Chapter 1: In the Garden of the Gods

Chapter 1:
In the Garden of the Gods

 

“WHEW!” I exhaled through pursed lips. In an instant, I was covered in white.

Throwing myself down in a star shape on top of a pile of new-fallen snow was my favorite thing to do in winter. Maybe it was childish, but when I saw brand-new snow that no one had yet made footprints in, I just had to lie down in it. If I could lie down on top of a snowdrift that had just piled up, even better!

Once I’d summoned my courage and thrown myself down on the snow, I stretched out my arms and legs and closed my eyes. Then I heard a certain sound.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

It was the whisper of snow falling and piling up. Even here on top of the snow, where silence and stillness seemed to reign, the air was full of different sounds. I loved listening to them.

“Oi, Kaori, you’re gonna catch a cold.”

A rough voice interrupted my moment of supreme bliss. Opening my eyes slightly, I saw someone looking down at me.

The first thing I caught sight of was his hair, white as the fresh snow. His eyes were pale, almost translucent, and his well-proportioned face was as pleasant as a prince’s.

His name was Shirai Suimei. A young man who had once worked as an exorcist in the human world, he was now employed at an apothecary in the spirit realm. The red scarf he was wearing had been hand-knitted by Noname, who ran the apothecary; she had also specially picked out his black duffle coat.

According to Noname, the sight of a teenage boy in a duffle coat was more precious than any national treasure.

Really? That’s the first I’ve heard of it.

She said she had deliberately chosen one with sleeves that were slightly too long. Since he was slender, the oversized duffle coat made him look slightly childish.

“That’s perfect!” Noname had passionately declared.

I got to my feet slowly and shook off the snow that had stuck to me here and there. “I’m wearing a hat and gloves, so I’m nice and warm. I’ll be fine!”

“That’s not the point. Where do you think you are?”

“I’m in trouble…”

Being laid into so ruthlessly by a younger man made me giggle.

I looked over at the person standing behind Suimei and bowed my head slightly. “It’s okay. The ground might be freezing, but we won’t get cold. We can even wear unbelievably light clothing. Isn’t that right, Ape-huci-kamuy?”

Her face…Ape-huci-kamuy’s face, which was deeply scored with wrinkles, creased into a smile.

Her features were more sculpted than those of a Japanese person. Her thick eyebrows made her look strong-willed, and a broad hachimaki headband was wound about her wavy black hair. Above her mouth, which was lined with age, she had a tattoo like a man’s mustache, and her body was wrapped in layer upon layer of fine kosonte robes. A makiri knife was tucked into her belt, and in her hand, she held a cane. That golden cane reflected the soft light, bathing its surroundings in a peaceful glow.

Ape-huci-kamuy is one of the deities—kamuy—worshipped by the Ainu people. She represents fire and lives in an apeoi, or sunken hearth. She appears in the form of an old woman, and the kosonte robes in which she is clad are the red of brightly burning flames. For the Ainu, who live in an extremely cold region, the kamuy of fire is the most venerated yet also the most familiar of beings.

Ainu, kamuy… Yes, Suimei and I had come to Hokkaido.

“Do you think we’ll be able to set off soon?” I asked.

When I called out to her, Ape-huci-kamuy nodded silently. As she did, a man—who was slightly on the short side—appeared from a traditional Ainu bark-and-thatch house, called a chise.

Unlike Ape-huci-kamuy, the man was dressed in attush robes made of bark fibers. Over those, he wore a haori coat decorated with feathers, and on his head was a hat made of animal skin. His neatly styled beard gave his masculine features a look as keen as a well-honed blade. His elegant body was captivatingly firm, and it gave him the aura of a powerful man.

“Sorry for the delay. Come on, let’s head off. We have to follow Kim-un-kamuy.”

Adjusting his tekunpe hand warmers, he took hold of me and Suimei by the shoulders and began to walk quickly.

“H-hey, wait!” Perhaps because he didn’t know what was happening, Suimei was pretty flustered.

I spoke to Suimei to reassure him. “It’s okay, it’s okay! Just keep up with him for now!”

“Tell me what’s going on, idiot! You might think it’s ‘okay,’ but it isn’t!”

Ugh, getting a bit extreme there, aren’t you? Then again, when I thought about it, Suimei had done plenty of extreme things. Casting souls into hell by force, walking high in the sky without a safety rope… He really was incredible…

Quickening my steps to match the man’s stride, I smiled uneasily as I explained. “In the spirit realm, the great majority of spirits hibernate during the winter, so shopkeepers have a lot of free time. That means they can do things they wouldn’t normally. So, for example…collecting debts from customers who’ve been in arrears for ages, and stuff like that.”

“I’ve heard about that. This is another job, right? But how did things reach this point?”

“What do you mean, ‘this point’?”

“I’m asking you why the guy we’ve come to collect debts from has run away!”

“Oof. Look…”

As I faltered, the man suddenly broke into a run. Swept along, I started running too. Of course, this also made Suimei’s face stiffen in bewilderment, but he frantically moved his legs to keep up.

“You see, Kim-un-kamuy, the one who’s run away, right, he’s—aaggghh!”

“Whoa—ngh!”

Perhaps annoyed by our slow pace, the man picked us up, one under each arm, interrupting my explanation. Carrying us like that, he rapidly picked up speed.

“A-and—ngh!” I gasped. Uh-oh, I’m gonna bite my tongue!

The scenery flashed past us in the blink of an eye. Because of how fast we were going, I closed my mouth and looked straight ahead.

The snowfield stretched out as far as the eye could see, but we were gradually approaching a ridge. Bent slightly forward, the man violently stamped his animal-hide shoe against the ground.

Boom!

With a sound like an explosion, powdery snow whirled up into the air. My field of vision went white; I couldn’t see anything.

Air cold enough to freeze my lungs flowed into my body. I held my breath. At the same time, I felt the sensation of my body rising upward, and I landed on something soft. Next thing I knew, the man carrying us had disappeared. Clutching at the fluffy thing underneath my feet, I stared out into the swirling whiteness.

At last, the whirling snow around me died down, and all at once the view opened up.

“Wow…!”

Stretching out before me was a magnificent landscape. The earth was painted white until it reached a great peak. It was part of the Daisetsuzan Range, a series of mountains of varying sizes which extended around the Ohachidaira caldera. On the bare surface of the mountain, I could see something moving.

Hokkaido sika deer!

The graceful sika had gathered in a herd and were clinging to a slope so steep that a human would slip and fall right down it. I also thought I could see white smoke rising from the round crater in the earth.

Volcanic gas? Or could it be a hot spring welling up?

As I stood there, fascinated by this scenery that was unique to Hokkaido, someone put a hand on my shoulder.

It was Suimei, his face ashen. Teeth chattering, he said, “Explain to me what the heck is going on!”

His voice brimmed with anger, and his face was drawn. Laughing lightly, I picked up the explanation that I’d left off.

“Um, like I was saying. There’s this god called Kim-un-kamuy, and he’s always falling behind on his payments. This time, he hasn’t paid up in over a year, and his late fee is getting pretty high.”

“I’ve never heard anything about him.”

“Yeah, I didn’t mention it. I also didn’t tell you that collecting debts in a situation like this is a real pain.”

When I bluntly declared this, the blood vessels in Suimei’s temples bulged.

As I forced a smile—as if to say “oops!”—I looked around restlessly. I cast a glance behind us to check whether Ape-huci-kamuy was still there.

“Please help us out, Ape-huci-kamuy and Kapatcir-kamuy!” Then, raising my right hand with a cheer, I shouted, “Good luck to us on our mission to collect Kim-un-kamuy’s debt! Yeaaah!”

In time with my voice, Ape-huci-kamuy graciously raised her hand a little. I happily looked back at Suimei.

As I did, he gripped both my shoulders. “I keep telling you! Explain things beforehand! If I know what’s waiting for me, I’ll be in a completely different frame of mind, at the very least!” He shook me with a frantic look on his face. “Even if someone who looks human suddenly turns into a huge eagle! Even if they’re big enough for a human to ride on their back easily! Then I wouldn’t end up almost paralyzed with fright!”

“Ah ha ha ha! You were paralyzed with fright?”

“I only said I nearly was! It’s not funny…”

The Hokkaido winter sky rang with my laughter and Suimei’s angry voice.

Kapatcir-kamuy, who had launched himself into the air with a shrill cry, circled slowly and then, with a great flap of his wings, rose higher into the sky.

 

***

 

But why did Suimei and I have to go all the way to Hokkaido to collect a debt?

In order to explain that, I’ll have to go back a little in time.

 

At the beginning of winter, Shinonome-san launched his first book, Selected Memoirs from the Spirit Realm.

Along with information about spirits who lived in the spirit realm, it also contained stories that they had told him. Shinonome-san had put over a decade of work into this volume, which was intended to show readers the authentic ways, life, and culture of spirits.

We’d held a massive party to celebrate its publication, and when this most topical book came out, the entrance to the bookstore had been thronged with spirits. Almost all of our rental books were now loaned out, and our sale stock was also pleasingly low.

However…

“In terms of money…”

“Yeah.”

Shinonome-san lay wearily in a corner of the living room. Seeing him hug the flimsy zabuton to his body like a pillow was heartrending, to say the least.

Tossing a winter tangerine into my mouth, I stole a sidelong glance at Shinonome-san. I had never imagined he would fall into such a bad slump.

“We need money to print the books too,” I said. “As a rental bookstore, we can’t very well loan them out at the actual selling price, and even in normal times it takes forever to recoup our expenses. If the books get damaged, we can’t loan them out, and repairing them costs money. Sometimes customers lose our books too. Funds are low, so it’s not even as if we can print a huge quantity of additional copies. That means we’ll have to raise the price of the individual books.”

“Oof. Let’s analyze the situation calmly…”

“If you’re aiming to make a profit in the first place, you’ll have to change distribution channels.”

“Stoooooop!” Shinonome-san flailed his arms and legs about like a spoiled kid.

Laughing, I peeled another winter tangerine. “That doesn’t matter. Thanks to your book, Shinonome-san, we’ve gained new customers. You’ve made spirits who’ve never even touched a book before see how interesting they can be.”

“Buuut…”

“At the very least, you should be happy that we’re selling more than before.”

Because of that, we could eat better rice than we used to (even if we still couldn’t afford special A-grade rice). I was thankful for that. Improving one’s daily nutrition leads to peace of mind.

“Well, that’ll change before long,” I said. “After all, everyone’s hibernating now, right? Why don’t you prepare for the busy spring by continuing to work on your next book while the time is ripe?”

Shinonome-san’s face split into a smile so broad it looked strained. Then he rolled over in the direction of the wall, hugged the zabuton to him again, and didn’t move.

Huh?!

Eyeing him closely, I sidled up to him. I narrowed my eyes and peered at Shinonome-san’s face. I heard him breathing deeply and evenly, as if to say “I’m asleep!”

Gotcha. So you don’t want to write today? Quickly raising both my hands in front of my face, I yelled, “Shape…up!”

I swooped down on Shinonome-san’s torso with terrific force.

“Ack—ah ha ha hee hee hee! Stop! What’re you doing?!”

“Even if you’re not in the mood, keep working away at that manuscript! Don’t cause problems for Tamaki-san!”

Incidentally, Tamaki-san was a slightly shady spirit who worked as a “story-seller.” He had arranged a lot of things for us when Selected Memoirs from the Spirit Realm was being published. He took on the job of editing too, so he would be the one most affected if Shinonome-san’s manuscript was late.

“I’m eagerly awaiting those beautiful tales of tales…” Tamaki-san had said. “But put yourself in the shoes of the one who’s doing the waiting. Don’t you just want to punch that carefree face of his over and over?”

I shivered. I’m the one who’ll be on the receiving end of Tamaki-san’s angry complaints when he comes to collect the manuscript and finds that it’s nowhere near finished. I wish you’d at least keep to your deadline!

“Writers are delicate creatures!” my adoptive father wailed. “Uh… If their hearts aren’t absolutely overflowing, they can’t write a single word!”

“I don’t care about nonsense like that! Surely you won’t know whether you can write unless you sit down at your desk! You can talk like that after you’ve actually made it to the starting line!”

“Don’t wanna. My room’s cold.”

“You’re such a child!”

My frustration with my father, who’d just looked away in a huff, grew stronger. Shinonome-san could be really moody when it came to writing, and he was always like this when he didn’t feel like doing it.

“Ugh, I quit. I don’t even care if Tamaki-san gets mad at me again.”

“Sure.”

I watched my father in exasperation as, not even pretending to be asleep anymore, he started blowing smoke through his pipe.

Oh well.

Exhausted, I smiled wearily. A few days before this, there had been an incident with Yao Bikuni. Shinonome-san had been pretty badly hurt.

In the effort to force him to cancel the publication of his book, she had partially destroyed the hanging scroll that was his true form. As he was a Tsukumogami, the damage to the hanging scroll had dealt him considerable injury as well.

In the end, we had been able to publish his book safely, but he had only just recovered from the most debilitating effects of his injuries. Even now, he wasn’t completely well.

Incidentally, we were having the hanging scroll mended at an appropriate place; they would finish the work when it got warmer, so we were anxiously waiting the spring.

He’s just published a book. Surely he can rest for a bit? I’ll just have to let Tamaki-san’s nagging go in one ear and out the other. …Or am I being too soft on him? But, well, I’m the only one who’s allowed to spoil Shinonome-san, aren’t I?

“That reminds me,” I said as I remembered something. “What d’you want to do about collecting debts this year?”

“Oh!” Apparently, he’d wholly forgotten. He scratched his head, his gaze roaming through the air. “I’ve always been the one to do it before, but… Naturally, I can’t make it this year. I’m not back to my old self yet.”

“You might be okay with the spirits who live nearby, but you’ll struggle with ones who are far away.”

Most spirits set up their dens in the hinterlands. Shinonome-san’s wounds hadn’t totally healed yet; there was no way he could go. On top of that, the larger the late fees got, the more difficult it was to collect them. I’d gone along with him in the past, but he often ended up having to chase spirits who got away from me. That was why collecting late fees was Shinonome-san’s job. However…

“You could wait until spring?” I suggested.

“That’s a pain in its own way.”

“I suppose so.”

In short, the season itself was the reason we went to the trouble of collecting debts despite the cold. For one, we weren’t busy at the shop, and for another, many spirits were confined to their homes for the winter. In other words, it was easy to establish where they’d be. In spring, it was much harder to track down errant spirits.

“I spent all our ready cash creating that book…” I said. “We can’t afford for you not to go.”

“True. If we carry on like this, we might not even make it past New Year’s.”

Exchanging a glance with Shinonome-san, I heaved a sigh. If I were able to collect the late fees, they would add up to a not inconsiderable amount of money. Those fees are a valuable source of income for us during the winter off-season. Without them, we wouldn’t even be able to buy any new books.

While I was racking my brains over what we should do, I sensed someone in the shop. I turned toward the door that connected the shop and the living room. When I opened it, I saw a familiar face.

“Hey…”

“Welcome!”

It was Suimei. There was quite a blizzard blowing up outside, and here and there, white snowflakes had stuck to him. His eyes were drooping and his head swaying as if he was awfully sleepy.

“You okay?”

“Mm.”

Suimei took off his shoes and tottered into the living room. Looking as drowsy as could be, he stood right in the center of the room, dazed.

“Hey, what about your coat?! You need to take it off.”

“Mmph.”

I tried to speak to him, but he barely responded. His eyes were half-closed.

“Jeez.”

Sighing, I went and stood right in front of Suimei. I had no other choice but to strip his coat off myself.

Why was Suimei so sleepy? The reason was his previous job.

As I’ve mentioned before, until a little while ago, Suimei made a living as an exorcist. To him, the spirit realm was a land full of enemies. Subconsciously, he was always on guard, so he couldn’t always sleep soundly. But he seemed to be able to actually rest at our house—probably because I, a fellow human, was there. Because of this, he’d started coming to our place whenever he felt truly exhausted.

“Are you hungry? Want something to eat before you go to sleep?”

Next, I took off his scarf. It must have been freezing outside; his skin was as cold as ice.

“It’s cold out there! You need a futon?”

I warmed his frozen cheeks with my hands.

Suimei shook his head. “Jus’ a blanket.”

Then he leaned against me. Suddenly bearing his weight, I almost fell over.

As I hurried to support him, he murmured in a small voice, “Don’ like the cold. You’re warm, Kaori. All cozy.”

Talking like a kid, he nuzzled his head against me. It really tickled, and I tried to stop him, but then—still leaning against me—he began to snore gently.

“Ooof.” Conscious that my cheeks were a wee bit warm, I wrapped my arms around Suimei’s waist. With a “heave-ho!” to psyche myself up, I half-led, half-dragged him over to the stove. With slight difficulty, I laid him down and slipped a zabuton, folded in half, under his head.

I’ll have to go and get a blanket…

With that thought in mind, as I was slowly trying to stand up, I happened to meet Shinonome-san’s gaze. For some reason, his eyes were as round as saucers.

“What’s with that weird look?” I asked.

As I instinctively tilted my head, all the color immediately drained from Shinonome-san’s face. “F-f-for crying out loud!”

“Shhh. Suimei’s sleeping.”

“S-sorry…wait, no no no, what’s with how you two were acting just now?!” Shinonome-san sprang vigorously up from the ground and crawled toward me on his hands and knees. “H-hang on. Don’t move, Kaori. Sit there. I want to talk to you.”

“Huh? But the blanket—”

“Surely that can wait until afterward?!”

“O-oh?”

Overwhelmed by Shinonome-san’s energy, I knelt where I was, baffled.

Extremely flustered, yet choosing his words with care, Shinonome-san said, “I don’t want to believe it. K-Kaori… You and that boy…”

Eep.

Shinonome-san broke off, swallowed, and then said, “Are you two dating?”

“Huh…?”

Dating. I didn’t understand what he meant right away; for a moment, I froze up.

As I faltered, Shinonome-san watched me with a terrifyingly upset expression. He hadn’t had a drink yet, but he had gone as red in the face as he did when he partook too much.

Just as I was absentmindedly thinking how exhausting it must be to go from pale to red like that, I suddenly understood the meaning of his words.

“Whaa?! Wh-wh-what d’you mean, dating?!”

“Owww!”

Instinctively, I’d slapped him hard across the face. A satisfying sound rang out, and Shinonome-san groaned in pain.

“Argh, sorry. You were saying weird things, Shinonome-san!” I hastily patted his cheek.

Clutching the cheek I’d struck with his hand, my father gave me a somewhat thin smile. “Yes, indeed. There’s no way you’re dating. Well…I did wonder if something had happened while I was being hounded about my manuscript.”

I laughed at his behavior. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s no way we’d be dating! Nothing’s really happ…”

At that moment, an autumnal scene flashed through my mind. The dark purple sky. The tranquil surface of a lake, reflecting the stars. The words Suimei had spoken to me on that bridge adorned with beautiful butterflies…

“When I’m with you, my chest feels weird. Is this…love too?”

The instant I remembered that, I flushed as though someone had lit a fire in my cheeks. Our house was old and drafty; there was no way I could be too hot. Yet sweat began to bead on my brow, and I hung my head, wishing I could run away.

“Ack.”

There was a strange sound like a frog being squashed. Looking up fearfully, wondering what it was, I was greeted by a terrible sight that made my blood run cold.

“I’ll kill him.” It was Shinonome-san, his blue-gray eyes burning gold with fury. He usually wore a lazy expression that didn’t betray the slightest bit of enthusiasm, but now—

The veins at his temples bulged, and the horns sprouting from his forehead crackled with lightning. His unkempt hair stood on end. He looked just as fearsome as an oni.

“Huh…ack! Shinonome-san?! Wait, hang on!”

In a panic, I clung to him and frantically trying to smooth his hair back down. “Don’t get the wrong idea, okay? Nothing happened. Nothing! Suimei is a good friend, and he’ll carry on being my friend!”

If I don’t do something, Suimei will be killed! I screamed internally, heartbroken at the thought.

Then I realized that, in my arms, Shinonome-san had grown quiet.

“Shinonome…san?” Peering cautiously at his face, I saw that he was wearing a worn-out expression.

“I don’t really mind if you have a boyfriend… No, I don’t mind. It’s completely natural for humans to fall in love. Yeah…yeah.” In the next moment, his expression turned sour. “Love isn’t something a Tsukumogami like me can really understand. But humans fall in love, pair off, have children, bring them up. Such is life. Hah, children…? How are they created again?”

Shinonome-san’s eyes rolled back. He must have fainted.

“Come on, wake up!”

I shook him, and he suddenly regained consciousness, only to crumple to the floor where he was and murmur in a hoarse voice, “I liked it when you were little… You used to say you’d be my bride. You were so charming back then…”

This is hopeless…

With a sigh, I left Shinonome-san as he was and headed for the second floor. I took a blanket out of the closet and came back downstairs.

Shinonome-san was still grumbling away. He had looked after me ever since I was little, so even though we weren’t related by blood, there were complicated feelings involved.

I wonder what would happen to Shinonome-san if I were to get married…

Up until a few days ago, practically the only thing that came out of his mouth had been, “Hurry up and find a husband.” Yet this was how he reacted when I wasn’t even dating someone? It did make me worry about the future.

Sighing who knew how many times, I laid the blanket over Suimei. As I did so, I met the gaze of his light brown eyes, and my heart leapt.

“Oh! Suimei, you’re awake? Sorry, we were being noisy.”

Lying there, Suimei didn’t respond to my words, just regarded me vaguely with half-open eyes. Thinking he probably hadn’t quite woken up yet, I went to open my mouth again.

That’s when it happened.

“Kaori…” Smiling carelessly, he fixed his pale eyes on me. Then, with the innocent grin of a child, he happily said, “I’m so warm… Thank you.”

Then, straightaway, he closed his eyes. I began to hear the strong, even sound of his breathing. Just as I’d thought, he had been half-asleep already.

He’s just too cute! At that moment, I clutched at my heart in pain. How sneaky of him—he never usually wore such an expression! How could he look so like an angel? How could he be so destructive? Where had the sulky brat gone? Why couldn’t this smile be his standard setting?!

As I fought against my urge to stroke his snow-white hair as much as I wanted to, I felt an extremely sharp gaze on my back. That snapped me back to myself. I looked up hastily to see my father scowling at me with bloodshot eyes. I started, feeling cold sweat trickle down my spine. Although I had nothing to feel guilty about, I was terribly ill at ease.

In the next moment, Shinonome-san flopped down spread-eagled on the floor. Then, in a voice that was tinged with despair, he wailed, “Augh, whatever! I don’t care anymore!”

“What’s with you now?!”

It seemed his “bad” switch had been flipped. Just like a baby throwing a tantrum, he started whining that he wasn’t going to do anything this winter.

“But what about your manuscript?! And collecting the late fees?” I pressed him.

Shinonome-san covered his face with both hands. “As for the manuscript… I’ll prostrate myself in front of Tamaki or something. Whatever. Leave me alone!”

“And the late fees?!”

“As for them… Couldn’t you go and collect them with that e-exorcist?”

“With Suimei…?”

“I don’t care about you two going off together! Chasing after fleeing spirits is an exorcist’s forte. Yes, yes, that’s right. He’s much better suited to it than I am!” Then a strange, suppressed heat entered his voice as he said, “Don’t tell me…you’d be embarrassed if it was just the two of you? You’re not dating, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

I could see his eyes through the gaps between his fingers. They were emitting a golden light.

Ugh, this really is hopeless! I heaved a deep sigh. “Come on,” I said weakly. “I already told you we’re not dating. I get it. Suimei and I will go together.”

I stole a glance at Suimei’s sleeping figure.

“Ergh…”

Just for a moment, I hated this boy who was sleeping so soundly.

That was how I ended up collecting debts with Suimei.

 

***

 

A few days had passed since then. I’d decided that we should go to Hokkaido at once.

“Why do I have to…?”

“Because 90 percent of this is your fault anyway, Suimei!”

“Huh?”

I gave Suimei a sharp look as he tilted his head in confusion, and I hefted the rucksack onto my back.

Incidentally, while Nyaa-san usually accompanied me, she was sleeping at home. “I never leave the house in winter”—that was her policy. The cat was curled up under the kotatsu. “I could hardly call myself a cat if I didn’t,” she had told me.

As for Suimei’s companion, Kuro the Inugami…

“Please don’t leave meeeeee…”

The moment I spoke to him, he began to weep bitterly. It seemed this Inugami couldn’t cope with the cold at all; he’d grown utterly pathetic as soon as he realized we were going to freezing Hokkaido.

“I’m terrible at running in the snow. Honestly, I feel like I wouldn’t be helpful to you at all! But but but…please take me with you…”

Kuro’s body was much longer than a normal dog’s, and his four legs were very short, so if he tried to run in the snow he’d probably end up getting buried. Moreover, the snow would get caught in his fur, and the weight of it would make it harder and harder for him to move at all.

I figured we could ask him to look after the house for us, but he flatly refused to let Suimei go by himself. As a result, Kuro ended up coming along with us inside Suimei’s rucksack.

Before we left, Kuro stuck his face out of the top flap of the rucksack and said cheerfully, “Hee hee hee. Now I’m the ultimate weapon! Call me when I’m needed!”

But now in the present, he was sound asleep inside the rucksack, snoring away loudly.

“Aren’t dogs supposed to happily run about outside?”

“Don’t treat Kuro like a normal dog. Whatever it looks like, he’s delicate.” Even Suimei, his loyal companion, seemed to have his doubts. His expression was somewhat disappointed.

After some journeying from one point to the next, we arrived in Hokkaido. We got a ride from an oxcart spirit called Oboroguruma and reached our destination around noon. Once we’d seen the Oboroguruma off back to the gates of hell, I found myself at a loss. Everything around us was hazy and white. I couldn’t see anything.

The Oboroguruma had carried us to the dead center of a snowfield. The wind howled, and powdery snow blew ceaselessly against us. There wasn’t a building in sight. We didn’t even have anywhere to take shelter from the snow.

Abandoned in the middle of the snowstorm, we were frozen through in the blink of an eye.

“It’s so c-c-cold! We might end up going missing!”

“Stop it, that doesn’t sound like a joke!”

We could barely see a meter in front of us, and even the figure of Suimei right next to me was almost obliterated by the blizzard. Frightened, I clutched Suimei’s arm.

“A kamuy I know is supposed to come to meet us. I wasn’t expecting a snowstorm this bad! If only I’d bundled up more… No, I should’ve come in mountaineering gear!”

I was dressed more warmly than usual, but it was so cold that it made little difference.

It was definitely below freezing. Cold enough to freeze a banana. But Noname had said that I’d be fine if I wore clothes of this thickness.

Argh, but it’s too late! A pang of regret shot through me.

Listening to me, Suimei scowled. “Kamuy? Is that an Ainu god?”

“Yeah, that’s right.” I nodded, not thinking anything of it.

He gave me a doubtful look and said suspiciously, “You’re just as thoughtless as ever.” He was clearly exasperated with me. I guess it seemed weird to him to be acquainted with a deity.

“A customer is a customer, even if they’re a god.”

“Well, I guess. ‘The customer is god.’ Is that true…?”

“Yes. It really is. Hey, that was a good pun!”

Impressed by that idea, which I never would have come up with myself, I thumped Suimei with a hand that was numb with cold.

Looking annoyed, Suimei batted away my hand.

Whooosh.

Just then, a particularly chill wind blew past us, and I trembled violently. “Wheeew, it’s cold…”

I clung instinctively to Suimei’s arm. But the cold wind whipping around us was relentless, and I couldn’t warm myself up at all.

“At this rate, we might freeze to death…” I was serious. Thinking Suimei would agree with me, I looked up at his face and noticed that his cheeks and his ears were bright red. “Eek, you’re all red with cold! Are you okay?”

“Yeah… I’m fine.”

I tilted my head to look at Suimei, who for some reason wouldn’t meet my gaze. Whatever he says, he is cold. I hope she’ll come and meet us soon…

Just as I was thinking this, the cold suddenly eased.

“Irankarapte! Hello!”

I looked up in surprise to see an old woman wrapped in layer upon layer of red robes.

“Ape-huci-kamuy!”

She was the kamuy of fire. Heat as powerful as that of the sun radiated off the old woman, who was clad in robes as vivid as flames. Strangely enough, just standing at Ape-huci-kamuy’s side, I felt my frozen body begin to thaw out from its extremities, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

At length, Ape-huci-kamuy nodded deeply and turned on her heel. As she began to walk away, the chill immediately worsened. It seemed that this warm feeling lost its effect when one was separated from her. I exchanged looks with Suimei, and we began to hurry after her.

As we did, Suimei asked me, “Where are we headed?”

“Kamuy Mintar, the Garden of the Gods. There’s someone there I want to see.”

 

We had probably been walking for about five minutes when the world that had been dyed white by the snowstorm suddenly opened up.

“Wow…!”

A sight I had never seen before stretched out before us. The snowy scene extended in all directions but for where it was interrupted by a circular field of flowers. Above it was an expanse of blue, as if a hole had opened up in the center of the cloudy sky.

The flower field was dotted with stones, though other than that there were no tall trees or plants besides the smooth carpet of flowers. They were all alpine blossoms. Avens, with yellow stamens clustered in the center of sweet white petals. Tiny, bright purple primulas. Clusters of pink, spindle-shaped mountain heather.

The cold had abated; it wasn’t exactly warm, but a fresh breeze blew across the flower field. The white world of before was suddenly transformed, and my heart danced at the brilliance of the puddles reflecting blue sky, and at the vivid colors of the flowers that put me in mind of early summer.

“What’s going on?” While I was spellbound, Suimei surveyed our surroundings in bewilderment.

I did understand how he was feeling. Looking into the distance, I could see that a blizzard still blew beyond the perimeter of the field. It was no ordinary sight. One could only assume that the place where we were standing was special—that it had been created with special powers.

This is Kamuy Mintar, the Garden of the Gods.

Relieved that we had finally arrived, I saw that our guide Ape-huci-kamuy had come to a halt. Following suit, I stopped still. Then I noticed houses just beyond Ape-huci-kamuy.

They were chise, traditional Ainu homes. The simple wooden houses stood in a line, their ridged roofs resting on pillars sunk directly into the ground. I also saw storehouses with raised floors and wooden cage-like structures. There seemed to be a kotan settlement here.

There were a lot of people near the houses, and they, like Ape-huci-kamuy, were dressed in traditional Ainu garb. Male and female, young and old, they all wore cheerful smiles.

When I asked Ape-huci-kamuy, “Where is Kim-un-kamuy?” she gave me a smiling nod and started to walk again. It seemed like she had a plan.

Then I remembered what Shinonome-san had said before we left.

“Ape-huci-kamuy, the kamuy of fire, is the friendliest of the Ainu kamuy. She is the constant link between humans and gods. If you’re in trouble, turn to her. It’s all right, Kaori, you’ll do fine.”

“‘You’ll do fine,’ huh?”

Although he’d foisted this bothersome task on me, Shinonome-san had told me a lot of things about kamuy before we left. I’d been nervous about meeting the gods of the Ainu, whose culture is completely different from that of the Japanese, but thanks to Shinonome-san, my anxiety had lessened somewhat.

Be that as it may, he’s still overprotective. I let out a laugh that was half-exasperated, half-happy.

Ape-huci-kamuy stopped in front of one of the chise. Out of all the chise, this was the finest. It seemed that the person we were looking for was here.

Signaling to Suimei with a glance, I moved to stand in front of the entrance to the chise. Then, remembering the Ainu etiquette for visiting, I cleared my throat loudly.

A hairy creature suddenly appeared from inside the house.

“Ack!”

Thinking for a moment that it was an animal, I tensed up. The creature was perfectly human-shaped, but it was covered in so much hair that it was easy to mistake it for a beast.

“Ahup wa shini yan. Come on in and rest,” he said with a broad smile that showed his canine fangs. He was a fairly well-built man. His wavy black hair fell to his shoulders, and most of his face was covered by a coarse beard. The hair on his body looked too thick to belong to a human; black hair so dense that it looked like fur protruded from the collar and sleeves of his attush, which was embroidered with a complex Ainu pattern. He also wore hand warmers and leggings, but they were so buried by his hair as to be almost invisible. However, he was bald from forehead to crown. The thick hair covering the rest of his body made that fact all the more noticeable.

“Kim-un-kamuy…I presume?” I asked the man, who was just about to go back inside the chise.

Scratching his head with his finger, he replied only, “That’s right.” He glanced at me with hazel eyes, and his voice lowered even further. “And what can I do for you today, my honored guests?”

Feeling the dangerous light of his eyes on me, I gulped and took a piece of paper out of my bag. “My name is Kaori. I am the daughter of Shinonome, who runs the bookstore in the spirit realm. I am here today to collect unreturned books and late fees.”

Kim-un-kamuy’s thick eyebrows knitted together.

Then, once again, I recalled the words Shinonome-san had spoken to me before we left.

“Kim-un-kamuy might be a god, but he’s also a massive fibber. Be careful.”

I wonder what lies he’ll tell. I won’t put up with it if he tries to send us away with deceitful words. Resolving myself to resist all trickery, no matter what, I gritted my teeth and waited for Kim-un-kamuy’s answer.

“Is that s-s-so? But I thought I’d returned them?!”

He’s sweating like a waterfall!

His hazel eyes refused to meet mine, and his squeaky voice was obviously shaking as he murmured to himself. “Too obvious!”

“Huh? Did you say something?”

“N-no?!” He hastily shook his head in denial.

I was shaken. I’d thought he would try more sophisticated psychological warfare; instead, he was far too transparent. I could only sigh. As I regained my composure, I gazed intently at him. “There is a precise record of loans in our ledger. Please return your items.”

Kim-un-kamuy was the size of a bear and wearing a true scowl, yet at the same time he was mumbling, “Um… Well, you see…”

“My word, how can you stand around talking without even inviting our guests inside? What are you doing?!”

Then someone else appeared from inside the chise. He stood next to Kim-un-kamuy, smirking smugly. “What’s up, Kim-un-kamuy? Need some help?”

When he noticed us, he introduced himself as Kapatcir-kamuy. He was an eagle kamuy; the Ainu view the eagle, like the owl, as a god among birds.

I turned to him and bowed my head, and formally announced that I was from the bookstore.

“Oho? The bookstore? So there’s a young woman running it this year…” He gazed at me with great interest, then turned to Kim-un-kamuy with a look that was somewhat sympathetic. “You look pale, Kim-un-kamuy. Did someone refuse to eat your leftover rice again? That is, did they reject your marriage proposal?”

“Eh?! N-no.”

“Or did somebody laugh at you? Not much you can do about that. You’re Ron-koro-oyasi, the bald-headed monster, after all. That’s why you can’t get yourself a wife.”

Kim-un-kamuy said nothing.

Kapatcir-kamuy kept making comments that we didn’t really understand. I silently exchanged glances with Suimei. The conversation was full of Ainu words and metaphors relating to unfamiliar customs, so I didn’t understand everything he was saying, but there was clearly a tension in the air.

Why is he doing this…? I watched them nervously.

Kapatcir-kamuy smoothed his hand over Kim-un-kamuy’s bald head, which made Kim-un-kamuy flush as red as a boiled lobster.

“If you’d just shut up and listen!”

“Ha ha ha. It’s true, isn’t it? Everyone knows you’ll be single forever.”

A vein bulged on Kim-un-kamuy’s brow, and his arms and legs—which were thick to begin with—began to swell before our eyes.

This is bad!

He was clearly furious. I instinctively shrank back. As I did, Suimei stepped forward to protect me. But even so, the wrath emanating from Kim-un-kamuy was so terrifying that I clung to Suimei’s back.

Kim-un-kamuy wouldn’t suppress his rage. Kapatcir-kamuy slung an arm around his shoulders and whispered in his ear, “Is that why you borrowed that book from the bookstore? I know. I know what you did with the book. Don’t you think you’d better give it back quickly? You can’t keep it with you forever…”

In that moment, there was the boom of an explosion, so loud it shook the earth, and the fallen snow whirled up into the air. Instantly, I closed my eyes against the suddenly white world. I had a bad feeling about this, but I didn’t open my eyes straightaway; I squeezed them tightly shut and waited.

At long last, the swirling snow settled down, and I could see what was going on.

“Gah?!”

Kim-un-kamuy, who should have been standing in front of us, had disappeared. I hastily looked around until I spied the tiny speck of a retreating figure far in the distance.

“He got away! How on earth did he run so quickly?!”

As I stood there amazed, the situation shifted again. Until now, the sky above the settlement had been clear. But that break in the clouds was suddenly filled as a blizzard whipped up. In the blink of an eye, the entire flower field disappeared under the snow.

“Ooh, Kim-un-kamuy, you scoundrel! He’s controlling the weather.” Kapatcir-kamuy roared with laughter as he looked up at the sky.

Tearfully, I rushed over to him. “Wh-what are you going to do about it?! He’s getting away!”

“While that guy was hiding himself in the snow, I cunningly took the book out of the chise. Ah ha ha ha! Not half-bad, huh?”

“It’s no laughing matter! Why did you agitate him like that?!”

Stroking his beard, Kapatcir-kamuy broke into a wide grin. “Sorry, I just hate that bearish black hair of his.”

“What?”

“Kim-un-kamuy isn’t a bear, but he looks like one, so I don’t care for him. That’s all!”

“Whaaaa…?!”

Apparently, it was nothing but a personal grudge. In the back of my mind, I recalled what Shinonome-san had said.

“Kim-un-kamuy and Kapatcir-kamuy are on bad terms. Don’t let them get near each other.”

I deflated. Argh, it’s a bit late to be remembering that now!

Just then, Kapatcir-kamuy thumped his chest.

“No problem. Shall I give you a hand? Let’s get ready—what’s wrong?” He pointed at his own golden eyes and smiled. “Prey can’t escape an eagle’s eyes. I’ll spot that hairy guy straightaway.”

 

***

 

Riding on the eagle’s back, we soared above the clouds. The Hokkaido sky seemed to go on forever. It was a limpid, pure blue. The ocean of clouds that stretched out beneath us looked lovely and soft, as if it would make for a wonderfully comfortable bed.

But in reality, it wouldn’t be soft at all.

“Eep—eeeeeeeeek! Oh no, I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall, I’m gonna fall!”

“Don’t talk, Kaori. You’ll bite your tongue!”

“Hey, hang on! That’s easy for you to say—ack!” I bit my tongue!

Several hours had passed since we climbed onto Kapatcir-kamuy’s back and soared up into the sky. In that time, I had let out many a pitiful shriek.

Every time Kapatcir-kamuy spotted Kim-un-kamuy below us, he swooped down on the other god, just as you’d expect from a bird of prey. And every time he did, to stop myself from being thrown off, I would cling desperately to whatever I could reach, whether it be Kapatcir-kamuy’s wing or Suimei’s waist…

At some point, my woolly hat had flown off without my noticing. Even though I was practically fainting, as though I were riding a roller coaster without a seat belt, I did my best to brave the situation. But whereas I was in this terrible state, Ape-huci-kamuy just sat there, her face as undisturbed as if she were having tea by the fireside.

The gods really are amazing, aren’t they?!

While I was honestly impressed with her, I looked at Suimei’s face with tears in my eyes. I’d just remembered that he wasn’t good with heights.

Silence.

Although his face was pale, he didn’t let out a single shriek.

Perhaps because I’d explained the situation in detail, he’d prepared himself. He gazed at the ground visible through the gaps in the clouds with an entirely serious expression.

“Ah ha ha ha ha ha! Look! There’s that hairy scoundrel!”

Just as he had boasted, Kapatcir-kamuy was able to find Kim-un-kamuy extremely easily. But Kim-un-kamuy was unusually agile; he would nimbly dodge Kapatcir-kamuy’s sharp talons, cross a river in a single bound, and pass over a mountain in another.

To put it simply, Kim-un-kamuy—whose name meant “person of the mountains” in Ainu—was a mountaineer. He was also known as Kim-un-kux (“god in the mountains”) and Kim-okay-kux (“god who resides in the mountains”). Among the Ainu, it was said that one must never lodge in the hinterlands of the Ishikari River, for that is where he lives.

He was strong enough to kill a bear with only his hands, but there was another side to him. If a person was struggling in the mountains with heavy baggage, they had only to shout, “Aneshiratsuki utara ikasuu wa” (“Help me, guardian deities”) and he would make their baggage lighter.

He was also said to despise blood, but there were legends that told of him eating humans. Also, when facing him, there was something it was never safe to mention: his baldness. Kim-un-kamuy was terribly sensitive about the fact that he was bald, and if you carelessly touched on the subject, he would incite a natural disaster that would bring all the great trees by the roadside crashing down.

“It’s no use running away! The light bouncing off your bald head makes it obvious where you are. Ah ha ha ha ha ha!”

However, because Kapatcir-kamuy—who hated bears—kept making fun of his bald head and chasing after him, Kim-un-kamuy got completely worked up and kept on running away.

Hmm, I wonder whether we’ll even be able to collect those late fees…

Despite my worry, there was nothing I could do, so I stayed quiet and watched attentively.

Clearly exhausted from evading Kapatcir-kamuy’s claw attacks time after time, Kim-un-kamuy dove into a herd of nearby Hokkaido sika, straddled one of the bucks, and kicked it into a gallop.

“All right, we’re on a roll. I was right to rely on Yuk-kor-kamuy, the god who governs the deer.” Kapatcir-kamuy chuckled to himself as he watched Kim-un-kamuy moving along with the sika.

The Ainu, who found their gods in the prey, tools, and nature that surrounded them, didn’t consider deer—arguably their main food source—to be kamuy. Rather, the god who governed the deer was the one who had set them free on Earth in response to the prayers of the Ainu. Was Kapatcir-kamuy implying that he’d convinced that god to station a large number of Hokkaido sika here ahead of time?

As I was wondering this, Kapatcir-kamuy addressed Suimei. “Boy! Can you drive the deer on?”

“Yes,” Suimei answered without a moment’s delay.

Kapatcir-kamuy let out a cheer of satisfaction.

“Kaori, hold on to my clothes or something,” said Suimei. “Can’t let you fall.”

Suimei moved up the great eagle’s body and straddled his neck. When I’d done as he told me to, Suimei took Kuro out of the bag he was carrying.

“Zzz…zzz…”

Kuro was still asleep. Murmuring an incantation of some kind to the comfortably sleeping Inugami, Suimei charged the paper talisman that he’d taken out along with Kuro.

At that moment, Kuro’s red spots began to emit a dazzling light.

“Kuro! Wake up!” And, holding the Inugami high aloft, Suimei flung him into the air.

“Huh?”

Just then, Kuro finally woke up. However, he didn’t seem to be fully awake yet. For a few moments, he spaced out, but as soon as he realized his predicament, he let out a shriek.

“Eeeeeeeeeep! Wh-what’s going on?! It’s so cold! I’m falling! Eeeeeeeeeeeeek!”

But shrieking did him no good; he was already in midair. At his wits’ end, his tail still stuck to his stomach, he plunged downward in the twinkling of an eye.

“S-Suimei! What the heck are you doing? Kuro—Kuro can’t—!” Instinctively, I shook him.

Suimei looked indifferent. “He’ll be fine.”

Just then, a whole load of talismans went flying. Suimei immediately made a series of signs with his hands. The talismans all collected in one place and formed a familiar shape.

A paper plane!

The paper plane slipped swiftly under Kuro’s small body and caught him. Kuro immediately got to his feet and wagged his tail with relief.

“Wooow!” I was so impressed that I spontaneously embraced Suimei. “I didn’t know you could do that too! Gosh, you really are amazing!”

Overcome with excitement, I hugged Suimei’s body tightly.

“Don’t cling to me,” Suimei muttered. “I’ll lose control. I’m serious.”

“Huh? What?”

“N-nothing.”

Meanwhile, the situation below was rapidly changing. Little by little, the paper plane drew closer to the herd of Hokkaido sika containing the deer that Kim-un-kamuy was straddling. Kuro raised his rump in the air, poised. His red patches began to flicker.

“Let’s goooo!”

Kuro twisted his body with all his might and swung his tail, sending out a shock wave of scarlet light. It struck before the sprinting sika and burst with a thunderous roar. The startled deer tried to scatter in all directions, but the shock wave ran ahead of them, gouging into the earth.

As a result, the herd—having lost all means of escape—gradually gathered in the center of the shock wave’s impact and began to run in the same direction.

I see! So that’s how he controls where the herd goes!

“Ah ha ha ha! Very good, boy, very good!” Seeing this, Kapatcir-kamuy laughed in high spirits.

“Damn!”

Right in the middle of the clustered deer was the buck upon which Kim-un-kamuy rode. With the deer packed together like sardines, he couldn’t even jump down from its back. He was in a terrible panic.

At length, I realized that the scene had changed. The snowfield had seemed as if it went on forever. But in the center, flowing at a leisurely pace, was a river. White-coated trees dotted pools of various sizes. Birds rested in those trees, entirely carefree. The weather had greatly improved since noon, and the evening sun shone through the breaks in the clouds, making the dimly lit surface of the water sparkle. The snowy earth, tinged red by the setting sun… It was enchantingly beautiful.

“Where are we…?”

“Probably Kushiro-shitsugen. It looks as if the eagle intends to chase Kim-un-kamuy into Lake Toro.”

Just as Suimei said, I could see something that resembled a lake in the distance. Parts of it were frozen, but I could tell at a glance that in some places, the ice was thin. If the herd of deer rushed onto the lake at one of those spots, the ice would certainly break, and they would fall in.

“Don’t tell me he’s going to make Kim-un-kamuy sink to the bottom?!”

That was definitely going too far. I turned pale.

At that moment, Kapatcir-kamuy began to descend gently. We were fast approaching the deer herd and the lake.

“Kapatcir-kamuy!” I shouted desperately.

But just at that moment, a flock of red-crowned cranes took flight all at once. My voice was drowned out by the noise of their wings. It didn’t reach him at all. In a flash, we closed in on Kim-un-kamuy.

Argh, what should I do?!

At times like these, I was always stricken with hopelessness. I didn’t have special powers, like Suimei. I couldn’t do anything the way spirits and gods did. I was just a powerless human.

In spite of myself, I was about to cry when someone pulled on my sleeve. It was Ape-huci-kamuy. The old woman looked at me with a peaceful, poised expression, as if she wanted to say something.

“If you’re in trouble, turn to Ape-huci-kamuy.”

With a start, I remembered Shinonome-san’s words.

That’s right. I’m a human. There are things only I can do. There is a correct way for humans and gods to exist with each other, a way that has continued unbroken since ancient times. And that…is to offer up our prayers to the gods, entrusting them with our wishes.

“Ape-huci-kamuy, please… Don’t let anything bad happen to Kim-un-kamuy. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

I bowed my head in earnest prayer. Apehuci stroked my head gently with a wrinkled hand and gave me a cheerful smile.

 

At long last, the Hokkaido sika, kicking up a spray of snow as they ran, burst onto the surface of Lake Touro and immediately lost their balance. As I’d expected, the ice was still thin. They stumbled over it in a panic. But in the next moment, I doubted my own eyes.

“Ha!”

Kim-un-kamuy fired himself up. There was the creaking sound of something solid chafing against another surface; at the same time, the whole surface of Lake Touro was blanketed in white. No—it froze over!

“Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! Bad luck!”

Kim-un-kamuy had the power to control the weather. Apparently, freezing over the surface of a lake presented no difficulty for him.

With an amused smile, Kim-un-kamuy—still mounted on the deer—began to cross the lake with nimble steps. The surface of the lake was completely frozen, and it did not yield under the deer’s weight.

“He got away?” I murmured in blank amazement.

“Not yet!” shouted Kapatcir-kamuy. “Ape-huci-kamuy!”

As if responding to Kapatcir-kamuy’s call, a heat began to spread outward from Ape-huci-kamuy. It was as hot as the midsummer sun. She seemed to be trying to melt the ice of Lake Touro. In a flash, cracks appeared in the ice covering the surface of the lake.

At this rate, won’t the ice break?!

Suddenly overcome with dread, I turned to Ape-huci-kamuy. But the goddess of fire smiled placidly and gave me a small nod. I decided to trust her and watch how the situation unfolded.

“You’re wasting your time!”

Seeing what was happening to the ice, Kim-un-kamuy used his miraculous powers to freeze it over once more. But as soon as Ape-huci-kamuy sent out more heat, fine cracks once again spread through the surface.

When Kim-un-kamuy reached the center of the lake, things took a turn.

“What? Whaaaat?!”

No sooner had he let out a bewildered cry than the ice beneath the hooves of the deer suddenly began to rise. With a horrible creaking sound, a huge rift broke the surface of the ice.

Flustered, Kim-un-kamuy used his powers again. An even more grating sound rang out as the ice rose. The deer that were running with all their might crashed into the ice and, startled, bolted in the wrong direction. The buck carrying Kim-un-kamuy ended up getting its hoof caught in the rift and toppling over.

“Gaaaah!”

Falling off the deer’s back, Kim-un-kamuy went sliding across the ice, spinning like a curling stone. Without a moment’s delay, Kapatcir-kamuy headed for him and plunged toward him in a straight line.

“Ah ha ha ha! I win, Kim-un-kamuy!”

“Damn! Damn! Damn!”

Kapatcir-kamuy let out a great burst of satisfied laughter, his beak clacking together as he did so.

Pinned down by Kapatcir-kamuy’s enormous talons, Kim-un-kamuy pounded his fists against the ice, his face bright red.

When I had seen this, I somehow got down off Kapatcir-kamuy’s back…and sank weakly to the ground just where I was. “Is it over?”

The cries of the Hokkaido sika and the cranes echoed around me. As for Kim-un-kamuy, Kapatcir-kamuy had him securely pinned down; it didn’t look like I needed to worry about him escaping again.

“I’m exhausted,” I murmured unthinkingly.

“I feel the same,” said Suimei, who had alighted next to me.

For a moment, I glanced up at the sky. Then I turned my gaze back to the lake. The ice covering the lake’s surface sparkled in the light of the setting sun. And then, just as if it were tracing the path someone had taken, the ice rose. I knew the name of this phenomenon.

“Omi-watari…”

This phenomenon could also be seen on Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture, among other places. It was caused by the difference in night and daytime temperatures. It seemed Kim-un-kamuy’s chill and Apehuci’s warmth had incited the effect.

“Ah ha ha ha! Wasn’t it a great idea? As you’d expect from me. Wonderful for killing time!” Kapatcir-kamuy’s laughter reverberated throughout our surroundings.

I let out a secret sigh at the excessive scale of the works of the gods.

 

***

 

Returning to the largest chise in the Garden of the Gods, we decided that we should at least have a meal. We’d missed out on lunch, and we were so exhausted that we couldn’t concentrate on anything. We sat by the sunken hearth and were treated to food cooked by Ape-huci-kamuy. A pot simmered away on the fire. Inside the pot was ohaw soup, made with salmon. A general feature of Ainu cuisine is that the only seasoning used is salt. There was plenty of salmon in the soup, which had been caught in the autumn and smoked over the sunken hearth. The ingredients had a simple taste, but that taste had been beautifully highlighted, making for a flavorful soup.

“Aah… I’m warming up.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Our stomachs empty, Suimei and I devoured the ohaw in a daze.

My body had been continually exposed to the harsh cold air of the skies, and as it began to warm up, I was finally able to relax. At this rate, I was going to start feeling sleepy. But we still had a job to do. Once I had eaten my fill, I checked which books Kim-un-kamuy had yet to return.

The books he had borrowed were mainly written records of yukar—heroic epics handed down by the Ainu. The Ainu didn’t have a written language. They remembered everything and preserved it as oral tradition. But researchers had collected tales that the Ainu had told them for these books.

There are various kinds of Ainu tales, such as uepeker (folktales) and kamuy yukar (myths); among these tales are yukar, the tales of the adventures of superhumans imbued with special powers.

“This is all of them. Well then, I will be taking these back.” I put the books away in my bag as Kim-un-kamuy watched me with a melancholy look.

Suimei stroked Kuro, who was curled up asleep on his lap, as he eyed Kim-un-kamuy. “Why did you run away?” he asked. “Did you not want to pay the late fees?”

“You’re…just going to go right ahead and ask me something like that?!”

“It’s cold, and I was frightened. Surely I get to ask you this much.” Knitting his brows together, Suimei cast Kim-un-kamuy a look that said “Come on, I earned this.”

However, Kim-un-kamuy only hemmed and hawed and didn’t say anything.

Meanwhile, Kapatcir-kamuy had been studying us from his seat beside Kim-un-kamuy; he had also drained his sake cup. Thus he grinned widely and declared, “In that case, I’ll tell you.”

“Eeeek! Wait, please!”

Thanks to Kapatcir-kamuy’s interference, Kim-un-kamuy finally resigned himself to explain the situation.

“Daughter of the bookstore, how much do you know about kamuy?”

I pondered this for a while. Recalling the things Shinonome-san had taught me, I answered, “I know that they’re different from the gods I’m acquainted with. Almost all of them are gods of things that surround the Ainu: beasts, vegetation, nature, tools.”

For example, bears or eagles or fire, or utensils, or wild plants. In Kamuy-Mosir, the realm of the gods, they took on the form of humans; when they came to the human world, Ainu-Mosir, they put on a costume in order to appear to people. For a bear god, this costume would be the body of a bear; in the case of a fire deity, they would manifest accompanied by heat.

In other words, what the Ainu called “kamuy” were not messengers of any kind but rather the gods themselves. At the same time, the costumes they wore were gifts for humans.

“For example, the bear kamuy brings meat and fur. In return, the Ainu offer words of thanks and items that only humans can make. It is thought that this allows the kamuy to live a good life in the land of the gods. The Ainu believe that they aren’t simply hunting them for their own convenience; the relationship is mutually beneficial. The Ainu and the kamuy are on equal footing. That’s what my adoptive father told me.”

In short, it was give and take. It seemed to me that this was an appropriate mindset for the Ainu, who flourished through trade.

Then Kim-un-kamuy told me, “Yukar are one of those things that only humans can create. When bidding farewell to a kamuy who has handed over their gift and become just a soul, the Ainu recite yukar of great interest. Those stories are truly amazing. Felling great monsters, flying through the sky! Recovering from injuries in an instant! Isn’t that thrilling?!”

Kim-un-kamuy spoke with great excitement, but in the next moment he deflated.

“However, these stories almost always stop halfway through. And right before the most exciting part! I’m in limbo. It’s awful.”

Kapatcir-kamuy gulped down his sake and stifled a laugh. “From the point of view of the Ainu, the idea is to make people want to come back and listen to the next part of the enthralling story. But the next time, the story stops halfway again. There’s nothing for it but to laugh.”

“Even here in Kamuy Mintar, there are swarms of kamuy distressed by hearing these incomplete stories.” Shaking his head from side to side, Kim-un-kamuy stared down at his own hands. “I thought ‘Someday, I want to find out how the stories continue.’ That’s when I met Shinonome.”

He said that Shinonome-san had told him we had a book containing a collection of yukar. In the beginning, Kim-un-kamuy—who couldn’t read the characters—had studied frenetically, spurred on by his desire to read these tales. Then he borrowed that long-awaited book and dove into reading it.

“It was so fun. I clutched my belly and laughed; I was so thrilled, I couldn’t stop turning page after page. I read through those yukar as if I were gobbling them up. When I finished, I started reading again from the beginning. Over and over again… So I wouldn’t miss even a single character.”

For Kim-un-kamuy, it was an exciting time. Once he’d read the book so many times that he’d memorized its contents, he recited the yukar to other kamuy he knew. Word got around, and visitors began to descend on Kim-un-kamuy’s home.

“Recently, I’ve had fewer opportunities to be sent from the human world to the realm of the gods. At this rate, the kamuy will forget the stories. I want to bequeath the yukar unto them in my own way. Someday…I want to become a marvelous storyteller. But there’s no way I can do it like the Ainu. I forget the stories. So I didn’t want to give up the book. I’m sorry.”

Kim-un-kamuy had genuinely enjoyed the book—genuinely loved the stories. When I learned this, my heart filled with new warmth.

We want to tell the spirits how wonderful books can be.

That was the wish I shared with Shinonome-san. It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say that was why we ran the bookstore. That wish had certainly reached Kim-un-kamuy, which made me happy indeed.

“In that case, would you like me to sell it to you?” I offered. At the bookstore, we periodically replaced our stock.

Unlike a library, a rental bookshop like ours always has to change the lineup of books it offers, or our customers will get bored with our stock. For example, books that were borrowed particularly rarely might get sold to secondhand bookshops. In other cases, certain books enjoy a boom, and then when reader enthusiasm fades, we end up with excess stock. But we can sell that excess and put the profit toward buying new books.

We also sell off books that we’re about to retire from our shelves to spirits who want them. I figured we ought to have enough of the yukar book in stock. Besides, unlike spirits who make their homes outdoors, Kim-un-kamuy would have no problem looking after the book in his chise.

But to my surprise, Kim-un-kamuy turned down my proposal.

“I’m the person I am now because I met Shinonome. If you sell the book to me, that link will be broken, you see? Besides, it’s obviously in the bookstore’s interest to keep lending out books. The things you bestow upon people have to be returned in an orderly fashion. I want to keep borrowing the book from you.”

I was speechless with surprise, but I found myself smiling broadly at his words. Yes, I’m glad I started working at the bookstore.

Overcome with deep emotion, I moved over to stand next to Kim-un-kamuy and took his hand. “Thank you very much! What a wonderful thought! Kim-un-kamuy, we will support you. Go forth and become a fantastic storyteller. Please keep visiting the spirit realm bookstore!”

Kim-un-kamuy’s big body had rounded as he sat down.

What’s going on? Smiling, I peered at his face.

Utterly silent, Kim-un-kamuy was frozen, still staring at me.

“Huh? What’s the matter with you?”

I waved my hand in front of his eyes, but he didn’t respond. He looked blank, as if he wasn’t focusing on anything. Was he unwell?

Kapatcir-kamuy suddenly burst out laughing. “Ah ha ha ha! He’s just stringing together fine-sounding talk. Daughter of the bookstore, what he told you is only part of the truth. That guy is a liar.”

“A liar?” Cold with dread, I looked hard at Kim-un-kamuy.

“Kim-un-kamuy might be a god, but he tells lies. Be careful.”

Remembering Shinonome-san’s words, I found myself glaring at Kim-un-kamuy.

“What does he mean by this?” I asked in a low voice.

Kim-un-kamuy, who had gone pale, mumbled something noncommittal.

In high spirits, Kapatcir-kamuy explained the situation. “A storyteller? He only tells the yukar to young women. And as for visitors descending on him… He invites young women to his home on the pretext of telling them yukar, then distributes his leftover rice to any and everybody.”

“Distributes rice? Why?”

“According to Ainu custom, eating half a bowl of rice and then handing the rest to a woman means you’re asking her to marry you. If the woman accepts, she’ll eat the remainder of the rice, and that’s that. But who’d marry a guy who uses such underhanded methods? He’s bald, and what’s more, he’s a coward. He’s beyond help.” Smiling sardonically, he gave me a pitying look. “Daughter of the bookstore, be careful. Kim-un-kamuy is—”

Kim-un-kamuy suddenly started to vigorously bolt down the ohaw he’d barely begun. I gazed at him, startled.

Uh-oh, I have a really bad feeling about this. I need to get away from him right now. I tried to scoot slowly backward.

“Where are you going?” Kim-un-kamuy caught my wrist. His hand, which dwarfed my own, held my wrist securely and would not let go. The blood drained swiftly from my face.

“Um, er… Erm…” I panicked.

In that instant, I remembered something.

“Kaori, you mustn’t forget this.”

It was something Shinonome-san had said. Before we had left, he had told it to me with a terribly serious look.

“Kim-un-kamuy falls in love absurdly easily. Have the boy take charge of the negotiations.”

“I totally forgot!” I whispered. How could I forget something so important?!

I was aghast at the extent of my own stupidity. At the same time, I was getting more and more irritated.

In other words…this means…

Kim-un-kamuy wanted to keep the book with him in order to seduce women. In short, he was sparing himself the trouble of returning it and borrowing it again because he was spending all his time hunting for a wife.

To put it simply… We had been manipulated by the selfishness of this mountain man.

We went through all that because of him! I felt the blood rush to my head as my rage reached its peak. I glared sharply at him. “Kim-un-kamuy…”

Then Kim-un-kamuy, blushing slightly as if there had been some misunderstanding, held out the half-eaten bowl of ohaw.

It’s a bit late to propose to me now!

He looked at me with eyes that sparkled with hope.

Expressionlessly, I pushed the bowl away with the back of my hand. I made a loop with my thumb and forefinger in the shape of a coin. “More importantly, Kim-un-kamuy, we still have something we need to do.”

“Huh?” Kim-un-kamuy’s face instantly stiffened.

I intensified my smile—then, in the next moment, I gave him a look colder than sub-zero as I delivered my verdict. “Shall we settle your late fees?”

“Hold on!” Kim-un-kamuy went suddenly pale. He straightened up as if he intended to run away, but without a moment’s delay, Kapatcir-kamuy held him down by the shoulders.

“Three hundred and seventy-five days have passed since the scheduled return date,” I said. “It appears that you made no response to Shinonome-san’s repeated requests for you to return the books. Is that right?”

“W-w-well…”

“In addition, since we were obliged to make a trip to come and collect your late fees, we will also be asking you to pay travel expenses.”

“Travel expenses?!”

“In order to get here, we asked an Oboroguruma to pick us up and drop us off. So the cartage fee will come to… Only joking. Right, let’s see…” I took a calculator out of my bag and tapped the numbers in. Then, after checking that I hadn’t made any mistakes, I nodded confidently and presented him with the total. “Here is the total of your late fees, including expenses and so on.”

“Ough…!”

Kim-un-kamuy let out an agonized cry. Blinking furiously, he stared at the figure on the calculator as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. At long last, he turned to me with a frightened look and said, a little shyly, “I don’t suppose a discount might be…”

“That won’t be possible, no,” I declared with a smile. “Please gather the money together and make your payment.”

My voice echoed through the dimly lit chise.

Sweating gallons, Kim-un-kamuy gave me an awkward smile. Just as I began to wonder what he was planning, he held the half-eaten bowl of ohaw out to me again.

“Don’t tell me you’re asking me to marry you and cancel your debt?” I asked, feeling my face begin to twitch and trying to put up with it.

Kim-un-kamuy gave me a timid smile—and a big nod.

This guy! Rage boiled up inside me, and I was about to lose it and shout at him—when the bowl in front of me disappeared.

Suimei, next to me, had snatched it.

“Wha?!”

“You.”

Giving Kim-un-kamuy a look that was colder than the surface of a frozen lake, Suimei tipped the contents of the bowl back into the pot. “Marriage means being considerate toward your partner, supporting them, helping them, protecting them. Do you really think a man who can’t even keep to a book return deadline could make someone happy?”

Kim-un-kamuy inhaled in shock. Then his shoulders slumped dejectedly. “I’ll pay,” he said, drawing his big body in on itself to make himself smaller.

 

“Phew, it’s over! I feel so refreshed!”

I had at last managed to collect the late fees from Kim-un-kamuy. As we were leaving the chise, I stretched.

In the end, he had paid his late fees in gold nuggets—and how heavy this bag packed full of gold nuggets was! It would certainly get us safely past the new year.

I let out a deep sigh of relief. “We can finally go home…”

Just then, Suimei appeared, pulling a sled fully loaded with our baggage.

On top of the sled was a huge pile of vegetables, dried salmon, and bear meat. Our baggage was bursting with a Hokkaido harvest. We had been given a share to make up for the shortfall in late fees.

“You’re too lenient. Letting him pay the deficit in kind…”

“Ah ha ha ha… I wonder.”

Suimei looked exasperated. Feeling a little awkward, I explained myself.

The truth was that we almost never got the full amount from customers whose debts had been piling up. Basically, we tried to be repaid the cost price of the book and leave it there. But Kim-un-kamuy was a repeat offender when it came to overdue books, and he had showed no signs of remorse, so this time I had decided to properly collect on his debts.

“If he had returned the books by the settlement date, he wouldn’t have had to pay. I hope he does that next time.”

Kim-un-kamuy’s shoulders had fallen when he realized how much he had to pay, but when I had told him that we’d received a delivery of some new books of Ainu lore, his eyes had sparkled.

I hope he isn’t too discouraged to come and borrow them. I don’t want him to stop reading because of this. Never mind his motives; it would be a shame for all his enthusiasm in studying Japanese to go to waste. …But I do hope he stops asking me to marry him.

As I walked along next to Suimei, I peeked at his face. “Thanks for before.”

“For what?” Suimei looked as blank as ever.

I smiled broadly at him. “For getting angry in my stead. I hate yelling at customers. You really helped me out. I feel like I can depend on you, Suimei.”

Before my eyes, Suimei’s face reddened. “Wha… That’s not true.”

“Of course it is!”

All of a sudden, Kuro popped his head out of Suimei’s bag. His red eyes twinkled. “Suimei is my partner!” he said, brimming with confidence. “Of course you can depend on him! That guy Kim—whatever his name was, he’ll never find a wife, but there must be plenty of people who want to marry Suimei. Hee hee hee. If you’re going to make a move, Kaori, you should do it while you still can!”

“Huh?! Make a…”

“Quit it, Kuro. Why are you in such high spirits?!”

“Huh? But…”

Marriage?! What does Kuro think he’s on about?! I pushed their boisterous bantering out of my ears and began to walk quickly.

Now that Ape-huci-kamuy was no longer beside me, I ought to have been freezing, but my face was incredibly warm. I didn’t understand why I was so agitated.

“We still have people to collect from,” I declared, as if to dodge the thoughts that were all jumbled together in my mind. “We’ll go home for today, but I’ll see you again tomorrow!”

“Huh?!” Suimei protested as he hurried to my side. “You didn’t tell me that Kim-un-kamuy wasn’t the only one!”

“Isn’t it obvious? There are loads left. We’ll be collecting them until early in the new year.”

“I told you! At least explain things in advance!” Suimei groaned in agony, glaring at me. “Who’s next?”

“Let me see… I think it’s a Namahage in Akita. They’re about half a year behind with their payments.”

“I can only see this ending in trouble! We’re going to end up being chased around by someone wielding a knife!”

“I can’t stand any more cold places!” wailed Kuro.

“It’s a job, so we can’t be picky,” I said with an unflappable expression. “Besides, Kuro, you get to sleep in the bag! When the moment comes, we’ll throw you.”

“You haven’t given up on the idea of throwing me?!”

Our lively banter unfurled across the snowfield, which glowed bluish-white under the light of the stars. It was so cold that my skin was tingling, but somehow my heart felt pleasantly warm.

I chuckled to myself. It must have been contagious, for even Suimei and Kuro burst out laughing.

Winter is a harsh season. But if you’re with someone else, you can enjoy it, I thought, etching footprints into the fresh snow as I walked.

“Oh, hey!” Spotting the Oboroguruma who had come to pick us up, I waved enthusiastically.