Chapter 17: Meeting the Detective Duo Again
Walking out from the main hall of Kurama-dera, Hikigaya had to admit that the temple looked perfectly fine. Was it that the yokai were being exceptionally well-behaved, or was there actually a Great Tengu here?
Although the Great Tengu is listed as one of Japan's "Three Great Evil Yokai" in folklore, the reality is that the Tengu race rarely clashes with humans most of the time. Quite a few have even become guardian deities; like the fox demons, they are a high-tier group of yokai in Japan. As for being called one of the Three Great Evil Yokai, that mostly refers to the Tengu that Emperor Sutoku transformed into, known as the "Sojobo Great Tengu of Mount Shiramine."
Furthermore, this race has a social structure similar to fox demons: the highest are the Great Tengu, followed by the Tengu, and finally the Karasu Tengu (Crow Tengu). Interestingly, this creature isn't even indigenous to Japan; rumors say they came from China. Japanese mythology even contains stories of Chinese Tengu traveling to Japan to engage in group fights and calling for backup from Japanese Tengu, only to be rejected.
Thinking it over, Hikigaya walked through a small side door near the main hall toward the mountain path on the other side. Even if there were Tengu, they likely wouldn't be inside the buildings; after all, they are a very proud race.
The mountain paths of Kurama-dera are quite distinctive, covered in the exposed roots of ancient trees that crisscross the trail like natural steps. The forest was tranquil; of course, Kurama-dera doesn't see massive crowds anyway. Hikigaya wandered aimlessly, certain that there wasn't a single yokai here.
'What a pity, it's not fun at all' Hikigaya thought to himself, preparing to tell the people he'd called to head back to Fushimi Inari-taisha.
But in the next moment, following the flow of the air, he heard voices. They were some distance away, likely near the West Gate. Although they weren't yokai, the voices belonged to acquaintances.
'What are those two doing here?'
Hikigaya suddenly realized he'd forgotten to have someone remind them to leave Kyoto. Hagoromo Gitsune's group of yokai might look disciplined now, but who knows what would happen once they saw red? The Kansai Oni army was historically a group that wasn't very friendly toward humans. While wiping out this Oni army in Kyoto would be no problem at all, claiming that this army wouldn't harm a single human was a bit of a stretch.
The best Hikigaya could do was deter Hagoromo Gitsune, forcing the yokai to show some restraint in the early stages.
When dealing with organizations like the History Compilation Committee, Hikigaya acted on a whim without much concern. Those sorcerers were part of a privileged class anyway; god knows what they were like in private, and he had no obligation to act according to their whims.
But when it came to ordinary people, Hikigaya exercised much more restraint. They were the exploited class, just people trying to make a living; Hikigaya would do what he could. Of course, everything had a limit—he wasn't a babysitter, but he had no reason to go out of his way to screw people over, right?
Fulfilling the basic duties of being human was enough—for example, limiting the chaos caused by yokai to Kyoto. He wouldn't do more than that, nor could he. Unless, of course, he could control time and freeze Kyoto in place.
As for whether anyone would come out afterward to act self-righteous and criticize him from a moral high ground, he wasn't worried in the slightest. For those types who love to step on others to elevate themselves, if they managed to see the next day's sun, it would mean he'd failed as a Campione. Yokai like Hagoromo Gitsune were created by the Japanese people's own dark history, not by him.
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After walking through a stretch of forest, the trees thinned out, and a building appeared. Beside the building stood a small square pillar painted white, with the words "Fudo-do" written on it. This was one of the sites associated with Minamoto no Yoshitsune; legend has it that this is where he met the Great Tengu who loved to play teacher.
In front of the Fudo-do, two figures—one tall, one short—were standing still. It was none other than Hattori Heiji and the "Death God" primary school student.
To an ordinary person, it would just look like two people standing in front of the Fudo-do, with the smaller one holding something to look at. From Hikigaya's perspective, however, Hattori was introducing the Fudo-do to Conan, while Conan held a piece of paper—half of which was a photo of a Buddhist statue, and the other half a drawn pattern.
Likely someone had died somewhere again, and they were here investigating the case. At the very least, they'd encountered some interesting puzzle to solve.
However, Hikigaya didn't go over to say hello immediately because someone was climbing a tree. The climber wore a mask and carried a bow and arrows; he didn't look like a tourist in any way. Once the person stood on a branch and aimed his bow at the back of Hattori Heiji, Hikigaya was fully convinced this guy was no good. After all, Hattori certainly wasn't a bad person, just a detective who loved solving cases; anyone trying to kill him naturally wasn't a good person.
Seeing Conan already lunging toward Hattori to save him, Hikigaya dismissed the idea of giving the sniper a kick from behind and instead walked out from a different direction.
The masked man fired an arrow, jumped straight down from the tree, and started to run. Hikigaya raised an eyebrow.
'This fellow is quite agile! His martial arts training has actually taken shape.'
He could be captured first and thrown to the front lines to fight yokai; if he didn't die, he could be tossed into Yami's training camp for further refinement.
But just as Hikigaya was about to call someone to seize him, a black shadow flashed through the trees—it was about the size of a rabbit. Hikigaya's expression instantly became strange.
The man, who had only run a few steps, was struck by this black shadow and sent flying backward, slamming hard into a tree before sliding down. The shadow landed on the ground, revealing its true form.
How to put it... It had a bright red head, a very long nose, wore monk's robes, had a pair of black wings on its back, and a fan tucked into its waist. But it was tiny—not even as tall as a primary schooler.
"Hattori! Be careful!" Conan's voice rang out.
With that shout, Hattori Heiji charged out. The first thing he saw was the unconscious masked man under the tree, and his face lit up with joy. The second thing he saw was Hikigaya, and his expression froze. Then he saw the little shorty standing with hands on hips, looking at him haughtily, and his facial expression completely solidified.
"Hattori!" Conan finally appeared. Despite his short legs, he wasn't slow, because his shoes were actually venting steam, carrying him along in a slide.
Then he saw Hikigaya.
It was like a taxi driving at high speed suddenly encountering a heavy truck head-on; Conan slammed on the brakes so hard he left two long skid marks on the ground. Then, inevitably, Conan also saw the little shorty whose expression was starting to turn angry.
Conan's already large eyes widened until they nearly popped out of their sockets. Beside him, Hattori Heiji was already rubbing his eyes.
After a moment, a furious roar echoed through the forest: "Fine! You two bratty kids! I was kind enough to save you, and you actually destroy my home!?"
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