She didn’t need to ask him anything to know how much terror her indiscretion had brought to Kiyoka. If Eugene had made off with Miyo in the real world, Kiyoka still wouldn’t have been so driven to the brink as he was now. There were very few in the waking world who could hope to best him.
Inside the dream world, though, things were different. There was no way for Kiyoka to know what was happening or what would happen to Miyo while she was asleep.
She had caused her husband to suffer more than she imagined.
“Kiyoka, I am so very sorry… I’m fine. I woke up without any trouble. I’m right here.”
Miyo looked up at Kiyoka.
Seeing his beautiful face contorted and twisted, as though he were persevering through something, Miyo, too, felt her eyes well with tears. However, as the very person who harmed him, Miyo couldn’t let herself cry.
“I’m sorry for making you worry again.”
“…My mind went blank when I found you this morning, and everything in front of my eyes went dark.”
“I understand.”
“You always seem like you’ll disappear from my side at any moment. Each time it happens, I grow so hopeless that I feel like I can’t live on any longer.”
Miyo was certain Kiyoka was remembering the time when Kimio, her former schoolmate, had attacked her immediately after their wedding.
Back then, Kiyoka had said if Miyo had died, he doubted he would live much longer himself.
Miyo’s life was his life. Each of them was keeping the other alive. So if either one was missing, almost everything would be lost with them.
She reflected on her carelessness.
“I’m sorry for suddenly leaving you on your own… Please forgive me.”
Miyo put more strength into her arms, wrapped around Kiyoka’s back, and he hugged her even tighter.
“If the same thing happens next time, I might not be able to let it slide. I’m not as strong as you think I am.”
“I know. I won’t do anything like it again.”
After squeezing her tight one final time, Kiyoka heaved a big sigh and separated from her.
“We both have things to talk about, right? Can you tell me what happened?”
Miyo nodded meekly.
Miyo, Kiyoka, Godou, and Komon got together immediately to review everything that had happened. Godou was included even though he had just arrived in the Old Capital while Miyo was asleep, and Komon was asked to join because of his understanding of the circumstances at play.
First, Miyo went over what she had experienced in her dream: her conversation with Eugene, meeting Diana, and their chat over tea. She outlined it all without concealing anything from them.
When she began talking, Miyo realized she had much more to discuss than she thought, and she couldn’t help but be aware of just how long she had been asleep.
“Then, after leaving that gazebo, I woke up.”
When Miyo had finished recounting her dream, the men listening let out a sigh, wearing the same conflicted look on their faces.
“A witch, huh…? I guess that makes sense, though.”
Godou was the first person to make a comment, roughly scratching the back of his head.
“Mind filling me in on this Goddess cult and witch business? I’m far too ignorant on what happens overseas to keep up with this,” Komon urged Godou with a self-deprecating smile. Godou looked up at an angle, as if trying to pull out everything he could from his memories.
“Let’s see… As far as witches go, what Miyo heard in the dream pretty much covers it. There are several different sects of witches, and one of them worships a Goddess. I believe this Diana woman is associated with that sect. Eugene’s probably part of it, too—either that, or he’s cooperating with them. Shamans and witches have a lot in common to begin with, so it wouldn’t be strange for someone from a shaman family like Eugene to believe in the same Goddess as these witches.”
“Did Eugene Wood always believe in this Goddess?”
Godou cocked his head at Kiyoka’s question.
“No clue. At least, I never heard anything like that when I was abroad. He might not have been a follower at the time, or he could’ve been and just didn’t declare it openly.”
“You two weren’t close?”
“Sheesh, Commander, that’s a terrible joke. I’d sooner drop dead than be friends with someone that pompous.”
Godou’s face twisted with disgust, and he stuck out his tongue.
“That said, summoning a god into our world is some real disturbing stuff. I don’t know how the process works abroad, but I do know it’s nothing easy. For something like that, you’d need to produce sacred artifacts of some kind or perform a real nasty ceremony with a massive number of sacrifices…,” Komon said with a solemn look. As the head priest of a shrine, he was very knowledgeable in the supernatural.
In response, Godou offered his own point of view.
“Generally, invoking a god doesn’t vary wildly from country to country. You do a bunch of laborious preparations, go through some annoying steps, and even then, there’s no guarantee it’ll be successful—absolutely not worth the hassle.”
“The thing Diana said about the Goddess granting any wish sounds fishy, too,” Kiyoka spat, crossing his arms.
Miyo felt the same way. It sounded way too convenient to happen. However, something was still bothering Miyo on this point—Eugene and Diana’s attitude.
The pair acted and spoke as if invoking the Goddess was bound to succeed. As though they were convinced it would work and had never imagined the possibility it would fail.
Such was the power of faith; perhaps they simply had no doubts the Goddess was an omnipotent being.
“The question is whether these witches have given up on Miyo or not.”
Everyone nodded in agreement at Kiyoka’s remark.
“If this means they’ll call it quits and return to their homeland, then all’s well that ends well, but if they try to do something to Miyo, or if they seem like they’re trying to instigate something in this country, we need to stop them… That’s essentially our view of things at the moment.”
Godou was focused mainly on Komon and Miyo as he got the conversation going.
Apparently, Godou and Kiyoka had tapped into their military authority to track Eugene’s movements. Using the hotel restaurant where they first met the man as the starting point, they had investigated as much as possible into his activities since that day.
“Ultimately, we located the hotel where he is staying. We have a familiar watching him right now to ensure he doesn’t leave. Eugene’s never outsmarted me when it comes to using familiars, so you can rest easy—there’s no way he’ll give us the slip!”
“Well, that is something. Leave it to the commander and adjutant of the Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit to work so fast.”
Komon clapped, looking genuinely impressed. Ignoring him with a single glance, Kiyoka continued where Godou had left off.
“Lord Komon got in touch with us shortly after we located the hotel… We decided to come back to the Miyakouji estate after hearing Miyo was awake.”
“Gotcha. So you located his hotel, and you’ve got eyes on it. Now what’re you going to do?” Komon asked.
“It would be dangerous to cause a commotion inside the hotel, since innocent civilians could get involved. Our best bet is to stake out the hotel and capture Eugene Wood the moment he leaves,” Kiyoka explained to Komon, who appeared to be an amateur in actual combat like this.
The lookout team would generally consist of Kiyoka and Godou rotating in shifts. If more manpower was required, they had preemptively spoken with the Second Special Anti-Grotesquerie Unit about borrowing some of its members.
Both Godou and Kiyoka were efficient and prompt, likely because they were used to these scenarios as soldiers. Komon was profoundly impressed.
“Um, I’d…like to help out with the ambush.”
Miyo then raised her tiny hand.