[Himushi Redemption] Himushi's Redemption

The Shoku Twins dropped by the house and Hokkaido, immediately taking everyone to the stadium construction site. Dusk's fiery afterglow left orange-tinted reflections of the waning sunlight on the windows of all the corporate buildings and homes around them. The stadium parking lot was nothing more than a field of dirt and dust, as the concrete hadn't been laid down yet. The partially constructed stadium arena lied ahead of the parking lot, with one massive crane looming over it.

"Thankfully, this entire area seems to be cordoned off for now." Izanami said.

"Akatsuki, Omagatoki, you guys brought Taeko back from the past and didn't think to tell me about it?" Tsukiakari questioned. "I spent centuries thinking she was gone. Why didn't any of you say anything?"

"Gekko..." Taeko lamented.

Akatsuki offered an explanation in her usual flat tone and stone-faced expression. "If we had told you, it would've put Taeko in danger. Part of why we helped you with Bishamon is because he would've killed Taeko if he found out she was still alive. We also couldn't risk blowing her cover while Himushi and Magatori were still trying to determine who she was. In fact, I would've preferred for you to find out after those two were dealt with, but I suppose this is fine, too. Surely, they must know they've been backed into a corner. This is their last stand."

"I specifically asked them to keep it a secret." Taeko admitted. "My priority was establishing my cover and convincing the world that Lucrezia was still very much alive. Her name itself is power within the organization. I needed that power if I had any hope of thwarting our enemies and reuniting everyone."

"I know, it's just..." Tsukiakari sighed. "I can't believe you were right next to me that whole time. You put up a very convincing disguise."

"We'll have time to talk more about what happened later. Right now, we're on the verge of ending this thing." Taeko said.

"What's the game plan, Taeko?" Osamu asked.

Taeko pointed at the crane. "Yoko, Osamu, I want you two keep watch from up there. You'll practically have a bird's eye view of the place."

"Got it. We can do that." Yoko assured.

"Gekko, Izanami, you guys will handle Magatori. Shinju and I will take care of Himushi." Taeko ordered. "Akatsuki, Omagatoki, go ahead and meet up with Amatsuki back at the house. Keep watch over Cyanide for me."

"Will do!" Omagatoki cheered.

"Be careful, Taeko." Akatsuki urged.

"Don't worry. I've already planned all of this out. Everyone, get to your positions." Taeko said.

(I already feel sick. I probably should've mentioned I'm not so good with heights, but I really don't want to be useless right now.)
Yoko and Osamu went off towards the crane, climbing the long, tall ladder so they could oversee the entire area. Izanami, Tsukiakari, Shinju, and Taeko marched forwards through the empty parking, plumes of dust trailing behind their footsteps, They stopped as they spotted Magatori sitting on top of a bulldozer and watching the stars twinkle in the darkening sky. Hearing their footsteps, he turned his head towards them, his hair and tattered, black yukata blowing in the wind.

"He really is the spitting image of his father." Tsukiakari remarked.

"Shinju, Lucrezia, go on ahead and find Himushi. We can handle this." Izanami said.

"Thank you." Shinju bowed.

Magatori attempted to chase after her, but he was swiftly stopped by Tsukiakari's thunderous shout. "You stay right here! Your fight is with us!"

Magatori began to realize who he was dealing with when he focused on Tsukiakari's face? She was a mirror image of Amaterasu. "So, you must be Tsukiakari Senkumo. You murdered my father."

"And I'd fucking do it again." Tsukiakari hissed. "I hate to break this to you, but your father was a manipulative war criminal. He killed all my friends, my entire clan. He tried to steal the throne that rightfully belongs to my mother, and to me after her. He was despicable."

"You think your mother is innocent in all of this?" Magatori quipped. "Izanami, you should know better than anyone that Amaterasu is just as guilty as my father was. This cycle of hatred in our pantheon started with her."

"No." Izanami growled. "It started with me. If you're to blame anyone, don't blame Gekko. Focus your hatred on me, instead."

Magatori stepped back, holding his hand over the mantle of his sheathed katana. "Then I'll cut you both down."

Taeko and Shinju continued through the stadium doors, stepping out into wide-open baseball field. Industrial lights shined upon the field from every angle with the intensity of the sun. With the thousands of seats surrounding the field, Shinju couldn't help but imagine a roaring crowd cheering them on during game night. Instead, all the stadium offered was a deafening silence.

"She's here." Taeko said, pointing to a lone figure in center field.

Himushi turned to face them, discarding her porcelain cat mask and dropping it on the grass. There was no need for anyone to hide their identities any longer. Their bitter battle forced both sides to reveal their terrible secrets. The wind lifted their hair and ruffled through their clothes, its quiet whistle drowning out the silence.

"I see now how little Lucrezia's life meant to you, Shinju. You were never really her friend. If you were, you would've never agreed to let that woman steal her identity." Himushi chided.

"It wasn't an easy decision to make, Himushi." Shinju admitted. "I supported the plan for the greater good, to stop you and Magatori from throwing the world into chaos. If Lucrezia were still here, she would never support your treachery."

"My treachery? What about yours? You think Lucrezia would've collaborated with Satori? You think she would've taken custody of Kagutsuchi in secret instead of turning her in? Do you think she'd make any plans to find Inari before Amaterasu herself? You both used her ghost to betray everything she held dear. I'm the one trying to stop you from dishonoring her any further!"

Himushi released her anger through her sigh, turning her eyes skyward. "But it doesn't matter now, does it? I admit, you two were able to outmaneuver us at nearly every turn. Whoever you are, imposter, you're one of the best exorcists this organization has seen in years. I suppose this battle here is the last one, isn't it? This will decide which of us was right."

Taeko stepped forward. "Himushi, I'm going to ask you one more time. Please, tell me everything you know about Inari's whereabouts."

Himushi slapped her hand onto her cheek and laughed. "The same old question yet again, huh?"

"If Lucrezia had survived the Great Hanshin Earthquake, and she were here with us today, she'd be joining the hunt for your ancestor." Taeko said. "Would you have followed her? Would you have the stomach to hunt down your own family, the reason for your powers, and the reason why you were even able to meet Lucrezia in the first place?"

"I would've followed any order she gave me, even if it meant killing Inari."

"I see. So you still mean to kill her, then." Taeko said.

Himushi's brows furrowed as a scowl formed on her face. "...Initially, our plan was to find her and kill her so we could consume her blood and heart."

Shinju and Taeko both felt a chill shoot down their spines. Their eyes widened in awe and revulsion.

"A god's power lies within their blood and heart, right? Don't you wonder how much more powerful my blood magic would be if I could consume my ancestor?"

"You can't be serious!" Shinju roared. "You were going to take that power for yourself?"

"Surely, you don't honestly believe Amaterasu is just going to kill her and be done with it, do you?" Himushi asked. "No, she's going to take custody of the body and do exactly what I would've done. She'd be a fool not to. No one would pass up the power to control the will of others. You two have little faith in your own pantheon. That's why you've undermined it all this time. If you're really going to continue to do so, then finding Inari is the one task you cannot mess up."

"I see now. That was how Bishamon intended on launching his coup." Taeko said, drawing Shinju's attention. "He brought up Magatori to be his right hand man, and he brought Himushi on his side so that he could have someone experienced with the Exorcist Program. With those two under his command, he'd have a much greater chance of finding Inari. At first, I thought he was hoping to bring Inari to his side as well, but it actually would make more sense to kill her and then consume her blood and heart.

“That's why Amaterasu is intensifying the search for her. Inari by herself is a threat to the pantheon, but with those powers, she'd be a target to anyone who seriously sought to depose Amaterasu. Even a mortal would suddenly possess the power to control the will of people and gods alike if they were able to consumer Inari's heart."

"You've got to be shitting me..." Shinju gasped.

"Now you see why we spent so long tracking her." Himushi said. "I can only imagine what kind of fear is driving Amaterasu to find Inari. Every time Amaterasu talks about her, her skin goes white. It's as if she's seen a ghost. She's scared that either Inari or someone capable of capturing Inari will pose a threat to the pantheon. She's a coward, scared of death and even more terrified of losing the throne. The pantheon is all she has, all she can define herself by. She's no different than how Tsukiakari was back in the days of the Senkumo clan."

"All the more reason for us to find her first. If what you're saying is true, this whole thing could blow up into a much bigger mess than I thought." Taeko said.

"Yes, you can't just handle Inari like you did Kagutsuchi. If you make a move to intercept her from Amaterasu, you'll be making a direct stand against the pantheon itself. You'll both be deemed traitors. You already know how they handle traitors." Himushi warned.

"Even so, Inari is my friend. If she needs help...I'm going to be there for her. There's nothing I can't plan my way out of. Trust me, Himushi. You've seen it yourself." Taeko urged.

Himushi chuckled. "This might be far too much of a challenge, even for you. Magatori and I were prepared for a fight with the gods, that's why we greenlit the plan. I have no idea how you intend to capture Inari without drawing the ire of Amaterasu. But...if you're so sure..."

"She's...really going to tell us something?" Shinju questioned.

"We don't know her exact location." Himushi said. "However, there have been spottings of Inari's nine-tailed foxes throughout the years. Most of the sightings occurred between 2006 and 2009, around Tokyo."

"The exorcists haven't had anymore spottings since then." Taeko said. "That wasn't very helpful. What a letdown."

"Let me finish." Himushi hissed. "The exorcists haven't spotted them since, but Magatori and I have. The most recent spotting was a few weeks after your fight with Amatsuki"

"What?! That recently!?" Shinju recoiled.

"Where? Where did you see it?" Taeko interrogated.

"It turns out, Inari is much closer than any of us could've ever guessed. We spotted the fox in the Arashiyama district. If you canvass the pattern of spottings throughout the years, combined with the ones known only to Magatori and myself, it's pretty clear that Inari is moving closer and closer to downtown Kyoto."

"Why on earth would she come here? It's exorcist central!" Shinju said.

"That's exactly why." Taeko interjected. "We'd never even think of it. Though, that's also reason to worry. The fact that she's zeroing in on Kyoto might also mean she's running out of places to hide. She must be getting desperate."

"It's only a matter of time before she's caught." Himushi said. "When she is, the exorcists will come down on her hard. I don't know who you are, but maybe you can find a way to change this pantheon, to change the Exorcist Program. Maybe then, no one will have to watch as their comrade's lives are thrown away and forgotten. That is, if you get out of here alive."

Shinju looked over to Taeko, shocked to see the tears building in her eyes. Taeko lowered her head, thinking back to her time in the Senkumo clan. Her mind took her back to the fifteenth century, to the shore of the Katsura river alongside her Senkumo comrades, and alongside Tsukiakari.

It was days after a particularly disastrous fight with the Ashikaga clan. The Senkumo prevailed in the battle, but it was a pyrrhic victory. It took days to count and identify the bodies of their fallen loved ones. Tsukiakari had them all cremated, and decided the clan would honor their sacrifice by scattering them into the homeward waters of the Katsura river.

Taeko and Tsukiakari surveyed their mourning troops as they walked along the Katsura River, their hands coated in the ash of their fallen comrades. Spotting Inori and her team, Taeko quietly sauntered towards them, Tsukiakari tailing her. Inori was their young, silver-haired medic who had survived the battle.

Inori and the others perked up and straightened their backs as they prepared to salute their superior, but a quick hand gesture from Taeko stopped them from being so painfully formal. Without a word, Taeko slowly reached a hand into the urn they held, carrying the remains of a young girl named Ayadachi. Taeko pulled her hands out, carefully cradling Ayadachi's delicate, fleeting remains.

"I won’t let this river take the rest. This mortal dust is all we have left of them." Taeko muttered under shallow breath.

Confused, Tsukiakari took a step towards her. "Taeko?"

Taeko looked to Inori and the other nurses, her single eye unblinking. "They deserve better than to be entombed in these ageless waters, forgotten by each passing year, every subsequent era. We won’t forget them like the river will. We won’t neglect them like the soil will."

Taeko leaned her head back and smeared Ayadachi’s ashes over her face, her hand gliding from cheek to cheek, from chin to neck, from nose to forehead. Her strange action caught the attention of the surrounding troops while Inori and the other nurses stood mystified. After her initial shock, however, Inori followed Taeko’s lead, smearing more of Ayadachi’s remains across her face.

The longer those pale ashes settled on her face, the more the tears began to return. It was as if the weight of Ayadachi’s ghost was pushing down upon her shoulders, summoning the sadness she thought had been run dry. One by one, her fellow nurses reluctantly joined them in this mournful ritual, the group gathering a crowd of curious troops.

Taeko stepped forth to address them. "I will no longer ask you to put a cause, an ideology, before your humanity. That is not how soldiers should be treated, as instruments of the times, paying in blood for the life of an idea. Many of you must feel it, don’t you? Your beliefs, your convictions, everything you thought you had sworn your heart’s allegiance to, slipping into the dissonant turmoil of conflict. Don’t feel discouraged. I feel it too.

“When the machinations of war quiet down in the night, I feel that weight bearing down on me. I feel like I’ve somehow betrayed the convictions of this clan when I mourn those we’ve lost. Has my faith in Bishamon or Tsukiakari waned? Have I forgotten the promised eternity beyond martyrdom?

"Now I realize…we had already lost our way from the start. The ideals of this clan ignored the soldier’s condition, that he is, after the fighting is done, just a human. Everyday, we are all risking death in our pursuit of a new nation. The country your ancestors helped build, this beautiful corpse of a nation, was prostituted by lords and their folly. In much the same way we once urged you to suppress your doubts and sorrows, so too did the lords convince their subjects to discard a piece of themselves for the good of the province. Humans…reduced to nothing more than loyalists without question, without skepticism.

"That neglect for humanity created the era we’ve inherited. Lords of a dying era fighting lawless men of a misguided cause. In the end, both sides continue to turn men into fodder without personhood. Perhaps that is unavoidable in the game of war. Perhaps, in many ways, we are no better. But these men and these women, whose ashes we hold before us now, died believing in the nation we could build.

"A nation of horizontal rule rather than vertical oppression. A nation that is more than just the ruler and his subjects, the destitute and their wealthy counterparts. We risk everything so we can begin the groundwork for a nation where every man and woman has a chance to be greater than the previous era allowed them to be. A place where a soldier is more than the disposable instrument of the state. A place where the people aren’t suppressed by the military, or censored by the government.

"What we’re doing is dark work. Our circumstances require that we commit actions that are antithetical to the convictions of our ideal nation. They require us to deal in dark deeds and poisonous words, to engage in brutality never seen before in this country’s long history. A long history that will, inevitably, distort the humanity of our clan and the truth of our cause. A long history that will erode the tombs of our heroes and violate the resting places of our loved ones, whom the world will judge as monsters because they dared to carry our name.

"But no one can take from us the communion we shared with our comrades, the love we had for our dearest friends. No one can take that burning emotion you all feel in your hearts in this very moment, nor the fire screaming out from the pit of your stomach. Accept the pain of losing what you loved. Embrace it.

"And if you, like me, feel the hatred festering within you, if you feel the deepest malice of your humanity seeping out and crying for revenge, do not let this river be their tomb. Silence is cowardice. It is the language of the enslaved and the vanquished. Unleash hell upon the deaf ears of history. Give no futile mirage to the eyes of this era. Accept your humanity as soldiers, and all of the imperfections therein. Don’t go floating away down the river of time."

Not a single word was spoken after Taeko’s speech. She only noticed it after she was done speaking, but nearly every soldier there had huddled around her and Tsukiakari, who stood just as awestruck as the rest of them. Taeko’s words that day had instantly transformed her into both a fortifier and a consoler, someone akin to that of a strict mother figure.

Tsukiakari, unable to find the words to express what Taeko’s speech meant to her, approached the nurses holding Ayadachi’s urn and coated her face in her ashes. The other troops soon followed suit, with everyone taking handfuls of their loved one’s ashes and smearing their faces with them. In silence, their coated their faces in the pale dust, bearing the visage of an army of ghosts beneath the dual, orange-purple veil of the twilight sky.

Taeko’s words had freed them of the clan’s ideological burden. It allowed them to let their human emotions, their sorrow, their fury, come to the surface without a hint of shame. It ignited that spark of humanity that Tsukiakari had failed to inspire, through no fault of her own. Taeko was the human touch, while Tsukiakari was the godly conviction.

Though, that did little to suppress the guilt the war goddess felt, that she had robbed them of what truly separates gods from humans; that sacred communion of camaraderie. Bearing the ashes of countless dead on her face, Taeko cast her eyes towards the falling sun, the rest of the troops joining her in viewing its fading light.

"It is the times that will pay its blood debt to us soldiers, not the other way around. Mark my words. Our comrades will be avenged. Our legacy, our truth…will carry on unmolested through time."

That day, Taeko awakened to the truth of what she called the soldier's condition. It was the humanity that society expected them to strangle whenever they were deployed to battle. It was the silent horror that thundered within them when they came home.

It was the nightmares of dead friends and enemies that stole away their ability to sleep. It was the dread and the hopelessness, knowing that there was no one they could to talk to who could possibly understand what they went through in war. It was the feeling of being a weapon, a tool for the state and nothing more.

Taeko opened her eyes, wiping the tears away from her cheek. Himushi's words awakened a storm of emotions within her, for she knew what it was like to be treated as a tool. She saw Japan, a great and beautiful nation, tear itself apart and reduce itself to cinders because of that exact abuse and avarice. It seemed the neglect of the soldier's condition was one problem that hadn't gone away, even in modern times.

"It's a tall task, Himushi." Taeko cried. "But we'll prove to you, here and now, that we're powerful enough to defeat you. After that, we'll find a way to stop all of this. You have my word."

Himushi dangled the Shoku Stopwatch and Bishamon's War Fan in her hands. "Your word isn't good enough. How do you intend to defeat me when I possess both of these? What's stopping me from pressing the button on this watch and slitting your throats, or opening this fan and roasting you alive?

"Well, I guess you got me there." Taeko joked. "There's nothing stopping you. I knew that when I came here."

"I admire your confidence." Himushi said. "Well then, we've said all we needed to. It's time we find out who's better suited to save this accursed world."

Meanwhile, Osamu and Yoko scouted the entire area at the top of the crane with their binoculars. Yoko's scarf and hair fluttered in the wind, and Osamu tried his best not to look down at the ground far below him. He took deep breaths, focusing his gaze on Yoko rather than the unsurvivable fall hundreds of feet down.

"Y-Yoko, how's it going over t-there?" Osamu chattered.

"Looks like Gekko and Izanami have Magatori in the bag. I can see the girl Shinju and Taeko, too. It looks like they're talking to Himushi.

"I'm not worried for Gekko or anything, but I really do hope Shinju and Taeko know what they're doing.

Yoko turned her blue eyes towards the shaking Osamu. "Osamu. You can't even handle being this far off from the ground. I think that's why Taeko urged us to stay up here."

Osamu, once more, questioned his own character. The space between the top of the crane and the earth below was more than just mere space. It was all the words Shinju and Taeko wanted to say, yelling out to Osamu in a deafening hush.

(My feet are are a long way from the ground...and I'm shaking. It's as if, this giant gap is mocking me. It's an empty, invisible symbol about the distance between me, and the caliber of bravery Shinju and Taeko need to take on such dangerous tasks.)

"My feet weren't always this far from the ground..." Osamu mumbled.

"You're right. You fell in love. And when you 'fall' in love, you're really ascending. The higher you go, the more the impact of falling will hurt, and the more we want to keep ourselves in the sky. We don't want to return to the horrors of being on the ground again. Shinju is a much classier woman that I thought she was when I first met her. She saw right through you."

"I guess I have a long way to go, if I want to catch up to her."

"I wouldn't blame you. I think Shinju sees through you so much because she was probably like you at some point in her life. I think she's trying to protect you from making the same mistakes she made in her childhood."

Osamu's smile betrayed his thinly veiled sadness. "It takes a woman to know a woman, huh? It's like you guys have your own language no one else can understand."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Perhaps, every woman with something to love all know the same language."

Yoko smiled and continued surveying the area. Down below in the construction pit, Magatori jumped back, sliding backwards on his sandals and contemplating his next move. Tsukiakari didn't look worried one bit.

"I'm one of the people you wanted to kill, right? Sucks to be you, doesn't it? You've got the right person at the worst possible time." Tsukiakari mocked.

Both Magatori and Tsukiakari drew their blades, their eyes aglow with anger and rage.

"Izanami, how long?" Tsukiakari asked.

"Hmm...maybe ten seconds." Izanami answered.

"Seriously? I say seven." Tsukiakari said.

Izanami shook her head. "Definitely ten."

Tsukiakari sighed. "Fine then, let's see who's right."

"What on earth are you two up to?" Magatori shouted.

Izanami dashed behind Magatori faster than the speed of sound, cutting off his left arm with her scythe. Tsukiakari, with the aid of electricity pulsating in her feet, moved speedily and cut off Magatori's legs, sending him spinning sideways in the air. His blood sprayed around the floor of the construction pit as Tsukiakari hit him in the stomach with the butt of her sword, propelling him hundreds of feet into the air.

"Seven! Six! Five!" Izanami counted aloud.

Magatori threw his sword at Tsukiakari from the air. Izanami immediately stood in front of her, teleporting the incoming sword above Magatori. By the time Magatori realized he was about to be impaled with his own blade, it had already gone through his stomach. He crash landed on the floor of the construction pit with a thunderous bang, bloodying the dirt at his stomach.

"Ten seconds! Told you!" Izanami cheered.

"Damn it! You win..." Tsukiakari sighed, wiping Magatori's blood off her blade with her sleeve. "Well, it's just as I thought. The little runt only managed to kill me because he got the jump on me. Now then, there's just one thing left to do."

Magatori tried his best to move, but all of his efforts were futile. His own sword, stuck through his back, pinned him to the ground no matter how hard he tried to let himself loose.

"How...are you still this strong?" Magatori groaned.

Tsukiakari sheathed her blade. "Considering how many people you killed, you don't have the right to cry about this. Still, I do truly feel sorry for you. It's not your fault you were raised to be a modern-day version of me. Those are just the cards you were dealt with. That's exactly why you have to die."

"Please...don't...." Magatori begged.

"Don't worry. Your pain will only last a short moment. It will be over soon." Tsukiakari assured.

"I'm begging you, I want to live!" Magatori cried.

Tsukiakari dealt the final blow with her sword, piercing Magatori's heart through his back. His crying went silent, and his eyelids lowered until they were shut completely. The blinding constructions lights shined on the three of them, their white glow reflecting off of Magatori's expanding pool of blood.

"May you find rest in the next life." Tsukiakari prayed.

Tsukiakari withdrew her blade and sheathed it. She took a deep breath, inhaling the cold, winter air into her nose and lungs.

"I really wish there was another way. To go so wrong so young..." Izanami lamented.

"Yeah, I know. I reckon Bishamon was trying to start another situation similar to that of the Warring States era, with the Senkumo clan. Except, he wanted his next group of pawns to be powerful, divine descendants. Mother thankfully killed him long before he could ever see this plan come through."

"He must've been trying to overthrow the gods..."

"Which would make Himushi and Magatori accessories to high treason. No wonder Taeko and Shinju asked to deal with Himushi themselves."

Izanami de-summoned her scythe, letting it fade away into a glow of pink flames. "Shinju and Himushi...what a shame. Those two used to be so close."

Magatori was dead. All that was left was Himushi. Shinju stepped forth, determined to see Himushi's demise through until the end.

"We're going to end this, here and now, Himushi." Shinju warned.

"You do realize, all I have to do is press this button, stop time, and cut off your pretty little head? Are you aware how quickly I can finish this?" Himushi mocked.

"Yeah, I know this won't be a very long fight. It doesn't need to be, because frankly, you aren't worth it. The Himushi of the past is worth such a fight. She's worth bleeding and struggling for. You, on the other hand...you're just a shell of her." Shinju chided.

Shinju smiled and opened her arms, as if she was inviting Himushi in for a hug. "Himushi, I can finally say this to you. I've surpassed you. I've become the woman you expected me to be and more. I kept my promise, didn't I? I didn't let you down. I've got some good friends now, and I even met a man I'm willing to protect. Though it's a big, lonely world out there, I'm making the best of my life. I made it, Himushi. For you, and for Lucrezia...I made it. It's all because you were my mentor, and because you thought so highly of me. You're part of why I am who I am now. That's why, even if you've changed for the worse, I'm proud that you and I were friends. I'm proud you were in my life. Thank you."

Himushi's hands balled into fists, her nails digging through the skin of her palms. "How you can be so happy being a slave and dutifully serving your masters? I'll never know. Let's end this, Shinju."

Shinju's eye's lowered and closed half-way. It was a look of sadness and reminiscence, a look that bitterly hated yet accepted the current situation. That acceptance was marked by the full closing of Shinju's eyes. Shinju, like a cowboy in a showdown, drew her hand and shaped her fingers into a gun, shooting out a powerful blast of high-pressured air. Himushi pressed the button on the Shoku Stopwatch, freezing time where it stood.

"Hah! It's over, Shinju!" Himushi mocked as everything came to a standstill.

As Himushi unfolded her war fan, one of Cyanide's coins slipped out. Upon activation of the war fan's powers, the coin exploded into a conflagration of purifying, blue flames. The explosions thunderous boom and ferocious shockwave rattled the walls of the stadium and lit up the sky like the rising sun. The stopwatch and war fan were vaporized in the explosion, bringing time out of it standstill.

Himushi laid on the floor, immobilized. Her body was fading into dazzling, blue embers as her skin bubbled and blistered from the heat of the explosion. She could only lay there, looking up at the stars past the stadium lights.

"What...what did I do wrong? What happened?" Himushi questioned.

Taeko released a sigh as she clasped her hands together, releasing the Fetal Dream affecting Himushi's brain. Everything had worked out exactly as she planned.

"It's over." Taeko said.

"Yeah. It is." Shinju agreed.

Shinju waited for the plume of smoke and dirt to clear. She used her hand to brush away the flowing hair the wind was blowing in her face.

"That day, when I fought Magatori in the hospital, before I left Cyanide to fight Magatori on my own, I had him put one of his coins inside of the stopwatch. I set it up so that the coin would spin inside of the gyroscope, simulating how it would twirl if one were to toss it in the air. As for the coin in the fan, he put that in there a long time ago. Years ago, in fact.

"Inside...the clock?!" Himushi recoiled.

"A clock has quite a few gears inside of it. See, that clock has a device very similar to a gyroscope inside of it." Taeko explained. "That gyroscope is key to the watch's ability to stop, progress, or backtrack time. A gyroscope spins on all three axes, allowing one to manipulate time in any direction. We simply opened it up and fit the coin inside the gyro rotor. When you stopped time, the coin acted as the rotor, repeatedly spinning around and becoming the basis for the entire functionality of the stopwatch."

"But the fan...I opened the fan many times! There was no coin inside! How did you manage to tamper with it when I had it all along?!" Himushi questioned.

"The coin inside of the clock is the teleportation coin." Taeko answered. "It's used to teleport another coin to any place. The coin that it was supposed to teleport was one that was once inside of the fan, a purification coin. Keeping purification coins inside relics was a measure Cyanide used to keep the them safe from enemy hands. As an exorcist, you know that, Himushi.

“The teleportation coin, coupled with the clock's time abilities, allowed for the purification coin to be teleported back to the area that it was at, at the specified point in time. In this case, the coin of purification was inside of that fan eight years ago, before it was returned to the Buddhist shrine for safe-keeping. Whether you went forwards, backwards, or froze time, the teleportation coin could still retroactively access the coin it's assigned to, because again, the gyroscope inside of the clock always spins on all three axes.”

Himushi, amused, erupted into a fit of coughs and laughter. "Ingenious...you used the coin and the clock together..."

Taeko nodded. "In order to achieve time-based teleportation, yes. It's like going back in a film and editing it so that an object that was in a previous scene is in the current one. It worked out perfectly. There was no worry about the purification coin flipping out of the fan before the fan's power was activated, since the very act of opening the fan automatically gets it to charge up and be ready for use.

“The purification coin was thus able to bypass the frozen time, since it was being activated alongside a relic you were currently holding and using. Though this strategy was originally intended for Magatori, it worked on you as well because you've grown much too addicted to power. That's why I always urge against addictions. They're nothing but weaknesses. That addiction is what made you use both of these forbidden tools."

Himushi laughed as she continued to slowly fade away. It was a tired, almost melancholy laugh, one that ached Shinju's heart.

"You really are stronger than Lucrezia herself. And you too, Shinju...You really have...surpassed me, huh?"

Shinju nodded. "Yeah...I have."

"I don't know why, but...that...that makes me happy." Himushi said. "It's been miserable ever since then. I was supposed to die, so I couldn't just come back and live life normally again, not without the gods interfering. Bishamon...he really drilled it into my head...about how we descendants are treated. That's why I don't understand...how you can continue to serve them..."

"It's simple. Unlike you, I'm going to continue being a beacon of hope, rather than a beacon of fear. If we want true justice in this world, we have to embody our vision and breathe life into it. You cannot achieve the change you want by being the opposite of what you desire, Himushi." Shinju explained.

Himushi was left without words. She was hit with a philosophy that used to be her own.

"You can never achieve a greater life by throwing the one you have away." Shinju said. "That's what I learned from you. I'm applying the lesson in my everyday life, so that the gods will no longer have a reason to fear us. I want the gods to see the good in us descendants, so I'm going to be a good descendant for as long as I live."

Himushi's legs faded away completely, floating away into the sky in the form of purified, blue embers. "You're right...In all my suffering...in all of my fear, I forgot that. How foolish of me...how embarrassing...you probably hate me, don't you?"

"You're my friend, and though we have differing views on the circumstances of our lives, I still love you, even now." Shinju said.

Shinju held Himushi's right hand, while Taeko held her left, a final comfort in the face of death. Seeing that bright, smiling face, the same one she knew years ago, brought Himushi to tears. It was the light she needed to see after being shut inside of a dark place for such a long time.

"...Can you two...really do it? Can you change the pantheon, and the Exorcist Program?"

"We can." Shinju said.

"It won't be easy, but nothing ever is." Taeko added. "Leave it to us, Himushi. You've done more than enough. It's time to rest now."

Shinju hugged Himushi farewell with her eyes closed and her heart wide open. She stroked Himushi's hair, consoling her as she continued to fade away.

"You were the best friend I've ever had. You're the one who made me the way I am. You built this beacon of hope and made her strong. For that, I can never repay you." Shinju cried.

"Thank you, Shinju...you really didn't let me down. Thank you for surpassing me." Himushi wept. "Oh...and you...I never got your real name."

"It's Taeko. Taeko Akiyama."

"Taeko...Shinju...I think...I'll put my trust...in the both of you..."

Himushi's entire body turned into blue embers which filled the area around Shinju and Taeko, like thousands of glowing fireflies. Like all things, even those beautiful embers were whisked away by the winter wind, into the distance, into the darkness, and into eternity's embrace. Shinju watched them until she could no longer see them.

With both battles concluded, Izanami, Tsukiakari, Yoko, and Osamu awaited Shinju and Taeko outside of the stadium. Though the event weighed heavily on Shinju's heart, she took a deep breath and played it cool in front of everyone. Finally, she emerged out of the double door with Taeko, with her hands at the back of her head and her eyes closed.

"Whew...what an ordeal." Shinju said.

"Shinju!" Izanami cried.

"What happened?! Is everything all right?! Did it go well?!" Osamu shouted.

"Yeah, it went well, if you want to call it that." Shinju answered. "She's gone. What about Magatori? I heard the noise from the stadium."

"He's dead. Izanami and I took care of him." Tsukiakari said.

Shinju sighed. A massive weight was off of her shoulders. "Good."

"I felt my belly twinge a little bit earlier. Did you do something with the Fetal Dream, Taeko?" Izanami asked.

"Oh, not to worry. I broke the dream." Taeko answered. "I used it to command Himushi to use the stopwatch and open the fan. Once that was done, it was no longer needed, so I released the dream."

"It's one hell of an ability. I don't think you'll have any trouble with something like that up your sleeve." Osamu said.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." Taeko said. "You can only use the Fetal Dream once per fetus. If I were to use it again, it would be ineffectual. The simulated pain wouldn't be enough to illicit the dream after the first go, and it would require more drastic methods in order to force its dream to bleed into reality. It would be torture on Izanami."

"Oh...Well then, let's not do that." Izanami said. "So then, we're done? We won, right?"

Taeko nodded. "Yeah, we won. You guys head on back to the house and make sure Cyanide is okay. Gekko, I'm going to need some help disposing of Magatori's body. Can you help me? It would be dangerous to leave his corpse out like this."

"Sure thing. I'll catch up with you guys later." Tsukiakari said.

With the battle over, all that needed to be done was to dispose of Magatori's body, and head on home. With Cyanide safe, Magatori and Himushi gone, and the relics involved all destroyed, this adventure had reached its climax. Indeed, it was time to bury the dead, bury the past, and go home.