Ushitora indicated a specific time and direction.
In ancient Japan, time wasn't indicated through numbers, but through the twelve zodiac signs. It was the same for date and direction.
The hour of the Ushitora was the time period between 1:00 AM to 5:00 AM, or more specifically 2:30 AM, and the direction of the Ushitora was mid-way between the north and the east.
This hour and direction had great significance in Buddhism.
The Ushitora direction was referred to as Kimon- the Demon Gate.
Without losing any time, all the members of the organization and I had set out for the northeast direction, to onto the ruins of an ancient temple, situated near a waterfall.
From what the Kami have told us, it was the emplacement where Tadashi was going to open the gate at exactly 2:30 AM when the lunar eclipse would be at its pinnacle.
As we emerged out of the forest, we caught sight of two dark figures standing by the waterfall on the other side of the crevice ahead of us.
These were none other than Subaru and Tadashi.
They were already on the site of the ancient temple.
An old suspension bridge made of ropes and wooden planks linked the two sides of the precipice.
The sky was absolutely cloudless tonight, a small sinister wind blowing.
'Shun! Shun! Shun!' exclaimed Tadashi- or rather, the Amatsu Mikaboshi- when his eyes fell onto us. 'My! You're really a pain in the neck, aren't you?!'
None of us moved, being careful. We were too far away to attempt anything against him.
'I know that you're not Tadashi,' I stated, and his eyes widened a fraction, before he scoffed, 'Oh? Really? Well, you took your time to realize it, Shun Shutsuki!'
He was evidently amused.
'Why? Why did you choose Tadashi and not another demon for your plan?' I asked, my emotions in turmoil.
His expression turned dark.
'Are you really asking me this question?' he demanded. 'I am the father of all demons. For this reason, they are supposed to be the natural enemies of humanity and have for task to eliminate dangerous humans like you. It's your ability that attracted Tadashi towards you, but instead of killing you and all those miserable humans of your village, he befriended you! Tadashi and you began to play the daddy and the mummy with Subaru! Did you really think that I was going to allow this to continue? I chose Tadashi to carry out my vast projects to punish the two of you!'
He let out an evil laugh, saying, 'Oh, Shun, if only you had seen your face that night when I had temporarily taken control over Tadashi for the very first time, to try to push you to kill Subaru! And when I made him possess her! Not to forget your expression when I revealed to you that Subaru has been in my custody all these years!'
'You know,' he added, with a derisive smile, 'Tadashi has been lucid during the whole time of the massacre. In fact, he has kept his lucidity during all these past years and is still lucid at this moment. He is watching everything helplessly, without being able to do anything about it.'
My eyes went wide, my heart squeezing in pain.
Tadashi's consciousness is still alive?!
'You skunk!' I gritted out.
'What's wrong, Shun? It doesn't resemble you to profligate insults! See the good side of things! It's thanks to his lucidity that he managed to repress my control over him for a brief moment during the massacre to prevent me from killing you. He had been helped by Subaru. And all these years, if I haven't been able to kill you, it's only due to him. So, like I've said before, you're a real pain in the neck!'
'But, this taught me the power of bonds. It's solely for this reason that I killed Kirigaya Kuhōin for, if there was anyone who could have removed Subaru from under my control, it was well that boy.'
He killed Kirigaya only for this reason?!
At this, Subaru's head snapped around at him, her expression becoming alive in a mask of shock.
'Did you kill- Kirigaya?' she gasped, and I realized that she didn't know about Kirigaya's death.
Unexpectedly, she drew out her katana and dashed at Tadashi, roaring with rage.
Subaru, no!
There came a horrifying sound as Tadashi's arm went through her chest, ripping her heart out.
Tsunan's hand came over my eyes a second too late.
Crying in horror, I lowered his hand with both of mine and broke free of his grip around my waist, to stare at Subaru as Tadashi removed his arm out of her chest, hurling her down the precipice in the same movement while he groaned, 'You dare to turn on me?!'
Time seemed to come to a standstill for the matter of a second.
And then, I rushed to the edge of the cliff and dropped down to onto my knees to stare at the river below which had swallowed Subaru's body; screaming my lungs out.
Stepping out to the edge too, Tsunan flung himself off the cliff, diving to recuperate Subaru's lifeless body.
'Shun, go! We'll occupy Tadashi in the meanwhile!' Master Kagami exclaimed at me.
I began to run my way down to the shore, watching the water desperately, through my teary eyes.
For a moment, Tsunan was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared under the current, until finally his head broke the surface, Subaru being with him.
When I reached the shore, he had already dragged her to the land.
'Shun, I'm sorry. There's nothing that I can do!' he said, his voice filled with agony as I closed the distance between us.
Sinking down onto my knees at Subaru's side, I stared at the wide gaping hole in her chest; her heart was missing. I lifted the upper-part of her body off the ground to cradle her in my arms while I wailed and Tsunan sent his arm around my shoulders, hugging me.
We remained like this for a moment until the furious battle of the members of the organization against the Amatsu Mikaboshi came to our attention.
We needed to go.
Setting Subaru's unanimated body back down, I removed my haori and covered her with it.
'We'll come to fetch you when it's all over, Subaru,' I whispered, before I looked at Tsunan, telling him, 'Let's go!'
Taking each other's hand, we made our way up to on top on the cliff again.
The ropes of the bridge- that led to the other side of the precipice- had been cut, without any doubt, by the Amatsu Mikaboshi, but Yanagi had managed to maintain the bridge into place with the use of a spell.
She had one knee on the ground, her arm rose towards the bridge, the effort seeming to affect her a lot.
She wouldn't be able to hold on for any longer.
Without losing a second, Tsunan and I traversed the bridge to join the others, who were attacking Tadashi, consecutively.
But the latter skipped their attacks one after another, knocking the members of the organization off their feet along the way.
'You bastard! We're going to make you pay for all that you've done to Shun!' shouted Shuda, as he swung his katana at Tadashi, but the demon jumped out of the way in the blink of an eye and landed in a crouched position, over the latter's sword, like a feline.
He stared at a wide-eyed Shuda for half a second, before he knocked the older male down with a kick.
Taking Tadashi from behind, Master Kagami plunged his hand inside of the demon's body, but his power didn't work onto him, and Tadashi swung his arm at the master, knocking him a good distance away.
All the members of the organization were now on the ground and caught in deep suffering, their injuries having opened in the confrontation.
Exchanging a meaningful look with me, Tsunan hurled a set of needles at Tadashi who hadn't seen us arrived and the latter moved to the side to skip them by just.
Having anticipated his movement, I launched an attack on him with my Godai Shakujō.
Everything seemed to go on slow motion in that instant.
The five shakujō cut through the air towards Tadashi.
His head snapped around to look at the oncoming surprise attack, but it was way too late for him to react.
The five staffs planted themselves in his body.
Everyone held their breaths.
Stumbling backward, Tadashi stared at the five staffs sticking out of his body, before he lifted his eyes onto me, his expression twisted with pain.
'I'm sorry, Tadashi,' I whispered, with anguish.
Unexpectedly, he lifted his hand and began removing one by one the shakujō impaling him, dropping them to the ground, driving us frantic.
I backed away by a few steps and fell down on my behind. Tsunan moved up to me instantly.
How is this possible? Why isn't Tadashi dead? It was definitely due to the Amatsu Mikaboshi's power enveloping him completely!
Is there any way to stop him anymore?
Joining his hands together, Tadashi recited a sort of incantation in an unknown language, before he smacked his palms on the ground.
A column of blinding white light shot up from the ground to meet with the sky, uniting the two.
Our hands shot up in front of our faces to shield our eyes from the dazzling light while we tried to resist the violent blast of wind that was pushing us backward.
There came a cracking sound then and through our narrowed eyes, we caught glimpse of a black fissure that was starting to appear within the column of light.
It was the gate that was opening!
Out of the blue, there was a sudden outburst of energy at the foot of the column of light at the exact spot where Tadashi was standing.
The shock wave knocked the members of the organization and I several feet away where we crashed to the ground.
It took us several minutes to catch our bearings.
When we opened our eyes, we were astounded to find that the column of light had disappeared, as well as, the gate and Tadashi.
The gate had been closed!
In my head, I heard Tadashi's voice at that moment which said, in a soft and gentle tone: 'Goodbye, Shun! It's time for you to find your happiness.'
At first, we didn't understand what happened. And then, it became obvious to us that, as the gate was opening, the Amatsu Mikaboshi had released his control over Tadashi, crying victory too quickly.
Having recovered his self-control, Tadashi had then released his demonic power to close the gate, saving the day.
His body had been consumed in the process.
He had sacrificed himself to save everyone and the whole creation.
When I went to recuperate Subaru on the shore, afterwards, her body had mysteriously disappeared.
***
Two days later…
The bed shifted beside me.
'Shun,' said Tsunan in a soft tone, as he put his hand down onto my upper-arm. 'You can't remain prostrated like this. You need to eat something.'
Shedding my tears, I turned around to look at him in the eyes.
His expression was filled with worry.
Lifting my hand up, I cupped the side of his face, giving him a small smile to show him how much I appreciated all that he was doing for me.
Placing his hand over mine, he turned his head slightly to kiss my palm.
'Shun! Tsunan! Come down quickly!' came Hatsu's voice from downstairs, in an urgent shout, abruptly.
Quite alarmed, Tsunan and I made our way down into the living room in a rush, but we didn't find Hatsu nor Heihachi there; we could hear their voices in the garden outside now.
As we came out in the open to join them, our eyes fell onto the two divinities holding themselves there in the middle of the yard, facing us.
It was Raitogami, accompanied by, another Kami.
The former was carrying Subaru's corpse in his two arms.
My heart clenched.
'We apologize for the distress we have plunged you in due to the disappearance of the corpse of your sister. We are the ones who took her body away,' Raitogami told me.
Crouching down, he placed Subaru's lifeless body on the grass before he straightened up and backed away by two steps to be in line with the other Kami.
I ran to Subaru's side on the spot and getting down on my knees, I placed my hands over her corpse, tears rolling down my cheeks.
'When Subaru was breathing her last breath, she expressed a wish while thinking of you. She wanted you to be freed of all blames for the massacre that took place six years ago. The other Kami and I have taken care of it. You are now fully acquitted of the crime. Subaru is now recognized to be guilty of it. This is what she wanted.'
Transfixed with shock, I stared at the two Kami for a minute, then at Subaru.
'Takamagahara would have disappeared alongside this world. Your comrades and you have fought with valiance. For us, it's our way of showing you our gratitude. We can't bring your sister back to life; we don't have the right to. We see it as a consolation. You may hate us if you want, though, because Subaru's name will be forever attached to the massacre.'
My heart swelled.
'Oh, Subaru...' I whispered.
There was no word to explain what she did.
Thank you for reading!
Glossary
Ushitora -ox-tiger