Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 17

"Oh my, oh my, this is yet another classic and clichéd move."

Kizuki Aoi, the girl with a peach-colored face that combines youthfulness and charming looks in a room of the mansion rented from the Oumi family on the occasion of their visit to Kyoto, commented on the method used by the clever fox she saw through the mirror stand as a way of getting past the boundary.

Both the method of taking advantage of people's moral sense and good intentions, and the method of using human body parts to deceive the boundary are not particularly unusual methods, although they require a certain level of intelligence to do so.

As a matter of fact, similar methods have been reported in many cases during the great human youkai wars. In particular, "youkai mother", one of the generals on the youkai side during the great war, who has not been defeated yet, "spawned" a mass of human-mimicking creatures by using human beings she had eaten as "materials" at the end of the great war. Thanks to this, the 

Imperial Court had to abandon all the boundary techniques that had been researched and developed specifically for the use against youkai for many years, and had to construct a new system of boundaries. Compared to this, it is still a cute sight.

Probably the blue demon who is watching this scene through the shikigami will have a similar impression. It is said that when this demon was once rampaging in the capital, she took advantage of people's minds much more viciously than the fox in this case, and tried all sorts of tricks to get past the boundaries of the inner city. However, she was tricked by the Minister of the Right (右大臣) who took advantage of her and escaped half-killed.

(The problem was how he could get past the boundary... But of course...)

Although she was a bit wary when he came in contact with the wanted criminal... But of course, there is no way that the paranoid old man would do nothing to an orphanage full of half-Youkai. At least, 'he' has an insurance policy in case of emergencies.

"I don't know where he gets the information but he certainly has a good eye for it."

Kizuki Aoi evaluated the judgment of her one and only beloved one as she looked at the mirror reflecting the scene through the shikigami. The old man is indeed useful, albeit dangerous. Even she is limited in what she can teach him. Well, although Kizuki Aoi is a brilliant person who can do anything she puts her mind to, her true nature is to push with her spiritual power, which is the most powerful among the Kizuki family. No, the Kizuki family itself is known for its high spiritual power among exorcism clans, and naturally, many of its skills and systems of spiritual techniques are based on such power. Therefore, it is difficult to say that 'he' is the right person for the job, since he lacks the absolute amount of spiritual power.

So, it is true that the old man of the Matsushige family is the best match for him, albeit reluctantly. And although the Matsushige clan is old and it is not a clan of particularly high spiritual power, there is a prerequisite that he be a member of the exorcists' clan. Though, they are not (comparatively speaking) good at physical combat either.

Nevertheless, they are a family with a broad and deep understanding of techniques. They are known to use even the most basic and simple techniques in a vicious way by applying or combining them. And not to mention the fact that the old man is the second-ranked master of Onmyo-dormitory and has been involved in the research of forbidden techniques. So, it is not surprising that he would have skills that even the Kizuki family does not know about.

"Worst of all, if their relationship is about to be discovered, I will be the one to make the move. 

But now, this is a good opportunity, so I should let him do as he likes."