More of Saiunkoku 11. Sorry about the length. I write a long letter because I have not the time to write a short one, etc.

Yuushun and Kan Hishou are talking. Hishou is worried about Yuushun, because if he’s protecting the king too much, he might end up assassinated. Yuushun considers the situation: currently the post of the uh… Department of Legislation (I can’t recall what it was supposed to be translated as: anyway, this is a position on about the same level as Ou Ki and Riou Jr.’s) is empty, and has been for years (where Tantan used to work), and the exam faction and and nobility faction are at 50-50 stalemate, thanks to how the previous king and Shou Taishi. Yuushun says that Kan Hishou should give Ryuuki another chance, because he is young and it’s natural that he’s made lots of mistakes with no one older to advise him. Although Hishou notes that Ryuuki never bothered to every seek the counsel of the ministers, he agrees to meet with Ryuuki. Ryuuki needs to gain the recogniztion of all the ministers, especially Reishin. [I have no idea how Ryuuki is going to do that.]

Jyuusan-hime and Shuuei are talking, and she notices that he is holding a fan, which belongs to Shusui. He tells her that there is no chance they’ll get together because she’s totally in love with another man. Jyuusan-hime is sort of o_0 about this, but anyway, they then begin to recall someone who was Shuuei’s best friend, and okay, let’s just reveal things here: the one-eyed man in the jail who calls himself Shun is actually Shiba Jin. Five years ago, he was supposed to have been condemned to death, but before that, he was Shuuei’s close friend and the fiancee of Jyuusan-hime. Somehow, he is connected to the assassin band after Jyuusan-hime.

Shuurei and Jyuusan-hime meet. They will be living together in a detached palace, where it will be easier to protect her. They switch clothes, so Shuurei is disguised as Jyuusan-hime while Jyuusan-hime is disguised as a servitor. While they are changing, Suou asks Seiran about Ensei. When Seiran is done, Suou thinks it’s the first time he’s heard Seiran praise anyone but Shuurei, and says that Ensei must be his friend, which Seiran denies. Suou then says that it seemed Seiran had no friends, sort of like Seiga, except that he has Shuurei. (…Tantan, you seem to spend your time writing character essays) Tantan thinks that he is comparatively useless, and muses that maybe he should go and be a farmer, but actually Seiran thinks that he is useful because he can help Shuurei see reality, however, he doesn’t know what to say to Suou, and that even he can’t read Suou and see his true intentions, which is Suou’s strong point. Anyway, Seiran tells Suou that he is a good aide to Shuurei, and reflects that now he is needed less and less by Shuurei, and rather than fearing that day as he thought, in fact he is pleased.

Later Shuurei and Jyuusan-hime are left in the palace. Jyuusan-hime wants to go fishing, and checks to see if the fish are poisoned, which they are. During the night, Jyuusan-hime senses the presence of two people, who don’t possess killing intent, but are just watching. The next day, Ryuuki meets Jyuusan-hime, and goes fishing for the first time in his life with her. Jyuusan-hime asks him if he is love with Shuurei, and when Ryuuki says yes, and also says that he doesn’t need to marry anyone else, asks if then Shuurei doesn’t like him back at all. However, this has given the Ran clan an opening against him, so they sent Jyuusan-hime. She says that she is willing to marry him and support him, even if they don’t love each other, because she agreed to her brothers’ conditions, to save the life of the man she loves. (See next volume’s summary for how this occurred). Because of her respect for this promise, she is thoroughly committed to carrying out her duty. She says that if Ryuuki can figure out how to get Shuurei to marry him, he’ll be the third person: supposedly there are two people who can untangle every problem, and one of them is among the three triplets of the Ran clan, and the other in the Kou family. She says that even if they don’t love each other, they may still be happy enough, and that since she knows that Shuurei was told to protect her at the cost of her life, she will protect Shuurei. She also has a message from Shuuei: the next time we meet will be the last.

Later Jyuusan-hime comes along Shusui. She seems ill, so she helps her. They discuss Shuuei, and Jyuusan-hime inwardly feels sorry for her brother. Apparently the only way that Shuuei seems to be special to her is that he causes her to make a face thinking about all the trouble he causes. Shusui asks her to enter the Inner Palace for the sake of Ryuuki, probably because she knows she doesn’t have much time left.

Shuurei and Seiga had gone off on some kind of official business, with Shuurei disguised as Jyuusan-hime. Seiga left Shuurei in a carriage outside of the jail. Suddenly, Shun, well, Jin, comes up and starts talking to her from outside. He reveals he is one of the ‘Ghosts inside the Jail.’ He says he will wait for Shuuei on the night of the new moon, and not to tell this to Seiga. He also says the fireflies remind him of the woman he loves, who resembles Shuurei. … This foreshadowing is kind of obvious.

After Jin leaves, Seiga attempts to question Shuurei about him. She pretends like no one came and talked to her, but Seiga isn’t having any of it. He gets into the carriage with Shuurei and suddenly grabs her and undoes her hair, and then restyles it. [Why does Seiga know how to style a woman's hair? Was he previously undercover as a hairdresser or something?] He says he wants to confirm something, and says that she is uh, without sensuality. He then approaches Shuurei and grabs her wrist; Shuurei wants to kick him but unfortunately her clothes are too restrictive. She then realizes that Seiga has a deep distrust of women, believing that they are only out for themselves and willing to stoop to anything to get what they want, and that Seiga wants to steal everything from her. She tells him, though, that no matter what he does to her, he will never be able to take anything from her. Seiga smiles almost as if this is what he wanted to hear, and tells her not to forget those words. They then glare at each other, and Seiga almost kisses Shuurei (for a moment his gaze is almost something soft in his gaze), but luckily a horse approaches, and Seiga stops. It turns out to be Shuuei, and he offers to escort Shuurei home. Shuurei conveys Jin’s message to Shuuei, who tells her to talk about this to no one but Jyuusan-hime. Shuuei tells her that the hairstyle suits her, but Shuurei then yanks out the hairpin and undoes it. Shuurei then asks him what he thinks of Ryuuki: Shuuei says that he likes Ryuuki, but liking and swearing loyalty are two different things.

Later, Shuurei asks Jyuusan-hime if she knows ‘Shun,’ but Jyuusan-hime is vague. While feeding carrots to the horse, she meets Ryuuki (who says he wants to become a horse…). Ryuuki asks Shuurei if she feels jealous of Jyuusan-hime, who says she feels a bit as if Seiran had gotten married, somewhat jealous, but wishing them happiness. (ow, poor Ryuuki) Shuurei knows she cannot feel romantic love (Japanese is one of those languages where there’s a short and easy word for romantic love) for Ryuuki, so she just chooses to love him platonicly.

Shuurei is sure there is a lot Seiga isn’t telling her. While she is discussing this with Suou, Anju pops up. Shuurei tries to return the peach, telling him that Kouki said they were unlucky. As usual it’s near impossible to get anything concrete from Anju. After thinking for awhile, she asks him if any regional officials have been recently assassinated, and he says at least five have. Shuurei has Tantan research this. Anyway, Seiga’s true purpose is to discover who is behind the assassin band. This seems to be the undersecretary of the Military Bureau (the same one who warned Kouki about the assassnation plot). Seiga is actually planning not to meet Jin and defend Jyuusan-hime on the night of the new moon, but to arrest the undersecretary in a different place. Later, Shuurei and Suou meet Ensei in jail. He had intended to come for the special exam but got picked up after he defended Jyuusan-hime, as a suspicious person.

Later, Jyuusan-hime is in the detached palace when she detects three assassins, whom she defeats with her two-sword style. At the same time, Seiran saves Yuushun from another assassin. It seems they weren’t too serious about killing him, more of an afterthought. The real action is going on where Seiga is attempting to arrest the undersecretary, and is met by Jin and a masked figure. The masked figure tries to attack Seiga, but suddenly Shuurei, accompanied by Kanshou and Ensei, rushes in. After some battle, Jin and the masked person withdraw, but they have secretly assassinated the undersecretary with a poisoned needle. Although Shuurei had thought that the undersecretary was the true mastermind and had tried to assassinate Jyuusan-hime because he wished to make his own daughter empress and killed the officials to replace them with his pawns, it seems things are more complex.

At Jyuusan-hime’s palace, Shuuei and Jyuusan-hime have already prepared for Jin’s arrival. Jin arrives, and calls her by the name only he uses, Hotaru. Jyuusan-hime is angry that he has become an assassin, and Shuuei reveals that probably the triplets sent her knowing Jin was there, because as a member of the Shiba clan, his actions reflect on the Ran clan. (Because they’re traditonally the retainers of the Ran clan) Jin says that he has thrown away his name and is now only Shun, so Setsuna doesn’t have to care about him. Shuuei and Jin then begin to go all out fighting against each other. Jyuusan-hime is astounded at Shuuei’s strength, because normally he hides his true power. Then the masked figure pops out and relentlessly battles Jyuusan-hime; the mask falls off and it is revealed to be Shusui. Then Shuurei and Ensei arrive, and the sound of Shuurei’s voice temporarily brings Shusui back to herself, and she flees outside of the window. Jin, seeing he is outnumbered, follows after.

Jin picks up an unconscious Shusui in the woods, but the Black Wolf tells him to put her down. Although Jin is so frightened of the legendary assassin that he doesn’t dare turn around, he stands his ground and argues that Shusui can no longer resist the brainwashing, and that even if she temporarily came back to herself, she would be unhappy in the Inner Palace because she will know she could come under the control of the Hyou clan at any time. Jin promises to somehow free Shusui of the Hyou Clan’s mind control, somehow. Shouka tells him that he is confused, because not wanting to kill Jyuusan-hime, he purposefully warned Shuuei, so the job was botched. Shouka feels bad for not realizing that Shusui was suffering from the Hyou clan’s mind control, which is probably the work of Hyou Ruka. So, Shouka decides to entrust Shusui to Jin (it seems that Jin is not really working for the Hyou clan).

Later, Shuurei meets with Kouki to discuss the case. Shuurei insists that there is more to the case than just the undersecretary being the mastermind. Kouki says that the one-eyed man has ties to the Ran clan (it seems that Seiga was pursuing that theory), and Shuurei disagrees with him. She says that both Shuuei and Jyuusan-hime testified that it was a complete stranger. Kouki is irritated and tells her tells her not to mix private matters in with work, and says that she should suspect everyone, family, friends, lovers. Shuurei asks if this extends to her superior also. For the first time, a human expression flashes in Kouki’s eyes, and he smirks and says, of course, your superior is gifted in plentiful experience and thus more skilled at hiding evidence than you. Suddenly, Shuurei wonders about the Military Secretary, but Kouki tells her to be quiet, and the case is closed. [Actually, I can see Kouki's point. Why should he trust Shuurei with the true workings of the case when she's clearly covering for her friends and just deciding on faith that the Ran clan can be cleared?] After Shuurei leaves, Kouki talks with Seiga about how the undersecretary possibly angered someone and was eliminated.

Shuuei meets Ryuuki, and on the way, Kouyuu (who has engaged Riou Jr. as a guide) asks him. Many people are standing around watching. Unlike in his encounter with Jin, his heart is not in it, and after awhile, Ryuuki disarms him and wins the match. Then Shuuei offers up his sword to Ryuuki, saying he is not worthy of it. Ryuuki in return wordlessly gives him a handkerchief in return for the sword.

In the last scene, Ryuuki, with Yuushun’s permission, resolves to follow Shuuei to Ran Province to get him back.

Commentary: I was going to have a longer commentary, but so much of this stuff is resolved in volume 12, that I am going to end up having a shorter one. The interesting thing is that earlier, it isn’t obvious to the viewer that Ryuuki has a big problem as king. Actually, in the books, the conflict between Kouyuu and Shuuei’s loyalty to Ryuuki and their other loyalties is discussed, but I don’t recall if it is in the anime? If it really isn’t, it’s sort of going to come as a suprise to viewers if they animate this part.

Some notes on characters:

Seiga: Seiga is full of mysteries. At one point it says that although he bears the armband designating him as heir-apparent, he is actually pretty much the leader. And Shuurei herself, who is revealed in this arc to be painfully unsuspicious, is even forced to wonder why he speaks constantly of promotions, but has seemingly chosen not to be promoted to a higher position. (The Censorate ranks they have are not too high). Also, why does he so dislike the Seven Clans? My theory is that Seiga chooses to stay in a low position because while he’s in the Censorate, he can bring down some people in high positions. Just as in the military, there are only a limited number of high positions, so if you get rid of those people, Seiga and his allies can replace them with people they like better.

Kouki: Actually, Kouki has rapidly become an interesting character. Is he one of Ou Ki’s loyalists, or just devoted to stamping out corruption? He respects Seiga’s talents, but do they truly have the same goals? And just WHY did he decide to hire Shuurei, given that he has so many doubts about her abilities and loyalties? Is he just using Shuurei’s connections? Or is he attempting to try to make her into a better official? At times he seems to be just amused at the contest building up between Shuurei and Seiga, looking at it like a spectator. Many of Kouki’s actions seem contradictory…

Anju: Ahaha, he’s amusing as always. I wonder how and why he and Kouki became friends? So far, he actually, even in vol 12, doesn’t actually DO much other than provide a lot of information and talk to people. He’s clearly doing something, but who knows what it is? Also, it’s odd that he is the direct subordinate and aid to Ou Ki, and yet is said to maintain a middle position. Hmmm. He claims to like Shuurei and flirts with her, yet I also wonder if he doesn’t have more motives for talking to her.

tags>>saiunkoku