It didn't take him long to find Fujieda Kaede in her office who was already tackling a fresh pile of paperwork. Ogami gently knocked on the door to get her attention. "Pardon me for the intrusion."
She looked up for a brief moment before welcoming the young man in. "Ah, Ogami-kun. Please take a seat. You have the book with you?"
"I got it, ma'am." Just as he sat down across from her, she made some space on her desk by putting away the spare scripts for 'Les Miserables'. Soon, the both of them were examining the contents of the book, which contained the history of Ginza.
"...... Ginza, together with Kinza, shalt be the village that makes the foundation of Edo's monetary economy," read Kaede. "Ginza...... through the use of silver, shalt be the land to ward off evil. For that end, shalt the Kagura dance in Noh. The Kagura-mai shalt be the duty of the Ginza Konparu clan who defend Ginza. The Konparu Nou-gakushi shalt communicate with the world beyond."
'Ginza and Kinza? What's the connection here? Konparu-ryu and Kagura-mai...'
"Evil is sealed within Ginza. That's the first we've heard of that, isn't it?" She looked up to see the look of concentration on the young man's face. "Ogami-kun, now that we've read this far, is there anything you would like to ask?"
"'Ginza and Kinza'... what does that mean?" asked Ogami.
"Kinza produced gold coins while Ginza produced silver ones. Together they produced money," explained Kaede. "Kinza no longer exists but Ginza, at least, still remains even now. Furthermore, the 'Ginza Monjo' says 'through the use of silver, it shall ward off evil'. So, conversely, Kinza may have been a place that summoned evil."
That was when a few pieces of the puzzle fell together for the captain of the Hanagumi. "Gold that summons evil... could that have been that golden steam?"
"A distinct possibility."
"I have another question. What does the Konparu-ryu have to do with the Kagura-mai?"
Kaede leaned back in her chair to give it some thought. "Let's see... it said they would seal off the evil of Ginza. They danced the Kagura-mai, which was used in Noh to appease the gods. You don't hear about it anymore these days, but during the Edo period, they would present the Kagura-mai."
This brought back a memory for Ogami. "Now that you mention it... when we all went to see the Noh play, Iris and I saw the illusion of a mysterious Noh-gakushi. It looked almost like a vengeful spirit."
"I see." She took a moment to take into account this new information. "If the both of you saw it, it may not be an illusion. It may have been trying to tell you something. We should probably do some checking up on the Konparu-ryu Noh-gakushi of Ginza." A moment of silence passed before Kaede passed on a piece of advice to the young man. "Ogami-kun, don't let your guard down. This battle isn't over yet."
"Yes, ma'am. I understand." He was about to stand up and leave when he decided to see if Kaede knew anything about what was going on around here. "Out of curiosity, did something strange happen yesterday at the end of the battle with the gold Masou Kihei?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure... but today some of the girls were acting a bit strange."
She was genuinely intrigued by the way he said that along with the embarassed look on his face. "Strange as in...?"
"Erica-kun and Sakura-kun double teaming on me for a combination of a love confession and 'Good Morning' dance." This caused one of Kaede's eyebrows to shoot up. "And then Sumire-kun invites me to a late night rehearsal where I am to be the Felix to her Fantine." And there went the other one.
"...... oh my."
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(Posted Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:45)
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