Part 2
He had forgotten when this event was. At the time, he had been feeling an intolerable anxiety.
"Yo, it's been a long time, Touji. Anyway, you must be bored, right?"
Touji had once beaten up Harutora, who had come to the hospital room to visit him, without any explanation. Moreover, it hadn't just been a punch. He had hit again and again, kicking and trampling, venting all of the dark emotions in his heart on to Harutora. Harutora obviously hadn't just sat back and let himself get beaten, but resisting was a waste of energy. The Touji at that time had been changed into a living spirit, and he really wasn't an opponent Harutora could compare to.
Finally, the staff of the facility had rushed to the hospital room and restrained Touji. Harutora could only blame himself for choosing the wrong time to visit, as he had been exceptionally unlucky even before then.
Touji didn't have any thoughts of regret, and he even felt refreshed. The main physician's fortunate son seemed to him like an eyesore, and he couldn't bear the way Harutora looked at him, a look that seemed to disdain him. That day the seal was strengthened, and Touji laughed for the entire night, crying and laughing at his own misfortune.
But the next morning, when he was burnt out, Harutora walked into the hospital room alone.
"I've come to return the favor." Touji didn't fight back, despite being pummeled by Harutora. He wasn't hurt or angry, just extremely shocked.
Harutora, whose wounds from the previous day hadn't yet healed, looked down at him with swelling cheeks, sitting on the ground. A slight smile emerged on the face of Touji who looked blankly at him.
"What's wrong, living spirit? Where did your boldness from yesterday go?"
Touji was speechless. Only then did he notice that something hot was sliding down his swelling cheek.
Harutora breathed out, kneeling down to look Touji eye to eye.
"The two of us should get along fine." Those words deeply pierced Touji's empty and vague heart--
Even now, they showed no signs of pulling out.
Yukikaze carried Touji, galloping ten meters above the ground.
It passed over the walls of buildings, kicked off the branches of trees, and surged along the shortest path. Touji single-mindedly stared ahead, the violent wind whipping up his hair.
Pain.
His forehead felt pained, as well as his canines. As his emotions became excited, the influence of the oni inside his body gradually swelled. He knew that horns had sprouted from his forehead and that fangs had grown from his mouth. He was very clear, but he wasn't afraid.
He was the linchpin. As long as he firmly held on to Ato Touji, he didn't need to be afraid of the oni's existence.
A living spirit.
Accept it, he thought.
Recognize himself who had become a living spirit, then accept it and trust in it. I am me, he thought silently.
How shameful - he couldn't help but mock himself. He had taken his circumstances as amnesty and oppressed the people around him, indulging in pleasure brought by violence while feeling empty, and finally was even possessed by the oni, endangering lives, even pushing aside the one who had reached out to him.
Shameful. Despicable. Stupid. Unredeemable.
But even if he were like that, there was still a group of good friends who didn't give up on him, who were still willing to lend a hand even if he refused them with spite. Therefore, he couldn't run away anymore. Now was time for him to face it, accept it, and move forward. The time to screw around darkly while hating himself was over, and it was time to struggle towards the source of light and advance with the companions who had let him decide this.
...Don't be afraid.
He didn't need to fear the oni. He still had his life and his future.
He didn't need to fear or run away. Only facing the problem would resolve it.
Horns and fangs grew from his face, demonic aura hovering around his entire body. The oni put on the armor by itself, casting the figure of a samurai over Touji's uniform.
But, it was no problem. Ato Touji still tightly grasped the reins controlling the oni.
They charged straight towards Aoyama Road, Yukikaze dashing between the buildings that stood in great numbers on either side of the road. Touji's change didn't cause it to fear at all, but it was no wonder, as after all, Touji didn't know - Yukikaze had long since gotten used to running here and there while carrying a living spirit.
Hooves trampled through the night sky and Touji advanced along with Yukikaze. The scenery around them sped past like an arrow. Their target was the Nue and the companions that should be battling the Nue right now.
Suddenly, a sharp light flashed in Touji's eyes.
A giant presence of a spiritual disaster appeared ahead. Yukikaze also noticed, raising its front leg and neighing. Touji pulled the reins tight, tossing them hard.
"Over there! Go!"
Yukikaze ran through the night sky, dashing past the south Aoyama Gochome crossroad - a mobile spiritual disaster over twenty meters in total appeared before them. A phase three, a Nue. Circling around it were figures that seemed like crows, and...... Hokuto.
In addition--
"Ha."
Touji inadvertently laughed, a smile spilling from his heart over to his lips.
There was a figure on Hokuto's head, straddling the dragon's neck. There was only one person who was this impulsive among the people that Touji knew.
The presence of the imminent battle made the oni inside his body unbearably excited, and Touji had the same feeling. He resonated with the oni, his appearance ferocious, and aura pulsing from his body like lava - demonic aura spewed from the depths of his body.
He gripped the shakujou Tenma had entrusted to him in reverse, intense interference appearing all over his body, the oni's helmet appearing on his face. The oni caused bursts of pain. It's all right, Touji smiled.
...I'll bring you some prey now.
Eat as much as you want.
"Ha......!"
His eyes flashed, showing fangs, and his oni-like appearance gripped the shakujou, then raised it high like he was throwing a spear, using all his strength - turning his own aura and demonic aura into magical energy, infusing it into the shakujou. The shakujou hummed, giving off light, its strength increasing until it almost burst.
The demon inside Touji's body entered the shakujou.
He aimed at the target--
"Harutora!"
Touji focused his mind, powerfully throwing the shakujou out.
Upon hearing that call, Harutora quickly turned his gaze towards the rear of the Nue.
There was a figure ahead in midair, a figure riding on a horse. He couldn't help but doubt his own eyes, as that horse was Yukikaze, and the person sitting on Yukikaze was none other than Touji. Touji threw something at him, a thin - spear, no, a shakujou. That was the shakujou that Ohtomo had specially made for him.
Harutora's mind was completely befuddled. Why had Touji appeared here? Why had Yukikaze appeared here? Why did he have the shakujou in his hands? Why, why, why......
The Nue fell into the center of the crossroads again, without the strength to even defend. Violent interference assaulted the giant body like a shikigami whose vessel had been destroyed. Every time its body flashed, miasma scattered everywhere.
The aura forming the spiritual disaster gradually crumbled.
But-- "......Damn, it's still not enough?" The Nue still hadn't been completely routed. The wounded, dying monster tried desperately to fight, allowing the shakujou to stick in its body. It pushed its head up, threatening Harutora and the others who surrounded it.
But, just then.
A shining charm danced neatly through the air, and colorful light encircled the Nue, forming a beautiful nimbus. The brilliant charm gave off a mind-blowing magical energy, overflowing into the surroundings like a fragrance.
Of course, this wasn't magic that Harutora had cast, and it had nothing to do with Touji or the group of shikigami either.
? ? ?? ? ?????? ?? ? ? ? ???? ? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?????????????????????? ?? ? ? ? ???? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?????????????????? [62]
Natsume.
At some point, the motorcycle had stopped and Kokuryuu was flapping his wings by the side, flying in the air. Natsume sat on the stopped motorcycle, her eyes closed, focusing her mind and chanting an incantation.
The aura pervading her body carried an elegant radiance, dying the girl in gorgeous colors. Her black hair that was tied with a ribbon floated in the air, and the charms stacked in her right hand flew out one by one like butterflies, entering the nimbus surrounding the Nue.
When the final charm had flown into the nimbus Natsume suddenly opened her eyes, forming a blade seal with her hands and raising them above her head.
"In the name of Amenominakanushi [63] , sweep away this evil miasma! Order!"
The blade seal swung up with a ferocious momentum. This was the strongest purification magic among those that Tsuchimikado Natsume had studied - the 'Perfect God's Curse'.
Magical energy shot through the charms strung up in the nimbus, then burst towards the interior, forming billowing beams of light. Not only Harutora but also Hokuto, Kon, the crow tengu, and even Touji and Yukikaze who were farther off, inadvertently closed their eyes because of the blinding light. Magical energy spilled forth like a melody and a pure, bright aura covered the surroundings. A brilliant and ethereal melody spilled forth and dominated everything. Harutora felt it over his whole body, and even his soul became intoxicated from the magic's strength.
A bright whiteness.
"......Uh......" Not knowing exactly how long had passed, as his sense of time was numb, Harutora slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes that had been blinded because of the glare slowly adjusted to the scene before them. In front of him was the horn on Hokuto's head as well as the scenery of the night, with the deserted, empty crossroads under them.
The Nue had vanished.
The shakujou that had pierced the Nue floated above the crossroads, then fell onto the ground before Harutora's eyes after it felt gravity's pull. It seemed that there was still some extra strength left inside the shakujou, as with a metallic sound, the shakujou stood spiritedly on the asphalt road, as if showing off its own accomplishment.
"......The purification...... Did it succeed......?" Harutora breathed, asking in a stiff voice.
"Ga! Well done!"
"Nue eliminated!"
The crow tengu called out together, cawing and happily jumping around in a dance. Hokuto snorted when it saw that, raising its head and straightening its chest. Stunned, Harutora slid down Hokuto's body down to its back. "......Did we deal with it?" He murmured, his mind blank. But just as he finished speaking--
"......Kon! Hurry up and catch Harutora!" Natsume on the motorcycle hurriedly shouted, leaning on the handlebars.
Immediately after, Hokuto vanished.
Since she had used a strong magic that she still wasn't familiar with, Natsume's spiritual power seemed to have already reached its limit and she couldn't continue maintaining Hokuto's materialization.
"Uwah!" Harutora momentarily lost his balance, falling downwards again. Kon hastily flew forward, catching her master's right arm. Harutora grabbed on to Kon's waist, finally stabilizing himself. Not only did none of the crow tengu come forward to help when they saw that scene, they even all laughed so hard they shook.
Harutora slowly descended together with Kon. The more he approached the ground, the more he felt like the spiritual disaster had truly been purified.
"......Great." He couldn't help but grin.
"......I really came at the right time."
"Touji? And...... Yukikaze!"
Yukikaze casually descended, carrying Touji. It stopped by Harutora, and only then did Harutora regain the shock that he had thrown out of his mind earlier.
"Why are you here? Never mind Touji, isn't Yukikaze the family's-- Ah, Touji! Your horns!"
The twin horns on Touji's forehead made Harutora's eyes widen for a moment. Looking carefully, he could even see lingering traces of the oni's armor on him.
The demon transformation had progressed further.
But, the expression that emerged on Touji's face wasn't the oni's, but was without a question the expression that he normally saw on his good friend's face.
"Isn't it cool?" Touji grinned, that arrogant and frivolous response exactly same as the normal Touji.
Harutora didn't really get what had happened, as his mind was still overloaded from the intense battle that had just ended. Though he was confused, he didn't have a bit of anxiety or fear, and instead, he was at ease for some reason. He simply believed that this friend had overcome a storm.
"......Yeah, it's not bad." Harutora spoke seriously while staring at Touji, the same mocking smile as his good friend's emerging on his mouth. "There's nothing more fitting for you than that egotistic appearance."
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