[In the absence of a subtitled episode, this version is 50% from the visuals, 49% from outside reviews
and 1% from my smidgen of language lessons (thx JPod 101 =). Best we can do....as before, warmest thanks to Divine's Random Curiosity blog and Subculture blog.]
We see the heavily guarded Kairoushuu temple hideout, where Yukimi has brought Miharu and Yoite as he said.
He tells Hattori that what he's trying to do is make them reconsider and apologize for
their actions; Hattori accepts this but looks very skeptical. [He says something that makes Yukimi gasp and look quite shocked; I wish I knew what...]
Gau is directing Kouichi and Raimei to the temple. Meanwhile, Saraba and Katou are hiding out with Yae in a deserted convenience store.
Yae looks very ill and Saraba touches her brow to check her temperature. Yae struggles to her feet, insisting that they must
go on--not only does Miharu need their help, there was something strange about Raikou as well. She recalls the past sorrows
that she saw when she read his heart and thinks this must have led to his current resolve.
At the temple, Hattori, Ichiki and Yukimi walk into the room where Yoite and Miharu are lying, bound, blindfolded and gagged. Hattori takes off Yoite's
blindfold, and he opens his eyes; Yukimi starts to call his name but cuts himself off. Hattori tells Yukimi that
Yoite is something that should never have never existed, and begins to tell how the Kairoushuu rescued him when he was a child (while Yoite glares at him from the floor).
--Flashback: We see Ichiki arranging a vase of flowers in a hospital room where chibi-Yoite sits curled up in the corner.
Yoite tells them that no one cares about him and he wishes his existence could just be erased.
At Ichiki’s suggestion, Hattori says, he convinced Yoite that learning the Kira would
allow his wish to be fulfilled one day--but in return he would have to serve Hattori for the rest of his shortened life.
(We see chibi-Yoite sitting at a table with Hattori and the Kira scroll while Hattori explains about the Iga Kinjutsu.)
--On the temple floor, Yoite reacts with horror to hearing this tale retold, wide-eyed and straining at his bonds.
Yukimi angrily accuses the Kairoushuu leader of using Yoite’s wish against
him, prompting Hattori to retort that he he was just as much used by Yoite. Outraged, Yukimi says that Yoite was only a
child then, but Hattori says that that has nothing to do with it, and that Yoite's desire is just as strong as his own.
He says that the
awakening of the Shinrabanshou drew Yoite away from him, and that it's true the hijutsu could be used to erase Yoite
without a trace, but--he lifts Yoite off the floor by his neck and speaks coldly--all your efforts have been for nothing.
He drops Yoite to the floor; Yukimi flinches but obviously can't interfere.
Shiranui gets a cell-phone call telling him Yae has been located, and sends Hyou and Shigure to bring her in. (They grumble that Kagerou should go. =)
Saraba, Katou and Yae soon find themselves under attack, but are able to fend off the Tattegami pair.
At the same time, overlooking the temple, Kouichi, Raimei, and Gau make their way down toward it, not realizing that as
they do so they've broken a tripwire
that sets off an alarm.
We see Kumohira stagger out of a train station's arrival gate [ye gods, it's got to be drastic if he forced himself to take the train alone!]
where he's met by--of all people--Shijima. She taunts him about his condition and tells him that Yoite doesn’t have much
time left. Kumohira isn't sure who she is (did he ever even see her at the academy?) but the pair is then joined by
Fuuma Kotarou, who confirms with Shijima that she's 'found the place'. Fuuma-dono turns and begins to walk away; Kumohira calls to him, but he
only pauses, says he prays for Thobari-kun's great efforts and righteous beliefs, and vanishes in a cloud of smoke. [Showoff.]
Back at the temple, we hear a groan and the thud of bodies hitting the floor outside.
Ichiki says dryly that it seems Raikou hasn't committed seppuku yet, and she's right; the door slides open and there's
the redhead, looking grim and resolute.
Gau and the Banten kids drive off Kagerou, but--to their dismay--the trees suddenly fill with Kairoushuu soldiers. Uh-oh.
Hattori gloats over the captive Yoite [--if i'm not mistaken, he says "kawaii sa, Yoite" which would be "you're cute now, Yoite" or "Yoite's cute this way".
Oh, you like' em tied up and helpless, do you, bastard?--Yoite-kun's glare in response is positively venomous]
He comments on all the chaos Yoite's caused, but still claims he always valued his wishes, so--as he removes Miharu's gag--
he says he'll give Yoite a choice:
to die as a traitor or rejoin the Kairoushuu. Miharu protests that Yoite's wish
isn't for the Kairoushuu’s sake, and Hattori asks if he's ever considered that Yoite may have deceived him.
At that moment the door opens, and Raikou says coldly that Hattori's saying
Yoite joined the Kairoushuu to die for him. 'Raikou,' says astonished Yukimi; he turns to see the arrival and
gasps at the trail of
blood spilling down his side.
Raikou kneels and with grave courtesy begs "Hattori Toujiro-sama" to give up
his plan [obviously, his final attempt to settle things between them without more bloodshed], but instead
the leader orders Yukimi to kill him. Stop, Yukimi-san!--cries Miharu; Yukimi turns to face
the samurai. Are you serious about this, he asks; why you too? Raikou very emotionally replies that he's always
felt the Kairoushuu was meant to save people who had nowhere else to go. Yukimi says that things in the World of
Nabari aren't as sweet as all that, and Raikou says if that's so, just what are they fighting for?
Angrily calling him naive, Yukimi draws his gun and charges Raikou, and they have a kickass gun-vs-sword battle that
takes up two rooms before ending with Yukimi taking a slash that disables his right arm [at least in the anime he gets to keep it...].
He drops his gun as blood splashes to the floor, clutching the wounded shoulder, and asks Raikou if he intends
to go after Hattori next. Raikou grimly says it’s his duty as a samurai to rise up against a foolish leader. Hearing
this, Ichiki puts a knife to Miharu's throat. Hattori unties Yoite and tells him his final duty to Hattori will be to kill Raikou.
Yoite, shaking, points at the samurai, but Miharu cries out for him to stop, and Yoite
turns to level his finger at Ichiki instead.
Before Yoite can focus a Kira blast, Shiranui charges toward Raikou--
Yukimi and Miharu recoil from the sight. ==outside, Kouichi, fighting off Kagerou, calls to Raimei, and she and Gau
head for the building--she sees the trail of blood leading to the door--
Ichiki steps away from Miharu. Yoite, she says, this is all your fault. (--it may be simply "you caused this.") Yoite pulls back with a gasp,
but Miharu has staggered back against the wall, shaking; his heartbeat is like thunder in his ears; he's seen too much.
The shinrabanshou fairy laughs...
==Kouichi's eyes flash into that blazing red cat-slit form we've seen before, and he calls up a windstorm attack
to finish Kagerou.
He straightens his glasses and looks to the sky, where a roaring wind has begin to rise. Kaze na, now the wind, he says--
...go on to next episode [we'll get it somehow! we swear!]
...go back to Episode Guide mainpage.
--In the forest outside, Kouichi, Raimei and Gau run into Kagerou (there he is =) and battle is joined.
Ichiki tells Raikou that he doesn’t understand
Hattori's feelings, and blames him and people like him for causing Hattori so much hardship. Raikou says that everyone
has suffered. Ichiki laughs and says that making comparisons is pointless, adding that Hattori is looking at the world
in a much broader sense, but Raikou retorts that even if that's so, he can't imagine being allowed to ignore
people's hearts. It's no different than the lies they live in now, says Ichiki, becoming irritated with the conversation.
Shiranui appears behind Raikou and lays his blade across the samurai's throat, but Raikou calmly turns and draws his
Shirogamon. For the second time he duels the Tattegami leader, who claims
he fights for the sake of Hattori’s future. Reminded of his parents and their ideals,
Raikou defeats Shiranui, but takes a deep, badly bleeding gut wound from his ninja blade.
in the forest, Raimei stares at her Kurogamon, saying she can feel it crying out--
and Raikou cuts Shiranui down. He turns and faces the Kairoushuu leader, his face set and determined, hearing voices
from his past--
his uncle, his mother. Plainly he feels that he's been left with no other honorable choice. Hattori rises, and suddenly
uses a skill we've never seen him use before, heading toward Raikou in a swerving course so
fast he almost can't be seen; he breaks White Gamon in half with a blow of his hand, and then drives the other hand, fingers stiffened
into a flat blade, straight into the samurai's bleeding stomach wound. Raikou staggers forward and falls as the broken
end of his blade clinks to the floor;
he remembers the end of his duel with Raimei, the man he killed to save Gau, Gau smiling as he said he wanted to stay
at Raikou's side;
he gasps their names, and lies still.
and walks, poor girl, for the second time in her life into a room out of a nightmare.
Yoite huddled on the floor, Yukimi staring blankly in shock as he grips his maimed shoulder, Ichiki still holding Miharu at knife-edge, Hattori
still standing, and her brother's body, lying next to the dead leader of the Tattegami.
The two people who love Shimizu Raikou best in all the world stand
stunned in the doorway, crying his name.
and we see Hyou and Shigure, the remaining Tattegami, gasping, and then Shijima and Thobari on a rooftop, watching as a huge, swirling bank of black clouds
overshadows the city. It's beginning, she says; it's the shinrabanshou.