[The End of Osamu Ashikaga]: Dreaded Goodbyes

Within hours, Osamu’s final deed was complete. Hima was sure to become pregnant with Osamu’s child, and Osamu’s body was drained of its blood. Hima held her own, bloody heart in her hand, her eyes wide with equal parts horror and wonder. She didn’t need it in her own body, for Inari’s heart was beating in its place.

Devoid of blood and turned vampire by Hima’s bite, Osamu lied on the bed as pallid as the winter snow. Were his eyes not wide open, he would’ve looked ready for the coroner’s office, if there were any of them left standing anywhere on the desolated planet. In place of his missing heart was a sigil burned onto his chest depicting a full, black moon. The moon slowly faded, little by little, along with its ability to keep Osamu alive.

“What unbelievable power…” Hima gasped, looking down at her own body. Nothing about her changed on the outside, but Inari’s heart and blood made her feel utterly invincible. With her pedigree and Inari’s Bloodcraft combined, Hima was now the most powerful being on the planet. But without the freedom to engage in war, she would never be able to take more power than what Osamu gave her.

Osamu sat on the foot of Hima’s bed as he buttoned up his shirt. There were four, small holes on the left side of his neck where Hima sunk her fangs. The bite mark ached and left the entire left side of his neck sore with a pulsating pain. Just like Hima, Osamu looked down at his body with his mouth agape and eyes stuck open. He couldn’t feel a heartbeat in his chest nor a pulse in his wrists or neck. He was quite literally a dead man walking, the sigil allowing him just a meager amount of time to spend in the world.

“This is really happening…” Osamu responded, his voice hoarse and raspy. “I guess…this is goodbye, isn’t it?”

Hima put her heart down on her nightstand before pacing towards Osamu. She ran her fingers through his hair, making him raise his head so he could look into her eyes. The expression she saw on his face was like that of a frightened boy with no friends or family anywhere to guide him. She saw a whirlwind of terror in his dilated pupils, for it was his time to stand before the great, black colossus known as Death.

Without Inari’s heart and blood, he was mortal again, but he was still something far from human. All that remained of him was the pale, scarred vessel he called his body devoid of any warmth or color.

“I will see our mission through to the end.” Hima said, kissing Osamu’s forehead. “I’ll raise our child, protect our nation, and I’ll bind this world to your vow. There will be no more war. No more violence. No more burdens. You paid a heavy cost for the world’s freedom from itself. Do not fear what comes next. You have fought and suffered long enough, Osamu. Rest. I’ll take on your burden from here.”

Hima tugged on Osamu’s hand, prompting him to stand up from the foot of the bed. “You only have about two hours. Now’s your chance to go home.”

“Hima…thank you for everything.” Osamu sighed, bowing his head in gratitude.

“Same to you, Osamu. Meeting you was like waking up for the first time. You made my wildest dreams and more come true. Words will never convey how much this experience has meant to me. I would gladly do it all again if it meant fighting by your side once more.”

Osamu smiled. “One last thing. Be sure to order the horde to stop the massacre after they’re done with the Americas. The world will be in ruins, but a sliver of humanity will remain. In time, mankind will flourish again in a world free from war.”

“It will be done, my king.”

Osamu took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. Without any blood in his body, he felt extremely cold and couldn’t stop shaking. “Well then…goodbye, Hima.”

“Goodbye, Osamu Ashikaga. You were Moonglow’s most splendid guest.”

His final task complete, Osamu departed from Hima’s bedchambers, stopping to give her just one last glance and a warm, thankful smile. Hima’s strength and tenacity, even in the face of overwhelming odds, made her the perfect accomplice to Osamu’s plan. He couldn’t imagine having a stronger partner, queen, or co-conspirator. It all made him admire Lucrezia’s foresight in keeping Hima safe from harm for all those years.

Osamu left the room and shut the door behind him. He walked down the stained glass halls with his hands in his pockets, making his way to the staircase. He descended the stairs and landed in the grand, but empty entrance hall. There was no fanfare, no further goodbyes, and no final embraces from his loved ones. He wanted to leave in secret, while all the girls were sound asleep. He already said everything he wanted to.

He emerged from Moonglow’s front door and saw the Shoku Twins sitting on the grass outside, watching the stars and the eclipse flicker in the blackened sky. Akatsuki and Omagatoki looked so at peace, as if there wasn’t a worry in the world. Despite having adult bodies, they retained flashes of their childlike innocence and wonder. Osamu watched with a smile on his face as Akatsuki pointed out all the constellations to her sister, everything from Orion to the Big Dipper.

Omagatoki, usually the talkative one, rested her head on her sister’s shoulders and let her do all the talking. Hearing Akatsuki go on and on about the stars and the Greek myths behind them was like music to Omagatoki’s ears, and the sight of it all truly made Osamu realize this would be the last time he’d ever see them.

His throat stung and tightened as his eyes drowned with tears. The time he had left was so meager, just enough to watch the grains of sand in an hourglass funnel down one end, then flip it over to watch it all funnel down to the other end. And that’s it. That’s all that was left.

Akatsuki turned her head and noticed Osamu standing behind them. She was startled at first, taking a second to see it was Osamu in the dark.

“Osamu!” Akatsuki said, her and her sister running over to him. “Weren’t you going to give Hima your blood and heart?”

“I already did.” Osamu said, pulling his shirt down to expose the lunar sigil on his chest. “This is all that’s keeping me here. Hima gave me enough time to go back to Kyoto. I was hoping you two would take me there.”

“But…isn’t the city destroyed?” Omagatoki asked.

“Yeah, but the neighborhood is still standing. That’s where I want to die.”

“And how long do you have left?” Akatsuki questioned.

“Less than two hours.” Osamu answered.

“Sis and I can’t stand to see you die.” Akatsuki said. “So…we’ll take you there…and then…”

“I understand.” Osamu assured.

Akatsuki reached out her hands, her eyes gleaming with sorrowful tears. Osamu took hold of her left hand while Omagatoki grasped the right.

“Is everyone ready?” Akatsuki asked.

Omagatoki nodded her head while Osamu remained silent. He wore a resoluteness on his face that was visible to see, even if it was stained by pain and mourning. If the twins couldn’t stand to watch him die, Osamu knew it would need to be the other way around.

“Okay…” Akatsuki said. Within seconds, the three of them vanished from Wales and reappeared in Kyoto. The rest of the city was a desolate, eerily quiet wasteland of corpses and rubble. Osamu’s old neighborhood, however, stood amongst the destruction as the last remaining vestige of civilization in the city. All the houses and the corner store still remained, and even the abandoned bowling alley was spared from destruction.

Osamu looked around, feeling a sense of déjà vu hit him like a tidal wave. “Back where it all began…”

Standing behind him, the twins performed their final kuji-in sequence in unison. They wove the Rin, Pyō, Tō, Sha, Kai, Jin, Retsu, Zai, and Zen seals in that order, then performed them backwards, thus drawing the energy needed for their suicide technique. Usually, performing such a technique would be meaningless for deities. All gods under the Shinto and Buddhist pantheons were protected by the safety net of reincarnation, after all. But now that there were no worshipers left on earth, no god could reincarnate if they died. What was once thought of as an archaic and useless technique had now become the direct path to freedom from godhood.

When the hand signs were complete, the seals on their chests flashed with a bright, blinding light before darkening again. Piece by piece, those seals began to fade away. Osamu ran towards them after they both collapsed on the street beneath a flickering lamp post. He knelt before them, clutching both of their hands as tightly as he could.

“This technique…” Akatsuki began, “the exorcists simply called it ‘Sunset’, the end of a life. Never thought we’d be casting on ourselves someday. Sis and I will die here, and we won’t come back. We’ll be free from it all…free from godhood…free from our burdens…”

“We’re sorry, Osamu.” Omagatoki. “We didn’t want to make you watch this. We understand if you want to leave us here.”

“What are you talking about, dummy?” Osamu chuckled as tears ran down his cheeks, his smile wilting into a pained frown. “I would never leave you two.”

“I’m glad that part of you hasn’t changed.” Omagatoki said. “Oh, nearly forgot. Sis, will you give me your hand one last time?”

Akatsuki nodded. She slid her hand across the concrete until she felt Omagatoki’s fingers. The two grasped each other and interlocked their fingers together, performing one final act as gods.

“The horde is nearly done, isn’t it?” Omagatoki asked. “We just released the eclipse. It will wane in an hour or two. Light will return to the world. Though, there are so few alive to see it now. No matter what the world may think of you, I’m happy we did this.”

“Thank you for everything, both of you.” Osamu said.

“Right back at you, Big Brother Osamu.” Omagatoki said, her eyelids partially closing.

Akatsuki rolled her head away from Osamu as she began to cry, covering her wetted eyes with her arm and speaking past her suspirations and small hiccups. “I finally…feel sad. Not because this the end of our lives. I’m finally feeling what we lost when we became gods. The chance to grow up…the chance to marry…to become artists or writers, seamstresses or musicians…to meet people…put smiles on their faces…to know what it means to be human. We never got that chance. Discarding people’s humanity…there’s nothing more painful than that.

“At first, we thought becoming gods would be like having a second chance at life. It wasn’t like that at all. It was nothing short of slavery. It was time wasted. We embodied a duty, until there was no room left to just be ourselves. Meeting you and all the others was the closest we got to feeling like we were human beings again.

“It’s like I’ve opened a time capsule…or a picture book filled with old photographs. Seeing everything before me now…makes me so terribly sad, and yet, so happy. I’m happy we got to be part of your family, Osamu. I’m happy for all the memories we made. It made living this long worth it. I just hope the people who come after us never have to go through what we did. I hope they can just be human beings. Everybody needs to be themselves, to enjoy all the little things they do, to dream of all the things they want to be. In the end…it all goes back to what Taeko has always believed. Nothing is more important than the humanity and individuation of each person. When that’s taken…all hell breaks loose.”

“You’re right, Akatsuki.” Osamu said. “The people who come after us will have that chance. It’s all because you two helped me fight for it. You two have worked and suffered for so long, but now it’s finally over. You can rest now. I’ll be joining you soon, okay?”

Their hands linked, Omagatoki began the sentence. “Goodbye…”

And Akatsuki ended it. “…Big Brother Osamu…”

Their seals faded away, their lives along with them. Omagatoki and Akatsuki exhaled their final breaths together at the same time, holding hands like they always did. Osamu grasped both of their hands in his own and closed their eyes for them. He fought back his sobs with everything he had as he kissed Omagatoki on her forehead, then Akatsuki on her cheek.

“Goodbye. You were the best sisters I could’ve ever asked for…”