Kagura of the Moonlight: The Immortal Bride and the Reincarnated Programmer
Sora Kagura had everything—until a single virus erased every line of code he'd ever written and dragged him into a world where the moon hangs three times too large and nothing follows the rules he knows.
Now he's stranded in a parallel world with no stamina, no combat skills, and no way home. His only lead: a torn nameplate reading "Yuzaki." His only guide: Kougetsu Kaguya, a masked girl in a black kimono who claims he carries the "blood of the moon" and that she needs his power.
But what powe
Kagura of the Moonlight: The Immortal Bride and the Reincarnated Programmer - What the Moon's Blood Foretells: The Path to the Yuzaki Family
The first thing I felt when I woke was the chill of the morning air.
Kagura Sora slowly sat up. His back ached—from sleeping on a hard bench. His head was still foggy, the way everything from the night before felt like a dream, thin and unreal.
"...Where am I?"
Sora looked around.
An unfamiliar park. A faded slide. A rusted jungle gym with peeling paint. This was the place where he'd collapsed last night.
Seen in the morning light, the park was smaller and older than he'd imagined. Leaves rustled in the wind. Somewhere in the distance, a bird called.
(So it wasn't a dream.)
He checked the old digital watch on his left wrist. Seven forty-two in the morning. Almost the same as his phone.
He pulled the phone from his pocket and woke the screen. Battery: thirty-eight percent. Considerably lower than last night. He had a portable charger, but that wasn't infinite either.
(If my phone dies in this world, I'm in serious trouble.)
Sora narrowed his deep brown eyes. Whenever he was thinking hard, his focus went distant.
He looked up at the sky.
No moon. That unnaturally huge moon was nowhere in the blue morning sky. But it would come back at night. That impossible moon.
"You're awake."
A voice, out of nowhere.
Sora spun around, startled.
Beside the bench sat a girl in a black kimono.
Kougetsu Kaguya. The girl who had saved him last night.
Her long black hair caught the morning light and gleamed, just faintly, silver. Her obsidian eyes were fixed on him. A black mask hid her mouth. Her face was blank—impossible to tell what she was thinking.
"How long have you been there?"
"Three hours."
"Three hours?"
"I was waiting for you to wake up."
Kaguya spoke flatly. No emotion in her voice. And yet there was something strangely sincere about the words.
Sora let out a small sigh.
"...You could've just woken me."
"Your sleeping face looked a little peaceful."
Sora found himself at a loss for words.
(This girl says the most unexpected things sometimes.)
"So what now?"
"We go to the Yuzaki house. You're coming too."
"Don't decide for me."
"Your phone's almost out of charge. If you want to learn about this world, coming with me is the most efficient option."
Sora went quiet.
(...The math checks out.)
She was right. Wandering around alone with zero knowledge of this world was far less sensible than sticking with Kaguya, who clearly understood the situation.
"Fine. Lead the way."
"Okay."
Kaguya stood.
The hem of her black kimono fluttered softly in the morning breeze.
Sora stood too—and immediately swayed, a wave of dizziness hitting him.
"...Ngh."
He braced a hand against the back of the bench. His heart was pounding.
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah. Just stood up too fast."
(I've got no stamina. I know that about myself.)
Sora took a deep breath and waited for the dizziness to pass.
"You really don't have any stamina."
"...Can't argue with that."
"Don't push yourself. We'll walk slowly."
With that, Kaguya started walking.
Sora followed after her.
―――
Once they left the park, a residential neighborhood spread out before them.
Rows of old houses, utility poles standing at regular intervals. The kind of suburban scenery you could find anywhere. And yet the smell of the air was just slightly different from the world Sora knew.
Morning light painted the asphalt white.
Kaguya walked in silence. Her black kimono stood out starkly against the modern houses. But she didn't seem to care in the least.
After a moment's hesitation, Sora spoke.
"I want to hear the rest of what you told me last night."
"About the Moon People?"
"Yeah. You said someone named Tsukasa is being targeted. I want to know more."
Kaguya walked in silence for a while.
Only their footsteps echoed through the quiet morning streets.
"Yuzaki Tsukasa is an immortal girl."
Kaguya began to speak.
"Immortal."
"She's lived fourteen hundred years, still looking sixteen. She doesn't get sick, doesn't get hurt. She doesn't age."
Sora nearly stopped in his tracks.
"...You're serious?"
"Serious. You'll understand when you meet her."
"How did she end up like that?"
"Fourteen hundred years ago, the Moon People made her drink an elixir of immortality. The elixir Kaguya-hime left behind. A medicine called Hourai."
Kaguya-hime. Hourai.
Sora turned the words over in his mind.
"So the Moon People are the ones who made Tsukasa drink it."
"Yes. And they're still after her body now."
"They want to reclaim her immortal body."
"That's the official story. But I don't know their real objective."
Kaguya's voice dropped, just slightly.
"The Moon People are different from humans. Their physical abilities far surpass ours. Physical attacks barely affect them. Cut them with a sword, shoot them with a gun—not a single scratch."
"...So they're monsters."
"Yes. Monsters. But in the shadows of this world, beings like that really exist. On the surface it's ordinary modern Japan. But a very small number of people are involved with the power of the moon."
Sora listened in silence.
In his head, the programmer in him was already running.
(Physical attacks don't work. Physical abilities beyond human. Beings like that actually exist.)
(The rules of this world are different from the rules of the world I know.)
"...Why target Tsukasa? If they just wanted an immortal body, they could've taken it long ago. There'd be no need to wait fourteen hundred years."
"I don't know. That's the mystery of the Moon People."
Kaguya answered without turning around.
"But they've started moving now. Breaking a silence of fourteen hundred years, they've sent an envoy to the surface. To bring Tsukasa back."
"An envoy."
"The Tsukikage no Shisha. The Moon People's field operative. You must have sensed it last night too."
Sora remembered the night before.
The words Kaguya had spoken in front of the Yuzaki gate.
'The moon is stirring.'
'The Moon People are nearby.'
That cold sensation that had run down his spine.
(So that wasn't just my imagination.)
"...I don't want to get dragged into this."
The words had left his mouth before he realized it.
Kaguya stopped walking.
"Don't want to get dragged in."
"I'm an outsider. I'm not even from this world. I've got no reason to get involved in whatever's going on between the Moon People and Tsukasa."
Sora surprised himself a little with his own words.
(That's not like me. Too emotional.)
But it was the truth.
Last night, looking at that enormous moon, he'd felt that something huge was beginning. And somewhere in his heart, he'd thought he shouldn't be part of it.
"You're not an outsider."
Kaguya turned around.
Her black eyes fixed on him.
"Once the blood of the moon stirs, you're an outsider no longer. You're already caught up in the rules of this world."
"What is this 'blood of the moon'? You mentioned it yesterday, but I don't understand."
"My family line has deep ties to the Moon People. Those who carry the blood of the moon react sensitively to its movements. We can sense the presence of the Moon People. And when you arrived in this world, my blood stirred."
"...So you're saying I have some connection to the moon too."
"I don't know. But you're not unrelated. The very fact that you came to this world must mean something."
Sora fell silent.
(The very fact that I came to this world must mean something.)
He didn't want to think about that.
"...So what do you want me to do?"
"I need your power."
"My power—you mean programming?"
"Yes. The power to grasp the rules of this world as code and rewrite them. You have that potential."
Sora gave a dry laugh.
"You're overestimating me. I'm just a high schooler. Winning a programming contest doesn't mean I can rewrite the rules of the world."
"You can. I know it."
There was no hesitation in Kaguya's voice.
"Your mind works differently from the people of this world. You have a perspective that sees the world as code. That will be the key to standing against the Moon People."
Sora started to say something, then stopped.
(No point arguing. Once this girl makes up her mind, she doesn't budge.)
"...I don't know yet if my power will actually be good for anything. But if it's just meeting this Tsukasa person and hearing what she has to say, I'll go along."
"Thank you."
Kaguya's voice softened, just a little.
Her expression was hidden behind the black mask. But her eyes seemed to relax, just slightly.
(...She's desperate too, isn't she.)
That was what Sora thought.
―――
Past the residential streets, they came to a small shopping arcade.
Maybe because it was still early, few shops were open. Shutters were down along the row, but one bakery had its lights on. The smell of fresh-baked bread drifted through the street.
"Are you hungry?"
"...Honestly? Yeah."
"Wait here a moment."
Kaguya went into the bakery.
Sora waited outside.
About five minutes later, she came back with a paper bag.
"Here."
Inside the bag were two freshly baked croissants.
"You sure? What about money—"
"Don't worry about it. I just bought them because I wanted to eat."
"...Thanks."
Sora took the croissant.
Still warm. It crackled as he bit in, butter filling his mouth.
(Delicious.)
He meant it.
"Is it good?"
"Yeah. Really good."
"Good."
Kaguya slipped her mask down a little and bit into her own croissant.
The gesture was somehow like a small animal, and Sora found himself staring.
"...What?"
"No, nothing."
Kaguya kept her face blank and took another bite.
They left the arcade and walked on through the residential streets.
The morning sun was getting stronger. The summer heat pricked at his skin.
Sora wiped sweat from his forehead.
(No stamina, so I'm weak against heat too.)
"We're almost there. Once we pass that park, the Yuzaki house is right there."
Kaguya pointed ahead.
A small park came into view.
"Let's rest a bit in that park. You look pale."
"...Sorry."
"Don't be. Think about meaning over efficiency. If you push yourself and collapse, there's no meaning in it."
Sora obeyed without protest.
They entered the park and sat on a bench.
The shade was cool. When the wind blew, the leaves rustled softly.
"Kaguya."
"What?"
"Why are you going so far to protect Tsukasa? Is it some kind of duty that comes with the blood of the moon?"
Kaguya was silent.
A long pause.
Sora wondered if he'd asked something he shouldn't have.
"...When I was ten."
Kaguya spoke quietly.
"The Moon People took my mother."
Sora held his breath.
"My mother also carried the blood of the moon. The Moon People target those who do. I don't know why. But that night, my mother was wrapped in moonlight and vanished into the sky. All I could do was watch."
Kaguya's voice was flat.
Whether she was holding back emotion, or whether it had gone numb long ago, Sora couldn't tell.
"Six years since then. I've kept tracking the Moon People's movements. And I learned that their next target is Yuzaki Tsukasa. A girl who's been hunted by the Moon People for fourteen hundred years. I will protect her. From the Moon People who took my mother—this time, I will."
Kaguya's black eyes looked straight at Sora.
"This is also my revenge."
Sora couldn't say anything.
A girl who lost her mother at ten.
That so much obsession had been hidden behind that blank face.
(And I went and said 'I don't want to get dragged in' so casually.)
Something ached deep in his chest.
"...I'm sorry. That was thoughtless."
"You don't need to apologize. Your reaction was a normal human reaction."
Kaguya stood.
"Let's go. The Yuzaki house is close now."
That was when it happened.
Kaguya's body went rigid.
"—The moon is stirring."
Her voice dropped suddenly.
"I sense the Moon People. Close."
Sora spun around on reflex.
The park was quiet.
The birdsong that had been there a moment ago was gone.
The wind had stopped too.
"Where?"
"There."
Kaguya pointed to the edge o
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