Horizon:Volume 10C Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Acquaintance in the Beyond

Differences in perception

Are enclosed by a flower

Point Allocation (Familiar)

●

To Mitotsudaira, the woman looked a lot like Asama.

She wasn’t wearing a Far Eastern uniform, but her clothing had a similar structure. It was colored a red a bit brighter than Asama’s shrine maiden outfit with white worn over it. Mitotsudaira recalled hearing that traditional Asama-style clothing tended to have white on top and red below, and this followed that pattern.

But the way the ether light scattered around this woman was unusual.

Mary was notable for the amount of ether light spilling from her, but this was different.

The ether fragments scattering from her body and hair were manipulated into the shape of a stole or a hagoromo.

…What?

It sometimes danced, sometimes wrapped around her, and sometimes flowed out and scattered.

At one point it would be falling like cherry blossoms, but then it would whip in the wind and dance around her like a coat. And all of a sudden…

“Hey.”

The woman was right in front of her. She resembled Asama, but her eye colors were different. Noticing that, Mitotsudaira looked up in a hurry, feeling like she had fallen asleep.

She must have taken evasive action without thinking.

“Mito!?”

After instantaneously moving a half step away, she saw the woman in front of her, putting her next to Asama.

And then she realized something.

“Are you…Tomo’s mother?”

“I am not,” said the woman as Asama took a step aside and gestured toward her.

“This is our god Sakuya.”

“Sup. I’m in charge of gambling dens and battlefields. Keep that in mind.”

Mitotsudaira’s first impression of her was a cheerful and more carefree Asama. She looked a lot like Asama, which highlighted the differences. But…

“What is going on, Tomo? You say she is a god?”

“Yes, well, I interact with her sometimes for my job.”

“Right.” Sakuya nodded. “I can see through the Asama Shrine’s mirrors and spell sign frames, so I generally know what’s going on. You’re Mitotsudaira, right? Did you enjoy massaging your chest in front of the changing room mirror when spent the night at the shrine?”

“Tomooooooo!?”

“Eh? Why me!?”

“You’re in charge of her!”

This god was trouble. No, she was dangerous. Mitotsudaira sensed that she was the same type as her mother and that she didn’t care about other people’s rights.

And that kind of person tended to be powerful.

…Well, she is a god.

“Ha!” Sakuya showed off her teeth in a laugh, her hands on her hips. “I receive so many birth and romance offerings every single day. And those offerings keep on coming, unlike those temporary offerings of battle or harvest. Plus, they’re almost always joyous things. Even with stillbirths and miscarriages, the child’s soul is sent to me to give it a path toward ‘life’, so it’s still a joyous thing. My link to a fundamental human activity makes me the strongest god in a way. I’m definitely not weak.”

“Um…what about your husband?”

“Oh, him.” Sakuya sighed. “I thought he had been weakening lately, but then he goes off and cheats on me… He keeps insisting infidelity is a piece of culture from the Age of Gods, so after receiving offerings from like 30 people while saying things like, ‘my, your body is so honest about its love of culture’, ‘such cultural noises you are making’, and ‘you are so cultured’, I brought his life gauge down to zero and threw him into an Ookuni medical center.”

Are we sure this isn’t just my mother in disguise? But her husband sounds pathetic.

Noticing Mitotsudaira’s gaze, Sakuya gave a snort of laughter.

“The Earthly Gods are called gods, but we were originally human. We gained our power using some secret conditions as a substitution, so, while we don’t mention it often, we can’t lend out too much of our power. But to make this conversation easier, I’m borrowing her mom’s appearance.”

She seemed easygoing enough.

…Still, I need to be respectful.

Mitotsudaira wondered if this was what it felt like to meet an alumnus of your school.

But as Mitotsudaira wondered what they would do now, Sakuya turned toward Asama.

“I’ll get things ready, so, shrine maiden, you go over there and call him here.”

“Eh? Me…alone?”

“Of course,” said Sakuya. “That’s Yomi beyond there. This wolf is a powerful spiritual being, but we have to follow procedure. I’m in control here, so as my shrine maiden, you can act as may agent. And I accidentally sent that idiot beyond the wall. That was my mistake, but if I called him back, it would mean admitting it was a mistake. So as my agent, you need to ‘notice my mistake’ and go collect him real quick.”

“Um.”

“What, wolf?”

“…What is this mistake exactly?”

●

They had discussed this in the Asama Shrine’s spring too.

Back then, Asama had mentioned a plan to bring her king back to life.

…But what kind of mistake did Sakuya make?

The contract with Sakuya said her king was to die if he felt sorrow. The spell had activated, leading to the expected result. Mitotsudaira had seen it herself.

But she had also seen the spell canceled partway through due to an illegal action.

“What kind of mistake…could stop a divine spell?”

“There’s a simple answer there. I made just one mistake: I took the life of someone I shouldn’t have.”

Mitotsudaira didn’t initially understand what Sakuya meant.

…Huh?

“Is my king…really so special?”

She saw Asama turn away from her – or from Sakuya really – to avoid looking her in the eye.

That told Mitotsudaira this was something Asama had set up. But which option had Asama used here?

“You made some unexpected change to my king after the contract was made, didn’t you?”

“Exactly. She discussed it with me before, but I’m an Earthly God. I don’t have much leeway when it comes to the matters of life and death – especially death – since those are determined by the Heavenly Gods. It was really that idiot’s fault for accepting such an idiotic contract, but I can’t hate him for trying to overturn it.

“But.” Sakuya smiled a little. “When I noticed what my shrine maiden set up, I couldn’t help but laugh. I could have declared it invalid, but ‘you laugh, you lose’ has been the rule ever since the age of the Ama-no-Iwato. And this shrine maiden…”

Sakuya glared at and jabbed her thumb toward Asama. What was she going to say now?

“She came to me for advice about it, but she still put her loved one first and tried to set me up. Me – her god. She’s got guts, but people like her are the most frightening. The Asama Shrine’s shrine maidens take after me so much that they’ll start a fire if things don’t go their way, so she could even burn down the shrine out of spite. So laughing and going along with it seemed like the best option.”

“Tomo…”

Mitotsudaira had noticed her friend was doing some things behind the scenes to help her king, but she hadn’t realized it was enough to worry her god.

But…

“You found something you could do, didn’t you?”

“Hey, friend. Scold her. This is an embarrassment for me.”

Asama smiled at that. Then she turned around, took a breath, and bowed to her god.

“Thank you.”

“You’re not welcome. If I accept your thanks, I’m a part of all this.”

Listen.

“You made me make a mistake, but I pulled that idiot back before it could become permanent. Which means there was no mistake. That’s how this deal is supposed to work. Got that?”

That was it.

…Tomo can’t say here what it was she did, can she?

“Judge,” replied Mitotsudaira before realizing something. “Is ‘judge’ the appropriate response here?”

“Sincerity is what matters here. Sincerity.”

She started to make an offering to the Asama Shrine on her sign frame, but Sakuya yelled at her, saying that wasn’t what she meant.

●

Asama had to go call him here.

However, she wanted to ask something first.

“You referred to Toori-kun as…’that idiot’.”

“Are you going to say he isn’t one?”

She wanted to know how Sakuya knew. She would feel bad if Sakuya said he just looked like one, but the god crossed her arms and took a breath.

“Why was his sign frame stocker filled with so many porn games?”

“I think my dad gave him those in case he was bored…sorry.”

“Also, why doesn’t he show me any respect as a god?”

“Oh, well, that’s just…sorry.”

“Also also,” began Sakuya before sighing. “I decided I wasn’t going to stop him if he tried to cross Yomi’s river, but he’s just sitting there. He says he can wait there until you show up. Why is he so sure you’re coming?”

“––––––”

Asama was rendered speechless.

She had told him she would back when he felt sorrow, but he had believed her.

That made her feel like it was all worth it. No matter what was about to happen, she was willing to go through with it all because of that trust.

“Tomo.”

“…Yes.”

Asama nodded to Mitotsudaira and Sakuya clapped her hands once.

As if popping out in response to the sound, a sign frame appeared in front of Asama. It said “unlock” and it would let her pass through the gate before her. And…

“Go on. Wolf, you come with me. You can help me prepare for the crucial ceremony – or really, for completing the quota set by Old Man Izanagi.”

“H-help you how?”

“I’ll be constructing a room and such. I haven’t been following your private lives, so I want your opinion on the layout.”

“Judge,” replied Mitotsudaira, turning toward Sakuya and raising her left hand.

Asama raised her own left hand and struck Mitotsudaira’s, making a nice sound.

Sakuya smiled a little, but Asama was smiling too. So was Mitotsudaira. It felt like they were starting on some big project. But…

…It is a big deal for the two of us at least.

How were things back in the world of the living? She was monitoring that. The time density messed with the timing, but she could see things through her direct link with Horizon.

<Divine Communication Partner: Horizon Ariadust>

<Condition: Passed out drunk>

…That’s no different from when we left!

“Oh, I took a peek earlier and she’s fast asleep. She’s so calm there’s no chance of the connection breaking, so don’t worry.”

Is that how it works? wondered Asama as she approached the gate.

●

Naruze returned to the hut and sighed.

Earlier, she head learned via divine transmission that Asama and Mitotsudaira had entered Yomi.

“I would have loved a running commentary on that, but I guess that isn’t happening.”

If she received a running commentary like she had with the Chancellor and Horizon, she would have been so thankful she died. It would even require a reward. Like maybe five copies of the book I drew based on it!

“But,” she said, picking up the pot from the stove and pouring hot water into a cup. The dripper placed atop the cup was full of ground coffee beans.

…This is one advantage of crashing in M.H.R.R.

After she poured in the hot water, the steam carried the most wonderful aroma to her nose and ears.

But this still took a lot of effort. I wouldn’t have the time when busy working on a manuscript, she thought, taking the cup and leaning her shoulder against the window that had its storm shutter down.

Her eyes were on the center of the hut.

The rough interior was only meant as a rest area, so it had a sofa in place of a bed. There was a countertop and sink, but the water had to be brought in from outside. A change of clothes was hanging up. Most of the room’s layout was taken up by the work bench in the center.

The large woodworking table was screwed to the floor and had a hole for a saw down the middle. The surface was scratched and scraped from countless pieces of hard wood being placed on it and moved around.

With the wide entrance and the illumination spell lights positioned so high up, the place was clearly meant to double as both a rest area and a simple workshop. During their spare time, people would chop up dried lumber and make furniture or kitchenware out of it.

The shelves on the walls were lined with things likely made in exactly that fashion.

“This however…is fairly dangerous by comparison.”

The workbench did not contain lumber right now.

A white fragment sat atop it. She had tried to bring the largest of the pieces, but the frame section shining in the light atop the workbench was less than a meter long.

“Weiss Fraulein Mk. II. Now, collecting it all is going to be tough…”

●

“What should I do?” she muttered, while wondering if it was even worth doing.

She doubted she could fix Weiss Fraulein.

But when she asked herself if she wanted to give up, it was quite the opposite.

“I can’t stand sitting around not doing anything.”

The Musashi had sunk. Everyone was borrowing space near the Udon Kingdom, but they were working out a way of recovering. And thanks to Horizon’s “what have I dooooone!?” on the Chancellor, Asama and Mitotsudaira were off to Yomi to play out a real-life doujinshi scenario.

What about Naruze? Drawing up a storyboard for the Yomi group was a given. You might as well mention she planned on breathing. But what would she be doing aside from breathing?

“Yes.”

She finally understood.

A fire was burning inside her. She might not know what she should do, but she did have an answer for if she could do anything.

She wouldn’t give up on Weiss Fraulein.

Maybe she couldn’t fix it even if she gathered up all the pieces, but she could at least say goodbye.

She couldn’t leave it like this. Not when that schale besen had supported them ever since the Armada Battle and sometimes even had fun with them as a musical instrument.

She had it here and that was what let her look to something more.

Its destruction and loss were what led to the next step.

It was the same with the Musashi.

And with the Chancellor.

And with the rest of them.

Their fire couldn’t be extinguished.

This region was in the mountains and the chill of night had already settled in. She would place ashes over the fire in the stove when she went out, but she didn’t extinguish it.

She looked alternately between the fire and Weiss Fraulein and took a sip from the cup that was sending the smell of coffee through her body.

“Oh.”

She hadn’t removed the dripper.

She had tried to act cool and paid the price. I’m as bad as Neshinbara. But that was proof she was focused. She knew she would make a lot of progress on that storyboard tonight.

“Could they please give me some running commentary?”

●

…I need to make sure we don’t send out a running commentary!

Knowing what was coming, Asama checked her sign frame. She only had to set hers to “closed” and she limited any divine transmissions to only Mitotsudaira as well as Horizon and Kimi who they were linked to back in the living world. The link between their souls meant cutting that connection could actually be dangerous.

“Good.”

With everything set up, she stopped in front of the gate and took a breath.

The air was so fresh. She could no longer see Mitotsudaira and Sakuya to her right. They must have opened and entered a space with a different perception.

There was no reason for Asama to remain in this empty field. She raised her “unlock” sign frame before the gate.

…Oh.

It opened.

It opened with such force it felt more like it pulling her forward than her pushing it.

She had been expecting something more solemn. To hide her surprise, she stepped through the gate. And it closed behind her.

“Eh?”

She turned around and caught the last moment of the gate shutting. But…

“Did it just slide closed from the sides?”

<It did not.>

“I know I just saw it shut from the sides like that.”

<You must have been imagining things. Yes, that must be it. Ha ha ha.>

“Why would it matter if it did or not?”

<The dignity of the moment is important, you see.>

So it was a matter of dignity. She wondered who was answering her, but this was the afterlife and the divine realm. There were gods everywhere. But…

“–––––”

She turned back around to see a river with a rocky bank.

The river was too wide to see across. If not for its current, it would have looked like a lake. If it had a salty smell, it would have looked like the sea.

Past the water, she could only see an inky darkness with Yomi’s cliff rising above it.

…Does this water block the way to the cliff?

If so, where did its current lead?

They had discussed the shape of Yomi before, but she felt like she had found the answer here.

If the cliff of Yomi visible there fully surrounded that “land”, then this river was no river. It was the lake in which the island of Yomi floated. It only had a current because…

“I knew it.”

When she looked again, the current had stopped.

She had thought of it as the Sanzu River, and so it had a current. Looking again, she could tell it was actually a vast lake with the island of Yomi floating atop it.

“Oh,” she said, remembering their discussion on the shape of Yomi.

…Izanagi sealed Yomi’s entrance with a stone.

They had wondered if that meant there was no more entrance, so they had suggested a few theories as to how the Far East’s dead arrived in Yomi.

One said it existed below deep water.

Another said it was at the top of a long, narrow slope.

The lake before her now was deep “water”.

What if the bottom of the lake passed underground into Yomi? If she entered that way, it would likely mean climbing a “long slope” to get back above ground.

And even if she tried to return, the water would have purified her into a “resident” beyond the wall, preventing her from diving back down ever again.

The fusion of the different worlds during the Age of Gods had included the concept of reincarnation, so the only way back would be to be reborn through that reincarnation system, or to receive permission from the divine realm.

“Toori-kun.”

She hoped he hadn’t entered the water just to test it out.

He had a habit of coming up with the worst ideas, which often got him into trouble.

As long as he hasn’t done anything dangerous, she decided, taking a look around. She spotted a nudist.

●

“Um.”

Why was he nude?

Removing your clothing before the Sanzu River was a Buddhist thing. There had been discussion among the Buddhists if that was a violation of the dead’s rights, but a Buddhist god had said, “But stripping feels good! You’re supposed to rid yourself of worldly things, aren’t you!? Well!?” That had silenced all dissenting opinions. Asama felt that was being a bit too anarchic for a god, but maybe that’s what it took to get by as a god.

“Um, Toori-kun?”

She called out to him and a tremor ran through him.

He turned around.

And she saw a porn game on the sign frame in front of him. He had a box of tissues nearby with Sex+ Premium on the side. Why was she so certain Sakuya had made that? At any rate, the circumstantial evidence all pointed to a single conclusion.

“–––––”

She felt like the word “lonely reproduction” was the best way of putting it.

●

They both remained silent for about five seconds before Asama spoke up.

“Should I leave? You can call me once you’re done.”

“Wait! I can explain!”

“You can, can you?”

“Sure.” He placed a hand on his chin. “Would you believe me if I said I needed the tissues because this porn game had a really emotional scene that made me cry!?”

“It’s hard to believe you when you start with ‘would you believe me if’…”

“Then let’s say I was busy purifying myself cause I felt bad about being so impure in this world!”

“It’s hard to believe you when you start with ‘then let’s say’…”

“Then how do you explain it?”

He stuck out his lower lip and she considered the question.

And she took action. She could feel herself blushing bright, but she still moved in front of him where he sat and grabbed the sign frame from him.

…I was right.

“This porn game, Gentle Touch – Europe Edition, has two love interests: a shrine maiden and a knight.”

She remembered it from when it had been sent her way to test for him. It was loosely based on the King Arthur legend, probably because it had been made after their time in England.

“The king is badly injured and on death’s door, so he must be healed with a healing spell delivered through a combination technique.”

That meant he knew what was happening. Sakuya must have told him.

She looked to him again and saw him smiling bitterly.

“How should I put it…I was mentally preparing myself?”

“If you had called it ‘practice’, I would have said it was time for the real thing.”

But if he was preparing for it…

“I take it Sakuya told you what we will be doing?”

Had Sakuya done it as a favor, or had it been part of her duty? Either way, he seemed to be thinking about something for a while before he suddenly spoke up.

“Huhhh! Told me what!? No one told me anything! You’re gonna have to explain it to me yourself, Asama! What’s going to happen to me!?”

When she silently started to leave, he grabbed at her leg to stop her.

●

“Oh, I see. You’re living at that idiot’s place? As something like a tenement house? Hmm.”

Sakuya used a bamboo pen to draw out a diagram on the sign frame opened atop the table. Mitotsudaira carefully observed the scene and her movements.

They were in a garden. Past that long white wall was a shrine-like estate and they were in one of its buildings. The walls had been removed, turning it into something like a stage, and they were discussing how to create the “space” they would be using.

Thinking about what that “space” would be used for made Mitotsudaira blush, but that was why she wanted to ensure it was just right.

Sakuya started by asking about where they lived.

“Let’s see, so that…Main Blue Thunder? I can create that for you. I’ll make sure the space around it looks right, but anything beyond that won’t be accurate, so don’t go too far. If you do any outdoor combining, stay in the neighborhood, okay? Oh, but do you not want the shrine maiden around? I could create two overlapping versions of the space.”

“U-um, this is going to take a long time, isn’t it? Then it would be best if we can meet and report on our status or exchange information.”

“Then I’ll make a meeting point. I’ll add an extra door here. Pass through there and you can reach the shrine maiden’s floor.” Sakuya jabbed her bamboo sign frame drawing pen toward Mitotsudaira. “Oh, and you’ll be making a copy of that idiot, right? During a break, he might try to swap places with the shrine maiden’s copy for a change of pace, but you need to go kick his ass and drag him back if he does.”

“I-I could never be so rude…”

“It’s not about politeness. In a single dimension, it allows more ‘freedom’ in your combining, but split between dimensions, it’ll confuse his memories when he’s recombined into one. Because it’s possible some aspects of the space will differ between yours and the shrine maiden’s, plus the time compression can be changed.”

“Do we have to take it that far?”

“Hey, this isn’t a brothel or love hotel. A specialist god is arranging it for you. This might be a private matter, but I won’t let you half-ass it. Also…”

Sakuya smiled a little. Mitotsudaira had noticed this habit of hers. She likely found it amusing whenever she noticed she had been moved to emotion.

The god continued her work while discussing whatever she felt like.

“We have connections with the gods of other religions and move back and forth fairly frequently. That gives us information on the trends of the human world and we’re always busy defusing trouble. Your Testament Cross-Borders Unit? Stuff like that happens all the time here. The monotheistic gods in particular are always asking for our help with things they have trouble with or need more hands to deal with, but they still have the nerve to say ‘worship only me’ to their believers. I should really kick them out of heaven one of these days.”

“Did something happen recently?”

“Remember the plague in Europe? The supposed ‘one true god’ was overwhelmed trying to keep track of all the dead, which is really the problem with monotheism if you ask me. And he neglected the births because of it, causing the population to drop even more. That’s why Old Man Izanagi suggested we go and fix that up, so the Earthly Gods had to deal with it. But then the polytheistic religions and spirits over there are waning, making them useless! They’ve weakened so far they can’t even use an ether ultrasound to see if the baby is a saint. If you want a good polytheistic religion nowadays, you’ve gotta go to the New World!

“Anyway, to get back on topic, a god appearing in Europe would contradict their monotheistic beliefs, so I had to go around dressed up as their Holy Mother. I was pretty popular going around with the three Saruta gods! They decided I was a shepherd and slaughtered their excess sheep for me, and damn was that lamb good. Cooked in salt, it goes great with sake!

“So I ate good meet and drank good drink as a self-offering while traveling around. Whenever there was a difficult birth, I would don my Holy Mother costume, rush in, and get those babies popping out healthy as you please, but that ‘one true god’ bastard tried to reward me with an indulgence because ‘they’re all the rage right now’, so I shoved a bottle of wine where the sun don’t shine and went, ‘Here, have some divine water. I thought you liked the stuff?’, so Tsukuyomi gave me a hell of a talking to when I got back. Although ‘what if he develops a taste for drinking wine through his butt’ doesn’t seem like the real problem, if you ask me. And when I got home, I found my husband getting cultural. Can you believe it?”

“What about people like my mother?”

“Right, her!” Sakuya clapped her hands and pointed at Mitotsudaira before slapping her on the shoulder. “Your mom is the record holder for most combinations. You have some work to do.”

“I do not!”

When Sakuya told her to calm down, Mitotsudaira realized something: they had moved a lot closer together. It probably helped that Sakuya was borrowing Asama’s mother’s appearance. But…

“Why are you being so kind to me?”

“Oh, c’mon,” said Sakuya. “Didn’t I tell you before? I haven’t gotten any decent work recently. I’m just glad that such an important job has come to me.”

“That is a lie.”

Yes. It was a lie. Because she didn’t have that little smile. Mitotsudaira was now certain of what she had noticed before: Sakuya herself didn’t believe that excuse.

“You…”

Sakuya started to say something but stopped. And she sighed.

“You see, I had a sister.”

“Had?”

“Don’t rush this,” said Sakuya.

●

I guess I can tell her, decided Sakuya as she resumed speaking.

“Her name’s Iwanaga. Heard of her?”

“Y-yes. She was initially supposed to marry your husband Ninigi along with you, wasn’t she? The Far East accepts polygamy because of that story.”

“Did you and the shrine maiden look that up after you started living in the tenement house?”

“Tomo told me about it.”

What an excellent shrine maiden. But Sakuya’s father had been asking for trouble trying to marry off both sisters at once.

“The problem was my sister wasn’t good looking. …Ninigi sent her back home and only took me as his wife. But my sister’s authority was over longevity. The children born to Ninigi and us were the people of the living world, so human lifespans were greatly shortened afterwards. When my dad found out, he rebuked my husband harshly for making an irreversible change to the basic stats of humanity. …So anyway, that’s what happened.”

“Judge.” The wolf nodded, showing she understood the background here. But…

“That wasn’t what happened.”

“Huh?”

“It wasn’t. I mean, think about it.”

“What about it?” asked the wolf, so Sakuya raised her pen and answered.

“What would happen if humanity suddenly became long-lived when the world was still undeveloped?”

“Well…”

The wolf seemed to arrive at the answer. Her eyebrows rose and her eyes widened.

“They wouldn’t have enough of a labor force to handle the aging population.”

“Right. My sister’s authority is longevity, not eternal youth. But in an undeveloped world where physical labor is so important, what happens if her power keeps the people alive when the population should have been kept in balance by death from famine and disease? They would end up with a large population of those too old to work.”

If that happened, there would be even less food to go around and it would influence the people’s migration.

“My sister’s authority wasn’t meant to be provided to all of humanity or the world as a whole. Sharing just a bit as a greeting to those who visit her shrine and greet her is enough. Meanwhile, humanity does need my authority, so…”

“So you pushed Iwanaga away?”

“Juuudge.” The word fell from the corners of her lips. Because she saw this as her sin. “We went and beat up our simple father and- okay, fine I did that part. Don’t give me that look. It was just a little lie. Anyway, we decided we should be fair to humanity, which meant my sister wouldn’t marry anyone and would only share her authority with those who came to the shrine and such. But her authority became widely known because of the incident. Gods from all around would want that authority. Once humanity’s lifespan was set, marrying a god of longevity would mean your own believers would gain a longer life. So we came up with a plan: I told everyone Iwanaga is ugly and, if you married her, then your worshipers’ children would be born just as ugly.”

“And…what happened?”

“Nothing really. Thanks to that rumor, no one recognized my sister when they saw her. But because her true identity could be revealed if she’s reflected in a mirror, I threw out all the ones nearby. She resented me for it and we got into a fight, which ended in her leaving home…and she still hasn’t returned,” said Sakuya. “My sister is a meek woman. She’d never had a relationship before. That’s why she saw that time with Ninigi as her first and last chance, but we all know how it turned out.”

Sakuya thought Iwanaga had let her thoughts run wild.

“If you want your beloved to live a long life and you want to use my ‘birthing’ here, then I want your help with a personal matter. That’s my point. …Judge, yes. Judgment is the right word for it. That truly is what it is.”

●

While Mitotsudaira gasped, a sign frame opened next to Sakuya’s face.

She glanced over at it.

“What? Ley line materia- you didn’t hear anything, okay? It’s finally time for the lecture on bringing that idiot back from Yomi.”

This had to be about the “set up” she had mentioned earlier. Asama would be explaining it to her king.

“This is a little crazy, but we welcome it. Because it is a ‘birthing’ and thus a joyous thing. Now, how will it play out?”

●

“So I can’t leave this place? Then what do we do? That gate is shut tight.”

“Yes, it is,” answered Asama while using a sign frame as a phase space entrance and pulling out a red mat. She spread that out on the riverbank and they both sat on it.

She sat across from him on the shore of Yomi, and noted how strange a situation it was as she got down to business.

“Your progress has been halted here, but you are on the path the dead take to Yomi. It is a one-way trip, so you can’t return the way you came. Generally speaking, anyway.”

“So I’d’ve been in real trouble if I’d gone further?”

“It’s a good thing you didn’t.”

She truly believed that. If he had gone on to death on his own, all their efforts to bring him back would have been for nothing. But there hadn’t been time to create a manual and she didn’t know how this afterlife worked.

“I had a feeling crossing the Sanzu River was a bad idea.”

“This isn’t actually the Sanzu River. Crossing it still would have been a bad idea, though.”

“But I can’t leave this riverbank through that gate. You used a spell to get in, so can I get out with you?”

“You cannot.”

“No, huh?”

“No,” she confirmed. “Perception is an important factor here and you are currently ‘dead’. And that white wall acts a boundary between the living and the dead.”

“Then how are you here?”

“Because I am a shrine maiden.”

She was a divine agent. If what she had been told was accurate, she could make it as far as Yomi’s entrance. Further than that would require permission from Yomi and she would have to be accompanied by a god, but…

“This is my first time trying it, but I made it this far. And I can return as well.”

“Then how do I leave?”

“That’s the thing.” She opened a sign frame. “We need to break the underlying condition. Toori-kun, you created your ether supply spell as an Ootsubaki spell, but it was approved by the Asama Shrine with Sakuya as the top level administrator. But that assumes that you are you.”

“…That I’m me?”

He crossed his arms and tilted his entire body as he groaned in thought.

“Will I be swapping places with someone?”

He suddenly raised his head and moved toward her. Before she could even gasp, he grabbed her shoulders.

“You’d better not be saying you’re going to take my place here and die for me.”

●

Toori saw Asama’s eyes widen. Then she bit her lip and hung her head.

“Pft.”

Her shoulders shook in laughter. Ohh, her boobs are jiggling, but what was so funny about what I said?

She soon raised her head again and looked to him with tears in her eyes.

“I won’t do that. Because I know it would make you sad. That is why I never once suggested that method after you used the spell.”

“For real?”

That’s good. I guess I was overthinking things here.

But he did sigh. In fact, he knew he put her through a lot and that she could be ruthless when it came to dealing with it all.

But he was still glad. He belatedly realized that she had drawn a line in the sand there and that she had used his presence to set up a give-and-take relationship. But…

“I’m glad I had you with me, Asama. Because you save my ass whenever I screw up in my private life.”

He really meant that. And this was another example.

“Hell, you can even bring me back from the dead. Now that’s really something.”

“No, I needed Mito, Horizon, and Kimi’s help for this.”

“I’m talking about you right now.”

“Th-thank you…”

Asama continued with her eyebrows a little lowered.

“But I can’t do that much.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…I couldn’t do anything when you really needed help, so I let Kimi handle it.”

Because…

“Ten years ago when you returned from Mikawa, I was so afraid…and I couldn’t bring myself to visit your place because I was hoping everything could go back to the way it was. But when you and Kimi came to my place crying, I realized something.”

She said it.

“I realized just how terrible a mistake I had made.”

●

…Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Asama was hit so hard by how troublesome she was she imagined she could hear Kimi saying, “Heh heh. Why is this girl so much trouble!?”

…I-I’m going to die! I’m so much trouble it’s going to kill me!

Why was she bringing this up when they had some combination planned? It wasn’t like he could do anything about what happened a decade ago.

She was supposed to come to terms with these things on her own and bring it up as a funny story when they were eating dinner and playing games at the Main Blue Thunder or something.

But she couldn’t do it. And now she couldn’t believe how troublesome she was.

He had nearly died ten years ago and now he was nearly dying ten years later.

Back then, Kimi had saved him.

Now it was mainly her with help from the others.

That was probably a sign of her growth, but…

“I can’t change.”

No matter how much she grew, how much more she could do, and how much strength she now had, she hadn’t changed.

“I can’t erase what happened ten years ago.”

There was nothing you could do about the past. There was a silver lining, though.

“I can save you now because of what happened back then.”

But she felt that was simply justifying her past. And…

“Then I need to thank that past you. If not for her, the present you couldn’t do this for me.”

“True. But…”

His words pleased her, but she couldn’t lie to herself.

“I still wish I could have done something back then. If I hadn’t just let Kimi handle it…I wonder if I could do even more for you now.”

●

I can’t believe this. Asama hung her head.

They were speaking together at such an important moment, but here she was complaining to him about her past and parts of the present they couldn’t change. And it was all about herself. She felt like she was using him as an excuse to talk about herself.

That wasn’t fair. It was wrong. She wanted to purify it. But this was a space of zero impurity, which only made her feel worse about doing this here.

She was crying. The tears fell rather than flowed. She was glad her head was lowered.

This is fine. I’ll recover soon. Crying will make me feel better. So I can get rid of this feeling and focus on what I’m here for.

…Hurry!

And just as she was rushing herself like that…

“Hey, Asama?” he said. “I sometimes think it was thanks to you that I made it back from Mikawa. Do you remember it that way? Maybe I’m just making it up.”

“Huh? Wh-what do you mean?”

Confused, she looked up. She saw a white and blue world. In front of that, he looked unsure what to do about the hands on her shoulders as he answered her.

“So…were you at my place when I was being healed at Mikawa?”

●

Toori thought back to that time.

One of his arms had been severed at an even deeper point than the shoulder. And not by a sharp blade. He had been hit by a carriage. Apparently it had been more or less ripped away, but he honestly had no memory of his time in Mikawa.

“It was like I woke up after being returned to the Musashi. So right after the moment of the accident, I was thrown onto a Musashi without Horizon, which hit me really hard. But before that?”

This was probably only a dream he had while being healed.

“I was in the Main Blue Thunder during the night.”

●

Asama thought back to that time.

Kimi had been afraid to sleep alone and Asama’s father had agreed it would be careless, so she had slept over for a few days.

One night, she had woken and sensed a presence in the cafe area.

“I wondered why I was back there and wandered around the cafe,” he said. “I was weirdly calm and stood in the dark cafe, thinking I must be hungry.”

And then…

“Someone walked out from the back. I thought it had to be sis, but it was you. Weird, right?” he said. “You didn’t live there, so I still think I must’ve been dreaming.”

“D-did you ask Kimi?”

“Judge.” He nodded. “She laughed and told me to ask you. But I couldn’t just go and ask if you had moved in with us.”

He tilted his head.

“Anyway, when I saw you there, you looked to me and called my name: Toori-kun.”

She remembered that. She had been afraid and cowered down, but she had been staying there to avoid any carelessness. So she had spoken to that presence.

“If you’re there, then come back properly…Toori-kun.”

“Yeah, that’s what you said. And I was like, ‘Huh? If Asama can’t tell it’s me, then there must be something wrong with me. I’m not my usual self.’ That’s when I passed out. And when I came to, I was back on the Musashi.”

He gained a look of realization.

“If you hadn’t called out to me then, I think I would’ve kept on wandering, come here, and crossed the river out of curiosity.”

“But…”

“So that really happened.”

She heard him laugh.

“Thanks, Asama. You saved me again.”

Hearing that, she got up, moved forward with greater strength than his grip on her shoulders, followed his arms to dive into his chest, hugged him, and brought her cheek to his.

“–––––”

When her lips met his, new tears spilled from her eyes.

●

Yes, thought Asama, as she hugged him and felt him hug her back.

This is what I couldn’t do ten years ago.

She had constantly apologized, but she had been too afraid of him after he returned to do this.

…But now…

She could do it. She wasn’t afraid. She knew what she had to do and she wouldn’t hesitate. So…

“…Nh.”

Their tongues were bound together in their mouths, they exchanged breaths, and she desired his as if swallowing it before they separated. She sucked in a breath and noticed his lips were damp, but it didn’t feel wrong.

She realized she had partially pushed him down. But they both nodded and straightened up.

“Toori-kun.”

They sat facing each other again as she explained what she was about to do.

“I will now make a god out of you.”

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