古実
EPISODE 11

The Fruit of Old Truths

The team comes home to a village gone quiet, and has to fight the friend the enemy turned against them.

Town
Furumi古実
古 (ko) — "old; ancient" · 実 (mi) — "truth; reality; fruit"
Drawn From
Nagano Prefecture — the journey full circle
Cursed Seed
The accumulated collected seeds / Crow Witch confrontation
Item Gained
All eleven collected seeds — carried by Kabu in the seed pouch, heavy as the journey that gathered them. Also: the seed splinter in Kabocha's hand, now fully grown into a thorn of corruption.
Villainy has origins. Sacrifices made for the greater good create their own cycles of harm.
The Story

The team returns to Furumi, eerily quiet and crow-haunted. They uncover the Crow Witch's backstory through magical remnants — she was once a powerful Tengu who challenged Madarao's authority, was defeated, and forced into subordinate servitude. The cursed seeds were her method of collecting soul energy for Madarao as tribute. Kabocha, manipulated by the Crow Witch, ambushes the team — using her knowledge of their weaknesses against them. Kabu refuses to fight her directly. His friends' appeals reach her; Kabocha shatters the seed fragment in her own hand. The Crow Witch, furious at her pawn's defection, attacks and is driven to retreat. Finale sets up: they must climb Mount Madarao.

The Shape of the Episode6 BEATS · CRISIS AT 5
TURNTURNCRISISTURN
OPEN THE BEAT SHEET
  1. 1The team returns to Furumi — eerily quiet, crow-haunted, wrong in ways they can't name.
  2. 2Magical remnants reveal the Crow Witch's backstory: a Tengu who defied Madarao and was broken for it.
  3. 3TURNING POINT — Kabocha, manipulated, ambushes the team using her intimate knowledge of every weakness.
  4. 4TURNING POINT — Kabu refuses to fight her directly. His restraint is not passivity — it is the hardest choice he's made.
  5. 5CRISIS — The others' appeals reach Kabocha. She shatters the seed splinter in her own hand.
  6. 6TURNING POINT — The Crow Witch, furious at losing her pawn, retreats. One final climb remains: Mount Madarao.
Season Threads
Kabocha shatters the cursed splinter in her own hand, closing a thread that's been sitting quietly in her palm since episode two.KABOCHA
The Crow Witch's backstory reframes every seed she's ever handed out as tribute paid under duress, not simple villainy, the same servitude that traces straight to Madarao in episode twelve.CROW WITCH · MADARAO
Kabu refuses to fight Kabocha directly, the clearest example yet of the instinct toward non-violent resolution that's been building since Saru's surrender in episode seven.KABU · KABOCHA
SONGS THIS EPISODETRACKS 21 · 22 OF THE SEASON
Every episode is a real musical — two originals, written before the storyboards.
21"Where Shadows Take Wing"
Crow WitchVILLAIN SONGFEMALEHAUNTING

The Crow Witch's full-arc song, in Episode 11's backstory sequence. Begins as a menacing set-piece; transforms halfway through into something close to a lament.

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FULL LYRICS
[Verse 1] Once, I ruled the skies alone, The storm was mine, the clouds my throne. But humans thrive on broken ties, Their hearts like glass, their words like lies. So I cast seeds where shadows creep, And watched their roots run fierce and deep. Their flaws were waiting, buried low, I merely let their darkness grow. [Chorus] The chains you forge with trust will hold you down, A loyal heart will always let you drown. Their cracks were there; I made them grow, And in those flaws, my power flows. Don't trust the bridge, the stones will crack, Take what's yours, and never look back. [Verse 2] They call me cruel, a thief of peace, But I am only their release. The seeds reveal what they deny, The truths they hide, the fears they cry. A murder soars where others fall, We rise as one, above it all. Why tear apart what I can steer, Why seek escape when power's near? [Chorus] The chains you forge with trust will hold you down, A loyal heart will always let you drown. Their cracks were there; I made them grow, And in those flaws, my power flows. Don't trust the bridge, the stones will crack, Take what's yours, and never look back. [Bridge — soft, reflective] Each feathered step, I climb the stone, A thousand voices, none my own. I ferry souls to Madarao's peak, A servile queen, too proud, too weak. For every deal, a debt remains, For every gain, unending chains. The mountain calls, its shadows grow, And ties of power won't let me go. [Chorus — Refrain] The chains you forge with trust will hold you down, A loyal heart will always let you drown. Their cracks were there; I made them grow, And in those flaws, my power flows. Don't trust the bridge, the stones will crack, Take what's yours, and never look back. [Outro] So rise with me, where flaws take wing, Where broken hearts learn how to sing. This fractured world is mine to own, A crown of feathers, a throne of stone.
22"Echoes of Adventure"
KabuACOUSTIC COVERKIDS VOCALSREFLECTIVE

A callback to Track 2's opening number, now sung by Kabu alone to Kabocha. Same melody as 'Call of Adventure.' Every lyric has changed.

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FULL LYRICS
[Verse 1] Kabo-cha, remember the day we left the farm? Dreams of being legends, and saving towns from harm? I thought it would be simple, didn't even have a plan, But you showed me being strong means lending a hand. [Pre-Chorus] Through bamboo forests and clouds of noodle steam, We learned that being a hero's not just a dream. It's trust, it's grit, it's sticking through, And nothing can change what I see in you. [Chorus] It's the call of adventure, but it's so much more, It's finding light when the shadows roar. You taught me courage, you taught me pride, Now let me bring you back to our side. Oh Kabo-cha, can't you see, the hero you are to me? Answer the call of adventure, it's time to set it free. [Verse 2] In the apple orchards, you stopped my nagging doubt, It was you who cracked the tea chest and figured it out. In the rice fields we were tested, and I was the fool, But you held strong, you've always kept your cool. [Pre-Chorus] We've faced the blight, stood up to demons' wrath, Together we forged a team and carved a hero's path. You're still the one I look to, to help me lead the fight, And I know you're too strong to ever lose your light. [Chorus] It's the call of adventure, but it's so much more, It's friendship forged in times of war. I need you here, I need your fire, Together we'll climb this mountain higher. Oh Kabo-cha, can't you see, the hero you are to me? Answer the call of adventure, it's time to set it free. [Bridge] From golden cornfields to star-crossed skies, Through feathered illusions, spotting double lives. You've been my strength, my guiding star, The bravest one, no matter where we are. So don't let the seeds twist your heart, You're still Kabo-cha, my counterpart. [Chorus — finale] It's the call of adventure, don't let it fade, The bonds we've built, the paths we've made. I'll stand with you, through dark and light, Together we'll win this final fight. Oh Kabo-cha, can't you see, the hero you are to me? Answer the call of adventure, it's time to set it free. [Outro] So what do you say—are you ready to go? Your friends are behind you now, and that's all you need to know.
SUPPORTING CASTCrow Witch (full arc revealed)
Crow Witch (full arc revealed)
ROLEFormer Tengu rebel / Madarao's indentured servant
WANTSCollect soul energy as tribute to Madarao — and eventually free herself from his dominion
FLAWCannot free herself from Madarao through the same tools she used to survive him: manipulation, proxies, subordination of others
Concept Art
Kabocha facing the team in Furumi's crow-haunted village square, her silhouette sharp and wrong, the Crow Witch watching from the treeline

ART DIRECTION — Furumi at night: the village square empty, crows roosting on every surface. In the center, Kabocha faces the team — her silhouette wrong, edges sharp where they should be soft. The Crow Witch is visible in the background, watching from the treeline. The scene has the staging of a Western standoff: three heroes, one friend who is currently an enemy, one enemy who is briefly on the right side.

The Real Japan
Nagano Prefecture — the journey full circle

Returning to Furumi means returning to the Nagano mountain foothills — but a version that has been waiting in stillness. The village that began the story as dying-but-alive is now genuinely haunted: its original blight replaced by a deeper silence, crows where there were people. In Japanese folklore, Tengu are mountain spirits most strongly associated with alpine terrain — the Japan Alps, the dense forests of Shinshu, the remote high passes of Nagano Prefecture. A lesser Tengu forced into servitude to a more powerful one reflects the rigid hierarchical structures of the Edo period that influenced these myths: a powerful being, defeated, pressed into bureaucratic tribute. The crow witch's origins map directly onto this geography — a spirit of the high mountain, working through proxies in the lowland towns because she cannot return to where she belongs.

The Crow
The Crow Knows

Coming back to Furumi closes both a geographic and an emotional circle. The mountain foothills of Nagano are exactly where this story began — two teenagers on one winding road, completely certain the Crow Witch was a reasonable solution. The Crow Witch's tragedy is that she's been in those foothills the whole time, trapped between a mountain she cannot return to and a debt she cannot repay. The name Furumi (古実) means old truth. Old fruit. Eleven episodes later, the team finally knows what that means.