Chapter 2 (1/2)

K R:B by Azano Kouhei

2 (pages 32-55)

What lied at the root of his life was a certain “question”.

He had been called prodigy since he was very small. With a brilliant mind and matching excellent athleticism, he always stood head and shoulders above the rest, no matter what task he was given. His ordinary parents of ordinary birth were genuinely happy to have produced such a splendid son. His older brother, who resembled their parents, also took pride in having the overachieving younger sibling.

He was fully aware of how vastly superior he was to his parents, brother and the people around him. Incidentally, that superiority became the root of isolation and solitude, breeding a certain brand of cynicism and the feeling of resignation in him. However, he was not nearly stupid enough to let it warp his personality. He sincerely accepted the affection he was showered with, and, carrying neither modesty nor arrogance to excess, continued to walk the path he believed to be “right” in the earnest.

His life was completely devoid of failures and defeats, and there was hardly any sorrow or anger to speak of present in it.

However…

The “question” burdening him never quite disappeared.

For humans, there are things they can do and things they cannot.

People find their path in life among the things that they can do.

And for some reason, he was able to see their path, their “answer” of sorts, clearly. He could see right through the people he met to the persons they were and predict with uncanny accuracy what position would be most suitable for them.

…No, it did not apply only to people. He could perceive with astounding clarity the significance and the ideal shape of all sorts of objects and affairs. It was all too clear to him and he was satisfied. Needless to say, he was not conceited enough to hope to understand the whole of creation. Things he did not understand were aplenty, because the world was a wast place, of which he was aware - at the very least, he had properly accepted the fact that things beyond his understanding were bound to exist and the world was nearly limitless and profoundly deep. This acceptance was a sure sign of a wise man.

Despite all of his brilliance, there was a question he could never find the answer to, no matter how he tried.

Who was he?

Acting like he knew everything and producing the results like no task was difficult to him, in the end, what kind of being was he?

For humans, there are things they can do and things they cannot. Except, he could do most things. Easily, too.

People find their path in life among the things that they can do. Then, how should someone like him, who could do such a great many things, live his life?

Were the people by his side to know that he, always so calm and composed, had been having these thoughts constantly bearing on his mind, they would doubtlessly be very surprised and puzzled. To him, however, these concerns were an inescapable shadow cast on his life.

Who was he?

He had learned the answer when he was 21.

†

It was sudden and dramatic, yet at the same time it was the moment he had been waiting for quite a long time.

Omitting various fatalistic viewpoints and stating concise facts only, it was an incident involving hijacking of a pa.s.senger plane by terrorists in the sky 12,000 meters above the ground.

The terrorist group that hijacked the international flight en route from Los Angeles had 2 objectives. The first one was to make known their enmity and criticism towards j.a.pan as the country that, thanks to its explosive growth in the postwar period, was now dominating half of the world economy, as well as towards a chain of its core corporations. The other objective was to extort a vast ransom from the wealthy j.a.pan. In that sense, rather than putting them in the same category as political or religious terrorists, it might be more appropriate to call them an armed criminal group. Either way, they were not professionals, but neither were they amateurs, and their plan, while by no means perfect, was, nonetheless, well-devised.

Their downfall was one small but unfortunate detail. A young man - Munakata Reis.h.i.+ - who happened to be on that flight.

Munakata carefully observed the hijackers, noting that they were not trained soldiers but civilians who were only good at unrefined brawling. He had also had to conclude that it was precisely because they did not receive any specialized military training that, should something unexpected occur, the possibility of there being victims among the pa.s.sengers would be alarmingly high.

By all rights, it was not a situation where a single civilian such as himself had any business meddling in. Unfortunately, in this case, it did not look like they had any time to wait for the authorities to intervene on their behalf. So Munakata had made a prompt decision and, when a gap opened in the terrorists’ formation, he charged one of them, appropriating his weapon. Not giving not only the terrorists any chance to notice his attack but also the pa.s.sengers time to start panicking, he successfully neutralized the two other terrorists that still remained in the pa.s.senger cabin.

What he did not expect was that a young woman - she was even younger than Munakata himself - also aboard that plane would quickly catch on his plan and help him. She seemed to be somewhat proficient in martial arts, but taking action in their situation still took a lot of courage and fearlessness. What impressed him about her the most was how “on-target” both her decisions and her actions were.

It just may be possible then, he judged and, enlisting her help without a moment’s delay, started working in coordination with her. The young woman met his expectations splendidly, and the two of them had managed to completely suppress the terrorists without letting anyone so much as get injured.

Two civilians in his early twenties and not even twenty yet respectively had accomplished the feat of seizing the control of the hijacked plane back from the terrorists. What they pulled off was not simply reckless, it was borderline crazy, but the pa.s.sengers and the crew members who witnessed them do it could only bat their breath before Munakata and his female helper calmly performing a miracle.

However, a serious problem still arose, only it occurred soon after the incident had been deemed resolved.

It was by pure accident that a bomb that the terrorists had set suddenly detonated. Even the terrorists themselves were left shocked by the unexpected explosion. The cause was not established until much later, but it seemed that the bomb had a manufacturing defect, and the fuse malfunctioned. Luckily, the airframe did not break down immediately upon the explosion, but the plane lost stability, starting on its descend towards destruction.

In a flash, the inside of the plane turned into h.e.l.l. The frame of the plane shook, the seats rocked forward at an angle, and every thing that was not fixed in place was thrown into midair. The luggage got jolted out of its storage slots, and the cabin windows, unable to withstand the force bearing on them, shattered, wind immediately forming a vortex because of the difference in the air pressure. Agonizing cries filled the cabin as the people were overcame with maddening panic.

Still, even in the middle of that pandemonium, Munakata’s thinking processes kept running. He kicked that vastly superior brain of his into top gear, searching for the measures he could take. Despite calmly concluding deep down inside that there was nothing he could do in his present situation, he did not give up, continuing to grope for a way to deal with the crisis.

Not because he did not want to die. And neither because he thought that it would work out somehow.

It was simply because he thought that it was the “right” thing to do that Munakata did not abandon hope. ‘This is what I must do,’ he believed and, therefore, continued exploring for a way out, devoting the whole of his body and mind to the task. That was likely his very first actual experience of being “serious”.

Shutting out the screams and noise, he let thought fill every fiber of his being. Synapses frying, in all the mind-blowing seriousness, he hunted for an answer that did not exist anywhere in this world, sp.a.w.ning new and new branches of thought and exploring an infinite number of them.

Suddenly, he became aware that his heart was pounding like a drum.

Something had linked to his heartbeat.

And then—

What he felt first was confusion. For Munakata, that feeling was something exceedingly rare, but when he realized his situation, he, indeed, felt bewildered, and his thoughts ground to a halt. The next thing he felt was a surge of interest - one of his bad habits - that made him forget even his utter seriousness from just a few moments ago and take joy in the unexpected turn of events instead.

In the darkness that appeared to be the perfect nothingness, Munakata alone was floating. No, it could be that his five senses simply shut down on him. In other words, he had probably died. And this was probably the so-called “afterlife”. How very fascinating. If a little boring. a.s.suming that this state would last forever, or at least for a lengthy period of time, dying was not exactly easy for human beings, huh, he contemplated.

Or, could it be that eventually his sense of self would disappear, and so would this feeling of boredom? No, to begin with, basing his reasoning on the concept of time may have already been meaningless. What was happening to him presently? His thought processes seemed to still maintain their chronological logicality, but he had no means to verify it conclusively. No, wait, wasn’t the feeling of boredom he was experiencing at the moment proof that the pa.s.sage of time, that is, the phenomenon of the flow of time still existed, and that the feeling he experienced towards that phenomenon had not been lost? This was truly fascinating. And still a little boring.

Except, suddenly, Munakata was not bored anymore. For he sensed that he was not alone: there was something out there lying quietly. At that moment, the darkness of nothingness transformed into the s.p.a.ce where the notion of “self and others” existed.

What Munakata had sensed was a giant disk-shaped mineral.

A slate.

Thump, his heart throbbed. At the same time, the center of the Slate lit up, and the veins of light that creeped across the Slate’s surface twinkled with beautiful pale blue radiance.

Thump, thump. The light veins were matching Munakata’s heartbeat, their glow getting brighter. Upon a loser look, there were geometrical patterns carved on the Slate’s surface. The light flow followed them, adjusting its wavelength to match Munakata’s heartbeat all the while.

Munakata recalled that just before getting “called” to this place, he felt that his heartbeat was linked to something. That something was this Slate.

The sight of the pulsating Slate was both grand and mechanical. It was as if the integrated circuit made in time immemorial, having obtained the catalyst in the face of Munakata, was put into operation.

The circuit directly linked to “fate”, with the “world” on-board.

As his excitement grew, Munakata’s heart rate was accelerating. Matching it beat by beat, the brightness of the light emanating from the Slate was also intensifying. Before the enthralled Munakata’s eyes, the Slate was fully enveloped in the light, and then the light engulfed Munakata as well. Munakata’s mind blanked out, and from the Slate, all sorts of things flowed into it.

The Slate’s memories.

The Slate’s power.

And the Slate’s will.

Munakata had learned that he had been “chosen”. But the moment he, despite himself, tried to take a closer look—

He was back in the pa.s.senger cabin of the falling plane.

The scene painted over with despair that he witnessed then hardly differed from the one imprinted in his memory. His thoughts started to spin around the concept of time perception again, but with a tiny smile, he pushed them aside and focused on the problem at hand.

Relying on the information he had just been given, he called upon his “power”.

From Munakata’s entire body, vivid blue light surged forth. The radiance spread, placing the surrounding s.p.a.ce under the “reign” of Munakata’s will. As they were being engulfed in the light, the people were freed from the grips of fear, their sanity recovering. And not only that. Paper cups, magazines and other things that were flying around froze right in midair, and even the roaring wind stopped suddenly. The blue light filled the inside of the pa.s.senger cabin and kept spreading, enveloping the whole plane. Not stopping there, the radiance expanded beyond it, forming a sphere with the plane at its center, and when the sphere’s radius reached about 500 meters,

“—Oops.”

Munakata had released the fail-safe of his “power”. The spreading power responded immediately, obeying Munakata’s intention as if delighted. With a clear “clink” sound, the sphere transformed into a s.h.i.+ning blue cube with each side about 100 meters in length and trapped the entire body of the plane that was already on the verge of breaking down within it. It was very quiet inside the giant cube as if the time itself came to a halt within that s.p.a.ce, surrendering to “Munakata’s order” that defied even the laws of physics.

Pus.h.i.+ng his gla.s.ses up a little with a fingertip, Munakata observed the result of his “power’s” application, nodding to himself in satisfaction.

Then, he suddenly looked up.

It was impossible to see through the ceiling of the plane’s cabin, but he sensed that above his location, a single enormous “sword” - the crystalline embodiment of his “power” - floated high in the skies.

Munakata’s sword.

The Blue King’s sword.

For a while, Munakata stared at the ceiling above him, then lowered his gaze back to look at the situation in the cabin.

The crew and the pa.s.sengers, having witnessed an undeniable supernatural phenomenon taking place right before their eyes, were sh.e.l.l-shocked and completely lost for words. The young woman who worked in collaboration with Munakata just a short time ago was not an exception. She was still clutching at the seat she gripped earlier in a desperate attempt to try and maintain her balance, her lips were pursed tight and expression stiff.

Evidently, she had no idea what was going on. And yet, despite the odds, she, just like Munakata only a little while back, had not given up. Although she was fully aware of the fl.u.s.tered state she was in, she still tried to confront this new mysterious situation.

So she indeed was a person of great talent conforming to his preferences. Munakata gave another, much more p.r.o.nounced nod at the thought.

“–Awas.h.i.+ma-kun, was it?”

“Y-Yes…”

“It appears that my ”question” of many years has been answered,“ he addressed the woman who was clearly tense with nerves, in a manner seemingly as cool as ever. Deep inside though, Munakata was feeling refreshed and elated. The young woman was waiting for him to continue, but he only smiled brilliantly and looked up again.

Just who was he?

”A king, huh… I see. I just didn’t understand.”

†

“I understand the particulars and see no problem. In the face of the Fourth and the Blue King, Munakata Reis.h.i.+, I a.s.sent to Protocol 120 and shall succeed the Blue clan in accordance with it.”

“…Good. Then, as of now, command authority of Scepter 4 that was transferred to Timeless Palace is relinquished in behalf of the Blue clan. I’ll arrange for the necessary procedures regarding your official position to be handled immediately, as well. After that, do what you want.”

The one who told that to Munakata was an elderly man highly unusual in both appearance and bearing.

For one, he was a real giant. His height was easily over 2 meters, and what’s more, his thoroughly tempered body was radiating mature vitality. He had snow white hair and a matching snow white beard. Although his strenly looking face was lined with countless wrinkles, what old age endowded him with was not senility but dignity and overwhelming presence.

Even though all he did was simply stand there, his aura was so intense that it easily overpowered everyone in the vicinity. The grandeur akin to that of a steep peak that this old man possessed had already transcended age.

He was the Second and the Gold King, Kokujouji Daikaku, the great ruler standing atop the seven kings, guided by the Slate.

“Regarding the official position you are speaking of, am I to understand it is in Annex 4 of Tokyo Legal Affairs Bureau?”

“That’s right. You’ll be the head there. Officially, at least.”

“Should I take the civil service examination, then?”

“…I can let you sit for it, if you so desire?” Kokujouji returned unimpressed, raising one brow slightly.

“No, thank you. I have no such desire.” Munakata retracted his question with a smile.

For all intents and purposes, the exchange looked perfectly casual, but a third party, had such been present there, would have questioned Munakata’s sanity. After all, there existed extremely few people who would dare to crack jokes on their first meeting with Kokujouji.

As to Munakata’s qualifications, actually, there would not be any problem even if the procedure was handled through proper official channels. Munakata was only 21, but he had already graduated from a university overseas skipping grades and even finished the master’s program. Additionally, invitations from several ministries and government offices that he had received could be mentioned for his track record. And now, with Kokujouji’s word added, there was no way Legal Affairs Bureau would refuse him the post.

Kokujouji Daikaku.

Many who knew this power broker that controlled political and business circles of j.a.pan and brought the nation unprecedented prosperity simply referred to him as “His Excellency”. The one behind j.a.pan’s drastic change, from the miserable state it was in after its defeat in World War II to the world leading economic power, was this man. He and his clan, Timeless Palace, as well as countless enterprises, agencies and all sorts of organizations under his umbrella had laid the foundation of present day j.a.pan and were now playing the role of the backbone supporting the national interests.

It was none other than this elderly man, currently towering before Munakata, who was the true ruler - the king - of this country.

And…