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While the Keikain main estate had fallen into complete silence, the Keikain branch family Fukuju style's compound remained brightly lit.
Inside a council hall similar to the main family's, the heads of the Big Three branch families had gathered—Fukuju style, Manaka style, and Yasojū style.
Specifically, these were Akifusa Keikain and Masatsugu Keikain who'd appeared in the main family's council hall that evening, plus a short, hooded youth in red-and-white hunting robes.
"Pato, Akifusa—we're now the only three remaining Keikain branch families. I don't need to spell out the crisis we're facing."
Masatsugu Keikain, still dressed like some distinguished nobleman, swept his gaze across the hooded youth and white-haired young man seated with him before pushing up his glasses.
"Bokue Keikain's position is crystal clear—he won't help us defend our seals, nor will he ask Lady Yasaka for aid on our behalf. But with Hagoromo-Gitsune having reclaimed most of her power, blocking her with just our own strength is essentially impossible. So my suggestion is that tomorrow, we jointly petition the family head, informing him of the branch families' critical importance to change Acting Head Bokue's decision from tonight's meeting."
Masatsugu's words carried considerable confidence.
From a theoretical standpoint, what he said wasn't wrong at all. For the Keikain main family, the branch families' existence was indeed critically important—arguably, the branches' survival directly related to the main family's very existence.
After all, ever since four hundred years ago, the Keikain main family had suffered chronic weakness due to Hagoromo-Gitsune's curse. Their descendants either died young or were born useless, forcing them to select elite talent from the branch families to absorb into the main family.
This was how the Keikain family had maintained its position as Japan's premier exorcist clan throughout those four centuries.
But the fox's curse still existed. Without the branch families, the main family would have no future source of fresh blood to absorb.
Simply put, within the Keikain family, the main and branch families were actually one entity. If the branches perished, so would the main family.
"Well, you say that, but I still disagree."
The short, hooded youth—Pato Keikain—narrowed his eyes, his voice coming out high and fox-like.
"Not because I'm not on your side, Masatsugu, but because even if we do that, it won't matter."
"...What?"
"Didn't you see clearly enough in the council hall this evening? Bokue Keikain doesn't give a damn whether we live or die. Plus, the old family head is deliberately ceding power to him—otherwise, he wouldn't have just gotten up and left the moment Bokue showed up, even before the meeting started."
Pato snorted coldly.
"And Masatsugu, you can't possibly be naive enough to actually believe Bokue won't help us because he needs to defend the main estate, right? Have you forgotten what happened ten years ago?"
"...I know."
The moment ten years ago was mentioned, Masatsugu's expression immediately darkened.
As the current head of the Keikain Fukuju branch family, he naturally knew everything about ten years ago.
His father had already mentioned the plan to him before departing, so Masatsugu was indeed privy to that operation—and if it had succeeded, he would have been a direct beneficiary.
Then the plan failed.
All three branch family heads died, and they'd even lost an elder from the Hero Village.
Their official explanation to the main family at the time was that the evil spirit sealed by the demon sword Brynhildr had suddenly erupted, and the three branch heads plus the elder had given their lives to seal it once more.
But in reality, whether for Masatsugu himself or for Akifusa and Pato, they all knew perfectly well that those were two separate incidents.
Their fathers had all been killed on the spot by Bokue Keikain in his fury after realizing he'd been betrayed. Not even their remains had been left behind.
The following ten-year gap had let them gradually forget about this, and when Bokue returned early this summer, he hadn't brought it up again.
This had made Masatsugu think the matter had been let go.
But apparently not. Bokue undoubtedly still remembered what happened back then, and he'd clearly planned to use this Hagoromo-Gitsune incident to exact his revenge on them!
"So that means it's impossible..."
Masatsugu bit down slightly.
It wasn't that he hadn't considered handling this with his own power, but obviously he couldn't.
Forget everything else—back in the day, the Keikain family's thirteenth-generation head, Hidemoto Keikain, had been hailed as a genius, yet even he'd only managed to seal Hagoromo-Gitsune by taking advantage of her weakened state.
And him, Masatsugu Keikain? He was just an incompetent who couldn't even enter the main family.
With his level of talent, what could he possibly use to oppose Hagoromo-Gitsune?
"Which means there's only one final option left."
Just as the hall's atmosphere sank into silence, the white-haired young man suddenly stood up.
"Hagoromo-Gitsune's assault is fierce, and we can only rely on ourselves. So my proposal is that our three families combine forces to defend the third seal here at Rokuon-ji before tomorrow night arrives."
"Akifusa..."
Masatsugu's eyes widened in shock.
He'd never expected Akifusa would propose something like this.
While they were called the Big Three among the branch families, at the end of the day they weren't absolutely unified in their interests.
Yet at this critical juncture, Akifusa was willing to help him.
"Don't misunderstand. This is our only option."
Akifusa glanced at him before turning toward the hooded youth.
"Hagoromo-Gitsune's assault is fierce. We have no time to react or prepare. With the main family unwilling to act, we can only rely on ourselves. And if any one of our three families gets destroyed, the remaining two will just face even greater pressure."
"I agree with that."
At this point, Pato also spoke up.
"Let's do it. We'll bet on Hagoromo-Gitsune attacking Rokuon-ji tomorrow. If we're right, with our three families working together, we might be able to take down Hagoromo-Gitsune. Then we can petition to remove Bokue Keikain from his acting head position, and that way we'll have another chance to enter—"
Whoosh—
Before he could finish, a cool evening breeze suddenly blew through the council hall.
Pato froze.
He distinctly remembered all the doors and windows had been sealed before the meeting started. Where was this wind coming from?
The next second, a girl's voice tinged with a Kyoto accent echoed through the hall.
"Even at a time like this, you're still scheming about competing for spots in the main family. The Keikain family really is quite entertaining."
What...?!
All three heads snapped around toward the voice, only to see that a fourth person had appeared in the hall that should have contained only them.
It was a girl who looked around high school age, wearing a black sailor uniform, her complexion pale to the point of near-translucence.
She stood quietly at the entrance, one hand brushing aside a strand of hair falling past her temple. Behind her, nine white fox tails swayed gently in the air without any attempt at concealment.
"You—you're... Hagoromo-Gitsune?!"
Akifusa realized something was wrong and reacted first, standing to reach for his talisman and summon his shikigami.
But he was still a step too slow.
In an instant, several white fox tails shot across the hall, transforming into sharp spears that pierced through all three men's chests, hoisting them high into the air.
Hearts destroyed. Instant death.
Scalding blood trickled slowly down the fox tails. Hagoromo-Gitsune looked up at the three men's miserable death throes above with a casual smile.
"Who would've thought the Keikain family had that kind of history with the Hero Village? How very interesting."
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