Chapter Twelve: Yomi Jade Branch

Chief Priest Oonakatomi Kaito pulled out a tissue with trembling hands under everyone's gaze. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said awkwardly, "The Yata Mirror in the Ise Grand Shrine is a fake."

He added, "After the Eastern Isles lost the war, the emperor feared that losing the Yata Mirror would damage public morale, so he had a replica made and placed in the Ise Grand Shrine for people to see."

He had to make that clear.

Heijō-kyō had hundreds of thousands of residents. If they all died in this incident, someone would have to take the blame.

The blame was too much for one person to bear. It would take a whole group.

He had no intention of being one of them.

"The Yata Mirror in the Ise Grand Shrine really is a fake!"

Tagawa Masamune remembered visiting the Ise Grand Shrine, eager to see a national treasure, only to be told the Yata Mirror was fake. He had been dumbstruck.

Worse, reporters had been present, so he had been forced to bow to a fake with an air of pious reverence. He could hardly describe how that had felt.

"Gentlemen, hundreds of thousands of lives in Heijō-kyō are at stake. If any of you have the Yata Mirror or know anything about it, please come forward."

A national treasure could not simply vanish into thin air.

It had to be hidden in someone's collection, and whoever owned it was most likely a citizen of the Eastern Isles.

Only someone from the Eastern Isles would be so fixated on the Three Sacred Treasures that they would spend a fortune to acquire one.

They had never pursued it before because even if they found the Yata Mirror, getting it back would be difficult. Buy it? Anyone capable of collecting the Yata Mirror would hardly need money, and they could not force a private citizen to hand over a national treasure.

But things were different now.

His political career was at stake. He had to get the Yata Mirror back, no matter what.

With that thought, Tagawa Masamune's tone turned severe. "If Heijō-kyō is destroyed, everyone here, myself included, will be held accountable. I expect you all to do everything in your power to find the Yata Mirror."

"Yes."

At the Prime Minister's residence, the priests, Onmyoji, and monks were already regretting coming.

Before they arrived, the Prime Minister had said a few monsters had appeared and asked them to deal with them. Out of respect for him, they had planned to make up some excuses and stay out of it.

Who could have guessed it would turn into a matter of life and death for hundreds of thousands of people in Heijō-kyō?

Shouldn't you be calling an emergency cabinet meeting over something this serious? Why drag ordinary mortals like us into the discussion?

Are you trying to make us die alongside you to atone for this?

But there was nothing they could do. They were already here. If hundreds of thousands of people in Heijō-kyō were dragged into the Yomi Land of the Dead, every last one of them would have to answer for it with their lives.

To save themselves, they took out their phones and got to work.

As priests, Onmyoji, and monks who spent their days praying for others, they had little wealth or power on the surface. But their connections reached every level of society across the country.

Especially since Amenominakanushi had appeared in the Living World, the powerful had pursued them with a frenzy. In the Eastern Isles, their professions had been synonymous with supernatural power since ancient times.

They wanted supernatural power.

But what they wanted even more was a long life.

The poor yearned for wealth, beauty, and power. Those who already had them yearned for a long life.

It had been so throughout history, everywhere in the world.

When the people in the middle and upper reaches of a country's hierarchy sprang into action, the force they could muster was staggering. In less than two hours, they learned the Yata Mirror's whereabouts from someone who knew.

"It's actually in the emperor's hands." Tagawa Masamune's face practically twitched.

I can understand hiding the Yata Mirror yourself and then offering a reward to find it as a way of hiding in plain sight, but couldn't you have been a little more honest with me?

Complaining inwardly, Tagawa Masamune nevertheless called the emperor with due respect. A short while later, he hung up and bowed slightly to the others. "Thank you all for your help. I intend to establish the Seventh Investigation Division under the Public Security Investigation Agency to handle supernatural incidents. I hope you'll join us and work together for the prosperity and stability of the Eastern Isles."

"Yes..." they answered in unison.

A barrier tinged with the murky yellow of Yomi enveloped all of Heijō-kyō.

Above the barrier, the Yomi Land of the Dead was clearly visible. Countless terrifying monsters lurked within it, peering into the living world.

Beneath the barrier, the small city of hundreds of thousands was in chaos. Crashed and abandoned vehicles were everywhere.

In the desperate flight from what seemed like the end of the world, humanity's means of transport had become a hindrance.

After receiving the Prime Minister's orders, Nagaosaki Akira began gathering the public for a grand ritual.

Even amid scenes like the end of the world, the government's authority still carried weight. He soon assembled over a thousand people.

As he reassured the crowd, Nagaosaki Akira asked, "Priest Tomioka, isn't Lord Susanoo in the Yomi Land of the Dead? Why doesn't he sever its connection to the living world?"

Because I made that up.

Tomioka Yoshimasa replied with reserve, "The intentions of the great Susanoo are beyond the understanding of us mortals."

Nagaosaki Akira nodded, then turned to Tanaka Shigenaga. "Mr. Tanaka, your Shikigami is in the Yomi Land of the Dead. Could you control it and see whether Lady Reiko has picked the Yomi Jade Branch?"

No, thank you.

Tanaka Shigenaga refused coldly in his mind, though he let a suitably troubled expression show on his face. "The Yomi Land of the Dead is vast. It may look large enough to cover Heijō-kyō from up there, but that's only one corner of it... Finding High Priestess Reiko there would be incredibly difficult."

Nagaosaki Akira nodded and was about to ask more questions about the secrets of supernatural power when Tomioka Yoshimasa interrupted him.

"Lady Reiko has returned from the Yomi Land of the Dead."

As soon as Nagaosaki Akira saw her, he hurried over and asked after her. "Lady Reiko, did you find the Yomi Jade Branch? Are you hurt? Please tell me if you need anything. It would be my honor to help you."

Reiko nodded and raised the Yomi Jade Branch in her hand.

Its leaves glowed a lustrous green, while its flowers were a murky yellow. Exposed to the air, it gave off an alluring fragrance, though a closer sniff revealed the faint, nauseating stench of rot.

The flower had, of course, been conjured with divine power. No one had ever seen the real Yomi Jade Branch. Even if someone had, they would assume their eyes had deceived them or the books had got it wrong.

"Mr. Nagaosaki, I'm about to perform the ritual to summon my lord Amenominakanushi. Please have your people maintain order here. Do not anger my lord."

"Priest Tomioka, Monk Tanaka, sorry for the trouble, but please help me perform the ritual."