*A darkness is swallowing the mountain—and the exorcists are doing nothing.*
When lower ayakashi vanish from the Yatsuhara range without a trace—not exorcised, not devoured, but hollowed out until nothing remains but empty vessels waiting for orders—the Matoba clan's young head, Seiji Matoba, is the only one who sees the threat for what it is. A forbidden art. Ayakashi-name binding. The greatest taboo of the exorcist world, and someone is using it.
But Seiji has spent his whole life learning t
The Law of Ayakashi: Seiji Matoba's Conviction - Those Who Tame Ayakashi: An Incompatible Joint Struggle
The darkness before dawn sank heavy into the room.
On the second floor of Kirinoya, in a six-mat room, Matoba Seiji sat facing an old wooden table, still wearing a navy haori over his black suit. Outside the window, mist crept through the garden as if reluctant to let go of the night, blanketing the trees at the mountain's base in white.
On the table lay a single mobile phone.
Matoba gazed at its screen, a gentle smile on his face. The call was still connected. From the receiver, the voice of an old exorcist who handled reception at the clan headquarters sounded unnaturally dry in the night's stillness.
"...And so, Head, the matter is to be handled by you alone, on site—that is the directive."
The voice carried a note of apology. But beneath it, Matoba could clearly tell, there was only formal respect—nothing more.
"Alone, is it."
Matoba repeated it in a low, yet soft voice.
"Yes. The mountains of Yatsuhara have long been an object of worship for the locals. If the clan were to mobilize on a large scale, it would cause unnecessary confusion. This is the judgment of the higher-ups."
"I see. A reasonable argument."
Matoba's smile deepened.
"Thank you for your understanding. Then, we ask for your continued cooperation."
The call ended.
Matoba set the phone on the table and exhaled slowly.
(Handle it alone, is it.)
He turned the words over in his mind.
This was no mere formal order. It was a clear check on the young head of the clan, Matoba Seiji, from within the clan's own ranks. The disappearance of ayakashi in the Yatsuhara mountains. Perhaps headquarters already suspected that the shadow of Hiiragi Douan—exiled twenty years ago—lay behind it. Or perhaps they had known of Douan's existence from the very beginning.
Either way, headquarters had chosen to foist this case onto Matoba Seiji personally.
(If I fail, I bear all the responsibility. The clan simply replaces its head and suffers no loss.)
Matoba reached for the teacup on the table. The tea had gone completely cold. It passed down his throat. Bitter.
(My position is more fragile than I thought.)
He looked down at the back of his right hand.
An old burn scar floated white in the dim room. The day his father's shikigami—a white fox—vanished. The scar seared into his hand when he reached for the fading light, burned by the backflow of ayakashi power.
That scar had been aching faintly since last night.
He had lost two shikigami. Called by name from afar, their contracts severed. Each time, Matoba's ayakashi power was shaved away, and the scar grew hot.
(Ayakashi are tools. If I've lost them, I need only prepare the next pieces.)
He declared it so in his mind.
But the words no longer resonated as they once had.
(Douan... that man is after my shikigami. He intends to take my pieces, one by one.)
Matoba stood.
Outside the window, the eastern sky had finally begun to pale.
(I cannot retreat. Even if the clan abandons me, what I must do does not change.)
He straightened the collar of his haori and left the room.
The valley of the Yatsuhara mountains was steeped in the predawn air.
Matoba walked the mountain path. Fallen leaves, damp from last night's rain, sank soundlessly beneath his feet. The cedar forest around him was dark, as if it had swallowed the night whole, and the air was cold and heavy.
He pressed further into the valley.
The presence of ayakashi was thin.
No—not thin. It was unnaturally skewed. He sensed a strange flow, as though the ayakashi energy of the entire mountain were being drawn toward a single point.
(This is...)
Matoba stopped.
The thicket ahead rustled.
It was not the wind. Something was there.
Matoba soundlessly drew several exorcism talismans from his breast pocket.
The next moment, a small shadow burst from the thicket.
It was a low-level ayakashi in human form. Its limbs were thin as dead branches, its skin a muddy earth color. Its eyes were vacant, unfocused. Mouth hanging open, drool trailing, it lurched slowly toward Matoba.
Behind it, another. And another.
From the depths of the thicket, hollowed-out ayakashi emerged one after another.
(Quite a few.)
Matoba calmly raised his talismans.
But then—
"—Damn it, they just won't quit!"
A young man's voice rang through the valley.
Matoba turned toward the sound.
A boy came running down the slope of the valley. His grayish-brown hair was tousled by the wind. He was slender, wearing a light-colored hoodie. Behind him, a white blob came tumbling in pursuit.
"Wait, Natsume! I told you not to charge in on your own!"
The white blob was a plump beckoning cat. No—something in the shape of a beckoning cat. From its body leaked an ayakashi presence so dense it was beyond comparison with the low-level ones.
Matoba understood in an instant.
(An upper-level ayakashi. Using a beckoning cat as a vessel.)
The boy and the beckoning cat were being chased by the swarm of hollowed ayakashi. No—more precisely, the boy had plunged into the center of the swarm and was drawing the ayakashi around him.
"Matoba-san!? What are you doing here!"
The boy—Natsume Takashi—caught sight of Matoba and his eyes widened in surprise.
"That's my line, but... it seems now isn't the time for it."
Matoba hurled a talisman at the hollowed ayakashi closing in behind Natsume.
The talisman stuck to the ayakashi's forehead as if drawn in, and the next instant it blazed with white light, blasting the creature away.
A short shriek. The ayakashi flew as lightly as paper and tumbled to the ground.
Matoba threw the next talisman without pause. Two, three. Each time a talisman struck, the ayakashi was wrapped in light and collapsed where it stood.
"Oh, you're not half bad."
The beckoning cat raised its voice in admiration.
"You're no ordinary cat yourself. Help me."
"Don't give me orders. But, well, at this rate we'll get nowhere. I'll lend a paw."
With that, Madara released an unbelievable amount of ayakashi energy from its small body.
The air trembled.
The hollowed ayakashi all froze at once.
"There. Vanish."
Madara swept its forepaw down, and a torrent of light raced through the valley. The ayakashi, the moment they touched that light, were obliterated without a sound.
In a matter of seconds, silence fell over the area.
"...Amazing."
Natsume breathed, stunned.
Matoba, having witnessed Madara's power firsthand, deepened his smile.
(I see. This one is no ordinary creature.)
"You saved me. I thank you."
Matoba turned to face Natsume.
"No, I should be the one—thank you for helping us."
Natsume gave a slight bow. But in his eyes was a clear wariness.
"You can see ayakashi."
"...Yes. I can."
Natsume answered, looking Matoba straight in the eye.
"I see. So you were being attacked by those ayakashi. No—that's not it. You were trying to protect something from them."
Matoba's gaze dropped to Natsume's feet.
There, a small ayakashi was crouched.
It was a young fox kit.
"You were shielding that ayakashi."
"...Yes."
Natsume lifted the kit into his arms. The kit trembled slightly in his embrace.
"You protect ayakashi."
"I protected it because I wanted to. That's all."
Natsume's voice was quiet. But his words held an unshakable core.
Matoba studied Natsume's face.
(Interesting. This boy does not fear ayakashi. No—he does fear them. But more than that, he wants to save them.)
"Your name."
"Natsume Takashi."
"Natsume-kun, is it. I am Matoba Seiji. An exorcist."
"...I know. You're the head of the Matoba clan."
Natsume's voice hardened slightly.
"Oh? You know of me."
"In the exorcist world, you're famous."
Natsume said it and edged slightly away from Matoba.
"So then, Natsume-kun. What are you doing on this mountain?"
"...That's my line. Why are you in a place like this, Matoba-san?"
Natsume didn't answer the question, but countered with his own.
Matoba kept his smile and observed Natsume's reaction.
(He's on guard. Naturally. My methods are incompatible with his convictions.)
"I am investigating the disappearance of ayakashi on this mountain. You must have seen those hollowed ones too. They're not ordinary ayakashi. They've had their names stolen by someone, their sense of self destroyed—living corpses, so to speak."
"...So it's true, then."
Natsume gazed at the remnants of the ayakashi scattered on the ground, dissolving into motes of light.
"Those ayakashi were normal at first. But then their eyes suddenly went vacant and they attacked me. Whoever's doing this isn't killing ayakashi. They're domesticating them."
Anger was woven into Natsume's voice.
Matoba, at those words, clicked his tongue inwardly.
(This boy saw through the nature of those hollowed ones at a glance. It's not just his eye for ayakashi. He has the observation to judge their condition accurately.)
"Matoba-san, what do you think about those ayakashi?"
Natsume asked.
"What do I think?"
"Can't those ayakashi be saved? If their names are stolen, can they never return to what they were?"
Natsume's voice trembled.
Matoba was silent for a moment at the question.
"...An ayakashi whose name has been stolen loses its sense of self and becomes a hollow that merely obeys its wielder's commands. If the name could be recovered, it might be restored—but no method for that has been established."
"That can't be..."
Natsume tightened his arms around the fox kit.
"Do you think ayakashi have hearts?"
Matoba asked quietly.
"...They do. Even ayakashi have hearts. Joy and sorrow, loneliness too—just like humans."
Natsume looked Matoba straight in the eye and said it clearly.
Hearing those words, Matoba's smile deepened.
(I see. So this is your conviction.)
"You're interesting."
"...What is?"
"No, forgive me. Your eye for ayakashi is surer than any exorcist I know. You have the power to see the essence of ayakashi."
Matoba said this and shifted his gaze to the fox kit in Natsume's arms.
"That kit too—had you not protected it, it would have been swallowed by that swarm. You disregard your own danger to protect ayakashi. In the exorcist world, that is considered the greatest weakness. Yet you uphold it as your conviction."
"...And you're different, Matoba-san?"
Natsume asked in a low voice.
"I believe ayakashi are tools. Use them or exorcise them. There is no other meaning in dealing with them."
Matoba answered without letting his smile falter.
Natsume's expression stiffened visibly.
"...I cannot accept that way of thinking."
Natsume took a step back from Matoba.
"You don't need to accept it. I act according to my convictions. That is all."
"Matoba-san, do you feel nothing when you look at those hollowed ayakashi? Those ayakashi might have once lived ordinary lives. And yet their names were stolen, and they were made into that..."
Natsume's voice trembled with anger and sorrow.
"Whether I feel something or not—that is not the issue. What I must do is identify the mastermind behind this case and, as head of the clan, take appropriate measures."
"So you won't try to save those ayakashi, Matoba-san?"
"Save them? Ayakashi? Are you serious?"
Matoba tilted his head slightly.
"I'm serious. I want to save those ayakashi. I want to find a way to restore ayakashi whose names have been stolen."
Natsume's eyes did not waver.
Matoba, gazing into those eyes, calmly assessed him in his mind.
(This boy is naive. An idealist. But that naivety can sometimes move reality. It's a power I lack.)
"Natsume-kun. Your power and your eye for ayakashi would be useful in resolving this case. Won't you cooperate with me?"
Matoba, smile intact, extended a hand to Natsume.
"...Cooperate?"
"Yes. You want to protect ayakashi. I want to resolve this case. Our goals differ, but our enemy is the same. Cooperation has value."
At Matoba's proposal, Natsume fell silent for a while.
"Natsume, don't get close to this one."
Madara, who had been silent until then, said in a low growl.
"Sensei?"
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