Inside the Cage (Episode 14)

Inside the Cage is the fourteenth episode of the anime series.

Synopsis
While traveling through a bamboo forest, Ginko encounters a man who somehow can't leave the forest, no matter how much he tries. Curiously, the man's wife and child also share the same issue.

Plot
While Ginko was resting in the bamboo forest, a person whom he describes as "odd", approaches him. The person asks him whether he was a traveler, and was moving down the mountain, heading west. Ginko replies positively. Then he asks if he could accompany Ginko, as he couldn't find his way out of the bamboo forest. The man explains that he originally belongs to the village at the foot of the mountain, and that that they didn't have a traveler for about three years.

However, when Ginko starts off on his journey back, he finds that he is moving in a circle, trapped in the same spot. Worse still, the direction shown by the compass (carried by Ginko) is correct. Finding that the exercise is futile, they sit, conversing. The man tells him that that is what is happening, that one cannot control where one is going. He then offers, jokingly, if he wanted to live there. He then explains that a mother and a daughter used to live there. The mother passed away, while the daughter was the childhood friend of the man, and hence started living together. They have a child together. The man's name is Kisuke, while the wife's name is Setsu. The couple offer him to stay at their home. Ginko refuses. The couple then leave, telling him to take care, which Ginko remarks as being odd.

Ginko then tries to come out of the bamboo forest, and succeeds. While he rests in the said village, he finds two old local women whispering to each other. When he confronts them, they ask if he came out of the bamboo forest, and if he saw a man. Ginko replies that he had indeed seen him. He then asks about the man. One of the women reply that the man was captivated by a monster, and that there is a white bamboo growing when the other woman snaps her off, saying that she "shouldn't tell stories that would taint their village to outsiders".

Ginko then re-enters the forest. There he meets Kisuke who asks him whether he wasn't able to get outside the forest. Ginko replies that he was able to get out of the forest, but has returned to see something in the forest. He also says that he had heard rumors about Kisuke and Setsu. Kisuke then asks what he intends to do after seeing the white bamboo. Ginko replies that if it was within the scope of his work, he would ask Kisuke the details, and if there was a way to get him out of the forest, but if he refused, he would work alone. Taking his decision, Kisuke then leads him to the way.

When they reach the white bamboo shoots, Kisuke informs Ginko that there are four such others. Ginko then identifies the shoot as a Mushi, Magari-dake. He then asks Kisuke to tell him everything that happened in the bamboo forest.

Kisuke then tells him the following story:

"A young married couple used to live in this bamboo forest. For many years, they could not conceive a child. The husband began to spend time away from his depressing home. His wife was a strange woman who talked to plants. Eventually she used to wander about the bamboo forest night after night.

''Then one day, she said she thought she was pregnant. The husband became suspicious of his wife, so one night, he followed her. He found his wife enthralled, clinging to a white bamboo. The husband was frightened out of his wits and ran off, but he returned home after the villagers admonished him. There, he found his wife carrying a bamboo shoot as if it were a baby.''"

Ginko then asks him whether she had given birth to a bamboo shoot, to which, Kisuke replied that that was what the villagers say she said. Ginko then asks whether she was just trying to annoy the husband. Kisuke responds, saying that the husband ran away from the village, so that must have been what had happened.

Kisuke then informs that the bamboo child was Setsu, and that as children, they used to play with Setsu, as she might feel lonely. But as he explained, she never ate, or drank anything, except water, and never left the bamboo forest. Even then, they all liked Setsu. But then one day they (Setsu, Kisuke and friends) were unable to leave the forest. They disappeared, one by one, eventually leaving him alone. Those who made it back to the said village, came back to search for Kisuke, and found that they were unable to leave the forest once they were with Kisuke. So he and his little sister, started living with Setsu. At first, the villagers were very kind to Kisuke and Setsu. But after a while, the visits started decreasing, one by one. Eventually, Setsu became pregnant. But when the midwife completed the delivery, they found a baby inside of the bamboo shoot. The midwife ran back off to the village, and after that, no one went to the bamboo forest.

Kisuke then asks him about his story, whether it was believable, to which Ginko replies that it did surprise him. He then asks about Magari-dake, to which Ginko reponds by saying that it is a bamboo in name only, but it isn't a plant, and eventually telling him the following:

"Bamboos in a bamboo forest, all share the same roots. Together, they are one, or a family of successive generations. Magari-dake are Mushi that live off these roots, posing as one of the family. They grow by sucking nutrients from the roots of the bamboo, and in turn, return elements to the roots that make the forests green, growing the forest, and increasing its own numbers.

''Your wife was born from Mushi and a human. We Mushi-shi call them oniko. An extremely rare mazari-mono.''"

Ginko then asks if it was a bit of a shock. Kisuke responds by saying that it was not, after what his daughter looked like. He says that the people of the village will accept them, and might even start living in the village itself.