messiah novel (you are in shine, part 24)

[devilism]

The Nikolai chapel, located in Chiyoda in Tokyo, is one of the few Greek Orthodox churches in Japan.

Its official name is the "Tokyo Resurrection Cathedral." It was built over more than a hunderd years ago, and people who are familiar with it often call it the "Nikolai Chapel" after the archbishop which let it be built.

The green dome on top of the classic stone walls stood out in the middle of Tokyo's city centre. Of course it was considered a tourist attraction, and people gathered there on Sundays to listen to the choir's beautiful choruses. Although there wasn't a lot of room inside of the chapel, it still seemed like a concert venue.

But right now there was nothing disturbing the peace and silence other than the orange light of a candle illuminating the walls and decorations. That was since Russia's chief secretary, which had come to Japan for the summit, requested to be able for sure to go there during the morning to partake in the Holy Communion.

Due to that not even the church officials or police were allowed inside today.

That was why no one would suspect that Kurusu, the chief of the police, was inside, talking with a man in a wheelchair--- There was no way anyone with some social standing or anyone who was part of Public Safety wouldn't know his true identity-- but he didn't seem to be cautious.

"It's nostalgic, isn't it? When I think of the Eastern church, I just think of the huge mistake you made on the written test, Kurusu-san."

As the middle-aged man in the wheelchair, Ichijima Harumi, approached, he skillfully drove his wheelchair up the ramp. He turned in front of the famous sanctuary with the gold icon of John.

"Even though there are still Catholics and Protestants, there aren't a lot of Eastern baptists in Japan, hm? Most of all since we clashed with the Russian dialect and culture, and therefore with their religion."

Behind him some slight light shone through the cross-shaped skylight. It was different from the solemn appearance of the rest of the church. Rather than standing out like the magnificent stained glass window with the two saints on it, it instead had small icons to the left and right of the Virgin Mary and Christ. It was a simple cross-shaped stained glass window.

Ichijima lifted his face, and the wheels of the wheelchair rotated with a whizzing noise. Kurusu's face was right in front of his eyes.

"Did you come here since you understood everything?"

"Yes."

Kurusu left out a sigh.

"I was deceived. You stole my ID in the elevator."

"Oh, that's right. I should've said that. Training a group of people to pickpocket is more useful than any subject you could study at school."

When he raised his gaze, there was that familiar square face. It was the kind of rugged stone-like face that you'd expect from a judo practitioner. But this stone was surprisingly sociable. It had connections in unexpected places.

"When did you notice it had been switched?"

"The day before yesterday. I didn't have full access rights to "Drainage." It had a chip that the cards meant for student use have."

"That's true. Only government officials use it when passing through the entrance after all, right? You most likely do as well."

"Yes. I didn't notice that a few days were missing on my attendance record. I guess you wanted to see the data you can access with my card so badly that you didn't even care at all if I'd find out later on."

The familiar "talking rock" only then seemed to become truly hard and seemed stiff.

"Well then, what did you show your subordinates with that ID?"

"The 200.000 dollars that were transferred to your account from various countries. That you went to the North seven years ago under Kaidou Akira's name, who Public Safety was trying to catch. That the person who wrote the script for Ushio Yoshiya's kidnapping incident was you."

The Setagaya district family murder case, which greatly changed Kaidou Eiri's fate. Although it was processed under the pretense that it had been a deed by a random attacker, the truth behind it was that it had been carried out in order to seal Kaidou Akira's mouth, Eiri's father who had been in charge of sending money to a terrorist organisation that was making their move in the southern parts of Russia around the Caucasus in that time.

"Unfortunately Kaidou Akira hadn't been killed by Egor Ginzburg, nor by the terrorist organisation. It was suicide. He killed his wife and daughter, and then took his own life as well. ... Well, that kind of thing happens in any country. Originally the two children from the Kaidou family weren't his own children, but came from a previous marriage. When Kaidou Akira was young, he dropped out of K University while planning on becoming a journalist, and travelled through Mongolia and the southern parts of Russia for five years. That's when he started to get involved in far off antigovernment activities. When he returned to Japan, he wanted to start working for a Japanese company in order to support the organisation. And for that sake he had to start a Japanese family. Two children and a housewife. His subordinate, Hara Yuiko, who had only just been divorced with young children, seemed like the ideal partner to him. After that his support continued for many years. Public Safety in Japan had already found out about it, but left it alone since it didn't have any direct negative consequences for our own country. You should know very well what happened after that. He was sniffed out by Ginzburg, and he had no choice but to dispose of his family. The unfortunate thing about it is that Kaidou Akira couldn't be called a terrorist in the true sense of the word. He was just a human with a huge sense of justice and a passion for humanitarian aid. He must have been worried over the disasterous situation in the Southern Caucasus, and he might have joined the terrorist organisation because of that, but there weren't a lot of things he could do since anyone could tell with a glance that he was a foreigner. For the organisation it was more helpful if he could help them gain precious foreign currency rather than letting him run clumsily into a hotel with a bomb. And that was convenient for Kaidou as well. He was an ordinary human, so even though he felt pity for the disasterous situation of a foreign country, he didn't want to die for that cause. But Kaidou vaguely understood that if it were ever to be found out what he was doing, someone might come to kill him, and he resigned himself to that. And then that day did come."

"Can a normal person kill their family?"

"You were the one who taught me that "normal" is the most ambiguous and dangerous make-believe, Kurusu-san."

Kurusu briefly nodded, almost like a teacher who was satisfied with his student's answer.　

"Because he was a normal person, he felt compassion for the people of the Caucasus, and took the duty of sending money to them upon himself. And then he got scared when terrorist attacks were carried out at the Moscow city hall and subway using money coming from his account. He regretted the sense of justice he once passionately felt when he was younger, and he might have wanted to run away. But if he did that, terrorists might come to Japan. They might come to deal with him in order to seal his mouth. That kind of obsession slowly ate away at his heart. In the end he forced his family to go together with him in a fit."

Ichijima changed the direction of his wheelchair by operating a lever with his hand.

"Kaidou Akira's bad luck was that his eldest son happened to be there and witnessed the murder. He didn't want to believe that Kaidou Akira, his beloved father, would shoot his mother and little sister. That's why he thought that the unidentified man that was also there was the culprit. Technically he was shot and killed as well, but he somehow survived. He survived in an unexpected way. He was picked up by the Korean mafia in a backstreet in the suburbs of Tokyo and narrowly escaped death..."

He caught sight of the Holy Virgin and Child in front of his eyes on the altar.

It was strange.

In Ichijima's opnion the person called Kaidou Akira wasn't a bad person. Rather, whereas huge numbers of Japanese people weren't getting involved in various conflicts outside of their own country.. no, where people who lived in the same apartment building weren't even concerned about each other, he was actively thinking about humanitarian aid.

And yet the end result was that he became crazy. His life went out of order since he was concerned.

Ichijima couldn't help but think about what was right. People who went through hardships to try and do anything at all, even from a distance, or people who stayed in their own rooms and weren't interested in anything, who didn't leave their own apathic little box.

At least Kaidou Akira tried to save something. With his own hands.

But still.

"Kurusu-san, based on this information, you had a personal connection with a high official from Russia. And if the disarmament would be resigned at this second summit on the top of "World Reforming", the ex-army members would be cut off from the police department. You were afraid of that, of the police organisation shrinking. That's why you took many measures. You formed a plan in collaboration with Yasenevo from the North's side in order to make sure neither of your national interests were harmed. That is to say, in the unlikely event that the police vote would not end up being important during the Lower House elections and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would keep up the disarmament policy, the sole person who could make a decision on it would be the Prime Minister-- In other words, you had to apply strong personal pressure to Ushio Junjirou. You are the one who put in the main ingredient for that. Said ingredient being the incorporation of his son, Ushio Yoshiya."

He took a card out of his shirt's breast pocket.

"There are records left of your actions in Kasumigaseki from two years ago on this ID card of yours. You took painstaking effort to get in touch with a young SP belonging to the police department here when you became the vice-chief for the police department. That's strange, isn't it? You're practically at the top of the department as the vice-chief. That's not the kind of person who would many times over meet a single SP who had temporarily been assigned. ---Kaminari. You chose him as the person that had to ensnare Ushio Yoshiya. He was loyal to the organisation, greedy to get ahead in his career and a young person who didn't have too many bonds within the police department. As the boss of public safety and my former mentor, you wouldn't make a single SP a spy for no reason."

Ichijima, who had worked under Kurusu for many years, knew an incredible lot about what the other thought.

He started a small act of terrorism in order to protect the organisations of the police and national defense. That was difficult to understand for Japanese people who weren't aware of homeland security matters.

The one thing that could be said was that this was the sole way to save Japan in his eyes.

The sole way.

"In the worst case scenario, even if news about this kidnapping incident would spread to the press, it could be settled as a case of a rebellious child who independently disappeared in order to inconvenience his father. That way it's possible to drag down the public opinion on the Ushio administration, since said administration is not very favorable for the police department."

The biggest effect with the smallest number of people. Moreover, they're even more insured since they pick who will clean everything up only once the plan has been discovered.

This was Kurusu's way of getting the job done. With this there were no victims among the police. That's why Ichijima found out who was behind it all.

Only Kurusu could've thought up a plan like this.

"When you lost your wife last year, didn't you transfer some of your money to a foreign country? You were planning on leaving the police department soon. You were going to retire on April 1st, right?"

Perhaps this was Kurusu's last service to his old nest after he had been loyal to the police department the entire time since he graduated from university 38 years ago.

"It's unfortunate, Kurusu-san. There were a lot more things I wanted to discuss with you."

"I also think it's unfortunate, Ichijima. Calling me out to such a place only to declare you're breaking off relations."

Kurusu said it as he glanced sidelong at an icon of Christ for a moment.

"I wasn't just trying to save the police. I was trying to save your Sakura as well. If the disarmament was carried out again this time, the soldiers who were brought into the police force would leave, and since the police department would be viewed as a problem, Sakura would be dismantled as well. You of all people should know what would happen to the Sakura whose family register was destroyed.

This country would certainly weaken through the disarmament. We've let too many things rot away in Japan in the first place. Other countries like the North and America aren't placed that would lock up their armed forces, even while under disarmament."

Kurusu slowly took a step towards the icon of Christ. Under the lamp that hung above, his blue clothes seemed as vivid as a saint's. He stretched out his arms, and then suddenly hesitated.

"There's no such thing in this world as a savior. There are only people who move someone or something to save them. The actions taken by Kaidou Akira were foolish. Was he really such a dumb man that he wasn't aware that no one would save him or protect him? I don't think so."

"'Save', huh..."

Ichijima smiled for the first time.

"Now you mention it, you were the one who taught me about the Messiah system. Kurusu-san. Spies can't work work while throwing away all of their human emotions, since they're doing it to save something or someone. I've taken care of all sorts of people under your orders. You said that was for the sake of saving this country. It's regrettable that I still strongly believe that."

"I believe that as well."

"That's right, isn't it?"

"But there's no time left."

Ichijima agreed.

There was one day left until the disarmament vote. The Japanese Prime Minister's report would soon end. When Ichijima would leave this Nikolai chapel, he would receive the same report from his subordinates. .. And whatever might Kaidou Eiri and Mitsumi Haku be doing, who returned to Eiri's parents' house?

Kurusu couldn't tell him about Ushio Yoshiya's whereabouts, even though he had come here. Once he had made up his mind, he couldn't be persuaded.

"Everything is going exactly according to your plans. The police won't have dirtied their hands, and the North won't be suspected about any involvement in this case. Just due to the small issue of Ushio Junjirou's discord with his son, Japan will reject the disarmament. Prime Minister Ushio will cast a vote against the disarmament, which will give us diplomatic friction with America, and due to that the ruling party will be defeated during next month's Lower House elections. As a result, the opposition party will launch their regime, backed by the police department. And at that time you will be relaxing at the beach near the Red Sea, and your life of retirement might start."

The whole mystery was solved. Who was involved in this mystery, and how they got involved with it. But even so, the kidnapping case was completely blocked. Ichijima couldn't see a way to get out of that sticky situation.

(He says that there isn't such a thing as a saviour.)

Ichijima had never believed in gods or the like until now.

He had pickpocketed in cities made up of barracks and dredge to gather together change for a meal, he was beaten by his parents until he partially lost his sense of hearing, and then climbed up from the orphanage he was housed in. That was doubtlessly all done using his own power.

But there was one thing he knew. There were no humans alive right now that hadn't been saved even once.

For perhaps the first time in his life Ichijima stretched out his hand until he could almost touch the icon of Christ, and spoke up. He thought it was beautiful.

"And yet, there is a saviour. That's the reason both you and I are alive right now."


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