Comics Which Contain This Story

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Characters

Miyamoto Usagi
Gen
Kitsune

Story Synopsis

It's a crowded town on market day. Suddenly, shouts and accusations break out! A gangster, Boss Sohaku, accuses a woman of stealing his good-luck talisman. The woman is Kitsune! She leads the gangsters on a chase through the market, using an umbrella and a chestnut-seller's stall to evade the pursuit. She congratulates herself on another job well done, although she wonders why she was hired to steal a small ivory crab...

Usagi and Gen arrive at the town much later, after dark. Usagi comments that it's the time of oborozuki, the "shroud-covered moon" (i.e., a new moon.) Gen doesn't care what it's called--he wants a drink. But first they meet Kitsune--with the gangsters hot on her tail! The gangsters talk tough, but they're no match for our heroes. Kitsune thanks her rescuers; she hands the crab to Gen, claiming that it's a promise of future repayment (after all, the last time they met she stole his purse.) The three retire to an inn.

Boss Sohaku is furious that his men haven't found Kitsune. His second-in-command, Chobei, comments that the town is having trouble meeting his extortionate demands; Sohaku brushes him off, claiming that he needs to burn incense and candles to preserve his luck. A gangster who survived the fight with Gen and Usagi stumbles in; Sohaku orders that his talisman be retrieved at all costs!

Back at the inn, Kitsune claims that she needs to go out; it's the hour of the Boar, and the crowds will be in a mood for entertainment. Usagi is worried; Gen is suspicious; both decide to follow her. She goes to a dye shop, and has a conversation with someone inside the shop. Usagi and Gen split up; Usagi follows Kitsune, while Gen chases her accomplice. Usagi catches up with Kitsune--just as a group of gangsters finds them! The two hide in a dye shop; the gangsters attack, and the fight causes the building to collapse, burying Usagi! Sohaku's men capture Kitsune, whose luck seems to have run out...