'I'm no fan of hers anymore, that's for sure. She ruined the concert!'...
Momoka
'Trying so hard to go viral, pretending to be scared—aren't you embarrassed?'...
Momoka
What... what is all this?
Mio
A media smear campaign. It started early yesterday morning—most likely the work of a rival.
Mio
Producer.
Momoka
Producer! I didn't know you were coming!
Producer
What's the situation?
Mio
It all happened so suddenly. PR is still investigating.
Producer
This isn't just PR.
Mio
What do you mean?
Producer
That 'one-horned Oni' wasn't our doing, right?
Producer
Mio, you are responsible for Momoka's safety. Please get to the bottom of all this.
Mio
Of course.
Producer
Momoka, your gaffe on stage yesterday was one thing, but upstairs is more upset about something else.
Momoka
What's that...?
Producer
You've been acting less and less like a pop idol lately. Then this happens, and you vanish without a trace?
Momoka
The fans didn't seem to react too negatively. I even gave them an encore. They were into it.
Momoka
I was tired and hungry when I hopped offstage, not to mention scared. I just went to my favorite oden yatai, is all.
Producer
Well, how do you explain your inappropriate monologue up there?
Momoka
'Inappropriate monologue'?! What, what did I say wrong?
Mio
Your remarks on Kajimachi.
Momoka
Kajimachi? Oh. You mean the fan that——
Producer
The Kinseki Group is the sole backer of our entire operation. They have a very tense relationship with Kajimachi right now—speaking out recklessly will only make things harder for all of us.
Momoka
I don't understand what the big deal is. I was just thinking about how I shot my first movie there.
Momoka
I still remember when I got started. You told me Chairman Tessai valued my skills...
Producer
The past is the past. I'm talking about the present. Things are different now.
Producer
Besides, we've always told you to stay in your lane and stick to the script when you're onstage. The people come to see Momoka, not you, with your big mouth.
Momoka
I... I get it.
Mio
......
Producer
As long as you get it.
Momoka
Producer, when are we going to the recording studio? My schedule is packed today. We have to get a move on.
Producer
Meh. Actually, why don't you take a few days off.
Momoka
HUH? What?!
Momoka
P-Producer! I don't need any rest! I'm used to the grind by now! We're in peak season. I know that. If I take a break now, that put us several days behind!
Producer
Maybe if you hadn't been so busy during the day yesterday, you would have been calmer last night.
Momoka
I'm sorry, but——
Producer
If you really want to make up for your mistakes, Momoka, I have an urgent assignment for you.
Momoka
Anything!
Producer
The television station wants to book you on a show. Take a look.
Momoka
The Haunted House of Kajimachi?! Another one of these shows? Why?!
Momoka
And why now, of all times, would they produce a program that makes Kajimachi look bad?
Producer
Then you'd rather take a break?
Momoka
No! I just...
Producer
Momoka, you know that when you don't do what we say... it reflects... poorly on you.
Momoka
But...
Producer
Momoka!
Momoka
Producer, I don't want to die!
Momoka
I've known that place was haunted for forever! A bunch of people died in that house!
Momoka
They say it's... it's somehow connected to the 'Nameless Oni'. It was her there on the stage last night...
Producer
......
Mio
......
Producer
Momoka, I will take measures to ensure your safety.
Producer
(Quietly) Mio, back me up here.
Mio
Momoka, do not worry. I'll go with you.
Momoka
Mio-san... is going too?
Mio
Yes.
Momoka
Are you strong enough to take down that vicious Oni?
Mio tilts her head and thinks hard for a few seconds.
A wind carrying a scent—woody, or perhaps musty—blows against her face, and somehow, Hoshiguma is compelled to take a deep breath.
Hoshiguma
The houses are all so old.
Hoshiguma
Does Uncle Tessai still live in the same place?
Mifune
Yeah. The big house at the end there.
Hoshiguma
Kinbee, what's the deal with the funeral? Kajimachi looks like it's doing fine?
Mifune
It's a long story.
Mifune
......
Hoshiguma
What's wrong?
Hoshiguma quickly realizes why Kinbee has fallen silent—and why the expression on his face now carries a touch more respect.
Not too far away, there's an old man standing in the road, facing them.
The old man's back is slightly hunched. Yet somehow, as the wind lifts his wide sleeves, he seems to stand a little taller.
Hoshiguma
Uncle Tessai!
Mifune
Chairman Tessai.
Tessai
......
Tessai
Kinbee, I told you that you are not permitted to set foot in Kajimachi ever again.
The Phidia appears startled. The reverence on his face quickly turns to fear.
Mifune
I was preoccupied with a certain 'happy event' that happened today. I lost track of my surroundings and accidentally walked into Kajimachi. Damn!
Tessai
She's in cahoots with you. That's what you're happy about?
Mifune
Chairman, I just got her out of the police station, is all. The cops started chasing her as soon as she arrived in Mitsukue. She only just slipped out.
Mifune
She's come back here out of genuine concern for her home. If you're unhappy about something, please, take it up with me. Do not blame her!
Mifune
As for my trespassing into Kajimachi—shall I'll perform a dogeza, offer a formal apology on another date, or cut off a finger—
Tessai
Ha! You'd do any of those things if I asked?
Mifune
The decision is yours—
Reckless Yakuza
*huff huff* Oyabun! I ran around to everyone asking where you were, until I found out you'd come here to Kajimachi!
Reckless Yakuza
Why did you make the trip out here? That old bastard doesn't have many days left—why bother coming to this forsaken place?
Mifune
......
Reckless Yakuza
O-Oyabun?
Mifune
You know I'm your oyabun?
Mifune
Then do you know who gave this 'oyabun' the lofty position that he holds today?
Reckless Yakuza
I—
Mifune
Ah, right, this isn't your first offense.
Mifune
Some time ago, Chairman Tessai forbade me and my men from ever entering Kajimachi again. This is not the first time you've disobeyed that order. Am I right?
Reckless Yakuza
Well, I wasn't—
Mifune
You were the one who drove those three families out of Kajimachi—plus the two shops that had to shut down, and that was all after Chairman Tessai ordered us to stay out of Kajimachi. Isn't that right?
Mifune
You knowingly went against his orders. How should we punish you?
Beads of sweat form on the flustered gangster's forehead.
The oyabun isn't usually like this—he toasts me when I do well and offers gentle encouragement when I fall short.
Before he can even finish his thought, he hears a sound.
*swish*
Tessai
Wait!
Hoshiguma
Kinbee, what are you doing?!
Before he can even finish his thought, it's cut short—the gangster's headless body collapses to the ground with a thud.
Neither Tessai's iron fan nor Hoshiguma's Hannya can match the quick draw of the Phidia's long sword.
Tessai
That was your Kinsekikai brother!
Tessai
Murdering a member of the family right in front of me. Is this your way of raising a hand against me?
Mifune
But Chairman, you've already given me managerial control of the clan.
Mifune
He ignored warnings, defied the chairman, and refused to change—he should've died long ago. The fact that he lived this long is a failure of my leadership.
Mifune
Well, I brought her here; my work is done. It's time I answered for disobeying Chairman Tessai's orders.
He aims his bloodstained long sword—still unsheathed—at his finger.
Before the old man can even speak, the Phidia swings his blade, and his left pinkie falls to the floor.
Mifune
There. That should atone for my sins, yeah?
No one says anything.
The Phidia slides the blade back into its sheath, bows deeply to Tessai, and gives a small nod to Hoshiguma.
Mifune
Chairman Tessai, I will now take my leave, so as not to bother you further.
Mifune
Welcome home, Hoshiguma.
Hoshiguma
I'm going to call the police—
Hoshiguma's voice trails off, as she becomes lost in thought, remembering how Kinbee swaggered around the police station.
The old man squints his eyes slightly, as he glances at Hoshiguma.
Tessai
It seems you've been getting on well in Lungmen. You've forsaken the life of crime, eh?
Tessai
If you still walked the path, you would remember this—no matter how a man dies, someone always comes to clean up.
Tessai
And as long as the cleanup happens, the police won't bother themselves with our 'messes'.
Though she has been away for twenty years, Hoshiguma still pushes open the gate with practiced ease.
Just like in Kajimachi, time has not left much of a mark on this place. Hoshiguma immediately spots the little path she used to take—the quickest way across the courtyard.
She can't tell whether the koi in the pond have lived all these years, or if the owner has been quietly replacing them with identical ones.
Uncle Tessai, did you write me that letter because Kinbee—
Tessai
I never wrote you a letter.
Hoshiguma
It wasn't you?
Tessai
When you left Mitsukue twenty years ago, I told you we would never again make contact. I intended to honor that promise.
Hoshiguma
So, that letter...?
Tessai
Kinbee forged it. What else could it be?
Hoshiguma
Why would he do that? You're the chairman of the Kinsekikai. How could you permit such a transgression?
Tessai
Chairman? If that viper didn't keep calling me that, I'd have forgotten I was chairman of anything.
Tessai
Look, I'm an old man with no real power. Even my last parcel of turf, Kajimachi, is about to be taken from me.
Tessai
And Kinbee... heh, he's taken over the Originium crystal business that I built from the ground up. He's taken control of all our operations.
Tessai
He's started new ventures like a TV network and even a talent agency, and made them hugely successful.
Hoshiguma
So he's usurped all Kinsekikai businesses and is now planning to take over Kajimachi?
Tessai
'A radical rebirth and redevelopment plan' — that was how he put it, just a month ago.
Tessai
Who's rebirthing what? How are they redeveloping it? Who keeps the proceeds? Ha. These are not questions I can ask, of course.
Hoshiguma
That's why you forbade him and his men from entering Kajimachi.
Tessai
And today we get this grand performance, where he uses his minion's life as a stage prop… no, not a performance, it was a show of force.
Hoshiguma
He didn't use to be like this.
Tessai
He was a better actor back then. He tricked me, and he tricked you. That's the only possible explanation, no?
Tessai
You didn't realize that finger-chopping bit was all a ploy?
Hoshiguma
A... a ploy?
Tessai
A fake finger? Surgical reattachment? A prosthesis? He's got no shortage of tricks.
Tessai
He wasn't 'atoning for his sins'. He was spitting in my face! He was making a mockery of the Kinsekikai, of everything we stand for.
Tessai
I don't know what scheme Kinbee had in bringing you back, but there's only one thing you should do now: return to Lungmen, and don't ever come back again. He's a rabid tuskbeast now.
Hoshiguma
But what will happen to you?
Tessai
Me? As long as the Kinsekikai still exist, I'm still their chairman by title. Kinbee wouldn't dare raise a hand against me, at least not out in the open. And that's enough.
Hoshiguma
I can't just leave.
Tessai
Then what do you intend to do? Wait until Kinbee has pushed me to the brink and then end my suffering?
Hoshiguma
I just don't want any more regrets this time.
Tessai
So you regret going to Lungmen?
Hoshiguma
No. Everything I regret... is from my time in Mitsukue.
Hoshiguma
Watching Kinbee cut that man's head off like it was nothing... it sent all kinds of regret bubbling up from my stomach.
Tessai
Kinbee's men see Kajimachi as nothing more than a pimple on Mitsukue's hide. You can't change their minds about that.
Hoshiguma
I'm going to do whatever I can.
Tessai
By the way, amidst our grim conversation I almost forgot to ask... what happened with Hannya? When Kinbee was here, I took a glance at it. Looks different than it did the day I gave it to you, no?
Hoshiguma
Well, to be honest, a corner got sliced off.
Tessai
How?
Hoshiguma
With a sword.
The old man's world-weary gaze suddenly flares with intensity.
Tessai
Whose sword? What was it made of? How was their sword technique? Did they use any Arts?
Hoshiguma
A good friend of mine back in Lungmen, a colleague—
Tessai
Explaining it all with words is going to take too long. Give Hannya to me. Let me see it.
Tessai
Huh—tsk tsk...
Tessai
A cut like this doesn't come from advanced reinforced steel or simple Arts alone. Sure, there's always someone stronger out there—but let's not forget, Hannya's no ordinary shield.
Tessai
......
Tessai
...Chi Xiao.
Hoshiguma
Uncle Tessai, you can tell just by looking at the cut?!
Tessai
Don't forget, I've been around. Back when I was knocking back drinks with the Yanese trade envoys, the name 'Chi Xiao' came up more than once.
Tessai
For Hannya, being bested by Chi Xiao is no shame at all.
Tessai
At the end of the day, it wasn't sharpness or toughness that turned Chi Xiao and Hannya into legendary weapons.
Tessai
Your mind was weaker than Chi Xiao's wielder. Not by much, but enough to turn the tide of battle.
Tessai
In that case, I guess Kinbee's letter wasn't totally useless. At least it gave Hannya a chance.
Hoshiguma
Do you want to reforge it?
Tessai
Of course. Do you expect me to let you run around Lungmen with this broken shield?
Tessai
Still... I need to think for a bit about how I'll reforge this shield, to give you a sliver of a chance to best Chi Xiao. Let me think it over...
The old man, who once stared down disaster unblinking, now burns with the impatience of youth. He's learned that there's someone stronger out there, and he yearns to test his mettle.
The old acquaintance's long sword has just shattered any sort of 'parting sorrow', yet nostalgia stirs in Hoshiguma all the same.
Tessai
Heh. Forget it. This isn't something you and I can figure out by just sitting here and thinking about it. Give me some time.
Tessai
You've spent all night in an interrogation room. You must be tired. Go to the guest room and get some sleep.
Hoshiguma
No.
Tessai
What?
Hoshiguma
I want to pay my respects to my father first.
Tessai
......
Hoshiguma
I'm sorry.
Tessai
He's your biological father. What are you apologizing to me for?
Hoshiguma
Is that clinic, my old home, still there?
Tessai
It's there, but no one has lived in it for about a decade. I'd bet it doesn't much resemble its former self.
The abandoned house in the alley at the end of Kajimachi's North Street... everyone calls it the 'Haunted House'.
After the vicious Oni disappeared, Shimasu, who was the shateigashira, moved into the house with his family, but within three months, he fell ill and passed away.
Six months later, Sanoguchi, who was then serving as wakagashira-hosa, bought the house. After hiring an onmyoji to perform rites for seven days and nights, he moved in with his new bride.
On the seventh night, a patrolman heard wretched wails coming from the 'Haunted House'. In a fit of madness, Sanoguchi took up his family's heirloom blade, killed his wife, and then took his own life.
In the years that followed, every soul who deigned to live in the Haunted House met a terrible end. Eventually, no one dared go near it again.
Momoka
Legend has it that the vicious Oni never really disappeared. From time to time, her tortured visage will pop up in the Haunted House.
Momoka, calm down. The camera on your head is shaking all over the place.
Momoka
Where did Mio-san go? She said she'd be here with me.
Voice in Earphones
She's feeling under the weather. She called in sick today.
Momoka
I've known Mio-san for years, and I've never seen her get sick. Last winter, I watched her eat twenty ice creams with my own eyes, and she was completely fine. You're telling me she caught a cold? I don't believe it.
Voice in Earphones
Momoka, we're just trying to add some color here for TV. Work with us, okay?
Momoka
But I just saw that Oni at the stage, and now I'm going to visit her haunted house...
Voice in Earphones
Ugh. Relax. You're going to be fine.
Momoka
Alright... I'll do my best.
Momoka
Ugh, why are there so many pull-tops here?
Momoka
I don't like this... Wait! What's that sound behind me?
???
Who's there?
Momoka
The vicious Oni? A ghost?!
???
It's you? What are you doing in my house?
Momoka grabs something shaped like a stick from the ground and points it at the shadowy figure.
But she quickly realizes that whatever she has picked up will be ineffective against ghosts or a fierce, vicious Oni. In a hurry, she shoves the stick-thing into her coat and pulls out a box...
...of roasted soybeans.
Momoka
Vicious Oni! I-I've got roasted soybeans! If you dare come closer, I'll waste you!
Momoka
Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! Oni wa soto, fuku... fuku... err... uh...
Momoka
The beans aren't working. But I have some salt here too! Check it out! Salt!
Momoka
The thing... you... fear... most...
Hoshiguma
......?
Momoka
Well, I guess I'll be going. Sorry for intruding. Sorry for bothering you. Byebye. Sayounara!
Hoshiguma
Hey! Wait a second!
Momoka
No, I don't think I will!
Momoka
My head!
Hoshiguma
Are you alright?
Momoka, who has just struck her head on something, starts to fall to the ground. However, 'the ghost's' voice jolts her back on her feet.
Momoka
I'm fine. I'm fine. Sorry for bothering you.
Momoka
I've got uh, kids, and my parents, they're so old... to take care of back home!
Momoka
No! Hasuke is at home, waiting for me to water him! Let me go! I have to go take care of him!
In her panic, Momoka lets out a high note she's never even hit in the recording studio.
Later that day, as the production team looks at the footage, they are unsure which one of the two, Momoka or Hoshiguma, most resembles a wailing wraith.
Momoka
What... what is that thing at my feet?!
Hoshiguma
You're asking me?
Momoka
No! I didn't ask you! Let me go!
The terrified girl suddenly disappears, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
Perplexed, Hoshiguma leans in for a closer look, and finally sees what happened.
