Subject: _Koutarou Magaritooru!_ Character Guide, Part 5 A Pirotte Through Tatsuya Hirota's _Koutarou Magaritooru!_ (Koutarou, Break Through!) =================================== Volumes 45 through 51 =================================== Character Guide Notes NOTE: [fa:v??] == First Appearance in Volume ??. [la:v??] == If the character warrants it, Last Appearance in Volume ??. [ls:v??] == Sometimes, a character will disappear for a while, only to surface again a long time later. Last Seen in Volume ??. =================================== New Main Characters =================================== Mayumi Watagase: A hard-nosed high school girl that hopes to become an idol singer. Her shoulder-length black hair, and dancer's body, from behind, resembles Mayumi Watase's. However, Watagase has a much bigger attitude problem. (In written Japanese, when a kanji character is used twice in succession, the second instance is replaced with the hiragana character 'ke'. That is the running gag that Shindou and Tenkouji pull when referring to Watagase as "the Mayumi with a 'ke'.") [fa:v45] [ls:v59] Masanori Aoki: Age 39, Watagase's bass player. Tall, big boned, with short crinkled hair, and sunglasses. Looks like Yakuza, but can lay down a MEAN bass-line. Likes to be called "Maa-chan." Works as a studio musician. [fa:v45] [ls:v59] Nomi: Watagase's lead guitar player. Short, straggly hair, and a skeletal face, this cigarette-smoking guitar-otaku is a competent axe-weilder, but has nothing else going for him (originally). [fa:v45] [ls:v59] Shinsui Akaiwa: A wrinkled little monkey of a man in his late 60's, or older. Bald, wears wire-rim glasses, and walks with a cane. His grandson, Yousui, calls Shinsui "that monster". Shinsui runs the Kongyouryuu Bushinkan karate school. A polite, but VERY nasty martial artist. [fa:v46] [la:v55 (he dies)] =================================== Story Arcs =================================== Each major plot line covers several volumes, and usually begins with the introduction of a few new characters before the action kicks in. (R == Real story. o == Ignorable one shot.) Gags and start up Book 1 o Snake Bones and the Clock Tower Secret Book 2 -- 5 R Princess Kurara Book 3 -- 9 R War in Block D Book 10 -- 16 R To Get 4 Teammates for the AST Book 17 -- 20 R The All Sports Tournament Book 20 -- 26 R The Freak Show and the Pretty Boy Book 27 -- 29 o The Real Training Begins Book 30 -- 36 R Searching for the Lost Chord Book 36 -- 41 R The Trashmen Arriveth Book 41 -- 42 o Blasts From the Past Book 42 -- 45 R The White Rose: It All Comes Around Book 45 -- 50 R The Chinese Connection Book 51 -- 52 o =================================== Volume Outlines, and New Characters =================================== Volume 45: Comments: Senyouryuu: The "1000 (something) School." This is the form of dance that Tatsuya has taught in his huge dance school (not bad for a high school student.) "Kugutsu no Mai", or the Dance of the Puppets, is just one of the forms of mind control that the school is quietly teaching its students. Shindou has gone to Tatsuya Yoshiokata's building, which is a big building complex, with it's own front desk secretary. Shindou is waiting for the villian to return, but after several hours, gets permission to wander the building (he wants to visit the girls' locker rooms first.) However, it looks like the place is dedicated to old people practicing traditional Japanese dance. Then, Shindou discovers all of the high school girls studying modern ballet, and runs afoul of a female punk that recognizes him from the Big Man live house. Shindou doesn't know who she is, so he goes through her purse and finds a train pass with the name "Mayumi Watagase" (he thinks to himself that the cartoonist is having trouble coming up with new names.) Watagase is studying dance, but she really wants to become a rock star. Her dance instructor is trying to make her look more cheerful during the practice session, but it doesn't work. Later, Watagase talks Shindou into accompanying her to a live house called Studio Zero. There, Shindou meets the rest of her band. Since she needs a drummer, she hands a set of sticks to the boy, and tells him to get playing. Angrily, Shindou starts smashing out a fast rhythm, and Masanori and Nomi quickly join in. As they're jamming, Watagase belts out a powerful vocal (her voice has become much smoother for the song, and her face has relaxed a lot more.) Shindou decides that the girl looks very beautiful when she smiles. (Meanwhile, Mayumi and Tenkouji have gone to Tatsuya's building, where Mayumi gets stuck having to pay the taxi fare, and Tenkouji is yelled at by the secretary for being a friend of the boy that had completely defaced the lobby photo of Tatsuya.) (Mayumi has gotten a glimpse of Watagase and Shindou walking down a street.) Volume 46: Kurosawa: A dance instructor at Tatsuya's school. Teaches a form of ballet. Kurosawa looks Mongolian, with a bowl haircut, mustache and goatee. Is a strong fighter, and can turn his sweat towel into a sword-like weapon simply by focussing his energy into it. [fa:v46] [la:v52] The mummy man is sitting in a car outside a karate dojo, while Tatsuya is inside, gracefully maiming black belt masters with his fans. Finally, the leader of the dojo, Shinsui, grants the boy a meeting. Tatsuya has paved the way by mailing a video tape to the old monster -- the tape shows Yousui fighting Shindou, and has very explicit footage of Megumi falling to the river. Tatsuya is threatening to release the video tape, which will implicate Shinsui's grandson in the killing of the girl, as well as being a bit humiliating for the Akaiwa family. He demands 30,000,000,000 yen as blackmail, and hands over another video tape: Part 2. Mayumi has made supper, but because her father is gone on business, Inamori is with Yurie, and Shindou hasn't surfaced yet, she is brooding alone over who it was that she'd seen with Shindou. Then, the boy is at the door, with the strange woman. Two other guys show up, and Shindou introduces them, adding a joke about the only difference in their names being the "ga" in Watagase, which continues into a joke about their vaginas; the girls hurt him really bad. But, the band has been doing serious drinking, and they drive off again. Shindou passes out after finishing a bowl of miso soup. He mutters about Mayumi being great, and Watase dreams of making a great supper for him tomorrow; but he continues with "Mayumi is a great singer", and gets thrown outside. After finishing the tape, Shinsui is evilly amused, and appears ready to pay the 30,000,000,000 yen. Mayumi has a nightmare about Shindou leaving her for the other Mayumi, and is almost tricked into letting Shindou undress her in the morning. Almost. At breakfast, the boy can't remember anything about the night before, so Mayumi tries to catch him up in a few lies (pouring hot food on him when he screws up.) However, Watagase comes to the door to grab Shindou to go out for more band practice. The only way Watagase can get Shindou moving is to say that he'd been feeling her "chi chi" last night, and she'd promised to let him do it again today. (Note: Chi chi is slang for a woman's breasts, but in this case, because Maa-chan is 39 years old, Maa-chan is nicknamed "Daddy" by the rest of the band. Chi chi also means "Father", and Shindou had been wrestling with him last night.) When Mayumi tries to follow them, Tenkouji calls to ask where Shindou is, and when she can finally get out to the street, Watagase and Shindou are gone. Shindou claims that the "chi chi" trick won't work anymore and he refuses to come back tomorrow, but Maa-chan says that the boy will get hooked on playing with the band and won't have a choice in the matter (Shindou starts fixating on Watagase's smooth butt, and is hooked.) Meanwhile, Tatsuya is going through the demo tapes from his dancers, and he decides that #45 must be expelled for not fitting into his plans. At noon, the band breaks up as Maa-chan and Nomi head for work, and Watagase must attend dance classes. Along the way, she and Shindou stop at a park, and she sings her heart out to show that all she really wants to do is get in front of an audience and let them see how good she is. Shindou is very impressed, and plays out a rhythm piece on a bench to fit her singing. But, when they get to the dance school, the secretary trashes Shindou for damaging the lobby painting, and Kurosawa shows up to gleefully explain that Tatsuya thinks that her singing is horrible and that she's being expelled (always coming in late to class didn't help any.) Watagase is devastated and goes to the park to cry. Shindou stays, and by watching the dance teacher's reaction, discovers that it isn't a matter of Tatsuya having shit in his ears, but rather, the girl doesn't fit into the villian's plans. The boy leaves and finds Watagase curled up in the park; he falls asleep, standing guard over her. Kurosawa reports to his master, and he and Tatsuya debate over what to do about the girl and Shindou. The mummy man is listening in on this, and he complains that they're just screwing around. The girl has to be dealt with FAST; it's now obvious that the mummy is a heavily bandaged Yousui, and he punches two holes in his wine glass with his bare fingers to prove his point. Then, everyone realizes that someone is listening to them from within the airshaft; Tatsuya won't talk anymore, Yousui is simply going to leave, and Kurosawa is sent to find "the mouse in the airshaft." During all of this, Mayumi is getting jealous, so she changes outfits and goes to the dance school to see if she can locate the Watagase dancer there. She's pretending to be a possible applicant to the school, but in frustration, she accidently throws her brochures in the air just as Shinsui is walking down the hall. The monster talks to her a bit, and it's obvious that he recognizes her from Tatsuya's second tape. Shinsui and guards leave, and as Mayumi is looking in at the ballet class through a window, someone taps her on the base of her neck and she passes out. Mayumi wakes up in a supply closet just as Kurosawa checks it for his "mouse." The guy keeps moving on, and Mayumi discovers that she's been grabbed by Kenji Kisaragi. Kenji is now fully healed and out of the hospital. Tenkouji had told him what had happened to Megumi, and he's trying to help avenge her. However, he and the Bald One had gotten separated. Kenji and Mayumi both recognize the ballet style being taught here as "Being Dangerous". However, Kenji still gets massive nose bleeds when watching girls in skintight leotards. When the two of them are about to leave the closet, Kenji discovers that Kurosawa is outside waiting for him; but, the guy thinks that Kenji is alone, so Mayumi is left in the closet as the kung fu master goes out to the hall to fight. Shindou has fallen asleep by the time Watagase wakes up. She thinks that the boy was spying on her when she was crying, but Shindou was more concerned about the three guys that had been watching both of them. The three are missing now, so Shindou runs with Watagase to find a better place to be. And he runs right into three tall, lean bruisers who had been sent out to pick up him. Since the bad guys don't want Watagase, Shindou agrees to go with them (making a joke about the situation, which earns him a punch to the nose.) As the four are walking along, Tenkouji finally happens by. The priest knocks out two bruisers with his sword sheath, and Shindou pays back the third guy for the punch in the nose (breaking the bruiser's nose.) Watagase runs up, and is introduced to the priest, as Shindou is looting the bodies for money. Tenkouji, in turn, finds a badge on one of them that indicates that they belong to Bushinkan -- Gensui Akaiwa's dojo. Suddenly, Tenkouji remembers Kenji, and runs to the dance school. Kurosawa is convinced that he is a match for Kenji, and attacks using his towel. As a weapon, the towel is useful for grabbing people and throwing them around. Kenji decides to head for the roof to give Mayumi a chance to escape. Meanwhile, Tenkouji remembers that he has to meet Kenji, and he runs to the dance school (unfortunately, EVERY form of bad luck symbolism strikes him; his sandal thong breaks, 13 black cats cross his path; and 4 hearses drive by.) Kurosawa and a bunch of his martial artist students reach the roof; the dance master is gloating at the stupidity of their prey letting himself get trapped like this, when Kenji performs a flying spinning kick and messes up Kurosawa's nose. So, some of the students rush forward to get trashed. But, the dancer is pissed, and wants his "mouse" all to himself. However, Kenji doesn't care about this "cat" -- he wants the "lion." He also promises to do more than rub noses, he's going to go for the throat. Kurosawa is so mad, his "ki" causes the towel to go stiff like a sword. Kenji is backed up to the wall; below him, he sees Mayumi walking out the front gate. That's all he was waiting for, and he springs forward to crush Kurosawa's throat. Kurosawa drops and passes out. And, Tatsuya is now seen on the roof, applauding the attack. Having watched Shindou all this time, Tatsuya has also had the chance to study Kenji's form since the kung fu master first travelled to Block D. Tatsuya now explains his idea of "Kugutsu no mai" -- the dance of the puppets. Kenji is about to get a taste of it, when he pulls out his collapsable bo (fighting pole) that he'd wrapped around his stomach. The bo pulls together and slams Tatsuya in the face. Tatsuya collapses. Only, it's not Tatsuya -- but one of Kurosawa's students. Kenji attacks again, and another student drops. Kenji discovers that Tatsuya is mesmerizing him. And now, the villian gets serious. Desperate to find the bald one, Mayumi yells out, "Hage, Hage, come out from where ever you are". Tenkouji is standing right behind her, and is REALLY frustrated. Mayumi takes off her disguise, and looks up to see Kenji walking off of the edge of the roof. Tenkouji recognizes the look of a hypnotized man, and Mayumi screams. As Kenji falls, Tatsuya is waiting at a lower window and says "Say hello to my sister." However, Kenji also falls past the girl's changing room; the spurt of blood from his nose is enough to help him wake up and he spins around in time to land on the sidewalk on his knees. He recovers in an ambulance with the priest and Mayumi beside him. He warns them of the threat to "Mayumi with a 'ke'", and Tenkouji runs out to find her. At the same time, Shindou is standing outside Shinsui's dojo, about to enter (he attacks the cartoonist for making him appear right at the end of the book.) Volume 47: In Bushinkan dojo, Shindou screws around with the bodybuilding equipment (cursing his father for never putting stuff like this in his own dojo.) Some of Shinsui's students give the boy a hard time, until one recognizes Koutarou from the National's tournament. The boy is challenged to "spar with another high school boy", who just turns out to be the leader of the adult's group of blackbelts. The idea is to humiliate Shindou in retaliation for the damage done to Gensui. Shindou gets an "accidental" punch in the mouth. Realizing the situation, Shindou then gets ready to continue the bout, and KO's the other guy with a wicked spinning kick to the head. Shindou apologizes for the "accidental" contact, and smashes up a punching bag "in an attempt to figure out how not to hit an opponent." The other students back off, and Shinsui shows up, claiming that the guards he'd sent out were supposed to "invite" the boy in for a meeting (the old monkey is told that those guards are sleeping in a park right now, and that Shindou had come under his own will.) In Shinsui's office, the monster is asked what his connection is with Tatsuya, and the coot replies that they just like to talk about Japan (Shindou threatens to write rude words on the guy's bald head if he doesn't make more sense quickly.) Meanwhile, Kenji is in the hospital having surgery performed on both knees. In his delirium, Kenji remembers what Tatsuya had said to him. In essence, Tatsuya plans on using his dance of the puppets to control everyone in Japan (he wants the blackmail money from Shinsui to underwrite this project.) Shinsui is now telling Shindou that lately, the people of Japan have gotten weak (concentrating on making money, going to discos, etc.) Shinsui's idea is to use Tatsuya to create warriors that will make Japan strong again. Shindou isn't interested in this, and he leaves in the middle of the monster's monologue (partly because there's no more cake left to eat.) Problem is, Shinsui's droning voice is also hypnotic, and Shindou collapses out in the hall. When he wakes up, he is in another dojo. This one is Shinsui's true dojo, with a whole bunch of karate masters that are busy killing each other. Shinsui calls this his "Black Practice." It is now evening, and Watagase is in her apartment, wondering what has happened to her drummer. She's also trying to decide if Mayumi is Shindou's girlfriend. She tries calling Shindou's dojo, but after getting no answer, she gets dressed and goes out for a walk. Eventually, Watagase feels that someone is stalking her; she yells out for the guy to come out and face her. Unfortunately, that's what happens. The mummy man is standing right behind her, preparing to punch her hard in the throat. Fortunately, Tenkouji was keeping an eye on her, and he leaps in to cut off the mummy's wrappings. The Bald One recognizes Yousui, although the assassin has received some serious plastic surgery (Yousei now wears a business suit, has a crewcut and a goatee. His left eyesocket is a mass of scar tissue, and his face looks like that of a handsome gorilla.) Shindou is expected to fight some of the guys on the floor, and discovers that the door is blocked when he tries to leave. Shinsui goes on to describe an event some time ago, when a drunk Yakuza bruiser was in the dojo; the guy tried to attack one of the students with a knife, and was quickly killed. That is, Shinsui is training his own army of killers right now. In the park, Yousui uses his chain to attack Tenkouji, and the priest pushes Watagase out of the way as his escapes himself. The battle is getting fierce, while Watagase tries to remember where she last heard the name "Bushinkan" that Yousui just dropped. She yells out that that's the place that Shindou went to this morning, and that he still hasn't returned from there. Yousui freezes, thinks to himself that the 13th of each month is "Black Training", and runs away, cursing his evil grandfather. The first match in the dojo is about to begin, and Shinsui says that there are no rules -- the winner is the one that isn't dead. Shindou pinches himself to prove that this isn't just a bad dream. The fight starts, and the other guy is out for blood. With no choice in the matter, the boy "clotheslines" his opponent, and slams the guy's head into the floor. Normally, this would be enough, but the opponent tries to bite Shindou in the leg, and gets all his teeth kicked in (Shindou's argument is that if your opponent is out of the action, there's no reason to kill him. Sometimes, though, it takes more to disable an opponent than it does others.) Looking around, Shindou asks if he can pick his next opponent himself, and is told to go ahead. As the next guy stands up from where he's sitting, Shindou leaps into a flying sidethrust and kicks out this guy's teeth as well. The other students want revenge, but Shinsui allows that if there are no rules, there's no reason to wait for the bout to be officially started before fighting. The boy is facing the old monster now, and one of the students attacks from behind (gets his balls kicked in; a second student's nose gets elbowed into the back of his skull.) Shinsui is getting a little concerned as his plans for killing the boy aren't going quite so well, when a business-suited man comments that he'd almost missed out on the fun. Shinsui goes pale as he looks at his beloved grandson. Yousui adds that those students are still 100 years short of being ready for Shindou, and demands that the boy be returned to him. One student attacks the boy from behind again, and gets Yousui's chain in the face, and Shindou's heel in the head. Another student demands to know who this stranger thinks he is, interferring like this (the new student discovers that the much-feared Yousui has EARNED his rep; the student's finger is dislocated, and Yousui slaps his hands against the guy's ears, blowing out both eardrums.) Yousui explains that the term "Black Practice" comes from all of the blood that is spilled on one's gi as one kills his fellow students in an attempt to stay alive. (Shinsui is pissed, and seems to regret the fact that he'd planned on making Yousui his heir to the dojo.) Shindou is pissed, and intends to pay Yousui back for killing Megumi -- he goes into 100 Person Attack (the other students are impressed, but Shinsui thinks that his glasses have fogged up.) Yousui was waiting for this, and he leaps to the ceiling and embeds his foot in the wood. Shindou follows after, but gets kicked hard by Yousui's free foot. Shindou avoids the assassin's follow-up attack. Yousui explains that over the last few weeks, he'd thought long and hard about how Shikato was able to pull off 100 Person Attack; conclusion -- it's all in the footwork. By making Shindou fly into the air, the illusion disappeared, and the real Shindou was then vulnerable. Shindou replies that he'd also been staying up nights, thinking about how to deal with Yousui The Kappa. The answer -- keep attacking for the head to keep Yousui's hands too busy to use the chain. Just at this moment, Yousui's arm starts beeping; and the lights go out. The assassin grabs the boy and runs for the door, where Tenkouji is providing light by holding onto a D-cell. The three of them run outside to where Watagase is waiting with a taxi (Yousui claims to have lost his wallet somewhere, so tight-fisted Tenkouji has to pay for the fare.) Shindou wants to keep fighting in the taxi, and Yousui would love the opportunity to kill the boy anywhere he can. However, Yousui has his own plans. As he gets out of the cab, he gives them one bit of advice in return for the taxi fare -- Watagase should take better care of her throat, since her singing could be critical. He runs off. In the dojo, the students report that the power lines had been cut, and that Yousui and Shindou are both missing. Shinsui wonders what his grandson had in mind, risking Shinsui's anger like this. While, somewhere else, Yousui is looking up at the moon and asking himself the same question. Shindou and Tenkouji get to the hospital, where Hiromi and the China Rose Gang are trying to figure out why Kenji would try to suicide like that. In the toilet, Mayumi is staring at the mirror, with the water flowing up out of the sink. Watagase comes in and turns off the water -- and both Mayumi's look at each other in surprise. Shindou bursts in to talk to his girl, and is followed by everyone else (Watagase needed to take a leak, and Shindou offers to let her do that in his cupped hands.) Later, in the hall, when people are trying to get everything (and everyone) sorted out, Shindou states that the reason why Mayumi had gone to the dance school was out of jealousy -- which causes the China Rose Gang to rib her further. Hiromi shouts out that Shindou is the definition of "a stupid fuck"; the group notices now that Mayumi is eating herself up over being responsible for Kenji's plight, and is now helplessly in tears. That night, Shindou has a nightmare that Mayumi has made breakfast, but it's not for him --it's for Kenji. He wakes up to find Tenkouji making breakfast, and Watagase in the dining room drinking tea. Watagase is there because her apartment is vulnerable to attack and she is hiding out in Shindou's home. Tenkouji is hiding from Sayoko -- the little 12-year old is pissed that her betrothed had been out all night without her. And, since Watagase is a bad enough cook that she burns water, the Bald One is cooking up daikon (Japanese raddish) soup. Meanwhile, Mayumi is visiting the hospital, and gets chewed out by Hiromi. Shindou is setting up a bed for himself and Watagase, complete with kleenex for cleaning up afterwards. Watagase, however, is heading out for singing practice. And, Mayumi stops by just long enough to apologize that she won't be making supper for Shindou anymore. Mayumi runs away again as Shindou looks on in shock. [Note: The hospital that Kenji is in is owned by Shikato.] Volume 48: Yoshida (Night-die-field): Another goon; one of the best killers in the Bushinkan. He has white face makeup, eyeliner, enhanced cheek color, and blond hair. Wears a light-colored suit with a black shirt and white tie. Practices "Kamisori Sabot" -- Razor Footkicking (Savat is a French form of martial arts, that specializes in kicks.) [fa:v48] [la:v49] Mayumi is in her room, dwelling on what Hiromi had said to her (Hiromi is playing on Mayumi's guilt, to drive Mayumi away from Shindou, and closer to "her" little brother.) And it's working. In the hospital, Hiromi is apologizing to "her" unconscious brother for the evil thing that "she's" doing for his sake. Shindou is contemplating the odds of getting both Mayumi's in bed with him, and Tenkouji is taking every precaution to prevent this from happening. (Later, the priest falls asleep on the veranda, with his eyes open, when Watagase sleepwalks outside to belt out a few bars to an imaginary mike. She collapses; Shindou catches her, and has her in his arms when Mayumi looks outside to see what the noise is about. But, instead of reacting, she just goes back to bed. Shindou is getting scared. Hint: With Shindou hitting up on Watagase, it's easier for Mayumi to leave him.) The next day, Tatsuya is standing outside Tokyo Dome, making his plans with the help of an unnamed American, and under the observation of a mysterious woman who is standing behind a tree. Mayumi goes to the hospital with several trays of sushi to feed her patient. While, in the Shindou household, people are regretting that Tenkouji only knows how to prepare daikon and burned fish. Watagase is going out to a fastfood place, when she is attacked. The attacker is Shikato, who can't resist her sexy thighs. The old man is there to explain that he'd been summoned by Tenkouji. Shikato has learned that Tatsuya has rented Tokyo Dome to debut his 6-girl team of idol singer/ dancers. Watagase had auditioned for the dance team, but didn't make the cut. Shikato has a plan, and goes to the practice studio with them to listen to Watagase sing (Tenkouji is standing guard outside, with paper stuffed in his ears, to keep other bands from interrupting the old man's session.) Shindou screws up a lot on drums this time, but Shikato is still impressed with Watagase enough to offer to put her into Tokyo Dome, with the rest of the band playing backup for her. Watagase is so taken by the suddenness of her dream coming true that she tries to send Tenkouji out to buy beer for everyone. There is a problem, though. Nomi suffers from stage fright, and can't play in front of groups larger than 5 people at a time. In the hospital, Mayumi is panicking because Kenji is in pain after eating her food. Turns out that the problem stems from the guy's need to take a piss and not wanting to say so in front of her. Hiromi arrives in time to solve matters. Mayumi is happy that Kenji likes her food, and is planning on coming back tomorrow. Hiromi is watching "her" plans unfold, and just needs to attack Shindou for the next stage. In the morning, Tenkouji wakes up, screaming that a DL member shouldn't be buying beer like this, and is then kicked back to sleep. Shindou goes next door, where he finds his favorite food on the table. He eats all of the Niku Dango (meatballs), but when Mayumi enters the kitchen, she slaps him HARD, and says that the meatballs weren't for him. So, he follows Mayumi to the hospital, and goes from room to room (eating peoples' food along the way) until he meets Souji Mitarai. The cleanliness freak/patient is outside again, washing everyone's windows. Souji tells Shindou that Mayumi had made sushi for Kenji yesterday, and today it looks like Chinese. Souji is thrown down to the street where a nurse is calling for him, at the time that Hiromi is walking up the street. Having seen Shindou hanging outside on the window ledge, Hiromi goes into the hospital to ask Mayumi and Kenji how they are getting along. She tries to press Kenji into saying that he loves Mayumi, and Shindou falls off of the ledge. In embarrassment, Mayumi leaves for the toilet, and Kenji demands to know what the point is. He admits that he really does like Mayumi a lot, but he's seen the bonds that hold her and Shindou together (recalling the scene in Block D where Mayumi's boots were on fire as she tried to keep Shindou from being hung to death.) Kenji won't interfere with them, and Hiromi gives up. In his office, Shinsui is getting orders from Tatsuya to prevent the singer Mayumi Watagase from singing; and he misremembers the introduction he received at the dance school from the disguised Mayumi Watase. The monster sends out a FAX to his men, with orders to nab her. Somewhere else, in a park, Shindou is in shock, looking on at two children playing house. The little girl wants her "husband" to eat the meatballs she made, and the boy refuses on the grounds that they're made of mud. The girl stomps off. Shindou is reminded of the time that he and Mayumi had done the same thing, only he'd eaten them all and gotten sick enough to almost die. In the hospital again, Mayumi has returned, and Hiromi has eaten all of the food. "She" congratulates Mayumi, and the girl replies that anyone can cook well if they have 12 years practice. Hiromi asks about this, and Mayumi answers that her mother had died when she was 5. But, what had caused her to consciously decide to learn to cook was when Shindou had eaten those mud balls. He looked so sick then, that she promised that if he got better, she would try to become a real cook. This story is enough to shake up Hiromi, and "she" drops on "her" knees to apologize. Turns out that counter to the bull she'd been giving Mayumi, the doctors expect Kenji to be able to walk again in 3 months (Shikato owns the best doctors in Japan.) This good news is enough to make Mayumi burst into tears of joy (that Kenji wouldn't be permanently crippled because of her.) And in the park, Shindou is on a swing, thinking that he's losing Mayumi; he does a partial somersault and lands hard on his back. He is confused, that his head and stomach hurt so much. At the Shindou household, Tenkouji is trying to broil some fish while arguing with Watagase about his lack of cooking skills. A car drives up, and he attacks the two people entering through the front door -- Inamori and Yurie. The two have dropped by during their summer vacation. Watagase is in the kitchen, watching the fish burn. The priest is humiliated, but is interrupted as Shikato's helicopter flies in to airdrop crates of sushi and sake. The old man is planning a party for Watagase's upcoming debut. As Shindou is returning home in a black funk, he hears Mayumi running up, and he hides and watches. Her cheerful face is enough to convince him that she and Kenji are very happy with each other. Hiromi is sad that "her" plans fell through, but Kenji thinks that the look of joy on Mayumi's face, when she heard that Kenji would be ok, was all that he'd ever want to see in this world. Hiromi is now concerned about the damage "she's" done, and "she" recalls the orders "she" gave Mayumi to immediately go and say "I love you" to Shindou. Mayumi isn't all that happy with having to do so, though. Sayoko pops out to congratulate Mayumi on her "idol debut", only to discover that it's the wrong Mayumi. Mayumi notices that there is a party going on in the Shindou grounds, and gets pissed at the idea of Shindou celebrating in the arms of Watagase, and she stomps off to her own house (while being watched by some goons in a parked car.) The party is going strong, and everyone else is there (Tenkouji is upset that Shikato had invited Sayoko, and the Old Man produces a photo of Watagase standing next to the Bald One. The crowd roars as Tenkouji and Sayoko attack each other sword vs guitar.) Watagase is wondering where Shindou is, and finds the boy in his room, looking like death warmed over. When she tries to find out what the problem is (her guess of unrequited love hits the bullseye), Mayumi takes this moment to look out the window -- Mayumi sees a messed up bed, and Watagase talking to Shindou, and concludes that they'd just finished having sex. Mayumi changes from her street clothes, and then the doorbell rings. It's Sayoko, in tears. The little 12-year-old is upset that Ten-chan is cheating on her, and eventually gets to explaining that she had heard Shindou say that he likes Mayumi, back when Mayumi was hypnotized and trying to kill him. Mayumi is surprised by this, and asks if Sayoko was mistaken. The little girl comments that her ninja training has heightened her senses, as she grabs a golf club and attacks the man who is outside lurking by the window. Sayoko's hearing is indeed good, but the unconscious man has two masked partners, and they quickly subdue the two girls. The thugs are the three that had tried to "escort" Shindou to the Bushinkan dojo, and their current leader, Yoshida. Yoshida is disgusted that the other three are so incompetent; he uses cold coffee to awaken the golf club victim. Meanwhile, in the party, Watagase wants to break Shindou of his funk, and drags him into the party room. There, Inamori is putting on a puppet show, with the puppet Inamori proposing to the puppet Yurie, and the puppet Shikato blessing the affair (Inamori has a puppet on each hand, and the Shikato puppet is covering his hard on.) Momotarou can't stand this, and tries to out-show Inamori by punching up sake bottles. Inamori replies with some quick pelvic thrusts and the cry "Shikato's 100 Person Attack!" Momo breaks down and says that he likes Yurie-sensei; Yurie says that she likes Momo, but only 1/100th of how much she loves Inamori. Momo demands lots of sake. Something wiggles its way through the fog, and Shindou realizes that he has to speak his feelings to Mayumi. He goes outside, finds the flowers that Sayoko had discarded, and for the first time in his life, Shindou tries to enter Mayumi's house through the front door (it's always been through a window up until now.) Initially, there is no answer. Then, Mayumi says over the intercom that she is busy, and to come back tomorrow. This is because Yoshida has his foot on the back of Sayoko's neck. However, Mayumi realizes that there may not be a tomorrow for her, and she shouts out that she loves Shindou (the boy can't believe this, and thinks that he misheard something.) The goon with the broken nose slugs Mayumi, but Yoshida says that his real job here is to kill Shindou for Shinsui, and he goes out to invite the boy inside. Shindou has two questions -- who hurt Mayumi, and what is it they want. The one bruiser happily brags that he did it to pay back the boy for breaking his nose. So, Shindou whips off a series of fast kicks that reduce the guy's nose to putty; the guy passes out from the pain. The other two guards want to attack, but Yoshida wants to do this himself. He also states that he's from Bushinkan. In the resulting fight, Yoshida demonstrates the slashing ability of his Razor Savat. Shindou is tired and hungry, and fighting poorly. The boy throws a potted plant at the villian -- the pot is split in two, and one half flies out the window (currently, Watagase is trying to spy on Shindou, and is using Tenkouji as a ladder, but keeps slipping off his bald head.) The two goons realize that this is a bad place for a long fight, and they try to drag the two girls out the door. But, a wooden sheath breaks through the door and slams into one's throat, and the back of the other's head. Then, Tenkouji leaps in to attack Shindou, complaining that the boy hasn't healed from the last fight, and is now trying to receive a whole new set of wounds. The Bald One wants to fight Yoshida, but the villian holds up a cigarette lighter that conceals the remote control trigger for a bomb that is planted next to the propane gas tanks connected at the back of the house (many houses in Japan run their utilities off of propane, and some have their own gas tanks.) Yoshida returns to beating up Shindou, and Tenkouji realizes that the boy is fighting at a fraction of his normal strength. Watagase gets an inspiration, and tells Mayumi to yell out "I love you"; doesn't matter if it is a lie or not. However, with Shindou in the same room with her, she can't. Instead, she modifies it to "I made the food you love." Shindou runs out of the room. Everyone is shocked, thinking that the boy is trying to escape. But, he quickly returns with a plate of Niko Dango (Mayumi is relieved that she'd made another plate of them this morning.) Volume 49: Downing the niku dango, Shindou undergoes a Popeye-style power up. Except that his muscles spring a leak and he returns to normal. At least now, he has some more energy. Yoshida had let slip that no one had ever defeated Yousui, although Yoshida was planning on killing Yousui soon. Shindou remarks that Yoshida is not even close to Yousui's class, and then proceeds to use his footwork to trash Yoshida and then kick him out the window. Everyone is celebrating, until Yoshida holds up the lighter and starts to push the trigger. Shindou leaps on top of Mayumi, and Tenkouji bops Watagase on the head to get her under cover. Mayumi is thinking that if this is the end, she wishes that being protected by Shindou like this could last forever. Eventually, people realize that the explosion is taking too long. They look up to find Mayumi's father standing on Yoshida's face, complaining that after being gone only 5 days, this is what he has to come home to. The Police Chief calls in some squad cars, and the goons are taken away. And, the Chief decides to light up a cigarette with the lighter he just found. The house explodes and is soon engulfed in flames. The Chief is looking forward to interrogating Yoshida the next day; but that won't happen. The cops driving the car that Yoshida is in are members of Bushinkan, and they're on the phone getting orders from Shinsui. Shinsui tells them to take Yoshida to the city garbage plant and dispose of him. (This happens off-camera.) The next day, Hiromi chews Mayumi out for not telling Shindou that she loves him. At least now, Mayumi knows how much Shindou cares for her, and they are back on normal terms. Hiromi also says that "she" wants to see Mayumi's and Shindou's babies, which causes Mayumi to attack back. Later, Inamori leaves the dojo to return to Yurie (he tells Mayumi to be sure to use condoms from now on -- Mayumi attacks him.) At the Station, her father is looking over the dossier on Shinsui; he loses his temper over the destruction of the house that held all his memories of his dead wife, and he shoots Shinsui's picture full of holes. Tenkouji also returns to his home, which leaves Mayumi alone with Shindou. When the hero says that he has something he has to give her before her father comes back, Mayumi thinks it's some condoms (that they're going to have sex) and attacks Shindou. However, the boy had managed to save one picture of her mother from the fire, and he thinks she should have it for herself (then his packet of condoms fall out of his pocket, and Mayumi attacks him again.) Watagase is taken to Shikato's mansion, and during dinner, the discussion turns to what to do about the stage-frightened guitarist -- Nomi. The Old Man says that he's sent off for a replacement. At the dojo, Mayumi is finally going to say that she likes Shindou, but the boy spins her around to see the guest that's just walked into the room -- Otomi has returned from L.A. at Shikato's request. The next morning, Shindou wakes up to find Otomi curled up in Shindou's bed again. Otomi gets a cold shower, and then explains that although he'd cut an album with Black and Steve Pie ("My Best Friend"), Otomi has gone into a slump and can't write anymore music for the next record. So, he was willing to return to Tokyo (He also dyed his hair and cut it short and spiky. He also wears shades and California-style clothing all of the time.) Everyone gathers at TVT Studios, and Nomi loses his cool under Otomi's gaze. Turns out that Nomi is a fan of Otomi's, and even has a bootleg tape from the Big Man live house gig. When Otomi takes Nomi's guitar and uses it to play with the band (looking at the sheet music only once), Nomi is ecstatic. However, Otomi and Watagase immediately get into a battle of egos (with Otomi claiming that he still has his title as Vocals Assassin.) When they start playing, Shikato reveals that he'd thought things would be more interesting with an audience -- the studio is filled with people that had gotten free invites. Shindou starts the gig off with his drums, Maa-chan comes in with his bass, Otomi rips through with his lead guitar, and then Watagase steals the show with her singing and dance combination. Otomi is crushed at thinking that someone could out-do him like this. (Shindou is upset because while the guys were looking at Watagase, and the girls were drooling over Otomi, no one was paying any attention to him. It's one more reason why he hates playing drums.) (Tenkouji sat through all of the noise, with a pair of ear plugs firmly in place.) The audience and the studio staff all think that they've just watched a great show. Later, Mayumi wants to know why Shindou is showing so little concern for Otomi --- the boy is curled up under a bunch of blankets and won't surface. She makes the mistake of reminding Shindou of the "homo" reputation that he and Otomi had developed before, and Shindou attacks her breasts. The next day, Watagase is upset that people are 30 minutes late for practice (which is usually her own problem.) Everyone expects Otomi to try for a rematch of the showdown at the studio, and it's reinforced when the boy walks in, goes to his amp, tells Shindou to play "Best Friend", and forces the others to just watch. At the end, Watagase concedes defeat this time, but that wasn't Otomi's intent -- he uses Pie's talking guitar trick to tell her that he loves her. Shindou hauls Otomi off, and reams him out for the abrupt change-of-face, and for moving in on one of his women. But, the boy is serious, and it is one opportunity to get rid of Otomi, and the "homo" rep. So, Shindou is willing to back down, but Watagase comes up, screaming that there's no room in her band for romance between band members (the big problem is that Shindou is willing to let Otomi have her, and Watagase had been developing a bit of a crush on Shindou.) Otomi is left behind to try and kill Shindou for Shindou's putting Otomi's emotions into words. Meanwhile, in Shikato's office, the Old Man receives a set of tickets to Tokyo Dome, from Tatsuya. He'd been preparing his own counter-strike against Tatsuya, and he'd invited the press in to watch Watagase's band rehearsing (problem is, the band ran out of the studio, leaving a half-asleep Tenkouji behind to sing enka to himself (Enka is a traditional form of Japanese singing, that is losing its popularity now.)) Later, the band re-forms in the studio, but Watagase keeps screwing up as she and Otomi constantly avoid each other's gazes. Eventually the band clicks again, and the reporters are left "wowed." Unfortunately, when they want to report on the event, it looks like there is pressure from above to squash the story (The members of MMR (Manman Records) are actually members of Hirota's manga crew and editors, and they keep forgetting to use their stage names instead of their real names when they act out the scene at MMR.) Tatsuya calls Shinsui to watch the TV tonight. Then, at the dojo that evening, there is a big TV ad on the air for a new idol singing/dance band called "Marionette". Shindou stares at the TV, convinced that the girls aren't wearing bras. But, at the end of the ad, Otomi, Mayumi, and even Shinsui are immediately on the phone trying to call the TV studio to get more information. The next day, the group gathers at Shikato's mansion to discuss this turn of events (Otomi is pissed that he'd been trying to get through the jammed lines for 2 hours that night.) The only people that weren't affected by Marionette were: Tenkouji (he was out of the room at the time), Shindou, Shikato, Nomi and Maa-chan. The concensus is that real sex-fiends are unaffected by the "Dance of the Puppets", but that normal people can be hypnotized very easily. Tenkouji and Shikato talk in Shikato's office, and they realize that this, with the help of the mass media, is how Tatsuya plans on controlling Japan. Tenkouji wants to force a direct confrontation with Tatsuya, but Shikato reins him in by asking what Shinsui's involvement in all this is. The answer -- to prepare Japan for it's next war. And, at Tatsuya's dance school, the villian is talking to Yousui about a new painting that someone hung up in the lobby as a bad joke -- a portrait of Beni Bara. The talk changes tracks to Tatsuya's plans -- he has 5000 tickets sold for Tokyo Dome, and another 10,000 for Osaka a few days later. Yousui is getting nervous about all of this (he doesn't seem all that happy about working for this particular employer.) Then, it is time for Marionette's big debut. A few normal people are at the Dome to sneak a peek at it, but are scared away by all of the punks, bikers, yakuza, and other baddies that make up the 5000-strong audience (Tatsuya picked out his audience carefully, as it is a preparation for the basis of the new Snake Bones Gang.) Tatsuya and Yousui are in the suite room, and Yousui is getting REALLY nervous about what will happen with the 10,000 in Osaka. In a different suite, Shikato, Shindou, Tenkouji, Maa-chan, and Nomi are busy preparing themselves; with beer and chips. Shikato brought a bunch of walkmans, with their rehearsal tape inside to act as a counter to the music from the dance band. And, only the biggest perverts -- Shikato and Shindou -- are allowed to have binoculars. Tenkouji can't handle the rock tape, so he just plans on using his ear plugs. Marionette comes on stage (6 girls in skimpy outfits and wild hair. Very pretty in a glam-rock fashion.) At home, Mayumi has broken 4 plates while washing the dishes, and Sayoko has shattered 44. Mayumi considers this a bad sign (four is pronounced "shi", which is also the word for "to die"), and goes with Otomi to Tokyo Dome to make sure that Shindou is ok. The dance group struts their stuff, and the audience is mesmerized. This time though, its the Dance of Aggression, and the audience eats it up. Meanwhile, Shindou and Shikato are trying to outdo each other, seeing which one can detect the girl without panties the first, or determining which one is wearing a tampon. Tenkouji can't handle this, so he steps outside of the room for some fresh air. The mysterious woman is back and is watching him from a distance. And, Tatsuya is walking the halls at this very minute -- Tatsuya and Tenkouji face each other. Volume 50: Seagull: One of Shinsui's most powerful minions. He looks kind of mongolian, with heavy eyebrows and an emotionless, dead face. Seagull can stand perfectly still to become invisible. He fights using a pair of scythes (12" wooden sticks with cutting blades sticking out at a 90 degree angle.) [fa:v50] [la:v52] "The old person": This character appears at the end of this book, but isn't introduced until volume 51. Fires small metal balls from her fist, using her thumb, with the force and speed of a machine gun. Has lots of secrets and connections to other characters that I don't want to reveal this early. Tatsuya puts his fan away -- Tenkouji's eyes are already glazed over. In the room, Shikato is concerned about Ten-hage, because of all of the monitors in the concourse that could get the Bald One's attention. But, Shindou can't picture the Priest turning into a raving metal head. Backstage, Tatsuya and Kurosawa (the dance teacher is getting better, but his neck is in a brace) are preparing for the Osaka gig. When it's time for the encore, the punks get angry that there is no encore, and they beat each other up and generally destroy the Dome. Tatsuya is happy, the woman is disgusted, Tenkouji is also shouting, and the heroes decide that it's best if they run away and escape the dome now. Shindou is trying to remember if they are forgetting something, when they run into Tenkouji. The priest is beating up punks, and he prepares to smash Shindou (the boy is saved when Shikato hits him in the head with a Coke.) It's obvious that Tenkouji is in a killing rage, and the only option is for Shindou and Shikato to team up against him. But, another group of punks run down the hall, and rather than run the risk of dead bodies piling up, Shindou lures Tenkouji into a side hallway, and the priest locks the door behind them. Shikato is expected to handle the riffraff by himself. (He easily does so with One Blow.) Tenkouji is finally showing his true power (he'd NEVER done this before), and he'd embedded his sheath in the concrete wall when he first attacked Shindou. Now, his cut is carving up stone, and Shikato thinks that his pupil is going to die now. The Bald One's ki is building up, and Yousui can feel it from the other side of the Dome. He's concerned about this and tramples punks as he heads toward the heavy ki. As Shikato is wondering what to do, Nomi holds out one of the walkmans, and asks if this might do some good -- Shikato looks stunned. (They head for the control booth, with Nomi and Maa-chan shaking in their boots.) Tenkouji is swinging away at Shindou, carving the boy up a bit. Ten-hage knows that he's going to win in a short while, because he has all of the advantages, and that Shindou doesn't want to attack him full out. And, finally, Mayumi and Otomi get to the Dome at the same time that the police surround the place (but the punks easily keep the police at bay.) Mayumi wants to find a way inside, to help save Shindou (she is in tears with worry.) On the way to the control room, Maa-chan and Nomi run out of beer to throw at punks, and they're about to be overwhelmed when some of the punks develop "sudden knife-wound" syndrome in their backs and ankles; Beni Bara has finally revealed herself -- and her thorns -- as she decides to help Shikato. (At home Sayoko is dousing herself with cold water to prepare to pray to God to protect her fiance from whatever bad thing that is about to happen to him.) The Priest attacks again, and cuts up Shindou as the boy leaps to the wall, and then leaps back in to the opposite wall to push the wall with his hands and kick the Priest hard in the back. Tenkouji drops, but plays possum long enough to get in a sword cut that opens up Shindou's cheeks and the bridge of his nose. They stop fighting as Yousui walks up (Shindou wonders if the assassin has been out killing punks for fun.) But, Yousui comments that the music has changed -- Shikato made it to the control room. Watagase's singing causes the punks to calm down and stop fighting (although when Nomi slaps one punk on the back, he is reminded that these guys like to fight at the best of times.) Shindou and Yousui are relieved that Tenkouji is back to normal again, but it turns out that the priest put in his ear plugs AFTER being hypnotized; he can't hear the new music, and wants to keep fighting. Yousui wants to take up the fight with the Priest again (continued from when he was going to hit Watagase in the throat), but Shindou won't quit. Mayumi and Otomi locate the hallway door, and she pounds on it. Inside, Shindou hears her, and Tenkouji uses this moment to attack. (In the hospital, Kenji feels a twinge in the scar where Tenkouji had impaled him, back in the battle in Block D.) Shindou keeps pushing as Tenkouji thrusts his sword through his stomach. The boy forces his way along the blade to tie up the sword and get in close enough to blow the priest away with One Blow. Tenkouji's body smashes the hallway doors open just as Maa-chan is about to shoulder them. Mayumi rushes in to see Shindou standing with the sword sticking out of his back. He collapses and Yousui catches his arm. Mayumi tries to grab him, and Yousui kicks her in the stomach to make her black out. Shindou doesn't have a pulse, but with proper treatment, he can still be saved (we learn in a flashback that when Kenji had recovered from his stab wound, Shindou had studied it's exact location, just to make sure that he'd know about Tenkouji's "cut where it looks like the victim is dead" technique in case he ever needed it himself. Well, he needed it, and he made sure that Tenkouji's sword would cut him in exactly that same spot.) (It's likely that Beni Bara has helped save Shindou, just like she'd saved Kenji in Block D.) Unfortunately, although Shindou won the battle, he has still lost the one person that came closest to being his friend. When everything is sorted out, and people are put in the hospital, Shindou is torn up over what had happened between him and Tenkouji. In another room, Tenkouji is telling Sayoko that he needs to be alone (to brood, himself.) (Sayoko was saying that after breaking so many plates, that she went ahead to break 33 more to bring the number up to lucky 77.) Sayoko watches a nurse enter the room to take Tenkouji's temperature; but this is actually Beni Bara in disguise, and she's going to do a dance for him "at the request of a very cool man." In his office, Shinsui is happily reading the newspaper coverage of all the damage at the Dome. Tatsuya, though, raises the fact that it would have been worse if the Dance hadn't been interferred with. (That is, his Dance isn't invulnerable.) Sayoko runs into Shindou's room, saying that Ten-sama is acting weird. Shindou runs up to confront the priest, and learns that Tenkouji has lost all memory of the night before -- he still wants to claim the final showdown between him and Shindou. Shindou is in tears (but he hides it) of happiness at seeing that things may be ok between the two of them after all. Outside, Yousui is hiding in a tree, waiting for Beni, still in the nurse's outfit, to walk by. Beni tries to keep the disguise, and Yousui talks about having a sickness called "life", which can only be cured by a fight to the death. Actually, he intends to test Beni's skill, after having heard about her from Tatsuya. Tatsuya, meanwhile, has put the order out for some of his minions to track Beni down and carve her up. (In a flashback, Shinsui is remembering what Tatsuya said about the Dance having a flaw. It only works if someone is discontented, and it is absorbed through the senses. Since Shindou can fight a master opponent with his eyes closed, Shindou is the one person the dance can't affect. Shinsui puts out his own orders to one of his ninja -- Seagull.) Yousui and Beni are about evenly matched, and just testing the waters, when Beni wants to postpone the fight (Yousui is absolutely crushed.) The reason is that 4 villians from Tatsuya's studio (covered in heavy black shrouds) have just dropped in from the nearby trees. The villians have orders to carve up Beni's face, but nothing concerning Yousui. The assassin is expected to just walk away, but he won't. Instead, he attacks one of the villians, and he and Beni go back-to-back to cover each other. (He wants to kill Beni on his own terms, fairly.) On the last page, a stooped old person has arrived at the hospital, and is commenting on the heavy ki filling the air on the other side of the building. Volume 51: The black-shrouded killers attack as Beni jumps up onto Yousui's shoulder and kicks up higher to take out the other 2 killers still hiding up in the trees. The killers are disposed of, but another group of 4 follow Beni down to the ground, and ensnare Beni and Yousui with handfuls of thin wire. Beni tells Yousui (a bit too late) to relax and not fight it, or the wire will cut him. As one of the killers is about to throw a knife at them to cure their "life" illness, something shoots through the air to hit the killers in the hands. Beni pulls out another knife and cuts them free, and the old person from the end of volume 50 shoots some small balls into the windows of the hospital. Angry patients start yelling and complaining, so the killers use an old ninja-movie smokebomb trick to escape. The old person asks "nurse" Beni where to find Kenji Kisaragi's room. In the hospital, Kenji is reading a parody of the Shindou Koutarou manga when there is a knock at the door. Hiromi answers it, then slams the door shut and tells Kenji to run away. The old person fires something through the door window, and attacks Hiromi for being rude. In his helicopter, Shikato is brooding over what had happened at the Dome, and how it was covered by his own TV station. Shindou and Mayumi are buying Cokes from a hospital vending machine when Hiromi and the old one walk by. Hiromi screams for help to protect "her" from an evil transvestite bar owner that's trying to kidnap "her" back to the previous bar. Shindou uses his Coke on the old person and Hiromi escapes in the confusion. Shindou then learns: the old one is Hiromi's and Kenji's grandmother from China; she is indeed female; and she HATES rude people. The old one fires pachinko balls into Shindou's head -- that doesn't work, so she kicks him between the legs and shoots the balls there. === This marks the end of Part 5 of the Koutarou Guide === ISDN information [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311717-0 C0279, 390 yen] -- 45 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311744-8 C0279, 390 yen] -- 46 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311761-8 C0279, 390 yen] -- 47 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311791-X C0279, 390 yen] -- 48 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311821-5 C0279, 390 yen] -- 49 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311850-9 C0279, 390 yen] -- 50 [Kodansha Comics, ISBN4-06-311878-9 C0279, 390 yen] -- 51 ==================================================================== -- Curtis H. Hoffmann May 21, 1995