Memories of Kokuhi Village is the 2nd bonus story of the Kingdom manga, written and illustrated by Yasuhisa Hara featured in Vol.5 of the series.
Summary
Ten brings some foraged vegetables for an old lady, but the old lady does not recognize her. Annoyed, Ten asks if she would start remembering her, and reminds the old lady that she lives next door. The old lady notices that Ten's face is abnormally stoic that day and asks if something unfortunate happened.
Ten explains what happened, and the old lady says with a deadpan face that "slanted-eyes" is probably dead. Ten asks her not to say ominous things like that, but the old lady tells her to be prepared for it, and shares that she had lost her husband in a war when she was young. The old lady says that she ended up living life alone since he had no relatives and pulls out her breasts as she tells Ten that she managed to eke out a living with them. She ignores Ten telling her that she did not need to show her breasts, and asks Ten how she planned to live alone, not having the breasts that she did. After a moment of silence, Ten says that she would be fine and silently thinks of her time living in Kokuhi Village.
Ten thinks of the violence in Kokuhi Village, where women were sexually assaulted, and others tied up and gagged. She remembers the rampant violence present and how she stooped to their level, earning small change by telling the villagers about passers-by. She remembers how when things went bad for her, she would go to her grandfather's grave and remember his dying words.
In a flashback, a five-year-old Ten cries and tells her dying grandfather not to die and leave her alone. Ignoring her tears, her grandfather begins telling her of their origins as part of the Kyuumei Tribe. Ten remembers being unable to hear the other things he tried to say, because of her fear of dying when left alone. Her focus is drawn back by her grandfather's forceful order not to die. Her grandfather sits up and grabs her by the hair on her scalp, and instructs her to survive, even if she had to squirm, struggle, and crawl, to be a man if being a woman was a disadvantage, to use her mind if she had no strength, and that something good would eventually happen. Ten's grandfather smiles for the first and last time.
Ten remembers furiously working to live after, stealing the knowledge of scoundrels in how to make a living, making food for a government official in exchange for being taught writing and history, doing everything that seemed to serve a purpose in order to survive. Even so, people were killed in front of Ten, and Ten was beat up and robbed for trying to intervene. She remembers how she continued that way until someone incredible appeared, someone just a little older than her beating up all the tough guys in the village yet somehow writing in agony.
Ten tells the old lady that that person was Shin, and a short while after she met Ei Sei as well. She recalls how Shin was a real idiot, recklessly charging any enemy no matter how strong they are, and how she wouldn't have been surprised if he died to Muta, Sa Ji, Ran Kai, the kind of guy that won't die even if he was killed. After speaking about Shin, Ten jumps up, now energized. She asks the old lady to come over and eat but realizes that she had slept as she was recalling the story, with her breasts still out. She wakes the old lady up, and the old lady asks her once again who she was. Angrily, Ten reminds her that she was her neighbor.
Characters in Order of Appearance
- Ka Ryo Ten
- Shin cover/(Flashback)
- Ei Sei cover/(Mentioned)
Characters Introduced
High Points
- Ten brings some vegetables to an old lady.
- Shin left the village to participate in a war.
- A flashback is shown from Ten's perspective of the events in Kokuhi village.
- Ten witnessed her grandfather's death at the age of five.
- Ten was forced to learn and do whatever it takes to survive.
Trivia
- The story was added in Vol.5.