Volume 20 - CH 6

The scarlet light becomes more and more like sunlight as I approach the centre of the hall.

My vision became clearer, as if I was walking into the morning or evening sun.

Fire. Sun. Scarlet.

All of these words were written with the same Yamato word, “ひ” (He). (TL Note: again, evolution of words and the usage of a single sound to signify different things. Pronounced “He” in English.)

The flame, the sun in the sky, the colour that wakes people up.

These three things were once considered to be the same.

Here is the scarlet of all scarlet’s, crowned already with two of the “ひ”, a gem of Hihiirokane…

Does that mean that it is still contained?

… Shirayuki.

(……)

As my eyes got used to the sparkling, the first thing I saw was… Shirayuki.

…Shan… Sharin… shan…

…Shan… Sharin… shan…

With Kagura bells ringing in the rock chamber in a heartbeat-like rhythm, Shirayuki is…

She danced a gentle dance, her scarlet hakama dissolving in the scarlet mist that flows beneath her feet.

Unlike the dance that she showed me as a kid when I was little, there was no singing… but this…

(Kagura dance…)

A Hotogi Miko Kagura. This is one of them.

Around Shirayuki, higanbana bloom as if floating in the mist, and feathers are fluttering around above the Hotogi Miko.

…Shan… Sharin… shan…

Suddenly, Shirayuki rang the bell hard and spun around.

She makes a full body turn, letting her long, shiny, black hair draw on her graceful curves.

As if it was a magic trick, the bell transformed into a sword, a sword made of irokane, and the kagura dance turns into something I have never seen before.

A quickening rhythm, a sword being wielded to cut off evil.

It was like a Japanese version of the sword dance.

Even I, who am not familiar with such things, can visually and sensuously recognize that that movement, is meant to appease a God.

It seems to be something meant to appease and subdue a supernatural being.

But…

… Shirayuki’s dance came to a quiet end.

Her expression did not change. Nothing in the room changed at all, not in the slightest.

“I like your dance. The beautiful Hotogi Miko reminds me of love, and the Irokane reminds me of war.”

“… I can’t calm you down… anymore…”

It was… Aria, the Scarlet Goddess… and Shirayuki… exchanging words.

Shirayuki then spoke.

“… why did you come, Kin-chan. Go… leave…”

She muttered to me, in a frustrated voice.

“Aria is not here anymore… she has become a Scarlet Goddess.”

“I am tired of waiting, Toyama.”

As if to support Shirayuki’s line, the Scarlet Goddess in the form of Aria also spoke to me.

“… anyway, give up on Aria. It is just as Shirayuki says.”

I did not need the Scarlet Goddess to tell me that…

Even myself, Aria’s partner, could tell that much.

The Scarlet Goddess here is different from the one in the past.

She has not remotely taken over Aria and temporarily is in control.

She brought Aria to herself forcibly, and has completely overwritten Aria with herself.

That was the Scarlet Goddess’s goal by bringing Aria here.

That is what I feel. Aria might just be my partner, but I can tell all this intuitively.

This is the dwelling of the Scarlet Goddess.

Even visually I can see that.

Aria is sitting cross legged on top of the enormous “sacred body” that is here.

(Is that… the original Hihiirokane…!)

The Hihiirokane bullet was claimed to be the largest single piece of Irokane in the world…

… but Aria is sitting on a lump of metal the size of a car.

This is not an impure alloy either. This is pure Hihiirokane.

The whole thing is exactly like the Hidan that Sherlock shot into Aria’s chest. Like blood, like a rose, like a flame… Scarlet.

Its scarlet glow spread like an aura, tinting the steam that flowed underfoot around it.

A looped shimenawa was hung like a hachimaki from the original Hihiirokane stone, and a number of swords resembling those of the Hotogi Miko were propped up on the ground around the stone. They were like tombstones, telling the history of generations of Hotogi Shrine Maidens who fought against the Scarlet Goddess.

Among the rows of weapons surrounding the original were not only Hihiirokane swords, but also a bronze sword that appears to be from the Kofun period. (TL Note: Kofun period is 300-538AD.)

This is how long the Hotogi priestesses have been trying to control the Scarlet Goddess.

Trying to get the words out, I…

“…”

… there is something preventing me from speaking.

It is the shape of the Hihiirokane gemstone, the sacred object. Its shape.

(…笠…) (TL Note: this is shape. Explained in next part.)

This is the shape of the Hotogi family crest, “Hoshi ni Kasa”, which is drawn like “笠”.

It is drawn in the form of a kasa, a straw hat-like headgear used by the Japanese in the past to protect from rain and sunlight.

It looks like the picture that Reki drew, but more clearly has that shape.

Rather…

Or rather…

This is.

Rather than a hat, this is a so-called Adamski-type UFO?

There is no little window for a alien inside to wave their hands through, but if you show this to people and ask them what it looks like, 100/100 will say “it looks like a UFO.”

At a loss for words, I walked up to Shirayuki’s side.

“Shira… yuki. Is that Hihiirokane?”

Finally able to find my voice, I seek a confirmation to my question before a reunion greeting.

“Yes.”

“That is, uh… in other words, that is pure ore??”

As I stutter, Shirayuki, who lowered her eyebrows a little, gave me a hesitant look.

“I am sorry I hid this from you until now… This is the ancestral gemstone for hihiirokane. The pieces of sharpened or crushed hihiirokane from all over the world come from here.

“It looks like a UFO to me.”

And, when I finally say those words.

“That is right.”

Shirayuki, nodded.

…..

… is this the real deal?

Shirayuki, her long, droopy eyes with long eyelashes under her straight bangs…

Her eyebrows twitch up, and she looks back at the Scarlet Goddess Aria.

And just like that…

She finally reveals the true identity of the Scarlet Goddess.

“This is a star that fell from the heavens 2,000 years ago.”

Go For The NEXT!!!