Love Hina - Volume 2 - Chapter 2.2

CHAPTER 2: THE LIVING SOULS EXCHANGE 

I his was the second time that the residents of the Hinata House had seen Motokos older sister, Tsuruko. Last time she came to take Motoko home, but why she had come this second time was a mystery. 

“I had some work to do in Tokyo, so I just dropped by on the way back,” Tsuruko offered by way of explanation, as she sipped on some tea that Naru served in the Hinata House lobby. 

As Naru listened, she couldn’t help but gaze at Tsuruko’s beauty. Her soft accent and snow-white skin. Her lush, jetblack hair. She didn’t have any makeup on, but she didn’t need any. Intermixed with her poise was her maturity. This was the alluring quality of a married woman. 
 
Motoko, who sat next to her sister, was nervous as a cat. Actually, she looked more like a trembling mouse caught by a cat. 

Motoko looked up to Tsuruko with awe. If her sister felt the slightest bit angry, her eyes would blaze like a demons. Motoko couldn’t dare go against her. In fact, Tsuruko had been certifiably vicious for most of her life—it was only after she married that she finally showed the softer side of her personality. 

Naru remembered how scary Tsuruko had been during their encounter in Kyoto. 

“I tucked Shinobu and the other girls into bed,” Kitsune said as she returned to the lobby. 

Naru whispered to Kitsune, “Motoko s sister might look like an angel, but she can be a devil ” 

“I heard the rumors,” Kitsune whispered back. “She’s some kind of evil monster, right?” 

“I am not an evil monster.” 

Naru and Kitsune gulped. Their voices hadn’t been loud at all. 

Tsuruko had trained her ears to be able to hear a pin drop a hundred yards away. But she wasn’t angry about it. “We are monster hunters, ’’she said. “Please don’t put us In the same category.” 
 
Indeed, Motokos ancestors were an invincible warrior class family that hunted monsters and evil spirits in Kyoto, and used a sword style called shin mei ryu, or “Sound of the Gods” technique. These traditions had been passed down through the generations. 

“It is way past midnight,” Tsuruko said. She asked politely, “May I be allowed to stay overnight?” 

“Of course,” Naru said. “She’ll stay in your room, right, Motoko?” 
 
Motoko choked, then stammered nervously, “Y-yes.” “Motoko, I envy you,” Kitsune said. “Enjoy the rest of the night relaxing with your sister.” 

Motoko nodded, but there was no way she would relax. 

Next to her sister, who was sleeping soundly, Motoko was so nervous that she couldn’t even blink. She was frozen stiff by fear. 

Sometimes her sister grumbled, “lake this, Motoko! in her sleep. It caused Motoko to jump out of the futon in a panic. She knew she was dead meat—-it was only a matter of time. 

The sun finally broke through the darkness and Motoko stared at it blearily. She had not been able to get a wink of sleep that night. 

Sunday morning came. Other than Motoko, who was dragging her butt from lack of sleep, the others were wound up. After eating breakfast, everyone crowded around Tsuruko and made small talk. 

Tama was fond of Tsuruko s spiritual bird, Hayate. “Myu myuf 

“Chirp chirp!” 

The two animals were having a lovely conversation, too, it seemed. 

“Um, so you came for some work in Tokyo?” asked Shinobu, who was overwhelmed by Tsurukos mature presence, 

“Exactly.” 

“What sort of work was it?” Suu and Sara interjected. 
 
Suu was holding a mysterious laser gun. Sara was holding a strange clay mask. 

“I mean, you get rid of evil ghosts with spiritual weapons, right?” Suu asked. “Or, since they’re haunting places, do you haunt them back?” 

Sara held up the clay mask and yelped, “Boogeddy boogeddy boo!” 

Tsuruko just chuckled. “We don’t use mecha and we don’t haunt ghosts,” she explained. “We use three skills— Sen, Jyu , and Gen —depending on the situation. But we have our own, distinct ways to operate within the bounds of shin mei ryu ” 

“Like what? Can you show us?” The girls were entranced. 

Tsuruko thought for a moment. “Sure,” she said. “As payment for one night’s stay, I will show you one of the most secret skills of shin mei ryu.” She turned to her little sister, her eyes suddenly sharp. “Motoko,” she said. 

Mo toko jumped as though the chair were electrified, “Y-yes? Huh?” 
 
“Please prepare for iki mitama utsushi , ” Tsuruko commanded. 

Motoko gulped. “Are you going to use that?!” 

“Hurry.” Tsuruko’s eyes glinted. 

Motoko moved at lightning speed to prepare for the impending display of skills. 

Naru mumbled under her breath, while Kitsune and the other girls tilted their heads and wondered what would happen. 

“What are they going to show us?” Kitsune asked, surveying the odd scene. 

Sakaki tree branches were placed in all four directions, making a six-foot square. A seat cushion was placed inside it. In front of the box was purification sake placed on a square, ritual table. It was the same type of table used to place the knife on during a ritual suicide—very serious looking. 

Tsuruko sat on the center seat cushion. She meditated for a while. When she opened her eyes, she spoke to the girls softly “The skill I am about to show you is one of the secret skills of shin mei ryu—the iki mitama utsushi, or Living Souis Exchange,” she told them. “1 his skill is normally used to remove an evil spirit from a person that is too weak to handle it. The persons spirit that is under attack would he removed from the weak body and stored in a healthy one in order to perform rituals to destroy the evil spirits left in the their body.” 

Naru and the girls blinked, having a hard time understanding. 

“You will comprehend it when you see it,” Tsuruko said. “May I pi ease have two volunteers?” 
 
Suu was beaming with excitement. “That sounds fun!” she said. “Lets do it, Shinobu.” 

“Uh, I ..Shinobu tried to slide back, but Suu grabbed her by the collar. 

“Motokos big sis is cool! We’ll do it!” Suu said. 

“Oh dear, h-help me!” Shinobu flailed about while Suu dragged her forward. 

“No worries,” Tsuruko reassured them. Her mature aura calmed Shinobu. “Well, lets begin.” 

Tsuruko quietly stood up and silently unsheathed her sword. She took the purification sake bottle, drank some, then spit onto the blade to moisten it. Then, holding the sword in the center stance, she closed her eyes and chanted a secret spell. Her voice was low and hypnotic. 

She slowly opened her eyes and shouted, “Eii!” Then she skimmed her blade to the left, directly above Shinobus head. 

Naru and the other girls gulped. 

But Shinobu did not flail about as usual. She stayed put as if frozen. 

Motoko whispered, “Shinobus soul has been transferred into the sword. Look real close—can you see the white, blurry aura around the blade?” 

They looked. Indeed, it was visible—a thin smoke twirled around the center of the blade. 

“Eii!” Tsuruko cried, and with the same sideward movement, she transferred Suus soul onto the sword, also. Tsuruko closed her eyes and concentrated, then opened her eyes to shout, “Hah!” 

She swung the sword down in front of her. 

The next moment, the smoke around the blade disappeared. At the same time, Suu and Shinobu opened their eyes. 

Shinobu opened her smiling mouth and said, “Aw gee, is it over already?” 

The voice and appearance was that of Shinobu, but the way she spoke was definitely like Suu. 

Suu looked around nervously and asked, “Ok dear, it was scary . . 

Again, the voice and appearance was that of Suu, but the way she spoke was definitely like Shinobu. 

They both looked at each other and frowned, confused. 

“Huh?” 

“What?” 

“There’s two of me!” 

“That person is like me!” 

They couldn’t hide their surprise. 

“Both of you, look in the mirror,” Tsuruko said, handing them a mirror that had been lying at her feet. 

“Dude, I turned into Shinobu!” Suu exclaimed. 

“And I turned into Kaolla!” Shinobu was laughing out loud—but really it was Suu inside, making Shinobu laugh. 

Suus body fidgeted, uncomfortable. 

“This is the shin mei ryu secret skill, Living Souls Exchange,” Tsuruko told them. “This is normally used to remove the haunted soul from a weak person and place it into a healthy person that has already been selected for this purpose. Sometimes, if the evil spirit is too strong for anyone else, the soul is exchanged between the weak person and me.” 

Tsuruko was explaining it very calmly, but the Hinata House residents were panicked, no longer listening. 

Shinobu, grasping at Suu’s crumpled clothes, had tears welling up in her eyes. “Please help me!” she pleaded. 

If she had looked like the delicate Shinobu, then anyone would have wanted to help her, but since she looked like the tanned, super-healthy Suu, the pleas just didn’t seem convincing. 

“Um, please calm down, okay, Suu?” Naru said. 

“I’m Shinobu!” 

On the other hand, Suu, looking like Shinobu, was busy whispering to Sara. 

“How do you like Shinobus body?” Tsuruko asked. 

“Its not strong enough,” she replied. “And the panties are a little tight.” 

“What kind of panties are you wearing?” 

“Wanna see? Here.” Suu, looking like Shinobu, raised her skirt up to her chest. 

“Eek! Stop that!” Shinobu, inside of Suu, gasped with embarrassment. 

“Oh, come on,” Suu-Shinobu said. “You got nothing to lose by looking at it.” 

“Stop using my body like a toy!” 

“What are you talking about? You mean like this?” SuuShinobu turned around and exposed her butt to everyone. 

“Oh dear!” Shinobu-Suu fainted because she couldn’t handle the thought of her body being toyed with like that. 

“Wake up, Suu!” the girls all cried. 

“What?” Suu-Shinobu asked. 

“We meant Shinobu!” Naru hastily hugged her. 

Motoko, looking ghastly, approached Tsuruko. “Big sister, maybe we should return them .. . ?” 

“I suppose.” Even the calm Tsuruko had broken out in a cold sweat, so she closed her eyes and started chanting the spell. She meditated for a bit. Then suddenly opened her eyes and said, “Kah!” 

The next moment, a violent breeze whipped though the air, wrapping around Shinobu and Suu. The winds rose and then suddenly ceased. 

“What?” Suu woke up first—and. now sounded like herself. 

“The spell has been broken,” Tsuruko said. “Shinobu, though she is still unconscious, is back to being herself” 

“Aw, is that it,? I wanted to play some more!” Suu said. The only ones disappointed were Suu and Sara. 

Naru and Motoko breathed a sigh of relief 

“Please take Shi nob u back to her room so she can sleep,” Naru requested. Suu and Sara obeyed. 

“I'm so sorry,” Tsuruko said, genuinely apologetic. “I meant to show the skill as an expression of gratitude, but it caused such a commotion.” 

Naru tried to reply, but Kitsune interjected, “Ma’am, may I ask one question?” 

Kitsune was definitely up to something now. 

Tsuruko smiled. “Yes, what is it?” 

“Can Motoko use the same skill?” 

Motoko gulped when she heard the question. “W-well I—” she tried to answer, but Tsuruko cut in. 

“I wonder. If she has been training hard up until now, she should be able to do it already . . ” 

Her sisters cold stare caused Motoko to deflate. 

Kitsune threw in an evil suggestion. “Well, maybe we can have Motoko try the skill right now?” 

Motoko was so surprised that she was almost passed out right there. 

"Thats a great idea!” Tsuruko said. 

Upon hearing her sister’s response, Motoko’s face blanched. 

And so it was that Motoko’s Living Souls Exchange began. 

The guinea pigs were Kksune, the instigator, and Naru. If their souls were exchanged properly, then the experiment would be a success. 

But Motoko was not up to it. She even felt a little anger toward Kitsune. If she failed in front of her sister, then the awaiting punishment would be torturous. But she couldn’t refuse, because that would upset her sister as well, and she would get punished for that. There was no way out of this. 

And besides, Motoko had never performed this ritual before. Or at least, she hadn’t performed it on humans before. She had experimented with animals during her training back in Kyoto. Because of that, there were rumors of a dog that curled up beside a sunny window, a chicken that flew like a pigeon, and a horse that excreted the pelletlike droppings of a deer. 

“Well, Motoko, shall we start?" Tsuruko asked. 

Motoko became even more nervous, walking as stiff as an old toy doll. She held her sword aloft. 

But just then, something unexpected happened. 

“Ow! Ow-ow!” Kitsune held her stomach and started to squirm. 

“Whats wrong, Kitsune?” Naru asked. 

Kitsune replied with a pained expression, “Well, I don’t know, but my stomach started hurting . . . Um, ow . . 

Motoko and Naru glared at Kitsune. It was so obvious that she was faking it. They wondered who would fall for such a petty trick. 

“Oh no, are you okay?” Tsuruko was completely fooled. 

Naru and Motoko almost fell over in disbelief. They couldn’t help but think that after studying high up in the mountains of Kyoto, Tsurako wasn’t used to be around tricksters like Kitsune. 

“We shouldn’t use the skill on someone who is ill,” Tsuruko said. 

“Then, can we cancel—?” Motoko started to ask, but Kitsune cut her off quickly. 

“How about exchanging the souls of Naru and Motoko instead?” 
 
“Originally, when there were no available healthy bodies to be used in the Living Souls Exchange, the performer switched souls,” Tsuruko said. “Try to switch souls between yourself and Narusegawa.” 

Motoko couldn’t possibly refuse that order. “Yes, big sister,” she replied, overwhelmed by Tsuruko’s intensity. 

Kitsune left, still holding her stomach, grinning slyly. “Good stuff,” she muttered. “Everything is going as planned.”