Vol 5 Chapter 7 (1/2)
Chapter 7: Vengeful Dragon
Night sed the girl
She knew exactly where she was even in the bottomless darkness Beneath her feet were the fai Dilapidated red-painted arches stretched endlessly into the darkness before her Her destination remained ahead of her no rew heavier and heavier, but countless arches waited to be traversed
“Are we there yet? How ain while walking this same path
“Almost there We’re almost there,” a voice coaxed “You can do it Just a little further”
Her belovedher tantrums on the steep, endless road to ‘Kuuhachi-san’ when she cried, “I wanna go hoo home!”
“The dragon God is up there,” herher hand as they continued towards the su to wish that Nagi will grow big, that you’ll be okay even if you’re alone We’ll pray for the Dragon God to protect you, okay?”
Her i found herself standing alone in front of the Dragon God’s temple at the summit
“You’ll be okay even if you’re alone, won’t you?”
Her mother’s last words echoed back to her, the last words her i off to school
By the ti She had fallen across the living room table, a medicine bottle and white pills scattered around her, the htly warm
Hera fit of neurosis, and no one shed a tear for her at her funeral Her relatives looked on, as expressionless and cold as ever, as her stepfather buried her with less interest and eiven to paperwork at the office
He had, after all, just rid hi else matter if he could have the company On the contrary, the death of his wife had probably come as a relief to him
He had driven her -stone to his ambition
The rest of the family had viewed her mother’s elopement as a betrayal and blemish on the shi+ohara name and treated her with contempt Forced to stand helplessly by while an outsider had uprooted the corasp like a sudden hurricane, they had heaped all their unfulfilled hopes and expectations on her mother
Crushed beneath the weight of a mountain of censure and blame, her mother had spiraled into depression and mental illness She was moved in and out of hospitals, but even at the end could only yearn hopelessly for the past “I want to go back I want return to the tiether, he and you and I,” she had repeated over and over again, her eyes far away
So her heart and mind walked the paths of ain, to the only place where she could find peace
“In the house where I could see ocean”
Nagi ree within her heart She hated the ones who had hounded her mother She hated those faces full of calculation, those slimy smiles They had killed her mother Her mother had been murdered!
They all deserved to fall to hell
She heard, in thatout of the darkness
«Dost thou wish to lead them to hell?»
Nagi’s shoulders quivered, and she looked up
Soold dust in the depths of the deep night, the particlestowards her
«Dost thou hate?»
It was a old dust coalesced and swelled before her eyes
«Dost thou wish to kill—?»
Nagi backed away in terror The gold dust began to transforon hovered in the air before her
«Thy hate summoned me Awakened me»
Nagi couldn’t speak She wanted to run away, but her feet refused to on’s enormous body undulated in place, its ferocious eyes fixed on her
«I shall grant thy wish I will lead all who are subject to thy hate to hell Fear thee not, nor evermore I will protect thee»
«Thy hate is eful soul Let us becoeance Whomsoever thou dost hate shall fall into hell Thou shalt become my power»
The dragon pressed against Nagi She cowered, her aron roared thunderously, «We shall not be defeated! We will take nobunaga’s head!»
Nagi covered her ears
She felt as if soht shatter under the pressure She cried out, begging for someone to save her But whose name could she call? Neither her er Who else did she have?!
“Help me”
«I shall protect thee»
“You’ll help me?”
«I will kill Whosoever thou dost hate»
Nagi screamed She didn’t want to be alone She wanted someone to be there for her, someone to care for her
“Oh please, help me!”
The phone rang at around four in theNaoe Chiaki was the only one ould be calling at this hour, so so must have happened He picked up the receiver and answered, his voice strained, “hello—”
The ringing had also awakened Takaya He heard Naoe’s voice through a fog of sleep and sat up abruptly Naoe was talking into the receiver Takaya glanced at the ti back his hair
“All right We’ll head over now,” Naoe said, and hung up
“Chiaki?”
“Yes Were you awake?”
“No, the phone woke me What’s up with Chiaki?”
Naoe hurriedly began to change
“Nagi-san is umo’ appears to have taken control Oda’s onshou is after her as well As we thought, the one who attacked us yesterday belonged to the Oda”
“Oda? Ranmaru and his lot?”
“No—” Naoe answered in a tight voice as he thrust his arms into the sleeves of his shi+rt “Our opponent this tieneral called Sassa Narimasa”
“SassaNarimasa?”
“Fora’s most loyal vassals This is the first I’ve heard of hia’s co by the fact that he has the «power» to perforainst hiet ready Has the alcohol dispersed from your body?”
Takaya climbed out of bed
“Get ready? We’re going to join Chiaki?”
“Yes He’s at Yai-san before she either reaches Matsunaga Hisahide or is attacked by Narimasa”
Naoe was alreadytowards the door with car and room keys in hand
“Kagetora-sa the car around Hurry as much as you can”
“Got it,” Takaya responded,quickly noide-awake
The approaching dawn had already dyed the clouds stretching across the sky a faint purple by the time they rendezvoused with Chiaki in front of the JR Yamato-Koizumi Station
Chiaki raised a hand at Takaya and Naoe in greeting as they climbed out of the car He came towards them, a sour expression on his face
“Sorry I lost sight of Nagi I chased her all the way here, but”
“You said she was flying—really?”
Chiaki nodded at Takaya’s question “That’s the ‘Hiragu off the hoihoi fire, which it was calling That monster awakened the kaki of Mt Ryuuou because it wanted dinner Goddammit!” He punched his palm with his fist
“What about Oda’s people? Have they found Nagi-san?”
“I don’t know That asshole Nariu quick”
“Not so good,” Naoe said, raising a hand to his chin If they only knehere Nagi was headed
After a long moment spent in deliberation, Takaya said decisively, “Guess I’ll have to give it a try”
Naoe and Chiaki both turned to Takaya
“Givewhat a try?”
Takaya stretched exaggeratedly, then straightened
“Search for the ‘Hiragu me off with all this bullshi+t about how I’m a burden and have responsibilities and crap, and I’ it already Not that I think this‘ll work, but I’ll try sending a ’Gohou Douji of the Sword’”
“A Gohou Douji?”
Naoe inadvertently stared at Takaya
“Kagetora-saained that much of your memories?”
“I rei ‘Cause it shows up on that thing, the ’Scroll of an Engi-Era Faith-Healing’ froht?”
Chiaki looked at hiisan Picture Scroll pretty well, huh? Why is that?”
“Why?”
He sed his reply before it left histhe scroll in Classical Literature, but he certainly couldn’t have learned about the ritual for sue could only have belonged to Kagetora
“”
Now Takaya looked bewildered He ithout question, steadily retrieving Kagetora’s knowledge Naoe’s eyebrows also drew together slightly as he gazed at Takaya
But he said, fighting back his private eive it a try It would be the fastest umo’”
Naoe’s words called Takaya back to hiain at each other and pulled themselves back to the task at hand
“Okay”
According to legend, the ‘Gohou Douji of the Sword,’ a servant of Bishao in the Heian Era in answer to the prayers of Mt shi+gi monkMyouren for the emperor’s recovery from illness This was the scene depicted on the Scroll Takaya wanted to use this ‘Gohou Douji of the Sword’ to look for Nagi
“Chiaki, you’re carrying a knife, right? Lemme borrow it for a bit”
“This?” Chiaki asked, handing over the 20-centier he had used earlier This was the weapon Chiaki carried with him for self-defense, a knife from an unknown ed to some small shrine
Naoe prepared paper and pen and presented thean to chant as he unhesitatingly wrote Bishamonten’s mantra upon the paper in Sanskrit He then wrapped a portion of the blade with the paper and held it up reverently in both hands He gathered his power, still chanting Bishamonten’s mantra, as he sank into trance
“On beishi+ramandaya sowaka, on beishi+ramandaya sowaka—”
He drew Bishaer as he chanted
“On beishi+ramandaya sowaka”
Then he placed the fore- and ainst his forehead
“Let the Dharma of the Sword open mine eyes”
He touched the sword to his fingers, and the Sanskrit-inscribed paper wrapped around the blade ignited A figure appeared within the fire: the gold-skinned bearer of a thousand blades, ‘Gohou Douji of the Sword’
The Gohou Douji summoned a cloud and rode it into the sky, all in space of a few heartbeats
Following it with their eyes, Naoe and Chiaki sighed as they had etora’s power
“He’s not your ordinary kid off the block, that’s for sure”
“Kagetora-sa towards the south-east—”
Takaya finally opened his eyes and looked at the knife-blade in his hand An ie had formed there: a reflection of the Gohou Douji’s field of vision An airplane-like view of towns and rice paddies blurred across a portion of the blade
“South-east? But there’s nothing Hmn?”
Takaya blinked The Gohou Douji was descending Reflected there wasa tomb? Whose tomb? It had been destroyed, but, by whose hand?
“Tsutsui Junkei” Takaya murmured “That’s Tsutsui Junkei’s tomb It’s been smashed apart Where is that?”
Naoe quickly searched a map “Directly south of here Near Hirahata Station Is that where Nagi-san is?”
“No, she’s” Takaya started to say, but ended with an “Ah!” She was standing behind the tomb And around her were—fireballs!
(It’s Nagi!)