Kei: Mmn……
Feeling the presence of a person’s stare, I creak my eyes a hair’s breadth open.
Tsudzura: Ah, Onee-san, are you awake?
By the time I’d come to, and gained some sort of grasp of the situation, the hours had passed beyond night, and into the third niche of the Ox.
In this time where even the grasses are sleeping, a light yet shines in this Hazama Mansion.
Surrounding the dining stand at each of four opposing sides are Tsudzura-chan, Senba-san, Sakuya-san and myself.
The topic of this meeting regards the special blood that apparently flows within me, and the beings beyond human – oni – who come to take it.
As for what Tsudzura-chan plans to do with herself after this——
—after a mere number of minutes, that standpoint was subject to a major upheaval, and was shelved away for the time being.
Because of that, or perhaps because it’s become clear that my physiology won’t allow me to remain ignorant of oni, Tsudzura-chan is no longer making any move to escape Senba-san.
Tsudzura: Twins…… twins… lessee, twins, are they……
It seems she finds a special significance in the word “twins,” as she whispers it to herself, meanwhile pondering the nature of the oni twins. Any move to avenge Obana-chan would be done through them.
Sakuya: I can’t say whether they’re actual twins or not, but you should know that Nozomi’s a servant of Nushi.
Tsudzura: Ahh—— now I recall.
Tsudzura: If I am correct, my ancestors resolved some incidents of kamikakushi that occurred long ago, in Hemidzuka.
Kei: ……Kamikakushi?
Now that I think of it, I heard some sort of rumor like that when I asked about the mansion, but——
Like they say, “where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” since that’s exactly what happened.
Tsudzura: The culprits behind those incidents turned out to be the twin, blood-sucking oni, Nozomi and Mikage, servants of the Nushi who was placed under the Hashira seal, but…
Twin, blood-sucking oni——
Tsudzura: It would seem that it was their attempt to undo the Hashira seal that lead to those incidents.
Apparently, the truth behind it was those two, manipulating the people of the village to try and cut down the divine tree, Ohashirasama.
Tsudzura: ——This brings it all together, then. The snake that first attacked Kei-oneesan, the oni twins from last night, and the stolen mirror.
Kei: Mirror? You mean the one that was stolen from the Regional History Museum?
Tsudzura: It was bothering me in the back of my mind ever since. Why could I not remember it until now?
Tsudzura-chan breathes a long sigh.
Kei: So, how does the mirror connect to it, then? Is it how kagami comes from kagame, and mean’s “a snake’s eye”?
Tsudzura: Well, it is possible their choice of that vessel was based on such a concept, but that mirror is actually the twin oni’s true form——
Tsudzura: The records show that my ancestors sealed the mirror, and passed it into the hands of a wealthy family in the area…
Kei: Since it was in the museum, I guess they donated it or something?
And then, that same mirror was stolen.
Now I get it… it does tie it all together. If the person who stole it wound up mistakenly unraveling the seal——
If the seal is undone, then——
——Huh?
I feel like something about that is tugging at my mind, but I don’t know what it is. I wonder, what is it about that mirror?
As if it were a relative of that boiling fever, I feel the presence of pain closing in.
Don’t! I shouldn’t think about that…
However, just as my senses are about to dive into that red pain——
Sakuya: ……Tch! So that’s what it means…
—it is pulled back to the present by Sakuya-san’s voice.
Kei: What what means?
Sakuya: Nothing important. That’s over and done with, so let’s move on.
Tsudzura: Moving on or not, that quite nearly sums it up. With so many coincidences coming together, one would not be surprised if the oni Uzuki-san was pursuing is involved, as well.
Kei: Speaking of which, Senba-san was visiting the museum, right?
Senba: Because there was clear evidence of oni involvement in that incident. I had arrived at the museum by following that lead.
Senba: As had the oni I was pursuing——
Senba-san produces a single picture from within her breast pocket, and sets it atop the table.
Pictured within it is a boy with features vaguely androgynous… with neither horns nor fangs, nor a tail to speak of, a moment’s glance produces none of the telltale features of an oni.
His clothing also, unlike that of the oni twins, is western in make, plain as day.
Senba: It would appear that he was seen in the museum, the day before the heist.
Kei: Then, this boy——
Kei: Umm, oni, I mean… is he the culprit who stole the mirror?
Senba: No, the culprit is the one whose corpse was discovered the following day. However, you can assume that he had some form of involvement.
Tsudzura: At any rate, with all of these events following one after the other, I imagine the power of the seal has weakened, for one reason or another.
The power to seal Nushi—— The Ohashirasama’s power is weakening——
Even since that red snake disappeared by Obana-chan’s banishing, the Ohashirasama hasn’t appeared before me at all.
Could that be because she’s giving everything she has to keep Nushi sealed, which leaves her unable to come and help me?
Kei: …………
Tsudzura: So then…… what do you think we should do, Onee-san?
Kei: Eh? You mean me?
Tsudzura: Since there still is the matter of the Nie no Chi, I believe you have the right to a say in the matter.
Ah… umm… if you put it that way……
| 封じを強化する | 鏡を探してみる |
| Strengthen the seal | Search for the mirror. |