Kyoto.
The next day, I decided to visit Yasaka and the others, as I hadn't seen them in a long time. But before that, for some reason, I wanted to exchange a few words with Nurarihyon, so I headed to his establishment, where I could sense his presence.
When talking to this old man, I had a strange feeling... a feeling of comfort, because he always had something to say and knew how to listen. And I had something to share, as quite a lot had happened recently. Plus, he also had something to tell me, for example, how Ama-chan got along with Tamamo and Nobunaga.
When I got there and went inside, I saw that this time it was very lively. All the seats were taken, both at the tables and at the bar, and the smell of food and alcohol filled the air as the wait staff rushed around the establishment. However, the atmosphere here was absolutely cheerful and relaxed. And yes, everyone here was a yokai, with one exception.
My visit did not go unnoticed, and all eyes instantly turned to me. A couple of seconds later, the yokai parted, forming a passage through which Nurarihyon, clearly drunk, came out to me.
- "Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Should I come back another day?"
Nurarihyon stood silently in front of me, as if studying me before an attack, and then, drawing air into his lungs, smiled broadly.
- "No way!" he declared and laughed loudly, like an old man, followed by the collective laughter of the other yokai. "Aotabo! Kurotabo! Find a place for our guest!"
Instantly, two figures emerged from the crowd: a long-haired yokai dressed as a Japanese monk, whose appearance was indistinguishable from that of a human, and a formidable-looking, slightly swarthy bruiser, who could also easily be mistaken for a human, dressed in black and blue robes. They took me by the shoulders and, lifting me off the ground, carried me to the far end of the establishment, where they sat me down at a long table.
As I understood it, this table was intended for the top brass, because sitting at it was a yokai with unnaturally sideways-standing black hair, golden eyes, and an aura very similar to Nurarihyon himself.
Next to him sat a human woman with brown eyes and short hair, dressed in a yellow kimono that revealed her large belly. And with Nurarihyon himself sitting in the center of the table, there were only four people sitting behind him, including me.
Nurarihyon raised his hand, and the noise instantly subsided, and all eyes turned to him and, of course, to me.
I shrugged and, creating a cup of coffee, into which the old man had somehow managed to splash sake, smiled.
- "The Nura clan!" he began loudly. "Before you stands Romani Archaman, Yasaki-chan's fiancé and the one who made everything happen much sooner than it could have! Let's drink to him!"
- "Hurrah!" came the loud cry, and the celebration of something continued. And although the yokai returned to talking among themselves, they glanced at me from time to time.
- "Well, Romani, meet them," Nurarihyon began, emptying his cup and pointing to the two at the table. "This is Rihan, my son. And this is Wakana, his wife."
- "Yo," his son greeted me.
- "Hallo," his daughter-in-law greeted me with a smile and a wave.
- "I see you're expecting a baby? Congratulations," I said, and Rihan nodded gratefully, as did his wife. "Well, shall we celebrate?"
- "One unpleasant person wanted to harm the clan and had been preparing for it for a long time, but everything was resolved very quickly," Wakana began to tell the story in a somewhat childish manner. "We were losing, but then a woman named Morgana came to our aid, sweeping through the enemies like a hurricane, summoning huge, beautiful columns of light from the sky! When I asked how she managed it so easily and quickly, the answer was simply incredible!"
- "And what was it?" I grimaced, hearing about Morgana's involvement in all this and, apparently, her use of the Noble Phantasm.
- "They interfered with the preparations for your wedding, so they must be punished, can you imagine, Romani-san!" Wakana replied enthusiastically. "If I were in her place, I would have done the same! How dare they interfere with such an important event in life?!"
- "That's right," Rihan chuckled.
- "She's a terrible woman," Nurarihyon said. "How do you get along with her?"
- "Don't say that, father-in-law!" Wakana protested.
- "She practically threatened us with the same thing if we didn't attend the wedding, because that's what Yasaka-chan wants. And we were planning to attend anyway.
You won't change my mind, Wakana," Nurarihyon replied.
- "Yes, she's a scary woman," Rihan agreed.
- "Even you, Rihan?! You just don't understand her feelings!" Wakana pouted and looked at me. "But you don't think so, Romani-san? Right?!"
I didn't say anything, I just smiled, which was more than enough to convey my answer.
- "Let's have a drink," Nurarihyon smiled and raised his cup. "After all, today is a good day, isn't it?"
-0-
After a while, I went outside to get some fresh air. The party had dragged on until late in the evening and showed no signs of ending. It was fun, of course, but it wasn't my kind of crowd. Besides, I hadn't checked in on Yasaka and the others, which was what I had planned to do.
I sighed, made another cup of coffee, and took a sip.
- "Why are you sighing?" I suddenly heard Nurarihyon's voice and turned my head. As it turned out, he was standing next to me, but I hadn't noticed him at all. "I'm sorry about that, Romani. I'm sure you wanted to have a heart-to-heart talk.
- "It's okay," I rolled my eyes. "As I understand it, your clan had a rough time, huh, old man?"
- "You're right. An old enemy suddenly decided to show up, and we weren't ready," he sighed. "Kanto suffered greatly, and recovery will take time. So I decided to celebrate first, letting my people rest and relax, and then get down to business."
- "You could have turned to me," I said casually. "After all, you've helped me many times."
- "I think I'll do that next time. I'm sure it will end even faster than with Morgana," he smiled. "Speaking of her, I'd rather fight a hundred Seimeis than her. She's just awful. Not like Tiamat. She reminds me of my wife, Yohime. She's just as kind and gentle."
- "I think you're right," I smiled.
- "Okay, enough about me," said Nurarihyon. "What did you want to talk about? I can spare a couple of minutes for you."
I didn't answer right away, but thought for a moment to form the right thought.
- "You see, I recently learned something about my past that I didn't remember. And now I have the opportunity, so to speak, to meet this person face to face," I began, voicing what I had been thinking about from time to time. "Do you think I should do it?"
No matter how much I denied it, my native past world was a gestalt that needed to be closed. Yes, in principle, I didn't care what happened there or what the consequences were after my departure, but still, it made sense.
It was both my end and not my end, and some part of me still wanted to see that world and maybe do something about it.
Zelretch said that world was supposed to disappear within five years, but... what led to that? What was the trigger for this event, if Trihexa was defeated?
To be honest, it was difficult for me to form a complete thought on the matter, but one thing was clear: I wanted to go there, in some incredibly small way.
While these thoughts were running through my head, Nurarihyon silently pondered my question.
- "It depends on what you want. Or if you want at all," he finally said. "However, in my own experience, the past will remain with you until you deal with it and see for yourself."
Nurarihyon paused and rubbed his chin.
- "Take my case, for example. I remembered Sei Mei, but to be honest, I thought it was over with him," he continued. "And yet, here's how it turned out. He almost won, and I almost lost my son. After the battle, I personally searched all of Japan to be absolutely sure that it would never happen again."
- "Really?" I was surprised. "What about Ama-chan? Couldn't she have come to the rescue?"
- "It all happened too quickly and quietly," he sighed. "Besides, he had an ancient contract with Amaterasu-sama, so she had no right to intervene. In those days, things weren't as rosy as they are now. Alas."
- "I understand," I said. "Thank you, old man."
- "Of course," he smiled. "You're welcome."
With that, I activated the magic circle, which immediately lit up under my feet.
- "One more thing," Nurarihyon said suddenly. "When my grandson is born, I want you to attend the celebration in his honor, presumably as Yasaka-chan's husband by then. You wouldn't ignore the request of a weak old man like me, would you?"
- "You're weak?" I laughed, and he laughed in response. "Of course, why not?"
-0-
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