Vol 3 Chapter 9 (1/2)
Chapter 9: The Glass Lullaby
The next , Takaya ate a hurried breakfast and then left the temple immediately to rendezvous with Ayako, as on watch at the Touhoku University site
They met up and went into a nearby coffee shop to hash out their strategy for the immediate future
“This is a eup a pen ”The first site in Miya Townis here The second in Teppou Townis here Here are the third at the high school , the fourth at the highway in front of the tunnel , and the fifth at the Touhoku University Agricultural Department
Looking at the numbered X’s at those locations, Takaya exclaimed, “Huh, so that’s it I can see the circle now”
“All the sites except for the first one lie perfectly on east, west, north, and south points from the city center You can see it more clearly if I draw in lines like this—”
Taking a ruler, she drew a line between the second and fourth sites and another between the third and fifth
“So the place where the lines intersect is the center of the barrier Which hborhood?”
“Yeah Actually, try this compass”
He stretched the compass from the center to one of the X’s and drew in the circle, and the five sites fell almost cleanly on its arc
“So noe know that the ‘platforms’ were set on a circle with a radius of about 15 km This is the size of the small barrier”
“I know that the foundation points are east, west, north, and south, but why is it that only the first site is north-east? What do you think it is?”
“It’s probably controlling the ‘deate’ Northeast is the unlucky direction It’s said to be the direction of bad omens which hinders Buddhist practice Incidentally, if you look at this ht on Aoba Castle,” Ayako answered, tracing the line “Generally, you’d need foundation points in eight directions to establish a barrier, so I don’t think this is over I’ that they’ll capture three more points: southwest, southeast, and northwest Because southwest is the reverse-deate, it’ll probably be taken last That leaves us with two other places If we look at it like this”
She drew in the southeast to northwest line she had pointed out and marked where they crossed the circle
“I’ to predict that the next attack will be around one of these two areas”
“‘One of these two’hey, wait a minute!” Takaya leaned forward abruptly “This southeast point Thisthis line falls on the Northeast Bullet Train overpass , doesn’t it?!”
“Ye-yeeeeah”
“No way Don’t tell uys would even blow up the bullet train tracks if we don’t stop them”
“Theabout the position for certain, but it really is suspiciously close”
“Hey, wouldn’t this be really bad?”
If it were to happen just before a train passed through, a horrible disaster would ensue
“It’d become Mothra’s world”
“How is that supposed to be reassuring!”
BAM! Takaya’s hands slammed down on the table
“Gio, dammit! I’ll ambush those bastards and beat ’em down!”
“You’re going to beat the able to use your «powers»? That’s totally absurd”
“Yeah, but now that I know, it’s not like I can just sit back and watch it happen!”
Thu the chair aside
“Kagetora! Stop that! If you go as you are now, you’d just get beaten to a pulp If anything happened to you, it wouldn’t just be your problem, you know!”
Takaya unexpectedly turned
“Stop running out with your head on fire Iine hoorried I am when you do that”
“”
Takaya shut his mouth and quietly returned to his seat Ayako took a deep breath
“I’ve asked for backup froahide”
“? From Chiaki?”
“Yeah He should get to Sendai by tonight at the latest I’ll doyou just can’t concentrate right now There’s a probleht?”
“Huh?”
“About your mother”
A frightening expression instantly entered Takaya’s eyes But Ayako said unflinchingly, “I feel sorry for her, after all the things you said to her You do know, don’t you? I think it must certainly have been iven herself And besides, it was painful for you to say all those hurtful things, right? You should be able to talk it out together if you’re honest with each other It’s not like you can’t understand your ht?”
“Shut up”
“Nothing will be resolved in you if you run away A feords froh to help her You want to say those words, don’t you? Please stop twisting everything and say what you mean If you want to depend on someone, then it’s fine to let yourself depend on them, so please be honest”
“I told you to shut up!” Takaya shouted at her as if in an atteuys do; I can’t atone by being the filial child!”
“!”
Struck by Takaya’s words, Ayako glared coldly at him Takaya stood from the table and left the coffee shop
In the direction of the city covered by broken clouds—
Takaya walked alone, biting his lips
Takaya returned to Jikou Temple sometime past noon
He noticed the teacup used by guests as he entered the living room Kokuryou was nowhere to be seen, but Takaya could sense the faint rey» of the visitor, who o
“”
Takaya looked doordlessly
“Gramps”
Beneath the persiarden, Kokuryou turned as Takaya called to hi
“Ah You’re back”
“Yeah”
“Have you had lunch yet? If not, there should be some leftovers in the kitchen Hmm?”
Kokuryou, noticing Takaya’s intensely earnest gaze, took a second look at hily, “It looks like—my mom was herewasn’t she?”
“”
“Did you call her here?”
Kokuryou didn’t deny it; the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes simply deepened
He walked over to theand took a seat on the veranda
“Here, young monk”
“?”
“When were you born?”
Takaya blinked blankly
“Iwas”
If he was kanshousha, it would o But that also meant that he had experienced the instant of his body’s birth many times
Looking at the silent Takaya, Kokuryou smiled easily
“I ai Takaya born?”
“Ougi Takaya was—”
Takaya choked on the words What was Kokuryou asking?
Kokuryou narrowed his small eyes and looked up at the sky
“People make many fresh starts in the course of their lives So even if their bodies do not die, they can, if they wish, start over countless times”
“”
“Could it be called a rebirth? If so, then you are born again at the moment you wish fro”
Takaya lifted his head
Kokuryou gently continued, “Long ago youto start over fro, to return to the pure white soul of a baby”
“”
“Now, though you struggle to forgive, you cannot forgive, even if it had been for the sake of forgiving both yourself and others—”
Takaya’s eyes widened Kokuryou’s words had touched him for the first time
“Gramps”
“You sought your mother’s womb as your place of rebirth, did you not? You choose your , as a place fro back into a blank slate” Kokuryou met Takaya’s eyes “Your mother’s here your soul was reborn It here your soul was born in order toas Ougi Takaya”
Layered over Kokuryou’s words hat Masamune had said to him:
“We begin our existence in our mothers’ wombs Our mothers are our home”
The one who had given him birth was his mother—his one and only mother
His un