Three days passed.
Of course, it was hardly surprising that the police would be called in the next morning to investigate the wrecked state of the school. But in the end, Takaya and company were left unquestioned, the culprit undetermined, the case unsolved.
And though the transfer student in Year 1 Group 5 stopped coming to school from that day forward, the zashikiwarashi in Year 2 Group 3 attended class per usual.
Apparently, he intended to stay.
Takaya next saw Naoe on the evening of the third day. His wounds appeared to have healed somewhat. He paid a visit to Takaya’s home and invited him out for a drive.
To go see the sunset, he said.
Jouzan Park
was Matsumoto’s famed site for sakura-viewing, located in the western part of the city on a low hill. The aforementioned Giminduka for Kasuke and the others of the Joukyou Selfless was also situated nearby.
At the top of the hill was a viewing platform from which one could see the whole of Matsumoto City in one unbroken sweep. It was also a superb place to see the sunset. Takaya led Naoe to the top of the platform.
“How...are you injuries?” Takaya finally asked amiably, looking at the bandage around Naoe’s forehead. Naoe nodded dismissively.
“They’re of no big concern. I’m sorry for having worried you.”
“Why the hell would I be worried about you?”—Takaya’s usual words never made it out of his mouth this time. Left without a reply, he combed his hair back several times. Naoe, sensing Takaya’s discomfort, turned to another subject.
“This is a wonderful view, isn’t it? The city doesn’t seem so big from here. So Matsumoto really is a city surrounded by mountains.”
“You’re saying that it’s the sticks, aren’t you?”
“No, that I’m envious. That you live in such a beautiful place.”
“I guess it might seem that way to people from other parts. But it’s the same as living anywhere else, probably.”
Leaning against the railing, Naoe looked at Takaya. As usual, Takaya had a rather put out look on his face.
“Is this a bother?”
“No, it’s not, but... It’s just that usually only weird couples and stuff come here around now...”
Naoe’s lips twitched into a slight, quiet smile. “And do you not have someone like that? A young woman who would come here with you?”
“What’re you trying to say?”
“It would certainly not be out of the question for a young man of your age.”
Takaya glared at Naoe, then abruptly turned his gaze towards the mountains.
“Are you angry?”
“Not really.”
“You are a rather difficult person, aren’t you.”
Takaya retorted over his shoulder, “If I did, d’you think I’d be here with you now?”
“...”
Maybe Takaya really was mad, for he was still staring peevishly off into the distance. For some reason, it seemed rather funny to Naoe.
“Kasuke and the others...” Takaya murmured. “What happened to them? They never turned up again after they disappeared...”
“Who knows? Perhaps they went to the other world, or perhaps they calmed down and went back to that place to become shugorei once more.”
“...”
“Whichever it is, in the end we were able to respect their true wishes. And it was all thanks to Yuzuru-san.”
“The true wishes of spirits, huh...” Takaya gazed up at the sky. “I think I understand now what you meant when you said that ‘spirits are the same as us’. Because even though they lived in the past, they’re still people like us, right?”
“Yes,” Naoe replied quietly. “So though we live in the present, we must not act with high-handed superiority. I believe that we should always face them as equals.”
“...”
"But understanding makes it difficult, does it not? Strictly speaking, such thoughts would make it impossible for us to perform «choubuku».
“That’s true, but it’s because they do harm that you perform «choubuku», right? Because what’s most important is ‘those who live now’?”
“... Yes.” Naoe looked towards the western sky. “By its nature, it is against the regular order of the world for those who have died to remain here. ...And yet again, if you think about it, we probably lived in the same era as they.”
“...”
But—Naoe said with downcast eyes, “It’s the people who live ‘now’ who are best able to repay them. We can capture the past accurately, we can strive to understand them with the right perspective—I think that this is the best way to requite them. And then we can endeavor to shape our ‘now’ into the world that they yearned for. ”
“...”
“I believe that that is the best way to repay those who lived in the past.”
Takaya gazed at his profile.
“—Naoe...”
Naoe smiled at him. “That is the meaning of the importance of ‘now’.”
Sunset at the western mountain range. The sun dyed the city of Matsumoto red. Shades of scarlet spread outward from the point where the setting sun met the mountains.
How many times would the sun fall again after their last view of it this day?
Takaya heard a distant cry from beyond the sunset.
This sunset over the Matsumoto Plains which was unchanged now, three hundred years later.
(The most important thing is...)
Takaya wrapped his arms around himself in the summer-green wind, the Matsumoto Plains extending into the distance before him. He hugged himself, feeling small in the face of the deep history staining this land.
“...?”
His eyelids were falling shut when he felt warm air enveloping him from behind. He turned. Naoe was gazing at him gently.
“Naoe.”
“...”
His eyes closed for a moment as he felt something cut asunder in his heart.
Naoe said, “I must ask you to accompany me before long.”
“Me? Accompany you on what?”
“There’s a report of a pattern of unrest among the onshou in the Northeast. They will start to influence the regular world at this rate, so they must be calmed.”
“So you’re going to hunt them down?”
“We have need of your «power».” Naoe said gravely, “You were able to perform «choubuku» on Oda’s nue. Your «power» is unstable, but it is not wholly unusable. You may be uncertain in your control, but you will most likely gain greater mastery as you become more familiar with it. It would be somewhat precarious for us to deal with the Northeast by ourselves.”
“Any names I’d recognize this time?”
“The Northeast lies within the influence of Mogami and Date. Their altercation is the cause of the unrest.”
“Mogami? Date? Then...”
“This is to calm a dispute of the «Yami-Sengoku». I will need you to go to Sendai before long.”
Doubt filled Takaya’s eyes.
“Sendai...?”
Naoe, seeing it, asked uncertainly, “Takaya-san.”
“... No, it’s nothing.”
Takaya’s downcast eyes belied that statement. Naoe regarded him skeptically, but withdrew a business card from his inner pocket and presented it to him.
“? What’s this?”
“My contact information. If anything should happen, please call me.”
There was another name written on the business card.
“‘Tachibana Yoshiaki’?”
“My current name. Please use this when others are present or when you need to reach me. ...What’s wrong?”
Takaya was looking amazedly at Naoe.
“Does it not suit me?”
“It suits you so much that I wanna barf.”
“I shall take that as a compliment. I generally work at home when I have no Buddhist or funeral services to perform.”
“So you really are a Buddhist monk?”
“Yes. Is that not what I told you?”
“You crooked monk!”
The sun had fallen beneath the mountains long before the end of their playful exchange.
Bit by bit, house by house, lights twinkled into existence in the city.
Surrounded by the beautiful silhouettes of the mountains, lights appeared one after another on the Matsumoto Plains, shining, it seemed somehow, with such warmth.
“O-Oniichan!”
Climbing out of Naoe’s Benz in front of the apartment complex, he saw Miya just as she was coming home from school. Takaya shouted at the same time:
“Wh-why the hell are you here, Chiaki!”
“O—!”
Chiaki was with Miya.
Their shouts clashed: “Look, Miya, why are you with him?!” “O-O-O-Oniichan! Who’s that? Are you being scouted by one of those people?” “You bastard! What are you doing here, Chiaki!”
Naoe in his black suit and sunglasses and Chiaki in his school uniform both sighed as they stared at the Ougi siblings kicking up a fuss.
“Like brother like sister...”
“Have you been waiting for that person, Nagahide?”
“Not really waiting... Well, since he helped out so much, I thought I’d say hi.”
Actually, by previous arrangement, Chiaki was remaining in Matsumoto to become Kagetora’s tutor.
“Chiaki, you bastard, are you making a move on Miya?”
“You act like you’re her old man.”
“So why the hell are you here?!”
“Don’t be such a cold fish. I just came to tell you that I’ve rented a place in the neighborhood.”
“Whaaaat—!”
He turned his glare on Naoe.
“Did you instigate this? Again?”
“Please stop tossing people into your conspiracy theories.”
“What the hell are you guys thinking?”
“Onii-chan!”
Shoulders heaving as he panted for breath, Takaya abruptly turned on his heels.
“Whatever! Let’s go, Miya!”
“Onii-chan!!”
Miya bowed towards Naoe and Chiaki slightly. Takaya’s stomping footsteps continued for two, three more steps.
He suddenly stopped dead.
Looked back at Naoe and the others, gazing after him blankly—
Said: “Naoe...those injuries...”
“?”
The movement of his lips indicated that he had more to say, but he hesitated and gulped the words down before they could be vocalized.
“What is it?”
“...”
Takaya said crossly with his back turned, “Hurry up and get well.”
Then he walked into the building with Miya in tow.
Naoe and Chiaki gazed after them.
“Rebellious, isn’t he?”
“... You think so?”
“I’m glad that you guys seem to understand each other. You leaving now?”
“Yeah.”
“All right. Oh, there’s something I forgot to tell you the other day.”
“What?”
“A message from Kousaka.”
Naoe looked sharply at Chiaki, and Chiaki’s expression also turned serious.
“He said to tell you, Naoe.”
“...”
“‘Don’t let Narita Yuzuru go unwatched’.”
“!”
Naoe inhaled sharply and looked up at the streetlight next to Chiaki.
“Well, since I’ll be with Kagetora, of course I’ll keep an eye on Narita too, but how ’bout it, Naoe? Wanna enlist Narita Yuzuru?”
“What did you say?”
“I mean, look at his potential, even though we don’t know what he is. We should get him before someone who knows his true nature tries to use him—it’s not like we’ll treat him badly or anything.”
“You want to involve him?”
“He’s already involved.” Chiaki’s eyes glittered. “Think about what Ranmaru said, that he’ll get Narita someday. He seems to have inklings of something. They’re gonna come after Narita Yuzuru next.”
“!”
“If he falls into Oda’s hands, it’ll be like giving an ogre an iron club. Narita Yuzuru is a menace. Instead of leaving him alone, wouldn’t it be better to make him one of us? That way we can always watch his back as well.”
“... It’d probably be like sleeping with a bomb.”
“At least we‘ll be prepared.” Chiaki leaned against the Benz’ door. “I could be imagining this, but it feels like Kagetora himself finds it easier to stabilize his «power» with Narita Yuzuru at his side. He would probably be great for support at this point...”
“At his side...? I can’t really agree.”
“You’ll have to,” Chiaki said, smiling sardonically. “That’s the way it’s working out, so there’s not much you can do about it. Giving two hundred percent is what you guys do. You’d even put your life into the bargain.”
“...”
Glaring at Chiaki, Naoe climbed into the driver’s seat. “And you? I thought this was none of your business.”
“Humph. I’m just filling in for Old Man Irobe,” he replied, peering in at Naoe. “Since you guys are so short, I’m just giving you a hand for old times’ sake. Don’t make this out to be something it’s not.”
Naoe smiled ironically and turned the ignition. Though Nagahide’s form had changed, he was the same obstinate person. This time around he and Takaya would probably have a fine time butting heads. Oh, he was a bother, but still his inclusion was more reassuring than anything else.
“I leave Kagetora-sama to you, Nagahide.”
“...humph,” Chiaki responded testily, “don’t get your hopes up.”
Naoe lifted a cigarette to his mouth, just barely keeping his lips from twisting into a slight, bitter smile.
He lit the cigarette and shifted into gear. In the mirror Chiaki lifted his right hand slightly.
A “see you later.”
Naoe nodded lightly and turned his focus to the front windshield.
He stepped on the accelerator.
END