The midwife’s house was in East Gokencho, a prefab not far from what had once been the headquarters of the book wholesaler Tohan Corporation. It had two small rooms, a kitchen and bath. Low-cost housing from one of the earlier reconstruction efforts。
The name plate said “Miyako Naruse.”
Setsura rang the doorbell. A white-haired old lady appeared. Her back was so bent over her chin was practically brushing the ground.
When Azusa told her who they were looking for, she replied in a crisp, clear voice that she was the person in question. There was nothing wrong with her hearing either. Without cybernetic implants or rejuvenation drugs, the vigor of her body and spirit shone on her aged face.
As she turned her head to look at them, tears unexpectedly filled her eyes. “You’ve come back,” she said.
“Well, no, I—” Setsura said. His misapprehension was understandable. She’d delivered him twenty some-odd years ago, and he was a full-grown man besides.
“Setsura Aki-chan, isn’t it?”
“How about that,” Azusa said to herself.
“You remember?” Setsura asked.
The old lady nodded. Tears ran down her cheeks. She made no attempt to wipe them away.
“Of course I do. I was the first one to see your face. Your real face. The first to hold you, before your own mother. You could have become the ugliest man in the world in the meantime and I wouldn’t forget. My, my, that look on your face—you seem to have something on your mind.”
Azusa smothered a laugh. Even Setsura couldn’t hide a wry smile as she led them into the living room.
It was clear that Miyako lived alone. She was well into her seventies. She said she was living on social security and a pension. Now and then a child she’d delivered long ago would show up on her doorstep to show her a child of her own. The kind of thing that made life worth living. No one need feel sorry for her in her present state.
Setsura assured her he did not. They sat down on the dusty tatami mats. He explained that they were looking for more information about the seal.
“Sure,” she readily agreed. It wouldn’t have been unreasonable to expect that her mind would have begun to yield to the inevitable ravages of age, but this was not the case with Miyako. “The story begins with the night you were born. That day, a tremendous gale was blowing through Shinjuku.”
A small man, bearing the vibe of a wild animal about him, his body bent forward almost to the horizontal, came to visit her. He asked her to come take a trip with him. Miyako thought at first he must be kidding. There were hardly any midwives left in Japan these days, medical technology being fully capable of handling every aspect of the delivery process.
The man shook his head. Miyako and only Miyako would do. This was a child upon whom the fate of the world depended, not the kind of baby who could be trusted to machines.
She didn’t understand what he meant by all that, but if her experience and personal touch was all that important, she might as well accompany him.
At the time, Miyako weighed close to two hundred pounds, but the little man flung her over his shoulder and dashed off at an alarming speed.
“He was faster than a car, and less bumpy, and didn’t slow down in the slightest, even climbing hills. I could imagine myself riding on the back of a tiger.”
With the wind whistling in her ears, almost an hour had passed when a mansion the size of a small mountain rose up before them. There wasn’t a single servant to be seen inside or on the grounds of this strangely modern-looking castle.
The man led her into a room the size of a tennis court covered with tatami mats. An ornate futon was spread out in the very center. Next to the pillow, an old man in traditional Japanese dress directed his solemn gaze down at the person lying on the futon.
A woman with long hair and a pale, waxy complexion. What must have been a once slender face was puffy and swollen. Miyako knew at once that the woman was in dire straits, suffering from a severe case of preeclampsia.
Catching the old man’s attention she indicated this with her eyes. He nodded. Do what you have to do, was his silent answer.
That was when they introduced themselves. He was Renjo Aki. He looked to her like a great chess master struggling to claim victory from the jaws of sure defeat.
With no time for small talk, Miyako set to work. It proved to be the most difficult delivery she had ever been confronted with. The birth canal was narrow, the baby’s head large. And then just when the mother pushed with all her might and the baby’s head appeared, a gust of wind and lightning tore through the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
A flash of electric blue illuminated the room. Shadow and light eclipsed a visage that evinced no sorrow at the inexorable parting nor fear of the brave new world. Not a cry escaped his mouth.
“At that moment, I knew that baby would become an extraordinary person. Every mother believes her child is adorable, but we must always wonder what sort of soul we have brought into the world. What midwife brought Hitler into the world? Surely if she had known beforehand, she would have killed the mother and child rather than give them life.”
She passed the baby to the embrace of Renjo Aki. Renjo told the small man at the rear of the room to put the baby in a crib in the back room. The man’s name was Hyota.
Miyako thought he should be given to the mother, but when she turned back, the pale face indicated that she had quietly passed over to the great beyond, so peacefully that Miyako felt the calm in her own heart as well.
She glanced at her watch. Over two hours had passed since her adventure began.
Without pausing to mourn, Renjo led Miyako to an equally large room. There awaited a resplendent repast, cuisine of a caliber she had never set eyes on before.
Renjo spoke for the first time since he’d introduced himself. He said the boy’s name would be “Setsura.” The house itself had been completed the day before, built big to accommodate a big boy.
Despite the uncanny atmosphere, Miyako thought it beneath her to flee his presence at this juncture. Instead she asked him what kind of person he wished the boy to be.
That was something he would have to decide for himself, Renjo answered. Only Heaven and Hell could know for certain. All he could say was that Setsura should search out the “seal.”
When Miyako asked him what that was, he turned to her with his deep and dark eyes and wondered aloud if perhaps she could be the one to tell him.
✦ ✦ ✦
“This seal is apparently a human being, pure and unblemished. When the time comes for it to fulfill its duty, your father said that signs and omens would surely manifest themselves. Have you found it yet?”
Setsura shook his head.
“Well, you’d better be going, then,” she said. “I know at last that your father spoke the truth. That is what led you here as well. God has shown you the way. I cannot say what will happen after this, but you must soldier on regardless. I will pray for your safety and your soul.”
She showed him to the door. Setsura bowed. The eastern sky was tinged with red. A cool breeze washed over their faces. They had gone a few steps when Setsura glanced over his shoulder. The bent-over old lady was still on the front porch looking back at him.
As if she would stand there looking out for him until the sun set for certain.