That very midnight...
At the dead of night, that darkest hour when even the trees and grass lie sleeping, the bandit gang known as Anakonda finally made its move.
Out from the club Nishikihebi they came, one after another, men with cloths wrapped round their heads.
Every one of them was armed and clad in black to melt into the darkness, and among them walked more than a few ruffians of some renown.
Women numbered among them too, though every last one was notorious as a villain in her own right.
Now then, as for what these fellows were up to...
"It's begun..."
Onihei was watching them from a distance, keeping well back.
The whole of the Fire and Thief Inspectors' force had already assembled, and the encirclement was already in place.
One of the spies murmured quietly to Onihei.
"A little further on, they'll turn into an alley where no one lives. Both sides will be empty houses too, and that's where Lord Sajima and his men are lying in wait. That's the best spot for the arrest."
"Understood."
Hearing this, Onihei moved his forces exactly as planned.
In a narrow alley like this, the bandits would bottleneck and could be picked off one by one, and what's more, the houses on either side of the alley were already held by the Inspectors.
It was, in short, a trap perfectly built for capture, just right for the job.
And it was just as they entered that very alley...
Pweeeet♪
The sound of a whistle drifted in from nowhere in particular.
"In the name of the law! In the name of the law!"
Lanterns of the Fire and Thief Inspectors lined up, sealing off the alley!
But that was not all!
"In the name of the law! In the name of the law!"
From the empty houses on both sides of the alley, more Inspector lanterns emerged!
Realizing that Anakonda had been driven into a dead-end trap, Karuro seized his weapon at once!
"Don't make me laugh! I'll break through!"
So the boss bellowed, and the battle began!
A few minutes later...
A wild melee had broken out everywhere!
"Hyaaah!"
"Hup!"
Clang!
The armed inspectors and constables of the Fire and Thief Inspectors fought to subdue the bandits, taking the blows of those who struck out in their bid to flee.
But even so...
Slash!
"Gyaaaaaaargh!!"
"Damn it..."
One after another they were cut down or seized, done in either way.
There were, to be sure, some who tried scaling the earthen walls to flee out of the houses...
"Hah!"
Thwack!
"Gurk!"
...only to be knocked right back by a blow from a sleeve-catcher or a forked spear waiting inside!
Trapped utterly in that dead end, the bandits fought desperately for any chance of survival.
Fwap fwap fwap......
Among them, some of the winged bird-folk tried to escape by air...
Fwip!
"Gaargh!"
But even those who took wing from that cramped space fell prey to the archers, tumbling down gravely wounded.
And even supposing an arrow missed its mark...
"Flames, oh flames~♪ burn them all away~♪"
Whoomph!
...they'd be brought crashing down by the Sacred Hymn attacks of the Inspectors' own bird-folk soaring above.
It was, all in all, a thoroughly one-sided battle.
Now, as for what our own Yasutaka was doing all this while...
"Heh... go ahead and try it, if you can."
Thrummm♪
He stood facing off against a man strumming a biwa.
The man looked to be around thirty or so, a seasoned, formidable-looking fellow, and with hawk feathers sprouting from his back, he was clearly one of the Hawk-folk.
His tawny, curly hair was styled long in a wolf cut, and he looked every bit the valiant warrior.
There was, however, one thing that bothered Yasutaka...
(He's Hawk-folk. So why in the world does he have an otter plushie?)
An otter crest was marked on the man's forehead, and before him sat a large otter plushie.
Fluff, fluff...
For some reason the otter plushie kept making adorable little movements, but Yasutaka didn't let his guard down for an instant watching it.
(Biwa Masters are a pain. They puppet dolls around and throw Sacred Hymns at you on top of it...)
Now, the Biwa Master was a fighting style devised by the bird-folk, who wielded music as their weapon, and it had grown out of two earlier styles: the Singer and the Musician.
The Singer could work rites of prayer by singing Sacred Hymns, while the Musician, though his mouth was occupied with a bamboo flute or the like, could deliver physical attacks by puppeteering dolls.
So someone hit upon a way to do both at once, the Biwa Master, who could puppeteer dolls with the biwa while also casting spells through Sacred Hymns.
Be that as it may, the Biwa Master cried out!
"Tokuzō of the Otter. I come forth!"