Chapter 221: Fissure

Chapter 221
Chapter Details
Volume:	23
Japanese Title:	地割れ
Translated Title:	Jiware
English Title:	Fissure
Released (Japan):	January 16, 2009

Characters (in order of appearance)

• Hakubi
• Tokine Yukimura
• Madarao
• Yoshimori Sumimura
• Sen Kagemiya
• Shu Akitsu
• Man
• Cyclops Deity
• Ability User Army
• Kyoichi Hiba
• Shigemori Sumimura
• Saki
• Shinyuuchi Hunter
• Suigetsu

Summary

Yoshimori, Tokine, Madarao, and Hakubi rush to Karasumori Academy. Sen Kagemiya and Shu Akitsu have already arrived., and lead them to where a huge fissure has developed in the schoolyard. A man who lives near Mount Okubi looks at the full moon, and notices that the mountain top seems lower than usual. A monstrous head rises from the mountain, and an armed force of ability users rushes to meet it. They identify the creature as being the god of the area, but attack it to prevent it from destroying the land. After the head is defeated and restrained, the army checks the amount of casualties. Suddenly, the head begins to struggle, but before the army can kill it, the head is rescued by its headless body.

Kyoichi Hiba comes to the Sumimura Home to inform Shigemori of the Mount Okubi incident, and mentions to Yoshimori that Sen wanted to explain it to him. At the school that night, Yoshimori and Tokine meet with Sen and Shu again. Sen tells them that Mount Okubi, the central Shinyuuchi of the Tohaki region, was destroyed. Unlike the previously attacked sites, Mount Okubi was of far greater importance, as it gave balance to the Shinyuuchi around it. The Night Troop evacuated citizens and closed off the area, but the god remains on a rampage. Tokine suspects there is a connection between the incident and the fissure in the schoolyard. Sen agrees it is likely, and says that in addition to Saki's prophecy, more precise prophecies have surfaced prediction locations likely to be attacked: Mount Okubi was first on the list, and Karasumori was next. Yoshimori and Tokine are alarmed, but Sen says there may be reinforcements on the way, but that Central Intelligence may come to Karasumori. Yoshimori angrily shouts that they should be catching the Shinyuuchi Hunters, and wishes he had been able to destroy the one he met in Hidagou.

The Shinyuuchi Hunter (now unmasked) appears at a cabin, where a woman is mourning a deceased girl. She asks him to cremate the body. The woman is sad because the task the girl was given caused her death, but she knows that a new child will be selected as their Kekkaishi, while she can only watch. The Shinyuuchi Hunter suggests using a better Kekkaishi, but the woman tells him that their master thinks using a weaker Kekkaishi, and then enhancing their ability, will be easier to control. However, she admits that if they had a stronger Kekkaishi, maybe they wouldn't need to watch so many children die. The Shinyuuchi Hunter assures the woman (identified as Suigetsu) that he will take care of the body, and she asks him to handle it gently.

At the school, Yoshimori tells the land that he will protect it. Oddly enough, he hears a muted reponse in his head. Yoshimori mistakes it for Madarao, but the voice seems to be coming from Karasumori itself.