amatsuki 75

amatsuki 75

1
Text: [Chapter 75: The Rashoumon Gate of Hell]

2
SFX: [*whoosh*]
Hizame: Oh my~
Hizame: This... is the Rashoumon Gate, I believe...
Toki: Huh?

3
Toki: Rashoumon?  That name sounds kinda familiar for some reason...
Kon: Wasn't that the title of a Noh play about Watanabe no Tsuna?  I think the proper name was "Rajoumon," though!
Kon: It was in the "Konjaku Monogatari."
(Note: Rajoumon Gate was the southern entrance to the old Heian-era capital in Kyoto.  The area quickly acquired a reputation for crime.  Corpses were often dumped there, so the gate was also said to be inhabited by evil spirits.  In the "Konjaku Monogatari," a collection of Heian-era short stories, the legendary samurai Watanabe no Tsuna fights the demon Ibaraki at Rajoumon Gate.  Watanabe no Tsuna was a follower of Minamoto no Raikou, the hero who defeated the great demon Shuuten Douji.  You'll notice several references to the Shuuten Douji story in Amatsuki.)
(Note 2: While the Noh play about Minamoto no Tsuna is called "Rashoumon," Kon points out that the proper name of the gate should be "Rajoumon."  "Rajou" means "city wall," so "rajoumon" simply means the outer gate of a city.  "Rajoumon" is written with the three characters for "shura" (a type of Buddhist guardian monster), "castle," and "gate."  "Rashoumon," the title  of the play, is often incorrectly written with similar-sounding character that means "life" in place of "castle.  So "Rashoumon" is "demon life gate," or "the gate of hell."  When the area around the gate started to fall into decline, that was the nickname the locals gave it.)
Toki: Huh?
Toki: What are you talking about?
Toki: [I thought it was like a movie or a book or something?]
(Note 1: "Rashoumon" is also a short story by the early 20th century writer Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, who is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of Japanese horror fiction.  But you might be more familiar with the famous 1950 film adaptation by Akira Kurosawa!  The film, which tells the story of a murder from the (often conflicting) perspectives of four characters, has given rise to the term "Rashoumon Effect."  The Rashoumon Effect says that different people can witness the exact same scene and remember it differently, which is actually a pretty big problem in criminal cases that rely on the testimony of multiple witnesses.)
Note 3: [However, the film actually draws most of its plot from different story by Akutagawa, called "In a Grove."  Akutagawa's original "Rashoumon" story is about a poor but righteous samurai who finds an old woman stealing from one of the corpses left at Rashoumon gate.  She says she's only doing what's necessary to survive, but he insists that he would rather starve than steal.  The old woman says that the corpse she's robbing was once a dishonest merchant who sold snake meat and claimed it was fish - sometimes people are forced to do despicable things in order to survive.  The samurai responds by beating the old woman and stealing her kimono, saying that he, too, was only doing what was necessary for survival.)
Text: [Disbelieving Look]
Kon: ...Oh, so you actually *can* read...
Hizame: Oho~
Hizame: Actually, the Noh play was inspired by Story #18 in the "Konjaku Monogatari" collection.  It's the tale of a thief who visited the Raseimon Gate at night and saw a ghost there.
Note: ("Raseimon" is an alternate reading of "Rajoumon" - either of these is the "correct" name of the gate.  "Rashoumon" is the incorrect, scarier-sounding name.  The Japanese language is full of alternate readings like this, which poets and writers often exploit to make obscure puns.)
Hizame: During the Heian Era, the part of the city near the gate had fallen into decay and become a haven for desperate criminals and evil spirits alike...
Hizame: At night, thieves and ruffians would gather at the gate... but demons made their home there, too.
SFX: [*glance*]
Hizame: That's the legend, in any case.

4
SFX: [*crash*]
Demon: GRRRRR!!
SFX: [*jump*]
SFX: [*screech*]
Toki: H...
Toki: Hizame-san...!!  Are you okay!?
SFX: [*stab*]
Toki: !?
SFX: [*shove*]

5
SFX: [*stab stab stab stab*]
Toki: ......
SFX: [*howl*]
SFX: [*crash*]
SFX: [*crack*]
Kon: ...
Kanzou: Tch!
Text: [Got a bit carried away.]
SFX: [*FFFFFFFFFF*]
Toki: What the hell!?  Thanks for saving me, but that was seriously overkill!!
Toki: !
SFX: [*gasp*]
Toki: Look out!  It's got your arm!
Kanzou: !!
SFX: [*grab*]

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SFX: [*snap*]
SFX: [*bang*]
SFX: [*bang bang bang*]
Kanzou: !
Susutake: Heeey, are you okay?
Toki: Susutake-san!
Susutake: Go on!!  I'll cover you guys from up here!
Toki: [Wow, thanks!!]
Kon: [How'd he get up there?]
Kanzou: .....
Kanzou: Hmph.
SFX: [*rub*]

7
Hizame: ...It seems that we'll have to go upstairs.
Toki: Hizame-san?
Hizame: In old ghost stories, it's often said that demons and the like prefer to live on the upper floors of buildings...
Hizame: We'll just have to keep going until we reach the top.
SFX: [*drip drip drip*]

8-9
Toki: Ugh...!
Hizame: It's as I feared...
Bonten: In 1915, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke published an anthology called "Camellia Flowers," which included, the story "Rashoumon."
Toki: Bonten?
SFX: [*step*]
Bonten: Akutagawa imagined a world where demons and ghosts lived alongside humans...
Bonten: A world where humans would do anything to survive.
SFX: [*turn*]
Toki: !
Old Woman: Oho~

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Old Woman: "Anything to survive?"
SFX: [*drip*]
Old Woman: Ohoho, well said~
Old Woman: Those words resound with me.
Hizame: .....!!
Susutake: Watch out.  Those bastards have this whole area under their control.
Susutake: Somehow I don't think she's just here to talk to us.
Susutake; [I'm a genius!]
SFX: [*wiggle wiggle*]
Toki: What!?
Toki: But what if she's just someone who got stuck in the Yakou's fog!?

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Bonten: I wonder...
SFX: [*drip*]
Bonten: ...So is she human or not...?
Bonten: Somehow I have a feeling that you'd know.
SFX: [*drip*]
Old Woman: It's been such a long time,
Old Woman: Hizame.
Old Woman: How many hundreds of years has it been?
Old Woman: Oh,But
Old Woman: And you're still so young and beautiful!
Old Woman: But I know just how ugly you've become...

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Old Woman: Because to stay young forever...
Old Woman: You ate my flesh.
Hizame: It's you... from back then...!!
Old Woman: That's right.
Old Woman: From when you threw your humanity away...
Old Woman: In order to live forever, you ate the meat of a mermaid demon!
(Note: In Japanese folklore, a "mermaid" is type of demon that looks something like a cross between a monkey and a fish.  Some stories say that anyone who eats mermaid meat will live forever, while other stories claim that it's poisonous.  There's a folk story about "Yao Bikuni," a Buddhist nun who accidentally ate mermaid flesh as a child and lived for over 800 years.)
SFX: [*drip*]

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Hizame: .....!!
Old Woman: Do you still remember the taste of my flesh?
Old Woman: Do you remember the faces of your fellow villagers as they starved to death?
Hizame: ...!
Hizame: No...!!
Old Woman: Could you ever really forget?
Old Woman: How long have you lived since then?
Old Woman: Oh, the other villagers ate the same meat, but they all died, didn't they?
Hizame: .....!!
Old Woman: How does it feel to be the only one monstrous enough to survive?
Old Woman: At what point did you stop mourning...
Old Woman: And start celebrating your eternal life?

14
SFX: [*stab*]
Ainezu: I don't know who you are...

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Ainezu: But if you speak ill of Hii-sama...
Ainezu: I will rip out your fucking tongue.
SFX: [*smiiiiile*]
Ainezu: Got it?  I'm a doctor,
Ainezu: But I'm also Hii-sama's friend.  So it's my job to make sure she's never in pain.
Hizame: Ainezu!!
Old Woman: A doctor?  I see.
SFX: [*smirk*]
Old Woman: It sounds like you're very devoted to your "Hii-sama."
Old Woman: Are you the one who's been patching her body back together?
Old Woman: Is that why she looks like she's held together with bandages?
Old Woman: I wonder, why are you so dedicated to your "Hii-sama?"
Ainzeu: .....?
Old Woman: Is it affection?
Old Woman: No...

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Old Woman: She's just an experiment to you, isn't she?
SFX: [*stare*]
Old Woman: To further your study of medicine,
Old Woman: You created *that thing.*
Old Woman: No wonder she's so precious to you!
Old Woman: She can't die, so you can experiment to your heart's content...
Ainezu: So what?
Old Woman: Hm?
Old Woman: What do you mean, "so what?"
Ainezu: Maybe my feelings for her are selfish, and maybe they're not.

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Ainezu.  It doesn't matter.  I love her either way.
Ainezu: Our love goes beyond simple desire!
SFX: [*facepalm*]
Susutake: Pff!
SFX: [*sputter*]
Susutake: WAHAHAHAHAHA!! Not bad, you quack doctor!!
Ainezu: [I'm a professional!]
Susutake: That was one hell of a declaration of love!!
SFX: [HAHAHAHA]
Toki: Ahaha... Ainezu-san is always so dramatic... what a yandere...
Kanzou: I'm gonna be sick.
Kon: [Just shut up.]
Kon: [What's wrong with you idiots?]

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Bonten: Heh.
Bonten: I'd say that you're more like the Greek concept of a "Siren..."
Bonten: Than the Japanese "mermaid" demon...
Bonten: Western mermaids use their voices to lure sailors into crashing their boats against rocks.
Bonten: They're cruel monsters who take delight in the suffering of their victims.
Bonten: But then again...
Bonten: In that,
Bonten: They're very much like humans.
Old Woman: Fu~
Old Woman: Fufu~
Old Woman: Ahahahaha!!

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Old Woman: Ahaha, oh my, you're an interesting one!
SFX: [*float*]
Old Woman: I owe my thanks to the Yakou...
Old Woman: For ressurecting me, so that I may continue to torment humans!
Toki: The Yakou...!?
Toki: Then... you're...
Old Woman: One of the Yakou's followers, yes.
Old Woman: Perhaps it's true...
Old Woman: That by eating the flesh of humans,
Old Woman: I became like a human myself?
Susutake: Ugh...
Kon: You ate people...!?
Old Woman: They're my favorite meal!
SFX: [*warp*]

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SFX: [*lunge*]
SFX: [*roar*]
SFX: [*struggle*]
SFX: [*melt*]

21
SFX: [*whoosh*]
SFX: [*splash*]
Toi: What...!?
SFX: [*crash*]

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Text: [Rashoumon Gate is said to be inhabited by criminals and demons.]
Text: [The corpses of the dead are dumped on its upper floor.]
Text: [What of the weathered old woman who plucks the hairs from the heads of those corpses?]
SFX: [*fwoosh*]
Old Woman: What...
Old Woman: Is life?

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SFX: [*bubble bubble*]
Old WOman: What...
Old Woman: Is death?
Text: [What of the man who steals that woman's clothing to survive?]
(Note: She's referring to Akutagawa's "Rashoumon" story here.)
Old Woman: What is evil?
Old Woman: What are humans?
Old Woman: What are demons?
Old Woman: What is life?
SFX: [*crackle*]
Toki: ......!
Old Woman: What are *you?*
Old Woman: Such an interesting assortment of creatures...
Toki: !?
SFX: [*gasp*]
Old Woman: Each and every one of you clothed in the trappings of human life...
Old Woman: Lies,
Old Woman: Ignorance,
Old Woman: Vanity,
Old Woman: Childishness,
Old Woman: Cunning,
Old Woman: Secrecy.
SFX: [*crack*]

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Old Woman: Now...
SFX: [*click click*]
Old Woman: Why don't we pull the hairs from your head?
Old Woman: Why don't we strip the clothing
Old Woman: From your body?
SFX: [*bubble*]
SFX: [*stare*]
Old Woman: What then?
Old Woman: Won't you be happy?
SFX: [*bubble bubble*]
SFX: [*sneer*]
Old Woman: ......
Old Woman: Come, now.
Old Woman: Won't you take it off?
SFX: [*bubble*]
Old Woman: You're overdressed.
Old Woman: Shall we begin?
SFX: [*bubble*]