This ain't the first time Kadokawa DMCA's fan translations for series they never licensed. Recall the BT massacre when Kadokawa or some other company DMCA'd half the series on BT.
I thought those only happens because the original publisher will release their own official translations
you are seeing that in a wrong way,harutora y yakou are the same person is totally different to shiro emiya beacuse in that time he only remenber his past life is like you are you but you have the memories of another life that can change your thinkings but it is only you using your new knowledge.
Well, it's not really the case of who wins at point. The story has always been about Harutora and Natsume since the beginning. Now, it's more about whether they survive the current crisis. The author's still writing the next volume. Who knows when it gonna come. https://twitter.com/k_aza/status/118...500395520?s=20
Until and unless they make them an official couple, then i won't count out the possibility of a harem end no matter how small the chance are.
it depends on the type of story and I don't think tokyo ravens is a harem story. heck, the story isn't even feeding any hints of it being harem at all. Even there are other girls that like him, the others also realize fast that who is most important to him.
wish for harem end on story that has hints of it being harem story.
To tell you the truth I'm ��% fine with OTP in this series ,I'm just saying to the guy i replied to, that his best bet is to wish there is a harem end no matter how unlikely it is. He sounds really desperate for Suzuka to win.
Has the vol 15 been translated? I recently got back to the series and was incredibly sad to see that it's been removed from Bakatsuki and is now an abandoned project.
__________________
If people don't like me, it's their fault, not mine.
Since IDK if any other volumes will be tl'd after so much time, I figured I'd do my part for whoever's left.
Heavily abridged summaries of 15 and 16 ahoy
Spoiler for 15:
Things start off with Hishamaru watching Yakou and Kokage as he becomes the head of the Tsuchimikado family, unwillingly because his freedom is becoming restricted by the burden and position.
An army lieutenant visits with the intent of recruiting Yakou to create and lead a Onmyouji unit, for the sake of the nation – one system out of many different systems, for many different people. Young, bold and charismatic, this is Souma Satsuki of the main branch Souma family who even says exactly the same thing as Takiko “I walk the path of Onmyou like you”
And Satsuki visits again and again and again because Yakou is refusing each time. Yakou doesn’t like the military, Yakou doesn’t want to make magic for the sake of the conflict in China and sincerely doubts that the big shots are interested in calendars and astronomy, Yakou feels that trying to use the Emperor’s current position as commander in chief of the army and navy to force Onmyojitsu users to cooperate is sophistry, different times and different belief systems, Yakou talks (in secret) to Abe no Seimei via TFR and gets told this is a idea that leads to a bad future, etc .
Things get to the point that Yakou runs off to Seishuku Temple to play shougi and Satsuki still follows him. Cameos from Jougen, Sen jiisan and head priest Shinra (who Yakou says he cannot defeat in actual combat) while Satsuki keeps up the pressure. Shinra actually joins in the convo to draw info out from Satsuki – finding out that the Soma family has the political power within the military to prevent anything like a general conscription order from reaching the Tsuchimikado family, that Satsuki wants Yakou is to train new Onmyojitsu users to make up for the decline of traditional practitioners, the Japanese armed forces are lying about how fierce the fighting is against both the Chinese and Soviets (they’re having a hard time) and that Nazi Germany is also delving into mysticism
In Satsuki’s words, “On the battlefield where life and death are the stakes, humans can’t help but reach out for Gods and Saints”
And in a private talk between Shinra and Yakou, Shinra tells Yakou that any amount of excuses and pressure will be made to bring Yakou over, and that the common sense and values of the world are going to be overturned again and again in the future. Don’t lose sight of what’s really important in your heart.
Spoiler for Spoiler:
To speed things up a bit, there’s a group that attacks the mountain and gets decisively beaten down by everyone (including the Yase Doji that Satsuki has command over) but the only real info new is that this is some kind of plot from within the military (as said by Satsuki) and there’s some kind of new charm that Yakou has never seen before. This isn’t Satsuki’s idea – because they would have done it more elegantly – and admits he has no proof. Yakou makes his refusal to Satsuki final, and Satsuki says he’ll find someone else to do the idea for Onmyou.
The Tsuchimikado family is attacked at the same time. The same new charm is used on Kokage – a unknown entity possesses her right eye, but doesn’t do anything – yet.
Yakou, Hishamaru, Kokage, and our favorite one armed ogre are all off to Tokyo, to meet with Kyoko’s great Grandpa, the current head of the Kurahashi family, with cameos from the future (very young) hubby of Miyo, and all kinds of IRL event talk like how the pact between the USSR and Germany over Poland and hostility from the US and UK is making the military confused, the streets of Tokyo are becoming more and more grim because of rationing and restrictions against bars and booze and recreation, the wars won’t end any time soon and how innocence and ignorance are similar yet different in social consciousness.
The Tsuchimikados are here however to deal with Kokage’s predicament. Satsuki arrives and passes on what info he has, while trying to still recruit Yakou which fails, but it seems like there are various dark practitioners already working with members of the army, one of them is the “Priest” that made all these new charms never seen before (or rather, not seen in centuries). In the mean time, the Satsuki family will assist Yakou in clearing up this matter although Satsuki warns him that no matter what this will get into the factional disputes of the armed forces – the Soma don’t have total control here. And I’m skipping over a lot of Hishamaru (unconscious Natsume) PoV here.
Spoiler for Spoiler:
Yakou meets with a Lt. General to souse him out and gets warned in a polite manner to get with the times, it also turns out that the Lt. General is possessed like Kokage. And that part of the darkness playing around with the Tsuchimikado is the Dairenji family. Not a word about their relationship with the Soma.
Thus he meets a flushed and distressed Satsuki outside the meeting hall only to laughingly reassure him that he’s not taking sides still, only to hear Satsuki say “do you really plan to live in seclusion for the rest of your life with your youth, position and talents?”
Satsuki has no talent or power as a Onmyoji, only can command extraordinarily old Yase Doji. He’s jealous at heart, yeah. Everyone within his family looks down on him. Things are rough – he’s alone when the chips are down. He wants to see spells that are no longer “special,” that everyone can use, to tear down the condescending attitudes of Onmyoji. He knows Yakou is different from him – Yakou loves magic and wants to defend the things he loves. What does Yakou want to see with magic? What’s the end game?
This is where Yakou’s resolution – being worn down all the time – really breaks. We don’t hear what Yakou is looking for – but it seems like this is the turning point.
And that there’s a new sudden attack – Dairenji family just can’t get away from using spiritual beings to get what they want and Yakou is dealing with a outbreak of hostile spirits. Hokuto the dragon is summoned and Hishamaru, Satsuki and Yakou are flying around Tokyo trying to find Dairenji, but the man is too slippery. He and his accomplice escape Tokyo, although they leave behind the means to purify Kokage.
Spoiler for Spoiler:
Two years later, the Onmyouji school is in full swing and all kinds of new and future faces appear, times are wild with all the experimentation but everyone is enthusiastic and happy about the new system they’re setting up. Even Hishamaru has really warmed up into it, but Satsuki has to keep reminding everyone to stop breaking all the tools and buildings with all the craziness they’re getting up to – even Hokuto has done a few oopsies. The military is just a few degrees of separation from the school but the strongest and most influencial of Yakou’s students are “Onmyouji Generals” to separate them from the line of command and control, to not be treated as common soldiers.
So far, things are balancing out, Kokage gets married, Yakou is happy at work and at home – but Satsuki makes it clear to both Yakou and Hishamaru that the country is going to go to war against the US and the Allies. There’s no more leisure time – Satsuki needs “results” to keep the Onmyouji from being unilaterally ordered around.
The prototype Tsuchigumo, Miyo’s powers as a diviner, all kinds of things are talked about – and Satsuki isn’t holding back.
He’s worried because things are gonna get bad. The results that the Souma Clan wants to see – the Tensou Chifu Ritual is not his priority because he’s got enough potential problems on his hands.
In the midst of all the teaching and talk, one of the students asks Yakou about what a “God” actually is since all beliefs are specifically not being denied in the new system. What does indeed Yakou think about Taira no Masakado? What does he mean about “God” transcending time and space to exist always and everywhere? The student is being possessed by the hidden Dairenji, but Yakou and Hishamaru and Kakugyouki can’t get a grip on Dairenji’s spirit – somehow his soul gets around even if temporarily unlinked from the body, barriers and magic can do nothing to stop the soul. Dairenji isn’t someone to be underestimated since he’s doing something that Yakou has never seen before.
But Satsuki’s debriefing brings out something truly shocking to Yakou – the Souma clan members have very good bodies for possession the closer they are to the main branch. Satsuki is a very good “vessel” and now Yakou knows what the objective of the Souma clan is.
But what the clan wants is not the same what Satsuki wants – he’s got no interest in welcoming Taira no Masakado v2, he doesn’t care about being the vessel for the new emperor or following the will of the conservatives in the Souma clan. Screw ‘em and their dream for a god on earth.
Yakou is very clear about this – if word gets out about what the Souma want with Tensou Chifu, that’s straight up treason against the nation and they’ll all get snuffed out. Although the possibility of Dairenji trying to stop the clan is brought up, Satsuki outright dismisses the possibility. There are much easier and simpler ways to put the clan 6 feet under when everyone has to sleep sometime, somewhere.
Spoiler for Spoiler:
As plans are being put into motion to find Dairenji and everyone moves around separately, the military police invade the Onmyouji school and arrest Hishamaru on the scene.
According to Satsuki, the predjuice against Onmyou is still strong, and the talk about “god” earlier on was a pretty good excuse for the trumped up charges from the MP. National Shinto and the Emperor (IRL) being a god to the ordinary people of Japan are being taken seriously. Satsuki is working to get Hishamaru released but their position is delicate and things have to handled the right way (Hishamaru must not just bust her way out with the power).
Except that #1, Hishamaru isn’t at MP jail along with any of the people dispatched, and #2, how did any outsider at all know about what happened in the school?
It’s a trap from Dairenji. Kakugyouki has brought Douman Ashiya to meet Yakou and get some answers.
Hishamaru has been completely sealed and tied up, she’s in a bad position. Dairenji is starting up a ritual in Yasukuni Shrine to summon a “Something” down and possess himself. This man is much like Shidou, his descendant, because what he’s after is Otakemaru, the legendary Oni.
Douman is much the same he ever was – he was the one who helped Dairenji with the new charms against Kokage all those years ago, and he taught Dairenji a few tricks, and he’s not a fan of what Dairenji is trying to do – too boorish against Abe’s descendants. Yakou is told where everything’s going down.
The battle at Yasukuni is ferocious, Yakou is bringing out a serious amount of firepower against Dairenji’s shikigami and needs the Yase Doji to break the deadlock but he can’t break such a powerful barrier without killing Hishamaru in the crossfire. Hishamaru’s persistence pays off and gives him an opening, and she is saved – but Dairenji is fully possessed. Goosebumps and hair standing on edge for everyone. However, this isn’t “Otakemaru” according to Yakou, at least not strictly him.
The fight begins now.
Spoiler for Spoiler:
Everyone is going all out on the God, all shikigami and Yakou are throwing everything they got.
To no effect. All kinds of esoteric ancient powerful mantras are being recited by Yakou, calling down the fire from heaven to smite the virtue of the enemy – does nothing. The Yase Doji are being eliminated. Satsuki wants to retreat and return with a plan and everybody else – but Yakou as a Onmyouji cannot leave “that being” alone.
Force is no longer an option. Instead of restraining the God, Yakou will calm him down in a harmonious way.
But Satsuki is fed up with a lot of things overall, and wants the forceful way. A certain “god” is called down via ritual for the sake of getting things to stop, who possesses Satsuki. Things end … anticlimactically because the “fight” is resolved with a single exchange where Otakemaru’s weapon is only broken, and everyone goes back to where they belong.
Satsuki wakes up on the 1st of December, 1941, feeling the hurt all over. He still hasn’t changed his feelings about his clan’s dream, and is glad he survived. But things are only getting started, they aren’t in a good way and this isn't an exaggeration.
Novel 16 takes place in 1945, and the narration is not kind to the Japanese military's decisions during World War 2. A lot of people from novel 15 get kicked in the teeth over the next four years because of the nation losing calm judgement, not facing the truth and wasting lives. Satsuki himself says that too many lives have been simply thrown away in the war.
I'll try to get 16 summarized before the end of the weekend. Also the author's note at the end of 15 because I think it matters given the long periods of waiting between volumes.
This time, I'm leaving out a lot of flavor content from 16 because jeez! Loooong.
EDIT: On second thought, maybe have some music playing when you go through this volume. I went with the easy choice, Faraway Promise from the Xenogears OST https://youtu.be/jEmTH7-nQUM
First excerpt is a flashback to Harutora and Touji’s first meeting with the principal, when they talked about Yakou. Miyo’s opinion is that he was no different from an ordinary person, who laughed, cried, shined and drowned in the times.
Spoiler for [Re]incarnation:
Then we jump back to 1945. 10,000 meters in the sky, American crew of a B-29, and one of the guys is feeling the dissonance of such grand achievements, to see the wide blue open sky like this become something ordinary and routine. Especially since Japanese aircraft can’t reliably intercept them at this height.
Rumors of a dragon attacking the Allied air fleets is beginning to spread, although the survivors are always debriefed by OSS and secretive personnel, there’s still fuselage of damaged craft that doesn’t look like it got shot at. There’s some talk about multi legged tanks, Nazi mystics and stuff, but it’s almost time to start bombing – and a giant dragon appears in the sky with a man in a black coat floating around and shooting down aircraft. Yakou is too fast to be hit by the guns, but only 1/3 of the bombers are taken down and Tokyo gets hit hard.
Narrator time. A brief timeline of the Pacific War which follows IRL events, saying that Japan got drunk on the wine of victory after Pearl Harbor, the Phillipines and Singapore, etc. Everything got reversed at Midway – but because of a lack of calm judgement and self control, the losses are not recognized properly. Propaganda continues, reckless behavior increases and more lies are told to the media. A arrogant self esteem, backed by empty beliefs and dreams that have nothing to do with reality, it’s like the Japanese military is self defeating. Successive defeats mercilessly eat away at the material and spiritual substance of the nation.
Back to 1945, and Hishamaru is not at all calm. Yakou can only get to 10,000 meters through the Raven’s cloak, Hokuto and experimental magic to provide breathable air at that height. Hishamaru cannot provide support up there and is on the ground as mission control over the remaining Onmyouji practitioners in Tokyo. Onmyouji spells are used on the ground to limit damage from airstrikes, and Onmyouji generals were sent overseas to fight where they all died one way or another. Training cannot make up for the losses in personnel. Charms are being used up faster than they can be made. Food is scarce. Morale is low. Relatives of the Souma, Kurahashi and Tsuchimikado have died, people that Yakou and Hishamaru knew.
Yakou’s spell lost efficiency in the fight, and lost unconsciousness from lack of oxygen. The Raven’s coat brought him back to the ground but he is being hospitalized with a very unhappy Hishamaru. The Full Moon appears here too, normally a ring on Yakou’s finger but can materialize as a bunny.
Yakou cannot get out these dangerous air defense missions because at this point the military has total control over the Onmyojitsu institution and everything around Yakou. They provided a lot of help before, now Yakou has to pay it back.
Satsuki is clear about Japan’s precarious situation, that the general staff are working on beautiful rhetoric to tell the civilians to go kamikaze against the incoming invasion of Japan. Surrender is a sentiment shared by many, including Hishamaru, but the Military Police are listening everywhere and have no hesitation about arresting any defeatists.
But Satsuki agrees with Hishamaru that this is too dangerous for Yakou. To him, Yakou is more important than the predicament that Japan faces.
Yakou doesn’t feel that way, wanting to protect Japan’s people and not feeling that there’s a point in being the last survivor on the island. But he also feels pretty crappy about killing so many people.
So Satsuki brings up the ongoing work on a certain ritual as the alternative. Instead of having Taira no Masakado come down and be god, use the power of god to protect the Imperial Capital through a powerful barrier. Research has been done, the incantations that Dairenji used last volume have been implemented, etc.
But it’s dangerous – failure will be absolutely catastrophic. Satsuki isn’t too concerned about himself dying if it means saving more people, but he feels that Yakou is absolutely necessary for the future of Onmyou.
Spoiler for 16:
In a rest period with Hishamaru and Seishuku Temple visitors, Kokage is revealed to have a baby boy! Hishamaru’s infatuation with Yakou is teased since he has no direct heir (Satsuki already had one but not through marriage by the first time he met Yakou.
But sad memories can’t help but force their way in. During the earlier years, everyone (including the Kurahashi chief) would get drunk and discuss and experiment and use spells and it was all good fun (except for Hishamaru who would scold and scold and scold) but it was a really happy and carefree time. Now, many of the previous students are dead and the new youngsters are advocating using the power of gods to curse the enemy, becoming more and more radical.
Desperation, anger, sadness, regret, it’s expected that the young want to use strength to break their current predicament but they’re forgetting that curses that get out of control come back to the caster.
Miyo had a bad episode of divination (something bad is coming) but has no details. Nothing can be done about it, and Yakou does not want kids getting involved in the war (she’s only 10)
But IRL events aren’t stopping. March 10th, 1945, Tokyo Air Raid. Low flying B-29s using incendiaries flatten Tokyo in a night, killing tens of thousands and destroying hundreds of thousands of homes. Spiritual damage is great because of the slaughter, too many dead people have not been purified. The Onmyouji efforts could not stop all the fire and bombs, their movements were unable to coordinate against the sudden onslaught.
And this is really where Satsuki begins to go off the rails.
Spoiler for 16:
Satsuki won over his clan after the Dairenji business and possession, the elders bow their heads and apologize for their stubbornness and stupidity, but his life is so busy and full of stress that he doesn’t really care that much about the achievement he wanted for so long. Even though he has moments where he wants to touch a “god” again for that transcendent moment of wonder, not caring at all about the Souma clan’s wish, he still has to deal with a harsh reality without any escape.
And now he is watching now the city burning before his eyes. People burning up. Everything is engulfed in flames. He can do nothing about the situation, but the anger within burns.
And it resonates with a anger that is 1000 years old, and still burning even now. Satsuki watches Yakou jumping into action and wonders if he also feels the intense rage, the unforgivable atrocities before him feeding the anger?
After action is not a happy time. The original plan of protecting Tokyo with Taira is not going to work as scheduled – too much negative emotion and miasma is within the spiritual world and a lot of the original spells are no longer any good with conditions being what they are. In the worst case scenario, Tokyo could be destroyed.
But Satsuki insists it goes forward. Tokyo is already half destroyed. The military is insisting on fighting to the end. This is the only card left to actually play to save people, and all of the remaining Onmyoji are pressing Yakou to go along with it, who almost gives in on the spot. But Hishamaru’s hesitation is expressed in her eyes, and Yakou looks at her, and tells everyone to take a break to rest. The debate will continue afterwards.
Hishamaru in her own mind doesn’t know what the hell to do. There are no good options, no escape and no relief. After a lot of thinking and talking with Sen, all she can do ultimately do, is listen to Yakou, let him express his heart to her, accept all his worries and regrets and thoughts.
Yakou is having a casual discussion with Satsuki watching the ruins of Tokyo, and they inevitable go back to talking about the past. About their first escapades in Tokyo chasing Dairenji. About Satsuki’s question to Yakou – what kind of magic did he want to see? We still don’t hear what it is – yet. Bombers continue flattening Japan in March, and the Americans land on Okinawa in April.
Spoiler for 16:
The plan for summoning god becomes inevitable as a order from the military. Yakou and Hishamaru were the only ones who were against it anyways and preparations are complete. But one legacy of Dairenji’s work involves human souls again. With all the dead people in the vicinity, the Soma elders theorize that it’s possible to use their souls as emergency “fuel” for the ritual and have a spell ready. Yakou thinks this is absolutely evil and refuses and refuses and refuses to consider it, but Satsuki is able to pressure him into agreeing because the situation is so desperate and everyone’s eyes are pleading with Yakou.
The schedule advances, everyone is rushed. Yakou gives over the Full Moon to a member of the Souma clan and Raven’s Coat to a member of the Kurahashi family (can’t have items interfering with the ritual) and Yakou won’t have any shikigami nearby.
Kakugyouki comes out and says what you’re thinking: this ain’t right. Yakou must know that this is a recipe for disaster. He has to stop following the trend, he has to create his own path through this mess, stop doing this because he himself has a bad feeling about it. But Yakou sticks to his guns, except Hishamaru is able to convince Yakou to let her be nearby.
It’s the 12th of April, the night before the big ritual where Yakou dies. There’s a lot of talk between Hishamaru and Yakou, Hishamaru and Kakugyouki, abstract conversations about reincarnation, what happens when people die, etc. This is the scene where we hear Hishamaru asking Yakou if he won’t change his mind, and Yakou says that he thinks his choice is right.
Also where Hishamaru tells Yakou that no matter how many years they go through, if he dies and reincarnates, she will reunite with him again. Because she is his shikigami.
This prompts a long awkward attempt from Yakou to tell her something, which eventually turns out to be “please marry me” which is accepted on her part. It’s all happiness and gentleness in the calm Tsuchimikado manor away from the worries and stress of the world.
Reality sets in the next day. An airstrike damaged part of the original altar set up, the military is in confusion over the sudden death of FDR, and everything is a mess needing to be fixed. There are delays, Satsuki cannot come over until late in the night, Yakou gets a lap pillow from Hishamaru. Talk about changing the ritual to another day are refused, Tokyo’s spiritual condition is relatively calm and nobody knows when the wrath of the dead will cause the equivalent of a spiritual tsunami and destroy all chances of the ritual working.
The ritual finally begins. Problems arise but Yakou deals with them. Taira no Masakado arrives and Satsuki’s duty as a vessel begins.
Just as more American airplanes are in the sky. A large scale bombing action is at work against nearby areas – and Taira no Satsuki is not happy.
Not.
Happy.
Spoiler for 16:
Flashback time. Yakou explains to Satsuki what he wants to see with magic – “ordinary spells”
No more fear, no more taboo subjects, no more rejection of magic. Something that’s simply part of normal life. Something that can coexist with the world without unilaterally forcing the world around. Nothing “special”
Satsuki calls Yakou out – all of this is a cover. Yakou really wants a world that doesn’t reject living spirits, one that won’t discriminate against Hishamaru. Yakou’s unconvincing denial just gets them arguing like kids for a bit, but they agree not to say anything to Hishamaru about this one.
And now? Tairasuki is furious about his countrymen being killed and trampled in front of his eyes. He doesn’t listen to Yakou’s pleas to calm down, and starts throwing spiritual power around like cannonballs. He has the range to hit the planes.
But his divine 100% anger is corrupting everything. It’s spiritual disaster time, miasma is everywhere. The spiritual tsunami of the dead rises up, it’s all going horribly. Yakou uses Lingering Spirit Calling Magic which can be used to call to the dead and manages to get Satsuki to listen, and thus Taira makes all the miasma and spiritual disasters disappear instantly.
Satsuki is still furious. Yakou wants to stop the ritual and send everyone back to where they belong because things are just no longer salvageable. But Tairasuki is okay with the Dairenji’s spell of sacrifice, okay with being consumed to save the country, and his anger is making the weather go insane. The argument is at a dead impasse with both friends staring at each other.
And the situation gets worse. Bombers are zeroing in on the altar because guess what, all the torches and light are like saying “please bomb us”
And in this situation of shock and surprise, Onmyoji can’t defend against thousands of incendiaries. Those who flee will probably get killed. Those who fight get killed. Tairasuki is flinging power everywhere, and Yakou and Hishamaru get surprised by a bomb.
When Yakou wakes up, his leg is broken and he’s bleeding all over, Hishamaru is in bad shape, and Tairasuki’s arm is carbonized and falling off, he’s become a human torch covered with the products of science and containing the products of Onmyou inside. He’s become absolutely 100% furious, and now? It’s the true spiritual disaster time, Nue and Worm and Oni and phase 4. Planes are being eaten up by giant columns of miasma, the surrounding area of Tokyo is being attacked by spiritual beings, it’s hell on earth.
Yakou has one last card to play – use TFR to become a vessel himself and pray to clean up the disaster and get Satsuki’s soul to be at rest as one of the dead. Hishamaru is completely exhausted and can do nothing to help, beginning to black out.
And now we flash forward (back?) to the future where Natsume (Hishamaru?) is in Hishamaru’s body listening to Harutora’s declaration to Natsume at the end of volume 14, and things get…confusing.
Back to 1945. Whatever happened in the discussion between Taizakou and Tairasuki is unknown, but Taira left Satsuki’s horribly burned body, and Satsuki’s subordinate shoots him. Satsuki gave the orders earlier to him to kill him if things went out of control, but the sequence went all wrong, sadly. The miasma close by has been cleaned up, but there’s still a hell of a lot of bad spirits nearby, and a lot of it is bound to the future. All Taizankou could do was divide up the spiritual disasters, not in space but through time. What was the equivalent of a nuclear bomb will be a long slow burning fire of spiritual disasters, for Tokyo’s spirituality is permanently changed.
And Yakou saw that the Tensou Chifu Ritual will be attempted again in the future, and it is his duty to stop it. He choose to reincarnate with TSR, because he’s gonna die tonight. Too much damage, too much fatigue, it was all too much.
Just like that, the first new spiritual disaster hits. Satsuki’s body burns up, Yakou dies telling Hishamaru that he loves her. The earth swallows up their remains, Kakugyouki can only save Hishamaru.
And that, is how the Great Spirit Disaster occurred.
Spoiler for 16:
With the majority of the Onmyoji at the scene killed, all that’s left are a few leftover students and a lot of them die in the 7 day fight against the spirits. Ironically, the American air strikes end up destroying quite a few of the spiritual presences.
The public think that Yakou was responsible, and we know the rest. History remains the same, Japan surrenders after the USSR declares war and the nukes are dropped. The Onmyou Agency becomes Tokyo’s protector, but held at a distance. The Souma disappear, and the Kurahashi become prominent while the Tsuchimikados dwindle.
But Kokage’s husband survived war (got conscripted), Yakou’s baby nephew is alive, and life goes on.
Hishamaru says goodbye to Kokage and Kakugyouki, goes to Seishuku Temple and asks Shinra for help becoming a spirit by abandoning the body.
We see the sequence of how Miyo becomes the matriarch of the Kurahashi family while the secrets between their family and the Souma are kept from her eyes.
Of how Hishamaru saves Yakou’s descendants from spiritual disasters from time to time.
Of how Miyo and her hubby start up the new Onmyou Academy (original building was scrapped and virtually nobody from the Yakou days is left)
Takahiro meets Hishamaru during a quiet moment in the countryside. They discuss Yasuzumi
HIshamaru meets Kokage one last time before she passes away
And Yasuzumi meets Hishamaru right after Harutora is born, because, y’know. She also meets Harutora’s mother.
The discussion for sealing away Hishamaru, which is actually pretty heated because she doesn’t believe in sealing away Harutora’s talent, even if it’s to have a chance to develop himself free of the old prejudices and chains from Yakou’s day, free from the shadow of being seen as Yakou rather than himself. But Hishamaru accepts to be by her master’s side. But Hishamaru has a bizarre reaction when she hears Natsume’s baby cry.
Retrospection of the events of the last 15 volumes. Harutora’s growth. Kon’s thoughts. Talking to Natsume. Reawakening as Hishamaru.
As it turns out, the fruit that Harutora got from Seishuku temple were to be used to stabilize Hishamaru’s existence – but that couldn’t get the job done.
And things don’t get better. Harutora might be Yakou’s reincarnation, might have his memories and all kinds of things from Yakou – but he loves Natsume, not Hishamaru. That talk on April 12th, 1945 which sustained Hishamaru for so long is becoming something that is hurting her heart.
Spoiler for Last words:
Thus, March 3rd of the current year. Hishamaru hears Natsume’s voice.
So what happens in the end? Hishamaru is enveloped by the light in her mind, resonating with Natsume. She’s gone.
Natsume wakes up, almost completely lost. She’s experienced decades of life, countless scenes, birth, death, rebirth, the full gamut – but she still knows who Harutora is. Tears everywhere, she’s jokingly asked what he should call her and is told right back “whatever you like”
“Welcome back Natsume”
And thus, Miyo’s words about Yakou are true.
And so are Touji’s.
What happens from here, remains to be seen in volume 17.
Whether the final showdown is immediately at hand, or months in the future, or what will happen with the Imperial Household Agency and the current Emperor, IDK.
Who will end up on which side, how the world will react to Tairako, what will happen to Ohtomo if Kurahashi had any curses to gift his killer (like what he was afraid of with Amami), what's up with Miyachi, that's for the future.
When you say she resonates with Natsume and, paraphrased, say that Natsume has lived many decades of life and rebirth, does this mean Hishamaru, for lack of a better term, merged with Natsume? Or is it something else?
Btw, thank you very much for your great summaries. You have really good taste in novels!
I remember back when we first found out about how Natsume joined the Tsuchimikado family, I thought it was way too convinient, and that Azano should have just had Yasuzumi and Takahiro switch kids, but after Volume 16 I really see what he was going for.
It's such an awesome twist. All things considered, the gods were probably behind what happened there too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Y Ddraig Goch
Spoiler for Question:
When you say she resonates with Natsume and, paraphrased, say that Natsume has lived many decades of life and rebirth, does this mean Hishamaru, for lack of a better term, merged with Natsume? Or is it something else?
Btw, thank you very much for your great summaries. You have really good taste in novels!
Spoiler for Spoiler:
It's a stable time loop.
Harutora sent Natsume's soul back in time where it was born as Hishamaru, lived out her life, became a shikigami and then went back into Natsume's body, since its actually her original body.
The reason Natsume's soul wouldn't stay fixed in her body is because it was the wrong version of her soul, and it existing in that time after being called back by the Taizan Fukun Ritual was a paradox. It's kinda like using an outdated version of an app.
__________________
Illusion, illusion, this is illusion. It cannot harm me.
2019-05-21, 23:12
Author
