episode 29-32

Episode 29 - The Mysteries Begin to Move

Back in the real world, Keisuke runs into his buddy Tetsuya. After Keisuke relates the goings-on of the book to his friend, Tetsuya agrees to help Keisuke get to the bottom of this book and why it's so engaging. The Suzaku trio now return to Hotohori's palace, and the gang sets off for Hokkan (minus Hotohori, who must remain behind and do his emperor-ly duties). In the real world, Keisuke finds one of Miaka's hairs in the book, and realizes that he can communicate with her through the hair. He and Tetsuya, through their probing, have found that the miko of the legend is supposed to be consumed by her respective god after the summoning ceremony, and he tries to warn Miaka of this. However, Miaka ignores these warnings, out of loyalty to her seishi. Further, she gets Tasuki to burn a couple of her hairs, to destroy this, her only link to her brother and to the real world. Soon they set sail and they encounter a tremendous lightning storm, provided courtesy of Soi. The ship is badly damaged, and Tamahome.


Episode 30- The Sparks Fly

The three fallen seishi find their way to a fisherman's cave where they dry off and recover from the incident. Here Nuriko reveals some very interesting tidbits; Nuriko had a little sister named Korin. Ryuuen, Nuriko's real name, and Korin looked identical. Korin died in a horse accident, and Ryuuen couldn't bear with the loss. He dresses in her clothes and decides to become Korin forever. This is all shown in a flashback. Nuriko says that he is thinking about quitting being gay. Upon finally arriving in Hokkan, Tamahome saves a little boy from falling off a horse. In return, his mother lets the gang stay at her house for the night and were told about the legend of the Genbu No Miko but they don't know where the Shinzaho is. Now Yui with her seishi, are also in Hokkan and Nakago revealed his plan to use Ashitare. We also learn from this episode that Nakago and Soi are lovers.


Episode 31- The Eddying of Uneasiness

The gang leaves for Tolan and so does Yui and Suboshi. Nakago orders Ashitare, who is part wolf and part man and is also a Seiryuu seishi, to kill Miaka. Miaka and the seishi decide to split up to increase their chances of finding the shinzaho. Each group takes a flare with them with which to signal the others. When Nuriko offers to accompany Miaka and Tamahome, his offer is refused for fear of two pretty ladies attracting too many of the wrong kind of attention. This irks Nuriko, and he hacks his butt-length braid completely off so as to better resemble a male. Tamahome stumbles upon Yui while he is off alone, and again tries to get her to give up and come with him. She seems to realize that this cannot end well for either side but feels that she's in too far and cannot stop now. To get Tamahome off her case, she tries to hurt him, cruelly informing him that he's only a character in a book. Tamahome is confused by this but doesn't have the opportunity to ask her what that means. The last scene is Ashitare diving toward Miaka and Nuriko screaming.


Episode 32- Killed In Pursuit of Being a Suzaku Seishi

Ashitare attacks, but Nuriko saves the day, but gets wounded. He burns Ashitare's eye with a flare and the beast runs away. Tamahome tells them about the Shinzaho and now they need to find Tasuki and the others. Later that night, Nuriko confides to Tamahome that he has fallen in love with Miaka in a totally heterosexual way, having given up the gay cross-dressing life for good. However, being the totally considerate sweetheart that he is, he promises not to interfere with Miaka and Tamahome's love. As long as Miaka's happy, he'll be happy for her. Next day, Nuriko goes to Mt. Black by himself to get the Shinzaho while Tama and Miaka go to find the rest of the seishi. Ashitare pursues Nuriko on the way. When they arrive at Mt. Black and is about to remove a boulder that is blocking the entrance to the Shinzaho Ashitare attacks. Nuriko gets ready to fight.