Uesato Hinata wa Miko de Aru - Chapter 2

Hero History Apocrypha - Part 1
Uesato Hinata is a Miko

Chapter 2 - Koori Chikage and Hanamoto Yoshika.

Hanamoto Yoshika. The name kanji read Yoshika, not Mika.

But friends almost never called me by my proper name.

Ever since kindergarten, I was called "Mika" by others. The teacher read my name as "Mika" by mistake, and the other children picked it up. My parents noticed that and tried to explain that it was Yoshika, but the other kindergarteners had already affixed the name Mika to me. They kept calling me by that name, without meaning any harm.

I kept being called Mika even when I entered elementary school. People I knew from kindergarten continued to call me by that name, and it once again spread to the others. And while more people become able to read kanji in elementary school, the regular reading for my name is Mika, not Yoshika.

And so, I continued to be called Mika.

I was full of pessimism. Would the others continue not to call me by my real name for my entire life?

They wouldn't call me by my name. It's such a trivial thing, but it made me feel like my very existence would vanish, and it made me feel horribly sad.

But then, on the 30th of July, 2015, I met her.

On that night, when the Vertexes attacked all of Japan, I, led by an impulse I myself didn't understand at all, got on my bicycle and dashed out of my house. Looking back on it, that must've been one of Shinju-sama's oracles. It so happened that no Vertexes appeared in the region I was at, and I was able to move without any danger. Sometimes I would stop because of strong earthquakes, but I kept riding my bicycle, as if guided by something.

I arrived at a small, dilapidated shrine that was no longer taken care of by anyone. As someone who grew up in a shrine, I knew that abandoned shrines like those were not uncommon through the country.

The shrine had collapsed because of the earthquakes. And in front of the collapsed shrine there stood a girl around my age, holding a rusted blade of some sort.

Illuminated by the moon, the black-haired girl was shedding tears for some reason. The scene seemed surreal. Was it because something dark dwelled in those wet eyes, despite her proper look? Or was it because the rusted blade seemed so out of place in the girl's hands?

But... It was a beautiful sight.

I lost all ability to speak. The person in front of me didn't seem to be someone real, but rather a god or an angel, one that would disappear the moment I raised my voice. My body was tense and it was hard to breathe.

As I stood dazed, the girl wiped her tears and looked at me.

"Hanamoto... Yoshika-san?"

Why did she know my name?  She must really be a god. She has to be! It's said that when a human faces a god, the awe makes them incapable of staying calm. That must've been why I felt so tense, why my heart beat so hard and I couldn't breathe well.

"Yoshika, Mika, Yoshiyoshi, Miyoshi... Which was the correct reading again? I... thought it was Yoshika, though..."

I finally answered, my voice trembling with joy at talking to a god.

"Y-Yoshika! I am Hanamoto Yoshika!"

"Right... I... think Yoshika is best, too... It's not a common name... But it's not strange, either..."

That was the first time in my life a stranger called me by my real name.

And it was a godly person like her, too!

This alone made me feel like it overwrote every single time my classmates failed to call me by my real name.

I was paid back. Paid in full.

"O-O god! How do you know my name!?"

"...Huh? God?"

With a puzzled expression, she pointed at the front wheel of my bicycle. On the front wheel cover, the name of the owner - that is, me - was written. "Hanamoto Yoshika".

"That's... your name, right?"

It seems that she didn't learn my name through divine powers. But the fact she read my name as Yoshika must've still been a miracle, the work of gods.

"How did you know that was my name's reading?"

"People... get my name wrong often... So I try not to get others' names wrong... as much I can. I considered several ways that name could've been written... Listened to you and got the proper way... Hanamoto Yoshika-san."

The mysterious girl I met that night was called Koori Chikage, and she was no god, but a Hero, a human with special powers.

Being a Hero, she was taken in by a group known as the Taisha. And I became a Miko who discovered the Hero Koori Chikage.

My house was a small shrine, so my parents taught me what being a Miko entailed. But what Taisha called a Miko wasn't the kind of shrine priestess that helped with managing the shrine or danced. It was the word for females that could hear the divine voice, in other words, oracles.

Apparently, I managed to discover Koori Chikage-sama because I had the powers of a Miko.

After that, the Taisha requested that I join the Taisha as a Miko. But my father let me decide whether to do so myself. He said that if I didn't want to do it, he would refuse.

"I'll join them. The Taisha."

I didn't hesitate even for a moment. Because it'd let me get even a little closer to Koori-sama.

But the Mikos lived in Taisha facilities, while the Heroes lived in the Marugame castle. In their normal life, Mikos and Heroes didn't overlap.

But since Mikos were support for the Heroes, I was able to learn about the five Heroes and their personal history. And since I was Koori-sama's Miko, I was able to learn all of the information the Taisha had on her.

The circumstances in which she grew up were nauseatingly horrible.

Her father was a scumbag of a manchild who ignored his family. Her mother had an affair and abandoned her daughter. Having learned about those family circumstances, the adults around Koori-sama scorned, ridiculed and detested her. In school she experienced horrible bullying, and was oppressed, mind and body.

It was hell.

Koori-sama needed to be happy in the future to compensate for all the grief she had experienced in her life until that moment. She became a Hero, a chosen one, so she must've had the right to be recompensated for all her past suffering.

Since time immemorial, it was always those who knew the pain of oppression that led people. Even Buddha and Christ were persecuted. In the future, Koori-sama should have been able to walk a path of glory. And I wanted to help with that.

But I wasn't able to meet Koori-sama even a single time after that...

And three years had passed.

"That "danger to Shikoku" that Uesato-chan heard in her oracle still hasn't come, huh."

Me and Aki-senpai were talking while eating dinner in the cafeteria.

It was April of 2019, and sakura trees were in full bloom. A certain amount of time had passed since Uesato-san received an oracle that said Shikoku was in imminent danger. But there hadn't been a single Vertex attack since then.

"Now that I'm a JK, I'm always worried about danger. I'm a JK, so I've got to think about all sorts of stuff, JK."

Aki-senpai's way of speech changed.

"Aki-senpai, you just want to say "JK"..."

"But nothing about my surroundings changed and the people around me are still the same. I don't feel like I've graduated at all! So let me at least make it clear that I'm a female highschool student - a JK [joshikousei]!"

April had come, so we went up a school year. I became a third year of middle school, and Aki-senpai became a first year of high school.

But her becoming a high schooler changed absolutely nothing. She continued to have classes in the same classroom and doing Miko rituals. Her classroom stayed the same, the dorm she lived in stayed the same, and since there were no new Mikos, the people around her stayed the same too.

"By the way, Hanamoto-chan, isn't your dad a Taisha priest?"

"Yeah, he is."

My house was a small shrine, and my father was the chief priest of it. The Taisha was made up of the clergy, so when I was called into the Taisha as a Miko, they sent word to my father as well.

"Does he have some important position? He's the father of a Miko of a Hero, after all."

"No, he's not in an important position at all. Father isn't suited to be a Taisha priest."

"Whoa, Hanamoto-chan, you speak some harsh words about your own dad."

"Father himself said that. He's an excellent priest. Which is exactly why he isn't a good fit for the Taisha."

My father was the head priest of our shrine for a long time, but not in a religious way, and rather a managerial one. He considered the shrine to be a company, and referred to the priests and priestesses that worked there as employees. He made sure to make things lively on cusomary events like the first shrine visit and the Shichi-Go-San festival, deepened connections and conducted business, raised donations and even undertook jobs such as jichinsai - ground breaking ceremonies [Ritual conducted before construction of a new building meant to pacify the gods in the area], and trained his employees daily in order to increase sales.

Thanks to that, he managed to protect the small, insignificant shrine that was in a bad location away from sightseeing spots from falling into decline. My father was an excellent shrine manager.

He said that shrine were a part of the service industry.　Thanks to the advances in science, the amount of those who genuinely believed in rites of purification and good luck charms sharply dropped. But even those that didn't believe would still come for the first shrine visit of the year, visit the Shichi-Go-San festival when their children grew and conduct ground breaking ceremonies when starting to build. Much like wedding ceremonies and birthday parties, it was a form of amusement, an event. "That means we're event planners, and so are a part of the service industry" - that was my father's pet theory.

"And since we're event planners, how can we take command in fighting outside enemies and support soldiers known as the Heroes?" - he would say.

Modern-day priests were specialists when it came to the divine, but complete laymen when it came to warfare. Which is why my father said he wasn't cut out for the Taisha. But in the end, being an excellent manager, my father decided he couldn't fall behind the times and entered the Taisha.

Times when the Taisha made bad moves in fighting the Vertexes or worked poorly were far from uncommon. And that was natural. Most of the priests must've been like my father, not knowing what to do about warfare and stumbling around in the dark.

"...Why are you asking about my father?"

"Well, I just thought that if your dad was a bigwig, he could have information that we don't know. Something about Uesato-chan's oracle or what kind of danger is waiting for Shikoku."

"Why not try asking Uesato herself?"

A sudden voice from behind my back made me turn around.

Karasuma-sensei in her white coat, who must've been passing by, was standing there.

"Uesato is apparently coming to the headquarters tomorrow. Try asking her if she had some new oracle or if there's some change about fighting the Vertexes? The Vertex stuff especially, since a lot of it is only known by the Heroes because of the Forestization. Uesato's close to the Heroes, so she might know something.

The fighting between the Heroes and the Vertexes happens in a special environment.

When the Vertexes break through the barrier into Shikoku, the land and living creatures are transformed into plant matter. That phenomenon is called Forestization, and it's done by Shinju - the amalgamation of earthly gods, to protect humans. During Forestization, humans won't get hurt even when attacked by the Vertexes.

But the only ones who can retain consciousness and act in the forestized space are the Heroes and the Vertexes. Mikos like me, Aki-senpai or even Uesato-san wouldn't even notice that the battle between the Heroes and the Vertexes began. And then the battle would end with us not knowing it.

Since she lives together with them, Uesato-san is in position to talk to them directly. She must know a lot of things nobody else does.

"So Uesato-chan's coming tomorrow."

Aki-senpai's voice got livelier. Uesato-san is liked by all Mikos, Aki-senpai obviously included, so many people would be looking forward to her visit.

But in contrast with Aki-senpai's expression, Karasuma-sensei's face looked somewhat grim.

"I wouldn't be too happy about Uesato's visit. Seems like she has bad news."

The next morning, Uesato-san arrived at the Taisha. First, she went to tell the adults about the state of the Heroes and to talk about something.

And in the evening she was finally released. Karasuma-sensei's "I wouldn't be too happy" was gnawing at us, so me and Aki-senpai went to Uesato-san's room.

"Welcome, Aki-san and Hanamoto-san."

Uesato-san greeted us with a smile.

"You must have it hard, Uesato-chan. Having to come here all the way from the Marugame castle in the morning and then getting stuck in meetings for hours."

Aki-senpai came into Uesato-san's room and sat down on her bed without even asking, but she paid it no mind and kept her calm smile.

"Heehee, it really was hard. But if I don't give the Taisha accurate information about the Heroes, trouble could arise if something were to happen. If it helps the Heroes even a little, any pains I alone have to go through are insignificant."

Saying that, Uesato-san gave me a sitting pillow.

"Sit down too, Hanamoto-san. Let me make some tea."

Uesato-san left the room, then returned with a hot water pot, a teapot and teacups.

"Uesato-san, you don't have to trouble yourself for us."

"No no, Hanamoto-san, please sit down. I got my hands on some nice tea from Kagawa, so I brought it as a souvenir."

Uesato-san poured the three of us some tea from the pot. Her actions, her attitude - she felt very mature, very composed. A far cry from a certain someone - I looked at Aki-senpai.

"Hm?" - Aki-senpai noticed my eyes and asked: "You need something, Hanamoto-chan? JK Masuzu's adult charms catch your eye?"

"No, not at all."

"Couldn't you have agreed!?"

Uesato-san was looking at the two of us and smiling. When I'm with Uesato-san, I realise that I really can't hate her.

More than three and a half years earlier, when I consented to being a Miko, I came to the Taisha headquarters. I was displeased with the fact I couldn't be with Koori-sama, but I was still closer to her compared to an ordinary person.

There were several Mikos other than me, and amongst them, Uesato-san gave off a distinctly special feeling. She had calmness and wisdom unthinkable for an elementary schooler and quickly became the central figure amongst the Mikos. Compared to me, a side character nobody even called by her real name, she was definitely the heroine.

After the Mikos were gathered at the Taisha, a priest said: "One of you will be assigned the duty of living together with the Heroes and overseeing them."

The overseer would have to be someone with strong Miko powers... The people qualified were Uesato-san, Aki-senpai, me and Karasuma-sensei (who was then still a Miko).

Karasuma-sensei immediately declined with "Can't be bothered. Someone else do it", while Aki-senpai was at a loss.

Me and Uesato-san raised our hands. Uesato-san was like family to Hero Nogi Wakaba, so she must've wanted to stay by her side and support her. And I wanted to get closer to Koori-sama, even if just a little.

A few days later, Uesato-san was chosen to be the overseer. They had apparently determined that she had stronger powers as a Miko and was more stable on the mental side, as well.

I was frustrated. I lost my chance to get closer to Koori-sama.

Because of that, at first I hated Uesato-san. You could say that I had an inferiority complex towards her.

Following that, Uesato-san left to live in the Marugame castle, and occasionally came to the headquarters to deliver information about the Heroes. All my contact with her was limited to the occasional times she came to the Taisha. But even that short time I spent with her erased my frustration and animosity towards her right away.

Back when the Mikos were just gathered together, the difference in ages and the stress from the sudden change of environment led to frequent quarrels. But when Uesato-san visited the Taisha, she would listen to the other Mikos and resolve the conflicts between them one after another.

Uesato-san was wise, so she could propose ideas to solve those issues. That was part of why she was good at mediating conflicts, but even more important was her attitude. She would listen to the Mikos' issues wholeheartedly, sympathize and earnestly think about how to solve them. If it helped to solve the problem, she didn't think twice about becoming the villain or suffering a disadvantage herself. Just looking at her made the arguing girls embarrassed with themselves, and they would stop their arguments and quarrels.

I thought Uesato-san was an incredible person. Before I knew it, I began to like her instead of hating her.

Thinking back on it, it was good that Uesato-san was chosen to be the overseer. She was definitely of more use to the Heroes than I could've possibly been. It was probably better that way for Koori-sama as well.

"Karasuma-sensei told us that you brought some bad news with you", - said Aki-senpai while sipping on the tea Uesato-san made and eating mandarins. The mandarins were sent in from her home back in Ehime.

Uesato-san answered, hesitantly.

"That's right... I came to the Taisha today for that exact reason."

"What happened?" - I asked.

"Is it about the "danger to Shikoku" you received an oracle about earlier, Uesato-san?"

"No... After the outside expedition, the Heroes began to display some changes."

"Changes?"

I asked again, and Aki-senpai looked at Uesato-san as well.

"Yes. Tamako-san has complained　about feeling unwell for an unknown reason. Well, rather than feeling unwell, she said "my body feels kinda weird"... It's vague, and it's not as if she's displaying any particular symptoms... The doctors said her body was healthy, as well."

"Tamako..."

Aki-senpai was quiet and deep in thought.

"What about the other Heroes? What about Koori-sama?" - I keep asking.

"Nobody has complained about the same symptoms as Tamako-san, but... Chikage-san is growing weaker mentally."

"Mentally...?"

"She's beginning to speak less and often gets a grim expression. She might be worried about something... It's likely because of what she saw during the expedition outside Shikoku..."

Even we Mikos were told about the state of the world outside that the Heroes saw during their expedition.

All of Japan was thoroughly destroyed, and they couldn't locate any survivors even in metropolitan areas like Kobe, Osaka or Nagoya. Even Suwa, where there were still survivors a year earlier, was found to be completely overrun.

"When I..." - began Aki-senpai with a murmur: "...heard the news about the world outside, I was so shocked... And the Heroes saw it in person, so they must've been in total despair..."

The Heroes fought their hardest to intercept Vertex attacks. The harsh battles must've taken a toll on their minds and bodies. But they kept on fighting, propped up by the dream of eventually taking their peaceful life and land back from the Vertexes.

But the world they wanted to take back was already in ruins, and there were no survivors.

It must've been a mind-shattering shock.

"The reason why Koori-chan, Tamako and the rest aren't feeling well must be the shock they experienced..."

Uesato-san hesitated for a moment, and then nodded in response to Aki-senpai's words.

"That's probably the case, as well..."

Silence fell over the three of us.

Could we do anything for the Heroes? I wasn't nominated to be an overseer, but I still wanted to do anything I could do for Koori-sama.

The Taisha were amateurs in warfare. It's likely that they couldn't provide proper mental support for those who go out and fight. I was also an amateur in warfare, but I was closer in age to the Heroes than the adults in the Taisha, and so I must've been able to connect to them better. There had to have been something in my powers.

"If the Heroes' depression is the cause of their conditions... Maybe there's something we could do to cheer them up?"

Upon hearing my words, Uesato-san's expression softened a little.

"You're right, that does seem to be the best option. The other day we held a mock battle for recreation at Wakaba-chan's proposal and everyone seems to have enjoyed it."

According to Uesato-san, Nogi-sama had also tried to come up with a form of recreation to dispel the dark mood amongst the Heroes. And that recreation took form of a free-for-all mock battle.

"A free-for-all battle for recreation... Yeah, that's something Nogi-chan would come up with. So who won in the end, Nogi-chan? She's the strongest one in battle."

"No, the winner was Anzu-san. She won through strategy."

"Eeh, that girl did? What kind of strategy did she use...?"

Aki-senpai sounded surprised.

Iyojima Anzu-sama wasn't great at fighting, and her combat ability was on the lower side compared to other Heroes. On the other hand, she had great success as a tactician, taking command of the Hero team and coming up with battle plans.

"Anzu-san's plan is a secret", - smiled Uesato-san and changed the subject for some reason: "But it's just as Hanamoto-san says, cheering them up would be the best option. Going out somewhere or anything else will do, as long as it makes the atmosphere even a little better..."

It would be hard to argue that this wasn't escapism. Even if the Heroes cheered up, distracted themselves with recreation and leisure activities, in reality the Vertexes attacks would still continue and the world outside Shikoku would be no less destroyed.

Even so... For people living in the present, enjoying that very present had worth in and of itself.

Uesato-san returned to the Marugame castle shortly afterwards. She didn't stay at the headquarters that time. To monitor the changes in the Heroes' mental state, she must've wanted to reduce her time away from the Marugame castle to the minimum.

After Uesato-san went back, me and Aki-senpai began talking about what exactly could've been done to "cheer the Heroes up".

"A flower-viewing party, maybe?" - suggested Aki-senpai.

"I see. An unusually decent idea from you. I thought you'd suggest to play mahjong yet again, honestly."

"Hanamoto-chan, do you think I'm a mahjong maniac or something?"

I did.

"Anyway, it's true that the Marugame castle is famous for its sakura trees. I've heard that back when ordinary people could enter it, a lot of people went there for flower viewing."

I'm from Kouchi, but in the past there used to be specials about the state of sakura at the Marugame castle every April. Which is why I knew that it was an exquisite flower-viewing spot.

"That's it! Let's have a joint flower-viewing session, with all Heroes and Mikos together!" - said Aki-senpai as if she had come up with something ingenious.

Me and Aki-senpai asked Karasuma-sensei about the joint flower-viewing session.

"Ah... That doesn't sound bad, actually. I'll try suggesting that to the higher-ups. It'll probably take a while until they approve. It'd be the first event of that kind, after all."

"Sakura doesn't last long, so please do it before the flowers fall!"　- Aki-senpai stabs a needle in.

"I know that, I'll put the suggestion in as soon as I can. I'll prepare arguments like I'm doing an academical presentation and overwhelm the opposition."

Her intonation was lazy, but her words were reliable. The usually unmotivated Karasuma-sensei was strangely proactive. Did she secretly like flower-viewing, or was she also worried about Takashima-sama?

Aki-senpai raised a hand in my direction.

"???"

Aki-senpai responded to my blank stare.

"Times like these, you do a high-five!"

"...Aah, right."

Me and Aki-senpai slapped each other's hands.

The next day was Sunday.

Sunday was a free day, there were no lessons or Miko rituals on it.

But I woke up at the same time as always. My roommate, Aki-senpai, was sleeping on the upper bunk of the bed, her stomach showing and drool hanging from her mouth. She had an awful sleeping posture.

"Aki-senpai, please wake up."

She opened her eyes, still sleepy.

"Mmm? What, Hanamoto-chan... Ehime, you know... isn't just famous for mandarins, but kiwis too..."

"Thank you very much for the Ehime trivia. But I don't care right now."

"Then what... Today's a free day, so I'm sleeping until noon..."

"I want you to teach me how to cook."

"...Eh?"

After me and Aki-senpai had breakfast, we went to the kitchen. I had already gotten the permission to use it.

"Why'd you suddenly ask me to teach you to cook?" - Aki-senpai asked while checking the cooking utensils in the kitchen.

"I thought I should use the opportunity and cook something for Koori-sama for the flower-viewing party. It kills me to say this, but you're the only one I can ask, Aki-senpai..."

"The "kills me" part aside, does that mean I'm the only reliable senpai for you? Reliable senpai! How sweet the sound! Then let me instruct you, my lost kouhai!"

She was overwhelmingly happy to be relied upon by a kouhai.

"...Now that I think about it, can you even cook, Aki-senpai? I know Uesato-san is good at it, at least..."

"Try not to underestimate your reliable senpai JK Masuzu, alright!? I'm not as good as Uesato-chan, but I can do it to a degree!"

I felt somewhat concerned, but she was still better than me with my absolute lack of cooking skill.

"So, Hanamoto-chan, what do you want to cook?"

"Skipjack tuna."

Both me and Koori-sama were from Kouchi. Skipjack tuna is a specialty of Kouchi, and so anyone from there should like it... That would be an exaggeration, but I had heard from Uesato-san that Koori-sama liked skipjack tuna.

I could've bought something already prepared, but I thought it'd be best to cook something since I had the opportunity.

The actual dish would have to be made on the morning of the flower-viewing party, but I wanted to be able to make it perfectly by that date. It was something meant for Koori-sama's mouth, and thus it had to be perfect.

I bought skipjack tuna to practice on and put it in the fridge the previous day.

"Skipjack tuna, huh. Any ideas about what exactly you want to make?"

"Broiled skipjack tuna is the best way to eat it, but... Since I'd be taking it with me in the morning, we should probably avoid raw food."

It could spoil on the way to the Marugame castle.

"Yeah, you're right. But there are some good methods."

Aki-senpai suggested several dishes while showing me recipes online.

After some discussion, we decided to make fried skipjack tuna and teriyaki skipjack tuna.

First, Aki-senpai cooked on her own to show me the ropes.

"There's nothing really hard about cooking. Basically, if you follow the recipe, you're going to get proper results. If it's not something complicated, you'll get the hang of it after a few tries, so anyone can do it", - said Aki-senpai, deftly proceeding with the cooking.

Mirin, soy sauce, ginger, sugar - she mixed all sorts of ingredients and made two types of sauce. She put slices of skipjack tuna in one of the sauces and after a while coated them in potato starch and deep-fried them. The fried skipjack tuna was done.

Then she sprinkled the remaining sliced-up pieces with salt, fried them in a pan and finished off with the sauce prepared beforehand. That was the teriyaki skipjack tuna.

After that, I attempted to do the same.

It seemed so easy when I was looking at her do that, but my first attempted ended in a failure. The coating on the fried tuna didn't turn out well and I burned the teriyaki tuna. On my second time, I paid more attention to applying the starch and the frying time.

"Oh yeah, Hanamoto-chan, do you meet up with Koori-chan often?" - asked Aki-senpai, watching over my cooking.

"I met with her during the initial Vertex appearance."

"And after that?"

"...Not even once."

"Right", - Aki-senpai didn't seem particularly surprised.

"Why don't you meet up with her? Don't you love Koori-chan?"

"Aki-senpai, I keep telling you, what I feel for Koori-sama isn't "love", but utmost "respect". And it's natural for a Miko to respect a Hero."

"That aside, why don't you meet up with her?"

"..."

Heroes and Mikos lived in different places, but meeting up wasn't entirely impossible. With permission from the Taisha, you could match up your schedules for consecutive holidays. In fact, Aki-senpai met up with Doi-sama and Iyojima-sama at least once a year.

But I hadn't met up with Koori-sama even once after the day of the first Vertex invasion. Even though I wanted to be by her side so much I wanted to become the Heroes' overseer.

But why...

I didn't fully understand it myself.

"I don't know how to contact Koori-sama, so I can't match up our schedules..."

"You could've asked Uesato-chan to help you set it up."

Aki-senpai was right. What I said was just a tacked-on excuse. In reality...

"...I probably didn't have the courage."

"Courage?"

"Yes..."

I lowered my head. My hands stopped cooking.

"...I might be the Miko that found Koori-sama, but it's not like I've known her since childhood like Uesato-san knows Nogi-sama. We met on the day of the Vertex invasion for the first time, and talked just a little. For me Koori-sama is special, but I'm sure that for her I'm just a random person she doesn't even remember... And I was probably afraid... I'd have to face that..."

"..."

"I have neither the strong Miko powers nor the outstanding personal qualities Uesato-san has. I'm just a mediocre nobody. If we met up, she could even end up hating me..."

Back when I raised my hand and volunteered to be the Heroes' overseer, I foolishly thought that being a Miko made me someone special. I was excited and couldn't look at things clearly. But when I didn't get the position, I had the truth thrust in front of me once again: I was mediocre.

And then I lost all courage to meet her again.

In order to not be lost for topics if I ever met Koori-sama, I asked Uesato-san all sorts of things about her, played the same games as her... I continued to collect information, all while vaguely aware that all of the knowledge would probably end up useless.

Aki-senpai hit me on the back, and then, with a smile, began talking.

"Then meet her sometime in the future. No, use this flower-viewing party as an opportunity. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get along if you cook tasty food like this. People like those who give them tasty things."

"Is that so..."

"I guarantee it!"

Aki-senpai confidently declared that with absolutely zero proof. But those words made me a little more optimistic. They gave me just a bit of courage.

Also, because I was talking to Aki-senpai, my second try ended up a complete failure.

But my third attempt was a success.  The two of us took care of the failed results from the first and second tries as well.

Having learned how to cook, all I had to do was wait for the joint flower-viewing party.

That night me, Aki-senpai and several other Mikos received oracles in our sleep. So did Uesato-san at the Marugame castle.

The dream I saw was stars gathering in the night sky and becoming unthinkably large. The contents of the dreams were different for all the Mikos, but it was determined by the Taisha that a Vertex invasion would happen soon, and that something unprecedented could happen.

There was no way to tell when exactly the battle would happen. It could've been in an hour or it could've been in several days.

If something happened to the Heroes in battle, it would be no time for flower viewing.

I didn't want a battle to happen.

I wanted Koori-sama to stay safe.

Please...

A few days later, in the evening, me and Aki-senpai were called to Karasuma-sensei's room.

"This afternoon, the permission to hold the joint flower-viewing party with the Heroes and Mikos has been granted", - said Karasuma-sensei with surprisingly little emotion.

"For real!?"

Aki-senpai leaned forward with excitement.

"Yeah. The Heroes just so happened to also propose a flower-viewing party. That was the dealbreaker. Iyojima and Doi said the Marugame castle was a famous sakura viewing spot, apparently."

"Tamako and Anzu-chan, huh!? They got the same idea for flower-viewing as me, we really do understand each other!"

Aki-senpai seemed happy that the flower-viewing party was decided on.

Karasuma-sensei continued on with disinterest.

"However, just now the flower viewing has been cancelled."

"Eh!? Why!?" - asked Aki-senpai.

I had a bad feeling. Karasuma-sensei's tone, expression - everything about her seemed wrong.

She continued.

"This evening, there was a battle between the Heroes and the Vertexes".

Only the Heroes could confirm if there was a battle or not.

"The amount of Vertexes in this attack was less than during the Battle of the Marugame castle."

Not even the Mikos could know if any fighting happened.

"But a previously unseen, large and powerful Vertex had appeared."

The battle would begin and end with us none the wiser.

"The Heroes did all they could, but they were no match..."

And so...

"Doi Tamako and Iyojima Anzu were killed in action."

We couldn't even notice if the Heroes died.

[Hero History Apocrypha Part 1 Chapter 2 - End]