Chapter 12

It is the night of April 21, five days after arriving in Kasamatsu.

We decided to get the relatives of those who died and the survivors of Tenjin elementary into the act, as the ones who will believe the school back to the real world, while the gods and the politicians were still arguing over things.

However since there are so many affected families, we decided to just inform the survivors first and let them, along with Ebisu and Waka-ush, handle the job of informing the other relatives while we go and enter the other dimension.

Annan believed that it is best to find Nakashima Naomi and Shinozaki Ayumi first. The first was because she could not get over her best friend's death and proved, according to this computer game of Annan's, willing to deal with black magic to raise her back to life, and the other girl because she was sensitive to ghosts.

So, with the help of Momoi, Annan searched for them.

But even with his help, she only found out the location of their houses a day ago. The goddess went there and asked their mothers, and found out they had already left for a place called Kishi.

This information had her panicking and saying 'shit' and 'Blood Drive's happening' over and over again. She immediately called Ebisu over, and asked him for help in searching for this Kishi, along with an estate there, belonging to a family called the Shinozaki.

After hours of frantic searching using magic, the internet and the Japanese government's records, they finally found out that Kishi is a place in the jurisdiction of Shimada city in the province of Shizuoka, more than two hours away by train from Kasamatsu.

Four hours later, after getting down from the train, we were quickly walking towards a faraway rice field where no one could see us. Annan stopped, and two horse-drawn chariots and an extra horse suddenly... appeared out of nowhere, with just a clap of her hands.

I rode with Connla, Yung Ho with Annan, and Thuc sat behind Javin on horseback. That chariot was not as bumpy as I thought it would be, even though we were moving fast over deserted dirt and pebble roads.

Around two hours after that we finally arrived in front of the Shinozaki estate, a two story mansion. It was already past sunset.

"Somebody is still living here?" I ask Annan in incredulity. She dismisses the horses, which run off into a cloud of mist and disappears.

The mansion is a wood and plaster building that had seen better days, with jagged holes in the walls, a corroded roof with patches of newer G.I. sheets, and covered by spider webs and wooden window shutters full of broken slats.

Meanwhile, the lawn is overgrown with waist-high weeds and wild flowers, the gate is very rusty, and the pathway was speckled bright yellow and green with mold. It looked centuries old even though the materials are from the 20th century.

The only new thing in the whole place is the padlock and the oiled hinges of the opened gate.

"No, but the Shinozaki family is still paying for the taxes of this property." She says.

"And they leave it…like this?" I continue.

"No. They are waiting for buyers. Unfortunately for them, no one wants to buy this lot even though the price is the cheapest in the whole town of Kishi because of rumors about the place being haunted."

"Then why not purify this place, you holiness? I would not have charged too high an amount for purifying a place like this when I was still alive. It would actually be a public service." Yung Ho asked while looking at the house the same way one does looking at the entrance to a VC tunnel system.

"The family tried to have it done once. The specialist's head was suddenly torn off from his body in front of the family's very eyes."

Everyone winces at the image.

"Also, there is magic afoot in this place. Didn't anyone notice that something has been possessing people around us to watch us the very moment we start heading towards this place?" she asked, making a nod toward the town that we had just come through.

"Wait, possessed?" I blurt out.

Then I look at the others in disbelief when they raise their hands in the way one says 'yes'.

"Hey guys, why didn't you tell me they were possessed? I thought it was just the small town mentality at work there."

"Because there is no need to be battle ready all of the time. You will just get exhausted." Thuc answers me.

"You're joking." I say in disbelief.

"Really, Herbert?" he looked at me and sighs.

"Yeah. What if those possessed people suddenly attacked us?"

"If it was an ordinary human mob, maybe. But one single spirit against a group of resurrected humans, a spirit given physical form, a goddess, and a human that had killed supernatural beings before, all armed with magical weapons?"
Thuc's answer made me think about it.

…yeah, we outnumber and outgun one single ghost.

"I get Connla and Annan. But how come you three knew it was possession as opposed to a simple dislike of outsiders? And should we take arms now?" I asked, putting down my backpack and pulling out the Peacemaker's holster (which I asked Annan to make the day after we arrived in Kasamatsu), with the gun in it, while looking up at them.

"We were dead Mr. Ward. Even resurrected, certain things that one receives with death are still present with us in a second life." Javin answers while looking at me.

After that he looked at Annan with the same question about arming ourselves in his eyes. He is also pulling out his rifle from his own backpack.

"Get your guns and everything out now. The moment we step into that field we really are in enemy territory." she says as she takes her shillelagh out of her cloak with her right hand while two revolving disks of light appeared beside her left ear.
We all took out our weapons and ammunition out of the bags.

As I pull out 'Annie', she greets me.

Hello again. Is it another day of practice?

The practice that 'Annie' is expressing here to me is when we all trained together for the last five days.

We taught the three heroes as much of modern combat (as we knew it from Vietnam) as we can, and then they taught us what battle experience they had to offer in return.

And what all we found out about each other in those five days was…interesting.

'No Annie. It's the real deal this time' I thought back to her.

Before she could express anything back to me she is interrupted by Thuc. "All right. Your holiness, Connla, Javin. You remember what we practiced?" Thuc asks them.

They nod.

"All right. We-"

He is interrupted by the sound of a car.

We all look behind us to see the headlights of an approaching car in the distance.

"Who is that?" Thuc asks in confusion and suspicion. We had seen absolutely no one in our two hour horse-ride to the abandoned mansion.

"Quick! Follow me!" Annan suddenly yells, making hurried 'come here' gestures with her left hand.

We quickly follow her into the lawn.

She looks to her left, and then back to us.

"Lie down in the grass and hide. Quick!" she says, pointing to where she wants us to go.

We run into the indicated area and went prone on the grass, putting our weapons beside us.

Annan, at the same time, stands up straight, stretches her arms out to her sides and started saying something.

"I, Annan of the island of trees, of the noble island, of the island before the ends of the world, declare that we who hide in the grass be hidden from all the senses of that who is coming here."

She slightly glows, clothes and all…no, the surroundings became less colored in contrast to her.

The grasses, most of them dried up and dead, suddenly become healthy and alive and as colorful as her. And they suddenly move to cover us the way a blanket does.

As for Annan herself, she jumps into the grass and lie down flat in it.

A few moments later the lawn is illuminated by a car's headlights. And then we hear a loud noise, the one a car makes when braking suddenly from a high speed over a rocky ground.

We patiently and nervously wait as we hear the slam of a car door and the loud steps on gravel of someone in a hurry.
Eventually the person comes into view, running past our position towards the house.

It was a woman in her late 20's. She has a long ponytail, and is wearing a white, long sleeved sweater with a pink camisole underneath, denim pants and leather sandals. A faintly glowing blue crystal pendant hangs on her neck.

All of a sudden we can hear the screams of two girls from the house.

I flinch upon hearing those screams, while the woman runs even faster towards the doorway. Upon reaching it, she did not open the sliding door so much as ram it open and running her way in.

"Wait for it." Annan suddenly said while looking at the house, while her left hand is stretched parallel to the ground, as if blocking our way.

"Wait? Something's happening up there, Annan." Connla says, looking at her from the side.

"Waait for iiit." she says again, looking very intently at the house.

What is this young lady waiting for! 'Annie' screams into my thoughts. At the same time the bayonet at my waist is emanating a feeling of anger and murderous intent.

A second went by, the screams continuing.

I grit my teeth.

Two seconds went by. The anguished screams grow louder.

I am at this point glaring at Annan, along with everyone else, both human and weapon.

Annan at the same time is staring with wide eyes and clenched teeth at the house.

"NOW!" she suddenly said.

We all leap out of the grass and run to the open door.

Suddenly everyone else stops while I am still running towards the door.

"What the-" I quickly look back at the others-

LOOK OUT!

-back to the door to see two crazed, bloodshot eyes behind the closi-

Darkness.

"You alright Herbert?" Thuc asks me. On the other side is Javin, plugging up his wineskin, which I assume is why my face is wet.

I begin to realize I am on the ground, and they are leaning over me.

"Did I pass out?" I say, feeling the headache that slamming door gave to me.

In the background I hear an explosion.

"For a few seconds Mr. Ward." Javin says to me.

Herbert are you well now? Is your sight okay? Can you stand? Annie expresses to me from beside me.

"I just have this painful headache 'Annie'. Guys, help me stand up, would you?" I ask, raising both arms upwards.

Javin and Thuc pull me up into a sitting position. From there I was able to stand by myself, grabbing 'Annie' along the way.
I look towards the doorway to see Annan…

Shit.

Her eyes were literally glowing green and gold. Her long hair was blowing like she is only a few meters from a tornado. Her skin is both glowing and not glowing and her arms were stretched outwards from her sides. Her clothes too were glowing gold and green and white and the spiral vines were moving and moving and moving, across the fabric, across her skin, and out into reality.

I heard drums, beating in time with the song of an ancient tongue I didn't know but in my beating heart I knew that this tongue is what one line of my ancestors spoke in humanity's hoary past.

Before her is Connla, holding up his shield in front of him and weathering a fierce barrage of sharp, flying objects and...something invisible. And behind the two is Yung Ho, trying to aim his K1 carbine at something inside but not firing since Annan is in the way, not to mention the barrage of projectiles suppressing them.

"I cast away. I cast away. I fucking cast away those that are proving themselves my foe back to their abode. This I say in my name, Annan of the noble island!"

After saying those words, out of the window next to the door someone jumps… no. A vaguely human shaped, smoky shadow with the same eyes that I saw behind the door is thrown out of the window. It slams face-first into the lawn.
The shadow then grabs at the grass as if something is dragging it away.

Yung Ho suddenly steps in front of it, aims his gun at the face, and says "You heard her holiness. Begone Jap." He promptly empties his magazine at its face.

The shadow let go of the grass, holding its face in pain, and is pulled away to the distance until we couldn't see it anymore by some force.

Then we hear more screaming from the second floor. Whereas before there were screams of pain, these were now screams of horror and sorrow.

"We've got to get up there! Quick!" I said out loud. At the same time the others pour into the house, Annan going last of all when she suddenly blocks my way, saying "Wait a moment, Ward."

"What?!"

"If you didn't feel the presence of that ghost before it revealed itself, you wouldn't have had your nose broken and knocked out in the first place. This is a liability I forgot you have, since everyone else here can do it. Now I'm going to make you able to see them."

She then held my eyes open wide with her fingers and…

"What on earth?!" I yelled, blinking my eyes.

She spat in them.

SHE SPAT IN THEM!

"What is that!-"

I yell at her, only to stop.

It did work as advertised. I could now see ghosts inside the house.

Teenage looking, pale blue colored ghosts were blocking the staircase in a standoff with the others.

"I thought you just cast away all the spirits that are in this mansion?" I ask her.

"I said 'those that prove themselves my foes'. They aren't attacking us right now." she said as she went ahead of me and walked over to the other guys.

Semantics. She did not get them all because of semantics. Unbelievable. 'Annie' thought to me.

'I agree' I thought back. When I reached them, I ask "Well, what now Annan?"

"Now? I take care of them-WOAH!" she suddenly yells while stepping backwards while at the same time she stretched her right hand forward.

A force field made of gold and green light, decorated with vines suddenly appears 5 meters in front of our group, intercepting a sudden rush by a new mob of ghosts on the staircase.

And then the attacking ghosts are suddenly dragged off the shield into the distance through the windows.

The ghosts that didn't attack yet looked shocked and confused as to what happened.

Annan taunts them from behind the shield. "I said 'those that prove themselves my foes', you idiots! You think that is only a one time spell, huh?" She then laughs at the end of that sentence.

'What is she doing?' Annie expresses to me.

'I think she wants to infuriate the ghosts into attacking' I thought back to Annie.

And I think it was working. All the ghosts scowl.

And scowl…and then they close ranks, forming a human barricade at all the entrances into the house.

"Well, what now?" Yung Ho muttered to himself, while putting his hand near the ammo pouch. It is clear he intends to clear the way with grenades.

"Your holiness, we are on a time limit here" Thuc grimly says to Annan.

"A few more seconds Thuc. A few more…" Annan softly says to him while she is smirking at the ghosts.

It was only then that I notice she is muttering something inaudible.

Suddenly she said one word:

"BEGONE!"

The remaining ghosts tried to charge, realizing they were somehow tricked.

It was to no avail, since they were dragged out the house by Annan's magic.

"Let's go!" Connla yelled, running up the stairs.

The rest of us followed him up the stairs.

"Which door is it?!" Connla asked when we had already reached the stair landing.

"There!" Yung Ho pointed to a door, with candlelight shining from the gap between the floor and the door.

We would have continued on and opened the door if only it was not shrouded with a black mist that, upon looking at it, makes you feel cold and feel its hatred…

… and right there it felt like it was saying everything that will easily make you angry.

No, not angry. That mist was saying things that will have you punch it as fast as you can and beat it to the ground, no questions asked.

"What kind of magic is that? And who is the gae saekki that made it up, because right now I want to shoot that person dead" Yung Ho says, his tone clearly saying 'can I please shoot this thing now? Can I? Can I?'

"I don't know who made it, but the kind of magic feels like it is made by someone sadistic with a very, very bad sense of humor." Annan deadpans.

She then walks toward the door. The rest of us are behind her, watching the door and the rear for any possible threats.

Once she is in front of the door, she spat on her palms, rub them against each other, and then slams them on the door.
The mist thins out, but it is still there, as if fighting Annan tooth and nail.

Suddenly the cries of the two girls became audible again from the room behind the door, one of them crying 'sister' over and over again.

After a few more moments Annan turns her head to our direction.

"Get me an electric megaphone Thuc. I have to tell the girls to get out of the way. And Cha? Get a shotgun ready."

"You can't dispel it, your holiness?" Thuc asks her while he is rummaging around his backpack.

"Not fast enough. I'm brute forcing this thing already, and it's fighting back, a magic word for every two of mine."

Annan turns back towards the door with a snarl, trying to…push the mist away just a little bit more.

Thuc finally pulls out a small and brand new electric megaphone, with the price tag still attached to it. He then rummages around for a pair of batteries.

After he inserts the batteries into the megaphone, he hands it to Annan, who takes it with her left hand.

She then starts to speak.

"Shinozaki Ayumi! Nakashima Naomi! Are you two still alive in there! Hoooy!"

After a while, the crying stops.

"Is… is someone there?!" one of the voices yells. "Who…who are you?"

"My name is Annan, a kami from Europe. I am a friend of Ebisu, also known as Hiruko, also known as Kotoshiro nushi no kami, one of the 7 gods of fortune, who has heard of your troubles. I am a friend of your family. I am helping him deal with our mutual problem, Tenjin Elementary. You girls still with me?"

"Ye-yes" one of the girls yell. "Please! Help us! Let us out!"

"Alright. I want you two to get yourselves and Shinozaki Hinoe's body and head as far away from the door as possible. We are going to use magical guns on this door. Ok?"

"What do you want with my sister's corpse?" one of the girls yells, in mixed confusion, nervousness and suspicion.
"I'm a goddess girl! I can bring her back to life!" Annan shouts back. "Now please move away from the doorway. And before I forget, we are holding weapons so DO. NOT. FREAK. OUT."

For a few moments the two girls are silent.

"What about Mayu?" the other girl audibly asks.

"That isn't Mayu, Naomi. It is just a faceless, lifeless lump of flesh and bones." the first girl…Ayumi replied to Naomi. "Well, you heard what the kami said. Let's move my sister there."

We then hear the sounds of something heavy being dragged across the wooden floor.

Then a few more footsteps, and then something lighter than the object before is put down on the floor.

"Alright Annan-kami-sama. We are out of the way already."

"Ok. Let's go Yung Ho." she says, moving away from the door.

Yung Ho takes Annan's place and put his K1 into his rucksack. He then pulled out a pump action shotgun (a Mossberg 500) from it.

After checking if the shotgun was loaded, basic trigger control, he then points it at the space around the door lock, intending to separate the door lock from the rest of the door.

"Breaching!" he yells and starts firing.

He fires three times, and then he kicks the door open.

Connla goes in first, followed by Yung Ho. Then, in order of entry: Thuc, Javin, me and Annan.

Inside is…on the side of the room to my left was a creepy feeling book, laying a meter away from a carved wooden circle with some designs, that had candles placed on top of the lines in instinctively important points and two paper dolls in the middle of the circle, one partly burnt and the other not.

Near that was the…faceless, lifeless lump of flesh that the girls mentioned earlier.

The body is distinguished only by the female school uniform it was wearing, as well as the small ponytail at the top of its head, tied with a hair band composed of 2 pink spheres. And the fact that it is covered in blood and the head, arms and legs are separated from the torso.

In the middle of the room is a puddle of blood, and from the puddle there was a trail leading towards the right side of the room.

That is where two girls pale with fright and soaked in blood were huddling close to each other and the body of the woman from earlier.

They look at us in fear.

The small, thin one on the left, with her hand on the…woman's head (which still had parts of the spine, as well as some blood vessels and muscles dangling from what remains of the neck) had long blue hair tied into 2 pigtails by red ties. And she is also injured, judging by the blood that is slowly but continuously trickling from her shoulders and legs.

The more fleshed out and uninjured one on the right, holding the rest of the woman's body (which also had dangling parts from its side of the neck), had black, straight, above shoulder length hair.

Suddenly, the sound of clothes dropping on something came from my left. Upon looking, I see it was just Annan finishing wrapping up the book in her cloak.

After finishing, she looks up at the rest of the room and says "Can't have the source of our mutual problems know what we are doing." at the same time lifting the wrapped book in front of her for emphasis.

"Annan-kami-sama…a-about my sister." the pigtailed girl asks in a heartrending tone of voice.

"Lay her on the ground, and place the head back on her shoulders." she says while walking towards them, at the same time she stretches out her left arm.

Suddenly, the puddle of blood…all the blood in the room, including those on the girl's clothes, disappeared. Only for blood to slowly start trickling again from the wounded girl.

The girls quickly followed Annan's instructions, placing the head of the woman on her shoulder.

Annan then kneels down on the floor and places her hand on the neck.

One moment the corpse is composed of the head and the rest of the body, the next instant it is an ordinary body that looks like it is sleeping.

The girls hug each other in joy, seeing that Annan can back up her words.

Annan then puts her hands over the woman's face…and then she hesitates.

After a few moments of indecision on Annan's part, Connla asks her what is the problem.

The rest of us are looking at her in concern.

"Well, so much for my first kiss." Annan loudly complains.

"Wait-What!" Connla yells, but he is too late to stop her.

Annan parts the woman's lips and then…performs mouth to mouth on her.

A second later the woman's eyes opened up in panic.

She pushes Annan off her and chokes.

A few moments later she manages to breathe normally. It was then that she was tackled by the pigtailed girl, who was crying "Sister" over and over again, while the other girl smiles at the siblings with tears of hope in her eyes.

You smell that? 'Annie' suddenly thought to me.

…something is burning.

Burning?

Aside from me, the others in the room had also smelled the burning thing, including the woman and the two girls.
They were looking around for whatever it is.

It is the older sister who sees what the burning thing was first.

"Look over there!" she yelled in a hoarse voice, pointing towards my back.

When I whirled around, looking for what she is pointing to, I see that Annan's cloak had started smoldering.

It is also slowly rising up into the air.

"Oh no, you cursed Franco-German atrocity against magic-"

That was awfully specific.

"-you will stop burning my favorite cloak, you hear me! STOP BURNING IT!"

The book did not listen. Instead it burns her cloak into ashes in an instant.

Annan is pissed off.

She is shaking in anger, her teeth are clenched tightly, and breathing hard… like she just ran a race?

"Alright, you pile of recycled skin. You want a fight-" she takes another deep breath "-you got it!"

Annan glows bright, as a meadow does under the light of the sun at noon. Her hair stopped moving the way it had always flowed around whenever she unleashes her power, but this was a stillness that makes one feel that something dangerous is about to happen.

Something very dangerous is about to happen.

Yung Ho and Javin flank her, chanting in their own languages and holding not guns but swords.

Javin is standing there, chanting in his language at a speed where I can't distinguish where one word starts and where it ends, except they had one thing in common: something called a 'narasimha' is said between every other word.

And with his left hand he is waving his sword as if he is writing with it in the air.

And looking at him, he…he smells (?) like…like a lion I once saw at the Louisville zoo with Mary and the kids, while at the same time he smells like a man does after a day's hard work in the fields, under the harsh yet friendly glare of the sun.
Yung Ho on the other hand is dancing while chanting.

He is whirling around, and around, and around on one spot of the floor while waving the stone sword.

And his voice changed to something…holy and bigger than him, his eyes still looked normal and yet at the same time they are glowing white.

And his was a voice that makes one think of the voice that echoes through the mountains as one yells from a mountaintop while the sun is starting to peek over the forested mountains, a voice that greets the sun and the land in thanks for just existing.

And then Thuc and Connla step forward as well…wait.

Why am I just looking?

I whirl towards the book and started making the sign of the cross, while holding 'Annie' by my hand.

"Our Father who art in heaven," I started praying loudly…no.

I am chanting, with something…something urging me to go on.

Go on.

"Holy be your name,"

I lose myself in my own prayer.

"Your kingdom come-"

"In the name of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, you are under arrest for the crime of murder! You will be treated with the due process accorded to humans by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by the authorities of this land! Should you fail to surrender or have the foolishness to fight back, you will be exterminated with extreme prejudice!"

Thuc suddenly shouts in a commanding voice.

He breaks the mood in the room, getting everyone, including the book, to look at this crazy man.

"Lie down on the floor and let yourself be bound or you will be destroyed! Now!"

He shouts, aiming the magical SKS at the book.

...his words are crazy and godless and...and...communist, but how on earth is Thuc making everyone feel that this is only an ordinary police standoff, and that the book really will be tried and punished under the law like an ordinary criminal, and that it is within his power to do so to that unholy abomination of a book?

I wonder about that while softly muttering the Lord's prayer.

I turn back to the book, to see...

...the book's cover has eyes and a mouth where there were none before, and is looking at Thuc.

And it is indignant, furious, glaring, hissing and snarling at Thuc's direction. Probably because it is irritated at the...disrespect just shown to it.

"You have 5 seconds to surrender!" He shouts.

The book stops its actions and start glowing. That glow makes the viewer, me, feel that the book had just seen red, and will start killing us, and that it is going to pull out everything it has to do so.

"4!"

I start praying again, this time bringing 'Annie' to bear on the book and cocking the cock, ready to fire on this thing.

"3!"

Again I feel that sense of being not alone, of someone or something beside, no, inside me as I chant and letting me know I am in good hands as long as I have faith.

And from behind me I sense several sources of feelings of holiness and righteousness and voices of chanting all starting up.
And this time, all of these...are stronger.

So much more stronger than before.
"2!"

Whereas before, looking at the book makes me feel that it is about to murder us with everything it has, now it makes me feel that it is quickly calculating its chances against all of us at the same time, while we are being empowered by faith.

"1!"

The book flies towards the window shutter at high speed.

I fire-
An SKS fires two times-
A cast and forget force field places itself in the path of the book-
A javelin flies past my head and inexplicably follows the book through the window shutter like a Redeye missile-
Two figures from the sides of my vision give chase with swords-

-but the shot misses.
-and misses.
-but the book smashes through it and the window shutter.
-but the book is much, much faster than the javelin. The javelin falls to the ground outside the house in the end.
-but the book has flown out of the house before they have taken their third step.

"It ran like a coward." Annan comments in amazement.

We cheer at this achievement.

A few moments later that cheer suddenly died upon hearing the house suddenly...creaking. And then suddenly something made of wood, somewhere in the house, snaps.

It is followed by another one, and more sounds of creaking wood.

I know that kind of sound. I am a carpenter.

"What is that noise?" Yung Ho asks in a suspicious tone.

"I do believe that the house is going to collapse." I reply with a frown. At the same moment I draw the Peacemaker out of its holster and cock the hammer to a firing position.

"And the one doing it is that book." Annan snarls from behind me.

I hear people suddenly moving quickly. Among the noises are those of the pigtailed girl, who is grunting in pain.
Something collapses in the hallway. My guess is the ceiling.

"The hallway's floor collapsed!" The fleshed out girl screams, while the other girl starts hyperventilating loudly.

Wrong guess. Oh well.

"Anyone has an idea?" I hear Connla calmly ask the others over the din of snapping wooden boards.

"I do." I reply.

I aim the Peacemaker at the wall separating the room from the outside world, think of the USS Iowa and pull the trigger.

The whole wall is blasted outwards into tiny splinters by one 16 inch shell, which explodes hundreds of meters away from the house, just the way I planned it.

The huge explosion momentarily stops the collapsing house, as if the one making the house collapse has been shocked by the explosion happening out of nowhere.

"We jump." I reply as I quickly put the Peacemaker in the holster and then run towards the edge.

When I reach the edge, I look back to see the others, except for Javin, pausing at the edge of the floor, looking for somewhere to jump onto.

Javin is quickly carrying the pigtailed girl in a bridal carry, his rifle slung over his shoulder and sword in its sheathe. The older sister is slowly and unsteadily walking behind him, leaning with one hand on the fleshed out girl's right shoulder, while the other hand is rubbing her neck.

…must be some side effect of being decapitated.

"Come on! Hurry up people!" Annan yells with gestures, as a luminescent green force field that is tilted towards the ground, appears in front of us,

I think we are supposed to slide down the force field from this bedroom.

"Pardon me, but how about her?" Javin asks, nodding off towards the older sister, whose legs are wobbling badly.

"Shibal." I hear Yung Ho say.

I look at him, to see him throw off his rucksack and rifle down the force field and run towards the older sister.

The older sister squeaks in surprise when Yung Ho suddenly carries her over his shoulder.

"Be careful!" The fleshed out girl scolds Yung Ho.

At the same moment that Yung Ho is turning around to snap at the girl, all the planks that compose the wall that divides the bedroom and the hallway snaps in half, and inexplicably flies into the house, as if pulled in by a vacuum.

Javin, Yung Ho and the girl quickly run towards us, panicked for their lives.

I did not wait for them and jumped feet first onto the force field.

Moments later, I land on my fe-

"Ouch." I say in a painful tone of voice while lying face up on the grass, clutching the back of my head.

The girl hit me right in the legs with her shoes, making me fall onto the force field and on her.

I-

'There's more!'

"God damn it." I curse from the bottom of…two other people burying me, I think.

I am quite sure it is Yung Ho and the elder sister, since what hit me in the face is a combat boot.

And God Almighty that hurts!

"Get off me, you idiots!" I yell through the pain.

Yung Ho moves off me, along with the elder sister leaving me finally able to get on my knees, get off the fleshed out girl and help her stand up, and glare at them.

But before I manage to let off one word the mansion collapses with an almighty cacophony of snapping wood and grinding porcelain.

I look toward it to see a sight that will stay with me to the end of my life.

The mansion did not fall to the ground. It is sucked into a…a flying ball of material as big as an SUV in size and as smooth as a billiard ball.

"…we could have been killed by that." I hear the pigtailed girl comment from somewhere to my left."

'Agreed' 'Annie' thoughts to me.

And then suddenly the ball of former mansion…pulsed with the sound effect of an electronic beep.

"What now?" Connla says, in a cautious tone.

The ball continues pulsing with beeps.

"Is it just me or is that sound…familiar?" Thuc asks.

…now that I think about it, he IS right. It seems familiar…

"It's like the beeping of a time bomb in the movies." The fleshed out girl says from one meter in front of me.
A second of silence passes.

"Oh Shit!" I yell, at the same time slinging 'Annie' on my right shoulder and then taking hold of the girl's left hand, pulling her along with me to safety.

In that same instant I glimpse Yung Ho carrying the older sister over his shoulder again. The only difference is this time the older sister is hugging Yung Ho's rucksack.

"Take Cover!" Annan yells from somewhere to the right and behind me.

A few seconds later all of us are about 9 to 10 steps into the woods that surround the Shinozaki estate when the ball emitted a continuous beep.

"Down!" Me and two other voices yell.

At the same moment I yank the girl towards the forest ground, and then throw myself on top of her.

Better me than her, if something happens.

A second later, an explosion happens.

-

I recognized the explosion as that of a fougasse, and the heat that I felt and the light that can only come from flames confirmed it.

A few seconds passed, and the fire was slowly dying out.

I was halfway getting off the girl when another fougasse detonation happened.

I immediately dropped down, again, causing the girl to let out a gasp of air.

"Sorry kid." I muttered.

"It's alright." the girl said back to me.

After a few more seconds passed, another explosion happens, and this time I had the novelty of being pelted by heated powder coming from the direction of the former mansion.

And another explosion happened.

Then another.

And another.

It is now around 5 minutes after that first explosion happened, and I count the one that just exploded as the 30th explosion.

"How many more petroleum does that ball have!" I hear Yung Ho shout from somewhere to my left.

"I don't think there is any petroleum there in the first place!" I yell back at him.

"Can we just crawl away now ladies and sirs?! I think the fire is getting closer!" Javin shouts from somewhere to my rear.
"And let the mountain burn down?!" Annan yells in outrage from in front of me.

"What is it now kid?!" I shout back at her in exasperation.

"Annan of the island of TREES! Hello?!" She shouts back.

...well...that's understandable.

"How do you propose we dismantle that fougasse, your holiness?!" Thuc shouts from further beyond Yung Ho.

"You got that bag that connects to your country! Get a fire hose and start hosing that ball down!"

"I don't think water works with petroleum very well, your holiness!" I hear the woman shout to Annan.

"Then what do we do?! I'm still recovering from resurrecting you just now!" Annan yells back.

"I think we can let the Japanese authorities deal with the flames!" Connla shouts from a little ways beyond Javin.

We then hear the sounds of helicopters approaching.

"Quick! Crawl away or we will get caught by the Japs!" Yung Ho shouts.

"I apologize for my friend's words." I say with extreme embarrassment to the girl under me as I roll over from above her.

"What does he have against us Japanese?" the fleshed out girl asks as she starts crawling forward.

"He is a Korean." I reply.

"Korean...why are they still so angry for what happened in the past?" She asks in a mystified tone.

"FUCK! YOU!" I hear Yung Ho curse the girl beside me with a voice filled by extreme outrage, disbelief and horror.

The girl beside me flinches. And then she crawls onwards with a sad face.

...I am getting the feeling that Yung Ho's racist attitude is not something taught to him, but something personal.

...God, please help my friend.

-

By the time we reach the foot of other side of the mountain, daylight is illuminating the sky over the mountains to the east.

Behind us, we can hear the magical fougasse still exploding up to this moment, with the addition of dozens of helicopters and fire truck sirens added to the cacophony.

A hundred meters in front of us, another road can be seen through the woods, winding through another valley, and on it we see families being evacuated from their homes by the police, bringing along with them whatever belongings they consider valuable enough on their cars and trucks.

"What have we done?" I hear the fleshed out girl audibly mutters from beside me in a guilt ridden voice.

I suddenly have this urge to look at the other girl. Upon doing so, I see her face also full of shame and guilt, while her older sister's hands are on her shoulder, looking at the same scene with sadness.

"You girls went to a haunted house without protection or backup. Frankly, the fact that your misadventure only ended up with an unintended terrorist attack is a miracle." Yung Ho gruffly replies to her.

The girls look shocked and extremely worried at being pointed out as terrorists. The woman, on the other hand, glares at Yung Ho.

"Pardon me, but is there anything else that is going to come out of your mouth that is not insulting?" she says in a polite voice that is filled with steel and ice.

"Yes there is. But that is reserved for those that did not just denigrate the past. Or professionals."

The woman's glare turns absolutely venomous when the last few words are uttered, which Yung Ho answers with an amused look in his eyes.

I step between them to stop a fight from breaking out.

"Ok people. That's enough. You," I point my right index finger at Yung Ho "stop baiting for a fight. You," I look at the woman "you know you can choose to ignore him. Now," I look back and forth between the two of them "we are going to walk away from each other and then ignore each other, as much as possible, for the rest of the trip. Understand?" I say in the same tone of voice I used to break up my children's fights.

A few moments passed…

Thank God they follow what I just suggested, Yung Ho moving left and the Japanese moving to the right.

At that same moment I notice that Annan is saying something with her hands stretched out to her sides, but I only hear the last few words.

"-that we be unseen, unheard and avoided by the other humans."

And again that feeling that I now associate with magic comes over me.

Shaking off that sensation, I move towards Yung Ho and ask him something about his antagonism as the whole group walks through the forest, towards the road.

"Do you mind if I ask you something personal?"

He stops, and then looks at me from the side.

Someone claps me on my shoulder.

I whirl around, to see Thuc looking at me sadly and shaking his head in negation.

"Wha-"

"Don't ask him Herbert. Trust me, don't."

I blink in surprise, not expecting someone defending Yung Ho's actions.

"Is it something that gives one the right to always act antagonistic towards a particular group of people, all the time?" I answer back while navigating my way through some steep slopes.

"Yes." I hear Yung Ho growl.

When I look back at him, I see him glaring at the ground, as if remembering something bad.

…not just one of them, but a lot of them.

"Yung Ho, that's not-"

"This nation took away something from me, and then to add insult to injury it gave me a curse that would not let go off me. Not even being the apprentice of the most powerful mudang in Gyeongsangnam-do would let those-"

Yung Ho cuts himself off with a hiss.

"Those?" I ask.

Yung Ho shakes his head, refusing to say anything further.

I look at Thuc, wanting something more.

Thuc looks at Yung Ho, and then back to me, and at Yung Ho again.

After a moment of consideration, he gives off something that eases my curiosity.

"Trust me when I say that Yung Ho's description of his situation is accurate. I have only heard of his…situation in regards to the legacy of some Americans in Saigon."

…ok. That narrows the field somehow.

What did us Yanks leave in Vietnam as a legacy?

…there's Agent Orange for one…but that's in the countryside...unexploded ordnance is another…no not those, he said only left by some Americans. Both sides left those everywhere...but Saigon?

What would be left as a legacy by only some Yanks in Saigon? Only notable places in Saigon that I could-

I immediately stop my train of thought and do everything in my power to act like I am still mystified.

I realize what that legacy is, and agree that it is cruel for someone who is born immediately after World War 2, especially when it appears that the people who Yung Ho referred to with "Those" are probably his neighbors.

I return my attention back to the two, to see Yung Ho glaring at Thuc, who shrugs it off with his own stare.

I put on an act, for his sake.

First, I look intently at Yung Ho's face. This act has him stop walking and look at me in suspense.

After a moment or two, I shake my head, at the same time saying "Nah. Couldn't be."

Yung Ho silently lets out a breath of relief.

I continue.

"Whatever the reason is, whatever is bedeviling you up till now, just know that you've got a friend with me...with us," I nod my head towards Thuc "and you can talk with us anytime you want."

Yung Ho looks at me for a few moments.

"Anytime." I repeat.

After a few more moments, Yung Ho finally says something.

" I wish had friends like you when I was young. Unfortunately, after this job is over, I don't think we will see each other again."

I blink.

"Stupid kid." Thuc suddenly scolds Yung Ho.

Yung Ho looks taken aback by his words.

"We ARE dead. That means we don't need passports or money to travel around the world."

Yung Ho looks confused.

I also can't help voicing out my own question.

"Wait, are you saying ghosts can travel away from their haunting places?"

"No. But souls that have gone on to their respective afterlives can go visit other places." Thuc answers back.

"I didn't know that. Are you sure?" Yung Ho asks.

Thuc scoffs.

"I regularly travel the 30 kilometers between my house and the military base as a ghost. I know what I'm saying."

Yung Ho stares at him for a few moments.

Suddenly he looks embarrassed and walks away from us at a fast trot, not saying anything else. But there is one thing that has changed for the better.

He has a slight smile on his face.

Well that's one go-

"You've got a friend in me?" Thuc suddenly asks.

I turn to look at him with trepidation.

"You quoted from Toy Story." He slowly says with an amused look in his eyes.

"Well...it is an appropriate line for the situation." I defend myself, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment.

Thuc shakes his head, snickering at me.

-

A few hours later, around 9:00 in the evening, we finally reached Kasamatsu via train.

The reason it took us so long is because we had to avoid the various CCTV cameras in and around Shimada.

Annan explained to us that while people would not see us or hear us by any means, even if it is through watching a CCTV tape, that does not mean that a camera would not show people avoiding a blank spot that is moving through a crowd.

Now that the Japanese government is aware of the supernatural, they would quickly ask for help from specialists. And when that happens...we would be persons of interest for the Japanese authorities, eventually caught, and then get the whiplash from not fulfilling a contract while in custody. Not to mention avoiding legal liabilities for the girl and the woman.

That is a nightmare we wanted to avoid, so we decided to hike through the mountains. But this option presented us two more problems: The two girls and the woman are not prepared for this kind of mountain hiking, and we had no idea how to get to Shimada station without revealing ourselves to the cameras.

Thankfully Annan had called Ebisu, and explained the situation. Ebisu immediately sent us help.

The help came in the form of three mikos from the Keiju-Ji temple further down the valley where we saw the evacuation happening. The three then proceeded to lead us through hidden forest trails that head towards the north, ending at the locally renowned Chibasan Chiman-ji temple on the top of Mount Chiba. From there, we were driven down the road towards the northeast, passing through Fujieda city, to Shizuoka city by one of the Shinshoku at the temple.

We were then dropped by Shizuoka Station sometime after 5 in the afternoon.

Annan gave the Shinshoku fifteen 10,000 yen bills in payment for the gas used on the roadtrip. This made the Shinshoku blush and say thank you.

Later, after boarding the train and finding seats that are a little distance away from the other passengers of our train car, Annan proceeded to explain the situation to the three girls.

-

"So why are we needed to gather the relatives? I presume the Japanese government can do that for us."

Shinozaki Hinoe, the older sister, said while walking towards the Shinozaki residence in Kasamatsu minutes after we had stepped off Kasamatsu station.

"Well, it is because the government doesn't want us foreigners around. They will never involve you guys and the other relatives in this matter. It is even likely that they will simply just destroy the remains of everyone who died in Tenjin elementary."

"They can't do that! They can't!" Nakashima Naomi, the fleshed out girl, stops walking and protests.

This brings the whole group to a halt.

"Naomi, the government can do so in the name of public safety." Hinoe says to Naomi.

"What possible reason would make destroying the only things we have left of our friends be in the interests of public safety?" Naomi protests further.

"If I may answer that?" Thuc replies at the same time as Yung Ho saying "The answer's simple."

This had them looking at each other, Thuc in particular looking at Yung Ho warily.

I am also looking at him the same way.

"I would be a hypocrite if I supported destroying the bodies just to spite the relatives." Yung Ho casually says in response to our stare.

Thuc nods once to let him go on talking.

"Kid, forget about the supernatural being revealed to the world and focus on this question. How would the Japanese government look like in the eyes of the world when it is revealed that there has been an ongoing massacre happening under their noses all this time?"

"They would look...incompetent." Shinozaki Ayumi, the small, thin and formerly wounded girl.

She is formerly wounded thanks to Javin's Soma.

"And how many nationalists are in the current government?" Yung Ho continues.

"...Abe...Abe is far more right wing than any Prime Minister we ever had before." Hinoe admits reluctantly.

Yung Ho smiles, but quickly frowns a moment later.

"Wait a minute. You Japanese elected a right winger as your Prime Minister? Have you forgotten Tojo?" He asks incredulously.

"Japan is a parliamentary system. We elect the Diet members, they choose the Prime Minister." Hinoe replies to Yung Ho.
Yung Ho still frowns at Hinoe, but he moves back to his topic.

"Since Japan is now headed by a right wing nationalist, it is reasonable to expect that the policy regarding this particular incident we are involved in, is one of not letting the image of Japan getting tarnished in the minds of those warmongers or the world."

"So the government will cover up the whole thing?" Ayumi asks.

"Naturally." Yung Ho answers.

They stay silent for a few moments. And during those few moments we all start walking again.

"If we do this...would the dead be resurrected?" Ayumi asks Annan.

"...I'm not sure. I could justify resurrecting your sister in that she is just newly dead and that I, a god, have decided that this is not to be. But I don't know about all the others. They have been dead for quite a while so right now they may have their places in the Buddhist reincarnation cycle or Yomi just waiting for them."

Naomi stops walking and sniffles. And then tears start trickling down her eyes.

Then she hides her face behind her palms and cries.

Ayumi behind her also cries, looking away and wiping her own tears.

Yung Ho's face twitches, and then he starts lecturing.

"You stupid kids. Do you think you are the only ones in this world who wants to raise their loved ones from the dead?"

Hinoe glares at Yung Ho, while the two crying girls look at him like hurt puppies do.

Yung Ho continues with a stern voice.

"My mother is the first apprentice of the most powerful mudang in Gyeongsangnam-do. Among the greatest of things that she and I learned, is how to bring someone back from the dead. Do you know what she did with it?...Nothing."

"Nothing?" Annan asks in surprise.

"Nothing. She did not use it to raise her mother, her father or her brothers from the dead. Do you know why?"

We are all looking at him, mesmerized by his story.

"Because sometimes...sometimes it is just one's time to die."

Because sometimes, it is just one's time to die?

"And when it is just their time to die...reversing that death is just...wrong. Too many things...make that act wrong."

"So you are saying that Seiko's death is good? Shishido sensei's death is good? Everyone who died in that place is...is for the sake of some plan by some fucking god up there so it is good?!" Naomi hysterically screams at him with bloodshot eyes-
Woah!

She just tried to rush him!

She is only stopped by Hinoe and Ayumi tightly holding her back.

"Just the opposite actually. Evil happens. Evil always happens. And there doesn't have to be a reason for why it happens, all one can do is accept it, even if one has the ability to say otherwise and make it so." Yung Ho calmly says to her...with a tone of sympathy in his voice.

...God I thank you for your miracles. Thank You.

And also, thank you for the fact that we are on a street deserted of pedestrians, with only a handful of vehicles passing by each minute.

Naomi suddenly snickers, but her snicker is that of a person that is angry, hysterical and unbelieving of what just happened.

"That's your answer for Seiko? That's your answer for Sensei?"

She then outright laughs.

A moment later it stops. And she looks at him with the...the eyes of someone who is prepared to kill.

"Remove the spell that is erasing the memories of my friend from this world, give me the phone and cellphone numbers of the families of all those that died in Tenjin elementary along with a continuous supply of money for the bills to NTT and Docomo, and some more people who will assist me. I will have all the relatives here in Kasamatsu in seven days."

I comment on that last sentence.

"That's quite a tall order you are setting on-"

Naomi interrupts me.

"Seven. Days." She says, her voice full of the conviction that she can call every relative...that calling all the relatives is an inevitable event.

She then continues.

"I expect you to do your part to free my friend."

Naomi then turns around and walks-

she suddenly turns back to look back at Yung Ho.

"And now I turn your words back to you. Fuck. You."

This time she finally walks away. Ayumi quickly bows one time to us in apology for her friend's words, and then chases after Naomi.

"Smart girl. She knew what I want her to do, except for one little detail that she got wrong." Annan comments once Naomi and Ayumi are out of sight after rounding the corner ten meters away.

"What is it, your holiness?" Hinoe asks, standing where she is and looking at us.

"I just need all you humans to pray and believe that Tenjin elementary will go into the real world. No need to get them to come here and put themselves in the line of fire." Annan replies.

"I want to raise a few more questions before I take my leave. What are they, the survivors, supposed to do when the government does evacuate Kasamatsu and then brings in the specialists?"

"Are you one of those contacted to cordon off Kisaragi Academy?"

"I am one of the very first contacted by the Ministry of Justice."

"Don't you mean PSIA? This event is something that any country would like to be kept secret, after all."

Hinoe does not give an answer to Annan's question.

I presume this PSIA is the Japanese counterpart to the CIA, because they both have IA acronyms.

Annan smirks, as if she has received an answer, and continues.

"If you are one of those that will cordon the place, I think you could ask the government to let them stay in the area, since they are connected to this incident in the first place. I'll ask Ebisu to back you up on that request. But if that does not pass, then they could carry on with the prayers and believing from outside the town."

"Very well. But how long will it take for you to bring Tenjin elementary back to the real world?"

Annan looks at Hinoe.

"Our job is to be the hook. It is you, the specialists and the kami who are going to pull us, and Tenjin elementary along with us, back to the real world."

"So it depends on us?"

"Yes. Why? Concerned about the effect on your sister's education?"

"Ayumi is enrolled at Kisaragi Academy, after all" Hinoe replies in a droll tone.

Annan slowly facepalms into her right hand, saying "Sorry, I forgot about that."

"A last question, your holiness. When do we start?"

Annan looks up from her palm.

"April 23, 4:00 in the morning. This night? We're sleeping this night."

Hinoe bows down to Annan and says "Thank you and good night, your holiness." and then turns away from us.

Suddenly she turns back and asks Annan.

"Your holiness, are we still under your spell of being ignored?"

Annan looks at Hinoe with wide eyes.

"Oh."

-

'Is this the place?' 'Annie' asks me while she is slung over my shoulder.

'Yes.' I thought back to her as I stand on the open grounds of Kisaragi academy in the early morning.

It is a 4 story, concrete building that is laid out like a square with overshooting lines when seen from above. Along the more notable features of the place, aside from the impressively big multipurpose playing field, is that all the rooms have sliding glass doors with blue curtains behind them.

And then there are the air conditioners.

A lot of them.

I presume that Kisaragi Academy is a private school for the rich, since it looks like every room inside that school is air conditioned.

'Back in my day we had to make do with no electric fans.' I thought to 'Annie' in some jealousy.

'Don't worry. You now have the prerogative of lording it out over these kids when the topic does come up.' She thinks back to me.

Shaking my head and sighing, letting out a visible fog of warm breath, I look around at my fellow posse members.

There is Thuc, dressed green fatigues, an Ssh-68 helmet and green high top sneakers instead of the rubber sandals.

And he is suffering for his choice of attire by shivering in the cold morning air of Japan.

"I think you need an overcoat or something Thuc." I comment.

"This is nothing." He replies with a chatter.

Yung Ho interrupts.

"You aren't used to winter since there is no snow in Vietnam. We on the other hand have snow back home. Take Herbert's advice and get an overcoat Thuc. You're shivering."

Yung Ho, dressed again in olive green jungle fatigues, looks at Thuc with worry in his features.

Thuc only looks at Yung Ho, and asks "What is an overcoat?"

Yung Ho points to...

'Redcoat?' 'Annie inadvertently thinks out.

...Javin?

Javin is a wearing a greatcoat in addition to the white turban, coat and pants. But of all things...the greatcoat is colored red.

"Why are you wearing a red colored coat? Isn't that...something British?" I ask him in a mystified tone.

"I like red." Javin replies nonchalantly.

...ah never mind.

"Annan can you give Thuc here an overcoat?" I turn to her.

Annan is not wearing a cloak this time over her shining gold colored, sleeveless dress, since the evil magical book destroyed it. This time she is wearing...chainmail.

And this isn't the kind of armor that is thought of by those with a fetish.

This is actual, functional armor covering her from shoulders to her hands and her mid-calf.

And she has also tied up her waist length hair into a big ponytail bun.

"You mean something like what Javin's wearing right now?" she asks.

"Yes." I answer.

She raises her right hand and snaps her fingers.

A red greatcoat suddenly falls on Thuc from above.

"I said give one, not drop one." I say in a droll tone.

"Sorry." She says, complete with a shrug.

I look towards Connla, seeing a glance of Thuc trying to wear the greatcoat in the process, to see Connla standing there with closed eyes, spear in one hand and shied in another, and murmuring what I feel must be prayers.

He is also still wearing the same tartan pants and brown shirt, while the cloak is nowhere to be seen.

I decide not to disturb him.

I then look at the Japanese who are a little ways behind us.

There is Hinoe and Waka-ush, both dressed in light jackets, long sleeved shirts of a black or dark brown color and jeans.

No one else is present.

The reason for that, when I asked earlier, is that Ebisu, along with all the other survivors and the relatives of their dead friends…had been drafted by Naomi into helping her call up all the relatives last night.

I then look down at myself.

I am dressed this time in a surplus DBDU, along with new socks, underwear and another Ssh-68 helmet I got from Thuc.

"Is everyone ready?" Annan suddenly speaks up, at the same time clapping her hands, to get the attention of the everyone.

After she determines that she has everyone attention, she then nods to Waka-ush.

Waka-ush starts speaking.

"You already know the general outline of the plan, but I am sure you don't know the specifics of the magic involved. I will not bother you with details other than that the spell that me and Ms. Shinozaki here will use to tie you to the real world…only works with living humans and gods. Therefore, you have to remain alive in there."

I don't know about the others, but I nod my head.

"For the spell to work, I need all of you living beings to spill your blood on this fishing rod."

Waka-ush then pulls out from nowhere the…most beautiful fishing rod of its kind that I had ever seen.

It is only a stick with a thread of sinew tied to one end, and a gorge made of bone on the other end of the sinew, but looking at it, I see a vision, of one man…

…ten men…

…hundreds and thousands of Japanese men dressed in different kinds of clothes from every point of time, all doing one thing: fishing with a fishing hook.

And when I see them finally catching a fish, I feel…no, I share in their exultation.

I then throw the fish into the boat/onto the shore and then promptly start gutting it with my flint knife/bronze knife/steel knife.

The vision finally ends with me blinking once and looking around with only my eyes.

Apparently that vision only took less than a second in the real world.

"And how much blood is needed to…accomplish spilling our blood onto it?" Thuc warily asks.

A sentiment that I am also feeling.

"Well, a few drops ought to do it." Waka-ush replies with a shrug.

Us living beings look at each other, and then grimace at the same time as we pull out our melee weapons, or in Annan's case, borrow Connla's dagger.

A minute later, I squeeze out three drops of my blood onto the rod from my left index finger using my right hand, and then quickly stretch out the arm to my left for Javin to pour Soma onto the bloody finger.

Annan then takes my place and drops her blood onto the fishing rod, as the last one to do so.

Once Annan finishes, Waka-ush steps back from us and stand beside Hinoe.

The two then both hold onto the fishing rod's handle in this…pattern is the only word that comes to mind: Hinoe's left hand is at the bottom, then Waka-ush's hand, then Hinoe's other hand, and then Waka-ush's hand at the top.

Then they both start chanting at the same time.

Waka-ush used another language other than Japanese so I did not understand them, but I understand those that are coming from Hinoe, and it is the following:

"I, Shinozaki Hinoe, of the Gifted Line of the children of the Great country of 8 islands, tie the blood offerors to this world with the power of all the kami of the land.

I tie them to live.
I tie them to survive.
I tie them to succeed.
I tie them to create a story.
I tie them to history.
I tie them to future.
I tie them to fate.

I do so, I do so, I do so, I do so, I do so, I do so, I do so, I do so.

It is done, it is done, it is done, it is done, it is done, it is done and it is done."

Just as the chant ends, I immediately feel my heart palpitate.

As if it teleported, my right hand is clutching at my chest, and I am left fearing that I am having a heart attack right this moment.

'Herbert! ' 'Annie' thinks to me.

…the palpitation quickly subsides, to be replaced by the feeling of my heart…

I can't describe the feeling of my heart!

"What on earth is that?!" I yell and say in shock at the Ainu goddess, who flinches in response.

"I-I presume that is the spell working." She replies in a tone of voice that is almost like she is asking a question.

"One of the words is live, so I presume that the spell is conceptually wrapped around our hearts, giving off the impression that someone tied ribbons on our hearts." Annan says in a deadpan voice.

Waka-ush just stares. And then she apologizes.

"I'm so sorry. The heart? Wha-that's bad right?"

"Can you even do household chores when you feel you are on the verge of having a heart attack all the time?" I reply.

She looks away for a moment.

"On the other hand, the spell is doing perfect in its job." Yung Ho says in approval.

I look at him, to see him looking down at his chest, as if he is seeing something…and his eyes are visible in the darkness.

It is like I am looking at his eyes in the middle of noon, but the fact is that right now it is 4 in the morning and it is dark outside, the only illumination coming from the streetlights outside the school and the stars on this moonless night.

"There is that. This thing is very fault tolerant, like an AK…Waka-ush, you alright girl?" Annan asks her with concern.

I look up to see Waka-ush leaning onto Hinoe, as if all her strength drained out.

"Fine. Just need to rest. Long time since I did that level of magic. You do the rest."

Annan looks at her for a little while, and then nods.

"Wait, we are just going to go into a magical hellhole while feeling on the verge of a heart attack all the time?" I complain.

"I could fix that, you know?" She pointedly looks at me.

…yeah, I forgot. Goddess.

Annan then turns around and lightly slaps Thuc on his chest.

Blinking, he then massages his chest, with a slowly growing look of relief on his face.

She did it to Javin too, leaving aside Connla, who does not seem affected and Yung Ho, who just breathes on his own chest, with…mist.

It seems to me that Yung Ho is quite the magic user himself.

Annan then approaches me and-

I glare at her for the light punch she just gave me to the chest.

"You need it." She says with a shit eating smile.

I shake my head at this.

After that, she then gathers everyone around her and then proceeds to brief us.

"To enter Tenjin elementary, we need to purposely flub this charm that I am going to instruct you. Once we flub it, we will…based on the games, we, and only we, will experience an earthquake that will split up the ground under us and let us fall into Tenjin elementary."

"Would the drop hurt us?" Thuc asks in a serious tone.

"Well, the characters faint from dropping and then wake up there...so I don't really know."

Annan frowns and starts thinking to herself. Suddenly she brightens up.

"Ah, let's do it this way! When the earthquake starts and the ground starts opening up, we jump into the chasm before the earthquake gets worse. At the same time we should close our eyes and prepare to land on our feet. This way we get into Tenjin elementary immediately ready to fight. Next is what is going to happen inside. All we need to do is stay alive, or sane in my case. But it is certain that we will have to fend off the ghosts that went wacko a long time ago…in our own…ah damn."

Annan immediately spits on her palms, closes them, and then chants something inaudible.

She then opens up her palms…and now there are 6 single piece headsets with those arms where the microphone is located.
The only difference is there is no jack, and these headsets are made of gold.

Yes, golden headsets.

She gives one to each one of us, teaches Connla and Javin how to wear them, and then proceeds to speak to us through her own headset.

"Now we have a means of communication that would not be cut off by being in our own pockets of space. Otherwise, we would be cut off from each other until I forcibly fix the time and space in Tenjin elementary, which would give us away and have everything insane there try to kill us immediately."

I nod at the sensibility of this while I adjust the earpiece, making it so that it is only half covering my left ear.

I need to hear from my left ear as well in the first place.

"Now, to the charm. We have to hold onto this paper doll and then recite this phrase: "Sachiko, we beg of you." To succeed we need to recite that once for each participant, and then one more time altogether for Sachiko and then pull the paper doll apart. However, since we want to flub it…we only say that phrase once and then we pull the paper. Now, there are other details about the scraps of paper but our goal is not to escape, but to drag the school with us back to the real world so just…eat it."

"Excuse me?" I ask.

'Did she just say eat the paper?'

'Yes. And here is her explanation.'

"Yes. Eat the paper. That way you don't lose it, but also this paper I have? It's also going to give you a sort of…danger intuition."

Danger Intuition? As in Spiderman's "spidy" senses?

What a godsend!

"What sort of danger intuition?" Connla asks.

…I'm already happy with being given Spider senses. Now there are different types?

"Well, you would feel a sensation if someone is looking at you with the intent to hurt or kill you. And…that's all."

"That's all? Why not include being able to tell where the person is coming from?" I ask, feeling a little bit disappointed at the revelation that it is a less powerful version of Spiderman's senses.

"Keeping things simple. I want something that is too simple to break, especially when we are dealing with an evil, sentient, magical book."

'I see…but that does not help with your stomach'

'There is that.'

Before I am able to raise a point, Annan renders it useless by saying "And if you roll the paper into a small ball, it would turn into a pill. I hope that helps?"

…it helps.

"Now that I have explained everything…let's go!" She yells with gusto.

"See you in a few days Waka-ush! Drag us and the place as soon as you can, ok!" Annan cheerfully says to her in a loud voice.

A house dozens of meters down the street lights up.

Waka-ush weakly nods and then says "May everything well be with you."

Annan chuckles as she pulls out a pink paper doll from thin air, asking "Ebisu showed you Star Wars?"

"All 6 movies." Waka-ush replies with a grin, which has Hinoe looking at her in amazement.

Annan turns back to us with a smile, and then stretches out her right hand, holding the paper doll in it.

The arm is slightly shaking.

Most of us give her understanding looks.

Connla says something else.

"Don't worry An. I'm with you."

We each take hold of one part of the paper doll, and then we look to Annan and wait.

"Ok. On the count of three." She says with a slightly trembling voice.

"One." I start the count.

"Two." Thuc, Yung Ho and Javin says.

"Three." Connla and Annan says.

"Sachiko, we beg of you!" We all said out loudly, and then pull.