HP: Spirit Talker

POV Junko Hoshino

Junko had experienced a lot of sorrow in her not so long life, many times fate had beaten her and taught her "lessons". The first real fight in her life, in which her younger sister (half-sister) Kimiko and four close friends were killed. Then a tough fight with cultists, from which she carried her other younger sister, Shiina — Shi-chan, out in her arms, while her older brother, Kensuke, used a forbidden self-destruction technique to protect her sisters and destroy a nest of monsters and lunatics.

Then life seemed to be getting better, she had two little brothers, then she defended her right to choose a husband in two duels and stomped a moral freak from the Miyazaki clan in the third, celebrated Shi-chan's wedding to Gen-kun and saw the birth of their girls. And then they were attacked. A simultaneous attack on all of the Hoshino clan's properties.

She personally destroyed four senior mages along with their entourage and apprentices from the Toyotomi clan. The heir of the clan, the nationally renowned genius Toyotomi Yuudai, fell at her hand. And she saw with her own eyes the death of her relatives, except for Shi-chan and her family, who had to be saved — for which she sent two of her bodyguards.

Shackled in holy chains, she was forced to watch the looting of the family's main estate. She enjoyed the howls of despair from the cowardly head of Miyazaki as the torn pieces of flesh that had been his first heir were brought in.

With her face covered in blood, she laughed as the burnt and decapitated body of Miyazaki-sama's second son was brought in. And then she was covered in a shroud of pain, humiliation and despair as the effect on her mind wore off and the eighteen-year-old girl looked at her already large belly and the old cowardly worm laid out his plans for her child.

Unfortunately, her magic was sealed and there was no way to kill the fetus. For years, the young, broken woman felt connected to her child, understood the power her son had inherited, and it made her feel worse because Junko knew what they wanted to do to him and she had no way to help.

Her tiny chance came at another "Fall and Ugly" festival, when Junko gave her son her tanto and called him by his clan name, Hoshino, and told him who he was. The silence that followed was depressing for the woman: her son remained silent, never contacting her, never even trying to find the spiritual connection that unites all Hoshinos.

Junko thought at the time that Sora was loyal to Miyazaki, that nothing could be changed. She was surprised when she and Sora decapitated the Miyazaki clan and took powerful relics as trophies, as well as returning their own treasures, though not all of them.

Next, they got to know each other and began to study each other. Arguments and even fights are normal in a clan of warriors, so parents often bring simple truths to their children when too much plays fire in the blood of teenagers.

New discoveries about her son, about his knowledge, his skills, his gifts, so simple, even the careless use of seals could not help but cause muffled irritation, after all, Sora inherited this power from the blood of Miyazaki, Hoshino has a completely different direction.

Though reluctantly, he had to recognize this part of his son, this side of his powers, his essence. It was an eternal reminder of years of humiliation and pain, impossible to dismiss or forget. Junko was forced to make a pact... a conspiracy behind her son's back.

 Neither she nor Sora had the means to return the shards of the family altar stored in the Supreme Chancellery, and the price demanded by the Ayakashi was clear: a bond of blood and oaths of alliance, the acceptance of two of the five seats of the Ayakashi representatives in the restored clan.

Junko herself realized that such a pact would forever bind Hoshino to the Ayakashi, their influence in every decision, but what could she do? She'd grown up in the clan, she'd been taught a bit of politics, the nuances had been explained to her, so unlike her son, she knew there was no choice. The offers of the Spirit Alliance were still relatively gentle, unlike what the humans could do to them.

Se-dono had even hinted to her why and how the altar shards had ended up in the chancellery, and then, thinking and remembering things, she realized that the Emperor had simply wanted a fully controlled, tame clan of strong fighters and assassins whose new code would contain the main line: The Emperor's word is the true law. No, better this way. And then Sora died, or was thought to have died for a long time, and it turned out that this nasty, tailed creature was trying to organize tests for her son and intrigues.

She paid the price: an ancient artifact, a true miracle, rumored to have been created by one of the True Dragons, the Fan of a Thousand Eternal Flames, was hacked to pieces by Junko with a blade called "Punisher". The katana, capable of embodying any element depending on the emotions and desires of the wielder, shattered the Heavenly Fox Treasure into icy dust: Junko's hatred was ice-cold and merciless.

And after that, Se-dono brought news of her son, who happened to be hiding somewhere, and they were literally a few hours late. Rather than rush off to the countryside and hunt him down without honor or conscience, Junko listened to the wise tanuki's advice. Which turned out to be the right decision in the end. The woman was also involved in one of the fights. The attack on Miyazaki's old ally Karasu turned out to be an unexpectedly simple matter.

Junko had personally slaughtered the elders of this tiny clan of werewolf mages and recognized contract masters. But the woman was no fool, even if her straightforward character and ill-suited for politics, but the woman knows how to see the benefits. Seven children of varying ages, from one to five years old — that was how many unfit mages there were in the besieged clan estate and the family that was being destroyed.

Oni destroyed the altar of that family with one blow of a huge hammer. But Junko had learned a lot over the years, especially not to forget her destiny, so the seven children were sealed in her son's gift, an artifact bracelet, there were also some shards of Karasu's altar, as well as a part of the clan's library — everything Junko, Nanao and Kurumi could save. It turned out to be the secret of the three of them, and everyone else considered Karasu's blood to be completely destroyed.