Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume 6 Chapter 4 (section)

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Since Youko-san remembered nothing from the time we came to this house to now, Akifumi-san had to explain the situation from scratch.

“Hey, hey, Ayako. What’s Shichi Baku?”

When I asked that during diner, which we were taking in shifts, Ayako replied,

“That’s an immobility technique.”

“Is that what Lin-san cast on Naru?”

Hearing that, Ayako frowned.

“No way. It isn’t powerful enough to put others to sleep. It only works to the extent of making people a little lethargic and making it difficult to move.”

Ahh. Still, considering it was Ayako, it was amazing that she was useful.

“When you used Shichi Baku, didn’t you cut the nine syllables? You directed it towards Youko-san, but was that okay?”

‘Ah,’ Ayako smiled.

“The nine syllables was originally referred to as the defensive nine syllables and was something used to protect yourself.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“I taught you the fast nine syllables. It’s the one that’s more easily done actually. It’s done during prayer. Ultimately, you use that when you do things such as prayer and training to prevent the intrusion of evil spirits. So originally, it was a method of self-defense. When you use it, don’t you essentially shout and push away from your center with the sword seal? If it’s done in that way, then it can also be used as a kind of attack. When you shout, you’re firing your willpower.”

“I see… Then are things like exorcism ultimately manipulating your willpower somehow?”

“That’s so. In the end, chanting spells and using tools are just rituals for efficiently boosting your willpower.”

“Then isn’t it meaningless?”

Ayako rested her chin in one hand.

“Hmm… perhaps it’s meaningless. It doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t do it if you don’t use them. For example, if someone uses the wrong mantra, there isn’t any issue from making a mistake…. well, that’s what  I think.”

“Ah.”

“There’s a method from China called Qigong. This is Kung Fu that manipulates your willpower. It can be used to cure illness or move objects, and on top of that, it can be used to defeat people that are far away without even touching them.”

“Isn’t that what PK is?”

Ayako looked back at me.

“Ah, is that so? That’s true. Curing illnesses is PK-LT and defeating far away people is PK-ST. Then that means PK is in fact willpower.”

“You don’t know for sure?”

“There are few who know that method. I’m not even familiar with Qigong techniques. People who are said to have mastered it are truly amazing, although I’ve never seen it. They can break rocks without even touching them, bend iron, cure cancer, and they even seem to be able to manipulate human beings. It seems some people can do exorcisms with Qigong.”

“Wow...”

“Surprisingly, Lin can probably do it.”

“Yeah, you can say that again.”

After the pair of us laughed, we looked at each other.

“Naru!”

Could there be a possibility that Naru is a master of Qigong techniques?

“It would be useless to even tie him if he knew Qigong.”

“There would be no point even if he was confined. That is dangerous.”

“Then certainly there’s no choice but to keep him asleep.”

“Is that so? Now I understand.”

I see. One question was solved.

Ayako nodded enthusiastically.

“It’s true. Otherwise, Naru wouldn’t even have to practice religious purification and—”

“Oh!”

I clapped my hands.

“What?”

“There’s a question I’ve had for a long time.”

“Hmmm?”

“A while ago, when we went to investigate at Taka’s school, wasn’t there a situation where Naru and I fell into a hole?”

“There was, there was.”

“There was a manhole, and it was full of rubble that had fallen into the hole. I thought it was strange that the reason we weren’t injured much was because we just so happened to fall somewhere that didn’t have any chunks of concrete.”

“Why?”

“After all, we had fallen from the manhole, right? Even the rubble had fallen from the manhole. I thought it was inevitable that we would get injured since both us and the rumble pretty much fell from the same spot.”

“Is that so? Naturally, rubble should have been strewn about the place you had fallen.”

“Right? There wasn’t any debris there.”

“Someone must have either broke it or moved it out of the way.”

“I know, right?”

“Hehehe.”

We finally caught his tail. Ayako and I continued to laugh giddily for a little while.

“Eh? But wait a minute.”

Ayako abruptly tilted her head in puzzlement.

“But, if he’s able to use Qigong techniques, why wasn’t he able to fight off that fox-like thing when it sprang at him?”

“Hmm? You have a point… ”

Come to think of it, Lin-san had said something. Something like, “Don’t do it!”

“I wonder if there’s a reason he shouldn’t use Qigong techniques… ”

In the end, Ayako and I were greatly perplexed.