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THE Sumimata Corporation’s goods warehouse was located behind the main office building.
It may have seemed extravagant to pay for warehouse space in an expensive business district like this one, but it was more efficient to dispatch the goods to rich patrons all over the city from a central location.
Akari had finished up her work in advance and arrived at the warehouse ahead of Mitsuko. As she placed her hand lightly on the door, she heard a heavy thump inside. She yanked the door open.
Tread carefully…, Akari thought as she stepped inside, her face tense.
Fumbling for the switch on the wall, she flipped on the overhead electric lights. Row upon row of grandfather clocks were suddenly illuminated in the gloom.
To kill time until Mitsuko arrived, Akari decided to quickly patrol the room. She figured she’d better wait for her colleague before they started actually setting any rat traps.
Also, if she accidentally made so much as a scratch on one of these clocks, she could kiss this month’s paycheck goodbye. Akari knew better than anyone else just how clumsy she could be. She’d better make sure to be extra-careful.
Some of the clocks seemed to be active. She could hear their pendulums swinging back and forth. Tick-tock, tick-tock. It would take hours to check over all of them by herself.
This company really doesn’t know how to efficiently utilize its personnel, Akari thought wryly as she gazed at the clocks. Then, something moved in the corner of her vision.
Akari turned. Mitsuko? But if so, surely the other woman would have announced herself?
“Ew, maybe there really are rats in here.”
What was she going to do? Akari was both uncoordinated and slow. There was no way she could capture a fleet-footed animal like a rat.
And who knew what kind of illnesses those critters had? Akari wasn’t in the mood to get bitten. Still, she had better find out what they were dealing with. She tiptoed quietly over to the corner and crouched down, trying to get a better look.
Something came scuttling toward her.
She fell on her butt, not even having time to squeal.
Sharp claws scrabbled at her kimono. It didn’t hurt, but the thing was on her chest and she couldn’t move. Its gray fur and doglike (or was it fox-like?) face seemed familiar to her, though… Akari’s eyes widened.
It was the beast spirit she’d fed half her sandwiches to in Hiyabi Park just a few days before.
Its grayish, purpleish eyes narrowed as it bared its fangs and snarled at Akari.
{Where is my grimoire? You…}
The beast’s snarl tapered off as it hesitated.
Akari couldn’t begin to process what was happening.
The creature seemed to have doubled in size since they last met.
And it was speaking a foreign language. It sounded like Anglish to Akari, but she wasn’t sure.
She could see intelligence, however, in its purple eyes. Tentatively, she questioned it.
“Did you come from overseas?”
{Oh, not again! She’s speaking a foreign language. There is so much about this land I find strange. Where am I?}
The beast wailed in plaintive tones, its tail drooping as it curled in on itself. Akari thought hard. She could barely follow what this thing was saying, but there was so much she wanted to ask it. She couldn’t let this chance slip past.
{Wait, I can understand you. Can you understand me?}
Akari dug up the Anglish she’d spent so many hours studying back at her all-girls school, and the beast’s ears immediately pricked up. Its claws flexed as it clutched at her kimono.
{Do you understand me?}
{I don’t speak Anglish often, but I can understand if you speak slowly.}
{You’ve brought back memories. I never thought I would hear my native language spoken again.}
{Anyway, please get off me. I want to talk with you.}
Abandoning all interest in checking out the warehouse now, Akari sat up and faced the gray-furred beast.
This was the first time in her life she’d ever felt thankful for the Anglish-language education she’d received at school. Oh, but she supposed it did occasionally come in handy at work when she had to check the spelling of promotional materials and so on.
She hadn’t spoken it out loud in years, though, and she felt quite nervous. The creature gazed curiously at her, its tail swishing this way and that. It was really quite cute.
{So, young girl who speaks my homeland’s tongue. Young girl who has brought me a taste of home. Tell me, what is this land?}
{You can just call me Akari. This is Sumimata Corporation… Oh, I guess that won’t make any sense to you… Anyway, this island is called Jipangu, and we are in a warehouse in its Imperial Capital. This is where I work.}
{…Ah-kah-ree… Imperial Capital… So this is not Angland. How did I get here?}
{You don’t even know why you’re here? What are you, anyway?}
Before they discussed anything else, she needed to know what she was talking to. But the beast seemed surprised by her question.
{You cannot tell?}
Its tail flopped back and forth.
{I remember living free in my homeland. Then the humans built metal birds with which to explore the skies, and my original powers became much greater. But then the metal bird piece I inhabited was loaded onto a boat and we crossed the ocean. Then I was forced against my will into the pages of a book—a grimoire.}
Akari didn’t know this word, grimwar. Given what Akari knew of the world of Narrators and Kotogami, though, this “grimwar” sounded almost exactly like a Kotogatari.
{And what name did they give you?}
{I recall being called…Raijoo.}
The beast’s pronunciation was clumsy, but Akari knew what it meant immediately, and she was flabbergasted.
Could it be that this beast was behind the recent Raiju attacks? But Akari had seen that spirit up close, and it was many times larger than this small furry beast. The two didn’t look anything alike. And this little one could carry on an intelligent conversation…
Akari hoped there had been some mistake, but the doleful-looking gray-furred creature continued.
{When I was sealed, I recall feeling that I was becoming warped. I recall fighting back. Then before I knew what was what, I had become like this. Ever since, I have been searching for the grimoire that sealed me.}
From this account, Akari had no choice but to acknowledge that it was in fact the same Raiju that had been laying waste to the streets.
Now what was she supposed to do?
The beast didn’t seem to have any memories of the destruction it had wrought. If it remembered attacking Akari back then, it wouldn’t be speaking so pleasantly with her right now.
Or maybe this was a trick, and it was waiting to see how she’d react? The beast peered up at Akari, who was kneeling before it.
{I was wandering in a daze, but your sandwiches gave me the strength to think clearly again. I wish to thank you.}
What a polite and well-mannered…Raiju.