Hitogatana 12

[This chapter has already been scanlated by Maigo. This is just the original translation.]

Hitogatana
Chapter 12
Unexpectedly Encountered Past


p.01 (69)
Fourth test complete——

Chapter 12: Unexpectedly Encountered Past

Seri has the higher harmonization rate
But Gogyou’s piloting abilities surpassed that.


Gogyou: ——Seri.


p.02
Gogyou: It’s two wins, two losses.
Gogyou: Next time... I will surpass you.

Seri: ...Just
Try it......

Gogyou: The latter phase subjects, huh.
Scientist: Stop it!!
Hakobera!
Hakobera: Shut up!!
I get pissed off whenever I watch this weakling.
Die

Hakobera: You can just die!!
“Crybaby Nazuna”!!


p.03

Chapter 12
Unexpectedly Encountered Past


p.04
Sis: Then
According to what you think

Sis: The Artisans are the ones using the Goken?

Shinobu: I can’t say for sure,
Shinobu: But I think it’s a high probability.

Shinobu: Now, I’m pursuing the whereabouts of the monitoring officer in charge of protecting them, who was the director back then.
Shinobu: I plan on investigating what happened when he’s located.


p.05
Sis: But inside the institution was completely empty, with all the data on Artisan erased.
Sis: Maybe that director also had a hand in the breakout?

Shinobu: ——That really would be a troublesome turn of events.
It’s true that you can’t get the drugs without some sort of connection either.

Shinobu: At any rate,
Shinobu: Nothing’s for sure at this point...

Sis: Couldn’t they just appear all of a sudden and reveal themselves for us?
Shinobu: That’s not gonna happen...

Gogyou: ——Yo


p.06
Gogyou: It’s been a while, you two.


p.07
Gogyou: Would you like to have a little chat?

SFX: Squeeze

Inu: Come on, don’t run away~


p.08
Inu: Did you do this for a protection racket to a gang? How risky~
Minamoto: You did well, Inuzuka... but,
This was a decoy.

Inu: ...Excuse me, Squad Leader Minamoto.
Minamoto: ...What is it?

Inu: Could you not use that mask?
Minamoto: What’re you saying?

Minamoto: I even get mistaken for the criminal frequently with Shishiou’s real appearance.
Inu: Then let’s change it!! Let’s do a Face/Off!!
Mutter: Gyaaaaaa
Box: ※ Bound very tightly
Minamoto: I’m attached to that face!
Inu: What horrible taste!


p.09
Minamoto: ——Anyhow.

Minamoto: Nothing changes even if you try to move with clever team play.
Minamoto: It’s useless.

Minamoto: We’ll gradually investigate where exactly a small group like you guys got Katana from.
Minamoto: First we’ll let you experience with your own bodies
——What the AKCD is about.


p.10

Criminal: Wha...

Criminal: !!

Shikoku: That’s as far as ya go.


p.11
Shikoku: Nice support, Tora.
Tora: Thank you.
However...

Shikoku: ——Yeah.

Shikoku: This was bogus as well.

Shikoku: Two Katana went in for the ATM robbery and are arrested.
The three accomplices that came after took the ATM and scattered, right?
Shikoku: They’re using Katana quite a lot just to rob one of those...
Out of the three that split up, the ones that we, the Sixth Squad, and the Fourth Squad captured were dummies... I guess we have to leave it to the Fifth Squad.


p.12
Transmission: ——That’s how it is, good luck~
Kaori: The last one we got was the right one. What’s up with that~

Kaori: And on top of that, isn’t it~ kinda big~
Kaori: You know~ if I fight things like thi~s
My beloved Katana’ll get dirty.
Gonta: My lady

Gonta: It’s just a useless dude who’s only got size on his side.
Gonta: If it’s you and me, we should be able to make it a shutout without suffering a scratch.
I want to finish this quickly and go to the public bath.


p.13
Kaori: You’re revealing your real intentions.
Kaori: Do you get impatient when you get old?

Kaori: Well, who cares.

Kaori: That’s how it is, so,
Kaori: Hurry up and become rust on Kotetsu.*
*[Nagasone Kotetsu (c. 1597-1678) was a famous Japanese swordmaker of the early Edo period... “Kotetsu” is used as a name for swords in various anime, manga, and video game series –from Wikipedia]

Togs: ——Tenka Goken


p.13
Togs: They’re especially renowned, considered to be jewels of masterpieces even within the numerous inscribed Katana...
Togs: This really is all sorts of bad...

Girl: !
This is
Girl: What you were talking about...

Togs: ——Yeah, Katana with combined hihiirogane.

Tsuki: That’s right.
Tsuki: All of the Tenka Goken have special armaments.

Tsuki: There’s plenty of room for the possibility of taking the pilot’s life.
Tsuki: You could call them demonic or cursed swords.


p.14
Tsuki: At the time they were expected to be put to use despite that.
Tsuki: After that one automaton incident,
The country was in want of power to combat threats.

Togs: !
......But they were sent to storage in the end, right?

Tsuki: They were supposed to.
Tsuki: It’s fact that they were moving this time.

Girl: Um......
So,
Girl: Assuming there were Kenshi who could fully control the Tenka Goken...
What are the requirements for that?


p.15
Tsuki: ...They’re probably not human.
Tsuki: If they were to use the Tenka Goken as weapons, what you must have is a strong soul that won’t be lost even if it’s torn apart.
A combative spirit that surpasses human knowledge.

Tsuki: And according to my intuition,
Tsuki: When they appear before us,

Tsuki: They’ll likely be our enemies.


p.16
Tsuki: They’re a troublesome opponent.
Tsuki: But we’ll defeat them.

Togs: ——Yes!!

Gogyou: ——Well,
What you guy have deduced is most likely correct.
Gogyou: We’re the Goken.


p.17
Sis: There’s a lot of things
We’d like to ask you about.

Gogyou: Don’t be so on guard... That hurts my feelings.

Gogyou: Ooh, you guys’re AKCD, after all... police questioning?

Gogyou: A strong Katana
And a strong Kenshi.
Gogyou: Neglect one, and it’s a waste of a treasure—
There must be more than a few who think that.

Gogyou: And to make the most of the greatest Katana,
It has to be the strongest Kenshi.
Gogyou: —Isn’t that right?


p.18
Sis: —You’ve
Changed.
Sis: Were you that much of a talker?

Gogyou: That goes for the both of us.
Gogyou: —However,
Unlike you guys, we still require medication.

Sis: —So,
You didn’t come to tell us what we’ve reached by conjecture, did you?

Gogyou: Oh right.

Gogyou: Seri,
Suzuna.


p.19
Gogyou: —Why don’t you come to our side?

Sis: !
Gogyou: Such a boring place doesn’t suit you, you know?
Suzuna and Suzushiro are waiting too, Nazuna.

Gogyou: We’re monsters through and through.
Gogyou: We’re both monsters, and family.
So, how about it?


p.20
Sis: I’ll decline.

Gogyou: .........

Gogyou: Huh? ...Why
Sis: Out of the question,
Impossible.
Sis: What do you want to do? What will you be doing?
I don’t even want to get close to you guys now.

Gogyou: ...How about you, Nazuna?

Shinobu: I
Am not Nazuna anymore. I’m AKCD Second Squad Squad Leader Hiyama Shinobu.
Shinobu: I will also decline.


p.21
Gogyou: —I don’t know what to say.

Sis: I don’t know for what goal you guys are acting on,
Sis: But what you’re doing is getting in the way of our work.
Could you quietly return the Tenka Goken?

Shinobu: Concerning how the Artisans will be dealt with,
Shinobu: I can put in a good world to Hiyama Kimiko to get something done—
Gogyou: Who cares about that?

Gogyou: What goal
Do we have?
Gogyou: Have you
Gotten so gutless that you can’t even understand that?


p.22
Sis: !!

Gogyou: What the heck...?
Gogyou: Are you joking...?
Hey, stop joking around...

??: Stop right there, Gogyou.

Transmission: They are different from us now.
Remember what you must do calmly.


p.23
Gogyou: .........
Gogyou: Yeah, what was I thinking.

Gogyou: Seri,
Nazuna,
Gogyou: You won’t come with us no matter what?

Sis: —That’s our intention.

Gogyou: Then
Gogyou: Brawl
With us.

Sis: ...What?


p.24
Kaori: —He~y
We had a dud here too~
Kaori: Gon-chan, what’s up with this?
Gonta: ...Hrrm

Transmission: This is Shimada from investigation.
Kaori: !
Transmission: We’ve discovered the ATM thought to have been stolen.
Kaori: Oh, huh, whe~re?

Shimada: ...Strangely,
It seems to have been left on the rooftop of a multi-tenant building near the scene.
Shimada: Right in the center so it stands out, even...
We can surmise its purpose.


p.25
Minamoto: ...What do you think, Shikoku?

Shikoku: .........

Gogyou: —Right now,
The AKCD has three teams dispatched.
Gogyou: ...Probably.

Gogyou: —Right now,
Those three teams are all being hampered.
Gogyou: This is also
Probably.


p.26
Gogyou: What a shame.
Gogyou: Those guys are all
Bait.


p.27-28
[kind of double page]


p.29
Shikoku: ...Wha

Shikoku: This guy...

Minamoto/Kaori: Tenka...
Goken...!!


p.30
Gogyou: We are the Artisans,

Gogyou: Combat-crazed and can’t help but seek battle.

Gogyou: That’s why
Gogyou: We decided to duke it out with you guys, the AKCD.

Sis: —I see.
Sis: It’s true that “for what goal” was a stupid question.


p.31
Gogyou: .........
The other teams should have gotten their love letters sent to them by now.
Gogyou: —Seri
Let’s settle the match from way back when.

Gogyou: We’ll have you follow us all we want
Gogyou: For this brawl!

12 wins, 12 losses.
Next time I’ll really surpass you.
...Just try it.

p.32
-Hitogatana-


p.33
Yachiyo Seri, belongs to the Anti Katana Crime Division Eighth Squad
(Personality)
A test subject of the Artisan project that tried to create high combat aptitude not by strengthening the Katana, but by building up a more skilled Kenshi. She is a successful case who was able to maintain her own self in the Artisans’ training curriculum. She doesn’t sweat the details and has a friendly personality, and she often becomes a mental support for Togusa and Hahagiri, but she also shows a cute side, such as rejecting tomatoes, which she dislikes, from the bottom of her heart, or becomes flustered when she’s embarrassed by something. She promotes alcohol a lot, but rather than the alcohol itself, she seems to prefer a kind of place in which everyone is drinking with each other.

Katana / Tsurumaru
Yachiyo’s beloved Katana which has the appearance of a tall, long-haired man. It’s arms that can stretch at will are its main weapons. The right arm can emit electric shocks, and also has a secret trump card of using the arm as a conductor to fire a railgun. That arm can be controlled even in the event that it is cut off from the main body, but being able to draw out Tsurumaru’s abilities and control it freely like this is only due to Yachiyo’s high proficiency as a Kenshi. The katana that is the basis for it is said to be the greatest masterpiece of Kuniei, a swordsmith from the Heian period.