September 9, the 14th year of Tensho (1586).

  The Kanpaku, Hideyoshi, was granted the surname "Toyotomi" by Emperor Ogimachi.

  Then, in the following October, Ieyasu Tokugawa finally made his way down to Osaka.

  On the night of the 26th—the eve of the "Rite of Submission" where Ieyasu was to have his formal audience with Hideyoshi—Hideyoshi, accompanied only by his confidant Kanbe’e, paid a top-secret visit to the residence of Hidenaga, where Ieyasu was staying.

  Startled, Ieyasu attempted to rise.

  "Mr. Hideyoshi! Wh-what is the meaning of this? At this hour of the night, for Mr. Hideyoshi himself to..."

  Hideyoshi stepped before Ieyasu, suddenly pressed both hands to the tatami, and lowered his head deeply.

  "Mr. Ieyasu. I am sorry. Truly, I am sorry. Regarding tomorrow... I beg of you, I beg of you!"

  Ieyasu’s eyes widened in shock.

  "M-Mr. Hideyoshi! Please, raise your head! For the master of the realm to bow to a provincial daimyo like myself...!"

  Hideyoshi did not look up, continuing in a desperate voice.

  "No, Mr. Ieyasu. Tomorrow, in the Great Hall, before the court nobles and the various daimyo, I must make you bow to me. That is the necessary 'proper form' to end this age of chaos in the land... You and I were both retainers of Lord Nobunaga, and at Komaki, we fought as enemies. To suddenly force you to bow and call me 'Lord'—it is too cruel.

  So, at least for tonight, here where no one is watching... I will be the one to bow.

  Mr. Ieyasu, I ask this of you for tomorrow. Please, save my face. I know your loyalty better than anyone..."

  Struck by Hideyoshi’s tearful entreaty, Ieyasu felt a mix of samurai sentimentality and the man’s bottomless calculative nature.

  "Mr. Hideyoshi, if you go that far, then I too shall resolve myself. I understand. Tomorrow, I shall bow to the Kanpaku without reservation. You need not worry about a thing."

  Only then did Hideyoshi look up, a beaming smile breaking across his face.

  "Oh! Truly!? You have my gratitude, Mr. Ieyasu! Now I can finally sleep in peace. Kanbe’e, you give your thanks as well!"

  Kanbe’e gave a silent, polite bow, a fearless smile playing on his lips as he spoke a single sentence.

  "Mr. Ieyasu, I look forward to tomorrow."

  The two men stole away quietly, leaving the Tokugawa quarters.

  As Hideyoshi walked through the night wind, his gait was transformed from his tearful demeanor of moments ago; it was now light, even buoyant. For the ruler of the realm to rub his forehead against the tatami for a single daimyo in the middle of the night—was there any investment more efficient than this?

  The "theatrical apparatus for national unification"—engineered by Kanbe’e and his cohorts to make the proud Ieyasu kneel perfectly and voluntarily in public—was now complete.

  "Kanbe’e, it happened just as you said. He is a man of integrity. If I bow to him, he’ll surely bow even deeper to me tomorrow... Splendid. This is my way of warfare."

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Hideyoshi’s low laughter vanished into the darkness. But Kanbe’e, though he maintained a smile, already had his gaze fixed on the "next" board.

  Shortly after, Kanbe’e parted ways with Hideyoshi and returned alone to Ieyasu’s quarters.

  Ieyasu sat alone, staring at a flickering lamp, nearly poisoned by the unfathomable depth of the man called Hideyoshi. The age of the warrior was ending, and a disturbing era where lies and sentiment intertwined was arriving. Before the trembling Ieyasu, that man appeared once more.

  "Oh, Mr. Kanbe’e? Do you still have something left to say to me?"

  Ieyasu’s Mikawa accent was a habit he fell into when his guard was up. Kanbe’e slipped into the room soundlessly and sat directly across from him. There was not a single wasted motion in his movements; even the sound of his dragging leg echoed like a beat designed to stoke Ieyasu’s irritation.

  "Mr. Ieyasu. Having been shown such a display by His Highness, you must be quite troubled. However, that is the very 'poison' of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. He appealed to your emotions to seal off your escape...

  Now then, do you think simply prostrating yourself during tomorrow’s ceremony will be enough?"

  Ieyasu glared at Kanbe’e with sharp eyes. His gaze sparked more fiercely than if he were surrounded by tens of thousands of enemy troops.

  "Do you intend to test me? If I am told to prostrate, I shall. Is that not the condition of our peace? Do you intend to humiliate me further?"

  "No, that alone is not sufficient..."

  Kanbe’e lowered his voice even further, speaking with relentless pressure. His eyes emitted an eerie light in the darkened room. Ieyasu’s eyes snapped open.

  "Not sufficient? What do you mean?"

  With a gaze like a lion targeting its prey, Kanbe’e pierced the startled Ieyasu.

  "His Highness cast aside such shame to kneel before you. Therefore, you too must show the world that you are 'no ordinary retainer.'

  Mr. Ieyasu, during tomorrow's ceremony, you must publicly request the Jinbaori (military surcoat) that His Highness is wearing."

  Ieyasu was struck speechless.

  "What...? The Jinbaori? You are telling me to act as if I am stripping the coat from the Kanpaku's back? Mr. Kanbe'e, are you sane? I could not complain if I were cut down on the spot for such insolence."

  "Precisely. That is why it has meaning. And you shall say this: 'Donning this coat, I, Ieyasu, shall go forth as the vanguard of the Kanpaku to strike down every lawless rebel in the land!'

  If you do so, the assembled daimyo will recognize you as the 'first loyalist' of the Toyotomi, and none will dare move against you. At the same time, His Highness will be forced to entrust you with full military authority as his 'one and only right hand.'

  To turn his 'sentiment' against him and make the status of the Tokugawa unshakeable within the Toyotomi regime—this is the stratagem of this war-counselor."

  Kanbe’e’s words pierced Ieyasu’s heart like sharp needles. It was advice to save the Tokugawa, but at the same time, it was a chain that tethered them to the deepest part of the "Great Toyotomi Cage"—the position of a watchdog with no escape.

  Ieyasu was silent for a while, then laughed low in his throat with a voice full of power.

  "What a man you are... While pretending to uphold His Highness, you intend to sink my fangs into the Toyotomi's throat. Mr. Kenbe'e, are you not afraid of His Highness? Giving me such a plan... if I were to turn my bow against him, your head would be the first to fly."

  Without so much as a blink, Kanbe’e spoke with a cold, clinical gaze.

  "What I desire is for the Great Peace to last even one day longer. To that end, I must correctly establish a massive force like yourself as the 'keystone' of this country. Even if it is a gamble staked upon my very life..."

  In Kanbe’e’s answer, there was no hesitation, no flattery. There was only the "tenacity of a monster" seeking to realize a perfectly calculated world without the slightest error.

  In that moment, Ieyasu had an intuition.

  This man was indeed no mere retainer of Hideyoshi. He was using Hideyoshi as a sun to illuminate the vast darkness of history, reshaping it to his own will...

  Ieyasu stared intently at the cold teacup in his hand. The tea leaves settled at the bottom looked like his former self, or the ghosts of Nobunaga and Katsuie who had vanished.

  A suspicion had been rising in Ieyasu's throat, one he had never been able to voice until now.

  That night at Honno-ji. Even now, he could not believe it was the rebellion of Mitsuhide Akechi alone. To what extent was this man standing before him involved?

  If he missed this moment, the opportunity would never come again.

  Ieyasu resolved himself, and in order to cast a stone into the abyss of history, he released a question using a hidden code.

  Produced and written by a Japanese author, rooted in authentic Japanese history. Translated with the assistance of Gemini (AI).