喰霊－ 零－
Will you kill someone you love, because of love?
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Disclaimer: Segawa Hajime, the creator of Ga-Rei and Kadokawa Shoten, the company that serialises it, own all copyrighted material this fanfiction may include such as characters, events, dialogue, et cetera. However, some of the titles are mine, as are most of the events so hah!
A/N: In this episode, we'll cover a few more existing scenes, but almost taken out of context for the most part from their original. The chapters after this one are going to be completely different from the existing anime and will finally delve into the plot I'll be setting up in this chapter.
As for the review, this story technically is about how they met, though it was part of the included anime Episode 3, just before the last chapter. If you mean you'd like a novelisation or AU of how they met, I guess I could put one up later, but it'll have to be after my current fictions are complete. =)
Just in case you missed it before, all translations, including titles, will be at the bottom of each chapter.
羨望選択－せんぼうのせんたく－
GAREI -ZERO- episode 05
It was a pleasant morning the next day, the sun bathing the entire estate as Yomi quietly entered. Knowing how early it was, she tried her best not to make a sound so as not to wake young Kagura or disturb her father. Last night had been so wonderful and really helped the situation between her and Nori.
"Don't tell me you're hooked now." Yomi had joked.
"Ba-ka." Nori returned, "As if I'd fall for a battleaxe like you." Of course, the kiss he planted on her just moments before drastically detracted from this statement.
Yomi giggled a bit, taking a seat next to him on the steps as the Kuda-gitsune scurried into her lap, "Then it really was unusual of you to send this little guy to seek out this battleaxe for you."
"Not at all. They all have a habit of wandering off to wherever they like."
"Liar, they've never come by my place before."
After a while of back-and-forth, Nori finally admitted defeat, accepting that he had ulterior motives, namely his desire to see his fiancée alone.
"Will we always argue like this?" Yomi asked with heavy implications.
"Definitely, always and forever." Nori answered her, moving in for another kiss.
Yomi smiled at the memories, pressing two fingers to her lips. As she continued down the corridor to her room, light stirring and a yawn alerted her to her younger sibling's awakening presence. Her content smile turning to mischievous glee, she stalked toward the room, knowing who would be exiting within moments.
This intended target had been awake for a while, though her thoughts trailed back to the previous day. Having failed to dispatch the Ningen no Shiryo, her father was highly displeased and took the scabbard of Michael 12 to her palms as punishment. He would only grunt two words to her during this time, "grow stronger." The girl tearfully rubbed her hands, not knowing what could be done. Finally, with a yawn, she chose to greet the new day. As Kagura reached her door, yawning a second time while stretching her arms, she was unceremoniously bombarded by something soft, silky, with the voice of a dubious cat, and… Kagura knew exactly what happened.
"YOMI!" She whined, pushing the older girl away.
"Good morning, Kagura-nyan!" The cat greeted.
Kagura would have made another retort, but as her eyes focused on her sister, she suddenly realised that, "Yomi, you're wearing a kimono? Why are you dressed up?"
From dubious feline to frozen statue, Yomi's expression underwent a second change and she would start mumbling jumbled explanations for her fancy dress, none of which would be coherent enough to truly understand. Mostly, it sounded somewhat like "Well, kitsune, no not kitsune, there was a spirit and, but no, Shishio, so I, well, then there was a fire, but that and, I mean, yea!" to which Kagura could only blink a few times in response.
Later in the day, Naraku had arranged for Izuna Norisada, Nori's father to come for a visit. He had wanted to confirm the arrangement, to ensure that both parties were in agreement over their childrens' betrothal so that his part would be finalised and he could leave the rest to Yomi and Nori. There was little future left in the aging man and the Isayama clan would need to plan out its future.
"So, shall we continue with this arrangement, Norisada-dono." He asked of Nori's father.
"I have no objections. If our clan could unite with that of the Isayama clan, this is an outstanding opportunity. In fact, I'd be all for immediately having them wed if it can be done!" Came Norisada's enthusiastic reply.
Offering a light chuckle, Naraku quelled the other man's overzealous words, "No need to rush things. At least let Yomi graduate from school before we start discussing the details of their wedding."
Afterward, with the arrangement finalised and the brunt of his work accomplished, Naraku looked on from his balcony as Norisada's chauffer pulled away from the house. While he was satisfied that Norisada had not a single objection to this plan, he already knew that it was only so because of Yomi's background and her eventual power. As noted by the man himself, it was only because Yomi would eventually come to represent the Isayama clan, bearing the title of its head and possessing all the powers currently allotted to Naraku himself. Still, Yomi would be safe with the young heir to the Izuna clan, Noriyuki, and that was all he needed.
"Honoured Brother." A voice called out from behind him.
Turning, Naraku saw the familiar and friendly face of his younger brother, happily surprised to say, "It has been a while, Yuu."
"Yes, Brother seems in good health since I saw you last." Yuu said, "I came to talk about the arrangement between our family and the Izuna clan."
"I heard that you have found Yomi a fiancé and plan to have her take over as head of the Isayama clan." He continued.
"Precisely," Naraku replied, much to Yuu's shock and disbelief, "Yomi might be young and inexperienced, but her strength and will ensure that she will not bring the Isayama name to shame. There needn't be any cause for doubt."
"Yes, but Yomi is an adopted daughter." Yuu reasoned.
Naraku was visibly angered by this, saying, "Till now you still take issue? If I hadn't thought to leave everything to her, I certainly wouldn't have given her Shishio to begin with!"
"So, Honoured Brother, you're saying that you would leave the Isayama clan and its leadership in the care of an outsider?"
Losing what remained of his patience, the Honoured Brother took his cane to Yuu's shoulder and pushed him to the floor, "You who would abandon the Isayama clan's heritage and refuse to take up arms in the struggle, don't you dare tell me you seek this title."
"No, this is not so, Honoured Brother!" Yuu pleaded, "I mean to say there is no need to hand our family's fate over to an outsider at al-"
"Silence!"
"As cowardly and disgraceful a person as I am, a shame to the Isayama name, I also have a daughter! My daughter, Mei, also possesses a strength and will that would not disgrace the Isayama name. Please consider it!"
"This is folly, my father." Another voice interrupted, this one tender and benign.
"Mei!" Yuu mouthed, surprised at what her daughter had just exclaimed.
"Yomi is undoubtedly a highly skilled swordswoman in terms of her slayer capabilities." Mei explained, coming to her father's side, "Furthermore, she's caring for the Tsuchimiya family, a family whose cherished daughter had lost her mother. Within our clan, she is a truly reliable individual. There is no comparing her to someone like me. Isn't that so, Uncle Naraku?"
Naraku stood silently after hearing his niece's words. While the message had been completely in line with his own heart, there was a distinct and almost blatant element of contempt and underlying treachery in her tone of voice and the air she carried about herself as she said it only placed further emphasis on this point. Nodding to show his approval of her statements, his eyes never left her while she aided her father in their departure. There were devils at work in the farthest depths of her mind and he would have to be watchful.
"Category C, Chochinobake!" One of the uniformed officers exclaimed, loading her standard issue Howa 89 rifle.
As one of the Ministry of Defence's Paranormal Disaster Countermeasure Division, she was on assignment with the rest of her squadron. A swarm of living lanterns had chosen to terrorise a local shopping district. With their ammunition of seal-branded ballistic rounds, they had almost no trouble dealing with the nuisances. After handling the first block, the team moved on. Casualties had been kept at a minimal, but there was another problem that the Ministry of Defence wasn't capable of knowing about.
"Yomi, who are they?" Kagura asked.
Their own Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division had also received the signal and knew well enough to dispatch Yomi and Kagura to the scene considering how little the rivaling ministry actually comprehended, or could. The members of the Ministry of Defence were standard units for general defence of the Japanese nation. With the rise in supernatural disturbances, these units were specially equipped with sensors that allowed them to mimic the natural abilities of slayers to "see" spirits. Eliminating the Category Cs, particularly those, resulted in minor accumulations of a Category E creature.
"Yomi, Kasa-obake!" Kagura warned, though the older slayer already saw them.
Slicing through a smaller band of the living umbrellas launching themselves at her, Yomi's Shishio exorcised the lot with ease and she felt confident Nue would not be needed. She had previously been "scolded", at least in her mind, that her use of Ranguren was excessive. Fading through the attacks of a few more, she spun to bisect all three. Kagura was doing well on her own accord, the Michael 12's blade tearing through the hoods or breaking through their single legs. After the first block was dealt with, Kagura proceeded to the next block, though Yomi was more wary.
"Really, I honestly don't know what Honoured Brother is thinking." Yuu complained in the car while he and his daughter were still on their way home.
"No need to be upset over it." Mei noted to her father's misunderstanding.
As Yomi and Kagura arrived at the next block, the Ministry of Defence had yet to clear it; the arising Category Es had appeared too soon for them to destroy the Category Cs that created them. Also, the current groups of Chochinobake weren't as docile as the ones from the first block. Their lanterns had been lit, which allowed the creatures to use the flames as spitfire or as incendiary devices should their paper skin be torn by the custom rounds. There were far more casualties, though the ruckus had caused most civilians to flee so most of the deaths were that of the ministry itself.
Quickly assessing the situation, Yomi and Kagura took off for both sides, passing through as many of the enemy units as they could. Unlike the ill-prepared Paranormal Division, the two slayers could dodge the flames spewed by the Chochinobake, defend against the spinning, bladed Kasa-obake, and do so while being inconvenienced by the units not wanting to take a backseat in the fight. From dodging bullets to flames, Kagura managed to sever several of the twirling umbrellas, taking only a shallow gash to her right leg. Yomi, in the meantime, was struggling with the ballistics; she had gone to some trouble to draw more of the creatures to her in order to take fire away from her young sister. In her reasoning, if worse came to worst, she could always resort to summoning Ranguren. A few bullets grazed her legs and arms, but luckily, most of them were still headed for proper targets.
"Cease fire!" One of the officers finally ordered.
Taking ragged breaths, Yomi looked over and saw that the Ministry of Defence, though begrudgingly, had chosen to retreat. Smiling and with a shake of her head, she returned to battle only to turn back. She thought she saw the faintest sign of orange and black, the same uniform she remembered belonging to someone in one of her previous, curious, missions. Looking on, she could see someone standing at the backend of a motorcycle, but they were speeding off too quickly for her to identify. Stabbing through the eye of another of the lanterns, she decided to let it go. Noting the "upgraded" lanterns, she strategised using the fire within it to spread upon a horde of approaching enemies. As they were either made of paper or thin fabric, it was quite easy to set them ablaze, which also had the bonus of blinding them and sending them running wildly, which mostly resulted in running into one another to further the attacks effect. With a nod to Kagura, the two of them began using this tactic, targeting the fire-wielding lanterns and sending them hurtling into other foes or impaling them to give their swords the brief embers they needed. However, there would soon be another problem.
"Category D…" Kagura gasped.
"As slayers, we're inherently born to a role in the family that's seldom extended." Mei explained, "Just say I was chosen to be the heir to our clan; what if I was to lose my life in the line of duty? In the end, the title would still be Yomi's."
"What are you saying, Mei?!" Yuu stuttered in shock, turning to her daughter.
"Now take it in reverse, if Yomi was to die, then it isn't unlikely that the title could be mine."
Yomi sliced apart another of the Shiryo after one had knocked her to it. She had been trying to reach Kagura, the younger slayer frozen in fear of them. Kagura tried to keep up the fight. Both her father and sister were counting on her to do so, but she could barely lift her sword to them without memories of her mother's death flooding her thoughts. The sight of a dead person was enough to make her feel sick and, not only did she have to so many to witness, not only did they all have horrendous injuries, she now had the responsibility of making those injuries worse. She could only imagine the same damage she could produce in other spirits she had no qualms about exorcising on these people. She'd seen what her father did to the other Shiryo before, how the Ga-rei, Byakuei, stormed through all of them, its teeth ripping them to shreds without her father so much as showing any disdain for the action. How could she be expected of the same?
Yomi cartwheeled forward, Shishio cutting through another one right down the center of its body. Rolling through, she slashed horizontally through another two behind it and used the momentum to twist and decapitate one at her back that had followed her progression. Backflipping led to stabbing through the skull of another, which she used to balance herself into placing her legs onto the shoulders of yet another, twisting to bring it to the ground before slicing through both and spinning to a stand. Looking over to Kagura, she realised she was out of options and evoked Ranguren from the sword. Its Houkoha blew apart a great many of the fallen officers and other Shiryo corpses, but there were too many near Kagura to have the attack used effectively. Yomi took to leaving Ranguren with the rest and headed straight for the girl, ducking an enemy lunge and slicing apart its ankle before turning her blade upward to tear through the length of its body. Stabbing a second, she pushed forward with a roar, taking the blade into a third and fourth before pulling it out of their sides and into a fifth. The remaining creatures left Kagura and surrounded her, which was what she wanted and she began picking them apart one at a time, all the while luring them towards her Ga-rei. The entire series was tiresome and she could feel her stamina waning, but her little sister needed her and she wasn't going to give in.
'Grow stronger…' Garaku's words echoed in Kagura's ear.
Watching Yomi exhaust herself against the Category Ds wasn't something she had wanted, but the young slayer simply could not bring herself to attack them. She had honestly given it her best, even bringing her weapon to the neck of one, but that's when her inner strength would be expended and she found her blade stopped, trembling in her hands as she would then be forced to run from oncoming advances. She even managed to chip into one of them, though to be fair, it had been an accident after dodging a few swipes and lunges from other Shiryo.
After taking a moment following her latest run, Yomi noticed that Kagura was almost in a daze, her eyes cast upon the remaining group of enemies. Grunting her fatigue and pulling herself forth, she dashed into the girl, pushing her off to the side and onto the ground before commanding Ranguren to blow the lot away with another Houkoha.
"Yes, it's still too soon to be discussing such an outcome." Mei murmured, her eyes gazing carelessly at her nails as the car arrived at their doorstep.
A couple of days later, the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division was assigned to investigate an incident indicative of a Yamabiko. Yamabiko was a spirit that could reproduce any sound like an echo, but with astounding accuracy. In a noisy business district, one could easily cause chaos. Upon arrival, Yomi began light clapping as Kagura scanned the area with a spiritual wave scanner. Naturally, with a creature that could recreate sound, it was unwise to create a loud sound for fear of how loud the reproduction could be.
After a few claps, with nothing on her scopes, Kagura pondered, "It seems the creature's not nearby, Yomi."
"Yes, seems like it." She answered, her attention maintained on discovering the Yamabiko's location.
"Maybe it went to Iwahata's area."
"Let's go to another area and check, Kagura."
As soon as they began to move, Kagura's scanner alerted her to its presence in the vicinity and she relayed it to Yomi. Her older sister quickly hushed the girl as they began hearing echoes of her voice from all sides, impossible to trace even if it did let them know it was there. Readying their weapons as silently as they could, they waited together for it to reveal itself.
A truck's horn followed by the words, "HEY! The hell are you doing?!", ruined their chance at a pre-emptive strike.
The echoes were tremendous and steadily intensifying, eventually causing the windows of the surrounding skyscrapers to shatter. Glass began showering down from above all around them and Yomi was again forced to unleash Ranguren from her sword. The giant beast appeared over the truck, taking all the glass harmlessly into its thickly-furred hide. The driver had been knocked unconscious by the move, but it would be safer for him to remain… calm… inside his vehicle rather than running madly about in panic.
"Category B: Yamabiko." Yomi notified, standing on-guard.
"Is that the cause of all those reported disturbances?" The lesser experienced Kagura asked, looking at the purple and black armless clown creature.
"Alternating wave assault, okay?"
"Okay Pocky!" Cried Kagura, jumping into battle.
Charging forward, Yomi unleashed a straight horizontal swipe, but was met with a copy of herself, much to her shock and disbelief. Annoyingly, the creature repeated her reaction simply to continue its facade of an attack functioning. Kagura quickly jumped in, making a lunge, which likewise produced enough of a sound to let the creature replicate her form and attack, blocking it as well. Acting fast, Yomi ordered her sister to duck out of the way and used Ranguren's Houkoha against it in hopes that the devastating attack would be strong enough to bypass duplicating. However, hearing the orders from Yomi allowed it to reform in her likeness, understand the tactic, then change again at the sound of Houkoha back to its original sound absorbing and reproducing form, which then let it soak in the sonics of the attack and reflect it back. Yomi noticed this, realising her previous conception of the creature to be folly, and dodged the reflected wave in time. Calculating this new information, she recovered and came up with a new strategy just as the Yamabiko retreated to the roof of a nearby parking garage.
"Hurry and chase it down!" She told Kagura.
Nodding, the girl planted Michael 12's scabbard into the asphalt and, grabbing onto the sword in a somersault, launched it from the scabbard with its trigger. The force of it was strong enough to lift and hurl her right up to the roof, the chain attaching the weapon to its scabbard allowing her to retrieve it once she landed. Once she caught her ground, she located the Yamabiko to her left and sped for it, clashing swords as it assumed her shape through the sound of her footsteps. Twisting her weapon, Kagura tried a vertical swing, then spun for a backhand, following it with a swipe of her scabbard, but each move was identically preserved in the motions of the creature. Kicking, she crossed heels with it, flipped, ducked low, and stabbed up to catch its chin, only to have to dodge the same oncoming assault to her own. The swords slid against one another roughly, but Kagura used the force to pull herself around it, switching sides with the creature before rolling forward and striking down, again mimicked perfectly.
"Oh, stop copying me!" She cried out in exhausted frustration.
"Oh, stop copying me!" It repeated, much to the girl's chagrin.
"Ugh, I just said not to copy me!" Kagura growled only to be mimicked again.
Continuing her attack, a slanted downward swing, followed closely with a low spin, upward pull, which was used only to fade into her whipping the scabbard across to hit the side of its head as a way of hopefully disorienting it. Still, the Yamabiko didn't relent and each of these carefully coordinated moves were put to waste with more perfect mirroring.
Meanwhile, Yomi was busy nearby, biding her time for an opening while keeping extremely silent. After taking herself up to the roof with Nue's strong jump, she recalled the creature and held her weapon as stiffly as she could. Stalking from the furthest rim of coverage, she watched as her sister traded unsuccessful blows with it, hoping for the girl to subdue it on her own, but knowing it wasn't a likely possibility.
Finally, leading from a tight clash, Kagura rebounded with an angry grunt and loosed a powerful strike, passing through to the other side just as the Yamabiko did much of the same. Afterwards, both Kagura and her clone breathing her ragged fatigued breaths, she sighed and collapsed to the floor in exhaustion as the creature only resumed its original shape, turning to face her in preparation for the next attack. Exploiting the opportunity, Yomi, who had stalked close enough to them by this point, extended Shishio, successfully plunging the weapon into its back, the blade exiting from its chest. With a creak, the exorcised creature vanished into nothingness.
"Sorry I'm late." Yomi apologised, coming to Kagura's side, "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She answered.
"Are you alright??"
"Yes, I'm fine.."
"Are you alright???"
"Yes, I'm fine…"
Back to back, Yomi and Kagura noticed that the roof was now covered in copies of themselves, repeating every word they were saying.
"There are still more?" Kagura asked aloud, prompting more echoes, "What are we going to do, Yomi?"
With a sigh, Yomi simply answered, "You just don't mistake me for one of them and exorcise me, too", which prompted some whining from the girl.
As both looked ahead with no clear strategy available, a third voice suddenly rang out, "Yomi! Houkoha!"
Looking to her right, atop the roof entrance to the building was Mei. Yomi understood the direction immediately, evoking the Ga-rei and commanding it to send its howling wave upward into the air. The resulting shockwave caused by the recoil destroyed all the parked vehicles, some of which were equipped with alarms. Their destruction triggering those alarms, the variety of all of them disoriented the Yamabiko and send their form fluctuating out of control.
"Now!" Mei shouted, slicing through one with her halberd.
Spinning together, both Yomi and Kagura focused their spiritual energies into their blades and unleashed wave after wave all around themselves, eventually dismembering each of the dazed creatures.
"Your efforts are appreciated." Mei stated, approaching the two once the fight was over.
"Mei, how long has it been." Yomi greeted formally.
"Long time no see." Kagura added, "Was Mei chasing after the Yamabiko from before, too?"
"I was watching your bout." She answered, turning to her, "It was overly inefficient. You both should have known that the Yamabiko like to travel and work in packs."
"I'm sorry." Yomi admitted.
"Put more consideration into your tactics and there's no telling how much less damage you could've done to the city." She continued, "Take better care next time."
Taking her attention then to the Ga-rei at Yomi's side, she placed a lovingly hand on its mane, adding, "Nue, the treasured Ga-rei of the Isayama clan generation upon generation, if its awesome power is not put in the hands of a worthy user and wielded properly, it will come to waste all the same."
Turning her attention back to her younger sister, Mei's next words seemed aimed directly at her, "Just being part of a spiritually powerful clan doesn't guarantee inheriting that same quality."
With all that said, she retracted her highly noticeable weapon into its staff, producing a parasol from the other side. Taking one more look at the two, she left with a casual "stay well" and departed as abruptly as she had come.
"This is the latest report received from our Observations Center." Kiri reported, "According to analysis of Central Chiyoda, there has been an active increase in the density of supernatural occurrences in the area."
"Who's been attending to these anomalies?" The chief asked.
Kiri looked off to the side, her lips dropping to a frown, "Isayama Mei."
"Oh, Mei-chan's helping out, huh? That's good to hear. I was hoping to enlist her services in our team. Kiri-chan, do you think you could recruit her for me?"
"She refused." Kiri immediately responded.
"What? She dismissed us so quickly?"
"She seems to enjoy being a freelancing slayer. I figure it's both due to her stand-point and that working alongside Isayama Yomi could be uncomfortable for them."
"I guess so. Continue." The chief said, sighing over the loss of a skilled slayer.
"The focal points of each of these occurrences are starting to blur. We're having difficulty pinpointing them."
"In that case, inform all staff to increase efforts and put more consideration into surveillance. The Observations Center should continue active reporting."
"Understood."
"Curious situation." The chief mumbled to herself before proceeding, "Anything else?"
Elsewhere, Yuu found himself back on the balcony of his older brother once again. This time, however, he was confident, smug to be more precise. With the recent victories his daughter had had against the sudden influx of paranormal activity, Isayama Yuu had something to gloat about. Originally stated by Mei herself was that she could not compare to Yomi and, thus, should not be considered an equal rival to her as heir. However, whereas Yomi seemed to be slacking off and succumbing to fatigue, Mei was rising to the challenge at hand and felling all enemy targets at that.
"Honoured Brother, might I have a word." He spoke aloud, carrying with his words an undeniable air of contempt.
"What is it you want, Yuu?" Naraku asked with a frown, knowing full well what was coming.
"This spell of spiritual anomalies is certainly bizarre, isn't it?" Yuu continued, sidestepping his actual intent.
"Yes, there must be some malevolent force at work." Naraku responded, his eyes falling on the city in the distance, "What do you make of it, Yuu?"
Off on his own reverie, Yuu only answered this with, "It's a good thing Mei has been so diligent about her duties as a slayer. How is Yomi faring?"
"She does her best. That is all I can expect of her." Naraku replied with a heavy sigh, "Troubles are being stacked against her and it worries me."
"Well, if she can't handle the burden, I am sure Mei could help."
Those words stung and the head of the Isayama estate took to walking right up to his younger brother and confront him directly about his true purpose for visiting. Yuu's former humility and respect for his Honoured Brother had long since vanished, replaced by a coy grin and a look of superiority. Naraku, unfortunately, could not bolster any worthwhile counter. Yomi had been faltering and Mei was actually doing a remarkable job of hunting down all the occurrences and with minimal damages at that.
"Think on it, Honoured Brother. There may come a time when your judgements will determine your own longevity." Yuu reminded in as kind a tone he could despite his meaning being blatant disdain for his brother's loyalties to an outsider.
Taking his leave, Yuu near sauntered out of Naraku's home. Naraku could only endure the man's joy at his expense. As any proud father, his younger brother had every right to flaunt his daughter's successes. He admitted to himself then that he was guilty of much the same with Yomi, always contented by the young woman's victories in battle and progress in training. Still, there was something odd about this current situation that delved further than simple fatherly pride being broken. Walking himself back to the edge of the balcony, he watched as Yuu entered his vehicle, prompting his driver to take off. Hopefully, it wouldn't result in irrevocable wounds.
"There is an indication that human spirit manifestations of Category D creatures are also on the rise." Kiri proceeded, reading from the report, "Previously, they accumulated in all sectors evenly and the damage they produced was minimal so there wasn't much issue, but now they seem to concentrate in some areas and cases of mystical disruption are increasing."
The chief was visibly concerned over this news, noting to herself that increases like these were completely unnatural even to such an esoterically mysterious phenomenon. Working it out, she figured it must have been the advent of malevolent factors, or miasma, which attracted creatures like this. Still, if that was the case, there was still one card left to play.
"Do we know what caused the first of these incidents in elevated miasma?" She asked her assistant.
"As a result of what happened during that case, our team pulled out to let Tsuchimiya's father exorcise all the Category Ds. We could not gain any further information from the event."
"Then, it still leaves the question of what's causing the odd behaviour in these creatures."
Whipping her halberd upward, Isayama Mei sliced through yet another of the Category Cs she was dealing with, landing gracefully on the nearby rooftop. Surveying the area for further targets, she found only the scattering remains and reached for her sash, taking out a small vial. It was almost black in colour and bore a monstrous face at its center contorted in a menacing grin.
"Kameosa, I'll be needing your services again." Mei spoke to the object, removing its stop.
Out of the vial spewed a puff of black smoke that sank into the ground where Mei stood. The substance was a condensed form of malevolent spiritual energy, also known as miasma. Smiling at her work, she eagerly awaited the next swarm of enemies that would be drawn to it. The puff was only enough to be noticeable to weaker creatures so she needed not fear becoming overwhelmed. Miasma of this sort could be used in all sorts of venues with its ability. In some training sessions, a vial just like the one she was carrying could be used to pull in a crowd of weaklings just to exorcise. One could also use just the right quantity to attract a particular kind of creature if practice in besting it was desired. Of course, one might also try this on bringing a certain intolerable creature, say a Category D: Ningen no Shiryo, against an unwanted cohort. Yes, with just some of the substance placed inside a tiny but aged for a century container, called a Kameosa, a type of container that regenerated any substance placed inside of it, a person in the know could have an endless supply ready for use whenever one wanted. Glancing up with a devious smile, Mei saw her next victim, leapt from her perch, and struck.
"And what about Kagura?" The chief asked.
"Since that last incident, we've been trying to assign teams other than Kagura's to handle cases of Category Ds. However, I feel it'll come down to a day when she'll have to accept her responsibilities as a slayer." Kiri stated.
"That's true, but for now, let's leave it this way." The chief replied, rolling her chair out to the side, "Yomi-chan's been overdoing it in her role as big sister, hasn't she?"
"Kagura's being spoiled into an overly gentle and delicate kid."
"Those two are certainly close, not like any typical-"
"In our line of work, that kind of closeness could be fatal."
Taking a breath and wheeling herself to one of the drawers next to her desk, the chief asked, "How is Kagura doing?"
"She's terrified of only the Category Ds. With all these new occurrences, more civilians are being harmed and that means more corpses for the Akureika to possess."
She sighed, "What about Yomi?"
"As always, Yomi protects Kagura whenever she can. It's proving to be extensively draining on her part. She's been injured several times already and her waning faith in her skills from being outdone by Mei isn't helping."
"Yomi was in competition with Mei? Doesn't sound like Yomi."
"I don't think it's about that. Yomi is a leading figure in the Isayama clan. It's possible she doesn't want to fail them or her father so being saved by Mei and not being able to hold up her end when Mei seems to be excelling could be affecting her belief in herself." Kiri noted.
"That will be all." The chief said, dismissing her assistant.
Opening the drawer she had placed herself before, she recovered a ring and put it on her right hand. Gazing at it, she turned her attention back to the grid and all the anomalies present on it. Things would get worse before they could even hope it'd get better.
"That should do it for today." Mei said to herself, her halberd still piercing the surface of the roof where her last conquest had been.
Taking out her Kameosa, she began gazing almost lovingly at the small vial. Her blank stare curled into a sinister grin as she lightly walked towards the edge of the balcony, peering just over the railing. Lifting her slender fingers up, she gently grazed the vial, tracing its length from the bottom until she reached the stop at the top.
"But, it is still early. Maybe one more round before I return." She added, beginning to lift the seal.
Without warning, a spike rained down, blasting through the Kameosa and exorcising it. When Mei turned back, she saw what appeared to be a small collection of butterflies overhead just fluttering about. Quickly walking back to retrieve her weapon, another spike came down, passing just behind her as she grabbed for the halberd, rolling to dodge another one. Two more spikes came, this time from directly in front of her. Using the bladed end of the staff, she deflected each, following by sending a wave of her spiritual energy through it at the butterflies. Unfortunately, they were so few and far between that the wave passed harmlessly through, hardly capable of touching any of them. The aura of malice that surrounded it, however, was more successful, disintegrating the lot.
"How amusing." A voice echoed, though its owner could not be seen.
From the distance, another wave of spikes shot forth, forcing Mei to flip backwards a few times in order to dodge them all. They landed harmlessly into the balcony's surface, but soon faded away into nothingness. If it hadn't been for the holes they made in the concrete, there would have been no notice that they had ever been there. Mei was anxious by this point. Scanning visually with her eyes had failed her, but her other senses as a trained slayer offered her some comfort and insight. She waited patiently for any sign to show her a position and, sure enough, there was a strong spiritual force appearing behind her. Turning quickly, she sliced the being in two; however, it was only another swarm of the butterflies, this time taking a humanoid shape. They, too, were obliterated by Mei's malicious aura.
"Show me your true self!" She demanded.
"What do you plan to when that happens?" The voice replied, its tone sounding in equal amounts of amusement and boredom.
"It is our job to eliminate those who spread the taint of death to the human world." Mei recited, still showing her slayer's heritage.
"Very well." It said.
Moments later, footsteps began sounding off the floor of the roof. As Mei watched on, the origin of the footsteps began appearing, first as shoes, then completing its way up to reveal a boy with white hair, only old enough to be about 15, if even that much. Even so, in Mei's eyes, there was a dark energy behind him, the proof that he was no longer human and was truly a…
"You're a powerful evil spirit, are you not?" She inquired of him, readying herself for attack.
"Well, it seems to be like that, eh?" He replied, a tone unfitting of his young appearance, "Or maybe it might be due to the stone I have that your senses told you that."
"Stone?"
"Yes, the Sesshouseki." The boy declared, lifting the hair covering his left eye to reveal a ruby-like gem replacing it, "Do you know of it?"
Mei immediately plunged her halberd into his chest, but this time it was to no avail. He simple cocked his eyes up at her, a Cheshire grin blazing at the girl. Mei was honestly terrified, dropping her weapon and falling back.
"You have a wonderfully vicious soul in you." The boy said, plucking the weapon from his torso to allow the wound to close, "I am Mitogawa Kazuhiro. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
"You son of a-"
"Now now. I have a proposition for you." He told her.
"Why would I deal with you?"
Continuing on his own dialogue, Mitogawa said, "Envy, Wrath, Hatred, Antipathy, Desire, I live to exploit these things. This stone has the allure, a power to attract those who seek these things like flowers drawing butterflies."
"What does that have to do with me?" Mei asked recovering her halberd as her courage began returning to her.
"The Sesshouseki can attract the evil spirits you want to hunt." He answered, "You can slay as many as you'd like, even take on the stronger ones that can really help your prestige."
"And what do you gain in this?"
"I seek the Hyakki Yako. The more of those wretched emotions present in the world, the easier it will be to attain it."
"The Hyakki Yako? The Night of One Hundred Demons?" Mei grunted, "How could you expect me to help you with that?"
"Oh you won't be, at least not directly. I just want your desire to surpass your rivals. It is a delicious aura that bathes you." Mitogawa replied, licking his lips slowly.
Mei cringed, "I will not be a part of the Hyakki Yako, even if it means I never get what I deserve."
"Really? Frankly, the Kameosa you were using tells me otherwise. You already know how much you've poisoned this city with it." Mitogawa mused, steadily approaching his prey, "What does your heart truly want? Refusal?"
Mei looked uneasily at the boy, her mind confusing her as her heartbeats quickened. She knew what she had done; the miasma she continually seeped was toxic to the environment and even the living, even a slayer such as her, would suffer its effects. She had reasoned with herself that she was doing it to prove them all wrong, that she, Isayama Mei, was the strongest in the family, deserving of the sword Shishio, deserving of the coveted title as head of the Isayama clan. She would have stopped once they had given her what was rightfully hers. She would have stopped once Yomi was dead. She would have stopped once everything and everyone finally did what they should have done and given her justice.
"I can give you your justice." Mitogawa added, his person standing right before her, his eyes glaring wildly into hers.
Mei felt a horrible blush creep over her features as everything in her mind told her a gift had been placed in front of her and she would be a fool not to accept it. She was a slayer and those thoughts were evil. She was overlooked and cast aside for an outsider.
Slowly nodding, a stray tear fell from her eye, sliding down her cheek as she began moving her lips weakly, "Yes."
A week later, with more and more reports of spiritual anomalies and drastic incidents across Japan, Yomi and Kagura's team began excessively dealing with call after call; all the while, Mei had seemingly been one step ahead, having taken down several points almost like clockwork. At the latest target, just outside of Mito in the Ibaraki Prefecture, a large fishing vessel had been attacked.
"What happened?" Kazuki asked one of the fishermen.
"She took them!" One cried.
"She took them!" Followed by a second.
Soon, every one of the sailors had latched themselves onto Kazuki, tears pouring from their eyes and shouting about how a beautiful woman took "something" from them. As he was certainly out of action, Iwahata, Nori, the Nabuu Brothers, and the tag team of Yomi and Kagura went to their newly built, just arrived speed boat and took it to the point where the sailors had said… well, screamed they had found her.
At an island shaped like a giant spiral shell, the team discovered a beautiful woman, dressed in delicate silk robes and with strands of smooth satin hair draping her shoulders. She was leaning against the "shell" of the island barefoot as she casually glanced over to the boat. Immediately fazed were all the men save Iwahata, who like Yomi and Kagura, shared a look of disdain for their lovestruck teammates.
"Category B: Sazae-oni." Kagura reported, readying Michael 12.
"Yea, but you have to wonder what conditioner she uses on her hair." Yomi joked, releasing Shishio from its sheath.
Iwahata was assigned by default to deal with Nori, the Nabuu brothers, and Kazuki, keeping them back so the girls could exorcise the snail ogre of a woman. However, in response, the woman leaped back and, from the muck coating the Sazae-oni's shell erupted twin turrets. As she gave the command, the turrets began launching rounds of gold spheres and effectively halted their progress. Iwahata scrambled to get each of the men down so he could manage the boat. Several shots had already punctured its frame, but the crucial hull and engine were left unharmed so they still had a fighting change.
Back on shore, Mei had arrived on scene after having taken care of an assortment of low-level spirits. She had to admit; this Mitogawa Kazuhiro was useful and had enough darkness inside his Sesshouseki to attract so many creatures, far better and easier than her miasma spilling. Also, once she was head, she could exorcise him, relieve him of his Sesshouseki and have it purified, and it will be like a dream. Purifying the stone would leave no trace of the evil that she was forced to stain her home with when using the miasma. Exorcising the obviously Category A being that Mitogawa was would earn her much respect as head of the Isayama clan, and in the end, no one would have to know what she'd done.
"Looks like a Category B, Yomi. Can you handle it?" She gloated, looking on.
Eventually, she would choose to come to her cousin's aid, but she would take her time with it. First, Yomi needed to understand her place in the family. She needed to know her insignificance as an outsider, a pet as it were, and not an heir.
Yomi leaped from the boat onto the snail itself, intent on fighting the woman at close range. The turret was quickly dealt with as she landed, slicing down into the shell's surface and dismantling it. Kagura progressed the assault, flipping over Yomi to try and hit the girl. Rather than dodge, she simple let herself be severed, her body exploding into streams of seaweed that ensnared both.
"Ah, the girl was a fake!" Kagura screamed.
Mei was starting the boat now, though, this time, she was really trying. She had wanted Yomi to suffer, but none of the others. She was still a slayer and that meant saving the living from supernatural forces that would bring them to harm. The motor began to start and she took hold of the rudder just in time to see, erupting from the waters in front of her, the dragon spirit Shinryu. The Shinryu was the closest to a Category A a Category B could get. Mei was visibly shaken and barely managed the backflip to avoid the ensuing dive by the beast.
"Kagura, we can only do two things to it. We can dive into the water and attack it directly, but we'll be in its element or we can keep chipping away at its shell and hope to break into its body." Yomi informed, the two having freed themselves from their bindings.
"Yomi, I think we have other problems!" Kagura whined, pointing over to the boat where Iwahata had been knocked unconscious by the as yet to recover men of the group.
Standing amongst them in the same silken robes but with her hair now in a ponytail, was the woman linked to the Sazae-oni, presiding over Yomi and Kagura's teammates as puppet master with her army of puppets. Yomi and Kagura could only cringe, knowing full well they could not deal with them, particularly Nori whose Kuda-gitsune was just slightly subpar to Yomi's Ranguren. Waving her hand, the woman ordered Nori and Kazuki to advance onto the shell and face the two directly while her plans for the Nabuu brothers was more sinister. After two plunks were heard, Kagura gasped having figured out what their role was.
"Yomi! She's going to drown them!"
"I think we're not going to be able to help them anytime soon." Yomi replied, her eyes never leaving Nori.
With the appearance of a horde of Kuda-gitsune, Mei knew this was going to go poorly. The Shinryu prevented her from reaching the Sazae-oni and it was a strong creature to face. With those two members of the Supernatural Countermeasures Team sent into the water, she calculated there would be at least the two victims, if not one of the two other men by Yomi's hand. Furthermore, there was the last man still unconscious on their speed boat with the apparitional host of the creature beside him.
Turning her attention back to Nori and his Ga-rei, Kagura tried to lunge for him and thrust him with the hilt of her sword as a ploy to knock him unconscious, which would dismiss the arsenal of spiritual beasts. However, Kazuki was wise to it and allowed himself to be tackled instead by a surprised and unprepared Kagura, wrapping his arms around her once they hit the surface. With her partner indisposed, Yomi had no options left but to evoke her own Ga-rei. Ranguren took the shots of charging fox spirits, but Nori was persistent and grounded Yomi and Nue. Finally making a move, the giant snail created seaweed figures to attack Yomi in the small area she had left. Tight quarters made wielding Shishio effectively near impossible so it was no time at all before she was disarmed and bound by them, their forms slowly melting into the shell with Yomi still entangled.
Mei finally caught the Shinryu after another one of its dives, having jumped just as it landed, exposing its spine to her halberd downward strike. Severing the dragon in two, it began to collapse forward just in time to catch Mei's horizontal swipe, slicing straight through its jaw and killing it. Without delay, the slayer found another boat and sped to her fellow slayers' aid.
First pulling up alongside the snail, she dove into the water to rescue the Nabuu brothers, using her weapon's long staff to pull both up at once. Securing them on her boat, she then proceeded to Yomi's boat to save Iwahata. Immediately upon boarding, the woman pulled Mei to herself in a tight embrace, trapping the slayer's arms at her sides. Looking deeply into her eyes, the woman's features suddenly curled into a smirk before pressing her lips to Mei's.
Kagura freed herself from Kazuki by biting his arm and then promptly sent him into a daze by striking him across the temple with her scabbard. Nori took notice and turned his Ga-rei on her. However, Yomi had managed to pull one arm free from the burrowing seaweed to clasp onto the blade of her Shishio, the physical contact which allowed her to call back Nue. Once her Ga-rei returned, she had it protect Kagura from the Kuda-gitsune, which then allowed Kagura to punt Nori and slam her scabbard down against his skull. Quickly going to Yomi's aid, she used the Michael 12 to slice apart the seaweed, which having been in the process of feeding Yomi's body to the snail underneath, had created the breach they needed to destroy the creature.
"Ranguren! Houkoha!" Yomi commanded, rolling away so the Ga-rei could blast the exposed area.
The attack tore straight through the Sazae-oni's form, reaching into the water and causing splash-back. Once the main body was destroyed, the woman it created began to falter, letting go of Mei who immediately wiped her lips. Lifting the halberd to her side, she passed it to her other side and exorcised the woman in a huff.
"Mei! Thank you so much for helping us." Kagura said, hopping back onto the boat.
"Yes, thank you for saving us." Yomi added with a bow.
"You two need to be more mindful about slaying." Mei callously spat, "Stay well."
She left as fast as she could, returning to her boat, returning the passengers, and taking off. Once she arrived on shore, she took one quick glance back at them before hurrying to make her exit. Mitogawa was formidable. If the dragon hadn't made the mistake that it did, she would not have made it on time and those two would have drowned, the Mohawk man would have been killed by the apparition, and perhaps even Yomi and Kagura would have been taken by the creature. Mitogawa was dangerous and now she was involved in a plot she had no idea would have gone so far. Then again, she did manage to slay the Shinryu. She had saved the day, exorcised the creature without any casualties. Perhaps, despite the ulterior motives of the malignant spirit, she could still persevere. Yes, she would have everything she wanted and there would be no cost for victory whatsoever. That was how it would be. That was what it should be.
次回、喰霊-零-:
罪螺旋 － つみのらせん－
GAREI -ZERO- episode 06
Translations: (Names I'm obviously not going to do.)
羨望選択 － せんぼうのせんたく －
Senbou no sentaku
Envy of the Chosen
Ba-ka *or baka* – Idiot
Ningen no Shiryo – Deceased Human Souls
~nyan – This is not a proper title and was said only because Yomi's Yomi. =p It's the Japanese for meow.
Kitsune – Fox/Fox Spirit
Chochinobake – Lantern Ghost
Kasa-obake – Umbrella Ghost
Yamabiko – Spirit of the Mountain
Kameosa – Long Bottle
Akureika – Evil Spirits
Hyakki Yako – Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
Sazae-oni – Turban Snail Ogre
Shinryu – Divine Dragon
次回、喰霊-零-: 罪螺旋 － つみのらせん －
Jikai, Ga-Rei Zero: Tsumi no rasen
Next Time on Ga-Rei Zero: Spiral of Crime