Chapter Text
The atmosphere was solemn yet peaceful. The beautiful harmony of an organ echoed through the church’s halls as Mako, dressed all in white with a bouquet in her hands, stood next to Takeru, wearing a beige tuxedo, in front of an altar where a bespectacled priest was preparing both of them for their wedding vows.
Yet for a wedding between a lord and one of his retainers, there were not a lot of guests. The front pews were occupied by Ryuunosuke, Chiaki, Kotoha and Zenjiro, while Hikoma sat on the other side with some kurokos. The guys were all in suits and ties except Zenjiro, who hates being too formal and had settled for a vest instead, while the Kuroko managed to find some formal wear for Kotoha.
“Oh… Tono…” Hikoma whispered as he pulled out a handkerchief and started sobbing, startling Chiaki who stared at the Shinkengers’ mentor in disbelief.
“Hey, look at that… Jii-san is actually crying,” Chiaki commented as he turned to Ryuunosuke, only for his grin to turn into disgust at the sight of the Water Samurai gently dabbing his own eyes with a handkerchief of his own.
“Such a sacred atmosphere… It really gets you in the heart, doesn’t it?” Ryuunosuke asked, to which Zenjiro turned Chiaki back to facing front and offered him some dinosaur gummies he had been devouring throughout the ceremony.
“Hey, hey, Mako-chan sure is pretty, don’t you think?” Kotoha asked as she stared at Mako with an entranced look, “It suits her so well…”
“Yes, it does, now have a dino gummy,” Zenjiro replied as he gave Kotoha an apple-flavoured gummy pterodactyl which she absent-mindedly popped into her mouth.
“You guys are unbelievable…” Chiaki muttered in defeat as he slouched down on the pew.
A group of Nanashi charged towards the entrance of the church, with two bringing a black jinrikisha with them as they ascended the stairs of the church. Drawing their swords, they made short work of the security guards protecting the church before kicking the door down, barging into the wedding ceremony and attacking any guest that did not get out of their way in time.
At the altar, the bride screamed as she is grabbed by two Nanashi while the groom and the priest are beaten and tossed aside. Forcibly dragged off by the Nanashi, the bride is placed in the jinrikisha and driven from the church as some braver guests gave chase, but all was for naught as the kidnapping Nanashis disappeared into a gap with their screaming hostage in tow…
“What?!” Hikoma, Shodophone in hand, exclaimed in shock as a police officer acquainted with the Shiba Clan called to inform of what happened.
Hearing the chief retainer’s shocked voice, everyone dropped their pretense as the priest placed the Bible on the altar, revealing himself to be another civilian ally of the Shiba Clan.
“Tono, the plan failed! The Gedoushuu attacked a different wedding!” Hikoma explained.
“No way,” Kotoha said as Chiaki and Ryuunosuke gritted their teeth.
“Father Masahiro, I thought you had all the weddings for today rescheduled to the evening?” Zenjiro asked the priest, who replied, “I did! It must be Father Araki. That man is quite stubborn when it comes to officiating weddings on time. Hikoma-san, which church was attacked?”
“Kawano Church,” Hikoma replied, to which Father Masahiro sighed, saying, “I knew it! He would not listen to me…”
“Curses!” Takeru uttered in dismay, for he knew very well that this was the eighth bride to be kidnapped by the Gedoushuu, and for what purposes, none of the Shinkengers can figure it out…
“Eight missing brides, all kidnapped in broad daylight no less,” Hikoma mused as he and the Shinkengers stared at the map in front of them.
With their trap having failed, the Shinkengers had regrouped back in the mansion to figure out what to do next. The initial idea was to follow the supposed pattern formed by the location of each kidnapping, but…
“Damn it! Who was the smartass that said the attacks had a pattern?” Chiaki complained as he angrily brought the pin down on the location of Kawano Church, located next to the river and practically on the other side of the city, far from the mansion and the locations where the previous seven kidnappings had occurred.
“I even got Father Masahiro and his folks to help set up the fake wedding but the location ended up completely wrong! And that rental dress and tuxedo combined cost Hikoma-san a bundle!” Zenjiro muttered in annoyance.
“’This pattern forms a star so the next attack will happen right here’, so you said!” Chiaki snapped at Ryuunosuke, who looked flustered for a moment before turning to Takeru, kowtowing as he said, “Tono, I deeply apologize for my blunder!”
“It’s not all your fault. We all had a hand in it,” Takeru replied as he stared intently at the map.
“Right. Maybe the Gedoushuu knew we were going to track them, so they took the chance to pull a fast one over us instead,” Mako added, prompting Ryuunosuke to forget his dismay and start cursing, “That’s right! Damn you, Gedoushuu!”
“What do you mean, ‘damn you’? You still messed up!” Chiaki muttered while Zenjiro resisted the urge to smack the Water Smaurai over the head, but then Kotoha brought up something worrying.
“The brides that were kidnapped, would the Gedoushuu bring them into the Sanzu River?”
The other Shinkengers tensed up, but Hikoma quickly dismissed their fears as he explained, “It is impossible for living humans toenter the Sanzu River unless they are in a state of near-death. I have no doubt that the Gedoushuu had used the crevices to take their victims to another location in the living world.”
“Yeah, don’t worry too much, Kotoha.”
“But Zenjiro-kun, you ancestor, the one that-”
“Yanagi Toshikazu was already fatally wounded by Shiba Aritsugu when he decided to crawl into the Sanzu River. If he was merely injured, the Sanzu River would not be accessible to him. In other words, no Gedoushuu can forcibly bring a living person into their world.”
Kotoha lets out a sigh of relief upon hearing what Zenjiro said.
“If only our plan worked… I would have managed to transmit the location of the brides to you guys,” Mako sighed.
“Well, the current plan is feasible enough. We’ll try it again, but this time, we’ll need to make a few changes,” Takeru replied, “But we can’t just rely on bait. Zenjiro, send out your crows to scout out potential locations of Gedoushuu hiding spots. Unlike the Ayakashi, the Nanashi Renjyuu are more resistant to the lack of Sanzu River water and are known to make camp in secluded wilderness far from human settlements.”
“I will, but what about tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?”
“Ah, that’s right. Here is a list of all the weddings that would be conducted tomorrow,” Hikoma explained as a Kuroko whose clothes emit a faint scent of fishes handed over to him a particularly long list of every wedding and their location in the city.
“Are you kidding me?” Chiaki groaned as he and the others stared at the list.
“There’s too many!” Kotoha added, while Takeru pondered over what their next move should be…
About twelve kilometres northeast away from the Shiba Mansion lies Mount Akumu, a notorious location due to how frightening the scenery was along with the fact that it was the site of some of history’s bloodiest conflicts and murders. Somewhere along its lower regions lie an abandoned cemetary along with a dilapidated shrine which have lost its holy energies long ago.
It was here where the bride-kidnapping Nanashi had set up camp as they emerged from a cracked tombstone, seizing their latest victim and dragging her into the shrine where they roughly threw her onto the floor at the feet of Usukawa Dayu, who seized her by her face and stared right into her pleading face.
“Yes, that’s right… Crying like this is your job,” Dayu commented, her voice gentle but sinister as she motioned for two Nanashi to take hold of the bride.
Before the bride could react, she was suddenly thrown into a cocoon-like structure at the corner of the shrine where she found herself in a white space made of silk. To her horror, she realized she was not the only bride who had been kidnapped, for inside the space were seven others, all of them weeping with sorrow and despair.
As the recent addition to the cocoon started screaming for help, Dayu quietly caressed the cocoon, commenting, “What pleasant cries… They will surely give me a fitting finish,” before she began strumming her shamisen, causing energy from the cocoon to reach for an uchikake like tendrils, slowly creating eloquent artworks upon the blank cloth of the uchikake…
“She’s making an uchikake? And using silk created from a cocoon that imprisons brides?” Shitari asked as Doukoku sat down at his usual spot on the Rokumon Junk, having just finished taking a bath in the Sanzu River.
“Yes. Seems to me that she’s making something extremely exorbitant,” Doukoku replied while a Nanashi poured him a fresh bowl of sake.
“Making brides cry when they should be at their happiest is quite a wretched act, even for me,” Shitari said, hinting at a slight disapproval of Dayu’s actions although it was clearly not because he felt pity for the humans, “Perhaps she has some lingering attachment related to her desire to create an uchikake? Something she is unable to forget-”
“Ah, Shitari, just let her do as she pleases for now. Besides, what she is doing now is also filling the waters of the Sanzu River.”
“Doukoku, you spoil Dayu too much!” Shitari complained, to which Doukoku ignored as he downed what was left of the sake in his bowl, “Anyways, I was taking a peek through one of the crevices last night, and I saw him! The stray!”
“The stray?” Doukoku asked, suddenly interested in what Shitari had to say…
In the forest of Mount Akumu, the mysterious figure who had been watching the Shinkengers’ fight against Yamiororo was also staring at the blood moon while holding his sword before him, the moonlight reflecting off its serrated blade.
“This glimmer… You can sense it too, right, Uramasa?” the figure asked, “After so long, there is finally someone worthy of crossing swords with me…”
With that, the figure flicked his sword in the air, and a few leaves fell to the forest floor cleanly sliced into equal halves.
“One among those Shinkengers… The black one, or perhaps the red one…” he said as he sheathed his weapon and again disappeared into the darkness…
“Man, that’s creepy. I’ve never seen a blood moon so red before,” Zenjiro, a broom in hand, commented as he and Kotoha stared at the blood moon from the courtyard of the Shiba Mansion.
“I hope that’s not a bad omen,” Kotoha commented with worry.
“Hey, you two, Takeru’s calling for an urgent meeting,” Chiaki called out as he emerged from the corridor, causing the two to follow him to the main hall where the fish-scented Kuroko and Hikoma were waiting with Takeru.
“What’s going on?” Ryuunosuke asked as he and Mako arrived as well.
“It seems our friend, Father Masahiro, had been hard at work. He and the chief of police had managed to help us with the weddings,” Hikoma said as he showed the samurai the list of weddings they had read earler today.
“What- All of them had been cancelled?” Mako asked as she stared at the list in surprise.
“Following Tono’s orders, Father Masahiro and the police chief managed to convince everyone to finally take the bride kidnappings seriously. All the ceremonies have been pushed to another date as a result,” Hikoma explained.
“What about the one remaining?” Zenjiro asked.
“It seems the bride is the cousin of one of the kidnapping victims. She and the groom had volunteered to partake in our lord’s plans in order to find the whereabouts of her cousin and the other victims.”
“If only one is left, then this time, our plan will succeed for real!” Chiaki said enthusiastically.
“Then, I guess I’m going to play the bride again,” Mako said playfully, to which Ryuunosuke replied with all seriousness, “Be careful! It’s all over if you’re caught!”
“Mako-chan, maybe I should do it this time,” Kotoha asked, concerned for her fellow samurai, but Mako gently placed one hand on her shoulder, replying, “Kotoha, you’re still too young. Don’t worry, I’ll call as soon as I know the location of the brides.”
“Yup, yup, then we’ll all come running to the location and bring this act to a close!” Chiaki added.
“Did you just stole that line from Takeru?” Zenjiro commented, but then both he and Chiaki got themselves a whack over the head by Hikoma.
“Both of you, don’t get cocky! We have civilians volunteering themselves to be bait. We have to keep them from harm, and you, Chiaki, you’re my biggest cause of concern!”
“That hurts! What the hell was that for?” Chiaki angrily uttered as Zenjiro got between him and Hikoma, but then Takeru spoke, “Enough of this. It’s true that the plan is dangerous, and the Gedoushuu are not mindless fools that brute force their way through obstacles. Best we have multiple plans that are ready to go on the fly…”
A cawing was heard, and everyone turned to see one of Zenjiro’s crows standing on the ledge of a small fence outside the hall, looking like as though it had something to say…
Dayu stared at the incomplete uchikake, deep in thought as the Nanashi remained on their knees around her, ready to accept their next orders.
“This is not enough… Bring me more brides,” she said at last, to which the Nanashi all acknowledged and moved out.
Alone, Dayu quietly grasped the sleeve of the uchikake and placed it against her cheek, a sorrowful expression forming on her face.
“Once it is complete… If I put it on… It would be like how it was in the past…”
It was a cold and cloudy day with a slight breeze, a day one would not expect for anything bad to happen, but the Shinkengers are well aware that it is times like this where an attack is most likely. At a shrine in the city centre, the bride and groom were getting ready when Chiaki, Kotoha and Zenjiro entered with the shrine’s staff.
“Sorry for the interruption, but there’s been a change of plans,” Zenjiro explained to the bride and groom as Mako, dressed in the same clothes as the bride, entered the room.
“Please, come with us,” Kotoha said, to which the bride and groom, aware of the danger they were in for volunteering to the samurai’s plans, agreed to.
After a while, with the real bride and groom safely hidden away, Mako and Takeru took their places. Chiaki and Kotoha, meanwhile, stood guard near where the bride and groom had been hidden. As for Zenjiro and Ryuunosuke, the two were on stand-by to intercept the Gedoushuu should the plan fail and the enemy finds the actual bride.
True to their predictions, the Nanashi soon showed up, barging through the shrine’s entrance and terrifying the mikos who were assisting in the weding ceremony. Pretending to be an inept fighter, Takeru was quickly thrown to a side where he played possum while Mako played the role of the frightened bride, allowing herself to be snatched away by the Nanashi who then disappeared into a nearby crevice with her.
Once the Nanashi were gone, the kannushi who had been conducting the ceremony helped Takeru to his feet, having been part of the plan, but as Takeru prepared to regroup with the rest of the Shinkengers, Kotoha suddenly showed up, a worried look on her face…
At the abandoned cemetary in Mount Akumu, Mako is thrown to the floor by the Nanashi as a figure she recognized from the Shiba Clan records she had borrowed from Zenjiro stood before her, a shamisen that gives off a sinister aura in her hands.
“Welcome,” the figure greeted.
This person, she must be the one known as Usukawa Dayu from Zenjiro’s collection of records! I can’t believe we’re actually dealing with someone so close to Chimatsuri Doukoku… Mako thought to herself as Dayu walked over towards her.
“So, how should I greet you properly… Shinkenger?”
Caught off-guard by what Dayu just said, Mako hesitated for a slight moment as she was drawing her Shodophone, allowing Dayu to trap her in a wrist lock and snatch the Shodophone out of her hands.
“You samurai have been trying to lure me out, but I am not that naïve. Did you really think that I would not notice you lot scurrying around like rats? Once I knew you were merely the bait, all I had to do was play along with your little trick while my underlings snuck in from the back and captured the actual bride,” Dayu explained as two Nanashi entered the shrine holding the real bride who was then tossed into the cocoon by the corner.
“No!”
Mako attempted to break free, but she was immediately held down by two other Nanashi while Dayu flipped the stolen Shodophone open.
“Now the, it’s your turn. Telll your comrades where the brides are, but not this location.”
“I won’t do it-”
“Fine, then I shall start killing the brides one by one until you agree to this request. That would be quite a pity…”
Knowing that Dayu was serious, Mako could only grit her teeth and comply…
Outside the location of the wedding ceremony, Takeru, having changed back to his usual attire, received a call from Mako.
“Mako? Are you all right?” he asked calmly.
“Yes, but Takeru, you need to hurry to the warehouses at Kabosume-chou. That’s where the brides are being held. Warehouse number 32.”
“Got it. We’ll be right there.”
About fifteen minutes later, Takeru, Ryuunosuke, Chiaki, Kotoha and Zenjiro were racing towards the warehouse that Mako had mentioned, cautiously approaching once the warehouse was in sight. Entering it, the five started looking around for signs of enemy movement, but then the doors of the warehouse suddenly slammed shut while the sounds of the Nanashi’s laughter could be heard. As Chiaki and Zenjiro tried to pry the doors open, the others turned back only to realize in horror that the entire warehouse had been rigged with explosives.
In two seconds, the entire warehouse was blown to bits in a fiery explosion, taking everything inside of it along in its destruction. The Nanashi roared in victory before disappearing into a crevice to report back to Dayu…
Mako stared at the floor as Dayu, having received news of the Shinkengers’ demise, lets out a mocking laugh.
“Oh, my… To think that the Shinkengers are mere children before me. Perhaps I have overestimated them… How long has it been since my heart felt so light?”
Then, Dayu’s laughter stopped abruptly as she stared at Mako, who flinched at the menacing, murderous aura that was emitting from Dayu at this point.
“Now that there are no longer any pests that will appear and get in my way, I suppose I have all the time I need to finish this uchikake…” Dayu commented as she turned back to the uchikake, now with more elaborate designs on the sleeves compared to fifteen minutes ago, caressing it with one hand as she continued, “A one of a kind uchikake, decorated by the silk and ink created from the despair of these brides. If I wear this, all the Ayakashi will have no choice but to bow their heads before me… But you, you will not get the chance to see it…”
Grabbing Mako and throwing her towards the front of the cocoon, Dayu prepared to launch an attack against her and the cocoon, clearly intending to finish Mako and the brides off at the same time while two Nanashis stood by Mako’s side, their blades aimed directly at her.
“Now, this is the end of your life!” Dayu declared, but then a familiar red lion appeared and began mauling her, snatching Mako’s Shodophone from her hands and returning it to its rightful owner while a yellow monkey and a green bear took out the two Nanashi that were about to cut down Mako.
Getting to her feet, Mako dropped the damsel-in-distress act as she folded her arms and smirked at a surprised Dayu while Takeru, Chiaki and Kotoha appeared at the entrance of the abandoned shrine.
“But this is impossible… How did you find us? My scouts witnessed all of you falling into our trap!” Dayu demanded.
“You’re the one who fell into our trap, Usukawa Dayu. I was merely a decoy for the real infiltrators,” Mako explained as the cocoon behind her which held the kidnapped brides is suddenly sliced into multiple pieces as the ‘real bride’ emerged holding a Shinkenmaru.
“That’s right,” the ‘real bride’ declared as ‘she’ raised her head to reveal ‘herself’ to be Ryuunosuke in disguise, complete with makeup.
“What?”
“He is a kabuki actor after all,” a voice rang out as Zenjiro emerged from a shadow portal like a notorious wraith that lived in a well, “This role is what we call ‘onnagata’ in kabuki theatre.”
“The sixth Shinkenger…” Dayu hissed in disgust at the sight of Zenjiro.
“We know the Gedoushuu aren’t so easily tricked, so we had to consider all possible outcomes and come up with something unorthodox,” Ryuunosuke explained as he pulled out his headwear and mockingly tapped his head at Dayu…
[What really happened? Let’s go to the previous night…]
“No wonder the crow was so agitated…” Zenjiro commented as he and Ryuunosuke stared at the footprints around the barriers of the Shiba mansion.
“Definitely the prints of the Nanashi Renjyuu. They might have been spying on us,” Ryuunosuke said to Takeru as the latter approached.
“I see. Then our original plan might not work after all,” Takeru said as he placed one hand on his chin to contemplate the situation when Ryuunosuke spoke up, saying, “Actually, I have an idea how we can turn this to our advantage…”
[Skip forward to during the bait wedding ceremony…]
“Ryuunosuke really is the master of unorthodox strategies,” Zenjiro said as he and Chiaki watched Ryuunosuke emerge from the room fully dressed as a woman with help from Kotoha.
“I have ‘messed up’ by mentioning how hiding the bride in the back storage room was a good idea,” Chiaki added.
“All right, Zenjiro. Time to put our plan in motion,” Ryuunosuke said to Zenjiro, who nodded, wrote the character [通] on Ryuunosuke’s shadow.
“With this, once you give us the signal, I will be able to teleport to your location via any shadow.”
“Is that permanent?”
“Nope. One entry, one exit use only. I need it for the kidnapped brides’ escape once we find them.”
“While you were busy thinking that you’ve outsmarted us, your underlings failed to check on who they were actually bringing back to your little hideout. Once Ryuunosuke was in that cocoon, he immediately informed us of your location, right before you forced Mako to give us a fake location to lure us into a trap,” Takeru explained to Dayu, who was slowly losing her temper and composure.
“Then… Who are those that were blown up in the warehouse?”
“Those were our shadows, created by Zenjiro.”
“Have you forgotten? The true power of Moon Mojikara is not fighting prowess but deceit?” Zenjiro commented…
[After Mako’s call regarding the fake location…]
“Completely different from Ryuunosuke’s information. That’s definitely a trap,” Chiaki said after hearing what Mako had informed Takeru.
“Zenjiro, get them ready,” Takeru said to Zenjiro, who nodded and wrote the character [影] five times, with each one having an element added to them:
[影 火] [影 水] [影 木] [影 土] [影 月]
Helping Zenjiro to strike a stroke across the written characters, the Shinkengers transformed the written characters into clones of themselves plus Ryuunosuke in their armoured suits, each clone looking just as lifelike as the originals.
“All right… Get going, you all!” Chiaki announced, to which the clones nodded and headed for the fake location…
“This is… You damned samurai…” Dayu cursed as Kotoha received a call from her Shodophone.
“Tono-sama, all the brides had successfully escaped through Zenjiro’s shadow portal! Jii-san and Father Masahiro are tending to them right now,” she informed Takeru, who nodded as Ryuunosuke and Mako joined them by their side, Shodophones at the ready.
“And now you’re the only one left to be dealt with,” Chiaki taunted Dayu, who was now trembling with rage.
“You should give up already,” Takeru added.
“You’re done tormenting brides!” Kotoha finished.
“SILENCE!” Dayu screamed and spat some kind of acidic fluid at the Shinkengers, but Takeru and Zenjiro reacted fast, throwing Zenjiro’s home-made grenades that intercepted the fluid in mid-air and exploded into a thick cloud of smoke that covered the Shinkengers’ exit, with the last thing Dayu heard from them being the words:
“IPPITSU SOUJOU!”
[天] [木] [火] [水] [土] [月]
Taking her shamisen from an awaiting Nanashi, Dayu furiously exited the abandoned shrine to face her enemies, but then she saw the war banners of the Shiba Clan being raised all over the place.
“This crest… They’re serious about this…”
“That’s right. Shinken Red…”
Dayu turned to see Takeru walking out from behind a particularly large tombstone like the Grim Reaper himself, slowly drawing his sword.
“Shiba Takeru.”
“The same, Blue…”
Turning behind, Dayu watched as Ryuunosuke emerged from under the banner, his sword already drawn.
“Ikenami Ryuunosuke,” Ryuunosuke introduced himself as he pointed his sword at Dayu while above him, on the branches of a thick cedar tree, stood Mako, who greeted Dayu, “The same, Pink. Shiraishi Mako.”
“The same, Green,” Chiaki announced, causing Dayu to turn again and see him sitting on the steps leading to the cemetary, “Tani Chiaki.”
As Chiaki got up and readied his blade, Kotoha also came walking towards Dayu from a clearing.
“The same, Yellow. Hanaori Kotoha.”
The sound of creaking wooden floors caught Dayu’s attention as she turned her gaze back to the abandoned shrine where she had been using as a hideout for days, only to see Zenjiro leaning against the walls.
“The same, Black. Yanagi Zenjiro,” he introduced himself while cracking his neck as he began descending the shrine’s stairs.
“The Samurai Sentai authorized by Providence! Shinkenger, going forth!”
At this point, Dayu accepted that she was surrounded and merely took up a battle-ready posture, no longer intimidated by her foes even as they approached her with their weapons ready to cut her down. After all, she was quite confident of the level of her own strength, which was admittedly more than enough for her to deal with at least half the roster of Shinkengers at one time, but she was also aware of the red one's prowess and thus kept her guard up.
“Nanashi Renjyuu, come forth and deal with them!”
Over seventy Nanashi emerged from nearby crevices and charged at the Shinkengers while a few broke off to escort Dayu away from the scene. Mako and Ryuunosuke gave chase immediately, whereas Takeru, Chiaki, Kotoha and Zenjiro stayed back to clear out the Nanashi.
Takeru and Kotoha displayed excellent swordsplay as they nimbly cut through the Nanashi ranks, each slash delivered cleanly and not a single movement wasted. Chiaki and Zenjiro, on the other hand, decimated their opponents with chaotic and unorthodox techniques, sometimes even leaving their weapons impaled on unfortunate Nanashi just so they could get up close and personal. Zenjiro in particular seemed to be having fun grabbing and tossing Nanashi down some nearby cliffs.
Meanwhile, having reached a clearing, Ryuunosuke and Mako quickly cut down Dayu’s escort, leaving the right-hand woman of Doukoku all by herself as the latter stood on a boulder facing the two samurai, firing energy blasts at the two and forcing them to take a few steps back before taunting them to try and take her down.
“Water Arrow!”
Transforming his Shinkenmaru into the Water Arrow, Ryuunosuke launched multiple Mojikara arrows at Dayu with a single shot, but the sinister shamisen player leapt into the air, avoiding the attacks as she landed in front of Ryuunosuke and Mako.
“Unforgivable… Absolutely unforgivable,” Dayu muttered as she walked towards the two, strumming her shamisen.
Both Ryuunosuke and Mako leapt into the air and attempted to take Dayu down with their combined overhead strikes, but Dayu parried both blades with her shamisen before engaging them in a close-combat duel. Despite their best efforts, the two samurai were unable to land a hit on Dayu, who combined kicking techniques with her dance-like movements to keep both of them at bay, occasionally striking them in the head with her shamisen. Eventually, she was able to outmanuever both of them, knocking them to the ground as she unsheathed a hidden blade in her shamisen.
As Ryuunosuke and Mako recovered and charged at her, Dayu suddenly moved at frightening speed, standing behind both samurai in a blink of an eye as the two turned to face her just as they were suddenly hit with several delayed slashes that brought both of them to their knees as they dropped their weapons.
“Die,” Dayu uttered a single word as she approached the two who were struggling to get up, but she was interrupted by the appearance of Takeru who quickly parried her blade and started a new duel against her.
Dayu initially assumed that Takeru would be the same as Ryuunosuke and Mako, but she soon found herself on the defense. Not only was Takeru deflecting her every blow, he was also not fooled by her feints. Realizing that Takeru’s style of swordsmanship was a completely different breed, Dayu quickly distanced herself from him and fired her acidic spit, only for them to be deflected by Chiaki and Kotoha while Zenjiro is seen leaping into the air above them with his Gekkoumaru in its tettō form.
“Gekkoumaru: Mikazuki no Uta!”
A crescent blade of black and violet energy is hurled at Dayu via Zenjiro swinging his Gekkoumaru. It was similar to the ‘Mai’ Mojikara-energy slashes of the other Shinkengers, but instead of travelling in a straight line towards the target, the Mikazuki no Uta’s energy slash moved like an erratic boomerang, with Dayu easily dodging it.
“A poor miss,” she commented.
“Who said it was suppose to hit you?” Zenjiro retorted.
Dayu realized that the energy slash was curving back to her location at the last minute, with the energy slash hitting the ground next to her and causing her to stumble a bit. Zenjiro never planned on striking her: The attack was just a distraction for Mako and Ryuunosuke to load their Disks onto their Shinkenmaru and execute their individual ‘Mai’ slashes.
“Shinkenmaru: Tenkuu no Mai!”
“Shinkenmaru: Suiryu no Mai!”
To make things worse for Dayu, neither the Sky nor the Water Samurai launched their attacks in the form of an energy slash. Instead, the two seize Dayu’s moment of unbalance and rushed over to deliver their attacks in close-combat range. Unable to knock them back given her situation, Dayu is forced to take the attack head-on, using only her arms and shamisen as defense, and is sent flying backwards with a gasp of shock, although she managed to stay on her feet even as Mojikara ravaged her arms.
“Zenjiro, your Disk!” Takeru ordered.
Zenjiro quickly loaded the Fukurou Disk into the Rekka Daizantou.
“Rekka Daizantou! Oozutsu Mode!”
As Dayu looked up, she saw that Takeru had transformed his weapon into its cannon form while the others placed their Disks on the shooting slot before all knelt as Takeru prepared to fire the finishing move.
“Fukurou Gourindan! Seibai!”
An owl-shaped Mojikara energy blast is launched from the Rekka Daizantou towards Dayu, who took a step back in shock as she is momentarily unable to make a decision, but it was at this moment everything changed.
A shadow descended from the skies, an absurdly long sword with a serrated blade in its hands. The shadow landed in front of Dayu while cutting the energy blast cleanly into two, both halves exploding as they hit the ground behind Dayu safely.
“What the-” Chiaki uttered in surprise as the Shinkengers got to their feet to stare at their new adversary, a silver and white humanoid creature with a blood-red, skull-like face and cold eyes and a jewel-like structure across his chest that resembled an exposed ribcage.
“Who are you?” Takeru demanded.
The figure did not reply, simply pointed his blade first at Zenjiro, who looked confused, but then the figure moved his hand with the blade now pointed at Takeru.
“I see… Not the black one but the red one. Perhaps you are the one who has been calling out to my Uramasa?” the figure asked.
“What’s he talking about?” Chiaki asked.
Dayu, who was just as surprised by the appearance of this figure, appeared more flabbergasted by the fact that he had saved her life.
“Juuzou… After how you were treated by us, why did you-”
“You should retreat for now, Dayu.”
“What do you mean?” Dayu asked, but the one called Juuzou turned his attention back on Takeru.
“Someday, I will like to test your ability, red one…” he said as he sheathed his sword, indicating that he was not interested in fighting the Shinkengers at the moment, then turned to take Dayu by her hand and retreat to a higher elevation with a single leap.
“Hey, you’re running away like this?” Ryuunosuke yelled at the retreating duo.
“Get back here!” Mako added.
In response, Juuzou nonchalantly gave a single order.
“Oonanashi Renjyuu.”
As Dayu and the mysterious Juuzou disappeared, a dozen giant versions of the Nanashi Renjyuu emerged from the crevices on the mountain surface.
“You got to be kidding me…” Chiaki complained as he and the others took out their Origami and Shodophone.
“Origami DaiHenge!”
[大]
“Samurai Gattai!”
As the Origamis transformed into their true, giant forms and started linking up to each other, Takeru also triggered the summoning of the Kabuto Origami, skipping the usual process and going straight to forming the Kabuto Shinken-Oh with the Kabuto Origami and the Fukurou Origami.
“Samurai Busou! Kabuto Shinken-Oh! Peerless under Providence!”
“Woah! What the hell? You skipped the processes?” Zenjiro asked as he found himself in Shinken-Oh’s cockpit instead of his usual Fukurou Origami’s.
“Sorry, Zenjiro, but we don’t have time to do things slowly. Get read, everyone!”
As the dozen Oonanashi Renjyuu warily surrounded Kabuto Shinken-Oh, the latter decided to take the initiative and attack, cutting down four of the Oonanashi with two slashes. The others immediately retreated some distance, but Takeru had other plans for them.
“Kabuto Hou!”
Kabuto Shinken-Oh fired its railgun-like energy blast from its helmet, destroying another four Oonanashi in the process. The remaining ones, however, finally gained enough courage to actually close in on Kabuto Shinken-Oh, using their weapons to trap the latter while also dealing some damage to it.
“Argh, these punks have gotten us restrained!” Ryuunosuke exclaimed as sparks began to fly around the cockpit.
“No good! We can’t break free!” Kotoha added as she held on to her control panel for dear life as Kabuto Shinken-Oh nearly loses its balance.
“We can’t move like this!” Chiaki complained.
“Takeru, how about evicting Zenjiro?” Mako suggested.
“What?” Everyone asked in unison, but Zenjiro quickly caught on to what Mako was planning.
“Good idea, Mako! Kick me out and switch to the Kajiki!” he called out.
“Alright, here goes!” Takeru said as he removed the Kabuto Disk, forcing the Kabuto and Fukurou Origamis to detach from Shinken-Oh with the detached parts knocking down the Oonanashi that were holding them down.
“Before I go back in, REVENGE!” Zenjiro said with an evil laugh as he had the Fukurou Origami fire some metal feathers at the Oonanashi to stop them from preventing Ryuunosuke’s summoning of the Kajiki Origami.
“Here goes! Kajiki Origami!” Ryuunosuke announced as he loaded the Kajiki Disk onto his Shinkenmaru and summoned the Kajiki Origami.
Inside the Kajiki Origami, Ryuunosuke fired the Kajiki Gyorai at one of the Oonanashi, destroying it in the process.
“Samurai Busou!”
Again, the Fukurou Origami was combined with Shinken-Oh, this time bringing the Kajiki Origami with it to form:
“Kajiki Shinken-Oh! Peerless under Providence!”
Removing their weapons from their respective control panel, the Shinkengers prepare to deal the finishing blow as Kajiki Shinken-Oh tossed its sword into the air and caught in on its head while the Oonanashi foolishly stood in close proximity with each other before their foe.
“Kajiki Ittou Ryoudan!”
[ 斬]
Swinging its head in a circular motion, Kajiki Shinken-Oh charged Mojikara into its sword before bringing it down upon the remaining Oonanashi, slicing through them like a hot knife through wet tissue paper.
“That brings this act to a close!” Takeru declared.
Turning around to strike a victory pose, Kajiki Shinken-Oh retrieved its sword and sheathed it while the Oonanashi fell to the ground and exploded into oblivion, truly ending a hectic battle that had experienced so many unexpected occurences…
“Just what you expected from a kabuki actor,” Chaiki praised Ryuunosuke as the samurai walked down the streets of a town near the foot Mount Akumu, “You really seemed like an actual woman!”
“I’m still very unskilled. My father often mentioned that I do poorly when given the onnagata role,” Ryuunosuke replied humbly as he tried to strike a feminine pose with a towel he had used to clean off the makeup, only to shake his head, commenting, “Nope. Still not good enough.”
Kotoha and Zenjiro chuckled before the latter went ahead to join Ryuunosuke and Chiaki in one of their nonsense conversations, but Kotoha then noticed Mako looking rather down.
“Mako-chan, what’s wrong?” she asked the older girl, who merely sighed in self-disappointment.
“I remembered a saying that if a woman wears a wedding dress before actually getting married, they are fated to never get married. And I’ve already worn two, so it’s bad…” Mako explained.**
“Don’t worry about it! Zenjiro got them from cosplay shops, so they’re fake! You’ll be all right!” Kotoha cheerfully reassured Mako before pointing to a cake shop which had gotten the boys’ attention, “Look, a cake shop! Let’s get something from there!”
Seeing the optimistic attitudes of the other Shinkengers, Mako could not help but wipe those bad thoughts out of her mind as she walked over to give the boys her input whiloe Takeru, who was walking behind the others, lets out a small smile at their carefree nature, but then the smile quickly faded as he recalled what the mysterious Juuzou had said to him.
Perhaps you are the one who has been calling out to my Uramasa?
Someday, I will like to test your ability.
“That guy…” Takeru quietly mumbled as he wondered what is was that had this Juuzou fellow interested in him.
“Tono-sama!” Kotoha said suddenly, stirring Takeru from his thoughts.
(Chiaki: We should get chocolate.)
(Zenjiro: I want the one with hazelnut cream and caramel.)
“I was wondering if we could get some cake for tonight?” Kotoha requested.
(Ryuunosuke: Don’t eat so many sweet stuff, it’s unhealthy and not suited for a samurai!)
“Why cake?” Takeru asked.
(Chiaki: Why are you deciding what we should eat?)
(Zenjiro: I need my daily junk food intake, you father-complex…)
“I think we should celebrate our plan’s success,” Kotoha replied.
(Mako: Can you guys don’t argue over cake flavors? You know what, we should let Kotoha decide!)
“Yeah, I suppose we could have cake,” Takeru replied awkward as he followed Kotoha, the small smile returning to his face as he followed her across the road to the cake shop where Zenjiro had latched himself to the display window like a leech as Mako and Chiaki tried to pull him off.
“Oi, you guys, wait for me!” Takeru called out as the others, having managed to pull Zenjiro off the window, had entered the shop without waiting for him, prompting Takeru to brush aside Juuzou’s words and finally relax for the first time since the start of their battle against the Gedoushuu as he entered the shop and pushed past Ryuunosuke and Chiaki to get a better look at what options the cake shop had for sale…
Who is the enemy that had suddenly presented himself before the samurai? Nevertheless, the samurai’s plan was a success and all of them are in good spirits despite lingering concerns.
Shinkengers Act 9 ends here …
Writer’s note: Forgot to mention this, but Zenjiro’s full name in Japanese goes like this (柳 善二郎)
**Extra notes: The actress who played Shinken Pink does get married in 2018 to a former football player who is currently a football manager