Chapter 40

1. The God in the Fire

The midsummer afternoon sunlight streamed in, and the window frame felt as hot as a torture device.

Ryoko, who bumped her elbow against the window frame while trying to close the curtains, quickly pulled her arm back in a panic.

"It's so hot. I might get burned."

Her gesture of pushing up her glasses to cover it up didn't look like something a police officer would do.

The air in the countermeasure headquarters tucked in the back of the police station was quiet. Probably because the overly tense Kiruma wasn't there.

After closing the cream-colored curtains, Ryoko opened her mouth.

"How was your first assignment?"

"I have no idea what's going on."

"Correct."

Even the way she answered was teacher-like.

"It's important not to force an interpretation on things you don't understand. You'll lose sight of all the possibilities. Territorial Divine Offenses are supposed to be incomprehensible."

I shrugged my shoulders. It had been years since someone praised me. Probably not since my mom died.

"But there are a few things we do understand. If you have questions, just ask. You're a rookie, Uyu."

"Then why are you the only one called by your first name?"

Ryoko blinked behind her glasses and smiled.

"I don't like being called by my last name. I'm not fond of it."

"What kind of last name is it?"

No answer came.

"What's the first letter?"

"Mi."

"...Like Mitarai or something?"

"That's rude to all the Mitarais in the country."

Ryoko gave a wry smile.

"It's not an unusual name. It's just common around my hometown, so it's a hassle when I run into old acquaintances."

Her back, turned as she looked at the bookshelf, seemed to say not to ask any further.

Just when the silence became unbearable, Kiruma entered the room looking like he had just come from a murder scene.

"Uyu, we've got a job."

A well-used ring notebook was tossed onto the desk, opening to a page marked with sticky notes.

"Where to this time?"

Ryoko peeked over his shoulder at the notebook.

"Wherever it is, it's probably some monster mess again. As long as it's not hot, I don't care."

The photo stuck along the ruled lines showed a flash of intense light in the center of a pale darkness. I thought it was just badly taken, but that wasn't it.

It was a light too intense to be captured by a disposable camera.

"Unfortunately, it might be the hottest place on earth."

Kiruma looked down at me and muttered as if spitting.

The van's tire hit a big rock with a thud and bounced.

"Terrible driving."

Kiruma glared at me from the driver's seat.

"Then you walk."

Watching his driving from the passenger seat, I thought—he has no sense at all.

He honestly ran over tree roots and rocks sticking out of the ground, making the car bounce every time. At this rate, I'd be covered in bruises before we even arrived.

The car drove along a mountain path that looked like a tunnel, surrounded by drooping black trees and dark soil. No light reached the narrow road, and branches scraped the car's side every time we went straight.

It vaguely reminded me of a birth canal.

As we proceeded through the gloomy path that seemed to sap our spirits, a small shrine appeared suddenly, like it had been crammed into a clearing in the bushes.

The triangular roof was nearly rotted, the paper streamers were brown and tattered from the wind and rain. The double doors were flung open, but the inside was so dark and dirty that we couldn't see what was inside.

The tire got caught on another tree root, slowing us down.

So we ended up having time to observe the shrine carefully.

I wish I hadn't looked. It wasn't just dark from shadow. The inside, where god statues or Buddha figures should have been, was covered in soot like someone had accidentally knocked over a candle and burned it. The charred wooden boards were frayed and carbonized.

"Hey, this god we're dealing with this time..."

Just as I began to speak, light streamed in from ahead and Kiruma hit the brakes.

The shrine was already buried in the bushes behind us and out of sight.

An open space spread out in front of us, and an elderly man, probably a villager, waved at us with sweat stains under his arms.

Kiruma got out and showed his police ID, and the man bowed deeply.

"Thank you for coming all the way from Tokyo..."

After an overly polite greeting, the man paused and looked troubled. His expression seemed to say, "Did you catch some petty criminal on the way here?"

"He's a team member too, no need to worry."

Giving an excuse as bad as his driving, Kiruma nudged my back. I gave a reluctant bow, and the man returned a vague one.

"I heard there's a shrine around here dedicated to a guardian god that the village has worshiped since long ago."

As the man led us deeper into the forest, Kiruma called out to him.

"Yes, that's right. To put it simply, it's a sun god. Though shrines like that are everywhere..."

The man already sounded out of breath and answered with a slight struggle.

"You mean Amaterasu? The main Sun God Shrine is in Ise, but they're spread all over the country."

"That's right. You're quite knowledgeable..."

As I couldn't follow the conversation, I watched a bird pecking at needle-like twigs in a tree. Kiruma leaned in and whispered.

"Amaterasu is the sun god in Japanese mythology. A famous god used by ancient emperors to justify their authority. For example, when Empress Jitō took the throne after her heir died, she associated herself with the god to strengthen her power. That's why she built sun god shrines around the country. You learn that in basic education."

"I didn't really get much of that basic education."

Kiruma widened his sharp eyes and looked away awkwardly.

"Even a con artist should know useful info like that."

As Kiruma hurried to follow the man, the temperature around us suddenly seemed to rise. There was a crackling sound, like clapping hands.

Red powder, like scales, drifted through the bushes. Somewhere nearby, a fire was burning.

"This way."

The man stopped and pointed.

Kiruma and I gasped. A blazing red flame, which shouldn't exist deep in the mountains, was burning fiercely and lighting up the forest in a haze.

Torn flames danced in the air like butterflies taking flight, creating shimmering heat haze. The sound of burning deadwood intensified.

"Our sun god is more like fire than the sun itself. Unlike the sun that hides at night, this one keeps burning day and night."

The man said, lowering his eyebrows.

Kiruma, who had been speechless, turned his gaze to me.

No matter how you looked at it, this was fire. The sun couldn't possibly be burning on the ground. I had a bad feeling that something terrible was spreading again.

"There used to be a lot of malicious things around here. You saw the shrine on the way, didn't you? They were like evil spirits that we had no choice but to enshrine as gods."

Ignoring our doubts, the man brought his hands together and calmly prayed.

"But I think it was around the beginning of the Showa era. The forest suddenly started glowing like this. It surprised us at first, but ever since then, nothing bad has appeared. The god burns them all away and protects the village."

"Is that so..."

Kiruma jabbed me in the side as I gave a half-hearted response.

"What else can you say?"

The man gave a wry smile and lowered his voice a bit.

"But lately, the light's been getting stronger for some reason. Maybe something happened to the god, or maybe those bad things are starting to come back and it's fighting them. That's why I called you here out of concern."

The man's face looked genuinely anxious.

"Do you have any idea what might have triggered this light?"

In response to Kiruma's question, the man shook his head.

"Then what about those malevolent things, or what might cause them to reappear?"

Again, the man signaled no.

"Sorry. But it's been peaceful ever since I was a kid, and there are no records anymore. The village elders said it's better not to remember the bad things, so they never told us."

The man's profile was bathed in flame as he muttered. I gasped and stepped back.

A head wreathed in fire, like layers of crimson veils, tilted slightly.

"Is something wrong?"

The burning core of the fire opened a black hole and spoke. Kiruma furrowed his brows and looked at me.

As I thought, I was the only one who could see it.

"If anything strange happens, I'd like you to let us know."

The man with a blazing red flame atop his head looked just like a candle.