Short Stories from the Fire Hunter Universe
Listen to this chapter!
I woke up floating in lukewarm water.
My silver hair had wrapped around my body like silk. It loosened and spread out like blossoming petals on the surface of the water.
I slowly stretched out my legs and relaxed my knees, which I’d been pressing together. My arms were bent at a weird angle, so I stretched those out, too. My body was floating up toward the surface. My head broke water, and I breathed. My hair clung to my shoulders.
As I sucked in deep breaths, I heard the sound of rustling silk nearby.
“Ah, you truly look just like me,” a girl said. She reached one slender hand towards me. I looked at it, uncertain. Did she want me to hold her hand? She seemed too small for me to lean on, so I gripped the edge of the glass tank I was in and pulled myself up. Water splashed over the edge and onto the floor. The floor was covered in grass.
Voices whispered all around the room. Multiple gazes fixed on me. Their heated stares warmed the air. It seemed that there had been many people present when I’d awakened.
“Let me give you a name,” the girl said as I emerged from the tank. She smiled warmly at me. For a brief instant, she was the only thing I could see.
“Your name will be Yururuho, the Millennium Comet,” the girl said. There was a red flower in her hair.
After that, I was taken to a white room filled with machines. The machines checked my body, making sure I could move properly. I lay on a cold table and waited as tiny devices were attached to my skin. People moved around me, operating the machines and checking their readouts. Each of them wore a mask that covered the lower half of their faces and a black hood over their hair. The people didn’t speak. Not to me, and not to one another. I saw the kanji character that meant “fire” embroidered on both sleeves of the uniforms they wore.
One of the people held out a piece of paper on a white wooden tray. I took it and unfolded it. I could read it. There were two sets of handwriting on the note, both legible. These were instructions. I read them over and then they were imprinted on my mind as commands. I had been made to follow commands.
There was fire contained inside my body. Terrible fire. It was my power source. The fire allowed me to move and fulfill commands. The girl who had been next to me when I’d awakened had a similar fire inside her. I sensed that she had shared part of her own fire with me.
“How long do I have to stay here?” I asked after I had finished reading the paper. My voice was very like the girl’s, so much so that even I would have trouble telling them apart.
“Until the evening,” a person dressed in white said. They bowed to me respectfully, their voice soothing. “After that, you may spend time with the princesses.”
I found it strange that I was simultaneously being treated courteously and being ordered around. I was a machine created in the image of the ruler of the Guardian Gods, Princess Tayura. In a week, I would be sent into space and orbit around the planet so that I could carry out my assigned mission. I was nothing but a tool. No one had to be polite to me.
As the testing went on, my body felt heavier. Perhaps this was the machine equivalent of fatigue. I was designed to live in a place without air or atmosphere or gravity. This place didn’t quite feel like home.
Only one of my visitors was unmasked: a young Guardian God wearing white formal robes. Her hair was done up in the mizura style. The Guardian God leaned against the white wall, blending into the background as she watched me. She never spoke, but her gaze was sharp. The air seemed colder around her.
People started moving around the room again, performing more tests. The Guardian God vanished between breaths. I would not see her again for a long time.
***
The masked experimenters led me back to the tank where I’d been born after they completed all of their tests. The tank was in a circular room without windows. The girl who had greeted me was waiting there. A large white dog lounged at her side.
“Yururuho,” the girl said. “The name suits you well.” Her name was Princess Tayura. No one had told me; this was something I’d always known. Princess Tayura had used a part of herself to make me, so I knew everything about her.
My escort bowed to Princess Tayura and then left the room.
The stone ceiling arched overhead. Mechanical star-shaped lanterns lit the windowless room. Small wildflowers grew at Princess Tayura’s feet. The hem of Princess Tayura’s robe was weighty enough to press those delicate wildflowers to the earth.
None of the star-shaped lanterns provided much light, but together, they lit the room brightly. Princess Tayura herself glowed with a light all her own. Flowers grew in abundance all around her. She smiled.
“I do not like these formal clothes,” I said. “They’re so heavy.” My robes were layered: crimson on top, white below, and a silver under-layer worn tight to the skin.
Princess Tayura was dressed similarly, so she raised one heavy arm in understanding. “My sister and I selected those clothes for you,” she said. Her sleeves were reddish-purple and not crimson. “I thought the colors would suit you.” She tilted her head, making her hair ornament glint in the light of the lanterns. The hair ornament was shaped like a red flower. Her hair was a glossy black, so long that it trailed down her back.
My hair was just as long, but pure silver. The people who’d come to experiment on me had styled it when they dressed me.
The large dog sat quietly by Princess Tayura’s side, like her shadow. The dog looked between me and her, wagging his tail tentatively. I wondered if I smelled the same as Princess Tayura.
“You shouldn’t have gone to all this trouble,” I said. “I can’t wear clothes like this when I’m in orbit.”
Princess Tayura frowned slightly. The radiance and warmth she emitted faded a little. I looked right into her eyes, which were not the same color as mine.
“Right now, this planet is in a state of war,” I said. “That’s why I was created. I still don’t know what that means. Does it mean anything?”
Princess Tayura looked back at me with dark eyes. The dog whimpered. “There is meaning,” she said. “Great meaning in all of it.”
The Guardian God in white robes that I’d seen before popped into the room suddenly. The door to the room had not opened or closed.
“Princess Tayura has tried to stop the war using every means she has available,” the Guardian God said. “The humans refuse to end this conflict. Many of them have died. The ecosystem is on the verge of collapse. Most other species are extinct. Water, soil, and air are all polluted to the point of poisoning life. That is why you were created. Princess Tayura wishes to save the humans and this world.”
I tilted my head. My hair ornaments tinkled as I moved.
Princess Tayura smiled gently at me. “That is Hibari,” she said. “She eagerly awaited your awakening. Like me, she is your elder sister.”
Hibari’s cheeks flushed and her thin eyebrows rose. She slipped one hand into her sleeve and pulled out a white doll made of paper. “Here, Yururuho,” she said, offering me the doll. “Please keep this close to you. There are still those who oppose launching you into space. There’s no telling what kind of mischief those people are plotting.”
I was unfamiliar with the backstabbing and politicking that had gone into my creation, so I didn’t ask any questions. I accepted the white paper doll. There were no words written on the paper, so I received no instructions from it.
“You worry too much,” Princess Tayura said. “Everyone accepted her birth, so they won’t go back on everyone’s choice now. There are still some who voice objections, true, but there’s no sign that they’re doing anything. It is in their best interests to treat Yururuho as well as they do me and my elder sister.”
“You are too trusting,” Hibari said, frowning. “We can’t let our guard down until Yururuho is safely in space. Even the humans might try something.”
Princess Tayura interrupted Hibari before she could finish speaking. “How is my elder sister?”
Hibari stared down at the grass. “She is resting in her room. Even though the maids have called her several times, it seems she will not get up today.”
“Oh,” Princess Tayura said. She didn’t sound surprised.
The white dog at Princess Tayura’s side nudged her with his nose. His large chestnut eyes looked me up and down.
“This dog is En,” Princess Tayura said. She petted the dog’s head and ears.
En seemed curious about me, but he never left Princess Tayura’s side. I wondered how old this dog was. He was a large dog, but the brightness of his eyes and the suppleness of his movements were like a puppy’s. The name ‘En’ meant nothing to me. I asked Hibari how En had gotten his name.
“I don’t know,” Hibari said. “Kagerou named him. It means ‘circling’ or ‘going around.’”
“Don’t you think that’s the perfect name for him?” Princess Tayura asked. Her attention was drawn by a person moving behind her.
A man in ocher formal robes stood directly behind Princess Tayura. He wore a lacquered black cap on his head. Two thick black cords tied under his chin secured the hat. He was tall and imposing, but also light on his feet; he made no sound whatsoever when he moved. I wondered if my senses had been calibrated incorrectly. I knew based on his clothes that he belonged to the Fire Clan.
“Oh, we have a visitor,” Princess Tayura said. “Did you come all this way just to see me?”
En’s tail wagged.
Hibari sighed, and a moment later she was gone. The grass and flowers that grew where Hibari had been swayed slightly in a sudden breeze.
“Yururuho, this is Kagerou,” Princess Tayura said. “He is the one who named En.” Her gaze lingered for a moment on the place where Hibari had been, but the smile she gave Kagerou seemed genuine.
I looked up at Kagerou. He had thick, bold eyebrows and a square jaw, giving him a rugged appearance. He knelt on the grass and bowed to me and Princess Tayura.
“Please forgive me for presenting myself like this. I thought it would not be permitted for me to meet Yururuho with others present.”
Princess Tayura shook her head in denial. Her hair ornaments tinkled like bells. Her lips pursed. I thought she seemed upset, though I couldn’t guess why.
“I had heard that you resembled Princess Tayura, but you two are nearly identical,” Kagerou said. “How surprising. I never thought the humans would be capable of such a thing.”
“Indeed,” Princess Tayura said. “She is made from my own flesh and blood, and is a part of me. I am sure she will help many people.”
En’s tail wagged faster. He came up to Kagerou’s feet and sniffed, then looked up. Kagerou scratched En’s ears.
“I pray that will be so,” Kagerou said.
The blooming flowers bobbed up and down all around them. That was strange. I couldn’t feel any wind. Neither Kagerou nor Princess Tayura seemed to think anything of it, so I decided not to mention it.
En preened under Kagerou’s attention for a short while, but then he stiffened and sniffed at the air. He barked loudly at the closed door.
The door opened from the outside. A tall girl with thin limbs and long, wild hair ran into the room. “Wow, it’s Yururuho!”
I thought that the newcomer looked like a snake.
The girl stretched out her slender arms and embraced me like a cherished friend. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. She laughed. It seemed like she didn’t even notice that En, Princess Tayura and Kagerou were present.
I was briefly overwhelmed by the girl’s exuberance. I submitted to the girl’s hug with a blank stare.
“Here she is! Isn’t she adorable? She looks just like you. My little sister has a twin,” she said.
The girl’s name was Princess Tokohana, and she was Princess Tayura’s older sister. I knew that name. There were some things I knew instinctively as part of my initial programming. Princess Tayura and Princess Tokohana were both powerful members of the Fire Clan.
“Princess Tokohana,” Kagerou said stiffly. “I see you decided to greet our guest in a more casual manner than is customary.” His tone was mildly disapproving.
I thought I understood what Kagerou meant. Princess Tayura and I were dressed in splendid ceremonial court robes, but Princess Tokohana wore only a light-colored robe without adornments. It looked like underwear or summer nightclothes. Her arms and legs were bare and she wore no shoes.
Princess Tokohana turned to face Kagerou. “What?! How did you get here before me? You didn’t even want to create Yururuho in the first place. You’ll have to go to her formal introduction with all the others when it’s time for that. Tomorrow, I think. The humans who participated will also be coming to the shrine to greet her.” She flounced over to Princess Tayura and me and sat down. Her hair was light brown, a very different color and texture from her sister’s.
“You shouldn’t wander about like this too often,” Princess Tayura said. “You’ll get sick, won’t you?”
Princess Tokohana scoffed. “I don’t get sick as much as you do. You get so dizzy that you can hear the voices of insects and grass, and sometimes you even possess other living creatures, don’t you? I heard you possessed a lizard yesterday.”
“I did,” Princess Tayura said. “At night, I was walking through the city. I borrowed a lizard’s eyes to climb the walls and watch how humans live. At dawn, the lizard was eaten by a bird, and that’s how I woke up this morning.”
Kagerou had watched the sisters speaking with a stern look on his face. He bowed and excused himself.
Princess Tokohana clasped her hands behind her back and stared intently at Kagerou’s face. She no longer appeared happy, exuberant or curious. There was no emotion on her face at all. “Next time, show me your insects before you go,” she said.
Kagerou’s eyebrow twitched.
“You keep insects, don’t you? Beautiful insects. I want to see them.”
“Very well,” Kagerou said curtly. He bowed once more, then left the room. The lanterns on the ceiling flickered once when he closed the door.
“I am delighted by your visit, sister,” Princess Tayura said. “Did you receive a prophetic dream?”
Princess Tokohana didn’t answer the question immediately. She crouched down and buried her face in En’s fur. En wagged his tail happily as Princess Tokohana wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled him. Kagerou’s presence here was all but forgotten.
“No,” Princess Tokohana said. “Why would you assume that? I don’t need prophetic dreams to find out that you’re possessing creatures and that Kagerou is collecting insects. Didn’t you already know that about him, Tayura?”
After thoroughly petting the dog, Princess Tokohana stretched out her legs and turned to face me. She was tall like a young tree that had grown straight and true. I had to lift my face to look her in the eye.
“Yururuho is leaving in a week, right? What should we do until then? What would you like to do?” Princess Tokohana’s large, bright eyes shone.
Princess Tayura and her sister were so unlike Hibari and Kagerou. They looked on me with kindness and gentleness. I sensed the strong bond between them. I felt like I was lacking somehow. I didn’t have a bond like theirs with anyone. The warmth within me was contained, destructive fire.
“I have no other desires except for the orders I have been given,” I said. I watched Princess Tokohana’s hair flutter over her shoulders. “My prime objectives are these: to find humans in need of rescue, and to seek out beautiful things. I am to send rescue signals to the appropriate authorities, and to search for beautiful things on the ground.”
Princess Tayura frowned.
“What kind of beautiful things?” Princess Tokohana asked, tilting her head. Her posture resembled a great serpent’s. “The humans must have written that command. What odd phrasing, though. ‘Beautiful things’ is highly subjective. The order is bound to confuse you. Wouldn’t it be enough for you to send rescue requests for people who need help?”
Princess Tayura quietly shook her head. “The humans wanted to keep her under their control until she was completed. I requested her transfer to the shrine the moment she was ready. I should have guessed that making such a selfish request would come with conditions.”
Princess Tokohana frowned slightly. “Yes. I suppose this could be your fault, sister. We are always wrong when we discount the capabilities and desires of humans. We have the luxury of long lives, but we are not omnipotent or omniscient.” She glanced sideways at Princess Tayura, who was hanging her head in shame.
Princess Tokohana grinned. “This is no time for bargaining, yet the humans are acting childish. I bet they’re just trying to create a good impression of themselves so that when the war ends, they’ll look better than us. They think they’ll survive this war and that the world will become a better place.” She stretched extravagantly and then looked into my eyes.
I felt like Princess Tokohana’s eyes were capable of swallowing me whole.
“You should see the world for yourself,” Princess Tokohana said. “How else will you decide what is beautiful or not? What is beauty? Is it a flower? A wild beast? A bird? Fields cultivated by people? Cities? What about fire and flames? Are weapons designed for slaughter beautiful? Is a cathedral burned to the ground beautiful? What about abandoned homes and livestock? Or soldiers clutching their heads and weeping? Yes, I think you should go and see everything. Soon, the word ‘comfort’ will lose all meaning.”
Princess Tayura rested her hand on my shoulder. “Sister, you know that’s not true. Things are not so hopeless as all that. Yururuho will surely save many people. Not just their lives, but their hearts. We must save the humans. If we cannot, then I would be ashamed to be a Guardian God.” Her hand shook on my shoulder.
Princess Tokohana’s intense stare dropped. She laughed loudly, breaking some of the tension in the room. Princess Tayura and I waited for her to stop laughing. I had no idea what was so funny.
After she stopped laughing, Princess Tokohana turned her attention to the tank that I had emerged from. It was still filled with water. The surface of the tank was calm, with no ripples.
“Go into the world and see every kind of beauty that there is,” Princess Tokohana said. “And then tell all of us here on the surface of the planet what you see. Hold nothing back.” Her large eyes stared straight ahead. She reached out and ruffled En’s fur. “I’m going back to sleep,” she said. She left the room, trailing her long brown hair behind her.
En seemed reluctant to let her go. The grass and flowers shifted subtly away from her as she walked away.
The room seemed darker with Princess Tokohana gone.
“My sister is always like that,” Princess Tayura said. “She’s so lively and cheerful, isn’t she? No one ever knows what she’s going to say.” She gave me a refined smile. Her cheeks were slightly flushed. “And you should know… she wasn’t wrong. The world right now is in chaos. We’re protected from much of what’s happening inside the shrine, but outside, people are fighting one another. Those wars get bigger and involve more people every day. The Guardian Gods do their best to watch over the people in their care, but war has touched the borders of our territory as well. This is the kind of world you were born into. There is no way to turn back time and make things better.”
I nodded. I knew about war in the abstract, as part of my programming. I was thoroughly prepared to begin my mission. I couldn’t wait to see the sky. I knew that it was blue, but that was not the same as knowing what it truly looked like.
Princess Tayura’s hair gave me some understanding of the color black: the color of scorched earth and wood. The color fire left behind after it burned everything else. Her hair and eye color was the only difference between me and her physically.
“I still believe that you will bring hope to the people,” Princess Tayura said. “Someday, the war will end. This terrible conflict can’t last forever. Until then, help as many people as you can, Yururuho.”
I blinked slowly several times. I understood what Princess Tayura was saying perfectly, but I had no point of reference for the true conflict. I had never seen war with my own eyes. My programming didn’t contain a concrete definition of the word ‘war’ with examples and experiential knowledge baked in. I would have to learn more about war on my own. I wanted to fulfill Princess Tayura’s wish and help people. That seemed to be the primary reason for my existence. I tucked the paper doll that Hibari had given me into the fold of my formal robes.
“Do not worry,” I said. “I will do precisely as instructed.”
Princess Tayura looked like she was going to cry.
The star-shaped lanterns above us bathed the room in a golden glow that felt dimmer because of Princess Tayura’s sadness.
***
A day passed. I had spent most of that time inside an examination room. I was handed sheets of paper that contained more detailed instructions. I absorbed the orders written on the paper.
I didn’t have to wear my heavy formal robes in the examination room. I preferred this, but I did not like all of the orders I was given. Some of the papers I received had handwriting on them that was clearly not Princess Tayura’s. My body was adjusted along with my orders, which made me feel uncomfortable and itchy.
Many of the new instructions I received were about what I was supposed to do after I was orbiting around the planet. None of these were authored by Princess Tayura. The handwriting was too angular and precise.
I also met a few humans. Just as Princess Tokohana had said, people came to the shrine to visit me. I was taken to an audience chamber and stood before the humans. One of them had the same haughty air as some of the Guardian Gods I’d met. Most of the humans weren’t like that—they were awed or humbled to stand before me—but this human was different. He was androgynous. His hair was chopped short and his age was difficult to determine. He was accompanied by several attendants who took notes.
“So this is the finished product?” the haughty human asked. He didn’t even introduce himself. He poked and prodded at me as if I were just a simple machine. “And her core is made of a portion of the Fire Clan’s power? I see, I see…” He straightened up, putting some distance between him and myself.
Several figures in white robes stood around the audience chamber, their faces hidden by masks. They kept watch over the humans to make sure they didn’t try to do anything harmful.
“She doesn’t look like much,” the prideful man said. “Other countries will think she’s a joke, especially because of the soul ships that are being deployed right now. But soul ships are backwards. They record and honor the names of the dead. This project is for the living. We must show the world that there is still goodness left and bring hope for the future. We can create good PR out of this. We need to arrange another meeting with the Guardian Gods so that we can make a few final adjustments. After the fires finally go out, our nation will be in a position to lead the world.”
The man kept speaking as if I couldn’t understand a word he said. I wondered if he was the one who’d given me so many new orders. Perhaps he’d commanded me to seek out beautiful things.
Go into the world and see every kind of beauty that there is.
I understood what Princess Tokohana had said, but words were just words. I couldn’t define beauty any better than I could define the blue of the sky. I wished I understood Princess Tokohana better. I felt like I had a closer bond with Princess Tayura, who had helped create me.
I was running out of time to ask questions.
After the humans left, two ladies named Tamamaki and Chienami came to tend to my needs. I did not eat, sleep, secrete waste or go outside, so my needs were minimal. I accepted their assistance when I needed to dress in formal robes and arrange my hair.
Though I needed them little, Tamamaki and Chienami rarely left my side. They did not accompany me to the examination room or the chamber of my birth and they waited outside the audience hall when people visited me, but otherwise they’d been with me for the entire day.
Tamamaki and Chienami led me to a small room near the examination room and helped dress me.
“You are very beautiful, just like Princess Tayura,” Tamamaki said as she helped me don my socks.
“Your hair is the color of a star. As you float in the night sky, you will look like a comet with a shining tail. It will be a spectacular sight,” Chienami said as she combed my hair.
Tamamaki and Chienami served the Fire Clan. They spoke to me about the Fire Clan’s long history as well as what they knew about the other four clans and their powers. They could have written this knowledge down as instructions for me to read, but they seemed to enjoy speaking more than writing.
“Who writes these other letters?” I asked. “Not all of them are in Princess Tayura’s handwriting.”
The two ladies hesitated.
“Princess Tayura is very busy at the moment,” Tamamaki said. “Her family writes letters in her place to ease her burden. Only those who are closest to her are allowed to write letters to you. Sometimes the humans send in their requests for orders, too.”
“Please read over all of the letters very carefully,” Chienami added. “Princess Tayura wishes to save people. If all you can do is save a single human child, that will make her very happy.”
The two ladies’ responses were unsatisfying, but I didn’t tell them so.
I spent all of my time inside in places with no windows, so it was hard to measure the passing of time. Most of my days were spent in the examination room. I read about the world’s complex history and the war that was happening. My two attendants would then escort me to various audience halls where I would meet with my sister, other Guardian Gods, or humans.
“Princess Tokohana seems to sleep a lot,” I said one evening to my attendants. “Is she unwell?”
“Princess Tokohana’s special power is dream prophecy,” Tamamaki said. “She must be asleep to use it, of course, and so she sleeps frequently.”
“Prophecy? So she sees the future?” I asked.
Chienami told me that Princess Tokohana had gotten a dream about the start of the current war, but she hadn’t been able to prevent the war from happening. Princess Tayura was deeply pained by this.
“Princess Tokohana warned all the humans, but no one listened,” Tamamaki said. “And because of that, this war has become great and terrible. Our water, air, plants and soil are all polluted.”
The humans who lived in this nation didn’t trust the Guardian Gods. I had been treated as a machine by most of the humans. I wondered if humans thought of Guardian Gods as tools, too. It didn’t seem like there was much meaningful communication between the Guardian Gods and humans.
“I am also curious about Hibari,” I said. “What clan is she part of? Is she Princess Tayura’s younger sister?” I looked myself in the mirror as Tamamaki braided my hair.
Chienami was applying face powder. They both stopped what they were doing when I asked this question.
I frowned. “Is something wrong?”
“No,” Tamamaki said. “Do not trouble yourself about Hibari. She is not related to you or Princess Tayura. I did not think she would be so shameless as to appear before you and the princesses.”
Chienami’s eyes narrowed in disapproval as she said, “The princesses spoil Hibari. She’s not even from the Fire Clan. She was born into the Wind Clan, but she can’t use the Wind Clan’s powers. She’s something of an outcast.”
Tamamaki nodded. “She doesn’t know her place. She’s always relying on the princesses for help. It’s disgraceful.”
Tamamaki and Chienami returned to their activities, applying makeup and putting the finishing touches on my hair. They used several jade hairpins to secure the hairstyle.
“The day after tomorrow you will leave us,” Tamamaki said sadly.
“Yes, you will go to the sky and beyond it,” Chienami said. “Your light will shine and bring hope to the world.” She smiled at my reflection in the mirror.
I would leave this place soon. I still did not understand why Hibari had given me the paper doll.
***
Accompanied by Tamamaki and Chienami, I walked toward a door at the end of a hallway. My body felt heavy. I no longer wanted to wear these fine clothes or accessories. The gravity of this place was too strong for me. The day after tomorrow, I would be released from everything. I would be separated from everything here and be completely alone.
I did not feel lonely or frightened. I had no sense of duty or resolve for the mission that was to come. Being here in this shrine exhausted me. The misery of the planet, which I had studied since my awakening, was too harsh and bleak for me to bear. I had seen records of burned cities, children with their legs missing, and elderly people murdered for no reason at all. Young children were made to carry weapons. Buildings, forests, farmland, human bodies, and even wild creatures were subjected to relentless destruction. Could all of these records really be true? Was such devastation happening at this very moment? I could not hear the roar of weapons or anyone’s screams from inside the shrine, so I could not say for sure.
Princess Tayura awaited me on the other side of the door. En was with her. I walked down the hallway, drawn to the warmth of Princess Tayura’s presence.
Before I could enter the room, something touched the back of my head. The strange sensation made my eyes fly open. My vision went dark. When my sight returned, all color had vanished, and everything around me was tinged red and black.
I had no idea what had just happened. I moved my hands and limbs, checking to make sure that I was all right. My body maintained balance automatically, but I was on the ground and made no move to rise. I had fallen somehow. I tried to get up on my own, but my efforts were in vain. I could not control my own body.
I saw Tamamaki lying next to me with her eyes wide open. My sensors told me that her heart had stopped beating. She was utterly still. Her hand was reaching toward my abdomen. It held a knife that had stabbed into me. It was so strange to think that the hands that had done up my hair so skillfully had also been used to stab me.
I heard sounds, but they didn’t make any sense. I remembered the paper doll Hibari had given me. Now seemed like a good time to use it. I reached for it in my sleeve, but my hands were numb. I could not grasp the doll.
Tamamaki was dead. That much I knew for certain. I was created to save people, not to kill them.
Maybe she could still be revived? If I called for help, perhaps she could still be saved.
A jolt went through my body. My head hit the floor. The fire within me was no longer properly contained. The knife that had stabbed me had pierced my core; it was exposed to the air. If something did not change, that fire would ignite.
Someone’s hand covered my chest. I did not know if I should try to protect myself from that hand or if I should call for help for Tamamaki. I couldn’t control myself well enough to do either one.
I saw Kagerou’s face before my vision went dark again.
***
Bare feet scuffed over the floor. A different pair of feet wore wooden clogs. I watched them run toward me, dazed and confused.
After that, I remember periods of seeing and not seeing. The fire within me did not ignite. If it had, my whole body would have evaporated, leaving nothing behind. No one had removed the knife from my chest. No system failure occurred, though it was hard for me to move my limbs or speak.
I saw stars and felt wind on my face. Real wind and real stars. I could see again, and my convulsions stopped. I felt less confused in the night air. The sky was dark, not at all the light blue I’d imagined. The stars were bright. Bright and ancient. They had burned for many thousands of years.
Someone was holding me. We were on the roof of the shrine. The person holding me was dressed all in black and their face was covered by a white cloth mask. Their presence was like the whisper of paper being disturbed by a breeze. I did not think that this person was a living, organic being.
Was this Hibari’s doll?
“Oi!” Hibari called out. “What are you doing?” Her hair was done up in two buns gathered up on either side of her head. She stood on the roof, her legs unsteady.
“I could ask you the same question,” Kagerou said. He glared at Hibari. “Know your place and do not meddle in the affairs of your betters.” He wore familiar ocher robes. He’d named En, Princess Tayura’s dog.
Hibari’s face and posture were hostile and intense.
Kagerou appeared calm and unflappable. He smiled and said, “There was no reason for the Millennium Comet to be created.” He pointed at me.
I looked around, confirming that Princess Tayura was not present. Apparently Kagerou did not want her to witness what was happening here.
“Think of how many lives could have been saved if she’d never been made,” Kagerou said. “Princess Tayura misjudged the state of the world. At this rate, the Guardian Gods will end up as mere puppets under the rule of the humans. That thing is no more than a bauble made to poorly replicate the powers of the Fire Clan.”
Hibari jumped and landed closer to Kagerou. The roof tiles clattered beneath her wooden clogs.
“Watch your tongue,” Hibari snapped. “I will not allow you to profane Princess Tayura’s name.”
Kagerou gave her an exasperated look. “Your loyalty to Princess Tayura blinds you to the truth. Have you abandoned the other Guardian Gods and their wishes simply because they despise you? Despised or not, you are a Guardian God, and that means you have power. You should seek a way to make use of that power. Do not forget the original role of the Guardian Gods. Our power is not for humans alone, but for all that lives in this world. We are not here to participate in the pointless politics that Princess Tayura and the humans have created.”
I could see better now. I watched Hibari gasp as Kagerou approached me and her doll. The air felt hot enough to burn me as he came closer. Fire erupted from the palm of his right hand, which was aimed at Hibari’s chest. Hibari twisted to dodge and slid off the roof. She kicked off the edge and soared high into the air.
Was this what war was like? Was I going to watch Kagerou kill Hibari, or vice versa?
Hibari drew a white piece of paper from her sleeve and released it into the air. The piece of paper split in three, and then there were three dolls identical to the one carrying me on the roof. They triangulated on Kagerou and attacked him at the same time.
The stars did not react or move. They alone remained unchanged in the middle of the battle. I wondered if I, too, would become an unchanging star, powerless to act. The knife was still in my chest. I could not bleed, but I was wounded. I could only watch Hibari and Kagerou fight one another. Murderous intent altered the gravity of this place. I felt heavier than ever and would have fallen again without the doll to hold me up.
Heat scorched the air. Kagerou burned Hibari’s three new dolls away with ease. Black soot danced in the wind. Kagerou shot more flames at Hibari, who made herself move faster using gusts of wind.
Eventually, Hibari’s luck ran out and she was struck full-force by Kagerou’s flames. She crashed shoulder-first into the roof tiles, protecting her head by caging it inside her arms. She just barely managed to avoid falling off the roof.
“You fool,” Kagerou said. “Do you truly think an outcast like you can stand against the power of fire?”
Hibari struggled to regain her footing.
Kagerou looked down at her. There was no contempt or hatred in his gaze. It seemed like he would prefer to ignore her. His profound indifference made me shudder.
“I will break you here,” Kagerou said. Flames burst from his palm again.
Princess Tokohana jumped in front of Hibari to intercept the blast of fire. I could not see where she’d come from. She was dressed as she’d been when I’d first seen her, in a thin robe that was like a simple nightgown. Her arms and legs were bare.
“Stop that,” Princess Tokohana said to Kagerou. “That’s my younger sister’s little sister that you’re bullying.”
Kagerou’s expression darkened.
“I saved Tamamaki in time,” Princess Tokohana said. “She’s alive thanks to a dream I had earlier. In that dream I saw that we—the Fire Clan—will kill almost everyone on this planet. Including our rulers, one day.” She tilted her head, and a small flame shaped like a flower bud appeared in her hand. It shone beautifully.
“This fire will soon kill everyone,” Princess Tokohana said solemnly, her voice rising to the sky.
“Princess Tokohana, calm yourself,” Kagerou said dismissively to the barefoot Guardian Goddess. His voice was partly drowned out by the night wind.
“I cannot,” Princess Tokohana said. “You are trying to kill this poor girl. You used Chienami to do it.” The flower bud of fire in her hand rose up to illuminate Kagerou’s face.
“I didn’t use her. Chienami feels the same way I do,” Kagerou said. “We have continually appealed her creation. It should never have been done.”
“Well, it’s done now,” Princess Tokohana said. She glanced back at me. “I managed to get Tamamaki to Princess Tayura in time. She’s all right now. She’s probably speaking to Chienami while we’re out here.”
“Why?” I asked. Me, not Kagerou. If Chienami had tried to kill me and Tamamaki had gotten caught in the crossfire, I didn’t understand why they would all be together. Wasn’t that dangerous? Why hadn’t Chienami been captured and imprisoned somewhere if she’d tried to kill me? My programming insisted that would have been the correct course of action.
“Princess Tayura always wants to save everyone,” Princess Tokohana explained. “She has always been frustrated by not being able to save those who die out of her reach. If she had the eyes of Yururuho, she could surely rescue people who’ve been abandoned in places that the Guardian Gods can’t usually reach. That’s why she offered her own body tissue to the humans—to be used as material for Yururuho. She’s trying to explain that to Chienami. I don’t know if she’ll understand, though.”
Kagerou let out a bitter laugh. His flames burned on his palm, ready to be thrown in a new attack. Those flames burned a deep, deep red. “No, she will not. Your dreams are empty, and so are hers. Who can you possibly save now? You are wasting your powers and your potential. Placing the shadow of our powers in a puppet is not our way. It is the human, exploitative way. The humans have already destroyed the world; we should not help them do it faster.”
Princess Tokohana laughed provocatively and stretched out both her arms. “You’re not wrong—not entirely. There may not be any point in launching the Millennium Comet into space. The sacrifices made to create her very well might accelerate our ruin. Chienami’s beliefs, and yours, are not groundless.
“But that doesn’t matter. This is the path Princess Tayura chose. Before she was even born, the Fire Clan decided that she would bear their burdens and the responsibility for maintaining balance between the clans. A worse person might try to shirk or escape such burdens, but not her. She wishes to save as many children as she can with the power that she has. She knew that the humans would exploit both her and the Millennium Comet as she sought to achieve this, and she didn’t care. I won’t let her suffer any more than she already has for her choices.”
Princess Tokohana brought her palms together in a prayer pose. Fire bloomed from in between her hands. Hundreds of flower petals made of fire swirled toward Kagerou. I was dazzled by the sight.
“If you are so determined to oppose Princess Tayura’s will, she will burn the world in her sorrow.”
The wind died down for a moment, but then roared back with power and urgency. Insects flew away, startled by the battle. A small brown moth remained perched on Kagerou’s hand.
The startled insects flew back to Kagerou as if he’d commanded them to do so. I remembered Princess Tokohana asking to see Kagerou’s insects when we’d first met. The insects swarmed around him in a cloud.
Princess Tokohana’s brown hair stood on end, lifted by the heat of her flames.
“Hibari, take Yururuho inside,” Princess Tokohana said. “It’s dangerous out here. Take care of her for me.”
Hibari bowed her head. She helped her doll support me, and we all jumped down from the roof together.
***
I was placed in a quiet room and told to rest. This room was different from the room I’d been born in. There were no star-shaped lanterns or flowers here. The only lamp had a paper lampshade. Shelves were built into the walls of the room. I gazed up at them from where I lay on the floor. Paper decorations shaped like plants and animals hung down from the ceiling. Dust and scraps of paper blew over the floor. This room felt peaceful to me, and I did rest.
“Yururuho, are you all right?” Hibari asked. She knelt down next to me. She was dressed all in black.
“The damage is not too severe,” I said. “I will recover.” My voice sounded echoey and distant to me. I felt no pain, and now that I was still and safe, there was no risk of the fire within me escaping and causing an explosion. My artificial organs continued to function normally. My hair had come undone and spilled over the floor like a river with no mouth.
“Were you hurt?” I asked Hibari.
One of the paper butterflies hanging above us flapped its wings.
“I’m fine,” Hibari said. “I really should have seen an attack like that coming. I’m sorry that you were in such danger.”
I shrugged. Hibari had not attacked me; Kagerou had. “Is Princess Tokohana still outside?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Is she fighting Kagerou?”
If Princess Tokohana were injured, Princess Tayura would surely be sad about it.
Hibari shook her head. “A fight against Princess Tokohana isn’t a fight; it’s a slaughter. Kagerou will receive an appropriate punishment for all this. Don’t worry. You should rest now.”
Scraps of paper swirled around us as Hibari spoke, arranging themselves into various shapes.
“Did you make all these paper creations?” I asked.
The little plants and animals made of paper moved their legs and wings to come closer to me. There were birds and deer, cows and wolves, flowers and snakes and horses. So many things. A tiny monkey crawled up on my chest and twisted its thin tail in its paper paws. The paper faces had no eyes or noses, but the paper creations seemed to be curious about me.
“Do you like them?” Hibari asked.
“I do,” I said. “I think they’re beautiful. Why didn’t you show me them sooner?”
Hibari frowned. “My powers are unorthodox. Most people don’t like them. I’m an outcast because of them. Other Guardian Gods resonate with natural things like fire, wind, earth, water and wood. My power is over the artificial. It’s closer to what the humans can do.”
I gazed at the faceless paper creations in silence.
“When my powers were discovered, there was a lot of discussion among the Guardian Gods over how someone like me could have been born,” Hibari said, clenching her teeth.
I listened to Hibari speak, simultaneously reaching out with my enhanced senses to find Princess Tayura. Surely she was in the shrine somewhere nearby. I sensed no commotion inside the shrine itself, so I guessed that Princess Tokohana had things well in hand. Perhaps Princess Tayura was working behind the scenes to keep Kagerou’s attack on me quiet. I didn’t know why Princess Tayura would go to all that trouble, but I also didn’t really understand why Kagerou had tried to destroy me in the first place.
“Hibari, can you close this hole that the knife made?” I asked. Hibari likely didn’t have the knowledge to fix all the damage done to me, but her powers should be sufficient to patch over the hole in my chest.
Hibari hesitated. She looked down at me and said, “I… I don’t want you to go into the sky.” She sounded much younger all of a sudden, like a little child.
I blinked. The paper creations inched closer to us.
“I have watched Princess Tayura take on many difficult duties for the sake of the other Guardian Gods,” Hibari said. “She is frustrated with us. We failed to protect the planet’s living creatures. That includes the humans, who cannot communicate with us very well. Princess Tayura wishes there to be open and honest dialogue with humans, but I don’t think that’s possible. She told me that having you fly through the sky and help others would help her feel some measure of freedom.”
The floor was cold, but I barely felt it. Without some form of aid, I would cease to function soon. If I remained like this for too long, repair would be impossible.
“I can’t accept things as they are,” Hibari said. “It’s not fair for you to save strangers all alone in the void of space. You will witness every kind of cruelty—destruction, slaughter, and blood. This is not something you chose for yourself. It was decided before you were even born, and you came into this world with that fate. Your mission is a harsh one, and not one you have chosen. In that way, you are exactly like Princess Tayura.” Tears shone in the corners of her eyes.
I felt sorry for Hibari, but I could not lift even a single finger to try and comfort her.
“If the functions needed for you to fly in space are broken, then you could remain here. You wouldn’t have to see how terrible the world has become. You wouldn’t have to be alone.”
Hibari’s paper plants and animals watched over me and their creator, eyeless and silent. Hibari didn’t want to kill me, but she wanted some of my core functions destroyed.
“I don’t want to disappoint Princess Tayura like that,” I said. “She’d cry. It’s probably too late to save the world. But I can still save one person. Maybe more. I can’t do that if I don’t fulfill my mission, though. If I stay here and don’t do what I was created for, I’ll go insane sooner or later. I must try to save who I can. No war lasts forever. Everything that begins must end somewhere. I will save as many people as I can. That is what Princess Tayura has decided, and that is what I would choose.”
Hibari turned her face away. “Are you so certain that the war will end?” she asked anxiously. “Humans are selfish and deceptive. They’ve destroyed the natural world. There’s no way to undo the damage they’ve done, and the humans still don’t stop. Will it ever end?”
“I believe it will,” I said.
Hibari looked my way. Her dark eyes were like Princess Tayura’s. “And when it does… will you come back?” she asked.
“There is a directive written for me to return.”
Hibari smiled like a lost child who’d found the way home. “I understand. After you return, please be free. That is what I wish for you, sister.” She placed her hand on the hilt of a dagger and gently pressed her palm against my damaged abdomen.
When I returned to consciousness, I was submerged in the tank where I’d been born. My silver hair stretched over clear water. My body floated to the surface, longing for light. All of the terrible damage to my body had been repaired. I could go into orbit without fear of anything going wrong.
Today was the day that I would be launched into space.
I emerged from the water. Princess Tayura reached into the water to help me get out of the tank. She was somewhat pale and tense. Her dark eyes fixed on me with unwavering determination. She had endured much while I was unconscious. I hesitated before I took her slender hand in mine, but I allowed myself to lean on her a little bit.
No heavy, formal robes were forced upon me. I was given a simple robe to wear, like Princess Tokohana’s nightwear but a bit more plain. My hair was slightly damp. Star-shaped lanterns shone overhead, casting intricate patterns of light on Princess Tayura’s jet-black hair.
“Where is Hibari?” I asked. Only Princess Tayura and En were here to greet me.
“Hibari couldn’t come today,” Princess Tayura said. “Only humans and members of the Fire Clan are allowed to watch the Millennium Comet’s launch.”
I frowned. Members of the Fire Clan had tried to destroy me. They thought me nothing but a human invention, made to fulfill their desires.
“What about Kagerou?” I asked.
“Kagerou and Chienami are in seclusion as punishment for their crimes. They are alive, but until their punishment ends, they do not exist in the eyes of the world.” Princess Tayura’s eyes were sad. En sat next to her with his ears flat to his head and whimpered. The dog licked Princess Tayura’s hand.
“And Princess Tokohana?” I asked. I knew so few people, and only Princess Tayura and the dog were here.
The muscles around Princess Tayura’s eyes relaxed. She lifted her face and smiled a little awkwardly. “She’s napping right now. She’s been tired since she went out on the roof.”
Princess Tayura’s words reassured me that Princess Tokohana was not seriously harmed. She had saved Tamamaki’s life and Chienami still lived.
Princess Tayura took my hand. The size and shape of our hands were identical, but her skin was cold. Even En’s close presence hadn’t warmed her up.
“You heard what Kagerou said, didn’t you?” Princess Tayura asked. “He believes that making you was a mistake. That the resources we used could have been used for something else, something better.”
I nodded. My hair swirled around me without my permission, as if it had a mind of its own.
“I was not thinking in terms of better or worse,” Princess Tayura said. “I believe we are past that. Now I focus on doing what I can—whatever I can. I know that the state of the world right now is horrible. You must find those who suffer in my place and aid them. Even if you are alone. How many people can you actually save? You won’t know until you try. My selfish request is that you try.”
Princess Tayura’s hand trembled in mine, but her gaze was firm and unwavering. Her black hair and the lines of her face gave shape to the depth of her resolve, sculpting it into the air itself.
I smiled at my sister. “I will try. I promise. I’ll be fine alone. I was made for it. I was created to help people and to seek out beautiful things. All the beautiful things that still exist on this planet.” My hair kept moving around me like a dancer as I spoke. No one would ever style my hair again. I no longer had any attendants.
Princess Tayura closed her eyes, then opened them. I thought it was like watching a flower bloom. There was a light in her eyes that was fierce and vital and brighter than the fire that Princess Tokohana had held in her hands on the roof.
“I will always be here waiting for your return,” Princess Tayura said. “When you complete your mission, let’s spend time together as sisters. I’ll invite Hibari, and of course En. You can tell us everything you saw and experienced. All fires burn out eventually, and all wars end. When the fire is gone, return to me. Then we can stay together, always.”
I said nothing, but I nodded.
En seemed disturbed by the uncontrolled movements of my hair and sniffed me uncomfortably.
Princess Tayura repeated her request to me and squeezed my hand. Then she let go.
I went down a hallway and emerged in a courtyard somewhere in the shrine. Many lamps were lit and flowers bloomed in garden beds. The Fire Clan had come to see me off, all dressed in reds and golds. I recognized their formal robes. Some humans waited with them in the crowd. The sky overhead was blue and clear.
I ascended into the void alone, free of the shackles of gravity at last. My silver hair trailed behind me as I rose above the sky and entered orbit around the planet. The blue of the sky darkened to black and sunlight became vivid and immediate as it cast its light on all the nearby stars.
There was no sound in space. Only my programming and equipment kept me on a consistent path around the planet. Seeing the world from above was magnificent. It was so large that I despaired of saving many humans. I had been made in Princess Tayura’s likeness and I had promised her that I would try.
I waited for the war to end and the fires to go out.
But the war never ended, and the fires burned forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment