Familiar technique

### User(s)

Minoru Tatsuishi, Kaya Saimori, Kiyoka Kudou, Yoshito Godou, Arata Usuba, Miyo Saimori, Hazuki Kudou, Kaoruko Jinnouchi, Kazushi Tatsuishi

## Debut

### Anime

Episode 3

**Familiar technique** (式神術, *Shikigami jutsu*?) refers to the technique to create and manipulate familiars.

## Description

The manipulation of familiars is a supernatural technique that anyone with the Spirit-Sight is capable of learning. Familiars, also known as Shikigami, can be constructed from different material, such as paper. By channeling one's power into the material, a familiar will be created. After construction, they can be conjured for different purposes, which includes tracking and communication.

A familiar can take any appearance, including a paper person and some powerful technique users are able to create familiars that are indistinguishable from real beings. Such a perfect familiar will have the same physical body as a living thing. Apart from their appearance, their touch and feel are the same as the original ones, but the inside is different. They do not have internal organs or flesh and blood tissue like living creatures. It may be said that they are empty shells covered with the skin of living creatures. Familiars do not have body temperature, so they won't feel cold, nor do they need to eat, bath or sleep.

Familiars can be constructed in advance and then be activated at a later time. This allows users who do not manage the technique of creating a familiar to also activate pre-set familiars quickly in case of emergency. A user whose Gift is sealed, which disables their power to use techniques, would be able to activate pre-set familiars as well. It can be done by creating a mudra sign using the hands.

### Tracking familiars

Familiars can be used for locating and tracking down a target.

* After Shinichi Saimori arranged Miyo Saimori to marry Kiyoka Kudou, Minoru Tatsuishi constructs paper bird familiars to track down the two of them. He uses them to spy on Kiyoka every day without fail. At first, his familiars has all ended up burned to ashes by Kiyoka, so he has gotten more careful by keeping his distance, but they also never managed to gather the information Minoru wanted. His priority is Miyo, but because of the amulet, Minoru is never been able to get his familiars close to Miyo even once.
* After Miyo is kidnapped by Minoru, Kiyoka creates familiars from a few scraps of paper from his pocket and sends them out to look for Miyo in the capital. Since the capital is so vast, he considered this method both time-consuming and unreliable. The chances of familiars managing to locate her are slim.
* After Arata Usuba suspects Naoshi Usui is targeting the Emperor, he creates two familiars. One utilizes elaborate camouflage arts and is sent to follow the automobile with the Emperor in it.

### Viewing familiars

Familiars can also be used for viewing purposes. When combined with Share-Sight, one can see through the eyes of the familiar they are manipulating.

* When Minoru uses the ability of Share-Sight to observe Kiyoka and the imperial capital through the eyes of his paper familiars, he is able to catch sight of Miyo. He seethes with anger after realizing that Kiyoka indeed intends to keep her. He shares his observation with Kaya Saimori, who later constructs a paper familiar of her own from tiny scraps of paper, releases it into the air and then uses Share-Sight to see through its eyes. She catches sight of Miyo in the city and follows her to the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station where she sees her meeting up with Kiyoka. This angers her so much that she loses control of her shabby familiar and the images it has been sending her vanishes from her mind.

### Communication familiars

Familiars can also be used for communication, allowing the user to send a message to someone at a far distance, or even talk to their target through the familiar.

* After a civilian accidentally came into contact with one of the Grotesqueries that escaped the Burial Grounds and lost his life, Kiyoka is called in on his day off through a familiar. Yoshito Godou constructs the familiar from a single sheet of paper in the shape of a person, with the insignia stamped into its body belonging to the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit. He sends it to Kiyoka's house, where it slips through the barrier Kiyoka has set and enters the room through the window. When the paper being writhes its body and vibrates, Yoshito's voice echoes through the room, informing Kiyoka of an emergency that requires him to come to the station as soon as possible.
* After Kiyoka captures an imitation Gift-member of the Gifted Communion during his mission in the farming village near the Kudou villa, he sends a familiar off to the capital to coordinate with the government and believes there should be some response either the next day or the day after.
* During Kiyoka, Miyo and Arata's encounter with Naoshi at the central station, Naoshi mentions he has a gift for Kiyoka and points with his chin toward a small silhouette flying through the air. Upon closer inspection, it is a familiar made of white paper someone has sent their way. Kiyoka snatches the familiar and quickly scans the short message written on its surface. Naoshi expresses that he thought it is pretty good news and thinks it will make him inclined to cooperate with them. Kiyoka crushes the familiar in his grip in anger.
* The other familiar that Arata created after he suspects Naoshi targeting the Emperor is marked with the Usuba seal to make it clear it came from him and is sent flying to the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit station bearing an urgent letter of warning.
* Hazuki Kudou sent Kaoruko Jinnouchi a familiar to invite her to join her "Women's night" event. Kaoruko responded with her desire to participate.

### Counter methods

Methods to counter the usage of familiars includes creating a barrier or wearing an object endowed with special powers to protect its wearer.

* The amulet that Kiyoka has given Miyo would conceal her from familiars as long as she carried it with her and is thus effective against Gift-users trying to locate her that way.
* An invisible barrier that Kiyoka surrounded his house with is also impenetrable to familiars.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3  Novel, Volume 1 Chapter 4
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1  Novel, Volume 2 Chapter 3
3. ↑  Novel, Volume 6 Chapter 1
4. ↑  Novel, Volume 5 Chapter 4
5. ↑  Novel, Volume 6 Chapter 2
6. ↑  Novel, Volume 1 Chapter 2
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1  Novel, Volume 1 Chapter 3
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1  Novel, Volume 4 Chapter 5
9. ↑  Novel, Volume 3 Chapter 4
10. ↑  Novel, Volume 4 Chapter 1
11. ↑  Novel, Volume 5 Chapter 3