Calamity Marionette

Characters

Saikabara Kosami, Chikage, Yamazaki Niah, Yamazaki Satoru, Kobayashi Tomotsu, Takahashi Shuji, Nakatani Fuyumi, Hojo Haruka, Kajishima Kanna, Kajishima Madoka, Ito Toshizou, Ito Izumi, Koizumi Daizen, Houyi, Tenka, Aiko, Aimi, Yori, Usagichimaru Katsuo, K

Description

After being pushed in front of a subway train by an old high school rival and ultimately perishing, Saikabara Kosami awakes in a stuffy space reminiscent of a doctor’s waiting room with an obnoxious receptionist who orders her to fill out paperwork. Before she’s even gotten to the fifth page of what could only be her life-manual, the young woman is sure she is in Hell.

She isn’t far off with her theory. She’s on a plane of existence between the human world and many others used as a junction as a sorting bracket for the dead and ‘others’, run by an omnipotent government, in a place named Oblivion. Due to her circumstance, she is offered the position of a Contractor - a member of said-government which is tasked with upholding the archaic laws of Oblivion and protecting humans against rogue paranormal entities with her very own Ayakashi - a summon of sorts called a Contract. Before the day is out, Kosami’s new un-life is turned upside down when she is bombarded with her strict duties as a Contractor; which is practically a space-time jumping law-enforcer with ‘special abilities’, or so she was told….by a seven-foot teddy bear in a lab coat.

Before she can get to her mundane duties as a Contractor, some serious questions are raised because of her initial testing results giving her the only option of a notorious Ayakashi who has seen all of her previous partners die prematurely. On top of her new responsibilities and the fact Oblivion is up Shit-Creek due to an unprecedented threat, Kosami has to hit the ground running when her apparently designated partner refuses to sign on the metaphorical dotted line.

Along with a rabble of unconventionally colourful colleagues, Kosami begins to unravel a millennia-old conspiracy when a power-shift between The Council and phantom forces is on the horizon. When closing in on what they believe is the truth brings about inevitable detriment to everything they thought they were fighting for, the pair of strangers have to do something neither of them had done in as long as they could remember: trust another.

Calamity Marionette

Theme Song
Nervous - Lola Blanc
&
Can’t Go To Hell - Sin Shake Sin

Genre
Supernatural, Adventure, Mystery, Shounen, Comedy [Slapstick & Gallows Humor], Action, Drama, Relationships

Series
Original [Anime Inspired Style]

Characters
Saikabara Kosami, Chikage, Yamazaki Niah, Yamazaki Satoru, Kobayashi Tomotsu, Takahashi Shuji, Nakatani Fuyumi, Hojo Haruka, Kajishima Kanna, Kajishima Madoka, Ito Toshizou, Ito Izumi, Koizumi Daizen, Houyi, Tenka, Aiko, Aimi, Yori, Usagichimaru Katsuo, Kumata, Ozaki Kikuo, Mikoto Kohaku, Plus lots more - Gods/Deities personified.

Start Date
25th November 2014 [Original]
7th December 2019 [Reboot]

End Date
--/--/--

Warnings
Swearing, Sexual Themes, Substance Abuse, Mental/Emotional/Physical Abuse, Gore, Bigotry/Racism/Sexism/Elitism, Character Death.

The yellow glow of the subway lights bathed the masses waiting for the 11:23pm train. A gathering crowd over by where the third carriage would arrive began to shift backwards and boisterous shouting filled the cold tunnel as a group of delinquents heckled each other. Looking up from being half asleep, a red-haired female in her early twenties blinked to clear her vision from the offset of a nap. Upon realizing that she knew the rowdy group of five heading in her general direction, the female expelled a breath of the stale underground air as she kept her line of sight trained on them from under the brim her hood.

The tallest male at the front of the group paused his conversation as if he'd sensed her presence. Looking around suddenly caused his company to question him and do the same. Eyes widening when his gaze caught the redhead’s, he pointed straight at her.

"Kosami. There’s Saikabara Kosami." The female's ex-classmate shouted and the other four followed the direction of his obnoxious gesture.

The redhead made eye-contact with the taller of the two females in the group and the pair tensed. The standing woman smirked and strut for Kosami with her friends in tow. Knowing what was coming, Kosami stood up from the uncomfortable metal seat and gently tugged the little plugs from her ears at the ready. Never being one to shy away from sorting out a confrontation was probably down to her father’s occupation as a policeman. That, or the fact that she just hated Yamato Kyoko, and wanted an excuse to punch her in her smarmy face. Before she could think better about it, her body betrayed her and pushed through the onlookers, straight to where her old classmates were obnoxiously gesturing to her as if they were daring her to acknowledge them.

Looking away and flapping her hand by her head in mockery, the interruption with high-teased caramel curls sung. "I thought you were hiding from us."

"Why would I do that? I love your company," Kosami told.

"Do you think you can avoid the consequences of your actions forever?"

"Which ones?"

"You know damn well which ones."

"Hm..." Pulling the hood of her jacket back from her face and stashing her phone into her pocket, the redhead began to count off her fingers. "The skipping school; the fighting; the under-age drinking way back when; jay-walking…?" Pausing, the tallest female narrowed her eyes and quirked her brow. "Fucking your boyfriend?" Kosami caught the girl's tough expression falter and held her hand up in mock apology. "Sorry, ex-boyfriend."

Kosami bowed her head a little, the corner of her lips twitching when she received a satisfying look of loathing from Yamato. Perhaps even more so when the petite girl was knocked out of the way before she could get a grip on her. The swells shifted in the cramped space rattling due to the old tracks and the familiar sound of the horn warned the commuters that the upcoming train wouldn’t be stopping.

Shoulder-barging an old lady out of the way, Yamato clicked her tongue off her teeth with a sneer for the much taller redhead. Biting at the stale air, the blonde threw both of her hands into Kosami’s chest with her full weight behind the attack.

Catching her foot on one of many the spectators waiting for their transport during the home-time rush, Kosami tripped backwards. Arms out flapping as the train released another echoing blear, the front lights came into view from behind the curve of the tunnel. Staggering closer to the yellow warning line, everything slowed down, like watching ink smear in water. Her body fell through the crowd, her sanguine locks splaying upwards with gravity. Her arms went out instinctively, trying to grasp something - anything - to stop the sickly feeling in her gut from growing the closer her back got with the ground. Arms waving in a feeble attempt to regain her balance, celadon eyes grew in realization. Time had come to a point where it may have well have stopped and her her body was dowsed in wet clay, unable to function. It was less than a second before her back was parallel with the tracks and she was staring a steel beast in the eye.

The sounds around her became watery, but she could make out a lady scream in horror. The air was cold; colder - even for winter underground. Unnaturally so; frigid, prickling, and pungent as a corpse. Most of all, what stuck in her mind, playing over and over again was the look on Yamato's face. If nothing else, even if she was imagining it - even if there was nothing after death - she would never forget it.

That bitch was smiling.

She was smiling and by all the Gods above and below, Kosami was going to make her regret it even if she had to come back as a goddamn haunted broom.


 

Foreword