You know what, yap all you want, we'll give that aho a warm welcome!
Momoka
What does Kinbee want with me?
Lazy Yakuza
Kinbee? Who's that?
Momoka
I mean, Mifune.
Lazy Yakuza
How am I supposed to know? You're an idol, so maybe the oyabun has some use for you. Or maybe he just plans to do you in.
Lazy Yakuza
Should've buttered him up more with that pretty face of yours. I don't know what you're thinking.
Lazy Yakuza
Bakayaro, who the heck's texting me? Everyone knows I got assigned last-minute guard duty—
Lazy Yakuza
What? Some other unlucky sod's taking over the shift?
Lazy Yakuza
Ya—hoo!
Momoka
He's gone.
Momoka
What happened? Why did I feel like I was hearing voices... even talking to Hoshiguma?
Momoka
Am I going crazy?
???
Behind—you—
Momoka
Eek!
???
Pfft!
???
So you weren't acting in those shows. I didn't believe it when Kichisei told me.
Momoka
You know Kichisei? Is she alright?
???
Locked up, like you, but probably safe for now.
Momoka
Wh-Who are you?
???
You can call me Sarasa. I'm a fan of yours, and I guess you could say I'm Mifune's employee, but my true identity is an undercover cyber ninja!
Momoka
Cyber... ninja? How's that different from a regular ninja?
Sarasa
Look, ninja are nothing more than hired killers. But the cyber kind? We're wanderers of the intercity net!
Momoka
But I thought cyber ninja were pretty much the same, hired by corporations to attack each other, just specializing in intercity net operations?
Sarasa
Fine, I'm a cyber ronin ninja!
Momoka
But I don't know where you came from, or why you're helping me—
Sarasa
That video that you saw at home, the one where Mifune and Mio plot to infect you with Oripathy? I was the one who leaked it to warn you! Do you trust me now?
Momoka
You were the one who gave me that fright in the middle of the night?!
Sarasa
Well, it was the first time I worked on a Mitsukue—I mean, the Kinseki Channel signal system. It was a mistake. I didn't do it on purpose, I promise!
Momoka
A-Alright... well, I guess I do owe you my life...
Sarasa
Honestly, I only applied to Kinseki Channel because I heard it was the biggest TV station in Mitsukue, and I needed a job.
Sarasa
But the longer I worked, the more things began to stink. But at least they had you as their poster girl... but they wouldn't even keep their hands off you!
Sarasa
Especially that Mifune. I would've just kept my head down and did the work I was paid for, if he wasn't so yabai.
Sarasa
But I'd rather jump into the sea than work another day for that piece of shit.
Momoka
...Hehe.
Sarasa
I located Hoshiguma using Mifune's monitoring network, so I patched you in briefly.
Momoka
You can do that? I remember how the technical director spent a long time fumbling with a pre-set connection the last time I was live on air...
Sarasa
That just means he sucks at his job.
Sarasa
Now, listen to me. I'll patch you in with Hoshiguma again, and have her wait outside.
Sarasa
We'll take Kichisei. Listen to me, and I'll make sure those stupid yakuza never even catch a glimpse of your shadow.
Momoka
No, I can't go.
Sarasa
Are you crazy? Do you WANT Mifune to cut you up into burdenbeast feed?
Momoka
Where can I go, if I leave?
Sarasa
The Southern Court's a big place. Plenty of places you can go.
Momoka
Lay low the rest of my life, always looking over my shoulder? No way.
Momoka
I didn't give myself the name Momoka Hanyuu, but if you tell me I have to give it up now...
Momoka
How's that any different from being dead?
Sarasa
Are you serious? Aren't you afraid to die? Do you have a death wish or something?
Momoka
I don't know. All I know is that it's the only path I have left.
Sarasa
Fine. You know what, that sounded really cool, like a line straight out of a movie. You're a star for a reason!
Sarasa
How do you plan on continuing to be a star, then? What if Kinbee won't let you?
Momoka
Whoever stands in my way... they're gonna find out that even I can bite when backed into a corner.
Momoka
Didn't Kinbee make up all those kaidan stories? I'll tell all Mitsukue that they've been lied to.
Sarasa
Interesting.
Momoka
Can you connect me to every TV set in Mitsukue? I'm going to expose Kinbee to the entire city.
Sarasa
How long do you think it's gonna take, hacking all those TVs, one at a time?
Sarasa
But they're doing that accession ceremony and broadcasting it to the whole city. All we need to do is take a ride on it.
Sarasa
You still have that broken sword? It'll come in useful.
Momoka
The first thing that Kinbee's people did when they captured us was take it from me...
Momoka
But I'll say it, with or without the evidence.
Sarasa
Good.
Sarasa
I'll get that Kichisei girl, and Ao-Oni on the other side of the TV, and then we can talk about how we'll teach Mifune a lesson!
He wants to turn around, but dares not, afraid that he will learn that it is all a dream, and there is nothing there at all.
The kami seems satisfied with this reaction.
Moriuchi
Kami-sama...
Moriuchi
It... it's been a long time.
Kami of Happy Returns
......
Moriuchi
You're finally willing to show yourself to me.
Moriuchi
I'm very grateful that you pulled my family out of poverty.
Kami of Happy Returns
Did you spend all these years looking for me, just to say thank you?
Moriuchi
I wanted to thank you, of course, but there was also something I wanted to ask.
Moriuchi
Why... why did you leave us? Why was it that we lost our happy life, little by little, until it was all gone?
Moriuchi
Did we offend you? Or was it fate that not even you could avert... and that was why you chose to avoid us?
Kami of Happy Returns
What does any of that have to do with me?
Moriuchi
I-I understand, of course it couldn't be...
Kami of Happy Returns
What I mean is, did you spend all these years looking for me just to learn the reason?
Kami of Happy Returns
Were you not looking for me because you wanted to seize happiness again?
Moriuchi
......
Kami of Happy Returns
I've said this many times, but I guess you were too young to remember, so I'll be patient and tell you once more.
Kami of Happy Returns
I never give anyone anything.
Kami of Happy Returns
Think of it this way: there's something I like, and I appear in front of people when I see it.
Moriuchi
Something... do you mean, happiness?
Kami of Happy Returns
Yes.
Kami of Happy Returns
I didn't avoid you because I was angry at you, or ashamed to see you. I simply chose not to see you because happiness had left you.
Kami of Happy Returns
But now, I have a reason to see you again.
Kami of Happy Returns
Choose the right path, and you shall know happiness beyond your wildest dreams.
The kami's voice is exactly as he remembers, but for some reason it makes the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Is it because he has lost the innocence of childhood?
Is it because he has heard too many lies in his time?
Yes. He has heard too many lies, and he has learned to treat all beautiful promises as deception.
But this is different.
Moriuchi
Please... tell me.
Kami of Happy Returns
You stand in the eye of the storm.
Kami of Happy Returns
The Oni, Hoshiguma; the snake, Kinbee. Add to that a poor goldfin, and a wolf who believes its own nose—you. All your fates are intertwined.
Kami of Happy Returns
Oh, there was also an unfortunate old man, but he's dead now.
Moriuchi
Tessai-san?!
Kami of Happy Returns
With his death, you finally have the chance to seize the happiness that you have longed for.
Moriuchi
His death... my happiness? What do you mean?
Moriuchi
Why... why is Tessai dead? Who killed him?
Kami of Happy Returns
Is it so hard to guess?
Kami of Happy Returns
What you REALLY should ask yourself, though, is if it matters?
Kami of Happy Returns
You stand where countless people could only dream of standing, Moriuchi. This is a business opportunity, a big one. Choose right, and everything will be yours.
Moriuchi
You want me... to stand on Kinbee's side?
Moriuchi
Kinbee is a liar. He wouldn't let me live.
Kami of Happy Returns
That's why it's a big business opportunity.
Moriuchi
......
Kami of Happy Returns
Kinbee is a liar, certainly, but he needs you. More specifically, Kinsekikai needs you.
Kami of Happy Returns
The separation of the Kinsekikai and the Kinseki Group has entered the final phase. Only a catastrophic event could stop it.
Kami of Happy Returns
Everything seems to be going according to Kinbee's plan, but he's about to find that he isn't as powerful as he thought.
Kami of Happy Returns
You've survived for so long between the overworld and underworld of Kajimachi and Nita Street. As a man, you're not that far off from Kinbee.
Moriuchi is stunned.
In his mind, he fantasied about his reunion with the Kami countless times, but never in another thousand years could he have imagined that It would so calmly tell him something so...
...Terrifying.
Moriuchi
You want me to take Kinbee's place? Is that the happiness that you're talking about?
Kami of Happy Returns
Yes.
Moriuchi
What if I take his place, but find it beyond my abilities...?
Kami of Happy Returns
But you'll be rich. Very rich.
Moriuchi
Rich...?
Kami of Happy Returns
You'll be rich, whether you have the ability or not. Maybe not as rich as Kinbee is... but the kind of wealth that you could hardly even imagine right now.
Kami of Happy Returns
Is money not happiness?
Kami of Happy Returns
Was it not money that you and your family found when you were young?
Kami of Happy Returns
Is it not because of money that Mitsukue, and this country, enjoy endless happiness?
Kami of Happy Returns
Where would happiness be if money left you?
Moriuchi
......
Moriuchi
...Is this the lesson you have for me?
Kami of Happy Returns
It's not a lesson, just the simplest law of existence.
Kami of Happy Returns
Kinbee knows it. The Diet knows it. Virtually everyone in Mitsukue knows it... you knew it too, when you were little.
Moriuchi feels a chill come over him, as though the setting sun is suffocating in its own golden rays.
Is this really the Kami that he encountered when he was young?
Or is this simply an absurd nightmare... no, something trying to deceive him and make him abandon his search for the kami?
But Its mannerisms, the way It talks, even the line 'What does any of that have to do with me?'... he has never forgotten them.
In Moriuchi's memory, even those cold words seemed to be a kind of encouragement. Now, though...
Moriuchi is gasping for air, but the cold nightmare seems inexorably suffocating.
