Tokyo Ravens - Volume 1 - Chapter 1.3

Part 3 

"......I really can't understand, why do I have to treat Hokuto to shaved ice? Why, I don't get it at all......" 
Ten minutes later. 
Harutora sat on a park bench, staring at the shaved ice in a plastic cup, complaining with a displeased tone and look. 
In contrast, Hokuto who had received her compensation looked overjoyed. 
"You're stupid, Harutora, no wonder you always fail your exams." 
"Don't talk nonsense! It's my right to pick up my phone or not, and as for shaved ice--" 
"...Yum." 
"Hey, don't silently eat someone else's shaved ice! Also, you ate the layer on top, what the hell!" 
Harutora roared, moving the cup away from Hokuto. Because Hokuto had eaten too rapidly, she screwed up her face and rubbed her temple, which could be called a self-inflicted pain. [2] 
"......Hokuto, are you here to advise Harutora to be an Onmyouji again?" Touji opened his mouth to ask this as he drank a soda off to the side. 
As he said this, Hokuto straightened her back as if responding. 
"Harutora." 
Hokuto slipped her face in close, staring straight into his eyes. Harutora unconsciously shrank backwards from being stared at by her large eyes. 
"W, What?" 
"You saw the broadcast on TV right now, right?" 
"Y, Yes......" 
"Didn't you imagine being like them? Do you want to? You should have, right? It definitely made you think about becoming just like them, right?" 
Hokuto's tone was extremely excited. 
Harutora had a premonition that the words that had been said more than ten times were going to be repeated, and couldn't help from sighing. 
"......I don't want to at all." 
"Why? Harutora, you're the descendant of Abe no Seimei, from the Tsuchimikado family of genuine Onmyouji!" 
Annoyed, Harutora made a face at Hokuto's aggressive attitude. 
Every word Hokuto said was true. 
Abe no Seimei had been active during the Heian era, a distinguished Onmyouji of the time. After he died, his sons claimed to be 'Tsuchimikado', genuine Onmyouji, and for a long time dominated the world of Onmyoudou, until the Meiji era. It was needless to say, Harutora - Tsuchimikado Harutora was a descendant of this famous family. 
But. 
"I told you, Hokuto. I've said this so much I don't even want to say it anymore, though I'm a Tsuchimikado, my family is a 'branch family', completely different from the incredible 'main family'." 
"Even so, you're still a Tsuchimikado! You were born in a legitimate family with history since the Heian era! But you go to a mediocre high school, laze around all day, fail your tests and not care, take remedial classes everyday after school, and complain endlessly... Don't you think you're pathetic like that?" 
"You don't need to be that nosy......" 
Harutora listened to Hokuto speak clearly and logically, but couldn't help from frowning. 
Before this, Hokuto had tried to persuade Harutora several times, wanting him to 'Become an Onmyouji'. And every time she saw news about Onmyouji, it would intensify. She always said the same things about him being born in a famous family, and her style of convincing could be said to be enthusiastic, but was closer to stubborn. 
"Since you were born in a famous family, don't you have an obligation?" 
"Not at all, what era are you from?" 
"Harutora, you're too irresponsible!" 
"What do you mean responsible or irresponsible, I just happened to be born in the Tsuchimikado branch family, I'm just an ordinary, uninteresting high school student...... Even if my dad was a specialized Onmyouji, he was just a countryside Onmyou doctor." 
"Right?" Harutora tried to solicit Touji's approval. Touji who was quietly watching their interaction from the side showed a wry smile, nodding his head. 
"I know that. After all, he's my savior." 
When Touji had been in Tokyo once before, he had been embroiled in a spiritual disaster, hovering on the brink between life and death, and had happened by an Onmyou doctor - a specialized doctor who used Onmyoudou techniques for treatment - who had been in Tokyo, who had managed to save him and his life. 
That Onmyou doctor who had treated Touji was Harutora's father. 
Even now, Touji still had remnants from the spiritual disaster lingering in his body, and he often had to receive treatment from Harutora's father because of this. The reason he had gone to remedial classes this time wasn't because his scores were bad, but because his treatment resulted in him spending too few hours in class. He had dabbled a bit in Onmyoudou, and had suffered first-hand effects, so he was quite knowledgeable about Onmyoudou techniques. 
"Harutora's father is an excellent Onmyou doctor who doesn't shame the Tsuchimikado family one bit, completely different from his good-for-nothing son." 
"Whatever, in any case I don't have any talent for Onmyouji techniques. I can't even see aura, but it's not bad, nothing's inconvenient about that." 
Harutora dropped those remarks, and then raised his face to gulp a big chunk of ice. 
An Onmyouji was a kind of extremely peculiar profession, and obviously a basic condition was some talent or quality, such as being able to sense aura - a clairvoyant ability known as 'spirit-seeing'. Strength was also an essential endowment to be an Onmyouji. 
But, Harutora didn't have the ability to see spirits, or in other words, Harutora wasn't suitable to become an Onmyouji. That was the most powerful evidence. 
Hokuto was the only one who didn't accept that way of seeing things. 
"Isn't it enough if you ask your dad to let you be able to 'see'? Such spells are included in Onmyouji techniques, right, Touji?" 
"I think so. I've heard that with treatment from an Onmyouji with exceptional ability, the effects could last for many years." 
Touji added his words. Hokuto showed a 'you see' look, staring at Harutora. Harutora just turned his head, rebutting: 
"I said, for now it's not inconvenient this way. 
More importantly, the golden age of the Tsuchimikado family was over a long time ago. Right now even the main family is declining like the aristocracy, and a branch family like mine isn't much different from an ordinary family." 
"In that case, Harutora can become an incredibly strong Onmyouji, and revive the Tsuchimikado family!" 
"......Where does that enthusiasm of yours come from......" 

An exhausted feeling of futility attacked Harutora, wearing him out. He wasn't interested and didn't believe himself to have talent, so it was really hard to accept that he had to be persuaded to become an Onmyouji just because he had been born to a notable family. He didn't understand why Hokuto was so interested. 
"Ah, also, there's a talented girl the same age as me in the main family, so I don't need to bother with the mission of reviving the Tsuchimikado family." 
Harutora said it like an aside, but Hokuto's eyes flashed when she heard that. 
"......Are you talking about the girl you brought up before - that relative?" 
"Right, she's talented. She went to Tokyo to study after graduating middle school. She's studying at a famous school that trains Onmyouji. Moreover, she's only sixteen, but was already designated as the heir to the Tsuchimikado family. I'll hand the Tsuchimikado family over to her, and the family honor will be maintained without worry." 
"What are you saying? The other person's a girl, don't you feel frustrated?" 
"Not a bit." 
He replied quickly, and the girl lowered her head, downcast. 
"......How sad, at the least you should feel a bit embarrassed." 
"But the difference in ability between me and her is too big, so I don't have any reason to compare myself with her." 
Harutora spoke casually. 
"But, thanks to the main family having a talented girl, the people around her naturally won't expect much of a branch family child like me. When I told my mom and dad I was going to go to a mediocre high school, they didn't say much. I could even say that my days became much more relaxed because of her." 
The final words were his true thoughts. Harutora wasn't jealous or envious of the main family girl at all, let alone feel inferior. In the end, he had no desire to become an Onmyouji, nor was he able to imagine having such a desire. 
They had still contacted each other when he was small, but after middle school, their relationship had gradually become distant. 
Especially now...... 
"......Really?" 
Hokuto asked quietly. 
"What?" 
"Is it really true that no one has expectations for you, Harutora?" 
"I just said, probably...... not......" 
Hokuto's eyes revealed a hurt feeling that they had never shown before, and Harutora became more and more hesitant as he spoke. 
Hokuto stared straight into Harutora's eyes. He still hadn't made sense of the meaning in Hokuto's gaze, and felt as if his soul was almost absorbed into her big eyes. 
The noise of the cicadas suddenly grew distant. 
The scene from half a year before awakened in his mind. That winter day of his third year in middle school, when Harutora had decided to study in a normal high school... 
A pair of magnificent, beautiful eyes stared straight at Harutora. 
Tears suddenly glistened in the silent, moist almond eyes. 
"Liar." 
A daydream that flashed across his mind. 
His chest was restless, and a deep pain ached like an old wound. 
Now. 
"......It's dripping." 
Touji said. 
Looking carefully, his shaved ice had melted, and most of it was dripping out of the cup in Harutora's hand. "Shit!' Harutora hastily stood up, but unfortunately a wet spot had long since been soaked into his pants. 
At some time, the sun had moved, and only Harutora's hand was no longer under the shade of the trees. As expected of the unfortunate Harutora. 
"Why didn't you say so earlier!" 
"You should have noticed yourself first." 
"......It looks like you peed yourself." 
"You seem very happy, Hokuto!" 
Harutora's face reddened, and Hokuto recovered her normal expression, laughing cheerfully. "Here." She offered her handkerchief. Despite being unwilling for many reasons, all Harutora could do was take her handkerchief and borrow it from her for the time being. 
"......Alright, today's consultation will come to an end here. The branch family's eldest son is still in his first year of high school, so there should be no rush to decide his future path right now." 
Touji squinted his eyes, looking at the clouds from under his bandanna. 
Indeed, in this wave of increasing heat, the future seemed like there was a hazy picture presented by a mirage. 
In any case, no one could accurately say what was to come. 
More importantly, right now was summer vacation. 
"Those people who want to become specialized Onmyouji work hard towards their Onmyouji goal once they graduate from middle school." Hokuto replied, still unconvinced. 
"It's no use even if you compare with other people, since in the end, Harutora can't see spirits. Do you think the current him can become an Onmyouji?" 
"But......" 
"In particular, his other grades are also so bad." 
"Ah-" 
"Why don't you have a rebuttal to that! And Touji, you're too nosy!" 
The sound of the cicadas overshadowed Harutora's sounds of protest, and the sounds of Hokuto's laugh and Touji's sigh mixed in with it. 
An August afternoon. 
The blazing sun didn't show any signs of dying out.