[Himushi Redemption] Conquerer of the River of Time

Energized purely by her will to live, Shinju gathered her strength and shot the door of the crypt with blasts of air repeatedly until it gave way and cracked open. Then, using the blood from her head wound, she drew the kanji for 'Heaven' and 'Purify' on the walls of the crypt, invoking a spell that prevented the odorous, black smoke from rushing inside. Shinju kicked off the door of her crypt and moved quickly to blast open the hinges of Cyanide's crypt.

"Cyanide! Stay with me!"

"Shinju...you're alive..." Cyanide groaned. "Where's Lucrezia?"

"I don't know! Lucrezia!" Shinju shouted.

"Shinju!" Lucrezia answered, following her voice into the morgue.

Lucrezia rushed in and slung Cyanide's left arm over her shoulder, while Shinju took the right. As they stood, however, the already weak and dilapidated hospital began to shudder and creak all around them. The aged support beams in the walls were twisting and contorting from the intense heat of the flames.

"No good, it's going to collapse!" Shinju cried.

"Shinju, the windows!" Lucrezia urged. "There's a window in the hall just outside!"

Shinju threw her last two canisters of holy water into the hallway just outside the morgue, dousing the flames and clearing a path for everyone. They lugged Cyanide out into the hall together, the fire quickly crawling towards them from the other end of the hall.

Thick, black smoke made it impossible to see and dangerous to breathe. Shinju pointer her finger gun at the window and shattered it to pieces with one, good blast. It was a two-story fall, much more survivable than staying inside and roasting to death.

"This is gonna fucking hurt! You ready, Cyanide?"

"Let's go!" Cyanide shouted.

Lucrezia braced herself and began the countdown. "Three, two, one...Jump!"

The three of them leapt out of the window landing on a pile of snow as the hospital collapsed into cloud of embers, dust, and rubble, clouding the nearby streets in smoke like a dust storm. Shinju and Lucrezia closed their eyes and plugged their noses as even the parking lot surrounding the abandoned hospital was clouded in rubble and black smoke.

Instead of enveloping them, the smoke parted and circled around them, and then in an instant, was blown away by a cyclone of air. Lucrezia and Shinju opened their eyes thinking they had died instantly and ended up in the afterlife. Their confusion settled into immense relief as they saw Tsukiakari standing before them, her sword raised skyward. The former war goddess had come just in time to save them all.

Shinju smiled, halfway unconscious. "Thank you, Tsukiakari..."

Tsukiakari turned and smiled. "Thank Osamu. He knew something was wrong and sent me here."

"I'm really glad he did..." Shinju snickered softly. "Tsukiakari, Cyanide is wounded. Can you treat him at the house?"

"Yeah, but we'll be going to our Hokkaido house. It's not quite safe here in the neighborhood." Tsukiakari said.

"Couldn't have said it better myself..." Cyanide groaned.

Expecting to find Lucrezia laying next to Cyanide, Tsukiakari instead laid eyes upon a raven-haired girl whose arms and leg were ravaged by livor mortis reminiscent of a shikome's curse. She stole a glance at Shinju and then took another look at the woman before her.

"That's Lucrezia..." Shinju said, passing out

"...Is that right?" Tsukiakari hissed.

Shinju awoke on the couch of Yoko's Hokkaido home, tucked in the snow-veiled countryside. The wind howled outside, while the gentle crackle of the lit fireplace and metronomic tick of the wall clock caressed her ears. She slowly sat herself up, upsetting all of her nerves from head to toe as she did so.

All of her bruises, cuts, and burn marks had been bandaged up while she was unconscious. Cyanide laid on the floor across from her, fast asleep. Lucrezia sat with him, covering him up with his black blazer before noticing Shinju was awake.

"He's going to be okay." Lucrezia said. "He's a trooper."

"What about you?" Shinju asked.

Hearing the footsteps descending from the stairs, Lucrezia's expression soured. "I think we're going to have to come clean."

"They're awake?" Osamu asked.

"Gekko, wait! We should be calm about this!" Izanami urged.

Tsukiakari was the first to reach the bottom of the steps, her hair done into a half up, half down style with a small ponytail at the top. "There is no calm!"

Lucrezia stood up, but signaled Shinju to stay seated. She had a good idea as to why Tsukiakari sounded so upset. Lucrezia and Tsukiakari locked eyes, staring daggers at each other like archenemies. Yoko, Izanami, and Osamu stood back, not wanting to get in the way of Tsukiakari's ire.

"Thank you for your hospitality, everyone." Lucrezia said.

Tsukiakari ignored the empty gesture, taking a single step closer to Lucrezia. "Who are you?"

"...Yui Tobimaru."

"Bullshit." Tsukiakari hissed, tears welling in her eyes. "I knew I recognized those scars. That face of yours, those lips, your eyes...and now your hair. I would never forget, not even in a thousand years. I want to hear the truth. I want to hear it straight from your mouth. Who are you?"

Lucrezia had no intention of answering that question. She would've stayed silent and ignored Tsukiakari, no matter how hard the goddess pressed the issue. However, when she turned her gaze to Izanami, her heart shattered. Izanami's face was soaked in tears as she held her hand over her chest, trying with all of her might to choke back her thunderous sobs.

"Please tell us." Izanami begged. "We don't know what to believe otherwise."

Shinju closed her eyes and bowed her head. It was clear now that Lucrezia could no longer bear to keep the truth from Izanami nor Tsukiakari.

Lucrezia smiled. "I'm happy you remembered, Gekko. I'm happy...that you didn't let me go floating down the river of time."

Lucrezia chose that exact phrase, those exact words, for a reason. Tsukiakari held her hand over her quivering lips as she wept. She could never forget who first said those words to her so many centuries ago.

"That's right." Lucrezia said. "I'm not Yui Tobimaru. I'm not Lucrezia. I'm..."

Before Lucrezia could say another word, Tsukiakari ran into her arms and hugged her, weeping onto her shoulder. Tsukiakari shook and shivered in Lucrezia's arms. It took everything she had not collapse to the floor in shock, grief, and awe. She couldn't believe it. It was as though she were holding a ghost in her arms, but it was undeniably real.

"Taeko..." Tsukiakari sobbed. "You're Taeko Akiyama..."

"Taeko?" Yoko repeated.

Izanami nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I can't believe it. That's Taeko Akiyama, Tsukiakari's comrade from the Warring States era, and a former member of the Senkumo clan."

"Senkumo clan?" Osamu recoiled. "Then she should've died centuries ago! How is she still here?"

"I...I don't know. We saw her die." Izanami said. "She turned into a Mu-Onna and Tsukiakari killed her so that she wouldn't have to suffer anymore."

"Taeko, how?!" Tsukiakari gasped. "How are you here? How is this possible?"

Taeko sighed. "I suppose there's no need to keep it all a secret now. Please sit, everyone. I won't lie to you anymore. I'll tell you how I survived, and how I ended up here in this time period."

"Taeko, are you sure about this?" Shinju asked.

Taeko nodded. "Yeah. It's about time they knew. Gekko and Izanami deserve to know, of course. Osamu and Yoko should hear this too, about I how I fooled the world into thinking Taeko Akiyama was dead, and Lucrezia was alive.”