We pick up where the previous chapter left off, with Sakoto and Shinpei heading to a brothel to turn Sakoto into a courtesan so she can be bought by someone with a lot of money and thus escape the island. It turns out Shinpei already had a client lined up for Sakoto: the son of the police superintendent, who was visiting the island and used to frequent those kinds of places, where he was kicked out for bad behavior. Here are the first signs that something was off about this guy—and that Sakoto should have noticed. The guy was banned from all brothels because he went crazy when he drank alcohol. However, Shinpei had requested that he not be served alcohol while he was with Sakoto.
Sakoto agrees to go out with this man without even knowing him, and begins devising strategies on how to win him over and what to say when they’re together. Knowing that the guy is the son of a big shot in the police force, Sakoto deduces that he’d had everything in life but had still been limited in other ways. So she was preparing conversation topics and lines to speak directly to his heart and make a great impression.
Sakoto’s first impression when she sees this man is that he’s nothing like she’d imagined; he’s a serene, calm guy who seems well-mannered—no, who is well-mannered. Having been raised in a wealthy household and being a police officer, he seems to possess a certain sensitivity. As a result, Sakoto doesn’t feel quite so out of place around him, since both of them have, in a sense, been raised in palaces.
The man also notices that Sakoto isn’t like the other trained courtesans; she possesses natural grace, refinement, and poise—all of which show that she was raised in a well-educated environment. So he asks Sakoto, “What are you doing here?” So Sakoto decides to tell him the whole truth about how she ended up there and asks if there’s anything he can do to help her—since he’s a police officer, he might be able to assist her. When Sakoto tells him the truth, he decides to buy her freedom in exchange for her agreeing to marry him.
Everything Sakoto goes through reminds me of the myth of Persephone when she was abducted and taken to the Underworld; once there, she is cut off from everything she has ever known in her life—her world, her family, and everything she grew up with—changes overnight, just as it has happened to Sakoto, since everything they’ve known in their lives changes from one day to the next; both lose their freedom and are forced to act according to the circumstances and with others in mind.
However, an accident occurs: the other courtesans at the brothel sabotage Sakoto by replacing her water with liquor, so that the man would go crazy and reveal his split personality. After drinking the liquor, he begins to attack Sakoto, rips her kimono, insults her, and tells her he’s going to consummate their marriage right there and then. Basically, the guy goes crazy after just one drink—it’s as if something has possessed him—and the one left to pay the price is none other than Sakoto.
To which she replies that she won’t marry him—that she can’t tarnish her family name by marrying someone as vulgar and lowly as this man. The guy flies into a rage and starts choking her. That’s when Shinpei bursts into the room to rescue Sakoto and plunges his sword into the man’s arm; however, Sakoto tried to stop Shinpei from killing him right then and there, and in a moment of carelessness, Shinpei takes the gunshot to the chest that I mentioned at the beginning.
A very entertaining episode where we see the relationship between Sakoto and Shinpei progressing further and further. I don’t think Sakoto has even a shred of feeling for Shinpei, even though he’s “saved” her life on more than one occasion—though I have to say that this was a ploy by Shinpei to make Sakoto “fall in love” with him. Just how twisted Shinpei is is worthy a study in itself.
