Volume 1 Chapter 5 Part2 (2/2)

Keenly realizing his own lack of skill, Minato sighed.

“What is it? I heard you sigh. Do you want me to call Fuu to keep you company?”

“What do you mean by keeping me company? I could hear its cry just now, so you don’t have to call it. It’s enough for me to know that it’s living in that tree. That’s right, Ma.s.san, I saw it in the pond at the back…”

“Hmm? Was there something there?”

“…the one-eyed fish…”

“One-eyed fish? Ah! That b.a.s.t.a.r.d Ren, he did it again. That’s just an injured carp that’s not for sale, given to Yata Shrine. Ren isn’t just an ill.u.s.trator, he also writes children’s literature, but his specialty is scary stories. The one-eyed fish legend was his creation. In other words, it’s a lie!”

“Oh, I see… Thank goodness, I thought I saw something bad.”

“I can’t believe someone other than a little kid thought that story was true…”

Ma.s.san convulsed with laughter. He almost spilled the canned coffee in his hand and hurriedly put it aside.

“Don’t laugh so hard…! I was seriously freaked out!”

“Oh, I’m sorry. But, even if you say not to laugh…kuku…”

Probably because it fitted his sense of humor, he continued laughing for a long time.

But, Minato was happy. It was as though he was laughing away the words he said to Seiya. After he thanked him, Minato left the Yata no Mori Kyudojo. He looked up to see the moon suspended in the night sky, and resolved himself. To get the answer to the question that had originated.

Because the answer wasn’t the other person, but in the palm of his hand. (3)

It was almost the end of May.

They were going to do a practice compet.i.tion on the weekend, and the prefectural tournament finals will take place a week after that. After finis.h.i.+ng practice, Minato and Seiya rode their bikes home together.

When he arrived in front of his house, Seiya got off his bike.

“It’s almost the big match.”

“Yeah.”

“Everyone finished up without anything feeling wrong. We can all settle down like this.”

“Seiya, after you put your bike away, could you come under that tree over there? I want to talk to you about something.”

Seiya wrinkled his brows for a moment, but he nodded.

The stars twinkled in the bluish night sky. The moon nestled close to the mountains, giving off a somber light. The two stood shoulder-to-shoulder under the tree.

“First off, a report from me. I booked an appointment for the regular checkups. It’s after the prefectural tournament, though.”

“Oh, that makes me relieved. So, this isn’t the only thing you wanted to talk about, right?”

“Yes, it’s a serious talk. I’m going to ask you about something, Seiya. Since I braced myself to do this, I want you to answer without teasing me.”

“What’s wrong, you’re acting so formal? Do you have to talk about this right before the compet.i.tion?”

“Yes. If I don’t ask now, then it might lead to the same result from a year ago.”

“I see… So, what is it?”

Minato let the words out in one breath.

“Seiya, why didn’t you go on to Kirisaki High School, but chose the same high school as me? Why are you trying to get me to do kyudo?”

He felt like a long time had pa.s.sed.

Seiya broke the silence, exhaling a long breath.

“I swore that I would protect Minato on behalf of Minato’s mother. It is my duty to create an environment where you can draw a bow.”

“Could it be that you spoke with Mom at the hospital she was transported to? Did you make such a promise there?”

“No. ——It was my fault that your mother died. That you suffered a wound that would never disappear for the rest of your life.”

A silence harsh enough to hurt his ears enveloped their surroundings. The rustling of leaves he should had always heard were completely missing. The stagnant air took on a heat, and made Minato’s body hot. His sweaty right hand was unconsciously clasping his other arm.

“What are you talking about, that was an accident. An accident where a runaway vehicle ran over someone walking on the sidewalk. The police concluded that as well, and there were a lot of witnesses so there was no doubt about it. Why are you saying such a thing? Didn’t you just happen to be at the scene by chance?”

“Don’t you remember? On that day, you were walking with your mother. On that road, I stopped you to talk. I said goodbye and left, heading in the opposite direction. And then, a terribly fast car pa.s.sed by me… If I had turned around, if I had turned around…”

Seiya covered his face with his hands. He brushed his hair upwards with a trembling hand.

“If…It’s all suppositions now. If, at that time, I hadn’t stopped you, the two of you would have pa.s.sed that place sooner, and then you wouldn’t have been involved in an accident——. It was I who injured you and s.n.a.t.c.hed your mother away from you. So I swore that I will fully atone for the sin of injuring you. I will protect you…”

“Seiya…”

Had Seiya always been holding those feelings for four years since that accident?

Even though he was so close, he hadn’t noticed that pain. His hayake problems were like dust compared to what Seiya was dealing with.

When Minato confided what was in his heart, Ma.s.san had said, “That must have been so painful for you.” Those words weren’t words of sympathy or consolation, and because they were words that came from truth, they were able to resonate with him. Things that were true were good, and things that were good were beautiful. Just like that tsurune that had captivated him in the forest.

He wanted to convey his honest feelings with his own words. He would accept all of Seiya’s fragility and insecurity.

——This time, it’s my turn to protect you.

A wind started to blow, ruffling through Minato’s and Seiya’s hair.

“I’ve always thought that you were smart, Seiya, but you’re actually surprisingly dumb.”

“…Huh?”

“Am I wrong? It was you who kept me on the earth. Because you stopped us at that time, I only got injured. I’m here thanks to you. Thank you, Seiya. I think I really am a lucky guy.”

“Minato… I’m a sneaky person. Maybe I said all that because I knew that you would forgive me?”

“Uh huh, that’s fine. Even if you become a vicious criminal who shakes up the world, even if you get a contagious disease without a cure that leads to death, I don’t plan on ever stopping to be your friend. Even if it’s at a prison at the farthest ends of the north, even if it’s at an isolation ward, I will come to meet you.”

“What’s with all that… Did you plan on looking cool by saying all that?”

“Of course.”

Seiya smiled with his whole face, and put his head on Minato’s shoulder.

You can lean on me sometimes.

I won’t collapse.

Minato wanted to stand firm on the ground. Not too stiffly, not too limply, but flexibly. Even if it was impossible right now, he wanted to spend time finding a way to do that.

“Minato, I just want you to believe this. I love kyudo too. I’m not drawing the bow for someone else’s sake, but because I love it.”

“Yes.”

The wind grazing against the back of his neck cooled down his slight fever.

While feeling the weight on his shoulder, Minato gently closed his eyes.

On the holiday, after finis.h.i.+ng their practice compet.i.tion, Ma.s.san drove the five boys in his car, setting off for the kyudo equipment store in town. They were going to buy consumables for the club, such as target paper and bowstrings. While Ryouhei and Nanao were unfolding their comedy routine in place of the radio, Kaito slept with his arms folded. Seiya’s face was unusually calm, as though an evil spirit had been taken out of him.

When they entered the store, they saw many bows and arrows lined up on the wall. Items like yumimaki (cover wraps for bows) and s.h.i.+tagake (inner glove worn under the yugake) in traditional j.a.panese patterns, and key holders in the shape of targets crowded the shelves, an a.s.sortment sure to make an archer’s heart pound. While Seiya received the goods, the others looked around the store.

Ryouhei opened a drawer filled with bowstrings, took one out and showed it to Nanao.

“In order make sure it won’t break in the next compet.i.tion, I thought that I would use a thicker string than the one I’m using right now, but isn’t the thickness of the string limited to four levels?”

“I’ve heard of people using the wire strings used in archery with thirty-kilo bows, but since you use a seventeen-kilo bow, which is one kilo stronger than Kacchan’s, I think you should use a string made of synthetic fibers like Kevlar or aramid. The thinner ones also make good tsurune. I replaced mine two weeks before the compet.i.tion even though it was a new one.”

“Everyone’s coming up with their own strategy, huh.”

“A broken string isn’t all bad, you know. It’s unrelated to us because we use gla.s.s bows, but it seems that bamboo bows occasionally have their strings broken, because the urazori (4) can be restored with the recoil from the breaking. Plus, the string that breaks right in the middle is used as an amulet of easy delivery. People have been asked to do it for other people’s grandchildren.”

“Oh, so it becomes an amulet.”

Kaito supplemented Nanao’s words.

“The point is that there’s no problem even if it breaks. You already experienced a tsurugire in a compet.i.tion, so you ain’t getting panicked like before, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Rea.s.sured by the two of them, Ryouhei confidently bought the same strings he always used.

When they finished their errand, the six stopped by a café. It was an impressive place with a fireplace and bare pillars and beams. Ma.s.san, Minato and Nanao sat on one side of a table, and Kaito sat facing Ma.s.san, with Seiya and Ryouhei next to him. Minato spread a kyudo equipment brochure on the table, and Seiya peered at it from the other side.

“Are you going to buy something new, Minato?”

“The feathers of the arrows I’ve been using since middle school are getting damaged, so I’m wondering if I should change all of them.”

“Tomi-sensei talked about the importance of equipment, so it might be good to do that.”

One could order arrows by the color, thickness, and material of the shaft (no); the feathers; the nock; the arrowhead (itatsuki or yajiri), and the color of the lower feather binding (hagiito). Because the arrows of many people were placed together in the arrow box (yatatebako), one searched for their arrows with their hagiito color as a guide. Minato’s was evergreen.

“Ma.s.san, which kind do you recommend?”

“Well, you’re using turkey feathers right now, and the tips of those feathers are cut evenly and the shafts are dyed, but I recommend that you use feather tips that haven’t been cut. That way the arrows will fly better. Cheap ones will do fine. Bamboo arrows with the outer tail feathers of hawks cost some ten-thousand yen each.”

“I definitely can’t afford those.”

“For us it’s pearls before swine, so only those in a sensei’s cla.s.s can use them. Carbon bows and arrows are also okay, but for students, the relatively inexpensive and not easily damaged fibergla.s.s bows and aluminum arrows are sufficient. A bamboo bow will take time to nurture, but if you want to try using one, you can have Master’s bow.”

“By the way, I don’t know the name of your master. Is he called Takigawa?”

“It’s Yasaka. Eighth dan hans.h.i.+ Yasaka Akihiro (5). I thought you knew that.”

“What, he was such a great and famous sensei! But, I never saw Yasaksensei’s name at the Yata no Mori Kyudojo. Even though normally, his name would remain in the honorable certificates in the dojo.”

“I think his name was left in the Ogasawarryuu school cla.s.sroom (6). Master was someone who didn’t like having things like certificates with his name on them decorating a dojo.”

“Is his last name different from yours because he was your grandfather on your mother’s side?”

“Although that is true, my mother also remarried. Takigawa was the family name I took on during my third year in high school. I used my old name when I was partic.i.p.ating in Inter-High.”

So that was why Seiya couldn’t find anything on Ma.s.san even though he was searching for the past records of “Takigawa Masaki.”

“I’m convinced that you are a master. Anyone would want to try draw a bow if such an amazing person was near them.”

“I was holding a bow before I even knew anything rather than doing it voluntarily. What made you start kyudo, Minato?”

“When I was little, ten years ago, my mom and I saw the shooting of the winner of a kyudo compet.i.tion and I never forgot it. The tsurune of that archer and yours were exactly alike.”

“Oh, really.”

Ma.s.san placed a long finger to his temple.

After finis.h.i.+ng a light meal, Ma.s.san and Seiya remained in the café to do accounting work while the other four left first.

The road in front of the café had heavy traffic, the town overflowing with energy. Because they usually lived near the mountains (7), they were overwhelmed by the showy colors of signboards and the crowds of people. Nanao, Ryouhei, and Kaito found a bookstore a while back and left immediately, saying that they were going to go check it out for a little bit.

As Minato was standing around bored, a white cat appeared from behind a tree on the street and crossed in front of him. Seeing it, he felt a chill run down his back.

It was injured on its left front paw.

Even the cat had a wound. He had no problem seeing it, and he had witnessed many animals with injuries up until then. But, perhaps because he heard that one-eyed fish story from Ren just the other day, he had a somewhat bad feeling.

Perhaps it was what they called foreboding. At the training camp, Ma.s.san had said that Ren had something like an ability to sense the supernatural. When coincidences overlapped, it might be a harbinger of something unusual happening, whether good or bad.

There’s no way… I’m thinking too much into it.

It happened at the moment Minato thought better of himself. At the same time as the sound of squealing tires, a large amount of timber spilled from the load-carrying tray of a small truck, coming right at him.

Even though he was seeing it, his body stiffened and could not move.

——I’m done for!

But then, something sent Minato flying and he fell to the ground.

When he realized, the timber was scattered around him, and Ma.s.san, with blood flowing from his head, had collapsed before him.

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