Saiyuki Crossroaders 2/3
Continuing the Saiyuki Crossroaders translation from the Zero Sum website...
Previous bit
“The famous ‘Maakou Town’ is about 300 kilometers south of here.”
Everything began the night before. The Sanzo Ikkou were deciding the next day’s route in their small four-person room. Hakkai, having obtained information about the surrounding area from the open-air stalls where he bought their provisions, spoke as though he’d just remembered the fact. It was a conversation no different from any they’d had since setting out westward in order to stop the Minus Wave.
“Seriously?! Damn, I’ve always wanted to go there.” As expected, Gojyo was sucked into the conversation and responded dramatically.
“Maakou shell (※1)...?”
“It’s not seafood.” Understanding Goku’s thought process from his puzzled glance, Sanzo continued. “Maakou Town, the largest entertainment center on this continent.”
“Let’s see, would calling it ‘Shangri-la’s Las Vegas’ make it easier to understand?”
“Not a bit.”
“It’s a gambling town. The whole place is made of casinos and theaters and adult entertainment... It’s an amazing place, yeah?” Gojyo, who usually hung back feigning disinterest, emphatically turned to Hakkai and Sanzo for confirmation. In comparison, Goku appeared cool and aloof.
“You say it’s amazing, but you’ve never actually been there, have you Gojyo.”
“Yeah, like I could’ve made it all the way out here! ...But, y’know, this place’s like a dreamland to punks like us.”
One tends to forget that before he joined the Sanzo Ikkou, Gojyo was a professional gambler who earned his living in Chang’an’s betting houses. Small wonder, then, that mention of the entertainment mecca reputed to be the largest ever could make Gojyo’s eyes shine in excitement. ...Of course, the promise of below-the-belt entertainment could not be forgotten.
“...So that’s the reason there’s a town this far into the middle of nothing.”
“It was originally a place for the visitors to Maakou Town to sleep. Though it seems that the majority of the inn-dwellers are Maakou Town’s ‘workers’ rather than ‘visitors’.”
Anyone living in Shangri-la had to have heard at least once about this huge amusement center. Customers were largely limited to the wealthy, and those who aimed to capture those repeat customers gathered their recreational businesses there.
“300 kilos south, huh... So close and yet so far,” Gojyo played with his pack of cigarettes and murmured to himself, unable to give up on entering the land of his dreams.
The roads were bad, and factoring in the stops for mid-journey youkai attacks, at most the Sanzo Ikkou covered around 500 kilos a day. The distance from here to Maakou Town and back would correspond with their past record.
“We could do a little sight seeing for a change in pace every now and then ♪ ...Eh, that won’t happen, I bet.”
“It’s fine.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know already... Huh?” Gojyo, his cigarette in danger of falling from his lips, turned to stare with Goku and Hakkai at their blond leader.
“...What’s the matter, Sanzo?”
“You sleepy?”
“Nothing’s wrong and I’m not sleepy. You got a problem with going t this Maakou Town?” Sanzo tossed out those words with his usual Buddha-like impassiveness, in his usual arrogant tone. It looked like their lord was serious.
“We don’t mind at all, but...”
“I dunno what caused this change in attitude, but there’s no take-backs, Sanzo-chan.”
“I’m not taking it back. Die.” Annoyed at the overly-eager Gojyo, Sanzo turned his gaze on Hakkai. “They say Maakou Town is famous for being divided by the mafia, yeah?”
“Yes. By some people originally referred to as the ‘Snake’s Head’.”
“...Is a mafia a kind of baked snack?”
“That’s a muffin. In plain speech, they’re yakuza, gangsters.” As he dutifully played the comedy duo straight man, Gojyo exhaled smoke through his nose as though making fun of the local mafia. For the Sanzo Ikkou, who were unfailingly confronted every day by those who would take their lives, the local yakuza were little more than air through their nostrils.
“Well, today’s touristy Maakou Town is said to be a front for the secret town the Snake’s Head developed in order to sell and trade drugs and other black market goods.”
“Then they should have the facilities to take care of this.”
All eyes were drawn to the silver revolver Sanzo indicated.
“...Your gun? I get it.”
“Well, I suppose supply and demand for both sales and maintenance go together.”
“Oh yeah, you’ve been worried about your gun’s performance lately, yeah Sanzo?”
Even though he had his own personal agenda, their demon leader - who, aside from unusual circumstances, expressly prohibited side trips - had ordered a trip to an amusement center. And, depending on the gun’s condition, a two- or three-night stay was plausible. Such a sweet opportunity was extremely rare.
“We should leave early if we want to arrive while the sun is still up.”
“Ugh, seriously?” whined Goku, like a child faced with an undesirable vacation.
Resting his elbow atop Goku’s shoulder, the red-headed demon whispered, “It’s a town for the rich people. I bet they’ve got the world’s most delicious food there...”
“Okay, I’ll go to bed now.” Having instantly sold his soul to the devil, Goku wrapped himself in a blanket and was lying down even before he finished speaking.
“...That’s my bed.”
Kicked aside by Sanzo, Goku rolled, blankets and all, like a potato bug to the wall, where Jeep had been dozing. Annoyed, the dragon took to the air.
~~~
None of the Ikkou knew that they would be betting their lives in the town they were headed for, but seeing as they gambled with their lives every day, this was nothing out of the ordinary.
■ ■ ■
More time than they expected had passed before the Sanzo Ikkou could set foot within the fascinating amusement center that sprawled just before their eyes. First, they had trouble finding the path that descended to the town; they were forced to take a winding detour down the sizable mountain. Then, in the midst of that, they were ambushed by a group of youkai and had to clean that mess up. And, when they finally arrived at the entrance to the town, they were delayed by amazingly strict entrance procedures. Numerous police systems were set up at the only portal into and out of the town, the rest of the theme park being encircled by a ten-meter-high wall.
“...I suppose, given the times, the check system has become more rigid to prevent troublemakers from entering. This is Shangri-la’s one and only town that can pride itself on law and order, after all.” Hakkai didn’t forget to soothe his short tempered companions as he speedily signed document after document.
They had no problems proving their identities thanks to the Three Aspects’ gold card, but the majority of the documents were pledges regarding “Insurance in the event that a problem occurs”. As he signed, Hakkai silently hoped that he men standing behind him would not fall under the ‘troublemaker’ label.
The sun had long since gone down by the time the four travelers were admitted into the city, but surprisingly the world inside the wall was considerably brighter than noon outside.
“Whoa... this place’s crazy,” Goku whispered with a tight half-smile, overawed by the flood of light encircling him from all directions.
The town looked like an extremely gaudy toy box when seen from the mountain; from the inside, it looked more like a fortress. It was a showy forest of high-rise buildings, overflowing with enough energy to cover even the sky, as though to completely obstruct the world with the wild atmosphere of the town. Disorderly colors shone almost crudely; neon signs and electric boards blinked temptation in every language on the continent. Though Shangri-la was a land known for its tolerance of foreign interference, here was a mismatched scene visible nowhere else on the continent.
If one were to chose an adjective for the town, one would pass over “shiny” and skip right to “glaring”. It was a place like the hunger known as human greed, continually birthing a whirl of intense light and sound... Even standing still amid that unending movement was enough to drive a man mad.
“...What a waste of electricity.”
“What’s the point in putting lights on the sky?”
“Don’t stare around so much, Monkey. They’ll think we’re from the country.”
“We are from the country, though.”
The people moving about the town gave off a uniformly affluent appearance, regardless of sex or age. Foreign gentleman-style tuxedos, embroidery-chased Chinese dresses with fur mufflers of Russian sable, satin dress shirts... They liberally attired themselves in obviously expensive clothes, and passed by impassively as though this odd atmosphere were an everyday occurrence.
Even the Sanzo Ikkou, forged in the heat of battle and who daily walked the line between life and death, were nothing more than “social climbers” here.
“Whoa, sorry.” Goku bumped into a passerby for the nth time and frantically voiced an apology. The young girl, her hair done up in a bun with a gold butterfly ornament, wordlessly glanced at him before fading into the crowd.
“You suck at picking up chicks.”
“Don’t compare me to you, pervy Kappa!”
“Goku, you must look where you’re walking.” Lecturing like a teacher chaperone, Hakkai led the others with help from the pamphlet he held. “Ah, that building back there. That’s the hotel we booked.”
An exaggerated Roman-style building rose at the entrance to an alley straggling off the main road. Its leathery white walls were lit from below by a warm-colored light.
“This isn’t a hotel, it’s a castle...”
Placing his long arm on Goku’s upturned head, Gojyo lifted an eyebrow as though bored. “Hotels’re always castles.”
“Are you talking about that love hotel on the outskirts of town, Gojyo?”
“...Castle or stable, as long as I can sleep it’s all the same to me.” Belying his frail appearance, Sanzo was more accustomed to survival living than anyone. Exhaling uninterestedly, he faced the white castle gate and stepped forward without hesitation.
~~~
With check-in finished, the Ikkou quickly set about filling their empty stomachs.
“I wanna eat as soon as possible, so let’s make do with the hotel restaurant.” This line was spoken off-handedly, but, as the hotel itself was of royal caliber, the in-house ristorante too was of extremely royal caliber.
A huge dragon sculpture carved from red coral coiled in a spiral on a black wall embellished with gold leaf. Deep crimson garden lanterns hung from the high ceiling at regular intervals. It was a stupendously lavish Cantonese eatery.
Uniformly showy in red, black, and gold, the restaurant was more spacious even than Keiun Temple’s prayer hall in Chang’an. Individual tables were partitioned off by lavish screens, decorated so minutely as to make one’s eyes spin.
...It was fortunate that the screens were there. Had they not been, the Sanzo Ikkou would undoubtedly have been exposed to odd looks from the other diners. It would be a challenge to praise the four travel-weary men who, supported by the hollyhock crest of the Three Aspects’ gold card, were currently in the process of eating their way through every five star item on the menu.
“We might be country folk, but we’ve still got the money!”
“It’s not your money.”
“It’s not yours either, Sanzo.”
“Hm, can’t we be forgiven this sort of extravagance every once in a while?”
The four were seated at a huge circular table carpeted almost to overflowing with large plates of rich foods. They were absorbed in idle banter as they consumed dish after dish. Frankly, the colorful seafood and Chinese cabbage adorning their plates were more mystically alluring than the brilliant neon lights that colored the town.
“Wow, this’s all shark fin! I thought it was cellophane noodles, but when I ate some it was shark fin!!”
“Quit hogging the plate! Hand it over, you country monkey!”
“...Can’t you eat quietly, you embarrassing poor people?” Right on cue, the wrinkle between the highest ranking monk’s eyebrows appeared when he got annoyed. He gulped down his Jokki beer.
“By the way, Sanzo, how do you plan on searching for a gun mechanic?” Hakkai asked as he deftly dismantled a Shanghai crab with fermented black beans. Faced with the foreign allure of Maakou Town, they had momentarily forgot the true purpose of their sojourn: gun maintenance.
“The hotel manager should have a few tips.” Sanzo lifted a cigarette to his lips from his pack of Marlboros.
Maakou Town was larger and more confusing than one thought before actually setting foot inside. And of course, they didn’t have the time to wander about the town searching for their destination.
“...If that doesn’t work, I’ll deal directly with a casino manager.”
However, the ones running the casinos were sure to belong to the Snake’s Head. And while Sanzo wouldn’t feel a scrap of awe when faced with mere local yakuza, he also did not have the time to get mixed up in anything.
“Huh, you going to a casino, Sanzo?”
“Alright Sanzo-sama, I’ll accompany you.”
“Didn’t I tell you you weren’t allowed?”
The rebuke came swiftly like a strict teacher reprimanding obviously curious students. Just before entering this pleasure town, Hakkai had wrested this promise from everyone: not to play in casinos.
Although they weren’t at a loss for money, the Three Aspects’ card was entrusted to Sanzo to stop the revival experiment; in other words, it was only to be used for war funds. A bit of excess during their days of fighting could be excused, but they weren’t supposed to spend money like water on wasteful pleasures.
“It’ll be fine if we just don’t lose too much...”
“Gojyo, you of all people should know that, statistically speaking, controlling the game, much less ‘not losing too much’, is highly improbable.”
Bluntly shot down by his gambler roommate, the red-haired gambler lifted both hands in a surrender. ...However, not trying one’s hand in the casinos when one has come all the way to “Shangri-la’s number one casino town” was like going to the hot springs and being told to eat a hot spring egg (※2) but not soak in the water. This would not do. Just as Gojyo was searching for the right protest, a voice sounded from behind.
“Excuse me for interrupting your meal.”
In unison, the four men turned their eyes toward the speaker. A serious, middle-aged man garbed in a waiter’s uniform stood by the Ikkou’s table, his head bowed politely.
“Would this be the Priest Genjo Sanzo-sama’s party?”
“...What is it?” Hakkai, who at some point had been elected the group’s diplomatic officer, pleasantly responded without either affirmation or denial.
“Ryojun-sama, of the administration association that oversees all of Maakou Town, wishes to exchange greetings with you.”
“Adminifration afofiafun?”
Because Goku had mumbled with seafood yakisoba hanging half out of his mouth, Gojyo wordlessly slapped the back of his chestnut head.
...In other words, it seemed that the “head of the snake” was approaching. When Hakkai signaled their leader with his gaze, Sanzo merely crushed his cigarette in the ashtray in lieu of giving an answer.
“Ahh, evening. Sorry to interrupt.” The man greeted them in a frank baritone as he stepped out from behind the screen.
He was infinitely younger and more cheerful than anyone imagined, probably in his early 30’s. At first glance he appeared to be as thin as a corpse in his well-tailored suit and black striped shirt, but the swell of well-formed muscle could be seen in his shoulders and chest. The old-fashioned term “handsome”, rather than the more contemporary “hot”, would describe his clear-cut features. A refreshing smile without a hint of sarcasm played upon his lips. If not for the knife scar running down the right side of his face, one would never suspect that he was an officer of the yakuza.
Sanzo did not physically look like a high ranking priest, so they had that in common.
“I am Ryojun. Welcome to Maakou Town.”
Only Hakkai rose and shook the hand that was naturally offered. “This is...”
“Genjo Sanzo.” Prompted by Hakkai, Sanzo stood without a twitch and succinctly made himself known.
Unruffled by this arrogant attitude, Ryojun smiled, displaying white teeth against sun-darkened skin. “The gambling gods would be disgusted with me if I failed to greet Shangri-la’s highest ranking priest, Genjo Sanzo-sama, while he was here.”
“The gods of gambling wouldn’t be disgusted; this seems like a town even the goddess of victory would visit. We were surprised.” Matching the other’s foreign style of speech, Hakkai stated his candid impression. He gently denied the idea that even great Buddhist monks would occasionally visit this sort of entertainment town.
“I didn’t meet him, but there’s talk among the administrative officers about a Sanzo priest visiting the town near 20 years ago.”
...The cause of the slight, momentary tension that gripped the Sanzo Ikkou was none other than the image of that black crow bastard’s disgusting grinning face.
“I think he was called Priest Koumyou Sanzo. In only two days he amassed the greatest winnings in the casino’s history. Even allowing for him being the highest ranking priest, he had something that went beyond luck with gambling... What’s wrong?”
Sanzo’s golden head, which had been propped up on his hand, had snapped around to stare strangely at Ryojun.
“Wasn’t Koumyou the name of Sanzo’s master?”
“...What was he doing...” The favored pupil made a sour face as he remembered the happy-go-lucky, slightly daft smile of his master and father, a man to whom this place was even more foreign than to himself or to the crow bastard.
“Unfortunately, we aren’t here to enjoy the gambling this time. We simply stopped by in the midst of a journey.”
“I see, well, this town has many more amusements other than casinos. There is nothing you cannot get here.” Ryojun smiled nobly, exhibiting a composure and importance greater than his years. If the Sanzo Ikkou weren’t more careful than this yakuza officer, they would seem like nothing more than a gang of punks.
...And yet, the real punk Gojyo picked up from Ryojun the same vagabond smell that clung to both himself and Banri. He couldn’t explain it in words, but around the edges of that self-confident manner he glimpsed a destructive something that could not be hidden.
Gojyo quietly looked away and glanced at the silent woman who had been standing next to Ryojun from the beginning. She was a real beauty. Probably just about 20 years old. Her long eyelashes and wet lips seemed to hold no emotion, immobile as a doll. Jet-black hair, softly held back by a gold butterfly ornament, curled tightly over delicate white collar bones. The cleavage peeping out of her pale lilac dress was provocative, but her arms were a bloodless blue-white, as through she were malnourished.
Gojyo knew this sort of woman who was wrapped heavily in saccharine musk. She was a woman hooked on one drug or another. The fact that he walked around with such a woman as though she were an accessory strongly supported the impression of Ryojun as a dishonest man.
“...You said there’s nothing you don’t have.”
“Yes.”
“Even a gun maintenance shop.”
“Of course.” Ryojun replied lightly to Sanzo’s direct question. “Why don’t I send directions to the store up to your room later? If there’s anything else you wish, simply contact me through the hotel.”
“Thank you.” Hakkai expressed their thanks for Sanzo. Sanzo wanted to avoid the trouble of directly dealing with yakuza, but this had saved them the search.
“...However. I am making an exception for you.” Ryojun smiled like a teasing child, and place his finger over his lips. “You can get anything in this town, it’s true. Things, people, information, lives... They can all be traded for money. That is the one and only rule of this town.”
The man’s eyes took on a snake-like sheen for just a moment.
...This was the true face of that strange feeling that could not be hidden. In this man’s attitude of luxury was more evidence that he differed from a normal citizen.
“We appreciate the advice.” Hakkai answered with a smile, pretending not to notice the coercion. He turned back to the table, consumed by a foreboding feeling that a prolonged stay in this town could be dangerous.
The food atop the plates had disappeared at some point into Goku and Gojyo’s stomachs. Hakkai regretted a little not having eaten some Peking duck earlier.
~~~
※1 Maakou shell: Goku mistakes homophones. Maakou Town and Maakou shell are pronounced the same here: ‘Maakou gai’, but the former uses the character for a lively shopping area or town [街], while the latter uses the character for shell [貝].
※２ Hot spring egg [onsen tamago 温泉卵]: At a natural hot spring, you can usually get an egg that’s been hardboiled in the waters. According to one tour guide, “Eat one egg, get 10 years more life. Eat two eggs, get 20 years more life. Eat three eggs, get diarrhea.”
Next bit
Previous bit
“The famous ‘Maakou Town’ is about 300 kilometers south of here.”
Everything began the night before. The Sanzo Ikkou were deciding the next day’s route in their small four-person room. Hakkai, having obtained information about the surrounding area from the open-air stalls where he bought their provisions, spoke as though he’d just remembered the fact. It was a conversation no different from any they’d had since setting out westward in order to stop the Minus Wave.
“Seriously?! Damn, I’ve always wanted to go there.” As expected, Gojyo was sucked into the conversation and responded dramatically.
“Maakou shell (※1)...?”
“It’s not seafood.” Understanding Goku’s thought process from his puzzled glance, Sanzo continued. “Maakou Town, the largest entertainment center on this continent.”
“Let’s see, would calling it ‘Shangri-la’s Las Vegas’ make it easier to understand?”
“Not a bit.”
“It’s a gambling town. The whole place is made of casinos and theaters and adult entertainment... It’s an amazing place, yeah?” Gojyo, who usually hung back feigning disinterest, emphatically turned to Hakkai and Sanzo for confirmation. In comparison, Goku appeared cool and aloof.
“You say it’s amazing, but you’ve never actually been there, have you Gojyo.”
“Yeah, like I could’ve made it all the way out here! ...But, y’know, this place’s like a dreamland to punks like us.”
One tends to forget that before he joined the Sanzo Ikkou, Gojyo was a professional gambler who earned his living in Chang’an’s betting houses. Small wonder, then, that mention of the entertainment mecca reputed to be the largest ever could make Gojyo’s eyes shine in excitement. ...Of course, the promise of below-the-belt entertainment could not be forgotten.
“...So that’s the reason there’s a town this far into the middle of nothing.”
“It was originally a place for the visitors to Maakou Town to sleep. Though it seems that the majority of the inn-dwellers are Maakou Town’s ‘workers’ rather than ‘visitors’.”
Anyone living in Shangri-la had to have heard at least once about this huge amusement center. Customers were largely limited to the wealthy, and those who aimed to capture those repeat customers gathered their recreational businesses there.
“300 kilos south, huh... So close and yet so far,” Gojyo played with his pack of cigarettes and murmured to himself, unable to give up on entering the land of his dreams.
The roads were bad, and factoring in the stops for mid-journey youkai attacks, at most the Sanzo Ikkou covered around 500 kilos a day. The distance from here to Maakou Town and back would correspond with their past record.
“We could do a little sight seeing for a change in pace every now and then ♪ ...Eh, that won’t happen, I bet.”
“It’s fine.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know already... Huh?” Gojyo, his cigarette in danger of falling from his lips, turned to stare with Goku and Hakkai at their blond leader.
“...What’s the matter, Sanzo?”
“You sleepy?”
“Nothing’s wrong and I’m not sleepy. You got a problem with going t this Maakou Town?” Sanzo tossed out those words with his usual Buddha-like impassiveness, in his usual arrogant tone. It looked like their lord was serious.
“We don’t mind at all, but...”
“I dunno what caused this change in attitude, but there’s no take-backs, Sanzo-chan.”
“I’m not taking it back. Die.” Annoyed at the overly-eager Gojyo, Sanzo turned his gaze on Hakkai. “They say Maakou Town is famous for being divided by the mafia, yeah?”
“Yes. By some people originally referred to as the ‘Snake’s Head’.”
“...Is a mafia a kind of baked snack?”
“That’s a muffin. In plain speech, they’re yakuza, gangsters.” As he dutifully played the comedy duo straight man, Gojyo exhaled smoke through his nose as though making fun of the local mafia. For the Sanzo Ikkou, who were unfailingly confronted every day by those who would take their lives, the local yakuza were little more than air through their nostrils.
“Well, today’s touristy Maakou Town is said to be a front for the secret town the Snake’s Head developed in order to sell and trade drugs and other black market goods.”
“Then they should have the facilities to take care of this.”
All eyes were drawn to the silver revolver Sanzo indicated.
“...Your gun? I get it.”
“Well, I suppose supply and demand for both sales and maintenance go together.”
“Oh yeah, you’ve been worried about your gun’s performance lately, yeah Sanzo?”
Even though he had his own personal agenda, their demon leader - who, aside from unusual circumstances, expressly prohibited side trips - had ordered a trip to an amusement center. And, depending on the gun’s condition, a two- or three-night stay was plausible. Such a sweet opportunity was extremely rare.
“We should leave early if we want to arrive while the sun is still up.”
“Ugh, seriously?” whined Goku, like a child faced with an undesirable vacation.
Resting his elbow atop Goku’s shoulder, the red-headed demon whispered, “It’s a town for the rich people. I bet they’ve got the world’s most delicious food there...”
“Okay, I’ll go to bed now.” Having instantly sold his soul to the devil, Goku wrapped himself in a blanket and was lying down even before he finished speaking.
“...That’s my bed.”
Kicked aside by Sanzo, Goku rolled, blankets and all, like a potato bug to the wall, where Jeep had been dozing. Annoyed, the dragon took to the air.
~~~
None of the Ikkou knew that they would be betting their lives in the town they were headed for, but seeing as they gambled with their lives every day, this was nothing out of the ordinary.
■ ■ ■
More time than they expected had passed before the Sanzo Ikkou could set foot within the fascinating amusement center that sprawled just before their eyes. First, they had trouble finding the path that descended to the town; they were forced to take a winding detour down the sizable mountain. Then, in the midst of that, they were ambushed by a group of youkai and had to clean that mess up. And, when they finally arrived at the entrance to the town, they were delayed by amazingly strict entrance procedures. Numerous police systems were set up at the only portal into and out of the town, the rest of the theme park being encircled by a ten-meter-high wall.
“...I suppose, given the times, the check system has become more rigid to prevent troublemakers from entering. This is Shangri-la’s one and only town that can pride itself on law and order, after all.” Hakkai didn’t forget to soothe his short tempered companions as he speedily signed document after document.
They had no problems proving their identities thanks to the Three Aspects’ gold card, but the majority of the documents were pledges regarding “Insurance in the event that a problem occurs”. As he signed, Hakkai silently hoped that he men standing behind him would not fall under the ‘troublemaker’ label.
The sun had long since gone down by the time the four travelers were admitted into the city, but surprisingly the world inside the wall was considerably brighter than noon outside.
“Whoa... this place’s crazy,” Goku whispered with a tight half-smile, overawed by the flood of light encircling him from all directions.
The town looked like an extremely gaudy toy box when seen from the mountain; from the inside, it looked more like a fortress. It was a showy forest of high-rise buildings, overflowing with enough energy to cover even the sky, as though to completely obstruct the world with the wild atmosphere of the town. Disorderly colors shone almost crudely; neon signs and electric boards blinked temptation in every language on the continent. Though Shangri-la was a land known for its tolerance of foreign interference, here was a mismatched scene visible nowhere else on the continent.
If one were to chose an adjective for the town, one would pass over “shiny” and skip right to “glaring”. It was a place like the hunger known as human greed, continually birthing a whirl of intense light and sound... Even standing still amid that unending movement was enough to drive a man mad.
“...What a waste of electricity.”
“What’s the point in putting lights on the sky?”
“Don’t stare around so much, Monkey. They’ll think we’re from the country.”
“We are from the country, though.”
The people moving about the town gave off a uniformly affluent appearance, regardless of sex or age. Foreign gentleman-style tuxedos, embroidery-chased Chinese dresses with fur mufflers of Russian sable, satin dress shirts... They liberally attired themselves in obviously expensive clothes, and passed by impassively as though this odd atmosphere were an everyday occurrence.
Even the Sanzo Ikkou, forged in the heat of battle and who daily walked the line between life and death, were nothing more than “social climbers” here.
“Whoa, sorry.” Goku bumped into a passerby for the nth time and frantically voiced an apology. The young girl, her hair done up in a bun with a gold butterfly ornament, wordlessly glanced at him before fading into the crowd.
“You suck at picking up chicks.”
“Don’t compare me to you, pervy Kappa!”
“Goku, you must look where you’re walking.” Lecturing like a teacher chaperone, Hakkai led the others with help from the pamphlet he held. “Ah, that building back there. That’s the hotel we booked.”
An exaggerated Roman-style building rose at the entrance to an alley straggling off the main road. Its leathery white walls were lit from below by a warm-colored light.
“This isn’t a hotel, it’s a castle...”
Placing his long arm on Goku’s upturned head, Gojyo lifted an eyebrow as though bored. “Hotels’re always castles.”
“Are you talking about that love hotel on the outskirts of town, Gojyo?”
“...Castle or stable, as long as I can sleep it’s all the same to me.” Belying his frail appearance, Sanzo was more accustomed to survival living than anyone. Exhaling uninterestedly, he faced the white castle gate and stepped forward without hesitation.
~~~
With check-in finished, the Ikkou quickly set about filling their empty stomachs.
“I wanna eat as soon as possible, so let’s make do with the hotel restaurant.” This line was spoken off-handedly, but, as the hotel itself was of royal caliber, the in-house ristorante too was of extremely royal caliber.
A huge dragon sculpture carved from red coral coiled in a spiral on a black wall embellished with gold leaf. Deep crimson garden lanterns hung from the high ceiling at regular intervals. It was a stupendously lavish Cantonese eatery.
Uniformly showy in red, black, and gold, the restaurant was more spacious even than Keiun Temple’s prayer hall in Chang’an. Individual tables were partitioned off by lavish screens, decorated so minutely as to make one’s eyes spin.
...It was fortunate that the screens were there. Had they not been, the Sanzo Ikkou would undoubtedly have been exposed to odd looks from the other diners. It would be a challenge to praise the four travel-weary men who, supported by the hollyhock crest of the Three Aspects’ gold card, were currently in the process of eating their way through every five star item on the menu.
“We might be country folk, but we’ve still got the money!”
“It’s not your money.”
“It’s not yours either, Sanzo.”
“Hm, can’t we be forgiven this sort of extravagance every once in a while?”
The four were seated at a huge circular table carpeted almost to overflowing with large plates of rich foods. They were absorbed in idle banter as they consumed dish after dish. Frankly, the colorful seafood and Chinese cabbage adorning their plates were more mystically alluring than the brilliant neon lights that colored the town.
“Wow, this’s all shark fin! I thought it was cellophane noodles, but when I ate some it was shark fin!!”
“Quit hogging the plate! Hand it over, you country monkey!”
“...Can’t you eat quietly, you embarrassing poor people?” Right on cue, the wrinkle between the highest ranking monk’s eyebrows appeared when he got annoyed. He gulped down his Jokki beer.
“By the way, Sanzo, how do you plan on searching for a gun mechanic?” Hakkai asked as he deftly dismantled a Shanghai crab with fermented black beans. Faced with the foreign allure of Maakou Town, they had momentarily forgot the true purpose of their sojourn: gun maintenance.
“The hotel manager should have a few tips.” Sanzo lifted a cigarette to his lips from his pack of Marlboros.
Maakou Town was larger and more confusing than one thought before actually setting foot inside. And of course, they didn’t have the time to wander about the town searching for their destination.
“...If that doesn’t work, I’ll deal directly with a casino manager.”
However, the ones running the casinos were sure to belong to the Snake’s Head. And while Sanzo wouldn’t feel a scrap of awe when faced with mere local yakuza, he also did not have the time to get mixed up in anything.
“Huh, you going to a casino, Sanzo?”
“Alright Sanzo-sama, I’ll accompany you.”
“Didn’t I tell you you weren’t allowed?”
The rebuke came swiftly like a strict teacher reprimanding obviously curious students. Just before entering this pleasure town, Hakkai had wrested this promise from everyone: not to play in casinos.
Although they weren’t at a loss for money, the Three Aspects’ card was entrusted to Sanzo to stop the revival experiment; in other words, it was only to be used for war funds. A bit of excess during their days of fighting could be excused, but they weren’t supposed to spend money like water on wasteful pleasures.
“It’ll be fine if we just don’t lose too much...”
“Gojyo, you of all people should know that, statistically speaking, controlling the game, much less ‘not losing too much’, is highly improbable.”
Bluntly shot down by his gambler roommate, the red-haired gambler lifted both hands in a surrender. ...However, not trying one’s hand in the casinos when one has come all the way to “Shangri-la’s number one casino town” was like going to the hot springs and being told to eat a hot spring egg (※2) but not soak in the water. This would not do. Just as Gojyo was searching for the right protest, a voice sounded from behind.
“Excuse me for interrupting your meal.”
In unison, the four men turned their eyes toward the speaker. A serious, middle-aged man garbed in a waiter’s uniform stood by the Ikkou’s table, his head bowed politely.
“Would this be the Priest Genjo Sanzo-sama’s party?”
“...What is it?” Hakkai, who at some point had been elected the group’s diplomatic officer, pleasantly responded without either affirmation or denial.
“Ryojun-sama, of the administration association that oversees all of Maakou Town, wishes to exchange greetings with you.”
“Adminifration afofiafun?”
Because Goku had mumbled with seafood yakisoba hanging half out of his mouth, Gojyo wordlessly slapped the back of his chestnut head.
...In other words, it seemed that the “head of the snake” was approaching. When Hakkai signaled their leader with his gaze, Sanzo merely crushed his cigarette in the ashtray in lieu of giving an answer.
“Ahh, evening. Sorry to interrupt.” The man greeted them in a frank baritone as he stepped out from behind the screen.
He was infinitely younger and more cheerful than anyone imagined, probably in his early 30’s. At first glance he appeared to be as thin as a corpse in his well-tailored suit and black striped shirt, but the swell of well-formed muscle could be seen in his shoulders and chest. The old-fashioned term “handsome”, rather than the more contemporary “hot”, would describe his clear-cut features. A refreshing smile without a hint of sarcasm played upon his lips. If not for the knife scar running down the right side of his face, one would never suspect that he was an officer of the yakuza.
Sanzo did not physically look like a high ranking priest, so they had that in common.
“I am Ryojun. Welcome to Maakou Town.”
Only Hakkai rose and shook the hand that was naturally offered. “This is...”
“Genjo Sanzo.” Prompted by Hakkai, Sanzo stood without a twitch and succinctly made himself known.
Unruffled by this arrogant attitude, Ryojun smiled, displaying white teeth against sun-darkened skin. “The gambling gods would be disgusted with me if I failed to greet Shangri-la’s highest ranking priest, Genjo Sanzo-sama, while he was here.”
“The gods of gambling wouldn’t be disgusted; this seems like a town even the goddess of victory would visit. We were surprised.” Matching the other’s foreign style of speech, Hakkai stated his candid impression. He gently denied the idea that even great Buddhist monks would occasionally visit this sort of entertainment town.
“I didn’t meet him, but there’s talk among the administrative officers about a Sanzo priest visiting the town near 20 years ago.”
...The cause of the slight, momentary tension that gripped the Sanzo Ikkou was none other than the image of that black crow bastard’s disgusting grinning face.
“I think he was called Priest Koumyou Sanzo. In only two days he amassed the greatest winnings in the casino’s history. Even allowing for him being the highest ranking priest, he had something that went beyond luck with gambling... What’s wrong?”
Sanzo’s golden head, which had been propped up on his hand, had snapped around to stare strangely at Ryojun.
“Wasn’t Koumyou the name of Sanzo’s master?”
“...What was he doing...” The favored pupil made a sour face as he remembered the happy-go-lucky, slightly daft smile of his master and father, a man to whom this place was even more foreign than to himself or to the crow bastard.
“Unfortunately, we aren’t here to enjoy the gambling this time. We simply stopped by in the midst of a journey.”
“I see, well, this town has many more amusements other than casinos. There is nothing you cannot get here.” Ryojun smiled nobly, exhibiting a composure and importance greater than his years. If the Sanzo Ikkou weren’t more careful than this yakuza officer, they would seem like nothing more than a gang of punks.
...And yet, the real punk Gojyo picked up from Ryojun the same vagabond smell that clung to both himself and Banri. He couldn’t explain it in words, but around the edges of that self-confident manner he glimpsed a destructive something that could not be hidden.
Gojyo quietly looked away and glanced at the silent woman who had been standing next to Ryojun from the beginning. She was a real beauty. Probably just about 20 years old. Her long eyelashes and wet lips seemed to hold no emotion, immobile as a doll. Jet-black hair, softly held back by a gold butterfly ornament, curled tightly over delicate white collar bones. The cleavage peeping out of her pale lilac dress was provocative, but her arms were a bloodless blue-white, as through she were malnourished.
Gojyo knew this sort of woman who was wrapped heavily in saccharine musk. She was a woman hooked on one drug or another. The fact that he walked around with such a woman as though she were an accessory strongly supported the impression of Ryojun as a dishonest man.
“...You said there’s nothing you don’t have.”
“Yes.”
“Even a gun maintenance shop.”
“Of course.” Ryojun replied lightly to Sanzo’s direct question. “Why don’t I send directions to the store up to your room later? If there’s anything else you wish, simply contact me through the hotel.”
“Thank you.” Hakkai expressed their thanks for Sanzo. Sanzo wanted to avoid the trouble of directly dealing with yakuza, but this had saved them the search.
“...However. I am making an exception for you.” Ryojun smiled like a teasing child, and place his finger over his lips. “You can get anything in this town, it’s true. Things, people, information, lives... They can all be traded for money. That is the one and only rule of this town.”
The man’s eyes took on a snake-like sheen for just a moment.
...This was the true face of that strange feeling that could not be hidden. In this man’s attitude of luxury was more evidence that he differed from a normal citizen.
“We appreciate the advice.” Hakkai answered with a smile, pretending not to notice the coercion. He turned back to the table, consumed by a foreboding feeling that a prolonged stay in this town could be dangerous.
The food atop the plates had disappeared at some point into Goku and Gojyo’s stomachs. Hakkai regretted a little not having eaten some Peking duck earlier.
~~~
※1 Maakou shell: Goku mistakes homophones. Maakou Town and Maakou shell are pronounced the same here: ‘Maakou gai’, but the former uses the character for a lively shopping area or town [街], while the latter uses the character for shell [貝].
※２ Hot spring egg [onsen tamago 温泉卵]: At a natural hot spring, you can usually get an egg that’s been hardboiled in the waters. According to one tour guide, “Eat one egg, get 10 years more life. Eat two eggs, get 20 years more life. Eat three eggs, get diarrhea.”
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