Honoo no Mirage Vol 1 Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Awakening

A tepid wind blew down from the castle tower and raced through the s.p.a.ce between the two.

The cold light of the full moon threw their shadows down onto the gravel path of the inner palace.

Right hand holding the steel pipe against his shoulder and left stuck into his pocket, Takaya smiled sardonically.

“Well... I’m honored that the Princess herself came out to welcome us in person.”

His tone practically oozed confidence.

“And where is your lord? I know he’s here. Give Yuzuru back!”

“My Lord is not here.” Yuiko replied complacently. “Not now. He hath gone forth to battle. I have awaited thee here in his stead.”

“Battle? The f.u.c.k? Stop lying out of your a.s.s!”

“And even were he here, he would not have troubled himself with such a lowly peasant as thee.”

“Well, excuse me for being a peasant!”

“The la.s.s there.” Yuiko’s glance moved towards Saori.

“Huh? ‘La.s.s’...you mean m-me?”

“I thank thee. Thou hast done well. For this I shall appoint thee my handmaiden.”

“Handmaiden, huh? You wanna do it?”

“Wh-wh-what are you talking about? Yuiko-chan, stop joking around—”

“Hey, I’d give it a go if the pay’s good, but I don’t think you’re gonna need any.”

“What!”

Striking the steel pipe lightly against his shoulder, Takaya said, “’Cause you won’t have those bodies for much longer. I’m not in the mood to let you skeletons do whatever you like forever.”

“What didst thou say?” Yuiko laughed mockingly. “And dost thou think thou hast the ability to drive us out?”

“Won’t know ’til I try, will I?”

The skeleton warriors behind him began to move.

“There’s no greater crime than breaking the school windows, y’know!”

Crack!

Takaya spun to face an attacking warrior and smashed him to pieces with an overhead strike.

The skeleton broke apart with a dry rattling sound and clattered into a heap on the ground like an unraveled science cla.s.s skeletal frame.

Takaya snorted a laugh. “Or is that supposed to be live teaching material?”

Boom!

“Woah!” Suddenly the ground beneath his feet burst apart, and Takaya tumbled sideways. “Watch it! What the h.e.l.l are you doing?”

“Thou darest treat one of the Takeda so?!” Yuiko’s face was stiff and pale. “Thou art a monster—a demon! Show me thy true form—reveal thy true nature to me!”

“What the h.e.l.l are you talking about?”

“Thou art no human! What art thou?”

“Yeah, and I’m supposed to take that from a ghost?”

Boom boom!

The ground exploded once more, and Takaya leapt back.

“Hey! I told you to stop that!”

“Thou wilt bring disaster upon us.” Yuiko stretched out her hand and pointed at Takaya. “Ougi Takaya, show me thy true form!”

“!”

In the next instant, purple fire enveloped Takaya’s body with a woosh.

“Ougi-kun!”

Takaya had become a fireball.

“Ugh!”

“These are the flames of purification,” Yuiko said loudly. “They shall remove all impurities from thee, thus returning thee to thy first form, thy true form. Reveal thy true form before me!”

“...What are you blathering on about...”

Enduring the heat of the flames, Takaya looked up and returned Yuiko’s glare.

Yuiko’s eyes reflected the flames.

“Show it to me now!”

The ferocity of the flames increased.

The heat brought Takaya to his knees.

“...you b.i.t.c.h...”

“O-Ougi-kun!” Unable to bear the sight, Saori yelled, “Stop it, Yuiko-chan! Stop!”

“—”

Yuiko returned her gaze with cold eyes. Saori clung to Yuiko desperately.

“Oh please, stop! Stop it!”

“!”

A sharp light glinted in Yuiko’s eyes.

“Kyaah!”

There was a bright flash before her eyes, and Saori flew backwards.

“Morino!” Takaya yelled, and glared at Yuiko murderously. “Oh well, too bad,” Yuiko’s cold laugh replied.

“...b.i.t.c.h...”

He seethed with hatred. Trapped within the flames, Takaya’s furrowed brows trembled minutely, and the blood vessels near his temples pulsed faintly.

“...that’s enough!”

“Heh. Cease thy whining, thou impudent boor.”

Something s.h.i.+mmering welled from Takaya’s body.

“You are p.i.s.sing me off...”

Yuiko’s expression suddenly changed.

“Thou...!”

“Here’s—!” Takaya snapped his arms wide—“your fire back—!”

Woos.h.!.+

“Gyaaaah!” Yuiko’s awful scream echoed across the garden as crimson-hued flames engulfed her body.

Takaya stood up unsteadily, taking deep breaths, and looked at Yuiko writhing within the flames.

“Aaah...aaaaaaaah...aaaah—-!”

“That body doesn’t belong to you!” Takaya said hoa.r.s.ely.

“That’s Yuiko-san’s body, not yours. Your own body crumbled to dust a long time ago! You’re already dead!”

“How dare thee... Thou churl...!”

“And what are you? A mere onryou.” A roaring sound came from Takaya’s body. “Leave that body—!”

“!”

Yuiko’s image blurred with a whirring sound into two.

The image quivered madly, still resisting the separation from Yuiko’s body.

“Leave NOW!” Takaya shouted, and with a rush of wind a black-haired woman flew out of Yuiko’s body. Yuiko collapsed in place.

Far behind her, the uchikake-clad skeleton of a woman with long back hair cowered on the ground.

«How dare... Thou...!» The skeleton moaned in a dreadful grating voice. «My...Lord... My...Lord...»

“!”

Sanjou’s spirit soared into the sky like a dragon returning to heaven.

“Wh...!”

A ma.s.s of purple light streaked a path across the sky as it flew towards the south.

“Hey! d.a.m.n you, wait...!” Takaya yelled, and then started.

(—Naoe...!)

Saori rushed over. “Ougi-kun!”

“Morino! Look after Yuiko-san!”

“Ah, wa-wait! Ougi-kun!”

In a flash Takaya was sprinting after the light. The brilliant moonlight illuminating his path glittered on the moat’s water surface, where the castle tower stood reflected.

 

 

 

The difference in their power was painfully obvious.

Naoe, pushed back against a building’s ruined wall, struggled to hold his own against Yuzuru in the one-sided battle. s.h.i.+ngen’s spiritual power intruded into Naoe’s encircling «gos.h.i.+nha» little by little as Naoe’s powers weakened.

“Ugh...!”

Naoe had thrown every single bit of his power into preserving the «gos.h.i.+nha», but it was fading all too quickly.

“Wilt thou oppose me still?”

A malevolent smile curved Yuzuru’s lips as he nibbled away at the «gos.h.i.+nha» with annoyance.

“Why not resign thyself to thy fate and allow thyself to be extinguished?!”

“What...are you...”

“Is it not better to end thy pain now?”

At that moment!

A ma.s.s of light landed with a flash at their feet in a burst of wind.

“!”

Naoe looked up sharply. The light thinned radically and became the figure of a skeleton with long black hair. Yuzuru’s startled eyes opened wide.

“! ...Sanjou?!”

Dragging along her crumbling uchikake, the skeleton crawled to Yuzuru as if she would cling to his feet.

«My...my Lord...»

Yuzuru embraced her and yelled, “What hath happened! How is it that thou art in that form!”

«A demon... A demon comes...»

“What, a demon?!”

Nearby, Naoe started. Yuzuru’s expression darkened.

“Who? What demon?”

«The demon comes... The demon...»

“Sanjou!”

“!”

Flying pieces of concrete thudded down right at their heels. Sanjou gave a shuddering scream. Yuzuru turned. Naoe’s eyes widened.

A voice came from the direction of the sputtering smoke.

“What the h.e.l.l are you blathering on about behind people’s back?” said the human figure who had appeared. A high school student with a tea-colored blazer slung over his T-s.h.i.+rt, panting as if he’d been running, was leaning with one hand against the collapsed wall and looking over at them.

Naoe murmured his name: “...Kagetora-sama...”

Takaya walked over, his eyes narrowed in a piercing glare.

“Who the h.e.l.l are you calling a demon?”

“Thou...” Yuzuru snarled at him with hatred. Takaya’s lips compressed into a thin line.

“Stop looking at me like that out of Yuzuru’s eyes!”

“Was that thy power? And yet thou art not a demon?”

“—”

Takaya glanced at Naoe very slightly. Cradling his wounded arm, Naoe looked back at Takaya.

“Kagetora-sama, have your «powers»—”

“...”

Takaya looked daggers at Yuzuru.

“Stop talking like you’re gonna toss me out with the beans!”1

“What...!”

Boom!

The concrete burst open right beneath his feet. Yuzuru recoiled. Takaya glared at him stonily.

“...What art thou?”

“You saying stuff like that with Yuzuru’s voice p.i.s.ses me off too—” He smiled thinly. “I’m taking Yuzuru back, s.h.i.+ngen.”

Yuzuru’s expression changed as if he had sensed something.

“Thou art kanshousha, art thou not?”

Takaya’s eyebrows twitched. “What was that?”

«Demon!» the skeleton that was Sanjou screamed. «He is a demon. My Lord! We must exterminate him!»

“Bring it on!” Takaya yelled, his eyes deadly serious.

 

 

Yuzuru replied, “I know thee. I met thee in my previous life. Thou...Who art thou?”

“—!...”

“Thou art, mayhap...” s.h.i.+ngen’s face twitched. “...Saburou Kagetora...”

“I am not!” Takaya shouted, cutting him off. “I’ve got nothing to do with any Kagetora! I’m Ougi Takaya! That’s all, that’s it!”

But Yuzuru wasn’t listening. He was silent for a moment, staring at Takaya with something like astonishment.

“So I see. A demon indeed.” He gave a ghastly chuckle. “Since that is so, I must destroy thee.”

“Who’s the demon here, you a.s.shole!” Takaya yelled. “Give Yuzuru back, s.h.i.+ngen! Leave Yuzuru’s body!”

“I, retreat? A proper jest!” Yuzuru responded gravely. "I shall perform kanshou on this body. I cannot relinquish it, for I have need of this one’s «power» to gain supremacy over the «Yami-Sengoku».

“s.h.i.+ngen, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!”

“! Kagetora-sama!”

The concrete suddenly exploded into flame. Naoe reacted immediately, protecting Takaya and tumbling them both to safety. ...Yuzuru’s eyes glinted with blood-l.u.s.t. The wall next to the stairs where they had landed exploded. Separated by crumbling concrete, the two scattered in opposite directions

“Sonovab.i.t.c.h!”

“Don’t! Kagetora-sama!” Naoe cried out urgently from the shadows behind a car. “You must not attack with «nenpa» in anger! You will injure Yuzuru-san’s body!”

“Then what the h.e.l.l should I do...?!”

With a loud boom fire erupted from the ground beneath Takaya’s feet. He tumbled aside, but his landing spot was immediately nailed by Sanjou’s «nenpa».

“Ugh!”

“Kagetora-sama!” Naoe yelled, running towards him. Yuzuru’s «nenpa» struck continuously at his heels, not allowing him to regain his feet. Naoe evaded the imminent danger and bounded to Takaya’s side.

“Are you okay? Kagetora-sama!”

“Feels...like I got socked...in the solar plexus...”

“!”

Another explosion. The two flew to right and left, putting a large distance between them. No time to catch their breath.

Crimson flames blazing at their backs, Yuzuru and Sanjou attacked them with increasing power. s.h.i.+ngen yelled, “Accept thy defeat, Kagetora!”

Sanjou shrieked with a touch of madness, «You have nowhere to run!»

From the opposite side Naoe called out, “Kagetora-sama! We cannot attack with «nenpa»! We must do it! There is no other choice!”

“Do what...?!”

(Does he really expect me to perform «choubuku»...?!)

Takaya shouted between clenched teeth. “I-I can’t do it! d.a.m.n it, I can’t do something like that!”

“You can! You must!”

“I said I can’t!”

Whack!

A chunk of concrete from an explosion hit him squarely on the head.

“Oooooow!”

Takaya stumbled confusedly to Naoe’s side.

“Come on, you’ve gotta do something! Otherwise we’re really gonna get killed at this rate!”

“That’s why we must perform «choubuku».”

Naoe narrowed unsparing eyes. “From the looks of it, the female spirit is fairly weakened. She should not be difficult. The problem will be s.h.i.+ngen.”

“Augh, fine already, just tell me what I gotta do!”

The enraged Yuzuru approached threateningly.

“You scheme like the veriest varlets! If you are true warriors, then come and face me in n.o.ble combat!”

“What the h.e.l.l did you say?”

Checking Takaya, Naoe said in a lowered voice, “We will «exorcise» s.h.i.+ngen. However, I doubt an ordinary method will work. Let us use «kekkai-choubuku»—‘barrier exorcism.’”

“??? Kekkai-choubuku?”

“We will paralyze s.h.i.+ngen, then construct the barrier—please think of it as a dome-shaped container covering us. It will block «power» within a thirty-meter radius.”

“You really think I can do something like that?!”

“You can. We will then summon Bishamonten within the sealed container. It is the most effective way of utilizing our power of «choubuku».”

“You’re...not joking, are you.”

“However, this method of exorcism consumes an enormous amount of physical strength. If we fail, it will not be possible for us to try again. In the worst case, it may even cost us our lives. Will you attempt it even knowing that to be the case?”

Takaya’s expression abruptly froze, but— “... That’s the only way to save Yuzuru, isn’t it?”

“Kagetora-sama...”

“If we gotta do it, then let’s do it.”

Boom!

The asphalt exploded violently right in front of them. They leapt backwards. Jagged pieces of debris grazed past their faces, and Takaya quickly pressed a hand against his temple.

“Au...gh...”

Naoe yelled, “Kagetora-sama!”

He touched the spot with his right hand, and his fingers came away dripping with blood. Anger boiled up as he saw the blood, and something snapped within him. He yelled towards s.h.i.+ngen angrily: “That’s f.u.c.king enough, you a.s.sholes!”

“Silence thy profane tongue, Kagetora!” Spiritual energy flared from s.h.i.+ngen’s entire body. “Be thou here extinguished—!”

(I’m going to «exorcise» him...!)

Climbing to his feet, Takaya yelled out, “Naoe! Let’s do it!”

“At your command!”

The two shouted in unison, “ (bai)”

The air around them froze with a sharp skreen. Sanjou’s ghostly body could not move. She had been paralyzed by «gaibaku».

But!

“!”

Naoe and Takaya’s eyes widened simultaneously. There was one other who should have been bound by «gaibaku».

s.h.i.+ngen returned their gaze as if he had felt nothing at all.

“...?”

Noticing the fleeting strangeness of his surroundings, s.h.i.+ngen muttered coolly, “What have you done?”

(The «gaibaku» isn’t working...!)

Takaya quickly turned to Naoe. Naoe pressed his hands together once more in the symbolic gesture and focused all of his spiritual energy.

“ (bai)!!”

“...ugh...”

For a moment, s.h.i.+ngen looked away as if he’d felt a shock, but—

“What is this? You would use Uesugi’s witchery on me?”

Naoe blanched. Even the «gaibaku» had no effect against s.h.i.+ngen at his full power.

If they couldn’t use «gaibaku», then they would not be able to focus the barrier’s intensity, and it would be impossible to perform the exorcism.

“You impudent wretches... If you sought to provoke my wrath, then you have achieved your aim exceedingly well!”

Yuzuru’s distorted face was demon-like in its murderous rage. Naoe and Takaya stood dumbfounded.

“Vanish forever from this world—!”

“Wha!”

The ground under their feet shook with a dreadful rumbling sound, then rose up and exploded right in front of their eyes.

Without thought Naoe enveloped Takaya in his «gos.h.i.+nha», but lost the timing for his own protection. Aiming for that opportunity, Yuzuru’s «nenpa» attacked Naoe like a hail of pebbles. His clothes were torn to shreds. Blood splattered.

Takaya cried out, “Naoe!”

At that moment.

“Ougi-kun!”

The three turned toward the voice. A young woman in school uniform was running towards them. It was...

“Morino!”

Had she come chasing after him?

“Ougi... Yeek! Narita-kun!”

Naoe’s eyes caught sight of the bracelet on Saori’s wrist through a haze of pain. Ah! he thought. Of course.

(The «talisman bracelet»’s Eight-Verse Dharani!)

“Point that bracelet towards Yuzuru-san! Hurry!”

Saori turned to him. “Huh? What?”

(! That’s it!)

Reading Naoe’s intentions, Takaya shouted at Saori, “Morino! Point that bracelet at Yuzuru! Just do it! Hurry!”

“This? Point it at him?”

And s.h.i.+ngen realized what they were doing.

“Ah? That bracelet is...!”

“Like this?”

Saori pointed the bracelet towards s.h.i.+ngen.

The bracelet flared.

“Ah!” s.h.i.+ngen yelled, covering his face. “The Eight-Verse Dharani?! How dare you?!”

“What is this!? Ougi-kun! What’s going on?!”

“Nevermind! Just keep pointing that thing at Yuzuru!”

Rejecting the pure light released by the bracelet with all his strength, s.h.i.+ngen strained to reach out with his power.

“Impudent worms!”

“Kyaaaah!”

“Morino!”

Saori screamed, clutching at her wrist. s.h.i.+ngen had attacked her arm with his «nenpa».

“Ow ow ow—! Stop it!”

“s.h.i.+ngen!”

The «nenpa» tightened around Saori’s wrist as if it were going to smash the bracelet or break off Saori’s arm.

“That hurts! Stop it—!”

“Dammit!”

Takaya dashed to her at once. At the same time, Naoe aimed at the ground beneath Yuzuru’s feet with his will.

“Aaaah!”

Yuzuru flinched from the smashed asphalt for an instant. The power pressing against Saori’s wrist slackened. Takaya rushed to her. Saori clung to him, facing crumbling as if she was going to cry.

“Ougi-kun!”

“Are you okay? Nothing’s broken, right?”

“What’s going on? What’s wrong with Narita-kun?”

Yuzuru’s eyes lighted once more. Takaya seized Saori’s bracelet with both hands as s.h.i.+ngen attacked with his «nenpa».

“Augh...!”

The terrible power attacked Takaya’s hands. Takaya stubbornly resisted, concentrating his own power there.

“Kagetora-sama!”

“Naoe! Over here! s.h.i.+eld the bracelet!”

“—!”

Naoe’s «gos.h.i.+nha» enveloped the s.p.a.ce around the bracelet in a sphere of light. The power tightening around the bracelet just barely weakened.

“Ougi-kun! What’s going on? What’s happened to Narita-kun...?!”

“Yuzuru isn’t Yuzuru right now! He’s been possessed by a monster!”

Rage twisted Yuzuru’s face.

Wham!

“Waugh!”

“Ougi-kun!”

“Kagetora-sama!”

Takaya, flung away by s.h.i.+ngen’s power, crashed into the hood of a car behind him. The winds.h.i.+eld exploded. Suddenly the car jerked and then began to shake.

“!”

In the next instant the car exploded into a pillar of fire.

“No—!” Saori screamed, cowering. “Stop it—!”

Naoe had caught and s.h.i.+elded Takaya as he tumbled to the asphalt.

“Narita-kun! Stop it!”

“! Don’t!”

Saori rushed over to Yuzuru. Yuzuru turned towards her. Naoe began to chant the Eight-Verse Dharani.

“On anarei bishaji birabajiradari bandabandani bajirabanihan huuntoruunhan sowaka!”

The bracelet began to release an even stronger light. Yuzuru cowered where he stood.

“...! Away! Come not near me!”

“Morino!”

Saori, wearing the bracelet, embraced Yuzuru.

“Waaaaaaagh!” s.h.i.+ngen raised his voice in a terrible scream. Yuzuru struggled desperately in pain against Saori’s clinging hold.

“Let go! Release thy hold!”

The Dharani’s power was hurting s.h.i.+ngen more than they had guessed.

“Oooooooough, auuuuugh!”

His spiritual aura steadily decreased and began pulsing unsteadily as his perfect power began to fail. This fact was not overlooked by Takaya and Naoe.

(Now...!)

The two raised their voices simultaneously.

 (bai)!"

“!”

s.h.i.+ngen could no longer move Yuzuru’s body; he had been bound by «gaibaku». Takaya yelled, “Good! Morino, step back!”

“Ah...okay!”

An invisible film enclosed the s.p.a.ce around them—they had been sealed into the choubuku barrier. Naoe chanted, his hands pressed together in the symbolic gesture, “Noumakusamanda bodanan bais.h.i.+ramandaya sowaka!”

Takaya took over the chant. “Ari nari tonari anaro nabi kunabi!”

The two raised their voices together: “Let your evil grudges be shattered! All our enemies shall yield before us!”

“!”

Yuzuru’s eyes widened. Sanjou gasped.

Takaya and Naoe raised clear voices in a trumpeting call to heaven: “Namu Tobatsu Bishamonten! Appear before us!”

A white light flashed across the night sky like lightning. A moment later, another gigantic blaze of light pierced through the heavens and fell to the earth with a terrible crash of thunder.

“!”

Engulfed within the light, all of them unthinkingly braced themselves against the shock that shook the ground.

The voice within s.h.i.+ngen’s mind cried out in wordless terror.

A column of white light stood protectively over Takaya and Naoe. It seemed to have taken shape straight from a Buddhist drawing; it held a two-storied paG.o.da in its left hand, a halberd in its right, and its body was clad in armor and helm in the style of the Chinese Tang Dynasty.

A G.o.d of war stood there in all his majesty.

«Bishamonten!»

s.h.i.+ngen gazed up at the ten-meter-tall figure with wonder and terror intertwined on his face. Indeed, it was Bishamonten, the protector of the North, G.o.d of victory and guardian of Buddhism. Enveloped in white light, he gazed down at s.h.i.+ngen with what seemed like stern command.

(No way...) Takaya thought, speechless and dumbfounded. He looked up at this impossible being for a long moment before his gaze sharpened.

“You’re done for, s.h.i.+ngen! Give Yuzuru back!”

“Come not near me!”

s.h.i.+vers rattled through his entire body. He knew that there would be no mercy for him.

Takaya cried, “We now begin the ritual of kouhou-choubuku. To be exorcised are the spirits of Takeda s.h.i.+ngen and Sanjou.”

“!”

Light crackled from Bishamonten’s body as if in reaction to his words. He concentrated his spiritual energy in the s.p.a.ce between his eyes and chanted the mantra of Bishamonten:

“Noumakusamanda bodanan bais.h.i.+ramandaya sowaka.”

A red s.h.i.+mmering heat haze flared from Takaya’s body. At the same time, a swirling wind rose from the ground beneath their feet to fan through their hair.

“We, the Yasha of the Roku Dou, pledge ourselves to the purification of all souls. Come forth!”

His eyes opened wide.

“Namu Tobatsu Bishamonten!”

“Away! Come not near me!”

“For this demon subjugation, lend me your power!”

«!»

An intense light blazed from Bishamonten at Takaya’s words and condensed into Takaya’s folded hands.

«What...!»

Takaya gripped a sword in both hands. Bishamonten had transformed into a luminescent sword radiating such intense energy that its light buzzed in his ears. Takaya’s aura—

He was blazing with a sublime crimson aura!

“«choubuku»!”

The light exploded from Takaya’s sword in an incandescent flare that seemed to rend the air apart.

«—!»

The power of the light distorted the very atmosphere around them. A terrible energy hurtled into the spiritual bodies of s.h.i.+ngen and Sanjou in the form of a storm that shred apart their bodies and ripped away the attachment of their souls. They could not think or even scream in the face of this overwhelming power. Their spiritual bodies were being crushed!

Shyroup!

Sanjou’s spirit disappeared into air.

s.h.i.+ngen howled, “Ooooooooough—!”

s.h.i.+ngen resisted, defied that power pulling at him with all his «spiritual power» and clung to Yuzuru’s body with terrible desperation. But the energy of the «choubukuryoku» released by the sword tore at him relentlessly, engulfing him in its light until he could see nothing but white.

“...!...”

 

The sword protected Takaya’s body from its own power—such terrible power! Everything had bleached to white, and light filled their entire field of vision.

“Ooooooooough—!” cried s.h.i.+ngen with his last resistance.

For an instant Yuzuru’s image blurred, and finally with a blast of wind s.h.i.+ngen was thrown out of Yuzuru’s body.

“!” Takaya’s eyes widened. “s.h.i.+ngen!”

The choubuku barrier was rent apart from the inside, and an arc of light streaked away against the night sky towards the west.

The light of «choubuku» overflowed to engulf the terminal building and illuminated the entire Matsumoto sky. At its peak the field of white rumbled across the heavens before it was finally swallowed up once more by the night, and darkness gradually returned to the city.

Naoe ended the ritual with the “mantra of unsummoning”:

“On basara bokisha boku”.

Takaya’s eyes widened. The blade-form incarnation of Bishamonten which he had been gripping so tightly vanished with a breath of wind from his hands.

Stillness returned to Matsumoto Station . Saori, Naoe, and Takaya—and a youth lying upon the ground—remained.

—Yuzuru.

Takaya crumbled to his knees.

“Kagetora-sama!”

“...”

The power which had sustained his body had evaporated. Takaya sighed and turned to Naoe, who was supporting him at his side.

“...I’m fine. But...what about Yuzuru?”

“—”

Naoe went towards Yuzuru and picked him up in his arms. He took Yuzuru’s wrist and felt his pulse. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yuzuru was fine.

Saori’s legs gave away, and she sat down abruptly on the ground.

“Kagetora-sama,” Naoe said.

“I’m sorry. Naoe...” The haggard Takaya murmured in a drained voice. “I couldn’t complete «choubuku» on s.h.i.+ngen.”

Naoe stared at him. “What did you say?”

“I was able to drive him out, but I could not perform «choubuku»,” Takaya murmured painfully. “He broke out of the barrier. I let him get away...”

“...”

Naoe returned Takaya’s gaze for a moment in silence.

(He couldn’t maintain the barrier. I guess he really hasn’t regained his full powers...yet?) His brows knit slightly.

But out loud Naoe said calmly, “Still, Yuzuru-san has returned to us safely, and that’s more than enough for today.”

Takaya turned. “Naoe—...”

Naoe patted Yuzuru’s face lightly. After a moment, Yuzuru’s eyelashes fluttered.

“Ugh...” he moaned, and his eyelids slid open feebly. His eyes cleared slowly before suddenly widening.

“—Naoe...san...?”

“Are you okay, Yuzuru-san?”

“... Taka...ya...”

Takaya’s usual smile finally returned as his gazed at Yuzuru.

“Finally decided to wake up...Yuzuru?”

They could hear the distant sound of sirens. But no one disturbed the four loitering awhile at the burned remains of the terminal building.

Someone gazed down at them from the rooftop of a station shopping center building—someone who had seen the entire series of events from beginning to end.

“Humph. So, Kagetora, you’ve finally awakened, have you?” Jet-black hair flowing in the breeze, Kousaka Danjou’s lips curved in a smile.

Of course, it was true that he had not been able to perform «choubuku» on s.h.i.+ngen, but that was no surprise given that he had just awakened.

He closed his eyes against the night wind.

They had lost Sanjou, but from all appearances Kousaka didn’t precisely think it was something to grieve over.

(Call it an investment made towards Kagetora’s awakening.)

Though it was true that they had lost a potential a.s.set in a fight...well, whatever. Her powers had been limited in any case.

Still.

(Breaking out of Kagetora’s choubuku barrier was no less than I expected of you, my Lord,) Kousaka smiled mirthlessly.

“—Hmm. Truly, I, Kousaka, am glad to be a va.s.sal in your service,” Kousaka said, and opened his eyes. “I’ll take my thanks from your «power» someday. Uesugi Kagetora. Naoe n.o.butsuna. And Takeda s.h.i.+ngen. Because all of you are...my trump cards,” he murmured to himself, and looked down again upon the noisy, chaotic streets of Matsumoto.

To allow s.h.i.+ngen to escape, the territory barrier had also been unraveled.

A clear wind emerged.

And Kousaka quietly gazed up at the golden moon hanging in the sky.

The silent full moon.

The moon floating wordlessly in the empty sky, as if nothing of note had occurred.

footnotes tossing out the beans: at some point in j.a.panese antiquity beans became the symbol for evil spirits dwelling in homes and other buildings, so “tossing out the beans” is a ritual performed at the beginning of spring (a festival called Setsubun) during which beans are thrown out of doors and windows. It symbolizes a sort of spring cleaning where evil spirits are booted out and good fortune is ushered in.