Sengoku 25

[Reserved for Illuminati-Manga; halfway through volume three, whee]
Pg 107
Txt: Vol. 25 The Rear Guard is Chosen

Pg 108
?: Ah...
?: Be..betrayal?

TO: That's right
TO: Otake...Since you've also been born in this age of civil war, you've probably also wondered....
Txt: Otake, Asai clan lady-in-waiting
TO: Why is it that people betray each other?

TO: In the past, my father Saitou Yoshitatsu killed my beloved grandfather, Saitou Dousan, all because he was tormented by suspicion. With a single rumor, "they're not really of the same blood," everything changed.
TO: "Father is strict because he loves me" became "he is cold to me because he doesn't love me".... All because his foundation, the belief that they were tied by blood, was gone.

Pg 109
Txt: People "betray" when their belief in that other human crumbles.

TO: Asai Nagamasa reveres Oda Nobunaga with all of his heart.
TO: But...That love as well can be transformed into hatred, arising from a man's jealousy and suspicions
Otake: Ahhh
Otake: Aah, Aaah Ahh

TO: Now Nagamasa is under a lot of mental pressure... At this time a man is weak to rumors
Otake: It's too much!

Txt: Otake! Spread rumors near Asai Nagamasa! If you do that, I shall make you my woman!

Pg 110
?: I feel sorry for our lord....
?: He doesn't realize he's being used by Oda Nobunaga and his sister, Oichi-sama....
?: He even turns his back on his father so he can protect the Oda clan....

?: Oichi-sama loves Nobunaga more that Nagamasa-sama, and puts him first
Txt: Asai Bizen-no-kami Nagamasa
?: I feel so sorry for him.....

Txt: My heart is already decided...
Txt: There is nothing for me to be troubled over

Cut and pasted past panel: Nagamasa: For...for your sake I would even kill my father..
NM: How could I betray my revered brother Nobunaga?

Txt: The Asakura clan is important, but my brother-in-law Nobunaga is who I long to be like, it's my dream....

Pg 111
Text: In the past, I.... admired Nobunaga deeply for beating the great Imagawa army with only a small force at Okehasama. Then, when I too beat a great army of 20,000 with only a small force at the battle of Norada, I caught Nobunaga's eye, and he gave me his sister, Ichi....

Text: Loving and being loved by Nobunaga and Ichi is everything to me....
Text: I need nothing else....

Note: Battle of Norada: 1560 (Eiroku 3) Asai Nagamasa was victorious over the Rokkaku clan. After this, Nagamasa became the head of his clan.

Pg 112
Oichi: I feel sorry for you....

Oichi: You seem worn out...
Nagamasa's wife and Nobunaga's younger sister
Lady Oichi

NM: Iiiiiiiiiichiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Oichi: You protect my brother and me.....

Pg 113
Txt: My brother and me.....
Txt: Nobunaga and Ichi.........

Txt: The bonds between Nobunaga and Ichi are strong
Txt: Since they're brother and sister, that's natural.... but...

Txt: Are those bonds so strong that she puts Nobunaga before me?
Txt: Am I second to my brother-in-law?

Txt: I love Ichi more than my father....
Txt: But does Ichi love me more than Nobunaga?

Pg 114
NM: What... what is this?
NM: Azuki beans?

Oichi: Yes...
Oichi: I am sending them to my brother, Nobunaga, on the battlefield, as an expression of concern for his health

NM: Elder brother is strong, so that kind of thing is unnecessary!
Oichi: Why is that? Even though my lady-in-waiting, Otake, has cleverly prepared them...

Pg 115
NM: It's... unnecessary to send this....

NM: Instead of elder brother....
NM: Worry about me a little more....

?: Those who are faint-hearted... believe in rumors...

Pg 116
NM: Wh-who are you calling faint-hearted....
NM: Are you...comparing me with elder brother....no, Nobunaga?

NM: Are you saying I'm below Nobunaga?

?: Please stop, my lord!
?: You are raving!!

Pg 117
NM: I'll show you... that...I...I'm above Nobunaga!!

Nobu: It cannot be helped
Txt: Oda Danjou-no-Chuu Nobunaga

HY: Hurry! Are we ready to retreat?
Txt: Kanegasaki Castle, Tsuruga.
Kinoshita Toukichirou's Brigade

HY: We'll be the very first in the army to flee!

Pg 118
Niwa: That is all.
Niwa: Our lord has decided that the entire army will retreat.

Txt: Niwa Gorozaemon Nagahide
Niwa: Now to decide on the rear guard

Niwa: It goes without saying, that they will be left at this Kanegasaki castle
Niwa: Until the entire army escapes to safe ground, they will absorb the enemy attacks

Niwa: Their role is to be completely destroyed
Niwa: They must throw away all hope of a safe return

Pg 119
Niwa: Due to the urgent state of affairs, they will have no time for being caught between feelings and reality
Niwa: They must make decisions coolly and logically

Niwa: The rear guard must be skilled enough to battle while incurring the least possible number of casualties...
Niwa: And...
Niwa: If they are destroyed, their absence must not have a great impact on the survival of the Oda clan.... These are the two necessary points....

Niwa: Then, who....

?: I shall
?: I'll...
?: No, we will
Txt: Shibata Shuri-no-suke Katsuie

Pg 120
Niwa: Shibata-dono, please step back....
Niwa: The Oda clan cannot do without you

Niwa: Maeda, Satsuki, step back...
Txt: Satsuki Narimasa
Txt: Maeda Toshiie
Niwa: Your ability is not yet sufficient

Sakuma: Urm...
Sakuma: I would criticize, but.... It's useless....
Txt: Sakuma Nobumori

Nobu: Enough!

Pg 121
Nobu: It'll be the bald rat.

Pg 122-3
?: Relaying an order from Oda Nobunaga-sama to the Kinoshita Brigade—
?: For this retreat, you be the rear guard and sacrifice yourselves to prevent the pursuit of the Asakura Army at this Kanegasaki Castle.
?: And one other thing--- As Nobunaga-sama will look after all of the families left behind in the home villages of the rear guard........

Pg 124
?: Die
?: Without any worries
Txt: Kinoshita Toukichirou Hideyoshi

?: Sob
?: Waaah
?: Sob...
?: Ooooh

HY: Ha

Pg 125
HY: HA HA
HY: Ha ha ha ha ha

HY: Ha ha
HY: Ha ha
HY : Wa ha ha ha
HY: Ha ha ha

SG: Ha...
SG: Ha ha

SG: Ha ha ha
SG: Wa ha ha ha ha

Pg 126
?: My lord, where are you going?

Txt: ..... These guys

Pg 127
HY: Now...now as you have heard, we have been ordered to be the rear guard....
HY: which is the same as receiving an order to die.

HY: From Nobunaga-sama.... Ha ha

HY: But... Nobunaga-sama is more sensitive than anyone... Our lord is more pained by this than anyone else...
HY: We will never see him again, probably, so don't bear a grudge against him...

Pg 128
SG: That's the kind of person Toukichirou-sama is...
SG: What's with saying not to bear a grudge against the person who's told him to die?

SG: It's just like that time with Takenaka Hanbei-sama
(Cut-and-paste panel: HY: Because of that..
HY: His feelings are probably hurt...
Txt: Toukichirou-sama really
Txt: does like Hanbei-sama.)
SG: He worries more about the feelings of others than about his own problems

SG: He's puny, a real pervert, but I respect Toukichirou-sama....
SG: Toukichirou-sama is Nobunaga-sama's shield! So I'll become Toukichirou-sama's shield!!