For the first time, a vivid look of regret appeared on Minamoto no Yorimitsu's youthful face.
Fox spirits could not, of course, be judged by the same standards as humans.
"Eat."
Hebe pushed the plate toward Minamoto no Yorimitsu and saw obvious suspicion and fear in the girl's eyes.
"Today's lesson is over." Hebe pointed at the setting sun outside the courtyard, which was about to disappear beneath the horizon.
After being put through the wringer all afternoon, Minamoto no Yorimitsu finally let out a sigh of relief.
Night fell, and the exhausted girl went to sleep early.
In her dream, she seemed to possess the perspective of a third party, watching everything she had done during the day. In that state, she could easily grasp her shortcomings and correct them.
Demons must die. Minamoto no Yorimitsu's voice rang through her own mind as she instinctively began rehearsing in her dreams how to suppress and curse that troublesome fox spirit to death through covert and vicious means.
Blazing white lightning scars surfaced on Minamoto no Yorimitsu's cheeks, and even in her sleep, her face twisted into a vicious, teeth-gritting expression.
Hebe watched the scorch marks flicker with her breathing and curled her lips.
She had long known that there was another will inside Minamoto no Yorimitsu called Ushi Gozen, and that it was precisely because of the latter that Minamoto no Yorimitsu could grow at an unimaginable pace.
This was good for both sides of the Power Struggle. The closer Minamoto no Yorimitsu came to Ushi Gozen, the stronger she became, and the more efficiently she could purge beasts—but once she completely became "Ushi Gozen," she would carry out the will of the Remnant Wolf and cast everything into the abyss of destruction.
It was a perilous tightrope walk. Hebe had to accelerate Minamoto no Yorimitsu's growth as much as possible while ensuring she did not become Ushi Gozen's jōruri puppet.
Hebe plucked some fluff from her fox tail and tucked it into the hem of Minamoto no Yorimitsu's clothes.
It could suppress the revival of Ushi Gozen's nature.
The price was that Ushi Gozen would follow the scent of the fox tail and constantly urge Minamoto no Yorimitsu to kill Hebe.
Of course, before Minamoto no Yorimitsu achieved that goal, she would grow stronger without end.
—and that was exactly what Hebe wanted as well.
My fists are hardening. Ushi Gozen must be nearby!
"Teacher, it is time to wash up."
Morning sunlight streamed through the window into the cramped room. Minamoto no Yorimitsu bent down and offered her an ivory comb.
Hebe turned her gaze aside, only to find herself sinking into a soft embrace.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu's body had matured quickly. On one hand, it was because noble blood flowed through her veins; on the other, her suppressed nature had begun to manifest physically.
After realizing this, Hebe had gradually become more restrained and deliberately maintained a sense of distance between herself and Minamoto no Yorimitsu.
But Minamoto no Yorimitsu, whose mind had yet to catch up with her body, did not realize this. Instead, whenever Hebe retreated, she pushed the boundaries even further.
For example, every morning while washing up, she always placed a comb into Hebe's palm.
Yet she never mentioned that it had been tainted with secret incense—an incense that could drain a fox's strength, gradually paralyze its limbs, and ultimately leave it at the hunter's mercy.
Hebe held the comb and pushed the overly affectionate Minamoto no Yorimitsu away a little.
"I cannot breathe."
As she spoke, she gently combed her flaxen hair.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu reached out and helped her teacher tend to her faintly fragrant hair.
Hebe's reflection appeared in the mirror. Minamoto no Yorimitsu pinned a hydrangea still wet with dew into her hair and tied the ends with a white silk ribbon.
The flower stem had been soaked in potent venom, while a soul-calming spell had been embroidered onto the inside of the ribbon by an onmyōji.
"Teacher, what... are we doing today?" She leaned close to Hebe, her breathing clearly audible.
"Going fishing." Hebe rolled her shoulders.
They rode in an ox-drawn carriage draped with green curtains, traveling along the broad Imperial Road. This was the outskirts of Heian-kyō, where everyone wore talismans obtained from the Bureau of Onmyō or temples.
"They do not work on Teacher." Minamoto no Yorimitsu teased softly.
She was not merely referring to the talismans people wore, which were said to "drive off demons and ghosts."
"Indeed." Hebe replied absentmindedly, as though she did not care about Minamoto no Yorimitsu's little schemes at all.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu smiled faintly, but her brows knitted unconsciously.
Inside her mind, that voice identical to her own began roaring again, demanding to know why she did not act according to its teachings.
Taming Ushi Gozen's will was difficult. She had to carefully maintain the boundary: she could not allow Gozu Tennō to be reborn from within her, yet she could not suppress it completely either.
Ultimately, Minamoto no Yorimitsu knew that she and Ushi Gozen were twin souls within one body. She needed to borrow Ushi Gozen's power.
Without power, she would have nothing. The environment that had only just begun to improve would worsen even more severely.
More importantly, without power, Teacher would definitely leave.
Deep within Minamoto no Yorimitsu's heart lay fear and unease toward that possibility.
Because of that, she gradually began listening to Ushi Gozen's voice, using curses, poison, and schemes in a desperate attempt to strip Hebe of all ability to resist.
If she could, Minamoto no Yorimitsu would cut off Hebe's limbs without hesitation.
That way, Teacher could only rely on me... Only by relying on me could Teacher survive.
—Teacher belonged to her. She absolutely could not let her leave her sight.
In her daze, Minamoto no Yorimitsu felt a touch of coolness land on her brow, pulling her out of her deep, pitch black fantasy.
Hebe said nothing. She merely pinned the hydrangea back into place.
The deadly poison that had soaked the flower branch had now been replaced by a panacea.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu's expression dimmed slightly. She knew that Teacher had seen through her trick once again—and even countered it.
She even suspected that Teacher had long known of the will called Ushi Gozen within her, yet had never exposed it.
Maintaining that unspoken understanding made Minamoto no Yorimitsu uneasy, yet secretly delighted as well.
By the river, Hebe sat down with a fishing rod. Minamoto no Yorimitsu sat beneath a tree, mentally practicing the swordsmanship of Kurama Yanagi-ryū. She felt that she had already touched the threshold of some transformation; she only needed an opportunity to truly turn the sword art taught by the tengu into a technique suited for humans.
Until the sun sank low in the west, Hebe did not catch even a single fish.
Hebe put away her fishing rod and walked toward an onmyōji fishing nearby.
The other man's fish basket was quite full.
"Can you sell me one?" Hebe asked.
The tall, handsome onmyōji dressed in black glanced at her, looking very surprised.
"Of course."
When he saw Hebe expertly select a fish that was neither too large nor too small, the onmyōji's expression grew complicated. "Are you not going to ask this humble monk anything else?"
"Do you like fishing?" Hebe asked him.
"Though this humble monk has few hobbies, fishing is indeed one of them," the onmyōji answered. "Ah, ah, as they say, fish bite only if they are willing."
"I like it too, though my luck is not very good," Hebe said.
The onmyōji thought that perhaps her problem was not merely bad luck... but he did not dare say it.
After all, although the person before him had put on a superficial disguise, she had made no effort at all to conceal her true nature.
The barrier around Heian-kyō had been personally laid by the mage Abe no Seimei.
Just how terrifying was a fox spirit that could stand beneath the barrier of Heian-kyō while making no effort to hide her nature? The mere thought made cold sweat break out on the onmyōji's back.
He had been cautious his entire life. How could he encounter something like this just by going fishing?
Tomorrow—no, I will leave Heian-kyō tonight! The onmyōji made up his mind.
After Hebe left with the fish, the onmyōji stood by the river with an ever-changing expression.
"Damn it, even something like this can appear in Heian-kyō. Something major must be about to happen!"
The more the onmyōji thought about it, the more frightened he became. In the end, he did not even want to return to Heian-kyō. He directly took out several talismans, leaped into the river, and escaped using water evasion.
When Hebe returned to the carriage, Minamoto no Yorimitsu seemed rather concerned.
"Who was that person?"
"An onmyōji who can stand alongside Abe no Seimei... Hmm, he was rather different from how I imagined him."
Hebe folded her hands into her sleeves and said calmly, "But I have already memorized his form and aura. If I discover that he has done anything to displease me in the future, I can trace him directly and kill him."
"Teacher, I still do not understand why you insist on fishing." Minamoto no Yorimitsu hesitated for a moment before finally speaking. "Are you not a fox?"
"There is no conflict between being a fox and fishing, is there?" Hebe looked at her strangely.
"No, I mean, Teacher, why not use foxfire to evaporate the water and catch the fish directly?" Minamoto no Yorimitsu gestured with her hands.
Hebe's gaze turned dangerous. "Who taught you such a twisted way of thinking? I must properly correct your mistaken ideas!"
"The key is that Teacher has never caught any fish either." Minamoto no Yorimitsu stammered. "Is that not just wasting time...?"
Hebe's expression gradually twisted.
Her fists hardened.
Damn it, how had Minamoto no Yorimitsu become like this? It had to be Ushi Gozen's fault!
With a dark expression, Hebe untied her hair ribbon, wrote a talisman in the air, and directly tied it around Minamoto no Yorimitsu's forehead.
The instant the ribbon touched her skin, Minamoto no Yorimitsu's mind went blank. Then she realized that Ushi Gozen's voice had been blocked out.
"Huh?"
She looked at Hebe in surprise, only to see Hebe staring back at her seriously.
"Yorimitsu, do not say things like that again in the future." Hebe spoke earnestly. "Talk less with certain people who have no sense of propriety."
The Shadows in the Library Stretched Long and Tender
The day of Minamoto no Yorimitsu's coming of age drew ever closer.
At dusk, inspecting their territory was an unspoken understanding between Hebe and Minamoto no Yorimitsu.
The onmyōji of Heian-kyō believed that twilight was the boundary between humans and ghosts. Thus, they called it the Hour of Meeting Demons and remained constantly vigilant.
"What the onmyōji say is not wrong, but it is incomplete."
Hebe sat in the carriage draped with green curtains, while Minamoto no Yorimitsu sat quietly across from her and listened to the lesson.
"I call these special moments the Times of Evasion: sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight." Hebe held up four fingers. "At these four times, all spells and rituals become smoother and more effective."
This knowledge had been refined through the two Lostbelts of Albion and Egypt.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu looked slightly puzzled. "Teacher, could it be that the onmyōji..."
She wanted to say that the onmyōji were incompetent, but that seemed unlikely for onmyōji who had survived countless battles.
The Seiwa Genji also had onmyōji in their service. According to them, sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight were precisely the four times one needed to avoid.
Unless one possessed a sufficiently exalted status, casting spells and conducting rituals at those four moments would not bring blessings, but instead invite extremely severe backlash.
Minamoto no Yorimitsu organized her words and voiced her doubts.
Hebe froze.
She had truly never considered that possibility, but she understood after thinking about it briefly.
In Albion, she had been the great sage Merlin; in the Egyptian lands, she had been the Scribe of the Heavens, Imhotep, King of Ibis.
How could this bunch of onmyōji from the Eastern Lostbelt, who might not even possess illumination, dare to perform rituals during the Times of Evasion?
"Ah, there is no need to worry about that." Hebe pointed at herself. "I am different from those onmyōji."
Minamoto no Yorimitsu was speechless for a moment.
"You are the same." Hebe said to Minamoto no Yorimitsu, "Ordinary taboos mean nothing to you."
If there were anyone in the Eastern Lostbelt who could be called the child of destiny, then Minamoto no Yorimitsu deserved the title without question.
In other words, even if Hebe did nothing, Minamoto no Yorimitsu would eventually walk the path of purging all mystery and ending the Heian era in which demons and ghosts ran rampant.
However, Hebe did not pursue the topic further. Instead, she turned her gaze toward the destination of their journey.
The Seiwa Genji had their own library tower.
Before you continue