…Different, Akari thought, trailing off midsentence. As she silently gazed at Kansuke, Tomohito interjected.
“Kotogami can be strongly influenced by a Narrator’s interpretation of their text. The Kansuke you see now has manifested himself in the image that man desires him to take.”
Akari, of course, had not narrated any of Kansuke’s text. All she’d done was read out his name.
It was amazing how much of a difference there was. Akari could hardly believe it, staring at Kansuke now.
“It seems a proper Narration could make a decent man of even your shabby Kotogami here. Well, let’s get going…”
Nodding with satisfaction, Amagai shifted his weight to move but paused as he noticed Kansuke’s hand going to the hilt of his sword.
“Prepare to die.”
Growling in a much deeper voice than before, Kansuke suddenly swung his sword.
It was a miracle that Amagai managed to dodge it. If he hadn’t tripped over a pile of books at that exact moment and gone flying, he might have lost his head.
With the target missed, the momentum of Kansuke’s swing made the sword crash into the bookshelf. This was no game. Kansuke meant to kill Amagai right there in cold blood.
Through her terror, Akari registered that Kansuke’s expression had changed. That was not the face of the Kotogami she knew.
It was the face of a demigod—not a human at all.
The Kotogatari with the blue-gray cover had fallen from Amagai’s terror-numbed hands and now lay open on the floor not too far from Akari.
It was clear that Kansuke’s rampage wouldn’t end as long as the book was open.
“Tomohito! Stop him!”
“Yes, Mistress.”
Responding calmly, Tomohito faced off against the demigod.
Abandoning the samurai sword, which was still stuck firmly in the bookshelf, Kansuke drew the second sword from his belt instead and set his sights on Tomohito as his new priority target.
At the same time, Akari was leaping for Kansuke’s Kotogatari. Scrabbling through the toppled avalanche of books, she managed to pluck it free. She gasped with urgency and quickly slammed the book shut before immediately opening it again.
All the things she’d learned during her study sessions…in her panic, she couldn’t recall any of them.
Not sure if this was the right way, but not knowing what else to do, she went for it.
“The DemonSlayer Kansuke Mishima!”
It took all of Akari’s bravery to squeeze out the words in a high, wavering voice. Even as Kansuke raised his curved sword high above Tomohito, the blue-gray haze enveloping him immediately dissipated.
The sword crumbled into dust in his hands, and Kansuke’s form shimmered.
Then Kansuke was back to his previous self. Sighing deeply, he raised his head, dressed once more in the casual kimono Akari knew so well.
To Akari, his expression seemed to show deep pain and resignation.
Amagai was out cold. It looked as though he’d whacked his head on the floor when he’d tripped.
“What a fool. He invoked the LordSlayer side of Kansuke’s Kotogami soul. But he is only unconscious. He should awaken shortly.”
After Akari and Tomohito lifted Amagai into a sitting position, Tomohito assessed his condition. Akari was relieved it wasn’t serious.
Amagai knocking himself unconscious must have broken the narration spell and allowed Akari to take over and remanifest Kansuke in his safer form. That was good. But when she thought about what still needed to be done, Akari felt her heart sinking.
After all, the Nue was still locked up in the storeroom. Akari was certain she couldn’t handle that without Amagai. And if she fled, the Nue would probably destroy the residence, and maybe even the whole neighborhood and beyond. She wasn’t even sure she’d be able to flee to safety in time.
“It seemed like Amagai knew who Kansuke was. Why did he insist on narrating from his book?”
“He must have assumed that this copy of Kansuke’s book didn’t include the passages about him slaying his own lord. The copies in circulation don’t, as a rule. Those abridged versions of the Kansuke Mishima tale aren’t as powerful, but they’re considered safer to manifest.”
Akari rubbed her chin thoughtfully, looking back and forth between Tomohito and Kansuke, who was leaning silently against the wall.
During the previous week, Akari had actually read through Kansuke’s Kotogatari as part of her studies. It had contained what seemed to be a full account of the doings of Kansuke Mishima. If the copies that were in existence had parts removed, then…
“Wait. That means this Kansuke Mishima must be…”
“Your suspicions are accurate, girly. My Kotogatari is the original text. Accordingly, I am the Kotogami that was born when Kansuke Mishima’s own demonic soul was enshrined and sealed.”
Kansuke spoke casually, as if none of these events concerned him very much. Akari was astonished for a moment, but then she realized that actually, that made a lot of sense.
Shooting Akari a quick, sharp glance, Kansuke continued.
“The higher-ups and the Narrators back then, they did NOT like me. I was very sword-happy, you see. I cut many a neck. But they sealed me in just the way I was, as a vengeful demon. That was part of the punishment. Then I had to serve humans for eternity as a Kotogami. But they made a big error. One of the things I did made me permanently unsuitable for servitude, you see.”
“Yes, I know the tale. The one about you murdering your own lord.”
That grisly tale was popular material for Kabuki plays and joruri recitations, performed about as often as the one about him slaying the Onigami demon god.
The samurai Kansuke Mishima had been a retainer of a certain daimyo, or feudal lord. Showing a rare brilliance as a child and a particular gift for the sword, Kansuke had caught the eye of the daimyo, who had taken him into his service. But in his old age, the man had gone to his sickbed. When the end was drawing near, he called Kansuke to his bedside.
“I want my son to become a good lord after my passing. Swear that you’ll support him, no matter what happens.”