Volume 7, Chapter 7: Jinnai Shinobu@Total War, Break Through the Center Part 6-10

This chapter is updated by wuxiaworld.eu\nPart 6 \nGiven the situation, not even flying guaranteed our safety. In fact, the open sky made it easier for him to shoot us with his projectile weapon. However, randomly descending to the earth would only get us attacked by the countless Saiki Kazus. \nWhere could we land? Who could we ask for help? \n… \n“Succubus, land in those woods! Hyakki Yakou’s leader should be there!!” \n“Ehhh!? They do kind of have a huge grudge against me for that Euro Security Force business, you know!?” \nShe immediately complained, but she seemed to understand that staying here would only get us shot down by Saiki Kazu. She reluctantly did as I said. The Umbrella and Lantern shut their mouths and did not utter a peep after hearing the term Hyakki Yakou. \nI found a very strange scene there. \nFirst, there was Hafuri. I had known her as a girl of about ten in a kimono, but standing next to her was another Hafuri who had grown into quite a sexy body. A closer looked showed thin threads connecting the young Hafuri’s fingers to the other one like a marionette. \nThen, there was the Aoandon. She was sitting on the ground like a feeble girl, but her mouth and entire kimono were colored dark red with… \nUgh. Is that my… \n“Wahhh! Papa!” \n“Uuh! That’s not something a high school boy should be hearing!!” \n“What am I supposed to do…? Thanks to you, I can’t use any of my one hundred or more paranormal powers! What am I supposed to do now!?” \n“Ahhh!! Don’t run up and hug me like that!! It’s disgusting! Is all this sticky stuff my-…ahhhhh!!” \n“I know exactly what I can do that you’ll like the least. After all, the story of Jinnai Shinobu is one of the ghost stories I was made from!!” \nA blue light shined in her eyes as she rubbed her cheek against me. \nShe hasn’t had a change of heart at all. \nAll that’s changed is the upper limit of how much she can harm people! She still fully intends to crush me! This is like reverting a three meter man-eating tiger to a cub the size of a stuffed animal!! \nAnd while I’ll admit she is something like my child created from the Zenmetsu Village incident, how does that make it my responsibility and no one else’s? My uncle and the Hishigami Sisters were there too! Not to mention Madoka-san! Especially Madoka-san! I need to speak with her later! \n“What…? Boy?” \nAnother Youkai seemed utterly shocked. \nThe Kaeshigami wore a farmer’s outfit and most of his face was hidden by the hat with a giant eye drawn on it. \n“What is it, Aburatori?” \n“You are Jinnai Shinobu, aren’t you? But you…” \n“I don’t know the details, but you don’t have to worry. I haven’t forgotten about you, Kaeshigami-san.” \n“O-ohhh-ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!! Boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!” \n“Ahhh!! What’s the matter with you, old man!?” \nI already had my hands full with the red-stained baby, but now an emotional old man was clinging to me. The world had grown too psychedelic for me! \n“Succubus, Succubus!! You embrace me too! Help!! I need some normal sexiness to average this all ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttttttt!!” \n“No, thank you. Helping people is just disgusting. I am a demon, you know?” \nMeanwhile, (the small) Hafuri placed a hand on her forehead and gave an exasperated sigh. \n“Sigh… Why are you even here?” \n“Saiki Kazu.” \nI spoke the name while pushing away the old man and the Aoandon’s face, which was covered in (my) blood and gore. \n“This isn’t going to end without doing something about him. Hishigami Mai is fighting him now, but who knows how long she can last against that monster.” \n“I know. Fortunately, all of our Top 5 are still available. If I send them in, we can settle this in a quick-…” \n“No!! If you do that, this village will be wiped from the map! You might be fine with that, but that might as well be the end of the world for me!!” \n“Then what do you suggest we-…” \nHafuri trailed off as a solid sound was followed by a canine Youkai flying in and embedding itself in the humus. \n“Th-that was an impressive forkball. It really dropped right on down…” \n“Only Hishigami Mai would do anything this crazy.” \nHafuri crouched down and pulled the Youkai from the humus. It was the Sunekosuri that was always with Mai (and was almost constantly worried). \n“Ah, Hafuri-sama!” \n“Since you were thrown directly here, I take it you have some kind of urgent message. You can omit the formalities. What happened?” \n“Th-that’s right! Mai-san asked me to tell you what she figured out about Saiki Kazu! Woof, woof!!” \n“Tell me.” \nAfter receiving Hafuri’s permission, the Sunekosuri seemed to stand at attention in the girl’s hand. \n“Unlike a normal Package, Saiki Kazu does not seem to be borrowing an existing Youkai’s power or traits.” \n“Is he using his own stress and mentality like the Illness Magic?” \n“No. He has crossed the borderline of humanity to become an inhuman paranormal being.” \nWhat did that mean? Had he erased every last one of his worldly thoughts to become a sage or something? Or had he used excessive pride or hatred of the human world to become a Tengu? \nMy body tensed up when I started thinking of those stories from picture books. \nWait. Don’t tell me…! But it couldn’t be!! \n“In other words, rather than using an existing Youkai, he is creating a brand new Youkai. You could say he is using his own flesh and blood to build up a Youkai we could call email protected KAzU.” \nI could not speak another word for a while. \nHowever, the clock was still ticking. The battle between Hyakki Yakou and the Aoandon’s group and the battle between Hishigami Mai and Saiki Kazu were both still underway. I couldn’t just ignore reality. I had to force my mind to think about this. \n“That would explain it,” I somehow managed to say. “That would be why I couldn’t find an appropriate Youkai no matter how much I thought. Of course I couldn’t. There wasn’t anything to find in a Youkai encyclopedia or an occult-obsessed website. He was creating it himself!!” \n“Akki Rasetsu was aiming for something similar: transforming the human body into a Youkai. But they were trying to fuse with an existing Youkai. They were never arrogant enough to try to create a brand new one.” \n“Hmm.” The Aoandon sounded indifferent. “But I’m a blue Oni that a Youkai illustrator in the Edo period made up to represent all the mysterious phenomena said to appear at the end of the Hyakumonogatari. There was no academic value to the claim, but that illustrator was simply too well-known. The idea spread and it became known as the truth. That illustrator also invented quite a few other Youkai. It’s said over a third of his famous illustrated Youkai scrolls were his own inventions.” \nComing up with a Youkai, creating it, and mixing it with others. \nThe Dodomeki, the Hossumori, the Mokugyo Daruma, the Gotoku Neko, and the Aoandon. There were a surprising number of Youkai that became known because that illustrator had invented them. …In more recent years, similar legends were told about an extremely famous Youkai manga author. \nOf course, since Youkai illustrations were often used as satire of society or the current age, no one saw any problem mixing in invented examples and it was often seen as a type of humor. \nBut… \n“Are you saying Saiki Kazu can invent Youkai on that same level? This is more than putting a made-up Youkai in an encyclopedia. He’s successfully getting everyone to accept them to the point that they have the same presence as a mountain god or sea god that’s been worshipped for millennia. He can do all that artificially!?” \nIf so, he was the cruelest creator. \nThe Aoandon had used unfair powers in her direct confrontations, but she had only been creating infinite phenomena from a finite stock. This man was different. As a creator, he could create whatever he lacked whenever he needed it. There was no trick here. He was an infinite being from the beginning. \nThe Aoandon was the ultimate system, but she had been abandoned after release. Saiki Kazu was a system receiving update files every second. \nDid he even have a weakness? Even if he did, wouldn’t he have already patched it? \n“Mai-san is doing everything she can to disturb him, but she is being pushed back because he can overwrite his powers and traits however he likes. She says there will be no stopping him once he crosses a certain line.” \n“Does that mean we could overpower him with the Top 5 if we acted now?” \nHafuri’s words brought an unpleasant chill to my entire body. \nAt this rate, the most powerful five and the greatest Saiki Kazu would clash at full power. What would happen to Noukotsu Village? What would happen to the village where I was born and raised, where Madoka, Nagisa, and the others were collapsed unconscious, and where the Zashiki Warashi, Yuki Onna, and other Youkai were waiting out the disaster? \nAnd even then, there was no guarantee they could defeat Saiki Kazu. \nWhat if they couldn’t? \nWhat if even Hyakki Yakou wasn’t enough? \nThe Aoandon…no, the community that was now centered on Saiki Kazu would not stop with the destruction of this remote village. I only had to remember what had happened on that casino-covered Gold Mine Island. The CIA had been planning to escape the country lest they be caught in the destruction of Japan triggered by something this group would do. \nWe had stopped the Aoandon, but we could not ignore Saiki Kazu who was continuing where she had left off. \nWe had to stop him here, leaving not even a hundredth of one percent chance of that happening. \n“…” \nBut I knew that was being idealistic. \nRealistically, how were we supposed to fight him now that he had grown so inhuman? How could we tear victory from his grasp? He could create brand new Youkai and overwrite his own traits and abilities whenever and however often he wished. He might not stop even if we crushed his heart and chopped off his head. \n“…Wait.” \n“?” \n“Yes, that’s right. He overwrites and fills in his traits and abilities. He drags them along and connects them. If he can do that…” \nI pictured a group of vainly spinning gears in my mind. \nAt the moment, the entire system was dead because the gears were not fitting together properly. But everything I needed was already inside the box. If I could only adjust the positions of the gears so they fit in place… \n“I saw this somewhere… Where? It wasn’t necessarily recently. After all, I traveled ten years into the past. Remember. Flip over your box of memories. What is it this on the tip of my tongue? Where did I see it?” \nI bit my thumb and the flavor of blood allowed me to search through that external storage. \nThat was when the image returned to the back of my mind. \nIn the parlor, the Zashiki Warashi, Nurarihyon, and Kasha were sitting in a circle chatting. They were talking about their treatment in a summoning RPG and how the Zashiki Warashi and Yuki Onna appeared so often. And in that discussion… \n——It sure is trouble when cultures combine or when you’re mixed with or identified with another Youkai. \n“That’s it! That’s it!!” I shouted. \n“Master?” \n“If Saiki Kazu is a perfect and faultless Youkai, then we just have to drag him down from that throne! We just have to mix him with another Youkai to mix together their explanations!!” \nThere were examples of this happening. \nFor example, the Japanese Youkai known as the Ubume and the avian Ubume from China. Or the Dakini-Ten which was a goddess riding a jackal in India yet rode a fox in Japan since there were no jackals in Japan. There were even Youkai and divine beasts that people started mixing together because they had similar names, colors, or shapes! \nAnd I already had an idea of how to mix together those existences. \nI had experienced it myself, after all! \n“Hafuri, can you use your time travel Package? The one that uses the Kudan’s prophecies.” \n“Wha-? How do you know about one of Hyakki Yakou’s greatest secrets…?” \n“It doesn’t matter!! And don’t try to tell me you can’t. This is the second version of this battle. After defeating Tselika so quickly, you have to have taken far less damage this time around! If you could use it on the first go around, there’s no way you can’t now! Get it ready if you don’t want Saiki Kazu to ruin everything!!” \nIt was the same as me accessing “his” memories from this external storage. \nWhen two of the same person existed in the same space, the effect remained even if one of them died. \nThat Jinnai Shinobu and this Jinnai Shinobu had to have been almost the exact same existence, so the only real difference was the memories. \nBut that was enough of a threat. It was a great irregularity involving a time paradox. Plus, it was directly linked to memories and personality. What would have happened to my mind if I hadn’t been able to access it properly and it was nothing but noise? \nIt didn’t matter what was held inside the external storage. \nTwo versions of the same person existed in the same space. One of them died and became a ghost-like external storage. It was not either version of the person that mattered. It was the invisible thread connecting them. If it was carelessly messed with, couldn’t even the most powerful foe be torn apart from within? \nAnd we could reach that position with a time paradox. \nFirst, we had to use time travel to make the same individual exist twice in a single world. If we then defeated one of them, we had a chance of damaging Youkai email protected KAzU who would not budge no matter how much we attacked him from without. \n“Hafuri, I have a question about that big…um, doll? Who created it and how?” \n“The Illness Magic User. He combined thousands of types of fungi to create a perfect copy of a human on a physiological level.” \n“I don’t care if it’s a rush job, it only has to look right. In that case, how long would it take to make one of those?” \n“I would have to ask him directly to know for sure. However, this one was originally meant as an artificial surrogate mother with my traits built in. It would have been extremely carefully made to ensure the next generation leader for Hyakki Yakou could be born without issue.” \n“Meaning?” \n“The Illness Magic also creates copies of himself to confuse the enemy. If that level is sufficient, I believe he can design one almost immediately.” \nGood. \nThat meant we had the time travel and the decoy copy forcibly made to match Saiki Kazu. \nWe only had to send the fake copy (which was technically something like a straw doll used to curse someone) into a different timeline a few seconds different from our own using the time travel Package. If we then destroyed that copy, the perfect Saiki Kazu would begin to access something. If we interfered, severed the thread between them, and filled it with noise, his mind would overload. Even if that did not defeat him, Hyakki Yakou’s deadly techniques could likely defeat him while he was standing defenselessly in front of them. \nWe could end this without creating a long, hopeless battle that was no different from negating a nuclear blast with another nuclear blast. \nI could clearly see the path leading back to my normal life! \nA moment later, I heard a deafening explosion in the distance. \n“That was where the Illness Magic is fighting,” said Hafuri. \nThe battle had not grown as chaotic as before due to the rapid elimination of Tselika’s influence, but it was still an all-out war. Countless battles were underway all over the place. \nIn other words… \n“If he is to come help us here, it seems he needs to settle his own battle first.” \nPart 7 (3rd person) \nThe situation could easily be described as a chaotic, but if someone had been able to compare this second round to the first one, it would have looked quite organized. \nThe Top 5 maintaining their sanity and cooperation helped more than anything else. Simply put, Hyakki Yakou had successfully followed their initial plan for the battle. \nThe Illness Magic User wore the black special combat uniform of a SWAT member. \nThe Venom Clairvoyant had her eyes covered with a red cloth and wielded two old German handguns. \nThey stood back to back in the gold-dyed rural landscape. \nThey fought on the same side as intended by the identical family crests they bore. \n“The Aoandon’s presence has vanished.” \n“And Saiki Kazu’s has grown instead.” \n“I see no sign of their hypnotism breaking.” \n“It will not break unless it is actively broken. But in this case, it was caused by the Aoandon’s paranormal powers rather than the academic idea of hypnotism.” \n“Meaning?” \n“If they lose consciousness, it will end there. It is the same as the flames of a lamp. With nothing to reignite it, it only needs to be extinguished the one time. No matter how much fuel remains, it will never resume burning.” \n“…” \nWhen he heard that, the Illness Magic User stared straight forward. \nHe looked to the greatest foe among the enemy group before them. \n“You’re so great. You’re so cool.” \nIt was the Byouki User. \nThe girl wore a short, yellow China dress, a jacket with cat ear decorations on the hood, and bandages seemingly placed randomly along her face and one leg. She used a Byouki, a variation of Kodoku. That fear was automatically mass-produced to the level required to kill her target. \nHe had supposedly defeated this girl once already. \nIf not for the Aoandon’s interruption, he might have saved this soul. \n“Ah ha ha! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!! Why? Why do you have everything? Like a companion to stand back to back with!? I…I’ve fallen so very far and I’ve never – not once! – found anything like that!!!!!!” \nBlack shadows stood up as she screamed at him. \nEach one was a symbol of disease and pestilence. A scratch from one of their claws would cause one’s entire body to foam up, rot away, and have its protein boiled from within by an intense fever. \nBut even as hundreds and thousands of the Byouki surrounded him, the man’s expression did not change in the slightest. \n“I already gave you my answer.” \nThe Illness Magic User had not been anyone special. \nHe had simply been given a home when Hyakki Yakou had taken him in. \nSo if this girl had been given a home and a symbol to bear, she may have been able to bring an end to her chain of despair. \n“Ah ha ha. I didn’t get it. None of it got through to me. I’m dumb, after all. I never seem to catch on. Everyone loses patience with me. Ha ha. Ah ha ha. I really am hopeless. Completely hopeless…” \n“Then I will tell you as many times as it takes for you to understand.” \nWith the sound of electricity running through a neon tube, a glowing white blade grew from between his index and middle fingers. \n“What will you do?” asked the Venom Clairvoyant. “Request support from the bombers flying overhead?” \n“Unlike before, I do not have laser guidance from Hishigami. The fuses may be removed, but who can say where in the village they will land.” \n“Then what will you do? Won’t you be pushed back by the infinite Byouki welling up from the surface of the earth?” \n“Venom, lend me your ‘eyes’. …That pitiful girl is not even worth killing, so I will settle this here so she can recover.” \nWhen the blindfolded shrine maiden heard his brusque words, she sighed while still back to back with him. \n“Oh, so we’re still doing this your way, Onii-chan? And how am I supposed to react when you’re so attached to a girl more than twelve years younger than your sister?” \n“Did you say something?” \n“No, nothing.” \n“Sister, I’ve been thinking this for a while, but a woman past the age of twenty-five really should not be calling her brother ‘Onii-chan’.” \n“So you did hear meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!” \nA short distance away, the Oomukade confronted Ranzono Sachi. \n“Come.” \nA bell-like voice spoke a single word. \nThat was enough for the earth of the surrounding paddy field to swell up. Youkai larger than a light vehicle burst out. They were mostly strange and grotesque animal-types such as the Tsuchigumo, Uwabami, and Gama, but that may have been due to Sachi’s own special trait. \n(That Jinnai Shinobu boy I met in Noukotsu Village had this same ability over an extraordinarily wide range, but in exchange for being limited to animals, Sachi can consciously control it and give it some level of directionality. …She seems to be summoning them. You really could call her a summoner right now.) \nHe sounded so concerned because the Aoandon’s lingering hypnotism remained even if the archdemon was gone. Endlessly summoning Youkai without any kind of sacrifice or ritual was essentially a tactical weapon itself. If a medium or shaman had known of this, it may have been enough for them to direct a curse of hatred her way. \nThe Oomukade could not ignore this. \nHe could not carelessly let anyone see her. He had to seal this power away and prevent anyone from using her. He wanted to prevent her life from being manipulated for someone else’s benefit any further. \n“Can you hear me, Sachi?” \n“…” \nShe did not respond. Countless Youkai surrounded her with the sounds of scraping metal claws. They lined up like shogi pieces. \nThey were prepared to defeat their enemy, the Oomukade. \nOddly muddy eyes still trapped by hypnotism turned his way. \nThe white rose corsage on the side of her head swayed weakly. \n“I will…protect my friends…” \n“So will I, Sachi.” \n“I will create a world where we can all be equal. To do that…to do that, I will do anything.” \n“You don’t need some special world. The centipedes and spiders only needed to live secretly next to people’s houses. No one needed to notice them. That’s all there was to it.” \nThe Oomukade gathered strength in his giant body. \nThat Youkai had begun as a single insect, but legend had it he had devoured a clan of dragon gods and driven them to the verge of extinction. He was a Youkai that ate Youkai. And when he had eaten a Byouki to protect Sachi, he had begun to take on the traits of Kodoku, the technique that had countless venomous insects and ferocious beasts fight to the death. \nRanzono Sachi had summoned quite a few Youkai, but he would not lose so easily in a pure competition of strength. \nBut that itself was a problem. \n(My poison is too strong.) \nHis giant maw snapped together from the left and right and a strange purple fluid dripped down. \n(This will do more than paralyze Sachi. It will kill her. Yet I cannot stop her through brute force either. There is nothing I can do like this.) \nAware of that, he calmly moved his thoughts along. \n(Then I need to weaken my poison.) \nHe would do whatever it took to save this girl. \n(Fortunately, Kodoku gathers all of the poison and curse into the final surviving insect or beast. …To put it another way, one’s poison and curse are taken away when they are eaten. Tsuchigumo, Uwabami, Gama. I’m sorry, but I will be using you here. Eat my body and take away the excess poison I carry.) \nIf he could weaken his poison, he could knock Ranzono Sachi out without killing her. \nIf she passed out, the unnaturally summoned Youkai would return to their senses. \nThat would solve everything. \nThere was no guarantee the Oomukade would survive being eaten. The more he was eaten, the more power would be taken from him, so it was possible he would not have enough strength left to heal his wounds. \nBut he did not care. \nEven if he misjudged his strength and got himself killed, he would still be able to save Ranzono Sachi. \nHe only wanted to leave her with the possibility of exchanging truly warm words with the children she had met in this village instead of being drawn to that blue Oni like a bug to a bug zapper. \nAs long as he could save his friend, he did not care what happened to him. \n“Come, Sachi!! Your enemy is right here!!” \n“…Go, everyone.” \nAs the two of them glared at each other, they crossed a line. Just like releasing a drawn bowstring, he prepared to release the strength built up past the limit in his giant body. A clash between great weights was beginning. \nBut in the very instant before that happened… \n“The Three Bugs…that is, the Upper Corpse, the Middle Corpse, and the Lower Corpse. As the night of Koshin passes, travel through the barrier of Sarutahiko and report to the Heavenly Emperor. You are bugs the size of a fingertip, yet you are foreign objects which remove the lifespan of all living things. Take the form of bullets, enter the body, and steal their strength! Three Corpses!!” \nGunshots rang out. \nNormal blades and bullets did nothing to Youkai, yet bullet holes opened in the Tsuchigumo, the Uwabami, the Gama, and Ranzono Sachi’s other soldiers, and their bodies froze up as if glue had been poured inside. \nThe next thing the Oomukade knew, a blindfolded shrine maiden wielding two handguns stood next to him. \nThe bells decoratively tied to the old German handguns belatedly produced a clear ring. And those bells contained the symbol of Hyakki Yakou. \nHer divinely thin coat danced with her movements. \n“Who…are you?” \nThe shrine maiden grabbed a clip of spare bullets and pushed it into the top of the fixed magazine. The bullet portion was not made of lead. Instead, it appeared to be a dried and balled up larva. \n“I am the Venom Clairvoyant of Hyakki Yakou’s Top 5. To be honest, I would not normally take on this odd job without Hafuri-sama’s orders, but the Illness Magic asked me to help out if I could.” \n“…” \n“And what’s this? Another little girl!? And she’s even younger than the Byouki one! First Hafuri-sama and now this monster summoner. Did something happen to you, Onii-chan!? (Worry, worry)” \n“Hey, so what happened to the Tsuchigumo and the others?” \n“Ah!? The Three Corpse bullets are meant for use against Youkai, but I can freely regulate their destructive power. That was not enough to kill them. I only put them to sleep for a bit.” \n“Could you stop Sachi’s rampage with those bullets?” \n“The Three Corpse bugs originally hid inside the human body, stealing one’s lifespan. Youkai have little concept of aging, but a normal human would be killed instantly by one of these.” \n“Then I’m sorry to say you are merely in the way here.” The Oomukade agonizingly squeezed out the words. “I must stop Sachi without harming her. To do that, I must weaken the excess poison in my body, but that requires allowing her Youkai to devour me. Listen. Can you stop neutralizing the enemy Youkai? This is meaningless if they do not attack me!!” \n“Oh? I wouldn’t be so sure.” \nThe Venom Clairvoyant immediately replied in a clear voice. \nThe St. John's wort clasp at her chest rustled. \n“It is true that securing and suppressing such a young girl might be more difficult than simply killing an adult. But this was never a place for adults like us who have too much strength already. Isn’t it most natural for children’s problems to be resolved by children?” \n“What are you…?” The Oomukade suddenly caught on. “Don’t tell me you’re dragging that boy into this! And this is one of the worst battlefields this small field has to offer!!” \n“The residents of Noukotsu Village have been knocked unconscious by us in Hyakki Yakou. That was to prevent the Aoandon’s group from manipulating them with some sort of paranormal power. However, some humans surrounded by plenty of Youkai managed to remain conscious. That Jinnai Shinobu is a good example.” \n“Are you saying that boy did too because he was surrounded by Tsukumogami? No…” \n“This is not so simple. Jinnai Shinobu is simply that irregular a human, even if he is not aware of it. The boy in question passed out along with the others. However,” continued the Venom Clairvoyant. “It is said that insects warn of coming danger and I gain paranormal inspiration by raising such things in my body. Those insects can produce a high affinity for anyone’s body and input the data on any coming danger. On top of that, the human mind is easily shaken by danger signals. When used properly, those insects can act as the ultimate alarm clock.” \nIn other words, all the proper information had been inputted into the boy’s body. \nIn other words, that boy had woken while everyone else was passed out. \nIn other words, that boy who knew Ranzono Sachi’s situation had not hesitated to run onto the battlefield. \nA new form appeared on that paddy field: Yonesaki Hiro. \nSimilar to Ranzono Sachi, that boy was loved by all Tsukumogami that were based on physical objects. \n“Ohh, my master!! It’s dangerous! Why are you here!?” \n“No, Umbrella. You need to prepare yourself too. It looks like it’s time for Hiro-sama to prove that he’s a man!!” \nThe Umbrella Obake and Lantern Obake met up with the boy. \nThose Youkai had fallen silent as soon as the term Hyakki Yakou had been mentioned, but that had changed as soon as they had caught sight of their young master’s face. They had left Jinnai Shinobu and the others to run toward him. \n“Umbrella, Lantern. I heard everything from a bug in my ear.” \nThe average-looking boy in a blue sweater and beige pants spoke quietly. \n“So help me out here. I’m going to save Ranzono-san.” \nThe Umbrella and Lantern were not the only Youkai with Yonesaki Hiro. A sash slithered like a snake, a stone mortar walked on short arms and legs, a giant wooden board of unclear use fluttered through the sky, and an empty suit of armor clanked as it walked. \n“We need to help Hiro-chan.” \n“Hiro-chan!” \n“We have your back, so you do what it is you need to do!!” \nAltogether, they were Tsukumogami. \nThe Yonesaki family repaired old tools and when their skill as craftsmen allowed a tool to live for one hundred years, it gained a will of its own like this. The Youkai repaid the family by swearing loyalty to every consecutive generation. \nMeanwhile, hypnotized Ranzono Sachi stared at these new targets with her muddy eyes. \nHer summoning voice left her lips. \n“Come.” \nThe rural ground was destroyed and a great variety of Youkai appeared. With Sarugami, Baku, Takebunkani, Tesso, and more, there was everything from a giant monkey that simply abducted and killed people to a swarm of mice that devoured all documents. \nYoung gazes collided and several Youkai stepped forward on both sides. \nTwo voices cried out in unison. \n“Get them!!” \n“Get them!!” \nA deafening sound of collision followed. \nThe heavy furniture such as cabinets and mortars dropped down on the Sarugami that swung its powerful arms and the giant Takebunkani that was protected by its thick carapace. The animal Youkai responded by swinging their arms and legs to send the tea table and chairs flying. \n“We will make sure Hiro-chan wins!” \n“Don’t bring shame to our master! Charge!!” \n“Yaaa!!” \nEven when they were knocked through the air or fell to the ground, the large plates and metal pots did not stop fighting. They had originally been normal objects, but they would not break so easily now that they were Youkai. They quickly got back up and charged right back into the fray. \n“They might be Youkai, but they’re still just furniture,” mechanically said Ranzono Sachi. “While there are a few exceptions like the mortar in the story of the Crab and the Monkey, they generally do not have the ability to kill other Youkai.” \nIt had likely only been a small flame to begin with, but those negative words had been broadly interpreted from without. \n“On the other hand, I have plenty of deadly Youkai among my friends. I can call as many of them here as I need, so I can’t lose. I will create a world where my friends will be accepted as equal!!” \nAnd there was one Youkai that was truly deadly to Tsukumogami: the Tesso. \nThat Youkai had begun as the grudge of a high priest. According to legend, it had eighty-four thousand mice under its command and had eaten through all of the sutras and Buddha statues in Enryaku-ji, so it was the ultimate enemy of a Tsukumogami made of wood or paper. \n“Kyah! Kyahhh!! This swarm of mice is biting me!!” \n“Keep fighting, Lantern. If this gets too dangerous, then you escape into the sky!!” \n“What about you, Umbrella!?” \n“Paper umbrellas have long had their paper replaced. Did you really think I would fear having my paper broken after all this time!? Let’s do this, mice!!” \nThe sound of chewing continued. \nIt was the sound of the century or older Tsukumogami being eaten through. \nListening to it should have put Ranzono Sachi into a victorious mood. \nHowever… \n(…Huh…?) \nHer heart had been as flat as the calm sea, but a slight ripple appeared there. \nOr so it seemed to her. \n(Why am I…happy…when I’m hearing…the screams of Youkai…?) \nThat question came to mind, but it vanished before she could find an answer. That prevented her from continuing down that line of thought. A vague unpleasant lump lurked in the back of her mind, but she did not know why it was there. \nAs a result, she focused on repeating the same action. \n“Come, come, come, come.” \nEach time she spoke the word, even more Youkai burst from the ground. They were all monsters based on bugs or reptiles. A normal human would have difficulty looking at just one of them, but this was a great swarm. Ranzono Sachi narrowed her eyes as a part of that grotesque scene. \n“Gyaahhh!! It hurts!!” \n“Bear with it. Our masters can fix us even if we break!!” \n“But it hurts! I’m scared!! But…but I’ll do what I can for Hiro-chan’s sake!!” \nThose screams did not allow her to comfort herself in the cradle of thoughtlessness. \nThese were the screams, cries, and shrieks of Youkai. They came from the furniture Tsukumogami instead of the grotesque spiders, snakes, and other animals, but they still shook Ranzono Sachi’s mind bit by bit. The flat water’s surface was now covered in the countless waves of a stormy sea. \n“Stop…” \nShe was the one causing it, but while hypnotically trapped, the thought of letting up on the attack never occurred to her. \nInstead, she set her sights on Yonesaki Hiro, the symbol of all those standing up against her. If he had not come here, she would not have had to attack these Youkai, so he was the cause. Her mind had been remade to think that way. \n“Stop this!! Don’t you understand? You can’t defeat us like this! No matter what you do and no matter how much you struggle, you can’t defeat my friends!! So leave! Stop pinning impossible hopes on them and forcing them to work needlessly!!” \n“They won’t lose.” \nAnd yet… \n“My family won’t lose.” \nHe answered immediately. \nIt was a ridiculous hope. Many Tsukumogami were being harmed in the name of that hope. Realistically, most of the Tsukumogami could only tackle their enemies and barely any of them could use a paranormal power such as a curse. And their destructive ability corresponded to their original weight. The heaviest of them was the stone mortar, but not even it could crush the Sarugami or Takebunkani with a direct hit. \nIn other words, they had not even the slightest chance of winning. \nThe more they fought, the more they would be worn down and the greater the damage to the Tsukumogami. \nBut then a great tremor of the earth overturned that assumption. \n“Wha-…?” \nWhen Ranzono Sachi looked over, her eyes opened wide. \nA new object Youkai had appeared, but it was not a simple piece of furniture such as a cabinet or tea table. \nIt was an entire thatch-roof house. \nThe wooden structure had to weigh at least several dozen tons and it slowly approached like a dinosaur. \nWas Ranzono Sachi familiar with a Youkai known as a Mayoiga? \nIt was heavy and thus slow, so Yonesaki Hiro’s side had only needed to buy enough time for it to arrive. \nAnd a Tsukumogami’s tackle was as powerful as its original weight. \nThe stone mortar fighting on the front lines had only been around fifty kilograms. \n“Bwoh.” \nIn that case, the Mayoiga’s attack would be fifty to one hundred times greater. \n“Bwoooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!” \nIt roared like an enraged bull and charged forward. \nAfter a deafening sound of impact, the giant monkey and crab monsters were thrown into the air like some kind of joke. Instead of attacking an individual enemy, it seemed to be tearing a great line through the entire enemy formation. \n“Your friends may indeed be strong, Ranzono-san,” said Yonesaki Hiro, the boy who had trusted that the Tsukumogami would endure until this moment. “But my family is even stronger! They won’t lose to anyone!!” \n“…!!!!!!!” \nRanzono Sachi’s already stormy heart was flipped over like a soup bowl falling victim to a mischievous cat. \nAll of her emotions burst out and she shouted in an explosion of rage. \n“Get them!! Everyone!!” \n“Mayoiga, keep pushing forward! Jatai, Kosode-no-Te! Give me a hand!!” \nDuring the second collision, Yonesaki Hiro spread his arms horizontally and a Youkai made of cloth wrapped around each hand. \nThen something frightening happened. \nAfter an especially loud footstep, Yonesaki Hiro rushed forward and beyond even his own formation of Youkai. He was personally bringing the fight directly to Ranzono Sachi. \nIt was the most foolish of foolish plans. \nIn shogi, he would have been sending his king from the protection of the golds and silvers to directly attack the enemy pieces. \nBut the surrounding Tsukumogami all moved at once without exchanging a single word. The used all their strength to hold back the animal Youkai such as the Baku and the Tesso that were making a focused attack on their greatest weakness. They continued pushing forward and, for just a few seconds, created a path as if parting the sea. \nThey knew that was how a man would act. \nThey knew their master would not be able to just hide at the back. \nThey had known perfectly what Yonesaki Hiro would do. \nThis went beyond friends or comrades. \nYes, it was almost like they were family. \n“Wha-…?” \nBefore Sachi could summon even more Youkai, the boy moved right up to her. He held a fist in front of his face like the boxers he had seen on TV, but he was not trying to punch her. \n“Jatai!!” \nA sash was wrapped around his fist like a bandage, but as soon as he held his hand forward, it stretched out and wrapped around Ranzono Sachi’s neck. \n“Gah…!? My…voice…” \n“Kosode-no-Te!! Go!!” \nHe swung his other hand and the cloth wrapped around it spread out. By the time Sachi realized it was a kimono, it had fallen over her head and covered her up. More than just having trouble breathing, most of her senses were now trapped in darkness. \nSummoning did not work if she could not utter the summoning words. \nUnable to aim or speak, she could not use her ability properly. \n(I…) \nHer carotid artery was being compressed more than her windpipe, so her mind began to flash in and out like she was caught in a judo stranglehold. \nBut even then, her objective grew to an unnatural size inside her heart. \n(I will create…a kind world…for all the Youkai…) \nBut in that darkness, a tiny question briefly entered her mind. \nWhat was she going to do once she made everyone equal? \nShe had a feeling someone’s smile had been there. She had a feeling someone had come at her head-on when she had been crying and shouting. She had a feeling a boy had seen the true face no one had ever accepted and called it pretty. \nBecause those thoughts had reached her as her consciousness faded, she was not sure if the voice she heard in the darkness was real or a figment of her imagination. \n“Don’t worry, Ranzono-san,” the voice said. “I’ll save you!!” \nAfter hearing that, consciousness slipped from the girl’s grasp. \nA cold wind blew between the two opponents: the Illness Magic User and the Byouki User. \n“Ha ha☆” \nThe surrounding battles were gradually coming to an end. Most of them were ending in Hyakki Yakou’s favor. With less of a burden on the Venom Clairvoyant, she could divert more of her resources this way. \nIn other words, the accuracy of the “eyes” borrowed by the Illness Magic User increased considerably. \nHis glowing sword had been slicing through the countless Byouki shadows as they automatically appeared, but he started doing far more than that. \nAfter a great sound, his body slipped between the countless Byouki and shot like a missile toward the girl using them. He no longer had to spend time defeating them before advancing. He took the quickest route to her. It was true the Byouki would automatically calculate out the number needed to kill its target and produce the necessary amount. That meant no human or Youkai could defeat the Byouki User, but the arrangement of Byouki was not even. The calculation was for how to win by sending all of the created Byouki toward the target and cutting off their escape route, so she never would have expected the target to slip through that checkmate arrangement. \nHowever, he slipped through the gaps. \nBy moving right up to the Byouki User, he could ignore the overwhelming numbers. It was much like using a sharp icepick-like blade to stab through the gap in the joint of a thick suit of armor and destroy the enemy’s weak point in a single blow. \n(When it comes down to it, we both wield paranormal power.) \nTheir gazes collided head-on. \nIt was like a copy of a past photo. The same result occurred each time. In the trials by ordeal of an older age, it was believed that god would side with whoever was in the right. In that same way, it was plain as day who would win here. \n“I know better than anyone how to save you. I would never make a mistake here, in this moment!!” \nA white blade roared and stabbed into the source of the black disease. \nThat was a holy blade that sliced through one’s evil heart without harming the body. \nUsing a portion of the power of a heavenly god who had begun as a vengeful spirit that had threatened Kyoto, the Illness Magic specialist saved the girl. \nPart 8 \nThe surrounding battle had come to an end. \nThe Illness Magic User was free. \nThere was no more need to hold back. \nHyakki Yakou Leader Hafuri brought something like a small microphone to her mouth and gave her command. \n“Illness Magic, use your power to create a copy of Saiki Kazu. The accuracy can be low. The bare minimum requirement is that it be recognizable as him.” \nI heard something like a twig being stepped on and then a large mass grew up from the ground like fast-forwarded footage of a bamboo shoot’s growth. It started as a white pillar, but it began to crumble and formed detailed features. Various colors of decomposition formed the hues of the hair, skin, and clothing. I watched it transform into the ventriloquist-like man in a dark suit. \n“Is the time travel Package ready!?” \n“It is.” \n“Send it five seconds into the future. If that makes the world or destiny or whatever think there are two Saiki Kazu’s in the same timeline, we’ve won. Once we destroy the fake doll, the residual data with no place in this world or the next will become something like external storage and begin linking to Perfect Youkai email protected KAzU. That will be filled with noise, which will give us a chance to win!!” \nI heard a sound of scattering sparks and then the fungal doll of Saiki Kazu vanished into thin air. \nFive seconds later, this would all be over. \n“Succubus, Aburatori.” \n“Yes, master.” \n“Leave it to me, boy.” \nAfter an even more violent sound of sparks, Saiki Kazu’s model reappeared in this world. \nWe had no reason to wait. \nAfter a great roar, the doll was utterly smashed to pieces. \nPart 9 (3rd person) \nSaiki Kazu’s heart felt a shock like a stake had been driven through it. \nHe supposedly existed as dozens of bodies at once, but every last one of them tilted its head. As if synchronized ahead of time, the same change came over them all. \nAnd that way of thinking brought a certain idea to mind. \n“Synchronized? It can’t be…” \n“Synchronized? It can’t be…” \n“Synchronized? It can’t be…” \nThe situation accelerated. \nA false silver sandstorm filled all of his senses. A headache and nausea overwhelmed all else. His sense of up or down was lost and his mind was too disturbed to even try to calm his confusion. \nBeyond the silver sandstorm filter, Hishigami Mai threw something toward one of his bodies while on the verge of being cornered herself. It may have been a grenade and it would not have been a real problem even if it was, so he caught it in one hand. \nIt was a satellite phone. \nIt was apparently already connected somewhere. The pain filling him only made him more expressionless as he brought the phone to his ear and heard a young girl’s voice. \n“Surrender. You have three seconds.” \n“…” \n“…” \n“…” \nThose words were enough for him to understand. \nThis organization, this field, this society, and this nation had been built up to the point that they could defeat Youkai email protected KAzU. \nThe fragile good had been eliminated and a powerful justice had been set up in its place. \nOnce upon a time, there was a young assassin. He had been trained that way by a large criminal organization. A certain police detective had said he would rescue the young boy from that hellish world, but fate had a twisted sense of humor and he was ordered to kill that very detective. \nSimply destroying a great evil was meaningless. \nIf the fragile good was not eliminated and a powerful justice was not set up in its place, the cycle of tragedy would continue. \nSo… \n“Heh.” \n“Heh.” \n“Heh.” \nThat man, who like a ventriloquist never moved his lips, changed his expression ever so slightly to form a smile. \nThis was not what he had planned. He had intended to use the Japanese DNA Standard to forcibly strengthen all one hundred fifty million of them like hammering a nail into a straw doll. If that had required betraying the Aoandon in the very, very end, he would have done so. \nBut if the result was the same, he could hardly complain about reaching it along a different path. \nThus, he had no regrets. \nThe promised three seconds passed and Hafuri spoke to someone other than Saiki Kazu. \nShe spoke the words of death. \n“Do it.” \nA moment later, Hishigami Mai’s right arm pierced through the center of his chest. \nThe destruction of the one equally affected every single Saiki Kazu. Just like hammering a nail into a straw doll, an identical hole appeared in all of their chests. \nInstead of damaging the hardware, this was more like the software damage of throwing a laptop on the floor to destroy the data inside. The damaged data spread through the network known as Youkai email protected KAzU, spreading fatal errors all the while. \n“Any last words?” \nHe did not answer Mai’s question. \nHe silently dissolved into something like silver sand which vanished into the wind. The phenomenon seemed to contain the message that someone who had abandoned their humanity was not allowed a human death. \nThe enemy had nothing at all left to say. \nThe Hishigami Woman decided the man had left the world satisfied. \nPart 10 (3rd person) \nAt a police hospital in Tokyo, Detective Uchimaku Hayabusa groaned on a bed without any knowledge of the battle being fought over the fate of the country. \nHe had been hospitalized after taking three bullets to the upper body in the firefight to end the incident involving Amagoi Haruka, aka PSI_ver_RAIN, the self-styled psychic middle school girl. \nThe swimsuit girl named Hishigami Enbi sat in the bedside chair while peeling an apple with a ghastly look on her face. …Just to be clear, that is not a misprint. Her face was just a little too Hannya-esque to be called joyful. \n“Okay, your cute Enbi-chan is going to do her best to pamper her spoiled detective☆ …Huh? This isn’t working right… Okay, okay. I’ll have you saying ‘ah’ before long now. Eh heh heh. …Dammit, just peel already!!” \n“This is why they shouldn’t give knives to idiots! It’s scary!!” \nUchimaku Hayabusa really did have tears in his eyes as he shouted back at her. \nAfter a knock at the door, a large man stepped inside. \nIt was Sotobori Gaku, a detective in the organized crime division who specialized in large criminal organizations. \n“Hi, Hayabusa-chan. I hear you ran into some political trouble and got yourself some medals of manliness.” \n“Only you organized crime people brag about scars these days. And it’s why you people scare the rest of us. I hope these gunshot wounds heal up properly… I believe in modern cosmetic surgery!! Ow, ow, ow, ow!!” \n“C’mon, don’t waste this chance! You should leave the scars!! Japan’s police like to solve our cases more smartly, so a policeman with three holes in his gut is a dying breed. You should set your sights on having at least seven scars!” \nAs he spoke, Sotobori set a paper bag down on the side table. \n“Hey, Heavy Tank, what’s in that bag?” \n“Just a little something to make your stay more enjoyable. When you’re holed up in the hospital, nothing sounds better than a greasy burger, right?” \n“You idiot! I have holes in my stomach, remember!? I can’t eat something like this on the first day after the surgery!!” \n“That’s too bad. Guess I’ll have to eat it.” \n“You monster!! Uuh…just the smell is stimulating my hunger like normal. I feel like I’m staring at a full course meal through metal bars…” \nSotobori ate the burger and drank a soda, but since that was not enough to drink, he had to head over to the vending machines. \nWhile he waited for the blended coffee to fill the paper cup, he heard a footstep directly behind him. \nHe casually turned around, but then his eyes opened as wide as possible. \nAn assassin of around ten stood there. \nNo one had believed him when he had told the police that this was the true killer of a certain old detective. \nMore than a decade had passed since then, so that assassin could not possibly still look like that. Sotobori knew that mentally, but something else refused to let him reject the idea. \nHe knew for certain that this was him. \n“…ared…” \nThe boy’s small lips moved ever so slightly. \nAt first, Sotobori could not tell what he was saying and was not even sure this was something capable of producing a voice, but the voice gradually reached his ears. \n“…Be prepared…” \n“…” \n“Be prepared. Youkai email protected KAzU will return once you have forgotten. That is how he assembled his own body. So always be prepared in every way you can think of. That is the one and only way of keeping Youkai email protected KAzU sealed away.” \nThat was the limit. \nThe assassin of about ten vanished like a crumbling sand sculpture. \nSomeone who existed all across Japan, ignoring the concept of an alibi, may have just vanished all at once. \nA certain man simply wished to eliminate the fragile good and set up a powerful justice in its place. \nHis story ends here. \nBut if arrogance should ever again run rampant in this world, that monster would reappear as many times as necessary.

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