Hi this is Benji Himura. I am now starting a new fanfic. Is a Sakura Taisen story. I don't own Sakura or any of the characters. Some anime or manga characters might show up in the story I also don't own then. I own Benji Himura and others characters that will show up in the story. It might be violence and sex in the story so if you are underage of seventeen are warned the content might be too improper to your age. Read by your own will and risk. In anyway enjoy the story.
Signed: Benji Himura.
Pre-story author notes:
This story is an altered universe for Sakura Taisen. As it will be told on the story it is a game being played. At least that is the very beginning of the story. Things might take odd turns as the story develops. But so far one thing is for sure. Ogami Ichiro won't be the leader of the hanagumi and I am not sure if he will appear on this story. Kyougi means game in Japanese the title of this story is Sakura Taisen the Game. But it isn't based on the real Sakura Taisen game.
"Text" Talked or thought sentences.
(Text) Talked sentences in a foreign language. As English when everyone else speaks Japanese.
:Text: Messages show in an electronic screen.
Prologue
"Benji you are not going to expend the day on that damn arcade will you?" Kaori Benji's mother asks him as he moves thru the kitchen. "That is my plan." He replies. "Idiot. Today is a holiday the market is closed." She says back to him. Benji curses to his usual forgetfulness when coming to dates like that. "Then I will go to grandma house." He says moving to the door.
"You changed you know." Kaori says placing the glass with water that she was drinking of on the sink. "I don't know what you are doing, but I can see it. I can see that your muscles have become stronger, your reflexes got better among many more things." Benji opens the door to leave. "I haven't change. It is only impression." He says leaving the apartment.
"It is that noticeable now?" Benji thinks moving down the stairs. "I don't know why I am changing like this but I have a strong feeling deep inside my gut that something will happen and I will be tangled right on the middle of it."
Benji leaves the building and moves on the half empty streets on his usual route to his grandmother's house. Benji sighs under the sun adjusting his backpack. He never tried to explain why he passed so many hours playing on that Sakura Taisen game. But whenever he was playing he felt more ease and the feeling haunting him passed.
He arrived on the building and picks a box for himself among the mail for his grandmother and moves to her apartment. For a change he founds the apartment empty. He places the mail over the living room table among his backpack and after picking a clean set of clothes moves to take a shower.
After the shower Benji moves to the living room dressed on a pair of blue shorts and a white t-shirt. He picks a butterfly knife from his backpack and opens the box addressed to himself. "Great it is finally here. Now I am move on that plan." He says to himself pulling two large brown glass bottles filled with some thick liquid and two equally large bottles filled with a silver colored powder. Benji puts the bottles back on the box and he sees the smaller box inside filled with small metal bars then he places the box on his backpack. Then he moves to the kitchen to get something to eat.
Way later that night Benji is working on his teacher prosthesis laboratory to fulfill some works. After all them are done Benji begins to work on his own plans. He takes with care a long parcel from the box. He opens it and inside have a wax carved Japanese blade. He places it down on a workbench and picks a wood box longer and thicker than the blade and puts besides it.
He picks a large bowl to mix plaster. He picks a pot filled with special orthodontic plaster and fills the bowl. He adds water to the plaster and with a spatula he begins to mix it strongly with experienced moves. After making sure that it is properly mixed he pours the plaster on the lower part of wood box. It fills only half of it. Benji makes another batch and repeats the process. Then with the lower half of the box filled Benji picks the wax blade and places over the still wet plaster.
He presses the blade on the plaster making half of it sinks on the plaster horizontally. He wet his fingers and begins to smoothen the plaster not leaving a single rough part. After it he leaves the plaster get hard. Then he places the upper half of the box on it but with out the top plank leaving a large opening where he can see the plaster and the wax inside.
He makes two batches of plaster and after applying a isolating on the hardened plaster then he places the wet plaster on the hardened one. Then he places the box on the vibrator to remove all the bubbles and places the lid closing it. Then he presses the box hard making some plaster squeeze by two holes on the upper lid. After it hardened Benji uses two hand presses on the box and places it on a waiting caldron with boiling water.
After ten minutes boiling Benji removes the box from the caldron and opens it. Now he has a perfect plaster mold of the blade will the wax removed from it. He lets it cool down and picks two of the bottles on the box, one of each material. Benji puts on a mask and pours the contents of the transparent bottle on a glass bowl.
The silver powder fills the bowl until the level that he wants to. Then he places it aside and pours the content of the brown one over the silver powder. A silver liquid falls over the powder. He pours the amount to go with the powder and then places the bottle near of the other one and mix the two with a metal spatula.
After the two are well mixed he quickly pours the thick metal paste on the mold. Putting much more than the needed there. Then he presses the two halves together and puts on the hydraulic press. Some of the mix leaks out from the mold. Benji increases the pressure and locks it on that way.
Benji picks the remaining paste and puts on smaller molds that he already had and presses all them together in another press. After half hour Benji removes it from the presses. He opens the larger mold. Inside there is a metal edge. Still crude with some fins to be removed.
Benji places the blade in another workbench and opens the smaller molds. Those are now filled with small blades and shurikens. Benji puts them away and moves to make another batch of the metal and repeat the process. One hour later Benji have emptied the bottles and have two sword blades, six knife blades and ten shurikens.
He begins to remove the fins of the swords with his hand whip engine and a tip to work on metal. He is with a mask and goggles to prevent the metal from hitting him. After one hour the two swords are clean of any fins and roughness from the molding. He passes Vaseline on both edges and with utility wax. Many layers of it all over it except the area where the hilt and the guard will be.
He makes small adjustments on the wax making it smooth and a one piece. Then he removes it from the blade and mixes high temperature heat refractory to funding. He removes the plaster from the wood box and uses it to place the wax on it held by two sets of wires. Then using the vibrator he pours the refractory on it.
He fills it all and let it get hard. He sees the wax conduit showing fine and washes the bowl. After it hardens Benji boils it. After removing the wax and drying everything the mold is ready to he used. He removes the box and repeats the process. He checks his watch and groans seeing that are three on the morning. He picks the box with the metal pieces and an altered melting pot to fit large quantities.
He prepares the centrifuge thankful that Augusto has a really large one. He heats the refractory mold with the blowtorch. After getting it on the right temperature he places the melting pan on the place and fills it with the metal. He adjusts the fire to the high temperature and begins to melt the alloy.
When it is all melted he turns the centrifuge on. It spins in a high speed injecting all the melted metal on the mold in high pressure. After it stops Benji removes the mold from there and let it cool it down. Then he repeats the process with the other one. He opens one mold where he placed the metal paste and removes two handles from it.
Benji cleans the handles and polish them. He does the same with two small guards for the swords. After a long process he finally has all the parts to build the two swords. Since he still needs to sharpen them he store the parts on the now cleaned wood box with some newspapers to not let it move inside it, then he put it all on his backpack and leaves after cleaning the lab.
He walks to his apartment and sleeps when he gets there. On the next morning he moves to the market to play the Sakura Taisen game and stays there until it closes down. And days changes to weeks and weeks to months before anyone noticed Christmas was knocking on the door and Benji notices for the first time that he is playing straight for four months and he still haven't reached he end of the game. Even thought his character has grown stronger and learned many more skills.
He walks by a calendar with the date and the days remaining to Christmas. "Already December fifteenth." He mutters leaving the market and walking to his school. Everyone is kind of moody since is far on December and once again they are stuck on classes. Benji chats absent minded with his classmates and schoolmates.
When the classes are over Benji leaves with them. "Oi Benji over here!" a female with auburn hair wearing a sober black suit dress calls him besides a sports car. "Damn Benji who the babe is calling you?" one of his classmates asks to him. "You guess is as good a mine Wilmer I have absolutely no idea." Benji replies.
He woman walks to him and Benji takes a better look at her. (So Benji mind if we go to somewhere more private to talk?) She asks to him in Japanese. (Fine. Since I have the feeling that you know why some things are happening to me.) He replies on the same language.
She smiles and leads him to the car. And she drives away. Ten minutes later they are on restaurant sited on an outdoors table. She orders few appetizers and they order one drink each. (Mind in beginning?) Benji asks in Japanese. She smiles and after the waiter leaves after serving them she nods. (To begin my name is Michael.) She says. (Though I have a feeling that you might know more than you let out.)
Benji nods before sipping his soda. "I am also known as Ayame Fujieda." She says in Portuguese now. "I guessed that much." Benji replies. "But I am not really her." She continues. "The tale that I have to tell you is long and by far fantastic. You are most likely not to believe on me."
"Try me. I am a RPG player, a fanfic writer, among other things. I have an open mind." Benji says. She nods and takes a sip of her sake. "I am not from this world. I am from Earth, but a different one. The one that you knows as the world of Sakura Taisen. But there isn't like what you know. To be fully honest with you the Hanagumi lost against the Kuronosukai. Teito had fallen to the darkness and from then the world." Michael says to him.
"And what that has to do with me?" he asks to her. "I will get there. My love, better placing Ayame's love turned her into a demoness. The hanagumi couldn't kill her and they got killed. I used them energies to bring me to a place where I could found someone to fight and help them. I also used them energies to create fourteen machines. Fourteen Kyougi games that were scattered around the earth by tracking the energy of people who could help. By that I stored the hanagumi energy, also from the fleur division, Orihime, Reni and Lachette." She answers on a sad tone.
Benji hears with attention her words. "And I if I found someone able to aid them I would use the remaining power that I have to take that person to the past of my world. Before the hanagumi was formed and things began go wrong. Out of fourteen machines only two was played and only one showed potential to help." Michael says looking at him. "Your machine was the only one who gave the crystal card to the player. You gained all your characters skills, abilities and knowledge not only of combat, but what he can do also can you."
Michael eats one of the small cubes of cheese. "In everywhere else no one paid attention for many reasons. Some hide the interest or didn't like of arcades. Some felt that they were above playing on an arcade. The other machine was played by fans of the show but no one showed potential. You was the only who was attracted to it and actually played the game seriously."
She stops and takes a sip of her drink. "Thirteen machines never fulfilled the purpose. You know that you were the one who gave me hope when I was giving up?" she continues. "I was about to remove them when you stepped in and played. Story mode, created a full original character, used non-combative skills when making it, chose to irritate Maria to win, fight aggressively to win to save everyone. For me you were something that God has sent to help me. You are everything that I am looking for and more."
"In short you want to take me to your world and make me save it?" Benji asks sipping his soda. "Yes. But I won't only take you there and when it is over you can return. If you go there with me you won't return. To be honest your entire existence will be erased from this world. Not even your family will recall you." Michael answers. "In the other hand you will gain a new existence there. A new life. You will trade the possibility of making changes here to certain to make changes there."
Benji puts his glass down. "I need to think." Benji says even knowing that she hasn't asked to him if he will go or not. "I understand. Honestly I was hoping that you said that. After everything I didn't know for sure that I should rely in a person who would give up his life with out thinking on it." She replies with a smile. "Take your time to think on it. I reabsorbed the unused Kyougi machines energy. And since I am in a human form now I am not using the energy. Since we will go back on the past we have time."
Benji gulps down his soda wanting to wash the bitter taste of the information that he just got. "Thanks for the drink, I will leave now." Benji says getting up. Michael nods and gets up too. "When you decide or want to talk with me break this." She says handing to him what seems to be a memory card as the one that he have. "I will get your signal and we can talk." Benji nods and walks away.
Benji sighs walking to his apartment on the half empty streets. He had figured that his changes were somehow related to the game. But he didn't expected to be so big and how things would change. One month earlier he had visited his sister who lives in another state. He went with his grandparents of his father's side. In there he saw some of his friends of the time that he lived there also one of the people who hated him there.
He still can vividly recall the events. To begin he saw his friends who were ranchers and enjoy sometime with them even helping in taking cattle to be sold. Fishing on a shallow damn, eating the usual lunch of them, everything very simple but tasty. He showing them the pocket knifes that he made using prosthesis materials.
He went to his sister school play. Meet Lazaro the former teen who hated his guts now a man who still hates him. Benji strolled around the city and one day few bays before he would leave the city Lazaro tried to assault Benji blaming him for many things, none that the prosthetic did.
Everyone was surprised since Lazaro was with a 38 revolver. Benji showed him how wrong he was by with his hand made sword he cutted the gun and Lazaro's trigger finger and thumb. Benji acted cold while the other man bleed saying to him how stupid he was. Benji left the city much earlier than the expected. Still he got few gifts from his friends, a cowboy hat and a knife.
Of course his family was shocked when they heard the news of the event. Thought they haven't told to Benji's mother side of family. Benji expend the entire trip thinking what happened.
He sighs and opens the gate of the building. He was lost in thought and arrived quicker than he noticed. In his room Benji places his backpack on a stall and takes most of his clothes off and lies on the bed to think over what had happened before and what will happen to him.
Vitória December 23rd 20XX
Benji closes the metal gate of his apartment building and adjust his backpack. "Damn power lines." He mutters walking across the street. In a change of his usual routine Benji felt like staying home playing an online game when the power went down. He found that was a problem on the local network and would take one day to fix.
So he decided to go to his grandparents apartment watch TV or play on the computer for two days. His entire family traveled to Belo Horizonte to expend the Christmas there with the majority of the family. Benji decided to stay behind since he wasn't up to travel. "Benji!" a strong male voice shouts over the songs on Benji's headphones. Benji looks at the source of the voice. A strong man with sparse black hair with few strands of gray hair wearing dark green khakis and a button up short sleeve shirt. "Uncle Aloisio? What you are doing here?" Benji asks to the man, walking to him and taking his phones.
"I came to get a goat that I killed in my farm that I brought to be cleaned. But what you are doing here?" he asks. "I live just around the corner now with my mother and Victor." Benji replies. "Since over there we got a power problem I was going to my grandmother's house."
"You will spend the Christmas alone?" Aloisio asks. "Well that is what I planned. Everyone went to BH and I wasn't feeling like traveling so I decided to stay here." Benji replies. "Why you don't join me and your aunt on our Christmas party? Your grandparents will be there." Aloisio says. Benji thinks a bit. He did miss his grandparents and he was curious to see how his cousins were looking like. "Okay. Sounds good. What time it will be?" Benji replies with a smile.
"Just come around nine and we start from there." Aloisio answers. Benji nods. "Okay so see you then. I will go back and get myself some better clothes." Benji says. Aloisio nods and they move to they own ways. Benji empties his backpack and puts on a new set of clothes in there a pair of shoes in a plastic bag, a perfume bottle and few more things. Then he leaves again.
He spends most of the day as he planned on to, until the combined time had come and he left to his aunt's house which is rather close of his grandmother's house. In there he sees his grandparents and party with the side of his family that he doesn't have much contact. After the party they invited him to expend the New Year with them on Aloisio's farm. Benji accepts.
In there he expends time relaxing proving some of his skills and on the metal smith workshop sharpening his swords and knifes with approval of his uncle. Benji returns home feeling lighter. After the New Year he expend some more time playing Kyougi. Michael all the time keeps an eye on him. After all she needs to know the only hope of her world very well.
From a shadowed corner a cloaked figure appears. "It is time to test him." Michael says to the cloaked figure. A smile can be seem from the person under the hood of the cloak. "He might not live thru it." The person says. "If he doesn't live is because he isn't worth." Michael replies.
End of the Prologue.