Chapter 72: Trust

The deck creaked, and from time to time, dust would rise.

Itomi Sayaka led Minamoto Kiyomoto to the stern of the third floor of the sunken ship and turned into the smallest staff lounge.

Pushing the door open, there were two bunk beds. The members of the ninth group were either sitting on the beds, leaning against the bed frames, or leaning against the walls, all looking worried.

Seeing Itomi Sayaka come in, they immediately stood up.

“Group leader!”

“Is anyone injured?” Itomi Sayaka looked at them one by one.

“Besides Sister Ayame and the monk, the others were burned by the Divine Miko for a while. It’s nothing!” Rabbit rushed to answer, then carefully and secretly sized her up. “Group leader, are you alright?”

Itomi Sayaka smiled dashingly, “What could happen to me?”

Everyone looked at each other and fell silent.

At this moment, Hanyu Chika suddenly took off her mask.

“Sister Ayame?” Yuka and the others looked at her in surprise and confusion.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was also a little surprised, then he smiled slightly. The arc at the corner of the fox mask’s mouth also changed slightly.

Itomi Sayaka looked at Hanyu Chika and was stunned for a moment.

Her eyes flickered, and her lips parted slightly. She said in a voice that seemed to be squeezed out of her throat, “…You don’t have to do this.”

“I’m tired of wearing this thing too,” Hanyu Chika casually threw away the iris mask, revealing a relaxed smile.

She took a step forward and said to Itomi Sayaka:
“Sayaka, you don’t have to feel guilty. With our relationship, do you think that if you were exposed, the government wouldn’t know that Ayame is me? Besides, my brother is dead, and I have no other relatives or friends. It’s better to wander around with you than to live alone.”

“Chika…” Itomi Sayaka was speechless.

She was afraid that if she continued to speak, her voice would choke and tears would flow from her eyes.

In front of everyone in the ninth group, she had to maintain the composure of a group leader, give them a sense of security, and let them see the hope of survival.

In the silence, a “crack” was suddenly heard. It was the sound of a mask being crushed.

Everyone looked and saw Yuka open her hand, letting the shattered butterfly mask in her palm drift away with the seawater.

“Everyone,” she turned to look at the other members of the ninth group, “my real name is Kyoko. I’m a hand masseuse in Kabukicho. I was in a lot of debt, and the group leader saved me.”

Another “crack” was heard. It was Rabbit.

A delicate face, looking quiet, completely different from her lively personality when she was wearing a mask.

“My real name is Kawakami Iku,” she said. “I’m a teacher at Shiragiku Kindergarten in Chiba Prefecture. I’m a single mother. The group leader gave me money to save my sick child.”

“Eh—” Fatty shouted, pointing at Rabbit exaggeratedly. “You’re married? And you have a child? I thought you were only seventeen!”

Rabbit, Kawakami Iku, waved Fatty’s finger away:
“I’m twenty-three years old! Also, you’re obviously using a fake identity, but you’re still showing your usual personality and hobbies. Don’t you think that’s stupid?”

The fat man wearing a Hatsune Miku mask, the monk with his hands always clasped together, the carp who liked to talk about cooking, the monkey who always complained about the publisher cutting the first print run…
“Don’t look at me. I can’t help it. I was born with a long face,” Horse Face said gloomily.

“Should I not be wearing sportswear either?” Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at his shirt and pants gloomily.

“Hahaha, what’s the big deal? It’s all exposed anyway,” Fatty said, taking off his Hatsune Miku mask, revealing a chubby face with delicate skin from not being in the sun.

“Fatty, you?” Rabbit looked at him.

He, who was always the first to shout surrender, actually took off his mask on his own initiative!
“I, I’m called Ta-Ta-Ta…”

Rabbit helplessly put her hand on his shoulder, showing the thoughtfulness of a kindergarten teacher, “You should put your mask back on.”

Fatty quickly put his mask back on and let out a long breath, as if he had been holding his breath for thirty minutes and had just gotten oxygen.

“My name is Tanaka. I live in Tokyo. I’m a hikikomori.”

“My name is Aota,” Monkey took off his mask, revealing the face of a middle-aged man. “A third-rate novelist. Although my manuscript fees are very low, I’m still afraid to step into society. The monkey mask belongs to my son.”

“My name is Kimura, an insurance salesman,” Horse Face took off his mask.

“Kitagawa Harumi, my husband is paralyzed, and I have two children,” Carp took off her mask.

“Benjo, a monk from Mount Koya,” the monk took off his mask.

Itomi Sayaka watched them take off their masks one by one, and tears rolled down her face. She turned her face away and rubbed the corners of her sore eyes with her fingers.

The cold seawater could not extinguish the warmth in her heart at this moment.

These people were also her family.

Just as her thoughts were drifting, her arm was suddenly scraped.

“My name is…” It was Minamoto Kiyomoto’s voice.

She suddenly found it a little funny. The fear of her identity being exposed was all gone.

“Tsugumi,” she turned around and held Minamoto Kiyomoto’s hand. “You don’t have to.”

Itomi Sayaka looked at the exposed faces of the ninth group one by one and announced:
“If anything happens to me, Tsugumi will be the new group leader. When I’m not here in the future, you must listen to him.”

“Yes!” everyone replied loudly.

“By the way,” Fatty said, “Group Leader, shouldn’t we divide the prize money for the newcomer battle?”

“Fatty!” Rabbit and Yuka simultaneously pinched the love handles on his waist.

“I wanted to leave more money for my family, not surrender!”

Itomi Sayaka said with a smile, “I’ll go and ask them for it. We’ll divide the money today.”

“Long live the group leader!” Everyone laughed.

Although their identities were exposed, and if any one of them was caught, all the others would be in danger, they did not feel any fear in their hearts.

The future was still uncertain, but their hearts had found a direction.

◇

Minamoto Kiyomoto entered the inn through the wooden door.

“Brother Kiyomoto?” At the counter, Uehara Moe was playing with a pencil in her left hand and her phone in her right.

“Shh—” Minamoto Kiyomoto put his finger to his lips.

“Hmm?” Uehara Moe’s eyes widened slightly.

Minamoto Kiyomoto walked over and asked her in a low voice, “Are Miss Kamibayashi and Izayoi back?”

“Yes,” Uehara Moe nodded and looked at him strangely.

Minamoto Kiyomoto was a little afraid to go upstairs. He pointed at the phone in Uehara Moe’s hand and asked, “What are you playing?”

“I’m chatting with my classmates from the school’s skateboard club,” speaking of this, Uehara Moe happily spun her pen. “In a little while, I can go out and play. We’ve arranged to go practice skateboarding together.”

“Oh,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied, his gaze sweeping towards the stairs at the end of the corridor.

“Brother Kiyomoto, did you do something bad?”

“What bad thing could I do?” Minamoto Kiyomoto withdrew his gaze.

“In my experience, it’s better to confess and apologize directly if you’ve done something wrong. Girls don’t really care about right or wrong, only whether they are cared about.”

“Really?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“Really,” Uehara Moe nodded affirmatively.

“Then I’m going?”

“Good luck!”

Minamoto Kiyomoto went upstairs lightly.

When he reached the fifth floor, he had a flash of inspiration and went to the meditation room first.

He knelt there. It would be best if he was discovered after kneeling for a few hours. With such an attitude of admitting his mistake, who could say anything about him!
Minamoto Kiyomoto’s footsteps became even lighter.

He safely arrived in front of the meditation room without being discovered!

His eyes darted around, observing left and right. He gently pulled open the wooden door.

No one!

He lifted his foot and at the same time withdrew his gaze. Looking into the meditation room, Kamibayashi Miko was already kneeling there.

“…” Minamoto Kiyomoto walked in, closed the door, and knelt beside her.

After a moment of silence, during which he heard the cry of a seagull four times.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“Are you talking to me?” Miss Kamibayashi was very surprised.

“Who else?”

“How am I worthy of Mr. Minamoto speaking to me?”

“…Miss Kamibayashi, I was wrong.”

“I was wrong. How could you be wrong? You are never wrong,” Miss Kamibayashi’s voice was not very cold, but it had no emotion.

“I was really wrong!” Minamoto Kiyomoto changed the direction of his knees and aimed at Kamibayashi Miko. “I’ll kowtow to you. Please forgive me.”

Kamibayashi Miko did not speak, but just changed the direction of her knees and aimed at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“No, no, no, I was wrong. It was 100% undoubtedly my fault,” Minamoto Kiyomoto lowered his head a little, lower than hers.

“I was wrong. I disturbed your conspiracy to win people’s hearts, your ambition to dominate the world, and your plan to please Itomi Sayaka,” Kamibayashi Miko lowered her head even lower.

“I win people’s hearts to dominate the world, and I dominate the world for you. Pleasing Itomi Sayaka is completely out of the question.”

“For me? So you deliberately went to die?”

“Of course not… but I’m willing to die for you.”

After saying five sentences, Kamibayashi Miko just sneered.

Just as they were arguing, the wooden door was suddenly pulled open, and Himemiya Izayoi was holding a plate of fruit.

“Oh, Young Master Kiyoshi is back,” she leaned lazily against the doorframe, smiling, and put a piece of cantaloupe into her mouth with a toothpick.

“…I’m back.”

After kneeling for less than half an hour, the government officials came.

“Minamoto Kiyomoto?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get to know Itomi Sayaka?” the government official asked.

“Professor Takamine, who is in charge of cell biology and anatomy, introduced her to me on a blind date,” Minamoto Kiyomoto replied.

“Time.”

“I didn’t pay attention, but at that time, the cherry blossoms had already fallen, and the petals had been swept clean from the streets. It was probably late April.”

“Location.”

“A French home-style restaurant in Kioicho, ‘AUX BACCHANALES’.”

“Did you know she was from Shintoism?”

“No,” Minamoto Kiyomoto shook his head.

“You really didn’t know?”

“I really didn’t know.”

“Sign here, and stamp it.”

Minamoto Kiyomoto signed and stamped it.

“Is it over?” he put down his pen and asked.

“This is just the beginning,” the government official said. “Tomorrow, Lady Ise Miko will personally take you to Kyoto for further interrogation and investigation.”

After a pause, the government official said again, “It’s probably nothing. Lady Ise Miko and the Divine Miko have both testified for you.”

“To Kyoto? Not back to Tokyo?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked with curiosity.

“Although the ‘Ogosho’ is powerful, he can’t interfere in our Kansai affairs!”

“Long live Kansai!” Minamoto Kiyomoto said, then asked, “What happened to Itomi Sayaka? Can you tell me?”

The government official took out a tablet, manipulated it a few times, and then handed it to Minamoto Kiyomoto.

It was an official website. Itomi Sayaka’s photo was printed on it, and there was a detailed introduction below.

Itomi Sayaka was wanted, along with Sanae Sara and the others.

The long paragraph written on it, summed up, was: murder and escape, extremely dangerous, wanted nationwide, reward for reporting.

Minamoto Kiyomoto looked at the wanted list again. On the Shinto competition, the guys who didn’t wear masks were basically all wanted criminals.

“Thank you,” he returned the tablet to the other party.

“You’re welcome,” besides the serious tone during the interrogation at the beginning, the government official was very friendly the rest of the time.

After the government officials left, it was already dark.

Ayako, Minamoto Kiyomoto, and the two miko were eating at a long table.

Braised fish, squid stewed with taro, pickled cabbage, bean sprouts mixed with cucumber, octopus and ark shell sashimi, and a small bowl of potato stewed with pork for each person.

The meat and vegetables came from all over the country, but the seafood was 100% from the Seto Inland Sea region.

“How are Sayaka’s family?” Ayako asked.

She understood Itomi Sayaka’s situation and was worried that the government would use her family’s lives to threaten her.

“They’ve sent people to monitor and protect them, waiting for Itomi Sayaka to take the bait,” Kamibayashi Miko said. “For a short period of time, Kanto will maintain this method.”

Ayako nodded and said to Himemiya Izayoi, “When you go to Kyoto, please take care of Kiyomoto.”

“As long as he’s not like he was during the day and obediently listens to me, I guarantee he’ll be fine,” Himemiya Izayoi held a scallop with her chopsticks, picked up the snow-white meat, and put it in her mouth.

When she opened her mouth, her teeth, which were whiter than the shell, could be seen.

Ayako looked at Minamoto Kiyomoto.

“That was a sudden situation, I just…”

“In Kyoto,” Ayako interrupted him, “no matter what sudden situation happens, you must listen to Izayoi completely. Otherwise, don’t come back in the future.”

“Did you hear that? You must… completely… listen to me,” Himemiya Izayoi said one word at a time, then clamped her chopsticks like a crab’s leg, closed her right eye, and made a proud and showy expression.

“…Oh,” Minamoto Kiyomoto buried his head in his food.

“Auntie, you haven’t forgiven me yet?” Kamibayashi Miko put down her small bowl.

“It’s not that I haven’t forgiven you, it’s that I don’t trust you,” Ayako took a small bite of rice.

“I was wrong,” Kamibayashi Miko lowered her head slightly. “No matter what danger Kiyomoto encounters, it’s because I led him down this path.”

“It has nothing to do with what you said,” Ayako paused. “I don’t trust you because you spoil him too much.”

“…I will try to change this habit.”

“I think it’s fine not to change,” Minamoto Kiyomoto raised his head.

“Eat,” the three women looked over at the same time.

Minamoto Kiyomoto took his bowl and shoveled rice into his mouth. This was the only way for a person at the bottom to show his dissatisfaction.

After washing the dishes and wiping the bathtub, Minamoto Kiyomoto secretly left the inn and came to the small hill on the “Angel Road.”

The trees were lush, the Milky Way stretched across the sky, and the waves were rising and falling.

Kamibayashi Miko, Himemiya Izayoi, and Itomi Sayaka were already there.

“What did you have for dinner?” Minamoto Kiyomoto asked.

“You don’t think that after I’m wanted, I have to go to the sea to catch fish to eat, do you?” Itomi Sayaka seemed very relaxed, already knowing that her family was temporarily safe.

“The Shinto religion has existed for so many years, and there are so many wanted criminals every year. They must have a place to hide, eat well, drink well, and sleep well. I was just curious,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said.

“I came to thank you,” Itomi Sayaka said. “Without you, I really don’t know what I would have done this time.”

“Don’t be polite. Among the members of ‘Takamagahara,’ there doesn’t have to be feelings, but there must be mutual trust,” Minamoto Kiyomoto said with a smile.

Itomi Sayaka looked at Kamibayashi Miko and Himemiya Izayoi again, knowing that if it weren’t for Minamoto Kiyomoto, these two, let alone trust, would have already killed her at the bottom of the sea.

“Thank you,” she still thanked them.

“Don’t waste time,” Minamoto Kiyomoto was anxious. “Hurry up and tell me the method of the Shinto religion to manipulate the ‘Underworld Demon Dragon’ and your experience.”

“…You’re so anxious, it makes me think that you helped me before all for this.”

“So I said, we must trust each other.”

Looking at the indifferent Minamoto Kiyomoto, Itomi Sayaka sighed and began to tell the secrets of the Shinto religion.

At one o’clock in the morning, Himemiya Izayoi yawned, and this “Takamagahara” meeting was finally over.

Before they parted, Minamoto Kiyomoto said to Itomi Sayaka:
“No matter which way the wind blows, the flow of the seawater will never be reversed. The waves that come one after another, their direction is only the coast. The situation is difficult now…”

“I understand what you mean,” Itomi Sayaka’s short hair flew, and she revealed a brilliant smile. “Don’t worry.”

The wind rose. She, like a dandelion, flew into the distance.

Under the cold, frosty moonlight and the waves of the Pacific Ocean, the blue light in the dark night slowly sank into the sea.

(End of Chapter)