well well well...... an illustration depicting the veeeery last scene of my recent hexorcists fic, which can be found here if you'd like 🏹🦎!!
um you may suspect that the pleasant and peaceful vibe of this scene which i have just mentioned occurs at the end of the fic is NOT what the vibe of the whole fic is. that is correct. it is largely the matoba torment nexus. but it ends like this so no one can get mad at me. cheers!!!!!
Natori: Thank you for showing me the box, Kugi-san.
the Kugi's family member: Are you heading to the Kashima and Iwakura families' households?
Natori: Yeah, I think I’ll go see the other two boxes as well.
the Kugi's family member: Iwakura's seems similar to ours, but Kashima's is…
Natori: Ha?
the Nire's family member: It's nothing...Shall I call you a car?
Natori: Ahh, no. I’d like to see the forest, so I’ll walk. I’ll take my leave then.
the Nire's family member: Natori-san…
the Nire's family member: Actually, there’s something I’d like to speak with you about. It’s something I intended to keep as just my own secret, but…
Natori: Nire-san?
the Nire's family member: Are you investigating 'that' matter, aren’t you?
Natori: 'That' matter?
the Nire's family member: The wing.
Natori: The wing?
the Nire's family member: During the last box-passing ritual, when I dropped the box, there was a terrifying-sounding voice, but even though we were trembling, we all managed to finish passing it around. And just as we were breathing a sigh of relief…
the Nire's family member: …something glinted.
the Nire's family member: I thought I saw something glinting on the tatami mats. We all moved to the waiting room right after that, and we were rushing around cleaning up and such, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.
I hurried back secretly to look for that glinting thing, but it was nowhere to be found.
However, I had a thought: What was glinting on the tatami mats back then was a fragment of the decoration that had fallen off the box—the very box that made that sound when I dropped it.
Could it have been a piece of the beautiful, pale wing embedded among the countless eerie butterflies that were painted there.
the Nire's family member: Do you understand? I mean, if you examine the box that was passed around during the box-passing ritual and find no butterfly with a missing wing then that box is safe!!
Natori: …
the Nire's family member: That said, I couldn’t find the wing fragment that had fallen on the tatami matts. Maybe the wind blew it away…? …Or was it just my imagination after all…?
Natori: Or perhaps someone picked it up.
the Nire's family member: Eh?
Natori: Have you told anyone else about this?
the Nire's family member: …No.
Natori: I appreciate that you told me about this. However, since this relates to the investigation, please keep it confidential for the time being.
Natori: …What? Were you eavesdropping?
the Kugi's family member: Sorry. Did you happen to see our leader?
the Nire's family member: The Matoba clan’s…
Natori: He was in the waiting room a while ago. I don’t know where he went after that. Well then, I’ll be going now.
the Kugi's family member: Nirei-san, why did you do that? Why did you choose Natori as an attendant? I’m pretty sure the last attendant was someone else.
the Nire's family member: Because of that terrible incident that happened last time, I had been looking for someone truly capable to serve as an attendant this time, and just as I was thinking of asking someone, I received a recommendation from a long-established exorcist, and Natori-san visited us, saying he would be happy to assist.
the Kugi's family member: I never imagined the Natori family would offer their services—there was no reason to refuse, was there?
the Nire's family member: No. He is the one who's reviving the clan.
the Kugi's family member: Hoo, you know Natori clan?
the Nire's family member: Well, as a family dealing with something so unusual, I did a lot of research to find someone who could help us.
the Nire's family member: After all, my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father have had a long-standing relationship with them.
Natori: What is it that Kashima-san’s son wants to discuss?
Natsume: What does that note say, Natori-san?
Natori: Um…
Tanuma: And that stone Musuko-san found…Do you know what it is?
Natori: That was under the floorboards…Hm…Truly, what is it? Hm…
Natori: Sensei, do you sense anything?
Sensei: You idiot. It smells like the lavender bath salt in the lavender bath.
Natsume: Natori-san, where's Hiiragi and the others?
Natori: Hiiragi? Ah, have you ever heard of Shiki?
Tanuma: Umm…
Natori: Most exorcists have spirits who work for them under contract. Hiiragi is one of my Shiki.
Natori: This time, I’ve had Hiragi and the others stand by at a distance.
I’m thinking of calling them over after I see how things go.
Natsume: Why?
Natori: Even though they’ve sealed a great disaster within the box, this Yoshizu Village still feels somehow…somehow out of place.
Natsume: Out of place?
Natori: Yeah…It feels stagnant.
Natsume: Streamers?
Natsume: Matoba-san…?
Tanuma: Black flags…? There are lots of them.
Matoba: Took you long enough. You’re heading to Kashima's household, aren’t you? I was waiting to go with you.
All: EH?
Tanuma: Are you going to see the Box too, Matoba-san?
Matoba: Yes. And I’d like to hear what Kashima has to say as well.
Natsume: What are these streamers?
Matoba: Well, shall we get going?
???: Mo-om, I’m back.
Woman: Welcome back.
Boy: Let’s eat breakfast with Grandpa.
Woman: Come on, put your hat on and wash your hands first. Dad, how did the Box-passing ritual go?
the Iwakura's family member: Oh, well…You see…
Woman: Dad, is something wrong with the red bean soup...?
the Iwakura's family member: Eh? No…I need to step out into the garden for a minute.
Woman: Eh?
Boy: Grandpa, hurry up~ Red bean soup! Red bean soup!
Natori (?): Excuse us, we’d like to see the box. Apologies for the sudden visit.
the Kashima's family member: Eh? Oh my! Please, come on in.
Natori: Eh…
Sign: The box is over here ->
the Kashima's family member: In our [Kashima's] household, we keep the Box on display.
All: On display…!??
the Kugi's family member: [Iwakura’s is similar to ours, but Kashima's is…]
Natori: On display…So anyone can see the Box…?
Nyanko-sensei: What if a cat sneaks in and opens it? What do you plan to do then?
Natsume: Hey, Sensei!
[But he’s right…]
[What will happen if someone accidentally opens the real one…]
the Kashima's family member: Of course, we turn away anyone who looks suspicious. Originally, there were requests from the villagers asking to see the box or to make offerings…
wait everyone out in the tags where u were when u found out about the nationwide/global covid shutdown. i was eating a bag of chips on the roof of the remote building where i was leading a retreat and i had to help break the news to 50 high school students who didn’t have their phones
romaincrisis
gummygunk
andulkaphoto
snowghoul
discoholicmusic
jacobvanloon
pixelskylines
