Once she finished reading Senri’s letter, Jusetsu spent some time thinking.
I knew Je Island would offer us some answers.
According to the thousand-year-old legend, it was a reasonable assumption that area was where the missing part of the Raven was.
Still, Jusetsu was intrigued by the strange things happening at sea. What could the rough waters mean?
Jusetsu thought back on her conversation with the Raven.
During the battle one thousand years ago, the Raven had angered the gods of the Palace of Paradise by encroaching on its territory. Apparently, Je Island was on the border of that forbidden region.
After spending some time considering this in silence, Jusetsu got up and fetched some hemp paper from her cabinet.
“Are you writing a letter?” asked Jiujiu. She delightedly began preparing the inkstone and ink for her.
Jusetsu needed to tell Senri that Je Island was on that boundary. Perhaps the sea god the people of Je Island believed in was from the Palace of Paradise. If the sea god were on the rampage now, could it have been because its territory was under attack— just like it had been one thousand years earlier?
I have a bad feeling about this.
Senri said in his letter that he was planning on taking a look at the area surrounding the underwater volcano by boat. If Jusetsu had been there, she would have stopped him.
Even if a particularly speedy messenger could deliver the letter to him, it still wouldn’t reach him right away. Letters from Senri could take days to reach her under normal circumstances. Jusetsu couldn’t help but worry what Senri might be doing right at that moment.
“A letter won’t get there fast enough.”
Jusetsu cast her brush aside. “Send a messenger to Koshun,” she said. “I’m going to Je Island.”
✦ ✦ ✦
It took two days for the waves to calm down enough for a small boat to safely set sail. By the afternoon of the third day, the winds had become gentle, and the waves were much smaller. The clouds that had been covering the sky had also cleared up.
At long last, Cho was finally able to row Shiki and Senri out to sea. Swaying back and forth on the water, Shiki gazed out at the water. It looked so different depending on whether it was rough or whether it was calm.
“The warm tide coming from the south flows along the west side of this island, and it continues through to the northern side… or rather, it goes through here before meeting the sea currents from Ake out at sea. When they meet, the tide turns southward. It’s as if Je Island is surrounded by warm tides,” said Cho as he rowed the boat with his oars. The sound of the waves crashing against the boat complemented his raspy voice peculiarly well.
“That must be why the island is so warm, even in the winter,” commented Senri. The climate here made more sense to him now.
“Yes, that’s right. It’s thanks to those tides that our island is so warm. It’s the winds that carry the tides. They can bring good things, but also things that aren’t so good.”
Shiki, to whom it had never occurred that the warm climate and the currents could be related, found this fascinating.
Cho, a self-proclaimed seaman, livened up once they were out at sea, and become more talkative too. It seemed like he knew everything there was to know about the water.
“The winds are created at the Secluded Palace and the Palace of Paradise. These winds that form at the divine palaces turn, entwine, and eventually find their way back there,” he explained. The wind was what caused the sea’s waters to move. No matter whether it was summer or winter, the wind ruled over the sea as it circled around and around in its majestic cycle.
Shiki glanced at Senri, who was playing with a pebble he picked up at the beach. Even from a short distance away, it was easy to tell the man had a cheerful smile on his face. The news he received from Koshun two days previous had really lifted his spirits—Jusetsu was awake.
“What’s that stone?” Shiki asked.
“Just a light pumice stone,” he answered.
Senri then passed the red-brown, persimmon-colored stone— which had tiny holes all over it—to Shiki. True enough, it was extremely light.
“These featured in the story that old lady shared, didn’t they? She talked about red stones covering the water’s surface—light stones that flew about when the volcano erupted. Did they end up drifting ashore?”
This seemed to back up Sho’s story.
“All sorts of pumice stones washed up on the beach—stones of all different sizes. Some were white, some were black, and others more colorful,” Cho said. “If you do look into it more, you should be able to find lots of proof that the eruption really happened.”
“Really? How fascinating.”
Shiki held onto the edge as the small boat swayed from side to side. Then, all of a sudden, the rowing stopped. He glanced up to find Cho staring ahead with a frown on his face.
“Is something the matter?” Shiki asked. “What’s that?” responded Cho.
“Reiko, sir… Look.” Senri’s voice was shrill, and he pointed ahead. It was the first time Shiki had ever heard him sound so tense.
Senri pointed ahead as well, and Shiki followed his finger and looked carefully at the water’s surface. This part of the sea appeared to have a slightly different hue than the water that surrounded it. It was a pale, brownish-yellow color, and almost looked murky.
Murky water.
Hadn’t they heard something about that recently? In the old lady’s story?
Before Shiki could shout to Cho to bring the boat back to the shore, the worst happened.
A bloodcurdling roar echoed through the air, and at that very same moment, black seawater burst right up into the sky. In fact, it looked more like a cluster of clouds than water. It started spouting up all around them. The whole area looked like little black balls were being scattered around. The men heard a dull thud nearby—there was now a hole in the bottom of their boat.
It’s raining stones.
The blood drained from Shiki’s face. He didn’t even have time to consider diving into the sea before high waves lifted up the boat and flipped it over. The three men were thrown out into the water. Seawater flooded into their open mouths.
Shiki writhed about. All he could see was darkness. He never knew it was so dark beneath the waves.
It was painful.
There was no use in struggling—all he did was push around the seawater that was overwhelming him. It didn’t take long for him to lose consciousness.