Volume 2 Chapter 14 Battle Of Shizugatake 2️⃣： Regret Comes Too Late
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Two days before the news of the Great Youkai appearing in Niigata reached Osaka, a young man was trapped in a special room for ayakashi and exorcists, which had been remodeled from the Igarashi family’s storehouse.
His name was Kazuramichi Yoshitada, the person at the center of it all.
Even though he was imprisoned, he had some freedom in his cell and didn’t have to worry about food.
But that didn’t comfort him at all.
He didn’t even know how the situation in Umeda had turned out.
If a city with over 2 million people was destroyed, people from other areas wouldn’t be able to relax either.
So, his cousin was probably still alive, or at least he had defeated the Great Youkai.
This all happened because he had been flustered and agreed to calm his mother, who was in a panic and wanted to go to Niigata.
He never expected to be locked up like this as soon as he arrived.
──This situation was definitely making Naoshi angry.
The longer he stayed here, the harder it would be to explain himself.
More than anything, he needed to know what happened to Mifuyu.
He tried to get his mother, who came to check on him 6 times a day, including meal times, to understand his situation.
”Mom, please. Let me out of here. It might not be too late if we hurry──.”
”Stop saying such unreasonable things──this is for your own good, Yoshitada-san.”
”If I don’t go back now, I won’t have a future in Kazuramichi.”
Maybe it was already too late.
But still, staying here was worse.
”Don’t worry, you’re Yoshiya-san’s son. We can do anything. It’s just that the timing is a bit off right now.”
”Mom…”
He had questioned his mother’s words before, but mostly he agreed and believed her.
He had tried hard to meet her expectations.
But now he realized that her words weren’t positive or strong-willed.
They were just the dreams of someone who didn’t understand reality, ayakashi, or what it meant to be an exorcist.
”──It’s frustrating, but the gap between me and Naoshi can’t be closed overnight. Right now, Kazuramichi needs his power.”
Still, he couldn’t admit that he couldn’t overcome it.
It wasn’t just twisted pride; it was the determination of a man.
”If my father and sister support him, Naoshi probably won’t take my life. That way, I might have a small chance to recover.”
But thinking back, he wondered if he was even seen as a threat.
The thought that he might be considered unimportant hurt his pride.
But if accepting that meant he could survive, then he would do it.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to face the girl who risked herself to save him.
”Nothing will change if I stay locked up here. Please send me back to Osaka!”
He spoke sincerely, but his mother didn’t take it seriously.
She frowned and sighed, looking at him like he was a stubborn child.
”Poor you, Yoshitada-san. You must have been really scared. You’re not thinking clearly.”
”──Mom.”
That wasn’t something you say to a second-class exorcist, or to an adult man.
But unfortunately, facing the real Great Youkai made Yoshitada feel fear.
Because of that, he couldn’t argue against his mother’s insulting words, which came from her ignorance.
Frustration and despair slowly filled Yoshitada’s heart.
”Don’t be mistaken, he won’t just spare your life. Kazuramichi Naoshi is not a man; he’s a snake. A cold, heartless creature.”
Mizuho spoke without hiding her dislike for her nephew and reached into her pocket.
”That’s why he can send something like this without a care.”
”What is that──?”
When his mother opened the package, he saw something black tied with a white string on one side.
When he reached out to grab what was offered through the bars, it looked like beautiful, shiny thread, but it was actually hair.
It was long and well-kept, probably a woman’s hair.
”He did something terrible. If he had known it would come to this, I should have arranged to get that girl out too…”
”No way.”
No way, no way, no way──
The sounds around him felt distant, the world was spinning, and he struggled to hold back the nausea rising in his throat.
’Yoshitada-sama’
Amid the ringing in his ears, he thought he heard the voice of the girl he had abandoned.
Mizuho kept saying something, but it never reached Yoshitada’s ears.
Suddenly, Yoshitada realized it was night because the light coming through the small window above the cell was gone.
He hadn’t even noticed that dinner had been brought in, and a faint smell of food lingered in the dark cell.
He was hungry, but even that fact felt annoying to Yoshitada right now.
”Why──.”
He let the words that filled his heart spill out of his mouth.
His thoughts had stopped moving forward.
Why did Mifuyu have to die? Is this really her hair? His mother had reasons to deceive him, like exaggerating the threat from his cousin to make him give up on going back to Osaka.
But could it really not be Mifuyu’s hair? If that’s the case, did Naoshi or his mother prepare this? Can he really say they didn’t do anything to hurt her? His cousin was cruel, but at the same time, he had bowed his head and made a promise.
A promise between men.
But if he betrayed that promise, then maybe he sent this hair as a way to taunt him──?.
He didn’t know. No matter how much he thought, the information was just bits and pieces, and there was no way for Yoshitada to know more than that.
His inward thoughts kept searching for answers, for the right reason.
No matter how twisted or unnatural it was, he wanted a reason that made sense.
If that’s the case, then everything is──
”──because I’m weak.”
This was a conclusion that Yoshitada wouldn’t have reached under normal circumstances.
If he had power, he wouldn’t have needed to rush to compete with his cousin, he wouldn’t have ended up as a prisoner, and most importantly, he wouldn’t have needed to be protected by Mifuyu!
”…Ahhhhhh──!!!”
Driven by anger and frustration with nowhere to go, Yoshitada banged his head against the bars of the cell over and over.
His forehead split open, and he felt a warm, slimy sensation running down his face.
But that didn’t even shake the thick wooden bars that were stronger than a man’s arm.
”Ah, aahhh…!”
Eventually, Yoshitada stopped moving, leaned against the bars, and collapsed to the floor, letting out meaningless groans.
A sound like a beast’s wail echoed in the dark cell for a moment.
”──Oh, poor you, Yoshitada-dono.”
A second voice rang out, one that shouldn’t have been there.
”!?”
Turning towards the voice, his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he saw a dark figure beyond the bars.
It looked like the same person who had sneaked into the Kazuramichi family’s villa long ago.
”You──.”
He was about to say how bold it was for this person to show their face in front of him, but Yoshitada swallowed those words.
He hadn’t been given a full explanation of everything happening in Umeda.
But if he wanted to stand alongside Naoshi, it was only natural to expect similar contributions and achievements.
Losing to the Great Youkai was just Yoshitada’s own issue, a matter of not being strong enough.
”Did you come to laugh at my failure?”
That was a self-deprecating remark he would never have said a little while ago.
”That’s not true at all. Indeed, mu lord is somewhat disappointed that they no longer has eyes on your family’s acting head.”
”Your lord?”
Suddenly, everything clicked for him.
The actions of someone with a lord are basically for their lord’s sake, even if it ends up benefiting others.
He realized he had just been used, and if he failed, it was just a minor disappointment for their plans.
How could he have thought he could look down on the other person and use them?
”But I heard you want power, Yoshitada-dono.”
”Then what? Are you going to give it to me?”
”No.”
When e asked with a defeated feeling, the answer came back right away.
He let out a self-deprecating laugh.
”How silly. Did you come all the way to Niigata just to mess with me? You must be really bored.”
”I’m just here to help bring out what’s inside you.”
”What?”
”You are a direct descendant of Kazuramichi. You might not realize it, but you have the potential. All you needed was a little ‘push’.”
What a ridiculous thing to say.
It sounded just like my mother’s baseless nonsense.
He had always thought that way, but he had been shown the truth that he was different.
He was not like that guy. He was not.
After seeing that clearly, how could he possibly believe such words now?
”You were once fulfilled. You had a good family, looks, talent, and love from your family──but that’s not all there is to being human. Sometimes, you gain things because you’re missing something. As you know, your cousin is like that too.”
Yoshitada, who should have realized he was being used, found himself listening to those dark words again.
”As I said before, I don’t plan to break your family. But the person in charge is harsh. They don’t listen to the weak──so, you’ll need strength to ask them.”
”Ah, yeah…”
The power it held, the sweetness, felt like it was slipping right into that missing part of me.
”Now, wake up. The child of the thunder dragon, the ‘direct descendant’ of the thunder god──descendant of dragons and oni.”
Yoshitada just stared blankly as the dark figure in the cell reached out to him, not even trying to avoid it.
As soon as a cold touch brushed his forehead, a sharp pain shot through his spine, burning him from the inside.
”Ahhh──!?”
A roar, like a birth cry, echoed through the quiet night.
”Wonderful, this much youkai energy is rare to feel in this life… Just as I expected, you really do have talent, Yoshitada-dono.”
The cheerful voice of the dark figure was drowned out, unheard by anyone else.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
Leave a Reply