The shrill screech of tires tore apart the darkness of the night.
The driver of the red Silvia which had come to such a sudden stop, a youth with the appearance of a college student, looked like he was about to faint dead away from shock.
“What are you doing?” the young woman in the passenger’s seat demanded heatedly. The young man’s hands clutched around the steering wheel began to shake.
“I...I hit someone...!”
“What!” The woman started and looked around. “No...no way! That’s impossible! There’s no one in sight!”
“He jumped out right in front of me! I couldn’t stop in time, so I must’ve hit him!”
“No way! Go check! Hurry up and check!”
The flustered youth climbed out of the car. At the same time he heard a blood-curdling shriek.
“Wh—what?”
It had come from the woman in the car. The vehicle had begun to convulse.
“Wh-what’s happening? Is it an earthquake?”
The car shook violently—no, something was shaking the car! The woman looked out of the window.
“Kyaaaaaaaah!”
There were a number of skulls pressed against the car window—skeletal warriors in rotting armor were shaking the car!
“Eeeeeeeek! No—!”
A battle line of the spirits of dead warriors advanced on the car surrounded by skeletons. The skeletons climbed all over the windshield, blocking the view. The car creaked, and the backseat window was shattered. The woman shrieked, “Some-someone help me—!”
Meanwhile, strange things were happening on the streets of Matsumoto
. Windows of buildings suddenly shattered, electric lines snapped, cars ran out of control, all without discernable cause; this phenomenon spread steadily all across Matsumoto.
“Gyaaaaaah!”
The scream came suddenly from the throng on the main street in front of the station . Pedestrians scattered. A man dressed like the employee of some company tumbled into sight. Slashed diagonally across his shoulder was a long, terrible wound. Covered in blood and shivering uncontrollably, he held out a hand towards passersby.
“P-please help me...”
Fresh blood spread rapidly across the asphalt. Nearby pedestrians blanched as they stood staring blankly at the sight.
“Hey! Some-someone, call an ambulance! Help... Eeeek!” one person bending down to help the man shrieked. Behind the prone man an armored skeleton holding a sword dripping with blood came into sight.
“Waaaah!”
“Get away from me!”
People scattered in all directions. From the opposite side of the street came the sound of shattering glass. A group of skeletal warriors had massed against a store window display and smashed it to pieces.
Skeletal warriors suddenly appeared everywhere and began to attack the pedestrians. Mercury streetlamps flickered like crazy, and traffic lights blinked on and off like neon lights in complete disorder. Cars ran every which way, and accidents broke out here and there in the chaos.
Kousaka, watching the panic ensuing from the rioting of the violent poltergeists and skeletal warriors from the shadow of a building, murmured, “—So it’s begun.”
After Shingen’s release Kousaka had retreated from Naoe’s «nenpa». Naoe had chased after him at once, but he would now probably make stopping Shingen his first priority; there was no sign of Naoe coming after him.
However, it seemed that for whatever reason Kousaka had no intentions of aiding Shingen and Sanjou with his power.
(I’ll give you a chance, Naoe,) Kousaka thought. (If you wish to awaken Kagetora, there is no opportunity more perfect than this.)
He had decided to assume the role of a spectator in this particular play.
“Lord Shingen. Please show me the power of the Koushuu onryou.”
His coat flapped as an eerie full red moon rose over his right shoulder.
—Borne by the voice of the nue
Are terror and dread;
Oh, terror and dread.
(That bastard! Where the hell did he go?)
Takaya had practically flown out of the school and was now running around the Matsumoto streets seeking Yuzuru. He knew that Shingen had broken out of Yuzuru’s «internal bind» and had been resurrected, but had found no trace of him at all. A blast of sirens from an ambulance flashing across the street caught Takaya’s attention, and he turned.
(A fire-engine and an ambulance?)
The entire city was clamoring with noise; there was a fire somewhere, and just now a ambulance had passed him with sirens wailing towards Matsumoto Castle. He’d heard something like a car accident earlier, and there seemed to be more patrol car sirens going off than usual as well.
“Feh,” Takaya scowled. (Damn it all, what the hell is happening?)
Takaya turned as he caught the strange sound of a loud, rhythmic banging sound as of something being struck repeatedly.
He started.
(Ack...!)
A number of skeletal foot soldiers were hacking repeatedly at the storefront of the diner behind him with what looked like hammers or hatchets. Their objective was apparently the food inside. A few who had succeeding in breaking into the vending machine to one side were guzzling beer from crushed cans.
(You’ve gotta be kidding me!)
His gaze returned to the street, where he saw a swarm of warriors loudly trashing a station wagon to pieces.
It was so much worse than he’d thought that he was stunned into complete speechlessness.
(This is what he meant by “they’re starting to move quite vigorously”...?!)
Then he suddenly heard a woman’s piercing scream from behind.
“!”
He turned.
(What was that...?)
It’d come from that alleyway. Takaya turn on his heel towards the source of that scream and began to run.
“What do you want? No, stay away! Don’t come near me!” Saori yelled shrilly, cornered by skeletal warriors at a dead end in the alleyway. “I wouldn’t taste good at all if you ate me! I’m fashionably thin, so there’s nothing of me to eat!”
The skeletal warriors slowly approached. Pressing against the wall at her back, Saori yelled, “Someone help me!”
There...
“! ...Morino!”
She opened her eyes at the sound of her name.
“Ougi-kun!”
Whack!
Takaya kicked at the skeletal warriors from behind and rushed over to Saori.
“What’re you doing here? Didn’t I tell you go to home?”
“But— But—!”
“What!”
“Something’s happened to Narita-kun, right? You acted so strangely, so of course I was worried! It’s all your fault!”
“You-you idiot!”
They turned as a prickling feeling of menace crept upon them from behind.
The skeletal warriors had drawn their swords and were coming in their direction.
(Eeek, no way!)
The skeletons screamed without sound and attacked with swords held over their heads.
The long swords sliced down with a whistling sound.
“Waaaah, look out!”
“Gyaaah!”
Takaya pushed Saori down, dodging the naked sword, and both of them hit the ground.
(—!...)
(Bastards! They’re just fucking ghosts!)
“Aaah!” Saori screamed shrilly.
“What!”
“Up close you’re kinda a hunk.”
“Don’t make me smack you!”
“Ougi-kun! Behind you, look out!”
He turned. The warriors were standing in front of them with naked swords positioned once more, obviously filled with bloodlust.
“The-they look like they mean business.”
“Eww! Fight them, Ougi-kun!”
“Hey, stop using me as a shield!”
“Bu-but you’re a guy! Go! Go!”
“Morino, dammit!”
The warriors’ swords sliced towards them.
“!”
They couldn’t escape!
The sword came roaring down from overhead. Takaya’s eyes squeezed tightly shut.
(It’s no good...!) he thought with resignation.
“ (bai)!”
The warrior in front of them disappeared with a wail.
(—huh?)
He raised his eyes towards the street to see the dust-covered figure of a man dressed in a black suit standing at the corner of a concrete wall. Takaya shouted, “Naoe!”
“Why are you playing around in a place like this? Have you forgotten that there are lives at stake?”
“Does it look like we’re playing around?!”
The remaining warriors turned sharply towards Naoe, and Naoe’s eyes narrowed to dagger-glints. The warriors suddenly attacked with blood-curdling howls.
“ (bai)!”
The air twisted with a swish of sound, and all the warriors suddenly disappeared.
Takaya and Saori looked on in mute astonishment.
Naoe had been chasing after Shingen, but appeared to have been dragged into dealing with the hordes of ghosts. Naoe impatiently said, “Please give me a hand instead of standing there like a rock. If we don’t exorcise all of the resurrected dead...”
“Wh-what do you mean, give you a hand...? You—!”
“Wow, that’s so cool...” Saori murmured from behind. Takaya rolled his eyes.
“Wha?”
“I really really like these kinds of things, you know! I know all about them! They’re called ‘psychic horrors’, right? Teach me too!”
“Sheesh, you know—!”
“Takaya-san,” Naoe interrupted forcefully, “Shingen has erected a barrier of considerable size over the center of Matsumoto City. Within the barrier the ghosts’ «powers»—and of course Shingen’s own—are amplified. However, ordinary people are now able to see them and their actions.”
“—What’re they planning?”
"Probably the complete destruction and subjugation of Matsumoto. Everything in today’s world is a target for their malice. They wish to not only destroy Matsumoto, but use it as their stronghold in the «Yami-Sengoku» war.
Takaya’s expression turned grim. “Destroy the city? Shingen’s not Godzilla or anything—can he really do that?”
“He can do it.” Naoe’s eyes glinted sharply. “To the onryou, the power of ‘destruction’ is everything. Their malice is completely transformed into ‘destruction’. With the amplification of their spiritual powers they appear to have gained half-material bodies, but since they were originally spirits, no modern weapons will harm them. We have no choice but to stop them ourselves.”
“Yuzuru—” Takaya asked angrily, “What the hell happened to Yuzuru?”
“—”
“You said that you’d protect him! Is Yuzuru dead? Has Shingen already stolen his body?”
“Shingen has not yet performed kanshou.”
“How the hell do you know?”
Naoe glared at him sharply.
“You’re completely irresponsible! What the hell are you going to stop anyway, when you couldn’t even protect Yuzuru? You bastard! Yuzuru might die, and you’re talking about responsibilities? Don’t make me laugh!”
A pulse throbbed at Naoe’s temples. “Irresponsible? I’ve put my life on the line to protect him.”
“If you couldn’t protect Yuzuru, then it’s all the same anyway.”
“Then let me ask in return,” Naoe flared. “You, whom I have told are the only one who can save Yuzuru-san, why have you not admitted to your powers? Why have you not acted at all?”
Takaya was at a total loss for words.
“Do not blame everything on someone else when you should be taking action yourself. You possess the «power». You and you alone can save Yuzuru-san from Shingen’s «kanshou».”
“—”
“Those who have the power to act and yet do nothing are cowards. Am I wrong?”
“I’m not Kagetora...!”
“Please stop this irresponsible behavior!” Naoe rebuked him mercilessly. “You keep running and running—are you so afraid of bearing responsibility? Are you so afraid of knowing the truth?”
“—Naoe...”
“There is nothing I can do if you don’t want to admit it. But you don’t actually know whether or not you are Kagetora, do you? So why don’t you try believing, even if you think you’re deceiving yourself? Please just try believing that you are the Uesugi Kagetora I speak of.”
“...”
Naoe pressed the speechless Takaya, “If you do, you’ll probably be able to use some of Kagetora-sama’s powers even if you’re just an ordinary human being.”
“... What the hell kinda trick is that?”
“Well. Is that what it sounds like?” Naoe turned away, not wanting Takaya to read his feelings at that moment. “In any case, please search in the vicinity of Matsumoto Castle. It is a perfect base which Shingen can use to gain control of Matsumoto.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to look around the station . The matter of Kousaka concerns me.”
“Who the hell is Kousaka?”
“A kanshousha of the Takeda. One of those responsible for the revival of Shingen.”
“No way! Then he’s like you?”
“Yes. Though he looks somewhat strange.”
“‘Strange’...?”
Naoe’s brows drew together silently. During the fight earlier, Kousaka, rather than running away, seemed to have let him go. His actions were contradictory; was he really hostile?
And then there were those enigmatic words...
“In any case, please go now. You can do an imitation «choubuku», yes? I wish you luck.”
“Ah—hey! Wait!”
But Naoe was already running towards the alleyway. Behind him, Saori cried, “Who was that? Someone you know? What’s wrong with Narita-kun? Did you say that he died? What—”
“I’m not gonna let him die!” Takaya shouted half-despairingly. “I don’t know anything, but I’ll go, okay? It pisses me off that a guy like that would try to preach to me!”
“Ougi-kun, can you do things like that?”
“I don’t know anything about ‘choubuku’ or ‘tonpuku’ sup:”tonpuku“: (n) single-dose medicine or whatever it is, but the point is to beat the crap out of them, right? Fine, bring it on!”
“Waaaah, Ougi-kun!”
Saori chased confusedly after the shouting Takaya as he sprinted away.
The fire wouldn’t go out!
A cluster of fire trucks had hurried over to Matsumoto Castle, and the front of the castle was an awful chaotic mess. The fire fighters, despite vigorous action, were making no headway against the fire at all.
The castle continued to blaze. The dumbfounded fire brigade stared up at the fire hopelessly.
“Is it...” one firefighter muttered. “Is it really burning?”
It felt as if they were pouring water on an illusion. The proof was that the castle was not crumbling away at all. It stood there just as solidly as before.
A human figure moved on the highest floor of the castle tower: a young woman with long black hair dressed in a sailor uniform. Yuiko...no, Sanjou, who had possessed Yuiko, looked down on the fire trucks and throngs of people on the other side of the moat. She muttered to herself, “Hmph. So the rabble hath been roused.”
She glanced fleetingly towards the south. Smoke was rising here and there, and she could hear the voices of panicked people even from where she stood.
Sanjou laughed.
“My Lord’s «power» alone is enough to devastate this city to such an extent—’tis child’s play. Just a little while more, my Lord.”
Sanjou looked down on the scene below: fire engines sitting in a row, firefighters running around. Sanjou’s eyes glowed purple.
Boom!
One fire truck exploded with flames. Screams rose from beneath. Sanjou’s gaze roamed avariciously. And then, as if her eyes were laser beams, the copse of pine tree near the castle began to blaze in obedience to her command.
Sanjou laughed uproariously.
“Hey you! This place is dangerous, so stay back!” A police officer warned the uniformed youth. It was a broadcasting office near the center of the city. Just a little while ago the broadcasting dish on top of the building had taken a hit from what had looked like a bolt of lightning and had been completely destroyed. A flurry of policemen and first-aid personnel rushed around the roped-off perimeter of the broadcasting building in terribly noisy confusion.
The broadcasting dish collapsed, destroying the rooftop of a nearby building before falling to the ground, scattering debris in a wide radius.
The youth turned.
“—”
Fire sparks from the blaze flickered underfoot. Fire-bright chestnut hair stirring in the wind, the young man gazed at the officer who had cautioned him.
“This area is dangerous, so go back home. Don’t go any closer!”
Yuzuru muttered in a low voice, “... Thou wilt command me?”
“What did you say? Hey you!”
“Small fry.”
Yuzuru’s eyes flared.
“Waaaah!”
The officer, tossed back close to three meters by an unseen hand, hit the ground and stretched out unconscious on the asphalt. Yuzuru smiled thinly before returning his gaze to the road.
The cars parked there exploded one by one.
Pieces of glass from the shattered windows of surrounding buildings fell in a glittering rain among the myriad fires blazing everywhere, twinkling amidst screams and cries of anger. Panicked people ran around wildly in an effort to escape.
“Run! Run away! And obey me!”
Yuzuru began to laugh exultantly. Yuzuru...no, Shingen began to walk down the smoke-shrouded street, his wide eyes triumphant, illuminated by columns of crimson flame.
“Damn. What a mess.”
A truck on its side lay across the center of the road. Its cargo had unraveled, and construction materials were scattered everywhere. Its surroundings were in comparably bad condition. An automobile had plunged into the guardrail. An arcade building’s pillar had folded, and its roof had fallen in. It was completely untraversable.
“What the hell happened here?”
Takaya blinked at the pedestrian-only Main Street. Saori ran up behind him.
“I said to wait up! You should know that you have longer legs than I do!”
“Shut up! It’s not like I asked you to come.”
“So you were just going to leave a girl in a place like that all by herself?”
“Feh.”
Takaya stopped Saori’s rant short and indicated the road ahead slightly.
“Huh?” she asked in a small voice, then gasped.
There on the street, at the Sensai Bridge crossing on the road continuing into Matsumoto Castle, was a mass of skeletal warriors. That Sensai Bridge had once been the way to the front gates of the castle. It looked as if the warriors had been placed there as gate-watchers to protect the castle against attack. So if that was true, then perhaps Shingen was inside!
“...dammit. Fucking bastards.”
Takaya picked up an iron pipe lying at his feet. It had rolled off the truck. He picked up another and tossed it to Saori.
“Here.”
“What?” Saori caught the pipe and blinked. “What is this? What’s it for?”
“We can’t go up against them bare-handed. We’re gonna clobber those skeletons and rush through.”
“No way—!” Saori belted out. “You’re going to make me do something like that?”
“It’s not like we have a choice.”
“But I’m a girl!”
“I couldn’t tell.”
“Wh-what did you just say?!”
Takaya quickly covered Saori’s mouth to quiet her down, and Saori wriggled in protest. Checking on the situation from the shadows of the truck, Takaya tightened his grip on the iron pipe.
“It’s for Yuzuru’s sake. Think of it as rescuing your prince and gimme a hand.”
“Huh? No way! I’m going to rescue Narita-kun?”
“On the count of three. Don’t stop until you’re past them.”
“Right, right. Oh, I’m so happy!”
“... Just act like your usual self.”
The count began. One...
Saori waited in breathless tension. Two...
“Three!”
Takaya leapt onto the street. At the same time, Saori flew out like a shot. The skeletons turned towards them.
“Get outta my way—!”
Whack whack!
Takaya mowed down the skeletons in his path with abandon, aiming for their midsections with the iron pipe in his hands. The warriors collapsed with a dry rustle of bones. Some had drawn their swords. Wielding the iron pipe, Takaya clobbered the next warrior and the next.
“Narita-kun! Yiiiieeeeeeaaaa!”
Saori launched into the fray with an earth-shattering yell. Takaya’s face twitched as he watched Saori get down to some serious violence.
(She’s an Amazon!)
...It was rather scary.
The two, aiming for the skeletons’ heads, smashed their way through the crowd of warriors in a wink.
Or so it seemed.
The skeletons reassembled themselves from the places where they had fallen like a video in reverse and creakingly stood once more. Takaya shouted, “Yeargh! They’re zombies!”
They launched into another attack.
“Why the hell—?!”
So this is what he’d meant by modern weapons having no effect?
He was forced to start swinging the iron pipe once more, but there was no end to the fight! Finally even Saori started crying.
“We can’t go on like this! Ougi-kun!”
“I know! Dammit!”
Skeletons attacked Saori from behind. Takaya spun towards her.
“! Morino!”
And then suddenly something flashed from Saori’s body.
“Kyaaaa!”
“Morino!”
The warriors surrounding her were all sent flying simultaneously. They moaned in pain where they had landed on the ground.
“???”
Saori herself was also dumbfounded. Takaya’s jaw dropped as he looked at her.
“Morino? You...???”
“I-I don’t know! I have no idea what happened just now!”
With sudden intuition, Takaya looked at Saori’s blazer pocket.
“What do you have in there?”
“Huh? Er—”
She took it out. What Saori was carrying was the «talisman bracelet» that had been on Yuzuru’s wrist earlier.
“Na-Narita-kun dropped it earlier. I think he had it on the other day. I was going to return it to him. I wasn’t up to anything, so don’t jump to conclusions!”
(Was it because of this thing...?)
Ah, so it seemed that it was a power that the ghosts could not approach. Takaya smiled.
“Lucky break. Let’s go, Morino. Don’t take that thing off your wrist.”
“Huh? Is it okay? Really? For me to wear this? I can really put it on?”
“Ah, geez. Just put it on already!”
The warriors were rising. In front of them there was another crowd of skeletal warriors. Saori put the bracelet on her wrist.
“I’m all set, Ougi-kun.”
“All right. Let’s take the stage.”
Takaya yelled towards the warriors, “Ready or not, here we come!”
Liking raging billows they rushed forward together.
“!” Yuiko turned. An approaching ‘aura’.
(Ougi Takaya, so thou hast come—)
Sanjou-no-Kata laughed with a feeling of invincibility.
“I see. Very well. So it seems that I, Sanjou, shall greet thee in person.”
Casting her glance down from the castle tower, Sanjou-no-Kata’s aura quietly began to glow. A bewitching radiance shone from her eyes.
Flames rose here and there within the city.
Passing out of the rubble of a collapsed building, Naoe finally reached a main road.
(Where are Shingen and the others...?)
His clothes were covered in dust, and in places were torn and stained with blood. He had already finished off hundreds of the resurrected dead of the Takeda. But of course performing «choubuku» that many times by himself demanded an enormous amount of stamina.
(Can I really take Shingen on in this state?)
He arrived at the terminal in front of Matsumoto Station .
Then...!
“!”
He saw a sea of flames spread before his eyes.
A taxi as well as some other parked cars had been completely enveloped by the fire and continued to burn with loud rumbles. It seemed that everyone had taken shelter; there was no sign of life. It was like the ghost-town aftermath of a terrorist attack. The station building, too, looked like it had been hit by bombs; its windows were smashed, and the building itself was half-collapsed.
“—”
Naoe’s breath caught in his throat once more. —Was this something he had the power to stop by himself?
He realized for the first time that he was shivering.
He turned at the sound of movement.
He saw a human shape in the direction of the flames. Was it Kousaka? he was wondering, when the figure stepped into sight—
“! ...Yuzuru-san!”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth he remembered: no—
(Shingen!)
The other man had also noticed him. Recognizing Naoe, Yuzuru walked across the fire toward him.
“Hoh. So, ’tis thee. The one who gave my vessel the suggestion to bind me.”
His voice was so low that one could not imagine it to belong to Yuzuru. Naoe went on the alert once more and began to gather his «power».
“Thou art Naoe Nobutsuna—the son of Kenshin’s trusted retainer, Naoe Yamato-no-Kami. I perhaps met thee once at Kawanakajima...so thou wert kanshousha. We should first celebrate our reunion.”
“—”
“Then I shall take full accounting for thy rudeness of a few days ago—from thy flesh.”
“!”
An intense mass of «nenpa» struck Naoe’s abdomen squarely.
“Augh...!”
Naoe doubled over. The impact was like receiving a brutal right hook to the stomach. Desperately enduring his body’s need to collapse, Naoe glared up at Yuzuru.
“Shingen...!”
“Your existence hath become troublesome to us. Here shall I destroy thee.”
He was sent flying by a crackling flash of light.
“!”
Naoe’s body hit the wall hard, and his face twisted in agony at the impact. But Yuzuru had no mercy. He pressed Naoe’s body against the wall with an unseen power and walked towards him at a leisurely pace, surrounded by an evil ‘aura’.
“How now... Canst thou yet endure?”
“—”
He couldn’t move. His spine crackled, and his ribs felt as if they had been crushed. He couldn’t make a sound. He couldn’t breathe. ...It hurt so much!
“It doth appear thou art possess’d of feeling for Narita Yuzuru. In that case, let thy end be wrought by this hand!”
A small, gruesome smile rose in Yuzuru’s eyes as he pressed his right hand against Naoe’s throat.
(It burns!)
Yuzuru’s hand scorched like red-hot steel. He could neither cry out nor faint in the burning heat. The agony overwhelmed all his senses. The burning was enough to drive him to madness.
Laughing, Yuzuru pressed harder against Naoe’s throat.
(You...!)
Naoe mustered all his power. Sparks flew in all directions.
“Yeargh!”
Yuzuru’s body was flung backwards. Released, Naoe collapsed to his knees.
“Ugh...”
Yuzuru’s moan startled him. It seemed that Yuzuru had been hit somewhere. Oh no!
(If I’m not careful, attacking with «nenpa» will injure Yuzuru-san’s body...!)
Yuzuru slowly raised himself. A red line of blood flowed from the corner of his lips. Shingen didn’t appear to care at all about Yuzuru’s body being injured.
“Well struck...Naoe,” he said, the corners of his lips curving into a smile. Naoe shuddered. He had no way of fighting Shingen. He didn’t have the power to perform «choubuku» on him directly. Neither could he just exorcise Shingen. He couldn’t strike with «nenpa». What should he do?
There must be a way...!
“This is the end!”
Naoe poured all his power into surrounding himself with a «goshinha».
Silently, Naoe cried out in his heart a single prayer with his entire being.
Kagetora-sama...!
Oh!
Takaya suddenly turned, feeling as if someone had just called out to him.
(...Naoe...?)
They stood within the premises of Matsumoto Castle, at the place called “Black Gate” which continued from the inner moat to the castle tower. They had just driven out the warriors standing guard there and broken through—
(Was that Naoe?)
His heart clamored. Takaya trembled slightly in agitation.
(I’m sure that was...)
“Ougi-kun!”
Takaya turned at Saori’s voice.
“!”
The moon appeared from behind occluding clouds.
Here, in the spacious garden right below the tower there were still traces of an inner palace. Standing beneath the soaring tower, blocking Takaya and Saori’s way as if she had been expecting them, was a young woman dressed in a sailor uniform.
“Thou art late, Ougi Takaya.”
“...Have I kept you waiting, Princess?” Takaya replied in a low voice, and laughed.
The wind fanned out the collar of the sailor uniform, and her long black hair danced in midair like a living creature.
Yuiko gave a small smile full of the moon’s bewitching devilishness.
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