Containment (2)

"Urabe? She descended from that tortoise shell reading clan?," Arahabaki muttered in displeasure while Hage bit his lips, typing away at the laptop. 

"Deer bone readers. Tortoise shell reading was not that common," I interjected. 

The Urabe were renowned for divining from deer scapulars or boar before they took up burning turtle shells to examine the cracks for prophecies. 

That was the archaic way their gods would give signs. Not always, since some passing yōkai could play a trick on them. In my younger days, that was what both big brother and I did for fun, until father stopped us.

It got my big useless brother, one or two mortal girls. With his type of charm, that was the only means for him to attract any mortal. I wondered if he was even my father's son.

"Deer bones, tortoise shell, boar bones… whatever those bones the silly humans could get their hands on then," he quipped.

That did not detract from the fact that some entity was after the diviners' lineage. Nor did it help that the entity within the man escaped from Arahabaki during the scuffle. 

We were either fortunate or cursed. Sometimes, possessed humans may hold bits and pieces of things they had done during the possession. That man's memories were wiped clean like bleach on stains.

"Well, someone has been trying to track the bone and shell readers' descendants," Hage interrupted us. "There's an entire folder holding extensive research on their family genealogy. From the time of the Jingikan, the Office of Shinto Worship, was established."

"Anything about the Nakatomi clan?" I asked. 

The Urabe and the Nakatomi clans were both leaders in Shinto and divination in the early Heian period, around the 700s.

"Heh, the Nakatomi are the forbearers of the Fujiwara clan. Just look for the imperial family now. Bound to have some Nakatomi blood in them," Hage chuckled.

"Fujiwara clan is a Nakatomi clan branch," Arahabaki reminded us.

Who could forget the good old Fujiwara clan? During the Heian period, they held considerable influence and power over the court by marrying off their daughters to the line of the Emperors, Princes, and other aristocratic families for generations.

Hage shrugged and said, "Still has Nakatomi in their blood."

"Did you say anything about that cult to the godly side? I am sure Ame-no-Koyane would be concerned since he is an old ujigami, patron god of the Urabe clan." I asked Arahabaki. 

Arahabaki coughed and replied, "Do I look very close to Ame-no-Koyane? Sure, we exchange tips on how to be ujigami, patron gods of our clans. Never mind if one of his precious charges, the Fujiwara clan, supported plans to wipe out my people. Sure, we are great buddies, have coffee dates every day."

"Sarcasm noted," I sighed. 

"You might get along with Ame-no-Futodama though," Hagi rubbed his chin in deep thought. "Inbe clan was in conflict with the Fujiwara clan. He is the Inbe ujigami."

"The Satomi clan were sponsors of the Awa shrine where Ame-no-Futodama is enshrined. They are of the Seiwa Genji line, you know, princely descent. The worst and bloodiest feuds may be within their noble relatives but with outsiders, they are very united on the front." 

"She has some ancestral spiritual protection. Just weakened. Enough with the history lessons unless you want a job in my homework company with those hikikomori."

"How much can I earn?" Arahabaki sidled up close to me, drawing away from the principal topic and said, "I don't mind more money for my gaming."

"How much do you spend on it now?" I folded my arms. "Eve online bundles are rather cheap."

"Well, that's not the only game I play. Maybe about 150,000 yen per month?" 

"Shrine donations *COUGH*," Hage grabbed his coffee and drank it with a gulp. 

"Covid-19 pandemic. Unimportant private shrines like mine collect little money now. Working as a part time junior Shinto priest is almost at a voluntary stage," Arahabaki grumbled. 

No wonder he was so keen to work with me. The pandemic had driven up numbers of unemployment. I saw foreclosures everywhere, even in proud traditional stores which went back centuries. The increasing human despair and desperation also signalled prime recruitment time for cults. 

Better the gods lead the battle than us bottom feeding yōkai.

"Should we inform the gods of the threats? I mean, you are a god too," I replied. 

Arahabaki shook his head. "Threat to yōkai. Not ours. Most don't care about your world, unless… they find their believers decreasing in exponential numbers. And that's not the case with that cult's book."

He walked over to Hage's table and took the cult's book. Opening to the main content page, he pointed to the part about equipment. Then he continued flipping to the pages until the section came up. 

"Equipment purchase. Ofuda, omamori, hamaya, hamayumi, blessed salt from certain shrines like Shiogama. Well, all these have to be bought from Shinto shrines. It's free advertising to some," Arahabaki said. 

He then added, "Why would any god come down on them UNTIL this cult competes with them by making arrows like the hamaya and the bows like the hamayumi?"

"The girl? Doesn't her ujigami care?"

"She isn't a full time Miko who is in dedicated service to the gods. I can tell. Her ancestral spiritual orbs are what we call, leftovers. A symbol that the previous generation and the ones before have forsaken the old ways of honouring their ancestors," Arahabaki replied.

Then he paused with his eyes gazing at the empty wall. A frown appeared on his face, almost recalling something. 

"I might ask the Mishakuji. There's something I remember of a certain sacrifice," he muttered in hesitation. 

"You too had human sacrifices," I pointed out. 

"Hahahahaha. I never asked for human sacrifices. I tried telling those mortal idiots via the oracles to stop it, and they didn't. So, from older adults, those retards switched to young virgins. Hahahaha… They assumed that the older ones were too… filthy for me," he guffawed. 

"The momonofu and your assassination jobs?" I asked with great curiosity.

Was it my misunderstanding that he needed human spirits to feed the momonofu, his spirit warriors?

"Different. My momonofu feeds on negative human energy. It peaks when a human faces death. Then I capture those nasty spirits departing the human body before Death arrives. Old guy doesn't give two shits if I do that. Saves him the trouble. He reports to Izanami-no-Mikoto and, Takamagahara doesn't care about her complaints when it is only a few I am taking. Same for the girl, she is only one. Not a thousand."

My eyes opened wide. 

"Those departed spirits become your momonofu?"

Arahabaki chuckled and winked as Hage opened his mouth agape. 

"Wait, won't human sacrifices increase your momonofu? Aren't you contradicting yourself?"

"Momonofu can't be innocent spirits. They have to be once humans who have done a lot of misdeeds. The more callous, the better. Their malevolence is what I want. You don't recruit soldiers who can't even kill an animal. Only in war, then my momonofu collection increases."

Fuck. No wonder the gods feared him when he came out to war. With all those deaths on the battlefield, he could overrun Takamagahara with momonofu. That made it almost impossible for them to contain a threat like this.

And no wonder he liked to take on my assassination jobs. Most of the human targets were not pleasant people. Come to think of it now, the past kills of his were domestic abusers, swindlers and exploiters of human misery. 

"I am not like the Mishakuji. Different gods, unique abilities, different attributes. Well, I don't mind pretty virgin maidens serving my shrines. They like pretty boys. I always appreciated eye candy than some old boring chanting wrinkled dude in the shrines."