Fifteenth of December, early morning, Kusanagi residence.
Awakened by the loud noise of the alarm clock Shizuka wakes up from her sleep, still slightly groggy from this rude awakening.
6:30 AM. Slightly later than usual, but these cold winter nights always make Shizuka feel sleepy, hence the slight increase in bed time.
Godou doesn't suffer from this problem, being slightly more accustomed to the icy cold temperatures. When Shizuka went downwards she found out that he actually went out jogging. Now that's a surprise, ever since he has to wake Erica up in the morning Godou's jogging sessions have been moved to nighttime.
Perhaps Erica is not coming to school today, a case of sickness maybe? Who knows? Shizuka has more important matters to take care of.
Since grandpa Ichirou is traveling through Bhutan for at least a month a new schedule has been made for cooking, and today it is Shizuka's turn to make breakfast.
Time to make some simple miso soup. Standing in front of the gas stove Shizuka prepares all the ingredients needed, though a lot of ingredients are replaced by miso stock manufactured by a major brand.
Spending her time cooking she hears someone calling out a "Yo." from behind.
"You're supposed to say good morning, onii-chan."
"We've been siblings for more than a decade. This is good enough."
O whatever, such a small slight is something Shizuka doesn't really care about. She stops talking about that and simply continues working on the soup. Using a small dish to pre-taste some of her food she find it quite decent.
But that's all.
"It tastes bad?" Godou noticed Shizuka's sour expression, so he asks the most natural question.
"Of course not. Simply dissolving miso paste in boiling water is enough to achieve this taste." It's not that miso is the most difficult dish to make, after all. Anyone with a bit of experience could make it. "But compared to what grandpa makes, it is rather bad."
The duo have a small discussion about gramps, agreeing that his cooking is better than that of the sibling duo combined. It's probably due to his diligence in cooking.
They're also complaining about how suddenly Ichirou left home for Bhutan, visiting probably another one of his female connections.
"I really do like grandpa, but his female relationships have always been a sore sight."
"I think so too."
"You have nothing to talk about, onii-chan." Really, Godou, someone here is a little hypocrite. Who is it that is hanging around with god knows how many girls?
"What are you talking about, Shizuka?"
Innocent denial? That's a first for Shizuka. Normally he would talk about how it is all a misunderstanding on Shizuka's side, but to say that he knows nothing of it is even more ridiculous. "Onii-chan…" With a threatening smile Shizuka is telling her brother that he should speak the truth.
But Godou looks puzzled. "Seriously, what are you talking about, Shizuka?"
"You… you seriously don't know?" What the hell? Godou is not that great in telling straight-up lies. If he makes one of those Shizuka always sees straight through. It's a different story when talking about half-truths or truth from a certain perspective, but this lack of lechery on Godou's part is a straight opposite from his usual self.
In fact, he seems to be telling the truth. He really, truly believes that he is not an "enemy of all women", so to say.
Does that mean… well, what? "Who are you?" Shizuka can only barely manage to say, seriously confused by this event.
Godou also looks confused at this sudden outburst. What does Shizuka mean with that? "Your… brother?" He too does not understand why Shizuka gives him such a questionable look. "Did I do something wrong, Shizuka?"
"N-No, it's nothing." Shizuka dismisses her brother by claiming that she needs to concentrate on the soup, so Godou leaves to the living room. This leaves Shizuka alone with one important thought:
Kusanagi Godou is not building a harem.
Kusanagi Godou is not building a harem.
Kusanagi Godou is not building a harem.
No matter how often Shizuka repeats these words she cannot believe this incredible situation. Sure, Shizuka had hoped for her brother to live a normal life, but to get it so sudden? Something abnormal has to be going on. But what exactly is the cause?
First and most simple option, this is all a dream. It would explain everything. However, a quick and painful pinch tells her that this is the real life, and not just fantasy.
Maybe Shizuka caused this situation? She could do this with her authority, yes. Something like that is easy for a Campione, though she would, or should, not use such drastic measurements. However, why would she not remember doing so? There's absolutely no reason to give herself amnesia after doing such a thing. It's technically possible, but quite unlikely.
Okay, third option, Shizuka somehow landed in an alternate universe where everything is the same except for her brother being not that amazing with girls. Yeah, it's as unlikely as the first. How and why is she in this world then, and could such a convenient world pop up so easily? Shizuka truly doubts it.
Perhaps some female mage cursed Godou with a spell because he was trying to charm that woman? It would explain a lot, actually, though Shizuka wonders which mage would be stupid enough to harm the family of a godslayer. Shizuka feels that if this is the cause she should punish that person harshly for harming her family. After that though some form of friendship or camaraderie can be formed. It's not your average girl who can see through and resist Godou's charms that easily.
Now are there perhaps other possibilities… uhm, could it be? This is the work of an enemy god? Well, okay, a god could certainly perform such a feat. The biggest problem is "why?". Why would a god be interested to change a single human's success with women? That makes absolutely no sense at all, even from a supernatural point of view.
No, more research is needed before a conclusion can be reached. Shizuka needs to do a bit of investigation after this to find out what exactly happened here.
A burning smell tells Shizuka that she has been lost in world of thought for a bit too long, as the miso soup starts to burn a bit. Quickly she turns off the stove before looking how salvageable the soup is. A quick taste tells her that she's been just in time. Any longer and she would've completely wasted some stock.
Yeah, Shizuka can't be lost in thought forever. For now, she has to concentrate on more worldly matters. This supernatural even can be investigated later today.
The first place she can start her investigation is at her school: what do the other people know about Kusanagi Godou the casanova, and how much is their memory altered? Here she can get info from her classmates, some of Gddou's classmates and the members of the tea ceremony club. After school ends this does give her some clarification:
Nobody seems to remember anything about a Godou who managed to obtain all of the boy's envy with his female successes. Everyone who does remember him seems to recall him as just another rather ordinary student, his special abilities not being all that remarkable. Even Mariya, one of the girls completely smitten with Godou, is back to how she was before the start of this school year: Mature, calm and modest, the personality which made her one of the school's beauties and a respectable person in Shizuka's eyes.
In other words, not only is Godou reformed, nobody seems to remember his bad side to begin with. Well, except for Shizuka, but she is certain that that is because of her stupidly high resistance to magic and the like. The only other person who might be unaffected here in Japan is the seventh king, though he probably isn't aware of Kusanagi Godou's existence.
However, one of the potential causes can be written off. If a female mage did this then she has to have mind-controlled at least everyone in the ward the Kusanagi house is located in, which is more than 200.000 inhabitants. No human mage can manipulate that many people in one night.
That leaves three possibilities: A godslayer caused it (probably Shizuka), a god caused it, or this is a parallel universe.
Shizuka does not have enough knowledge to come to the correct answer, so she has to get some help from outside. After all, she does have two loyal followers who can help her with this problem.
Flipping out her phone from her school bag Shizuka types in the number of the Renjou witch, who should currently be attending her university.
"Hello, Shizuka-san?" Ah good, at least Fuyuhime still recognizes this phone number. That likely means that even if this is a parallel universe her own status as a king is unchanged.
"Hello Fuyuhime, how are you doing?"
"Oh, I'm a bit tired. I've just finished with my studies for today, and I had quite a lot to do. Working for nine hours is pretty hard. How about you?"
"Still quite well, but a few problems have arrived. It's nothing much, but they're clearly related to magic and I don't know enough to solve it. Since you have some free time, could you and Sakura help me?"
"Uhm… do we have to do it today? Sakura followed the same lectures, and she's just as tired as I am. Tomorrow I've much less work, so can't we gather tomorrow?"
While Shizuka would prefer it to solve this mystery sooner than later she would rather not do it with a tired group. Working hard is important, but so is working efficiently. Only by combing these two can you make the most results.
"Sure, Then we'll do that. I'm finished at a quarter past three, so how about we meet fifteen minutes after that?" Fuyuhime has no problems, and they quickly settle on one of the cafés in the neighborhood. With that settled both say goodbye to one another.
Putting the phone back in her pocket Shizuka decides to go home and rest, so she can give tomorrow her full focus.
-x-
Sixteenth of December, early evening.
When Shizuka arrived at the café she noticed that she was the last to arrive. Both Sakura and Fuyuhime are there, and considering that they already have drinks they have waited for at least some time. Sakura is dressed in a blue blouse with long grey skirt, while Fuyuhime has a black hoodie with green scarf and jeans.
"Sorry that I'm late." Shizuka apologizes for her tardiness, but the two girls forgive her easily. They know all too well how long school can take, especially when you compare it to the university. Quickly the small talk ends, as they have more important things to discuss:
"Shizuka-chan, why did you call us over? I heard something from Fuyuhime-chan about a god or so. However, we didn't notice anything abnormal happening."
"I don't know if it's a god or not, but it's not unlikely." After all, there's still enough possibilities open that it doesn't need to be a god. However, there's something else that Shizuka wants to ask: "By the way, how are you accustoming to your new body?"
After the battle with… well, that moron, Sakura showed courage and willpower in the face of a divine spirit just to help her friend. Commendable indeed, so Shizuka judged it all right to have her niece join her in battle. To make this function Shizuka used the same part of her authority as she used on Fuyuhime: Transferring someone's soul from an ordinary body to one with the disposition of a talented witch. It took forty percent of Shizuka's authority, and even now those two stones have still not filled back to the maximum amount.
Now that Sakura is a talented witch directly serving one of the eight Campione it should be easy for her to join the history compilation committee, but she's not yet part of them. Witches like her get an official ceremony every first of the month, just like two weeks ago with Fuyuhime, where she will officially become a member. At that time she will also get a weapon appointed to her, as well as payment from the association. It's a nice way to cover study expenses, compared to a real job.
"Ah, there's nothing wrong with it, Shizuka-chan! It's not much different from my old body, really." Shizuka did not really change anything about Sakura's looks. There's nothing that needed to be changed, and even if she wanted to Shizuka has no idea how to actually change the body other than the magical disposition. "Fuyuhime helps me with learning magic, and Lance-kun is a lot nicer than I thought."
"Lance…kun?" That must be Lancelot, but is she naming a god, a divine warrior, a hero… like a pet? Knowing Sakura she means no harm with that nickname, but it's surprising Lancelot accepts such a derogatory name.
"Yep, Lance-kun! He's a really nice god, and he promised to lend me a bit of his power when I'm in trouble so I can help you. He's a good person." Well, Sakura is probably the only one who will ever think in such ways about a deity.
"Well, that's… nice. I'll expect a lot from you in the future." However, it's not the time to speak about Sakura's abilities. There is, after all, a supernatural event going on in the city. "But let's talk about what is occurring here:"
Shizuka explains the situation as far as she knows it. She herself remembers her brother as a lady-killer, but everyone else seems to have completely forgotten this fact. Other than this nothing else has changed, and Shizuka doubts that it's her own memory that is failing here.
In fact, it would probably be hard for any mage to even affect the tiniest bit of those memories, making the situation even more unlikely.
Shizuka also tells about the other possibilities that might've caused this: She's either landed in a parallel universe or someone the level of a god or their slayers used an authority.
"Hmm…" Fuyuhime and Sakura both think for a while about this problem, and it's Sakura who is the first to speak up: "From what I can remember Godou is not at all a lady-killer. He's a nice and proper man who will gently help others."
Shizuka does not really believe that her niece's words are credible. After all, there's the big problem that Sakura, cute as she may be, has always been as oblivious to Godou's love life as the man in question himself. In other words, it's Fuyuhime who needs to share how she remembers it.
Fuyuhime thinks long and hard, but eventually comes to a conclusion: "I… do not know Godou that well," Other than that he is a Campione, of course, "But as far as I can remember from the times we met he doesn't seem to have any relations with women. I'm sorry, Shizuka-san, but we don't seem to recall the same things."
Well, this confirms a few things. "So there is probably some god causing this kind of disparity." Yeah, if even Sakura and Fuyuhime are affected then the range of this spell is at least Tokyo itself. There's no way that this can be done without the power of the gods.
"Hmm… it's a bit too early to say that." While Shizuka is ascertained of divine intervention Fuyuhime wants to look at another option: "Say, I have another possibility: If what you say is true, than perhaps it is not a god which caused this. Could it not be a grimoire?"
"A grimoire?" In the research Shizuka did there were a few passages mentioning such a word, but it was never fully explained. "Could you explain that to me?"
Fuyuhime takes this cue and talks right away: "A grimoire is, unlike what modern fiction likes to call it, a magic book. Instead it is the accumulation of the power of gods and legends. The grimoire is closely tied to its creator, so as long as the myth of that god or legend exist than the grimoire will too, being completely indestructible. There are multiple purposes for a grimoire. One of the most common types are those that gather a large amount of magical knowledge, creating a manual that can teach mages spells capable of even hurting the gods themselves."
That's surprisingly useful, Shizuka has to admit. One of those could really help to progress their growth as mages.
"In fact, even I possess one of these types. It's what I've been using to teach Sakura before we met you." Shizuka makes a mental note to see this grimoire once. Perhaps there might be interesting things written in it. "But either way, those grimoires are usually made by ordinary humans, albeit very famous ones. The rare grimoires are made by gods, usually for the sake of sealing a facet of a particular deity. For example, take the Greek god Aphrodite. She's a goddess of love with the origin of a mother earth goddess. It would be entirely possible to summon just the goddess of love and keep the aspect of earth sealed in a grimoire."
Those are not as useful. Shizuka doubts that she will ever summon a god of her own, and she will probably either repel or kill a god before she would seal it. Silently she continues listening.
"The last mayor type is also the rarest: grimoires that contain a god's authority. These are extremely uncommon, and it's not wrong to say that the ones here in the far east can be counted on my hands. Obtaining just one is ridiculously hard, let alone multiple." Yes, it's probably impossible for such an unlikely event to happen. Why would there ever be multiple of those grimoires in one place? "Either way, while they can unleash an authority they are still pretty useless as a weapon. While it can use divine power the energy required is so high that it usually kills the caster after they used it. Even for a godslayer they are usually nothing more than an unreliable one-time use authority."
"So how did one of them actually cause this situation?" Sure, what Fuyuhime says is interesting, but it's quickly turning into unrelated exposition. Shizuka needs answers to her situation, not a lesson in magic.
"Divine artifacts are often cursed one way or another. For example, they can make the wearer ill, or have a curse specific to a deity attached to it. For example, the aforementioned Aphrodite could make a grimoire cursed to make those who touch it unpopular in love."
Fuyuhime's explanation… makes a surprising lot of sense. "So onii-chan somehow found a grimoire, which cursed him to become unpopular with the ladies."
As much as Shizuka wants to accept this truth it's Sakura that points out a glaring contradiction: "But… then why does no one but you remember him being popular?"
"Obviously, it's the power and resistances of a Campione tha-"
Before Shizuka can finish that sentence Fuyuhime chimes in on this talk, also seeing the problem with her earlier solution: "But it's a curse of love. What the grimoire did is either warp reality or alter memories, which are both clearly not domains an ordinary love goddess rules over."
"Tsk." Shizuka has to admit that her followers are right. So much for that solution. "I doubt that we'll find anything just by sitting here." Shizuka propose a little bit of investigation. Scout the area, see if there's a disturbance in magic around this place. Clearly something abnormal must be in this city, right?
The other two agree. After finishing their drinks at the café the trio goes out on the streets, ready to solve this mystery.
So how do you investigate a mystery like this? The first clue lies in the fact that according to Shizuka everything was fine when she went to sleep. If that is true, than this event must have happened sometime two nights ago. If this were the work of a god or a godslayer than that means that an authority was used. Massive burst of magic are necessary to power these authorities, more than mages can offer up. The air and ground will be saturated with spiritual energy, even more than a day later.
If this upsurge in energy can be located then the location of the incident can be identified. With that at least the "Where?" Question can be answered, and with some luck a few others like "What?", "Why?" or "Who?" can be answered too.
Luckily for Shizuka there are two witches, mages attuned to the powers of earth, and capable of solving this problem. They have spells capable of figuring out the truth.
"So what are you two going to do?" What kind of perplexing magecraft will be used as the search function? Fuyuhime starts to explain as she enters a nearby shop with Shizuka to buy the first of her preparations:
"It's a form of voodoo magic originating from African witchcraft. Originally it was a way to put parts of a human, like hair, into an effigy so that they would be considered one and the same thing. If you would burn the effigy the human would also spontaneously burst into flames. Later improvements of this allowed for this spell to function on non-living objects, like this here."
Fuyuhime points to the map in her hand, the one she is planning to buy. It's an ordinary map of Tokyo, with no magical properties. "If I turn this into an effigy for the real city we can figure out where exactly this magical event took place."
"Just from a single map?" If that is true, then this is quite the nifty spell. Perhaps Shizuka should learn it herself in case another one of these incidents takes place, it might be helpful.
"No, not just the map. Sakura went to another shop to get the other item we need." Looking around Shizuka sees that her second follower is not there. When did she leave, Shizuka didn't notice that at all.
Fuyuhime pays for the map and walks outside, where they wait a short while for their friend to come back. Eventually Sakura returns with a small plastic bag held in her right hand, clearly successful in her purchase. However, that doesn't mean it isn't polite to ask:
"So, did you find what you were looking for, Sakura-chan?"
Instead of answering Sakura simply pulls out what is in the plastic bag: a plush toy about the size of Sakura's palm. It appears to be modeled after a dachshund.
"A… stuffed animal?" Shizuka looks a bit in disbelief. The map, as Fuyuhime explained it, made sense. A toy made for cuddling, however, not quite so. "Is this really supposed to be an effigy?"
"But Shizuka-chan, this is also a good effigy. This will sniff out the abnormal magic, figuring out the location where this happened."
Hang on… using a tiny animal to figure out a location… are they doing that? Is this the same kind of ritual as used in Niseko? The one with the dragon and the stone tablets, performed by that half-foreign witch? But if that is true… "So do you need 90 minutes of preparation time too?"
Sakura nods, while Fuyuhime responds that it might take up to two hours. Ugh, it's going to take a very long time before there are results. Shizuka mentally groans at how annoying this witchcraft is. Can't she use her authority to speed up the process?
No, that would be a bad idea. Wasting a fifth of her power just to spare some time is way too reckless, even for a godslayer.
"Is there really no way to decrease the amount of time it takes?"
Fuyuhime tells of one option: If a godslayer infused magic in these items it might go quicker… but if Shizuka pours in even a little bit too much energy, then this might result in an explosion of magic. Harmless to Shizuka herself, pretty destructive to her surroundings.
Yeah, that won't do. While Shizuka is certain that her control is better than a month ago she wouldn't trust herself enough to do a precise job like that.
In other words, she has to wait. Since meeting with the witch duo quite some time has passed, and the streets are already filled with the light of lamps instead of that of the sun. Before they could even perform this ritual it would be eight in the evening, and Godou will probably have finished dinner by then.
No, today an investigative method like that is impossible, at least for Shizuka. She has responsibilities to take care of, and she cannot waste too much time here. Now Sakura and Fuyuhime on the other hand…
"All right, can you two figure out the location this evening?" Those two can probably handle this extra amount of work.
Sakura takes on the task without problems, easily willing to help family and friends. Fuyuhime grunts a bit that her work load has increased, but accepts the task too.
"Then shall we go back and see if there are any other weird things going on in the city?"
"You mean other than Godou's abnormality, Shizuka-chan?"
Shizuka nods, so the witches do as their king tells. The walk around for a bit, exploring the neighborhood to see if there is nothing else abnormal. They keep walking, but the situation is entirely normal. The humans continue their daily lives as usual, no building or other weird thing is destroyed or altered, nothing. Were it not for Godou then Shizuka would call this situation perfectly normal.
"What kind of god would just try to alter the live of a single normal human?" Shizuka doesn't understand it anymore. There is literally no reason Shizuka can come up with that makes sense.
"Uhm… perhaps we're looking at it wrong…" Sakura is deep in thought, but may have found another solution. "you keep saying something is wrong with Godou-kun, but what if it's not? What if the one who has been affected… is you, Shizuka-chan?"
The solution of Sakura sounds completely alien in Shizuka's eyes. How is she the one affected? She is the only one perfectly normal! That idea, no, Shizuka rejects that possibility with all her mind.
"Not possible." Absolutely unacceptable. To call herself the only abnormality, Shizuka will not stand for that!
"B-But that would explain a lot: Godou-kun wasn't the target, but you were. And didn't you say your greatest fear is that he turns out like grandpa? If it was an authority of fear, then this would be explainable."
"No. I am certain that my memories are correct. There's nothing to say that you are correct, and there are too many holes in your story!" Shizuka starts to get cranky, doing everything to stop hearing that awful possibility. She doesn't even know why it's so awful, it simply rubs her the wrong way.
Sakura continues to argue with her niece, though her responses get meeker over time.
After some squabbling Fuyuhime goes and stops this before it leads to a fight: "Enough!" With force she lets this word of anger out, disliking the tunnel vision both Shizuka and Sakura have for their conclusion. This gets a few stares from the surrounding people, so Fuyuhime quickly rectifies her voice before she continues talking.
"Look, I know an easy way to figure this out: there's a contact of mine who can determine whose memories have been altered. The problem is that she lives two hours away from Tokyo, so we cannot visit her right now. Let's just quit for today and meet again tomorrow."
A decent solution, Shizuka likes it. Hard evidence instead of a circumstantial one. The trio agree that this is the best course of action. The group splits, with Sakura and Fuyuhime returning to their dorms while Shizuka returns home, waiting for what Godou is preparing for dinner.
-x-
Seventeenth of December, midday, Nikko Toshugu {1}.
Because today is a Saturday Shizuka only had half a day of school, meaning that she finished at half past eleven. As a result she is able to get to the location she talked about yesterday at only two in the midday. It was a two hour drive by car, which was necessary because there are no trains running to that location. It's a good thing that Sakura has obtained a driving license, or else it would a lot harder to communicate with this contact.
The trio now stand in front of the most famous shrine of the Nikko region, Nikko Toshugu. Once one of the most famous shrines dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, due to an incident there are mayor renovations going on pretty much everywhere. According to Shizuka's most senior witch this was because of the descend of Sun Wukong, causing a large amount of mayhem.
Even with all the destruction the site still attracts a lot of tourists, or perhaps it's because of the destruction and renovation that it attracts people. There are a lot of people, and while Shizuka seems to be okay with any of these being the one they are looking for Fuyuhime says that this is not the place where they can meet their contact. Instead they exit the shrine along one of the smaller paths, a mountainous path in the wilderness that seems to end in nowhere. Just as Shizuka starts to doubt that there is nothing here another shrine appears in sight, this one much smaller than the world famous monument.
It's a simple traditional shrine, though it doesn't seem to have any visitors. The trio walk through the torri {2} at the entrance of the shrine and arrive on the main grounds. A few of the personnel can be seen, probably those that work at the main shrine but are aware enough of the world of magic to be allowed at the actually functional shrine located here.
Shizuka looks over at them all, but whenever one of the mages looks at her they quickly bow and disappear from her sight. Most likely none of them are the contact Fuyuhime talked about, so where could that person be?
"So Fuyuhime, which one of these are you looking for?"
Fuyuhime points towards the main building, where one of the doors slides open. Out comes a girl a year or two below Shizuka's age. She looks like a proper person, with her blackish-brown hair cut slightly above shoulder length and the orderly way she wears her basic red and white miko outfit. Without fear she walks towards the Campione, being the only one deviating from the average behavior of awe and fear.
So that should be the contact then. Shizuka didn't expect someone so young, but she of all people shouldn't be talking about young age.
"Renjou-neesama!" The girl shouts out happily, hurriedly walking towards the group. "It's been quite a long time since I saw you. It has to have been at least a year since we last saw each other."
"Yes, back then you weren't even working here. Though, are you still necessary now that the great sage equaling heaven has been slain?" Great sage? Shizuka has not heard of anyone named like that, though it's probably the title of Sun Wukong, given by earlier info Fuyuhime talked about.
"Well that true, yes, but the foundations of the seal are still in place. If we ever need to use it again my help is necessary… though I do have a lot more freedom now that there's nothing to guard."
"And you probably don't need to. Remember what I said about Japan having two lords?"
"Ah, so that's true! Then I guess that she is the eighth king then, right?" The girl points to Shizuka, correctly guessing her identity. Fuyuhime nods, so the girl politely bows before Shizuka.
"It is an honor to meet you, Campione-sama. Now is there anything I can help you with?" With a polite smile she looks at Shizuka, her childish purity brimming off her face.
Shizuka cannot help but act nicely towards this girl, even though the difference in age is not much. "Nice to meet you. My name is Kusanagi Shizuka. As you guessed, I managed to slay a god and become a Campione."
"Kusanagi? Are you connected to Kusanagi Godou-oniisama?"
What did this girl just say? How does she know Godou? More importantly, why does she call him onii-sama? It can't be, did her father actually birth an illegal child? Was his money-focused attitude a façade to hide his true nature?
"Yes, he is my brother. But why are you calling him with that suffix? Is this just a form of respect to him or do I need to heavily scold my father?"
The girl looks a bit shocked at this sentence, but quickly tells Shizuka how it is: "I'm sorry, I didn't explain it well. I call Godou onii-sama not because of blood, but because he is taking Yuri-oneesama as his wife."
Yuri as his wife? "You're family of Mariya-senpai?" That wasn't expected. What is family of Mariya doing here, so far away from Tokyo?
"Correct. My name is Mariya Hikari, Mariya Yuri's younger sister."
"But why are you living so far away from your sister?"
"Because I'm a hime-miko capable of a rare type of magic the committee stationed me here. Now that the seal is vacant I can go a lot more often back home, but Nikkou is where I live and go to school now."
Oh. In other words, it's like moving away for the sake of your job. It's something Shizuka has seen her parents do quite often, which resulted in them never being home and barely playing a part in the lives of their children. Shizuka almost feels sad for Hikari…
Hang on… "If you're a hime-miko, then does that mean that your sister…"
"Yep, Yuri-oneesama is also a hime-miko." Naturally, of course she is! To think that the person she used to respect a lot is actually part of the association. Hmm… perhaps she needs to get Mariya-senpai to help her in case of supernatural events? It would be helpful to have a close associate inside of school instead of just a few friends from university…
Now that Shizuka has cleared her head from the shock of Mariya's state there is a contradiction she notices. "By the way, Hikari-san, what was that you said about Mariy…Yuri-senpai being Godou's wife?"
"The two are clearly in love, and certainly they will make love and marry in the future. Yuri-oneesama will become the perfect wife for him."
Well, this proves a lot. "Seems that I was right all along."
Fuyuhime and Sakura both agree with this statement, while Hikari looks a bit puzzled. Shizuka starts to enlighten her senpai's younger sister about what exactly is going on back in Tokyo:
"Now for why we are here, Hikari-san: Back in Tokyo every suddenly seems to think that Godou is not popular with girls, except for me. Now we came here because Fuyuhime said that you could help determine whose minds have been changed." Though that's a bit unnecessary now, it's clearly Fuyuhime and Sakura's minds who have been messed with.
"Oh, you mean that I need to use [Disaster purification]?" Shizuka doesn't understand what that is, so it gets explained: It's the ability to negate or dispel continuous magic, and even temporarily weaken authorities. Basically, it's anti-magic.
Shizuka asks Hikari to use it on her followers, and the young hime-miko complies. She places her hands on their heads for a few seconds, and then she removes them again.
"That's it?" It's a surprisingly simple procedure, especially compared to a lot of the magic Shizuka knows.
"Ah yes, that's it. It's not a very flashy ability, but whatever I touch directly will have any magic cast on them nullified." How very convenient.
Fuyuhime grabs her head, seemingly being a bit in pain. "Ugh… yes, you were right Shizuka. It seems that my memories were manipulated." Sakura also seems to remember a few things differently, though she was more surprised that Godou successfully managed to hook a lady.
Best not to tell her that Godou's currently at 4… or more, Shizuka's isn't counting.
Shizuka turns to Hikari, thanking her for helping them solve this case.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It's the least I could do for my future sister-in-law!" Hikari smiles brightly, liking to get praised for things she did well.
"Yes…" Shizuka doesn't mind that Hikari seems this set on this marriage, though at least she hopes that Godou can then keep it at just her senpai. "So what do we do now? Fuyuhime, Sakura-chan, did you get any results from what I asked you to do?"
Sakura nods, telling about what exactly the test with the map and the plush toy led to: "There's one area where there was a high concentration of energy, and that was in-"
A loud ringing noise interrupts Sakura's speech, and Fuyuhime picks up her phone. Seems that someone is calling her.
"Hello, with Fuyuhime… what are you saying? Incident back in Tokyo? Okay, we're coming." Fuyuhime hangs up, looking with concern at the three others. "Hikari-chan, I'm afraid we'll have to leave right now. There's been another supernatural event." Hikari doesn't mind, and waves the trio goodbye.
Quickly the trio drives back to Tokyo, hoping to catch the culprit in their tracks. Most likely this supernatural event is linked to the one trey tried to solve earlier, so if they can figure out the truth now they can close this case once and for all.
As far as the knowledge of the committee goes what happened this time is that every single Santa Claus figure in the area lost their color. The jolly old man in red and white turned completely grey wherever you looked.
A quarter of the way back the first reports came in: There was a sighting of a supernatural being. While clearly being something that is not human, it was not a god.
"So what is left then?" Shizuka starts to ask, trying to process this new information. All she had to deal with so far were humans and gods, with nothing in between. This is completely new for here. "Is this a divine beast or so?"
"No, it's too intelligent to be a lesser divine beast, and it lack the presence of a greater divine beast. From what I've heard it's most likely something like a fairy."
"A fairy." Shizuka almost speaks with disbelief. Fairies exist? Sure, gods exist, but that made some sense if you take the realm of immortality into account. But fairies? "So we're dealing with a winged humanoid a few inches tall and with tiny butterfly wings that can alter the memories of an entire city? What a fearsome enemy to deal with."
"That's a fae you're talking about." Fuyuhime corrects Shizuka with slight annoyance, disliking her king's sarcastic comment. "Fairies is a term for everything humanoid but not human nor divine. The aforementioned fae belong to this category, and so do gnomes, elves, ascended humans, and more."
"Oh." Case clear. "What did this fairy look like, according to the sighting?"
"Humanoid, but completely grey. He was covered entirely in sailcloth, and only the hands and legs stick out from it."
It's not much to base conclusions on, but at least there's not much looking like it. It's useful information for when they arrive.
Another half an hour later and Shizuka remembers something important, something she completely forgot to ask earlier: Mariya Yuri is a hime-miko, part of the world of magic. Where does that put Godou? Is he aware of magic too? Could he perhaps have learned magecraft from Mariya?
Quickly she opens up with her concerns about this situation, but Fuyuhime defuses this problem just as fast:
"He's not the first one in your family who had a relationship with a mage, Shizuka-san. Remember when you invited Sakura and me for dinner closely after you made me a witch?"
"Yes, I do. Wait…" Shizuka makes the connection, realizing what exactly the witch is referring to. "Gramps did the same too?"
"Yes, with my mother." Now that creates an image Fuyuhime would rather wipe from her head. "In the end Ichirou didn't become a mage, nor aware of the world of magecraft. I think you worry too much."
A white lie, perhaps, but Fuyuhime finds it necessary. Though it is inevitable that these two Japanese kings will find out each other's identity sooner than later every day that they stay unaware of each other is another victory for Fuyuhime. The saying goes, when two kings meet only disaster follows, even if they are family.
Halfway there another phone call comes in with more news: Kusanagi Godou is also chasing after this mysterious being. If his group takes too long at succeeding then the dreaded meeting will happen, which would be quite bad. Fuyuhime transmits the message to the other two, though she keeps using the fake name of Kusasagi Goroh when talking about the seventh king.
The next thirty minutes are nerve-wracking for Fuyuhime, as she hopes that everything will turn out all right. Godou should be able to beat the enemy in this time?
The trio enter the outskirts of Tokyo, still twenty minutes away from the location they need to be. At this moment another call comes in, telling fantastic news: The mystical creature is dead. Godou has returned back towards home, and there is only some surveillance from the committee left. Nobody Shizuka knows should be there.
With a feeling of relief this is passed on to the other two, causing Sakura to drive a bit less hasty.
Eventually they reach the location of demise: Odaiba, an artificial island inside of Tokyo bay. One of the parks close to the seashore has been closed off by police, on accounts of a "murder". It's actually quite the apt description, though it's a bit more magical in nature.
A Campione and followers easily gets let through, if only because resistance is futile. The trio arrive at the seashore, where a bunch of mages are examining the area. There on the beach lies a grey man, wrapped in sailcloth and with his head decapitated.
Like a police detective Shizuka goes around and ask questions. A few mages still wonder who she is, though there are a few from back at the duel with Doni who recognize her and warn the others. With the proper respect Shizuka gets told what she needs to know:
The divine being has been classified as a fairy, most likely a spirit connected with nature and trees. Due to the seventh king (whose name was kept hidden due to a few helpful nudges from the higher-ups) the fairy was forced to kill itself or be killed, and it chose the former. It beheaded itself and dropped down dead. While the greyed Santa's have not changed back to red there are also no new sightings, meaning that it might actually be over.
That would be nice for Shizuka. No more searching and solving, and being done with this all without a fight. However, there's one thing that still needs to be done: Shizuka flips out a cell phone, calling her brother on the phone:
"Hello, with Godou?"
"Good evening Onii-chan, how's dinner going?" Start with a simple question that can lead to the subject, Shizuka would here prefer to go a bit around the bush.
"I'm just starting. There's tataki {3} on the menu for tonight, do you prefer it cooked or uncooked?"
"I think that it would taste better lightly seared. Are you planning on inviting any of the girls over?"
"G-Girls? What are you talking about, the only one who might be willing to join us is Asuka, if she doesn't eat together with her family."
Yes! Godou is still reformed! He hasn't regressed back with the death of the fairy! "Oh yes, my bad. I wasn't focusing, I meant to talk about your friends from baseball, but I got it confused with my own friends."
"Ah I see. No, we're eating with just the two of us. When will you come home?"
Shizuka and Godou continue talking for a while, and eventually Shizuka hangs up, a massive smile on her face. This is the best gift she has ever gotten, and it isn't even Christmas yet!
"So Shizuka-chan, what do we do now?" Sakura starts to ask about the future, now that this case seems solved. In fact, if you ask Shizuka then it has been solved:
"We do nothing. The case is cleared, so there's no problem left." Spoken like the hasty cop who is always wrong in police crime series, Shizuka is not planning to waste more time on this case. "You two can do what you want. Now that I've no problems left, I'm going to take up my father's offer!"
-x-
Eighteenth of December, Germany:
What is the last place one would expect two gods to be? Well, there are a lot of places you don't expect gods: Dumpsters, factories, inside air planes, the list goes on. One of the places on that list can be removed, as two gods are currently there:
Who would expect a goddess and a divine spirit to hang out together at a board game convention? Here in Germany the world's largest convention of eurogames {4} is held, attracting tons of visitors from all over Europe and even beyond!
Sitting in the testing area of the upcoming new games is Blanchefleur, still possessing the body of the human, together with another goddess, discussing card games.
While the human whose body Blanchefleur is still possessing is not ugly by any means, it pales in comparison to the goddess: a woman who looks to be in her late teens, perhaps early adolescence, with a slender body of average height.
Surprisingly her looks feel quite a bit more human, as there is nothing about her that truly stands out. Her shoulder-length wavy violet hair seems like something you expect on a human, something that your neighbor might have too. So too for her clothes, a green dress along with some golden accessories, it doesn't seem unnatural or abnormal at all. However, the gentleness of it all is where this goddess shines, as because she has no outstanding parts every part of her body is equally beautiful, creating a serene tranquility.
Normally quite the large amount of people would stare at these two beauties, perhaps the divine duo would even get interrupted by males who try to get lucky. Blanchefleur is quite happy that she used magic to prevent these puny mortals from noticing the duo, though for an entirely different reason.
"Why are we doing this again?" Blanchefleur exasperates, considering the current situation to be dumb.
"Thy refusal of the noble game of chess is cause for one's newest choice of battle."
"Well of course I'm not picking a fight on unequal terrain. What I mean is, why are we settling something as important as a lasting alliance on the outcome of a game of these human's creation?!"
"Dost thou not understand joy, Blanchefleur?" With gleaming eyes she starts to give a heartfelt speech about the joys of boardgames, rolling dices and making strategic decisions to obtain victory, of scenarios made by humanity's wild imagination, now vividly expressed on a single table. How could anyone not see happiness in it?
Blanchefleur's opinion is a bit more… reserved, especially her opinion of this goddess:
She's a giant nerd!
As much as Blanchefleur would prefer to walk around this goddess in a wide circle she cannot do that. Blanchefleur's own powers become more prominent the more allies she has, so she would prefer for this goddess to join her side, even if she is rather… quirky. "Fine, let's play this game of yours. If I win this game of yours, you'll join me to eradicate all devil kings on earth."
"And for thy loss thou willst uphold ye bargain. Thou becomest part of one's tabletop group, and together Dungeons and Dragons will be played!"
Blanchefleur really doesn't want to lose. Not only would that mean that she will not get this goddess as her ally, she will be forced to play these dumb human trifles with, heavens forbid, humans. That might actually be as humiliating as getting turned into a divine ancestor. How the hell can such a goddess, someone who would enjoys these trivialities, exist?
As a bit of fair play Blanchefleur is allowed to choose which game they will play, and she is aware that horrible things will happen if she chooses poorly. But what does she choose? If she would pick one randomly there's a large chance that she will get wrecked.
She walks around the convention, looking for something that might be something she can win in. None of the humans bother her as she picks up stuff and puts it back down, not thinking that she can beat her opponent. Game after game is inspected, but none of them make Blanchefleur feel confident of her victory.
Walking past another stand she absentmindedly grabs one of the card boxes on the stand. She's ready to call it quits and give up until she sees that standing on the box art is none other than Blanchefleur herself! No, rather, that picture looks a lot like her true form, almost impossibly so. This, "Fathom Mage", as humans call it, is akin to an avatar of her.
Is this fate? Whether or not lady Fortuna is smiling upon her, this is too much of a coincidence to pass up. Looking at the name of the box she reads the game out loud: "Magic:the Gathering Intro Pack; Gatecrash" {5}. Yes, this will do quite nicely!
Returning back to her enemy she shows off the game she picked, asking how it should be played. The enemy goddess gives one quick look at the game, smiling and offering thanks that Blanchefleur wants to play it. Taking a bag from under her table she shows that she's already bought all five intro packs!
And just like that Blanchefleur wonders if luck has truly abandoned her… oh well, time to try to make the most of it.
The goddess goes back to the table, where she starts with preparing the table for the game. The packs are opened and the cards shuffled. Each draws seven cards and is ready to get this game started.
Blanchefleur off, but she still doesn't quite understand the rules. She completes her turn by sending out a gate before granting her enemy a turn.
"First, one draws!" Of course, some goddesses feel the need to perform their turn in an over-the-top way. "Next, one playest one's swamp onto the field. Then, one payest black to forthcall this denizen of the shadow alleys! With that, one passeth the turn to the, my opponent!"
"Can you stop talking like that?" Blanchefleur says in annoyance, "It's one thing if people speak in ancient tongues, but it's another if someone shamelessly copies it badly." Worst of all it makes understanding what exactly happened in the game much harder. Blanchefleur plays another land card before her guildmage enters the battlefield.
"Hahaha, it's that bad?" Suddenly the other goddess stops speaking archaic, now speaking in a modern language. "Hah, I was hoping it would make me sound a bit more grand, more, you know, powerful."
"Perhaps if you did it right, but now it's just annoying." Seeing the way her potential ally talks allows Blanchefleur to add in another small insult. "Though you're right that you need it. After all, what are you? There are mighty gods of the sun, goddesses of earth, heroes of steel, even I have a title of goddess of prosperity. But you? Your most promising title is being the goddess of dorks."
The goddess laughs this off, claiming that that title would actually be an improvement of her current domain. "Heck, all I got is a single game I hold domain over."
"Yes, it's a rather pathetic existence of yours. I mean, you're the only goddess who has been repeatedly ignored by godslayers."
"Not that surprising. Sun gods cause droughts, gods of steel create war, marine gods cause floods… but me? All my presence does is make people more interested in board games. They probably didn't even notice that I descended." Was Blanchefleur not in need of help she would've probably laughed in the face of this other goddess, insults be damned. How could a deity be this pathetic? "Oh well, at least I'm not the worst deity, because I'm not Sterquilinus {6}!" Both goddesses laugh at this, agreeing that that god has the most laughable title of all.
They continue their card game, but after ten or so turns it quickly becomes clear that Blanchefleur is on the losing side. As it stands now she might actually have to do that terrible game with humans! Perhaps she can bribe her way out.
"Say, don't you have any other goals? Anything you want to become more powerful or respected? I could help with that."
The purple-haired goddess thinks, and quickly comes to an conclusion: "Actually, there is one thing. You were right, perhaps my title is a bit shallow. Instead of being goddess of a single game, I want to become the queen of games! Card, digital or board; everything shall fall within my grasp!"
The goddess lets out a wicked laugh, but it can't convince Blanchefleur to think of those goals as anything but petty. "So how are you planning to do this?"
"Isn't it obvious? First I'll summon the Egyptian god of games. Then I will take his title by beating him in a children's card game, just like this one!"
…
"That has to be the stupidest idea I've ever heard." Blanchefleur is not impressed at all, so she simply continues the game. Her opponent tries her best to make her idea seem viable.
"True, it was quite stupid. The first time I tried to do that I lost, damn his heart of the cards. But next time I will be the one who has the blessings of the goddess of plenty!"
Okay, that might actually work, but that would force Blanchefleur to serve this idiot. Why did Blanchefleur have to cross this goddess of all people? Wasn't there anyone else available?
Blanchfleur has to focus on the game again as she sees her opponent use a combination of cards that drain her life down to one before the turn gets passed. With no cards in hand the situation starts to look hopeless for Blanchefleur. Her tactics have been completely dwarfed by this strategy master. Where did she go wrong?
"Is there any way for me to win this?" Half desperate, half wanting it to end this humiliation she asks her opponent about the situation. The goddess of gaming answers this question honestly, having already seen what the conclusion will be:
"Hmm... you need to prevent all my creatures from blocking yours as you swing for game. The only card in your deck that can do so for you is the Sleep instant spell, of which you only have one in this intro pack. With forty cards left in your library the only way you can get that result is if you had all the luck in the world on your side."
All the luck in the world, huh? Well, isn't that a marvelous idea? Of course, normally it doesn't work like that, but if it would grant them the defeat of all those devil kings, perhaps these gods might throw a few scraps around:
"Both love and luck help the bold!" Divine spell words, Blanchefleur knows exactly how to use her own powers to win. "As the great provider, I choose those whom receive my blessings. O chosen one, be given that which you need!
1 drawn sleep spell later:
"I hate you. I hate you and your cheating tactics." Yeah, someone is not happy with this end result, as the enemy goddess is pouting.
"But I won, and you lost." And that's all that matters to Blanchefleur. She does feel a bit dirty, being forced to use her authority for something as trivial as a card game. Ugh, how absolutely disgusting.
There is also someone severely opposed to this result: "You won by cheating! You're a dirty coward!"
"So? Does that mean you're going to take back what you said? Will you forever be known as an oathbreaker, a rabid dog who cannot do as she says?" Blanchefleur is almost taunting her new ally, knowing that there is a level of divine pride that will make sure she won't go back on her word. Even so, it can't hurt to decrease those odds of rebellion a bit more: "Besides, where in those rules of this game of yours is it written that I cannot use my authorities to obtain victory?"
Blanchefleur has a point here. As much as the loser of this match wants to shove this defeat on others, there's nothing that has been officialy cheating. In the end what defeated her was literally plenty.
"Tsk. Fine then. Let me swear this oath here: Upon my name of Caissa, goddess of chess, I swear to help you create a world in which Campione won't exist."
Blanchefleur nods, happy with this development. With this she has managed to get at least two gods behind her cause. Now, if only she can resurrect her beloved Percival, then victory will follow close by…
"By the way…" Caissa has one final thing to say: "Can you really not help me resurrect that Egyptian pharaoh?"
"Not a chance, Caissa, not a chance."
-x-
Nineteenth of December, over the pacific ocean, time differentiating due to time zones.
When Shizuka decided to take up her father's offer Godou surprisingly wasn't against it. Sure, she's missing a week of school, and no matter how trivial and insignificant that week is a normal human being should not be allowed to do that. Godou would normally object to such a decision before letting Shizuka go, but this time he seemed almost glad that Shizuka left home.
Now why would he think like that? It can't be, he's inviting his girls ove-?
The moment Shizuka think of that possibility she has to remind herself that times have changed. Godou is no longer a sexual deviant, so there's no need to worry about a thing like that. At worst he might organize a party for his friends, perfectly acceptable behavior so long as he cleans up after himself.
Shizuka is now inside of an airplane, flying towards the warmth of the Caribean. To be more precise, her father has booked a hotel in Saint Lucia, one of the island nations located there. With a population of an average city, and a size three to four times smaller than Tokyo, it's a cozy little island with a surprising amount of people in it.
But the best part? Tropical weather that is warm but never too warm, and right now it's in the middle of the dry season, meaning that there is no rain creating any moody days. No, it's just three weeks of relaxation with no school, no gods, and best of all no Godou.
So what will she do when she arrives there? She did buy a tourist book to get a bit of an impression, and so far there are a few things she's certain that will happen if she is together with father:
Other than tanning at the beach and enjoying the sun there will be a trips to the sulfur volcano, the botanical garden, deep sea fishing and snorkeling, or visiting the cities.
Yeah, this is going to be fun.
She also brought a single magic book with her. It's not one that useful for learning new spells, but this is a compilation of Japanese history (no pun intended) that reads more like a good book. This one too was a gift from Niseko, though she never got to reading it. For now that book of intricate knowledge is just a way to pass some time on this flight. And it's needed, because this is one long flight. It takes sixteen hours to get there, and the only stop on the way is in Honolulu.
While the first half of the flight can be spend sleeping, the second eight hours need to be filled with some form of activity to counter boredom. What better than a good book to keep yourself interested?
There are quite a few interesting stories here, all about how the people in the past dealt with the gods around them. It's especially surprising when you realize that they had to do it without any godslayer. Japan has had a grand total of two godslayers ruling over their lands in all its history, and these two were both born this year.
There was a lot of trickery used to keep gods out of their lands before they had their own king.. The solutions vary quite a bit: some of the easier ones are hiring another king to deal with the problem, usually the one from China. In recent history that would be the second king, a person named Luo Hao. But before there was "The ruler of the martial realm" there was one named "The dragon lord of chaos", and before that the "He who unifies heaven and earth", and before that was the "Divine blade of thousand deaths".
…really, these Chinese do have a penchant for giving people overly long titles. Either way, there were also other solutions made in case there was no godslayer available. She's been to one of these places already, the now vacant seal which once held the dragon-slaying monkey king, Sun Wukong. This seal was made by a large number of mages, a group of beings belong not in the mortal nor in the divine realm and the legendary god Erlang, and the great sage equaling heaven still managed to decimate those opposing him before he was successfully sealed away. Forced into obedience he was only called out when a goddess of earth appeared, and then forcefully sucked back into the seal after his job was done. According to Fuyuhime, it took the combined effort of three Campione to finally slay this monstrous deity once and for all.
Another solution was the symbiotic relationship with gods the people of Japan had. Sometimes a god was allowed to rage in all of his heretic glory, letting him overcome his own nature with time. When he finally understood that what he was doing was harmful to his own believers he would stop, and instead of disappearing he would retire, become a god residing in the world between life and death, the netherworld, usually willing to help out his nation in the case a god descends on earth. As far as this list goes there is just a handful on gods willing to help out in case Japan ever comes without a godslayer: Susanoo, Hachiman, Konohanasakuya-hime, Fukurokuju and Aizen Myo-o; There are even a few foreign gods willing to help like lord Erlang, Adi Parashakti and Jarylo. Well, not even half of them still exist, either slain in battle or forcefully met their end by a foreign godslayer. One god even got involved in the great godslayer massacre of five hundred years ago involving some god called the strongest steel.
Right now only three or so still exist, and they can rest on their laurels now that there are kings defending their nation.
Considering that Shizuka is one of their kings she would say that Japan has it rather easy. Unlike Alec's tendency to steal things and Doni's tendency to… well, be Doni, what did she do? Except for that one time in Niseko where she ordered the mages around (a justified emergency) she just fought Guinevere, Karna and a moron. Nothing truly abnormal or frightening, and she hopes to keep it that way.
As Shizuka keeps enjoying herself with books and other kinds of pastime she eventually notices that the seatbelt light is blinking. In other words the plane is descending… and looking outside she sees an island clearly belonging to the Caribbean. The flight is finally over!
When the plane lands Shizuka steps out into the warm sun, quite different from Tokyo's cold weather. After going through the passport encounter, baggage claim and customs she arrives in the arrival lobby, quickly noticing the only familiar face around:
"Dad!" With excitement she doesn't usually show she walks towards her father, Kusanagi Genzou. As calm and mature she can be when faced with normal life Shizuka shows large emotions in uncommon situations. Irritation when dealing with some absurd situation she truly dislikes, or in this case happiness when meeting her parents when they are around.
But those extreme emotions are dampened by her mother's side, because her dad is even worse: "Shizuka-chan!" He run towards Shizuka, lifting her from the floor and giving her a warm embrace. This type of hugging would be rather embarrassing back in Japan, but considering how Genzou is never there and the fact that they are literally on the other side of the world means that doing this is no problem at all for the two of them.
Kusanagi Genzou. Son of Kusanagi Ichirou, and father of both Shizuka and Godou. In looks he's… okay, so to say. Above average in looks and on the tall side, but not particularly special. However, he too has the same skill as the other males in the family, an extrovert personality and will that makes him popular in social life. Unlike those still living in Japan he is not interested in wooing hundreds of women, instead having made the rational choice to invest these talents into his company, making him a rather successful businessman. Perhaps that's why Shizuka likes him so much, he's actually the most rational member of the family after Shizuka.
After the hug ends Genzou looks around, asking the important question: "Say, my son isn't here too, is he?"
"Of course not, I left onii-chan back home. He didn't want to come either way, so that was simple." Unlike Shizuka the relationship between father and son is… difficult. For some reason they rub each other the wrong way, calling each other a worthless human being whenever possible. Shizuka doesn't understand why, but she doesn't consider it worth her time to try and solve it.
"That's good, then we can spend our time together like father and daughter! Let's get your stuff to the car, and start our holidays together!" Taking most of the heavy stuff Genzou leads her daughter to outside the airport. There, on this beautiful island, only one thing should be said:
Let the vacation begin!
-x-
Lost track of time. Lost track of day. Jalousie Beach:
The beaches are one of the main tourism points for St. Lucia, and Shizuka too is enjoying her time as a tourist. She has been here a few days now, completely forgotten the track of time. Dressed in a purple bikini she is currently sunbathing on a beach chair at Jalousie beach, alongside her father.
Ah, truly, this is bliss! The only two companions Shizuka has here are the sun and the sea. Well, okay, there is her father and other tourists, but they do not disturb Shizuka. All business at home is solved, and even Godou has been completely reformed by some sort of divine power.
In other words, there is finally some time to purely relax. No supernatural events, no natural events, just a lot of free time. All she has to do is rest, get a nice tan an-hang on, what is happening there?
A group of men all of strong build with beards covering their lower faces and only pants as their clothes enter the beach. They are carrying a red carpet with them, rolling it out over the beach until it sticks a little bit out into the sea.
A few people are watching this all with piqued interest, but it's nothing abnormal. Saint Lucia belongs to the commonwealth, so for which eccentric important human other than England's queen Elizabeth could they roll out something like that? Perhaps a rich man staying here with too much money on his hands?
Well, not that it interests Shizuka that much. Something like this she doesn't need to get involved with.
Suddenly she hears a sound akin to someone tapping on a microphone. Looking up she sees the cause of the sound, but not in a way she would like it.
Standing there is something of a clearly non-human nature. While the upper torso is still completely human the lower half is more akin to a goat, and much to Shizuka's disgust that beasts erect private parts are not that well hidden by the black speedo. Looking around her she sees a lot more of these beasts, there have to be at least fifty of them. Some were hidden, while others shapeshifted out of human disguises, which include those who carried the carpet.
Ugh, goodbye peaceful free time. Those gods just have to ruin everything, don't they?
"Test 1 2 3, hello hello? Right, the microphone seems to be working." The half-human hybrid that wields the microphone stands on a small step-ladder, making his body stick out easily among the other humans and beasts. "Welcome, ladies and gentleman of the public!" Enthusiastically he greets everyone who is around, as if wanting them all to listen. Looking around Shizuka guesses that everyone actually is doing so, considering that even her father is listening with both ears.
However, behind this hybrid another comes out, but this one has a shaved beard and is strangely enough dressed in a pink dress, and a pink bow on his head… even though the quite visible private organs prove it's a male, as far as gender goes for these things.
This one whispers a few words in the ear of the announcer, altering the next lines spoken by that hybrid: "We also bid a warm welcome to everyone who does not feel comfortable to be classified as male or female, but considers themselves to be a third group or something else. In other words, we welcome everyone!"
The hybrid in pink looks satisfied, and steps down from the ladder. The announcer continues with the speech he is giving for this public that combines natural and supernatural elements: "Now, clap and applaud, cheer happily and loudly for the greatest, most amazing, crazily awesome god in existence!"
Urgh, not again! Not another god!
"Indeed! It is him! The great ruler, the tree lord, the prevailor, the liberator, the giver of unlimited wine! Give your loudest applause and cheers for the one and only Bacchus!"
The beasts start clapping, and quite a few of the humans get so caught in the flow they join the clapping.
With loud thundering noise a chariot descends from the heavens… well actually, it's better to say chariots… no, what is with that ridiculously dumb contraption?
On top is a handsome blonde man, clad in nothing but a pair of leopard-dotted trunks, riding a large brown horse. That horse is standing on a chariot pulled by two cheetahs, which is standing on a larger chariot pulled by three tigers, which is standing on an even larger chariot pulled by four panthers which is standing on the final and biggest chariot, which is drawn by five lions. All in all it is a pretty dumb design, though the humans around don't seem to think that absurdity a laughing matter.
"Humans!" The blonde god shouts at the top of his lungs, "Be amazed, for I, Bacchus, have traveled wide and far to descend at this place! Now let us hear praise for the greatest god of all, namely, me!" Bacchus throws his hands up in a victory pose, closing his eyes as he listens to the shouts of cheer from both his magical underlings and the humans who were visiting this place.
Everyone cheers for the great Roman god. Well, not entirely… one young girl of indomitable will still holds out against this god. A Campione like her is not quite that impressed with the descend of deities, even if it has been less than two months since the first time she met those supernatural beings.
Bacchus suddenly turns irritated. He can notice a small disturbance, and he does not like that. "So there is someone not giving me the praise the great me deserves…" He opens his eyes, and looks Shizuka straight in the eye. The humans stop clapping, and look along with the great god whose very presence commands them. Even Genzou looks with glazed eyes at Shizuka, clearly already influenced by this god's power. "A magus? No, we both know that's wrong. This exhilarating feeling, this energy pumped straight into my body, There's only one type of enemy who grants me such a pleasure. Nice to meet you, slayer of my kin!"
"Enemy" and "slayer of kin". Not the kind of words that improve a first meeting. Ugh, before Shizuka knows it she will be forced into another fight.
"Yes, nice to meet you too, although I would've preferred it if I could spend some time in peace. So Bacchus, why exactly are you here?"
As far as Shizuka knows from the books she read gods only appear in parts of the world they held some domain. An Egyptian god would only manifest in Egypt or around the Nile, while someone like Amaterasu would originate in the lands of Japan only. The reason that the goddess Nu Wa could appear in Japan, according to Fuyuhime, is that that island nation used to be part of China a long time ago, and was thus also ruled over by that mother earth goddess. However, the Caribbean and Italy are thousands of miles apart, and Shizuka doesn't even need to look up that this place is not one of Bacchus' domains.
"Hey, I made a pretty arduous journey over the ocean, all to fulfill my dream. I've outdone the fallen hero Ulysses {7} with this voyage, and I only took a week! So much for those old legacies!" Bacchus starts to talk about stuff Shizuka doesn't care about, so she has to pull the conversation back on track:
"What I mean to ask is what you're exactly planning to do. What are your goals?" Shizuka can accept and allow quite a bit, so as long as it doesn't inconvenience others Shizuka can let Bacchus go his way.
"Oh, you mean like that? Of course, it's to outdo the greatest person on earth: Myself!" It finally dawns on Shizuka just how much of a narcissist Bacchus is. This is really a divine level of narcissism. If a human had this then he could probably become a devil king purely by his self-love alone. "I manifested some decennia ago, without any clue of what to do. But then there was a mayor opportunity, a way to leave a permanent mark on human history! What I did altered the lives of millions of humans forever!"
Shizuka gulps at that. What kind of gruesome, horrific thing did he do? A giant massacre? Destruction of vast plots of lands? Something worse?
"And thus… I made the ultimate movie!" How terribl-wait, what? A movie? Bacchus recognizes Shizuka's disbelief, so he quickly explains why he did that: "Do you not see these feats humanity made? Audio plays, films, literature, the internet! These are all amazing! The popularity of stiff and traditional plays is lower than ever before, and all these cool new forms of entertainment have appeared! How could the great me not want to leave my own mark on this part of history?"
"O…kay, I believe you." If all he wants to do is make a movie, than Shizuka has no objections. Just let her enjoy her vacation and she might even give him the directions to Hollywood. "So with what movie are you associated?"
"Poor godslayer, did you live under a rock? Is there not only one famous movie of that age people will quote even today? The story of the strongest steel obtaining the holy grail, do you truly not know of it?"
…
"Really? That Monty Python movie?" Ugh, of course Bacchus gets associated with the informal comedies. And here Shizuka thought it might've been an actual masterpiece.
"Of course it is that one! Together with another of your kin, my buddy Graham, we made the ultimate comedy. But this time, I will create a show that is not just comedy: Comedy and tragedy, action and drama, a horror, an epic! I will create the ultimate movie, unsurpassed for eternity!"
A hard challenge, but not one that Shizuka disagrees with. Such ideals are quite worthy to be performed. Perhaps Shizuka might watch this movie when it is finished.
"Then there is one thing I do not understand: Why are you here? Why not shoot this movie in Italy, your homeland?" Yeah, there's no reason to travel thousands of miles just to shoot a film in a different location. And if you did, then why not go to Hollywood? It's not like there's any location that cannot be filmed from there.
As Bacchus hears of that idea his face churns in disgust, not liking Shizuka's proposal at all. "With him there? No way in hell am I ever meeting that moron again!" Is he talking about Doni? It might be the only Italian living in Italy that Shizuka knows by name, but there's probably no one who could've caused more trouble. "That idiotic godslayer ruined my movie four years ago! I was busy filming when he came on the set, sword blazing and destroying my appliances and minions! He forced me to fight, and after a long, rage-filled battle I was slain. If it wasn't for that asshole I would've finished the movie years ago!"
Oh yes, it's Doni all right who screwed it up for others. Okay, it's not entirely his fault, as parts of this history are not spoken about: Doni did figure out that he destroyed the equipment of a god who meant no harm, and apologized for it before asking if he could get a part in the movie. However, by that time Bacchus was already enraged from Salvatore's previous actions, forcing a long and gruesome duel that lead to victory for the Campione.
"I fully agree there. Salvatore Doni is an idiot through and through."
Bacchus starts to smile, feeling a sense of camaraderie welling up from inside. "Absolutely! How can humans that stupid even exist in the world? He's more of a Neanderthal than a human."
Both sides laugh, proving once and for all that the best way to create friendship is mutual hatred for Salvatore Doni.
Suddenly Bacchus stops laughing, and his face turns solemn, as if disliking what he has to do. "However, while you might've been a great friend in another timeline there is one major fact opposing us: I am a god, and you are a godslayer. We are opponents forced to fight. My blood is boiling, and fighting you will be sheer euphoria."
Damn it, not another fight! "Seriously? After all this? Is there really no way for us not to do this?"
"Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando {8}." Bacchus raises his hands to the sky, quoting sentences in Latin.
"No dice, huh?"
"Indeed. Godslayer Kusanagi Shizuka, don't hold this against me, but I challenge you to a battle…"
-x-
{1} Nikko Toshugu: A Shinto shrine in Nikko dating from 1617. The building is dedicated to Tosho Daigongen, the name under which warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu is deified. The largest and most famous of all temples dedicated to this god, It's been on the UNESCO list for quite some time.
{2} Torri: Those Japanese gates you see at the entrance of shrines. Also the main used symbol for Shintoism.
(3) Tataki: Raw or slightly seared fish/meat, usually served with ginger, and optionally green onion, garlic and soy sauce.
{4} Eurogames: Also called the German-styled board game, is a class of tabletop game that has simple rules, short to medium playtime, focus on strategy and negating luck, and lean towards economic rather than militaristic themes. The opposite of American-style board games, which are called Ameritrash (This is not an insult or made up. This is the affectionate nickname used for American-style board games).
{5} Magic the Gathering: The first trading card came to ever be created, it is also one of the largest still around. With more than twenty million players worldwide, it is one of the most popular games to have ever existed.
{6} Sterquilinus: Roman god of manure. This was not a Beavis and Butthead joke. There was a god like that.
{7} Ulysses: The Roman name of Odysseus, hero of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The reason for his fall is the difference in culture between the Greek and Romans. The Greek, being cultural and developed, liked Odysseus for his wit and cunning, but proud warriors like the Romans prefer strong fighters and dislike him, hence the title of fallen hero.
{8} Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando: "Cease to think that the decrees of the gods can be changed by prayers." Virgil, Aeneid, VI. 376.
-x-
So we meet Bacchus in this chapter. Surely he would rather fight Doni for a rematch then challenge Shizuka, but a fight's a fight. And hey, remember chapter 3? That "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was a divine creation? It wasn't a lie. Who else could've provided the wonderful voice of Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Movie? You can watch Bacchus' influence right now!