Volume 7 Chapter 5 Ako’s Resolve ④
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
(When did she…?!)
Even though Ako had been entirely focused on manipulating her internal heat, she hadn’t left herself completely unguarded.
Yet, she had been blindsided.
Had the entity before her been a malicious spirit, she would have exposed a definitively fatal opening.
What sent a cold shiver down her spine was the girl’s utterly faint presence; even while standing directly in front of her, her existence felt entirely ephemeral.
(Am I already caught in an illusion?) Refusing to panic, Ako slowly drew back the hand that had reflexively reached for the hidden gun in her breast pocket, choosing instead to observe.
She was a diminutive girl, standing well under five feet tall. A pristine white fox mask completely concealed her face, while her long, ink-black hair was gathered and tied into a single ponytail on the right side of her head. Her vibrant, luxurious red kimono was of an undeniably exquisite quality, but its hem was absurdly short-barely matching the length of a modern mini-yukata1. The sheer structural imbalance of her attire was deeply unsettling.
”Are you Lady Ayabe Orihime?” Ako asked, keeping her voice carefully measured.
”What an extraordinarily tedious question,” the girl replied.
She spoke in a clear, ringing voice, yet it possessed a strange, undulating tremor that stirred a vague anxiety in the chest. Judging by her voice and petite frame, she seemed like a child who had only just entered middle school or was perhaps a fresh high school freshman.
Yet, according to Ako’s memory, the younger sister of the current head of the Ayabe house was supposed to be in her late twenties. She should have been older than her step-brother, Naoshi. Among exorcists, there were those who maintained an unnaturally youthful appearance, but it was exceedingly rare for someone’s aging to halt entirely before completing puberty.
”You are the younger sister of the Kazuramichi family’s acting head, are you not?” Orihime asked, tilting her masked head slightly.
”Yes. I am his sister by law, and his biological cousin,” Ako answered, inclining her head politely. “My name is Ako.”
With her internal questions still completely unresolved, Ako calmly answered the prompt. It wasn’t because she had been told this woman would serve as her instructor for this training regime. Rather, she knew that when dealing with self-centered, prideful exorcists, playing along with their pace was usually the safest opening move.
”Tell me, Ako. Do you love your brother?” Orihime asked.
”He is the person I love most in this world, as a man,” Ako replied instantly.
Her response to the completely unprompted question was immediate and without a shred of hesitation. It was an absolute truth that required no second thought. The only reason she had ever needed to qualify her devotion in the past was due to the presence of her father, Yoshiya-but she knew her step-brother would certainly never reproach her for it.
”I see. How wonderfully fortunate for you,” Orihime murmured.
In Orihime’s tone-assuming she truly was Orihime for now-there lived a faint trace of envy, mingled with a quiet surprise, as if she were marvelling that such a reality could even exist.
”Do you dislike your own brother?” Ako asked, a genuine curiosity slipping past her lips before she could stop it.
”I do not dislike him by any means,” Orihime replied, her voice chilling slightly. “He simply doesn’t matter to me in the slightest-and he is a slightly pitiful creature, really.”
The response was openly provocative. Within a matter of minutes, Ako began to vaguely understand the true reason why this woman’s existence had been kept entirely hidden from the outside world. To criticize the head of one’s own family-especially a primary branch line-in front of an external house went far beyond mere indiscretion or political instability.
”He was saddled with a weight far beyond his meager strength, a job he is entirely unsuited for,” Orihime continued smoothly. “He cannot even bring himself to have his own sister bear his children. What a thoroughly wretched, miserable man.”
”…”
Ako remained silent, her eyes narrowing slightly. (The direction of this conversation has taken a distinct turn.)
”Ako, do you possess a biological brother?” Orihime asked.
Before she could fully organize her thoughts on how to navigate the shifting sands of the dialogue, another question was fired at her.
”I do not,” Ako stated firmly. “I have only one step-brother in this world.”
”Is that so,” Orihime remarked, giving a slight, delicate shrug of her shoulders.
Detecting an unmistakable undercurrent of disdain in that simple gesture, Ako found herself speaking out before she could check her temper.
”I believe that bonds forged by choice and law are far deeper than those of mere blood.”
”The delusional ramblings of a woman who has never known a real brother,” Orihime sneered, her voice dripping with refined arrogance. “It is entirely baseless, my dear.”
”Then do you possess a brother by law?” Ako countered, her tone sharpening.
”I have no such thing,” Orihime replied instantly. “Why on earth would I tolerate such a thing?”
(Then on what grounds do you speak-) Ako fiercely wanted to press the issue, but she forced herself to hold back the retort. Even so, she could not let her spiritual pride suffer the insult silently without offering at least one defense.
”It is precisely because there is no biological tie that we can cherish each other so completely, deepening our bond beyond measure. Though… I suppose someone like you could never comprehend that.”
But those words seemed to strike a dangerous nerve beneath the surface.
”Blood is thicker than water, girl,” Orihime said, her elegant composure fracturing slightly.
Detecting a sharp, undeniable irritation clipping Orihime’s tone, Ako felt a small surge of triumph and pressed her advantage.
”If we are speaking of fathers, I might agree with you.”
”A biological father?” Orihime cut her off, her voice dropping into an icy, absolute revulsion. “I have no such thing. How thoroughly grotesque2.”
”–Huh?”
Having her entire premise completely and bizarrely discarded in a single breath, Ako felt a hot wave of anger surge straight to her head. Just as she opened her mouth to argue further, a light, distinct tap landed on her shoulder from behind.
”Look at you. Completely emotional, Ako,” an amused voice whispered directly into her ear.
The exasperated, mocking voice belonged unmistakably to Orihime. Refusing to give her the satisfaction of turning around, Ako kept her eyes locked dead ahead, glaring fiercely at the fading figure of Orihime that still stood directly in front of her.
”Though… I suppose it wasn’t an absolute failure,” the real Orihime remarked, stepping forward from behind her shoulder.
With those words, Orihime lifted her white fox mask, revealing her actual face. She truly was youthful. Ako herself possessed a childish, doll-like face, but even at her worst, she would be mistaken for a high schooler. Orihime, however, could easily pass for a middle school student. Yet this woman, who bore the profound, unmistakable imprint of a young child upon her features, let a deeply cynical, mocking smile curl across her lips.
”To deceive a human, my dear, one must intimately understand the fractures within the soul-their desperate tendency to look upon what they desire to see, to believe precisely what they wish to believe. It is a vulnerability prominent in humans, yet present even in the hearts of the Ayakashi.”
”And you are telling me to exploit that?” Ako asked, forcing her mind to pivot as she realized the bizarre, petty squabble had suddenly flipped into a profound lecture on the arcane.
However, her response did not seem to satisfy Orihime, who merely clicked her tongue and wagged her index finger elegantly from side to side.
”No, you foolish girl. It is far more effective to manipulate the current of their attention-the very urge to look away from what they dread.”
To control not just a single static point of belief, but the entire surface and flow of a target’s desires and aversions. If one could master that current, preparing the necessary illusions along the path would become infinitely simpler. It was an incredibly logical, terrifyingly practical theory. And given that Ako had just been completely ensnared by it herself, its efficacy was undeniable.
”And you intend to teach me this?” Ako demanded, her eyes locked onto her instructor.
In response to Ako’s intense question, Orihime merely laughed, turning her back to her.
”It isn’t something so simple that it can be grasped merely by hearing it explained. The human heart is governed by far more than pure logic. You will have to internalize it through raw experience-at least a fraction of it.”
Orihime began to walk away, calling over her shoulder.
”Go change your clothes and follow me. We are staying in the cabin near the ‘Second Spring’ tonight. You had better hurry.”
The faint, crystalline chime of a bell echoed, and in the blink of an eye, Orihime was already far ahead, standing halfway up the mountain path. The vibrant red sleeves of her kimono fluttered gently in the wind. Ako rushed to catch up.
”Ako,” a voice floated down to her from the figure who refused to look back.
”What is it?” Ako called out, straining her eyes against the mountain path.
”I’m only telling you this out of pure kindness.”
”Yes?”
”Give up on the biological father thing. It really is disgusting. You’ll make your ancestors weep.”
”Huh?!”
In reality, there was absolutely nothing improper between Ako and Kazuramichi Yoshiya beyond a normal, strictly professional relationship between a daughter and her father. Yet this woman had casually trampled over her boundaries, using it to mock and sneer at her.
-This woman is my enemy.
Staring intensely at the retreating back of the girl, Ako arrived at a cold, solid conclusion. But that wasn’t a bad thing. For Ako knew that the lessons one could carve from an enemy were just as plentiful as those learned from a master.
—
Summary:
Ako undergoes a tense meeting with her training instructor, Ayabe Orihime, who blindsided her using exceptional illusion craft. The dialogue rapidly devolves into a provocative psychological battle surrounding family ties, biological connections, and incestuous taboos. Ultimately, Orihime shifts the encounter into an instructional lecture on manipulating structural currents of attention before leading Ako deeper into an adversarial training regime.
—
Trivia:
Orihime is physically trapped in a pre-pubescent state despite being chronologically older than Naoshi.
Ako handles personal logic easily but flares up immediately when her emotional bond with Naoshi is insulted.
The concept of illusion magic relies heavily on managing the current of what people wish to actively avoid or ignore.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Ako – A young girl with a doll-like, expressionless face who conceals deep emotional intensity. She is the niece and adopted sister of Naoshi and serves as the assistant to the Acting Head of the Kazuramichi family while possessing the blood of a Yuki-onna.
• Orihime – Younger sister of the Ayabe family head and candidate for first-class exorcist.
• Ayabe – The Ayabe family name, associated with Nara. The lineage is one of the Kansai Eight Families and has its roots in a clan of shinobi.
• Naoshi – A man with thin lips and a cynical smirk who possesses eyes that occasionally soften with a rare, gentle light. He is the only son of the Kazuramichi house head and acts as the legal guardian and step-brother to Ako, operating with a ‘fake’ Kansai accent.
• Kazuramichi – The Kazuramichi family name, carried by Naoshi and Ako. This lineage is one of the Kansai Eight Families and holds a significant position within the exorcist hierarchy.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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