Gate 7 3

1
left: The one hidden in the blooming flowers, a beautiful god or a grotesque creature---!?
bottom right: Chapter 3 Hidetsugu and Oni

2
right vert: The master of Urashichiken, Hidetsugu. What he summoned is...!?

p1
Uwaaaaaa!!

p2/3/4
Horns!
//They're horns!

p5
nb: Eeeek
It's got horns!

3
p1
...Can I put a curse on him with my kotodama?
Hidetsugu
tl note: kotodama = the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotodama

p2
Now now, calm down
//Alright?
"Mikoto"
tl note: Mikoto means "divine revelation" (or oracle)

p3
I see
You can see oni too, Chikahito-chan

4
p1
Mikoto
//Hello

p2
It's been a long time
Hana

p3
hana: Doing well?
mikoto: For now, while Hidetsugu provides me with his offerings
mikoto: Actually
//mikoto: I want a new one

p4
Another doll?

p5
Ugo
Ugo

p6
mikoto: What's that about?
hana: Ugo ugo

5
p1
Ohhh
//It's an action expressing a desire for something
nb: Ugo ugo ugo
Ugo ugo
//Hand over the new Blythe doll, Long Hair

p2
Wait, I really don't understand anything
An explanation...

p3
Before that

p4

6-7
p1
Precious one who can't become human
Oni, sworn to me by blood

p2
I
Ask of you as the head of the Toyotomi

p3
"Is this visitor one of fortune or misfortune?"

p4
“Not”
Is the answer

8
p1
"Not" means
mikoto: He is not of either

p2
So he's the same as Hana
Then does he have the same power?

p3
He doesn't

p4
Ehhh?
nb: startled

9
p1
Because Hana is "not", everything is taken in
Because he is "not", everything is cleared out

p2
...I see

10
p1
hide: But
//hide: Whether fortune or misfortune, if it's "not" to both
mikoto: Yea

p2
Then even you Mikoto can't tell which side he might fall to
//Right?

p3
Nevertheless, Hana wants to be with him
In that Urashichiken

p4/5
Yes

11
p1
Then
Let's have Chikahito-chan come over to "this side"

p2
nb: Buwa!
chika: This is not just shady
chika: It's scary!!

p3
No

p4
hide: Hana?
hana: Ramen first
nb: Ugo ugo

p5
Ohhh
//So this can be used to ask for anything
nb: Ugo ugo

12
p1
hide: Chikahito-chan, you're getting postponed in favor of noodles
hide nb: Hahaha
hana nb: Ugo ugo
chika: Well
//chika: I think I'd rather my turn doesn't come for eternity

p2
hana: I wanted more
mikoto: Three servings were not enough?

p3
look around
look around

p4
chika: The people around don't pay any attention to Mikoto-san
//chika: It must be because this is Kyoto
hide: Kyoto has turned into an interesting place inside your head, Chikahito-chan

13
p1
They don't pay attention because they can't see

p2
Eh?

p3
Except for some very unique ones
//Oni are invisible to anyone but those who have special powers

p4
But
I...

p5
You can see because you are "not"
You're quite mysterious, Chikahito-chan

15
p1
Pah!

p2
Pah!

p3
chika: Hana-san!
hide nb: Hahaha
hide: Hana hasn't changed at all

p4
Umm...
Where are we going?

p5
I told you
To have you come over to "this side", Chikahito-chan

p6
chika: Th- "This side,"
//chika: You mean to this side of Shinkyougoku street?
hide: You are really quite amusing, Chikahito-chan

15
p1
How about we go to a place where it will be the easiest for me to explain everything

p2/3

p4
sign: Grave of Lord Toyotomi Hidetsugu

p5
Hidetsugu... You mean...

p6
That's right
My grave

16
p1
Huh?

p2
Please wait a minute

p3/4/5
I know that Toyotomi Hidetsugu was the nephew of Toyotomi Hideyoshi
//The person who was selected to be Hideyoshi's successor while Hideyoshi was still childless
Err, he became the kanpaku
//But then Hideyoshi's child was born
Hideyori
tl note: Kanpaku = chief adviser/regent of the Emperor

p6
The he became the target of many terrible rumors
For example, he was called the killer kanpaku...

17
p1
Hidetsugu did no such things!

p2
Myouhou
Fuuka
tl note: Fuuka = wind flower

18
p1/2/3

p4
Thank you, Mikoto
But let's hear the whole tale first

19
p1
pull pull

p2/3

p4
B- But it's also been written variously that the so-called crimes committed by Hidetsugu
Were either fiction or traps designed to bring him down...

p5
And then
//The accusation that he was plotting to overthrow Hideyoshi was also false
When his true child, Hideyori, was born
//Hideyoshi started to think of Hidetsugu as a hindrance...

p6
hide: You do know a lot, Chikahito-chan
chika: Although Toyotomi Hidetsugu is not the most famous of the Sengoku era commanders

p7
I've read books on the topic due to my interest...

20
p1
Anyway
//After coming under suspicion of plotting a coup, he retreated to live in seclusion on Mt. Kouya
But then he was ordered to commit seppuku, and his head was sent to Sanjougawara

p2
In front of that head, his children, wives, and concubines, 39 of them in total, were executed
//Do you know that as well?

p3
chika: Y- Yes...
hide: Do you know why Hideyoshi went that far?

p4

p5
It was for the sake of blood

21
p1
Blood?

p2
Hideyoshi desperately wanted his own blood to succeed him
But he couldn't be blessed with an heir for the longest time
//They would be born, but then would die soon after

p3
That's why he was all the more blinded
//To everything by his beloved Hideyori

p4
So it was all about inheriting as the head of the family

p5
That too, but
He didn't want to lose his oni, which is inherited by the one whose blood is thickest
//That's closer to truth

22
p1/2
Oni are passed down to those whose blood is closest to the one who made the initial blood contract
Even if the bloodline doesn't cease, if the blood relation thins out, the efficacy of the oni contract thins out as well

p3
From the days of old, those who win glory in this world have special powers that set them apart from the rest
And among them,
//There are many who make a blood contract with beings who are not human called oni, and thus gain power

23
Especially the commanders of the Sengoku period

24
p1
So then
//Mikoto-san too

p2
mikoto: Mikoto-sama to you!
chika: Mi-
//chika: Mikoto-sama

p3
I made a blood contract with
//Toyotomi Hideyoshi of the Toyo clan

p4
There is no being that can be called Hideyoshi in the present world
Therefore, my contract is now with Hidetsugu

25
p1
So that means
//You are that Hidetsugu reborn?

p2
I wonder about that
The name currently in my family register is not Hidetsugu
//But Mikoto said

p3
You are Hidetsugu

p4
Since she said so
I'm fine with that

p5
Then
There's no Hideyori either?

p6
There is

p7
Eh

26
p1
But wouldn't the son, the direct line of descent, be closest in blood...?
nb: Huuuh?

p2
In the present world, Hidetsugu is the most fitting one for me to be with

p3
Eh...
Th...
//Then, Hideyori-san is...

p4
*grin*

p5
This somehow feels scary---!!

27
p1
Now, let's change the topic
Do you know about the origin of Kamishichiken?

p2/3
B- Basically, after Kitano Tenman-guu was destroyed by a fire
//The materials left over from its reconstruction
//Were used to build seven tea houses. And that's how it started.
//In the Momoyama era, when Hideyoshi held tea parties in Kitano, those seven tea houses became Hideyoshi's rest area...
*tl note: Shichiken in Kamishichiken means "seven houses"

p4
nb: Err err...
chika: What was it then...?
chika nb: Uh~~~
hana nb: Uh~?
hide: Do your best

p5
Ah, that's it
It's dango
tl note: dango = a type of dumpling

p6
A tea house put out mitarashi dango
//Which Hideyoshi liked
//And it received the permission to open
That was how a hanamachi called Kamishichiken
//Was able to expand
tl note: motarashi dango = dango covered in sweet sauce, a Kyoto specialty

28
p1
hide: Well done
//hide: 85 points
mikoto: You're being liberal with grading
sfx: clap x5

p2
Back then, what was created together with Kamishichiken was
//Urashichiken
sfx: clap clap

p3
A squad using special powers
//To protect Toyotomi and his precious
Imperial capital

29
p1
Right now

p2
Only three

p3
Members are there
//But they're the select few
haha nb: Ugo ugo

p4
Urashichiken...

p5
I inherited Urashichiken together with Mikoto
//As the head of the Toyotomi

p6
Then
Your job, Hidetsugu-san
//Is to be the leader of Urashichiken...?

30
p1
nb: grin
hide: No, I run a company

p2
Ehhh!?

p3
But
//This is more important to me
There is something bigger that I want to get

p4
...What is it?

p5

31
p1/2
The strongest oni
//In this world

p3
chika: So oni can be strong or weak?
hide: They can

p4
To put it simply, there's the strength of their powers
But oni also differ by what they can do

32
p1
What about Mikoto-sama...?

p2
I spin kotodama
Like I did just now, I can turn a word into a blade
//To strike my target

p3
hide: Well, attacks are not Mikoto's primary power
nb: Hmm...
mikoto: I am strong

p4/5
hide: Of course
//hide: But in the end, the strongest power Mikoto has is foreknowledge and prediction
mikoto: Yea
chika: That's amazing

p6
Hmm?
//You said that oni are inherited by people whose blood is thickest compared to the one who made the contract first
That's right

33
p1
Then
That strongest oni also has to belong to someone...

p2
You see

p3
The one who made the blood contract with the strongest oni
//That had not belonged to anyone for eternity
Has fallen into a slumber after having sealed the oni within his own body

34-35
p1
His name is Oda Nobunaga

p2
And the name of the strongest oni is
Dairokuten Maou
tl note: Dairokuten Maou is a being from Buddhist mythology whose name means "The Demon King of the Sixth Heaven". This name is often associated with Oda Nobunaga in fiction.

36
p1
chika: Nobunaga
//chika: ...Really!?
hide: Do you know what happened with the remains of Lord Nobunaga?

p2
I-
//It's true
There's only his favorite katana at the Honnou-ji temple
//It's unknown where his remains are...
tl note: Honnou-ji is the place where Oda Nobunaga committed suicide to avoid falling into the hands of his enemies.

p3
hide: You're quite knowledgeable, Chikahito-chan
//hide: It helps to make my explanations go quicker
mikoto: He's much to learn yet
sfx: clap x5

p4
That's right
//No one has found either of them yet
Neither Lord Nobunaga
//Nor the strongest oni

p5
Certainly, those who know of that being have been searching endlessly
But still...

37
p1
They've found nothing

p2
But I've discovered a way to get there

p3
What is that way!?

p4

38-39
p1/2/3
...Having said that
//We have arrived
Another one who desires Lord Nobunaga's oni

p4
It's been a while
Lord Akechi Mitsuhide
tl note: Akechi Mitsuhide was the samurai general who betrayed Oda Nobunaga and forced him to commit suicide

41
p1
Akechi... you mean
//That Akechi!?

p2
Is this
A new child you've inducted into the Urashichiken?

p3
!?

p4
Well
//Whatever

p5
It seems that today the leftmost Tachibana and the rightmost Sakura are absent
tl note: Tachibana (orange tree) and sakura (cherry tree) are actual trees growing to the sides of the southern stairs of the Hall for State Ceremonies in the Heian Palace. Except the real tachibana is on the right, and the sakura is on the left.
This is what they call opportunity

41
p1
And now
//Shall I help myself

p2
To your oni

p3
In order to meet Lord Nobunaga once more

p4
Enka
tl note: literally, flame calamity

42
p1/2
Same face!?

p3
Myouhou
Hanakago
tl note: literally, flower cage

43

44-45
Hana-san!!