/jp/ - Otaku Culture

(6/6—p1)
—
A worse pain than having your eye plucked off is it being plucked off AGAIN while your boss screams at you.

Perhaps that's what I deserve for doing my job so poorly…

For Izanami’s sake, it hurts so much that my knees buckle, my entire body trembles, and two hands grip the void socket while blood splatters across my arms and the floor. Nothing of this would be happening if I’d simply taken her to Higan as soon as she realized she was powerless…

Someone tries to calm me with head pats; it’s Kutaka, her brow frowned and looking rather tense, likely because Shiki is yelling at the others to check the status of Keine's soul in various ways, the Yama’s eyes flaring in anger when ours meet. “Back off, Niwatari. I need a word with her.” She stomps towards me, the others staring in morbid horror at the pouring blood before rushing off. The god of chickens softly wished me good luck before leaving too. “… You just let a fugitive escape, Onozuka—again! At first, I let it go unpunished because she wasn't a problem. But things have changed! She may resurrect a second time—how did you let that take place?!” Embarrassment is crushing; I can take the occasional scolding about being too casual or too lazy, but the time I decide to do my job, I get my fucking eye ripped off and yelled at…

At least I know something very well: I feel no regrets.

You hear a lot when you ferry souls, and the first time Keine Kamishirasawa came here and told me her history was one of the few times I made the crossing of the Sanzu ludicrously long… Tsc, always setting yourself up, huh, Komachi? Hesitating like that just because of some pretty red eyes with a sob history behind them…

… I hope her children survive what's happening in the village—

“—Well, nothing to say for yourself, Onozuka?” Eiki demands, glancing back at the Sanzu with brows creased hard.

Ah, not that anything matters anymore. “Why are you so worried, Eiki-sama? She's not coming back from those depths.” I say shakily, biting the inside of my cheek to alleviate the pain, if only by a little. After all, the Sanzu consumes everything.

“Don't underestimate those types, Onozuka.” Her expression deepens as I manage to pull myself upright and observe the peaceful Sanzu while using one hand to press the bloody socket and the other to grasp my scythe; Eiki-sama, on the other hand, is fixated on the smoldering remains of Keine's ropes and the disfigured arms, blood plentiful—haunting… “Humans who violate the law in order to satisfy their egos and egotistical needs should never be permitted to live on Earth. They’re menaces.” I squint my one eye as a memory from decades ago comes back to me—the one and only occasion we executed a soul on the Sanzu shores for no reason at all.

I still remember that man's gaze of pure betrayal, his belief in human compassion shattered…

Such a penetrating gaze, coupled with words about Gensokyo I'll never forget—words that still make me stop and listen to the dead and offer some comfort.

Other shinigami laugh at that, but what do they know?

… I sigh, trying to concentrate on the pain—

The pain is… gone.

Slowly, I remove the hand over my eye, looking towards Eiki-sama, puzzled.

I can see perfectly.

Eiki-sama stares… Then turns pale.

My gaze moved to the side, to my scythe’s blade…

… I stare at my reflection with two healthy eyes.

Eyes that widen as me and Eiki-sama's look towards the Sanzu in disbelief.

C-Could've she…?

No, that's impossible! It's the Sanzu, the black hole in which all life resides; nothing can escape from it—

—An uneven stream of blue fire bursts from beneath the murky waters in a loud bang, making waves and bubbling up the waters, splashes falling over me and Eiki-sama. The Yama yells, frantic and stressed, yet I cannot pay attention: the massive moon is now layered on an ocean of calmly swimming pristine blue flames, unlike the Sanzu, a typhoon on its surface.

I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.

And it's beautiful, this blue moon…

… Where Keine's powers are at their strongest.

“—SEND THE MOON AWAY, ONOZUKA!” I am jolted out of my daze by Eiki-sama's voice, desperation taking over as my free hand lunges forward, intending on putting the moon back in place, away from that woman's eyes.

Nothing happens.

Baffled, I try again, heart thumping… The result is the same.

The moon stays there, blue and infernal.

My powers are gone—

“—You're not asking it now, Komachi-san, but you would in a few moments.” My neck whips towards the voice just in time to see Keine Kamishirasawa calmly ascend from the swirling typhoon, her yukata gone and uncaring for her wounds—w-wounds that, upon looking at the blue moon, fully heal in an instant. Her blue hair flutters in the mighty wind, as does her new turquoise tail, those eyes the same red. “… Until I am done, I've eaten the future where you have powers.” And Keine Kamishirasawa approaches us, a sword coming out of a scroll with a red band adorning its handle.