The Sun-Calling Tracks

* Title screen
* Original title card

**The Sun-Calling Tracks** is an event in Counter:Side.

## Synopsis

> *No amount of explanation of tradition and family responsibilities to a schoolboy will be fruitful. But no explanation is necessary to illustrate a desire to protect the loved ones.*
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## Characters

* Nayuka Minato
* Nanahara Chinatsu
* Ogami Masaki
* Sekine Iroha
* Hirose Aki
* Lee Minseo
* Nanahara Sayo
* Habaki
* Nanahara Chifuyu
* Hayami Sanae
* Katori Eichi (In flashback(s))
* Hayami Kanade
* Yamata no Orochi
* Administrator

## Plot

### Act 1

When a Corruption disaster breaks out near their school during classtime, students Nayuka Minato and Ogami Masaki— who are both secretly Counters—leave the building to fight off the Corruption threat while everyone else seek shelter. One of their classmates, Iroha, follows them but is wounded and poisoned by a Corrupted Object in the process, causing her to faint. A Counter named Nanahara Chinatsu, head of the Nanahara Family Alliance, appears and heals Iroha but informs Minato that the poison can only be removed by eliminating its source. She asks him for assistance in stopping Yamata no Orochi, the entity responsible for causing the corruption outbreak and spreading the poison. Minato, whose family was formerly part of the Alliance, considers the offer while Masaki ignores it.

The next day, Minato visits Iroha at the hospital and hears that she, along with other patients were affected by the recent Corruption disasters, is suffering from rapid cell aging and severe pain in addition to advanced Corruption Syndrome despite minimal exposure to Corruption rays. A Level 2 CSE breaks out, causing part of the hospital to collapse and releasing more venomous C.O.s. Minato, joined by Masaki and the Freedom Riders, fend off the creatures until a nearby TASKFORCE squad arrives and eliminates the rest. Afterwards, Masaki decides he'll help Minato get to the Nanahara Family Alliance HQ, located on top of the Central Clock Tower in the 3rd Management District.

Minato and Masaki arrive at the HQ where the Family Alliance are organizing a meeting. They are greeted by the elder Nanahara Sayo. Masaki, whose real surname is revealed to be Katori, explains to Minato that the family leader of the Nanahara family has the power to listen to the "voice of the wind", which allows them to tell prophecies, though that power is purportedly diminishing as generations pass.

At the meeting, Masaki notes that not many family leaders of the Alliance are present, and Sayo explains the other families are already busy dealing with the Corruption threats posed by Orochi. Minato learns that Orochi was an immortal god who used to be a protector of humanity before it became a monster who grew hateful of humans. The Nanahara family sealed the creature away and has been keeping it imprisoned for generations, but the protective seals is weakening and allowing Orochi's poison to leak out, hence the unusual Corruption disasters. Chinatsu had called upon Minato to help the Alliance prepare for battle, though Elder Habaki suspects she specifically sought for a Nayuka family member to prevent a incident similar to one that happened three years prior.

Minato and Masaki take the helicopter to the 7th Seal Domain. En route, the helicopter is shot down by a flying C.O. and crashes to the ground. Minato and Masaki are quickly surrounded by C.O.s but are rescued by a woman wielding a large cannon, who takes them to her cabin in the woods. The woman, named Hayami Sanae, reveals she used a servant of the Nanahara Family Alliance and now lives in isolation as her family had disgraced the Alliance. She offers to take the two of them back to the Alliance HQ.

Sayo reports to Chinatsu that the 1st Seal Domain captain and the leader of the Toda family, among others, have been killed. Chinatsu, disheartened, does not want to risk any more casualties but starts to feel she is not living up to the expectations of the previous Nanahara leader.

### Act 2

Sanae escorts Minato and Masaki back to the Alliance HQ, but the Alliance members are angered by her appearance. Chinatsu is the only one who welcomes her inside. Meanwhile, Sayo and Chifuyu discuss what will come of Sanae; Sayo opines Chinatsu has become too soft to banish a traitor like Sanae and plans to call for another meeting. Later, Chinatsu meets up with Minato and repairs his broken bow, which she reveals is the Nayuka family heirloom.

At the meeting, Sayo proposes the Alliance reelect a new leader for the Nanahara family as she deems Chinatsu to no longer be qualified or fit, citing her failure to purge Orochi's influence three years ago as well as her leniency towards Sanae. She selects Chifuyu as a potential candidate though Chifuyu herself wishes not to replace her sister. A vote takes place, and Chinatsu and Chifuyu tie, so a competition between the two is set for tomorrow.

Minato and Masaki decide to stay overnight and get some rest at the HQ. However, they get lost in the building and stumble upon Chinatsu's bedroom, where they are ambushed by assassins. Chifuyu quickly arrives and takes the intruders down. Sayo happens to be in the room as well, having apparently killed of the assassins in self-defense. The assassins are believed to have been after Chinatsu, who was accompanying Sanae outside at the time, and Sayo postulates that there is a yet another traitor in the Alliance. The remaining assassins are interrogated and claim that Sanae was involved in their plan, leading to Sanae's detention.

Later, Masaki reveals to Minato that the Hayami family were traditionally bodyguards to the Nanahara family but were expelled after Sanae's mother killed the previous Alliance leader. As a result, Chifuyu impromptu became the new bodyguard. Minato finds it strange that Sanae would send assassins if she was going to reveal herself to the Alliance after all these years, so he decides to investigate the matter himself and try to absolve Sanae. He and Masaki head over to Sanae's cabin only to find it in flames, but Minato brazenly enters the cabin anyway and recovers a fox mask hidden underneath the floor. Chinatsu, Sayo, and Habaki also arrive, and the latter two accuse the boys of burning down the cabin to cover up Sanae's crime and subsequently imprison them. Chinatsu, on the other hand, not only believes the two to be innocent and discreetly sets them unlocks their prison. She also tells Minato the wind prophesied that he's the one who will seal Orochi with her, something she had been withholding from everyone else out of uncertainty because the last prophecy—the one from three years ago—turned up false and lead to the deaths of many in the Alliance.

The next morning, Sayo explains the goal of the competition: retrieve the treasured sword of the Nanahara family in the Cave of Blinds, and the winner will become the next Alliance leader.

### Act 3

Sanae recounts the time her mother, Kanade, went off with the previous Alliance leader to fight Orochi but only saddens herself when she remembers how it ended up. Masaki attempts to free her under Chinatsu's request but gets imprisoned himself. While treating his wounds, Sanae tries to convince Masaki she means no harm to Chinatsu and denies she tried to assassinate her earlier; she only allowed herself to be arrested and jailed because she believed it would pay for her mother's crime of murdering the previous Nahara family leader. Masaki hands over the fox mask, one of Kanade's accessories, to Sanae.

Habaki visits the prison cell and mocks the Masaki and Sanae. Masaki demands to be freed and argues that defeating Orochi will require all the families' power, but Habaki scornfully reveals he and and Sayo were the ones who weakened Orochi's seal and allowed the slaughter of the Alliance forces—including Masaki's father, Katori Eichi—three years ago; they hated the Katori family for being contrarians to older Nanahara traditions, so they sabotaged the purging operation in order to destroy them, fracture the Alliance, and ensure all internal affairs would go their way. Habaki orders the guards to execute Masaki and Sanae, but the two manage to escape.

Outside during the competition, Minato finds the Cave of Blinds with its entrance blocked and frees Chinatsu. Chifuyu finds them and intervenes, prompting Minato to fight her while Chinatsu runs off. When Minato says Chinatsu is trying to restore Orochi's seal, Chifuyu stops fighting and realizes her sister is going to sacrifice her life to seal Orochi. She tells Minato the true situation and permits him to follow her in stopping Chinatsu. Chifuyu elaborates that only the blood and soul of the priestess can contain the seal, and, should the seal break as it did, the bodyguard must kill her master with the Nahara family's treasured sword. Not wanting to kill her own sister, Chifuyu desperately aimed to become the new Alliance leader so she could sacrifice herself instead and give Chinatsu her position back.

Minato and Chifuyu enter the 8th Seal Domain area but are ambushed by the ghost of Kanade, who guards the perimeter. Minato goes ahead while Chifuyu fights Kanade. On the way, Minato collapses from fatigue and has a dream where Iroha ominously proposes the two of them should die before they inevitably become corrupted. He eventually wakes up to his phone ringing and hears Aki on the other end. Aki informs him that Iroha, while still suffering, is safe and waiting for him to come back. Minato thanks Aki and continues forward.

### Act 4

Chinatsu is almost at the sacrificial altar when she encounters Sayo on the way. Sayo tells her that Orochi's hatred for humanity stems from how humans killed the Snake goddess's priestesses in order to gain eternal life and asks if sacrificing herself will truly seal Orochi for good. Chinatsu answers she will proceed, thinking it to be the only option left, only for Sayo to attack her. Sayo reveals herself to a descendant of one of Orochi's priestesses who seeks vengeance towards the humans who have angered Orochi. She brands the Nanahara family, which she has no blood connection to, as traitors to the goddess for killing their ancestor. Minato arrives at the scene, but Sayo summons C.O.s to fight him. The Kamiizumi, piloted by Masaki and Sanae, appears with a squadron of Alliance soldiers and come to Minato and Chinatsu's aid, forcing Sayo to flee.

Minato and Chinatsu make it to the ritual area. Chinatsu asks Minato to slay her, but he refuses and posits that the prophecy Chinatsu heard can be changed. Sayo ambushes the two, but Chifuyu also arrives and deflects her attack. Unfortunately, Orochi, taking on the body of the first priestess, awakens from her slumber and single-handedly shoots down the Kamiizumi with a flick of her hand. Chinatsu demands to know why Orochi turned from a benevolent goddess to a evil monster, and Orochi answers her anger towards humans eventually repressed into cold-heartedness and offers to "help" her and everyone else by killing them all before they corrupt. When Masaki arrives, Orochi tries to kill him but is interrupted by an arrow shot by Minato, making Chinatsu realize Orochi has not fully recovered since her last appearance.

Chinatsu launches an offensive and orders Minato to shoot down a star, stating that one of his ancestors was able to suppress Orochi by doing just that. Minato begins charging his bow while the others buy him time. During this time, Sanae hands Chinatsu her mother's fox mask. The combined forces of Alliance proves to be a significant threat to Orochi, so the goddess feeds on Sayo to empower herself and gain the upper hand. When Chifuyu suffers a blow while protecting Chinatsu, the fox mask begins to shine and shows Chinatsu a vision of the past:

Kanade was running away while carrying the previous Alliance leader, who was severely wounded by Alliance defectors wishing to sacrifice her to awaken Orochi. When Sayo and her men caught up to them, the leader requested Kanade to kill her to prevent the defectors' plans from moving forward, and Kanade hesitantly complies. Enraged, Sayo brutally murders Kanade and tells her men to falsely announce that the bodyguard had assassinated the Alliance Leader.

Orochi sees that Chinatsu has witnessed the past through the mask and asks her if she still wants to side with humans after seeing such a tragedy. Chinatsu maintains her own dignity and humanity and unleashes the Kusanagi, declaring that she will no longer lean on the voice of the wind but instead follow her own path. She not only rejuvenates Masaki, Sanae, and Chifuyu but also temporarily revives the ghost of Kanade (whose body was buried underneath them), who uses her 27 Silk Threads of Sealing to bind and trap Orochi. With his target now stuck in place, Minato shoots down a star and causes it to fall on and defeat the Snake goddess once and for all. Before she dies, Orochi hears the voice of the first priestess telling her not to hate humanity for their mistakes.

    The next day, Kanade's body is uncovered and given a proper burial while Chinatsu absolves Sanae of her mother's crimes. Sanae says she will resume serving her and the Alliance. Meanwhile, Minato and Masaki arrive back at school and see Iroha, who has fully recovered from the hospital.

Later on, Sanae meets with the Administrator, who had earlier told her to return to the Alliance if she wanted to find out the truth about her mother. She asks if he knew about everything from the start. The Adminstrator denies this, and the two have tea together.