Plurk paste

CHAPTER 37 HERE WE GOOOO

it starts off with the villagers talking about how cloudy it's been lately, and how they're getting heavier every day, everybody's on edge and in shitty moods

sakichi's busy rebuilding and mentions it too, okuni says she's got a headache from the barometric pressure, sakichi's like OI DON'T SLACK OFF and she's like wtf what are you even doing

sakichi's like I SAID WE GOTTA REBUILD THE SHRINE DIDN'T I and okuni's like, an amateur who doesn't even understand the framework can't possibly do anything

gen shows up, tells them that the village has an overall sense of unease like they figured, people aren't talking as much and nobody has any energy, to the point where it's unnatural

sakichi wonders if it's the orochi's influence, says they gotta hurry up and find it, asks gen if they've narrowed down the candidates at all but no luck

then it's a surprise dokuro hozuki!! who I'm just gonna call dokuro now unless she has a better name lmao

sakichi says "what happened to make you show up so suddenly?" and gen is thinking "so this is dokuro hozuki", dokuro says she met ashiya-sama? I think that's what she means

gen asks "so his true form was that of abe's shikigami?" and sakichi's like ??? wat, dokuro tells them not to worry and that abe's already been cut off

okuni asks "why are you here? don't you hate showing yourself to people?"

sakichi thanks her for saving him at azuchi castle, dokuro says she's just glad he's safe, okuni asks what she was doing there and says "don't tell me you're connected to oda", dokuro says "well that's part of it" and asks if they have a little time

gen asks if she should leave but dokuro tells her to stay, and says that she trusts them and has finally decided to have The Talk with them

she says "I don't know who first started calling me 'dokuro hozuki', but my real name is Botan. I'm a demon who was summoned by the Abe clan 300 years ago in order to seal away the orochi"

gen says "but you said you've left the Abe clan now?" and she says "yes, once I fulfilled my duty I disappeared, but for some unfortunate reason I returned to this world" and asks them to keep her existence a secret

gen says she doesn't understand, the abe clan's still the ones who're supposed to seal the orochi away so wouldn't they be an ally to her? and she says it's a personal problem and that she doesn't like them lmao

she says that the kumous (who were also being subjugated??) took care of her, from the first Kumous all the way up to now

then I'm not quite sure but I think sakichi asks if their family line served as a "shield"? so I'm guessing he's asking if the responsibility of protecting her is passed down to all the kumous, since okuni says "yes, I took over from my mother"

dokuro (or well, I guess I'll call her Botan now lmao) says "well, it seems like the 8th generation doesn't have faith in me" and okuni's like UM EXCUSE ME??

there's a flashback to, I'm guessing the twins' mom taking them to meet her as kiddos, I can't read her first speech bubble clearly but the second has her telling the twins "this person is the "trump card" that we protect" and botan appears and greets them by name

back in the present, okuni's like "yeah, you're coming around now even though you never showed up when our mother died"

she says "to you, the "Kumous" are just tools (furigana reads "a shield"), and we've got no value to you outside of that, right?! and yet you're saying we don't have faith in you? how do you think we felt, living with nobody to rely on...! to show up and say you want to be trusted, isn't that asking way too much...?!"

botan apologizes and says it was a slip of the tongue... sakichi pats okuni's arm and tells her not to get too worked up, she looks at him for a sec and then she's like I DON'T WANNA HEAR THAT FROM SAKICCHAN lmfao

then I think he's like DON'T WORRY I'M HERE WITH YOU NOW and okuni's like 'isn't it the other way around' and sakichi tells her to shut up lmfao

he basically says that trust/relying on each other has to go both ways, and confirms with her that that's why she came to talk to them, and she says yes and that she's really glad he appeared

and then I think she's saying her strength is directly related to the revival of the orochi, and in the past she could barely keep up her form but now she's at the point where she can even use magic

sakichi says "so in other words..."

apparently the orochi is already assimilating into the vessel for its revival

then I think it says that in the first stage the host goes out of control when unconscious?? she asks if they've had any episodes of falling unconscious, memory gaps, etc. etc. and sakichi says no, okuni says she hasn't, and baren probably hasn't either

botan says they can't get careless, and sakichi's like HOLD ON BACK IT UP WTF

botan says it seems like it's still inside the vessel, but if it eats through them and develops self-awareness then it'll become a giant and tyrannize everybody, and that if that happens no magic is gonna be able to stop it

okuni says "so now it's a problem of time" and gen's like WOULD IT BE PREFERABLE IF WE JUST KILL ALL THE CANDIDATES

sakichi's like WHAT ARE YOU SAYING and gen says that it's extreme logic lmao smh... she says that ~somebody~ is trying to get the orochi to show up by going after the candidates and causing them all despair, so they gotta be prepared for that

okuni's like "...that's true" and sakichi's like YOU SHOULD BE SAYING THAT'S UNACCEPTABLE!!! and he has a flashback, and then says it's not yet time for them to give up

he mentions the scrolls and asks if there's a possibility that, if they get 'em all together, they'd have a chance to control the orochi

gen says "that's true" and then I'm assuming botan says that in that case they need SOMETHING I CAN'T FUCKING READ but I think it says some kind of badge or emblem?? specifically for ~control~ or w/e... anyway they think nobunaga has it right now, what a shocker

somebody calls for sakichi and he goes to meet them, as he's leaving botan calls out to him and thanks him for his cooperation in a really formal way, and he's like "of course"

once he's gone okuni's like IDK IF HE TRULY BELIEVES IN HIMSELF THAT MUCH OR IF HE'S JUST AN IDIOT... botan smiles and okuni's like WHAT and she says "nothing" and then I honestly have no idea what she's saying after that but I think it's basically that she's gonna go fulfill her duties so that she won't disappoint them again

she disappears, okuni comments that shikigami sure are convenient and gen says that that much power is rare and that she must be really high-class... then she thinks it's ironic that she'll be working with somebody who was used by abe

okuni gets her attention and says "you use magic too, right? are you strong?" and goes for her gun?? OKUNI WHY

gen asks if it's kunitomo's and okuni's like I DIDN'T STEAL IT, FYI lmao and she has a flashback to the girl's name that I already forgot I'M SORRY... but the girl gives it to her as thanks for helping out ishida village and that she misjudged them... and says "if it's you, I believe that you'll use it the right way"

she points the gun at gen, gen's like ?? and okuni says "if the orochi were sakicchan, or me, or baren, could you kill us?"

gen says "you could kill them, right" and okuni says yes, if it's this (the gun, I'm assuming) then she'd be able to make sure they didn't suffer, but that it would definitely be impossible for those two, they wouldn't be able to kill her

she hands gen the gun and says "would you kill me?" (like, phrased as a favor), gen takes off her mask, okuni says "! that mouth..."

gen says that in the ashiya house the family line is through the men, while the women are essentially powerless from birth

she says that from a long time ago, nobody had any expectations of her, and she was very sad, and she started getting involved in taboos (so like black magic from the looks of it)

she says that in exchange for an ugly face, she gained enough power to surpass her brother, and that the Ashiya probably don't know but she can probably use it even better than those guys, and then I think she says she'll kill her for free...

okuni says "ugly? aren't you mistaking that for 'beautiful'?" and gen says that's the first time anyone's ever told her that

okuni says "then I'll be counting on you again, gengetsu" and gen says "my real name is yuzuki", okuni laughs and says LET'S SUPPORT OUR DUMB BOYS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE YOROSHIKU YUZUKI lmfao and gen says the same to okuni...

AND NOW IT'S FINALLY BAREN'S TURN so he's climbing up the cliff, says WOW I MADE IT ALL THAT WAY GO ME I'M SO GREAT yeah okay whatever baren

gets attacked out of nowhere, is like "wha who are you" and the person starts screaming at him like YOU DEMON WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!!!!!!! baren says he was asked to come help out bc iga's in deep shit, the other person says DON'T LIE, YOU TWINS AND ISHIDA SAKICHI ARE THE ONLY ONES I WILL NEVER FORGIVE

baren thinks 'oh I guess he was at ishida village', attacks and says OI OI I GUESS Y'ALL YAGARASU AREN'T THAT GREAT AFTER ALL and the person yells MY SPECIALTY IS ESPIONAGE

somebody jumps between them, the person says ICHIHA and ichiha says he's there as backup, baren is an ass and calls him horse shit monk?? or something and says "YOU LIKE IT RIGHT, HORSE POOP" and while ichiha's busy going "wtf" baren kicks him in the crotch... and says JK LOLOLOL

the girl shows up and says could you maybe stop being so easy to provoke and ichiha's like COULD YOU MAYBE FUCKIN HELP and she says no, and points out that tanba-san brought him so he's gotta be necessary to Iga and she won't go against tanba-san's wishes

ichiha's like "what's with that phrasing, are you saying my loyalty is weak" and she says "that's exactly what I'm saying" and they start fighting... and the other person is like DO THAT LATER while baren's just lmao-ing at them all

the other person (I forgot their name I'm just gonna say Angry Bandages) is like YEAH YOU LAUGH NOW YOU FILTH and then SURPRISE there's threads everywhere... Angry Bandages is like HAHAHA YOU'RE SO DUMB YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE!!!!! HAHAHAHA THEY CAN'T BE CUT BY BLADES, THE MORE YOU MOVE THE MORE CONSTRICTED YOU'LL BE, NOW I'MMA TORTURE YOU TO DEATH

then somebody, it looks like goemon?? pops over the roof and says AKO WE TOLD YOU THAT'S TANBA-SAN'S GUEST and ako's like SHUT THE FUCK UP IDK ANYTHING ABOUT THAT UGHHHH but then the other ninjas come in like "cut it out, jiji brought him here to make him part of iga"

somebody offscreen says "kaishin's showing up when it's least expected, as usual" and then somebody's like "...WAIT A SECOND, MAKE HIM PART OF IGA???" and the other guy's like "you're so slow" lmao

meanwhile baren's counting... and he figures these are all the members/the ninjas known as yagarasu or just karasu, the crows, WHATEVER

he figures goemon & co. are easy enough to deal with, but the problems are "mr. indifference" and ".............? wtf is that face"

THEN TANBA'S BACK and baren's like "HE'S NOT EVEN GONNA STOP THEM???"

he moves and cuts himself a little and ako's like HAHA FUCKIN GOT YOUUUU I'MMA SLICE YOU UP while goemon is Tired

baren says "do you wanna kill me that much?" and ako says "OBVIOUSLY"

he says "in that case," and pulls out a stick of dynamite... and says that it's got enough gunpowder to blow up all of them and the whole fuckin neighborhood... he's like I JUST REALLY HATE TO LOSE SO I FIGURE IF I'M GONNA GO I'M GONNA TAKE Y'ALL WITH ME and gets a scary look on his face when he's like ESPECIALLY YOU lmfao

ako's got an OSHIT look on their face, the other ninjas are like BYE FELICIA and nyoom out... goemon's still trying to stop ako but ako's like IT'S A BLUFF, IT'S GOTTA BE A BLUFF, IT'S A FUCKIN FAKE!!!!

baren tosses it towards them and says "see ya" and ofc that's when tanba comes in to stop them... he says "I don't want any fighting amongst us before the battle" and ofc ako's like WHAT "AMONGST US UGH" but tanba tells 'em to let baren go...

then tanba says "in the fight against oda, I'm placing *this* on the front lines, and you all will be under him" and ofc all the ninjas are like WHA?????? and that's where it ends... SO GET READY FOR COMMANDER BAREN I GUESS