In the end, Kobe Hikaru failed.
After three days of attempts, he still could not sense that so-called “clear energy.”
It was not a matter of talent.
Kikyo herself had said that his soul was complete and his will was sturdy, giving him a better foundation than most human practitioners.
The problem was this body.
An oni samurai’s shell naturally rejected spiritual power.
Every time Hikaru tried to sense the faint specks of light drifting between heaven and earth, the demonic energy inside him would instinctively grow restless.
It was like pouring water into a pan of hot oil.
Clear energy and turbid energy clashed, scrambling that pitiful bit of perception he managed to gather into a complete mess.
“Still no good today?”
Hikaru opened his eyes and looked at Kikyo in front of him.
The shrine maiden withdrew the hand she had placed against his back and shook her head.
“Your demonic energy is too dense,” she said.
“Unless you find a way to suppress it, sensing clear energy will be very difficult.”
“Is there a way?”
“Yes.”
Kikyo paused.
“If I kill you, your demonic energy will naturally disappear.”
“…”
Hikaru fell silent for two seconds.
“You’re joking, right?”
Kikyo did not answer.
She only turned and walked toward the shrine hall.
But Hikaru somehow felt that the corner of her mouth had lifted slightly.
Forget it.
If he could not learn it, then he could not learn it.
He had never expected to master spiritual power in just a few days anyway.
Even human spellcasters needed years of bitter training for that kind of thing, and he was a yokai trying to speedrun it?
He was thinking too much.
That said—
Since he could not learn spiritual power, he could not just sit around doing nothing either.
The Shikon Jewel’s affection still needed to be raised.
Hikaru stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.
He no longer wore that battered armor.
It was too conspicuous.
Although the villagers had barely accepted his existence because of Kikyo, they still took detours whenever they saw that bloodstained armor.
Right now, he was wearing a set of ordinary gray hemp clothes given to him by a kind old woman in the village.
She had said they were her late husband’s belongings.
Hikaru had originally wanted to refuse, but the old woman said they were just sitting there anyway, so someone who needed them might as well wear them.
So he accepted.
The clothes were a little loose on him, but at least they were much more comfortable than that broken armor.
Even though the armor was also formed from his demonic energy, precisely because of that, putting it away reduced his burden quite a bit.
The price was lower defense, but at least here in the village, beside Kikyo, there was not much to worry about.
As for the crimson oni mask, it was still tucked inside the cloth pouch at his waist.
He was not wearing it.
The villagers had already seen his face anyway, so there was no point putting it back on.
Besides, the few times he had worn it earlier, Kaede had shouted at him to take it off every time, saying things like “Onii-san looks better without the mask.”
At least the little girl’s sense of beauty was perfectly normal.
Hikaru walked down the stone steps and headed toward the eastern side of the village.
There was a small grove there, a place he had recently started visiting often.
Not for training, but for—
“Hello.
How has your day been?”
Hikaru stood in front of an old locust tree and spoke to the trunk.
If someone else saw this scene, they would probably think he was insane.
A yokai talking to a tree by himself?
But Hikaru did not care.
Because the prompt on the system panel was very clear.
[Old Locust Tree: Current Affection: 3 (Budding).]
[It has conveyed a vague message to you: “Your voice is gentle.
I like listening to you speak.”]
Yes.
He was farming the tree’s affection.
The Shikon Jewel’s affection rose too slowly, and relying only on purification through killing demons had limited efficiency.
But the system had said before that conversation and companionship could also raise affection.
And as long as he could see or perceive a nonliving target, it could be “conquered.”
So Hikaru decided to work both sides. Get faster updates on g.com.
He would try something he had never been able to attempt before, back when he had been wandering everywhere with no fixed place to stay.
On one hand, he would continue killing yokai and raising the Shikon Jewel’s Naohi affection.
On the other, he would build relationships with all kinds of nonliving things in the village.
This old locust tree was one of his targets.
According to the villagers, this tree had already lived for more than two hundred years and was the oldest thing in the village.
A two-hundred-year-old tree might already possess a trace of spirituality.
If he could max out its affection, perhaps he could obtain some kind of special ability.
For example… controlling trees?
Or… photosynthesis?
Forget the latter.
That seemed useless.
If it was the former, though, he could try to integrate it and make it his Sixth Change.
But realistically, the odds were not high.
Unless it was some kind of sacred tree.
This was a pattern Hikaru had already figured out.
The more extraordinary an object was, the stronger the “talent” it could provide.
Ordinary objects generally did not do much.
Better than nothing, but not by much.
Otherwise, he would not still be stuck at only Five Changes.
Choosing something truly useful was not easy.
“The weather is nice today.
The sun feels warm,” Hikaru continued speaking to the tree in a calm tone.
“Your leaves are growing very lush.
You look like you’re in good condition.”
“It rained a little yesterday.
You should have had plenty to drink, right?”
[Old Locust Tree: Affection +1.]
[Current Affection: 4.]
It rose.
Hikaru nodded in satisfaction, then turned and headed toward his next target.
…
On the stone steps of the shrine, Kikyo stood beneath the torii and watched the gray-clothed figure in the distance.
She saw Kobe Hikaru walk up to the old locust tree and speak to its trunk for quite a while.
Then he walked over to a large stone and continued talking.
After that came a well.
An abandoned thatched hut.
A hoe someone had left by the roadside.
He stopped in front of each object and said a few words to it seriously.
Sometimes it was a greeting.
Sometimes it was casual conversation.
Sometimes, it was even… gratitude.
“You’ve guarded this place for so many years.
Thank you for your hard work.”
She heard him say that to the large stone.
“…”
Kikyo did not know what expression she should make.
Was there something wrong with this yokai’s head?
He was talking to a stone.
Could a stone understand him?
But she also had to admit that when Hikaru did these things, his expression was very calm.
One could even call it… gentle.
There was no perfunctoriness and no affectation.
It was as if he really was communicating with those things.
As if those things could truly understand his words.
It was… unbelievable.
Was there really a yokai in this world who did not love slaughter and bloodshed, but instead cherished all things?
In that sense, he truly seemed more human than most people in the world.
“Onee-sama, what are you looking at?”
Kaede’s voice came from behind her.
Kikyo withdrew her gaze and did not answer.
But Kaede had already followed her line of sight.
“Ah, it’s the pretty onii-san!”
The little girl’s eyes lit up.
“What is he doing?
“…”
Kikyo still said nothing.
“That’s so weird.”
Kaede tilted her head.
“Did onii-san go silly?”
“No.”
Kikyo finally spoke.
“He is just…”
She paused, as if searching for the right word.
In the end, she could only give up and say, “He is just a little strange.”
“Strange?”
“Mm.”
Kikyo looked at the distant figure nodding at the hoe, and the corner of her mouth moved slightly.
“A strange yokai.”
But…
Not unpleasant.
She silently added that line in her heart.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this that he could receive the Shikon Jewel’s Naohi goodwill.
The young shrine maiden in white kosode and red hakama then withdrew her gaze and silently tightened her hold on the Shikon Jewel she carried.
Naohi.
Magatsuhi.
There were still three days.
The night of the full moon, when yin energy would overflow.
…
Evening.
Hikaru returned to the guest house.
He glanced at the system panel.
Today’s gains were fairly decent.
[Old Locust Tree: Affection 4.]
[Large Stone: Affection 2.]
[Well: Affection 3.]
[Abandoned Thatched Hut: Affection 1.]
[Hoe: Affection 1.]
[Shikon Jewel: Naohi Current Affection 6 (Budding).]
Not bad.
Hikaru was just about to lie down and rest when the system panel suddenly popped up with a new prompt.
[Shikon Jewel: Naohi has conveyed a message to you.]
[“Three days from now, when the full moon reaches the center of the sky, Magatsuhi will reach its peak.”]
[“At that time, evil power and demonic energy will run wild, drawing in every yokai within several hundred ri.”]
(Note: 1 ri = 0.5 km)
[“The shrine maiden chosen by the gods will perform the sealing alone.”]
[“She has no intention of telling anyone.”]
Hikaru looked at the prompt, and his brows furrowed.
Perform the sealing alone?
Every yokai within several hundred ri would be drawn here?
And she was doing it by herself?
He stood up and walked to the window.
Through the gap in the wooden frame, he could see the shrine.
The vermilion torii cast a long shadow beneath the setting sun.
That figure in white kosode and red hakama stood before the shrine hall with her back to him.
Very straight.
Very resilient.
Cold and clear like the moon, upright and unyielding like winter plum blossoms.
Yet she also seemed terribly lonely.
Blooming alone.
Hikaru watched for a while without speaking.
He did not go ask Kikyo what the information from Naohi meant, because he could not explain how he knew.
And because—
Since she did not want to say it, he would not ask.
In any case, three days from now—
He would still be here.
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