, also known as Youko × Boku, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Cocoa Fujiwara. It was serialied in Square Enix's Gangan Joker magazine from April 2009 to February 2014, with its chapters collected in eleven volumes. An anime television series adaptation by David Production aired in Japan between January and March 2012. The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for streaming, and home video release in North America.
Plot Part One: "Prologue" Known on the outside as merely a daughter of a rich aristocratic family, 15-year-old Ririchiyo Shirakiin is far from normal – she is an Atavist, a human with demon or yōkai ancestors with the ability to channel their supernatural powers. Wrought with insecurities about her birth and family, Ririchiyo protects her inner, most sensitive self through a sharp tongue, eventually leaving to move into the , better known as Ayakashi Hall or , a high-security apartment complex where fellow Atavists reside. As Atavists are neither fully human nor supernatural, they tend to attract fully-grown, often dangerous demons, and so group together, each resident guarded by their own Secret Service (SS) bodyguard. Despite not requesting for a bodyguard, she finds herself served by Sōshi Miketsukami, the descendant of a nine-tailed fox who devotes his life to her. Although initially unwilling to accept him as her bodyguard, the two grow close and Miketsukami helps Ririchiyo suppress her bad habit as well as establish valuable connections with the residents at Ayakashi Hall; Ririchiyo also inevitably helps him become more emotional and to be more perceptive of the world, which he had not acquired due to his house arrest and isolation. The two eventually fall in love and begin a relationship. Instead of fulfilling her initial goal to be alone, Ririchiyo realises that she has instead surrounded herself with supportive friends. As a bonding activity, the residents decide to build a time capsule together for their future selves.
Unfortunately, this sudden peace is interrupted when Karuta Roromiya, Kagerō Shoukiin's SS, is attacked and heavily wounded by a fellow Atavist named Mikoto Inugami. Inugami declares his intention to recruit members for the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, an army of Atavists that have lost their human sanity and become senseless yōkai subject to his command. Despite attempts to save Karuta, she eventually loses herself and becomes a part of the army, attacking her friends. Miketsukami is killed by Inugami in front of Ririchiyo while trying to protect her.
Part Two: "If" Nearly every one of the residents of Ayakashi Hall is revealed to have been killed as a result of the incident, except for Renshō Sorinozuka. 23 years have passed since then, and the deceased have reincarnated thanks to their yōkai blood. 15-year-old Ririchiyo, wrought with insecurities about her sharp tongue, leaves her home and moves into the apartment complex hoping to be alone, only to meet Miketsukami who employs himself as her SS. Unlike other residents, Ririchiyo has no recollection of her past due to her previous incarnation's trauma over Miketsukami's death, but slowly starts to remember after encounters with the others. Ririchiyo deduces that the Miketsukami now actually has no memories as well, and is merely acting out of an ingrained emotion, choosing to break off their contract and relationship as she confirms that she loved him in her previous life, not her current life. Years of calm is once again interrupted by news about the Night Parade, signalling that it has become an unstoppable cycle. As everyone works to stop it, Banri Watanuki, who has reincarnated as a middle-schooler, befriends Inugami, not realising who he is. The residents eventually discover that Inugami is constantly revisiting a time from 23 years ago using a special sacred tree, known as the Millenium Cherry Blossom Tree, and decide to send a time capsule containing letters for their past selves.
"Interlude" Five short stories, each focusing on one or more of the main characters. Set sometime during Part 1.
Part Three: "Awaken in Spring" The setting jumps back to 23 years ago, in the first timeline, where the group are about to bury the time capsule containing letters to their future reincarnations as a bonding activity. As they dig a hole for the box, they find another box in its place containing letters from their future selves to them, warning them about Inugami's plans. With this timeline now deviating from its original course, Ririchiyo and Miketsukami have yet to cement their relationship, and she instead chooses to keep her distance from him after learning that he will die protecting her. The group manages to prevent the attack on Karuta, but are forced to return to their own homes, knowing that Ayakashi Hall is no longer safe. Back in his loveless home, Miketsukami is held in captivity again until Ririchiyo arrives to save him. The two finally reconnect and begin a relationship.
Reuniting, the residents learn that Inugami is acquainted with Shimon Satorigahara, an elderly Atavist who is revered as the leader of the Atavist community for her power to perceive the thoughts and memories of others by touching them. Because simply going out could mean an overload of information and subsequent death for her, Shimon was locked up at home since a young age, having to live vicariously through Inugami. As children, they had grown close, with Shimon trusting him enough to show him the Satorigahara family's Millenium Cherry Blossom Tree, a yōkai known as Sennenzakura that governs time. An accident however, caused Inugami to become immortal, and from then on his existence began to revolve around hunting and gifting Shimon the corpses of all Atavists, for her to read their stories and memories for enjoyment eternally. In the final battle, Kagerō manages to gather Atavists from all over the country to fight Inugami's army and a final showdown is held in the Satorigahara residence. Inugami is deterred by Watanuki's presence, whom he unconsciously considered as a friend, and killed by Miketsukami, ending the Night Parade and lifting his curse, causing all senseless yōkai to return to their Atavist form. As Shimon reads a dying Inugami's memories, she realises that he had loved her all along, amidst her hundreds of reincarnations. In an aftermath, the residents and their SS bodyguards continue towards a new life together, with everyone alive and well. Zange Natsume, who can See snippets of the future, pictures a scene where those from the "If" world are living happily together in a different timeline.
Characters
Part One Room 4 tenant. She is 15 years old at the beginning of the story. Ririchiyo is a young girl with long black hair and purple eyes, who is the descendant of an Oni. She leaves her home and moves into Maison de Ayakashi in order to live alone. She yearns to be independent and constantly worries about not being able to communicate with other people properly, due to her habit of rudely slighting people whenever they try to interact with her. As the daughter of a well-known and well-respected family, she felt she was only recognised for her family and not for herself; she was bullied by her peers and protected by her teachers and other adults who wished to be seen well by her family. This caused her to develop her bad habit and also incentivized her to move out. Her SS agent and servant is Sōshi Miketsukami, who has the blood of a fox-spirit. While at first she is exasperated by Sōshi's extreme willingness to serve her and is reluctant to accept him as her SS, the two grow close and eventually fall in love, beginning a relationship. She dies at the age of 16 after Sōshi's death, while fighting Mikoto and his army. Part Two (23 years later) A 15-year-old girl who moves into Room 1 of Maison de Ayakashi. Initially she has no memories of her past life due to the trauma of losing Sōshi. Unlike in Part One, she does not seem to be the victim of direct bullying, however she starts to distance herself from others when she learns that her peers were only friendly to her because they had to be. After an encounter with the aged Renshō, she recovers some of her memories, but they are suppressed by Sōshi. Kagerō's words causes her to remember everything, and her regret and her strong emotion of wanting to "go back" to their past are used by a yōkai called Sodehiki Mujina and she gets trapped along with Renshō in an ideal world that they created. Following this event, she decides to end her contract and relationship with Sōshi in order to sort out her feelings. Although struggling to come to terms with her past and current life, she resolves to uncover the truth about the "Night Parade of 100 Demons". Toward the end she learns that like her, Sōshi also has aspects that haven't changed, and tells him that although she loves the Sōshi from her previous life, she still considers the Sōshi from her current life an important figure and that she still cares for him. While fighting Kuroe Karasuma, who loses her human self after being defeated by Mikoto, Ririchiyo is severely wounded and nearly dies. She gets Sōshi to scribe her letter to the past because of this. Part Three After receiving letters from the "if" world (where the "Night Parade of 100 Demons" took place) and Zange tells her what he saw in that future, Ririchiyo resolves to prevent the Night Parade from occurring. Due to the appearance of the time capsule from the future, the events following the burial of the time capsule do not occur and so she is not in a relationship with Sōshi. Rather, upon learning that Sōshi had died protecting Ririchiyo, she starts to distance herself from him. The residents are notified on New Years that the "Night Parade of 100 Demons" has started, and Ririchiyo is taken back home by her father. However, realising how important her days at Maison de Ayakashi with the other residents were, she becomes determined to return to Ayakashi Hall, despite her father's disagreement. Later she breaks into the Miketsukami house in order to rescue Sōshi (who was held captive there) and reconciles with him, asking him to tell her more about himself. Ririchiyo seems to be physically weak throughout and has asthma to varying degrees of severity. Apparently, she is the weakest at arm wrestling out of the main female cast.
The assigned SS Agent to Ririchiyo and, in his own words, her servant and "Dog". Sōshi is descended from the evil nine-tailed fox who was Sōshi's past life. Ririchiyo helped him when she was little, although she is initially unaware of it. Later on in the series, it is revealed that his family had kept him under house arrest because they feared the powers of the kitsune, and in order to obtain freedom he learned to manipulate and appeal to others through obeying their whims. However, because of this, he was unable to form his own personality. It was not until he started corresponding with Ririchiyo through letters, under the guise of her fiance Kagerō, that he realized that he was in fact, capable of having emotion, and he began growing into his own person. He is calm, polite, and gentle to everyone he interacts with, but he bears particularly strong devotion to his Ririchiyo, blindly obeying her and protecting her with his life if the situation calls for it. He enters a relationship with her after she confesses her love for him, which was prompted by him reading a letter that detailed her feelings for him that she meant to put into a time capsule, but instead sent to him by mistake. What he wishes for is a family, which he never had. A notable feature is his heterochromia, in which his right eye is blue, while the other is dark gold.