Episode 2 (Hanyō no Yashahime)

The Three Princesses is the second episode of Hanyō no Yashahime.

Synopsis

 * 1) When they were four years old, twin sisters Towa and Setsuna were separated when Towa was pulled through a portal to the modern era where she was raised by Sōta Higurashi for the next ten years.
 * 2) An Ōmukade named Mistress Three-Eyes is searching for the Rainbow Pearls. She steals two of them from Setsuna and a young bounty hunter named Moroha, and the three are dragged through a portal to the modern era.

Summary
Towa narrates that when she was little she had a younger twin sister Setsuna and they lived in the forest for the longest time. Towa and Setsuna run through the forest and licking water from a stream and laugh as they lay down. As Towa and Setsuna are on a tree, Towa tells Setsuna to come on before she jumps off. Setsuna tells Towa to wait up as she jumps after her. As Towa and Setsuna are falling, Towa notices a fruit and grabs it. Towa and Setsuna land on the ground and Towa asks Setsuna if she wants the fruit. Setsuna accepts the fruit as she thanks Towa, who is happy. As Towa and Setsuna are walking, Setsuna eats the fruit and says it's yummy. Towa tells Setsuna that's great. Towa and Setsuna happily watch the sunset together.

Towa explains she and Setsuna were always together and they got along so well. One night when they were asleep under a tree, Towa awakens to see animals running away and a fire then wakes up Setsuna and they tried to escape the forest. Towa ask why at that moment did she let go of Setsuna's hand. Setsuna calls out to Towa as she falls down. Towa runs back to Setsuna to save her and asks if she was okay and apologizes to Setsuna for leaving her. As Towa and Setsuna were hugging, a flaming tree was going to fall down on Towa. Out of safety, Setsuna pushed Towa away from her so the flaming tree does not hit her. Towa goes back trying to look for Setsuna in the forest, only hearing Setsuna call out for her. Towa calls out to Setsuna before her eye starts reacting before a rainbow portal opens up and forcibly sucks her through as calls out to Setsuna.

In the modern era, Towa was unconscious as Buyo goes up to her and greets her. Towa explains that she realized later on that she had been catapulted through time. Towa wakes up and wonders where was she before she looks up at the Sacred Tree. Towa noticed a man approaching her. The man greets Towa and asks if she was lost as his name was Sōta Higurashi and wonders what was hers. Towa says her name. Sōta tries to pat Towa on the head, who becomes frightened. After seeing her outfit, Sōta immediately realizes that Towa was from the feudal era. Towa explains she doesn't know why but at that moment she knew she could trust Sōta. Towa asks Sōta if he could help her find Setsuna as she's looking for her. Sōta accepts as he tells Towa they'll look for Setsuna together before offers his hand. Towa hesitantly accepts Sōta's hand before they search for Setsuna. Towa explains Sōta helped her search but they never found Setsuna and it's been 10 years since then as Sōta ended up adopting her, and as a part of the Higurashi family she now goes by "Towa Higurashi". Towa says her memory had faded over time and lately she's been thinking that maybe that day was just a dream but knows Setsuna was definitely not a dream.

Towa wakes up and comments how nice the weather is as she'll brush her teeth. As Towa's brushing her teeth, a young girl named Mei Higurashi appears and says she's leaving now. Sōta tells the young girl to be safe. As Mei leaves, she tells Towa 'good morning'. Towa tells the young girl 'morning' and calls her Mei. Mei questions Towa if it's her first day at her new school and tells her to not get into any fights before leaving. Towa tells Mei to be safe. Towa explains that Mei, Sōta's true daughter, and she's a bit shy and naive but also cute, smart, honest, and quite talented. Towa says Mei's her precious little sister. As Towa gets dressed, she wonders if maybe she cherishes Mei so much because she's a substitute for Setsuna, whom she was never able to find.

As Towa goes to leave, she tells Sōta that she's heading out. Sōta tells Towa to be safe but notices she's wearing a boys' school clothes and asks if she's going to go school dressed like a boy again. Towa questions Sōta why she dresses like this as it's easier to fight in. Sōta tells Towa it's an all girls' school this time and they don't want her getting into fights anymore. Towa tells Sōta she knows before she leaves. Sōta smiles as he says good grief. Towa walks to Saint Gabriel Academy, she explains no one seems to get it as transferring to an all girls school won't stop the fighting and the ones she takes down always come back for more. Suddenly a group of boys appeared before Towa as they said they've found her as they heard she transferred again and wondered if she was trying to run away from them as it won't be that easy and to get ready. Towa questions the group of boys who said she was running. Towa fights the group of boys and easily defeats them. Towa grabs one of the boys' arms and pulls on it, who screams out in pain and tells her to stop, before she stops and leaves. Towa explains fight hasn't stopped ever since she stopped a bully in elementary school and there'd be more each time she changed schools and they're all weak and wonders why couldn't they just keep their heads down. The group of boys thinks that Towa wasn't a woman and wonders why didn't she finish them off but she's too off but at this rate they'll have to ask their brother for help. As Towa arrives at school, she notices that she's already late on her first day and looks around to see if anyone is looking before she jumps over the gate to get to class.

When Moroha was in the mountains waiting for her next target to appear, she was confronted by group of yōkai taijiya, including Kohaku and his maternal nephew, due to the rumors of a yōkai rampaging through a nearby village. Just as Hisui was about to confront her, Kohaku stopped him and asked Moroha if she was after the real culprit, to which she confirmed, but was still prepared to attack them due to them having provoked her. Moroha then took out a shell compact containing a mysterious rouge with a red pearl at the center and was about to apply some on her lips, but was suddenly confronted by Setsuna. Moroha tells the other demon slayers that Setsuna is interesting for being a hanyo but was also one. Setsuna tells Moroha to be silent as she's dead.

Moroha clashes with Setsuna as she expresses a liking towards Setsuna's naginata, opining that the latter should have no qualms of surrendering it over to her if she bests Setsuna fairly in a fight. Hisui flies on Kirara towards Setsuna as he said he'll back her up. Setsuna tells Hisui there's no need. Moroha questions Setsuna if that's her name and calls her 'Setsuna-chan' as she'll be taking her weapon before they fight. As the two of them battled, Setsuna's right eye began to mysteriously glow, apparently reacting to Moraha's red pearl. It was then that the ōmukade Mistress Three-Eyes appeared from underground and attempted to obtain Setsuna and Moroha's pearls, which caused an abrupt end to the fight. Kohaku realizes that Mistress Three-Eyes was the one attacking the village before tells the others demon slayers to retreat. Mistress Three-Eyes demanded that Setsuna and Moroha give her the rainbow pearls as she goes after Setsuna. Hisui flies towards Setsuna, who is frozen, and grabs to pull her out of danger before flying away. Hisui asks Setsuna if she was okay. Setsuna snaps out of it before she gets on Kirara.

Moroha engaged Mistress Three-Eyes with her sword Kurikaramaru, but it was unable to cut her but pulls out her bow and arrows. Kohaku tells Hisui to go to another location, who follows the order. Moroha then uses Sacred Arrows: Tenkū no Yabusuma. as they had manage to strike Mistress Three-Eyes. Kohaku questions if those are sacred arrows before he realizes they are Arrows of Sealing then wonders how could Moroha have such spiritual powers. Moroha thinks she's defeated Mistress Three-Eyes until she starts moving. Mistress Three-Eyes telekinetically steal Moroha's pearl and swallowed it, thus increasing her power. Afterwards, Mistress Three-Eyes turned her attention towards Setsuna and attempted to claim her pearl as well. Kohaku tells Hisui to divert Mistress Three-Eyes to Kaede's village. Hisui complies as he Setsuna take off on Kirara with Mistress Three-Eyes. Moroha follows after Mistress Three-Eyes to get back her red Rainbow Pearl.

At the end of the school day, Osamu Kirin was lecturing Towa about trying to conduct herself as one of the students. Towa thinks she won't be staying too long at the school. Osamu lectures Towa about being tardy and caught fighting with gang members. Towa thinks Osamu's going to call Sōta and Moe. Osamu tells Towa he'll overlook her tardiness for today but to be careful next time. Towa becomes confused. Osamu tells Towa that will be and she may go home now, much to her shock. Mei says goodbye to her friends before runs home, unknowningly being followed by the groups of boys who bullied Towa.

Upon returning home, Towa secretly jumped up onto the roof to tend to the Kikujūmonji. Towa explains this is the moment when she feels at peace as the celebrated Kikujūmonji is a national treasure as she's told that it once belonged to the shogun. Towa suddenly caught the scent of Mei's tears from her half-great-grandfather's shrine. The group of boys tied Grandpa, Ms. Higurashi, and Mei to the Sacred Tree. The group of boys tells Mei that Towa should be here soon and to just sit tight. One of the boys asks their brother if they think if it's a bit much. The brother calls the group of boys 'idiots' and if they want revenge they have to go big or go home and to not back out on him now. The group of boys agreed with the brother. Towa narrates the world is full of the weak and because they're weak they band together and pick on people weaker than them and she's really sick of it. The brother tells the group of boys they're lucky as they get to see Towa's crying face. Towa appears and asks the brother he really wants to see it that badly. Towa notices the gang Mei, Grammy and Grandpa Higurashi hostage and tells them she'll show them a crying face but it won't hers it will be theirs. The brother tells the gang to get Towa.

Towa easily defeats the gang in a fight. The brother tells Towa that she's pretty good but doesn't think she understands the situation. One of the gang members threatens Mei with a switchblade. Towa calls out to Mei. The brother tells Towa he hopes she hasn't forgotten that they have a hostage on their side. Towa takes out the Kikujūmonji and tells the brother if that's how he wants to play this. One of the gang members becomes surprised that Towa has a sword. The brother doesn't care if Towa's sword is real or not and warns her what'll happen if she takes one step. One of the gang members asks Towa she wouldn't want scars on Mei's face. The brother tells Towa to not move and wonders where's her energy from before as he hits her repeatedly. In a flashback, Sōta tells a 4 year old Towa that she can't use her powers in front of others as it's their little secret and a promise. Towa agrees as she and Sōta pinky promise.

Towa thinks to herself that she's sorry to Sōta as she can't keep their promise. Towa manages to rescue her adoptive family from the Sacred Tree while defeating some of the gang members. Towa tells her family to get somewhere safe. Ms. Higurashi tells Towa to not fight. Towa says the fight will end quickly. Mei calls out to Towa. The gang thinks Towa's not human before some of them leave as they realize they're no match for her. One of the gang members tells some of the members to not leave. Ms. Higurashi and Grandpa tried to get Met to go with them. Mei tells Towa to stop fighting. Towa tells Mei to not worry as she's pretty strong. Mei tells Towa that she can't as she keeps doing things like this she'll never be able to stop fighting and knows she really wants to be more girly and cute. Towa nervously tells Mei that she guesses there's a part of her that can't answer immediately. Mei tells Towa she she's supposed to say 'yes' even if you don't mean it. Towa apologizes to Mei. Mei calls Towa a 'dummy'.

The brother and the gang members hear the police sirens and flee, unaware that they were just passing by. Mei hugs Towa and calls her a 'dummy' as she said she'd never get into fights again. Towa apologizes to Mei. Towa explains living in the modern era is hard as if you don't follow the set of rules you're treated as an outcast and girls must be feminine and boys must be masculine as she's just been so sick of that but she thinks it's time she stopped being stubborn as there's nothing that could ever justify making Mei cry this much. Towa picks up a familiar scent from the Sacred Tree.

At night in the village, Kaede appears from her hut and sees Hisui and Setsuna on Kirara being chased by Mistress Three-Eyes, who demanded they give the rainbow pearl. Hisui tells Setsuna that he thinks they've come far enough. Setsuna tells Hisui she's decided to fight Mistress Three-Eyes. Hisui becomes surprised. Setsuna says since Mistress Three-Eyes was after the gold rainbow pearl in her right eye she'll use that to her advantage. Hisui calls out to Setsuna, who jumps to battle Mistress Three-Eyes. Setsuna tells Mistress Three-Eyes she won't let her get away. Mistress Three-Eyes charges at Setsuna, who uses Cyclone Burst. Setsuna tells Mistress Three-Eyes her name as those are her only words for her as she will die tonight.

As Mistress Three-Eyes and Setsuna are battling, Moroha interfered with her Crimson Dragon Wave. Moroha tells Setsuna she has claimed that Mistress Three-Eyes was her target from the start. Setsuna simply ignored Moroha and charged towards Mistress Three-Eyes, but was unable to kill her. Mistress Three-Eyes then restrained Setsuna and managed to steal her pearl and become much stronger. Moroha tells Setsuna to hold on as got her then calls her 'Setsu'. Setsuna tells Moroha to not call her that. As Mistress Three-Eyes was about to kill Setsuna, the Goshinboku near where they were fighting suddenly opened up a portal and transported them, as well as Moroha, to the Higurashi shrine in the modern era.

Later that night, Towa and Mei look at the Sacred Tree. Towa picks up a familiar scent from the Sacred Tree. Mei calls out to Towa. Towa calls out to Mei before she quickly moves them to Grandpa and Ms. Higurashi. A portal opens up. Mei wonders what it was. Towa becomes familiar with a scent. The portal reveals Mistress Three-Eyes, along with a teenage Setsuna and Moroha. Towa realizes the unbelievable bright place from her memories and this smell was Setsuna as she calls out to her, her silver rainbow pearl glowing. Setsuna wonders who's calling her name. Moroha says she feels so weak and wonders if it's because she crossed through the rainbow corridor. Mistress Three-Eyes becomes happy that she senses the silver rainbow pearl was nearby as each of her 3 eyes will have a rainbow pearl. Upon seeing Setsuna in trouble, Towa runs in to save her from Mistress Three-Eyes with the Kikujūmonji. However, the blade of Towa's katana ends up breaking upon contact of Mistress Three-Eyes's skin when she tries to slash her, much to Towa's shock.

Trivia

 * The punks who defy Towa bear a strong resemblance to Lum's Stormtroopers and Ataru Moroboshi from Urusei Yatsura and Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma ½ (other franchise of Rumiko Takahashi).
 * This episode aired on Rumiko Takahashi's 63rd Birthday.
 * The makeup pouch that Moroha keeps her Rainbow Pearl in is almost identical to the one that Izayoi had.
 * According to Towa, the fights with the bullies originated back from when she stopped a bully in elementary school.

Episodi 2 (Hanyo no Yashahime) Episodio 02 (Hanyo no Yashahime)