Teito Monogatari:
The Tale of the Imperial Capital
Part 1: Great Spirit of Tokyo
Author: Hiroshi Aramata
Part 6: Those Who Command Shinigami
Chapter 29: Kōda Shigeyuki Takes Action
"Rain again?"
Kōda Shigeyuki clicked his tongue and opened his umbrella with a rough snap.
He was just behind Heian Shrine in Kyōtō in a residential district particularly favored by men of letters. In September of 1908 (Meiji 41), Kōda had been asked to serve as a lecturer at the Kyōtō College of Letters. Before he knew it, he found himself more or less forced into moving.
Life in Kyōtō was like life in prison with better walking paths.
On dark mornings like this one as a fine, steady rain poured down on his shoulders, his mood became morose.
He had accepted this post, so he couldn't just go to Tōkyō whenever he wanted. He needed a good excuse. It had been nine months since Kōda Shigeyuki had come to Kyōtō, and he'd never stopped thinking of reasons to return to Tōkyō.
At long last, the pretext he had long awaited had come from Tōkyō. He'd received a strange letter from Tatsumiya Yōichirō, a young official in the Ministry of Finance. He wrote that Tatsumiya Yukari was in crisis. Kōda Shigeyuki had once saved the young woman's life by chance, so he cared about her circumstances. At the beginning of the year, Yukari had been hospitalized at Sugamo Hospital. The diagnosis was confusional mania, a mental illness typified by delusions.
Hurrying through the rain, Kōda reached into his breast pocket and gripped the letter. It was the most effective thing he could do to calm the mild excitement that had taken hold of him. The contents of the letter occupied his mind constantly.
Professor Kōda,
The ill fortune you predicted more than a year ago has at last become reality. Though I presume you must be exceedingly busy at your post in Kyōtō, please take pity on me. Lieutenant Katō Yasunori visited Sugamo Hospital the other day and, with extraordinary audacity, informed the student doctor keeping watch over Yukari that he intends to take my younger sister away to some undisclosed location. Upon receiving this report, I immediately informed Surgeon General Mori Rintarō of the circumstances, whereupon His Excellency said that, since this matter concerns demonic arts, I should consult Professor Kōda Shigeyuki at once. And so I hasten to send you these few lines. I am in dire need of your wisdom...
"At last what I feared has come to pass." Kōda looked up at the cloudy sky and quickened his pace.
His destination was the Tsuchimikado estate. If Lieutenant Katō were to abduct Yukari, her mind would surely be destroyed beyond recovery. That had to be prevented at all costs.
He crossed Modori Bridge and within a few minutes had settled himself in the inner parlor of Yasumaro Hirai's home. Yasumaro Hirai was a master of the astronomical and calendrical arts that the Tsuchimikado family had handed down from generation to generation.
Hirai was particularly skilled in the arts of Qimen Dunjia, and Kōda had heard his name spoken of with respect in occultist circles. He was not directly related to the Tsuchimikado family by blood, but if he had lived before the Meiji period, he would have been considered a very formidable yin-yang sorcerer.
Kōda intended to have this sorcerer explain the curses that Lieutenant Katō was manipulating, and the methods to break them. Kōda had accepted the task of protecting Yukari from evil sorcery. If he did not take up this work, then who on earth would? He'd dedicated much of his life to understanding the sorcerous arts. Yukari would struggle to find a more erudite protector.
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