KATANAGATARI 2

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What follows is a private, off-the-record conversation that took place, deep within the forest, at the center of New Maniwa, which not even the bakufu could locate on a map.

“…That’s about it.”

No lights.

All was darkness in the murky night.

None present felt impeded by the darkness─and why should they? This was a ninja-only gathering, and to ninjas, darkness and gloom are creature comforts.

The Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan.

A muster of the ranks.

However, not all Twelve Bosses could attend─only six were here. At present, these six represented all the living Bosses of the Maniwa. In the past six months, their numbers had been halved.

Cut in half─in just six months.

“All the same…”

From his position, he appeared to be the leader of the six─a man with long hair and cold eyes.

One of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan─“The Divine Phoenix,” Hohoh Maniwa.

According to Togame the Schemer, he was effectively the head of the entire Maniwa Clan─but if you asked him, he had volunteered under duress. Regardless, he had been in Satsuma of late, where he and Togame the Schemer had forged an alliance. We join him after he has told the other five of this development.

“I was stunned to hear that all three members of the Bug Unit had been exterminated─it still needs to be confirmed, but their failure to attend this special assembly says as much… Hear anything on your end, Oshidori?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

It was the voice of a young woman.

Her sleeveless ninja garb and the chains wrapped around her body were no different from the other Bosses, but her voluptuousness no uniform could hide─she had that special something.

Oshidori Maniwa─“The Feathered Reel.”1

“I haven’t heard a thing.”

And yet the way she held herself said otherwise. She knit her brows, and looked away, and chewed her lower lip, the pretty thing─taking pains to hide her fury and her anguish.

Hohoh noticed something was up.

“About Chocho,” he said. “Weren’t you two pretty close?”

“…”

Her silence counted as a yes.

Hohoh and Oshidori were both members of the Bird Unit. Asking her first about the Bug Unit suggested that he already suspected as much. “In that case, do I sense resistance to this new alliance with Togame the Schemer?”

“On the contrary.” Oshidori looked up, responding instantly. “I speak for both myself and Chocho, lowly ninjas that we are─when I say that we are humbled to be members of the Maniwa. I have no interest in revenge or vindication.”

“Course not.”

This affirmation came from a member of the Beast Unit standing directly next to Oshidori─Kawauso Maniwa, “The Nosey Otter.”2 His tone was brusque, but not without a tinge of care for Oshidori.

“If I had my way, I’d give whoever killed that dope Komori the whooping he deserves, but that’s not the way it goes, willpower is what makes us ninjas… Still, why’d Komori have to go and die before we could settle the score? I suppose that he’s been known to pull that sort of stunt before. He said he loved to entertain, but he sure knew how to leave a best friend like yours truly in the lurch. Hey, Hohoh. When you made your deal with the Schemestress,3 the Kyotoryu was there, too, right? What’d you think?”

“Hard to say. It’s not like we had a throw-down. But my guess is…we’re in trouble. Best to steer clear.”

“Harsh words from a ninja of your standing.”

“If what I hear is true, soon after we settled the deal, he defeated Kanara Azekura… I got the sense that he would be a fearsome adversary, but it appears he’s getting stronger by the day. Or should I say, he’s getting sharper.”

“Katana.”

This interruption came from a member of the Fish Unit─“The Immortal Turtle,”4 Umigame Maniwa. Low and quiet, even languid, his tone of voice got the attention of all present. All eyes were on cross-legged Umigame, the only ninja seated.

“The Kyotoryu─is a katana. And as a sword cultivated on a desert island by Mutsue Yasuri, the Hero of the Rebellion, his blade must be incalculably sharp.”

“Are we to understand,” inquired Hohoh, not sounding the least bit surprised, “the Kyotoryu was in your purview, Umigame?”

“Actually,” he said, “I think that Chocho knew about him, too.”

When Chocho’s name was spoken again, Oshidori gnawed at her lip even harder. Hard enough to draw blood. But unlike Hohoh and Kawauso, Umigame paid no mind to Oshidori whatsoever.

“If any of us can take him, it’s either me or Hohoh…that is, if this Kyotoryu has been able to unleash his latent power.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

While not actually angered by this implication he would be left off of the starting lineup,5 Kawauso snapped at Umigame. As one might expect from interactions between freshwater and saltwater creatures, the Otter and the Turtle did not exactly get along.

“The power of a sword depends on who is wielding it,” replied Umigame. “They say the Mutant Blades, these masterworks of Kiki Shikizaki we’re trying to collect, can make whoever wields them powerful enough to take over a country…but there’s no substitute for being powerful from the start. They also say a sword chooses its owner, but do you think our little Schemer is the right fit for the Kyotoryu?”

“At one time she had her way with the entire clan. I wouldn’t underestimate her,” cautioned Hohoh. “Which is why, for the time being, we would do well to avoid further conflict with the Kyotoryu, or with the Schemer. Say what you will, Umigame, but up against the Kyotoryu, even I may be in danger. Like I said─best to steer clear. If we fulfill our objective, that’s good enough for us. Let them cash in on the Sword Hunt…and meanwhile, something is rotten at the castle.”

“The castle?” Kawauso was having none of this. “Not her again─that woman’s just as crazy as the Schemer. Makes you wonder how many of these firecrackers6 the Owari Bakufu has.”

“Pretty sure just two,” Umigame said, dead serious. “If they had another menace the likes of them among their ranks, the bakufu would fall apart, regardless of how many of Shikizaki’s swords they collected.”

“Whatever the case may be,” mediated Oshidori, “am I to understand we’re heading in the opposite direction from the Schemer? Hohoh─how shall we proceed? Perhaps it’s time to call off the competition among Bosses.”

Her question brought them back on track.

“Yeah,” said Hohoh, nodding. “From here on out, we must join forces. The Schemer told me that upon capturing Zokuto the Armor, they would head back to Owari─which is just the sort of lie that she would tell. She and the Kyotoryu left Dakuon Harbor on a sailboat bound for Ezo.”7

“E-Ezo?” Silent up until this moment, without a single word or sign of breath─Pengin Maniwa, “Pengin the Breeder,”8 was barely audible, as if talking to himself. “Th-Th-They must be after…Soto the Twin.”

“Brilliant, Pengin─you never fail to come back with the best intelligence around. Second to none, not even the late Komori. With him gone, it would be fair to say that the fate of the Sword Hunt is in the hands of you and Kawauso.”

Rather than accept these words of praise from Hohoh, Pengin hung his head, not so much shy as terrified. He was shivering all over.

“Hmm,” said Hohoh, after a moment’s thought. “The Schemer did say that Soto the Twin was the last sword she could locate…and evidently it’s in Ezo. I told her she could find swords in Mt. Shirei, Tendo, and Edo─she must be planning to work her way from north to south. What an insatiable woman. I had to tell her of the stirrings at the castle, but what fun would this be if things just went as planned.”

“Does this mean we should avoid those four swords in our hunt?”

“Correct. That leaves three─if we can obtain but a single sword, we have a chance of winning in the end. Of course, capturing all three would be ideal, which is why I’ve called you here for this special assembly. You haven’t been running around Japan for the past six months for nothing─even if you don’t know where the swords are, I’m sure you all have decent leads.”

“U-Um,” Pengin spoke up again. “Um… Um Um Um Um Um Um Um.”

“What’s wrong, Pengin.”

“It’s about what, what you were saying earlier…about how one sword is in…Mt. Shirei.”

“What about it?”

“The sword you said…would be in Mt. Shirei. I-It’s gone… Not just the sword, but all Mt. Shirei.”

“…?”

Put on the spot by Hohoh, Pengin faltered his way through a painful explanation. His disposition being partially to blame─but from the sound of it, Pengin himself couldn’t believe it.

As highly as Hohoh esteemed the quality of Pengin’s information, this was too much, and the Phoenix could not help but ask: “Do you really mean it?”

“Y-Yes, and before long, the bakufu will hear, hear about it too…”

“I see.” But Hohoh had to ask him─one more time. “Pengin, are you sure this information is correct?”

Pengin answered with a nod and nothing more.

“Understood. A nod from you is all I need. But if we’re dealing with a monster, it seems I’ll have to call upon you─Kyoken.”9

Hohoh turned to his right, to gaze upon the ninja he expected to see there─Kyoken Maniwa of the Beast Unit.

However.

Nobody was there.

Nothing but deep─the deepest darkness.

“Kyoken?”

He called her name and looked around─to see if she was present. The other Bosses did the same─Oshidori, Kawauso, Umigame, Pengin─but Kyoken Maniwa was nowhere to be found.

“Alright. Kawauso…” Giving up on finding her, Hohoh asked his question to Kawauso, the other living member of the Beast Unit. “When did Kyoken─disappear?”

“Beats me. In her current state, when she decides to make a move, not even I could stop her─but I think that she was still here when you were blabbing about Ezo.”

“Drats,” lamented Hohoh. “She must be on the Schemer’s tail.”

Normally imperturbable─Hohoh was showing signs of stress.

“She likes being a ninja a bit too much… Even Kawauso and Oshidori have managed to hold it together, but here we are. If Kyoken is on the move, the alliance didn’t last a month after its conclusion.”

Indeed, not one of them could gainsay him. The Bosses, Hohoh included, knew all too well─Kyoken Maniwa, one of the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa Clan.

Once she was on the move, no one could stop her.

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Maniwa Beast Unit─Komori, Kawauso, and Kyoken!

Maniwa Bird Unit─Shirasagi, Oshidori, and Hohoh!

Maniwa Fish Unit─Kuizame, Pengin, and Umigame!

Maniwa Bug Unit─Mitsubachi, Chocho, and Kamakiri!

Together, they were the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa!

Not one among their ranks so impudent or soft to say: “Fish Unit? But turtles and penguins aren’t fish. They could at least let Pengin in the Bird Unit…”

You think the Maniwa would want a wiseacre like that?

And without further ado!

Soto the Twin,10 whose both ends are in sight!

Togetherness, sneakiness, and bloodiness!

Another shocking, rollicking episode.

I’ll let you guess what’s coming in Katanagatari, Book Six ♪

1 巻戻しの鴛鴦 MAKIMODOSHI NO OSHIDORI “Mandarin Duck the Rewinder”

2 読み調べの川獺 YOMISHIRABE NO KAWAUSO “The Inquisitive Otter”

3 奇策士のねえちゃん KISAKUSHI NO NEHCHAN “Sister Schemer”

4 長寿の海亀 CHŌJU NO UMIGAME “Sea Turtle of Longevity”

5 戦力外通告 SENRYOKUGAI TSŪKOKU notified one will not be on the team (in pro sports)

6 爆弾 BAKUDAN bomb; in this context, “that could go off any moment”

7 蝦夷 EZO old name for 北海道 HOKKAIDŌ, the northernmost of the four main islands

8 増殖の人鳥 ZŌSHOKU NO PENGIN “The Multiplying Penguin” 人 HITO person 鳥 TORI bird

9 狂犬 KYŌKEN “Mad Dog” as with Chocho, the original is glossed けふけん KEFUKEN (but pronounced KYŌKEN), using an old way of transliterating Japanese

10 双刀 鎚 SŌTŌ KANAZUCHI “The Twin Sword: Hammer”