烏合
Disorder
(TN: Observant readers might notice the "u" from Uzuki's name, "raven," appears in the title. If you ignore the combined reading and read the kanji literally, the title means, "Meeting the Raven.")
It was right in the middle of night, when the calendar date would soon move forward, that there was a knock at the door.
Uzuki: Please excuse my coming here so late at night. Are Hatou Kei-san and Asama Sakuya-san available?
The one who rapped the door was Senba Uzuki-san.
With gold-forged sword in hand, the one who fought against the boy who admitted himself to be an oni, the girl with night-colored hair.
Sakuya: ......So this means Kei fell off that cliff 'cause she got involved in your fight with an oni.
Glaring a the one seated opposite, Sakuya-san speaks in a suffocated, frightening voice.
Receiving that stare, Uzuki might seem calm at a glance, but the surrounding air is sharp enough to sting my skin.
Kei: That is... I wouldn't say I was directly involved......
In the presence of this stifling face-off, I can pinch in little more than a few timid words.
Sakuya: Hmph! For all that pride you carry, the present day Role of the Oni Slayers's pretty inept, huh?
Sakuya: I don't know how strong the last Role was, but as far as the one before that is concerned, you don't even measure to her heels, do you?
I don't know how or why, but Sakuya-san seems to know a lot about the situation.
It would seem the bad air between them sets its roots in this area.
Come to think of it, no matter how you look at her relation to my family, Sakuya-san seems awfully familiar with Yumei-san, the Ohashirasama, as if she knew her in the past.
Uzuki: Concerning that, there is nothing I can say in return.
The firmness of Uzuki-san's words brings me back to the present.
Uzuki: I'm sorry, Kei-san. If only I had finished that man off earlier, that incident would never have happened. Plainly, it was a situation brought about by my own lack of skill.
Kei: That's okay. After all, thanks to Yumei-san, I'm alive and well, as you can see.
Uzuki: ............
With a complicated expression, she compares Yumei-san and myself with her gaze.
For a girl assigned the duty of banishing oni - namely, any nonhuman sentient being - Yumei-san and the twin girls are probably in the same brand of being to her.
Thinking back on it now, even Kei-kun wasn't anything you would consider frightening. I was just frightened by my own perception of him.
Kei: ......But, Uzuki-san?
Kei: What kind of oni is Kei-kun, really? Why does Kei-kun have to be banished?
Uzuki: Whatever the case, he has already slain numerous humans and devoured their flesh and blood, an oni in every sense of the word. That's why an order was passed down to me, as the Onikiri-Yaku.
Kei: But he doesn't really---
Uzuki: ---look that way to you?
Uzuki: All the same, Kei-san, think about it. Even the archetypal oni hags of ancient stories give shelter to travelers, and appear to be charitable old women, don't they?
Uzuki: What's more... there are other reasons I must slay him, apart from him being an oni.
Uzuki: To our Senba Clan, his very existence is such an embarrassment that we can't even look other Onikiri groups in the eye.
Kei: Umm, would that have to do with that Akira-san he---
I must have dredged up an awful emotion in her. Fixed with her strict eyes, I apologize and avert mine.
Kei: I'm sorry.
Uzuki: It's fine... but in that regard, there's an awful lot I'd like to say to the one over there.
Kei: To Sakuya-san?
Sakuya: Hmph! As far as that affair goes, I'd say we're both level, so there's nothing to say, is there?
Sakuya: And that has nothing to do with this, so we shouldn't be bringing it up around her anyway, for cryin' out loud......
Uzuki: I suppose... you are right.
Sakuya: So, as for th--- I mean, that oni or whatever--- what the hell happened?
Uzuki: He escaped me. As one would expect, at this level of darkness, those of human body are at a disadvantage.
Uzuki: Therefore, instead of chasing him about recklessly, I thought it would be better to position myself near Kei-san, you see.
Kei: Is that because I have the Nie no Chi? Because nonhuman...... oni come to target me?
Uzuki: You... exactly how much do you know---
Uzuki-san exchanges glances with Sakuya-san and Yumei-san through the corner of her eye, swallows her words, and nods.
Sakuya: So that's why. Thinking that boy'll target Kei when he comes, you set up a partridge.
Uzuki: That was my intention.
Sakuya: ......Hey, Uzuki. This might be a lot to ask, but how about putting our past under the bridge, and leaving the matters in this region to me and Yumei?
Uzuki: This would include that oni as well, I take it?
Sakuya: Including that kid, and a whole lot more.
Uzuki: In that case, there is no point in negotiating.
Uzuki: If it weren't for you, we would never have tumbled into this troublesome incident in the first place. Why ask this now?
Sakuya: If that's your answer, I'll tell you now that if it weren't for you damned oni slayers overstepping yourselves, I'd---!
Sakuya: ---no... I shouldn't be saying this to a girl your age. Sorry, that was childish.
Uzuki: It's all right......
Sakuya: ............
Before long, the air that was so strained, you could cut it with a knife, silences into a strange haze and draws out for a time.
Kei: Umm......
Kei: But, what is Kei-kun trying to do?
That's right. Something like---
Kei: He was saying, "would you at least wait until the morning after tomorrow," but, what's going to happen tomorrow night?
Uzuki: Tonight, the moon is waxing gibbous. Tomorrow, it will be full.
Kei: The moon......?
Uzuki: Surely you've heard, too, Kei-san, the kind of effect the full moon gives to nonhuman beings, right?
Kei: ......You mean, wolf men...... or something?
Sakuya: There you go. That's the one.
Though I didn't think I said something off topic, Sakuya-san floats a bitter smile on her face as she wags her hand *pata pata* and yields the speaker's chair to Uzuki-san.
Uzuki: For some varieties of oni, the full moon is the time their power is strongest. And for certain types of ceremonies, the most suitable time to carry them out.
Kei: ......Ceremonies?
Uzuki: It may sound somewhat exaggerated when I use that term, but, for example, the dance of the Bon Festival takes place on a summer's full moon.
Kei: Huh... the Bon Dance......
Having imagined a hair-raising twist to the story downstream, I can't help but feel disappointed.
Dancing under the full, round moon in a ring might not be "Shoujouji no Tanukibayashi" but it certainly has a relaxing air about it.
Kei: The Bon Dance, huh?......
Uzuki: That's right. Just like the name implies, it's a dance within a basin, therefore "Bon Odori," but... Kei-san, what do you know of the festival, itself?
Kei: Hmm... I think it was, at the beginning, you welcome the spirits of your ancestors, and then---
Kei: ---Eh!? Welcoming spirits!?
Facing the surprise on my face, Uzuki-san gives a slow, grave nod.
Uzuki: Formally, it's called "Urabon," you see. This name stems from an old Buddhist practice, syncretized with an ancient Japanese custom called "Tama Matsuri."
Uzuki: In short, on the night of a full moon, whether the moonlight makes it that way, or possibly a gravity effect, it becomes easier to call something forth, be it spirit, or oni.
Kei: Calling forth...... an oni?
Uzuki: That man is trying to awaken the oni sealed under the Enju tree, and release him.
Kei: And that's a different oni from Kei-kun?
Sakuya: It's a different one. Right, Ohashirasama?
Yumei: In order for this oni to attain a peaceful death, he is embraced by the enju and made to sleep. As a consequence of his great power, unable to destroy him, there was no choice but to seal him away.
Kei: So the oni is...... that powerful...
Uzuki: Rather than simply calling him an "oni," by his level of power, "oni god" would probably be more appropriate. That, or "evil god." "Profligate god."
Uzuki: According to Hemidzuka legend, he is simply referred to as "Master," however.
Kei: ......Ah!?
Nozomi & Mikage: ---Best regards to the Master.
Kei: Now that you mention it, Nozomi-chan and Mikage-chan were...
Uzuki: They would be the twin oni you said appeared in your room, right?
Kei: Yeah.
Uzuki: ......That is... troubling.
Kei: Eh?
Uzuki: In our Onikiribe, we widely refer to any sentient nonhuman being bringing humans harm as "oni," however...
Uzuki: There are many different types, and if you divide them into major groups, there are oni who have physical forms and those who don't.
Uzuki: For oni with corporeal forms, decapitation will bring the greatest majority down. But with incorporeal oni, slaying them doesn't necessarily mean they're destroyed.
Uzuki: Ten years ago, in this region, two oni were slain. Those oni were said to appear exactly alike, like mirror reflections of each other.
Kei: And that would be Nozomi-chan and Mikage-chan......?
Uzuki: In all likelihood.
Uzuki: If, by slaying them, I could seal them away for ten years, we can probably consider the impending threat to have passed.
Uzuki: Unfortunately, just as Sakuya-san said earlier, my skill as an oni slayer is still unripe.
Uzuki: Even supposing they appear to be slain, they might take form again in the immediate aftermath. And if they feign destruction, they'll give us no end of trouble.
Uzuki: At any rate, this is bad. With three oni targeting your blood as a sacrifice to revive one god, our circumstances could hardly be worse.
Uzuki: Kei-san, I don't mean to be harsh, but if it can't be done now, you need to board a train at the first crack of dawn and return to the world where you belong.
Kei: ......Will it be safe, back there?
Uzuki: At the very least, we can remove the threat before us, now.
Uzuki: The twins are likely possessing some manner of artifact. The further they separate from their vessel, the weaker their power becomes.
Sakuya: And unless it has god-like power, a spirit being won't remain in this world for long.
Sakuya: When humans die and lose their bodies, their souls go to a different place, right? To remain, it has to possess a human, an object, an area of land---
Sakuya: The ones possessing land are the most familiar, the place-bound ghosts you see in summer programming.
Kei: What about the wandering spirits?
Sakuya: They tell you those aren't very dangerous, don't they? Just leave 'em be, and they disappear eventually.
Uzuki: At any rate, putting distance between you and them will probably lead to the solution. Their interference, also, had to have started when you came close to this region.
Uzuki: And then, the final oni, the one with a corporeal form who can chase you on his own feet. I will still him in this land, without fail.
Uzuki: I swear by this Ito, the slayer of a thousand oni, that I will unfailingly bring him down, here.
The soundlessly drawn steel blade reflects the moonlight from the window, cutting the coiled darkness of the room in two.
With the light of that blade showing the proof of her resolve, Uzuki-san presses me for a decision.
Uzuki: That's why, Kei-san, you should return to the world of daylight.
帰る
Go home
仕方なしに我慢
Don't go home