Dr. Domon, I presume?
Your treatment using soil...
Wasn't it originally taught to you by someone else?
You... know something about this?
About that person?
That person?
What do you know?
NATSUNO
My... dear...
DR. DOMON
Yae!
YAE
NANOKA KIBA OTOYA
You need to lie down.
Everything's okay.
That woman...
She's my wife.
She's been ill for a long time.
His wife? She's very young.
MAO
Let me examine her.
I'm an onmyoji.
It was about 30 years ago.
At the time...
I was studying to become a doctor.
My wife, Yae,
worked to help pay for my tuition.
There was a particularly troublesome customer
at the bar where she worked...
He became dangerously obsessed with her.
Like a stalker?
Mr. Domon... Something's happened to Yae!
Yae... Yae!
She was ambushed by a customer.
There was nothing I could do...
Then that person appeared.
My deepest sympathies...
They packed Yae's wounds with what looked like kneaded earth.
Several days later,
Yae recovered as if nothing had happened.
The person said it was Onmyojutsu.
Then they left behind some Earth medicine,
telling me to apply it if she ever fell ill.
They also taught me
how to choose the right soil and how to prepare it,
but I could never get it quite right.
So you've been testing the effects of the soil
you prepared yourself on your patients?
Yes...
These past few years Yae hasn't been well.
At first, the soil I used on my patients would restore their health.
But after a few days, things would start to go wrong.
This man...
I've heard that many of the patients you treated
with your Earth medicine have gone missing.
It's likely they were consumed by the soil
and disappeared without a trace.
What you've done is unforgivable.
Who taught you such a spell?
Oh, don't be so rigid.
He was trying to save the woman he loved,
so he had no choice... right?
Mao, you were always so inflexible.
A woman?!
NATSUNO
You scattered these butterfly talismans, didn't you, Mao?
They know each other?
It's...
y-you.
You're the one who gave me the Earth medicine back then...
Please... I need more medicine...
My wife is not well...
I beg you!
All right. Let me examine her.
Ah...
I see...
She's dead.
Yae!
She has been, for several years.
What?
Just as I thought.
Yae... This can't be...
Yae!
She kept going for your sake...
How devoted...
Yae...
Yae! Yae!
Yaeee!
Shall we go, Mao?
There's nothing more we can do here.
Natsuno.
So she's also from the Goko Clan?
Why did you do such a thing?
You mean about her head?
Why did you give him Earth medicine?
I told you, didn't I?
I was moved by his abiding love for his wife.
But because of that,
he used an imperfect medicine on his patients
and committed even more crimes.
What's going to happen to Dr. Domon now?
He touched the soil used on his wife's neck...
So he'll probably be joining her.
Dr. Domon...
I have a stomach ache.
Dr. Domon?
Nobody home?
Mao, come here.
DAIGO
You're about to see an incredible spell.
Daigo.
Your leg's broken, isn't it?
Poor thing...
Let me put some medicine on it.
Okay... Try to stand up.
Amazing.
Natsuno's Earth medicine can heal any injury.
Natsuno...
So you're Mao?
Daigo's little brother, so to speak...
Your spell is truly remarkable.
Master's always getting on my case, though.
He keeps telling me not to make just medicine, but poison too.
I don't care what he says though.
If you keep talking like that, he'll chew you out again.
The Earth sorcerers were among the most talented in the Goko Clan.
Among them, Daigo and Natsuno were...
Natsuno...
You were summoned to the Goshikido, weren't you?
Yes, I was summoned.
Did you think Daigo was chosen?
If he had focused on his training,
he would have surpassed me.
So you knew as well, Natsuno?
Wait...
Don't leave yet.
Lady Sana...
Daigo, your eyes have the most mysterious color...
They're beautiful.
Lady Sana...
Lady Sana was in love with...
The two of them met in secret,
but a few people in the compound knew.
If any of the apprentices who were jealous of Daigo's abilities found out...
and it reached the Master's ears...
MASTER OF THE GOKO CLAN
Mao, back then...
Weren't you also in love with Lady Sana?
Don't tell me it was you who told the Master?
H-He would never do that!
Daigo was an important person in my life.
If nothing had happened...
and Daigo and Lady Sana had been able to be together,
nothing would have made me happier.
Yeah, that sounds like you.
I'll believe you.
Well, I'll be on my way now.
So...
If Natsuno was summoned to the Goshikido,
then what happened to Daigo?
I told you that after being summoned to the Goshikido,
the most talented senior apprentices
started dying under mysterious circumstances, right?
Yes.
The very first victim...
was Daigo.
What?!
If you are to inherit all of the secret scrolls...
Mao, that means you will become my husband.
HAIMARU SANA
I will obey my father's wishes.
But Lady Sana was in love with...
Daigo.
Why Mao?
Just some orphan from the home for foundlings...
He's not worthy.
No matter what the other senior apprentices said to me,
I could endure it.
But what does Daigo think of me?
We grew up together at the home for foundlings.
Then he fulfilled his dream of joining the Goko Clan.
And it was through his recommendation
that I was brought to the Goko Clan.
And yet, I was chosen over Daigo...
Ah, Mao...
I should never have brought you here.
I regret it.
I knew it.
Daigo...
I'm thinking of leaving the Goko Clan.
I'm sorry.
Huh?
I once told you...
the Goko Clan was like paradise.
It's the opposite...
This place is...
The next morning, Daigo was...
found dead in the courtyard of the compound.
There are signs the ground was dug up at his feet.
Was a cursed object buried here?
He unknowingly stepped on it...
And was cursed to death.
Daigo!
Why?!
KAMON MASAGO
HAKUBI
Hyakka?
I never knew...
that after I was chosen as the successor,
several of the senior apprentices had been summoned to the Goshikido.
Curse Mao, the sacrifice, to death.
Whoever survives in the end shall be the true successor.
Lady Sana...
I'd never seen that look on her face before.
And beginning with Daigo's death...
the top senior apprentices of each of the Five Elements
began dying one after another under mysterious circumstances.
So if Natsuno was summoned to the Goshikido, that would mean...
Yes. Looking back now,
Daigo was probably killed by a curse meant for someone else.
By someone who was summoned to the Goshikido...
I see...
That's just so unfair.
Um, did you try to comfort Lady Sana...
or cry together with her?
I couldn't...
do anything for her.
That's heartbreaking.
It was a long time ago.
But... you still have feelings for Lady Sana, don't you?
That's why you're so fixated on that woman, Yurako, isn't it?
I don't know what to think anymore.
How could someone so kind and pure...
spew black curses from her mouth...
And the man that she loved, was even cursed to death.
Sana is dead.
Her heart was torn from her chest.
But she appeared before Mao looking exactly the same...
Out of my way!
At first, I just couldn't connect the two.
Nanoka.
I just want to know...
why Lady Sana is still alive...
and how she became a pawn for Shiranui?
Is that all?
If there's any way to save her, I want to.
And then what?
Do you want to be with her or something?
Huh?
What on earth are you talking about?
The current's changed?
Yeah. All of a sudden, we can't catch any fish.
All we're getting is...
Dammit! It's happened again!
It's tangled in the net!
He's at the bottom of the sea now?
You've got to be kidding me.
Did you find Shiranui's shrine, Master Kamon?
I did. But with it down there, there's not much we can do.
Lady Sana hasn't shown up at the salons since then, either.
Looks like Shiranui's gone back to hiding in his shrine.
What is that, Master Kamon?
BENIKO
This?
It was tangled in the net.
It's hair that came floating up from the shrine.
What's that bastard Shiranui plotting now?
Do you intend to kill Shiranui, Master Kamon?
That depends.
But first, there are a lot of things I want to ask him.
He's waiting for you here.
What a magnificent home...
This is as far as I will take you.
Oh my! You must be Mr. Kuchinawa's guest!
His friend is so handsome, too!
You're here, Mao.
Oh... You brought Nanoka with you.
His name is Mr. Mao?
- Master Kamon... - Is he younger than Mr. Kuchinawa?
So you're freeloading at this house now?
You make it sound so bad.
I got rid of the spirit possessing the young lady of the house,
and they insisted I stay.
Okay, but why are you dressed like that?
Kamon, I heard from Beniko that you found Shiranui's shrine.
Yeah. At the bottom of the sea.
The bottom of the sea...
Well, it's too dangerous to go down there.
But I found this...
That's hair, isn't it?
Eww...
Mao, get ready.
All right.
We're performing a spirit-summoning ritual?
Yes.
At first, I figured it was Shiranui's hair.
But it doesn't have his sinister aura.
We summon the soul that dwells within this hair.
Come forth, by sacred decree!
Otoya...
Is the spirit-summoning ritual like a séance?
Yes... Because the hair itself serves as the katashiro,
it should be easy to summon its owner's spirit.
Masago!
Um, was that...
a ghost?
It didn't appear to be the spirit of a living person...
Right...
Mao...
I told you I wasn't there the night
the compound burned down, didn't I?
Yes.
I don't know anything.
I was outside the compound on a rendezvous with a woman.
Wait, don't tell me...
The person you were meeting...
was Masago?
Well, that's right.
That night, Masago had asked me to come out
and wait for her at a shack on Northern Beach.
But Masago never came.
I waited until morning and when I returned to the compound,
it had burned to the ground...
and both the Master and Lady Sana had been murdered.
You had already fled by then, Mao.
And from that day on,
Masago disappeared without a trace.
Why?
Masago wanted to get away from the Goko Clan.
Yes.
Get out while you can.
This is a cruel place.
After the downfall of the Goko Clan...
I thought maybe Masago had managed to escape somewhere.
But if she'd been summoned to the Goshikido,
I figured I'd run into her again someday.
And if she hadn't...
then I just hoped she'd escaped
to live an ordinary life and lived out her natural lifespan.
That was all I wished for.
Oh my...!
Kamon doesn't look it, but he's a real romantic.
If Masago's hair came from Shiranui's shrine,
that would mean...
Yeah.
We need to squeeze the truth out of Shiranui.
Master Shiranui, the hair has broken through the barrier.
It's possible that moving the shrine from Kyoto...
has compromised the barrier.
SHIRANUI
Truly...
there's nothing more terrifying...
than a woman's tenacity.
Isn't that right, Masago?
NEXT TIME
Natsuno?
Why are you here?
Mao...
I never expected you to come to me.
You're tagging along with Kamon today?
So, you know why we've come, Shiranui.
What did you do to Masago?
Well, it's about time you died.
Those who were summoned to the Goshikido
can wound and kill one another.
Next time: The Undersea Shrine