Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 2: Supernatural Babylon
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Part 4: Recapturing Yukari
Chapter 19: Kōda Shigeyuki Rescues Yukari
Kōda Shigeyuki tightened his grip on the short sword at his side. Casting aside all hesitation, he stepped out from the corner. He did not look back.
Narutaki Junichi sensed that his resolve was far from ordinary. He urged on the four students from the Tatsumiya household who had accompanied him and stepped out from the shadow of the wall into a narrow alley. The students followed after him, brandishing the wooden swords and clubs they held.
There was no longer any choice but to storm in.
Shigeyuki had concluded that neither the police nor the military had any intention of arresting Lieutenant Katō. He had finally discovered his hideout and was now attempting to rescue Tatsumiya Yukari.
The clue that led to the discovery of Katō’s hideout was the dying wish of Hirai Yasumasa, the great sorcerer who had killed himself on the day of Emperor Meiji’s death. Returning to Kyōtō, Yasumasa Hirai went to Ichijō Modoribashi, a bridge deeply connected to the Tsuchimikado family’s history, to inquire as to Katō’s whereabouts.
Ichijō Modoribashi was the place where Abe no Seimei, founder of the Tsuchimikado family and praised as the greatest sorcery in the history of Japanese magic, had sealed away the demon gods—invisible servitor deities called shiki. Whenever the need arose, Abe no Seimei would come to this bridge and use those shiki for his own purposes.
Before that, Ichijō Modoribashi had been known as a place where spirits gathered, and performing divination on the bridge was common. People came there to question the spirits. They came at dusk, when the spirits’ power was greatest, carrying a mirror that summoned them. Diviners could pose one question to the first person who passed by. The shiki sealed in the bridge would provide the divinatory answer through that passerby’s mouth.
That day, Hirai stood on Ichijō Modoribashi at dusk. He heard the strange children’s song that had begun spreading from Tōkyō: “A Cage, A Cage.” Lifting his eyes to the evening sky, Hirai entered meditation. He heard the children’s song in his mind, its meaning ominous.
A cage, a cage
The bird in the cage
When, oh when will it come out?
Voices soon drew near Ichijō Modoribashi. Children were approaching, singing the nursery rhyme. Hirai continued meditating, and when the singers reached the middle of the bridge, he opened his eyes.
The crane and the turtle
slipped away from the guard at dawn.
Who is behind you now?
The singing continued, and then there was silence. Several children stopped midway across the bridge, their blue eyes shining eerily, their mouths closed. A shadow fell across every face. Those eyes, gleaming like foxfire, were ethereal and otherworldly. The children were like visitors from the heavens bearing a divine prophecy.
Yasumasa clapped his hands once and opened his eyes as if waking from a dream.
There was not a single person to be seen on Ichijō Modoribashi.
Yasumasa had instructed the children to search for a place associated with cranes. For the next several weeks, Shigeyuki combed all of Tōkyō thoroughly, then extended the search to the Yokohama area. At last, near Tsurumi, he discovered a hideout connected to members of a secret Korean society who were in communication with Lieutenant Katō.
After continuing this covert investigation for a week, Shigeyuki learned that Katō was seen coming and going from a row house. He resolved to seize the officer and force him to reveal Yukari’s whereabouts. He carried a bladed short sword as a weapon. If it came to it, he was prepared to fight.
When the group of six plus stormed into the row house, it was dark inside. A student hurriedly lit a candle.
There lay Yukari, wrapped in a black cloak.
“Miss Yukari!” Shigeyuki shouted.
Junichi immediately lifted the girl up. “Yukari, Yukari!”
She was breathing. Not dead, but unconscious. After confirming this, Shigeyuki ordered four students to find Katō. Then he swiftly pulled a paper packet from his breast, drew from it something like coarse black bristles, and called out to Junichi.
“Hey! Draw some water from the well outside. Make the girl drink it.”
The physics student hurried outside and returned with water in a small bowl.
Shigeyuki received it, took water and then several stiff bristles into his mouth, and transferred them directly into the girl’s mouth. Yukari’s chest heaved as she gasped. Shigeyuki pressed the bowl to her lips and made her drink water little by little.
A few minutes later, Yukari choked, clawing at her chest. She vomited all over the floor.
“Did it work?” Junichi asked.
Shigeyuki’s eyes lit up.
Yukari made a gagging sound and spat out several eerie, white, slimy worms. They were like caterpillars wriggling in a yellow puddle of gastric fluid. Black stiff bristles were stuck through those worms.
“What is this?” Junichi asked. He was deathly pale.
“Abdominal worms. Katō’s poison that has tormented Yukari all this time.”
“What are the stiff bristles you made her swallow just now?”
“Boar bristles that Mr. Hirai sealed spiritual power into. Since ancient times, a technique has been handed down to expel abdominal worms using just this method. Mr. Hirai told me of this. Thank goodness. Now Yukari can be free of that monster.”
Before Shigeyuki could finish speaking, Junichi lifted the girl into his arms. She was an irreplaceable treasure they had finally regained after so much hardship.
The word used for the people who help Shigeyuki in this chapter is “student,” but a very specific kind: a student who performs housework in exchange for meals and/or lodging. This arrangement was more common in turn-of-the-century Japan that it is currently.
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