Chapter 24: The Chosen One
Leaves danced in a small whirlwind. Inside the spinning
column of wind above his hand, several leaves twirled and spun. The rotation
got faster, then slower. As it spiraled upward, the leaves rose almost to the
ceiling. Then it reversed and went down.
The three martens watched from around the low table as
Minato controlled the wind freely.
The rotation suddenly changed speed. Utsugi, who'd been
sitting next to Minato watching closely, got dizzy.
Minato smiled and stopped the wind. He gathered the leaves
in mid-air, stacked them neatly, and lowered them onto the table. He did it all
smoothly with just wind power, never touching them once.
Seri, watching from across the table, gently placed a green
leaf on top of the stack.
"You're really neat about stuff like this,
Minato."
"If I make a mess, cleaning up is annoying."
"Fair enough."
Torika nodded while holding up the dizzy Utsugi.
"You've gotten really good at using wind."
"Going all out probably helped."
Though it meant collapsing a bunch of times.
The mountain god had taken him to a weird place where
several small mountains lined up. When told he could knock down as many trees
as he wanted, Minato hesitated he didn't want to hurt trees for no reason. But
the mountain god said it was fine because they were fake.
He touched a nearby trunk to check. It felt real but didn't
smell like anything living. They were incredibly realistic fakes.
Looking up, even though there was no sun, everything was
strangely bright. Actually, there was no smell, no sound, not even any
temperature. It felt weird and wrong.
It was an incomplete divine realm the familiars had made
together. The mountain god watched and laughed, saying he could split the
mountain in half if he wanted. So Minato let loose with everything he had. And
completely passed out.
When he woke up, he was on the veranda with morning mist
around him. When he tried to get up, wondering if it was a dream, he got dizzy
from crazy hunger. The mountain god, lying next to him, said he'd been asleep
for a whole day. Minato was shocked.
After that, he spent every day training in the familiars'
divine realm, learning to control his wind. He got tossed around by his own
power but finally learned his limits and how to control it properly. Ten days
passed in a flash.
He could handle it now, but even so, he couldn't split a
mountain in two. But he could completely mow down all the trees on one
mountain.
"It's totally bare," Utsugi's laughing voice had
echoed through the divine realm, and that ended the training.
"I'm still nowhere near as good as the wind god, but I
can control it now. I don't think I'll lose control anymore. I'm better at
small stuff than big flashy moves anyway."
Just as Minato smiled and started clearing the table, the
three animals reaching for cookies froze. Minato noticed the change. They
always reacted to visitors from outside.
Looked like someone was here. As Minato put away the
inkstone, Utsugi quickly stuffed five cookies in his mouth.
The martens, including the coughing Utsugi, climbed onto the
roof. Right below them, a stiff-looking Harima and an extremely apologetic
Minato sat around the table.
Of course, the mountain god between them absolutely refused
to move no matter what. His tail kept wagging super fast.
Because today's gifts were more amazing than ever.
Japanese sweets, Western sweets, sake, and wine packed the
entire table. Apparently Harima had brought everything Minato wrote on the
protective charms last time. Even Minato was thinking he'd gone too far.
His face was pale wondering how much this all cost.
This wasn't a gift anymore. This was a bribe. Why? He'd only
written two store names like usual. Oh wait maybe the product names were famous
enough without the store names? Writing down Romanée-Conti, one of the world's
best wines, had just been a tiny impulse.
With cold sweat running down his back, Minato faced Harima,
who spoke up.
"I have a favor to ask."
"If I can do it, sure, anything."
He wanted to help with everything he had. After all this or
rather, after making Harima bring all this he couldn't possibly refuse.
Minato straightened up and tried to look serious, but he
couldn't keep it up because he could hear vacuum-level sniffing from the nose
wandering over the Japanese sweets on the table.
"Hmm, this sweet bean paste smells new. Salt bean
daifuku... no, maybe wheat bun. Or....."
When you thought he was busy guessing.
"Ugh, with this many things, the smells are all mixed
up. The Western sweets in front are in the way. You too, Echigoya. I'm glad
they're fresh, but you're being too loud. Move over."
His muttering was terrible. To stop himself from laughing,
Minato clenched his teeth and squeezed his fists tight.
But then the one sniffing everything looked straight at
Minato, smiled, and gave him useless information:
"There's mugwort too."
Come on. He had no idea what to say to that.
While keeping an eye on the excited mountain god, Harima
started talking to the fidgety Minato.
Apparently there was a place with a vengeful spirit so
strong that even all the onmyoji together couldn't beat it. He wanted Minato to
go there and get rid of it directly. And it was really dangerous.
A ghost-hunting job.
Minato tilted his head, confused.
"I'll do it if you need me to, but why me?"
"That place isn't in our world. It's a special
otherworld. Like here... You can live here. You're someone who's allowed to
live here."
"Well yeah, this place definitely isn't normal..."
Anyone who came onto the Kusunoki estate would notice right
away. There was no hiding it. Minato, wearing just a light cardigan, thought
Harima must be hot in that thick winter coat.
He glanced at the mountain god. He was glaring at the
Echigoya package near Harima, grumbling and acting like he didn't care. But his
ears were clearly pointed at Harima. He was listening.
Harima sat up straight and continued stiffly.
"That vengeful spirit is probably a former god. The
otherworld seems to be a corrupted divine realm. Usually only invited people
can enter, but you... you could get in, I think..."
"You're counting on my power."
A deep, emotionless voice cut him off.
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