Inugami App
Player Information
Name/Alias: Nica
Player Journal:![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kuraikun
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
kurai AIM: Yume no Kakyou
Timezone: Arizona
HMD: http://kan-chyan.dreamwidth.org/417.html
In-Game/Processing: N/A
Character Information
Name/Alias: Kantarou Ichinomiya
Gender: Male
Age: Implied to be in his 30s.
Physical Description: http://i.imgur.com/6iHSrVE.jpg
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactics_%28manga%29
Personality:
Kantarou is a very complex character, though he comes across as rather simple and shallow to most people. He is a very spiritual person and is a practitioner of Shingon Buddhism though has also studied various Shinto disciplines and can pretty much fill in for either Buddhist rituals or Shinto. Though he is a powerful spiritualist, he is technically a folklore writer and scholar.
The first thing that comes across personality wise is the fact that Kantarou is rather greedy, and also extremely lazy. He will discuss fees before anything else, and will try and milk a situation for as much as he possibly can. He's rather cunning in that respect as well, and is considered a tactician for how he lays out and plots his plans. As for his lazy tendencies they surface in many ways. The major one is how he avoids reaching his deadlines causing his editor to come and bother him and sometimes making Youko, one of his youkai he has named and bound to himself, do the research and sometimes write for him! He likes to avoid anything serious and really spend more time playing around and having fun at others inconvenience.
All of these negative aspects, though true parts of his nature, are more exaggerated and are used as a front. Underneath the immature selfish outward appearance is a very thoughtful and serious person, one who holds great compassion for Youkai and a strong sense of spiritual balance. Under it all Kantarou is a very sad and tragic person, with a dark past he tries to hide. He has been scared emotionally and these things, though he tries to hide them, do shape who he is. He has a strong resentment towards his mother, which has governed most his life. Kantarou suffered from an isolated childhood due to bullying about his abilities and albinism. He is very conscious and uncomfortable about his condition when it is mentioned and can become very uneasy. It also makes him very self conscious and has led to a self hate.
With a strong sixth sense, being albino and ostracized, a mother who was never there, and more or less a tool, Kantarou was a very lonely child. His only friends in fact were youkai. He has stronger feelings for youkai than he does other humans, to the point where he tends to favor them. He will give youkai chances to redeem themselves when they've done wrong when a normal person would just exorcise them outright. He gets excited when meeting youkai and claims that his best skill is befriending youkai. He's always been too friendly with them, hanging out with them as a child over other human children and even in his adult life his family is made up of a fox and a tengu. However this fondness should not be confused with taking their side unconditionally though; he is very good with keeping a balance and understanding when something is truly wrong, or misunderstood. But, generally he prefers to spend his time with youkai and will listen to them about issues first. Due to his growing up around them, and having made so many of them his friends, he considers himself to be especially good at making friends with all youkai.
But, despite his lack in people skills, he is a very good manipulator. Most of his interactions with others are of a business nature. Either they are contracting him to deal with an issue as an exorcist, are his editor wishing for him to finish manuscript, or someone he is trying to sell something to. He has been described as a 'tactician' due to how he organizes his plans, thinking several steps ahead and manipulating his situation to a favorable one. Usually this is displayed in how he gets Haruka, the tengu he has bound to him, to do his bidding when they first are brought together. Though he uses these methods in everything, telling people things that will make them react a particular way, or doing something that will lead to another event down the way. It would be easy to say some of his successes are more pure luck, but sometimes it seems he really did anticipate the outcome. Though the story doesn't focus on this aspect of his personality much outside the first few volumes.
Generally he has two sides, his outward appearance and his 'truer' appearance. Generally he will smile and act as if everything is fine, when it's not. And instead of admitting to true problems, he will exaggerate insignificant ones. This is so people he cares about won't worry about him, as he feels he isn't worth worrying about. He plays up most of his negative traits as a distraction.
Inside he is a very troubled person though, with a deep set belief that he is a sinner and is dirty. Some of this could be from the fact he is albino and was treated very badly by others, and some of it is due to having been directly the cause of his mothers death along with being possessed by a demon king who is sealed inside him. Though the details of this event aren't translated, so it's hard to say how that exactly effected him.
For the most part though, he comes across very good natured, and upbeat, if a little antagonistic and sarcastic. And despite being unconventional with his actions, he does follow the principles of Buddhism, especially that of no killing. Even his enemies who mean him death, he will not let them come to harm if they are human, or youkai. (Though he did exorcise a spirit before she could give a warning to his comrade.)
All in all Kantarou is a good natured asshole and purposefully makes his relationships with others antagonistic.
Abilities:
Kantarou is a folklorist and a scholar, his specialty is his vast and detailed knowledge of Japanese mythology, etymology and youkai. Along with his vast knowledge on various spiritual practices ranging from his native Shingon Buddhism (which is a style that specializes in exorcisms) to his ability to fill in for Shintoism and understanding of Onmyoudo and Taoism. Along with his educational knowledge he is a great strategist, who always thinks three steps ahead and manipulates situations rather effectively to his desired outcome. Though it doesn't seem to help him much financially.
Despite his tactical ability he has no fighting abilities what so ever, he can defend himself just enough with a sword to prepare a spell but not much else.
His powers are based in spiritualism and this is where he shines, his power level is quite high for a human, many youkai mention that it is on the level of a strong youkai, he also has a bracelet that acts as a seal for a very dangerous youkai named Ootani, who is Dairoku Tenmaou, a demon king of the sixth heaven. However, that part of the canon has yet to be translated and the reveal events are after his current canon point. What I can say though is that it seems to grant immunity to mind reading, as a Satori for the first time in her life could not look into his mind, as well as a strong resistance to harmful things inside his body. At one point the oni Irabagi Douji put a type of worm under her control inside him, supposedly nothing could harm it and only she could remove it, however later the worm was destroyed while within him.
Kantarou has the ability to see, understand, and speak with youkai. He claims his special skill is to "become friends with youkai" which he is very good at. Even violent youkai will generally calm down and befriend him in little time. Another ability that goes with that closely is the ability to name youkai, naming a youkai is a type of contract or binding which essentially makes that youkai a slave or servant of the person who named them. It's very difficult to do this by force and nearly impossible to do it to any youkai that wasn't something small and weak. However, Kantarou has never named an unwilling youkai and doesn't believe in the practice. He has only ever named two youkai, a fox and a tengu who he considers family.
Kantarou is very good with wards and can create kekkai, spiritual barriers as well as spiritual restraints. They take time to build up though, so he's vulnerable while preparing them, and usually requires someone else to deal with the target while he does so. He is also good with ofuda, mantra, sutra, and other skills. He has also been shown to call down the power of Buddhist gods to aid him. He has even used his exorcising skills to reseal a rather strong dragon who had formally been a mountain god.
Kantarou's number one most used skill is the Kuji, which is a complex and difficult exorcism skill, it is considered hard to execute properly and will work against nearly any demon or youkai. Of course the strength of the demon or youkai will diminish its effect, but even strong youkai can be restricted by it for at least a short time.
Samples
Dialogue:
http://inugameme.dreamwidth.org/378.html?thread=89210#cmt89210
http://inugameme.dreamwidth.org/378.html?thread=64122#cmt64122
Exposition/Introspection:
It wasn't that Kantarou was unflappable, there were plenty of situations where he seemed quite the opposite, but somehow whenever it truly mattered Kantarou managed to keep a cool and composed head. Maybe it was age, maybe it was that he'd seen a lot in his life, or that dire situations relating to the occult was somehow a common place for him at this point. Either way finding himself alone in a strange place didn't have him in a panic. Or at least didn't have him panicking like a fool. What was the point if no one was around him right now anyway? There was no merit to it right now. What he needed to do was thinking about his situation carefully. The last thing that had happened was the government had shown up wanting him to come with them, most likely related to Raikou. Yet... he had only been in front of the temple, they hadn't put him in the car yet and they definitely didn't put any spells on him. Though it wasn't like he knew that as a fact. What he did know was that he was currently in a school and there were items that he had never seen before.
"This is too elaborate as a trick just for me," he muttered to himself considering the potentials. It was too elaborate as a set up for Haruka too. Considering those things he was at a loss at drawing any sort of conclusions. "Instead, could this be unrelated to any of that?"
Kantarou closed his eyes meditating on the question. There was something off, there was something very off and he couldn't quite put his finger on it....
"Ah!" he cried out in surprise. How could he not realize it? How did he not notice!? It was right in front of him and yet.... "I can't sense anything here at all."
Revision
Kantarou's closest relationships are with the members of his self made family Haruka and Youko, however since they're both youkai and he treats them like family they're not the most diverse examples. Youkoa, a fox youkai he found an unknown amount of years before the start of the story is treated like somewhere between a sister and a maid. Their interactions with each other are very sibling like, they yell at each other, but then trust and rely on each other. Youko was originally found tricking humans with a fake house (a common trick foxes do in mythology) inviting people home to an illusion of a family. Kantarou was hired to exterminate her, however after breaking her illusions he asked her "Would you like to be part of my family" since she was just lonely on her own.
Of course since she is admitted as a member of his family he's pretty bratty with her after the fact. Since he's generally a procrastinator and a person who likes to play until the last minute Youko is hit with a lot of the household responsibilities. Not only does she have to cook and clean the house (because no one else is going to do it) she also has to keep up a part time job to help pay the bills. Because of this dynamic generally her role is the nagging sister type. But she is a fox and foxes are generally domestic, Kantarou uses this to his advantage a lot. Though he's not above forcing Youko to do things when she doesn't want to by using her name as a command. He's never commanded her to do anything beyond menial stuff though such as cleaning up dishes.
Though Youko is an important member of Kantarou's family she's more of a side character, the side story with more of their relationship before Haruka hasn't been translated.
Haruka is the other member of Kantarou's family who he's close to, and is also the other main character of the story. Haruka is a tengu, specifically "Onikui" or oni eating tengu. He is considered to be one of the most powerful youkai. Kantarou's relationship with Haruka started before he ever met Haruka, when he was a small child and various youkai had spoken of Onikui, hearing such tales of such a strong youkai Kantarou was captivated by it and made it his life goal to find Onikui and name them. He had picked out the name long ago and made a habit of talking to Haruka even though he hadn't met him. When he first did meet him and name him their relationship was rocky. Haruka didn't want to be involved and Kantarou had to force him to join him for things using his name and other coercive tactics including threatening him with mackerel (Tengu hate mackerel in mythology). However he never once used Haruka's name during important matters. He would use Harukas name to force him to spend time with him, but then one point where he was being attacked and Haruka was away watching from afar he didn't. Haruka wondered why he didn't use his name and in the end just couldn't watch him getting beat up anymore.
They're relationship can be described as a slow thaw, Haruka being icy at first and Kantarou being overly exuberant and needy of attention. Though as time goes on Haruka becomes more comfortable and generally happy being around Kantarou, and Kantarou himself starts to show the sadder parts of him. A good example of a turning point in their relationship is when they go to a village to investigate a situation involving dolls being possessed by the dead. People in the village surround Kantarou talking about him due to his pale skin and red eyes, this makes Kantarou very uncomfortable, in order to take attention away Haruka reveals his wings, and successfully distracts the towns people from Kantarou. Later on Haruka tells Kantarou he likes his eyes. Of course he says they make him think of marbles and he would like to pluck them out which causes Kantarou to say he feels sick thinking about it.
There is definitely a dependency on Haruka, an emotional one. Kantarou had started that dependency when he was young and it became irreversible once they were united. If anything happend to Haruka kantarou would most likely fall apart. In fact he's so possessive of his relationship that he forcibly exterminated the spirit of Harukas former master, both because he hated her for her attachment as well as because she had a warning for Haruka in regards to a secret Kantarou had. In fact when dealing with her was the only time Kantarou was truly vicious towards someone. That point in the story you start to see an under lining darkness in Kantarou's actions as well.
I could talk about the antagonists of the story, but I feel a better one would be Hasumi, Kantarou's underclassmen from university. It's never said how much younger Hasumi is than Kantarou, all that we know is that he started school after Kantarou and graduated before him. They're both folklorists and studied English. Hasumi has succeeded in everything Kantarou has tried for which makes their relationship less than friends (but Hasumi is the closest thing to a friend Kantarou has that isn't a youkai) and more like rivals. Hasumis books sell better than Kantarou's so that makes him jealous, Hasumi got to study in England, which Kantarou wasn't selected for. Though despite their fighting and bickering Kantarou does care about him, in his own bratty way. Once Kantarou tried to bring Hasumi to a fairy to meet her, since Hasumi can't see youkai but really wants to believe in them Kantarou was trying to show him a sacred place. Sadly it didn't work out.
Hasumi and Kantarou still visit their old teacher together, and despite their rivalry Rosalie, Hasumis adopted daughter, is also frequently left in their care. (More Youko's care than Kantarou's though.) In some ways Hasumi is probably one of the few connections Kantarou has to the human world.
It's hard to talk about relationships and not talk about the elephant in the room: Kantarou's mother. There is a lot of hate for her, to the point where he was offered the chance to resurrect her, and he said "I hope she stays dead forever". He's described her as a whore and has wondered if she ever loved him to begin with. When it concerns his mother he's a completely different person, though most people misunderstand this as missing or longing for her. The real emotion is more complex. Her death was rather traumatic and mostly Kantarou's fault, but she was also abusive and used his powers for her own gain. It would be easy to say that his childhood with her was probably what made him a little warped in the present. In the end a lot of his personality defects can be traced to his mother and his relationship with her. His needy personality for attention as well as his distrust and feeling of using people.
===
There is a situation where a previous god of a mountain has been set free, the mountain god who is a dragon is angry at the village for having imprisoned him hundreds of years earlier, Kantarou tries to reason with him, and was hoping that the dragon simply wanted to return to heaven, however when hearing that he was just going for revenge Kantarou reluctantly seals him again. On the other hand there an orphan oni who tricks a couple into thinking he's their kid, at first Kantarou wanted to remove him completely from the couple, but later decides that the best thing for everyone is to seal the child and leave them together as a family.
His 'tactition' traits are only ever really shown early on in the series, and mostly has to do with getting Haruka to do things he wanted him to do without ever telling him to do them, also foiling villains or whoever the current antagonist is. Two good examples take place early on.
First one is about a tanuki who is kidnapping youkai to put in a side show, to solve the case Kantarou purposefully pisses off Haruka so Haruka will wander around and get captured by the Tanuki, this allowed them to confirm who the perpetrator was, and then trick the tanuki into revealing himself. This was also a plan to get Haruka to listen to Kantarou more, and allow Kantarou to save him.
The second is about a boy who is being targeted by various people because his father was the founder of a cult who supposedly had special brainwashing powers and that information was in a book that was left to the boy. Kantarou spends most the time pretending to be a priest, while helping the young boy come to understand what his book means, as well as discouraging the cult members who were targeting the boy. While doing this Kantarou also pushes Haruka around by putting him in competitions with himself where he cheats. In the end Kantarou defeats the people who were after the boy, gets to read the book the boy wouldn't let anyone see and solves the mystery of a secret passage in the back of the book. Generally all parts of 'tactics' being used in tatics is Kantarou being a manipulator, which is what he is.
===
It wasn't that Kantarou was unflappable, there were plenty of situations where he seemed quite the opposite, but somehow whenever it truly mattered Kantarou managed to keep a cool and composed head. Maybe it was age, maybe it was that he'd seen a lot in his life, or that dire situations relating to the occult was somehow a common place for him at this point. Either way finding himself alone in a strange place didn't have him in a panic. Or at least didn't have him panicking like a fool. What was the point if no one was around him right now anyway? There was no merit to it right now. What he needed to do was thinking about his situation carefully. The last thing that had happened was the government had shown up wanting him to come with them, most likely related to Raikou. Yet... he had only been in front of the temple, they hadn't put him in the car yet and they definitely didn't put any spells on him. Though it wasn't like he knew that as a fact. What he did know was that he was currently in a school and there were items that he had never seen before.
"This is too elaborate as a trick just for me," he muttered to himself considering the potentials. It was too elaborate as a set up for Haruka too. Considering those things he was at a loss at drawing any sort of conclusions. "Instead, could this be unrelated to any of that?"
Kantarou closed his eyes meditating on the question. There was something off, there was something very off and he couldn't quite put his finger on it....
"Ah!" he cried out in surprise. How could he not realize it? How did he not notice!? It was right in front of him and yet.... "I can't sense anything here at all."
What a frighting idea, what a foreign idea. Never in his life had he been unable to sense what was around him. It was an odd thing, he had never thought about it much before, it was a thing that was always there, a thing he took for granted. But now? Now it was suddenly a huge hole. He could still see, he could heal, he could touch and taste... but... somehow it was dimmer.
Was this what if felt like for everyone else?
Was there a time he had wished for this sort of mundanity? He wasn't sure, and if he had at some point it didn't matter because he didn't want anything like that now. He had lived long enough the way he normally was to not think of being any other way, and what would he do without his spiritual powers? He wouldn't be able to see and talk to youkai, Youko and Haruka would also....
Haruka and Youko! Where they okay? Were they here too? Or did the government have them? What a time to be in some dumb school! He didn't have time for this. He didn't have time to ponder on his state of being, no he had to get as much information as he could as fast as possible. Knowledge was power, and the more knowledge one had of a situation the more control he could take of it.
First thing was first, he would have to go explore a bit. He was a little reluctant to do that on his own, completely defenseless, but, he didn't have much choice. And it was pointless to look for something he could use as a defensive weapon, if it came to that he was already going to lose. What a troublesome situation.
"Haruka you better show up somewhere or I'm going to be mad at you," as much as he didn't want to see him in danger, he also didn't want to be alone. It was selfish but he never claimed to be anything else.
Name/Alias: Nica
Player Journal:
kuraikunContact:
Timezone: Arizona
HMD: http://kan-chyan.dreamwidth.org/417.html
In-Game/Processing: N/A
Character Information
Name/Alias: Kantarou Ichinomiya
Gender: Male
Age: Implied to be in his 30s.
Physical Description: http://i.imgur.com/6iHSrVE.jpg
History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tactics_%28manga%29
Personality:
Kantarou is a very complex character, though he comes across as rather simple and shallow to most people. He is a very spiritual person and is a practitioner of Shingon Buddhism though has also studied various Shinto disciplines and can pretty much fill in for either Buddhist rituals or Shinto. Though he is a powerful spiritualist, he is technically a folklore writer and scholar.
The first thing that comes across personality wise is the fact that Kantarou is rather greedy, and also extremely lazy. He will discuss fees before anything else, and will try and milk a situation for as much as he possibly can. He's rather cunning in that respect as well, and is considered a tactician for how he lays out and plots his plans. As for his lazy tendencies they surface in many ways. The major one is how he avoids reaching his deadlines causing his editor to come and bother him and sometimes making Youko, one of his youkai he has named and bound to himself, do the research and sometimes write for him! He likes to avoid anything serious and really spend more time playing around and having fun at others inconvenience.
All of these negative aspects, though true parts of his nature, are more exaggerated and are used as a front. Underneath the immature selfish outward appearance is a very thoughtful and serious person, one who holds great compassion for Youkai and a strong sense of spiritual balance. Under it all Kantarou is a very sad and tragic person, with a dark past he tries to hide. He has been scared emotionally and these things, though he tries to hide them, do shape who he is. He has a strong resentment towards his mother, which has governed most his life. Kantarou suffered from an isolated childhood due to bullying about his abilities and albinism. He is very conscious and uncomfortable about his condition when it is mentioned and can become very uneasy. It also makes him very self conscious and has led to a self hate.
With a strong sixth sense, being albino and ostracized, a mother who was never there, and more or less a tool, Kantarou was a very lonely child. His only friends in fact were youkai. He has stronger feelings for youkai than he does other humans, to the point where he tends to favor them. He will give youkai chances to redeem themselves when they've done wrong when a normal person would just exorcise them outright. He gets excited when meeting youkai and claims that his best skill is befriending youkai. He's always been too friendly with them, hanging out with them as a child over other human children and even in his adult life his family is made up of a fox and a tengu. However this fondness should not be confused with taking their side unconditionally though; he is very good with keeping a balance and understanding when something is truly wrong, or misunderstood. But, generally he prefers to spend his time with youkai and will listen to them about issues first. Due to his growing up around them, and having made so many of them his friends, he considers himself to be especially good at making friends with all youkai.
But, despite his lack in people skills, he is a very good manipulator. Most of his interactions with others are of a business nature. Either they are contracting him to deal with an issue as an exorcist, are his editor wishing for him to finish manuscript, or someone he is trying to sell something to. He has been described as a 'tactician' due to how he organizes his plans, thinking several steps ahead and manipulating his situation to a favorable one. Usually this is displayed in how he gets Haruka, the tengu he has bound to him, to do his bidding when they first are brought together. Though he uses these methods in everything, telling people things that will make them react a particular way, or doing something that will lead to another event down the way. It would be easy to say some of his successes are more pure luck, but sometimes it seems he really did anticipate the outcome. Though the story doesn't focus on this aspect of his personality much outside the first few volumes.
Generally he has two sides, his outward appearance and his 'truer' appearance. Generally he will smile and act as if everything is fine, when it's not. And instead of admitting to true problems, he will exaggerate insignificant ones. This is so people he cares about won't worry about him, as he feels he isn't worth worrying about. He plays up most of his negative traits as a distraction.
Inside he is a very troubled person though, with a deep set belief that he is a sinner and is dirty. Some of this could be from the fact he is albino and was treated very badly by others, and some of it is due to having been directly the cause of his mothers death along with being possessed by a demon king who is sealed inside him. Though the details of this event aren't translated, so it's hard to say how that exactly effected him.
For the most part though, he comes across very good natured, and upbeat, if a little antagonistic and sarcastic. And despite being unconventional with his actions, he does follow the principles of Buddhism, especially that of no killing. Even his enemies who mean him death, he will not let them come to harm if they are human, or youkai. (Though he did exorcise a spirit before she could give a warning to his comrade.)
All in all Kantarou is a good natured asshole and purposefully makes his relationships with others antagonistic.
Abilities:
Kantarou is a folklorist and a scholar, his specialty is his vast and detailed knowledge of Japanese mythology, etymology and youkai. Along with his vast knowledge on various spiritual practices ranging from his native Shingon Buddhism (which is a style that specializes in exorcisms) to his ability to fill in for Shintoism and understanding of Onmyoudo and Taoism. Along with his educational knowledge he is a great strategist, who always thinks three steps ahead and manipulates situations rather effectively to his desired outcome. Though it doesn't seem to help him much financially.
Despite his tactical ability he has no fighting abilities what so ever, he can defend himself just enough with a sword to prepare a spell but not much else.
His powers are based in spiritualism and this is where he shines, his power level is quite high for a human, many youkai mention that it is on the level of a strong youkai, he also has a bracelet that acts as a seal for a very dangerous youkai named Ootani, who is Dairoku Tenmaou, a demon king of the sixth heaven. However, that part of the canon has yet to be translated and the reveal events are after his current canon point. What I can say though is that it seems to grant immunity to mind reading, as a Satori for the first time in her life could not look into his mind, as well as a strong resistance to harmful things inside his body. At one point the oni Irabagi Douji put a type of worm under her control inside him, supposedly nothing could harm it and only she could remove it, however later the worm was destroyed while within him.
Kantarou has the ability to see, understand, and speak with youkai. He claims his special skill is to "become friends with youkai" which he is very good at. Even violent youkai will generally calm down and befriend him in little time. Another ability that goes with that closely is the ability to name youkai, naming a youkai is a type of contract or binding which essentially makes that youkai a slave or servant of the person who named them. It's very difficult to do this by force and nearly impossible to do it to any youkai that wasn't something small and weak. However, Kantarou has never named an unwilling youkai and doesn't believe in the practice. He has only ever named two youkai, a fox and a tengu who he considers family.
Kantarou is very good with wards and can create kekkai, spiritual barriers as well as spiritual restraints. They take time to build up though, so he's vulnerable while preparing them, and usually requires someone else to deal with the target while he does so. He is also good with ofuda, mantra, sutra, and other skills. He has also been shown to call down the power of Buddhist gods to aid him. He has even used his exorcising skills to reseal a rather strong dragon who had formally been a mountain god.
Kantarou's number one most used skill is the Kuji, which is a complex and difficult exorcism skill, it is considered hard to execute properly and will work against nearly any demon or youkai. Of course the strength of the demon or youkai will diminish its effect, but even strong youkai can be restricted by it for at least a short time.
Samples
Dialogue:
http://inugameme.dreamwidth.org/378.html?thread=89210#cmt89210
http://inugameme.dreamwidth.org/378.html?thread=64122#cmt64122
Exposition/Introspection:
It wasn't that Kantarou was unflappable, there were plenty of situations where he seemed quite the opposite, but somehow whenever it truly mattered Kantarou managed to keep a cool and composed head. Maybe it was age, maybe it was that he'd seen a lot in his life, or that dire situations relating to the occult was somehow a common place for him at this point. Either way finding himself alone in a strange place didn't have him in a panic. Or at least didn't have him panicking like a fool. What was the point if no one was around him right now anyway? There was no merit to it right now. What he needed to do was thinking about his situation carefully. The last thing that had happened was the government had shown up wanting him to come with them, most likely related to Raikou. Yet... he had only been in front of the temple, they hadn't put him in the car yet and they definitely didn't put any spells on him. Though it wasn't like he knew that as a fact. What he did know was that he was currently in a school and there were items that he had never seen before.
"This is too elaborate as a trick just for me," he muttered to himself considering the potentials. It was too elaborate as a set up for Haruka too. Considering those things he was at a loss at drawing any sort of conclusions. "Instead, could this be unrelated to any of that?"
Kantarou closed his eyes meditating on the question. There was something off, there was something very off and he couldn't quite put his finger on it....
"Ah!" he cried out in surprise. How could he not realize it? How did he not notice!? It was right in front of him and yet.... "I can't sense anything here at all."
Revision
Kantarou's closest relationships are with the members of his self made family Haruka and Youko, however since they're both youkai and he treats them like family they're not the most diverse examples. Youkoa, a fox youkai he found an unknown amount of years before the start of the story is treated like somewhere between a sister and a maid. Their interactions with each other are very sibling like, they yell at each other, but then trust and rely on each other. Youko was originally found tricking humans with a fake house (a common trick foxes do in mythology) inviting people home to an illusion of a family. Kantarou was hired to exterminate her, however after breaking her illusions he asked her "Would you like to be part of my family" since she was just lonely on her own.
Of course since she is admitted as a member of his family he's pretty bratty with her after the fact. Since he's generally a procrastinator and a person who likes to play until the last minute Youko is hit with a lot of the household responsibilities. Not only does she have to cook and clean the house (because no one else is going to do it) she also has to keep up a part time job to help pay the bills. Because of this dynamic generally her role is the nagging sister type. But she is a fox and foxes are generally domestic, Kantarou uses this to his advantage a lot. Though he's not above forcing Youko to do things when she doesn't want to by using her name as a command. He's never commanded her to do anything beyond menial stuff though such as cleaning up dishes.
Though Youko is an important member of Kantarou's family she's more of a side character, the side story with more of their relationship before Haruka hasn't been translated.
Haruka is the other member of Kantarou's family who he's close to, and is also the other main character of the story. Haruka is a tengu, specifically "Onikui" or oni eating tengu. He is considered to be one of the most powerful youkai. Kantarou's relationship with Haruka started before he ever met Haruka, when he was a small child and various youkai had spoken of Onikui, hearing such tales of such a strong youkai Kantarou was captivated by it and made it his life goal to find Onikui and name them. He had picked out the name long ago and made a habit of talking to Haruka even though he hadn't met him. When he first did meet him and name him their relationship was rocky. Haruka didn't want to be involved and Kantarou had to force him to join him for things using his name and other coercive tactics including threatening him with mackerel (Tengu hate mackerel in mythology). However he never once used Haruka's name during important matters. He would use Harukas name to force him to spend time with him, but then one point where he was being attacked and Haruka was away watching from afar he didn't. Haruka wondered why he didn't use his name and in the end just couldn't watch him getting beat up anymore.
They're relationship can be described as a slow thaw, Haruka being icy at first and Kantarou being overly exuberant and needy of attention. Though as time goes on Haruka becomes more comfortable and generally happy being around Kantarou, and Kantarou himself starts to show the sadder parts of him. A good example of a turning point in their relationship is when they go to a village to investigate a situation involving dolls being possessed by the dead. People in the village surround Kantarou talking about him due to his pale skin and red eyes, this makes Kantarou very uncomfortable, in order to take attention away Haruka reveals his wings, and successfully distracts the towns people from Kantarou. Later on Haruka tells Kantarou he likes his eyes. Of course he says they make him think of marbles and he would like to pluck them out which causes Kantarou to say he feels sick thinking about it.
There is definitely a dependency on Haruka, an emotional one. Kantarou had started that dependency when he was young and it became irreversible once they were united. If anything happend to Haruka kantarou would most likely fall apart. In fact he's so possessive of his relationship that he forcibly exterminated the spirit of Harukas former master, both because he hated her for her attachment as well as because she had a warning for Haruka in regards to a secret Kantarou had. In fact when dealing with her was the only time Kantarou was truly vicious towards someone. That point in the story you start to see an under lining darkness in Kantarou's actions as well.
I could talk about the antagonists of the story, but I feel a better one would be Hasumi, Kantarou's underclassmen from university. It's never said how much younger Hasumi is than Kantarou, all that we know is that he started school after Kantarou and graduated before him. They're both folklorists and studied English. Hasumi has succeeded in everything Kantarou has tried for which makes their relationship less than friends (but Hasumi is the closest thing to a friend Kantarou has that isn't a youkai) and more like rivals. Hasumis books sell better than Kantarou's so that makes him jealous, Hasumi got to study in England, which Kantarou wasn't selected for. Though despite their fighting and bickering Kantarou does care about him, in his own bratty way. Once Kantarou tried to bring Hasumi to a fairy to meet her, since Hasumi can't see youkai but really wants to believe in them Kantarou was trying to show him a sacred place. Sadly it didn't work out.
Hasumi and Kantarou still visit their old teacher together, and despite their rivalry Rosalie, Hasumis adopted daughter, is also frequently left in their care. (More Youko's care than Kantarou's though.) In some ways Hasumi is probably one of the few connections Kantarou has to the human world.
It's hard to talk about relationships and not talk about the elephant in the room: Kantarou's mother. There is a lot of hate for her, to the point where he was offered the chance to resurrect her, and he said "I hope she stays dead forever". He's described her as a whore and has wondered if she ever loved him to begin with. When it concerns his mother he's a completely different person, though most people misunderstand this as missing or longing for her. The real emotion is more complex. Her death was rather traumatic and mostly Kantarou's fault, but she was also abusive and used his powers for her own gain. It would be easy to say that his childhood with her was probably what made him a little warped in the present. In the end a lot of his personality defects can be traced to his mother and his relationship with her. His needy personality for attention as well as his distrust and feeling of using people.
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There is a situation where a previous god of a mountain has been set free, the mountain god who is a dragon is angry at the village for having imprisoned him hundreds of years earlier, Kantarou tries to reason with him, and was hoping that the dragon simply wanted to return to heaven, however when hearing that he was just going for revenge Kantarou reluctantly seals him again. On the other hand there an orphan oni who tricks a couple into thinking he's their kid, at first Kantarou wanted to remove him completely from the couple, but later decides that the best thing for everyone is to seal the child and leave them together as a family.
His 'tactition' traits are only ever really shown early on in the series, and mostly has to do with getting Haruka to do things he wanted him to do without ever telling him to do them, also foiling villains or whoever the current antagonist is. Two good examples take place early on.
First one is about a tanuki who is kidnapping youkai to put in a side show, to solve the case Kantarou purposefully pisses off Haruka so Haruka will wander around and get captured by the Tanuki, this allowed them to confirm who the perpetrator was, and then trick the tanuki into revealing himself. This was also a plan to get Haruka to listen to Kantarou more, and allow Kantarou to save him.
The second is about a boy who is being targeted by various people because his father was the founder of a cult who supposedly had special brainwashing powers and that information was in a book that was left to the boy. Kantarou spends most the time pretending to be a priest, while helping the young boy come to understand what his book means, as well as discouraging the cult members who were targeting the boy. While doing this Kantarou also pushes Haruka around by putting him in competitions with himself where he cheats. In the end Kantarou defeats the people who were after the boy, gets to read the book the boy wouldn't let anyone see and solves the mystery of a secret passage in the back of the book. Generally all parts of 'tactics' being used in tatics is Kantarou being a manipulator, which is what he is.
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It wasn't that Kantarou was unflappable, there were plenty of situations where he seemed quite the opposite, but somehow whenever it truly mattered Kantarou managed to keep a cool and composed head. Maybe it was age, maybe it was that he'd seen a lot in his life, or that dire situations relating to the occult was somehow a common place for him at this point. Either way finding himself alone in a strange place didn't have him in a panic. Or at least didn't have him panicking like a fool. What was the point if no one was around him right now anyway? There was no merit to it right now. What he needed to do was thinking about his situation carefully. The last thing that had happened was the government had shown up wanting him to come with them, most likely related to Raikou. Yet... he had only been in front of the temple, they hadn't put him in the car yet and they definitely didn't put any spells on him. Though it wasn't like he knew that as a fact. What he did know was that he was currently in a school and there were items that he had never seen before.
"This is too elaborate as a trick just for me," he muttered to himself considering the potentials. It was too elaborate as a set up for Haruka too. Considering those things he was at a loss at drawing any sort of conclusions. "Instead, could this be unrelated to any of that?"
Kantarou closed his eyes meditating on the question. There was something off, there was something very off and he couldn't quite put his finger on it....
"Ah!" he cried out in surprise. How could he not realize it? How did he not notice!? It was right in front of him and yet.... "I can't sense anything here at all."
What a frighting idea, what a foreign idea. Never in his life had he been unable to sense what was around him. It was an odd thing, he had never thought about it much before, it was a thing that was always there, a thing he took for granted. But now? Now it was suddenly a huge hole. He could still see, he could heal, he could touch and taste... but... somehow it was dimmer.
Was this what if felt like for everyone else?
Was there a time he had wished for this sort of mundanity? He wasn't sure, and if he had at some point it didn't matter because he didn't want anything like that now. He had lived long enough the way he normally was to not think of being any other way, and what would he do without his spiritual powers? He wouldn't be able to see and talk to youkai, Youko and Haruka would also....
Haruka and Youko! Where they okay? Were they here too? Or did the government have them? What a time to be in some dumb school! He didn't have time for this. He didn't have time to ponder on his state of being, no he had to get as much information as he could as fast as possible. Knowledge was power, and the more knowledge one had of a situation the more control he could take of it.
First thing was first, he would have to go explore a bit. He was a little reluctant to do that on his own, completely defenseless, but, he didn't have much choice. And it was pointless to look for something he could use as a defensive weapon, if it came to that he was already going to lose. What a troublesome situation.
"Haruka you better show up somewhere or I'm going to be mad at you," as much as he didn't want to see him in danger, he also didn't want to be alone. It was selfish but he never claimed to be anything else.