Sea of the Wind, Shore of the Maze, Prologue

exhale, you should exhale  lightly. This is also something you should practice during ordinary times. Otherwise, it will be hard to make  a habit out of it."
    "I should breathe in through my nose and breathe out through my mouth."
    "When you want to avoid youma, you should employ the Uho walk."
    Keiki demonstrated a special method of walking for Taiki.
    "If you encounter a youma and you want to avoid eye contact with them, then you should use Koushi,  Teeth-striking. The Tsuitenban works especially well, wherein you firmly bite down the right part of your  jaw. If you want to concentrate your spirit, sound your front teeth. This is called Meitenko."
    Taiki sighed. "Can I really remember all of this?"
    "You can remember them very quickly, but in order to perform them skillfully, you must still practice.
    You only need to ask the nyosen and they can all teach them to you."
    "Okay."
    "Just then, I used the Nine-word Mantra to stop Jakko from running away. You need to hold your  hands like so."
    Taiki imitated Keiki's clasped hands.
    "This is called the Sword Seal. Ready your hands at your waist, draw your sword, and then perform  four verticals and five horizontals."
    Keiki took Taiki's hands and gestured with them.
    "Now say, 'Rin, Byou, Tou, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zen, Gyou.'"
    "...This is really hard."
    "You'll be able to say it with some more practice. The movements must be well-executed. Once you  see your opponent lose his aggression, you need to say an incantation. However, this requires knowledge of  divination. Just remember this much for now: 'Shinchoku Meichoku, Tensei Chisei. Jinkun Seikun, Fuo  Fudaku. Kimi Koubuku, Onmyou Wagou. Kyukyu Nyo Ritsurei!'"
    Taiki looked very anxiously up at Keiki, and Keiki forced a smile.
    "Kimi Koubuku, the monster submits; Onmyou Wagou, the light and the dark unite. Kyukyu Nyo  Ritsurei, quickly according to the laws."
    "Um... Okay."
    "And then put your right hand on your head with your palm facing outward to receive the Will of the  Heavens, and your left hand should be pointing down toward your feet. Then, call out the name of the  youma. Sometimes only the sound of his name appears in your mind, and sometimes the characters for them  will also appear. All of this is instinctive to a kirin."
    "Yes."
    Taiki heaved a sigh. Keiki patted a very discouraged looking Taiki.
    "We still have a bit of time before the shiki spreads through, so go find a few small youma and practice  a little."
    Taiki nodded. However, at the end of the day, not one youma fell under the spell of his incantations.
    The summer solstice finally arrived.
    Taiki was sound asleep in his bed when Sanshi tried to stir him awake.
    Yesterday--or more accurately, it wasn't until very early this morning that Taiki returned from the  Yellow Sea, out cold in Sanshi's arms. She looked at his expression as he was sleeping deeply, and although  she was not heartless enough to want to wake him up, if she had let him continue sleeping, Taiki would  certainly regret it very much.
    "Are you awake yet, Taiki?"
    Suddenly, Youka's voice carried itself over here, and the cloth curtain was lifted open. Youka poked  her head in to look around, and she smirked.
    "Oh, really..." Youka smiled and looked at Sanshi. "It looks like he played until really late yesterday.
    Any results?"
    Sanshi shook her head.
    Even though they stayed in the Yellow Sea until the middle of the night, in the end he still wasn't able  to subdue a youma. Keiki and the nyosen were at one side helping him out with the divination, but the  youma were still able to escape Taiki's glare. Though neither of them said it, Keiki and Sanshi both knew  that Taiki was not aggressive enough.
    "I see... Then he must have been very discouraged. Even though we may not want to, we should still  wake him up."
    Sanshi nodded and shook Taiki again. "Taiki..."
    Youka completely lifted up the curtain, letting the sunlight in. "Taiki, get up quickly, or else Kei Taiho  will have left."
    "Oh..." Taiki finally moved a little bit. However, he flipped over and again they heard his level  breathing.
    "Well..."
    "Well, he is still a child."
    Hearing someone behind them, Youka and Sanshi hurriedly looked back toward the entrance.
    "Genkun!"
    Gyokuyou laughed softly. "It looks like we can't wake him up."
    "We were out so late yesterday. Just let him sleep," said Keiki who had been behind Gyokuyou.
    Hearing this, Youka became flustered. "That would be too impolite.