Kaeru Natsu – Chigira Takumi

I actually finished Chigira’s route yesterday, but I couldn’t finish typing since my hand hurts. It’s all better today though, so here’s the true route in Kaeru Natsu. This is the best route ever. ♥

The snarky, sadistic senior in the broadcast club. Normally Chigira is too lazy to move and would rather sleep all day. But once it sparks his interests, he’ll do anything no matter how troublesome it is. His hobby is to pester people until they give up, and he also loves leading newbies to hard dungeons in online games. Nothing he does is for free, so he always asks for a payment in return of any help he offers. Speaks in a fake kansai dialect.

On June 30, Fuu wakes Chigira up in the reference room. He ends up going shopping with her just to avoid club, since Ren’s chasing yet another mystery. Chigira treats her some sweets and Fuu offers him a bite from her spoon, and he says it’d be an indirect kiss.. but he eats it anyway after telling her not to tell the others. (*ﾉ∀ﾉ)ｷｬｰ It starts raining on the way back to the dorm, so Chigira covers Fuu’s head with his jersey and carries her shopping bags. This shocked everyone in the dorm, but Ren says Chigira’s actually good at taking care of other people lol.

At school Yoshiko’s talking about a famous drama, which Masaomi also watches last night. It’s from a cellphone novel and the story’s about a girl living in a boy’s dorm — just like Fuu lol. Yoshiko also says she loves a rain scene which is basically what happened to Chigira and Fuu yesterday, and Touya thinks Fuu might have some feelings for Chigira since she keeps thinking about it. Later on during club, Chigira gives a long string of button commands for Fuu’s training.. and she ends up breaking the tsukkomi machine because of it. xD

Since Fuu’s curious about love, Chigira tells her to find a random guy and just start dating to know how it feels. At night she also asks everyone about love, but she keeps taking it the wrong way. Like thinking of the person you love makes you insomniac. (*ﾉ∀｀)ﾟo｡ｱﾋｬｬ Eventually Misaki tells her it feels “fluffy” though it depends on the person. The next day, a letter for their radio program gives Chigira a brilliant idea: pretend Fuu and him are dating just to surprise Ren and Yuuki. His plan failed though since they didn’t believe it, so he takes Fuu for a “strategy meeting” after school lol.

Yoshiko loves romance, so when Fuu tells her about this, she made a secret note listing things that couples do. Fuu gives this note to Chigira, and the first thing on the list is to whisper sweet words to each other. At first Fuu whispers “sugar”, but later she changes it to “Your curly hair looks nice today.” ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵ She asks him to do the same, and Chigira pushes her down since it’s also on the list. (*ﾉ∀ﾉ)ｲﾔﾝ Fuu’s expression doesn’t change though, so Chigira touches her chest just to make her blush and look at him as a guy. Then he falls asleep on top of her, making her sleepy as well.

Fuu has a nostalgic dream and feels she heard Chigira’s voice. He’s standing outside when she wakes up, and she sees a mark on his arm — but he quickly covers it with his jersey. After telling Fuu to go home, Chigira tells Togami to show himself. Togami has been watching them, thinking that his teacher might have fallen in love. ( *´艸`)ｸｽｯ♪ He’s not happy about this though, and he snaps when everyone in the dorm says it’s okay for people to fall in love freely.

At night everyone joins Misaki’s night patrol. They meet Chigira on the way and split up into two groups, with Chigira leading the second one since he’s strong enough to protect everyone if something happens. Chigira wanted to surprise the couples making out in the dark, but they end up going to the pond instead. He tells a ghost story to scare Mukuto, which is about soul-eating youkai that target people with a certain dama in their bodies. This is actually about the Karasu-Tengus who used to take out haraedamas from people’s bodies, but it’s not explained until much later.

On Sunday, Misaki takes everyone to an eco volunteer event. Fuu meets Chigira when she’s cleaning the Tsukiyado shrine, and he decides to follow her around since he’s bored.. though Fuu is hoping it’s because he wants to be with her. (*´∀`*) Chigira also returns Yoshiko’s memo, and Fuu finally reads the list: “say sweet words, act lovey-dovey, push each other down, hold hands, kiss in public..” (*ﾉ∀｀)ﾟo｡ｱﾋｬｬ Chigira wants to do the last one, but Fuu says she can’t kiss someone she doesn’t have a feeling for. But then Chigira moves closer and asks “What if I take responsibility?” and Fuu tells him to go ahead if he’s serious, otherwise he should stop.

Chigira laughs saying he’ll accept her “confession”, but Fuu refuses knowing he’s not serious. He also forces her to say that they’re really dating in front of their friends, and they believe it since Chigira is acting all nice and polite in front of them.

One day after school Kazuhi takes Fuu to the pond, where he tells Fuu to become a youkai and use her purification power to keep the land clean. He’s giving her some time to think about it, telling her to sacrifice herself for everyone’s sake. That night Chigira comes over for a Tanabata dinner, but Mukuto avoids him and Yuuki is sick. Ren tells Chigira not to fool around with Fuu, and Misaki adds everyone in the dorm will kill him if he makes Fuu cry. As Fuu walks with Chigira outside, the mark on his arm starts glowing.. but Fuu pretends not to see thinking it’s something she’s not supposed to see.

After Fuu goes back to the dorm, Chigira meets up with Togami who calls him to the park. Togami tells him they need to completely cleanse Tsukiyado as soon as possible. The shrines containing their mirror pieces got moved thanks to the town reconstruction plan, weakening the barrier sealing all the dirt in Tsukiyado pond. However, Chigira isn’t pleased that Togami’s getting a little too far into this issue, so he disowns him as a disciple and tells him to go away.

Since Yuuki’s sick, Mukuto feels bad and wants to apologize about their fight a few days ago. After consulting with Fuu he tells Yuuki he’s sorry, but Yuuki’s like “You don’t have to apologize, we’ll lose our memories anyway.” The piggy bank that absorbs the dirt in their haraedamas is broken for an unknown reason, and if Touya can’t fix it he’ll have to take their haraedamas out — erasing their memories as well. Mukuto and Yuuki forgive each other though, they’re friends after all.

Soon Togami comes back and drops a mirror piece he’s carrying, with black smoke coming out from it. He ends up learning about their secret, especially since Masaomi tells him they became frogs, but it doesn’t matter since he also admits he’s a Karasu-Tengu lol. Togami also helps them looking for Touya, since he doesn’t come to visit them lately. The watch Touya gave them turns transparent, which means something cuts its link to Touya.

Touya’s scent leads them to a small shrine near the pond, and they meet Chigira there. He’s not happy that Togami calls him “teacher” in front of everyone, but he gives them a clear dama along with a message from Touya: “Sorry I can’t take care of you guys until the end.” Naturally everyone thinks Chigira killed Touya, but he’s willing to tell Fuu if she comes to see him alone. Fuu agrees and Chigira warps them to a shrine in Kakaki.

Of course Chigira was just trolling them since Touya is still alive and kicking, though he’s injured because Kazuhi attacked him some days ago. It turns out that someone in the dorm has reached the limit of the “first phase” of the haraedama, and it’s dangerous since that person will get attacked by youkai if the haraedama evolves — that’s why Touya suddenly wants to take their damas out. Normally he’ll grant their wishes in return, but since he can’t do it now.. he’s asking for the crow’s help. Which is why he’s working with Chigira now. Fuu figures out that the person who reached the limit must be her, that’s why Chigira tells her to come alone.

Chigira’s feeling sick and tells Fuu he’s going to die soon. He won’t be able to watch over Tsukiyado anymore, so he wants to do something drastic for the town. He tells Fuu to stay in Kakaki until it’s over, but Fuu (now realizing she’s in love with Chigira) wants to come along. They’re going to remove the mirror pieces from the shrines, removing the barrier so Touya can take care of the dirt until they meet up at the pond.

Sadly Kazuhi doesn’t know that they’re allies, so he brings Mukuto and Masaomi to attack Chigira since their misunderstanding isn’t resolved yet. The mirror originally belongs to Chigira, so he retrieves it before they can even blink, but Kazuhi threatens to use a magadama extracted by force from someone’s body. Chigira gets tired from hearing Kazuhi’s long explanation, so he snatches the magadama and swallows it before leaving the shocked Kazuhi behind. Obviously this weakens his body even more, but they need to go along with the plan.

Souichi tries to stop them from taking the second mirror piece, but Chigira kicks his ass and leaves.. so Fuu promises him that the land will be just fine. On the way Chigira tells Fuu that the barrier actually broke once, during Mukuto and Yuuki’s fight. Yuuki’s body gathered all the dirt around them, and Mukuto’s body attracts all those dirt — resulting in him getting pissed for no reason. It doesn’t help that Masaomi’s body amplified their anger, and neither Fuu nor Ren was there to balance out this deadly combination. Fuu’s body can purify everything around her, while Ren’s discards any anger and fight that occurs.

Since Chigira feels tired, Fuu takes him to rest in a sweets shop lol. He explains that the crows stopped hunting for people’s haraedamas a long time ago, causing them to change into magadamas eventually. Chigira feels this purification plan is the least he can do for Tsukiyado, since the crows are responsible for its current state after all. He also tells Fuu that the “master” was the one who made the mark on his arm during a fight with some young crows, even though Chigira only came to see. This fight happened in the human world, so Chigira was in his human form too like now — only having 30% of his real power.

The crows were the ones who started the fight, but even so attacking Karasu-Tengu is strictly forbidden. Usually Chigira would have to kill the “master” as the punishment, but he only took out the “master”‘s memories and left him in front of someone’s house. Chigira waited for the frogs to report that their “master” is missing, but they never did. He can’t go and tell them what he did too after all this time, so he made the barrier to keep the town safe. Sadly this plan failed thanks to the town reconstruction, which Togami mentioned during that Tanabata night. This is Chigira’s first regret.

Chigira’s second regret is caused by Fuu and her family. Fuu’s ancestor was Chigira’s first disciple, so he knows her family for generations. He was planning to just watch over her as a senior at school, but he also feels responsible for changing Fuu’s body property. Everyone in her family can see youkai just like Misaki, and Fuu is not an exception. She got lost in a festival when he was small, and Chigira took her to her grandfather’s place. It was then when he overwrote her body property, changing it to “purification” instead. Her grandfather’s glad about this though since youkai tend to approach those who can see them, but then Chigira realized “purification” attracts youkai even more. It was too late though since he couldn’t undo what he has done.

Fuu’s worried since Chigira’s condition is getting worse, but he says it’s okay since he’s been living for too long. Of course Fuu is not okay with that, so she asks Chigira to take full responsibility by taking care of her — like what he said to Misaki during their Tanabata dinner. Chigira sighs saying he never thought things would turn out like this, but Togami is right.. he’s in love with Fuu. He blushes and says it must be because he’s near death, telling Fuu he’s giving his remaining life to her. (*´ω`*)

Ren and Yuuki are already waiting when they come to the last shrine at school. It pissed them off when Chigira calls Fuu by her name, and they tell Fuu it’s a personal battle that has nothing to do with the purification lol. Obviously because they’re in love with her as well. Of course Chigira kicks their butts, and Ren complains that he doesn’t have to punch them THAT hard. (*ﾉ∀｀)ﾟo｡ｱﾋｬｬ Even though Chigira says nothing, they believe he’s trying to cleanse the land with Fuu, since Fuu won’t follow him if he’s doing something bad. Now that they’ve got the full mirror, their next destination is the shrine. They meet up with everyone in the pond, and Ren follows them along with Kazuhi while everyone else stays behind.

The shrine can only be opened by the frogs, so Chigira tells Ren to open it since he’s the descendant of the “master”. Chigira then transforms into his Karasu-Tengu form (which totally charms Fuu LOL) and borrows the power sealed inside the frog, telling everyone they’re going back to the pond for the final part of the plan. Fuu asks to stay by his side before he starts the ritual, even though by doing so her haraedama will evolve past the “first phase”.

When the sky changes color, Chigira starts the Mizu no Tamashizume-sai — a ritual to erase impurities, which can also be used to turn someone into a youkai. Just as he reaches the last phase, the mark on his arm suddenly starts shining again. Fuu’s worried to see Chigira in pain, so she tells the “master” not to hurt Chigira anymore since he’s doing his best for Tsukiyado. After a blinding light, they open their eyes to see lotus flowers blooming in the pond. The “master” moves his mark to Ren’s hand and borrows his body for a moment, revealing that this is the memories he sealed on Chigira’s arm back then. He was hoping he can tell Souichi and Kazuhi what happened, but that didn’t work since Chigira has been staying in his human form for too long.

Obviously Chigira is pissed. If he knows about this sooner, he won’t be tied for Tsukiyado for so long. He blushes when Fuu says they won’t be able to meet if that happened, and Touya tells them “thanks for being いちゃいちゃ ( ಠ_ಠ )” LOL. The “master” then gives his power and memories to Kazuhi, asks Fuu to always support Chigira from now on, thanks Touya for the friendship they shared.. then he leaves Ren’s body in peace.

In the epilogue, it’s time for Touya to take out everyone’s haraedama. Except for Fuu since she pased the “first phase”, so Chigira will be the one who’s going to remove hers. When she comes to the pond to see him, Chigira tells Fuu that her mother, Shizuku, also fell in love with a youkai as well. Yes, Fuu’s father is actually a white fox youkai! Chigira’s first disciple also turned into a human for the woman he loves.. and this disciple is actually the legendary Amano-Tsukiyadori Hime. ﾌﾟｯ(※థэథ)∵.*.∵ Chigira shouldn’t worry about Fuu falling in love with him, since it clearly runs in the family lol.

Fuu also heard from Touya that Chigira placed a barrier around the dorm to protect her from the dirt, which makes him blush saying Touya said too much. ||萌||ョ´∀`。)萌えぇ～↑ Back then Chigira overwrote Fuu’s property because they actually held hands, since he knows Shizuku has just passed away.. and her grandfather didn’t know how to raise Fuu alone. He asked Chigira to make Fuu happy, and it was Chigira too who gave her the name “Fuu”.

Before he takes out her haraedama, Chigira says he’ll leave her memories as much as possible, then he leans closer. Fuu has heard from Togami that it’s done via mouth, and she asks if there’s another way. Chigira replies “There is, but are you sure you want me to do it another way?” which makes Fuu blush. (*ﾉ∀ﾉ)ｲﾔﾝ Fuu tells Chigira that he’s her Hikoboshi, and Chigira tells her to close her eyes.

THIS is the best route ever in the entire Kaeru Batake universe. It has a very nice balance of humor, action and romance, not to mention the traditional mystical feel I love. Chigira is such an awesome character, but then again I loved him even before we can go after him. (∀｀*ゞ)ﾃﾍ He’s normally a snarky ドS, but we can see that he really cares about Fuu right from the beginning. Plus, he’s so cute when he gets embarrassed and blushes. ||萌||ョ´∀`。)萌えぇ～↑ Chigira’s route is totally worth all the effort to go through the previous game, it’s just that awesome. If you like Kaeru Batake then you have to play this fandisk for Chigira!