Chapter 103

1. The ●●● God

Before we could request the investigation be halted, Kirima summoned us.

We walked down a narrow, dark corridor reminiscent of a crematory furnace and opened the door to the innermost room. Waiting for us inside were Kirima, Umemura, Esato, and a group of unfamiliar men and women in black clothes.

Beside me, Katagishi's cheek twitched.

"Who are those people..."

Kirima answered coldly.

"The Ministry of Divine Affairs."

Without a word, we looked at them as they surrounded the walls like shadows. Kirima spoke from the center of the darkened room.

"I understand that you are no longer able to continue the investigation. From here on, full authority will be delegated to the Ministry of Divine Affairs."

"Please wait. What about Sumida and Fukagawa? Are they safe?"

"The Ministry of Divine Affairs will look into that as well."

Parting the wave of black suits, an old man wearing a bowler hat stepped forward. I let out a gasp.

"Grandpa..."

"Separate your personal feelings."

My grandfather looked down at me with emotionless eyes. He always looked at me with those eyes. A hush spread like water being poured.

My grandfather leaned on his cane and straightened his back.

"Kirima has reported that your special investigation division acted beyond its authority. That you accessed the Ministry of Divine Affairs' records without permission."

Rokuhara replied in a flat voice.

"Kirima, if my memory serves, you were the one who started it."

"I won't accept excuses. Why would I make investigators violate protocol?"

Katagishi clenched his back teeth.

"Bastard..."

Kirima spoke in a cold voice.

"You are all suspended indefinitely. Consider it mercy that you're not being fired. And Akitsu—"

He glared at Akitsu, who stood in the back row.

"This is our first meeting, isn't it? Who are you?"

"...I believe you already know, Kirima."

Akitsu replied in a flat voice. That was the signal for the group in black to push us out of the room.

"Wait! We're not done yet..."

The door closed, cutting off my words. The earlier commotion suddenly felt like a lie.

Katagishi looked down bitterly, Rokuhara shot a piercing glare at the people beyond the door, and Akitsu simply stood still.

With a creaking noise like a groan, the door opened slightly. A shadow seeped through the gap, and my grandfather peeked through.

"Grandpa—no, Chief Miyaki..."

My grandfather stared at me. His eyes, clouded with macula, looked translucent like egg whites. He switched his cane to his left hand, reached into his coat, and pulled out a thick envelope.

"Everything you don't remember is in here. But if you'd rather live happily in ignorance, you don't have to look."

Leaving those words, my grandfather dragged his feet and brushed past me. I gripped what he handed me. The envelope, which should have contained only paper, felt as heavy as lead.

His footsteps and the tapping of his cane on the floor faded away, eventually disappearing.

***

After the black-clad group left the cramped room, Kirima let out a deep sigh.

Next to him, Umemura let out a small laugh.

"What's with that face? You look like you're the one who got suspended."

Kirima unclasped his fingers from the desk and covered his face.

"This is just like what Ryoko and the others did. Using power to force people to obey, not telling them anything important... We're drifting further and further from a decent way of life."

Behind them, Esato muttered while looking down at the view outside the window.

"No matter how people see you, you protected the next generation. Same as Kirima."

"...If that's true, then maybe we're still decent."

"I never thought Kirima was decent."

"That's harsh."

Umemura slapped Kirima's shoulder as he laughed like a boy.

"But what now? We still haven't resolved anything about the Kindling God. Are we really going to leave it to the Ministry of Divine Affairs?"

"I'm going to visit a village. Maybe I can do something. We used to mess with them for our own convenience, so it's awkward to ask for help again."

Esato averted their gaze and asked.

"Do you think you have a chance?"

"Who knows. I might get erased."

Kirima pulled out his chair and stood up.

***

By the time I got home, it had started to rain.

How many years had it been since I came home in the morning? The deep blue of the sky seeped through the curtains, dyeing the room a gloomy color. I thought I'd use this rare day off meaningfully, but I couldn't shake the gloom.

Kirima had pinned false charges on us and suspended us. I'm sure he had his reasons. Even so, I can no longer trust him like I used to.

A thick, self-standing white envelope stood on the table like a gravestone. Grandpa said I'd be happier not knowing what's inside. Then why did he give it to me?

Grandpa never told me anything important. I don't know if it was to protect me and Mom, or because he had no expectations of us. When I was summoned by the Ministry of Divine Affairs, I finally thought he expected something from me. Maybe that was just an illusion too.

The smell of burning still clung to the room. The muddy rainwater flowing outside the window did nothing to erase the scent of flames.

Should I open the envelope? At times like this, there's no one I can talk to.

As I crouched on the cold floor, the black phone rang out. I hurried to pick up the receiver.

"Miyaki, can you talk now?"

It was Katagishi's voice.

In front of the café where we agreed to meet, I opened my umbrella and waited.

A couple laughed happily as they pushed open the door. The shop's light spilled onto the pavement.

Countless tiny reflections of Tokyo warped across the surface of my vinyl umbrella, only to be wiped away by new raindrops.

"Sorry I'm late."

Katagishi lightly bowed his head and closed his umbrella. I realized it was the first time I'd seen him in plain clothes.

The café lighting was dim, and jazz played from the radio.

We sat at a back seat where a stained-glass lamp cast shadows, placed our orders, and Katagishi pulled the ashtray toward him.

"Sorry for calling you out of the blue. It's rare to get a sudden holiday like this."

"I appreciate it. I'd just be brooding at home anyway."

He bit down on a cigarette and smiled, then immediately sobered.

"Miwasaki contacted me. In exchange for information we uncovered about the Kindling God, he asked Kirima about what he's hiding. The result was more or less what we expected."

"So, that means..."

"According to Kirima, the Ministry of Divine Affairs has sealed a god with the power to alter humanity's records. I think there are two lies in that statement."

"One is that it's not just records, but history itself. The other is that it's not sealed, but contained and being used."

"We think alike."

A waitress appeared with a tray holding two cups of coffee, and we paused our conversation.

Steam rising from the celadon mugs blurred the air inside the shop. From the counter seats, the voice of an old man in a baseball cap chatting with the master while holding a horse racing paper mixed with the jazz.

Katagishi scratched his forehead with the hand holding the cigarette.

"When I worked with Umemura the other day, I overheard something. Our predecessor, the countermeasure headquarters, had planned to use the gods. When it became the special investigation division, it changed into an organization solely for record-keeping."

"Did something go so wrong that they had to change their policy?"

"That's what I think. Changing the subject, though..."

Katagishi looked down, clearly struggling to speak.

Unable to bear the silence, I sipped my coffee. The bitterness and acidity clung to my mouth. The envelope I'd stuffed in my coat pocket poked at my side as if demanding attention.

Just when I thought about asking him to look at the contents with me, Katagishi spoke.

"I don't remember it well, but after we returned from investigating the Unseen God, I noticed this had slipped into the documents."

He pulled out a photo and slid it across the table.

The sepia-toned photo showed six men and women. Three in suits, one man in a military uniform, one elderly woman in plain clothes. The man in a lab coat on the far right had eyes that resembled Umemura's.

"Their names are written on the back. Take a look."

As instructed, I flipped the photo over. Ueda, Umemura, Mihara, Tsuga, Reizei.

"Reizei, from that occult magazine..."

"The one next to her."

The ink was faded, but I could clearly read it. Miyaki.

"Do you know that man?"

Whatever had been blocking my memories burst open, and electricity surged through the circuits in my brain.