KATANAGATARI 1

■　■

Who said that?

Not sure.

Who was it?

When was it?

Can’t find the memory.

No─there was no memory to begin with.

“It’s nothing like what actually happened─it’s all wrong. No part of it holds up against the facts. What a bunch of malarkey. Wrong, wrong, wrong.”

It was a calm voice.

Calm1─but calamitous.2

Cool, but with the pensiveness of cool blue flame.

On and on.3

“Wrong─this version of history is unthinkable. Completely different from how things were meant to be─it’s not right. It’s just not right.”

Not right.

Different.

Wrong.

However repetitive, the voice was unerring.

Unhesitating.

“■■■.”

It called to me─

What did it call me?

Not sure.

The name─I threw away.

An old name, no longer mine.

A part of the discarded past that I could live without.

“Trouble is, wrong as it may be, this history has its own balance─■■■. It’s balanced, to perfection. Fully formed, at equilibrium, like the surface of a quiet pond─so quiet you almost think that you can walk across it.”

Only it’s not frozen over, the voice added morosely. One step, and down you go.

Who are you?

Who the hell─are you?

I don’t know you.

“■■■, what do you think history is?”

You, a stranger, asking me.

I won’t answer.

I have no interest in answering.

Not for lack of understanding─although I don’t understand.

But, in a way, I understood.

This was─a memory.

Not a memory I could remember, or was mine to have─a reminiscence, nothing more. Why even answer─I was only remembering.

In which case─

It was something that I threw away.

Just like the soundless name.

My memory─painted over black.

“Good answer,” the voice said.

How did─the me of memory answer?

That too, a memory.

A memory thrown away.

Good answer?

“Alright, here’s what I think, ■■■─we point to history as proof that we lived. To prove we lived with gusto. You see─”

The voice was kind.

But I knew it had another side.

That much, I knew.

That you─were very angry.

“Things should take the shape they’re meant to take.”

The voice spoke forcefully.

Resolutely.

“■■■,” you said, “I think it’s time that pond experienced some waves.”

Never know unless you try─you said.

Try?

You would stake your life on such a long shot,4 on such a slim,5 no, far6 chance?

Right.

You must have known.

You had to know.

There would be no contest,7 no hope.8

You knew it best─and yet.

“I think I’ll toss a stone into that nice, quiet pond─to see what kind of ripples I can make, and to prove that no matter how still its surface, it’s only water.”

And thanks to that.

How many do you think will die?

Not only foes.

Your allies─how many?

Your people─how many?

That, too─you knew.

But said you didn’t.

“What will happen─is beyond me. Hard to say. Maybe nothing will happen, and nothing will change, and the struggle will be in vain. After all, I’m part of this history, so righting wrongs won’t be easy. At the very least, though, I can expose them as wrongs.”

Unrightable wrongs.

Can be exposed as wrongs.

Really?

“■■■.”

Again─you call my name.

Then you repeat, as if to convince yourself─as if you, too, would be swallowed by some tidal wave otherwise.

“This history is all wrong.”

Still, after all.

I have forgotten it.

■　■

The next stop on this Sword Hunt is Izumo.

You can’t have Izumo without miko,9 and you can’t have miko without Izumo!

Izumo belongs to them─exclusively, let’s hope!

As in “Hack and slash!10 Their decoupage11 hobby,” thank you?

Must we begin with such vocabulary?

No blood, no tears─just laughs!

Behold this bizarre blunder of a history!

Tale of the Sword: Book Three ♪

1 淡々 TANTAN evokes the placidness of fresh or shallow water

2 炎々 EN’EN burning bright; identical to above but for the three marks, which denote water

3 延々 EN’EN ad nauseum

4 いちかばちか ICHIKA BACHIKA “one or eight” originally a gambling term

5 十中八九 JUCCHŪ HAKKU (odds of) “eight or nine out of ten”

6 万が一 MAN GA ICHI “one in ten thousand”

7 敵う KANAU to rival

8 叶う KANAU to be granted

9 巫女 MIKO shrine maiden(s)

10 切った張ったの大騒ぎ KITTA HATTA NO ŌSAWAGI “big commotion of knifing and plastering”

11 張り絵 HARIE “glued picture” vs. the more common spelling 貼り絵 HARIE collage