KATANAGATARI 2

Was it her warrior lineage?

Her island upbringing?

It was instantly apparent she was out of the ordinary, though it was unclear why.

“Yikes─good thing I’m the one who came… Chocho would have done alright, but young Mitsubachi would probably have lost his heart…”

Up until this point, Kamakiri had thought that the ultimate strategy would be to verbally persuade her, warning that there was no use trying to resist them, so as to make her a passive accomplice30 to the Maniwa─but this plan was scrapped.

Speaking with her was too much of a risk.

Surely neither Shichika, who grew up constantly beside her, nor Togame, as another woman, felt this way─but Kamakiri Maniwa was certain. His experience thus far as a ninja pointed unquestionably to this conclusion.

Lucky for him, she did not seem like much of a martial artist─she was too thin, and her skin was pallid. It seemed subduing her with violence was the proper way to go about the abduction.

Which was when he heard her cough.

She not only looked sick. She really was ill.

And yet─Kamakiri saw that as no reason to go easy on her.

“Mantis Talons,”31 Kamakiri said under his breath and lifted his hands.

The nails on all ten of his fingers began to grow at an alarming rate. In no time, they were nearly a foot long. These were no normal nails─they were fat and thick, and sharp as knives, becoming fit for use as weapons. When they were nearly two feet long, their growth finally subsided─but by then, each nail had assumed the form of a savage blade.

Which explains why he had no sword. Understandable.

Mantis Talons.

No further explanation necessary─this ninjutsu speaks for itself.

Kamakiri Maniwa was known among his friends as “The Head Hunter,”32 but he had no intention of cutting off Nanami’s head. He was aiming─for her arms and legs.

It occurred to him it was a shame to harm a girl so beautiful, but such sentiment was deadly. If he didn’t cut her up just shy of dying─he guaranteed unwanted trouble down the line.

“Hmph─”

Act fast. Don’t hesitate. Thinking is hesitating.

Enough nonsense, any more of her and even he was done for. Kamakiri Maniwa sprang out of hiding─pouncing on the slight frame of Nanami Yasuri from behind.

■　■

Haphazard Island, twenty years into the past.

Three figures─on the beach, standing at the water’s edge.

And two of them were children.

A boy and a girl.

The boy about four─and the girl a little older. The boy came across as ornery, while the girl was fair skinned and appeared shy─even weak.

Shichika Yasuri and Nanami Yasuri.

Brother and sister. Twenty years ago.

Shichika was already the taller of the two─

Anyhow.

The vivacious man of brawny build who faced them needs no introduction.

Indeed─it was their father, Mutsue Yasuri.

Behold,33 the Hero of the Rebellion.

And this was twenty years ago─just after the Rebellion, when Mutsue was in the best shape of his life.

This being a reminiscence, the picture is a little grainy, making it hard to see everything with satisfying clarity, but you could tell the man was not unlike his son─though strictly speaking, it was the opposite, since Shichika grew up to look much like his father.

In which case, did Nanami look like her mother?

Where was their mother anyway?

Regardless, this giant of a man turned toward his children, whose fates were tethered to his performance,34 forcing them to join him in his exile─and began to speak.

“The Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu─is going to be Shichika.”

He spoke as if each word was bitter.

“After all this, I have no choice but to step down─I’ll admit, I’m not without my reservations─but I would rather face fate with my swordly pride intact. From now on, I will fulfill my duty to pass on the Kyotoryu to the next generation, no longer training myself, but training you, Shichika. From now on─until the day I die, until my body fails me, until my blade crumbles into rust, I will subject you to a grueling regimen of training, hammering home every last teaching of the Kyotoryu─being stuck here on this island may have its limitations, but when you think about it, this is perhaps the ideal incubator─insulated from the noisy outside world, we can cultivate35 the Kyotoryu without distraction.”

The addressees’ reactions diverged.

It appeared that Shichika did not comprehend what his father was saying─to be sure, at such a young age, he was perhaps even too young to be called a child. He probably did not even understand they had been exiled. He had no sense of the life he was about to embark upon.