Chapter 151: Another Visit to the National Diet Building (Please vote with monthly tickets)

---

The sky was clear for thousands of miles, with almost no snow, yet it was freezing cold, a cold that pierced the bones.

“Let’s go,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said to Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at him, her heart filled with both melancholy and sweetness. She didn’t get up.

“I hate sadness and hesitation, and I don’t want the person I like to be sad or hesitant,” Minamoto Kiyomoto extended his hand and said calmly.

“Are you sure you want to go?” Himegami Izayoi said casually, drinking her wine. “In your eyes, this is deception, but to him, it might just be a small matter.”

“Miko,” Minamoto Kiyomoto called softly.

Kamibayashi Miko slowly extended her hand, then retracted it, “Forget it, I also…”

Minamoto Kiyomoto grabbed her hand.

He smiled comfortingly, “It’s always been you teaching me. Today, I’ll teach you once. Go and get everything you want. If there are difficulties, solve them. Never be sad or hesitant. Let’s go!”

Kamibayashi Miko did not pull her hand back.

Minamoto Kiyomoto pulled her up.

“What a hassle,” Himegami Izayoi clapped her hands and followed them up.

“I’m going too,” Rikka put down her hot water.

“What are you going for?” Minamoto Kiyomoto frowned.

“An idealist who has lost their dream is as good as dead. I want to see what will happen to her,” Rikka said.

“Then you’ll be disappointed,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said. “That was the Miss Kamibayashi before she met me. After she met me, this small matter, she doesn’t even need to figure it out herself. I can solve it for her.”

Kamibayashi Miko pulled her hand back, her mood a little better.

That’s right. So what if I was deceived by my father?
Don’t be interested in the past.
Today, tomorrow, Minamoto Kiyomoto will always be by my side.

With a loud bang, the surrounding snow mountains simultaneously avalanched. The red-gold dragon, which had caused a sonic boom, shot straight into the clouds.

It flew like a sharp arrow above the sea of clouds, from north to south.

The world fell silent. Entering supersonic speed, the sound was left behind.

In mid-November, the sky over Tokyo was very cold and clear. There wasn’t a single cloud in the sky for half a day.

The houses on the streets and alleys were as square as matchboxes, lifeless.

The practitioners in charge of security rushed up. Seeing that it was Minamoto Kiyomoto, they hesitated and didn’t stop him. The red-gold dragon landed at the National Diet Building.

“Charge in!” Himegami Izayoi clenched her fists, looking like a spirited little woman.

“Let’s see how the talk goes,” Minamoto Kiyomoto took a step forward.

“I’ll just watch. I won’t make a move,” Rikka stated her position.

The “Ogosho” was in a meeting, a meeting about renovating all the citizen parks in Kanto.

What kind of specifications, maintenance costs, whether to allocate funds based on the number of surrounding citizens, or to have a unified specification.

The secretary who received the four of them briefly introduced the content of the meeting, and then said that the meeting had already started for ten minutes, and they only had to wait for another five minutes.

Through the window, one could see people constantly entering and leaving the Diet Building, all in suits and leather shoes.

Not far away, the national flags of various countries hung lifelessly on the flagpoles.

It was a windless, clear winter day.

Minamoto Kiyomoto put down his teacup, withdrew his gaze from the window, and looked at Kamibayashi Miko. Her fair face, which had seemed to melt in Hokkaido, now had some color.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m not that fragile,” Kamibayashi Miko turned her face to the side and smiled.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at her quietly for a while.

“You don’t have to smile,” he said.

Kamibayashi Miko’s smile disappeared, and her gaze turned to a place where there was no one.

“My mood hasn’t improved yet, but it’s nothing serious,” she said. “Let the past be the past. Whether he deceived me or not, I didn’t plan to have any contact with him anyway.”

“Having contact and caring are two different things,” Rikka said.

The two of them looked at her at the same time.

Rikka looked back at them with confusion, then looked at Himegami Izayoi with confusion, “Did I say something wrong?”

“You didn’t say anything wrong, but whether you said the right thing is another matter,” Himegami Izayoi picked up the pistachios that the secretary had brought to pass the time.

“You people are so troublesome,” Rikka thought for a moment and came to a conclusion.

The “Ogosho” came to the lounge where they were, one minute earlier than the five minutes the secretary had said.

“It seems you’ve found a very reliable helper,” he glanced at the Hokkaido Miko and sat down on the single sofa with a smile.

The secretary poured him tea.

“No need. You can go out,” the “Ogosho” picked up the teapot and poured himself tea.

After the secretary left, Minamoto Kiyomoto spoke, “Your Excellency, Ogosho, I have a few things to ask you.”

The “Ogosho” put down the teapot and sized him up, “You’re angry. It seems it’s not about the Coral Demon Moth.”

“Did you deceive Miko and tell her that the Divine Medium cannot have her own feelings?”

“That’s right. You only know now? I thought you had already learned about it from her,” the “Ogosho” leaned back in his chair, took a sip of tea, and glanced at Himegami Izayoi.

“You’re not going to explain?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“There’s nothing to explain, but if you need me to, I can talk about it.”

The “Ogosho” put down his teacup, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands on his abdomen.

“In one’s life, there is always a period of time when one must work hard without any distractions,” he said. “This is just a way of education that forbids falling in love and requires one to concentrate on their studies.”

“You call this a way of education?” Minamoto Kiyomoto found it ridiculous.

Kamibayashi Miko’s eyes were lowered, and her emotions could not be seen.

Himegami Izayoi was eating various nuts one by one.

Rikka held her teacup, her eyes fixed on Minamoto Kiyomoto and the “Ogosho,” occasionally glancing at Kamibayashi Miko as if to confirm her reaction.

“Otherwise?” the “Ogosho” said as if it were a matter of course.

“She is your daughter.”

“Precisely because she is my daughter. I advocate a relaxed education for others. This is a little selfishness of mine. Don’t tell anyone,” the “Ogosho” even laughed.

Minamoto Kiyomoto remembered their previous conversation.

“During the Coral Demon Moth incident, I said the same thing,” his tone was very calm. “I said, ‘She is your daughter.’ You answered me, ‘Precisely because she is my daughter, I let her go.'”

“Is there a contradiction?” the “Ogosho” picked up his teacup and asked back.

“No contradiction. I just feel that you seemed to be lying both times.”

The “Ogosho” glanced at him and continued to bring the teacup to his lips for a sip.

“Kiyomoto-kun,” he said, “your mother took you away from Kyoto and hid the matter of the practitioner world from you. What’s the essential difference between what she did and what I did? Nothing. It’s just that she chose to escape for you, and I chose to face it for Miko.”

“The method may be the same, but my mother did it for my own good. Are you doing it for Miko’s good?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“You are an ordinary person. Miko is the Divine Medium. The way to be good to her is to let her train hard.”

“Then have you asked her what she thinks, do you know how she feels? It’s not wrong to be good to her, but from what you’ve done, I only feel an incurable coldness,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s tone was icy.

“Watch your attitude. Do you know who you’re talking to?” the “Ogosho’s” voice became heavy.

“The Ogosho. Any more questions?”

Kamibayashi Miko looked up, her eyes fixed on Minamoto Kiyomoto.

Himegami Izayoi had a faint smile, her attitude ambiguous.

Rikka nodded at Minamoto Kiyomoto, as if she approved of something.

The “Ogosho” rubbed the side of his teacup with his finger and sized up the young man before him.

He suddenly laughed and put down the cup.

“Kiyomoto-kun, you and I are very similar. I admire you very much.”

“On the contrary, I hate people who are like me the most,” Minamoto Kiyomoto retorted.

“I understand,” the “Ogosho” nodded and clasped his hands on his abdomen again. “When I was your age, I also hated people who were like me. People who were like me in any way, whether it was their personality, their looks, their character, or their way of speaking, I disliked them all and didn’t associate with them.”

“I’m here to know your real purpose for deceiving Miko.”

“There’s one more thing. We’re also very similar. We both fell in love with the Divine Medium.”

“Then I’m even more curious about your purpose,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“Kiyomoto-kun,” the “Ogosho” unclasped his hands and uncrossed his legs. He leaned forward slightly, “Think about it—one day, Miko dies because of a child. What would you do?”

Kamibayashi Miko suddenly turned her head and looked at her father.

The “Ogosho” straightened up and crossed his legs again.

“At that time, I wanted to kill her directly,” he said coldly.

The reception room was quiet.

“There can only be one Divine Medium in the world. After Miko was born, the Divine Medium’s spell began to transfer to her. The Coral Demon Moth killed countless people in Miyagi Prefecture. The capacity of all the people gathered together, and the Divine Medium had to go to battle. For Miko’s sake, Tamahime, whose power had already begun to decline, went in her place.”

“You hate Miko because of this?” Minamoto Kiyomoto was puzzled.

“What is Miko? What is a child? My Tamahime is gone!”

A thunderous voice echoed in the reception room.

Outside the window, the national flags of various countries fluttered a few times as if they had come back to life.

“But she is Tamahime’s child after all,” the “Ogosho’s” tone returned to calm. “I don’t want to see her, and I can’t let her follow her mother’s path.”

He paused for a moment and continued:

“Everything I’ve done is like those parents who don’t approve of a relaxed education. In order to make their children study well, they don’t allow them to play games or fall in love. Is that wrong?”

“It’s not right either,” Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice was calm, but his attitude was confrontational.

“Miko’s current strength is the strongest among the Divine Mediums of the same age in all generations. This is the best result.”

“But she is also the one who has been hurt the most by her father, and the loneliest.”

“What is loneliness? Before I met Tamahime, I had never had a lover, and my relationship with my parents and brothers could be said to be non-existent. Training and studies were my everything.”

“To this day, I still remember the location of most of the books on the history of thought on that corner bookshelf on the third floor of the University of Tokyo’s general library.”

“Kiyomoto-kun, we are very similar,” the “Ogosho’s” tone became gentle. “I really admire you very much. Before you met Miko, you and I lived almost the same life.”

“Since that’s the case, you should be very strong. When Miko’s mother went, why didn’t you go with her? Why did you let her go alone?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at him.

“Because I was the next Ogosho. I couldn’t. The more I couldn’t, the more I hated Miko, hated the Divine Medium’s spell,” the “Ogosho” said.

He picked up his teacup and took a sip as if to wash something away.

After a certain emotion disappeared, he looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto and said:
“Kiyomoto-kun, in this regard, I admire you very much. You have a mother and other women you love just as much, but you can sacrifice everything for Miko.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto fell silent for the first time.

The “Ogosho” had grown up with the belief of protecting Kanto, unlike him, who was free and unrestrained.

When faced with danger, his instinctive thought was to stand with Kamibayashi Miko, ignoring his mother and Himegami Izayoi.

Now that he thought about it carefully, was it okay to make them sad for Kamibayashi Miko’s sake?

“You don’t love Miko?” After a long time, Minamoto Kiyomoto spoke, asking the final purpose of his visit.

The “Ogosho” looked at Kamibayashi Miko for the first time. He said to her:

“I have no regrets about everything I’ve done to you. I hate you, but you are Tamahime’s child. I hope you can live well. This is my attitude towards you.”

“I understand,” Kamibayashi Miko’s voice was calm. “Thank you.”

◇

Leaving the National Diet Building was even more disorienting than leaving the snow mountain.

Minamoto Kiyomoto had been here twice, and each time he had to readjust to the world.

“How do you feel?” Rikka asked, staring at Kamibayashi Miko’s expression as if she were interviewing her.

“Are you willing to help me?” Kamibayashi Miko turned around and asked her. “You heard it just now. Without help, the Divine Medium will also die. I don’t want to die, and I don’t want Kiyomoto, who is with me, to die.”

“Give me time. I’ll consider it seriously,” Rikka said.

“You haven’t considered it seriously before?” Minamoto Kiyomoto couldn’t help but ask.

“I’ve never considered anything seriously.”

“…I can feel it,” after saying this, Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at Kamibayashi Miko.

Kamibayashi Miko smiled at him.

“I’m much better now,” her tone was light. “He’s sorry for me as a daughter, but I don’t know why, I can’t hate him either.”

“Mhm, me too. I don’t know what attitude to have towards him,” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked back at the majestic and ruthless National Diet Building. “If one day, you’re gone, I don’t know what I would do.”

“I’m jealous.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto withdrew his gaze and looked at Himegami Izayoi, who had crossed her arms and stopped in her tracks.

“What’s there to be jealous of?” he said with amusement. “I don’t want you to be gone. Isn’t it good to be together forever?”

“Besides this.”

“Besides this?”

“Before you came, you said, ‘Miko is angry. Then what’s the point of anything.’ Can you do this for me?”

“Even if Miss Kamibayashi is sad, I still want to have you. Do you think I can?” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

Himegami Izayoi snorted, but the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but smile.

Kamibayashi Miko and Rikka were behind Minamoto Kiyomoto, looking at the two of them.

“I want to try too,” Rikka suddenly said.

Kamibayashi Miko looked at her with confusion.

“I want him to argue with the Ogosho for me; I want to try the feeling of being jealous; and the feeling of being comforted and unable to help but smile,” Rikka turned her head to meet Kamibayashi Miko’s gaze. “How can I make him fall in love with me?”

“…I’m not sure,” Kamibayashi Miko averted her gaze.

“Hmm? Haven’t you already fallen in love with him?”

“I don’t like him.”

“You’re really awkward, just like your father,” Rikka said.

“You just don’t understand romance,” Minamoto Kiyomoto walked over.

“Romance?” Rikka shifted her gaze from Kamibayashi Miko to him.

“She says she doesn’t like me, but she’s thinking about all my things in her heart. That’s romance.”

Kamibayashi Miko looked at the smug Minamoto Kiyomoto with cold eyes.

“I don’t understand,” Rikka looked at Himegami Izayoi, who was beside Minamoto Kiyomoto. “How can I make him fall in love with me? Do you know?”

“Let him take off his clothes. You stare at his body. When you swallow your saliva, you’ll have fallen in love with him,” Himegami Izayoi said with a smile.

“Don’t talk nonsense!” Minamoto Kiyomoto was afraid Rikka would take it seriously.

“How on earth can one fall in love with someone?” Rikka would not give up until she got an answer.

“Either love at first sight, or love over time. It’s probably these two,” Minamoto Kiyomoto gave a more reliable answer.

Rikka thought about his words.

After a while, she said, “I can help you, but for the next year, let me be with you.”

“…” The three of them stopped in their tracks at the same time and looked at the Hokkaido Miko.

“Why?” Kamibayashi Miko couldn’t help but ask.

“I didn’t fall in love with him at first sight. I can only try to see if being together for a long time will work,” Rikka replied.

“What about Hokkaido? You’re not going to protect it?” Himegami Izayoi asked curiously.

“It’s okay. If the Taiko has any objections, I’ll just stop being the Hokkaido Miko.”

“That’s right, that’s the attitude towards life! I like it!” Minamoto Kiyomoto clapped his hands. “Miss Kamibayashi, learn from her.”

“Your strength is as weak as a paramecium, and your time is as short as a mayfly, yet you’re still boasting here. Is this what I taught you?” Kamibayashi Miko continued to walk towards Hakusan Shrine. “Go back and train well.”

“…It seems you’re really okay.”

Behind the two of them, Minamoto Kiyomoto heard the conversation between Himegami Izayoi and Rikka.

“Let me see your hand.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t talk nonsense, give it to me… you have no hope.”

“No hope?”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto will have six children in his life. I’ll have three, Miko will have one, Sayaka will have one, and there’s one left, but you won’t have any children. You’re safe. I won’t make a move on you.”

“My body was damaged when I was born. I can’t have children. This charming white hair is also from that time…”

“Minamoto Kiyomoto, you come over here.”

“…”

It seemed he was the one who was in trouble next.

National Diet Building, the “Ogosho” returned to his office.

He sat in the “Ogosho’s” seat and looked at the photo frame on the table.

In the photo frame was him and Tamahime.

It was taken when he hadn’t become the “Ogosho” yet, when they had just gotten married and were on vacation in Karuizawa.

Tamahime was so amazing, yet she couldn’t ride a bicycle. That was her first time on a bicycle.

On that sun-drenched whispering path, he held the bicycle, and Tamahime rode it with excitement and fear.

The path was lined with golden wattle trees. It was as if he could hear the gurgling sound of the water again.

The more happiness and joy there was in the photo album, the more grief and emptiness he felt in his heart at this moment.

“Tamahime…”