Vol 3 Chapter 1 (1/2)
Chapter 1 - Light from the East
Part 1
A certain night in the latter half of March, in the Nezu area of Bunkyo ward
in Tokyo.
In the living room of the Kusanagi home, two old men were enjoying
alcohol.
G.o.dou was also there, sitting at a corner. But he was there only to pour the
liquor, moving back and forth to deliver the bottles of warmed sake.
...With one whiff, he was able to tell if the sake was warmed to the right
temperature.
Actually, this was one of G.o.dou's skills. But to have such a skill at an age
of fifteen, it doesn't feel right at all. But still, it was a skill that was trained by
his grandfather from a young age.
” — So, why do you suddenly want to go to Italy?”
The one who asked this was grandfather's old friend, Takamatsu-sensei.
He was from the same generation as grandfather, a professor at a private
university within Tokyo who taught western history. It was also because of
this, both G.o.dou and his sister s.h.i.+zuka called him 'sensei.'
”Eh? I am only going there to meet an old friend.”
The one who answered was the one who was leaving for Italy in just two
days' time, Kusanagi Ichirou.
Even though he was a person who liked to travel, he had rarely left the
country recently. However, during this spring, he suddenly said that he
wanted to go to Italy.
And also due to that, Takamatsu-sensei specially came to see him off with
bottles of alcohol.
...Grandfather also used to be a professor in folkloristics, but was already
retired. Now, he pa.s.sed his days leisurely. Too leisurely, sometimes.
G.o.dou really wanted to tell him off.
Even though he really wanted to thank him for doing all the household
ch.o.r.es.
But to instill in his grandson knowledge about alcohol's taste, aroma and
even origins, to be popular among all the women who frequented the
shopping district (both old and young), and to frequently meet older women
(which G.o.dou believed to be beauties in the past) on the street, seeming
to know many of them, G.o.dou felt like there was definitely a problem.
”...That old friend you mentioned is a woman right?”
Takamatsu-sensei, grandfather's old friend, said with some disgust.
As a side note, this person would always say something like ”you look so
similar to Ichirou...” whenever he saw G.o.dou's face. Come on, inherited
DNA is bound to cause facial similarity, so please do not have these weird
concerns.
”Ah, now that you brought it up, you know her too. Yes, do you remember?
Lucretia Zola the Italian foreign student back when we were in university?”
”Oh, that woman. Hey, don't tell me you have kept in contact with her all
this time?”
”No. It only started recently. I sent a letter to her Italian home address she
gave me before, and a reply came back. That thing she left behind in
j.a.pan forty years ago eventually came into my possession. If possible, I
would like to return it to her personally.”
”Wait a minute! Didn't you promise Chiyo you would never see that woman
again? Did you forget already?”
The conversation was getting out of hand.
Chiyo was the name of G.o.dou's grandmother who pa.s.sed away a few
years back.
Back in the old days, grandfather was a handsome man. He possessed
the gift of conversation to skillfully win people's hearts, perfect diplomacy,
and outstanding observational skills. In other words, he was very popular
with women.
And he never refused anyone.
Due to grandfather being like this, grandmother sure had it tough.
”Promise... Wasn't it that I will not see her off at the airport?”
”It's not that! I'm sure you remember, you're just playing dumb. What's
more, you're not obliged to go personally, all you need is to send it over by
air mail.”
Towards grandfather who was acting like he didn't know,
Takamatsu-sensei pointed out the situation.
”It looks like something precious. Wouldn't it be troublesome if it is
damaged on the way there? And I also wanted to visit Italy once and have
a nice chat with Lucretia Zola whom I have not met for such a long time.”
”Ichirou, do you even know how to speak Italian?”
”No, not even a word. But things will work out somehow, so it will be fine.”
If this was said by any ordinary old person, he would either be a very
relaxed person, or is suffering from dementia.
But it was not the case for grandfather. When Kusanagi Ichirou was still an
active folkloristics scholar, he was like a celebrity in field research.
Specializing in studying different traditional arts and cultures, he would
often go to various countries to investigate.
The places he went to investigate would sometimes be isolated village
communities.
He was able to integrate himself into their community quickly, build good
relations.h.i.+ps with the villagers and even acquire a few village secrets
which are usually not told to outsiders. What's more, most of these villages
are situated in Southeast Asia, China, India and other foreign countries. He
was able to easily overcome language barriers that would usually stop
other people.
It could be said to be at a superhuman level.
”A precious item... Just what did that woman leave here in j.a.pan?”
”About that, remember the group of buddies during university that would
usually go on trips together? At that time, there was a certain incident
concerning about a curse from a guardian G.o.d and if I remember correctly,
twenty died and it caused a great commotion.”
”Curse!?”
Hearing such an unbelievable story, G.o.dou shouted out unknowingly.
Stealing a glance at his grandson, Ichirou smiled and said.
”Yes, it was a story I heard during my time at the research inst.i.tute. A
group of good friends went to Noto for a vacation. At that time, many, many
things happened.”
”I remember that it caused quite the uproar... That witch seemed to have
hidden herself somewhere and did weird things.”
”W-Witch?”
From Takamatsu-sensei's mouth came an extraordinary phrase, G.o.dou
was even more shocked.
A curse followed by a witch, just what happened back then?
”...It is the woman that Ichirou is going to meet, foreign student from Italy
nicknamed 'witch.' A girl with a strange presence, I do not know when it
started, but people started to call her by this nickname.”
”However, she always smiled and answered 'Yes, I am a witch'.”
With all this said, Takamatsu-sensei started to look a little upset, while
grandfather was still very happy.
Most likely reminiscing old happenings, he closed his eyes and continued:
”She was a very interesting woman. She got along well with cats and birds,
was able to find lost things immediately, and predicted the next day's
weather with greater accuracy than even the weather forecast... Oh, and
she was very fluent in j.a.panese — Basically on the same level as locals
such as us.”
This woman, together with the younger Ichirou and Takamatsu-sensei, had
gone on a hot spring trip.
During their visit to a hot spring inn at a remote village, strange things had
happened.
”There were lots of people dying from heart attacks, over a span of merely
half a month, with roughly twenty victims. There was neither an epidemic
nor a murder incident so rumors spread that it was retribution brought
about by a local earth G.o.d's curse.”
”Curse... If it were a detective story, then there must be some sort of
shocking trick right?”
G.o.dou did not dislike the detective story genre, but his grandfather simply
shook his head and laughed wryly.
”Too bad, there was no trick revealed. It was just by luck that we were
there on our trip. We were all in a great panic. The only calm person was
Lucretia Zola. She went out that night, only coming back in the morning
exhausted. When she returned, she made a 'prophecy,' that from that day
onwards, n.o.body would die like that again. Everything was resolved.”
Such an unbelievable story. It all seemed like a lie.
But the grandfather did not appear to be joking. Takamatsu-sensei also
had a serious face.
”Seems like an amazing person... By the way, why did she come here to
study?”
His interest piqued, G.o.dou could not help inquiring further.
”It was to study j.a.pan's ancient legends — especially legends about
Yamato Takeru^l Actually, she was more knowledgeable about such
myths and stories on legendary swords than us. Before coming to j.a.pan,
she had been researching the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of
the Round Table at a London university.”
”This doesn't make sense, why would she deliberately leave a university in
London to come to j.a.pan?”
”Who knows, if you asked Lucretia Zola personally, all she did was smile
and say she had her reasons.”
”That means many things happened between grandfather and this
woman.”
Back when grandfather was a graduate student, he was only engaged to
grandmother and they had not married yet. That grandmother
subsequently forbid grandfather to see Lucretia Zola-san, which is why
Takamatsu-sensei was now showing such a pained expression.
With this, G.o.dou finally understood the whole story.
”Many things? Please do not speak so ill of me. We were just friends with
mutual respect who just happened to have opposite genders. Chiyo and
Takamatsu really shouldn't have had such strange misunderstandings.”
Such an honest sounding answer, it definitely cannot be trusted. G.o.dou let
out a sigh.
...Recalling the deceased grandmother's oft repeated words:
'G.o.dou, you must never become like your grandfather. Though he is an
amazing person, he had a fatal flaw from the very beginning... Ever since
you were very young, Grandma has always worried about you since you
resemble your grandfather so much. Even though he usually seems like a
decent man, he is noted to do things lacking in common sense
sometimes... Oh dear, I am so worried.'
How could she say such things to G.o.dou who had not matured yet?
The cause of grandmother's worries, was the womanizing husband who
stayed with her throughout all these years, and definitely not G.o.dou's own
actions. G.o.dou thought to himself as he stared straight into his
grandfather's eyes and spoke.
”Hey, grandpa, before I talk about other problems, isn't this a promise you
have made with grandma? Why not just give it up. Please cancel the trip to
Italy.”
”That, I cannot do. Even if it is very unfair to Chiyo, a promise with an old
friend is also very important. I've already promised her that I will personally
bring the item to her.”
A promise to a friend.
If that was the case, G.o.dou had no reb.u.t.tal.
Despite being such a Casanova, grandfather had never betrayed the trust
of his family. This too was one of the reasons why his male friends admired
him. Whether male or female, Kusanagi Ichirou will never act unjustly
towards a friend. The moment he hears that a friend requires aid, he will
immediately rush over to help, even if it is outside of j.a.pan. He possessed
a chivalrous heart.
A person who valued relations.h.i.+ps above all else.
G.o.dou respected and admired this aspect of his grandfather's character,
and wished to become such a person himself as well if possible.
”...That woman's possession, what is it? You just described it as something
precious.”
”About that, in the village where the curse incident happened, didn't she
leave something behind? ...That night, Lucretia Zola had visited a shrine
which was burned down by disrespectful locals, presented this item as an
offering. After that, the curse stopped... Perhaps the curse and the witch
are real after all?”
Facing Takamatsu-sensei's inquiry, grandfather left his seat and quickly
came back.
Carrying a flat object wrapped in a purple cloth.
And then he placed it on the table and unwrapped it.
A B5 sized stone tablet, on it was a childish drawing. It should be a picture
of a man with both his hands and feet locked up, distributed on the edges
of this drawing were drawings of a bird with its wings spread out, the sun,
moon and stars.
The tablet was well-worn in appearance and even had signs of being
burnt.
”...A lithograph, could this be very ancient?”
G.o.dou gave his honest opinion.
A carving left behind by primitive peoples of some place. If that's the case,
it made sense.
”Probably not. For it to be an artifact unearthed from some archaeological
site, its condition is too good... Though you can't rule out the possibility it is
the work of some avant-garde artist.”
Looking at the stone tablet with interest, grandfather answered.
”Ichirou, how did this thing come into your possession?”
”Actually that village was vacated more than ten years ago. The person
who managed the shrine was troubled over how to handle the stone tablet.
They had no idea how to locate the owner but was able to recall the face of
one of the accompanying students, and that student turned out to be me.
Through various twists and turns, they were finally able to get in touch with
me.”
”After that, grandpa decided to go meet that person.”
This perfect coincidence made G.o.dou's heart stir with feeling.
As a scholar in folkloristics, Kusanagi Ichirou had publications, thus his
name was recorded in the university where he worked at the time. By
getting in touch with the university, they were able to find grandfather's
contact information. If grandfather had been an ordinary person in an
una.s.suming occupation, most likely they would not have found him.
In fact, it took a lot for them to find each other again.
G.o.dou could understand the feelings of grandfather who wished to return
the stone tablet to the original owner.
However, he could not let him break the promise with grandmother like
that.
After some consideration, G.o.dou made his decision, the tablet will be
delivered some other way.
”OK, I get it — I will take this stone tablet to Italy. This way, grandfather
can keep his promise properly.”
Seeing G.o.dou make such a proposal, his grandfather showed great
interest in his eyes, while Takamatsu-sensei looked very worried.
”G.o.dou, are you serious? Do you know any Italian?”
”Nope, none at all. But things will work out somehow, no problem.”
G.o.dou already had several experiences of being taken overseas by
grandfather.
The places visited were mostly Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam or
Thailand. Getting separated from grandfather then meeting up several
days later had also happened. Every time it occurred, G.o.dou had to spend
over half a day alone with no money and the difficulties of a language
barrier. In severe cases, he had to wait for several days.
Having experienced such situations numerous times, G.o.dou actually
became used to it.
Language barriers could be handled by body language. This proved to
work surprisingly well for communicating even though complicated
meanings could not be expressed, but it brought him close to others.
Other j.a.panese would probably freeze if they met a foreigner in the streets
and had to converse in English. In such situations, G.o.dou would
appropriately make use of however much English he knew to establish a
fragmented dialogue.
...By the way, the younger sister s.h.i.+zuka had also gone travelling overseas
with grandfather a few times.
But she never met the things that happened to her brother, making G.o.dou
suspect if his grandfather deliberately set him up to train his grandson.
”Hoho, G.o.dou wants to go in my stead... Can I really entrust this to you
with confidence?”
A teasing smile appeared on the grandfather's face.
”That's right, a man keeps his word. It's currently spring break, so I'm
bored to death anyway.”
”The place Lucretia resides, though considered Italy, is actually an island
in the Mediterranean — Sardinia, and is located deep in the countryside of
the island's interior. I think you will have it rough.”
As he watched his grandson's declaration, the nature of the grandfather's
smile changed.
It gave off a feeling of praise but at the same time like playing a joke. It was
a smile mixed with complicated emotions, a very joyful smile.
”I understand, then I will leave everything to you. Handle it well.”
Picking up the stone tablet from the table, he placed it in G.o.dou's hands.
Part 2
On the south side of Italy, a vacation island floated in the middle of the
Mediterranean Sea.
This was Sardinia, an island about the same size as s.h.i.+koku^, its
population was roughly one and a half million of which over half was
concentrated in the largest city there, Cagliari.
Enclosed by crystal clear seawater, the surrounding natural environment
was also very beautiful.
The biggest industry on the island was tourism. Every summer, it was
crowded with tourists whose purpose was to vacation in Europe.
Particularly on the northeastern side, the sea sh.o.r.e as beautiful as an
emerald was renowned as a vacation spot exclusive to the upper cla.s.s
n.o.bility.
However, G.o.dou kept his plans to come here a secret from his younger
sister.
”What is going on... Onii-chan. You suddenly tell me you're going
travelling. Could you have forgotten your promise to me? You're the worst.”
Thanks to his grandfather, G.o.dou suffered severe scolding from his sister.
All because of the grandfather's suggestion.
'You can tell the truth, but I don't recommend it, G.o.dou. If s.h.i.+zuka knew
you were going to a prime vacation spot in southern Italy, what would she
think?'
'She would want to go, or rather, she will insist in tagging along?'
'Exactly. But even though it's Europe, travelling in those countryside places
can be very troublesome. The most prosperous streets of the city would be
fine, but that place is even more deserted than this shopping street in
Nezu... So, I will ask you a question, travel casually alone in the
countryside or bring a troublesome sister and devote your efforts to taking
care of her, which will you pick?'
'Of course alone.'
He had replied without thinking.
In the end, an excuse was made to cover things up. s.h.i.+zuka was told he
was going to an acquaintance's Zen monastery, to work odd jobs for a
week.
But for some reason, s.h.i.+zuka scolded him with exceptional fury.
While G.o.dou was preparing his luggage in his room on the second floor at
home, s.h.i.+zuka suddenly burst in.
”There's no helping it, mother ordered me to go there in her stead.”
”Mother's orders? ...Then it can't be helped, she must have thought it was
too troublesome and pushed it onto Onii-chan, that's so willful of her.”
”...Yes, your willful character is probably inherited from mother as
well — ouch.”
”What a rude thing to say! I don't have that kind of personality like a
queen!”
Clearly he was already off the hook by blaming his mother's interference,
but G.o.dou made an unnecessary comment.
Stepped on by s.h.i.+zuka, G.o.dou knew he had to be more careful with his
words.
By the way, the monastery he was supposedly visiting was located deep in
the mountains of Chichibu. Apparently there was once an ancestor of the
Kusanagi family who was an abbot there, but he continued his life of
indulgence despite monastic vows.
The monastery still maintained the tradition of drawing water from a well to
use for cooking.
But at the same time, it was equipped with an industrial scale refrigerator
that one would find in a winemaking business, which was stocked full of
alcohol purchased from the liquor store at the foot of the mountain.
Furthermore, they eschewed alcohol euphemisms like 'soup of wisdom'^
and openly ate meat and drank alcohol.
All past abbots have been strange characters, and every single one of
them was an intimate friend of the Kusanagi family.
As a side note, Grandfather Ichirou once trained there, but ended up
committing all sorts of travesties, culminating in an immoral relations.h.i.+p
with the widow of a rice shop, leaving him no choice but to flee to
Shanghai. Despite dating back to the Taishou era^, these kinds of
philandering exploits continued to be the talk of the monastery whenever
G.o.dou visited.
...Due to that kind of environment, little sister s.h.i.+zuka stayed far away from
that place unless obliged to take part in Buddhist rites.
Which was why it made for a viable excuse.
Thanks to grandfather's explanations, G.o.dou was able to reach an
understanding with his mother without paying any price. Normally, this
would require being at her service for three hours or more.
Everything was ready.
But s.h.i.+zuka was unhappily glaring at G.o.dou — why?
”But didn't Onii-chan promise me beforehand? Couldn't you have thought
up a way to refuse? So dense and slow, d.a.m.n it! You're the worst!”