Natsume Yuujinchou Roku

Natsume Yujin-cho Roku

On the way home from school,

I went to a town a bit away

to buy a study book.

Good.

I made it in time.

Um, did you drop this?

Whew!

If you hadn't found this,

I would have left it there without realizing it.

Glad to help.

You in high school?

Yes.

What year?

Second year.

Then one year younger...

Can you take me to your school?

I want to see the person who this letter belongs to,

but I don't know what school they're at.

If you take me there, I'll find them myself.

Can you help me out?

A Day That Will

Someday

Come

What is it?

I was just thinking you're a really nice guy.

What's your relationship to the letter's owner?

Childhood friend.

Is that true?

It is.

I don't lie.

I'm Aoi.

Who are you?

Natsume...

You're honest.

Is that a problem?

No, just...

I was just thinking how my childhood friend was really stubborn.

Aoi-san had kind of a strange air about him.

Okay, see you tomorrow!

Yeah, bye!

Listen, if you cause trouble with one of our students, I'll knock you flat.

With those match-like arms of yours?

No way.

I'm pretty strong.

So am I.

Don't worry.

I'm just looking for my friend. That's all.

Of course,

even if I do find my friend, at this point...

Am I stupid?

What am I doing?

Is your childhood friend a girl?

Yeah.

Is that a problem?

No.

Natsume.

Nishimura.

You just leaving?

Yeah.

Almost time for practice exams.

Anyway, why are grinning out here all by yourself?

Nishimura can't see him?

So he's a youkai, huh?

You finally noticed?

You're a little dense.

Shut up!

What's wrong, Natsume?

No, um...

When someone mistakes you for a human, tell them.

If they realize later, they feel a little sad.

I see.

I'm sorry.

What's your friend's name?

Sonokawa Kaoru.

I think she should be in her third year.

Sonokawa Kaoru.

I don't know anybody in third year.

I don't think she went to your school.

If someone at your level was in the same school,

she would've made contact with you.

Kaoru can see youkai, too.

But she can only see youkai who sometimes match her wavelength.

Maybe she matches mine very well, because she could see me easily.

But something happened and we broke things off.

What happened?

Well...

Natsume.

Thanks for talking to me.

Yeah.

We broke things off.

That letter freaked me out so much, I almost went to see her.

I guess I'm leaving.

What did the letter say?

This?

This isn't a letter.

Inside it is...

Hey, Natsume!

They say that the new Nanatsujiya pastry has white bean jam filling!

A giant raccoon!

Nyanko-sensei!

Sensei?

Who's that crow-looking boy?

You know him?

Yeah.

My brothers said white raccoons are near the level of divine beings.

Aoi-san, calm down.

And look more carefully at this creature.

I, um... I am training to be a forest protector at Kagomedake.

I've heard that Kagomedake has a delicious sake spring.

The task of protecting the spring lies with my master, Doutaka-sama, and his students.

I like you!

Come have some tea at our place!

One of Doutaka's kids.

He's not with his flock, so this is a great chance!

I'll get even with you for all the misery you've caused!

Get back, Natsume.

Wimp.

Busy day.

Well, Forest Protectors probably get a lot of people hating them.

So that was the white raccoon's true form?

Call me Nyanko-sensei.

Thank you for driving it off.

Please, let me thank you.

Aoi-san, don't trust him!

I'm a bird-like youkai that used to live in Kakeiwayama forest.

That's the mountain on the other side of the next town over, right?

Yes.

I grew up in a flock, but I hurt my wings.

I left the flock and was alone.

And that was when I met Kaoru.

You're always up in the trees.

Are you from around here?

At first she didn't seem to realize that I was a youkai.

I see.

You're a youkai, huh?

I'm glad.

I'm so glad I have the power to see youkai.

After that she kept coming to the forest

and telling me about the world of men.

One day, several years later,

I went to town, just once.

I wanted to see the town where she lived.

And I realized...

Even in middle school, she was still coming to the forest all the time.

She was prioritizing me over her friends and relationships.

To everyone around her, she was a strange girl.

And then I realized we should separate.

But I kept putting it off,

and by the time she was in her second year of middle school,

she started to fall in love with me.

And so you ran?

Yes.

As embarrassed as I am to say it.

We couldn't live together.

At some point, our times would start to diverge.

As long as she was in love with a youkai,

she probably couldn't fall in love with a human.

And that would be a waste.

That was enough to convince me.

I ended my relationship with her and became a student of Doutaka.

I have fairly strong power,

so my older brothers have a high opinion of me, you see.

I see.

Yeah.

I was so busy with my training that, until a while ago, I forgot about Kaoru.

He said that,

but it looked to me like he was saying he'd put so much

effort into his training in order to forget about Kaoru-san.

What's that envelope?

Let me see what's inside!

Congratulations

Congratulations?!

An invitation to a wedding?

And it's in three days?

Kaoru-san's getting married?

But I don't know that high schoolers usually don't get married.

What?

I'm too smart to have messed up the math...

I'm too smart...

Sensei, is it possible that Kaoru-san is a lot older than we think?

Yeah, who knows when this letter was even sent?

It was in the mailbox at an abandoned house.

Mailbox?

I used it to communicate with Kaoru.

I hadn't gone to see it since I cut things off with her.

But there was a lull in my training,

and I went to take a look.

I didn't want to read it,

but the envelope on top caught my eye...

So I opened it.

You can read human language?

Yeah.

She...

Can I read it?

Aoi-chan, are you doing well?

I'm okay now.

I was lucky enough to meet someone who really cares about me.

So I won't wait for you anymore.

This is my last letter.