messiah novel (you are in shine, part 25)

[devilism]

"I'm glad to have been able to prove my innocence."

Ginzburg said, seeming relieved from the bottom of his heart.

"But judging by your face, you already knew this since a long time ago. Ichijima is excellent. He's probably having a direct talk with the true strategical leader right about now."

There was no way that anyone would think that Japan's Public Safety and the North's Yasenevo, who were completely antagonistic towards each other, would join hands in order to kidnap the Prime Minister's son. ... No, strictly speaking, no one had kidnapped him.

(My father was neither a spy for Public Safety, nor for the North. He was just good, and a little too aggressive with his good intentions.)

But that goodness had been fatal for him. Eiri motionlessly stood there, thinking on the spot about what had changed his fate.

"Look at the cherry blossoms on the branch. It's leaning against the sasanqua of the shrine nextdoor. It kind of looks like it's pestering the other flower to be able to ride on its back, right?"

His father had pointed at the flowers in the garden each year when the cherry blossoms bloomed, saying those kinds of things.

He could clearly remember it now.

He liked his father.

The telescope his father bought for him, saying it'd bring the moon closer.. the way he wondered out loud if Eiri's shortness was due to Eiri resembling him.. Everything was a salvation to him, even without any particular reason.

Had something been wrong?

Eiri suddenly ground his molars together. Perhaps, right before his father died---, even while he had been shooting his mother and little sister, he had been thinking about that.

"---- Well then, now we can finally start negotiating from here on out. I'm not your enemy, nor am I the one who kidnapped Ushio Yoshiya. You know too that the person who wrote the scenario this time around is one of your superiors. When push comes to shove, the North can cover up this kidnapping incident as just a son acting out in order to oppose his father. Of course they could also blame some terrorist organisation. In any case, no matter how it ends up being portrayed in the news, it will be a big embarrassment for Japan, right as World Reforming is being discussed again in this New Tokyo. The diplomacy between Japan and Russia will change one way or another, don't you think? The authority in this country has fallen in the hands of bureaucrats since a long time ago. The governing body of every country feels like they should become good friends with the bureaucrats in Japan, rather than its leaders who never want to consider change."

Eiri understood that what he was saying was right. This match had already been decided a few years ago when the North decided to ensnare Ushio Yoshiya.

If they approved the disarmament, Ushio Yoshiya would be hurt.

It wasn't Japan that was being driven into a corner. It was just one person, Ushio Junjirou.

Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the government leaders think very highly of Ushio Yoshiya's life. Since that attitude would sometimes show, the Prime Minister would be driven even further into a corner. He would realise that he was the only one who could save his son.

And so he would be led. He would change his mind about World Reforming as the North wanted. That is to say, he'd get on the side of tearing up the disarmament agreement. And he was already standing on the stage. No one could get near him while the eyes of an audience of 5 billion people were aimed at him.

He also couldn't be saved.

Everyone is indifferent, aside from when it comes to protecting themselves.

"What could you save in this kind of Japan?"

Ginzburg cunningly called out. He was patiently waiting for Eiri's thoughts to impulsively move, even if for a moment, towards considering that those words might be right.

"It's fine if you come, both Haku and you. Along with me. The North is cozy. I can guarantee that before we even go."

He simply said.

"You don't have a family register or a certificate of residence anymore. In other words, you guys are ghosts. Therefore the country has no obligation to save you two. And yet.. for what purpose do you live? What are you risking that life for? The things you're risking your life for should have value. At least that's the way it is in my country. I'm an example. I escaped from that ditch-like tenement house and climbed all the way up until here."

"... The North is a cold-hearted country under Kaminski's dictatorship. Communism is old and dying, everyone knows that."

"The coldness of the country also preserves the ideology."

He had an arrogant smile on his face, the kind a Japanese person could never have.　

"That cold isn't the reason anything would die. It's rather that rotten smell of spring. You know it, Eiri. Truly pitiful people don't die in winter, they die in spring. Just like the cherry blossoms."

His long finger broke a branch off the cherry tree. It made a dry sound. Even though it was a living tree, the branch broke off so easily.

"Ushio Yoshiya will never show up voluntarily. At any rate, I'm extending an offer to you to become spies for the North. You understand, right? The disarmament summit will be a failure. Since the police department won't want to take responsibility, they will shove the blame off onto Sakura. Ichijima will have to break up Sakura. In any case, you guys will be thrown away by the country. This is the moment. Now you can only save yourself, you have to make a decision, Haku, Eiri."

He crunched many of the cherry blossoms up in his big hand. He slowly crumpled them, and then opened his hand. The petals fell like someone's extinguished life.

"Will you die now, or will you die someday? ---I can save you two."

Defecting, getting a new name, redoing their lives.

Eiri thought that might be the sole salvation for his abandoned soul.

Since there was no one else there for him now.

Even though he was at this house now, no one would come back to it. Not his cute, yet troublesome little sister who followed him around, not his mother who was good at cooking, not the veranda where he watched the stars.

(His father wouldn't come back either.)

He'd have no friends, since he didn't go to school enough for it.

There was no one. They all died. They were killed. Everyone here was gone.

And there were only other people left who would die. If the disarmament was signed, Sakura might be dismantled. If that'd happen, Maru School would also disappear, and the one place where Eiri belonged would inevitably disappear with it. The Japanese government wouldn't be able to just let them be, since they knew a lot of confidential information.

(--- Wouldn't Haku go?)

That realisation startled him. Instead of being chased around by the government together with Haku without a name or protection, wouldn't it be better to flee the country and go to the North, where Haku's brother was? At least he still had a brother in the North. They were without a doubt family who shared the same past and the same face.

At that moment he felt the breathing of the man who was standing behind him. Eiri wondered what kind of face Haku was making. He really wanted to know that.

And then...

"I won't go."

Haku, who had up to this point been motionless and silent as if he were Eiri's shadow, opened his mouth for the first time.

Ginzburg lifted his head.

"Do you understand, Haku? This is the last notice. I came here since I felt guilty for pushing mom onto you and escaping by myself. But if you reject my hand once more, then I don't think we're like family."

"We're not family."

His reply was brief.

"You're not Sou."

Eiri stared at his face in surprise.

"Haku, what are you saying..."

No matter how you looked at it, the man in front of him was Haku's twin brother. He had face with a nose bridge that was unusually boney for a Japanese person and uneven cheekbones. The two of them were completely the same no matter where you looked, even down to their doll-like eyelashes. If you'd ask 100 people about their relationship, all 100 would answer that they were twins.

But...

"You're not Sou. You're also not Egor Ginzburg. I don't think the real Ginzburg would want me."

"Why would you say that?"

"It's simple. I actually wanted to ask why you forgot."

Haku hooked his thumb into his coat's pocket, as he always did, and stared at the man with a blank facial expression.

"When you and Eiri ran into each other on top of that high building's rooftop, the wind was blowing from the north. When I ran towards you two, there was a faint scent of camphor."

"Camphor..?"

Eiri squinted, seemingly puzzled.

Camphor was mostly used in homes as an insect repellent you'd put on dolls or clothes. That irritant odor would hit your nose especially hard when you took out clothes that had been in the closet for a long time, so strongly that anyone would remember it.

Was Haku talking about that camphor?

(No, it wasn't insect repellent.)

He got a hunch. Sometime in a classroom at Maru School Ichijima had taught them how to distinguish spies from contact personnel in town. At that time, camphor had shown up as a keyword.

"There are various ways to make camphor. The most known way is to get crystals from the leaves or bark of a camphor tree. It can be used to make your blood circulation better, as a pain killer, or as a cardiotonic drug. Because of that there are a lot of spies who carry camphor with them. It's a convenient way to cause a heart attack."

He had heard those dangerous words. Eiri especially remembered what Ichijima had added next.

"It's often said that spies from the North often use the leaves of the camphor tree for external communication. It's difficult to recognize someone in an unfamiliar country or city, let alone contact personnel they've never met before. So they bring along this camphor leaf. Japanese people who don't know about it would just assume when someone like that passes by that they've kept their coat in their closet for too long. But a trained nose can immediately recognize whether it's synthetic insect repellent or a genuine camphor leaf."

For Sakura there were gestures that only fellow Sakura understood as well. All spy organisations had ways of communicating with each other without words or writing.

"If you were the real Egor Ginzburg, you would be pouring Kaminski some water right now by his side. But even though you came to Japan as a diplomat, you haven't been doing things together with your fellow Northern spies at all. There's no sense to it."

Haku's point was clear. But then who the hell was the guy standing right in front of Eiri who looked exactly like his partner?

"You are "Charo". You changed your face just like that Yuvin to conceal the ethnic signs that you come from Yasenevo. In America groups of different ethnicities might live among each other, but in the North they all stick to their own region. So spies who have to slip into some place change their face."

"... Why would something like that be necessary? "Especially a Japanese person.. No, moreover, the same face as someone in Sakura, who have been our enemies for a long time. There's no merit in getting plastic surgery done for that sort of face."

"That's what I want to hear from Sou. The real Egor Ginzburg was the one who gave you that face."

Haah, Haku sighed, like he was tired down to his bones.

"It's unthinkable that the real Sou would smell that way. Sou disliked that smell. The storage under the stairs that our mother's pimp would throw us into was full of that smell. A storage that contained the closet full of our mother's cheap work clothes. Whenever Sou or I get a whiff of that smell, we get nauseated. That's why my brother, who shares the same memories as me from that time, could never smell like that. Even if you've come to pick me up, you're not my brother. Isn't that right?"

Before Eiri knew it, Haku was holding a gun in his hands. It was an automatic gun with a black silencer. It was the heavy type that Eiri couldn't handle.

"Seven years ago you came here for sure to kill Eiri's father. Eiri remembered the shape of your ears. When a spy has to recognize someone, they look at the space between their eyebrows and their ears. Since those are the only areas you can't change. So you were the one who met Eiri here seven years ago. But you didn't have Sou's face yet at that time. Since Eiri only saw you from behind, he knew you were the culprit from the shape of your ears. He thought my brother had killed his parents when he saw your face. You changed to this face when Sou became a close aide of Kaminski three years ago. It was necessary for Sou to change his face in order to be near Kaminski. But that face still had use. Because I'm with Public Safety--- Because I'm a Sakura."

"That's all just conjecture."

"Voice can easily be imitated. If it's "Charo", then surely he must have had that much training. Anyone is fine for you. But the moment I strongly caught the scent of camphor from you, it was only at the level of a C grade. You must've thoroughly learned about me from Sou. I can only sense ill intent from someone who would do all that."

"Is it that unthinkable that I'd only be a messenger? Your brother was too important for sure that he couldn't avoid changing his face. But since he changed his face, you might not have trusted him. So he sent a message to you using "Charo"..."

"Either way I have no intention of going. If you're stalling, then that's useless."

He pointed the muzzle of the gun straight at Ginzburg-- no, at Charo, who was using Ginzburg's name, aiming for his heart.

"We already know everything in police chief Kurusu's plan. That Ushio Yoshiya would put on an act of being kidnapped, that there was a betrayer among the SP. I went along with it this far to find out who the person was who killed Eiri's family."

"Haku...?!"

"Instructions from Ichijima. If your mind is put at ease with this, then.. is it alright now?"

That meant Haku wanted to settle things here and now with the man who had the same face as him.

"In any case, the truth is that until the end there's nothing that has to be said with that man's mouth. Was your father killed or did he commit suicide?"

"I don't have to know."

Eiri slowly bent his thumb and removed the snap from the inside of his sleeve. It fell down into his hand with a thud, a familiar feeling.

This wasn't his rifle, his pride's, turn. The gun that was shoved into his bottom pocket was just a dummy. Charo must have seen the gun and thought that it would take Eiri a moment to pull out the gun. But it was actually already in his hand. At the same moment that Haku would take a shot at that guy, Eiri would take him out with that gun without leaving the slightest gap.

It wasn't important whether this man had been his father and mother's enemy.

The important thing was that if this guy wasn't his partner's relative at all, then there were clear bad intentions behind that plastic surgery. The gaze that man was sending him was making Eiri's skin shiver as if he had received an electric shock. His sixth sense was telling him that this was an enemy.

"Don't shut your eyes when you pull the trigger."

He remembered Huan's words.

"They will die even if you don't close your eyes. So look at your enemy. Take a look at who they are."

--- Why are you doing these mafia things, old man?

That was what I said when I was picked up out of a trash can in the past.

--- Because I decided. We'll defend this land. Since this is the only place we've got.

Because there was nothing but that place for them, because this was the only place where they could spread their roots, they had to protect it.

Huan had said that for sure. Somewhat proudly, as if it had been an absolute rule for himself.

If that was the case, then Eiri's roots were "here".

Even when he was driven into a corner to a point where he became like trash, Eiri kept constantly making one frantic request. He wanted to keep living like this. He wanted to live while being a Sakura, while being told unreasonable things by chief Ichijima, while getting fed up with Haku's messy room, while being annoyed by Gojyo's carelessness, while carrying out his given duties, while being bewildered by the amount of money he was given.

He wanted to live.

His family was killed and he was dumped into a trash can, and from there he was reborn like garbage with blood all over him, saved again---

That's right. I was saved. There was always someone saving me.

I wanted to spread my roots here.

So I can save myself.

"Is that you guys' answer?"

So the man said, staring down both of their gunpoints.

"Will you still serve the country? Is it still worth putting your lives on the line when you know you will be discarded?"

"A clear reason for living doesn't exist in this world."

Eiri spat out.

"In fact, I don't even know what I'm trying to save."

He slowly put power into his bent finger. With just a little more--- with just a slight bit of power put into it, the bullet would be fired.

"Unless the disarmament agreement is resigned, there might be massive wars once more, and this time the world may fall into ruin over it. Although we're putting our lives on the line for that sake, it's getting harder and harder to understand."

For what reason had there been a gathering to discuss disarmament to begin with?

Why does the police exist?

Why does Sakura exist?

Is that all not for the sake of other people? Is that not to save someone?

Yet the strange thing is that it seems like no one is saved.

When the disarmament started, the omnious existence of armed forces should have disappeared from all over the world. But that actually never happened.

"Then.. why?"

"Why?"

"If you'd stay a Sakura, hidden in the dark, from now on, then who the hell are you supposed to save? The dumb Japanese people of this country don't even realise they're being protected by you. Are you going to continue putting your life on the line from now on for those idiots? Especially since in the end you'll only end up scattering like cherry blossoms."

"There are people who want to be saved, but don't have anyone by their side."

"No, that's wrong. Kaidou Eiri. You can't save anyone."

'Saved', Eiri had said. He laughed.

"Everyone can save someone. I can guarantee that someone who's thrown away in the trash can be picked up again."

---- The ironic thing was that the timing during which Haku pulled the trigger was exactly the same.


There was no sound of a gunshot.

There were silencers on both of their guns. But there was a reason as to why it didn't even make a faint sound. Water suddenly splashed onto their feet.

(This smell.. gasoline?!)

There was a sprinkler installed in a thicket of weeds nearby. That must have been working by some chance. Eiri clicked his tongue. You couldn't use a gun like this.

A blast suddenly hit Eiri before he could even put away his gun. His body flipped over from the recoil, and the bullet missed the man.

In a quick moment, the man was lying down.

A blown away branch from the cherry tree blocked Eiri's sight. The flowers had been blown to pieces by the blast, and it made a pink curtain lower between him and the man.

"... Gh!"

That made Eiri lose sight of the man for a moment. Then there was another sound of an explosion.

An unusual amount of smoke covered the area in the blink of an eye. The moment he thought the man must have installed a smokescreen in the deserted house, Eiri's lungs started to burn.

"Ugh, gghhh.."

He sucked in a breath. When he looked in front of him, his sight blurred with tears, the man had already disappeared.

But it was burning. The cherry tree that was still alive and the decayed deserted house. The dry wood that had been left alone for a long time burned vicariously and black smoke spread.

It was disappearing. This time there would be nothing left.

"Aah..."

Eiri let out a sigh. He realised that he was crying since he was in an unbelievable amount of pain for some reason.

He wondered why he was so sad. His family had already died seven years ago. His house being on fire and him losing his place to return to forever was already a story from so long ago.

He caught a cherry blossom petal in his palm that had hit his face along with the smoke.

Ah, so was it that? He felt loneliness. He felt bad for the cherry blossoms, who had spread their roots here long ago, before this house had even been built.

This was pain for the eventual loss of memories.

"There isn't teargas in this smoke. That's probably just because that guy wasn't equipped to handle that himself either. There's no problem even if you inhale it."

Haku approached.

"Sorry. He was able to escape because of me..."

"It's not a problem. I wasn't planning on taking him down here. You wouldn't have been able to do it with your whole heart here."

"... Guh."

"The purification."

Eiri gulped. Haku said it like that. It was better if he escaped here. Because in Japan you can't kill people so openly, let alone foreigners. Moreover, he had a diplomat passport. If he wanted to strike down the enemy, it had to be done in Russia---

Suddenly Eiri noticed something shining at his feet. When he picked it up, he recognized it.

It was a lens.

It was the scope lens of the telescope that his father had bought for him on that far off day. The heat must have deformed the metal surrounding it, and so only the lens must have fallen off at some point.

It started from there. He became a Sakura, got to hold a gun, started liking rifles and killed people. Even if he couldn't put the reason for it into words, he somehow felt like this lens knew it all.

"Let's go. People are coming."

While hearing the siren of a fire truck in the distance, Eiri shoved the lens into his pocket.

It wasn't over yet.

Since Eiri was a Sakura, there was only one thing to do.

"We're starting with the final purification."


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