Prologue IV

I put on the red kimono and black haori. Izanagi put his hands on my shoulders. "Talk about a spitting image! I couldn't have imagined my vessel becoming just as beautiful as me!" Despite how conceited it sounded, we had many similar features. We had the same black and red hair—with his being long— and the same drowning blue eyes, but those were the only observable similarities.

Izanagi sits down as he asks a question, "You ready to hear some hot stuff?"

I kneel down, plucking the peonies. "I'm listening."

"You are a man of very few words!" He chuckles. "Without getting too deep into this mess, I'll answer any questions you have instead of explaining things on my own."

A few questions emerged into my head. All of them were so jumbled that I couldn't decide which one would be more important. "How'd you end up here?"

"It was a long time ago when all of the deities were surprised attacked by Amatsu-Mikaboshi at Takamagahara! I was one of the few that survived, and only by a hair. I decided to drop down to Japan to find a vessel to latch onto that could carry my story. When I arrived, I saw your big smile on your path to school with your relative."

Izanagi pauses. He looks up at the bleeding sky with a rather melancholy expression. "Deep down I thought that you were the one, and so far my vision hasn't shifted yet."

I was baffled. Due to me lacking a response, I gave him a simple nod before proceeding with the next question, "Could you go more in depth about Takamagahara, Amatsu-Mikaboshi, and the other deities whereabouts?"

He looked amazed. "That's a pretty loaded question. I could probably inform you about Amatsu and some possible whereabouts, but the significance of Takamagahara is indescribable. Hope that's okay, Kami."

"I'm fine with just two answers and you can just call me Daitan."

He yells with what seems like eagerness. "Alright, Kami!" There seems to be no way of getting things through to him. "Chaos, destruction, malevolence. Dread Star of Heaven, Amatsu Mikaboshi. She's been the deities' biggest dilemma since the beginning of time. Fending her off has been facile! That was until she hit us with that damn ambush 100 years ago."

Words accidentally slip out of my mouth in shock, "Woah! 100 years ago? How did you time travel or something?"

"Cut me some slack here! The Ame-no-ukihashi takes forever to run down! It's a bridge to Heaven!"

"Yeah, yeah! Do you think Amatsu Mikaboshi is still after you guys? If thats so, then wouldn't every vessel be in danger right now?"

Izanagi bites his lip. "I can wholeheartedly say that she is still after us and now the vessels. This was one of the reasons you were summoned." A red sheathed katana materializes in his hands. I catch it as he throws towards me. "I request that you find the deities of good alignment and kill off the ones of evil alignment."

I jump at his request. "What about me dealing with deceits? This is too much at one time right now."

The projection of Izanagi's voice becomes soft. "Everything will play a part in this. I guarantee you that this wont keep you from your ambitions. I'd even say that this will help you accomplish them even faster!" He delivers a loud grunt as he stands up. "You should be going now. Just tell me if you're really up for it or not!"

Everything proceeded to go black before I could even thank him.

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I was drowning out the teacher's voice. I can't tell if it was me getting whacked with a frying pan by Fumiko or the conversation with Izanagi, that had me feeling so disheveled today. Where am I going to even locate these evils? Bashing someone with such a remarkable task without any leads is harshly inconvenient.

A slip of paper slides onto my desk. It was a note asking if I were okay. The name Chikao was on the bottom of it, so I turn to my right to see if the person beside me passed it. The blue-haired kid beside me looked at me with a despairing look on his face. I write on the note, telling him that we could talk during lunchtime.

Chikao is sitting on my desk eating his bento. "What's the verdict?"

"You ever wanted to do so many things at one time and you can never choose which one to do?"

He stops eating. He makes a thinking face before saying, "Elaborate."

I start scratching my head. "It's like two huge weights that you want to use at one time, but you know that if you pick one, you'll be to used to doing that one more than the other that you didn't choose?"

"Let me help you with that terminology. Your job as an attorney is to help whoever your client is, but that client is guilty of murder. You don't want to defend that client. All you want is to protect the innocent and get justice. You either purposely fail him as an attorney, or succeed in proving his innocence. No matter which path you take, you'll also feel guilt in the end."

A faint smile appears on my face. It's as if he could see right through me! "Yes! That's exactly how it feels! I want to pursue one path without completely giving up the other that I've been working on for so long."

"Thats quite puzzling. Are those task that you are eagerly want to pursue really interfere with the supplemental so much that it will make your goal void?"

Thinking back at it, Izanagi did mention that everything will play a part in destroying the evil gods, but how much of that is really true. If I don't pursue killing deceits after my years of training, what would be the point of it all? What if deceits are the bigger problem here and the god killing shenanigans are a distraction?

My thoughts were interrupted. "I can see that your conclusion isn't sticking together for you. Your face says it all. How about this, do both at the same time. It never hurts to try! If the decisions don't outweigh each other, take pursuit of both of them."

Though it didn't show on my face at the moment, he seemed like an all knowing God in my eyes for a few seconds. Either he's a genius or I'm just simple minded.

[ "It would be the latter." ]

Izanagi!? He can seriously talk to me through my head?

[ "So whats your option, New Kami?" ]

"Yeah, I'll put in my efforts into both."

"See? I knew you would!" Chikao and Izanagi say in unison.