The silence weighed like a leaden cloak in the hallway.
Kouki and Kiko, glued to the closed door, held their breath. Through the
thick wood, snippets of muffled voices hinted at an imminent confrontation.
Kouki, impatience tattooed on his face, turned to his
companion.
— What's the plan, Kiko? Are we going to stay planted
there like extras?
Kiko, her features drawn, shook her head.
— Aren't you tired of rushing in headfirst? It's
a private meeting. We weren't invited.
— "Invited" my ass. It's MY aunt in there.
And she's talking about ME. I have the right to know what's going on.
He tried to turn the handle, but the door remained
stubbornly locked. A sharp click echoed from the other side, like a final
warning. The servant, Yuko, had just sealed off access.
Inside, the room was bathed in a soft light.
A low dark wood table stood in the center, adorned with a traditional tea
set. Steam rose from a cast iron teapot, filling the air with a
delicate fragrance.
Mother, seated with a natural grace, brought a cup to her
lips. Her slender and powerful fingers contrasted with the delicacy of the
porcelain.
— This tea… the Karasuma truly have a refined palate.
Jirō Karasuma, patriarch of the clan, stood before her, his
face dark. His imposing aura filled the room, weighed down by a contained
anger.
— Spare us your pleasantries, Mother Kane. We have
more urgent matters to settle.
Mother set down her cup with a discreet clink. Her piercing
gaze rested on Jirō.
— Urgent? Really? Before this incident…
let's say… revealing, I was unaware of the existence of this nephew. My brother
left so long ago… I had no idea he had started a family
here.
— Don't play innocent! Your clan has always
extended its influence without worrying about the consequences! You trample the
rules!
Jirō's voice cracked like a clap of thunder. Mother Kane
remained impassive.
— The rules… let's talk about them, Jirō. Which rules have I
broken exactly?
Jirō gestured to Yuko. The servant stepped forward, holding a
thick file. In a monotone voice, she read a detailed report of the
events in Osaka: the appearance of the Zohōn, Kiko's intervention, and
the spectacular awakening of Kouki's powers.
At these words, an intense gleam crossed Mother's gaze. A
flash of recognition, mixed with a strange fascination.
— Interesting… It would seem my nephew is…
special.
— Special? He violated Karasuma territory,
destroyed property, and injured my daughter!
— But he is alive. And Kiko too. Let's not dramatize.
— Let's not dramatize?! Your clan must be
sanctioned!
Mother Kane tilted her head slightly.
— Sanctioned? And how would that serve
the balance? Kouki is a Kane. His blood is the same as mine. It is
my duty to guide him, to train him. I propose to take him back with me.
— Too easy!
Jirō slammed his fist on the table.
— Your clan has always acted this way! Taking
what it wants without ever paying the price!
— The price? I am ready to offer a financial compensation for the damages caused. A substantial sum.
— Money doesn't fix everything.
— Perhaps not. But it soothes many tensions. And
I remind you, Jirō, that we all have the same goal: to maintain
the balance between the worlds.
Jirō hesitated. The proposal was tempting. But his wounded pride
demanded justice.
Suddenly, the door burst open with a crash. Kouki, his face
red with anger, stood on the threshold, Kiko clinging to his arm, trying
vainly to restrain him.
— What the hell is this?! Are you talking about me like
I'm a fucking object?!
Chaos had just erupted into the room.
Kouki raged, his voice trembling. "No one decides for me! I'm not going anywhere with you, old hag!"
Jirō slammed his fist on the table again, making the tea set jump. "You have no say in this, boy! You committed an offense on Karasuma land! You will face the consequences!"
"An offense?" Kouki scoffed, pulling his arm free from Kiko's grip. "I'm half Japanese! How can I be in violation of anything here?"
"Whether you are Japanese or not is irrelevant!" Jirō roared. "A Kane is a Kane, no matter where they are!"
Silence fell heavily in the room. Mother Kane observed Kouki for a long moment before speaking, her voice calm amidst the tension.
"Kouki, what is it that you truly want from life?"
Kouki hesitated, surprised by the question. He had never given it much thought. He enjoyed observing life, taking pleasure in simple things. He had no grand ambitions, just the desire to become a trader like his father, earn enough money before thirty, and then retire, living comfortably until the end. For him, his time on Earth was nothing more than a fleeting passage.
Mother Kane's gaze remained steady.
"But for someone who wishes to live in comfort until the end of their days, can they eternally ignore what lies beneath? What is the price of this comfort, Kouki? Do you know the price of the comfort that humans have enjoyed for centuries?"
Her voice grew deeper, more laden with emotion. She rose and began to walk slowly around the room, like a storyteller captivating her audience.
"The world as it is — this stable, breathable, more or less livable world — exists thanks to us. We, the shamans. Without us, spirits would pile up like garbage in a river. The human being is a steamroller. Wherever they go, they flatten, they devour, they rebuild. But this isn't always bad. Because destruction comes before creation. It's the necessary void for something new to appear. What's destroyed has to be renewed. Cleaned up. Purified. Otherwise, it rots, it accumulates, it contaminates. The trees, the animals, the water, the sky — all of this lives. All of this feels. Man, he declared himself king of this realm. But like any king, he rises above his subjects. And he stops listening to them."
She stopped in front of Kouki, her intense gaze piercing his armor of indifference.
"That's where we come in. We're the bridge. Between humans and everything else. Between the king and his subjects. Because everything that exists has a consciousness. And so that humans can continue to live without seeing, without hearing, without feeling… someone has to clean up after them. It's not our job to change the world. It's our job to preserve it. To stop it from collapsing under the weight of its corpses. Spiritual. Animal. Human. What you are, Kouki, what you can become… isn't a hero. It's a guardian of the balance. And to become that, you're going to have to stop 'just doing what's necessary.'"
Kouki had remained thoughtful throughout the speech, but these last words hit him hard. It was as if he'd just been stripped naked in the middle of the room. He got irritated, then lost patience.
"What do you know about me?! You don't know me! You've never tried to know me… My father, your own brother, left, and you never got any news from him. You never visited us; he could have been dead for all you knew. And today, you show up, you give orders, and I'm supposed to follow you to the other side of the world?! Humans are all the same… They ignore the truths that bother them to make life and themselves more bearable. You ignored your brother and his family for years, probably because you were ashamed of us, an embarrassment to the great Kane clan… So don't lecture me!"
Mother Kane replied with a single word, heavy with meaning.
"Snow."
Kouki froze. How could she know that name?
"Yes, I know his story. I can perceive his spirit. And I feel the turmoil in yours, Kouki. I sized you up as soon as I saw you. I can perceive snippets of your past life. Your whole life, you've been content to do the bare minimum necessary in every situation. You never gave more than necessary, and rightly so. Life very quickly taught you that effort doesn't matter; only the result counts. So in every situation, you first think about what the minimum acceptable is. Once that's done, you do no more and no less. I don't know exactly why; I don't know what disappointed you so much, but it's clearly visible that you live without living. You're just going through life… waiting for death. But that day…"
She told him cruel but necessary truths.
"When Snow disappeared, if you had given it your all, maybe you could have found him, maybe you could have spared him all that suffering… Somewhere deep down, you knew that the worst was possible; you knew that Snow could have been killed, but you chose to ignore that reality. 'Okay, I did what I could; that's life.' And you didn't ask yourself any more questions… whereas if you had done your absolute best to find him, you could have saved the life of what mattered most to you back then, your dog."
The matriarch laid all of that out for him. Kouki relived images of the Zohōn overlapping with that of Snow. A solitary tear rolled down his cheek.
"Success has a price, but so does abandonment… In both cases, we lose something precious," Mother told him.
She pointed out a truth that very few dare to face:
"Sacrifice isn't a painful option to avoid; it's a necessary step. Not acting, not committing, not choosing — that's also a form of loss. Sometimes deeper, slower, but real."
And that's when Kouki's nature changed. He understood that:
"Ignoring the world to protect your inner peace is sometimes betraying what you love most."
"You live to be comfortable. But the world you ignore, it doesn't forget. While you enjoy yourself, others suffer. And one day, what you refuse to see will come back — not to kill you… but to ask you: why didn't you do anything?"
And morally, it's a terrible but necessary lesson:
"We're not always blamed for what we do… but for what we could have done and didn't dare to. That's what Snow represents: the price of an 'almost effort.' And that's what transformed Kouki: never again would he want to 'just do what's necessary.'"
Snow's disappearance wasn't a simple accident. It revealed an existential decision that Kouki had made — that of not going all the way.
He had told himself: "I did what I could," but he knew, deep down, that he could have done more. And that's what haunted him. It wasn't the loss itself; it was the idea that he had accepted the inevitable too quickly so as not to suffer more.
"He knew that the worst was possible… but he preferred not to think about it."
This mechanism is profoundly human, but also fatal: by refusing to see the coming pain, we let it happen. It's the logic of comfort. The refusal of discomfort, even when it's for our own good.
Kouki, shaken, broke down in tears. He refused to continue living like that. He blamed himself for his mistake with Snow. Everything he had ignored, the suffering of others, but also his own… How could he live comfortably knowing that now?
Kiko, behind him, watched him in silence, her eyes filled with sadness.
"I want you to train me. To make me stronger. To make me a true shaman. I agree to become one, but… no way am I leaving Japan. This is my land, and I want to protect my country. I'm a Kane, it's true, but I'm also Japanese, dammit!"
The Karasuma elder was indignant.
"A Kane who refuses the call of his blood? That's an insult!"
Mother Kane thought for a moment, then spoke in a calm but firm voice.
"Take it easy, Jirō. He's setting a condition, not starting a war."
She turned to Kouki.
"Very well, Kouki. I will stay in Japan for a while,
to train you. Me, the best shaman of this millennium."
Jirō Karasuma is surprised.
— Mother! You?
— And I'll go even further. I'll suggest Kiko attend
our lessons. It will be a golden opportunity for the Karasuma clan.
Kiko is astonished, but interested.
— Me? Attend Mother Kane's training
in person?
Mother Kane smiles slightly.
— And in exchange for my help, 50% of your future mission earnings,
Kouki, will go to the Kane family, and 30% to the Karasuma family.
Kouki is surprised.
— Huh?! But...
— Don't forget, Kouki, you possess a unique power that
all the members of our clan covet. A power similar to mine. You have
enormous potential. One day, you will be able to handle Level 7 Zohōn
all by yourself, effortlessly. The potential gains are therefore colossal for the
Karasuma.
Jirō Karasuma thinks for a moment.
— So be it. That's an acceptable agreement.
Kouki suddenly realizes.
— Wait a minute! I'll only get 30% of my
own earnings?! That's robbery!
Jirō Karasuma replies with a smug smile.
— Consider yourself lucky to still be able to set foot on
Japanese soil, young man.
Mother Kane turns to Kouki.
— So, let's start training right away.
Kouki stops her short.
— Not so fast! I haven't been home since
last time, and my parents are going to kill me. I won't do any
training before I've been home. And since we're
on the other side of the world, I demand that you take me back immediately.
Mother Kane sighs.
— Very well. I'll accompany you. We'll leave tomorrow morning,
with my private jet. It will be an opportunity for me to see my brother again.