Translator: imperfectluck  Editor: Kurisu

Chiaki had learned the truth of everything from her mother.

When Chihiro Wakaba had gotten pregnant, she learned that she would die after giving birth to her daughter.

Chihiro became afraid of this happening… not because of her own impending death, but rather because she was afraid of not being able to accompany her husband s.h.i.+ngo in seeing their daughter grow up together.

That was why Chihiro prayed to her G.o.ddess, asking to be able to live just a little longer, long enough to at least raise her daughter for a while.

Since Chihiro was descended from a bloodline that had the White Sakura G.o.ddess's favor, her prayer was answered and her wish was granted.

The price for lengthening her life was her disappearing from existence.

As a mother, Chihiro made a request that defied her fate, hence the heavy price of being forgotten by almost everyone, including the daughter she loved so much.

Chihiro's husband s.h.i.+ngo was the only person who still remembered her due to their deep connection. However, even he forgot her name and appearance.

“…That's how things were. Mom wasn't harmed by the G.o.ddess, but rather the opposite. The White Sakura G.o.ddess helped her and then protected her,” Chiaki explained to everyone.

Just as Seiji Kamijou had judged, the White Sakura G.o.ddess was a kind and friendly existence.

However, the White Sakura G.o.ddess had an evil counterpart, who had vicious intentions towards humanity. That was the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess!

The Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess was the one who had been targeting Chiaki. Not only that, the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess was also the mastermind behind the Realm of Cherry Blossoms manifesting in the human world!

No… calling her the mastermind might not be the correct term. It would be more accurate to view the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess as the final boss in the Realm of Cherry Blossoms.

The White Sakura G.o.ddess was unable to fight back against the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess… it was precisely because the White Sakura G.o.ddess was weaker that the Realm of Cherry Blossoms manifested.

But although the White Sakura G.o.ddess was weaker, she could still at least interfere with the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess. With the White Sakura G.o.ddess's protection, Chiaki would no longer be targeted by the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess.

Meaning, Chiaki's crisis was now resolved.

Her mother had already pa.s.sed away in the real world. It would be impossible to bring her back. However, Chiaki had now regained the memories of her mother, and escaped from being targeted by an evil G.o.ddess.

Yet, the danger wasn't over yet, as the Evil White Sakura G.o.ddess was about to descend upon the human world.

………….

The “G.o.d-Devouring” mission failed. All of the “Yamata no Orochi” experimental subjects had died!

This mission had an expected success rate of only roughly 40%. Failure was well within the realm of expectations. However, it came as a huge surprise to the organization that all seven of their experimental subjects had died during the mission.

Although none of these experimental subjects had been completed, they were some of the more stable Yamata no Orochi experimental subjects. They were all quite strong and possessed almost limitless regenerative abilities in their combined Orochi form. Even if the mission failed and they lost in battle, it was highly unlikely for them to have died.

But, not only had they died, all seven had died without a single survivor!

Just what exactly had they met with!?

After repeated confirmation, the organization ascertained that there had been no mistake in identifying the mission target. Everything had been carried out according to the plan. Logically speaking, this type of result shouldn't have been possible. In that case, something unexpected must have occurred during the mission.

The most likely possibility was that Soul Society had intervened… however, the organization's intelligence didn't indicate that Soul Society had done so.

Had Soul Society superbly hidden their involvement in this incident? But, was there any reason for them to hide their involvement if so?

The organization couldn't understand what had happened at all. An investigation would be necessary.

Either Soul Society had an unknown trump card, or something else entirely was involved… But no matter what, this seemed rather interesting.

The organization would remember this favor and pay it back later with interest.

Still, it was rather troublesome that all the best Yamata no Orochi experimental subjects had died at this point in time. Although it was still possible to reproduce the experiment and create more test subjects, that would take a significant amount of time. The organization decided instead to use more forceful shortcuts.

Why not be a little more reckless and try using some risky materials? Although the failure rate of the experiment would be much higher, succeeding might result in something incredible.

If Soul Society had some sort of hidden trump card that was behind this, the organization really wanted to know what it was, or at least even some information about it. It was regrettable that there hadn't been a single survivor to bring back any information.

Well, thinking too much about it would be useless. It was time to get to work.

…………

The next day was a dark and rainy one.

Isamu Seima was currently drinking tea in a café.

He was with someone else—Riho Heijou, who was currently sitting across from him. The brown-haired, red-eyed beauty was wearing a black jacket and black pants.

The two had gotten closer ever since the incident where Isamu had saved her life.

The two of them might seem like boyfriend and girlfriend as they were sitting at the same table in this café. However, they weren't.

Riho thanked Isamu for saving her life, but there were no deeper feelings she had for him. The two of them were now simply friends.

Riho was quite interested in the monster that they saw that day. She was certain that the monster was no illusion. Not only that, she kept insisting that Isamu must have some type of hidden power!

Under her interrogation, Isamu admitted that he was a spiritual ability user. He told her a summarized version of what happened in his dreams and about White Night.

Riho then told Isamu that maybe due to the monster's influence, she Awakened to a type of sensory ability similar to a mental minimap. She could sense Isamu's presence, as well as the presence of certain people within a limited radius.

Isamu and Riho carefully observed the people that she sensed for some unknown reason on her mental minimap. They noticed that most of these individuals seemed to be in poor condition as if they were sick. Some others appeared to be hoodlums if judging by appearance. However, there were also a few people that appeared perfectly ordinary and healthy.

Riho inferred that these people who stood out on her mental minimap were either spiritual ability users just like Isamu or “potential monsters” that might transform!

Isamu wanted to contact White Night and tell him about Riho's current situation. However, she stopped him from doing so.

“I think that White Night person is suspicious.” A sharp glint appeared in Riho's eyes. “He saved you, but he refused to tell you the origins of the monster. Nor did he tell you how to become stronger. He just left you alone…”

“White Night isn't a bad person!”

“I didn't say that he was a bad person. I just think that he's suspicious… Anyways, don't tell him anything about me.”

Isamu found it difficult to believe that Seigo was a bad or suspicious person. However, he obeyed Riho's wish.

Isamu felt that not telling White Night, also known as Seigo Harano to him, wouldn't be a big deal. Although he trusted Seigo, Isamu was also slightly miffed that Seigo had just set him aside and left him to his own devices. He agreed with Riho on this.

Riho wanted to investigate the incident behind the monster that appeared at the arcade. Isamu also wanted to investigate, but had no idea how to begin.

The two of them could only do the best they could to observe the individuals who stood out for some reason in Riho's mental minimap. They also tried searching for information on the internet.

Meanwhile, Isamu talked to Ryuuma Sorimachi, who was Three-Eyed Cat back in the dream world, about the investigation, asking the latter for a.s.sistance. However, Ryuuma instantly refused, and gave Isamu a warning.

“From what I can tell based on what you told me, it's quite obvious that Harano-kun doesn't want you to get involved. I think that it's best if we go along with that. Don't think that you're amazing or anything just because you Awakened to having some powers. You're no superhero in an anime. You're just an ordinary person who will easily die.

“n.o.body out there is hoping for you to do anything. Don't think that this is your destiny. If you must do something, why don't you train to become stronger instead? Acting on your own will be highly dangerous. You're not a policeman or a detective. You have no investigative skills whatsoever, so if you try and find the truth shrouded in shadow, that's nothing more than suicide. Why don't you try using your brain a little…”

“I know all that!” Isamu was angered from hearing all this put so bluntly. “Of course I realize that this is dangerous. But, I can't do something like pretending monsters don't exist after meeting a monster like that in real life!

“Even I understand that Harano-kun doesn't want me to get involved for my own safety. But, is it really alright to just listen to him and stay away from danger? I don't think that's for the best… I don't want to do that.

“I want to know what happened. I want to do something to help out, even if it's insignificant… This is my justice!”

Isamu then turned around to leave right after saying this.

Afterwards, he was quite embarra.s.sed about everything he said to Ryuuma.

Although he was embarra.s.sed, he wouldn't regret it.

Isamu and Riho had yet to find out any relevant information even until now. However, Riho called him this morning, telling him that a certain individual in her mental minimap sense became especially noticeable to her. She felt that this person would transform into a monster today!

Isamu also felt a mysterious sense of frustration within himself, similar to the way he'd felt on the day he met the monster at the arcade.

Isamu and Riho had agreed to meet up at this café because the “potential monster” individual was currently here.