Chapter 209: Not Zero

Tonight, we're going to unearth Kamiya Kaoru's grave-- (Late at night, four figures gather around a gravesite.)

(Earlier)

Yahiko: Unearth Kaoru's grave?! What are you thinking? For what?

Aoshi: It's the surest way to verify that it's Kamiya Kaoru's body.

Yahiko: Verify?

Aoshi: Listen. You didn't see the circumstances that led up to Kamiya Kaoru's death yourself, but didn't you think they were odd? Beginning with the destruction of the Akabeko, the persistent, malicious attacks of Earthly Justice came one after the other. The murder of Kamiya Kaoru was the greatest and the last, the crucial finale. But he only showed her dead--he kept her murder out of sight. Her final moments--Yukishiro Enishi knew full well that those would be the most painful for Battousai. But his revenge was completed when one of his friends was fighting him. Although it's not impossible that he had to change his plans when the fighting exceeded his expectations, Yukishio Enishi got that far by planning with singleminded intensity. Nothing was overlooked.

Yahiko: ... But, there was a body. I saw it.

Aoshi (pointing): Look.

Yahiko: That's the second Iwanbou, that Sanosuke brought back...

(The skin of the Iwanbou is putrefying; flies gather around it.)

Yahiko: It's rotting!

Aoshi: It seems it couldn't be maintained without periodic treatment to prevent decay. I've examined it. It's constructed partly out of human skin, tissue and bone. He probably stole bodies out of graves and took them apart to make it.

Yahiko: ... He made it out of corpses.

Aoshi: I read a great deal to prepare for the position of Okashira. I remember a record of a similar technique in the books left by my forebears. In the Warring States period, generals would leave substitute "shadow warriors" in their places to ensure their own security. But training shadow warriors took great time and expense. What was developed was a secret method of constructing dolls out of corpses that couldn't distinguished from real people at a glance. If the puppet master called Gein had inherited these techniques--

Megumi: That's enough! I verified the body! She was bleeding, the warmth was just leaving the skin ... That was no doll! Maybe someone as cold as you couldn't understand, but we're all hurting right now! I don't know anything about secret techniques, but your groundless speculation is only making things worse!

Aoshi: You're sure? When a person close to you has died, can you make a rational, absolute judgment?

Megumi: You ... you're heartless!

Misao: What! I didn't get what Lord Aoshi was going on about, but I got that!

Yahiko: You idiot.

Misao: What!

Yahiko: You're saying that the body we saw could have been a fake.

Aoshi: What I'm suggesting is a possibility. When you think about it, it's pretty low. But it's not zero.

It's not zero... (They stand around Kaoru's unearthed coffin.)

Yahiko (thinking): Maybe we'll just face despair again, but--(aloud) I'll open it.

(They remove the lid. Kaoru's body is inside.)

Misao: Kaoru...

Megumi (lifting her wrist): I'm sure. This is no doll. This is real...

Aoshi (unsheathing his sword): Close your eyes.

Megumi: Wait, what are you--

Aoshi: According to the records, these dolls were very elaborate. From the surface no one could tell. The only way to be sure was to take them apart.

Megumi (grabbing his sleeve): That's sick! How far are you going to take this!

Yahiko (thinking): It's a possibility. If you think about it, it's close to zero. But it's not zero.

(Yahiko puts a hand on Megumi's arm.)

Megumi: Yahiko?

Yahiko (thinking): It's not--it's not zero! (aloud) Do it! Aoshi!

(He stabs. They all flinch. Then he reaches inside and pulls out a handful of bloody steel cables.)

Aoshi: We bet on a possibility that wasn't quite zero and won. Yukishiro's motive in employing a fake isn't clear. But we can say one thing. Kamiya Kaoru hasn't been killed.

She's alive somewhere. Yahiko (thinking): Kaoru's alive! Kaoru's alive! Kenshin--

(Elsewhere, on an unfamiliar bed, Kaoru is awakening.)