Kaze no Stigma Episode 9 – Meeting Under the Moonlight

After much about Ayano and Kazuma have been shown in the past couple of episodes, it’s finally time for Ren to take the limelight, as we see how this young flame wielder experience falling in love for the first time in his life. Fate however must be playing tricks as their relationship becomes more complicated than what it seems, making them entangled into this mess involving the clan of Kannagi and the Tsuwabuki (an even more twisted clan in the world of KnS)… the introduction to this Romeo x Juliet like story, KnS style

Screenshots

Summary

The usual after-class scene in Class 6-2, with Kanon and Tatsuya fighting over who gets to spend time with Ren, has already become a spectacle among the students. After a heated argument between these two, where Tetsuya tells Kanon that a girl like her doesn’t have the right to interfere with the friendship between two guys, and Kanon utters her disgust as she believes that Tetsuya is thinking of something beyond friendship, making her call him an ‘ero gorilla’. In the midst of this exchange of remarks and insults, Tetsuya finds a way to get hold of Ren by letting go of his grasp while Kanon is pulling him towards her direction. Kanon ends up falling on the ground but quickly gets back on her feet again and retaliates with a powerful elbow attack, managing to have Ren to herself.

Kanon takes Ren to have a tea with her, takes a walk with her hands around his arms, then drags him to the karaoke afterwards as Kanon wants to go someplace to rest. Ren looks at Kanon, bewildered as to why she would choose him among other guys when he believes that girls would prefer being with a stronger type of guy like his brother Kazuma, whom he considers the ‘epitome of a man’.

Kazuma once again accompanies Ayano in one of her mission, but simply watches as she does all the work, making her irritated by the thought that her father pays him for doing nothing. Kazuma says that he’s not left with much choice since Soushu is the one who goes to hire him for the job, and Ayano still can’t help but wonder why her father would hire him as her bodyguard when she doesn’t really need one. She then notices Kazuma’s outfit, scorning at how it shows that he has no motivation to work and looks as though he’s going to watch a soccer match with his outfit, but Kazuma simply explains that it’s because he’s not tolerant to coldness like her. Ayano knows that Kazuma can actually warm up his body with a ‘warm wind’ he can create, but he tells her that he doesn’t like a ceramic heater.

Ayano taunts Kazuma to wear a necktie whenever they go to work, just so it will improve his appearance a little, but he refuses to do so since no one will be looking at him anyways. As they head outside, Ayano asks Kazuma to treat her to a meal because she’s already hungry, making him think how she’s going to mooch off his money again. Ayano says that there’s nothing wrong with it since the money he has is actually “easy money” (since he is paid even if he just bums around), and Kazuma finally agrees since he’s only going to treat her to a meal.

Ren is on his way home when he hears the voice of someone singing and decides to follow it, as though he has forgotten the fatigue he had with the afternoon he spent with Kanon. Ren finally comes to a stop at a park, where he gets mesmerized by the sight of the young girl he heard singing earlier. Ren draws close without averting his gaze, and didn’t notice that the girl was calling him. She goes down the jungle gym and talks about this beautiful night adorned with the full moon, while Ren could simply gaze at her. The girl asks Ren to play with her, with which Ren was unable to refuse, and as he notices how she’s simply wearing this single dress, he lends her his coat to warm her up. Then they decide to play the swing, as the girl tells Ren she’s never ridden it before.

Kazuma and Ayano are now having their dinner at an expensive French restaurant, and Ayano’s having the time of her life as she gets to eat these scrumptious cuisines she’s never had before. Kazuma scorns at how Ayano seems to hold a grudge on him for ordering the most expensive stuff, and Ayano gets surprised that Kazuma doesn’t know this. Kazuma then comments on how this meal becomes even more scrumptious for Ayano, as she gets to have him pay for what he’s done to her. Just then, a ball of light appears outside the window, calling out to Kazuma as “contractor-sama”. Seeing how it wants to talk to him about something, Kazuma gets ahead of Ayano to go meet this ‘creature’ as he lets out an excuse of some urgent matter he has to attend to.

Meanwhile, Ren and the girl he just he met are having fun playing the swing, then finds the chance to ask her about her name. The girl stops for a second, and shows some hesitation before finally introducing herself as ‘Ayumi’. Ren also introduces himself, telling her that the kanji of his name is the same ‘Ren’ in ‘Rengoku’, which Ayumi finds to be a cool name. Ren goes bashful and talks about how he doesn’t live up to his name, but Ayumi tells him it certainly suits him. She then asks Ren for them to ride the seesaw next, and he agrees to this, acting as though it’s a request from a princess.

Back to Kazuma, who heads to an alley and asks this ‘insect’ who was calling him earlier to come out before him. The ball of light appears and Kazuma grabs hold of it, showing its ‘true form’ as the pixie Tiana who first acts all cute until Kazuma makes it stop with the act and get direct to the point as to why she called him. Tiana stands up for her pride as a pixie, refusing to let Kazuma call her an ‘insect’, but as he questions her resolve to put her life at stake in proving this identity she claims, Tiana decides to just swallow her pride and accept being treated an ‘insect’.

Kazuma gets suspicious of her at first, wondering how she was able to know about him being a contractor. Tiana explains that their chieftain was the one who told her about this, believing that there’s no one else but him who’s capable of bringing back their heirloom stolen by humans, and she was sent out to ask his help since she’s Kazuma’s ‘acquaintance’. She also tells him that the lives of pixies are at stake if they don’t find this heirloom, and Kazuma then asks her what’s in store for him in fulfilling this
request. Tiana actually thought that Kazuma will agree to her request simply because of the fact that both of them are related to the Wind Spirit, considering that pixies belong to a family of Wind Users (so they can be considered a ‘relative’ of the Wind Spirit), while Kazuma on the other hand is contracted to the same Wind Spirit.

Kazuma gives her a whacking to make her wake up from dreaming about such a thing, since being contracted to the wind spirit doesn’t mean he has a special obligation to help them out, and despite how Tiana certainly can’t disobey the orders of their chieftain, the least she has to do is first stack up some money to pay for his services. She then gives in to his demand by paying him with the treasures they have, and the teary-eyed Tiana couldn’t do anything but agree to Kazuma’s bargain of giving him half of all these treasures, knowing how this treasure is so valuable that it puts their life at stake. Tiana can’t believe how a ruthless merchant Kazuma is, but he explains that this is simply the ‘fundamentals of business’.

Ren and Ayumi are now taking a rest by the bench in the park, and Ayumi expresses how much fun she had for the first time in her life. Ren tells her that he can accompany her again if she likes, to which she smiles in happiness, yet becomes saddened as she thinks of something that’ll make this unlikely to happen. At that moment, a group of men in black suits come out from a limousine, shoving off Ren and grabs Ayumi by the hand as they tackle her to the ground. Ren gets surprised by this sudden turn of events, especially after seeing how these men are going to use a stun gun on her, and immediately gets back on his feet to attack these men, managing to protect Ayumi from any harm. Ren was about to take Ayumi and escape but the leader of the group fires at them, warning Ren to quit the heroic act since they don’t have time to play around with a kid like him. Ayumi asks him to run away as well, knowing just how serious these guys are.

Ren however was as serious as they are, and starts wielding his flame to prove them that, introducing himself as ‘Ren Kannagi’. The men were shook by the mention of ‘Kannagi’, knowing how they are the strongest clan of flame wielders, and so Ren warns them to step back if they don’t want anything to happen to them. The leader then steps out, exclaiming his surprise that they’ll run into someone from the Kannagi, and then introduces themselves in return, making Ren tremble for a moment as he finds out that they belong to the Tsuwabuki clan, the strongest clan of Earth users.

Given this, the leader orders Ren to give back Ayumi who they consider their ‘possession’. Ren can’t believe these people simply see Ayumi as a thing at their disposal and is determined not to hand over Ayumi to them, but nevertheless hesitates on what he should do, knowing that there’s a high price to pay for interfering with the plans of the Tsuwabuki (with the conflict that will arise between the Kannagis and the Tsuwabukis). He then ponders on what Kazuma would do at a time like this, then finally decides to go all out in protecting Ayumi as he forms a barrier between them and the people after Ayumi, declaring how they only have two choices to make – either they disappear from his sight or be killed instead. Ren isn’t the least bit affected by the fact that he’s making the Tsuwabukis his enemy with what he’s doing, making them retreat as they are powerless against him at the moment, but promises to get back at this for sure.

Ren finally lets out a sigh of relief as they left, and Ayumi expresses her surprise after finding out that he’s a Kannagi, asking him if it’s alright that he saved her (worrying about the consequences of what he did to save her, considering that he holds the name of a Kannagi). He assures Ayumi that there’s nothing to worry about, and that there’s no meaning to his power if he can’t save a woman in the brink of danger, making her smile in thankfulness. Just then, Ayumi looks at Ren with a sad look on her face as she asks him for one more favor, and now accompanies her as they walk hand-in-hand on the streets of the city in the middle of the night.

At the Kannagi residence, Ayano exclaims her surprise at the news about Ren being labeled as a ‘mugger’, thinking that it’s gotta be some nonsense. Soushu got a call earlier regarding Ren stealing a valuable possession from the Tsuwabukis and ran away with it, telling him to be prepared for the worst since Ren might get killed in the process of taking back this possession, and immediately hang up the phone. Soushu believes that the situation is far from normal and is also seriously dangerous, especially in this case where they don’t know Ren’s whereabouts and can’t contact him either. If they don’t find Ren first before the Tsuwabuki does, it’ll certainly become a big problem. Soushu has already entrusted the task of searching for Ren to Kirika, to which Ayano shows some hostility against the idea, but just accepts his father’s decision. He also asks Ayano to prepare herself since she’ll have to make a move the moment they receive news about Ren’s whereabouts.

Before Ayano leaves, Soushu asks if she really can’t contact Kazuma to help out on this matter, knowing how much help his reconnaissance ability is. Ayano once again reiterates what she said earlier (which wasn’t shown anymore) that it’s impossible for her to do that, considering that Soushu himself wasn’t able convince him for this job. Soushu however remains persistent as he tells Ayano that perhaps it would be possible, since she was actually with him earlier for another job. Ayano expresses her anger at what Kazuma did earlier, telling his father about how Kazuma simply left without a word after they finished. Soushu then becomes inquisitive and thinks that they have most likely agreed in some method of communication in case something urgent happens, or for ‘private matters’, to which Ayano tells him flat out that there’s no such thing between them. As Ayano steps out of the room, she mutters how she doesn’t know what’s up with Kazuma with a sad look on her face.

Kazuma and Tiana are now on their way to find the stolen heirloom, with Tiana transferring the image of the treasure through direct ‘forehead contact’. Kazuma wonders what kind of treasure this is as he sees its egg-like shape, which Tiana can’t disclose because it’s a ‘business secret’. Kazuma casts aside this curiosity since he’s not really interested with this treasure, and believes that this information she gave is enough for him to take back this treasure. Kazuma then makes her stop calling him “contractor-sama”, since “Kazuma” is enough. Tiana then changes what she said to, “I leave this to you, Kazuma”, and then Kazuma kids her to add a “-sama” to his name.

Kazuma finds it funny (and interesting) that the Tsuwabukis were the ones who stole their heirloom, not because they’re someone he personally knows, but because this clan is known to be strongest among Earth users, and is also known for its cruelty. Kazuma has been wanting to crush these people even before, and exclaims that he won’t hold back now that he’s had this chance. Tiana tells him that just obtaining the treasure would be enough for her, but Kazuma simply ignores her and snickers at the thought of being able to face the Tsuwabuki.

At the Tsuwabuki mansion, an informant Yuuji informs Mayumi that someone from the Kannagi hindered their plans to take back ‘that thing’ (Ayumi) and they have no news about its whereabouts yet. Mayumi expresses her surprise that ‘it’ (Ayumi) can already fool the likes of Ren who’s from the main line of the Kannagi. Yuuji believes that it’s because of the beauty Mayumi possesses, making Mayumi infuriated by how she’s being put into the same ranks as ‘that thing’, warning him not to ever identify her with ‘that’ because she won’t ever forgive him. Yuuji gravely apologizes for what he did, and promises that he’ll do everything he can to get back ‘Ayumi’ knowing well what will happen to Mayumi if they don’t find ‘it’. Mayumi questions her resolve to face Ren, who’s not just an ordinary kid but a powerful flame wielder, to which Yuuki swears by his name that he’ll certainly keep his promise.

Kazuma and Tiana finally arrives at the mansion of Tsuwabuki, their headquarters down the mountains of Mt. Fuji, which Kazuma finds but fitting for people like them who are like ‘moles’. Kazuma searches for the whereabouts of the treasure but finds that it’s nowhere in the place. Tiana panics since she certainly can’t just report to the chieftain that, “The heirloom is lost, ehe~”, and wails even more when Kazuma tells her that he’s going to wring her to death if he was in the position of the chieftain. Tiana pleads Kazuma to do something to search for it because her life is at stake, but he makes her calm down and listen to the commotion happening inside the mansion where the people seem to be looking for the treasure as well (or their ‘other treasure’ in the form of Ayumi), showing how its lost is something of an accident as well.

As they intently listen to the conversation, Kazuma becomes surprised by the mention of ‘Kureha’, knowing well the reputation she holds. Kureha says that if they won’t make in time to find that ‘thing’, this’ll leave them no choice but to reinstate Mayumi to come out (like their original plan). The same group of men who went after Ayumi earlier are the ones whom Kureha is talking to, who were against her idea knowing that their head will also be against this. Kureha however silences them since she has all the right to decide things for their clan now that their father (the clan head) is still confined in bed due to some sickness. She makes them face the fact that the ‘grand festival’ is already on the next day, and that its failure will be the shame of their clan. This conversation makes Kazuma realize that it’s already this time of the year for their ‘grand festival’, an annual ritual they perform to prevent Mt.Fuji from erupting. The Tsuwabuki is considered as the guardian of Mt.Fuji, where they perform this ritual to pacify this volcano once every thirty years during the first full moon of the said year (which is the next day), a disgusting ritual according to Kazuma.

Kazuma believes that the lost of the heirloom has some connection with this festival, thinking that they were probably too busy with the preparations for the festival that they weren’t even able to notice that a petty thief already broke into their house and stole the treasure. Before Kazuma could even finish what he’s saying, Kureha seems to have noticed their presence as they get pulled by some gravitational force. Kureha readies her men for an ambush against the infiltrators in their territory. Kazuma can’t believe how Kureha would sense their presence, knowing well that it’s impossible for an Earth user to discover them unless they come in contact with land. He then throws a wind blade to create an opening for their ‘entrance’, then blocks the attack of Kureha’s men with his wind, surprised to find out that he’s a wind user. Tiana falls down a little later, surprising the Earth users with her appearance.

Kazuma then takes advantage of this situation as he grabs Tiana by the head and pretends to be pixie’s channel as he lets out this speech about refusing to allow them to use their treasure for their wicked ritual, proclaiming how they will forever haunt all the people in their clan with the things they have done against the pixies, then makes their exit. Kureha simply gazes at them with a lingering look on her face, surprised yet found interest in this encounter with a wind user.

As Kazuma and Tiana are finally able to escape the territory of the Tsuwabuki, Kazuma remarks how they left the enemies stunned. Tiana wonders what to do next, but Kazuma says there’s no need for them to do anything but wait, since they could simply take advantage of what the Tsuwabuki will do in search for this treasure. “Justice is mine”, exclaims Kazuma with this evil smirk as he mentions how he can do whatever he wants once the treasure goes back into the hands of the Tsuwabuki. “Please, don’t give back that treasure without putting up a fight, ok?”, he says, and once again lets out this evil laugh which scares the heck out of Tiana, who calls out to the Wind Spirit King, asking just how he can agree to have a contract with a person like Kazuma, knowing well that it must have been a big mistake.

Thoughts

On Ren (in love)

It’s the first time that we’ve seen Ren apart from being a Kannagi, so it was a refreshing change to see his exciting school life, especially this development in the romantic aspect of our young flame wielder. Ren is easily mistaken to be a girl, both in the KnS world itself as well as by the viewers, and well, he himself doesn’t think of himself much of a man as well ^^;;; He always compares himself to his brother whom he looks up to, stereotyping a “man” to be someone as cool as him, and not someone who’s cute and gentle like him. Ren is so naïve… he doesn’t even know his own charms, which is what attracted Kanon to him (as well as Tatsuya? :p). As we’ve seen in Ren’s life in school, his charms works for both guys and girls alike… LOL. I don’t really want to think about Tatsuya’s ‘love’ for Ren as something beyond friendship, but I can’t help but feel a little disturbed with how much he competes with Kanon to get hold of Ren (like he’s insecure or something ^^;;;; ). In any case, Ren sees both Kanon and Tatsuya on the ‘same level’ – on the level of being friends.

For the first time in his life, Ren comes to know the meaning of ‘love’ (or having a crush, being infatuated, or whatever) as he gets charmed by Ayumi, and swears to be a knight who’ll protect his princess, despite its consequences (like being the enemy of the strongest clan of Earth users). Ren’s resolve to protect Ayumi was really admirable, seeing as to how he cast aside the fears he had and gained the resolve to face the Tsuwabukis, declaring how he’s not going to hesitate to kill them if they don’t step back. Ren’s move however, is somewhat reckless or naïve, considering how he would go to this extent to protect someone he barely met, but I don’t think we can blame a young lad in love, right? (though, the same can also be said about Recca… now that I think about it) And well, that’s just Ren’s personality, showing much more of the contrast between Ren and his brother, the ‘current’ Kazuma. Ren is also the complete gentleman, the opposite of his brother, and it’s great to see that Ren is looking up at Kazuma with his desire to be strong like him too. The words he told Ayumi about his power not having any meaning if he won’t use it to save people reminds me of what Kazuma told Ayano in episode 7, though of course Kazuma’s sense of justice is much more twisted in contrast to Ren’s ‘idealistic’ justice.

On Kazuma’s ‘evilness’

Kazuma has become more evil in more ways than one in this episode, especially with the way he torments the pixie Tiana ^^;;; Kazuma simply teases Ayano and enjoys making her angry, but with Tiana, it’s a completely different level as he gives her both brutal physical attacks, as well as variations of ‘mind attacks’ ^^;;; .( I wonder if Kazuma is making Tiana pay back for what she did to Ayano? :p) Nevertheless, Kazuma doesn’t fail to impress in with this episode, as he shows how ruthless of a merchant he is, and is able to scheme things and use ‘dirty tactics’ by taking advantage of the Tsuwabukis’ effort to search for the treasure. This simply shows how calculative Kazuma can be, in terms of both money and efforts, as he’d rather wait for the treasure to fall into the hands of the Tsuwabukis and be able to ‘hit two birds with one stone’ with his desire to defeat them, and take back the treasure of the pixies at the same time.

Kazuma seemed like some power-hungry lunatic in this episode, with his quest to defeat just about each and every elemental user and prove that he’s the most powerful among them all o_O There is perhaps that ‘desire for justice’ in Kazuma’s wanting to defeat the Tsuwabukis, as he also showed his disgust towards their wicked ritual, but his ‘desire for power’ seems to comprise a greater percentage in his drive to defeat them. I was quite surprised with his somewhat stupid move of having a pixie-barrier, although it was effective in stunning the enemies (unlike Ayano’s Ren barrier which was futile) ^^;;; Makes me wonder if Kazuma borrowed the idea from Ayano… LOL

On Tiana

Tiana must be really surprised that a guy like Kazuma even exists in this world, probably the only person with whom her tricks won’t work :p I’m quite impressed with Tiana’s seiyuu… I really like how she shifts from the pretentious cutesy voice to the ‘ugyuu’ voice as she’s being tormented by Kazuma, and this monologues she has, and all those other voice shifts. I researched on her CV and found that it’s Kei Shindou (whose real name is Kei Saitou), and she only has a few number of (minor) roles so far. I really hope she get more roles next time, to see how versatile she could be :3

On Ayano (or the lack of her)

We didn’t see much of Ayano in this episode, but from what she has shown in her exchange of remarks with Kazuma, it seems that she’s learning how to talk back and tease Kazuma instead (defense mechanism :p), with her sarcastic remark about his clothing and about Kazuma not knowing that she has a grudge on him (during their dinner). Ayano has the right to be angry at Kazuma for walking out on her just like that during their dinner, and poor Ayano gets saddened by the fact that he doesn’t know what he’s up to… hopefully, we’ll get to see more of Ayano and Kazuma in the next episodes~ I am especially anticipating this scene (which I already posted before in my first Deep-Frying post… but for those who haven’t seen it, or wants to see it again :p)

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On Soushu’s matchmaking efforts

Soushu is still persistent as ever to matchmake Ayano with Kazuma, spending millions of yen in the process, seeing as to how this will be a ‘worthy investment’ (if it becomes successful). Though, Soushu’s already worried at the current state of things since Ayano’s still naïve about romance, and all his prodding seems to be useless as Ayano doesn’t easily give in to what he wants (calling Kazuma on his phone to accompany her, to actually talk about ‘private matters’ :p) Soushu certainly won’t be able to convince her to do this, knowing well that Ayano would not do anything to show she has interest in Kazuma in her conscious state… she only does those things, unconsciously (doing things without realizing it’s an outcome of her liking Kazuma) :p

On the Tsuwabukis

Now about the Earth Clan, they are once again another twisted bunch of people in Kaze no Stigma, as they perform this ‘ritual’ to pacify the Fuji Mountain… Not much information has been revealed in this episode as to what ritual they have, for reasons of wanting to preserve this air of mystery in this episode… so I will not be disclosing that either (I’m pretty sure it will be revealed in the next episodes ). Kureha (who’s like the clone of Lust of Fullmetal Alchemist) made us see a glimpse of her power, surprising even Kazuma with her sharp senses and catches him off guard as she pulls her with the power of gravity. Kazuma seems to feel the thrill of wanting to defeat her already, and I wonder if she’ll be the opponent he’ll be facing (considering that there’s more than one opponent here this time, or so I think)

On Mysteries to be Revealed

The anime did a great job at pointing out ‘hints’ regarding the ritual and thinks that will be revealed later on… like, who exactly is Ayumi, and why is she important to the Tsuwabuki? What is the relation between Ayumi and Mayumi, and why do they look alike? Why did Mayumi mention that if Ayumi is not found, she will be put into danger? And what does this have something to do with the ritual they’ll be performing the following day (a ‘wicked’ ritual as Kazuma mentioned)?
(It’s hard to ‘speculate’ stuff when you already know the answers to these questions… so I’ll just give these questions to ponder about :p It’ll be quite a spoiler if I’ll already reveal this… x___X)

There are however some details I still don’t know, like the relation of the pixie’s heirloom with this ritual… do they need both this treasure and Ayumi, or does Ayumi have within her the ‘treasure’ itself? It also makes me wonder what power this treasure holds, considering what Tiana said about their life being at stake with its lost… hmmm… o_O

I like how the story was weaved and interconnected in this arc… seeing how the events with Ren and Ayumi and the Tsuwabukis has something to do with the treasure being sought by both this clan and the pixies, making you all the more wonder about how this will affect not only the Kannagis (involving Ren, Kazuma and Ayano), Tsuwabukis, and the pixies :p It’s going to be a great ‘adventure’ as each of these mysteries are unveiled in the coming episodes

The preview of the next episode containes SPOILERS, so I’ve decided to place it here… (so much for restraining putting up spoilers earlier… it was actually mentioned in the preview x___X)
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And, I looked at the Newtype schedule and saw that this arc will be finished by episode 12… after that, there’s going to be another short-story chapter insert (“Let’s go to the Amusement Park”), which is both “yay!” as we’re going to see Kazuma x Ayano moments again, and a little worried “oh no” as I don’t know how many more episodes they are going to dedicate to the main arc o_O

(and wow… I made a ‘novel’ out of my thoughts x___x -> result of delay? LOL)

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