VOLUME 2
Chapter 16: Mandala of Mother and Daughter (Back Half)
This part of the story I also heard much later and second-hand.
–
The scene was now in the Corpse Ahakihara.
The home of the three Yagami sisters.
“……”
The second eldest Yagami sister, Kagami, awakened from her compact nap and checked the status of the wounds on her body.
Her appearance had mostly returned to normal through the help of alterations and her automated healing functionality, but she had been cut through by the magical G.o.d-killing blade Ame-no-Habakiri, so her spiritual side was still quite torn to shreds.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, Kagami would’ve definitely been okay.
But Yagami Kagami’s existence as a G.o.d was being thrown off balance and in danger of crumbling… to put it in human terms, this would be like getting hit by a car and contracting influenza at the same time.
But Kagami didn’t think she would die.
This was at least better than Tsurugi, who had been thrown into the Underworld.
Kagami sat up in bed, her breathing erratic.
She still had a long way to go in terms of recovery. She just barely managed to sit up, and she could do small things like move her fingers, but running or jumping or going into battle was out of the question.
She scowled at the pain she was feeling, and touched the place around her chest where she had been pierced. Kagami gasped.
“Sasami… san…”
She let out a bitter smile when she realized what she had just unconsciously muttered.
She didn’t have the right to say that girl’s name.
Kagami couldn’t do a single d.a.m.n thing against that Tsukuyomi miko.
As both Sasami’s divine protector and her friend… she had failed.
She had been careless, and had let her pride get the best of her.
She had really thought they were invincible. That no enemy would be a match for the Yagami sisters… but that had been a huge mistake.
She had let her guard down and forgotten everything she had so diligently trained for. She suddenly felt disgusted at herself for trying to live such a carefree life.
“Were you worried about me, meat-chan?”
A white bunny rabbit was raising a fuss in the cage by Kagami’s side.
She probably wasn’t worried and just wanted to be fed, but just having someone next to her was enough to give Kagami strength.
She was on the verge of burying herself in self-reflection, but Kagami managed to revive herself a bit to toss some Cal*rie Mate (Note: Not suitable as bunny food) into the cage. She then began to think.
“Our opponent was the strongest Tsukuyomi miko, and she had received the protection of the King of the Underworld… Tama may be like that, but if she just rushes in without a plan it will only end in a second defeat.”
Kagami couldn’t even move well, but she had to help somehow.
“The King of the Underworld… in other words, the Hero G.o.d and the avatar of chaos… Sunanoo.”
That was the name of the enemy.
Susanoo-no-Mikoto.
He was one of the three direct descendants and a rightful heir to Izanagi and Izanami, the G.o.ds of creation, and stood alongside the Supreme G.o.d, Amaterasu, and the G.o.d of Suggestion, Tsukuyomi, as one of j.a.pan’s most powerful deities.
That fierce hero was famed for exterminating the Yamata no Orochi, the worst of j.a.pan’s evil G.o.ds (this G.o.d was the pure incarnation of evil and different from the monster who had appeared in the Yamata no Orochi SNS earlier). Even Amaterasu feared him, and even when he was rampaging through Takamagahara, all she could do was hide and tremble in the Amano-Iwato.
Right now, he was the King of the Underworld and hadn’t really been causing any trouble for a while, but…
“While Amaterasu stands for order and control, Susanoo stands for chaos and rebellion… it is unclear what motive he may have for lending his strength to the Tsukuyomi miko, but there is no enemy as dangerous as he is.”
Susanoo’s divinity was just about as high as that of Amaterasu.
Amaterasu was technically higher ranked in the divine hierarchy, but Susanoo was unmatched when it came to battle.
Sure, Susanoo hadn’t himself manifested in this world. All he had done was grant his favor to the Tsukuyomi miko and used the path of the Yomotsu Hirasaka to make her stronger.
But that was more than dangerous enough.
It’s not like all of us on Amaterasu’s side were flawless.
Right now, Sasami was probably getting her senses dulled with drugs so she wouldn’t be able to use the power of the Supreme G.o.d freely.
Tsurugi was the only one able to take that power from Sasami, but she had fallen into the Underworld and couldn’t interact with this plane of existence at all.
Kagami was defeated, and no matter how frustrating it was, she now had more than enough proof that she was no match for the Tsukuyomi miko.
There was no other option but to rely on Tama’s special characteristics… but Tama had very little battle experience and was too kind to be able to easily hurt others.
Kagami had to at least push her a bit.
She was Tama’s older sister, after all.
“Ugh, so bothersome, all of this…”
Kagami coughed, and then picked up the crimson-colored bundle of cloth that was resting near her pillow.
It was Tsurugi’s weapon, which Tsurugi had used the last ounce of her strength to leave to Kagami in the present world.
“It’s fortunate I have this GPS ability.”
Kagami concentrated and pinpointed where Sasami was right now. She stood up on top of her futon.
She took the double-edged blade from the bundle and held it up clumsily like a girl.
“I don’t care if you’re the Tsukuyomi miko, or the Hero G.o.d…”
She poured all the spiritual energy she had left into the sword, and in a rare show of emotion, she roared out.
–
“Do not… underestimate the Yagami sisters!!”
–
And then, she threw the sword with all her strength.
The spiritual divine blade Ame-no-Murak.u.mo easily pierced through the ceiling of the Corpse Ahakihara, and in an instant, ignored all laws of time and s.p.a.ce to instantly teleport towards where Kagami wanted it to go.
But, Kagami couldn’t even check to make sure it had hit its mark…
“I will leave… the rest to you… Tama.”
She tilted forwards and collapsed onto her futon before quickly falling into a sound sleep.
The blade called the Ame-no-Murak.u.mo soared through the air, defying all logic.
It ripped past everything as it flew from the capital area right for Kyuushuu…
When it almost instantly arrived at the half-destroyed Tsukuyomi Shrine, it immediately cut past the barrier and spiritual defenses that were erected around the perimeter.
Like that, it continued steadily forwards, rushing for the one small building that had been erected (whether through an alteration or something else) on top of the mountains of rubble. The blade went cleanly through the building’s ceiling before squarely hitting Kagami’s mark and landing right next to my shackled brother.
Krchh.
“Uwahh?! What was that?!”
It seemed that my brother had spent himself yelling after being locked in this room and had been hanging his head in exhaustion, but…
As expected, when a sword pa.s.ses three millimeters from your head, you’d probably be surprised no matter what.
Kagami’s aim was way too precise.
If she had been off by just a little bit, that sword would have gone right through my brother.
“This is…”
My brother recognized Tsurugi’s blade.
No matter how dense my brother could be, he recognized that this was a complete G.o.dsend and grabbed the sword by the hilt.
“Very good! Now I can break through these chains, escape, and go save Sasami-san!”
My brother pulled out the sword and struck a cool pose, swinging the sword right into his chains!
“………”
The chains were still intact.
“Hm? Hmmmm? This is strange… this sword doesn’t cut as well as I expected… well, it looks more like an ornament, so maybe the blade is pretty dull?”
My brother stood there and insulted one of the three divine weapons.
“Oh well. This isn’t the time to be trying to look cool! Hyah! Hyah!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
My brother used the blade like some piece of junk to somehow crush the chains, and then he stood up.
Thankfully, there was only one chain tying him to the pillar.
“Now I can get out of this… ugyahh?!”
My brother also had chains tying his hands and feet together.
It was one chain wrapped around both his arms and both his legs, so he couldn’t really move freely and ended up slamming his face into the ground as he fell forwards.
“Hmph, I won’t go down that easy…!”
My brother taunted the air. Good luck, oniichan…
Eventually, my brother found a way to stand up despite the chains around his limbs.
He held the sword with both hands and began to hop with both his feet.
He really didn’t have a way to break the chains binding him right now, so the only other way he would’ve been able to go forwards would be to crawl along on the floor like some inchworm. How lame would that be?
Well… granted, he was pretty lame.
Hoppity hoppity hoppity hop… like some new kind of demon, my brother moved around and sniffed me out with that sixth sense of his.
Luckily, all the mikos and other spiritualists at the Tsukuyomi Shrine had been gravely injured after falling out of the fourth floor window back at the Uzumenoana, and were all in the hospital.
So, there weren’t really that many guards around. h.e.l.l, there wasn’t anybody around at all.
My brother hopped around with all his might before arriving in front of one door.
“Hyah!”
He tackled the door and broke into the room.
In the middle of that room… was me, wearing what must’ve been a pretty chilly traditional j.a.panese kimono, after probably having cleansed myself.
I was lying sideways on my cot, and my consciousness was probably pretty dim right then, but I still looked at my brother with surprise in my eyes.
My father was also still tied up right next to me, and was looking down at me with empty eyes. My brother walked over to him… and hit him with a leaping kick!
“Hryaahhh!!”
My brother’s aim was perfect, and my father went flying.
It was a merciless attack, especially since my father was completely defenseless. Wow, you’re so cool, oniichan…
Also, it’s not like my father really did anything wrong this time… well, whatever. I did get hurt before because of him. It’s like a tax. A tax, yup. A tax, maybe…?
“Sasami-san!”
Like some kind of prisoner, my brother stared at me with chains binding his hands and feet.
Nothing was covering his face. It had been a long time since I’ve seen his bare face like this.
Maybe there was some secret magical power in that face of his, or maybe it was just because I had thought he was dead… but a spark of emotion lit up in my chest.
“Ah…”
The light of reason slowly filled my empty eyes again.
The power of the Supreme G.o.d neutralized the drugs in my system with alarming speed.
These drugs were a spiritual concoction meant specifically for the Tsukuyomi Miko. Up until now, I couldn’t fight against it at all… so this must’ve been a miracle.
The power of love conquers all, and creates miracles…
“Onii… chan…”
I blinked a few times and stared at my brother who was squirming in front of me like a slug rather than a human being. Big, fat tears began to flow from my eyes.
I felt my state of mind clearing up.
I remembered everything. I also became aware of the situation I was in.
And also, my brother was still alive…
“Sasami-san, please don’t cry. Everything will be fine. Your brother is here to save you.”
My brother spoke the coolest words in the world to me while standing there shackled, looking like the uncoolest person in the world.
I felt my heart quiver at the very familiar sight of my brother acting like my brother.
“Oniichan… oniichan, oniichan!”
I wiped my eyes, and ran over with all my might to my brother who was still rolling around on the floor…
And then I kicked him.
Kick. Kick. Kick.
“Ow! … H-Hmm?! How did this happen?! Shouldn’t Sasami-san be saying ‘Oh, Oniichan, I love you~~!’ and giving me a kiss on the cheek right now?! Why am I being so abused right now?! Ah! Sasami-san must still be under the control of those drugs! And what should the prince do to lift that magical curse from the princess?! Well- Ow ow ow!”
“You came… to save me…”
I ground my foot into my brother’s face, and then screamed with all my might.
“Way way way too late! Buwaaaahhhhhh~~!!!”
I bawled, almost like I had regressed to a child or something.
“You idiot! Worthless piece of c.r.a.p! Garbage! Ugly insect!”
I continued to moan, not knowing the meaning of the word “grat.i.tude,” until I finally reached my limit.
“Fuehhhh…”
Tears leaked out from my eyes one after the other as I squatted down and continued to sob with my mouth wide open.
“Fueeehhhhh… ehhhh… ennnnn…”
“… Everything’s fine now, Sasami-san.”
My brother’s att.i.tude didn’t change at all. He just looked at me and smiled kindly.
Even though I was acting like that…
“Your brother is here to protect you.”
I know.
We worked together and used Tsurugi’s sword to break away my brother’s remaining chains.
Free from his restraints, my brother pulled me by the hand and supported me as we walked away from that room. I was still rather unsteady, it was as if the drugs still hadn’t gone completely out of my system.
Luckily, there was n.o.body in the building, and we proceeded towards the exit without incident.
Ah, we left my father behind, of course.
“So I guess mom was really acting alone…”
“Seems like it. Doesn’t feel like there’s anybody around.”
My brother said that even though he’s never been good at sensing others. But I looked at him and nodded.
“Well, the Tsukuyomi Shrine is here to exterminate any and all irregularities. My mom might have been one of the shrine heads at one point, but she came back from the Underworld, and I don’t think they can overlook it. They might even see her as an enemy.”
My mother was alone.
If we could just do something about her… then we might also be able to make it home safe.
“That mother of yours is quite troublesome, isn’t she?”
My brother let out a sigh.
“I thought I might try and persuade her at first, but she was harder to talk to than I imagined. So I realized I couldn’t convince her with just words. So I thought maybe I could just plead with her and tell her my true feelings, but your mother wouldn’t listen at all. She just punched me in the face and tied me up. Your mother is seriously strong, seriously terrible. I cried and begged her for mercy but she still wouldn’t let me go.”
“Oniichan, you sure are cool…”
Also, exactly how had my brother gotten to the Tsukuyomi Shrine?
He wasn’t at Mahoroba when everything had happened, but he seemed to understand what was going on. This was just really strange.
Well, whatever. I don’t really care about how my brother got here.
More importantly…
–
“Did you really think I would allow you to escape?”
–
We thought we would sneak through the window behind the house and escape through the garden out back… but we found ourselves directly in front of my mother, her back being illuminated by the full moon.
Well, of course. It’s not like she was going to just shut up and let us leave.
She hadn’t summoned any spirits to patrol the premises for her, but that was probably because she was confident that she could take care of any problems herself. Her confidence wasn’t really misplaced either.
My brother was useless, and I was still in training as a spiritualist.
I might have the power of the Supreme G.o.d inside of me, but my mother also had received the protection of some other really important G.o.d… and her powers were on a completely different level to begin with.
Even the Yagami sisters hadn’t been a match for her.
Fighting would be instant death here.
Just running would be exceedingly difficult.
What should I do…?
“I was quite surprised when that blade was thrown here and pierced through my barrier… but such is the Ame-no-Murak.u.mo… it is a holy blade that purifies all evil. However, the fact that the blade was sent alone and that the swordsman remains to be seen… this must mean that those evil G.o.ds still cannot move.”
By “evil G.o.ds,” she probably meant Tsurugi and the others.
I mean, honestly, “evil G.o.ds” was just an insulting term for any G.o.d that did something that you didn’t like.
So to my mother, the Yagami sisters might well have been evil G.o.ds.
But I wouldn’t forgive her for calling them that.
I wouldn’t allow her to label Tsurugi and the others as evil, when they had tried so hard to protect me.
“Out of the way, mom.”
I loved my mother.
I wanted to become like my mother.
But, after what had happened a little bit ago… I had been disillusioned.
My mother saw me as nothing more than a tool.
My heart might have yearned for my mother before, but seeing her prioritize her duties as a miko above her duties as a mother had smashed that yearning to pieces.
All that was left was sorrow.
“I’m not going to make a child. This Tsukuyomi blood that I pointlessly inherited… it ends with me. That’s what I decided… I’ll return this world to chaos, to the state it was in before humans had warped it to their liking. That’s what… the world really should be like.”
I was barely able to stand on my own two feet without my brother supporting me, but I still desperately told my mother that.
They could hit me, could cause me pain, could brainwash me, could just use me as my mother’s tool… but I would neither break nor bend.
What exactly had this world given my mother? She tried so hard, so hard… threw away everything… ignored all the happiness that she could’ve gotten, just so she could do her duties. And what had that gotten her?
Nothing but suffering and death.
My mother probably understood that more than anybody else.
“There is no room for discussion.”
My mother wore her pure miko outfit, and carried her golden-ringed staff with a dark sense of pressure that no human should ever be expected to possess. An intense stink also drifted into the air from her body.
And then, she muttered a simple statement.
“Do not disappoint your mother further. If you cause any more trouble… I will no longer consider you my daughter.”
Her staff split into two, and the magical blade Ame-no-Habakiri appeared.
The blade shone, almost glistening.
Moonlight flew off it like specks of water.
“For every minute you spend in inactivity, pursuing worldly pleasures, other people have to work hard in your place. Yet you do not realize this and just seek more and more pleasure. If you are willing to so wantonly trample on your own reason for being, then I cannot call you a daughter.”
“Mom.”
I should already have fallen into despair long ago.
I should have already given up hope on getting through to my mother.
Yet, her words hurt me. They frightened me.
I felt like my body was tearing apart.
“I really loved you, mom. You didn’t smile very much, but you were always so kind to me. You were so cool, protecting the world like that… you were my hero.”
I ground my teeth together and then screamed.
“That Tsukuyomi Shrine used you to death and killed you! I’ll never accept them! I don’t care how important and great being a Tsukuyomi miko is! We’re just humans, not G.o.ds… we can’t do anything, but we can still find happiness!”
“Idiot daughter… remember that there are no words that can reach the dead.”
I would’ve expected that to be it.
I desperately argued with my mother, spit out all the words I could think of at her, and that was all I could do.
My mother might be a bit annoyed by it all, but that meant everything.
I could do nothing but hold my ground.
I just wanted to let my mother know that I wouldn’t do anything she asked of me.
If my mother got serious, then she could instantly kill me and my brother.
But… just before she could come rushing at us with the magical blade she had already prepared, my mother suddenly turned in another direction.
Her back was now to us, and she readied her blade.
I also had noticed.
There was some immense force coming our way.
The garden behind the Tsukuyomi Shrine was covered in moss, but was wide and didn’t have many trees in it, giving us a clear view.
Looking across that garden, I saw someone in the distance walking across the boundary line that separated the shrine from the outside world.
She pa.s.sed under the shrine torii (1), and I recognized who she was.
Whether she was standing, sitting, or walking, she was just a dazzling flower.
The third Yagami sister, Tama, walked slowly towards us while looking all around her. She was every bit the picture of beauty as she usually was.
And then, she lifted her face and saw us there.
She suddenly leapt for us, and then the battle started! … Is what I wished would’ve happened. Wouldn’t that have been cool?
Instead, the minute Tama saw us, she walked towards us and stopped around ten meters away from us.
“……”
She began to tremble.
And then, completely ignoring my mother, who was staring at her warily with her sword raised, Tama began to shout in a ridiculously loud voice.
–
“This place was sooooooo faaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrr!!!! Ughhhhhh!!!”
–
Tears dropped from her eyes, one after the other.
She desperately wiped her eyes again and again.
Tama stamped her feat like a child.
“Ugh… sniff… it was so far! Sob… Tama got kicked out and had to save Mamarin, but didn’t know where to go… last time Tama came, she was just following Kagami-nee, so she couldn’t remember… couldn’t remember where… so she got lost… fuehhh… fueehhhhh~~…”
Was she okay?
“T-Tama went to the police box, and wanted to ask where to go, but… but, all she could remember was that it was in Kyuushuu! So she told them that, and, and… they thought she was making fun of them! They got angry! U-Uuu… Tama didn’t do anything wrong! And Mamarin, she was in… in a bare-ee-err? So Tama couldn’t sense her for a long time… and when she did she tried so hard and ran, but she tripped and fell!”
Wow, she was seriously sobbing.
She really did look like a lost child.
“Ugh… sniff… Tama won’t ever forgive you! Tama’s going to beat the person who did these bad things to Tsurugi-nee and the others, and then Tama’s going to go home with Mamarin! Okay?!”
It felt like Tama was just throwing a tantrum, but it was rare to see Tama express anger like this.
Even my mother didn’t seem to know how to react after seeing Tama in such a pathetic state. She still kept her sword up, but she let out a derisive laugh.
“Your reinforcements are here, it seems. She seems quite dependable, I must say.”
“Uuu…”
I moaned.
Tama was the one acting like that, but for some reason I felt embarra.s.sed.
But… that was all the time I had to relax.
Tama suddenly vanished.
“……?!”
Tama had disappeared, like she had been some kind of optical illusion.
“Uguuu… sniff… sob.”
I could hear someone crying now right behind me.
“Mamarin, let me borrow this.”
I had no idea how Tama had moved behind me, but she quickly s.n.a.t.c.hed away the sword from my hand and wiped her tears away again before facing my mother.
It was like she had moved from beginning to end, but ignored everything in between.
I was reminded of how my mother had moved back at Mahoroba.
“Eh…?”
I was shocked at how Tama had seemingly ignored all the laws of physics. But then…
“The G.o.ds only exist where they do.”
My mother put her guard back up and quickly faced us.
It seemed she had realized that Tama was a much more dangerous opponent than her behavior might suggest.
“The G.o.ds, at their cores, are conceptual beings. The more divinity they possess, the more they are able to manifest themselves in this world. You can say that they exist where humans believe in them, but they can exploit the cracks of that belief to warp their own beings and reconstruct themselves elsewhere. In that way they are able to telepo-“
“I don’t understand hard things like that… Tama is just an elementary schooler!”
Tama still had tears mixed in with her words as she gripped her sword heavily with both hands.
“But, Kagami-nee told me… I don’t have to understand, but I can do it. It’s like walking, or breathing. Tama can do it. If Tama can just believe…”
I bet she had heard that from Kagami or someone. That’s why she was having this Zen-like dialogue with herself…
Tama yelled out.
“It’s not about who’s smarter… it’s about who can try harder!”
The magical blade Tama was holding disappeared for just a moment.
I heard the sound of something shattering.
“…?!”
The magical blade my mother was holding suddenly disappeared from the hilt onwards.
The blade itself had broken into small pieces and dissipated into beads of light before vanishing.
Tama had thrown the divine blade Ame-no-Murak.u.mo, but I hadn’t realized this until I saw the blade materialize at my mother’s feet, stuck deep into the ground.
She had teleported the sword and forced it into the same physical s.p.a.ce as the magical blade my mother wielded.
After that, it was just a matter of which blade was stronger.
And according to legend, the Ame-no-Habakiri was more fragile than the Ame-no-Murak.u.mo.
It was weak, and its divinity was low.
So, of course it would shatter.
“That’s Tsurugi-nee’s sword! Don’t take it!”
Tama raised her voice, and at the same time the sword returned to Tama’s hands, as if it had a will of its own.
Tama seemed finished with her sword, and handed it casually back to me. “Here you go!” she added lightly.
“Wha-..?!”
Her blade suddenly reduced to just a hilt, my mother tossed her weapon away and took out a few charms.
It was a bit late, but my mother seemed to now realize how much she had been underestimating this girl who had done nothing but cry and raise a fuss back at Mahoroba.
I never expected my mother to be this careless.
“Mamarin called you ‘mom’…”
Tama once again moved supernaturally quickly and bore down on my mother from the side.
Her beautiful, long hair shone in the moonlight.
“You’re her mom, aren’t you? But… Mamarin was crying! You’re her mom… right? Don’t be so mean to your daughter!”
Tama’s words were childish and devoid of reason.
Yet, her words, her feelings… they reverberated in my chest.
Yes.
It wasn’t about the Tsukuyomi miko, or the shrine, or duties or whatever.
It wasn’t about reason.
We were mother and daughter, so this wasn’t the place to haughtily argue about what was “right” or “wrong.”
“Fueeehhhh…”
I sobbed, on the verge of throwing a tantrum.
“You. Idioootttt!!”
Tama haphazardly swung her fist.
And then, my mother’s right shoulder and most of her abdomen, as well as her right arm and a part of her head… they all vanished.
“……?!”
What had happened was completely impossible.
When it came to battles between G.o.ds, I really had no idea what was going on.
“I was… eaten…?!”
My mother staggered to the side, her face completely in shock at seeing a third of her body disappear.
Tama just let her momentum carry her forward, and couldn’t recover to send out a followup attack.
“D-Don’t move, ugh! You’re a bad bad person… so Tama is going to eat you in one gulp!”
Even as she sobbed, Tama shouted out some rather terrifying things.
My mother seemed to come to a realization.
“Eating other G.o.ds… I see… you must be a new-generation G.o.d! A G.o.d born to bring the world into a new era…!!”
I saw my mother’s expression become clearly distressed.
Or no, perhaps it was fear. The fear of a human who had confronted a G.o.d.
“Just like Zeus vanquished Cronus, like the Northern European G.o.ds who were defeated and slaughtered at Ragnarok, like the life source Purusa who was sacrificed for materials to create the new world… old G.o.ds are exterminated by new G.o.ds. When the world reaches its limits, the new come into power, and either expel or commit genocide on the old!”
Yes… Tsurugi had created Tama to be the next Supreme G.o.d.
She was one of the new deities.
In every myth known to man, the incompetent or perhaps tyrannical old G.o.ds were always vanquished by the new.
The old world may have had a Supreme G.o.d, but that Supreme G.o.d was nothing more than fodder for growth to the new-generation G.o.d.
This new-generation G.o.d would eat the old G.o.ds and add them as flesh and blood to her own body.
I see… that was Tama’s special ability.
It didn’t matter that an extremely strong G.o.d was protecting my mother. Tama was a new G.o.d, eating the old and ignoring all matters of rank.
All the other G.o.ds would be fed to her, and would be used as a foundation for building the new world.
“G-Ghhh… impossible! To think the Supreme G.o.d would attempt to create a new-generation G.o.d… just impossible! Our sun… our sun is trying to put an end to this sublimely beautiful, unique myth that has been continuing from time immemorial! Our sun!”
My mother was clearly fl.u.s.tered.
But I didn’t blame her.
If a next-generation G.o.d had been created, that signaled that the old G.o.ds were no longer needed.
Even the Supreme G.o.d Amaterasu herself, who lived on through the power of the Supreme G.o.d and was supporting the Tsukuyomi clan, would lose her standing and disappear.
She would lose the very reasons and motivations she had for her actions.
She was probably feeling anxious, like the floor was giving way under her.
“I will never accept this… I will never accept the birth of a new-generation G.o.d…!!”
My mother held up countless more charms and aimed them at Tama.
For some reason… I felt a pang of pity for her.
My mother had sacrificed her entire life to being a Tsukuyomi miko.
And right now, it was as if the meaning of her life was being rejected.
So, my mother felt lost, panicked… and finally let down her guard.
She was so busy trying to eliminate Tama in order to regain her own position in the world that she took her attention completely off us.
That’s why, I might be just a novice spiritualist still in the middle of learning…
I might be a worthless girl who had run away before completing her training…
But in that moment, I managed to trip her up.
“… Uguu…?”
My mother looked at me.
And then, her shoulders began to tremble, almost as if she was crying.
“The Chant… of Returning Roads…?!”
I made a seal with my hands and cast a curse on my mother.
The Chant of Returning Roads was a spiritual method that would bind and seal every kind of irregularity.
I had imitated my mother so much in the past that this was the one thing I had gotten a lot of practice with.
“S-Sasami… y-you…”
My mother was completely stiff, not able to move a single finger.
With my level of spiritual power, I wouldn’t be able to hold my mother for longer than a few seconds.
“You think your mother… the mother who experienced unmistakable pain giving birth to you… is an irregularity?!”
Yes, casting the Chant of Returning Roads on my mother meant exactly that.
This was the final expression of what I felt.
“I’m sorry, mom…”
I felt something hot running down my cheeks.
“P-Please… forgive me…”
My mother should’ve already completely ripped our mother-daughter relationship to shreds.
I should’ve already been disillusioned and lost any and all hope for her.
But, my chest was in agony… almost like it was going to burst apart. Tears flowed from my eyes.
I loved my mother.
I wanted to become like my mother.
For that purpose, I had practiced so much… practiced this Chant of Returning Roads that my mother had taught me, so I could defeat evil and be cool like her.
But, mom… I’m sorry… I couldn’t ever become that hero.
I couldn’t become… like you.
“Go back…”
Tama didn’t let this opportunity go and leapt at my mother, pushing her with both hands.
“… to the Underworld!”
Another hole was gouged into my mother’s body as she tipped backwards…
And right behind her, the air buzzed and opened into a dark hole.
My mother’s eyes widened and twisted her body, trying to escape from the inky blackness behind her.
However, at that moment, slender arms reached out from the hole.
–
“Oh h.e.l.loo~~. Mom, thanks for the other day.”
–
Whose voice was that?
“But perhaps we should have juuuust a quick little chat about your career plans for your daughter over there.”
Thin fingers grabbed onto my mother’s miko outfit and dragged her into the darkness.
“Gh… this is…”
My mother seemed to understand what was going on, and her face paled.
“Do not be so coa.r.s.e, you d.a.m.ned evil G.o.ds…! Are you really this indifferent towards what becomes of this world?! If I cannot restore this world to its proper state… I will never die, even if you kill me!”
My mother squirmed and tried to struggle, but she was already originally a corpse, and so she seemed especially drawn to the hole and fell right in.
“Umm… Tama, sorry.”
As the hole closed up, all we heard was a voice speaking casually to us through it, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
–
“Your sis has a lot of work to do, so take care of the house while she’s gone!”
–
That voice soon faded away, and the hole connected to the Yomotsu Hirasaka also vanished from this world.
Together with my mother.
Only dead silence remained.
I finally released my Chant of Returning Roads pose and collapsed to the floor.
The desolate moon remained shining in the sky, still waiting for the first hints of the morning sun.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTES
(1) A large gate.