Chapter 37: Fear and the Great Yokai
"He's not here?"
Shinomiya Kaguya slowly set down the paper cup of instant coffee in her hand and looked up at Iwanaga Kotoko and Kasugano Sora, disbelief plain in her eyes.
She had not expected this outcome at all.
She had cleared her schedule, forcibly canceled several important meetings, and even drawn the displeasure of the Shinomiya Group's elders, only to arrive at the [White Fox Office] in Shibuya and find the one person she came to see absent.
For a brief moment, Kaguya even began to wonder whether fate itself was playing some ugly joke on her.
The national class onmyoji she had tried to invite had already refused her.
Now even Gin Tsumugi, one of the very few remaining people she could still place hope in, was nowhere to be found.
The presence of Iwanaga Kotoko here had also caught her off guard.
Kaguya knew Kotoko. Their families had business ties, and with the scale of the Shinomiya Group, it was only natural that they would have crossed paths. Still, that acquaintance was shallow at best. They knew of each other, but nothing more.
Otherwise, Kaguya would not have remained ignorant until now that Iwanaga Kotoko worked at the [White Fox Office].
She had heard, of course, that Kotoko had once suffered a supernatural incident in childhood, losing an eye and a leg in the process, though supposedly gaining some unusual ability in return. As for what that ability actually was, Kaguya did not know.
Back then, the Group Leader had once suggested inviting Iwanaga Kotoko into the [Supernatural Exchange Group], but for reasons Kaguya had never fully understood, that plan had eventually been dropped.
"Kotoko," Kaguya said at last, forcing herself to stay calm, "did Director Gin take another supernatural case and go handle it?"
If that was true, then the frequency with which White Fox Gin Tsumugi dealt with incidents was frankly absurd. He had only just resolved the Wedding Dress Tree incident, and now he had already gone out again?
From what Kaguya knew of the industry, most Supernatural Affairs Offices considered it impressive to solve even one major case in a month, and that was assuming they succeeded at all.
"No," Kotoko replied, shaking her head. "That's not it."
She looked at Kaguya and continued, "Early this morning, the Director received a message, left us a few instructions, and then went out."
Kaguya's fingers tightened slightly against the cup.
"Kotoko, do you know where Director Gin went?"
There was an urgency in her voice now that was difficult to hide.
She did not have much time left. Every delay mattered.
Kotoko hesitated for a moment before answering, "Kyoto. The Tsuchimikado clan."
Kaguya's eyes shifted at once.
"The Tsuchimikado clan?"
"There's no need to hide it," Kotoko said. "Old man Amami Daizen, one of the [Twelve Divine Generals], once gave the Director a recommendation letter. With it, he was granted a chance to view the Tsuchimikado clan's heirloom, the Senji Ryakketsu."
Understanding dawned in Kaguya's eyes.
The Senji Ryakketsu.
A text left behind by Abe no Seimei himself, containing his insights into Onmyodo and countless secrets buried within its pages. It was said that anyone who truly comprehended even a portion of it would gain an entirely new understanding of spiritual arts. Some onmyoji had even found the road to their own future in its contents.
Very few in the world of Onmyodo could resist the temptation of such a thing.
Normally, the Senji Ryakketsu was never shown to outsiders. Even members of the Tsuchimikado branch families were not automatically granted access, let alone unrelated onmyoji.
But after the Tsuchimikado Yakou incident, the clan's prestige had clearly declined. In exchange for certain benefits, fixed reading slots were now occasionally given to the Onmyo Agency, the Onmyo Alliance, and the Onmyo Academy.
Kaguya had long heard rumors that White Fox Gin Tsumugi was on unusually good terms with several high ranking figures inside the Onmyo Agency.
Now, hearing that he had even secured a place to view the Senji Ryakketsu, she realized those rumors had probably undersold the truth.
The ties between him and the upper levels of the Agency were clearly deeper than most people knew.
Kotoko studied her for a second, then added, "Before he left, the Director said he would be back within ten days. If you have urgent business, Miss Kaguya, you can leave it with me."
"Within ten days…"
Kaguya let out a faint breath.
That was better than the alternative she had feared. For a moment, she had been worried he might vanish into Kyoto for a month or more.
Ten days, at least, was still within the limit of what she could endure.
Of course, that did not mean she could place all her hopes on him alone. She still had to prepare a final fallback.
As for the Group Leader's proposed 'backup plan'...
That path was one she would rather die than choose.
"Kotoko," Kaguya said, rising to her feet, "if Director Gin returns, please contact me immediately. I won't trouble you any longer today."
Kotoko nodded. "Take care, Miss Kaguya."
She personally walked Kaguya downstairs and watched as she entered the Shinomiya Group's private luxury car.
Only after the vehicle disappeared from sight did Kotoko turn and head back upstairs.
The moment she returned to the office, her expression changed.
"Tsk... Shinomiya Kaguya, of all people."
Her voice carried no small amount of surprise.
"I really didn't expect that even the eldest daughter of a conglomerate family would end up caught in a supernatural incident."
Large conglomerates like the Shinomiya Group employed onmyoji all year round. Their most important figures were protected with layers upon layers of security, ritual barriers, and spiritual safeguards.
As one of the Shinomiya heirs, Kaguya's protections should have been among the very best.
And yet even with all that, she had still fallen into something unresolved.
That alone was enough to prove the scale of the matter behind her.
Clearly, whatever had marked her was not some ordinary curse.
"Sister Kotoko," Kasugano Sora said softly from the side, "Miss Kaguya really looked pressed for time."
"She did."
Kotoko's expression grew more serious.
"The supernatural incident surrounding Shinomiya Kaguya is definitely extraordinary."
At that exact moment, a rustling sound came from one of the office corners.
A black snake slowly crawled out, scales glimmering faintly in the light.
It was Tsuchizawa, the fallen deity.
"Princess."
His voice was low and solemn.
Kotoko turned at once. "Lord Tsuchizawa?"
The snake's slit pupils were dark and grave.
"Princess, I smelled his scent on that young lady."
Kotoko froze.
For a second, she thought she had misheard.
Then she shot to her feet so abruptly that the chair behind her scraped hard across the floor.
"Lord Tsuchizawa... your senses aren't wrong?"
Tsuchizawa first shook his head, then answered in a slow, heavy tone, "Long ago, when I still had worshippers and power, I came into contact with him personally. I could never mistake that scent."
As he said that, something bitter flickered through his eyes.
A thousand years had passed.
Shuten-dōji was still Shuten-dōji, the Great Yokai whose name alone could make all of Japan uneasy.
As for Tsuchizawa himself, he had lost his faith, fallen from godhood, and become little better than a half ruined spirit, so diminished that even ordinary yokai no longer feared him.
"If that's true..." Kotoko muttered, her face turning grim.
Then she understood.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Kasugano Sora, who had been listening beside them, blinked in confusion.
"Shuten? Who is that?"
Kotoko looked at her.
Then, word by word, she said, "The Great Yokai who once terrified all of Japan. Shuten-dōji."
Sora's eyes instantly widened.
Even she knew that name.
Shuten-dōji.
Tamamo no Mae.
The Great Tengu.
Those names were not obscure legends. They were household words across Japan, the very symbols of terror in its oldest yokai tales.
And now Kotoko was saying that Shinomiya Kaguya had been marked by one of them?
"Sister Kotoko..." Sora's voice trembled faintly. "Are you saying the supernatural incident surrounding Miss Kaguya was caused by Shuten-dōji?"
Kotoko nodded slowly.
"If Lord Tsuchizawa's senses are right, then yes. The yokai behind Shinomiya Kaguya's situation is almost certainly Shuten-dōji."
The office fell silent for a moment.
Then Kotoko narrowed her eyes.
"But for her to come here personally..."
Her gaze lowered in thought.
"A legendary Great Yokai isn't something someone seeks help for on a whim."
Kasugano Sora did not fully understand, but she could still hear the weight in Kotoko's voice.
Kotoko continued, half to herself now, "Was she just desperately trying every possible source of help, hoping to gather enough strength from various Supernatural Affairs Offices to oppose Shuten-dōji... or does she know something else?"
She frowned.
Gin Tsumugi was certainly powerful. The Wedding Dress Tree incident had already proven that much. A yokai capable of weaving a Ghost Domain had been destroyed by him without leaving even a scratch on his body. Among all onmyoji below the national class, Kotoko believed there were very few who could have done the same.
But this was different.
Completely different.
Shuten-dōji was not some domain weaving yokai.
He was one of the legendary Great Yokai.
Compared to him, even national class onmyoji were not necessarily guaranteed victory, much less someone who had not yet formally stepped into that realm.
"If it were anyone else," Tsuchizawa suddenly said from the floor, "they would indeed just be walking into Shuten-dōji's mouth."
Kotoko turned toward him at once.
"But the Director is different."
Kotoko stared. "Lord Tsuchizawa... what do you mean?"
The black snake's eyes darkened, and his voice sank with a kind of ancient weight.
"Because Shuten-dōji fears that man."
He paused.
Then each word fell heavily into the room.
"A fear buried deep in his bones."
.....
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