A Complicated Time II (もつれる今 II Motsureru Ima II) is the 22nd chapter of the Shakugan no Shana manga series.
Satō and Tanaka encountered the Flame Haze Margery Daw, who chose the boys to guide her through the city. Earlier, Yūji had become disinterested in Shana's training.
Summary[]
Margery knocking out the last thug.
Satō and Tanaka took a shortcut to school through an alley known to be dangerous. After climbing over a fence, they saw a tall, beautiful foreign-looking woman surrounded by thugs. The two planned to help her by taking the thugs by surprise then fleeing with her due to the amount of thugs present, but the woman suddenly knocked out a thug in one blow. The thugs attacked her but she parried them and knocked out 3 more thugs. The last thug pulled out a knife but was knocked out with a kick.
"Slaughtering Crimson Denizens is what we Flame Haze do!!"
The woman, Margery Daw, talked to her Crimson Lord Marchosias about the number of Torches in the city, and how it was the perfect place for the Denizen they were chasing, "Corpse Retriever" Lamies. Margery wanted to know why there were so many Torches. She didn't want other Denizens getting in the way and blamed Marchosias for them chasing a "small fry" like Lamies, but Marchosias argued that she went off and killed other Denizens she found and that was why Lamies kept escaping. She replied that the job of Flame Haze was to kill Denizens, and she was just annoyed that they had to keep chasing the same prey. Margery tasked Marchosias with finding guides for her investigation of the city. Marchosias' Grimoire Divine Vessel floated and opened as he searched, and he inputted her criteria; residents of the city, young, and have called her a "super-babe". Though Marchosias teased her, she stated that they would be easier to deal with than older people. Marchosias detected two people who fit the criteria, Satō and Tanaka, who were right behind them. Margery thought they were friends with the thugs, but they said no.
Margery introducing herself and Marchosias to the boys.
Satō and Tanaka had skipped school and were sitting in a cafe, happy and blushing, as opposite them sat the woman. With an intimidating aura, Margery ordered some tea and introduced herself and Marchosias to the two boys. She told them to cooperate with her as she hunted a man-eating monster, leaving them confused.
Shana saddened by Yūji leaving.
Several hours earlier, Shana was again training Yūji in his yard with a stick. Yūji averted his eyes and was hit by Shana's attack, for the 32nd time that day. The previous day he was hit only 28 times, and the day before 30 times. Alastor stated that Yūji was getting hit more often than the first day, and pointed out that Yūji was the one who had wanted to be trained. Shana wanted to continue but Yūji had had enough and left. With Yūji no longer having the will for it, Alastor suggested they cease their training regime, but Shana wanted him to be prepared for when a Denizen showed up. She remembered when Yūji had asked her for training and was deeply saddened by his leaving.
Characters[]
* denotes if the character debuts in this chapter
- Keisaku Satō
- Eita Tanaka
- Margery Daw
- Marchosias
- Lamies* (mentioned)
- Yūji Sakai
- Shana
- Alastor
Locations[]
Quotes[]
- Tanaka: "Sh.. she's a real babe."
Satō: "Yeah, without a doubt, a super-babe. And it looks like she's in big trouble." - Margery: "Slaughtering Crimson Denizens is what we Flame Haze do!!"
- Marchosias: "So, what's the criteria for selecting?"
Margery: "Hmm, a resident of this city, who's young and has called me a "super-babe"."
Marchosias: "Keh, you perv!" - Margery (to Satō and Tanaka): "A man-eating monster has come to this city. We're chasing it, so cooperate with us."
Trivia[]
- Shana remembered Yūji's request for training, in chapter 20.