After School
Six Months After the Death of the Ten no Kami and Shinju-sama, Year 301 of the Divine Era
Hero Club's Clubroom, Sanshu Middle School, Kanagawa Prefecture, Shinkoku
Tōgō Mimori stopped as she entered the room. She had grown slightly taller since the death of the Gods of the Land and Heaven, and her long black hair was still tied at the bottom by the green and white ribbon that her friend Nogi Sonoko had given her at the end of her first term as a hero.
"Wasshi, what's the matter?" aforementioned friend asked. The blond-haired girl still carried around her cat-pillow so she could sleep whenever she wanted.
"Nothing, Sono-cchi." Tōgō shook her head slightly. "I just…had an odd feeling…like something was missing."
Sonoko frowned slightly but before she could say anything, Karin entered, chewing on another healthy snack.
"Yo! Nibosshi!" she greeted the health enthusiast, who scowled slightly.
"You're still calling me that?" she grumbled, although the small smile she had detracted and bite to her words. "I really hope you stop calling me that once we get into High School. Where's Itsuki?"
"She still has some classroom business to take care of today." Inubōzaki Fū said as she came up in her High School uniform. She had graduated a short time after the end of the long war against the Vertex, but still came by to hang out with the rest of the Hero Club and her sister. "So I'll be helping out today~!"
"Are you sure that your Girl Power can handle it? High School is tough, Fumin-senpai~" Sonoko teased.
"M-My Girl Power is more than enough to handle it!" Fū blustered.
"Onee-chan!" Itsuki, a cute petite girl, game running up after her sister. "You did remember to sign in, didn't you?"
"Yep. After the scolding I got last time, I remembered." The older Inubōzaki sister said with a grin, ruffling her sister's hair.
"That's good." Itsuki sighed in relief. "And you have eaten, haven't you?"
"Do you seriously think I'm hungry 24/7?!"
"Aren't you?" Karin asked plainly, making the older girl slump down in defeat.
Watching this silently, Tōgō felt a stir of unease. It was subtle, but…something was missing. Someone who should be there wasn't. Someone…
A flash of pink passed her eyes and she saw a cherry blossom petal floating past her eyes. She couldn't look away from it…there was something it reminded her of…someone…someone who was precious to her…
"Sumi …remember…" a voice whispered to the girl. "You have to remember her…now!"
A searing migraine shot through her head. She clutched it, letting out a wail of pain as she did so.
"Tōgō!"
"Tōgō-san?!"
"Wasshi?!"
Her friends crowded around her, trying to help her, but were then wracked by the same head-splitting pain. A cry from all of them ended as the image of a figure wearing the pink and white armour of a Hero stood facing away from them. Her pink hair was tied up in a ponytail with a cherry-blossom-shaped tie and the place she stood was the Jukai, the barrier of the Shinju-sama that should no longer exist.
"I'm sorry…"
With those words, the image faded away from their sight…but in return, all of their memories returned.
"Yūna-chan…!" Tōgō choked out, a stream of tears falling from her eyes.
"Again…this is what happened with you, Tōgō!" Fū growled angrily. "The damned Taisha have done something to Yūna!"
"Fumin-senpai, that's not likely." Sonoko shook her head despite the dampness in her own eyes. "Over ninety percent of the Taisha, including all of the high-ranking members, turned into 'People of God' during the abortive Shinkon, remember? The authority of the Taisha was dissolved with the death of the Shinju-sama anyway, so they wouldn't be able to just make someone vanish like they did with Wasshi."
"'People of God' my foot." Karin snorted. "They're a bunch of damned wheat!"
"What isn't important is what caused us to lose our memory; what is important is that Yūna-san is missing." Itsuki said firmly.
"Right." Fū said, tamping down on her anger. The Taisha, who had neglected to tell them of the Sange effect of using a Mankai and cost the team various body functions, was something of a sore spot, especially since they had also kept the information that Yūna had been dying from them for a good while. "Right. Who saw her last? I remember speaking to her five months ago, and then she vanished."
The others voiced a similar memory. By comparing dates and times, it turned out that Karin and Tōgō were the last ones to see Yūna, the meetings happening within an hour of each other.
"She just hung with me for a while, hugged me…and then I lost my memories." Karin said, barely keeping a hitch out of her voice. She had been raised as a Hero, a tool, by the Taisha and she was so thankful to the Hero Club, but Yūna especially, for giving her something other than battle to live for.
"It was pretty much the same for me…except I figured out something was up and she vanished into the Jukai in front of me." Tōgō said sorrowfully.
"I don't get it. The Jukai was Shinju-sama's barrier to protect humanity from the Ten no Kami, the World of Fire and the Vertex." Fū scowled in thought. "It should have died with the Shinju-sama after Yūna destroyed the Ten no Kami. How is it still around? And how could Yūna access it without the Hero System?"
Itsuki bit her lip slightly before taking out a key and opening a box where the hero Club members had stored their old smartphones. These smartphones were the ones that they had used to transform into Heroes of the Shinju-sama and they had broken after Yūna had used the Dai Mankai with the Shinju-sama.
"Yūna-san's terminal isn't here." She said after a moment. "But…I have all my memories back…and I never opened this box once since we put them in here."
"She was holding all of our power AND the Shinju-sama's power for a very brief time." Karin mused. "Do you…do you think Yūna somehow kept some of it?"
"Yūna-chan is only a human." Tōgō objected. "Without Shinju-sama to regulate it, she could have died!"
"Not necessarily." Sonoko disagreed. "I've looked at the Nogi Family records. Back during the initial attack by the Vertex, the first Heroes were much more powerful than we were, partially because the Shinju-sama had been only recently formed, and partially because they had almost unrestricted access to Shinju-sama's power. They also had a system similar to the Mankai system, called the Kimete System."
"Trump Card?" Itsuki blinked.
"Yes. Each of the first five heroes had access to powerful alternate forms and weapons, but the cost of overusing them was a miasma build up, causing mental and physical suffering, even death in one case. All of the names of the Trump Cards are redacted in the records." The dirty-blond girl explained. "That miasma and the mental instability it brought on was why the Hero System was revamped into the slightly weaker version Wasshi, Mino-san and I used three years ago, and then had the Mankai and Sange System added afterwards."
"And the Taisha just let those girls do that?!" Fū growled.
"The Taisha of back during the Christian Era and the Taisha of six months ago are two totally different organisations." Karin said, begrudgingly. "They were struggling to even save a part of humanity. I can see why they'd use a system that gave their Heroes so much power, regardless of the cost, in that situation."
"In the Kimete System, the Spirits would merge with the bodies of the Heroes, which is what allowed the miasma to enter them." Sonoko added. "It sounded…agonising, even when written down. I'm somewhat thankful that they removed the Kimete system for us, Wasshi."
"Sono-cchi, what do you think?" Tōgō asked. "Has Yūna-chan got the Shinju-sama's power?"
The other girl hesitated. "I don't know, Wasshi. But…there have been a lot of accidents lately…accidents that look a lot like what happened when the Jukai got damaged by the Vertex."
"No…no, it can't be!" Fū hissed, clutching Itsuki to her protectively. "The Vertices are dead! The Shinju-sama is dead! The Ten no Kami is dead! There should be no one left to fight! It was over! What the hell is going on here?!"
"Perhaps I should answer that." a soft woman's voice said softly. Stepping through the still open door was a woman wearing the robes of a member of the Taisha, albeit without the facemask that they wore. Although she wore glasses, her right eye was covered in an eyepatch.
"Aki-sensei…!" Tōgō gasped. "Your eye…!"
"You…" Fū glowered at her. "Yes! Tell us what happened to Yūna!"
Aki bowed her head slightly. "As you have surmised, Yūna-sama has retained a degree of the Shinju-sama's former divine power. Those of us remaining in the Taisha have determined that this is partly due to her status as a Misugata; divine energy is naturally attracted to her due to how close she is to the gods. We have thus also dubbed her a Yorishiro, or a Yorimashi to be precise. The other reason for this is that she had a far more powerful and direct link to the Shinju-sama due to the Shinkon."
"A Yorishiro is a vessel capable of manifesting a god." Tōgō said in a clipped voice, her eyes boring into her former Elementary School Teacher. "A Yorimashi is literally the name for a person who has been possessed by a god. Has the Shinju-sama, or one of the gods that made it up, possessed Yūna-chan?"
"No." Aki shook her head. "The Shinju-sama, the God of the Land, and every God, Heavenly or otherwise, that made it up, is dead now. What Yūna-sama is now is literally a demigoddess; she is attracting the lingering power of the Shinju-sama that resides in Shinkoku and becoming more than human. It is a good thing too…for there are still enemies."
"How?!" Fū demanded. "The Ten no Kami and the Vertices were the enemies, and all of them are dead! We all saw Yūna smash the damned Ten no Kami ourselves!"
"Unlike with Shinju-sama, the Ten no Kami did not have to expend itself over the last three-plus centuries protecting humanity." Aki answered in a very subdued fashion. "Its power was scattered outside of Shinkoku and has been assuming the forms of monsters, representing its hatred of humanity. Five and a half months ago, the first of these monsters attacked. Luckily, Yūna-sama was in the vicinity and she was able to deploy a smaller version of the Jukai barrier while she called her terminal to her and repaired it using her power. She once again became a Hero, albeit not using any system created by the Taisha."
"Why didn't she tell us?" Itsuki asked quaveringly.
"She thought that you all had fought and suffered more than enough." The woman answered softly. "She is fighting alone against the encroaching monsters to protect humanity from the monsters…and you all from having to take up your swords once again, figuratively speaking."
"Tch. That sounds like Yūna alright." Karin clicked her tongue in frustration. "What about you? How does one of the last of the Taisha know of this?"
"She came to us and displayed her power, asking us to help gather the remaining divine energy from around Shinkoku." Aki explained quietly. "The Taisha are bound to worship and obey the will of the Shinju-sama, and Yuuki Yūna contains all that remains of the Shinju-sama, so we obeyed her. She also ordered us to not involve you unless it looked as if she was about to fail."
"Wait…that means…Yu-yu is in trouble?!" Sonoko's eyes widened in worry.
"These monsters, which we refer to as simply what they are, Kakera, or Fragments, are attracted to the divine energy that belonged to the Shinju-sama." Aki explained. "Yūna-sama can be attacked any time, morning, noon or night, without rest. And recently, the strength and severity of the Fragments attacks has been on the rise. It only took Yūna-sama a single attack to deal with most of the Fragments before a couple of weeks ago, but they have gotten more resilient to her attacks since then. Also greater numbers have been attacking her."
"How strong are they compared to the Twelve Vertices?" Tōgō asked.
"According to Yūna-sama, no Fragment is even close to a Zodiac Vertex in strength." The former teacher answered. "The unfortunate thing is that they come in a larger variety than twelve and it is sometimes difficult for Yūna-sama to switch tactics with her enemies. That, when combined with how tired she is becoming, means that I fear for her safety."
"But…what can we do?" Itsuki asked quietly. "Our terminals are broken. We can't transform anymore."
"Even if the terminals were in one piece, the Shinju-sama's dead." Fū added. "Shinju-sama was the source of our ability to transform, so I really don't get why you've come to us. And you still haven't explained why our memories were erased."
"Yūna-sama did so to prevent you from attempting to help her." Aki said. "She really is quite determined to protect you. Sadly, the fact your memories have been restored is a sign that she is weakening mentally."
"I…" Tōgō hesitated before continuing. "I thought that I heard Gin before I got my memories back."
"You heard Mino-san?" Sonoko asked softly. Both she and Aki looked shaken at the mention of the fallen Hero Minowa Gin.
"I think so. The voice called me 'Sumi', the name I had as a member of the Washio Family." The formerly wheelchair-bound girl replied. "Of everyone I knew back then, Gin was the only person who ever called me by just my name. Everyone else called me 'Washio-san' or in Sono-cchi's case 'Wasshi'."
"If Minowa Gin's spirit was moved to forcefully awaken your memories, then the situation is direr than I had feared." Aki said grimly. "I must ask…will you help Yūna-sama? Be warned, you will be at risk of being attacked once you do this."
"I will." Togo stated at once. "I am upset with Yūna-chan for deciding this for me, she is still my best and closest friend. I will not let her die."
"I'm angry she ignored the Fourth Tenant of the Hero Club, but I'm going to help." Fū decided.
"I will too." Itsuki said, not flinching as her sister-slash-mother turned a disapproving eye on her.
"No you won't. The first time you got involved with Heroes, you lost your voice!"
"I'm the President of the Hero Club! Overruled!"
While Fū spluttered at this, Karin nodded silently to Tōgō, affirming she'd help. Sonoko sighed dramatically.
"What troublesome Kohai I have. I guess it can't be helped!"
"Very well." Aki bowed her head. "Tōgō-san, I believe you were with Yūna-sama when she entered into her Dai Mankai state?"
"Hai." The girl nodded at her former teacher uncertainly.
"May I see the terminals?" the Taisha representative asked politely. When Itsuki passed the box holding the five smartphones over to her, she pulled them out of it and laid them in a line in front of her. Withdrawing a bag from under her robes, she pulled out strands of hair that were a very familiar colour.
"Yūna-chan's hair!"
"Yūna-sama's hair has been growing somewhat faster than normal since she first tapped into the remnants of the Shinju-sama's power, so she has a haircut every week or so." Aki explained as she placed some hair on each terminal. "There. Now Tōgō-san, if you could place at least one finger on each terminal?"
"Why?" the girl asked in confusion, even as she obeyed.
"You were enwrapped in the direct power of the Shinju-sama just as Yūna-sama was." The former teacher told Tōgō. "Unlike her though, you merely absorbed it passively through your Hero Form. It has been lying dormant within you, waiting to be used. Using that and Yūna-sama's hair, I can revive your terminals."
"It's because her hair's still got Yu-yu's nature as a Misugata, isn't it?" Sonoko deduced.
"Correct." Aki nodded. "She left the power sleeping inside Tōgō-san here in case she did ever get in over her head, or if you were all attacked despite her putting herself in a more obvious position to draw the Fragments. Ah…it has begun."
Golden light was flowing down Tōgō's arms and into the phones, making them glow slightly.
"What's happening?" Itsuki asked in awe as the broken terminals started to slowly heal, the large holes in the screens fusing shut.
"Before, they were simply phones. Good phones, but simply phones." Aki replied. "Now they are turning into Jingi, using Yūna-sama's hair as a catalyst. Using them will grant you a connection to her unlike the one you had with the Shinju-sama. You will find things to be very different. Before, you were asking a distant deity to grant you power; now you will be asking Yuuki Yūna for power. Asking a friend is easier than a god, correct?"
"But Yūna can't have the full power of the Shinju-sama." Fū frowned. "Even her Girl Power isn't that high."
Hitching an eyebrow at the elder Inubōzaki sister's odd terminology, Aki merely said, "True. Even with all of the divine power that the remaining Taisha members have gathered for her, she is only about a third as strong as the Shinju-sama was towards the end of its life, which is again only a third of what it was capable of during its prime."
"How can these make us stronger than we were with the Shinju-sama then?" the former President of the Hero Club demanded.
"You will become a container for divine energy yourselves." Aki nodded towards the almost repaired phones. "Once you transform with these, you will drain a small part of Yūna-sama's power and act as containers, nurturing the divine power and funnelling any excess back to Yūna-sama, raising her own power. She will be able to fight alongside you once again and she will gradually become accustomed to higher levels of divine energy. Soon, no enemy Fragment will be able to oppose her or you and she can exterminate the Fragments, ushering in a golden age as Mankind once more reclaims the land that the Ten no Kami drove us out of."
"I can agree with that." Fū scowled. The parents of the Inubōzaki siblings had been killed by a Vertex and, while her ire at the Taisha was strong for lying to her and almost costing her younger sister her dreams, her wrath towards the Ten no Kami and its minions was by far greater.
"And it is done." The woman said quietly. "You can remove your hands, Tōgō-san."
Obeying, the girl gasped as the phones floated up and flew over to hover in front of their respective owner. Then, Fū yelped in surprise as a blue-green furball leapt out of her phone and hugged her head. Managing to pull it off, the Inubōzaki girl's eyes widened. "Inugami!"
Another form appeared from her phone; a weasel with a blade in place of its tail.
"Kamaitachi?!" the former Hero Club President looked as if she was about to faint. "What the…?"
A twin-tailed cat with blue fire on the end of its tails leapt out then and sat on top of Fū's head.
Itsuki's two Spirits, Kodama, a fluffy plant spirit with big eyes and no mouth, and Ungaikyō, a blue mirror with vines coming off it, had appeared and appeared to be happy to see Itsuki again. A third spirit, what looked like a floating block of tofu with a leaf over its head, was floating next to her as well.
Karin's Shogun Spirit Yoshiteru had been joined by four more spirits. One was a purple Oni dressed in a hakama and had a single sword, one was a humanoid fox dressed as a wandering samurai, including straw hat and sheathed katana, and one was a large western-style sword with a single eye where the blade and hilt met. It was tense around the bewildered twintailed girl as the sword-using spirits glared at one another.
Tōgō's four Spirits, Aobozu, a blue egg, Gyōbudanuki, a kimono-wearing racoon-dog, Shiranui, a floating ball of blue fire and Kawabotaru, a floating blue crystal, were joined by a Spirit made of indigo smoke or wind.
And around Sonoko…yeah, there were twenty-one Spirits of various shapes, sizes and forms flying around the delighted girl, so much so that the calm Sebastian, her Tengu Spirit, was the only one the girls could make out clearly.
"Nogi-san, can you get most of your Spirits back in your Terminal please? It's like the Hyakki Yagyō in here." Aki asked tiredly after watching the number of spirits in the room.
"Fufufu~! I'll feed you green peppers, Aki-sensei!" Sonoko teased, making the woman shiver in disgust.
"Please don't mention those abominations against taste and texture!"
Nevertheless, the virtual zoo of Spirits around Sonoko disappeared, leaving Sebastian the Tengu Spirit and a bearded mouse in a kimono the bubbly girl informed them was called Tesso.
"Now, we shoul- " Aki was saying when the five smartphones started shrieking a very familiar alarm and a red warning banner appeared on the screens.
-{Forestize Warning!}-
"Wait…does that mean…?!" Tōgō started with concern in her voice.
"Yūna-sama is under attack and calling for help!" the Taisha Priestess said in a panic.
"Well…here we go again." Fū sighed as the rainbow light of the Jukai washed over them once more.
A distance away, in the World of Trees, a pink and white-clad figure stood strong as several monstrous being bore down on her.
"I am Yuuki Yūna, of Sanshu Middle School's Hero Club!" the pinkette declared as she raised her fists once again. "And you will not hurt my friends!"