Confessions From The Mentor:
A drabble from the Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha series
Note:Jouhei Shizuka is my fan name for Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th and Osamu Gushiken is my fan name for Gouto when he was Raidou Kuzunoha the 1st.
Disclaimer:I do not own Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army or Devil Summoner 2: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon. Just the respective names for Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th (Jouhei Shizuka) and Gouto when he was Raidou Kuzunoha the 1st (Osamu Gushiken). The actual games belong to Atlus.
It was a quiet night at the Kuzunoha Village. Although there were no tasks for Jouhei Shizuka, the 14th Raidou Kuzunoha of the Kuznoha Clan, to perform, Gouto did not want him to go back to his normal home where he lived when everything is peaceful for some strange reason. He wanted to have a quiet evening at the Kuzunoha Village with Jouhei. He wanted to tell him something that he had never told any other successor of his.
Jouhei...was not like the other Raidou Kuzunohas. There was a special bond between him and Gouto. The pain they both felt when Gouto sacrificed himself to save all of the Capitol from the Soulless God and the times in their more recent adventure when Jouhei would disappear and Gouto thought he'd lost him forever. With the 2nd to 13th Raidou Kuzunohas, Gouto did not feel as compatible with them. He did his basic duties of aiding them and watching over them but there were times where they almost went on the same misguided road as he did! When he was first assigned to work with Jouhei Shizuka on their first adventure, Gouto sighed because he could not deal with one more incompetent Raidou Kuzunoha successor.
But everything that his previous successors were, Jouhei was not. In most cases, that would be considered a bad thing. But in this case, it was definitely a good thing. Jouhei refused any offer to join their enemies side with their plans. Gouto was happy that he finally found a successor to carry out the "Raidou Kuzunoha" name for the sake of good, not selfishness. He was sad when he ended up sacrificing himself because it would mean being separated from not just the person he was proud to watch over and guide throughout the journey, but a dear friend he befriended. But the Kuzunoha Clan elders called him back for some unknown reason. Or maybe it was the curse that regenerated his cat body again.
The curse...he forgot about it until thinking about everything he went through with Jouhei just now. That's right, Jouhei is not immortal like he is. He will die someday. The very thought gave Gouto pain he never felt before. Even when he was Osamu Gushiken, the 1st Raidou Kuzunoha, he never felt attached to anyone like this. He never really had a real friend from the Kuzunoha Clan or when he was a part of Magicians called the Housoushi Magicians. No one really wanted to befriend him at all because they thought he was evil. The outcasting probably did not help him breaking a rule of the Kuzunoha Clan.
While lost in thought with all of this, Gouto did not realize that his companion and friend Jouhei Shizuka had arrived to spend the night with him at the Kuzunoha Village just as he requested of him. "You look like you have a lot on your mind Gouto. Is everything alright? It's not like you to ask to spend time with me. Please...tell me what is going on. You are my dear friend after all," Jouhei expressed with a hint of worry in his tone.
Gouto sighed softly. Of course Jouhei could tell when something was off with him. They have become really good friends throughout their two journeys together. Their friendship was strong enough to pick up when something was bothering the other. Gouto looked away from Jouhei for a moment. "I have some confessions to make Jouhei. They are about my past. Keep in mind, I have never shared them with the previous Raidou Kuzunoha successors. So it goes to show how much I trust you and consider you my friend. Please, keep it a secret from Narumi and Tae? I only want you to know this," he said softly to Jouhei.
Jouhei nodded his head in affirmation to his promise to Gouto. "I promise."
Gouto turned back to face Jouhei. It was time to unload all of this shame of his past onto Jouhei, what his real name was and why he is called Gouto-Douji and why he is a cat. He also would then explain why he was surprised by the complement the Elderly Voice gave him before their second journey after their examination. It was related to how compared to the other 12 successors, he was super compatible with Jouhei. "First of all, you heard how Gouto isn't really a name but a title of a punishment. Gouto-Douji, right? Well, the true punishment of Gouto-Douji is that I have to watch all of my successors grow old and die without me...So I basically live on until time ends itself."
At the thought of the last sentence, tears started to form in his green cat eyes. Jouhei had a surprised look on his face. He never saw Gouto cry before. Was the attachment of friendship mutual for the two of them perhaps? Jouhei wiped Gouto's tears away with a handkerchief. Gouto looked up into Jouhei's eyes. "This part of the curse did not matter to me before as the 12 successors before you I was not compatible with enough to consider them as my friends. But when I met you and when we had our two adventures together...I was hoping maybe, just maybe, my curse could be lifted when you die. But I've been thinking about it and they never said anything about if I have shown that I've learned my lesson. So even when you die, I will probably be this immortal cat," he said sadly.
Jouhei looked at Gouto with sympathy in his eyes. "Gouto..." he said softly. "I do not know what you did to warrant such a cruel punishment. From what I read when I was studying before I became the 14th Raidou Kuzunoha, I read upon the Gouto-Doujii punishment and it does seem like a cruel punishment indeed. But please...tell me everything. About your past, what you did to warrant the Gouto-Douji punishment. We are good friends. I promise on my own life to never judge you for your actions. After all, the past is in the past, right? The Gouto I know of now...is a kind cat who I am proud to call my close friend," he said with the rare smile on his face.
Gouto nodded his head. "Then it's time I tell you my true name. But do not call me it around anyone in the Kuzunoha Clan or anyone we work with. When we're alone, you may call me it. My true name is... Osamu Gushiken. So when we are not around anyone that is tied with the Yatagarasu or the Kuzunoha Clan, you may call me Osamu. But when we are, you are to still call me Gouto. I just do not want anyone else to know my real name Jouhei. But you have become a special friend to me, so I figured you should know my real name at least," he said in a soft tone. "Remember, do not call me Osamu when we are around people we need to work with, understood?"
Jouhei simply nodded his head. The nod simply said that he understood Gouto's, or rather Osamu's, wishes. "Now...about the crime you have committed that your punishment was Gouto-Douji, what happened exactly? Tell me everything in details," he said softly to Osamu.
Osamu looked down in shame. For he did regret his actions very much. "Back in the time of when I was the very first Raidou Kuzunoha...because of how all of the other Kuzunoha members shunned me...I separated the unity of them by spreading untrue horrible rumours about the other Kuzunoha members. I did not know how to deal with feeling outcasted at the time. I even threatened them that if they spilt it to the Elder of the Kuzunoha Clan that I would murder them with my murderous magic. I was a Housoushi Magician before I became the 1st Raidou Kuzunoha. No one spilt it to the Elder of the Kuzunoha Clan but he did have ears like a hawk. So he stripped me of my Raidou Kuzunoha the 1st title and gave me the Gouto-Douji punishment. As I said, the punishment with the 2nd to 13th Raidou Kuzunoha successors never bothered me much because we were not all that compatible. But...it will pain me to see you die and grow old. If there was a way for the punishment to end when you die...or a way to make you immortal Jouhei...I would do anything. Because you were the first successor I could call my friend. I want to be with you until your deathbed Jouhei. I really do."
Jouhei looked at Osamu in the eyes. Like Osamu, Jouhei rarely cried tears. Yet there were tears in his own eyes too. Perhaps they were compatible they were different in how they acted upon their loneliness of no friends but that one similarity of feeling outcasted in life...that's what gave them a strong bond. Tears started to fall from Jouhei Shizuka's face. Osamu jumped onto Jouhei's left shoulder and licked the tears off of his face. "Jouhei...I will stay with you until the last day of your life if we cannot find a way for us to be together forever, whether it be making you immortal or our friendship being strong enough to break my Gouto-Douji punishment to allow us to die together. That is a promise I swear on my own nine lives to keep," Osamu said with sincerity in his voice.
Jouhei Shizuka, the 14th Raidou Kuzunoha and Osuma Gushiken, the 1st Raidou Kuzunoha serving the Gouto-Douji punishment, have truly strengthened their already strong friendship that night of the confession from the mentor about his past. Jouhei never judged Osamu once about his past because he too could relate to feeling like an outcast as he did too feel outcasted in his life. It was at his high school before getting the Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th title in the Kuzunoha Clan. That one similarity Jouhei and Osamu have just may be enough to make Osamu mortal when Jouhei dies. We can only hope that would be the case but if it is not, at least thanks to Osamu's promise, Jouhei will not die alone in his old age. He will die with his best friend Osamu by his side.
- The End