There were many things that living in the moonlit world had taught Kaoru: subterfuge, deception, and hyper-awareness of her surroundings had been the least of what had been drilled into her from an early age.
The most memorable experience among those was the first time she had a tail. It had felt so strange, so insistent, like there was a constant, nagging itch behind her that she just couldn't scratch.
Her hypersensitivity had been written off as a result of her Hime-Miko abilities; after all, spiritual powers manifested in different ways in different Hime-Mikos, and for all they knew, she could quite literally have a sixth sense for this kind of stuff.
In any case, that annoying itch was back and raging as hard as ever, which meant she either really did grow spontaneously grow a tail within the past few minutes or there was a rat scurrying behind her, poking its nose in her business when she really wished it would just go hunt down the next bundle of cheese or something.
She paused in her step. Ignoring it would be far more irritating than confronting it, so confrontation it would be.
"If you're going to be coming along, at least do it openly rather than skulking behind me like some sort of stalker."
Right on cue, Amakasu popped out of an alleyway and smoothly fell in step with her, as if he had expected this to happen all along. "My apologies, Sayanomiya-san. But I could not allow the leader of our beloved organization to wander the streets all by her lonesome now, can I?"
She let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm an adult now, you know. I can take care of myself."
"Be that as it may, it would still be improper to leave someone of your position without an escort."
"I think you mean 'I don't agree with what you're doing, and I'm here to try to talk you out of it', right?"
"Alas, it seems my ploy has been discovered! Whatever shall I do now?"
Kaoru rolled her eyes. "You could go back and leave me alone because I won't change my mind no matter what you say."
She could feel it the moment he tensed, his jovial tone and attitude quickly shifting to cold, businesslike logic.
"Will you really so staunchly stand by your decision to go see the eighth Campione yourself?"
"You should know as well as I do that there is no one else to send. Both Yuri and Ena are preoccupied with their own Campione, leaving me as the only Hime-Miko of note who can negotiate with our recent arrival." She sped up her pace, like she was trying to leave him and his nagging concerns behind. "Sending someone of lower status could be construed as an insult, and any slight against a Campione could easily prove fatal to our entire organization."
"Even so, as the leader of our branch, if something were to befall you, which is certainly quite possible given the volatile nature of Campione, I fear for what would happen to the rest of us."
"We are but one branch of the greater whole. If something were to happen to me, I'm sure the other branches would send someone to take over."
"Ah, but you are not simply a leader, but the last remaining heir of one of the Four Families – the Sayanomiya, the think-tank, the core advisors of our group. I do not believe you are quite as replaceable as you make yourself out to be."
"And I do not believe you understand that this over-reliance on one group of people is going to be our downfall. Times change, Amakasu-kun, and if we do not change with them, we will be the ones left scrambling in the dust. There are other thinkers in our organization, thinkers that I'm sure will become just as great advisors as my family given proper training. You just haven't found them yet."
Her words were for naught, falling on deaf ears. Her companion strode forward, using his longer gait to step in front of her, blocking her path. Amakasu's face was hard, stony like a cliffside she could not hope to scale.
"I'm afraid I cannot let you pass, Sayanomiya-san."
She scowled at him, this man whom she called a friend. She tried to step around him, first left, then right, then left again, but each time the man was there to block her path.
"Get out of my way, Amakasu-kun. That is an order."
He stalwartly held his ground. "I will not. Dismiss me from the organization for my insubordination if you wish; all I ask is that you request for a Hime-Miko to be transferred here from another branch to meet with the Campione instead of needlessly risking yourself. There's no rush, is there? After all, this 'Elizabeth' character seems to have been content with laying low all this time."
Kaoru stood there in silence, ruminating. He wasn't exactly wrong, per se. She could've done exactly that and avoided this entire confrontation with him. She had even considered it beforehand.
But there was another reason. Another reason that she was putting herself at risk, a goal that she was willing to put her life on the line to achieve.
"Do you remember the vision I told you about?" she asked.
He blinked at her. "A vision? Ah, I remember. The one about that world where Heretic Gods and Campione did not exist, correct?"
"Yes, that one." Her gaze drifted off into the distance. "I've been thinking about it for a while now . . . and I believe, no, I'm certain that it has something to do with the eighth Campione."
His stance easily betrayed his skepticism. "And what makes you so certain about that?"
"Call it a hunch."
"A mere hunch?"
Her eyes bored into his. "Have my hunches ever been wrong?"
He laughed dryly. "Many times, in fact."
She scowled at him. "My hunches as a Hime-Miko," she stressed.
". . . No," he admitted. "But even so, this investigation is still something that you can delegate to someone else. Your presence here is, strictly speaking, unnecessary."
Kaoru wanted to pull her hair out over his stubbornness. She knew why he was doing it, of course. He saw himself as a parental figure of hers, and as such, he was rather overprotective of her.
She was grateful for his attention, his desire to care for her; he had done a lot to help pull her together after her parents' untimely demises.
But things were different now. There was a lot more at stake than just her.
"Tell me," she said slowly, "what is the purpose of the History Compilation Committee?"
"Why are you asking me such a question?"
"Humor me."
He stared at her for a moment in silence before reluctantly giving in. "We, as an organization, devote ourselves to monitoring and controlling all the supernatural events in Japan, as well as hiding the existence of such from the general public." He paused. "Is that satisfactory?"
"Close," she said. "But you're missing something."
His eyebrows scrunched together. "Am I? I cannot recall anything else . . . ."
She sighed. "What is the first thing we do when we receive reports of the imminent descent of a Heretic God?"
"We evacuate the surrounding areas," he replied. His eyes widened in realization.
She smirked. "I see you understand now."
"To protect the people from the supernatural . . ." he muttered. "Yes, I see how that is another one of our duties." His gaze zoned back in on her. "However, I still fail to see how that is related to our current conversation."
"I want to make that world come true."
He frowned. "And what makes you think such a vision could possibly come true? You know as well as I do that predictions of the future can be terribly unreliable."
Kaoru withstood his skepticism, shielding her hope from those prying eyes of cynicism. "We won't know how reliable it is until we try to make it come true now, won't we?" Her voice lowered. "Besides, don't you wish that such a world would come to pass as well? That such rampant, terrible monsters couldn't play with our lives as they wished?"
He didn't answer her, then. She could tell that he was wavering. She could tell that he wanted to believe in her words as much as she did, wanted to partake in the sweet fruit of hope that she had offered him.
He just needed a little push.
"I want to make that world come true," she repeated, her voice strong and sure. "To protect the people from the supernatural, I want to change this world so that the supernatural does not exist. No Heretic Gods would descend to raze a bustling town to ashes, no Campione would sacrifice an entire populace to sate his selfish needs. And above all else . . ."
Her fists clenched tightly.
"No child would have to watch their parents die right in front of them, snuffed out so easily by a god's careless fingers."
He was silent still, staring at her with a face at war with itself. But even against her overwhelming offense, he attempted to put up a feeble defense. "But . . ."
"No." She cut him off. This was to be her coup de grâce, her killing blow. "I know what you're going to say. But this is not something that I can entrust to someone else. This is my vision, my dream, my goal to strive for, and I won't let you take that away from me. I will see this through with my own two hands, and it will start with my meeting with the eighth Campione."
She could see it when he gave up, when the fight finally left his bones and left him a sagging husk, a shadow of the once proud wall that had stood in her way.
"I see . . ." he whispered. "If that is how you truly feel, then I suppose my endeavor was hopeless from the start."
She stepped around him, and this time, he did not move to block her way.
Finally. Now she could devote her attention to preparing for her upcoming audience with the newest Campione. How should she introduce herself, how should she broach the topic, how should, how should –
The sound of footsteps behind her caused her to pause once again. "I thought you had given up, Amakasu-kun."
The man fell in line next to her, a cheery grin on his face despite his recent loss. "Ah, I did. I am simply tagging along now."
"Why?"
"If negotiations should break down, I will throw myself to the wolves to buy you time to escape, Sayanomiya-san."
Kaoru elbowed him in the side. "Don't even joke about that."
"Of course, of course, my apologies." A pause. "I see you chose to dress properly for the occasion. For once."
"You only just noticed?!"
xxx
Elizabeth was disappointed.
She had been looking forward to carrying out a particular custom in human culture, a sacred ritual that was integral to every human courtship.
"Knife, please."
Begrudgingly, she handed the tool over, an instrument which she had wished to use herself.
Alas, her machinations had been foiled before they could even begin, stopped in its tracks by a smoke alarm and a stern shake of the head. For now, she would simply have to play the part of apprentice, watching the master hard at work, hoping that one day, she might be deemed worthy of the craft herself.
The steady sound of chopping filled the room, each interval meticulously spaced apart.
"Pan, please."
She handed it over and peered curiously as Minato loaded the chicken onto it.
"Why do you leave so much space empty?" she asked as he placed the pan on the stove. "You could've fit quite a few more pieces on there."
"Too many and the heat won't reach all of them." He turned the stove on. "Better to not risk it."
She nodded sagely in understanding. It was quite a sensible decision; haste did make waste, after all, and she knew that humans tended to become quite sick after ingesting waste.
"Herbs, please."
As she took out the bag of herbs they had bought, she noticed him sprinkling salt on the cutting board. "Oh? What's that for?"
He glanced at her. "Keeps them in place."
She gazed on in wonder as he began cutting, and sure enough, not a single herb went flying off the board.
What a marvelous tactic! It truly was amazing to see the kinds of tricks humans had come up with over the centuries to make their lives easier.
"You are quite adept at the culinary arts," she said.
"It was necessary." Minato poured the cut herbs into a bowl, one eye darting to the stove to check the pan's progress. "For survival."
Ah, that was right. He had been orphaned at a young age, and without primary caretakers to care for him, he had been forced to look after himself. Learning how to cook was practically a matter of life or death in that scenario.
She frowned. She had never experienced the touch of a caretaker either. Did that make her an orphan too? Did she even have parents in the first place? She knew she had siblings: a strict older sister, a cute younger sister, and a gullible brother whom she loved to tease. But they hadn't been born like humans were, not as tiny, helpless fetuses that were lovingly cared for as they slowly grew into adults. No, they had been born mature, risen as fully developed beings from the endless sea of the collective unconscious that surrounded humanity.
She was unaware of the exact processes that surrounded the creation of herself and her siblings. But she knew that human children often inherited traits from their parents, so what did it say about her when her 'parents' were essentially the entirety of mankind?
Perhaps Igor knew the answer; her enigmatic boss seemed like he knew the answer to everything. Unfortunately, she could no longer freely access the Velvet Room, not when she had abandoned her duties as its attendant, not when her own journey as a Wild Card had already come to an end.
A shame. But she wouldn't overly concern herself with such trifling matters; where she had come from didn't matter nearly as much as where she was now.
"Could you set the table?"
She snapped to attention as the master of the kitchen gave an order. "Right away!"
Opening the cabinets, she pulled out two sets of plates and utensils. She was quite glad the previous occupants had so thoughtfully left them behind; it would've been quite a hassle to go out and buy all these necessities herself.
Carefully, she placed each piece in accordance with Japanese custom: chopsticks there, bowls here, plates near the edge for serving . . .
All done! And not a moment too soon as she spotted her lover coming over with their awaited prize in hand.
He set down the dish carefully, its fine aroma already beckoning her forward in temptation. She didn't necessarily need to eat, not for sustenance anyway, but she was not beyond savoring delectable dishes for the experience alone.
"This smells delicious! Your skill in the kitchen is truly superb indeed."
His lips curled up in a faint smile. "Thank you." He sat down across from her. "This is the first time I've shared my cooking with someone else."
"I'm to be your first time? What a splendid honor!"
Minato snorted, stifling laughter, although she couldn't imagine what had amused him so. When she tried to pry, however, he simply shook his head and gestured for them to eat.
Picking up her chopsticks with only a hint of clumsiness (she was glad Yukari had taught her how to use them), she prepared to dig into the wonderful meal her boyfriend had made for her.
Bringing the food to her mouth, she closed her eyes as she bit down.
As expected, it was delicious. Delightful. Marvelous, really. As she rolled the morsel around in her mouth, she could feel the food's every texture, every burst of flavor spilling out of its pores, the contrast between the herbs and spices bringing forth a sensation that drowned her in pleasure –
When she opened her eyes again, her extensive analysis of all the different effects Minato's techniques had instilled in the food finally complete, it was to see the boy dabbing his lips with a napkin, his portion of the meal already all gone.
"Ah . . . you've finished already?"
He nodded, picking off a grain of rice that had stuck to his cheek.
Slowly, she glanced down at his empty plate. Then at her nearly full plate. Then back at his plate.
"I've been told that I have a large appetite," he said.
That . . . seemed to be a bit of an understatement. The clock in the corner of the room helpfully informed her that only five minutes had passed. Did he really eat an entire serving in only five minutes? And did she really spend an entire five minutes on a single bite of food?
Somehow, she suspected that neither phenomenon was common in human society. Then again, neither of them was exactly normal.
In any case, she was not going to be outdone! Finishing her plate was the least she could do to show her appreciation for the one who had made it, even if she did not have the benefit of "hunger" to aid her in that respect.
Her hand darted like a flurry of blows, rapidly bouncing between her plate and her mouth, throwing a new morsel down her gullet every cycle. She didn't bother pausing to taste any of them; after the extensive analysis she had conducted on the first sample, there was no need to repeat that experiment any longer. Instead, she swallowed the bites whole, new arrivals quickly filling her mouth even as recent departures began the long journey down into her stomach.
Through it all, Minato watched her, a hint of amusement on his normally passive face. When she finally finished, her bowl scraped utterly clean, he spoke up:
"Was it really that good?"
"Of course!" she replied with boundless cheer. "The various flavors and textures you brought out in your dish were truly astonishing – you must be a true master of your craft!"
He shook his head, a smile creeping across his face. "I was just following a recipe."
"Be that as it may, it does not diminish your achievement in the slightest!"
He sighed, giving up on containing her enthusiasm. "If you insist."
She nodded sagely, glad that he had accepted her praise of his skill, before another thought occurred to her. "Ah, did you find anything during your research at the library? Something that might help us with our 'identification' issues, perhaps?"
Another shake of the head.
Elizabeth frowned. "That's rather unfortunate. I believe you'll need one of these 'identifications' if you wish to go back to school, no?"
"Correct. But it's not surprising that I didn't find anything. Groups and individuals capable of forging papers don't tend to advertise themselves very much."
"A true shame. It seems we'll need to dig deeper, then."
Minato nodded in agreement. "What about you?" he asked. "Have you found something that captures your interest?"
Her eyes lit up. "I have indeed," she said. "The books in these 'libraries' of yours do intrigue me so. I don't think I would mind becoming one of those priestesses who preside over these sacred texts."
"A librarian, you mean?"
"Is that their official title? How fitting!"
He looked away in thought. "It could work. You may wish to research their duties and qualifications, though."
The doorbell rang, interrupting their conversation. They both peered at the front door, mystified as to who it might be.
"Visitors?" Minato asked.
Elizabeth shot up, a fist slamming into the palm of her other hand. "Ah, this must be what is known as the 'traveling salesman problem'! Is it not our duty to refuse the gentleman as soon as we can so that he may reach his next destination in the shortest period of time?"
She rushed towards the door to answer it, ignoring the baffled look she left in her wake. "Fret not, I shall take care of it!"
It was time to do her duty as an upstanding citizen of human society!
xxx
Kaoru didn't think the house looked like much.
It was modest, a squat, single-story building with dulled paint, simple ornaments scattered about, and a flower bed that was in dire need of attention. Not really a place she expected a Campione to live.
Then again, Godou lived in a similarly humble abode; he also happened to be one of the more reasonable Campione, so she could only hope their luck would hold and their new resident god-slayer proved to be just as agreeable.
"This is the right place, correct?" she asked.
Beside her, Amakasu nodded. "Indeed. After Yuri-san gave her report, we sent several agents to discreetly tail the Campione and her companion. This is where they have spent the night for the past few days."
She swept back her hair and smoothed out her dress, a final check to ensure she was presentable. "Let's get this over with, then."
She marched forward, each step weighed down by a hint of trepidation, each breath punctured by the heavy pounding of her heart. This was the first time she would personally negotiate with a Campione, and even though it had been her decision, her will that she do it herself, the shaking in her body was giving her second thoughts.
"Are you alright?" her partner asked behind her. "It's not too late; we can still turn back and leave this to someone else."
She shook her head fervently. No. It had to be her. Somehow, someway, she knew that it had to be her, knew that she couldn't run away, not if she wanted any chance for her dream to come true.
"I'm fine," she insisted. "Just a bit nervous, that's all."
He chuckled. "I'd be more worried if you weren't a tad bit nervous." His smile grew grim. "If the worst should come to pass, however, I will do what I can to help. All I ask is that you do your best to ensure my sacrifice is not in vain."
She knew what he was talking about; she knew he hadn't been joking when he said he would sacrifice himself to save her, she knew he wouldn't even hesitate over the decision.
She couldn't do anything about it, however; it was just his stubborn tendencies, his overprotectiveness of her coming into play.
The only thing she could do was ensure it couldn't come to pass in the first place. After all, she didn't want to lose someone close to her.
Not again.
Pointedly refusing to glance back at him, she took one last deep breath to prepare herself . . .
And rang the doorbell.
Ding-dong!
The silence that followed was tense, deafening in the way it draped around her and muffled her every sense.
A moment passed.
The door swung open, and the white-haired woman whom she knew to be Elizabeth smiled at her from behind the threshold.
"Sorry! We're not looking to buy whatever it is that you're selling!"
The door slammed shut a moment later, and Kaoru was left wondering what the hell just happened, her mouth flapping up and down like it was reciting lines to a play she had long since lost the script for.
A stifled chuckle behind her revealed that Amakasu was having a grand old time with her most eloquent response to the situation at hand.
She turned around and glared at him. "Stop that."
Another aborted snort. "My apologies; I know that it is standard procedure to expect the unexpected in anything regarding the Campione, but of the myriad of possibilities I had considered, I had not even fathomed that we would be mistaken as traveling salesmen."
That . . . Kaoru couldn't claim that she had expected that either. The fact that such an outlandish scenario had come to pass had erased the tension and anxiety from before, replacing them with irritation and the utter certainty that the world was conspiring to annoy her into an early grave.
She rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands, trying to compose herself. This was . . . fine. It wasn't exactly how she had envisioned the meeting would start off, but there were far more disastrous ways to commence negotiations.
After all, nothing was on fire and nobody had died yet; that was always a good start.
Steadfastly ignoring the snickers still raging behind her, Kaoru pushed the doorbell again. This time, she would state their business to clear up any misunderstandings –
"Oh? They're still here? Was I not forceful enough?"
The sound of the woman's voice behind the door immediately sent a chill racing through her body. Not forceful enough? Force? She didn't like the sound of that, especially when any sort of application of force from a Campione on a mere mortal like her would almost assuredly leave her splattered all over a wall –
The door shot open, and Elizabeth stood there once more.
"You must be tenacious indeed, to still be standing here despite my most blunt refusal earlier."
Tenacious was a nice way to put it. Many would've called her foolish for daring to bother a Campione right after being refused an audience once already. She half-expected to be struck down on the spot for her insolence –
The woman's face lit up in a smile. "I suppose such persistence ought to be rewarded! Luckily, we have money to spare, so I shall purchase any and all wares you have brought with you!"
. . . And now the Campione was offering to buy up wares that Kaoru wasn't even selling. Whoever had written in the report that the eighth Campione was whimsical had vastly understated that regard.
Finally, she managed to get her mouth working again. "We're not selling anything."
"Oh?" The woman looked at her curiously. "What is the purpose of your visit, then?"
"We, as representatives of the History Compilation Committee, have come here to negotiate with you, the eighth Campione."
She tilted her head. "Campione? Why does that term sound so familiar . . . ?"
"It is the title that was bestowed upon you when you slew a god," Kaoru helpfully supplied.
Elizabeth's face lit up. "Ah! I remember now: a young, violet-haired girl did indeed say something along those lines, but it had slipped my mind until now."
She nodded along, glad they were finally getting somewhere. "Yes, that sounds like Pandora all right."
"Yes, yes, that was her name; it's all coming back to me now!" Her head bobbed up and down in excitement. "But before we get any further, I should mention that I am not truly a Campione."
"Excellent, now our discussion can pro –" Kaoru's brain momentarily halted as it tried to process that impossible statement. "Wait, what did you just say?!"
Golden eyes blinked innocently at her. "I said I'm not a Campione."
"But . . ." Her mouth was flapping around again. Why couldn't the world follow a nice, tidy script like she wanted it to? "Didn't you say . . . ?" she trailed off weakly.
A raised eyebrow. "I never said I was a Campione."
She whirled around and grabbed Amakasu by the collar, dragging him in. If this turned out to be a mistake, heads were going to roll!
"Was the report wrong?! Was Yuri-chan wrong?!" she hissed.
Her partner was completely unfazed, leveling her with a cool gaze despite her barely constrained urge to throttle him. "I assure you that Mariya-san had the utmost faith in her vision. She saw the woman slay the god firsthand."
"So, this person did indeed kill a god?!"
"Yes."
"Which means she must be a Campione right?!"
"Presumably."
She dropped him, whirling around to face the cause of all her headaches for the past week. "You did kill Erebus, right?!"
The woman grinned. "I did."
"And you met Pandora, right?!"
"I did."
"Which means you're a Campione, right?!"
"I am not."
Kaoru wanted to throw her head back and scream. Alas, that would be quite unladylike and unbefitting the head of such an important organization.
Instead, she simply spoke loudly.
Very, very, loudly.
"DAMN IT, START MAKING SOME SENSE, WON'T YOU?!"
The woman cocked her head, regarding her with amusement. Kaoru knew that screaming at a Campione (or at least, someone capable of killing a god) probably wasn't the best idea for her continued health, but at this point, she couldn't care anymore.
She just wanted some answers. Was that too much to ask for?
"There is, in fact, a sensible explanation for all of this," Elizabeth said.
There was? She couldn't wait to hear it; maybe it would be enough to put her world back onto the nice, orderly script she had envisioned in the morning.
"I killed Erebus and met Pandora, but she did not make me a Campione."
Kaoru flopped onto the ground. She was done. The world had gone insane. She couldn't recall a single instancewhere Pandora had refused to make someone a Campione after they had killed a god, which meant that clearly, the world had broken at some point and she was living out the last dregs of her life before everything shattered completely.
So much for her vision. It had been a nice dream while it lasted, though. Clinging to hope had felt surprisingly nice.
Something shuffled nearby, and she opened one bleary eye to see that the woman had crouched down next to her, smiling gently.
"You'll get back pain if you sleep on the ground like that. Why don't you come inside? I can explain more then." She held out a hand.
Kaoru regarded the offered hand with a hint of trepidation. Nothing had gone as she had envisioned. Nothing had gone as she had planned. Nothing had even made sense anymore.
Dare she risk her sanity further by stepping into the den of the lion?
"I want to make that world come true."
That's right, it wasn't over yet, was it? So long as she still drew breath, her dream still had a chance to come to fruition. Even if her mind felt like it would crack at any moment, she would still soldier on for the sake of all those who would come after her.
She took the hand.
The woman pulled her up with surprising ease, and she felt herself stumble a little as she regained her balance.
"Excellent! Now, let us –"
She was interrupted by the appearance of a blue-haired boy, likely drawn by all the commotion at the front door, his impassive gaze sliding over Kaoru and Amakasu before settling on Elizabeth.
"You didn't wash the dishes properly."
The woman froze, her face trapped in an expression somewhere between shock and horror.
". . . I missed a spot?"
One moment she was there, the next she had vanished, dashing off into the house to deal with her most terrible mistake.
"I must rectify this at once!"
Kaoru stared at her retreating back dumbfoundedly. She had half a mind to collapse to the ground again, but she didn't think she would be able to get up again if she did that.
"You can come in."
Her head swiveled to the boy, who had already turned around and headed back inside.
She slowly turned towards her partner, who had remained silent throughout that rather stressful ordeal.
He simply shrugged at her inquiring expression and stepped past her into the house. "At least we got an audience," he said.
"I guess we did . . ." she numbly replied.
But at what cost, she mournfully wondered?
xxx
Elizabeth felt it almost instantly, a sudden presence popping into existence right behind her.
Turning around, she was confronted with a beautiful young girl, locks of purple waving in the wind and a radiant smile shining over her.
"You're a strange one, aren't you?" the new arrival asked.
She tilted her head. "Oh? Whatever do you mean by that?"
"You're not human. In fact, you seem much closer to gods and goddesses such as myself. Yet I can tell that you do not have the regal bearing we do, that you carry yourself as a mortal would."
"That is an apt observation." Her gaze drifted past the other girl, watching the last remains of Erebus slowly dissipating to the wind. "But you didn't come here to just tell me I'm strange, did you?"
The other girl let out a pearly laugh. "I'm afraid not. If only I had the time for such frivolous errands." She sighed. "In any case, I have come not because of what you are, but because of what you have done." Her head nodded towards Erebus's cooling corpse.
Ah. That made sense, she supposed. She did, after all, arrive abruptly in a new world and kill a deity as her first act in said world.
Were there any laws against god-killing in this world? The presence of other deities such as the one in front of her suggested that some sort of order or understanding might've been reached, a treaty that she might have inadvertently broken with her most recent action.
"I'll admit, I'm impressed. You are the first one in a long time to have been able to kill a god and make it stick."
She blinked in surprise. The other girl was impressed? She wasn't in trouble for killing a god? "Is that so?"
"Quite so. Typically, when a Heretic God dies, they simply return to the Domain of Immortality, where their myths and legends reside, to rest and recuperate." Her eyes narrowed. "But you . . . you have stolen the god's essence, trapped it within that Avatar of Death of yours. There will be no regeneration, no resurrection, not so long as you hold it prisoner."
She felt herself relax, letting go of a breath she hadn't known she had been holding. It was good to hear confirmation, good to know that her efforts and those of the Shadow Operatives had not been in vain. There had been a niggling worry, the tiniest hint of doubt that maybe, just maybe, their plan had been faulty from the start, that it really was impossible to kill a god no matter what world they might travel to.
It was good to know that it had not been all for naught.
"While I cannot condemn you for your actions, not when I myself am in support of those who would defend humanity against the tyranny of the Heretic Gods," she continued. "I must warn you that disrupting the balance of the world in such a way can be dangerous. If other Heretic Gods learn of your ability, they might band together to put down what they see as a common threat. Do you understand?"
Elizabeth nodded. "Perfectly," she replied. "But you needn't worry about me abusing my power; this one was . . . special. It had wronged me, taken from me someone whom I hold dear. I have no intention of repeating the act with other gods."
The other girl seemed to relax slightly. "That is good to hear. Now, there is one last thing."
She walked over to Elizabeth, stopping right in front of her, fixating her with those piercing emerald eyes.
"I am Pandora," she declared. "The all-giving woman who bestows upon humanity my children who would defend them against the tyranny of the gods. I grant these champions, these Campione the boons and Authorities they need to stand against fate itself. But you . . ."
Those green eyes roved over her, inspecting every inch.
"Were you anyone else, I would grant you those same boons for what you have done. But for you, killing a god is not so arduous a task, is it?"
She smiled sheepishly as she recalled the many times she had struck down Erebus in her old world. "I'll admit it was fairly trivial."
Pandora snorted. "Trivial might be an understatement. For a human, such a feat would be miraculous, praiseworthy, deserving of reward and recognition. But for you, it seemed more like a chore."
That . . . was quite an apt way of putting it, actually.
"In the interest of fair play, I won't grant you my power; I doubt you would even need it in the first place. Besides, you've managed to steal an Authority for yourself anyway."
She blinked at the unfamiliar term. "What do you mean by that?"
The other girl waved the question aside dismissively. "You'll find out soon enough. But it wouldn't be proper of me to leave you without any sort of compensation, so I shall grant you this one thing."
It was like a sudden change had come over the girl, her once cutesy appearance and demeanor shifting to give way for something more mature, more dignified, more awe-inspiring.
"I am Pandora, the all-giving woman," she declared. "Let all bear witness to this child of mine, she who is neither human nor god and her deed. Let the humans sing their praises, let the gods give their hatred, let the heavens acknowledge thee. I adopt you now as my eighth child, the stranger, the deicide, the nominal Campione who shapes the world as she sees fit!"
Elizabeth waited, expecting some sort of change to come over her. As the silence stretched and no such feeling washed over her, she cocked her head in confusion. "Was that supposed to do something?"
"Not really," the goddess admitted. "As I said, I won't give you the power of a Campione; I simply made you an honorary one instead."
"Oh? For what purpose?"
"Even if you are not truly a Campione, you will still be treated as one. That comes with its own slew of benefits."
"And what might those be?"
Pandora smiled mischievously. "I'll let you find out for yourself."
With that said, the goddess vanished in a breeze of wind, leaving Elizabeth with endless questions swirling about in her mind.
But there was no time for her to dwell on any of that, for there was a much more important matter to attend to.
A matter that awaited her in the Sea of Souls.
The boy she had finally managed to free.
She couldn't wait to see him again.
xxx
Minato considered himself a good listener.
It was a trait that came part and parcel with his quiet nature; after all, it was much easier to pay attention to what others had to say when he felt no need to interject anything himself.
As such, he felt no need to comment once Elizabeth had finished regaling them with the tale of her encounter with Pandora; it was intriguing to hear of what she had gone through, and it raised several questions about the nature of this world, but that was a matter he could bring up later.
The red-haired girl who had introduced herself as Kaoru, however, felt no such constraint.
"So, when you said you weren't a Campione, you meant you were an honorary one instead," she said in a flat tone.
"Quite so! I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I was unsure if I would be a suitable replacement when you were seeking the genuine article."
The girl rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands, exhaustion clear in every line of her body. "No, it's fine. As long as you have the power to kill a Heretic God, it doesn't matter what your title is or isn't."
Elizabeth nodded. "I'm glad that's been cleared up! But before we proceed any further, I was wondering if you would explain more about the supernatural terms that Pandora had mentioned? I'm afraid I'm not very familiar with the concept of 'Campione' or 'Heretic Gods'."
Something flashed through Kaoru's eyes, something cold, calculating, and fleeting, gone before he could discern what it was. He found it curious that she had chosen not to comment on the more unusual aspects of Elizabeth's story, such as Pandora's comment on her not being human.
But the girl began to speak, and such concerns were pushed out of his mind as he listened once more. A frown etched itself on his face as the nature of this world was revealed unto him, a nature that troubled him as he heard more and more.
He had thought the Shadows bad, possessing people and coercing them into committing unspeakable atrocities. But these gods, Heretic gods, seemed far worse, cruel tyrants who toyed with the lives of people for no reason other than their own amusement.
Gods who had rebelled against their legends, Kaoru said. Gods who escaped to the human world to avoid the confines of their myths, those old, dusty tomes that told them who they were, what they did, how they lived. They were like the Shadows, in a way: they both existed because someone couldn't accept who they were and decided to lash out at the world in frustration and rage.
And while an out-of-control Shadow could cause havoc, they couldn't raze entire cities to the ground, not in the way Heretic Gods could, not in the way Heretic Gods were wont to do.
As for the Campione, those champions who defended against the disasters that sought to end mankind, they were a little better. Only a little. They were only human, after all; humans had the capacity to be infinitely kind, but they could also be infinitely cruel.
And for some of them, those who found themselves with the power of the gods, those who had ascended above the petty constraints of mortal laws, they could be most cruel indeed.
Surprisingly, only one of the reigning Devil Kings seemed to be a tyrant of any sort. The others were more varied, including a priestess, a martial artist, a superhero, a thief, a swordsman, and a . . . high school student?
"Oh, are you referring to Godou-kun?" Kaoru said when he asked about that outlier. "He is . . . strange, I will admit. All Campione are, naturally, but he is the strangest because of his insistence that he isn't strange. In fact, all he wants to do is live a normal life."
A most commendable goal, one that he was actively pursuing himself. But that seemed like it would be much harder than he initially thought if this summary of the world was any indication.
"Which brings me back to my initial point," Kaoru continued. "Now that you know of the role you have found yourself in, do you see why we wished to meet with you?"
Elizabeth nodded, the entire explanation not having fazed her one bit. "Yes, I see now. As a figure of great influence and power residing nearby, you wished to ascertain my intentions, no?"
The man, Amakasu, nodded in return. "Indeed. It is customary for magic associations such as ours to approach local Campione and reach an understanding, perhaps even develop a mutually-beneficial relationship."
"Is that so? I regret to say that I did not intend to become any more involved with the affairs of the supernatural than necessary."
Minato barely glimpsed the fleeting hint of panic that flashed through Kaoru's face at that statement.
"Not even if a Heretic God descended nearby?" the girl asked.
"I would, of course, defend myself and others in the vicinity were that to happen. However, I won't be looking for trouble, as some might put it."
He didn't miss the way the girl relaxed a little. Nor did he miss the calculating look that had flashed across her face once again.
"A reasonable decision," Amakasu said. "I assume that means you do not intend to come into conflict with the other resident Campione, Godou-san?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "If he does not bother me, then I shall not bother him."
"A sentiment that I'm sure he shares; I'll be sure to pass the message along to him."
Kaoru was up to something, of that Minato was sure. He didn't know what it entailed or how it involved the two of them, but he knew she was concocting something. He wasn't sure if he trusted them, this magic association, but he didn't think there was much choice. They still had a rather pressing issue on their hands, after all, and this would be the easiest way to solve it given their limited connections in this world.
"Would you be willing to do us a favor?" he asked.
Three pairs of eyes immediately darted to him.
"But of course!" Amakasu said. "In return for the Campione's valiant efforts to defend humanity against the Heretic Gods, it is the duty of magic associations such as ours to grant them whatever aid or assistance they might require."
That sounded promising. He could only hope they had the expertise necessary to carry out his request.
"Could you forge identification papers for the two of us?"
The two guests blinked at him, clearly startled by his unusual request.
"We can . . ." Kaoru said slowly. "But if I may be so bold, what do you need them for?"
"Because we do not have any."
The other woman looked boggled. "What? But . . . then, what about this house? How did you purchase it without any sort of identification?"
"Ah, this house? I paid the previous owners for it, of course!" Elizabeth proudly announced.
". . . Paid the previous owners?"
"Yes, indeed. They seemed quite skeptical at first, but when I offered to pay them fifty million yen for it, they looked like they couldn't leave fast enough!"
He blinked. That . . . was not something he had been aware of beforehand either. Then again, he supposed it made sense; he doubted that she was familiar enough with human society to have bought and furnished a house herself from scratch.
Amakasu coughed politely, dispelling the haze of incredulousness around his partner's mind. "If that is your wish, then it shall be done. We will, of course, require the necessary information from yourselves to create these documents; if you'd like, we could do that now?"
Minato shared a brief glance with Elizabeth, who simply smiled and gestured, deferring to him.
"We can do it now," he said.
"Excellent!" The man pulled out a notepad and tore two sheets off. "I've written down the various details we will need," he said as he finished scribbling onto the papers, passing a paper and pen to each of them. "If you will please fill them out . . . ."
He tapped the pen against the table as he quickly scanned the paper's contents. Birthday, name, gender, place of birth, nationality . . . it all seemed like typical, mundane questions. Nothing suspicious.
He had barely filled in half of the makeshift form before a cry of "Done!" was uttered from the other side of the room, and he turned to see that Elizabeth had already finished and was handing over her paper.
Huh. Was he slow at writing, or was she just fast? A bit of a role-reversal of their impromptu food-eating race from before, it seemed.
He turned back to his form, his pen beginning its scribbles once more when another cry interrupted him:
"How do you not know your own birthday?! And what do you mean, you were 'born from the collective unconscious'?!"
His pen paused. Ah. He knew he had been forgetting something.
He hoped these guests of theirs were good at inventing backgrounds too.