Anime Adjacent (90's anime megacross!)

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 047
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
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30/6/1993

That... changed things.

That changed a lot of things.

Areru had been expecting the man to lie to him. To have some dark book of plots and secrets that Areru would need to painstakingly unveil, one bloody page at a time.

Instead...

The Kanto Magic Association was doing nothing about the Youma because they -had- tried something, and it had cost them the lives of their men and women. And it's been even more costly for the Kansai association.

Areru would bet good money they'd tried to bind the Youma to the service of some Onmyo priests or priestesses, then tried again when they lost contact with the first group.

"This... is a problem," Areru admitted out loud, his gaze locked on the Yggdrasil sapling that was, inexplicably, planted in the middle of the technically-not-a-citystate. "Worse, really."

"The youth often complain about that when they discover what their elders actually have to do," Konoe said. The ends of his mustache tilted up and Areru half-expected the man to be grinning underneath.

"That's not what I mean," Areru said with a shake of his head. He wasn't about to tell the man that Areru was on his third life, that he was personally acquainted with the realities of trying to hold a job, keep the bills paid and find time in between everything to eat, sleep and deal with his schoolwork.

Bilocation was arguably the best spell in existence. Hands down.

"I had hoped that you or the Kansai mages would have had some method of handling the creatures," Areru explained. "That you don't, that it cost you lives to learn that is..." Areru didn't have words for that. Nothing that would resolve the matter, nothing that would make it better. The teen just shrugged and shook his head before continuing. "I can't keep biting Youma's heads off. They taste terrible."

The old man chuckled, once, but came to a rather uncomfortable stop when he realized that Areru wasn't joking.

"...That's not your actual form, is it?" Konoe asked before he took a slow draw from his teacup.

"I can feel the ward over this place," Areru told the man as he began to tap one finger on the armrest of his chair. "I assume it has something to do with the vampire you lot are keeping here? I don't plan on breaking it if I don't have to."

The ward in question felt like water, pressing against his skin. It tasted like subjugation and weakness, tainting the air, but it didn't penetrate through his disguise. Areru was reasonably sure he could overpower it.

Or, if not...

The dragon's eyes slid away from Konoe and back to the towering tree.

He could think of a number of ways to disrupt it.

"...Your knowledge of my school is rather worrisome, young Ginji," Konoe slowly said as he seemed to look down and into his teacup. "You spoke plainly enough to ask me about the Youma, allow me to do the same; What do you want?"

"I wanted to know why a group of fourteen year old girls are openly throwing around magic with enough punch to break Tokyo in half. Now that I know, my other desires taste like ashes because I'm not interested in demanding you or yours do your job if it could see you dead. It's... frustrating." Well, that was the nicest way to say things.

The nicest way that Areru could come up with on the spot, anyway.

"Young man? I am an educator. I do not take any pleasure in seeing children fighting my battles for me." Konoe's words were quiet, his voice creaking like old wood, but there was more to them than just empty platitudes.

Ginji wondered how many of those that died had been Konoe's own students.

The teen quietly sighed as he considered the changes this demanded of him. If the Kanto mages weren't strong enough, or whatever other institutional failing kept them from matching the Youma, then trying to teach them a spell or two that would work better still wouldn't be enough.

Holy, Holy Weapon or Cursed Weapon might all have worked but they demanded the user either have a strong spirit or a strong sense of faith. The Kanto mages seemed to focus on knowledge, which was a perfectly fine choice outside of this specific issue.

And the Kansai mages freely frolicked with demons and kept bound spirits under their command. They'd be able to use the spells...

But Areru didn't trust them with the power they already had.

"...I suppose we're at something of an impasse, then," Areru slowly got out as he considered the situation. It was... not good. At all.

"Perhaps less so than you may think, young Ginji," Konoe said with a small shake of his head, a wheezing laugh in his voice. "The Youma may be outside the scope of those I can command but I believe there is another avenue of assistance my school may offer."

Areru tilted his head slightly as he thought on the old man's words. Konoe was offering the assistance of his school, though, and not his association...

"You mentioned the girl's throwing about a significant amount of power, hmm?" Konoe leadingly asked. "And power is something that comes to the rest of us with practice but, more than power, one must have control. And that, young man, is something that we most certainly can teach!"

"...Somehow? I have a hard time seeing Sailor Moon track down and defeat a Youma while she's been polymorphed into a rabbit," Areru told the old man, his voice a flat deadpan.

"That... those are ermines," Konoe said with a small cough. "And that is a punishment inflicted upon those who would reveal the secret of magic practiced by an associate school in Wales."

"That's... not great. But I suppose it's better?" Slightly? Somehow?

"I like to think so," Konoe agreed. "Here? We simply erase someone's memories."

"...We're done here," Areru declared as he stood up, a scowl overtaking his features.

"Excuse me?" Konoe asked, confusion clear in his tone. "Young man, is there-"

"The mind is man's final sanctuary," Areru cut in with a dark hiss, colors leeching out of the dim room as he glared into Konoe's hidden eyes. "That you and yours would violate it is inexcusable."

"I don't- Where is this coming from?" Konoe asked, the man fumbling to regain control of the situation as Areru relaxed the hold he kept on his nature.

"Look at the 'new' blood in your school, old man," Areru demanded, one arm waving towards the buildings beyond Konoe's window. "How many of them look like the men you've tasked with keeping your secrets? How many of them were born to single mothers, women who would say they don't remember the conception of their child?"

"You would dare-?!" Konoe started to shout, power welling up around the man.

Areru would have none of it. He refused to tolerate the man demanding face to assuage the fragile egos of those with powers that none should be trusted with. He raised one hand and snapped his fingers, just once-

And the magic that Konoe was attempting to call upon was Silenced.

"Keep your monsters close and chained, old man," Areru told him, a dark promise in his words. "If I find them in Minato? You won't be getting them back."

Konoe Konoemon reached out, one hand clutching at his throat as his lips moved, to demand something of the dragon, to further dig his hole ever deeper, Areru did not know. The teen snapped his fingers again-

And appeared on the surface of the moon. The dragon exhaled, his breath lost to the vacuum of space, and balled his hands into fists.

The Kansai kept the spirits of tortured animals. They created the spirits of tortured animals.

The Kanto relied upon magics that, by simple association, meant they couldn't be trusted to keep their word. What did it matter if they made a promise to someone if they could just try and rip that promise from someone's mind?

The teens lungs tried to reinflate, tried to draw something from the emptiness around him, and failed.

Why were both of the magic associations in Japan so...

Worthless?

Looking up, to the Earth hanging high overhead, Areru felt some of the tension bleed out of his body.

Konoe would get his magic back in a few days. Areru hadn't Locked the spell. He'd been reacting rather than actually working with a plan. Hell, he'd been far too close to relaxing his disguise and just... slamming one scaly fist through the man's desk.

Memory magics, mind magics, the whole damned school of Enchantment... that was the most insidious art. It was just... vile and disgusting.

Areru knew magics that would raise the dead and he considered them a more acceptable choice!

Looking at the Earth, Areru worked his jaw back and forth. He couldn't believe that Konoe seriously thought that anyone, anyone at all would entrust children to his...

Care...

Areru gritted his teeth as his irritation spiked again.

People did trust Konoe. People sent their children to his schools, unaware of the mages in the shadows that would... violate their minds if they saw something they weren't supposed to see. Or if they learned something that it would be more convenient for them to forget...

Sliding one hand down his face, Areru felt his frustration growing. He was trying to be delicate, to avoid making too many enemies, but...

Well. At least having enemies would mean he actually stood for something.

Pointing at the Earth, his hand moving in a lazy circle, Areru needed to calm down. He had something important he planned on doing around midnight and he couldn't be yelling or shouting when he went to do it.

-----

Several hours later, just a little after midnight, the Areru that had stayed home slowly opened a box that had been delivered earlier that day by mail. It came from an address he was familiar enough with, and the box itself was covered in various different stickers and colors of tape.

The first thing he extracted from the box was a letter. Which he would get to in a moment.

The next thing was... a small stuffed animal? A black dog with red eyes... and two heads? It had a little red cardboard heart attached to it with the letters 'Ty'.

Finally was a small card. One that had a long phone number and PIN code on the back. An international prepaid phone card.

Slicing open the envelope, a sheaf of paper and a few photographs fell out. Areru set the letter to the side for a moment to look at the pictures and a soft smile spread across his face at the sight.

Two little kids. Twins. Wearing kneepads and elbow pads and big plastic helmets were pushing around a pair of bicycles. Not riding them. Pushing them.

James and Jamie, Areru's half-siblings in the states.

Reading through the letter, obviously from his mother, the smile just grew wider and wider. The bikes had been purchased with the money Areru had sent to his mother for Christmas. Apparently, James and Jamie both were really, really thankful for their 'Brother Ary' for getting the bikes for them.

Flipping the letter over, Areru actually found a crayon drawing of a bunch of stick figures. With their bikes. And the words 'Thank you!' written in different colors.

That would be going on the fridge later. Areru desperately needed something good after the day he'd had.

But that could wait, at least for a few minutes. More immediately, Areru had something he needed to do.

Picking up the phone from its cradle, Areru held the prepaid card up before his eyes as he painstakingly input the digits, then input the PIN when it asked. Then he had to input another string of numbers!

Still, in short order he had the phone ringing.

"Hello?" a woman's voice answered in English. "Who is this?"

"Hi, mom," Areru said, in English, into the handset. "Finally got your letter."

"Ary!" the woman shouted, right into his ear. "It's been so long! Oh, you have got to tell me, how have you been? How's school going? Are you and your father getting along?"

"I'm alright," Areru said. "And school's alright, too. Can't say much about my father. He works so much, I can't even remember the last time I saw him..."

The two didn't get to talk very often. International phone calls were expensive and getting the times to line up with a twelve-hour timezone difference was a pain.

But, some days?

It was just worth it.

 

[Pinklestia]

Omake: And the Kitchen Sink, Too!

Kar'Yashlan played around with the "Magician Hat" she had got after that weird Dungeons and Dragons Adventure. Being a human, a male human of all things, it had been difficult and different but interesting. Sure she had keep "himself" celibate during that experience but she had many things to distract her at least.

The fact she literally had to be reborn as that human and live decades as him had been... well not what she had expected.

Maybe asking Lord Lucifer Morningstar for a Quest to become stronger now that Alchemist was missing had been a bad idea. The very powerful being
had decided to make things difficult to her. It had almost been like an actual reincarnation, until Kar'Yashlan, as Presto the Magician as he was in that life, was in his eighties and decided to have a heroic death saving both the world of Dungeon and Dragons and Earth.

Then she woke up back into her female Fallen Angel body only she still remembered how to do Magician magic and still had the Magician hat.

She didn't remember everything, just the magic she has cared to Master.

Just for a laugh she pulled out a small kitchen sink from the hat and threw it at the annoying demon that had not stopped trying to talk to her.

"Go away Etrigan, I am not in the mood for whatever you want!"

To her surprise the rhyming demon listened and left without complain.

Mmm, the Fallen Angel wondered what the dragon girl was doing, probably hanging around that horrible pink cat life goddess?

AN: Kar'Yashlan is very old but lacks actual good life experiences by how old she is, Lucifer wanted to give her that, and he made her into Prestro because the magic in that Dungeon and Dragons cartoon is quite busted.

Spoiler

Kar'Yashlan specifically was in basically the canon timeline including the unaided episode "Requiem". Like the canon Presto she chose to stay. After all the choice was between losing all his magic and living as a normal kid or get to learn actual magic that might help get Alchemist back?

Also she was basically like the canon Presto only her hat have her a lot of fire themed things as the first pick. Sometimes it was useful like getting a can of oil and matches, or a torch or oil lamp when a light was needed.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 048
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

1/7/1993

Masaki Katsuhito's days were often rather mundane. The old man would wake up, enjoy a simple breakfast of tea, eggs and toast and then he would go about his duties in maintaining his family's shrine and the surrounding lands.

Sadly, the shrine didn't see the kind of patronage it used to. People were less and less spiritual with every passing year.

Thankfully, the shrine was funded by a grant that maintained an annual stipend so Katsuhito wasn't too terribly concerned. That he was the one to set up the fund in the first place was a well-hidden secret that would not be discovered lest his true nature be revealed.

Finishing his morning rounds and returning from his visit with the god-tree Funaho, Katsuhito was rather surprised to find a trio of people waiting at the shrine for him. One man, a little girl and a woman that he... faintly recognized.

"Na... ru?" Katsuhito asked as he approached the trio. "I don't think I've seen you since you were... oh, knee-high!"

The woman would be Kobayashi Naru, if Katsuhito was right. His great, great... great? Granddaughter.

"Grandfather," Naru greeted him with a deep bow. "I apologize for arriving unannounced but my husband and I were looking for something in the area and we cannot seem to find it."

Husband?

Katsuhito looked over the scrawny, bespectacled man that Naru had motioned towards and frowned slightly. He was also familiar, but not in a familial way...

Katsuhito wished he could be more precise but Earthlings bred so quickly, the man could simply look like a distant ancestor that Katsuhito had gone drinking with a time or two.

"Why didn't anyone tell me you'd gotten married, Naru?" Katsuhito asked as he approached the trio and leaned down to look at the face of his youngest descendant. "And who's this little lady, hmm?"

"That's Hanabi, our daughter," Naru explained as she leaned down and gently pulled the girl out from behind the man's leg. The child, shy as they often were, looked up to Katsuhito's own eyes and held her hand in a fist in front of her mouth.

"...Hi?" the child squeaked out.

"Well, hello there," Katsuhito greeted with a wide smile. "I'm very happy to finally meet you!"

"...Kay," the little girl mumbled, clearly uncomfortable as she tried to hide herself back behind her father's leg.

Disappointing but hardly the first time that Katsuhito had received such a warm greeting. Children could be quite unpredictable, especially when meeting strangers.

"Mom and I did try to get in contact with you about my wedding with Daisuke," Naru explained as Katsuhito made a show of struggling to stand up. "But she said you were out visiting with grandma at the time and nobody could reach you."

"Daisuke, hmm?" Katsuhito asked as he turned to look at the pencil of a man that Naru had married. The boy dropped into a deep bow at the waist for a moment before straightening back up and looking Katsuhito in the eye.

"Ginji Daisuke, sir," Daisuke said. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Ah, that's why you're familiar," Katsuhito said as he held one palm out and slapped his fist into it. "You look about like Shinji did, back when he was your age!"

"Thank you, sir," Daisuke said, his head dipping into a shallow bow.

"Well, unless you'd like to join an old man for his tea?" Katsuhito teased the trio but got a rather disappointing refusal from Naru. "What was it that you were looking for? Perhaps these old bones could help?"

"The... Ginji family home," Daisuke admitted. "I was thinking of bringing Hanabi and Naru to live out here for a while. At least until things in Tokyo settle down."

...How in blazes did someone lose a house?

"It should be where you left it, I think?" Katsuhito asked. "It wouldn't have just gotten up and walked away, now would it?"

"We did look before coming here, Grandfather," Naru said before she leaned down to pick up her toddler. "And the only thing that's there is the mailbox. Beyond that are just mountains and forests."

That... didn't sound right? Katsuhito knew, from the questions his own grandson, Noboyuki, had asked that Ginji Areru still lived in the area.

Looking at the trio and noting a distinct lack of a teenage boy, Katsuhito felt that something was obviously very off about the situation.

"Well, it's been quite a while since I've visited that part of the mountains," Katsuhito said as he nodded seriously. "Let's get moving, hmm? Perhaps afterwards the three of you can join me for a cup of tea? I'd love a chance to get caught up with everything that's going on."

Such as what was so bad in Tokyo that Daisuke was trying to send his wife and daughter to live in the countryside...

Making their way down the many steps of the Masaki Shrine, the quartet skipped by the car and simply walked down the side of the road. They didn't have much traffic, out the way they were. There were shorter and less circuitous routes.

The family chatted quietly as they enjoyed the walk, with Katsuhito taking extra care to point out many of the animals and plants that could be seen for young Hanabi, the girl warming up as they continued to travel.

They were within a kilometer of the Ginji ancestral lands when Katsuhito noticed something was wrong.

It was the silence. No birdsong, no buzzing insects, just the sounds of the wind whispering between the grass and trees. The old man could almost hear words on the wind, almost, but nothing distinct.

In the summer heat, Katsuhito felt a chill make its way down his spine.

Of the trio he was with, only the young child seemed to notice. Little Hanabi, carried by her father, was staring up at the power lines that ran next to the road.

Following her gaze, Katsuhito felt his stomach drop to his feet.

Crows, dozens of them, were watching the family. Not normal crows, either. Some of them wore a red magatama about their breasts, marking them as Yatagarasu.

Dropping his gaze away from the messengers and ferriers of souls, Katsuhito cast his gaze out among the trees. Dozens upon dozens of small, beady eyes stared back. Their forms hidden behind trees or under ferns but, as he was properly paying attention, Katsuhito could make out the Koropokkuru.

Spirits that looked like humans, though they were incredibly small. The shy creatures once coexisted with the humans of Japan until one boy insulted them gravely and they retreated deeper to the mountains and valleys where they could exist unmolested.

"...Daisuke," Katsuhito forced himself to speak through the lump in his throat as the family approached the small road that would lead to the Ginji family home. "I have been wondering something, since we began our walk."

"What's that?" the man asked, heedless of the inhuman entities that watched them, listened to them.

"Your son, Areru. He still lives at your ancestral home, does he not?"

At least, that was what Katsuhito had assumed with the limited information that he had.

"...You have a son?" Naru asked.

The family stopped at the well-maintained mailbox, several letters jutting out of the slot, and Katsuhito did not know what troubled him more.

The question his descendant asked of her husband?

Or the creeping fog that had started to seep from the treeline.

"I... had a son," Daisuke said, his words slow and deliberate as he handed Hanabi over to Naru. "Father... did not like him. His mother was an outsider and I married her to try and maintain honor for the family. That... eventually fell through and we separated. Raising Areru was difficult by myself. He was a clever, intelligent boy but he insisted he saw things that... well."

The young man took his glasses off and began to nervously clean them with his shirt, heedless of the dark scowl on Katsuhito's face or the dark, unreadable look on Naru's.

"Father... refused to approve of our marriage, Naru, unless I distanced myself from Areru," Daisuke continued after swallowing thickly. "And, on the day Hanabi was born... Father gave me an ultimatum. I would allow him to remove Areru from the family registry, or he would refuse to have Hanabi added to it."

Katsuhito's lips thinned to a slim, imperceptible line.

Shinji... had been a hard man after the war. Katsuhito knew that. He understood that. But...

"Why didn't you say anything?" Naru asked. "I would have..."

Whatever Naru was about to say was silenced when Katsuhito placed a firm hand on her shoulder, his gaze locked on the house he saw nearby, with gleaming glass greenhouses situated next to it, and a pair of malicious green eyes glaring out of the thickening mist towards the quartet.

"Do you see the house?" Katsuhito asked, a genuine question rather than a loaded one.

Something was very, very wrong here. Perhaps even more so than the foolishness and shame that Shinji had forced upon his son.

"No," Naru said with a shake of her head. "Just the mailbox, just like last time."

"Then we need to leave," Katsuhito said as he pulled at the woman, his eyes locked firmly on the glowing green eyes that were approaching from the mist. "We need to leave immediately!"

Maybe, if he had the Tenchi-Ken with him, Katsuhito would not be so worried about the panic growing in his chest. Or if he didn't have a trio of non-combatants he needed to worry about, maybe he could have considered the situation more clearly.

A horned head rose from the mist before Katsuhito's gaze, two inhuman green eyes locked to his own. The creature's monstrous maw opened, slightly, and the Juraian prince saw countless needle-like teeth dripping with saliva.

"Move it!" Katsuhito roared as he dragged his granddaughter away from the building. "Now!"

The panic in his voice seemed to get through to them and they finally, finally began to run with Katsuhito taking up the rear.

The old man didn't know what all had happened at the old Ginji residence. The spirits were watching over it, that much was clear. And Areru was in the thick of the mess, he had to-

Katsuhito froze in shock as a great, old deer stepped out of the woods before the quartet. It had more antlers upon its head than most trees had branches and, to him at least, it also carried the weathered, wrinkled face of a very, very old man.

The Lord of the Forest.

The ancient beast, even older than him, locked its gaze with Yosho...

And shook its head.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 049
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

1/7/1993

The typical alcoholic beverage in Japan is sake. Pronounced sah-keh, it is a fermented rice wine that uses a surprisingly innovative distillation process. The beverage can be served either hot or cold, depending on the season, and is both a casual beverage as well as a celebratory drink.

Upon arriving back at the shrine, Katsuhito did not indulge in this very traditional product of his adopted country.

Once Naru had put Hanabi down for a nap, Katsuhito had instead opted for a bottle of western liquor, whisky, and brought out a few cans of coffee to mix with it.

There was a thrice-damned Spirit Hollow within a stone's throw of Katsuhito's shrine. Discovering something like that, and walking away intact?

Everyone deserved a drink.

And it was going to make the coming conversation... easier.

"...Why didn't you tell me that you had a son?" Naru asked once the group had properly settled down to get to the brass tacks of things.

"...Shame, mostly," Daisuke answered her. The man had taken off his glasses once they'd all sat down and he was rather woodenly looking at his cup. "Father... hated him. Hates him. Part of it is my fault. Part of it just... is. Areru is half-American. And I've told you that Father was stationed in Okinawa."

Katsuhito took a bracing draw from his doctored coffee as his granddaughter began to work the story out of the man. Under nearly any other circumstances, he would leave to let them sort things out in private.

But Areru seemed to have the approval of the Forest Lord and some kind of wicked fog spirit. Such attentions rarely ended well for whichever mortal was unfortunate to draw them.

"How could you have made your own father hate your son, Daisuke?" Naru gently asked as she reached over to hold her husband's hand.

"It would have been the second time that Areru actually saw my father," Daisuke began to say. "He was... four at the time. Myself, Emily and Areru were all going to my father's home for new years. And I tried to explain to my son that Father had been a soldier in the war, that many men had gained great honor in serving. And, near midnight, Father had gotten deep into the sake and was telling us about the time he threw a grenade into a group of Americans and cowards from Okinawa that surrendered to them when Areru had asked him if that was where he found his honor."

Daisuke picked up his cup and drained half of it in one large gulp.

"Father struck Areru hard enough across the face that it knocked him over."

Katsuhito had to put his cup down on the table to keep from shattering it in his grip.

"Emily, my wife at the time, did not take it well. She was screaming at my father, and he tried to hit her as well. He blacked her eye. And Emily broke his nose. Father was... furious. And Emily was demanding why I would let him put a hand on Areru without speaking up." Daisuke visibly shuddered before he refilled his cup with whisky rather than coffee. "I tried to explain to her that Father came from a different time, had different views. That, as he was the head of the family, we simply had to accept them. She disagreed. Loudly. And that... was the final straw in our marriage. She left, not long after. And I tried to raise Areru by myself after that."

Katsuhito frowned as he lifted his cup and took a small sip of the cold, creamy liquor.

Familial honor and obedience were highly prized. But he'd seen, across countless decades, how horribly it could be abused.

"You should have said something," Naru gently told the man. "If he is your son, then he is my son. If your father would not want him? My family would have gladly adopted him."

"Would they?" Daisuke asked, his eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "Areru was- is a half-outsider. He- he used to tell me about the strangest things he would see in the forests. I took him to so many doctors and they- they insist he has some mental sickness. He..." Daisuke stopped and took a deep breath, some small measure of steel filling his spine.

"He wasn't making things up, was he?" the salaryman asked with a desperate look towards Katsuhito. "That- that deer. It had a man's face, didn't it?"

"It did," Katsuhito admitted quietly. "That is the oldest spirit of the forest, known simply as the Forest Lord. It seems to have favored your son, helped to hide his home somehow."

Which was not unheard of, technically. There were countless hidden places among the forests and mountains, places where time and space were more idea than law. Gaps in the world where the old monsters went to hide when man discovered fire, within and without, to push back against the night.

"...When was the last time you saw Areru?" Naru asked as she shared a worried look with Katsuhito.

"It..." Daisuke muttered wetly, his lips moving as he seemed to be counting to himself. Then he lifted the mug that was more whisky than coffee and knocked it back like a shot. "It would've been before our marriage. Father... was pushing harder and harder to keep me away. He was so... angry when he found out I'd been sending money to him, to help, to, to... He, Father, he was in the hospital when you gave birth, you know?" Daisuke asked, tears leaking from his eyes as he turned to face Naru. "I was holding Hanabi and... Father smiled. For the first time in years. He congratulated me, said he was proud of me for properly continuing the family. Then he told me that, that the family only had room for one heir. He..."

Shinji... made Daisuke choose.

"You must have been desperate," Katsuhito said, dragging the man back to the present. "What were you expecting to find when you came here?"

Daisuke reached down below the table and came back up with a folded sheet of paper. Fumbling slightly, the increasingly drunk man unfolded it and placed it on the table. Gently picking it up, Katsuhito found it to be two things.

A rather hefty check...

And a sheet of paper that simply said:

'We're even'
-Areru

"There are... there are monsters in Tokyo," Daisuke began to explain. "Inhuman things. They attack people and drain their energy, somehow. A few months back there was a big raid after something bit the head off of one of those monsters, these Youma, and they found that they'd been targeting children." The man took a deep, shuddering breath before he continued. "I want- I wanted to get Naru and Hanabi out of there. To keep them safe."

Katsuhito closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

Daisuke... was a coward. And Katsuhito couldn't even blame the man, really, because he was the same. He'd run, countless lightyears across the galaxy, all so he could avoid the responsibilities his own father wished to foist upon him.

"...Five million?" Naru asked, her voice faint. Opening his eyes, Katsuhito could see that she'd taken the check from where he'd placed it on the table. "How did a teenager manage to get five million yen?!"

"...I said he was smart," Daisuke slurred as he filled his cup with more whisky.

Katsuhito sighed...

And then reached for the bottle once Daisuke got done with it.

This was an absolute mess, a godawful nightmare with more and more layers than he wanted to deal with.

A nascent shaman, possibly adopted by the spirits and lesser gods? Well, that happened from time to time.

That it happened to a family he once considered to be close to his own was... horrific.

Perhaps, if he'd known about it a few years earlier? He might have been able to do something. As it stood, however, he would have to convince a prideful, angry teenager to accept help.

Katsuhito didn't have enough liquor for the headache that'd been dropped in his lap.

As he poured more for Naru, however, he did wonder...

Just what could the boy possibly be up to, isolated and alone in the woods?

-----

"C'mon," Areru asked Ryoko, the woman hovering next to him as the duo walked through the shade of the forest. Areru had a fishing rod slung over one shoulder and a bucket held in his free hand, a number of freshly-caught fish within. "There's got to be something you'd want to try and eat if you could."

Ryoko flew ahead of him and then turned around so she was flying backwards and facing him. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then signed 'Doesn't work!'

"I know, I know, you've told me," Areru said as he rolled his eyes. "But seriously, you've watched me eat. And you've been around for five-thousand years. There's gotta be something you've wanted to try!"

Ryoko held one finger up to her lips, her eyes facetiously aimed upwards as she pretended to think before she tipped her head back and made a motion like she was drinking something.

"Sake? C'mon, Ryoko, give me something here," the teen told her, an exasperated sigh on his lips. "I might not have super cooking powers anymore but I can still try my hand at anything you could point to in a cookbook."

Taking on a serious expression, the woman looked to be putting some serious thought into the question. After several seconds she signed a series of words at him- 'Yellow? Sour? Berry?'

"...A lemon?" Areru asked as he climbed over a fallen tree.

Ryoko shrugged at him. Areru supposed she'd seen the fruit somewhere but simply didn't know the name.

"...Well, I know a good recipe for a lemon pie," Areru admitted after a second of thought. "I ever get a chance to, I'll make one for you."

Ryoko... smiled at him, though the expression was sad and empty.

Areru very intentionally didn't smirk at the obvious doubt the woman felt.

Surprises, after all, were much more fun when the other person was -actually- surprised.

 

[Pinklestia]

Omake: The Backdoor

Mew… did not know what to think.

The System Alchemist once had, it had a backdoor, because why it would not?

And even if the System was gone, Alchemist had become a Void Dragon thanks to the System, that left a mark in his soul, that was part of the backdoor, the rest was every power he still had that he got thanks to the System.

And the Pink Goddess was given the keys to that backdoor.

Why her? Alchemist family just did not have the power, the knowledge and experience to use something like that correctly.

If they tried anyway, they risked erasing him completely because yes that was the ultimate goal of the backdoor any System like that had.

But the backdoor could be used for other things, it gave however had the keys direct access to the holder of the System soul and unless Alchemist got rid of EVERYTHING he got thanks to the System, that backdoor would remain.

Quite insidious, like malware infecting system files on a digital device.

She knew she could not trust her dad Lord Arceus, with something like this due to how careless he sometimes was. The Morning Star may be a temporary ally but could not be trusted, he literally was incomplete without his brother.

That made him… unstable no matter how good he had got at hiding it.

"Mm, well, at least I could debug his soul since it is currently such a mess that anything I do risks complete soul erasure without fixing things first."

Yes Mew would do that, it was a delaying tactic, but it was still something that she needed to do anyway if she wanted to do anything but complete erase him from existence, so of course Mew decided to have fun doing something else first.

Ah maybe have an adventure with that Teen dragon girl called Jinx? That would be fun!

AN: The thing about having access to the power of time and space, aka Time Travel is that it makes it really ease to procrastinate. She will get to fix Not Alchemist soul… eventually.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 050
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

4/7/1993

So...

This has not been a great week for me.

Sales are good. Switched to fishing instead of hunting to let the game repopulate. Reis seems to like the fish. Especially the bones.

Found an old washing machine out in a scrap pile and got the motor in that Repaired and rewired. Found something weird while I was hunting for old car batteries, though. White sportscar, red circle with the number five on the doors, two seater, custom everything. It's just a pile of rust at this point but it's easy enough to see that the old girl was a racecar once upon a time.

Crazy thing is, when I went to go digging through it for parts? I just kept finding more, and more, and more. Saw blades in the front, an extendable suspension between the body and the tires, there was a dome that covered the seats and even a periscope. Even had some kind of rusted clockwork bird thing buried behind the engine compartment.

...And the skeleton of a monkey in the trunk. There's, uh, no metaphor here. Literally just the bones of a monkey in the trunk. Initially thought it might have been a kid, actually. Was about ready to call the cops before I noticed the tail.

Some asshole out there really thought it'd be a funny prank to dress up a dead monkey in children's clothes and stuff it in the trunk of an old car. At least, I hope that's what happened. The car was from the sixties and there wasn't any way to open the trunk from the inside...

You know what? I'm just going to move on.

So. I tried talking to one of the magic associations I know of in Japan. Figured I'd try and get a feel for why they weren't doing jack, diddly or shit about the Youma in Minato.

They tried jack and diddly but the results were shit. I don't know the details but apparently the guys they sent to try and do something died. And the assholes from the west sent twice as many to get the same results.

I knew people were dying out there. Cops are probably trying to keep people from panicking which, y'know, I get that. Scared people are stupid people.

The guy in charge, Konoe? He was doing a decent enough job of talking me around to trying to convince the Sailor Senshi to go and sign up for lessons on the basics of magic. Fully believe they would benefit from that, personally.

Problem came when the guy joked about memory erasure as their solution to people leaking the secret about magic.

'But muh masquerade!'

Hahah, no. I remember the year 2010. I remember how prolific cameras were on every corner of the street. How many people had phones that were recording audio and video at every second of the day.

Erasing memories to keep magic a secret always had a shelf life. Not the reason I walked out the second the old pervert joked about it, but it's a good one.

I don't know what kinds of magical protections the Sailor Senshi have. Most people don't actually plan to protect against mind magics. Which, I mean, I get it. There's a strong 'It'll never happen to me!' vibe going on there.

Rich people think the same thing about getting shot in the alley out behind a cinema, too.

Erasing memories isn't even a step away from editing minds, though, and that's a big issue here. Because the Sailors are all Persons of Mass Destruction. Just handing them over to people that have the tools to literally reprogram them into targeted weapons is...

Look. The Sailor Scouts here in Japan go nuts? I'm not sure what would be able to stop them. Not if their defenses match up to their offenses. I've got spells that could do the job but I don't know if Tokyo would still be standing if they get deployed.

It'd be the magical edition of 'Japan gets to greet the sun!' Unfortunately, the last two didn't go over so well.

...Writing in the journal is supposed to help make me feel better. This isn't.

Okay. You know what? How about the moon. Let's talk about the moon. I went up there to cool off after leaving Mahora Academy.

Can you guess what I found?

If the answer is 'moon tunnels' you can take a dummy prize. I already knew about those.

I found a ruined crystal castle. On the dark side of the moon. Place was beat to hell and full of moon dust but everything up there was full of moon dust. That stuff is like asbestos and sand having a syphilitic hate-child together.

Thankfully? I have a multitude of repair spells! And one cleaning spell.

The palace, once the walls were back up? Place was a work of art. The crystalline walls collected starlight and sort of focused it, really gave the place this eerie glow. Now, I couldn't get through the whole castle. It's a giant castle!

But I did finish exploring a few rooms. The entryway, a gallery filled with weapons like a sword hilt, a mirror, a key-shaped staff and a scythe. The exhibit was called 'Those Who Watch the Darkness'.

Don't ask me what language it was in, alright? I cheated with a spell.

Then there was the throne room. One big throne, one little throne next to it. Really old furniture to the side. Great big painting behind the throne. Which was pretty confusing once I got it Repaired.

It was Sailor Moon. In a ballgown instead of an athletic leotard with a skirt. With a slightly taller woman that looked just about identical except with silver hair.

Next time I go up? I'm a take a polaroid with me and snap a few photos.

Back here on Earth? I've just been keeping apace. I've got my minting operation started. Just had to make a few different components. Out of Tungsten.

Look, heavy as that stuff is? It's got the highest melting point out of all the materials I have available. Which wouldn't have been necessary if I was working strictly with gold. But platinum doesn't melt until it's nearly at the same temperature as titanium.

Not that I can get titanium to melt. That stuff oxidizes at a lower temperature. And titanium oxide has an ignition point well below titanium's melting point.

The operation has been pretty simple, other than some... initial teething issues.

The process is pretty simple, thankfully. I go and get some scrap metal, maybe some rocks and I Convert it into either gold or platinum, whichever one I'm working with, which is initially unsuitable for reuse as a magical material.

I miss that about my old reality. The rules were more openly flexible there.

Then I melt that down with my own fire spell, Cremation, and pour it into my coin mold. Given the size of the coins, I can get about a hundred per pour. I decided to go with a more traditional shape, here. Round coins with square holes in them.

Makes them incredibly easy to stack.

Once they've cooled down enough to solidify, that's when I run 'em over to the press. It's just a simple lever press but it does a good enough job, breaks off the flashing so I can recast the metal and in the end I've got a small coin with a couple of symbols stamped on it that mean 'The Dragon's Treasure'.

Once I get done with gold and platinum, I was thinking of doing copper and silver. Making replica Wadōkaichin. I've actually got a handful of both that I pulled off the corpse of that Tengu I unsealed, the one from the book I bought in Nerima.

Probably need to do something with its corpse. The thing claimed it was Sōjōbō.

Might make for a good showpiece when I have to deal with the Kansai? I've got a feeling they'd recognize the old monster.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 051
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

9/7/1993

Masaki Tenchi huffed and puffed as he ran down the stairs of his school, taking turns at speeds that were maybe just a bit too fast and tight to be safe or sane.

He'd been trying to catch up with Ginji Areru after school for days without any luck, a task he'd been set to by his grandfather. The guy was, despite his large and bulky frame, surprisingly swift.

Tenchi wondered if it was something that all of the going-homers were good at.

"Wait!" Tenchi yelled as he burst through the doors of the school, escaping outside and into the summer heat. "Ginji! Wait!"

"...What?" the half-Japanese boy asked...

From just behind Tenchi.

Spinning around, Tenchi saw that the other teen had his schoolbag against his side and, unlike Tenchi, was not breathing heavily.

"How do you get here so fast?" the Masaki child asked. "I had to run down three flights of stairs!"

"...Practice?" the larger teen offered, a confused look on his face. "Did you need something, Masaki?"

"Yeah, just..." Tenchi held up one hand as he leaned over, his knees bending as he tried to catch his breath while people walked around them. After a few deep breaths, the boy stood up fully, inhaled and then exhaled loudly. "My grandfather wanted to talk to you."

"...Did he say why?" Ginji asked, one eyebrow arching up.

"No, he just- he just said that it was important," Tenchi tried to explain.

"I mean, I guess I can spare a bit of time," Ginji agreed with a shrug as he started to walk around Tenchi. "The Masaki Shrine isn't that far from where I live."

"That's great!" Tenchi said as he followed the other teen. He got a few confused looks, nobody really spent time with Ginji after all, but people left them well enough alone.

Ginji tossed his bag into a basket on the front of a surprisingly well maintained antique bicycle, then frowned at it for a second before looking over to Tenchi.

"You can put your bag in if you want," the tall teen offered. After a moment of indecision where Tenchi considered saying no, he did in fact take Ginji up on his offer.

Following along as Ginji walked away from the school, pushing the bike next to him, Tenchi... felt incredibly awkward.

His friends would have started talking about whichever girl or actress they were currently thinking about. The kendo club would have been talking to each other about their performance. Maybe even joking about who would get picked to compete soon.

Ginji just kept quiet. Actually, he was kind of jittery, too. He kept on double, then triple checking every crosswalk before walking over the roads.

They were almost out of the city and Tenchi was starting to wonder if maybe he should have taken a bus and just met Ginji when he got to the shrine when something finally happened!

Ginji... checked the watch on his wrist and then stopped at a payphone. The guy put in his coins and then pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket and dialed the number on it. The speaker in the phone was pretty loud and Tenchi could hear it ring four times, Areru waiting patiently on it, before it clicked-

"Four days," Ginji said into the phone, the words enunciated slow and clear. Tenchi heard a rattling gasp on the other end just before Ginji slammed the handset down on the receiver.

"...What was that about?" Tenchi asked as they walked away from the ringing payphone.

"...Do you believe in ghosts?" Ginji asked back. Tenchi's kneejerk reaction was to say no but the question seemed genuine rather than one of the weaselly insults that one of his friends would work up.

"...I'd like to," Tenchi admitted after giving the question a bit of thought. "Why? Do you believe in ghosts?"

"It's more that they believe in me," Ginji grumbled as they stopped at a busy intersection. "A fox out in the woods brought me a VHS tape a little bit ago. I played it and it looked like something an art student might get a bad grade on. Ended with a shot of a well before turning to static. Right after that, I got a call from an Ōshima phone number. Whoever was on the other side just said 'Seven Days' and hung up on me."

"...A fox," Tenchi began to say as they crossed the road. "Brought you a tape. In the woods."

"Where else is a fox going to live?" Ginji asked.

Tenchi stopped at the sidewalk and closed his eyes for a second, inhaling deeply as he tried to make sense of... that.

"So, what, you've been calling them back?" Tenchi asked as they got moving again.

"Pretty much," Ginji agreed. "They set the appointment. I'm just reminding them about it."

"And you think it was a ghost?" Tenchi asked.

"Either an Onryo or a Grudge," Ginji explained. Which... alright, Tenchi -did- know a little bit about that sort of thing. His grandpa had started training him about spirits and exorcisms last summer.

Maybe that was the important thing his grandpa wanted to talk to Ginji about? Upsetting the different spirits was a bad idea, everyone in Japan knew that.

"Aren't you worried?" Tenchi asked as the city started to give way to the countryside.

"Why would I be?" Ginji stopped walking to ask, turning to face Tenchi as he did so.

"Well, what if it is a ghost?" Tenchi asked as he walked ahead, taking the lead. "You can't really fight a ghost, can you?"

"Of course you can," Ginji disagreed as he reached Tenchi's side. "You just need the right tools. Onryo can be fought off with anything that's blessed. And Grudges aren't that much worse. Better dealt with by burning down their lairs first and salting the ashes but the Grudge itself can be broken if you can exorcise its manifestations."

...Huh.

Grandpa Katsuhito's lessons had been more about appeasement. And debate. Like how Tamamo-No-Mae was convinced to repent her evil ways, allowing her spirit to be cleansed.

Ginji's suggestions were kind of the opposite of that. A view that Tenchi felt he needed to express.

"Violence is the universal language, Masaki," Ginji explained as they followed the long, winding roads outside of the city. "The natural world and the supernatural world both speak it. The trick is finding the right tool to help translate it into an accent the other side will actually listen to."

That... sounded wrong. Tenchi was very sure of that.

But, at the same time, he also couldn't think of anything to immediately argue the point, either.

 

[Pinklestia]

Omake: The Backdoor II

The Pink Goddess Mew adventure with Jinx lasted a long while, but after few years it was over. After that Mew connected back to the other versions of herself and caught up with any lost work thanks to Time Travel by just turning into Celebi and time traveling, until literally the only thing she has left was debugging Alchemist soul.

"Ugh… Mew this is such a pain in the tail. Terra-chan is lucky I like Alchemist for some reason. Whatever. Getting some hot cocoa and then I will start Mew…"

The pink feline Goddess made a copy of Alchemist soul data, then set a complete empty universe and had the copy of the data show to her as Unown in said universe.

"Oh wow what an idiot Mew… seems like Alchemist forgot that violence only really works when you are facing someone you can beat… and he went and had to be a spiteful loser with that bitch… who was even more spiteful in return… ugh."

"Well Mew... time to start debugging… this soul has so much Spaghetti code that it would be literally easier to just make a new soul from scratch but if I do that… well even if it had the same data it would not be really be Alchemist and I did give my word Mew. So… let's start from the beginning…"

// This is a comment, and is ignored by the compiler.

// You can test this code by clicking the "Run" button over there ->

// or if you prefer to use your keyboard, you can use the "Ctrl + Enter"

// shortcut.

// This code is editable, feel free to hack it!

// You can always return to the original code by clicking the "Reset" button ->

// This is the main function.

fn main() {

// Statements here are executed when the compiled binary is called.

// Print text to the console.

println!("Hello World!");

}

Click to shrink...

Mew blinked.

Then she blinked again.

"Why the fudge does this soul have a Hello World example code at the start Mew? Is this one of the system remains? Ah well… save backup, then delete this Hello World crap then test the soul code."

The Unown were literally erased from existence, but thankfully not the backup, annoyed Mew restored them from the backup.

"Ugh… great I am gonna get addicted to coffee again thanks to this Mew…" The pink feline said and lowered her ears and tail.

 

[Vensers Prodigy]

Fluff for the fluff god! Omakes for the omake throne!

Areru double checked his list, making absolutely sure there wouldn't be any deliveries after this. Frankly he was lucky sailor moon ordered another cake so soon... Though that probably wasn't a good sign in hindsight. Seeing the local priest, he offered a polite nod as he walked to the not-so-hidden room where the defense against the Youma was planned.

"-the le- oh Usugi, you cakes here!" Mercury was badly attempting to hide her arcanotech laptop as he entered.

Probably best to be blunt.

"Hello, sorry about the scare above the cinema. Jaw healed fine and I convinced my roommate to help with the 'bite everything's instincts." Three. Two...

"What?!" Even the cat joined in for that...

"What? You tried to save me and I got myself hurt. Should have teleported to one of the Islands in the Pacific for that." Honestly, rookie mistake. He really did get sloppy.

"How... You clearly know their identities... What did you do?" ...Not a spirit or familiar, he knew what those felt like. Especially the catty ones. Alien maybe?

"Er... Moon had a rather... Memorable reaction to the last cake. So I remembered her and recognized her face at the cinema. Not like she's hiding it."

"What?!"

"No facemask, no effort to adjust her height, a small change in hairstyle..." Honestly, DC had been bad enough, but the heroes had put some effort into things.

"How did you see past the protections?!" There were protections?

"Honestly didn't even realize there were any. I could take a look if you want. If nothing else to make sure those rapists in the mages Association or any of the aliens living here like my great-grandfather can't see through it."

"What?!" Huh, even the priest joined in that time. Good to confirm he was aware. Probably hiding his awareness for some reason that would have made sense a century or three ago.

... This is going to take awhile.

 

[Mister Ficser]

Project: Gamer Ver. Error, File Not Found
Anime Adjacent Entry: 052
Disclaimer Me Do: I own nothing you recognize. And most of what you don't recognize, I still don't own.
_________________________________________________________________________

9/7/1993

Meeting up with the head of the Masaki family wasn't something that Areru ever really intended on doing. As a point of fact, he'd gone out of his way to figure out which parts of the forests and mountains the Masaki family actually owned just for the sake of avoiding them.

It actually ended up being a bit of a confusing mess, all said and done. There weren't any convenient maps that were available that just said 'This, this and this are owned by the old shrine family. Then this part here is yours. Then over here...'

The Masaki family owned the mountain the shrine was on, quite a few plots of farmland in the surrounding areas and then, not very far away, they had something like two-dozen individual plots of land situated in a remote village.

Areru had actually been through it a number of times. Strange people, he'd thought, but they were decent enough and hadn't given him any trouble for his mixed heritage. The grocery store over there was actually where he did a good bit of his shopping whenever he was staying 'local'.

Funnily enough, the Ginji family lands were, well, missing from the records office in Okayama City. The family name was referenced, and there was a copy of the family registry, but the actual details of the land ownership wasn't available.

Apparently, when Areru had once asked about it, the official records had been destroyed in the forties. Burned to the ground, as it were. Along with the whole damned records office.

There was a very old, hand drawn map and some official looking documents still in the Ginji house, though. Technically, the lands were still in Shinji's name according to the most recent stamps on them.

Technically.

What did all of this mean?

It meant that Areru knew well enough that Masaki Katsuhito didn't want to talk to him about trespassing onto his lands because Areru very explicitly hadn't. Even Ryoko's mountain wasn't covered, even by the largest possible interpretation, being anywhere from five-hundred meters to a full kilometer away from the Masaki holdings.

Did the old priest somehow detect the curse Areru had picked up from the VHS tape? The teen couldn't discount that possibility, no. And, if the man wanted information about it, he'd have to settle for Areru's observations. Areru had burned the tape after watching it a few days back.

The half of Areru that was still at home, stinking of smoke and ash from his relatively busy day printing money, was interrupted from his musings as Ryoko poked him in the cheek. The teen looked up to meet her eyes, one eyebrow arched in a clear question.

'What are you thinking?' she asked, her hands talking where her tongue failed.

"The Masaki priest finally wants to talk to me," Areru explained to her. "His grandson, Tenchi, passed the message to me earlier. Him and I are on our way back right now."

The woman crossed her legs and floated in the air, palming her cheek in clear thought for a moment before she asked 'What does he want?'

"...Tenchi doesn't know," Areru answered after a moment of silence, his other half asking the question that Ryoko had just asked him.

Areru had also asked earlier, at the start of the venture, but it never hurt to double-check.

Ryoko placed one finger on her chin, her eyes narrowing sharply.

'I'm going to be there,' Ryoko finally said after a moment of thought.

Areru... simply nodded to her. He could stop her, if he put in some effort, but he didn't actually have any reason to.

"Tenchi and I are about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes away from the shrine," Areru told the specter. "Do you know where it is?"

In response, Ryoko simply smirked at him before gently removing her gloves and setting them aside, giving Areru a brief glimpse at the sapphire rosary still wrapped around her wrist. Without any warning or fanfare, she dropped to the floor-

Through the floor-

-and disappeared.

Areru quietly sighed before he got up and got moving, puttering around the house for a few minutes as he decided what he wanted to do.

He could be working on figuring out where the cursed tape originated from. He had a few images to work from, and the caller ID had given him a phone number when he'd been called. 04992 was the area code for the island of Izu Ōshima, a small island south of Tokyo. He could probably just search the island by foot to find whatever location was haunted. It wasn't that large, really.

Alternatively, he could just get back to minting coins. Between the metal casting and the printing, he could average about one-hundred coins an hour.

Or...

Areru did a slow circle, looking around the house before he pursed his lips and nodded to himself. He needed information for one of his more important plans. Information that wasn't being offered when he asked. Information he was going to have to track down on his own...

Coming back around to the kitchen after his slow trek through the house, Areru opened his small fridge and extracted a small vial of clear liquid. He held it up to the light that was filtering in through the window of the kitchen and shook it, an unhappy grimace on his face.

Sugar wash alcohol. Sixty percent alcohol by volume. Technically safe for human consumption.

Areru was glad that Ryoko didn't know how alcohol was made. If she'd recognized that he knew how to brew his own? He knew she'd have been asking him to be her personal vintner when...

Areru shook his head as he moved through the kitchen, grabbing a jar filled with sand and a knife. The sand itself had been baked, sterilizing it before he'd stored it away. A small spoonful was taken from the jar and added to the vial.

Next came the critical ingredient. The bit that turned it from diarrhea in a bottle and into magical diarrhea in a bottle.

Focusing, Areru gritted his teeth as he intentionally suppressed his Shield of Glass. Once it was down, once he was vulnerable, Areru slid the blade of his knife across the meat of his palm, carving into the skin with a pained hiss.

Areru dropped the bloody knife into the sink and hurried to bring the vial under the bloody gash, crimson liquid dripping into the alcohol and sand, turning the thin liquid pink, then red in short order.

Only a few short seconds later and the cut healed over, first turning into a crusty scab before it flaked away to reveal healthy, unblemished skin underneath.

"...Hate doing that," Areru grumbled to himself before he brought the vial to his lips and, against the protests from his stomach, threw his head back to quaff the mixture!

Blood and grit and fire burned down his throat and Areru had to struggle to keep the mix down-

And then, between one blink and the next, another Areru appeared at his side.

The two teens nodded to each other for a moment before the original walked to the side door of the house and slid it open. He stepped out, into the heat as his temporary copy waited inside the house.

With a flex of will, an ability that wasn't quite magic twisted and tugged at the fabric of the world. Areru stepped forward, leaving behind a weak, temporary copy that stepped to the side, leaving behind a weak, temporary copy that...

Areru had multiple means of replicating himself. They each had their own strengths and weaknesses.

The potion that he'd consumed, the Extract of Twin Form, was disgusting in the extreme and a pain to manufacture. But the duplicate, while having a comparatively brief lifespan, was his equal in capability and was quite conversant should the need arise.

The lesser copies, the Wraiths, could be made en masse but they were categorically silent and were only a quarter as strong as he was. Anything created -from- them would also disappear when they did but anything they interacted with and changed, mechanically or magically, would remain altered.

Neither version offered him any additional points of view. He did not regain any memories or power when they faded away. The ones that would be tasked with gathering information would actually need to write down their findings for their existence to mean anything.

With a wave over his shoulder, Areru disappeared. He had his tasks and, being made from him, they knew their own roles.

Reappearing in a shaded nook, Areru saw an old, rusted gate before him. He'd seen it before, dozens upon dozens of times, and he'd never chosen to go beyond it. Ryoko... never wanted him to see what was inside the small, locked cave.

But...

Areru... knew he could be stupid sometimes. He knew he had his blind spots. The worst of them being people, their reasons and motivations.

But he did pay attention. He did think and reason.

If Ryoko was a ghost? Then she'd clearly died. And the ghost fixated on the mountain.

There was a reason for that. One he was fairly sure he'd guessed at. But guesses were not the same as knowledge.

Teleporting beyond the barred door, Areru carefully stepped around the gnarled, familiar roots that encompassed the cave like a series of veins until he came across a small shrine. Inside of which he saw the hilt of a sword, three red gems in the pomel.

Given how cramped the little box was, it'd be almost impossible to draw the weapon. Meaning the sword was embedded in the rock of the cave and the shrine had been built around it. It could be incredibly important...

Or it could just be a sword in a rock.

Exhaling slowly, Areru called upon his Elemental Mastery and tuned it to Earth and just... felt the cave.

The sword stood out starkly. Steel, poor quality, folded over and over to try and strengthen the impure metal found in Japan. Entirely unremarkable.

The walls of the cave were thoroughly violated by the roots that Areru knew were spread out like a cancer from the strange tree, hidden deep in the woods. Areru knew trees decently enough and, whatever that one was, it didn't match any leaf or bark patterns that Areru had been able to find in any books. And its roots had penetrated through stone, pushing through the material until it cracked before feeding into those cracks and just... expanding.

Gods, the cave should have collapsed! By now, the roots themselves were holding it together.

Areru shuddered as his awareness continued to expand. He could escape from a cave-in, sure, but it'd be... well, it'd be quite an experience.

Areru closed his eyes and focused. Stone and roots, water... and a chute? Smooth, carved stone behind a large rock and... mechanisms. Old ones. Activated by another rock that was... tied up in roots.

Areru wasn't willing to touch those. They were part of that giant tree and, somehow, Ryoko was connected to it.

Teleporting blind was generally a bad idea but the teen felt he had a solid enough grasp on the location to make it work. With a minor flex of his magic, he found himself in the hidden chute and slowly slid down.

There were patterns carved into the stone chute and Areru had to duck low to keep from hitting his head on any stalactites. The patterns formed harsh, angular shapes, almost like circuitry, and were filled with frigid water.

They were clearly carved with intent, though for what purpose Areru did not know. Sliding to the bottom, Areru was greeted by a round room, more channels cut to direct the water to the middle where a bright light glowed from within a pit.

Looking around as the dragon walked towards the center, he could see that the roots had penetrated even this far. None of the few he saw were large but the thread-like exploratory roots were unmistakable.

Areru... did not want to meet whatever will resided within that tree. Its hunger was insatiable.

Approaching the pit, Areru crouched down to look within.

What he saw was... horrific.

A body, barely wrapped in an old, rotten robe with a red demon mask upon its face. The flesh over the ribs had long since withered away, exposing bone, but the arms were intact if wilted and desiccated. Oddly enough, however, the abdomen seemed partially intact if not deeply sunken in.

Most telling, however, was the hair. Somehow, the body within the pit still had hair.

Ryoko's spiky white mane, one he'd recognize with ease.

Except...

None of that should have been there. Not after seven-hundred years. At most, the metal clasps of the robe might have remained but not the rest...

Areru licked his lips as his brow furrowed in thought.

Ryoko's body...

He knew she was inhuman, but...

The thing in the pit was still alive. Barely, just barely.

How, Areru couldn't begin to guess. Especially given Ryoko's condition.

This... changed things. A lot of things.

And yet, Areru grinned, his teeth sharp. It didn't really change anything at all.

-----

"Alright," the Extract clone said once Prime had left. "You guys know what to do, get to it."

"Can it wait a minute?" one of the Wraith's asked, drawing a confused glance from the Extract. "I need to take a shit."

"You?" One of the other Wraiths complained. "What about me? I've gotta go!"

"We've all gotta go!" another Wraith shouted. "That asshole made us after he took the damned potion!"

"That's not my fault!" a fourth Wraith shouted. "Now get outta the way!"

There was a lot of pushing and a lot of shoving before the Wraiths remembered one crucial, horrible thing.

The Ginji house only had one bathroom. And there were sixteen copies of Areru that needed to use it.

It was not a good day in the Ginji Household.