Chapter 214: Two in Black (Beginning)

(Gein flourishes the wires as they retract into his fingertips.)

Aoshi: Diamond-edge wire...

Gein: Hm ... truly the Oniwabanshu Okashira. You're well-informed. Wires coated with crushed diamonds. Just a touch will tear flesh; a bundle of it can break bone.

Aoshi: You understand how difficult it would be to fight with them.

Gein: For avoiding unnecessary trouble, there's nothing better. Where have you hidden my corpse doll? It's not like the Iwanbou series, a product of functional beauty as a master mechanic--it's the pinnacle of artificial beauty as a dollmaker. My greatest creation, that deceived even the eyes of Hitokiri Battousai. It was proof that my creations are the equal of the human creations of God! It would be blasphemy to let it rot away. It must be left to go down in the history of crime!

Aoshi: I don't care about that. I asked you a question. Where is Kamiya Kaoru?

(Gein stops for a moment. Then he sighs.)

Gein: I give up. We both wear black and live in the darkness. I thought you might be able to appreciate the soul of my artistry. But you're just another philistine. Prepare to meet your maker, Shinomori Aoshi!

(He casts out the diamond wires. They cut through stones and grave markers; without seeming to move, Aoshi simply evades them.)

Gein: Damn!

(With the same silent movement, Aoshi now stands to his side.)

Gein: Flowing-water movement...

Aoshi: Things which cut or bind pass right through water ... There's nothing like it for avoiding unnecessary trouble.

Gein: It's rude to be sarcastic with a straight face. However!

(Gravestones rise around Aoshi; Gein has wrapped his wires around them. Aoshi leaps aside to avoid the flying stones and rubble.)

Gein: If cutting or binding won't work, I'll strike until you splash!

(Another wave of gravestones rise behind him. Aoshi disappears in a cloud of rubble.)

Gein: Enishi and Heishin underestimated the shadow puppeteer. Even the mechanisms of the Iwanbou series require extraordinary strength to manipulate. No amateur could handle them. One finger supporting twenty kilos, movement becomes possible when you first operate a delicate mechanism by a tenth of a millimeter ... By comparison, a few gravestones are no trouble at all. Now, it's time--

(Aoshi reappears unhurt as the dust settles, holding his kodachi.)

Aoshi: Now it's time? You don't feel like answering my question?

Gein: Oniwabanshu Kodachi Two-sword style ... I thought I might see it, but it's far exceeded my expectations. That's a shame. You have great strength, but if you go on living in the outside world, the only road open to you is that of some petty innkeeper. You were the greatest of secret organizations that lived for 300 years in darkness. As the fate of the Oniwabanshu's last Okashira, it's too bad, too pathetic...

(He extends a hand to him, palm up.)

Gein: Will you take my hand, Shinomori Aoshi? In the pursuit of my next perfection, I need a new warrior. You, who live in the world of darkness, would be perfect.

Aoshi: Unfortunately, I don't think being an average innkeeper is so bad. But that's neither here nor there. Now that the new age has come, the shadow techniques should be quietly, secretly destroyed. But for your own private desire, this villainy exists in no small way in the world of men. This shadow villainy, by my shadowy strength, I will consign to darkness. This will be the final work of the Oniwabanshu Okashira.

Gein: So that's the answer you found in your meditation in Kyoto ... Though we both wear black, you and I inhabit a different darkness. Fine! But whatever the reason, those who obstruct my pursuit of perfection will be destroyed!

(He charges. Aoshi kicks his iron sheath at him.)

Gein (thinking): The sheath--

(It strikes him in the shoulder.)

Oniwabanshu Kodachi Two-sword Style Gokou Juuji!

(He slices forward, both swords crossing in a scissor movement.)

Gein: Impertinence!

(He wraps all five wires around a tree branch and uses the retracting mechanism to pull himself up out of danger.)

Gein: Wires may be used this way too. The foundation of doll-making is the basic use of both hands. From now on it's a true--

(The bottom half of his mask falls away, revealing the liver-spotted face of an old man.)

Aoshi: Yes. From now on it's a true fight between two men of darkness.