Chapter 4: Dazaifu and the Hot Springs of Futsukaichi: A Forgotten Friend, a Business Rival, and Repressed Emotions
THE rainy season had ended in northern Kyushu, and I was riding the train to Dazaifu on a clear, midsummer day.
The city boasted a variety of tourist attractions: the well-known Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine; Sakamoto Hachimangū, a shrine said to be where the current era’s name of Reiwa originated; Kyushu National Museum; and Kamado Shrine, whose ema stands were a trendy pilgrimage site for fans of a certain demon slayer.
Dazaifu was once the center of politics in Fukuoka and remained an iconic part of the prefecture. Tourists crowded the train even on weekdays. I looked around the railcar—not enough to be rude—and breathed a sigh of wonder. Ayakashi had become increasingly visible as I approached Tenmangū Shrine. People with animal ears. Women with legs that fazed in and out of existence. I even spotted a man with octopus tentacles instead of limbs and an older gentleman with incredibly long hair.
I never knew this many ayakashi existed.
According to Shinozaki, his spiritual energy usually prevented me from seeing most ayakashi.
After deboarding, I walked down the sunlit road to Tenmangū Shrine. I was heading to a café where I would meet our clients.
Shinozaki had carried on with work as usual following our second kiss, unruffled as ever. I, meanwhile, felt awkward merely being in the same room as him. I had to switch off the television whenever couples started to kiss in dramas. I couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss, yet Shinozaki had essentially told me to forget about it. Was that how he really felt? Just the thought caused my chest to ache. Although I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason for my sadness, a sense of gloom clouded my mind.
Earlier that day, he’d asked me, “So, are you used to it yet?”
“Not in the slightest,” I’d replied.
“Really? I figured you’d be pretty comfortable with the job by now.”
“Huh?!” My cheeks flushed. “You were talking about work?!”
“What else would I be talking about?” His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Anyway, we have a case in Dazaifu that I want you to handle. The client is a former human, so whether he’s an ayakashi or not is up for debate… Still, I want you to help him with his job’s onboarding process. I’ve already gone over the particulars with him, so all you have to do is help file him the paperwork and confirm everything one last time on his end.”
“You…want me to do it alone?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
I’d overseen the case of Shizuku, the iso-onna from Itoshima, immediately after joining the company, yes. But that had turned out to be an irregular occurrence. Kiyone, a hamahime in Shizuku’s community, invited me to Itoshima under the pretext of meeting the newbie. For other jobs, Shinozaki had almost always accompanied me. And although the majority of the Dazaifu case was already settled, I would be handling the rest by myself for the first time.
“By the way…” I ventured. “That one guy is in Dazaifu, right? Do you know him?”
“‘That one guy’?”
“Sugawa—”
Shinozaki slapped a hand over my mouth. “Don’t say his name!” he shouted, the blood draining from his face.
“Mmmph?!”
I’d been trying to say Sugawara no Michizane. After his death, the famous scholar, poet, and politician was deified as Tenjin.
“Listen,” Shinozaki said. “So long as you’re in this line of work, never utter that man’s name lightly.”
“M-Mmph.”
“He’s a powerful being with the most influence in modern Fukuoka, understand?”
I gasped for air when Shinozaki finally removed his hand from my mouth. “H-He’s that incredible, huh?”
“If someone with spiritual prowess so much as mutters his name by accident, a curse might befall them. That’s the sort of man we’re dealing with. Our company refers to him as ‘Professor M’ to be absolutely certain of our safety.”
At one point in history, Sugawara no Michizane had been regarded as a vengeful spirit rather than a benign deity.
“Professor M?” I repeated. “How would you even guess his actual name based on that?”
“When you’re in Dazaifu, his spiritual energy will erode the filter I’ve placed on you,” Shinozaki said, ignoring my question. “The one that makes ayakashi’s true forms hard to see. Think of Dazaifu as the undiluted essence of Lord Tenjin’s domain.”
“Undiluted essence? Seriously?”
“Tenjin Station—this area, in other words—is the center of Tenjin, right?”
“Right.”
Originally part of the feudal town built in the shadow of Fukuoka Castle, Tenjin was the premier shopping and nightlife district in Fukuoka. After the Meiji Restoration, department stores, schools, government offices, and coal magnates’ mansions sprouted around Suikyō Tenmangū Shrine. Later, the private railway stop Fukuoka Tenjin Station opened, and Tenjin immediately transformed into a bustling shopping district.
“Truth be told…” said Shinozaki. “The domain of Lord Tenjin, which extends from Dazaifu to Suikyō Tenmangū, is connected by spiritual ley lines.”
“Wait, really?!”
“It’s quite common to shape the flow of spiritual energy when developing a city. Edo incorporated principles of feng shui into its design, in case you didn’t know.”
“Interesting.”
“And because of that…” He stared into the distance. “Well, train lines sometimes lead to stations in another realm.”
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AND so, I was visiting Dazaifu by myself.
As Shinozaki had instructed, I entered an old-fashioned café along the road to Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine. An employee in a historic, Taishō-era uniform led me to a seat on the second floor.
I waited a short while before two men in crisp suits joined me. One appeared to be a young man in his twenties. The other man seemed to be an older executive. Both radiated an air of dignity and stood straight-backed as though trained in martial arts. Could they be samurai?
In any case, we exchanged formal greetings and took our seats.
“As President Shinozaki already explained, you’ll be serving as the head priest of a Buddhist temple,” I said. “Please take a look at your employment contract.”
The young man was the one seeking employment. I placed a tablet and some physical documents in front of the pair. The paperwork, along with various other matters in need of confirmation, proceeded smoothly from there.
“Don’t mind me,” urged the older gentleman with a smile. “I’m merely serving as an attendant today.”
“Sorry about this, milord,” said the young man. “I made you come all this way just because I’m new to this whole process.”
“Think nothing of it. I never mind the occasional excuse to visit a human dwelling and talk to people… Ah, see here? This is the furigana field. Write your name in hiragana.”
“Yes, sir!”
As the young man filled out the forms, I glanced at my tablet. According to the information Shinozaki had provided, the two men were warriors who’d died around four hundred years before. Wow, they really are samurai, huh?
The main sanctuary of Dazaifu Tenmangū Shrine had burned down during the Sengoku period, I remembered from my history classes in school. Wasn’t there a sword enshrined in the treasure house that belonged to Sugawara no Mi…um, Professor M? Pretty sure the sword burned to a crisp along with the sanctuary. These ayakashi must have been alive then, I realized. Wait, are they even ayakashi?
“Um…” I hesitated. “May I ask a potentially rude question?”
“I don’t mind,” the gentleman answered kindly. “What is it?”
“It’s a bit embarrassing, but I still don’t understand what defines an ayakashi. You two were originally humans, right? How are you, um, classified now?”
“Well, we’re similar to divinities.” He gave me a wry smile and took a leisurely sip of coffee. “I don’t know how to describe it well myself.”
The younger man continued in his stead. “So, some of us dead folk start wondering, ‘Are my descendants doing all right? Maybe I’ll stick around and watch over them before passing on.’ And just like that, we wind up enshrined, prayed to, and deified. Happens more often than you’d think. And since we’re able to stay on the Near Shore for so long, we might as well work a little and help people out, right?”
“Of course, some souls are reincarnated,” the gentleman clarified. “But other souls can detach from samsara, the cycle of life and death, through worship. Those like us remaining on the Near Shore are something akin to enlightened beings.”
“Wow, that’s fascinating.”
“The coffee on the Near Shore is wonderful, and the sweets are just as good,” the gentleman said. “Nothing beats living a long life.”
“I see…”
From shapeshifting foxes to deified humans. At this point, what isn’t an ayakashi? There’s a lot to learn about them.
“By the way,” I said to the young man, “do you have any issues with the sect President Shinozaki chose?”
“None whatsoever,” he replied. “If you must know, I followed in my lord’s footsteps and became a monk during my mortal life. So you can count on this lesser Buddha to lead prayers to the Buddha!”
“Oh, um, okay.”
“Ghost joke,” the gentleman said with a chuckle, his expression slightly troubled. “Don’t mind him.”
His decorous aura was almost suffocating. My attempt at a polite smile turned tense and awkward.
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