Chapter 95

1. The Hakuchō God

The dimly lit conference room was faintly illuminated by the light of the LCD television.

On the screen, words danced across: "Landslide", "Severe Damage", "No Prospect for Power or Water Restoration".

Within a blue-bordered frame, a mountain was shown, with red earth exposed as if a massive beast had gouged it out in a single lick from summit to base.

On the muddy mountain were red lanterns like Chinese lantern plants, the skeletal remains of collapsed food stalls, and, if you looked closely, the edge of a white robe buried in the dirt.

That was the village we had been in until yesterday.

Me and Esato, Katagishi and Rokuhara standing across from us, Kirima and Umemura sitting in the center. Everyone remained silent, looking down as if at a funeral.

Kirima turned off the television.

"This is a disaster."

"I'm sorry. It's because I failed to notice it sooner..."

"Miyaki, know your place. This isn't something a single investigator can be held accountable for."

At those sharp words, I simply cast my eyes down.

Katagishi stepped forward.

"Kirima, what will happen to Miyaki?"

"Nothing. This is a case we all must face together. We can't afford to lose a valuable investigator right now."

Katagishi let out a small sigh.

"First of all, responsibility lies with the top. Esato has been tasked with compiling the report on this case."

Kirima turned his gaze toward Esato.

"The God of Bountiful Harvest pretended to bless humans to make them settle, then devoured them more as the population grew. That village was its ranch. That's your assessment, right?"

"Yeah... That particular Territorial Divine Offense had the appearance, behavior, and language ability indistinguishable from a human. It's different from the gods we've seen before."

"Should we see it as evolution? Or as a dangerous Territorial Divine Offense that had been hiding and finally surfaced... Either way, we need to uncover the reason."

Kirima let out a sigh.

"In recent years, Territorial Divine Offenses have become more active and more dangerous. There's an investigator I had looking into it. Come in."

His low voice echoed in the conference room. After a brief pause, the door quietly opened.

The person who appeared was a man in his thirties wearing glasses, with an intelligent and gentle demeanor. I had never seen him before. Katagishi widened his eyes.

"Miwasaki...?"

The man squinted behind his glasses.

"Hello, I'm Miwasaki. It's been a while. Katagishi, good to see you're doing well."

Katagishi looked utterly stunned.

I recognized his name. I had heard it when we went to Mount Fudaraku to investigate The Unseen God. He was once Katagishi's senior, an investigator who had been on leave due to mental illness.

Kirima called him to the center of the room.

"Miwasaki had been on leave due to health issues. He could have returned earlier, but we had him work independently away from the special investigation division as a free agent."

Rokuhara blinked.

"Why was he working separately from us?"

"You'll understand once you hear Miwasaki's report."

Under everyone's gaze, Miwasaki pulled documents from his briefcase.

"Just like Kirima said, since the 96th year of the Shōwa era, the activity of Territorial Divine Offenses has intensified across the country. What happened that year? A massive personnel reshuffle in the Ministry of Divine Affairs, which oversees Shinto rituals in Japan, and the compilation of associated records."

"The Ministry of Divine Affairs..."

A heavy headache shot through my head, like a stake being driven into my brain.

Miwasaki continued quietly.

"As you know, most of the upper ranks of the special investigation division are made up of people from the Ministry of Divine Affairs. Their actions directly affect us. In fact, after the first investigation of The Unseen God in the 93rd year, the Ministry issued a ban, and we couldn't conduct a follow-up investigation for five years."

"So you're saying the Ministry of Divine Affairs is involved in the emergence and cover-up of Territorial Divine Offenses?"

At Rokuhara's words, Umemura gave a wry smile.

"Don't say such dangerous things so bluntly, Rokuhara. We're still only at the stage of suspicion."

"You too, Umemura."

Kirima rubbed his dry lips.

"At this stage, the relationship between the two is unclear. But we must investigate. At the same time, we'll continue field investigations in various locations. Rokuhara, Katagishi, you two will work with Miwasaki."

Katagishi let out a barely audible groan.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No, I have no objection to working with Miwasaki..."

"Then it's settled."

Rokuhara stared intently at the crown of Katagishi's bowed head.

"Miyaki, you'll go to another village. Focus on early detection of danger."

"Yes."

Kirima's tense profile looked like a completely different person from the one who used to take my mother and me out to eat when I was a child.

When I stepped out of the conference room, the fluorescent light pierced my eyes, which had adjusted to the darkness.

As I held my head from a faint headache and dizziness, someone lightly poked my back. Katagishi stood there with a sour expression.

"Miyaki, let's go for a smoke. Come with me."

We sat on a bench with a silver ashtray reflecting the clouds in the window between us.

Katagishi, cigarette in mouth, pulled out a bundle of documents.

"Those are Miwasaki's...?"

"Yeah. I didn't hear anything about him being reinstated. Cold-hearted senior, huh?"

"Is it okay for me to look at those documents?"

"What's wrong with dumping half my work on my buddy? Besides, your previous job was connected to this, right? Show me a perspective I don't have."

He smiled. No matter the situation, I appreciated how Katagishi always treated me the same. I took the documents and started flipping through them.

The mechanically listed text was full of records of Territorial Divine Offenses, even I recognized them. The only difference was that it included descriptions of how the damage caused by the gods was handled publicly. Most of it was reported as natural disasters like floods.

The same kind of cover-up was probably applied to the village of the God of Bountiful Harvest.

Remembering the cheerful souvenir shop woman, the girls in white robes, and the passionate curator, my chest ached.

Unconsciously, my hand stopped flipping the pages.

"What's wrong?"

"What is this?"

I pointed to a certain word. Between the yearly records, unfamiliar words occasionally appeared: "Ougen", "Hōki", "Heisei", "Eikō", "Reiwa", "Manpō".

Katagishi made a troubled face.

"Normally, you'd expect era names there, but I've never heard of most of these..."

"Could it be some kind of code?"

"If even you don't know, then what can we do... Anyone else who might know? An old acquaintance or something?"

I thought for a moment, then spoke.

"Maybe Akitsu would know."

"Her, huh..."

Katagishi's expression darkened for a moment before he shook his head.

"Well, if you trust her, that's fine."

I nodded. Then I remembered Akitsu hadn't been at the meeting earlier. Maybe new recruits still weren't being summoned.

Down the hall, I saw Rokuhara and Miwasaki approaching. I thanked Katagishi and stood up.

As I left the smoking area and turned the hallway corner, I heard the voices of three people.

I couldn't make out the words, like hearing muffled voices underwater. Though close, it felt like sound from a world separated by a thin membrane, forever out of reach.

Inside the government building, the air was stagnant, warmed by the early spring sunlight streaming through the windows.

Wanting to feel the cold air, I pushed open the door leading to the outdoor emergency stairs.

Akitsu was sitting hunched over on the landing. Between her fingers was a cigarette of an unusual brand, heavy with tar.

She lowered her head awkwardly.

"Miyaki, about yesterday... good job."

It was a brief greeting, as if she had swallowed many words. I sat beside her.

"You too, Akitsu. Did you get some rest?"

"It's not really the time to rest. Because I couldn't do anything..."

"It's not your fault, Akitsu! Besides, if you rest properly and do your best next time, you'll get better results. That's important!"

I tried to speak cheerfully. Akitsu smiled faintly.

"Yeah, let's do our best again."

The way she smoked, hiding her mouth, reminded me of something I had forgotten.

This cigarette was the same as Kirima's. Not her usual one. He only smoked it on rare, special occasions.

The distant gaze, like staring into a world beyond the smoke, was the same in both Kirima and Akitsu.

I couldn't see into their hearts, yet I looked in the same direction as Akitsu.

The purple smoke slipped through the gaps in the emergency stair railing and drifted away.

Suddenly, I saw something long and white flying across the sky. I thought it might be a towel blown from somewhere, but before I could be sure, it vanished into the smoky haze.