Chapter 101

3. The Kindling God

The smell of soot clung stubbornly. I couldn't tell if it was drifting in from the government office or sticking to me.

As soon as we reached the archive, Fukagawa approached with a grim expression.

"Do you know something?"

As I faltered at the sudden question and his fierce tone, Katagishi stepped in between us.

"What's with the sudden outburst? That doesn't help anyone understand anything."

"We haven't been able to contact Sumida since last night. You were the last ones to see her, right?"

"Sumida..."

The image of the human-shaped soot left in the smoking area flashed through my mind.

Fukagawa shot me a look of hatred for a moment, then quickly wiped the expression from his face.

"It was a mistake to tell you. I'll investigate on my own. If Kirima asks, tell him that."

"Wait, calm down..."

He brushed off Katagishi's attempt to stop him, bumped into me, and walked away.

"What's with that guy... Are you okay?"

"I'm totally fine. I'm more worried about Sumida and Fukagawa."

I rubbed my shoulder, still aching from the impact. A burnt smell lingered on my fingertips. A trail of black soot stained my palm, and I instinctively stepped back.

"What's wrong?"

Katagishi looked at my hand and widened his eyes. I rubbed the soot onto the hem of my suit and said,

"Katagishi, come to the smoking area. There's something I want you to check. I don't even know if I'm imagining things anymore..."

There was a faint mark on the wall of the smoking area. Maybe a janitor had tried to clean it—fainter than yesterday. It looked like the shadow of someone who shouldn't have been there.

"This is where Sumida was yesterday. And I saw the same thing on the stairs of my apartment building..."

"That flame-related Territorial Divine Offenses? Even if it is, for it to affect the government office and investigators... that's never happened before..."

Katagishi groaned gloomily and patted my shoulder.

"Miyaki, don't get involved any further. We don't know what's going on. I'll have Fukagawa stop investigating too."

"But..."

Footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway, and Rokuhara and Miwasaki peeked around the corner.

"You look like you're coming back from a funeral."

"Coming from you, who's always in mourning, that means nothing..."

Katagishi grumbled. Miwasaki smiled gently.

"Mind if I sit here?"

"Of course not... Rokuhara, you don't smoke, right?"

"And Miyaki, you're not a smoker either."

Katagishi clicked his tongue, leaned toward me, and made space.

Purple smoke blurred the Tokyo outside the window like a city of mist. After listening to our conversation, Rokuhara quietly spoke.

"Since then, I looked into flame-related Territorial Divine Offenses from around the same era as that clipping. There were two, but both were deemed unproblematic."

"Two?"

"One was The God in the Fire. Apparently, it only holds authority within a certain village. The other was The Kindling God observed in downtown Tokyo. That must be the true identity of the Flame Man."

"What are its traits?"

"There was only a record of a humanoid flame wandering the streets. Not even as spooky as a ghost story."

"Neither good nor evil—truly a Territorial Divine Offenses."

Katagishi furrowed his brow.

Rokuhara muttered like he was talking to himself.

"Whether noble or base, good or evil, all go to the Land of Night's Sight when they die."

"What was that?"

"From the Kojiki. Whether good or evil, all live in the land of the dead after death. All the world's evils come from the impurity of that land."

I answered in place of the silent Katagishi.

"That's what you were talking about yesterday, right? The impurity that Izanagi washed off after returning from the underworld became the gods of misfortune who govern the impurities of this world."

"Exactly. Impurity isn't evil. It refers to unavoidable misfortunes like illness, injury, and death. What seems bad to us is simply a natural outcome to the gods."

Katagishi held his cigarette between his teeth and glared at Rokuhara.

"So you're saying we should accept whatever happens during the investigation into The Kindling God?"

"Of course not. I just thought that even a god that seems to have no traits might possess powers beyond our understanding."

"You're being too roundabout."

Miwasaki exhaled a thin stream of smoke and gave a wry smile.

"Listening to all this, I started wondering—could The Kindling God be connected to The Unseen God somehow?"

"What do you mean?"

"Disappearances happen around The Unseen God. Investigators looking into The Kindling God have vanished. Feels like there's a connection."

His eyes sharpened behind his glasses.

"What did all three of you think when you investigated The Unseen God?"

Katagishi shook his head.

"I didn't think anything..."

"Maybe it's not that nothing happened—you just can't remember what did."

I gasped. It felt like something cold poured into the hollow in my mind.

"After the mission, I went back to investigate on my own. When I visited the inn at Mount Fudaraku, there was this notebook where guests write messages... and I saw my own handwriting saying it was my fourth time there. After that, I started feeling strange and had to take time off. I wonder what would've happened if I'd stayed at Mount Fudaraku."

"So you're saying The Unseen God erases people's memories?"

"I don't know for sure, but it seems possible."

Rokuhara's gaze sharpened like a blade. It was the first time I'd seen such a change in his expression. Katagishi stood beside him, pale and trembling.

"Then... Miyaki losing her memory was my fault. I made her come along on that investigation..."

I shook my head.

"It's not your fault, Katagishi. It was my job too. Besides, Miwasaki recovered after returning from Mount Fudaraku, right? That means it shouldn't be related to the investigator disappearances happening in Tokyo."

"I can't say for sure, but if The Unseen God's power has grown like other Territorial Divine Offenses, it might not be impossible."

"You're wrong."

A flat voice rang out.

At the end of the hallway stood a pale-skinned woman, blending into the shadows.

"Akitsu..."

Akitsu walked over to us and gave a courteous bow. Katagishi snapped his cigarette in half.

"You... we were looking for you."

"I'm sorry. I had to take sudden leave to handle a handover from my previous job."

I tugged on Akitsu's sleeve and pushed her in front of Miwasaki.

"She's the investigator I mentioned yesterday, the one familiar with the records of Territorial Divine Offenses."

"Ah, I see... You were the one who just said it was wrong, right?"

"Sorry for eavesdropping and interrupting. But yes, The Unseen God is indeed a god that erases human memories. Though that's not all there is to it."

Rokuhara kept his sharp gaze fixed on her.

"How can you say that so definitively?"

"...Because I know. I can't say any more than that."

Akitsu paused and lifted her chin.

"Also, The Unseen God cannot exert its power anywhere outside of Mount Fudaraku. That remains true even now."

"Then why..."

"Because The Kindling God possesses powers similar to The Unseen God."

The four of us fell silent. Akitsu looked at me with her pale eyes.

"Miyaki, you lost your memory after returning from Mount Fudaraku, didn't you?"

The words caught in my throat. Katagishi averted his gaze.

"Now that you mention it, you did say some weird things after coming back from that investigation."

I couldn't remember. Still, more than fear, I felt relieved to see the color return to Katagishi's face. He shouldn't blame himself anymore.

Miwasaki flicked the ash from his cigarette.

"But why would The Kindling God have such a power?"

The magazine clipping and the soot mark on the wall connected like a plug.

"The Tokyo Air Raids..."

"Miyaki?"

"That article speculated that The Kindling God was born from the terror of the air raids. The flames that burned away all human life turned into a Territorial Divine Offenses that erased memory and existence."

Akitsu lowered her eyes and nodded. If that were true... then Sumida, Fukagawa, and I—

Katagishi let out a low growl.

"The investigation ends here. Let's report to Kirima for now. If he realizes we're in danger, he won't push forward either."

The smoke crawling above our heads hung heavy like sediment.

It was the next day that I learned Fukagawa had gone missing, following after Sumida.