TSKR Episode 2

""The yokai of Mutsu-kabe Hill"... is what I've decided to call it... I wonder how long it's been here... Perhaps since long ago... since hundreds... no, even thousands of years ago..."

- Rohan Kishibe

Episode 2: Mutsu-kabe Hill (六壁坂) is a written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki as the second chapter of the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan series, a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure spin-off featuring Rohan Kishibe from Diamond is Unbreakable. In the one-shot, Rohan narrates his encounter with a terrifying yokai in the mountains, as well as its bittersweet effects on one Naoko Osato.

It was originally featured in the January 2008 issue of  on December 4, 2007. It was also published in the second volume of Jump Square Masterpiece, on October 23, 2009.

An OVA adaptation by David Production was announced on February 18, 2018. The disc was bundled with the second volume of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan, released on July 19, 2018. Another adaptation of the one-shot was produced as a TV Drama and broadcasted on December 29, 2021.

Summary
Rohan Kishibe meets his editor, Minoru Kaigamori, while reading a 's artbook. Bankrupt because he's bought a large piece of land for research purpose and couldn't resell it, Rohan is only left with his artbook and asks for an advance on his upcoming one-shot. As Rohan explains that he's investigated a mere yokai legend, he enthusiastically begins to tell the result of his research: he saw a genuine yokai, the Mutsu-kabe Hill Yokai.

The story is that of the young student Naoko Osato, the heir of a wealthy family who murdered her boyfriend. In the family mansion located far in the mountains, Naoko and her lover Gunpei Kamafusa the gardener met in the guest house. Here, Naoko abruptly ended their relationship, as she was expected to have an arranged marriage with a certain Shuichi from another wealthy family. The break-up became a fight and Naoko suddenly pushed Gunpei into a bag of golf clubs. Gunpei died, a club having pierced through his skull and a small wound visible at the back of his head. Coincidentally, her betrothed and father were coming to the guest house, wanting to find Naoko. Panicked, Naoko delayed them while trying to stop Gunpei from bleeding, but he mysteriously kept gushing blood out of his head wound. Desperate as Shuichi entered the house, she resolved to put Gunpei at the top of an armoire and drank the blood as it came out.

Naoko graduated, then married with Shuichi and had children, but never went far from her house as she continued to have Gunpei's corpse hidden inside, meticulously collecting the blood as it kept gushing out, and eventually developing a strange attachment to the corpse.

Rohan heard of the legend of the yokai and investigated it in the mountain, then met Naoko and read her memories. Thus he went to her house to see Gunpei with his own eyes. On the way back, Rohan is surprised by Naoko's daughter. When she tries to run away, Rohan reaches for her and she falls head first into a rock, seemingly dying. Recovering from the thought he accidentally murdered her, Rohan notices the girl's unnatural eyes and realizes it is in reality a child Naoko had with Gunpei. Fortunately for Rohan, he can write that the girl doesn't know him and cannot see him right before her death erases his ability to influence her. Rohan briefly sees the yokai's true form shrieking at him before turning back into the girl and going away.

Rohan calls it the Mutsu-kabe Hill Yokai, a monster living off people's affection to reproduce since times immemorial. The mangaka comments that this creature's most blessed moment is when they "die" in front of someone else. At least, he thinks, Naoko is happy with her children, who uncannily resemble Gunpei.

Trivia

 * Prior to its publication in TSKR Volume 1, this episode of Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan lacked an episode number entirely.