Bonus chapter - Willows are green, flowers are red.

Upon Shinju's wall surrounding Shikoku stood Miyoshi Karin and Kusunoki Mebuki. The two who, in the past, competed for the title of a Hero. After Karin was chosen for the duty, Mebuki hasn't seen her once. The reunion of the two took a considerable amount of time to happen.

The winter sky over their heads enveloped them in cold air. But take even one step beyond the barrier, and you would find yourself surrounded by a blazing inferno.

"...I've never expected to meet you here, Miyoshi-san".

"Same here..."

Karin's expression turned worried, and all sign of her usual strength of the mind disappeared from her face.

--

The city turned white.

"Waaaah, it's snow! Snow! Look at it piling up!"

Kagajou Suzume ran outside the Gold Tower, happily shouting.

"It's cold~! But there's snow!"

The ground was covered with a carpet of fresh snow. Suzume, full of excitement, ran around frolicking and leaving her footprints on its surface.

Long in the past, when land other than Shikoku still existed in the world, there were said to be places where, come winter, the plains would be always blanketed with snow. But now, with Shikoku alone remaining, it was rarely seen anywhere else but in the mountains.

"Oh dear, is mere snow really worth raising such a ruckus for? You are just like a puppy, despite your name meaning "sparrow""

Teased her Miroku Yumiko. As usual, she brought her table and chair, white as the snow surrounding them, outside the Gold Tower and was enjoying a spot of black tea.

"Miroku-san... Aren't you cold?"

"Mere cold shall not inhibit me from enjoying my refined tea time".

Since the plains were, for the first time in years, covered with snow, the cold was appropriately biting. Seeing Yumiko actually sit outside and drink tea in that weather made Suzume want to ask whether it was a form of ascetic training or if she lost a bet with someone.

"Suzume-san, you, too, should join me in enjoying this wintry landscape instead of frolicking like a chi- Cold!"

A snowball thrown by Suzume hit Yumiko on the shoulder, interrupting her words.

"How about some snowballs instead of black tea? Yumiko-san?"

"Su-zu-me-san!"

Her eyebrows furrowed in annoyment, Yumiko scooped up the snow near her feet and started clumping it into a ball. The two's snowball fight began right thereafter.

"Suzume, what are you doing? Today's training is about to start! Miroku-san, you too!?"

Said Kusunoki Mebuki in a strict tone. Next to her was Yamabushi Shizuku, expressionless as always.

"Eeh, but I don't wanna train, Mebu~! It's already the 26th of December~! It's time for the winter break already~!"

"We have our Sentinel duty laid upon us! And besides, a lot of companies work until New Year's Eve!"

"I'm against this kind of Sentinel exploitation~!"

The 300th year of the Divine Era was reaching its end.

Mebuki and the rest of the Sentinels stayed at the Gold Tower and continued their training, preparing for a sortie that might yet still come.

Their duties in assisting the Kuni-zukuri were over, but the Sentinel troop itself was not disbanded. Shikoku was still facing a critical state of affairs. It was not unthinkable that an urgent need for them could occur.

After Aya escaped the fate of being a sacrifice in the Fire Offering Festival, the state of the world turned hectic. The amount of information the Sentinels received was small, but Mebuki could guess the situation to an extent.

Instead of the six Mikos, including Kokudo Aya, a Hero, Tougou Mimori, was offered to the Heavenly Gods. After that, the rest the Heroes, numbering five, rescued Mimori from the inferno raging outside the barrier. With the sacrifice gone, the situation returned to the starting point. The Taisha were scrambling to find a different countermeasure.

But Mebuki had nothing but praise for the Heroes' actions.

(That's Miyoshi-san and her allies, huh... You managed to do what I couldn't)

The one who opens a path with no sacrifices is a true hero - that was Mebuki's conviction. The current Heroes saved Mimori and let no one be sacrificed. So what if the situation returned to zero? They would just have to keep struggling till they found a way that would work.

"It's the winter break in normal schools, so I'm not gonna go to the training! My resolve is unbreakable!"

Three plans of dealing with Suzume's tantrum appeared in Mebuki's mind.

The first one was to simply drag her in by force.
The second one was to threaten to stop protecting her if she doesn't come.
The third one was to lure her in with mandarins.

She pondered which one to go with. The most effective one would probably be number two...

"Mebuki-san! Everyone!"

Aya rushed from the Tower, her face flushed and her expression agitated, and said with an encouraged voice.

"There's a big announcement! Everyone, please assemble at the viewing platform!"

By the time they reached the platform, the rest of the Sentinels were already assembled. A male priest was also present. The usual priestess, the one who was assigned to the heroes of the previous generation, was nowhere to be found. Even though she was the one who usually relayed information and orders to the Sentinels, she could be rarely seen lately. Instead, other priests came into the Tower to contact them.

The looks directed at the priest from the Sentinels were, with no exception, full of hostility and alert. After Aya was assigned to be a sacrifice, deep distrust towards the Taisha and the priests spread amongst them. All of them expected today's announcement to be something absurd and unreasonable again.

"I have these news to relay to you. As of today, the Taisha has started the procedure to abolish the duty of the Sentinels".

"...What do you mean? Are you saying that we're disbanded?"

Mebuki's tone, full of wariness, was met with a calm answer by the priest.

"No, this squad is going to stay as it is. However, you will no longer be titled "Sentinels", but official "Heroes" now".

"!"

The statement caused an uproar amidst the girls.

"This is a long way off, but your treatment will become equal to those of the Heroes, and the capabilities of your battle suits is expected to be greatly improved. Your families have already been informed. They are overjoyed with pride".

The duty of a Hero meant to be the one protecting the world. The highest of titles. The families the Heroes came from would become distinguished houses and would receive special support from the Taisha. Naturally, that duty was a dangerous one, but so was the one of a Sentinel. In short, there were no drawbacks in being promoted from a Sentinel to a Hero. Their families feeling joy was natural.

Of course, for the girls themselves the prestige that came with the title was a thing to be happy about, too. In the first place, all of them were formerly candidates to become Heroes, barely any of them were as convinced they would become one as Mebuki was. So for them, this sort of promotion was nothing short of a daydream.

The eyes narrowed in suspicion began to open wide and glimmer.

"Mr. priest, is that for real!?"

Suzume let out a high-pitched shrill in excitement.

"It is true. If you do not believe my words, please check with your family members".

If he says that, then it must be true.

The girls started raising a ruckus.

"Amazing!"
"We did it!"
"We're gonna become Heroes!"

"...So the Miroku family will now be a house that birthed a Hero, and its status will rise. I am so happy..."

Murmured Yumiko.

"We did it! We did it, Mebu! We're going to become heroes! This is incredible... Huh? Mebu, you don't look too happy..."

Suzume was confused by Mebuki's stiff expression.

Mebuki couldn't take those words at face value. The source of the Heroes' powers was the Shinju. With its own powers being stretched to the limits at the moment, could it possibly support 32 more Heroes? What if the Taisha were just feeding the Sentinels dreams of the impossible to raise their morale?

Shizuku tugged at Mebuki's sleeve.

"...Worried about something?"

She stared at her and asked.

After a brief period of silence, Mebuki wryly smiled and shook her head.

"...No. I just thought that it was a really good thing that we would be treated as Heroes now".

Mebuki no longer had any interest in being called a Hero by the Taisha. However, if the squad attained that rank, they would most likely no longer be belittled and considered disposable by the Taisha. And with the strengthening of their battle suits, the risk of death would decrease. For Mebuki's ideal of zero sacrifices, this was absolutely desirable.

Amidst the bustle of the girls excited by the talks of their promotion, Mebuki raised her voice.

"Everyone, listen!"

The Sentinels directed her attention to Mebuki.

"The promotion to Heroes is definitely something to be celebrated. But we're not official Heroes yet, and even after we do become them, danger will keep following us. So don't get complacent and lax in your training! Heroes or not, our squad will not produce any casualties! At all!"

The usual strictness of their leader had the girls tighten up and respond with an unanimous "Roger!"

--

"It's been a while, hasn't it?"

The day after the announcement of their promotion, Mebuki met the priestess. When she decided to drop by the viewing platform after her morning training routine, she saw the woman standing there.

"...I thought nobody would be awake right now. But that's right, you do usually begin your workout before the crack of dawn".

"It's not just me. Miroku-san follows the same routine as me, and a few others began performing morning training on their own".

"I see your influence keeps growing. It really was the correct choice to make you the commander of this unit".

Her never-changing emotionless voice made it impossible to understand whether Mebuki was being praised or ridiculed.

"I haven't seen you at the Tower in a while. Are you no longer in charge of us, then?"

"That's right. A lot of things came up that must be done. But me not being here is only a positive for the mental state of the Sentinels. There's hardly a lack of people who detest me here".

Since she was the one who delivered the news about Aya being chosen as a sacrifice in the Fire Offering Festival, plenty of the Sentinels viewed her with animosity.

"But you just told us the Taisha's decision".

"Even so, the bearer of the bad news is the one who will inevitably be hated. To the one who receives those news, they're the nearest object to loathe".

"..."

Mebuki recalled the hatred for the priestess she had when the results of the Hero candidate competition were announced. Even though the priestess herself had no say in that decision.

Without any self-deprecation or self-pity in her voice, the woman continued.

"They must also be furious with me for not opposing that decision. And rightfully so. I haven't raised a single voice of protest against Kokudo-san being selected to be sacrificed".

"...You said that saving many by sacricing a few was the right thing to do, didn't you?"

"I did".

"Are those really your own thoughts?"

"What are you trying to say, Kusunoki-san?"

"It's obvious that the Taisha as a whole holds that belief. But what about you? Not as a member of the Taisha, but as your own self - do you really feel that way?"

"..."

"You've never shown any emotions around us. You've always erased any personal thoughts and feelings when you spoke. So I've been thinking: maybe those words were just said by you as a mouthpiece of the Taisha, and your personal beliefs are different?"

She was in charge of the Heroes of the previous generation and served as their homeroom teacher. And one of those heroes gave up her life in order to protect humanity. There's no way she could consider that sacrifice a "correct thing in order to protect the many".

"I don't have any different beliefs. The will of the Taisha is my will. All priests are a part of the Taisha... Just as the limbs do not defy the brain, the priests have no opinions differing from those of the Taisha's whole".

Having said that, the priestess passed by Mebuki and headed towards the elevator. While waiting for it to arrive, she spoke up again.

"It's unlikely that you will ever see me at this tower again".

"I see".

"I thought I would stay here until the Senkeiden (Palace of Thousand Views) was finished". [The kanji the word Senkeiden is written with can also be read as "Chikage-dono"]

"Senkeiden?"

"The name this Tower is called by inside the Taisha. A boundless expanse of the scenery can be seen from this viewing platform. A thousand views can be seen from up here, thus the name. It's said that the name was directly bestowed by the Uesato family. Its reconstruction is still underway, but once it is finished, the Gold Tower will officially change its name to Senkeiden.

The Uesato family was the elite amongst elites, and stood on top of the Taisha along with the Nogi family. If they ordered that to happen, then the name change would inevitably occur.

A ding signalled the arrival of the elevator, and the priestess left the platform.

According to what Mebuki heard later from other priests, the reconstruction of the Gold Tower was not simply to provide the Sentinels with living quarters and training grounds. Just like the Great Seto Bridge once was, it was to become one of Shikoku's instruments of spiritual defence, and in case of emergency, would itself be launched against the invading heavenly forces to intercept them.

Mebuki was dumbfounded by even the idea of such a device being possible, but, if you thought about it, the ability to expel the Vertexes beyond Shikoku's borders the Great Seto Bridge possessed was already a product of super technology. With the power of the Shinju-sama and the technology of the Taisha, perhaps the equipment they imagined in the Senkeiden was, in fact, possible to create. But, all that said, it was apparently still more than half a year until the project would be finished.

--

The date changed to the 30th of December.
The year was ending.

The Sentinels returned to their homes in shifts of 5-6 people. If everyone left the Tower at once, they would not be able to react promptly in case of an emergency. And so, even at the end of the December, the majority of the squad remained at the Tower.

That day, Aya was skittering around the Tower from the dawn.

"Hmhm, hmhmmhm~"

Humming a song, she was sweeping the floor in high spirits. Since Aya loved cleaning, she would often tidy up indoors when she had free time and the Sentinels were away training or otherwise occupied. She was also the reason it was always so clean and neat inside.

Most of the Sentinels let Aya tidy up their rooms for them. In fact, she was so good at it, she even managed to evade the ever-common problem of "where did all of my stuff go?" that happens to occur when you let someone else do your cleaning. Dust and dirt would disappear without a trace, tables and chairs would end up sparkling clean and the futons would turn fluffy as clouds. Aya's housekeeping skills were extremely popular with the Sentinels.

At first, Mebuki did her cleaning herself. Partially because she didn't want to push any work on Aya, and partially because she feared for the safety of her plastic models and maquettes. But once she allowed her to clean her room, she saw that all of her precious models were left untouched and all of her instruments and training gear were sorted out neatly and conveniently. After that, she always left the cleaning to her capable hands.

For Aya, cleaning was her daily routine. But today she woke up and began even earlier than usual.

When she went to tidy up the mess hall, she spotted Mebuki and Yumiko, who trained together every morning.

"Oh, Kokudo-san. Are you currently cleaning?"

"You don't have to start doing it this early in the morning".

"The year's almost over, so I've been thinking about doing a grand cleaning of the entire Tower tomorrow".

It was then that the realisation of the year almost being over dawned upon Mebuki.

"Ah, right... The end of the year clean-up. It is almost time for that, huh. I'll help out too, then".

"No no, I'm fine! Everyone's always so busy with their training, so cleaning up is the least I can do".

"That won't do it. We Sentinels are the ones who use the facilities the most, so it's only right that we should clean them up, too".

"I shall assist you as well! And show just how much more skillfull and beautiful my cleaning will be than that of Mebuki-san! Sear into your eyes the technique of the Miroku-school cleaning!"

Even in trivial matters like cleaning, Yumiko's competitive spirit towards Mebuki burned hot.

Aya tried to refuse, but was, in the end, forced to accept Mebuki and Yumiko's help. Other Sentinels started showing up and joining them. In the end, it was decided that day and the following one would be free of training and spent on the large-scale clean-up of the Tower instead.

"Suzume-san! Why is that corner of your room buried in boxes full of mandarins!? Do you intend to let them all rot!? Share them with the rest of us at once!"

"Aah, my mandarins! Waah, Mebu! Miroku-san is trying to steal my mandarins! And anyway, Miroku-san, you stuffed the staff-use fridge in the mess hall full of skipjack tuna yourself!"

"Kuh... So I get summoned to change over, and for what? Cleaning! Damn you, Shizuku... You just wanted to play hooky! Now that's it's come to this, time to go all out and finish this damn cleaning!"

"SHIZUKU! Brooms are for sweeping the dust properly, not swinging them around like a flail! You're just scattering it around!"

The cleaning steadily proceeded, if not without turmoil.

--

The winter sun is quick to go down.

By the time the great cleaning of the Gold Tower finished, the veil of night has long descended upon Daisoku.

"Thank you very much, everyone! I thought this would take two days, but with your help, we all finished it by today!"

Aya bowed to all of the Sentinels, gleaming, after they were done with the Tower and all of the training facilities and gathered in the mess hall.

"Uuh... Cleaning sure takes a lot of energy..."

Suzume, completely exhausted, was lying flat on the table. Shizuku silently nodded in agreement. Although SHIZUKU was the one working at first, she changed places with Shizuku after getting tired.

The rest of the Sentinels also displayed the same worn-out faces.

"How can you be this exhausted from just that amount of cleaning? Are you all, perhaps, not used to it? Behold me, not even slightly tired!"

Suzume glared at the elated Yumiko.

"Miroku-san~, doesn't saying that you're used to cleaning make you sound like a commoner and contradict your rich girl backstory?"

"Huh!? No, it is not as if I am used to it or anything of the sort, my training is simply on a different level so my stamina is... Excuse me, but it is not a backstory!"

Mebuki was shocked by how much work Aya planned to accomplish on her own. What the thirty three people did in one day she planned to do on her own in two. In fact, despite not having anywhere as much stamina as the Sentinels, she worked much more efficiently and didn't look that tired at all.

"Since we finished the cleaning today, tomorrow is free now..."

Aya muttered, as if trying to think up new plans for tomorrow.

"Well, we Sentinels are going to train as usual".

"Eeeeh!? Mebu, I don't wanna train on New Year's Eve! Ayaya, come on, you have something to do in mind, right!? It doesn't have to be cleaning, just something!"

"Uh, let's see... Then let's make mochi and other New Year's food tomorrow and have a proper celebration!"

The next day, the girls went to Ines to buy the necessary things for the party. The Ines in Daisoku stood just between the Gold Tower and the train station, so it was just ten minutes of walking away.

To leave the Tower, the Sentinels had to put in a request and have it approved. Both Mebuki, for her running course around the city, and Yumiko, for her tea at the seaside park, had to go through these procedures all the time. Leaving the Tower for shopping and other activities like that was permmitted on specific days and at specific hours. The procedure must have been in place so that the Sentinels' movements were always known.

A bit of trouble occured before they went out. Since Aya always stayed at the tower, she rarely went outside. And inside the Tower, she always wore her Miko garb. Thus, she had no clothes other than those and a set of pajamas.

And going to Ines in Miko attire was, obviously, impossible. She would stand out too much, and if anything happened, the Taisha wouldn't take it lightly.

With no other choices, Mebuki lent her some spare clothes she had. Since the size difference was pretty big, the clothes were pretty baggy, but Aya seemed happy.

"Thank you very much, Mebuki-senpai. I'll treasure these".

"Don't sweat it. They don't even fit, it's just a temporary measure. Oh, that's right, we should get you some clothes while we're at Ines".

"No, I'm fine with these".

Said Aya with a smile.

Well, as long as she likes them.

For their shopping, the girls split up into several groups. The ones buying ingredients for the New Year's food, the ones buying garlands and decorations, the ones buying mochi rice and mochi pounding equipment and so on.

Mebuki, Suzume, Yumiko, Shizuku and Aya were on the ingredient-buying group.

Since Ines was a holding a large end-of-the-year sale, the mall was bustling with people.

"Gyah! I'm being swallowed by the crowd! Save me, Mebu~!"

"Aya-chan, give me your hand so you don't get lost".

"Okay!"

Aya took Mebuki's left hand.

"If you happen to be afraid of being stranded, I would not mind lending my hand".

"But I want to be with Mebu!"

Suzume grabbed Mebuki's right hand.

Shizuku, without saying a word, held to the cuff of Mebuki's sleeve.

Yumiko looked slightly dejected.

"S-So be it then. I shall enjoy my fill of dignified freedom, shackled by no one!.."

"Wait a bit, Miroku-san! I can barely move like this, so can you be at our lead? In this kind of crowd it will get much easier to move if we have someone at the front".

Yumiko grinned.

"Very well then! Miroku Yumiko shall take the honour of leading this troop!"

After the shopping was finished and everyone returned to the Tower, the people who could cook started work on the New Year's dishes. Those who couldn't made mochi with the mochi pounding machine. There were no cooking skills needed, all you needed to do was to flip the switch on it and then separate and roll the resulting mochi sheet in balls of the right size.

And when the night came, everyone ate some end-of-the-year udon.

As midnight drew closer, some girls began to get fidgety. Apparently they planned to make their first shrine visit of the year, but weren't sure if they would be allowed to go out so late at night.

Eventually, under the condition that Mebuki be supervising them, a group of 10 or so girls left towards the Ubushina shrine. The Ubushina shrine was the main shrine of Daisoku, and was just across the railroad tracks from the Gold Tower.

The wintry night air was cold, and the girls' breathing turned into white clouds. On their way there, they could see other people heading to the same shrine for their first visit of the year.

"Mebu~, my hands are cold!"

Suzume was trying to warm her hands up by breathing at them.

"You should've taken gloves with you".

"It's too late now... Right! If I do this, it's warm!"

Suzume thrust both of her hands into Mebuki's pockets.

"Suzume, quit it! It's hard to walk!"

"I don't wanna! It's so warm this way!"

Realising that nothing she can say could change Suzume's mind, Mebuki gave up resistance.

"By the way, Mebuki-senpai, is it really alright that you haven't visited your home?"

Asked Aya while walking.

In the end, Mebuki didn't return home. The rest of the Sentinels visited their homes in shifts, but Mebuki stayed at the Gold Tower the whole time.

"I'm the commander. If I'm not around, who would lead the squad if something happened?"

"But still, won't your family worry?"

"Probably not. I haven't been home for the New Year in three years already".

When she was training as a Hero candidate, Mebuki didn't return home either. New Year or not, all she had her mind on was her training.

And Mebuki's father, her only family, said nothing about her not returning. As a man who lived for his work, he probably had no complaints about Mebuki putting her best effort into fulfilling her duty.

"Now that I think about it, I probably haven't done a first shrine visit of the year in three years, too. Same with pounding mochi, decorating trees and having New Year's dishes".

"Do you not like that noise kind of celebrations?"

Asked Aya with a slightly troubled face.

Mebuki glanced over the Sentinels around her.

Suzume, who had her hands in Mebuki's pockets. Shizuku, who always stayed near without saying anything. Yumiko, who was at the very front of the group to reach the shrine faster than anyone else. The other girls, who were chatting with their own friends while waling.

Mebuki let out a soft smile.

"No, they're not bad. Sometimes, this kind of stuff is fine too".

Aya looked relieved by the answer.

"Then, Mebuki-senpai, how about going home for this New Year? That kind of stuff should be fine too, sometimes, right?"

There was a deep kindness in her words.

The cold night wind kept blowing. As they got closer to the shrine, the amount of visitors increased. Mebuki kept walking in silence, without giving an answer. Then, at the end of the road, they could see the shrine's lamps glimmer, and Mebuki finally answered.

"...That's right, I guess I'll return this year. Maybe Daddy will be glad to see me".

"...!?"

The girls around her froze in place.

Mebuki's eyes widened in surprise. What happened to them?

"Mebu... You call your father "Daddy"?"

"N-No! I call him "Father". That was just a slip of the tongue. A slip of the tongue, okay?"

"Definitely calls him..."

"No doubt about that..."

"At home, for sure..."

"Daddy, huh..."

The Sentinels started whispering around.

"I said I don't!"

Mebuki objected with a beet-red face.

In the end, Mebuki returned home for the first time in months, even if just for a few days.

But nothing dramatic happened when she returned. No grandiose welcoming parties or spending the entire day talking. Neither Mebuki no her father were particularly talkative people in the first place.

But her father knew about her exploits as a Sentinel from the Taisha's reports. And so, he said to his daughter just one thing.

"I'm glad for you, Mebuki".

That was enough.

On the day she was to return to the Tower, Mebuki spotted a book with the same title as the words someone once told her in a book store at the Tamamo station.

"Beneath the wheel". A classic story from the Old Era.

She bought it, sat down on the train and began to read it. By the time they reached Daisoku, she finished it.

An earnest, hardworking boy, after back-breaking efforts, achieves success. After that, he gets crushed by the expectations from his surroundings, parts with his best friend, gets sick and, in the end, loses his life. It was a tragic story.

But Mebuki didn't meet the same end.
Did she put in more effort than him?
Was she more talented than him?
No, that wasn't it.

(...I had friends I could trust in and walk alongside with... Until the very end...)

She was not alone. The difference between Mebuki and the boy from the story was just that. She had that blessing alone.

The unjust wheel of the world could run over someone who fell beneath it in a blink of an eye. But that wheel was not a massive one, and could rarely run over more than just one person. And so, it couldn't crush those that clinged together. Together with trustworthy friends one could push that wheel back and break it apart.

And so, the beginning of the year has passed.

--

Divine Era, year 301.
The duty of the Sentinels was still on hold.

But eventually, after January has already passed its middle point, the Sentinels were finally tasked with a mission again. Even if that mission wasn't anything special.

All they were asked of was to verify the current condition of the world outside. If that was all they could give them, then the Taisha must've reached a deadlock.

Atop of the wall stood thirty two Sentinels and Aya, who was sending them off.

"Well, everyone, let's start our mission! As always, we're achieving our goal without a single casualty!"

"Roger!"

The girls donned their battle suits.

"All of you, please return safely!"

With Aya's prayer supporting them from behind, the girls descended from the wall into the scorching wasteland.

The Sentinels were making their rounds near the wall and collecting the burnt soil and magma into their kagami.

"It's really hot in here, Mebu! I'm gonna fry to death!"

"It appears that the situation outside the barrier worsened... This must most likely be because of the Heavenly gods' anger at the sacrifice being taken away. How unsightly... Not very magnanimous for gods, are they?"

"Well, it sure is hot, but at least there ain't no enemies left around but the Stardust. Can't see the huge merged ones or the Vertex-alikes anywhere".

The occasional approaching Stardust group would be shot full of holes and then cut up with bayonets. In their current state, the Sentinels could take down Stardust with barely any danger at all.

Suddenly, SHIZUKU squinted and readied her rifle.

"Hey, Kusunoki! There's something there".

The Sentinels, starting with Mebuki, aligned their gazes with SHIZUKU's.

"That is... A human".

Yumiko held her gun at the ready with caution. In the distance, a human figure could be seen leaping from one Stardust to another.

The Sentinels pointed their muzzles at the figure and waited with tension. Apart from the Sentinels, the only beings outside the barrier should have been Stardust and Vertexes.

Was it the Gemini Vertex, the one that bore a humanoid form?

But Mebuki and Suzume immediately recognised that figure.

"Lower your weapons, everyone. That's not an enemy".

"Yeah... That's one of the Heroes, Miyoshi-san".

A red, assymmetrical battle costume.

It was Miyoshi Karin.

Having collected enough samples of the soil, the Sentinels returned inside the barrier. Mebuki sent the rest of the Sentinels and Aya back, and was standing atop the wall together with Karin.

Karin was clearly not her usual self. The girl Mebuki knew had confidence in herself and always looked strong. But the Karin standing before her right now looked full of doubt, not a trace of confidence and willpower remaining on her face.

Why was a Hero like her beyond the barrier in the first place?

"...I've never expected to meet you here, Miyoshi-san".

"Same here..."

With no energy in her voice, muttered Karin.

"Kusunoki, you... are serving a duty of surveying the world outside the barrier now, right? Sentinel, was it?"

The old Mebuki would probably bite back with a "I am. You took the terminal from me, after all". But the current one accepted those words without any opposition.

"That's right. Did you hear from the Taisha?"

"Nope, not them. Ever since we left that place, I didn't know anything about what you were doing. But I have a friend who knows a lot about the Taisha's matters, so I asked her to look into it and she told me you were now serving as something called a Sentinel".

"I see..."

"Honestly, I wanted to meet you sooner, but I couldn't find out where you stayed yet. Apparently, the Taisha doesn't want the Heroes and the Sentinels to meet".

"We were forbidden from meeting you Heroes as well".

As an exception, Suzume got to meet the current Heroes before she became a Sentinel. After hearing that the Heroes studied at the Sanshuu Middle school, some girls wanted to go there to meet them too. But they were, of course, not given permission to go out for the reason of "meeting the Heroes". Quite the opposite, the ban on the Sentinels' contact with the Heroes was strictly enforced.

There wasn't anybody who tried to go meet the Heroes under the guise of something else. The stations and all of the roads were, most likely, under Taisha's control, so going to Sanshuu Middle was deemed impossible.

"This encounter is nothing short of a miracle, don't you think?"

"Right..."

"So, Miyoshi-san... What were you doing outisde the wall? Is it connected to your Hero duty?"

"Not at all. That was for my own personal reasons. I wanted to see the state of the world outside".

"...For what reason?"

"I thought I could figure something out... There's someone I want to save... So I thought I could figure out a way..."

Karin tightly pursed her lips, her frustration seeping out.

Carefully choosing her words, she began to explain the situation to Mebuki.

Since the explanation was rather vague, Mebuki couldn't grasp the exact circumstances, but from what she understood, a really dear friend of Miyoshi Karin was in an extremely dire state. And the reason for that was, most likely, the Heavenly gods. The Fire Offering Festival was stopped. The Heroes rescued their comrade, Tougou Mimori, who was chosen to be a sacrifice instead of the Mikos. The Heavenly gods' fury still unquenched, the end of Shinju's lifespan drew closer. And as a result of that, a disaster fell upon that friend.

She couldn't guess anything more concise from Karin's words. It was possible that she was being hard to understand on purpose.

"So we're looking for a way to save her... I went outside the wall, thinking I could find a hint there or something... But there wasn't anything there".

Said Karin with self-deprecation.

"As usual, you just can't leave other people alone, huh. Just like back then... Miyoshi-san, you're naive".

"You're right... You told me that back then at the facility too".

"But I understand your feelings right now".

"Eh?"

Then, Mebuki thrust her bayonet at Karin.

"!?"

Even though taken by surprise, Karin managed to evade the blade by a paper-thin margin. Mebuki followed up with a slash. Karin summoned her swords in a flash and repealed the bayonet.

"Wha... What's wrong with you all of a sudden!? What are you doing!?"

"Miyoshi Karin! What is with that disheartened face!?"

Mebuki continued her bayonet stabs and swings. Wielding her swords with fearsome speed, Karin kept dodging the attacks.

"You!"

While evading Mebuki's attacks, Karin found a chance to counterattack and swung her sword.

Mebuki stopped that strike at the last moment, but the impact almost threw the rifle out of her hands.

(You really are strong, Miyoshi-san! Skill, power, strength... All of them are extraordinary. This is... This is exactly why!)

Still locked up in their fight, Mebuki shouted.

"Lift your head and face forward! Be fearless and full of confidence! Wipe that sorry look from your face!"

"What are you-"

"You're a Hero! The one and only person who's ever won against me! Don't you dare being such a pathetic sight! If you want to, then quit being a Hero right now!"

"As if I... would!"

With a yell, Karin smashed her swords into Mebuki's rifle. It flew away and fell onto the ground.

Karin pointed the tip of her blade at the eyes of Mebuki, now weaponless.

"I'm a Hero! I'll definitely save her! No matter what it takes, I'll save her!"

In response to Karin's bellowing, Mebuki nodded.

"That's right. This is how you should be... Miyoshi-san, if there's anything I can do to help you save your friend, I'll do all that's in my powers".

Karin looked shocked. The girl who formerly called her naive for helping other people now offered to assist with helping someone.

Mebuki didn't know who Karin's friend that she wanted to save was. But her goal was a world with no sacrifices. And for that ideal of hers, and to help a former rival of hers, she was willing to do her utmost.

Back then, Mebuki hated the soft Karin who was constantly concerned for the others. But right now, she understood Karin's feelings so much it hurt. Because right now Mebuki had precious friends of her own.

"Thank you. But suddenly attacking me like that... Kusunoki, it feels like you're angry all of the time."

"...Does it?"

"It does. But I guess that's a part of your power too".

Having said that, Karin turned around.

"Well, I should be on my way soon".

"Same here".

The Hero - Miyoshi Karin.

The Sentinel - Kusunoki Mebuki.

Their positions were different. So it was unlikely they'd ever meet on a battlefield. But their reasons for fighting were the same. To save someone. So nobody would die an unreasonable death.

"You know, Kusunoki".

With her back turned, Karin asked.

"When we sort everything out, let's meet and talk again. Not like this, but at ease. When I really think about it, I don't know anything about you".

"I agree. I don't know anything about you either, Miyoshi-san. Even thought we've spent quite a lot of time competing against each other back then".

How they lived before entering the facility. Why they were so fixated on becoming a Hero. And how they were living their lives right now.

"There are some guys I want you to meet".

"Who?"

"A bunch of softies and optimists. Two of them were close friends of that Minowa Gin, too".

"...I see. That does sound like there would be a lot to talk about".

As the two primary candidates in inheriting her terminal, Mebuki and Karin were apparently close to Minowa Gin mentally. Mebuki wanted to know what kind of person that girl was.

"Well, see you".

"See you too".

Karin jumped off from the wall and disappeared into the distance.

Mebuki saw her off in silence.

(Bonus chapter - end)

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Pub: 26 Dec 2020 15:58 UTC
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