Background continued: Shinyuuchi hunting and the collapse of the Urakai (chapters 180-beyond): This is all part of the overall plot that leads to the end of the manga, though it's only one of the two major threads of plot that leads to that, so it's pretty big and a little complicated, harder to break into arcs than some of the other parts of the manga. Which is why it's a wall of text.
It becomes clear that someone is "hunting" shinyuuchi, stealing their power and causing the environment around those areas a great deal of harm. Sumimura Sumiko, Masamori's mother, comes under suspicion, while Masamori is tasked with repairing the space in the areas. The Ogi family is once again involved in placing suspicion on the Sumimuras, and Masamori decides to step up investigation into the Ogis, in hopes of destroying them. The Ogis then set up a situation to frame members of the Yagyou for killing a Lord of a shinyuuchi, a process that does not go entirely according to plan but does result in the deaths of three members of the Yagyou. In order to gain ammunition against Ogi, Masamori agrees to a deal with Okuni, trading information about his family and his mother in particular for information about Ogi. Masamori first tries to use the information to make a deal with Ogi Ichirou that would have resulted in a ceasefire. Ogi, however, does not accept, and the two get into an epic fight. The fight ends in something between a draw and Masamori winning, and Ogi Ichirou is revealed to have actually been six brothers from the Ogi family magically combined. Five of them escape, pushing the damage onto and abandoning Rokurou, the youngest. Masamori calls the Yagyou's healers to save Rokurou. But in order to save Rokurou it turns out Masamori needs more information, so he makes another deal with Okuni and the two become allies. The shinyuuchi hunting begins to target more key areas, making the problem much more serious. Troubles continue to plague Karasumori, and Masamori sends Yagyou members there to help as needed. Okuni devises a way to frame Ogi Ichirou for some of the shinyuuchi huntings and Masamori is sent to take care of Ichirou, but when Masamori and his forces arrive Ichirou is already dead, killed by his brother Shichirou, who was hired as an assassin. On the same night, Okuni is killed and her records of the Urakai burned. When the council of twelve next meets, another member voices a suspicion that Masamori planned both deaths. Shortly afterwards, that member is also assassinated (by Shichirou). Masamori becomes convinced that the people ordering these serial murders of executive members are also responsible for the shinyuuchi hunting and the forced dismantling of an organization of seers, the Serpent's Eye. Urakai's management office is also destroyed, killing those in it. Yumeji, second in command only to the ever-absent Founder, assumes control of the Urakai during this time of crisis. In order to protect some of the weaker or less devoted members, Masamori temporarily downsizes the Yagyou. He also raises a dog ayakashi, Kouya, from the dead and makes a deal with him. Kouya will help Masamori with backup and scouting as long as Masamori eventually returns Kouya to his old home. If Masamori fail to do this, Kouya will kill him, and in acknowledgement of that Masamori carves a ring of "x"s onto his own neck (it's a good thing he's always worn scarves, the fact that he's suddenly tying them tighter doesn't look too suspicious). Masamori begins to suspect that Urakai's Founder himself could be behind the incidents, but when he first tries to get information out of Yumeji regarding this he fails. With the help of the ghost of Okuni, Masamori uncovers some damning evidence linking both the Founder and Yumeji to the shinyuuchi hunting and other dangerous events, and they even discover that the Founder and Yumeji are actually Omi Nichinaga and Omi Tsukihisa, the brothers who founded the Urakai (I'll keep referring to them as Yumeji and the Founder, though, names in this series are already hard enough to keep track of). When Yumeji summons Masamori in hopes of recruiting Masamori in his retooling of the Urakai (and in hopes of preventing Masamori from finding out about an attack being staged on Karasumori at the same time), Masamori confronts Yumeji with this information, and manages to learn even more. However, their conversation is interrupted by one of the Founder's fighters, there to deliver a message to Yumeji. Yumeji flees and Masamori pursues him. Masamori attempts to convince Yumeji to let Masamori help resolve the issues between Yumeji and the Founder peacefully, but before their negotiation is complete the Founder's subordinate kills Yumeji. The conversation does, however, reveal that both the Founder and Yumeji have mind-control powers. Before she passes on into the next world, the ghost of Okuni tells Masamori why Karasumori is different from other Shinyuuchi (the power sealed there comes from a person). Masamori makes a brief visit to Karasumori to help out and check on things there, but returns to Urakai for the next meeting of the council of twelve, where he shares the information regarding the Founder and Yumeji's death. One member walks out, and another member, Meian, assumes control, appointing Masamori as his aid. Masamori continues to investigate the Founder, even going so far as to raise the ghost of Mudou in his quest for information. While a meeting of the council of twelve, with two more members absent, is being held, Urakai headquarters comes under attack. While it starts as a physical attack, the Founder comes and uses his powers to assume control of everyone at headquarters. Masamori, using his powers, is the only one able to escape. He returns to Yagyou headquarters, having basically just been confronted with everything he's worked for collapsing and all his inferiority issues being confirmed. In spite of this, Masamori doggedly pursues the few options available to try to end the founder's influence and re-establish the Urakai. He seeks to get the members of the Council of Twelve who weren't present for the attack to commit to reclaiming the headquarters, but that isn't going so well and he's really running on empty at the time I'll be taking him from. Because I'm mean like that.
Abilities: Kekkai-jutsu: Masamori is well-trained in the ability to create shields. These are usually cube shaped, but can be in pretty much any rectangular form. The shield can not only be used to protect, but can also be collapsed in a way that destroys whatever is inside it. Since they can be placed anywhere, they can be used for such things as leaping from shield to shield across the sky. They can be layered for greater effect, made so that some things pass through them while others remain trapped, or made so thin that if lengthened they can act as projectile weapons. The power can also be concentrated to form strings, called nenshi, that can attach to a target and be used to bind or pull them.
Zekkai: Technically a form of kekkai-jutsu, zekkai is different enough that it deserves to be explained on its own. It's the ability of the user to form an area around themselves that completely destroys any physical or magical constructs that enter it (though it's still vulnerable to, say, wind attacks). A zekkai can be just next to the skin, or a sphere with a diameter larger than the user is tall. Masamori tends to favor the kind with a diameter a foot or two greater than his height.
Landlord summoning/spreading shadow: Again technically a form of kekkai-jutsu. Some kekkaishi, Masamori included, can summon "landlords," which are basically familiars. Masamori's is a huge black koi called Kurohime. In addition to this, Masamori is able to create a sort of field for Kurohime to move through, which enables her to find things he's looking for in that area with great speed. Masamori is able to spread the "shadow," as he calls it, over an area as large as a middle-sized town. The shadow is, however, implied to be able to be sensed by anyone who is magically sensitive as a sinister distortion or a slightly oppressive force (other kekkaishi can even be woken up by it).
Shikigami: Everyone in the Sumimura family can use shikigami, which are kind of like spiritually powered paper dolls. Once they've been activated and imbued with the appropriate amount of power, shikigami can be anything from a play-doh like manikin that can be used for drudge work to full-fledged clones of the person who made them (it's great for skipping class).
It can probably also be assumed that Masamori can create paper wards and other similar charms, though he is never seen to because...he has bigger powers. (His father, however, is observed doing this.)
First Person: [Masamori peers at the camera for a moment before giving a friendly smile.] Ah, hello. It's still a little strange to be talking to a watch. [He laughs.]
I have a question, though. [[The smile becomes just a hint of an upward quirk of the lips, and his tone is serious.] I've heard that there are monsters of various kinds living in the park and areas outside the city. Is there any organization set up to deal with these creatures? My impression is that they don't discriminate in who or when they attack.
I...have some experience in a similar area. I would like to offer my help.
Third Person: (set pre-canon)
Masamori sifted through the new reports. There were more of them now than there had been just a few months ago. A good deal of it was small things- the sighting of a minor ayakashi in one village, rumors that the ones on a certain mountain were growing more hostile. Those were things that a lot of the members of the recently-formed Yagyou would probably have been sent out to deal with as training even if they had been channeled into other divisions. But it showed that the Urakai were becoming used to the Yagyou- they were learning to trust it, to rely on it. Masamori smiled.
A few of the reports were more troubling. He'd have to send a team to scout out the situation to the south that looked like a gathering of ayakashi. No new recruits for that one, it would need to be some of those who had experience under Mudou. The smile Masamori had worn drained completely. That wasn't in these reports. The Urakai had lost- he had lost- Mudou's trail, and would only pick it back up again when there was fresh blood on it.
He forced his focus back to the page in front of him. Maybe one or two newer recruits wouldn't hurt the team. Fresh blood could always be useful.
He pulled the next paper from the pile. A powerful ayakashi had been spotted moving into urban areas. Areas close to Karasumori. Masamori gently moved the other papers to the side and reached for his cell phone.
"Hatori? Yeah, it's me. I'm calling a meeting, there are a few jobs we need to discuss." He picked up the last report and moved it onto the stack with the others. "I'll probably take care of a few of them myself."
[Canon] Masamori Sumimura | Kekkaishi | not reserved 2/2
Shinyuuchi hunting and the collapse of the Urakai (chapters 180-beyond): This is all part of the overall plot that leads to the end of the manga, though it's only one of the two major threads of plot that leads to that, so it's pretty big and a little complicated, harder to break into arcs than some of the other parts of the manga. Which is why it's a wall of text.
It becomes clear that someone is "hunting" shinyuuchi, stealing their power and causing the environment around those areas a great deal of harm. Sumimura Sumiko, Masamori's mother, comes under suspicion, while Masamori is tasked with repairing the space in the areas. The Ogi family is once again involved in placing suspicion on the Sumimuras, and Masamori decides to step up investigation into the Ogis, in hopes of destroying them. The Ogis then set up a situation to frame members of the Yagyou for killing a Lord of a shinyuuchi, a process that does not go entirely according to plan but does result in the deaths of three members of the Yagyou. In order to gain ammunition against Ogi, Masamori agrees to a deal with Okuni, trading information about his family and his mother in particular for information about Ogi. Masamori first tries to use the information to make a deal with Ogi Ichirou that would have resulted in a ceasefire. Ogi, however, does not accept, and the two get into an epic fight. The fight ends in something between a draw and Masamori winning, and Ogi Ichirou is revealed to have actually been six brothers from the Ogi family magically combined. Five of them escape, pushing the damage onto and abandoning Rokurou, the youngest. Masamori calls the Yagyou's healers to save Rokurou. But in order to save Rokurou it turns out Masamori needs more information, so he makes another deal with Okuni and the two become allies. The shinyuuchi hunting begins to target more key areas, making the problem much more serious. Troubles continue to plague Karasumori, and Masamori sends Yagyou members there to help as needed. Okuni devises a way to frame Ogi Ichirou for some of the shinyuuchi huntings and Masamori is sent to take care of Ichirou, but when Masamori and his forces arrive Ichirou is already dead, killed by his brother Shichirou, who was hired as an assassin. On the same night, Okuni is killed and her records of the Urakai burned. When the council of twelve next meets, another member voices a suspicion that Masamori planned both deaths. Shortly afterwards, that member is also assassinated (by Shichirou). Masamori becomes convinced that the people ordering these serial murders of executive members are also responsible for the shinyuuchi hunting and the forced dismantling of an organization of seers, the Serpent's Eye. Urakai's management office is also destroyed, killing those in it. Yumeji, second in command only to the ever-absent Founder, assumes control of the Urakai during this time of crisis. In order to protect some of the weaker or less devoted members, Masamori temporarily downsizes the Yagyou. He also raises a dog ayakashi, Kouya, from the dead and makes a deal with him. Kouya will help Masamori with backup and scouting as long as Masamori eventually returns Kouya to his old home. If Masamori fail to do this, Kouya will kill him, and in acknowledgement of that Masamori carves a ring of "x"s onto his own neck (it's a good thing he's always worn scarves, the fact that he's suddenly tying them tighter doesn't look too suspicious). Masamori begins to suspect that Urakai's Founder himself could be behind the incidents, but when he first tries to get information out of Yumeji regarding this he fails. With the help of the ghost of Okuni, Masamori uncovers some damning evidence linking both the Founder and Yumeji to the shinyuuchi hunting and other dangerous events, and they even discover that the Founder and Yumeji are actually Omi Nichinaga and Omi Tsukihisa, the brothers who founded the Urakai (I'll keep referring to them as Yumeji and the Founder, though, names in this series are already hard enough to keep track of). When Yumeji summons Masamori in hopes of recruiting Masamori in his retooling of the Urakai (and in hopes of preventing Masamori from finding out about an attack being staged on Karasumori at the same time), Masamori confronts Yumeji with this information, and manages to learn even more. However, their conversation is interrupted by one of the Founder's fighters, there to deliver a message to Yumeji. Yumeji flees and Masamori pursues him. Masamori attempts to convince Yumeji to let Masamori help resolve the issues between Yumeji and the Founder peacefully, but before their negotiation is complete the Founder's subordinate kills Yumeji. The conversation does, however, reveal that both the Founder and Yumeji have mind-control powers. Before she passes on into the next world, the ghost of Okuni tells Masamori why Karasumori is different from other Shinyuuchi (the power sealed there comes from a person). Masamori makes a brief visit to Karasumori to help out and check on things there, but returns to Urakai for the next meeting of the council of twelve, where he shares the information regarding the Founder and Yumeji's death. One member walks out, and another member, Meian, assumes control, appointing Masamori as his aid. Masamori continues to investigate the Founder, even going so far as to raise the ghost of Mudou in his quest for information. While a meeting of the council of twelve, with two more members absent, is being held, Urakai headquarters comes under attack. While it starts as a physical attack, the Founder comes and uses his powers to assume control of everyone at headquarters. Masamori, using his powers, is the only one able to escape. He returns to Yagyou headquarters, having basically just been confronted with everything he's worked for collapsing and all his inferiority issues being confirmed. In spite of this, Masamori doggedly pursues the few options available to try to end the founder's influence and re-establish the Urakai. He seeks to get the members of the Council of Twelve who weren't present for the attack to commit to reclaiming the headquarters, but that isn't going so well and he's really running on empty at the time I'll be taking him from. Because I'm mean like that.
Abilities:
Kekkai-jutsu: Masamori is well-trained in the ability to create shields. These are usually cube shaped, but can be in pretty much any rectangular form. The shield can not only be used to protect, but can also be collapsed in a way that destroys whatever is inside it. Since they can be placed anywhere, they can be used for such things as leaping from shield to shield across the sky. They can be layered for greater effect, made so that some things pass through them while others remain trapped, or made so thin that if lengthened they can act as projectile weapons. The power can also be concentrated to form strings, called nenshi, that can attach to a target and be used to bind or pull them.
Zekkai: Technically a form of kekkai-jutsu, zekkai is different enough that it deserves to be explained on its own. It's the ability of the user to form an area around themselves that completely destroys any physical or magical constructs that enter it (though it's still vulnerable to, say, wind attacks). A zekkai can be just next to the skin, or a sphere with a diameter larger than the user is tall. Masamori tends to favor the kind with a diameter a foot or two greater than his height.
Landlord summoning/spreading shadow: Again technically a form of kekkai-jutsu. Some kekkaishi, Masamori included, can summon "landlords," which are basically familiars. Masamori's is a huge black koi called Kurohime. In addition to this, Masamori is able to create a sort of field for Kurohime to move through, which enables her to find things he's looking for in that area with great speed. Masamori is able to spread the "shadow," as he calls it, over an area as large as a middle-sized town. The shadow is, however, implied to be able to be sensed by anyone who is magically sensitive as a sinister distortion or a slightly oppressive force (other kekkaishi can even be woken up by it).
Shikigami: Everyone in the Sumimura family can use shikigami, which are kind of like spiritually powered paper dolls. Once they've been activated and imbued with the appropriate amount of power, shikigami can be anything from a play-doh like manikin that can be used for drudge work to full-fledged clones of the person who made them (it's great for skipping class).
It can probably also be assumed that Masamori can create paper wards and other similar charms, though he is never seen to because...he has bigger powers. (His father, however, is observed doing this.)
First Person:
[Masamori peers at the camera for a moment before giving a friendly smile.] Ah, hello. It's still a little strange to be talking to a watch. [He laughs.]
I have a question, though. [[The smile becomes just a hint of an upward quirk of the lips, and his tone is serious.] I've heard that there are monsters of various kinds living in the park and areas outside the city. Is there any organization set up to deal with these creatures? My impression is that they don't discriminate in who or when they attack.
I...have some experience in a similar area. I would like to offer my help.
Third Person: (set pre-canon)
Masamori sifted through the new reports. There were more of them now than there had been just a few months ago. A good deal of it was small things- the sighting of a minor ayakashi in one village, rumors that the ones on a certain mountain were growing more hostile. Those were things that a lot of the members of the recently-formed Yagyou would probably have been sent out to deal with as training even if they had been channeled into other divisions. But it showed that the Urakai were becoming used to the Yagyou- they were learning to trust it, to rely on it. Masamori smiled.
A few of the reports were more troubling. He'd have to send a team to scout out the situation to the south that looked like a gathering of ayakashi. No new recruits for that one, it would need to be some of those who had experience under Mudou. The smile Masamori had worn drained completely. That wasn't in these reports. The Urakai had lost- he had lost- Mudou's trail, and would only pick it back up again when there was fresh blood on it.
He forced his focus back to the page in front of him. Maybe one or two newer recruits wouldn't hurt the team. Fresh blood could always be useful.
He pulled the next paper from the pile. A powerful ayakashi had been spotted moving into urban areas. Areas close to Karasumori. Masamori gently moved the other papers to the side and reached for his cell phone.
"Hatori? Yeah, it's me. I'm calling a meeting, there are a few jobs we need to discuss." He picked up the last report and moved it onto the stack with the others. "I'll probably take care of a few of them myself."