Continuation of previous post. You should consider both of them one big post that just spoils the heck out of the entire novel, as I discuss some things that aren’t revealed till the end in the beginning of the first post.

Okay, Eigetsu is still suffering in the prison, but he refuses to call Yougetsu up (I suppose they’re tormenting him so that he’ll end his suffering by calling Yougetsu?), even if Yougetsu is telling him to do it. This is because he doesn’t want Yougetsu to be captured, as Yougetsu did give him those years of happiness. Flashback to when Yougetsu revived Ka Shin. Ka Shin tells Yougetsu not to cry, and that to remember even when both Eigetsu and Ka Shin are once again gone, that they both loved him. He says once again that he considers Yougetsu as his child.

Meanwhile, Shuran managed to contact Kourin through a hole in the cave, and Kourin sought out and found Eigetsu’s prison. Although happy to see her, Eigetsu tells her she must return, for her safety, and that she should just help Shuurei in her plan to rescue everyone. They argue about this. Eigetsu even orders her to return in an informal way! (Shokku! The polite Eigetsu behaving in this way… it must be true love. Consider that he was even using desu/masu when talking to Ren.) He tells Kourin that he will stay here until Shuurei finishes rescuing the others. He asks her to help him in these duties. Kourin tells Eigetsu he’s a cruel man, and asks him to promise not to disappear, which he does. Then they kiss (as seen in illustration), and Kourin leaves. The next day, the day of the escape, Kourin prepares food for the cultists and prisoners, and Shuurei and Ensei find that Ryuuren has gone ahead of them. Also, Shuon (that guy who was agitating against Shuurei) has joined the cultists. He’s hanging around when he finds Ren’s body. Meanwhile, Ren and his flunkies have prepared a trap for Shuurei in their den, an abandoned mine. If she enters their magic circle, they’ll have captured her, and they can go home. He also conspires to take over Eigetsu’s body so he’ll no longer be powerless, and so that “Mother” will pay attention to him.

Eigetsu is half-fainting and lamenting his lack of strength. He thinks he’s not really like a protagonist, more like a mediocre supporting character. In his delirium, he suddenly sees… Sa Sakujun. Well, it’s probably only a dream, so why not just read him the riot act, as Eigetsu has always wished to do? Eigetsu is really pissed off at Sakujun. It’s not really because of his bad deeds, but because of the way he chose to die, which just makes Eigetsu mad because of all the people he saw die, like the people in his hometown and Ka Shin, who wished to live so badly. Even right now, Eigetsu desperately wishes to live on, so he can be with his friends and Kourin. The other reason Eigetsu is angry at Sakujun is that he caused Shuurei, the woman he claimed to love, to suffer, because he involved her in his suicide. Sakujun seems amused and pats Eigetsu on the head, prompting him to protest that he is not a squirrel or a mouse. [I’m serious, this is what he says] Sakujun then says he’s taken a liking to Eigetsu…

When Eigetsu comes to again, he finds that he’s no longer staked to the wall, or in the magic circle. Ryuuren has arrived and has been trying to make him wake up. The reason for Ryuuren’s despair is that he has learned that by giving Eigetsu alcohol, he shortened his life. [Er… Eigetsu, why didn’t you just tell everyone?] Anyway, Eigetsu does not hold it against Ryuuren at all. Then Kourin arrives.

Meanwhile, Shuurei and Ensei are confronting Ren and his followers. Ren hopes to trick her into the circle. He tells Shuurei she is to blame because she continued to be governor against their wishes, but Shuurei reveals that she had already given up the position when she left Kiyou. Then, Eigetsu, supported by Ryuuren, walks in, shocking Ren. In a coup de grace, Shuurei reveals that Seiran and some elite Sa Province army troops had infiltrated the cult, and rescued the villagers by giving them sleeping draught and disguising them as corpses to be disposed of. So Seiran and his troops appear among Ren’s followers and arrest them. Ensei is about to arrest Ren, when suddenly Riou Jr. appears, holding a human head… Ren’s real head. It appears that the people Ren had brought from the Hyou clan betrayed him and failed to protect his real body. Riou tells Ren that he’s a discarded pawn, that he has screwed up by underestimating Seiran and Ensei, by causing Ran Ryuuren to act, the Kou clan to become suspicious, etc. Although at one time Ren and Riou Jr. had been friendly with each other, these days are gone. As for Riou Jr., he also lacks mystic powers, unlike his father, so he is also ignored. Even his name is not his own. Ren recognizes he is dead, and releases his hold on Ka Shin’s body, and disappears. Suddenly, a crazed Shuon appears and tries to kill Shuurei, but Ensei kills him with a sword. As mentioned before, Ensei is unskilled with blades because he decided to no longer use them after killing off the Satsujinzoku. Shuurei thanks Ensei for this, and then says that she is the one who killed Shuon, meaning that she takes on the responsiblity. In the confusion, Riou Jr. runs off. Eigetsu mourns Ka Shin… then, he become Yougetsu, and leaves, saying Eigetsu is dead.

After this, everyone searches the mine for Eigetsu. Unfortunately, when she is alone, Shuurei walks into the magic circle Ren and pals had left, and collapses. A mysterious person gently picks her up and places her somewhere for Seiran and Ensei to find. Oh, okay, it’s Sakujun, who now is thinking that this world really is interesting. [Well… Sakujun can’t be 100% dead if he’s running around rescuing people, but in the Saiunkoku world, the line between death and life seems kind of iffy.] In fact, now the spirit of Ka Shin (the real one) is hanging around, and meets with Dr. You, recognizing him for whom he really is. As a descendant of Ka Da, he reveals to him that the legendary doctor (who had been a young widow with two children when she met a handsome young man who was… Dr. You, whose nature she eventually realized) was in love with him, but never had the chance to tell him. (Actually, this scene is later rather amusing) Anyway, his ancestral mission accomplished, he fades.

Kou You (er, read that kou as “yellow” not “crimson”) tells Byakuya he finds his refusal to acknowledge his softer feelings somewhat laughable (although this in itself is somewhat hypocritical of Kou You…) He tells Byakuya that he and Shi Shou were surprised when they saw him at the national exams, that he had changed, just as “Bara-hime” had thought he would.

Hyou Riou Jr. returns home and meets his father. He tells him of his failure to capture To Eigetsu, but Hyou Riou Sr. is unconcerned. Riou Sr.’s real plan was just to send Riou Jr. to the village, knowing Eigetsu would come to see to the illness, and then with some thugs, and perhaps using Ka Shin’s corpse as bait, capture him if they could. But, his elder sister sent Ren and the other people to steal the corpse and start the cult. Well, Riou Sr. doesn’t really care what his sister does, he’s more interested in what Shuurei was like. Riou Jr. knows that his aunt is obsessed with his father, and his father is in turn obsessed with Bara-hime, an endless spiral that has continued for decades. Riou Jr. realizes there’s no place for him to enter into it. [what, he wants to join this parade of insanity?] So, he just hid himself in the village and watched, but he intervened when he stopped Shuurei from stepping in the circle by tossing Ren’s head, an act of betrayal. However, it seems that Riou Jr. has begun to change as a result of meeting Shuurei.

Back to the capital: although Ryuuki himself wasn’t really offended, it seems the political situation/regulations require Shuurei to be punished for being rude to the emperor, giving up her position, overstepping her authority, etc., and so she is relieved of her position and made a supernumerary official (official without office). It’s difficult for an official to redeem themselves in this situation. Eigetsu is made vice-governor under the new Governor Kai, who was his sponsor. (I’m not sure whether he’s supposed to be considered punished? Vice governor is hardly a low position…)

BTW, Yougetsu changed his mind. Eigetsu is now alive, because Yougetsu has preserved his personality by sleeping deep within, and now he won’t come to the surface even if Eigetsu drinks liquor. Now Yougetsu cannot reawaken without destroying Eigetsu, so they shall not meet again. (It’s unclear now how long Eigetsu has) Eigetsu then tells Kourin his ambition is to be a civil official who’s sort of like a doctor, just as Ensei is a civil official who’s sort of like a military officer. He also wishes, like his sponsor, to serve in the provinces, rather than in the capital. Kourin (after saying that she doesn’t like younger men) finally confesses her love for Eigetsu, and Eigetsu replies in kind, and they decide to stay together for as long as possible. Shuurei is neither surprised or angry to find out about the imperial decision, and readies to return to the capital. Before she leaves, all of the officials bow to her in gratitude. Also, Shuuran says that she wants to become an official, and Mayor Hei says he’ll take charge of her education and sponsor her. Shuurei is deeply moved to hear of Shuuran’s ambition.

Then, there’s a vaguely historical epilogue where it says that Sa Province became a center of learning, that Ka Shin’s book helped many people, that the minerals discovered at the village by Sai Rin were used for medical purposes, etc.

Finally, Shouka is sitting in the archive thinking about the Hyou clan, and his enemy Hyou Riou (Sr.). Reishin comes over and tells him not to make that kind of face, and that he’ll use the Kou clan resources to get rid of them, but Shouka says that Hyou Riou is his enemy, and anyway, if you take into account Riou’s personality, the one to really worry about is his sister. Even at the time Shouka faced the Hyou clan in the past, she did not appear.

Commentary/Speculation: Actually, the biggest question here is, considering that Hyou Riou Sr. seems to in truth be kind of diffident and lazy, except when it comes to Bara-hime, what exactly is his elder sister up to? It sounds sort of like she’s going to be the “final boss” in all of this, because so far she certainly seems like the most effective villain. However, you have to wonder what she was thinking, sending this deranged kid with a mommy complex out to do important stuff. So, does she want Shuurei just because her brother is interested in her, or is there some other value to her? Also, if even unpowered people like Ren can animate corpses and make magic circles… why isn’t magic better known, if it can be done even by ordinary humans?

Also, Ryuuki does seem somewhat… too nice in this instance, considering that Hyou Riou admits that his clan is engaged in shady stuff, especially since there is later evidence against them. Haven’t they essentially committed treason by attempting to kidnap a governor?

This should perhaps answer the question of whether Sakujun is dead. If he is, it’s pretty much a very un-dead dead. I speculated that he might be one of the immortals, possibly because it is otherwise not explained how someone might cheat death. But, this also raises the question of just who Bara-hime really is. Is she one of the Immortals? Do all immortals work by having hosts as Byakuya did? If so, was Shuurei’s mother the Immortal or the host? Then… does this mean that Shuurei might run into someone using the body of her mother? Disturbing. (Also, does this then mean that Shuurei was perhaps right that her mother did give up her life for her, considering all the things that went on with Eigetsu and Yougetsu? Although, if this is so, then doesn’t that mean that Shuurei herself doesn’t have that long to live? ) Or is Bara-hime someone or something else altogether? None of these questions seem to be answered in the books up to the current publication point.

Okay, on to the Gaiden 2