Chapter 51: Hydrangeas in Myoryu-in Temple

“Good boy.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto scratched the puppy’s chin, and the puppy happily stuck out its tongue.

“A very cute child,” he stood up and said with a smile.

“Thank you,” the woman holding the leash smiled and nodded.

This was the morning of June 20th, a rare sunny day.

The last sunny day, even with Minamoto Kiyomoto’s memory, he had to think for a few seconds to say it accurately.

He was jogging alone on the beach of the seaside park. Before him was the endless Pacific Ocean, and the sunlight was dancing on the waves.

Behind him on the embankment was the Enoden.

The most famous scene in “Slam Dunk”—the crossing where Sakuragi Hanamichi and Haruko waved—was at the “Kamakura High School Front” station ahead.

The sky was not yet bright. With Minamoto Kiyomoto’s eyesight, looking into the distance, there were already people taking pictures there.

He picked up a branch he had found on the beach and jumped onto the embankment.

Turning to look at the sea, the sea breeze blew his clothes, and for a moment, his heart was open, as if he were about to melt into the distant horizon.

In the rising sun, his temperament was calm, as if he had abandoned his physical body and entered the great nirvana.

The second turning of the “Mahavairocana Sutra” says that the World-Honored One, as the Buddha, “nirvana” is permanent and unchanging. All the suffering and joy in the world, to him, are like the sparks that fly everywhere when forging iron, fleeting in an instant.

Minamoto Kiyomoto had the Buddhist scriptures of the forty-nine monks of Mount Koya, and he had been in a cold war with Himemiya Izayoi for fourteen days. Last night, the misunderstanding was resolved. Today, looking at the world’s largest ocean, he briefly entered the realm of nirvana.

A wheel of Buddha’s light hung behind his head, and the light of the second wheel was faintly visible.

He didn’t take the shocking matter to heart. Instead, sadness and sorrow welled up in his heart, and he withdrew from nirvana.

“My life has a limit, but knowledge is limitless. Even if I learn a curse every day for a hundred years, including leap years and common years, it’s only 36,525 days, 36,525 curses.”

What’s more, it was impossible to learn a curse in a day.

The Pacific Ocean before him, which was called the world’s largest ocean, was only the world’s largest on the small earth. As great as the sun, it was just a speck of dust in the universe.

How could one, with a small human body, transcend everything and truly grasp everything?

Minamoto Kiyomoto was a little disheartened. He waved the branch and, instead of walking on the sidewalk, he walked along the embankment towards Enoshima, absent-mindedly.

The morning wind was very comfortable, without the humidity of the rainy season or the heat of summer. The Enoden beside him rumbled past.

The female students, female office workers, and housewives on the train, seeing Minamoto Kiyomoto strolling on the embankment, would inevitably whisper and stare at him.

On Enoshima, Himemiya Izayoi woke up in the inn, walked to the window, and opened the curtains.

Today was a great sunny day. Even the distant side of Kamakura was a clear blue sky.

Her gaze moved down and she saw Minamoto Kiyomoto waving a branch on the coastline.

She sat down by the window, resting her chin on her hand and looking out the window.

On the embankment, Minamoto Kiyomoto sensed someone looking at him. Following the feeling, he saw Himemiya Izayoi’s stunningly beautiful face in a small window on Enoshima.

He threw away the branch, did a flip, and walked on his hands.

Himemiya Izayoi’s hand, which was supporting her chin, her fingers gently tapped her cheek, and her eyes were full of amusement.

Minamoto Kiyomoto returned to the No. 134 inn. Kamibayashi Miko was drinking coffee at a small wooden table for two against the wall in the living room.

“The ninth group is only gathering at four in the afternoon. Where should we go for a walk before that?” Minamoto Kiyomoto sat down opposite her and picked up the Kamakura travel brochure on the table.

Kamibayashi Miko didn’t speak.

After almost three months of getting along, Minamoto Kiyomoto already knew that as long as she didn’t deny it, it was an affirmation.

For Kamibayashi Miko, it was more appropriate to use the slightly superior word ‘tacit approval’. She had always treated Minamoto Kiyomoto with the attitude of a guardian.

“This morning, I suddenly felt that life is very meaningless,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, flipping through the travel brochure and talking about his morning’s realization.

“Instead of thinking about these messy things, it’s better to cultivate diligently,” Kamibayashi Miko said faintly.

“Of course I understand the principle,” Minamoto Kiyomoto sighed. “But when I think that no matter how hard I try in this life, I might not even be as good as the Pacific Ocean, the boredom in my heart is wider and broader than the Pacific Ocean.”

“You also know that the boredom in your heart is wider and broader than the Pacific Ocean. Why don’t you understand the principle that ‘the human body is limited, but the human heart is infinite’?” Himemiya Izayoi, wearing a beautiful dress, walked down with a smile, her new sunglasses spinning on her fingertips.

Kamibayashi Miko only heard the voice and knew that the two of them had made up.

“The human body is limited, but the human heart is infinite…” Minamoto Kiyomoto was still muttering to himself. Himemiya Izayoi grabbed his collar, pulled him from his seat, and sat down herself.

“Boss, coffee,” she placed her sunglasses on the table and snatched the travel brochure from Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hand.

When the boss brought the coffee, she asked, “Boss, are there people who walk on their hands in Kamakura?”

“Walk on their hands?” The boss was stunned. “Monkeys?”

“So what I saw this morning was a monkey,” Himemiya Izayoi put down the brochure and took a sip of coffee with a smile.

“Are there monkeys near Enoshima?” The boss, who had lived in Enoshima for most of his life, became interested.

Unfortunately, Himemiya Izayoi ignored him. What she had just said was not actually to him.

“This morning, I was sitting by the window…” she began to chat with Kamibayashi Miko.

The boss scratched his neck, took a stool from another table for two, and gave it to Minamoto Kiyomoto, resolving his own embarrassment.

Minamoto Kiyomoto instinctively sat down, still thinking about the phrase ‘the human body is limited, but the human heart is infinite’.

Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi subconsciously lowered their voices.

When his head felt like it was really going to split, Minamoto Kiyomoto was forced to come back to his senses.

“Ah, it hurts,” he lightly tapped his forehead with his fist.

“Have you figured it out, Young Master Kiyoshi?” Himemiya Izayoi asked with a smile, holding her coffee.

“No, I’ve read too few books,” Minamoto Kiyomoto shook his head, and the pain eased a little.

Enlightenment relied on intelligence and accumulation. Just like an exam, only with sufficient knowledge accumulation and a nimble mind could one get a high score.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was smart enough, but he hadn’t read enough books.

Although he had failed, the two miko did not see a single bit of discouragement in his eyes. He had returned to his usual confidence.

After figuring out ‘the human body is limited, but the human heart is infinite,’ that special temperament became more obvious in him—to him, everything was a matter of time. He firmly believed that he would succeed.

“I’ve decided,” Minamoto Kiyomoto took the travel brochure and rolled it into a tube.

Two beautiful faces turned to look at him.

“Decided what?” Himemiya Izayoi tilted her head and asked.

“I’m going to create my own school,” the rolled-up travel brochure tapped the table. “Like Shinto-ryu, Tennen Rishin-ryu, Shinjin-ryu, Yagyu Shinkage-ryu, I’m going to create a Minamoto clan’s ‘from the heart’ school. The general principle is: the human body is limited, but the human heart is infinite.”

“And then?” Kamibayashi Miko asked.

“There’s no ‘and then’ for now. In short, I’ll learn the Eight Divine Thunders first, then all kinds of curses, and summarize as I learn.”

“It sounds very ‘from the heart’,” Himemiya Izayoi mocked.

“It seems I’ve entered the door,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a proud look. The confidence he had just now naturally retracted into his body, and he became frivolous again.

“Since you’re going to be ‘from the heart,’ let’s not learn the Eight Divine Thunders for now. Let’s learn the ‘Divine Power Transformation Curse’,” Kamibayashi Miko’s voice was like a clear wind, coming slowly, neither arrogant nor impatient.

“‘Divine Power Transformation Curse’?” Minamoto Kiyomoto remembered this curse. “The curse Izayoi used when she killed the Kosen at Lake Ashi?”

“That curse involves capacity, so it can be considered to be related to ‘from the heart’,” Himemiya Izayoi took the travel brochure from Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hand and slowly opened it like a scroll.

“Okay, I’ll learn this,” Minamoto Kiyomoto nodded.

“Ten million yen,” Kamibayashi Miko said.

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto slowly turned his head and looked at Himemiya Izayoi.

“Oh~~” Himemiya Izayoi flipped through the travel brochure with great interest. It had an introduction to the “Great Buddha of Kamakura.”

It had been damaged by many typhoons and fires, and had been rebuilt time and time again. It had also been flooded by seawater, and the entire main hall had been destroyed.

This was the official story. In reality, it was definitely a battle between yokai and cultivators.

But whether it was the official story or the reality, it could be seen that as long as one lived in this world, one would always experience some setbacks.

“Ten million, on credit,” Minamoto Kiyomoto felt a great pain in his heart.

Kamibayashi Miko sneered, “Twenty million.”

“Don’t push it! I’m the one who owes you money, not the other way around. Be careful, I might go to sleep and forget all about the debt!”

“Three—”

“Twenty million it is!”

Kamibayashi Miko taught him the “Divine Power Transformation Curse.”

Using the yokai’s capacity remaining in the bones, the divine power was transformed into the shape of a yokai. Its huge body and immense power made it an extremely useful curse when fighting yokai.

The only drawback was that one had to be careful of the yokai’s capacity in the bones at all times. Once control was lost, it would truly be the revival of a yokai—a yokai with the power of a bone.

After they finished their breakfast, Minamoto Kiyomoto had learned the “Divine Power Transformation Curse.” Fujiwara Shino and the other three happened to come down from upstairs.

A gust of fragrant wind came. The most beautiful scenery in Kamakura was actually here.

“Where’s Minamoto Nagatoku?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“Father is pretending to be a tourist at Tokei-ji Temple,” after Minamoto Kiyone answered, she said again, “According to seniority, you should call him uncle.”

“Notify him to gather at the Great Buddha of Kamakura at four o’clock. The three of you can stay in the inn to prepare, or you can go out and play. Also at four o’clock, at the Great Buddha of Kamakura,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Because of what had happened last night, Minamoto Kiyone looked at Himemiya Izayoi, waiting for her instructions.

“Why are they all temples? I’m already tired of seeing them in Kyoto,” Himemiya Izayoi flipped through the travel brochure in her hand.

“Then let’s go shopping. I remember there’s a famous shopping street called Komachi-dori,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“What’s so interesting about that kind of place?” Himemiya Izayoi closed the travel brochure, rolled it into a tube, and said like a child, “I want to go to a sparsely populated place! I’ve seen enough of the city! I want to go to the countryside!”

Minamoto Kiyomi tugged at Minamoto Kiyone’s sleeve and said in a low voice, “They’ve made up.”

Minamoto Kiyone pulled her sleeve back. Of course she knew. She wasn’t blind.

The three of them discussed for a while and decided to go out and play. There was a big battle in the afternoon. They couldn’t calm down in the inn anyway, so it was better to go out and relax.

“Brother Kiyomoto, we’re going out to play,” Minamoto Kiyomi reported.

“Be careful,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

Whether they went out or stayed in the inn, everyone had their own way of adjusting their mentality. He wouldn’t waste time on such things.

For ordinary people, he was usually very polite;
For Minamoto Nagatoku and the others, even if it seemed like nothing had happened now, if something unpleasant happened again, he could cut off their fingers without hesitation.

Thinking about it carefully, the half a month he had been angry with Himemiya Izayoi was really strange.

He wasn’t the type to hold a grudge—if he really wanted to break off relations, he would do it immediately after going back, without any delay.

That evening after the rain, when they were eating on the top floor of the shopping mall, he was so angry that he paid the bill without changing his expression. It was very unlike him.

Walking in the mottled alley of Kamakura, Minamoto Kiyomoto reflected while following behind the two miko who had changed into kimonos.

The kimonos were the color of hydrangeas, and they were also the clothes they used for battle.

Kamibayashi Miko’s was blue and white, while Himemiya Izayoi’s was purplish red.

“Young Master Kiyoshi, who doesn’t know what he’s thinking, which color do you like?” Himemiya Izayoi turned and asked.

Minamoto Kiyomoto came back to his senses, sized up the two of them, and couldn’t help but say:

“No wonder the flower language of the hydrangea is ‘fickle and changeable.’ Looking at the two of you, I can understand the hydrangea’s feelings very well.”

“Philanderer,” Himemiya Izayoi said with a laugh and a curse.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto with cold eyes.

“By the way,” Minamoto Kiyomoto began to change the subject, “the hydrangeas at Myoryu-in Temple are very famous. Should we go and see them? If they’re really good, we can dig some up and take them back.”

“Dig some up and take them back?” Himemiya Izayoi asked with confusion.

“Aren’t they all outside the shrine?” Kamibayashi Miko, the miko of Hakusan Shrine, said.

“We went to Hakone, and the shrine got a hot spring. We came to Kamakura, so we have to take something back. I plan to live in the mountains for the rest of my life,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“What a fickle guy. Yesterday you said you were reluctant to see me go, and today you’re confessing to another woman,” Himemiya Izayoi turned her face away in annoyance.

She was wearing fashionable sunglasses on her head, which should have been out of place with her kimono, but it looked good no matter how you looked at it. This was a beauty.

“That was a friend’s reluctance. What are you thinking? I’m devoted to Miss Kamibayashi.”

“Who cares about you? This miko’s suitors can line up from here to Kamakura.”

“Hmm?” Kamibayashi Miko was a little confused.

“Miss Kamibayashi,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile, “she means that the people pursuing her can circle the earth. This person is even more narcissistic than me.”

“Young Master Kiyoshi understands me best,” Himemiya Izayoi said with a grin, hitting Minamoto Kiyomoto’s chest with the fan in her hand.

“Cough, cough!”

“Oh my,” Himemiya Izayoi said with an exaggerated look of concern, “why is Young Master Kiyoshi coughing? Could it be lung cancer? He’s definitely going to die.”

“It’s just tracheitis. I won’t die,” Minamoto Kiyomoto patted his chest and smoothed his breath.

“Let’s go,” Kamibayashi Miko, who was like a hydrangea incarnate, said with a smile. “Let’s take the tracheitis-stricken student Minamoto Kiyomoto to Myoryu-in Temple to see the hydrangeas for the last time.”

“Don’t you understand medicine? What last look?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was very dissatisfied.

The three of them walked side by side towards Myoryu-in Temple, stepping on the sunlight.

“Speaking of collecting things, there’s a thousand-year-old wisteria tree at the Yamazaki Ootoshi Shrine in Hyogo Prefecture. When I have time to go to Hyogo Prefecture, I must move it.

“By the way, there’s also that one in Tochigi Prefecture. It’s said to cover an area of 400 square meters. If I plant it behind my house, I’ll be living under the flowers, and I’ll wake up still under the flowers.”

◇

The brilliant sunlight played and chased on the new green, dense leaves.

Inside Myoryu-in Temple, there were rockeries and artificial water, dense bamboo forests, blooming flowers, and ancient temples. It was elegant and quiet everywhere, a good place to enjoy peace.

If it weren’t for the season when the hydrangeas were in full bloom.

“Chika, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect there to be so many people,” Itomi Sayaka said with a bitter smile.

“It’s okay. Thank you, Sayaka,” Hanyu Chika, who was in a depressed mood, replied.

Itomi Sayaka looked at her with guilt. Since her brother’s death, her friend had been in a bad mood.

The two of them were classmates in university. Hanyu Chika loved her brother, and she doted on her own sister. They were also both chosen by the previous generation’s ninth group leader and joined Shintoism together.

In terms of protection, the two of them made different choices. One let her brother join Shintoism, and the other let her sister continue to be an ordinary person.

No one understood Hanyu Chika’s feelings better than Itomi Sayaka. When she thought that if it were Yuki-chan who had died, she would probably have gone mad.

This was also why she had risked appearing on the ‘Romancecar’.

The two of them sat in the abbot’s quarters, quietly looking at the courtyard.

There were tourists everywhere, and no matter where one’s gaze moved, one could see hydrangeas.

The shade of the trees was so dense that it seemed to be about to flow down. The hydrangeas, which had bloomed to their peak, their large flower balls were about to droop to the ground as if they could no longer hold on.

Everything was too intense, reminding one of how desolate it was in winter.

Itomi Sayaka’s mood also became gloomy. This time it was Chika’s brother. Next time, would it be her sister Yuki-chan? How long could she hold on?
“Let’s go,” Itomi Sayaka stood up and extended her hand to Chika.

“Yes,” Chika took her hand and stood up.

The hydrangeas around them had bloomed into a wall of flowers. Walking on the bluestone path, the flowers were almost in their faces, and they had to push them away with their hands.

The two of them walked in silence. They could hear the sound of two pairs of geta clacking on the bluestone path on the other side of the flower wall.

‘It should be a tourist in a kimono, but the sound of walking is really pleasant. Do they often walk in geta?’ Itomi Sayaka thought.

She subconsciously wanted to see what the person who could make such a pleasant sound with geta looked like.

At the corner of the flower wall, they met head-on, and she saw.

The girl in the blue and white kimono was beautiful and otherworldly; the girl in the purplish-red kimono was stunningly beautiful.

Beside the two of them was a young man so handsome that one couldn’t take one’s eyes off him.

Even the sunlight passing through the shade of the trees seemed to be gently blessing the three of them.

Both sides stopped at the same time.

Itomi Sayaka’s body felt a burst of heat, and then sweat soaked her underwear. Her heart beat violently.

The girl in the blue and white kimono, her expression unchanged, didn’t say a word. She moved her slender body slightly and stood in front of the man.

“What a coincidence,” the girl in the purplish-red kimono smiled sweetly, so beautiful that it was dazzling.

Minamoto Kiyomoto, behind Kamibayashi Miko, looked at the two people in front of him.

Itomi Sayaka was wearing a white short-sleeved shirt, her chest was full, and her high-waisted jeans showed off her long, straight legs. She was carrying a white bag, simple and beautiful.

Beside her was a woman in a long black dress. She was quite beautiful, with a sad look, and was now looking at Kamibayashi Miko with a wary expression.

“You’re on a trip with other women behind my back, your girlfriend?” Itomi Sayaka sneered.

This was all the acting she could muster.

She couldn’t hear what she was saying at all. All the blood in her body was flowing backwards. Even when she spoke, she felt as if her face was stuck with glue.

Her identity was exposed!

The other party knew that the ninth group was gathering in Kamakura!
Yuki-chan, Yuki-chan, Yuki-chan…
Itomi Sayaka’s world was spinning, and her whole body was cold.

“Chika, let’s go!” The harsh words, but her tone was weak.

She pulled Chika and prepared to go around the three of them.

“The dense leaves hide the singing birds, and the fragrant wind keeps the beauties,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was not worried about his own safety at all. He stepped forward to block the two of them and said with a smile, “Such a beautiful scenery, so many hydrangeas. Sayaka, why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

(End of Chapter)