Chapter 7 – Are you ready to pay the price?
Kyou finished reading a certain scientific magazine article where a man mentioned he managed to be granted a miracle to save his wife from an incurable cancer. Looking at the files provided, Kyou could see that a sudden remission of cancer stage 4 to a healed condition in a single day was not a normal event. The article was actually famous, as until now no scientist could give any explanation about what could justify this sudden healing. No one, except the husband. According to the article, he said that he managed to contact a goddess from a nearby temple, which he refused to name, and after completing some excruciating tasks, she ended up conceding his wish and miraculously healed his wife. When asked about the tasks, he preferred to remain silent about it.
Kyou searched about the man in the Internet, and found the number of the company he works for. Immediately taking his phone, Kyou called the number, and was promptly answered.
“Amagami International. This is Kogure speaking. How can I help you?”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I am Yanagisawa Hikaru. I was recommended your services by a friend. He specifically told me to talk with Kouta Youhei for that matter.”
“Understood. One moment, please.” A few moments of silence later, she came back. “I am sorry to inform you that Mr. Kouta is preparing to go to a business travel right now, and will not be available until he lands in Germany. Would you—”
Kyou finished the call and started looking at Narita Airport departures to Germany, discovering that a flight was scheduled to depart in one hour. He would take around three hours to arrive at the airport, but Kyou didn’t hesitate for a single second. He rushed to a cloth store to by a red hoodie, put it on, and went to the closest public phone he could find. He had just more thirty minutes before the airplane took off. He picked the phone using his sleeve to muffle his voice, and called the airport.
“Narita Airport. Greetings. This is Ichinose Akira. How can I-”
“Listen to me, and listen well!” His voice was nervous and fearful. “I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t. They managed to take parts of a bomb little by little inside the airport. They… they already finished the bomb! It is inside one of the bags of the airplanes ready to depart. I don’t know which! Just st—” and he ended the call.
With a composed voice, he concluded, “Well, that shall be enough.” And made his way to the train station and his three hours trip to the Narita Airport.
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It didn’t take long to the bomb threat make the news and stop all flights from departing as the bomb squad was called, and all the bags from more than 12 flights were being prepared to be opened. Lots of comments of the news section were mentioning the possibility of a prank call, but since no one wanted to risk his job because this was not looked on, the authorities decided to deal with this as a real bomb threat, and were already investigating who made the call. A camera near the public phone showed someone in a red hood using it at the time, but the person disappeared from any vigilance shortly after. The authorities believed that the perpetrator already disposed of the red hood somewhere, and hid himself among the public.
You damn right, Kyou thought, happy to see that there was almost no trace of him left behind.
But most importantly, the flight to Germany was grounded for more a few hours. Now, he just had to sit down and wait for his arrival at the airport.
Once he arrived, Kyou rushed to the airport staff, saying, “My deepest apologies, but this is an emergency! I am a trainee at Amagami International, and I have brought some vital business documents to Mr. Kouta Youhei. I tried to call him many times, but he is not picking it up. Please, could you call him for me? My job is on the line, and his business trip is going to be compromised without these documents!”, and raised his suitcase to prove his point. “Can you call him please?”
The staff looked at him with some suspicion, but after considering the boy was rushing, he wanted to just meet the passenger, his reason was somewhat acceptable, as signed documents with proper official seal was still valued in a Japanese business world, where images could be target of fraud, but paper and tint were harder to falsify.
The staff ended up deciding to call Mr. Kouta, as, if it was all a prank, he himself would point it out.
A few minutes later, a Japanese man in his forties approached the pre-security area. His serious expression was not only the result of years of business experience, but of a deep scar in his soul.
Upon being presented to Kouta, the man immediately noticed the boy was not from his company.
“Can you explain—”
“Mister Kouta! I’m glad I managed to reach you before your flight. A certain Goddess told me to find you here today. I have some urgent matters to discuss with you, and some documents to give to you, too. Can we sit somewhere?”
Kouta got surprised upon hearing “goddess”, and took a few seconds to process the situation, but was interrupted by the staff member, who asked, “Is everything alright?” Intrigued to the brim, and grounded until further notice, he answered. “Yes, everything is fine. I will go the airport, and just pass the security again.”
“That will not be necessary. I can give him permission to stay, but he will not board anything, since he doesn’t have a ticket.”
“Much appreciated.”
“Sorry for the trouble,” said Kyou, with an apologetic posture.
As soon as the staff member went away, Kouta started walking towards a cafe. Kyou followed him silently. The man sat down, ordering some coffee for him, and Kyou ordered the same. Then, Kouta looked at him and said, “What message?”
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Kyou couldn’t help but smirk softly. For one, Kouta sincerely believed that the goddess existed. Second, he believed that the goddess could contact another person to deliver a message. But, most importantly, Kouta believed the goddess was still around, so she could be found again!
“I must apologize about that. I had to say I had a message to pick your interest and bring us to this table. Truth be told, I came here to ask you about the goddess. I really need to know where she is.”
“What? You—you lied to me? Ah, and why am I surprised?”, he pressed the top of his nose, as if trying to recover his composure.
“Someone I love died a week ago, and I am desperately looking for a chance to make things right this time. I read the article about you, and ran here to find you. I did all I could to achieve that, and even more. But I need you to—”
“All you could? We would not meet if—" He stopped. “Did you really—” He stopped again, pressing his palm against his face, but after a few seconds, he smiled softly, as his eyes took him away to distant memories. “Ah, I cannot say I don’t understand you.”
He faced the determined eyes of Kyou, took a sip of his coffee, and closed his eyes, saying, “Are you ready to pay the price?”
“Yes.”
A single word. An unlimited meaning. “I didn’t even say what the price may be.”
“I don’t care.”
Facing Kyou again for a few seconds, the man concluded, “Yeah, you seem to be up to the task, whatever that might be in your case.”
Kyou kept quiet.
“All I know is that, even if your wish is fulfilled, a path of suffering and regret will be ahead of you as you walk a path you were not supposed to.”
“What do you mean?”
“It is true that after facing the challenges of the gods, I was able to have my wife healed as I wished, but two years later, she divorced me, took the children with her, and half of all money, including our house. This was never supposed to happen if I didn’t do anything, but it was also the price to pay, as I was warned before starting. Don’t take me wrong, I don’t regret what I did, but I cannot deny that it is painful to keep living on these circumstances.”
“At least you are living. And it seems she is, too.”
“As I said, I don’t regret what I did, even if she will never accept the truth about how she was cured to begin with.”
Accept. She was told, but didn’t believe it. Not that I blame her for it, Kyou thought, still in silence.
“Are you ready to face ingratitude, betrayal, disgrace, poverty, or even death, to see that person again?”
Kyou took two seconds to consider the meaning of all those ill omens, and answered without blinking, “Yes.”
“You are just a child, and I would normally just ignore you, but then again, the one that will decide if you are worthy or not is not me, but that goddess herself. So what do I care?”
He finished his coffee, put the cup down, and said, “Go to the Mikazuki Inari Temple in Okutama. Bring eight dangos with you. Forget about GPS. Ask the locals, and pray the woods will open to you.” With that, Kouta stood up, and left.
Kyou stood up and bowed deeply, saying in a loud voice. “Thank you very much.”
“May the Gods have mercy on you, boy, because you will need it.”
Kyou searched for dango in the airport, finding them in a bakery. He bought eight and then left the airport, which was still in an uproar over the search for a bomb that didn’t exist. He took a train back to Tokyo, stopping at Okutama Station. It took him four hours to arrive. Going home that day was impossible now.
“Kyou, still walking around?” His mother’s message showed how worried she was.
“I’m sorry, Mom, but I’ll be out for a while longer. I’m trying to fix this mess myself, and it’s going to take time. But I’m safe, and I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got this.”
I’ve got this. One way or another, I’ve got this. Whatever it takes.
“Okay. Just promise me you’ll be careful. I’ll be waiting for you to get home. And call me if you need me to pick you up, too.”
And the prize for mother of the year goes to… Kyou couldn’t help but smile gently as he read her message. He was making her worry, but that was okay today, because today was going to be undone anyway.
He got off at the station and walked a little, asking the few people around about the Mikazuki Inari Temple. Some said it was a myth. Others mentioned that the place was hidden by the gods. Finally, after about an hour of asking around, someone told him that if he took a certain trail and turned left after walking about four kilometers, he might find the temple deep in the woods.
Four kilometers? In the middle of the woods? At night? Finding a place that’s only about two hundred square meters in size? Forget about going back in time. Finding this place would be a miracle. Not that I care, though.
He checked his phone battery. Almost eighty percent left. Light wouldn’t be an issue. After buying a bottle of water, he started walking towards the mountains. The trail was right where he had been told it would be. Now, it was time to climb.
Two kilometers into the mountain, it suddenly dawned on him that there wasn’t a single sound. No insects, no animals, not even the wind. Even a boy as secluded as he was knew this wasn’t normal. He smiled confidently. Not normal is a good sign.
After checking his distance meter, he decided to stop when he reached the four-kilometer mark on the trail. There was no other visible way but the trail itself. To the left: a forest in darkness. To the right: the same. But left it was. He began walking on uneven terrain, navigating tree roots and bushes, with only the light from his phone’s torch guiding him.
An hour passed, and he still hadn’t seen a single stone from the temple. It was with a bit of surprise that he noticed his GPS had stopped working. If he kept going without anything to orient himself, he’d get lost in the woods, let alone find a temple. Well, not that I care. He pushed forward.
Another hour in the forest, the only sound being the crunch of leaves beneath his feet, Kyou began to remember why he was doing this. He recalled her stubborn smile every time he scolded her, her hopeful words for tomorrow, even though she knew tomorrow might not come. He remembered her promise to stay by his side for as long as he’d have her. Then he remembered how she died alone, without warning. How could I possibly accept that? He pressed on, no matter which direction ahead was.
The moon was partially hidden by clouds, making his journey even more difficult. He wouldn’t have been able to see the temple even if it was just twenty meters away. But he kept going. His water bottle had been emptied for some time now, resting in his school suitcase. His legs were hurting badly. This kind of physical exertion was not something a sedentary boy was used to. His breathing was becoming ragged, his breaks more frequent, but still, he pushed on. However, every man has a limit.
Kyou tripped on some roots and fell, scratching his arms and hands in the process. He had a small bleeding scratch on his left knee, but he simply stood up and kept walking. And walk he did.
An hour later, Kyou was truly exhausted. The cold mountain air pierced his bones, intensifying the pain of his wounds, but he decided to ignore it. He ignored the pain, the fatigue, the cold, and even the reasoning in his head telling him this was a dangerous, stupid idea. He ignored everything and pressed forward.
An hour after that, with no GPS or phone signal, walking purely on determination, Kyou’s wits failed him again, and he tripped hard. He scratched his left hand, lightly bleeding, and hurt his right elbow. His breathing became labored. He decided to rest for a moment, lying face down on the ground. After a few seconds, he noticed something off about his phone.
It was showing midnight, but the problem was that midnight had passed two hours ago.
He jumped up, holding his phone out in front of him. That’s when he saw it: the silhouette of a temple just ahead of him.