Saito extended his hand to deal with ROW as well, but ROW, which was now a full tanuki, quickly ran away and distanced itself from us. But, in the end, it was still a tanuki. It was cuter than a tiger or snake, even the dog.
“The rest is an easy win.”
“No, not really.”
After keeping its distance, the tanuki slowly stood up on its hind legs. Eh? While I was confused, the tanuki put its paws in front of its chest. Taking a deep breath, the tanuki breathed out a large burst of flame.
“Oh no-”
“Dodge it!!”
Saito and I jumped to the left and right. I was almost charred, but I narrowly escaped. What was left when we got back up? It was a tanuki wearing a robe and sitting cross-legged with its head bowed down.
The ROW suddenly stood up and I couldn’t believe it was the same tanuki as before. Its build was almost human like, slim and tall. Its expression was a mixture of thoughtfulness and ferocity, it was really frightening.
It suddenly stretched out its right hand and a shakujo appeared from nowhere. ROW grabbed the shakujo and held it in front of itself.
“Didn’t I tell you? ARRAYFORMULA turns the function it possesses into a yokai.”
“ROW is a tanuki, so does that mean they’re compatible?”
“That’s right. Let’s go!”
Saito and I stood up and ran towards the ROW.
“UOOOOOH-!!!!”
Saito charged in while shouting. As expected, he tried to stab the ROW in the chest, but the ROW ducked down to avoid it without any change in expression. Just like that, it tripped Saito. Countered, Saito fell as the ROW continued to swing its shakujo.
Gashan-Karakara-
Saito kicked the shakujo as it fell towards him. The shakujo slipped out of ROW’s hand and rolled away. When ROW jumped back to make some distance, it held out its hand and the shakujo gently floated back to it. Saito also got up as he prepared himself again.
Terrible. I have no idea how I can even participate in this battle. ROW, which had been strengthened by ARRAYFORMULA was on par with the old man, Saito’s, abnormal physical ability.
Furthermore, ROW put its left hand, which wasn’t holding the shakujo, under its robes and pulled out something that seemed like a sort of esoteric Buddhist tool with a knife at each end. Holding the ritual tool above its head, it let go of it. The ritual tool floated on its own before rotating slowly. For a moment, ROW glanced at me, its mouth loosened into a grin as it swung its left hand forward.
The ritual tool started to spin rapidly as it flew towards Saito’s feet. Saito casually dodged it, but ROW waved its left hand towards me with an expression that seemed to say it had made up its mind.
“Ouch-!”
I managed to twist my body, but blood was still coming out of my left shoulder, where the ritual tool had scratched me. The ritual tool flew away without losing any momentum before flying back towards me in an arc. Not good. I couldn’t dodge it.
Clang-Clunk-
When I opened my eyes, the ritual tool had fallen to the ground in front of me.
“Don’t just close your eyes.”
Saito took advantage of the moment when ROW was focused on me to sweep out its legs from a low stance. Knocking ROW to the ground, Saito mumbled out loud as he held it down.
“ROW, ROW, ROW, ROW, ROW, ROW, ROW, ROW.”
A fireball emerged from ROW’s mouth and Saito dealt with it.
“ARRAYFORMULA.”
As ROW sank into its cell, the cells around it glowed dimly. We had finally finished dealing with the Nue.
※Reference Material
Eureka July 2016 Issue Special Feature = Japanese Monster Culture『Yokai in Art』Toshinobu Yasumura Page 190 「Tanuki and Kitsune」Katsushika Hokusai