IT'S FAINT..
BUT THE PULSE IS BEATING.
DID IT REALIZE I REACHED THE HOST? And here I thought it was frozen in fear.
THERE'S NO TIME.
PLEASE HELP ME.
I CANNOT MISS THIS CHANCE.
SO PLEASE...
O CHILD.
IN YOUR SMALL, MAPLE-LEAF HAND, IS THAT FLESH OR BONE YOU HOLD?
IF IT BE FLESH, CHOP IT FINE AND CAST IT INTO THE FIRE,
IF IT BE BONE, GRIND IT FINE AND BURY IT DEEP IN THE EARTH.
AMI.
NGH...
IS THE PATH BACK TO THE LEFT, OR TO THE RIGHT?
UGH...
UGH...
IF TO THE LEFT, COVER YOUR EARS AS YOU PASS,
IF TO THE RIGHT, COVER YOUR EYES AS YOU PASS.
JUST A LITTLE MORE...!
O CHILD.
RUN NOT ALONG THE WINTER RIDGE,
DIP NOT YOUR BODY IN SUMMER WATERS.
HNGH...!!
FOR A TREE THAT COVETS FAIR FLESH IS NEAR,
LEST ITS TWIGS PIERCE AND SHATTER YOUR BONES.
IT'S OUT.
NO DIFFERENT FROM THE YOKAI'S TRUE FORM,
THE SEED THE YOKAI PLANTED INSIDE THE HOST'S BODY
EXTINGUISHING FIRE
WHO'S THERE?
WITHOUT EVEN TRYING TO HIDE THEIR PRESENCE,
STARING SO BLATANTLY..
?!
LANDOWNER...?
WHY ARE YOU...!
KEUK!!
GASP... URGH...!!
HAHA...
YOU ACTUALLY MANAGED TO DO IT, IN THE END.
URGH.
URGH...!!
WHAT IN THE WORLD...
THAT'S...
?
...YOU,
THAT SCAR...
AH.
THIS?
I GUESSED WRONG.
SINCE IT REEKED SO FOULLY OF ROT,
I WAS CERTAIN MY BROTHER WAS DEAD.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
THE REAL THING...
HOW DOES IT LOOK TO YOU?
IT WAS YOU ALL ALONG.
THIS NOBLE, BEAUTIFUL MAN...
HE INCURRED THE WRATH OF A YOKAI.
WHAT KIND OF YOKAI WAS IT?
WHAT ABOUT IT?
THAT SCAR.
IT WAS DONE TO YOU BY A YOKAI, WASN'T IT?
TO THE POINT WHERE I CAN FEEL
ITS OBSESSION TO CLAIM YOUR BODY.
EVEN IF I TOLD YOU WHO IT WAS,
WHAT COULD SOMEONE LIKE YOU POSSIBLY DO?
...I WILL TRY WHATEVER I CAN.
IN THE PAST...
MY FATHER CRAVED POWER BEYOND THAT OF A HUMAN,
SO HE SUMMONED A YOKAI,
AND THEY SAY THE CREATURE WAS THOROUGHLY ATROCIOUS AND WICKED.
SO WHEN MY FATHER WAS COMPLETELY AT HIS WIT'S END,
HE EVEN BROUGHT IN A SHAMANESS,
AND THE CONCLUSION WAS THAT TO SEAL THE YOKAI,
THEY HAD TO USE A HUMAN.
AND AT THAT,
SOMEONE BLOOD-RELATED TO MY FATHER.
N-NO WAY-
WHERE IS THE YOKAI, YOU ASK?
RIGHT HERE.
I ATE IT.
A person racing against time for a faintly beating pulse senses the presence inside the host and calls for help. A mysterious chant is heard about the maple-leaf hand, flesh and bone, fire and earth, and the way back. With great effort, the seed the yokai planted in the host's body is extracted. Then the Landowner appears; he reveals the secret of the scar, the brother believed dead, and the cruel yokai his father summoned being sealed with a blood tie: he has eaten it.
