Twenty years ago, there was an oni woman who left Mitsukue. People called her 'the one-horned oni,' or 'Aooni' for short. Rumor even had it that she hunted down and killed people who'd wronged someone, night after night.

In reality, she'd spent that whole time quietly working as a Guard Department officer in Lungmen. Then one day, a letter arrives saying her adoptive father Tessai is holding a funeral for Kajimachi — a chance to catch up on old times before redevelopment wipes it off the map.

So on the first night of her return after 20 years, the very first thing Hoshiguma did was crash a concert and scare an idol half to death. Her hometown, it turns out, had a very unexpected welcome waiting for her.

1. Homecoming Night One: The Original Oni Gets Mistaken for a Ghost

That night, actress and singer Momoka — who'd debuted in *The Birth of the Demon*, a film shot in Kajimachi — was in the middle of a concert celebrating *The Birth of the Demon*, the film that gave her her first leading role. Of all things, the film's subject was the 'one-horned oni' legend.

Just as she waited for an encore, a real one-horned oni appeared backstage. Momoka screamed and sank to the floor, clutching her head.

D-demon, th-th-this is roasted beans! C-c-come any closer and I'll throw them! Demons out, fortune in!

— Momoka

In truth, the 'demon' was just a traveler quietly trying to get home. That oni was none other than Hoshiguma — she'd only ended up shoved onto the stage while trying to dodge the police chasing her.

After that night, Momoka became the talk of the whole city as 'the celebrity who witnessed a real ghost story.'

2. I'm Home... But Nobody Seems Happy About It

Hoshiguma spent the whole night held at the police station, then wolfed down a Higashi-style katsudon that Detective Koreto brought her — the first taste of home cooking she'd had in 20 years.

Once released, she headed back to Kajimachi, only to find no familiar faces waiting — just Mifune, once one of Tessai's men, throwing his weight around by beheading one of his own subordinates. When Tessai stepped in to scold him, Mifune cut off one of his own fingers on the spot and offered it up, saying, "This should settle it, shouldn't it?" Tessai later put it bluntly.

"Did you think cutting off a finger wasn't just theater? That was an insult."

As it turned out, the funeral letter hadn't come from Tessai at all — Mifune had forged it. Tessai, looking none too pleased, said, "Twenty years ago, we agreed that once we parted ways, there'd be no more contact. I never once thought of breaking that promise." Hoshiguma's old home had already been sitting empty as a haunted house for ten years.

Out on the street, a masked young man named Tetsuya picks a fight with her, wooden sword in hand. Turns out he's the biological son Tessai had after remarrying (Hoshiguma was only taken in and raised by Tessai like a daughter — she wasn't his real daughter, and her own biological father was a separate man, Kinsekigai's first chairman and a doctor, who had already been murdered, so she has no blood relation to Tetsuya at all). He's subdued in a single joint-lock before they've even traded more than a few blows, though.

Th-this is... some kind of *mutodori*?!

— Tetsuya

Hoshiguma's deadpan reply follows: "Lay off the manga already — this is basic stuff, it's called qinna."

3. Cleaning the Haunted House, Mistaken for a Ghost Again

Meanwhile, under the pretext of cleaning up last night's mess, Momoka's agency forces her into filming an 'Oni House Exploration' segment — at none other than Hoshiguma's old home.

Hoshiguma, tidying up the house in the dark, runs into Momoka mid-shoot, and Momoka screams and bolts again. In the chaos, she quietly picks up a broken sword lying on the floor and takes it with her.

The trouble starts that night, when the TV in Momoka's room switches on by itself, playing a conversation between Mifune and his secretary Mio: "Momoka picked up that broken sword. Get rid of her, quietly." Right up until the moment Mio opened the door and walked in, Momoka had no idea they were talking about her.

4. Oni, Idol, Info Broker, and a Self-Proclaimed God — the World's Most Mismatched Party

Hoshiguma ends up protecting the fleeing Momoka almost by accident, and the two of them team up with Moriuchi, the owner of an oden stall on Nita Street. Moriuchi turned out to be an information broker who'd spent 20 years searching for the deity that saved his family when he was a child.

The clue was 'Wanyudo,' the source of Mitsukue's ghost stories — a unicycle supposedly ridden by something invisible. Chasing it all the way to a shrine, they finally caught it — and found it was just a bored, unenthusiastic deity who'd been chasing other people's ghost stories for fun.

Ever since you disappeared, ghost stories have been floating around Mitsukue. It's not like it's my fault for chasing them around out of boredom, is it?

— The Curious Deity

He had no idea, of course, that he himself was responsible for eighty percent of the ghost stories. The deity Moriuchi had actually been looking for was someone else, and reuniting with them after all this time, that deity offered up an unexpected line: "Wasn't money supposed to be happiness? Take Kinbei's seat and you can have everything you want." After a long pause, Moriuchi answered.

I need a friend too. A real one.

— Moriuchi

5. Turns Out It Was All About Real Estate

Once the scattered clues came together, the full picture emerged. The council candidate's murder 20 years ago, the haunted-house legend, and the recent wave of public outrage — all of it was a scheme Mifune had orchestrated to seize the land under Kajimachi.

The ghost stories Momoka herself had experienced were no exception. The moment she realizes every 'haunting' on the shows she'd appeared in was staged by Mifune, Momoka completely falls apart.

The ghost stories I believed in... were all fake? Then was Hanyuu Momoka nothing but... bait my agency used to cover for Kinsekigai?

— Momoka

Even 'the Aooni's mansion,' the story that kicked off the whole haunted-house panic, wasn't about any oni or vengeful spirit at all — it was just a tale invented for a real-estate development plan.

While she was at it, Momoka also lets out the real name she'd kept hidden all this time. Her real name was 'Shino Haruka,' and she was from Kogawa, a declining southern city notorious for its water pollution.

Her father died of illness when she was young, and her mother passed away from illness around the time she'd just gotten her start in show business; her agency deliberately built a 'northern' image into her stage name to hide where she really came from.

I can only ever be an entertainer — I can only ever be Hanyuu Momoka. Even if my agency abandons me and Kinbei kills me, I'm still Hanyuu Momoka.

— Momoka

6. The Quietest, Heaviest Verse of All

After a ninja ambush, Tessai's son Tetsuya finally learns the truth — that his father Tessai abandoned his mother 20 years ago, and that he himself has just been a tool for Mifune, the man he'd been following all this time.

Mifune waved a photo of Tetsuya in front of Tessai and threatened him — if he didn't put his thumbprint on the deed to the Kajimachi land, Tetsuya would learn the truth. Tessai gave in and pressed his thumbprint on it, but Mifune never kept his end of the bargain.

Listening to his son's cry of anguish through a camera feed, Tessai is stabbed by Mifune's blade. By the time Hoshiguma came running, it was already too late.

Kajimachi is... bustling again, after all this time.

— Tessai

7. Drinking with the Dead, and a Little Martial-Law Cosplay

Hoshiguma pours herself a drink, alone, and empties Tessai's share too. Detective Koreto comes to try to talk her into going back to Lungmen, but instead, Hoshiguma wraps her sword hilt in bandages given to her by old friends. "As long as this bandage is on my hand, I won't go berserk."

Infiltrating the broadcasting station to rescue the captive Momoka and Kichisei gets an unexpected assist — Sarasa, a mysterious figure inside the station who'd secretly appeared before the imprisoned Momoka and hacked Mifune's surveillance network. Sarasa sets off a fake 'Hokuin invasion' alert across the whole city, throwing all of Mitsukue into chaos.

Storming into the station, Hoshiguma pushes through the gang members, shouting, "Demons out, fortune in? No — back in my day, we shouted it the other way around. Fortune out, demons in." The beans that were once scattered to drive her away, twenty years ago, now scatter on her side.

Meanwhile, Detective Koreto, holding down the fort at the police station, comes under pressure too — an order from above telling him to submit his resignation over today's chaos. The detective tears up the paper and answers.

"What the police protect is that man's disgusting little life — not his filthy money."

8. The Queen of Ghost Stories Quits, Live on Air

Sarasa hijacks the live feed of the inauguration ceremony, and Momoka takes the stage, broadcast across all of Mitsukue. She lays out, in full, that every ghost story she'd ever experienced was staged, and that Mifune was behind it all.

Even if it's a life built on lies... it's still our life. I'm going to live the life I love.

— Momoka

The moment she finished speaking, she fainted right there on stage. A coward, it turns out, is still a coward.

Watching all of this play out on the broadcast, Mifune's face turns pale white. Tetsuya, trying to avenge his father, fails — but when he turns his back and walks away, Mifune doesn't bother killing him. "I've got more people to kill than just him."

9. Three Blades vs. Hannya, and a Farewell 20 Years in the Making

While mopping up the station, Hoshiguma clashes with Mio. Even against Mio's three-handed swordplay, Hannya doesn't waver. "It's either hold it back, or go berserk — isn't that how it works?" Mio asks, and Hoshiguma answers.

Sorry, but I don't go berserk. Not as long as I have Hannya. Though, I wouldn't go berserk without it either.

— Hoshiguma

Facing her on the riverbank, before the fight, Mifune goes on at length about how much he hated Tessai. "What I'm talking about isn't chivalry, and it isn't loyalty to the code. What I'm talking about is beauty." It was his own twisted justification for not hesitating to fabricate haunted-house legends and manipulate public opinion, all to keep the organization alive.

You'll have to admit that a wasteland, a riverbank, fireworks, blood spraying in every direction, and a head flying high into the air — that's beauty.

— Mifune

The duel ended quickly. Hoshiguma won, but she didn't bother taking his head.

Instead, she chose to cut the 20-year-old bond herself, with her own hands. When Mifune asked, 'If you die by my blade, what shall I say I cut down?' Hoshiguma pointed to herself and answered that she was 'an oni who lost her home forever' — Hoshiguma answered.

Tell them it was an oni. An oni who lost her home forever.

— Hoshiguma

On the riverbank as the fireworks festival winds down, Momoka secretly hands over a small firework to Hoshiguma — who'd missed out on both the festival and, in a way, the duel.

Epilogue: After That Summer Night

Back in Lungmen, Hoshiguma goes on living with Swire and Lin Wisia as if nothing happened. The two of them are still bickering over a single bowl of oden. Lady Fumizuki, who's come out to join them for a bike race, says.

"It just means Mitsukue is still dreaming, while Lungmen has already woken up."

The oden stall in Kajimachi is as noisy and lively as ever. Momoka is preparing to head for Rhodes Island, and it comes to light that Sarasa was actually the young lady of the Nishigori, one of Hokuin's four great families.

Mio decides to shoulder the job of cleaning up after Kinsekigai all on her own. Tetsuya, who used to go around with his face covered, leaves without a word, and all that's left of him is a rumor that a nameless wandering swordsman took down a gang of con artists in a neighboring city.

The deity Moriuchi reunited with at the shrine leaves behind just one line for the corrupt council member who tried to use them: "That's got nothing to do with me." In the end, not a single person in this city took those words to heart. Only Moriuchi, letting go of a single keychain, proved for himself that he'd chosen people over money.

Mitsukue met Hoshiguma again by mistaking her for a ghost, and she left Kajimachi behind for good, along with twenty years of old grudges. What she carried out of her ruined hometown wasn't revenge or tears, but a single firework handed to her on a riverbank, and a handful of new friends. Maybe that, in the end, was a far more human ending than any ghost story could give her.