Chapter 75: Search for a Reverse Blade

On the second day in Kyoto

Misao: Wake up, Himura! It's morning! Oh, you're already up. I thought I'd get to see what you look like half-asleep.

Kenshin: Oro? Miss Misao, your clothes!

(Misao is dressed in quieter shirt and shorts.)

Misao: Normal clothes for Kyoto. Walking around my home ground in battle dress is a little weird even for me.

Okina: If you're ready, let's go, Himura.

Kenshin: Oro?

Okina: Kyoto has changed a lot in the ten years you've been gone. Today I thought I'd show you around. How about lunch at the sukiyaki place, the Shirobeko?

Misao: Cool! (I've been wanting to eat there.)

Kenshin: Wait a minute, Mr. Okina! I can't walk around Kyoto in broad daylight. Sometime, somewhere one of Shishio's men will notice me and--

Okina: What? No matter how you run and hide, Shishio will find you.

Kenshin: But--

Okina: Himura, you're fighting Shishio for the people of this country. So stand up straight for all to see! That's the way of the honest man!

(Kenshin looks shocked; Okina strides on ahead, laughing.)

Misao (whispering): That's all he'll say, but in the old days Gramps was so good he was going to be made the new Okashira. But he said, "Now is the time for the young," and recommended Lord Aoshi, giving himself the minor role of agent in Kyoto. Now he's just a worn-out old man, but--

Okina: Oh yes, the people you asked me to look for. The search began yesterday.

Misao: Search? Who for?

Kenshin: It's no one you know.

Misao (attacking): Why are you always like this!!

Kuro: Okina. (handing him a folded piece of paper) Here.

(Okina unfolds and studies the letter)

Okina: Sorry, Misao, we'll have to do the Shirobeko another time. Himura. We've found one of them. Well, more accurately, we found out about his death. The swordsmith who made the reverse blade, Arai Shakkuu, left this world eight years ago.

Misao: A swordsmith? Oh, I see. To replace the broken reverse blade, ... But if he's already dead, there's never going to be another--

(Meanwhile)

In the end, they spent the night at an inn.

Kaoru: Here. Tae's home, the Shirobeko. Must be the sister store of the Akabeko in Tokyo. (opening the door) Excuse me--

Sae: Welcome!

Kaoru: Ta--Tae?? (What are you doing in Kyoto?)

Sae: Tae? Oh, I see. You must be the two from Tokyo. I'm Tae's twin sister, Sekihara Sae. Pleased to meet you. Tae told me all about you in her letter. It sounds terrible, everything you went through. But now everyone at the Shirobeko will do all that we possibly can for you. So don't worry.

Kaoru (smiling): Okay.

Yahiko (thinking): Now we just have to find Kenshin before Shishio or Aoshi does. Hang on, Kenshin!

Okina: Arai Shakkuu. At the time of the Bakumatsu he had a name among the Ishin Shishi as the finest of swordsmiths. Because in his work he dedicated himself to the pursuit of the "sword that kills" not the "sword that cuts," he was considered something of a heretic in the world of sword-making.

Misao: A swordsmith who tried to make the sword that kills made the unkilling reverse blade? I don't get it.

Okina: A man's life may sometimes contain many contradictions. Right, Himura?

(Kenshin says nothing.)

Okina: According to my sources, Shakkuu passed down all his secrets to his son. There were hopes for him as the next great swordsmith, but in the Meiji era there were few orders for swords; a swordsmith could barely survive. Now it seems he makes his living making knives, scythes and other everyday tools.