Help! I changed the gender of the male protagonist in the yandere game

“N-Nothing like that… I'm a man, how could I have feelings for another man?”

“Then why have you been avoiding Miss Kohagi, who keeps asking you out?”

Ayaka raised this question.

“N-No… That's another matter entirely.”

Yomei didn't know how to answer; she didn't dare explain Kohagi's intentions to her stepsister.

“I see.”

Ayaka shook her head with a sigh.

“Alright, I think I understand the situation… So, brother, please promise me you'll keep your distance from that Hyakkei from now on.”

“Keep my distance?”

Yomei muttered to herself, savoring the words.

“I… I understand~”

She assured her stepsister.

“From now on, I'll keep my distance from Hyakkei.”

…

By dusk, old Matsudaira had returned, bringing bad news.

“I couldn't find Sword Saint-sama. The thatched hut he stayed in is long abandoned. I met a local mountain dweller who said that the Emishi old man left three years ago.”

“Then there's nothing we can do.”

Yomei also gave a wry smile.

“However, I still broke into the house to investigate.”

Matsudaira Inomaro handed a letter to his young master.

“This should be a letter left by the 'Sword Saint' Kibune Kyounosai, specifically addressed to the Tsukigara family. I assume it's for you, young master.”

“Eh? For me?”

Yomei took the letter with a puzzled look. She tore open the envelope, pulled out the letter, and silently read it.

After reading it, the girl frowned, looking troubled.

“Young master, what does the letter say?”

Old Matsudaira asked.

“It says…”

Yomei hesitated but then frankly told Ayaka and Matsudaira.

“Kyounosai-dono said in the letter that the two family heirloom swords my father, the previous head, entrusted to him to repair, namely 'Masayo-o' and 'Mizuha-no-Magatsuhime,' have both been fully restored.”

“Isn't that a good thing?”

Ayaka looked puzzled.

Yomei smiled at her stepsister, but the smile was strained, with a hint of gloom.

“He also said that, according to the previous head's instructions, both swords were sent to the head priest of Kogenji Temple, Yamamichi, who was entrusted with their safekeeping.”

She continued, “However, the swords are to be passed on to the new head of the Tsukigara family… Kyounosai-dono said in the letter that when I receive the letter, the prepared transmission shikigami will activate.

The transmission shikigami will reach the other two Tsukigara family heir candidates besides me. They will also receive letters. At that time, all three will go to Gangoji Temple and, according to family rules, engage in a duel at Gangoji Temple. The ultimate victor will receive the two swords and become the true head, while the losers must leave the clan.”

“W-What is this?”

Ayaka suppressed her shock and, after taking a breath, asked, “Besides brother, where are there any other Tsukigara clan heirs?”

“There are.”

Matsudaira Inomaro said in a low voice.

“Miss Karasuya of the branch family is actually the young master's cousin by blood. Her father is the previous head's biological brother. According to Tsukigara clan customs, Miss Karasuya is qualified to participate in the head's competition.”

Then, the old man's voice became somewhat bitter.

“Besides that, there's another person, your biological brother, Ayaka-sama, the young master's adopted brother, Kuzutsu Ikki-dono. He was recognized by the previous head as a successor.”

Matsudaira-roujin paused. “After all, the previous head only had one child. Considering the possibility of the young master dying young, it was decided to adopt Ikki-dono.”

“But, big brother… He's already become one of the Guardian Sacred Twelve.”

Ayaka's face turned somewhat pale.

“He shouldn't be able to return to inherit the family, and I don't think big brother really has such thoughts. When father died and the territory was occupied by demons, he didn't care and never helped us.”

She harbored great resentment towards her biological brother.

The Tsukigara family had been incredibly generous to the two siblings who lost their parents, but her brother had hardly given anything back… It seemed that the entire Tsukigara family was just a stepping stone for him to rise in the court and make a name for himself.

“Ayaka-sama, you are right.”

Matsudaira-roujin gave a wry smile. “But, could there be such a situation, if Ikki-dono doesn't plan to become the head, but the court wants Ikki-dono to do so?”

Ayaka opened her mouth in a daze.

Matsudaira Inomaro lowered his voice: “The court is wary of famous onmyoji families all over the country. We, the Tsukigara family of Kita-Mutsu, are indeed loyal to the court, but after eliminating the other famous clan, the Sugatsukiyama family, Kurokami-yama in Minami-Mutsu has become the largest power in Mutsu Province.”

“Now, I have become the son-in-law of the Kurokami-yama family.”

Yomei helplessly drooped her shoulders.

“If the Tsukigara clan, a famous clan in Kita-Mutsu, also completely leaned towards the Kurokami-yama family, then the court might worry that the Kurokami-yama family would completely dominate in Mutsu Province, surpassing their family and becoming the true strongmen of Mutsu Province.”

“Therefore, Ikki-dono may be instructed by the court to seize the position of head. If he becomes the head, the Kurokami-yama clan cannot rightfully control the Kita-Mutsu region.”

Matsudaira-roujin said in a deep voice: “Of course, this is also something we must avoid as much as possible.”

“T-Then what do we do now?”

Ayaka asked anxiously.

“In any case, let's go to Gangoji Temple first.”

Matsudaira-roujin came to this conclusion.

…

Four days later, after taking a big detour, the group finally arrived near Gangoji Temple.

“We should be able to reach Mount Gaki, where Gangoji Temple is located, today, right?”

He sat in the back of the ox cart, squinting at the scenery along the road.

After leaving Lake Yuki-Onna, the demonic aura in the surrounding area gradually increased. The wilderness without people is a very dangerous environment for ordinary people in this world.

Gangoji Temple is a temple built in the deep mountains. The first head priest was a monk with great magical power.

He sealed a great demon in the mountain, and to prevent the demon from reviving again, he built an ancient temple there to suppress the demon.

The sun was already setting.

At this time of year, it gets dark in the blink of an eye.

The sunset disappeared in an instant, and the curtain of heaven and earth turned into night. The cold, quiet moonlight shone down, giving the illusion that the whole world had become a foreign substance. It was a night filled with demonic aura.

The group also became quite vigilant. After nightfall, the ayakashi would become more active, and it was easy to be attacked when traveling at night, not to mention that this group was full of people with spiritual power, making them very easy targets for ayakashi.

“We can't run around anymore.”

Matsudaira-roujin suggested: “Even if we climb the mountain tomorrow morning, if we go any further, we may encounter ayakashi that are targeting us… I remember there is a shrine ahead, built by the mountain people, dedicated to Dosojin and Sae no kami. We can rest there for the night.”

Shrines are generally places to enshrine gods. Dosojin and Sae no kami are both "road gods." "Sae" means stopping plague gods and evil spirits from attacking from other places at the entrance of the village, slopes, mountain tops, crossroads, and bridgeheads.

According to the old man's plan, the group arrived at a very small shrine. After a simple offering, they placed barrier talismans around the shrine and tied red threads with bells, weaving a defensive barrier.

Because they had been traveling all day, most people went to sleep early, leaving only a few people to keep watch.

Hyakkei was on watch for the second half of the night. He took this opportunity to find a hidden spot to sit down.

After observing the surroundings and confirming that there was no one, he breathed a sigh of relief, and his right hand pressed against his left sleeve.

“Come out.”

He said in a low voice.

…Chirp chirp.

A faint cry came from his sleeve.

Then, a slender little beast poked its head out.

The little beast was very strange, with a wrinkled elephant trunk and yellow and black fur.

It cautiously poked its head out of its sleeve, exploring the surrounding environment, its small, long nose sniffing the air, its pupils full of curiosity about the world.

“……In this way, I am also someone with a shikigami.”

He looked at the young baku hidden in his sleeve, a smile on his lips.

After these few days, the stone egg finally hatched successfully.

What was born from the stone egg was a small beast smaller than a mouse, a baku.

The origin of this kind of ayakashi may be related to a certain spiritual beast called "Hakutaku" in ancient China.

Hakutaku are born to eat dreams and can also resolve misfortunes. Perhaps baku are descendants of this kind of spiritual beast, but there is also a theory that Hakutaku are a kind of spiritual bird and not of the same race as baku.

“Next, I'm going to sleep, Komaku.”

He gave this baku the name "Komaku" and conveyed his orders to it.

“……I hope you can help me enter 'Dust and Delusion Dreamland,' preferably connecting me to the Phantom Yamatai Kingdom. Can you do it?”

Komaku nodded and quickly turned into a cloud of smoke, which Hyakkei inhaled into his nostrils.

A wave of sleepiness washed over him, his expression relaxed, his brain was filled with sleepiness, and his whole body felt tired and weak. He closed his eyes.

Darkness swallowed his consciousness.

…

“Hmph, it seems to be going smoothly.”

A woman's voice sounded in his ear, but the voice was so far away that his consciousness seemed to be flying away.

Suddenly, Hyakkei smelled the woman's fragrance, and he suddenly woke up, only to find himself lying in a familiar tea room.

“W-What's going on?”

The moment he rolled over and got up, he realized that he was lying on the woman's lap.

“N-No… This isn't the Phantom Yamatai Kingdom… Lake Master-dono, why are you here?”

He couldn't help but look at the tall woman beside him.

Her dress was like that of a courtesan, wearing a bright kimono with an open chest, like a blooming flower, revealing fair, proud breasts.

“Kukuku……”

Lake Master Yuki-Onna-hime's crimson lips smiled.

“Young man, is it a little too early to want to enter the Phantom Yamatai Kingdom now… That place is not a place that outsiders can enter casually, so even if you contract a baku, you can't successfully connect to that dream. At most, you can only connect to the Dream Mirage Scenery on my side.”

Her lips curved into an arc, reminiscent of a sly fox.

“Sorry, young man, please keep me company, an old woman like me?”

“B-But.”

Hyakkei didn't expect this to happen either, and a look of tears appeared on his face—then his preparations were wasted. If he had known, he wouldn't have chosen the Baku Egg in the treasure vault, and he might as well have chosen a more practical item.

“Don't make such a bitter face, does keeping me, a god, company make you so unwilling?”

The peerless beauty dressed like a glamorous courtesan held a kiseru in one hand and casually flicked the ashes.

“I know your intention, you want to enter the Yamatai Kingdom and try to improve your weak strength… In that case, why not let me train you and help you improve your strength? This is a god's personal training, which is more convenient than exploring and cultivating alone.”

“Train me?”

“Just think of it as an old woman being too worried, and the unlucky look on your face is too bad, I can't just ignore it.”

Lake Master Yuki-Onna-hime lightly covered the corners of her mouth with her sleeve.

“Don't worry, don't worry, as long as you accept Yuki-Onna's 'special training', even a monkey can easily become a powerful onmyoji, oh ho ho ho ho……”