KATANAGATARI 3

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Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu, and Shichika Yasuri, Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu had just realized that the ship which they had boarded was traversing the Sea of Japan bound not for Owari Castle, but for Ezo─realized, one might add, considerably too late.

Meanwhile, on Mt. Shirei1 in Mutsu─which like Mt. Odori, where they would shortly find themselves, and Lake Fuyo in Edo, had been designated as a Level One Disaster Area.

At the summit stood a woman, looking unbelievably exhausted.

In fact─

She was the only thing left standing.

Every other mortal present─lay crumpled on the ground. Some face down, others facing the heavens─easily over a hundred fallen bodies clothed in white.2

The Sacred Guardians3 of Mt. Shirei.

In order to protect the Level One Disaster Area that was their mountain, these stewards lived under the harshest of conditions where not even a single tree could grow. They had no ties to the local government, much less the bakufu, yet were held in the same high regard as Izumo’s storied Three Goshin Regiments. An independent order─

But they had been annihilated to a man.

And the woman who had been their ruin─

“…Whew.”

─Sighed, sounding ever more exhausted.

This woman─could sigh with the best of them.

Unfazed by the bodies of the Sacred Guardians dressed in white, whom she had scattered all along the trail like breadcrumbs in a fairy tale from overseas─she gazed into the little shrine4 before her.

The tiny shrine built at the summit of Mt. Shirei.

Ensconced therein─she saw the sword.

“Hmm, what kind of sword is this?” she mused. “But I guess this must be it. I can sense it… Poor thing─set up on a pedestal, all the way up here. Ugh, I can totally relate.”

Softly─she reached out her hand.

Her fingers only grazed the outside of the shrine─but it exploded as if gunpowder had been employed. She blew the thing to bits.

Leaving nothing but the consecrated sword─

“Hah. Great─I kinda like it. I had my doubts about Soto the Twin─but this one is nice and light, and just the right size, too… Good enough─or bad enough for me?”

She laughed merrily.

“After all, this is Akuto the Eel.”5

Kiki Shikizaki, the legendary swordsmith who effectively had reigned over the Age of Warring States.

His swords, the Mutant Blades─feared and revered.

Standing a cut above the rest─there were a precious twelve.

And among the Twelve Possessed─was Akuto the Eel.

“Well then. According to Miss Togame, each of the Twelve Possessed has its own unique characteristics, based around a single principle─for Zetto the Leveler, it was hardness…and for the last one, Soto the Twin, it was heaviness…so what about Akuto the Eel?”

Fixated.

Focused.

Rapt.

She strained her vision─peering down at the katana perched atop the rubble of the shrine.

Eyes.

Fast on the sword.

Looking at─over─through─into─and out for it.6

Observing─and examining7 it.

“Oh. Okay, now I get it,” she finally announced. “In that case─this katana suits me perfectly. A sword may not choose who to kill, but a sword will choose its owner. Does this mean that Akuto the Eel has chosen me? That would be so good─bad, I mean.”

She reached out her hand.

Picking up the sword─like it was hers.

Just as she had said a moment earlier, perhaps this was not a proper sword. To say the least, its shape was not what usually comes to mind when one speaks of katana.

It looked more like─a throwing knife.

The projectile daggers wielded by a ninja.

But this was a creation of Kiki Shikizaki, a swordsmith unbeholden to formalities, and there was surely more than meets the eye─a fact hit home by other Mutant Blades like Zokuto the Armor and Soto the Twin.

It may be shaped like a mere dagger, but this sword was grand as any.

The woman─could sense it.

The perfect size for her small hands and slender fingers, almost as if it had been forged with her in mind─indubitably,8 this blade was a katana.

“Alright…now that I have something to show for myself, I may as well catch up with Shichika. Not like I know where he is, though, or what he’s up to, but that doesn’t matter. Considering the mess I’ve made, he’ll catch wind sooner or later, if he hasn’t heard already… As long as I wait out in the open, in plain sight, they’ll come to me. They’ll find me. Maybe not Shichika─but Togame will for sure.”

In that case, she thought things over.

“Maybe I’ll try Gokenji9 Temple─the holy land of swordsmen. A place like that should be easy enough to find, even for somebody who gets lost as easily as me… Who can miss a giant buddha? Why not get in the mood and partake in the Katana Pilgrimage? In which case I’d better─ahem, badder strike10 while the iron is hot.”

The woman turned about.

Carrying the dagger in one hand, she went back down the trail─without batting an eyelash at the bodies of the Sacred Guardians fallen by the wayside.

Huh?

A hand grabbed her by the ankle.

It was one of the fallen soldiers dressed in white, a youth, somehow still breathing, and miraculously conscious. If he had laid low, he may well have lived to see another day─but his loyalty was with Mt. Shirei, and so he seized her ankle.

“W-Wait,” he said. “D-Don’t…take it away. You can’t take it away… The mountain can’t survive without that sword… We need it, to protect the mountain…”

“…”

The woman turned toward the young man whose hand was limply clasped around her ankle, but saying nothing─

She simply looked at him.

That look.

“I-I’m not only saying this for our sake… I’m saying it for yours, too… That sword is more than any single human being can handle… It’s not just one of the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki…but the evilest of them all.”

He strained his voice─struggling to speak.

“P-Please… Take anything else, anything you want, just leave the sword─”

“…”

The woman.

In answer to his plea─sighed ever so, ever so…

Deeply.

Then─narrowing her eyes, she turned her icy stare on him.

“Who said that you could lay your hands on me─dill weed.”11

Using her free foot─she stomped on the young man’s head.

Again. And again. And again.

Ignoring his reactions─she stomped away.

“Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed. Weed.”

Before long─the man’s head was flattened.12

Obliterated─no more than a puddle of blood, a puddle of flesh.

Somehow his hand still clasped the woman’s ankle─but she broke his grip with a merciless toss of the foot.

Not caring that her straw sandals were bright with blood, she set off on the trail once more─as if nothing had happened.

At this point, there was no one on the mountain left to─interrupt her progress.

No.

Forget Mt. Shirei─you could search the whole Japanese Archipelago and still find none. Twenty years earlier, at only seven, she had been the strongest in Japan. Two months back, her younger brother Shichika had vanquished Hakuhei Sabi, foremost master of swordplay of his day, making himself number one─but she had been there first.

Nanami Yasuri. Head of the Yasuri.

Sickly and genius.

Boasting immaculate13 eyes that let her emulate all and sundry that they took in, she was, in the history of the Kyotoryu, a most freakish14 blade.

In the fourth moon of the year, she had put an end to Chocho Maniwa, Mitsubachi Maniwa, and Kamakiri Maniwa─the three bosses making up Bug Unit Maniwa; in the fifth moon of the year, she had wiped out the Itezoras, who had made Mt. Ezo their home; and in the sixth moon of the year, she had massacred the Sacred Guardians of Mt. Shirei─and now that she had laid her hands on Akuto the Eel, she was heading for Shikoku.

To meet up with her little brother─

Her beloved little brother─

“I guess it’s been six months by now. I hope he’s had the chance to grow up…heh. Anyway, I feel so good─”

That sickly genius Nanami muttered to herself, making her way back down the path─mashing the white-clothed bodies of the Sacred Guardians into pulp, without a thought.

“Bad, I mean,” she amended with a sadistic15 smile.

■　■

Brother versus sister─Shichika Yasuri versus Nanami Yasuri!

The strongest in Japan against his predecessor!

Can the Seventh Master of the Kyotoryu overmaster his older sister?!

Would the sickly genius murder her own younger brother?!

The ultimate face-off, a few pages off!

A flowery battle, a florid family feud!

A period piece that knows no peace─period!

Book Seven of the Sword Tale, where the Seventh Master meets his match ♪

1 死霊山 SHIREIZAN “Dead Spirit Mountain”

2 白装束 SHIRO SHŌZOKU often worn when practicing religious rites

3 神衛隊 SHIN’EITAI “god guards” neologism playing on 親衛隊 SHIN’EITAI private guard

4 祠 HOKORA an altar not much larger than a person, built in the likeness of a shrine

5 悪刀 鐚 AKUTŌ BITA “The Wicked Sword: Farthing”

6 見る─視る─観る─診る─看る [all] MIRU see─look─watch─examine (medically)─attend to/nurse

7 観察 診察 KANSATSU SHINSATSU study carefully diagnose

8 まごうことなき MAGOU KOTO NAKI an archaic way of saying “unmistakably”

9 護剣寺 GOKENJI “Sword Protection Temple”

10 善は急げ─いえ、悪は急げ ZEN WA ISOGE─IE, AKU WA ISOGE “tarry not to do good─or rather, bad” the first half is a common axiom, and the latter half the character’s improvisation

11 草 KUSA grassy plants in general, or pesky wild plants specifically

12 失われた USHINAWARETA lost

13 究極 KYŪKYOKU superlative; ultimate

14 異形 IGYŌ “strange shaped” aberrant

15 邪悪そうな JA’AKU SŌNA “wicked-seeming” foul