Campione 16

by The Stirring of Heroes

  The girl tending to the stall was standing before a massive iron griddle, a spatula in each hand, boldly and vigorously stir-frying a great amount of Chinese noodles, bok choy, pork and other ingredients.

  Dressed in a yukata, she resembled a delivery girl with great sense of presence. She was someone whom Godou knew very well.

  "Shizuka, what are you doing here?"

  "Ooh—? Onii-chan and Mariya-senpai!?"

  The little sister looked up with an expression of surprise. This was a chance encounter at an unexpected location.

  "I am helping out because of old man Asakusa's request."

  Shizuka explained as she stir-fried noisily.

  Her bold and vigorous stir fry technique, which contrasted greatly with her slender feminine physique, was taught by the aforementioned old man who lived at Asakusa—an elderly man who could be described as the Kusanagi siblings' distant relative, now already deceased.

  Unlike grandfather Kusanagi's Casanova ways, old man Asakusa was an upstanding son of Edo.[7]

  Although he lived a life of solitude and never married, his commercial business "Ichiya" was inherited by someone who stayed in touch with the Kusanagi family.

  "Come to think of it, these stalls are also run by the Tekiya guilds."[8]

  "Tekiya... What kind of business is that? I have never heard of it."

  Naturally, while the siblings chatted about their relative, the one who inquired was the sheltered highborn lady unfamiliar with worldly matters.

  Before Godou could answer Yuri's question, the younger sister swiftly motioned with her eyes. Do not explain in too much detail—That was what her gaze seemed to be saying.

  "...Anyway, it's the job of setting up stalls at various festivals and fairs."

  "...They even go to the beach during summer and ski locations in winter."

  "Well, it sounds like an interesting job."

  Yuri displayed a pure and innocent smile in response to the siblings who evaded the topic of a certain unnamed profession and business that "was barely considered a legitimate business nowadays."

  As a side note, the old man mentioned by Shizuka was a celebrity who had opened a new era as a gambler in his youth, with a Kurikara dragon tattoo on his back. Even VIPs from the "industry" attended his funeral.

  "If you told me beforehand, I could have helped out as well."

  "Considering how busy you've been lately, Onii-chan, the phone call was only made to me. Oh well, after all, you'd simply reject the request anyway."

  Shizuka's adorable face cast a severe glare at Godou.

  Feeling her disapproving accusation, Godou replied with displeasure.

  "Don't go throwing random accusations. Even for me, if an acquaintance made a request..."

  "Onii-chan, are you having a date with Mariya-senpai today?"

  "D-Date!?"

  Shizuka's observation caused Godou to jump in fright.

  "Idiot. How could you say something like that?"

  "Look who's talking. Let me ask you, what else could it be?"

  Glaring severely, Shizuka spoke.

  "Without even going home first, you came here directly after school. Just the two of you. The situation is plain as day."

  " "......" "

  Godou fell into helpless silence. Yuri also gulped.

  Only when Shizuka pointed it out to them did they realize that the current situation was rather difficult to explain clearly.

  It was not as if they could honestly say they came to the shrine here to clean up a mess left behind by the old monster from eastern Europe, right? But were Godou to attempt deception, he would be in trouble once he got home later.

  Just as he was about to give up, Godou remembered.

  The oracle Yuri had received a few days ago. About meeting a nemesis in the near future or something like that. Could it be referring to Shizuka?

  But for one's own little sister to be the nemesis seemed a bit much... Just as Godou muttered such words to himself—

  Yuri suddenly spoke up beside him.

  "E-Excuse me... Godou-san, Shizuka-san, a so-called date refers to the act of a male and a female going out together to enjoy a delightful time together... Is that correct?"

  Yuri sought confirmation in a greatly flustered manner.

  For such a basic question to be asked when things had already come to this, not only Godou but also Shizuka were stunned. The two siblings nodded emphatically at the same time.

  Then Yuri suddenly said the following with a surprised expression:

  "What should I do... I, today is my first date..."

  "Eh!?"

  "B-Because it was just Godou-san and me, the two of us, like this, together all this time—"

  Wrong, totally wrong! Didn't we agree that your little sister Hikari was coming along slightly later?

  Feeling compelled to voice these words, Godou was just about to speak. However, when he noticed Yuri's inexplicably happy expression despite her flustered state, he could not bring himself to deliver the words for some reason.

  "A-As I thought, this could be considered our first time experience, right..."

  "W-Well, perhaps so... Maybe."

  "I-I think so too."

  "R-Really?"

  "S-Should be?"

  As her slightly moistened eyes pleaded, even Godou found himself reacting in unexpected ways.

  Instantly, he nodded. I suppose one could view it that way. Thinking that to himself, Godou had a subtle feeling. But very quickly, he would forget all about such matters.

  Because he saw Yuri smiling with happy satisfaction, which naturally caused the corner's of Godou's lips to move in turn. The end result consisted of Godou and Yuri smiling as they exchanged gazes right in front of Shizuka.

  "Guh...! I can't believe you're completely ignoring the fact that your younger sister is watching!? Even grandpa hasn't reached this level yet!"

  Shizuka began to get angry on her own, greatly increasing the forcefulness of her noodle stir-frying motions.

  In terms of colorful and abundant female relationships, the grandfather was unparalleled in his Casanova ways.

  Godou frowned in response to Shizuka's use of this problematic character to prove her point.

  "Grandpa simply avoids letting his family witness the behavior he's ashamed of. As for Mariya and me, we're just good friends. There's nothing to feel guilty about."

  "Ah yes, there is nothing about the relationship between Godou-san and I that does not hold up to public scrutiny."

  Godou asserted and Yuri immediately concurred.

  Ever since the Nikkou commotion, Godou and Yuri as well as Liliana started attaining a sort of secure state of mind in this area of mutual agreement. Was it because the cohesion of shared destinies had intensified, or they had simply started to accept things...

  "A-Although lately I've been getting the feeling you're advancing rapidly along a shameless rascal's path, Onii-chan, I never expected even Mariya-senpai to get involved, given her inexperience in worldly matters! Onii-chan, this sort of growth and development is a bit excessive—"

  "Instead of talking about this, aren't the fried noodles ready?"

  "Oh no."

  Reminded by her older brother, Shizuka immediately calmed her wrath. Holding spatulas in both hands with great familiarity, she packaged the large amount of noodles into separate plastic containers.

  Not being picky eaters could be said to be the virtue shared by the Kusanagi siblings.

  No matter the quantity of food filling the dining table or how unpalatable cuisine they faced, not only the brother but also the sister possessed the special skill of eating everything without wasting anything.

  "Stop acting all lovey-dovey before me, okay. Onii-chan, regarding your indiscretions in female relationships, there are countless examples I could point out to show your need for restraint. Anyway, leaving the topic for now, would you like to eat some of this?"

  With a seemingly generous tone of voice, Shizuka gestured
towards a packed serving of fried noodles.

  "Oh, please rest assured, Mariya-senpai. Despite the small size of this type of stall, all the ingredients bought are very clean. Also, I use water that I brought here myself by bucket rather than dirty pipe water. Hence, there are absolutely no hygiene issues."

  Indeed, the junk food sold at stalls did seem quite ill-suited for the high-class lady. Despite Shizuka's domineering personality, she was actually quite considerate of others.

  She must have been making use of the labor provided by "old man Asakusa's young employees" who were originally stationed at this stall. Seeing none of them around, Godou presumed Shizuka had ordered them to go buy something or other.

  As she listened to Shizuka's words, Yuri's eyes began to shine—

  Godou suddenly felt his body suddenly shake and fill up entirely with power.

  This was his body's preparation for an imminent battle.

  Because he sensed a deity nearby who must be defeated, as a god-slayer—a Campione, his body and mind had entered a combat state.

  "...Sorry, but Mariya and I still have things to do. We'll come over again later."

  Godou immediately looked at Yuri. Possessing spirit senses more keen than anyone else's, the Hime-Miko also sensed the divine presence and nodded instantly in return.

  "Excuse us, Shizuka-san. We shall be back shortly."

  "Oh okay. Oh by the way, Onii-chan, don't you go bringing Mariya-senpai over to anywhere strange, okay!"

  Godou left the stall together with Yuri who was bidding his sister goodbye seriously.

  Listening to the reprimands coming from behind them, they gradually left the visiting road where the temple fair was being held and entered the protective forest.

  Despite having no idea what was going to happen, Godou decided it would be best to go somewhere with fewer people around.

  Godou and Yuri ran rapidly through the silence of the mixed forest.

  They decided to head towards the shrine interior for now. There should not be any people in this direction apart from Hikari and the History Compilation Committee members. Just at this moment, Yuri yelled loudly.

  "Godou-san, look over there!"

  Godou turned his gaze towards where Yuri was looking—a dark area deep in the mixed forest.

  Amidst the darkness, Godou discovered a pair of refined and distinguished eyes. Just eyes only. Nothing else could be seen. No figure. Only two eyeballs floating in the air.

  Moreover, the moment Godou sensed a divine presence from this pair of eyes—

  A third eye opened. Above the pair of distinguished looking eyes, at the position corresponding to the forehead of a human face, a third eyeball appeared as a vertical slit opened.

  At the same time, Godou was greatly stunned.

  The massive expanding magical power always ready in a Campione's body—That magical power was suddenly reduced by 20%.

  Godou instinctively felt that the third eye had taken the power. Taking away from the Campione's body the magical power that acted as the source of his authorities—What sort of deity had manifested with this kind of trait?

  Just as Godou began to ponder the situation in preparation for the coming battle—

  "O Bow of Jonathan, the warrior's weapon swift as an eagle and strong as a lion—!"

  The spell words of David resounded all around.

  An arrow of blue light flew from behind Godou and Yuri, aiming at the third eye that just opened. With astoundingly splendid archery, this eye was pierced right through.

  "Are you okay, Kusanagi Godou!?"

  The archer sprinted forth, accompanied by this stern voice. Without needing to glance at her face, Godou knew she was the silver-haired knight who had agreed to converge later—Liliana Kranjcar had finally arrived.

  Godou nodded greatly in response to the appearance of this reliable comrade.

  He then turned his attention to the enemy with the mysterious "eye." The three-eyed god who appeared in the depths of darkness had already left without a trace.

  "What on earth was that thing just now..."

  "Illustrious Sage—True Lord Erlang..."

  As Godou's muttering escaped from his lips, Yuri responded in a tiny voice. Instantly, Godou turned to look at the Hime-Miko who was displaying a frightened expression on her beautiful face. Was it because she saw something?

  True Lord Erlang.

  This was the instant when Godou first heard this curious name.

  Part 2

  Within the territory of a certain shrine, Kusanagi Godou encountered the unidentified [Three Eyes].

  Ten-odd minutes after that, Amakasu Touma arrived in a hurry. His true identity was actually a History Compilation Committee special agent descended from ninja(!) ancestors.

  "Huh? Illustrious Sage, True Lord Erlang... So that's what Yuri-san said."

  Amakasu frowned after he found out the name whispered by the Hime-Miko who had received a spirit vision.

  Furthermore, the person in question who had spoken the oracle was not currently present. Due to the younger sister Hikari's massive exhaustion from using disaster purification so fully, her elder sister Yuri had taken her home.

  "Amakasu Touma, I seem to recall that name as belonging to the Chinese pantheon..."

  Liliana, who had arrived just earlier, inquired.

  Even though her knowledge and experiences were quite extensive, Liliana originated from Europe after all. Consequently, she was not very well-versed in Chinese myths.

  "You are correct, Liliana-san. He is a Daoist deity in charge of regulating floods, although his reputation for monster extermination is probably more famous. As implied by the two kanji characters in the 'Illustrious Sage' title."

  Amakasu wrote down the two kanji in a notebook.

  Illustrious Sage.[9] The one who illustrates—makes evident the sacred to manifest in the world...

  "He is particularly renowned for the story where he subdued and captured Sun Wukong who was rampaging in both the celestial and terrestrial realms."

  Godou recalled the name he had heard roughly half a month earlier.

  —Family name Sun, given name Wukong. The self-proclaimed Great Sage Equaling Heaven. Descending upon the land of Nikkou once more, the war god in monkey form had announced thus.

  "Could it be possible that the recent Great Sage Equaling Heaven is related to this incident?"

  Liliana offered her opinion in her stern knightly tone of voice.

  In her personal life, the silver-haired girl was presumptuously prone to blunders and easily shaken psychologically. But in combat and emergency situations, she was able to exercise 200% caution and composure.

  "Correct again... As you already know, the deity stationed at Nikkou Toushouguu for the goal of protecting Japan from the threats of dragon and snake gods is precisely the magnificent Chinese hero, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven."

  Amakasu exhaled as he explained.

  "To this end, the Old One and other elders in the Netherworld put into place the [Keeper of the Horses] wizardry spell for sealing the Great Sage. In actual fact, the spell's core component has ties to the deity—the Illustrious Sage, True Lord Erlang—and is a sacred talisman carrying evil-slaying powers."

  "The Old One... In other words, the deity named Susanoo who watches over Seishuuin Ena."

  "Indeed. Since the Great Sage no longer exists, the talisman has lost its purpose. We of the Committee will undertake its retrieval. However, because it is a rare and precious evil-slaying talisman, we decided to test it out to see if it was able to resolve a certain unresolved case."

  "You mean the matter of nullifying Marquis Voban's authority?"

  In response to Liliana's statement of surprise, Amakasu shrugged and smiled wryly.

  "Oh dear, because I happened by chance to recall there were two elite masters among those involved in the incident, so for the sake of saving lives, a risk was taken."

  "Don't go asking me to suddenly take on these kinds of risks! Come on,
that's so wrong I don't even know where to begin!"

  "So where exactly is this problematic talisman currently?"

  "Even though they were confident things were under control, I cannot believe the History Compilation Committee's core leadership allowed such a completely irresponsible experiment to proceed."

  Liliana protested, her anger surfacing slightly

  A car from the Committee had just taken Godou and her to the vicinity of the Minato ward. Currently, the two were making their way to the new destination on foot.

  "Thanks to them, Kusanagi Godou, you were attacked by that strange thing..."

  "It's not really that big a deal. After all, the people who were turned into salt statues were saved."

  Appropriately expressing his naturally generous character, Godou replied with sincerity.

  However, Liliana had a serious personality and she seemed to be objecting.

  "Of course there is nothing with saying that, but I always get the same feeling from Sayanomiya Kaoru as I do from Erica."

  Sayanomiya Kaoru. This was the full name of the person they were going to pay a visit.

  Although she was still studying in high school, she was already in charge of the History Compilation Committee's operations in the entire Kantou region.

  "You say she's the same as Erica?"

  "Yes. Unscrupulous in choosing means to attain goals—uh, scratch that, unscrupulous in choosing goals to enable their preferred means to be undertaken. That is the similarity I am talking about."

  "...I see."

  Erica and Kaoru both belong to the scheming intellectual type.

  Moreover, neither of them were calm and dispassionate Machiavellians. So long as circumstances permitted them to do so, they were strange characters who infused vainglory and fantasy into their work, choosing to attain goals in the most amusing manner available.

  As Godou and Liliana chatted, they soon reached the destination.

  Just outside a school's main gates, many girls could be seen exiting the school.

  They were dressed in black uniforms. Although the uniforms looked tacky and unfashionable on first glance, closer examination revealed a rather refined and distinctive design.

  A prestigious all-girls school that prided itself on being one of Tokyo's top schools in academics and tradition.