/jp/ - Otaku Culture

>>46760557
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I was stabbed and slashed in half; then I was reborn.

… The last time I felt so dead, I was still a child.

The fire spreads across wood and cloth, growing overwhelmingly, but I do not care. I do not care about the people screaming and running for their lives; the stampede out from the festival grounds or trying to invade the Hieda State and kill everyone inside—I do not care because my eyes never leave her. “K-Keine!” I yell, an explosion of flames bringing me from the fence to her side immediately. Samurai were burning inside their clunky armors; Sanae had to react lightning-fast to save a few of her apprentices, her left arm caught in the burst of flames, a scorching and effervescent mess.

I ignored the pain of my knees scraping the gravel during the landing, wrapped my arms around Keine's head, caught the sides of her face, and peered into her crimson eyes in the hopes of seeing the same light I see in our nights.

The light steadily faded away; blood coughed, stopping her from uttering any words.

This is Aki's and Mochi's mother, and she's dying.

No, no, no—t-this is impossible! Of course, it is! I talked to future Keine, so she's not dying; there must be something we can do—anything—to stop this. “I-I'll take you to Eientei! Hold on, Keine! Don't you fucking dare leave your family alone!” Suzu and Mystia watch as I try to lift her, Keine's eyes immediately widening, a shriek of pain escaping her and, in so, I let her go, her back obliquely hitting the gravel…

I held her for mere moments, and both my arms are tainted with so much cold blood…

I've died like this before.

It's always so quick.

Trying to get her to Eientei would be impossible; she'd die in the way… “YUKARI!” I yell, Suzu's eyes bulging. Shots echo over screams, bullets hitting flesh and Danmaku beginning to fly in both directions; some hit close to us, but the blessing shields inside Suzu and Mystia stopped bullets from hitting them—I ignore any bullet that hits mine, using it to shield Keine's…

Why didn't the blessing stop the bullet that hit Keine…? Why did it not?! Am I really that big of a failure?!

“SHOW YOURSELF, YUKARI! Please, help her!!”

No one comes.

I clench my teeth in white fury, hair floating up in a blazing rage of blue. Why did she do anything?! That woman, that Gap terror, there's something she wanted from us—she won't get it if Keine is dead! Kaguya could help, but where is she now?! Where's Toyosatomimi no Miko?! I try lifting Keine again; m-maybe I'll—

She's crying in pain, yet still conscious. If Aki and Mochi could be as strong as you someday… You'd like to see that, right, Keine?

“Mokou, please, stop!” Suzu tries, the fucking woman cradling my arms as if I couldn't scorch her entire body into ashes in moments. Mystia continues watching, at a loss… Suzu meets my eyes, doesn't back down, and I am about to scream at her—

—a hand, trembling, reaches from below and, tenderly, holds my cheek. It'll hurt until the day I see the death of the universe the look we share: sheer determination and love. Like nothing of this is happening; as if everything will be okay…

Eyes that say: I'll come back.

Father never came back, even if he'd said the same.

I try holding Keine's hand, but by the time I am to meet hers, that hand falls flat on the gravel, and the light in those eyes is completely gone.

… Perhaps, with her, I've died too…

Because this is hell.

Teeth clenched and hair still floating, I gently unwrapped my hands from Keine's head and let Suzu hold her corpse. “… Protect her, please…” I mutter an order to Mystia Lorelei and Kosuzu Motoori, my back turning to them as I finally stand up.

I had one split second before, but I got a glimpse of who shot Keine.

And if I'm in hell, I'll make sure the devils cry.

Wings of sheer fire sprout and, with hair burning as white as the fury that paints every inch of my face, I soar through the burning fences and towards the Hieda State, half the roof exploding as if a volcano eruption, ribbons of wrathful fire following my movements as I hovered on the sky, hands holding an old human with only one leg, his eyes wide and confused, frightful… Yet they meet mine, a massive beam of wood protuberant from my waist. “You killed my woman…” I state through bloodied teeth.

“… And I'll see her in hell—”

Before the man can say anything more, his entire body inflates and is soon engulfed in scarlet flames that fill the skies with red, his ashes raining down on those watching from below.

Murdering a man has never felt this empty.

—

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF WHAT YOU'VE DONE?!” Sanae yells, unable to stop the back and forth of potshots between my samurai and the Youkai. Any that tried to fly were easy prey to incredibly small and rapid bullets, and the panicked crowd made it impossible to navigate—

—until the immortal burst into the skies and pops a man like a balloon in a show of flames, eyes watching in sheer horror…

“You have an incident to fix, Shrine Maiden.”