Ayakashi Ayashi – 07

Summary:
-After Yuki’s speech, the Ayashi group minus Ogasawara heads out to face Quetzalcoatl.
-Once they are gone, the woman named Matsue Sote who works under Torii attempts to strangle Atl, but Ogasawara stops her.
-With Yuki planning to pull the Ayagami out from Quetzalcoatl, the group sets up a trap with Saizou as the dancing bait. When Quetzalcoatl finally comes down from the sky and goes after Saizou, she jumps off the bridge and onto the raft below that’s being pulled by Abi. As Quetzalcoatl weaves its way through the underside of the bridge, Yuki jumps on its back and activates his powers. At first he pulls out the character yuki (snow), but he knows that that was a name given after Quetzalcoatl came to Japan (the horse’s name was Yukiwa). The character keeps changing and Yuki is thrown off the serpent before he can do anything else.
-Yuki wonders if Quetzalcoatl really doesn’t have any Ayagami inside. Kumoshichi thinks that his own Ayagami might be able to do it and suggests that Yuki should find it. Yuki raises his hand to draw out the Ayagami from Kumoshichi, but he can’t go through with it. When Kumoshichi asks why, Yuki explains that all the past Youi whose Ayagami he pulled out have disappeared. Yuki starts to walk away, but Kumoshichi stops Yuki by attempting to clarify that he’s not Shichiji – that person was killed by Yuki. Kumoshichi is now someone created by Yuki, the Kumoshichi inside of Yuki.
-The two then hear Ogasawara telling Atl to stop and see that she’s stolen one of Edo Genbatsu’s guns. She won’t allow them to kill Quetzalcoatl, and she still believes that she will return with Quetzalcoatl to its country. In response, Yuki tells her that such a country doesn’t exist. He realizes now that she was the one who brought and created Quetzalcoatl. Although Quetzalcoatl is probably a god somewhere, this Quetzalcoatl is something that Atl created when she opened the door to the other world. Yuki knows that, in that regard, Quetzalcoatl is exactly the same as Kumoshichi.
-Atl actually understands this, admitting that she wanted to destroy everything and then go to somewhere else. Since she blames herself for playing with a god and creating a monster, Yuki tells her that everyone commits crimes. But nevertheless, people have to keep living and make up for those crimes. By saying no, she’s only trying to run away to the other world.
-Seeing Kumoshichi standing beside Yuki, Atl decides that she doesn’t want to be like that by having her crimes take that form. Yuki responds by putting his hand up to Kumoshichi’s chest and activating his powers. He pulls out an Ayagami of the character kumo (cloud), and it fuses with the other characters he got from Quetzalcoatl until only the bottom part remains, causing Kumoshichi to disappear. After Quetzalcoatl flies down from the sky and eats this character, Ogasawara recalls that the character kumo shows the shape of the dragon that hides in the clouds. Edo Genbatsu adds that the dragon is a god who rules over the universe, and if Quetzalcoatl isn’t an evil serpent, then it could be a dragon incarnation. Yuki is the one who realizes that Kumoshichi and Quetzalcoatl have actually become one.
-As Quetzalcoatl/Kumoshichi flies up, Yuki calls out Kumoshichi’s name. Above the clouds, Quetzalcoatl/Kumoshichi has changed into an actual dragon that flies off, parting the clouds and allowing the sun to shine down.
-In the aftermath, Yuki decides not to erase his tattoo. Saizou is concerned that people will still think Yuki is a fumin, but he promises to be careful not to trouble her.
-Ogasawara feels that Yuki can do whatever he wants, but he warns that it’s only a sentiment – by not erasing the proof that he was a fumin, Yuki can’t forget his past. Yuki, however, believes that he’s only a fumin and that’s the one thing he won’t forget.
-Atl returns to her previous employer at the performance place and gets a farewell gift from her former colleagues. As she’s later walking through Yoshiwara (a red-light district) with Yuki, she notices how happy everyone is and asks him about it.
-The two are interrupted by Tamahei and Oshino, the former of whom accuses Yuki of the murder he heard from the latter. Surprisingly, Atl is the one who stands up for Yuki, saying that he isn’t running away and that he hasn’t forgotten. She knows that he’s been looking hard at his crime and she also knows how painful that is. After Yuki tells Tamahei that things will become scary if he concerns himself with Yuki from now on, Tamahei is angry, but Oshino stops him.
-Oshino brings Tamahei back to where she’s staying and introduces him to her son. She says that 15 years is a long time and reveals that she had forgotten about Shichiji a long time ago. It was because that she happened to see Yuki that she became angry at herself for forgetting Shichiji. Although Tamahei still thinks a crime is a crime, Oshino wonders what kinds of feelings Yuki has after having killed someone and having to be together forever with a ghost.
-Ogasawara reports about what happened to his superior who thinks it’s ok as long as Torii wasn’t able to take advantage.
-Yuki and Edo Genbatsu take Atl to a woman who dresses her up. They then go out to view the blossoming sakura trees, causing the woman to call this the country of dreams. Atl is quite happy seeing this beautiful scene and decides that this is the country of gold.
-Edo Genbatsu later brings Yuki to the outskirts of Asakusa to a stable filled with horses. On the far side, Yuki sees Yukiwa – aka. Quetzalcoatl – and he thinks that it must be thanks to Kumoshichi that Quetzalcoatl has returned to the form of the horse. What shocks Yuki is when Kumoshichi’s voice starts coming from the horse. Having been created by Yuki and being comfortable where he is, Kumoshichi isn’t going back to the other world. Hearing this, Yuki starts to laugh happily.

Preview:

-This is the second straight episode that I’ve really enjoyed watching. They seem to be doing much better now with the story and the pacing. The episode got off to a good start with the Ayashi group in action and then finished with two good scenes (the sakura and stable ones)
-I nearly burst out laughing when they revealed that Kumoshichi’s voice is now attached to the horse. It’s like Mister Ed all over again. Anyway, this likely means that horse Kumoshichi will be a permanent character, though I wonder if the other characters will be able to hear him speak (since Atl was the one other person who could see the ghostly form of Kumoshichi). The preview for next week even features Yuki riding the horse.
-Next episode looks like it’ll start a Saizou-centric arc. I had noted last week that I wanted to learn more about her background, and this may reveal exactly that.