Volume 21 - CH 1

JANUARY 1, 2023 ~ FROZZENDETH

Who are the Hotogi?

Are they truly just worshippers of a star? (TL Note: Hotogi means “star”.)

Their existence is to calm a star, keep it sleeping, calm it down. Their lives are devoted to a star.

And what was that star?

It was a UFO made of hihiirokane that has fallen from outer space.

Minuet had said that Shirayuki knew what the identity of the hihiirokane was…

… “Hotogi”. (TL Note: Again, Hotogi means “star”.)

Shirayuki’s last name was the answer all along.

In a cave called Kaminabi, behind a rock door where a God hides,

“This star is the deity of Hotogi shrine.”

In front of Shirayuki who said this, there was a disk with a shimenawa hanging from it in front of her.

This metal mass on which the Scarlet God Aria sits on is approximately 10 meters in diameter.

It has a scarlet lustre and a large, hemispherical raised centre that resembles a giant hat or straw hat.

In other words, it is in the typical shape of a UFO called the Adamski Type UFO.

The Hotogi family crest, “Hoshi ni Kasa”, I thought was originally based on a straw hat. But, thinking on that, was the family crest not based on a straw hat but instead based on the hihiirokane ore? The crest even looked like it had stars. (TL Note: here is the crest again 笠.)

The Hotogi family is even more out of the ordinary than I originally thought.

“Well, this ore is from outer space… I guess that is why it is shaped like this.”

I was so astonished by this fact, that the first thing I asked about was the shape of the hihiirokane.

Judging from a quick glance, this is probably not a spaceship though.

I made this assessment as I could not see any entrance, a window, or anything mechanical.

It was just a lump of metal in the shape of a UFO.

“Originally I was shaped like a sphere. When the Earth’s gravity caught me and pulled me through its atmosphere on a crash course with the Earth, I became soft due to the heat from friction with the air.”

Aria, sitting on the scarlet disk, or rather, the Scarlet Goddess, answered.

Now… she did not say “landing” but “crashing”.

“When I became soft, I can change my shape by my own will, if only little by little. I did not want to break apart and burn up mid-air, so I took this shape and applied my aerodynamic brakes.”

When considering this information in conjunction with her earlier statement, the Scarlet Goddess fell to Earth…

Apparently, her coming to Earth was an accident, or done in distress.

Aria the Scarlet Goddess, pointing a finger that pointed diagonally in front of her, then ran her finger downwards at an angle.

“And then, boom! That is my story. It has been 2,000 years though, so my memory is a little foggy.”

As she said. It seems as if the angle of the crash was not vertical. It was almost as if the plane had crashed at a right angle to the slope of this mountain face.

That means… that this depression isn’t the result of a volcano eruption.

It was a crater created by the crash from the Scarlet Goddess.

Then, Kaminabi was later filled with stone material to hide the hihiirokane.

That unnatural crescent-shaped lake I just crossed over… that water bow must be a hollow left over from the impact.

Come to think of it, Reki told me that Ririirokane was also at the bottom of a lake. I guess that was a crater lake too, where water filled in the crater.

That Ririirokane rock that Reki drew with a crayon back in New York at that time had the same shape as this hihiirokane.

It is a different place on Earth, but Riri must have also crashed.

And, I bet, Ruruirokane, also crashed.

Area 51, where Ruruirokane is stored, is also a land where UFO’s are often sighted.

It may be that the US Air Force was trying to make an aircraft based on the original Ruruirokane.

(… that this kind of reasoning that keeps popping into my head must mean…)

My hysteria mode, which I got at the Onsen due to Kou and Habi, is still active.

But it would last… no more than about 15 minutes judging by how I feel…

I might as well unravel all the previous mysteries while I’m at it.

“We still don’t know why it is scarlet coloured, but the ore’s composition is mostly iron. The crash happened in 7 B.B, and as people did not know it was iron back then, they called it hihiirokane based on its colour.”

It seems that Shirayuki was already planning on telling me everything, and so she continues.

“The history of the Hotogi Miko… us Scarlet Priestess’s, also dates back to that time.”

Shirayuki gazed at the countless swords that surrounded the UFO, swords that appear to be those of the previous generations of slain Hotogi Miko’s… it was as if they were grave markers of those who died in combat.

“…”

I gaze at that scene…

I can deduce as to why the Toyama family men have been involved with the Hotogi family for so long.

My brother had taught that for the Hotogi, men have been forced to live in other homes than the women. Reki’s tribe, as well, was also all women.

It must be because women can resonate with the coloured metal goddess’s more than men.

However, the men of the Toyama family were allowed enter and leave, we were an exception… It must have been our ability to convert sexual arousal, or love, into fighting power that attracted the Hotogi’s attention.

(We, the men of the Toyama family, are symbols of love and warfare.)

Regardless of how much they know about Hysteria Mode, the Hotogi has continued to work with the Toyama, which naturally has a personality that seems related to the Scarlet Goddess, a relation to love and war. According to Tamamo, the Hotogi and the Toyama have been teaming up since the days of old tales.

Sine my family tree is not well managed, the earliest of my ancestor that was positively known to have used Hysteria Mode was Kinshiro Toyama… but surely there were ancestors before that. According to Yen, Minamoto no Raiko about a thousand years ago could also use Hysteria Mode.

Regardless…

It is unknown how much Shirayuki personally knows about Hysteria Mode.

Just as Sherlock hid from me and Aria that the Scarlet Goddess reacts to love, the reactions associated with such feelings can become awkward and not work well if we are conscious of them.

Recalling how Shirayuki interacted with me, it is highly likely that Shirayuki has either not been taught about Hysteria Mode or has been taught something different about it.

I don’t want to have to be the one to tell her the truth, so,

“Let me elaborate a little more into this matter, the Hotogi and the Toyama families have always been close family friends.”

I told Shirayuki that I was going to get involved in the Hotogi families major problem, the Scarlet Goddess, because we are family friends.

Again, I turn my attention to the Scarlet Goddess.

“Now… it is has finally become clear to me that you are an extraterrestrial metal. A metal with a will, I honestly thought that was beyond earthly comprehension.”

“It is helpful that you understand so quickly, Kinji.”

“Even though I am no stranger to the supernatural now, honestly I was a little taken aback at first. You are metal, but you have a will, a heart… you can even use superpowers.”

“Even though I’m iron? How can you say that, when you have only seen neutrons, quarks, and even leptons as a blur? You Earthlings assume that what you can see is all there is. You have not progressed at all since the geocentric era.”

… Well, Ririgami said something like that as well.

The heart of irokane is in the world of microscopic elementary particles.

Oh well. Let’s skip that part. I am just going to sound like an idiot, and in fact, I am just too stupid to understand the science behind it anyway.

So, I am going to cut off the physics talk early.

“… Alright, Scarlet Goddess. I will just declare my own definition for you here. You are an alien.”

I told the Scarlet Goddess my own interpretation.

At Area 51, I thought of the irokane as “metal people” but here I have had the term changed to “aliens”.

I am still in disbelief as the truth regarding Aria, the Scarlet Goddess, and the Hotogi.

But Minuet said, that if I don’t understand who they are, I cannot formulate a course of action on how to fight or talk with them.

First, I need to reach an understanding, which will provide the basis for the actions I that can be taken for now.

However, one of those other beings is of cosmic origin. If I spend too much time thinking as a normal Earthling, I will never be able to understand them.

And so, I decided to create a larger, more flexible frame of reference in my hysteria-mode mind.

… it will be an entire separate discussion about what makes a person a human, but the idea that intelligent life forms with personalities are absolutely and always created from organic matter is nothing more than an Earthly way of thinking. It is a human way of thinking.

The shape looks like a UFO, but the idea that a UFO is the shape of an alien aircraft is merely the idea of Earthlings who can only go to space on a rocket. I am not familiar with what other shapes of UFO exist, but in the case of the irokokane series, the irokane UFO itself is an intelligent life form.

In other words, the hihiirokane that is there is now “a metal with a personality, from outer space”, an alien.

“In other words, you are the same as an octopus-like Martian, a Gray being, an alien Baltan, or so on. That is why, Shirayuki, you don’t have to worship her anymore. It would seem you have been worshipping this ore as a divine object for generations.” (TL Note: Baltan in this context is referring to the alien life forms from Ultraman, a popular Japanese show.)

I am here to help Aria, whose heart was hijacked.

However, there is absolutely no chance that I can do this alone. I came here with no plan, and no way to achieve anything.

But Shirayuki, an SSR honours student in the ESP research department… may have a way to separate Aria from the Scarlet Goddess.

The key person to achieving my goal… is Shirayuki.

The first thing I have to do is make sure that Shirayuki was on my side, because it would be difficult to proceed if she had any loyalty or sincerity towards the hihiirokane.

But it seems that was unnecessary.

“Kin-chan…”

The way Shirayuki looked at me with her big droopy eyes… the look in her eyes told me that she did not need me to tell her not to blindly worship the Scarlet Goddess in the first place.

“… thank you for your concern. But this is not respect or praise. The Hotogi kept the Scarlet Goddess sealed because she is dangerous.”

As she spoke, Shirayuki’s voice took on a tone that conveyed that her secret was difficult to say…

“At first, a natural earth born psychic priestess who lived around here came to manage this star after it crashed… That is how the Hotogi began. But then, about 200 years later, the leader of the Hotogi Miko, the Scarlet Shrine Maiden of the time, tried to rule the world using her hihiirokane supernatural abilities. In fact, she actually conquered most of Japan…

“Oh, come on. That’s the third century…”

“Yes. It was the Himiko you are thinking of. She died of illness early in her life, but later generations of Hotogi priestesses saw how powerful she was and realized the danger of the hihiirokane… The Hotogi priestesses are the ones who are responsible for the protection of the hihiirokani from that point on, forever. The Hotogi Shrine Maiden is a guardian shrine maiden, our goal to “protect the world from the Scarlet Goddess”.”

So you have hid that much from the world, Hotogi…

The power of the Scarlet Goddess, which is an unimaginable power even by today’s standards, was involved in the Yayoi period in such a critical way. That should be a major incident in Japanese history.

However, after such a massive incident, the Hotogi changed its policy… and instead of using, it sealed the hihiirokane so that it could not spread to the rest of the world.

I do not know what would happen if a person who was compatible with hihiirokane went out of control. To prevent the potential spread of such a dangerous metal, the Hotogi miko had to become elusive and reclusive. Fur hundreds and thousands of years. They had developed techniques to help control it, such as the Hidan and Scarlet Miko, and have gone so far as to fight the Scarlet Goddess.

“Still, throughout the ages, the hihiirokane has leaked out. Even the Hotogi miko can not be omniscient…”

Shirayuki appears to be quite defensive about this topic…

Following Himiko, the Hotogi may have tried to use hihiirokane. The artificial god Son is evidence of this. The Hotogi was trying to use hihiirokane to create an army of warrior gods at least 1,400 years ago. The hihiirokane that Nobunaga said he had and Aria’s scarlet bullet are both hihiirokane that must have leaked from the Hotogi shrine at some point in the past.

In other words, in the long run…

The Hotogi seal on the hihiirokane is not working.

It is a difficult thing to achieve, beyond even the Hotogi.

Despite that, just because Shirayuki was born as the eldest daughter of the Hotogi, she has become the Scarlet Miko who inherited such a job… for Shirayuki, the hihiirokane must be a troublesome thing.

It is as if Shirayuki is being forced to manage a “cursed God”.

“The modern outflow of the hihiirokane is Aria the Scarlet Goddess… Well, I understand the historical background up to this point. But you don’t have to worry about this yourself or deal with it by yourself. You were born into a house with such a past, and forced into this job. It is not as if you were trying to use the hihiirokane for yourself, and that caused Aria to end up like this. The Scarlet Goddess herself did this… oh, I will continue to call her the Scarlet Goddess as I have no other name for her at the moment, but is is obvious that she is not a God or anything like that. She is just an alien who has taken over a human and is invading the Earth on a small scale.”

Aliens are a rare creature, as much as the tsuchinoko, so calling the coloured metals aliens might be a bit of a misnomer…

I have faced witches, psychics, vampires, robots, mythical creatures, onis, and more.

Now that the aliens have been added to the list, honestly, I am indifferent.

“… so, even though you have now told me what the Scarlet Goddess is, my will remains the same. The only reason I came all the way here is to remove the Scarlet Goddess from Aria. Now, you too, Shirayuki, will help.”

“…”

I was staring at Aria the Scarlet Goddess, and Shirayuki who was next to me was, for some reason, keeping her mouth shut…

“Are you going to fight me? Me, right here?”

Aria the Scarlet Goddess puffed her flat chest under her sailor suit out and smiled at me.

“Can you really do that Kinji? This is Aria’s body. You cannot harm Aria. Aria is one of the few people in the past 200 years with a heart that resonates with me perfectly. I will never give her up.”

“…”

“See, you cannot fight me anyway. Follow me. Let’s live happily together.”

“Happily?”

“Happy means excitement. And the things that bring people the most excitement is love and war. As long as you live, I can give you love and war.”

“I don’t need either one. That is just who I am.”

“But I want to have fun!” (TL Note: Happy and fun are being used interchangeably here in Japanese.)

… If I compare the characterization of the Scarlet Goddess to the standards I learned in Criminal Psychology in Butei High…

She is easily bored, with a low frustration tolerance. She likes stimulating activities, is short-tempered, and impulsive. Also a literal parasite.

Psychopathic personality… the characteristics of psychopath are clearly visible.

But of course, despite having such personalities, that does not make her an immediate criminal. Even Aria exhibits many of these personalities, evidenced by her being a perfect fit for the Scarlet Goddess.

But, when you add the lack of a conscience or any empathy for others, it becomes clear who is more dangerous between the two. The Scarlet Goddess has such a flaw in her interpersonal emotions.

But that is only natural.

This is not a human being.

(And so the reason why such a being commits a crime is…)

As I change my understanding to non-humans, and search for a way to deal with these, I recall my lesson.

It is a fact that people who like stimulation and have little empathy for others may, in their spare time, turn to crime as if it were a game. In the U.S, for example, there have been many criminal statements that resemble “I was bored, so I went on a shooting spree”.

A shady motive that makes these people a force to be reckoned with in triggering crimes is…

Almost always, frustration.

There is a pattern of some sort that there is a “frustration that you can’t solve yourself”, and so people do bad things as an outlet to distract themselves from suffering.

And so, what is the Scarlet Goddess dissatisfied with?

If I can just figure out what that is…

By working out what that frustration is, maybe I can separate her from Aria.

“Shirayuki. In order to save Aria, I will talk to the Scarlet Goddess. You, though, must put away your sword first.”

I intend to negotiate for now, but Shirayuki is still holding her drawn sword. I tell her this to not set off Aria.

“… Kin-chan. I know you came all this way, but… that… that is no longer Aria.”

As if to interrupt me, Shirayuki mutters in a sad voice.

“No…? What are you talking about?”

She is still there, I said, indicating Aria the Scarlet Goddess with my eyes.

“The Kagura dance I just performed was the Scarlet Purification Dance. It is the most powerful and final means to exorcise the Scarlet Goddess from a yorishiro. The fact that I could not return Aria even a little bit despite doing such a dance means that she has been completely taken over. It is like overwriting a file on your computer… once it is done, it cannot be undone…” (TL Note Yorishiro is an object that spirits can possess in Shinto belief.)

Shirayuki said this in a tearful, squeaking voice…

She put strength into her right hand that was holding the Irokane Ayame down.

“Shirayuki…?”

“There have been a few people in the past who have been completely possessed. But no one has been unable to undo it. The Hotogi Priestesses of the past, who were much better than I am, risked their lives to try every possible method. Still, they could not find a way to restore a person who had been completely taken over. After the Scarlet Goddess completely takes over their target, they will stay here for about a day to recharge their powers. Once that is done, they leave here to bring a curse upon the world… so, before that comes to pass…”

The sword in her hand was shaking slightly as she held it…

Shirayuki, who slumped down to hide the tears in her eyes behind the shadows of her bangs told me such a hopeless story.

(A curse on the world…)

It was similar to the old story that Tamamo told me in my room.

A story about the end of a persons life, possessed by the Scarlet Goddess who governs love and war.

She who bewitched the emperor and caused war…

Finally, was killed in combat by the Toyama Samurai and the Hotogi Miko.

“The only times in the Hotogi’s 2,000 year history, that we have discovered to prevent the Scarlet Goddess’s descent onto the world… is while they are on the hihiirokane like now… now is the last chance to defeat her…”

We cannot undo it anymore…

Last chance…

Shirayuki? What?

What are you talking about? Stop this.

“I wanted to save Aria, too. I did not want to settle things like this… Aria…”

Shirayuki, crying…

With despair clearly in her voice, rises…

Like a black cloud…

… killing intent.

“Stop this Shirayuki… what are you going to do?”

“I am sorry, kin-chan. This is a rule I must follow.”

Shirayuki is a kind girl, who knows to apologize properly.

Shirayukist just now… did not apologize to Aria, but to me.

In other words, she has already decided that Aria does not exist anymore.

“… Shirayuki…!”

“Kin-chan, run. Do not fight.”

With a clack, Shirayuki stepped forward, and untied the white sealing cloth that was keeping her hair tied. She was not answering anymore questions.

She then raised the sword in her right hand above her head.

She gripped the very tip of her pommel, and turned it sideways to show the belly of her sword.

I have seen this right one-handed large upper hand used once against Jeanne.

This is the stance that Shirayuki takes when she is ready for a real fight.

“If the Scarlet Goddess takes this body, she will bring a curse unto the Earth. Do not let her do such a thing in Aria’s body… for Aria’s sake…”

“Stop, are you trying to kill Aria?!”

“Kin-chan… Aria is… that is not Aria anymore…”

Shirayuki told me this with tears in her eyes.

She is pitying me as if I refuse to accept the death of my friend.

“Without a body, the Scarlet Goddess cannot rampage. So, it is the role of the Scarlet Miko to take the body away from the Scarlet Goddess.”

The Hotogi Priestesses are guardian priestesses.

But to protect… to defend…

They must fight. That is accompanied by sacrifice.

Shirayuki stared up at Aria the Scarlet Goddess with the Irokane Ayame in her hand, even though she no longer had the means to save Aria…

It was possible still to kill the Scarlet Goddess’s body. Her eyes had this intent.

As if to declare this to me,

“The Irokane Ayame is a sword created by the Hotogi, a sword with the reversed powers of hihiirokane. It has many other functions, but its inherent power is the power to cancel out functions by releasing the exact opposite powers of the Scarlet Goddess… like a mirror. It is the only blade that can penetrate all the Scarlet Goddess’s power and reach its yorishiro…!”

Shirayuki tells me this, the true power of the hihiirokane killer.

(… an active anti-frequency weapon…!)

An anti-frequency weapon is a weapon that is designed to launch an attack of exactly the same power and type as the enemy’s and cancel it out. The anti-noise control in high-end headphones is a similar concept.

Of course, the Hotogi had conceived and developed it thousands of years ago, when that concept was not perfected by modern scientific capabilities.

In front of the Irokane Ayame, which exists to kill the Scarlet Goddess’s host…

“Scarlet Priestess. You are here to deal with me, but when it comes down to it, you are always in my way, generation after generation.”

The Scarlet Goddess’s expression glaring down at Shirayuki doesn’t have the same composure as before.

If you come, I will accept it.

It is a face that seems to say so.

“… really, you are such troublesome Miko…!”

…gurari…

Guraa….zuzuzu…zuzuzuzuuzzuzuzuzu…

Something is shaking. The rock chamber is starting to shake slightly. No, the whole mountain is.

I have experienced this phenomenon several times before. It is a tremor caused by the fighting spirit of the Scarlet Goddess.

The Scarlet Goddess is willing to fight too.

(……)

Shit, it is getting started.

Aria the Scarlet Goddess VS. the Scarlet Miko Shirayuki!

“I ask you, beseech you, of the 64 trigrams. Let this hihiirokane shine in the divine name of fire. Disaster, edge, The North Star. Exorcise and purify. Be pacified and purified. Dou, cage, Irokane Ayame. Strike down upon the hihiirokane.” (TL Note: This is a slaughter of a translation. The original is a mix of new, old, Chinese, Japanese, etc. What I can make out for certain, and is explained very soon, is this is a chant.)

The incantation that Shirayuki began to chant seemed to contain some sort of code word…

… Shirayuki, who seems to have released her true hidden power with that chant, begins to glow a scarlet red.

It was exactly the same color as the hihiirokane. No, she glowed an even purer scarlet.

It began to function. The active anti-frequency system to counter the Scarlet Goddess, handed down in the Hotogi since time immemorial.

To destroy Aria’s body, which has become one with the Scarlet Goddess.

“–Stop, Shirayuki!”

Shirayuki reacted to my voice with a small twitch, but…

With the dazzlingly shiny hihiirokane killer raised like a torch, katsun, katsun, she steps forward.

Towards the hihiirokane.

Towards the Scarlet Goddess.

Towards Aria…!

“Shirayuki. You are betraying me, aren’t you? You worship me as a God, you are supposed to protect me.”

“I do not care anymore what you say.”

“Why are you angry with me?”

“You got Kin-chan involved in this… someone who should have never been involved.”

As she was speaking, step by step, Shirayuki approached the Scarlet Goddess.

The hihiirokane gemstone was slightly tilted, it is impossible to climb it without clinging to the side.

… the Scarlet Goddess, on the other hand, has not moved from the stone. She seems to be unable to move while filling Aria’s body with power from the hihiirokane. She was like a fetus, connected to its mother by an invisible umbilical cord.

In other words, Shirayuki has to approach Aria, the Scarlet Goddess. To destroy Aria and stop the Scarlet Goddess from leaving, that “last chance” she talked about earlier, she needs to close the distance to zero.

… In getting close, does she intend to cut down Aria with her sword?

What do I do.

What do I do, Kinji?

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Shirayuki, if you intend to kill me, I will kill you first.”

As the Scarlet Goddess said this, she glanced at me.

It was as if to say “Stop Shirayuki from moving”.

Even without being told so, I should stop Shirayuki.

But, the fight between Shirayuki and the Scarlet Goddess has already started.

The moment I intervene, Shirayuki will be distracted, and if the Scarlet Goddess sees that, she will try some kind of ranged attack. In that time, Shirayuki will be killed. The Scarlet Goddess’s gaze was surely aimed at that kind of development.

… No good, I cannot move.

But then, how do I stop this? How…!

“The Hotogi miko’s are guardian miko’s. I know what is important and who I want to protect. No matter who that is in front of me, or if they are important to me or others, that is not Aria, she is not with us anymore… And so, I must protect those who are important to me and their everyday life…!”

To the me, in Hysteria Mode, Shirayuki…

I can understand they she is talking about me, her childhood friend.

(Shirayuki…!)

In front of me, unable to move, on the hihiirokane, to the Scarlet Goddess… at that time.

A very slight, but unexpected response was given.

“…huh?”

And with her voice…

…poro…

From those red, camellia eyes, a single tear spilled.

That seemed to come as a surprise even to the Scarlet Goddess, who reacted as if she realized she cried only after she had spilled her tears.

When I saw the look on her face…

(…!)

An image flashed through my mind.

Sometimes, brain in Hysteria Mode will show me bits and pieces of images that can give me clues to lead me to victory.

Recalled from past memories, they are often hints that seemingly have nothing to do with my battle and do not make sense to even me when I first see them.

This time as well, the image I saw…

(… a power plant…?)

–Shinagawa. The Shinagawa Thermal Power Stations. There, Kaname had attacked us with her Noie Ange weaponry, and Aria is commencing her air raid, equipped with her hover skirt.

As usual, this image does not seem to suggest anything new to me…

“…!”

I did not have much time to think about this.

Shirayuki…

–bwaaaaaaa–! A wave of scarlet was released from Aria the Scarlet Goddess, as if to strike Shirayuki…

But it was repelled by an unknown force, that seemed to be even stronger than the scarlet aura that the Scarlet Goddess wore.

“…!”

“Shirayuki…!”

I support Shirayuki’s back as she took a few steps backwards, looking up at the Irokane Ayame she had raised above her.

The wind that blew through her hair was so hot that they scorched me…

… It was only for a moment, so I somehow managed to endure it.

“… Shirayuki, you, the current Scarlet Miko, are full of gaps and holes. That was the most clumsy control of the Irokane Ayame I have ever seen. Can you not concentrate properly? I am disappointed that I could stop your ceremony with a just single blow. Is your heart in knots? Fufu, ahahaha!”

”Hahaha, hahahaha!” The Scarlet Goddess’s laugh echoed in the chamber.

Although there was still a cold sweat on Aria the Scarlet Goddess’s forehead, it was as if the sense of urgency earlier was gone… her laugh now is like a triumphant laughter, meant to disrupt Shirayuki.

And I can now see why. Shirayuki’s sword, designed to defeat the Scarlet Goddess, the Irokaen Ayame, is losing its light.

The current attack was not aimed at Shirayuki herself.

It was a technique designed to blow away the power of a Scarlet Miko.

“… Shirayuki…”

Kashan. Helplessly, Shirayuki dropped the Irokane Ayame, which had become just a mere sword at her feet, and… covered her face with both her hands.

And then… hikku, hikku… hinnn… she started to cry.

No, she has been crying since earlier. Shirayuki… has been crying since she started to walk towards the Aria the Scarlet Goddess.

“Kin-chan… I… I couldn’t… I cannot do it…”

After using her two special moves, the Scarlet Exorcism Dance, and imbuing the Irokane Ayame with its counter ability, Shirayuki was so drained of power that she could not even stand up anymore…

” I shouldn’t have hesitated. I shouldn’t have thought about anything else. But…”

She sat down on the ground, collapsed.

I got down on one knee, and supported her.

“I can’t… because… that still looks like Aria!”

Uwaaa, Shirayuki pushed her face against my chest…

She let out a cry, as if a dam broke within her.

“I cant kill Aria, I cannot do such a thing in front of Kin-chan…! Kin-chan would… Kin-chan would be sad if I did that to Aria… he would be sad…!”

Underneath her feet, the Irokane Ayame… paki, pakipaki, and…

As I watch it, the sword rusts away.

The Scarlet Goddess is delivering one final blow, hoping to ensure her revival.

Destroying the only weapon that could have killed her, the Irokane Ayame.

“But still, still, even if Kin-chan hates me, I… decided to slay the Scarlet Goddess. Even if he hates me now, and I can never see him again… no matter how unhappy I become, I am not going to allow the Scarlet Goddess to escape. Because that is a Scarlet Miko’s destiny… so…!”

“Shirayuki…”

“But I could not give up on Kin-chan… Rather than giving up on Kin-chan, I would rather go against fate and be unhappy… if I am going to be unhappy eitherway, I would rather not give up on Kin-chan and be unhappy… deep down in my heart, I thought so… But I am lost… and so I thought and I thought and I…!”

A hesitation. And when that happens…

… people are defeated.

This is true, whether it is a friendly battle between friends or a battle for the fate of the world.

I was the one who caused this hesitation for Shirayuki.

It was my fault for sticking my neck out and stepping in here when I can’t do anything about this situation.

That is why…

“Shirayuki, please don’t give up on me. I won’t give up on you either.”

… I will take responsibility.

I.

I am going to make sure you made the right choice. Sorry for second-guessing you.

“…!”

Shirayuki, still crying in pain, brought her snow white hand to her own mouth, in order to restrain her sobbing voice from leaking out anymore.

Shirayuki. Even now, you are a really well behaved girl.

“If you don’t like your destiny, you overturn it. I am not the type of person who blindly follows destiny. If I did not overturn it, I would never have survived.”

… “destiny”?

Ignore such things.

Everyone does it. It is a tradition.

That is the way it is supposed to be. The way it has always been.

That is something normal people say to do, isn’t it? “Ignore destiny”.

But… if you keep repeating the same things over and over while mumbling to yourself, you will never change. You will suffer forever.

You are content to accept your unhappiness, and continue to maintain the status quo in frustration…

You don’t have to do that!

I am stopping too. I am done with all of that.

Over turn it. Turn it over. End it. On our behalf. Me. Right here, and right now!

“Also, Shirayuki. I have a monopoly on misfortune. Do not take it without my permission. I will make you happy.”

“… Kin, chan…!”

Poroporo… Shirayuki, looking up at me, tears began spilling from her eyes like pearls, and called out my name as if squeezing it out while clinging to me…

Shirayuki. You have done well so far.

This matter… if the Hotogi can not do it, the Toyama will take care of it. Okay? So.

I stood up and took a step forward to protect Shirayuki…

“You are going to show me something good, Toyama. I love that sort of thing.”

The Scarlet Goddes, shuddering, with a thrilled face…

You are making fun of me, Scarlet Goddess-san.

“Well, now that that troublesome sword is gone… I am all set. Toyama. Give up on Aria and be happy. I will make you happy!”

Aria the Scarlet Goddess says this, and as if to parrot my earlier conversation with Shirayuki…

“If I give up on Aria, I can be happy? Then I will be unhappy and not give up. I have always had a reputation for being unhappy. It wont make much of a difference if I am just a little bit more unhappy.”

… Aria.

“Scarlet Goddess. I will not let you have Aria.”

… Aria.

“I will never forgive you for hurting Shirayuki.”

The only person who can fix this situation…

I knew it, Aria.

You are the only one.

I believe in you.

I believe in the spirit of what you once said.

I believe in you, and I believe in you to keep that faith.

I am going to believe in you, and I am going to put my life on the line here.

I am honestly sorry to myself for having to admit that my life is just a cheap Butei life in the eyes of the public, but for me, it is irreplaceable, my one and only life in the world. I am going to put it on the line, so please support this gamble, okay? Aria.

“I am sorry I have been so cold to you, Scarlet Goddess. You seem to want either love or war… Earlier, Shirayuki told me not to fight. So I won’t fight.”

I say so while looking at Aria the Scarlet Goddess.

That only leaves love. Since that is what is left after doing a process of elimination, I wont have to explain what I am going to do.

My Hysteria Mode is starting to weaken, and it is embarrassing now to make statements such as “love” with a straight face.

…So…

“I am coming to you now.”

I declared that to Aria the Scarlet Goddess.

Honestly, love…

I do not understand it. Not yet.

But since the Scarlet Goddess wants it, I decided to express it in my own way.

I am coming to you.

That is all.

Because…

Fighting is a repulsive force. Do you have the strength to retreat? And so…

Love is the opposite. It is attraction. I think it is a force that brings us closer.

So I am going to you.

That is my answer to what love is. (TL Note: that is actually cute ngl.)

“Aria.”

After being told by Shirayuki that “Aria is dead”, and with the Scarlet Goddess looking and acting as if she does not feel even a shred of Aria’s existence inside her…

I called out Aria’s name.

“I believe in you. Just like I promised you inside the underground warehouse, “I will believe in you for the rest of my life”.” (TL Note: Durandal incident with Shirayuki.)

As I speak to Aria, the Scarlet Goddess, who is still using Aria’s body, is listening silently.

“You are not dead yet. You are a woman who would not die even if she was killed. And… I kind of understand. What it is that you are trying to do.”

“What is that?”

“You just answered your own question, Scarlet Goddess.”

In response to the Scarlet Goddess’s question, I gave a sloppy answer…

Za… I started walking closer. Just like Shirayuki.

Aria. Can you do that?

I do not know if I can.

I have changed my specialty from “I don’t know if I can do that” to “I can do it if I try”. But, I don’t know if even you can do it.

If you cannot do it right now, it probably requires more power to do.

Power… regrettably, the Scarlet Goddess and Aria are now one and the same. To give Aria power would be giving the Scarlet Goddess power too.

The source of her power is either love or war.

Giving her love is giving her strength.

I will give it to you, so use it…

After that, you will do something about this.

You will make it happen.

Aria.

“…Kin-chan…”

Shirayuki’s voice can be heard from behind me as she sits in a proper girl pose.

It was a worried voice, unsure of what I am trying to do.

Look at me, Shirayuki. Just like that…

… One step, two step, I continue onward.

“Don’t come here, Toyama. What are you trying to do?”

“I am trying to fall in love with you.”

“…Huh? No-… now? Are you an idiot…!?”

Kyaaaaaa, between Aria the Scarlet Goddess who turned red, and me…

Gunii… for some reason, the space began to look distorted.

It felt as if the distance to Aria is getting further away.

This is… The Scarlet Goddess is distorting space. To keep me away.

Perhaps because of that, from the slanted ceiling of the rock chamber, fragments of rock began to fall like fine sand. The rock here was mainly glassy crystals, sparkling beautifully.

“Don’t make such a big deal out of this, Scarlet Goddess. If you don’t like it when a man comes onto you, just run away. That is what women have always done, no matter where they are in the world.”

Zun… zuzuzun…

The slight tremor caused by the Scarlet God’s fighting spirit has begun again. Are you getting angry?

Pi, pishi! The paper strips from the shimenawa hanging on the hihiirokane were getting cut off, and blown around like a firestorm.

This is like the phenomenon I saw in Nogizaka involving the tree leaves, and Aria’s actions in Hakkoda. I am just an amateur, but maybe its plasma. (TL Note: All right, I damn near ripped out my hair trying to figure this one out, Nogizaka, is not, as Google would have me believe, just a J-Pop band. It is where Kinichi lives, and where Aria temporarily becomes a Scarlet Goddess. Hakkoda is referring to the mountains that Kinji just got out of with Kou and Habi.)

“Oh, me? Run away? I am a God of war. I can’t just run away!”

“When what shall you do?”

“I-, I shall do what women have done what they have always done, I will push you away!”

–tsutsutsugouuuuuuu–!

And then, the scarlet repulsive force that pushed Shirayuki back now blew with the force of a flamethrower.

It was 20, no, 30 times more powerful than before.

“–!”

Gasun! I managed to stop being pushed back by using oka on my feet.

It was not just my own power though. There is an invisible psychic force field around me that is blocking some, not all, of the Scarlet God’s repulsive force. It was like the magnetic field that protects the Earth from solar wind plasma.

“… Kin, Chan…!”

Shirayuki behind me is reflected on the shiny hihiirokane in front of me. I could tell visually by the sight of her hands outstretched towards me… Shirayuki is throwing away her remaining strength to create a force field to protect me.

–Gou–gou! Again, and again, waves of scarlet repulsive waves were emitted.

And each time Gatsung! Gatsung! I took a step forward with oka.

It was a game of repulsion and attraction.

… This is a battle between war and love…!

–Using oka for each and every step consumes a lot of physical strength.

Even with Shirayuki’s help, my body feels an unstoppable heat.

Hot. Burning. My body is burning.

Painful. It hurts.

But that is love. That is what love is all about, I’m sure.

So…

“… Uoooooooooooo……!”

I am getting closer to the Scarlet Goddess. I approach the scarlet, the fire.

The closer I get, the more powerful the scarlet gale becomes.

What was once a flamethrower is now a wave of fire…

“Don’t come here, Toyama…! It is hot, isn’t it!? Get back!”

Aria the Scarlet Goddess seems to be unable to move from the top of the hihiirokane UFO for now.

She does not move, but instead intensifies her attacks to keep me at bay.

“It was cold in the snowy mountains until now. Now it is hot, and it is just the right temperature.”

Breaking through wave after wave of flames, I approach Aria.

The distance between us…

Just another 7 meters.

“You are a big… Tsundere, right? You and all this fire. That is what Riko would say at least.”

An eye for an eye… I was teased earlier, and so I said this to the Scarlet Goddess.

Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…! Aria the Scarlet Goddess, who was now blushing with all her might, showed the expression expected of a girl who had been poked in the middle of a verbal fight.

Embarrassed, annoyed, that kind of face.

“D-, d-, Don’t talk like you know what you are talking about! Now I am pissed off…!”

“Are you angry now? That makes me happy.”

“Why!?”

“Because men and women who do well together usually make a bad first impression.”

I said something Hysteria Mode like, and, gasun!And to me, who was taking another step closer,

“–!”

Turning bright red, Aria the Scarlet Goddess flipped up her sailor suit skirt a bit and…

… she pulled out a silver government pistol.

And immediately, bantsunnnnnn!

She fired an accelerated bullet with psychic powers that was different from a normal bullet that sounded different from a normal bullet.

The bullets estimated speed is mach 8-9, absolutely unavoidable. I could not dodge to the left, right, up, or down.

And so… Giiiiiiiiin!

I took the .45 ACP round head-on.

Maniago knife, ex-scramax.

… bullet slashing.

It was the technique I used during the first big incident with Aria, in the fight with Riko.

The cut bullet passed on the left and right side of my face.

–Ba! Bao!

As if chasing the bullet, a hot wind blows at me from the front and diagonally below.

“Toyama! Why are you denying me! Why don’t you try to live a happy life! Why wont you try to play with love and war!?”

Hyurururururu! Then, cutting through the hot wind, two swords spinning like fan blades from behind flew up to Aria the Scarlet Goddess and into her hands. Bronze swords left behind by the previous generations of Scarlet Miko.

Aria, the Scarlet Goddess,

“Life is just a game!”

She threw them at me with her twin tails that look like big hands, with each sword spinning.

While stepping forward I lightly tossed my own knife between my pinky and ring finger…

–Bashi! — Bashi!

“Neither love nor war is a game for me.”

Edge Catching Peak… I used it to catch one sword in each hand.

Aria, Shirayuki, and me… the main actors from the Durandal incident, where I used this technique to catch her sword with one hand, where gathered here to watch me do it again, one sword for each hand.

“–I’m… I am going to kill you! Toyama, I am going to kill you!”

The Scarlet Goddess, who flipped her skirt in a way similar to Aria, also now pulled out her jet-black government pistol…

Batsun! BatsunBatsun! This time, she shot me with super-accelerated bullets from two pistols.

“If I wanted to kill you, Scarlet Goddess, you would be dead by now.”

Against Mach 4 bullets, I threw away my bronze sword, and held out my left and right fingers in a # shape, and swept away the bullets with Slash, the technique I first used against the Koko sisters in Tokyo Station.

By accelerating with Slash at the moment of contact, this technique recently became possible with Orochi.

“You can live endlessly, and your view of life and death is very different from humans. Even if you die, that is only true for your borrowed body, not your real body. So in the past, even if you did die, there was a next time. That is why your attack has so many gaps in it.”

In addition, the supersonic bullets that flew at me were scattered with billiards with the Beretta that I had pulled out, using the same technique I had used in the Vlad fight. My bullets took into account the fact that the space was distorted by the Scarlet Goddess’s influence, and the mirage that caused my aim to shift.

“But humans have such an end. Death is my end. That is why I am holding my ground. At this point, I am more committed to this fight than you are.”

Passing through a storm of bullets, my feet finally step on the gemstone…

I am on the edge of a UFO made of hihiirokane.

I am only five meters away from Aria the Scarlet Goddess.

“Don’t come… Don’t come any closer, Toyama!”

“Are you afraid of love? You are the God of love.”

But five meters between a man and a woman is a large distance.

“Uwaaaaaaa!”

Aria the Scarlet Goddess, basubasubasubasu!

She fired a barrage of rounds from her twin pistols, as well as waves of scorching flames.

Wrapped in a wave of energy that is indistinguishable from fire, I used Tornado, the move I used against Watson, and Zero I had used against Yakuza to deflect or throw away bullets.

“You have been using Son, Habi, and Aria… All you have been doing was fighting in remote fights. You are so used to fighting using others techniques and skills, you are not used to fighting a direct battle as yourself. I have used my body and only my own body to fight others… From the beginning you were cornered, Scarlet Goddess!”

Gatsun, and, my feet began to climb the hihiirokane gemstones slope.

Aria the Scarlet Goddess was now surrounded flames.

I will walk through that fire to get to her.

The closer I get to her, the hotter I become. Approaching the source of that heat, the Scarlet Goddess, I feel as if I am becoming one with the flames.

As if floating in heat, my consciousness begins to fade.

Am I even making progress?

I am aware of that thought, but already…

My body seems to be on fire.

“Kinji.”

Dad.

My father.

I can hear his voice.

At least, it feels like I can.

“Kinji.”

It was the voice of my father, who died in the line of duty.

A conversation I had with my dad when I was young was repeating in my head.

The sound was slowly dawning on me, like a turning light.

“Us with HSS are not the strongest beings. We are in fact the weakest. Half of the world could easily kill us even when we are in HSS.”

Half of the world?

Who is that?

“It is women. As for them, with HSS we would give up our life for them.”

So what do we do to prevent that from happening…?

“Those women who come to kill you, make them fall in love with you.”

How?

“Love her.”

Love…

“If you can do that, you with HSS will go from being the weakest to being the strongest.”

… Amidst the flames with Aria the Scarlet Goddess…

We made contact.

From my left and right, big fists made of her twin tails came at me as if to punch me… using oka on the right and kikka on the right, I manage to flip the punch around and open a path.

I come within a touchable range.

Aria the Scarlet Goddess was within reach if I just stretch my hand out.

However, I did not move one step closer.

On the burning, hihiirokane…

I am… dying.

Already, I am standing.

But I know it.

My heart has already stopped.

Like Aria, who had fought Riko on the hijacked flight…

“—“

Butei charter.

Article 10! (TL Note: “Never give up, a Butei must never ever give up”.)

(–Kaiten–!)

Never give up!

A Butei never gives up!

Alongside awakening in Hysteria Agonizante, I gave myself a heart a subsonic vibration.

With perhaps the world roughest massage that literally made my heart bounce inside of my ribs…

Revived. Resurrect. Myself.

And,

“–!”

I took the last step.

“…!”

Right in front of me was Aria the Scarlet Goddess.

I can see her reddish-camellia eyes that are open wide in surprise.

Before she could try to escape, I held her from her back and the back of her knees… it was the first time in a while that I held her in a princess carry.

It was just like the day we met, in the physical education warehouse.

And so,

“This cherry blossom blizzard…”

Love, is the closeness between a man and a woman.

It is to make the distance between two people zero.

In other words, it is this.

Ahh, don’t worry Aria. We are both in the flames, so no one, not even Shirayuki, can see you now.

This is our own fortress… of scarlet and flames.

“… don’t tell me later your eyes were closed, okay?”

And so, my lips reached out.. out towards Aria’s lips that were like cherry petals.

“Aa…”

I can hear it directly in my head.

The voice of the Scarlet Goddess who was surprised.

“I am in love.”

Scarlet Goddess.

I wont because…

Scarlet Goddess, you are a woman.

You can fight me as much as you want, I will love you as much as I want.

“In love. In love. In love.”

So, are you satisfied with this?

And now, come on.

Wake up, Aria.

A kiss is the only thing that can wake up a sleeping princess… that is what my brother once said. The outcome shouldn’t be a surprise.

Just like I thought…

The first half of my kiss was with the Scarlet Goddess… the second half is with Aria.

–Ahhh… Aria.

You did it.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a takeover for a takeover…

(… you really are a competitive woman…!)

No, that’s all right.

If it wasn’t, I would be in trouble.

You are my partner, living and dying with me!

“Ppuha! Hey! Don’t get carried away! You baka Kinji!”

Gasu!

A tiny fist punched me straight through the centre of my face.

This feeling of being beaten.

It is Aria now.

Aria is back!

Paaaaaaaaaaa— And then, the scarlet-coloured blazing wind swirled around, spreading and then disappears…

“… Aria…!?”

Shirayuki raised her voice at the sight of Aria, who had taken her body back from the Scarlet Goddess, and me, holding her in a princess carry.

Yes.

When Aria had fought Kaname – eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, science for science – she had equipped herself with an advanced hover skirt to confront Kaname’s noie ange science armament.

The image from Shinagawa that I recalled earlier was the scene of the thermal power plant once it had become a battlefield.

And this time, it was “takeover for takeover”.

Aria, who has been a expert in ESP even as a young Butei, took over the Scarlet Goddess, something even the Scarlet Goddess could not have predicted. She had taken over the Scarlet Goddess’s body, Aria’s own body.

To think she would pull something like this with only one shot and zero practice.

“Aria! If you try, you really can do anything! As expected of you!”

Overwhelmed with emotion, I hugged Aria’s small body again.

… But.

Gochin.

This time, something hard hit the back of my head instead of my face.

“… it hurts…!”

“Kinji! We can discuss the details later! Hurry… we have to evacuate!”

Aria got off me, who was crouching and holding the back of my head now, and shuru! She slid off the hihiirokane UFO like it was a slide.

She left without a word of thanks towards me, and stones began to fall on my head and back. The ceiling has started to break apart.

“…!”

The rock chamber… it is crumbling.

“It seems that the Scarlet Goddess had been holding this place together… until now. I am not sure how she did it, but it was clearly not in a very stable way. The chamber is breaking apart now.”

Beyond Aria, who looked up and suddenly said something about ESP, I can see the passageway that is the exit from this chamber – with its countless torii gates – collapsing.

(This is dangerous…)

If we don’t do something, we will be buried alive here.

I slide down the hihiirokane too, but the ceiling is falling fast.

Now, even gravel is raining down from the ceiling.

“… No way. To think that Kaminabi would be destroyed… for more than a thousand years, no matter what kind of earthquake it was, it would not collapse…!”

She did not expect the rock chamber to collapse, and as Shirayuki ran about, a rock was about to fall… it was going to land on her!

“”–watch out!””

Aria and I jumped towards Shirayuki at the same time, and pulled her towards the hihiirokane.

Both of pulled her and…

–Zudonnnnnnn…!

With a thunderous sound, the rock fell and just grazed Shirayuki.

The rock that fell may have dislodged a piece of that three-dimensional puzzle holding up the roof, as there was even more rumbling now.

We have reach a point where we cannot escape the chamber anymore.

… we have to protect ourselves now, we cannot escape anymore.

(…!)

A cloud of dust and smoke, mixed with glassy shards from the rocks, has made it impossible for me to see anything around me now. But I know where Shirayuki is as my hand is gripping her. I can tell Aria is near too.

And so I — donn, donn, and… I push the two of them against the wall of the hihiirokane UFO.

To minimize the probability of either of them being crushed by falling rocks, I needed them to sit against the wall. Both girls who were pushed against the wall must have instinctively cowered, and both of them sat down and shrunk themselves. I could not see very well because of the dust, but odds are Aria is sitting like in gym class and Shirayuki is sitting on her heels.

The rest now is up to chance.

“……!”

I put both my hand onto the hihiirokane, and stood over the two of them to make a roof over their head with my back.

Stones hit my back one after the other as if they were shooting down on my from above, and large rocks that could crush my spine were falling now as well.

The torment was unceasing, and I feel like I am losing my mind because of how much it hurts.

Gradually, the weight of the stones and rocks that stayed on my back was pushing me down.

The pain from the falling rocks was now alleviated, but the weight was increasing with each passing moment…

(… Uh, uhh…!)

With a thud, I fall to a knee.

The hihiirokane continued to emit a vague light, so my vision was not completely blacked out, but my vision is beginning to flicker. My mouth is filled with the taste of blood that is coming from my damaged organs.

(Am I, already at, my… li… mit…)

Right below me, Aria and Shirayuki are crouching down.

I need to protect these two…!

“Kinji!”

“Kin-chan…!”

Aria and Shirayuki’s voices sound far away, even though they are right there.

Damn it. I have survived this long. I have fought my way to this point.

In this way, and in this place.

I am… I will…

(… the end, huh, is this it…)

A tremendous amount of pressure came from directly above me, and when I fell forward against my will… a roaring sound resounded from under my feet, like a gigantic cymbal, and something grabbed me.

Aria and Shirayuki were hugging me, and following that feeling… my body was forced down.

I thought the three of us would be crushed by the rocks, but… I was wrong.

“……?”

The rocks and stones that were pressing me down just fell to my side and behind me. My body literally feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

Twisting my fallen body, I managed to look up with my blank eyes…

The three of us had been knocked away from the hihiirokane, which was rocked like a seesaw by the falling rocks, and had slipped into a space that was created diagonally under it…

… I have been saved, miraculously, here too.

The hihiirokane UFO, which I thought was shaped like a hat, actually had turned into a hat by chance… it is protecting us from the cave in.

This is good luck… thank you Konayuki and ruru for your prayers.

“The cave in… it’s over.”

Aria mutters while touching the hihiirokane ceiling that protected us from the cave in…

The sound of falling rocks, that sounded like a huge cymbal, stopped.

(…)(

The hihiirokane emits a faint scarlet glow, so the surroundings look as if the room has been lit by a red light, but…

There is no exit to the room now.

Have I been buried alive? I thought I was lucky just now, but I guess nothing goes so smoothly in this world.

But,

“… for the time being at least, is it because of the hihiirokane that we were saved just now?”

Although we are trapped underground, it seems certain that we only lived as long as we have because of the hihiirokane.

I looked up at my hihiirokane roof and smiled wryly…

“Until a while ago, we were enemies, but in the end, it seems that we have become allies, even if it was by coincidence.”

I sit down quietly, so as to not mess with the surrounding rocks and upset our current, fragile balance.

My body seems to be bleeding a lot, but thanks to the scarlet glow, it is not very noticeable.

Well, the pain just increases when I look at my new scars, so I am happy with the fact that they are hard to see.

“Actually, that looks to be true. Kinji, this really is your specialty.”

Looking up at the hihiirokane UFO roof, Aria mutters.

To this miracle that allowed us to narrowly escape with our lives, what does that comment mean?

“What do you mean?”

“… you always manage to turn the opponent you just fought into an ally. That is why the Scarlet Goddess helped us.”

And, to the Aria who just smiled at me, baring her canine teeth…

I had a lot of counter examples pass through my mind, like Vlad and Sarah, and… well, there are more I am sure, however,

“Then I will take the credit for saving you. And, I am expecting payment later.”

I seized upon the business chance of selling favours to the rich Aria-san.

In fact, up to this point, my expenses have increased considerably.

But… despite me being serious about this, “Kusu. Kinji can tell funny jokes ones in a while”, Aria just laughed it off.

(… Aria…)

This Aria is…

In both body and mind… the real thing. Aria.

Her cute smile makes my heart skip a beat.

It feels like you have finally broken the Scarlet Goddess’s curse.

… meanwhile, Shirayuki…

“… Kin-chan, Aria… I am sorry… I have been hiding this from the two of you for a long time. Such an important thing…”

Because of her sobbing, she did not notice my injuries… honestly this was a good thing, I did not want to depress her even more.

For a moment, I wondered what I should say to Shirayuki,

“You couldn’t hide it for long anyway. Yes, stop crying.”

Aria, who hates sad atmospheres, puffs out her flat chest and says such a thing.

When it comes to her saying that though…

I cannot blame her for saying such a thing.

Even more so when I take into account Shirayuki’s character.

Rather, at the end of the day, I want to commend you for explaining that to her so plainly.

“A little while ago, when the Kaminabi was collapsing, I… I thought I was going to die because of my sin. But, Kin-chan and Aria saved me…”

When Shirayuki thanked me with tears in her round eyes…

“Article 1 of the Butei Charter. No, even disregarding that… Do I need a reason to help a friend?”

Aria, who was shrugging her shoulders, interrupted that too.

For this, too, I have no objection to what Aria said.

There was no reason to object.

I have come all this way to save Aria from the Scarlet Goddess. Just now, I helped save Shirayuki from the cave in.

A man helping a woman, no, a man helping a friend…

There is no other needed reason.

After a short while… Korokoro… a Japanese-style ball came rolling towards us from somewhere, through a small gap that a human could not fit through.

“… Tamamo, huh?”

I sat down and called out to her, and Bon.

Emitting white smoke, the ball turned into Tamamo, who was on all fours.

It is safe from this direction, but I really need you to stop crawling in that kimono miniskirt. You are not even wearing underwear.

Tamamo was in the group that wanted to kill Aria the Scarlet Goddess, so I was on my guard, and Shirayuki stayed on her knees as Tamamo was her superior in the Shinto business, but…

Tamamo was,

“… Wait. What?! Aria, are you possessed by the Scarlet Goddess?”

Looking up at Aria, she opened her eyes wide and was dumbfounded.

“I don’t think so.”

“Wh, What did you do?”

“I just imagined what I wanted to happen. When I was little, I read a picture book about people being possessed by ghosts, so I imagined myself being that ghost.”

When Aria had said “when I was little”, I wanted to retort “you are still little though, arent you?”, but I held my tongue as I wanted to avoid another wind tunnel.

“It is not that surprising, is it? I just did what the Scarlet Goddess did to me. If she can take over my mind, it is natural than that I could do it as well to her.”

“… o…”

“… of course…”

Tamamo and Shirayuki are at a loss for words with their mouths wide open at Aria who is now puffing out her chest.

“Aria, even if you are a genius who could do such a thing just by “imagining” it, you would not have had a chance to possess the Scarlet Goddess… How did you overcome the barrier of the Scarlet Goddess’s strong formulaic power?”

Tamamo, who asks that, looks at Aria like she is a ESP genius, a child prodigy even, but in my opinion… Aria is not a ESP genius or anything like that. She is a Guinness-class competitive woman who can simply and instinctively see a path to victory.

“Barrier? I wonder if that was the dark scarlet wall that I saw when the Scarlet Goddess was fighting Kinji? But, when Kinji got closer to her… another pale scarlet wall appeared, and they cancelled each other out, both disappeared.”

“… superconductivity in Love and War…!”

“Ze-, zero resistance… That is your latest trick…”

The stunned Shirayuki and Tamamo seemed to be satisfied with this psychic explanation, so I asked them to explain it to me.

In the heart of the Scarlet Goddess, feelings of love and war were mixing with each other, conflicting one another… When she was, in Riko-speak at least, in a state of tsundere, those who can sympathize with her could enter her mind with zero resistance. It was just like superconductivity, in which electrical resistance becomes zero at a critical temperature.

… even when this is explained to me in metaphorical physics though…

I have a bad grade in physics, so I have no idea what they are talking about.

I am an amateur to all this anyway, so I think I will stop listening in to this story for now. How about Tamamo throws everything else now onto Shirayuki? She did used to say that the Hotogi and Toyama should share roles.

So, Tamamo…

I could tell from Tamamo’s stance alone that she had no intent of killing Aria anymore. At first Tamamo must have been surprised at that Aria had managed to stop the process of becoming the scarlet Goddess, and in such a way that she never could have imagined, but with Aria having returned and that she herself could confirm this fact… Tamamo approached Aria and said “You really have taken over the Scarlet Goddess. What an unexpected outcome…” before beginning to sniff her. Is it possible for her to tell if it is Aria based off of her smell?

“Ah… Kin-chan. Radio waves, radio waves are coming… 1 bar…”

“Eh, ehh?”

There is a vague sense of dread I have when a Shirayuki-like girl says something like “radio waves are coming”, so I turn around a little defensively… but she is holding her cellphone. Oh, are you talking about your cellphone?

Looking closely, I can see a single antenna mark on the screen.

Konayuki had said that Kaminabi was out of range, but with the ceiling having broken apart due to the cave in, we could get a signal now.

Now that this location is no longer off limits…

I instructed Shirayuki to call for rescue here, and she did so without hesitation.

After Shirayuki called her sisters to fully explain the situation to them, the Hirosaki Fire Department called in a rescue team. Tamamo managed to exit the chamber through crevices in the rocks to tell the rescuers where we were…

Once again, it was Aria, Shirayuki, and me, under the hihiirokane waiting.

“They said it would take 3 hours for a rescue team to arrive. Sorry, the Hotogi live in the mountains…”

“I wonder how many hours total it will take for us to escape. Well, for now we can sleep and wait.”

And, while Shirayuki and I were talking.

“Hmm.”

Aria, with her hands on her hips, was looking up at our hihiirokane roof.

“Hey. Are you worried about something?”

Aria… are you talking to yourself?

While she was still looking at the hihiirokane.

“Don’t be shy. I know exactly how you feel.”

“What is it, Aria? Who are you talking to?”

“The Scarlet Goddess. I had to look into her heart to see why she was so angry.”

Wow…

Right now, you really are acting like a bona fide ESP.

“Huh? Alright… I will let you two talk then.”

Saying this, Aria looked up and…

On the hihiirokane ceiling that is shining like a mirror, a girl-like image is forming…

Sururi, and, a red spiritual like body came out.

It emerged like it was dripping from a surface of water, upside down.

“……”

Even though me and Shirayuki were both surprised, we stood side by side and could only blush.

That is because the spirit body had the appearance of Aria, with her long, but untied, twintails… however, much like Rurugami in the United States with Dr. Sara… Aria was naked.

Seeing herself upside and completely naked,

“WHY ARE YOU NAKED!!!”

Aria blushed such a bright pink that I could clearly see it, even in the red light, and,

“– PUT ON SOME CLOTHES! I AM GOING TO OPEN A WINDHOLE IN YOU!”

“Ah, we do not have a physical form. That is why we borrow the form of a woman who will not be attacked by those around us. No matter how belligerent you are, you would not attack yourself blindly.”

While making excuses with Aria’s voice, the spirit body that seemed to be the Scarlet Goddess… suddenly covered herself with a sailor suit made of mist.

“I am belligerent!? I am not as bad as you, idiot!”

Aria… you look down upon even cosmic lifeforms that we could only call “God”. As expected of a noblewoman. She has no hesitation for looking down on others.

While softly drifting down, Aria Scarlet Goddess rotated in the air while holding her skirt down… and she sat cross-legged next to Aria, while floating in the air.

“Then, Scarlet Goddess, may I share your true feelings with the other two here?”

“Even if I said no, you still would.”

“If you let them listen to you, maybe they will give you some leniency?”

“…”

While Aria and the Scarlet Goddess were talking, Shirayuki and I just had a “?” above our heads…

“The Scarlet Goddess wants to see her mother. This whole time, she was upset that she could not see her.”

When Aria told us this about her, the Scarlet Goddess could only turn her head in embarrassment.

(… mom?)

Since rurugami and ririgami were sisters, I suppose it should not be surprising that the Scarlet Goddess has a mother, but…

What do you mean, you want to meet her?

“After possessing the Scarlet Goddess, I would look into her memories. Long ago, the three sister, hihi, ruru, and riri, crossed the universe as meteorites… When they passed near the Earth, the gravitational pull pulled them towards it and they crashed into the Earth. The odds of this happening were akin to an unlikely car accident or two ships crashing in the open sea. The exact timing might have been different, but the three sisters flew side by side, so they all crashed into Earth.”

Aria spoke about the Scarlet Goddess’s memories…

This story matches the story that the Hotogi said, that the Scarlet Goddess “fell from the sky”.

“– we are, according to your earthling classification, free-floating planets. We are not bound by any other celestial body, and freely revolve directly around the galaxy.”

I do not know if there is a higher or lower rank among the stars, but at any rate, the Scarlet Goddess is now puffing out her non-existent chest.

“That is why we don’t have the habit of moving around much, which you humans do. We bend the space around us, and receive plasma emitted by stars to move like a sailboat. That is why our physical body can only move in outer space, and even when we do move, we do so slowly.”

The Scarlet Goddess, who is saying things very much with my image of aliens from outer space…

While she might by uniquely UFO in shape, she could not fly on Earth.

As the Scarlet Goddess had said, right now she could not move. From our point of view, she is just a rock.

“The gravitational pull of this planet is strong. Because of its magnetic field, stars plasma can hardly reach us. That is why we can no longer return to space. We were forced to live here.”

The sky beyond the hihiirokane was a roof for her…

The eyes of the Scarlet Goddess, as if looking to the universe beyond, are sad. Aria might be thinking of her own mother right now, as we were just talking of the Scarlet Goddess’s mother.

Aria’s somewhat sympathetic tone towards the Scarlet Goddess is…

Aria’s mother was imprisoned for a crime she never committed, and because of that Aria continues to be unable to see her mother.

“Is there, a, umm… do you have a mother? In space?”

When the Scarlet Goddess has a sad face while in the shape of Aria, I cannot help but be sympathetic to the Scarlet Goddess and listen to her personal story…

“I do.”

“What color is she?”

“Gold.”

“The she is Kinirokane.”

As an amateur I am not confident in this, but the Scarlet Goddess responded and,

“Mother has her own particles orbiting the Earth like a satellite, and has been watching us since we fell. Mommy is amazing. Even though she is small, she is powerful. She is kind, and has been lending a lot of her power to the people who built ancient tombs and the pyramids, which humans used as receivers… You know, your sister in law, Patra, uses her power too. That power is my mama’s.”

When that story was told, an unexpected link between irokane and the Toyama family was discovered.

Come to think of it, Hilda said something like “Patra gets her powers from the stars” at the Skytree. Was that was she was talking about?

But honestly, I do not care much about that area…

The Scarlet Goddess’s smile, as she gleefully boasts about her mother, is similar to Aria’s, but not just because she is the basis of her appearance… it is the face of someone who cares about their mother, who loves their mother deeply.

Kinirokane is watching over its daughters through its satellite particles, perhaps pieces of its own body, in the Earth’s orbit, must also have the feelings of a parent towards their children.

But her daughters cannot leave the Earth, as they are bound by gravity.

Earlier, I had tried to use criminal psychology to find out the motives behind the Scarlet Goddess’s desire for love and war… I thought it to be some kind of frustration, but it was homesickness. The sorrow of being forced to Earth and unable to return to the universe where her mother is. I could have never predicted that.

Her desire to leave is hopeless. She cannot fly freely in her UFO like we earthlings imagine she could.

Yes. The coloured metal sisters can never leave the Earth again.

Since the Scarlet Goddess could never go back to space anyway…

She decided that she might as well enjoy her time on Earth, and her younger sisters, Ruru and Riri, tried to stop her from doing so as it could destroy the Earth. That is what led to the conflict between the irokane sisters.

And as I am summarizing this tragic and sci-fi situation in my head…

“Scarlet Goddess… you give up on things way too easily.”

Aria, who was doing the “yareyare” pose that westerns often do, sighed towards the Scarlet Goddess. (TL Note: This is the pose. http://bitly.ws/yrc6)

“?”

When I, Shirayuki, and the Scarlet Goddess looked at Aria, she fixed her eyes on the Scarlet Goddess,

“I will do something for you, hihiirokane. You want to go back to space, right? I mean, just like the universe is finite, so is life. It is not a bad thing to kill time, but you have to remember what you really want to do.”

Aria is talking to her as an equal.

Aria neither respects her nor despises her. No regard for her being an Earthling and hihiirokane being an alien.

“Even stars must die someday, right? If you don’t live your life doing what you really want to do, you will regret it when you die. If you want to see your mother again, don’t waste your time.”

“To put it simply for you Aria, let alone space, I cannot move even 1mm. That is why… it is impossible… impossible for me to see my mamma again…”

“That may be right, but who do you think that is? He is Enable, a man who makes the impossible, possible.”

Aria, who was talking to the Scarlet Goddess, folded her arms and flicked her head towards me.

“If you say “I cannot do it”, I will open a windhole in you, so do not say it ever again. Also, do not say “I’m tired” or “it’s troublesome”.”

She told this to the Scarlet Goddess, however,

“… but this is too difficult, even for me, you know? I doubt it is even possible to move this rock to space.”

While tapping the ceiling with the back of my hand, I raise my eyebrows and say that to Aria.

“Kinji, are you telling me that you have been lying this whole time? Will I have to call myself the women who makes the impossible possible from today?

Aria takes out her pearl pink cellphone while making a mischievous chuckle.

What is this turn of events?

I have a bad feeling about this.

Aria then asked Shirayuki something strange, as if to add more to my worries.

“Shirayuki. The Hotogi has been taking care of the hihiirokane, right?”

“Ye-, yes.”

“From now on, I will be taking care of it. Fundamentally, we are doing the same thing, so there should be no issue.”

“?”

Aria continued, and kurori.

She turned around, her pink twintails waving in the wind, and she asked the Scarlet Goddess something strange.

“Well, Scarlet Goddess, here is a question for you. This is something I did not quite understand even after reading your mind… Can I use your abilities from any distance?”

“The hihiirokane in your chest follows you wherever you go. Your heart is always connected to mine. Irokane is one and all, all and one. The connection we have is on a separate dimension, our distance from one another is irrelevant.”

“Ok. We can negotiate then. A Butei is a jack-of-all trades. Our job is not only to fight and arrest criminals. Sometimes, we do other jobs, such as this.”

“?”

“I will grant you your dearest wish. I will return you to outer space.”

Aria, who is relatively strong in negotiations, replies as if she is out having a drink with the Scarlet Goddess.

“Eh.”

“What?”

“Ehh?”

The Scarlet Goddess, I, and Shirayuki, were all surprised…

Aria does not say anything to our surprise, but keeps talking.

“In return, I have a demand. That is, I want to be able to meet the expectations of the real name given to me by my great-grandfather… “Aria the Scarlet Ammo”.”

… Aria the Scarlet Ammo.

It was the honourable name that Sherlock Holmes gave to Aria back at IU.

The meaning of the name was meant for one who had mastered the use of hihiirokane.

A power beyond our modern understanding of psychics, concepts that are currently only conceptual…

… a person with ESP powers.

“In other words, for the rest of our lives, let me use your power without limit. Keep the Hidan as it is. It will only be used now as a means to talk to each other. Please teach me how to use the ESP abilities you can use, even if it is a little at a time. Right now, the laser is the only thing I know how to use with certainty.”

Oh, oh no. This is not good.

Or rather, Aria, you already know how to use the laser?

Aria, you…

I do not know how she is planning on doing this, but she is going to get this UFO back into outer space, and as a reward, she is going to be able to use the powers of the Scarlet Goddess at her will.

“Aria…”

At that moment, Shirayuki spoke with a hint of a warning,

“What? Are you trying to stop me?”

Aria’s eyes, a mix of her natural royal blue and scarlet, her reddish camellia eyes, glanced at Shirayuki.

“No. If you can really do that, that is a wishful story. A method that none past could think of to calm the Scarlet Goddess semi-permanently… but maybe… I will be involved in that story…”

Shirayuki seems to find it difficult to continue, so I, who can understand her thinking, will speak for her.

“You will have to control yourself when it comes to using those abilities, Aria. I doubt it will happen, but if you go out of control for some reason, someone has to stop you. You need an auditor, a safety net. That would have to be Shirayuki. She would have to step in, be it with the hidan, the Irokane Ayame, or her Scarlet dances.”

When I said that, Shirayuki nodded in agreement…

Aria did not seem to have objections to that.

Alright, at least for now, this will prevent lasers hitting me since Aria cannot use her powers whenever she wants. Just the normal guns and stuff. Still, this is a matter of “when”.

“Okay. I will only use those abilities if I really have to. I don’t know why you are so suspicious of me, I am not going to shoot lasers out of my eyes for the fun of it. People would be scared of me.”

Now then, Aria… do you really not realize that everyone is already scared of you? You, who scores 100kg high scores on punching machines purely for fun?

Now, all that remains to be seen is how the Scarlet Goddess responds…

“… I have already been possessed. I cannot do anything since my heart was taken hostage, I should know having done that to humans many times before… I understand the request. I accept, I don’t want to miss my chance to go back to space after waiting 2,000 years.”

… it has been decided.

But that is Aria for you. Her negotiating skills are an art.

Armed force, economic power, and political sway, these powers of Aria’s are being perfected and improved constantly.

And now, ESP powers… this is yet another of Aria’s powers, and now a God is my ally? Oh man.

“And so the contract is concluded. Scarlet Goddess, can you shake my hands?”

“You can do it if you want to.”

“I don’t just want to do it. I will do it.”

Aria and the Scarlet Goddess, who had a really earthling/alien-like conversation…

They exchanged a firm handshake, a tiny hand and a misty tiny hand.

Heh… you really can do it…

And at that scene of reconciliation that I could only look upon with my eyes wide,

“… I guess that settles that matter.”

I muttered that line that, recently, I have missed many chances say.

Shirayuki, too, was watching this historic handshake with a dreamy look on her face.

Aria…

“Not yet, Kinji. Article 8 of the Butei Charter. We must complete our mission, from beginning to end. Based on the contract, we must return the hihiirokane to space. You, my partner, must also help.”

Then, she turned her red-camellia eyes towards me.

Well, I knew I would have to help anyway.

“What are you going to do?”

“It’s easy.”

And, Aria opened the cell phone that she had been flicking through recently.

And…

She launched into the most unexpected, most insane sentence I had ever heard come out of her mouth before.

“I am in the process of contacting NASA. Let’s go to outer space.”