Chapter 52
Chapter 52
1. The God of the Vestige
It was nighttime by the time I arrived in Tokyo.
The place was more humid than outside due to the heat of the crowds. It felt like the air from that village, which clung to my body, was finally peeling off, and I took a deep breath.
"Good job today. We got a big haul."
Ryoko, who had passed through the ticket gate, smiled at me. I found myself less able to accept that smile at face value than before.
"Hey, is it true you're using the guardian god of Kuwasu?"
"It's still under review. I need to use my paid leave starting tomorrow to prepare materials."
"Working even during your time off?"
"That's just how research jobs are."
Ryoko started walking. I knew calling out to her would lead to a troublesome argument, but I opened my mouth anyway.
"If the guardian god disappears, won't that village be in trouble?"
Ryoko widened her eyes.
"I'm surprised you'd say something like that, Uyuu."
I'm surprised too. I thought I was a more self-centered person.
"I don't care about that village or anything, but messing with gods and whatnot makes me uneasy."
Ryoko laughed, but her eyes behind the glasses fogged up from the heat didn't move at all.
"We've already been using gods to protect this country."
"What?"
"Long ago, there was a god called Territorial Divine Offenses who could tell the future. It's thanks to that god that we can find so many gods now."
I was speechless, but somehow managed to find words.
"Long ago? So that god is now..."
A train slid into the platform and spilled out a flood of people, filling the area with noise.
"I'll tell you that story when I get back. I'm busy now. I have to visit relatives and my husband's grave during my trip home."
So Ryoko's husband is dead. First I've heard of it.
I don't get involved with the countermeasure headquarters or the people inside.
Before disappearing into the crowd, Ryoko turned back.
"Kirima-kun is also returning from his business trip today. If you wait, you might see him."
"Why the hell would I want to see that guy's face after work?"
I had no intention of waiting.
I sat down on a bench on the platform because I was tired.
I had so much to think about, yet my brain just didn't have the capacity.
I kept counting the flood of people pouring out of the train with my foot, losing count and starting over, and just as the last train was about to arrive, a familiar face spilled out from the silver door.
"Uyuu?"
Kirima, who got off the train, was carrying a young girl in a straw hat.
"You kidnapped her during your business trip, huh!"
It had been a while since I felt the dull pain of being kicked in the shin. Not pleasant at all.
The girl in his arms smacked Kirima's arm.
"Daddy, that's bad."
Kirima flinched. A look I'd never seen before.
"Daddy?"
"What kidnapping? My wife's in the hospital, so I left my daughter at my parents' place and brought her back."
Kirima, tanned like treated leather and rugged, and the pale-skinned girl with big eyes looked nothing alike. But I recognized the girl. She was the kid I saw in the hallway of the countermeasure headquarters the other day. I pointed.
"Miyaki Rei!"
The girl got down from Kirima's arms and gave a small bow. Kirima looked between me and his daughter.
"You know her?"
"She bought me juice."
Kirima looked like he couldn't believe it. Same here.
"Don't lie. You don't even look alike, and your surnames are different."
"Sorry for not looking alike. I told you, I'm a husband who married into the family. For work, I just kept my old name because it's less hassle."
Miyaki Rei quietly looked up at us. Hard to believe, but are they really father and daughter?
Kirima sighed and loosened his tie.
"...Did you eat dinner?"
I shook my head.
"I owe you for the juice. Not many decent places open at this hour though."
Kirima took his daughter's hand and started walking briskly.
We left the station and went under the elevated tracks.
A ramen shop, its sign lit with a dim light that made it look even more desolate than the darkness, stained the storefront red.
"This place will do."
Kirima and Rei slipped under the shop curtain like they were used to it.
"You come here often?"
"Only place open at this hour that's not a bar."
After sitting in the back, Rei shook her head with a mature expression and said,
"I'd be fine with a bar."
"You can't bring kids into a bar."
Kirima, exasperated, sat his daughter in a high chair—he really looked like a dad.
I opened the menu, sticky with grease.
The urge to order something expensive on someone else's dime vanished.
I ordered soy sauce ramen and half-fried rice from the grumpy owner, while Kirima and his daughter only ordered ramen.
"You don't eat much, Kirima-san?"
I stopped myself from adding, "Even though you're huge."
"I always end up eating her leftovers anyway."
"I'm going to eat everything today."
Rei puffed out her cheeks. At times like this, she looked her age.
Kirima gently tapped Rei's swinging knees on the high chair and said, "Stop that, it's dangerous."
And yet he's always sticking his neck into dangerous situations with monsters.
The ramen was served quickly.
Rei picked up a slice of char siu with her chopsticks and tossed it into my soup.
"What the hell?"
"Thanks for the juice."
Kirima sighed.
"You just don't like char siu. You won't grow big if you don't eat properly."
"She probably doesn't want to end up like you, huh?"
Under the table, Kirima kicked my shin where his daughter couldn't see.
Good thing she didn't look like him. Two violent cops would be too much to handle.
The soy sauce soup was bland, and the fried rice was greasy, but Rei happily buried her face in the steam.
Kirima even forgot to eat, busy wiping his daughter's face.
Just like he said, Rei left half her ramen and pushed it on her dad. Watching Kirima slurp the soggy noodles with a sigh, I decided not to ask about the gods or the countermeasure headquarters.
Even in this peaceful summer midnight, with an ordinary father and daughter, gods beyond human control were stirring beneath the surface.
"Wish I hadn't learned that."
It seemed my muttering didn't reach Kirima and the others.
By the time we left the ramen shop, the station lights were already off.
Miyaki Rei rubbed her sleepy eyes. When Kirima hoisted her onto his back with practiced ease, she fell asleep as if someone had flipped a switch.
With her cheek pressed against Kirima's shoulder and her eyes closed, I thought for the first time that her nose looked a bit like her father's.
As we walked under the sparse neon lights, I opened my mouth.
"Hey, why'd you decide to marry into her family?"
"I wanted to change my name."
"What?"
Kirima adjusted his daughter, who was slipping down his back.
"I was born in a tiny fishing village, a real sh*thole. I just wanted to forget it as fast as I could."
Ryoko also said she hides her surname because it makes her origins too obvious.
"That village—does it have anything to do with Territorial Divine Offenses?"
"......Yeah."
"Seriously?"
"I wanted to get away from the village, so I entered the police academy and became a detective. Even so, it's not something you can escape. I guess it's fate."
Kirima stopped dutifully at a red light, even though no one else was around. The lukewarm night breeze rustled the blue tarps draped over the construction site, and the reflected neon lights trembled.
When the light changed, Kirima stepped forward.
"......Back when I was in Homicide, one of the cases I handled was related to Territorial Divine Offenses. It was about to be dismissed as just another mysterious death, but I knew it was different. That's when the countermeasure headquarters started watching me."
I laughed loudly on purpose.
"You idiot. You could've stayed safe if you hadn't stuck your nose in."
"Same goes for you."
Kirima gave a slight smirk at the corner of his lips. I clicked my tongue.
Smoke from someone smoking in a back alley drifted over and bridged the forest of buildings. I wanted a cigarette, but remembered Rei sleeping on Kirima's back and gave up.
"The Miyaki family—"
Kirima started, hesitated for a moment, then continued.
"They're the founders of the countermeasure headquarters. Apparently, they've been involved in national rituals since ancient times. I don't know all the details myself."
"Even though you married into the family?"
"That's the kind of position a husband-in-law has."
"......Aren't they just using you?"
"Maybe."
Kirima admitted it without hesitation.
"Either way, if we leave the god alone, incidents will happen. As a former detective, I can't ignore it. As long as I keep running around, my wife and daughter can stay safe. That's enough for me."
I remembered Kirima arguing at the countermeasure headquarters. With his daughter on his back, he was also carrying all sorts of other burdens, dealing with incomprehensible people and gods.
I tried to imagine the shadow of a father I didn't even remember,
but I couldn't.
Kirima stopped at a three-way intersection.
"I'm going this way. What about you, Uyuu?"
"Opposite direction."
"Later then. Though I guess we'll see each other again tomorrow."
"Back to work right after getting back from a business trip?"
"Shut it, you tax thief."
After confirming his daughter was still asleep, Kirima said to me,
"This time the god is called 'God of Vestiges'. I'll explain more tomorrow."
"Vestiges......"
As I repeated the word, Kirima turned on his heel and walked away.
At the edge of the three-way intersection stood a towering, demolished building.
A small vending machine and a night guard's signal light glowed like fireflies.
It should've been no different from Tokyo, but it looked like a completely different world from when I knew nothing.