The Elusive Samurai (逃げ上手の若君)

A heroic death.

A graceful suicide.

To fight and die in battle is the greatest honor for a warrior.

This is the tale of a hero who lived through such a raging age in spectacular fashion.

One known as Takauji Ashikaga.

...Or so you might think.

Lord Tokiyuki!

It's time to practice your archery!

You're not going anywhere, Lord Tokiyuki!

Oh, sorry!

He's so nimble...

Fool! This is no time to admire his skills!

It's dangerous up there, Lord Tokiyuki!

Please come down!

You'll get hurt!

Somebody stop him!

What's the commotion here?!

Lord Ashikaga is about to depart!

Well... Lord Tokiyuki...

What about Young Master?

Huh?

He's so quick on his feet!

That's enough! Dismissed!

But...

Sorry, let me through.

My...

You're always so good at hide-and-seek, Young Master.

L-Lord Takauji?

I, Takauji Ashikaga,

will go to the capital,

to quell the rebellion of Emperor Godaigo's predecessors.

I'd love for you, the future lord of Hojo Clan,

to witness my loyalty to the clan.

That's reassuring.

I shall pray for the prosperity of Kamakura and the warriors,

and also for your success.

Well, then.

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Yes.

Don't be so nervous around Ashikaga.

Kiyoko?

You're the heir to the shogunate.

You'll be the one giving orders to him someday.

You're also my future husband, so get a grip.

I don't remember being engaged to you...

Lord Tokiyuki!

Where did he go?

Maybe he's hiding over there?

Sorry, Kiyoko!

See you later!

Oh, my.

Good grief...

All he's good at is running and hiding.

He's just so different from Takauji, even though he's a fellow warrior.

Even if he were to succeed the shogunate,

he'd just be a puppet king like his father.

Indeed, Sir Takatoki.

Then leave this matter to us.

Yes.

Oh, come on, Father.

Even a puppet can live a life of luxury.

While Lord Tokiyuki is talentless and only good at running,

but he's kind.

He'd make for a good husband of a prominent family!

I can't find him...

I can't handle him when he hides so seriously.

The other day, he hid in the armor box for two whole days, it became a commotion!

Doing practice would be much easier...

Well, despite nominal, he is the successor to the shogunate.

He's just so lazy and cowardly, nothing goes through his head.

Tokiyuki.

Father is sickly and unmotivated.

You should really succeed to the throne already.

Wait, shouldn't you be the first line of succession?

No way.

If I, the concubine's son, succeeded, it would be a source of strife.

It's in our blood to run away from anything we don't like,

fair and square.

Why are you so proud?

Lord Tokiyuki!

Found you!

All right, let's go practice archery!

Now!

Come on!

Let-us-go!

Hold on to this, Brother.

Huh? Sure...

Tokiyuki!

Lord Tokiyuki!

Lord Tokiyuki!

Please stop!

Lord Tokiyuki!

Lord Tokiyuki!

Hey!

Gosh!

Young Master!

I love Kamakura.

I love seeing the smiles on people's faces when they live in peace.

I don't need status or glory.

If I can live in this town peacefully, that's all I need.

Call me lazy or a coward.

As a puppet, I have no use for civil and military power.

That is not laziness or cowardice.

It is a fragment of monster within you.

So spoke my father.

Who are you?

Father?

I see you're as good at running away as they say!

What in tarnation?!

Nice to meet you!

My name is Yorishige Suwa, a priest of the Shinano Province!

A priest of Shinano? Wait, when did you climb here?!

I've been here from the beginning! I knew you would be climbing this tree!

You're emitting quite a bright light...

Oh, my apologies!

Because of the holiness of my nature, my divine power inevitably leaks out!

I'll tone it down.

I have been asked to pray for the protection of Kamakura against their enemies.

I have come to inform your father that it has been completed.

She is Shizuku.

She's excellent in secret arts and clerical work, so I'm allowing her to assist me.

He's so suspicious... How could he tell I'd climb this tree?

Father can see the future with his divine power.

Although, he sucks at exorcism.

Shizuku, no need to say the latter.

If you're in doubt, have a look for yourself!

I can see it, Lord Tokiyuki...

In the future, you...

You... like that...

Oh, wait...

If I had to say... Or maybe...

If you do, you'll surely be happy...

Hang on, everyone has their own definition of happiness...

Well, you're in good health, and as for...

I guess whatever will be, will be?

What?!

You're just murmuring stuff!

I can only figure out fragments of it!

It wouldn't be much fun if I knew everything in the first place!

But I could see it all now!

If I had to say, you're playing the straight man in a skit!

Whose fault is it, you funny soothsayer?!

And I also saw the future two years later.

At the age of ten, you will be a hero who will shake the heavens.

You'll become the master of the great war, feared by some and respected by others,

and you can even change the future of the nation.

I can tell that much, since it's so big...

Hm?

Oh, so quick!

You had to say such thing...

What a great crisis-sensing ability...

That was close.

I don't have enough money in my pocket to give a fake spirit channeler.

What a foolish man.

Even if he were to deceive me, he'd only gain superficial prosperity.

Me, becoming a hero...