Editing Reinousha Minato: Volume 01 Chapter 01 (section)

=Part 4=
Kougen was heading to a deserted building in the back alley of a street. He nudged the trash scattered by crows in the street, even though it was daytime, there were drunken people and others scary-looking people, and women who put on flashy make up to attract attentions.

“He prefers this kind of place after all”

Yuuki watched his surrounding warily, and Kougen said the preference of the person they were going to meet just in time.

“What do you mean as preference? A person who prefers a place like this, less likely to be credible”

“He said this condition has the best merit for him”

Yuuki asked in frustration while kicking empty cans of beer which rolled to his foot.

“This Kujou Minato guy, he doesn’t have any spiritual power, but he is hated since he come to debug our work?”

“I can’t deny that, but”

Kougen stroked his chin with a toubled face.

“But the Shintou and the head temple arrived in the same solution, currently only that man may be able to cast a different solution”

“Why? Despite the jealousy and stuff, as long as he can defeat the spectre, is good enough right?”

“It is not so easy of a situation”

Before long, Kougen arrived at his destination, it was a 7 storeys apartment, multi-tenanted building, with mediocre appearance. There was an illegal looking financing corp, and a worndown clinic lined with dingy sign board, the first storey looked like a café, yet the master was sleeping in the table as a make-do bed.

Nobody would come to this café to eat even by mistake, and no one would want to have anything to do with the doctor either. The suspicious financial corp too, was unthinkable.

“He’s at the top storey”

No human being lives in this building could be a decent one, Yuuki had already started to feel some disappointment.

“Does he really live in a place like this?”

After noticing the yellow poster which said ‘in maintainance’, Yuuki sighed while both of them started to climb the stairs to the 7th floor.

“Certainly, I can’t say that he’s a good human, but it doesn’t necessarllily mean that he’s incompetent”

“Even though his nickname is Zero Ability Person?”

Ahaha, he took the first point, Kougen laughed before turned his face straight.

“His method to counterattack spectres is a little special. Thanks to that, both the Shinto and head temple were in favour to nickname him as Zero Abilith Person”

Both of them climbed the stairs while gasping for their breath.

On the third floor’s stair case landing area, there were empty beer bottle cases rolling around, and a nasty smelling paper bag, on the fourth floor there were a mountain of cardboard documents collapsing around the stairs, as if it were a garbage collection point. It’s likely to be better of jumping out of the windows in emergency.

“It’s impossible to even scare away the spectre if he doesn’t even have any spiritual power. To seal the spectre itself, he must have some trick. It’s obviously cheating"

Choking from the smoke of tobacco, Yuuki was disappointed further when he saw that the interior of the building was dirtier than the outer appearance, he let out a final violent protest to the decision. Kougen who had been looking upward suddenly turned to stare at Yuuki with a serious face.

“That’s a thinking way that unexpectedly different from your style, Yuuki-kun. There’s no one that would be happy if all his hard work is being denied. I’m sure you understand this?”

Yuuki stopped his step in instant. Kougen’s words were also applicable to Yuuki’s circumstances. Only he, is willing to admit Yuuki’s ability and not call him a fool despite Yuuki’s age. He also listen to him properly.

If it was someone whom he believed this much, I guess it’s fine to try to see him once. There might be a possibility that he’s just like me, a person on the wrong side since he was born with power.

Yuuki felt the beatings in his chest quicker. It was not due to climbing up the stairs. By nature, he has a strong feet to climb the stairs.

“Then, is he for real?”

With a higher expectation, he made such question to Kougen. However, Kougen laughed gently in reply.

“You need to decide that for yourself”

“We’ve arrived. It’s here”

There was no writing at the door. The light bulb attached on the ceiling was flashing.

“Kujou-san, I’m coming in”

Kougen opened the door without knocking, he went in as if it was his own place.

“What’s with this smell?”

The room was full of awful smell, Yuuki covered his face by his hand. Kougen was blinking his eyes. A layer thin of white smoke was drifting around the dark room.

“Yo- yo- yoo”

A voice with a bad articulation was heard from the corner of the room. He is a young adult who were limping on the couch.

“Minato-kun! Are you alright?”

Kougen placed his luggage on the table in a hurry, and rushing to embrace the man who fell down.

The man who was called Minato opened his hollow mouth and sloppily spilled some drools. He was in a dirty black T-shirt with shabby jean. He couldn’t even be seen as a decent guy, even at best, Yuuki’s face was vividly disappointed after all his expectations were dashed.

“What happen? What exactly had happened?”

When Kougen grabbed the nape of his neck, Minato smiled back scruffily, and showed something like a leave in his hand.

“Here, this… I was experimenting”

Minato stood up and turned over the table unsteadily. He didn’t even care that Kougen’s bag and its contents were scattered to the floor, he fell down while staggering after attempting to stand on it.

“Experiment?”

Kougen opened a window to replace the air in the room. The strange smelled smoke flows outside.

“I tried to grow it on the rooftop. But it didn’t grow properly, but I was trying to dry it up and smoke them”

The supposedly homemade cigar in Minato’s hand were spreading a smoke smell into the room. Kougen sighed deeply and held his head.

“Did you just say that you bring your friends to do this on the rooftop?”

“who knows”

“It’s prohibited to plant this in Japan”

“Probably”

“So it’s marijuana”

“He asked an exorcist to smoke marijuana , how funny”

Minato laughed to his dry puns, but quickly holding his mouth while his face turning blue. He rushed to the bathroom in a hurry (to barf). For a while only such distastefull sounds were heard. Yuuki was staring coldly to Kougen, while Kougen pretended not to notice him. When Minato came out of the toilet after a while, he drew water from the washroom to wash his head and face.

“Ah, what a bad feeling”

While wiping his wet head, he came back to the room, where he showed a reaction that he noticed Kougen and Yuuki for the first time.

“Kougen? Why are you here? Did something happen?”

“Before that, I’m going to dispose of this”

Kougen dumped the dried leaves in the sink of the washroom.

“Ah, what am I going to do. I’ve promised the moneylender downstairs, you know”

“I don’t care about such rotten moneylender”

“Well, I don’t care. So, keep quiet about this”

Minato frankly backed down, he torned the leaves of ornamental plants on the corner of the room which was about to wither, and wrapped it in newspaper.

“so, why are you here?”

After he finished wraping up the torn leaves with the newspaper, Minato finally turned his attention toward Kougen.

“I want to ask a favour from you…”

“If it’s for covering up the blunder of Shinto and the grove of hito-shirazu, I’m going to reject your request. Do you think I’m a baby sitter? If you want a babysitter, look for other people”

He pointed to the door, between them, there was a wornout sofa with its content scattered out.

“I’m glad to meet you after such a long time. The way back is ther. Sayonara”

Yuuki moved toward the door before Kougen.

“Kougen-san, let’s go back. This kind of criminal-looking man is not worth it”

Yuuki stood up and pressed him, yet Kougen asked Minato back.

“Wait a minute. Minato-kun, how do you know about hito-shirazu’s incident?”

“I’m a youkai[14]  who can read mind. I can read people’s mind”

Yuuki clicked his tongue to Minato’s grin.

“I just happen to read the incident from the news. How am I going to survive if I can’t even conclude as much”

“Hey, the brat over there. You can doubt me, but listen to someone’s word properly. I’m not lying. I can read mind”

Kougen re-attemp the conversation, he sat on the sofa which had a different colour than the one which was torn on the opposite direction. However, before he even sat down, Minato opened his mouth again.

“The seal was savely transferred to a miko, huh. I don’t hate a schoolgirl, but I don’t feely any meaning behind saving a 16 years old girl who easily throw away her life for this”

Suddenly straight to the point, this has left Kougen speechless.

“I don’t want to do that for Shinto even if I’m paid. If Risako want to clean up this mess, she should have meet me personally. Why would she need to do this in such a roundabout way”

“How do you know?”

For him to know this far, while the only person within the temple who should know about Risako’s request was Kougen’s alone. Minato could not possibly know this since yesterday. However, Minato grinned without answering Kougen, while peering naturally at Kougen’s face.

“Wait a minute. You really can see, don’t you?”

Kougen tried to cover up about the matter, Minato began to talk with his finger placed on his forehead.

“hmm, what is this about? So that miko-san will sanctify herself from the uncleanness for 5 days, before she heads to death? What a coincidence. I just heard that the life span of the moneylender old man downstair is also about a week, due to cancer.”

Yuuki who had doubted Minato, took interest when Minato managed to say about the details of the problem out of no where, and sat down next to Kougen. Both of them sat at a large sofa, from which a large number of dust was flying around.

“Risako is even more suspicious. Why don’t she come to me directly, but asking you to come?  Is this an illicit love affair between Sou and Fuji? She could have more lively sex with me if she wanted though. Or is she the type to get heated up after failure?”

“She’s a friend”

Kougen dutifully answered, Minato once again, looked in his direction with a teasing face.

“Yes, of course, you guys are not doing it. What an honest person. However, Kougen. As a man, you should have a little vanity. Aside from her personality, Risako’s face and body is top tier”

“Minato-kun. Please stop joking around and tell me. Did Risako-san come here?”

Kougen came up with several possibilities. Even if Risako couldn’t usually stomach him, she might have come here earlier. There shouldn’t be such a possibility, but there was no other possible source of information leak.

However, Minato ignored Kougen, and suddenly without any apparent reason, turned his attention to Yuuki.

“Hey, Akabane Yuuki. Your grandma passed away 5 years ago from acute renal failure right? What did the head temple do that time? He only came to the funeral right? Did he become as desperate as he is now?”

Yuuki was reasonably surprised when his name was called upon. Moreover, Minato even guessed his grandma’s cause of death that he even had forgotten himself.

“Whom did you hear that from!“

“I just read your mind. Otherwise, do you think that your grandma’s cause of death is so popular?”

Facing Yuuki who had gone pale, Minato sat back on the sofa while raising his leg with his bossy face.

“About Risako’s niece, it’s not my business you see. Even Risako is turning away from her religion when her relative’s life is threatened. What a cheap devotion. That’s why, as a punishment, her niece is going to die”

“Did you seriously mean that?”

“Die unreasonably? So what. Nowadays, there are lots of people who is in the same circumstances everyday. Most of deaths are reasonable. If there really is a cause worthy of death, it would be happiness”

“Even though you know Saya-chan?”

“I only saw her Shichigosan[15]  pictures once, you know? I’m not a lolicon. While I’m acquinted with the moneylender oldman for a long time, we never went to visit any suspicious place. Despite being in that business, he’s surprisingly loyal.”

Yuuki who had been silent all this time, stood up in impatience. Regardless of the subject of the talk, whether his family or others, for Yuuki, Minato’s rudeness already far crossing the line.

“You’re the worst! Just for rejecting the request, it doesn’t mean that you can say such a bad thing!”

“What? I thought you’d be agree with me”

“There’s no way!”

“Really? Then, are you here to help someone? You aren’t, are you?”

Minato treated Yuuki who stood up while looking for his charm lightly; he even shoved a finger to Yuuki’s nose.


“You want to resolve this incident so that you can be admired by everyone. With solving such a big case, even those old man would not dare to say anything else about you. This incident is perfect for that purpose. So much for a good will. That kind of person, does he has the right to preach me?  Don’t be nosy, you damn brat”

“Minato-kun, that’s too much”

Kougen entered between them, as he couldn’t bear to watch further.

Hmph, Minato only let away such sound from his nose.

“Minato”

Kougen, once again, slowly called him with a serious look.

“Please listen to me”

Kougen’s tone turned unusually strong.

Even Minato who raised his feet at the table, couldn’t help but to direct his eyes to him.

Among the noise of the city, a sirens of ambulance rang somewhere.

“She’s not going to die instantly. We still have 5 days. Is it foolish of me to think that we can do something to that creature before that time limit? Is it just my wishful thought that you’d lend your strength?”

“… the result, how if you cannot seal that creature before five days?”
Kougen seemed to be at lost of words, in the face of the concise response of Minato.

“I’m fine with your cheesy humanism, but you must realise the other end of your cup. You do know that if you fail, the cost wouldn’t be a single miko, don’t you?”

Minato said so quietly. His playful atmosphere had flown somewhere, and he decided to face Kougen with serious answers.

Silence descended.

As the night fall, the neon sign outside were reflected inside, as there was no curtain at the window.

The noisy sound of the city was getting louder, yet the siren couldn’t be heard anymore, instead, there was the sound of barks and noisy outdoor units.

The silence broke before long.

“The request is to help Yamagami Saya, and seal the creature, am I right?”

Kougen stared at Minato in shock.

“Are you going to take it?”

He sounded genuinely happy, Minato wore a disinterested face once more, before getting back to his sofa.

“For the leaders of both Fuji and Sou to seek for my help, it’s not everyday occurrence. I can’t help but to take it. Don’t you think so?”

Kougen smiled happily to the news, while Minato was slightly laughing. Only Yuuki was keeping his natural face expressionless.

“Suit yourself. I’m going out”

“Is he scared of me?”

“There’s no way. He hates you”

“Is it? I am interested in him since I heard that he’s the genius boy from Sou Sect. I bet it’s only a manufactured topic”

“Wha!! Come and say that again!”

“Yuuki-kun’s power is real. I can guarantee you this”

“Then, you can be a little useful”
Minato, who saw that Yuuki was furious, stood up properly from the sofa.

“Let’s negotiate. Tell this to RIsako. Since I got nothing from this job. Just the thought of doing this with her is already too scary”

“This is Fuji’s request. I’m going off”

“Since you guys are the one who come and ask for help. At least, you should do as I say. I hope this can be settled soon. Let’s go, damn brat”

Minato grasped and continued to drag Yuuki’s nape, while heading to the door and said to Kougen.

“I’m going to meet a pretty miko. Aren’t you jealous? If you are, let’s switch. By the way, take care of my answering machine. If the money lender downstair call, record it. One more thing, the thing that you brought is in the toilet, you can have it back. She might vomit a little, but don’t mind it”

Kougen who realized all this, dropped his shoulder as if he was tired.

“The earlier pretend was due to this?”

“Of course. Do you actually think that I’m a youkai? I was just playing with your cheap narcissism”

After saying that, Minato closed the door with a bang.