Chapter Text
“Look at that one! She’s got wings!” Marin pointed at what had to be another person of interest. The expo they were attending had Marin showing off one of her newest cosplays, of an elf from Moshoku Tensei. The hair and outfit were designed by Gojo, while Marin had taken the initiative and come up with the mock weapons and accessories herself. It was a showing of how far she had come, and even though Gojo could have made some of these items better, Marin was so proud and giddy with joy that she had pulled it off he didn’t care to mention it.
Sure enough, in the distance there was a woman that had wings, as well as a glowing halo of some sort. He couldn’t see a wire holding it to her head, but it seemed well made and designed. “I wish Inui-san would have come. She might have enjoyed this.” Gojo could see some signed figures from Sajuna’s favorite shows along one wall.
“She doesn’t like crowds.” Marin said, giving a hand signal to a passing man with a camera. “But look, we get to enjoy this together! Just us!” There was a flutter in his heart as she said that, the deep well of cleavage he had sewn for her bouncing pleasantly. Even after all this time, there was a mixture of feelings for this girl. “Smile, Gojo! Let’s get a picture together in front of the Slippery Girls booth!” She posed, dragging him into the picture with a nearly nude Shizuku behind them.
Up ahead, a larger camera flashed. Or it seemed like a camera. Gojo felt weightless for a second, as his eyes and ears felt blocked. In fact, everything felt blocked off. He couldn’t see or hear anything for a long time, until the ringing faded. When he could open his eyes again, the convention center around him was completely empty. Not a soul could be seen in the entire place. The only other human person here was that woman wearing the winged costume. But now it didn’t seem so fake. The feathers moved to an unseen breeze, and the halo couldn’t have had a wire on it. It rotated almost a foot behind their large bun of blonde hair, with small gems inlaid in the halo. It could have been gems, but they had their own glow.
Looking around, Gojo felt a little self conscious. “Sorry to disturb you, miss. I don’t know what happened to-”
The woman laughed, as her feet left the floor. She was just floating on air. The laugh wasn’t one of derision either, but actual enjoyment. “Wakana Gojo.” Her voice sounded like it was echoing in the grand space around them. “We regret to inform you that you have died. This is simply the spiritual world that is a shadow of your own. You and many others perished in something that could not have been avoided. Yet in light of all of that, we did not expect such a pure soul to be taken.”
Gojo felt a little bit like laughing. This sounded like one of those anime that Marin had shown him recently. The Eminence in Shadow had been a little odd and he didn’t understand a lot of the references being made, though the costumes were fun to imagine making. “This all sounds rather odd to me.” He didn’t really believe it. But looking down at his hands, he decided to test it nonetheless. Long hours working with complicated materials and needles gave him some odd calluses. But one point of his hands was always sensitive, from too many years spent holding pencils. He pinched that section of skin, hard.
He felt nothing. He applied more force, and could see his arm shaking from the effort. Yet still, there was nothing. “I’m sorry, Gojo.” The angel whispered. “You died.” She clapped her hands, as she let him see. See the event center all around him become instantly burnt by the force of a massive explosion rolling over the area. Through the windows he could see a second sun, millions of miles closer and infinitely brighter. “Through no fault of your own.”
“Oh my god.” God had no part in something like this. Buildings were melting and falling over from the force of the blast. The floor beneath his feet was tearing open, slabs of concrete catching in the wind and force and lifting up to fly off or burn in the wave. “Oh my god!”
The angel took his hand, and the image froze, as she stared at him. “The kami have seen your work, Gojo. They wanted to give you another chance. A life beyond this one.”
“That doesn’t matter!” He could feel tears forming. This was real. Somehow he knew it was real. “What about everyone else? What happened to them?” Why it happened didn’t matter to him.
“The same that happened to you. Many other messengers are resolving their afterlife as we speak.” The angel stared at him. “My name is Myrtella. I’m an outside agent meant to assist when souls have been proven more than capable. Your life has been one of service and kindness, Gojo. As such, you have the choice to accept a generous afterlife now or be reincarnated. As an offering from the heavens for the life you have been cheated and your good works, we would even throw in a divine power to assist you.”
“I don’t care about power!” He really didn’t. “I just want Marin to be okay!”
The angel looked at him. Really looked at him. “Your soul is a beautiful canvas, Gojo. Truly, all your heart desires is for her to be alright. I believe that I can modify your divine power to make sure that she is alright. Her soul, at least. Her body like your own is gone.”
“You can’t save her?” Gojo clenched his hands, wishing he could feel physical pain. His heart was burning enough as it was. “Why can’t you save her?”
“It is not the part of the divine to make decisions for you. If they did so, the entire purpose of your existence would be in question and no one would believe they were experiencing joy of their own merit. I can bring her with you, if you choose to be reincarnated. There is nothing in my rules that say that I cannot allow you to bring a person as your divine power.” She smiled, winking with her right eye and smiling. “Would you like that?”
Gojo felt a spike of fear. “What would have happened to Marin? Where is her soul right now?” Was he denying her a well earned reward? She must have earned the highest degree of honor from the kami, after all.
“We are processing the deaths as fast as reasonably capable. But many are suffering and her soul remains unaware of what happened. Though the full nature of the afterlife is not for those who have the chance to live on.” She tapped his nose, not at all worried about social convention or personal space. “It is not your right to know where she is going or what may yet occur to her.”
“But.” His heart clenched up. It was hard to speak. “But I don’t want to live a life if she isn’t part of it!” It felt like he was guilty of something. Like he had admitted wrongdoing.
“You love her.” Myrtella said, looking like she wanted to cry. “As I told you before, Gojo. Your soul is a beautiful canvas. If you say that your life is not worth living without her, then who am I to cause you any further pain.” She held out her hand, as the floor next to Gojo glowed a dark blue color. At first it looked like a mirage, a smoky outline of someone. But like a switch being flipped the features of Marin emerged, the girl grinning as she took a step forward, as if everything she had been doing in her life just continued in this moment. She still had a hand outstretched towards a camera, grinning wildly.
That grin died as she saw the carnage and destruction frozen in time around her. “Wait, what happened!”
“You died, miss Marin Kitagawa. Your friend here wished for-” Myrtella tried to explain, but Marin sucked in the largest gasp of her life.
“Oh oh oh oh!” She jumped up and down, the elven outfit on her body bouncing quickly. “I know what this is!” She bounded towards him, grabbing him by the shoulders in a death grip. “Isekai, Gojo!” Her face got within inches of his, her eyes nearly manic. “Isekai!”
“Most souls don’t recover this quickly.” Myrtella spoke, as Gojo whimpered.
“We died, Marin! But now you’re okay!” He could relax into any afterlife now that she was here. “You’re okay.”
“Better than okay!” Marin cracked her knuckles. “Now we get to the bargaining. Isekai means that some greedy bitchy god figure is making us do their dirty work and giving us awesome powers along the way!”
Myrtella frowned at that. “The divine power has already been chosen.”
“Whaaaaaat!” Marin wailed. “What did you get?!”
“You were his choice.” Myrtella clapped her hands. “The divine power has already been selected.”
Marin turned red, slowly staring at him. “We just watched Cid take on Olivier and you don’t ask for massive cosmic powers?!”
“N-no!”
Marin turned away, a string of mutterings following from her mouth. She started in Japanese and moved to English and some other language combination. Gojo gave a glance at Myrtella, who seemed utterly patient. The angel was a red-haired almost human creature. But she also was too thin to be natural. Her arms and legs seemed just oddly longer and less thick than expected. The face was elongated, and at a distance it was human but as you got closer the otherworldly features added up.
It was two minutes later that Marin finally finished her internal tirade, twisting to face Myrtella. “So what are you asking him to do, anyways!” It was less of a question and more of Marin screaming her demand.
“We have one task, and then he can live his life in peace in the new world. Or without peace, if he seeks drama and trouble.” The angel shrugged, a human gesture. “I am prepared to send you there, now that he has decided on his divine gift.”
“Wait!” Marin wailed. “He got his, but it’s a totally unfair bargain! I am just as mortal as he is! Unless I have powers or he has powers how are we supposed to be the best we can be?!”
“You think that not having magical abilities would make this reincarnation not worth it?” Myrtella blinked, honestly confused.
“I swear by the absolute territory of my thighs, it is truth.” Gojo blinked, reminded that there was in fact a patch of skin between where her stockings ended and the outfit’s skirt began. He would have said something, but Myrtella just smiled and gave a polite laugh.
“Alright, miss Marin. I will give you both a leg up. But don’t push for anything more. His soul is a truly beautiful thing, and my world is proud to accept him. No matter what he chooses to do, good will come of it.” Myrtellla clapped her hands again, as the shattered event center was replaced by a stream, with large trees surrounding it everywhere. In the far distance there was a town, with walls and a pair of strange curving towers. Two moons hung in the sky, as if announcing their presence that this was anything but their own world. “The task I have for you is to destroy a single item. Someone we gave powers to has abused them, and has been stealing the souls of children and preventing them from moving on. Using this item, they’ve gained a form of immortality that burns out those souls in question to fuel their survival.”
Marin stuck her foot in the stream, seeing if it would even respond to her presence. While it did bend around her foot, it didn’t come back wet as she expected. “Hey! Will people understand us?! Can you give us a primer on this world?!”
Myrtella chuckled. “Don’t worry about being understood. Part of what I’ve given you is an understanding of the world. There are dozens of deities that all have a vested interest in it, and I am only a representative of the goodwill of this place.” She put a finger to her lips, the elongated inhuman digits clearly not human at this close of range. “I believe in not spoiling you on choices. The man you are looking for is named Gregg. He is the only creature named such in the world, so you’ll not be able to confuse him. He’s somewhere in this country, which is called Moon’s Hollow. It wasn’t always called that, but you can find and read any books you want.”
Marin’s cheeks puffed outwards, as she held out her hand and yelled “Status! Identify!” Nothing seemed to happen. “Pause!” Her hands shook side to side, as if that were somehow part of it. “Profile?”
Gojo couldn’t help but laugh at her antics. “Myrtella? How soon did you want us to help?”
The angel nodded at his forethought. “Every year Gregg consumes the souls of three children to extend his life. This number will rise as he is forced to cheat the system further and further. But the other gods are aware that the item he was given cannot be destroyed by their means without permanently weakening that deity.”
“So they don’t care about the children?!” Gojo blinked at his own response. It just tumbled out of him.
“I’ll become weaker, yes.” Myrtella admitted. “But I’ve never shied away from a challenge. You must simply defeat him, and I will appear to destroy the object. He is a powerful mage in this world, with many followers.”
“Oh! Ooh! Ooh! A demon king?!” Marin wiggled her arms back and forth in excitement.
“If left alone for long enough he might resemble what you imagine to be such. He is someone from your world, and as such we thought that more of you would be the proper response to send to make certain he would be stopped. Gregg has become a warlord, unafraid of holy messengers and with an army at his beck and call. Take your time and learn. Grow and become strong. Some time during your life here, I would prefer that you deal with Gregg.”
Gojo’s shoulder shook at some of the feelings he was experiencing. Sure, he was being granted a new life. But the old one he could feel slipping from his hands. What would his grandfather think? Or his parents! He couldn’t even pray at their shrine for guidance anymore! Nor could Marin do so for her mother and family! “I’m sorry.” He said, wiping away fresh tears. “This is a wonderful gift, but I apologize. I can’t help but think about what I’ve left behind.” He looked down at the ground, where the stones had a line of ants marching along. “While I am grateful it’s just so hard to let go.”
It wasn’t the angel that hugged him. Marin’s soft curves pressed into his side, the woman entering his personal space. “You saved me, Gojo.” Saved her. Saved her?
“But you were going to a good afterlife! I know it!”
Turning to face her, he could see Marin twirling one end of her hair in her fingers. “You don’t know that, Gojo! I don’t know that.” Her fingers dug into his arm in a way that would be painful if he could feel pain right now. “But if you deny me an isekai experience you know that I’ll have unresolved anger at you. Anger, Gojo!”
Myrtella clapped her hands, calling attention to herself once more. “It appears that my time is running out. Miss Marin, do you want to keep those elven ears or exchange them for something else?”
Faced with further choices of isekai values, Marin gave Gojo a stronger hug and then stepped over by the angel. A smaller version of the angel seemed to split off from her wings, forming from a single dropped feather. It sailed through the air towards him, as he noticed that the gap in her wings did not heal. It felt momentous, as though something powerful had just been done. Just before the tiny Myrtella hit him, the tiny angel burst into a glowing spray of light, reforming into a sewing machine. A sewing machine that stood two feet tall and had tools of many sizes on it, combined with a heavy backpack full of gear. It was one of those classic ones that had foot pedals.
“Good luck, Gojo and Marin. This valley is uninhabited, and has wards preventing your harm. So long as you do not harm any trees, you both may stay here and learn and grow. Miss Marin, your powers are known to you. But as you are Gojo’s divine power in the eyes of the gods, he cannot be harmed unless you are asleep or captured. Please don’t abuse that too heavily.” The angel gave Marin a meaningful look. “As for you, mister Gojo, you are now an Angelkin. Angel-touched, in the eyes of this world. You will live naturally for hundreds of years, and so long as you live miss Marin will be yours. She is not your slave and you are not her master, but in the eyes of this world and these gods, she belongs to you. I will not be raising you if you die, nor is it likely we will meet often. Behind those trees is a small lodge, where you can get your bearings.” She clapped a final time, as the colors of their surroundings started to get brighter. “Marin desired that I would say something rather corny, but it fits. Please enjoy the life you have earned from the shadow of your good deeds.” The angel bowed, as its form seemed to waver and become transparent.
“Wait! You’re just going to leave us with that? What about divine instructions!” Marin wailed.
The angel clapped once more, its words carrying across the meadow. “I can feel you trying to distract yourself from the feelings unresolved from your life lived. Of people that are lost to you. I cannot take that pain from you. Even if you had not been reincarnated, the first step of anyone’s afterlife is the care and respect of those feelings. Spirits that cannot resolve those feelings lose the ability to move forward. It is not wrong to feel that guilt and pain.” She stared right at Gojo. Into his soul, which already burned from the feelings of this moment. Of everything that remained unresolved. “Life is not about what if and what was. Nor should it all be about a favor I have asked for. Find joy and satisfaction here. Please.” The last word felt personal. Like she honestly cared. With that, Myrtella gave a final clap of her hands.
Chimes echoed in the space, even though he couldn’t see them. Marin yelped, tripping on a stone as she landed face first in the thick grass. Her tail flopped, and Gojo blinked at seeing the giant blonde fox tail sticking out from her outfit. “Marin!” The moment he took a step, feeling returned to his body, and he was beset by aches and pains all at once. He too, fell over and gasped for air as the world greeted him. It smelled like a nature preserve, an overriding sense of power all around him.
Not twenty feet away there was a rabbit family munching on some flowers, fish were swimming in the stream and a pack of deer grazed without concern beyond that. It was peaceful, and yet all he could do was feel what he had lost. His entire life was gone. Years of schooling and training, and he never was good enough to succeed his grandfather in his art! It felt like a complete failure.
“Gojo!” Marin shouted loud enough to get his attention, running around in circles and chasing a golden flowing tail behind her. “Look at me! It’s real! I’m like Holo!”
His chest felt a little better. One person’s life was better because of him. Marin’s brilliant smile showed that at least one decision in his life was right. She walked over, the cosplay outfit a bit askew from running around and falling over. “Marin.” He whispered. “What about grandpa? Or Sajuna! I wasn’t finished with her new outfit, either!”
There was so many things left unfinished, and his body ached. Whether it was just emotions or something more he couldn’t say. And yet Marin gave him a smile all the same. “Let’s make a shrine for them.” She said it so simply. “I don’t think we can go back, but that doesn’t mean we will forget them.”
“But we left so much unfinished.”
“Yeah.” Marin nodded. “But we’re still alive. But I don’t think I could do any of this on my own. I’ve never learned how to live without food vendors around.” She pointed to some of the deer that were wandering around. “Or how to live with things that taste good.”
“How do you even know that those things aren’t poisoned! Or magical in some way!” Gojo could feel frustration and anger. But he couldn’t give in. Not when Marin said she couldn’t survive here without him. “Though it wouldn’t hurt to try.”
Marin offered him her gloved hand. “Come on, angel-boy.”
“Angel boy?!” Marin’s hand looked like a peace offering. Taking it, he stood on his new legs for the first time. It felt stronger than it should, all things considered. His street shoes ground against the raw dirt, leaving streaks of dirt on the surface. She reached out, flicking something next to his head. He reached up, seeing something putting off a glow above him. “What is that?!”
“You’ve got a halo and I’m like Holo but without the economics lesson!” She sing-songed, grinning. “This is great!”
Their bags were filled with food. Enough to live on for a long while, even with Marin’s stomach. The first thing that they did was gather stones and make a small shrine underneath one of the mammoth large trees. A large piece of bark peeled from a tree combined with some charcoal from one of his ever-present charcoal brushes. He would have to make his own later, but large brush strokes filled the large piece of bark.
A single phrase filled it, capturing what they felt. ‘Ikigai’. What they had left behind, and what was before them. There were too many names to add, nor could they honor them properly.