"Time to go, off to school!"
In the quaint, antique manor, Amame Ei cheerfully slung her schoolbag over her shoulder.
"I wonder if the incident in Machiya-chō has been resolved yet."
Nagisa Ichiha was still a bit worried; even a young lady of her standing only knew that a 'terrorist attack' had occurred in Arakawa Ward.
After all, she wasn't the true head of the zaibatsu, only able to glean some 'inside information' from her father's generation.
"Don't panic,"
"Tokyo has a population in the tens of millions,"
"We can't be so unlucky as to run into trouble ourselves."
Akihino Yu calmly reassured them; the truth behind the so-called 'terrorist attack' was merely his handiwork from practicing his Earth Style and keeping the police from bothering Akihino Kei.
As for whether an accident would happen, and how it would happen, that all depended on his mood.
"A day has passed, the Metropolitan Police Department should have handled it by now, right?"
Class President Nao agreed, while Akihino Kei continued scrolling through her phone as she walked, just as the group was heading towards the manor's entrance.
Two young women in maid uniforms were pushing open the large, closed gates.
A black sedan drove into the manor and came to a stop.
?!
The skipping Amame Ei's pupils contracted, and she instinctively lowered her head, her entire body trembling slightly.
Because a middle-aged man had stepped out of the black sedan.
His salt-and-pepper hair was combed back, and his unsmiling face was etched with deep laugh lines, crow's feet... and sunken eye bags, dressed in dark traditional attire. At a glance, he gave the impression of a man in his fifties or sixties.
However, that was not the case, because the man was:
"Father,"
Nagisa Ichiha bowed in greeting, and Akihino Yu and the others also stopped in their tracks.
That's right, this man who looked to be in his fifties or sixties was actually only in his forties, the father of Nagisa Ichiha, head of the Nagisa zaibatsu, and also Amame Ei's father!
As for his appearance, it was partly due to his old-money aristocrat style of dress, which naturally made him look older.
On the other hand... securing the position of family head was no easy task.
Internally, there were collateral family branches vying for power and profit, while externally, rising stars watched with predatory eyes.
The 'nouveau riche' of Minato Ward were constantly challenging the authority of the old-money aristocrats.
"Ichiha,"
"These are your classmates."
The stern middle-aged man's gaze swept over Akihino Yu and the others, his tone one of statement, not question.
"Heading to school? Be safe."
"Yes, Father..."
Nagisa Ichiha wanted to say more, but her father was already walking towards the main house.
From beginning to end, he never once glanced at Amame Ei.
?
"Father!"
The middle-aged man, his back to her as he walked away, simply raised his hand slightly, a gesture indicating he did not wish to hear a word.
Such a gesture left Nagisa Ichiha feeling extremely dejected.
...
"Let's go, Nagisa."
"And you too—Amame."
He placed a hand on the petite girl's shoulder, who was trembling with her head down,
"There's an old saying that goes, 'Thirty years on the east bank of the Arakawa, thirty years on the west bank'."
Amidst his sister Akihino Kei's questioning thought, 'Does a proverb like that even exist in Tokyo?', Akihino Yu continued to console Amame Ei.
"In short, even though he doesn't value you now, perhaps it won't be long before you become someone he has to look up to?"
"How is that possible? I'm just an... orphan."
Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, Amame Ei looked up, once again revealing her carefree smile.
"Hee hee hee~~"
"I was just a little intimidated by that man's presence, that's all."
"Ei, I'm sorry."
Nagisa Ichiha subconsciously pulled the girl into her arms, her face filled with guilt.
On one side was her father, on the other, her older sister... she was caught in a difficult position.
That's right, although Nagisa Ichiha was more sisterly in both height and her mature personality, in reality, the petite Amame Ei was the one born first.
"I'm fine,"
Amame Ei removed her sister's hand.
"Ichiha, let's go!"
She took the lead, striding out the main gate; this was a place she both longed for and feared.
After all, it wasn't her 'home'...
"Ei, wait."
A figure hurried out from the side. Akihino Kei, who was always on her phone, put it away and stepped forward to take Amame Ei's hand.
"Let's walk together."
"Okay, Kei, you're the best~~"
The young lady who had also wanted to step forward, Nagisa Ichiha, paused for a moment.
It might be rude to think so, but compared to herself, who was doted on by her parents, perhaps Akihino Kei, who had lost her parents, could better understand her sister's feelings?
"Don't overthink it, Nagisa."
As he stepped forward, Akihino Yu tilted his head towards her.
"As long as your feelings for Amame are genuine, that's all that matters."
As for her parents?
I believe their attitude towards Amame Ei will change very soon.
Of course, whether this change is for the better or worse is something they'll have to experience for themselves.
Akihino Yu was merely preparing to give the girl an opportunity, and also to give those two parents an opportunity.
———
Bunkyo Ward,
Tokyo Metropolitan Koishikawa Secondary Education School,
Sitting by the window, Kishida Jun frowned slightly.
That target had started moving again.
Yesterday, he had tracked it all the way to Arakawa Ward and fought the 'flaming skulls' it had released. Although he managed to obtain a fragment of the Sesshōseki, he was powerless against the black fish that could burrow underground and carried a torii gate on its back.
The creature carried a large fragment of the Sesshōseki on its body!
Ever since accepting the mission from 'Oni Envoy White', Kishida Jun could vaguely sense the presence of 'yōki'.
According to 'Oni Envoy White', at this point in time, almost all of the yōki appearing in the human world originated from the fragments of the Sesshōseki.
The Sesshōseki possessed the ability to imprison souls, which could be considered an infringement upon the 'jurisdiction' of the underworld, so he was needed to help collect these fragments.
That 'Oni Envoy White' had promised that as long as he recovered one hundred fragments of the Sesshōseki, they would make an exception and revive Miyashita Ryoko!
Collecting the Sesshōseki was equivalent to opposing that legendary 'Demon King'.
But how could the current Kishida Jun care about that?
Even if it meant facing the leader of the three great demon kings,
He would never back down!
"Tamamo-no-Mae..."
The young man murmured to himself. In the legends of this island nation, there were countless ghosts and gods, said to be eight million kami; however, only three could be called 'Demon Kings'.
Daitengu, Shuten-dōji, and the White-Faced, Golden-Haired, Nine-Tailed Fox!
Strictly speaking,
Tengu was not a single yokai, but the name of a clan.
In the records of ghosts and monsters, there were as many as eight yokai in the island nation known as 'Daitengu'. The number of ordinary 'tengu' was even greater.
The characteristics of a tengu were a red face and a long nose; they also had a pair of wings, which allowed them to soar freely through the sky, and they held items like a round fan, a feather fan, or a magic mallet, capable of stirring up tempests that connected heaven and earth.
Although famous throughout the island nation, their strength... if all the tengu could be gathered, they would indeed be formidable—if the legends were true.
Of course, that was impossible.
Because tengu themselves embodied 'arrogance', getting them to cooperate was simply out of the question.
As for 'Shuten-dōji', he was the oni king who occupied Mount Ōe.
He possessed two forms, that of a 'handsome youth' and an 'ugly oni'; his human form could bewitch thousands of women, while his oni form could breathe fire to scorch the heavens and boil the seas.
But in the legends, he had just made his debut when he was beheaded by 'Minamoto no Raikō' of the Genji clan and his men. Although it was done by tricking him with drink, this battle record was hardly impressive.
Only Tamamo-no-Mae...
Flipping through the borrowed copy of "The Illustrated Continuation of the Hundred Demons from the Present and the Past", Kishida Jun couldn't help but feel this was a thorny problem.
Unlike Daitengu and Shuten-dōji, Tamamo-no-Mae was a being who had truly fought head-on against the onmyōji, powerful monks, and samurai of the Heian period!
It was rumored that she had lurked within the Imperial Palace, absorbing the life force of Emperor Toba. Although she was eventually suppressed by the great onmyōji 'Abe no Yasuchika' with the full force of the nation, her demonic power, ambition, and obsession remained in the form of the Sesshōseki in Nasuno, immortal and undying, awaiting the chance to resurrect.
Just one year ago, the Sesshōseki had cracked!
Recalling the news from back then, Kishida Jun was lost in thought.
Perhaps from that moment on, yokai... or rather, supernatural beings, had already been secretly lurking among humans?
If, in the past, Kishida Jun neither believed in nor paid mind to talks of 'ghosts and gods', now, he was a staunch believer.
Ryoko,
His gaze fell upon the umbrella beside his desk, and the young man's eyes became exceptionally gentle.
I won't keep you waiting for long.