(After figuring out the clues in the bowling alley, we made a slight detour on our way home to pick up some snacks, because according to Shinju...)

"Thinking is hard work, but thinking about kanji can be even more of a headache."

Shinju and Osamu came out of the convenience store and walked back into the neighborhood. Osamu got himself a bag of fruit snacks and a banana, while Shinju stuck with a box of chocolate Pocky. For someone who had to handle a monumental task with almost no help, Shinju did seem rather nonchalant about finding Cyanide in a timely manner. She yawned and stretched her arms, sauntering down the snowy sidewalk as if she had time to lounge about and munch on chocolate.

On their way home, they spotted Akatsuki and Omagatoki sitting on the sidewalk together, watching the snow lazily fall from the sky. Their necks were wrapped with matching, pink scarves and their small, pale hands kept warm with pink mittens.

(Hey, reader, what do you think I did? Do you trust your brave, respectful, and inspirational protagonist to control himself and approach the Shoku Twins in a cool, collected manner? Surely, that's how it went. Your protagonist would never slowly develop a Father Complex and ferociously fondle two dead, little girls. No, I am better than that. I am far superior to the protagonist you probably think I am. Yes, the words I speak are true. Osamu Ashikaga is a changed man.)

Osamu tip-toed behind the Shoku Twins and picked them both up while shouting with joy. Needless to say, they were both scared to death.

"Akatsuki! Omagatoki! You two cuties! I can die from happiness right now!" Osamu sang to the heavens

"Big Brother Osamu! Let us down!" Omagatoki giggled.

"Ah. Help. Osamu is molesting us yet again. Someone. Please. Help." Akatsuki said in her usual dry tone.

Osamu let them down, but couldn't take his sparkling eyes off of them.

"Father Complex." Shinju muttered.

"T-that only applies if they're my daughters!" Osamu protested.

"Anyway, what are you two doing out here? Taking a winter stroll?" Shinju asked.

Akatsuki nodded. "Yes, actually. Sis thoroughly enjoys the snow during this time of year."

"When it starts piling up, we hope to make snowmen and give them carrot noses!" Omagatoki said.

"That's so adorable!" Osamu fawned.

"Osamu, I take it you're still letting Shinju seduce you at every turn?" Akatsuki asked.

Shinju spun around like a ballerina with a smile on her face. "He sure is!"

"Don't ruin my image in front of them!" Osamu growled.

(Suddenly, a crazy thought popped into my head)

Osamu gazed at their cute faces, and then turned his gaze towards his banana. "Akatsuki, Omagatoki..."

"Yes, Big Brother Osamu? Did you need something?" Omagatoki questioned.

"Eat this banana. Slow and sensually. And use a bit of tongue too." Osamu commanded.

(Yep, I've lost control of myself.)

"What the hell are you making them do?" Shinju recoiled.

"Just eat it? With tongue too?" Omagatoki repeated, a bit confused.

Osamu nodded. "Absolutely."

"You've got to be the worst protagonist in history." Shinju groaned, her palms slapped against her face.

"Very well." Akatsuki accepted. "I don't know why you'd, but we'll do what you say."

Akatsuki unpeeled the banana. "Both of us at the same time?"

"Yes!" Osamu nodded.

"Very well then." Akatsuki said.

"Looks delicious!" Omagatoki sang.

"Osamu! It's wrong to do this to little girls!" Shinju protested.

Akatsuki and Omagatoki stopped for a moment. "What's wrong about it?"

"Oh don't pay attention to her, you two! There's nothing wrong with what we're doing whatsoever!" Osamu assured.

(As long as we don't get caught.)

Just as Osamu commanded, the Shoku Twins took turns biting from the banana, making sure to spare a few glances at Osamu as their tongues brushed against the flesh of the fruit. His moral code momentarily suspended into a void of degeneracy, Osamu smiled at the sight like a child opening his Christmas gifts. Truly, this was his lowest moment.

"A very good banana indeed." Akatsuki mumbled, finishing the last bite.

"Osamu!" Shinju shouted.

"Yeah?"

The last thing Osamu saw was Shinju's fist coming towards his face. Everything went black after that, and he awoke handcuffed to Shinju's bed with no shirt on. Akatsuki and Omagatoki were there with him, helping Shinju examine the letter now that the invisible ink had been revealed.

"Ah, my head...Shinju, I appreciate the eroticism, but I've snapped out of my fetish trance now. Can you let me go?" Osamu asked.

"No, you deserve this sentence for making two innocent little girls play along with your bizarre sexual fantasies. Be thankful you aren't dead." Shinju scorned.

"Shinju has already informed us on the situation involving this letter. The invisible ink has revealed itself now." Amatsuki said.

"Seriously?! Shinju, tell me what it says! Actually, before that, please uncuff me!"

Shinju gave him a piercing glare of doubt and skepticism before giving in and removing the cuffs, tossing him his black sweatshirt. "Now then, the message. 'The beginning of the end began at the end of the beginning.'"

"Huh? That's it? Doesn't really make a whole lot of sense." Osamu

"It does to me." Shinju said. "It's a coded phrase we use to communicate with one of the shrine owners. I know exactly where we need to go now."

(The Shoku Twins ended up directing us to a very old and presumably abandoned Buddhist shrine way out of town. They teleported us there, so the travel was no issue.)

The shrine was almost entirely made of old stone. There were several statues with missing limbs or heads still standing, as well as multiple doorways that led to the prayer space, which was also made out of stone. The only remaining statue was that of a fasting, emaciated Buddha, his rib cage clearly visible through his skin. An old woman approached them as they entered the candle-lit prayer space. She had snow-white hair and wore a pristine, white yukata, as well as a small bell around her neck.

"State your business." The woman commanded.

"Cyanide sent us here. We're suppose to be looking for something, I suppose." Shinju answered.

"Oh? And I suppose you can tell me when the end began?" the woman asked.

"Yes. It began at the end of the beginning. Kind of makes you wonder whatever happened to the middle, right?"

"The middle..." Osamu mumbled.

"Just as clever as he is." the woman remarked. "Please wait here. I'll be right back."

The woman departed, leaving Osamu and the gang in the prayer space for a few minutes. She soon returned with a small, golden, folding fan in her hands.

"This is the artifact. Cyanide expressed that you would both need it. It seemed like he was in some sort of trouble." The woman said.

"Trouble, huh? So then, do you know where Cyanide is?" Shinju asked.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"I'm afraid he did not tell me. My apologies."

"No, it's fine. Guess we'll have to go back to town and search for more clues."

"All right! Let's get going. Thank you for having us, ma'am." Omagatoki said, bowing.

Akatsuki joined her and bowed as well. "Thank you for having us."

"No problem. The woman said with a smile. "You all take care of yourselves."

(We went back to Kyoto after getting the artifact. We went around until the late afternoon searching for clues, and we were finally pointed towards an abandoned occult book shop all the way on the other side of town. Again, thanks to the Shoku Twins, we were able to get there in no time at all.)

The old occult bookshop was a rather large place where books, charms, and weapons were sold. It just looked any old rinky dink shop that hadn't seen any business in a while, but the windows were all boarded up, and it didn't look like the lights were on inside. Instead, holes in the dilapidated ceiling acted as skylights, washing the massive library in dull, grey light.

Osamu and the gang left wet sole marks on the dirtied, marble floor, their voices echoing through the pitifully neglected and abandoned library. Cobwebs and blankets of dust shrouded several of the wooden bookshelves, while other bookshelves looked as though they were carefully tended after. Books on ghosts, spirits, monsters, and rituals were packed on the shelves, arranged in alphabetical order.

"We're very sorry, but it's almost time for us to lower the sun and raise the moon. We'll have to depart now." Akatsuki said.

"Thank you for all of your help, you two." Osamu said.

"Until next time, Big Brother Osamu! And you too, Shinju!" Omagatoki cheered.

Shinju nodded and waved. "Until next time!"

The two twins joined their hands and teleported away, leaving Osamu and Shinju inside.

"Shinju, why exactly were you guys hunting Bishamon's descendant?"

"Like I said before, we knew that Bishamon was a traitor. We suspected he was going to try and attempt a coup, and he couldn't possibly hope to do it alone. When we discovered he was grooming his only son to become a killer, we were sent to stop him. It was all to squash Bishamon's hope of a takeover."

"So, Amaterasu knew he was no good, but she kept him around anyway?"

"My guess is he was still useful to her. I know it sounds wrong, but Bishamon's actions during the Warring States era was ultimately a net benefit for the pantheon. It was under his command that the Senkumo clan forced the Buddhist to venerate Shinto deities, and the Exorcist Program takes a lot of inspiration from the structure of the Senkumo. I bet Bishamon was able to use that to convince Himushi to join him. It would've been easy to make it look like he was the victim in all of this, that the exorcists had unfairly stolen his concepts and persecuted him. Either way, it doesn't matter. A traitor is a traitor."

Osamu and Shinju found a door leading to the other section of the building, an area that would typically only be available to the staff of the store. This was where all of the spare books were stored. In the middle of the room, among all of that piles of books on the floor, a single man sat at the wooden desk, with a single, large window at his back.

He wore black jeans, a brown leather jacket, and a floral shirt. His hair was a light blonde, stretching down to his shoulders. A bandage was wrapped around his temple as he inhaled the smoke of a cigarette, then exhaled through his thin, blonde beard.

"So it really is you, Cyanide." Shinju said.

"Shinju! Long time, no see." Cyanide applauded. "I knew you were smart enough to follow the clues here. You were always a bright girl. Uhh...who's this?"

"This is Osamu Ashikaga. Osamu is written as 'Discipline', like in the first character in Shugendo'. He's my partner-in-justice and my partner in bed."

"Oi, you didn't have to say that part..." Osamu muttered.

Cyanide leaned back in his chair, kicking his legs up on the table. "Osamu, huh? Nice to meet you. I'm sure she's already told you about me if she brought you, but for the sake of introduction, my name is Cyanide. Well, it's not my actual name, but it's what you can call me."

"Yeah, sure..." Osamu said.

Shinju dangled the golden folding fan in front of Cyanide but took it back as he reached for it. "What happened, Cyanide? I've been looking for you for weeks."

"Come on, Shinju..." Cyanide sighed.

"Talk, or I leave."

The two glared at each other until Cyanide ultimately gave up. "Very well then. You win."

Cyanide held up his hands, keeping his cigarette in his mouth. Each hand had a hole going right through the palms, similar to the hands of Jesus after his crucifixion.

"Your hands!" Osamu gasped.

"What happened to you?!" Shinju recoiled.

"Do you have to ask? It was that kid, Bishamon's descendant. I ran into him again in the countryside not that long ago. Looks like he and Himushi are hellbent on settling this. I was able to get away, thank god, but I'm sure it won't be long before we have to fight them. With Amatsuki and the skeleton gone, they've got nothing to fall back on, nothing to use against us."

"And the fan?" Shinju asked.

"They were attempting to take it for themselves. I guess they were trying to arm up before confronting us."

"What were you doing in the countryside? Looking for more relics?" Shinju questioned.

"Seriously, are you a cop or something?" Cyanide groaned.

"What a stupid question. I'm Heaven's Police Officer. Have you forgotten who you're dealing with?"

"Cyanide, please just explain what happened."

"Bossed around by a woman and child...Seriously, it's not my style." Cyanide sighed. "To hell with it. Sit down. I'll tell you how that kid and I crossed paths again. It only happened about three weeks ago. Sorry, Osamu. I'm gonna have to take over the narration for now."

"Do whatever you have to do." Osamu said.

(Ahem. Is this thing on? Osamu, am I doing it right? Yeah? They can see this? Good. Now then, the story begins in Kyoto's countryside. As I said, it was merely three weeks ago.)

Oddly, though he was in the countryside, Cyanide wore a suit as he strolled down the stone steps leading towards a ruined shrine. Most of the trees and ground were covered in snow. He walked with his hands in his pockets, smoking along the way and passing by broken, moss-covered statues of Amaterasu.

(Shinju, you're guess was correct. I'll come clean. I was out searching for holy relics, wherever they may still be. However, it wasn't for the reason you may believe. I have no intention on becoming the world's most powerful divine descendant or anything like that. Absolute power is worthless, after all.)

(You wouldn't take a million dollars if it meant a million different assassins would try to kill you. You wouldn't take the imperial Chinese throne if it meant your general would just usurp your power. It's a kind of thing that has way too much danger behind it to ever be considered a good idea. No, I was actually tasked with this. It was just a regular relic clean up job, nothing serious.)

Cyanide made it up to the ruined shrine, where the pagoda had collapsed, and more broken statues still stood with missing heads and limbs.

(I searched around and around for this relic, but couldn't find anything. Not under the rubble, and not in the forest surrounding the shrine. That's when I came across a peculiar area of the shrine.)

Cyanide almost tripped on a steel handle as he searched around. There was an unexplained hatch leading to an underground level of the shrine. Of course, Cyanide went in. As soon as he dropped down into the underground tunnel, the odorous fumes of rotting flesh hit his nostrils. He was hesitant to use his match for light, fearing that the ammonia and nitrogen oxide in the air would combust. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw that the ground was covered with piles of dead pigs.

(Pigs. Could you believe it? They looked like they had only been dead for a week or so. Something recent happened in that underground passage.)

Cyanide continued, holding his shirt up to his nose. The tunnel began to widen up, leading him into a circular prayer area surrounded by white, unlit candles. Sitting on a pillow and meditating like the Buddha himself, Magatori, descendant of Bishamon, opened his eyes upon Cyanide's intrusion. Around Magatori were several of the artifacts Cyanide was supposed to collect.

"Holy shit...It's you..." Cyanide gasped.

(Magatori. That wasn't his actual name. The kid didn't have one. Shinju is the one who named him that, with the characters for 'Calamity' and 'Bird' in mind. It was chosen because of his gentle appearance, like that of a bird, and his destructive powers, hence the 'Calamity' character.)

Magatori slowly rose to his feet, holding his sheathed sword in his gloved, right hand. "I remember you. Lucrezia's right hand man. It's been a long time, hasn't it? Over twenty years."

Beads of sweat rolled down Cyanide's temple and down his cheek, dripping onto the collar of his dress shirt. "Why are you here, Magatori?"

"The same reason as you, I suppose. We're about ready to settle this mess."

"So you're going to kill Lucrezia and Tsukiakari, is that it? You must've realized attempting a coup is impossible now, and there's no way you can cause a rift in the ranks of the exorcists. All you have left is your petty revenge."

Suddenly, Himushi blasted a wrathful scream from behind Cyanide. "How dare you, Cyanide!"

Cyanide quickly turned around and saw Himushi's gleaming blade coming in towards his stomach. He stepped out of the way of her slash, then kicked her wrists upward, sending the sword flying towards the cave ceiling. He slid backwards, realizing now that Himushi was the one who nearly killed him. It couldn't have been coincidence. This had to have been a trap.

"Himushi..." Cyanide muttered.

Himushi raised her hand upward, her sword disintegrating into thousands of small sparks and embers. The embers flowed from the ceiling and swirled in the inside of her palm, reassembling into a sword as black as the night sky. Two golden tassels hung from the black hilt, which was wrapped with dark, purple cloth.

"After everything we endured, you dare call this petty?" Himushi scorned. "You've sunk so low as to forget everyone whose lives were thrown away! Occam, Setsuna, Anri, Vidal, and even Lucrezia!"

"Lucrezia?" Cyanide repeated, her name standing out from the names of the deceased. "Listen, I don't know what you think happened, but stealing those remains only caused you more grief. You've been 'dead' for all this time. You don't know what's transpired since then."

"Then tell me. Tell me the truth, Cyanide!" Himushi cried. "What happened in 1995? What happened during the Great Hanshin Earthquake?"

Cyanide bit his lip, resisting every urge to calm Himushi's rage with the truth. He looked his former teammate in the eyes and shook his head, denying her request. "Nothing happened. Lucrezia was the only one that made it out of that quake."

"Lies, lies, lies! Every word you say is a lie!" Himushi screamed. "You told me yourself that Lucrezia had stage two emphysema! So then how is she still alive today? How did she even make it out of the earthquake? Why won't you let anyone identify the skeleton recovered from her home?"

"That's her mother's body, damn it!" Cyanide shouted.

"We measured." Magatori interjected. "That skeleton was several inches too tall to be Lucrezia's mother. If it's not Lucrezia, and it's not her mother, then who is it?"

"...I'm sorry, Himushi. I can't tell you that."

"...So, you too, huh? You won't tell the truth either?" Himushi said. "Fine, then. I was hoping to let you live. I wanted you to escape this. It seems there's no choice, after all."

Himushi disintegrated her sword, sending the sparks into the narrow mouth of the cave. The sparks met with the lingering ammonia and nitrogen oxide permeating from the pig carcasses, resulting in an explosion that knocked Cyanide off of his feet. The dark cave was now aglow with the flickering, orange light of dancing flames as chunks of rock fell from the ceiling.

Himushi dashed at him from one side while Magatori dashed in from the other. They thrusted their blades forward, hoping to skewer Cyanide right on the spot. Instead, he extended both of his hands, letting the blades pierce his palms in order to stop them. He turned his head towards Himushi, smiling as he cradled a small stopwatch between his thumb, index, and middle fingers.

"We'll have to continue this another time, Himushi." Cyanide quipped.

Cyanide pressed his thumb against the stem of the stopwatch, and in an instant, he vanished from the room, leaving Himushi and Magatori behind.

(I didn't tell them a thing, if that's what you're wondering. I barely escaped with my life, so I laid low and put together a plan to contact you. Sorry, but that letter was the best I could do. I couldn't just show up, especially since Tsukiakari was back in town.)