Chapter 2

## Name

**Mao** is the second chapter of *MAO*, written and illustrated by Rumiko Takahashi.

## Summary

Scared of the changes within her, Nanoka returns to the other world to talk to Mao. Meanwhile, Mao is investigating the town of transparent people which is protected by a spiritual barrier. He is threatened by a bear youkai, but easily subdues it with his knowledge of Onmyoudou. Mao is revealed to have the same powers as Nanoka - his blood also dissolves youkai on contact. Mao tells Nanoka that he is hunting a creature called "Byouki" who put a curse on him. Nanoka recalls seeing a monster with seven tails during the accident 8 years ago.

## Plot Overview

Breathing heavily, Nanoka returns home. Her grandfather, alarmed, asks what is wrong. Nanoka asks to stay home from school since she feels so unwell, and a close up of her eyes reveals her pupils are still shaped like a cat’s. Despite her grandfather looking into her eyes, he doesn’t comment on their appearance and instead tells her to rest in her room. Lying on her bed, Nanoka thinks about the strange things that have happened to her – leaping into the air, the mantis youkai, having her hand cut off then reattached – and wonders whether they were actually real. Mao’s face drifts into her mind, with him calling her that name - “Ayakashi” (demon, mysterious creature, ghost). Nanoka suddenly sits up on her bed, having realized that Mao likely knows what’s happening to her, and decides to return to the historical shopping street to talk to him. She tells her grandfather and Uozumi that she now feels well, and indeed her eyes have returned to normal. She flees before she is made to drink another smoothie.

Today, Gogyou Shoutengai once again looks like a normal closed-down shopping arcade, with families riding through on bicycles and people traversing it on their way to work. Nanoka tentatively steps inside and tells herself nothing strange will happen. Suddenly, the fabric of time and space wavers, and she finds herself back in the historical street with the transparent people. Nanoka is immediately spotted by the young boy from the day prior, who introduces himself as Mao’s assistant, Otoya. Mao, himself, is off investigating and Nanoka is surprised to learn that Mao is not a resident of the town.

Meanwhile, Mao enters the grounds of a small, peaceful shrine. A transparent priest quietly sweeps up fallen leaves while equally transparent children play happily. Puzzled and slightly disappointed, Mao admits to himself this is a normal place with no sign of “that evil presence”.

His musings are interrupted by a large, brutish policeman, who states, somewhat threateningly, that Mao is not from around these parts. Mao notices something off about the man, apart from the fact he is not transparent. Telling him to stop pretending, Mao flings a piece of paper onto the policeman’s cheek, then rips it off, taking off a large chunk of… fur! Angered, the policeman reveals his true form - a bear youkai, but before it can attack, Mao jabs his sword into the furry paper. The bear youkai freezes in place, unable to move an inch. Mao explains he made a katashiro from the paper and the bear’s fur. Mao asks who made this town of transparent people and why there is a spiritual barrier around it, but the bear youkai has no idea either – he just happened upon this place the way it is.

Nanoka and Otoya arrive, and Nanoka expresses surprise that Mao is fighting yet another monster. Otoya explains Mao is an ***onmyouji*** – a practitioner of Onmyoudou magic and philosophy, who divines fortunes, cures illness and fights ayakashi on the side.

Mao finishes his interrogation of the bear youkai with one question – “Do you know of *Byouki*?” Unfortunately, the bear has never heard of the word. Mao removes his sword from the katashiro, enabling the bear to move again. Suddenly, the bear lunges at Mao and bites deeply into his shoulder. To Nanoka’s surprise, the bear youkai dissolves on contact with Mao’s blood. Otoya, clearly used to this, simply scolds Mao for ruining his clothes. Mao finally notices Nanoka, calling her “ayakashi” again. Otoya tells Mao her name is, actually, “Nanoka”.

In a back alley off the shopping street, Nanoka, clearly bursting with questions, watches Otoya doing the laundry and Mao applying a poultice to his own wounds. Confused as to why both her and Mao’s blood dissolve youkai, Nanoka exclaims that she is not an ayakashi, yet Mao himself must also be some kind of supernatural creature. Otoya replies that it’s because Mao is an onmyouji, but Nanoka doesn’t believe what she saw was simply a technique. Mao interrupts them, saying, “It’s a curse.” A demonic cat creature, called “Byouki” is responsible – it in itself is a product of dark magic, a ***kodoku***, formed from venomous creatures devouring each other until only one is left. The mystery is, Mao does not know who sent the Byouki, and indeed cannot even remember what occurred at the time. However, he was left with three dark wounds on his back, as though evil claws had raked across his skin, tearing his flesh as a mark of the curse.

Mao, changing the subject, asks why Nanoka came back. Nanoka tells him she wants answers: before she arrived in this world and met Mao, she was human, and now she is no longer sure what she is. Mao, enigmatically, asks her if she is sure about her humanity. Nanoka replies, of course she is since her parents were both ordinary people. Suddenly, a memory flashes into her mind – a recollection of the car accident from 8 years ago that left her an orphan. Not only was there a road cave-in at the site of the Gogyou Shoutengai, but Nanoka now remembers standing in the shopping street of the past, immediately after the crash, with all the buildings engulfed in flames and a feral creature with seven tails emerging from the inferno.

## Character in order of appearance

* Nanoka Kiba
* Nanoka's Grandfather
* Uozumi
* Otoya
* Mao
* Haimaru *(mentioned)*

## Trivia

* Nanoka's bedroom strongly resembles that of Kagome (from the manga Inuyasha), particularly the furniture placement and the shape of the bedside lamp.
* Katashiro are a type of yorishiro - ceremonial objects used as a substitution for a person during a ritual. Mao made the katashiro by sticking the bear youkai's fur onto paper, thereby making the furry piece of paper a stand-in for the bear. Thus, when Mao stabbed the paper with the sword, the bear couldn't move.
* The characters "猫鬼", which Otoya carves into the sand read "Neko Oni" in Kun-reading (Japanese reading). However, the same characters can also be read "Byou Ki" in On-reading (Chinese-influenced reading).
* The unrelated kanji "病気", which can also be read as "byouki" mean illness, disease or sickness.