Honoo no Mirage

Chapter 6: Hawk of the North

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Chapter 6: Hawk of the North

Naoe had ended up in Yamagata at around the same time. For a while he’d been running back and forth between Tokyo and Yamagata investigating the violent and bizarre death of a graft suspect in a corruption case, but had finally found a lead and followed it into Yamagata City.

The corruption case, which revolved around the financing and purchase of land for the development of a resort, had exploded into a huge bribery scandal implicating everyone from the banks to the government. The bribes had originated from a large Sendai-based real estate company. Two members of its executive staff with strong connections with the case had died.

Working on his own, Naoe had used spiritual sensing and hypnotism to infiltrate the prosecution, and utilized any and all means at his disposal to gather information and seek out the truth. And he had finally pinpointed a person who seemed to have some connection to the «Yami-Sengoku»: Ueshima, a big-shot in the National Diet and a member of the ruling party from the precinct of Yamagata, who evidently had long-standing ties to the real estate company in question and had been arranging favors for it for a long time. He also appeared to be deeply involved with the current case.

Ueshima was the second-in-command of a very influential faction within the current ruling party. He had, in fact, been regarded as one of the favorites in the fall elections for president.

But now that this corruption case had come to light—

(Ueshima will probably take the hardest fall...)

Murders to destroy evidence of grafts. That was how Naoe saw these strange deaths.

Of course, arranging for someone to die of animal bites in their own bed was a highly unusual way to commit murder—almost unimaginable, in fact.

Ordinarily-speaking, at least.

But not if onryou had been used.

It was by no means impossible if Ueshima had made some sort of deal with a «Yami-Sengoku» onshou to get rid of the bribe suspects. Ueshima would probably have been willing to strike a bargain in order to weather this storm in which his presidential candidacy and career as a Diet member hung in the balance.

Having conjectured thus far, Naoe tailed Ueshima for about a week. Ueshima returned to his home in Yamagata and made no further moves. Naoe thoroughly checked the people coming in and out of the house, utilizing hypnotic suggestion to the full to gather information.

He had finally learned the ident.i.ty of the onshou Ueshima was dealing with, as well as the particulars of the deal itself.

The onshou was Mogami Yoshiaki.

The deal was the usage of Ueshima’s body as spiritual vessel by Mogami Yoshiaki.

“I see. So they’ve begun the invocations of the dead.”

Naoe was holding the cell phone conversation with Ayako in his Cefiro while smoking a cigarette, the day after she and Takaya entered Sendai. It was one of their regularly scheduled communications to touch bases with each other.

A barrier had been erected around Ueshima’s mansion, and all «shinenha» was blocked off, so he could only use listening devices and the like to get a sense of the situation within (he had secretly planted them on people coming in and out of the place). The radio waves would have reached his hotel room, but he had parked the car near the mansion and set up watch there so that he could immediately react to anything happening.

“So the building collapses apparently do have something to do with the «Yami-Sengoku»,” Naoe grimaced.

“And this is from Kokuryou-san: it looks like the onshou are appearing one after the other in the city,” Ayako added. “I need to do a more detailed spiritual sensing, but the «energy» of the earth is really strange.”

“Strange? The «jike» has changed?”

“I don’t know if it’s changed or not, but it’s not natural. It doesn’t feel like something brought about by the ordinary gathering of people and spirits’ «energies», but more like something that’s been created or manipulated. It just feels really strange somehow.”

“A manipulated «energy»? You haven’t found any connection between that and the invocations of the dead yet, have you?”

“Mmm. I don’t have positive proof yet, but I think I will have evidence of that the next time we talk.”

“I see. It does worry me. Whatever we do, our first priority must be to catch the onshou doing these invocations and perform choubuku as soon as possible so no other innocents are injured. Will you be all right with that by yourself?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“... Then I’ll leave it to you,” Naoe said, ending the conversation. After a moment of silence, he inquired, “How...is Kagetora-sama?”

“Kagetora? I guess he was behaving himself during Kokuryou-san’s special training. He was learning meditation.”

“Is it going well?”

“Wee...eeell,” Ayako replied with a confounded groan. “He definitely has Uesugi Kagetora’s genius, and Kokuryou-san was full of praise as well, but the problem seems to be with something inside him.”

Naoe’s face stiffened with surprise. “An autosuggestion?”

“Ah, no, it’s not that. I guess it has something to do with Ougi Takaya. He’s been strangely distracted since he came to Sendai. You know, Naoe, you haven’t heard anything, have you? Anything about Sendai?”

“No...”

In truth, though Naoe had known Uesugi Kagetora well, he had no such in-depth knowledge of Ougi Takaya. Takaya didn’t talk about himself, and refused to let other people in.

(Though I heard that his parents divorced a few years ago...)

“You know, Naoe, he’s more of a kid than he lets on. He immediately rebuffs people, but don’t you think that deep in his heart he wants to depend on someone?”

Naoe’s eyes opened abruptly. Ayako continued, “He—I wonder if he’ll open his heart to someone?”

“Haruie?”

“Naoe. I really think you should be by his side,” Ayako stated forcefully. “For him...for Ougi Takaya, we’re some strangers he just met, but surely we can form new bonds with him. Maybe Ougi Takaya, not Uesugi Kagetora, is beginning to see Naoe n.o.butsuna as someone necessary to him?”

“What are you suddenly...”

“He’s troubled. I mean, all of a sudden he’s Uesugi Kagetora and he’s been dragged into the «Yami-Sengoku»—he doesn’t know who he is anymore, so of course he’s uneasy. Someone needs to be with him. He’s more fragile than he appears. Much more brittle and easily hurt than that kid Yuzuru.”

“Haruie.”

“—”

For a moment Ayako was silent. Then she admitted in a low voice, “I’m beginning to think that he’s not Kagetora.”

Naoe blinked.

“Because he doesn’t know anything! And his personality is totally different. Kagetora was considerate and courteous and reliable and intelligent—he was perfect! At least, he was to me. But this kid is totally different. Like he’s a totally different person. Except—when he’s troubled, he has the same look in his eyes as Kagetora did.”

There was a faintly pained expression on Naoe’s face.

“I know that you’re trying to make amends towards Kagetora, but that would probably hurt this child. When I saw the two of you in Matsumoto, I could see the sort of trust that existed between you a long time ago, and it made me really happy. I don’t want history to repeat itself.”

“Haruie.”

“Please stay by his... Please stay by Ougi Takaya’s side, by the side of this child who isn’t Kagetora, and help him.”

Naoe was silent. Then he replied in a low voice, eyes downcast, “...I will.”

They hung up.

Naoe slumped back against the seat and closed tired eyes. Ayako’s words echoed in his ears: “I don’t want history to repeat itself.”

(—I won’t let history repeat itself...), he murmured in the s.p.a.ce of his mind as if in reply. He had etched those words endlessly into his heart. That if he had a chance to do everything over, he would not let history repeat itself. That he would not do anything to cause that person sadness or pain. —And so, even if he had to deceive himself...

It was not hard.

He could endure the agony of lying to himself. It was nothing compared to the way he had hurt him.

“You alone I shall never forgive for all of eternity.”

That p.r.o.nouncement of exile from thirty years ago, spat at him as if seeped in Kagetora’s blood, still echoed ceaselessly in his ears. But now it was Ougi Takaya’s voice saying those words, those words that flayed him, and for the past few days he had woken up in the mornings covered in cold sweat.

(I’m probably just tired.)

Plunged into brooding, Naoe lifted the cigarette filter to his lips.

He hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately, and now really rather regretted the fact that he hadn’t been more prudent and asked Nagahide for help (Yasuda Nagahide—also known as Chiaki Shuuhei—was still in Matsumoto guarding Narita Yuzuru). Realizing that he’d been going to extremes to bury himself in work because he’d wanted to avoid Kagetora, Naoe sunk into even deeper depression.

“Maybe the child that is Ougi Takaya is beginning to see Naoe n.o.butsuna as someone necessary to him?”

That was probably true.

He was no longer ‘Kagetora’—or at least, he was ‘Ougi Takaya’ now. It wasn’t as if Naoe couldn’t understand Haruie thinking of him as a different person even if they both knew that the two were one and the same.

(Is it wrong to make amends to this person called ‘Ougi Takaya’?)

Was it not cowardice to do so to this person who was not Kagetora?

Should his reparations not be made to that Kagetora who had said that he would not forgive Naoe?

(But there is no one for me here now but him...)

To serve Ougi Takaya was the only thing that Naoe could do.

He was determined. That he would not let history repeat itself.

But he was apprehensive and unsettled. Because history might indeed repeat itself.

Was Naoe really capable of helping Takaya with his own mind in this state?

His cigarette went out, and he dropped his forehead into his hands.

Kokuryou would certainly be able to draw out a degree of Kagetora’s «powers». If he could control what he had now, it would be quite sufficient.

(But his autosuggestion will probably not be so easily dissolved...)

Even Takaya himself would not find it so simple.

But above all, for Naoe—

(I don’t want it to be dissolved.)

Yes, such was his thought.

(I’m such a selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d...), he cursed himself, but could not repudiate his true feelings.

It was doubtlessly true that Kagetora’s mighty «powers» would be necessary to destroy the «Yami-Sengoku». Actually, Naoe didn’t know if they could stand against it even with all of his «power». They needed the «powers» of the former Kagetora. But he would not be able to use them to the fullest extent without recovering his memories.

“And are you okay with that? Kagetora will remember.”

What Nagahide had said flashed through his mind.

“About you. About Minako.”

Naoe’s eyes fell as if in an attempt to endure the weight of those words.

Yes. Kagetora would remember. No, he had to remember. And Naoe himself, who had wanted to forget more than anyone, he himself would—

Kitazato Minako—

She who had understood them so well.

The woman whom Kagetora had loved above any other.

The woman who had been caught up in the fight against Oda n.o.bunaga, whom Kagetora had entrusted to Naoe that day thirty years ago. He had commanded Naoe to protect her and take her to a place of safety away from the battle. That command had been proof of Kagetora’s trust in him, despite his hatred.

A trust that he had betrayed.

For Kagetora, there could not have been any act more heinous.

“You alone I shall never forgive for all of eternity.”

Those tortured memories came once more to life.

Minako, thin limbs flailing wildly.

Naoe, holding her down mercilessly and tearing off her clothes as she cried and screamed Kagetora’s name—

She must have seen a beast’s eyes looking down at her.

And he, who had transformed into that beast—

Whose name had his heart cried out?

A name that had only rent his heart apart.

When that cruel night turned into dawn—

Next to Minako’s naked body lying doll-like in its crumbled stillness, his human heart had returned to him, and he had been able to feel only surprise at his own atrocious, b.e.s.t.i.a.l actions. Shame and self-abhorrence had gouged out his heart in a place that could never be healed. And Minako had said only one thing to his crouched, cold back, pain deep in her eyes.

He had deserved any vile jeers or abuse she cared to throw at him. He, who had violated her, had deserved ‘he raped me’ and any degree of cruelty in retribution. Minako should not have been able to believe him, whatever he did. She should have been stunned and terrified; she should have detested him. And yet. And yet she. Minako.

His base treatment of Kagetora and Minako, this mistake that would crush four hundred years in one night: she, knowing these things, had been the one to save him.

By saying but one small thing—

She had gazed at him out of a bodhisattva’s hurt eyes.

But to this person who would have become his bodhisattva—

He...

He had delivered the final blow with that abominable act called ‘kanshou’.

It was he who had forced them, these two who had so loved each other.

Why did it have to be Minako’s lips which had spat out Kagetora’s words?

Who would the small life conceived within that body have been born into?

Why had it turned out that way?

(Can I really start over?)

Thinking only such thoughts before this Kagetora who had lost his memories was unbearable. Yes, it was true. He, who made a pretense of sorrow, felt only joy in the hidden depths of his heart that Kagetora had forgotten his shame.

Could Kagetora have given him this chance, though such selfishness tainted him?

Suddenly depressed once more, Naoe gazed out at the lonely lights along the street.

A black BMW pa.s.sed him and rode up to the gates of Ueshima’s mansion.

A middle-aged man dressed in traditional j.a.panese clothes disembarked along with several companions. They were warmly received and ushered inside. They appeared to be Ueshima’s guests.

Naoe leaned forward and turned up the volume of the receivers on his listening devices. There seemed to be a great deal of excitement and activity within the house.

(Who is his guest?)

A quick glance told him that he would not be able to make an accurate identification. But he felt as if he had seen the person somewhere before.

(Someone connected to the political world...?)

A conference began within the house. A few dozen minutes later—

“We are making steady progress on the capture of Sendai.”

Two men were speaking in the parlor. Sitting on a large tatami chair, Representative Ueshima—no, Sengoku general Mogami Yoshiaki—said to his middle-aged traditionally-dressed guest:

“The Date appear quite distracted, with thanks to thine Ashina forces. At this rate we shall drive out Masamune’s Date spirits ere we complete the «jike-kekkai».”

“Indeed. Our onryou shall tear the souls of the Date apart and consign them to eternal pain.” His guest laughed haughtily. “Why, I shall not allow them to undergo purification. I will wipe out their beings and «chain» their spirits to serve as our minions. They will become our strength; we will use them to eradicate all threat in the Northeast and thereby kill two birds with one stone. It so appears that Date is not yet aware of the alliance between Mogami and Ashina.”

“Moreover, the anti-Date alliance between Nanbu, Satake, Oosaki, Iwaki, and Souma is nearing its finalization. Once we have completed the snare, ’twill be child’s play to deal with the Date. —I did not think to see this alliance of our former lives see the light of day in a place such as this.”

Mogami Yoshiaki lifted a cup of sake to his lips. “Ashina-dono, bearest thou thy hatred for Date still?”

“How could I forget?” Ashina Moriuji spat. “We the Ashina, we who have been a n.o.ble house since the Kamakura Period, ruined so magnificently by Date. Nay, and one other: Satake’s sonshould not have been adopted into the clan. Ashina was destroyed because a man such as he became the head of the clan. The misfortune of my house was a curse cast by Date and Satake. They plotted to conquer Ashina. Yet this battle shall end differently. The resurrection of this ‘Leader of the Golden Age’ Ashina Moriuji will no longer allow those novices to do as they wish. I will show them the true power of the Ashina.”

“I leave it in thy hands, Ashina-dono. Thou shalt certainly take the head of Date’s One-Eyed Dragon.”

“I have no need for flattery.”

“’Tis not flattery. I speak from my heart. And there is one task more I must ask of thee.”

The two glared at each other for a moment.

With ever-guarded eyes.

“Think thou that I am taken in by thee?” Ashina Moriuji muttered, the middle-aged features of his spiritual vessel twisting. A sly smile appeared on Ueshima’s angular face.

“Please take thine ease this evening.”

(That was a surprise...)

Naoe, who had heard the entire conversation from the bugs he had planted within the house, was slightly stunned.

(Ashina and Mogami, working together...)

He had already heard reports of Ashina’s revival, but had not imagined that an alliance had already been formed. And moreover, that they were spreading a snare around the Date....

(They are truly planning to destroy Date...)

And the other thing he had caught...

(«Jike-kekkai»...?)

The door suddenly slid open, and a number of men came out, among them the traditionally-dressed man from earlier—Ashina Moriuji, perhaps. Naoe strained his eyes in the darkness. A small, middle-aged man with a long narrow face and white hair.

(That man is...)

Naoe jerked, suddenly recognizing him.

(Isn’t that Diet Representative Hirabayashi Mikio?)

Hirabayashi was the leader of the Hirabayashi Party, the political faction to which Ueshima belonged. A former Prime Minister and certainly a powerful, influential voice within his party. And this was Ashina Moriuji’s vessel!

Given that connection, it was certainly not unusual for Hirabayashi and Ueshima to call on each other. But to possess people in such positions of political power, of all things... Certainly, Mogami’s possession of Ueshima was not by chance, but Ashina making someone as prominent as Hirabayashi his vessel...?

(What in the world are they plotting?)

As Hirabayashi’s black BMW drove away into the darkness, a woman’s voice came through his listening devices.

“Hath thy guest returned home?”

An attractive middle-aged woman appeared from the inner tatami room. Yoshiaki smirked as he turned.

“He returned quite early. I wonder if he thinks we have served him poison?”

“What, we perform such—”

Yoshiaki reclined against the tatami seat and took a long puff from his tobacco pipe.

“These vessels we inhibit are unbearable. Well. ’Tis true that they are but senile old fools, yet their powers are certainly more useful on a grand scale than unskilled «power».”

Smoke rose up to the aging ceiling.

“A power that allows one to move the world, hmm?”

“Three years have already pa.s.sed since we were resurrected into this world. Now the groundwork has finally been laid.”

“Mmm. It hath taken us much time to grasp the current state of affairs, but the world of man, it seems, changes not.”

Yoshiaki sketched a circle in the air in front of him with the tip of his pipe.

“Money and influence. People would sell even their souls to protect themselves. Or in this case, their bodies.”

“Fools.”

“Yes. They are fools. They who have forgotten battle rot away under the weight of their own short-sighted selfishness. Government created by those who are rotten becomes rotten itself. Such is the way of things, Oyoshi.”

The woman glared at Mogami Yoshiaki forcefully. “Aniue, dost thou truly wish to plunge this world into the chaos of war once more?”

“I do not desire war. I will not enter into war. I will not enter into war, but we have now obtained a power to move this world. That is why I took this spiritual vessel. For the Mogami.”

His younger sister Yoshihime, who was also Masamune’s mother, Ohigashi-no-Kata, narrowed unyielding eyes at her brother.

“If thou shouldst speak carelessly, it may reach his ears.”

“Him, hmm?” Yoshiaki’s eyes were full of amus.e.m.e.nt. “So even the Demon Princess of the Ouu is afraid of him?”

Yoshihime’s face stiffened as she gazed at her brother. “I fear him. I cannot think but that he is bringing about something terrible in this land of the Northeast.”

“It becomes thee ill, Yoshi. In any case, how doth Kojirou? Once Sendai falls into our hands, I am thinking of entrusting Yamagata to him as my proxy. He is certainly not inferior to Masamune in mien. He will doubtlessly become a good commander.”

“That is so.”

Another voice coming from the direction of the tatami room interrupted their conversation. The two turned and saw that unawares to them, a slender young man had been standing on the other side of the paper sliding door. How long had he been listening in on their conversation?—Yoshiaki and Yoshihime’s faces both paled in alarm, but the young man said in a lovely treble without heed to the conversation that had gone on before: “Be at ease, Mogami-dono. Kojirou-dono of the Date is an excellent young warrior. We are completely in understanding with each other. However, Mogami-dono. There are rats in this room.”

“Wh...!”

The young man walked over, smirking. He flipped up the scroll of a landscape painting hanging in the alcove.

“Ah!”

The young man smiled at Yoshiaki as he gasped.

“The ears of a large rat,” the young man said, and crushed the tiny microphone of the bug he had revealed in his hand.

“A rat, there!”

“!”

The listening device cut off with a burst of static. Naoe had stripped off the receiver in the same instant, knowing that it foretold of disaster.

(They noticed...?!) He thought, when the car shook. Thud! He felt the car sink.

(What!)

The body of the car creaked loudly, enveloped by an unnatural power. A burning wind suddenly scorched the area around him. In that instant—

“!”

The Cefiro denoted in a column of fire with a terrible thunderous explosion.

“Don’t run, you «nue»!”

The owner of that sharp voice came leaping over the fence along with a red-blazing fireball.

The Cefiro rumbled as it burned in towering crimson flames.

Naoe, who had managed to roll out of the car by the skin of his teeth, shuddered as he crouched on the ground with a hand pressed against his right shoulder.

(Is this their «power»?!)

Something howled behind him. He spun to see deep red flames opening a gigantic mouth in attack.

Naoe’s «nenpa» smashed the flames apart. Burning lumps blazing with festering human faces in their exact center appeared near him. Their too-large mouths split open as they advanced upon Naoe.

(They’re «kaki»...!)

One flaming face attacked, fiery saliva splattering. He glared at it sharply and released his «nenpa». The face was torn to pieces with an ugly scream. But those pieces immediately joined together into one again and became its original human face.

(What?!)

«Kaki» were clumps of pathos of those who had died in fires. They were a type of immaterial tsuk.u.mogami which invited disasters a.s.sociated with fire. Since they were merely left-over emotions, they should have scattered and disappeared when his thought had blown them apart.

(They’re no ordinary «kaki»!)

He warded off the next and the next attacking «kaki» with «nenpa», but they merely scattered and coalesced back together into their original forms. It was an endless battle. Smashing yet another apart with «nenpa», Naoe suddenly realized: Of course!

(They’re not just clumps of emotion!)

They were «nue» clad in emotions—onryou!

(So «choubuku»!)

Naoe focused and gathered his «power». All the human-masked flames attacked simultaneously. Just as the flames were about to engulf Naoe, he cried out sharply in a thundering roar:

(bai)!

The air froze. The «kaki»-clad onryou were completely paralyzed.

“Noumakusamanda bodanan baishiramandaya sowaka!” Naoe yelled out!

“Namu Tobatsu Bishamonten! For this demon subjugation, lend me thy power!”

He opened his hands, linked in the ceremonial gesture, in the direction of the «nue».

“«Choubuku»!”

Light blazed from his hands. The white light tore apart the «nue» one after another. Their screams twined with the wind as they disappeared with the light.

“!”

He felt a terrible deadly energy from directly behind him. An invisible arrow thudded into him as he whirled.

“Ugh!”

Will thrown like stones engulfed his entire body, and he fell to the asphalt.

(Who...!)

He concentrated «nenpa» into the palm of his hand. His misting eyes would not focus on his opponent.

But he could feel the incredible «aura»!

(It’s coming...!)

Someone’s «power» attacked him from the area in front of him. Naoe promptly surrounded himself with a «goshinha».

The two «powers» collided. Naoe pushed out his hands as he stretched his powers to the limit to hold the «goshinheki». The air howled.

“...!”

Still holding the staggeringly heavy «nenpa» at bay with his «goshinheki», Naoe stood. Then he summoned a «nenpa» with all his might.

“Gwaaaah!”

Boom boom boom...!

A gigantic fissure tore the ground apart at Naoe’s feet.

Naoe did not miss the moment his opponent faltered. He threw everything he had into a «nenpa».

“!”

The deadly plasma bolt was deflected, and the trees and fence around him instantly went up in flames. A «wall» had evidently intercepted Naoe’s «nenpa». This was no average opponent!

(«Power» at this level—who...?!)

“Guh!”

A new arrival had struck from the virtually empty area behind him. An invisible chain coiled around him, driving deeper and deeper into his body. He couldn’t move. Agony!

(So there’re two of them...?!)

It felt as if lightning were running through his entire body.

Naoe dropped silently.

And lay still.

Quiet returned to the lane. The garden’s trees and fence continued to burn with the remnants of a flickering fire. After verifying that Naoe had indeed lost consciousness, Mogami Yoshiakifinally met up with his sister.

“A frightening individual. I would have been in danger without thine aid.”

“Aniue. Who in the world...”

The young man of mixed blood from earlier walked up to meet Yoshiaki and Ohigashi-no-Kata from behind them. He peered at Naoe’s still form and snorted with delighted laughter.

“Humph. I thought a large rat had crawled in from somewhere, and it turns out to be one of Uesugi’s demons.”

“! Uesugi?!”

The young man met Yoshiaki’s glare with an innocent smile.

“This man is Naoe n.o.butsuna, one of the Uesugi kanshousha. It appears that Uesugi’s Yasha-shuu have now penetrated into the Northeast as well.”

“Uesugi’s... Yasha-shuu!”

“If such is the case, then they have probably also infiltrated Sendai. Well, so much the better. We shall probably find this man’s «power» quite useful.”

The young man smiled an angel’s smile.

“I shall now depart, but I would like to present Mogami-dono with a modest gift.”

“?”

“I would like to offer you an impenetrable cell for rat-caging. If you will allow me to a.s.sist in its making, your celebrated might should be more than sufficient for its maintenance—”

A slight smirk lifted his lips.

“The rat shall not be allowed to do anything within his cell. Afterwards, Mogami-dono, you shall have the leisure to grill and drill him as you will.”

“...!”

The young man’s eyes lit with such cruelty that even the faces of the two Mogami stiffened. Ignoring their reactions, the young man snorted with laughter and looked at the remaining fires, soft silky hair waving in the breeze.

The fire reflected in Mori Ranmaru’s eyes glowed an eerie violet.

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