01x18 - Natsuno

[bunniefuu]

Dr. Domon, I presume?

Your treatment using soil...

Wasn't it originally taught to you
by someone else?

You know something about this?

About that person...

That person?

What do you know?

NATSUNO

My dear...

DR. DOMON

DR. DOMON
Yae!

YAE

NANOKA KIBA - OTOYA

You need to lie down.

Everything's okay.

That woman...

She's my wife.

She's been ill for a long time.

His wife? She's very young.

MAO
Let me examine her.

MAO
I'm an onmyoji.

It was about 30 years ago.

At the time...

I was studying to become a doctor.

My wife, Yae, worked to help
pay for my tuition.

There was a particularly troublesome
customer at the bar where she worked...

He became dangerously
obsessed with her.

Like a stalker?

Mr. Domon! Something's happened to Yae!

Yae! Yae!

She was ambushed by a customer.

There was nothing I could do...

Then that person appeared.

My deepest sympathies.

They packed Yae's wounds with
what looked like kneaded earth.

Several days later, Yae recovered
as if nothing had happened.

The person said it was Onmyojutsu.

Then they left behind
some Earth medicine,

telling me to apply it
if she ever fell ill.

They also taught me how to choose
the right soil and how to prepare it,

but I could never get it quite right.

So you've been testing
the effects of the soil

you prepared yourself
on your patients?

Yes.

These past few years,
Yae hasn't been well.

At first, the soil I used on my patients
would restore their health.

But after a few days,
things would start to go wrong.

This man...

I've heard that many
of the patients you treated

with your Earth medicine
have gone missing.

It's likely they were consumed by
the soil and disappeared without a trace.

What you've done is unforgivable.

Who taught you such a spell?

Oh, don't be so rigid.

He was trying to save the woman
he loved, so he had no choice, right?

Mao, you were always so inflexible.

A woman?

NATSUNO

You scattered these butterfly talismans,
didn't you, Mao?

They know each other?

Ah...

Y-You...

You're the one who gave me
the Earth medicine back then...!

Please! I need more medicine!

My wife is not well!

I beg you!

All right. Let me examine her.

I see...

She's dead.

Yae!

She has been, for several years.

What?

Just as I thought.

Yae... This can't be...

Yae!

She kept going for your sake.

How devoted.

Yae...

Yae...

Yae! Yae!

Yae!

Shall we go, Mao?

There's nothing we can do here.

Natsuno.

So she's also from the Goko Clan?

Why did you do such a thing?

You mean about her head?

Why did you give him Earth medicine?

I told you, didn't I?

I was moved by his
abiding love for his wife.

But because of that, he used
an imperfect medicine on his patients

and committed even more crimes.

What's going to happen to Dr. Domon now?

He touched the soil used
on his wife's neck.

So he'll probably be joining her.

Dr. Domon.

I have a stomach ache.

Dr. Domon?

Nobody home?

Mao, come here.

DAIGO
You're about to see an incredible spell.

Daigo.

Your leg's broken, isn't it?

Poor thing.

Let me put some medicine on it.

Okay. Try to stand up.

Amazing.

Natsuno's Earth medicine
can heal any injury.

Natsuno...

So you're Mao?

Daigo's little brother, so to speak.

Your spell is truly remarkable.

Master's always getting
on my case, though.

He keeps telling me not to make
just medicine, but poison too.

I don't care what he says, though.

If you keep talking like that,
he'll chew you out again.

The Earth sorcerers were among
the most talented in the Goko Clan.

Among them,
Daigo and Natsuno were...

Natsuno.

You were summoned to
the Goshikido, weren't you?

Yes, I was summoned.

Did you think Daigo was chosen?

If he had focused on his training,

he would have surpassed me.

So you knew as well, Natsuno?

Wait.

Don't leave yet.

Lady Sana...

Daigo, your eyes have
the most mysterious color.

They're beautiful.

Lady Sana...

Lady Sana was in love with Daigo?

The two of them met in secret,
but a few people in the compound knew.

If any of the apprentices who were
jealous of Daigo's abilities found out

and it reached the Master's ears...

MASTER OF THE GOKO CLAN
and it reached the Master's ears...

MASTER OF THE GOKO CLAN

Mao, weren't you also in love
with Lady Sana back then?

Don't tell me it was you
who told the Master?

H-He would never do that!

Daigo was an important person in my life.

If nothing had happened...

...and Daigo and Lady Sana
had been able to be together,

nothing would have made me happier.

Yeah, that sounds like you.

I'll believe you.

Well, I'll be on my way now.

So...

If Natsuno was summoned
to the Goshikido,

then what happened to Daigo?

I told you that after being
summoned to the Goshikido,

the most talented senior apprentices

started dying under
mysterious circumstances, right?

Yes.

The very first victim...

...was Daigo.

What?!

If you are to inherit
all of the secret scrolls,

that means you will
become my husband, Mao.

HAIMARU - SANA
I will obey my father's wishes.

But Lady Sana was in love...

...with Daigo.

Why Mao? He's just some orphan
from the home for foundlings.

He's not worthy.

No matter what the other senior
apprentices said to me, I could endure it.

But what does Daigo think of me?

We grew up together
at the home for foundlings.

Then he fulfilled his dream
of joining the Goko Clan.

And it was through his recommendation
that I was brought to the Goko Clan.

And yet, I was chosen over Daigo...

Ah, Mao.

I should never have brought you here.

I regret it.

I knew it.

Daigo...

I'm thinking of leaving the Goko Clan.

I'm sorry.

Huh?

I once told you the Goko Clan
was like paradise.

It's the opposite.

This place is...

The next morning, Daigo was...

...found dead in the courtyard
of the compound.

There are signs the ground
was dug up at his feet.

Was a cursed object buried here?

He unknowingly stepped on it.

And was cursed to death.

Daigo!

Daigo!

Why?!

KAMON - MASAGO

HAKUBI

Hyakka?

I never knew...

That after I was chosen
as the successor,

several of the senior apprentices
had been summoned to the Goshikido.

Curse Mao, the sacrifice, to death.

Whoever survives in the end
shall be the true successor.

Lady Sana...

I'd never seen that look
on her face before.

And beginning with Daigo's death...

The top senior apprentices
of each of the Five Elements

began dying one after another
under mysterious circumstances.

So if Natsuno was summoned
to the Goshikido, that would mean...

Yes.

Looking back now,

Daigo was probably k*lled by a curse
meant for someone else.

By someone who was summoned
to the Goshikido...

I see. That's just so unfair.

Um, did you try to comfort Lady Sana...

...or cry together with her?

I couldn't do anything for her...

That's heartbreaking.

It was a long time ago.

But you still have feelings
for Lady Sana, don't you?

That's why you're so fixated
on Yurako, isn't it?

I don't know what to think anymore.

How could someone so kind and pure

spew black curses from her mouth...

And the man that she loved
was even cursed to death.

Sana is dead.

Her heart was torn from her chest.

But she appeared before Mao,
looking exactly the same.

Out of my way!

At first, I just couldn't connect the two.

Nanoka.

I just want to know
why Lady Sana is still alive

and how she became a pawn for Shiranui.

Is that all?

If there's any way to save her, I want to.

And then what?

Do you want to be with her
or something?

Huh?

What on earth are you talking about?

The current's changed?

Yeah. All of a sudden,
we can't catch any fish.

All we're getting is...

Dammit! It's happened again!

It's tangled in the net!

He's at the bottom of the sea now?

You've got to be kidding me.

Did you find Shiranui's shrine,
Master Kamon?

I did. But with it down there,
there's not much we can do.

Lady Sana hasn't shown up
at the salons since then, either.

Looks like Shiranui's gone back
to hiding in his shrine.

BENIKO
What is that, Master Kamon?

This?

It was tangled in the net.

It's hair that came floating up
from the shrine.

What's that b*stard Shiranui
plotting now?

Do you intend to k*ll Shiranui,
Master Kamon?

That depends.

But first, there are a lot of things
I want to ask him.

He's waiting for you here.

What a magnificent home.

This is as far as I will take you.

Oh, my! You must be Mr. Kuchinawa's guest!

His friend is so handsome, too!

You're here, Mao.

Oh? You brought Nanoka with you.

Is his name Mr. Mao?

Master Kamon,
- Is he younger than Mr. Kuchinawa?

you're freeloading at this house now?
- Is he younger than Mr. Kuchinawa?

You make it sound so bad.

I got rid of the spirit possessing
the young lady of the house,

and they insisted I stay.

Okay, but why are you
dressed like that?

Kamon, I heard from Beniko
that you found Shiranui's shrine.

Yeah. At the bottom of the sea.

The bottom of the sea...

Well, it's too dangerous
to go down there.

But I found this.

That's hair, isn't it?

Eww...

Mao, get ready.

All right.

We're performing
a spirit-summoning ritual?

Yes.

At first, I figured
it was Shiranui's hair.

But it doesn't have his sinister aura.

We summon the soul
that dwells within this hair.

Come forth, by sacred decree!

Otoya, is the spirit-summoning
ritual like a séance?

Yes.

Because the hair itself
serves as the katashiro,

it should be easy to summon
its owner's spirit.

Masago!

Um, was that a ghost?

It didn't appear to be
the spirit of a living person.

Right.

Mao, I told you I wasn't there the night

the compound burned down, didn't I?

Yes.

I don't know anything.

I was outside the compound
on a rendezvous with a woman.

Wait, don't tell me...

The person you were
meeting was Masago?

Well, that's right.

That night, Masago had
asked me to come out

and wait for her at a shack
on Northern Beach.

But Masago never came.

I waited until morning, and when
I returned to the compound,

it had burned to the ground.

And both the Master and Lady Sana
had been m*rder*d.

You had already fled by then, Mao.

And from that day on,
Masago disappeared without a trace.

Why?

Masago wanted to get away
from the Goko Clan.

Yes.

Get out while you can.

This is a cruel place.

After the downfall of the Goko Clan...

I thought maybe Masago had
managed to escape somewhere.

But if she'd been summoned
to the Goshikido,

I figured I'd run
into her again someday.

And if she hadn't,
then I just hoped she'd escaped

to live an ordinary life and
lived out her natural lifespan.

Oh, my!

Kamon doesn't look it,
but he's a real romantic!

If Masago's hair came from
Shiranui's shrine, that would mean...

Yeah.

We need to squeeze
the truth out of Shiranui.

Master Shiranui, the hair has
broken through the barrier.

It's possible that moving the shrine from
Kyoto has compromised the barrier.

SHIRANUI

SHIRANUI
Truly...

There's nothing more terrifying
than a woman's tenacity.

Isn't that right, Masago?

NEXT TIME
Natsuno?

Natsuno?

Why are you here?

Mao...

I never expected you to come to me.

You're tagging along with Kamon today?

So, you know why we've come, Shiranui.

What did you do to Masago?

Well, it's about time you died.

Those who were summoned to
the Goshikido can wound and k*ll one another.

Next time: "The Undersea Shrine."