Chapter 22 is titled "Ann and Her Brother".
Short Summary[]
As Hachimaru's empowered Samurai Soul gives him the edge in his duel, Ann pushes her limits to support him. As she prays, she is forced to confront memories and feelings she strove to bury. Unable to hide from her trauma, Ann must decide if she will let the past weigh her down or spur her forward.
Long Summary[]
Hachimaru and the Unknown Samurai who challenged him lock swords while their respective Princesses pray fervently. Hachimaru's opponent recognizes his shining white Samurai Soul as the identifier of a key to Pandora's Box, and Daruma silently congratulates his student and his Princess for their achievement. Hachimaru surprises his opponent when his awakened blade starts to cut through his opponent's own Soul, and the masked Samurai notices Ann's prayer is exceptionally powerful. He tries to assess how two children could form a bond that would normally take years of of trust building to achieve, initially suspect a blood relation, but he notices the cause is a deep emotion fueling Ann.
As Ann's nose begins to bleed from the strain of her prayer's incredible power, she thinks back to what Kotsuga said about people having things they wish to forget. As she watches Hachimaru fight, she is taken back to a memory she wanted to forget: a time when she was confronted by bullies, only to be defended by a stuttering Nanashi who called himself her brother, only for the boy to be overpowered when the bullies sense his fear. She flees home after that incident, and is worried when her brother arrives badly beaten. Though she is sad that he was injured, he soothes her by promising to protect her forever. As her memories flow, Ann recalls her failed attempts to forget her brother: a boy who named her, called her sister, and cared for her as part of a promise made to the woman who adopted them before dying. Her thoughts shift to a night when Nanashi talked about his dreams, at which point he changed the spelling of his name from the kanji for "nameless" to those for the phrase "seven desires" as a reflection of his seven goals for his life. Though he winds up listing off eight dreams instead of seven, he doesn't correct himself, because the eighth dream was the most important: protect Ann until the day he dies.
The next day, Nanashi takes Ann to Akagi Castle's Dojo, where he explains how Locker Balls - like the one sitting beneath a statue of Fudo Myo-o - work. However, he gets too close the display and is ordered away by Hagamichi and Un. Nanashi recognizes the duo from their rising fame, and tells them of his dream to become a Samurai. Un explains that only a Bushi chosen by the Head Princess can attempt to use the Locker Ball, and that a Head Princess' choice has a high probability of activating the Locker Ball. She then warns that even for one acknowledged by the Head Princess, becoming a Samurai is a gamble, so one must not rush the process of becoming worthy. Later on, Nanashi begins wearing a topknot, the default hairstyle for a Samurai. While showing off his new look, he and Ann are accosted by the bullies who attacked them before, now back with friends. Nanashi tries to fight them off, but is overpowered by their numbers.
Seeing Nanashi losing, Ann instinctively rushes in to take a blow for her brother, which scares the bullies off. As they run away, Nanashi apologizes as Ann passes out. He then takes Ann to the Dojo again, specifically to where the Locker Ball is being stored. As she flutters in and out of consciousness, Ann thinks to herself that Nanashi has no need to apologize: all she cares about is him being near her. However, an unfamiliar noise jolts her awake, and she opens her eyes to see Nanashi committing seppuku with the blade from the Locker Ball. He apologizes for his shortcoming earlier, promising to become a perfect Samurai for her, but the Ball does not activate and he dies before her eyes.
In the present, Ann thinks about how she came close to completely forgetting her brother, but her experiences with Hachimaru have been near perfect reflections of her time with Nanashi, dragging the memory of their bond to the surface. Forced to reconnect with those memories, she acknowledges the truth she had been running from: she did not want to forget Nanashi. Being around Hachimaru made her realize that she wanted to hold on to the connection she had with him, and that desire supercharges her prayer, which gives Hachimaru enough power to break his opponent's Samurai Soul in two.
Fights and Events[]
Hachimaru and Ann vs. Unknown Samu-Hime Couple