Humanity Sweet Victory

Taisha Headquarter

A compilation of roars from the shocking news they just received has filled the headquarters. Some had debates, and others were trying to chill down the situation they had in there. The situation is a bit out of control due to the shocking news of the perished Shinju-sama that reached everyone's ears. Some are enraged, while the others are relieved as the war between Vertex and humanity has ended.

"Everyone, please calm down. Don't think rashly of anything."

"But Chief…! Shinju-sama has gone! The Hero System is also somewhat couldn't be accessed; in other words, nowhere to be found. Our gods, the ones we worshipped and protecting our lives, just gone like that without any reason!"

"But look at what we get! The lands that we have lost were back! There are no Vertexes and the likes again terrorizing us! We should accept that."

"What do you mean by that?! Are you a heretic?! Do you truly not devoted to Shinju-sama, huh?!"

"That's not what I mean to say! We humanity gains our freedom again!"

A turmoil was broke the believer of Shinju and the members of Taisha; they blamed each other and debated against which is right and wrong, turning the whole place into chaos like a riot. Seeing this, the Chief thought he had enough as his patience almost broke the limit and tried to control the situation.

"Everyone, please calm down!"

With a loud voice that could be heard by even the farthest members from his position, they became overwhelmed and went in silent. The Chief scrutinized each of them with his eyes and nodded in satisfaction before speaking up his mind.

"I have something to say. We know that we are Taisha is also a devoted follower of Shinju-sama. Some may be enraged by the sudden disappearance, while some were not, but know this… it was the will of Shinju-sama itself."

This caused another shock to them. One of the members of Taisha then raised his hand and spoke.

"If I may interject, why did Shinju-sama choose to do that?"

"Because Shinju-sama entrusted its will to someone else. Not hero, not Miko, not even one of our members, but… someone close to them. Someone with divinity comparable to Shinju-sama, which causes them to trust that person."

Most of the members raised their eyebrows in confusion as they couldn't believe their ears heard from the Chief and Leader of Taisha said about the revealed information. But then the Chief continued to speak of the news he heard.

"And that's why, although Shinju-sama entrusted its will to this person, we also have to be cautious. We have to make this person willingly do anything for us, so what about forming a religion based on this person? It's a demi-god, or soon-to-be goddess to be exact. She is a young demi-god, and it will give us some favors too by doing that."

Some members began to murmur and considered that. Since Shinju-sama isn't there anymore, they began to think about who they would serve as their god now. Religion is one of the strong foundations that have the most influence to change the world without any particular specification, after all.

Religion is the perfect excuse for them to seize the powers and fame they had. Everyone will not doubt the religion, no matter how shady it is, as long as it has strong pillars to support them and make them believe it.

Spreading his arms, the Chief asked his fellow member.

"How is that? Is there anyone who disagrees with it? If there are any, then they will be regarded as a heretic. We won't welcome anyone that has the potential to be a heretic and caused the disturbance."

He said that with a feral grin behind the mask he wore. Some of the members who agreed with him also share the same grin, despite being hidden by their masks. Some have horror faces as they know how powerful Taisha's influence is on the world.

The idea that their Chief proposed wasn't bad, especially for the most members that were power-hungry and the likes, but a few of them seemed conflicted; it was evident on their faces. The idea of treating this demi-god as their new god is appealing, and they will do it without any bad intention or not for their personal gain.

Especially the teacher of Sumi, Sonoko, and Gin. She began to dislike the Taisha, the one known by everyone in Shinju-kan Elementary School as Aki-sensei didn't like what her colleague thought and planned about this new demi-god that has the will of Shinju-sama.

'These people… what they did think of hero is? Do they think that heroes and those innocent girls as just a mere sacrifice…? As mere replacable person? And they even have planned to use this demi-god for their own gains?'

She growled in rage silently; the woman felt disgusted. Aki-sensei had enough of all this; she didn't want anyone to be harmed or used just to sate the twisted desires of someone. The green-brown-haired woman doesn't want to just sit back and watch everything like before.

'Looks like I have to meet with this demi-god. If I guessed it correctly, she must be with the heroes.'

Aki thinks of that as she silently slips out of the crowds of Taisha's members, trying to gain a faster approach as she also wants to warn the heroes and the demi-god about what the Taisha has planned for the recent situation that occurred.

'No time to think about everything except this. I have a bad feeling and don't want it turned to be worse.'

As soon as she left the Taisha headquarter, Aki quickly reached her car and enacted the engine. Soon the engine turned on, she began to kick the pedal and went fast without caring about the speed limit since she was worried about her students and the demi-god of another world.

"Please be safe, Washio-san, Nogi-san, and Minowa-san."

She mumbled while praying for her student's safety.

------

Shikoku, Kagawa Prefecture – Oohashi, Washio's Residence

One of the notable members from Taisha is Washio Household; thus, they had the task to do anything for the sake of humanity and Shinju-sama, even if it was seen as inhuman or labeled as heartless due to the method the organization used for the heroes.

But… not all members agreed; they weren't willing to do it but, instead, they were forced for it. All the households of the three heroes are forced to obey Taisha's order for sacrificing their daughters to becoming a hero. Washio, Nogi, and Minowa's households are chosen; all of them have to make the young maiden of their families be shaped into a hero.

Yet they still didn't have the power to battle all of the Vertexes without sacrificing something. Minowa Gin is the result of that, but because odd occurrence that happened to her, she revived and returned again like before. She was alive in another world and met her destined lover, Eleonora Pendragon, and became one of the young bluenette's lovers in the end.

During her time in Eleonora's world, Gin spent her time doing anything she wanted, even being trained by her bluenette lover to become stronger than before, and it succeeded. Without Hero System, Gin is basically an ordinary young girl, but now, the grey-haired former hero develops magic thanks to her training.

After that, she returned to her homeworld with Eleonora and others, reuniting with her best friends, Washio Sumi and Nogi Sonoko, then defeating all Vertexes and ending the whole problem while also taking back the lands they lost back then.

All of that thanks to Eleonora, and now the group went to Washio Sumi's house to celebrate it and wait for Eleonora's explanation. The ones waiting for further explanation are Sumi and Sonoko; they are curious and impatient with what Eleonora did outside of the Jukai barrier.

"Here my home, Eleonora-san."

Sumi gestured Eleonora and others to the Washi's family house. It's a house with western-style, even though Washio Sumi itself is a bit nationalist. The size is quite big, but none were shocked or gaping like a goldfish when seeing it since all of them already get used to a house like this.

For Sonoko and Gin, because they were best friends and often played to each house, while the other had already seen Eleonora's home that was much bigger than Sumi's house. None were nervous as they went inside the house, with Sumi opening the door to welcome her guests and friends.

"Otou-sama, Okaa-sama! I am home!"

As Sumi called her parents when she went inside the house, along with her friends, the black-haired girl then heard the noises of some footsteps that were familiar to her. In responding for Sumi, her parents showed up and greeted her with warm, welcoming smiles.

"Welcome home, Sumi. Did you bring some guests?"

"Welcome home. Really? She brings a guest?"

Her parents perked up with curiosity seeing the nod from their adopted daughter. Sumi then gestured her arm to the people behind her, causing her parents to be shocked to see someone they thought was dead. Then their faces shifted to horror until tears came from their eyes as if they were relieved seeing the person they thought was dead.

"S-Sumi, dear… how did, how did… Minowa-kun, here…?"

Hearing her mother question, Sumi understood why her mother reacted like that; even her father nodded and did not say anything, maybe due to the shock. The black-haired girl with a ponytail then answered her stepmother calmly.

"Otou-sama, Okaa-sama… Gin is back, and everything ends. The Vertex, heroes, and Shinju-sama…."

That received nods from Sonoko, Gin, and the unknown people behind their adopted daughter. Although Washio's family is one of the notable members of Taisha, they still don't know anything about this, but the information that Sumi told them caused them another shock.

The disbelief was evident on their faces; Sumi's stepfather then spoke with curiosity also imprinted on his face.

"Everything… is done? Are you sure about that, Sumi…? No Vertex, heroes, and… how about Shinju-sama?"

"Shinju-sama's presences and powers gone, they entrusted what left to someone they believed. Because the earthly and heavenly gods have completely perished, the lands we lost were returned to humanity. The war between Vertex and humanity has ended."

Gasps came from them as they looked at Gin and Sonoko, who confirmed what Sumi said. Seeing that, both of Sumi's parents became convinced. Tears of joy came again from their eyes when hearing the unbelievable news. But her father wiped off the tears from his eyes and smiled with happiness showed.

He looked down before nodded. A relieved face showed on him.

"I see, then… Taisha and everything weren't needed anymore. Young girls like you won't need to sacrifice themselves to protect humanity, and adults like us finally bear the responsibility. The long bloody wars have finally ended here."

"Yes, Otou-sama. It's ended."

Silent filled the whole room but broke by Sumi's father, who was about to say something with a serious expression on his face.

"Sumi, you and your friends have to know about this. No, it's must-know information, but…."

His eyes glanced at Eleonora and her group with a concerned expression. The stare he sent to Eleonora and her lovers showed a distrust or suspicion, but Sumi blinked in realization, knowing that and with a slight panic, trying to explain who the people were behind her.

"Ah! Don't worry about them, Otou-sama! They are the ones who helped me, Sonocchi, and Gin with battling the Vertexes and all of it! Without them, I'm sure we cannot finish the whole thing this fast. Especially Eleonora-san, she the one that was contributing the most."

Seeing the honest smile from his adopted daughter, he could already confirm it and nodded.

"So it's like that… then, I think it's okay for them to hear this. What I will tell you is a secret that will be quite a shock for you."

Seeing her father, Sumi decided to listen to it, even though she already knew what her stepfather wanted to tell since it would be rude to reject it. The black-haired girl with a ponytail can also use this chance to clarify if her stepparents somehow had the same thinking as the power-hungry members of Taisha, although she knew not all of them are just like that.

Gin, Sonoko, and everyone also decided to listen to Sumi's father's explanation of the secret he told them. Turn out it was as they expected; the secrets Taisha had been hiding for almost three hundred years. Even if they already knew this, that still didn't make them get used as they find it disgusting and furious what Taisha did to many young maidens.

They deceive and do not tell the truth to the heroes who protect humanity from monstrous beings like Vertex. The most affected about this is Gin since she is being treated as a guinea pig for Taisha because they don't care about the heroes and think of them as disposable beings. They saw the heroes as something that could be easily replaced. But Gin's furious emotion was calmed down by her bluenette lover before it went out of control.

Her grey eyes stared at Eleonora's blue eyes and nodded with a small smile. Gin is really blessed and grateful to have met with Eleonora and fell in love with her too. And then, the explanation continues until it reaches the end of the line.

Sumi's stepfather could see and notice his adopted daughter's reaction; it was disgust and furious, the same with her friends. He could not blame them if they decided to fault all of this to him and Taisha since he was partially blamed.

He felt guilty to involve some innocent and pure girls like them.

'I also felt sorry for my daughter's former family… they been forced to let go of their daughter for the sake of turn Sumi into a hero. Maybe after clearing all of this, my wife and I should go to Sumi's former family to talk about the child custody of Sumi. Of course, after discussing that with Sumi. After all, we also need her consent.'

After waiting for several minutes, which is approximately eight minutes, Sumi then spoke about what her stepfather tells her and everyone here about the secrets that Taisha had been hiding for a long time.

"Otou-sama, thank you very much for revealing all of this to us, and we weren't blame it to you or any respective families of heroes. They were the victims of this. All of us here is the victim and not the ones being blamed."

This caused the older man to blink; he had confusion on his face, but then Sonoko and Gin nodded as they were agreed with what Sumi said and spoke too; more correctly, it was Sonoko that wanted to say something in her turn.

"Yes, please don't blame yourself. I also won't blame my family, but… the fault lies on those power-hungry people in Taisha. They deceived us and forced our families to accept it with the pretext of 'It's for Shinju-sama' and 'For the Greater Good' to make it more believable, so they have no choice to accept that."

Gin and Sumi nodded; there was a hint of anger on their faces but subtle to ordinary eyes. These girls are trying to hide the emotion that was burning within them towards Taisha, so it won't end up in a worse situation. They also don't want to burden the older man and Eleonora.

"That's right, Oji-san! As Sumi and Sonoko said, we are not to blame since we are victims of this. Not only victim because of Taisha, but also the Vertexes. They have already done this for hundreds of years, and we can't allow this to go further; also, with Shinju and Vertex perished, then we have the chance to confront Taisha."

"As Gin said, we can save everyone by doing this. Taisha made the heroes suffer enough, so I think we have to act for this. Even though it sounds like we are doing a rebellion or sort of, but it's for everyone."

"She's right."

Suddenly, they heard a voice that familiar to Sumi, her father, Gin, and Sonoko, while the others weren't familiar with that voice. Realizing that voice, they turned back and saw a tall and well-endowed woman. She has glasses, green-brown hair that she often ties back in a side ponytail, and lets some bangs hand over her eyes. She wore a green shirt with a dark green bow and a forest green skirt. She had grey leggings and black kitten heels.

"Aki-sensei?!"

Sumi, Gin, and Sonoko were surprised to see their homeroom teacher and one of Taisha members. The green-brown-haired woman with glasses simply nods as the response before speaking of what's on her mind.

"Sorry for intruding, Washio-sama, Washio-san, Nogi-san, and Minowa-san. I am worried for the safety of my students as well their families, so here I am."

Despite the lack of emotion, the one is known as Aki-sensei shows a sign of concern when saying that. Her students also knew that, making them smile happily, seeing that their teacher cared about them.

Sumi's father then asked the teacher a question.

"It's okay, but what do you mean by that?"

Adjusted her glasses, Aki-sensei then gave him the answer with her emotionless face and serious tone in her voice.

"I can help you with that. If you want to make Taisha being disbanded and their secrets revealed to the public, then it's fairly easy to do since I have some access in Taisha. I also happen to have several connections that will help us to dome work outside of the Taisha, like spreading some rumor or so."

"That would be a great help, but spreading rumors… it will be hard since that mostly will take several days or so to take effect."

"Don't worry about that; I will get it covered."

After Aki-sensei said that, they then began the plan to unveil and spread the secret that Taisha had been holding ever since. It lasted for two weeks, which is relatively fast considering that they had to spreads the rumors and make many people believe it, but with the help of Eleonora, all of that became easier. At the beginning of days, three days to be exact, they have been doing all they do to get many files containing the secrets, and the next six days, they began to spread the rumors while also delivering some small information regarding that.

They also prepare to publicly the secrets, so the world would know the truth behind Taisha, Vertex, Shinju, and Hero that they keep themselves. They had already finished preparing for the next eight days; it might take a while because Eleonora wasn't allowed to participate in it because they didn't want the bluenette to bear the responsibility alone.

Not only that, but they also spend the time doing anything fun to let out any stress they might be holding. Eleonora and Gin also discussed revealing Gin's existence or news about her to Minowa's family, but that will be when they finish dealing with Taisha. Sumi and Sonoko overhead it, but they also agreed and acknowledged it.

And the long-awaited day has come. Many people of Shikoku were gathered in one place, most of them because they were curious about the rumors they had been heard of Taisha; they wanted to confirm if that was the truth. The Taisha organization has been doing its best to reduce the rumor and damage that caused their reputation to be bad for the public, but it didn't go as expected.

The power-hungry Taisha's members, especially the Chief, went furious. He even dared to brand the people who believed the rumor and spread it as a heretic. They claim that the rumors' information is faked and tell people not easily believe it. Some may be convinced at Taisha, but the others were not, especially from the families that produced or offered the Taisha heroes they needed.

They had enough of Taisha's mischief and evil deed that was for their own personal gains. They had enough of the corruption that Taisha had. As a result, the organization known as Taisha officially disbanded, and the members responsible for it were sentenced to jail. They have also been charged with a lot of fines, their wealth and properties were confiscated. It was later shared to every family, heroes or not, so they would have it reasonably; it might even be recorded in the history book.

That was two weeks ago, and everything has been peaceful. No danger of Vertex and the likes. People began to clear the lost lands to be suitable for living. And right now, Gin, with Eleonora by her side, feels nervous in front of the house she is really familiar with. It has "Minowa" on the nameplate.

Gin gripped Eleonora's hand tightly, which went noticed by the latter.

"Gin, are you very sure about this…?"

Eleonora asked her grey-haired lover with concerning tone and face. This gained a nod of confirmation, despite the nervousness from Gin. She was very nervous and longed for this. Ever since Gin was revived to another world, she has always thought of what happened to her family. But she was behaving, trying to be patient of the chance that might come for her.

And after receiving the chance, Gin feels so happy, and her hope drastically increases. She can see her family again, but when she returns to her homeworld, another news regarding her family comes from Sumi and Sonoko, who she reunited.

She felt saddened for that but cheered up after knowing that Gin at very least could meet again with her family as they were still alive. The grey-haired girl could meet with her siblings again; her parents, who always worried and couldn't spare some time for her, are also the people she wanted to meet so badly.

That's why she decided to put it aside and decided to do it after the business of dealing with Vertex was done. And this was the right time for her to do it, reuniting with her family.

"Yes, Eleonora. I… I'm sure of it. Everything was over, and people began to feel the peace they deserved. This is the right time for me to reunite with them, with my family. I want to know how they were holding it up after my… dead."

Eleonora puts another hand to Gin's and softly rubs it, causing the grey-haired girl to smile warmly. The latter nodded and knew what the former did and meant. Eleonora will be with her and always help Gin whenever and with whatever. As lover and friends.

"I'm sure nothing will go wrong. You can trust me, believe me, and count on me. They will be fine and happy when saw you again. Your family definitely misses you almost every day because they love you. They care for you, just like me and everyone."

The young bluenette tells her grey-haired lover with full conviction. Gin went in awe for a few seconds before nodding in understanding as she was convinced by Eleonora and her charisma. Eleonora is someone she can trust about anything, after all.

"Alright! No more hesitation, or whatsoever! I want to meet with my family so badly, and we will introduce you to… y-your parents-in-law."

She said the last part with heated up cheeks of embarrassment, but that was much to Eleonora's amusement and caused the young bluenette to let out a light chuckle. Gin pouted, seeing Eleonora's reaction. Her cheeks were still red because of embarrassment.

"Eleonora, come on…."

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, okay, but anyway… push the doorbell button, Gin."

"Yeah, here we go."

As Gin gulped, she then pushed the doorbell button of her house, causing the bell to let out the ring sound.