KATANAGATARI 3
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In Owari Town─at Mansion Negative, residence of Princess Negative, Inspector General of the Yanari Shogunate, whose true origins and real name were unknown.
Lord of the Manor, Princess Negative presided1 over her chamber.
No candles lit.
Not sitting, but standing.
Presided.
Expressionless.
The blond-haired blue-eyed Princess was unconventional2 among the people of this country, an oddity among those in the employ of the Owari Bakufu─but her kimono, however Japanese, suited her well.
Nobody wore a kimono quite like her.
Suddenly.
Princess Negative opened her metal fan, gesturing toward the ceiling.
“That nasty woman─may be powerful, but her power is affirmative. But wait, have we spoken of this before?”
Speaking fluent Japanese.
She uttered each syllable clearly.
“My power, of course, being the negative variety─my feud with that nasty woman, and hence our animosity,3 is an unfriendly blend of positive and negative energies. If I am Princess Negative, then I suppose that makes her Princess Positive. Hah!”
Princess Negative giggled.
“She validates everything, having the power to cast all things in a positive light, from her own weakness to the ugliness of life. What could be more horrific? Especially for me. Hence why I have rejected her. Rejecting her with all I have, body and soul. I’ve always had a feeling she was up to something fishy.”4
True to her name.
Princess Negative─negged the Schemer.
“While I can’t prove it, I know it when I smell it. But so far─at least in terms of outcomes, that woman has squashed me like a bug. Thanks to her schemes, I’ve been demoted more times than I would care to count─and you haven’t gone unscathed yourself. Is this not your fight, too?” she asked the ceiling.
But there was no reply.
Unbothered, she continued. “Whereas, for my part, I’ve failed to do her any serious damage─sure, we’ve gotten in the way and meddled in her affairs, but she’s shaken us off every time. And hit back hard.”
Princess Negative.
Rejecting─the results of her own campaign.
“Though I suppose that my ability to reinstate myself repeatedly shows just how wonderful I really am…”
When this attempt at humor elicited no reaction from the ceiling, Princess Negative closed her metal fan and slipped it into her obi.
“Conversely, that woman is a little on the sloppy side─she sees herself as being so committed to her plan, but as far as I can see it’s full of holes. Thanks to which she’s given me the benefit of the doubt. But if this, too,” added the Princess, “is a product of her positivity, that makes the holes essential, and in that sense unintentional─”
One thing was for sure.
This analysis─had no holes whatsoever.
“Like me, she is a woman with a murky past… Her early life must hold the secret to the way that she is now. I can─relate. That said, I have no way of dredging up the details of her early life. No use thinking it over…”
Princess Negative paused for a time.
But after indulging in this pensive moment, she hummed and nodded, like she had thought of something good.
“This just occurred to me─but maybe that woman’s power isn’t purely positive after all. Indeed─positive and negative are not evenly matched. Negativity tends to have the upper hand.”
Human beings negate.
We assert our own existence by rejecting that of others.
Which is why.
The very reason why─she had made herself Princess Negative.
“That led me to assume I was more powerful than her─but it appears that nasty woman is operating on another plane entirely. I had been certain that I enjoyed an advantage in our fight─but apparently she sees me from a different vantage point. Hmm…very interesting. That explains a lot.”
Princess Negative took a breath.
Then uttered softly, “Right. Coincidentally, last time you and I discussed this, you said as much yourself─I believe you said that ‘Oftentimes, the Schemer has no scheme at all. She has a way of going with the flow, of going in without a plan.’ While I cannot deny this being an assertion of her positivity…I think it’s something much more fundamental.”
That is why, she muttered.
“By dint of being the Schemer, she can only scheme─and lacks a strategy. She is a warrior who has no need for armaments, advancing through the ranks through intellect alone, all of which suggests a consummate thinker─but just as she has this genius for thinking, perhaps she also has an equal measure of genius for not thinking.”
The Princess drew her metal fan.
This time opening it slowly, over her face─so that it hid her mouth.
“There are times when it’s no use thinking things over, but most of us can’t help it─we just keep thinking anyway. But an ability to turn off certain thoughts─would be extremely handy for a person working out a scheme, wouldn’t you say? If that’s her ace in the hole, she’s done a fabulous job of playing innocent─I had thought she was simply a ditz,5 but perhaps I undersold her.”
Right, of course, Princess Negative nodded solemnly to herself.
Her face looking like a host of problems had been solved.
After nodding for a minute, she closed the fan and pointed it toward the ceiling.
“Emonzaemon─in any case, the Sword Hunt for the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki launched by Togame the Schemer, Grand Commander of Arms of the Yanari Shogunate Military Directorate, Owari Bakufu, is my hunting ground─one way or another, our longstanding rivalry will soon be settled. At first I thought there was a high chance she would be her own undoing─but now that she has eight of the twelve swords, her chances of capturing the three others, and making her way to the last─are about fifty-fifty.”
Princess Negative gave each word extra weight.
This was a declaration.6
“If all goes well, you and I can partake in the spoils without toiling.7 We will be credited with rounding up the Twelve Possessed, those masterworks of legendary swordsmith Kiki Shikizaki─and will disclose the true nature of the Schemer in the process… I never would have thought Hakuhei Sabi a tergiversator, but as that debacle helped me regain power, I’d say that things worked out alright. Sabi was more genius than I could handle, anyway. Heheh─one thing’s for sure, though, if this means the ruin of those pesky Maniwa Ninjas, that Schemer’s Sword Hunt hasn’t been the worst thing in the world─I know you said you don’t care about ancestral grudges, but you must feel some kind of a relief8 seeing the Maniwa wiped out. Right─Emonzaemon?”
Her tone was nettling─
But there was no reaction from the ceiling.
It took her a second.
“Oh yeah,” the Princess said as if she had just remembered something. “I forgot…he’s out.”
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This opening sequence, like those of Book Five and Book Eight, has been brought to you by Princess Negative!
Whose right-hand man, Emonzaemon Soda, was currently a long way from Owari, having been tasked with assassinating “The Divine Phoenix,” Hohoh Maniwa!
Meanwhile, our favorite duo has arrived in Tendo, seeking the ninth sword!
Another month, another battle!
Like a scrolling tome, with no direction home!
Tangled up in this intangible period piece!
Tale of the Sword, Book Nine ♪
1 佇んで TATAZUNDE upright with the feet set
2 異端 ITAN heterodox
3 せめぎあい SEMEGI’AI antagonism, friction
4 怪しい AYASHII suspicious; unreliable
5 どじっ娘 DOJIKKO daft girl
6 宣言 SENGEN proclamation e.g. 独立宣言 DOKURITSU SENGEN declaration of independence
7 漁夫の利 GYOFU NO RI windfall from the distraction of two other warring parties
8 溜飲くらいは下がる RYŪIN KURAI WA SAGARU “at least your bile will descend”