Chapter 73

Oni Tale. (モノガタリ., Onigatari.) is the 73rd chapter of the Yozakura Quartet manga.

Summary
Juli clings to Yae as she drops down from the church. Yae tells Juli to be careful and wishes her good luck and Juli asks if she could at least drop her off at Hime’s residence which she denies. Nadeshiko and Noriko pass by in Nadeshiko’s police car offering Juli a lift.

Kyosuke angrily punches away several shikigami attacks as he reiterates his question to Murasaki. Murasaki confesses, stating to have mostly just taken photos of her and have them sent for analysis as he shows a backup image on his tablet. Kyosuke punches away the entire shikigami as Murasaki expresses his delight and restarts them. Iruka launches attacks at Hime, Kotoha, and Kyosuke in quick succession. Akina catches Iruka off guard and uses tuning on her back which fails again. Iruka grabs Akina’s arm and pulls it behind him while complimenting him for being able to sneak up on her. Murasaki agrees, wondering why Akina never chose to become a fighter, offering him a place at the Senate to which Akina tells him to shut up. Iruka rubs Akin’s arm against herself and asks if she can have it.

A katana lands from the sky and Hime finds that her garden had suddenly grown huge. Yae yells in the distance that she want to join as well. Hime unleashes her dragon spear faces of against Iruka who excitedly lets go of Akina, heading towards Hime. Hime states that she will keep Iruka busy while they take care of Murasaki. Muraski fiddles with his tablet, stating he has already gotten on the required data and will proceed to the next experiment. Murasaki states while he could only theorize using simulations previously, the Nanagou will provide the energy he needs to carry out his experiment as the Nanagou begin to emit large quantities of energy. The group tell each other to stay on guard and Hime begins to forget why she is fighting. Muraski explains that Oni are a symbol of fear and that in order to make a better world he must eliminate fear from society. Touka and Kyosuke begin to turn transparent and fluctuate out of existence. Murasaki explains his experiment entails wiping the oni from people’s memories and finding out what will happen to them. Touka and Kyosuke fall to the knees as Murasaki notes the Touka is not disappearing correctly and amplifies the power. Touka begs her brother not to disappear and tells the others not to forget about oni. Akina asks Touka what is an oni. Kyosuke disappears leaving only his glasses behind. Murasaki finds it odd that Touka remained and tries a more focused approach and amplifies its power again. Everyone stutters around in a daze before Murasaki is suddenly attack by steel girders from Kotoha, telling him to get away from Touka, surprising Murasaki. Akina tells Murasaki that he would not want to anger Kyosuke, as Akina begins to pull Kyosuke back into reality. Akina states that he may not know what an oni is but he is unable to forget about Kyosuke. Murasaki receives an error on his tablet as Ao relays thoughts of oni to all the citizens. Murasaki begins to panic and Akina pulls Kyosuke back into existence, stating that people memories will not lose to science. Murasaki reroutes the Nanagou’s power to his shikigami commanding them to attack. Kyosuke holds back their attack before they begin to freeze up. Murasaki begins to panic and Kyosuke feels a surge of power.

Yae watches from the atop her church and explains Murasaki merely tipped the balance within people's hearts setting another tale into motion resulting in the tale of Momotarou. Touka emerges from the beam as the Momotaro to everonelses surprise. At the shrine, Yuhi states the land and culture the people were raised in gave birth to the fairytales each being unique and individual. He states that it is not something Murasaki should tread on lightly and exclaims for him not to mess with the land.

Touka angrily mutters as she walks up to Murasaki slapping him across the face and yelling at him to learn some manners. Kotoha and Ao talk about Touka being scary while she is mad and Akina asks Kyosuke what they should do with Murasaki. Kyosuke turns his attention towards Iruka who is sobbing because there is only one oni now. Iruka leaps towards Kyosuke as Kotoha create several steel girders in her way. Iruka is able to destroy all the girders and prepares for another strike. Enjin prepares for Iruka to fall as Iruka goes in for another attack. Iruka passes Kotoha and Hime and prepares to strike Kyosuke. Akina catches her blade with his bare hands, identifying it as the actually hanyou and tuning it. Enjin redirects his falling towards Murasaki who rejects it with his Onmyōdō exclaiming he does not need it.

Murasaki and the others stare down at each other before Noriko throws a towel onto Murasaki’s head telling him to give up, stating she will not tell his grandfather about it. Murasaki smirks about having already acquired the data to which Noriko states that she intercepted and deleted the data. Nadeshiko tosses Kyosuke a usb containing data about him and his sister, stating that they never handed it over to the Senate since they were so unique and that they have no backups of it. Kyosuke tosses over the usb to Murasaki, telling him to use it to research a way of stopping the blooming of the Nanagou and challenging Murasaki to face him to keep away from Touka. Murasaki begins to sob, not wanting to be humiliated and exclaims that he will study his sister and make Touka his. Touka, Kotoha and Ao are confused by his proposal-like statement. As Murasaki and Noriko leave, Noriko addresses Akina’s earlier statement about people’s memories not losing to science, stating there are no other more romantic than scientists. Noriko thinks to herself that the oni did not disappear because Murasaki himself could not forget about them. Nadeshiko has Iruka sent home in a patrol car and ask Hime to write a report for them later. Hime’s garden returns to normal size and Kotoha suggest they have a sleep over at Hime’s residence. Akina states he will head home, and Kyosuke speaks with Akina about him risking his life to catch Iruka’s blade. Akina states he probably cannot do it again and states he did it for Touka and Kyosuke thanks him.

Kyosuke writes in his diary about him and his sister in the form of a fairy tail, detailing how he wrote about him and his sister and always thought about her to prevent them from disappearing. Touka steps into Kyosuke’s room,wearing nothing but a towel, telling him he can use the bath. Kyosuke defensively locks up his diary again prompting Touka to inquire about what he is hiding. Kyosuke notes that Touka was able to wash Murasaki’s markings off and apologizes for not being more careful and avoiding the situation. Touka smiles, stating everything turned out well and complimenting her brother. Touka looks in the mirror and undoes her towel, noticing a faint marking remaining on her back while Kyosuke is shocked that Touka is undressing herself. Kyosuke flusters as Touka suggest they take a bath together, citing that they have done so up until middle school.

Hime relaxes in the morning as a bird sits on her head. Akina drops by with a bag of grocieries to make breakfast for the others. Kotoha tells Akina good morning as a limousine stops in front of Hime’s house. Iruka steps out of the vehicle telling her butler to drop her off there. As they all eat breakfast, Iruka apologizes for the trouble she caused to which they reply it not to be an issue. Iruka explains that she was only being controlled during the night and in the morning she would return to normal, her family being none the wiser. Ao akins the situation to working a night job, which Kotoha is skeptical of but Iruka agrees. Kotoha concluded that is was the sword which made her dress in such a manner during the fight. Iruka inquires to what Kotoha is talking about. Kotoha shows Iruka a photo she took of her in the swimsuit and Iruka begs her not to spread it around, prompting Kotoha to delete it. Ao turns her attention to the Oni Killer, finding it difficult to believe such a thing exists. Iruka states she needs to talk with them about the sword to which Kotoha states she hopes it is not something bothersome. The sword manifests an eye on it’s handle, telling them to hear Iruka out first, surprising Kotoha and Ao. Iruka continues and gives the sword to Akina, stating it is his to use. Iruka states that the hanyou power of the blade cannot be handled by simply anyone since they may be consumed by its power, which the blade refutes it would do so. Iruka states since her training is not complete she is not worthy to wield it, giving it to Akina which Hime and Kyosuke agree with quoting Iruka’s compliments towards him during their battle. Akina accepts the blade and jokingly comments about using it to crack open watermelons, annoying it. Iruka lies down saddened about departing with the sword, explaining she always had it with her since she was a child, even taking it into the bath. The sword comments on enjoying those moments to which Kotoha calls the sword a pervert. Doujigiri explains that he was also responsible for making Iruka unsheathe it between her legs and Kotoha suggest they break him. As Kotoha tries to break the blade, the Kamaitachi barber arrives to drop off Hime’s memo which she left at her salon. Doujigiri comments it being rare to see a Kamaitachi in the current age which she says the same about the sword. Iruka inquires about the Kamaitachi to which she demonstrates her abilities, using wind to cut a nearby branch using only her hand. Iruka is amazed and tries to do the same to no avail. Iruka asks the be taken under the barber’s apprenticeship which she agrees. Hime asks Iruka if she could be her sparring partner which Iruka agrees. Akina then asks if she could teach him to use the sword as well. Iruka thinks about her schedule, deciding to drop transportation time and asking to move in with Hime, Kotoha and Ao surprised by her outspokenness. Hime agrees with no hesitation surprising Kotoha and Ao even further. Touka offers Iruka to use her room suggesting that she move into her brothers room and share a bed. Kyosuke is flustered and attempts to refute to which Touka states to not be a big deal since they shared a bath the day before. Kotoha and Ao suspiciously look as Kyosuke as he fails to speak.

Characters in order of appearance

 * Yae Shinatsuhiko
 * V Juli F
 * Noriko Shiina
 * Nadeshiko Matsudaira
 * Kyosuke Kishi
 * Murasaki Iyo
 * Touka Kishi
 * Hime Yarizakura
 * Iruka Kujouin
 * Doujigiri Yasutsuna
 * Kotoha Isone
 * Akina Hiizumi
 * Ao Nanami
 * Mariabell
 * Yūhi Shinatsuhiko
 * Enjin Hiizumi
 * Jiiya (First appearance)
 * Kamaitachi Barber