After returning to Hinata Manor, Hikigaya spent the next few days focusing on becoming Komachi's long-lost nightmare.
Hikigaya Komachi, for her part, expressed that this was not at all the college life she had imagined. What was even more incomprehensible to her was why a young, beautiful female college student like herself didn't get hit on even once. Hmph! She had clearly seen guys giving her lewd looks several tis. Granted, if any of those jerks actually dared to co over and hit on her, she would definitely kick them in the balls... but! The fact that no one actually tried made it impossible for her to hold her head up in front of her friends!
In particular, when Ruri-chan would tell her with a face full of impatience about being hit on by "stupid males" yet again, Komachi was practically dying of envy. She wanted to be hit on by a handso older brother too!
Speaking of which, while she had no luck with n, her luck with won seed exceptionally good. Many beautiful girls wanted to be her friend, and whenever her brother showed up on ti to pick her up from class, there seed to be a particularly high concentration of beautiful girls nearby!
She felt this was definitely Hikigaya Hachiman's fault! It had to be that this philandering skirt-chaser had left his mark everywhere, resulting in her living as if she were in a Kingdom of Won—because the auras of those girls were so strong that guys didn't dare make a sound. The worst part was that Hikigaya Hachiman had recently cruelly taken away her beloved dog, letting her play with the pup only after she finished her howork. How could there be such a stupid older brother in this world who took pleasure in his sister's suffering? It got to the point where her friends teased her all day long; though there was no malice, it was truly embarrassing.
Hikigaya was largely unaware of Komachi's complex inner monologues. These past few days had been quite productive for him. Not only was he providing Komachi with "fulfilling" youthful mories, but he also had to find ti to update the Yorozuya's rchandise and listen to reports from Kyoto during his leisure hours.
In the battle at Fushimi Inari-taisha, the Kansai Oni Army's opening performance had been poor, but after he left, the remaining elites had managed to save so face for the yokai. Despite losing their organizational structure, they didn't perform poorly against the Yami masters. These yokai with magical abilities displayed strong combat power and were no longer existences that modern firepower could easily handle.
This allowed the Yami exams to conclude successfully. The selection of the new generation of "Eight Shining Blades" resolved many lingering issues thanks to this test. anwhile, the seal at Fushimi Inari-taisha was removed by Hagoromo Gitsune. After the angry yokai entered the now-vacant base of the Kansai Branch, they engaged in widespread destruction.
Furthermore, Hagoromo Gitsune did not personally join the fray; it was the cadres who fought. The masters of Ryozanpaku essentially played minor supporting roles throughout. On one hand, half of the yokai cadres were watching them; on the other hand, there were many of their acquaintances on the Yami side. Locked in a stalemate, no one made a move. Only the "Exterminating Fist," a top-tier master, ran all over the field giving people grades. It was said his social circle expanded so much that he got annoyed and fled as soon as the exam ended.
At the sa ti, in Tokyo, a group of yokai appeared. Coincidentally, they were called the Nura Clan. However, their strength was far inferior to the Kansai Oni Army. Whether they acted as Hagoromo Gitsune's enemies or joined her was insignificant, so neither Yami nor the History Compilation Committee took them seriously, rely recording the event. What they did notice was another group of yokai appearing in Kanto alongside the Nura Clan; they seed to have origins linked to the Nura Clan but were distinctly separate and did not join their ranks.
In contrast to the Committee's caution, Yami—whose instinct was to confront others—asked Hikigaya if they should go and deal with these yokai. After thinking it over, Hikigaya told Yami not to bother. They couldn't beat him anyway, and since it was an "axed" manga series, it would be too pitiful if the characters couldn't even assemble a full cast.
A few more days passed. Just as Komachi decided to revolt against her brother's "tyranny," Hikigaya finally received news of the "Grand Finale"—Hagoromo Gitsune had entered Nijo Castle.
Hikigaya had already finished updating the Yorozuya's stock. This ti, however, he did not bring Ena and Liliana along, instead leaving them at Hinata Manor. After all, Abe no Seii might be an Spirit King with god-tier Onmyoji skills. While he certainly couldn't beat a Campione, he could easily deal a blow or two to the descendants of a Divine Ancestor. Following the principle of "matching professionals to the task," Hikigaya brought Tamamo-no-Mae and flew back from Tokyo to Kyoto at lightning speed.
At the mont he arrived in Kyoto, Komachi—who had finally finished her howork and wanted to pet the dog—was jumping with rage in front of her brother's empty room. Unaware of this, Hikigaya only felt Tamamo-no-Mae shudder violently on his shoulder.
"What's wrong? Can you even catch a cold?" Hikigaya, who had already entered the outskirts of Kyoto, found it strange. Why the sudden shivering?
"This Concubine just had a feeling that sothing terrible was about to happen..." Tamamo-no-Mae was also confused. Why was there a mysterious chill?
Both man and fox were baffled. However, they soon put it out of their minds because the Kyoto before them had undergone a massive transformation. The earth had beco restless. From beneath Kyoto, deep, heavy cursed energy filled with negative emotions was constantly evaporating. Because it was so dense, it had even ford tornadoes within the city that were invisible to ordinary people.
The "Yin" and "Yang" of Kyoto were out of balance. The spiritual field of this land was reverting to its most primitive state—the way it was before Kyoto was ever built. Compared to that ti, after a thousand years, the area had been tainted with too much emotion. Thus, after losing the guidance and restrictions of human sorcery, its state was more suitable for the survival of yokai and less so for humans.
Of course, this wasn't a particularly serious matter. The so-called suitability was only relative to human practitioners; it had no significant impact on ordinary people. Since ordinary people have no cursed energy in their bodies, no matter how the spiritual field changed, it wouldn't affect them. What affected the civilians was the increasingly fierce confrontation between yokai and human practitioners within the city.
The human side consisted of Japanese sorcerers, Yami martial artists, and Ryozanpaku. The two "noobs," Hattori Heiji and Conan, were no longer with the Ryozanpaku group. The masters had been freed from their constraints and had begun actively participating in the fight against the yokai. But this kind of uncoordinated resistance was like scratching an itch through a boot; it was aningless to Hagoromo Gitsune.
At the very least, the area around Nijo Castle was a forbidden zone for human practitioners; no one could enter.
However, Hikigaya Hachiman was not a human practitioner—he was a "bug." Thus, he entered Nijo Castle as if entering an uninhabited land, walking in openly and quickly locating Hagoromo Gitsune. She was beneath Nijo Castle, in an underground space where cursed energy was highly concentrated. Hikigaya didn't even bother looking for a path. He walked to the spot directly above the space and simply sank vertically through the floor, passing straight through the castle.
During this process, countless yokai watched with their own eyes. Not one dared to make a sound..
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