If I could live in a mountain, far away from civilization and its problems looming larger every day over me, I'd drag my sorry ass up there today. It would be better than sidling up to a ballot drop box while glancing nervously around for a MAGA hat. Thankfully, I didn't see one yesterday when I cast my early vote, but I DID see an angry-looking guy wearing a T-shirt I'm pretty sure referenced a local militia group glaring at me as he dropped his own ballot. This election season is the most nerve-wracking I've ever experienced, and even though my personal part is done, I'm biting my nails for what November 3rd will bring.
If any of my readers are in the USA, make sure to cast your vote on or before the above date (the sooner the better). As for anyone else...
... Wish us luck, because there may be blood.
These crying women are not moving Inuyasha AT ALL, because he just stands there sulking and complaining that they're just helping people again. Kagome suggests that it's OKAY to help people like it's under debate while Miroku commiserates with the women feeling helpless without their husbands and promises to go and punish the naughty youkai. The woman at the forefront stutters her thank you, possibly questioning his wording, as I am.
Miroku turns to ask Inuyasha if the plan to go after the youkai is okay with him, and something tells me he's not genuinely interested in the answer. Sango says in perfect sincerity that if they ALL go, the chore will be done much faster. Inuyasha supposes with a superior way that he'll probably be the one to finish the damn thing off, of course, and Kagome agrees with him cheerfully. They both know the title of this comic. But a couple of the women stutter out a word of warning to be on their guard, because the youkai is rumored to be a woman peerless in her beauty, apparently. Inuyasha and Kagome glance back at them as Miroku pauses dead.
Yeah, I BET you will.
One of the women questions his declaration with some confusion, and he states he can handle it. Inuyasha also asks if he's sure about that, brows raised, but Shippou still sits on Kagome's shoulder with that exasperated look on his face. He doesn't hesitate to say Miroku obviously wants to be alone with the beautiful woman.
The next page shows Sango changed into her slaying outfit, tying her hair up and out of the way of her glaring face. Kagome and Inuyasha are sitting on a deck nearby, and the former asks Sango as she shoulders her Hiraikotsu if she's going with Miroku. Sango turns and asks facetiously if Kagome is joking, predicting that the lustful Miroku will get himself possessed by the youkai for sure if he goes alone.
When she's left, Kagome leans toward Inuyasha and tells him she has a thought, and he makes a curious hum at her.
Cool, RT, have your gossipy 15-year-old protagonist frontload that relationship to the audience instead of writing it. That won't be awkward at all. Inuyasha even gives Kagome this look off pure cluelessness, eyebrows raised and eyes wide, like this is some kind of difficult concept to grasp for him. Kagome asks him if he didn't notice, Inuyasha sweatdrops and bulks, and Shippou has appeared on his knee to say that he too had this vague feeling, to drive home how unobservant he is.
Meanwhile, Sango asks Miroku what he's sighing for as he lets out another long-suffering one. Let's all shed a tear for how utterly put-upon this douchebag is, shall we? Sango reminds him that they're going to exterminate a youkai, asking if he understands, and Miroku hangs his head with a pouting affirmative like the giant man-child he is.
Sango, sweetie, I honestly don't get it.
She begins to reiterate the story she heard from the village women before, for the benefit of the audience who didn't for some reason, that something happened a long time ago on the mountain. Some warriors who escaped after losing a war settled down in the area, and naturally being wounded, didn't last very long. A lady who escaped with them ended up being the last one left alive, and she ended up dying without a single soul to protect her. Miroku hums at the tale, suggesting that the woman's malice at being left alone to die was what turned her into a youkai.
Sango begins to agree, but as Miroku comes to a bush ahead of them, he stops and stares with a critical expression. He tells her to look, but she's already spotted the heavily distorted space in front of them, the image of the surrounding trees bending around a central point like a ripple. Miroku says this must be the entrance to the youkai's lair, but it looks easier to enter than to leave. He tells Sango she should leave, but Sango refuses, barking that it's her line when Miroku bluntly states that he's worried about her. She reminds him that the youkai targets men, and that it's safer for her to come along.
Again, Miroku sighs, groping under his collar. At least it's his OWN body he's pawing at this time. Meanwhile, Sango wonders in irritation just what this dude's intentions are. BAD, girl, they're always bad. You should just leave his stupid ass to be possessed. Suddenly, Miroku is dangling a beaded bracelet in front of Sango, telling her to use it. She makes a questioning noise, so he grabs her her arm and slips the bracelet on her wrist, though he still feels the need to order her to put it on as well, and says vaguely it'll help against some... things. Right, that doesn't seem phoned-in at ALL.
Miroku is surrounded by mist, but it shifts aside to reveal a pretty swank house across an arced bridge. Somewhere off to the side, someone asks who's there.
"What's a guy like you doing in a trap like this?"
Meanwhile, Sango's made it to the other side of the barrier, and she's accompanied by a transformed Kirara as she shouts for Miroku, asking where he is. I had to go back and examine previous panels to confirm that Kirara was indeed huffing it with Sango and Miroku in tiny kitten form. I guess it makes sense that Kirara came along if they needed a ride further up the mountain, but following them through the barrier and not being separated from Sango like Miroku was?
Sango sees some shapes in the mist ahead, and runs toward them with determination, thinking at first that they must be youkai. But as she gets closer, and the shapes on the ground become clearer, she sees a collection of men squatting on the ground among vines of what look like multiple squashes. Very old men.
... And squash? I mean, there's so much squash. I guess they have something to eat, but really? Squash?
Sango kneels down next to one man and addresses him, but he cups a hand around his ear, indicating his hearing has gone a bit. But he tells her that he's not an old man, despite his geriatric appearance and need to ask the young lady to speak up. Sango is baffled at first, and then makes the shocked exclamation that they're the men from the village. She asks the (old)man she's kneeling beside what's going on, and he wistfully mumbles about it being like a dream. He tells her that, after getting lost, they all met a lady of surreal otherworldly beauty who invited them into a grand palace. While they were there, they had a lot of fun.
All that's missing are the winks and nudges when Sango asks dryly about their "fun" and the (old)man responds it was a lot of fun, his neighbor agreeing. Why can't THAT guy be hard of hearing in his old age? Sango stands again as the (old)man tells her that before they knew what had happened, they were all wrinkled and saggy and shit. Among the squash, or so I presume. Sango casts about a paranoid glance, thinking that the youkai must be sucking out the men's energy and youth.
In the big mansion, Miroku is receiving tea from his wonderful hostess, and he extrapolates from what she must have already told him that she escaped here, far away from the war. She confirms this, and adds that after this, all her companions died. She hangs her head, a single tear escaping the corner of a closed eye, as she talks about how alone and lonely she was. Miroku stoically offers his condolences, and the woman implores him to stay with her even if just for tonight, since she cannot leave. I guess she's not exactly keeping it a secret that she's a ghost, huh?
They sure are... dilated. She looks like she's just been to the optometrist.
While Sango is running, I assume in the direction of the mansion, she recalls what the (old)man said about looking into the woman's eyes; you don't care about anything anymore and your mind goes blank. Implied intercourse aside, that really DOES sound like a fun time to me at this point. Wipe my mind too, mommy. Yeet me into oblivion. Sweating, Sango is convinced that the lecherous Miroku is going to effortlessly fall into the youkai's trap for sure.
It certainly looks like he has, mumbling into her hair as they embrace. She also addresses him, while opening one of her glassy eyes menacingly over his shoulder. Sango calls to him desperately.
Elsewhere -
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I really want to tell RT that having her characters repeat information they got off-panel somewhere for the benefit of the audience when she could have just shown those characters getting the information in the first place isn't clever. It just overcomplicates telling us the story, and as a result throws me out of it. The village women could have just explained the origins of the beautiful youkai at the very beginning of the chapter to character and audience alike - she wouldn't have even had to sacrifice the joke she made about Miroku suddenly wanting to go alone. It just would have taken a little creative restructuring, which I KNOW she's capable of. Instead, we get Sango reiterating the story to Miroku as if he hadn't heard it before, so I have to wonder why she's telling him this if he was there, OR why he WASN'T there when she heard it. It's clunky and weird, and a really roundabout way of just saying what is meant.
It's a little more understandable when Sango is running to stop Miroku from falling for the youkai's trick at the end, because an ominous echo of the (old)man's words about how looking into the woman's eyes affects a man in Sango's head in Sango's head between panels of Miroku actually doing so is effective. It drives home what might be happening to him, and the possibility that Sango might be too late. The two conflicting instances of how information is delayed in this chapter tell me that RT is a fan of the impact this trick can have in a narrative, but doesn't know how to USE IT in a way that is meaningful on purpose. Kind of a 50/50 shot for her.
I'm kind of torn on how I feel about Kagome, Inuyasha and Shippou talking about Sango and Miroku's feelings/relationship while they're away. On the one hand, Kagome is a 15-year-old girl, and in the absence of the option to gossip about this juicy budding romance with her friends at school (like she normally would have), she has to settle for conversing about it with her clueless dog-boyfriend and the little fox-kid orphan wandering around with them. That's genuinely funny, and it remains somewhat charming in how honestly RT is portraying the age and (i)maturity of her teenage characters.
On the other hand, I'm a 32-year-old writer who not only cannot give a flying FUCK about teen drama anymore, but is wincing at RT harpooning me with her elbow and the painfully obvious implications that she's going to stick Miroku and Sango together. I KNOW. YOU ARE NOT SUBTLE RT.
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