Then the chapter blurb:
"The Queen of the Underground Fighting Arena, the mirror of Kudou Himiko, retrieval mission begins!"

 

Now we see Maria singing as she's getting dressed and trying to decide what underwear to wear.  She wants to wear something appealing- perhaps black lace, she considers (sorry, i'm sure no one wanted to know that).  Anyway, she then starts thinking about the last time she wore this particular outfit (and about whether it'll still fit).  It seems it was the last time she was talking to Ban's grandmother.  We then get a flashback of that conversation where Ban's grandomother is telling Maria that it is Ban's destiny to meet the Voodoo Children and to kill them.  She goes on about Ban being young, and because of this he ignores his curse.  Then she says something interesting about protecting Ban from his mother (?). And more about the curse of the voodoo children; "The Voodoo Children are children who should not have been born" she says, then about how the children are split in two, the love and the hate.  And these cursed children should be sent back to Meifu (land of the dead).  It seems the mirror must be broken to prevent the birth of a "horrifying, frightful Voodoo monster".  Back in the present, Maria says; "To be sent back to Meifu...is it?...It's a cruel fate."

On to what Evil Himiko* is up to.  Along comes "The Black Thread"* asking how the "Queen" is and talking about the upcoming contest and how it's been 300 years since such a thing was held.  It seems there's a lot of work to be done on the battlefield.  They then discuss her "mirror" (ie. Himiko) and she says how she wants to meet her, to know what it is she loves, to see inside her heart.  Then she says something about how she doesn't know what love is, and if she did she wouldn't be able to kill.  She seems very happy about this.  Then some little bloke comes along, of whom the Black Thread guy is suspicious and asks him what he heard.  The little guy (who has a big round nose and eyes) says he didn't hear anything and runs off.  He tells another bloke he heard something strange, then the other guy notices a mark on his forehead "What is this embroidery?...The Black Thread sewed..." and then he explodes in a big, graphic mangle of bone and blood.  Nice.  The Black Thread guy smirks.  "What was that scream?" Mirror-Himiko asks. "The tongue of a sparrow being cut for its tweeting," he answers.  She tells him his skill is really terrible and he replies hers is worse.  And because of that it seems he intends to enter the contest they were talking about earlier, the "GrandPrix" (on which more later), and win the "Queen's cup".  It also seems he is curious as to what Akabane is doing with the normal (referred to as "good") Himiko. But whatever, he seems confident they will be victorious.

Now to Himiko and Akabane.  Himiko isn't feeling so hot. "Are you alright, Himiko-san?" Akabane asks, "Your face looks a bit pale."  Himiko says it was the atmosphere in the shop (I assume they are referring to Maria's store).  But she is thinking she has a bad feeling, and wonders why there is another with her face.  Akabane, oddly perceptive, asks if Himiko is thinking about her "mirror" persona.  "What? That wasn't me..." she says.  "You saw the mirror within..." Akabane tells her, "It is your your destiny to face each other, if you have the courage for it...Only with your own power can you settle the destiny of the Voodoo Child."  And it seems Akabane's destiny is connected to this somehow.  And so they stand infront of a doorway with stairs leading down.  "Where is this?" Himiko asks.  "An entrance," Akabane replies.  It leads to the world beneath Shinjuku, a decadent place, which he calls "Sodomunado".  The ways leads to the other Himiko, to Himiko's destiny.

Now that would have been a nice place to stop, but no, it's on to Kazuki and his boys.  It seems that he wants to take part in the "Sub [as in underground]-battle Grand Prix" (which is the contest Evil Himiko and the Black Thread guy were discussing earlier).  Kazuki tells us that many "monsters" are taking part and that it is "mortal combat".  But you need a team of 5 people to enter.  "You speak in fine words," Juubei says, "But you know that we will go with you."  Then Sakura pops out of nowhere and says that she and "him" will also take part.  Kazuki speaks some more of his pretty words about the brilliance of flowers fluttering in the wind and the elegance of battle then declares the reformation of the "Fuga".  How very dramatic.

 

*I call her Evil Himiko, but she doesn't actually seem that evil yet. But it's clear that she is Himiko's "mirror" and on her birthday intends to face Himiko just as Yamato's mirror did.

 

*The Black Thread is the guy Kazuki has been after to avenge his family.