Hagakure Sakura Does Not Lament

Translated by LyraDhani

Edited by LyraDhani

–On top of a skyscraper at night, when the pale moon was rising, a boy was looking up at the sky.

“So the captive princess was rescued, the poor sacrifice regained his lost memories, and the sun miko began to move with a heavy heart. …Well, it’s going to be a little harder to move from now on. Even so, I don’t have much time.”

The boy, Amari Yukitaka-who had been sitting on the edge of the building, let out a loud sigh of discontent. He swung his legs in the air with an ease that seemed to indicate that he had no fear of heights.

“Now, what should I do next? I’m not all-powerful either, so I’m limited in what I can do. Ah, I’m really getting sick of this. I don’t care if it’s just a bunch of winged insects, I don’t know why I have to hunt down my precious friends for no reason at all.”

Yukitaka said, his shoulders slumped in wariness.

He then took a black notebook out of nowhere, opened a page, and marked one of the items with a big cross.

“This time, I was going to take advantage of someone else’s kidnapping plan to get rid of that Chidori, but as I thought, it haphazardly didn’t work. She’s the daughter of a hero, after all. Well, that’s pretty messed up.”

Yukitaka turned his quill around with his finger while muttering derisively. The raven-like feathers, with their suspicious glow, reflected the moonlight as they fluttered about.

“It looks like they’ve started making various moves, but I think the government is mistaken about Tsugumi-chan’s surroundings. They are all idiots. What’s really scary is not Shikabane Sakura, but something else. Well, it can’t be helped, she has the worst reputation in the human world. She deserves it.”

Saying this, Yukitaka thought of a certain demon.

A fallen angel with twelve wings and great power. She was considered a vindictive enemy of the world’s largest religions and was a rebel against God and was synonymous with “evil” at every turn.

Her name was the great demon Lucifer. She was part of the spirit and an escapee evil God who also had the factor of a Demonic Beast.

The demon took on the body of a human named Shikabane Sakura and, like Yukitaka, pretended to be a human and lived in the human world. By evading government scrutiny and deceiving her followers, she almost brought Demonic Beasts under her control.

If only she hadn’t had a last-minute change of heart, the world would be the hell itself. In that sense, Nanase Tsugumi could be called a hero who saved the world.

But fate, as they say, didn’t end there.

“Why didn’t anyone in the government notice? Failed to bring down the Gods, the city burned down, and that was the end of it–that kind of thing just didn’t happen easily.”

–The [God] selected by the devil, who had a bad character and who she wanted to put under her control, couldn’t be that simple. The remnants of that evil were certainly undermining the world.

What she tried to summon belonged to the dark side, which was rooted in this far eastern land of Japan and still deeply worshipped, but never affiliated with Amaterasu. He was the highest-ranking God in this land of Gods, and among more than eight million Gods, he was the closest to a Demonic Beast.

–Mishaguji, the God who controlled the boundary. He was truly an evil God who deserved to take control of the rift in the heavens.

“About Tsugumi-chan, Chidori, and the famous Agatsuma of Jukka? The Magical Girls who were wrapped in the red flame that day all have powers related to ‘transportation’. –I can’t help but think that it was the influence of the God who she was trying to bring down. I wonder if Amaterasu’s people are also sunburned with a sense of peace. Well, it doesn’t matter as long as they don’t get in my way].”

–The God who controlled the boundaries was nestled in their midst. Among them, the one who suffered the deepest erosion was undoubtedly Nanase Tsugumi himself.

That he was closest during the ritual. And having been tuned as a sacrifice ever since his birth, he ended up functioning as a vessel of the highest order…he was supposed to.

It had long been settled that there was only one end for those who had become vessels of God. Their souls were devoured, their original personalities were extinguished, their personal dignity and everything else was trampled on, and they became something completely different.

This was why that great demon – a stupid woman – gave up her entire soul to protect him. All for the sake of one tiny human being.

She covered Tsugumi’s soul with her own at the moment the erosion of Mishaguji began and stopped the erosion by force. She knew that she would be annihilated by it. This was not something that could be done with ordinary determination.

“The one who was inside Shikabane Sakura was the spirit of Lucifer, moreover, it was a monster-like individual, distorted by the malice of others and their images. At least, that’s what I remember. So what? Self-sacrificing for the sake of mere mortals? You think you’re an angel now, huh?”

Saying this, Yukitaka laughed mockingly.

But in the end, her devotion was just a way of stalling for time. The protection she risked her life to build was now fleeting and fraying, and even the little ego she had left was being swallowed up by Mishaguji.

A year at most, six months at the shortest. That was all the time they had left.

If only Tsugumi hadn’t become a Magical Girl, he would have been able to delay the tear on his soul a little longer, but the end result would be the same, it was just delayed a little longer.

“Ah, pitiful Tsugumi-chan. I can’t believe you have to go through this just because you’re born as that guy’s younger brother. …If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have had to do this either.”

Yukitaka, one of the evil Gods who escaped from the hands of the government and lived in a borrowed human body, looked down with a sadness that was hard to imagine from his usual self.

—Attracted by the presence of a fellow being inside Tsugumi, he approached him out of curiosity. At first, it was just that.

…He wondered if it was because he was dragged along by the emotions of the person he was using as a container.

It was too filthy to be called friendship and too pure to be called obsession.

But there was one thing he could say. When Yukitaka realized what would eventually happen to Tsugumi, what he felt was definitely despair.

This was why Yukitaka made a decision. Nanase Tsugumi was a dull and stupid human who called himself Yukitaka’s friend, but if he were eaten and killed by the inhuman and turned into a creature he didn’t know–then Yukitaka would rather end everything by his own hands. Because there was no other way.

He tried to kill Tsugumi by playing tricks, changing his hands, and sometimes using the Demonic Beast factor swirling inside him to interfere with the rift in the sky. He also wanted to eliminate the humans who stood in his way, but all of these attempts ended in failure.

Was he unconsciously cutting corners, or was it just pure luck on Tsugumi’s part? Either way, Yukitaka would not stop until he found another way.

“I still think it would be safer to have more accomplices for the future. The current guy isn’t bad, but more often than not our objectives don’t match. …I’m sure he’ll complain about this one too anyway. Ah, what a pain in the ass.”

As Yukitaka held his head in his hands, he heard a sound like something small moving behind him.

“You messed with my contractor again. You never learn.”

Hearing that monotonous voice, Yukitaka deftly arched his back and turned his head, then he said in a light voice with a frivolous smile.

“Haha, but you didn’t stop me. You’re so heartless, white rabbit-chan.”

Tsukiyomi, the white rabbit, Chidori’s contract God, did not reply to this question but threw an object in his hand toward Yukitaka: a black feather.

“It was mixed in with Chidori’s belongings. A curse to manipulate bad luck. …Don’t abuse that thing too much. You must feel sorry for them living such a healthy life.”

“Healthy? That’s just ignorance. –And I don’t want you to be the one who says that. You’re using them for your own purposes. You’re even worse than me because you’re trying to be an ally.”

When Yukitaka said this in a reproachful tone, Tsukiyomi opened his mouth with his eyes downcast as if he was trying to endure something.

“…It’s all for a good cause.”

“Well, I don’t really care. –Now then, let’s go over our objectives one more time, you crazy rabbit. What on earth do you want to do by deceiving your precious sister and teaming up with this hideous devil?”

Tsukuyomi quietly looked ahead and answered in a firm voice in response to Yukitaka’s mocking question.

“–Rebellion, an accomplice. I will drag Amaterasu down from her current position. That is the only way to save my sister.”

Saying this, Tsukiyomi smiled coyly. Was it love or madness? No one knew.