Uesugi Fuutarou, 18 years old and in his Third Year at Asahi High School. It was currently past the middle of April, a week after the National Mock Exams and his 18th birthday. As the National Mock Exams coincided with his birthday, his friends had just finished celebrating his birthday with him today at their home, home to Quintuplet girls who were all classmates, friends, and students of his.
It was late in the afternoon when he left their apartment to head on home, as his younger sister, Raiha, was waiting for him to start dinner. Accompanying him were two of the Quintuplet sisters, Nakano Itsuki and Nakano Yotsuba - the fifth sister and fourth sister respectively. Itsuki overheard from Fuutarou's phone conversation that tonight's dinner was going to be the Uesugi household specialty, Curry, and asked with excitement and without hesitation if she could join them for dinner to keep Raiha company, since Fuutarou and Raiha's father is at his job until later tonight (a lie, she just wanted the curry). Yotsuba accompanied them to buy some eggs and mirin at the grocery store, as another of their sisters, Nino, found out she did not have enough to make dinner for the four other sisters tonight.
The afternoon was now turning into the evening, with a golden sunset illuminating the city they were walking through. Itsuki was carrying a box with slices of cake, purchased from the cake shop that Fuutarou works at, so she would not be going to the Uesugi household for dinner and arrive empty handed - after all, she was a regular dinner guest there whenever the words "curry", "dinner" and "Raiha-chan" was mentioned. The three of them were waiting for the pedestrian lights to turn green to cross the road, before seeing each other off and heading into different directions. The long and empty stretch of road they were waiting on did not obstruct the almost completed sunset, which was still able to shine into the corner of their left eyes, in an almost cloudless sky.
The lights turned green, and the Nakano sisters began to cross, with Fuutarou reading a short message just sent from his sister. Fuutarou noticed the change of the lights, and he too stepped into the crossing, walking briskly, to catch up with the two girls. Raiha asked Fuutarou to go to the grocery store to buy some ingredients that she just finished using, before heading home.
Fuutarou turned his head to the right, towards the chatty Itsuki and Yotsuba, to inform Itsuki of this detour.
"Raiha just asked me if we could first…", began Fuutarou, when he suddenly noticed…
SCREECHING BRAKE SOUNDS FROM A CAR THAT WAS APPROACHING INTO THE CROSSING WITH THE BRAKES SCREECHING
Suddenly, in one swift motion, as if his body moved on its own, Fuutarou grabbed Itsuki's arm to spin himself to the front of the two girls. He then shoved with all his meagre strength to send both girls backwards, just barely away from the road onto the footpath. The driver had misread the lights as green due to the blinding sunset and did not react to the actual red light, meaning the vehicle did not brake in time and would not stop until at least part way through the crossing. Luckily, or not, Fuutarou was hit by the car just before it stopped, but it still meant he was sent down a metre or two like a ragdoll. Time had gone to a stand still for all those around - Fuutarou, Itsuki, Yotsuba, the truck driver, and the other unfortunate souls on both sides of the road who witnessed this horrible incident.
There was blood on the road, pooled where Fuutarou's body had become stationary; though no one could quantify the amount as it was a first to everyone who witnessed this horror, they all knew this was seriously bad shit. His phone was on the ground, next to the now spilled open confectionary box containing the slices of cake Itsuki had bought just minutes ago. The driver slumped the seat of his car, breathing heavily while in a state of shock, staring out the windscreen. A salaryman nearby sprung into action, yelling to those around him he was dialling 119 for an Ambulance as he described the location and the bloodied scene, with another lady yelling she was calling 110 for Police while she was speaking with them on the phone.
Yotsuba was kneeling on the side of the road, with her hands in her face in shock and crying uncontrollably, while Itsuki, too, was staring out in shock with tears flowing down her face. Other passersby came and began comforting the two girls, telling them Ambulance and Police had been called for their friend, offering them water to drink to calm them down and offering them handkerchiefs to clean the scrapes on their arms and legs. When one of the kind people asked if he could help call their family to inform them, Itsuki calmed down just enough to pull out her phone and call Raiha to let her know of the situation that had just unfolded.
"Raiha-chan, your brother was just hit at the crossing around the corner from your apartment, the one with the grocery store further down in the opposite direction from that crossing. Please come quickly, another lady just told me an Ambulance was called and will be here soon. I'm sorry to ask you at a time like this, but please let me know Father's contact details so I can inform him."
Fuutarou was barely clinging onto consciousness. He felt no pain as the pain was so unbearable. His senses drifted away one by one. The sun had almost finished setting when Ambulances arrived to whisk Fuutarou and the sisters to the Hospital. By the time the sun was finished setting, Fuutarou had slipped out of consciousness and into the dark sleep whilst inside the Ambulance.
"Beep…", a piece of equipment inside the Ambulance emitted, with a long and flat tone.
His mind was still very much active. He felt perhaps was dreaming in his sleep, but perhaps it was something else; he couldn't really tell. He suddenly remembered what had happened and his thoughts jumped back.
However, his thoughts were not about the accident. Rather, it was about his life that had flashed before his eyes at that moment. Where was he up to? Oh yeah, Third Year started and he was getting on well with his classmates, while helping to distinguish the Quintuplets for everyone, and his duties as the Class Rep, too. Hang on, does this mean Yotsuba will have to go it as Class Rep alone? ...Actually, *why* will she have to go it alone?
There was nothing for him to move, see or hear in this moment. The only thing still active was his mind, his now-brilliant mind that he spent 6 long years building upon for the sake of a promise, to that one girl, that he will probably never...
"SNAP OUT OF IT, UESUGI FUUTAROU!" he told himself. "You'll wake up from his stupid-ass dream and get back to…"
Then suddenly, in the darkness came a light, a light that was getting closer to him. This light began flashing other bright things out from itself too. Symbols. Characters. Pictures. Nothing he really recognised what they were and was strange to him nonetheless.
"Why do I feel…I can move? I can see, I can hear? I CAN FEEL?"
By now, the light was very close to him and was enveloping his entire being. He FELT. He felt his body burning up, his heart, his soul, his mind. His senses were returning to him. He was...
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." he said to himself, as his body continued to burn up and he felt like his limbs were able to move again.
The light finished enveloping him, and for a split second was in an area of complete white, before…
"Good morning. It's time to wake up", said a voice. A seemingly familiar, but still strange voice. She sounded warm, almost motherly. Fuutarou began to open his eyes, something he felt he could do, now that he could physically roll his eyes again.
The young man opened his eyes to see the sun shining through the window. He put up his arm to guard his eyes, wincing at the bright light that he was slowly adjusting to. He moved his head around to get a sense of where he was.
The ceiling and wall of a wooden shack, a wooden table with a jug and cups. He then saw a beautiful woman with long hair sitting next to his bed.
"Good morning. I trust that you slept well last night? I'm here to pick you up to see the village elder this morning, it seems he has some tasks he wants you to help out with today."
The young man sat up on his bed. If you could call it that. It was more a spartan bed that was a slab that he could rest on, with a hard object supporting his head and neck.
"My name is Rena, what's your name? The elder forgot to tell me when he asked me to pick you up.", said the woman, who then stood up and walked to the table to pour out a cup of water.
"Good morning, Ms Rena. My name is…" A headache came as the young man tried to remember his name.
"Your journey last night must have been tiring, for you to sleep that much. Did you have a lot of wine to drink last night? Here, maybe some water will help you clear your head of that hangover."
She handed him a cup of water that the young man first sipped, and then drank quickly. That hit the spot!
"My name is Fuutarou," said the young man. "Thank you, Ms Rena, for the water," as he handed back the cup.
"Please, you can drop the formalities and just call me Rena. We are all equals here." she giggled, in a way familiar to the young man. By the way, your name...are you from the Far East, too? I came from here before arriving here."
"The Far East?" the young man responded quizzingly, before a slight headache returned. "Where are we anyway?"
"It's hard to describe, but the best way to learn is to see it for yourself. Come." Rena offered her hand to Fuutarou to help him stand up. His hand gently grabbed her fingers as she curled them up to hoist him out of bed. Fuutarou was thankful for her help, as his legs were still shaking for some reason. She continued to lead him, by hand, out of the cabin.
What Fuutarou saw when he stepped outside of the cabin could not be described by mere words. If he tried to, he would say it was a paradise; with luscious fields, trees and beautiful flowers on the earth; blue skies for miles and miles; gentle winds caressing his body. Finally, he noticed what looks to be a beautiful temple made of white marble in a far away location.
Rena had let go of his hand while he marvelled at this location. She was a few steps ahead on a path, and teasingly looked up at him while she was leaning to the side, giving a smile and beckoning him to follow her. This all seemed all too familiar with Fuutarou, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Anyway, he had to meet the elder and he didn't want the elder to wait too long for him.
Fuutarou continued on the path with Rena, who was telling him about the people working in the fields, living in the neighbouring cabins, as well as pointing out her home to him. He then realised that he, Rena, and everyone else was wearing white tunics on their bodies and brown sandals on their feet. She gave a brief description of the town they were in now and how everyone feels it is paradise, a sentiment he agreed with. It was not long until they arrived in the centre of the village and towards the building the elder was in.
An old man seated at a table got up and walked over to greet him. He gave him a description of what young people like Fuutarou were able to do, and what they were responsible for, in order to maintain the village that everyone loves so much. His first task was to work at the fields to help out, he would be paid for his troubles and could purchase food and supplies from the village stores. Rena would be his partner to get him up and running and he could go to her with any questions he had.
For the first couple of days, whilst Fuutarou was getting used to his new life, had many questions about his surroundings. At night, after returning to his cabin with aching pains in his body, he would collapse on the slab he called a bed, and dream about a life with five identical looking girls. These dreams would be blurry and vague, never seeing (or remembering) a face, but at the same time feeling familiar. As he had become accustomed to his new life, these recurring dreams stopped, and he found that the work in the fields was no longer tiring to him, but instead had become his inspiration to learn more about how he could help in the village.
He had learnt soon after his arrival that Rena's nickname in the village was "The teacher from the Far East". However, there was no school for the children in the village and it turns out her teachings were about martial arts developed in the Far East. She was a master of various types of martial arts, and had immense strength to boot. Her official job in the village was the Craftsman, responsible for handling materials and shaping them into usable material. Eventually, Fuutarou asked the elder if it was possible for him to learn under Rena's tutelage to be a Craftsman.
The elder gave it some thought, but agreed to it. However, Fuutarou had to prove his physical fitness for the job, as him being an Apprentice would mean he would need the strength to gather the materials needed for Rena's job. There were no work animals in the village, meaning he would have to carry the material by hand, just like Rena does, and the elder could not possibly allow Fuutarou to hold her back. So, Fuutarou began working in the fields to push himself harder than ever. He ran to different parts of the village to tone his leg strength and cardio-vascular - even running the long path to Oceanus and back in a day to prove his fitness. Time was something that blurred to Fuutarou whilst getting himself to physical shape to pass the test, but the elder did not set a time limit for the test. After a long time, Fuutarou's physique had improved to the point where he passed the test first try, a test of strength to carry the large amounts of marble Rena would carry from the quarry into town, and only then the elder entrusted Fuutarou to Rena.
The first lesson Rena gave to Fuutarou was at a quarry on the outskirts of the village, on the path leading to Oceanus. They were standing just off the path from the quarry to the village. Fuutarou had passed this quarry a number of times during his running exercises and had watched Rena work. Something piqued his interest one time, in that she *never* used tools in the quarry, and one time during running he observed her using only her bare hands - but her hands were never injured or otherwise.
So before the lesson began, he asked her about it, only for her to karate chop him on the head in a serious manner to let her begin her lesson.
"Please let me begin the lesson, and do not worry, we will get to that part today as a part of your basic training." she began, as Fuutarou nursed his head. "However, as I am now your teacher, I hope you will take my instructions carefully and responsibly so that you can digest the material before asking any questions. Is that clear?"
Her way of instruction was wayyyyy different to how he remembered her from the first day they met in the village. Yes, she was instructing, not teaching, as her tone was now authoritative and he didn't want to challenge it in any way.
"Yes ma'am," Fuutarou quickly and succinctly quipped, to allow Rena to begin the lesson.
Rena then picked up a small, smooth rock the size of her palm. She reached her arm out and showed it to Fuutarou.
"Watch carefully what I'm about to do next," she began, as she CRUSHED THE ROCK INTO PEBBLES WITH HER BARE HANDS. Fuutarou's eyes shone with excitement, this must have been the power he observed when watching Rena work in the quarry.
Rena walked over to pick up a similarly sized rock, and tossed it to Fuutarou. "Here, you try it."
Nope, Fuutarou couldn't budge it at all. In fact, his hand started to hurt.
"If squeezing it to death doesn't work, maybe I'll try to chop it in half." he thought to himself, as he put the rock on a much larger rock, before karate chopping it using his hand, with all his might.
"FXXX, that hurt!" he said, as he held his hand to nurse it.
"The first lesson I'll teach you is about atoms." Rena began, as she walked over to Fuutarou. "Everything in the world is made up of atoms, you and I included. People are made up of water molecules, which are made up of hydrogen atoms and oxygen atoms held together by covalent bonds. How do you break them? You break the covalent bonds, sounds easy, right?"
"But let me change the topic, from compositions of people, to composition of rocks."
"Whilst different rocks are made up of different materials, generally they are held together also by covalent bonds in a semi-crystal structure, making them quite tough. What you need to do, is to insert your energy into the rock in order to break the structure and the chemical bonds."
"We call this the power of Cosmos. The power to rend the sky and earth apart by just using your bodies. The power that humans have had from the dawn of Mythology. To perform feats no normal human is able to do, or 'normal', as humanity seemed to have lost the power through the generations and millennia that followed."
"You will need this power in order to get close to the temple to do your work. At first, I'll let you carry the material I need to work with to the outskirts of the temple for you to get a feel of the strength of the consecrated grounds, which will injure you if your Cosmos is not strong enough and you get too close. When you carry the material, use that chance to sense the power of the temple and to hone your Cosmos."
"...why is the temple on consecrated grounds and is it some kind of security system?"
"It's to prevent outside armies from attacking the temple."
"There ARE no outsiders. It's just this village for miles and miles, right?"
"Oh, so you are starting to be aware. Quite astute senses, too, I might add. I'll tell you more when you learn to split this rock, so get started."
Rena sat down on a tree stump nearby, with her arms folded and an amused look as she watched.
"You have to *feel* the energy inside you. Let your Cosmos burn, and let it shine brightly. Concentrate, I know you have it." Rena instructed.
Fuutarou stood before the rock, relaxed his body, and made a stance. He closed his eyes, steadied his breathing, and began to feel the energy in his body.
"Picture in your mind, the stone in front of you." Rena continued, "Picture how it's being held together en masse by little bonds of energy. Then, increase your energy to beyond that cluster of energy, and let your fist rip into it!"
Fuutarou stood there for a few minutes, trying to get the grasp of it. Feeling his energy, it's swelling up.
"If brute force alone won't work, I'll add my energy into it, and split that damn rock!" Fuutarou exclaimed.
Rena was seeing Fuutarou's fist gathering of silvery coloured energy. Then, this energy expanded to his whole body. It was starting to shine brighter than the natural light within the day time. Rena was not fazed at all and merely smiled to herself.
Suddenly, in one swift motion, as if his body acted on its own, he raised his arm and slammed his fist down onto the rock. At the moment of impact, the rock had been broken. He then heard the loud bang of the impact, and opened his eyes to the marvel that had happened.
The small rock was not just broken into two, but into crushed pebbles.
And it wasn't just the small rock either, but the much larger rock it was resting on was crushed into (slightly bigger) pebbles, and finally, the ground below it was cracked open like an earthquake had occurred.
Fuutarou was stunned at what was in front of his eyes. He turned around to see his teacher's reaction, but she was not there; the tree stump she was sitting on was sunk into the ground that he broke open. He started to sweat bullets and wondered if he killed his teacher by sending her into the earth.
"That was great, maybe you *can* go into the temple after just some more training."
The sound was coming from the tree behind the stump. He looked above and saw Rena standing on a large branch...luckily the tunic they all wore were loosely fitting and down to below the knees, so it wasn't like he was looking up her skirt or something.
"You might want to move soon, the ground you're standing on is not exactly stable anymore." she pointed out, before Fuutarou panicked and skipped from where he was standing to the safer grounds at the base of the tree Rena was standing on.
Rena jumped down from the free and smiled at Fuutarou. "Congratulations again. Let's stop here for today and get some rest, you must be tired?"
After hearing those words, his exhaustion set in. It was the first time he let out that much power, ever, and even in his top physical shape that he was in now, it was his mental and spiritual energy that needed work.
From the next day onwards, Rena made Fuutarou practice splitting rocks, with an emphasis on controlling the amount of power to exert to break various things. It was not long until he got used to it and crushed various sized rocks using varying power.
He turned small rocks to dust by merely touching them. He turned large rocks into pebbles by touching them the same way.
After a few days, he got the hang of it, and began to sculpt the marble needed to restore the temple. The temple was quite a distance from the quarry, and walking would take a day for a return trip, with no time to work on the temple. Rena taught him to focus his Cosmos into his legs to allow him to run faster, and he picked this up in no time at all.
She lived up to the name of "The teacher from the Far East", and began to teach him different martial arts of the Far East that she knows of. He learnt the basics in good time, as his physical training from preparing for the elder's tests honed his coordination as well as his stamina. Physically, mentally, and spiritually, he was getting better day by day, and was learning to master martial art techniques with Rena as his sparring partner.
Eventually, the day came when Fuutarou asked Rena the question. "So you said you'll tell me more when I learned to split that damn rock. Well, now I think I've got most of the basics of Cosmos, martial arts, and I don't think the lessons you gave afterwards was what you meant."
Rena's face reverted from instructor mode to a casual, but comically shocked face. "You're getting better at this than I thought. Okay, it seems you're sensing something more than just Cosmos. I'll tell you the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
"...wait, truth? Hang on, this might be too much to…"
"Uesugi Fuutarou, you have been living your life and training here in a place known to the Twelve Olympian Gods as the Fields of Elysium - the Paradise for the Chosen Dead. We are living in the Underworld." Rena began.
"The temple we have been working on, is the Temple of Hades, God of the Dead, where his body heals and rests while awaiting to be reincarnated. Both the temple and his body were almost destroyed in an attack led by the Goddess of Wisdom, Athena."
Fuutarou was in absolute shock
"The following will shock you even more, and the explanation that I will divulge to you shall remain a secret, especially to the villagers. You will understand why."
Rena then went on to explain, to a shocked Fuutarou, about the truth of everything.
"..."
After learning the truth, Fuutarou kept it to himself, not even asking Rena any more questions about it, even in private. He continued to live his eternal, but monotonous life in the Fields of Elysium, dedicating his days to honing himself, sparring with Rena, and restoring the Temple of Hades in their daily job.
Then one day, it began - he remembered the Quintuplets vividly. It began with a simple dream of the five of them holding his hand, one by one. The next night, all the memories of his life with the Quintuplets started to come back to him in a single dream...
...and on the next day, everything changed when the Underworld was destroyed in one sudden and vengeful attack. By a God of the Twelve Olympians.
"CLEAR!"
*ZAP*
"...beep...beep...beep..." came steady, short beeps from a machine inside the Ambulance.
A young man was lying on the stretcher, having just been revived by the Ambulance crew. His two female friends were next to him, being treated for their scratches and bruises from their fall after being pushed back by the young man onto the safety of the footpath, just minutes before.
The Ambulance arrived at the Hospital soon after. The crew rushed Fuutarou's injured body inside and handed him over to the ER crew. The ER crew rushed him into the Operation Theatre, with Nurnursesses and doctor standing by to receive their patient.
Raiha and the remaining Quintuplets arrived at the Hospital not long after, followed by Isanari a few minutes after. After checking on Itsuki and Yotsuba, Isanari cursed under his breath that Maruo was nowhere to be seen, as usual, even though it was the Hospital he was Chief Physician at, but Itsuki informed him that the doctors and nurses who treated the sisters mentioned that Dr Nakano was personally observing the Operation personally to ensure Fuutarou had the best chances of survival.
A few hours later, the Operation Theatre lights were turned off, and the Operating Doctor came out to inform the family that Fuutarou is now in a stable condition, much better than they predicted, and he was being moved to a VIP room for monitoring. However, due to his injuries he would probably take a few days to wake up.
Maruo appeared after the doctor had left, and invited the Uesugi family and the Quintuplets to join him in his private office to discuss the events that happened just hours ago. After hearing the story, Maruo was convinced Fuutarou did the right thing, while chastising Itsuki and Yotsuba for not being more careful of their surroundings.
In the following days, Ichika, Nino and Miku took turns coming to see Fuutarou. To change the water for his flowers, and to hold his hand to see if he would have any reaction. Of course, there was no reaction from him. Itsuki and Yotsuba took the week off from school to heal their physical injuries, as well as see a therapist recommended by their father, for their mental trauma from the incident.
Four days after the accident, the girls had decided to go and visit Fuutarou together after school.
On their arrival, Ichika, Nino and Miku split up the jobs they usually do by themselves - changing the water for his flowers, maintaining the flowers, and of course, the hand holding. Even though Itsuki and Yotsuba were mostly fine, mentally, from the therapy they got, it was only four short days since the accident. When the two of them saw Fuutarou in the hospital bed, they broke down crying again, though they were happy tears from seeing him in a much better condition, and to also thank him for saving them.
One by one, they held his hand and talked to him, with Yotsuba having to be pried off from her guilt, seeing Fuutarou like this. When it was Itsuki's turn, however, the girls noticed movement from Fuutarou - Itsuki noticed his fingers twitching, and the other girls noticed his eyelids moving. A doctor was summoned to check on Fuutarou's condition and Itsuki left to call Raiha to let her and Isanari know of the current situation.
The doctor had left by the time Raiha and Isanari arrived. Fuutarou was still not awake but was reacting to the girls talking to him and holding his hand. After Raiha and Isanari understood the situation, they left Fuutarou in the care of the girls, going to find Maruo to see why the heck he still hasn't visited Fuutarou - even his part time job's manager and the manager from the shop across the street had visited him! It was at that moment, Fuutarou slowly opened his eyes, and his lips moved to utter the word:
"Rena."
The girls, from hearing their mothers' name, were in complete shock. After hearing the commotion, Raiha and Isanari returned to see what happened. A doctor was summoned again and the group left to allow the doctor to check on Fuutarou again. Maruo appeared soon after, and invited the group to his private office, again, to let them know what will happen, and to send them home for the day to allow Fuutarou to rest.
Despite being hit by a car and then undergoing surgery almost a week ago, Fuutarou was in good spirits. The girls came to visit him every day, with Raiha, Isanari and Maruo getting quite jealous of the attention the young man was getting. After more tests, some rehab and observation, he was released home just shy of two weeks from the day of the accident. He was, by all accounts, a miracle, because he healed much faster than doctors had accounted for, and he could walk and talk almost normally; he even returned to school on a light schedule to catch up on those two weeks of school. Speaking of school, it was now time for the event he was most looking forward to, the Third Year school trip to Kyoto.
It was a few days after he started returning to school, Fuutarou did pretty much all his school work and some Class Rep work as normal, except for P.E. class, which Itsuki opted to sit out too in order to keep him company. Ever since the day he woke up, the girls had wondered why his first word waking up was their mother's name Rena. However, Itsuki was particularly self-conscious of this fact, and wanted to ask him why he uttered that name. However, the only reaction she got from him was a stone-walled expression and "Dunno, did I?" as the answer.
Fuutarou knew the girls would be self-conscious about this, and he was too, but couldn't recall why he uttered "Rena". He was also self-conscious of the fact that he seemed to be healing a little *too* fast after getting hit by a car, especially since he was told his heart had stopped at one stage and he had to be operated on because the bones and organs in his upper torso area were hurt quite badly, it seems. He cursed his weak physique, but was proud of his mental fortitude, because it allowed him to return to school sooner to resume his studies, and the Quintuplets needed to catch up on their school work, too, and he would work Itsuki and Yotsuba especially hard after this to make sure *they* don't fall behind even worse.
The days came and passed, it was time for the school trip. Something was making him uneasy, though, and it wasn't the fact that he *only* came 3rd place nationally in the Mock Exam, or that the girls were *still* fighting over to group with him for the school trip - thank goodness he had the foresight to make a group with Takeda and Maeda, his only other "friends" in the class. Whenever he looked over to the direction of Kyoto, he felt something dark and sinister coming from that direction, and when he went to the park with the swings that Yotsuba took him to, it only strengthened the confirmation, as the park was elevated and overlooked the town with a clear line of sight towards the same direction as Kyoto.
Eventually, he chalked that up to whatever happened there 6 years ago with the Girl in the Photograph, but he doesn't care about that anymore. With that, he resolved to make this the best school trip ever!
The first day of the school trip came, and when free time activity began, Fuutarou went with his group towards Fushimi Inari. Ever since arriving in Kyoto, Fuutarou has felt uneasy, but it wasn't because of the sinister energy he felt - oh no, that way long gone - it was now the five girls who seemed to have been stalking him since the teachers dismissed everyone at Kyoto Station.
Having eaten lunch before climbing the many steps of the shrine, Maeda was feeling uneasy about the walk, so Takeda offered to help Maeda up the steps and so Fuutarou left by himself to traverse up the shrine. One thing he noticed after his near-death accident, was the fact that his stamina seemed to have increased. Not increased dramatically, but enough that he wouldn't tire himself out from walking up the shrine. He even ran up a couple of steps, like an excited elementary school kid, before composing himself to walk up there normally. Maybe the doctors operated on him to make him better than he was before. Better...stronger...faster…
Nah.
He arrived at the top of the shrine in no time at all, and wandered around to take pictures on his phone. However, he noticed the statues - the foxes in particular - around him seem to be calling out to him.
"Be on alert, Fuutarou, and remember your mission in Kyoto is to investigate and confront the evil lurking in this city... That is the message we were tasked to send to you..." echoed the voices within Fuutarou's mind.
"Creepy," he thought. "Maybe I didn't get enough sleep last night." He pressed on ahead.
When he got to the steps on the other side, he saw Ichika, Miku and Yotsuba together talking about something with serious faces. But when they noticed him approaching, they changed demeanour instantly and greeted him with cheerful faces. He greeted the girls back with a small smile and a wave.
"Hey, you know," quipped Fuutarou, "I haven't had a chance to thank you for staying by my side when I was in the Hospital. That makes it twice now you girls have had to visit me in the Hospital."
"I thought you'd be lonely so I visited you." replied Miku, with a somewhat forced smile.
"Glad to see you're back to health again, haha!" Ichika said, with another forced smile.
Meanwhile, Yotsuba looked like she was going to cry.
"S..sorry, Yotsuba, are you OK? I...it wasn't your fault," Fuutarou thumped his chest with his hand, twice, "Look, I'm healthy as a gorilla!"
By this time, Nino and Itsuki had joined the group from behind Fuutarou.
"Yotsuba, are you OK? What happened" Itsuki had noticed Yotsuba was about to cry. Nino tried to get a handle on the situation between the group, when suddenly she noticed…
"Ichika, what do you think you're doing? Yotsuba crying has nothing to do with this, right?" Nino loudly demanded.
It was then Fuutarou noticed that Ichika and Miku were both holding something behind their backs.
Suddenly, Yotsuba began wailing. "Uesugi-san, I'm so sorry…", before she ran down the steps behind her.
"You three, go after her." Ordered Nino. "It'll take the three of you to catch up to her. I'll handle it here." Nino then stepped in front of Ichika. "And you, I have something to say to you."
Fuutarou, Miku and Itsuki started chasing Yotsuba down the steps. However, Fuutarou knew that while he *may* have a chance of chasing down Yotsuba with his increased stamina and her just having recovered, Miku will definitely not (with a chance of hurting herself on these steps), and Itsuki just having recovered as well would not be a good idea for her to join the chance.
"Miku, stay with Itsuki, she's just recovered. Look after her, I'll go it alone!"
Miku, who was already heavily panting, slowed down to support a panting Itsuki. "Fuutarou, you just got out of the hospital, be careful!"
Somehow, Fuutarou *did* catch up to Yotsuba, who was about to get on board a bus to leave them behind. "No way, he thought," and he hopped on the bus last minute before the doors closed.
Fuutarou was now looking at a scared, but no longer crying, Yotsuba who was at the back of the bus. They both sat down together.
Fuutarou offered his handkerchief. "Here, clean your face with this, you'll feel better."
Yotsuba wiped her eyes and her nose. "*sniff*...I'm so sorry Uesugi-san...I've caused you so much trouble...I even made you chase me when you're in no shape to run…"
"Don't worry about that, and don't worry about *that* either, okay? I'm better now, and I could even chase you down. Let's just calm down and enjoy this bus ride to..." Fuutarou looked at the bus board at the front. "...Kyoto Station. Great, back to where we started. At least it's close to the hotel we're staying at."
"Kyoto Station…" When Yotsuba heard the words, her expression changed, to one reminiscing about something.
"Yotsuba, I want to share something with you. I've been to Kyoto before. 6 years ago, during my Middle School school trip." Yotsuba listened with shocked intent.
"I got separated from my group, and I met a girl, on the steps of Kyoto Station, and together we went to have fun for a day until her father picked both of us up, waiting for my teacher to pick me up."
"It was the most fun I remember in my life, and I think I am pretty sure I fell in love with that girl then. Heck, I even remember the card game we played at the inn that night while waiting for my teacher to pick me up, but I guess it's because I didn't play many games after...because I made a promise to study hard and earn lots of money to support Raiha and my dad."
Yotsuba was shocked to hear those words come out of Fuutarou's mouth. Her lips were trembling, not because she wanted to cry, but because she wanted to ask something in response. She breathed in and broke out her usual bright smile.
"Wow that's so amazing! Are you still in love with that girl now?"
(What's with these forced smiles today, anyway?) "Well. I also happened to meet that girl again just a few months ago, but I think she wanted to break things off because she didn't want me to meet her again. So I don't think so. Besides, there's no point wanting to meet someone who doesn't want to meet you again, right? Even though she seemed like she had her own ulterior motives for saying such a cruel thing..."
Yotsuba's bright smile turned into one more gentle, she looked down, shyly, away from Fuutarou's gaze.
"That's true, I suppose."
There was an awkward pause for a second, before Yotsuba's face lit up and faced Fuutarou again.
"Say, are you in love with anyone right now?"
Fuutarou was drinking a bottle of water at the time, and pretty much sprayed the (empty) seat in front of him. He choked a little while putting the bottle of water away, to give it some time to think over.
"No, but I think there are some girls who like me, say…"
"Miku?" Yotsuba asked.
"Well...I already knew that…"
"Huh? You knew? You mean you know that...?"
Fuutarou blushed and put his hand over his mouth before answering.
"Miku thinks...fondly of me..."
"...I'm not sure I heard that right, say it again?"
"STOP! I'M NOT REPEATING MYSELF!"
"So, even the unbelievably dense Uesugi-san knew…? Unbelievable…"
"Well, this and that happened..." Fuutarou thought back to their Spring Vacation at their Grandpa's Ryokan.
Suddenly, his head hurt, and his brain flashed an image of an injured woman, being held in someone's arms, while in a field of burning flowers.
"...Rena…" Fuutarou suddenly muttered to himself, quietly.
Yotsuba, was puzzled to hear that name again. "Uesugi-san…?"
"Uesugi-san, actually, I wanted to ask you something. But I couldn't let myself bring it up until now, because of my guilt of getting you hurt." Yotsuba asked. "Why did you say 'Rena' when you woke up in the hospital?"
Fuutarou suddenly froze. He became self-conscious of the fact he just uttered "Rena" out loud, but quietly, after seeing *that* kind of strange, but vivid image.
"I don't know, it must have been something I saw recently. An idol, on TV, you know? Haha"
Yotsuba pouted, she really didn't buy that. Then, there was a spark in her brain. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through some pictures in her gallery, before presenting it to Fuutarou.
"Have you seen this woman before?"
Fuutarou was shocked at seeing the picture. It was *exactly* the woman he saw just a second ago. Why did he have that image in this brain? He couldn't come up with a logical conclusion, and that Yotsuba having a picture of the same woman, could only mean...
"No, it's not her. Sorry for scaring you like that." Fuutarou cooly replied.
Yotsuba wasn't buying it, but she didn't want to push Fuutarou for an answer, because she still felt bad that he was having these headaches because of that accident. The mood seemed to have gotten heavier afterwards because Fuutarou couldn't explain why his brain flashed the image of the woman in the picture Yotsuba showed him, and Yotsuba remembering the guilt she had from the accident, albeit lessened to the point she can deal with it herself.
The bus arrived at Kyoto Station at this time, and they both alighted to return to the hotel in silence.
She saw the colour of the sky had turned red, the clouds had turned black in colour, and the full moon had turned into blood red. Ahead of her, there was a young man who put himself between her and a dark, sinister demon staring the both of them down. Behind the demon, a fair distance away, was Kiyomizu-dera. The young man was talking to the demon with full confidence, with the demon goading him back. But she could not hear what they were saying.
She felt fear like no other, it was a true evil aura standing in front of her. The surroundings giving out an evil aura was no help either. She dropped to her knees, and also dropped the paper bag she was carrying in her arms. Unable to move, she could only cry as she watched on. This evil was not like the enemy generals in the Musou games or Senkoku-era inspired games she had played so often. Oh no, this was the real deal, in the real world. Staring right down at her.
Suddenly, she felt the young man in front of her let out an equally scary and intense burst of energy for a nanosecond, before it changed to a gentle, soothing…
Warmth. She felt warmth. A familiar warmth that she felt from someone she knows, but was now amplified like no other. He was there to defend her.
The colours of the warmth. She could see it. A silvery colour enveloping his body, radiating back towards her. She could no longer feel the fear, and instead felt brave enough to pick herself up off the ground and stand back up.
The young man turned his head back towards her. She couldn't hear clearly what he was saying, but he certainly heard the words "Stay", "it'll be fine", "promise", "protect", and finally "with everything I have".
She felt tears again. She didn't realise she had stopped crying before, but these tears were definitely different. They were tears from having her heart moved, knowing he will defend her.
The young man turned his head towards the demon again, and let out another burst of power. The colour of this power was even warmer than before. If before, it could be described as power to defend, this was a power to protect. A power with a promise behind it. It was radiating a golden colour and she was being showered by its warmth.
She then saw it. From the heavens, descended what could only be described as a holy object. It paused its descent over the young man. It was golden in colour, it looked like a...golden...ram?
Suddenly, a blinding flash of light emanated from the holy object in the sky. When her eyes recovered, she could now see a white cape, fluttering in the winds on the young man's back and shoulders. He seemed to have donned some kind of golden holy armour with ram's horns on his shoulders, and he was holding a helmet under his arm. The holy object was no longer there in the sky - did it turn into an armour for him? Is he her shining knight ready to save her?
She also noticed the sky had now turned dark green, with the clouds now white and the full moon resuming its bright white light, shining upon the earth.
She then heard the demon roar at the young man.
"THAT TECHNIQUE YOU JUST USED...THAT IS A POWER OF BELONGING TO THE PRIMORDIAL DEITIES, A POWER THAT SURPASSES THE PANTHEON OF THE TWELVE OLYMPIAN GODS!"
"YOU REEK OF BEING A DENIZEN OF THE UNDERWORLD," the demon continued to yell, "YET YOU EQUIPPED YOURSELF WITH AN HEIRLOOM OF MAN'S?"
"JUST WHO ARE YOU? WHY DO YOU GET IN MY WAY?"
"One. I merely *borrowed* this heirloom, with permission", the young man answered, "Two. You are correct in that I *was* a denizen of the Underworld. I was taught this power by the Primordial Deities, and am here as a result of morons destroying the Underworld."
"Three," he continued, "As my *other half* would say, I am just someone who is currently needed."
The girl smiled to herself and said quietly to herself.
"Fuutarou."