Part 4 Episode 2: The Strong.
Okita frowned at the sun shining strong light into his eyes and held the steering wheel more tightly.
A bright light was rising, dispelling the thick darkness of the night.
A bright sphere rising from the bottom, revealing part of its body, shot light into a gap in the darkness, and light bloomed on the land where darkness had settled.
The image of bright light rising above the flower buds that were preparing to bloom and then disappearing was drawn several times on Okita’s window and then quickly erased.
Okita smiled slightly at the struggle of the world, which was expressing with its whole body that spring had come in full force.
After briefly appreciating the scenery, Okita looked straight ahead again, but this time, a sound coming from the seat next to him made his gaze return.
A man making steady breathing sounds was in a light sleep with his head slightly tilted.
If you look at it this way, it looks like an ordinary office worker who fell asleep from exhaustion after going around in the world.
Okita kept repeating to himself that this man was a man with absolute power that he could never defeat.
Several questions bloomed in Okita’s mind and made Okita’s mouth itch, but the overwhelming appearance shown by the man in Okita’s mind silenced him.
Okita, who was so worried, didn’t realize that the man’s heavy breathing had stopped.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
“Oh, yes…Yes?!”
He answered with his eyes still closed, probably because he was tired, but his head was facing Okita.
Feeling his closed eyes staring at him, Okita swallowed his saliva and carefully opened his mouth.
“…What are you going to the shrine for…?”
Okita asked informally if he wasn’t used to using polite language, but he hastily changed it to polite language.
“I have to predict the future. Damn. I didn’t know there was a time limit on the incense burner.”
The man finished his answer by mumbling something unintelligible, and Okita asked the next question.
“You can run much faster…Why are you using a car…Shinji…?”
The man closed his eyes for a moment and stared straight ahead, but belatedly opened his mouth.
“Some people will sense that I have come to Japan just by setting foot on this land. You must not hastily use your abilities to reveal my location.”
When the man answered the second question without hesitation, Okita, who was slightly surprised, felt slightly relieved and prepared for the last question.
“..Why did you save me..?”
**********
Okita didn’t know what was happening.
A man who suddenly appeared and crushed all the members of the Umibozu faction.
And the slightly awkward Japanese the man spoke as he held out his hand.
But before she could finish understanding her situation, the man opened her mouth first.
“This is my offer. Help me. Become my sword, and I will help you get your revenge.”
Okita still did not understand the situation.
Revenge.
This word was clearly embedded in her mind.
Because of the fear of her death, her forgotten anger and resentment began to boil over.
“…Really. Can you really get revenge?”
“Yes. And I’ll also find the guy who killed your parents.”
At her words, which came from her man’s words, Okita stood up from her seat roughly, forgetting that she was bound by her chains.
But the chains that bound her tightly bound her like her jacaranda flower rising with her resentment.
Her vengeance, her anger, her sarcasm, which grew by sucking on her resentment, became her strong chains and led her to this position.
“How..!”
“How do you know?”
The man answered while looking down at Okita.
“I’ll explain that story later. So answer me. The queen is coming.”
********
The man was still silent and his eyes were closed, and those closed eyes made Okita feel impatient.
“Because I need it. That’s all. If you have the answer, go ahead and drive. The queen will come.”
After ending the conversation one-sidedly with the same answer as before, the man’s breathing became stable again.
He fell asleep.
“….Whew..”
With a short sigh, Okita grabbed the steering wheel and looked at the rising sun.
The red door towering high beneath her sun welcomed her.
After some time has passed.
Arriving in front of the shrine’s huge red torii, Okita and the man got out of the car and looked at the huge red torii.
Okita suddenly remembered the back of the boss who raised her.
When he finished a request or had blood on his hands due to a big or small fight between organizations, his boss always looked for a gentleman.
Having lived a life marked by blood, even her earliest memories, she became accustomed to murder and blood, and even her guilt was dulled by blood.
That’s why she had a hard time understanding him, who suffered from guilt and always came to the shrine to offer money to the gods.
She strongly agrees with the statement that religion is the opium of the people, but she could not understand that he, who handles matters more rationally than anyone else, said that he believed in God.
So, every time she came in front of the torii, she asked him the same question, and each time, he answered like this.
God cannot be explained rationally. Because it is too high a being to follow with our reason. But still, believing is faith, it is faith.
She treated his answer as sophistry and, as always, struck him with the back of a knife in return for his nonsense.
But now, standing here alone without a boss, she felt different from before.
“Don’t stand still and follow me.”
The man glanced up at the torii and continued to move his feet.
Okita was about to follow the man, but stopped after spotting a sign.
「Warning.
Traffic around the shrine is prohibited at this time.
If you see this warning sign, please return immediately.”
“Uh, over there…”
Okita tried to warn the man, but the man had already gone far away.
Okita soon gave up and followed the man up at full speed.
Jeobbuk. Jeez. Jeez. Jeez.
It was clear that two people were walking, but the sound of their footsteps was one.
It was only then that Okita realized that the sound of the man’s footsteps was so quiet.
‘…Are we really the same person?’
The concept of humanity was barely felt in the man who casually caused phenomena that were far beyond the scope of humanity.
They finally passed the torii.
As soon as the man stretches his feet inside the torii.
“…!”
The man jumped back slightly.
The man was pushed back and stumbled due to the sudden repulsion, which startled Okita and he unconsciously tried to support the man.
But the man quickly regained his balance as if nothing had happened.
Okita took back his outstretched hand and looked at the torii.
Tingle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.
A small bell sound was heard from beyond the torii.
Okita soon saw someone approaching from a distance.
“A magical girl has arrived.”
The man frowned lowly and stood still, waiting for someone to approach.
Tingle. Rattle. Rattle.
A little time passed.
Once someone got close enough, Okita realized who it was.
“Humans are covered in a lot of yogis. No, they are yogis themselves. What are they doing?”
The shaman approached, shaking the bell in her hand menacingly, and looked at the man with her eyes filled with suspicion.
“Are you a human? ..No. You are a human. But your natural energy has been covered with a lot of magic. What on earth have you done?”
The shaman who was quietly looking at the man who answered her shaman’s question with silence sighed and before she knew it, she came to the shaman’s side and calmed down the growling foxes.
“If you’re here to give orders, just wait a little. I’ll be there soon with the weapons…?!”
Tingle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.
Suddenly, the bell in the shaman’s hand began to shake like crazy.
Of course, the shaman’s hand did not even move.
“…You there!”
The shrine maiden pointed her finger at Okita.
“Uh, me?”
“Yes! You come in! I can’t tell if that man is a youkai or a human! A lot of youkais will soon invade, so come in…!”
Tingle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle. Rattle.
The bell began to shake even more frantically.
The shrine maiden and Okita looked at the man in surprise.
The shaman was even more shocked.
Before I knew it, a man had taken out a ryoba saw and was swinging it towards the invisible curtain of the torii.
‘Anger’ is being unleashed.
The invisible membrane was torn.
The shrine maiden let out a threatening scream, and even Okita looked at the man in astonishment.
Even Okita, who was not usually interested in torii gates and shrines, knew about the sturdiness of the torii barrier.
And the man who had made that barrier tore it to pieces without any hesitation.
Common sense is reversed, and laws are reduced to theories.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t have much time. So I’ll get to the point first.”
The man, who had completely removed the torn membrane with a wave of his hand, draped the Ryobato over his shoulder and approached the shrine maiden menacingly.
“You..! Do you know what you just did..!”
“I need to take a look. Of course, with the highest grade.”
The shaman was even more shocked and screamed.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I think I’ll waste your power on a monster like you…!”
The man quietly pointed behind him.
Okita moved his gaze along the man’s fingertips.
The concrete floor on the stairs leading up to the shrine was stained black.
It looked like a black puddle had formed.
What came out of there was by no means an underwater creature.
Long hair that hangs down to the feet.
A bird’s beak-shaped mouth that protrudes sharply.
Eye torn into diamond shape.
It was a mermaid, but not the mermaid that ordinary people imagine.
The shaman gritted her teeth and muttered.
“Amabie…!”
And the man also saw a strange creature called Amavie.
“As expected, Japan is special. Is it because of the island nation’s unique evil spirit? There are more monsters than villains.”
A surprising review was made.
As Amabie jumped out of the black water puddle, other strange creatures also appeared.
“Waira, come to Sazae… Oh my.”
The shaman hurriedly picked up her own weapon and tried to start her ritual.
“Aren’t you talking to me?”
A man blocked the shaman’s path.
“Get out of the way! Are you out of your mind? Because you broke the barrier, they can now go to the people! We have to stop them…!”
“The answer to my question comes first.”
The man stood there and blocked the shaman’s approach, and the shaman looked restlessly at her man.
Because she still didn’t know whether the man was a monster to be exterminated or a person to be protected.
“Answer me.”
“Crazy guy…!”
As the monsters advanced at high speed, Okita panicked and went to the man’s side.
“Do you want to die?”
“I won’t die. Just answer me.”
After thinking for a moment, the shaman closed her eyes tightly and shouted.
“I will do it! I will do it, so get out of the way..!”
The man turned around.
The man could see monsters running towards him.
The man ‘lazily’ put out his foot.
The man literally rushed forward at lightning speed and violently swung the ryoba saw.
Suddenly.
Amabie’s body was cut horizontally.
Suddenly.
Her head, which resembled that of a Huayra lion, was cut off as if roughly torn off.
Suddenly.
Sasaeoni’s smooth and long body was cut exactly in half.
The monsters were unable to overcome the inertia of running forward and jumped into the air with their bodies cut off.
The man turned his gaze to the shaman again and lightly twitched her finger.
The man’s shadow instantly expanded its area and began to chew and swallow the monsters’ bodies.
Right now. Munch. Ugh.
Making a creepy sound, the monsters slowly disappeared into the shadows.
“…Mi…Chin..”
Okita began to imagine the scene of the man’s massacre, which he had not seen because his eyes were closed.
If supernatural phenomena were used in battle, wouldn’t it look like this?
From Noble mtl dot com
The man lazily put his foot out again.
The man’s figure appeared in front of the shaman again.
“I disposed of it. Even the corpse. Is this enough for the point?”
The shaman looked at the man and asked.
“…Who the hell are you?”
The man thought for a moment and then said.
“It’s Obscure. If you get the answer, move. The queen will come.”