Chapter 236

That hidden place lay beneath the shadow of a great forest that seemed to cover the earth, under a sky blazing with countless stars, beside an endlessly gleaming grand river. If you chose your spot wisely, you might have glimpsed the view of the beautiful river dividing the night sky and earth.

Stepping onto the riverbank, you smelled damp moss, the clean scent of the deep forest, and the high-grade Reiki seeping from the earth. The sound of the clear stream was loud up close, but it was still very pleasant. The crisp, cool wind from the mountains cooled the summer heat of the night just enough. The light call of the kingfishers was sweet.

Deep in the mountains, at the outermost edge of the area called the Old Capital. The grand river flowing through this holy land was not just beautiful. It was the keystone, a barrier that kept all that was unholy from crossing

'Mmm, nice. Real nice. This is the life, ain't it? Makes me wanna set up a little hermit hut out here for the summer,' The blue Oni, murmured as she sat on the riverbank.

That was the first impression of the blue Oni as she sat on the riverbank, lying back in comfort. At her feet, incense smoke rose to ward off insects; beside her, a gourd of sake and a bucket of water rested on a stand. The bucket was filled with river water infused with Reiki, and crisp summer vegetables were crammed in, soaking and chilled.

'Alright, then. Heh heh heh. Good, good. They're nice and cold now, huh?' she said.

She reached in and grabbed a cucumber from the bucket. Biting into it with a crisp snap, she crunched through about halfway, then immediately tipped back the gourd for a swig of spicy sake. Gulping twice, three times… then a sigh. The Oni sat there with a happy, relaxed expression on her face. She was really enjoying the summer.

'Ahh, yeah, this is what summer's all about. Oh, here we go♪' the Oni hummed.

Just as she was relaxing, the fishing rod in her hand twitched. She fought back, moving the rod while the cucumber still dangled from her mouth.

'A big one, maybe? Let's see… hup! Ah, crap. Skunked,' she grumbled.

Just as the Oni was about to pull it up with her great strength, the line snapped. Bait and all, the catch got away, swept off downstream. She pouted and grumbled.

'…Like I'm gonna let that slide! Go get it!' the Oni commanded.

'Ugh!? He's heavy, Onii!!' the snake deity groaned.

She shot up from her seat and pointed, giving the order. So abruptly that the snake she'd been using as a stool groaned and complained. The next instant, something shot past the snake's eyes. Discarded clothing went flying through the air. A moment later, water spray scattered. Something crawled and swam through the river, shattering the silence. Then a shadow came hurtling back.

'Hyahahaha! A big one!!' the blue Oni cheered.

The blue Oni cheered. What had been thrown onto the gravel of the riverbank was a mountain trout, a large fish measuring nearly two feet. A giant, fattened far beyond normal by the abundant blessings of the Central Region's spiritual path. Even after being beached, it flopped around wildly. When it tried to head back toward the river, it received a hard kick back onto dry land. Splashing, someone returned from the water.

'Ahh, kaa, kaa, kaaah!!' Hisui, the child, squealed.

Crawling up out of the water, scattering spray like a dog paddling, was a figure. It got onto all fours, then stumbled upright, and when it saw the Oni, it came running. Eyes glittering, hands outstretched, face beaming…

'Oh my, shall we not first dry you off and put on proper attire? At any age, personal grooming matters, you know,' Kurorei, the black fox, said.

'Huh?' Hisui blinked.

Blocking its path was a black fox. She wrapped it gently in her nine tails, softly hugging it, and carefully dried its soaking-wet body with a towel. The figure let her have her way, enduring with a resigned air, and she soothed it as she draped clothing over it. Easily using her tails, she gathered up the discarded clothes, brushed off the sand, and smoothed out the wrinkles. Bustling about, taking care of everything. That creature had grown so much it could no longer be called a child, but Kurorei treated it according to its size.

…The Oni, meanwhile, couldn't have cared less, already skewering the trout on a spit.

'…Honestly. He went through the trouble of catching it for you, the least you could do is offer a word of praise,' Kurorei grumbled.

'Hm? Oh, good job,' the Oni said.

'Kaa! Kaa!!' the child squealed.

At the black fox's complaint, the Oni tossed out a half-hearted compliment. At that obviously dismissive praise, the figure squealed with innocent delight, and Kurorei pressed a hand to her cheek with a deep sigh. The Oni didn't pay it the slightest mind, starting to roast the catch without even cleaning it first.

'Keh keh keh. I'll show you somethin' fun. Here! Hah! Whoof!' the Oni laughed.

'Ow! Hot! That's hot!!?' the snake deity screamed.

What the Oni did was a fire-breathing trick. She swigged the sake, made the alcohol stronger, then used her tongue to light it and spray it out like a flamethrower. She roasted the fish in spectacular fashion. Embers scattered onto the snake deity she was using as a seat, provoking curses and frantic writhing. Being completely naked made it all the worse.

…Humiliating as it was, this was the price of losing a pact-bound bet.

'Pathetic piece of work! …Oh, that's still pretty funny, ain't it? Heh heh, c'mon, look at this. Gwaaaah!' the Oni mocked.

'Kyah kyah!' Hisui laughed.

'Indecent. This is terrible for their upbringing,' Kurorei sighed.

He put on a crude flamethrower display like a street performance, and it drew cheers and applause from his audience. Encouraged, the Oni sprayed more; Kurorei frowned and shrugged. A truly vulgar trick, a firework of pure vulgarity. Not elegant in the least.

'…Oh my. As I thought,' Kurorei muttered.

Kurorei, utterly exhausted by the ugly scene, sensed the return of the foxes, the Simplified Ritual foxes she had dispatched across the river, and realized her efforts had been in vain.

'Blue Oni-dono, they've all returned. It seems entry through the back door is impossible after all,' Kurorei reported.

'Urgh! …Oh, yeah? Figures,' the Oni replied.

She sprinkled salt and let out a vomiting-like burst of fire, then plucked a piece of the crispy skin, checking how well the flesh was cooked. That was her reaction.

Chasing after their favorite troublemaker, but getting shaken off by a Tanuki's illusions, they, largely at the Blue Oni's insistence, had sought a back entrance into the Old Capital. And it had amounted to nothing. Kurorei had dispatched a hundred and eighteen Simplified Ritual foxes. They had approached the Old Capital's labyrinthine barrier curse from all directions; half had been led astray and returned, the rest had been destroyed before they even realized it.

'The Old Capital's defenses ain't nothin' to sneeze at, huh. Even my previous incarnation got torn apart tryin' this,' the snake deity grumbled.

The snake deity grumbled, lying on all fours, stark naked, with her rear end sticking out. The incarnation before this one had been struck down attempting to invade the Old Capital. The memory was still seared into her.

'Dammit all, so we just gotta wait and watch this time? Boring. ...chomp. Pfft!' the Oni complained.

The Oni dropped down heavily onto the snake's rump, complaining loudly, and bit into the well-roasted, fatty flesh of the mountain trout. She swallowed scales and bones whole, as if they didn't exist, washing it down with sake. She exhaled a cloud of alcoholic breath. Kurorei hid her nose and the creature's face from the Oni's strong smell, thoroughly fed up.

'…And besides, you're saying that troublemaker will get caught up in some kind of trouble again? Here in the Old Capital? That seems a bit far-fetched, don't you think?' Kurorei asked.

For a long time, ever since the founding of Fuso

8, many gods and monsters had tried to invade or infiltrate this land and never succeeded. The area known as the Old Capital was, in a sense, an absolute safe zone. Why would a simple meeting with some personage end up involving violence? It was a genuine question for Kurorei.

'If it turned out to be some kinda trap, that'd be great, wouldn't it? We'd snatch 'em out at the last minute, and if they fell to darkness… maybe they'd get enthusiastic about making some eggs? …Ow! Hey! What was that for!?' the snake deity suggested, then yelped.

Perched on the snake deity's rear, the snake stuck out her tongue and declared. When she declared, the Oni smacked her rear, and she glared back with teary-eyed outrage. A handprint bloomed on her plump backside.

'What do you mean, "what was that for"? Ovulation promotion? If you mention eggs, I wanna eat 'em! Gimme a hard-boiled egg already!!' the Oni yelled.

'I'm not gonna lay any just 'cause you smack me! I'm not laying unfertilized eggs!! Eeep!?' the snake deity cried.

More complaints were met with a few more random spanks. In the meantime, the Oni pulled an especially large cucumber from the bucket and compared it to the snake's backside, back and forth. She felt the rough, bumpy surface of the cucumber.

…The blue Oni bared her fangs with a scary look in her eyes.

'Hold on! Hold on, seriously!? At least pick a smaller, cuter one... Mmmmph!?' the snake deity muffled.

'Kyuuu?' the child made a sound.

'Now, now. You mustn't look at such things,' Kurorei whispered.

Kurorei covered the child's face with her tail before the screaming and fighting started. After blocking its view, she shook her head at the scene before her. A very ugly act of anger. Unbearable to watch. Very bad for the child.

'And yet…' Kurorei sighed.

Soothing the snake's screams and the Oni's laughter and the grumbling voices, the fox quietly gazed across the river.

'…They're watching,' she murmured.

'Kyuu?' Hisui asked.

'Shh, shh… Don't worry about it. It's nothing for you to concern yourself with,' the black fox replied.

The child looked up and called out to her in confusion, and the black fox replied as if nothing were amiss. Smiling, she stroked its messy green hair. As she stroked it, she still looked at the far shore.

'…How impertinent,' she whispered to herself.

Truly, truly, the black fox hated the presence that peered at her from the safety of the far bank, as if checking how strong she was. She understood their rotten nature from the feel of their gaze.

And yet, at the same time, she felt a strange feeling. A familiar feeling…

'Why… why does this gaze feel...familiar...?' she wondered.

* * *

'Yipe!?'

The canine Fallen Divinity yelped and pulled back. Divine blood dripped from its mouth. A chunk of flesh from its jaw slid loose. Angry from the pain, it snarled, ears swiveling, and the eyelid-sewn Ōguchi-gami bared its fangs in warning.

'Just as I thought. …So all you can do is drag the space into your mouth, huh?' I muttered.

I spat out the stomach acid that came up after the attack, mixed with my own saliva, and braced myself. I'd figured out the ability of the Fallen Inugami before me.

The moment it closed its jaws, space itself was cut out. Being able to bite your opponent to death from far away was a simple trick. For an ordinary human, for mere mortal weapons.

"So the eyes are sewn shut to stop someone reading your aim through your gaze? Or maybe they're trained to sniff out good eats from bad, like a hunting dog picking its prey? Well, I guess for a run-of-the-mill assassin

2, that'd be plenty..." I mused.

I'm close to not being human myself. I can see the smallest movements in an opponent's ear and nose movements, and I've got senses beyond the usual five, trained from walking that line. But more than anything... I had my partner.

'(>0<；) Hey wait a sec!' Spider shrieked.

"That's it!" I shouted.

'(ﾉ0)ﾉ Mama mia!' Spider squealed.

A warning to the idiot Spider's desperate plea. And without moving from my spot, I twisted my body. I dropped low, sliding the Teguruma thread into the space where Spider was sitting on my shoulder. A spray of blood hits my face. The extended Teguruma thread snaps, and blood ran down the cut end. A scream rings out before me. One of the Ōguchi-gami's jaws, split open like some insect's, slumps and falls away.

"Hah, my bad. This thread? Even a god's hide can't block it. So when you stuck it in that soft mouth of yours, well, what did you expect?" I taunted.

'( ；∀；) I'm working so hard for Papa, aren't I so cute!' Spider whined.

I taunted her, and the White Spider looks very proud. The hell's so cute about you...!

"We're in this together

1! Don't you dare play the tragic heroine on me!" I barked.

'(≧▽≦) SHARED FATE HERE WE GOOO!' Spider cheered.

"You're way too optimistic about this, you know!?" I retorted.

I yanked the severed end of the Teguruma thread back toward me. If the idiot Spider's death is my death, then this is not hurting an animal or a god.

...I had a feeling back when the Ōguchi-gami first went for Spider. With those raw, fresh training scars still on it, it was clear it hadn't been tamed, but was forced to obey. No way something like that was just doing its job obediently.

The Fallen Dog God was clearly aiming for Spider. To store power, to escape control, a pure young god must be great food. So its movements were relatively easy to read. I could see where it would bite and attack next.

If you know where it's going to bite, you can set a trap. I do not need to explain how sharp the Spider thread is. The moment it closes its mouth to eat Spider, I place the thread. Then the space is torn, the thread moves with it, and cuts its mouth from the inside. A normal sword would probably just break.

'The problem is, that does not finish it. Even for a low-class god, a sliced-up mouth isn't enough to kill. Still, this place is so packed with traps that even taking one step is dangerous, which is a real pain,' Hummingbird said.

"Eh, I wasn't planning on killing it anyway. Its whole body's already a mess of curses. Last thing I need is another hex on top of that," I replied.

'(>0<；) Hey! Don't just climb on top of me like...! (ﾉ0)ﾉ WHEEE!?' Spider protested.

I replied as the Hummingbird landed on the idiot Spider's head. Spider's outraged. It twists away. And the Great-Mouth, never learning its lesson, snaps at me again. I dodge and lay another thread trap. Another scream. The thing spits blood again. Idiot. Same thing over and over. You're a dog's head, not a birdbrain?

'Hoh? And what exactly do you plan to do, then?' Hummingbird asked.

"I'll figure that out as we go... whoa!? You sneaky ba-!?" I yelled.

Cutting off the conversation with the Hummingbird as it takes flight to avoid a bite, I hastily swipe at something stuck to my sleeve. A maggot. I flick it off. From the color, definitely not your ordinary maggot.

"Ugh... that's the kind of trick, huh?" I grunted.

'That's certainly a move befitting him,' Hummingbird remarked.

Me and Hummingbird saw it at the same time. Maggots, spilling out in clumps from the bloody corners of the Ōguchi-gami's jaws. They writhed in the pool of blood forming on the ground. As the thing hacked and coughed, more maggots burst from its throat.

'It seems it's hosting poison-insect yōkai inside its mouth, maybe even inside its body. It bites through space, and in exchange, the maggots teleport in... no, perhaps the space is forcibly joined together at the very moment of the bite?' Hummingbird analyzed.

"Doesn't matter. So basically, the moment it bites down on something, it gets maggots as a return gift. That's the gimmick, right?" I said.

I was lucky that the maggots spilling from its mouth only ended up clinging to my clothes. If they'd actually gotten a clean bite on me, there's no doubt those things would've burrowed in deep through the wound.

'!!!!!' the Ōguchi-gami growled.

"Damn!?" I cursed.

The jaws clamp shut. I twist my body. Swing the Teguruma. Not for attack, but for defense. From directly above, where nothing should've been, maggots rain down, sliced and swept away by the Teguruma thread.

'...Servant!!' Hummingbird warned.

"I know! This is a losing battle!!" I yelled back.

I glance back over my shoulder. On that side... looks like it'll be fine even without my help, huh?

(Which means they... are still... I'm the problem here...!! Oh...!?)

Barely dodging the bite, I check the cards in my hand. Confirm if it's possible. Can I do this? Is it doable? ...Hell yeah. I'll make it happen!!

"Idiot Spider, brace yourself...!?" I warned.

'(´ω｀) Huh?' Spider blinked.

"Like hell that's happening!! Whoa, close one, hey!?" I yelled.

The bite teleports in and grazes my shoulder. It was very close, only cutting my clothes. The maggots... okay, fine. Didn't dig into the skin. I brush the crawling bugs off with my gloved hand. The tough, flexible Spider-thread gloves won't be chewed through.

"Greedy little bastard, aren't you! If you want it that bad, then...!" I growled.

'( ╹▽╹ )!?'

I grab the idiot Spider and prepare to throw her. Startled by the sudden move, Spider freezes. If anything, I could've sworn a "?" mark appeared above her head, but at this point, that's hardly the strangest thing. I don't care. I just...

"TAKE IT!!" I roared.

'(ノ^_^)ノ Looks like I'm flyin' through the sky now...!' Spider cheered.

Before the idiot Spider can finish, the Ōguchi-gami's jaws snap shut.

At the same moment, the flying Spider vanishes midair. As if the very space had been cut out. A beat later, the dog before me starts crunching. It ground its jaws as if it were happy, making a loud, ugly sound inside its cut-up mouth.

Yes. Grinding. Crunching.

Grinding. Crunching.

'...?' the Ōguchi-gami grunted.

A pause. The crunching stops. A shake. And then... SCREW YOU!!

'GYAAAUUUGHH!!!?' the Ōguchi-gami screamed.

'(´ω｀) PAPA! I CAME BACK!!' Spider announced.

In the next instant, the Ōguchi-gami's jaw is blown apart up to its nose. At the same time, Spider comes flying back to me. She is wrapped in spinning rope and riding a jet-powered conch shell

4 like a strange dream about kompeitō

3 candy.

Right before the throw, I'd wrapped the long rope around Spider, the rope that had been dangling and wrapped around my arm just moments before. Even if she's not in top form, she just needs to shrink her body down enough to get coiled in it. Once wrapped, she spins at high speed. That's the same trick I used when I fought that mimic. Picture it: rope biting into flesh, grinding it to pulp inside that mouth. It's not just gruesome, it's way beyond that.

And to seal the deal, I paired it with the Tengu conch shell. Well, a reconstructed copy, to be exact.

After that whole underground fight at the Juuyaku estate, and the spiritual explosion that ended it, I'd blown a fair number of cursed tools to pieces. The conch that spits things out was one of them.

When Aoi recovered my charred remains, she also collected the shattered fragments of that conch. Rebuilding it whole was out of the question, but after hard work, she managed to make it smaller and simpler to use again. The shell was small, about the size of a large snail, and could not hold as much. But it was enough to spray inside the god's mouth and carry Spider back on the blast. And then...

"Catch!" I shouted.

'(≧▽≦) And release!' Spider squealed.

"To hell!" I yelled.

'( ；∀；) That's all you had to say... (;>0<) So fast!' Spider cried.

"What am I even doing...?" I muttered.

'(´；ω；｀) That's what makes it a masterpiece, they say...' Spider snivelled.

"What are you talking about? Hey. What are you even talking about?" I sighed.

After that ridiculous exchange, like we'd picked up some weird radio signal, I look ahead again. Results are solid.

'You really do go to brutal lengths, don't you? Truly, the mark of a monster in human skin,' Hummingbird jabbed.

"Against a divine being, there's no room for courtesy or mercy," I countered.

A valid rebuttal to Hummingbird's jab.

The Ōguchi-gami is a wreck. Its layered jaws are completely torn apart. It won't be biting anything anymore. It took a rocket-like blast from inside its own mouth. Its molars are shattered, its internal organs likely damaged. Snot and saliva drip from its nose. And...

"Guess even a fallen god's got tenacity. Tough bastard," I murmured.

'( ；∀；) That's my line...' Spider whimpered.

I snatch the shrunken long rope and whelk shell back from the idiot Spider, letting out a weary sigh of exasperation.

The Ōguchi-gami before me is truly on its last legs. Behind those sewn-shut eyelids, it's probably rolling its eyes white. Twitching, convulsing on the ground, bleeding from its slack jaw, drooling and spilling maggot corpses. It was a pathetic sight for a great wolf... and yet, it's still alive. Given time, it might even make a full recovery.

...Well, for someone who's terrified of curses, leaving it half-dead is actually convenient.

'Thank goodness its eyes were sewn shut. If it'd seen something that ridiculous, it never would've opened its mouth,' Hummingbird noted.

"Couldn't agree more," I admitted.

A smug-faced Spider wrapped in long rope, riding a conch shell, anyone with eyes would see that as suspicious. A trap. Poison dumpling. If it'd been visible, it'd have been ignored for sure.

"Finished on your end too? ...Impressive as always. You really didn't earn that reputation for nothing, putting down gods left and right. Practically a divine-hunting doctor," Azuma-dono remarked.

'(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧ That's 'cause I've been through hell and back with Papa!' Spider bragged.

"I wasn't talking to you, you know?" Azuma-dono said.

Azuma-dono had appeared at my side like the wind, without the slightest hint of presence. Her assessment came after glancing between me and the writhing Ōguchi-gami. Spider's smug reply. You were just the decoy, you know.

"Would've appreciated you showing up a bit sooner, though... And on your side, did you finish them off?" I asked.

I cast a glance at the remains of the Tora Oni,' the Tiger of the Front Gate, or rather, the corpse puppets and shikigami fragments left behind. Seeing that they no longer made a peep, I asked.

"Hardly. I've only temporarily dispersed their conceptual forms. Even if someone tried to misuse them, they're originally part of the Old Capital's defense mechanisms. We can't let them completely break down," Azuma-dono explained.

Was Azuma suggesting that the explanation was impossible to give-or that it was something that shouldn't be given? I couldn't quite tell. I didn't need to press further. For now, just getting through was enough.

Which came first-the egg, or the chicken? The Old Capital, bound by the logic of the Ring-Tamaki-was itself a kind of youkai. Like the "Mayoiga," or the infamous youkai Arano, the land itself was a living phenomenon.

"The real Tora Oni is simple-uncomplicated. A tiger demon that just commands corpses. Nothing clever. An ordinary power. ...But in this land, they've built a mechanism into the terrain itself. That's what makes it troublesome," Azuma-dono continued.

Using the spiritual energy of the Old Capital's rich soil, they formed fear around a fictional tiger. That fear animated the corpses, and the corpses reinforced the concept of the Oni-Tiger. A self-sustaining loop. Corpses can be prepared indefinitely. The simplest countermeasure against shiryō

5 arts is to kill the summoner, but this summoner is fictional, with no physical form. If you don't realize the depth of the mechanism from the start, you'll waste your time hunting a master who doesn't exist.

"I disrupted the flow of that cycle with illusion magic. ...That's all. When the time comes, the concept will settle and revive again. We should leave soon, but... back to the Saiguu Dorms, I suppose?" Azuma-dono asked.

Azuma-dono's question hung there. I shook my head.

"No. That would be a mistake. This delay is clearly designed to make us choose exactly that," I said.

"Why do you say that?" Azuma-dono asked.

"If they wanted to keep us from returning to the Saiguu Dorms, they could have drawn us farther out first. Besides, they'd set wolves at both gates. No reason for a pincer if that's the goal," I argued.

"Meaning?" Azuma-dono pressed.

"The ones stalling us don't want us moving forward or backward. That's the intention. And they deliberately pulled us away from the Saiguu Dorms. Which means... they've already done what they needed to do there," I explained. ℴ

"I see. ...So it's my shiki then," Azuma-dono murmured.

The former head of the Onmyōji Bureau agreed with me. She looked at a small tanuki coming out of the grass, which was a Simplified Ritual construct. Probably a messenger from the one she'd left to guard Futanari-sama and the Minister of the Right. The little tanuki chattered urgently: Mii-mii!

"Hm. Hm... she says someone's gone missing at the Saiguu Dorms," Azuma-dono translated.

"...Tamaki," I growled.

That hundred-faced (Nue) monster. She was the only one who'd bother meddling here. But what was she after? No, where had she taken them? ...Probably that place.

'That child!? That child is gone!? No way, no way!?' the hummingbird shrieked.

The hummingbird's shriek came a beat too late. The shift in voice quality made it obvious the speaker had changed, from calm composure to utter panic.

"Calm down. Panicking won't help," I said.

'But!? You!? That child...!? Our precious little... Excuse me. I've quieted down,' the voice from the hummingbird sputtered.

Sound came through the hummingbird. Then, a calm voice spoke again, sounding very tired. They were in trouble over there.

"Sorry. I'll handle Tamaki. Tell them to wait and not worry," I said.

'You sound like a boss bringing his daughter home,' Botan teased through the hummingbird.

"You knew that'd get a rise out of me, didn't you?" I asked.

I scowled at Botan's teasing, brushed it off, and cleared my throat to reset.

"...Excuse me. The backstreets and side-paths that were spread through the Old Capital, do you know of any that lead directly from the Saiguu Dorms to the True Palace?" I asked.

Azuma-dono's expression soured at my question.

"Officially, no. But I don't know the full structure either. For that matter, I doubt even the Imperial Court knows everything," Azuma-dono replied.

They say the first director worked alone, after all.

The first head of the Onmyōji Bureau liked tricks, so there might be paths he never showed anyone. But there was a pact, so maybe he could not act freely. The original story said he could not interfere with the Old Capital, but I do not know. Is this different from the original? If only I knew what the pact said.

'...I don't know what you're brooding about, but if you don't know which path they're taking, you can just wait for them at the destination. Isn't that right?' Botan suggested through the hummingbird.

The one who snapped me out of my wandering thoughts was the hummingbird perched above me, Botan, speaking through it with clean, simple logic that cut straight to the heart.

"She's got a point. ...Azuma-dono, can we gain entry to the True Palace?" I said.

My words were bold and very risky. This was the most sacred place in the Old Capital, hidden from the public. Normally, she would have said no right away. But still...

"...Even if there's a hidden path, they might have just been dragged outside the Old Capital altogether," Azuma-dono countered.

Not an immediate refusal, but a counter-question. I understood the implication and opened my mouth to explain.

"If the culprit is who I suspect, there'd be no need to abduct them here in the Old Capital," I explained.

If they can control the Old Capital's defenses, they would want to keep that secret. If they just wanted to take someone outside, they would not show this card. That means they had a reason to do it here, even if it showed their hand. I explained this to her.

The Hotoya girl, with her Usurpation power, the Old Capital is a buffet of opportunities. She could use it for all sorts of outrageous ends. And she's got a silver tongue.

The hummingbird spoke with anger. It was the voice of someone who had once believed the first director's sweet words.

"...I came here expecting nothing more than surveillance duty, you know?" Azuma-dono sighed.

Azuma muttered, looking sour. A perfectly reasonable complaint, given the situation she now found herself in.

"Look at it differently. Just stay on guard while you're with me," I suggested.

"Doesn't that ring hollow, even to you?" Azuma-dono asked.

"We agreed not to say that..." I muttered.

'(・∀・) Even when you're on guard, death can sneak in...' Spider chimed in.

Azuma did not hesitate long. She had lived through the Great Rebellion, so she knew time was short. She also knew how to take responsibility.

"Even if this works, I might be ordered to commit seppuku

6," Azuma-dono said.

"I'll put in a good word," I promised.

"That's a relief. Unlike someone who ran off without taking responsibility," Azuma-dono retorted.

Through the hummingbird, I felt someone on the other end look away. Tanuki-sama snorted.

"They might be waiting in ambush, predicting our moves. I won't blindfold you. We're in a hurry. ...Forget the route we took," Azuma-dono said.

"Do you mean that figuratively, or magically?" I asked.

"What do you think?" Azuma-dono replied.

"Right, of course," I said.

Azuma wasn't naive enough to trust mere words. It was inevitable. Reasonable.

"I won't touch anything but the memories I'll erase. I promise," I said.

"...I'll hold you to a pact, not a promise," Azuma-dono insisted.

"Heh," I smirked.

With a bold grin, the tanuki changed from a human in an instant. Its body was so large that I had to look way up.

A four-legged animal covered in sharp gray-brown fur stood before me. Its snout was pointed, and its mouth opened to show fangs that could swallow a man. It looked like a monster, but its eyes showed it was smart.

'My fur's coarse. Bristly, uncomfortable to ride. But don't complain,' the tanuki grunted.

Then the beast, covered in an illusion, ran faster than the wind. We went to the deepest part of the Old Capital, the true capital. To the origin of Fusō

8. To Iwato, the True Palace of the Rock Cave.

* * *

"Hah, hah, hah, hah!" he panted.

By the riverbank, the oni waited. The tanuki had already passed through the pampas grass and gone. On the other side, an ordinary man ran down the dark mountain path. He was out of breath, but he kept running.

"Hah, hah, hah... hnk...!" he gasped.

Running so fast made his heart beat hard. He tasted blood in his mouth. His body felt hot, and sweat poured off him, but he kept running. He looked back to see if anyone was following. No one was there.

"Hah, hah, hah, hah... here, I turn, off the path...!" he whispered to himself.

He thought back. There should be a small shrine near the cedar tree halfway up. He had to turn there, go around it twice, and head south.

He could not look at the trees. The mix of hitotsume-kozō

7 and vampire tree would attack anyone who looked at them. An intruder who was afraid of being watched would only get caught.

"...!" he gasped.

He stopped and got down low. He was right. A shadow was moving across the grass under the moon. It was not a cloud. It was a giant shadow crawling on the ground. He held his breath and watched it pass, knowing it would attack anyone.

...Time passed. It had already gone. Still, he waited a moment longer. Haste makes waste. Overconfidence was the enemy.

...Now, he sensed for presences. He needed to be careful. No problem. No problem...!

"..." he breathed.

He made himself move and ran again. Nothing bit him or ate him. He ran as fast as he could because he had no time to waste.

As he ran, he wondered how this had happened and where he had made a mistake. But he stopped thinking about it.

He was not wrong. He had chosen this path. He had thought about it and made his choice, so there was no point in asking why now.

...He couldn't deny he had regrets, though.

"Hah, hah, hah... hnn. Hah. ...That's-that's fine. Right now, I have to protect. ...I have to go, to bring, her back," he muttered.

In the forest, he saw a side path and wanted to take it, but he did not.

He knew what was important. He knew what she wanted most, so he let the rest go. He had to protect just one thing and not fail.

This path he'd been entrusted with, the path he'd chosen, as long as he didn't stray from that, it was enough...!

"I don't get it. You're not the same person anymore, are you? When you left here with that thing..." a voice called out.

"Ghh...!?" he gasped.

The voice made him stop. He almost looked around, but he stopped himself. Looking at the eyes in the trees would be very bad, so he looked down at his feet.

"W-Who's there!? Why, what the hell are you talking about...!?" he demanded.

How did they know? He started to speak but stopped, thinking it was a trap. He kept his head down and looked around without looking at the eyes in the trees.

In the dark trees, something was watching him. Its eyes were darker than the night. It looked like a mix of a dog, a cat, and a rabbit.

"You're so brave, trying so hard to hide it," the first voice said.

"Truly admirable," a second chimed in.

"Even though it's pointless," a third added.

"Even though everything is within the palm of my hand," a fourth spoke.

"Your being here is proof enough of that," another said.

"I knew you'd come at this hour. I knew it from the very moment you fled this place," one more added.

"No, from the moment you were born," a voice whispered.

"Even before then," they spoke in unison.

The voices came quickly from all around him. It was not an echo. Many things were speaking, but they all sounded like the same person.

"...!? There!? And over there too!? W-Wait, I'm surrounded...!?" he cried out.

More eyes appeared in the dark, shining in the night. Before he could do anything, they surrounded him and stared.

"How's Karakasa doing?" a puppet asked.

"Ghh!? Don't you dare call her that!" he roared.

He got angry and shouted, rejecting the name. He had to reject it because it was a name for a thing, not a person. She had a real name given by her mother.

"Then tell me, what's the false name you gave her?" the puppet asked.

"Shut up!" he screamed.

He ran away from the voice. Many footsteps chased him through the dark.

"Wait up," a puppet called.

"Let's talk," another said.

"Why do you keep wasting your energy?" a third asked.

"We could guarantee your safety, you know?" a fourth offered.

"And we offer a brainwave control package, too!" a fifth added.

"Shut the hell up...!" he growled.

He saw many small creatures jumping after him. They moved very fast, making sweet promises. The man cursed at them. He did not trust them because of the Kotodama

10 technique.

"Shit!" he cursed.

He ran down the rough path. When he reached the marsh, he turned around quickly and stopped. He threw himself to the ground. His clothes got muddy, but he did not want to step into the marsh.

"Ah-" a puppet yelped.

"Whoa, careful-" another cried.

"Mmph!" a third grunted.

"Urgh!" a fourth splashed.

He had led them to the edge on purpose. The creatures ran past him and fell in, disappearing with short cries.

"Hah... hah... hah... Ha! Serves you right!" he panted.

The Ear-Snatch Grass was a dangerous plant that grew in the mud. It could swallow a person whole, sucking them in and dissolving them. Small creatures would be gone in seconds. The muddy man smiled.

"Yep. I saw that. Twelve units got eaten just like that," a voice replied from behind him.

...The reply came from behind him. His face twisted into a grimace as he turned, and despaired.

"...Damn it!" he gasped.

More creatures kept coming from the forest. There were too many of them. Fighting them was like stacking stones at the Sanzu River

9.

"How cruel," a puppet said.

"It's not like manufacturing these things costs nothing, you know?" another remarked.

"I'd rather not resort to violence..." a third sighed.

"But if it comes to this, I suppose I have no choice?" a fourth asked.

"It's your fault, you know?" a fifth added.

While the voice spoke, hundreds of cold eyes looked at him. He felt afraid, got to his feet, and tried to run.

"Whoa there. Not letting you get away," a puppet said.

"Agh...!?" he cried.

One of them was at his feet. It touched his leg, and he could not move. He felt a sharp pain, tripped, and fell. He rolled on the ground, holding his leg in pain. The creature jumped on him, staring with cold black eyes.

"Guess we'll have to do this the hard way then?" the puppet said.

"...!?" he gasped.

He hit the small beast away, but it did not help.

"Hey," a puppet said.

"Good evening," another said.

"Thanks for the meal," a third said.

"Let's talk," a fourth said.

"It's all scripted. That's all there is to it," a fifth said.

"Hate the sin, not the sinner," a sixth quoted.

"Talking about hair again..." a seventh murmured.

"Had a blast, man. Playing 'friends' with you," an eighth said.

"It was all that guy's doing, that devil of a man," a ninth added.

"Teach me how to kill that blue bastard," a tenth asked.

"I'll show you a hundred forms of zero," another declared.

"Ghh...! No...!" he groaned.

It was like a swarm of ants. Little beasts jumped at him from all sides, and he could not fight them all off.

He hit some away, but more jumped on him. He fell to his knees under the weight. His arms were pinned, and they covered his face. There were more than a hundred of them, enough to crush him.

"No...! Gah...!?" he gasped.

"Easy now. Relax. We're not going to kill you," the puppet soothed.

Just as he was about to be crushed, one of them stood in front of him. With his face on the ground, he looked up at it. Its cold eyes showed his face, the face of a priest's son who had fled the capital, now full of fear.

"Besides, don't you want to see her? The one you entrusted to me. ...And your servant, too? The one who served you?"

"Tch...!? Miko-sama, and that's...!? Wait, what...!?"

The momentary hesitation. The confusion. The bewilderment from those words.

It was fatal.

"A-ah... ah..."

In an instant, the small beasts covered him completely. He was buried under them, and his screams stopped. Under the moon, they lay stacked on top of him.

"Hup. And... up we go. ...Phew."

...The one who had mocked the man climbed to the top of the pile and looked at the moon.

"Good grief. Always such a handful. ...Hm. A beautiful moon."

It spoke in a flat voice. Its tail moved, and its eyes of pearl looked at the moon.

"The moon is always there. Paying no mind to the clamor of the earth. Heedless of the insects that crawl upon the ground. ...Was that it?"

Was it speaking to someone? Or was it chewing over someone else's words? The puppet did not answer. After a short silence, it paused, restarted its connection, and spoke again.

"...Huh. Impressive. You broke through already? That's beyond my estimates!"

The little beast showed a mechanical smile. It formed that deliberately, endearingly charming expression-programmed into the puppet's behavior settings. There was not a trace of malice in its praise. It was simply revising its evaluations upward.

The pile of puppets began to move like ants. They walked back down the path toward the true palace...

"Well then, let's go, Rokusuke-kun. ...Time for that long-awaited, emotional reunion, isn't it?"

Its voice had no anger or feeling at all.

---

Summary:

The Blue Oni and her companions enjoy a lazy summer evening fishing and drinking by the river in the Old Capital's outer reaches, but their attempts to find a back entrance have failed. Kurorei notices someone watching them from across the river, triggering an unsettling sense of déjà vu. The scene cuts abruptly to a violent battle where the protagonist faces a Fallen Inugami that can bite through space itself.

The protagonist and Spider execute a coordinated trap against the Ōguchi-gami, using Teguruma thread and a reconstructed Tengu conch shell to inflict catastrophic damage. After Spider rockets back from inside the god's mouth, the battle concludes with the divine beast barely alive and the protagonist reflecting on curse risks. Azuma-dono arrives to report his own skirmish resolved, leaving the protagonist to consider unfinished business involving Mari.

After the narrator deduces Tamaki's involvement in the Saiguu Dorms disappearance, he presses Azuma for a route to the True Palace. Azuma agrees to help, and the tanuki transforms into a colossal beast, carrying them toward the Old Capital's deepest sanctum. Meanwhile, an unnamed man runs through a deadly forest, evading surveillance and monsters, driven by a single purpose: to bring someone back.

A fleeing shrine priest's son is pursued through a forest by a hivemind of cheerful, deadly puppets who speak in unsettling unison. He sets a trap at a marsh, killing twelve of them, but countless more emerge and overwhelm him. As he is buried alive under their weight, the lead puppet reveals it knows about the woman he protected, his servant, and the name he refuses to acknowledge-and a long-awaited reunion awaits.

---

Trivia:

- The Blue Oni's seat is a snake deity who lost a pact-bound bet, explaining her humiliation.

- The snake deity's previous incarnation died trying to invade the Old Capital.

- Kurorei dispatched 118 Simplified Ritual foxes to find a back entrance; half returned, the rest were destroyed.

- The Old Capital's barrier curse is labyrinthine and has never been successfully penetrated by gods or yokai.

- The child-like figure (Hisui) has grown beyond infant size but is still treated as a child.

- The Oni's fire-breathing trick uses purified alcohol ignited by tongue friction.

- The Final Fallen Inugami can gouge out space by closing its jaws, attacking from a distance.

- The protagonist is using a Teguruma (a weapon) and has figured out the dog's ability.

- The protagonist's eyes are not sewn shut; he's analyzing why the enemy's eyes are.

- The Ōguchi-gami was broken into submission, not willingly tamed, explaining its rebellious behavior.

- The maggots are poison-insect yōkai that teleport in when the god bites through space.

- Spider can shrink her body to fit inside the long rope coils.

- The conch shell is a downgraded reconstruction of one destroyed in the Juuyaku estate battle.

- The long rope rotation trick was previously used against a mimic enemy.

- Azuma-dono only temporarily dispersed the Tora Oni's conceptual forms, meaning they're not permanently destroyed.

- The Old Capital defense mechanisms cannot be allowed to completely break down.

- Mari is referenced as a potential unresolved problem.

- The protagonist is terrified of curses, hence leaving the god half-dead rather than killing it.

- The Tora Oni is not a real entity but a conceptual loop: fear creates corpses, corpses reinforce fear.

- Tamaki's name (Ring) encodes her connection to cyclical logic and conceptual binding.

- The hummingbird is a familiar through which multiple speakers can communicate, including Botan.

- The narrator references an "original story," implying he has meta-knowledge of events.

- The first director worked alone and may have hidden paths unknown even to the Imperial Court.

- The Old Capital's defenses are being manipulated to stall the group while the culprit acts elsewhere.

- "Usurpation" power allows the Hotoya girl to exploit the Old Capital as a resource.

- Azuma's shiki is a spirit familiar she can command.

- The tanuki is a Simplified Ritual construct that can transform into a massive beast.

- The crossbreed of hitotsume-kozō and vampire tree attacks anyone who meets its gaze.

- The ordinary man is running to retrieve "her," suggesting a personal mission involving a woman.

- The protagonist was a shrine priest's son who fled the Old Capital.

- The name "Karakasa" is rejected violently-he insists she has a proper name given by her mother.

- The lead puppet's eyes are made from cultured spirit-shell pearls.

- The puppets are manufactured, not living beings.

- The protagonist's actions at the marsh were intentional-he led them there.

- The Ear-Snatch Grass is a carnivorous youkai plant that dissolves prey in mud.

- The puppets quote "Hate the sin, not the sinner" and recite a moon poem.

- The lead puppet paused and rebooted its terminal connection mid-conversation.

- The protagonist's allies broke through the puppets' defenses off-screen.

- "Miko-sama" and a "servant" are waiting for him at the true palace.

---

Translation Notes:

1↵ Buddhist term meaning "sharing the same lotus flower," translated as "we're in this together" to convey shared fate in natural US idiom.

2↵ Archaic/legal term for "assassin" or "hired killer," rendered as "run-of-the-mill assassin" to preserve the dismissive, archaic register.

3↵ Kompeitō - a Japanese star-shaped sugar candy. Used as a simile for the surreal, colorful nightmare quality of Spider's entrance.

4↵ Horagai - a conch shell trumpet used by Tengu and warriors. Translated as "conch shell" with context establishing its function as a cursed tool.

5↵ A term for necromantic or corpse-manipulating magic. In this context, it refers to techniques that animate the dead using spiritual energy.

6↵ Ritual suicide by disembowelment, historically practiced by samurai to restore honor or accept responsibility for failure.

7↵ A one-eyed yōkai from Japanese folklore, often depicted as a bald child. Here it is crossbred with a vampire tree as a defense mechanism.

8↵ An ancient and poetic name for Japan, used here to invoke mythological and historical weight.

9↵ A Buddhist mythological river separating the living from the dead. Referenced in the metaphor "stacking stones at the Sanzu River," which alludes to the Sai no Kawara practice where children stack stones as a futile act of salvation.

10↵ From Japanese 言霊 (kotodama) - the belief that words possess spiritual power. Here, it refers to a technique where spoken words can influence or control others.