Hagakure Sakura Does Not Lament

[“I’m sorry for everything… Really, I am indebted to you.”]

“No need to thank me. It’s only natural for me to help out a dear friend. Isn’t that right? Nanase.”

Saying that, the man – Asakura – laughed.

Asakura hung up the phone and sat down in a leather chair with a shrug of his shoulders. He stared at the fist-sized stone on the desk, a pomegranate-like thing in the color of dried blood.

“The fruit of malice, created by the lives of nearly a hundred girls. If it were true, I could have added a little more power. I’m having a hard time with the hard-working Tsugumi.”

Saying this, Asakura smiled tiredly.

-Attacks by Irregular Demonic Beast that caused many victims. It was a man-made disaster caused by this man as the main culprit.

Eleven years ago, Shikabane Sakura sprouted the seeds of a Demonic Beast that she had hidden in a warehouse in case of emergency, and waited with vigilance for the right moment to finally blossom its malevolent intentions.

The government probably thought that the flowers were just for attacking people with the right aptitude, but their real purpose was something else. Shikabane Sakura, the founder of the religious organization to which Asakura belonged, converted the girls’ lives and pain into power, and the power stored in the flower was condensed and eventually became a large fruit.

The stone, the embodiment of the girls’ despair and pain, emitted a more sinister presence than a normal magic nucleus.

“Let’s continue where we left off eleven years ago, Sakura-kun. This time, I will never make a mistake. …I will go through it with my own will.”

Asakura said this and gently traced a pomegranate-like stone with his index finger. The dark, shiny stone shimmered and emitted a bewitching radiance.

–Asakura was a blessed man. He was born into a wealthy family, had a good head on his shoulders, was destined to become a doctor quickly, married a beautiful woman, and had children. He had friends he cared about, and his life was smooth sailing until one day, his perfect life was shattered.

The sudden attack of Demonic Beasts that began 31 years ago. The isolation of Japan. The anxiety of running out of supplies. Under such circumstances, Asakura continued his frantic activities as a doctor. …At that time, Asakura was a sincerely good person who was able to devote himself to someone else.

As a doctor, a responsible adult, and a father, Asakura lived unashamedly through those turbulent times. However, it could be said that it was inevitable that his upright nature became twisted in a sense.

One day, after Asakura finished treating the injured, he returned home for the first time in a long while to find his beloved wife and child dead. His wife, torn beyond recognition, and his young daughter, her limbs torn off and bloodied to the point she couldn’t move. It was obvious that they were dead.

He didn’t remember much about what happened after that. He remembered his friend who lived nearby, Nanase Yozuru, helped him with the burial, but the rest of his memory was fuzzy.

In hindsight, the incident might have been the reason Nanase began to think about escaping from Japan.

However, Nanase’s efforts were in vain, and before he could leave Japan, his family was also attacked by a Demonic Beast. The house where they were killed was in the same horrible condition as Asakura’s. Unable to accept this reality, his friend Nanase broke down.

Asakura devotedly supported Nanase, who was depressed, to repay the favor he had done, but perhaps it was only because he saw himself in the image of his sick friend.

Time passed, and with the rise of the Magical Girl’s existence, life returned to relative peace, and Asakura was finally able to put his mind at ease – until he encountered a ghost that was supposed to be lost.

A girl with eyes like dead fish, standing in front of his friend’s deserted house. The girl, who looked like a child he had seen in the distant past, told him her name was Nanase Akane.

–At first, he was just happy. He was angry at the government’s treatment of Akane, moved to tears by the sight of Nanase crying and rejoicing, and relieved to see Akane gradually smile.

But at some point, he began to feel suffocated by their happy appearance.

Whenever Nanase talked happily about his daughter, whenever Akane greeted Asakura with laughter, anger seeped out of him as if ink had been dropped deep into his heart.

Having lost their wives and children and living in the depths of despair, he and his friend had to live with a pain in their hearts that would never go away. –But why was his friend the only one who looked saved and happy? –He just couldn’t forgive him for that.

Of course, Asakura himself knew that it was nothing more than jealousy. However, although he understood this in his head, he was unable to come to terms with it, and his hatred continued to smolder.

It was at this time that Asakura was taken by a patient to a meeting where he met his destiny.

Sakura, a miko of the Star of Dawn, saw through Asakura’s problems in no time and invited him to come to the Star of Dawn. Asakura did as he was told and joined the Star of Dawn, and for the first time in his life, he realized what he had to do.

He had to tolerate the existence of hateful Demonic Beasts in his daily life. Magical Girls were consumed unnecessarily. The government, supported by Amaterasu’s self-righteousness, was corrupt and unreliable. It was wrong to live in fear of Demonic Beasts that might come to attack at any moment. –In that case, then good people like us who know the pain should stand up, Sakura said.

–They would do their best to avoid unnecessary sacrifices in the future. Even if it looked wrong from the outside, it would be appreciated if it was accompanied by results. The people who had been sacrificed up until now, as well as his wife and child, who were cruelly killed by the Demonic Beast, would surely be pleased. Asakura certainly thought so.

And those who were inspired by this idea gathered on the Star of Dawn under Sakura’s leadership. They pushed forward with the plan for the “ritual of the descent of the God”.

The God who controlled the boundary was brought down to a human vessel and its authority was artificially exercised by binding it. Sakura told them that by doing so, it would be possible to suppress the appearance rate of Demonic Beasts and forcibly lower the rank of the Demonic Beasts that come out.

And so, after much trial and error by the researchers, the descent ritual system was completed, leaving only the assimilation of the God a few months later.

–But at what point did the shadows begin to fall on that glorious hope?

Sakura, who always showed superhuman behavior, began to lower her eyes thoughtfully and became irritated more and more often.

Asakura pondered about Sakura’s behavior but concluded that she was probably nervous because of the upcoming ritual.

However, on the day of the ceremony, Asakura found out that Sakura had done something quite unexpected.

Sakura had changed her original plan and replaced Tsugumi, the original vessel for the ceremony, with Nanase Chidori, the grandson of Asakura’s friend.

Of course, Asakura objected. He had previously been begged by Sakura to tell her about his friend’s situation – Sakura Akane – but he didn’t tell her that so she could act irregularly. …And no matter how much he hated them, the child was innocent. He argued that it was wrong to sacrifice the child, but Sakura shook her head and dismissed Asakura’s opinion.

Asakura still rebelled and was put in a warehouse away from the headquarters for the duration of the ritual, and he only knows what happened after that through hearsay.

…In the end, the ritual ended in failure. The ritual was carried out half-heartedly and caused an unprecedented catastrophe.

Asakura, who was far from the center of the ceremony and in a high position in the organization, managed to escape without losing his life because Sakura’s treatment had instilled in him a certain degree of resistance to the Gods.

However, all that remained in Asakura’s mind was emptiness. If this was the case, it would have been easier to just die.

–The justice that he had aspired for was cruelly broken, and many people were killed. This helpless fact was too heavy for Asakura.

Since then, Asakura spent his days as if he had died, acting as if nothing had happened around him. Monotonous days as usual. It was as if the past, which had seemed so bright, was a lie.

–Then, five years after the failed ritual, Asakura, now the deputy director of a major hospital, was visited by a young girl.

The girl, who had the image of a young couple who had been members of the organization, turned her glazed eyes on Asakura and spat out.

“I just can’t forgive what happened that day. So please help me, Asakura-sensei.”

“With this old man? I don’t think I can do anything.”

“My God told me. You took the contents of the warehouse, didn’t you, Sensei? Use it to gather the power to perform the ritual again.”

“…That thing shouldn’t be used in the first place. Do you realize how much it will cost?”

“I know that!! But still, if someone doesn’t make the ritual a success, it means my father died in vain! All his research, all his hard work, would have been for nothing! I won’t let that happen!”

That’s why I’m going to carry out the ritual no matter what the cost, the girl told him as if she had gone mad.

“If there is a cause, there’s a meaning!! If the ritual succeeds, far more people will be saved in the end! –Even Asakura-sensei, you, too, really regret what happened that day.”

“That’s…”

“Let’s work hard together once again. Fortunately, the original vessel is still alive. I need Sensei’s help.”

Her crazy but straight eyes made his heart flutter involuntarily.

–He thought that all that was left was to end up in a state of nothingness. A life consumed in vain, without meaning, without significance. He already had a mountain of sins that he couldn’t bear. Even if he increased those sins, if there were lives that could be saved, shouldn’t he move on?

If they used the legacy left by Sakura, there would be a lot of casualties. But if it saved lives, it was worth considering.

A cause that should have been lost, and a sense of ethics that had worn out because of the incident. The balance, which was on the verge of breaking, eventually tilted to one side.

–Asakura took the girl’s hand. While fully aware that this was not the justice he had once desired, but the thorny path of evil.

As Asakura was reminiscing about the past, the door to his room opened with a clatter and a girl walked in.

“Sensei, I bought dinner for you. I made a pizza with lots of cheese.”

“…Do you know how old I am? I can’t eat that much oily food anymore because it makes my stomach upset.”

“Well then, Sensei, please eat the salad that I brought. That would make it healthy, right?”

“Hmm, you are still treating me roughly. Today’s MVP is you, Suo-kun.”

“Ehehe, of course, it’s me!!”

Saying that, the girl who belonged to the Magical Girl’s side and who had completely deceived the government to retrieve the magic nucleus of the Demonic Flower–Azuma Suo laughed innocently.

Their ultimate goal was the re-descent of the God who controlled the boundary. –in other words, it meant Nanase Tsugumi’s substantial death.

With the help of Agatsuma’s contract God and the foresight power of the God Volva, who had appeared and claimed to be Sakura’s supporter, they succeeded in creating the magic nucleus. The only thing that remained was to secure Nanase Tsugumi and made the ritual a success.

“I feel bad for Sakura-kun who tried to save that child, but it’s going as originally planned. –According to the Goddess Volva, her spirit is hidden inside Tsugumi. Yeah, I’m looking forward to speaking with her..”

Muttering this, Asakura smiled gently.

The night of those who embrace the wrong cause just goes on and on.