****

Shuuei went in the direction Riou had indicated.
Large flakes of fleecy snow were falling soundlessly and steadily from the slightly cloudy sky. According to his internal clock, it should have been sometime between morning and noon, but the sky was somewhat dark, as though it were in the afternoon.
Jin had often gone off somewhere unknown, but while Jin was with Shuurei, Shuuei also had searched within the house of the Hyou. Rather than the ‘house’ of the Hyou clan, it was rather more correct to say ‘domain.’ However.
“…..This is totally different from the Ran clan’s house….. So that’s why Jin was also even now wandering around.”
Perhaps because there was no fear of attack, there were no large castle walls as there often were in Kiyou or in the provincial capitals. Rather than being enclosed, the broad alpine mountains were thoroughly dotted with palaces and towers. Seeing that there was rice and milk at breakfast, it seemed that there were also villages and fields and farms. The vast palace in the ancient style which they had based themselves at was also merely only one of the palaces, for the usage of guests and refugees.
If it had been cut up by avenues like Kiyou and ordered into sections like a go board, then someone could mostly guess, but if they were here there were various facilities scattered among numerous mountains. This was part of the Banri mountain rainge, and the slopes of the mountains and the ups and downs there were rather steep. It seemed that Riou, whose house this was, hadn’t noticed it, but even though it was maintained by the power of the high priestess so that it was at a level allowing humans to live there, the air was very thin, as the altitude was high. If they hadn’t been used to the heights of Nine Colors Cove in Ran Province, both Shuuei and Jin might have gotten altitude sickness.
“….If Kouyuu were to come here, he’d reaaaaaally be useless….”
He would have only been able to choose two things in life, sleep because of altitude sickness, or get lost in the snowy mountains and die.
He walked on the animal path he had been told of, and when he turned back, even the footprints he had just made were already being covered in snow, and gradually, but certainly, they were disappearing. Just to make sure, from time to time he would look at the red strips of cloth which had been tied to the end of tree branches. Shuuei realized that the pure white color of the snow had sometime begun to make his sense of proper direction and distance strange.
After thinking for awhile, Shuuei came to a conclusion.
Shuuei raised his speed at once. He had decided to put arriving at his destination before the road was completely covered in snow first. His signs were the river and the animal path. The sealed ground started halfway up the mountain, he had been told.
(…….If I don’t know the way back, I’ll take shelter in the jail or in a mountain hut. Since I have ‘Kanshou,’ Jin and the others will come for us. Okay, that’ll be fine. —Snowy mountains, a mountain hut, taking shelter with Shusui?…. …… …. Jin, it’s okay if you’re a little late coming to get me)
Ran Shuuei was a man who was extremely optimistic, no matter what kind of time it was.
He continued to single out the normally unfindable animal path, and in the midst of the snow single-mindedly aimed at the middle of the mountain.
(But Riou-kun only said that this area had been sealed, and he didn’t know the location of the jail…. Come to think of it, of course I don’t feel any presence of humans, but there aren’t traces of humans having come through here recently….Aren’t there people to bring food every day?! There isn’t anything like a building—-)
At that time, ‘something’ on the incline ahead pulled at his consciousness. When he unthinkingly turned his head at it, there was a large tree with a straw rope wrapped around it. It looked like the plaited stips of paper hanging from it had drawn his attention. [see note] Stepping in the snow, he approached the giant tree, and then, it was while he was walking around it that he stepped over something.
“Kanshou,” which he was wearing, made a sound like a bell ringing, and shook. It felt more like the noise was coming from inside his head than he was actually hearing it with his ears.
(….Uh, Uu Uu-sama said something like it rings when it senses a strange presence…..?)
He turned back towards the animal path and the stream. If he took those, he would probably arrive at the place Riou had spoken of. If he left the animal trail, and relied on his instincts to go within the pathless snowy mountain, even Shuuei would probably get lost. He didn’t know the area.
(……Ah well, even if I get lost, if I have ‘Kanshou,’ then Jin will probably come and find me.)
Shuuei easily abandoned the animal trail, and walked past the ‘sacred tree’ towards the interior.
When he was in trouble, he would rely on Jin. That had been his habit since long ago, and although Shuuei had simply made a lot of trouble for Jin, the only one who didn’t realize this was Shuuei himself.
Anyway, when he held ‘Kanshou’ in his right hand and tried walking in a likely direction, he noticed the intensity of the sword’s vibrations would get stronger or weaker. He felt as though something was crawling down his back.
If he were to put it in plain words, it was a ‘feeling something bad was going to happen.’ When Riou had said ‘I had a bad feeling, so I didn’t want to go there,’ he probably meant this place. The more he went in the direction of the stronger vibrations, the more the bad feeling increased.
“……Ha….the Grand General would say ‘you can’t catch a tiger cub unless you enter the tiger’s den.’”
Shuuei slowly stepped towards the presence, which felt like many things tightly wound together. When he tried unsheathing ‘Kanshou’ a little bit, he sensed that the presence was being cut, as easily as spider thread.
“…………………………something was cut….. Now something’s wrapping around me.”
Although he had thought when he was a child ‘it would be nice to be able to see things,’ now he sincerely thought that it was good that he couldn’t. When he struck the guard of the sword and made it ring out, he discovered that the unpleasant presence dissipated. As he wandered around the mountain alone, sword ringing, he gradually became dejected.
“If it turns out that this is the shrine of some strange spirit which has nothing to do with Shusui-dono, I’m going to want to cry, even if I can’t….”
It was when he was muttering this to himself, that he heard someone chuckling.
When Shuuei slowly raised his head, a slight distance away, there was young woman wearing the clothes of a priestess, and holding a dazzling red umbrella, who was laughing while looking at Shuuei, her sleeve hiding her mouth. Though the colored umbrella was hiding half of her face, even then, one could see even with one glance that her countenance was as lovely as a flower. Though she was of an age where one was hard pressed to say whether she was best described as a beautiful girl or a beautiful woman, the fact that her beauty was like spreading fragrance did not change.
Shuuei turned the smile he set aside especially for woman to her. It could be used for ghosts too, if they were female.
“I’m pleased to be able to meet such a beautiful priestess like you in these snowy mountains.”
“Skillful. Sorry for laughing. I was thinking ‘that gentleman is talking to himself so amusingly.’”
When she let her umbrella sway slightly, the snow which had gathered on the red umbrella fell off. That gesture was of an elegance exceeding that of a young lady of gentle birth, and the beauty of the small face which did not completely appear from within the umbrella was astonishing.
When she walked, her straw sandals made sounds as they stepped on the snow. Shuuei’s brows slightly rose.
(…..Isn’t that…..a ghost or a spirit…?)
When he looked at ‘Kanshou,’ it had changed suddenly from earlier, and its ringing had completely subsided.
Looking at Shuuei, the priestess then laughed again.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a gentleman of the Ran clan. ….. A nostalgic face. As always, men from that place are all ladies men, and daring, though sharp, missing a few screws somewhere, and weak to women?”
“….Eh?”
“Did you come to get Shusui?”
Characteristically, Shusui’s face changed.
“….Yes.”
The priestess twirled her red umbrella in a strangely childish way while smiling.
“Ah. Then follow me. One who has come for that reason.”
He was concerned that it was as if in the falling snow, he was being tricked by some beautiful transforming fox. Maybe it wasn’t a mistake, also. She had feet, and when she walked on the snow, there was a noise. “Kanshou” was as meek as a kitten, and there was a beautiful, pale woman with a red umbrella, dressed in the ancient robes of a priestess, who had suddenly appeared in the snowy mountains. She knew Shusui’s name, and had said she would guide him. …. No matter how he thought about it, it was all thoroughly strange.
That was why Shuuei stopped being suspicious. If he went to the strangest place, that would probably be the shortest route.
“Then, thank you. It’s cold, so by the shortest route possible. I’m not worried about how dangerous it will be.”
“….Before as well, there was a gentleman who came to get someone who said that. Follow me. I can’t let you in under this umbrella though. Sorry.”
There was the sound of her footsteps crunching on the snow. Shuuei was in shock as he followed after her.
“Wait a bit. Another man has gotten here before me and came to help Shusui?!”
“No. This happened before…. Much earlier, there was another girl who had been put in there.”
“Eh? So, if you said it hasn’t been used for awhile—— …..! Could it be that you’re the ghost of the girl who died in the prison?! When the man came to help her, it was already too late?”
“That’s completely wrong. That girl is still living even now. She returned with the gentleman who came to find her. I don’t kill arbitrarily. Really, are your wits sharp or dull?…. Truly, you are a gentleman of the Ran clan.”
“Wh,what?…. Ah, so there are people who have gotten out of the ‘Prison of Time’ safely.”
Riou had said many intimidating things, so Shuuei had honestly come here more than half resolved in many ways.
The red umbrella which had been twirling temperamentally, at this time only, stopped sadly.
“…….’Prison’…. Yes, now it is only a ‘prison.’ Sometime, also, the Hyou clan itself became the same way. Truly, it wasn’t constructed for that reason….. Why can I no longer give….. At the most, I can guide those who have come to meet others. But, as long as there are those who come to get others… it’s alright.”
The umbrella, shook slightly, and the beautiful face began to smile at Shuuei.
“…. Especially, you have stronger luck than the previous gentleman. It’s rare for the gentlemen who come here to be completely outfitted. And the blood of the Ran clan. As always, the men of that house are born with an excess of good luck.”
Shuuei’s eyes went into points…… This outfit, in which he had flown here not even preparing snow shoes?
“….Completely outfitted…. But I only have this ‘Kanshou.’”
“The previous gentleman only had ‘love’ and ‘guts.’ It’s also rare for a gentleman to come running here without anything prepared and empty handed. He was very rushed. In comparison to him, you’re strong, and have love, the strong luck of the Ran clan, something to guide you in your chest pocket, the daring and optimism to trust me, and a friend who has ‘Bakuya’ with you. About the only thing you don’t have is ‘guts.’ But if you did, that would be the best.”
As people had been recently saying to Shuuei that he was ‘gutless’ a lot, he got irritated and threw out his chest.
“No, I have it! I have guts. It’s natural. Because even if I’ve been disinherited, I’m still a man of the Ran clan!”
“Ah? So you’ve said. Then, will you strive on even if it costs you your life?”
“…Eh?”
The priestess turned her entire body. She rested her eyes upon ‘Kanshou’ with a penetrating gaze and cool stateliness.
“‘Kanshou’…..did you hear that? It seems he has guts. Then it will be fine. If he’s come here calmly, then this gentleman of the Ran clan won’t curl up and die if you suck up some of his life energy. He’s still inexperienced, but…. For a gentleman of these times, he’s very good. For a little while, recognize him as your temporary master. ‘Kanshou,’ alright, awaken, just for that one swing…. Then, make things easier for that young woman….”
She muttered this with far-away eyes. The beautiful countenance whiter than snow was shadowed by a melancholy resembling deep sadness. Then, instantly ‘Kanshou,’ which had not made a sound up to then, was enrobed in heat, as if answering.
The priestess made her melancholy eyes sadly smile, and soundlessly held out her dazzling red umbrella to Shuuei.
“I’ll give this to you. Gentleman of the Ran clan from ‘outside,’…. thank you…. for coming to get Shusui…. The southern wind which foretells summer, the sweet, cool waters….. how nostalgic, the wind of Nine Colors Cove. So you have continued to keep the promise of the far-off past. It’s alright… if that’s so, then it won’t all come to nothing because of one person’s spite. If someone works hard, then definitely something good will happen.”
It was like a child’s lullaby, that songlike gentle whisper. Shuuei was dizzy, and rubbed the place between his eyebrows.
He noticed that he was holding the red umbrella.
The flower-like form clad in the ancient garments of a priestess smiled enchantingly, bewitchingly.
Shuuei desperately shook his head to try to clear it of the fog.
“…..I didn’t, ask…..your…..name. I am Ran Shuuei. And you?”
“A good name. I am, well….a long time ago, I was known as ——– it seems….”
The priestess’s slender white fingertips struck Shuuei’s chest lightly.
Although he hadn’t been pushed away strongly, Shuuei tottered back a few steps. No, he thought he would step back. Behind him should have only been the snowy path where he had been walking. However. There was nothing there.
His feet literally touched air. He felt a second of an odd floating sensation he had never felt before.
“——-Eh?”
Suddenly, he entered ‘someplace.’ No, he fell. As if he had truly gotten caught in a well buried by the snow, the scenery around him suddenly turned to blackness, and his body fell as though he were being shot somewhere.
“Ehhh—-?!”
As if pursuing the falling Shuuei, who was still holding the preferred red umbrella, the voice of the priestess fell from above.
“As you wished, this is the closest route. Here’s the red umbrella, and do your best. With that warm wind from the south of the ‘outside’ carrying you…. help her.”

****

Ruka’s eyes opened while she was sitting on her throne. She wearily rested her head on her hands.
“…..Someone has entered the ‘prison of time.’”
The priestess waiting upon her was relieved that Ruka had awakened, but then lost all color in her face at those words.
“Does that mean that there is some foolish person helping Shusui? Then, the ‘Assassin Dolls’–”
“It’s fine, Rikka. Let it go. Even if the “Assassin Dolls” are sent, they’d only get lost in the ‘Prison of Time’ and die.”
“But, Ruka-sama.”
“I said to leave Shusui be. —It’s fine already. I have a reason for letting Shusui live. However, before then, everything will be over.”
For a moment, the gaze of the young priestess known as Rikka wavered, as if with complicated emotions. Relief and joy that Ruka had finally become indifferent to Shusui, dark exaltation, and at the same time, in regards to Ruka saying that it was not necessary to finish her, a touch of unease resembling doubt, and jealousy. However, these all had as their root her absolute devotion to Ruka, her reverence, and her adoration.
Although she had hardly ever encountered Shusui, at the same time she brought about a strange feeling of jealousy within her. Rikka had originally been a girl who had taken refuge at one of the Hyou clan’s shrines ‘outside,’ and was not of the Hyou clan. That was why she was of course without supernatural powers, and from the beginning, Ruka had not asked that of her. However, Shusui was a proper member of the Hyou clan, and though at the start had been ‘powerless,’ she had later manifested supernatural powers, and despite this, she had run away to the ‘outside,’ finally, after twenty years, casually returned, and then continued to say she wanted to be allowed to meet Ruka–Rikka could not forgive all of that. Her envy and dislike traveled towards Shusui, who had returned with all that Rikka could never have, no matter how much she might wish for them. Unexpectedly, Ruka remembered the far off past. Her actual father….. who had envied the vast supernatural power that Ruka was born with, despised her, and knowing that he could not steal it, used all methods available to seal it, imprisoned, and then poisoned her.
Even now, she had never felt so wretched as then.
…..It was already something of the far off past, over eighty years ago.
“…..But, if by any chance Shusui should escape….”
“Shusui escape from the ‘prison of time’?”
Ruka laughed within her throat. When she laughed…. her breath stopped. Even with the still young body of this priestess, even a single blink of an eye was becoming every day more troublesome.
“Rikka. You do not understand the ‘Prison of Time,’ or the true meaning of its existence since ancient days, although that has been twisted for a long time. If Shusui dies there, that will be fine as well. If she leaves—- I wish for that too.”
After saying this dryly, she coughed. Rikka flusteredly patted Ruka’s back.
She was faintly sensing something.
“Ruka-sama…. is it that you intend to make Shusui your next body?”
“If she becomes an invalid. Because I must still face that fool who is destroying the holy artifacts. How pathetic. If I had my original body, and the powers of my youth, one or two sacred objects breaking would be like nothing…..However, in these eighty years, nearly everything…. has been used up. It’s empty.”
Ruka smiled self-derisively.
The snow which should not have been falling was falling.
Up until now, she had not thought that her own power was waning. Perhaps she had been too overconfident.
“Ruka-sama…. what is it? I had heard that the mirror that was broken in Nine Colors Cove was not the real sacred mirror.”
“That’s right. However, after that, a fool broke the ‘real thing,’ it seems.”
Rikka, who was pouring hot water, crumpled her face as though she were about to cry.
As Rikka had said, the mirror the ‘Black Wolf’ had broken in Nine Colors cove was a mirror used for separating the soul, not a sacred mirror or much of anything. The ‘Black Wolf’ had broken it knowing that, in the course of the back-and-forth to weigh how far he would go for the king and his daughter and whether his ability was what it had been in the past. They both knew full well that this was akin to a declaration of war.
She had finally noticed that something was strange through the long rain. The way the report that the mirror was broken had been late had been damaging.
“….That’s what I’ve guessed. For me to be tricked like this, and be on the defensive up to now…… magnificent. Without even moving a finger, he’s driven me and the Hyou clan into a corner. To think that in this age like lukewarm water, than a man so willing to stop at nothing was born. I had looked down on him because he was young. If this were two decades ago, I’d have him be my lover. Really…. with age the workings of my head have become rusty.”
After her nemesis Senka had passed….. perhaps she had let her guard down. There was no way that there could be an opponent above Senka and Shou Yousen. [Note: that is, Shou Taishi. Yousen is Shou Taishi's personal name] Thinking that, perhaps she had taken him lightly. That the day that she would be made use of by a youngster not even knowing war would come.
She felt the flow of time. And then how she had…. certainly, aged.
“However…….I will not go yet.”
She knew that her power was flowing away with the vigor of a muddy stream. Ruka’s life, though.
‘My hime-sama.”
She heard a soft, twilight-colored voice from the far-off past.
The royal clan and the Hyou clan were like two sides of a coin. If one were missing, the other could not exist. Now that the sacred objects had been broken, she was ironically aware of how this was also true of the high priestess of the Hyou clan and the vice-director of the Cave of the Immortals.
If Ruka died of exhaustion here….. Uu Uu would also die. Now, the power which Ruka was controlling was all flowing to Uu Uu. Uu Uu no longer had the life power to even support that.
Ruka was annoyed at herself for thinking about this so carefully.
(……It’s not especially for Uu Uu’s sake. This is because it’s my—the Hyou clan’s role.)
She knew that like Ruka, Uu Uu was using his entire life force to hold down the door. The sacred objects and sacred grounds were like “keys.” Unless all were broken, it wouldn’t open, but if one or two were broken, it would open to that extent, and there would be a gap. Thus, with only one or two broken, Ran Province was flooded, and Heki Province had earthquakes.
Politics belonged to the ‘outside’ humans. In return, divine matters were administered by the Hyou clan.
That was the ancient contract.
….The snow which should not have been falling fell.
Until the final duty which she had to fulfill was over. As she had up till now, she would use whatever means necessary.
“…….Hah, the opponent is a clever fox, and will the way his first move is easy to read be the thing that saves us? Kou Shuurei is also moving as I have predicted. Then, the final roll of the dice …. it will be decided by who rolls, and how. Until then, I must remain here…. Why are you crying, Rikka?”
Rikka was drying.
“If I were a daughter of the Hyou clan, if I had supernatural powers…. I would give you this body right away.”
That straightforward awe and adoration, which she made no attempt at hiding…. made Ruka remember the distant past. A glance forgotten for a long, long time. What Ruka had protected.
“My hime-sama…..
A familiar voice from the far, far past. Even a memory which was buried….which she hadn’t tried to recall was awakening within her.
“…Rikka, do you know when the ‘Prison of Time’ was last opened?”
“No….but I had heard…. it was nearly a hundred years ago.”
“Correctly speaking…. it was eighty years back.”
There was a boy around five who had fallen splendidly, along with a foolish scream, while holding a red umbrella. Uu Uu.
While looking as if he were about to cry, he looked around in the darkness, and when he went straight to find Ruka, shone like the sun.
“Ah, there you are, hime-sama! Ever since you disappeared, I’ve been searching for you. Then I noticed I was lost, and I met a woman with a red umbrella…. She said ‘Hmm, a gentleman with only ‘love’ and ‘guts’. I’ll give you this umbrella. Although I had been told I shouldn’t take candy from strangers….—I’ve come to meet you. Let’s go back, hime-sama. Together with me.”
Let’s go back.
“The last one who was imprisoned there…..was me.”

Notes: The tree: this is the type of rope tied around the tree. These are the Paper strips Not very authentic, as this is Shintoist symbology rather than whatever I guess the Chinese equivalent would be. In general the supernaturalism of Saiunkoku feels way too Japanese to me.

Increasingly I don’t like translating ‘hime-sama’ as ‘princess.’ It’s not really technically correct anyway, as princess in Japanese really is 王女. (or in the case of an imperial princess 公主). I think I might go back and translate it as ‘my lady’ or simple leave it as ‘hime-sama.’ But then for the sake of consistency I would have to go back and re-translate all the previous appearances of the words. -_- Aw screw it, I’ll go back and change it later.

Commentary:
BTW, around a hundred pages are left. This section brings us up to around pg 150.

This part was short, because I try to divide the chapters by scenes, and the logical breaking point was here.

So we finally figure out what happened to Shuuei, and we meet a mysterious figure. Anyway though, the most interesting part for me was the revelation that in the past Ruka had been stuck in the ‘Prison of Time’ and that Uu Uu had gone to find her. XD When they were little kids.

Anyway, Ruka seems a bit…. tsundere here. ‘I’m not giving him energy because I like him! It’s uh…because…’

Also, as I was discussing with Gwinna in the comments earlier, the current age in Saiunkoku is rather soft. No wonder Ruka says it’s like lukewarm water. However, I’ve got to say that well, as unpleasant as the past of Saiunkoku was to live in, it actually sounds more interesting. Hence my desire for more Gaidens set in the past, haha.

Next chapter: More fun and games at the Hyou clan.