NOVEL NEXT [7] Gods and Destiny
Chapter 7: Gods and Destiny
[Third Person Point of View – Yatagarasu]
"How interesting…"
In the form of a little girl, she sat on top of a utility pole kilometers far from the house of Ai Hoshino. Yet, her eyes saw the scene clearly through the eyes of her crows that flew over that house, as she wore an everlasting smile.
Fate had just been averted.
This was the exact moment, the scenario that would have pushed the two children to reshape the country in the future. Yet, it had just been averted by one of the children.
How had this come to be?
"My Liege? What must I do?"
She called out to the air, her smile faltered and she took on a respectful experience.
"Should I go and make Fate return to its course?" Should she go and kill that woman herself?
The sky was calm, the clouds floating gently as usual. She waited for merely a few seconds until an ethereal voice rang in her ears.
"Those who are to live, will live. Those who are to die, will die. I, Amaterasu, am to simply stand witness." The voice was like the singing wind. "Fate has been altered, but perhaps that too was destined to be? Must we really meddle with things that have changed on their own?"
The divine voice of her master, Amaterasu, spoke to her ears. Amaterasu was the Sun Goddess of Shinto Mythology, as well as the Chief Goddess who stood at the top of Takamagahara, the heaven of Shinto Gods. It was a great honor that she was the servant of such a deity.
The little girl, Yatagarasu, had her eyes closed as she nodded gently.
"I understand, my Liege. Still, forgive my insolence… but isn't that boy odd? He used a form of magic to avert fate. Should that be tolerated? How does he even know such arts?"
"Yatagarasu, dear." The wind-like voice sang again. "We are Gods, not fools. There is something strange about that boy's soul, I was aware of that back when I reincarnated him and the girl. However, I didn't linger on him for too long since he isn't my chosen, but my brother's."
And Yatagarasu was well aware of how her brother was these days. It's surprising that Lady Amaterasu even bothered asking that disappointing God permission for this event.
Great Amaterasu brought two people who never had a mother, in the real sense, and a mother who gave birth to soulless children, together. She could do that easily; her powers were vast. But while reincarnation was common in this world, reincarnators with intact memories were rare. It would break balance; Fate would grow very unpredictable. So it only happened a few times in history, and whenever it did, Lady Amaterasu had to ask permission from her brother.
Only after both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi would give their permission, would this very special reincarnation happen.
However, the current Lord Tsukuyomi was a disappointment. Who was he to permit anything anymore? In fact, that fool went by the name Delivery God Yato now, and he didn't even have enough authority to bless his chosen so that he would keep his memories while Fate would also stay stable; so Lady Amaterasu had to bless both of the children herself.
So, one could say it was that fool's fault that Fate had twisted like this. Yatagarasu wouldn't dare say any of that out loud, of course. No matter what, Lady Amaterasu still loved her brother. Being her brother was one thing, but he was also her fiancée in the past, all those feelings made her too soft towards him.
"Mhm, Yatagarasu." The gentle voice said once more. "You shall return. If they ever need your guidance in the future, only then come intervene."
Intervene, and have some fun – Yatagarasu noted. She sighed in her head and nodded. Her Goddess' Will was eternal; even if she was displeased, she would do as per her orders.
With a giggle that traveled kilometers all around, the body of Yatagarasu, the Crow God of Guidance, burst into a flock of crows that soon disappeared into the sky.
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[Third Person Point of View – General]
More than
ten years have passed since Ai Hoshino nearly lost her life.That incident made Ai want to quit as an Idol; she had survived once, but what if it happened again? What if next time, it was her children who would face such attacks?
However, her agency didn’t want her to quit. Since the body of the attacker was gone, and the scene that had happened was completely supernatural, Ai didn’t bother to tell the President and his wife about the incident.
Though… in truth, being the blabbermouth she was, it was a miracle she hadn’t said anything. Honestly, she feared that her son might be taken into custody, or worse, seen as a practitioner of some kind of black magic and taken away by the government. She may be airheaded, but she wasn’t going to risk her son’s life.
Sadly, though, because she didn’t have any real reason to quit, the President and his wife’s begging forced her to stay. After that, she had asked Aqua in private if she should quit or not, but he just acted like how a four-year-old should and told her to pursue her dream in a cute voice. Much unlike the authoritative scary voice he had when he outright murdered another human.
Aqua didn’t even remember the incident. When he woke up after healing her and collapsing, he had forgotten everything.
Ai had come to believe that Aqua was blessed by the Gods. What she saw back then was not him, but a God in flesh who had descended on her son’s body. She wasn’t exactly religious, but she wasn’t an atheist either. After this incident though, she began praying at the shrine every month. She wished she could do it more frequently, but her schedule was too busy for that.
Busy she was, but that also meant she grew more popular. In the upcoming few years, she easily toppled all her competition and became the most popular Idol in Japan. In the years after that, she went even beyond.
Blackpink’s Lisa was held as the most popular female idol to ever exist, and she retired at the age of 26 in August of the year 2023. For the next few years, nobody even came close to her in sheer popularity. Until Ai dropped her most popular song to date, in the year 2025. At the age of 23, she surpassed the popularity of Lisa like a rocket taking off. Not only in Japan, now Ai’s face became recognized throughout the entirety of the world.
In 2028, at the height of her popularity, Ai quit as an Idol.
She was completely and extraordinarily satisfied with her career. Some Idols liked to continue until they were 30, but Ai’s contract of 7 years – that had been renewed once – ran out that year, and she decided to quit then. Her career began at the tender age of 12, and she retired at the age of 26. Her 14 years of Idol career was second to none in history and has retired, starting a wave of countless young Idols to take on the mic.
Ai Hoshino, recorded as a legend in the flesh, retired unmatched in her craft. To this day, five years after her retirement, her popularity reigned supreme.
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[Year 2033, Japan]
The slick black Rolls-Royce Ghost slipped through the large opened gate and soon parked outside the modern Japanese mansion. It was larger than average Japanese houses, but not big enough that one might need maids.
The driver walked out of the car first, suited in a classy black suit and shades, while a man wearing similar clothes exited from the seat beside the driver. They were both drivers and bodyguards for the passengers behind.
The two men opened two of the doors behind, as three people excited one after the other. First, it was a middle-aged man with green-blonde hair, followed by a bright blonde-haired girl.
From the other door, walked out she – the purple-haired woman whom some would dare call a goddess in flesh – Ai Hoshino.
“Ahhhh~”
Ai took a deep breath as she looked around her home.
“Has it been six months already? Ah dammit, those Hollywood movies need so much time.”
Although she retired as an Idol, Ai continued her other jobs. Mainly, her acting career had been flourishing since she retired as an Idol. So much so that she acted in Hollywood movies a few times now.
Returning from America, she was in a good mood to finally breathe the air of her home. They’ve been living here for the past five years, she bought it with her large amount of money after she retired. The president of Strawberry Productions, too, has bought a house just to the side, though most of the time he and his family spent time here.
“Mama, come on already!”
She turned to the voice of her daughter, Ruby, who had followed her to America for this trip. She shook her head, and her eyes met with the President, her clear father figure by now, as he shrugged.
“Can you blame her? It’s been a long time, she is impatient to meet her brother.”
Well, how could she blame her when she missed her son too? She asked him to come so many times, but he didn't want to. Then, he was so heartless that he didn’t even do video calls in the past few months. How could she be satisfied with just his voice calls?
Ai followed behind Ruby and scolded her gently since she was slamming her hand on the bell. Side by side, they looked so similar that their relationship might get revealed if someone was too paranoid. The difference, other than their hair color, was their height. Ai was just a bit taller than her daughter, standing at 5'5" while Ruby stood at 5'2".
Strangely, Ai had gained height in the last eleven years. She was 4"11 at the beginning yet she gained 6 inches after turning 20. She supposed it may have something to do with that golden electric energy that had healed her. Perhaps.
Her wandering thoughts were broken when she heard footsteps coming from inside the house. Her heart beated faster in anticipation, as the door was opened by someone entirely unexpected. Well, not really unexpected, but she was hoping it would be Aqua.
Instead, it was Miyako. She took care of Aqua in their absence, and even spent nights over sometimes. Ai was truly grateful for that.
Miyako’s strawberry blonde hair fluttered in the air and she smiled when she saw them. She widened her arms to embrace all three of them in a hug.
"You guys are finally back, mhm!"
"Hey, aunty Miyako! See you later."
Ruby greeted back and quickly spilled out of the hug, moving inside the house. Ai felt a little sad that she couldn't do the same, the life of an adult meant she had to spend a few minutes here before she could go meet her son.
….
Ruby quickly ran inside the mansion with a broad grin on her face. She has made so much progress that she couldn't wait to show him.
Pausing for a moment, she decided to start showing off from that instant. She closed her eyes and felt the four rings of mana that were circling the blue sun inside her heart. She drew power from them, her lips moving in a trained manner, and she spelled the words of magic.
- [Search]!
A translucent ripple of mana spread through the entire mansion and beyond. The radius was small, but it worked since Aqua was somewhere inside this mansion.
An arrow appeared midair, pointing ahead, which she quickly ran after. The arrow was floating a few meters in front of her, and it moved when she followed it. Soon, she found herself leaving the main house and entering the personal gym that was located just to the side, the two buildings connected via a hallway. She walked through the hall and found herself at the door of the gym.
Inside it, there wasn't much equipment. There were only weights, fridges, and other heavy things that normal people wouldn't even think of working out with.
Yet, there hung a guy from a pull-up bar on the high wall, meters higher than the floor. His longer curly blonde hair fell on his sweaty shoulders, and sweat dripped down like a loose tap. All the while, three fridges hanging from his waist.
"..."
Ruby just stared at the scene with a stupid expression. She could do magic, but that… How was that real? Physically, Ruby was just slightly stronger than adult men, even though her spells could take out a dozen or more. This was outrageous for her.
Half a minute later, the blonde guy stopped his pull-ups and gently dropped down. The 3rd fridge was close to the ground, so it didn't make much sound as he dropped them and then undid the belt that tied the fridge with him before he jumped down from meters above.
He landed right in front of her, not making even a thud, as he looked down at her. He was one head taller than her, towering over her with his bulging muscles that betrayed his age.
He was sweaty, and he was looking down at her without smiling – something Ruby had noted to his common uncaring act to pretend like he didn’t care. In turn, Ruby didn't care about his act, as she threw herself at him.
"Onii-chan, I am back!"
“4th Circle?”
Ruby felt his [Jade Perception] scan over her body and spirit, making her hold back a shiver; whenever he did that, she felt like a vulnerable rabbit. At that moment, he was like a Lion to her senses, checking out a delicious deer. Yet, she knew fearing her brother was stupid when he finally stopped pretending to not care and hugged her back.
His arms went around her waist, and he lifted her up to his eye level, their noses touched as he stared at her blankly.
“I was hoping you’d reach 5th Circle by now.”
“It’s just been 6 months, rotten brother. Show some appreciation, I advanced a rank after so long.”
He clicked his tongue thrice in quick succession as if it was a bird chirping; his lips curled up, and he finally returned a smile. “Sure. Good job, and be ready to suffer. The spells of this stage are harder to learn.”
The only thing Ruby knew she wouldn’t suffer through, outside her dream of becoming an Idol, was to learn new spells.
Finally home, Ruby was excited. She couldn't wait to spend more time with her brother, to tell him everything she saw in America, and lastly, to attend High School with him starting next week!
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