Sasami-san @ Ganbaranai - Volume 2 - Chapter 5

VOLUME 2

Chapter 5: The Moon and the Sun’s Game of Tag (Back Half)

There were way too many people crowded around here.

The camera was once again showing me, after I had been quickly dragged up to the fourth floor by the shop employee.

A pink, gaudy happi coat was wrapped around me, a fan with heart marks drawn all over it was thrust into my hands, and before I knew it I had been transformed into a groupie.

After that, I was tossed into a relatively cramped room that wasn’t any bigger than a standard classroom. But this room was filled to overflowing with people in the same clothes.

”Say! You! Say! You!”

Just because it was a “seiyuu” show didn’t mean they had to keep chanting seiyuu seiyuu seiyuu… but whatever. It seemed that was the custom, so I followed along and shouted myself hoarse.

When you were in a crowd, the rules apparently were that you also had to frantically jump up and down with the bouncy music that was being blasted out at us, wave around the glowsticks we had been given, and squeal out in high-pitched voices. If I didn’t follow the crowd and do those things, people would look at me with cold eyes and scold me with a “Come on, do it right already!”

“Say! You! Say! You!”

A strange fever began to envelope us.

I was a hikikomori, and before then I was locked away at our family’s shrine, living an isolated life.

So of course, I’ve never gone to an event like this, and I really couldn’t judge whether this situation was strange or not.

They said this was a “seiyuu show,” but honestly it felt more like a concert or a live performance to me.

Some seiyuu-san I didn’t recognize was out front singing heatedly about love or the world or whatever (I was shrimpy so I couldn’t actually see the stage over the people in front of me). The people next to me were joining hand in hand and dancing wildly.

“Say! You! Say! You!”

Umm…

Why exactly was I here again?

My memories were getting a bit blurry, while the air around me began to heat up.

Small little me was swept away by that ferocious atmosphere, pretty much swinging in midair as I joined hands with the people next to me and was pulled along. I couldn’t think at all… everything had fallen into chaos.

My mind was getting fuzzy. My body was getting hot.

This was… this… didn’t feel right.

This group of wild people were almost like a cult, sucking away my abilities to think for myself.

The music being blasted at us was just like a brainwashing song… it made me feel good even though it was nonsense, and I could feel my mind melting away.

If I did something wrong, the people next to me would scold me, so without realizing it I was being trained, letting my heart join with that of the crowd. I could feel the boundary where myself ended and the crowd began starting to fade away.

I… I was…

Why… was I… ahh…

Sei… yuu…

“Say! You! Say! You!”

I was already half-hypnotized by the almost religious fervor filling this room. Meanwhile, my brother behind me, still filming me with the camera, couldn’t get any closer to me.

My brother had hurriedly chased me here, but this room had already reached full capacity, and he couldn’t make his way into this cramped space.

”H-Hey, let me through! Sasami-san! Can you hear me?! Ahh, it’s too loud in here… come on, get out of the way! Agh, ow! Hyah?!”

My brother was elbowed, kicked, and shoved to the ground by the excited crowd, and then trampled cruelly to the point where you could swear that was all a bit on purpose…

This was pretty like my brother, but please try a bit harder, oniichan.

”This… is bad… Sasami-san! Get away from here! There’s a strange smell in the air! They’re burning some strange incense or something! This isn’t a seiyuu show! Their goal is… their goal is.. to brainwa-“

“Umm…”

My brother managed to scurry away from the barrage of kicks he was receiving, but still couldn’t get any closer to me. He just stayed back there, calling out to me frantically… when someone spoke up to him.

“Excuse me, but filming is not allowed…”

It was a woman who looked in her twenties, and who was wearing a security guard uniform.

She was timid-looking, and the edges of her eyebrows drooped downwards.

My brother had his face hidden and was filming through a camera, so I’m sure he looked insanely suspicoius. This girl had probably come over to tell him off… she was most likely one of the security personnel here at the seiyuu show.

”Eh? Ah, no, I’m just trying to get to Sasami… hm?”

My brother shouldn’t have eyes for anybody other than me, but he turned around to face the security guard.

He seemed to be surprised.

”Huh? You’re… I know you…”

”Hueh? E-Ehhhh?!?”

The security guard was also clearly surprised, and for whatever reason began to back away from my brother, an expression of utter shock on her face.

”K-K-Kamiomi-san?! What are you hre?!”

”Ahh, as I thought, you’re from the Tsukuyomi Shrine…”

At my brother’s words, I also figured it out.

Now that I took a closer look, she did look awfully familiar… I was fooled for a minute since she was dressed up as a security guard, but this was definitely a miko from the Tsukuyomi Shrine.

”Y-Y-You’re wrong! I don’t know of this ‘Tsukuyomi Shrine’ or whatever! Y-You’ve got the wrong person…. P-P-Please leave, Kamiomi-san!”

”But you know my name, so it’s clear we know each other, right?”

… The Tsukuyomi Shrine.

They were a strange clan, in which generation after generation, a Tsukuyomi miko would inherit the power of the Supreme God Amaterasu into her body, becoming enshrined there as the clan’s leader and using her powers to maintain a world that was convenient for human life.

They was also my biological family.

The other day, the Yagami Sisters had attacked the shrine, and the Tsukuyomi Shrine should’ve been destroyed, but…

”If people from the shrine are here… don’t tell me that this suspicious event was…?!”

”Hyahhh?! N-No, I don’t know anything at all! It’s not like the family head, Sasami-sama’s father, ordered all the remaining members of the Tsukuyomi Shrine to go and perform a ritual together or something like that!!”

”Thank you for the explanation… this is bad, Sasami-san!!”

Thanks to this overly careless miko, I also now knew what was going on.

Everyone in this religiously charged event space was a member of the Tsukuyomi Shrine. In other words, everyone here was a spiritual user, and was part of an organization that had been pulling the strings behind the curtains.

They had all left the shrine and had come here to perform some ritual centered around me to achieve some goal.

The shrine had already been destroyed, so I had thought that these people were now harmless and had let down my guard… this was so ridiculous.

It seemed that the Tsukuyomi Shrine still had absolutely no intention of leaving me alone.

”Kyaaaahh?!”

Suddenly, a shriek echoed around the event hall.

The origin of that shriek was the me inside the screen.

My brother hurriedly pointed the camera in the direction of the disturbance.

People were still moving all around and there was a suspicious rainbow-colored light reflecting everywhere so it was hard to tell anything from anything, but my clothes were beginning to come loose.

I was getting jostled by so many people that my outfit was being thrown into disarray.

My shoulders were now bare.

“T-The sticker…”

I could hear my voice weakly calling out.

Sticker? That meant…

”Now!”

That voice was much louder.

The seiyuu-san who had been singing her brainwashing song yelled that out loudly.

Right, everyone here belonged to the Tsukuyomi Shrine.

The seiyuu who was singing was probably a fake, and was actually a spiritual user from the shrine.

She was using a singing voice infused with spiritual energy to disturb my thoughts, steal away my consciousness, and render me unable to use the power of the Supreme God temporarily…

I had fallen half-asleep and was completely defenceless, when…

”Hya…. Fueh?!”

I opened my eyes in a panic, but I was already too late.

Regardless of how it looked, the people around me grabbed both my hands and stuck charms all over my body, restraining me from moving both physically or spiritually.

Of course, even though these people had trained their spiritual powers, their divinity wasn’t very high, so it’s not like the likes of these spiritualists would be powerful enough to bind the power of the Supreme God for more than a few seconds. Even if I was brainwasyed and completely disoriented.

However, a few seconds was all they needed.

”Rejoice!”

A man in white clothing jumped a few meters in a single leap and pressed down upon me.

A metallic glint shone through the air, and I saw that his hand was gripping onto a double-edged sword.

I recoginized that sword.

It was the deified blade, the Totsuka no Tsurugi. (3)

It wasn’t a particularly rare or high-class spiritual weapon, but depending on how you used it you could even cut down gods.

”Oh sun, surrender thy beautiful throne to the moon, and bestow upon humanity a new chronicler!”

The man who leapt at me shouted.

I recognized him.

His eyes were stern, but his hair was long for a man and he looked quite small and youthful.

Tsukuyomi Ruza… my father.

”Do not move, Sasami! Resistance is meaningless!”

With fluid motions, my father brought down the Totsuka no Tsurugi upon me, as I stood there unable to move.

”……?!”

The blade my father was holding pierced into my chest from above, and cut off the small bulge near my collarbone… the sarcoma.

Now that the sticker which was sealing it had fallen off, the sarcoma began to swell until it was around the size of a heart.

”Fuhaha! Good, good, good!!”

My father grabbed that blood-soaked sarcoma and began to laugh victoriously.

”My daughter, do not think badly of me… your father will take on your excess baggage! Sleep in peace!”

My father roared with lauhter in front of me, while I crumbled to the ground.

Did I faint? Had I…died?

I remained motionless at the center of that pool of blood.

H-Huh…?

I… died?

Then… why was I here… watching this video…?

@@@@@@

What was all this?

The me on screen losing blood and slowly becoming a corpse.

There was way too much blood.

Even if I was still breathing, it wouldn’t be long before my life would cease to be.

So… who exactly was the me here, the me who was watching the me on screen die?

“……”

Almost unconsciously, I stripped off my uniform and looked down at my chest.

There was nothing there.

There was no sarcoma… there wasn’t even a scar.

I felt my heart thump.

I was forgetting something… something bad.

@@@@@@

”T-This… father, do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!”

Things steadily progressed on screen.

It was rare to hear my brother sound so enraged. My father finally seemed to notice him.

He snorted.

”Well well, if it isn’t Kamiomi… you’ve already been excommunicated from this family, so do not call me father.”

My father smiled an unhappy-looking smile while stlil holding onto the sarcoma.

”This is all in order to take back the power of the Supreme God. My daughter ran away from us with the family treasure, so it’s only natural for us to chase her down and take back what’s ours while inflicting some amount of pain on her.”

The sarcoma wriggled inside my father’s hand.

”And everything was planned by this one.”

My father was completely calm, as if he didn’t think of my brother as a threat at all.

”Sasami had tried to seal this one, but her seals grew weak and this one slowly regained its consciousness. And then, this one contacted us after our shrine had been destroyed and we were left wandering on our own, secretly exchanged information with us, and proposed the plan you see her to us.”

I see. So a crack had formed in the sarcoma’s seal.

I had been mumbling something about that too during my brother’s commercial (?).

”The power of the Supreme God is passed down by blood in the mikos of the Tsukuyomi line. This one is the god of Sasami’s physical body, and he sought to steal that power and then separate from her body to escape.”

The sarcoma was the deity associated with my physical being, but was trained by the people back at the shrine and had his own separate personality. It was a god who stood in a peculiar position, being one with me and yet possessing a separate consciousness.

The sarcoma’s instinct told it that it’s greatest goal was to protect Tsukuyomi Sasami. However, the sarcoma’s personality was trained by the people at the shrine.

So it wasn’t strange that the sarcoma would want to help out its original masters.

”The power of the Supreme God is now right here. Right here within my hands.”

My father held out the sarcoma proudly.

That thing had stolen it. Stolen the power of the Supreme God from me.

While I had been under the influence of that brainwashing song and that strange incense in the air, while the religious ritual was robbing me of my consciousness and my ability to use my spiritual powers, both the sarcoma and the power of the Supreme God had been taken from me.

It was quite a desperate move for them to take advantage of the rift between me and the ssarcoma, but their plan had succeeded.

”You all destroyed our shrine, and I admit we were left in shambles for a while… but now everything will return to normal. Do not look so afraid, Kamiomi. There could’ve been no happier conclusion than this.”

But there was a bit of fear in my father’s voice.

”Sasami should still be alive. If you hurry and bring her to a hospital, she will certainly not die. And now that this one has lost the power of the Supreme God, she is no longer any concern to the shrine. You two can proceed and live the normal, peaceful life that you’ve always dreamed of.”

My father looked around cautoiusly, almost like a misbehaving child fearful of his parents.

”Rather, you should be thanking me. If that woman had shown up, we wouldn’t have been able to finish this so quickly and simply. Even I do believe my children are lovely. Forget about the shrine and live freely, Sasami, Kamiomi. Leave the rest to father. If we continue to fight much more, that woman will come.”

That woman? Who was he talking about?

Who was my father so afraid of?

”I cannot.”

My brother took a number of charms and spells into his hands and stood straight up, straing down the people of the Tsukuyomi Shrine.

It was quite unlike him. He was always so unreliable and wishy-washy…

”That sarcoma is a part of Sasami-san. No, it’s the very essence of Sasami-san’s physical being. If she loses that, who knows what kind of defects will show up in Sasami-san’s body later. It’s even possible this will be fatal. I won’t let anybody take any piece of Sasami’s body or mind, no matter how small.”

Even though this was my brother we were talkin gabout, both my father and the other people from the shrine were clearly afraid.

My brother ignored all the others as they stared at him cautiously, but just walked straight for me.

He picked up my body, which now truly looked close to death.

”That is my purpose.”

And then my brother leapt into action… is what I wanted to say. If that happened, I might’ve truly fallen in love with him again. But…

–

”Hyaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”

–

Suddenly, the wall right next to my brother was smashed up, sending rubble, the shrine members, and my brother all flying at once. And then, Yagami Tsurugi appeared.

”Damn annoying, those suckers back there! You really thought you could stop this cute and lovely Tsurugi-chan with those low-level youkai, (2) haah?! All the damn eromanga I bought was burned up in the battle, you bastards! I’ll kill all you damn halfwits! … Oh, Tsukuyomi. What are you doing under my foot there?”

”Just… don’t worry about me…”

My brother was now lying flat on his face with Tsurugi stepping on him. Maybe he was a bit depressed at having his spotlight stolen, or maybe he was happy about getting abused by this chibi sensei, but my brother didn’t try to move.

”Tch, she already broke through…?!”

My father panickingly pointed his bloodstained Totsuka no Tsurugi at Tsurugi. (3)

It seemed that, to prevent any intrusions to their little ritual of cutting the sarcoma from my body, they had positioned a bunch of youkai (sometimes low-level gods were called youkai) to guard the area.

”Funyaa.”

Kagami suddenly peaked in from the hole that Tsurugi had opened along the wall.

”I thought I felt something suspicious, and now I see the Tsukuyomi Shrine members… ahh, I’m so sleepy… interrupting me when I’m blissfully sleeping is a heavy crime, you know.”

She had been happily sleeping away at the bathhouse, but it seemed she had been woken up by a certain uneasy presence and came here to help.

”Y-You bastards…!”

Considering the Yagami Sisters were the ones who had destroyed the Tsukuyomi Shrine, it was no wonder that my father was losing his temper.

”How fortunate it is to meet you here! What a perfect opportunity to erase the grudge I still feel from you destroying the legendary Tsukuyomi Shrine! You may have been able to take us by surprise then, but this time we’ve come fully prepared! Prepare to taste defeat by the hands of the most capable irregularity eradicators this land has to offer!”

My father was going on and on like that, talking himself into an excited frenzy.

But this time, he’d chosen the most awful opponents for that. In many ways.

–

”Out of the way out of the way out of the way~~~!!!”

–

A shrill voice echoed through the room.

That sounded like Tama’s voice.

And at the same time, the ceiling was destroyed as an unidentified flying object the size of a car dropped down.

Yeah… that was a UFO.

It was round and silver-colored. There was no mistaking this for anything else but a “yuufo”~~ (said in the tone of someone who was bored of earth boys). (4)

The ceiling was easily crushed under the weight of the UFO while people were thrown all around. The UFO continued to drop down, leaving nothing spared in its path and as it sent rubble in all directions and crushed everything to powder.

What amazing destructive power…

Maybe it was because Trusugi had already opened a big hole in the wall, but the ceiling and walls now were all blown away and a hole even opened up the floor. The building was half destroyed. If you thought there was a breeze before…

”Gyaahh?!?!?”

Someone screamed. I didn’t know who. Everyone was probably screaming.

The UFO rotated a few times, continuing to break through the building’s walls and finally charging outside. And then, it went into a freefall.

At last, the UFO crashed into the earth below, creating a huge crater in the asphalt down below before coming to a complete stop.

The people of the Tsukuyomi Shrine, my brother, Tsurugi, and myself… we all fell right down after that UFO and whirled ominously right for the ground!

But miraculously (it was also probably because of divine intervension), it seemed that nobody had died, although you could see splatters of blood here and there, as well as a huge commotion as rubble and glass fell all around.

Dust, pieces of concrete, and glass fragments blew violently all around.

Both my brother’s Camera One and Kagami’s Camera Two couldn’t properly take in the whole scene, only showing the wanton maelstrom of destruction.

Kagami’s camera might’ve broken, because I saw noise fly across the screen before the display went dark.

Miraculously, my brother’s camera seemed to have survived, but my brother seemed to have dropped it, since the screen turned round and round a bit before becoming still. I could see what looked like a corner of the silver UFO at the bottom of the display.

”Sorrrrrrrrrrrryyyyy~~~~!”

A crack ran down the UFO’s smooth surface, when suddenly an entranceway appeared and a ramp extended down to the ground.

The person who came down the ramp was… well, it was a bit difficult to tell because the camera was so low, but judging from her voice and the length of her legs that was probably Tama.

”Is everyone okay? Howawawa… Tama’s sorry! Tama and the others, we were chased by the guv-ern-mint and ran away… and Tama thought she would go save Tsurugi-nee! But the bray-ks were broken and we had to go through the building!”

Tama sounded on the verge of tears, when things with sleek-looking orange skin came out next to her.

The camera angle was once again too low for me to make them completely out, but they were clearly not human.

That silver-colored whatever-it-wa went softly over to Tama, and cried out in a high-pitched howl.

”Kyupii…”

”Don’t worry, Tama will protect you! Tama will never hand over the Ntos Modento, the controller of the mysteries of the universe, to the guv-ern-ment! Don’t cry! Those brave parents protected you with their lives! Live a long life and return to your home planet!”

Tama embraced this mysterious being.

While I wasn’t looking, it seemed like this had turned into some completely random drama.

I really didn’t want to get involved in this though, so I’ll refrain from prying for details.

”We found them! It’s the aliens!”

”You! Girl over there! Do you have any idea what you’re doing?! This is a crisis! A matter of life or death! Just leave it to the Earth Alliance Government and hand over that evil alien!”

People dressed in full combat gear and who looked like some kind of special forces came charging in, firing warning shots into the air.

At the same time, a medicinal-looking green smoke began to fill the area, making the unwounded Tsurugi cough (she also seemed to have hugged my brother close to protect him from the fall).

”Cough cough… what th ehell is this?! Tear gas?! Also what the hell’s going on?! What kind of plot twist is this?!”

”Seems like a drug that will cause memory loss… try not to breathe it in, neesan! It might not harm us, but this gas is thick enough that it could induce mental breakdown in humans!”

Kagami was yelling about something.

The special forces people ignored her, but just rushed towards Tama and the alien-like creature she was holding onto.

“Show no mercy to anyone who gets in our way! All units, attack! Attack formation delta!”

”This is your last warning! For humanity… for the future of Earth, hand over that alien!”

”Earth was the side that kidnapped Kyupi-chan first and started a big space war! Kyupi-chan’s parents were going to forgive you and go back to their planet super quietly too! That was all ruined because of you~~!”

Tama was yelling about something.

”Run, Kyupi-chan! Sorry everyone! Tama will explain later!”

Tama picked up this Kyupi-chan or whatever and began running away with all her might.

The special forces people violently dashed after her, leaving only the dust and green smoke showing on screen. It was a complete train reck…

This was the very definition of chaos. And in the midst of all that…

”U-Ughhh…”

Something… something was rolling on the ground right past Camera One.

It was a little red and black ball of meat, dripping with blood.

This was the sarcoma that had been cut off of my body…

It seemed that the sarcoma had fallen from my father’s hands and was now rolling around on the ground.

”Have to… run… away…”

The sarcoma was creating an alteration, through which it transformed, grew arms and feet… and slowly took the shape of a human.

At this point, it still vaguely looked like a clay doll, but it was slowly but surely changing its shape to be human. I heard a raspy, shaky moan come out from its mouth.

”I… will be free… free…”

At that point, Camera One seemed to reach its limit. The screen filled with static, and the display went dark.

@@@@@@

”Well, that’s pretty much it.”

A voice suddenly echoed out from behind me once the video and sound both cut out.

I felt an electric shock run right down my spine, and I almost leapt up as I hastily turned around.

At some point, Tsurugi, the eldest of the Yagami Sisters, had snuck up behind me and was standing there with a bored expression on her face and a crimson-colored bundle across her shoulder.

There was nobody else there.

It was just Tsurugi and me in this room.

Ummmmm…

What did she mean, “that’s pretty much it”?

Even as I thought about that, some part of my mind… perhaps the part you could call “instinct,” already understood everything that was going on.

Hurry.

Hurry up and run.

“Umm, I guess the picture cut out suddenly there, so I’ll just summarize what happened after that for you.”

There was a strange hint of irritation in Tsurugi’s voice as she spoke to me lazily, not minding my reactions.

“Tama and that alien whatever and those special forces disappeared off somewhere, and we still don’t know where they are. Kagami and I beat up those people from the Tsukuyomi Shrine, to the point where all they could do was babble ‘We won’t do anything bad anymore. We love you Tsurugi-chan.’ Tsukuyomi called an ambulance and went to the hospital with Sasami, who had suffered surprisingly heavy injuries.”

I see. After all… a part of my chest had been cut away.

I had lost a lot of blood, and even if I didn’t die I would’ve at least been hospitalized.

But… hmm?

Something was strange here…

“Because of that drug those special forces were spreading around, your consciousness was thrown into disarray, you lost your memories, and you don’t even seem to remember who you are anymore. I used a little alteration to make that DVD for the purposes of correcting that discrepancy.”

Tsurugi pointed at the computer screen I had been staring at until a little bit ago and made the following declaration:

–

“Have you finally remembered who you are… Sarcoma-chan?”

–

Her words sent my mind for a huge loop.

A huge flood of emotions and memories washed over my psyche.

That’s right.

That was it…

“After all, you and Sasami shared the same body, to the point where you could say you two were the same person. I was a bit surprised that you suddenly thought you were Tsukuyomi Sasami, but I guess it’s not impossible. You might’ve had holes in your memories, but you were exhausted, and then did something that would be natural for Tsukuyomi Sasami to do… you came home.”

I see. So that was this sense of weariness running through my body.

It wasn’t because I was still getting used to an unfamiliar school life… it was because I had been a part of that huge fuss.

“You were so helpless back then that we should’ve just dealt with you then. But… you were in such a pitiful state, you know? But you understand, right? Sarcoma-chan, you’re one part of Sasami’s body. If you stay cut off, then who knows what kind of irregular things will start to happen to Sasami.”

Tsurugi pulled out a beautiful sword from the scarlet bundle.

“So I’ll just put you into a reaaaally faint sleep, alter you back to a lump of meat, stick you right onto Sasami again and fuse you back into one body. Then everything will be back to normal.”

“D-Don’t screw with me…”

I stood up, grinding my teeth angrily and glaring at Tsurugi.

“I-I’ll become free!”

I mustered all my strength and shouted that out loud.

“Sasami and I might’ve been in the same body, but I was born and raised as a different consciousness! Do you know the pain of being trapped in someone else’s body, not being able to do anything?! I was finally cut off, became free… so I’m gonna live how I want to live! Not as another part of Tsukuyomi Sasami, but as myself!”

Yes.

That’s why I waited until the seals had relaxed and contacted the Tsukuyomi Shrine… I had hatched a plan to separate myself from Sasami with their help.

Because of my function, I could not harm Sasami.

After all, my first and foremost priority was the protection of Tsukuyomi Sasami.

But even then, I twisted that.

If Sasami lost the power of the Supreme God, then she would be protected… she would no longer be the “main character,” and would be able to live a normal, peaceful life. I persuaded and tricked my instincts into believing that argument.

As for the actual task of separating myself from Sasami… I left that to the experts: the people at the Tsukuyomi Shrine.

And they… they did their job splendidly.

I escaped from the prison that was Sasami’s body and became free.

Do you really think I could go back at this point, and just be trapped again…?!

“You idiot…”

I laughed loudly and then glared again at Tsurugi.

“You should’ve dealt with me while I didn’t have my memories! To think you would’ve gone out of your way to remind me… don’t forget, the power of the Supreme God rests in this body! I’m the ‘main character’ of this world! And small fry like you… I could boil you, fry you, do whatever I want with you!”

I had separated from Sasami’s body and taken the power of the Supreme God with me, so I had the authority to say that.

Gods could not disobey other gods with higher divinities.

So if I had the power of the Supreme God, then I was the strongest in every sense! I was invincible!

“I command you in the name of the Supreme God! You will-“

“Give it back.”

Tsurugi mumbled that, a determined, cold look on her face.

–

“This toy is way too nice for a bastard like you.”

–

It happened in the next moment.

I felt something sublime getting sucked out from the middle of my body and moving to Tsurugi.

What followed was a feeling of exhaustion, as if the blood had been sucked right out of me.

I felt my hips give way from my arrogant pose. I lost strength and crumbled to the ground, gazing at Tsurugi with wonder in my eyes.

Right in front of me…

Right in front of me stood an extraordinary existence.

“If you came quietly without a fuss, I was going to treat you kindly too… you idiot, didn’t I tell you before? The Supreme God’s power was just something I had lent to Ninigi-kun. If I want it back, all I have is to ask for it and it’ll become mine again. Don’t go off arrogantly sumo wrestling in someone else’s loin cloth.”

It felt like my retinas… no, my entire existence was going up in flames.

But the minute my eyeballs were burned up, I saw something so beautiful that it couldn’t have belonged to this world.

Something with the sublime beauty and power of the sun.

“Well, don’t worry. It’s not like I don’t take a bit of pity on you.”

Her tone was short and frank, but that beautiful something… she smiled.

“It’s not like I’ve ever really been a diligent god… but sometimes I can create a miracle or two.”

My body was melting… it felt like an ice cube put in the middle of a desert.

Ahh, but for some reason… it was a pleasant feeling.

TRANSLATOR’S NOTES

(1) The sword of Susanoo, a god in Japanese mythology.

(2) Japanese demons/monsters.

(3) Yes, in case you were wondering, tsurugi does translate to sword. It does make this sentence kinda awkward though…

(4) I thought this was a Suzumiya reference, but upon googling actually seems to be a reference to the song UFO by Pink Lady.