VOLUME 3

PART 2: Hitsugi-no-Miko (1)

Chapter 7: For the Sake of this World, for the Sake of the Humans in this World

Both of my eyes opened wide.

All I could see around me was r o t t i n g f l e s h.

“Kyaaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!”

I had no idea what was going on.

From what I could see, I was surrounded by a flock of disgusting-looking zombies.

Yes, zombies.

They clearly were not alive. I saw brown and black lumps of rotting flesh shaped like humans all around me; sidling up to me while letting out what could best be described as groans.

Their putrid smell filled my nostrils.

I had been raised in a relatively neat and proper place; also, I was still feeling a bit of trauma from when my mother had shown me her decaying body… so I was pretty sensitive now to grotesque things like this.

I felt terror run through my body as I began to scoot backwards.

“Kyaahhh!! Kyaahh?! W-Why did I suddenly get tossed into a zombie arcade game or something?!”

I was in the business district of some town I didn’t recognize.

I saw many tall buildings around me stuck into the ground like stakes.

There was very little nature to be found, and the air was clouded with pollution.

Most of the trees lining the roadside were bent or snapped, and a huge number of cars on the roadside were either turned upside down or on fire.

It was like the end of the world.

It may also be the direct aftermath of a huge earthquake.

I also saw quite a few wounded priestesses collapsed around me.

These are… spiritualists from the Tsukuyomi Shrine.

It seemed they were still alive, but not a single one of them was moving at all.

“……?”

My mind became clearer, but along with that came a sense of unease that spread throughout my body.

It almost felt like… I wasn’t myself right now.

–

“What is the matter, Tsukuyomi Juju?”

–

Somebody… was calling out to me, but it was with my mother’s name.

“Weak irregularities such as this should be no match for you. Pick up your weapon and fight. A one-sided battle makes for quite a boring one, wouldn’t you say?”

I saw someone beyond the flock of zombies standing on top of a street lamp.

His face was shrouded in shadow under this ominous, cloudy sky, so I couldn’t see him very well.

He was dressed like he was the leader of some heretic cult, and I saw a few nasty-looking skulls dangling from his staff.

His body was so thin it was almost skeletal, while his eyes had sunk into his face.

He was missing a few teeth…

He was also balding…

Atop that balding head of this old man rested a diadem. It looked like something pilfered from some ancient ruin somewhere.

The sinister aura emanating from this man filled the air around the squirming zombies. I swore it made their stench a hundred times worse.

“You have annihilated all of our organization’s vanguard troops, so come and show me your true power! Tsukuyomi Juju, the priestess of that vile Tsukuyomi Shrine, and the one heralded as the strongest priestess in history… you will take that power of the Supreme G.o.d which you inherited into your body, and you will hand it over to the people of Arahabaki!”

Arahabaki…?

What the h.e.l.l was that?

But that name did kind of ring a bell…

More importantly, now I definitely had confirmed that this skeletal man had called me “Tsukuyomi Juju.”

“……”

I took another good look at my own body.

I saw myself wearing a priestess uniform, slightly discolored by rotting flesh and blood (not my own).

Long locks of hair obscured my view… hair that was way too long to belong to me.

I was also bigger than I remembered… I was in an adult’s body.

Through deductive reasoning, I could guess that I was… I was now in my mother’s body.

Why?

Also, where exactly was I?

What was happening?

I must’ve looked quite confused. But the skeletal man seemed to see this as a good thing and began laughing uproariously.

“You do seem a bit off today, but do not think I will show you any mercy because of that! I am an a.s.sa.s.sin of the sinister occult society, Arahabaki! I am the vessel for a divine spirit, the Slothful Patron of Graves, Baron Samedi! Today will be the day where I avenge the deaths of all my fallen comrades!”

Baron Samedi was a deity worshipped in the folk religion of Voodoo.

Well, he was more of a saint than a deity, but close enough.

This deity was in charge of the pa.s.sage between the border of life and death, and during festivals was allowed to ascend to the human world above. At those times, he would revive the dead and partic.i.p.ate in boisterous merrymaking.

Why was a deity from such a distant land here all of a sudden?

“If I can defeat the Tsukuyomi priestess, then my own status will skyrocket! It may even be possible for me to become the vessel of the Eternal Rebel Arahabaki in Her Highness’s place!”

This Baron Samedi or whatever trembled with emotion.

“Go, my zombies! Tear that woman into shreds and turn her into fish food!”

“Eek…”

Zombies were usually pretty weak enemies in games.

However, I had no idea how to fight, so even running here was a pretty difficult path to take.

These zombies seemed to be unarmed and just attacked by grabbing onto their prey. I cowered.

Sasami, step down.

Suddenly, I heard words in the back of my head, and I felt my consciousness sink deep into my body.

This is not a place for children.

In my mind, another psyche emerged…

“Do not think that the power of the Supreme G.o.d I have inherited is just for show!”

It was my mother.

This air of intimidation…

This imposing presence…

She quickly drew her blade, unsheathing the Totsuka-no-Tsurugi from her staff.

This blade made from divine energy cut through the surrounding zombies like b.u.t.ter, sending them flying from the impact.

“Hngh..?!”

Baron Samedi panicked a bit, raising his staff and calling out to his army of living corpses.

“It seems you are back to normal… my zombies, do not let that woman near me! She may be the Tsukuyomi priestess, but she is still a mere human! She will tire! Surround her and crush her!”

“Tch, how troublesome…”

My mother muttered to herself as she easily sliced the surrounding zombies into ribbons.

“These are the living dead. The dead belong to the Underworld. The Underworld is not under the control of the Supreme G.o.d Amaterasu. It may be rather difficult to cast an alteration and render these zombies all powerless.”

So instead, my mother directly confronted Baron Samedi.

“What is your goal?” My mother asked bluntly.

“You members of Arahabaki generally take glee purely in making people suffer through your crimes, but this time I cannot confess to understand your actions. Why would you force the dead to move and attack others? Is there a meaning to that? It does not even seem you have directly brought back the souls of the deceased, but rather, you have possessed these corpses with low-level G.o.ds and are controlling them by those means… however weaklings such as these cannot possibly give you any significant advantage in a real battle.”

“Kufufu, you do not understand, do you? You do not understand my sublime aspirations!”

Baron Samedi twirled his cultist clothing in the air and spoke boomingly.

“Just as you said, I have merely possessed these corpses with lowly G.o.ds, and they are nothing but my puppets! However, these puppets will move at my command and will never betray me!”

Samedi spoke boomingly, but he made zero sense.

“My goal is the conquering of this nation! First, I will kill all the country’s politicians, possess them with G.o.ds, and turn them into zombies! Then I will control these newly-born zombie politicians, and I will become the grand king! If other politicians defy me, I will kill them too and turn them into zombies! As for all the people who do not vote for me, they will also be killed and turned into zombies! Democracy demands majority votes! So if I turn all the politicians and all the people into zombies who have no way of disobeying me, then I will control everything! Zombie cabinet approval rating?! A hundred percent, of course! Guhahahaha!”

This guy was an idiot.

“Hmph, do not think I will allow you to do such terrible things!”

Wahh, my mother actually responded to that insane rant pretty sincerely. Mom, you’re pretty cute…

“I see you have this quite planned out… by those means, certainly in a certain sense this land might fall under your control; however, the Tsukuyomi Shrine exists for the sake of this world, and for the sake of the humans in this world! We will put a stop to those ambitions! G.o.ds and humans do not exist to be your playthings!”

My mother declared that and then took a familiar pose to cast a spell.

A cool-looking pose, like she was an ally of justice.

The Chant of Returning Roads.

“The Great G.o.d of the Returning Roads refers to the boulder placed at the boundary between Earth and Underworld to seal Izanami when she tried to escape from the Underworld! It has an instantaneous effect on the dead! To speak in words that may be familiar to you… return earth to earth, and ashes to ashes!”

Along with my mother’s words, all the zombies around us fell to the floor, almost as if something above was pressing down upon them.

“Deity from another land, repent for your sins… and begone!”

My mother teleported herself to where Baron Samedi was standing.

She majestically swung the exposed Totsuka-no-Tsurugi down.

The blade ate into Baron Samedi’s shoulder and quickly cut his body into two, dispersing it into the wind.

It was an instant kill.

The Slothful Patron of Graves, Baron Samedi, was by no means weak.

In fact, he had defeated all those other priestesses.

However, he was no match for my mother.

My mother was strong. Stronger than anybody.

She had to be.

Even if she had to do the impossible, even if she started coughing up blood, she had to put her all into it.

For the sake of this world. For the sake of the humans in this world.

“Wasting my time like that… hm?”

Breathing heavily, my mother suddenly looked up at the sky.

Something was flying towards us at high speeds, seeming to tear through the clouds.

“Juju-samaaaaaaaaa!!!”

My mother squinted her eyes, seeing a strange thing flying through the sky.

It was the size of a car, but it looked like a huge human head.

This was a demon called a “flying head” youkai (2), or a “long-necked” youkai (long-necked might make you think that it’s a youkai that can stretch out its neck, but there were many types of this youkai that could detach its head and fly through the skies).

The Tsukuyomi Shrine used a lot of low-level youkai as servants.

The flying head soared towards us with the speed of an airplane, and I could see a single priestess sitting atop its head.

“That is… Micchan?”

My mother stared upwards, a hint of puzzlement in her eyes.

The flying head suddenly looked like it was holding something in.

“A… A… A… Acchooo!” It let out a grand sneeze.

The force of the sneeze threw this Micchan priestess person completely into the air.

“U… Ugyaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!”

“Micchan?!”

Micchan began speeding towards the ground head first.

“Phew… that really scared me. I thought I was going to die.”

“Normally, you would have. You should pay more attention in the future.”

We were flying through the air.

We were atop this youkai that really just looked like the huge head of an old geezer. My mother was sitting in a formal j.a.panese style in the middle of a big bald spot, while Micchan was plopped down behind her looking quite miserable.

Earlier, Micchan had almost turned into Pie-chan, but my mother had kindly caught her (normally my mother’s arm strength was close to nil, so she had probably used some alteration or something), and so, all was well again.

This perch atop this head seemed like it would be pretty uneasy, but my mother didn’t budge an inch as she let out a sigh.

“You are quite helpless, so you should not be trying to control these youkai. They may have fallen from grace, but they are still G.o.ds, which means they are more powerful than humans and also of higher rank. When you try to control them, you must pay careful attention. They are like cell phones or bicycles – not everybody and everything can use them well.”

“But, there’s still a lot I really don’t understand… these youkai are different from the divine spirits you hear about every once in a while, right? Umm, I can’t really sort it all out in my head…”

“You certainly know very little… well, I suppose it cannot be helped. You are a bit special, after all.”

Maybe she just wanted to kill time, but my mother began to explain things in a fairly sincere way.

“All things in this world are imbued with an ego, or a consciousness, or something like that which we can observe. This something is what we call a G.o.d, and, just as the name ‘Myriad G.o.ds’ might imply, everything is a vessel to one of these G.o.ds.”

“Yes, I know that much.”

Micchan’s hair fluttered in the wind as she nodded.

She didn’t seem to be nearly as composed as my mother. This was evident as she was clinging to the youkai for dear life.

“We humans also possess G.o.ds in our bodies, and it’s by using these G.o.ds that we can make many different kinds of miracles. That’s where spiritual powers come from.”

“Yes. Well, humans are in a rather unique position, but that explanation is more or less correct.”

Micchan looked like she was around the same age as my mother, but somehow they gave off the impression of a teacher and her student.

Or maybe… of siblings.

“In any case, the G.o.ds are just the building blocks for the world. However, on some occasions they can physically manifest themselves as animals or humans or weapons or natural phenomena so as to exact their influence directly on the world. Of these physical manifestations, we capture the weak ones and subjugate them using our own spiritual abilities. These are what we are calling the ‘youkai,’ or familiars, or shikigami.”

“I wish everyone would just agree on a word… it’s so confusing…”

“That cannot be helped. Different places in this land… in the entire world… use whatever name they wish for these ent.i.ties.”

My mother let out a sigh before continuing her explanation.

“In the ancient times, all physical manifestations of G.o.ds were labeled as ‘youkai.’ However, now that we at the Tsukuyomi Shrine are working to create a world convenient for human life and enforcing the rules in a strict manner, these types of random manifestations are currently essentially nonexistent.”

Ahh, so that’s what it was like.

After my mother had died, the world stopped being “convenient for humans,” so lately I’ve been seeing random youkai here and there.

For example, there were those low-level G.o.ds that Kagami had to exterminate back at Konohana Sakuya Academy earlier… I guess you could call them low-level youkai.

“And then, ‘divine spirits’ refer to those G.o.ds who have not physically manifested themselves.”

My mother continued with her frank explanation.

“If you take humans as an example, then the divine spirit is the soul, or the psyche. Even as a divine spirit, one can affect change in things within its own territory, but without physically manifesting oneself and becoming a youkai, there are strict limits in terms of what one can do. This is why the old G.o.ds tended to physically manifest themselves frequently.”

My mother groaned, a bitter look on her face.

“It seems that these people from Arahabaki controlled many of these divine spirits, and could use them to temporarily possess robots or dolls and control them as they wished.”

“That’s different from the youkai we use, right?”

“It is similar, but precisely speaking it is not the same. The possessed objects are fine-tuned by Arahabaki, and are machines that are programmed to never disobey their orders. They are easier to use than the youkai under our control, and as long as the divine spirit is intact, another object can be easily used even if the first one breaks.”

“Ahh, I guess if you exterminate a youkai, then that’s the end of it.”

So, it was the difference between taking your own soul and allowing it to physically manifest itself… or taking a divine spirit and using it to possess a vessel that had been prepared in advance.

In the latter case, even if your body were broken, you would be able to survive.

However, the vessel could only move in the way Arahabaki had programmed it to move, so it didn’t seem like you had much freedom.

“That is precisely why we can only use the lowest-level G.o.ds. Higher-ranked G.o.ds are carrying much of this world on their shoulders. Even if it is unlikely, if they happen to disappear, then it would be like gouging out a piece of the world. This world would stop functioning properly, and there is the danger that this may lead to the world failing altogether.”

I see. For instance, suppose you controlled the G.o.d of the laws of physics.

If that G.o.d was extinguished, then the laws of physics themselves would vanish from this world.

It’s not like the world would suddenly just be destroyed from that, but it would certainly be a pretty big problem.

“However, Arahabaki possesses vessels that can be freely thrown away, the zombie bodies. With these, they can use great numbers of G.o.ds as weapons and just toss the vessels away without worry when they are finished. As long as the divine spirits themselves are intact, there will be no impact upon this world.”

Allow me to make an inference here.

The power of the Supreme G.o.d that was pa.s.sed down by the Tsukuyomi priestesses was probably a divine spirit.

Tsurugi had entrusted Ninigi-no-Mikoto with a divine spirit that contained the power of the Supreme G.o.d.

After that, the remains… the dredges left after that process… that’s what physically manifested itself as one of these “youkai,” and that was what we knew today as Yagami Tsurugi.

Tsurugi had been planning to take the power of the Supreme G.o.d back at some point, so she had left her own heart and being within the part that was Yagami Tsurugi, and made it so that she could call the divine spirit she had left to Ninigi-no-Mikoto back whenever she wanted… or something like that.

As I was thinking about all these things, I suddenly heard my mother whisper.

“Hm. It seems we have arrived. Please hold onto me so you do not suddenly start falling once again.”

“Okay~~.”

Micchan smiled and boldly wrapped her arms around my mother from behind.

“Now I feel super safe~~.”

Ugh, so not fair… Micchan, that’s not fair at all.

I can count the number of times I got to hug my mother like this on one hand…

The Tsukuyomi Shrine.

This was the organization that existed to create a world which was convenient for humans, a place that worked to cleanse the world of all irregularities and wild youkai.

My mother pa.s.sed under the torii gate while paying a brief sidelong glance at the well-maintained fence.

She hurried up the shrine road, not even looking at the hall of worship or the main shrine as she headed straight for the innermost building.

“This way, Juju-sama!”

Micchan was leading my mother somewhere, moving quite swiftly in that priestess outfit of hers (even though it looked really hard to move around in).

The Tsukuyomi Shrine was hidden from the world and protected by spiritual barriers, so there were no worshippers here, let alone any sightseers. It was as silent as death.

Even the birds couldn’t be heard here. In the midst of all that, Micchan began to mumble anxiously.

“I wasn’t sure who could be listening, so I couldn’t say this before, but… please do not be surprised, Juju-sama. It seems Sasami-sama has collapsed…”

“Sasami?”

Me?

“I suppose this is not surprising given the circ.u.mstances. That girl has always had a weak body. Everyone is also so overprotective of her, and her immune system has suffered as a result. Lately, she has also been traveling down to the town, so it is possible she has also contracted a strange illness that does not yet exist within this sanctuary’s walls. This all is her own fault, so I must admit that a part of me believes it would be better for her if we just leave her be.”

My mother was quite a strict person.

“T-That could be true, but…”

Micchan seemed shaken, and the ends of her eyebrows drooped.

“But, Sasami-sama is a precious child who will become the next Tsukuyomi priestess. Also, all of our doctors and priestesses have already attended to her, and she still doesn’t seem to be getting better… this might be the work of a G.o.d with evil intentions or a curse cast by some other organization.”

“Whether it is an illness or a curse, the fact that Sasami collapses so easily is a sign that she lacks in discipline. Although, it would be unfortunate if she were to die. Where is she?”

“Over here, Juju-sama!”

Micchan led my mother down a hallway in the estate that served as the living quarters of the Tsukuyomi Shrine.

She finally arrived at a small, j.a.panese-style room.

This room filled me with a sense of nostalgia. It was my old room.

In accordance with my mother’s policy that materialism was evil, there were very few personal belongings in the room.

The floors were composed of simple tatami mats, there were no windows, and the entire place felt quite claustrophobic.

“You may leave, Micchan.”

My mother waved Micchan off while looking at the young me sleeping in a futon in the middle of the room.

“If this is not a mere disease, but a curse, then someone with very little spiritual ability like yourself may be in danger.”

“Okay… Juju-sama, please be careful…”

Micchan looked a bit vexed as she was left on guard duty in the hallway while my mother entered the room.

My mother knelt by my younger self’s side. There was a towel resting on my forehead. Maybe I had a high fever or something?

My mother’s fingers hovered in midair for a bit as if she was handling something incredibly fragile.

“M-Mom…?”

My younger self’s consciousness seemed to be rather hazy, but I lightly opened my eyes and spoke up.

My mother gave a small nod and just scooted closer to me without uttering a word.

However, I knew exactly how many emotions were swirling under that calm facade.

My mother possessed the power of the Supreme G.o.d, and so she always had to hide her emotions as much as possible and behave in that inhuman way.

My mother was strong.

That’s why I loved her so much.

She was forced to seal her emotions, but somehow, somewhere her kindness came through even if it was a bit awkward. She was a very straightforward person like that.

“I’m… sorry…”

I let out labored breaths as tears leaked from my eyes.

“Mom was in the… in the middle of something… but I…”

“Enough.”

My mother barely managed to squeeze those curt words out.

“I am the Tsukuyomi Priestess, but I am also your mother.”

This was the cause of my mother’s eternal grief.

She might want to abandon her duties, run to her daughter’s side, and hug her close.

However, she would never be permitted to do that.

She would never be allowed to prioritize her daughter above the world.

My mother was too serious and very strong, and that’s precisely why she was so pained.

She would take on all the pain in the world and would not show any of that pain on her face.

That is why people misunderstood her, resented her, hated her.

But I loved my mother.

I was the only one who wanted to be with my mother.

“Sleep.”

My mother reached out with trembling fingers and softly stroked the top of my head.

“You should not worry about a thing. Leave everything to your mother.”

My mother said that without even a hint of a smile, and then put a hand up to her mouth.

She turned around and softly coughed.

And then, crimson splashed her outstretched palm!

However, the young me’s consciousness was so dim that I didn’t notice.

My mother’s posture didn’t falter, and she behaved just like her usual dignified self, pretending nothing had happened.

“Sasami. Quickly grow big. That is the one thing you can do, and by the time you become an adult, the world will have become a slightly better place.”

“Yeah. I know. Mom is trying really hard.”

But despite saying that, I didn’t really know much.

At the very least, I didn’t want to become a burden to my mother.

“I will… be fine. I’m sorry for causing trouble. For being weak…”

“Do not apologize. You are not to blame. Being weak is not a sin. It is your mother who is foolish, as she cannot change this world in which the weak like you can be wounded thusly. But your mother will not apologize either. She will simply continue to do her best.”

At the end of her words, my mother touched her cheek to my forehead.

With that, my mother seemed to have managed to shake off her lingering emotions, and she briskly stood up.

She was the Tsukuyomi Priestess, who had to work for the sake of this world, for the sake of the humans in this world. She couldn’t just spend all her time tending to her daughter.

But, if that was really such a sin, then what was my mother to do?

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) An archaic phrase for the crown prince of j.a.pan.

(2) Something like a j.a.panese mythological youkai. I’m pretty sure I’ve footnoted this before.