Аннотация: Yuto reveals what is hidden in Noihara and communicates with the vassals. The girls talk about the goals of the mutual aid unit for workers and their wives.
Part 29
Chapter 132
Hello, ancestral home! How are you doing here without me? Something tells me that it won't be any better with me. At the very least, we'll have to start by breaking the amulet of the "hidden one", and what else will we have to break? We spent the rest of the day preparing for the possible events that would follow the destruction of the amulet. It took a long time and carefully selected the sniper's resting place, for which we had Shinji the Hawk-Nosed, so as not to accidentally shoot something important to the negotiating team in the person of me, Shizuka and Kashi. Rinko with the ice sword became the second number of the ambush team, attacking the flank if we were forced to retreat. The problem is, when I imagined what Himari looked like in the terminal form in the manga, I couldn't tell if the swordswoman would take on the same appearance. In theory, yes, it's not like waving a sword at her in the form of a kitten, is it? I'm the one who assigns goals in case it's "really bad." The situation will be five against four, it seems that there should be no one else in the Amakawa house. If it's more than five, we'll just run away. Shooting back. The weapons turned out to be quite serious: three dischargers each (for one discharge), Rinko additionally had a sword made of rebuilt Mizuchi ice. I have a direct-charge stunner (that is, the total number of lightning bolts will be seven). Kashi relies more on jaws, a hawk-nosed man with a rifle. Mizuchi has his own water, which we were not too lazy to bring, that is, we rolled twenty-four barrels, placing them in pairs along the path of possible escape. Where did they get the barrels from? Water + Mizuchi is a force capable of creating a barrel even from water, that is, from ice. They painted a blind marking right in the courtyard of the house, who will stand where, so as not to get confused and not to think where to run. We ran for speed. They removed branches, pebbles, and a bruise from my knee. We ran through it again. Twice as much trash was removed. We ran a couple more times. The kitchen is at your disposal - um-m! But we'll spend the night in a tent anyway, just in case, so to speak. Shizuki and Kashi's disguises had to be removed on the way out - to check the surroundings, "pleasant" surprises like the ever-memorable Agehia Ko would be completely out of place.
The targeting of the railgun in the form of a rifle was also not without problems: there are not so many charges from pobedit to scatter them. Along the way, we discovered that the plastic magazine did not fit perfectly into the charging slot when reloading, and on the third shot it warped, jamming the "Henry bracket", which I had adapted without much thought to provide the simplest automatic reloading. It's good that the magazine holds twenty charges - in theory, it should be enough for one battle. As a result, the linear accelerator looks like it can be inserted into a steam tank: the thick tube of the muzzle gave a false impression of the caliber, the white-gray plastic of the parts seemed like some kind of toy, and the sights from the front sight and the slotted strap somehow did not inspire respect. But with the task of getting over a hundred meters with a well-accelerated dummy, the system coped quite well: Shinji successfully hit a diameter of ten centimeters. I did not allow the wall of the house to be shot through for a control test, because Zashiki-varashi, undoubtedly, after opening the hiding place, would immediately detect damage to his, in fact, body part, and negotiations would definitely be more difficult. And besides, who knows what kind of "alarm system" my ancestors have?
Yes, the house in which I walked so carelessly last summer and the summer before last no longer seemed safe to me. I had to insist that none of us stay in the same room for less than two people - the walls, which cut off the magical sense (and vision), prevented her from being noticed even in the next room in case of danger. As a result, even boys and girls had to wash at night in groups, since there was hot water. And I experienced an acute attack of inferiority complex again- and not my penis, but looking at the perfectly defined muscles of my arms and stomach. As for the penis, I carefully turned away and generally tried not to look once more in the direction of the spirits, instead trying to auto-train myself into the subcortex with a message like "I will swing and become the most muscular Amakawa in history." The problem was that I didn't really believe myself.
However, just an hour later I received full moral compensation and successfully forgot all the promises: it was cold to sleep, and it was logical for us children to rely on one sleeping bag for two - although Rinko was incredibly shy, but catching a cold would be worse than falling asleep together (in clothes!) in the same bed. Moreover, Mizuchi managed to blurt out that "she had already slept with Yuto and woke up all wet." Oh! I was almost forced into a sleeping bag! The Hawk-nosed Man and the Corpse Eater were not particularly cold, and the extra layer of fabric that limited their mobility could be expensive if necessary. But the heat-loving Shizuka did not want to freeze at night, and another guest was added to the "dormitory bed". It was warm in the sleeping bag, the girls regularly warmed me and warmed themselves, and we fell asleep in just five minutes.
Yes, it was a new and unusual feeling! My right arm (Shizuka) and left leg (Rinko), pinned down by the corresponding parts of the girls' bodies, I couldn't feel at all. Probably because I'm not a trained magician, yes, yes! Damn, it hurts!
Hissing and cursing, we got out of the tent, pretended to wash ourselves from one of the snake barrels (the water had been in a tub of ice all night - what would the temperature be?!), and stared angrily in the direction of the estate, hidden from us by a wall of trees. I really wanted to kill someone, and it seemed like Rinko and Shizuka did too. Shinji and Kashi, looking at us, almost laughed out loud. But they were silent and did not comment, for which I thank them very much!
Chapter 133.
Yeah... We trampled a lot around the house, and the clearings in the undergrowth look a little strange, but it's better that way than without a plan at all! We have the appearance... Well, yes. A hawk-nosed man in camouflage and a Gilly cape (sold for hunters) in autumn colors, the rifle is also wrapped in a camouflage net. Rinko is also wearing a "gilly", but on top of the usual sports armor (which, after the "Ferry", is in some ways not inferior to the notorious "sphere"), and she can even run in this form, we checked! But Shizuka was wearing a purple cropped yukata with a bow, which the girls with mats put on and tied twice as long as the camouflage armor.
Shizuka is a hero, even I appreciated it. It looks awesome, by the way! It's a good thing, because Rinko was too nervous. But now she's sulking, of course, the snake is being shown "facing" the city and the world, and she is being ambushed. Have you tried to explain to an eleven-year-old girl that her place in the bushes according to the combat schedule is not because she did not come out? Oh kami!.. For contrast and representativeness, we decided to dress up Porridge in advance, as well as the Goddess of Rivers, in a suit, only in a European "troika" - with cufflinks, a tie and other tricks. Kashi was sympathetic. By the way, thanks to Hiroe for fixing my brain in time: maybe it's not that important, but when I claimed the official right to the throne, I had to at least live up to my claims a little: the clothes of the retinue were the perfect solution in such a case. I myself was dressed in the manner of a school uniform: black trousers and boots (you can't see under the trousers, but the boots are real berc), a snow-white shirt. Did Kashi have a glass or a bottle in her pocket for the time being? for the blood I'll have to bleed myself in front of witnesses. It hurts, it's unpleasant, but I haven't found any other way to show the "smell" of my power.
To enhance the latter, I drained 50 milliliters of blood, had to put Steam (holding a glass in my hand - no problem) on the contents and pour in a quarter of the reserve. I've been practicing the "blood ritual" for the last week... Mizuchi was supposed to heal my wound, but just in case, each of the team had Band-aids and iodine stuffed into their pockets.
And there are walkie-talkies with headsets, everyone has them. At such distances, construction UHF-connected portable radios provided quite comfortable negotiations. And you don't have to press the tangent - the transmission is on, it's worth talking. So, the last check: clothes, communications, weapons, the location of people and yokays, paths, a blood bottle and medicines... everything! I took a meter-long wooden stick, opened the veranda doors wide, then the inner ones, then the altar ones, and put a piece of wood under the memorial shrine of the ancestors. Farry! Watching the piece of wood that had become the magical equivalent of a superconductor turn blue under my hands, I jumped up at a pace and ran to the middle of the courtyard, to my place near the tall male and slightly shorter female figures. The auras of my yokai unfolded to the fullest, and, echoing them, a low rumble was heard from the depths of the house. Clap! And the glow from inside the house scattered along the walls, covering the interior of the room with a dazzling splash... and it concentrated into three figures. One is as bright as an electric welding machine, and two are much dimmer behind it. Okay, take a breath! And...
"I am Yuto Amakawa, the last surviving heir of the eldest Amakawa family. It was I who discovered the technique of the "Mystical House"," I tried not to speak very fast, and in as cold a voice as possible. After the last word, I adjusted my glasses, and they lowered the brightness of the visualization. Now I could see our counterparts almost normally, without glare, and I was able to identify them immediately. A girl in a long-brimmed white dress that not only covers her legs, but also seems to spread across the floor is the Spirit of Writing. A girl in a vest and a short shirt, with a collar, is the spirit of a wolf or a dog. And the central, glowing, aura-crushing figure is a short and young-looking girl in a dark crimson, cropped yukata - Zashiki-varashi, a brownie. Where's the cat? I hope she's not sneaking up behind you with a sword. However, the next question left me even more stumped:
"Amakawa, you say? Then where is Himari-dono? Where did you put the Himari?! Answer me or you'll die!"
Chapter 134.
I am a calm, balanced individual. I get nervous off the case, it happens, but this does not prevent me from staying within the "framework", communicating with almost any interlocutor... but they did!
"What?! I left my cat at home, and did you take her somewhere?" I practically hissed to myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Shizuka flinch at my tone. It's not that I'm not used to when my plans start coming true in the most bizarre way, but that's a bummer!..
"It's not me!" the brownie immediately began to justify herself in a completely childish way. "She left on her own ten days after Grandpa Gen left and didn't come back! I didn't want to let her go, honestly! But she said she'd be back with the heir, soon! And it's been two years, and she's still gone!"
And all of a sudden, for me, yokai burst into tears. So, sobbing, bitterly-bitterly, I already felt uneasy. She kept saying something, sitting on the threshold, but apart from "hlup, squish, hlup, ii-i-i," I couldn't hear anything. The "solemn" meeting somehow immediately crumpled up, the confused spirits looked from the crying girl to me and back. I waved my hand, walked up to the crying spirit, and exchanged glances with the remaining two spirits.
"Well, it can take a long time..." the girl handed me an envelope and, turning to me, asked: "Are you sure you're Yuto? The last time I saw you was when I was six years old. And you don't smell like power at all. A concealing amulet?"
I nodded and unbuttoned my shirt a couple of buttons, revealing a sizeable rectangle. The dog girl also came up to me and started sniffing my shoulder intently.
"It smells similar, but the smell is different. Really," she looked at me critically, "You've grown up."
"Shizuka, give me the needle," I grimaced at the upcoming procedure and took the blood bottle from Kashi. Damn, it's not a pleasant procedure. The blood came out of the wound rather slowly, and it took about a minute and a half before I allowed Mizuchi to wipe the incision with cotton wool taken from his sleeve and seal it with a Band-Aid. With my right hand, I concentrated as usual, turned the blood into a reservoir and supplied energy. And-and o-o-one! Then he handed the vessel to the mail girl. She carefully accepted the container, and by the way the tension abruptly dropped from her face, I realized that I was recognized.
"Hozya-ya-ya-ya-ya-yain!" - did a she-wolf (or was it a dog?) grope me, wildly waving her tail that suddenly grew out from under her skirt, "You're back with Ginko! Ginko has been waiting for you!!!"
And before I could do anything, I was savorily licked on both cheeks and lips. Uhh! I even shook my head at the pressure. The feeling of being licked with a human tongue, but like a dog, is very peculiar... And it's wet, damn it!
"Ginko... Ginko! Yes, I realized that you missed me! Stop licking!" I looked helplessly at the white yokai, and she motioned for me to pat her on the head. Oh, kami! With a soft happy whine, Ginko flopped down on her knees, continuing to hold me in a ring of arms: now she was nuzzling my nose somewhere in the area of my diaphragm. Stroking the spirit's hair, completely insane with happiness, and tugging at the "overgrown" sharp animal ears, I tried to ignore the tickling (and the sobs that continued to come from the brownie) and turned back to the Envelope.
"Can you tell me what's been going on since my parents took me away? And introduce yourself, I'm sorry, please, I don't remember your name."
Glancing sideways at her crying friend, the white yokai sighed, shrugged, and reported:
"I am the Spirit of Writing, Fuguruma Dofu, but you can just call me Do, Amakawa-dono. Ginko has already introduced herself to you, and as for Zashiki-varashi, her name is Kaya. And what happened... When Gendo-sama left, he activated the sealing technique and ordered them to wait until he arrived or until the technique opened the exit itself. We waited a week and a half, and the cat, taking Yasutsuna and the notebooks, disappeared. I don't know how, Gendo-sama must have shown her how to get out of the hidden, or Kaya let her out, but none of us could follow her. According to the last order of the previous head, a year later we began to believe that your grandfather had passed away... Amakawa-sama."
Fuguruma bowed to me, bending her slender waist, and I thought: two years...
"Tell me, Before, my grandfather... Did he leave Noikhara in the spring or in the summer?"
"In the summer..."
The Social Committee worked quickly - my birthday is in the first half of June...
"..It was August 29, 2005."
"What?"
Chapter 135
Every time I learn something new about my relatives, I admire their kindness and affectionate treatment of me! However, perhaps I'm talking nonsense and grandfather didn't fake his death out of a good life, but in some way protecting me? It sounds like a phrase from a Brazilian TV series, but it just doesn't happen in real life... passed. Let's go for now.
"Do, Ginko, Kaya, let me introduce you to my vassals: Kashi and Mizuchi."
By the way, while I was actively conducting diplomacy, the Corpse Eater and Shizuka were carefully cleaning up next to me, "sorting out the targets." Even now, they relaxed a little, but they continued to closely monitor the situation in the courtyard, standing so as not to block the strelok's sector of fire. Do bowed gravely in response to the silent bow of my bodyguards, and I waved towards the house.
"Dofu, do you know if there were any other items in the hidden besides you? I'm interested in records and amulets."
"Yes, besides the armory bank, I keep the clan's archive books. Would you like to read it right now, Amakawa-dono?"
"No, let's go inside." if I remember the storage method correctly, then I'm about to see the sacred process that students so often promise during exam preparation. Simply put, it will literally "make me sick of knowledge," and I don't really want to pick it up from the ground! "Ginko... Um, Ginko, I don't want to interrupt you, but maybe we can move into the living room and have some tea?"
In response, I received a joyful inarticulate squeal, and the werewolf galloped into the house. Dofu majestically (and in her dress it's problematic to do otherwise) strode past the almost calmed-down Zashiki-varashi, followed by our three, but as it turned out, the brownie had her own opinion about our stay at the estate: In response, I received a joyful inarticulate squeal, and the werewolf galloped into the house.
"I didn't let you in!" The girl jumped up, blocking my way and grabbing a kitchen chopping knife from somewhere in her sleeve. It was... somewhat unexpectedly... For me, but not for my vassals! There's a loud, dry click and a whistle, and the steel blade crumbles like glass, and at the same moment a heavy dark body carries yokai away, pinning her to the ground, and Mizuchi is already putting an ice spear to the fool's throat. What teeth Kashi has in animal form! And the "keeper of the hearth" Amakawa has such pure surprise on her face that there is not even room for fear. I'm doing great! That's what it means to properly wind up subordinates and scare them a little. Kashi didn't just block the quarrelsome spirit, he threw it away from the walls of the building, severing the energy interconnection of the two parts of the spirit's body. The hawk-nosed one is also an eagle! True, he had a good chance to shoot off Kaya's hand, but apparently he was not embarrassed. Or was he aiming at his hand? I'll have to ask later...
Saying, "Rinko, Shin, stay in position," I approached the well-fixed "patient" and, with difficulty suppressing the idiotic inappropriate desire to touch the "smile" of the leader of the spirits of the "Amakawa group" (The entire jaw is fangs with a triangular edge the size of two of my palms! S-s-s! Okay, hands off!), I squatted down next to the remaining free head of the spirit of the House and tried to appeal to the voice of reason:
"And what was that?"
But I was maliciously ignored, Zashiki-varashi was more interested in the transparent-sharp blade of Mizuchi's spear tip and Kashi and Mizuchi themselves.
"Stro-o-ong ones... How strong you are!"
"Don't pay any attention to Kaya, Amakawa-sama. She is not capable of harming Gennosuke's grandson." Do, who turned around at the noise, informed me. "She only obeyed your grandfather and Himari normally. Please forgive us for her behavior, Master."
"I see," I waved my palm in front of the prisoner of Kashi's face, "hey, I'm here!"
"You won't dare enter the house until you bring Himari! Got it?! Ouch!" It was Shizuka who calmly stabbed yokai in the neck with her ice cube, and Kashi quietly and intelligently clicked his jaws. Well, yes, a serious case.
And then it dawned on me. Come on... Holy shit!!!
Since the house and everything around it was pretty clogged with the light lines of the Ferry, I turned off the "special vision" immediately after activating the opener amulet. An unnecessary delay in reaction caused by a loss of orientation in the light mix around could be fatal. And now I've resorted to "eyes" again. And I saw it. The brownie's body was thoroughly "patched", and most of the body was occupied by concentric circles, very similar in structure to my "magical superconductor". If you looked through your glasses like this, almost point-blank, you could see that the mana glow was just on this one... An energy trap? Or rather, a transformer. Yeah, here are the radial channels with the same structure - the capacity of the body has been increased significantly. And this... I couldn't help but swear! Well, that makes sense. To use a lot of energy at once, the nervous system must also withstand the flow. She could stand it... due to the degradation of half of the analytical links! And at the same time, she speaks more or less coherently and even acts with some logic, albeit flawed, even naive, but she acts! What did the ever-memorable Himari say? "I am a sword, I am a shadow"? Zashiki-varashi could rightfully say "I am the shield of the house of Amakawa" - it was for this function that her Ferry of Light was "sharpened".
How lovely. With an "ordinary" spirit, and not the spirit of the place, such a trick will not work - this is the connection of bodies. The connection between the old building and Kai's body provided a frenzied waterfall of energy, which I observed at the very beginning of our meeting... But with an ordinary spirit, it is quite possible to create another trick: to tie, for example, reaction speed and reflexes, so that in battle the brains turn off and allow you to knock everyone down right and left. By the way, I can do that, too, it's not such a complicated procedure. We just need to figure out what the Ferry to the peripheral nervous pathways looks like... Damn it! damn it!!!
"Let her go," I ordered Kashi in a flat voice, and without waiting for the brownie to come to her senses, I picked her up in my arms. Well, what about it? She's as tall as me even now, when I'm only eleven, and even lighter than Shizuka... and no one canceled the Ferry to strengthen the muscles.
"Uh-uh-hey! What are you doing?!" the girl who received a major break in the template quickly blushed and began to stutter. "Let me go!"
"My grandfather... Amakawa Gennosuke, he's the one for you..." The words "made like that" stuck in my throat, and I clumsily finished: "..Did he raise you?"
Wow! Kaya literally shrank in my arms, a shadow of long-standing fear and pain darted in her eyes.
"Y-yes..." she managed faintly.
"Was Himari in the same band with you back then? Were you "raised" together?" I changed an overly complicated construction into simple words.
There was a convulsive nod in response.
"And how many of you were there?" I whispered very softly. And he heard it just as quietly:
"Seven of them..."
In the living room of the house, I lowered Kaya onto the sofa, motioned for Dofu to be quiet, and called into the headset:
"Rinko, Shin, it's all settled, come over."
"Accepted!"
While Kuzaki and Hawk-Nose were walking towards the house, I quickly looked at the wolf and the envelope spirit for an unusual Ferry, but I saw only the standard Amakawa Oath lines. Ginko was an enthusiastic, frivolous fool solely on her own.
"Everyone, one moment's attention," I asked as soon as everyone had gathered. "My word is the word of the head of the Amakawa clan." Yuto called them to witness. Yuto swore that neither he nor his descendants would EVER let you be hurt if it was in their power, "Zashiki-varashi Kaya."
And not "for the record" he added:
"And I'll find Himari. Wherever she is. She's my friend too."
"i-i-i.. Don't t-try to suck up to me, I h-h-hate you anyway! Here!" Kaya jumped up and ran somewhere inside the house.
"And what was that?" Rinko pulled off her protective helmet and was the first to break the long silence.
"Giving away old debts," I replied, matching her tone, "which I didn't even know about."
"You found a couple of skeletons in the closet, you know?" Mizuchi asked, smiling sadly.
"Rather, this one fell out when I opened the gate of the family home," It's not funny, I joked, with a hint.
"Now you're among them... That's all. Don't get dirty, Yuto Amakawa."
"Don't worry, Shizuka. The Europeans have a wonderful saying, you'll love it.: "The king's entourage is playing." I hope there are no complaints about the choice of the retinue?"
"No problem," the Goddess of Rivers assured me with a serious look, "especially in light of your promise, you know."
"Yes, you did a great job today, well done!"
"But of course! But I'm actually talking about something else: someone here just promised for their descendants, who don't exist yet. So you've picked up an excellent "entourage" for yourself!"
"Oh," I finally realized which way Mizuchi was pushing, but I decided to keep up the joke, "And you approve of them all? Hopefully, the rest of us think the same way you do."
"Don't worry, I'll tell everyone that in a dream you're warm and soft and there's enough room for two at once. And Rinko will confirm it."
"I don't understand what you're talking about at all!!!" Kuzaki, who was red to a glow, turned away from us. And Kashi and Hawk-Nosed must have had a coughing fit. Even Do snorted faintly.
"Ginko made tea! For the host and the guests! Everyone go to the kitchen!" The restless she-wolf stormed into the room, and grabbing my hand, dragged me along. And it's not as unpleasant, this old house, as I thought about it just twenty-four hours ago. It was just necessary to add a drop of humanity... or non-human warmth. Okay, let's assume that I've recaptured the house and a couple of old new allies. Now I urgently need to go through the records from Before and try to figure out what happened here a couple of years ago, which I have literally a day, two at most... And why is Shinji sitting there with such a long face?
"Patchi called," he answered my unspoken question, "The Mutual Aid group has recruited volunteers."
"Is something wrong with the plan? Less than a dozen?"
"Yes. And no... shortly.. There are 169 of them!"
Oh, kami! What's going on in Takamiya?!
Chapter 136.
After a bit of thought, I decided not to whip up a fever, but to talk to Hiroe so that she could go after school and figure out what was going on in the "Squad". After all, she was going to start recruiting herself in the future, and this was a great opportunity to practice. In the meantime, I'll deal with those documents that are better not to take out of a secure house... At least you can't take it outside the Dofu. Where is the workplace of the good grandpa Gena?
I can only say one thing about the clan head's office: extreme austerity. It was just an empty room, a low desk that was supposed to be sitting on the floor, a few simple brushes with lacquered pens, and ink. I found a stack of paper in a special drawer under the table. That's it! I even had to plug in an electrical outlet in the next room, bringing an extension cord: my VAIO P, despite the black color of the case, looked like an incongruous festive box. I needed a laptop to take notes, and we decided to leave Noihara the next day, and I planned to spend the next day studying the archive of the Amakawa clan. The one I kept before.
Speaking of Before. The opinion of the girl as a "weak" yokai, based on observing the power of the aura and on memories of the manga, to put it mildly, did not correspond to reality. Having got my hands on twenty-two thick volumes in wooden (!!!) I was completely stunned when I asked her how many books like these she could carry if she filled them to the maximum, and I was even more stunned. Three tons of cargo! "And if you decide to roll a barrel on it, then it's not for me anymore, it's already container shipping! (C)" All sorts of thoughts immediately popped into my head, like driving Dofu to Argentina once, for valuable plant raw materials, and I wouldn't have to look for investors for the "Water Industry". And then fuck working hard and picking up all the little things from the bottom! Shaking my head and dispelling thoughts of easy money, I made a note on the calendar: to make a list of those abilities of my vassals, which it is better for outsiders not to know about in any case. Actually, the idea of smuggling is also worth writing down - after all, Japan is an island, and I have three beautifully floating water yokai at hand. The only thing you need to carry is for yourself, because it's too easy to get burned... and because there is a wonderful Kagamimori clan that knows how to seal different things into other things, and something tells me that I can specifically fit into their niche. By the way, priests can use all sorts of "substances" in their work, and if so, why not import excess for sale...
OKAY, STOP! Enough conspiracy theory. I'll think about it when I'm not pressed for time, like on a train. And now - the archive! I pulled over a thick handwritten book with a carefully written letter "1" on the cover and opened it to the first page...
Have you read the Gospel of John? Well, the one that "Abraham begat Isaac"? The books were somewhat more detailed biographies of my distant ancestors. About fifty years ago, and even less in recent books. It took me a moment to realize that I, Yuto Amakawa, could trace my ancestry back over seven hundred years! Seven hundred! Mother, mother, mother! I couldn't even imagine which pyramid of my past lives I was living on. Of course, everyone can say that about themselves... but not everyone can find out specifically and by name! I didn't know all the hieroglyphs, but the books were quite readable, and the further I read, the more the epic canvas of the exorcist clan's life in the medieval Island Empire unfolded in front of me. For the stingy ones, "he was born", "married at the age of fifteen", "died by crushing a man-eating spirit", "created an amulet...", "commanded the cavalry of a samurai of the Ryu family", "cured", "poisoned and was executed", "fought a sea monster with Tsuchimikado", "fell in the fight with Yakoin, the reward is paid," there was such a series of events, passions and blood that it took my breath away. There were no amulet recipes or spell descriptions in the archive. There were no sketches of the clan ability. At most, it was possible to find out the name of the invented technique or a brief specification of the amulet. Among my ancestors were swordsmen, including those of a level that trained the same Yakoin (just ten years after the murder), and doctors, and politicians, even a diplomat signed up. At one time, the Amakawa traded in wood, at another they mined building stone, escorted ships of one trading company for fifty years, and then sank them all in one go - a conflict of interest occurred.
Clans... After reading in more or less detail the period of about four hundred years since its official foundation, I partially realized how conditional the division of these associations actually was in terms of independence from each other. Cross-marriages connected the eleven Old Clans with family ties criss-cross, tightly binding the entire small magical elite of Japan. In addition, ordinary samurai and officials also considered and tried to negotiate (or at least not to quarrel) with magicians. Not all clans, like Tsuchimikado, had aristocratic ancestors, but even my clan, which has the best roots (seven hundred years ago, yeah), managed to intermarry at least three times with influential samurai clans from old Ezo, and how many times did they have children together with other magicians and influential clans It is difficult to count the women of my clan who are unable to transfer clan power to outsiders due to the coupling mechanism. It's clear why Amakawa hasn't been touched until recently. And it is clear why, even in the "good" periods, there were no more than a dozen active clan members...
I read and read, made notes, cut paper into bookmarks, and methodically left them in places that were interesting or difficult to understand, so that I could return later. At some point, Kaya appeared in the office, put a tray of tea on the table, and changed it an hour later... Two hours later, again. I missed lunch, but Mizuchi pulled me out for dinner. I honestly tried to participate in the conversation, but mentally I was too much into books, and the girls gave up on me. I think they were asking me about the details of my childhood life at the Yuto in manor, but I wasn't listening anymore. Because just before dinner, I came across the phrase: "And the evil spirit was captured, for she did not deserve an honest death by her madness. And the head said: "May your service be the glory of your family and your children." And [the Light changed] her spirit, and she became someone else [...], changing her path to service." Sweet, how sweet! What did the ancestor cat Himari do that the head of the clan took a considerable risk to not just kill, but capture the beast? What was the impetus, what reasons prompted the Ferry user to try his hand at a defeated enemy? I think I can guess, though. The brainless creature didn't know what she was doing, but making her realize her deed and then executing her fits very well into the logic of a medieval scientist and swordsman-magician at the same time. By the way, the main family's house in Noihara, which I was currently staying in, was also built after this event, which was suggestive, so to speak...
After this event, the names and species markers of the yokai increasingly flashed in the notes, and not all of them were neko: mizuchi and air spirits, earth spirits and tsukomogami, even one kitsune got mixed up, though only two-tailed. The ancestors were so kind that they even wrote down the text of the oath every time it changed. As a rule, after another entry like "killed a traitor" or "fell by killing a traitor"... Some Yokai died very quickly in battle, while others served the family for centuries. Some, as I was surprised to learn, were allowed by Amakawa to "retire" and even provided with disguises. Actually, I even got the impression that they were even willing to let me go.
Everything changed about a hundred and fifty years before I was born. Japan's isolation from the world created more and more gaps, and new products and new ideas entered the country... By the way, there were new yokai too. "Colleagues from the West" began to appear, and not all of them ended their lives in the teeth of evil spirits unknown to them or on the swords of samurai angry at Gaijin. Another head of the Amakawa clan couldn't resist one charming witch: a young girl got into concubines, and then into wives. It just so happened that she was the sister of the one who became the wife of the founder of the Jinguji clan. After this event, the clan's treasure trove of knowledge began to fill up in much more detail: who did what, the results of intelligence work or the bribery of informants. The discovery of the "eye" technology of the Ferry by the son of the head and his witch wife belongs to the same moment. Either the fresh genes worked that way, or a fresh look was enough... It doesn't matter, the important thing is that the clan has received a powerful tool to influence reality. Instead of the description "tighten your ass in the Zy position and, having made the Chi gesture, touch the blank and wait for the favor of the gods," specific descriptions appeared, from the numerous notes about these documents of the "chipboard" class, the pages were full of references and footnotes. The ways of working with spirits have also expanded: in addition to "military" meat, "specialized" spirits, such as Do, whose name appears in the column "found and sworn in" seventy-four years ago, began to fall into the circle of interests.
"A time of experimentation" is how one can characterize this short period of unprecedented enthusiasm for magical science. Homura and Kamisakura, who managed to lose their best sorcerers in the fire of unsuccessful experiments, perfectly illustrate the degree of madness of clans and renegade magicians on personal power, only about thirty years of madness that gripped the exorcists after the country was shaking in the fever of change...
..And then the War at Sea broke out, great and terrible, stupid and disastrous, ending with a "blow" of intimidation in the form of two cities burned by an atom. She also did not ignore the clan of amulet demonologists.
Of the nearly two hundred "sworn in" and one hundred and twenty in active service, less than half survived and did not go missing. The two younger Amakawa families were killed in their entirety. The information about the sixty-nine remaining spirits was also incomplete. The country was in chaos... and it was stopped simply by the titanic efforts of the Circle. Drained of blood by mutual hostility, the fever of the pursuit of power in the pre-war years, and an endless wave of blood-maddened spirits, the magicians entered the battlefield hand in hand for the last time in known history. Oh, yes, they drove the spirits back to their place, just like three hundred years ago. But we didn't stop there. Yokai were killed indiscriminately, without regard for unwritten agreements and personal sympathies... Anyone who could, fled. Those who couldn't, hid and prayed that they would pass by. If magicians and non-humans had time to talk before, now the scorched earth tactics have come into play. The Magicians have learned a cruel lesson.
My grandfather also belonged to the "war-born" generation. Genosuke Amakawa, who became the head after the death of his older brother, who never acquired a family and offspring, approached the issue of preserving the ancestral legacy in detail: methodically rejecting any proposals for joint operations with other clans and completely ending all existing clan business (mainly the supply of amulets), Grandfather Gen focused on expanding the boundaries of the use of clan power. And he have achieved success! During his reign, not a single yokai was accepted as vassals under oath - however, at that time the spirits generally tried not to show themselves to the hunters who were brutalized and trained in endless battles. According to the spirits, the book did not contain any information at all until Genosuke found a wife. He was thirty then. Then, for the first time, the names Himari and Kaya appear in the records. But the birth of the firstborn coincided with the birth of a new unique artifact, which the Amakawa had not made for a hundred years. Then another one. Then another one. After handing over the post of head to his matured son, Amakawa completely "went into research", entrenching himself in Noihara. By the time his grandson was born, the clan's name already sounded like a brand. Amakawa lit up in the Circle again, but it was a different glory. "Amakawa, we're doing the impossible"...
I flipped through the last page and saw an incomplete page, followed by blank pages. And what do we have here?
"The heir confirmed the possession of the power of blood."
"Bakeneko Himari becomes the bodyguard of the "prince"."
"An oral secret marriage contract has been concluded with the Jinguji clan. Kues Jinguji is arranged for Yuto Amakawa, with the condition that both will live to be 16 years old."
I looked down, and the hairs on my head literally stood up!
"Under unknown circumstances, the vassals of the clan dropped out."
And a list. Sixty-nine names. And below:
"Forever erased from the history of the clan and declared unborn [names of parents], the grandson of the eldest line Yuto Amakawa was declared the heir."
And last of all, there was a strange note in my grandfather's handwriting, just a few words:
"Due to the high danger to active members, the clan is suspending its activities."
Date and signature. It was recorded five days before the death of the parents.
It was already getting light outside, hinting that it was time to go home soon. I stared at the last page without blinking, trying to figure out what it all meant. I couldn't think straight-I had too much information inside me, and fatigue was taking its toll. However, the decision was correct - THIS should not be shown to outsiders. And you can't show it to your own people either, you can't! But something needs to be done right now. I dipped my brush into the ink and, trying to draw the lines smoothly and with one touch, as I was taught in school in calligraphy, wrote down:
"Amakawa Yuto. The post of head of the clan was accepted ahead of schedule. New vassals have been accepted into the clan [name list]." Date. Signature.
My hand never wavered.
Interlude 23. [The day before]. Takamiya, a working-class neighborhood. A public event coordinated with the administration to attract the public to the Squad.
[The patrol car crew consists of Ishida Rino, a senior patrolman, and Aya Suzuhi, a patrolman]
Takamiya is a green city. Even in a built-up business center, there was always a place for squares, and in the relatively free development of the workers' dormitory quarter, there was always a place for squares. A small wooden stage, now decorated with a banner with the inscription "Mutual Aid Squad - your chance to make your world a better place," was not much different from other similar structures in neighboring green areas. On holidays, such places served for street music groups to perform and for all sorts of local bigwigs to make speeches out of the blue - from a representative of the warehouse administration to the factory management of a local concrete and building mixes production company.
The city government has established an opportunity for public organizations to hold their events twice a year, without additional payment, in order to attract the attention of this very public to their activities. According to the protocol, the events were conducted under the supervision of a specially designated patrol service crew, and among themselves, the police considered such trips almost a day off - sit in your car and sleep, lazily watching as the rare interested passers-by come up to ask the speakers what is going on here. It might be a little more lively on a day off, and it might come to a fight purely for "ideological reasons" - I didn't like the color of the shirt there, for example. But the "Mutual Aid Squad" did not bother to get permission for a day off, taking Wednesday as the time of the event. You can sleep all day again!
Ishido pushed the driver's seat back to the maximum, lowered the backrest and instantly dozed off, but the young Aya rolled down the window and began to watch with interest as three girls effortlessly dragged speakers, microphones, and connected an amplifier onto the stage. Ha, and Ishido said that they would yell into the matyugalnik for no reason, ha.
If Rino-san hadn't deigned to fall asleep, he would have noticed that the events surrounding the "social event" from the very beginning had gone a little off the beaten track as usual. And why is that? Because we need to be closer to the people, closer!
[A retrospective analysis based on the results of the survey of participants and witnesses - Hiroe Kaname. The file "For the A-Ko Group Report".docx]
Here's a simple question: working quarter, ten in the morning. Some people want to organize a mass event. Who can approach them at all? No, there are handymen who get a day off because of shift shifts, but these comrades, who sleep like marmots and for the most part have not yet overslept after a stormy farewell to the end of the work shift, will leave their houses and apartments no earlier than noon, or even sleep until three. The kids are at school. But the "other halves" of the local proletariat have mostly stayed at home and are now either finishing their morning chores, or have already sent their husbands/children/older brothers out...
...And instead of going to watch TV, go grocery shopping, or do work at home (many wives of hard workers sew professionally, and some make souvenirs with folk crafts), they went to have fun in the square next to the dormitories, where two yokai artels from the "group" had arranged for themselves. Well, what about it? It's new and interesting, and besides, the girls invited me to participate!
The "girls", consisting of two yokai and Haruhi, who was safely hanging on Hikari-Pachi's neck (and was completely pleased with this fact), became friends very quickly. Haruhi, despite her somewhat strange understanding of the world around her, turned out to be a very positive and pleasant person to talk to, and because of her "cockroaches in her head," she fit into the women's collective like a sister. The "younger" spirits of the "Amakawa group" also had some different and different ideas about human society in general, and about the "unwritten" rules of behavior within it. No, nothing fatal. They just didn't really understand that there was a difference between the stated reasons and the true ones. Perhaps this can be called childish naivety.
Despite the fact that even the youngest Yokai in the group living in the working-class quarter had long since passed fifty, in fact, they all remained mostly children. A big human city! Bright as a candy wrapper. There is a danger - exorcists, they must be bypassed by the tenth way and not contacted. There are friends, Amakawa-dono and his girlfriend, the director, who must be obeyed. It's not too different from the rules of life in the "gang" of Kashi. True, the accepted Oath has already begun its work, forcing the spirits' brains to perceive the world more analytically than before, but the spirits have not yet been able to get into the unhealthy spirit of innuendos and allegories during "simple human communication", although they more or less understood. Yuto and I have made considerable efforts to socialize our striking force in our living environment, not being lazy to explain incomprehensible points five times. And if the lectures for the male workers had already moved, due to contact with contractors and colleagues, into the plane of practical application, then the female part, which provided a simple way of life, looked at the world much more simply in this matter.
The task set by yokai was extremely simple - to familiarize everyone with the goals of the society and the proposed ways to achieve these goals. That's it! To carry out this action, the artels, reduced to foremen who were accompanying Amakawa-dono at that moment, exposed their girls and safely left to work. The most efficient teams were always like hot cakes with jam, and there was a queue. Is participation the main thing? That means the girls can handle it, too - there's nothing to get distracted. Moreover, Hiroe-dono approved. Oh yes, Hiroe-dono has realized, and now she will also think with her head first before giving valuable instructions...
[Haruhi Hirano, the bride of Hikari Goto (Pachi). However, she hasn't told him about it yet, because it's a surprise!]
Ten to thirty. Haruhi went up to the podium of the street stage, looked at a small group of young and older women, about fifteen people, tapped on the microphone and, after making sure that the sound amplifier was working, began her prepared speech:
"Hello everyone! I'm Haruhi, well, you probably know all this. Today we called everyone here to tell you about the Mutual Aid Squad. To be honest, we even came up with a long text about how good mutual help is, and I even wrote it down. So let me assume that I've already said it, and you've heard it and got into it. What? Oh, I can give it to you to read, but there are probably a lot of spelling mistakes! Fix it?! Hooray! Thank you, Watanabe-sensei!
Watanabe, a young elementary school teacher who went on maternity leave, waved her hand patronizingly.
"Actually, about the squad itself. Well, it's simple. We always have guys fighting every night, then getting drunk, putting up after a fight, then some other bullshit. Well, in the evening and at night it is not completely safe, rather the opposite. So Shinji-san decided to set up a patrol, not to strain the police, and it would be nice to get smart themselves. Moreover, we know where to drag Otoki when he walks on all fours and asks the cats for directions! And if which cat answers him, what should I do?"
Aya got out of the car, as the speaker mentioned the police, joined the laughter of the women's meeting - Otoki managed to distinguish himself at the station.
"Well, a patrol is good, but we've been talking it over and decided that it's not just the men we need to help. We should help our neighbors, we live together! For example, I recently learned the recipe for this soup, I'll tell you right now!.."
[Aya Suzuhi is a patrolman who is bored sitting in a car]
Damn it! And the soup must be delicious! Notepad, where's the notepad? Yeah, well, well.
"Hey, Haruhi-san! Don't dictate so quickly! Can I repeat it, I didn't have time to write it down?!"
[Ishida Rino is a senior patrolman who finally got enough sleep]
Ishida stretched, yawning sweetly. It was warm in the car, the stingy autumn sun warmed the body, its slanting rays through the windows pleasantly illuminated the interior. What time is it, is it already one o'clock? We can have lunch... wow!
There was a decent crowd in front of the stage, maybe fifty or sixty people, mostly women of different ages, and they were listening... Damn it, Suzuhi! What are you doing at the microphone? I just didn't want to get involved in politics, the authorities would take it away like that - we wouldn't be able to walk for a week!
"..In fact, you just need to moisturize your skin immediately after showering", He heard it as soon as he jumped out of the car. otherwise, the skin will become rough. Cucumber! Here is the main component! However, you need a blender..."
Kami-sama! What's going on out there?! So, we need to get the brat off the stage somehow, and...
[After two hours]
"...A guy who comes home after having a few drinks with friends is a normal guy! But the one who comes drunk in a striped mattress is not a man! What? Come out here and tell everyone, and we'll listen! Do you think I've been wearing this uniform for nothing for the past fifteen years? Do you know how many assholes like you went to a corpse truck because they couldn't cross the road? Are you his wife? Yes, I think a rolling pin will do, just don't kill the idiot, I sincerely ask!"
[Aya Suzuki]
"No, boss! Well, how could you think that we were asleep or had run away?! No, right here in the park. Yeah. No, there are a hundred people here, and it's fun! No, no fighting, boss! Rino-san personally controls everything!"
[Ami, Yokai the mantis]
"I've had problems with guys before, well, in bed. Well, when I feel good, I stop controlling myself and bite. And there's nothing to laugh about! I thought I'd have it forever, so I'll be alone. And then she found her Kuroki, just came up and said bluntly, "You seem to be able to hide your head. Shall we try it?" And there's nothing to be shy about! We're all adults here! How does he hide his head? No, I won't show you! This is my boyfriend, look for someone else! And stop embarrassing me even more!!!"
[Yumi, Yokai-wood spirit]
It was getting dark outside, and a rhythmic dance tune was playing from the speakers. People from two neighboring dorms pulled out tables, young couples danced in the open space. Rino-san, a stern and moustachioed policeman, conducted a master class on "how to drink without a single extra cup" in front of the hard workers who listened to him, Nakama, who returned from work, drew a diagram of end-to-end street checks by volunteer patrols right on one of the tables, and Aya actively gave recommendations. Haruhi emotionally explained to the two types of slightly goofy appearance that "you need to know the measure, and in general, you think, they gave it to the eye. I have to live honestly, that's what my dad always told me!" The gops were squirming, trying to retreat and escape, but Ami was watching them from behind, and these assholes were frankly afraid to mess with her, so they kept glancing at her.
"How's it going?" The Patchi who came up also squinted at the assholes being processed.
"Fifty-eight applications, here are the questionnaires," The girl handed the elder Nakama a neat stack of sheets in a folder. "Tomorrow, more girls and some of the men wanted to come over - they don't remember their passport details."
"Well, apparently another dozen will definitely come, it's good that we ordered a hundred pieces at once in the printing house." The octopus shrugged his shoulders. "Do you think there are many people here?"
"There are two hundred people, it's now. During the day, many people came and went, so we can probably talk about a figure of about half a thousand."
"Hiroe-dono said that thirty people who wanted to join the squad was the ceiling with this approach..."
"She said that no one would be superfluous."
"Yeah!"
"Most likely, half of them will refuse, as they think."
"Exactly..."
[The next day, Pachi, at the facility]
"Hi! Yes, I am! What do you mean, "have you run out of forms?!" Damn it! Now I'm calling the printing company, then Kashi. Yes! I think we did something wrong... Maybe we didn't explain the tasks of the Squad clearly enough? Yes, I will ask!"