Earless Hoichi [Episode 1] One Hundred Arrows (3)

The demon appears—

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◇ Chapter 7: "The Demon, the Darkness of the Village Walking"

The night began to go mad, quietly.

The festival fires had died out, and the sacred tree, its arrows unshot, sank into darkness.

Heizo stood in the center of the village, raising his voice toward the people of the Sakuzo settlement.

"The name Tagosaku is no longer needed. We shall remake this settlement anew. With our own power!"

That voice suddenly stopped.

Far away, beyond the bamboo grove, came the sound of something walking.

Thud... thud...

A heavy, damp sound of footsteps dragging across the earth. It was neither beast nor human.

Before long, what appeared was a grotesque thing with horns and a dangling eye—it was Hyobei.

No, it was no longer Hyobei.
His skin was red and festering, sobs leaked from his throat, and blood seeped from his mouth.

Yet, only his eyes were wet with tears.

"Oh..."

Heizo backed away.

"Y-you... are you... Hyobei?"

The demon stared at Heizo without saying a word.

In those eyes, there was anger, sadness, and—joy.

"Thank you... for making me... into something like this."

The voice was low, like a rumbling of the earth, and it soaked into everything.

The next moment, the demon leaped.

Neither those with hidden blades nor those chanting sutras were there yet.

The sound of bones crushing. The sound of flesh tearing.

Heizo's scream lasted only an instant before it was swallowed by the village.

Continuing, the demon slowly approached Koyuki.

Koyuki did not move.

No, she could not move.

"Hyo...bei..."

A single tear spilled from the demon's eye.

It was a tear of joy.

Proof that the accumulated resentment and sorrow had finally cleared.

"Finally, I am... with you..."

Koyuki never learned the rest of those words, and as the demon shed tears, he swallowed Koyuki whole—right then and there, down into the depths of his throat.
Koyuki's kimono and obi spilled from the demon's mouth, falling softly, and Koyuki's white feet slipped away from the demon's throat.
Without a sound, without a scream, just a single tear, quiet as snow, dampened the village soil.

Silence returned to the village at night.

But a faint sound carried by the wind,

tap, tap...

began to be heard from somewhere.

◇ Chapter 8: "Sutras and Biwa, Tearing Through the Darkness"

Tap... tap...

In the damp night wind, the dry sound of a wooden fish drum echoed.

The sounds overlapped, one after another, and soon began to mark a steady rhythm.
Like the footsteps of a Buddha walking in the darkness, it quietly but surely began to envelop the village.

And appearing ahead of the sound was a man wearing a deep straw hat and ink-dyed robes—the monk.

Behind him followed Hoichi, a boy carrying a biwa.
On the face of the blind boy, there was neither fear nor anger, only a single-minded focus on listening to the flow of the wind and the heartbeat of the world.

"Is it... still in time for the people of this village?"

The monk stopped and muttered as if groaning.

Before him lay the remains of Heizo, who had already become a corpse.
Beside it lay Koyuki's kimono—

"It is your job, Hoichi."

At the monk's words, Hoichi nodded silently.

Sitting down and cradling the biwa on his lap, he plucked the strings with his fingertips.

—Twang...

A low, deep sound sent ripples through the night.

"The sound of the Gion Shoja bells..."

The fragment of the Tale of the Heike spoken from Hoichi's lips.

It was neither a sutra nor a poem, but a prayer of sound—as if calling forth souls.

Hyobei, who had become a demon, stood in the center of the village.

Shaking his blood-stained body, he turned toward the sound of the biwa.

His eyes caught Hoichi.

"...You are"

A nostalgic voice. But what that voice contained was neither anger nor sadness.

Hoichi did not answer.
The melody of the biwa became deeper and sharper.

At that moment, the monk, who had cast off his straw hat behind him, quietly drew the sheath of his hidden blade.

The blade that appeared was as thin as a needle, sliding through the moonlight.

"...Forgive me. This is the dance of the Buddha."

The monk kicked off the ground.
His movements were graceful, smooth as if the wind itself were dancing.

In time with Hoichi's biwa, the staff danced through the air.
One step, two steps, three steps—eventually, the blade pierced the demon's chest.

A thudding sound.
But the demon did not scream.

He only had peaceful eyes.
And, shedding tears, he collapsed.

Hoichi continued to play.
As if weaving the regrets and memorial services of the Heike until the final chapter.

When the sound eventually stopped and the wind grew quiet, the monk put his straw hat back on and said,

"I was not dancing... The voice of the Buddha must have made it look that way to you."

Hoichi smiled.
And replied only with a small, "Yes."

Before dawn, a faint light began to shine in the village sky.

◇ Chapter 9: "Prayers to the Ashes"

The morning arrived, bringing the smell of ash.

The sun hanging over the ridge of the rice fields shone terribly white and cold. The burned-down settlement was still sending up smoke in places, and the scent of soot drifted on the wind.

Within it, two shadows stood.

Hoichi knelt in the ashes, quietly cradling his biwa.
There was no fear or sadness on his face. There was only the stillness of one who had seen and accepted everything.

Tap... tap...

The sound of the wooden fish drum echoed, mixing with the wind that held a faint dampness.

The monk had gathered fallen trees left in the village square and built an impromptu altar.
Placed before it were Tasuke's mortuary tablet, Heizo's broken spear, and a scrap of the undergarment Koyuki had been wearing—

"Do not ask for names. What we return to the earth is not bone, but feelings."

The monk said this as he burned incense.
The smoke rose straight up, drawn into the cloudless sky.

The remaining villagers watched in silence, keeping their distance.
No one spoke, but no one could leave the spot.

Eventually, Hoichi began to play the biwa.

—"This is a song for the souls scattered in battle..."

The memory of the Heike he spoke of was no longer that of a demon.
It was the memory of a young man named Hyobei—his dreams, his regrets, and his love.

Some wiped away tears, others pressed their hands together in prayer.

That day, the village returned one feeling to the earth.

◇

When the memorial service ended, a profound silence descended upon the village.
The smoke of the incense burned at the altar drifted as if dissolving into the cold morning air.

The monk remained motionless with his hands pressed together in prayer. Hoichi also sat silently with his biwa on his lap.

Hyobei was no longer in this world. After becoming a demon and drinking his fill of regrets and tears, he had fallen into hell.
That was his "destiny."
The end for one possessed by a vengeful spirit, who ate people and bore the defilement.

However—that sorrow still clung to the hearts of those left behind.

◇

It was that night.
A presence like the wind suddenly brushed against Hoichi's ears.
Even in the room where there should have been no wind, the strings of the biwa rang out on their own: "Twang..."

"Monk..."

"...Yes. You hear it too, don't you?"

The monk narrowed his eyes, sitting in the formal position as if surrounding the flame of the candle stand.
There was no wind. There was no sound. Yet, something was near. It was truly there.

"...Thank you..."

The voice was that of a young woman. It was trembling, yet clear.

"Hoichi-sama, Monk-sama... thank you for saving us..."

Another voice followed, a man's.
A young man's voice, strong yet somehow bashful.

"I... I wish I had realized it a little sooner.
But, I can finally be at peace with Koyuki..."

In the soundless space, Hoichi bowed his head deeply, deeply.

"You have attained Buddhahood..."

"...Yes... The outer shell of the demon was struck down by the power of the Buddha.
But it would mean nothing if the soul were trapped within it.
—The voice just now tells us that."

The monk said this and touched the tip of his hidden blade to the floor.
There was a trace of blood-like crimson absorbed into the tip, but it had already dried and turned dark.

"But, what about Hyobei...?"

When Hoichi asked, the monk lowered his eyes.

"Once he became a demon, he was no longer human.
I had no choice but to exorcise him. ...He falls into a hell where even the Buddha's mercy cannot reach."

Hoichi said nothing.
He only traced the strings of the biwa. A single "twang" echoed.

It was low and sorrowful, just like Hyobei's tears.

◇

"Monk-sama... may I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Were you... dancing with that sword?
I cannot see, but I feel it through the sound, the wind, and the scent...
That was a sword dance. A sword... to exorcise the demon..."

The monk paused for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

"I was not dancing. I am one who serves the Buddha; I do not commit murder.
—My sutras must have made you see a dance, Hoichi."

The wooden fish drum sounded from nowhere: tap, tap.

There was no wind, no sound, no scent—
Only the resonance of the Buddha melted into the darkness of the night.

Episode 1 "One Hundred Arrows" (End)

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