Here we go! Volume Nine. This one actually felt rather long for the plot. Although it’s in a mystery form, sort of, the best scenes often have nothing to do with the counterfeiting. The book feels really like an ‘in between’ incident. Well, looking at volume ten, it seems more interesting. /forges on.

The overarching plot is that basically there’s some kind of counterfeiting of money, which is unfortunately…. not that interesting, IMHO, because the story doesn’t fully resolve the mystery of who exactly is behind the counterfeiting and just what the heck did they do with the bulk of the money counterfeited? BTW, this summary is not in strict chronological order, because otherwise it’s too confusing.

Anyway, at the beginning, Tei Yuushun ascends to the position of Prime Minister. He also has the position which places him at the head of the six departments, making him Reishin and Houju’s direct superior. Before he agrees to become PM, he makes Ryuuki agree to a list of ten conditions, which become the administrative basis for the reign. One of them is, BTW, that the empress’s family not interfere in politics. Well, obviously if the empress’s family can’ interfere in politics, then it stands to reason this applies equally to the empress herself? Once Yuushun becomes PM, he suddenly takes up a white feather fan. (Is someone playing too many Koei video games?)

(Actually, now that I think of it… Might it be that Ryuuki will eventually get with Shuurei, but only after like forty years or something? And after he has had an heir with someone else. If this weren’t a light novel, it would seem the most plausible outcome, but I don’t think an emperor can abdicate in favor of his heir in a Chinese-based system. Or did emperors ever retire?) Anyway, Ryuuki has become quite unpopular among a segment of the nobility, those who are not part of the eight noble houses, because he has been ignoring their advice and pushing through proposals; they also bear him a grudge because his father destroyed many of the lesser noble houses, but left the seven great families remain. Ou Ki, who is in charge of the Monkashou (don’t know how to translate this. I will at some point translate the org chart, because it IS confusing) is especially resentful of this.

Ryuuki is also upset because Uu Uu (WTF with these names?!?!), who is the second in command of the division in charge of imperial marriages, mystical stuff, etc, is chasing him around. Uu-sama is this cute little old man, but despite this, Ryuuki is quite fearful of him, because he’s demanding that Ryuuki marry someone to carry out the line. He later tells Yuushun that it’s necessary that the line of the imperial family continue and the capital be nowhere else other that Kiyou, and also that the direct lines of the other seven great families continue, but when Yuushun, surprised, asks why, Uu tells him to MYOB. It’s a seeeeecret, but it also explains why the previous king didn’t slaughter them, I suppose. Ryuuki (who had been hiding under a desk) is depressed about all of this, and Yuushun cheers him up by explaining that now he’s there to help him, and that in the past, he (Yuushun that is) had thought he had to give up on things, but not being a saint, he couldn’t give up on his dreams or the hope of being with the person he loved. Ryuuki later asks if Yuushun was angry at him before, and mentions he’s weak towards extremely kind people whom he’s angered (ahahaha), so he likes Yuushun. He also thinks he kind of gets why Reishin likes Yuushun so much, because he’s kind of like Shouka. To which Yuushun says, no way, he’s not at all like Shouka, because in the past he’s gotten angry at Reishin and hit him (?), and that always in the past Reishin and Houju would apologize to him first.

Ryuuki then asks Yuushun how his leg was hurt. Ryuuki, it’s *rude* to ask people that kind of thing! >_< Of course Yuushun waves him off. But the entire fact that Yuushun is deliberately vague and this is highlighted makes me think that it probably wasn’t an accident; damn, now my curiosity about his backstory is increasing. (Later, there is an amusing scene in which Reishin tries to get Yuushun to give up being Prime Minister. The position is rather dangerous, because he’s sort of acting as a shield for Ryuuki; instead of Ryuuki being blamed, they’ll blame his advisors, in other words. However, being Reishin, he expresses this as a tantrum and tells him instead of looking after the king, he should be concerned about his wife and Reishin! He then demands that Yuushun choose him, not Ryuuki! (BTW, we remind the audience that Reishin
is around thirty-five). Hearing this, Yuushun thinks this situation is somewhat like adultery…. and wonders what Rin would think if she heard. He then tells Reishin that he should choose him instead. Then he tells Reishin that he shouldn’t worry too much about his safety, because Rin made him a special cane for self defense. He pushes a button, but nothing comes out but a bunch of fake flowers. Uh… Reishin is unimpressed, but however, something shoots out and hits him. It turns out to be pepper spray or something. Reishin doesn’t want anyone to see him in such a state, so he stays in the office and actually does some work.)

Anyway, Yuushun has learned of the counterfeiting, and he’s also heard that Heki Yuukoku is in town. Yuukoku is more of a title than a name, and is given to the most outstanding artist of the Heki family. Yuushun suggests that Ryuuki go out and get his portrait done, and also perhaps consider making Heki Yuukoku the head of the art office. But, Heki Yuukoku is mysterious and reclusive, and demands that portrait requests be done in person. To this end, Yuushun allows Ryuuki to go search for Yuukoku in the afternoon, taking along Shuuei, Kouyuu, and Seiran. Ryuuki is v. pleased because this allows him to escape Uu-sama. Kouyuu tries to interrogate Heki Hakumei about Yuukoku, but Hakumei refuses (he’s shocked to hear, though, that Yuukoku is in the capital), despite his respect for Kouyuu. However, he inadvertently drops a big hint, that Yuukoku is being considered for the clan leadership, which can only be true of someone in the direct line.

So Ryuuki and co decide to go ask Kouchou for hints. On the way, Ryuuki discusses polygamy. Obviously, Ryuuki wants to only marry Shuurei, but besides that, he doesn’t want to marry more than one woman because his childhood and Seiran’s were so miserable. His father only married to have children, so all of his wives were unhappy. It’s mentioned that Shuuei’s father had many wives, to which Kouyuu remarks that in the Kou clan, the current generation is monagamous. Shuuei, somewhat irritated, says that his elder brother only has one wife. Ryuuki asks Seiran if he were… no, if he were born the king (upon seeing Seiran’s warning glare), would he have multiple wives? Seiran reflects that he was lucky to meet Shuurei and her mother, because otherwise, what would his view of women been like? Anyway, they arrive at the Kougarou, but must keep hidden to avoid meeting Shuurei, who has arrived there.

Meanwhile, as for Shuurei, she has been recalled to Kiyou, made a supernumerary official, and is not allowed to enter the palace (suspension?). Kouchou sends her a message telling her that there’s someone who wants to meet her. Then, her childhood friend, Santa (actual name Keichou), comes to visit her, and is about to propose marriage, but before he can, a mysterious fellow wearing many tanuki charms comes up, proposes, and leaves a gift, then walks off. This is a new character, Shin Suou. He’s from a low-ranking, but wealthy noble family, and though he’s an official, he’s very unmotivated, though sharp, and doesn’t put much effort into his work. His father is a foolish, venal man who wants to advance himself socially, so when a ‘high-up person’ asks him to have his son trick Shuurei into marrying him (to make her withdraw from office), Suou trudges off to do it, but puts the minimal amount of effort into it, and even admits the scheme, cause duh, it’s obvious. He also says he would never want to marry Shuurei, because she’s rushing around, doing all kind of stuff, getting involved in all kinds of matters, and he doesn’t want to get involved.

Anyway, after this, Keichou decides to talk to Shuurei about the ‘important matter’ later, and they both go to visit Kouchou. On the way, some hapless person is washed down the river. There, Keichou happens to show Kouchou a painting his uncle brought, and it turns out to be a forgery. Oddly, there seem to be many forgeries being circulated, and there’s also a mysterious, but extremely talented, new artist. Also, it turns out the person who was washed down the river was Suou, and since he had a map to Shuurei’s house, Kouchou’s subordinates bring him to the Kogarou, because they find this suspicious.

The person who wants to meet Shuurei is a woman named Karin, who declares Shuurei cute and glomps her, and sees the forged painting, and runs off. Huh. They then go to meet Suou, who admits his ’scheme’ (although I don’t see how something can be a scheme if it’s so obviously transparent). He bought all of the tanuki accessories for good luck, but they seem to be useless for that. Shuurei is not surprised to hear that there are many people conspiring against her, but Keichou is upset when he realizes that Shuurei may marry for political reasons. His family are liquor merchants, and the government bought liquor to use for disinfectant when Shuurei led the medical expedition to Sa Province, so he’s learned that Shuurei was unfairly punished for her achievements there, while all of the other officials received minor punishments or even promotions afterwards. He’s greatly angered that Shuurei was used as a scapegoat. Shuurei cannot deny the truth of his allegations. He then leaves. Kouchou remarks that Keichou has become a good man, and philosphizes about men and women. Ryuuki and co. have overheard the entire conversation… Meanwhile, returning to Suou, Shuurei, upon seeing some money left on a balance, realizes that in relation to the forgeries, counterfeit money is also circulating. Learning that Suou is an official, although a lazy one, who is allowed to enter the palace, she strongarms him into coming with her. Seiran also suddenly pops up to help her (he was formerly with Ryuuki), and they go off.

Ryuuki and co, minus Seiran, come out of hiding and ask Kouchou about Yuukoku. Kouchou doesn’t know much, but she thinks Karin knows something, because she knows a lot about art. (Karin for some reason, likes to use the Kogarou as a hotel… she likes women more than men, whom she is quick to criticize). So, they decide to go around town seeking Karin

Back to Shuurei: Suou (nicknamed Tan-tan by Shuurei because of his tanuki charms) tries to escape, but Seiran hits him with a takenoko (bamboo root… although in food takenoko are just small slices, when you buy them in raw form they’re fairly large and heavy), and on one occasion causes him to slip with some of the peel that he ‘dropped.’ For this reason, Suou refers to Seiran as the ‘takenoko servant.’ Suou is the sort of person who says whatever is on his mind. He remarks that it’s hard to tell how old Seiran is, so Seiran invites him to guess. Suou says that he’s definitely over thirty. However, it seems that despite the fact that Seiran uh… shows him aspects of himself that Shuurei does not see, Seiran does have a certain liking for Suou’s forthrightness, since Seiran grew up in a place where it was suicide to just go revealing whatever he thought.

So, Shuurei, accompanied by Seiran and Tan-tan, goes around investigating the forgeries. Suou questions why Shuurei continues to persevere, despite the lack of reward. For some reason, the next day, Suou decides to come and help them again, much to both Shuurei and Seiran’s surprise. As for just what this scheme is, I’m just going to summarize a lot here, because it would be tedious to go through the entire pseudo-mystery explanation: it looks like whoever is selling the forgeries is also buying originals and paying for them with counterfeit money. Then they keep the original and sell the forgery. Also they’re selling some originals made by the forger, who seems to be a genius artist. I THINK that’s what’s going on, although it’s somewhat confusing. Anyway, they also seem to have been buying up metal to make a lot of counterfeit money, yet the market doesn’t seem to be flooded yet.