Chapter 27 - Be There 4

Be There 3 is Saiyuki's twenty-seventh chapter.

Summary
Sanzo tells Gojyo that Cho Gonou is dead. Having cut his hair short after hearing this news, Gojyo goes for a walk through town. He thinks to himself that nothing has really changed, and that no matter how much he cuts his hair it will always grow back red. He starts to think that he is okay with this. As he is about to purchase a red apple from a market stall, Gonou, now called Hakkai, walks up next to him and comments that the apple is a pretty shade of red. After recovering from his surprise, Gojyo changes his order to four apples instead of one.

The two go to see Sanzo and Goku at the temple and Hakkai explains that the Sanbutsushin directed him to take a new name and start a new life as Cho Hakkai. Hakkai says that his new prosthetic eye is working well and that he has decided to move in with Gojyo, and goes on to say that it is strange that, after seeing so much death, he is now the one who is afraid to die. Gojyo suggests that the four of them go out to eat, and everyone agrees.

Meanwhile, in the heavens, Jiroushin tells Kanzeon Bosatsu that he thinks the reason the Sanzo-ikkou were chosen is because of their elegant approach to life. Kanzeon disagrees, saying that the reason is not anything as cool as that, and that the reason they were chosen is simply because they were already there, living.