Uesato Hinata wa Miko de Aru - Chapter 3

Hero History Apocrypha - Part 1
Uesato Hinata is a Miko

Chapter 3 - Those left behind

31st of July, 2015...

For several days the entirety of Japan had been rocked by earthquakes, downpours and hurricanes, and finally an evacuation advisory was issued in our city as well. There was a possibility a tsunami would arise, triggered by an earthquake. It's often said that since Ehime looks towards the Seto inland sea it isn't affected by tsunamis much, but the city we lived in was on a long and thin peninsula pointing towards Kyuushu, so tsunamis that originated from earthquakes near Kyuushu or Shikoku's outer side still reached it.

Sitting in my father's car were him, me, my mother and younger brother, and our family of four was heading towards a school that was designated as a shelter. Many other citizens were heading to shelters, just like us.

The car radio was spitting out news reports about the disaster without pause. "...An evacuation advisory has been issued for all of ... city's areas. Please act calmly..." Our city's name was mentioned in the evacuation advisory as well.

Father's car quickly came to a halt. There was a traffic jam blocking the road. It must've been because a lot of other people were evacuating in their cars, too. Or maybe there were police or firefighters ahead, blocking off the road because driving was too dangerous?

...Neither of those were correct.

People were running from further up ahead, screaming. Just what was happening there?

The next moment, I felt intense fear swelling up inside me.

"This is bad. This is bad. Whatever it is that's down this road, it's something horrifying. It's the very disaster itself that we people shouldn't approach." I had no idea why I felt that way.

"Dad, turn around. Use some other road to the shelter," I said and got out of the car, alone. "There's somewhere I absolutely have to go to! I'll get there after this, I swear, so run away first!"

After I was done raising my death flags up, I began running away from that place.

"Wait, Masuzu! Where are you going!?"

I heard the voice of Mum, trying to stop me, but I didn't stop and kept running way. Even I myself had no idea where exactly I was running. I just ran, as if something was pulling me.

The place I arrived at was a shrine right near the Misaki port.

And there I saw a grotesque monstrosity. It was a hard-to-describe white "thing", like a huge maggot or an unfamiliar deep-sea fish. It kept slamming itself into the shrine building, trying to break it down.

And right next to the monstrosity was a boy, seemingly younger than me. The boy was facing a monster many times his size, but he yelled without fear.

"You there, white monster! Breaking shrines is bad! Tama's gonna punish you!"

In his hands was a disc-shaped something, made out of iron or something like that. He was hitting the white monstrosity with it. As if a human could defeat a massive monster like that.

"Idiot! We're running away!"

I ran up to the boy, grabbed his hand and ran away.

"Who are you!? Don't get in the way of Tama's great deeds!"

"What great deeds!? You'll get yourself kil-!"

Before I could finish my words, the white monstrosity began chasing us.

I was ready to die.

But then the boy pointed the disc at the monster. "What could a tiny disc like that do?" I thought, but then wings... no, blades of light appeared around the disc, forming a barrier between us and the monster.

That disc... was a shield.

And so, me and the boy managed to somehow get away from that monstrosity.

Later I learned that the white monster was called a Vertex, and that it was something trying to destroy mankind.

I also learned that the boy was not actually a boy. He was a girl.

That was how I met Doi Tamako.

What guided me to Tamako must've been a sort of oracle. After that, I had another strange feeling just like when I found Tamako, and knew there was another girl nearby that I had to rescue.

While we were running away from the white monster at the shrine I sprained my leg, so Tamako went to help that girl alone.

And the girl she rescued was Iyojima Anzu. The two seemed to hit it off nicely from their first meeting.

Around an hour after that we reached the school designated as a shelter.

But when we entered the school grounds, we noticed something strange. Desks and chairs were haphazardly piled on behind the first-floor windows and doors of the building, blocking them from opening. It was a barricade completely denying entrance to anyone from the outside.

The courtyard was splattered with a scarlet liquid and what seemed to be pieces of meat.

The moment I realised what those were, I threw up.

Those were humans. Or rather, what was humans before. Something... Something viciously powerful killed them effortlessly.

Me and Anzu-chan let out a scream.

And then we noticed the white monstrosities in the courtyard, those that reduced the people on the floor to piles of flesh. The barricade in the building must've been to keep these monsters from entering.

There were three of them. With my sprained leg, I couldn't run away from them.

(I'm going to die here...)

"Leave it ta me!"

But Tamako faced those monsters up-front, without any fear. After she blocked their rush with the disc-shaped shield, Tamako pointed the disc with blades of light coming out of it at the monster and threw it like a frisbee. The monster fell, cut apart by the blades.

"Ooh! This is cool!"

Tamako seemed to like that way of fighting. Then she threw the disc again and again and took the rest of the Vertexes down in no time.

After that me, Tamako and Anzu-chan got into the school building.

Since we had no idea when other Vertexes would appear again, we left the barricade on the first floor as it was.

There were people injured in the Vertex attack, and others were far too afraid of going outside - all of that made it impossible for everyone to move to a different shelter. And with the possibility of other Vertexes being somewhere, just going outside was dangerous.

We stayed in the school, waiting to be rescued.

A day had passed. Two days...

No Vertexes appeared during that time.

Cooped up in the school building, Tamako, Anzu-chan and I were pretty much always together.

Tamako was reckless and fearless. Both her actions and thoughts were boyish.

Anzu, on the other hand, was gentle and cowardly. But her thoughts were so profound it was hard to believe she was younger than me.

"Still, what were those white monsters anyway? What do you think, Anzu, Masuzu?"

"I've never seen any creature like that, and they were floating too. Were those some sort of new weapon clandestinely developed by some country?"

"Clandes-what again?"

"I'm... scared... What if they appear again..."

"It's fine! Anzu, Tama'll protect you!" Tamako said with encouragement.

Tamako seemed to like being in the position of Anzu's protector. The sight of two of them acting like two sisters made me smile.

Some of the people taking refuge in the school began to display a strange condition. My younger brother was one of them. They began to panic when they looked outside the window, and tried to stay in places where they couldn't see the windows.

"I wonder if they're afraid of the sky?"

"The sky? What do you mean, Anzu-chan?"

"Okay. Masuzu-san, your brother is one example... This condition is only displayed by people who saw those white monsters come down from the sky. So maybe they're afraid of the sky itself..."

"I see. Now that you mention it..."

"Anzu, you're so smart! Tama didn't notice at all!"

Tamako sounded oddly proud.

We needed to send people outside to procure medicine for the injured and food sometimes. At those times me, Tamako and Anzu-chan went with them. Tamako was the only person who could fight the Vertexes if they appeared, and I had a strange ability (which, as I later learned, were oracles) to sense the appearance of Vertexes. Anzu-chan went with us because she wanted to be with Tamako.

"How much longer are we going to have to live like this..."

"Anzu, don't cry! Tama's with you!"

"Things will be back to normal soon, I'm sure. If only this was Eniul and not a school, then there would be places to have fun at!"

"When you say Eniul, do you mean that huge shopping mall? Tama's only been there once."

"It's a fun place, there's even a cinema. Want to go there sometime, all three of us?"

"There's a big bookstore there too, isn't there? I'd love to go there!"

The gloomy shadow disappeared from Anzu's face and her eyes lit up.

Anzu-chan loved books. You could even call her a bookworm.

Even locked up in the school, she would go to the school library and take out books to read. It helped her deal with the stress better than doing nothing.

"Whoa, that's one difficult book you're reading. I only read manga!"

"Masuzu... That's not something to be proud of."

"Well, Tamako, do you read them?"

"I only read manga!"

"Then look who's talking!"

Anzu-chan giggled.

"Manga is interesting too, but novels are interesting in their own way. I'll lend you some of my favourites once we can go outside, alright?"

Anzu-chan only smiled when talking about books.

We weren't locked up in that school for that long. It wasn't even a week, I think. But during that time, we talked about all sorts of things.

About what we would do once we can get out.

About where we would go to hang out.

About our hobbies and favourite TV shows, about school studies, about friends, about our worries...

We didn't spend long together, but we became friends. Probably the best friends we had at any point in our lives.

And eventually, people who were wearing shrine priests garments appeared in front of the school. They were priests of the organisation called the Taisha.

They came to take Tamako and Anzu-chan into the Taisha as Heroes.

But I was a little worried.

Would a frail girl like Anzu-chan be able to fight the Vertexes?

Tamako, being reckless, could get herself into danger and get hurt, or, as little as I want to think about it, even lose her life.

I was especially worried about Tamako. I felt that she was missing a sense of fear. If that was true, then Tamako had a massive defect as a fighter. Pain and fear are necessary senses to make one avoid approaching danger. A person without fear wouldn't hesitate about placing themselves in danger, and as a result would be prone to losing their life easily.

When it was time to part, Anzu-chan gave me a book before she left to the Marugame castle. It was a foreign novel.

And then I became a Taisha Miko.

I had no interest in Shinto or legends, and had never seriously prayed to the gods in my entire life.

But after that I began to pray in earnest.

I didn't pray for world peace. I didn't pray for the mankind's victory over the Vertexes.

I prayed for just two things.

For my brother's uranophobia to be cured.

And for Tamako and Anzu to stay safe.

As long as those two wishes came true, I didn't need anything else. I just wanted them to be safe.

And so, three years and nine months had passed.

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Aki-senpai."

My roommate, Hanamoto-chan, seemed to have entered the room at some point.

"Are you awake?"

I had no willpower to answer. I didn't even know whether I was awake or asleep.

"The date for Doi-sama and Iyojima-sama's funeral has been decided. Their death isn't being announced to the general public, so only some people from the Taisha will be attending the funeral."

"..."

"About the purification of their bodies... Aki-senpai, will you do it? You're Doi-sama and Iyojima-sama's Miko, after all..."

"..."

"You... can't, then. No, I think it's natural. Who could treat the bodies of their precious friends..."

"..."

"Aki-senpai. Please at least eat something. Otherwise, you'll die as well."

Half-listening and in a daze, I didn't notice when Hanamoto-chan left the room.

What was Hanamoto-chan talking about? I couldn't remember clearly.

What was I doing again? I didn't know.

Sun rose and set, time passed by, yet I was still unable to think of anything.

How many days had passed after I learned of Tamako and Anzu-chan's deaths?

At some point, their funeral ended. I remembered seeing their dead bodies and crying, but whether that was a dream or reality, I didn't know.

Time went by.

I hadn't left my room in several days. I hadn't taken any lessons for a long time. Hanamoto-chan brought food to the room, but I barely ever touched any of it.

Why couldn't I have been by Tamako and Anzu-chan's side more?

Where did I go so wrong?

Even without being the Heroes' overseer like Uesato-chan, I could've gone to meet them. I could've skipped my lesson or Miko training and forced my way into meeting those girls.

I should've been more selfish. I should've put my desires first.

My desire to be next to them - next to my friends.

From my bed, I looked outside the window.

All sakura petals had long scattered already.

It was far too late for a flower-viewing party...

One morning, Hanamoto-chan spoke out to me while changing into her uniform.

"Are you not going to the lessons today either?"

Every day Hanamoto-chan asked me the same question.

But I had no willpower to answer.

Usually Hanamoto-chan would've left after that, but that day she had time until the lessons began, so she continued talking.

"Aki-senpai... Are you planning to sulk here forever? No matter what you do, Doi-sama and Iyojima-sama aren't coming back."

"...I know that much."

Hanamoto-chan climbed the ladder to the top bunk and looked into my face.

"Please cut it out already."

"..."

Hanging over me, Hanamoto-chan looked down.

"Senpai, please get up and live properly."

I looked away, trying to hide from her eyes.

"You don't eat, don't talk to anyone... Are you planning on killing yourself like that?"

I still didn't say anything in response and Hanamoto-chan let out a sigh.

"Aki-senpai, have I ever told you about why I have aquaphobia?"

I shook my head and she began to talk.

"Back during early elementary school, I nearly drowned in the sea. The waves were strong and pulled me further and further away from the land. My body wouldn't move properly and people on the shore didn't notice me... At the time, I thought that I was going to sink and die right there."

Listening to Hanamoto-chan's story, I envisioned it in my head. You're in the water, unable to breathe, and there's nobody around to save you. Even if you try to swim up, a child's body is no match for the powerful waves. All that's left for you is to struggle in futility and die...

How terrifying that must've been. Just imagining it made me feel sick.

"As I was drowning, I cursed all sorts of people. I cursed the people on the shore who wouldn't help me despite how much I struggled. I cursed myself for being stupid enough to get far away from the land to get swept away by the waves. Cursed my parents for bringing me to the sea. And then cursed even the sea and water itself. But then... At the very end, when I accepted that death was inevitable, all of my hatred and malice disappeared. They were replaced by a feeling of worry about those who would be left behind."

"...Worry?" I repeated her words in a daze.

"Yes. If I died, my parents would've probably grieved a lot. Maybe they would've even ignored their own lives like you're doing right now, Aki-senpai. But I didn't want the people left behind to get hurt... That's what I thought. I wanted at least those left behind to face forward and live..."

"..."

"Death shouldn't be ignored. We must mourn the dead. But at the same time, life mustn't be ignored either. And right now you're doing exactly that, Aki-senpai. Doi-sama and Iyojima-sama would not have wanted this."

"..."

"You don't have to go to the lessons, but please eat something."

Having said that, Hanamoto-chan left the room.

After she left, I murmured, still lying on the bed: "Tamako and Anzu-chan would not have wanted this, huh..."

In the evening I left my room. How long was it since I last did that?

It was dinner time, so I went to the cafeteria. I skipped lessons for several days, but the priests and Karasuma-sensei didn't blame me.

But the mood was weird. Usually, during dinner all the Mikos chat like any normal girls would. But that evening everyone was dead silent. Did something happen?

I looked for Hanamoto-chan. I couldn't see her in the cafeteria. Instead of her, I found Uesato-chan. I sat down next to her.

"So you're here today, Uesato-chan."

"Yes... Aki-san, you're in an awful state. Your face is pale and you look all worn-out..."

"Well, I was a shut-in for a while."

I forced a smile.

"I can't see Hanamoto-chan anywhere. Do you know where she could be?"

When she heard that, a wrinkle appeared between Uesato-chan's eyebrows.

"Not here... I'll tell you later."

After we were done eating, the two of us talked in a hallway a bit away from the cafeteria.

"Hanamoto-san is isolated in a different building right now."

"Eh? Why..."

Isolated? Did that girl do something?

"Apparently she got into an argument with a priest and then tried to escape the Taisha..."

I was lost for words.

Argument I could understand. Hanamoto-chan was something of a dissident. Thought she hadn't openly opposed the Taisha yet, I could see her getting into an argument with a priest.

But why would she try to escape the Taisha?

"The reason for the argument was because an idea arose in the Taisha to send Chikage-san back home to recuperate. Thought she would obviously have to fight in case of a Vertex attack..."

"Why'd Hanamoto-chan get angry about her getting to go home and rest?"

"...So you didn't know about Chikage-san's family situation, Aki-san... It's somewhat complicated... I don't think spending time with her family would be good for Chikage-san. I'm also opposed to the idea, but I don't know if they'll listen to me..."

Uesato-chan was the strongest Miko, the lifeline connecting Shinju-sama and humanity. But if you took that out, she was still a girl in middle school, a mere child.

I thought that Uesato-chan's word would have a lot of weight, what with her being the most important Miko... But maybe that was not the case. She might've been an outstanding Miko, but how much value would an organisation of adults find in the opinion of a child?

"So that's why Hanamoto-chan got into an argument..."

According to Uesato-chan, Hanamoto-chan strongly suggested to the Taisha that Koori-chan be sent not home, but to a hospital, and completely removed from the fighting for a while. But Tamako and Anzu-chan were dead and Takashima-chan's combat injuries left her hospitalised. If Koori-chan was to completely leave the battlefield, Nogi-chan would be the only Hero left.

Shinju's defensive measure, the Forestization, might've protected human lives, but Vertexes attacks still damaged buildings and cities in Shikoku. No matter how strong Nogi-chan might've been, she couldn't possibly manage on her own.

But Hanamoto-chan told the Taisha this.

"So what if damage is caused? Just let it. Even if a city is wrecked, it's not like any people would die. No, since viewing the Heroes as sacred is part of your Shinjuist doctrine, Koori-sama's life should be more important than a human life, no, dozens, even hundreds of them!"

"Ahaha... Those are some radical words..."

But I thought that Hanamoto-chan had to say those words. She was always frank with her opinions, and she even told me before, "Different people absolutely do not have the same worth. Doubly so for subjective worth in someone's eyes." For Hanamoto-chan, Koori-chan must've been worth more than hundreds of random strangers.

"The Taisha obviously can't accept that way of thinking."

I heard a languid voice from somewhere, and found Karasuma-sensei behind me when I turned around. Since when had she been listening?

"If human lives weren't of the same worth... That is to say, if the life of a Hero was worth more than that of a common person, then the Heroes' entire fight stops making sense. Because then you have those with more important lives laying them down to protect those with less important lives. It becomes irrational. That would shake the very meaning of the Heroes' fight."

"Sensei..." quietly began Uesato-chan: "When you talk about human lives... Don't say things like 'less important' or 'more important', please."

Her tone was polite, but it sounded overpowering to me. Uesato-chan was usually gentle, but could at times give off a feeling of intimidation that completely overpowered people.

But Karasuma-sensei nonchalantly brushed off Uesato-chan's anger and continued.

"After that argument, Hanamoto escaped from the Taisha without any permission. She was found quickly though, and transferred to a different building in order to let her cool her head off... and so that her ideas wouldn't infect the other Mikos."

"..."

"But what was she even planning to do after she ran away... I don't understand. Look, I'll just tell you this: leave Hanamoto alone for now. It's not like she committed a crime, she'll get released soon. So don't do anything unnecessary."

With that cold reminder, Karasuma-sensei turned around with a flutter of her lab coat and left.

"So that's why all of the Mikos in the cafeteria were on the edge..."

I let out a sigh.

While I was holed up in my room, the situation was changing with incredible speed. The state of the Heroes at the Marugame Castle kept getting progressively more disadvantageous, and the Taisha side was shuddering as well.

"...What's even going to happen to us now..."

I couldn't see any hope. It felt like I was walking through an unending darkness.

For me, it felt like the moment Tamako and Anzu-chan died, everything began to seem pointless. Like if humanity came to an end, nothing could've been done about it anyway.

But Uesato-chan said with a smile, as if trying to encourage me: "Aki-san, would like to go somewhere tomorrow?"

The next day me and Uesato-chan left the Taisha. After spending some time shaking in the train, we arrived to a relatively modern-looking hospital - a hospital I knew all too well.

"This is... The hospital my brother is in."

"That's right. It's a hospital that specialises in treatment of uranophobia."

Uesato-chan came into the building, and I followed suit.

People suffering from the mental damage caused by the Vertex invasion - from uranophobia, were still in no shortage.

After she came in, Uesato-chan talked to a nurse about something. After that the nurse took us around the hospital.

"Being visited by Mikos is a great honour. I'm sure the patients will be happy."

The nurse's words left me confused.

It turned out that we Mikos were seen with respect by the people, even if not as much as the much-worshipped Heroes.

As it was a hospital, there were both people who came in for treatment and people who stayed hospitalised. The symptoms of uranophobia were fear of the sky and inability to go outside. Patients with heavier forms would have flashbacks to the moment of the Vertex invasion and fall into a state of panic.

Even those with lighter forms of the condition would hesitate to go outside, but in this hospital people were grouped up by the heaviness of their condition and went on walks in the hospital's courtyard and around it.

"It took two years until those patients became able to go outside," said the nurse, looking at three girls out on a walk in the courtyard. The patients were supporting each other and standing up to their condition, trying to get better.

They were trying to advance step by step in a world where there seemed to be no tomorrow.

They didn't just stand still, lamenting things.

They didn't give up.

...Humans are strong, aren't they?

The last place we went to was my brother's hospital room.

"Nee-chan!"

The moment we walked into the room, he leapt at me.

Because I always stayed at the Taisha, I only got to visit my brother a few times a year. Which is why he was always so happy to meet me. He was already in late elementary school, but was still a restless child.

"I can finally go outside now!" he said happily.

"Really!? But back then... You were even afraid to look outside the window..."

"How long ago was that? Nee-chan, you're so behind the times!"

His cheeky words didn't make me angry. Far from it, I nearly began to cry.

Almost four years had passed since the Vertexes appeared. Little by little... Little by little, my brother was recovering.

And not just him. Everyone in this hospital was trying to get over the calamity of the Vertex invasion.

To get over it and live.

"If there are people trying to face forward and live..." said Hinata, "then we can't give up either. No matter how hard it is, as long as there's even the slightest possibility... We have to try and carve a path through."

(That's exactly it.)

I raised my face.

I had to face forward and move as well.

After I returned from the hospital, I washed up and took a bath.

I needed to refresh my mind. I couldn't just stay depressed forever. Tamako and Anzu-chan would've laughed at me.

After the bath I cleaned up the room a little and prepared my textbooks and notebooks. I skipped so many lessons, so I had to be ready to come back properly.

It felt a little lonely without Hanamoto-chan in the room. But Karasuma-sensei said that Hanamoto-chan would be released soon. I had a lot of questions about her qualities as a teacher, but I trusted her.

When I was taking textbooks out of the bookshelf, I noticed a paperback book in the corner of the shelf. The title read "Fahrenheit 451".

"This is... the book Anzu-chan lent me back then."

The contents were difficult so I never ended up reading it. I realised it too late, but I really should've read it. I should've talked to Anzu-chan about books more.

As I was flipping through the pages, I noticed a bit that was underlined by a pencil.

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there."

I couldn't get my eyes off those words.

"I see... Of course..."

I got up.

Going back to my lessons could wait a little more. Because I found something I absolutely had to do.

The next day I put in a request with the Taisha to visit Marugame Castle.

The Taisha refused, saying that the Heroes were not in a sound mental state at the moment. I didn't back down even a little.

I wouldn't make a mistake anymore. I wouldn't hold back for the sake of the adults or anyone else anymore. If I end up regretting everything in the end, then I should've just done everything I could from the start. And I wouldn't care if it would end up in failure or regret.

When I told them I'd quit being a Miko if they didn't let me go to Marugame Castle, the priests couldn't retort.

When I arrived at Marugame Castle, Nogi-chan and Uesato-chan greeted me there.

I always heard (or rather, was made to listen) stories about Nogi-chan from Uesato-chan whenever she came to the Taisha, so while I knew about her, it was our first time meeting face-to-face.

At the moment, only three Heroes were left, but Takashima-chan was hospitalised and couldn't leave, while Koori-chan was holed up in her room, her mental state a mess, and rarely ever came out. Nogi-chan was the only one still capable of carrying out her Hero duties without problems.

"So you're Aki-san. I'm pleased to meet you. And welcome."

With those words Nogi-chan extended her right hand. I returned the gesture and shook her hand, but my attention went to the bandage on her other hand.

"Did you hurt your hand?"

"That's, uh..."

Nogi-chan tried to avoid the subject, her face troubled.

"By the way, Aki-san, what brings you to Marugame Castle all of a sudden? Did something happen?"

I responded to Uesato-chan's suspicious expression.

"I'm looking for the place Anzu-chan's soul went."

The meaning of the passage from that book.

Anzu-chan was a smart girl. When she was told she would have to fight the Vertexes as a Hero, she had to have been aware of the fact she could die eventually. Which is why that passage must've resonated with her deeply enough to mark it with a pencil.

Which means that Anzu-chan, just like that book said, left a "place for her soul to go" - left something behind for those who would live after her.

I came into Anzu-chan's room together with Uesato-chan.

More than a half of the walls in her room was occupied with bookshelves, and all of them were packed tight with books.

"She really was a bookworm..."

It was my first time in her room, so I was a little overwhelmed.

After Anzu-chan and Tamako died martyr's deaths, their rooms were left pretty much untouched. The Heroes' belongings were under Taisha jurisdiction, so not even their family members could simply take them. Mikos and priests would need to review all of them, and the family would only get the articles that would be deemed to have no issues.

"Sorry, I couldn't find the time to sort out their belongings... Even though I intended to review all of them and return them to their families and you before the funeral..." said Uesato-chan with guilt in her voice. The process seems to have stopped at her.

"Well, what can you do? If I was told to sort out the belongings of my dead friends... best friends, I'd waver too. It's way too sad..."

Even at that moment, as I was looking around Anzu's room, my hands wouldn't move. How did she spend her days when she was still alive? Tamako must've barged into the room all the time, but Anzu-chan must've enjoyed it... I kept imagining things like that.

I was hesitant to change even a little thing about Anzu-chan's room.

But I decided to move forward.

"First of all, let's check her desk and furniture. There are too many books, so let's leave those for later."

"Understood."

Me and Uesato-chan began to sort out Anzu-chan's belongings.

To be honest, I didn't know what exactly Anzu-chan left behind. I wasn't even certain if she left anything for us in the first place. It was just my guess... It was nothing more but a wish of mine.

We took out everything she had stored in her desk and drawers one by one and checked the contents. Clothes and stationery, study equipment and other things, but nothing out of the ordinary. For some reason, she had a swiss army knife, a compass and other things of the sort in her desk - Tamako must've given her those.

Having failed to find anything out of the ordinary, we moved on to the bookshelves. There were a lot of books, but we went through all of them one by one.

And as the sun was setting...

While looking through the final bookshelf, I took a large encyclopedia in my hands and felt something suspicious. It was too light for a book of that size and something was rustling inside.

When I opened it up, I found that the pages inside it were cut out, and a small notebook was left in the hollow.

"Did you find something?" - asked Uesato-chan, seeing that my hands had stopped. I opened the encyclopedia and showed the notebook to her.

"This..."

"A notebook... isn't it?"

We opened it to find that it was tightly packed with small handwriting. There were excerpts and images copied from other books in it as well.

The contents of the writing were her thoughts on the Heroes' abilities. Things Anzu-chan noticed while watching the other Heroes fight and her theories regarding oracles.

The further you read, the more focused on "fairies" the writing became. When fighting the Vertexes, the Heroes could call down beings named "fairies" to manifest in their bodies, temporarily raising their combat power. The technique was called trump card, and was reserved for those Vertexes they couldn't defeat with their normal powers.

But the notebook said that after a fairy was called down in battle, there would be subtle changes in a Hero's personality. Someone's behaviour would become slightly rough or their expression would look annoyed. But the changes would be so subtle that you would think it was your imagination even if you were aware of them, so it was hard to say if they were really the fairies' influence or not. Everyone had their bad days, after all.

Aside from Anzu-chan, everyone else had used their trump card in battle more than once.

Anzu-chan, without anyone knowing, called down the fairy Yukijorou outside of battle as an experiment. And a few days after that, her personality underwent a slight change. She became more easily annoyed and saddened and overall became more susceptible to negative emotions.

Noteworthy were the physical changes Tamako underwent during their expedition outside the barrier. During the expedition, Tamako used the fairy Wanyuudou. And after they had returned to Shikoku, she mentioned that her body felt strange. A hospital expection revealed nothing out of the ordinary and Tamako herself said it must've been her imagination.

Aside from her observation of Heroes, the notebook had her thoughts about the fairies from a mythological and folkloristic perspective.

As she was reading Anzu-chan's note, Uesato-chan's hands began to faintly shake.

"The fairies cause abnormalities within the Heroes' bodies... I hadn't noticed... But I can think of a few times. Wakaba-chan and Chikage-san might've displayed similar signs, too..."

"The Taisha people probably haven't noticed this either, have they?"

"I think that's likely. Anzu-chan was fighting as one of them... Her observation skills let her notice those slight changes in the Heroes."

The findings of her observations weren't something she could've simply talked to someone about. It could've fanned the flames of unease. That's why Anzu-chan must've been waiting until she could prove various things before talking to someone. That's why she hid this notebook from Tamako-san, who visited her room often, inside a book she wouldn't touch.

After checking other encyclopedias, we found several more notebooks with her observations regarding the Heroes, Shinju, Vertexes, fairies and more. Anzu-chan was keeping a record ever since she joined the Taisha as a hero back in 2015.

"These notebooks are extremely vital information. We should look into them as soon as possible."

"Will this... help the Heroes?"

"Yes. Without a doubt."

Uesato-chan's voice was resolute.

"I see... So it'll help. It'll... connect to the future..."

Everything suddenly became blurry. I realised that I was crying.

Even though they died... Anzu-chan and Tamako were still right here.

What they left behind would still have meaning for posterity.

I saw a dream that night.

Me, Anzu-chan and Tamako came to a shopping mall on our day off. To the biggest shopping mall in Ehime.

Tamako had only been there once as a child, so she was excited by its size and the amount of shops.

"Do they have outdoor gear shops here!?" she said, running around the floor.

Tamako, restessly dragging me and Anzu-chan around, wore both of us out.

On the other hand, Anzu-chan stopped moving whenever she found a bookstore.

"Anzu, let's go check another shop already!"

"Just a little more. They have a really good selection here, so I want to see more..."

I watched them bicker with a wry smile.

Then the two of them grew up and became university students. The fighting between Heroes and Vertexes had ended by then, and we were all living as normal girls. We weren't only capable of meeting each other rarely like back when we were Heroes and Mikos. Our houses were nearby, so we would naturally spend a lot of time together. Me, Tamako and Anzu-chan went to the same university, I complained to them about how much of a pain job hunting was, Tamako responded with, "Tama'll be a mountaineer, so I won't need to do job hunting!" and Anzu murmured, "I don't know what I want to do..."

"Worrying about not knowing what you want to do... Yep, that's youth."

"Come mountaineering with Tama! We'll climb mountains and camp!"

"Hmm... I like books, so maybe I should work in publishing or as a librarian?"

"Anzu! Don't just ignore Tama like that!"

Eventually, we graduated, began working and became adults...

Time passed and all kinds of things happened, but the three of us would still gather every now and then to hang out or talk about various things...

Forever.

We would be friends forever.

We would keep spending time with each other...

It was a precious, yet sad dream.

In the morning, after I woke up in my dorm room I opened the window.

The world outside was full of spring air. And Tamako and Anzu-chan were no longer in this world, the world outside my dreams.

From now on, there would surely be many times when I'd think "If only Tamako was here..." or "If Anzu-chan was here now..."

And the more time passed, the further the possible world where the two of them were alive and the real world where the two of them were no more would drift apart.

That's why the grief of losing someone important only grows stronger the more time passes.

I couldn't get over their death. I couldn't get over their death and move forward all by myself.

Forever... I would forever carry their death with me and move forward.

From that day onwards, I began to take lessons again and returned to my normal life.

But Hanamoto-chan still hadn't returned from the other building.

When would she return?

The dorm room was a bit too spacious without her.

And as I was thinking like that, several days had passed.

One morning, when I entered the classroom, I saw "I'm taking a break. Study on your own" written on the blackboard.

I asked the girl next to me, "Why is Karasuma-sensei taking a break?"

"Apparently all the Taisha people are having a meeting..."

"Did something happen?"

"I don't know the details..." said the girl after a moment of hesitation, "But apparently Koori Chikage-sama tried to kill Nogi Wakaba-sama..."