Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu, and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu had just realized that the ship which they had boarded was traversing the Sea of Japan bound not for Owari Castle, but for Ezo─realized, one might add, considerably too late.

Meanwhile, on Mt. Shirei1 in Mutsu─which like Mt. Odori, where they would shortly find themselves, and Lake Fuyo in Edo, had been designated as a Level One Disaster Area.

At the summit stood a woman, looking unbelievably exhausted.

In fact─

She was the only thing left standing.

Every other mortal present─lay crumpled on the ground. Some face down, others facing the heavens─easily over a hundred fallen bodies clothed in white.2

The Sacred Guardians3 of Mt. Shirei.

In order to protect the Level One Disaster Area that was their mountain, these stewards lived under the harshest of conditions where not even a single tree could grow. They had no ties to the local government, much less the bakufu, yet were held in the same high regard as Izumo’s storied Three Goshin Regiments. An independent order─

But they had been annihilated to a man.

And the woman who had been their ruin─

“…Whew.”

─Sighed, sounding ever more exhausted.

This woman─could sigh with the best of them.

Unfazed by the bodies of the Sacred Guardians dressed in white, whom she had scattered all along the trail like breadcrumbs in a fairy tale from overseas─she gazed into the little shrine4 before her.

The tiny shrine built at the summit of Mt. Shirei.

Ensconced therein─she saw the sword.

“Hmm, what kind of sword is this?” she mused. “But I guess this must be it. I can sense it… Poor thing─set up on a pedestal, all the way up here. Ugh, I can totally relate.”

Softly─she reached out her hand.

Her fingers only grazed the outside of the shrine─but it exploded as if gunpowder had been employed. She blew the thing to bits.

Leaving nothing but the consecrated sword─

“Hah. Great─I kinda like it. I had my doubts about Soto the Twin─but this one is nice and light, and just the right size, too… Good enough─or bad enough for me?”

She laughed merrily.

“After all, this is Akuto the Eel.”5

Kiki Shikizaki, the legendary swordsmith who effectively had reigned over the Age of Warring States.

His swords, the Mutant Blades─feared and revered.

Standing a cut above the rest─there were a precious twelve.

And among the Twelve Possessed─was Akuto the Eel.

“Well then. According to Miss Togame, each of the Twelve Possessed has its own unique characteristics, based around a single principle─for Zetto the Leveler, it was hardness…and for the last one, Soto the Twin, it was heaviness…so what about Akuto the Eel?”

Fixated.

Focused.

Rapt.

She strained her vision─peering down at the katana perched atop the rubble of the shrine.

Eyes.

Fast on the sword.

Looking at─over─through─into─and out for it.6

Observing─and examining7 it.

“Oh. Okay, now I get it,” she finally announced. “In that case─this katana suits me perfectly. A sword may not choose who to kill, but a sword will choose its owner. Does this mean that Akuto the Eel has chosen me? That would be so good─bad, I mean.”

She reached out her hand.

Picking up the sword─like it was hers.

Just as she had said a moment earlier, perhaps this was not a proper sword. To say the least, its shape was not what usually comes to mind when one speaks of katana.

It looked more like─a throwing knife.

The projectile daggers wielded by a ninja.

But this was a creation of Kiki Shikizaki, a swordsmith unbeholden to formalities, and there was surely more than meets the eye─a fact hit home by other Mutant Blades like Zokuto the Armor and Soto the Twin.

It may be shaped like a mere dagger, but this sword was grand as any.

The woman─could sense it.

The perfect size for her small hands and slender fingers, almost as if it had been forged with her in mind─indubitably,8 this blade was a katana.

“Alright…now that I have something to show for myself, I may as well catch up with Shichika. Not like I know where he is, though, or what he’s up to, but that doesn’t matter. Considering the mess I’ve made, he’ll catch wind sooner or later, if he hasn’t heard already… As long as I wait out in the open, in plain sight, they’ll come to me. They’ll find me. Maybe not Shichika─but Togame will for sure.”

In that case, she thought things over.

“Maybe I’ll try Gokenji9 Temple─the holy land of swordsmen. A place like that should be easy enough to find, even for somebody who gets lost as easily as me… Who can miss a giant buddha? Why not get in the mood and partake in the Katana Pilgrimage? In which case I’d better─ahem, badder strike10 while the iron is hot.”

The woman turned about.

Carrying the dagger in one hand, she went back down the trail─without batting an eyelash at the bodies of the Sacred Guardians fallen by the wayside.

Huh?

A hand grabbed her by the ankle.

It was one of the fallen soldiers dressed in white, a youth, somehow still breathing, and miraculously conscious. If he had laid low, he may well have lived to see another day─but his loyalty was with Mt. Shirei, and so he seized her ankle.

“W-Wait,” he said. “D-Don’t…take it away. You can’t take it away… The mountain can’t survive without that sword… We need it, to protect the mountain…”

“…”

The woman turned toward the young man whose hand was limply clasped around her ankle, but saying nothing─

She simply looked at him.

That look.

“I-I’m not only saying this for our sake… I’m saying it for yours, too… That sword is more than any single human being can handle… It’s not just one of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki…but the evilest of them all.”

He strained his voice─struggling to speak.

“P-Please… Take anything else, anything you want, just leave the sword─”

“…”

The woman.

In answer to his plea─sighed ever so, ever so…

Deeply.

Then─narrowing her eyes, she turned her icy stare on him.

“Who said that you could lay your hands on me─dill weed.”11

Using her free foot─she stomped on the young man’s head.

Again. And again. And again.

Ignoring his reactions─she stomped away.

“Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed.”

Before long─the man’s head was flattened.12

Obliterated─no more than a puddle of blood, a puddle of flesh.

Somehow his hand still clasped the woman’s ankle─but she broke his grip with a merciless toss of the foot.

Not caring that her straw sandals were bright with blood, she set off on the trail once more─as if nothing had happened.

At this point, there was no one on the mountain left to─interrupt her progress.

No.

Forget Mt. Shirei─you could search the whole Japanese Archipelago and still find none. Twenty years earlier, at only seven, she had been the strongest in Japan. Two months back, her younger brother Shichika had vanquished Hakuhei Sabi, foremost master of swordplay of his day, making himself number one─but she had been there first.

Nanami Yasuri. Head of the Yasuri.

Sickly and genius.

Boasting immaculate13 eyes that let her emulate all and sundry that they took in, she was, in the history of the Kyotoryu, a most freakish14 blade.

In the fourth moon of the year, she had put an end to Chocho Maniwa, Mitsubachi Maniwa, and Kamakiri Maniwa─the three bosses making up Bug Unit Maniwa; in the fifth moon of the year, she had wiped out the Itezoras, who had made Mt. Ezo their home; and in the sixth moon of the year, she had massacred the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei─and now that she had laid her hands on Akuto the Eel, she was heading for Shikoku.

To meet up with her little brother─

Her beloved little brother─

“I guess it’s been six months by now. I hope he’s had the chance to grow up…heh. Anyway, I feel so good─”

That sickly genius Nanami muttered to herself, making her way back down the path─mashing the white-clothed bodies of the Sacred Guardians into pulp, without a thought.

“Bad, I mean,” she amended with a sadistic15 smile.

Brother versus sister─Shichika Yasuri versus Nanami Yasuri!

The strongest in Japan against his predecessor!

Can the Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu overmaster his older sister?!

Would the sickly genius murder her own younger brother?!

The ultimate face-off, a few pages off!

A flowery battle, a florid family feud!

A period piece that knows no peace─period!

Book Seven of the Sword Tale, where the Seventh Master meets his match ♪

At the center of this holy site is the Katana Buddha.

The gigantic buddha erected by the Old Shogun, as the annals now refer to him, who prevailed over the Age of Warring States and unified the nation─and promptly launched the Great Sword Hunt, that appalling piece of legislature which made all swords under the sun government property. The hundred thousand blades seized by the law were melted down to produce the Katana Buddha, the literal embodiment of the spirits of all swordsmen.

Swordsmen crossed the nation just to catch a glimpse of it.

Ostensibly the statue had been built, in the wake of chaos, as a memorial to peace, that such horrific conflict need not ever be repeated, but today it is a well-known fact that the Old Shogun’s motivations were more complicated─indeed, his motives were apparent even then.

He was really hunting swordsmen.

That none might threaten3 his supreme authority─

He robbed the swordsmen of their swords.

To rid their kind from all Japan.

And while he managed to achieve his superficial goal and forge the giant buddha, the Old Shogun, who had managed to unite the nation, failed to rid the warriors from the land─however.

Very few knew that this objective was also a ruse.

Official motive─building a giant buddha.

Ulterior motive─hunting down swordsmen.

But the Old Shogun’s true motive was to round up all the swords of Kiki Shikizaki.

To collect all thousand of the Mutant Blades made by that legendary swordsmith, who reigned over the Age of Warring States─such was his plan and obsession.

He succeeded─one might say ninety-nine per cent.4 Including the Mutant Blades in his possession at the onset of the hunt, the Old Shogun wound up with nine hundred and eighty-eight Shikizaki blades to his name─and if that isn’t ninety-nine per cent, what is?

Yet try as he might.

The twelve remaining swords evaded him.

Regardless of the legislation he enacted, or however many troops he deployed─at best, he ascertained their owners or their whereabouts.

Which is no surprise.

These twelve swords epitomized5 the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki─they were masterpieces of such consummate perfection that the nine hundred and eighty-eight swords the Old Shogun did manage to collect were considered mere prototypes for the remaining dozen.

Ultimately a failure, the Great Sword Hunt was the undoing of the Old Shogun and led to his demise. Lacking a proper heir, he was forced to cede his power to the present-day Yanari Bakufu─nevertheless.

Gokenji Temple, whose grounds encompass the Katana Buddha, remained a sacred place.

Gokenji was the home to around two hundred priests.

All of whom, though holy men, were warriors8─whose chosen weapon was the sword.

Most of their kind favor the spear─but at Gokenji Temple, brandishing anything except a sword would be unthinkable.

Toward the end of the seventh moon.

In the middle of the day.

At the Fifth Hall─westernmost of the five dojos on the compound of Gokenji Temple.

We find four souls.

Priests of the order─nowhere in sight.

All four souls present being temple outsiders.

One among them dressed in monkish robes9─so oversized they hardly made a dignified impression. And yet some aspect of her feeble, willowy appearance made the unflattering garment immaterial, setting her well above the rest.

That icy stare.

Almost transparent skin.

Nanami Yasuri─Head of the Yasuri.

Standing across from her, facing her head-on─there was a lanky guy with tousled hair, stripped to the waist, dressed in a hakama. Unencumbered by his usual arm guards and leg guards─ready to rumble.

The Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu─Shichika Yasuri.

Sister versus brother.

Reunited for the first time in over half a year─and facing off in the dojos of Gokenji.

Both empty-handed.10

But these two scions of the Kyotoryu, the swordless school of swordplay─were armed fully even when their hands were empty.

Shichika assumed Form Seven─the Kakitsubata.

Nanami just stood there.

But Shichika knew better─he knew about his sister’s stance on forms. How formlessness was form for her. He knew about her personal addition to the Kyotoryu, Form Zero, the Ichijiku─while he had failed to comprehend its workings, he knew of her peculiar, unique form and its ferocity…

Shichika watched Nanami’s every move, eyes fixed upon his sister and not so much as blinking. In turn, Nanami leveled her icy stare on Shichika─

Observing and examining him.

Her little brother.

In six months, how has he changed and grown─

And how far has he fallen?

“…”

“…”

The air was thick with tension─meanwhile, the other two souls present watched them over by the walls. One of them, as you have probably guessed, was Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Owari Bakufu Military Directorate. Her brash and brilliant kimono, highlighted by her long white hair, was perhaps not the most suitable attire for a temple visit, but there she leaned against the wall. She was watching Shichika Yasuri─her sword─face off against his older sister, Nanami Yasuri, out on the planking in the middle of the hall.

Noticing something─she addressed the man beside her.

“Lieutenant Emonzaemon,”11 she whispered.

The man she had spoken to was watching the siblings in the center of the hall as well─but when Togame uttered his name, he turned his eyes on her.

A thin man.

Dressed in nothing quite so brash and brilliant as robes worn by the Schemer, but nevertheless wrongly for a temple.

Indeed, his outfit was wrong for the entire era.

He wore a coat and trousers.12

Upon entering the dojo, he took off a pair of shoes, rather than sandals.

But to top it all off─Emonzaemon wore a mask that covered half his face.

And scrawled across the mask─the word “NON-NINJA.”13

“What is it, Madame Schemer,” Emonzaemon said─he, too, in a whisper.

“We made it here. You’ve served your purpose─you’re free to head back to Owari. Wouldn’t want to keep that precious princess of yours─waiting.”

“No need 14─don’t worry about me, Madame Schemer. I’m enjoying the opportunity to witness this event firsthand. I’m not so cheerless15 as to turn back now. Unless, Madame Schemer, my presence is some kind of an inconvenience to you.”

“An inconvenience. Hah!”

Togame grimaced at the thought.

“Don’t flatter yourself─neither you nor your precious princess─could do anything to inconvenience me. Frankly, I’m surprised that you have nothing else to do. I meant only to suggest there might be better ways for you to spend your time than sitting on the sidelines.”

“Not at all─don’t fret, Madame Schemer. Simply sitting here with you─is all I need to do today. Learn more about your sword firsthand─and I’ll have done a full day’s work.”

“…”

Togame clicked her tongue.

She had no more to say and turned her gaze back to the action at the center of the dojo.

Of course, however softly they may have tried to speak, it was one giant open space, which meant that everything Togame and Emonzaemon discussed had made its way to Shichika and Nanami.

Shichika, however, did not move a muscle─16

Not so for Nanami.

“…Whew.”

She sighed.

That sigh─which suited her so well.

“Get your act together, Shichika─look how bored our audience is getting. Can’t you hear them chatting over there? Don’t just stand there staring at me, make a move.”

“Same old sis,” responded Shichika.

Without breaking from the Kakitsubata.

“Quit talking down to me. I know you’re strong and all, but it’s not like I’ve been sitting around the hut the past six months. This fight won’t be a repeat─of last year.”

“No?”

Nanami smirked.

She had no form to break from─and yet it seemed as if her posture had relaxed.

“I suppose that I can sort of see it─but let me ask anyway. What have you been up to for the past six months?”

“Well, first I fought a swordsman named Ginkaku Uneri, in Inaba Desert. That guy was a master of iainuki─so fast you couldn’t even see him draw his sword.”

Shichika did what he was told─and caught Nanami up on what had happened.

“Then came Meisai Tsuruga in Izumo─who used a style of swordplay called the Sentoryu. It actually has a lot in common with the Kyotoryu. She put up a good fight─and after that came yet another swordsman, Hakuhei Sabi…the strongest swordsman in Japan. He put up a good fight, too, but I won in the end.”

“Ah,” Nanami interjected17 without suggesting she approved. “I suppose that means that you’re the strongest swordsman in Japan now?”

“That’s right. I had to fend off a whole bunch of challengers─but let’s not count those guys. My next big fight was with a guy named Kanara Azekura, down in Satsuma. His armor class made him unbeatable, until I cracked him like an egg. My last fight was against Konayuki Itezora, who was a little girl but had this monstrous strength. Still, I won without a scratch!”

Shichika lied to his sister.

The heat of battle got the better of him.

But nothing got past her.

“Show me a liar, and I will show you a thief,”18 she chewed him out. “One look at you and I can tell you hurt your left arm not that long ago─Konayuki Itezora’s doing, I suppose? Still…it seems to have completely healed.”

“Just a flesh wound,” whined Shichika, flustered at being called out on his lie, but he didn’t let it hamper his bravado: “I’ve come into my own─way stronger than the first time that we fought each other. Don’t underestimate me, or you’ll get hurt.”

“Hurt?” Nanami looked puzzled at his choice of words. “We’re not here to play games, Shichika─this is the real deal. Kill or be killed.”

“Kill…”

Was it because Shichika was showing signs of hesitation?

“Don’t tell me you’ve gone soft,” Nanami snapped.

“S-Soft?”

“Ugh, I was afraid this was going to happen. Oh boy…who’s to blame for this? Ginkaku Uneri? Meisai Tsuruga, Hakuhei Sabi, Kanara Azekura, maybe Konayuki Itezora? Or perhaps…”

That stare.

Turning slightly─Nanami eyed the Schemer leaning against the wall.

“Is this your doing─Miss Togame?”

“…”

Togame stared right back─saying nothing, not shying from her gaze, simply facing her.

“You’ve got some nerve,” Nanami admitted. “But no matter. Listen, Shichika. I’ll say it again─this is not a game or contest. It’s a real fight, to the death. I aim to kill you─and ask you to do the same. If you’re too soft for that, at least come at me─aiming to die.”

“I told you not to underestimate me, sis,” warned Shichika. “I’ve never fought someone as strong as you─but I’m stronger than you now. If we fight each other, fight for real, you’re definitely the one who’s gonna die.”

“Exactly─that’s more like it.”

“Look, if you’d just give up that Shikizaki blade…Akuto the Eel, we can end this before anyone gets hurt. Just hand it over to Togame and everything will be okay. Why do we have to fight each other, anyway?”

“What a foolish question.” Nanami laughed─sneered. “When two swordsmen chance upon each other, what reason have they not to fight?”

“Sis, you’re not a swordsman.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Nanami floated19 forward.

“Like you─I am a sword.”

“…”

“Are you so different? But Shichika─I figured you would need a reason for us to fight. That’s why I went to all the trouble of tracking down the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki and finding you. Is that not clear enough for you? If you want the sword─you have to take me down. Okay? Dad didn’t raise you to ignore whoever owns you for my sake.”

“Fine, then,” said Shichika. “What the hell─why not. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. Hey, Togame.”

“Hm?”

Naturally, the Schemer perked up when Shichika called her name.

“Give us the signal,” he said. “From the top.”20

Here goes, she thought.

Shichika was not the only one who had misgivings about the match─but after a moment’s hesitation, she raised one hand high, up toward the ceiling…

“May the best sword win─fight!”

As Togame cried the words, Shichika leapt forth.

Launching from the Kakitsubata, in a straight line for Nanami.

No─not exactly a straight line.

What makes and brakes21 the Kakitsubata is its kaleidoscopic footwork. By the time he made it to his sister, standing there in no stance in particular, he’d pulled off a total of twenty-four feints both big and small.

For someone with his legs, Nanami was about five steps away─this was the maximum number of feints imaginable.

He knew─

Shichika knew how strong his sister was.

He wasn’t planning to pull any punches.

He’d go all in, at full speed, from the get-go.

“Shichika,” Nanami addressed him casually.

As if her brother wasn’t charging at her.

“I know we’re in the middle of a battle, but for old time’s sake─I’ll let you know that you messed up.”

Fixated.

Her eyes observed Shichika’s movements.

“First off…it doesn’t matter one bit if your six months of experience battling all kinds of enemies has made you stronger than me. I have my eyes─eyes that devour all─and once I see you move, your strength becomes my strength.”

Watch and Learn─this was her genius manifest.

The martial talent22 let her pick up any move by seeing it in action.

Her father, Mutsue Yasuri, had forbidden her from taking part in any kind of training─but thanks to her genius, she had made the Kyotoryu hers without moving a muscle, just from watching her family practice.

She was the Kyotoryu, yet she was not the Kyotoryu.

Left out of the school, she was the school personified.

Nanami Yasuri.

But the power of her vision went beyond acquiring the moves of others─nothing could get by her.

No trick, no motion.

No weakness.

Seeing through it all, without exception─Nanami Yasuri watched and learned!

“…then!”

Of course Shichika knew.

He’d spent most of his life beside his sister, and her eyes were a fact of life. Not even twenty-four feints sufficed─she must have seen every last one of his feints for the fake it was.

And that was only the beginning.

His sister knew everything about him.

She knew every move the Kyotoryu had─and knew them better than anybody in the history of the school. The ins and outs. The pros and cons.

She knew exactly how to fend him off because she understood all of his moves─except for one!

The Last Fatal Orchid─Shichika Hachiretsu.

He called it a secret move, but it was no such thing, having no history or place in the tradition. He had thought it up himself, only six months ago, back on Haphazard Island.

The spectacular move deployed all seven of the secret moves at the same time─

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

And he had only shown it to his sister once!

If he had any chance of taking her down─this was it!

Shichika was certain.

Certain that this move would work against Nanami.

So what if she was a genius or had immaculate eyes? She couldn’t see a weakness that wasn’t there.

This move, which he’d thought up on his own, was truly─

The Last Fatal Orchid of the Kyotoryu!

“Kyotoryu Shichika Hachire─”

“And another thing.”

Just like that.

As he was about to hit her with the move─Nanami, cool as can be even at that instant, resumed her lecture.

“Forget what’s happened in the past six months─you’re still way weaker than me.”

Watching by the wall.

On the sidelines of the gung-ho battle23 for the strongest sword in Japan─Emonzaemon and Togame had absolutely no idea what happened.

They saw everything─up until the moment Shichika tried to unleash his secret move.

But it came after.

As if removed24 from space and time─the next few moments were a total blank. What the hell had happened in this dojo?

The only certain thing was the result.

Shichika was stuffed in the ceiling─all six-plus-feet of his substantial body.

Having busted through the panels, he was stuck up there, supine, although the question of whether he was facing up or down might be a matter of semantics.

Apparently conscious.

He gazed straight down at his sister─in a daze.

But she didn’t bother looking up.

She merely─

“…Whew.”

Sighed and clapped her hands together.

Pam.

There was no way that this sound had rattled the dojo enough to free him, but Shichika tumbled from the ceiling to the planking of the floor─though thanks to his marvelous reflexes,25 he spun in midair several times and landed safely26 on all fours, without a sound.

While the same could not be said for the poor ceiling, his back was unscathed.

Sturdy guy.

But─dazed nevertheless.

“Huh?” he peeped. “S-Sis…what the heck was that?”

“Exactly what it felt like, dummy,” Nanami answered plainly. “I grabbed the waistband of your hakama and chucked27 you up into the ceiling─that wasn’t any move. Just brute force.”

“…”

He knew what happened─knew exactly.

It made sense that Togame and Emonzaemon missed it, over by the wall, but he understood it all too painfully. Although she had caught him totally off-guard, he’d done this once himself, using a feat of strength when no move would suffice─but he was Shichika.

Nanami may have been part of the Kyotoryu─but she was different.

As small and as weak as Togame the Schemer.

And sickly to boot, in no condition to be fighting battles─she merely made up for all of that with her pure genius!

With genius to spare!

“Th-That makes no sense. Since when do you have the muscle28─to toss me up into the air?”

“You really are an idiot, you know that? It doesn’t take a genius to comprehend that you haven’t just been messing around for the past half a year. But Shichika─it’s not like I’ve been biding my time on the way here either… You mentioned that you fought Konayuki Itezora. Of the Itezoras. In that case─this monstrous strength should ring a bell for you.”

“…?”

“Ah!”

Shichika seemed like he still wasn’t getting it, but Togame cried out so loud that Emonzaemon, beside her by the wall, spun round to see what was the matter.

“N-Nanami─were you the one who wiped out the─”

“Precisely.29 Keen as ever, Miss Togame.”

“Whoa, watch out, Shichika! Nanami has Konayuki’s monstrous strength─no, not a pipsqueak30 like Konayuki─she took on the awesome power of all those grownup Itezoras when she wiped out their village!”

“V-Village?” Shichika’s eyes went wide. “But how─I thought their village was buried in an avalanche?”

“An avalanche can’t happen on a mountaintop,” Nanami gibed.31 “I’m surprised that anyone survived… But considering you wound up with the sword I left for you, things turned out fine. In answer to your question, Miss Togame─yes. I’m the one who brought the Itezora village to its ruin.”

“I knew a monster crushed Mt. Shirei…”

Shichika’s voice trembled as he spoke─

As if he couldn’t believe his own ears.

As if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

“How come─you had to destroy their entire village?”

“Huh?”

“Come on, sis─you could have just taken the sword. Same goes for Mt. Shirei─and for this temple, too! Why’d you have to wipe them out? Thanks to you, poor little Konayuki─”

When they found Konayuki Itezora.

The little girl─was all alone.

“You’ve started saying some pretty goofy stuff, you know that, Shichika?” Nanami gibed─again. “What’s all the fuss about uprooting a few weeds? Weeding is fun. Don’t tell me, Shichika, that a sword─ought to choose who to kill.”

“…”

“Miss Togame, I’m afraid that allowing Shichika to join you─was an error. I’d thought I could rest easy…”

Nanami shot Togame a sidelong glance.

Without flinching, Togame brushed her off.

“You’re the one making the mistake, Nanami. I’m free to use my sword however I see fit─am I not?”

“Of course you are.”

That was wrongheaded of me, and uncalled for, Nanami backed off─more readily than you might think.

“But that’s neither here nor there32─listen, Shichika. This just goes to say that on my way here to Gokenji Temple─I, too, have been through hell and back again.33 I’m not the person you left on the island. Starting with the members of Bug Unit Maniwa─I’ve had the chance to fight all kinds of people, including the entire Itezora Clan and the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei, not to mention the warrior monks of Gokenji Temple. And I’ve absorbed every single one of them,” Nanami said. “With my eyes.”

“You fought the Maniwacs too, sis?”

Shichika gulped.

Bug Unit Maniwa…she must have meant the three Maniwa Bosses that Hohoh Maniwa had mentioned disappearing─Chocho Maniwa, Mitsubachi Maniwa, and Kamakiri Maniwa.

In other words, Nanami was no longer only versed in swordplay─she knew ninpo.

“No─no frigging way.”34

What could be─more frightening.

Hoisting himself up off the floor─Shichika cussed his sister out.35

“There’s gotta be some things you can’t learn by watching them─how the hell can you just look at someone and absorb their monstrous strength?”

“Don’t ask me─I just can. It did take a few small adjustments to my insides. The only other thing I’ll add is that the monstrous strength of the Itezoras goes beyond mere brawn like yours. It’s much closer─to a kind of ability.36 That doesn’t mean there aren’t some things that I can’t watch and learn,” Nanami ceded, “but just one look was all it took to figure out that Last Fatal Orchid of yours.”

“…”

“Although its shortcoming─escaped me until I tried it out myself.”

“Sh-Shortcoming?”

“Ah, so you hadn’t noticed. That’s nice, Shichika─sounds like you’ve been fending off a bunch of chumps. Not one of them caught such a glaring shortcoming.”

“What─shortcoming…”

Indeed.

Monstrous as the strength of the Itezoras may have been─it was no sufficient explanation for the spectacle a moment earlier. Before Nanami had a chance to subject Shichika to her monstrous strength, he was already unleashing Shichika Hachiretsu.

“That’s why I left the island. I had to find you, so I could set you straight─but after this uninspiring display, I’ve changed my mind. Don’t waste my time─figure it out yourself.”

Limbs limp, hands dangling at her sides─in Kyotoryu Form Zero, the Ichijiku, Nanami advanced nonchalantly toward her brother.

“Nkk…”

Shichika rushed into Form One, the Suzuran─but failed to hide his panic and distress.

Seeing him like this─Nanami sighed.

Sighing with the best of them.

“Relax─it was cruel37 of me to say this was a proper fight. You’re in no condition to be facing off against me. I’ll admit you’ve gotten stronger in the past six months─but I could stop you with my pinky finger.”

With that─Nanami raised her right pinky finger and came toward Shichika.

“…Agh!”

This provocative─nay, humiliating language─enraged Shichika.

Making light of Shichika was bad enough─but she was putting down everybody─ Komori Maniwa, Ginkaku Uneri, Meisai Tsuruga, Hakuhei Sabi, Kanara Azekura, Konayuki Itezora─all the enemies that he had fought along the way.

All the worse coming from his sister─but who else?

He couldn’t let this slide.

“Like you’re so big and strong!”

But Nanami had foreseen─even this outrage.

Losing his patience, Shichika broke from the Suzuran, a defense stance, and came barreling at Nanami. She had a way of making moves so slowly that it wore you down. If anybody should have known this, it was Shichika─but she had pushed him past his limit.

Lots to learn.38

Shichika had a long way to go─

One look─and she could tell.

“Here’s a medley39 of our strike moves, from the Hinageshi to the Jinchoge.”40

This time─not even Shichika understood what happened.

He had no idea what hit him.

And if Shichika, on the receiving end, had no idea, then Togame and Emonzaemon, over by the wall, would have been clueless─

The sounds of impact rattled through the dojo.

Before you could count to five─

Shichika lay crumpled on the floor.

Face up this time─no doubt about it.

Tup.

Nanami placed her foot on Shichika’s belly.

“I tweaked the Harlequin Butterfly, for good measure.”

He had taken every single hit, unable to evade her, but remained conscious, and somehow wasn’t even injured─just lying on the floor.

“If I hadn’t removed the weight from all my strikes─you’d have died two hundred and seventy-two times over, before you even hit the floor.”

“…”

Shichika was conscious.

Conscious─and yet speechless.

He was at a loss for words.

He could have been dead─

Two hundred and seventy-two times over?

That’s what she said.

Not like he’d had the chance to count─but now that she had given him a number, it sounded plausible that she had battered him that many times.

The thought of it─sent shivers down his spine.

“What’s wrong, Shichika?”

Nanami took her foot off of his abdomen.41

Togame, the referee, had yet to call the fight, but anybody watching would have known who won. The difference in ability was so extreme that you could argue there had been no contest in the first place.

Too soon─for the real deal.

Just like the year before, when the siblings battled on Haphazard Island…

“If you have something to say─come on and say it.”

“You’re the liar, sis.” She had pushed him─so he spat it out. “Whatever happened to just using your pinky?”

“I’m afraid that you weren’t listening to me. What I said was ‘I could stop you without even using my pinky finger,’ which is exactly what I did.”

“…”

She told him off so confidently, he dropped it.

Alright, so he had lost his cool and acted like a rookie.

But he wasn’t about to beat himself up about it.

He could care less.

But─but.

“Sis─what the hell was that?”

“What?”

“Don’t josh me─you couldn’t possibly have strung together all those moves… There’s no way that you have the energy for that. In your condition─you’re not hitting anyone two hundred and seventy-two times.”

“Oh, that.”

Nanami nodded.

As if she’d forgotten.

“I can see why you’d have your doubts─even with eyes like these, I can’t make myself healthy on my own─”

“…”

Nanami Yasuri had a feeble constitution.

She lacked both energy─and stamina.42

The sole blemish to her genius.

Her sole weakness─or so it seemed.

“It’s like this, Shichika.”

To show him what she meant─she pulled open her robe.

Bare to the waist now─just like her brother.

Exposing her bony, pallid body─delicate and slight, devoid of any trace of muscle.

Breasts that made sense for a woman her age.

And thrust between them, in the middle of her chest─a single dagger.

Stabbing her─so as to pierce her heart.

“Wha… S-Sis!”

“Calm down. You know how odd the Mutant Blades can be. I’ll have you know, this is the only way to wield Akuto the Eel, one of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki. Charged with lightning, and plugged into my heart, this dagger zaps away my sickness.”43

Like an electric shock.

Akuto the Eel─revivified her body!

Digging into her44─the dagger took away the pain and soothed her maladies!

Behold!

If this blade could heal the billion maladies festering in her body─then it was truly something else!

“D-Do you mean to say─”

“Indeed, unlike your Last Fatal Orchid, I am now without a weakness or a blind spot.”45

With these words.

Nanami fixed her clothes and turned her back on Shichika, who simply lay there on the floor─and headed for the exit of the Fifth Hall of Gokenji Temple without so much as waving to Togame and Emonzaemon over by the wall.

On her way out, she called back to her brother.

“Stop daydreaming46 and we might do this again.”

Shichika Yasuri versus Nanami Yasuri.

The battle over Akuto the Eel─had been postponed.

But the suggestion of there being any hope the second time around─was cruel enough to be abusive.

While the voyage down was not exactly a direct route,47 eventually they made it to a port in Shikoku─where a man in curious dress was waiting for them.

This was the first time Shichika had seen a man wearing a suit.

And on his feet he wore a kind of footwear he had never seen before.

What’s more, he wore a mask that covered half his face─and on the mask was the word “NON-NINJA.”

This strange getup caught Shichika’s eye, but not his interest─while Togame practically exploded when she saw it.

“What the hell are you doing here!” she screamed.

“Not a word,” he rejoindered. “There should be no need to explain, Madame Schemer─I have some business with you. It’s been far too long, but─you’re beautiful as ever.”

“Skip the pleasantries─hey, Shichika! Get this man out of my sight this instant!”

“A-Are you sure?”

Even Shichika was hesitant to follow this outrageous order.

“No good─come now, Madame Schemer. What reason would we have to fight?”

“Cut the crap. Do you honestly think that I don’t know of the resurgence48 of your precious princess? I’m liable to think that you’ve been on our tail─”

“Not far off─that’s basically the truth. But this time, I am only here as a liaison─which doesn’t mean my eyes aren’t open, so to speak, but we have bigger fish to fry. And when I say we─I mean the both of us.”

“…?”

“Hey, Togame─who the heck is this guy?” Shichika finally interrupted, no longer able to endure being excluded from the conversation, but Togame seemed bothered by the question.

“Lieutenant Emonzaemon Soda,”49 she said. “I told you all about Princess Negative on the boat. He’s her trusted aide─or rather, sword50… They call him ‘Emonzaemon the Non-Ninja.’ He’s a former ninja, and the only person who that nasty hater Princess Negative can deign to trust.”

“Not correct─you’ve got it wrong, Madame Schemer. The Princess trusts not even me. As loyal as I am, she denies me─that’s what makes her Princess Negative, and what makes me fit to serve her.”

“…Weirdo.”

“You should talk.”

With that─Emonzaemon started walking.

Not so much as bidding them to follow.

But considering the circumstances─like it or not, they had to follow him.

Messenger of Princess Negative.

This was no incidental meeting51─at the very least, there had to be some link between Emonzaemon waiting for them portside and the monster who had taken on Mt. Shirei.

They kept a safe distance behind him─so that Shichika, a few steps ahead of Togame, could cover52 her and keep an eye on the Lieutenant─in case he tried anything funny.

When they had strayed far from the harbor into town, Emonzaemon finally spoke up.

“It’s too bad that you keep having to turn back from Owari, Madame Schemer. The Princess misses you.”

“Get real, Emonzaemon. When and where did you learn to jest? Have you been banished to the backwater53 and found someone who truly understands you?”

“Not one─I need not find another. No one but the Princess understands me. I mean it when I say she misses you─why don’t you catch the next boat home and surprise her with that stunning hair and pretty little face of yours?”

“Is that what you’ve sailed all the way to Shikoku to tell me?”

“Please.”

“I can’t see a ninja like you making the Katana Pilgrimage.”

“No ninja─as you just mentioned, I am not a ninja─only a former ninja. Can’t you read my mask? These days I make my living as a swordsman─and what’s so strange about a swordsman visiting Gokenji Temple?”

To be sure, Emonzaemon had two katanas slung from his waist, although they didn’t exactly match his bespoke style.

A pair of swords─one big, one small.54

Shichika had spotted them the second they stepped off the boat.

─Those can’t be Shikizaki blades.

They don’t have any lifeforce.

Normal swords.

“What’s so strange, you say… Lt. Emonzaemon, do you really mean to tell me that you’re making the Katana Pilgrimage?”

“Effectively, I am. But Madame Schemer─I do actually have a message for you from the Princess. An order from on high.55 As you continue with your Sword Hunt…”

“Does this involve what happened at Mt. Shirei?”

“In fact, it does. You are to catch and─if necessary─finish the butcher. It would appear this butcher also has one of the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki you’ve been hunting─so essentially, you’re being asked to do your job.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” said Togame, “but as you well know, that is exactly why we’re in Shikoku. We were just about to try to find that monster─or, as you say, the butcher.”

“No need─finding the butcher won’t be necessary. I know exactly where to find the butcher… That’s why I’ve come here. That I might save you from going to the trouble.”

“Impressive… Fast as ever.”

“No dice─flattery will get you nowhere, Madame Schemer. I won’t soon forget the countless times that you’ve besmirched the Princess’s credibility.”

“Fair enough─in that case, why not kill me off? Assuming you can take on Shichika.”

“As much as I admire his allegiance─not this time. I’m not confident enough in my abilities to confront the swordsman who disposed of Hakuhei Sabi.”

The barbed formalities continued.

Shichika was getting pretty bored.

It seemed as if Togame had something of a history with Princess Negative and Emonzaemon─but he was not about to ask her to elaborate.

─Still.

Between the Maniwacs, Hakuhei Sabi, and Princess Negative…

Togame sure has her fair share of enemies.

Did everybody hate her?

Considering what she was trying to accomplish in the bakufu, it wasn’t that farfetched.

“So, where’s this butcher of ours hiding?”

“Not hiding─the culprit is in plain sight. Out in the open─that flagrant murderer is on Mt. Sayabashiri, staying at Seiryoin Gokenji Temple…having commandeered56 the temple.”

“C-Commandeered?” Togame asked. “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said,” Emonzaemon answered. “Having cut through half the warrior monks that call the temple home…and when I say cut,57 I mean it─the butcher is pretending to be some guest of honor.”

“I suppose that isn’t beyond a monster who blew the top off of Mt. Shirei in no time,” admitted Togame, “but Gokenji Temple…that makes it even worse.”

“Worse? Why is that, Togame?”

“I mean, Gokenji is a place of worship. Women are forbidden58 from a portion of the compound. If the butcher is behaving like a guest of honor─he must have access to the innermost reaches of the compound, which as a woman I do not.”

“No need─don’t worry, Madame Schemer. At this point, their custom of barring women past a certain point is moot.59 For the butcher whose might has brought Gokenji Temple to its knees, this monster─is a woman.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Nanami Yasuri.”

With these words─Emonzaemon Soda turned.

Leveling his gaze on Shichika.

“She is the one who plunged Mt. Shirei, a Level One Disaster Area, into ruin, the one whose fist has closed around Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, holy land of swordsmen─and the owner now of Akuto the Eel.”

“Huh?”

This news baffled Shichika Yasuri.

At any rate.

In three more days─he would have his moving60 family reunion in the Fifth Hall of Gokenji Temple.

As if waiting for something.

But just then, a voice issued from the ceiling─

“Your Highness,” the voice said. “I’ve returned─it is I, Emonzaemon Soda.”

Hearing the voice overhead, the woman said, “You’re late,” negging1 him from the get-go.

Princess Negative.

Inspector General of the Yanari Shogunate─

Nobody knew her actual name.

“Every single time. Do you realize how long you’ve kept me waiting? Fool.”

“…I’m terribly sorry.”

“And? What happened in Shikoku?”

Princess Negative cut to the chase.2

Waiting might have been her job, but it would seem that she had finished for the day.

“That silly rumor that’s been going around about Mt. Shirei─how much of it did you bring to light?”

“As it so happens─all of it.”

“All of it? So the entire thing’s─a lie?”

“The entire thing─is true.”

Thus spoke the voice in the ceiling─Emonzaemon.

“This goes beyond the incident at Mt. Shirei. As much as it dismays me to convey this information─Nanami Yasuri, the sister of the Kyotoryu…is an absolute monster.”

Thus Emonzaemon apprised his superior, Princess Negative, of every single thing he witnessed3 in Shikoku─on Mt. Sayabashiri in Tosa, at Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, the holy land of swordsmen.

At first the Princess grinned at the absurdity of the tale─but by the time that it was finished there was no trace of a smile on her face.

Princess Negative was weary.

“You and I have been together quite some time. Among the many things I’m proud of is the startling fact that I have never once gone easy on you… But now, I cannot help but sympathize4 with you─I’m sorry that you had to come here with that crazy story.”

“Your Highness, I am not worthy of your sympathy,” Emonzaemon said ceremoniously.

Princess Negative rubbed her forehead5 with her finger.

“Did you say─she wiped out the Itezoras?” she asked. “How on earth did she manage that? Am I correct this was before the sister acquired Akuto the Eel?”

“Indeed─which only goes to show it’s not the Mutant Blade that makes her such a monster. As I mentioned, she has also mastered many of the ninpo stylings of the Maniwa─”

“In which case, we can assume that she has taken on the tactics of the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei, and the swordplay of the warrior monks of Gokenji Temple… Fighting only makes her stronger. She doesn’t even need to lift a finger─with those eyes.”

“Quite right, Your Highness,” Emonzaemon assented meekly. “It would seem─that we’re in a bit of a fix.”

“A bit of a fix? I’m more than glad to see the best-made plans of our little Schemer go awry, but I will not tolerate us being dragged into the mess she’s made. How could we let this happen? Those schemes of hers keep throwing us for a loop. Whether they get her anywhere or not aside─I mean, it’s a good thing that she’s dragged the Kyotoryu to the surface, but I’m afraid she’s dredged up a monster in the process.”

“Your Highness─Nanami Yasuri is also of the Kyotoryu.”

“But what about that Mutant Blade of hers?” the Princess probed. “I would think the Eel disqualifies her from the Kyotoryu.”

“…”

“Anyway, how did it go? This duel between Shichika Yasuri and Nanami Yasuri─you say they’ve scheduled a rematch, but does Shichika have any chance of winning?”

“None,” Emonzaemon answered succinctly, betraying no uncertainty whatsoever. “This isn’t just about Shichika Yasuri. That woman─cannot be stopped.”

“Not even─by Hakuhei Sabi, for instance?”

“No. While Sabi truly was a genius─he was nowhere near as genius as Nanami Yasuri. If…it pains me even to imagine this, but even if a swordsman who surpassed her genius were to challenge her─those eyes of hers would make his every strength her own, post-haste.”

“Watch and Learn…”

Seeing.

Seeing everything.6

Seeing through things.7

Seeing into things.8

Seeing beyond things.9

Seeing to the end of things.10

Seeing made them hers.11

“Fighting is all about compatibility12─strength and weakness being two sides of the same coin, even the strongest enemy can be beaten, if they meet their match… But I’m afraid this maxim does not hold for Nanami Yasuri. Were she to ever meet her match, her enemy would automatically meet theirs.”

“Quit joking,” Princess Negative laughed.

At this point, what else was there to do?

“I have to ask you, then, for my own erudition. If it was you─how would you take on Nanami Yasuri?”

“Not fighting,” Emonzaemon said, brushing off this unkind question from the Princess. “I am not foolish enough to take on a foe I have no chance of beating─I would much rather put my effort into avoiding confrontation altogether.”

“Just the sort of answer I’d expect from an ex-ninja. But what would you do if you found a conflict unavoidable?”

“I would buy myself some time,” replied Emonzaemon. “Enough time─to make sure that you had a chance to flee.”

“Gold Star,”13 said Princess Negative─before delving into thought.

You could see it in her face.

“Of course, I’d just as soon avoid a conflict─but if Nanami Yasuri has Akuto the Eel, we cannot simply look the other way… A dagger that revitalizes and replenishes─I’d heard of this before, but that makes it no less of a threat. Wielded properly, it can be used to raise an undead, undefeatable14 army. But I thought that no single human being could exercise its full potential. I’m quite impressed that Nanami Yasuri could pick up Akuto the Eel with zero guidance… I suppose we have her eyes to thank for this as well?”

“I’m afraid so,” Emonzaemon admitted. “But be that as it may─how can the Eel revitalize its owner? Saying it is one thing─”

“Hello! This is a Mutant Blade of Kiki Shikizaki. At this point, do you really need an explanation? If I had to say, I suppose it works a lot like acupuncture.”15

“Aku─puncture?”

“Hence the name,”16 said Princess Negative. “Anyway, atop Mt. Shirei, they kept the Eel inside a shrine that it might fill the mountain with vitality, although it wasn’t actually thrust into the earth… Apparently not even the Sacred Guardians knew how to wield the Eel correctly. It took true genius to realize this was necessary. Still─even locked up in the shrine, it worked its wonders. But without Akuto the Eel─its source of life─Mt. Shirei will fall apart.”

“Mt. Shirei─a Level One Disaster Area?”

“Just as she massacred the Itezoras of Mt. Odori… We can only hope she has her way with Lake Fuyo in Edo as well.”

“How mischievous of you.”

“Mischievous? I suppose─but I’m not so sure we’ll have the last laugh. Now that this monster has armed herself with such a menacing weapon─left unchecked,17 she could overthrow the bakufu. Weren’t the Yasuris banished to that island? Who needs a better reason to resent the government?”

“It would seem the Schemer─plans to stop her.”

“I wouldn’t count on her for anything─that woman never thinks of anyone but herself. She let on like the Sword Hunt was the best thing for the nation, but the only thing it benefits is her career. By the way, how is Togame? That old busted18 girl.”

“She’s fine. In fact, a bit too fine─along the way to Gokenji Temple, she kept on kicking me and claiming that it was an accident.”

“She has a childish way about her...”

“She got depressed after the battle in the dojo…but if there’s one thing you can say about Togame, it’s that she always bounces back.”

“And hatches another one of her schemes,” said Princess Negative. “Well, I’m glad to hear she’s in good health. Otherwise our rivalry would be no fun. But the way things stand─it’s like our hands are tied. I can’t imagine where we’d go from here…”

“For the time being, why not start by figuring out what Nanami Yasuri meant by the weakness of the Last Fatal Orchid?”

“The weakness of… Oh, you mean Shichika Hachiretsu? That’s easy. I figured it out just by listening to you. She must have seen it instantly.”

“Y-You mean you see it too?”

Emonzaemon was blown away.

“I can’t be absolutely sure,” demurred the Princess, “but considering the details of your report─it seems to me that any effort to offset or overcome this weakness is in vain. Faced with the overwhelming strength of Nanami Yasuri.”

“Indeed… I personally can’t think of what this weakness might entail, but if Shichika Yasuri wants to beat his sister─he needs to fundamentally revise his strategy.”

“Not his strategy,” the Princess sneered. “His scheme. Togame calls herself the Schemer─because scheming is the only thing she knows. Last time around, she kept her mouth shut, watching quietly from the sidelines, perhaps to keep her sword from losing face…but next time, you can trust things will be different. I am certain she will try some kind of scheme─and act like it was all part of the plan.19 There’s just one thing I can’t quite understand. This sister of the Kyotoryu─Nanami Yasuri. What’s her agenda? What is she trying to do? What makes entrenching20 herself in Gokenji Temple absolutely necessary? I know that other countries fight over their holy lands, but that rarely ever happens here. I simply can’t figure it out─but I fear that it spells trouble.”

“Shall I head back?” Emonzaemon asked the Princess. “If the Schemer’s scheme allows them to take down Nanami Yasuri─I should like to have a front-row seat.”

“Perhaps… No, let’s hold off. That woman hates you and me to death─we don’t want her to lose her focus. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t be so generous, but this time we have no choice… I know their odds of winning are one in a million, but that Schemer always seems to find the one way out.”

“Speaking of losing focus,” said Emonzaemon, as if he just remembered something.

Nay.

This former ninja─could not possibly have forgotten.

“We would do well─to consider what her nemeses, the Maniwa, are doing. The Schemer tells me they’ve made some kind of an alliance, or an armistice─”

“Ah yes…the Maniwa. But haven’t they already lost over half the bosses? Let’s see… Nanami Yasuri wiped out the entire Bug Unit, taking out three more─she sure does like cracking skulls─then last month, at Mt. Odori in Ezo, a couple more…which leaves them with, what─four? Those guys are a lost cause. Forget about them.”

“I’m afraid that would be premature─not if Hohoh Maniwa’s still with us,” Emonzaemon answered Princess Negative’s dismissive21 jab in a grave tone. “That ninja is running the show─if all the bosses perished, but for him, the Maniwa would still give you a run for your money.”

“I see. Coming from you, that’s quite the warning─but as long as the alliance stands, she should be in the clear. At the very least, I don’t expect they’ll show up in Shikoku─if they aren’t acting up, we’ll look the other way. Now, I trust you told that nasty woman to hurry back home to Owari as soon as she can manage?”

“I did. I’m sure Owari is their next stop─once they’ve dealt with Nanami Yasuri and Akuto the Eel.”

That being said.

The odds of this were pitifully22 low.

Could they actually deal with Nanami Yasuri─and Akuto the Eel?

“Yes,” said Princess Negative, as if she had detected her lieutenant’s mute apprehension. “In that case─I will wait.”

Greenwood.

Just as the word suggests─it was a world of green.

In contrast to your average forest─this was a place where plants, not animals, held sway.

Through the churlish heat and moisture of this vegetative realm─two men walked without breaking a sweat.

The first was young.

Tall and slender, long black hair cascading down his back. Expressionless, and yet his eyes possessed a glint of violence.

The second, a squat fellow, looked even younger, to the point he could have passed for a mere boy. Noticeably cautious, he plodded after the expressionless man ahead of him.

Though it would seem that they had not a thing in common─their outfits were the same.

Sleeveless ninja garb.

Chains wrapped around their bodies─both of them.

Yes.

The man walking ahead was one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa─Hohoh Maniwa.

And the man behind him was another of the Twelve Bosses─Pengin Maniwa.

The Divine Phoenix─and Pengin the Breeder─walked together through the greenwood at the base of Mt. Fuji.

“I wonder─how things are going?” asked Hohoh out of nowhere.

Though startled, Pengin managed to respond.

“Wh-Wh-Wh-What do you mean?”

“You know, down in Shikoku. I’m sure by now the Schemer and the Kyotoryu have made it to Gokenji Temple─”

“You mean the family showdown…” Pengin said. “Not once did I suspect this…that the monster who destroyed Mt. Shirei was the sister of the Kyotoryu…”

“It wasn’t just Mt. Shirei. Mt. Odori also met its ruin─when the sister of the Kyotoryu, Nanami Yasuri, came to town. That is, according to the intel that you gathered in the aftermath.”

“Y-Yes…”

“But that’s not all. It seems Nanami Yasuri killed every member of our brethren in the Bug Unit─I say this like it’s news to you, when you’re the one who found it out. Honestly, Pengin, sometimes I marvel at your powers of reconnaissance. Well done.”

“It-It-It’s…nothing, really.”

Shaking.

Pengin hung his head. Not so much shying from the praise, but trembling all over, terrified.

“Nanami Yasuri─was once the strongest in Japan.” Apparently accustomed to this sort of thing from Pengin─unshaken, Hohoh trudged on through the greenwood. “Still,” he said. “We’re talking about someone in another league from even Hakuhei Sabi. Assuming all of your intelligence is true, I gotta say, our hands are tied.”

“I hate to break it to you…but every word of it─is true.” Though his voice trembled, Pengin spoke with conviction. “I suppose by now─she’s brought Gokenji Temple to its knees.”

“What better person to roll into the holy land of swordsmen─no, not a person─she’s a monster. Well now, what to do about the Schemer. Any warrior worth their salt knows that no plot25 or scheme gets past an actual genius.”

“B-But the Schemer─is no warrior. She might come up with something good… She better, or we’re screwed… Out of the four remaining bosses, not one of us would stand a chance26 against her…including you, Sir Hohoh.”

“Thanks for clarifying,” said Hohoh, smirking at this unvarnished observation. “But you’re absolutely right─if that mad dog Kyoken was still with us, it would be a different story…but maybe even Kyoken would have had her paws full.”27

Komori Maniwa─a.k.a. Komori the Hell-Made.

Shirasagi Maniwa─a.k.a. Backwords Shirasagi.

Kuizame Maniwa─a.k.a. Kuizame the Sand Trap.

Chocho Maniwa─a.k.a. Flying Butter Chocho.

Mitsubachi Maniwa─a.k.a. Mitsubachi the Sharpshooter.

Kamakiri Maniwa─a.k.a. Kamakiri the Head Hunter.

Kyoken Maniwa─a.k.a. Kyoken the Dogged Scourge.

Kawauso Maniwa─a.k.a. Kawauso the Nosey Otter.

“Of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa,” proclaimed Hohoh, “there are only four survivors. We cannot spare another loss─which means we have to let the Schemer eliminate the monster for us.”

“Shichika Yasuri may be strong…but up against a genius─he’s bound to suffer.”

“This is a family feud28…but if things don’t work out in our favor, and that monster winds up siding with the Schemer─the Maniwa have no hopes for the future.”

Pengin gave this a moment’s thought.

“That strikes me…as unlikely,” he opined. “I would imagine that the Schemer and Nanami─would have an awful hard time getting along.”

“Yes─you have a point. That’s right, you’ve met the Schemer, haven’t you? Hmm. Let’s not forget, we also have to worry about Princess Negative. Either way, we only have so many options. I’m sure that Umigame and Oshidori have been fighting the good fight29 since we split up. So long as this alliance with the Schemer is in play, we’ll have to keep on questing for the swords─whoa.”

Hohoh stopped midstride.

Before a wind cave at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

“I think we’re here.”

“Y-Yes…”

“Leave it to Pengin the Breeder─every last one of your leads has legs.”

“On the contrary…we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your left arm. Or wait─” Pengin shook his head. “I guess technically─Kawauso’s arm.”

“Yeah.” Hohoh swung his left arm in a circle, as if to confirm its existence. “He wasn’t called the Nosey Otter for nothing. I was worried about the accuracy since it was attached only recently─but it looks like there’s no need.”

Kawauso Maniwa─one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Ninja Clan.

The ninja who had met his end the month before, on Mt. Odori in Ezo.

Whose ninpo, dubbed the Infovac, enabled him to glean the history of objects.

And now his ninpo─was in the hands of Hohoh Maniwa.

Since his left arm─was Kawauso Maniwa’s left arm!

“Life Line.30 Man, that pirate’s was garbage31… Makes me appreciate just how marvelous this new arm really is.”

“I’m sure that Kawauso…would be proud. Even in death, he has become a part of you, and taken on new life─”

“Let’s hope you’re right.”

Hohoh sounded concerned.

Long story short, the two of them had made it this far─through a synthesis32 of Pengin’s information network and the late Kawauso’s Infovac.

Last month, to make up for Kyoken running amok, Hohoh renewed his stake in the alliance by felling his own brother, Kawauso, but it was not a total loss.

Although Kawauso was dead.

Hohoh had taken on his ninpo─thus.

That former ninja Emonzaemon had been eerily correct in his prediction─the Maniwa were alive and kicking.

Ever a menace to the Sword Hunt of the bakufu─

“Come on. I think it’s here, inside this wind cave.”

“Yes,” Pengin nodded. He sounded quite sure─and went in first.

Hohoh crossed his arms and followed close behind.

“Still…I don’t get it.”

Even once they had both slipped into the cave, the two of them had pep in their step.

Not worried about their footing or where the cave was taking them, as if it was their backyard─they carried on at normal speed.

“D-Don’t get…what?”

“Well, Nanami Yasuri─from what you’ve gathered, she’s a genius, and has immaculate eyes, right?”

“Y-Yes… Watch and Learn, they call it… There is no move or form that she can’t figure if she sees it once, and master if she sees it twice─she sees it all. As much33 for swordplay as for ninpo… Most likely she knows every trick in the Bug Unit book by now.”

“Hmm. I bet you’re right. But hold on, Pengin─something’s fishy.”

“Fishy?”34

“The ninpo that I used to make Kawauso’s mine, the Life Line, may take a different route, but it has lots in common with Nanami Yasuri’s Watch and Learn. Same goes for Kyoken Maniwa’s Foaming Mouth─it usurps another’s form and memories. Not to mention Komori Maniwa’s Body Melt, which let him morph his body in the shape of whomsoever he pleased.”

“Okay?”

Pengin looked perplexed, not getting what Hohoh wanted to say.

Life Line.

Foaming Mouth.

Body Melt.

And─Watch and Learn.

Indeed, these moves had something in common.

“Of course, the finer points show just how different they are─my Life Line, for instance, starts with killing off your counterpart, whereas the Foaming Mouth presumes its user is dead. Meanwhile, the Body Melt can only imitate the vessel.35 None of them approaches Watch and Learn.”

“…Nope.”

The technique was extraordinary.36

Nanami Yasuri─Watch and Learn.

“But here’s my issue, as somebody whose ninpo has a thing or two in common. Does Nanami Yasuri…really need to watch or learn?”

“…”

Totally lost, Pengin failed to even summon a response.

“Like─isn’t Nanami Yasuri phenomenal already, without all these extra moves?”

“A-Ah.”

Pengin finally understood what Hohoh had been driving at.

“Th-That’s what you mean…”

“Yeah. ’Course─her Watch and Learn does let her size up her opponent and identify their weaknesses, I guess. But matching the enemy in terms of strength is what it’s supposed to be for. It started when she was a girl. Her father wouldn’t teach her anything, so she had to watch and learn for herself─with those eyes of hers. But now, no one as strong as her needs them. Tricks only make sense when they make up for a weakness. The strongest─have no use for them.”

“And yet, she’s gone to lots of trouble…amassing all these different abilities. The monstrous strength of the Itezoras, for instance…”

“Like I said─I don’t get it. I latch onto the lives of others because I am weak. Kyoken took over other people’s bodies because she wanted to be stronger. And Komori changed his body because it was convenient to do so─dirty deeds are how a ninja makes a living. I sap power from others to make up for what I lack, my ninpo has its roots in inability.37 But this applies to all ninpo, across the board. Take my other move, Decapitation Cycle, or your own fearsome ninjutsu, Pengin─at the end of the day, it’s all about making up for weakness. The Schemer might say that ninjutsu is merely a way for the strong to torment the weak; in reality, it has a lot in common with her schemes. It’s just a matter of whether you make up for weaknesses or let your weakness stand. But Pengin, what the hell is Nanami Yasuri doing learning other people’s moves, if she’s already as strong as she can get?”

The eyes of Nanami Yasuri.

Did they really change the score?

Not like this question had a chance of being answered. Pengin didn’t even try, and Hohoh had nothing else to say─thereafter, they walked on in silence.

Wordless, through the wind cave in Mt. Fuji.

Eventually, they made it.

At the dead end, embedded in the wall─they found a lacquer scabbard holding a sword.

Sword.

It was a Mutant Blade─one of the masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki!

“It’s so beautiful it’s almost terrifying,” said Hohoh, giving his…that is, Kawauso’s left arm another spin. “When the cat’s away, the mice will play,38 am I right? No sooner do we renew our alliance with the Schemer than we hit the jackpot. Is it me, or is that woman the goddess of fortune?”

“I guess this means─we have one sword.”

“Yep,” said Hohoh, reaching out to grasp the katana embedded in the wall. “But this is only the beginning. When we’re through, the Maniwa will hold all of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki─with no sword left behind.”

Hohoh gripped the hilt.

With his left hand─obviously.

Unclaimed by any owner, the sword was waiting for them, in the back wall of a wind cave at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

But which of the swords was it?

Bito the Sundial? Oto the Cured?

Seito the Garland? Dokuto the Basilisk?

We will soon find out.

While Togame the Schemer and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, dealt with their surprise challenge in Shikoku─the Sword Tale was marching on.

Following the battle in the Fifth Hall, Emonzaemon Soda zipped back to Owari─but the same could not be said for Togame the Schemer, who had pushed1 the Sword Hunt, and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, who stayed on, just like Nanami Yasuri, as special guests of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple.

After Nanami Yasuri had brazenly occupied this holy site, the temple shut its doors and sent all of the pilgrims packing─without offering those who protested2 any kind of explanation.

How could they possibly explain?

But as a result, Gokenji Temple had more vacancies than it knew what to do with. Its warrior monks, once numbering two hundred strong, had been decimated─at the hands of Nanami Yasuri.

Few of the survivors could fight.

All that was left were older monks and new arrivals3 who had just begun their training─in other words, only those who had declined to challenge Nanami had survived.

Their ranks had been essentially wiped out.

Those unfit for survival had been culled from the holy land.

Now dominated by a genius─the fittest.

After all, this was the holy land of swordsmen, and a swordsman lives to fight. Thanks to Nanami Yasuri, the place had become all the holier─and yet the bakufu could not simply look the other way.

In addition to pushing the Sword Hunt.

Togame was also responsible for having pulled the Kyotoryu, once banished to Haphazard Island, out of hiding─and thus she was obliged to act.

“…”

Now.

Faced with the grave facts of a tremendous gap in skill─Shichika Yasuri had been in a funk4 all week. Rising without enthusiasm, eating without tasting his food─he was going through the motions with a blank stare, in a daze.

He made no attempt to see his sister, who was under the same roof.

When Togame tried to talk to him, he barely even answered.5

Today, for instance─he had been laid out on his futon for the majority of the day.

Staring at the ceiling.

“…”

Last year.

After he fought Nanami for the first time, back home on the island.

Following the death of their father Mutsue─Sixth Master of the Kyotoryu.

─Was I this down?

Shichika wondered.

Yes─he’d been depressed back then, too. That match had ended without contest; Nanami brushed him off like a mosquito.

No.

He felt even worse.

Last year, he hadn’t expected to prevail.

But this time─he actually had.

He and Togame had deflected crisis after crisis6─he was sure they could deflect his sister’s gaze.7

Those eyes.

Nanami Yasuri’s─menacing eyes.

Thought he could easily evade them, huh?

In the heat of battle─he had made a total fool of himself.

In front of Togame.

And in front of her enemy.

His bumbling8 performance─was mortifying.

─Sis must think that I’m a total hack.9

And he thought she was proud─look where his pride had gotten him.

Had he learned nothing last month, when he lost to Konayuki Itezora?

The match had yet to be decided─

But Shichika had been defeated, no matter how he looked at it.

That had been nothing but defeat.

He was so weak, for Nanami─that she’d done no more than brush him off like a fly.

Why.

─Why’d I ever think I had a chance against her, when I had none at all?

What was I thinking─hoping to make life easier for her?

That’s how it was back on the island.

Sis.

She never needed any help from me. Who was I kidding?

Me, do something for her?

“…”

BAM.

While Shichika was lost in thought─or at a loss for what to think─someone in the hallway slid the paper door open with undue force.

Who else but Togame the Schemer.

Naturally, they were staying in the same room.

For the past week, Togame had shown Shichika an attentiveness that was unlike her. To the best of her ability, she was trying to be sweet towards her poor sword, who had been brushed off by his own sister.

Although Togame had something to see to─

When she had a chance, she went back to the room and tried to console Shichika.

You could even say she was devoted, as unlikely a descriptor as that may be for her.

Trouble is, it backfired on Shichika, who felt even more miserable─a classic case of cruel to be kind─but.

Right here, right now.

At this moment, at least─that wasn’t an issue.

Standing like a demoness in the open doorway─she looked furious.

That’s Togame for you.

This was a look─that felt familiar.

“T-Togame?”

She didn’t answer.

Just barging into the room, and lunging at sleepy Shichika─

“Cheeriohhh!”

She booted him in the face.

Because Shichika was something of a masochist─no, because he was so loyal to his owner, he never shied from these blows (or abuse).10 This particular foot strike,11 however, he probably couldn’t have dodged if he tried.

Her aim was true.

She gave him─everything she had.

“Hmph!”

Togame spun off of her kick and clipped12 Shichika another, square in the face. With the ball of her heel, as if to seal his lips. Not what you might expect from the Schemer, who shunned both weaponry and martial artistry on principle, but there it was: a marvelous flurry of attacks. This being Togame, who had no muscle, against Shichika, whose muscle was over the top, the result was no disaster─but under normal circumstances, kicks like that were liable to knock your teeth out.

“You’ve gotta be…kidding me!”

“? ? ? ?”

Shichika had no idea what hit him, no idea what was happening─Togame roared, foot planted on his face.

“Who are you to take advantage of a random act of kindness… You think you can just mope around this place forever? Imbecile!”

“H-H-Huh?”

“Lose once or twice and you start acting like it’s the end of the world! Do you realize how many days you’ve been like this? Shichika! Eyes on me.”

Togame pointed at herself with her thumb─and struck a pose.

“Do you have any idea how many failures I have under my belt? Not like I’m proud about it, but the number’s nothing close to one or two. More like hundreds, thousands! And I’ve never wallowed in despair like this! Know why? Because I always beat them in the end!”

You should be ashamed of yourself!

Togame dug her foot─into his face.

He was ashamed alright.

Embarrassed.

But only─because he lost against Nanami─not because he was depressed.

Look at him, though.

Feigning remorse, feigning regret.

How embarrassing was he?

“Get up!” shouted Togame─finally lifting her foot from his face.

Rattled by her intimidating demeanor, Shichika sprang to his feet.

Whereupon Togame cuffed him upside the head.

Short as she was, she had to hop off of her tiptoes, which seriously compromised the form and efficacy of the hit.

Besides, she botched her landing.

Although she fell down on her butt, she stood right up again.

“Just once!” she said. “I’m only going to ask you once─and no matter how you answer, I won’t hold it against you.13 This one time, I pledge not to twist your arm.14 Just answer me!”

Togame asked him:

“Shichika─Are you prepared to fight Nanami again?”

“…”

It would have been a lie to answer yes.

This was nothing like his rematch against Konayuki Itezora.

The first time he lost to Konayuki, Shichika was dying for another chance─but the circumstances with Nanami were incomparable.

Losing to her was categorically dissimilar from any other loss.

They’d postponed resolving their match, but why fight her again?

He was sure to be defeated.

This time, he might even wind up dead.

To pretend that the postponement changed anything was cruel enough to be abusive─and yet.

Togame.

If Togame the Schemer could face this cruel suggestion without giving up hope…

“Yes,” Shichika answered, as clear as day.

Minutes earlier, he probably would have given her a flat-out no─but even if his answer was a lie, at this point he could see no way around it.

Lying─was by now one of his moves.

“Good,” said Togame.

Not beating around the bush.

That was Togame for you.

Acting like herself again.

“In that case, I’ll set about hatching us a scheme─a genius scheme, fit for that genius sister of yours… For starters, your Last Fatal Orchid─Shichika Hachiretsu─has a weakness.”

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

And the Last Fatal Orchid, Shichika Hachiretsu, unleashing the other seven at the same time─but for the record, the only foe this secret move had ever felled was the first of the saga, Komori Maniwa.

Other than that, Shichika had only tried the move out at a dojo in the Capital, to show Togame.

It had barely seen the light of day.

“So you needn’t feel down just because its weakness has been revealed, let me assure you,” said Togame. “Someone was bound to discover its weakness sooner or later, even if it wasn’t Nanami.”

For the first time in days, Shichika rolled up his futon and stuffed it in the closet. Then he and Togame laid out cushions and sat across from one another.

“I thought…it was unbeatable.”

“How can I put this, Shichika… You only thought this secret move up half a year ago… No wonder it’s still rough around the edges.”

“Well, when you put it that way, sure.”

Shichika scratched his head.

Now that he had been tasked with the rematch, the gears inside his head were slick with instinct─in this respect, he was a model of the simple man who lives to get the job done.

“So, what’s the deal with this weakness?”

“Under ordinary circumstances I would second what Nanami said and say figure it out yourself, but this time I’ll make an exception. I’m going to be straight up15 with you─Fatal Orchid Four, Ryuryoku Kako, is getting in the way.”

“Th-The way?”

Togame had been straight up alright, but she was so direct he missed the point.

“What part of─how is Ryuryoku Kako getting in the way?”

“Let’s walk through this step by step. What’s the basic premise of Fatal Orchid Four?”

Two months ago, in Satsuma.

This was the move Shichika had used against Kanara Azekura, in their battle at the Basket─the armor-piercing Fatal Orchid of the Kyotoryu.

Among the Seven Forms of the Kyotoryu, it was the only time he made a fist─launching from Form Four, the Asagao, this blow bypasses16 the surface.

No buckler or block can shield you from its impact, which demolishes your insides but leaves your skin unscathed─theoretically, the move could blast someone on the other side of the planet.

“I mean, I guess it didn’t work against Kanara Azekura and Zokuto, with his unparalleled armor class. Still, though, it has to be one of the most useful moves in all the Kyotoryu. ’Course, it’s for specific situations… Of all the moves to wind up getting in the way─”

“I’m not debating pros and cons17 here, Shichika. Why don’t you show me Ryuryoku Kako─go ahead, let’s see it.”

“…?”

Shichika looked plenty skeptical, but he had no good reason not to do the move. To begin, he stood up from his cushion and assumed Form Four, the Asagao.

Feet parallel and sideways─Shichika bent deep at the knees, to lower his enormous body.

Torso twisted as far as it would go.

So that he nearly turned his back on Togame.

One hand made a fist, which he covered with the other, open hand─

“Okay, from here─I snap back─and drive my fist!”

Fatal Orchid Four─Ryuryoku Kako.

His body spun back from the impact─but the fist remained stuck to its target.

Although in this case, he was shadow-boxing,18 so the fist wasn’t stuck to anything─

“…Well, how’s that? Pretty cool move, if you ask me.”

“Don’t talk back to me.19 No one is taking jabs at Ryuryoku Kako. It’s a fine move, one of your best. But can’t you see─it’s different from the other six Fatal Orchids. You just showed me yourself…it forces you to pause.”

“…?”

Pause.

Twist your body to an unnatural degree─and pause in that unnatural pose.

The move required preparation.20

“Oh…”

“See it now?”

Once Togame saw that Shichika had understood, she had him take a seat and went on, speaking patiently.

“Look, I’m not saying that the prep work, in and of itself, ruins the move─even if Ryuryoku Kako didn’t work against Kanara Azekura, your execution was flawless. It’s just that mixed up with all the other moves─things get messy.”

Fatal Orchids one through seven.

Combined and synchronized─Shichika Hachiretsu.

But the pause inherent to Ryuryoku Kako tripped up the synchronicity.21

The pause meant there was an opening.22

It was that simple.

All that Nanami had done─was take advantage of the opening in Fatal Orchid Four, Ryuryoku Kako─and use the monstrous strength of the Itezoras to heave his body up into the ceiling of the dojo.

That was the whole shebang.23

“Right…I know I said all at the same time…but Shichika Hachiretsu has seven separate moves, and I only have so many arms and legs, so strictly speaking, they aren’t really hitting at the same time. It might not be, strictly speaking, a consecutive strike, but it’s like a medley of attacks─”

“Which is why Nanami countered with a medley of her own.”

The Kyotoryu─

A medley of moves, from the Hinageshi to the Jinchoge.

Two hundred and seventy-two hits in a row.

“Regardless, that sister of yours totally babies you. She may have told you to think for yourself, but then she practically handed you the answer.”

Not the sort of thing Nanami would have been glad to hear, considering Togame gave Shichika no chance to think before she spelled it out─but anyway, she had a point.

The merits of Fatal Orchid Four Ryuryoku Kako aside, the move was no good mixed with all the others. Anyone with a mind to catch him with his guard down would find a chance in the split-second that he made the necessary pause.

“How big is it?” asked Shichika.

“Huh?”

“I mean the opening─you think this break in Shichika Hachiretsu is big enough that anyone could get a hit in?”

“Hard to say─far be it for me to judge, having no proficiency in the martial arts to speak of, but if I had to guess, it’s not like you’re wide open. Apparently it worked on Komori Maniwa. And you made a show of it at the dojo in the Capital. Apart from Nanami─I dare say that the likes of Hakuhei Sabi could make it through.”

“Yeah… Good thing I didn’t try it, when we fought on Ganryu Island.”

By the way, the move he used to take down Hakuhei Sabi had been Fatal Orchid Three, Hyakka Ryoran,24 playing off Form Three, the Tsutsuji.

“Alright─so Shichika Hachiretsu won’t cut it as a Fatal Orchid. Not with a glaring weakness like that.”

Shichika made no attempt to hide his disappointment.

This was understandable, since he himself had devised the Fatal Orchid. Worse, if Shichika Hachiretsu was off the table, he couldn’t use his catchphrase, or whatever you might call it. Right when he was finally warming up to it.

“If I cut out Ryuryoku Kako and make it just the other six─that throws the balance off entirely. I’d have to call it Mutsuka Shichiretsu,25 which doesn’t have the same ring26 to it.”

“Easy, Shichika,” Togame said. “I found a way for you to overcome this weakness.”

“Huh? You did?”

“Of course I did─I’m Togame the Schemer! I’ve got it all figured out. Why else would I sound so high and mighty?”

“Because you’re always high and mighty?”

“Cheerio!”

Another kick.

Shichika let her hit him.

The conversation went on as if nothing had happened.

“Don’t you think you’ve been a little careless27 about the order of the seven moves? What should I expect, when the whole point is that you do them at once─but from what I gather, you’re just doing them whatever way feels most convenient at the time.”

“Hmm…I guess I hadn’t thought about the order much.”

Take, for example, the time he used the move against Komori Maniwa on Haphazard Island─since he was already in Form Two, the Suisen, he started off with Fatal Orchid Two: Kacho Fugetsu, and went on down the line, through Fatal Orchid Three: Hyakka Ryoran, Fatal Orchid Four: Ryuryoku Kako, Fatal Orchid Five: Hika Rakuyo, Fatal Orchid Six: Kinjo Tenka, and Fatal Orchid Seven: Rakka Rozeki, finishing up with Fatal Orchid One: Kyoka Suigetsu.

But nothing was holding him to that exact order.28

The move was flexible on principle.

He could mix and match the Seven Fatal Orchids─in five thousand and forty different ways!

And every one was Shichika Hachiretsu.

He thought that any combination would be fine─and that the order didn’t matter.

“It’s just like you to see this so simplistically29─but you need to change your way of thinking. Shichika Hachiretsu showcases all seven of your best attacks at once. The move has fabulous potential─it just needs some tightening up.”

“Alright, so what should I do?”

“It’s obvious. If you put Fatal Orchid Four, Ryuryoku Kako, at the beginning, it all works out.”

“…”

“Stopping halfway through the sequence is the problem─so just do Ryuryoku Kako first, before your wheels are spinning.”

“Oh…good idea. Then I can blow through the other six─no problem.”

It was an elementary solution─but it made perfect sense.

As a result, he would always have to begin Shichika Hachiretsu with Form Four, the Asagao, which nixed the marvelous convenience of being able to unleash the move from any stance─but also the Last Fatal Orchid’s weakness.

From five thousand and forty different ways─to seven hundred and twenty.

But no worse than that.

“It sounds─easy.”

“Because it is.”

However.

Togame may have seen beyond the weakness and proposed a workable solution─but her face was far from cheerful.30

“It also means─we can be sure Nanami sees it coming.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

The eyes─of Nanami Yasuri.

She could pick up any move just by watching it in action and see through any weakness.

In which case─it would come as no surprise if she saw through their countermeasure.

In fact, it would be much more of a surprise if she missed it.

That sister of his.

“At the end of the day, I’m never beating sis unless we find a way to counter her eyes─but if we could, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in. There’s no use trying to blind her or use a smoke bomb or something. She’d see us coming a mile away.”

“Her eyes, huh?”

Togame snorted.

“As a matter of fact─I’ve hatched a scheme for that as well.”

“What? You have?”

“While you were down in the dumps, I was working my butt off.31 When I wasn’t caring for my poor little sword.”

Her voice rang with irony.

But irony was lost on Shichika.

He took Togame at face value: it put him in good spirits knowing she was confident enough that he would bounce back to devote herself to working out a scheme.

That helped explain why she had been so angry.

Seriously─how much longer was I planning on just moping around?

When Togame really does believe in me.

“Ugh, lose the creepy smile. Who cheers up when they’ve been insulted? What kink32 is this now…”

Togame could not read his mind.33 Without getting up, she used her knees to scoot back.

The heart of a sword cannot be fathomed by its owner.

“So, Togame─you already have a plan for beating sis?”

“Well, with everything I heard about Nanami’s eyes on our way here, I figured I should get one started. There’s a million ways to blind a person, but this is Nanami we’re talking─we can assume that she’s prepared for almost anything.”

“Prepared? That’s not the way it works, Togame. She doesn’t have to see it coming. Once she sees me─she’ll know exactly what we’re up to. We can’t use any strategy without giving it away.”

“Exactly,” said Togame. “We just won’t give ourselves way.”

“…”

“Not even Nanami can cope with an invisible scheme. If she can’t watch it─she can’t learn it, and she can’t see through its faults… But we’ll only have one chance.”

It was that kind of a setup.

“If you screw it up, we can’t try it again─or anything else, for that matter.”

“…So everything’s ready?”

That was why.

Togame had booted him─to help him snap out of his funk.

Her patience had been wearing thin.

But on the flip side─that usually meant she was ready to go.

“Nope.” Togame shook her head. “I still need to work out the ending34─before I can set this scheme in motion, Nanami and I have some negotiating to do.”

“Y-You’re going to negotiate with sis?”

He remembered.

The two of them had talked back on Haphazard Island, half a year ago─

It was a match made in hell.

“Whoa, don’t remind me…”

Shichika had been in a pickle.35

Back then, he had mostly brushed it off, but now that he had a capacity for feeling, he wasn’t looking forward to a second confrontation.

“I can see why you’re concerned─but this is the moment of truth.36 I’ll ride it out somehow─after all, negotiation is my specialty.”

On that note, Togame stood.

“We mustn’t tarry─by now Emonzaemon has made it to Owari. If I had it my way, the rematch would already be over. How soon can you fight?”

“How soon?” asked Shichika. “If you want me to─tonight.”

“Yeah?”

“Luckily, or maybe not so luckily, I made it out alive, without a scratch─I’m ready to go basically anytime. I mean, after spending most of the week in bed, my body feels a little crunchy, so I’d like to stretch a little first. Fighting this second might be tough.”

“That’s fine─I’m not ready for you to fight this second either. Well then, let’s plan on doing it tonight. As long as Nanami is cooperative… I’ll break down the particulars after the negotiations, but let me just say, Shichika─if you want to beat Nanami, then at the very least, you’ll need to retrieve Akuto the Eel from her breast.”

Needless to say.

“That sword invests her genius, harrowing on its own, with endless supplemental energy─Akuto the Eel’s powers are quite fiendish. An atrocity.37 Bear this in mind, as you work out your battleplan.”

“Right… Happy as I am to see sis feeling better─it isn’t exactly healthy. First off…”

Shichika paused.

This had been on his mind, under the muck of his depression.

For the past week.

“I gotta say─the Eel’s not right for Nanami.”

“What do you mean? What better weapon for a sickly genius like Nanami? Talk about a sword picking its owner. Exemplary, really─it isn’t one of the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki for nothing. Or is this about the Kyotoryu? Are you saying that it’s wrong for her to use a sword?”

“No─that’s not what I meant. It’s way more personal38…I meant it’s not like her. Is that thing really boosting her energy?”

“I won’t pretend to understand what’s just a feeling on your part. All I can say for sure is that you have no chance of winning, so long as Akuto the Eel remains a factor. That and Nanami’s eyes─we need to focus all our resources on cutting these two out of the equation…. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Huh?”

Having said all she had to say, Togame slid open the door, to Shichika’s stupefaction.

“Y-You’re leaving now? To go see sis?”

“I need to see her now, if the rematch is tonight.”

“Oh─right, that makes sense.”

“Shichika,” Togame said, standing in the hallway. “I had thought it best to hold my tongue, but this is for your own good. What made you hide from me that Nanami was stronger than you?”

“Well.”

She’d sprung the question on him out of nowhere.

But after an unamicable39 silence─he responded.

“Sis isn’t one to show off. She doesn’t even think she’s strong─to her, it’s more like everyone else is weak.”

“I’m not asking about Nanami. I’m asking about you.”

“Fine.”

Shichika turned away.

Averting his eyes from Togame─

“I just wanted to be your sword, okay?”

“…”

“If you’d known sis was stronger─why wouldn’t you have chosen her?”

“…Fool,” Togame muttered.

Then she laughed, ever so slightly.

“I’m only gonna say this once, so listen up. Who knows how I would’ve felt six months ago─but at this point, you’re the only sword for me. One or two defeats can’t change that. Do I have to spell everything out for you?”

Togame closed the door.

Leaving Shichika to bask in a strange feeling─some of which he let out with a little tumble.40

After which he spread his arms and legs41 and thought things over.

Thinking through─his battleplan.

On the assumption that Togame would succeed in her negotiations.

Dragging the hem of her brash, brilliant kimono on the floor, Togame headed for Nanami’s chamber, each footstep resolute.

Once Togame had decided on a strategy, it was firm.

She had fanned the flames42 of Shichika’s heart.

The only thing left undecided─was the winner.

“…”

However─there was something Togame failed to comprehend.

“What on earth…is that Nanami Yasuri thinking?”

Her question─

Mirrored what was on the mind of her archnemesis,43 Princess Negative, back in Owari, who asked herself, at almost the same time:

“If she showed up just to warn him of his weakness, why not spit it out? I don’t see any need to be so tedious… She had to pick up Akuto the Eel, of all the Twelve Possessed! Why make her brother fight her when he has no chance of winning, after having babied him? Don’t tell me she actually believes that two swordsmen, chancing upon each other, have no reason not to fight─”

Mt. Shirei was a Level One Disaster Area.

It had been wrested from its shrine by none other than that genius Nanami Yasuri, who did her work in a matter of minutes.

Akuto the Eel had been safeguarded in the most treacherous of climates by the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei, men dressed in white─whose ranks would have posed a stubborn challenge to both Shichika and Togame.

Yet the men were not warriors.

Nor hunters like the Itezoras.

They simply─had the ability to see.

Apparitions.

Ghosts. Ghouls. Spirits.1

Specters─phantoms.2

Questions of proper nomenclature aside, the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei had the ability to see people who were dead and gone.

They call it─necromancy.3

It may sound crazy─but remember Kyoken Maniwa, who waylaid Shichika Yasuri and Togame the Schemer last month on Mt. Odori? How could she have taken over thousands of bodies over the centuries without something like a soul to do the work?

This was about─persistent presence.

While there may not be an afterworld─there is a dreamworld.

And the presence of memory.

Is the presence of the departed.

The presence─of dreams.

Along those lines, consider the Infovac of Maniwa Kawauso, “The Nosey Otter.” It may come across as superstition,4 but perhaps it has some philosophical5 basis after all. Furthermore, while Kawauso Maniwa was from Maniwa Village, born and raised, his father’s side had roots in Mutsu─so they say.

You can imagine just what Princess Negative would declare:

“There’s no such thing as ghosts─but I don’t doubt those men can see them.”

Anyway.

While Nanami Yasuri was making short change6 of the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei─you can be sure that she had watched and learned their methods.

With those eyes.

Just as she had gleaned the Maniwa Ninpo.

And the monstrous strength of the Itezoras.

She observed─their necromancy.

Since warriors they were not, their skill did not immediately prove useful to Nanami, but on the boat sailing from Mutsu to Shikoku─

She tried it on for size.

And was visited by her father─Mutsue Yasuri.

And her mother─Migiri7 Yasuri.

Not misty images─but clear as day.

“Huh.”

Nanami nodded comprehendingly.

“Okay…so this was how it works.”

Soon she heard the departed speak.

The first voice was her father, Mutsue.

─Nanami.

My dear─

Sweet Nanami─you’re far too─

Far too─way too─

Strong─

Too strong for me to teach─

I must not─must not make you any stronger─

You─

You’re a monster─

You should never have been born.

Migiri chimed in.

─Poor thing.

Poor little─girl─

Poor girl─

If you─

If only you could die, it would be over─

But you can’t die─and can’t live either─

Trapped─in a life you never asked for─8

I wish─

I wish you could just die.

“Boh-ring.”

Nanami switched off the move.

It was boring the hell out of her.

This was─only memory.

There inside her all along.

She didn’t need a special move─to see them.

She saw them.

Thought about them constantly.

“Enough,”9 she said under hear breath.

And so─the two visiting figures disappeared.

Disappeared─like phantasms.10

“Thanks but no thanks─I don’t need you to remind me.”

Thus.

Nanami Yasuri refrained from toying with the methods of the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei─for the remainder of the voyage.

She was on her way to see her little brother.

Who accepted her.

He was the only person in her family─who accepted her.

Her proposal so readily accepted─

Togame the Schemer was perplexed, even if it was exactly what she’d hoped for, and it was written all over her face.

“You seem surprised,” Nanami said. “But I’m at least as surprised as you, Miss Togame. It’s been about a week now. I figured you and Shichika had given up and gone home.”

“Listen to that,” Togame snapped, but she had no leg to stand on.

They may not actually have run home with their tails between their legs─but they may as well have, what with Shichika down in the dumps for a week straight.

However, that being said.

Where would Shichika have gone?

Haphazard Island?

Now literally deserted─no one there.

“…”

They were inside─Nanami’s chamber.

Though women were normally forbidden access to Seiryoin Gokenji, the temple had given her this room. She had been treated like a queen, but this should come as no surprise, since she had waltzed onto this sacred ground as if she owned the place. She had the nerve11 to act as if the monks of venerable Gokenji Temple were only there to serve her─indeed, nerves were not an obstacle for Nanami.

After giving Shichika a swift12 kick in the butt, Togame marched right down the hall to see Nanami─although she knew where she was staying, she had refrained from seeing her, like Shichika.

She needed time─for preparation.

And certainly couldn’t allow Nanami to perceive that she was being schemed.

Couldn’t allow it─to be seen.

But now, Togame was prepared─and Shichika had rallied.

All that remained were the negotiations.

Propositioning for a rematch─but her wish was granted readily.

When Togame gave her terms.13

“I understand,” Nanami had answered promptly.

She may not have explicitly assented, but she had answered without hesitation.14

“Well─I would be much obliged if you would think it over….”

“I have no reason to refuse─I am a sword.”

“I hate to say it, but Shichika had a point. How can one sword own another?” asked Togame. “Tell me, Nanami─apart from besting you in battle…is there anything that we can do to get you to hand over Akuto the Eel? I know that I can’t speak for you or Shichika, but personally, I’d rather not condone a showdown between siblings.”

“So kind of you─as always,” Nanami noted with a thin smile. “That’s exactly why I trusted you with Shichika in the first place, which makes it even harder to express my disappointment. It’s just, it’s just─Miss Togame. I never thought─you would start treating Shichika like he was human.”

“…”

Togame withheld comment.

Unperturbed, Nanami continued.

“He’s gotten rather─tame. Back on the island, he was, how can I say…a sharper sword. It’s like he’s a rusty blade now.”

“Rust,” Togame snorted. “I mentioned this when we met on the island, but the last owner of Hakuto the Whisper was named Hakuhei Sabi─and he took pride in the literal sense of his surname. He called himself ‘a broken sword, scarred with rust.’”

“Broken sword? Even better─I mean, badder,” said Nanami. “In that case─maybe I’ll break Shichika in half.”

“Cut the violence.”15

“The violence? How do you mean? What’s on the schedule tonight aside from violence? This fight will be the absolute epitome of violence─a battle to the death.”

“I gather that the swordfight cannot be avoided?”

“What reason have I to avoid it?”

“Well, then. I rest my case.”

Togame was done negotiating.

The rest was to be settled between swordsmen.

She had no right to intervene─from here on out.

“Oh, by the way, Miss Togame.”

This time.

Nanami was the one asking the questions.

“Has Shichika already run his mouth?”

“…”

It was all too plain what she meant.

Unfortunately, the answer was yes.

“Unfortunately─he’s told me both his secrets.”

“Oh my.”

Nanami held her hand over her face.

To hide her wry smile.

“Although─I’m not all that surprised…”

“Can I assume─you’ve heard about my past?”

“Sure, but it’s not the sort of thing to discuss here at Gokenji Temple. I may have taken over it, but it’s still under the bakufu’s jurisdiction.”

Togame’s past.

The origins─of this young woman who had risen, out of nowhere, to the highest echelons of government.

And her father?

Mastermind of the Rebellion.

Kaoyaku of Oshu─Takahito Hida.

Sworn traitor of the Yanari Bakufu─

While the Hero of the Rebellion, who smote down Takahito Hida, thereby ending the Rebellion─was Mutsue Yasuri, father of Nanami Yasuri and Shichika Yasuri.

For Togame the Schemer, this made the Yanari Bakufu, her current employer, an enemy of her family─whom they massacred─and Shichika and Nanami the offspring of the man who killed her father.

Strange connections.

But Togame had ventured over to Haphazard Island well aware of these connections─call it a historical inevitability.16

“We both─carry the burdens of our fathers,” Nanami said.

“Yeah─suppose you’re right.”

The Hero of the Rebellion, in its wake, found himself banished to an island.

Dragging Nanami and Shichika into the fray.

“By the way, Miss Togame─do you know why my dad was banished?”

“Yeah. I heard that he offended a senior official in the House of Tetsubi, one of the six daimyos who had taken power─”

“Right, that’s what happened, but know what, Miss Togame? In actuality─it wasn’t my dad’s fault.”

“Huh?”

“It was my mom’s,” divulged Nanami. “In fact, she came from the House of Tetsubi─not like any of that matters now. Like I said before, I have no grudge against the bakufu.”

“…What are you driving at?”

“Because it involved the Tetsubi, they had to keep it under wraps, so I’m not sure what it says in the official record, but my dad was suspected of killing my mom… Honestly, with a charge like that, he’s lucky all they did was banish him. It’s a wonder he wasn’t beheaded─or at the very least forced to commit seppuku. But he was the Hero of the Rebellion after all.17 So they went easy18 on him.”

“He killed her?”

The words fell out of Togame’s mouth.

Before she had a chance to censor herself.

“Mutsue Yasuri─killed his own wife?”

“At this point, the truth is underwater─choked in duckweed.19 Which is appropriate, considering her last doctor was a quack.”20

“Is this a good time for a pun?”

“It’s as good─or bad a time as any.”

Togame had the basic facts─she knew that Nanami and Shichika’s mother had died.

She’d discussed the matter with Shichika a few times.

But her understanding─was that Migiri Yasuri had succumbed to illness.

Shichika didn’t even remember her face─

“I remember her. Back then, I may not have had the eyes that I have now, but my memory is crystal clear.”

“I bet.”

“My mom was a handful. That she died before her sickly daughter might have been divine punishment─she could have lived to be a hundred. My dad raised my brother as if he wasn’t missing anything without her. So Shichika must not have given it much thought…but when it comes to women,21 don’t you think he’s more than a little obtuse?”

“Hah…I think that every day.”

“Oh, so you’ve been thinking about how you’re not enough woman for him?”

“I never think that!” Togame screamed.

Because she did think that.

Nanami chuckled at the sight of her.

Her evil laugh, the first since her arrival at Gokenji Temple.

It truly sounded─evil.

Despite Shichika’s remark that Akuto the Eel was not right for his sister, seeing her behave this way, the vicious sword seemed made for her.

“Enough about my mom─you said that he’s told you both his secrets, Miss Togame. Does that mean that you know─about how Dad died?”

“Suppose I do.”

Unlike the fact that Takahito Hida, an enemy of the state, was actually her father, there was no reason to fear mentioning this matter─but it was not the sort of secret to air in a place of worship.

“You mean how Shichika murdered Mutsue.”

“Yup,” Nanami nodded. “Well, how did you react?”

“How, you ask… I’m not in a position to pass judgment, am I?”

Hero of the Rebellion.

When she first heard that Mutsue Yasuri had died…that the man who killed her father, took the head of Takahito Hida right before her eyes was dead─Togame would be lying if she said that she felt nothing.

But when she heard that Shichika had done the deed─

Her first reaction22 was surprise.

After which─she gave up thinking on it.

Deeming it impolitic.23

“What kind of a Schemer would I be if I waded into a martial school’s private affairs?”

“A martial school’s…private affairs?”

Nanami gave Togame a quizzical look, then said, “Oh. Miss Togame, is it possible you’ve misunderstood something? Are you under the impression that it had something to do with inheriting the family tradition, or the apprentice becoming the master─you think that’s why Shichika killed Dad?”

“Isn’t it?”

That was exactly what she thought.

She’d taken this for granted.

But come to think of it─Shichika had never said as much.

She’d arrived at the conclusion on her own.

“Then─did Mutsue have some kind of fatal accident while they were training?”

“Nope,” Nanami said. “That boy. If he had to tell you, he could have at least explained what happened─anyway. Now that you know, I may as well tell you the rest. Shichika killed our dad─for me.”24

“Wha?”

Togame was baffled.

For Nanami?

“I’ll admit he went too far─but Dad finally noticed my ability to watch and learn. After nineteen years of keeping it a secret from him…”

“Ah yes. To keep your genius in check, Mutsue vowed to teach you nothing─right?”

As a result, Nanami had acquired her ability to watch and learn.

And Shichika had known it─

But not Mutsue.

Interesting.

“Right. But Shichika couldn’t keep a secret.”

“…”

Not if his life depended on it, Togame thought with a smile.

But she wiped the smile off her face─

When she heard the next thing Nanami said:

“Dad tried to kill me. While I was sleeping.”

Casually, like she was talking about a stranger.

“And I didn’t mind dying.”

Like this was someone else.

“Once Shichika knew, he put an end to Dad.”

Casually she said this.

It had nothing to do─with the school’s lineage.

Nay.

He’d killed him─in cold blood.

Togame was at a loss for words.

“B-But─”

She pulled herself together.25

“Shichika thought the world of Mutsue─”

“He’s a sword,” Nanami said. “Just like Dad─and just like me. Don’t expect us to behave like everybody else. Not when we were brought up on that sandbox26 of a desert island. And in fact, Shichika thought Dad was an awesome father, aside from when he tried to kill me. Dad was his master, and he barely even remembers Mom.”

Nanami went on.

“Shichika doesn’t even realize Dad killed─could have killed─Mom. All the same, that boy accepted being exiled along with his father. I suppose that makes him good-natured?”

“…”

“But as to why I’m going on about this─you get it, right, Miss Togame?”

“To a Yasuri…” said the Schemer. “To a Yasuri, killing is a fact of life, even among family?”

“Exactly,” Nanami smiled.

A truly wicked smile.

Her father could have killed her mother.

Her father could have killed her too.

Her brother killed her father.

That was the Yasuri family for you.

In which case.

If she killed her brother.

Or if her brother killed her.

It would only be natural!

“So if you’d prefer not to witness a showdown between siblings, you can hop along back to Owari. Either me or Shichika─whoever wins the fight will find you there.”

“Are you saying that if you win─you plan to help me on the Sword Quest?”

“Sure.”

Nanami nodded, surprisingly. Then she elaborated on the dubious pledge, as if to confound Togame.

“If you don’t complete your Sword Hunt, we’ll never clear our father’s name. Restoring his honor─was part of what you promised you would do when you took Shichika.”

“This is true…”

That conversation too.

Took on a new dimension─in the context of the current conversation.

Not only had her father almost killed her.

He hadn’t even given her a proper upbringing─

And yet she wanted to restore his name, to what it was before he had been banished.

The Yasuris─retainers of the House of Tetsubi.

What kind of a family were they?

“If Shichika should die along the way, I’ll have no choice but to replace him. To clean up my little brother’s mess─”

“Who are you to blame the mess on him?”

It looked like their diplomacy had devolved into banter.27

“I thought the air here on the mainland was too rich for you?” quipped Togame. “Akuto the Eel was obviously a lifesaver, but I’m amazed at how you got through Ezo and through Mutsu without it. Even Shichika almost died of frostbite on Mt. Odori.”

“I’d do anything for my little brother.” Nanami was unperturbed. “Although I have to say, I’m glad that I found Akuto the Eel…yes.”

“How did you cross over to the mainland anyway? I thought you didn’t have a boat. Oh, right, I forgot you were ambushed by the Maniwa─did you sail over in their vessel?”

“No, I walked over the sea. Using the ninpo Harlequin Butterfly.”

“Of course,” groaned Togame.

The Maniwa are always getting in my way…

Because the Bug Unit had paid their visit to Haphazard Island before she and Hohoh shook on their alliance, she had no right to complain─but still.

“Come what may, I intend to use no sword but Shichika. This idea of going on a journey with you? Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Don’t be silly. Swords are disposable,” Nanami said. “If one breaks, you just replace it with another.”

“…”

“As long as you don’t mind, I have a question.”

Nanami─looked at Togame.

Looked at her─with those eyes.

Fixated.

Focused.

Rapt.

“When your Sword Hunt is over─what will you do with Shichika?”

This was not the time or place to bring that up.

Which is why Nanami left it at that28─but Togame did not need her to continue.29

The Kyotoryu had been her father’s enemy.

What would she do with Shichika─the Master of the Kyotoryu?

“You can forget about me, just take good care of Shichika. I know I said swords are disposable─but since you want to treat him as a human─”

“That’s up to me,” Togame said and sat up,30 ending the conversation. “I don’t need your advice, I’ll do things however I see fit. My only wish for Shichika─is that he finds another cause.”

“Find a cause? I’m not sure what you mean by that.”

“So it seems.”

“I hope that you’ll say more. Cause, huh. Well then, Miss Togame, let’s see what you’ve got up your sleeve.31 Including for this evening.”

It was unclear what she saw, watching Togame with those eyes.

Unclear what she saw─when she saw through her choice of words.

But it made Nanami nod.

“Last week, you managed to restrain yourself…but tonight I’m sure you plan to get involved. Or maybe not involved yourself─but try something involved.”32

“Gee…I wonder,” said Togame, who had taken to her feet.

“Don’t bother,” Nanami said.

Provocatively─caustically.

Nanami was different from Shichika.

In mind games33 also─her genius shined.

“No strategy you hatch─can ever make it past me. The second it catches my eyes─I’ll make it mine too. My will has no bearing on the matter─I don’t even have to want to. Whether I like it or not, I watch and learn. That’s all there is to it.”

“Hmph. You make it sound like you’ve been picking tricks up that you’d just as soon have done without.”

The Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei.

Their ability─to sense the spirits of the dead.

Like her father.

And her mother.

“…”

Togame had no way of knowing what had happened. She simply drew her own conclusion from Nanami’s choice of words─an all-too-vivid demonstration of the strained dynamic shared between the two of them.

The Schemer continued.

“Strategy, you said─but I deal only in schemes. No matter how cute your eyes34 get, mark my words, I’ll find your blind spot.”

“Good for you…or bad for you. I’m good too─or bad. Well then…I’m looking forward to it.”

Nanami was done talking.

She did seem to be looking forward to it.

To beholding one of Togame’s infamous “schemes.”

“See you down at the Fifth Hall after dinner?”

“Right. Oh…wait. Not in the dojo,” Togame said.

Offhand, as though she’d just remembered.

“No?”

“This showdown shouldn’t happen in a dojo. It demands a proper battlefield. I can’t countenance another vague ending like last week’s. This is the one and only rematch, no more chances. To make sure there’s no confusion over who’s the winner─I’d like to have you battle where the Buddha can lay eyes on you.”

“The Buddha?”

“Where else?”

Laughing boldly, Togame announced the venue for their rematch:

“I mean that trophy cast from the one hundred thousand swords that the Old Shogun plundered via his foul decree, the Great Sword Hunt─tonight, you’ll fight in front of the Katana Buddha.”

Though it had been a curiosity for the majority of their journey, Shichika did not seek out the Katana Buddha in the entire week since their arrival at the hallowed grounds of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple.

The second they had shown up he had dropped everything and fought his sister, and we all know about his sorry state after the fight.

He gazed up at the Katana Buddha─in all of its enormity.

Your typical giant Buddha stands over sixteen feet high, but the Katana Buddha stretched at least a hundred feet into the air. It was so tall you could barely see the top, and so unnecessarily enormous, even grasping its true size gave you a headache.1

Quite aptly for a statue cast from a hundred thousand swords, its four arms each gripped a katana, while its furious expression, so unfamiliar on a Buddha, was the very face of war.

Built so as to encompass the gargantuan Buddha, the Inner Sanctum of Gokenji Temple was ginormous2 in its own right, and propped here and there by girthy pillars.

Night had come.

Outside the temple, tucked within the steep folds of Mt. Sayabashiri, all was black─inside, however, it was bright as day.

That the Katana Buddha might be always bathed in light, the courtyard of the Inner Sanctum had been lined with candlesticks. Hundreds of candles brimmed the Inner Sanctum with an orange light.

Burning for the Katana Buddha.

Sending up their wagging orange light─from all directions.3

And standing in this light─Shichika regarded the Katana Buddha.

The Great Sword Hunt.

That notorious decree of the Old Shogun.

He amassed one hundred thousand swords, from every corner of Japan.

Plundering the souls─of one hundred thousand swordsmen.

Shichika was raised to be a sword, and thought himself a sword today.

So facing the Katana Buddha─he felt something.

Something altogether different from the lifeforce that he sensed when faced with any of the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki─but felt something all the same.

An impossibly imposing impact.4

“I hate to mar your first impression,” Nanami said, standing before him, “but the Katana Buddha…is chock full of impurities. Maybe it’s odd to speak that way of gold and silver and other treasures,5 but the point is that it wasn’t purely fashioned from katanas. When you add it up, a hundred thousand swords would never be enough to make a statue this enormous.”

Hearing this─Shichika looked at his sister.

“No use for dreaming─huh, sis? Why try to disappoint me?”

“I can’t believe I need to spell it out for you.”

Nanami sighed.

A sigh that suited her exceptionally well.

“You know as well as anyone that dreams are useless to me. My body makes dreams unnecessary─out of the question.”

“Not anymore though─right?”

“Right.”

Nanami was dressed in monkish robes.

Though no longer fully bared, her chest must have held that dagger, Akuto the Eel.

The change was so minute that only Shichika would have noticed, but Nanami’s face had taken on a bit of warmth. Pale, to be sure, but with a hint of health that bore the promise─he could see it─of a full recovery.

Health.

The one thing that Nanami─and Shichika─wanted for her more than anything.

If either of them had a dream, then this was it.

And yet something─was awry.

What was it?

He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he sensed it.

It wasn’t right for her.

Seeing Nanami bearing Akuto the Eel─

“I guess you could call me Nanami the Heel,”6 she jested. “Hey, if you want to spend your whole day sightseeing, be my guest─but Shichika. You’ve got some nerve to stand in front of me like some kind of a tourist.”

“I wasn’t doing it on purpose, sis. Can I just ask one thing, though?”

Nanami refused. “Don’t even bother. The answer hasn’t changed. I’ll only give you Akuto the Eel if you defeat me, I won’t simply hand it over. If you want to round up this sword for your owner─you’re going to have to take me down.”

“…”

“Kill or be killed,”7 Nanami said─and stood there.

Her form was formlessness.

Kyotoryu Form Zero─the Ichijiku.

“I’m happy to do the killing─”

“Sis.”

“Please, don’t disappoint me. We’re here because you asked me for a rematch─come on, assume your stance.”

Hearing this─Shichika did as he was told.

And took position.

He straddled his feet, parallel, 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.

Kyotoryu Form Seven─the Kakitsubata.

Nanami Yasuri and Shichika Yasuri.

Both choosing the same stances as the week before.

“Hmm.”

Nanami─glared at Shichika.

Watching, with those eyes of hers.

Fixated.

Focused.

Rapt─

“Seems like you’ve sharpened up a bit, knocked off a little of the rust. Still soft… Not mushy, but not solid either. Which reminds me, how’d things go with Shichika Hachiretsu? Did you find a way to make up for its weakness?”

“’Course we did. I didn’t think of it myself,” admitted Shichika, “but we came up with a perfect fix.”

“Really. I should hope so─otherwise there’d be no sense to have a rematch.”

“Sis, you’re about to witness Shichika Hachiretsu as you’ve never seen it before. You won’t be able to brush it off like last week.”

“Maybe not.”

While Shichika gritted his teeth, ready for battle─

Nanami’s expression was relaxed.

In the Ichijiku, even the face was normal.

Same face that she made every day.

Natural posture.

Natural as ever─

“Miss Togame,” she addressed the Schemer, there by the wall like that other day.

The only other person present in the grand hall─Emonzaemon was long gone, but not even the monks of Gokenji Temple were around. As both their witness and their referee, Togame kept as much distance as possible to ensure that she was not embroiled in the fight.

“Yes?” she answered, still leaning against the wall, with her arms crossed.

“Go ahead and give the sign, please─there’s no use putting on airs.”

“I thought I’d give you two a chance to speak, since this might be the last chance that you have.”

“Here we go8 again,” Nanami said─laughing wickedly.

An apt laugh for the owner of Akuto the Eel.

“Don’t fret─I’ll make sure this is the last time that we speak. We won’t have another sloppy bout like last time─right, Shichika? Remember how things were when you killed Dad?”

“Yeah, I remember,” replied Shichika, holding position. “What about it, sis?”

“Never mind. I realize that I’ve yet to thank9 you─but I’m not exactly thankful, so don’t hold your breath. You could’ve let Dad─kill me.”

“…”

“You should’ve let him kill me. I don’t belong among the living.”

“Come on, sis─”

“You come on,” Nanami said, “and kill me.”

Once again─she eyed Togame.

Not giving Shichika a chance to protest.10

“I’ve made myself clear, so go ahead and give the sign…or are you trying to buy time? Do you need another moment for whatever scheme you’re working on?”

“…Okay, okay.”

Togame clicked her tongue like she was fed up.

She closed her eyes and raised one hand, like she’d stopped caring.11

“Go ahead and kill each other. You’re siblings, but you’re swords. Who am I to try and stop you. May the best sword win─”

She let her hand fall through the air.

“─Fight!”

That very instant.

Togame the Schemer’s scheme─activated.

She suspected firearms.

What if they shot at her with guns set up outside, or off behind the pillars holding up the Inner Sanctum, or from behind the gigantic Katana Buddha?

But her suspicion was not the same as fear.

A fact all too apparent in light of her rumble, back on Haphazard Island, against Mitsubachi Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Ninja Clan─whose Blunderbuzz had one-hundred-percent accuracy, able to nail a target from two hundred feet away… Yet Nanami had seen through it all too easily, and turned its powers against him.13

Nanami did have firearms on mind─but this also assured her that they would not come into play.

It would be far too typical a scheme.

Togame would never try something so trite.

So what did she have up her sleeves?

Nanami could not begin14 to speculate.15

Nay─she had no need to speculate.

Nanami could simply─watch and learn.

Speculation be damned─she had those eyes.

She could watch and learn.

Seeing.

Seeing everything.

Seeing through things.

Seeing into things.

Seeing beyond things.

Seeing to the end of things.

Seeing made them hers.

Looking at─over─through─into─and out for it.

Observing─and examining it.

Hence.

Regardless of what trickery Togame the Schemer tried to pull, Nanami was ready to fight back─however!

“─nkk!”

Once they had received the signal, Shichika launched from the Kakitsubata, charging full speed for Nanami─but without making even one of the twenty-four feints he had made last time.

Nanami saw that much.

But once she had seen it─the vision crucial to her strength went black.

Nay.

That wasn’t possible.

At times like these, Nanami would not even allow herself to blink─both of her eyes were open wide.

What had gone black─was the Inner Sanctum.

Once brimming with the orange light of hundreds of candles─swallowed in darkness.

Because the burning candles─had gone out.

Hundreds of candles─all at once.16

“…nkk! …nkk!”

─So that was her scheme!

Nanami understood immediately.

Why Togame had asked for them to battle not in the Fifth Hall, but the Inner Sanctum, where Nanami may manage, but Shichika would find it hard to negotiate the pillars and the various other obstacles─that was why!

She understood why she had asked for them to fight at night, too.

And in a place where oh so many candles were no oddity, but a necessity─none other than the Inner Sanctum of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, at the very feet of the Katana Buddha!

If it had been the dojo, she would have seen it coming.

There, candles, even hundreds of them, would have only served one purpose─shedding light on Nanami and Shichika─and would have been impossible to miss. But candles in the Inner Sanctum served a higher purpose, namely illuminating the Katana Buddha.

─The Katana Buddha.

Did his presence─

Baffle even me?

For the past week.

The Schemer─had been hoarding17 candles.

Then she’d swapped out the candles of the Inner Sanctum with her own collection.

Not rigging them with any special mechanism, however─since Nanami would have noticed any trickery.

These were run-of-the-mill candles.

She had merely modified their lengths.

So once all of them were lit─the candles would burn out at exactly the same time.

If it was possible to estimate how long a candle will burn before going out.

It was equally possible to make two candles burn out at the same time.

Or hundreds of candles, for that matter─

It could be done.

And the Schemer─made it happen.

Using candles of the exact same length would have stood out, so she must have mixed things up with candles of all different shapes and sizes and materials. Moreover, since she could only light one at a time, she had to gradually reduce their length so that the last one finished at the same as the first─

As agonizing as this mathematics and their realization18 sound─the Schemer must have done it all alone.

Not calling on the temple monks for aid.

This temple was under Nanami’s control.

The monks she lorded over with an iron fist had seen their holy land usurped, and could hardly be regarded as her friends─but neither could they be expected to voluntarily abet Togame’s schemes.

The candles went out in a flash.

Followed by total darkness.

The veil19 of night.

Needless to say, Nanami was not completely blinded by the darkness, but the sudden shift from light to dark, as if the sun had fallen from the midday sky─shrunk her field of vision instantaneously.

All she had to do was watch.

And she could see through any scheme.

But she couldn’t see through schemes─she couldn’t see!

“Nkkk…gh.”

Nanami was not so much surprised or confused─

As she was overwhelmingly impressed.

In this case, perhaps the difference was a matter of semantics─but the source of her reaction was the sheer scale of the ruse that the Schemer had cast over their simple duel.

Nanami asked her whether she was buying time─but had not thought that she was really doing such a thing. While listening to Shichika and Nanami hash it out, and following up with a few comments of her own─

Togame had a clock ticking inside her head.

Keeping time─with lunatic20 precision.

Eyes never drifting toward the candles.

After giving the signal, she dropped her hand─out like a light.

May the best sword win─hah.

It was a truly─loveable performance.21

Even in Nanami’s eyes.

Utterly fascinating!

“…Whoahhhhhhhhh!”

Shichika too.

Shichika Yasuri, the Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu.

Obviously Togame filled him in beforehand that the candles would burn out immediately after she had signaled them to start the fight─sending the effulgent Inner Sanctum into darkness.

Knowing in advance had only saved him from the element of surprise; Shichika could not escape the darkness either.

This scheme was indiscriminate,22 affecting everyone, not just Nanami.

But knowing that his field of vision would go black─gave Shichika a foothold in the fight. Which is precisely why he charged full speed for Nanami, without adding a single feint.

Leaping through the darkness─Shichika landed at Nanami’s feet.

And inside her reach─took Kyotoryu Form Four, the Asagao.

His answer to the darkness.

Something that Nanami, depending solely on her vision─could not possibly have done.

“Alright, sis, here I come─”

The weakness of Shichika Hachiretsu─was in the pause preceding Fatal Orchid Four: Ryuryoku Kako. Togame had alerted him, and even told him he should launch the sequence of attacks from Ryuryoku Kako, so he could rip through all the others in one go─but Shichika kept on thinking and added to the strategy.

He was fighting for Togame.

For the owner of Shichika Yasuri, sword that he was.

Thus he arrived at a conclusion.

If any of the Seven Fatal Orchids could be said to have a pause, Ryuryoku Kako was the culprit, but all of the other six had some kind of a pause or windup. It was just that Ryuryoku Kako was the most conspicuous─in which case.

Among the five thousand and forty possible permutations23 of the Seven Fatal Orchids, there had to be a combination more efficient than the rest─

An order of attack that bested any other combination.

Shichika had thought hard.

As bad at thinking as he may have been─he tried like crazy.

Tuning his Last Fatal Orchid to have minimum interference─and maximum ferocity.

The ideal combination.

From five thousand and forty─down to seven hundred and twenty.

And again─down to a single sequence.

Fatal Orchid Four: Ryuryoku Kako

Fatal Orchid One: Kyoka Suigetsu

Fatal Orchid Five: Hika Rakuyo

Fatal Orchid Seven: Rakka Rozeki

Fatal Orchid Three: Hyakka Ryoran

Fatal Orchid Six: Kinjo Tenka

Fatal Orchid Two: Kacho Fugetsu

Unleashed in this specific order simultaneously, the Seven Fatal Orchids went beyond a medley─they formed a maelstrom!24

This was it!

Last Fatal Orchid of the Kyotoryu─Shichika Hachiretsu Redux!25

For over time─the eyes become adjusted to the dark.

Starlight wafted through the windows here and there around the Inner Sanctum─this particular scheme was only advantageous in the moment after all the candles had burned out.

In darkness of the Inner Sanctum of Gokenji Temple.

All that remained to be seen─is who had won.

And Togame the Schemer could see for herself.

Shichika Yasuri─held his guard.26

Nanami Yasuri─lay face up, a short distance away.

This genius that had been labeled a monster.

Lay with her back on the floor.

“Hey, Togame.”

Togame had been at a loss for words at this display, but snapped out of it when Shichika called her name.

“Wh-What.”

“Look.”

Togame looked.

Shichika held up his hand─gripping a dagger.

Akuto the Eel.

Struggling in the darkness, or perhaps attacking her and meeting no resistance, Shichika had wrested the sword from her breast.

“Here’s another one─check.”

Shichika lobbed the dagger at Togame. Lacking the reflexes to catch it, she allowed its point to sink into the floorboards─then prized it free.

A faint numbness wiggled through her fingers.

The blade was charged─with lightning.

It was unclear how it worked, but one thing was for sure.

“That makes seven.”

Zetto the Leveler, Zanto the Razor, Sento the Legion, Hakuto the Whisper, Zokuto the Armor, Soto the Twin… This made seven.

“What about Nanami? Is she─dead?”

“Nah, she’s the same as ever, she’ll live. Even in the darkness, she found a way to block me, and Shichika Hachiretsu Redux, my new Last Fatal Orchid, only found so much purchase. It took everything I had to yank out Akuto the Eel. But I gotta say, her defense was less than perfect─she probably couldn’t see that well.”

Shichika turned over to his sister─prostrate and motionless.

“It was kinda like this after Sabi… It sorta feels anticlimactic… At least half of it was thanks to your idea. Anyway, I guess we won? But wow…take her eyes by turning out the lights. You sure think up some crazy stuff, Togame. This time you really cooked us up a banger.”27

“I had no choice against someone as strong as her. You wouldn’t believe how much it cost and what a pain it was to come up with a scheme that Nanami and the monks wouldn’t catch on to─but it was all worthwhile.”

“Yeah─seems that way.”

“Still, that was quite the gamble. Everything was riding on that one shot. If you had missed with Shichika Hachiretsu Redux, it would have all been over. But it seems like you picked the winning set of numbers for the sequence.”

“I dunno though, I think it still needs lots of work28─but we can save that conversation for another day. Can you call us down a doctor, Togame? Without Akuto the Eel, I’m scared that sis won’t last.”

“Right, the air here on the mainland is too rich for her… Got it, then─Shichika!”

When Togame screamed─Shichika burst into action.

Togame’s eyes─were on Nanami, of course.

Prostrate in her monkish robes─but moving.

Or so it seemed─from where Togame stood.

“…!”

Shichika assumed Form Seven, the Kakitsubata, and faced his sister.

But Nanami did not so much as shiver29 where she lay─

“Uh, Togame─”

“Eyes on her─it can’t be true…”

However.

If it were true─they were in serious trouble.

That scheme would never work a second time─and she was fresh out of ideas.

It had been one hell of a gamble.

They could dispossess Nanami of the Eel─but they could never strip30 her of her genius. Togame was at a loss for schemes, and Shichika no better.

If it wasn’t over yet─

“…Phew.”

Indeed.

Still lying on her back─Nanami heaved a sigh.

A sigh only Nanami could have sighed.

“Looks like─I underestimated you.”

Then─no rush.

Not rushing─Nanami sat herself up from the floor.

When she was hit or perhaps when she tumbled to the floor, her monkish robe had come undone─baring her chest.

And in the middle of her chest.

A yawning gap.

Left by Akuto the Eel.

Hollow─not a drop of blood.

The shape of nothingness31 itself.

The shape─of darkness.

Perfect darkness, impossible by definition.

“Akuto the Eel? You do realize that bogus sword tempered32 my strength─in revitalizing me, it slowed me down33… As for Watch and Learn… Taking on the moves of others─made me weaker by design.”

Looks like, she muttered.

Looks like─I was wrong.

Nanami Yasuri─stood up.

“I was wrong…to try and live a little longer─to fight you head-to-head in my condition.”

“Huh?”

Watch and Learn.

One would think─the skill would make a person stronger.

That it would mean the acquisition of additional strength.

However─

A genius like Nanami Yasuri.

Took on the skills of others─to become weaker.

In order to be weak.

A weaker being.

Governing34─her strength.

That she may live.

Nanami Yasuri watched and learned not to increase her strength─but to survive.

And thus─she watched and learned voraciously.

Maniwa Ninpo.

The monstrous strength of the Itezoras.

The necromancy of the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei.

The Gokenjiryu of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple.

And yes.

Even the methods of the Kyotoryu!

“S-Sis…”

No wonder Akuto the Eel didn’t suit her.

That it seemed like a bad fit─as fitting as it seemed to be.

The Mutant Blade, the work of Kiki Shikizaki, inarguably revivified Nanami─but only because it contained her strength.

To Nanami, Akuto the Eel worked as a handicap.35

A handicap she needed─to survive.

To make her weak enough.

“Alright, come on, Shichika,” Nanami said.

And took her position─or lack thereof.

Kyotoryu Form Zero, the Ichijiku? Not even that!

This time─she was standing there, and nothing more.

Even Togame, a stranger to the martial arts, could see─and perhaps see all the better.

This was everything and nothing.

Nothing─just Nanami Yasuri, being herself.

Like Konayuki Itezora, back on Mt. Odori in Ezo, she was not working off a pattern. Yet Nanami was no amateur─but a genius!

“I’m still alive. Hurry up and kill me please.”

“But sis─”

Shichika─was shaking.

Completely spellbound.36

Even without using her eyes─Nanami was capturing the essence of Shichika Yasuri.

He was terrified.

And overwhelmed.

Togame could not sense it.

But Shichika, being halfway strong, took the full brunt of the fearsome energy radiating from Nanami.

“Enough!” Togame cried in a voice that echoed through the Inner Sanctum. “What’s the point? We have Akuto the Eel! Call it a day! You have no reason to go on fighting!”

“Quiet.”

Nanami─spoke softly.

And moved again.

Turning toward Togame, she appeared to merely whip her sleeve─but something else had happened here.

Her hair.

Togame’s hair of white─fell to the floor.

It had been snipped off.

In a straight line─just above her shoulders.

“…nkk!”

The line cut clear across her slender neck─

Lopping off her signature white hair in such a clean and perfect path that she was lucky she hadn’t lost her head as well.

On the floorboards of the Inner Sanctum.

The hair sat in a pile─at Togame’s feet.

A pile of white.

“Wh-What the… H-How did you─from over there?”

“Make no mistake─your head is next.”

Nanami─laughed.

Her laugh sounded evil to the core─tireless37 in its wickedness.

Losing Akuto the Eel─had made no difference.

“There, Shichika…now you have a good reason to fight.”

“You cut…Togame’s hair.”

No longer shaking─Shichika had frozen.

His eyes were clear of trepidation.38

Ferociously─he glowered at his sister.

“That I cannot forgive─Nanami.”

“Have a fetish for long hair? That’s one more thing─for you and Dad to have in common. You’re both disgusting. So guess what.”

Shichika’s indignation─had failed to get a rise out of Nanami.

“Rather than pluck you like a weed, I’ll pick you apart39 like the flower you are.”

“Go ahead, but that won’t be easy─if you’re torn to smithereens, sis.”

Togame held her tongue.

They may have captured Akuto the Eel─but the battle wasn’t over.

In fact, they were only getting started.

The family showdown!

The erstwhile strongest in Japan against her successor!

Nanami Yasuri versus Shichika Yasuri!

No plots or schemes, and may the best sword win─fight!

“I am Shichika Yasuri! Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu─prepare to die!”

“And I am Nanami Yasuri! No school or loyalty─prepared to die!”40

But she could see41─that this would not be possible.

Nanami couldn’t help but see.

─Ahhhh.

The instant she had taken her first step, the foot that held her weight collapsed. And not only her foot─her whole body came apart.

Separating─unraveling.

The skin tore from her body, flaying her alive, exposing flesh that bled from every vein.

Blood sprayed.

With a body like hers.

─I saw this coming.

I knew my body─could never stand up to the full force of my strength.

It had been obvious.

That’s why─she’d tried to learn everyone’s moves.

Her father’s─and Shichika’s.

In order to be weak.

A weaker being.

That she may live─

Her mouth filled with the taste of blood.

She was collapsing on the inside, the same as on the outside.

Her veins had ruptured.

Her flat muscles went to tatters,42 and her thin bones snapped.

Nanami Yasuri unbridled, her true self.

Incapable of taking─but a single step.

Neither plucked like a weed.

Nor scattered like a flower.

She tumbled─like a ripe fruit.43

All on her own.

─Just one hit.

I thought I might last long enough to get in one hit, at least…

Was she paying44 for the ill-begotten energy that Akuto the Eel had afforded her? Even so─

“…”

As she collapsed, her vision blurred.45

She happened to be facing Togame, whose enviable46 tresses had been cropped short at the shoulders so that she looked just like a little kid47─

But it was with a pained frown that the Schemer greeted the crumbling mess that was Nanami.

─Ah.

Was that…unnecessary?

Did Miss Togame see this coming, and rub me the wrong way to provoke me─screaming like that?

Yet another scheme, at that stage?

Predicting that my body couldn’t stand up to the full force of my strength, did she aim to wear me down, if only by that much?

Putting herself on the line.

When she could have died.

Unlikely.

But maybe─that’s what having an agenda means?

The point of any─still eluded Nanami Yasuri.

But she chuckled anyway.

Another of her evil laughs, it made her body collapse all the more. The floorboards of the Inner Sanctum drew closer.

After all that.

It’s illness that kills me, after all?

─You should never have been born─

─Poor thing─

Poor thing, who should never have been born.

That’s me.

I should have died, I shouldn’t be alive.

Honestly.

I wish someone had killed me─

Doesn’t matter who, but well, if I could choose─

“Sis!”

Just as Nanami Yasuri began to close her eyes─her brother, Shichika Yasuri, made a run at her, aiming between her body and the floorboards.

He made it─barely.

─Shichika.

My─kid brother.

Finally─killing me.

“Last Fatal Orchid of the Kyotoryu─Shichika Hachiretsu Redux!”

Without hesitation.

Shichika unleashed his Last Fatal Orchid on Nanami.

“…”

By now the vessels of her brain had probably burst.

Nanami’s grip on consciousness was slipping,48 and her head had filled with fog.

And yet─her body had maintained its reflexes.

Her genius shone impeccably.

Even though the more it shone─the more her body fell apart.

Fielding Fatal Orchid Four, Ryuryoku Kako.

Dodging Fatal Orchid One, Kyoka Suigetsu.

Blocking Fatal Orchid Five, Hika Rakuyo.

Evading Fatal Orchid Seven, Rakka Rozeki.

Avoiding Fatal Orchid Three, Hyakka Ryoran.

Seeing through Fatal Orchid Six, Kinjo Tenka.

And catching Fatal Orchid Two, Kacho Fugetsu.

Defending herself.

Wracking her body with a pain more savage than if she had suffered the attack─she defended herself anyway.

As if it were simply good etiquette.49

But Shichika─would not let up.50

He refused to let up on Nanami.

After finishing Fatal Orchid Two, Kacho Fugetsu, he seized the collar of her monkish robes and stabbed her with his spear hand.

─I won’t make it.

Not in time.

With her unraveling body, she couldn’t defend herself in time─but in truth, not even his spear hand should have been capable of injuring her.

Her body was collapsing, unable to stand up to her own strength.

But she could still stand up─to anything from Shichika.

He came nowhere close to her.

Except.

The blade of his hand was aimed at Nanami’s bosom─her bosom.

The place where she had carried Akuto the Eel.

The gap yawning─from the middle of her chest.

Eyes on the hole─he drove his hand inside.

Ah, I see, Nanami thought to herself.

That’s what a sword gets─for trying to use another sword.

The swordsmen of the Kyotoryu did not refuse to use swords.

They were unable to use swords.

When it came to wielding swords, they possessed absolutely no ability.

─Oh, Dad.

I guess I’m part of the Kyotoryu, after all.

“Kyotoryu─Tampopo!”

The highest cliff can crumble from a single cavity─

Or so the saying51 goes.

Shichika plunged his spear hand deep─deep into Nanami’s breast.

That move.

Oddly enough─was perhaps Nanami’s favorite part of the Kyotoryu.

“…”

Lifted up forcibly, Nanami, who’d been about to collapse onto the floor─found herself leaning against Shichika’s giant body.

“Shichika.”

She had almost nothing left.

Giving it everything she had, and destroying herself in the process─she whispered in her brother’s ear.

“Shichika, y-you…”

You really killed me.

Is what she meant to say.

To praise her little brother for proving he could beat his older sister.

She would not die from illness.

Or by dint of her own genius.

She could die─like a swordsman.

Like the sword she was.

And like a human being.

A member of the Kyotoryu.

And of the House of Yasuri.

Which is why─she wanted him to know.

To thank her dear, sweet little brother─

For killing her, just like she wanted.

“You’d really52 kill me.”

…

Oops.

Did she─mangle that?

Three days had passed.

Togame the Schemer and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, were back at the same harbor where they landed when they arrived in Shikoku. After the showdown with Nanami at the Inner Sanctum of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, they’d gone back up the road they’d come in on.

The albeit brief appearance of Nanami Yasuri─a monster of a swordswoman, or swordswoman of a monster─at that holy site for swordsmen could only amplify the reputation of the temple. The fight between Nanami and Shichika would doubtlessly go down in history1 alongside the famous duel, between a man bearing a greatsword and another bearing two, on Ganryu Island, that other holy site. But putting aside a matter for scholars of a later era, the near prospects of Gokenji Temple, its monks obliterated by their so-called guest of honor, were dire. Luckily for Togame, the cleanup did not fall under her purview.

It looked like a job for the Magistrate of Shrines and Temples.

She couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for that particular directorate─but Togame made a point of staying out of everything that was not specifically her job.

And what was her job?

But of course─the Sword Hunt.

Now─waiting by the harbor for the boat to take them to Owari, Togame held a dagger.

Akuto the Eel.

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

Each of which was worth an inordinate sum, enough to buy a country, but since no passerby would ever dream this thing2 would command such a price, Togame had no issue with examining its features like that─out in the open.

Besides, Akuto the Eel didn’t look like a katana.

Charged with lightning─same as ever.

What on earth was it made of?

Thus far, whenever they had landed a katana on the Sword Hunt, Togame had it posted3 to Owari, but they were heading to Owari too─had no choice but to do so. Since Akuto the Eel was such a manageable4 sword (small enough for even Togame to hold), nothing like Zokuto the Armor or Soto the Twin, she’d decided to appoint herself its courier.

“I couldn’t understand why she was throwing herself into a silly battle, and forcing you into it to boot─but that was it. Which isn’t the same as wanting to die. Her body was too weak for her to want such a thing─to Nanami, dying was a fact of life.”

Togame twirled her hair, which she apparently was fond of cut this short.

“And I’m sure she thought nothing of being killed, either─but hoped for it nonetheless.”

Pain and suffering were old friends for Nanami.

And likewise─death was an old friend, too.

For Nanami Yasuri─

Death and killing, and being killed, for that matter.

It was nothing special.

And yet, for the first time─

She had hoped to be killed.

“Facing off against the Bug Unit back on Haphazard Island─must have been the trigger.5 I suppose the Maniwa were no match for someone as strong as her…but in the end, she couldn’t hold up against her own strength.”

“It’s not just her,” said Shichika.

He was sitting right across from Togame─but his vacant gaze was set upon the sky.

As if something─was on his mind.

Out of character.

“No body could ever hold up to that kind of strength. Even I can see that. Dad used to say her sickliness was a sign of the wrath of the gods, but it was simpler than that. It’s like when you blow too much air into a balloon─that’s why she was frail.”

“Too much genius for a single human being to bear. Whereby─she set her sights upon the strength of others, always weaker by comparison. Like when you splash cold water in a boiling pot to cool it down─that’s why she always watched and learned.”

“I never realized that till now─”

In that case, thought Togame.

Mutsue’s refusal to share even a single aspect of the Kyotoryu with Nanami takes on an entirely new dimension.

Nanami Yasuri was too strong to be taken under anybody’s wing.

What if her genius had not followed apace with her alien strength?

If she had never learned to watch and learn─what would have become of Nanami?

As soon as he realized that she had such an ability.

Mutsue tried to kill her─in cold blood.

And soon after─got murdered by his son.

A man suspected of murdering his own wife.

─Not to mention.

My own dad.

“Nanami’s throwdown with the Bug Unit was her first taste of battle. And she won─with flying colors, hands down.6 And yet─all of that exertion must have taken a huge toll on her body… She must have realized she was not long for this world. I’m sure she felt her battle with the Bug Unit─taking countless years off of her life.”

“Sis was the best,” Shichika said, “but she was too strong for her own good─too strong to fight.”

“…”

“Her genius made up for her frail body─but you could also blame her frailty on her genius. I think so, anyway.”

“That’s why she left the island─right? She knew the air over on the mainland was too rich for her, she came anyway. Warning you about the weakness of your Last Fatal Orchid was a convenient excuse. All she wanted─was for you to kill her off.”

She wanted somebody to kill her.

And not just anybody.

It had to be her brother─Shichika.

“That’s why she went to all the trouble of hunting down one of the swords─to give you a good reason to face off. Hmph. That explains everything─”

“Wanted somebody─to kill her.”

“I can’t pretend to understand what that must feel like, but I have a hunch that you can do a better job.”

She didn’t want to die from illness.

Or by dint of her own genius.

She wanted to die a normal death, like a human being.

She hadn’t chosen her life, but had chosen how to die.

“Makes me wonder.”

Shichika spoke gazing off into the sky.

“Did Nanami also want Dad to kill her?”

“Remember what she told you, Shichika. She wouldn’t have minded. But acceptance and hope are two very different things. Still─just as you still love your father,” Togame said, “I’m sure Nanami loved him too, in her own twisted way.”

When it came to fathers, Togame had her own mix of feelings.

In that respect, she understood exactly where Nanami came from.

They both─carried the burdens of their fathers.

That was the deal.

“I dunno, Togame.”

Shichika turned his gaze from the sky─to her.

“Sis may have wanted me to kill her,” he muttered, as if to himself, “but that doesn’t mean─that I wanted to do it.”

In fact, Shichika looked like he was about to cry.

This caught Togame by surprise.

She recalled Nanami’s words.

─Since you want to treat him as a human─

─Just take good care of him─

Maybe things would have been different half a year ago.

He wouldn’t have thought twice about killing his own sister─as a sword, he wouldn’t have thought anything at all.

No hesitation─

Like when he cut down Meisai Tsuruga─or any of his adversaries thus far.

Or his own father, Mutsue Yasuri.

He would have cut Nanami down.

Unencumbered by emotion─a sword doing what it was made to do.

He would have murdered his own sister.

But that was then.

After six months traveling alongside Togame─

Shichika had stopped behaving like a sword.

And started acting─like a human being.

Hence him being on the verge of tears.

“…”

The sadness that she saw in Shichika was her own fault.

He had not failed her, as a sword.

But he had failed to keep it together 7─through no fault but her own.

─Did I…

Did I make a mistake?

Had Nanami been correct─that it was wrong to treat swords as people?

To be sure, the Hero of the Rebellion, Mutsue Yasuri─had not served the House of Tetsubi like any human being.

He had been treated─like the sword he was.

And hence became Hero of the Rebellion.

“Either way, her time was up. If you hadn’t been the one to kill her, her illness would have killed her. Think of it that way, Shichika.”

“If I hadn’t taken Akuto the Eel from her…would sis still be alive?”

“You’re mistaken.”

Togame raised the dagger in her hand for him to see─as if to warn8 him.

“Nanami was killed by Akuto the Eel. It’s just like you said before. Swords can’t handle other swords. This thing isn’t called the Eel for show─it sucked the life right out of her.”

“I guess Mt. Shirei, where she found the sword─was known as a hangout for monsters.”

“Not monsters, so much as ghosts. I’m not saying I believe in all that hocus-pocus…but this sword was the only thing keeping that moribund mountain alive. It was bound to die. You can’t force nature.”

“So you’re saying that Mt. Shirei’s ruined too… I dunno about this Sword Hunt… It seems like everywhere we go winds up turning into wasteland.”

“There is no path for us to follow, nor do any remain in our wake? Well, I suppose it’s not quite that gruesome.”

Gekoku Castle fell.

Triad Shrine in Izumo no longer was a fortress.

Suo saw the strongest in Japan replaced.

The Armored Pirates of Satsuma lost their namesake.

And the holy land of Seiryoin Gokenji Temple─would be short-staffed9 for the foreseeable future.

“Is it wearing on you, Shichika?” Togame gently prodded. “Are you sick of pushing people─to give up their swords?”

“…”

“I’m ready to make anything or anybody step aside in the name of carrying out my mission. It means more to me than life itself, but it’s only mine in the end. Have you had enough this time around? Then fine─just say so.”

“No,” answered Shichika.

Without hesitation.

The same way that he always answered Togame─straight up.

“I’ve already decided I’d fight for you. That works best for the both of us. You’re the most important thing to me─that hasn’t changed one bit. I want to be of use to you.”

“…”

“That’s─that’s my purpose.”

Purpose.10

By having his heart broken by his sister─

Shichika had gained, in exchange, a sense of purpose.

Perhaps he had actually failed Togame as a sword.

But Togame, for her part, found this Shichika all the more reliable.

Who knows whether she had been right or wrong.

They’d find out soon enough─but in any case, regrets seemed unnecessary.

“Oh, that reminds me, Shichika. Now that my hair is shorter, are you sure that you can tell the difference between me and other people?”

She hassled him to bury her embarrassment.

“What the heck are you talking about─”

Shichika laughed.

Not a lively laugh, but a laugh all the same.

“I liked your hair when it was long─but it looks really good short, too. Man, sis was really good at cutting hair.”

“I was about to say the same thing. I won’t need a trim for quite some time.”

“Can I touch it?”

“Do as you please. I know how much my hair excites you.”

With her permission, Shichika touched her hair.

Stroking the tresses─trimmed to her shoulders.

Her hair symbolized her anger─it was her grudge made manifest, the emblem of her vengeance.

“Ahhh.”

Shichika─let out a deep sigh.

Running his hands through her hair.

Perhaps sighing didn’t suit him like his sister.

But he exhaled─as if he were lamenting.

“This makes me a lone wolf just like you, Togame. I never thought that it’d be so lonely─to be on your own.”

“On your own?”

Togame frowned at his choice of words.

Sheesh.

This guy really has no clue.

“Quit spewing nonsense, Shichika. What are you talking about? I’m not a lone wolf.”

“Huh?”

“Because I have you.”

Do I really have to spell everything11 out for you?

“And that means you have me.”

Five swords were waiting to be found.

Little by little, Togame and Shichika─were nearing the conclusion of their journey.

That’s all for Book Seven of Sword Tale. Now that we’ve plunged into the second half of the twelve books, things are heating up, for better or for worse, but the crux of the story was the showdown between Shichika and Nanami Yasuri, brother and sister. I set the scene in Tosa, in Shikoku, a part of Japan close to my heart. I hate to say goodbye, and can’t help feeling that I haven’t fully captured the atmosphere of Shikoku, but I think that my depiction of the family showdown speaks to the power of the place. I hope that you’ll agree.

The ending of Togame the Schemer’s hunt for all the Mutant Blades of Legendary Swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki is finally in sight. At first, I had no clue where this series was going to take me, but at this point in the writing I can safely say I’m having more fun than anyone else. I only hope I can keep producing good fodder for our illustrator take. That’s all, folks, for Katanagatari Book Seven: Akuto the Eel.

Five books to go!

Times changed with the generations.

And yet their ranks diminished without hope.

From fifty down to twenty-five.

From twenty-five to thirteen.

From thirteen to seven.

From seven to four.

Then four to two.

Until finally─the two had been reduced to one.

Only one of them remained.

It took a hundred and seventy years─but all of them was dead but one.

It took a hundred and seventy years─but all of them was gone, save one.

You didn’t need a crystal ball to see1 that one would soon be zero, a fact of which the last one standing was painfully aware.

Everything they had inherited.

Everything they had succeeded.

Everything they had been tasked with.

Everything they had been saddled with.

Everything would soon be lost.

His generation─would be the last.

He knew this─understood this more than anyone.

Nevertheless, he had to stand his guard─even if it was the death of him.

He was the last one standing.

Which made it his responsibility─to stand guard until the bitter end.

In practice, this meant doing nothing─but as the sole survivor, it was the best that he could do.

Call him lazy or embarrassing.

But he called this his life.

Living on─to see tomorrow.

He saw this as his obligation and his mission.

No other motivation.

No interest in revenge.

Simply─living.

Simply─waiting to die.

For someone disappointed with himself and disenchanted with the world, this way of life was torture─and yet he chose this life without a moment’s hesitation.

He would let the wind and rain destroy him.2

Letting the snow and summer sun devour him─that was the sort of person he’d be.

And yet─

“Unacceptable!” the woman told him. “Unacceptable─I cannot accept this way of life. I reject your choice to live this way. I reject it as disgusting, disgraceful, and deplorable. Diffident, despondent, and delinquent. What, you think it’s cool?3 How’s that working out for you? You make me laugh.”

Uninhibited, unending.

Like a runaway rapid─the woman deluged her subject with contempt and ridicule.

“Know what you are? A textbook lazy bum─I could watch you, like a specimen, all day. What a horrible waste of life. Seriously, nice job wasting your life away. Don’t you think it’s time you died already? Acting like some kind of mighty guardian. Well guess what─no one cares!”

She let this one sink in.

“I sure don’t. I reject your whole existence─I cannot accept a single thing about you. Zero. Zilch. Nada.4 People like you are the worst─the embodiment5 of complacency and narcissism.6 The very sight of you pisses me off.”

She continued:

“But that’s all well and good. Because you’re not without your usefulness.”

There it was─

The double negative.

“I grant you the prefix NON.”7

On Haphazard Island in Tango─

They dispossessed8 Komori Maniwa of Zetto the Leveler.

In the second moon.

Inside Gekoku Castle in Inaba.

They dispossessed Ginkaku Uneri of Zanto the Razor.

In the third moon.

At Triad Shrine in Izumo.

They dispossessed Meisai Tsuruga of Sento the Legion.

In the fourth moon.

On Ganryu Island in Suo.

They dispossessed Hakuhei Sabi of Hakuto the Whisper.

In the fifth moon.

By Dakuon Harbor in Satsuma.

They dispossessed Kanara Azekura of Zokuto the Armor.

In the sixth moon.

Atop Mt. Odori in Ezo.

They dispossessed Konayuki Itezora of Soto the Twin.

In the seventh moon.

Within Gokenji Temple in Tosa.

They dispossessed Nanami Yasuri of Akuto the Eel.

Out of the Twelve Possessed, those masterworks of legendary swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki, who effectively reigned over the Age of Warring States─the twelve Mutant Blades not even the Old Shogun, who had managed to unite the nation, had been able to collect, despite exerting every effort─Togame the Schemer had now managed to round up seven.

Five swords remained!

Bito the Sundial!

Oto the Cured!

Seito the Garland!

Dokuto the Basilisk!

Ento the Bead!

Saving these targets for later, the Schemer finally made her return to Owari─but before she had a chance to rest was thrust into the fray!

That sums up just about everything thus far!

Let’s unroll the remainder of this scroll of swords!

Are you rip-roaring and ready to go?

Sword Tale, Book Eight, long past the point of no return ♪

Like Mt. Odori in Ezo and Mt. Shirei in Mutsu, Lake Fuyo had been designated a Level One Disaster Area by the bakufu─but a few noteworthy things set it apart from the other two.

Being a lake, and not a mountain.

At least─it used to be a lake.

Furthermore, however sparsely populated, the other two maintained some semblance of human life, with the Itezoras on Mt. Odori and the Sacred Guardians on Mt. Shirei─whereas not a single human being called Lake Fuyo their home.

Though classified alongside those two mountains as a Level One Disaster Area, this sometime lake was more akin to Inaba Desert─at least in terms of its sheer barrenness.

And yet the first place named a Level One Disaster Area by the Yanari Shogunate─was Lake Fuyo, in the hinterlands1 of Edo.

A man wearing a coat and trousers took the lead─a mask covering his face. He was a thin2 man, and wore a pair of swords─one big, one small. The word “NON-NINJA” scrawled across his mask. He walked along in silence, bearing himself in such a way that made his feelings difficult to read─and aloof to the two others behind him.

None other than─Lieutenant Emonzaemon Soda.

A safe distance behind him was a man stripped to the waist, with tousled hair─by far the tallest of the trio, this man was plainly dressed but no less eye-catching than Emonzaemon, who walked before him in his frippery and mask. From the restless way the tall man scanned the scenery, you could tell that he was out of his depth.

None other than─Shichika Yasuri.

Then, taking up the rear, but more conspicuous than the dandily bemasked Emonzaemon or the lanky and half-naked Shichika─we see a whitehaired woman, adorned in brash and brilliant finery. Trimmed to her shoulders and lustrous in the sun─that white hair was her oriflamme,3 the ensign of her mission. Walking in seta, and wearing a perturbed expression─she kept half a step behind Shichika, but always within reach.

As goes without saying.

She was none other than─Togame the Schemer.

Emonzaemon was too far ahead of Shichika and Togame to fairly call these three a trio─the distances between them spoke volumes of their interrelationships.

Lieutenant Emonzaemon Soda─Counselor4 to the Inspector General of the Yanari Shogunate.

Togame the Schemer─Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu.

And Shichika Yasuri─Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu and trusty blade of Togame the Schemer.

“Well then.”

It had been quite some time since any of them had spoken─but Togame finally broke the silence. She could have endured it longer, no doubt, but her voice was as perturbed as her expression.

She was addressing Emonzaemon, up ahead of them.

“It would appear the Princess is as rough as ever with her staff─I pity you, Lieutenant Emonzaemon. Running errands for her up and down the country─”

“No need.”

Though Emonzaemon deigned to answer Togame’s sarcastic comment, he declined to turn around.

“Don’t worry about me─Madame Schemer. While I can’t pretend to speak on your behalf, this kind of a journey is no trouble5 for me.”

“Right─after all, you are a former ninja. You’re used to being on the road.” Togame took no pains to hide her bitterness. “Besides, who knows how long you’ve already been on our tail─I’m sure we have no reason to worry whatsoever. But what about your other obligations? If you’re out here showing us the way, doesn’t that mean the Princess is all on her lonesome back in Owari? As both her counselor and bodyguard, have you not made her vulnerable by making yourself scarce?”

“No need─to be concerned.”

Emonzaemon was undaunted by this provocative remark.

“Unlike you, Madame Schemer, the Princess has no sworn6 enemies─in fact, she has but one enemy in all Owari. And since that single enemy of hers is all the way out here─her safety is as good as guaranteed. As long as I have you in my sight, Madame Schemer, my duties as her bodyguard are more than adequately fulfilled.”

“…”

Caught between them, Shichika listened tamely to this repartee. Togame openly regarded Emonzaemon as her adversary, and however gracious the lieutenant may have been, the content of his speech made it quite clear that he did not view the Schemer fondly7─but none of them was more aware of three being a crowd than Shichika Yasuri.

He and Togame had been adventuring all year.

For most of the Sword Hunt, they had walked alone, embarking from Haphazard Island, the desert island that had been Shichika’s home most of his life, and moving onward to Inaba, Izumo, Suo, Satsuma, and Ezo, until reaching Tosa─

But since then, they had been graced with the presence of this man in pantaloons─Emonzaemon Soda.

In Tosa, he had been responsible for leading them up Mt. Sayabashiri to Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, the holy site for swordsmen whose grounds encompass the Katana Buddha, known throughout the land for being cast from the metal of one hundred thousand swords─and this month, he had been tasked with guiding them to Edo’s Level One Disaster Area, Lake Fuyo.

And yet.

As far as Shichika was concerned, his contribution as their guide was at best superficial.

Thus far on the journey, Shichika and Togame had been all kinds of places─and dangerous ones at that. They leapt into the fray after the Twelve Possessed, venturing to locales like Inaba Desert and Mt. Odori in Ezo, which you would have to be insane to brave without a properly outfitted party─but they had done it on their own.

It didn’t matter what kind of a place Lake Fuyo was. As long as they could find it on a map, they wouldn’t need a guide to get there. Not with the Schemer behind this Sword Hunt.

But there he was.

In which case─he had to be watching them.

Monitoring their progress─tasked not with leading them or guiding them, but watching them, at the request of his superior─the Princess.

That’s how Shichika saw it, anyway.

Which is what made the man’s presence so unpleasant.

And how could any trip be otherwise, when you’re being watched every step of the way?

Make no mistake, it was absolutely, positively not Emonzaemon’s shameless intrusion on the privacy of their Sword Hunt that disagreed with Shichika.

Done prodding at each other for the time being, Togame and Emonzaemon settled down (an inevitable result, for such a barren8 conversation), and silence once more reigned over the scene.

Which is why─actually, for no good reason.

“Hey, Emonzaemon─”

Shichika spoke up.

“What kind of a place is Lake Fuyo anyway? I forgot to ask─”

“Not necessary,” Emonzaemon replied bluntly, as if he had been waiting for the question just so he could say this. “And not merely because it’s called Lake Fuyo9─the place is self-explanatory. You’ll have to see it for yourself,10 Shichika Yasuri. Once you set eyes on it, you’ll understand. Isn’t that right, Madame Schemer.”

“Don’t ask me for approval,” Togame told him off. “Still, Shichika,” she continued, “the place is sort of difficult to explain─words somehow fail to capture the big picture. It’s quicker to see for yourself.”

“Hmm…it’s a Level One Disaster Area, right? Like Mt. Odori, where we met Konayuki─”

“That’s true,” Togame nodded, “but in terms of mortal danger, it falls short of the forbidding clime11 of that mountain─at least in my opinion.”

“Only because you can’t take the cold, Madame Schemer,” Emonzaemon retorted.

Without looking back, the same as ever.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Togame said defensively; but indeed her weakness to the cold had gotten them in serious trouble up on Mt. Odori, and Shichika felt he could detect a certain falter in her tone.

“Lake Fuyo is no place─for human beings to live,” remarked Emonzaemon. “It is unfit for any form of life─I have zero interest in religion, but when people talk about the netherworld, they mean a place like that.”

“Netherworld?”12

The word choice struck Shichika as odd.

Even if it was unfit for human life─calling it the netherworld was silly13─to him.

After all, he had grown up on a desert island─did that make Haphazard Island a netherworld as well?

When he said as much, Emonzaemon quickly backed down. “Fair enough. But it would be best to call it otherworldly,14 if not the netherworld. As a matter of fact, this trip will be my first as well.”

“You don’t say.”

“Unlike Mt. Odori and Mt. Shirei or Inaba Desert─Lake Fuyo falls outside the jurisdiction of the bakufu. Every time they’ve tried to take control of it, they’ve failed─as a result of which no one can claim to understand its current state.”

“They can’t control it?”

“No, but even if they could it would be pointless.”

Shichika had been asking Emonzaemon, but it was Togame who had answered, butting in before the lieutenant had a chance to get a word in edgewise.

“Were you listening, Shichika? Mt. Odori had the Itezoras, and Mt. Shirei had the Sacred Guardians─but no one lives at Lake Fuyo. It’s unfit for human life─like the man said.”

“Hmm.”

“And another thing,” Togame said. “Don’t talk to him unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“…”

She’d waded into the conversation to say that?

Shichika was blown away by how much she despised the guy.

But only because she despised his superior─

The Princess.

“Ha.”

Emonzaemon─laughed it off.

Like it was nothing.

Togame pounced. “What’s so funny?”

Shichika felt she could have easily let this one go─but she was so emotional around Emonzaemon.

Reminiscent of her bearing toward the Maniwa.

Like when she met Komori─or had her rendezvous with Hohoh.

Or the way she comported herself around Kyoken and Kawauso.

Togame lost her cool so thoroughly it would be fair to say she lost her mind.

It was perhaps too tall an order to expect someone in her position to stay cool in the face of “traitors” like the Maniwa─but things were different with the Princess. Togame may have seen her as an enemy, but the Princess hadn’t actually betrayed her. It was difficult to understand what made her so impassioned.

Indeed, in terms of her standing─the Princess was comparable to the former owners of the Twelve Possessed, like Ginkaku Uneri, Meisai Tsuruga, and Kanara Azekura.

Togame had taken her on countless times, and each time knocked her down─

Except the Princess had rebounded.

Every single time.

This obstinacy reminded Shichika of Togame.

Having met the Princess in Owari─his hunch was now a certainty.

This was a case of hating someone else for what you hate about yourself.15

At the root of their antagonism was a fundamental incompatibility.

As people─

“…”

But Shichika─was a katana.

A living, breathing sword.

Brought up in this fashion by his father, on a desert island.

Trained─to see the world in such a way.

Hence Shichika felt the lifeforce of the Twelve Possessed, those masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki─as if through a sixth sense.

And now, as a katana.

He had pledged his heart and soul to Togame the Schemer.

Shichika Yasuri─trusty blade of Togame the Schemer.

But this guy?

Counselor to the Inspector General of the Yanari Shogunate─“The Non-Ninja,” no longer ninja Emonzaemon Soda.

Dressed in his trousers, coat and mask─he was the trusty blade of Princess Negative.

In which case─if you took the expression16 at face value.

─He’s just like me.

Both a human─and a weapon.

And yet, despite Togame’s loathing for the Princess, for whatever reason Shichika could not bring himself to loathe Emonzaemon.

As unwelcome as this guy’s intrusion on their private Sword Hunt was (whoops, spilled the beans),17 his dedicated service to the Princess, as her sword─made sense to Shichika.

Shichika sympathized─not as a sword.

But as a person.

And felt that lifeforce.18

─If the Princess is Togame’s enemy.

Considering Togame’s final goal…

Someday.

Before too long─would he have to fight Emonzaemon?

Most probably.

Which made this the perfect opportunity to watch him─to figure out what kind of man he was, to gauge the “strength” of this “Non-Ninja”…

“Kyotoryu.”

While Shichika was thus engaged in thought─

Emonzaemon spun around.

Turning towards him, so that he was walking backwards, he addressed Shichika.

“You’ve had your chance. Now it’s my turn to ask the questions. There’s something that I’d like for you to tell me─to make sure I’ve got it straight.”

“Huh? What is it.”

“Hey, Emonzaemon. Quit bothering my sword. I don’t recall giving you permission,” Togame butted in before Emonzaemon had a chance to pop his question. She was being such a stickler19 about this, but her intransigence must have amused Emonzaemon, because he smirked under his mask.

“Jealousy doesn’t suit you, Madame Schemer. Are you really that upset that your sword took his eyes off you?”

Togame immediately lost her temper.

“I said nothing of the sort!”

Shichika had to wonder. Wasn’t a tactician supposed to be calm and cool, collected and unflappable, no matter what the circumstances? But Togame was no mere tactician: she was the Schemer.

Perhaps getting fired up like this was one of the quirks that set her apart.

“Alright, let’s get on with it. I can’t believe you’d think that I was jealous of you. Shichika, tell the man anything he wants to know.”

“Anything…”

A dangerous request.

By now Shichika was worldly enough not to take her words literally. Back in the second month, say, of their journey, he would have surely blurted out something he never should have said─

Emotional or otherwise, Togame was herself.

She had factored in all of this.

No matter how dangerous the bridge, she was prepared to cross.

Without testing its structural integrity.20

“Kyotoryu,” Emonzaemon started over, still walking backwards. “Out of all the owners of the Twelve Possessed you’ve fought so far─Komori Maniwa, one of the Maniwa Bosses, Ginkaku Uneri, the Lord of Gekoku Castle, Meisai Tsuruga, the Mistress of Triad Shrine, Hakuhei Sabi, the strongest swordsman in Japan, Kanara Azekura, the Captain of the Armored Pirates, Konayuki Itezora, of the Itezoras, and your older sister─Nanami Yasuri. Of those seven…who was the strongest?”

“…?”

What a weird question.

What made it necessary to ask about that now? Shichika hadn’t the foggiest idea.

“Granted,” Emonzaemon continued, “I can make an educated guess, based on Madame Schemer’s official21 reports─though I’m afraid that they amount to little more than an opinion. I’d like to hear what you think, Kyotoryu, since you’re the one who goes into the fray and clashes22 with the Mutant Blades.”

“Oh…I see.”

“I mean, obviously Nanami Yasuri was number one, right? Making number two Hakuhei Sabi─I’m wondering how you’d rank the rest of them.”

“Is this the Princess asking?” queried Togame.

Evidently she was not okay with sitting back and letting Emonzaemon ask questions after all. She had a problem with Shichika and Emonzaemon conversing on their own. Not like she was really jealous…

“No doubt─I don’t mind if you think of it that way. After all, every move I make and every step I take is for the Princess. It would be pointless to search for any deeper meaning in my work.”

“How about it, Shichika?” asked Togame. “Now that he mentions it, I’m not without a certain curiosity myself. Don’t worry about who was harder to beat. Just who was stronger. All he wants is your personal opinion. Think subjectively.”

“Thinking is kinda hard for me…” said Shichika.

And yet he tried to think it over.

Who was the strongest─in terms of pure strength?

Like Emonzaemon said, Nanami topped the ranking without question, and after her came Hakuhei Sabi─but frankly, the rest of them were more or less tied.23 All of them were hard to beat, as far as that went.

But if he had to pick─

“I guess number three would be─Komori the Maniwac.”

“Maniwac?”

Emonzaemon was puzzled by this term.

Indeed, this must have been the first time Shichika had used it on him.

“‘Maniwa Ninja Clan’ is way too long, so we gave them a nickname.”

“Ah…good one.” Emonzaemon sounded oddly satisfied.

He did use to be a ninja.

Was it possible he had some kind of connection to the Maniwa? Judging from his tone, it didn’t seem as if he used to be one of the Maniwa himself…

“So, Komori Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan, comes right after Hakuhei Sabi─may I ask why? Wasn’t he the first person you ever fought? He may have put up a good fight, but I dare say that was only because you had no experience.”

“Other way around. I only beat Komori because I lacked experience. I’m not sure what you read in the report.”

In fact.

There was a high chance that Togame bent the truth in her report for her own convenience. Even if she hadn’t written any outright lies, she had probably glossed over plenty of facts.

He had to be careful about what he said─but this seemed safe enough. Besides, if he started blurting out something classified, Togame would jump on him before he had the chance.

“If I had to fight Komori again─I’m honestly not sure how it would go. I’ve dealt with most of the Twelve Bosses, but ninjutsu is totally insane. It’s basically unstoppable,” said Shichika. “At least for me. Sis could have beat him, though.”

Whumping three of the bosses in a row─Nanami Yasuri was off the charts.

Number one, without a doubt.

“Hmm. And number four?”

“Meisai Tsuruga,” answered Shichika. “Her Sentoryu was such a pain. I know her moves depended on Sento the Legion and everything─but the real pain was the Togame-style24 strategies she used on me. I have a hard time with backhanded25 approaches.”

“Fair enough,” Togame agreed. “Except, if it was me, I’d rank Meisai number three.”

“So, number five is gonna be…uhh, I guess Ginkaku Uneri.”

The master of iainuki.

Lord of Gekoku Castle─the hermit swordsman of Inaba Desert.

Ginkaku Uneri.

“Talk about cutting it close. I know he was only my second opponent, and my first fight after we set off on the Sword Hunt─but his iainuki and that Zerosen are still enough to make me tremble. And let’s not forget the Danger Zone.”

“Certainly,” said Togame, “if Ginkaku Uneri hadn’t had the Danger Zone, it would have been far less of an ordeal. Hmm…so Shichika─I suppose number six is Konayuki Itezora, and number seven is Kanara Azekura?”

“Yep,” assented Shichika.

Togame was spot on.

She knew it all.26

“Not to make a huge generalization, but their styles were so basic. Azekura, he was the kind of guy who’d even make things harder for himself and accept disadvantageous terms. At the end of the day, I’d say they were about equal─apart from the fact that Konayuki beat me the first time around.”

“Let it go already,” Togame groaned. “I’ve warned you about wallowing in your losses.”

Therefore─in summary:

#1 Nanami Yasuri

#2 Hakuhei Sabi

#3 Komori Maniwa

#4 Meisai Tsuruga

#5 Ginkaku Uneri

#6 Konayuki Itezora

#7 Kanara Azekura

That was how Shichika would rank his battles so far.

No more than his personal opinion─but still.

“I see, thanks for clarifying,” Emonzaemon said when he was finished. “Everything is clear now─the exceptional cases of Nanami Yasuri and Hakuhei Sabi aside, you have a low tolerance for people playing tricks27 on you.”

“…!”

Shichika was taken aback.

He was right─the ranking made this all too clear.

In terms of raw power and sheer ability,28 Komori Maniwa and Meisai Tsuruga didn’t hold a candle to Konayuki Itezora or Kanara Azekura─but fighting Komori and Meisai had been much more of a struggle.

And why? Because they didn’t simply fight him.

They wove confounding webs.29

Played─tricks.

And the same could be said─of Ginkaku Uneri and his Danger Zone.

“These two who, as you put it, were too basic─do you realize how strange that is? Everybody has a strategy, as Madame Schemer demonstrated so strikingly in your bouts against Hakuhei Sabi and Nanami Yasuri.”

“Hey,” Togame said, hearing her name. “No reason to get all proud for making such an observation. You think I didn’t notice all of this?”

“…”

Shichika was about to tell her not to bother lying, but reconsidered, since maybe she had noticed after all.

“I’m sure you did. Which goes to say─why Kyotoryu is nothing without you, Madame Schemer. Just as I would be nothing without the Princess…”

With that.

Emonzaemon spun around again, facing the road ahead.

Shichika racked his brains to understand the meaning of his question─and soon thought up one possibility.

So long as Togame and the Princess were rivals.

There would come a day─when Shichika would fight Emonzaemon.

Which is why Shichika had been availing himself of the opportunity to observe every little thing about Emonzaemon─who had to be doing the same thing with him.

Trying to spot the weaknesses of Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu.

If that’s what he was up to, he had done a marvelous job of it.

─But that’s okay.

He was still okay.

Like Emonzaemon said, as long as he had Togame, she would more than make up for his weaknesses─

“No good,” said Emonzaemon, as if peering into Shichika’s soul. “Worrying30 will get you nowhere, Kyotoryu─even if I learn all of your weaknesses, I’m no match for a swordsman of your caliber, who beat the likes of Nanami Yasuri and Hakuhei Sabi. You can trust that I’ll do all I can to avoid a tussle with you. Isn’t that right, Madame Schemer.”

Togame glared at Emonzaemon, making it clear that she was not entirely convinced.

“In that case, why not tell your precious princess to stop meddling in my affairs─I’d rather not collaborate with her.”

“Quite right, except the Princess would never take my advice─believe me, Kyotoryu. You have bigger things to worry about.”

“Bigger things?”

“Alright, we’re here.”

After heading straight for some time.

They took a turn─and Emonzaemon cut off their conversation.

“This is it─Lake Fuyo.”

Edo’s Lake Fuyo, a Level One Disaster Area.

There was─

Nothing but rubbish31 as far as the eye could see.

At Seiryoin Gokenji Temple, that holy site for swordsmen, on Mt. Sayabashiri in Tosa, Shichika Yasuri had battled his own sister, Nanami Yasuri, once the strongest in Japan and bane of the Maniwa Bug Unit, every last Itezora save Konayuki, and the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei─annihilating, devastating, and eradicating32 all of them…and unanimously33 proclaimed a monster by whosoever heard the tale. But after his miraculous victory, which collected Akuto the Eel, their seventh Mutant Blade─Shichika found himself at the end of his rope.

Togame the Schemer had launched her Sword Hunt armed only with a knowledge of the whereabouts and owners of six of the Shikizaki masterworks.

All six of which─the Leveler, the Razor, the Legion, the Whisper, the Armor, and the Twin─were now in their possession.

True, they had gleaned bits of information on the remaining six swords along the way. By forging an alliance with Hohoh Maniwa, effectively the head of the entire ninja clan (reluctant as Togame was to partner up with them, after they stabbed her in the back), they learned two Mutant Blades awaited them in Edo and in Tendo, respectively─although taking information from a ninja at face value was perhaps unwise. While Hohoh was the one who filled them in on what Nanami had been up to, he had surely only done so because telling them was beneficial to the Maniwa.

When it came to vanquishing that monster, Nanami Yasuri, there was no one better suited for the job than her own brother, Shichika Yasuri.

In fact─

If he hadn’t been her brother─Shichika would likely not have won against Nanami.

And thus, Shichika and Togame returned briefly, or rather, finally to Owari.

Owari─the seat of the Yanari Shogunate.

They had hoped to return after capturing Sento the Legion at Triad Shrine, but then they had the duel with Hakuhei Sabi, and were duped by Kanara Azekura, and had to fend off Nanami Yasuri, of all people, postponing34 their return indefinitely─

But at last.

The two of them had made it back.

Shichika’s first impression was how severe35 the city was.

To be sure, it lacked the glitziness and gaiety36 of the Capital, the first place they had visited after crossing over from Haphazard Island to the mainland─but it was not without an air of dignity, most likely the result of being under the administration of the bakufu.

And also─it was huge.

Everything about the town was big.

The streets─were wide.

“This is what planned cities look like,” explained Togame. “It’s laid out to prepare for earthquakes. See how there’s space between the buildings? It’s been predicted that this area is due for a big earthquake at some point, so the city is designed to maintain order during that kind of a disaster.”

“Wow─kind of incredible that the Yanari Bakufu decided to base itself in such an area.”

“I think that we can rest assured the big one isn’t going to hit while we’re alive. Besides, I don’t put faith in prophecies.”

“I bet not. It’s up to each of us to shape our fate─and all that?”

“Not quite,” Togame laughed. “It’s up to each of us to chalk it up37 to fate.”

If you chalk your successes up to fate, you can avoid sounding smug; and if you chalk your failures up to fate, you just don’t feel as bitter─

In her opinion.

Shichika could see the truth in that.

As they loped into the residential area, they found themselves surrounded by the homes of all the bakufu higher-ups, where the streets were all the more stark and stately. Even Shichika, the eternal optimist,38 caught himself tensing up─the place gave off a different vibe than any other place they’d visited. Owari Castle loomed beyond the rooflines of the homes─a league above Gekoku Castle.

Is that─

Is that where Togame─works?

Is that─her enemy?

The thought made Shichika even more tense.

For Togame, this was her hometown and her home base─but also the heart of enemy territory. She’d spent a couple of decades of her life here.

How she felt about that defies imagination.

To Shichika, raised on a desert island─it was incomprehensible.

Which stopped him from shooting the breeze with Togame, who was now slightly ahead of him.

Before long, he saw a house that stood out from the local color, or lack thereof, and felt his anxiety slip away.

He couldn’t resist pointing it out to Togame.

“Hey, check out that crazy mansion─the one painted like a toy and decked out with enough ornaments for the entire neighborhood. Man, get a load of those bright golden fish things39 at the corners of the roof… Not like I’m one to talk, but I guess you can find obtuse40 people anywhere you go… So tasteless. Looks like someone is desperate to be the center of attention.”

“This is my house.”

Amidst this exchange.

After eight long months away─Togame the Schemer was finally home.

Evidently, she had hired somebody to keep the house in order─to come by once a week and keep it looking clean. Since today was not the scheduled day, Togame’s house, known commonly as Schemer Mansion, was empty.

The space was far less brash and brilliant than you might expect from its exterior─Togame explained that she had done her absolute best to clear things out before embarking on the Sword Hunt. She must have understood she wasn’t coming home for quite some time. Either that, or she was putting on a show41 for her neighbors in Owari, making it clear that she was serious about her venture.

“I’d love to fix you some tea, but I’m afraid I need to head straight to the castle. I’m sorry, Shichika, but you’ll have to wait here until I’m done.”

Having taken a quick breather, Togame was in the midst of changing for her visit with the shogun. She couldn’t simply show up in her travel clothes (not that double a dozen layers of kimono made any sense for someone on the move). As usual, Shichika had started helping her get dressed before she had the chance to ask. He was getting pretty good at it, too.

“Wait here?” Shichika asked. “I thought you were gonna introduce me to the people at the castle…”

“That was the initial plan42─but things have changed. After the resurgence of that nasty woman, I’m afraid that bringing you inside the castle─is too risky.”

“Risky…for me?”

“No. For me,” Togame said. “I’ll stow my sword for this trip to the castle. And honestly, I think that’s for the best─especially with Emonzaemon around… Hey, quit looking so glum. So far, the Sword Hunt has been flawless─in order to gather all the information that we’ll need to capture the remaining swords, we may need to reside in Owari for a while. Which means that you’ll be living here, for the time being.”

“Here in this mansion?”

“Yes. In this tasteless mansion.”

She was bruised.43

Black and blue.

“The sooner you get used to it the better─I’ve gotten rid of almost all my things, so we’ll have to do some shopping. And hire some new help… Oh dear. Life’s so much easier when you’re traveling.”

And with that.

Togame─headed off in the direction of Owari Castle.

Leaving Shichika idle.

He did his best to get used to the place, wandering up and down the halls, but in no time he had seen it all. Schemer Mansion was a grand affair, befitting someone of Togame’s social standing, but not so vast that you could lose your way.44 He thought about taking a nap, but snoring away45 while Togame was off at the castle, hard at work, felt wrong to him.

Not sure of how else to spend his time, he stepped out into the garden (which looked so trim and tidy that it must have been included in the weekly property maintenance) and tried practicing his moves, but found it hard to focus.

About half an hour later.

When Shichika was gazing at Owari Castle, in the distance beyond the garden walls, and wondering when Togame would be coming home─

“No see, long time.”

Shichika heard a voice─behind him.

Startled, he spun around─(how on earth had he snuck up on him?)─and saw Emonzaemon Soda.

Shichika had seen this face before, at the harborside in Tosa─though since Emonzaemon wore a mask, he couldn’t rightfully say that he had actually seen his face─

“It’s been a while─no, not that long a while, Kyotoryu,” spake Emonzaemon. “I gather that you vanquished Nanami Yasuri. It sounds to me as if your sibling rivalry46 had become spliced together with the Sword Hunt─but anyway, as a fellow warrior, I salute you.”

“How the heck did you get in here?” asked Shichika.

“I walked right in,” the lieutenant answered blandly. “When I came through the gate, I spotted you out back─it seemed like you were busy practicing, so I refrained from interrupting you. And here we are.”

“Don’t sneak up on people like that.”

“Please forgive me,” Emonzaemon said unapologetically. “Sneaking is my strong suit.”

Forget how he’d gotten in here─why was he here at all?

“Togame…isn’t home right now,” Shichika did his best to read between the lines. “She’s over at the castle.”

“Yeah, I know─that’s why I’m here.”

“That’s why? You mean that you were sent by Princess…what’s her name?”

“Princess Negative,” Emonzaemon answered brusquely. “Don’t call her Princess What’s-Her-Name─ever again.”

His voice was quiet and relaxed─but Shichika had hit a nerve.47

─This guy is loyal.

But that made sense to Shichika.

To be sure, if Emonzaemon had called Togame “What’s-Her-Facer,” Shichika would have been equally upset.

“As servant to the Princess, I’d only be here if she sent me─I act only upon orders from Her Highness.”

“Alright, so did something happen─at the castle?”

Shichika was concerned.

And Emonzaemon could sense it.

“No need to be alarmed. It’s not like that.”

Not like that─what was it then?

Shichika steeled himself48─but Emonzaemon didn’t care.

“In no time, Madame Schemer collected seven of the Twelve Possessed not even the Old Shogun could obtain. Her superiors showered her with praise and encouraged her enthusiastically to proceed in her quest. Madame Schemer has made quite the splash─and yet she didn’t even smile, which is either commendable, or just stuck up.”49

“…And?”

“Your Sword Hunt is far from over─and the Princess,” Emonzaemon lowered his voice to a whisper, “has information─on the remaining swords.”

“…”

“Because the Princess is eager to share this information with Madame Schemer, she has invited her to visit her estate─asking her to stop by on her way home from the castle. But since in practice, Kyotoryu, you’re the one who physically collects the swords, it wouldn’t do for you to not be present─hence why I’ve come to pick you up.”

So that’s why he’s here─now Shichika understood.

Togame had been reluctant to reveal Shichika, her sword, to Princess Negative, her nemesis─but the way things were playing out, she had no choice.

The Sword Hunt was their everything.

If someone had a lead on the Twelve Possessed─like it or not, they had no say50 in the matter. Transparent as her interlocutor’s agenda may have been, Togame was in no position to keep her personal sword a secret.

Meeting not at the castle, but at home─was a smart way of finding common ground.

The Princess appeared ready to compromise.

So long as the terms were favorable to her.51

“So is Togame─already at the Princess’s house?”

“Yeah─by the way, Kyotoryu. Madame Schemer knows the Princess sent someone to fetch you─but not that the person happens to be me.”

“…”

If she had known, Shichika mused, she wouldn’t have agreed.

He realized this entire story could be some kind of trap laid by the Princess─at this point, however, it made little sense for her to lay one trap on top of the other. But say she did. Shichika was not about to drive himself crazy second-guessing a woman who saw herself as comparable to the Schemer. He decided not to think about it.

Shichika only cared about one thing.

And that was the extent to which they could rely on information on the Possessed─when it was coming from Princess Negative.

It was possible the whole thing was codswallop, a hoax52─merely a pretext for luring in Togame and Shichika.

But it was hard to say… Would someone of the Princess’s standing really tell them such a boldfaced lie? If she blew things out of proportion, and sabotaged the state-mandated53 Sword Hunt, she was sure to lose face54 in the process.

Even Shichika could understand that.

This made him doubt it was a total lie.

Of course, this only mattered─if the Princess was concerned with losing face…

Shichika tried pushing back a little, just to see what happened.

“But Togame asked me to watch her house.”

“Why watch a house if nobody is home?” rejoindered Emonzaemon. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it your job to protect Madame Schemer?”

“I guess─you’re right.”

“Well then, it seems you have no choice but to come with me. I’m the second biggest threat to Madame Schemer─as long as she is in this place we call Owari.”

“…”

“No mistake─it’s not in your best interest55 to leave me to my own devices. Shall we?”

Emonzaemon had really talked him into it.

Shichika had no stomach for this kind of repartee─raised on a desert island, he never learned to hold his own in a debate. Somehow, despite being raised in the same circumstances, Nanami Yasuri had something of a way with words, but rhetoric was not among Shichika’s talents.

It may well be his best bet was to stand his ground and watch the house, following orders from Togame─still.

Something told him Emonzaemon meant what he said.

As somebody devoted to his master, just like Shichika.

In the end─after some more deliberation─he left Schemer Mansion with Emonzaemon.

Heading for Mansion Negative.

Located in a patch of forest56 on the other side of the castle, this was a home fit for a samurai─stark and stately as can be, the polar opposite of the tasteless Schemer Mansion. In fact, Mansion Negative was perhaps the sternest residence in the entire residential area.

The power of its habitant was palpable.

They found Togame waiting by the gate, refusing to go further until Shichika arrived. The Schemer was not about to access the estate without her sword─that much was clear. When she saw him arriving with Emonzaemon, she froze with panic, but immediately caught herself.

“What the hell!” she said. “Why’d you have to come along with him? If you’d stayed home, I could’ve used that as an excuse not to see that nasty woman.”

“Oh, sorry, I just─”

“It’s fine. Now that she’s hinted57 at this info on the Twelve Possessed─I would’ve had to meet with her at some point anyway.”

Togame’s words did little to conceal her foul mood.

According to Emonzaemon, her superiors had showered her with praise─but perhaps that victory withered in the shadow of a tête-à-tête with Princess Negative.

“To think that I just came back to Owari! She got one over58 on me.”

Princess Negative.

Archnemesis59 of Togame the Schemer─

“There’ll be time to talk about that later,” said Emonzaemon. “You’ll keep the Princess waiting. Head inside.”

At Mansion Negative.

In one of its many chambers─

Togame the Schemer and Shichika Yasuri.

Took audience─with Princess Negative.

“Hmh…”

Thus.

Following a period of silence─

“Heh, heheh…hah, haha ha!”

Princess Negative─laughed.

At first, she seemed to stifle herself, but there was no stifling this laughter─the whole room filled with her uproarious guffaws.

“Looks─looks great on you.”

“…”

It would seem─she was referring to Togame’s haircut.

Up until last month, Togame the Schemer had let her white hair grow so long it almost interfered with her mobility, but now it was cropped short at the shoulders. She suffered this dear loss2 at Gokenji Temple in Tosa, in the leadup to the fight against Nanami Yasuri; it would appear her hair had never been this short since entering the bakufu, as Princess Negative was quite enthused by how girlish it made her look.

Understandable.

It suited her absurdly well.

Just after it was snipped off, Shichika had felt a little weird about the way it looked, but the white bob matched her face so perfectly it made it hard for him to remember what she looked like with long hair.

Though he knew better not to say as much.

Princess Negative, however, had come right out and said it.

─Princess Negative.

Togame had done her best to conceal Shichika from Princess Negative─but just as Princess Negative had insisted that Shichika join her, so that she could size him up, Shichika was dying to learn more about the Princess, his owner’s mortal enemy─

He studied the woman who was pompously occupying the seat of honor3 and holding her stomach and cracking up.

─I can’t just watch and learn like sis.

But he watched nevertheless─for information.

Focused.

On her eye-catching appearance.

Eye-catching─yet her clothing was not overly embellished like the brash and brilliant finery of Togame, or bespoke like the suit of Emonzaemon Soda. The fact is her kimono, though fine enough for someone of her class and status, was a little on the plain side.

What caught the eye was not her clothing─but herself.

Long hair of gold.

Blue eyes.

Clear, white skin─

“…”

She was─not Japanese.4

Shichika had seen a person like this only once, when they were down in Kyushu fixing to capture Zokuto the Armor─someone from a foreign land, across the sea.

Princess Negative.

Blond hair and dazzling blue eyes.

What made her striking was her presence in Japan, whose isolationist policy all but banned relations with the outside world. If she returned to where she came from, she would have disappeared into the crowd.

In that sense, perhaps there was no cause for alarm─but one thing was for sure. In all that Shichika had learned about the world in his eight months away from home, the idea of a foreigner being installed so close to the heart of the bakufu made no sense.

─Don’t foreigners speak other languages?

But the Princess spoke Japanese─impeccably.5

Full of questions, Shichika shot a look at Togame, seated beside him─but she would not look at him. Her eyes were locked on Princess Negative, and her face was flushed red with shame at being laughed at.

Eventually it seemed the Princess had laughed as much as she could laugh.6

“First and foremost,” Togame began. “You must have known that the word ‘Cheerio’─comes from another language.”

Yikes, that’s foremost?

Shichika was appalled. Togame had spoken with the utmost seriousness, which made it all the more absurd.

The Princess must have felt the same, and had herself another laugh.

“What, cat’s out of the bag?”7

So─she had known.

“…”

Speechless─Togame stood.

Following suit, the Princess stood as well.

In a succession of footsteps, they closed the distance between them.

Before Shichika was able to exhibit a reaction, the two of them were in the center of the chamber, on the verge of colliding─staring each other down.

Their faces all but smooshed together.

In sooth, their noses rubbed.

In contrast to the petite Togame, Princess Negative was quite tall (─At least as tall as Meisai Tsuruga, probably taller). This meant that Togame was glaring up at her, and Princess Negative was glaring down.

Togame with her arms crossed─Princess Negative with her hands clasped behind her head.

Practically shooting sparks.

Inapproachable.

Yikes.8

Shichika was genuinely terrified.

That the both of them─the two of them were smiling, at least outwardly, was scariest of all.

“I thought I’d crushed you for good─your stubbornness is absolutely stupefying. Why can’t you go and die already?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not so weak9 as to be killed off by the likes of you─I’ll keep coming back to life until I’ve spilled10 your guts and found out every deep, dark secret that they harbor.”

“Just go ahead and try. The abyss inside of me is far too deep and dark for you to handle. You’ll just keep coming back into the same scenario, until one day I’ll crush you once and for all─but why not end things now, once and for all?”

“Unacceptable─I refuse. I’d wager that you’ve lost your chance to take me down─I wager the tables have turned, so that it’s me who crushes you. Without a trace─unlike some people, I don’t make mistakes.”

“Be my guest─I’ll gladly put you in your place.”

“Please, allow me. Once you’re in hell, you can hatch all the schemes and rotten eggs11 you want.”

“Quit running your mouth. It’s over. Give it up, you nasty woman.”

“Ditto that. I’ve got you where I want you. Nasty, nasty woman.”

Princess Negative produced a metal fan12 from her kimono─and snapped it open.

Almost involuntarily, Togame backed up and took her seat by Shichika, while the Princess returned to her place of honor.

“Well then, shall we talk business?”

“Sure, why not.”

…

Huh? Was that their way of saying hello?

Shichika looked back and forth between Togame and the Princess, who to his astonishment were carrying on like nothing happened─talking business.

Business.

In other words, about the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki─

“First off─I have to say you’ve done a fabulous job. Truly. No wonder they call you the Schemer. In seven short months, you’ve captured seven of the Twelve Possessed. Astonishing.”

“I started the Sword Hunt a little before I got the first one, so it’s seven months only if you start counting from the first moon─”

“Or from the point where Mr. Kyotoryu became your sword,” the Princess brought Shichika into the conversation.

She closed her fan and pointed at him with its tip.

“Hello, Shichika─I’m Princess Negative.”

“Howdy.”

He bowed perfunctorily.

“Shichika!” Togame’s angry voice rang out beside him. “Don’t bow to scum like her.”

So strict.

“Heheheh,” Princess Negative couldn’t help but laugh seeing this.

He was so different─from what she had imagined.

She hadn’t thought the sword would be so affable.

Then again, the Princess got her mental picture secondhand from Emonzaemon Soda, so it was bound to be a little biased─

“By the way, where did that guy go?” Shichika asked the Princess.

Not fearful in the least.

Thanks to his sheltered upbringing.

“Emonzaemon─the Lieutenant. Isn’t he your confidant13 or something?”

“Oh, him. He’s in the ceiling.” Using her fan, the Princess pointed upwards. “He has an awfully dismal mug on him. Just looking at him is enough to get you down─so when I need him, I have him stay behind the ceiling, and not show himself.”

“…”

Poor guy…

Shichika took pity on him earnestly.

“That mask,” explained the Princess, “is there for his own good, but he’s so hopelessly gloomy14 that no mask can conceal it.”

“…”

That’s enough…15

“Bah.” Togame puffed out her chest exultantly. “I’ve never forced Shichika to do something so silly.”

“…”

Except for when you forced me to use that silly catchphrase, Shichika mused─but he kept his mouth shut.

He wouldn’t want to make his owner look bad.

No use having a spitting contest about that sort of thing.

Anyway─it would appear that Emonzaemon was hiding in the ceiling. And unclear as his thoughts were on this exchange between Togame and the Princess─they could assume that he was listening, and Shichika needed to keep that in mind. For Togame, this was no less than an unspoken premise of the meeting, no doubt─

“So there. I just felt like lending you a helping hand. I couldn’t sit back and watch when you were doing your damned best to round up those swords, not after everything we’ve been through─hence sending Emonzaemon to find you.”

“Quit putting me on─I know you’re just trying to do away with me.”

“Perhaps. But remember, I am Inspector General of the Yanari Shogunate. In my position, I can’t let a character16 like you run rampant.”

“Character? Try looking in the mirror, Princess.”

“Me? I’m no such thing. But we digress─I caught wind of something interesting that you should know. I’ve been waiting.”

“Waiting, huh. That’s just your style,” Togame took the Princess’s remark in stride. “Go on, I’m all ears. You happen to have caught us at a standstill─for now, I’m learning everything I can. If you have some valuable information, I’d be absolutely thrilled to hear it.”

“Sounds like you’re not expecting much.”

“’Course not. From you I expect nothing. But let me warn you, out of kindness: If whatever you’re about to tell me turns out to be bogus,17 even if you think it’s true─I’ll use it as an excuse to crush you.”

“Scary stuff─but you don’t need to remind me. I remember just the other day─the last time you pulled that one on me and crushed me. Splat!”

The Princess cackled.

She sure laughed a lot.

Even laughing off being beaten─Shichika thought, dumbfounded.

“Make no mistake, this tip is solid18─trust me, I’d be upset if something disrupted your Sword Hunt.”

“Upset? How come?” Togame sounded genuinely perplexed. “You belong to an entirely separate branch of government. What do you care whether the Sword Hunt is a success?”

“Because your work portends all kinds of political implications for me─or not so much implications, but complications.19 I hope to capitalize on your success, think of it that way. That must be clear to you, now that you’ve returned to the castle. The lords of the keep are paying close attention to your progress─at this point, no portion of the bakufu is truly separate from your quest to track down all the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki.”

“…”

In other words, they had tasked Togame with the Sword Hunt─though for the record, it had been her own idea─without actually believing it was realistic.

No way she’ll succeed.

That had been their thinking.

But now that she had landed more than half the swords, possessing seven of the twelve─the scheme was a reality.

No longer merely a fancy─they could practically taste it.20

It was happening.

“I had been waiting for you to gain traction─I’ll admit that the appearance of that monster Nanami Yasuri was more than I had bargained for, but once you started heading for the eighth sword, the mood inside the bakufu changed entirely. I knew that I was free to make a move. Able to step up and assist you.”

“I don’t recall requesting your assistance. Are you trying to take credit for my work?”

“I can’t reject that idea entirely. I’d have no chance in the Sword Hunt with Emonzaemon─but I’m sincere about lending you a hand.”

“Are you about to tell me where I might find the five remaining swords, and who owns them?”

“Sadly, no,” said Princess Negative─shaking her head.

Negating Togame’s expectations.

“Oh. You aren’t?” Togame did not sound even slightly disappointed. “No offense, Princess, but I could care less about your info if it’s not─”

“Not even if it concerns Kiki Shikizaki himself?”

These words─were unexpected.

Togame had been interrupted in the middle of her sentence, but let it go.

The Princess giggled.

“Lake Fuyo in Edo. You know the place?”

“Yeah─of course I do,” Togame answered carefully, trying to feel out her rival’s motive. “The Level One Disaster Area, like Mt. Odori in Ezo and Mt. Shirei in Mutsu─right?”

“Exactly,” said the Princess. “But were you aware that Lake Fuyo─is the place Kiki Shikizaki kept his workshop?”21

“Wha…?!”

Togame leaned forward, stupefied.

“That’s where he had─his workshop?”

“Correct. In that uninhabitable terrain, the only of the three Level One Disaster Areas devoid of human life, the legendary swordsmith built his base of operations. Although,” the Princess corrected herself glibly,22 “I suppose Mt. Odori and Mt. Shirei are devoid of life by now as well.”

Workshop─the word set Shichika thinking.

Did it mean that Lake Fuyo─was where Kiki Shikizaki made his swords?

“Of course, there were exceptions, like Soto the Twin. It isn’t where he made all of the Twelve Possessed. But evidently, he crafted the majority of the thousand Mutant Blades at Lake Fuyo in Edo.”

The forge where Kiki Shikizaki made his swords.

Locating the workshop of swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki, who despite being so legendary, or perhaps due to his legendary status, was essentially an enigma─would be most valuable indeed. If they perused his forge, surely they would find some information on the five remaining swords.

Hearing this made Shichika remember something.

The same thing that Togame recalled at the mention of Lake Fuyo: when Hohoh Maniwa proposed his alliance with Togame back in Satsuma, he had dropped23 some information.

A sword at Mt. Shirei in Mutsu─which Nanami Yasuri had captured.

A sword in Tendo, in Dewa─whose presence they had yet to verify.

And another sword─at Lake Fuyo in Edo.

“Apparently this, evidently that…not at all what I would call reliable information.”

“That’s just my way of speaking. The leads are solid. Although I can’t tell you who tipped me off.”

“But you said so yourself, Princess…that place is uninhabitable.”

“Which makes it the perfect setting for producing the secret and elusive Mutant Blades! But remember, Kiki Shikizaki made his magic swords hundreds of years ago, during the Age of Warring States. Needless to say, Lake Fuyo had not as yet received its designation as a Level One Disaster Area, since the Owari Bakufu who came up with that designation didn’t exist either. That’s how long ago we’re talking. I suppose that means Lake Fuyo was far better off than it is now. You’d think so, anyway.”

“But─Skytron is still there.”

“Well, it probably wasn’t before Shikizaki─it can’t have existed since prehistoric times.”

Skytron?24

Naturally, Shichika was flummoxed by the appearance of this strange word in Togame’s conversation with the Princess─but the ladies made it sound like the most natural thing and carried on before he had a chance to get a word in.

“Chew on this, Miss Schemer. Remember when the Onmitsu got laughed at for their wacky intel25 on Lake Fuyo? You know, the Onmitsu you took your anger out on when the Maniwa betrayed you.”

“That wasn’t my intention. Bad luck for them.”

“Was it? You certainly did nothing to save them.”

“Because I owed them nothing.”

“Hahaha.”

“Well, what was this intel of theirs? I can’t seem to recall.”

“My dear, your memory is full of holes. They came back saying Skytron had been installed at Lake Fuyo to protect something─ring any bells?”

“Ah, I remember that.”

Togame slapped her knee.

Like a cliché26 of a person recollecting something.

“In that case, I was probably laughing with the rest of them. There’s nothing to protect out by Lake Fuyo─”

“But what if it’s protecting Kiki Shikizaki’s workshop?”

“…”

This time, Togame was left speechless.

It took the words right out of her mouth.

“Hundreds of years after Kiki Shikizaki reigned over the Age of Warring States, I dare say Skytron is still out there, protecting the old workshop.”

Though called a lake on maps, it hadn’t been one for at least a thousand years─from a time dizzyingly far into the past, it was what you might call a garbage dump.

A place, as the name would suggest, for disposing27 of unnecessary things─nay, the word dispose suggests waste management, which is far from applicable─since people simply tossed their rubbish in the water.

Over the years, discarded rubbish sank into the bottom of the lake, then piled ever higher through its depths─until finally the lake was filled.28

Overfilled.29

A lake filled in with unnecessary rubbish.

A badland made from scraps of wood and metal.

This is how Lake Fuyo looked today.

As it turned out, Shichika and Togame barely had a chance to catch their breath in Owari. Wasting no time, they took leave of Mansion Negative, packed up their things, and headed straightaway for Edo─which brings us at long last back to the present moment, with Togame the Schemer and the Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu, Shichika Yasuri, newly arrived at Lake Fuyo.

Emonzaemon Soda, who had led the way, had just made himself scarce─announcing that his work was done, he bid the two of them good day. Shichika was slightly miffed, since after leading them to Tosa the lieutenant had stayed on to make sure they got their bearings, but Emonzaemon insisted that he had another order from the Princess to fulfill.

He declined to mention what this order was, but being from the Princess, it was bound to be a tall30 one.

Shichika had plenty of sympathy for Emonzaemon.

It was almost like he was sympathizing with himself, in a way.

They were in the same proverbial boat.31

In any case, after about a week, Shichika finally had Togame to himself again─although as luck would have it, not for long.

Crossing the field of rubbish, at this point only nominally a lake, they took great care in choosing where to step (sharp pieces of metal threatening to slice their feet), and a little ways ahead─this thing came into view.

“…”

At first─he thought it was a person.

Another human being.

Or at the very least, something designed to resemble one─but upon closer examination, it became all too apparent that this thing was not a person.

For starters─it was made of metal.

It had four arms, two on each side of its body.

Its head was complete with a face, eyes, and a nose; and hair, or something like it, had been planted in its scalp. It even wore a tattered kimono─but it was clearly not a human.

Because it was─

“A robot.”32

A life-size─mechanical doll.

On their journey, he had seen a doll that served you tea33─was this like a deluxe34 version of that?

“That’s it,” Togame said. “That thing is Skytron.”

Why had the bakufu made Lake Fuyo a Level One Disaster Area?

In part, of course, because it was extremely hazardous, filled to the brim with rubbish no one wanted─but the main reason? Lake Fuyo was inhabited by Skytron.

Which is the same reason that nobody lived here, unlike Mt. Odori and Mt. Shirei.

Because of Skytron.

Indiscriminately and automatically felling anyone who so much as neared Lake Fuyo─

Skytron.

Each of its four arms─held a sword.

Like the Katana Buddha they had seen in Tosa─

“Are we okay?”

“We’re safe back here,” Togame said. “I’m pretty sure as long as we stay far enough away, it can’t pick up on us. I know it looks like it’s a person, but those eyes are merely decorative. It uses some kind of a sensor35 to make sense of its surroundings.”

“So, if we go closer─it’ll make a run at us?”

“Yep.”

“Uh, well, what’s next? From this far back─I can’t tell.”

“That’s fine, stick with the plan,” Togame said. “Okay, Shichika? Let’s go through this again─we’re just scoping things out. We’re not trying to finish anything today, right here, right now.”

“I get it.”

“I’ll admit I had my doubts, but I think that Princess Negative’s intelligence is sound─at this juncture, giving me false information would endanger her far more than me. In which case, the workshop of Kiki Shikizaki was somewhere in this lake bloated36 with rubbish, and the continuation of our Sword Hunt is dependent on pinpointing exactly where. To do so, we must get rid of Skytron, essentially the guardian of Lake Fuyo─but before we do, there are some things I must investigate.”

“I said I got it, Togame.”

“Alright,” she nodded. “Go have a look.”

Before she finished speaking, he sped off.

Though not straight for the machine─Skytron. Taking advantage of its inability to notice him, so long as he maintained the proper distance, Shichika made a grand circuit around Skytron as it marauded the field of trash on its four legs, until he caught it from behind─and pounced.

As soon as he did.

Skytron’s head─spun 180 degrees.

Turning to Shichika.

From this distance he could tell.

Skytron had been made─in the likeness of a young woman.

“HUMAN DETECTED”

Its mouth worked as the words came out.

“EXTERMINATE NOW”

Its four arms, wielding four swords─turned on Shichika.

In that instant, Shichika understood.

This verified what Togame had suspected.

The hunch she had, on top of what the Princess told them─Shichika was confident that Skytron was not simply here to guard Kiki Shikizaki’s workshop.

He felt the lifeforce.

That strange sensation Shichika experienced in the presence of a Mutant Blade─from this distance, he could feel it.

Coming from the four swords held by Skytron? Nay.

Coming from Skytron.

“…nkk.”

As Togame had predicted,37 this contraption was─

“BITO SUNDIAL”38

The words had come from39 Skytron.

Marauding1 the terrain of Lake Fuyo, she was the epitome of the unwanted trash abandoned all around her, the manifestation2 of refuse discarded well before its time has come.

The Queen of Rubbish.

That was Skytron’s sobriquet.3

An inanimate object with a vendetta against humanity.

An inhuman, mechanical swordsman.

Puppet4 sword, robotic5 sword.

True, neither Togame the Schemer, the realist, nor Princess Negative, the negativist, had believed the urban legends word for word─but Skytron could indeed be found at Lake Fuyo.

In that case, what was it doing there?

What reason did it have to be there?

If it was one of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki─that fact alone was plenty.

This is how Togame the Schemer saw things now.

She felt for certain Princess Negative had admitted this possibility, although she never said as much. The idea of Skytron being there to protect Kiki Shikizaki’s workshop led naturally toward such a conclusion.

The conjecture hadn’t been off the mark.

In truth, however, Princess Negative had no need to weigh the possibilities─not when she knew every detail of the story.

“Hey, Princess, one more thing,” Togame had turned around and asked her.

On their way out of Mansion Negative─

“What was that in the alcove? The pair of lumpy metal things.”

“Those? Oh, they’re just a decoration,” she’d brushed off the question.

“It doesn’t seem to fit your taste. Lemme guess, a crappy present? We’re heading to Lake Fuyo, after all. I’ll toss it for you.”

“Thanks so much,” the Princess had laughed, “but I’m afraid that won’t be necessary.”

While looking nothing like a warrior, the man did wear a sword─though there was something odd about its shape.

Compared with your average katana, the blade was inordinately narrow.

Even the scabbard was little over an inch wide.

Almost like─a rapier.7

Moreover, much like the strange sword at his hip, the clothing worn by this leisurely man was somewhat strange─like ninja garb, but sleeveless.

Chains wrapped around his body.

Indeed─

“You must be one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan─unless my eyes deceive me, Captain of the Fish Unit, Umigame Maniwa.”

The man─Umigame Maniwa turned around.

Whereupon he saw another man who was oddly attired─in a coat and trousers, clothing that was uncommon, or rather exceedingly rare, in that era. The top part of his face was covered by a mask emblazoned with the word “NON-NINJA.” Though they were plain compared to the one worn by Umigame, he wore a pair of swords: one big, one small.

“Hm─who the heck are you? How’d you know I’m Umigame Maniwa, the coolest, snazziest, strongest, handsomest, and richest of them all?”

Giving weight, leisurely yet confidently, to every word he uttered, the ninja pressed the strange man.

“You’re correct in guessing that I’m Umigame Maniwa, the coolest, snazziest, strongest, handsomest, and richest of them all─but I’ve never seen the likes of you before, you clown.8 I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“My name is Emonzaemon Soda.” Getting the hint, the man in the mask and trousers introduced himself. “Not off─I’m glad I found the right man. Since they call you the Immortal Turtle, I’d been expecting I would find an elderly gentleman, but now that we finally meet, I’m surprised to see how young you are. Frankly, I thought I must’ve had the wrong guy─but I’m glad that’s not the case.”

“Yeah? One look and anyone can see that I’m the coolest, snazziest, strongest, handsomest, and richest of them all, but if you know my alias,9 then you must really mean business… You said your name is Emonzaemon Soda? Not sure I’ve heard of you─that’s a pretty goofy name. An obvious pseudonym10 if I’ve ever heard one.”

“It’s not a pseudonym.”

The man in mask and trousers, Emonzaemon Soda, shook his head.

“It’s my real name─or it is now.”

“Whatever floats your boat,” said Umigame.

He gauged the distance between them.

His interlocutor stood a good number of paces away─as if he, too, were wary.

“Well? You’re the one who called to me. What do you want? I’m on a journey─kind of in a rush, in fact. So please, don’t hold me up, if you don’t mind.”

“You sure know how to stroll about for someone in a rush.”

“I’m the turtle. I take my time. If you ask me, most people need to chill.”

“Unfortunately,” said Emonzaemon, “holding you up is exactly what I’m here to do.”

“…”

Sure, muttered Umigame.

The man in mask and trousers─had been hostile from the first.

Not even concealing it, he seemed downright bloodthirsty.

“I’m not exactly confident in my memory, so I’ll ask you just in case─have we met?”

“No, this is the first time─and the last.”

“Salty,”11 admitted Umigame. “Makes me wish I said it first.”

Aiming at Emonzaemon’s shod feet, he flung a shuriken that he had extracted, stealthily, from his ninja garb.

With the utmost efficiency, the lieutenant stepped back, dodging the missile.

Umigame had not been expecting that the shuriken, his way of saying howdy-doo,12 would hit its target─but the way that Emonzaemon moved perplexed him.

─Hm.

That air.

“This can’t be anything personal? I don’t peddle in the sort of shoddy work that wins you enemies13─that Schemer girl is about the only person who has it in for me. Wait, don’t tell me that she sent you. According to Hohoh, we’ve supposedly forged some kind of an alliance─”

“Not involved,” Emonzaemon quietly negated.

Negated.

“I have no relations with Madame Schemer─but I do know that she’s at Lake Fuyo in Edo, trying to capture Bito the Sundial. I’m curious to see how the Kyotoryu stands up against that deranged contraption─curious indeed.”

“…”

Not sent for by the Schemer─

And yet this man knew who she was.

And knew about the Kyotoryu, her chosen weapon on the Sword Hunt.

Above all─he knew about the Sword Hunt.

Though looking calm as ever─on the inside Umigame felt his steady nature curdle.14

Lake Fuyo in Edo.

Where, according to the tip they had received from Hohoh Maniwa, his brother in arms, they could expect to find another of the swords. Hohoh said he didn’t know what kind of katana they would find─but evidently it was Bito the Sundial.

And yet…

“Am I correct,” Emonzaemon continued, twisting the knife,15 “to assume that you, too, Umigame Maniwa, are here in Shinano in search of yet another of the Twelve Possessed?”

“Please, are you serious?”

Umigame tried to play dumb, but what was the point?

The man sounded like he knew exactly what was up.

As if to prove it, Emonzaemon dropped some additional information on Umigame, which was news to him.

“It’s true that once upon a time─Ento the Bead could be found in this land. Assuming that’s what brings you here?”

Ento the Bead.16

That name.

Umigame had no idea what it was the sword entailed─but Emonzaemon said its name like it was an old friend.

He made it clear, however─that the sword was there no more.

When this sank in, Umigame shed the last traces of his smile. That carefree air was gone entirely. His mien shifted, turning treacherous,17 as if he had donned a different mask─to glare at Emonzaemon.

“Who the hell are you?” asked Umigame─taking one step closer. “Why are you here?”

“I told you, I’m here to hold you up. Though for the most part, we’ll let you Maniwa Bosses do your thing─on account of this alliance with Madame Schemer, I’m not about to mess things up for you… You’re free to go about the Sword Hunt as you please. That said, I don’t claim to understand what Hohoh Maniwa has in mind…”

“How do you know Hohoh?”

Though Umigame had casually mentioned him earlier, Emonzaemon had spoken as if that wasn’t the first time he’d heard about the Divine Phoenix.

His delivery suggested he and Hohoh knew of one another.

But in answer to Umigame’s question─

“No reply,” he said. “It’s none of your business whether he and I are old acquaintances or strangers… As a general rule, we’d like to leave you to your own devices. As long as you don’t try and snatch Ento the Bead─”

“…?”

“Go ahead and claim any of the other Mutant Blades, but the Bead is off-limits. If you delve any deeper─you just might arrive at the Princess.”

The Princess?

That word─gave Umigame pause.

Right─he remembered.

There were two she-devils18 at the center of the bakufu─

Two women whose true origins and real names were unknown.

The first being the Whitehaired Schemer─needless to say.

The Grand Commander of Arms, with whom the Maniwa had dealt extensively.

And the second─

“Princess Negative…” muttered Umigame─stepping back just as he had stepped forward.

Princess Negative.

Inspector General of the Yanari Shogunate.

“Do you work for─Princess Negative?”

It made sense. From the way he called Togame “Madame Schemer” and spoke about her circumstances, one could be forgiven for assuming he not only knew about her, but knew her personally, in which case…

─Princess Negative.

According to Hohoh─she had made a comeback just a few months prior.

He recalled the twinge of dread he had experienced when he heard─and why? Because she had been toppled by none other than the Maniwa.

In a maneuver led by Togame the Schemer.

Well, that would explain how this man knew Hohoh. And Umigame’s alias─

“Is this some kind of a retaliation?”19 Umigame let out a little breath and asked Emonzaemon. “Is the Princess seeking vengeance20─on what happened to her last?”

“Please. Princess Negative rejects such nonsense─she wouldn’t waste her time retaliating. She’s given up on you entirely. Hence─the choice to let you do your thing. As long as you steer clear of the Bead.”

“What’s so special about that one sword? Wait a second, are you saying that the Princess has Ento the Bead in her possession? And keeping it a secret from the bakufu?”

“Well done. Leave it to a ninja.”

Umigame had not asked him with the utmost confidence─he could have seen it either way.

Yet unfortunately─his guess had been correct.

Not good.

Without realizing─he had waltzed into the lion’s mouth.21 If he had known it would be this way, he would have partnered up, like Pengin had with Hohoh. He had never meant to pick a fight with Princess Negative.

But then again, the fact that Oshidori wasn’t with him was a blessing, really. Perhaps Hohoh and Pengin─but Oshidori would have made it hard to extricate themselves from this situation.

This man would not have been tasked with an errand of this magnitude if he were merely working under Princess Negative─he had to be a close aide.

Which meant he was no pushover.

“I’m afraid,” said Emonzaemon, “you’re in over your head.”

“…”

“If you’re a ninja, be a ninja─and if you’re a pushover, play the part. You had the chance to shy away from the limelight of history, but you had to outrun all the others and almost reach the core. You got so close─if Madame Schemer and the Kyotoryu had suffered even one more unexpected interference, I doubt that I’d have caught you, and you would have been the first to arrive at the historical truth. A close call.”

“History? Historical? What are you saying? I don’t understand.”

“No need to understand─when you’re about to die. You almost made it. Just a little further─good luck in your next history.”

Stepping over the shuriken lodged at his feet, Emonzaemon approached Umigame and slowly drew his sword from its scabbard.

“Hey, wait a second. Wait!”

Umigame─

Threw both hands in the air.

“S-So I touched something untouchable, or I’ve been messing where I shouldn’t have been? Fine, fine, I apologize. It really was an accident─”

“…”

“I give up, okay? I never wanted any part of this Sword Hunt in the first place. Since everyone else was onboard, I got the sense it wasn’t the right time to stick my neck out and figured I had no choice but to join them. Or at least pretend to join them, see? I mean, I’m only here in Shinano to see the sights─I love this place, Shinano. Great spot.”

“Even if all that were true, I’ve told you too much. As far as I’m concerned, you have no right to live another day.”

“Quit sounding so scary─oh, right, I’ve got a great idea. How’s about you and me buddy up? I’m getting pretty sick of being in the Maniwa. Too many wise guys22 running around─unlike the old days. See, I may look this way, but it’s all just cosmetic,23 and I’m actually pretty old. About as old as you, I’d reckon. And yet, that Kawauso insists on making fun of me. Ah, but I guess he’s no longer with us, is he─”

Then.

Once he had said as much─Umigame sprang to action.

The hands he had been holding high dropped─to bare his sword.

Emonzaemon had continued coming closer, undeterred by Umigame’s speech, until the man was almost within range.

Umigame was a ninja.

Dirty deeds were how he made a living─begging for his life, however insincerely, was fine by him.

Besides, it had given him a chance to gauge the length of Emonzaemon’s longsword─and his own rapier was slightly longer! If he reached his arm out all the way─

“…nkk!”

Shaken─Emonzaemon shrank back.

With the breadth24 of his sword, he parried Umigame, who had been aiming for his heart─but that was all it took.

That was enough─to send a fracture25 through Emonzaemon’s katana.

“Heeheehee.”

Step.

Planting one foot far ahead of the other, Umigame sank into his knees─and aimed the tip of the rapier, firm in his left hand, at Emonzaemon.

Nobody was around.

Free─to his heart’s content.

But even if there were people around, he’d simply kill them off─hey now, who am I, Kuizame?

No good, no good.

I need to behave like an adult here, no matter what─

“I am Umigame Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa─people call me the Immortal Turtle. Prepare to die.”

“You’re a swordfighter…a swordsman?” asked Emonzaemon─glancing at his longsword, which in just one clash had been turned into rubbish. “What’s more, your sword is from the Western Lands…how ironic. Here I am, in a coat and trousers, wielding a katana, while you, clad in ninja garb, come at me with a rapier─”

“Yeah─an ironic situation. Your fate included.”

“No, you’re the one whose fate the irony includes─to be honest, I hadn’t entertained the possibility that you’d be both a ninja and a swordsman. If you had managed to lay hands on one of the Twelve Possessed─you would have been a menace. With a name like ‘The Immortal Turtle,’ I assumed your ninpo let you live forever.

“So I was taking it easy, thinking,” Emonzaemon added nonchalantly, “if he’s some kind of immortal ninja, I’ve killed five of those already.”

Umigame didn’t think he was bluffing.

But that confidence─would be the death of this man.

“Hahaha. I’m probably the worst26 ninja that you’ll ever meet─most ninpo is totally beyond me. Best I can do is fling a couple shuriken. Ninpo that helps you live forever? Who needs that. If you want to live a long life, all you have to do is be the stronger one.”

“…”

“The strong prey upon the weak! Simple as that. As for immortal ninja─I’ve killed fifteen myself. Where swordplay is concerned, I’ll hold my own against the Kyotoryu or Hakuhei Sabi any day. Up against me and my rapier, no one stands a chance. Unlike you, sitting pretty in your cushy little office in the bakufu, I’ve lived through more carnage27 than you’ll ever know!”

Therein lay the reason why Chocho Maniwa and Umigame Maniwa were the only two out of the entire crew of bosses who knew about the Kyotoryu before this whole story began.

Chocho had studied the way of the fist.

Umigame studied the way of the sword.

Thus they had known of the Kyotoryu─the swordless form of swordplay.

“I’ll teach28 you─that the Sea Turtle is the strongest creature in all of Mother Ocean!”

This was not actually true.

But Umigame Maniwa was not above grandstanding.

Looking on, Emonzaemon, whose sword was still drawn, slipped it back into its sheath and dropped the sheath onto the ground beside him. There was no use lugging around the longsword as they fought, now that it had been rendered unusable.

In turn, he cast away the short sword, too, despite its good condition.

Brave man,29 thought Umigame.

Most people cling to their weapons for dear life, broken or otherwise…

“Just in case I’ve missed something, that pair of swords wasn’t Ento the Bead, was it?”

“Don’t be foolish. The Bead is on display at Mansion Negative.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“How so? When it amounts to yet another reason you must perish.”

“Hey─are you ninja?” Umigame took a verbal stab30─without breaking his form. “If I’m actually a swordsman, and you’re actually a ninja, things are topsy-turvier31 than I thought, but that has to be the case. From the way you dodged the shuriken to how you parried just now, you couldn’t be a normal32 person. You carry a familiar reek unique to ninjadom─what’s your clan? It doesn’t seem like you’re from the Onmitsu… I’ve learned a little bit about them way back when from that Schemer lady, but she didn’t mention the likes of you.”

“Incorrect,” Emonzaemon said in a stern tone.

And pointed at his mask.

At the word “Non-Ninja.”

“As you see, a ninja I am not. And haven’t been─for ages.”

“Okay, you’re a former ninja─but all of us in the Maniwa are not so different today─and? What clan were you a part of? We ninjas have our code of conduct.33 Depending on your clan─I mean, your former clan, we may be able to settle this without a fight… I’m not begging for dear life, you understand, I’m saying this for your sake. I know we’d betrayed the Schemer girl, but now we’ve entered an alliance, which in a sense links us to Princess Negative.”

“…The Aioi34 Clan,” Emonzaemon─saw fit to respond.

To the question dropped by Umigame Maniwa.

The former ninja could not have been interested in a pact with Umigame─who, in turn, must have simply been curious, since he had the upper hand now, his foe having lost his weapon─

“Aye, oi? The Aye-Oi Clan…”

Umigame scanned his memory but came up short.

He had never heard this name in all his life.

“Who the hell are they? I haven’t a clue. I figured any ninja fit to work for Princess Negative would belong to one of the famous villages.”

“Ah. You haven’t a clue.”

The temperature dropped by a few degrees around Emonzaemon.

Or perhaps─it rose.

At any rate, he had a different air about him.

“I’ll tell you, then. The Aioi Clan─”

Emptyhanded.

Taking no pains to rearm himself─Emonzaemon Soda started to close the distance between himself and Umigame.

“─were wiped out by the Maniwa! One hundred and seventy years ago!”

Long before even the Age of Warring States─there was a ninja village that had been founded around the same time as the Maniwa.

The Aioi Ninja Clan.

The Maniwa and the Aioi were enemies.

Mortal enemies─who had been embroiled in conflict for centuries.

Which surely served to hone their skills and bolster their ninjutsu─but at the conclusion of the Age of Warring States, around the time today’s Owari Bakufu took shape, the two clans had a fatal showdown.

The Maniwa were victorious.

You could say their victory came thanks to strategy─as this was when the Maniwa established their cooperative, governed not by a single boss but twelve. At first, it was believed the change would cause the structure of authority to collapse, turning their clan into a wild mob─but the result was anything but chaos.

This was when the Maniwa were liberated─from the core belief that ninjas must operate in concert.

The first iteration of the Twelve Bosses.

Boss Komori the First. Boss Kawauso the First. Boss Kyoken the First.

Boss Shirasagi the First. Boss Oshidori the First. Boss Hohoh the First.

Boss Kuizame the First. Boss Pengin the First. Boss Umigame the First.

Boss Mitsubachi the First. Boss Chocho the First. Boss Kamakiri the First.

Among them, only Kyoken Maniwa had persisted35 up until the present day─but one hundred and seventy years later, the others remained the standard, as the strongest crew of ninjas to call the village home.

And those Twelve Bosses─bore through Aioi Village.

Thus─the village met its ruin.

Although their clan was not without survivors.

At first, they were a hundred strong.

But before long, they were only fifty.

Times changed with the generations.

And yet their ranks diminished without hope.

From fifty down to twenty-five.

From twenty-five to thirteen.

From thirteen to seven.

From seven to four.

Then four to two.

Until finally─the two had been reduced to one.

Only one of them remained.

It took a hundred and seventy years─but all of them was dead but one.

It took a hundred and seventy years─but all of them was gone, save one.

The Maniwa had forged ahead through history, until so much time36 had passed their former peers had been entirely forgotten─