Kakeru reached the grove and walked deeper and deeper inside. Eventually, he arrived at a clearing, where he sat down to rest his aching legs. It seemed like he’d shaken off the Shadowless for now; they weren’t following him anymore.
“But what am I going to do from here…?”
Just as he was heaving a gloomy sigh, a strong wind blew through the clearing, whipping up the leaves on the ground and forcing Kakeru to close his eyes. When he opened them again, there was a young man standing in front of him.
“Huh…? Ah!”
Who was this guy? Where did he come from? Kakeru was certain he hadn’t been there a moment ago.
But that wasn’t the only reason Kakeru was confused. The man was dressed in a black kimono, with old-fashioned beaded necklaces around his neck. You didn’t see many people dressed like that these days. Especially not people as young as this person. In a weird way, though, the outfit suited him. He seemed so at ease and comfortable in it, as if he dressed that way all the time.
“It’s been a while since anybody came to see me here,” the young man in the kimono mumbled.
He turned a cool gaze on Kakeru. The boy suddenly felt uncomfortable and looked away. His gaze wandered down to the strange man’s feet, and…Kakeru turned and ran.
“Whoa?!” he cried.
All of a sudden, the man was blocking his path. Kakeru stumbled back and fell onto his butt. The man in the kimono looked down at him and tilted his head in confusion.
“What’s the matter? Why are you running?” he asked Kakeru.
“B-because you…you don’t have a shadow!”
“Hmm? Shadow? Ah, of course. I know I put it somewhere…”
The man smiled slyly, and a shadow began growing out of him. A moment later, it spread out across the ground, becoming four shadows, then eight, then more and more. They swirled around and eventually split apart into tiny shards, each one about the size of a bamboo leaf.
“As you can see, my shadow is a bit of a maverick. Best to pay it no mind.”
The man waved his hand at the ground as if beckoning something toward him. The little shards of shadow hiding under the leaves began to move, once more swirling around him like a whirlwind and disappearing under his feet. The whole time, Kakeru could do nothing but sit there and watch, amazed.
Wh-what just happened? Who is this guy? Can he…control shadows?
Wait… Hadn’t he heard about something like that before?
Of course. Last year, Grandma had said there was a guardian deity in Kagekake Village who could control shadows. And that there was a shrine dedicated to him in a bamboo grove on the edge of town.
Kakeru looked up at the man again, and he glanced behind him. Sure enough, nestled among the countless stalks of bamboo was a tiny house—could that be a shrine? Then this person was…technically not a person at all, but…
“Y-you’re the guardian deity…Lord Chikage?”
“Oh, you know my name?”
The man looked surprised. But he didn’t deny it; he’d basically just admitted to being a god.
Kakeru let out a long breath. This was too much.
“Well then… What are you doing here? Did you need something from me?”
“What am I doing here?” Kakeru repeated as he staggered to his feet. He clenched his fists and glared at the so-called guardian. “Why are you acting so casual? Aren’t you supposed to protect this place?! Don’t you realize what’s happened to this town? Why haven’t you been helping?!”
“W-well, you see…”
Lord Chikage faltered a moment in the face of the boy’s accusations. Then, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, he found the words to explain.
“…I’ve been asleep.”
“…Asleep? Really?”
Kakeru sighed, his shoulders slumped in exasperation.
“In my defense, nobody came to wake me,” said Lord Chikage. “Unless humans call on me for help, I can slumber for days, years even.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“What kind of guardian deity are you?”
“Oh, don’t be like that.” Lord Chikage yawned and smiled. “Since you’re here and I’m awake again, I’ll be able to do my job. Now tell me what the problem is.”
✦ ✦ ✦
Kakeru gave the god a quick rundown about everything—Kurosuke, the people who’d lost their shadows, all of it. When he was done, Lord Chikage nodded.
“I see. So we have another Shadow Eater on our hands. I haven’t had to deal with one of those in a long time.”
“Huh? You mean this has happened before?”
“Several times. This region has always been prone to shadow-related incidents. That said, Shadow Eaters of this size are rare. I suppose this is what happens when humans decide to meddle with things that don’t concern them.”
Kakeru gulped. Those words weighed heavily on his heart, as if they were pressing down on his chest.
“So it’s my fault…,” he said. “I started all this by setting Kurosuke’s shadow loose.”
He looked down at the ground, trembling slightly. He hadn’t been able to bear the thought of losing Kurosuke. Was that such a bad thing? Kakeru had never imagined that cutting away the dog’s shadow would lead to dire consequences for the town and its people.
“Lord Chikage, I’m sorry for what I said earlier. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for me. I didn’t mean to make it sound like you were being lazy or anything…”
“Don’t let it concern you. After all, I am lazy sometimes; I can’t deny that. More importantly…”
The god’s voice got quieter, like he was speaking to himself more than Kakeru. Through his tears, the boy raised his head to look up at him.
“…what really bothers me is the one who gave you these scissors that can cut shadows.”
“Oh yeah. I guess that girl with the silver hair wasn’t you after all.”
“That’s right. I do have something akin to that embroidery kit, though. Could you show it to me for a moment?”
Kakeru nodded and took out the black box from his knapsack. He handed it to Lord Chikage, who opened it and examined its contents closely.
“The girl was walking around with something like this? Hmm… She may have been a demon.”
“A demon? Like some kind of monster or devil?”
“Yes. From what I’ve heard, demons are obsessed with gathering despair from mortals like yourself. They approach humans who have strong desires and offer them wondrous items… Items that backfire and twist their hopes into despair. It looks like you’ve been the target of one such demon.”
Strong desires… Like his desire to see Kurosuke again. At first, it had seemed like that desire had been granted. But from there, things had developed in the worst possible way. Just like the demon wanted.
But as Kakeru stood there grinding his teeth, Lord Chikage knelt down and spoke to him kindly.
“Now, now. It’s too soon for you to give in to despair.”
“Lord Chikage…”
“All we have to do is put everything back to the way it was.”
“You can do that?!”
“Just wait here,” the god said, smiling confidently. “This grove is my territory. The Shadowless and the Shadow Eater won’t dare to set foot inside it. I’ll be borrowing this, if you don’t mind.”
He took the Shadow Embroidery Kit and walked away with a casual wave.
A breeze blew through the grove again. Kakeru closed his eyes just for a moment, but when he opened them, Lord Chikage was already gone.