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Published In:
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| Publication Date: February 3, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Manga Summaries
Volume 9
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| Chapters Originally Published in: | |
| Shonen Sunday 2021 Vol. 10 - 19 |
Chapter
79: 百年目
Hyakunenme
(Every Hundred Years)
Sitting alone in the forest Natsuno is greeted by Masago who offers to get some herbs to help her with her illness. After recovering thanks to herbs Masago retrieved from Kamon's supply, Natsuno thinks to herself that her illness will likely not improve. In the present Mao asks Natsuno why she is in the cemetery where they tracked the blinded man. She explains that she had been seeing curses coming from this area and was investigating. As she moves to examine the man eating the soil two dragon-like creatures leap out of his eyes. Mao chases after the creatures in hot pursuit and tells Otoya and Nanoka to take the blinded man back to the hospital. Once they get him there he screams out, swearing at the old man that he was blamed for killing. Mao and Natsuno pursue the fleeing creatures to a small doctor's office and Mao presumes it belonged to the old man that the blinded man allegedly murdered. Once they step inside a blast of earth scatters, stunning Natsuno and knocking her out while she recalls a voice telling her it would seek her out in another one-hundred years. Once she recovers she and Mao discuss asking the deceased medicine man about what happened and set above calling forth his spirit to ask him to explain things. The old man's ghost tells them that the blinded man attacked him and he cursed him to ensure he would carry out an order that he himself was tasked with completing. The medicine man explains that he was taught various earth skills with the promise that when the time comes he would send out curses into the sky in hopes of luring all the remaining earth users to start to gather. With his death he would be unable to do so, and thus cursed the man who killed him to complete the calls. Returning to the hospital Mao and Natsuno learn that the blinded man passed away shortly after they arrived. Further Mao tells Nanoka that when they asked the ghost of the old medicine man who taught him these skills his mouth disappeared in order to ensure he could not pass on this information. Natsuno claims to have no idea who could have done this. Natsuno abruptly leaves, saying that with the death of both men there is nothing further to investigate. Mao is surprised at her comment but as she leaves she thinks to herself about the person from one-hundred years ago.
Chapter
80: 悲田院
Hidenin
(Hidenin)
Mao, Otoya and Nanoka stop by the Milk Hall and find Kamon treating a girl to dinner. Mao asks Kamon to tell him what he knows about Natsuno and Kamon tells them that he thinks it might be possible that Natsuno was not one of the individuals summoned to the five-color shrine and made immortal. Nanoka points out that everyone that was summoned did become immortal and there is no question that Natsuno is immortal considering she has lived for 900 years. Kamon agrees but says that after the destruction of the Goko Clan he later found Natsuno living with a hidenin, a temple-based nursing home. Initially Kamon assumed she worked there, healing the patients but when he visited he discovered that she herself was a patient wasting away from an illness. One of the other workers explains that a creature appears every night, hunching over Natsuno. Buddhist priests have tried to banish the shadowy creature to no avail. Kamon erects a barrier around her, hiding her and laying in wait for the creature to come that night. That evening a giant earthen golem arrives and Kamon attacks it, when he does it Natsuno reacted, her arm falling outside the protective barrier. The golem exploded into dust which cut Kamon's face leaving the permanent scar that he still carries. When the dust cleared a hole was left and there was no sign of Natsuno. Kamon explains that given Natsuno's weakened state he does not believe she was capable of creating a golem like the one he saw that night. Nanoka wonders if immortals could become sick like what happened to Natsuno. It seems that her immortality may have come from someone else who may still be manipulating her.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: February 10, 2021 | |
| Pages: 1 (full color) 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
81: 契約
Keiyaku
(Pact)
Wandering alone Natsuno discovers the roof of a home peeking out from the earth, it seems a landslide covered an entire village. Using one of her sutra she removes the earth and crawls into the buried house where she discovers the mummified remains of someone. Suddenly she is attacked by long-tongued, sword wielding creatures. Elsewhere Kamon is tending the garden of the home he is staying in under his "Kuchinawa" alias when Natsuno arrives. Natsuno explains that she was attacked and had to excape and asks if Kamon might like to help her. He decides that he will due to her assistance in the battle against Shiranui. Natsuno explains to Kamon that she has heard about a traveling group of performers that visit remote, rural villages and put on shows. In the wake of their visits the villages are said to disappear. When she investigated she found the landslide that claimed the village along with huge marks in the mountainside that looked as if a giant dug into it and swept the earth down on the homes. As Kamon and Natsuno speak Mao, Nanoka and Otoya are shown in by Beniko. Kamon admits that he contacted Mao when Natsuno returned and they explain that they would all like to help her. Natsuno begins to speak of her past at the hidenin, telling them that the golem that appeared was initially small and offered to safe her life if she promised to help it. It seems that this golem is what has kept Natsuno alive for so many centuries. When Nanoka asks her if she visited the five-color shrine she admits that she has a memory of doing so, but is unsure if the memory is actually her own. She believes that every century the earth golem sends someone to give her a life-extending treatment that ensures she will continue to live in exchange for her doing its bidding. The explosion she experienced that left her unconscious was this century's treatment and now the golem has tasked her with tracking down this troupe of performers for something they possess.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: February 17, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
82: 村芝居の一座
Murashibai no ichiza
(Traveling Performers)
The theatrical troupe is putting on a performance in a small, rural village when one of their number named Haiza reports back that he ran into Natsuno when he was pillaging the village they destroyed earlier. Haiza's boss seems irritated but soon Mao and the other arrive and begin to attack the actors, revealing them to be ayakashi. Mao directs Nanoka to stand back and keep with the villagers as he and the others battle against the actors-turned-ayakashi. Otoya passes Nanoka a katana that he took off of one of the slain ayakashi and she is surprised to find that it is not a theatrical prop but a real blade. After killing a few Mao realizes their long tongues have a mouth on the end and remarks that they are quite leech-like. One of the mouths attaches to Nanoka's hand after she slices through a few of the actors but as soon as it draws blood it begins to melt. It seems the poisonous blood of Byoki that flows within her is harmful to the creatures. Suddenly all of the leech-tongue like tendrils flee from the bodies of their hosts and amass on the arm of the troupe leader insults everyone for interrupting the play.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date:February 24, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
83: 右手
Migite
(Right Hand)
The actress on stage realizes that Natsuno is searching for the creature that seems to be merged with his right hand as she curiously stares at it. She flashes it out at her and the tendrils stretch it out as it turns into a claw. However Natsuno quickly raises a barrier to block it from touching her. The hand reacts poorly to the barrier and breaks away from its host, skittering away on its fingers as Natsuno calls out for Mao to capture it for study. The actress tries to flee in the confusion but Kamon blocks their escape. Suddenly the troupe leader takes on a monsterous appearance, and Kamon tosses a seed into its mouth which quickly grows into a huge, rooted plant that tears the creature apart revealing it as a monsterous leech. With the hand safely trapped inside a small barrier Natsuno takes out a tonic from the box she carries with her and pours it onto the hand which quickly reveals itself as a monsterous oni mite creature. Natsuno seems disappointed that the lead on her mystery ended with simple ayakashi shenanigans. Kamon presses Natsuno on why she thought this might be important and she reveals that for the last 900 years she has been instructed by memory manipulation to seek out various body parts. She has found legs and feet, spines and intestines, and now she was ordered to find a right hand. Sadly this one will not suffice and her search will continue for another. She has no idea what happens to the parts she has found, adding they simply disappear somewhere once she locates them and then she intrinsically knows she must search for the next part. She explains that the right hand is the last part she needs and she hopes that once she finds it she will discover who sent the earth golem to bind her to this contract so many centuries ago.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: March 3, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
84: 呪い遊び
Noroi asobi
(The Curse Game)
It is May 2020 and Nanoka is leaving school with her friend Yui. Both are wearing a mask and wondering when the coronavirus will end as it has disrupted their school's entrance ceremonies. Proud that she has moved from middle school to high school, Nanoka rushes back to the past to tell Mao who does not completely grasp the significance of Nanoka's progress through school. Instead he tells her that she should come and help him with a purification ritual instead. Mao pays for a rickshaw to take them to their destination and promises to buy Nanoka something to eat to celebrate her achievement. As they ride together Mao thinks about how cute Nanoka is. They arrive at the home of a girl named Shoko Katsuragi who collapsed at school and has not been able to wake up for the past five days. She mumbles to herself and seems to be in the midst of constant nightmares. Mao stares down at Shoko, lights a sutra on fire, dips it into a bowl of water and then pours it over her face, causing her to jolt awake. Mao watches intently to see where the ashes of the sutra cling to her face and pulls a needle from her forehead- the source of the curse. Shoko explains that died over and over again in her dreams and explains that she was playing with curses at school thinking it was all just make-believe. Mao however realizes that this was a real curse attempt. At school a young girl calls out to her classmate- Kagari Hosho, the girl who wielded the puppet needle against Mao. Kagari is lured into a store room where two girls confront her, asking her what she did to Shoko. Kagari smirks when the girls say they only play with pretend curses and Kagari admits that she finds that boring. The girls lock her in the store room so she will have time to repent for what she did to their friend. Kagari smiles wickedly and takes out two more needles which she tosses out the window as she thinks about the girls who just confronted her. Days later rumors begin that Kagari cursed the two girls who argued with her. It is then that Nanoka arrives undercover in Shoko's uniform and immediately recognizes Kagari from the battle with Hakubi.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: March 10, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
85: かがり
Kagari
(Kagari)
Mao and Otoya wait outside of the school wondering if Nanoka will be alright as she investigates the source of the curse. Inside Nanoka immediately recognizes Kagari as the girl who helped Hakubi turn Mao against his friends using the puppet needle. Nanoka overhears other girls talking about how the innocent Eriko has become a pawn in this curse-game between Kagari and Shoko's friends. Kagari tries to manipulate Eriko into becoming her friend but when the pig-tailed girl begins to weep out of fear Kagari decides she is boring and will curse her as well. Suddenly Nanoka intervenes and Kagari seems excited to see her. Kagari sends Eriko away but not before tossing a needle into her neck and pinning Nanoka's shadow to the ground, preventing her from moving. She reveals that Hakubi does not know about her school life and that she considers her cursing here to be little more than practice. She explains that her family has built their curse shop around the power they have gained from the puppet needle, but one day Hakubi found Kagari's father in the army and realized he had the needle which once belonged to the Goko Clan centuries ago. Kagari has to work alongside Hakubi because her family is more skilled in the use of the needle than he is given how long they have had access to it. Outside the school Mao and Otoya see Eriko fleeing and notice the needle in her neck. Mao removes it and realizes that Nanoka must be in danger as well. As Nanoka stands helpless against Kagari she pulls off a pendant Mao gave her that breaks the shadow pinning curse that is holding her in place. Free to move, Nanoka rushes headlong towards Kagari who readies herself to fight with her needles.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: March 17, 2021 | |
| Pages: 3 (full color) 16 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
86: 針の跡
Hari no ato
(Mark of the Needle)
Nanoka begins her battle against Kagari by trying to take her book away from her, believing it is a tome used to help her train with her needles. Instead she tosses it into the air, causing needles to rain down on Nanoka. With precise aim, Kagari throws a needle into Nanoka's throat and causes her to pass out just as Mao arrives. Mao realizes Kagari used a map-pin on Nanoka and once he removes it she soon regains consciousness. Nanoka tells Mao that the pin blocked her windpipe and he takes her back to his office after Kagari fled to remove the rest of the curses after-effects. Because Nanoka was roughed up quite a bit, Mao recommends she return to her own time to rest and recouperate. Some days later Mao sends Otoya to the school to ask about Kagari. Otoya learns that she has not returned to school since the day Mao confronted her and the students think it is likely she has unenrolled. Otoya reports back and Mao comments on strange glints he has seen in the sky since he confronted Kagari. When Nanoka returns to the Taisho era she immediately notices the glints as her throat starts to burn where Kagari's pin had jabbed her. One after another, floating needles drop out of the sky revealing they were the glinting lights Mao noticed. Nanoka finds she cannot move when the needles stab into her and Kagari appears, asking where she had disappeared to as her needles had been searching for her for days. Kagari takes Nanoka to a home, telling her someone wants to meet her. Much to Nanoka's shock, she sees an unveiled Yurako waiting.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: March 24, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
87: 幽鬼と羅刹
Yuuki to rasetsu
(Ghouls and Rakshasas)
Nanoka comes face to face with Yurako, the woman who looks exactly like Sana. Yurako tells Kagari to remove the needle from Nanoka's throat and then sends the girl away so she she can speak to Nanoka privately. When they are alone, Yurako asks Nanoka why she is always with Mao and asks if he has mentioned her and wonders if Mao sees her as his enemy. When Nanoka points out she is working with Shiranui she vaguely says that Shiranui hates Mao but she does not. Nanoka asks Yurako if she is really Sana and relates the story she heard about Sana's heart being ripped out. Elsewhere Kagari steps outside for fresh air, thinking about how Yurako lives in a windowless room underground and how stifling that must be. When she emerges she comes face-to-face with Mao who is searching for Nanoka. Mao explains that he was able to see the glinting light in the sky that was Kagari's pins and followed them when they flew down to stab Nanoka. Kagari grins wickedly, telling Mao that she can control him with her needles if she needs to. When Kagari hurls her needles at Mao he uses a sutra to reflect them back at her. Reversing her controlling curse, Mao is able to command Kagari to lead him to Nanoka. Inside, Yurako tells Nanoka that she loves Mao, a clue that tells Nanoka she must not truly be Sana (who loved Daigo, not Mao). She reveals that her name, "Yurako" was given to her by the master of the clan. When Nanoka asks why Yurako has Sana's face, she icily tells her she is not "Sana" she is "Yurako" and her face is her own. As she speaks demons emerge from a black void overhead.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: March 31, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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Chapter
88: 幽羅子の世界
Yurako no sekai
(Yurako's World)
Yurako summons forth the ayakashi that have appeared at the beck and call of Mao's master during the Heian era, a swirling swarm of monstrous creatures. She explains to a stunned Nanoka that these ayakashi were the curses that served the Goko Clan on behalf of the aristocrats who once hired them. However sometimes their enemies would hire their own onmyoji to reverse the curses, sending them flying back to the clan. Nanoka lets slip that she has heard this story from Byoki, that the curses reflected back would always vanish in the sky above the Goko temple. Yurako tells her she is wrong, they did not vanish on their own, instead they vanished because she absorbed them in the cavern she was living in nearby. Her role was to be a vessel to absorbed the reflected curses and shield Sana, who was being used to cast them. Yurako explains she did not feel anger about this as she knew no other life nor anything about the outside world beyond the cavern she lived in. Only Mao's master, Sana's father, would visit her in her lonely cavern. There he would carve sutras into her flesh little by little over the years. Yurako slips off her glove and shows the kanji tattooed onto her hands, adding that they cover her feet and back as well. This continued for many years until one day she awoke and found the cell door that kept her captive in the cave opened. She felt the ayakashi that she had absorbed urging her onward, pushing her forward as she slipped out of the cavern for the first time and emerged into the moonlight outside. She explains that the ayakashi wished to escape and she could not resist their urges. Yurako explains that she enjoyed seeing the moon and the stars as the cloud of ayakashi carried her through the sky. Suddenly they flew near the Goko Clan's temple and a tornado of ofuda paper flew out, wounding the ayakashi and sending her falling to the ground. She crawled to a nearby stream and saw her reflection for the first time. Her face was badly mutilated from the ayakashi she had absorbed. Hearing this Nanoka realizes that the face she has now, Sana's face, was not what Yurako originally looked like. Yurako goes on to explain that as she laid there, staring at her reflection, that was the first time she met Mao, and that is also when her true sadness began.
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Published In:
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| Publication Date: April 7, 2021 | |
| Pages: 18 (black and white) | |
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