Yotsuki and Kotowari
Yotsukoto (ヨツコト) is a short manga series written by Sui Hutami and illustrated by Neko Nakaso. It was serialized by Manga Time Kirara and ran from 2016 to 2018 spanning two volumes and 26 chapters in total.
Yotsuki and Kotowari are two magicians under the disciple of Mauricelene in the ways of magic. One day, their teacher suddenly disappeared though before leaving Mauricelene instructed that should she not return after fifty days they should seek out six of her friends: Hilmheit, Cremeux, Flanvellan, Mistra, Rubel, and Permol. Thus, the two set off on their journey to find their teacher.
The two would find that the truth behind Mauricelene's disappearance is a tad more complicated than meets the eye.
Yotsukoto contains the following tropes:
- Accidental Murder:
- The death of Yotsuki’s parents is later revealed to be the fault of Yotsuki herself. When her father lit a fire to kill her due to fearing her magical abilities, the young Yotsuki ended up commanding them to try and save her while crying for help. Both her mother and father walked into the blaze they started to try and rescue her.
- Mauricelene ends up perishing to Yotsuki’s younger alter ego after agitating her. While trying to explain the people on the other side of the crystal ball the alter ego used her word magic to make Mauricelene “disappear”, removing her soul from her own body.
- Actually, I Am Him: The cat that started tailing Yotsuki and Kotowari while they were looking for Cremeux? As it turns out she IS the cat. Cremeux were supposed to wait at home but they eventually grew impatient from the two working and decided to seek the two out directly. The only reason Cremeux decided to wait until the two came to her home was because of how awkward it would have been to just randomly reveal themselves right then and there.
- An Arm and a Leg: In Chapter 13, when Mauricelene's captor commands the crystal ball to disappear using magic similar to Yotsuki's, Rubel ends up losing his right hand in the process. He likely would have lost much more were it not for Kotowari pushing back. He gets it back thanks to Mertack.
- Cuteness Proximity: Yaars are quite the soft spot for Yotsuki. While looking for a job to earn some money her eyes darted to one that involved raising one before Kotowari suggested that she instead choose a more temporary job.
- Enchanted Forest: Cremeux’s possesses the magical ability to transport people to a woodland of her creation called the “Straying Forest”.
- Fantastic Fauna Counterpart: Yaars are large, quadrupedal animals used to pull carriages.
- Green Thumb: Hilmheit uses her magic to grow a tree to pour a new set of tea.
- Mushroom House: Hilmheit lives in one outside of a town. Mauricelene's meanwhile is much more elaborate.
- The Nicknamer: Hilmheit is fond of nicknames. Yotsuki and Kotowari are called Yocchan and Kotorin, respectively, while Maurcilene is simply Morris. Mauricelene wasn’t very thrilled about hers.
- Offing the Offspring: Attempted by Yotsuki's parents, who came to fear her magic and tried to start a fire in their home. She accidentally ended up killing them in turn. They come to seriously regret doing so in the afterlife.
- Older Than They Look: Despite Hilmheit’s petite appearance, she’s Mauricelene’s mentor and claims to be ten times older than both Yotsuki and Kotowari.
- Origins Episode:
- Yotsuki’s childhood and how she eventually met are covered in Chapters 5 and 6, respectively.
- Chapter 19 serves as one for Kotowari. Specifically, it covers her creation as a doll by the daughter of a lord named Maya. Her father is slowly killing her with poison, so Maya uses the last of her life force to fuel Kotowari so that the doll can see the world she was unable to.
- Protagonist Title: The manga's title is a combination of the two leads' names Yotsuki and Kotowari.
- Talking Animal: Mauricelene’s friend Cremeux turns out to be a talking cat capable of displaying magical abilities.
- Wham Episode:
- Chapters 13 and 14 go into a bit more detail on her situation. Mainly, the place she's in is not of their world but her captor has the same type of magic as Yotsuki and Mauricelene’s.
- In Chapter 18, in the middle of Kotowari’s sparring session with Flavellan the former’s magical guise as a human wore out, revealing herself to be a doll all along.
- Chapter 21 reveals the circumstances by how Mauricelene went missing: Yotsuki unconsciously used her power over language to make herself disappear. Upon realizing this, Mauricelene tries to counteract the spell but Yotsuki's intent behind her power overtook her and ends up following her. Before that happened, Mauricelene made Kotowari forget what she saw just as Mauricelene vanished. Upon waking up in the Blank White Void she tried to return her but ended up splitting her as she is left with a younger Yotsuki.
- Chapter 24 gives more insight into the fire that spared her but took the lives of Yotsuki's parents. It confirms it was a deliberate attempt to get her killed but Yotsuki's pleas for help led them back into the house, burning them to death.
- Chapter 26 is where its revealed Mauricelene left the White Blank Void because the child Yotsuki told her to "disappear", which killed her. She is later able to be revived by being put in the young Yotsuki's body.
- Words Can Break My Bones: Yotsuki has power over language which allows her to not only physically see words spoken by other people but also issue commands that have physical effects on the world around her. This can extend to commands issued to other people. Her teacher, Mauricelene, has the same type of magic as with her captor. As revealed later, her captor is Yotsuki herself, albeit a version based on her past self.
