#btw. writing this has made me realise theres a semi feasible and very fucked up possibility for the nature of his mysterious exorcism power

[youkaigakkou-tl]

does seimei have clairvoyance as his divine magic? does that mean even human can have divine magic??

that's Haruaki's guess at least, and he's often (at least partially) right about stuff like this so 🤔

my personal interpretation (very biased) is that it's saying Seimei isn't entirely human and is at least some part god or youkai, because it would explain why he's so weird and also a lot of the weird dialogue choices (ranmaru telling douman "you're only human don't be reckless") but this is pretty interesting to think about so heres the 2 opposing theories

Theory 1: Seimei is entirely human

Seimei being entirely human and still able to use a form of youkai magic is possible, given the story's shown that gods and youkai aren't actually that different, since gods can become youkai and both are affected by Haruaki/Seimei's exorcism power (albeit to different degrees). it wouldn't be a stretch to say that humans and youkai aren't all that different either, given all the ways a human can become a youkai, and also the fact that they can interbreed. the only difference here it seems, is that humans don't have spirit energy, which is what divine magic runs off of. but then in this scenario it wouldn't be that weird for there to be a human born with spirit energy, as an outlier. (and also, just went back to read ch76, human life force = youkai spirit energy????)

but then at this point it gets into like, what makes a youkai a youkai? it's like irl science etymology, it's not like some higher power decided that "nekomata" are called "nekomata", its people assigning the name to the category "cats that have 2 tails". so if there was a human that had spirit energy, the one universal distinction between youkai and humans, wouldn't that just make him some kind of youkai? (shit. how did this veer off into "seimei isn't human" anyway. dammit.)

there's also the possibility that Seimei's clairvoyance has nothing to do with divine magic or any sort of youkai/god magic, but if that's the case why have Haruaki bring it up at all?

Theory 2: Seimei is not entirely human

by the way these 2 theories have no real bearing on "is Haruaki entirely human?", which is its own separate hypothetical that i have spent way too long thinking about.

Seimei not being entirely human does have precedent in the irl myths surrounding the guy, and is also the occam's razor in this situation i think.

but this would also mean that the "sees the future" and "exorcism powers" parts of his skillset come from different sources, given that in this case the clairvoyance would come from being part youkai/god and the exorcism powers... who knows lol?

well. this is working off the assumption that the exorcism power isn't based in spirit energy or any sort of youkai magic, given that its stated to "cleanse spirit energy" and also inferences from renren arc:

the only way this would have worked is if Haruaki and Amaaki looked the same to Kurai's spirit energy sight, whether Haruaki knew it or not. this is ALSO working off the assumption that Kurai knows what Haruaki looks like to his spirit energy sight, since they've met at the underground culture festival previously. (otherwise, if Amaaki at the Nyuudou mansion looked different from how Haruaki looked at the culture fes, Kurai would have noticed immediately)

OF COURSE, this is working off a 3rd layer of assumptions that Amaaki to the spirit sight looks like a regular human. it's just as possible that Ame and Haru look the same to the spirit sight but they're both different from how regular humans look, which would also fulfill "to the spirit sight, Haru = Ame ≠Yamazaki" (but also, if Haru did look significantly different from other humans to spirit sight, i think Takahashi would have strapped him to a dissection table by now) (ah shit now this started veering into "is haruaki human" territory)

so basically. his exorcism power probably doesn't come from spirit energy/youkai magic. (this is such a "no shit sherlock" statement on its own but i think it helps to iron out the possibilities)

this split in the skillset also makes a lot of sense, since Haruaki very much has the exorcism power but not the clairvoyance. (although. is this assumption actually true? does he actually not have clairvoyance? there is that scene in ch82 where he suddenly sees heian era Seimei. its so easily written off as general soul nonsense or part of the general kyoto nonsense, what with Byakko's disembodied voice calling for him as well, but with the knowledge now, it looks kinda 🤨. there's also the start of miki arc, where he has that dream about Seimei fighting the shutendouji, which could be 1. just a dream, 2. soul nonsense again, 3. clairvoyance??? 🤨) also, in ch87 after meeting Seimei, he sends Haruaki to Sano, which we now are told is a whole other type of divine magic!!

anyway. this scene is funny bc out of all the possible flashbacks, this one? since to the reader, in a meta sense, "haruaki's soul is going to get fixed" isn't a prediction at all its just what's going to happen. and also to the reader, Seimei is a inscrutable little shit who can do whatever he wants to do and say whatever he wants to say and trying to figure out why and how is a fool's errand and so you give up.

(but it is curious why this panel specifically, and why this quoted text, when right on the previous page Seimei was outright saying "i know how you're doing in the present and i know what's going to happen to you in the future")

(ive also seen people surprised that Haruaki remembered that encounter since he didn't have his memory soul piece yet. i didnt think it was that weird, since clearly even with just the 2 soul pieces he was conscious, heard where Sano was and went looking for him, and his short term memory was working since at the end of the same chapter he remembered Seimei telling him to "give his regards to Douman" minutes prior)

ok this went in all kinds of directions back to the questions in the actual ask...

does seimei have clairvoyance as his divine magic?

this is what Haruaki thinks is going on, and the manga puts focus on it either because he's somewhat right or there's another point to it.

does that mean even human can have divine magic?

given the story hasn't had much focus on humans, and all the human characters that get any focus are weird outliers (Haruaki, Seimei, past Douman) i think a more feasible version of the question to think about is "does that mean even Seimei, a human, can have divine magic", to which i think the "Seimei is human/nonhuman" thing could go either way without messing with the themes of the story, and there's not concrete evidence for or against either. in conclusion: idk lol