Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

Synopsis

Ranmaru has a meeting with the Ayakashi who has been watching Aoi, Raiju, a Thunder Beast who controls lightning. Hatori warns Aoi to stay away from Raiju as he can be dangerous. Aoi finds Ginji at a shrine injured by miasma. Aoi feeds him her spiritual energy food, curing him. Ginji admits he is struggling to find the scale as mermaids are so rare they are almost extinct, though some may exist in the Dragon Palace, the mermaid's former home, but it is afflicted by a curse and staying there too long can kill. The shrine was built by a woman named Princess Iso, the daughter of a mermaid. She could see the future and was called Shrine Maiden of Guidance. She raised Ginji and Ranmaru and they managed to identify the curse Ayakashi, a mass of impure energy named Umi-bouzo who is actually gentle and has no desire to spread disaster. Princess Iso performed the ceremony every 100 years, but 300 years ago she was betrayed, the ceremony failed and to save the Southern Land she jumped into the ocean, trapping the miasma in the Dragon Palace before dying. Soon after Ougan-douji built Orio-ya and Ranmaru became obsessed with making it more successful than Tenjin-ya. Ginji eventually parted ways with Ranmaru and went to Tenjin-ya, promising to return every 100 years for the ceremony. Ranmaru suddenly appears at the shrine also covered in miasma from the Dragon Palace. Aoi looks after him, feeding him spiritual energy food until he awakens. Rather than show gratitude he manipulates Aoi into agreeing to get the mermaid scale, as the miasma does not affect humans, though he does agree to allow Ginji to return to Tenjin-ya if she succeeds. Odanna appears and insists on going with her.

(Source: Wikipedia)