Chapter 088 is eighty-eighth chapter of Volume 15.
Summary[]
Plot Overview[]
Meanwhile, Akura-Ou is extremely angry at Tomoe for not coming out to help him with his game siege. His advisor tells him he had already made the battle plan. A furball like creature delivers the map and the advisor explains that the red parts on the map belong to Akura-Ou. The rain starts and Tomoe finds an injured Yukiji who had fallen off into a quagmire. She wakes up and feels a presence, only to find no one there. She decides that it was to give her privacy, seeing her clothes and some washing materials.
She cleans herself up and picks up her stuff and her horse, Fubuki, but leaves her kimono for the owner in gratitude. But before she leaves, she asks the owner for his name, who replies it's Tomoe. She recognizes Tomoe as the name of the fox yokai that had gone into the village and leaves quickly. Tomoe, now alone, is visited by the furball creature and the advisor of Akura-Ou who tell him that Akura-Ou wishes that Tomoe help him in his game of siege.
He refuses, claiming he does not feel like it. The advisor reports this to Akura-Ou who burning with rage, decides to stop the game since Tomoe wasn't going to help, and shoos away his followers. His advisor warns him that the look in Tomoe's eye looked rebellious and that he must be wary but the furball creature tells him that Tomoe could be in love, making Akura-Ou laugh. But the creature says that Tomoe had a human woman's smell, not of sweat or land but of perfume and make-up; the smell of the woman from the capital.
The advisor again warns Akura-Ou that Tomoe might be plotting something. This makes Akura-Ou anger and kill him, splattering the blood all over the map, painting it all in red. He tells the furball to look for the girl Tomoe likes, since he was the one after all who suggested it, all before he comes back from his walk. Meanwhile Nanami had come back to the past bringing the many things her friends had given. She learns the capital is nearby from some passing people but worn down by the weight of her bag, she checks it, finding canned peaches, a pillow, sake and some other unnecessary items.
Tired, she tries to eat the canned peaches but without an opener, she sulks. Just then a voice calls her, asking if she was from the capital and where it was. Nanami looks up and sees Akura-Ou, who is holding the canned peaches.