Hey! You sure we're headed the right way?
The hell if I know!
H- Hey! Over there!
God help us! We're out near Twin Island!
Jikkou sanzei issai butsu.
Wh-What's that voice?
What is it?!
S-Sea ghosts!
H- Help us!
Wanting you to just be near, (to feel your breath upon my ear)
Wishing you would call my name, ('Cause only you can light the flame)
Constantly searching, still can't find
Ever illusive peace of mind
Sometimes it's near, but slips away
And I'm faced with another day
Of wanting you... (to feel your breath upon my ear)
...to just be near ('Cause only you can light the flame)
Of wishing you... (to feel your breath upon my ear)
...would call my name, to feel your breath upon my ear
Of wanting you...wishing you... (to feel your breath upon my ear)
Call my name, 'cause only you can light the flame
Mataichi, where are you?
Mr. Author!
It may be time for us to part ways.
It's been 3 months since then.
I had no idea where...
Mataichi and the others lived or even how they lived.
All I knew was that wherever they appeared...
strange rumors began to spread.
What the...?!
"A man who could change into any form, from animal to woman to child."
"The heretic descended from the kabuki theater world.
Nagamimi the Bird Caller."
Is this Nagamimi?!
Friend of yours?
I came down here to find a good book to read...
and who should I find but my rarely seen friend.
Ah. Is this a friend of yours?
So what if he is?
Well, I applaud the author great enough to write The 100 Stories!
You know people in the next world, too?
If that guy was alive, he'd be over 200 years old!
Huh?! You're right!
You're incurably naive, you know that?
Um, excuse me.
Do you know anything about any weird rumors lately?
Strange rumors, huh?
Well, there's "Seven Man Point" in Kitabayashi.
And the sea ghosts of Sanuki!
Seven Man Point. And sea ghosts, huh?
KYOGOKUTEI
A teahouse? Out here?
We've been waiting, Mr. Author.
At last we meet, Mr. Author.
How do you know who I am?
We've heard all about you from Mataichi.
And we've heard about you from Ogin and Nagamimi.
You people?
Thank you for assisting them so well.
I am Kyogokutei, the master of this establishment.
Kyogokutei. Then you're Mataichi and the others'...
You'd be happiest to not finish that sentence.
Happiest not to say it.
We've been most fortunate...
to have a fine man like you helping us, Mr. Author.
Oh, no. I was just doing what I was told.
I disagree.
Since you've joined them...
their operations have gone very smoothly.
And you've added a touch of elegance, as well.
Y-You think so?
But they're delayed this time.
I guess they're useless without Mr. Author.
Where did Mataichi go?
They went to Shikoku and vanished.
No contact from them.
Shikoku. Then that rumor of sea ghosts in Sanuki must be...
I'm very worried about them.
The sea ghosts appeared again, huh?
It was around Kabuto Island.
The boat was wrecked and I heard nobody survived.
Nobody will go out to fish now.
Excuse me.
The sea ghosts sank a boat?
They do it constantly around here.
Attacking ships sounds more like what pirates would do.
Still, it's strange, isn't it?
Don't the sea ghosts usually appear around Twin Island?
Why would they appear near Kabuto Island?
Hmm. Now that you mention it...
What do you mean?
About half a day's boat ride from here...
there were a pair of islands we called Twin Island.
One night, around 20 years ago...
one of them suddenly disappeared.
An island vanished in a night?!
The rumors of the sea ghosts have been around for a long time...
but the word is that since that night...
they especially tend to appear around Twin Island.
It's said that sea ghosts are the souls of people...
who died in the sea and came back as spirits.
Those who died on a boat approach and ask for a ladle.
It's said that if you give them the ladle, they'll use it to...
draw up wave after wave, until the boat is sunk.
Tr- Trouble!
Lord Sekiyama, the boating magistrate, is coming here personally!
Don't trouble yourselves. Raise your heads, please.
Anyway...
the frequent reports of sea ghost disasters here are not at all strange.
I have determined it is all the work of the Kawakubo Clan!
It is difficult to forgive these cunning people...
who threaten the livelihood of this land's citizens!
I have decided to take care of this threat!
I see! You saw Lord Sekiyama?
He seems like an impressive man.
And handsome, too, I hear!
I only heard him mention them...
but what sort of people are the Kawakubo Clan, exactly?
No one at the beach would tell me.
R- Really?
Do you know anything about them?
N- Not really. Make yourself comfortable!
I-I don't know nothin'!
Not one person in the village would tell me about the Kawakubo Clan.
Hey, you!
Yes?
You've been asking around about the Kawakubo Clan.
What's wrong? Cat got your tongue?
No matter. Answer me or not, you're still gonna die.
That's...
Damn it, where'd he go?! Find him!
That way!
For heaven's sake.
You find danger so often I can never just stand by watching you.
I looked everywhere for you.
No one asked you to.
Why didn't you ask me to help you on this latest setup?
Can't you tell?
You're getting to be a burden for us, Mr. Author.
You can't mean that!
Is it because I failed in the last mission?
That was because Mataichi didn't fill me in beforehand.
It's not that.
It's because we don't live in the same world.
Then let me join you--
No!
There are boundaries people cannot cross.
Mr. Author...
you're someone who must never enter this side of the world.
Never.
Stay out of this. Go back to Edo. Understand?
Ogin!
Mister! That girl you were with went out to sea!
It looked like she was headed for Twin Island.
I have a favor to ask.
Why won't anyone tell me about the Kawakubo Clan?
Because they're ghosts.
Ghosts?
The Kawakubo were defeated members of the Taira Clan.
Nowadays, neither the Taira nor the Minamoto exist.
All people think about are themselves.
And yet, those people...
You're saying they live in a different world...
We can see it! That's Twin Island there!
Oh, no! If we don't do something...
I... I'm still alive.
Who are you?!
No one who has seen us can be allowed to return alive!
Um...
Stop it!
Mataichi!
If we let them live...
None may take another person's life!
But what happened 20 years ago will be repeated--
Silence!
Forgive us, young man.
There was another man with me, who brought me here.
I doubt he survived these waves.
The sea is angry.
Jikkou sanzei issai butsu.
Shoson bosatsu umaka satsu.
I heard this beach was stained red with blood...
when the armies of the Taira and the Minamoto met in battle.
And then, 20 years ago, dozens of people died...
on the night the neighboring island sank.
We're sea ghosts, you say?
I see. Perhaps it's true, in a way.
However, we aren't pirates!
I think you should meet with Lord Sekiyama the magistrate...
to clear your names.
We can't do that.
But...
We can't go anywhere.
You're the second person who's ever been washed ashore on this island.
There was another castaway 20 years ago.
And because of him, we were...
You're wrong.
It wasn't that man who was the real cause.
It was THAT.
What is it?
It was entrusted to us by our ancestors...
to be of use when the signal of the Taira uprising came.
It's a flame lance.
Flame lance?
Those who know how to use it to its full potential...
could seemingly topple the heavens themselves!
It'd be best to simply destroy it.
We cannot.
It's a source of catastrophe...
a thing which calls out the darkness in men's hearts.
I know... which is why it must never be unleashed upon the world.
But not destroyed, either.
You can take this path to the other side of the island.
Use the boat there to go back.
I'm not leaving.
Best to keep out of this, Mr. Author.
What are you planning to do?
It's Taromaru, isn't it?
You're planning to exorcise him, aren't you?!
He's not doing anything, is he?!
And that is his sin!
The fact he inherited the flame lance can't be helped...
but his failure to destroy it is his sin!
Does Kyogokutei know about this?!
How do you know about Kyogokutei?
I met him in Edo. He's your boss, right?
No, he's not. I once thought he was, but...
...then he started thinking terrible things.
Rather than calm the darkness inhabiting men's hearts...
he decided to draw that darkness out.
And for that, the flame lance is most suitable.
They're coming!
Hyogo!
The one cast away here 20 years ago...was that man.
Master Taromaru.
Forgive my not contacting you sooner.
Why have you returned?
The magistrate's office is here to search the Kawakubo Clan...
for any signs of criminal behavior.
Ridiculous.
I know. You're here for the flame lance, aren't you?
That simplifies things.
Will you hand over the plans to me?
I refuse!
We can simply kill you all...
and take the cannon for ourselves, you know.
Without the plans, you won't know how to use it.
If we take a cannon shell back with us, we can investigate how it's made.
Hand it over and I'll declare the Kawakubo Clan...
innocent of any wrongdoing and let you go free.
That man! I get it!
He's been impersonating the sea ghosts to commit piracy!
Those words have sealed your doom!
Which of you is doomed, I wonder?
Who the hell are you?!
They have a fire lance here.
I think you know very well how powerful it is.
Over and over, I've dreamt of it. Of when I could have it.
Of how I craved it. It was unbearable.
You became obsessed with it.
You're not planning to attack this domain's lord, are you?
I find that statement amusing as well.
You'll never leave this island alive.
Give us a little time.
I'll wait until dawn. Use the time to make up your minds.
What do you intend to do?
Exorcise this place...
of the monster called the fire lance.
Boss, we can...
I will not have any lives wasted.
Boss, please join us!
I cannot. I must end this.
You really can't just destroy it?
I am the fire lance.
And if I wasn't here...
the spirits of those at rest in the sea would miss me.
Nobody's lives should be wasted.
I should have done this long ago.
To carry this burden, I had to...
Stop it! Stop it, please!
Taromaru! You will be the next leader!
No! I don't want to be!
Stop it! STOP IT!
Father, you're a coward!
We're abandoning the Kawakubo Clan!
Stop protecting that thing and let this end with your generation!
Until you do, the younger generation will live on that island!
If I'd tried with all my might to stop it that time...
it never would have happened.
They fled?
Wait for me. I'm coming to you now.
Master Taromaru.
Master Taromaru!
Boss.
To the next world, we commit Thee.
You dare to call this an exorcism?!
What's wrong?
Maybe you blame what you do on evil spirits...
but you're all really just murderers!
You're one to talk!
Haven't you done things just as bad as us?!
But they were...
Exactly the same!
Monsters whose hearts carried darkness within.
N- No! They were all people!
You're saying you're a murderer, then?
Mata, that boat there...
Those little hags!
Where are they taking it?
There's only one place I can think of.
The fief of Kitabayashi.
Wind chimes whisper soft and sweet
Though there's not a hint of a breeze
Moonlight dancing on the garden walk
As it gently drifts through the trees
Romance takes flight on this perfect night
While all of the world lays sleeping
Find us here as we feel the moment of love
Draw near
Dream, sleep, with your hand in mine
Underneath a blanket of stars
Song birds singing in a distant glade
As we share the warmth of the dawn
Evil and ambition scatter in the darkness...
leaving behind dubious rumors to fly in public.
One man haunts seven others to death.
Those seven each haunt seven more to death.
A curse runs deep in Kitabayashi.
A chain of curses resembling pictures of atrocities.
Next time, on Natsuhiko Kyogoku's "Requiem from the Darkness:"
"The Death Spirits of Seven Man Point, Part 1."
To the next world, we commit Thee!