KATANAGATARI 3

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Led collectively1 by the Twelve Bosses.

“Komori the Hell-Made”─Komori Maniwa.

“Backwords Shirasagi”─Shirasagi Maniwa.

“Kuizame the Sand Trap”─Kuizame Maniwa.

“Kamakiri the Head Hunter”─Kamakiri Maniwa.

“Flying Butter Chocho”─Chocho Maniwa.

“Mitsubachi the Sharpshooter”─Mitsubachi Maniwa.

“The Divine Phoenix”─Hohoh Maniwa.

“The Feathered Reel”─Oshidori Maniwa.

“The Nosey Otter”─Kawauso Maniwa.

“The Immortal Turtle”─Umigame Maniwa.

“Pengin the Breeder”─Pengin Maniwa.

“The Dogged Scourge”─Kyoken Maniwa.

Of the Twelve Bosses, of late on close terms with the Owari Bakufu, but three survived.

Hohoh Maniwa, Oshidori Maniwa, and Pengin Maniwa.

Three alone.

Although this sampling of names suggests birds of a feather─it had been quite some time since these three ninjas had sat down for a proper chat.2

They convened on a hilltop in Izu, leagues from any human habitation.3

A far cry from Old Maniwa and New Maniwa both─the Twelve Bosses having long since made a pact not to return home until the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki were theirs.

At their last summit, there were still six bosses left─but just as they had seen their ranks reduced from twelve to six, they saw them now reduced from six to three.

From their dwindling numbers, it would be fair to say that it was curtains for the Maniwa.

However.

“So this─is Dokuto the Basilisk…”

Oshidori Maniwa spoke─gazing in wonderment at the katana, standing before them like a veritable Excalibur.4

The sword was long, sheathed in a creepy, motley scabbard─and like Zetto the Leveler, which had been owned momentarily by the Maniwa, it lacked a handguard between blade and grip.

Even sheathed, it emanated venom, deterring even the slightest contact, a sword almost too painful to behold.

Though not a swordsman, Oshidori Maniwa felt its power.

Who knows how it would harness the attention of an advanced swordsman─she had to wonder.

If Umigame Maniwa was still with them.

What would he have felt?

“’Tis.”

Hohoh Maniwa nodded.

“Without a doubt─I’ve checked it with the left arm of Kawauso. We found it waiting for us in a wind cave in the greenwood of Mt. Fuji. Pengin’s intel was spot on, as usual.”

Hearing his name evoked, Pengin Maniwa shivered beside Hohoh─less pleased by these words of praise than scared about what might be said about him next.

Pengin needs to get a grip, thought Oshidori.

“To think, left in a climate harsh as that─” Changing the topic away from Pengin, Oshidori voiced her genuine reaction to the sword, “it shows no sign of rust or degradation, perfectly preserved.”

“Perhaps the climate was just right.”

“What?”

“Perhaps it was not merely waiting, but sealed5 within the cave─when we found it there, embedded in the wall, it was not spraying eerie energy the way that it is now. But I suppose that’s par for the course with these Shikizaki blades. This should go without saying, Oshidori, but don’t even think─of unsheathing this katana.”

“…”

As if he had to warn her.

Even fitted in its scabbard, the sword was seething venom─what horrors it would unleash once exposed! It was beyond the scope of her imagination.

She felt nothing close to this when shown Zetto the Leveler. She surmised that not all of the Mutant Blades of Kiki Shikizaki bore this trait─perhaps even among the Twelve Possessed.

This sword alone.

A trait unique─to Dokuto the Basilisk.

“In the wind cave at Mt. Fuji, when first I touched the hand of Kawauso to the scabbard of this sword, I sensed a terrifying energy. Just as Zetto the Leveler could never bend or break or lose its edge, boasting uncanny hardness, Dokuto the Basilisk boasts uncanny toxicity, its venom stronger than all the other Mutant Blades…”

Hohoh─couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Keheheh.”

“Wh-Wh-Wh…”

His laugh made Pengin even more uneasy than before.

“What is it, Sir Hohoh?”

“Isn’t that a riot? Look, if you see the Sword Hunt for the Twelve Possessed of Kiki Shikizaki as a competition, the Owari Bakufu versus the Maniwa, the score has been uneven as it gets. The Schemer and the Kyotoryu have seven swords for sure, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve already grabbed themselves an eighth by now. For us to rise out of the ashes of embarrassment and beat them to this sword, the most possessed of all the twelve, is the epitome of irony.”

Dokuto the Basilisk─boasting uncanny toxicity.

His appraisal was correct.

Hohoh Maniwa employed his Life Line.

That fearsome ninpo which allowed him to chop off parts of someone else’s body and attach them to his own, thereby assuming their abilities.

The left arm of Kawauso Maniwa, distinguished among the Twelve Bosses of the Maniwa for his Infovac, which allowed him access, upon contact, to the memory and history of inanimate objects─was now grafted onto Hohoh.

And with this arm─he delved into6 this sword.

Just as that genius Nanami Yasuri had used her eyes to see through Akuto the Eel, upon finding it enshrined atop Mt. Shirei, thus learning what the sword could do and how it should be used─Hohoh Maniwa had done the same, in his own way, with Dokuto the Basilisk.

“Saying we’re now tied─might be going too far, but this gives us a bargaining chip to use against the Schemer.”

“Buh, but…” chirped Pengin.

Boyish as this ninja was, so timid and skittish, he spoke his mind, and did so readily. How else could someone with a personality like his become a ninja boss?

“N-Not all the news today is good news… It seems Sir Umigame…failed to capture his Shikizaki blade, and perished in the process…”

“Perished,” Oshidori muttered─realizing what Pengin had said.

Her thoughts turned to Chocho Maniwa.

Who along with Kamakiri Maniwa and Mitsubachi Maniwa, his brethren in the Bug Unit, had ventured to Haphazard Island with a mind to abduct Nanami Yasuri, as a way of furthering their Sword Hunt─only for Nanami Yasuri to rub them out like pests.

Chocho and Oshidori─had been lovers.

Once this “last hurrah”7 was over, bringing the Sword Hunt to a close, the two had promised to be wed8─but alas, these best laid plans of bird and bug had gone awry.

And now.

Umigame Maniwa─gone too.

“Or from another angle, Sir Umigame came dangerously close to capturing the Shikizaki blade, but something cracked his shell─I reckon.”

“Right…” Oshidori nodded.

After the last special assembly, she had done her part in chasing down the Shikizaki blades. Hohoh and Pengin had gone off together, leaving Umigame and Oshidori to operate independently.

Hohoh and Pengin had arrived victorious, toting Dokuto the Basilisk.

Unfortunately, Oshidori had nothing to show for herself.

And Umigame─dead.

In which case, perhaps Oshidori had been lucky, rather than unfortunate, in not coming so dangerously close.

Perhaps that made her cowardly, but the thought was there.

“Sir Umigame was bound for Shinano─was he not?” asked Oshidori.

“Indeed he was,” Hohoh nodded. “I believe we have you to thank, Pengin─for the information on the Mutant Blade in Shinano. Is there anything that you would like to add?”

“N-Not really…but regardless of the circumstances…if Umigame, maybe the ablest fighter among us, lost his life…something awful must have happened…”

“I bet. That warrants an investigation,” Hohoh seconded Pengin. “Well now, I think that sums things up. We need a new plan going forward. With Umigame perished, I think it would be advisable9 for us, from here on out, to stay together every minute of the day. The Twelve Bosses have already been quartered. We must not lose another ninja.”

“N-Not one,” Pengin agreed, but he had more to say. “Sir Hohoh, when you used Kawauso’s left arm to delve into Dokuto the Basilisk, d-d-did it tell you anything about the other swords?”

“I would have to try again, going in10 deeper this time. As the Infovac was not originally my ninpo, I still have much to learn about its workings─it may take practice.”

It was unlike Hohoh to admit this, but on the other hand, he made it sound like it was only a matter of time. Once he had mastered the Infovac, he would doubtless wield it more adeptly than even its original practitioner, the late Kawauso.

Hohoh Maniwa was that kind of a ninja.

And while he let on11 like his brethren treated him like their effective head because he had more common sense than all the other crackpots in the clan─that wasn’t it.

Oshidori knew that wasn’t it at all.

Hohoh Maniwa─was effectively the head of the clan because he was the only boss capable of inspiring confidence.

Belief.