Victory Belles: Kyokujitsu no kami

Prologue

20th March, 20XX

The sun shone beams of light through the clouds to land on the soil of Japan. Sakura blossoms covered the whole island in a bright pink blanket. A gentle breeze blew through the streets of Chiydo City in Tokyo. Sakura trees from the Imperial Palace waved in the wind as their petals were lifted up by the breeze and flew into the sky.

Guided by the wind a stream of sakura petals flew past the gateway of the Daiichi Tori and Shinmon of the well-known Yasukuni Shrine. The breeze twisted into the air as a petal broke off from the stream, floating by itself while gliding down through the air. Soon, it gently landed into the palm of a young girl who was standing in front of the haiden ready to give her prayers.

After a moment of silence, where the girl prayed with all her heart, she opened her eyes and noticed the petal in her palm. Then another breeze blew past the girl making her long hair sway in the wind. The petal left her palm and rose into the sky once more until it disappeared into the sunlight as the girl watched from the ground. After three bows in front of the shrine the girl turned around and left.

She walked slowly through the streets alone and soon arrived at the Kitanomaru National Garden. Walking past the garden through the paved paths she saw people celebrating the cherry blossoms with lots of drinks, food, and entertainment. Not far from the path a small river was filled with paddle boats floating along the shoreline.

The girl stopped by the fence near the river. She coughed somewhat hard; one hand covered her mouth with a handkerchief while the other searched through her bag for her inhaler. Finding it she put it in her mouth and pressed the button. Her cough slowly lessened with a few fresh breaths.

After putting the inhaler back into her bag, she pulled out a very old black and white photo. Two handsome young men wearing naval officer uniforms stood on an aircraft carrier deck with a Zero fighter parked in front of the bridge tower. As she gazed into the photo a strong wind blew out of nowhere and pulled the photo from the girl's hand. It was clearly going to land in the river.

A small boy in a boat noticed the photo blowing away from the girl. He reached out from the boat and grabbed it just before it touched the water. Suddenly the boy lost his balance and fell overboard with a splash. He trashed and screamed for help as his parents rushed to save him. This drew some attention from the crowds.

Watching from nearby the girl didn't hesitate as she jumped into the river and swam towards the boy. As soon as she reached him, she pushed the boy up to his parents and they pulled him back into the boat. Though the boy was safe the effort had exhausted the girl and she slowly started to sink into the river. Luckily, she was quickly pulled from the river as well, but she lay choking and coughing up water.

Arriving on the riverbank emergency personnel found the girl had weakened and fallen into a coma. As they tried to perform CPR the boy held the girl's hand and placed the old photo in her palm. She seemed to slowly regain consciousness and opened her eyes.

From her point of view the world started to blur and the noise slowly dimmed to silence. As a tear slid down to her cheek she smiled at the boy. She closed her eyes once more and her head fell to the side. Her hand dropped from the boy's and the photo slipped through her fingers. She entered an empty black void.

===

"Wake up..."

A voice broke the silence and a light shined in front of her. A maiden with bright blue hair, dressed in a white uniform appeared and reached her hand to the girl.

"Wake up... we need your strength to withstand evil..."

The light blinded her view and she couldn't see the maiden's face. The girl reached out her arms and took the maiden's hand. The girl slowly opened her lips to speak and asked the mysterious figure,

"Who are you? Are you a Kami?"

The maiden smiled as she took the girl's hand and led her towards the light. She looked back and put her finger on the girl's lips.

"You will soon know the answer. As you reincarnated into our world we will meet again when the world is on the brink of war."

"A world war?"

Before the girl could say more the maiden let go of her hand and the void filled with brightness until it surrounded them. The mysterious figure faded into the brightness and the girl couldn't see anything around her. Soon she too disappeared.