Volume 1 Chapter 2 Part2 (2/2)

A tint of anger appeared in Kaito’s eyes.

“…I don’t know how much skill you had in the past, but you’re the only one I don’t want to be in a team with. For this tournament, the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club will only take part in individual compet.i.tions. Seiya too. Go celebrate in the going-home club. So from now on, you’ll have absolutely nothing to do with kyudo.”

Minato watched Kaito’s departing back for a long time.

Going home from school, Minato stopped by Seiya’s house. His parents were busy working so it was difficult to let them know he was there, and there was no response when he pressed the bell that was directly connected to their own home. As there was nothing he could do, he took out the stick-shaped sweets called Pucky from his bag, drew a picture of a dog on the box and tossed it into their mailbox. This imitated what Seiya did to put in the intent of reconciliation after they had fights when they were little.

When he took out the sweets from his back, he took into his hand the dragonfly-patterned pouch. He noticed that the feel of it was different from usual, and when he looked at it he saw that he was holding something unexpected.

A wooden girikoire—Ma.s.san’s belonging.

It seemed that he had brought it with him by mistake. It looked like it was a favorite of his, so won’t it be inconvenient if he didn’t have it with him? Even though Minato was half-hearted about it, he went to the Yata no Mori Kyudojo.

When he peeked in, he saw many people practicing there. There were only working adults there, but he was shocked to learn that it was this crowded during daytime. He thought about dropping it off with someone, and approached a nearby woman.

“Um, excuse me.”

“Yes, what do you need?”

“Could you please help me pa.s.s this on to Ma.s.san, I mean, Takigawsan?”

“Eh, Takigawsan? He was supposed to have died a year ago.”

“…Huh?”

“He was someone who truly loved the bow. Oh yes, his hands were quite nimble with it.”

“No, he’s, um, the person who has been using this place since evening…”

“So you mean Takigawsan? I only come here to practice during the day, so I have only ever met him at tournaments and end-of-year parties. Also, there shouldn’t be anyone who is using this place at night recently.”

Still clutching the girikoire, he left the kyudojo. The wind was as strong as usual, and the sky was still blue.

No matter how many times he pondered it, he couldn’t understand the meaning at all. What was that woman saying? Did I hear something wrong? If he died a year ago, then who was the Ma.s.san Minato met every night?

The Ma.s.san he couldn’t meet unless the sun set.

The Ma.s.san with hands so cold that they didn’t seem to belong to a living person.

Was this what he meant when he said “You shouldn’t come to this place?” Come to think of it, he said it before as well. That he isn’t someone who exists in my reality.

No way. There’s definitely a mistake.

I saw Ma.s.san right there before my own eyes. He made a beautiful tsurune resound…

Minato ran in the wind many, many times over.

The neighborhood was already pitch-dark. The worn-out outside lights were flickering.

The clouds that covered the sky were swept away, and the moon shone brightly. The droplets spilling from the moon became the lake, and the hand extending from the lake’s surface beckoned to Minato. It felt like he would sink slowly if he set foot in it.

He heard the tsurune from the Yata no Mori Kyudojo. The beautiful tsurune resounding in the sky, a tone of longing. And yet, on this day was as melancholic as a funeral march.

When he pa.s.sed through the entrance, Ma.s.san was there dressed in traditional clothing and drawing a bow. His pale, exposed skin. His fascinating profile. The way he drew his bow to the limit so accurately that it seemed mechanical. Even with the noise from the trees, it was just like a skillful stage production.

Things that fluttered. The ones that gathered here were the forest and its inhabitants.

He begged that the night would never end.

To Minato who was standing quietly at the side, Ma.s.san made his usual smile.

“You came at just the right time. I will achieve ten-thousand shots with just two more arrows.”

“Ma.s.san, here… I think I accidentally took it with me and went home the other day, sorry.”

“Oh, it’s no big deal since a girikoire can be replaced. That’s right, I came up with a fun idea.”

Ma.s.san put his sleeve back on and headed for the waiting room, then returned with incense sticks in his hand. He went to the azuchi and was doing some kind of work in front of the targets. When he returned he had on his yugake and was tightly rubbing giriko on it.

“I want to try and see if I can recreate that scene from Zen in the Art of Archery. Minato, help me.”

By the time he finished nocking his arrow, the lights illuminated everything. The trees became black silhouettes and the night sky looked bluish. In the darkness, a wisp of white smoke was rising from the azuchi.

Ma.s.san raised his bow.

The waterway burbled as he parted his bow to push open his shoulders. The shooting range (yamichi) became a river with the surging water, and the tremors on the water’s surface indicated the way that should be advanced on. This place was no longer the green forest, but the blue sea. People were born of the water and returned to the water.

Ma.s.san’s entire body was covered by a blue flame. It wavered and swayed, just like the flicker of life. That shot sharp enough to the point of coolness, the air becoming chilled as the arrow flew.

So that he could hold his breath in that water, Minato watched the next shot.

Daisan, hikiwake, kai——.

The arrow left, the matooto adorning the night.

With lights, they saw two arrows stuck in the center of the target side-by-side.

“…This is incredible. It’s the first time I ever saw something like this.”

“As I expected, they didn’t become a tsugiya like the one in Zen in the Art of Archery. Thank you, Minato. With this, I have no regrets anymore…”

Ma.s.san took his gaze off Minato and looked up at the distant night sky.

Minato’s heart beat violently at seeing Ma.s.san, who seemed like he was about to vanish at any moment. There was a roar in his head. The blood in his body was surging tempestuously, struggling to find an exit.

He didn’t do things like wis.h.i.+ng on stars.

If he did decide to wish——.

Minato stood in front of Ma.s.san and grabbed him roughly with both hands.

“Ma.s.san, don’t go to nirvana!” (5)

“…Hah?”

“Are you a ghost? No wait, a zombie? You’re so cold… But I’m never letting you go! You’re still my master, after all. Until the master pa.s.ses on all his skills to his disciple, it’s his responsibility to watch over him. No wait, you don’t have to be my master. I want you to stay here, Ma.s.san. If you’re a ghost you can possess me, if you’re a vampire then I’ll give you my blood, and if you’re a zombie, umm, well…I’ll try to not mind even if it stinks a little!”

Ma.s.san’s jaw dropped and let the bow he was holding slip down to the ground.

“I’m leaving my left chest exposed in this cold weather. Your hands are getting that cold as well. Well, in the first place you do have a child’s body temperature…”

“But, I was told that Takigawsan died a year ago.”

“——That’s Takizawsan!”

“…Huh?”

When he listened to the story more carefully, he learned that it was the ninety-one-year-old Takizawsan who had died, and that woman had gotten them mixed up. Takigawa Masaki didn’t only shoot at night because he was a ghost or a zombie, but in fact it because he was the junior priest of Yata Shrine, and during the daytime he was working as the chief priest of the shrine. This kyudojo was owned by the shrine, and it seemed that the kyudo a.s.sociation was responsible for its management.

Ma.s.san burst into laughter, holding his stomach. It was a laughter like he couldn’t stand how funny the situation was.

“Oh wow, this is amazing. That 'the sillier the kid is, the cuter they are’ saying really is true. Are you relieved that I’m not a ghost?”

“How, how was I supposed to know!”

Minato hurriedly wiped away the tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. Ma.s.san was still laughing all the while.

He was so embarra.s.sed he could die.

“Could it be that you didn’t show up lately because you thought I was a ghost?”

“N-no. You said that this isn’t a place where I should come to.”

“Fuu returned to the forest. I was thinking that Minato should go back to where he originally lives as well. But even so, you just immediately came back. I couldn’t do anything about that.”

After the arrows were collected, the two of them sat next to each other. Ma.s.san drank his canned coffee as usual. When his throat was watered, Ma.s.san played with his girikoire.

“This girikoire was given to me by my master. He was my grandfather, as well as the previous chief priest. To tell you the truth, there is a certain meaning in my ten-thousand shots all this time.”

“Eh, it’s not on a whim?”

“I think I’ll tell you about it. Are you fine if it gets too long?”

“Uh-huh.”

“My master also worked as a lecturer at a kyudo cla.s.sroom at the prefectural budokan (martial arts hall), and though he was popular as an enjoyable teacher, he was strict on the students of his own dojo. Grandpa was too serious and stubborn, and the more seriously he taught, the more it seemed like everyone was about to quit. When I won the Inter-High in my third year of high school, he told me, 'Are you going to continue this ateyumi forever? Well, if you’re fine with it then it doesn’t matter.’ That triggered the break-off of our relations.h.i.+p. Ateyumi means 'your shooting is not kyudo, just playing around,’ so it was a humiliating word to archers who are seriously working hard. It’s like, exactly what of me are you seeing?”

“Oh…I kind of understand that.”

“I was tending towards hayake at that time, and even though I tried so hard to fix it, I couldn’t maintain kai long enough. If it was off it was still fine, but because I needed to hit perfectly, I felt Grandpa getting into a rage. And so, I was discarded as someone who didn’t follow instructions. Simply put, I was someone to be completely ignored. After that, I went to university but didn’t join the kyudo club. And while one thing or another happened, Grandpa pa.s.sed away… Although it was a so-called state of excommunication, in the end he was still my master for more than fifteen years. Within me remained thoughts of reconciling with him one day, and so, I started to think about what to try and do——”

“The ten-thousand shots.”

“Exactly.”

Ma.s.san deftly turned the lid of his girikoire with one hand. His hand movements seemed nostalgic. Since he put that kind of design on it, his master must have been someone with a sense of humor. Those two loved the bow too much and somewhere, they were unable to see eye-to-eye. (6)

Those were shots to send a soul to rest.

Ma.s.san was shooting ten-thousand arrows in order to talk with his deceased master.

“I almost never shot in this dojo, but in the end, I returned to this place again. I couldn’t stop drawing the bow. I felt like I got myself completely involved with a troublesome thing.”

“Ma.s.san…”

Close to the Yata no Mori Kyudojo, the red-purple Miyama azaleas were in full bloom. The sprouts in the forest that had been pointed towards the sky like they were offering prayers were now proudly spreading their leaves. The things that grew pale-colored hair in order to protect themselves were s.h.i.+ning in the moonlight.

Minato stood up.

“I want to try shooting a hitote in front of a target.”

“Aah.”

After getting dressed in kyudogi, he faced the target. He slowly raised the bow with his two hands and placed himself into its middle. Even though he could see the target, he didn’t see it. He wasn’t thinking anything. He didn’t need to. He could stay just like this. As long as possible—he was waiting for that moment to come.

When the wind blew across the nape of his neck, his arrow got stuck in the very edge of the target’s frame. With Ma.s.san watching, Minato nocked another arrow.

There was still a numbness running through his body after he released the arrow. Dominating from his brain to his feet was a feeling of ecstasy that he craved once he tasted it.

What should I do, I’m so happy.

I’m so happy that I feel like I’ll die.

Was I this hungry for the bow?

His body moved to follow nostalgic memories. Memories that he couldn’t forget even if he tried. They were marks carved into his flesh and bone. They had always been talking with each other like this——.

When the sound of rustling leaves ceased, the arrow was sucked into the target.

Ma.s.san spoke.

“Did you recover it as well?”

“Yes. ——I’m joining the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club.”

Before leaving home, Minato put his palms together in front of the memorial tablet.

His father spoke.

“Did you talk to your mother? Have a good day, Minato.”

“I’m heading off now, Dad.”

The sky was perfectly clear, and the mountains were getting increasingly bluer. From behind, a comfortable wind was blowing.

Carrying his bow and quiver, today he rode the bus to school. Because he had contacted him last night, even though it was early in the morning there was someone standing in front of the Kazemai High kyudojo. He was dressed in kyudogi and hakama and wore a gentle smile. What was different from usual was that he wasn’t wearing his familiar gla.s.ses.

“Seiya, the premium Pucky in my mailbox yesterday was delicious.”

“Welcome to the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club. ——Welcome home, Minato.”

Minato blinked his eyes. If he didn’t do that, the hot things would likely spill out.

As they slowly walked forward, he placed his hand on Seiya’s shoulder.

“I’m home, Seiya. Sorry to have kept you waiting…thanks.”

“Yes…”

Seiya felt the weight of Minato on his shoulder and closed his eyes as though he was relieved.

From the middle of the kyudojo, they heard a noisy clattering sound.

“Minato, you came! You’re late!”

“I told you not to run in the dojo.”

Ryouhei, also dressed in hakama, ran over to Minato. Their shoulders joined together like always, and the three became one.

Minato was thinking.

I’m not going to run away anymore.

If it’s for the sake of feeling the strength of these hands, I won’t be afraid of any difficulties or pain.

The three stood in a row with Minato in the middle and took one step forward towards the targets.

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