鬼と鬼切り
The Oni and the Oni Slayer


By the time Kei-kun found Uduzki-san, several hours had passed...
On the mountain where the Ohashirasama stands, in a nearby river.

Kei: Did you find the oni you were looking for? Or at least manage to cool off a little?

Uzuki: You...

Kei: Uzuki-san, you want to kill oni, right?

Is he really trying to cheer her up? He's making some really provocative remarks.
He said he'd make it work... will this really be okay?

Uzuki: Today... you aren't running like you always do.

Kei: You're the one who ran first. You think I need to run from someone as weak-spirited as you are now?

A cloud flows in the wind.
The formerly smothered moon allows a peek at its surface.
Uzuki-san's once dark, sunken eyes reflect the moonlight, seeming to regain some of their vitality.
Then, she draws Ito from its sheath.

Uzuki: I had no intention of suffering your banter until now, but I'll ask a question before I slay you.

Uzuki: Why did nii-san help you, going so far as to lie that he killed you?

Uzuki: That alone was to turn his back on his duty, a grave sin. And yet he sheltered you for years. Raised you.

Kei: That's...

Kei: That's what I desired. Akira-san showed me the path.

Kei: As you know, there is an oni living inside me. Because of that oni, I have committed sin.

Uzuki: That's right. You committed sin as an oni. That's why the order was handed down to Senba Akira, Onikiri-Yaku of the Senba Clan Onikiribe.

Kei: And when he came to kill me, Akira-san saw through me, that I had another soul living inside of me, and that it was the oni - Nushi's wakemitama.

Kei: And so he said to me...

Kei: "If you will overcome training harsher than death, maybe we can end this without bloodshed. Choose now - to rest here, or to undergo the training to slay oni."

Uzuki: And so you chose the training.

Kei: That's right... to defeat oni.

The moon shines, clear and white.
Unto that distant object, Kei-kun turns his gaze.
From 380000 kilometers away, it's still so big and bright...

Kei: That's when my days of training began, from sunrise to sunset, on a section of Senba private land.

Kei: Surprisingly, Akira-san actually knew who I was. My mother was one of the Senba people, a distant relation to you.

Uzuki: Then, you're... but...

Kei: Judging by my apparent age, there's only one in that range who left the Senba people, right?

Uzuki: That's right. As far as I know, only one person falls under those conditions.

Uzuki: That person was called "the strongest onikiri of recent history," the pride of the Senba Clan, and it's embarrassment, relinquishing her duty to sympathize with oni that should have been hunted.

Kei: Akira-san's teacher, and a genius who sat at the seat of Onikiri-Yaku in her early teens.

Uzuki: From my perspective, the second Onikiri-Yaku before me.

Uzuki-san's irises are as round as the moon above, her eyes wide in astonishment.

Uzuki: That can't be... that would make you...

Kei: Senba Myouken-ryuu is a style that takes diligent training from childhood. To master it in less than ten years, I probably have her blood to thank.

Standing before the Onikiri-Yaku with Ito in hand, Kei-kun bends calmly at the waist to lift a branch of moderate length.
Its length, about that of Ito.
As if to test its balance, he mows it once through the air before his eyes...

Kei: Well then, let's leave our stories of the past at that, shall we? You ready?

Does he really mean to go at it, after all that?
Kei-kun spreads his legs beyond shoulder width, and drops his waist as if to sit on a cushion of air.
Tensing his back muscles and holding the stick as if bearing it on the shoulder, it probably looks close to the Dragonfly Stance of the Satsuma Jigen Style. (TN: This style is famous for its use in the Bakumatsu Revolution. The attack from this stance is said never to need a second strike. Of course, Kei sees the similarity only because of her love for period drama shows. Kei's stance could actually be different in any number of ways.)
Although, I can only sense Kei-kun's position through the sensation of his movements, so I can't see it myself...

Uzuki: That stance... Hagun!

Kei: That's right. The stance that's said to promise defeat to those who challenge it, victory to those at its back, patterned after the Hagunsei... (TN: One of the stars of the Big Dipper, also known as Alkaid. In Taoist divination, it is said that to march an army in the direction of this star brings certain defeat.)

When Uzuki-san used Tama Kezuri last night, the stance of her Senba Myouken Style was exactly the same.

Kei: Uzuki-san, right now, you're challenging the Hagunsei. You think you have a chance at winning?

Kei: How do you plan to defeat Hagun?

Uzuki: My answer...

After showing a moment of hesitation.

Uzuki: ...is this!

Uzuki-san takes her stance.
Hers is the same as Kei-kun's.

Uzuki: The Hagun Stance is of the seven stances of Senba Myouken-Ryuu, the last. Reserved only for those of our discipline, the stance for our Ougi. Why bequeath it to an oni!?

Kei: There's no need for two Hagun in the sky.

Uzuki: One will fall, without fail.

Kei: You have no chance to win. You couldn't have received the Ougi in full. In other words, I'm the one who has fully inherited the Senba Myouken-Ryuu.

Uzuki: If you mean Tama Kezuri, I have it, as well.

Kei: Attacks have a front and a back, you know. That name is known generally, to keep the real one secret. Only when you add the two together does it become the true Ougi.

Uzuki: What...?

Kei: Senba Myouken-Ryuu gets its name from the North Star, the god of Ursa Major that governs the human lifespan. The sword swung in its name severs spirit, not flesh.

Kei: And "oni" refers to the spirits of the dead - rather, it is the word that denotes "ki."

The blade that severs "ki." The sword of the North Star...

Kei: If you don't believe me, then I'll show you. Senba Myouken-Ryuu, Onikiri...

I've no idea how strong that might be, but it's an attack crowned with the name of his... their... existence itself.
Coming to blows with an ougi like that, can Uzuki-san really win?

Kei: Let's go!!

Kei-kun's leg kicks the earth.
And then I...

信じると約束した ケイくんの邪魔をした
I promised I'd believe in her. Get in Kei-kun's way