Chapter 17

Woods around JGSDF Camp Fuji, Sunto District, Shizuoka

May 11, 2013

2:33 P.M.

Ohta Ichigo

"Are you sure you really know what you are doing Moe?" Kentaro gasped out as Moe gently finished wrapping the last of his burned body parts with moist, clean hemp towels that she created with magic while sitting at the left side of his body. Said body parts, his hands and his feet, were elevated above the level of his heart by several takamakura of varying heights for each affected limb.

Magdalena and Kurumi sat on the other side of Kentaro’s body, the wife with a hand laid on Kentaro’s right leg while the daughter carried Ao in her arms while watching, to let the inari get down from her wheelchair to attend to the father. And nearby was Dad, still asleep on his stretcher.

"Yes Mr. Ikeda. I’m trained in first aid alongside my sister," Moe replied as she wiped the sweat off her brow. "My training tells me that for major burn wounds such as yours and Mr. Ichigo’s I should make sure that…you are protected from further harm, that you are breathing, to remove restrictive objects such as clothes and belts away from the burned areas, to cover the burn wound with cool moist bandages or clean cloth and to elevate the burn wounds above your heart’s level.”

"I can attest to her first aid training as her homeroom teacher. Moe and Ran had volunteered to be health committee members from the very start of the school year, and had even gone to the extent of asking the school nurse and doctor to give them further first aid training than what was required," Ms. Yamato added from where she kneeled amongst the dead leaves, right beside her disabled student and ready to help Moe whenever the inari needs anything. Behind her sat Mrs. Taro, nursing the wound on her cheek the with another of Moe’s towels.

A sudden call of my name by Mom made me turn around, to see her frowning at me.

“Ichigo, stop eavesdropping. We need help in putting all these fires down,” she whispered. And then she quickly strode over to the nearest unextinguished patch of burning dead leaves and branches, with one of the two watering cans of infinite water that Moe made with magic before she tried to tend to Kentaro’s burn wounds in her hand, and started to sprinkle water on the flames.

I quickly started to do the same in the opposite direction from her using my left hand, as my right hand was currently wrapped in the same moist, clean hemp towels that Moe is using on Kentaro.

Thankfully sprinkling water on fires is not an activity that won’t allow me time to take brief looks around me.

In the several minutes that passed since the Skinchanger nobles were killed, Mom and I had been putting out as many of fires left by the dead Skinchangers as we can, after we placed Dad near Kentaro.

We started firefighting because Kentaro and Dad can’t be moved. There was no one strong enough to do it, including me because I can currently only use one hand thanks to what Moe called a third degree burn on my right palm.

Also during that time, a few of our fellow patients and patient relatives from Camp Fuji Regional Hospital wandered back to the forest clearing for reasons none have bothered to explain to us.

Mom was sorely tempted to conscript the adults among the patient relatives into helping us put out the fires, but thankfully I managed to convince her it was only a waste of time. It also helped that they all stayed at the edges of the forest clearing, ready to bolt if anything else happened again.

Thus, it was only us two trying to firefight in here. With watering cans. And to my surprise we’re winning.

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Woods around JGSDF Camp Fuji, Sunto District, Shizuoka

May 11, 2013

2:34 P.M.

Ikeda Kurumi

As Ms. Yamato lifted Moe, currently turned into a grey colored fox to make it easier to put her onto the wheelchair, I pondered about Papa and Ichigo.

I had this horrible feeling that Papa will never be able to walk properly ever again, nor will he be able to write properly again. And that Ichigo might never be able to use his right hand like before. It hurts seeing them have what Moe had judged to be third degree burns.

It has only been eight years since the last time Papa carried me on his shoulders or swung me around while playing at home. And…if I may be selfish, I would start missing how Ichigo uses his right hand when we have sex.

"Kurumi?"

I got brought back to the present by Papa's voice.

"Papa," I replied, looking down at his sweaty and pain filled face.

"Come on Kurumi. What is there to look so downhearted about? We're all still alive, no?"

"Papa..."

I wasn't able to stop myself from looking at his feet and his hands. Nor was I able to resist peeking at my boyfriend’s right hand.

"Come on. We’re going to heal from this. Medicine has come a long way in the last thirty years. And in the worst case I'll...uh…I’ll ask a doctor."

I almost let out a sob at what Papa had said.

"You and Ichigo have another option Kentaro," Mama suddenly said.

"I do?"

"What is it?" I asked Mama with a heart full of hope.

"Simple,” Mama said while looking at me. “We all go to the Lady of Manaoag. Of course that would be after the doctors are finished with Kentaro's feet and he can walk somewhat and this war is over."

"Lady of what? Is this a pilgrimage site for Christians?" Papa asked with a skeptical expression.

"One of the most famous pilgrimage sites for Roman Catholics in the Philippines. Every year thousands of people go to Pangasinan province to visit the shrine."

“Is going there even going to work for me Magdalena?” Papa asked.

By pure accident I managed to answer before Mama said her reply.

“Papa, Moe turned herself into a fox in front of your eyes, and you met Izanami. Following that logic then Mama’s God could also exist.”

My words were punctuated by Moe turning back into a human girl with a pop, on top of her wheelchair.

“...can we try Chichibu first? It’s literally right next to Tokyo.”

“What’s in Chichibu?” Mama asked in curiosity.

“Chichibu’s Thirty Four Kannon Sanctuary pilgrimage. Thirty four shrines in just one city, as opposed to all the other pilgrimages in Japan that span whole islands or provinces.”

Mama was silent for a few moments. Then she said she will take Papa there but only if Papa promises to go to the Lady of Manaoag in the Philippines if Chichibu doesn’t work for his burns.

When Papa agreed, Mama beamed a smile at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Mama,” Ao whispered at me from my arms.

“What is it?” I whispered back, not wanting to end Mama and Papa’s moment too soon.

“All Lolo and Papa have to do to heal from their burns is to wait for Mrs. Izanami and the doctors to arrive.”

I looked down and into my daughter’s eyes, who stared back at me.

“Really?” I asked her.

When Ao nodded, I took a peek at my parents.

After seeing they were still having a moment to themselves, I looked back at my daughter and put a finger on my mouth to tell her to be quiet about that.

“Lolo and Lola’s love love time is going to end now,” she said while shaking her head. And then she took a deep breath and held it in.

I had barely begun to respond to her statement when the ground suddenly started to rumble, eliciting screams from everywhere around the clearing.

“What's happening now?” I yelled as Ao whimpered in pain in my arms. A moment after I said that the earthquake stopped. And then I saw my answer in the sky.

A dark cloud was once again spreading across the sky from Mt. Fuji's direction.

"There's something I don't understand," Papa asked in a tone filled with curiosity. A quick look at him showed me he was looking up at the magical dark cloud.

"What is it dear? Do you need painkillers?" Mama asked while looking at Papa with worry, interspersed with brief glares up at the dark cloud in the sky.

"No, no. Nothing hurts. The towel feels great, it’s ok Magdalena. What was I about to ask...is raining down lava from the sky actually helping?"

Everyone looked at Moe after Papa posed that question. Moe looked back at us and shrugged.

“I don’t know. I have to see the results before I make a judgment about Konohanasakuya-hime’s spell. But what I’m sure of is I don’t want to be on the other side of the flying lava.”

As soon as she finished her words, strings of pink colored lava once again came out of the cloud in the shape of eels and swam through the air...

“Is it just me or are some of those strings of lava flying our way?” I asked out loud.

As seconds went by, I grew increasingly worried as the lava eels slowly grew larger and larger to my sight. By the time they slammed into the ground in the direction of Camp Fuji I, and probably everyone else, could tell that these things made of lava are about as long as a ten story building was tall and as thick as a passenger train.

“Definitely don’t want to be on the other side of that,” Moe stated as the bombardment went on.

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Woods around JGSDF Camp Fuji, Sunto District, Shizuoka

May 11, 2013

2:52 P.M.

Ohta Ichigo

Mom and I had successfully extinguished all the flames threatening to burn down the forest clearing around us. That was why I expected some of the very few people around to enter it once again for some measure of safety, an opportunity I would use to ask them questions about what happened.

No one entered the forest clearing because they were all spooked by the lava in the skies. And the sound of their impact in the distance.

That was why I finally took it upon myself to go into the woods and ask questions atsome of them. And the answers I got were...bad news, to say the least.

All the roads around us, whether they are made of concrete or asphalt, had become the growing places of all those magical bamboo I saw earlier. And worse for us those plants release poisonous gases when their stem was damaged.

That was how many patients and patient relatives died at the road to the North.

No one went East, because that was where the Skinchangers came from. And I shouldn’t mention the West was where the JGSDF personnel, Ran and my three resurrected ancestors were fighting Skinchanger soldiers.

And the worst news I received was the South.

No one dared to go past the rampart, which was also present in the south, because there was fighting in the woods beyond the rampart. They heard no gunshots, but there were never ending battle cries, screams, and wood hitting wood.

All the ones who went South walked away, but only very few bothered to go back all the way to this forest clearing. Apparently they thought hiding inside the woods would be the safest thing they could do.

By the time I wandered back to my family and sat down beside Dad and Mom, I was trying to keep a stoic face to hide the worry I felt. That was why I was surprised when all of a sudden Mom and Kurumi asked me if there was something wrong, at the same time.

I looked at Kurumi and Mom, who gave each other a quick glance before looking at me. I sighed and shook my head.

"It's something none of us can do anything about...other than pray. Maybe."

"Excuse me," Moe suddenly butted in on our conversation. "Regarding prayers, can I ask something of everyone?"

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"I can't believe that prayers worked," I mumbled to myself in slight disbelief, amidst the cheer of everyone around us, as...we got informed the fighting was over.

It was over.

Earlier this day Moe had suggested to us that we, as a group, start praying to Izanami.

As Magdalena scoffed with disbelief, Ms. Yamato gently asked her student what we were supposed to pray to the goddess. The inari quickly instructed us to pray our current situation to the goddess, in hope that she could send help to us. And then she told us how she wanted us to pray, because it will supposedly quickly gain Izanami’s attention.

Except for Magdalena, who refused to pray to what she called a misguided spirit, and my still unconscious Dad, everyone else...

We skipped any purification. We skipped any bowing or ringing of bells. We sacrilegiously just clapped our hands twice, closed our eyes, and just continuously prayed to Izanami a report of our current circumstances.

We spent only a short amount of time praying, and probably looking silly, before things quickly started happening.

Izanami’s voice suddenly shook heaven and earth, and all the things in between. And her words were...

“I, who was the Mother of all creatures. I, who became sister and wife and widow of Izanagi. I, former ruler of Yomi. I, current miko of myself, do will the gates of Yomi be fully opened. Let more of my worshippers go forth into the land of the living once more. Let all of my worshippers and their children go forth and fight my enemies. Let all my worshippers, their children and their children’s children go forth and bring. Us. Victory!”

A few seconds after Izanami's speech ended everything trembled once again, this time from the roar of foreign sounding battle cries coming from countless multitudes to the South. And the roaring continued and continued, past the time when the skies had turned orange, and way into the growing blue darkness of dusk marred only by the red glow of Konohanasakuya-hime’s clouds. The roaring also moved from only the South to every direction around the forest clearing at the same time.

And then the roaring stopped just a few moments ago, quickly followed by Izanami’s voice declaring victory by making the Skinchangers run back into their homeland.

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Subashiri Settlement, Oyama, Sunto District, Shizuoka

May 12, 2013

9:36 A.M.

Ikeda Kurumi

“Ichigo, Ao. Wake up you two,” I said as I gently tapped their shoulders.

As they both started to wake up, I took a glance at our current temporary shelter and thought about everything that happened last night.

Last night, once darkness had completely fallen and it became too hard to see, the Self Defense Forces personnel who manned the ramparts fetched all of us in that forest clearing, aided by the burning torches created by Ran, Krauncha, and an Izanami not using a disguise walking in their midst.

Izanami, and the modern medical knowledge of the Self Defense Forces medical personnel, were the reason why a few minutes after the meeting Papa was able to walk again, his burned hands and feet back to normal. And why Ichigo can continue doing...actions with his right hand that I enjoy when we have sex. And why Mrs. Taro’s cheek was back to normal.

Within an hour or so after Papa’s recovery we were all walking north, past wrecked roads filled with the burned remains of magical poison spewing bamboo courtesy of one word from Izanami. Past woods filled with dead Skinchangers and a particular part of the now ruined highway to the north where many patients and relatives that I saw from Camp Fuji Regional Hospital lay dead on the ground.

The Self Defense Forces personnel escorted us to the nearest neighborhood, the settlement of Subashiri of the town of Oyama, which is the town where JGSDF Camp Fuji and all the military bases in Sunto District are located. And it was there that people started leaving the group.

Apparently they were locals of Oyama, so they gave their thanks and started walking off into the darkness of the night, aided by the light of paper lanterns and oil lamps that were created byRan, Moe, Krauncha and Izanami. Mama and Papa also separated from us, saying that their room at one of Subashiri settlement’s inns was still paid for.

Those of us who didn’t separate from the group had a choice of three different locations to go overnight in, two of them buildings that were adjacent to each other. One was the Subashiri branch of the Oyama Fire Department, which was beside the other building, the Subashiri Police Koban. And the third was the Subashiri branch of the Oyama Town Hall, a hundred or so meters down the road to the East from the first two locations.

Ichigo and I chose to reside at the Police Koban, which was why it was a surprise to learn everyone else chose to go to the town hall branch for the night. Even Mother chose to have Father brought there, as well as Mrs. Taro.

Minutes after everyone else went to the town hall branch we were led to the Police Koban’s break room, a room occupying half the area of the two story building’s second floor, by the stressed but still helpful police officers downstairs who maneuvered their way through the darkness of the brown out currently hitting Oyama with rechargable electric lamps.There we were given a pair of blankets and futons, had a quick meal of noodles with hot tea, and then we slept peacefully as a family...well...Ao slept first.

Ichigo and I on the other hand...when we were sure our daughter was asleep, Ichigo and I celebrated still being alive with gentle, liplocked sex in the darkness of the second floor’s toilet room. We only slipped back to our futons after finishing each other three times and cleaning ourselves up.

“Kurumi? What is it?” my fiance asked as he sat up from his futon, and blinking his drowsiness away. Beside him, Ao had moved her blankets off her and stretched her arms up.

“We all need to go downstairs. The police officer on duty told me someone wants to talk to us. Ao, do you want help sitting up, dear?” I asked my daughter as Ichigo turned to look at Ao.

“I need to go to the toilet Mama.”

Several minutes later, after flushing the toilet and folding the futon and blankets, we went down the stairs to the ground floor, with me gently carrying Ao and Ichigo guiding me at the side.

When we got to the stair landing we saw the police officer on duty and Major Suzumoto exchanging salutes. After doing that the policewoman then rushed off outside for parts unknown. The Major then turned to us, let out a depressed sigh, and said four worrisome words.

“We need to talk.”