Hiroshibusho is on his way back to Aomori, and he asks where he is going. He has received a message from akinari saying that he is ill and needs to be taken to the hospital. He is shocked to find that the two men in the mirror look exactly like him. He says that they are "frauds" and that they will not be able to protect him if they die. He tells them to wait until tomorrow to go back to the city. If they die, he says, there will be no one to protect them. He also says that he knows how to kill the women of the hori if they are caught. He asks Hiroshi to wait and see if tenjuin returns. He wonders if the imperial court has set out for the city but has not yet come back. He thinks that the women are still hiding out in the city and that the government is trying to take advantage of them. Hiroshi also has a message for him from gusoku saying that tenmaru has returned and that he should return by nightfall.