Chapter 16: Kurama-dera
The day after Hikigaya returned to Kyoto, he took some time to head to Fushimi Inari-taisha to meet with the members of the Kansai Branch.
Compared to his last visit, the atmosphere at Fushimi Inari-taisha was far more tense. Many areas previously open to tourists had been closed. However, as soon as Hikigaya appeared, someone immediately came to greet him and led him through the Senbon Torii (Thousand Torii Gates) back into the stronghold of the Kansai Branch.
Descending into the base amidst falling cherry blossoms, Hikigaya saw exorcist swordsmen everywhere with their blades never leaving their sides, shrine maidens practicing with demon-breaking arrows, and Onmyoji clutching various talismans. One could see people summoning shikigami at any given moment.
It was a full state of war readiness.
This was likely due to the fact that Ryoan-ji and the Katsura Imperial Villa had been successively overrun by yokai overnight. While Hikigaya was "exercising" last night, he had noticed significant amounts of cursed power being unleashed at those two locations. Because the energy was so dense and concentrated, it had even manifested as phantom signal smoke rising into the sky, though it was invisible to ordinary citizens.
It seemed Fushimi Inari-taisha was next on the list.
This baffled Hikigaya. No matter how he looked at it, the people of the Kansai Branch didn't possess the "The Emperor guards the gate of the nation" sort of resolve, so why hadn't they moved their base to the final seal?
Curious, he asked Grandma Seishuin this very question after meeting her.
"Actually, this was the handiwork of the thirteenth Hidemoto of the Keikan clan. When that man was alive, he refused to acknowledge the Tsuchimikado clan. When he laid out the seals, he didn't give much consideration to the fact that the Tsuchimikado estate was hidden here."
"Oh? This place was originally built by the Tsuchimikado?" Hikigaya found this interesting. He wondered how the descendants of Abe no Seimei would choose to act upon meeting their legendary ancestor.
However, he recalled that in the Nura series, the Tsuchimikado didn't have much of a presence; those who did appear were on Abe no Seimei's side—which made sense. But if the Tsuchimikado clan had always been "good children" to their ancestor, the Kyoto seals should have been sabotaged by them long ago.
Perhaps that was why the Keikan clan didn't avoid the Tsuchimikado when setting the barriers?
While he was thinking, Grandma Seishuin asked him, "Lord Hikigaya, will the enemy truly follow your request to only take the seals and not kill anyone?"
"They will. That's why I came over today," Hikigaya said.
The first wave of Yami troops had already entered Kyoto. If the opposition didn't stay as disciplined as they had last night, he would block them and slaughter them all. From what he could see, Hagoromo Gitsune was keeping her word; during the assaults on Ryoan-ji and the Katsura Imperial Villa, she hadn't killed a single person. Only a few Onmyoji were incapacitated, and that seemed to be because they had used desperate secret techniques.
Hikigaya could guess their mindset—they probably felt that if they didn't put their lives on the line, they would be crushed by internal politics later.
"Send the injured to me later; I'll restore them," he said to the Onmyoji standing by.
"Yes, Lord Hikigaya!" That Onmyoji was incredibly excited. Hikigaya could clearly feel the morale of the nearby Onmyoji surging.
Though he didn't think it would change much—the power gap was too wide, and they would still have to endure the "bullying"—compared to the original story where they would be dropping like flies, he felt they indeed had reason to be happy and spirited.
-
-
-
Afterward, Hikigaya left the base.
According to Grandma Seishuin, the Tsuchimikado clan had become less active after the Great War. Once the History Compilation Committee was established, they quickly faded from the Kansai Onmyoji circles and even sold this base. This was clearly illogical, as it happened right when Onmyoji were finally free from secular government suppression and were looking to restore their former glory.
Since he already had a suspicion, he definitely had to go check it out.
Hikigaya first inspected the "Saru-no-michi" (Path of the Monkey). The result was as expected: the seals placed by ancient sorcerers in Sai-no-yashiro, Sekizan Zen-in, and Hiyoshi Taisha had already failed. The surface cursed power remained, but under the Eye of Horus, the internals had been destroyed. Enryaku-ji wasn't even worth checking; that many yokai had crouched there for so long without the "bastion" showing any effect.
So, the shrines and temples on the latter half of the path were likely the same. The "Demon Gate" line was essentially wiped out.
He wondered how the "Divine Gate" line was doing. If the core of the Demon Gate line was the Monkey, the Divine Gate line was the Tengu. The starting point of the Demon Gate line was Mount Hiei, while the Divine Gate line started at Mount Kurama.
Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei was the bastion blocking the Demon Gate, while Kurama-dera on Mount Kurama was revered as the temple guarding the city's Divine Gate.
However, the result this time surprised Hikigaya. The Divine Gate line seemed perfectly intact.
Hikigaya first visited Seiryo-ji, then Kitano Tenman-gu, Ninna-ji, Jingo-ji, and Atago Shrine. Everything was normal. This was very unexpected.
If these had all been broken, Hikigaya would have just dusted off his hands and left, but since they weren't, he was actually looking forward to seeing if he would catch some "naughty children" trying to cause trouble at the final stop, Kurama-dera.
But what should he do if he caught them? Hikigaya thought about it, and an idea popped into his head that made him chuckle. He pulled out his phone and made a call.
After finishing the call, he stopped flying and descended. If there were naughty children, shouldn't he give them a little time?
Hikigaya boarded the Kurama Line train and rode it to station E15. Upon exiting, the first thing he saw was a statue of a Tengu. In the "surface world," Kurama-dera is famous for its Tengu legends, and the temple still preserves relics related to the 12th-century tragic hero, Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Legend has it that Yoshitsune was taught swordsmanship here by a mysterious being, becoming a legendary master.
But Hikigaya had read the records of the History Compilation Committee. Putting aside whether Yoshitsune was tragic or not, he was, first and foremost, a half-yokai.
At the end of the Heian period, the Taira-ruled Kyoto suffered from famine, appearing like a world cloaked in darkness. Yoshitsune's father, Minamoto no Yoshitomo, was killed by Taira no Kiyomori during the Heiji Rebellion. Because his mother was taken into the enemy's harem, his life was spared, and he was exiled in his youth to Kurama-dera.
Father killed, mother taken—even though Yoshitsune was just a child, he was very angry. Then, in his anger, he encountered a Great Yokai with a very explosive temper: the Sojobo (Great Tengu), one of the three Great Evil Yokai of Japan.
The Great Tengu, bored out of his mind at the time, saw this little brat overflowing with negative energy and immediately thought he'd be great fun to play with. So, instead of harming him, he took Yoshitsune as a disciple and seriously taught him swordsmanship and sorcery. Hikigaya figured Yoshitsune must have been utterly bewildered back then, with his worldview shattered.
Afterward, Yoshitsune became the Great Tengu's disciple. As the price, he could never sleep in again, and after learning the spells taught by the Tengu, he became a half-yokai. Finally, having had his fun, the Great Tengu left. Yoshitsune took the name "Shana-o" and, leading his shadow warriors and monk-soldiers, began his slaughter for the revival of the Minamoto clan until he was eventually killed.
So, the history written in school textbooks is all a lie.
Before long, Hikigaya arrived at Kurama-dera. He passed through the solemn temple gates and began walking up the mountain path lined with ancient cedars.
Read ahead (60 chapters) by supporting me on buymeacoffee com/varietl or ko-fi edwriting