs. In this fight, distance was the only variable.

“Only meatheads rely on muscle─when there’s an easier way, I say take it. If you want to call me out for fighting dirty, go ahead. As long as it’s not her who says it, I could care less. I might even like it.”

“Are you sure you aren’t making a mistake?”

Shichika answered Komori’s gloating with a frigid stare.

“The Kyotoryu is strong because it doesn’t use a sword.”

“Come on. We both know that’s a front.63 Assuming each side has the same potential, there’s no way a guy without a weapon can be stronger than a guy with one. Or are you telling me the blades of your hand and your foot cut better than the real deal?”64

“Like I said, you have it all wrong. It’s not because the Kyotoryu uses hands and feet as blades that I’m a swordsman even though I don’t wield a sword─I am already a katana, on my own, in swordsman form. My school using a sword would be like a dog walking another dog. So listen up. I’m not losing to me with a sword. It’d be like─”

“I get it. No need to pile on excuses. If you keep yapping, the sun’s bound to go down. Go have your pity party somewhere else─hell, for instance. Alright, me, let’s go.”

“After you, me. I’m gonna slam you with a spectacular knockout move. The last-but-not-the-least, held-in-reserve, ultimate secret of the Kyotoryu!”

In a blink.

Komori jumped first.

But Shichika didn’t move at all─and kept up a defensive posture.

Without even trying to stop Komori from grabbing the Leveler, he stood with spear hands─waiting for his doppelganger to come and try to chop down the real him. Like Form One (the Suzuran), Form Two (the Suisen) was a countermove. Because the fingers point, it has a slightly greater range than the Suzuran, but not enough to matter against a long sword─

“Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Side Splitter!”

Gripping the handle of the Leveler with both hands, Komori leapt high into the air─vastly higher than when he jumped on the beach. The forest floor around the spring was much easier to leap from than sand, but upgraded to Shichika Yasuri’s mighty legs, a poor footing would have made no difference.

A strike from on high─

Made the heavier by gravity, swung─

“Uh… Ack.”

─Did not swing down, or swing at all.

Komori’s hands, as he started falling from the sky─did not grip the Leveler. The sword danced in the air, spinning in circles, above him.

Like it had lost its owner.

It danced.

Spinning.65

“Wh-Why?”

“You should learn to hear people out─even if the sun starts going down.”

From the ground, Shichika spoke to Komori as he fell.

“Know what, though? You were right about me making excuses. The truth is that out of all the masters of the Kyotoryu, not one of us could swing a sword to save his life. It’s not that we don’t use swords─we can’t!”

Thus it was for Shichika Yasuri.

And for Mutsue Yasuri.

And, needless to say, for the founding master Kazune Yasuri─too.

That was why Kazune forsook the sword despite being a swordsman. He took the discipline to places nobody had dared to venture─but what able swordsman would willingly forsake the vehicle of his skill?

“The same applies to me, born into this family. Today I saw my first katana… It was fine to copy my arms and legs, but my ability with weapons won’t do anything for you, me.”

“Ahh… Nkk, me…bastard!”

Komori fell, empty-handed.

Gravity now his enemy.

There was no use rushing now.

In the end, there was only one reason for Komori’s defeat. Nanami’s confidence in her brother notwithstanding, no one would normally expect a veteran Maniwa to lose to a novice Yasuri.

But lost he had.

And Zetto the Leveler was to blame.66

He just could not resist─using the katana.

Maybe the Hell-Made was simply being serviceable the first time─and so could maintain self-control. Still, even if his Star Cannon was depleted, Komori─a ninja, not a swordsman─reached again and again for the Leveler: proof that the sword’s poison was coursing through his veins…as wary of this as he had been.

The venom of the Possessed.

Owning one made you want to kill─

“It’s a good thing you let go of the sword. The ultimate secret is so insane I’m sure it would have snapped the Leveler in half. By the way, I keep calling it that67 because I only came up with it yesterday.”

As Komori continued to fall helplessly to the ground, Shichika spelled it out for the ninja.

Exceedingly politely, in simple terms.

All told, the Kyotoryu had seven secret moves.

Fatal Orchid One: Kyoka Suigetsu

Fatal Orchid Two: Kacho Fugetsu

Fatal Orchid Three: Hyakka Ryoran

Fatal Orchid Four: Ryuryoku Kako

Fatal Orchid Five: Hika Rakuyo

Fatal Orchid Six: Kinjo Tenka

Fatal Orchid Seven: Rakka Rozeki

“Too bad you won’t be around to see each move on its own─but the Last Fatal Orchid is when I hit you with all of them at the same time. To put it your way, it’s like an unstoppable68 combination of rock, paper, and scissors. Every one of them is lethal, but when I hit you with all seven simultaneously, you’re going to explode. See for yourself.”

Then Shichika pulled it off─spectacularly.

Just like Togame requested.

“Kyotoryu─Shichika Hachiretsu!”

It wouldn’t come loose.

Writhe as she may, the straw rope held fast to her body─not your normal knot. This was a ninja knot. If only she hadn’t been gagged, she might have chewed through the twisted straw─Togame thought, chagrinned.69

Could things really end this way?

Could things really end up here?

Had she given up her name, her lineage, her everything─passing through mountains of corpses and rivers of blood70─only to breathe her last stuck on this nameless island? To think she had been poised to seize the Shikizaki swords that had eluded even the Old Shogun. Delivering the remainder of the thousand to the shogunate─would have advanced her plan to the final stage.

Her scheme, to which she devoted her entire life.

Close enough to see.

Close enough to touch.

…Oh, Father.

I was so close to avenging you!

My thoughts go out to you.

My heart goes out to you!

“…nkk!”

Calling on the Kyotoryu was my undoing.

I must have been out of my mind.

As out of options as I may have been…relying on the man who murdered my father…or even his son… Telling myself the real enemy is the bakufu, the shogun…what a convenient excuse! Did I really vow to restore the honor of Mutsue once the job was finished? Even if I had to at that moment, how could I offer to vindicate the man who killed my father?

Was this her lot?

A perfect disgrace.71

Was she not the daughter─of a warrior family?

“…”

Taken to the mainland by Komori as his hostage and subjected to torture, she would eventually divulge all she knew of the Possessed. She prided herself on the tightness of her lips, but she had never been trained to withstand torture. Left to a ninja’s devices, she would not last an hour. There were a myriad ways to extract information out of someone, and Togame could name a few─a ninja would know thousands more.

But no.

Before any more disgrace.

She would act.

“…Hmh.”

Togame laughed.

With her gagged cheeks.

Fearlessly, invincibly.

“Hmhmhmhmh!”

How could I be so foolish!

What will never come undone or come loose? Not the rope.

My determination.

What will never bend or break or lose its edge?

My schemes.

I am the Schemer. I’ll scheme my way out of this mess. That’s how I made it this far!

If I must rely upon the Kyotoryu, my father’s nemesis, to avenge him─so be it. Let my soul, my life, get whittled away, I could not care less at this point!

Most who heard the story of Togame’s early years accepted that her hair turned white from terror, at the sight of her family being slaughtered.

But no.

Her hair had been blanched by an outpouring of rage.

I have sworn upon this hair of white.

No matter how often I’m betrayed!

No matter who grows to hate me!

Even if it means living a life starved of love─I will fulfill the responsibility that is mine to undertake!

“Huh…”

Someone was approaching through the underbrush. Was it Komori? How had he returned so soon? Then again, if he had settled things with the Sword Cannon, the battle would have ended instantly. In which case, what had taken him so long?

Togame braced herself─defenseless as she was.

She could only glare in the direction of the sound.

With that eye of hers…

“I see,” the man said, appearing from the bushes. “I see, I see, that’s what he meant by that eye. But he was wrong about it smoldering. Can’t trust a ninja, I suppose. I like the way it sparkles. Pretty cool if you ask me.”

“…? …!”

It was Shichika Yasuri.

How had he─no! Komori had it all planned out. After he bagged Shichika, he would transform into Shichika and kill Nanami. This must be Komori, on his way…no, on his way back! What had taken him so long was killing off the sister. But why hadn’t he changed back? Maybe he was posing as Shichika to milk more information out of her─he had a lot of nerve. How the Schemer had fallen, if he believed such a charade72 would do.

But then she noticed something.

What Shichika Yasuri was carrying.

Zetto the Leveler. One of the Twelve Possessed, the masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki. As if unaccustomed to holding a sword, he loosely clasped the butt of the handle and dragged the long blade rattling over the ground.

Komori would have stuffed it in his belly.

So this must be the real Shichika.

“Got me thinking, though. Maybe that ninja had parents or siblings, or maybe even kids. He had to have some kind of a family. I bet they’ll hate my guts for this.”

“…”

“For starters─”

Shichika thrust the Leveler upright into the earth by the tree where Togame was tied up.

The Leveler seemed like it could take it.

But yikes, she’d told him to be careful…

“Here’s the first one, Togame.”

“…”

For starters?

The first one?

What did he mean─

Talking like this was only the beginning─

Like he was promising to do good by her─

“Don’t get me wrong─I did it for you. I don’t have my eyes set on money, I haven’t been dosed with the Shikizaki venom, and I have no interest in serving the bakufu─I just felt like doing it, for you.”

Shichika looked at her and laughed.

At his partner73 for the yearlong journey ahead.

“I’m going ahead and falling for you.”

From Haphazard Island, across the water to the Capital…and the Hisho Dojo.

To that training hall─where Shichika Yasuri was no longer surrounded by the six men. They had risen to action, only to fall to the floor, where they lay prostrate on the planks. Out cold, eyes rolled back in their skulls. Not one could climb back to his feet.

Their wooden swords had not even grazed Shichika.

They had dropped to the floor, just like the six men.

“Nice work…”

Togame, leaning against the wall, clapped her hands in satisfaction and called out to Shichika from behind.

“Not that I caught all of that. Was it the move that beat Komori? I’ll admit that being able to take down six, or even seven men at once is nothing to sneeze at─but how would you cope if an eighth man were to appear?”

“You mean an eighth sword─but would that ever actually happen?”

“Any day,” Togame said. “The Possessed have eleven other owners.”

“Eleven,” repeated Shichika. “What a pain.”

“That’s not the half of it. The Maniwa Clan has eleven other bosses. And don’t forget the Strongest Swordsman─or should I say the Fallen Swordsman,1 Hakuhei Sabi. And after them all manner of strange and awful characters, too many to count… Anyway, I’m relieved to see you can control your strength. These men have only fainted─and you didn’t break a single sword, which matters a great deal.”

“Does it, though?”

“Yes. Things were only hunky-dory2 this time because the Leveler, as a rule, cannot be broken. But that won’t be the case again. And another thing, at the risk of belaboring the point: don’t think you outperformed Komori. He drowned in his own tactics, and as a result, you won. You were lucky things turned out that way.”

“Can’t argue3 with that. I may have acted big and strong when we were talking trash, but I’ll probably lose at some point.”

“My job is to make sure that you never do. While a tactician can drown in his own tactics, the Schemer ever swims in her schemes. Which is why, from this day forward, you play by my rules, in battle as in life.”

“You can trust me,” Shichika responded without pause.

A hearty reply.

“So I guess this means I’ve passed the tests and proved myself worthy to serve you. Alright, Togame. Tell me these rules you want me to start following.”

“There are…only four at the moment.”

“Four. Let’s hear them.”

“First, as stated earlier, never break a sword─but the rule goes beyond that. I forbid you to attack the swords in any way. You may only counter them. Need I repeat, the only unbreakable sword is the Leveler; the remaining eleven will be nowhere near as strong. Retrieve each sword in pristine condition. Not a scratch. In a word─protect the swords, whosoever may be holding them.”

“Got it.4 I protect the swords. What’s number two?”

“Protect me. Our mission is to round up all the Shikizaki blades, but it’s pointless if I die in the process. I cannot have you letting me be kidnapped again, or worse. I must never be hurt. Not a scratch.”

“Got it. I protect you. What’s rule three?”

“Protect yourself,” Togame said. “And I’m not saying this for your sake─until we take possession of all twelve Shikizaki swords, I forbid you to die. Capturing a sword is no excuse for suffering a mortal blow. Without you, the hunt is over. Which is why I forbid you to be injured─not a scratch.”

“Got it. I protect myself. What’s number four?”

“Protect yourself,” Togame repeated─and stood. Whisking the hem of her kimono across the floor, she spun around; with her back turned to Shichika, she started heading for the exit. He couldn’t see her expression. “This time, I am saying it for your sake.”

“…”

“Don’t die─the journey will be taxing, but you mustn’t die. Can you promise that? I won’t have you saying otherwise. Quick, say you got it.”

“Got it. Absolutely. I’ll protect everything.”

Then Shichika got moving too.

In seconds, he was right behind Togame.

“So what’s next? You said we’d want to get at least the first few swords before we visited Owari.”

“The Kyotoryu may be notorious, but you’re a nobody. If I’m showing up with you, one sword is not nearly good enough a souvenir.5 Especially not the Leveler, which we haven’t seized so much as recovered. Our next sword will be Zanto the Razor. It was forged to slice like no other. There is no substance in this world it cannot cut. Its owner is one Ginkaku Uneri of Inaba. I’ll tell you more about him on the way─and while we’re at it, let’s get you some new clothes. Come.”

“Sounds great. I love you, Togame.”

“Good. Love me all you like.”

A wild sword chase, with no ending─or even any road in sight.

Yet this tale is heading steadily toward a conclusion: all thousand of the swords of legendary swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki, including his masterpieces the Twelve Possessed, were merely foils for the creation of the Kyotoryu…a single katana, Kyoto the Diamond6─though at present no one comprehended this, not even Togame the Schemer.

Now then, what to say about this book? Not much at the moment, except that it’s the story of a swordsman and twelve swords. The first of a twelve-book series. Eleven more to go.* One sword per book… That’s the plan, but depending on how things go, we might launch everybody into outer space partway through, so no predictions here. It’s my intention to power through as if this were my debut, though, so please bear with me. The characters and swords appearing in the story have been visually rendered by someone who needs no introduction, your friend and mine: take. I can safely say that my prime motivation for writing this series is to see what wonderful illustrations will arrive with future books. I have no idea what the future holds, either within the story or without, and in that spirit, this has been Sword Tale─Book One: Zetto the Leveler.

I offer my deepest thanks to you all for accompanying me on this reckless adventure that brooks no predictions.

By no means was this room spacious─frankly, it was cramped. Devoid of furniture, much less any decorations, it was floored with tatami2 and bare.3 One person, on his own, would take up almost all of the room.

In it sat a man.

He was lanky, with long hair like a girl.

A simple black kimono.

Eyes closed, he sat cross-legged in the center.

He almost seemed asleep─no.

In fact he was.

Given the hour, it was not the strangest thing─and sure, some people could probably sleep cross-legged, right?

Nevertheless.

A man asleep with a katana at his waist was rare no matter what. He slumbered with the sword, in its black scabbard,4 slipped between his obi and left hip, and as if leaning on it.

Or perhaps─

Safeguarding it.

As if it were more important than his life.

“…”

Hearing the fusuma slide open, the man in black slowly opened his eyes.

“Hek hek hek hek.”

To the sound of an utterly unnatural and bizarre laugh.

From the doorway another figure slithered into the tiny room. He was attired like a ninja─but this was not the standard ninja outfit you might be imagining. It had no sleeves, and in their place, fat chains were strung around his body.

“Od annog ahctahw tub. Ni thgir egrab dna nepo rood eht worht ajnin a evah ot gnissarrabme dat,” the ninja said.

But he was totally incomprehensible.

Incomprehensible─and yet this was precisely his astonishing special trait.

An unnatural, bizarre─trait.

“Nalc Awinam eht fo sessob evlewt eht fo eno, Awinam Igasarihs em llac nac uoy tub, 5Igasarihs Sdrowkcab em llac elpoep tsom.”

“…”

To that.

The man in black only narrowed his eyes in annoyance. The hour was a factor, and after this rude awakening, perhaps he wasn’t thinking straight─but even in broad daylight, a ninja who spoke thus would be hard to welcome. Perversely, having entered through the doorway like a normal person began to seem wrong in the case of this absurd shinobi.6

“Hek hek hek,” snickered Shirasagi “Backwords” Maniwa.

In reverse.

“Gniws elgnis a htiw evlah tonnac ti gnihton si ereht taht yas yeht. Edalb emosraef a. Ikazikihs Ikik yb degrof dnasuoht eht gnoma seceipretsam, Dessessop Evlewt eht fo eno. Rozar7 eht Otnaz? Rozar yradnegel eht pih ruoy ta anatak suoicerp taht si, ym ho?”

He added:

“Em ot ti evig.”

“…”

“Dnatsrednu uoy, yrlavir yldneirf a. Kcen dna kcen eb lliw I dna eh, drows ruoy emmig uoy fi tub, em fo daeha pets a si Iromok knup taht.”

“…”

“Sdnah daed ruoy morf ti yrp I dna, on yas.”

Shirasagi gave a nasty look, as if to hint that he preferred the latter.

The Maniwa.

Known only to those in the know, a band of expert assassins─and the ninpo used by Shirasagi Maniwa, especially, was dangerous enough to keep the other bosses cautious.8 Nearly every one of them had thanked their lucky stars for not having Shirasagi as an enemy. His bizarre backwards way of talking was a function of his ninpo, the absolute horror of which was only known to those who opposed him─like this man in black, for instance, sword at his hip and still sitting.

Still not moving.

Far from handing over the katana, he had not so much as twitched─unresponsive to the point that he might have been sleeping with his eyes open.

Had he failed to decipher Backwords Shirasagi’s speech?

Quite possibly.

“Yako, yadyreve ees ot teg uoy gnihtemos ton s’ti? Dab taht opnin ym ees ot tnaw uoy? Sgnileef ym struh ti, em gnirongi tiuq, aohw.”

Shing!

As Shirasagi paraded his reverse speech as if he were readying himself, laying the groundwork, for something─the man in black, without warning, without any tell, suddenly moved.

But moved might be an overstatement.

A slight motion.

No more than his right hand grasping the katana’s hilt─to all appearances.

“Hmm?”

When his foe took hold of the weapon, Shirasagi’s expression changed─but not his easy attitude. It was the attitude of someone with absolute confidence in his own abilities.

“Kcats ruoy wolb I elihw hctaw. Skcajpalf ruoy pilf ot em tnaw uoy snaem tuo drows ruoy gnillup, egaugnal ym ni. Tsal ruoy eb lliw od uoy dnoces eht, denrawerof eb tub. Ekil uoy revenehw tuo ti pihw. Tuo ti pihw annog, tahw?”

“If you don’t mind my asking.”

The man in black finally spoke.

Responding to Shirasagi Maniwa.

But his next words─

“This flapjack-flipping9 ninpo─it allows you to talk even after you’ve been sliced in two?”

─were a farewell.

“Huh?”

Not that holding still would have kept the gash together─but at those words, Shirasagi leaned forward, for the last time.

His torso, unstuck from his waist, tipped over onto the tatami. Because his head landed upside down, his death throes─

“Gaaah! Wh-Whennn?”

─came out forwards, but at this point, how he sounded mattered little.

“…Hiken Zerosen,”10 intoned the man in black.

Not having taken a single step, still sitting.

“Ugh, he’s ruining the tatami─I’ll have to swap it with a mat from one of the other rooms… As for his corpse…I may as well hold off until the gore dries.”

Although he had just killed, the man in black was unperturbed, as if nothing exceptional had happened, and he set his mind to planning how to clean the room.

He let go of the hilt─and rubbed his eyes.

So he did feel a little sleepy after all.

Of the thousand Mutant Blades forged by Kiki Shikizaki.

One of his masterpieces, the Twelve Possessed.

Zanto the Razor.

Owned by Ginkaku Uneri.11

Undoubtedly the toughest foe to grace these pages so far─okay, out of just two!

We’ll say the tougher.

Behold this unholy history12 full of holes!13

A skittish, scatterbrained sketch!

Tale of the Sword: Book Two ♪

A petite woman, but the seemingly dozen layers2 of grandiose silk with which she bedizened herself made her look far bigger than she really was. Big as in giant. She wasn’t so much dressed in these clothes as riding in them, strapped in for a stroll. Her jewelry was chunky enough to function as fortified armor. But none of this stood out more starkly than her long white hair─not a strand of black.

Our Schemer, Togame.

“Catchphrase?”

The man responsible for this response, if you could call it that, was as big as she was petite─and as minimally clad as Togame was overdressed. Wearing only the bare necessities, to the point where any less would have been scandalous. Stripped to the waist, and beyond his arm guards and his leg guards,3 wearing only a hakama.4 On his back he toted a massive bundle, full to bursting, but showed no sign of hardship.

Shichika Yasuri.

Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu.

“What the heck’s a catchphrase?”

“What am I going to do with you? A catchphrase is a thing you say almost without realizing, whenever things get crazy. It just pops out.”

“Oh. Okay. But whose catchphrase are we talking?”

“Yours.”

“…”

Shichika nodded obediently.

As appropriate a response as he could offer.

“But wait a second. If I have to say it without realizing, should I be thinking about it?”

“Focus, Shichika.”

Very funny. She disregarded him with gusto.

Togame launched her explanation.

“I tried writing down last month’s events, on Haphazard Island.”

“Huh? Oh, right. Your report.”

Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu.

That was Togame the Schemer’s full title.5

The report Shichika alluded to would be submitted to the upper ranks of the bakufu. A handwritten account of what Togame, sent off by shogunate decree, had witnessed in her travels.

Dispatched─on a Sword Hunt.

In pursuit of the Twelve Possessed, the masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki.

“Right, your report. I did exactly what you asked me to. You said you wanted a spectacle. I gave that scummy ninja what he had coming to him.”

“I’m sure it was spectacular, but whatever you did to Komori Maniwa, I wasn’t there to witness it. Ergo, it cannot be included in my report.”

“Why not?” Why make me do it then? “I did exactly what you asked.”

“Sorry to say, but I can only record what I see with my own eyes. Don’t worry─we’ll have other chances. But listen, Shichika. In explaining how I seized Zetto the Leveler, I came to a crucial realization.”

“What was that?”

“You have no personality.”6

Certainly one way to put it.

This brutal dig would be enough to put most people in a funk;7 and Shichika, raised on a remote island, the embodiment of unsophistication, was no exception. He grimaced and stopped midstride.

“I-I don’t?”

“In my first draft, that ninja stood out as a more compelling character. I attempted several revisions, but it was useless. No amount of reworking changed the equation. Try as I might, there was no way I could make you more compelling than Komori. When I read over my final draft, you struck me as no more than a half-naked baboon.”

“Whoa, Miss Togame. Wait a second.”

He was so flustered he added the formality.8

“When you’re fighting a guy who can pull swords out of his throat, personality is not how you win. He may have had more personality, but I’m the one who won the battle.”

“Sure. I don’t want you losing battles. But I can’t have you losing any popularity contests, either. Let’s just say─you aren’t florid enough.”9

“Have some consideration!”

Apparently, no personality and half-naked baboon stung far less than the accusation of being insufficiently florid.

Which makes sense, considering his name.10

“Look,” Togame said. “The Maniwa is like a ninja circus. Komori was only the beginning. They have this one guy, Shirasagi, who talks backwards.”

“What do you mean?”

Shichika could not imagine.

Much less fathom the implications.

And would there be any point to it, anyway?

“Actually, could you just stop comparing me with those Maniwacs?11 Not just my personality, but in general.”

The Maniwacs.

Catchy name for a band, too much so for a band of assassins.

Needless to say, that was lost on Shichika, and given the era, on Togame as well. “Maniwacs, that has a nice ring to it,” she adopted it happily.

Poor ninjas.

“I realize I can’t ask you to start acting like them overnight. They’re nothing but personality. It wouldn’t even be fair for me to point to them as models or goals. But Shichika, I need you to at least put in an effort.”

“E-Effort…”

“Tireless effort is character-building.”

“I’m not sure that’s how it works…”

“For now, back to your catchphrase.”

It was evidently useless to resist. “Uh huh…”

“It’s like picking the title before you write the book. If you leave out your cup, it fills itself. Don’t underestimate the power of a catchphrase. It can define a character. Nothing works quicker, not even close. It’s your best bet, and it could be your greatest asset. I say catchphrase, but you could call it a motto, or a slogan, or a signature line. Point being, it characterizes how you speak. Take that ninja, Shirasagi Maniwa. For him, talking backwards is like a catchphrase, broadly speaking.”

“Huh.” Not that Shichika had the slightest idea what talking backwards meant.

“Here’s a more concrete example. Remember the weird way Komori laughed? ‘Kyahah!’ What an excellent way of conveying his immaturity, and the madness and the cruelty it spawned. When you hear it, you say to yourself, ‘This is not a normal guy.’”

“I wouldn’t mind being seen as normal.”

“That’s well and good, but not good enough for me. I don’t want my report to put my audience to sleep. What if they quit reading halfway through?”

“Aren’t these reports normally pretty lame? Not like I’ve ever read one.”

No one was expecting a romping, rollicking12 account.

Or so Shichika believed.

“And that is precisely why mine cannot be normal. You know, that swordsman Hakuhei Sabi, who I was working with before, he had a pretty good one, too. It makes me sick13 to compliment a traitor…but sometimes you need to give someone his due.”

“Hakuhei Sabi, huh.”

The mightiest swordsman in all the land─they said. Despite being a kid of barely twenty.

“For future reference, what was it?”

“He often interrupts himself to say, ‘Hear that? Made your heart beat!’”

“…”

Sabi was in possession of Hakuto the Whisper, one of the Twelve Possessed, the masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki. At this rate, they were bound to face off somewhere down the line─but Shichika rapidly lost any desire to have anything to do with the man.

And yet Togame seemed to think his catchphrase was fairly dashing…

Shichika had better brace himself.

“When I was working with Komori and with Sabi, I never had to worry about their catchphrases, but in your case, I’d be remiss if I didn’t do you the favor. I don’t want a repeat of that last report.”

“Oh…”

Some favor.

“Clueless as you are, it’s my responsibility, as your employer, to take care of you. After all, I promised Nanami.”

“I highly doubt my sister was worried about catchphrases.”

“How about a couple more examples? Let’s see, I know a guy who says ‘Wipe that smile off your face!’ every time you speak to him, whether or not you are smiling. Another guy cries “Ooowhoo!”14 like a dog whenever anything big happens. Some people tilt their sentences a certain way. And then there’s local accents. Those are great for personality. They announce where you’re from.”

“Great examples.”

Shichika nodded thankfully. He had half a mind to just give in.

Arguing and debating was such a pain…

“Hey, Togame, I think I got it.”

“What?”

“Not sure if you can call it a catchphrase, but there’s one that I’m always thinking, or saying.”

“Ah.”

“It’s, well, ‘what a pain’─”

“Cheerio!”15

She suckerpunched him.

A fist right to the ribs.

But between Shichika’s toned muscle and Togame’s shrimpy arms, the blow─surprise or not─didn’t make much of an impact. He would sooner notice a mosquito land on his skin.

“You dolt. How are you supposed to showcase your personality with such tired words? A report where the main subject is always complaining about how much of a pain everything is will make whoever reads it feel the same. Try to put yourself in my position. I’m the one who has to write you into being. What if I start wanting to quit?”

“O-Okay…”

Totally rejected.

His sole claim to personality, totally rejected.

“Think for a second. If I depict you as seeing our Sword Hunt as a pain in the butt, it’s going to look like I’m forcing you to do this.”

“I need to be loving it?”

“Exactly. Any impression of coercion is one that I would hope to avoid.”

She was going to be evaluated.

Ah, the sorrows of serving the court.

Thing is, Shichika didn’t really hate his job.

“Alright, got it,” he said. “I won’t call anything a pain ever again. Sound good? But Togame, I was kind of wondering, when you jabbed me a minute ago, what was that you screamed? ‘Cheerio’?”

“Oh, that?” Shaking her hand (her punch had done some damage after all, though not to Shichika), Togame smirked. She knew she had him. “It’s my catchphrase.”

“Huh. What does it mean? Doesn’t sound like Japanese.”

“As if an island monkey can judge. I’ll have you know that it’s a grand old saying, favored by the warriors of Satsuma in Kyushu as a battle cry─you might call it their kiai.16 Not so much a dialect as a custom. Not like I have any strong ties to Kyushu. I simply thought that ‘Cheerio’ is a cute thing to yell in battle. I gather this was the first time you heard me say it, but I actually use it quite a bit.”

“In Satsuma country, huh?”

“Yes.” Togame spoke with pride. “It suits my personality exactly.”

The battle cry she referenced, while indeed originating in Satsuma, was in fact the much-more Japanese “Chesuto,”17 while “Cheerio” was an imported word denoting some combination of “Sayonara!” “Bye-Bye!” and “Take Care!”─but you will have to wait for Book Five, when she and Shichika venture down to Satsuma, for the white-haired Schemer to finally see her error. Look forward to ten-plus manuscript sheets’18 worth of humiliation and burnt ego.

Let us return to the conversation.

Irrelevant as it may be to the present volume.

“Not sure I get this catchphrase thing. Can’t think a good one up, not on the spot. Whatever you call it…”

Until the previous month, Shichika had spent almost his entire life in solitude on that deserted island. Before Togame came, the only two people he had ever met were Mutsue Yasuri, Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu, his father, and Nanami Yasuri, his older sister. The three of them had no use for catchphrases or the like.

Or even for what we call personality.

Which is perhaps why he could be accused of lacking one.

Back on the island, there had been no objective19 point of view.

Everything had been subjective.20

“Not to worry. I knew you’d say that, so I thought up a few.”

“…”

What a busybody.

That was Shichika’s honest reaction.

He didn’t voice it, but it must have shown on his face since he was no master of duplicity.

“I figured you may have a preference,” Togame went on, oblivious and unabashed.

Those who ignore how other people feel can dominate and steer the conversation in any era.

“You have the right to choose your favorite candidate. I don’t mind which.”

“That’s an awfully pushy right…hope there’s one I like.”

“Of course there is.”

Togame was confident. Too confident.

Where was she going with this?

“Here’s one you can use as a rejoinder. Once in a while, go ‘Tee-hee!’”

“Nope.” Since he couldn’t be bothered, Shichika was apt to go along with whatever people said, but this time he had to voice his blunt refusal. “If I got a report about a guy like that, I’d burn it. The world has enough garbage.”

“Excuse me? Having a hulk like you titter makes for a nice contrast─”

“Nice for who? Look, all I mean is, do you want to spend all day, every day21 with a guy who goes ‘Tee-hee’? Would you really want to go on a journey with him?”

“You know what? No. Forget it.”

She moved on quick. She was pretty selfish.

“This one has more to do with changing how you talk. Let’s try a dialect.”

“A dialect? You can’t pick that sort of thing up overnight.”

“Why not talk like you’re from Kyoto? Having a hulk like you speak in an elegant fashion would make for a nice─”

“I’m sure Kyoto has its share of hulks…and another thing. This contrast you’re so keen on is a dangerous thing. One slipup, and it’s over. Those stakes are too high.”

“Strong rebuttal. I’m impressed.”

“Enough. Why do I actually have to say this thing? If you think it’s so important, can’t you just cook something up for the report?”

“I’m afraid not. It must not contain any lies.”

“But aren’t you already staging22 this?”

“Lies are one thing. Staging is another.”

What kind of twisted code of ethics was this?

Not like he should have been surprised. This was Togame.

“Writing lies is out of the question, but leaving out real details is an editorial decision. Take this whole conversation. Every sentence is going to be pruned. Anyway, if the first two options aren’t to your taste, you’ll have to settle for a signature line. Personally, I find them slightly less dynamic, but they get the job done.”

“It better not make for a nice contrast.”

“Fear not. No more of that. Trust me, these cut a figure. I have three options for you.”

“You know, can I just laugh in a specific way? How about that ninja’s ‘Kyahah’? I could live with that.”

“Imbecile. You don’t want your personality to overlap with anyone’s.”

“Oh.”

“In a way it’s worse than having no personality.”

“…”

Perhaps she had a point.

It made sense, more or less.

But more importantly, when he really thought it over, he didn’t want to be overlapping a perverse ninja who pulled katanas from his mouth.

“Alright. Let’s hear your suggestions.”

“‘Aren’t I the darling of the gods?’”

Repeat after me, Togame urged.

“‘Aren’t I the darling of the gods?’”

“I dunno, Togame…weren’t you supposed to be smart enough to make up for not knowing how to fight?”

“Excuse me? Only a smart person would hit upon such an inspired catchphrase.”

“If it’s supposed to be a prank, yeah, it’s inspired…”

Ouch.

The second he uttered that line, it’d be all over for his personality.

“You’d be saying it mostly to taunt your enemies. It would assert your superiority and show that your confidence cannot be shaken. Express your omnipotence, and crown every victory with swagger.”

“Or maybe come off as a real jerk…”

“Yeah, well, if I had my druthers, you’d be a bit of a jerk. Just think how it would boost my reputation if I trained a naughty, cheeky, saucy island monkey to do my bidding. You’re too nice.”

“…”

What a selfish view.

There was such a thing as being too egotistic.23

Togame had to be plotting to portray him as a nasty fellow in order to make herself look good by comparison.

“Let’s try number two. Ready? ‘Time for a permanent island vacation.’ There.”

“There?”

Too close to home.

After spending twenty years stranded on an island, how could he smugly wish the same fate on someone else?

“You dodo. That’s what gives it bite.”

It somehow got even more awkward.

How did you ever become Grand Commander?

The words almost left his lips.

He had to end this conversation now.

Things had dragged on long enough, less banter than open sore.

“Hey Togame, have any more…practical ideas?”

“What? Everything so far was plenty practical… You’re just much pickier than I reckoned. I thought you would go with the flow.”

“Yeah, well, I’m as surprised as you we’re still discussing this… I’m willing to compromise, I really am. Let’s hear your third pick.”

“Okay. This idea was inspired by Shichika Hachiretsu, your super killer move.”24

“Don’t call it that.”

His Last Fatal Orchid, she meant.

Whatever. Close enough.

“When your opponent threatens you, just say: ‘Not if you’re torn to smithereens.’”

“…”

He would have liked to turn it down.

He came so close to telling her.

What made her think his Last Fatal Orchid needed a hokey25 slogan? Shichika Hachiretsu was a move he had devised on his own, and he was quite attached to it.

Then again, Togame must have a slew of bogus catchphrases that hadn’t made the cut; he had better settle or risk being dealt something far worse. Even if the lot of them were bogus, she had clearly labored over every one. The thought tugged not imperceptibly at his heartstrings…yet any more of this might confirm a disturbing suspicion that had arisen in him: Could Togame be dumber than me?

Shichika knew that he was dumb.

He was okay with it.

He was not okay, however, with Togame being dumb.

There was only room for one idiot on this adventure.

“Sounds good.”

“Huh?”

“I like it. ‘Not if you’re torn to smithereens.’ Nice feel. Honestly, I can’t believe how much it fits me.”

“Oh, you’re picking that one? It’s a little unexpected─I hadn’t meant to recommend it out of all the candidates. But hey, it was good enough for me. If it’s your favorite, I won’t argue.”

“Yeah… Do you think we could stop talking about this now?”

“Sure. Once you thank me.”

“Thanks a million.”26

“Welcome.”

Togame nodded happily.

She looked altogether satisfied.

And thus Shichika Yasuri acquired his catchphrase.

“Well, I didn’t think you would be so choosy, but that’s finally settled. We aren’t too pressed for time, all told. If we keep up the pace, I should have us there by evening.”

“Not if you’re torn to smithereens.”

“Cheerio!”

She punched him, rather unfairly.

But that was their rapport.

It had been about a month since they first met on Haphazard Island, and by now, they had begun to let their guards down. There was nothing strictly wrong with this, but when the two of them passed the time with such inane banter on the roadways, they were bound, like it or not, to catch the eyes of whoever they passed─undesirably, considering the purpose of their journey. At the moment, however, given their location, there was no need to worry.

There was not a soul in sight, for this was no roadway.

They were in the middle of Japan’s only desert landscape─

Inaba Desert27 as it was known in those days.

Shichika and Togame were staying at an inn28 in the last town before the desert. Togame had shed layer after layer of voluminous kimono but retained an air of extravagance due to her adornments.

“Tomorrow, we’ll be arriving in Inaba.”

They had finished dinner and were sitting face to face.

Shichika was dressed no differently from when he was outdoors. Bare-chested, as usual, there was little left for him to strip without being totally naked.29 In a sense, he was clad more heavily indoors, relatively speaking. Facing Togame, he let her long white hair enwrap the muscles of his abdomen.

Around his chest and arms and neck, and plenty more around his head.

Togame’s hair was as long as it was white─long enough to wrap all the way around Shichika, and then some. A young woman’s hair stops even a mammoth30 in its tracks, but whether or not such a saying actually exists, nobody stumbling upon the scene would fail to find it odd.

This was not some sexual fantasy31 come true for Shichika (or Togame). While you would have no way of guessing it, this was a strategy, a course of action developed in the wake of battling against Komori Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Ninjas, back on the island that had been Shichika’s only home.

Komori Maniwa.

His was a fearsome ninpo where he shapeshifted into any other person in existence─the Body Melt, incomparable to any mortal method of disguise. Morphing into Togame, he had attempted to ambush Shichika.

Purely in terms of outcome, the ninja failed.

Having never met a stranger in all his years on Haphazard Island, Shichika was not equipped to remember the details of Togame’s appearance. It was absolutely fruitless for Komori to pose as her─no matter how expertly.

That time, Shichika was lucky.

But now that he had vanquished Komori Maniwa, his inability to tell one person from another was just a decisive, fatal weakness. Not being able to differentiate between Togame, his employer, and the foes he had to vanquish was unacceptable. If he lost track of who was who in a melee at some point on their quest to find the swords, the Kyotoryu would no doubt shred Togame, whose martial artistry was nil.

That simply would not do.

Other people aside─Togame had to act, and fast, to make sure Shichika could pick her from a crowd.

Therefore.

To ensure he knew her from the others, she fed his muscle memory using her most striking feature: her white hair. Thus the scene at the inn was educational in nature.

“Don’t chew on it. You’ll damage it.”

“Can I lick it?”

“Go ahead. Lick it and remember how it tastes. But don’t twist your body like that. It hurts my scalp.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

Education is a funny thing. Shichika and Togame had been working on this almost every night since coming over to the mainland, and it was finally beginning to pay off. He could recognize her now, to some extent.

That aside.

The topic was the morrow.

“Right, Inaba. That’s where─what was it again?”

“Gekoku Castle32 stands,” replied Togame. “We are to find Zanto the Razor. I suppose this is as good a time as any to tell you more about the sword.”

“Yes, please. I wish you’d have told me earlier, but you were keeping it secret.”

“Not secret. Classified.”

“What’s the difference?”

“It’s a matter of severity. Anyhow, I’ve mentioned that the Razor has a keener edge than any other blade. Supposedly it can cut through any substance in a single swing.”

“Wow.”

Shichika did not sound like he cared.

Perhaps he wasn’t taking her too seriously.

Such a claim would sow the seeds of doubt in most.

“Sounds like it’s up there with the Leveler. Like how you said the Leveler was forged to be so hard it─hey, wait a second. What would happen if we tried to slice the Leveler with the Razor?”

“I wonder. Only one way to find out─though I would never allow it.”

Togame chuckled.

She seemed to find his innocent question funny.

“My guess is the Possessed became more powerful from one piece to the next, in a simple hierarchy. Since to the best of my knowledge the Razor was created later, if I had to guess, I’d say that it would make the cut.”

“Hoot,” Shichika interjected facetiously─and looked away from Togame and off to the side.

But she saw right through him.

In his battle with Komori on Haphazard Island, Shichika came out on top although the competition had been fierce. Nevertheless, it was not the Leveler that he had beaten. Which was fine, since the goal of Togame’s journey was to collect the swords without a scratch.

Yet she knew it weighed on his mind.

The Kyotoryu.

Could a swordless school of swordsmanship triumph─over swords themselves?

She could tell that he was itching for the challenge.

For him, this journey was a match between the Kyotoryu─swordsmen who forsook the sword─and Kiki Shikizaki─the swordsmith who trusted in swords.

There was nothing wrong with being so competitive, but it was something Togame had better keep her eye on.

“So the Razor beats the Leveler…”

“It was a conjecture.33 Don’t take the question too seriously. What’s more, the answer would depend on who is wielding the weapon. We know that a Possessed empowers its owner, but is at its most fearsome in the hands of an able swordsman.”

“Makes sense. It’s wrong to focus only on the sword. So what now? Who has the Razor? Don’t tell me another ninja.”

“As it happens…”

With the Leveler in their safekeeping, eleven swords remained, the whereabouts of only five of which were known at the moment. Among these, Togame had picked Zanto the Razor as their first target. This was partially due to geographic considerations, but there was a far simpler reason at play.

“Your opponent is a swordsman.”

“Right on. After all, the Kyotoryu is a form of swordplay. A swordsman will be easier to face than a ninja.”

“Ginkaku Uneri…a ronin34 or…the lord of a castle, after all?”

“What?” Shichika was baffled. “How do you mean, Togame? How can you be both?”

“Usually you can’t. But I keep forgetting how little you know. Perhaps I should start over from the beginning.”

Which is exactly what she did.

“Once upon a time, when the Old Shogun launched the Great Sword Hunt, the owner of the Razor, Kinkaku Uneri35 by name, was a samurai in the service of the daimyo of Tottori.”

“So, like, the grandpa of the other guy?”

“Basically. To be precise, he lived ten generations before Ginkaku, current owner of the sword. A contemporary of your forefather Kazune, founder of the Kyotoryu.”

“Okay…so this guy would have been around during the Age of Warring States─and out there on the battlefield wielding one of the Possessed. In the heyday of the Shikizaki swords.”

“I wouldn’t compare him with Kazune,” cautioned Togame, “who was always on the frontlines fighting for the Tetsubi─but you could say he had a modest reputation as a warrior. Just not at the level that goes down in history.”

“Really?”

“I gather Mutsue never mentioned the Uneri?”

“Nope, he didn’t. So they couldn’t have been too outstanding.”

“Like I said. Kinkaku had a modest reputation. It’s like this. No matter how strong you are, if you only have one person to fight, you can only win a single battle. This area had no shortage of battles, but comparatively speaking, things were peaceful.”

“Got it. You’re saying it’s because our founder fought at the forefront on the toughest territory36 that he became so legendary. Huh.”

Upon saying this, Shichika appeared to delve into his thoughts.

Thinking did not exactly suit him.

Nor was it like him.

It gave Togame pause, but she went on.

“Then, when the Old Shogun unified the nation, he launched the Great Sword Hunt. This was when the Shikizaki blades in the possession of the daimyos were snatched up, all at once, by the shogunate.”

The Great Sword Hunt.

Perhaps the most ignoble law in Japanese history. Ostensibly enacted to amass enough material for a giant buddha statue, it grabbed the swords from every hand across Japan. Its hidden motive was to end the cult of the katana and to rid the domain of any kind of swordsman─but the true motive was the Old Shogun’s maniacal obsession with collecting all thousand of Kiki Shikizaki’s Mutant Blades.

Charming how only the outward objective, erecting a giant buddha, was met. Ironically, Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, on Mt. Sayabashiri in Tosa, and home to the Katana Buddha, became a favorite pilgrimage for swordsmen─whom the shogun failed to quash.

The underlying project to collect all thousand of the Shikizaki blades fell short as well.

“But the shogunate got all the other swords, except for the Possessed, right? Wait…if Kinkaku was working for Tottori, wouldn’t that mean the Razor wasn’t his to─”

“He strayed from the way of the samurai,” Togame passed swift judgment on the man. “Kinkaku Uneri refused to hand over Zanto the Razor, saying it was no possession of the daimyo, but his alone to keep.” Of all the Mutant Blades whose exact whereabouts were known from before the Great Sword Hunt, one sword, and only one, could not be captured: Zanto the Razor.

“So he was working for a daimyo but wouldn’t surrender it? Listen to that! But there must be more to the story. I bet it hurt the reputation of the daimyo of Tottori, his lord.”

“Exactly. Kinkaku, labeled a traitor, was wanted─dead─but he managed to counter every attempt on his life. With the Razor.”

“Sounds about right.”

“All told, between the forces sent by the daimyo of Tottori and the Old Shogun, he fended off ten thousand strong─ow!”

Strongow.37

No, ten thousand strong─and ouch.

When Shichika, wrapped in Togame’s hair, heard what she said, he fell backwards─an oddly exaggerated reaction for the era─and as a consequence, tugged hard on Togame’s scalp.

“What the hell!” she screamed.

“That’s crazy though! Ten thousand?” Shichika raised himself and yelled back. “You’re saying he fended off ten thousand guys alone? No way a guy like that exists! I’d be amazed to hear someone had chopped apart ten thousand daikon,38 but men? How could that be? And if he actually exists, why not save him for last? Why take him on second, as basically my first real opponent!”

“Hold on, this is history we’re talking─Kinkaku, not Ginkaku.”

She petted him to calm him down. He was usually gentle and kind, but when you got him worked up, there was no stopping him─Togame was finally beginning to grasp Shichika for who he was.

Unlike some swords, the boy snapped easily.39

That said, he was a man now, turning twenty-four this year… His island upbringing had taken a toll and stunted his emotional growth. Or rather─Togame had no way of knowing what kind of a father Mutsue had been, but his older sister, Nanami, who acted like his mother, seemed to have spoiled him.

“I’m fine. You can stop now,” Shichika said after a while. “Still, ten thousand. How could one guy put such a dent in humanity’s headcount? Why try to stave off a population explosion40 in our era? Plus, I can’t see how one sword could stand up to that much abuse. Unless it was the Leveler…”

“Well, this is over a hundred and fifty years ago. That number may not be credible, but we must assume that the Razor had been swung at least often enough for such rumors to be whispered with credulity. Shichika, even if the Kyotoryu is swordplay, you don’t use swords yourself, so I can see why you would be skeptical. But a blade doesn’t need to be as hard as the Leveler to last. Theoretically, a masterpiece sword41 can be used indefinitely.”

“You serious?”

“Indefinitely might be a bit of a stretch. In the hands of a third-rate swordsman, its edge will be lost after ten kills from all the fat and muscle. A first-rate swordsman knows how to take a life without hurting his sword. You could even say that killing without harming your sword is what makes a first-rate swordsman.”

“…”

“Otherwise, how could all thousand of the Mutant Blades of Shikizaki still exist? The nine hundred and ninety-nine that aren’t the Leveler would long ago have snapped or corroded. But that is not the case.”

Of course, she conceded, there was no way to guarantee the safety of the six precious42 whose whereabouts were lost. For her to reach her goal, they better be safe, but she had to face the facts. There was a difference between a wish and wishful thinking.

“Taking a life without hurting his sword, huh. Sounds like Kiki Shikizaki didn’t think of his swords as expendable, and the Leveler was just the most extreme example…”

“True, but the deciding factor is who wields them. In that sense, perhaps the Razor was in the best hands possible. The daimyo of Tottori and the Old Shogun failed to capture it, but life went on. The Great Sword Hunt was rescinded, and the Old Shogun…”

“Met his ruin?”

“Not exactly ruin,” Togame took issue with Shichika’s word choice. “He lived a long life and died peacefully. But having clashed with him, Kinkaku Uneri was dismissed from Tottori and became an unaffiliated43 ronin.”

“Unaffiliated. That’s one way to put it.”

Shichika burst out laughing.

His father, a swordsman (Master of the Kyotoryu Mutsue Yasuri hadn’t wielded a katana but was a swordsman all the same), dubbed the Hero of the Rebellion in the only bona fide war to take place under the Yanari, had to pay for a crime he committed shortly afterwards. Banished to an island along with his family, for nineteen years he never left the island, until his spirit left this world the year before.

Togame felt like Shichika may be seeing his father in Kinkaku Uneri, but she dismissed the thought.

What did she care.

In the first place, she would rather spend as little time as possible thinking about Shichika’s father─even though she originally ventured to Haphazard Island intending to ask him, not Shichika, to help with gathering the swords.

After all─Mutsue Yasuri had been among her most hated foes.

“But even upon being expelled, Kinkaku Uneri refused to leave Inaba. He did not take service with another master but dared to make his home within its borders, where he lived out the rest of his days. It seems the land claimed a soft place in his heart. Over the years, the Razor stayed in his family and was passed down as an heirloom─”

“And now it’s in the hands of Ginkaku, the current head of the Uneri. Does that mean that tomorrow, we’ll be dropping in on Uneri’s mansion in the town of Inaba, Tottori?”

“No,” Togame shot him down. “The Uneri mansion is gone.”

“Gone?”

“I should say, Inaba is gone.”

“The entire city?”

“More than that. Tottori, as a territory, has ceased to exist.”

“What could make it stop existing?”

“Ever hear of Inaba Desert?” asked Togame, seeing how surprised Shichika was.

This was turning out to be a lengthy introduction.

“Yeah…my dad told me about it. Tottori is famous for it, the only desert in Japan. He said he visited once just for fun. Supposed to be awesome. Everywhere you look is sand. I was actually hoping we would go there.”

“Don’t worry. Before long, you’ll have had enough.” Togame was getting sarcastic. “About five years ago, Inaba Desert began steadily increasing in size. What once covered a fraction of the coastline has swallowed Tottori whole.”

The entire territory.

“Inaba has become a wasteland, unfit for living.”

The desert had grown.44

The rapid environmental development could be described no other way. The local authorities, longstanding stewards of the desert, and the Yanari, who boasted absolute unparalleled authority, were powerless against this natural disaster. Its scope was formidable, but it was the pace that made controlling it impossible.

The end of Tottori, and of Inaba─though Shichika could not have known, stranded on that island for the past twenty years.

“No swordsman or sword is any match for nature.”

To judge from the fatalism in his voice, this meant something to him, too. When the desert started spreading, Togame was already working for the bakufu, and despite it being outside her wheelhouse45 she drew up all kinds of countermeasures; they were only a drop in the bucket and had almost no effect. Thus she intimately understood what Shichika was feeling.

Helplessness.

That’s what you call it.

“Still,” Togame said. “Perhaps it’s too soon to conclude that no swordsman─or sword─can master nature. That wasteland is no place for human life, but out there, Shichika, one swordsman has made himself at home.”

“…?”

“Or to speak your language, one sword, Ginkaku Uneri, lives─alone in Gekoku Castle, the only structure left standing in Inaba─with Zanto the Razor at his hip.”

Togame the Schemer and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, set off side by side into the desert, leaving their footprints in the sand. They were heading for Inaba─or, in its place, Gekoku Castle, though no road stretched before them.

“Good thing it’s cold out,” said Shichika, gazing up at the sky. “If this was the middle of summer, you would be dead, wearing so many layers.”

“Nonsense. In summer I take some off. About three layers.”

“Big difference. You make me carry all the luggage, saying you’re not strong enough to help, but I bet the whole lot of it weighs less than your accessories.”

“More nonsense. Women have a special set of muscles just for fashion.”

“Special muscles? You have extra body parts?” Shichika sounded appalled. “I can’t see clothes as anything but in the way.”

“I’ve given up on making you wear a shirt, but do me a favor and please don’t take your pants off. I don’t want to travel with a perv.”

“Don’t worry. I’m starting to like this hakama you bought me. It’s good for moving, and good for fighting.”

“How is moving different from fighting?”

“Just is.”

“Interesting.”

Crunch, crunch, crunch.46

The two walked on, leaving footprints in the sand.

They estimated that the walk would take them the whole day.

Leaving aside the joke about special muscles, Togame’s ability to travel on foot for such a distance was revealing. Even if she was not skilled in the martial arts, she was in no way without stamina. Needless to say, for Shichika, walking for a whole day cost him barely more energy than spending the day in bed.47

“If the desert swallowed the city, does that mean if we dug around we might find houses and stuff?”

“We’ve been walking quite a while. This area was sand before the desert grew. But who knows. If you dug enough you might find something. From five or six hundred years ago.”

“Wow. So wait. Then Tottori’s Gekoku Castle was built in the middle of the desert.”

“The lay of the land has shifted over time, so not in the middle as it stands today. Once upon a time, it stood on the edge. The castle is literally a natural fortress. Since no general trains his troops for a desert assault, it was hard to attack and easy to defend. Still, it was quite the undertaking to build on sand. What could be harder?”

“And that’s why it’s the only building standing in Inaba─but hey, Togame. There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you since last night.”

“Yes?”

“You originally hired that maniac Komori to capture the Leveler because he was the most flexible ninja around, which made him a perfect fit for the most rigid sword. After that, you asked Hakuhei Sabi to capture the Whisper because it was the most difficult to handle, and no one in all of Japan can wield a sword better than him.”

“Precisely.”

“Okay. So how come you’re asking me to get the Razor? Is there some reason you think it’s a good fit, or a good match48 for me? Since I don’t use a sword, I can’t see how any of that would matter.”

“There were geographic considerations. From what I know, Zanto the Razor is the closest of the Possessed to your home on Haphazard Island.”

“So it was the most practical.”

“Sure, but more importantly, as Master of the Kyotoryu, you never use a sword, and thus no sword would ever be a good match or a good fit. That is what makes your school what it is. That is why I picked you to help me round up the Possessed, and why your situation is different from Komori or Sabi─but Shichika, there is one exception49 among the swords.”

“You mean out of the Twelve Possessed?”

“I mean all thousand of the Mutant Blades. That sword is Zanto the Razor,” Togame declared.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t you get it? A sword that is merely sharp is of no concern for you. Cheerio!”

She nailed him in the ribs.

Hers was a fearsome catchphrase that would embarrass her later, the more frequently she uttered it─but we’ll get to this curse in due course.

“Why do you keep hitting me in the same spot?”

“Don’t tell me I hurt you.”

“Hurt me? No.”

“Of course not,” Togame said. “Your body is so finely tempered that I’m almost entranced50 by it. I have a hard time keeping my hands away from your amazing muscles. But Shichika. Not even a body like yours can stop a blade.”

“Right.”

“You can train all night and day, but your flesh can only get so hard. Any razor─small ‘r’51─will cut skin if you touch the blade. Therefore, it matters none how sharp Zanto the Razor is. It’s not like you will be crossing blades, yes? It should be no different than your average katana.”

“Makes sense.”

Shichika could see her point.

This Possessed was the one exception.

The Mutant Blades each had their special powers, but only one was comparable, at least for Shichika, to a normal sword. And that was Zanto the Razor.

“Okay,” said Shichika, “I’m relieved that you aren’t an idiot.”

“First time I’ve had to convince anyone of that. Whatever. Anyway, capturing this sword from Ginkaku Uneri will simply be a matter of your swordplay versus his. As long as he isn’t any stronger than he would be with another sword, this should be a relatively easy one for you to capture.”

“You told me all about his ancestor Kinkaku yesterday, but not what to expect from this guy. Can he cut down ten thousand guys too?”

“Not sure. But I know he’s good. I hear he’s a master of iainuki.”52

“Iainuki…”

“They say it’s the trademark of the Uneri family─Kinkaku included. It would be fair to label him a specialist… But in terms of personality, he is an eccentric.53 While everyone else in Inaba abandoned the land where they were born and raised, he stayed.”

“Is the desert still expanding?”

“Not anymore… Last year, it suddenly stopped. By then the whole of Inaba was buried, but the damage to neighboring territories has been slight.”

“I see.”

“It was four years of hell. But Shichika, I meant to ask you. Does the Kyotoryu have any special moves for countering iainuki?”

“Huh? Oh, well, I’m not sure for iainuki specifically─my dad called it an extreme form of swordplay─hold on, though. While we’re on the topic, I have some things I want to ask you too.”

“Such as?”

“Between Ginkaku Uneri and Hakuhei Sabi, who’s stronger?”

“Having never met Uneri in person, that’s hard for me to say…but I would put my money on Sabi. His skill is unfathomable.54 His ability to fight without damaging a sword is nonpareil─no other swordsman could handle the Whisper. For him, a stunt like cutting down a hundred men is easy-peasy.”

“In your opinion. If that’s the case, who would you bet on between me and Sabi?”

“…”

For a moment, Togame was at a loss to answer.

“I’m amazed how hard it is for you to lie,” laughed Shichika. “I think I understand why you can’t lie in your report.”

“That’s not it, Shichika. Sabi may be unrivaled as a swordsman, but based on fighting style, I think your chance of beating him is─”

“That’s not what I’m getting at, Togame.”

Shichika’s tone was bold, almost arrogant.

“What I’m saying is you’ve only had a taste of what the Kyotoryu is made of─if you really understood the school, you would never think to ask a stupid thing like if I had a special move for iainuki.”

“So not even Sabi poses a threat.”

“Well. I’m not sure about that.”

And I’m not sure I ever want to meet him, he added, his voice returning to normal─to the easy, carefree, unenthused Shichika.

“Whatever happens, Togame, you have nothing to worry about.”

“Hmh… Ch-Cheerio!”

This time she stomped his toes with her seta.55

And it did hurt.

“Wah, what the?”

“M-Make no mistake! No one cares about you. My sole concern is our safe recovery of the Razor! I could not be less worried about what happens to you. I could replace you in a heartbeat!”

“…”

This brand of humor─what can I say.

A Japanese tradition, though as yet it had no name.

“R-Really? You could replace me? M-My mistake.”

Shichika was a piece of work, too, for feeling genuinely wounded.

But that aside, this travel scene met a juncture.

The two stopped.

Straight ahead, directly in their path, they espied something lying on the sand. A dead man, sliced into two clean halves.56

The Directorate for which Togame was Grand Commander was often responsible for backroom operations that never saw the light of day. It would be fair to say she knew more about the Maniwa than any other personage of the shogunate. But even her knowledge had limits: her intelligence on the Twelve Bosses was spotty and she understood the ninpo of only a few of them, one of whom had been Komori─and yet.

The dead man, slashed in two and left to rot, had a face she recognized.

Yes.

It was Shirasagi Maniwa. One of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan.

It had not been there before─the only thing in sight had been the two halves of the abandoned corpse. But when he and Togame rushed to see the body, the wind picked up.

The next instant, a castle2 towered over them.

Without warning.

No gate or moat or ramparts or embankments─only the keep,3 rising from the sand.

“What the…” Shichika was sure the castle hadn’t been there. Or at the very least, they hadn’t seen it.

“I told you it was a natural fortress.” In stark contrast to his bafflement, Togame reacted with total nonchalance as if she had expected nothing less.

“Do you know about mirages? They’re a natural phenomenon, where a difference in temperature causes light to refract, making faraway things appear close, or things on the ground appear to float, or flip. They can even make things you know are there invisible… We are in a desert, with the sea nearby. The conditions are perfect. One might call it atmospheric camouflage.”

Togame casually explained that the castle had no gate or moat or ramparts or embankments so as not to disrupt the mirage.

“Unless you come this close, you’ll never notice it─that’s what makes Gekoku Castle hard to attack and easy to defend. Unknown to most─but legendary, to a select few.”

“What? So you knew it was going to do this? You should’ve warned me. That scared the crap out of me. Stop keeping secrets. Did this really need to be classified?”

“Oops. I thought it would be funny.”

“…”

It was a prank.4

At the worst possible time.

It bombed,5 more or less.

“Look at this guy…”

Not like she was changing the subject, but Togame crouched beside the corpse and looked it over. The body had started to decay, but remained recognizable. While Shichika did not exactly crouch, he mimicked Togame and peered down at the body over her shoulder.

Sleeveless ninja garb.

Chains wrapped around him.

But this ninja, while a denizen of the shadows, wore no mask─combined, these features should have been enough to jog his memory of Komori Maniwa, whom Shichika had fought the month before, but the only living people he could recognize were his sister, Nanami, and Togame the Schemer, after considerable practice. Nothing about the dead man struck him as familiar, but the expression on Togame’s face made him wonder.

“Someone you know?” he asked.

“Shirasagi Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan.”

Togame’s voice was neutral.6

“I know of him… Unlike Komori, we never worked together, and I know little of his ninpo. But we’ve crossed paths several times. I mentioned him when we were talking about catchphrases. He’s the one who talked backwards.”

“Oh,” Shichika nodded. “So I’ll never find out what that was like…for better or for worse. But for starters, what’s a Maniwac Boss doing all the way out here, in two pieces?”

Growing up on Haphazard Island, Shichika wasn’t used to corpses. He was also never taught to find dead bodies scary, and thus, the pitiable sight of what was left of Shirasagi Maniwa wasn’t particularly unnerving─but having witnessed firsthand the skill of Komori, another of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan, he was unable to take this situation lightly.

“This guy must have packed at least as hard of a punch as Komori.”

“Komori was tough, but his ninpo wasn’t meant for battle. His Star Cannon and Body Melt were perfect for assassination, but not ideal for fighting face to face. While I can’t say for sure what style of ninpo Shirasagi favored…rumor has it that his skills were well-suited to combat. In which case, at least in terms of fighting prowess, he would outrank Komori.”

“Yet somehow─he got chopped in half.”

Shichika examined the cross-sections of Shirasagi’s body. What a smooth cut─the blade had not even remotely strayed. It almost felt like if you pressed the halves together, they would stick. The cut went clean through flesh and bone, like it was all the same─but even more foreboding was the way that it had razored through the fat chains the ninja wore over his costume. After finishing off Komori, Shichika had learned from Togame that these chains were a variety of chain mail7─the Maniwa wore them as a kind of armor. If his armor had been slashed, Shirasagi Maniwa must have been felled by a blow so powerful that nothing could stop it.

“As you may recall, the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa are competing to see who can snatch up the most of the Twelve Possessed. Shirasagi must have caught wind of Zanto the Razor being at Gekoku Castle, in the hands of Ginkaku Uneri, and come out to investigate, only to be slain.”

“By who?”

“By Ginkaku Uneri, obviously.” Togame raised her head─gazing at Gekoku Castle, which (apparently) had materialized out of nowhere. “If he could do this to a Maniwa Boss, perhaps I underestimated his abilities. I had thought the Razor would be one of the easier swords─evidently, I was wrong.”

“Yeah, well, I already beat one Maniwa Boss…”

“Indeed, but luck was on your side.”

Shichika couldn’t argue with that. He had been more than lucky─his opponent had practically fallen at his feet. All the same, Shichika was confident he could have beat the ninja anyway, no matter what the circumstances, but knew enough not to say so. It was pointless.

“Let’s look on the bright side…” Togame shook her head and stood. Her expression told Shichika nothing, but he had never been good at reading other people, especially when they were silent. “The Maniwa may have beat us here,” Togame elaborated, “but their attempt to seize the Razor was in vain. From a certain angle, this is a boon for us. If Shirasagi had won himself the Shikizaki blade, we would have trudged into the middle of Inaba Desert for nothing.”

“Got it, bright side.” Shichika nodded, but he wasn’t so soft as to miss the message behind what she was saying. “Still, Togame, if the ninja failed to catch Ginkaku Uneri off guard, he must be on the lookout. There’s no way he doesn’t know how valuable the Shikizaki blades are─well, who knows what this guy said to him. Backwards or whatever. Worst-case scenario, Ginkaku Uneri could have fled Gekoku Castle. And brought the Razor with him. Not like that gives us any clue about where it is.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem. Even after the whole of Inaba was consumed by desert, this man refused to leave. A couple of ninjas would hardly be able to push him over the edge. What’s more, from the looks of Shirasagi, Uneri has the utmost confidence in his abilities. This is no two-bit samurai who cuts and runs.”8

“What, then?” asked Shichika. “Maybe we should come back another time.”

“Out of the question,” Togame replied straightaway. “Look, at the pace the Maniwa are moving, we have no time for setbacks.9 In fact, I’m feeling good about where we are. Thanks to this plot twist from Shirasagi, my report to my superiors just got a lot more interesting. Collecting one of the Possessed from a foe who defended it from the treacherous Maniwa makes for a great story. But the real triumph here is that I no longer need to worry about writing dialogue for that obstreperous ninja. To be frank, I was dreading his arrival because conveying his speech would be such a hassle. He also overlapped with my brand─Shirasagi and shiraga10 were a little too close for comfort. But that’s no longer a concern.”

She was beating a dead horse. A bit cruel given that the guy wasn’t in one piece.

“This setup is simply too good, Shichika. I can’t have you suggesting that we head back with our tails between our legs. Am I to write that we did?”

“The bright side, huh?”

The hot air11 behind her last line was not lost on Shichika─but he had no reason to protest when his employer was right.

“That’s why I fell for you.”

And why would it be otherwise?

Five years prior, when Inaba Desert had begun to spread, this castle lost every one of its caretakers. Once in disrepair, any building, be it castle or mansion, falls apart─and all the sooner in a desert. The fact that this edifice was still standing, most of its masonry in place, its shape more or less intact, was miraculous. While surely built to withstand dryness and the sandstorms, a building of this scale would be impossible for Ginkaku Uneri, the sole inhabitant of Inaba, to maintain on his own. The castle was rundown enough to doubt its structural integrity, but having no choice but to enter, Shichika followed Togame into the lonely tower.

A natural fortress.

But once they were inside, it was a normal castle. Except ruined, with sand granules blowing through the hallways and the walls.

It never would have been permitted in better days, but since no one could scold them, they had stepped right in, dumping their luggage at the entrance, without taking off their sandals─Togame in her flat ones, and Shichika in his straw sandals.

They walked the halls. Togame ahead, and Shichika behind her.

That was their marching order upon entering the castle.

“Hold back, Shichika,” Togame had told him by the entrance. “Let me go first.”

“…?”

Noticing Shichika’s puzzlement, she had rephrased herself slightly. “I’ll take point.”

“Point? Why? When we fight, that’s my job, not yours. Or do you want to fight Ginkaku first?”

“Fool. You know what I’m like in battle. He’d tear through me quicker than a shoji.”13

“You don’t have to brag about it.”

But why go first?

A paper screen wouldn’t even serve as a shield.

Moreover, he would never use his employer as one.

“Shichika, since you seem a bit confused, allow me to spell things out.” About to step into the castle, Togame turned around, but because of the substantial difference in height, even facing him, it barely felt like they were face to face.

“This is no burglary.”

“Huh? What?”

“Our mission is to secure the Twelve Possessed. By order of the shogun. His will must be obeyed. That notwithstanding, we can’t just barge in and clash swords─so to speak─and snatch the Razor. We must follow procedure. Before battle, we must attempt diplomacy.”14

“Then what do you need me for? Diplomacy is your game.”

“Which is why I need to go first. But I still need you. This is not the Old Shogun’s Great Sword Hunt, dare I even mention that debacle─a pox on history. It must not be repeated. If we must resort to battle, we need a just cause.”15

“I don’t get it. Is this, like, bureaucratic?”16

“…Let’s go with that for now. If what I hear is true, Ginkaku Uneri is a friend to none. Not only a ronin, but a villainous rake, who would kill anyone for a price. His family legacy aside, he has made himself a wanted man for ignoring our repeated warnings and insisting on occupying Gekoku Castle.”

“Well, that makes sense.”

“It would be fair to say that every one of the five swords whose whereabouts are known, including the Razor, is in the hands of this caliber of individual. I wouldn’t expect much better from the next four. As a rule, you would need to be insane to intentionally partake17 in the Shikizaki blades’ venom. As for Hakuhei Sabi, regardless of his reputation as a swordsman, he was hardly known for his decency even before obtaining the Whisper. But nevertheless, Shichika─we must entertain the possibility.”

“Entertain it?”

“It’s like this. What would you do if a good guy had one of these swords?”

Togame was less addressing Shichika than asking herself.

“We aren’t burglars─but neither are we on the side of justice. Backed by the shogunate, we can kill without being punished,18 but we can’t just go around hacking people into pieces. This may be an order from on high, but we are not rounding up the Twelve Possessed out of pure necessity. Bear that in mind.”

Togame spoke as if he had no choice in the matter and turned back toward the castle.

If he was honest, Shichika had not understood half of Togame’s lecture. It went in one ear and out the other. You could argue that concepts like good guy or bad guy or madman were still opaque to him due to his inexperience, but in actuality, his brain simply couldn’t do the work.

Indeed, it might be best not to invoke his lack of experience.

Being, for the Kyotoryu, meant being a katana.

The sword chooses its owner─but does not choose who to kill.

That was the way.

No matter how simple and innocent Shichika may act, or by virtue of these very qualities─he lacked any logic or ethics. Honed, literally, as a katana, Shichika had not been taught how to be human.

The same went for his father who raised him.

Able to kill anyone without flinching.

Good or bad, woman or child─it had been irrelevant.

Consequently─Mutsue Yasuri became Hero of the Rebellion.

It will be a little longer before Shichika finds himself caught between the rock of his assignment and the hard place of compassion,19 in confronting a genuinely good person with one of the Possessed.

“Hey,” he said.

“What is it?”

“There’s a stain on that tatami.”

On the lookout, searching through the castle, Shichika had noticed a black splotch on a mat along the edge of one of the larger rooms. Both of them instantly knew what the stain was.

Blood.

“I guess this is where he killed Shirasagi?”

“Wrong,” Togame shot him down. “The color of the straw is unlike any other in the room. If the mat had been here all along, you would expect it to have faded the same way as all the others. The original mat must be in the room where this mat was stained with blood.”

“Makes sense. I can see that. But why would anyone go to all the trouble?”

“There must be a den20 where he spends most of his time. Shirasagi barged in, and they fought. He won, but messed up his tatami. And who wants to wake up on tatami stained with blood? That’s why, so far as I can tell, he swapped it with one of these mats.”

Shichika looked solemnly at the ceiling. Tall as he was, it was too high for him to reach, even on tiptoes. A castle was a castle, no matter how dilapidated.

“What’s wrong? Is something still unclear to you?”

“No…well, it’s just that Ginkaku Uneri has to be nearby. With blood you have to worry about the smell, so I can’t see him switching it with the tatami in the room next door to him, but I doubt he would bother going far.”

“Perceptive. Well then, let’s have a closer look.”

“Gotcha.”

Then.

The two of them arrived before the fusuma.

They were deep in the recesses of the castle─but there was nothing special about the doors they stood before, nor any sign of life. Only, ever since entering Gekoku Castle, this was the only room whose fusuma were closed.

In every other room, the fusuma and shoji had been opened up entirely.

This had to be it.

“…”

“…”

They looked each other in the eye.

Shichika motioned to touch the fusuma, but Togame signaled for him to stop. While she didn’t come out and say so, she conveyed that it was her intention to go first. Shichika obediently withdrew his hand, of no mind to upset her. In their dynamic, he recognized he was the servant. When she told him to go ahead, he went ahead; and if she said to stay behind, he stayed behind.

It must have been for want of care the door stuck in its jamb, but when Togame put her back into it─

The fusuma clacked open.

By no means was this room spacious─frankly, it was cramped. Devoid of furniture, much less any decorations, it was floored with tatami and bare. One person, on his own, would take up almost all of the room.

In it sat a man.

He was lanky, with long hair like a girl.

A simple black kimono.

Eyes closed, he sat cross-legged in the center.

He almost seemed asleep─no.

In fact he was.

“…”

“…”

Again, they looked each other in the eye.

Then they turned back to the man at the same time.

The man in black─was asleep with a katana at his hip.

In a black scabbard.

Black handle, black tsuba.21

A sword─so hidden22 by the black of its surroundings as to be almost invisible.

Shichika felt a strange sensation. Different from the month before, when Komori pulled a sword out of his body─on that occasion, before he had a chance to ask, the ninja declared the sword to be Zetto the Leveler, one of the Twelve Possessed, among the masterpieces forged by Kiki Shikizaki.

This was different.

No one had said this was Zanto the Razor.

Not Togame, and not Ginkaku Uneri. Strictly speaking, he had no proof the man sleeping before him was in fact Ginkaku Uneri.

But Shichika’s intuition23 made it clear. He knew.

That sword─was Zanto the Razor.

“Um…excuse me?”

Of course, Shichika lacked any reason or explanation as to why he knew…the idea popped into his head, it could easily be wrong, he had better relax…his feelings swirled, but the strange sensation only lasted for an instant.

And then─

“Are you Ginkaku Uneri?”

On hearing Togame’s supple voice, the fleeting experience vanished from his mind, nearly disappearing from his memory.

In her usual supercilious tone, Togame addressed the man, whose eyes had yet to open. “I am Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu.”

Her standard introduction.

If this were a more conventional story, now would be the time to reveal an item bearing the insignia of the shogunate, but Togame belonged to an office so shrouded in secrecy,24 so buried in the background, that she carried nothing that could prove her identity, which could only be announced verbally.

“That sword you have─Zanto the Razor, is it not?”

“Pipe down,” the man muttered. In polar contrast with Togame’s piercing voice, his murmur seemed to fade away. “Yes, I am Ginkaku Uneri…and who are you? Miss Togame from somewhere…and this sword is indeed Zanto the Razor…but quit hooting and hollering.25 I just woke up. Your voice goes straight through my skull.”

“…My apologies.”

Togame lowered her voice somewhat─and smiled. She must have been relieved, having uncovered the man she wanted, and by his side the sword.

The man─Uneri─was awake now, but remained seated on the floor. Eyes heavy, barely even open, he acknowledged the presence of Togame and, a step behind her, Shichika.

He kept the katana at his hip. Even when he was asleep.

Shichika doubted it was the best way to protect the sword. Did he keep it by his side, slung at his hip at all times, afraid that someone might steal it at any moment? If so, the man was pretty insecure. Then again, a stunt like carrying the Leveler inside you was probably unique to Komori Maniwa, and the other owners of the Twelve Possessed had to be beating their brains to think up ways to keep them safe…

“And? What brings a bigshot26 from the bakufu to the middle of the desert? Wait, you called my name. Another eviction notice… No, you want the Razor.”

“Yes, the Razor. How about giving it to me?” Togame came right out and asked him.

Straight talk. Perhaps a little too straight, thought Shichika, a step behind her. She had said they would attempt diplomacy, but now that he thought about it, could a highhanded woman like her actually negotiate? She had been just as direct the month before, on Haphazard Island, in offering Shichika a job (he wasn’t sure how she saw it, but on its own, her “diplomacy” had all but failed back then)…

“By give, of course, I don’t mean give away. The bakufu will find a way to make it worth your while. I can tell you one thing, though. No good will come from being so possessive. It’s just a sword.”

“The other day…”

Uneri spoke in the same sleepy voice, declining to engage Togame.

“Some poser27 ninja came to give the same kind of speech… Was that guy a friend of yours?”

“My friend? As if,” denied Togame.

The Maniwa had stabbed the Schemer in the back, and in her position, who wouldn’t be dismissive? But if she was already correcting him, she might also take issue with “poser ninja”─that’s what Shichika thought, anyway, which made him a pretty decent guy.

“Don’t compare me─or us─to that lowlife ninja. We have come with a proper28 deal. It may only be a sword, but I am well aware of its value. One of the Twelve Possessed forged by legendary swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki… I know full well that it is irreplaceable. But Uneri, I need you to cooperate, for the sake of the bakufu, nay, the sake of the nation, and do your part.”

“…No one who speaks on behalf ‘of the nation’ is up to any good,” Uneri answered drowsily. “Even that poser ninja was a little more convincing…although he spoke in such a weird way I’m not sure I actually understood him…hwa.”

Uneri let out a big yawn.

His mood and tone made Togame purse her lips.

Not only highhanded, she was impatient…Shichika would be amazed if this attempt at diplomacy was a success, but he kept his mouth shut. No matter how ill-disposed Togame was to diplomacy, he could not do much better─no.

It was her job. Shichika, the katana, had no right29 to speak.

In the confines of his heart, he found Togame adorable30 for her brazen willingness to tackle a situation she was unfit to undertake─but that was classified.

“Don’t tell me you never plan to leave this castle, out here in the middle of the desert. If there is anything you desire, I have ways to help you─out in the open, and behind the scenes.”

“You’ll saddle yourself with a ronin like me? How thoughtful─but I’ll have you know, there’s a price on my head.”

“I could clear that up for you. Your wish is my command.”

Fwaa.

Another massive yawn. He seemed unwilling to entertain Togame’s offer. She was getting nowhere.

The sword’s poison─had it gotten the better of him? Shichika had to wonder. Its effects might be less potent on ninjas like Komori and Shirasagi, but Uneri was a swordsman, and the venom might have found an ideal host.

“Listen, Uneri─”

“I appreciate that you’ve stopped shouting, but now you’re so quiet I can barely hear you. Come a little closer?” requested Uneri, bleary-eyed. “It’s disrespectful31 to address a swordsman from the doorway. I don’t care how important you are. That’s no way to ask someone a favor.”

“…”

Togame snarled her lips in displeasure, but she had to admit he had a point, at least in that respect, and so stepped through the doorway into the cramped room where Uneri sat. Shichika was unsure whether to follow her, but the room was crowded enough with just Uneri, and fitting another person might have been impossible anyway. He decided not to move, but to stay put where he was. Togame stepped her right foot, then her left into the room─when Shichika realized the tatami by the doorway was of a different color than the mats around it. This must be where, he thought. The mat that had been swapped out, in the other room─

But then.

Ever so subtly, Uneri moved his right hand.

So subtly that it hadn’t really. The slightest twitch.

So that his right hand seemed to grip the handle of the katana.

That instant.

Shing!

A sound.

But ahead of the sound, a fraction of an instant earlier─Shichika had reacted. Deciding not to move, to stay where he was, he noticed the color of the tatami─and instantly leapt before he looked. Pretty much by reflex. Working every muscle of his body, he spun his waist for a backspin spinning kick─

“Kyotoryu─Yuri!”32

Trouble is, from where he stood outside the doorway, he could spin all he wanted─once or a hundred times─and the blade of his foot would never reach Uneri. Lengthy as his legs may be, the Yuri could hardly make them any longer. What his foot could reach, however barely─what it contacted midair, instead of Ginkaku Uneri─was Togame.

The move was imperfect, executed not from the proper stance, but completely upright. Yet if his heel, gyring with all his weight behind it, were to slam into Togame, whose frame bore comparison to shoji paper, the explosive33 force could end her life. He made sure not only his heel but his entire sole made contact, so that he would be less kicking than thrusting, or better, hooking─

It slammed into her chest.

With zero training in the martial arts, she was unequipped to deal with this surprise attack, a frontal strike from behind, and her body was shot backward in a grand arc. Out of the room where Uneri sat and into the room with Shichika, whose foot, in turn, spun away from Uneri. Unable to kill his momentum, Shichika made another small turn in place. Togame, caught off guard, planted her butt on the tatami.

Then the sound.

Shing!

“You piece of─” yelled Togame, sitting up on her elbows. Her voice did pierce your skull.

“Calm down, Togame.”

“Who kicks you out of nowhere and says calm down? You ass. When I felt myself being sucked back from behind, I thought aliens34 were abducting me.”

“What an imagination, but…see?”

Figuring there was no time to explain, Shichika pointed at the spot where her obi35 passed over her stomach. The layers were prodigious, but there, the fabric had been slashed. Cutting through at least half the countless layers of kimono. The gash was clean─summoning the corpse of Shirasagi Maniwa, who had been dumped in two parts outside the castle.

A close shave. Since no person can move faster than his sheer reflexes allow, it was the closest shave possible…or the Razor’s lightest cut.

“Wha…wha…” Togame had lost her words. And any color in her face. “I-If I didn’t wear so many layers, my body would be…”

“Um, if you were wearing fewer layers, none would have been sliced, more like.”

She was a little confused.

But the Schemer had seen her share of tight fixes and quickly bounced back from it. Though yet to stand from where she planted her behind, she faced Uneri─through the doorway.

“Hey you!” she raised her voice. “What─was that?!”

“Wow. I guess that was that…” For someone who had swung his sword at an agent of the bakufu, Uneri was oddly calm, and oddly sleepy. “In all the time I’ve held the Razor, none have dodged my Zerosen but you…or was it both of you? Or was it you?” he asked impudently.

Glaring at Shichika.

Although the man’s eyes looked tired─it was a fierce glare.

“You think you’re surprised?” Shichika asked in turn. “I’ve heard iainuki was extreme, but I had no idea it was so fast.”

Then he realized.

The sound he heard when Uneri clasped the handle of the sword─shing!─was the tsuba contacting the sheath. He was so blisteringly fast that you heard the note almost at the same time that he touched the handle.

No sooner had he drawn the sword than it was in its scabbard.

The flash of a katana in iainuki is customarily called issen.36 But in the hands of Uneri, the Razor caught no light. Nothing to see, nothing to hear─all you saw was your own body, sliced in half, and all you heard was the click of the tsuba.

Which is why he called it Zerosen─no flash.

This was iainuki to the extreme, an Uneri family tradition.

“Sounds like your scare and my scare cancel out.”

Somehow both on and off the mark─not that it matters which─Uneri softly drew his fingers from the handle of the sword.

But this hardly put them at ease.

Shichika corrected his rash impression of the man. He was anything but insecure; for someone so phenomenally skilled in iainuki, keeping the katana at his hip was simply the most efficient way of safeguarding the Razor.

“Uneri─do you realize what you’ve done?!”

“I told you, young lady, stop shouting… Who’s that hunk of meat, your older brother? Think you’re gonna strongarm37 me into a deal? In that case, let’s jump straight to the point. You’re quite persuasive…but I’m just a simple swordsman, who settles my deals with the sword.”

“My older brother?! Do I look like his little sister to you? How am I a ‘little sister’?”

Her reaction, clouded by ire, was somewhat odd. Perhaps her confusion had yet to abate.

“My forefather turned on his lord and even the Old Shogun, refusing to relinquish this sword. If I say ‘oops, sorry, by all means’ and hand it over now, my entire lineage will be laughing in their graves. They’ll laugh so hard I’ll never sleep again.”

“You’re scared of letting go of that katana?” Judging that their diplomacy was in shambles, Shichika interrupted the bickering at last. “This move of yours, the Zerosen─without Shikizaki’s Razor, you can’t whip it out as fast, right? You’re scared of losing that?”

“And if I’m scared─what of it?”

“Just saying. That’s the trouble with being a swordsman who uses a sword.”

After a pause, Uneri chuckled. “What do you know about being a swordsman? Far as I can see, you carry no blade.”

“I am a swordsman. Make no mistake.”

“If you were, you would know better. A swordsman has no use for words. He acts. If you want the sword, shut up and try to take it─and I’ll shut up and fight.”

“That stubborn, huh?”

“It’s a matter of dignity,” Uneri said without a shred of doubt. “Sure, I am scared. I don’t have to have the Razor to perform the Zerosen, but having tasted its speed and power, I could never go back. What scares me isn’t someone trying to take it, but my own speed. You must have felt pretty good about yourself just now saving the young lady’s life. But that was nothing. At peak speed, the Zerosen moves faster than light.”

Try me, Uneri beckoned unto Shichika with his fingers.

“Togame─”

But Shichika turned down the invitation. Better put, he completely ignored Uneri. Instead, he turned and addressed Togame, who was still sitting on the floor.

“There’s a few things I want to check. You good?”

“Pardon me?”

Togame seemed taken aback by Shichika’s obtuse remark, but he remained unfazed.

“Hey.” Now he was speaking to Uneri. “We’re gonna have a strategy meeting.38 Take a nap or something. We’ll come right back.”

“…”

“Get ready to show off─I want to see the Zerosen, at peak speed.”

“…Shut the fusuma behind you.”

Unlike Togame, Uneri didn’t seem to think it rude─though he might have become warier of Shichika. He spoke again a few moments later in a voice that was impenetrable.

“I’m sensitive. If light gets in, I won’t be able to sleep.”

“Is that so. Gotcha. Later.”

Shichika shut the fusuma, taking an extra couple of seconds thanks to the poor fit. If it was Togame’s job to open the fusuma, how symbolic, thought Shichika uncharacteristically, for it to be his job to close it.

“Shichika, what do you think you’re doing─”

“Wait, Togame, I’m not taking back39 what I said, but the speed of this guy’s iainuki is no joke─I’ll be ready to go back in, after a quick break.”

Shichika offered his hand to Togame. She looked incredibly uneasy, but after a time, she took it. While he had taken pains to go as easy on her as possible, once the blade of his foot had whammed her in the breadbox, she was not about to stand back up. She was shoji paper. If she hadn’t worn so many layers─she was right in a sense─the Yuri might have shattered her sternum.

“Oh….one more thing.” The voice came from beyond the fusuma. It sounded tired─Shichika had not been serious in recommending a nap, but evidently Uneri was perpetually about to sleep. “The white-haired young lady told me her name─but you, young man, what’s yours?”

“…”

Shichika looked to Togame. She nodded softly.

Since she was acting as an agent of the bakufu, Shichika wasn’t sure if his school’s involvement could be made public and had held off on announcing himself to Uneri, but she seemed to have no problem with it.

Then there was no reason to hesitate.

Shichika was proud of who he was.40

A pride handed down from his father.

“Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu─Shichika Yashurri.”

…

It wasn’t on purpose.41

They were not burglars─

But neither were they champions of justice.

Their orders may have come down from on high, but they weren’t rounding up the Twelve Possessed out of necessity─but in that case, why had Togame the Schemer resigned herself to such a journey?

To put it simply, she sought revenge.

One might say she had a vested interest.2

Her father was the Mastermind of the Rebellion─Takahito Hida, Kaoyaku of Oshu.

If the Great Sword Hunt was among the most ignoble laws in Japanese history─then Takahito Hida was surely among the most ignoble of men. But history is no more than a record written by the victors, a journal tweaked to cast them in a favorable light.

Togame had her own opinions, however.

She acknowledged that her father was a failure.

How else could you describe defeat in battle?

Nevertheless─ignoble was not the way she saw him.

The slaughter of every member of her family made a lone wolf3 of Togame─destroyed her lineage, with not an intimate relation left alive─and so she could never abandon the memory.

She proceeded to abandon everything else.

Her name.

Her history.

Her sympathies.

Her loyalties.

Her word.

Her heart.

Then─she infiltrated the bakufu. All to carry out the unrealized ambition, the cherished dream of Takahito Hida─but she still had a long, long way to go. Her investment of time and energy had won her a high rank, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu─but Grand Commander wasn’t good enough. For the sake of her father, for the sake of revenge, she had no choice but to rise higher, to a much higher rank.

At bare minimum, a position where she could speak directly to the shogun.

Within earshot.

Close enough, should she desire, she could have his neck─a rank that high.

Otherwise─she had no hope of changing the history books of tomorrow.

The defeated cannot tell their story.

And dead men4 tell no tales.

Come what may, Togame must survive─and be victorious.

For her, when all was said and done, collecting the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki was no more than a means to an end─it was not for the bakufu or the shogun, and certainly not for the nation.

Not a matter of necessity or circumstance, it was strictly personal.

In which case, what of her companion, Shichika Yasuri?

What gave him a reason to fight?

Having lived as long as he could remember on Haphazard Island, raised out of contact with the world, the concept of nation could not have been more foreign5 to him. The Master of the Kyotoryu, who forsook swords, would never seek out the Twelve Possessed simply because they were his opposite. His curiosity did not amount to motivation. His lack of motivation, and lack of affection for swords in general, may have been what drove Togame to enlist the Kyotoryu─but neither was a factor for Shichika.

Why, then?

The answer was characteristically plain and simple.

He was fighting for Togame.

A woman, and until recently, a stranger.

He had been stuck on Haphazard Island, forever refining his skill, not with purpose or significance, nor by necessity or circumstance. Now, at the age of twenty-four, he finally had a reason to exist.

Swords do not choose who to kill.

Yet─a sword will choose its owner.

Shichika had chosen her.

Komori Maniwa, the first partner Togame had enlisted on her quest to round up all the swords, had given Shichika the dirty details as to why she was hunting down the Twelve Possessed─her acts of valor, her distinguished exploits, were all performed not out of loyalty, but a deep thirst for vengeance. That could never move Shichika. The affairs of an institution with no bearing on an island monkey like himself were dismissible. He did not care to consider or cope with any delicate balance of interests. But there was one thing he could not ignore: the name of Togame’s father, Takahito Hida─Mastermind of the Rebellion.

Takahito Hida.

The name of the man whom Shichika’s father─Hero of the Rebellion, Mutsue Yasuri, Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu─had killed with his own hands, the blade of his school─indeed, the very man whose death had earned Mutsue his title.

Shichika’s father had killed Togame’s father.

Before her eyes.

Which was when her hair turned white.

…Shichika did not go so far as to see it as a way to make amends6 for the misdeeds of his father─in fact, he was unsure whether killing enemies in battle was truly criminal. Swords don’t pick who to kill. He was more than simply unsure, however─he hated himself for never having given it a thought, felt a terrible self-loathing for having swallowed whole the notion that his father was a hero. More than anything else─this woman had seen her own father murdered and devoted herself to avenging him, yet felt compelled to call upon the Kyotoryu for help, as the only means─and Shichika had been unable to imagine how she must have felt.

That was all there was to it.

The reason he was fighting.

For Togame.

“I’m so not bent out of shape!”

“‘So not’?”

“Oh, uh… I’m not so bent out of shape!”

Slight difference.

The gusto behind her swift correction made her initial phrasing even cuter.

But this was no time to be feeling disarmed.

To recap─they had called for a break and left Uneri’s den. Another room in Gekoku Castle would have served as far as Shichika knew, but Togame insisted that strategy meeting or not, they had to go the whole length, whereupon the pair exited the castle.

Out into Inaba Desert.

Night had fallen, but the starry sky was too spectacular to describe it as pitch dark.

Sitting on the sand, they faced each other─even in a setting such as this, it was crucial that they maintain their evening imprinting7 routine, and Togame’s white hair enwrapped Shichika’s torso. A tower rising behind them in the desert, a woman dressed in elegance, and a beefy man her white hair enshrouded made for quite the avant-garde8 tableau.

Furthermore, Togame’s kimono was coming undone. Partly the mark of Uneri’s Zerosen─but she favored a casual styling to begin with, and this degree of sartorial distress seemed to fall within the scope of fashion for her.

“You sure sound childish sometimes… How old are you anyway?” asked Shichika. “You’re older than me, right?”

“That’s none of your concern. Who are you to be making my age an issue? In any case, I am not bent out of shape.”

“Seems like you have a lot on your mind.”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t share. Telling you would be like the pearls thing.”

“…Aren’t you abbreviating that a little too much?”

Like casting pearls.

No matter how upset she was, she could have kept in another word at least.

“Well, Shichika, what was it you wanted to check? Uneri’s iainuki far exceeded our expectations…but I saw no reason to put the battle on hold.”

“No, I didn’t mean to put it on hold─or if I did, it was only to check if he’d be fine with it beforehand.”

“…Fine with it?”

“To see if he would follow us out. But he didn’t.”

“That’s true…”

“The moment you stepped over the threshold and entered that room, he drew his sword on you. Flipping that around, as long as we don’t go into the room, he won’t come after us.”

This, Shichika said, was the first thing he wanted to check.

“No…I see your point. But why does that matter?”

“One difference between normal swordplay and iainuki…well, since I don’t use a normal sword, I don’t mean from the sword-user’s point of view, but his opponent’s…”

Since arriving on the mainland, Shichika had been carted to a number of schools of swordplay exemplified by the Hisho Dojo. The first reason for these visits was to gain a firmer grasp of what the Kyotoryu could do, the better to plan out their campaign for tracking down the Twelve Possessed. The second reason was to give Shichika more experience in battle, even if these exercises were not exactly live. They never left the realm of training─the swordsmen Shichika confronted didn’t use real blades, only wooden replicas.

As a result, the quickdraw intrinsic to iainuki was absent from those practice sessions. Until today, Shichika’s only knowledge had come secondhand, from his father, but having witnessed it in action, he now understood a thing or two about iainuki.

“When they come at me like that…real, wooden, doesn’t matter─it bugs me out.”9

“Huh? Obviously. Who doesn’t when there’s a weapon in your face?”

“That’s not what I’m getting at…”

Shichika searched for the right words. It was hard to verbalize his impressions.

“A sword is more than just a weapon. It’s also a pretty effective piece of armor.10 I don’t mean just parrying, but you know, if I did this…”

Shichika thrust out an arm, still wrapped in the tendrils of Togame’s white hair. She reacted with an ambiguous grunt.

“In my case, it’s a hand─but when I do this, it’s hard to approach me, and hard to strike at me.”

“Only a stick─yet a wall.”

“Hey, that’s a good way to put it. Simple.”

Shichika smiled, glad to see that he was making sense. Of course, his choice of words being awkward at best, his point had come across mostly thanks to Togame’s acuity.

Put your sword between you and your opponent.

The teaching has survived into present-day kendo.11 The wall that your opponent makes is quite challenging to penetrate, as anyone who tries will quickly realize. There are several ways around this, and unless you are the Kyotoryu, you have a sword and your own wall at your disposal, whereby strategy comes into play.

“That Kiku move I’ve shown you is a great example. In the Kyotoryu, as a general rule, you treat the katana as part of the body and attack it─you turn their unity12 against them and break down the wall first─except in our case, you’ve forbidden it.”

Mutodori, or fighting without any katana, sounded well and good, but any blade subjected to a Kyotoryu move usually sundered. Since they were on a mission to gather the weapons, the aforementioned general rule was out of play. “Protect the swords”─that was Togame’s strict directive. In practice, the shackle mooted the larger part of Kyotoryu’s techniques. But given the mission objective, Shichika had no choice.

“Still, even if I’m not going to break down the wall made by the sword, I at least need to bring down that wall─but with iainuki, there’s no wall in the first place.”

“Ah…I see,” Togame said. “If the sword must be drawn, then it is in its sheath for the stance13…although ‘stance’ may not be the best word when Uneri merely sits cross-legged on the floor…then again, I’ve heard iainuki called za-ai,14 so I guess it works.”

“Yeah, but how’s he move that fast? If that wasn’t peak speed, I can’t imagine what would be. Not that I believe he’d be faster than light.”

“I wonder. It might not be a bluff. If we can’t see it, he might already be faster than light.”

“The Zerosen.”

Shichika cast a sidelong glance at Gekoku Castle. Can’t see it─just like the castle. They hadn’t seen it until the last moment, and had yet to see the blade─only Uneri.

“So because iainuki has no wall, it’s easier to attack him?”

“Wrong, Togame─no wall means it’s harder. If you can see it, you can counter it─and if you can’t see it, you can avoid it. But you can’t counter or avoid something that isn’t there.”

“…”

“Keeping your katana in its scabbard is like not showing your hand─that’s what Dad always said. I mean, the fact of the matter is, you never know when the first strike will come. He has it locked down, so you need to be cautious. Just when you think you have the upper hand, you’ll lose it. The moment you come within this guy’s range, he draws, just like he did with you─so simple, nothing to it. I need to be cautious, while he only needs to wait. Ceding the first move and settling for a counterstrike15─but at the same time no style is more aggressive.”

“So he intentionally leaves himself open─inviting you to attack.”

“Right. But all that aside, any quickdraw is a handful. Though I knew that from the beginning─”

“A handful? Why? A sword is still a sword.”

“Yeah…um…”

Togame the Schemer.

The head of a big-picture organization that directed military engagements with all manner of ingenuity and intrigue─lacked any proficiency, as bears repeating, in the martial arts.

She could not fight if her life depended on it.

When she visited Haphazard Island, she did wear a katana under the pretext of challenging the Kyotoryu to a duel, but that weapon was already on its way back to Owari. As a schemer, this was a point of pride─or perhaps more like a point of caution. The “sword” had killed her father and wiped out her entire family. She would get the job done without laying a finger of her own upon a sword of any kind─and thus.

She had a tenuous understanding of what swordplay actually involved.

Ultimately, her job was to oversee the big picture.

Shichika, himself, had virtually no combat experience and was not in a position to enlighten her. The dicey16 conversation was holding together only thanks to the Schemer’s sagacity.

“It has to do with the ‘wall’ I mentioned─say someone swings their sword at you.” Shichika chopped his hand before her eyes. “How would you dodge it?”

“I would fail to, of that I am certain.”

“Do you need to sound so proud about it?”

“We’re not blocking it? Okay, then I guess to the right…”

“The correct answer would be: ahead and to the right. I’m not sure if this is just the Kyotoryu, or a general rule, but you ‘dodge forward’ against an attack that forms a vertical arc.”

“I can see why it would be alarming for someone to rush up at you in a lethal contest. Especially if you are supposed to be doing the attacking.”

“Same principle when they stab, but…”

Thrusting a spear hand at Togame and stopping just before her throat, Shichika followed up with a wide horizontal swipe─to trace the path17 you could expect from iainuki.

“This way, you can’t dodge forward. Or to the right.”

“If I tried, the sword would catch me.”

“If you can’t block it, you have to back away. Like you did,” he told Togame. To be precise, she hadn’t backed up so much as been yanked back─but she knew this was the wrong time to resent it or split hairs.

“Then what,” she egged him on. “Is that all?”

“When you can block, you block─but not against Zanto the Razor. If I caught it the wrong way, he’d slice all the way through me, like he did those chains on the Maniwac. In the Kyotoryu, just like we have the Kiku for when somebody takes a stab at you, a move called the Sakura counters sideway swipes, iainuki or not─but it would definitely snap the Razor.”

“Which defeats the purpose.”18

“Right, defeats the purpose. But this Zerosen, it’s not like I can see it coming. Evading it is the best I can hope for. I can’t see the path it makes and only hear it clicking back into the scabbard. The beginning and the ending come at basically the same time. I’m sorry, but on the spot, there’s no blocking such a move.”

“So you’re toast.19 Despite all your bragging.”

You’ve only had a taste of what the Kyotoryu is made of─well, that certainly was bragging. The Sakura might work against iainuki, but that meant nothing if he couldn’t use it. In which case, he just sounded like a sore loser.

“Hey, Togame. Don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not saying I can’t handle this─but he…Ginkaku Uneri, seems to know just iainuki and nothing else, doesn’t he? That’s unbalanced for a swordsman, but you could also say he has absolute confidence in his specialty. Um, that last Maniwac─what was his name again?”

“Shirasagi Maniwa.”

“Right. Shirasagi.”

The corpse of Shirasagi. Two clean halves. Before they entered Gekoku Castle, Shichika buried his body in the sand, and it was gone without a trace. Togame had said there was no need to give a ninja such a funeral,20 but Shichika had persisted. The man deserved the courtesy as much as anybody.

“Why do you think he lost to Uneri?”

“Why? A weird thing to ask,” Togame said. “We both know why. He fell prey to the Zerosen. That wound permits no other reading.”

“Sure. But how could Shirasagi lose to the Zerosen so easily? Don’t you think that’s strange? According to what Komori told me, dirty deeds are how a ninja makes a living─what would make a ninja challenge Uneri to a proper fight?”

“…”

Togame nodded. He had a point.

“It is─strange. The body didn’t look so old. Uneri and Shirasagi must have fought fairly recently─yet Uneri, for his part, showed no signs of injury… A Maniwa Boss, cut down without even dealing a parting shot?”

“Komori liked to entertain,21 but I gather that’s rare for a ninja.”

“Yes…but what of it? Do you have some kind of an idea?”

“Nothing as solid as an idea─but I was thinking, maybe Shirasagi had no choice but to fight fair and square.”

“No choice…”

“I knew something weird was going on. Remember that bloodstained mat we saw before we got to Uneri’s room? It was a different color from the tatami around it, and worn differently too. We thought it must have been a mat from somewhere else.”

“True, but what’s so weird about that? You were right. We found Uneri in a room not far from there.”

“It might not be as big as some of the ones I’ve seen on our journey, but at the end of the day, Gekoku Castle is still a castle─and this guy has the whole thing to himself. He has plenty of rooms, to use however he likes. If one gets bloody, he can just switch. I don’t see why he would bother switching out a mat.”

“…I can see why you would think that─it stands to reason. But everyone is different, and people pick favorites… What if Uneri simply likes that room the best?”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Shichika said. “But why does he like it?”

“…”

It certainly wasn’t luxuriant22 or comfortable23─cramped, and out of the way, it was a manifestly inconvenient living room. So why had Uneri chosen it as his den?

“Probably because it’s cramped and out of the way.”

“Are you saying that he likes it that way?”

“I bet he does, for repelling his enemies. It makes sense, if you look at how it’s built. To enter, you have to use the fusuma from the next room since it’s not connected to any other space. No windows either─if you replaced the fusuma with bars, you could use it as a jail cell. And so─to get to Uneri, you have to enter through the fusuma, and step in through that doorway, taking him head-on.”

“Head-on─ah, I see. Only from the front.”

“Exactly. In iainuki, the sword sweeps─it works great in front of you, but not so great behind you. Well, even if you’re swinging up or thrusting, it’d be the same. But in a room that small, people can’t get behind you. The sweeping arc gets in their way whether they’re trying to flank you on your left or your right.”

“Of course.”

No choice but to fight fair and square.

Not even a Maniwa Boss.

No room─for dirty deeds.

“So you’re saying that he didn’t chase us when we left─because his strategy depends on being in that tiny room. Of course─why would he let us go otherwise, after we already crossed swords.”

“In battle, you want to be on favorable terrain, right? Like when I fought Komori, on Haphazard Island, we were in my domain. But in that room─Uneri has the edge, no doubt about it.”

Every inch of the room fell within the range of the Zerosen.

And its speed defied imagination.

“In which case─we would be without any measures after all. Being so circumspect24 is unlike you.”

“I told you, don’t jump to conclusions. I’m thinking as hard as I can.”

And he was.

Shichika Yasuri was thinking.

But not because his natural tendency to call everything a pain had been suppressed─he may not have been saying so out loud, but in his heart, he chanted the words over and over. What a pain─even carrying on with Togame like this. He would rather run back into Gekoku Castle and get to it with Uneri.

But Shichika controlled himself.

For Togame’s sake─he could not lose.

As her katana, he could not allow defeat.

By any means necessary─they would take possession of the Razor.

Using all that he had learned from his father, and from his sister, and from Togame thus far on their journey─Shichika was doing his best to strategize.

He was not a thinker─but he was thinking.

“So, my first idea is to drag him out of the room.”

“Makes sense,” Togame agreed. “Just getting him into the next room would expand your options─you would enjoy considerably greater freedom of movement than in that cramped space where neither side can maneuver. But good luck with that. The man just sat there absolutely still and watched us go, as if roots were holding him in place. Uneri will never leave that room. Unless, that is, you have a way of luring him out.”

“Well, he’s holed up in his fort─weird as that is, when he’s already inside a castle. But if we turned this into a siege,25 he’d have no choice but to come out of that room sometime.”

“Don’t start thinking about lighting the castle on fire. It could cost us the Razor. Remember our foremost objective.”

“Hmm. We don’t have any missiles, and even if we did, they must be no match for the Zerosen. If that’s out, I guess we have no other choice.”

“Than?”

In other words, there was a way.

Togame could not contain herself.

“Come on, spit it out.”

“You sure?”

“What’s the holdup.”

“Okay. So the first part is you go in the room.”

“Right. I go into the room.”

“And then you let the Zerosen cut you in half.”

“Naturally. The Zerosen cuts me in half. Good thinking, Shichika. What next?”

“If Uneri doesn’t like bloodstains on his floor, there’s no way he likes dead bodies. He’ll carry it outside, just like he did with Shirasagi Maniwa. He’ll leave not just that room, but also the castle itself. He’ll have nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide, in the desert.”

“Then? Then?”

“That’s when I get him.”

“Cheerio!”

Contending with less of a height difference than if they were standing, Togame’s sandal caught Shichika right in the chin. The force, however scanty, was enough to make him lose his balance─and tug at the white hair wrapped around his body, hurting Togame herself. To use a metaphor imperfect for the era, she felt like the kind of person who steps on her own shoelaces and takes a digger.

“But I’ll have been cut in half, won’t I!” she hollered as if they were a comedy act.

Way to be, Togame.

“I told you: ‘Protect the swords’ and ‘Protect me’! What kind of a bodyguard uses his employer as a decoy?”

“Yeah, so I guess we can’t use that one.”

“I guess not! What a plan to even consider!”

“So I give up on luring him out of the room, but─I still have this other idea.”

“…”

Togame’s glare warned that this plan better not involve her being sliced in half, but as if to wave away her apprehensive gaze, Shichika assured, “If fighting him fair and square is my only choice─I’ll fight him fair and square.” His voice was dead serious.

Nevertheless.

“…Shichika, if that’s the whole plan,26 I’m going to get angry.”

“Uh, haven’t you been angry all this time?”

“Don’t mock me! If we honestly have no choice but to fight him fair and square, why back out like we─”

“For one thing, I wanted to check with you about my reasoning. Not counting the time with Komori, where it just sort of happened, this is my first real battle ever. But─it won’t be my last. For this to contribute to my next fight, I need to be learning as I fight─because a win today is not enough to guarantee a win tomorrow. If I only win out of sheer luck, like with Komori, it’s no good.”

“Urk…” Togame wasn’t expecting her biting rhetorical question to provoke a sincere explanation and missed a beat. “You said that was the first thing. Aside from wanting to check whether Uneri would follow us, is there another reason why we took this time out?”

“The second one is more concrete. You were in the wrong position. On Haphazard Island, Komori abducted you while I was focused on fighting him, right? I didn’t want a repeat27 of that─and decided to regroup.”

“Oh.”

Yanked back by the Yuri, Togame had landed on her butt in the adjacent room. Not that she’d been scared stiff, but reeling from the impact, she couldn’t even stand up on her own─

“‘Protect the swords’─and ‘Protect Togame,’ right?”

“…If you know that, don’t dare come up with a plan where I get cut in half.”

The words themselves were snide, but it was not by chance that her voice betrayed embarrassment. Maybe Shichika noticed, and maybe he didn’t, but it had no effect on his own tone.

“That’s why you need to stay behind me,” he said. “Go behind me this time, like I did last time. We switch positions, like a changing of the guard. That way, I can protect you─and you can be my backup28 plan.”

“Backup?”

“Just in case. If I go at him, fair and square, and that doesn’t settle things─having you behind me is sure to come in handy. It might even bring down the domain he’s created for himself─”

“I think you already know, but I have to remind you… Trusting your back to my martial prowess may not be wise,” a dubious Togame counseled.

But Shichika laughed this off.

“I’m not sure I can explain this well…but I want you there. If it was just about keeping you safe, you could wait outside the castle while I went in, alone, to fight Uneri. But instead, I’m asking you to brave the danger because I need you there.”

“…”

“I guess you could say strength comes from having something to protect.”

Reason being.

Despite having owned one of the Possessed for quite some time and being a swordsman─Ginkaku Uneri had a strangely high tolerance for the katana’s poison.

The venom of Kiki Shikizaki’s blades.

A merciless venom that drove swordsmen mad.

That the Great Sword Hunt was the superlative expression of this insanity is no longer a subject of debate─and further to the point, Hakuhei Sabi, extolled as the greatest swordsman in Japan during his day, fell victim to the venom and betrayed Togame and thereby the Owari Bakufu. And as we saw in Book One of this saga, even Komori Maniwa─a ninja, not a swordsman─had not been totally immune to the Leveler’s toxicity.

But Ginkaku Uneri was different.

To be sure, the venom was gnawing at his body, potent as could be─but in terms of personality, there was no perceptible difference between who he was before inheriting the Razor from his father, and who he became thereafter. Mere possession of a Shikizaki blade will drive you to murder─but since Uneri felt the same drive before the Razor fell into his hands, and was already killing like it was his job, the sword could not be held accountable. No change transpired when he became the owner─which, for a swordsman of his caliber, was inconceivable. The venom of the Twelve Possessed was that intense.

After all─these were the swords that reigned over the warring states.

In sooth, ten generations back, in the Age of Warring States, the sword’s poison had overmastered Uneri’s forebear29 Kinkaku Uneri, permeating every nook and cranny of his body─how else could he have been so insubordinate, in his refusal to hand over the sword, as to make an enemy of the daimyo of Tottori and the Old Shogun, unifier of the nation? Even Ginkaku Uneri, at a remove of so many generations, suspected the account of the ten thousand slain was hogwash,30 but the madness had not stopped with Kinkaku: for henceforth, every son of the Uneri who came into possession of the Razor, all the way down to Ginkaku’s own father, was incontrovertibly deranged.

Crazed from the venom of the Razor.

There was no way around it─the Zerosen of the iainuki style passed down through the Uneri family matched the Razor so perfectly that the katana seemed custom-made to that end.

Swords don’t choose who to kill.

But─a sword will choose its owner.

And the Razor had chosen the Uneri.

As the lineage deemed fit for its insanity.

“…”

Notwithstanding.

Ginkaku Uneri himself, the current master, neither saw himself as crazy or not crazy─in other words, whomever the venom had possessed had no capacity for gauging the extent of its possession.

Yet it was from a place altogether separate from madness that Uneri safeguarded the Razor.

Ironically, it was just as Shichika asserted to Togame outside the castle─strength comes from having something to protect. Uneri derived his strength from protecting Zanto the Razor─and Gekoku Castle.

Five years ago─

Inaba Desert, hitherto a tourist destination that aided the local economy, suddenly turned against the people of Tottori.

At incredible speed, it grew before their eyes─swallowing the fiefdom whole.

Homes. Fields. Mountains. Rivers.

Life as they knew it disappeared.

Buried by the desert─without a trace.

But for one structure, Gekoku Castle, originally built upon the sand─since its occupants had vanished, it may as well have vanished too.

Indeed.

Down to the last living soul─they had fled the desert.

Abandoning Tottori.

For Hoki, Mimasaka, Harima, Tajima─anywhere but here.

Heading for the hills. Like bats out of hell, into thin air. They all left Inaba behind. However much a pariah,31 Uneri had not been without close friends in the town─but they were no exception to the exodus.

And so.

When the spread of Inaba Desert began to falter─all that remained of Inaba were Gekoku Castle and Ginkaku Uneri, on his own.

That is to say, he remained not by choice, but because he had no choice. Or by his own estimation, he felt that he had missed his final chance to leave.

If only he were not the last─had he been, for example, the second to last, he would have been uncertain, and would have had his reservations, and may have racked his brains, but likely would have absconded in the end.

But as the last man standing, he had no choice.

Even reservations were not his to have.

…During the Great Sword Hunt, Kinkaku Uneri had turned against Tottori, nay, the entire nation, to guard the Razor─holding his ground in Inaba. The city claimed a soft place in his heart─that is, if you believed the legends, but his descendent, Ginkaku, who for reasons beyond his control had been forced to dwell indefinitely in Gekoku Castle, understood that the emotions of his ancestor had not been so warm and fuzzy.

More like─a fixation.32

Or call it─a delusion.33

Perhaps, dignity.

For Kinkaku Uneri, protecting the Razor and remaining in Inaba had been two sides of the same coin─and this remained the case down through the family line, as each new generation of Uneri met the venom of the sword.

But its current owner saw himself differently. He understood where Kinkaku Uneri had been coming from, but it was only by being fundamentally different from the rest of the Uneri men. Ginkaku, being different, could see through to the essence of the situation. And just as he had missed his chance to leave Inaba─so too had he lost his chance to lose his mind.

He alone was different.

And yet─they called for his protection all the same.

I need them… he thought, quite calmly. I need something to protect.

Otherwise─I’ll lose the will to fight.

He was sure of it.

What did she call herself─the Schemer?

While he had forgotten the details, the white-haired woman, Togame, against whom he had drawn his sword (not as a warning, nor as a bluff, but intent on slicing her in two), had some connection to the bakufu. He had not attacked her thinking she was lying, but rather─presuming what she said to be true.

In this regard, I am just like my ancestors.

Different he may be.

But what they had protected─he protected.

Another Sword Hunt?

Apparently.

For quite some time, Uneri had been living in Gekoku Castle as the only resident of Inaba, but the visit from that “poser ninja” Shirasagi Maniwa was not his first─comers were in no short supply, and ran the gamut from common thieves to respectable merchants─

And down the gamut, to the last man, he had drubbed them out.

Most of his killings since hunkering down at Gekoku Castle had been emissaries from neighboring territories, dispatched to advise him to vacate his stronghold, but Uneri saw no issue: he was protecting what he needed to protect.

But it had been so long.

So long─since anyone had sought the Mutant Blade. But neither ninja nor agent of the bakufu─would make it more than three steps into his space.

Confined to his den, with his back to the wall, Uneri was able to execute his iainuki to its maximum offensive and defensive potential─holed up in his fort, indeed. No matter the size of the intruding party, no more than two people could step through the doorway at a time─

Felling ten thousand.

Perhaps here, Uneri mused, in this particular domain, it was a possibility.

However.

The trouble was─that lurch34 had noticed something notable about his domain. When he used his spinning kick to hook the unassuming Schemer through the doorway─had he realized?

I thought I saw him looking at the new tatami─or was it a coincidence?

Nevertheless, given the way he paused their dealings, and left the floor─and perhaps even the castle─that inkling had no doubt by now become a certainty. Lurch had seemed carefree─but could not possibly have been so dumb35 as to find nothing suspicious about Uneri declining to chase them. Unable to. And even if it had been a coincidence, and the lurch had noticed nothing, the white-haired woman would have when Uneri had not followed them. While he had managed to cut down the ninja, Shirasagi Maniwa, in one fell swoop─

Say they did notice─if that were all, I needn’t worry.

It would be a problem, but only a trivial one.

Far more serious, however, was what the lurch did next─dodge the Zerosen. Even if he had dodged first and noticed the tatami after─a dodge was a dodge.

What was it he said?

Right, Kyotoryu.

Master of the Kyotoryu, Shichika Yasuri (he had corrected36 his slip of the tongue).

Uneri knew of Kazune Yasuri─and Mutsue Yasuri.

One battled in the Age of Warring States, and the other was the Hero of the Rebellion. While Uneri did not know of the particulars, as rumor had it, the Kyotoryu was a style of swordplay that forsook the sword. When first he heard of it, he wondered if it was not an art of the fist rather than the sword, but evidently37 it was something else entirely. Having never heard from someone who had seen the Kyotoryu firsthand, its mysteries remained a mystery to him─

Until the man himself showed up.

Seventh Master, he said.

His given name seemed to contain the character for “seven,” which suggested that he was indeed Mutsue’s son. A big guy, but practically a kid…

Swordless, alright.

That move with his foot, when he guarded Togame from the Zerosen─if that was any indication of the Kyotoryu─

From what I can recall, it was not so far from iainuki…in which case, was that…a form of kenpo modeled after swordplay?

Under normal circumstances, a swordsman would have no reason to give up his sword─but if he did give up his sword, he would surely have a reason. And the school centering around that reason was the Kyotoryu.

So much for that.

No use dwelling on it.

What kind of swordplay the Kyotoryu entailed was absolutely immaterial─Uneri saw no need to brood over the schools and skills of his adversaries.

Because.

Enter his space, and they were dead─

That summed up the Zerosen. What could be simpler.

“─Hm.”

From the shaft of light─Uneri perceived that the fusuma had opened.

He had been reflecting, he believed, on his circumstances─but when he came to his senses, he realized that he must have fallen asleep. Now, to ensure that he would wake up whenever he had “guests,” Uneri had sabotaged the fusuma, to make it stick (this being yet another of his domain’s chief quirks38). He was such a restless sleeper, woken up by almost anything, it would be fair to call his sensitivity a condition, and a grave one at that.

He slowly opened his eyes, which had shut unbeknownst to him.

Beyond the doorway was Shichika Yasuri.

“…Hey.”

Since Togame was nowhere to be seen, for a second Uneri assumed that the woman (who seemed unfit for battle anyway) had stayed outside the castle, but that was not the case. Hidden by Shichika’s enormous body, her petite figure39 was merely out of view─but right behind him. Uneri could see her gaudy kimono through the gap between Shichika’s feet.

He’s hiding her─no.

Protecting her?

Could his request to start anew have been motivated by a hunch that she’d been in danger? True, Uneri had aimed to kill her with his Zerosen─but if that was a concern, why wasn’t she left outside as Uneri had presumed?

Was he choosing to have his back against the wall40─or rather, a woman? Was he cornering himself, steeled by a determination never to withdraw or retreat? In any case, Uneri saw no good reason for it─why go so far? Instead one might simply─

No.

Rooted with the Razor on his hip, Uneri was in no position to judge. To keep something safe, you kept it by your side─if that was what Shichika was thinking, then Uneri could understand.

But understand was all.

“Sorry that took so long,” Shichika said.

His expression was all too cheerful, too lax for someone about to engage in combat. Thus far in life, Uneri had met all kinds─and anyone who showed up for a fight wearing a face like this was either reckless or fearless, or terrifyingly good.

Possibly all of the above.

“Ah… And?” answered Uneri.

He felt a little sleepy.

No matter, the Zerosen will dull none from a little drowsiness─nor will the Razor.

“Young man, have you come up with a strategy to best my Zerosen?”

“More or less,” Shichika met Uneri’s provocation with a casual reply. “I’m nine-tenths sure it’s gonna work, but it’s my first time using the move against an actual practitioner of iainuki─I haven’t had a chance to practice.41 That would be my one concern.”

“Are you telling me the Kyotoryu has specific measures against iainuki?”

“It has recommended ways of battling iainuki, nothing like an overarching strategy─but up against someone as skilled as you, I think I’ll succeed.”

Shichika’s carefree tone made him sound almost too dauntless.

“With this move, the faster your sword goes─the more surefire my hit will be.”

“…”

The faster it goes.

Letting these words sink in, Uneri caught wind of a change in Shichika’s appearance. Like the first time he showed up, he was bare to the waist─but now he had shed his arm and leg guards and stepped out of his sandals. With sand drifting in from every opening, the castle was in such a state that keeping your shoes42 required no apology─(even Uneri slipped on sandals when he left his domain)─and yet.

He’s drawn his sword.

If the Kyotoryu used no blade that was not the foot and the hand, it made perfect sense for arm and leg guards to play the role of sheaths. In which case, Shichika was pointing his bared sword at Ginkaku Uneri─or so it appeared.

“By the way, Mister Uneri, I have a request,” Shichika said. “Just once, could you pull out the Razor─Zanto the Razor, and show me the blade? When you do iainuki, or the Zerosen or whatever, it’s way too fast for me to see. I know it’s odd for the Kyotoryu master to be saying this, since I don’t use swords myself, but I’d be lying if I told you my interest isn’t piqued by the idea of a katana that cuts through anything.”

“…Hmph.”

If he were to unsheathe the sword and bare its steel, it would take a split second to return the Razor to its scabbard and unleash the Zerosen─was this some cheap ploy to create a chance to strike? It was too half-baked43 even to be termed a measure… Still, Shichika’s delivery all but vouched that it was no strategy or the like, but his sincere wish to see the blade… After all, the young man had removed his arm and leg guards and bared his own weapon, as if to say, I’ll show you mine, you show me yours.

Either way.

Sincere or not, the answer was the same.

“Not happening.”

“Whaaat.”

“In our iainuki, concealing the blade from the opponent is essential. Sorry…okay, I’m not, really…but if you want to see it so bad, why not just defeat my Zerosen and knock me down and take the sword as yours? Then you can look it over all you want.”

“Sword hog.”44 The request was made to be denied, but Shichika’s puffed cheeks seemed to indicate that he was genuinely upset─however. “Fine,” he said. “I’ll try it your way.”

Thus ended the preliminaries.

Shichika─assumed a stance.

“Kyotoryu Form Seven─Kakitsubata!”45

He straddled his feet, parallel, but one ahead of the other, sinking into his knees and bending at the hips, to make his upper body lean slightly forward─his hands pointed like spears, his elbows at right angles, parallel again and offset, like his feet. His weight on the front leg, as if to tumble forward, and facing straight ahead─eyes trained upon the seated figure of Ginkaku Uneri.

Poised like a runner, ready to dash.

Well now.

For all his playful nonchalance, Kyotoryu seemed mighty orthodox in his approach to battle. Was he of a mind to sprint from that room into this─to settle the score once and for all?

He said the faster your sword, the more surefire the hit…but those words seemed either a foolhardy diversion or a bluff─he was aiming, simply, to land the blade of his hand or foot before Uneri had a chance to draw─

But that would never breach this domain.

Resolved to fighting face-to-face, he looked poised to barrel straight into the thick of it, but such a stunt only meant he thought too lightly of the Zerosen, where the sword leaves and meets the scabbard in an instant.

Not that I was looking forward to this─but how disappointing.

“Kyotoryu─a foe that gives no satisfaction.”

“Wow…it’s an honor to be recognized by someone as strong as─wait, ‘no satisfaction’? Was that a putdown?”

Playing the fool so late in the game, Shichika got the silent treatment from Uneri.

Either way.

The second Shichika passed through the doorway, the fight would be over. In a space this cramped, none could evade the sweeping path of iainuki─and if he blocked it, more fodder46 for the Razor.

Behold, Ginkaku Uneri’s─Danger Zone!47

“Alright. In that case. On your mark…”

Shichika─sank deeper into his knees─

“Get set… GO!”

And mounted a frontal assault.

Springing off his rear foot, throwing his momentum ahead─clearing the threshold in one bound.

Onto his second step─and third…

No third step!

“Zerosen!”

Uneri’s right hand clasped the handle of the Razor. The moment he did, the move was already over, and the sound of his tsuba reaching the sheath─shing!─rang through the air of the cramped room─

Yet.

“─…?!”

There was a reason Uneri failed to notice right away. Zanto the Razor was of such astounding sharpness that whatever it cut─be it animal, vegetable, mineral, or scoundrel48─the blade met almost no resistance. In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say it met with no resistance whatsoever. Every substance─sliced like tofu. The blade could even slice the air─and as such, it was all the same. Moreover, the Razor belonged to Ginkaku Uneri, and he had unleashed the Zerosen, an iainuki move unique to his family─thus there was sufficient reason for his failure to cut Shichika Yasuri asunder to take an extra instant to reach his brain.

That mere instant was fatal.

“Kyotoryu─Bara!”49

Done it, Shichika had─but what he had done was hardly unusual, as pedestrian as it got in the world of swordplay. The only difference was that the move was executed with incomparable dexterity, so high it was off the charts.

He had feinted50─faked him out.

Kyotoryu Form Seven─the Kakitsubata.

In contrast to Form One, the Suzuran, and Form Two, the Suisen─the static and defensive stances he had employed against Komori Maniwa the month before, back on Haphazard Island─Form Seven, the Kakitsubata, was a dynamic move, deployed offensively.

Even somebody oblivious to the martial arts would comprehend this at first glance─which is why Uneri thought that Shichika was charging full speed at him to beat out the Zerosen even if it meant being mowed down.

But that was not the case.

Despite being an attack move─the Kakitsubata was no simple battle charge.

Shichika had not delved into details with Togame during their strategy meeting because it would have gotten too complicated, but just as his school taught him to run through an overhead slash, Kyotoryu had a response to horizontal swipes: Attack either before the swing, or after. If a lateral strike could not be blocked or evaded, there was no other choice. It was a basic teaching in any case, as basic as it could get─

Uneri had expected him to attack before the swing.

But Shichika had opted for after─as obvious a strategy as this may seem up against the Zerosen, a move so fast that it could not be seen, Shichika did more than opt for it. He made Uneri think the opposite─that he would attempt to strike first.

Feinting, with the Kakitsubata.

When Shichika crossed through the doorway, intruding upon Uneri’s domain, between his first step and his second step─and his zeroth step when he was immobile, to be precise─he altered his movement speed.

From his zeroth step into his first─in other words, as his rear foot sprung from the tatami, he was soaring, as far as Uneri was concerned. But from the first step into the second, as the front foot sprang to action─Shichika threw the brakes.

The difference between his opening speed and closing speed was unbelievable. Seeing him accelerate, you never expected the coming drop─he slowed down twice as fast in that sense. The effect was marvelous─Uneri, skilled as he was, misjudged the timing of his iainuki.

His opponent hadn’t taken a second step─much less a third.

He motioned for it─but didn’t follow through.

Or he did follow through─but only afterwards.

All of it a single move.

Uneri was sure he had seen Shichika pass through the doorway and all the way in─a misjudgment.

Iainuki has a shortcoming, in that once the blade is drawn, it cannot be stalled midway─unlike the kaleidoscopic51 footwork displayed by Shichika in his Kakitsubata, its speed cannot be adjusted freely, and can only mount ad infinitum.

The Danger Zone had also worked against Uneri─in being so determined that mere passage through the doorway guaranteed a kill, he effectively claimed to kill by reflex.

A wall.

What was absent, then, could be envisioned─to the extent that Uneri might as well have foolishly announced to the world when he would strike. He could not but draw against a charging foe, regardless of his velocity─

And the clincher:52 the Zerosen was simply too fast.

The Razor returned to its sheath with a shing!─and a frame later, Shichika’s front kick, the Bara, exploded toward Uneri’s left shoulder.

Uneri shot backward─slamming his back against the wall behind him. He groaned as if the air were purging from his body.

“…nkk!”

And yet.

When Togame asked her question─“Did we do it?”─Shichika could not respond with a forthright, We did it! Far from it. He clicked his tongue in disgust and leapt back─through the door into the other room, where she was standing─

And suddenly resumed Form Seven.

“Shi-Shichika?”

“Crap. I barely even hit him… How could that bastard spring back and dodge me like that…”

Shichika was not complimenting Uneri for nimbly springing from his preferred position, so much as blaming himself for flinching, at the last second, and turning the Bara’s full-bore charge into a hit and run.53

The strategy, at least, had been successful─as hoped, the Zerosen had only grazed the skin of Shichika’s chest and whiffed. Nevertheless, its force was intimidating enough54 to usher a minute change of heart.

Simply put:

“I chickened out.”

The faster the sword goes, the more surefire the move─too true. If the Zerosen had launched a split second later, Shichika would likely be in two clean pieces─and in the corner of his mind, he had pictured this. The picture had the necessary mass, all the more due to its position in the corner, to throw his heart off-balance.

Thus his own reflexes came into play, and kept him from catching his speed again after he slowed down─it was this failure on his part that permitted Uneri to dodge the Bara.

Shichika’s lack of combat experience─was to blame.

Togame probably should have made him practice against actual swords rather than wooden replicas on their journey, even if a training session with iainuki was asking for too much. Shichika did not know real swords, outside of his battle with Komori, which had not lasted long.

It wasn’t the swords the young man feared, but their moves.55

A fear of swordplay that used swords.

To Shichika, who had been raised, by order of the Kyotoryu, apart from blades of almost every kind, this fear would prove, without a doubt, to be an issue of extreme urgency.

“Shichika! You─”

“Don’t move, Togame. Don’t step out from behind my back.”

They could not attend to the issue now─nor was it the one to be tackled here. What mattered was Ginkaku Uneri, who had yet to receive a decisive blow.

Just like that─he was getting up.

Yes.

At long last─Uneri stood from his seated position.

“A nice surprise,” he muttered as if to himself. “I thought it was a fluke, the first time─but it can’t be, after the second… I’m wide awake now, Kyotoryu. I haven’t felt so alive since they spanked me the day I was born.”

“…My pleasure.”

Good morning, Shichika greeted.

Good morning, Uneri returned.

“And goodnight56─I suppose.”

He stood with a pronounced sag in his left shoulder. It seemed that the Bara─hadn’t been ineffectual, hadn’t been dodged entirely. But with Uneri’s mastery of iainuki, he needed only his right hand to draw a katana; an injury to his left shoulder was not a serious concern. In fact, the adrenaline57 put Shichika at a disadvantage.

Now Uneri was for real.

“My iainuki is all about waiting─no fancy footwork for me. But I can tell what kind of state58 you’ve achieved from what you just did.”

“You think? Nah. That was the Kyotoryu at its most basic. True, it’s the seventh of the stances.”

“Is that so. I’m impressed.”

“Don’t flatter me. I can’t handle praise.”

“Nonsense. Now that you’ve knocked me off my high horse, how else do I nurse my wounded pride? Take it like a man─but that footwork. Your hakama must’ve blocked my view.”

“I bet.”

Easy to move in. Easy to fight in.

This is what that meant.

When Shichika sped from his stance and slowed back down, the movement of his feet and muscles was obfuscated by the garment Togame bought for him─hence, easy to fight in. Uneri might have guessed what Shichika was up to, were his legs exposed. In this sense, the hakama was Shichika’s armor.

“Even so─don’t expect it to work twice.”

Having complimented his foe, Uneri reached for the katana on his hip.

Shichika instantly went tense, but this far from the doorway, fully beyond Uneri’s domain, it was perfectly safe, wasn’t it─

Shing shing shing shing shing!

In rapid fire59─Uneri’s tsuba chimed.

Ringing like a round of voices in his room.

“Zerosen Hentai60─Flight of Five.”

In rapid fire─Uneri had unleashed five Zerosen.

Of course, Shichika could not see the blade’s path.

Not even one out of the five arcs. The tsuba clanged away, but as far as he could tell, Uneri’s hand never left the handle of the katana─

From quickdraw to scabbard, five times over, in a row!

“This way, you can speed up and slow down all you want─to no effect. The Razor will slash through the margin of error.”

“Urk…”

He was right.

Against a swipe, attack after the swipe─but the teaching did not account for this rapid fire. Two or three, perhaps, but five…and that may not even be the limit─

In the Uneri school of iainuki, not showing the blade to the opponent was essential─still, when you think about it, if the hype is true about iainuki, and the first swing is always fatal, drawing is one thing, but there ought to be no need to rush the sword into its scabbard─even in the way of remaining alert61 just in case, it was excessive. Shichika must have only hit and run with his Bara because he intuited this.

Indeed.

The quicksheath after the quickdraw allowed for a series of strikes.

“That was your secret move62…”

“Secret move? This? No…”

Uneri grinned.

But when he did.

Shing!─the tsuba clanged again, and the shoulder of Uneri’s black kimono, where Shichika had grazed him with the Bara─burst open, spilling vast quantities of blood.

“Whoa!”

“Bloodlust63─a Zanto the Razor exclusive!”

Uneri winced with pain─but the grin had yet to leave his face, and he only looked emboldened. His blood began to drench his kimono and his feet─he must have severed a main artery.

“Yikes…did you just go and cut yourself? What for?”

With the horizontal swing of iainuki, it should have been impossible to cut himself─he must have done it after the quickdraw, while the blade was on its way back─so fast this, too, had been impossible to see. Commendable, and yet…

Why would he ever cut himself?!

“Don’t get it, huh?” Uneri’s voice was tortured. “You see, Kyotoryu, this was the secret behind Kinkaku Uneri felling ten thousand. Look.”

Plip. Plip.

From the tsuba of the Razor, blood dripped into the puddle forming at Ginkaku Uneri’s feet and created little ripples.

From around the tsuba─no, it was the mouth64 of the scabbard.

Blood was leaking─flooding, from inside it.

Clearly the blood was Uneri’s. After cutting himself, he had slipped the blade (too fast for Shichika to see) into its sheath, without shaking off the blood that clung there.

Plip. Plip.

Drops of blood─drip after drip.

“L-Look at what… I still don’t get it.”

“Take ice, for an example. Know how it’s more slippery when it begins to melt than when it’s frozen solid?” asked Uneri. “Same principle. Moistening the inside of the scabbard, filling the whole thing up with blood until the cavity is sopping wet─makes the quickdraw even quicker. When you drastically reduce the friction factor between blade and sheath─the Zerosen meets the speed of light. That is the Bloodlust, a Zanto the Razor exclusive. Usually,” Uneri added haughtily, “I use the blood of an opponent.”

His bleeding showed no sign of stopping─and while his face was losing color, he didn’t seem to care.

“The more it cuts─the faster it gets.”

The Zerosen’s peak speed.

But it knew no limit, according to that logic. Supposing the tale of Kinkaku Uneri and the ten thousand was true─what kind of instantaneous peak velocity had the Razor clocked when it vanquished its ten-thousandth foe?

“…!”

The faster the sword, the more surefire the hit─despite having been forewarned, and suffering precisely such an attack, Uneri doggedly65 persisted, going so far as to slice his own flesh to quicken the Zerosen.

Faster, faster, faster, faster, he seemed to coax.

As if speed alone were something to be proud of.

As if speed were his reason for being.

As if what he protected─was worth it.

Shichika had an opportunity to stop fighting fair and square─and the chance had not escaped him. Filling a scabbard with blood demanded quite the wound─and the gash on Uneri’s shoulder was not only ugly…if left unattended, it was liable to take his life. In any case, as long as he didn’t step through the doorway, stayed outside Uneri’s domain…he could assume Form One, Form Two, whatever he liked─they would be at a standstill. If he only waited it out, eventually the blood inside the scabbard would begin to clot,66 working contrary to purpose and increasing the friction. Ill-disposed to thought as Shichika may be, he didn’t need to think to understand this much. The Bloodlust was a move meant for large numbers─best used on the battlefield, where an endless supply of blood can be procured, which was not the case in a duel. Against Ginkaku Uneri as he stood now, merely waiting would not only afford Shichika the upper hand, it could hand him victory─

And yet.

Taking an idle stance and waiting it out because he no longer needed to fight fair and square─was not how Shichika Yasuri had been taught.

As the Kyotoryu.

A katana incarnate.

Facing Ginkaku Uneri, who truly had cornered himself, Shichika maintained the Kakitsubata─poised for attack.

“Nice moves,” Shichika said.

“Huh?”

“Seeing you─I’m ashamed I was hiding my best one.” Shichika sounded genuinely embarrassed. “Enough holding back─I’ll show you what the Kyotoryu is made of.”

“What? You mean you had an ace up your sleeve, too?”

“I wouldn’t put it─that way. But you could say I’ve been holding back a tad.”

“Hmph…”

Uneri opted not to call his bluff, or say this was a ploy or a distraction.

He didn’t think so─and in the face of the Zerosen, slick with Bloodlust, it hardly mattered anyway. Ginkaku Uneri had that much confidence.

In Zanto the Razor.

And in his Zerosen.

“I see.”

But then─Uneri spoke again.

Not to Shichika, but toward Togame, standing behind him.

“Out of curiosity, young lady, if I may… You offered to grant any wish if I handed over the sword.”

“…? Ah, yes,” Togame replied from behind Shichika.

Her face was hidden, but her voice conveyed her thorough bafflement. Why was Uneri bringing it up this late in the game?

“The bakufu will certainly make it worth your while─effective67 immediately, that is, if you so please.”

“Then,” said Uneri─his voice anything but sleepy. “If I hand over the Razor, could you restore Inaba to the way it used to be?”

“…”

They were talking through the buffer that was Shichika.

Diplomacy.

Just as Shichika could not see Togame’s face behind him, Uneri could not see Togame, nor could Togame see Uneri, with Shichika between them as a wall─perhaps this was why Uneri opened up, and perhaps he meant it.

Perhaps it was also why Togame─could not bring herself to lie.