A tragic shrine attack on New Year’s Day. There were no fatalities, but several were injured, so the story was covered nationwide. Like always, they speculated that the culprit was a mentally ill lone wolf, rejected by society and influenced by too much violent media. But more than that—according to his testimony, he “just wanted to hurt someone and didn’t care who.” As his victims, that was what frightened us most of all.
Although Japan was said to have a comparatively low crime rate, I knew things like this still happened from time to time. I just never imagined it would happen to us.
The one silver lining was that no one died. The three of us were unharmed too. After I ran in and tackled the guy, a bunch of men from the crowd leapt in and pinned him to the ground. Then someone called the cops, and I didn’t want to get involved with all that, so I took Kazune and Ryou and got the hell out of there.
On the way home, Kazune held Ryou in her arms the entire time. He didn’t seem to understand how close he came to getting hurt; instead, he blithely shrugged it off. “That was crazy!” he had said.
Then again, anything was better than him being traumatized.
By the time we arrived at home, the attack was already all over the news, and my mother came running to greet us. “Thank god you’re home! Is anyone hurt?!”
“We’re fine, Mom. We were on the other side of the shrine when it happened.”
“Ryou’s fine too. Nothing to worry about.”
To keep Mom from worrying herself into an early grave, we agreed to tell her we were nowhere near the scene of the crime, and that we left as soon as the commotion broke out. If she knew I’d charged at the culprit myself, she’d have a heart attack.
Later that night, however, Kazune sat me down for a real scolding.
“Which do you want first?” she asked. “Good cop or bad cop?”
She started all her lectures this way to let me know I was in for it. At this point, there was no getting out of it.
“Bad cop, I think.”
I made the same choice every time. If she was going to get angry with me, then I at least wanted her to console me with kindness afterwards.
“All right then. Now look here—it is far, far too dangerous to tackle someone who’s holding a knife! In case no one ever told you, you don’t have the athletic reflexes for that! I never want you risking yourself like that ever again! Think of what it would do to our son if anything happened to you!”
The birth of Ryou had changed Kazune. If I had to guess why, it was probably because he had become her new number one priority in life. As her husband, it was hard to reconcile that, but as Ryou’s father, nothing could make me happier.
Therefore, I didn’t protest. Sure, I could have said, “if I hadn’t taken action, the two of you would have been in danger,” but that was only an excuse. As Ryou’s father, the correct choice of action was to find a way to protect him and his mother without putting myself at risk.
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Have you learned your lesson?”
“Yes,” I said.
“You won’t risk yourself ever again?”
Now that I couldn’t guarantee. I was no comic book superhero, so if something like that ever happened to us again, my only option would be to risk my own life to save theirs.
“I’ll…try,” I answered.
She stared daggers back at me without a word. The silence lingered between us. We’d been through a few wordless nights in the past—nights where we had just enough good sense to keep our mouths shut—but we weren’t young twenty-somethings anymore.
Kazune let out a small sigh. The tension eased. “Time for good cop.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than she pulled me into a hug, cradling my head against her chest.
“Thank you for saving me. You were so manly.”
“You’re welcome. Fell in love with me all over again, did you?”
“Yes, I did. Remember what I told you?” she asked.
“What?”
“I love a man who can charge in to rescue me from a weirdo.”
“Oh yeah…” I said, reminiscing. “Man, that takes me back.”
“I feel like a teenager again, don’t you?”
“Wanna try on your old high school uniform?”
“Hush!”
But her rebuke was as soft as the lips she pressed to mine.