"Let's go to school!"
In the quaint old manor, Amame Ei cheerfully hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders.
"I wonder if the incident in Machiya Town has been dealt with yet."
Nagisa Kazuha still felt a little worried. Even someone as privileged as her had only heard that there had been a "terrorist attack" in Arakawa Ward.
After all, she wasn't an actual leader of the zaibatsu. She could only learn a little about the "inside story" from her parents.
"Don't panic."
"Tokyo has a population of tens of millions."
"We can't be so unlucky as to run into trouble ourselves."
Akihi Yu calmly reassured them. The so-called "terrorist attack" was actually just him practicing Earth Release—and making sure the police wouldn't bother Akiyu Sora in the process.
As for whether trouble would come, and in what form, that was up to him.
"The Metropolitan Police Department should've taken care of it by now, right? It's been a whole day."
Class Monitor Nao chimed in. Akiyu Sora continued scrolling on her phone as they headed toward the manor's entrance.
Two young women in maid uniforms were pushing open the tightly shut gates.
A black car drove into the manor and stopped.
?!
Amame Ei, who had been skipping along, shrank her pupils and lowered her head instinctively. Her whole body began to tremble slightly.
A middle-aged man had stepped out of the black car.
His short, graying hair was combed back. Deep smile lines, crow's feet, and sunken bags under his eyes marked his unsmiling face. He wore dark traditional clothes, making him look like a man in his fifties or sixties.
But that wasn't the case. The man was—
"Father."
Nagisa Kazuha bowed to him, and Akihi Yu and the others stopped in their tracks.
That's right. The man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties was actually only in his forties. He was Nagisa Kazuha's father, head of the Nagisa Zaibatsu—and Amame Ei's father as well!
There were a couple of reasons for his appearance. For one, his old-fashioned aristocratic attire made him look older.
And holding onto the position of family head wasn't easy.
Within the family, branches fought over power. Outside it, ambitious newcomers watched for an opening.
The "new money" in Minato Ward never stopped challenging the authority of the old aristocracy.
"Kazuha."
"These are your classmates."
The stern middle-aged man's gaze swept over Akihi Yu and the others. He spoke as though stating a fact, not asking a question.
"Are you going to school? Be careful."
"Yes, Father."
Nagisa Kazuha wanted to say something else, but her father had already turned and headed for the main house.
From beginning to end, he never once looked at Amame Ei.
?
"Father!"
The middle-aged man, walking away with his back to her, merely raised a hand slightly. It meant that he didn't want to hear another sound.
His attitude left Nagisa Kazuha deeply dejected.
"Let's go, Kazuha."
"And you too, Ei."
He placed a hand on the petite girl's shoulder as she stood trembling with her head lowered.
"There's an old saying: 'Thirty years the Arakawa River flows east, thirty years it flows west.'"
As his younger sister Akiyu Sora wondered aloud, "Is that really a Tokyo saying?" Akihi Yu continued comforting Amame Ei.
"In short, he might not care about you now, but it may not be long before he has to look up to you."
"How could that happen? I'm just... an orphan."
Amame Ei wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked up, her carefree smile returning.
"Ehehehe."
"I was just scared by that gentleman's presence."
"Ei, I'm sorry."
Nagisa Kazuha instinctively pulled the girl into her arms, her face filled with guilt.
One was her father, the other her older sister. Being caught between them was hard on her, too.
That's right. In height and maturity, Nagisa Kazuha seemed more like the older sister. But in truth, the petite Amame Ei was the elder of the two.
"I'm fine."
Amame Ei gently removed her younger sister's hands.
"Come on, Kazuha!"
She set off toward the gate first. She both longed for this place and feared it.
In the end, it wasn't her "home."
"Ei, wait."
A figure hurried over from the side. Akiyu Sora, who was always on her phone, put it away and took Amame Ei's hand.
"Let's go together."
"Sure! Sora's the best!"
The Young Lady, who had also been about to step forward, paused.
It might have been rude to say so, but compared to her, who had been loved by her parents, perhaps Akiyu Sora, who had lost hers, could understand her older sister's feelings better.
"Don't overthink it, Kazuha."
As he stepped forward, Akihi Yu tilted his head toward her.
"All that matters is that your feelings for Ei are sincere."
As for her parents?
He believed their attitude toward Amame Ei would soon change.
Whether that change would be for better or worse was something they would have to discover for themselves.
Akihi Yu was only giving the girl a chance—and her parents one, too.
Bunkyo Ward,
Tokyo Metropolitan Koishikawa Secondary Education School,
Sitting by the window, Kishida Jun furrowed his brow slightly.
That target was moving again.
He had followed it all yesterday. After fighting the Flame Skeleton it had summoned in Arakawa Ward, he'd managed to obtain a fragment of the Sessho-seki, but he still hadn't been able to do anything about the Black Fish that could burrow underground and carried a torii on its back.
It had a large fragment of the Sessho-seki on it!
Ever since accepting the White Ghost Messenger's task, Kishida Jun had been able to vaguely sense Demonic Aura.
According to the White Ghost Messenger, almost all the demonic power appearing in the human world at this time came from fragments of the Sessho-seki.
And the Sessho-seki could imprison souls, an ability that violated the Underworld's "authority." That was why he needed to help gather the fragments.
The White Ghost Messenger had promised that if he reclaimed a hundred fragments of the Sessho-seki, he would make an exception and bring Miyashita Ryoko back to life!
Collecting the Sessho-seki meant making an enemy of the legendary Demon King.
But why would Kishida Jun care about that now?
Even if it was the greatest of the three Demon Kings,
he wouldn't back down!
"Tamamo-no-Mae..."
The boy murmured to himself. The islands were full of legends about ghosts and gods, and were said to have eight million deities. Yet only three beings could be called Demon Kings.
The Great Tengu, Shuten-doji, and the White-Faced Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox!
Strictly speaking,
"Tengu" didn't refer to a single monster, but to an entire race.
Records of ghosts and monsters named eight beings in the islands who were called Great Tengu. There were countless more ordinary tengu.
Tengu had red faces and long noses, as well as a pair of wings that let them soar freely through the air. They also wielded gunbai fans, feather fans, or magic mallets, with which they could summon winds that swept from heaven to earth.
They were famous throughout the islands, and if all the tengu could gather together, their strength would be formidable—assuming the legends were true.
Of course, that was impossible.
Tengu embodied "arrogance." Getting them to work together was simply absurd.
As for Shuten-doji, he was the Demon King who held sway over Mount Oe.
He had two faces: a "handsome young man" and a "hideous evil spirit." In human form, he could beguile countless women; in his monstrous form, he could breathe fire hot enough to scorch the sky and boil the sea.
But according to legend, he was beheaded almost as soon as he appeared, by Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his men. They had supposedly gotten him drunk through trickery, but that hardly made for an impressive record.
Only Tamamo-no-Mae...
As he flipped through the copy of Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki he'd borrowed, Kishida Jun couldn't help feeling that she would be a tough opponent.
Unlike the Great Tengu and Shuten-doji, Tamamo-no-Mae had truly clashed with the Onmyoji, Dharma Monks, and warriors of the Heian period!
Legend had it that she infiltrated the imperial palace and drained Emperor Toba's life force. Although the great Onmyoji Abe no Yasuchika had eventually suppressed her with the power of the entire nation, her demonic power, ambition, and obsession remained in the form of the Sessho-seki in Nasu-no. There, she was immortal, waiting for a chance to return.
A year ago, the Sessho-seki had cracked!
Thinking back to the news at the time, Kishida Jun fell into thought.
Perhaps monsters—or rather, supernatural beings—had already been secretly living among humans since then?
In the past, Kishida Jun had neither believed in nor paid much attention to stories of ghosts and gods. But now, he was a staunch believer.
Ryoko...
His gaze fell on the umbrella beside his desk, and his eyes turned exceptionally gentle.
I won't make you wait much longer.
Before you continue