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Story Synopsis

The story opens with Usagi arriving at the home of a mysterious woman, asking her to divine the future dangers he and his companions may encounter on the road to Atsuta Shrine. The woman's ritual only reveals a single apparition: one that Usagi recognizes as Jei. Usagi exits the house into the rain to catch his breath. He turns to ask the woman where he can find a place to stay, and to his shock the woman and her hut have disappeared.

Later, two men are fighting on the road-an older samurai and an assassin wearing a demon's. The assassin kills the older samurai with Usagi witnessing the end of the battle. On seeing the demon mask assassin, he wonders now if the vision he had earlier might represent this assassin instead of Jei, and he immediately begins to wonder what is going on, who the dead samurai is, and who is behind the demon mask. The local police happen upon Usagi with the dead body, and it quickly becomes apparent more murders by Demon Mask have been committed recently. Usagi is taken in to see inspector Kojo for questioning.

On the way to inspector Kojo, Usagi meets assistant inspector Nitta, and it is apparent Nitta does not think too highly of ronin such as Usagi. Usagi is finally brought to meet inspector Kojo, who it turns out has already heard of Usagi from his friend inspector Ishida. Inspector Kojo informs Usagi the mysterious Demon Mask has committed three previous murders, all the victims being ronin. They discuss the case somewhat and make some conjectures regarding the motives of the Demon Mask. Changing the subject, the inspector inquires after whether Usagi plays the game Go.

Over a game of Go, Kojo tells how his son Tokuo, his former assistant inspector, was killed in a fire a month past. He goes on to give his opinion of the current assistant inspector, saying Nitta is a "brute only interested in honing his skills with the sword." Kojo further explains the circumstances that led to his current assignment to the remote precinct. It seems the assignment was a sort of punishment for implicating a noble and a lord in an embezzling crime. The incident left Kojo disenchanted with the system of justice. The Go game continues, and Kojo puts forth his suspicion Demon Mask is a samurai living in the mountains, a veteran swordsman trying to perfect his skills. Finally, as the game comes to an end, Kojo warns Usagi away from Demon Mask, saying he would be a match even for one as skilled as Usagi. Kojo wins the Go game in what Usagi describes as "A masterful play!" Kojo downplays his strategy, saying it was "Just a bit of misdirection . . ."

Usagi takes his leave of Kojo and again comes across assistant inspector Nitta as he trains the three policemen who initially discovered Usagi with the body of the veteran swordsman. Usagi watches as Nitta thrashes his underlings. Nitta notices Usagi and challenges Usagi to do better than the trainees. Before the match can begin, inspector Kojo interrupts and bids Nitta to give him his report of the crime scene. After Nitta and Kojo depart, Usagi offers to buy the three policemen a drink.

Over some sake, the policemen tell Usagi the story of Nitta's past and the reasons behind his hatred for ronin. It seems Nitta's father was a samurai disgraced by accusations of stealing from his lord and by his further refusal to perform seppuku to erase his shame. He became a vagabond, dragging his family about with him. The policemen suspect Nitta maintains a hatred for ronin because they remind Nitta of those hard days on the road with his ronin father.

The policemen then go on to speak about the Demon Mask murders. They mention the first ronin killed was responsible for the fire that killed Tokuo, inspector Kojo's son. As they continue drinking, Usagi notices bounty hunters leaving the inn. The policemen explain they started to flock to the town after the first murder, except for one particular bounty hunter named Kuroda. Kuroda, they say, arrived before the first death.

Usagi thanks the policemen for their information and departs the inn. In the last panel of the story, a mostly unseen and ominous figure is seen just outside the inn as Usagi makes his way into the street.