Chapter 079.5 is the seventy-ninth.fifth chapter of Volume 13.
Summary[]
Plot Overview[]
Long ago when the world was drowned in a dense darkness, a land god accepted a wild fox he'd found as his familiar. Back in that time, a young girl is victimized by a yokai when Tomoe appears under the orders of Mikage to kill the yokai. The young girl jumps to Tomoe, begging he save her life but Tomoe is disgusted by the touch of human and drives her away with fox-fire, letting the yokai escape. Mikage, having seen it all, scolds Tomoe for treating humans so unkindly.
Tomoe wipes his hands on Mikage, saying that a human touched him. Mikage yells that he was not a hand towel and lectures Tomoe throughout the rest of the night. Meanwhile, the shrine spirits wonder why Mikage accepted Tomoe when he was giving such a bad reputation to the shrine. Kotetsu says that Otohiko would be coming. Tomoe overhears and the shrine spirits tell him that tomorrow he must not forget his duty as a familiar and make Mikage lose face.
He tells himself it wasn't as if he wanted to become a familiar anyway. Inside, Mikage worries about Tomoe's attitude and Onikiri asks him why he'd let Tomoe become his familiar. Mikage replies it was his face. Death was written all over it despite Tomoe claiming that the blood was not his own. On the bridge, the yokai from last night tease Tomoe for being a familiar and tempt him to go into the water but Tomoe only insults back. Suddenly, the human from before appears and tries to thank Tomoe. Tomoe tells her she must be careful or he might eat her.
The girl says she knew he wouldn't since he was beautiful and white and reaches to touch his face. Tomoe slaps her away, vaguely remembering Yukiji's hand also reaching for him when she was dying. Mikage appears and stops him and tells the girl to go home. Alone, Mikage asks Tomoe why he hated humans so much. Tomoe says it was because he didn't want to deal with such weak beings.
However, Mikage says it was Tomoe who was weak to raise a hand against innocent humans. Finally, Otohiko visits Mikage who wonders if he'd treated Tomoe too harshly. Tomoe wanders around and spots Otohiko's dog familiars. It jumps up and runs and Tomoe chases after it, finding the girl from before, possessed by the yokai, about to jump the bridge. She falls and Tomoe remembers Mikage's words to him and jumps in to save the girl. The river yokai attack and Tomoe slices at them, unable to use fox-fire underwater.
Unable to stand the thought of the girl dying, he saves her. Mikage appears and tells Tomoe that what he did was admirable. When Otohiko leaves, the shrine spirits tells Tomoe to pour sake for Mikage because it was a familiar's duty to do so. Tomoe thinks that though it was not his decision to become a familiar, for as long as he was with Mikage, he didn't mind being a familiar or anything.