Sakyou is a charming, sharped-tongued pretty boy who claims to be a ronin, but his gentlemanly attitude goes against that. Sarcastic and good with words, he’s actually the heir to the Sagihara family, a family serving the Fushimi clan in Yamashiro Province. His family are the descendants of the Amakuni, a group of blacksmiths, who created the Five Heavenly Swords. However, due to a certain reason, he seeks outs revenge towards a certain group of Onis, hiding a dark side of him.
Hakone Checkpoint
When Kayo asks Sakyou to help, he asks her to get down the horse, but Kayo doesn’t know how but is eventually thrown off the horse. She thinks she’s about to fall, but she lands gracefully in the arms of Sakyou. ヾ(´▽｀;)ゝSakyou asks her to calm down, and he’ll do something to get them out of this situation. Suzukake manages to calm the horse down, and he wonders if the horse panicked because of the footman. The footman is VERY apologetic though, as he apologises to Kayo, and she says he’s alright. However, more shit goes down as the footman finds Kayo’s protective amulet on the ground and picks it up, getting Kayo into a big panic. Sakyou quickly whispers an apology into her ear though, and pinches her arm.
This causes Kayo to scream in pain though, and Sakyou quickly pins the blame on the footman saying that the princess is injured thanks to him, and that he’s hurt an important person. The footman panics and asks if they’d like to treat the wound in the office, but Suzukake just interjects and says that it’s his job to take care of princess as he’s the doctor. He tries to quickly excuse himself, not before Sakyou reminds him of the charm he’s holding in his hands, and the footman quickly gives him the charm and leaves before he gets into trouble.
Once the footman leaves, Sakyou sighs and returns Kayo the charm. She thanks him for saving her from her disguise getting revealed, but Sakyou says that it’s his job to do so. Suzukake literally thought she was injured though, and they assure him that she’s fine. The rest of the guards come out of the checkpoint, and they quickly head off after that. Along the way to Hakone Station, he talks to her saying that she should rely more on him, Mitsuyoshi, Hanzou or Saneaki. Tsuzuramaru & Kei are fine, but she shouldn’t rely on Enishi or Suzukake. He then says that it’s for her safety. Kayo’s shocked by this and asks if he’s worried about her, and he says that it’s his job to do so, and they end up getting embarrassed by each other. ˚✧₊⁎( ˘ω˘ )⁎⁺˳✧༚
Hakone Station
When Kayo couldn’t sleep, Sakyou first suggests relaxing by lying down closing her eyes, but it doesn’t seem to work. He then suggests taking a a walk to have a change of mood, and says that he’ll guard her so they should go to the garden to relax without Hanzou finding out. Kayo relaxes after looking at the garden, and he suggest they talk to get her tired. She then asks Sakyou where the guards rest at the stations, and she finds out that they all rest in the same big room. Sakyou says that it’s really noisy though to him, as he talks about how loud Tsuzumaru’s snores are. He also talks about how Suzukake tends to speak a lot during his sleep, and it’s troubling him. Kayo thinks he’s like a mom lol, and says that she’s glad to learn a new side of him, but he just says that no point in learning anything about him. Sakyou then says that it’s better off not knowing more about him, and quickly dodges the topic to her returning to her room, leaving Kayo wondering what was behind those words of his.
Vs Shiguragi
Kayo doesn’t want the bandits to dirty the Shiromuku, so she says that she’ll just strip herself. Shiguragi tell tells her to do it in front of them, and she’s actually terrified, when Sakyou appears, and throws a top in Shiguragi’s face before Kayo does anything. An Oni grabs her while she tries to running during the distraction, but Sakyou throws a top in his face too. ଘ(੭ˊ꒳ˋ)੭✧ Kayo continues running, until she finds the horse who’s currently tied to a tree. She’s worried about Sakyou, but she believes in him and decides to wait there.
Of course, Sakyou’s doing very well against the bandits, and when he names himself, Shiguragi actually finds his name familiar. Sakyou defeats the bandits pretty easily despite it being a 3v1, but of course, Sakyou’s not gonna let him go easily. By that I mean, cutting him up slowly to make him suffer more.
Kayo’s worried, so she quickly takes the brides dagger as a weapon, and runs back to the scene to find…Sakyou drenched in blood, stabbing Shiguragi to uh gruesome levels.－(゜Д゜;)-ン! This scares the hell out of Kayo as he’s smiling creepily and says that he’s uh really happy to see Shiguragi grimacing in pain, and if his father was wacthing him. Right. Kayo walks away feeling sick from the scene until she finds a presence behind her, which turns out to be Sakyou and he’s got blood all over him cuz he couldn’t be bothered to clean it off. (◕‿◕✿) However, he’s soon back to his normal self, and Kayo thanks him for saving her. And of course, she wonders if she was just well, seeing things cuz the well-mannered Sakyou couldn’t be a cray cray guy. Right?
After some discussion about the Juzumaru replaced as Bride’s dagger, Sakyou tells her to keep it a secret between them knowing about it as they may be a Bakufu within their ranks right now. They head back to the main group, where they’re done defeating all the Oni, but for some reason, after seeing that gruesome scene, Kayo can’t look at Sakyou properly in the eye anymore.
Date in Sunpu
After the procession, Kayo asks him for help choosing a souvenir for her dad. When they head out, Sakyou doesn’t allow her to enter the back streets as it’s dangerous for her to do so. He asks more about her family, she tells him that her mother passed away from an illness a while ago, and he concludes that the best gift to her dad would be her safety. They head to one of the souvenir shops, and he suggest a mirror which can protect her as mirrors are said to reflect evil. The Sakura design at the back suits her, and is also a charm for luck in love, which makes the both of them blush in embarrassment. They get along with their shopping in town and the day soon comes to an end, and they thank each other for the day. Kayo says that he’s indeed a very gentle person, but he just he warns her to not judge a book by its cover.
Before leaving Sunpu, Kayo & the guards have one last farewell where she thanks Sakyou for protecting her again, and he says that if he stops by Edo he’ll definitely come and visit the her father’s restaurant. They part ways, and Kayo returns back to Edo safely.
Chapter 1
After the Wedding Procession, Kayo’s father decides to hold a party for all the guards to thank them for protecting Kayo throughout the journey. Everyone turns up and it becomes a very lively party, except for one person, which is Sakyou. Kayo’s quite upset that he didn’t come though, and wonders where he is. Regarding that, Sakyou tracking down Zantetsu in Yoshiwara, the red light district in Edo, where he’s duped by one of the Oiran, Murasaki who just so happens to work for the Oni. Sakyou gets attacked by Zantetsu’s lackies. He gets cut on his right arm, and the Onis are about to continue and kill him when a roundsman comes by on his patrols, causing them to run.
Sakyou bumbles around town suffering in pain from the injury, ヾ(ﾟДﾟ;ヾ) until Kayo discovers him thanks to the neighbour’s kid Yanohiko finding him. Despite him not wanting her to call a doctor and trying to run off from Kayo, he’s really suffering in pain. He tells her that he’s being chased, and he doesn’t want Kayo to get involved with his problems. Despite all that, Kayo takes him to her room where he quickly does treatment to his wound, and passes out after doing so.
The next morning, Kayo sees Kei & Kinshirou who come in asking about information regarding a violent incident at Yoshiwara last night. They mention that witness reports say that they saw “a man with a long swords”, which reminds Kayo of Sakyou last night. She tells them she knows nothing though, but wonders secretly about what is going on.
Chapter 2
Sakyou only wakes up 3 days after the incident at night when Kayo calls him name a few times, and he takes a while to take in his situation. Kayo demands to know where he got the wound from, but he only says that he got into a fight with some ronin, and tells her not to tell /anyone/ about him being there. However, thanks to the lack of proper treatment, his right shoulder isn’t healed properly and instead it’s swollen. He then hands her some money as thanks for her help & proceeds to leave, but Kayo tells him firmly she ain’t helping him because she wanted money from him. Sakyou then says that she puts too much trust in people, but Kayo believes that Sakyou isn’t a bad person, and he starts laughing at her.
Kayo goes and makes food for him before going for Naginata practise, as Sakyou tells her she shouldn’t sacrifice her daily lifestyle just to take care of him. She can’t stop thinking about him though, and gets distracted throughout her practise. When she returns home, she sees Yanohiko who’s worried about Sakyou, and Kayo takes him to go see him. Yanohiko is happy to see that Sakyou’s better and gives Sakyou a candy, exclaiming that he looks more like a princess then a samurai. Yanohiko leaves after a while, and Kayo feels bad for disturbing Sakyou’s rest, but he admits that he really likes children, as having them around makes him feel relaxed. For the rest of the day, Kayo helps out in the restaurant, she returns to her room with Sakyou’s dinner, and seeing Sakyou’s table manners combined with his appearance, she wonders if he’s really just a ronin.
Awkward things ensue when she accidentally lets him see herself naked when she fell down with a screen while changing, and quickly apologises after changing. He tells her to be careful with shady men like him, and says that it’s not her fault. He then decides he’s going to leave the next day so as not to trouble her anymore, but Kayo wants him to stay as she kinda took it upon herself to take care of him. Sakyou ends up agreeing, and Kayo checks his wound only to realise it may have gotten worse. When he says it’s nothing Kayo gets more worried.
Yanohiko arrives the next day with a picture book for Sakyou to read to him, and this is where Sakyou finds out that Yanohiko’s family is too poor to allow him to go to a private school. He then teaches Yanohiko the Iroha uta that has every single kana for him to copy and learn. Sakyou says that he believes that all children should receive education, and he wants to help children like Yanohiko. However, his injury becomes pretty bad to the point that he’s writhing in pain, and Kayo, in fear, decides to go and find Suzukake for help. Suzukake gets to the treatment and properly treats his wound. He then leaves without asking anything, and Sakyou thanks him for his consideration.
However, Sakyou’s pissed and asks Kayo why she did that, and Kayo says that it’s because she couldn’t leave him along like that in pain. She then says that he should tell her the truth now since it came to this point, and Sakyou gives up and tells her about the Oni who are after him. He also reveals that he was involved in the Yoshiwara case, and he believes that he police will stop pursuing the perpetrators after a while. The only thing that he doesn’t want is for her to be put in danger because of him. Kayo then says that she’s learnt how to use a Naginata so she’ll be fine, but he takes her hands and tell her that her hands are supposed to be used for peace, unlike his bloodied hands. He then says that he’s planning on leaving after his wound fully heals, and that Kayo deserves to be happy and should forget about him. Right after that, he quickly changes the topic to something else, and Kayo realises that there’s more to him than she though, and gets worried.
Chapter 3
It’s been 10 days since Kayo took Sakyou in, and he’s been healing well thanks to Suzukake’s treatment. The restaurant closed early that day, so Kayo heads into her room with a picture book a regular customer lent her, so that they can read it together since her father is out visiting her Uncle. However, when they open it though, an erotic picture drops out of it and Sakyou quickly snatches it from her while Kayo’s confused. Suddenly, Kayo’s father asks if she’s in her room which causes the both of them to panic. In the rush, Kayo throws Sakyou under the covers and some of her night wear, sitting her butt on his face in order to hide his existence from her father. Sakyou’s is pretty pissed about this mainly because she seems to have no self-awareness as a woman, and probably because she forgot he was a guy.
Sakyou tells her not to be so disgraceful, and being innocent as Kayo is she still doesn’t get it until Sakyou pins her down onto the bed and lets go. He apologises for doing that to her though, and he can’t look her in the eye until they hear Yanohiko spinning tops with the other kids outside.However, it turns out the kid sucks at playing tops, and the rest of the kids don’t want to play with him. Sakyou ends up teaching the child how to spin tops better, and shows him tricks as well. They soon take a break where Kayo reads to Yanohiko a book out on the porch since her father’s not around, and they get caught by Orin who’s here looking for Yanohiko since she’s his aunt. Upon seeing Sakyou though, her expression changes and says that she’ll keep all this a secret from her father since Kayo has reached that age too before leaving. ヾ(´▽｀;)
They continue playing with Yanohiko after he wakes up for the rest of the day until it’s sunset. However, good things don’t last long and in the evening, they overhear some Oni yelling at Enishi on the street, and Sakyou spots Zantetsu . He immediately decides that he has to leave, but Kayo tries to get him to stay until his wound heals. He doesn’t want her to get involved with his own mess & says that he’s been saved by Kayo’s kindness, and tells her that she shouldn’t always be so kind to everyone. Kayo gets frustrated that her feelings doesnt reach him, and leaves the room. But when she returns in panic, he’s already gone.
The next day, Suzukake comes over to check on Sakyou regarding his injury but Kayo breaks the news to him that he’s gone. Yanohiko comes by as well, and Kayo has no choice but to tell him that Sakyou will be away for a while, and assures him that he’ll be able to see Sakyou again. After Yanohiko leaves, Suzukake says that it’s sad that Sakyou just left without saying a word. Kayo’s determined to chase after him though, and Suzukake agrees to help her.
Chapter 4
Meanwhile, after chasing an Oni, Sakyou heads to register for the sword tournaments for a chance to get his blood revenge at the tournaments. Kayo goes looking for him over the next few days to no avail, and she can’t sleep getting worried for Sakyou being chased down by Onis. However, she runs into him again when she takes some knives to the famous polisher, Kouetsu. Kouetsu says that he cannot sharpen Sakyou’s Hotarumaru because of his heart, but Sakyou doesn’t get this and leaves. Kayo chases after him but he outruns her until he sees her fall and decides to help her. Kayo starts crying, and he wipes her tears for her *。ヾ(｡>ｖ<｡)ﾉﾞ*。, telling her that she’s precious to him, that’s why he doesn’t her getting involved in all of this. Sakyou tells her that he’s entering the sword tournaments in order to meet Zantetsu to take his revenge.
Kayo returns home without sharpening the knifes, telling her father that Kouetsu was busy with another customer at that time. Suzukake comes by to ask her about Sakyou again, and she tells him that she actually met him that day. Upon hearing the situation, Suzukake says that it’s reckless of him to be participating in the tournaments with such an injury. He’s going to watch the tournaments too with Kayo, to check on his wound. He then says how Sakyou seems to have little care for his own life, and he doesn’t understand why he’s thinking like that. He soon leaves, leaving Kayo to only pray for Sakyou’s safety. The next day, Kayo can’t help but worry for Sakyou hoping nothing happens to him as she watches the matches with Suzukake. He clears his first match smoothly, but the match the day after doesn’t go so well. Sakyou’s up against Zantetsu, and he declares blood revenge on Zantetsu right in the tournament.
The referee calls out that that’s blasphemy against the sacred tournament, but the audience likes it so they aren’t stopped. However, Sakyou gets bashed up, and is arrested for tainting the sacred sword tournaments for blood revenge. Kayo starts panicking, and they quickly try and find Sakyou but they’re not allowed to enter. Enishi comes by and tells them Sakyou’s going to be fine, as they’ll treat him in jail and let him off the next day. However, Kayo can’t sleep anyway and heads to Edo Castle the next day. She sees Sakyou, and he says that he’s ashamed that he almost died trying to avenge his family, and that he couldn’t kill Zantetsu, until Kayo hits the bullseye about his situation.
The deal with Sakyou is that he used to be the heir to one of the rich families from Yamashiro Province. His family are also the descendants of the Amakuni, a group of legendary blacksmiths who said to have made the 5 heavenly swords. However, when he was just an 11 year old kid, his entire family got massacred Zantetsu’s crew. Since his was sick that day, he escaped being killed, but due to this he decided to take blood revenge for his family. He tells all of this to her, and Kayo tells him that he should live for himself instead of revenge. However, he just tells her to forget about him and continue on with her happy life, but Kayo says that he doesn’t want him to leave.
Ken Route: Chapter 5
Kayo takes the knives to Kouetsu again for them to be sharpened, and apologises to him for troubling him with knives all the time. He’s fine with it though, as he’s had longtime connections with her family. She then asks him why he didn’t polish Sakyou’s sword though, and Kouetsu says that he doesn’t polish swords with hatred within them. Kouetsu says that he could see in Sakyou’s eyes that he wanted to kill someone, and he didn’t mind losing his own life doing so. They talk a bit regarding Sakyou’s lineage, and Kouetsu says that the only sword which could defeat swords made by the Amakuni was one, the sword Muramasa. He tells her to stay away from him or she may get involved in a horrible conflict, before Kayo leaves.
Meanwhile, the group of rebels have arrived at the gate to Tokoyou. Asakura quickly gets the guards along with them to capture Nanae, and demands Tsuzumi to kill her in order to open the gate to Tokoyou. Tsuzumi can’t possibly cut his own lover, and makes a quick escape by taking Choushichirou hostage. Tsuzumi & Nanae quickly run away, but they end up getting separated. Nanae gets captured by the guards & they tell her that she’s was needed for the plan as she was a miko so she would definitely be a pure maiden, but she just starts laughing, because after the incident on the mountain, she was raped by the oni and she’s now pregnant. This creeps the fuck outta both guards, and one of them accidentally kills her with his sword Muramasa. As she dies, she hopes for Tsuzumi to stay alive and apologises to her unborn baby.
The perspective goes back to Kayo, who’s surprised that Sakyou has decided to finally visit her restaurant. Kayo’s father starts treating Sakyou to all sorts of foods after finding out he saved her life, and lets them go out to have some private time together. Kayo gets worried that he’s being chased by Zantetsu, but Sakyou says it’s fine because they’re currently planning something else. However, he hasn’t given up on his revenge yet. This makes Kayo really sad, as she really doesnt want him to continue on his revenge, even risking his life for it. Kayo tries to confess him until he changes the subject to the Kanzashi at one of the stores. He buys a new Kanzashi for her as a gift. Kayo has no choice but to accept it & wears it, but she’s suspicious that something’s off.
They stroll all the way into the forest, and Sakyou says that she looks really pretty with the new Kanzashi, and that he’s done a lot of things to get her upset, so this is the least he could do for her. Of course, because this is the Ken route, Sakyou says goodbye to her in a terribad way of pinning her down on the ground telling her that he’s actually seeing another woman! He then starts kissing her forcefully and asks if she likes it but Kayo obviously knows he’s fucking lying and tells him that he’s forcing himself to make her hate him. Upon hearing this Sakyou gets up, tells her being with her will destroy his determination for revenge and leaves, saying that she’ll probably never see him again. More shit hits the fan when Sakyou goes into the mountains and picks up a talking sword which tells him that he needs to take revenge for his family AND KILL ALL ONIS! YAY!
Kayo returns home upset and Kei comes by for investigations about Zantetsu plotting something against the Bakufu, and talks to Kayo about the war between Onis and humans 400 years ago. Kayo knows that the war ending with the humans win, and because of that, the Onis were not allowed to wields swords. In those times, losing their sword meant losing their honour, and the Onis definitely have a grudge against the humans due to this. Kei says that he really wants this hatred to end, so he hopes that the police can catch them quickly, which makes Kayo think of Sakyou’s quest for blood revenge. The next day though, Zantetsu’s goons have been arrested but Zantetsu managed to run away. While Kayo’s working though, her new Kanzashi breaks and splits into half, and she worries what’s going to happen.
Chapter 6
Meanwhile, Sakyou finds out that Zantetsu’s goons have been arrested, and Zantetsu is on the run. A voice in his head, the voice of the cursed sword Muramasa tells him that he needs to kill. Sakyou doesn’t remember what he was doing until it’s sunset, and the sword takes a voice of a woman who laments being killed while pregnant, and this makes Sakyou think that it’s his sister talking to him as his sister was also pregnant when she was killed. He then goes along listening to the sword and throws Hotarumaru into a shrine pond as the sword tells him that Hotarumaru will get in the way of his revenge. Kayo sees him on the street one day, and that he’s going to take REVENGE finally. Kayo asks him to leave the rest to the police, but he doesn’t care. She really wants him to smile again, but he just says he’ll smile for her when he finally gets his revenge.
Kayo asks about where Hotarumaru went, and Sakyou just replies saying that Hotarumaru is useless as it cracked during the match with Zantetsu earlier, and he threw it away. Kayo can’t believe that he would do such a thing, and believes it must be the new sword’s fault. When she tells him to let go of the sword, he just draws it and tells her if she gets in his way, he will cut her down. He says that he’s going to kill Zantetsu now, and Kayo pulls him back, but he just shakes her off and threatens to kill her.
Sakyou, controlled by Muramasa, goes and kills Zantetsu and his goons at Yoshiwara, easily cutting all of them down. Zantetsu’s confused by the movements of his new swords too, and he’s easily cut down, causing Sakyou to make this really evil laughter saying that he’s been wanting to hear Zantetsu scream like that…. He even kills Murasaki, the oiran he met earlier who helps hide the Oumi Mountain onis. However, after killing all the Onis at Yoshiwara, he feels empty inside, and Muramasa tells him to kill moar people.
Kei comes by the restaurant again telling Kayo about the Yoshiwara incident that happened last night, that not only the Onis were killed, several innocent people around Yoshiwara were killed too. He then mentions the portrait the owner of the brothel made of the person somehow looked like Sakyou, but he doesn’t want to believe that as both of them know Sakyou won’t kill innocent people. However more shit goes down as we see a -beautifully red- CG of Sakyou chopping up people on a road in the middle of the night, and the police are suspecting that the culprit is the same person as the Yoshiwara dude.
Kei comes again to Kayo’s on his own accord and Kayo tells him that Sakyou had a grudge against Zantetsu earlier on, and Kei fits the puzzle pieces together realising it was Sakyou who caused all the Yoshiwara incidents. She then tells him that Sakyou was acting weird though when she met him at night, and that he had thrown Hotarumaru away. They both suspect it’s because of the new sword he’s holding, and Kei says that he’s going to get all the Wedding procession friends to help, and tells her to keep herself safe for now.
On the other hand, Sakyou wakes up in a cave and dreamt that he killed Zantetsu and some innocent people, when he realise that HE FUCKING DID. ゛(●ﾉ´・Д・｀)ﾉ Kayo wakes up the next day to find a top and a letter from Sakyou, asking her to stop him. All the guards from the Wedding Procession gather later in the day to discuss what they want to do about Sakyou and how they are going to deal with him. What happens after, is where the endings split.
Wild End
The same night after the meeting, Kayo’s about to go to sleep when she hears Yanohiko’s scream. She runs out only to find Sakyou killing Yanohiko, and Kayo is so frightened that she can only scream and ask why he did that. He runs away though as he gains back his senses, and Kayo realises he still has some sense in him. The Wedding Procession group has another meeting at Kayo’s place, and decides to confront him at the pond where he threw Hotarumaru away, as if he still have some sense in him, he will come back to retrieve his family’s sacred sword. Kayo goes to Kouetsu Suzukake to get more information about Muramasa, and they learn that Muramasa is probably feeding Sakyou’s anger by giving him illusions, and his power will strengthen when the moon shines.
The group waits for him at the shrine pond, and he soon appears. They all try to stop him verbally as he still has some sense in him by asking him to go home together with them, and he’s glad they’re all trying to stop him but he can’t seem to let go of Muramasa. Muramasa takes over him when the moon comes out, and starts attacking everyone. Kayo runs to him and tries to get him to get back his senses but oh well since this is the wild end, SHE GETS KILLED BY SAKYOU! Sakyou regains his senses and runs away deciding to set himself on fire to stop Muramasa.
Kayo soon wakes up to find herself in the afterlife, and sees Sakyou together with her. They’re both happy that they can finally meet and talk, although ironically they’re in the afterlife. Kayo’s happy that she can talk to him again, and Sakyou apologises. He carries her up and kisses her forehead, and they begin to walk across the Sanzu River to heaven when NOPE MURAMASA STARTS LAUGHING. SAKYOU CAN’T GO TO HEAVEN WHOOPS CUZ HE KILLED TOO MANY PEOPLE! Even if it was Muramasa’s doing, the people in heaven probably won’t be satisfied. Sakyou apologises to Kayo and tells her to go to heaven herself, but she doesn’t want to go as she wants to be together with him. Muramasa tells her that she’s got a choice and hell isn’t a place she should be going too since she’ll be tortured, but Kayo doesnt mind, and they both fall into hell together.
Wild After
Sakyou sees a dream of him living a peaceful life back in Edo together with Kayo, but it turns out to be a dream that he sees while he’s uh, still burning in hell with Kayo. Kayo says that she saw the same dream, and its fine as long they’re still together, they can overcome everything. (no like, the after was really redundant as they’re still burning in hell together im sorry :’D)
Strange End
Kayo sees Yanohiko playing with his top at night, and goes out to tell him to go home when they meet Sakyou. Muramasa’s possessing him so Kayo tells Yanohiko to run. He’s about to cut her until she throws Yanohiko’s top at him, and he regains his senses when she mentions Yanohiko. Sakyou tells her to quickly run as he doesn’t want to kill her and he’s holding back the urge to do so. She tries to help, but he just tells her to go away and runs off. Kayo loses track of him but heads to the shrine pond believing that he’s going there because Hotarumaru there. Sure enough, Sakyou’s there and Kayo asks him to go home together. However, he says that he’s going to end his life together with Muramasa as that’s the only way to save himself, and he falls into the water.
Kayo desperately wants to be with him and jumps into the pond, finding herself in the afterlife. Hotarumaru returns to Sakyou & Muramasa is gone probably thanks to Hotarumaru protecting his soul. They’re happy that they’re able to talk to each other again. They kiss and Sakyou promises her that he’ll never leave her side again after this incident, and they both promise to never leave each other again. They start walking across the river but it doesn’t feel right. Kayo isn’t able to see the people across the shore, and she hears voices behind her. It turns out Kayo isn’t meant to die yet, and Sakyou can’t go to heaven as he needs to atone for his sins for killing innocent people, and tells her to go back.
Kayo doesn’t want to though, but Sakyou tells her that there are people waiting for her, and assures her that Hotarumaru would save his soul when he’s done atoning for his sins. He hugs her, and tells her that she should live her life to the fullest, and then promises that they’ll meet again, not matter ho much he goes through. He kisses her on the cheek and pushes her back, and she starts making her way back. When she wakes up, Kayo sees all her friends and family around her happy that she’s awake, and they all try to cheer her up. Turns out the guards found her by the pond when a suspicious man was reported to have went to the Yoshiwara shrine pond. She returns they kindness with a smile, and she continues her life a month after where she goes to visit all the graves of the people Sakyou killed, hoping she’ll meet Sakyou again.
Strange After
Kayo goes along with Sakyou’s wishes to live her life fully, but she can’t help but continuously think about him often throughout her daily life. One day, she dreams about going to the pond and seeing Sakyou telling her not to come after seeing a Firefly, and this makes her even more sad and she can’t sleep for the next few days and she really wants to see him again. She goes to the shrine pond a few nights later and starts crying because she wants to see him, but she’s heeding his words and not jumping into the pond unlike last time. Because of this, Sakyou reappears thanks to Hotarumaru’s power, and they hug each other and say that they love each other more before Sakyou disappears again. (*´；ェ；`*)
Sakyou’s Ken route was uh, really gorey for me. Added on with the fact that it was the first route I played, I literally jumped when I saw the Wild End CG because the whole ending itself was REALLY CREEPY. But okay, in all seriousness, the Wild End just shows the reality of Sakyou killing people, and the Sttrange End gives it a more sad end feel where they separate. You could say the Wild End was pretty twisted too, but it wasn’t that much tbh. I’m guessing this is probably the only gorey Ken route in this game, and it was definitely enjoyable as the feels just all kicked in with the sad shit ;w;
Kimi Route: Chapter 5
In the Kimi Route, the rebels side goes through the same scene again, except for the fact that Tsuzumi & Nanae don’t get separated, and the escape to Edo together. A few days after the match, Sakyou goes to see Suzukake and he says that Sakyou’s wound is much better. However, right after seeing Suzukake, Sakyou decides to dump Hotarumaru into a cave because he doesn’t think he’ss worthy of carrying it anymore, since he died as a samurai after the loss against Zantetsu. He failed blood revenge against Zantetsu, so he’s failed as a samurai, and he’s unworthy of such a sacred sword.
Enishi comes by to Kayo’s shop telling her about Sakyou’s missing sword, and says that she should ask him out to the Five Heavenly Swords festival to get him to stop feeling bad. Kayo’s really concerned about the missing Hotarumaru, and decides him to ask him out to the festival. They head to the festival where they go watch the performances, and even meet Yanohiko there when they’re watching a performance. Of course, Sakyou has to show his spinning top tricks to the kid, much to the point that by-passers thought that he was a street performer too. Yanohiko’s excited that he’s able to see Sakyou again, and promises that he’ll learn the iroha-uta properly before leaving.
Sakyou also buys decorations for Kayo, until one of them reminds him of Hotarumaru which makes the entire atmosphere become sad. Kayo tries to stop him from buying things for her but he just tells her to accept them as seeing her happy makes him happy too. He says that he’s been thinking for a while what to do without Hotarumaru, but he really doesn’t know because he’s spent all his life thinking about revenge. He then reveals to her about his background & lineage, and even about his family where he had a strict & awkward father, and kind mother & sister. He also talks about how Hotarumaru is actually their family heirloom, but it broke probably because he wasn’t worthy of it.
Kayo tells him that he can’t just throw away Hotarumaru like that since it carries memories of him with his family, and he should go and get it back. She doesn’t want him to live the rest of his life in regret. Sakyou admits that she’s right, as he’s been trying to escape reality by doing this but he can’t do anything anyway. In fact, he was just if his dead family were actually mad at him for losing to Zantetsu. They go and pick up Hotarumaru, and the legend of the sword actually happens as fireflies surround the sword and fix it, as Sakyou apologises to his family for such an idiot. He tears up a little and vows to not let go of the sword ever again. They leave, and Sakyou says that he will continue on his quest for blood revenge.
They make their way down the mountains where the cave was, and Sakyou says that now he’s looking further from after he gets his blood revenge. He never thought about it previously, but now he wants to live beyond his blood revenge. At the same time, he also wants to tell Kayo something after he gets his revenge on Zantetsu.
Chapter 6
The next day, they take Hotarumaru to Kouetsu for him to sharpen it, and he’s pretty pissed until Kayo shows him Sakyou’s changed, and he finally agrees to sharpen Hotarumaru after seeing his sword as it reflects its swordsman. He reveals the reason why he didn’t want to polish Sakyou’s sword previously, and even gives them information about what Zantetsu is currently doing right now, which makes Kayo happy as Kouetsu has accepted him. Kouetsu tells him not to waste his life away again though, and they chat a bit more about Sakyou. After leaving Kouetsu’s place, Sakyou tells Kayo that he’s going to pursue Zantetsu and will challenge him when he finds the guy, and promises to meet her before his final duel.
Meanwhile, Tsuzumi & Nanae have managed to find themselves in a secluded area of Yoshiwara where they’re renting out a house to stay in for a while to hide from any pursuers, but they plan on leaving soon. However, shit hits the fan when they overhear Zantetsu’s men talking about their plans to make Edo Castle explode and Nanae’s taken hostage by them due to Tsuzumi’s carelessness. With Nanae as a hostage, he has no choice but to follow their orders.
Kayo doesn’t receive any contact from Sakyou over the next few days, and she’s wondering what he’s doing right now when Kei comes by the restaurant to ask about Zantetsu. The Oni group was recently almost caught bombing an official’s office, and they had a very strong samurai working with them now, and is asking for help from civilians if they spot him. Kayo gets worried about Sakyou upon hearing this, but doesn’t tell Kei anything. Kei also asks Kayo to tell Sakyou not to involve himself with the guy anymore alone as he’s dangerous. After Kei leaves, Kayo gets worried. If Zantetsu was arrested, whatever Sakyou did would have been in vain.
Meanwhile, in Yoshiwara the same night, Zantetsu’s pissed that their plan failed and they were almost caught. Murasaki tells him to chill and let Tsuzumi do everything since he’s so strong, and he’s willing to do anything as long they have Nanae taken hostage with them. Sakyou sends a letter of challenge to Zantetsu using his top telling him to find him at Nihonbashi at 5 in the morning the next day. Zantetsu decides he’s probably gonna take his entire gang to kill the guy once and for all.
Later that night, Sakyou comes and visits Kayo to tell her that he’s going to settle things once and for all tomorrow morning. He hands her a letter, saying that if he doesn’t make it back from the fight, she should read it. Sakyou promises that he will return, and hugs her shoulders, saying that he;s found someone important that he wants to protect, so he can’t afford to die and has to fulfil his promise. He leaves, saying that he’ll see her again soon. Unable to sleep, Kayo decides to go to a shrine and pray for Sakyou’s safety when…she sees Zantetsu and his entire gang, including Tsuzumi along with him, but Kayo doesn’t know that.
Kayo decides to go find help as Zantetsu’s playing dirty, when she finds Kei behind her lol. She explains everything that’s going on, and Kei tells her he’s going to get all the friends from the Wedding Procession to help. She can come along, of course, if she can keep up with him. Meanwhile, Sakyou is already waiting for Zantetsu to arrive and of course, he’s got his entire mob with him. Zantetsu starts sending out men to kill Sakyou, and tells Tsuzumi to go in too. Sakyou’s pretty much in trouble here until the entire crew from the Wedding Procession appears and starts kicking ass. With their help, Sakyou is able to head straight for Zantetsu without any obstacles, and he manages to kill Zantetsu successfully. All the remaining Oni don’t have anymore reason to fight, and they all stop.
Peace End
Kayo is waiting anxiously at home because after looking for the rest of the crew, Kei told her to stay at home as it’s dangerous for her to go to the area of the fight. Suddenly, she hears the doors slide open to the restaurant and it’s Sakyou who’s come back to announce that he’s taken his revenge. They kiss, and Kayo’s about to confess to him when he says that it’s his job to do that, not her. He then confesses all his feelings for her, and hugs her tightly asking her if he can protect her smile forever. She agrees, and starts crying tears of happiness., and Sakyou promises to never leave her side again.
The news of Sakyou’s success spreads all over Edo, and he’s busy to the point that he isn’t able to meet Kayo. Orin comes over one day asking Kayo what she’s going to do as Sakyou’s probably going back to his home which is like across the country. Their positions in society are different, and they usually won’t be able to have such a close relationship. Orin tells her to discuss this issue properly with Sakyou, and says that she believes that Sakyou will definitely make Kayo happy. Since they’re meeting that day, Kayo decides to head out to pick Sakyou up as he asked for a chance to meet her father again. They go out for a walk where Sakyou manages to convince a kid to go back to school for his sake, and he talks about his dream of wanting to open a private school for children.
However, he has to return to his hometown to take over as the head of his family, so he wont be able to do that. This brings Kayo to the question of him leaving. It starts raining and they share an umbrella under the rain until they reach the forest, where Kayo actually asks Sakyou to take her to his home in Yamashiro. .+:｡(ﾉ･ω･)ﾉﾞ He then admits the reason why he asked to meet her father today, and as expected, he’s planning on asking for her hand in marriage. （*´▽｀*） They kiss, and the ending jumps to a year later where Kayo’s about to have her own wedding parade. Sakyou at Yamashiro has made all the preparations that he’s needed for Kayo to feel comfortable in her new home, and the wedding parade soon sets off with all his friends as Kayo’s bodyguards this time.
Peace After
The story jumps to years later where Sakyou & Kayo now already have kids, and they’re in Edo waiting for Sakyou to come back from a meeting at Edo Castle. He’s been busy, and Kayo’s been wanting to see him for a while. When he returns to the mansion where they’ve been given to rest in and she jumps into his arms until their son, Chihaya comes in. Chiaya’s a pretty awkward son as he responds pretty stiffly to his father’s questions and is trying to live up to his father’s expectations, but reveals that he’s been reading a lot while Sakyou was out. Sakyou tells him that he can choose to do whatever that is good for him, so if he likes books, it’s fine as he doesnt have to specialise in kenjutsu, and asksh im to come to his room that night so that he canread to him.
Chihaya’s very excited by this, and soon leaves, leaving Kayo & Sakyou to have some private time together where Kayo says that she’s missed him a lot, and how Chiaya’s really an awkarad child. That night, Sakyou reads to Chihaya and when Kayo comes in, he’s already sleeping. They have some private time together where they talk about how Chihaya’s such a good kid, and how he already has great dreams for the future. Sakyou then teases her that they should have a few more kids so everyone can pursue their own dreams just in case Chihaya doesn’t want to take over the house, and says that he loves Kayo.
Happy End
Kayo comes rushing into the scene with her Naginata when all the drama’s over. When she sees Sakyou, she immediately jumps into his arms and starts crying tears of happiness. She says how happy she is to see Sakyou alive and well, and he says how happy he is to have taken revenge, and it’s all thanks to her who thought him what strength truly means.Kayo’s so happy that she wants to spend the rest of her life with Sakyou, and their ichaichaing is interrupted when Enishi clears his throat saying that they’re in public. Once again, Sakyou thanks all his friends for their help. With the incident resolved, Tsuzumi reveals why he was forced to work with Zantetsu, and agrees to be arrested and reveal everything about what happened with Asakura.
A week later, the news about Sakyou being a hero spreads and around town, and Sakyou’s walking around town when he meets Orin & Yanohiko. Yanohiko asks Sakyou to teach him the continuation of iroha-uta and more top tricks, but Orin tells him not to ask Sakyou of such things as he needs to go back to his hometown. Sakyou however, says that he’s able to make arrangements for such a school that Yanohiko can learn what he wants, whichs leads to Orin saying that they don’t have the money. Sakyou says that they don’t have to worry about the fee, and tells them that he’ll be back to see them again with more information later.
Kayo however, is worried about what’s going to happen to her relationship with Sakyou after this. He went through so much for his blood revenge, and will most likely be returning to his hometown, since a commoner and a samurai can’t be together. Kei comes by telling Kayo of the resolution of the entire case, and she asks him to come to Sakyou’s farewell party that is happening the next day. She’s really upset though, and cries at night on the thought of Sakyou leaving after all that they went through together. Orin tells her not to give up the next day, and things will probably work out.
The party starts and everyone appears at the party, but Sakyou’s late and Enishi takes this chance to, uh, flirt with Kayo. Sakyou comes in and seeing the scene, he immediately drags Kayo out to the riverside. He then tells her that he ain’t going anywhere and that he’s decided to open a private school in Edo for the less fortunate children, and it will be free. He’s been busy asking Kouetsu for information on how to start one this week. Sakyou asks her to stay with him forever, and Kayo happily accepts, and they kiss. φ(ﾟ ωﾟ//）♡ They head back to the party, with Sakyou saying that he doesn’t want Kayo to be touched by anyone else.
Sometime after, Kayo’s working at her father’s restaurant until he tells her its time for her to meet Sakyou. Kayo finds the letter Sakyou gave to her though, and decides to return it to him when they meet. Kayo meets him at the riverside where he says that he’s got a ton of problems with the Bakufu after his skills, but he’ll solve them one by one. When Kayo returns the letter to him, he just says that its not longer necessary for her to read the letter anymore, and tears it up & throws it into the river. He then asks her to go to Yamashiro with him to visit his family’s graves at the end of the year so that he can introduce her.
Happy After
It skips to a few months after they’ve went to visit his family’s grave, and Sakyou has rented out a house for his school and his living area. The story starts in Sakyou’s POV, regarding his daily life as a teacher of the school he sets up, and Kayo comes over almost every day to help out. However, for some reason recently, Kayo’s pretty frazzled every day and avoids any conversation with him until one day a mother mistakes them for being husband and wife. Sakyou says that they’re not, and that they will be in the future which embarrasses Kayo a lot,, telling him not to say such embarrassing things.
One school’s over that day in the evening, Sakyou finally confronts Kayo about her worries, and it turns out she was just worried about how their relationship was going. Kayo’s been worried that he’s been busy all day, and it’s hard for her to approach him as he’s probably tired every day after teaching. Sakyou proposes to her and promises her that he will take her as his wife someday, after he gets all everything settled down and he’s able to support her with this job. He says that he loves her, and they kiss.
God damn, Sakyou’s Kimi Route was 180 degree turn from his Kimi Route! His cray cray attitude in his Ken route made me not believe this attitude of his in his Kimi route. Did I just take a trip down from Rejet land to uh, shoujo land? I have no idea. Another thing which irked me a lot was the formalities in this route, which is something I usually don’t like in olden time games. Story wise, Sakyou was really so sweet! The conclusion to his story in the Kimi version was way less traumatising, and was cute too. I prefer the Happy End this time though, as I didn’t really like those traditional japanese wedding formalities thing as it make it kinda….awkward for me.
All in all, Sakyou’s such a nice guy but well…/someone/ had to take the plunge for Rejet’s usual shenanigans in the Ken Route.And that was Sakyou. Which is probably the reason why I am traumatised and I won’t really like him no matter what I do. His route was pretty solid though, except for meeting cray cray sword which makes you bloodthirsty and….I’ll leave my Ken Route complaining at this before it gets out of hand.
未来へ向こう 