Chapter 74
Chapter 74
The God Who Is Just That, Part 2
"Esato, over there!"
Miyaki pointed. Esato turned around instinctively.
From the corner of a house, something like a tail covered in iron-colored fur stretched out. The long tail made a slithering sound as it disappeared beyond the wall.
"Excuse me, I'm going to check it out!"
Before finishing her sentence, Miyaki dashed off.
"Are you out of your mind..."
Esato clicked his tongue and watched her retreating back.
"Damn, just like her father."
Crushing the cigarette butt on the ground, Esato followed her.
Esato was blocked by a small truck parked on the roadside and a stack of blue crates, kicking aside scattered nets as he went. When he turned the corner, he saw Miyaki standing still.
"What's wrong..."
In front of them was a lump the color of rusted iron. It was slightly smaller than Esato's height. Its long, salt- and sand-stained fur made it resemble a dog, but its lower body was snake-like with no limbs. Its three gray eyes rotated in different directions.
"What is that..."
As Esato and Miyaki stood there in a daze, the space behind them darkened. Miyaki turned around instinctively. Iron-colored fur and a giant gray eyeball. It was like an enlarged version of what they had just seen. In that moment, Esato covered Miyaki's eyes.
"Don't look!"
A sound like a large truck rushing past echoed around them.
After the gust of wind subsided and the area fell silent, Esato lowered his hand.
Miyaki blinked. The strange lump was gone from both in front and behind. Only the afternoon scenery of the fishing village remained.
Esato shook his head in disbelief and let out a sigh.
"That reckless streak, like a wild boar, must be from her father."
"Sorry, and thank you..."
Miyaki gave a wry smile and scratched her cheek.
"Was that just now... the God Who Is Just That?"
"Probably. But what's 'just that' about it? I've never seen a monster like that..."
As Esato spat the words, the sound of wooden clogs echoed.
When they looked up, an elderly woman with tied white hair and a hemp-leaf patterned kimono was looking down at them. She held a wooden bucket with a ladle.
"You look awful. What happened? You don't seem like you're from around here."
"Uh, well..."
Miyaki smiled vaguely. The old woman curled her lips and spoke in a lively voice.
"Did you see something strange?"
Esato drew a sharp breath. The old woman pointed with her ladle at the cracked stone steps between the houses.
"They say people used to see things there. I don't know myself, but the person up there does."
The stone steps led to a graveyard. When they turned around, the ocean sparkled like a prism under the sunlight. Miyaki stopped in her tracks without thinking, and Esato urged her from behind.
After climbing the steps, the old woman clacked her clogs as she headed toward a grave in the back.
In contrast to the shining sea, the graveyard was desolate. Wet-looking trees cast dark shadows, and Miyaki let out a small groan.
"I don't have good memories of graveyards in fishing villages..."
"I've only ever had bad impressions of fishing villages."
Miyaki gave a wry smile at Esato's grumbling and followed the old woman.
The grave in the far back was well maintained, without a single speck of moss.
The old woman gently poured water from the bucket over the gravestone. The cold splash hit Miyaki's feet.
"Right after I married into this family, my mother-in-law said she saw something strange during twilight."
Facing the polished granite stone glistening with water, the old woman murmured.
"What kind of thing was it?"
"Who knows. At first, she was scared stiff, but later she calmed down and said it wasn't a big deal. Maybe she was embarrassed to be seen panicking by her son's wife. It might've really just been a mistake."
Miyaki glanced at Esato. The testimony matched that of the God Who Is Just That. Esato nodded silently.
"I'd forgotten all about it, but just before he died, he asked, 'Do you remember what Mom said?' He told me, 'You might see it someday too. But just leave it alone.'"
"Leave it alone, huh."
"Yeah. Not 'don't get involved.' If it were dangerous, he would've warned me more seriously. He even watched me nervously whenever I used the sashimi knife."
"You must've been a close couple."
The old woman laughed shyly.
"He had a scary face and people often misunderstood him. When I got all fired up and tried to argue back, he'd say the same thing—'Just leave it alone.' So, it probably wasn't something bad."
She put her hands together at the gravestone and closed her eyes.
After she left, Miyaki looked around the graveyard again.
"Esato, what do you think?"
Esato furrowed his brow.
"More importantly, do you remember what the god you saw looked like?"
Miyaki placed a hand on her chin and thought.
"It was like a strange creature—part big black dog, part snake."
"That's how I remember it too. So, what did you think when you saw it?"
"Well... like that lady said, it didn't seem all that bad."
"Maybe it's making us think that."
Esato said flatly.
"Your hometown and this village are close, right? Do you think there's a connection between the god here and your hometown?"
"Hard to say..."
"What happened to the god from your hometown?"
After a moment of silence at Miyaki's question, Esato spoke.
"The hometown is gone."
"What...?"
"There was an earthquake ten years ago. A tsunami followed. The land wasn't badly damaged, but the fishing boats never returned, and the beach was wrecked. Most of the prominent families disappeared. Wreckage and mud washed ashore, and the fishing industry collapsed. The young people left, and now it's a ghost village."
"Sorry for asking something unnecessary..."
"It's fine. It's your father's hometown too."
Esato's somber expression grew even darker.
"What I regret is clinging to a village that was doomed. We held rituals to appease the god to keep the village going, and my younger brother died because of it. I thought it was necessary—who knew what would happen otherwise. But now, there's no one left to worship the god. And yet, the special investigation division has never reported any anomalies. Everything we did was pointless."
Miyaki was speechless. Esato gave a bitter smile.
"While everyone in the village accepted it as normal, your father didn't. Miyaki."
Miyaki widened her eyes.
"He barged into the ritual and ruined everything. Seriously reckless. But maybe that was the right thing to do. Hindsight, though."
"Wow, he was really something..."
"Didn't I say he was reckless like a wild boar?"
Esato looked out at the sea through a gap in the trees.
"He disappeared. No one does crazy stuff like that anymore. So now, I have to make a choice I won't regret."
Miyaki nodded and gave a small smile.
"Miyaki, we're investigating the God Who Is Just That."
"Leave it to me! Recklessness runs in the family."
"That's not something I wanted you to inherit."
Esato looked down the stone steps in exasperation.