Now Recca must fight Meno, who looks like a normal high school girl. But Genjuro pulls a sand-clock out of his gi, and places it on the edge of the arena. Meno, he says, has ten minutes to defeat Recca. Meno's hair begins to grow at a rapid rate, forming itself into a blade behind her back, then whirling out to attack Recca, who looks astounded and dodges as best he can. Like Mokuren, Meno has a madougu implanted inside of her, so that even a low-level weapon becomes extremely powerful. Her madougu, as Saicho explains (gotta have someone besides Kage Houshi calling the shots, ne?) is Shiki Gami...the same pronounciation as his, but different kanji. His controls paper, hers controls hair. Recca has a hard time avoiding her hair, especially as it wraps around his throat to choke him. He cuts it with Saiha, which he didn't want to do...but it grows back.
The gist of Meno's story is that her father, Sakura Kazuo, didn't want Genjuro to experiment with madougu using human beings. So Genjuro chose Sakura-san's daughter, Meno, as hi stest subject. Sakura-san tried to stop Genjuro, and was minimized using Mugen. Then Genjuro blackmailed Meno using her father as a hostage, and implanted Shiki Gami into her. Now her father is inside the sand clock, and in ten minutes he will suffocate from the falling sand.
Genjuro: Meno is only my killing machine!
Recca: Bullshit! Then why is she crying? She knows what she's doing is wrong!
Recca is furious at Genjuro's use of a hostage, so he avoids Meno and goes to attack Genjuro and break Mugen. Genjuro has a kekkai up, however, so Recca must first get through that. Nadare is deflected by the energy, so Recca punches the barrier with his bare fist. Meno struggles with herself, because she doesn't want to kill Recca, but she doesn't want her father to die. She hears her father's voice, and decides to help Recca, because even if they are sacrificed she can't let Genjuro hurt anybody else. Genjuro minimizes Meno too, but Recca's fist gets through the kekkai and, using Homura, he explodes the barrier. Then Homura strikes out and breaks Mugen, and Meno and her father are restored, and Meno gives up, leaving Recca the victor to face Genjuro.
Genjuro says he wanted it to be an elimination match because he is the only one who could defeat all of Team Hokage. Meno, Mokuren, and Shiju were just extensions of him, and their fights helped him to figure out their deficiencies. Recca demands that Genjuro take the Shiki Gami out of Meno if he loses. The old man agrees, but says that if Recca loses, Meno will die. He uses the genjutsu wakemi (illusion technique "offspring") to create multiple visions of himself, which have an added bonus over the ones of Kurei Recca's already seen: these wakemi can touch Recca. They beat him up and then catch him, leaving Recca at Genjuro's mercy. Genjuro begins to perform his psychic surgery on Recca to steal the hachiryu so that he may have vengeance for his humiliating defeat years before at the hands of Kurei (this pisses Neon off, but she's somewhat obsessed with Kurei...).
Fuuko and Domon want to stop the fight, but Mikagami points out that Recca is fighting not for himself, but for Yanagi and Meno. If they disqualify Recca, Meno will be killed, and Yanagi will belong to Mori Kouran. Recca even stabbed himself with Saiha to stay on his feet. Finally Genjuro finds one of the karyu and takes it into himself. The dragon appears, and Recca barely manages to block it with Saiha. He's about to ask Saiha for help when Saiha reveals the identity of the new ryu.
Saiha: It's better to do nothing! That dragon is named Setsuna, and he is vengeful and angry. His attack is Shun En: he will kill anyone who looks into his burning eye!
Recca yells at everyone to close their eyes (Fuuko ends up covering Mikagami's eyes for him ^_^), but Genjuro laughs at him and commands Setsuna to attack. Setsuna ignores him. When he tries to do it again, Setsuna gets really pissed, and demands to know "who the fuck" is commanding him. Genjuro falls back, stammering that he's Setsuna's master. Setsuna tells Genjuro to die, and opens his eye, frying the old man with Shun En. Recca won! Yee haw!
Setsuna chose Recca as his master, apparently. When he vanishes, a tattoo appears on Recca's arm. Recca looks at it and begins to shake his arm, trying to dislodge the tattoo or something, saying, "S-Setsuna? I don't want you, you psychotic dragon!"
Genjuro, being a man of his word, gets up and takes the Shiki Gami out of Meno (kinda freaky to see him plunge his hand into her chest, though). Yanagi offers to heal him, but he says all he has to look forward to is hell. Then he goes to where Neon awaits him. She tells him he will die for betraying Kurei-sama. Genjuro says she can tell Kurei he'll be waiting in hell. Neon plays a few notes on her flute, and Genjuro's chest explodes, and he's dead. So much for Uruha Maboroshi.
Next, Team Hokage must fight Uruha Oto, comprised of three women: Neon, Miki, and Aki. Of course, Recca and Domon are all googly-eyed over the pretty girls, but as Mikagami points out, they didn't lose any of their first or second stage battles, and are more dangerous than someone who just looks strong. Of course this is directed at Domon, and it stings the big guy. He is determined not only to fight for Yanagi's sake, but for his own, to feel that he too is a member of the Hokage and an asset to their team.
The next day, their third stage begins with Domon fighting Uruha Oto's Aki. She's a slim girl with short, blue hair who avoids Domon's punches with a smile. Domon's pretty genki, and he keeps boring in. Aki, however, leaps away, and says they shouldn'tbe fighting. The gem around her throat glows, and she begins to take off her clothes. Domon flips. He says "I'm getting happy, but you've got to stop! I'm kinda committed to Fuuko!" Tee hee. Anyway, Aki's madougu is Kotodama, which creates illusions. She first makes Domon think she's naked, then that there is a huge snake that bites him, then that there's snow...as Team Hokage watches, Domon's body reacts to everything Aki says as if it were really happening. Mikagami goes forward to stop the fight, but Recca tells him to trust Domon.
Mikagami: Trust him?
Obviously, Mikagami doesn't think much of Domon's mental powers. When Domon goes down, he begins to realize how his body reacts to everything Aki says, and eventually punches himself out of the illusion just as she was about to kill him. However, by increasing the power to the Kotodama, Aki is able to burn Domon, even though he knows it's an illusion. He ignores the pain and keeps going, chanting, "Itaku nai!" and reaches out, breaking the Kotodama and winning the match. Yattaze! Neon, cradling Aki, says that she and Miki will make the Hokage pay for that humiliation.
As Mikagami steps towards the arena, Recca says that he as right to trust Domon. Mikagami turns to Recca and asks him what would have happened if Domon didn't realize it was an illusion? If Domon had died then, it would have been Recca's fault! Recca doesn't take too kindly to that insinuation. He and Mikagami were both concerned about Domon, but in their own separate ways. More on this in a sec.
So Mikagami steps into the arena to see that both Neon AND Miki are in there as well. Neon proposes a double bout.
Recca: Double bed? O_o
Demi (announcer): Hanabishi seems confused! A double bout means two fighters on two fighters!
Recca: Oh.
Kage Houshi: Recca, I wish you'd study more. -_-'
Mikagami doesn't particularly care for the idea. As he says, he's not one to fight with a partner, and he wouldn't start with ano baka. Recca is annoyed, but Mikagami says a fool is a fool no matter what his name. Neon says they're Hokage's no.1 and no.2 fighters, right? Recca makes a face, and says he's no.1, but Mikagami is probably "numbaa hyaku" or so. It cracks me up. ^_^ Neon laughs, and taunts them--they're afraid to fight the two women! She tells Miki not to expect much from her battle, and turns away. Recca, of course, falls right into the trap. He jumps into the ring.
Recca: Double bout daroga double hamburger daroga!
Idiot. He and Mikagami begin the double bout by sniping at each other as they try to avoid Neon's attacks. Neon's madougu, Fukyo Waon, sends concentrated energy in several forms. Miki's Idaten make her incredibly fast, and with the mirror Yamabiko, she can reflect any attack from Neon (usually Quartet) onto the unsuspecting Hokage members. This is why Neon wanted a double bout - as a team, she and Miki have never been defeated. She sends out a bomb-like blast, Rhapsody, and is ready to bury Mikagami and Recca in the ring. As the ceiling falls towards them, it's broken apart by Domon. Domon then walks up to the two of them.
Recca: S-sankyuu, Domon...
Domon *SLAP*
Mikagami: D-Domon?
Domon *SLAP*
Domon then tells them that he's ashamed, because he's the reason they can't get along in this fight. He says that Mikagami's desire to stop the fight with Aki showed that Mikagami cared; but that Recca's willingness to trust Domon to finish the fight showed the same. And that he'll work harder and harder so that he never again has to make them fight over how stupid he is. It's kind of cool that he's telling them this. He walks out past the referee, who voids his win against Aki.
Domon: Aaah! Really?
Fuuko: You still woulda done it if you'd known, right?
Domon (teary-eyed): Of course! Wahahahahaah!
Now Recca and Mikagami have it together. They head for Neon and Miki, first taking Miki out. When she runs toward them, Recca catches her arm and spins her around, and Mikagami hits her. When she's down, Recca and Mikagami have only Neon to go after. Neon tries to hit Mikagami with the Fugue, but Recca steps in front of Mikagami and takes the blow instead, saying it's an apology for his previous stupidity. When he stands up, he and Mikagami face each other for a moment, then they say, "Let's beat them." Recca gets a great ear-to-ear evil grin. They're going to take out Neon, because Mikagami has already memorized all her attacks, even though he saw them only a few times.
Miki asks why they don't give up, but it's easy to see that Neon is not the kind who gives up ever. Neon declares she will not give, because Recca will cause Kurei pain! So she will use her ultimate technique: the song that calls for the lives of the faithful, Requiem. She can seal an unlimited amount of energy using Fukyo Waon, and she begins to do so, intent on creating a bomb that will destroy the whole satsujin dome. Recca shouts at her that she's stupid for serving someone like Kurei, but Neon won't listen to him. She says he doesn't know anything about Kurei-sama - she doesn't know if his kindnesses, or of his sorrow.
Several years before, Neon, with Miki and Aki, came to Kurei's mansion looking for work. They had no family and no references, but Kurei took them on as maids. They knew he was doing something wrong, or he wouldn't have hired people with no connections, but it was nice for them to be treated as humans for once (who knows what happened to them before they encountered Kurei). Neon knew that the only person who made Kurei happy was a girl named Kurenai, Mori Kouran's adopted daughter (gee, that name should sound familiar...).
However, Mori Kouran was displeased with this. One day he caught both Kurei and Kurenai, beating and kicking Kurei. Why? Because he wanted Kurei to be his emotionless servant, so he adopted Kurenai and made sure that Kurei fell in love with her so that he could teach Kurei a lesson. Kurei objects that he has no emotions, but Mori knows he's lying. So, right in front of Kurei's eyes, he pushes the button that causes a device implanted inside Kurenai's chest to explode, killing her. Kurei tries to save her, but it's too late. Her last words are that she wanted to be with him, always. Sobbing over her corpse, Kurei stands, and calls his Flame, which is the shape of an eagle. His Flame envelops Kurenai's body, transforming her into the Tenshi no Honoo that Recca-tachi encountered at the mansion while rescuing Yanagi. Kurenai, crying tears that evaporated immediately, put her hand on Kurei's face, and created the hideous scar that Kurei hides with his variety of masks.
This sad moment in Kurei's life, the sad expression on his face then, is what Neon fights to prevent from happening again. She will give her life to save Kurei from whatever pain Recca will cause him, because she cannot stand to see Kurei-sama sad. Her energy ball is enormous by this time, and expanding towards the ring.
Mikagami: Don't think you can save her without killing her!
Recca: But...
Mikagami: Did her story get to you, Hanabishi? Don't forget thet Kurei is the man who tortured Yanagi-san!
Recca hesitates. Mikagami retreats, prepared to use his Ensui to stop Neon. The energy is leaking off and has destroyed the dome's exits. Now there is no way out. Recca knows that there is one person who can save him and everyone there: Madoka, Kekkai-Oh! But he has to convince the quiet ryu to help him. As he's arguing with Madoka, the energy ball expands to include Recca in its circumference. Madoka shouts that he's going to kill them all, is he crazy?
Mikagami, meanwhile, has decided that Recca has had enough time. Stabbing Ensui into the ring, he holds his hand over the blade and invokes the Hyomon Ken technique Tsurara Mai (dancing icicles). The water in the ground is gathered by Ensui and forced ot of the ground and through the air, into the ceiling, where it gathers the moisture from the air and projects more icicles downwards. Thus, until Mikagami's target is dead, the air is full of dancing ice. He does manage to stab Fukyo Waon off of Neon's uniform (not sure how he did that without stabbing off her boob, but that's another story altogether), and another icile destroys the madougu, dissipating the energy harmlessly. Onely one problem: now Neon is plunging towards the arena floor, which is covered in huge, sharp icicles that will instantly kill her.
Recca, determined not to let anyone die, hurries to save her, using Madoka's powers to create a barrier that prevents her from being impaled. When Neon, coming around, demands to know why he did it, Recca makes a face and says, "They'd cry if you died, you know. Sucks to be dead." Neon's face is shocked as Aki and Miki come up to her, hugging her and crying, saying, "Yokatta!" over and over again. The referee asks how she should call the match, and Neon says that the Uruha Oto have been defeated, because her madougu was destroyed. As she and the other two walk away, she turns to Recca.
Neon: Don't think that just because you saved my life...if I were ordered to kill you, I would. But for today, you have my thanks.
Now, Recca controls five of the hachiryu, and Team Hokage has one more stage before the semi finals! This stage ends up being skipped because their opponents decided their injuries were too bad to continue. So they advance automatically to the semi-finals to face Uruha Maa...
