#Natsumanga

[joelletwo]

summary of natsuyuu chapter 128 - start of The Sealed-Off Storehouse arc

new arc (sort of) new post! my previous summaries for the preceding related arcs here. we continue increasing the cast of exorcist-related characters... and we see some familiar ones :)

Ms. Iwami comes to visit Takuma, saying her grandfather always told her if there was a problem she didn’t understand, she could rely on Takuma. She wants him to take a look at something, but he tells her he’s lost his youkai sight and wouldn’t be any help if it's actually dangerous. He’s happy to hear her out, though, since her grandfather helped him when he was a young unknown exorcist. But she suddenly gets flustered over coming to him over something as silly as a joke her grandfather had played on her, saying she’ll enter her storehouse after all. She leaves, crossing paths with Natori and Natsume at the door.

(natsume: natori-san you can't just burst in 😰)

(natori: were you visiting? iwami: it's not important. pay no attention to the opening scene)

(takuma: what's all this about, shuuichi-kun? natori: *prompts his little buddy to take charge*)

Takuma asks why they’ve come, and Natsume explains that he wants help looking into the painting he found at the exorcist auction.

(takuma: why were you at an exorcist auction!!! natori, already been thru this: that's what i'm saying. natsume's actual next response: well... there were various circumstances...)

Natori thinks Takuma will know more than he does, although the auction was highly anonymous, since he has more industry connections. Takuma’s happy to help since Natsume helped him with his shiki before. First, they ask about the visitor from before. Takuma explains she's the granddaughter of a close friend of his mentor’s, and he’s worried about not being able to help with her situation.

Natori and Natsume go to meet with her to put him at ease. Natori says Natsume didn’t have to come (which Nyanko agrees with), but Natsume wants to hear from as many people as possible while he’s looking into the painting. Natori asks him what kind of person Reiko was. From the yokai, you only hear that she was "violent," from humans, she was "weird," but in that painting, Natsume saw a different Reiko he’s unfamiliar with. If he could hear about the Reiko that painter knew…

They’re interrupted by fangirls recognizing Natori, irritating Nyanko, who asks why they had to take the bus instead of Natori’s car. He laughs and says it’s a habit from his student days, when he'd daydream that if he went out to places with lots of people, someone would eventually recognize his gecko and call out to him.

(natori, about to say something really heartbreaking: it's because i'm a romantic ^_^)

(iwami: no one's gone in that storehouse for decades. natori: you're saying...? iwami: there's "something that will curse you if you look at it" in there.)

Ms. Iwami welcomes them as Takuma’s representatives and fusses over a “if you look at it, you’ll be cursed” story her grandfather always told her about something in the storehouse on the property, which might’ve just been a story to keep the kids out, and which she can’t decide if she believes or not now that she's reorganizing after her father’s passing. Nyanko calls the Iwami house creepy, as it’s filled with lots of strange things, like a weird wall hanging Natsume is startled by.

Natori and Natsume go to check out the storehouse at her urging. Natori’s shiki go in to investigate first, but Natsume stops Hiiragi, checking if she’ll be okay in a place that might remind her of bad memories. She assures him she’s used to storehouses after helping with Natori’s work for so long, and that she doesn’t regret those memories anyways, as they led to her meeting Natsume and Natori.

Natori’s shiki report nothing strange. Natori goes in to make sure, and Natsume asks to come with, saying he doesn’t want to miss any more hidden connections to Reiko. Natori makes them both paper dolls that will absorb a single curse in their place as a precaution.

(natori telling natsume the same thing natsume's been telling tanuma when he tags along in recent arcs: and you prooooomise to leave if anything goes wrong, right? ^_^)

He lights incense that will be attracted to any curse if there’s one to be found, but it takes time to accumulate. In the meantime, they look around the place: Natori for clues, Nyanko for treasures, and Natsume for anything about Reiko. Natori finds the texts of a famous exorcist.

(natori: huh? natsume: ! don't tell me you found the curse... natori: no, it's a book of Mr. Shirakouji... it really is a treasure 0_0;;)

Nyanko spots a wall of photos, all featuring prominent exorcists (including a younger Takuma, and Takuma’s mentor) with the same man accompanying them. While they’re looking at him, Ms. Iwami calls them back for a break.

She says the man is probably her grandfather, who had connections to and sponsored all sorts of exorcists through her (non-Sighted) family’s commitment to the traditions, which meant she gets sent all sorts of thank-you gifts for him, including the wall hanging Natsume saw earlier. Natsume startles to look and see it’s moved, though Iwami denies that and says its just a picture of the great youkai protecting her house. She suddenly gets confused about who told her the “curse you if you look at it” story, remembering a ghostly figure, but shakes it off.

(iwami: don't worry about it! me: okay yay ^_^ 💕)

Natori asks about Takuma. She says he was a wonderfully skilled disciple her grandfather’s friend took under his wing who her grandfather sponsored after seeing his talent. Natori is happy to hear him praised.

They go back out to the storehouse, relieved nothing’s happened so far. Natori and Nyanko agree something feels strange, though, wondering if there’s a barrier. They notice Natori’s incense has gathered around a ceiling tile.

(natori: hey, watch it =_=;)

Natori pushes it up and finds a second floor to the storehouse with ofuda talismans on the rafters hiding it from discovery, possibly what the incense reacted to, but Natori cautions them to stay guarded anyways. He quickly spots a mirror with ink writing on it and tells them not to look at their reflections, as it’s enchanted, saying it’s probably the “something that curses you if you look at it.”

(chapter end)

[souenkun]

Collapsing to the floor once I learned that yorishima refers to kusakabe as his precious friend (大事な友人) in the jp raws. So much for "it wasn't a close relationship to say the least"... he's the grumpiest tsundere ojiisan ever 😭🤚

[deadgrantaires]

one day ill read natsumanga and be able to have in detail discussions abt the later arcs w my beloved mutuals U_U

[joelletwo]

vomits. hang on let me try to get all my repeated thoughts out at once. first time actually speaking to each other in the present day in the entirety of the series and it took 92 chapters. i used to say this was matoba with a look of instinctual hatred which i no longer think but i do love that its an instinctual Reaction that he has to tamp down and that is given beautiful large-real-estate-on-the-page focus and a mirror in natori's.

natori terrified bc he hasnt been around for any of the matoba-natsume interactions that have mostly defanged matoba. but he is the trespasser in this arc so he has to play nice around his ex down the street from their emotionally significant loquat memory he was already thinking about while he panics about his ex trying to kill his teen best friend. and then he [horny redacted] well we'll get to that liveblogging later.

um um what else. they look beautiful here. im gonna throw up.

[joelletwo]

NATSUME DAD 😭😭

[joelletwo]

got stuck on this page for the last couple hours cant get anywhere with any single sentence kjsfd all the Topics shes talking about are obvious enough and again i more or less Get It but exactly what grammatically shes saying about them is. a mystery to me

[joelletwo]

👁👄👁

shinobu: if you do good work next time, i'll put on that black dress* 😏

[joelletwo]

natsume: so i was in this place for exorcists...

takuma: why were you in such a place!!!!!!!

natori who has already had to process this heart attack: i'm saying. =____=

[joelletwo]

the immediacy is kind of funny lol. guy who literally cannot handle any small show of kindness from his only two friends who hate him he has to go sit on the I Hate My Life bench about it and mope instantaneously. cant even respond.

[joelletwo]

(Muddling thru from the beginning squinting at 2px of furigana) am i reading iwamis grandfathers name right. Keisou. Thats a odd one i havent heard

[joelletwo]

jackass swaggy siblings

[joelletwo]

khskjgfg WHOA HI!!!!!!!!!!

[joelletwo]

okay! hot guy.

[joelletwo]

what kind of person was reiko? from the yokai, you hear she was "violent," from humans, she was "weird," but in that painting...

[joelletwo]

[ID from alt: natsuyuu panel of yorishima sighing and saying, stressed, "i want to go home" and natsume replying "stay strong, mr. yorishima."]

obligatory sigh i want to go home stay strong yorishima-san sunday u__u

[joelletwo]

私はロマンチストだから Watashi wa romanchisuto dakara

like im p sure [leaving again before i can hunt this down] when tanuma says 'romantic' its romanchiku. i wonder what matoba says in homura [not hunting that down rn either]. is natori just putting a fancy-sounding flair on it. jackass <3