Sakura petals floated downwards from their homes as a gentle breeze carried them along. Of all the days to die, this might be the best. The scenery was beautiful. The awe-striking kind that would make you pause your journey for a moment, even if it would be your last. That’s exactly what Ai was doing, admiring the beauty, and finding it oddly symbolic as the end of her journey approached. She was making her way to Tokyo to attend business she was required to attend, though she wouldn’t be making it there. Not anymore.

Ai had the bad luck to run into a particularly awful yōkai. Lately, they’ve been rumored to show up more recently as of late, as if they’d been emboldened by some unknown force. This is especially bad when an Oni struts out of a cave you missed just behind you.

Ai had no chance. No shot at survival. A towering red-skinned demon with a single crude horn stabbing out the side of its forehead, holding a crude cudgel made out of a log above its head. She couldn’t even gasp or take a breath.

Before her brain could even send the signals for a scream to come out of her throat, everything went black.

…

She blinked, and her eyes were met by a blinding white surrounding her. Instinctively, she blinked and covered her face with her hands, but realized that she did not find her surroundings blinding. She had no compulsion to even blink, for that matter. All her exhaustion from her journey, gone.

She heard a voice speak to her from everywhere, but could not find who, or what.

“It seems you’ve suffered a terrible fate, young Ai.” It spoke. It sounded feminine, but otherwise heavenly. Ai understood what had happened. She had been crushed, instantly turned into a fine red paste on the stone, pink petals floating down where a human once existed…

“You perished in the embrace of Amaterasu, wrongfully so. You were not meant to die here.”

The name Amaterasu caught her attention immediately. The Sun God herself? The warmth she felt from the sun on the mountain did feel oddly embracing, but she assumed it was simply because she had been traveling in shade for a day.

“Amaterasu?”

“Yes, the Great Divinity Illuminating Heaven,” Said the voice. “You were meant to complete your journey to the Sensō-ji shrine unimpeded, but Death is the greatest obstruction of all.”

“If I am truly dead, then where am I?” The question nagged at the back of Ai’s consciousness. “This cannot truly be heaven, can it?”

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There was a soft chuckle. It felt oddly reassuring.

“No, it is not. I have stopped you from moving beyond for a reason, Ai. Amaterasu has beckoned your soul to be revived in her service, as compensation for your untimely demise. She wishes you to carry her messages to humanity.”

The voice stopped, and there was silence. Ai pondered her words. If Amaterasu herself wanted her to serve her, who was she to say no? She would be a damn fool, that’s who.

But something nagged her. A sudden pang of worry.

“What of my family? My friends?”

Again, the voice chuckled.

“They will simply never see you again. Your body was destroyed in an instant, there is nothing that can be done about that. I understand your worry, though…”

“...It shall be your first task, but that will come later.”

Ai felt some relief, but her worry lingered. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound escaped.

“Ai, do you understand what you have been called to be?”

She nodded, and replied. “A messenger of Amaterasu, a duty which I will not deny.”

The voice responded as she expected it to, but it sounded much more stern.

“That is only part of it, Ai. Ultimately, you will become a kitsune.” It spoke.

Suddenly, Ai understood, and as she understood, a wedge appeared in her mind that ensured her willingness to her servitude. She felt a warmth in her body as she began to glow. It continued. “You will no longer be human, as that will simply burden you. When you next awaken, you will be a kitsune, and you will be taught our way. If you have any other questions, you may want to ask them now.”

That warmth grew increasingly comforting as Ai looked down at herself, watching her body slowly change. Her clothes were gone, so she could see plainly what was happening. She retained her human shape, but began growing fur across her body, and her face contorted slightly.

“You will be bound to your role from now on, though I’m sure you were already aware. The divinity has begun molding your mind, after all.”

Suddenly, a silhouetted humanoid shape began approaching Ai, and the voice became centralized from it. It was certainly female, though she saw peculiar ears and a tail following behind her. She also bore witness to the most beautiful kimono she had ever seen. She tried to see the face of the speaker, but something was preventing her from seeing anything other than the general shape of her, clothing excluded. The lady continued approaching until she was right beside Ai, then crouched down. She felt a comforting hand run through her hair.

“Now, do you have a question for me?”

Ai searched her mind for one, shuddering slightly as she was rubbed. Only one really came to her mind while everything began to grow fuzzy.

“Who are you?” She muttered. Her question was rewarded with another soft chuckle, before getting her answer.

“You may call me Masayoshi.”

She leaned in close to her ear, as Ai could no longer hold her own weight and had collapsed onto a theoretical floor, prone.

“And as for my own task for you, before you are whisked away and forget this…”

“Prevent the Erasure, 500 years from now.”

Before Ai could question the words, everything fell into a deep haze as she went under.

Then nothing.

Her mind seized, filtered, and reset. “Hanako” had become the newest kitsune to serve the gods.