The Tale of the First Otherworlder.

400 years ago during the Naisen period, when the country has plunged yet again into a state of civil war. The Priestess of Kingo Sanctum in the Province of Tadai that is now called Kise, performed a prayer that she discovered from an ancient scroll.

As she drew the circular pattern found in the scrolls at the temple grounds using fine rice powder and ashes from burnt persimmon leaves and danced the Kagura dance to wish for their lord's victory in battle, the pattern glowed and once the bright light disappeared, a young woman wearing short, strange clothes was found unconscious at the middle of the circle.

"Huh? Where am I?"

""Are you awake, Kami-sama?""

"K-Kami-sama?! Are you talking about me?!"

With no other reason to think of about her arrival other than help from the divine, the young woman was looked upon as a messenger of the gods and praised by the people.

Look-wise, the girl has short, black hair that is dyed at the tips with a light chestnut brown color, her clothes are those that are usually worn by high school students which is a simple buttoned shirt and a mini skirt. Along with the clothes she was wearing, she also has her bag. But they left that alone to not invade her privacy.

"No, no, no! I'm not a goddess! Who told you to tell that to the people? That's like, uncool, y'know?"

"Uhh… I don't understand the last part but… Okay?"

The Phoenix Priestess spoke as the young woman talked to her inside her bedroom. Naming her as a goddess wasn't under her control, the monks and onlookers were the ones that made that up and spread it, so she wasn't able to stop them anymore.

"If you want to clear this up, can you introduce yourself? I'll go first then, I am Daigo Akari, Chief Priestess of Kingo no Shiseijo and representing the Phoenix Priestess lineage of Tadai province."

"I'm Narukami Ayaka, 16 years old. I live at Sunogahara-cho, Old Tokyo and a student at Tokyo General Highschool."

"Hmm… I've never heard of that place before…"

"Probably cuz it's from the future."

"Eh?"

"You know, given your old speech and the clothes, I think I came from the future…"

"EEEEEHHHHH?!?!?!"

The Priestess listened to the words of the young woman and soon, learned that what she is saying is half-right and half-wrong.

"Eh? You guys allow female lords here? There's not a mention of anything like that in my world… or at least that's what I can remember from my history teacher's boring lessons."

"Another thing is the name of the places. I've never heard of Kyoto or Osaka before. With that, I think that this world looks like your past world but isn't exactly your past world."

"Mmm… Yep, it makes sense to me!"

Although she was only accidentally summoned, Ayaka seem to not be interested with going back to her world.

"Meh. No need for that. I don't care about the past world anymore."

"Hey, don't be like that! Don't you think your parents are worried about you?"

When Akari protested with those words, Ayaka can't help but just smile wryly before replying with a forced lively voice.

"Nah! They're too busy cheating against each other to even mind that I was gone. They'd probably think that I've had enough of their stupid ramblings and lack of care and ran away from home."

"Ah-"

"So don't worry anymore, Aka-chan. I'll stay here where I can at least feel that I am alive."

Hearing those words, the young priestess felt like she hit Ayaka too close to the heart and tried to cheer her up.

"Then… do you mind if we become friends? As the Chief Priestess, I don't usually get to meet people closely enough for me to befriend them."

"Yup, yup! You can leave that to me!"

"Ahh! Ayaka-san! Don't lift me up on your shoulders! Wait, why are you opening the Sanctum's doors?!"

"Hahaha! Since we just became friends, Let's get outta here and enjoy ourselves! Don't worry, Aka-chan, I'll be going with you to town!"

The lively high school girl and the young shrine maiden were total opposites. While Akari is a girl who lives up to her work's ideal qualities and respects traditional values as her guide in life, Ayaka was free-spirited and would sometimes even be seen as immodest and rowdy. But when she is really expected to act formally such as in official gatherings and banquets, the soft-spoken tone and perfectly executed bows and smiles would usually trick the people watching her into believing that she is a noble woman.

All in all, the two were inseparable even if they don't have the same qualities. No one can deny that even though she is a person who was accidentally brought here by the very same person, she never harbored any ill feelings towards the young priestess, sometimes even praising her or doting on her playfully. There were even some rumors that the two are lovers who released their desires to each other since Akari is a shrine maiden and Ayaka is an outsider that no men would be brave enough to ask out.

This, unfortunately, is not true… unfortunately.

The changing times however, wasn't as kind as it may seem.

"Lady Narukami! Priestess Akari is also infected!"

"-!!!"

Five years after she was summoned here, a disease spread amongst the population. A disease that no one in the feudal lands knew about.

"Akari! Are you alright?!"

"Ahh… Ayaka…"

But for the modern person like Ayaka, even she who isn't so knowledgeable in science knows about this particular sickness.

"Fever, coughs and runny nose… Rash?! This is… This is measles!"

Measles, an infectious viral disease that causes fever and rash on the skin of its patients. This, by itself, is not much harm. But as she seen in the town already, most that died of it drowned in their own lung fluids (pneumonia) or died from the swelling of their brain (encephalitis).

"Damn it… DAMN IT!!! If I knew that it would be useful… I should've studied more!"

Ayaka, angry at her own self for not being able to help the people and her dearest friend when they really need it, hit her hands on the table in frustration.

"Don't be… so hateful of yourself… Aya-chan…"

In between her painful breaths, the ill priestess spoke softly to her friend.

"This is normal… Now that I remember… there is actually a temple song for this… about how 20 years are far too long for one to live… so… this is alright."

"I know that I can help! I just… I just don't know how…"

Ayaka, as she came from the future, is immune to measles due to compulsory vaccination set as a standard procedure in the modern world. She knew that there is a way for that vaccine to be made from her body, she just doesn't know how.

"Don't be too hard on yourself… I'd be here as long as I can… And even once I am no longer here, nothing would separate us, Aya-chan…"

"W-what?"

"Huh?"

"That last thing… what did you say, Akari?"

"Umm… nothing would separate us?"

"Wait… That's it!"

Hearing that triggered a memory in Ayaka's mind.

"I'll be back with a cure, Aka-chan! Just hold out as long as you can!"

"Uhh… S-sure…"

Ayaka ran to the empty kitchen of the quarantined castle and took the smallest clay jar she found there.

"I still remember that… that one video I saw at the internet!"

Ayaka was born a decade after the world experienced three global pandemics. These diseases emerged one after another, decimating the highly populated cities of the world. Thus, the making of a vaccine and later on a cure, was left to the rest of the survivors.

Because of this, the three great plagues were included in the lessons that Ayaka needed to study in her time at school and because of an essay, she once had to watch the process that doctors go through to create possible medicines for those who caught the disease. One of this is a process called "antibody donation".

"The doctor said… the blood is collected."

She cut her palm and let the blood to flow out into the jar.

"Then… Kuh-! Man… this is still painful for my hand!"

She took a long piece of cloth and tied the sealed jar on it. She then began to carefully twirl it round and round while taking care to not let it hit the floor or ceiling.

"Since I don't have that thing that makes this go round and round… This should be enough."

It was an improvised centrifuge. An apparatus used to separate liquids into their own forms. Even though tiring as it is a hand-powered one, it eventually did what it should do and after three failed attempts, the fourth jar had what she needed.

"This white fluid… this is it!"

She scooped that fluid atop the jar's contents and placed it on a tube that has sharp pointed end. It was an improvised injection syringe.

"Aka-chan! I'm back with-"

"…"

As she barged into the room, two monks were praying while the lord of the province softly placed a blanket over the young priestess' chest.

"Lady Narukami… you seem to have come in a hurry."

"L-Lord Shouri…"

"…She looks so peaceful now."

"Akari… why…?"

As she approached her bed, Ayaka felt her knees weaken and she almost fell on the floor as her chest was filled with pain.

"I told you to wait for me… I told you that I will bring the cure… why did you… why did you have to leave so suddenly?!"

She worked so hard to find the cure…

She bit her lip as she cut her palms and made her blood to flow out…

She twirled that piece of cloth even if her shoulder socket and wrist bone felt like it will fall off…

But in the end, Daigo Akari can't hold out for that long… She died, not being able to even be freed from the disease.

"Akari… Akari!!!"

As Ayaka wailed and clutched her chest in pain, the monks and the daimyo gave each other puzzled looks.

"Umm… Lady Narukami…?"

"What?! You don't have to tell me! I know that she's dead already!"

She shouted at him even if he was the lord. It was a shout filled with anger and pain that even the usually standoffish man felt shaken with the tone, more so from a woman.

But he didn't minded it and simply spoke.

"The priestess is laughing at you."

"Huh?"

As she raised her head and looked at her face, she saw her giggling and shaking from holding in her laughter.

"Pffft… To think that the boyish Ayaka would cry because of me… Kuh-! I'm such a genius…"

There she was, ill yet alive. Laughing at the expense of her dearest friend.

"Grrrr…"

"A-Aya-chan…?"

Well, let's just say that Ayaka had her face beet red with the combination of embarrassment and anger and released all of it by torturing her friend with tickles.

"Here, it's a very crude version of it but in my world, this is called antibody donation."

She stuck the end of the crude syringe on the blood vessel that she saw and pushed the plunger forward.

"I wish it will work."

"It will, pray for it."

"Well… I'm not really good with that. I came from modern Japan after all, most of us are atheist back there and only went to religious festivals to continue the tradition and bond with friends."

Hearing that, the young priestess gasped and spoke.

"That won't do, Aya-chan. That's not good."

"Huh? Hey, I know that you're a priestess and I respect that, but I'm not letting you to call me out for not being like you."

"Shuddup… I'm not going to do that."

As Ayaka puffed her cheeks to look fussy to her friend, the priestess poked her cheeks to make her heave it out.

"I'm not going to call you a "demon" or "bad person" for not being religious. But I at least want to teach you the value of knowing that there is someone higher than you that wants you to live a meaningful life."

"Mm? But I don't wanna…"

"You know, I think I should've just kicked the bucket earlier if you're going to be this fussy…"

"Okay, okay… Don't remind me about that anymore…"

Pushed by her friend to do as she says, she let Akari to teach her about the temple's various prayers and when she felt a bit better, she even went as far as teaching her about the Kagura dance that she used to summon her.

After 10 years since she came here, Narukami Ayaka was adopted by the Daigo family and she and Akari became adoptive sisters. And because she's now part of the family, she assumed the position of Assistant Shrine Maiden that is second only to Akari's position in Kingo Sanctum.

But even though she's already known as a holy woman affiliated with the most important religious clan in the country, Ayaka still had a side in her that she never let go of.

"L-Lady Ayaka! What have you done to your Miko uniform?!"

"Hehehe! Ain't it lovely? I've added some frills and ribbons to make it look a bit more stylish."

"Mmm… Now that you mention it…"

"It does look a bit more striking and good."

She modified the Miko uniform that the shrine maidens wear, making it unique from the normal ones.

"L-Lady Ayaka! A Miko doesn't have to take care of plants!"

"Ehh? But you guys never raise any proper tomatoes! Since that foreign merchant gave me some seeds, I've been wanting to plant some for my skin!"

"S-Skin? Eh? This berry-looking vegetable is good for the skin?"

"Yup! It makes your face firmer and light!"

She was credited with popularizing the previously disregarded tomato plant as a beauty food. And with it, made the quality of Tadai women's beauty to rise higher than ever.

"L-lady Ayaka! You look so messy!"

"Ehh… Don't sweat it, junior. I'm just playing hopscotch with the kids."

"Still…"

"Oh, come on, if the kids are happy, I'm happy too. Now, now… let me throw my stone in and- Darn! I lost a turn again!"

"Nyehe! Sister Priestess is about to lose again!"

"Argh! I'm not done yet! I won't lose so easily!"

Even in the time when the country is being swallowed whole in a civil war, this tiny corner in the southern part of the country was filled with joy and happiness. All because of a girl who, even when separated from her place and time of origin, decided to live for them who accepted her.

"Aya-chan. I know that this might be a bit personal… but now that you're almost 30 years old-"

"Nah! I'm sixteen years old for the tenth time! Don't make that basic mistake."

"But- Argh… whatever. Okay, woman who is 16 x 10 years old, I have a question."

"You just made it worst! Why did you have to multiply that and call me 160 years old?!"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, just stop interrupting me and listen!"

After their banter, Akari spoke her question.

"Do you still not miss your home?"

"Well…"

After 10 years, there's bound to be some things that she felt was missing in her life. Even though she's in this place where the people love her and accept her, she's still a modern girl, Akari knew that something is bound to change in her after a decade of living here away from her home.

"I do wonder how my parents are faring… maybe losing me made them realize their mistakes and stop fooling around with their lovers. My friends too, even if we had a very bad quarrel the day before you summoned me, I am curious if they found the right guys to marry and live their life with."

"…"

"And that guy… that dummy that doesn't get my advances at all… If only he isn't someone like that, I'd probably jumped and seduced him to get him under my thumb."

"A-Aya-chan! That's not how a Miko speaks!"

"I get it, okay…"

But even with everything that she said, Ayaka's decision never changed.

"Still, I love Tadai and its people. Even though I can't have the same stuff that I used to crave for, I have the things that I really needed here that I can never get there."

"…That's a relief."

The Chief Shrine Maiden spoke and placed her head on her best friend's lap.

"Aka-chan?"

"Even after 10 years, I am still afraid that you'll come to me one day and ask me to find a way back. At some point, I actually thought about burning that scroll just to force you to stay here."

"You dummy. You know that you just have to cry to force me to do anything for you."

"Yeah. I'm too much of a child, aren't I?"

"That makes you look cuter though."

As the Naisen Civil war slowed down people began to move more outside of their respective provinces.

Alliances were formed, focus on the military waned and slowly but surely, the country lived in a period of relative peacefulness.

"As per the request of the Shogun, the Daigo clan has to teach the three other religion-aligned families around the country about the ritual done to summon Lady Narukami Ayaka. This is to ensure that the advantages brought by summoning these heavenly heroes cannot be monopolized by a single province and daimyo."

The Daigo clan was assigned to train three priestesses from three other provincial shrines.

First, there was the Akizuki clan from Kiko who holds Kaiho Sanctum that is dedicated to the fox goddess of harvest named Inari-no-kami.

Next was the Kiyomasa clan from the Imperial capital's Kyoga Sanctum that is dedicated to the Dragon god of rain and sea named Ryujin.

Lastly, the cold northern province of Niijima sent the Inazuma clan who holds Kurumi Sanctum that is dedicated to the White Tiger who sits next to the lightning god named Raijin.

All of the priestesses studied the summoning ritual from Akari while Ayaka provided the words and proof, both written and symbolic, if there will come a time that a Summoned Otherworlder wishes to find a kindred from his or her time period and that her words of comfort can be found here in Tadai.

The four clans too, formed a holy agreement that was written down by the Misanagi clan who is known to be the ones who makes infallible and loophole-free contracts. This agreement called as the "Magna Carta of the Ethereal World", made the four families bound to only perform a summoning ritual five years apart from each other and only under the permission of the other three clans. It also guaranteed that the summoned person would be treated humanely and taught the ways of this new world under their own pace. There was one special part regarding their use in future wars as consultants, tacticians and frontline commanders and the only condition placed in it is that the Otherworlder must consent to it under their own volition. Included in that part is another clause saying that they cannot be used as bargaining chip for alliances such as for marriage or as political hostage and they are only allowed to marry an inhabitant of this world if they agree to stay here for the rest of their life assuming that a way to send them back will be found by future priestesses.

It was a revolutionary system. A contract binding these people who now possesses the way to strengthen their own provinces and masters by limiting their capabilities and thus, controlling the repercussions of the events it would bring to this feudal land.

"Aya-chan…"

"Yeah?"

"When did we become like this again?"

After many, many years, Akari asked that question to her best friend while she reached out for her cup of tea.

"Huh? Oh… yeah, I forgot about it at some point."

Ayaka spoke as she pulled her sleeve up to her shoulder and laid the child she was feeding with her milk on a small crib.

"I didn't even notice it… we got married to our own husbands and had our own kids, but we're still like this, staring at the sunset in the Sanctum as if we're the same 16 year old high school student and 14 year old young priestess that we are 12 years ago."

"Does is bother you so much?"

"No, it's just… I am surprised that I am as happy then as I am now."

"Ehehe… ain't that so sweet of you?"

After all those years and milestones in their lives, these two are still the same. The same best friends who broke past their literal generation gaps and lived for each other's sakes and happiness.

For the next hundreds of years, this story about the first otherworlder and the shrine priestess who cluelessly summoned her on accident was retold over and over from parent to children and from mouth to text.

It wasn't just a legend, material proof and written records prove that Narukami Ayaka lived here and laid her bones in Tadai, never thinking about going back to where she used to be. It also wasn't a tall tale manufactured by the Shouri clan to increase their popularity and favor with the other provinces, Narukami Ayaka brought objects from the future that would be impossible to belong here.

Still, some people with a very particular way of looking at the story suggested that Ayaka wasn't a woman but is secretly a man, and the closeness she and the priestess shared isn't just platonic but actually romantic. But it was proven again and again that she is indeed a woman both in body and heart with the lineage she left with her husband.

Thus, she became known as Great Priestess Ayaka. The First Otherworlder. The Unifier of the Naisen Period. The Priestess of the People and The Fashionable Miko.

But the title that she was remembered with by the children of the town that is still used by them to refer to someone who just won't give up is "The Lady with Two Left Feet", a reference to how she never won against children in hopscotch.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

With the story finally over, I wiped my tears and sniffed my snot in, trying to not be too overcome with emotions from the story I just heard.

"It's alright. No one who heard this for the first time was able to hold their tears back. It's one of the many things that we, her descendants, never get tired of narrating again and again just because of how beautiful it is."

"Indeed. I can't believe that such a story came from the first person who came here from modern Japan. I loved it."

I replied and let the tears of joy flow for a moment before recomposing myself.

"Now, Iwasawa-dono. Since you've already known about the history of your kind and you've been cleared from your past regrets, what would be your next actions?"

I gave her question some thought but, in the end, I only had one real answer to it.

"I want to continue as the lord of Kiko and bring this country the peace that it deserves."

"…Well spoken, Lord Iwasawa. Well spoken."

She spoke and took something out of her table's drawer.

"I've prepared this ever since I heard about you and suspected that you are an Otherworlder. In the possibility that you are a benevolent and stable ruler, I wanted to give you this as the sign of your authority and identity."

"And if I wasn't?"

"I'd shriek at the top of my lungs once you come into this room and accuse you of making a move on me. Afterwards, I'll just have to order the judges to condemn you and have you commit seppuku."

"H-Hey! Where did-"

"A few tricks that Lady Ayaka thought to us. She said she resolved a lot of problems with men she doesn't like with these exact same lines."

Ugh… she really is a modern woman. She even knows how to sway others to get her way, huh?

"Won't you open it? I want to see it too, you know?"

"Oh. Yeah."

I opened the box and from there, I saw a flag and a wooden stamp with the exact same symbols.

"This is… a dragon? Wait… but this body is…"

"It's a Qilin… or Kirin in the local tongue. A mythical beast attributed to the coming of a wise ruler and used as a symbol of the coming of a new age of peace and prosperity."

"A Qilin, huh? Well, I don't mind being asked where is the Cocogoat."

"Huh? Cocogoat?"

"N-nothing! Don't mind it!"

(TN: Author Chronia, please don't remind me about the absolute salt field I got at the Ganyu banner, for heaven's sake...have mercy on my wounded heart.)

The symbol was both simple and ornate. It's a circle with the Qilin flying amongst the clouds and twirled in a way that resembles an infinity sign, and over that imagery is my surname "Iwasawa".

"But… why are you giving this to me? Aren't I supposed to be the one who'll make my own clan symbol?"

"Ehh? You don't want it? I can just take it back and-"

"No, no! I like it, really! It's just… I'm surprised."

Hearing that, Princess Reika giggled and spoke.

"If one of the four Sanctum clans formally gives you your clan symbol and recognizes your rule, it is one of the highest honors in the land, second only to the crowning of a Shogun or an offering to the Emperor. Since giving this to you is an official recognition of the Daigo clan to your rule, be thankful and accept it with all your heart. This just means that whatever may happen to you, you have our support."

Hearing that, I finally cleared a massive part of the foggy parts of my present life and that brought me happiness.

"Tomorrow, we will hold the formal coronation and you and Kyoko-chan will receive my blessings, support and titles. If only you get special treatment, I don't want to even imagine how it would go for me afterwards."

"Yeah… Kyoko deserves her own rewards too."

And so, as we waited for tomorrow, I finally heaved a sigh of relief and looked at my stamp's crest with a smile.

"I... really did it, didn't I?"