Steamed white rice, grilled salmon, and chilled komatsuna greens—breakfast was unmistakably Japanese.
“You’re quite good at eating without making a sound, Yoshito.”
“I suppose I have my parents to thank for that.”
The tatami-floored room was occupied by just the two of us: Sougen-san and me.
Last night, after I passed out from the backlash of my transformation, I’d been brought straight here to Sougen’s residence. As for Shizuku’s training, Ayano and Mia had taken over. Apparently, they’d been working with her on various things until dawn.
Right now, I was told, the three of them were sleeping soundly at the main house.
Which raised the question: why was I the only one staying at the annex?
“I thought I’d show you something interesting.”
“What is it?”
“Hmm. That, my boy, is something you’ll have to wait and see.”
He was making an awfully big mystery out of it, but it was probably something like a new game he’d bought. Maybe even a PlayStation VR? It was too expensive for me to buy one myself, but I’d definitely like to try it at least once. I’m just cheap like that.
“Yoshito, we’re going to move somewhere else for a moment.”
Instead of taking me to the usual game room, Sougen-san led me deeper into the house, to a spacious tatami room tucked away in the back.
“Now then… somewhere you can hide…”
He looked around the room before nodding to himself.
“Ah, this should do nicely.”
“The closet?”
“Indeed. You can watch from in there. You’re free to come out, of course. But if you do, I’ll have to introduce you to everyone.”
He gave me a meaningful look.
“As Ayano’s fiancé.”
He added.
“I’ll hide with every ounce of strength I possess.”
It had been a while since I’d last used 《Concealment》, but I activated it again and left the sliding doors of the closet open just a crack. About ten minutes later, a steady stream of people began filing into the tatami room.
They were all elderly men and women, and they seemed quite familiar with one another.
I strained my ears and caught snippets of their conversation.
“As expected, orders always increase before the Shohyakka.”
“The Byakuya faction in particular.”
“They’ve been getting pushed around by the Takasu family and the Asateru faction as well. I suppose they’re desperate to make a comeback.”
Were they exorcists?
The idea didn’t quite fit. For one thing, I could barely sense any magical energy from them, and the way they moved was clearly that of civilians rather than combatants.
“Is everyone here now?”
The voice that eventually rang out across the room belonged to Sougen-san.
But it was different from the one I was used to hearing. His voice carried a weight that seemed to press down on the entire room, along with an unmistakable air of authority.
And with that, what appeared to be a meeting began. They started with the usual reports on recent developments, then moved on to discussions about the latest happenings in the exorcist world.
It all sounded quite serious—
until someone suddenly muttered, “Young people these days…”
Then another complained, “The wife my son brought home is such a handful…”
And just like that, the whole room erupted into lively conversation.
What a strange gathering…
The meeting, which had begun at nine in the morning, finally came to an end shortly before noon. Apparently, lunch had been prepared in another room, and the old men and women slowly made their way there.
Once everyone had left, Sougen-san came over to me and explained what the gathering had been about.
It turned out that every one of those elderly people was descended from Japan’s ancient smithing families—the Yamato Kajibe.
Each family specialized in forging weapons and armor specifically for exorcists, and at the very top of that hierarchy stood the Matsuki family.
That made sense. If I were to compare it to the military, the Matsuki family was basically the head of the logistics division. And that was precisely why they wielded so much influence over the exorcist world.
“Everyone who gathered here today, myself included, has already retired as head of their respective household. We’re all just a bunch of old folks with too much time on our hands. That’s why all sorts of interesting information finds its way to us. …Well? Was it useful to you?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I’d gained quite a lot from the experience. The more I listened to the old folks talk, the more a rough map of the various factions within the exorcist world began to take shape in my mind.
Let me try to put it all together. The exorcist world had originally been controlled entirely by a family known as the Ajiro clan. The family also occupied most of the important positions within the Bureau of Divinities, leaving those who refused to obey them with little choice but to eke out a living as independent, freelance exorcists.
That all changed two years ago, when a plane crash shook the entire organization. Several key members of the Ajiro family were killed in the disaster, triggering a succession struggle that soon dragged various branches of the family into the conflict.
And while the Ajiro family was tearing itself apart, another family began steadily expanding its influence: The Takasu family. Perhaps sensing the growing threat, the Ajiro family temporarily put its internal succession dispute on hold.
But in the end, they were unable to reunite as a single faction. Instead, they split into two camps. The moderates rallied around Asateru, the second son of the Ajiro family, and advocated cooperation with the Takasu family.
Opposing them were the hardliners, led by Byakuya, the fourth son, who insisted that the Takasu family had to be driven out.
In other words, the exorcist world had effectively divided into three major factions:
* Takasu Faction
* Asateru Faction—the moderate faction of the Ajiro family
* Byakuya Faction—the hardline faction of the Ajiro family
The exorcists had split into these three factions, and for the time being, all three were locked in a tense standoff.
Three Kingdoms…?
No, that analogy didn’t quite work. The Asateru and Byakuya factions had originally been part of the same family, after all. If anything, Zeta Gundam might be a better comparison.
You had the AEUG-like Asateru faction and the Titans-like Byakuya faction, both descended from the same Federation-like Ajiro family, with the Axis-like Takasu faction barging into the middle of it all.
And next week’s Shohyakka was apparently expected to serve as a proxy battlefield for their struggle. The hardliners, in particular, were said to be taking the whole thing extremely seriously.
From here, though, things got a little more complicated. Shizuku’s family—the Aitori family—was a branch family of the Ajiro clan, and apparently they belonged to the moderate faction.
“As far as Ajiro Asateru is concerned, I suspect he intends to offer up Aitori Shizuku as a means of drawing closer to the Takasu family.”
Sougen-san explained, adding the information as if it were merely an extension of what we’d discussed at the meeting.
“Even if he is the head of the Aitori family, he is still only a member of a branch family. It would be difficult for him to overturn a decision made by someone from the main house. Even so, it seems he managed to negotiate his way into a compromise: if Shizuku wins the Shohyakka, her engagement to the Takasu family will be annulled.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t everything be solved if Shizuku simply switched over to the hardliners?”
“No, no. It isn’t quite that simple. The leader of the hardliners—Ajiro Byakuya—is a dyed-in-the-wool supremacist of onmyodo. He absolutely loathes the Aitori family.”
So… basically, someone like Kijima, except even more extreme?
If that was the case, Shizuku really had nowhere left to run. Maybe that was why she had turned to me for help in the first place.
“I’ve heard the story from Ayano. Yoshito, would you like me to give you a little advice on how to save Aitori Shizuku? My own personal solution, that is.”
I definitely wanted to hear it. Old men’s wisdom was nothing to scoff at. And in an industry this convoluted, it was probably worth listening to.
“Takasu Fumitaka. Ajiro Asateru. Ajiro Byakuya. Simply cut off the heads of those three and establish a new faction. It should be easy enough for you. As for the name… let’s see. How about the Bloodline Bearing the Cracked ∴C Reverse Cross—”
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?”
Sougen-san!?
A darkness suddenly spread beneath his feet.
Countless tentacles erupted from it, wrapping themselves around Sougen-san’s body. Then, without so much as a pause, they began dragging him slowly into the darkness. Before long, strange cries of pleasure could be heard coming from within.
…Seriously. Who exactly was this supposed to appeal to?
“Honestly, Grandpa can be such a handful.”
The one who appeared with a weary sigh was his granddaughter, Ayano. She was also the reincarnation of an evil god. So those tentacles were probably her familiar after all.
“Grandpa used to be quite the wild one back in the day. That’s why he tends to say extreme things sometimes. But making you do his dirty work for him is just awful, Yoshito. Seriously.”
“Th-thanks…”
I wasn’t entirely sure this was a situation where I was supposed to be thanking her, but I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
More importantly, is Sougen-san going to be okay? His voice is getting quieter and quieter.
“Well, putting that aside—here you go, Yoshito. Take this.”
Ayano handed me something.
Uh… a jar of dried squid?
“Shizuku was apparently supposed to visit her older brother’s grave this morning. She’s planning to come back tomorrow, but I’d feel better if someone went to pick her up. So, could you go get her for me?”
“…What does the dried squid have to do with any of that?”
“It’s a snack for the trip there and back. Oh, and I’ve had a car prepared for you, so don’t worry. —Tokita-san, I’ll leave the rest to you.”
Ayano clapped her hands twice.
Then—
“Pardon me. Shall we be off, Kirasawa-sama?”
A distinguished older gentleman with silver-gray hair appeared. He was the same man who regularly drove me to and from the Matsuki residence.
So his name is Tokita?
A butler named Tokita… for some reason, the combination made me feel like he was about to borrow the power of the sun and unleash some sort of ultimate technique.
“So, where exactly are you taking me?”
“Oh, sorry, sorry. I haven’t explained that part yet, have I? Kyoto. We’re going to Kyoto.”
“…Huh?”
Kyoto?
The nomadic people who ruled much of Mongolia around the third century BC? No, wait. That’s the Xiongnu.
“From here, it should take about three hours by highway.”
Completely unfazed by the sudden turn of events—or by the fact that I was standing there in stunned silence—Ayano continued.
“Don’t worry about Mia-chan. I’ll take care of her, so you can relax and enjoy your little trip.
“Though… there might be a little trouble waiting for you when you get there.”
She smiled.
“But if that happens, it’ll make the perfect hands-on training for Shizuku-onee~chan, don’t you think?”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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