The full moon hung in the void of the night sky. He thought it looked strangely larger than usual. When the door to the terrace opened, the sound of insects flowed in along with the autumn night breeze. Yuushun’s eyes narrowed, and he heard behind him someone pushing the wheelchair.

“….There seems to be some difference in sound between the insects in Sa Province and the ones here, isn’t there, my husband? The nights have gotten cold, and the night wind is bad for your body. Here, please sit down.”

When he turned around, his wife, Rin, was standing there smiling at him. After she had finished aiding in the creation of new currency at the Department of Public Works, they had asked for help on some other matter again, so she was still showing up at the Outer Court. From the time she had developed the scalpels during the epidemic in Sa province, the technicians at the Public Works bureau had had their eye on her.

Yuushun sat deeply in the wheelchair. He slowly bent his ear to listen to the insects.

“What do you think of the crickets in Kiyou, Rin?”
“If you pay attention, you can hear them, indeed. Well, there was so much grass in the government offices in Sa Province, that they could make as much noise as they wanted.”
“…Rather than humans, the masters of the Sa Province offices were the insects.”

In Kiyou, the gardens of the city were always kept up in an orderly fashion, so the sound of the insects seemed far off.

“…Rin, it has only been a year since I married you…”
Under the gleaming full moon, Yuushun listened carefully to the sound of the insects. Only a year. But, to Yuushun, this already seemed like far in the past.
“….. We weren’t really together much, though.”
Yuushun whispered this in a faint voice, like a sigh.
The moment she realized he had said this in the past tense, Rin realized that something cold was flowing down her back. Only a year. Indeed, since he had become the prime minister, it had only been half a year. Despite this, Yuushun was visibly worn out. Although it was the same sort of hard work, the burden that was taking a toll on both his flesh and spirit was of a different sort than the one he carried in Sa Province, she realized. From before, due to his long period of imprisonment in Sa Province, Yuushun’s body had been terribly weakened. Yuushun was carrying out his duty as prime minister, with his life and body being worn down like wood being whittled down.

There was no one else, so Yuushun had to take everything on. When she heard that Kou Reishin had flown into a rage, Rin understood his feelings exactly. When the King had summoned Yuushun, had he thought that he would make everything come out well, from the personnel issues to planning? Just as he had brought Shuuei and Kouyuu close to him, this time it was Yuushun. This burden fell entirely on Yuushun. It wasn’t unreasonable for Reishin to angrily shout “stop playing around!” Even Rin, who wasn’t an official, could notice it, this lack of consideration and irresponsiblity towards the throne, so the court officials definitely saw it. That was probably why Kou Reishin wanted to say “so step down from your post, and rely on me.” Had Yuushun agreed to this, he would have done his work, made the Kou clan, who Yuushun could not make move, work for him, and with Reishin’s authority, they would become his allies. However, Yuushun had not agreed to this.

I am the king’s prime minister, so I must not bow my head to a clan of local nobles–Just as he had not bent to the Sa clan, even up against the Kou clan, Yuushun could not choose to do things in a way that would acknowledge the loss of the king’s authority. The king had hung around with Kouyuu and Shuuei, and as a result of halfway borrowing the power of their houses, had alienated the hearts of the people. If Yuushun had bowed his head to the Kou clan, the other six houses would then seek the same treatment. The throne would be looked upon as a figurehead, the amount of noble officials would increase, he would be abandoned by the officials of the national exam faction, and finally no one would listen to what the king had to say. That was exactly why Yuushun had rejected Reishin, and chosen the plan of having the Kou clan lower their heads from another direction. Rin saw the series of accomplishments in that light. It was done in the orthodox, fair and square way, and because of this, it was a difficult move that no one could have accomplished up till now.

….That was why there was now such a great burden on Yuushun.

Currently, Yuushun sat in his chair a lot. She could only think that this was not because he was so busy, but because he had already been so exhausted and worn out that he couldn’t walk around with his cane. She felt that in Yuushun’s clear gaze was always looking at a far off world. When she wondered whether he was no longer even looking at what would become of him, Rin grew frightened.

Rin reached out and grasped Yuushun’s left hand between both of hers. When she found it was as cold as ice, her chest began to hurt.

“….Please rest, even for just a little while. Take care of yourself, please.”
“…..Really, it’s the opposite, Rin.”

Yuushun moved his palm so that it was facing upwards in Rin’s hand. His bony fingers grasped Rin’s hand back. Feeling dizzied by that warmth, Yuushun drew a deep breath.

“…Really, up till now, I’ve been taking a long vacation. A long….long rest. As if I were vaguely watching the rain fall on the world, I watched my own life. That’s why no matter what, I was able to smile. Those ten years I was working in Sa Province were particularly peaceful, carefree, pleasant.”

Rin’s eyes widened….. Peaceful?

For ten years, Yuushun had worked ceaselessly. He had rid the government of all of the corrupt officials, cut off the influence of the Sa clan at the root, and from the base, had without even time to sleep run himself ragged reforming the thought of the governor and the officials. Rin had seen him literally risking his life, giving his all.

Was that pleaceful, carefree…. pleasant?

As if he could hear her say that, Yuushun slightly smiled.

“…It was fun. No, if I answer honestly, it was easy. In that place, where everything was behind the times, everything was simple. I was thankful I wasn’t changing. I could be the self I liked. That was why it was a vacation. A vacation like a dream.”
He said this as if sighing.

“…A vacation must always end sometime. The day that I returned to my life would come. Even though I knew this would happen…”
What? That they would hardly ever be together? That he would make her worry because of his overworking himself? She had a feeling it was something else. Something more fundamental.

It was in these words: “I was thankful I wasn’t changing.”

Yuushun listlessly looked at their hands grasping one another, and just once, held hers tighter.

“…Thinking ‘only this one thing,’ I ended up bringing you into my life. ….So, perhaps you are my last conscience. You are a pin which holds me back, a shackle, probably a weakness. Really, now that I am doing this kind of work, it would be better not to have that.”
Better not to have that, he said.
With that whisper like a sigh, he began to loosen his fingers. Rin immediately clutched his hand which was beginning to separate from hers. She felt that if she let go like this, something more important would leave with it.
Rin’s face twisted up. Before she could think, she let some words spill out.

“It would be better if you did.”
“…eh?”
“It would be better if you did. Even if it’s not me. It would be better for you to have an anchor. If you don’t, wouldn’t you fly off somewhere far, like a kite whose string has been cut?”
“….A kite with a cut string….”
That was rather a childish way of speaking. However, the smile on her face was that of an adult woman.
“…However, the person who can do that may not be me. I haven’t been able to become your anchor, so when you want to get rid of me and become freer, tell me. Without hesitation, I’ll let go of your hand. You should go wherever you like. But, I won’t chase after you. Nor will I wait for you. Thinking to follow someone anywhere, like a fool, is a big mistake. …. Because the one I wanted to be with, wasn’t anything like a perfectly kind person who had thrown away both his weaknesses and his conscience.”
Yuushun did not not immediately understand the meaning of her words. He mulled over them several times —and then his eyes widened.
“Ri…”
He didn’t know which one of them started to let go first. But Yuushun felt that he was the one was trying to pursue her retreating hand.

Suddenly, the floor—the entire room shook violently. Rin was thrown off balance and fell backwards, and like it was fated, their hands were pulled apart.

“Rin!”
He reached out but couldn’t get to her, so Rin was thrown all the way back against the wall. The books were falling out of the shelves, and he heard the sound of a vase breaking. Outside of the room there were people screaming.

Rin knew the books were falling, so she put her arms over her head and closed her eyes. The moment she thought they would hit her, she had been pulled towards someone. She heard near her the dull sound of something falling. When the shaking stopped, Rin opened her eyes, and when she found that Yuushun had protected her, she was astonished.

“Husband!!! How can you do this—-Your leg! Are you hurt?!”
“…I’m fine. I just have some slight grazes from those things hitting me. More importantly, could you please immediately go into the palace and the town and look at things, and verifying what damage has occurred, and make contact with the officials? This is a relatively large earthquake. Look out especially for fire. Thank goodness this occurred at night. …. Also look out for aftershocks–”
After listening to his other instructions, Rin passed to Yuushun his cane, which had fallen.
“Understood… But how could there be an earthquake in Kiyou? That really is rare….”

After Rin had left, Yuushun tried to stand up—but couldn’t. He was dizzy and there were spots in his eyes, so he put his hand over them. An unpleasant cold sweat broke out all over his body. From somewhere far off in the world, people and guards were running about and calling. Since he had told Rin to tell them that it wasn’t necessary to confirm the safety of the prime minister, no one would come to this room for awhile. That alone was something to be grateful for.

When he stopped feeling dizzy, he went to the wall as if crawling towards it, and let his back fall against it. The room, which was now in such a state there was nowhere to stand in it, vaguely reflected only deep shadows.

When he let his eyes fall to his left hand, he saw his fingers were shaking. Recently it had been difficult for him to walk, and even standing made him dizzy. With this broken down body, how could he even go to where Rin was?
“However, the person who can do that may not be me.

At that time, when their fingers had been intertwined, which one of them had it been who started to let go first?

Whichever of them it was, it was all the same. In the end, before the great earthquake, they had easily separated.
It was as if it were a premonition of their destiny.

Yuushun looked up. Since he had accepted the position of prime minister–since he had returned to Kiyou, his life had become far from easy. From his overworked body, it seemed that something was flowing from it, day by day. It felt like it was breaking down like something badly constructed. It hadn’t been necessary for Riou to tell him that the specter of death was covering over him, he had known this was happening already. Even so, he had returned. Because Yuushun knew that if he wanted to have his wish come true, this was the only time.

Although it wasn’t easy, now that Yuushun had returned to his own life, he definitely found it….. enjoyable. There was no exaltation above living with all of his strength the life that he chose, rather than watching it. Each time he brought down something redundant, like Reishin or the Kou clan, bit by bit, he felt he was returning to his original self. In the corner of his field of vision, there was something hopping. Yuushun focused on it, and it turned out to be a grasshopper. In the moonlight, it was dyed dark brown. Dark brown. Yuushun’s eyes grew cold.

There seems to be some difference in sound between the insects in Sa Province and the ones here, isn’t there, my husband?
The sound of the insects, which he had listened to every year with Rin.

Yuushun moved his cane soundlessly. In the next second, he crushed the grasshopper emotionlessly.

“Rin…I am no longer free to listen to the insects.”

There was something he wanted to see, even if he had to risk his life. Or to put it another way, it was something he was willing to sacrifice everything else for. And that might include, in the not far off future, Rin as well.

Rin had said ‘it would be better for you to have an anchor,’ with a tearful face.

“…But, the person who can do that, might not be me.”

A shackle which could pull back Yuushun.

The ceiling was dark, like bottomless mud. Looking up at that darkness, like his life, Yuushun muttered.

“…Rin. If you can’t do it, then probably no one else can stop me.”

When he would let go of Rin’s hand without any hesitation—-that would be the moment Yuushun completely returned to his true self.

Sweat was getting in his eyes, so he closed them. After this, for how long could he do something for Rin’s sake? He heard the hurried footsteps of the officials coming to report the damage. It was time to return to being the prime minister. He forced back his dizziness and wiped off the sweat. Supporting himself with the wall, he stood up, his knees shaking, and by then he had extinguished Rin from his thoughts. The grasshopper he had crushed with his cane. The earthquake. Yuushun sighed as if tiered.

“…..Hah…..I….am still busy….”

When he moved, dragging his feat and leaning on his cave, his lungs hurt as if they were being stabbed. ….Perhaps in the end, neither Rin nor anyone else would stop him, only the god of death. As an eternal anchor.

That was alright. Even if his body was no longer useful, he could only use it to the end. Compared to Rin, his own body was not something very important. But there was something more important to him than her. Somehow, he had reached his chair. Getting his breath under control, Yuushun suddenly smiled bitterly, thinking of the king.

The king’s greatest weakness was probably that. He couldn’t throw away things that were important to him.

…No matter who, everyone had thrown something away, and risen. And certainly, it was not that those things weren’t loved, nor that they weren’t important. For something more important, they had silently let them go, and each of them had crawled up to become the highest ranked officials. They didn’t use Shuurei as a target for their attacks because she was a woman. It was their suspicion towards the king who had used all of these stop-gap measures so as not to let go of Shuurei. What they were looking at was his resolution as king. If push came to shove, would he have the resolution to rule the country, even if he had to sacrifice her? they asked.

Perhaps, they had thought, that Ryuuki could become a true king when he had thrown away Shuurei with his own hands.

(….But in the end, he has chosen Shuurei as his consort…)

If he wished to marry a woman of the direct line of the Kou clan, he he should have chosen Kou Kurou’s daughter, Sera-hime. If he had decided that there should be women at court and chosen to make Shuurei an official, he should have followed through with that to the end. The moment he had chosen Shuurei over Sera, it was the same as if he had said he had made her an official because he was in love with her. After declaring this openly, he had probably realized somewhere inside that he was not doing what a king should. He hadn’t been carried away by Anju’s proposal, but had used Anju’s words as an excuse— trying to place Shuurei beside him in the easiest way.

Seiran, Shuuei, Kouyuu, probably somewhere in their hearts, they thought that it would be better if Shuurei was at the king’s side in the Inner Palace rather than an official. They didn’t realize either that the high officials saw through those shallow thoughts. Yuushun, after sighing once, greeted the officials who had rushed in with his usual smile.

********

Uu Uu knew no one as strong, and as beautiful as her.

“‘The outside’ is ravaged by war. You have gained much necessary wisdom and magic, so you should leave. It is the iron rule of the Hyou clan not to be involved in politics, but we cannot be indifferent. Do not even dream of fogetting this. We protect the people without fighting. When you go “outside,” look at the world and its people, consider well, and at last, you must do as you think right. Do not forget the pride of the Uu clan as one of the Hyou clan’s retainers.”
As she had said, she sent elite retainers out to the war torn world one after the other, and had them protect the helpless people. At a young age, she had undertaken a bloody purge of her clan, imprisoned her own father and took control of the clan, watched silently as the public politics of the nation grew corrupt, and commanded the “Assassin Dolls” without moving an eyebrow, and so she had been made out to be “the empress of flowing blood.” However, during the ten years Uu Uu had been out of her side, she had never gone against her own worlds. Although everyone in the clan feared her sternness, at the same time, they respected her from the bottom of their hearts. It was not that her powers were greater than her father, but that her words gave them pride and showed them the way. Even if he was not there, it should have been impossible that she would have changed. That was why Uu Uu knelt before her, and requested leave. He also would fulfill the duties of the Hyou clan.

“Then let us meet again at twilight.”

Since he was kneeling, at that time he did not see her expression.

“….My lady, you are unable to leave this palace in the sky. So, I shall go in your place. When I finish what I must do, I shall return to you. Until then, please wait for me. Until that far off twilight we will meet again.”
My lady.
‘Do not die, somehow, please wait for me,’ Uu Uu said under his breath.

At a sudden vibration, Uu Uu returned to himself from his memories. Suddently he put his small hands to his knees. Since he had gone to the roof of the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals to read the stars, the shaking was greater than it was at the lower floors. Howeer, in this Kiyou, there were rarely, if ever, any earthquakes. He realized that the sacred objects on the lower floors were all making a terrific noise. They rang as if they were right next to his ear. All the hair on Uu Uu’s body stood up. He had recently experienced this sensation.

(This… is not a normal earthquake….?!)

When the mirror had been broken at Nine Colors Cove, the same phenomenon had occurred. However, it hadn’t been as powerful as it was this time. That was because the other eleven sacred objects maintaining the peace had been left whole. However, this impact was…. On the top floor, there were nine small shrines, and one had turned into dust. It was not because of the earthquake. It had blown apart from the inside. The sacred object inside had flown into pieces, and which Uu Uu found near him. The nine small shrines represented those within the eight provinces and the Hyou clan. The one that had been broken was…

The one for Heki Province.

(…Could it be… that the “Sacred Bow of Gei” enshrined in Heki Province has been broken?!)
Who did this? Other than the greatest magicians in the Hyou clan, no one should have been able to even enter the sacred area.

Uu Uu immediately took some of the purified water from the half-globe shaped vase in the center of the room, and splashed it around in the room. He reached the place of the shrine that had been blown to smithereens, half falling down because of the earthquake, and forcefully plastered some papers with spells written on them there. With his left hand, he made an elaborate pattern, and while chanting a spell, he felt a sensation that he hadn’t felt in awhile, as if his body were filled with fire. Sweat broke out all over his body. He felt with his hand that was placed on the spell scrips a powerful pulling force, which threatened to suck him in. The moment he thought he would be torn apart at the waist, this time he was blown off to the side, as if he had been kicked like a ball. It was like he had become an arrow shot off by a bow.

(Separation of the soul?)

In the next moment, after a flight which could have been eternal, or a single second, all sound stopped. Before Uu Uu’s eyes was a completely different scene from the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals. What he was flying towards was a gigantic carving upon a sheer cliff. Upon this massive stone wall, images of spirits and immortals, and auspicious beasts such as twin dragons, phoenixes, kirins floated up. Although it was the middle of the night, to the spirit body of Uu Uu’s eyes, they appeared brilliantly colored. These relief carvings where so magnificently beautiful it was difficult to believe that they had been carved by human hands, and they were so impressively detailed it was as if they were alive.

(The sacred ground of Heki Province, the Hidden Stone Cave—)

This was the holy place in Heki Province which corresponded to the broken shrine. He had intended to respond to the emergency, but instead, it seemed he had been dragged here. The aftershocks were continuing, and there were discordant noises coming from the fall of rocks down the stone cliff. The sounds reverberated within Uu Uu’s body. That had a special meaning, for that shouldn’t have happened. When he flew towards the source of the reverberations, as he had thought, within the deepest depths of the sacred ground of the Hidden Stone Cave, the “Sacred Bow of Gei” which had been enshrined there was broken cleanly into two pieces.

The sacred treasure of the Hidden Stone Cave wasthe “Sacred Bow of Gei,” which was said to have shot down nine suns, and the nine demon destroying arrows used at that time. They were called “fire crow killing arrows” because they had shot down the fire crows which inhabited the nine suns. However, the nine demon-destroying arrows were sealed in a separate place, and currently in the Hidden Stone Cave there was only the unstringed “Sacred Bow of Gei.” And that had been cruelly snapped in two.

(Who…?)
And why?

There were few who could easily break the seals placed by generations of priestesses and spell-casters, and destroy the “Sacred Bow of Gei.” Luckily, he had been thrown here, so as a spirit body, he attempted to restore the seals. When he was able to finish the emergency repairs, his vision was giving out. He had reached the time limit. Resisting the power pushing his soul back into his body, Uu Uu finally raised a finger to the broken bow. Had something happened before it was broken?–Had someone broken it? He had tried to “see,” but through some fearsome attractive force, his soul was drawn away. It was as if someone was interfering.

Like a bow snapping back after shooting an arrow, his soul flew back across the sky with amazing force. Soon, he had failed to realize that he was opening his own eyes. He was totally relieved. One couldn’t constantly separate one’s soul like that, for it placed a terrible strain on the body. Uu Uu looked for a long time into the void of the night sky. The stars were flowing past.

….The sacred bow of Gei had been heartlessly broken.

Even in the Ministry of the Cave of the Immortals and the Hyou clan and its retainers, there were few who knew what would happen if it were broken. There was barely anyone who knew that it was not that the sealed Palace of the Cave of the Immortals was not opened, but that it was forbidden to open it. Even regarding the sacred grounds within each province, they had carefully made sure that each clan did not know too much.

That earthquake. The strange movement of the stars. The deliberately broken sacred object of the Heki Province. And, even more importantly, it had been a long time since the Hyou clan had ceased contact. All methods of contacting them had been completely sealed off.

Something was beginning. …. No, it was a little different. Something was ending. He had a sense that actually, this was something which had started long before, and now was beginning to move towards its finale.

Notes:
The “shrine” which was destroyed was a ‘hokora,’ which look like this.

Reference for the myth about the shooting down of the nine suns. Gei is the Japanese reading of Yi.

The end of this chapter may be revised, because I’m not satisfied with a lot of the vocab I used to describe the religious/sacred stuff. As it is, there are vague equivalents in English for much of this stuff, but the words are tied to explicitly Christian traditions, which would sound odd… I’m also not satisfied with the translation of the places.

Commentary:

This marks the end of the first chapter.

Goodness, I feel sorry for Rin. Yuushun…. well, it’s harder to pity him when he’s the one CAUSING his own problems, really. XD

In case people weren’t paying attention in summaries of the previous volumes to Uu Uu, yeah, basically it’s implied that he and Ruka were in love with each other, but neither of them really admitted it to themselves or bothered to tell the other one, and thus, decades passed.

Must say, FINALLY we are getting some development of the supernatural elements, but it SURE didn’t seem in the beginning of the novels that there was a whole institution (referring to the Hyou clan) dedicated to turning out magicians/priestesses with magical powers…. It’s also hard to figure out what the differences between the priestesses (miko) and the magicians are. Uu Uu seems to have a whole bunch of spells at his disposal, but the Hyou clan members up to this point seemed to have one magical power each.

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