Part 53: Akane's last wish

Update 53


Well since cases were filed, this is the correct time to go back to Tsukigata.





Neat-andtidy girl:"Oh, alright then... 'Cause Nagi told me that Nagi likes her maste-- Oh no! That's supposed to be a secret!"




Neat-andtidy girl:"Oh, I thought so...I heard about you and Nagi... You went to Tento-Kagura together... My mom told me so. Marry means you go far away, right? Akane said she's going far away too... Hey, Mister, please don't marry her. I don't want you to take Nagi far away..."




That being explored, time to go back to business.



Oh my.



Welp.


"If you don't make any false moves, we won't harm Ms. Asakura..."




"Are you out of your gourd, Akijiro!? What's all this about?"
"Raidou... It was you, wasn't it? I thought I told you not to go near Centipede Road. You've seen things no one was meant to see... The Tento Lords... We can't let any foreigner who's laid eyes on the Tento Lords get away. "





This is likely the asshole chaos choice.



"Then I guess I'll send Ms. Asakura here to hell for you."




Tae is not exactl thrilled by that prospect.



Fortunately, someone arrives in the nick of time.




"I heard everything. Father... What are you thinking!?"
"If word of the Tento Lords got out... Outsiders would be sure to take interest. That would upset the Tento Lords, and if that happens, our village is done for."







"Please... When you wake up, continue as though this were just a bad dream..."
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Father... Don't you remember? Raidou saved me from Dahn... Aren't you ashamed of yourself to take his friends hostage and threaten him?"




"But first, come inside... It's not polite to keep guests on their feet."





Damned Tsukigatas got a temper.



"Just when the Marriage Ritual was about to start! It's as if he's hell-bent on interfering!"
"Akane... Raidou told me. About Tsukigata Village and the Tento Lords... And about the Marriage Ritual. We know."




"I know there're reasons behind the relationship between the Tento Lords and Tsukigata Village, but... There's something to be said for resisting the status quo. You're entitled to a future too, y'know? ... Even if it is something you learned from a certain young man."





Welp.

"It would hurt the Tsukigata name and the pride of Tento Crest."



"I asked you to chase after Dahn... And if Dahn entered the Tento Sanctuary... Then or course, unaware of the circumstances, you'd follow him"




"Dahn is here... Things have gotten serious. I need your help. We can't let the Marriage Ritual fail... Please..."




"Completing the Marriage Ritual succesfully... That's... My last wish."
"..."



"We worked day and night to scour every inch of Tsukigata Village. But we never found Dahn. Preparations for the Marriage Ritual continued, with fears of sabotage hanging in the air... And here we are, the night before the ritual, sitting in our room at the Fukuroku inn."




"One other thing... I heard from the attendant that Tae went back to the Capital. Apparently something urgent came up and the Capital Daily called her home. One minute, the dame was held hostage by a clan of assassins... The next, she's eating dinner and getting ready for work like nothing happened. She's one tough cookie. "




"There's a story she told me once. In olden days, people who could forge iron from iron ore were considered supernatural or magical. Her story was about a group of these people all immigrating to some village.The iron they forged made life on the village easier. and their iron goods brought in a lot of money. Everything was peachy between the immigrants and the villagers... At first."




I think you can see where this is going. Right?

"Humans can be a sad crew, huh? Once someone's fortune is made, they'll trample over whoever they have in order to protect it. "




"Eventually the village elder couldn't sit on the fence anymore, and sent the immigrants into the mountains. To keep the villagers from following 'wm up there, he started a rumor about the 'mountain curse'..."




"So long as the villagers stayed away from the mountains, everything would work out for the immigrants, right? The immigrants might've been exiled, sure, but they got their peace and quiet out of the bargain. What do you think, Raidou? If you were that elder... What would you have done?
Send the immigrants up into the mountains? Or put your foot down and get everyone to coexist?"




This choice mirrors the one taken in Nagi's case file. This is also clearly the Lawful action.




"You probably said that thinking it's wrong to discriminate... BUt how about this? What if the elder enforced coexistence solely to protect the village's source of income? Keeping the immigrants around as second-class citizens while making them pump iron... Cruel, no? Seems a little coldhearted to me to ignore a little cruelty for the sake of the status quo... "




On the other hand, previous SMT precedent does show that Law is wrong.
Sure, it's been toned down in threcen games, but still.
 God damn why is Jimenez such a goddamn fucking asshole. AAAH HOROLOGIUM AAAAAH, silly BUT appropriate that someone out of a fusion accident was stronger (by far) than one designed with certain specific characteristics. 



Well no shit, sherlock.



"We better take care not to oversleep tomorrow... Wouldn't want to miss Akane's big day. Geirin'll be there, so I'm not too worried, but..."



That is actually pretty obvious as well.