Chapter 72
Chapter 72
The Bat God, Part 3
Rain continued to smear the windshield like spit spat out in disgust.
Umemura, in the passenger seat, stared at the wipers and spoke.
"Katagishi, what do you think?"
"Thinking logically, the dead girl must've been enshrined at the mountain pass so long she became a god."
"Logically, huh..."
"You've been here since the founding, so this might be preaching to the choir, but I've seen a lot of gods. Humans becoming gods is almost unheard of. Gods exist from the start—humans can struggle all they want, but they'll never reach that level. That's usually how it is."
Katagishi turned the steering wheel. The tires splashed rainwater pooled in the muddy road.
"...This is an old story you've probably never heard, but the God of Abundant Fruit had a Territorial Divine Offenses. It started as a ghost story—a girl sacrificed as a Human Pillar for a bridge over a river, and people said they could hear the sound of bells ringing."
"That sounds a bit like this case. So? Was that girl the god?"
"No. The real form was a god with countless faces and hands, like a ritual bell. It learned that humans came to rescue the sacrificed girl, so it used the bell sound to lure people in and eat them. It was an evil god."
"That's horrible. No wonder it was called 'Abundant Fruit'... ah."
"Thought of something?"
"No, it's nothing. Just a silly pun."
"Say it. Don't be shy."
"If I'm wrong, it'll be embarrassing."
Suddenly, the windshield darkened. As if pitch-black storm clouds had swallowed the sky.
Katagishi hit the brakes. Umemura groaned low beside him.
"It's here..."
Katagishi glared up at the sky.
A massive umbrella spread its corpse-like white bones. Black fabric stretched between the bones blanketed the sky.
"Katagishi, is that thing bigger than before?"
"Yeah. And when we first saw it, it barely had any fabric..."
The giant umbrella swayed left and right in the wind. Katagishi thought it moved like a bat hunting prey.
In the corner of his vision, something small and yellow swayed.
"Umemura, look at that!"
"What? Whoa, you're kidding..."
A child was walking along the rainy mountain pass, holding an umbrella.
Head bowed against the sudden rain, the child looked resentfully at the mud soaking their white sneakers, unaware of the unnatural form looming above. Or the shadow standing behind them.
Behind the child stood a young woman.
Her red kimono was stained black with mud, and droplets ran down her wet hair. The constant rain blurred her figure into a pale haze.
Umemura wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Let's get that kid out of here first. We'll deal with the Bat God later."
Katagishi stayed silent, glaring at the giant umbrella and the girl. The skeletal umbrella hovered not over the child, but over the ghostly woman.
"Katagishi, you listening?"
"Yes... I'll take care of the child. Do you have an umbrella, Umemura?"
"I think there's one somewhere down here."
Umemura fumbled at his feet and handed over a dusty folding umbrella.
"Sorry, I'll buy a new one and return it later."
Katagishi took the umbrella, opened the door, and ran outside.
Opening the umbrella, Katagishi ran toward the child.
The child, fully covered by a yellow umbrella, finally looked up at the sound of leather shoes splashing through the muddy water.
"Get in that car, now!"
Katagishi picked up the startled child and practically threw them into Umemura's arms.
"Hey, you look like a kidnapper!"
Ignoring Umemura's protest, Katagishi took off running again.
The woman in the kimono raised her face, her soaked hair whipping around. Her pale face was covered in scratches, and blood mixed with mud dripped down with the rain.
Darkness deepened above Katagishi.
The Bat God was descending toward the ground. Through the torn fabric and skeletal frame, the tip of the umbrella came into view.
A skull mounted at the top bared red eyes, staring directly at Katagishi.
Just before it reached him, Katagishi held the folding umbrella toward the stone monument.
Cold rain striking the mossy stone was deflected by the small umbrella.
He placed the umbrella over the stone monument and let go. Behind him, the wet kimono made a squelching sound.
"...It's not an evil god, is it? It's been searching all this time. That girl—she was helping the nanny look for the lost child, right? If someone had just held the umbrella for her back then, they wouldn't have gotten separated."
The Bat God, covering the sky like a canopy, swayed without wind. The skeletal umbrella spread wide as if shielding the girl from the rain.
"Take this umbrella. That's enough now."
Rainwater pooled in the engraved letters of the stone monument dripped down like tears.
The Bat God and the woman in the kimono vanished.
Katagishi looked up at the sky where only thin rain clouds drifted, then returned to the car, soaked to the bone.
In the passenger seat, Umemura held the stunned child and gave Katagishi a questioning look. Katagishi sighed.
"I think it's over. Let's take the kid home."
Katagishi stopped the car under the dull gray sky, opened the door, and gestured to the child.
"Sorry for scaring you. Don't worry about it. And if you can, don't tell your family or teacher about this..."
"Katagishi, seriously, that sounds like a kidnapper."
The child got out of the car and ran off at full speed.
Katagishi put a hand to his temple.
"Let's hope I don't end up on tomorrow's suspicious person report..."
"At least it won't be front page news."
Umemura snorted and closed the door.
"So, what happened to the Bat God?"
"It disappeared. I think that's for the best."
"What did you do?"
"I lent it an umbrella."
Katagishi pulled out a cigarette and lit it with the car's lighter.
"You told that story about the God of Abundant Fruit, right? That got me thinking. Why is the Bat God doing this? Why does it even look like an umbrella?"
"And?"
"A child died at that mountain pass. Then the girl who went looking for them also died. They couldn't hold hands because of the umbrella. So maybe it took that form to be the umbrella for them."
"And the child abductions?"
"Maybe it was trying to find the child the girl had been searching for."
"I see... How do you know all that? Field investigator's intuition?"
Katagishi exhaled smoke and gave a wry smile.
"It's thanks to your story too, Umemura. Remember the pun I mentioned? I think the Bat God was originally the 'Guardian God of Children.'"
"That really is a pun."
Umemura smiled with lowered eyebrows and stared at the window reflecting sunlight through the clouds.
"Do you think the abducted children will come back?"
"Hard to say. All we can do is pray."
"Is that all gods are good for?"
The smoke filling the car lingered slowly. Umemura narrowed his eyes.
"Back in the day, one of our teammates vanished like that. There was someone I liked among them too. Indirectly, it was my fault. Not that I wanted it to happen."
Katagishi was at a loss for words.
"At the time, I figured it was just something a god did, and that was that. But Kirima punched me. First time we met, can you believe that?"
Umemura pointed to his own cheek.
"It's hard to imagine that from the Kirima we know today."
"Yeah, he's changed a lot. Been through a lot too. Still an idiot to me, though."
Katagishi stubbed out his cigarette in the portable ashtray. His profile wore a faint smile, blurred by smoke.
Umemura leaned his chin on the dashboard.
"He's got a wife and daughter now, but sometimes I wonder—what if I'd acted back then? I think Kirima's driven by that same regret. Maybe he's not that different from the Bat God."
"Unlike humans, gods having the power to interfere makes them even more troublesome."
"What would you have done if you had that kind of power, Katagishi?"
Katagishi closed his eyes. If he had the power to bring Misaki back, what would he have done?
The last time I saw her smile, I couldn't remember exactly when it was. Even so, it wasn't the face of someone unhappy. I think it was more of an exasperated smile.
"I can't even imagine. I don't have any power at all."
"Katagishi-kun, I think you and Kirima could become good friends. You're kind of like the old Kirima."
"The old one? I don't go around punching people, you know."
"That's not what I meant—but never mind."
Umemura let out a small laugh.
The rain had already stopped.