KATANAGATARI 2
“Shi-Shichika!”
“Y-Yeah?”
“Shichika, Shichika, Shichika, Shichika!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!”
“You know better, you know I’m not confused! I’m not confused!”
“Uh, umm─”
“I just, just, I mean, it was intentional!”
“I-Intentional?”
She scared the crap out of Shichika.
When a bawling woman rides you like a horse and starts beating the crap out of you, what man can keep his cool?
“You heard me, intentional! Have you forgotten whom you’re dealing with? I’m Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate! When it comes to smarts, I have it all─ingenuity, intrigue, schemes and stratagems! Of course I knew that ‘Cheerio’ was a foreign word!”
“Oh, okay. So, uh, Togame, why did you intentionally─”
“Because!” Togame blurted out, before Shichika could finish. Trouble was, it seemed that she had yet to arrive at a good reason. The notion that she had done it all on purpose was her only hope, but try as she might, she could not come up with any rationale for replacing Chesuto with Cheerio.
“Whatever! It never happened. Forget it, forget it!”
“That’s easier said than done.”
“Please, Shichika─you should be ashamed!”
Now she was making other people feel bad.
What could be worse.
“Uh, why should I be?”
“Think for a second. How many times thus far on our journey have I yelled ‘Cheerio!’ and punched you? Dozens! Hundreds! Too many to count!”
“Yeah, um─sure.”
“And every time people saw it, they were going, ‘Hey, why’s the whitehaired lady yelling Sayonara! as she bops him on the head?’ Actually, it’s not so bad for earlier in our journey. The problem is after we arrived in Satsuma! What do you think Azekura thought last night when I yelled ‘Cheerio!’ and slugged you one?”
“Well…you’ve been extra generous with the Cheerios since we got here…”
Once they arrived in Satsuma, which she believed to be the birthplace of “Cheerio,” its veritable hometown, it appears she got a little carried away. Spinning her wheels.
How many times had Azekura witnessed her mistake…
“I’m sure he thought I was an idiot! Look at this idiot, he thought, and let me be! What could be more devastating?”
“I mean, I get what you’re saying…but why should I be embarrassed too?”
“I may be the one who said it, but you’re the one who didn’t even know that the real battle cry is ‘Chesuto,’ not ‘Cheerio,’ you island monkey!”
“Uh, actually, I did.”
“Cheeri-ohhh!”
Her fist hit him square in the face. An absolute beauty.
■ ■
Once they had left the meadow.
Sure enough─Hohoh Maniwa was in the same place we last saw him.
Only now, he was surrounded─by three brawny men.
Clearly not his friends.
Hohoh Maniwa wore no sword, but the three men were variously armed─and wearing looks of unabashed aggression.
Hohoh gave each man a quick once-over.
As it turns out, these men were Armored Pirates─recall the letter addressed to Togame at the inn. It specified this meadow as the meeting place. Hohoh had penned it in his own hand and left it with the inn worker. In a town ruled by the Armored Pirates.
The inn worker had no choice but to inspect a letter sent to someone whom Dread Captain Azekura had called upon without accompaniment. And once it was inspected─the Armored Pirates would need to be apprised of what it said.
Therefore.
The talk between the Schemer and the Maniwa Boss had been monitored after all.
Hohoh had picked the meadow to avoid this; even if they saw them from afar, they would never catch the content of their speech. And so it was after Shichika and Togame had departed that a group of pirates snooping from a distant vantage point─came forth.
“Would you mind telling us exactly what you all discussed?” asked one of the men.
“The lure worked, and yet,” Hohoh spoke, but only to himself─“who might these strange little fishies be?”
It was as though he had meant to drive Togame and Shichika away with his cautionary words regarding “Chesuto” once they had accepted his offer.
To fight these three men─on his own.
“Suppose I needed a new arm. Anyone have one to spare? I’m not picky.”
“Huh? What the hell─”
“You’re lucky, fellas. Few get to die from my ninpo.”
With that─
Hohoh Maniwa stiffened his right hand.
“Decapitation Cycle.”34
1 恭順 KYŌJUN submit
2 惚れた女 HORETA ON’NA a woman one has fallen for
3 連中 RENCHŪ bunch (of people)
4 寸止め SUN DOME 寸 SUN a pre-modern unit, approx. 3 cm (1.2”) 止める TOMERU to stop
5 鏡面 KYŌMEN face of a mirror
6 伝導 DENDŌ conduct, convey homophonous with 伝道 DENDŌ missionary activity
7 いろは IROHA Japanese equivalent of “the ABCs”
8 とんとん拍子 TONTON BYŌSHI brisk rhythm
9 どつく DOTSUKU pummel
10 渡りに船 WATARI NI FUNE a boat at a river crossing (see also Part One, p. 291)
11 聡明 SŌMEI wise
12 大盤振舞 ŌBAN BURUMAI “treating to/with a large platter” act of largesse
13 密談 MITSUDAN confidential dialogue
14 茶だんご CHA DANGO tea dumplings (usually matcha flavor)
15 鳳凰 HŌ’Ō “The Phoenix” mythical birdlike creature
16 貧乏くじ BINBŌ KUJI “the poor lot” 貧乏 BINBŌ poverty くじ KUJI lot/lottery
17 因縁 IN’NEN history, karma 因 IN cause(s) 縁 EN tie(s)
18 神の KAMI NO godly, of the gods
19 駆逐 KUCHIKU expel, drive out/off e.g. 駆逐艦 KUCHIKU KAN (navy) destroyer
20 肩口 KATAGUCHI “shoulder mouth” top of the arm
21 びくびく BIKU BIKU onomatopoeia for quivering
22 一時休戦 ICHIJI KYŪSEN “temporary ceasefire”
23 かっぱげ[る] KAPPAGE[RU] collect (money, stakes) in great quantity
24 対決 TAIKETSU “decisive confrontation”
25 未知数 MICHISŪ “yet unknown number”
26 有利な条件 YŪRI NA JŌKEN favorable condition, advantage
27 鉢合わせ HACHI AWASE “bump bowls” metaphor for two heads knocking together
28 助かる TASUKARU “That helps” a way of saying “thank you”
29 承諾 SHŌDAKU acceptance
30 不満 不審 FUMAN FUSHIN unsatisfied suspicious
31 遮二無二 SHANIMUNI desperately
32 神がかっていた KAMIGAKATTE ITA “was divinely inspired”
33 鬼気迫る KIKI SEMARU “borderline demonic” echoes the “Kiki” in Kiki Shikizaki
34 断罪円 DANZAI EN “Arc of Condemnation” 断罪 DANZAI convict; behead 円 EN circle echoes author’s debut novel クビキリサイクル KUBIKIRISAIKURU, itself a playful title: 首切りサイクル KUBIKIRI SAIKURU beheading cycle OR くびきリサイクル KUBIKI RISAIKURU yoke recycle