Tokyo Ravens - Volume 8 - Chapter 5.4

Part 4 
That oni had said. 
"It can't be worn right now." 
She hadn't know what that meant. Natsume had been very confused, but instinctively told herself that those words carried heavy truth. 
"His life will be at stake." 
His life will be at stake. Though the meaning was unclear, those words were clearly branded in Natsume's heart. 
His life will be at stake. For some reason, Natsume trusted the truth of those words. 
His life will be at stake. Natsume had some sort of premonition when she heard those extremely inauspicious words. 
As if she heard the footsteps of her approaching fate. 

"It's a shikigami!" 
Suzuka yelled. 
She looked up at Harutora, who flew in the sky while wearing the Raven's Wing. 
"The raven from just now is a shikigami! Probably a servant shikigami! That idiot was possessed!" 
Suzuka's voice was filled with a panic that very quickly infected Natsume. "Hokuto!" She shouted, making the dragon pursue after the flying Harutora. Hokuto was also clueless, but quickly chased after Harutora who flew through the night sky. 
On the other hand, 
"How can that be!?" 
Takiko, who had used the magic, also seemed to be dumbfounded at the unexpected reaction. But Kumomaru also stared at Harutora flying through the night sky with a stern look as well. 
"Why? His aura's unstable and hasn't integrated? Damn, the Tsuchimikado also set up other measures?" 
"...Why..." 
...To think you can ask 'why'? 
Natsume gritted her teeth. 
Takiko's face was clearly as panicked as Suzuka's. Natsume's anger broke free of its restraints. What the hell was this girl thinking? Why did she toy with us so happily? What did she mean when she asked why? Stop screwing around! 
But right now wasn't the time to get caught up in those things. 
Natsume's black hair fluttered as she ran after Harutora. Touji seemed to shout out something, but she wasn't thinking of listening at all. She raised her head to stare upwards, sprinting with all her might. 
Then, she thought of something. 
"Yukikaze!" 
She threw out the charm she often carried with her. 
She summoned Yukikaze, the veteran shikigami that had served the Tsuchimikado family for generations. The handsome white horse looked divine. Natsume grabbed his reins, mounting the stirrups and sitting on Yukikaze's back with great momentum. 
"Go!" 
She shook the reins. Yukikaze suddenly leaped into the air, charging towards the sky. 
The scenery from just before became distant behind her back as she drew farther and farther away from the ground. Natsume rode Yukikaze as it sprinted through the night sky. 
The beautiful fireworks were still continuously exploding in the sky. Natsume shook the reins repeatedly, immersed in the light illuminating the night sky. 
She could see the golden dragon in the distance reflecting the light of the fireworks. Natsume stared over there. 
She saw it. A black wing that melded into the darkness, Harutora who wore a black coat. Suzuka had said it was a servant shikigami, and Takiko called it the Raven's Wing. Both were probably correct. The Raven's Wing - the one Ashiya Doman had once tried to steal - with the power to determine Yakou's reincarnation. The Raven's Wing wasn't Yakou's magical tool, it was Yakou's shikigami. 
The Raven's Wing originally should have been in the hands of Natsume's father. That meant that it had been taken from Natsume's old home - as expected, the goal of that fire was the Raven's Wing - but why had the Onmyou Agency done so? What were they intending - no, come to think of it, why was it in Takiko's hands? 
"Ah!" 
Those things didn't matter. 
"Harutora!" 
Natsume shouted hoarsely, and Yukikaze sprinted through the sky. 
Natsume's black hair and uniform billowed like flags beneath the pummeling of the strong wind. Yukikaze seemed to know it was an emergency situation and had been at its fastest speed from the start. They were finally about to catch up to Hokuto-- 
They caught up next to them. 
Harutora wore the Raven's Wing. It pulsated like a living thing. Every time the long hem - the wing - flapped, black feathers dropped off releasing golden particles of light. It kept the shape of an outer coat, but it didn't seem like a coat at all, as if the black feathers were eating away at the body of the person wearing them. It was like Harutora had become a giant crow monster. 
Rather than a shikigami, it was more like a Phase Three. A mobile spiritual disaster - without a complete form - before becoming a servant shikigami. Perhaps that was why it couldn't be controlled and had gone on a rampage. 
"Harutora!" 
Natsume immediately leaned over and shouted with all her strength. 
Then, 
"......Na......tsume......" 
Harutora replied, buried in the black feathers. Harutora's eyes were indeed staring at Natsume. 
Since his aura had overflowed before, Harutora's aura was already depleted. Now control of his body had been stolen away and he couldn't put up any effective resistance. 
Suzuka said Harutora had been possessed. Examples of aura that used human bodies as cores had appeared before. Those were 'oni'. The Raven's Wing itself was already materialized, but its current state seemed extremely similar. 
Harutora might have been engulfed by the Raven's Wing and become a spiritual disaster - a Type-Ogre. Moreover, Harutora had released most of his aura because of the Lingering Spirit Calling from before and his spiritual control had sharply fallen. 
"Harutora-kun, get a grip on yourself!" 
Natsume shouted. Harutora's face twisted as he responded to Natsume with all his power. 
"This is very dangerous...... Don't...... come......" 
With no regret. 
Natsume shook the reins, forcefully controlling the cautious Yukikaze and trying to approach Harutora. 
In that moment, Harutora rapidly spun around. 
His straight trajectory turned at a sharp acute angle and he spiraled higher. A true raven couldn't possibly make such frightening, sharp movements. But during this rapid maneuver, the wings beating towards Natsume shot out many arrow-like black feathers. 
"...!" 
An attack from the Raven's Wing. She couldn't avoid it. Yukikaze rapidly reared up, using its own body to shield Natsume. Natsume's eyes widened and she knew she wasn't in time, but still reached for a protective charm. 
But, 
"Order!" 
Suddenly, a blast of wind blew from her side. The black feathers the Raven's Wing had released in front of Natsume were scattered. Natsume endured the wind pressure, holding on to Yukikaze's reins with all her might. 
She looked in the direction the voice had come from. Two eagles that seemed to have been folded from paper were flying towards her. Suzuka sat on the back of one, and on the other was Touji in his samurai state. 
"Suzuka-san! Touji-kun!" 
"Natsume, use Hokuto!" 
Touji shouted a reply to Natsume. Natsume immediately followed his proposal. The Raven's Wing was still rising, but the altitude of Yukikaze's flight had limits. So she changed to having Hokuto soar into the sky and chase Harutora and the Raven's Wing. 
The somewhat wary Hokuto gathered its strength, extending its giant body and soaring into the air, looping around to a position higher than the upward-spiraling Raven's Wing and pursuing the Raven's Wing from above. 
The Raven's Wing swerved again. It glided down to the height where Natsume, Suzuka, and Touji were. Suzuka rapidly controlled her shikigami and Natsume coordinated with her movements, attacking the Raven's Wing from three directions - leaving the upward direction to Hokuto. 
"Harutora, wake up!" 
"What are you doing, you Bakatora!" 
"Harutora-kun, get a grip!" 
The three of them called out to Harutora one after another. They could feel that Harutora, buried in the black feathers, reacted to their voices. 
But, 
The Raven's Wing started spinning in place, spiraling while shooting out black arrows. 
"Tch!" 
Touji clicked his tongue. Suzuka, gritting her teeth, manipulated the shikigami carrying the two of them to avoid the attacks. Similarly, Natsume threw out a protective charm, erecting a barrier to defend against the arrows while still trying to get closer. 
No good. Though the feathers the Raven's Wing released momentarily stopped upon hitting the magic wall, they pierced through afterwards. 
"Ah!" 
Not waiting for an instruction from its rider, Yukikaze suddenly descended rapidly. A rain of black arrows sliced right above Natsume as she lay on the horse's back. Though she didn't know how much power the Raven's Wing shikigami had, she definitely couldn't get careless. More importantly, their attacks might accidentally hurt Harutora. 
Then, 
"Bind! On bishibishi karakara shibari sowaka!" 
Suzuka used the Unmoving Golden Chains magic. She and Natsume had reached the same conclusion. 
Suzuka's magic bound the Raven's Wing and Harutora, but it was only for a moment. The bound Raven's Wing extended its wings and easily broke through Suzuka's magic in the next moment. Suzuka inadvertently stared wide-eyed at the fact that it had broken through so easily. 
"......Damn! I heard that the Raven's Wing was originally an 'armor' that Yakou created! Simple magic probably won't work!" 
Touji shouted from where he sat on his shikigami. Natsume had also heard that rumor. If Yakou had prepared this magical tool - this shikigami - to protect himself, then a high resistance to human magic was understandable. But in that case, stopping its actions while not harming Harutora became impossible, and they could do nothing. 
...Think! Think! 
Takiko had said that Harutora was Tsuchimikado Yakou's reincarnation, and the Raven's Wing had indeed possessed Harutora's body, not Natsume's. Takiko's words were probably true. The reality before her proved what she had said. 
But on the other hand, this situation had indeed betrayed Takiko's expectations. The Raven's Wing had unexpectedly gone out of control. That advice awoke in her again. The advice the one-armed oni had left printed in Natsume's heart. 
... 'It can't be worn right now, his life will be at stake.' 
That oni's advice was probably right. The current Harutora was undoubtedly in a condition where 'his life was at stake'. Also, that one-armed oni had said this too. 
'What's up with that curse?' 
'He became like this because it wasn't completely removed.' 
She remembered it. That...... right, Ohtomo. Ohtomo had said this when he 'saw' Harutora. 
'Seeing' Harutora's aura, he said: 
... 'Your condition right now is extremely unnatural, and it kind of feels artificial......' 
Artificial - or, a 'curse'. 
He had gone out of control because it wasn't completely removed. 
...Then...... that meant...... 
Many words crisscrossed through Natsume's mind, colliding with each other and sending sparks flying. 
She was a decoy, a decoy prepared by Tsuchimikado Yasuzumi. She had been bound with magic since birth, she had been cursed since birth. Right. She had always had doubts. She always felt it was very strange. Why didn't Harutora have the spirit-seeing ability? Though he was in the branch family, he was a Tsuchimikado after all. The greatest, most prominent clan in Onmyoudou history that had raised hordes of Onmyouji. Why did someone with this blood not even have the most essential talent of an Onmyouji, spirit-seeing? More importantly, it was even less probable that Harutora didn't have the spirit-seeing ability if he was a main family member. Harutora's spiritual power was extremely strong, and he was spiritually robust and excellent. It was too unnatural to possess a very powerful strength for an Onmyouji yet lack the important spirit-seeing ability. 
A curse. 
He had been bound by magic since birth. 
... '......That magical pattern......' 
... 'Ah, ah, that star? That's from when I became Natsume's shikigami...... But it's not just a simple contract mark, it also lets me see spirits. It's a sign of the magic Natsume cast.' 
The magic Natsume had cast. 
The Tsuchimikado family secret magic her father had taught. 
The magic Natsume couldn't completely understand either. 
... 'He became like this because it wasn't completely removed.' 
She had it backwards. 
Natsume hadn't endowed Harutora with the spirit-seeing ability. No...... Harutora possessed an extremely outstanding spirit-seeing ability that he had been granted at birth. This point had been proven in the battle with Shaver. He had originally had that talent, but it had been sealed by his father. A curse. Harutora's spirit-seeing ability had been sealed by a curse cast at birth. 
Natsume had released that seal. 
That pentagram magical pattern. The one her father had taught her, that she deeply trusted - the magic granting spirit-seeing. 
Harutora hadn't been granted spirit-seeing by Natsume-- 
Rather, Natsume had slightly released the seal cast on his body. 
... 'This is probably the trigger. But it's not just because of this. In the end, you're practically a different person from before.' 
No, it wasn't as if he had become a different person, he had returned to his normal self. The trigger Natsume had created - the crack in the seal binding him - had been forcibly broken open during the battle against Shaver. It hadn't been completely removed. So he was currently being eaten away by the Raven's Wing and was unable to merge with or control it. 
Then. 
If she wanted to save Harutora - to help Harutora when his 'life was at stake', what should she do? 
That magic. 
The magic Natsume had cast on Harutora was the magic that removed the seal. 
He became like this because it wasn't completely removed. 
Then...... 
"Harutora!" 
Touji's shout made Natsume's consciousness return. She saw the Raven's Wing and paled. Harutora had lost consciousness again. 
"Harutora-kun!" 
Harutora forced his eyes open when he heard Natsume's cry, but his consciousness was still murky. In fact, it was already a miracle that he was still able to maintain his consciousness. Harutora's aura had already weakened to the point that it was hard to sense. A dangerous condition where he was at his limit. It didn't allow for a moment of hesitation. 
... '......It's great.' 
... 'Eh?' 
... 'The fireworks. It was great that we came here.' 
Natsume pulled the reins tight. 
She drove the shikigami on, dashing above the Raven's Wing. Hokuto seemed to not understand its master's intent and momentarily slowed its movements. Suzuka and Touji didn't know what Natsume was planning either and hesitated over what action to take. 
Natsume wasn't concerned about the surrounding movements. 
She just stared purely at Harutora. 
She looked down from Yukikaze and bit her lip. 
Her teeth broke the skin and blood flowed out. 
As the blood slowly dripped down her lips, Natsume chanted a quiet incantation. 
"...In the name of the ancestral spirit Abe no Seimei..." 
She shook the reins powerfully and descended. The confused Yukikaze still obeyed its master's orders, approaching the Raven's Wing below. Of course, the Raven's Wing reacted to the approaching foreign object and spun in midair, confronting Yukikaze that drew towards it head-on. 
"......Nat......sume......" 
Harutora moaned. Compassion poured forth in Natsume's chest and she smiled fearlessly. 
In the next moment, the Raven's Wing spread its wings, flapping them towards the airborne Yukikaze in the blink of an eye. Several black arrows shot into the sky. 
Yukikaze naturally dodged, throwing its whole body to the side and cutting out a long arc. 
Yukikaze suddenly stopped, because the weight on its back had unexpectedly vanished. 
Touji, Suzuka, and even Harutora let out soundless screams. 
Natsume, who had jumped off Yukikaze, didn't stop chanting her incantation as she heard her companions' cries. 
Black arrows shot through Natsume. 
Natsume's body spasmed intensely in midair - descending with the help of gravity. 
She dropped onto Harutora. 
Their bodies overlapped. 

He couldn't understand the scene he was seeing. He just felt that it was laughable. Harutora, whose mind was already paralyzed, caught the slender body falling from above him. 
...Eh? 
As if synchronizing with the impact Harutora felt, the Raven's Wing stopped moving just then. Harutora and Natsume, tangled together, turned as they fell to the ground. 
"......Natsume......!" 
Harutora shouted as if spitting blood. 
"......Haru......tora......kun" 
Natsume moaned quietly. 
As the two of them fell together, Natsume shakily raised her hands and put them on Harutora's cheeks. She weakly leaned her head in, closed her eyes, putting her lips and Harutora's together. 
Natsume's magic flowed through Harutora's body. With the flowing magic coursing through his body, Harutora's eyes widened. 
The curse was released. 
Then, Harutora's aura was 'completely' released and the Raven's Wing also immediately reacted to his aura. Golden light ran through its black wings like electricity. Its organic form froze and became a black outer coat that covered Harutora's body. It naturally flapped downwards without any need for Harutora to instruct it, providing lift. Their falling speed decreased and the two of them floated in midair. 
But that kind of thing didn't matter. 
Harutora lost focus and stared at the battered body in his arms. Natsume also happily looked back at Harutora from her childhood friend's arms. 
 
"......Natsume?" 
"......Harutora-kun......" 
Natsume's expression seemed dreamlike as she spoke through her blood-moistened lips. 
"......I'm sorry...... for always hiding...... the thing about Hokuto...... But...... you probably...... already realized......" 
His mind was blank. But Natsume's warmth that he felt in his arms slowly lifted Harutora's shock. 
Bit by bit, warmness spread across his palms. The sensation of liquid dripping from his fingertips. The stains scattered on the black Onmyou Academy uniform widened more and more. 
Harutora's heart throbbed and his pulse raced, his rationality beginning to slowly accept the truth that his emotions rejected. It shouldn't be this way. This couldn't be true. His rationality gradually suppressed his impulse to shout. 
How frightening. 
A bottomless terror began to assault Harutora. 
This was the second time he had experienced this terror. 
"Don't die." 
"......Harutora......" 
"Don't die!" 
Natsume's expression seemed to be calling him unseemly as she watched Harutora's frightened cry. Then, she buried her face in Harutora's chest, entrusting her powerless body to him. 
"Harutora-kun...... I... love you. ......I won't forgive you if you die......" 
Natsume smiled. 
Then, she closed her eyes in Harutora's arms. 
Natsume's body went limp. A smile unconsciously showed itself on Harutora's face. "Natsume?" He spoke to her with a smile. 
As if he had heard a joke. 
As if he were being pranked. 
Natsume didn't reply. 
Natsume could no longer respond. 
Natsume. Harutora continued calling out. Natsume, Natsume, he constantly repeated. But it wouldn't reach Natsume, and Natsume didn't respond to Harutora. 
There was no response. 
Touji and Suzuka also went speechless, frozen in place with pale faces. Hokuto had vanished at some point. Harutora didn't stop, constantly calling out. 
Always and forever. 
Yearning for an impossible response. 

Colorful fireworks exploded in the distant night sky. 
Kakugyouki, who avoided people as much as possible as he approached, came to a halt after noticing the Raven's Wing stop its rampage. 
"......Is it over?" 
He focused his mind ahead of him. His presence was very weak because of the loss of strength from before. But he wasn't dead, he still lived. Moreover...... The remainder of the seal had been completely removed. His aura's nature had changed. 
This aura was very familiar. 
Kakugyouki inadvertently smiled. 
The oni didn't make a sound as he calmly smiled. 
He would just let things develop. But though he had said that, he hadn't thought things would truly develop like this. That seal had been a desperate gamble meant to conceal the young Yakou and trick the Onmyouji targeting him. But now the curse had been released and his former master had descended to the world again with no regard for his own desires. 
He couldn't turn back anymore. 
"......Then, how will things turn out?" 
He muttered those words, but he had already confirmed something in his heart. 
Tokyo's 'night' would become tumultuous in the future. 
Just like during that war. 
Kakugyouki smiled again. Saotome Suzu's surprised expression flashed through his mind. But there was no helping it. It seemed like the situation in front of him wouldn't allow him to stay out. 
What a mess the personality of an oni was. Then, he would only be able to act guided by his own bad karma. He would no longer pay any heed to his past chains, nor would he be bound by the current situation. He would act freely. 
"It'll be very interesting." 
Kakugyouki bared his teeth in a cold smile.