The Mysterious Person at the Eight Fields

The Mysterious Person at the Eight Fields
Name
Kanji	八ツ原の怪人
Romaji	Yatsuhara no Kaijin
Information
Air Date	July 21, 2008 (JP) August 7, 2022 (US)
Episode	03
Adapted From	Chapter 03
Opening Song	Issei no Sei
Ending Song	Summer Evening Sky
Episode Guide
Previous The Dew-God's Small Shrine	Next Shigure and the Girl
List of Natsume Yuujinchou Episodes
Episode Gallery

The Mysterious Person at the Eight Fields is the third episode of the first season and the third episode overall of the Natsume Yuujinchou anime series. It first aired on July 21, 2008.

Summary

Natsume is implored to help spirits who are currently being exorcised. He finds a kindred spirit in Tanuma, a boy who also senses spirits although he is not as powerful as Natsume. With Tanuma's help, Natsume is able to help all the spirits who were to be exorcised.

Plot

Takashi is sleeping in his classroom when someone inquiries about him to Satoru but walks away when the latter brings this to Takashi's attention. School then ends for the day.

Takashi, who was sleeping, is woken up by a knock on his bedroom window. It is another youkai requesting for its name back. After returning the name and the youkai disappears, Takashi collapses on the floor, exhausted. Nyanko-sensei opens his door, drunk out of his mind and tells Takashi about the gift he brought him: a very tiny frog. It starts jumping around the room. Takashi finally catches it and sets it free, but not without punching Nyanko-sensei for it first (who reacts by calling him a blasphemer).

The next day, as Touko is going out to go shopping, two youkai sneak in. After she leaves, the two, Chukyuu (A and B), are seen kneeling before Takashi, requesting him to... exterminate someone who is threatening their home. They believe this person is threatening them. For obvious reasons, Takashi refuses, chases them out and shuts the door. But they come back the next day and follow him to school, annoying and distracting him. While in the the school hallway, he is looking down from the window, watching Chukyuu A and B write something with rocks; here he encounters the person who was seeking him out (though he is currently unaware of that). The two youkais' persistence eventually forced Takashi to at least listen to their request.

They travel into Yatsuhara and seek out the threat. Takashi is then ambushed by multiple other youkais who believe he is the threat. Although, when he punched Nyanko-sensei for his failure in protecting him, demonstrating his spiritual might and frightening the youkais enough to get them to stop. Takashi senses someone looking at him. Then suddenly, a powerful purification wave is sent out towards their direction. Takashi, thanks to Nyanko-sensei, was able to avoid it. The others, excluding Chukyuu A and B (who are mid-ranked and thus, were not affected by it), were scared off; the area is now purified and they cannot return for awhile. While Chukyuu A and B celebrate that Takashi is willing to help them, Takashi himself remarks he is becoming too close to youkai and needs to remain guarded.

Back at school the next day, as he was talking to Satoru and Atsushi, he realizes the same presence he felt at Yatsuhara belongs to a classmate, Kaname Tanuma. He also learns from Satoru that he was the person asking about him earlier and that he had recently moved into the old temple past Yatsuhara, which was where Chukyuu A and B reside and where the threat is. Takashi tries to chase after him, perhaps to provide comfort and a kindred spirit who understood what he was going through. As this was something Takashi never had, always alone and scared due to his ability, remembering the harsh words those who took him in. But he misses him.

Takashi returns to Yatsuhara and find that Chukyuu A and B having been hit by the purification wave. They will recover but it will take some time. Takashi now believes that it is Kaname's doing and is determined to put a stop to it. Misuzu then appears before Takashi, requesting his name be returned to him. Takashi apologizes and mentions he will do it later as he is currently busy, in Nyanko-sensei's words, "... exterminating humans!" Misuzu offers his assistance. Reasoning that not serving his master, who had stolen his name, at least once is "quite dull" but also because he saved his retainer, the tiny frog Nyanko-sensei brought home to Takashi as a "gift".

After listening to Chukyuu A and B's description Takashi's so-called "enemy", Misuzu flies at a fast rate towards the "enemy" to deal with him. Takashi bolts towards the same direction and lunges at who he thinks is Kaname, and forces him onto the ground to protect him, forgetting that he can directly order Misuzu to stop. After Nyanko-sensei irritatingly reminds him of this ability, Takashi commands Misuzu who freezes and collapses onto the ground, frozen.

Takashi is then asked by someone entirely different what happened, obviously very confused. Chukyuu A and B confirm this is the person who was threatening them. Takashi reacts in disbelief and the man then asks him why he was talking to himself. This man is a monk who recently moved into the Yatsuhara temple. The main reason was for his son's well being, who would often get sick. As such, he also conducted a thorough purification in this area after hearing it was famous for having monsters. As explained by Nyanko-sensei in that despite having such power, he does not have the ability to see youkai as he attained them through his monk training.

Takashi then requests that the monk decrease the purification intensity as most of the monsters here are harmless. This causes the monk to ask if he can see them, to which Takashi hesitates to answer. Their conversation lapse into silence. The monk, sensing Takashi's hesitation, then smiles gently and assures Takashi that he does not have to answer him but that he is welcome to come and discuss things with him. The monk also believes Takashi and his son would get along. Before leaving, Takashi asks him for his name and learns that it is Tanuma. The monk is Kaname's father.

As Takashi walks home with Nyanko-sensei, Nyanko-sensei calls him a hypocrite as he seems to truly love youkai. Takashi denies this claim and explains that he has been around them for so long that he does understand them. He then recalls the time where he met a youkai in female form when he was a child. He would frequently visit her to talk, as he thought she was also someone who could see youkai. But when he learned the truth, he was so hurt, he sobbed and screamed at her to leave. She respected his wishes and also apologized to him, explaining that she simply wanted to talk to him. Looking back at it now, Takashi realized that she too wanted some company. He understands her now and was also glad to have met her.

The next day at school, Chukyuu A and B visit Takashi again at his school, cheerfully calling for him. Takashi then spots Kaname who seemed to be looking at the same direction as him and asks him if he can see them. Kaname replies no but for a brief moment, he thought he had seen two strange shadows. They share their experiences with strange things with each other, beginning their friendship.

Takashi notes that human and youkais are no different when their hearts touch.

At night, Misuzu disrupts Takashi's sleep to request his name back but is refused again as the latter is currently too tired and will do so another time.

The next day, as Takashi is about to leave for school, he sees Chukyuu A and B quickly scurrying away. When he looks down, he sees they that had given him some food as thanks for what he had done for them. This brings a soft smile to Takashi's face and figures he could talk to youkai once in awhile.

Characters in Order of Appearance

• Takashi Natsume
• Female-Form Youkai (flashback)
• Satoru Nishimura
• Kaname Tanuma
• Atsushi Kitamoto
• Jun Sasada
• Slit-Eyed Youkai
• Reiko Natsume (mentioned)
• Madara
• Touko Fujiwara
• Chukyuu (A and B)
• Natsume's Paternal Relatives (flashback)
• Female Neighbour (flashback)
• Misuzu
• Kaname Tanuma's Father

Anime and Manga Differences

• In the manga, when Takashi first woken up by a youkai knocking on his window, requesting its name back, he opens the curtains while still laying on his futon. He is then spooked by Nyanko-sensei who is also sleeping underneath the blanket, showing a shadowy silhouette and only his eyes were visible.
  • The returning of the youkai's name is also not seen.
  • Takashi is crouched in between some boxes when he first encounters the youkai in female form. In the anime, he is crouched underneath a children's slide.