Shion arrives to save Sagiri and Yuzuriha, with enough knowledge on the “waves” that make up tao that he’s able to fight a sustained solo battle against Jiujin, impressing both Sagiri and Yuzuriha. Realizing he still can’t defeat the monster alone, Sagiri and Nurugai don bandages and cover themselves in Yuzuriha’s ninja mucus in order to protect themselves from any scratches that could lead to flowers blooming.
True to form, Yuzuriha doesn’t directly involve herself in any more fighting, but she is able to prop Senta up so he can tell Shion where their opponent’s true weak spot is: the ovule, since it’s a plant monster. When Shion focuses all of his tao into one point and uses that to slash the ovule, Jiujin is finally killed for good, and even thanks Shion for doing it, as it ends a thousand years of life, much of which must have been pretty dull.
With the first tensen defeated, proving that they can be killed, Yuzuriha is frank in her assessment of Senta: he’s not going to make it and it isn’t worth wasting precious medical supplies on him. That said, she does hold Senta in her arms until he passes.
Sagiri, perhaps the most well-adjusted of the characters there (not saying much, I know) is wrecked by the death of a fifth comrade. As for her charge Gabimaru, he wakes up having no idea where he is or what he’s doing. It would seem his excessive uses of tao has resulted in amnesia.
But it might be even worse than that. As they rest in a nearby stately house, Yuzuriha somehow finds an even cuter outfit to change into, then plants a new seed of doubt in Sagiri’s head: what if Gabimaru was wrong about the village chief drinking the elixir? What if that was just another ninja illusion drilled into him as a kid? And what if his wife isn’t even real, but simply another illusion designed to motivate him?
When Mei uses her tao-vision on Gabimaru, he seems to be missing the whole top of his head-tao, which can’t be good. Now the veil of uncertainty has been cast over a number of things I took as a given (the elixir exists, Gabimaru has a wife named Yui. It’s a particularly cruel way to close this first of presumably two cours of Jigokuraku.
At the same time, I have faith in Sagiri’s goodness, humanity, and commitment to not let anyone else die. I don’t know if she’ll succeed, but I do know she’ll try her damndest, and for all the right reasons. As for the rest, I can only hope Gabi isn’t a fake wife guy and can recover what he lost with some rest and/or meditation. In any case, we won’t know what will become of these folks until that second cour comes around. But what a first cour it was.
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