Chapter 73
Case 11: The Melancholy of the Planet (1)
…Ugh, why am I doing something like this?
I don't think I say that every time, but I still end up saying it. I keep saying: ‘Why in the world am I doing such a stupid thing again?’
It was midnight. Or at least I thought it was. That was because the world had looked dark for a long time through the old lattice door I was peeking out of. When I came here, the sun was still shining in the shrine. I didn’t usually wear a wristwatch, so I couldn't tell what time it was. I could probably tell if I checked my phone, but as I recall, Sako Takita told me with a smirk, "You probably shouldn't use that". When I recall his pale blank face, I felt anger rising from the pit of my stomach. Didn't that bastard saying, "You shouldn't use that", mean that I actually should use it. That's how much faith I had in that priest-cum-antique dealer, I finally flicked out my phone from my pocket, and turned it on. The strong light pierced my eyes which were adjusted to the dark; I rubbed my eyes and checked the time.
November 16th, 10:07 pm. Ugh…
It can't be. It was still only 10 pm?
I thought it would have been around 2 or 3 AM by now -- there was still plenty of time until dawn. Feeling fed up, I lied down. The old floorboards creaked, and the smell of old wood pricked at my nose.
I was in an isolated building that was detached from one of the old shrines situated on the outskirts of Okutama. I was lying all alone in that moldy, narrow space surrounded by shimenawa.
Well, to be precise, I wasn't alone.
I reached out my hand, and touched it.
The rough, black object less than a meter in diameter was an earthenware pot.
And I was supposed to spend the whole night with it.
That's right -- it was my job to stay with the earthenware pot until morning, and to answer the questions it would ask at some point.
"Huh? An earthenware pot asking questions?"
You might doubt something like that, and I found it strange as well. Or rather, it was a creepy story. Because according to Sako, on this day, the 16th of December, this earthenware pot is supposed to speak for the first time in 250 years.
It happened just past noon today. I was standing in front of a small wooden house in Kanda. The tilted plank at the entrance to the store had the words Kouroudou(Bone Tower Shrine) elegantly carved into it. Apparently, this was the Tokyo residence -- and antique shop -- of Sako Takita: Krishna-san's mentor on spirit-related matters and originally the chief priest of a venerable old shrine in Aomori.
“Oi, Sako. I’m here.”
When I opened the old, poorly-fitted sliding door, I smelled a moldy odor from within. The dark interior of the store was crammed with incomprehensible objects. A Buddha statue with one arm, a hanging scroll smeared with an unknown substance, a rusted box that seemed to have been dragged out of the ocean, those sorts of things. Having recently seen a similar scene in the room next to my apartment, I grimaced and called out, “Are you here?”. But there was no response, so I had no choice but to move ahead while avoiding the stares of the cryptic antiques. As I moved further back to the interior of the shop, I heard a voice muttering something from the floor above the shop.
“…Something like this is troubling to begin with -- It won’t make much money, takes a lot of effort, and in the unlikely event that it succeeds, you get nothing out of it.”
When I peeked in, I saw a man dressed in a blue kinagashi, whose appearance was like that of a handsome actor, but who was definitely removed from the world; He tilted his head in contemplation as he kneaded something.
“…Well then, what to do now?”
“Oi, Sako.”
I raised my voice a little, and he finally looked towards me.
“….Ah, it’s you. Ummm, What was your name again…. Ah, right, right, Yamamura-kun.”
“It’s Yamada. Nagito Yamada.”
“Eh? Did you change your name?”
“Why the hell would I change it?! What’s the point of that?!”
“Is that so? Well, alright then. So, do you have something you need? I’m a little busy right now.”
“Busy?! You’re the one who called me here!”
“Eh?”
“Don’t go ‘eh-ing’ at me! Have you gone senile? You rang me out of the blue while I was in the middle of my supplementary macro-economics class! You told me you had a job for me and to come straight away!”
Of course, I cut off the call at first. Not only was I in the middle of a lecture, but there was also the fact that I had nothing but bad experiences when associating with Sako Takita. However, he kept calling, telling me it was an urgent job, and that it would be a big problem if I refused. Not for him, but rather, for the world, so to speak.
“So, what’s this job that puts the world in trouble if I say no?”
When I asked him that, Sako placed his hand on the something large in front of him with a snap.
“It’s about this. I want you to keep an eye on this at a certain place for about a day.
“What is this jar?”
“It’s not a jar. It’s an earthenware pot of Tokoname ware.* There’s not a strict difference between a jar and an earthenware pot, but an earthenware pot is said to be one that can’t be carried around.”
*TL/N: Tokoname ware is a traditional style of Japanese pottery known for its reddish-brown earthenware.
“No need to explain. More importantly, I don’t know what you mean by keeping an eye on it… but is it something like that? Is there something inside?”
Sako stroked his thin beard and replied, “No.”
“Well, if you say there’s something inside, then there is, and if you say nothing is inside, then nothing is.”
“Stop talking in circles and tell me what’s inside! If it’s a ghost or a yōkai or something creepy, you can forget it.”
“Ah, it’s nothing like that. Sako narrowed his eyes in amusement. “The earth is inside it.”
“—Huh?”
“The earth you see, the earth. Third planet from the sun. Our home world.”
According to Sako, this earthenware pot came from the storehouse of an old family in Chiba, and judging from the document enclosed with it, it was apparently an ‘earth simulator’ created in the Edo period.
“Well, the intellectuals of that era mostly understood that the earth was round, but they didn't understand the principle by which it sustained and contained life. It was a time when people believed in Tsukumogami*, and that there were giant catfish* under the ground. Even so, they were a people who somehow understood that everything goes through cycles and that everything perishes. This was probably due to the fact that the Hoei Earthquake*, the eruption of Fuji and other major tragedies of the era had just occurred. When will the foundation of this earth reach the end of its life? That's what some eccentric people were trying to find out. Having said that, a rangaku scholar* by the name of ‘Kigai’, who lived in the Kanda area, created this in 1763. According to one theory, ‘Kigai’ might have been the alias ‘Fukuchi Kigai’ of ‘Hiraga Gennai’*, the ‘extraordinary man’, but I guess that is questionable. Although it's not impossible, because the time period and the field of study was the same -- hmm? Too long of a story? Well, I'm almost done, so listen carefully. In short, according to this document that came with the earthenware pot, there is an earth floating in this jar that was created by 'Kigai'.”
*TL/N: Tsukumogami are objects said to gain a spirit after existing for a long time in Japanese folklore.
*TL/N: In Japanese folklore, giant underground catfish (Namazu) are believed to cause earthquakes.
*TL/N: The Hōei eruption was a major eruption of Mount Fuji in 1707.
*TL/N: Rangaku (“Dutch learning”) refers to the study of Western science and knowledge in Edo-period Japan.
*TL/N: Hiraga Gennai was an Edo-period inventor, scholar, and polymath associated with Rangaku.
“…A floating earth? How?”
“Who knows, I don’t understand it myself, but that’s what’s written here. It’s not yet complete, and it’s not supposed to be opened until the time is right. The time in this earthenware pot is moving 153,300,000 times faster than our time frame, and the earth inside is still growing…Ah, please don’t be shocked, I have no basis for it, of course. Well, I suppose it was a kind of alchemy for the time. From the document that was passed down, it seems to be made of various materials. But there is no scientific basis for it – Although…”
However, Sako then contorted his pale, actor-like face.
“There is one description therein that is of interest: ‘This earthenware pot will be completed five hundred years from now, but it will give its birth cry once in the hundred and tenth year, and in the two hundred and fifty-fifth year, it will ask a certain question. Please, future generations. Please answer it. Then, five hundred years from now, it will definitely be born as an earth.’ And so, I calculated that this year is the 250th year, and tonight is approximately the day it will ask that question.”
“A-are you kidding me? It really is a monster!”
“I already told you it’s nothing like that. Anyway, that's the situation, but unfortunately, I have an appointment tonight that I can't miss. That's when you popped into my head. But I know you're a little scared, and I understand your concern, so I've arranged a place for you. It's in the grounds of a historic shrine, where the enshrined deity is Yamato Takeru*. I’ve created a ward there in case anything should happen. No harm will come to you.”
*TL/N: Yamato Takeru is a legendary Japanese prince and folk hero later worshipped at some shrines.
“You think that’s enough to make me believe you?” I shouldn’t have come, I thought, and was about to leave, when--
“I see. Then I have no choice.” Sako muttered unnaturally. “If you’re going to refuse no matter what – then maybe should I ask that girl. That black-haired, beautiful, young lady who resembles a bisque-doll. I’m sure she won’t refuse, and, well, it might get a little messy.
“…Ungh.”
“But she would surely end up opening it. That would mean all the hard work of our ancestors who have watched over it for the past two hundred and fifty years would all be for naught. It would be like breaking an egg that is about to hatch.”
“…So that’s what you meant when you said the world would be in trouble.”
I gnashed my teeth and looked back to see Sako smiling.
“How about 20,000 yen for the job? Just keep an eye on it until dawn tomorrow, and we’ll switch afterwards.”
…20,000 yen for half a day?
That much would help me greatly. I mean, since Yoishi barged into my apartment, I had to make food for the two of us, leaving me in dire financial straits. In addition, it might be my imagination, but be it about food, or shampoo, Yoishi seemed to have gotten cheeky recently. She’d says things like, "This spinach isn't boiled", "The meat we had the other day was fresh", "That shampoo smelled good", "My hair was silkier with that one", etc. Damn it, there are reasons why expensive things are expensive in this world. I wanted to tell her that if she was so picky about something, she should buy it herself, but if I told her that, she'd go right back to a life of snacks and not taking baths. “Even Elizabeth I, who was said to be a lover of cleanliness, bathed once a month,” she would say, trying to avoid the one bath in three days she was supposed to take. And with that, all my hard work up to this point would all be for naught.
But—having gone through the recent hopeless incidents with the girl selling ghost photographs and Shōko-chan, I’d almost completely lost confidence. What more could I do to keep Yoishi far away from the presence of the world beyond? I was lost in thought on that when I received the phone call from Sako. And that was probably when the idea occurred to me.
“Well, what will it be?”
As if prompted by Sako’s words, I nodded.
“Alright. I’ll take it—but, I don’t need money. I want you to tell me something instead.”
“Oh? What, exactly?”
Even here, the inner conflict inside me kept repeating: ‘No, don’t do that, but is there another way?’ But in the end, I said it out loud. The man who distorted his slender face like a white fox in front of me was undoubtedly the same as Yoishi – a dweller in the depths of the world beyond. Although I was reluctant to admit it, I had a feeling that the only one who knew what to do about Yoishi… would be this guy.
“What I want to know is if there’s a way to make Yoishi smile? I want to know if I can make her live a healthy, happy, peaceful life.”
“…Oh?”
“Tell me -- Is there even a slight possibility of her becoming healthy. Krishna-san always tells me that it’s not possible. But I can't help feeling that somehow it can be done. However, it’s not going well. Without even a hint of that, I feel like she’s stepping further and further into the darkness. Even so, I still want to see her smile. She should really be able to do that. But – I don’t know what to do anymore.”
Sako went ‘hmm’ in response, folded his arms, and carefully examined my face in an amused manner.
“You must be greatly troubled if you’re asking me.”
“…Shut up.”
As I glared at Sako, “I understand”, he eventually nodded.
“I have a bit of an idea about that. If you do this job well -- I'll look into it in the meantime.”
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