A shady-looking fellow runs away from an impressive building--the impression is that he's burgled it. Suddenly a voice from behind him calls out that he's been caught red-handed. He turns to see two young men,
a slender redhead in hakama and tank top and a younger brunette, both staring at him pitilessly. On the redhead's hip hangs a white-hilted sword that we've seen before. You're a mid-ranking ninja of the Kairoushuu, Tanaka Kugorou, he says.
Who the hell are you? demands the fugitive. The redhead raises his tattooed arms, decorated with yin-yang bracelets. You've been using your ninja arts and tools in the outside world to steal like a common thief, he says. This destroys the delicate balance between the World of Nabari
and the outside; a serious breach of the law. You must be severely punished. --The young swordsman draws and charges, destroying both the thief and his satchel of cash in three swift bloody slashes. --Gau, collect the evidence to show we dealt with him, he says, and the dark-haired kid draws a box knife and takes a lock of the thief's hair.
The redhead then lays a gorgeous flower --a red cluster amaryllis-- on the body. [1] What's that, Raikou-san? asks the kid. [As we guessed, this is indeed Raimei's samurai brother.] Raikou smiles. This is the signal that something wonderful is beginning tonight, he says.
(--translated also as "a token of my love".)
We see Raimei doing push-ups with the TV news on, thinking that it's been five years and she still has no clues to his whereabouts. Suddenly she hears the news announcer say that a Japanese sword seems to have been the weapon in the mysterious murder, and looks up to see the reporter holding the red amaryllis. She gasps: Raikou!
Kouichi and Thobari are trying to reach her on the phone with no success. Kouichi says he'll go and look for her, but Thobari is still injured and should rest. Miharu walks off, saying he has things to take care of at home; his aunt's gone on vacation to Kamakura. What if something happens while you're alone?--protests sensei, but he's gone. Kouichi smiles and
says, you can leave Raimei to me, but you should stay by Miharu's side. Besides...you might be better off without me around. Short-term flashback: We see Kouichi delivering a harsh [though still benignly smiling--this kid graduated from Cho Hakkai Academy with highest honors, I swear] lecture to Thobari, saying that while killing and risking one's life are the way of things in Nabari, sensei was
deeply relieved that Kouichi handled the killing of Frosty for him; his ethical confusion is endangering not only him but those he wants to protect. It's time you found your resolve, Kumohira-sensei, he said.
Thobari broods over his words;
Miharu comments that when people think too much they must forget what they're riding on, since sensei doesn't even realize he's on a bus =). --They're going to Thobari's place, as he refuses to let Miharu stay at home alone. The card at their door says "Seki and Thobari": sensei says there's no problem as his roommate isn't home now.
Miharu wonders what Yoite is doing now. I feel as if I need to see him...
Raikou delivers the proof of Kugorou's assassination, to everyone's satisfaction. Gau proudly asserts his loyalty to Raikou and the Master, and Yukimi asks "who's the uptight kid? your apprentice?" (to Gau's indignation). Something like that, smiles Raikou, and asks if that one over there is the Yoite he's heard of; the assassin is standing motionless against the wall. Such a sharp attitude, it's pretty cool, says the redhead.
Yoite lowers his head, and Gau storms over to tell him it's rude to ignore Raikou-san; Raikou tells him to cool it. Gau is still annoyed at Yukimi and needles him about his team's failure to get the Togakushi scroll; is it really OK for a field team to walk off its mission like that? --Yoite walks up to stand behind him, but before anything can happen Raikou gives Gau a chop across the chest that drops him: quit it already, he says.
But Gau-kun is right, says Kazuho, the blonde girl who's sitting with Yukimi. [It's not mentioned here, but she's his younger sister.] If you don't start shaping up, we'll fall behind in the research. He grumbles.
In the hall outside, Yoite is staring at the blood on his gloved fingers, shaking. He folds to the floor.
He says he has a few months, says Yukimi. Then you'll have to try harder, says the boss. Yukimi's eyes narrow angrily. Hattori smiles and asks if he has anything to add, and Yukimi excuses himself.
It's just talk; as long as he doesn't use it much he'll be fine, snorts Gau. Raikou says no, it isn't like that, and Hattori stands and drops his teacup, shattering it. If the cup breaks, he says, the tea will spill, and there's no way it can return to the way it was. Kira is exactly that. If the ability is used to excess, the vessel will break down, and it will be impossible to stop his life force seeping away. He will lose his five senses, and as they fade away, he'll die.
That's why Kira is called a kinjutsu. (Outside, we see Yukimi help Yoite to his feet and guide him down the hall. His deep blue eyes are dull, almost black.)
Hattori adds that Shimizu-kun's behavior is a bit different lately. He replies that he has some unsettled clan business to attend to (this startles Gau), and the leader warns him not to let personal matters interfere with his real work.
Raimei is remembering the events of five years ago: her brother surrounded by the corpses of her entire clan in a burning house.
Kouichi has arrived to find her gone; we see him, Saraba and Juji reading the note she left, which says she's going to
settle things with Raikou. Saraba explains that the Shimizu have always been the hand of the law in Nabari, that the two blades White Gamon and Black Gamon were made to kill traitors.
Raimei is putting her clan's pride on the line, says the Fuuma woman; I think I know where she went...
Miharu lies on the sofa staring at nothing while Thobari tries to coax him to eat. Since we're alone, let's talk,
the boy says. It's rare for you to ask that, says sensei, and Miharu bluntly asks, are you hiding something? Thobari gasps. Miharu sits up, and you can tell he's been thinking about all this for some time. --When Oda-san was reading everyone's minds, there was something you tried very hard to hide, he says.
I have the hijitsu within me, but I know nothing about how it came to me. You know a lot about it, don't you? you were the first to notice that it was inside me. --Thobari says nothing.--You made a vow to protect me, says Miharu,
so I think it would be best if you didn't hide anything from me.
Thobari sighs; says, all right, but first eat something. Miharu won't be stalled; he looks sensei in the eye. I'll tell you everything I told Yoite, he says intensely, so please, tell me what you're hiding.
We see Hattori and his aide in their car. The boss comments that it was ten years ago that the shinrabanshou disappeared...
Thobari tries to dodge the conversation by reheating the soup, but Miharu goes on inexorably.
Who was the person who used the shinrabanshou ten years ago? He must have died when he used it, right?
Thobari says he wouldn't know.--I said that everyone has forgotten, says Miharu, but your memories seem to be intact. Where were you and what were you doing ten years ago? Thobari tells him that his noticing the hijutsu in Miharu was pure coincidence, and walks into the kitchen.
[He has GOT to realize that his reluctance to talk about this is like a red neon sign saying he knows something.]
Yukimi pauses in his typing to look over at Yoite, who sits huddled on the floor. It can't be that he's hiding anything,
he thinks. It's just that he's not saying anything and I'm not asking...Did he accept the Kira technique willingly, knowing
it would kill him? Or was it something the leader did?... Kazuho arrives, bringing a large, fresh bonito fish;
a gift from her husband's restaurant, she says. She thinks Yoite
could do with a solid meal, and asks whether he prefers his fish grilled or as sushi. Yukimi disparages her cooking...
Their voices blur and distort in Yoite's ear,
he can barely hear them speaking. He gets up and heads for the door. Yukimi protests that he'd better not disappear,
that they have a mission to Kouga in three days and will need his help. --We'll eat the fish without you, adds Kazuho.
Miharu's sitting by himself on the balcony, saying he finds the scenery relaxing. Just relaxing? you don't feel like saying it's beautiful?--asks Thobari, looking out at the full moon sparkling on the bay.
Stuff like that doesn't matter to me, says Miharu, drinking his tea. You've been acting strange lately, says Thobari. You warned that Kira user... Your goal, says Miharu abruptly, isn't to protect the hijutsu but to destroy it, right? no matter what possibilities it may possess...even if there are people who need its power?
Sensei admits that's so. --So the main point is that I can't use the hijutsu, correct? presses Miharu. --Thobari looks suspicious: you don't mean someone told you to use it, do you? he asks. Miharu says "that's right" and asks him: if I did use it, what would you do? Thobari smiles and assures him that he shouldn't worry, he won't
let anyone use Miharu no matter what; if anyone were to use the shinrabanshou it would be the end of this world, and of you. --Miharu sets down his teacup.
You're not answering my question: what would you do, if I were to use it? Sensei's face hardens. I would kill you, he says.
We see a woman in safari clothing, loaded with a backpack, heading up the street; she spots something lying in the road, a crumpled heap in a long black coat...
Miharu straightens up and looks Kumohira-sensei in the eye. The only one who can decide for me is me alone, he says. I will use the shinrabanshou and save Yoite. Because he has the same eyes as me...these eyes of despair. If he should find what he's looking for, and that happens to be me, I would go to him.
The woman bends over Yoite, calling to him as he lies motionless.
And we're in a field of crimson amaryllis, an ancient stone lantern to one side. Raimei stands looking at it, sword in hand. Raikou materializes behind her, they clash swords; so you came after all, he says.
Yes, today was the day the Shimizu clan ended. They stand facing each other, matching blades drawn. --How could I forget, traitor, she retorts. I, Shimizu Raimei, the samurai who bears the Black Gamon, pronounce judgment upon you.
Footnote: [1] Raikou shows a lovely poetic sensibility with this gesture. The cluster amaryllis--better known as "red spider lily", though it is an amaryllis, not a lily----is deadly poisonous; it's called higan-hana, "equinox flower", in Japan, because it typically blooms around the autumn equinox,
when it's Buddhist tradition to visit ancestors' graves and remember the dead. ("o-higan" is also a term for "the other shore", that is, death.) So it makes an excellent symbol both for death and for ancestral memories. Elegant indeed.
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Gau asks Hattori if they should be depending on these sloppy people. [He's an idealistic, crusading type, who joined the Kairoushuu to fight for justice and punish criminals and sinful people; just the type who'd be passionately committed to Hattori's official plans for the hijutsu.]
Yukimi chuckles and says only kids talk about justice, but he retorts that he truly believes they can save the world if they have the shinrabanshou--you and Yoite-kun aren't taking this seriously!--Yoite raises his arm to point at the hothead. Ahh, Yoite-- says Yukimi warningly, but Gau snaps that if Yoite has something to say he'd better say it. People who talk about justice have none, says the assassin; I don't appreciate you talking to Yukimi that way.
His eyes widen in Kira mode, then suddenly contract and he drops to his knees, face in his hands. Yukimi goes to him; Hattori coldly asks "how long do you think you have left?" Yoite says something only Yukimi can hear, then stumbles to his feet and leaves the room, hiding his hands against his chest.
--Miharu holds out the book on the shinrabanshou's history that he got from the Fuuma. He says that he's finished it, and there's nothing in it but what Kotarou told them; no details of its revival ten years ago.
--Hattori is saying that, as leader of Kairoushuu, he headed the mission to Banten Village to take custody of the revived hijutsu. He remembers setting out...and then he was back in his everyday life again, along with everyone who had gone with him.
Not one of them could
remember what had happened, who the new owner of the hijutsu was, or anything about the mission at all.
--Everyone has forgotten, Miharu says to Thobari. Nobody remembers anything.
--Where in this darkness is the truth? wonders Hattori, and his aide says only one person could find it...
--Yoite turns back at the door. Leave some for me, he says; I have no time left. Sayonara.
--Take care, I guess, says Yukimi quietly to the closed door. [Bless him, he's really worried.]
--I need to hurry and see Miharu, says Yoite to himself...
[So, it's been just three weeks outside-world time, probably less in series time, since they had their first conversation, and they're already having withdrawal symptoms when they don't see each other often enough...]
Miharu closes his eyes. Sensei reminds him that the whole point of their pact was to get rid of the shinrabanshou and ensure it was never used.
If I could save someone in trouble, says Miharu...
You can't.
But shinrabanshou is my...
Just because it's inside you doesn't make it yours to use! snaps Thobari.
Miharu snaps right back: All you ever do is hide things from me and scold me!
Do you think it's OK to treat me this way just because I don't seem to notice? Do you even know why I'm so exhausted?
--Thobari is taken aback as the kid's anger and frustration suddenly boil over; Miharu is
actually shouting. --I suddenly started being chased by ninjas and told all this crap about Nabari!
'Inside you is the shinrabanshou!' and 'You must rule Nabari!' I even saw Kouichi kill a person--I never wanted to see anything like that, but I did!
I've been so afraid! All this time!--Miharu's voice breaks, and he stands there gasping for breath, Thobari gazing at him in remorse and sympathy. Rokujou, he says gently.
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