Chapter 19

## Chapter Guide

**Until Your Chestnuts Are Out of the Fire, Buh-Bye** (拾 () えるまでグッバイ, *Hiroeru Made Gubbai*?) is the nineteenth chapter of *Ayashimon*.

## Summary

To solve his problem combating against Doppo, Maruo is put through training by a Sennin named Ozunu to unlock his Prana, the power that is hidden within humans. To do so, Maruo is instructed to retrieve a few chestnuts from an opened fire by punching the flames itself. After ten days had passed, Maruo finds himself getting nowhere in his training but finally manages to complete his training after saving a boy from a burning building.

## Plot Details

Maruo and Urara learn from Kotton and Oboro that it would be impossible to harm Doppo with physical attacks due to him being a hitorima, a fire yokai that is able to absorb heat, and believe that they must come up with a strategy before they could confront him again. Hearing this, Kotton and Oboro decide to head towards the homeless area of Central Park to pay a visit to Ozunu, an old hanyo who is a master of the mystic and demon arts who they think can help Maruo become stronger. Ozunu analyzes Maruo's body and sees that he has an abnormal amount of prana but has an imperfect flow of his nadi and chakra. Maruo becomes confused as to what he is saying, which leads to Urara clarifying for him that prana is the hidden power within humans and suspects that Ozunu became a Sennin after undergoing serious training in the past.

To help fix Maruo's improper flow of his power, Ozunu inserts acupuncture pins into his head to dull his five senses and instructs him to retrieve a few chestnuts from a barrel of flames by punching the concept of the fire, or its Suksma Sarira. After trying at first, Maruo finds his hand being too sensitive to the burning heat and is hit in the face by one of the chestnuts after it finishes roasting, signaling that his time was up. Urara explains that there exist two worlds known as the Physical World and the Immaterial World, which can interact with each other through money, and that a yokai can only be touched if one where to enter the immaterial, which she figures that Ozunu had done with Maruo through the acupuncture pins since the Immaterial World is deprived of the five senses of the Physical World. Ozunu then leaves Maruo until Maruo has completed the task he has been given. After starting to doubt whether this training will actually help him defeat Doppo, Maruo hears from Kotton that he should trust in Ozunu and that the Todoroki Alliance will also train him for battle.

After ten days of continuous training had passed, Ten informs Urara that Maruo has made no progress in his training with Ozunu. The two then sees him becoming frustrated and running off to calm himself down, leading Ozunu to explain that Maruo is unable to see the connection between his training and his goal to succeed in striking the fire and believes that it would be better to have him pitted in a fight. While running, Maruo thinks back to how he would read manga whenever he felt frustrated, such as when he was recovering down at the tunnel with Urara, and remembers Ozunu telling him that his recovery through manga was an act of healing to his Atman and Suksma Sarira. Though not entirely clear on what Ozunu was telling him at the time, Maruo figures that visualization was the key to succeeding in his training by focusing on his conviction to never lose again. After stopping to catch his breath, Maruo sees a burning building and a mother in panic as her child is still inside. He then rushes inside to find the child locked inside a door and manages to successfully strike at the fire surrounding it.

Shortly after, Maruo returns to Ozunu with the chestnuts he managed to retrieve from the fire barrel, which causes Ozunu to wonder as to what caused the sudden change. Meanwhile, the boy Maruo saved reports to the police that the unidentified man managed to rescue him by beating up the fire, which the police found hard to believe and decide on making an official report based on the site inspection. After being told to take off his shirt, Maruo is told by Ozunu that his Suksma Sarira is now in perfect shape.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Doppo Akari (flashback)
* Maruo Kaido
* Urara
* Kotton
* Oboro
* Ozunu
* Wakku
* Ten

## Navigation

 Volume 3 | 17  •  18  •  **19**  •  20  •  21  •  22  •  23  •  24  •  25

 Kori Hotel Arc | **19**  •  20  •  21  •  22  •  23  •  24  •  24  •  25