Work. Work. Work. That was all that he did currently. From sorting out case files to political dealings of the Ten Seats. The bags beneath his crimson eyes became more apparent as did the dishevelment of his pale blonde hair. Kazuya became more conscious of how everyone looked at him, but nevertheless remained focused on his work.
“Ryosuke-sama,” Xiaodan Zhu, his vice-captain, who had emerald green hair shaved on one side, called him across the desk. “You ought to take a rest. I can take care of the rest.”
“Sure, sure. I’ll take a rest,” he said, yet his fingers did not latch off the pen they held. Scribbling, writing, signing on the necessary documents. Overworking his brain to the point where he could no longer hear anything but the words in front of him, digging into his mind like invading parasites.
Finally, after seven hours, work was finished and the archivist entered the office to take the pile, copy it, and compile it inside the secured repository. Able to relax, Kazuya closed his eyes and leaned onto his chair, relieving a breath in the rest of which he earned. While having a shut eye, Kazuya could hear the office door opening.
“Ryosuke-sama?” the receptionist called.
“What is it?” Kazuya uttered lazily.
“You have a guest.”
“Is it for a case or one of the higher ups?”
“No, it’s neither.”
“Then turn them away.”
“Well, it’s your ex-wife.”
Kazuya then jerked up from his chair and strode out his office, past the working desks of his subordinates, and through the halls of the Third Division. A few officers wanted to approach him, but immediately backed off upon seeing the bulging vein on his forehead and the literal flames blazing inside his eyes.
Climbing down the floors and heading to the meeting room, he was confronted by a long purple-haired woman, with eyes bewitching as was her true nature. Her violet kimono was as fancy as ever, with golden flowery trimmings and pearls laced on its silk fabric as well as the small purse she placed on her lap. The succubus who Kazuya wished to no longer meet had it not been for her persistence.
“Fukuzawa Hanaka-san,” he said. “What do you want now?”
“Rude as always,” she said. “Am I not your beloved wife?”
“We’ve been divorced for more than a year now. Is it so hard for you to accept it?” Kazuya scanned her expression. Resentment was all he could see. Hanaka must be thinking, Thanks to you, everyone is making fun of me. I can’t go back to the circle anymore. Not that he cared. It was a long time coming for someone with her personality. “You know it’s futile to ask me anything. Adn don’t try to say, it is a noble’s duty to aid each other in times of need. That duty isn’t applicable anymore.”
“If only you know what I’m going through …”
“Oh, I’m sure the lack of gold-standard sushi and the latest kimono trend have given you a very hard time,” Kazuya spoke sarcastically, but not without reason. Simply put, he’d grown tired of Hanaka’s endless complaints about their lifestyle back when they were still married.
The early years were nothing of note. Their union was one of those arranged marriages meant to strengthen inter clan bonds. Things were rough at first, but the two slowly warmed up to each other and eventually had a daughter together. Then the Great Rebellion came into the picture and the entirety of Hoshikuni’s nobility fell apart. Not only due to the ensuing tragedies, but also and perhaps more so due to the proceeding laws decreed by the surviving six members of the Ten Council, Hoshikuni’s governing body.
All clans registered by law under the Noble Tax Decree of the year 201 in the Reformation Age shall pay remunerations due the tragedy known as the Great Rebellion of 347, for the total amount of 1.000.000 Sen without interest per member over the age of eighteen.
What an impossible amount to cover. They basically told every clan to go bankrupt and that was exactly what happened. What was worse would be the fact that the decree saw no need to discriminate, resulting in lesser clans with few riches and little territory having to pay the same amount. Many protested as a result, but the Great Rebellion, despite its leading groups and mastermind executed, successfully managed to turn the hearts of the masses and went against them.
Kazuya made no complaints. In fact, they had a right to get angry considering what his clan and many clans have done. And what I’ve also done … Kazuya recalled those struggling days, with the Fukuzawa Clan having been forced to sell eighty percent of their assets just to pay the half of the total amount. Different from his Ryuugen Clan, whose family head at the time, Kazuya’s uncle, decided to retain their assets and ignore the debt, believing that they alone shall stand triumph in the ensuing conflict.
As for the matters of what happened after … They were too painful to remember.
Perhaps it was fortune that dictated Kazuya’s current standing. The debt was still there as well as the family sin, but at least there remained those who believed in him, and he thought Hanaka Fukuzawa was also one of them. At least until a certain incident occurred and Kazuya could no longer endure her presence. He hoped that by divorcing her, she would gain some sense into the life she now had to lead. Alas …
“I’ll be direct. I need you to give Keika to me.”
Ah … why do I even bother, Kazuya sighed disappointingly. Even after one year, Hanaka had yet to change. Perhaps this was the better outcome though. At the very least, this would mean that his anger was once more justified.
“No,” he simply said.
“Two days. I need her for two days only,” Hanaka looked insistent, more so than on previous occasions. Listening to her made him sick.
“That is not happening,” he asserted. “Whatever reason you’ve come up with, Keika will never be in your hands.”
“But Keika is still my daughter!” her voice raised. “Don’t I at least have the right to see her as her mother?”
“You lost your right to be her mother,” he expressed.
“But you lost your right too, no?” Hanaka argued, rendering Kazuya speechless.
“That’s—
“How long has it been since you’ve seen her? One month? Two?”
“You have no idea how—”
“You left your daughter alone just as you have left me alone for all those years, while remained cooped up inside this tiny little office just so you could take a breather from our frustrating life,” Hanaka tread closer to Kazuya, approaching him so close to the print where she now placed her writhing hand onto his cheek and stared into him closely with demeaning eyes. “We could’ve fought together. We could’ve found a way out. Yet you continue to be a coward so weak that he could not provide his own family with the needs they so desperately need.”
Strange, why am I … why am I putting up with her again?
“It’s funny, isn’t it? You’re the one who ended this relationship, you are the one who gained everything that we have built, and here I am living under a rock, forced to see you smile while our daughter is now saddened beyond relief.”
Don’t listen. They’re … not lies, but they’re not complete truths.
“Of the father who was never there for her nor his wife.”
When was the last time Kazuya saw his daughter? It was two months ago at the beginning of winter and the end of the academic year. He came to surprise her, to hug her, and congratulate her for passing her tests and made her mark as a soon-to-be middle school student. However, Keika was walking alongside a familiar-looking boy, his nephew. Kazuya then remembered that Mihiro had also finished his grade as a first year primary school student, meaning his sister would soon come to pick them both up.
It’d been longer back then. Nine months since he last saw her. Thus, Kazuya hesitated. Would Keika be willing to see his father after so long? He couldn’t make the first step forward, when his sister suddenly snuck up behind him, giving him a fright.
“Haha! That never gets old,” Kazuko laughed. “It’s been a while.”
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Kazuya sighed, “You will never give me a break.”
“Just making up for lost time,” she said, before following where his eyes were heading. “You’re not going to say hello?”
“I don’t know. It’s just …,” the reason never came forward. “I probably should be going. I’ll only be here for today.”
“Work the next day?”
“Yup. As always.”
The two continued to stare into the school gate slowly being buried by snow, gazing at the children being picked up by their parents, with several surprisingly taking up independence by walking home all by themselves.
“This will probably be the last time I’ll be able to pick them up from school,” Kazuko’s voice rang in bittersweet. “Just got promoted to vice-principal recently. Meaning I’ll get more income to pay our debt, but—”
“You’ll have to sacrifice your time with them,” Kazuya continued. “Looks like I’ll have to treat Hikari for a big meal one day. He’ll have a huge workload ahead of him.”
“Any unagi-based dish and you two are good to go,” she added, smiling while watching as the number of children behind the gate lessened to less than twenty, with Keika and Mihiro being amongst them. “You won’t come to meet her? Keika should be happy to get to see her dad.”
“Will a daughter be happy in seeing her seven-month and soon-to-be-more absent father? She’ll scoff at me the first chance she gets, considering what a horrible father I am to her.”
“By that logic, that would mean I intend to become a horrible mother to Mihiro.”
“That’s not—You can never be a horrible mother to him.”
“You can never be so sure,” Kazuko gazed onto Kazuya, with fearful eyes both yearning for and to give sympathy. She then said a phrase that he never expected to hear again. “One forward thrust equals a step in the right direction.”
“Even now I still cannot escape him,” Kazuya sighed jokingly, before making up his mind to walk straight ahead toward the school gate, toward his sweet innocent daughter, who looked shocked upon seeing him.
However, Kazuya was then reminded of another memory of Keika, when she suddenly came up to his office, hopping from carriage to carriage all on her own, crossing a great distance just to see him without anyone knowing.
“Dad … Why did … Why did mom do that?” Those words speckled in rampant sorrow, the endless pouring tears mixed up with utter confusion, caused by that one day of revelation … Compare that to the smile of that day. That warm and gentle smile filled with so much longing and fulfillment, it was as clear as day that Keika was feeling happier now than before.
Then as if instincts kicked in, Kazuya’s hand gripped her wrists, squeezed it so tight until Hanaka trembled and fell to her knees. His mind kept telling to twist it. Just one twist and the bones inside this begging and screaming woman’s flesh would break. Or he could burn it. Set it ablaze to the point where she could no longer use it. One less limb to harm Keika. His flames certainly agreed, appearing right behind him as fire balls despite never calculating them.
[Do it. You shall not stand by with this conniving witch!]
So, you as well?
A pair of frantic officers suddenly rushed into the room. Their faces astonished upon seeing their captain holding his ex-wife hostage, but hesitated to intervene in fear of receiving the same fate. Perhaps it was their fearful gazes that tempered Kazuya’s rage, as his flames snuffed out and he let go of Hanaka half-willingly, while contemplating on whether what he did could be considered as the justice the Murikami Order vowed to uphold.
Xiaodan then entered the room, witnessing the scene unfold in real time. What could he be thinking behind that stone-like expression of his?
“Take Miss Fukuzawa out and have her receive medical treatment,” he ordered, and the officers adhere to his command, helping Hanaka up and proceeding to take her out. Kazuya did not bother to look at her expression, though he did hear the one word she then muttered.
“Useless…”
The door closed and only the two were left. Captain and vice captain looking straight at each other, with Kazuya then asked, “How long have you been vice-captain, Xiaodan-kun?”
“About four months, Ryosuke-sama,” he replied, seemingly knowing what he was about to ask next. “No, I’m not disappointed. In fact I just pity you, for having to deal with someone like her.”
“And how would you go about it had you been in my place?”
“Maybe not much different,” he said to Kazuya’s surprise. “My face may be like this, but my mind and heart certainly aren’t. In any case, I think it would be best if your ex-wife doesn’t enter the precinct again.”
“Then I’ll leave it to you,” Kazuya lay down on the couch, pressing his hand on his temple in an effort to soothe the stress. Xiaodan followed suit, taking a seat on the other couch and handing over a pile of documents on the table. “Oh, come on!”
“Yes, it’s another case from central,” Xiaodan spoke regretfully.
“Can’t you send it to Hakuto-san or the Sasaki twins?”
“They’re busy helping me with a case I’m investigating.”
“The missing children, right? That’s a tough nut to crack,” Kazuya wished him all the luck, considering that one of his family members was one of the victims. “What about Lyanna-san? She should be done with the Seven Star Bombers.”
“Ryosuke-sama, Lyanna-san just went on vacation and is back in her home in Skadjörd.”
“Right … I forgot about that. Old man Koku—”
“Currently in the hospital receiving treatment for his strained back.”
“Fine, I’ll take it,” Kazuya begrudgingly accepted the files and speed read it. At first, he thought it was some normal everyday case like a serial thievery or robbery or, at worse, murder. However, midway through the documents, he began to take a more in depth look, specifically at the conspicuous chart which the Grand Machine, Thoth, named after a pagan Zagaron deity, collected.
A rising level of Divine Droplets a.k.a. DD addicts seen in every single of Hoshikuni’s thirty-nine districts, with abnormally high influx rates in Takamichi, Lanting, Umikaze, Jincao, Torayama, Tsunahashi, and lastly, perhaps the most bizarre out of this chart, the Gangbyeon District.
“What are you doing?” he muttered, questioning the actions of the district’s governor, Ji-Hye Yun the Verdant Lady. Knowing her personality, she certainly wouldn’t have let the rates go this high, having despised the idea DD represented. But still one thing didn’t make sense. “Why didn’t Thoth give this information a week or two prior? Had it done so then we could’ve swiftly nipped it in the bud.”
“I was wondering the same as well. Shika Mokuto of the Eight Seat made this statement,” Xiaodan took out one of the pages and enunciated, “For the past month, it is to my utmost regret that Thoth, the beloved machine of the First Archmage, have begun slowing down due to aging and thus have underwent severe maintenance in order to sustain its functions and to possibly replicate it in the near future. This document is among the first set of data gathered after the maintenance and I as well as First Seat wish you luck, Feng Luo’s pupil, to tackle this case and bring it to its end.”
“What rotten luck …,” Kazuya said. “Can’t be helped considering Thoth’s about five-hundred-years-old now. Still, the First Seat wishing me luck? Didn’t think that geezer had it in him after burying himself in his research.”
“She called you Feng Luo’s pupil, but I don’t see him wishing you luck anywhere here.”
“Master prefers face-to-face conversations, so this isn’t surprising in the least,” Kazuya, despite being reluctant, forced himself up and began to stretch. “Looks like I’ll be going to Gangbyeon. Oh, and I know that you’re on a case, but do you want to meet Gangbyeon’s governor? She may have some information regarding the case you’re working on.”
“While I do plan on meeting her, I’ll pass on this occasion.”
“Why? As an officer of a Murikami Order, one must uphold justice through means of righteousness and swiftness.”
“Then can we take a public carriage there?”
“Didn’t I say swiftness?”
“Then you already have my answer,” Xiaodan left the room without a word, leaving Kazuya puzzled as to why he refused his offer.
[A cowardly subordinate you have there.]
Scratch that. He knew exactly why.
Rolling his sleeves, Kazuya called forth the being currently living within him. “As always, your tongue continues to be undesirable.” —A splash of ink appeared on his forearm and formed into the shape of a koi swimming in circles in a heavenly lake— “Nice for you to show up. Care to take me to Gangbyeon?”
[That serpent’s den? You really have it bad with women], Suzaku, a koi yokaebbi, spoke with a regal voice through his mind.
“Wouldn’t that include yourself?”
[There’s a difference between being a woman and playing the part of one.]
What does that even mean? Kazuya forwent with the thought, instead focusing on the matter of most importance. “Look, I need to go to Gangbyeon. There is a threat brewing in this nation and the best chance we have in stopping it would be to first start at the strangest event.”
[And what kind of deal are you willing to present?]
Kazuya knew it would be like this. When it came to dealing with a yokaebbi, ethereal beings who lived in a different plane than the one humanity was in, and bore morals and principles far distant to what was acceptable in society, an offering must be given in exchange for their services. Such was the basis of their contract, and for Suzaku specifically …
“A bag of gold coins will be sent to you through your shrine.”
[Make it one and a half and I’ll give you a ride back as well.]
“Fine. You really like to bargain,” Kazuya submitted to the avaricious koi, who he could tell must be smiling smugly at him. He would find out eventually, as he walked out the balcony and let his arm free to feel the wind, and to watch the dozens of buildings of this bustling district known as Takamichi.
The black koi stopped circling and went straight ahead, as the background changed from a lake to what at first appeared to be a river, but in truth was a waterfall. Suzaku climbed up the rushing waters and leapt out of his hand and into the air. Her body of ink promptly took shape, elongating and gaining mass, with splashes of red and gold until she became a real koi. But she wasn’t done.
Higher and higher did she climb and her body further lengthened, her wet scales turned rock solid and burning crimson, elegant fins turned to talons that could cut anything, followed by a pair of stag-like antlers growing out of her now white-maned head. Suzaku’s presence caught many witnesses. Many looked at awe and wonders toward the mythical being, a dragon, hovering above them in plain sight.
“Shall we depart?” Suzaku lent her hand to Kazuya, to which he accepted and climbed onto her back, gripping tight to her antlers as to brace himself for what was to come.
A slow breath of flame sent her entire scales bursting into sparks of light, each lying still in motion before converging into a sea of flames wrapping Kazuya like a blanket. Suzaku then climbed up to the sky as high as she could, the rushing winds clashed with the flaming sea, up and up till they passed through the golden morning clouds and at last met that gorgeous scenery which he so dearly missed.
Of the dazzling sky that resided above the transient heavens washing all his stress away.