Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Prologue, The God of the Calling Tide
My village was the worst.
Since I carry its blood, I'll probably become the worst kind of person someday too.
That terrified me.
Everyone in my village had dark skin.
It was a fishing village where the sun shone year-round. My skin had been that way for as long as I could remember. None of the kids had fair skin.
What I remember is the song the fishermen used to sing on the beach.
High tide, low tide. When the tide comes in, the path disappears. When it recedes, it reappears.
The tide is the fourth tail. It comes when called.
Even the children sang along with clumsy tongues as they helped the adults untangle nets crusted with fish scales.
Both he and I were in that line.
He was scrawny, sunburnt like everyone else, and looked like a dried fish. While I was the tallest among the boys our age, he was the shortest—a stark contrast.
Every time the older, rougher boys glared at us, he would cling to me. Thanks to my build and my eyes, no one ever picked on me.
After I chased them off a few times, he started following me around. We were the same age, but he felt like a younger brother.
Like me, he was born into one of the village's four great families.
But those families were nothing to be proud of. People said they had the power to summon gods, but that wasn't true.
They fed off the villagers, grew fat, and were raised only to be devoured later. That was the system. I realized it when I was twelve.
There was a festival held once every few decades in the village.
He came to me and said he had an important role in the festival. 'I'm going to become the Ouzu-sama,' he said.
I knew that title referred to the priest who received divine revelations and was chosen from the four families.
I didn't know the details, but seeing him—who had always hidden in my shadow—look so proud made me happy.
On the day of the festival, I still remember the tormenting sound of bells and the waves glowing like a sea of blood at sunset.
The adults held a sacred rope like they were playing train and marched toward the cliff.
He was in the center. Rather than a priest, he looked like an old-time criminal being transported.
He saw me from between the adults and gave a slight smile.
They told the children not to follow any further, but I hid and went behind the cliff alone.
A whirlpool churned below the cliff. Once you fell in, you never came back. I'd heard stories of fishermen misreading the tide and kids sneaking to the cliff cave only to die.
As the sun set, the black waves roared like a monster.
At the cave entrance, the adults squirmed with the rope.
I thought I heard a scream mixed with the crashing waves and ran toward the sound.
That's when I saw the Ouzu-sama.
I'll never forget it.
Hollow eyes, nose, and mouth. Skin so pale and bloated it was hard to believe it belonged to a human from our village. Not a single hair on the head.
And behind it, something else was there.
I ran.
Sharp rocks sliced the soles of my feet. Each step sent pain searing through me as saltwater washed over the wounds, but I tore across the beach in a frenzy.
When I reached the sand, I saw my bloody footprints stretching from the cave. The illusion of being chased made me run again.
The waves quickly washed away the bloody trail.
After the festival, the sea was quieter and clearer than usual that night.
That's when I knew my village was the worst.
He never showed up again after that day.
None of the children spoke of him, and the adults occasionally mentioned 'Ouzu-sama.'
I tried to return to the cave many times, but the tide always blocked me. If only I hadn't run away.
Thinking that, I still ended up running away.
Even after moving to Tokyo, my skin color didn't change. I was reminded that I would always be someone from that village.
I became a detective because I wanted to get as far away from the worst as possible.
Whenever someone called me overly serious, I denied it. It wasn't modesty. No matter what I did, it wouldn't change the fact that I abandoned him.
But just by existing, I was already the worst.
What landed on my desk was an unusual death case—nothing rare for the homicide division.
While my teammates went about their work as usual, I knew something was different. This wasn't a human crime.
The shadow of the god I saw in that cave flashed through my mind.
Just before the case was solved, a group of strangers stormed into the homicide division.
They grabbed all the case files and finally led me to a separate room.
It was an interrogation room I knew well, but it was my first time being on the receiving end.
The woman with glasses who sat across from me introduced herself as Ryoko.
"Kirima Renjirou, right? The second son, but named Renjirou?"
Ryoko chuckled and correctly guessed where I was from.
"How did you know?"
"It's my specialty. Everything related to gods and faith. You must have felt it too, right? That this case wasn't caused by human hands."
I kept my mouth shut.
"The Kirima family is one of your village's four great families. You have the power to summon gods, don't you? Maybe that's why this case landed in your lap."
"So you're saying the incident happened because of me?"
"No. But I can't say for sure it won't in the future."
My mind went blank. If that were true, and nothing changed even after I left the village, then I had been solving cases only to create more victims.
I clasped my trembling hands. Ryoko smiled as if she saw right through me.
"Why not use your power to protect people?"
There was no choice.
I joined the countermeasure headquarters.
While I kept working without understanding anything, a man from the higher-ups brought me a marriage proposal. His name was Miyaki, one of the founders of the countermeasure headquarters.
His family was as unfathomable as my own village.
I agreed, thinking I could change my surname and dig deeper inside to gain information and prevent more cases.
I knew I was being used as a pawn.
My wife was a normal, sickly woman who didn't know much about her own family.
With her fair skin, big gentle eyes, and appearance so unlike anyone from my village, I always felt relieved seeing her after work.
I was glad our daughter, Rei, took after her.
Born in that village, with the power to summon gods, doing this kind of work—I probably won't have a decent end.
I don't mind. I think that's fitting.
At the very least, I hope my wife and daughter stay out of harm's way.
And lately, there's one more.
I recently realized I'm projecting him onto Uyuu, who keeps following me around.
He's a dumb, good-for-nothing, shady psychic scammer, but he's not a bad guy. Once this is all over, I want him to live a proper life.
I want to do whatever I can to make that happen.
Because I have no god to pray to.