KATANAGATARI 1

“A Maniwac!”

Since coining the cute shorthand a month earlier, Shichika had called the Maniwa Clan nothing else, but this was his first time saying it to one of them.

“Mani-what…?”

The ninja stumbled on his perch atop the torii.

Catching himself just in time, he was…

“Brilliant! I don’t believe it! What an angel you are for giving a clan of expert assassins such as ours a neat nickname. Under different circumstances, you and I would surely have become fast friends!”

…quite pleased.

The world was full of idiots.

“You know this guy?” Meisai, willfully disregarding the exchange, asked Shichika.

“Not him exactly,” Shichika answered. “It’s like he said─they’re ninjas. The Maniwacs. A clan of expert assassins─with their sights set on the Shikizaki blades.”

“I see…” Meisai nodded in acknowledgment. Apparently she had not heard of the Maniwa, but she could tell that Kuizame was no joke25─her face had turned to stone.

“You, sir, Shichika Yasuri of the Kyotoryu─possess Zetto the Leveler and Zanto the Razor. And you, ma’am, Meisai Tsuruga, Mistress of Triad Shrine─possess Sento the Legion,” Kuizame noted politely. “So then, Komori─hmm. What a shame. And Shirasagi, who was reaching for the Razor─gone as well. What a shame.”

“…”

“That said─If I kill both of you fine people,” the ninja observed with a joyful smile, “all three swords will enter my possession.”

…If he really had been listening to Shichika and Meisai, he should have gathered that things could not progress so smoothly. Even Shichika knew this─the Leveler and the Razor were not here, and the Legion, owing to its massive quantity, was not the type of sword anyone could capture just by defeating Meisai.

And yet Kuizame had spoken thus.

As though he simply wanted to fight the two─no, as though he simply wanted to kill them both.

“Ah─good, good, good, good─the rarefied air, of strife.”

Kuizame soundlessly bared both his ninja swords─but not by grasping each blade’s handle. To Shichika, it looked as if the swords had drawn themselves─but upon closer examination, their handles were linked to the chains wrapped around his arms. By shooting his hands into the air,26 Kuizame pulled on the chains, freeing both swords simultaneously. As though they were kusarigama,27 he proceeded to spin them on either side, vertically, like high-speed propellers.

Togame had told Shichika the chains were a kind of chain mail, basically armor─of course, when it came to the Maniwa Clan and their enclave, not even the Schemer knew all there was to know. In fact, she had never even heard of Kuizame Maniwa, much less met him.

Togame was hardly to blame, but one of the bosses could use the chains like so─in a ferocious and vicious28 attack.

“Behold the Dust Devil.29 This ninpo is why they call me ‘Kuizame the Sand30 Trap.’”

“…”

Where was this guy in the last book?

His moniker begged the question.

But there were other pressing concerns.

Shichika turned toward Meisai─he had no idea what kind of moves her Sentoryu involved, but unarmed as she was, how could she show him? In which case─he would have to fight alone.

Considering the duel to follow, he couldn’t let Meisai get herself killed─but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t anxious. Evidently Kuizame Maniwa fought with swords, but those bonkers weapons were not the sort the Kyotoryu was designed to counter─Shichika could not treat him like a swordsman.

At this point though, he had no choice but to go all out─since he had scared away the Kuromiko, there was mercifully no risk of an imbroglio31─and since those ninja swords were not the work of Kiki Shikizaki, he could snap them all he wanted─

“Here I come─oh what fun.”

Kuizame leapt from the torii. Normally, jumping down from a high place, not to say that doing so off the Grand Torii was normal, you bent your knees to some degree to absorb the impact, but not Kuizame. Legs straight, swords whirring on both sides─he let gravity do the work and plummeted straight down.

“Nkk─”

Shichika dashed ahead before Kuizame even landed. Come what may, he would need to fight this battle a safe distance from Meisai. But then a shadow passed him, as if cutting through his thoughts─Meisai Tsuruga, running low to the ground.

“Huh?”

That fast.

Before he knew it, she had overtaken him.

“A few days ago, I received word that a checkpoint on our border had been annihilated─and based on the harrowing report, I gather that this Dust Devil was to blame. I hate to steal your scene, but as the mistress of this fortress shrine that guards Izumo, I cannot let the ninja be,” Meisai excused herself, in a single breath, as she blew past Shichika. “And our duel would not be fair if you had no clue about the Sentoryu while I knew of the Kyotoryu.”

Tup.

With a firm step, she sprang off, even faster─leaving Shichika behind. This was a first for him─and came as a shock. Not in his battle against Komori Maniwa, not in his battle against Ginkaku Uneri, and not at the dojos of Kyoto, where Togame had brought him to train─had Shichika ever been surpassed in athletic ability.

Meisai zipped by─like it was nothing.

Shichika’s legs halted of their own accord.

No stopping her.

But what was she planning to do?

She had no sword!

“Heh…” Seeing her rush his landing zone, Kuizame was unshaken─in fact, he chuckled like it was his idea of a good time. “Meisai Tsuruga. I heard you ask him, ‘What are you fighting for?’ If you don’t mind me answering: Money! I pride myself on never having fought for any other reason. All the same…”

The blades spinning on either side of him─sped up, no longer a mere whirlwind but a raging tornado.32 At that velocity, the chains that swung the ninja swords were fearsome weapons in their own right.

Maniwa Ninpo, Dust Devil.

“If you have to be asking such questions, don’t even bother fighting─‘What are you fighting for? What for?’ Nobody has time for your philosophy! Don’t be ridiculous!”

He landed─without a sound.

And where Kuizame landed─was where Meisai crossed his path.

“…nkk!”

Unarmed.

Not equipped with the Legion─no blade on her person. Shichika could tell, as Master of the Kyotoryu, as a swordsman who was his own sword.

But after they intersected─it was Kuizame Maniwa who was mangled. Evading the protection of the chains, a deep cross had been slashed into his chest, whence sprayed out vast quantities of blood─and as if to dodge this fountain of gore, Meisai had followed through and charged nearly twenty feet beyond her foe.

It was only then that Kuizame fell.

Flopping down like a dead shark─clearly for good.

“It may be dead, but a man is a man─I can’t ask the miko to clean this up. Would you mind taking care of the corpse?”

“…”

Meisai’s voice was easygoing as ever, as if she had merely finished up a little chore─but Shichika had no words, nor any other reaction, at the ready.

“About your father…” Meisai reprised. “As a servant of the gods, I will ask no more of it. Sure I’m curious, but I can tell that the rest of it is not for me to hear. You should not be so careless─about who you tell.”

■　■

Now that the Maniwa were involved, it didn’t matter what they promised Meisai; tomorrow they would work together, Shichika insisted. As her katana, he could no longer permit their separation.

Togame dismissed him as overprotective. He thought this was bravado, but he was wrong.

She had news─brandishing a sword.

“I found the original Legion.”

In any case, this much seems certain: If the next Maniwa Boss also bites the dust in an instant, their main part in this Tale of the Sword will be the pushover’s.33

1 関所 SEKISHO barrier station

2 喰鮫 KUIZAME “eating shark”

3 四畳半 YOJŌHAN four rectangular mats and a square half-mat, radially arranged into a square

4 裏腹な、裏や腹 URAHARA NA, URA YA HARA wordplay and not an actual expression, consisting of: 裏 URA reverse 腹 HARA the flat of; stomach (figuratively “intention” as in what’s in it) 裏腹 URAHARA opposite; saying one thing and doing another a more straightforward rendition might be “tricky secrets and designs”

5 量産 RYŌSAN mass production

6 怠け者 NAMAKE MONO one who lazes

7 用心棒 YŌJINBŌ “caution stick” for fending off robbers, etc.

8 にじり口 NIJIRI GUCHI small hatch used to access a teahouse

9 晴天 SEITEN “clear heavens”

10 保護監督者 HOGO KANTOKU SHA guardian and supervisor

11 縁側 ENGAWA “rim side” 縁 EN also means “connection” (e.g. in Buddhism)

12 駆け込み寺 KAKEKOMI DERA a temple that sheltered abused wives 駆け込む KAKEKOMU dash into

13 縁切り寺 ENKIRI DERA same as above, but suggesting a divorce 縁切り ENKIRI “ties-cutting”

14 必要悪 HITSUYŌ AKU “necessary evil”: likely a modern, direct translation from Western languages

15 心理学 SHINRIGAKU the exact term for the modern discipline; anachronistic in the original, too

16 偽薬効果 GIYAKU KŌKA “fake medicine effect”; again, insouciantly anachronistic

17 療養所 RYŌYŌSHO place for patients to recuperate

18 下戸 GEKO nondrinker

19 酒呑み SAKE NOMI tipplers

20 情報操作 JŌHŌ SŌSA “information manipulation”

21 修羅と羅刹 SHURA TO RASETSU Asura and Rakshasa (constantly battling demons, or their world)

22 心意気 KOKOROIKI zest

23 仁王立ち NIŌDACHI stance of the statuary Deva gods who guard a temple gate

24 精神的に盲点 SEISHINTEKI NI MŌTEN 精神 SEISHIN spirit 盲点 MŌTEN “blind point”

25 ただもの TADA MONO a nobody (usually used with a negative: “not a —”)

26 万歳 BANZAI “ten thousand years” i.e. “Long live”; here, the gesture that goes with the cheer

27 鎖鎌 KUSARI GAMA sickles swung from chains as weapons

28 獰猛獰悪 DŌMŌ DŌAKU relentless savagery

29 渦刀 UZUGATANA “whorl katana”

30 鎖縛 SABAKU restrain with a chain pun on 砂漠 SABAKU desert

31 巻き添え MAKIZOE roping others into the fray

32 竜巻 TATSUMAKI “dragon roll” whirlwind

33 かませ犬 KAMASE INU “dog for biting” foil (in dogfighting, boxing, etc.)