Not a detective

Page 231

As Nue's chopping palm brushed past his temple, Asakawa Riku suddenly smiled.

He opened his arms wide to meet the storm of attacks, his chest wide open.

"Come on, take a look for yourself."

"it is good……!"

Nue showed no mercy whatsoever, instinctively unleashing its ferocious killing move, "Black Tiger Claws at the Heart," towards the Qi Sea.

However, the fist deviated the moment it touched the skin, and Nue's knuckles grazed Asakawa Riku's ribs.

The surroundings suddenly darkened for a moment, and the rubble formation seemed to groan in unison. The next second, he veered off course at an incredible speed. Nue found that his fist was being held tightly by Asakawa Riku, who wouldn't let go.

He took the punch head-on, and in doing so, closed the distance between them.

Asakawa Riku's forehead pressed against Nue's brow, and their breaths inexplicably resonated:

In that instant, Nue seemed to see many things—

In spring, he met Chizuko and rescued several hostages in a dark spider cave.

Summer, the time spent with Yuki, who was seriously ill, on the snow-capped mountain in my dreams.

In autumn, Chizuko and I explored the school's ghost stories one by one at night.

In winter, standing in the Dragon Palace Research Institute, facing a ferocious demon, with the moon behind me that I must protect, I cannot retreat a single step.

In spring, sitting in a gentian blue sports car, I reunite with Kiri Aoi as the two head to the crime scene.

In summer, on an isolated island surrounded by the sea, it seems that only Xingyu and I remain, a redemption at the end of time.

In autumn, accompany Mo Yue through all the challenges, stand on the school's rooftop, rush into the final gamble, and save Xing Yu.

Winter, apocalyptic Tokyo, an atmosphere of despair, the goddess Chizuko descended from heaven, a true contract.

...

"After seeing all this, do you still think I haven't done anything?"

His calm yet determined gaze fixed on the other person, the two of them almost touching. "I've gained a lot."

This is the imaginative ability that Asakawa Riku has learned. The moment it is released, Nue will instinctively try to learn it because he is afraid that it is some new technique.

And since he's just one person, Nue will definitely learn quickly, without a doubt.

Riku Asakawa cleverly exploited this, taking advantage of Nue's learning ability to make them see a shared, fictional vision, and see the same things.

That's the memory of that period.

"Shut up... Is this the future you're talking about? What about the past? What about our past!"

The things we can see are the same, but the emotions we feel cannot be shared.

Nue was completely unmoved and tried to break free by gritting her teeth, but found that Asakawa Riku's binding force was like tree roots, firmly locking her in place, and she couldn't move at all.

“It doesn’t matter if you call me a ‘woman’… but dwelling on the past won’t defeat me. I just want to start a new life. I am the ‘future’.”

Asakawa Riku followed closely, and Nue suddenly realized that the more forceful her strength was, the less she could shake him off.

Asakawa Riku held his hand the whole time, maintaining an inexplicable strength that Nue couldn't understand for the first time...

"You are... despicable right now!"

"The so-called Nue, the so-called Faceless Man, are just trying to make up for the pain of our past lives, but that's just venting hatred, not doing anything righteous."

"You know perfectly well...! But have you forgotten what happened in the past?!"

"I haven't forgotten."

Asakawa Riku finally made his move. His punches were completely of the same origin as Nue's, but with a completely different rhythm.

When Nue unleashed his killing move "King Yama's Three Points," Asakawa Riku's counter-move was "Child Offering Peaches."

The Nue's "Tiger Climbs the Mountain" collided with "White Crane Spreads Wings," and the violent knee strike was neutralized by the neutralizing force.

As Nue's whip kick missed, Asakawa Riku suddenly grabbed his ankle and used the momentum to throw him into the air.

Riku Asakawa abandoned muscles, physique, height... He no longer pursued the terrifying power of Nue, but instead returned to his true self, constantly refining his skills.

"Watch closely, this is my martial art—"

Asakawa Riku's voice rose, and he no longer used the pronoun "we," but instead used "I."

As the bird fell, it saw its opponent adopt a familiar stance, but the energy it gathered was no longer violent; instead, it was as gentle and flowing as spring water.

It was just an ordinary punch.

The result of maximizing energy dissipation.

When Asakawa Riku's hand patted his chest, Nue felt countless lights and shadows flash before his eyes.

Ripples spread across the bluestone ground, and all the pebbles turned to dust at that moment.

In her fantasy, Nue knelt on the gradually calming "water surface," watching her reflection slowly shed its ferocity.

Asakawa Riku's palm pressed against the top of his head, feeling very warm.

He said something that only the Nue could hear.

"You haven't forgotten...that's good."

Nue suddenly smiled, and the bloodshot in her eyes gradually disappeared.

His head slowly lowered, his eyes lost their luster, and the spiraling wind pressure behind him suddenly exploded, but his body was unharmed, as if he had just grazed the edge.

It's more accurate to call it "purification" rather than "killing".

After Nue's body completely disappeared, only Asakawa Riku remained standing on the arena.

He withdrew his hand and slowly clenched his fist: "I haven't forgotten. That's why I haven't given up the search."

Orochi's Autumn: Chapter Twenty-Three - True Form

After seeing Nue off, Asakawa Riku was deeply moved and remained silent for a long time, simply sitting quietly on the ground in meditation.

This battle was very special.

Unlike the previous ones, it wasn't a thrilling, grueling battle, nor was it an exciting, intense fight...

If things got serious, Asakawa Riku could certainly crush his past self from three years ago.

He abandoned muscle and physique in pursuit of ultimate technique. He may not have the same terrifying physique as Nue, but in reality, the gap between the two is already on a completely different level.

But what's the point?

The fact that Nue was placed in the fifth stage of the Orochi Trial was by no means meaningless.

Riku Asakawa believes that this is more like a battle of self-examination, through which one can achieve a state of enlightenment.

This is a valuable experience, like the trials in novels where one overcomes their inner demons. Asakawa Riku finally has the opportunity to confront himself.

Therefore, what he needs to do is not simply to "defeat", but to provide an "answer".

An answer that Nue can accept, an answer that allows her to say goodbye to her No-Face identity.

The Asakawa Riku of today is simply Asakawa Riku. He stands up again, and his eyes seem to have changed; his focused gaze seems to combine the ferocity and calm of two people.

The outcome of this battle is not simply a matter of who won and who lost. It wasn't that Asakawa Riku eliminated Nue, but rather that he also used this opportunity to rediscover some of his former feelings.

Only then did "their" true goal come to mind.

Asakawa Rikuya has returned to full strength.

clap clap-

When I stood up, I heard applause from the people around me.

It turned out that he had been meditating and contemplating for an unknown amount of time, and had completely forgotten about the Orochi Trial. His next opponent had already arrived.

But his next opponent didn't attack him; instead, he waited quietly on the sidelines.

"What a wonderful battle! It got even this old woman's blood pumping."

Ms. Sagawa, the kind old lady who created this imaginary space.

He is also the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Supervision.

Asakawa Riku thought she wouldn't be able to stand up, but to his surprise, she stood there steadily without even needing a cane.

"The minister is only the fourth level, and the deputy minister is the sixth level... I really thought you had no combat ability."

Faced with Riku Asakawa's questioning, Ms. Sagawa simply smiled:

"I didn't come here to fight. How about I give you a break during halftime? I can't imagine anyone else in this space who could be your opponent..."

Asakawa Riku simply looked at her quietly, and after a while, suddenly spoke:

"Should I call you Sagawa Hagoromo... or should I call you [Baku]?"

"Ha ha--"

Ms. Sagawa's expression suddenly stiffened for a moment, then she grinned and said, "As expected, with your eyesight now, this level can no longer be hidden."

Then her mouth stretched wider and wider, almost tearing her face apart, and the skin of her entire head was floating, as if there were insects wriggling underneath, making her already enormous head even more bloated.

Then it exploded with a bang, without any blood or mangled flesh, just another head beneath the first head.

His head was smooth and shiny, resembling that of an old Buddhist monk.

"It's been a long time, Asakawa Riku."

It was the dream-creating monster [Baku] that I saw two years ago. At that time, it created Yukie's dream to heal her and help her kill the dark "Black Yukie" personality.

Asakawa Riku continued watching, showing no fear whatsoever, even as he witnessed such a bizarre and terrifying change, and didn't even blink:

"This isn't your true appearance, is it?"

Yes, he can see things clearly now.

Two years ago, Riku Asakawa was described as having "zero inspiration," but now he can not only see through Akihisa Kazamatsuri's various spells and shikigami, but also see through the Baku's illusions.

It wasn't that his inspiration had improved—his inspiration remained unchanged—but rather that he had learned to see "real" vision.

The principle of spiritual vision is to cut yourself into the channel of a combination of monsters and imagination, just like Kazamatsuri Akihisa and Chizuko. The more you become like a monster and the closer you are to that world, the more you can see. However, people like Asakawa Riku, who have zero inspiration, are precisely the ones who are most detached from that world and most grounded in reality.

Riku Asakawa learned that instead of leaning towards them, he should get them to "pull him over".

By using the power of imagination, he can forcibly pull all sorts of illusory things into his own channel and into reality, thus gaining control over everything.

Even the illusions and dreams of the tapir could no longer deceive him.

The old monk in front of him shrugged: "So what if I'm not? I'm a demon. To me, a human appearance is just a shell. Do you need me to transform into a tapir to talk to you?"

"That's good then." Asakawa Riku didn't care, since he had already recognized Sagawa Hagoromo's true identity anyway: "What I wanted to ask was, why are you in the Inspection Department?"

Yes, the so-called auxiliary superpowers, the so-called "virtual space" and "Orochi Trial" are all lies.

Its true nature is nothing more than an illusion created by the tapir using dreams, just like that dream on the snow mountain.

The tapir's magical power is unfathomable. The dreams he creates have fooled countless people. The dreams he crafts using memories are so realistic that no one can find any flaws.

Even the identity of "Ms. Sagawa" is hard to imagine. Could Morita Hayato, Kirisame Aoi, and other operators have figured it out?

It's ironic that a monster has become a human's "demon-slaying expert" and the vice minister of an organization in charge of abnormal phenomena.

"Don't look at me like that."

The tapir chuckled: "I haven't done anything wrong, so it's not Nue's place to judge me. Let me tell you a secret: I am actually the original tapir. Other yokai have reincarnated hundreds or thousands of times over the years, constantly being destroyed and resurrected by Onmyoji. But my secret to living this long is only one: to rely on humans and maintain good relations with them."

Asakawa Riku looked at him and felt that he wasn't lying.

Not only did Baku become friends with the Onmyoji Kazamatsuri Akihisa and help solve Yukie's problem, but he even became an official in the Inspection Department, helping them carry out their missions.

From this perspective, he certainly understood how to live longer.

Asakawa Riku still said:

"Then let's fight. Aren't you supposed to be level six? Are you just going to stand there and talk nonsense?"

Logically speaking, since the tapir controls everything in this "dream," it can instantly transform into all sorts of things and become all kinds of unimaginable monsters to attack Asakawa Riku.

This ability to fabricate things out of thin air is far more terrifying than Morita Hayato's material manipulation, no wonder he ranks higher.

However, faced with Asakawa Riku's provocation, the Baku took a step back:

"I'm not falling for that... Asakawa Riku, I can't beat you right now... I'll just admit defeat, hehe."