Before the Shinsengumi, there were DEMONS! Let's Play Toki no Kizuna

My favorite of the Grandfathers~ 8D and I will always find that scene hilarious... but Chitose deserve it.

Sounds like a vicious cycle to me; it seems like going all Hidden Elf Village was probably to the demons' detriment in the long run. People fear the unknown, and all, and without any personal experience with any demons to make comparisons with, all humans have is vague, probably exaggerated stories about how terrible and scary demons are.

"That's rather deliciously foreboding isn't it?"

While I was reading this, my mother's tv drama played ominous and dramatic music.

Yukina adds that because she's stayed with Silver Wolf since she was a child, somehow there are times when she feels she can understand him as if he's speaking words. Kotourajii agrees with her and compliments Yukina on her honest nature. YEAH CHITOSE YOU NEED TO BE MORE OPEN-MINDED. I bet all the animals hate you.







On the one hand, I think Yukina's been insulted a bit, but on the other hand it's kind of nice that Chitose's calling us by name already.

But before she can get an answer out of Chitose, Kotouraji asks her about the state of the barrier. Seeing him with such a serious expression all of a sudden, Yukina straightens her spine. She replies that it doesn't look any different from usual, but somehow from the human world she felt a sense of turbulence/unrest. She adds that Silver Wolf felt the same. Kotouraji is like "as I thought" and Yukina asks him what he means by that. Kotouraji says he doesn't have any evidence/solid reason for it, but he's heard rumors that there have been soldiers gathering at Osaka. Yukina is all "Soldiers at Osaka? What on earth—" but she's cut off.

Yukina refers to this old man "with a rigid facial expression" as "Tsukijii". She then monologues that his full title is "Tsukishimajii" and he is another one of the jyukkishuu/three elders. He, Kotourajii, and one other person raised her. Kotourajii taught her how to train Silver Wolf and Tsukishimajii taught her martial arts and swordsmanship. The third elder, whom she refers to as Shiojii (or Shiomijii), taught her about medicinal herbs and tools, as well as other knowledge needed to protect and take care of Yase-hime.





It's official, Chitose will always be the butt of jokes. After spouting some harsh words to Chitose, Tsukishimajii looks to Kazuya.









Kazuya is once again being very polite and deferent.

Yukina notes that the words exchanged between Tsukishimajii and Kazuya sound serious, but also friendly. However, the fact that they're talking about their swordsmanship means… Yukina asks if the two of them are acquainted with each other. (well, obviously they are??) Kazuya says that Tsukishima's village is close to his and Tsukishima instructed him in swordsmanship many times. Tsukishima says that Kazuya is very skilled with the sword and among demons, he'd easily be first or second best.

Yukina thinks that Tsukishimajii's not really the type to flatter others, so if he's saying this, it must be true. Yukina agrees with this assessment, remembering their encounter not too long ago when Kazuya pointed his sword at her.





Chitose, I can only see this ending very badly for you. GIVE UP NOW WHILE YOU AREN'T TOO FAR BEHIND.

Kazuya then asks about what Tsukishimajii said earlier—that thing he said not to worry about. Tsukishimajii says that it is what it is. They shouldn't interfere unnecessarily with the outside world of humans. Chitose, however, also speaks up and says that bothered him a bit. After all, Yukina is also a member of the jyukkishuu. He wonders if it's really good for her to stay so naive/ignorant and, alone among the others, confined to this village. Tsukishimajii replies that it's one of the laws of demons to not relate with humans. It's enough for her to learn about them through books. Then, suspiciously, Tsukishimajii asks if Kazuya and Chitose's questioning means that they have acquired knowledge about humans by becoming involved with them?



The dictionary entry for the demons' laws just rephrases stuff said before—that these laws were made to separate demons from humans due to their differences.

Yukina notes that after Chitose says that, he sinks into silence and averts his gaze, rather obviously looking away.



Kotourajii answers that they have, though the head of the Shikoku clan hasn't arrived yet. Shikoku is the smallest and least populous of the four main islands of Japan, located south of Honshuu and east of the island of Kyushu.









However, Tsukishimajii grabs Chitose by the collar and drags him towards the octagonal hall. Seeing this, Yukina wonders what could possibly be so bad about this Kazutake. She wonders if something happened between Chitose and Kazutake in the past. Then, all together, the five of them head into the building.

AREN'T YOU REALLY EXCITED TO MEET KAZUTAKE NOW? :D

:D yes I am~

Chitose is kind of a butthead, huh?

I am excited to meet Kazutake and Shin, but I especially want to see what Yase-hime is like. This 'dream seeing' thing has me curious.

I am curious about Kazutake and Shin but Kazuya has already won my heart with his excessive politeness and willingness to point out to Chitose when he's been owned.

Also curious about Yase-hime, especially given what we know about Sen in Hakuoki.

One of those people, an old man with a cane, sees Yukina and the ends of his eyebrows raise in delight at the sight of her.





Yukina bows before him, reuniting with this elder after a long time. Shiomi, another member of the jyukkishuu, is just under Yase-hime in terms of rank and power. Yukina has known him and the other two elders since childhood. Though the elders are known for their calm, sensible judgment in dealing with others, Yukina thinks that she is close to them as if they were her own grandfathers.



Suzuka Gozen is a famous female demon and as they said before, considered to be the ancestor of the Yase house.

Tsukishimajii snaps that when Suzuka Gozen was alive, Shiomijii didn't exist. Kotourajii, however, says that Shiomi has good insight and is the most senior of the elders, at any rate. Shiomijii says that if you're thinking about age and elders, Kotoura and Tsukishima are just as deserving of respect as he is. Tsukishima disagrees and Kotoura adds that compared to Shiomi, he's like a baby chick.





Uh oh, Chitose, you're in for it now!!



8)

Chitose, timidly frowning, turns his head and behind him is—



Yukina describes him as probably being in his later 20's. She can tell from his physique that he's carefully trained and he gives off the impression of tempered steel. His eyes are glinting with a powerful determination. He looks to be a pretty strong warrior.

ADMIRING HIS ABS AND PECS, HUH? I WOULD, TOO. 8)



Kazuya is considerably less awed by Kazutake's abs and pecs. Pity. :'c







Hiding himself behind Kazuya, Chitose had tried to take advantage of the situation to escape. There's actually a really nice animation here of Chitose trying to get away (his sprite actually inches across the screen sneakily), but I couldn't really cap it well, so this is the best I could do. XD;

OhoHO~ You are both in for it! >8D







You guys are a bunch of magical demons. This really should not be that big of a deal.



KAZUYA LOL.



The voice acting in this scene is so great, haha.





You can hear two loud smacking sounds and then Chitose and Kazuya both cry out in pain. _(:3」∠)_ Yukina says that Kazutake made a fist and then smacked both of them in the head once.





I think Kazuya might not be as mature as we all think he is.

Kazutake then says that even if Chitose goaded him into going along with it, Kazuya needs to take some responsibility for following. He asks if they don't feel ashamed for double-teaming a woman like that. Chitose argues that even if she's a woman, Yukina is also the head of a clan. Shiomijii interjects, saying that he can't praise someone for turning their blade on a fellow demon without a good reason to do so.





Poor Chitose.................... (not really)

After casting a sideways glance at Chitose, who is grinding his teeth in a vexed, mortified fashion, Kazutake looks back at Yukina quietly.





Yukina's confused since he introduced himself as a "wanderer". She takes the word "wanderer" at face value and wonders if that might be his surname or the name of his village. (Yukina, no) She notes that it really does seem that everyone knows her surname of Suzumori. Yukina introduces herself and asks that Kazutake please take care of her from now on. (super polite) She figures there's no sense in hiding her surname, so she exchanges greetings honestly without worrying. Apparently Kazutake was pleased with her response, because his face loosened up/got a lot less tense.



AAAAND THEN HERE IS THE FIRST CHOICE. I will run through both choices next, one per post, and then whoever's winning the poll during my next update (probably won't be for several hours, at least, after the second choice post) will be the route I do.

All of my votes for Kazuya, he's secretly childish and I find it extremely cute :3

But I bet everybody has great routes in this game, I should hurry and learn to read Japanese a little better so I can play >.< The protagonist is voiced in this game too, right? If she is, there's a faaaaint possibility that I would be able to put up with using a translator and try to wade through the game myself. I can understand spoken dialogue far better than I can read.

Unfortunately she is not voiced. :C I find that, in general, heroines are only voiced in R-18 otome games...

Of course it's only the R-18 ones...

I wish she was voiced :< but only if she was given a really cute but not overly squeaky voice.. Yukina bb~

Kazutake should have all the votes >:| raa... (I can't help it.. he is my second favorite...)

Okay, I changed my mind... You barely get to see Shin in these two choice scenes, so I'll keep going until our next choice. XD; It's really unfair to choose when we've seen the most of Chitose and Kazuya still... Even if I'm pretty sure Kazuya will still win at this point.

CHOICE ONE: "I have made the same offense."





Kazutake is remarkably taken aback by her response. I would be, too!





YOU GO, YUKINA. Sort of. Well, I do think it's admirable that she'd do this even though those two attacked her. Kazutake sighs, sounding troubled.











Okay, that is awesome. I'm glad that Yukina's not only standing up for herself, but for womanhood. She's trained for years to be a warrior and the leader of her clan. Insinuating that she can't take a little hit on the head because of her gender is just rude.

Kazutake seems troubled while thinking of how best to respond, but finally says that he already knows that she was forced into fighting against Kazuya and Chitose. There's thus a different level of responsibility because she was forced to defend herself whereas they were the ones who attacked her and thought up the whole thing. Yukina tries to argue. Kazutake says that he knows she's trying to be her best for her clan and she's overreaching herself in order to be a splendid chief. However, she shouldn't confuse that with stubbornness. Otherwise this troublesome affair will simply be dragged on for longer.

Yukina still doesn't like his logic, but decides to drop it since she also agrees that it wouldn't be good to cause trouble by dragging this thing on and on. After answering that she understands—



Yukina says that this man was sitting on the side observing silently until now, but suddenly burst with laughter.





Originally this was all on the same screen but the text wouldn't fit, so I split it in half. Not my fault Shin talks all fancy-like. :C





His eyes narrow in a sneering fashion. Shin then looks towards Yukina and his face changes to a curious one as if she is of great interest to him.

HOLD THAT THOUGHT we will move on after we do the alternate version of this scene. I will note that this is the choice that both Shin and Chitose prefer. The second one is what you pick if you want to get on Kazutake or Kazuya's routes.

CHOICE TWO: "There's no need for an apology……"



Kazutake smiles while shrugging his shoulders.



After saying so, Kazutake turns towards Kazuya and Chitose again. He says that he'll pardon them because of what Yukina has said. But they should remember that by suddenly turning their swords on a woman at their first meeting, they've behaved in a way disgraceful as men and as clan heads.





Chitose's sticking out his cheeks in a pout as he says this before looking away—and immediately Kazutake hits him again. CHITOSE LMAO YOU NEVER LEARN.









Oh dear. XD

Chitose continues resisting, but it seems Kazutake is quite serious. Yukina cries out for them to wait, as demons shouldn't fight amongst themselves. Though she's in a hurry to prevent Kazutake from dragging Chitose out of the octagonal hall, Kazutake looks back at her with a strange expression.

"No, this isn't a fight, I'm just disciplining a brat who's been bad." Err I meant to screencap Kazutake saying that line, but forgot. Anyway, Yukina argues that since Chitose is a fellow member of the jyukkishuu, it'd be better for them to talk things out. She says that there should not be hatred among family members. They should be able to resolve their issues by talking them out.

Kazutake looks embarrassed and scratches his head. He starts to say something, but then is interrupted—





This man, sitting in the corner of the hall, lets out an incredulous-sounding sigh.



Kazutake asks with a bitter smile.

As a reminder, this is the Kazutake and Kazuya-preferred choice. Aaaaand onwards!

Huh. Chitose getting hit for the second time made me smile in delight... Could it be that I'm actually evil?

I smiled too, it's kind of endearing in a way XD

I like the first option much more. Insofar, I like everybody but Chitose. The brat. No doubt he's actually very responsible but let me dislike for now.

For some reason, they think it necessary for you to hear the girls' moans? Bleck, do not want.

Hmm...I'm going to stick by my choice of Kazutake. I actually like both outcomes of this choice, and I think I'm going to like Yukina no matter who we end up pursuing. *crosses fingers*

Yukina asks, puzzled. The person called "Shin" laughs with a sneer on his face and counterattacks.



Well excuuuuuuuuse me, princess. Should note that Shin uses 己 to refer to you, which is… A very not nice way of saying "you". Other than that, he's speaking in very uhh elevated language.

BUT DAMN. REALLY, LOOK HOW PRETTY HE IS.





Shin's words always seem to want to overflow out of the textbox. >_> But if I shorten things too much, I feel like I lose his tone and unique way of speaking. He really talks like this all the time.

Yukina notes that despite how soft his voice sounds, he's saying some rather harsh words. She hesitates only for a moment.



She pauses, remembering the conversation she had about her surname with Chitose and Kazuya. It seems they already knew her surname, but it's possible that Shin doesn't know it. She's not sure how to introduce herself in the most proper manner. Finally, she tells Shin that she is the person entrusted with protecting Yase-hime and introduces herself simply as "Yukina".



Dammit. Well, I guess I should have seen that coming.



If everyone in your family is as pretty as you, I will open my heart to you guys anytime. Just sayin'.





*sigh* Okay, no matter what I did, I could not get this to fit into one box. Shin dialogue: 2, Chamomile: 0.



While we're on the subject of Shin and failure, Yukina's not doing so well, either.

Yukina realizes she's made a huge blunder. He had known her surname after all. She thinks that her careless words have affected the relations of everyone in her family. She deeply apologizes and says that it wasn't a matter of not having trust in Shin/his family, but only that she was trying to honor the ancient manners. (that she only just found out about, lol) She apologizes for not realizing that her own thoughtless words could affect the fate of her clan.

However, Shin continues just smiling. Yukina notes that his smile is 意味深, or that it seems to have a hidden meaning behind it.





Awww man. He knows everything. D:< Yukina is at a loss as it seems Shin saw/heard everything somehow. She asks him why he knows about that.

Darn you and your stupid sexy face.

Yukina apologizes, then she monologues for a while wondering how on earth Shin knew that she and the others had talked about. It seems he had to have been there. However, if he had actually been there, there's no way he could have gotten here to the hall before them since they took the shortest path.



The word he uses for fever here is 知恵熱, which is quite literally a "thinking fever". Or you could say it's like your brain overheating? Surely you guys have seen this sort of thing if you've watched anime or whatnot.







The word he uses for young can also mean "new".





Aww, don't make him do that! It's so entertaining to be mocked constantly!



Yukina, don't encourage him. :C She adds that she'd like to somehow think of a response until everyone else gets here.



AND BOTH OF THEM ARE LIKE "WAT". I took a cap this time because their faces are rather priceless.





She's bewildered because she never thought that he'd laugh in response to what she said. COME ON LMAO OF COURSE HE'S GOING TO LAUGH. He thinks you're a cute, naive little girl.





There is something a little ominous/sad about the way he says this. :/ I mean, these twisted haraguro types always have the most tragic backstories. >_>

While Yukina is at a loss for words, Shin opens his mouth to speak again.

When I saw Shin, my mind spazzed and created this:



+


=

It's funny because when I first saw promos for the game, I immediately thought of Shin as a "pink-haired Sesshoumaru". XD

Your image is broke. Try uploading it to a different host (like imgur).

And here he means "western Japan".











YEAH, I'M JUST WORSHIPPED BY LEGIONS OF MEN. NOT EVEN A BIG DEAL.



That's a pretty sad but true little statement about humanity. :/

After saying this, Shin apparently takes a few puffs of his pipe in a listless manner. He's got one of these:



As if he wasn't classy enough already or something. Anyway, like Kazutake, Shin did not tell Yukina his surname. She concludes that they still don't trust her fully and it's evident from their behavior.







And now it's Chitose's turn to overflow the textbox. QUIT THAT, YOU GUYS. 8|

Tsukishimajii says that they taught her martial arts, how to handle a sword, how to take care of Silver Wolf, and how to read and write. However, it seems things like world knowledge and etiquette kind of fell through the cracks. He adds that it's not as if they could very well teach her how girls are supposed to behave. Chitose agrees, saying that from the moment he met her he hasn't seen a shred of femininity in her at all.

WELL THANKS?? GEEZ. By all means, keep talking about Yukina as if she's not sitting right here listening to you. :| Yukina basically thinks the same way. She feels mortified that they'd discuss this right in front of her. However, she's the youngest/least experienced of the jyukkishuu, so she has to choose her words carefully in order to keep things peaceful.







Overflowing the textbox part 2.

YEAH I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL THAT IS. MAYBE THAT'S AN INSIDE JOKE IN KYUSHU?? Here's literally what he said: 「もうそれはさっきから、耳がタコになって踊りながら海に帰っちまうぐらい聞いたって！」 If someone has a better translation for that, by all means let me know slkdfjlaigjlJGFLKSjdfklsj.

Suddenly Shin speaks up, having just remembered something.

After an "As I thought, you don't know", Shin starts to explain. Yukina listens quietly—







I give up, everybody in this game is hellbent on overflowing the textbox. :|





...twice in a row, even. But man, Kazutake's clan sounds like a lot of fun.



Uh yeah, he just said so. Anyway, Kazutake just smiles and nods. Yukina thinks that before now, she always assumed that the demon clans lived quietly in secluded locations.







...does Kazutake really count as a "youth"? Isn't he nearing 30? Well, I suppose compared to them, he's young. XD Then again, I guess saying that his personality is rare among today's youth isn't the same as saying he himself actually counts as part of today's youth?? Poor Kazutake.

Yukina notes that all three of the elders seem to have put great trust in Kazutake. The man himself, however, looks a bit embarrassed by the old men's words and is scratching his head with slumped shoulders.







WHAT.



LOL. Well, I expected as much. But still... SAME AGE??? WHAT??



Shiomijii cuts in and tells Yukina that they should be hearing Yase-hime's prophecy soon, but while they're alone, she should try to learn as much as she can from Kazutake because he's a good role model. So they want Yukina to be a manly man. Cool. Yukina says she understands and tells Kazutake to treat her well because she's still inexperienced so she looks forward to learning more from him.







Our heroine, she is a woman of many words.





Shiomijii explains that the princess should explain things once everyone has gathered. He then says that it seems Yase-hime would like to speak to Yukina about something first and asks that she go to the princess' room. Yukina says she understands and then decides to immediately head to Yase-hime's room.

Now I have to go back and vote for everybody except Chitose.

Huh, Kazutake seems like a pretty decent guy. And here I was thinking that his peekaboo vest/shirt/thing signified that he was the 'player' of the group. How shameful! I should know by now not to judge a man by the amount of cleavage he exposes to the world.

Seeing your comment reminds me that there really isn't a "player" character... I guess because female demons are rare enough that it's kind of hard for the guys to play around? (and with all of them being purebloods and forbidden to hang out with humans and all...) Well, despite their ways, all four of the guys are very devoted to being the leaders of their respective clans, so I doubt they have the time for that sort of thing. Maybe.

I've started translating the next scene with Yase-hime, but I will probably go back and finish off Tooya's route in Koezaru (not much longer now) before I continue on with this LP. WHAT IS MULTI-TASKING?

Also because the scene after Yase-hime's is a huge Sengoku Jidai history lesson and I need to brush up on my history and look up a whoooole lot of kanji. _(:3」∠)_

By the way, Yase-hime's first name is "Kazuha" so if I get Kazuha, Kazuya, and Kazutake mixed up at one point (or three or a hundred), do forgive me. _(:3」∠)_

I love your LP. I feel like I'm learning lots of things in addition to the lols and pretty pretty men. :D

Aww, thank you. ;_; Wait until we get to the history and battles... Then you'll wish I didn't strive to be so educational, maybe. XD;;

I have young cousins over at my house so I actually might continue with this LP over the weekend, after all... Koezaru's at a, umm, delicate place at the moment and I can't LP that with kids present.

...is it too late to vote for Kazutake? *hopes it isn't*

I'm leaving voting open until we get to the next choice so that everyone has a chance to get to know all the bachelors properly rather than just voting based on gut instinct/looks/simple descriptions. :3 So yeah, go ahead and vote~ Right now Kazutake and Kazuya are tied.

Yukina says she understands and pushes open the sliding door. As soon as she steps into the room, she's hit with the elegant smell of incense rising from the incense burner. It might be from that or from the fact that this is where Yase-hime uses her powers of dream-seeing, but Yukina always becomes particularly nervous when she enters this room.







Yukina says that she heard from the elders that soldiers have amassed at Osaka and asks Yase-hime if she thinks that the two things are related.

I should note here that during this time period, Osaka was the capital of Japan where the shogun resided--even if by this point he didn't have much power and the daimyos of the various provinces were kind of running the show... More on that later.

Anyway, after hearing this from Yukina, Yase-hime is quiet and has a thoughtful look for several moments before deciding that she'll wait a night for them to show up. If the chief comes tomorrow she can just speak again. Yukina says she understands.

Here Yukina stops to monologue-explain that Yase-hime's full name is Yase Kazuha. In the current era, she is the central figure of the jyukkishuu. The Suzumori clan has been honored with the task of guarding each Yase-hime from generation to generation. For some reason there's a dictionary entry for "Yase Kazuha" that quite literally says "The Yase clan's current Yase-hime. Her name is Kazuha." GREAT, THANKS.



She adds that it seems the other clan heads are restless and curious about Yase-hime's upcoming announcement/prophecy/whatever.

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!

...okay, not really. Actually, Yase-hime's next words don't answer Yukina's question at all.



Yukina asks if there's something wrong with how she's dressed. I THINK SHE LOOKS FINE, PRINCESS, LEAVE HER ALONE. :C However, Yase-hime says it's strange because she looks like a boy this way. Since she's currently a girl who's of age, she should dress more beautifully. …okay but Yukina's a ninja?? How do you expect her to run around fighting people in a kimono? I think she looks pretty the way she is, come on. :C (and even if she didn't—that's her choice. let her wear what she wants!)



…okay, Chitose's right, this excuse is getting a bit old. I'm starting to wish my ears were octopi, too.



Of course, Yukina thinks, she can't go against the princess. She obediently sits down next to Kazuha after uttering a weak "Yes……"



There's a quite smooth zooming and panning animation here, but that's a pain to screencap, so here's the CG. They have quite a long conversation on top of this CG and there's no expression changes or anything, so I'll just paste my translation below. (like I do for Koezaru, haha, I miss this XD)

Kazuha: This hairpin is one I used when I was about your age. I'm giving it to you.

Yase-hime pins it in Yukina's hair while sounding both amused and fond.

Yukina: There's no need. Such precious things are more than I deserve.
Kazuha: Isn't it fine? It's something I no longer use. Since that's the case, it's better if you keep it and use it.
Yukina: But I'm the head of my clan……

So leaders can't wear hairpins?? Come on. D: Kazuha tells Yukina to hold still so she can pin it properly and Yukina shakily agrees. The princess then admonishes her softly while combing through Yukina's hair.

Kazuha: Being a girl and being a clan head aren't things that need conflict.
Kazuha: You might even become the bride of one of the clan heads who have gathered here today.

Kazuha's already read the entire game script, you see. She knows.

Yukina: What are you saying? Things like becoming a bride…… Before that, I have the Suzumori clan to worry about……
Kazuha: Aren't you already at the age where you should be considering these things? Did the elders not say anything to you about this?
Yukina: That is, erm……
Kazuha: As I thought, they did talk to you about it, didn't they?
Yukina: ……but as a clan head, I'm still inexperienced. Right now I cannot think of such things.
Kazuha: Because you're an inexperienced leader, you can't fall in love or think about marriage—who decided that?
Kazuha: Rather, it's because you're inexperienced that you should find a male partner so that the two of you can grow alongside each other.
Yukina: Is that so……
Kazuha: It is so.

The two fall into a companionable silence as the princess continues combing Yukina's hair and putting make-up on her. Since Yukina is supposed to serve the princess, she feels that this situation is a bit lopsided, but she has to admit that it's pleasant. She always feels comfortable in Yase-hime's presence and hopes that Yase-hime feels the same way about her. Yase-hime finally finishes and stands up quietly.





Yukina still feels a bit uncomfortable about the princess bestowing such a precious hairpin upon her, but decides that since Yase-hime looks so happy, she should just accept it. As she is thinking so, Yase-hime frowns a little.





Is it just me or does this conversation suddenly sound kind of… Like Kazuha has a crush on Yukina? :c She sounds so sad. Even Yukina is worried and is like "Princess……?" Somehow Yukina has an ominous feeling. She thinks about how all of the jyukkishuu have been gathered for some important purpose and wonders what the princess needs to convey to everyone. She hopes this foreboding feeling is only her imagination, but…



She calls out, overcome by her anxious feelings, but just then they're interrupted by Kotourajii from outside the door asking if Yukina's still in there. Yukina says yes and Kotourajii apologizes and says they need her help preparing dinner. Yukina is a bit hesitant and Kotourajii asks if he's interrupted an important conversation. Yukina looks to the princess, but Yase-hime only smiles.



Yukina tries to protest, but Yase-hime says that she'll explain everything tonight, so Yukina should run along for now. Since Yase-hime has said that, Yukina has no more reason to stay. So she says she understands, bids the princess goodbye for now, and leaves the room.

Chitose, who's finished eating dinner, is taking a breather and holding onto his stomach with a satisfied look on his face. Does he not get to eat much in his village? 0_o



…oh. Darn, stop tsukkomi'ing for me!





…okay, now I feel bad for joking about it. There is actually historical basis for this, but I'll get to that in a bit.

After finishing his meal, Kazuya places his chopsticks on top of his serving tray and murmurs quietly.



Chitose also wonders if something happened—maybe they got lost, he asks?









Okay at this point everyone has made fun of Chitose at one point or another, haha... Poor dude. And nobody's voting for him, either. XD;;









Chitose really makes it too easy...



Kazutake has to step in again. |D;; I wonder how he feels, having to constantly break up their little squabbles like this.





YEAH, SURE. By the way, the word Shin uses here, 憂, can mean to grieve, lament, be anxious, and/or be distressed. XD You get the idea.

Shiomijii then speaks up and returns the subject to the Shikoku demon. He wonders if, after all, they got caught up in humans' trouble. Kazuya says that whether the Shikoku demon's gotten involved in it or not, there's currently a war going on in the human world.





As soon as Shin said that, the atmosphere of the whole place became very tense. Yukina asks if Shin means that in the future, a big fight/battle/conflict will ensue.

The word 争乱 that he uses here can also mean a riot. Yukina asks if that's true. She asks what on earth kind of dispute/battle is going on. Shin draws closer to her. Then, with a face so serious that it's scary, he gently says the following:





_(:3」∠)_

And then there is quite a long monologue here where Yukina needs a while to process his words, then is like HUH? MY HEART? How do people compete over that? But surely Shin-san, who has come here with the honor of his clan upon his shoulders wouldn't joke about this sort of thing. But she has no idea how to respond. But she doesn't want to be rude, so she decides she needs to seriously consider. AND SO ON AND SO FORTH.

You poor, poor girl.

She finally asks what this has to do with the matter of the humans. Yukina asks fearfully and Shin continues looking incredibly serious. Man, he is a master troll. …or rather, Yukina is just so extremely gullible.







Yukina asks why everyone has to fight like this. Shin replies that everyone has to fight to the death to figure out who's best for her. Yukina says NO YOU CAN'T DO THIS because the place where demons are different from humans is that demons don't fight amongst themselves. In the first place, she adds, there's no need for anyone to compete over here in such a violent—

She's interrupted by Chitose, who bursts out laughing.







It takes her a moment to understand what Chitose's saying.







Yukina, you are so serious that it hurts. XD; You really ought to work on that. You're going to be misled by some evil men!!

Yukina monologues about how she can't believe someone so "treacherous" could be a part of the jyukkishuu. However, Shin is part of the jyukkishuu like Kazutake, so she wonders if one of them could be lying? Ultimately Yukina decides she's got other things to worry about right now.

She turns to Tsukishimajii and asks about the "big conflict" that will soon occur. She asks if that part, at least, is not a joke. This makes sense. Earlier, she said that the room was tense after what Shin said, so for her to question that is pretty smart. I mean, it's not like the entire room could be in on Shin's joke?



He says this really harshly and it kind of pisses me off?? UH IF ALL OF JAPAN IS ABOUT TO BE EMBROILED IN WAR, I WOULD THINK SHE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT IT. Sadly, unlike me, Yukina understands that since taking care of Yase-hime is her job, indeed she doesn't necessarily need to know about the outside human world.





THANK YOU. So far Shin is the only one who hasn't been all "HURR HURR BECAUSE YOU'RE A WOMAN BLAH BLAH BLAH" and it's quite refreshing. Tsukishimajii quietly frowns while Kotourajii and Shiomijii exchange glances while smiling.



Shiomijii agrees and turns his eye towards Shin.





Yukina nods. Then, in a quiet tone, Shin asks her:



AND THEN THERE IS A CHOICE HERE. I will stop here and let people continue to vote on the character route until tomorrow (there's currently a tie so I can't even go on right now anyway) and in the meantime I'll explain some history a bit in the next post now that I know where we are.

Uwaaah, Kazuha is super pretty. In fact, all of the artwork in this game is super pretty ~OvO~

I'm gonna throw in a vote for Chitose which really makes absolutely no difference at this point because I think the potential for funny dialogue is high 8D

EDIT: Ahahaha, seems like I caught you mid update. Just gonna add that Shin is very pretty-- /slaps self. It's about time someone treated Yukina like the head of her clan instead of a lady who needs to be constantly protected all the time. She can't do her job if no one tells her the information she needs to know :/

Toyotomi Hideyoshi died in 1598, so two years after that would be 1600. Okay, so this game is currently in January of 1600. The game's dictionary says that he was referred to as His Highness Taikou. He unified Japan and took so many imperial court titles that he basically ruled Japan. You can read up on Hideyoshi here.

Since he's already dead at this point, I won't talk about the man himself too too much, as what matters now is the aftermath of his death… What you need to know about Hideyoshi is that he succeeded Oda Nobunaga and is known as one of Japan's great unifiers. However, Hideyoshi was never able to become Shogun and truly be the ruler of Japan because of his lineage—he was the son of a peasant foot soldier and had 0 claim to the throne or to the shogunate as a result.

As a little note, Tokugawa Ieyasu—who was the leading force against the Toyotomi during the Sekigahara campaign/Battle of Sekigahara—claimed descent from the Minamoto clan by way of the Nitta family, so that's how he was able to become Shogun later. "In fact, little at all is known of the Matsudaira/Tokugawa prior to the 15th Century, and Ieyasu's claims seem a tad unsupportable. Some indication of the genealogical spin-doctoring Ieyasu freely engaged in can be gleaned from the fact that he also had an alternate family tree drawn up that claimed descent from the noble Fujiwara." Oh, politics.



Back to what Chitose was talking about... What I know about Kyushu during this time period (there's really not a lot of info on it) is that because of its location (see map above), Hideyoshi used it as kind of a launch pad for his Korean invasion campaign. This campaign went on from 1592-1598, so it ended not long before where the game is now. In September of 1598, when his health started to fail, Hideyoshi ordered the retreat of all troops from Korea, but to preserve morale and hide his death, his council didn't actually put forth the order until October.

This Korean campaign was one of the contributing factors that led up to the Battle of Sekigahara because of the balance of power being tipped. Many daimyo sent troops to Korea to participate in the campaign and when those soldiers died, it left their armies weakened. This made the Toyotomi position weak during the Battle of Sekigahara, so it's something important to consider.

Back to Kyushu... Because of its proximity, you can probably imagine that a lot of soldiers and resources were taken directly from Kyushu to contribute to the invasion effort. I can't seem to find any specific event in 1599/1600 that would cause the farmers to desert like Chitose said (there is this Siege of Udo, but there's no date on that other than 1600; considering the game's current date is January of 1600, I doubt this has happened yet by this point, but maybe the farmers were pulled away in preparation for it? I dunno) but I can say that Kyushu as a whole was very much influenced by Hideyoshi/the Toyotomi, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Perhaps they were still recovering from the losses/sacrifices from the Korean invasion.

I can't find anything specifically about Shikoku during this time, either, but Shikoku was also conquered by Hideyoshi in 1585 when he basically took it from Chosokabe Motochika. Soooo Shikoku is another Toyotomi-controlled domain, basically. If there's some tip in the balance of power where the Toyotomi are involved, it would make sense that Shikoku, under Toyotomi rule, would be experiencing some turmoil and the demon clan there might have trouble leaving.

Here's something important to think about...

What this means is the demons' idea of just... HIDING AWAY FROM HUMANS AND DOING WHATEVER worked okay up until this point because there had yet to be a war that encompassed the entire country. Like the humans and their domains, the demons could live with their 10+ clans spread out. They could remain uninvolved. However, once things started getting really bad during the 1580's and onwards (culminating in the Battle of Sekigahara) it became harder for them to do so. For Yase-hime and the elders to tell everyone to stay away from humans and remain uninvolved was really silly and just a sort of...being stuck in tradition instead of adapting to the present. I mean, just look at Chitose's clan—they're going hungry because of what's going on in Kyushu. They can't just ignore what's going on.

As I've kind of already alluded to, the whole plot of this game revolves around the Battle of Sekigahara—meaning that the demons do get involved. They even said so in Hakuouki—that the demons were split in two between those who supported the Toyotomi and those who supported Tokugawa Ieyasu.

I have read reviews of Toki no Kizuna that criticized the plot—they said it was stupid for the demons to involve themselves/for the members of the jyukkishuu to ignore the demon laws. The thing is, as you can probably start to understand, they really didn't have much of a choice. I'm sure we'll get to know more of the hows and whys as the game goes on, but just looking at it from a geographical and political/historical perspective, they really couldn't help but involve themselves for the sake of their clans.

I'm still waiting on one more book specifically about Sekigahara to get here so I can read up some more, but this is what I know for now... AND IT'S STILL A TL;DR WALL, HAHA, SORRY ABOUT THAT... Hopefully the game will shed some more light on all this, but of course I'll have to wait until after the vote to find out. _(:3」∠)_