The sky is egalitarian... It doesn't discriminate against anyone.
It shines the light of the sun on everyone equally.
But the skies test us at times.
Night comes...
the sun becomes obscured by rain or clouds.
Even so, we do not lose our way.
There is no night that does not end.
There is no rain that does not stop.
As long as the sun shines in our hearts,
we will never lose our way.
But we did not know at the time
that the stronger the sun shines,
the more distinct the shadows become.
Sorry.
How depressing.
It's pretty empty.
I really can't make money going after samurai in this day and age.
Even I've got more money.
Huh? My wallet... It's gone!
How? Did I drop it?
One, two, three... Yahoo! I've gone from rags to riches!
I guess I'll have a parfait and play some pachinko.
That's...
My money...
You thief!
["Don't Put Your Wallet in Your Back Pocket"]
[Battle Royal Host]
You chose the wrong person.
You're a hundred years too early to be stealing my wallet.
Your work is sloppy.
When it comes to stealing, when you stick your hands into someone else's kimono...
important things also fall out of your kimono.
That's good enough, right? I paid for your parfait, so let it slide!
Now when you ask someone a favor, you've got to be reasonable.
Give me back the money that was in my wallet.
The money? Your wallet was empty to begin with!
Don't try to play dumb, kid.
There should have been seventy to eighty thousand in there.
I was going to pay my rent.
You're making a kid pay for your parfait and you're extorting money?
What kind of adult are you?!
The fact that you know you're a kid means that you're already an adult.
Adults have to accept punishments and responsibility.
Wait--! Wait, Bro! Please!
Who're you calling "Bro"?
I don't remember ever having a filthy little brother like you.
Please wait!
I really need money!
Sir, sir, care to have fun here?
All right, I'll come later!
If you are, you should come now.
Let go! I hate clingy chicks!
The underground city, Yoshiwara Shangri-La.
Sustained by corrupt government officials.
An area that is ignored by the government and beyond the reach of the law.
It is a city of eternal night.
You perverted kid.
Taking me to a place like this and trying to trick me with sexual pleasures.
It's pretty nice of you.
But regular women won't satisfy me.
You've got to get women of her level.
That's impossible. She's out of your reach.
That's Hinowa. She's this town's top courtesan.
If she doesn't like you, she won't bother with you.
No matter how rich you are or even if you're a lord.
She's far beyond your reach.
Besides,
I already have dibs on her.
Mister, I've brought some more today.
All right. Thank you for going through the trouble every day.
Be sure to list it in the ledger.
Okay.
I know.
Hey, what's that for?
Isn't it obvious?
A woman.
Huh?
I need money in order to meet Hinowa.
This little guy wants to lay the best woman in Yoshiwara?!
Kids shouldn't get sexually excited!
Go home and drink your mother's milk!
It's not funny. This is six o'clock TV.
Do you think that they'd allow that?
Don't worry about the details, Shinpachi.
Are you panicking because you've been beaten by a kid?
I'm not panicking!
What do you mean you're not panicking?
You're totally panicking. You even bit your tongue.
Not at all. Huh? So what of it?
I could do it whenever I wanted to. I only choose not to.
Anyway, a child like that shouldn't be going in and out of a town like that.
I'm not a kid. It's Seita, you virgin.
What the hell did you say to me?!
Do you know what the hell that means?!
Calm down, you virgin.
Don't make fun of virgins--!
Men who stay virgins until they're thirty are called
God Hands and are reborn as something called the Kato Taka!
I'll add that to my data.
"Men who are virgins until they are thirty are..."
You don't need that sort of information!
Well, let him go.
It's impressive for a kid to be interested in women.
As they say, "Heroes enjoy the pleasures of the flesh."
He's even picking pockets to gather money to see a woman.
He's going to be scary when he grows up.
I have no parents, so I'm limited in the ways I can make money.
That's why...
You need a lot of money to meet a woman in Yoshiwara, right?
You can barely survive from day to day, so why are you doing this?
Tell us the truth.
I...was abandoned by my parents when I was little.
I don't remember what my parents looked like.
The only person I can remember is the old man who took me in.
That old man died three years ago.
Before he died, he told me...
Don't be ashamed, Seita. You weren't abandoned. You were saved.
Your parents saved you from the darkness.
Be proud of them.
Even now, your mother is in the darkness of eternal night.
She is shining there as brilliantly as the sun.
She might be my mom.
That woman might be my mom!
I want to see her. I want to talk to her in person.
But no matter how many times I call out or yell out to her...
she doesn't look my way.
I can't reach her.
So I decided to try and meet her, even briefly, as a customer.
I desperately did anything for money.
I even did stupid things, like stealing.
You're getting your priorities backwards.
Do you think that your mother would like it
if you did things like that so you could meet her?
Come and work here.
I can't give you the money to see a Yoshiwara woman.
But I can help you out a little.
Just don't ever pick pockets again.
Thank you. Thank you very much!
Earn back the ten thousand that was in my wallet, too.
I told you that it was empty!
Besides, why is it increasing?!
It's interest.
Now let's begin.
Understood.
All right.
[Snack House Otose]
No!
Move your hands.
If you don't, I can't clean the place that the bacteria is propagating the most.
Stop!
It looks pretty good on you.
I've eliminated most of the bacteria on him.
All that's left is the bacteria between his legs on his scrotum.
Don't be a smart-ass!
Come on...
If you have time to talk, then move your hands!
Yes!
Once you're done with that, go buy my cigarettes!
You get to work, too!
Oh! Were you there, Otose-san? Tell me, next time.
Hey, what happened to your accent?
It's been a while since I appeared, so I forgot about it.
How about it, Mr. Samurai? Care to stop by?
I'll throw in a little extra something.
Don't touch me, you tramp.
I didn't come to buy cheap women like you.
I heard that Hinowa, the best woman in Edo, is here.
As part of the movement to overthrow the Shogunate,
I want a woman of unsurpassed beauty to pour me my sake.
Lady Hinowa would never bother with country samurai like you.
Go home, you boors!
Are you making fun of warriors?!
I shall slay you! Stay right there!
Do you think that you can get away with this in this town?!
This is Yoshiwara.
It's a different world from the one above.
This is the land of women.
Oh? There really are beauties here.
How much are you?
You want to buy me?
How much? Tell me.
You've already...
paid the price.
You're a Hyakka!
She's a member of...
...the Hyakka, Yoshiwara's para-military force!
If you don't...
hold a rose carefully, you'll get pierced by its thorns.
That kid's holding out pretty long.
How long has it been since he came here?
He's quite a find. He's clever, honest, and learns his job quickly.
I'd like Catherine to learn from him.
He probably knows he has no way out.
He's seen quite a lot for a kid.
Seita's changed.
It's great. The look in his eyes has gotten better.
Are you going there?
Huh? What are you talking about?
You know the significance of Yoshiwara, right?
It's the place where men's dreams are granted, right?
Not that.
There's a dark side to Yoshiwara.
It's an extraterritorial area that's beyond the laws above ground.
One man is making that possible.
Hosen, the King of the Night.
He is the owner of Yoshiwara Shangri-La and the most powerful man in Yoshiwara.
Even top officials in the Shogunate cannot touch him.
He is the king of the land of eternal night.
He goes by many names, but he's dangerous.
Those who have gone after him have never seen the light of day ever again.
That's what people say about him.
King of the Night, huh?
Come to think of it, we haven't seen him lately.
I wonder what happened to that scruffy kid.
Oh, you mean Seita?
Yeah.
The dirty kid who brought us money every day because he wanted to meet Hinowa.
Ah. Well, I heard that he recently got a proper job.
There's a place that hired him?
Yeah. There sure are some freaky people.
He's stopped coming every day, but he still comes once a week.
He brings all his money. It's pretty amazing.
Before, he used to look like a filthy stray dog,
but he's cleaned up now.
He's really chilled out and become more child-like.
Oh? Is that so? So, how much has he saved up?
Huh? How much what?
The money that Seita's been bringing every day, of course.
He's been looking at Hinowa every day
as if she were the sun, just as her name suggests.
He should have enough to at least have tea with her.
You can't mean to tell me that you...
Come on. It's impossible for a stray dog like that to meet Hinowa.
She probably wouldn't even talk to us.
Besides, that money was good for getting a drink every day.
You're really terrible.
So you don't have a single sen of it?
None at all.
Why should we care? We're talking about a stray.
He's probably doing despicable things to get that money.
He can't complain.
That's probably true. Take me with you the next time Seita comes.
Whoops. I shouldn't have said anything.
I thought so.
Oh well.
I never thought that it was possible for Seita to pay to see her.
Miss, how much do I owe you?
You don't need to pay. You made me feel better.
Do you know Seita?
He was well-known around here.
This isn't the sort of place where children come to.
This is all they have?
Are you trying to get Hinowa and Seita to meet each other?
It's a nuisance to have a noisy kid live with me.
I just came to see if he had any relatives.
How can someone without money meet Hinowa?
Hinowa is the highest ranking courtesan in Yoshiwara.
You have to be a pretty important customer in order to meet her.
You should probably give up.
Yoshiwara Shangri-La is a country bound by different laws.
Things don't follow the same rules as above.
If you don't follow the rules here, you'll never return to the surface ever again.
Sorry.
Above or below, I live by my own rules.
Intruder! Intruder!
Tsk! Things have gotten troublesome!
What's this? What's going on?
Hey... Wait, Seita-kun!
It's hard to walk in this!
Walk quickly, Shinpachi!
Are the Hyakka on the move?
It seems that a strange ronin has snuck in.
One of the Hyakka was defeated. He's pretty strong.
I hear he's looking for Hinowa.
That's not unusual.
She is the sun in this land of eternal night.
The women are treated as inmates in this prison.
But she is the only one whose eyes
show no signs of weariness, vulgarity, or worry.
Even though she's here, underground,
her soul remains unbroken.
She will never lose her true beauty.
All the women in this town have great respect for her.
And all the men who come to this town love her,
even though she is beyond their reach.
No.
It seems that that ronin doesn't want to meet Hinowa,
but was hired by that child.
That child who said he wanted to meet Hinowa and was hanging around?
So it is him. I had ignored him because I thought it wasn't worth my time.
From what I have learned...
There's no mistake. He's that child from eight years ago.
I see. I thought that he had died off somewhere,
but I never thought that he would follow Hinowa's scent all the way here.
It's dangerous for Hinowa and that child to come into contact with each other.
Are you saying she'll try to escape with him again?
She won't ever escape.
She knows too much about the underground to live above ground.
We need to keep her in the eternal night until she dies.
Use Tsukuyo.
We can't defeat him unless we use whatever means possible.
Don't let that child or that ronin get back to the surface alive.
What?!
They used up my money?!
Yeah.
Those shopkeepers you've been leaving your money with
were jerks who would use the brothel's money.
It seems they were well-known for it.
Those bastards!
I changed myself and worked hard, but it was all for nothing!
It wasn't for nothing. We were watching you.
You'd be too embarrassed to meet your mother if you had picked pockets.
You were working really hard.
What's the point in any of that?!
If I don't have money, I can't meet my mom.
It's meaningless!
It has meaning.
Dressed like this, we can meet your mother openly.
Besides, it's strange to have to pay to meet your mother.
Parents and children should be able to see each other whenever they want.
Do you think that granny made you work for her
so you could make some worthless money?
Odd Jobs Gin...
...will take up...
...your case.
B-Both of you...
It's impossible! You can't meet a courtesan without money!
This place doesn't follow the same rules as above.
Wh-What?!
That's... That scar...
Who is she?
The Hyakka are a para-military force that punishes those who break the laws of Yoshiwara.
She's the Yoshiwara's strongest guard and leader of the Hyakka!
She is feared as the Courtesan of Death.
I am Tsukuyo.
Pleased to meet you!
[To be continued...]
[Preview]
Gin, this is bad.
He has a really dangerous air about him.
He smells of blood...the smell of blood from surviving countless battles.
The smell of a true Yato.
["Beware of Those Who Use an Umbrella on a Sunny Day!"]
Why is he here?
Otose