Karasuma Kumiko wa Miko de Nai - 5

Karasuma Kumiko is not a Miko
Chapter 5 - There are so many/Things you bring back to my mind,/O cherry blossoms!
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“Then the Swallow came back to the Prince.  “You are blind now,” he said, “so I will stay with you always.”
“No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince, “you must go away to Egypt.”, Oscar Wilde, The Happy Prince.
===
I could hear the hubbub of people around me. Sprawled on the ground, I could not feel my body.
In my vision, growing ever darker, I could see a pool of dark red liquid growing around me. My mind was surprisingly clear.
“...Huh? This isn’t really that fun...” I thought to myself. I thought doing something unusual would be fun. But that turned out not to be the case.
My mind went back to my childhood friend who I made angry by tricking her into breaking curfew. I... never meant to make her angry.
===
“This bus will never reach a safe place.” My words made the entire bus squirm. Some were baffled, some were suspicious, some were red with fury... The reactions were quite varied.
“Wha...  What do you mean, Kumiko-san!?”
Yuuna approached me.
“What do I mean? Exactly what I said. This bus isn’t going to reach Shikoku. I never meant to go to a safe area to begin with.”
Neither Yuuna nor Matsuri seemed to understand what I meant. They just furrowed their brows, unable to even say a word.
“In the first place”, I pushed down on the gas, “Did you never find it strange? There’s no way it could take so long to get from Nara to Shikoku. It wouldn’t normally even take half a day to cover the distance between the two.”
“But we... We had to take detours to avoid dangers and blocked roads...” Matsuri squeezed out of herself.
“That’s one reason, of course. But did anyone actually check if all those detours were really needed?”
“Huh...?”
“I kept making pointless detours and intentionally driving in a way that wouldn’t let us reach Shikoku, yet nobody noticed. I could’ve taken you lot to Shikoku in half a day if I actually wanted to.”
“Wha-...” Matsuri was dumbfounded. “But... why? Why would you ever... Kumiko-san, what are you even trying to do...?”
“That’s what I should be asking!”
“Huh?”
Yuuna and Matsuri were shocked by my sudden shout.
“What are you planning to do after you reach a safe area!? What’s so good about a safe and peaceful world?! Go on, tell me! What is it gonna give you!? Huh!?”
“W-What do you mean...?”
“...There’s no internet connection anymore, so we don’t know what Shikoku is like right now. It might’ve been safe a few days ago, but right now it might be destroyed like the other areas. But on the off-chance that Shikoku has somehow been spared the fate of the rest for whatever reason, getting there would be the end of the trip. No more fun times fighting monsters and trying to survive.”
“B-But what’s wrong with it ending!? There was nothing fun about this!”
“Matsuri. That might be true for you. But what about Yuuna?”
“Eh?” Yuuna stared at us with wide eyes.
“This girl is the same as me. Hell, she’s even more of a freak than I am. A snot-nosed brat like her willing to put her life on the line and fight monsters for other people? And then being able to put them down with one punch when others can’t beat them even by ganging up? How could a kid like that possibly be normal? There’s no way she’d be happy living around normal people. She’d be ostracised by her surroundings. This girl would be a lot happier living in a world full of monsters than a peaceful one. That’s where she belongs.”
“Absolutely not! Of course she’d be happier living in a peaceful world!” loudly protested Matsuri.
Yuuna was at a loss for words, like someone who was just told they had an incurable disease. But her shock lasted for just a moment. She immediately regained control of herself and her expression went back to its usual, saintly self.
“Who... Who cares about me! There are a lot of people here who want to get to a safe area! Stop the bus! Go to Shikoku!”
“Don’t wanna”, I said with a sadistic grin.
Yuuna turned around and shouted at the passengers.
“Everyone! Please grab onto something! It’s gonna get shaky!”
Right afterwards, she grabbed the steering wheel I was still gripping tightly and forcibly turned it. The bus changed course, scraping against the concrete roadside. The inside of it was instantly filled with shrieking. The friction made the speed drop, and I had no other option but to slam on the brakes and stop it.
“Heh. Never thought you’d be this forceful”, I smirked before grabbing Yuuna’s wrist, twisting it and forcing her down on the floor.
“Wah!”
I stood up from my seat, opened the door and got out of the bus.
“Wait! Where are you going!?”
Matsuri and Yuuna also got out of the bus, chasing after me.
“I’m not running. I just thought it’d be better to talk here in the open than in the cramped bus.”
I turned around to face the two.
“Well then. I’m the only one who can drive the bus. In other words, you’re gonna need me if you want to get those people to Shikoku. So, Yuuna, if you want to save them, you’re gonna have to make me listen whether I like it or not. I bet you could subjugate me by force if you wanted to.”
I lit up a cigarette and drew in a puff.
“...Give it a go, Yuuna. Fight me and see if you can make me obey.”
“Wait! Why do the two of you have to fight!?” Matsuri screamed sorrowfully.
“Because it’s fun. That’s my main driving force in life. It’s fun for me to throw myself into chaos. I’ll do anything to get my fill of fun. And fighting Takashima Yuuna should be a fun time.”
I threw my cigarette down, grinding it into the ground, and took a stance.
“How about you, Yuuna? I don’t know how you’re going to react. And that’s what makes it fun. Are you going to use your monster-slaying powers and pulverise a regular human like me? Or are you going to be unable to raise your hand against a person, after all?”
“...I see. Sorry, but this will hurt a little.”
Yuuna clenched her fists.
“I see, I see. Gotcha.”
Yuuna’s fists were clenched, but they didn’t fly. We spent second after second, staring at each other.
“Yuuna, you’re wavering.”
“Eh?”
“Let me guess what you’re thinking. You’re worried that you’ll kill me with your punch, don’t you? Those punches have the power to blow those monsters to bits, after all. Wouldn’t they straight-up murder a regular person if they hit? You’re not trained in martial arts, are you? All you do is just punch. Can you really hold back enough to beat me into submission without killing me?”
“...”
Yuuna didn’t answer. I dropped my guard and casually approached her.
“Those fists can pulverise monsters. Wouldn’t they kill a puny human just by grazing one? Wouldn’t they break them apart, turning the human body into an unrecognisable lump of flesh? Are you afraid of murder, Yuuna?”
“Ugh...”
I was standing right in front of her. Yuuna’s eyes were filled with hesitation. She clearly wasn’t used to hurting people.
“If you can’t fight, then just give up. Let’s keep travelling around this ruined world, together. What’s the point of living in the normal world when you have powers as awesome as yours? You should be in a place where you can make use of that power, not let it go to waste.”
“Uoorgh!”
Yuuna sent out a desperate punch.
I dodged it, swept up her leg and used her own momentum to send her to the ground.
“Gah!”
I pulled zip ties out of my pocket and tied both of the fallen Yuuna’s arms behind her back.
“Looks like you can’t go up against a human opponent at full strength after all. Your movements aren’t even half as sharp as they were against those monsters.”
“Ugh...”
“Alright, back to the bus then. Let’s live in this monster-filled world until it comes to an end!”
I put Yuuna over my shoulder and headed towards the bus.
“W-Wait a moment!”
The voice ordering me to stop belonged to Matsuri.
I stopped, put Yuuna on the ground and turned around.
“What is it?”
“...”
Matsuri didn’t follow her words up with anything.
“Matsuri, I don’t have any need for you anymore. I’m not planning to take you along either.”
“Eh?”
“I’ll take you to Shikoku. I don’t need the textbook definition of normalcy here.”
“What are you... talking about?”
“I’m saying I won’t be meddling in your business anymore. So do me a favour, and don’t meddle in ours.”
“I don’t care about any of that! Give Yuu-chan back! Yuu-chan is going to Shikoku with the rest of us!”
Matsuri grabbed on to me.
I took her arm and twisted it behind her back. Matsuri’s joints creaked.
“Ow!”
“How weak and mundane.”
“Ugh...”
“The three of us. You think Yuuna is the same as yourself, while I’m a different breed. But that’s completely wrong. Yuuna is the same as me. You’re the outsider here.”
“I know I’m... just an ordinary person, unlike the two of you... I don’t have the power to stand up to those monsters, either...”
“That’s not it. This is a matter of mentality. The two of you are too different in your minds. Let me prove it to you: none of the things you’ve said to Yuuna thus far have resonated with her.”
Matsuri’s eyes opened wide in shock. Yuuna, lying on the ground, looked at Matsuri with a tinge of sadness.
“The key difference between the two of us and you lies in accepting this world. The monsters have swarmed the world, are killing people and we have to fight them. Do you accept this world, or do you not? Can you imagine coexisting with those monsters to a degree, or can you not? Yuuna can. That’s why she can fight them as if it’s nothing special, without any whining. But can you imagine a world where you have to coexist with those monsters, Matsuri? Or do you wish for a world where they don’t exist?”
“...”
“The two of you are as different as two sides of a coin. I can make far better use of Yuuna than you ever will. Your role in this is ov- RGH!?”
A sharp pain ran through my foot. I looked down and saw Matsuri forcefully stomping on my foot. At the same time, her outstretched palm slapped me right on the cheek. It didn’t make a loud sound like movies and manga would have you believe. But it caught me completely off-guard, making my vision blurry for a moment.
“I know that much!” Matsuri sent her tiny body slamming into mine and knocked me to the ground. She straddled me and gripped my collar. “I know that without you telling me! I know that nothing I say ever reaches Yuu-chan and that we’re completely different! But it’s obviously better to live a normal life! For Yuu-chan and even for you, Kumiko-san! Stop acting like there’s something wrong with living a normal life!”
I grabbed the index and middle fingers on her hand and sharply bent them.
“Aaagh!”
That must’ve been almost as painful as actually breaking fingers. Matsuri’s body lifted for a moment and I made my move, turning our positions around. This time, Matsuri was sprawled on the ground.
I grabbed Matsuri’s throat.
“Something wrong? Far from it. I’m... jealous of you, Matsuri.
“Urk...”
I began to tighten my grip on her neck.
“How wonderful it must be to be able to live normally. I told you, I’ll drive you to Shikoku. You’re better off living a normal life. But we won’t cross over to your side. Isn’t that fine? Why can’t you understand?”
“Kumiko-san, you’re the one who doesn’t understand!”
Matsuri flailed her arms around. I took my hands off her neck and grabbed her arms, stopping them. Both my arms were gripping both of hers, and neither of us was unable to move.
“How is it better!? How could living in a world filled with monsters and danger possibly be better than living in peace!? Kumiko-san, why can’t you understand!?”
I restrained Matsuri’s arms with zip ties. She should’ve been unable to move now.
“Let me go! Let me go, I said! Uuuurgh!”
Matsuri tried to pull the restraints apart, but you can’t brute force a zip tie. At worst, she’d rip her skin and start bleeding. And the blood-fearing Matsuri couldn’t possibly go that far.
I left Matsuri there and went towards Yuuna.
“Waaaaargh!”
Matsuri slammed into my back and nearly sent me tumbling.
“Guh!”
“Don’t take Yuu-chan away! Don’t take her away!”
“Shut up!”
I swept Matsuri’s leg up and threw her on the ground.
But she immediately got up and bodyslammed me again. There was little else for her to do with her arms tied. It didn’t hurt much, but her refusal to give up made it obnoxious.
I kneed Matsuri in the abdomen and struck her jaw with my palm.
She fell to the ground with a hack and clutched her stomach in pain. I tied her legs up as well. Now she wouldn’t be able to stand up either. I turned away from her.
“Haah, wait...” I heard Matsuri say behind my back, breaking into a cough. I ignored her and went to Yuuna. With her arms and legs tied, she wouldn’t have been able to even stand up.
Then I felt an intense pain in my arm. It was agonising enough to pierce straight through the brain. I knew that feeling. It was the feeling of being stabbed.
My upper left arm had a ball pen stabbed into it from the back.
“Aaaargh!”
The pain made my mind a blur for a moment and I nearly collapsed. I tightened my core muscles, steadied my breathing and got a grasp on my slipping consciousness.
There was blood coming from the wound, and my mind was in a disarray. Who could’ve stabbed me?
There shouldn’t have been anyone behind me other than Matsuri. But she was restrained by all of her limbs and shouldn’t have been able to even stand up, much less walk. Even if she had a pen hidden somewhere on her, she shouldn’t have been able to approach me.
But when I turned around, I saw Matsuri standing right behind me. The zip ties that should’ve been on her arms and legs were nowhere to be found. Where were they?
“Haah, haah, haah, urgh...”
Her breath was ragged. Not just from my knee blow to her abdomen, but also from seeing the blood dripping out of my arm. She stabbed me while fully aware that seeing blood would bring her flashbacks.
“Waaaargh!”
Matsuri let out a scream and punched me straight in the face. It wasn’t a slap like last time, but a clenched fist.
My mind cut off for a moment, and the next thing I saw was the dark sky right above me while I lay on the ground. The pain in my arm made me unable to concentrate on the fight. That wasn’t good. I couldn’t even stop a punch from a complete amateur.
Matsuri mounted me again and pushed a pen up to my throat, a different one from the pen still stabbed through my arm.
“Please, go to Shikoku... You, Yuu-chan, people on the bus... Everyone here is going to safety!”
“Matsuri... How did you take the restraints off?”
“Haah, haah, Kumiko-san, remember how you said that scholars are ignorant of anything outside their specialisation? I guess it’s true... It’s surprisingly easy to... hah... cut through a zip tie if you know how to. And with my arms untied, taking off the one on my legs was easy.”
“...Heh, really? News to me.”
Matsuri must’ve been aiming for the surprise attack to begin with. Her repeated attempts to ram me with her body while she was aware of how to take the restraints off were to make me careless.
It was such a mundane, pedestrian way of fighting.
“Haven’t you... had enough already, Kumiko-san? Let’s go to Shikoku.”
“...”
“What’s wrong with safety? What’s wrong with peace?”
“I...” with no will to fight Matsuri left in me anymore, I began speaking, “said I was jealous of you. And I really do mean it. Being satisfied with a normal life is the best it gets. I... wanted to be like you. I wanted to be a person who can be happy just leading a normal life.”
We went back to the bus. I removed the zip ties binding Yuuna, too. The other passengers were visibly shocked when they saw us return covered in wounds. Explaining everything to them would’ve been too much of a pain, so I told them one simple thing.
“We’re going to Shikoku now.”
They raised a ruckus and began bombarding the three of us with questions, but we said nothing in response, and eventually they went away.
Our bus was heading towards the Shimanami Expressway. It was good that I got stabbed in my left arm, because I could still steer the bus as long as I had my right. I had the doctor give me first-aid on my stab wound just in case, but moving it felt agonisingly painful.
Yuuna was quiet ever since we returned to the bus. She still encouraged the other passengers with a smile, telling them that we’d reach safety soon and they shouldn’t worry, but it was even harder to see through her facade than usual.
When we were getting close to the Shimanami Expressway, Matsuri made some small talk.
“All this time, I’ve been thinking about whether you’re a bad person or not, Kumiko-san.”
I kept driving while listening to her.
“The things you do hurt other people and harm them. But... When I think about it, some lines you’ve never crossed.”
“...”
“All the people that you’ve put your hands on were either trying to harm others on the bus or to leave someone behind. And when you were fighting me... You could’ve easily killed me if you wanted to. Law is meaningless in this world now, and nothing would’ve happened if you had killed me. But you didn’t.
I couldn’t say anything.
“Even more, we’ve all been saved by you multiple times through this bus trip, Kumiko-san.”
“I...” I said, gripping the wheel, “I am afraid of predictability and stability. Routinely repeating the same things over and over in a peaceful life... it scares me like nothing else.”
“But why?” asked Yuuna, who had been listening to the two of us.
“I can’t explain it. It’s something instinctual, like the fear acrophobes feel towards heights or claustrophobes feel towards cramped spaces. It drives me crazy. I just want to keep mixing my life up. Nothing more.”
“You’re a very troublesome person”, said Matsuri with pity.
“But more importantly, a very unfortunate one. Only being able to live like that must be unbearably suffocating.”
The stab wound in my left arm tingled.
“When I was still a kid, there was a time when I tricked a friend and hurt her. But I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
I... was a failure of an adult. In reality, I was just a brat obsessed with the idea of not being normal. Longing for a tomorrow that would always be different from today.
Matsuri looked at me with faintly sorrowful eyes.
“Kumiko-san, you’re definitely not evil. You’re simply harmful to people.”
“Not evil, but harmful... Maybe you’re right.”
“Kumiko-san”, Yuuna began, “if after we get to Shikoku it becomes too painful for you to live the same life every day, let’s meet up, all three of us. Then we can do whatever, even just hang out. And then... Maybe that fear of tranquil life you mentioned will disappear eventually.”
Yuuna looked at me with a smile, as if forgiving me for every wrongdoing I’ve committed. She clearly didn’t have the mentality of a regular person. She was on the level of saints history remembers dearly.
I smirked and gave her my answer.
“As it’ll be that easy, dumbass.”
It barely took us any time to get to the Shimanami Expressway from that point. When we entered Onomichi in Hiroshima and the great bridge crossing the Seto Inland Sea became visible, the passengers must’ve felt that it was almost anticlimactic how easily we reached it.
We had one encounter with the white monsters on our way, but Yuuna made quick work of them.
The Shimanami Expressway was made up of many islands in the Seto Inland Sea and the seven great bridges that connected them. Onomichi Ohashi was its entrance from the Honshu side.
Shortly after we began driving on it, we encountered a roadblock, made of several oonusa wands placed as if they were traffic cones.
“What is this...?”
A strange feeling filled me as I looked at the row of oonusa through the windshield. Behind them stood a group of people, dressed like Shinto shrine priests and priestesses.
I stopped the bus, left my seat and went outside. Yuuna and Matsuri followed suit.
The clergymen behind the roadblock approached. In the middle of their group was a young girl, of presumably elementary school age. Seeing the adults treat the girl like she was their leader was eerie in a way that’s hard to describe with words.
An old man dressed like a head priest whispered something to the girl, but I couldn’t hear what exactly it was. The girl nodded in response and said, “Yes. The oracle showed so.”
She left the group, went up to us and politely bowed her head.”
“I am Uesato Hinata, pleased to meet you. You must’ve encountered many paranormal events on your way from Honshu to seek refuge here in Shikoku. First, allow me to explain what we know about the things happening in our world right now. A lot of the information is confidential and not released to the public yet, but...
And then the girl, named Uesato Hinata, told us many things. That they didn’t know what the white monsters were, but knew that they appeared at the end of July all around Japan and meticulously slaughtered humans. That Shikoku was surrounded by some sort of barrier that prevented the monsters from getting into Shikoku, and the small numbers of them that did manage to get through didn’t cause significant damage.
That there were chances of other protected areas like Shikoku existing, but everything else was in ruins. That refugees were streaming into Shikoku from other areas and people were in heated debates over how to set up their livelihood.
And the most important thing the girl told us about: the existence of Heroes and Mikos.
Heroes were the girls with the power to defeat the white monsters that had descended from the skies. In short, girls like Yuna.
Mikos were the ones capable of receiving messages from the earthly gods. In those oracles, they could perceive where the monsters would appear or receive instructions from the gods. In other words, girls like Matsuri.
There were, apparently, several more Heroes and Mikos apart from the two I met. Uesato Hinata, for one, was a Miko.
“Our world is facing an unprecedented crisis right now. We still don’t know the identity of the creatures that descended from the skies... To fight them, we need the powers of Heroes and Mikos.”
Uesato spoke in a highly intellectual, coherent way that you never would’ve expected from an elementary schooler. I thought Yuuna’s mental state was abnormal enough, but the girl in front of me was something else entirely. Could the rest of Heroes and Mikos have been as weird as them?
As I listened to Hinata’s speech, I suddenly realised something.
The girl hadn’t cast a single glance at me. She was looking at Yuuna and Matsuri who stood behind me. But the people in priestly garments standing behind Uesato were all looking at me.
Only Uesato had already realised the importance of Yuuna and Matsuri - the Hero and the Miko. That must’ve been thanks to her Miko ability to receive oracles.
“We as an organisation are seeking out Heroes and Mikos across the country to repel the monsters. I learned that a Hero and a Miko would be arriving in Shikoku through an oracle, and came out to greet you.”
“Wait”, I stopped Uesato. “I want to talk with Uesato alone for a moment.”
The priestly people were confused by my words. None of them expected such a proposal from me. And Uesato the Miko must’ve been a precious asset for them. It was natural for them to be worried about leaving her alone with a woman they’ve never seen.
Uesato, evidently wise beyond her years, turned to the adults with a soft smile intended to calm them down.
“Worry not, she has no intention to harm me. Shinju-sama’s oracle said so. Let the two of us talk for a moment.”
“Please wait!”
Matsuri cut between Uesato and me.
“I can’t let the two of you talk alone. Yuuna-chan and I will listen too.”
Uesato, Matsuri, Yuuna and I went away from the rest of the adults so they wouldn’t hear us.
“You realised that these two are a Hero and a Miko, right?” I asked Uesato, to which she nodded and responded, “Yes.”
“This younger one is the Hero, Takashima Yuuna. The middle-schooler is the Miko, Yokote Matsuri. And I... Karasuma Kumiko, am a regular nobody.”
Uesato listened to me without saying a word.
“Uesato. You said you were assembling Heroes and Mikos, right?”
“No, I am not assembling anyone. The country is.”
“I don’t care. What happens to the Mikos and Heroes you find? What do they do?”
“I... don’t know. I don’t think there’s anything certain yet. I think they’re just gathering people with special powers in case something happens.”
Uesato was carefully choosing her words.
I managed to figure out the girl’s position.
She held a vital role in some kind of organisation. But in spite of her importance, she held no influence over the organisation’s decision-making.
Moreover, the girl was lying.
“You’re lying when you say you don’t know. You’re smart enough to be certain of it, aren’t you? That you’re gathering them as soldiers to fight against those monsters.”
Uesato said nothing in response, and simply listened to me.
“So Shikoku seems to be protected from the monster invasion. But you don’t know how long that’s going to last for. For all you know, tomorrow the monsters could swarm Shikoku and start slaughtering people. You need people who can fight them for exactly that kind of case.”
Uesato said nothing.
“To repel the monsters”, my foot. Say what you really mean. “To make them fight the monsters.” To throw them into danger if the monsters ever invade and make them lay their lives down to protect the people.”
Uesato, after a prolonged silence, finally opened her mouth.
“I... can’t deny that...”
Her voice sounded sad and apologetic.
“You don’t have to feel guilty about it. You’re one of the sacrifices yourself. The common folk like me are going to be protected through your sacrifices from now on. You have every right to get angry at me, to hate me, to punch me. Get pissed that you have to sacrifice yourself for our sakes and beat the snot out of me.”
“I will... not do that. My best friend, who became a Hero, says that those with the power to fight are obliged to fight to protect others. I follow her words.”
I knew it. Of course all Heroes and Mikos would’ve been like that.
Matsuri, who had been listening to the two of us talk, let out a surprised shout.
“Wait a moment! You, you’re going to make us fight!? Are Yuu-chan and I going to... have to fight those monsters again!?”
“If you join the organisation Uesato is talking about.”
“...”
Matsuri clenched her little fists, her entire body shaking with anger at the unfairness of it all.
“Of course, this is all just a what-if. Right now, Shikoku is peaceful.”
Despite that, Uesato’s voice was filled with guilt. She must’ve been fully certain that it was not a question of if, but a question of when.
Such excessive, deep-rooted kindness. It’s not like the monsters’ appearance was any of Uesato’s fault. Neither was she gathering Heroes and Mikos of her own volition. Uesato had done nothing wrong. She had simply been swallowed by an invisible current. There was nothing for her to feel guilty about.
“But... We thought we’d be safe if we came here... Thought we wouldn’t have to fight the monsters anymore...”
Listening to Matsuri’s shaky voice, I lit up a cigarette and looked up at the sky. The sun hasn’t risen over it ever since that day.
“Yuu-chan is just a child! And so are you, Uesato-san! So am I... I might be older than you two, but I’m still only 14! Why do children like us have to stand on the frontlines and fight!? Why do the adults around you allow that to happen!?” Matsuri squeezed out of herself.
“...The adults are doing what they can. But the only people who can stand up to those monsters are us...”
Matsuri went silent. Yuuna was also downcast and didn’t say a word.
“I... can’t do that. I’m not... joining that organisation of yours!”
Having said that, Matsuri grabbed Yuuna’s hand.
“Yuu-chan, you too! You can’t become one of those “Heroes” !”
“I...”
Yuuna finally opened her mouth after being silent for the entire time. But the words immediately stopped and no more came out.
I extinguished the cigarette and put it away in my pocket ashtray.
“Okay, Uesato, now for the real talk.”
I bowed my head to the surprised Uesato.
“Please. Make it so I’m the Miko and not Matsuri.”
“Eh!?” Yuuna and Matsuri exclaimed in shock.
Uesato seemed every bit as confused.
“Please raise your head. Also... why?”
“Matsuri might have the qualities of a Miko, that’s true. But inside, she’s as regular of a person as it gets. She can’t live the same kind of life as you people.” I looked Uesato in the eyes as I talked. “I’m better suited for it. I’m confident I can be beneficial to your cause. I love that kind of life.”
“...”
“Put me and Yuuna into your organisation. Yuuna is mentally one of your kind, so there shouldn’t be any issues.”
“Wha- What are you talking about, Kumiko-san!? Yuu-chan is...”
I ignored Matsuri’s outburst and turned to Yuuna instead.
“Yuuna, what do you want to do? Are you going to fight as one of the “Heroes” she’s talking about, or are you going to refuse?”
“I...”
She hesitantly opened her mouth.
“Yuu-chan, stop it!” Matsuri pleaded desperately.
“I will become a Hero.”
Yuuna made her answer. She sounded certain.
“Why... Why are you trying to sacrifice yourself...?”
Matsuri was stunned, unable to process what was happening.
“Because if I fight, there’ll be a little fewer people who get hurt.”
Yuuna’s tone was apologetic, but also somehow detached.
Matsuri closed her mouth, still trembling. In the end, not a single word of hers reached Yuuna after all.
“Well then, now Yuuna can join up with you. Judging by the state of the adults in the back, you’re the only one who can determine who’s a Hero and who’s a Miko, Uesato. So let’s match our stories and have them believe I’m the Miko.”
“...But that would be...”
Uesato was hesitant.
“Please.”
I kneeled and put my hands on the road surface. Then I lowered my head on the ground, too.
“Yokote Matsuri is a normal girl. A small happiness is more important to her than some greater cause. She cares deeply if someone close to her is hurting but struggles to care if it’s a stranger. She’d rather have a small joy right now than a great one in the future... She’s a thoroughly regular person. I think that’s wonderful. I think that’s what it means to be truly human. I want Matsuri to stay the way she is.”
Those were my genuine thoughts, without a shade of dishonesty. So, please...
“Don’t involve Matsuri in whatever you people are doing.”
“...”
Uesato watched me for a few seconds, or perhaps for a few dozens.
“I understand. It will take some effort, but I can trick them. But please give up on this idea if I happen to fail. I will now go and tell them that the Hero is one Takashima Yuuna-san and the Miko is one Karasuma Kumiko. Yokote Matsuri-san, you will be taken to a shelter as a regular refugee.”
“Thanks, I’m in your debt.”
“Wait...” Matsuri tried to stop us. “Please wait! Why are you deciding things for me!? I’m...”
“Matsuri. This is the end for you.”
“I’m coming with you!”
“You can’t.”
“Why!?”
“When Yuuna eventually has to fight, you won’t be able to bear seeing her wounded figure right before your eyes.”
“...Rgh!”
“And weren’t you dreaming of becoming a picture book author? You have a goal and a lifestyle to strive for, what else could you want? The world may change all it wants, but you have no duty to change along with it.”
“I... Just who exactly have I been all this time...?”
Matsuri was trembling, her head hanging low.
“Don’t misunderstand me. The fact you’ve been by Yuuna’s side all this time and your powers as a Miko - they weren’t for nothing. The bus only reached the safe area that is Shikoku thanks to your abilities. You saved a mother with her child, too.”
I knew my words could do little to save Matsuri, but I went on.
“And you know what, Matsuri? I wanted to become a person like you. You’re the “me” that I wanted to be. So, please, never change.”
My words would probably not resonate with Matsuri’s heart. The relationships between myself, Yuuna and Matsuri were entirely one-sided. My words wouldn’t reach Matsuri. Matsuri’s words wouldn’t reach Yuuna. Yuuna’s words wouldn’t reach me.
“Matsuri-san...” Yuuna softly said, squeezing every last bit of cheeriness she could out of herself, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine, I’m sure! If the white monsters ever come to Shikoku, I’ll beat them all! And protect you too, Matsuri-san!”

Uesato said she wasn’t sure if she could trick them, but whatever methods she used, they left the adults completely fooled, and I joined the aforementioned organisation - Taisha - as the Miko of Takashima Yuuna.
“Karasuma-san, I’ve done you a big favour. And I’m going to ask you to return it one day. If you ever disobey me, I’ll reveal everything about this lie and summon Matsuri-san to be a Miko.”
Uesato snickered. It seemed like the innocent laughter of a child, but I felt serious intent in her words. I got myself tangled in one hell of a spiderweb.
And I was enjoying it.
“I understand. When you need me, I’ll do anything you say.”
And thus, Uesato and I became partners in crime. In order to let Matsuri enjoy a normal life, I had to do my best not to ever cross Hinata.

Over three years have passed from that moment, and I am writing a letter to Yokote Matsuri after receiving a notice of Takashima Yuuna’s death.
I haven’t met Matsuri ever since that day. Now that I think about it, Yuuna suggested that the three of us hang out together shortly before we reached Shikoku, but that never came to be.
But thanks to the picture books lined up on my shelf, I haven’t forgotten about Matsuri for even a day.
After I finished writing the letter about how Yuuna was killed in combat, I put in a request to leave the Taisha headquarters, descended down the mountain and went to the city.
In the meanwhile, my mind went through the days between Yuuna’s entrance into the Taisha and her death.
Was joining the Taisha the right choice for Yuuna?
What was Yuuna thinking when she fought?
What did she think about grinding down her mind and body to protect the common folk?
How did she interact with her allies shouldering the same burden?
Nobody could’ve known what went on inside her mind. Not even her fellow Heroes could’ve possibly had a deep understanding of her heart. Not even I could explain the girl named Takashima Yuuna.
But I knew one thing for certain about that girl, the girl hardest to understand in the entire world.
She never regretted joining the Taisha... Not one bit.
Not when she was hurt, not when she fought until battered and broken, and not even when she finally laid down her life.
For better or worse, Yuuna was that kind of person.
I stood in front of a mailbox next to a convenience store in the city, and put in an envelope addressed to Matsuri. Suddenly, a wave of sentimentality washed over my heart.
What could Matsuri have been doing at that moment? Was she living a normal life? Receiving one book a year didn’t tell me much about her way of life.
I turned away from the mailbox and muttered to myself.
“...Maybe I should meet up with Matsuri.”

Hero History Apocrypha -  Part 3 - End