We're a pair!
Uh-huh! We'll always be a pair!
"Cross my fingers, if you lie, I'll make you eat a thousand needles!"
(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
I'm searching for a woman. The sad woman that I love.
My father's losing his mind. It's a monster's work. A hi-no-enma!
A hi-no-enma, you say?
A type of demon which flies to you.
It takes the form of a woman and comes in order...
to prevent the attainment of Buddhist enlightenment.
It usually describes a creature which looks like an evil woman.
It's said they take the form of a beautiful woman...
visiting a man night after night to suck out his lifeblood until he dies.
Get rid of a hi-no-enma?
In other words, is it like this?
Kyoemon, a cargo vessel wholesaler...
is searching for his bride, who ran away on their wedding night.
Right.
They say she was a pyromaniac...
and left him so that she wouldn't cause him trouble.
And he says it's all right for her to come back...
because he's built a home she can set fire to?
Not only that.
If she can't be stopped...
I wanted to let her be without any regard for others.
If she can be cured, fine! If not, we can both die together!
In that case, maybe we should...
just hand her over immediately and let him do as he wants.
H-Hold on! You know where this girl Shiragiku is?
We know.
Wh- What do you mean?
Snakes travel on other snakes' paths.
I know. First, go to see Reverend Ryojun.
You'll probably find that degenerate priest wandering around...
in the red light district of the city of Sakai.
But when it comes to being "worldly," Shiragiku probably has him beat.
Is he a friend of yours?!
Sort of.
Like us, he's an inhabitant of the underworld.
However, he's a bit more depraved than average and hard to deal with.
That bad, huh?
Even Ogin would run from him without getting dressed first.
What was that?!
Then we have to tell him!
I'll go tell Mr. Kyoemon!
Hold it!
Why?!
I think you've gotten the wrong idea, Author.
Our job isn't to save people.
We trick people. Sometimes we take their lives!
Dredging human souls is, by its nature, a life-threatening job.
Oh, dear. If you're risking lives, do it yourself, Trickster.
Stay out of this, Puppeteer!
I was wrong about you people!
Oh, well. Still, this is for the best.
We'll miss him.
YOU'LL miss him!
Huh? Don't be ridiculous!
Anyway...
Shiragiku. This is going to be tough.
All right, then!
In that case, I'll just have to get there...
before Mataichi and the others and find Shiragiku myself!
Don't worry, I'll come back to Kitabayashi soon.
I just need to settle something from my past.
Got it!
Excuse me!
Thank you.
She was really pretty.
I don't like these places.
He's here.
Hey, big boy! Come in!
Yes, yes! Come in!
You can have the two of us for anything you want!
N- No, thanks! I'm not here for that!
Watch where you're goin'!
S- Sorry!
From Edo, huh?! You insult me and I'll crack your head open!
Something wrong, guys?
Oh, it's a priest.
What are you doin' here?
You fools! Don't you know the decree of this red-light district?
Look! A babe!
This way!
- Hold it! - Hey!
Wh-What the...?!
Damn it, where'd they go?!
Hey!
Th-Thanks so much.
You gotta stay alert around here, though I get the feeling...
you're not the type who normally comes to places like this.
So, what brings you here?
I came to find a priest named Ryojun.
Huh? That'd be me, then.
Huh? You?!
Yeah. So, what can I do for you?
Well, it's about a girl named Shiragiku.
Shiragiku?!
Let's talk somewhere else.
Oh, boy.
Two?
I can't take much more rain!
What, serving someone ahead of us?
No prob, no prob! The rain's a bother for everyone.
Don't stay in the corner. Come over to the fire and warm up.
I may have a young man with me, but still...
So, is this about Tatsuta?
Uh, no, what I want to ask about is--
Oh, yes. Shiragiku, right? Shiragiku...
Well, I know about her, but she's sort of one half of a pair.
A pair?
Well, this was a long time ago...
but they were real beauties, as pretty as flowers.
At the time, the merchant class girls would be instructed...
in dancing and playing the samisen from a young age.
Oh, yes. They say Shiragiku was the daughter of a nobleman.
She was a quiet, gentle girl.
She didn't have an aggressive bone in her body.
Whatever she did, she'd do it well.
She was always hanging around with her friend Tatsuta...
whose family owned a lumber yard.
Yeah. Tatsuta was a nice girl.
Shiragiku was always holding her hand.
Anywhere you go, Tatsuta, I go. We'll always be a pair.
Uh-huh! A pair!
A pair forever!
A pair. But despite what they said...
Shiragiku was always the better one.
That's what she was like.
One day, they even got matching yukatas.
We're a pair!
Uh-huh! We'll always be a pair!
It really is a pretty yukata.
It really suits you, Shiragiku.
Poor Tatsuta.
Shiragiku was the only one who got complimented.
Huh? I wanted to tell you about Shiragiku...
but I ended up talking about Tatsuta.
Well, they always were a pair.
You got the impression the sun gave Shiragiku...
extra sunlight to make her shine.
Light, huh?
When she was 14, Shiragiku was apprenticed...
to a feudal lord to the west.
It's all right! We'll write to each other.
It'll be okay if we're apart.
We'll always be a pair.
Right. We're a pair.
But she soon returned.
Why?
Shiragiku was blamed for setting a fire in their house.
But the real reason was probably jealousy over Shiragiku's beauty.
I get to be with you again, Tatsuta.
That's good enough for me.
And then another fire started.
You all right?
Wow! That surprised me!
That time, Shiragiku's house burned down.
Her family was killed and arson was again suspected.
Rumors started that Shiragiku was a woman who could summon fire...
and she was soon driven from the town and forced into prostitution.
Despite this, the sun still seemed to pour upon her.
Before long, she was a headlining prostitute with many admirers.
The light was always, always upon her.
Ah, she went out. The rain must have stopped.
Eventually, a man appeared to redeem Shiragiku.
A man named Seihachi from a local lumber yard.
Just when it seemed Shiragiku was finally going to find happiness...
Seihachi was offered an arranged marriage.
And the woman he was to marry was Tatsuta.
Her family probably wanted her to marry him...
in order to merge the two lumber yard-owning families.
Shiragiku cut off her little finger and sent it to Seihachi.
She sent her little finger?!
Yes, to prove the promise she made wasn't child's play.
It's a sad custom of the red light districts...
to show how seriously one loves another.
Now nobody knows which of them Seihachi truly had feelings for.
You're saying...
Because he died on his wedding night.
You don't mean...
Yes, in a fire. Started right in the middle of the wedding.
A giant fire that spread all the way into Osaka.
Seihachi and his bride Tatsuta were burned to ashes!
Shiragiku did it?
Who knows? But it's probably more comforting to think...
that she set a fire out of anger and jealousy...
because her childhood friend took the man she loved.
The idea she came to celebrate the wedding of her beloved friend...
and the man she loved so much is just too sad to bear.
Don't you agree?
I don't know what happened to her after that.
I heard she returned to prostitution...
and got involved in some shady dealings.
Perhaps Shiragiku really became a hi-no-enma.
Where is she now?
I'm fairly sure she's in Nagoya.
What?!
She wrote me about her wedding there.
I guess it's back to Nagoya for me. How about you, Ryojun?
I think I'll sit this out.
She specifically told me about it because she didn't want me to come.
Ryojun!
After all, I decided to go there, too.
Something's bugging me. But what?
Her little finger! Shiragiku cut off her little finger!
Tatsuta was a nice girl.
My beloved, the wedding is prepared and I await you.
He loves me? Loves me...Shiragiku?
They shouldn't have come... those who know of my past.
Will Shiragiku really come?
That depends upon how much you believe she will.
He built that just to burn it? Extravagant, isn't it?
There are all sorts of people in this world.
We'll be done by the time Mr. Author arrives.
A fire?! That's right. Ryojun?
Huh?! That's cruel! He ran off without me!
That woman!
What's she doing here?
Why is she smiling? Watching us...in the fire...
Can it be? Is that Shiragiku?!
Author! Hang on a moment!
Little hags?!
Can't let you interfere!
You can't! You can't!
If Shiragiku reaches Kaneshiroya before I do...
I believe in you, Mataichi!
You will save Mr. Kyoemon, won't you?
You won't just let him die, will you?
I've been waiting for you, Shiragiku!
Go on, burn anything you like!
What's wrong? Come to me.
I cannot. I, Shiragiku, have...
I have given my finger to the man I truly love.
The bride has arrived!
She has both little fingers!
Wait! Wait a second!
That's not Shiragiku!
It's all right, Shiragiku. It doesn't matter who else you love.
Go on. Burn to your heart's content.
Shiragiku?
Shiragiku...
Master Kyoemon!
Shiragiku, how I have waited for you! How I have longed for you!
Your eyes, your hair...
A day hasn't gone by that I haven't thought about them!
Master Kyoemon!
I'm the real one. Isn't that right?
SHlRAGlKU!
Shiragiku!
I thought I killed you that time!
That time... Yes, it's just like that last time.
Yes, only this time it's reversed.
I came to celebrate your wedding.
I pray for your eternal happiness.
Why was I the only one left out? Only l?
Even you wouldn't look...
at me!
Just as we promised. We're a pair.
A pair. And this time, we will truly be a pair...
upon which the sun will not shine!
That's why you killed me...
and the people I loved?
The sun shone on you all the time.
As long as you lived, it'd do no good for me.
No one would ever look at me. I'd always live in your shadow.
Mataichi?! Then you must be...
You are a fool!
Kyoemon would have been happy with you...
even as a sinful woman who was using Shiragiku's name!
Happy with you as yourself. And yet, you...
Shiragiku.
Shiragiku...
With this hand...
Could I be happy if I took this hand?
Would the sun shine on me?
No. This man, too. The one he really wants is...
SHlRAGlKU!
To the next world, we commit Thee!
MATAlCHl!
This isn't Shiragiku!
Oh, Mr. Author!
Thanks, Mata!
Thanks to you, I know now.
Who really wants me.
And who I really am paired with.
For me, the Shiragiku I am now...
I shall shine on in the shadows!
Shiragiku really was a hi-no-enma monster.
The Buddha heart within you, Kyoemon...
allowed the fire monster to be consumed in its own flames.
Take a moment to pray for her. For Shiragiku's unfortunate soul.
Shiragiku, it didn't matter to me who you were.
Even if you were a monster who burned people to death.
You really should have stayed out of this!
But she had both her little fingers!
After the fire in Osaka, Tatsuta took the place of Shiragiku...
the girl she both hated and admired.
And under her name, she committed evil.
Before she knew it, the fires she set to ruin Shiragiku's name...
became a source of pleasure for her.
We blew an excellent chance to finally defeat her.
And Mr. Author has no idea how hard we worked to keep him out of this.
I have a good idea where she's retreated to.
But the question before that...
Yes. Kyogokutei's behind this.
Looks like things have gotten complicated.
Mr. Author!
It may be time for us to part ways.
Mataichi! Ogin! Nagamimi!
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...
Ieaving behind dubious rumors to fly in public.
A curse from a time long past.
The cursed cannon, etched into a man's back.
Now comes the time to reset the cycle of karma.
The sinking of the proof of his dead son's life.
Next time, on Natsuhiko Kyogoku's "Requiem From the Darkness:"
Marine Spirits.
To the next world, we commit Thee!